The Pit => Rec Room => Topic started by: saltmummy626 on September 29, 2016, 07:39:05 pm
Title: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 29, 2016, 07:39:05 pm
And so the beast called Mammon and the king of men did stand before the masters of the void to make his decree, and lo did the masters strike him down. Taking the crown and placing it upon the head of the beast, the masters decreed "Mammon, thou art that which lies in the hearts of all men, thou shalt be king of this world for no man can deny the will of his heart." Man bowed before the beast called Mammon and called him king. In his name they brought upon themselves ruination. -In Libro De Discordias, 6:13, The Parable of The New King
It had been five days. Early on the first day, Kent Kamp and a handful of others had been loaded into a large truck and brought to a shelter in the woods. They had been told nothing of what was going on. Even the two men in uniform who had been left behind to watch them seemed to know nothing. Fortunately, one of the other survivors had brought a radio along. for two days they had listened intently for any bit of information, but nothing of substance seemed forthcoming. On the third day, the signal suddenly cut off and all that was left was the eerie silence of radio static. On the fourth day, they discovered the address of a refugee center not far to the north, but the world had become dangerous. On that same day, something large had broken through the tree line across the road and charged, screaming, at the shelter. Those closest the shelter ran back inside and hid in the basement, the rest had either scattered into the woods or died. For a night they waited nervously and prayed as the creature stomped around above them. In the morning, the remaining survivors drew straws to see who would go up and look around. It had been Kent to draw the short straw. Fortunately for him the creature had moved on in the night, taking what remained of the dead with it. On that fifth day, most of the remaining survivors struck out for the refugee center in the north. Kent Kamp and Marlon Ybarra were the only ones left when Kent awoke in the dark of the shelter on the sixth day.
"At least we have shelter."
And so begins the story of the first of this worlds characters. RULES_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CONTINUOUS PLAY! When your turn comes, you create a new character. When you get bored, get killed, or survive an entire year, you pass the save along and the next player creates a new character. If your character is still alive when your next turn comes around, you continue play as that character. If your character is dead, then you create a brand new one. This continues until the succession burns out.
Player to player relations. Due to a limitation with cataclysm DDA, you will not be able to encounter one anothers characters in game. Instead, RP it. Items can be stolen from other players IF they are found.
Cheating. Unless you have a very very good reason, try not to use the debug functions.
Vehicles. Get a GPS unit on that bitch, someone might find it and take a liking to it. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TURN ORDER!!! Saltmummy626 - Finished, Dead on day 4. Hid a stash of loot in the woods after dreams were crushed. Apatheticexcuse - Skipped upon request Random_Dragon - Finished, Deaded by a Dracolich while on his arcane adventure. Noctifer - Finished, Claimed by the horde, lived like a professional Forrest - Skipped upon request Perigrin - Skipped upon request Wilson - Skipped upon time up Blitzkrieg of Butts - Skipped upon time up, partial turn but save was deleted Apatheticexcuse - CURRENT! Forrest - (SIGN UP NOW!!) Questions? Discussion? Take them over to http://utterlymad.smfnew2.com/last-man-gaming/succession-dda-the-plannening-579/ to hash out the details. Or just ask them here I guess.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2016, 09:37:57 pm
So this is where we're doing the succession game. This can't end well. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 29, 2016, 11:45:35 pm
Ok I didn't notice this. For some reason, this got posted when I accidentally ALT+F4 the browser earlier. Gimme a minute to fix the OP. god damnit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 30, 2016, 12:39:05 am
Glorious. No idea what kinda character and stats we're looking at, but an interesting way to write up the vanilla start.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 30, 2016, 02:14:44 am
Glorious. No idea what kinda character and stats we're looking at.
Me neither, since Kent Kamp is my character. You gotta make your own when your turn rolls around. Which reminds me, I forgot to put the rules in the OP. Woops! Gonna fix that now. Kent is pretty generic though. 9 in each attribute, hardly any skills.
edit: attacked by wolf, almost dead already XD. Giant spiders outside. Halp.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 30, 2016, 09:03:21 am
You're on your own, fucko.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on September 30, 2016, 10:19:33 am
I will gladly join this
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 30, 2016, 11:35:05 am
Wolves, spiders, and wolf spiders. The bane of all early innawoods survivors.
Moose don't count, because they're the bane of everything.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 30, 2016, 05:56:19 pm
Perhaps Kent shouldn't have gone to town to get water. Perhaps he shouldn't have come straight back to the shelter. What's done is done though. The wolves had been more than he could handle, and if it weren't for Marlon, they would have ripped him apart. Kent had done a fine job of avoiding the huge spiders though, except for the dog sized jumping spider that had landed a few feet from him after it's leap had taken it from the tree line. Fortunately for Kent, it had been just as much a surprise to the spider as it had been to him. It had turned towards him and raised it's legs in a defensive stance, lowering it's legs only when Kent had backed away. The things staggering around out in the woods now weren't wolves or giant spiders, but they came in such numbers. "I'm moving on Marlon. Gonna try to get to the refugee center. Want to come with me?" Marlon took another bite of the slice of roasted wolf meat and just stared at Kent. "Why would I want to do that?" Kent scratched his head, We're friends aren't we? Friends have to stick together. Marlon immediately began laughing. Seeing the look on Kents face he stopped and said, "Oh, you're serious?" His laughter only increased after that.
Out front of the shelter now, Kent took a look at his map. He had marked the location of the center on his map. It wasn't far. Kent figured, a few miles maybe. He could walk that distance in a day.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 30, 2016, 05:59:42 pm
Oooh, sporting goods store. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on September 30, 2016, 10:41:17 pm
Oooh, Garage. :v
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 30, 2016, 11:35:24 pm
Loot all the things. And hmm. If you do make it a year, save and another character is started...I'm wondering if it'll start up the correct time, or if year 1 magically starts anew.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 01, 2016, 09:03:02 pm
(http://i.imgur.com/wvAsH0S.png) Something nearby making a droning noise, otherwise the small camp site was peaceful. Kent noticed the motorcycles nearby and made straight for them. A vehicle would be nice. He had set out durin the night, and had somehow managed to avoid something out in the dark field. He had flicked on his flashlight and only saw some kind of police dog. Something was very wrong with it though, so Kent flipped the light back off and ran. The something he had avoided never made it's appearance, but the dog had followed him through the woods for some time until he had finally managed to break it's pursuit. These motorcycles represented a measure of safety for him, ease of movement and the ability to outrun anything he came across. The first bike was too badly damaged to move though. The engine was thrashed, the gas tank had a hole the size of a fist in it, and the battery was outright gone. Turning to the other, he noticed the source of the odd drone. The largest wasp he had ever seen sat watching him carefully from near the other bike. After eying up the other bike, he decided the risk wasn't worth it and staying away from that wasp and it's dagger like stinger would be best.
The trees loomed over him. Negative thoughts pervaded his mind. Thoughts of "what if." What if there was no one at the center? What if this whole thing didn't just blow over? What if came across something like what had killed those guards at the shelter? What if these bites were infected? It was depressing. His spirits lighted a bit when something on the road through the trees caught his eye, and then dropped again when he got a good look at it. It was some kind of military vehicle, and while Kent was no mechanic, it didn't take a mechanic to realize it was thrashed. For one, it looked like it had been worked over with a piece of heavy wrecking equipment. The wheels looked alright, but the damage they had sustained by whatever had wrecked it was extensive. There was no harm in trying though. Looking over the cab of the truck was like looking at the outside. It was a mess. To his surprise though, the keys were still in the ignition. To further his surprise, the truck actually started when he turned them. The controls weren't too complicated, but the fuel gauge worried him a bit. Once the truck was moving, he saw why. (http://i.imgur.com/rr6euix.png) The truck was hemorrhaging fuel. Hopefully, it would be enough to get him to the center.
((An idea is forming, I'm not sure how to write it, but I'll do that while playing.))
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 02, 2016, 03:04:01 am
DOUBLE POST! AWAAAAAAY!
The refugee center was packed with people. A small horde of people, too close together and sick of waiting for something horrible to happen. You could see the fear on their faces. Kent approached the professional women behind the bullet proof window. "Good morning sir, what can I help you with?" It was clear she wasn't getting enough sleep. "I uh... I'm actually new here." Her hand shot up and she closed her eyes. "No. We don't have room for anymore. If you have supplies, we could really use them, but we just don't have the means to keep any more people here." She wiped her face with her hand. "I'm sorry. Listen, it's like a said. We don't have any space. Even before we lost the back bay, we were still overcrowded." Kent wanted to ask about the back bay, but didn't. "Is there anything I can get for the center then?" he had an urge to help out. There must be something he can do. "Jerky." She said, "Jerky, Flour, canned food. Anything that doesn't spoil would be great. We'll take building supplies too, if you can find any." A tall order, a desperate order. "What happened out there?" He asked, and she told him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2016, 04:15:12 am
Oooh, this gonna be good. o3o
Already getting rough ideas for how to handle the turn. I wonder, should I do a proper Seeker of the Arcane start and get properly in-character...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 02, 2016, 06:09:40 am
Already getting rough ideas for how to handle the turn. I wonder, should I do a proper Seeker of the Arcane start and get properly in-character...
Go for the proper. Good stuffs. A thing I am realizing is that doing play by play style posts like for DF games is not viable, because cataclysm has long stretches of not excitement. Fun stuff, but not exciting or interesting to read. "and then I opened the can of tuna. and then I crafted forty makeshift lockpicks. and then I killed a zambi... again." Cataclysm succession is a true test of ones ability to write and be entertaining. So, I'm going to do a bit of a time jump with the writing. I think I left off on a good enough cliff hanger to do that. I will post my next update when I hit summer.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 02, 2016, 06:23:36 am
I'm not entirely sure how to handle my turn.
I think starting later in the Cataclysm, such as the winter or summer starts, would be viable. I am a fan of the Naturalist occupation in theory. Wanderer on steroids.
And I think I've got a rough idea of how to handle writing entertainingly while still keeping true to the narrative. Hopefully. Expect my character to get drunk and high a lot, without any real tangible reasons sometimes. Same for consuming/creating morale-boosting foods and drinks when there're better, more nutritious ones available, and other such things I could see someone actually doing.
I mean, would you roast some fox intestines over a small ethanol powered stove with a bone skewer, or would you eat some fucking marshmallows and cookies? If you've got a good amount of water collected in gallon jugs thanks to the NEVERENDING FUCKING RAIN, would you worry about what a few swigs of gin or rum would do to your hydration? Roleplay, man, roleplay.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2016, 03:16:54 pm
Might be a nuisance to roleplay out, yeah. But if I pick Seeker of the Arcane, there's good odds that there'll be a horrible death. o3o
And hell, I'm thinking I'll start by straying from my usual array of must-have traits.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 02, 2016, 03:22:37 pm
Since resources are going to be low I am going the wilderness route with the Bionic Sniper; just having a hard time balancing it out. The cities will really be hardly worth it for me with the dead in there and little loot amplified with other people competing for resources. Its military bases and labs for me baby!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Perigrin on October 02, 2016, 04:10:50 pm
I will bring back Leroy, the mutant little shit. Basically a character i made who broke the game and managed to achieve 3 mutation threshholds.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 02, 2016, 04:12:40 pm
I have too. Hell, I wrote that derpy "we are the Mycus" forum thread providing a rough guide to becoming one.
Yeah, I remember that now! That is what I used to go ghost mycus.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 02, 2016, 05:18:41 pm
Think I'll mostly be a wilderness survivor, foraging from bushes and shooting/bludgeoning the occasional coyote or cougar. I'll probably supplement with quick get-in, get-out raids on houses and liquor shops near the edges of cities. Maybe the occasional mansion.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 02, 2016, 05:20:32 pm
Think I'll mostly be a wilderness survivor, foraging from bushes and shooting/bludgeoning the occasional coyote or cougar. I'll probably supplement with quick get-in, get-out raids on houses and liquor shops near the edges of cities. Maybe the occasional mansion.
I you find a very well built wilderness camp, STAY AWAY!!!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2016, 05:27:07 pm
Think I'll mostly be a wilderness survivor, foraging from bushes and shooting/bludgeoning the occasional coyote or cougar. I'll probably supplement with quick get-in, get-out raids on houses and liquor shops near the edges of cities. Maybe the occasional mansion.
I you find a very well built wilderness camp, STAY AWAY!!!
But we don't have your encampment mod enabled, do we? ;w;
However, if you find a strange grove, same advice applies.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 02, 2016, 05:29:45 pm
Think I'll mostly be a wilderness survivor, foraging from bushes and shooting/bludgeoning the occasional coyote or cougar. I'll probably supplement with quick get-in, get-out raids on houses and liquor shops near the edges of cities. Maybe the occasional mansion.
I you find a very well built wilderness camp, STAY AWAY!!!
Eh, probably wouldn't even if encampments were enabled. I'll only go for gas stations, campsites, roadside foodcarts, LMOEs, and the like when it comes to the wilderness.
AND NAW FUCK STRANGE GROVES
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 02, 2016, 05:30:17 pm
I really should've given them a tad more loot. ;w;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 02, 2016, 05:34:19 pm
Ohhh, did you mean like, if I find your base?
*loads all the weapons and food into his shopping cart, lights a stick of dynamite in the center*
Naw but in all seriousness I don't think I'll be taking from bases of other participants much at all. I mean, I'll peruse through the place, and might help myself to a bit of somethin' somethin', but I'd probably leave something else in return at a later date.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 02, 2016, 05:39:19 pm
I will be more of a nomad and might settle down in a military base or something, those mini camps are more of supply hunting points.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2016, 05:39:59 pm
Eviiil. D:
Clearly I will need to make ALL the traps.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 02, 2016, 06:06:43 pm
THE PLAN (for me anyway)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2016, 06:15:26 pm
Very much weird. Have at it. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 02, 2016, 06:25:49 pm
alright I will.
EDIT: Ok, the plan might be out the window. A small horde showed up, forced its way through the boarded windows and.... NPC heads started exploding. All over the place. All of them. It seems this experimental version is seeing a return of the notorious "head explosion" bug.
EDIT EDIT: I think it's related to the distinct gun magazines. Under normal circumstances, an NPC fires it's gun until the magazine is empty or the zombie is dead. If they empty the magazine, they simply reload the gun with no problem. If they kill the zombie before the magazine is empty though, they attempt to reload but can't for some reason. So, they drop their gun and continue attempting to reload at which point the anti-error-loop measure kicks in and what you are left with is a shower of blood, brain, skull fragments, and a headless NPC. The only NPC's not effected are the ones armed with melee weapons, or guns that don't use a removable magazine such as shotguns or revolvers. or the ones using bows/crossbows.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2016, 07:23:10 pm
Sweet zombie Jesus why. You borked it. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 02, 2016, 07:24:12 pm
see above second edit. I didn't break it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2016, 07:25:39 pm
Hmm. How old a build is this?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 02, 2016, 07:31:56 pm
experimental 5583. I downloaded it maybe... two days before starting this?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2016, 07:35:18 pm
Hmm. That's not too old, yeah. ;w;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 02, 2016, 07:49:01 pm
Aaaaand deaded. It's been awhile since I've had such a short lived character. Just... wow. gimme a minute to get everything set and have a short write up. It's also the first time I've had the game over screen say anything other than "You are forgotten among he millions lost in the cataclysm." It said something about the refugee center falling to the cataclysm and the traders there dispersing only to be destroyed by marauders.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2016, 08:01:28 pm
Yep, they give epilogues based on your quests and such. Now to pester Apathetic to take a turn.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 02, 2016, 08:36:03 pm
Ok, here it is. https://www.dropbox.com/s/9m627mcokmcgxes/utterlycataclysm.zip?dl=0
The crate was built and sealed. Someone would come by eventually, they would find his body perhaps. They would also find this crate. Hopefully, it would serve as a boon to whoever found it. The world seemed so dark, and all he had wanted was to help create a bastion where survivors could congregate in relative safety. This new world had conspired against him though. He'd helped clear out the small office complex near the refugee center, he'd even secured the office tower for the survivors. There was no reason life had to be hard except every reason it seemed. The evening they burned the pile of bodies, a scout came in reporting a large movement of a massive horde of the living dead. They swept through the refugee center and Kent Kamps hopes like a wave. He'd escaped to the north, but as he fled something else watched him. The wolf. He began cutting down trees and making boards in some last ditch effort to make some kind of a safe haven, and then the silent wolf attacked. His axe had made short enough work of it but the wolf had done for him as well. Lying against this crate, his last effort to aid humanity in some way, Kent waited for his lifes blood to finish it's unavoidable evacuation from his body. Somewhere nearby in the darkness, a moose called. Listening to it, Kent closed his eyes for the last time.
((As you can guess, a wolf mauled my character while I was doing some things. It nearly killed me and left me with a ":" of health in my characters head after I managed to stop the bleeding. I was killed in the dark by a moose. As you may have also gathered though, I built a crate and filled it to bursting with useful stuff I had collected. If you find it, it's yours. There are books and tools. All the tools you need to start a base in fact, except for a hacksaw and welder. There is also a highly desirable copy of the "DIY compendium" in the crate. Get out there and find that shit. I WILL NOW CALL UPON THE APA!))
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Perigrin on October 02, 2016, 11:04:14 pm
Welp, that was suitably dramatic.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2016, 11:05:45 pm
The moose tolls the bell, and it tolls for thee. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 03, 2016, 12:57:40 am
Now that I'm really thinking about it, I might just take one of the starting classes that gives me a gun, a melee weapon, and some skills, and then add survival skills onto that.
Because Wanderers (and I believe Naturalists?) start with crossbows, but last I checked, it usually takes about two shots to kill a wolf. Let's not even get into moose or bears. So I think starting with a good gun and a good weapon would be helpful in taking out a wolf pack or a rampaging larger predator as opposed to a crossbow. And the melee weapon and skills would especially help for town raids. Plus the two or so levels in survival for effective foraging.
Are we on dynamic or static? And are there hordes on? EDIT: Read the world details, questions answered.
EDIT EDIT: Gonna make my own world with the specifications of this one and try my hand at various scenarios.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 03, 2016, 03:56:08 am
Ok, apathetic isn't ready. Buuuuut Mr. "Random_Archdragon, lord of the dark krater and sorcerer of the fourth ring" seems raring to go. SO! It is now randoms turn. PMing him the link.
JUST SO YOU KNOW! I did the thing and packaged a copy of cataclysm, sans save, in the zip file. When you are ready, simply copy the save into the cata save folder.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 03, 2016, 12:35:59 pm
Ack. Was asleep apparently, grabbing the thing now. Will have to be out and about in a moment anyway though, but can start it up at least.
EDIT: First thing I see is that someone apparently picked Heresy Version. Who even uses the ASCII-only builds anymore? D:
EDIT 2: Also, I think you borked it. The "save" folder included alongside the game folder is literally just a memorial file.
EDIT 3: Save folder inside the game itself is the right one. Having to grab the oldest tiles build I can get my hands on, port the save (and memorial, and graveyard) folders over, then I'm gonna have to start when I can get a chance later today, getting dragged out sooner than expected.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 03, 2016, 02:53:26 pm
Double-posting because eh, why not.
Screenshot:
Had it really been over a year? By countless gods, we prevailed for so long. From many disparate faiths, we cast aside our schisms and petty quarrels, to fight back against what we thought was the End of All.
But we were blind. Chasing cultists and heretics while all we held dear crumbled away. We slew the wicked, fought the monsters, but the world we left behind needed no such dark powers to destroy itself.
And when the last bastion was destroyed from within, I had nowhere to go. The sanctum was compromised, and the modern world I renounced almost a decade ago fared even worse. I lost track of my comrades in arms, and found precious few survivors in this new world. And fewer still I could trust.
But I hold hope. Though the dead arise and demand recompense from the living, and though I know little of whatever strange forces caused all of this, I know of unfinished work. In the grand scheme of things, otherworldly gods and blood cultists almost seem trivial now.
But I do what I can, so long as the Sun shines upon the Earth. If it prevents one more horror from destroying the world, then may the gods smile upon me.
Screenshot:
The structure we approached filled me with a sense of dread. A massive crater that had blasted the forest around it to ashes, and hovering above it was some strange temple. I knew of the cult that once maintained it, and of strained relations between my brethren and theirs. But it never reached the point of outright conflict like our pursuit of The Sanguine Order.
I had but one ally from the "blind" world, a survivor by the name of Kristin. I'm not sure how she survived so long, emboldened by the spirits to advance towards the flimsy stairway leading into the abandoned temple.
Screenshot:
I scrambled to help her, even as she seemed to turn back, finally taking stock of the situation. She didn't even bring a weapon, and I had only my trusty hammer. As I saw strange unfathomable things swarming her, only a few vaguely recognizable as humanoid, I turn and ran like a coward, my initial attempt to save her only earning me several searing gashes over my arm, and what felt like a cracked rib.
When I made it into the treeline, I managed to catch my breath for but a moment, and tend to my wounds as best as I could. The last of the purified essence withered away as I channeled the power of the cloak I wore, and I felt a jolt of pain course through my body, not that it was much worse than the injuries I took in that brief scuffle. I felt a bit less faint from blood loss, but the largest of my wounds wasn't any less bloody.
They're still following me. Even with the bleeding stopped, I can't handle them in a straight fight. I need to put some distance between mysel and them, then think up a plan.
Also amusing, there's a fucking island temple nearby too.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 03, 2016, 03:14:51 pm
Awesome, dude. I like the roleplay elements.
And I actually only use ASCII builds ;-;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 03, 2016, 03:29:42 pm
Just use the tiles build and set it to ASCII mode. Or at least do that if you intend to make someone else play your save. ;-;
Finally lost the homunculi. Disgusting things, vaguely humanoid yet an overt mockery of anything of this world. I'm starting to realize I took on this holy mission with very little in the way of preparation or supplies. I'm going to need something to hold water in, fire, and a knife. I think Kristin had some supplies, but that's a moot point now.
And on top of all that, a bear attacked me. Not as severe a threat as those...things, so if I had the means to butcher it I'd at least have food. Farther south are more monsters, but they don't seem to be part of the group infesting the crater. Odd.
I need some form of cordage to safely hold any sort of decent makeshift knife. I finally made it to the wetlands near the river, only to nearly get killed by one of those acid-spitting revenants. No matter, at least it has some clothes I can salvage for material. If I can...
What is this catch-22 horseshit? To make a cutting tool, I need rags or thread. But all accessible means to do so require a cutting quality.
EDIT: AND WHAT IS THIS BUTTFUCKERY? I need this short rope unfucked pronto to make a knife, but...
EDIT 2: Debugged for 6 small strings. Apparently there is a bug affected ropes for some dumb reason.
Ventured towards the road. Seems clear, and there's a broken-down car nearby. Think I can strip down some of the upholstry to properly wrap a cutting tool.
Eventually I had a crude knife, a fire drill, and a makeshift waterskin. I'm freezing half to death though, but I'm clinging to life better than I was yesterday.
Finally got a camp set up by the road, safely away from the gods-forsaken temple. I will avenge the fallen, soon. I wonder why I keep occasionally encountering the undead out here, but I assume they are wanderers, adrift in the absence of prey in the cities. Or perhaps they dispersed in pursuit of wildlife and survivors.
No matter. I feel bad about stripping the bodies and using their clothes to keep from freezing to death, but I hope that giving their spirits peace is penace enough.
Now it's just a matter of resting up, letting these wounds mend. I spent the afternoon of the third day reading the book of our order. Much of the teachings within are beyond my understanding, but I renew my resolve, and learn what I can until nightfall.
EDIT: This version seems to have a weird bug with recipes. Sometimes lets me try to make something I lack components for, only for it to error at me. Should I see if the latest version is unfucked?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 03, 2016, 07:26:00 pm
EDIT: This version seems to have a weird bug with recipes. Sometimes lets me try to make something I lack components for, only for it to error at me. Should I see if the latest version is unfucked?
If you so desire. I encountered that bug myself, it usually occurs when you have all the ingredients, but one or more of them are suddenly grabbed, destroyed, or moved outside the craft range before you can complete the crafting. I found it was fairly common when trying to make things out of wood when the only source of sticks/2x4s was the ones in your fire. Or meat on the verge of rotting suddenly decaying in the middle of crafting.
EDIT: First thing I see is that someone apparently picked Heresy Version. Who even uses the ASCII-only builds anymore? D:
I could say the same about you, tiles using heretic. Either way though, the animations don't function for me in the tiles version.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 03, 2016, 07:31:52 pm
That is weird, because all I was doing was using rags, and none of them were on fire. No matter, I'll stick with the current version I grabbed.
Screenshot:
Finally healed up, it's been...if I recall, five days since the spring equinox? Far as I'm concerned, fifth day of my attempt to stop running, stop scavenging, and actually do something useful.
My first target is the clearing west of the cursed structure. I can see some form of imp wandering the area, along with the chitinous monster I had a brief scuffle with. The imp was chasing after a wild moose it seemed, while the abominable thing was easily chased down and crushed. Now I witnessed it, grasped the lingering life force of this hideous thing. I am reminded of my mission, and that this otherworldly power represents everything we have fought against.
The others of my order believe these motes of essence are fragmented pieces of these monsters souls, unable to pass on due to being trapped in our world. Not only is it dangerous to use this as a source of power, it is disrespectful to the dead, alien in nature as these beings may be. The ritual thus not only renders it harmless, but is meant to pacify their lingering spirit.
I'm not sure what the consecrated energy left behind is meant to be, though. I vaguely recall the teachings mentioning that the power that drew them here is in some way involved. All that matters is this remaining energy is a necessary evil.
There are other bodies scattered about the clearing. Possibly those who strayed too close to the impact crater. I meditate once more, before continuing my advance.
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On the wind I hear chanting. Strange sounds, voices. I visited one of these cultist enclaves before, when our orders were on friendlier terms. Their chants and hymns did not sound so unnerving. Have they changed, corrupted by their pursuit of an otherworldly god? Or is something else at work here?
The flying...tentacle things are overtly the greatest outside threat. Fast and hard to kill, if I recall. I decide to wait until nightfall to begin an attack.
First I see the visage of a strange floating eye, engulfed in foxfire that lit up its surroundings. Meeting its gaze was sickening, but the light it gave off made it my first target. That it seemed to see me even in the dead of night was further reason to target it first.
But stepping into the light attracted attention. A few shuffling forms, mere revenents. These weren't the common undead I've seen wandering near the roads though. They wore robes and other apparel marking them as servants of the Veiled God, or whatever the ones attending the floating temple were called. In my earlier panic, I did not get a good luck at them, and did not see that they had evidently succumbed to some calamity. But that means the source of the wicked hymns is no living being.
I finally reached the crater, where I found the body of my companion. I feel terrible for taking these supplies from her, but I must. But these flying monsters were soon enough upon me again, and in disgrace I am forced to retreat a second time.
More revenants meander along the road, a morbid source of clothing to salvage. I have managed to repair and reinforce most of my gear, but my gilded aegis is in bad condition. Not confident of my ability to repair this, so my best option may be to simply stash it for now, to not risk further damage. To go into battle without the ability to mend wounds is bad, but losing it permanently is worse.
Instead, I have a plan. The golden scales of this cloak, while better than nothing, aren't really ideal as armor. They're more of a symbol, overtly declaring who we are. I need to figure out how to make proper armor, to match the helm I wear, the gauntlets and boots as well. I managed to make a simple padded leather manica to protect my arms, but that is only part of my plan. Until then, I cover myself with a simple coat, providing more pockets as well.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 04, 2016, 01:11:40 pm
Because Random apparently doesn't want to double post, have a useless post.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2016, 02:30:40 pm
And at last, the busywork of procuring armor is out of the way.
It's almost been two weeks since my first ill-fated assault on the crater. I've spent the time preparing myself, gathering supplies, fending out the occasional roaming undead. In doing so, I now have adequate armor. At least, better than what I went into battle with.
I've also passed the time studying The Cleansing Flame further. I feel I will be better prepared now. Tomorrow will be the 13th day of my quest. I shall spend the remainder of today purifying the energy I've gathered during my second attack on the structure, then I shall attack after a night's rest.
May the gods guide me.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 04, 2016, 04:09:48 pm
Is called a bump bish. BUMP YU SHET! Good work though, you aren't as poor at RP/creative writing as you let on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2016, 04:20:11 pm
Eh. I still think up some rather derpy things at times. And yes, boop the snoot thread.
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As I spend the evening purifying the essence, I ponder my studies. I remember the rituals needed to consecrate unholy artifacts, and wonder whether my understanding of the arcane is enough to cleanse this world of any dangerous items I might find within. At a bare minimum, removing temptation to wield such weapons would be a wise idea.
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I also ponder my weapon of choice. With my cloak too damaged, this is the only other use I have for the purified essence. But to use it is a double-edged sword, at least without a holy mask to guard my eyes. For now, it is only good as a weapon, and as a symbol of my mission. I recall little of the inscription on the decoration, Latin was never my strong suit.
But I recall firmly the incantation I must use if I need to activate its defensive purpose.
But now, the morning comes. Day 13, and only two of those flying monsters remain in my way.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 04, 2016, 04:39:51 pm
THIS POST IS THE FORUM EQUIVALENT OF A SEPARATOR IN A BINDER. LOOK, IT EVEN HAS A CRUDE SKETCH OF THE SLAYER LOGO AND A DICK DRAWN ON IT.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2016, 04:53:13 pm
Screenshot:
I sound the incantation, and a brilliant bright light overtakes me. The ringing in my ears and white light drown out everything, but as I land a blow on the creature, it becomes readily clear that the flash had just as much an effect on the monster. Soon enough I'm the one on the offensive, as this time its tendrils can do little against the leather armor I wear.
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Even then it was hard-fought, but soon enough the wicked thing evaporated, sent back to whatever hells it emerged from. I'm not sure I can handle the next one in the area. Instead I sneak along to the higher level, in the hopes that I can gain respite there.
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First thing I find is some meager scrap of paper, some note evidently left behind during whatever calamity caused this. I suppose this further confirms what I saw in my travels, before I tried to assail this place. Obvious even to these heretics. No matter. I made my way across the winding path, knowing that this middle level was some object lesson about the easy path being the hardest. Some excuse to booby-trap the shortest walkways.
I ventured upwards and found to my surprise, the area seemed to be empty. I did find a strange sword, black with red markings on it. I realized at once these were emblems of The Sanguine Order. Some conflict between them? I know nearby is one of their accursed sites.
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It was on the other end of the walkway I found signs of the cultists. One of them seemed to have been their leader, evidently killed by one of the monsters lingering in the area.
...how'd this chucklefuck get out of his room? And how'd he die?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 04, 2016, 04:58:23 pm
Holy shit, the archon's dead? Well, that makes things moderately easier. I normally just peek the doors open and throw explosives in there, then shut it again until he dies.
I actually don't know how tough he is in a fair fight, I've always been too cautious about my late-game survivors to risk taking him on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2016, 08:03:36 pm
If you have at least one speed trait, he's trivial to kill. Less chance of stunlock from lightning. There's a dead mi-go next to him too, so fucked irf I know what the deal is. He's in cultist faction, so they shouldn't be fighting. D:
I returned to camp, free to further the basic work of survival and examine what all I've found raiding the floating temple. The priest it seemed was wielding one of their lightning weapons, a golden emblem with 3 prongs. As for the sword, I can't help but get a bad feeling just being near it. Whereas that golden weapon was easily destroyed, the sword seems to be beyond my ability.
I'm also worried about this sword possibly falling into the wrong hands. My little makeshift campsite is rather exposed. In addition to securing food, I might work on fortifying it to some extent, enough to hinder intruders to a degree. Being near the road has given me the benefit of seeing roaming revenants before they get too close, but might expose me if any survivors travel this way.
For now though, I sought to follow the road, and confirming my suspisions, I see the edge of a town not that far west of the river. I could use supplies, tools, and information. Even in the time before I initiated my quest, I never strayed too close to the towns, and we mainly just followed the rivers. It's how I knew to retrace my steps and find the crater.
The city is large, infested with revenants and even a few monsters. As such, I stick to the edge of the town, using the houses to my advantage. Even then there are a few stragglers, along with a small group of peculair undead, enveloped in living shadows.
Ultimately, my brief incursion into the edge of town yields a few useful materials, but not much. Narrowly evaded some form of flying drone that seemed to be attracted by an alarm I set off during one of my intrusions, but that proved helpful for distracting the few undead that followed me.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2016, 09:23:35 pm
I intend now to build adequate shelter, not a crude little pine construction. But first I made another venture into town, to scavenge addition supplies, tools, maybe even containers.
In the process I found, to my horror, a house seemingly grown over entirely by paper-like material, the street near it littered with the mangled bodies of revenants. And the cause? Multiple massive wasps, buzzing angrily around the area. I'd taken care to avoid individual instances of these corrupted creatures, but this nest is dangerously close to one of my intended targets.
I strayed deeper into the streets than I wanted to, but anything to avoid these things. They're rather adept at killing the undead, I doubt I'd have an easy time if they ganged up on me. Not to mention, I feel bad for these things, terrifying as they are. They are clearly mundane creatures of this world, warped by whatever perverse power caused all this. They do nothing more than what they would in their normal form.
But as with any animal, I will slay them if I have no choice, or if supplies are such that hunting becomes necessary.
Screenshot:
As I feared, it isn't some corrupted insect I need fear. Some monstrous revenant followed me out of town, gaining on me rapidly. It seemed to be all aglow, body partly mechanical in nature. And this was confirmed in the jolt it struck me with when it closed in, nearly flooring me from pain.
Screenshot:
Actually killing it was easier than I expected, but for a moment panic bested me. I assume the monster was wounded in clashes with chitinous things, be they mutant or otherworldly. I found myself examining the creature more closely, its body a wreck of advanced technology melded with a corrupted, inhumanly muscular body.
Screenshot:
I normally do the minimum needed to give the revenant eternal peace, in both body and soul. But in this case I attempted to cut away the machinery, perhaps fearing modern science could animate a body too damaged for these dark powers to control. I feel disgusting for butchering something once human, finding at least one component seemed reasonably intact.
The remaining pieces were merely short-circuited pieces of junk, and good riddance. I decided the lone intact device would serve as a morbid trophy.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2016, 05:36:16 am
Hnnng, must I triple post? Triple the forum heresy. Editing to world settings to set season length to 14 makes this feel a lot less daunting, but I can tweak it back to 30 after however this ends.
It is late into summer, and I have largely just been tending to my camp and further securing supplies. I've secured some books to read and study as well, but something else troubles me. I have been reluctant to track down the blood mages, but I know they have a hideout close to the floating temple. If I intend to solve the mystery of that strange sword, I need to track them down.
If I'm lucky, it'll also be good to get out of this heat. I've no comfortable substitute for my current gear.
Soon though, I'm in sight of what appears to be the place. Bordering more sweltering swamps, a lone oasis blighted by their temple built in the center of it. And lingering in the area, more assorted inhuman things. Once again, only the flying monstrosity is a major concern.
I stand corrected. That human mimicry put up a good fight, and the area overall seems to be extremely hectic. There is an immense cacophony of violence going on from deeper inside the structure, and these monsters are hazard enough as it is. But I have one advantage I lacked last time I clashed with the flying monsters.
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My studies of our order's tome led me to understand some of our rituals. Enough to work a mask into the image of the divine, and grant it the power of sight beyond sight. The blast of my hammer still rings in my ears, but the mask's power wards my sight, and I can see to press the advantage. Each time the flash staggers and disorients this monster, preventing it from playing hit-and-run.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 05, 2016, 05:38:54 am
Go, Random_Paladin, defeat the sacrilegists!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2016, 02:53:09 pm
And I return from sleeping until 1 AM.
Flying polyps are nasty motherfuckers. They don't fight fair. So don't fight fair with them. The real trouble here's gonna be the surprise waiting at the bottom. Unless it can be stunned too, we'll see.
One monster down, at least one more to go. One of the animated blood mages was carrying a tome, that I recognized as an alchemical text, one of few books our order approved. And soon enough, the next airborne horror is put down, the creature apparently having taken down some sort of mutated slug with it.
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I'm hoping that's the last of these pests. That said, I'm starting to get a feel for the pattern needed to kill them safely. Keep the pressure up, recharge the hammer after each blast, hit it twice, blast it again...
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Gods above and below, you can't be serious! Once again I'm forced into retreat, though at least this time my pursuer is left dazed, granting me a considerable head start.
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As I finally get a moment to catch my breath, I start to become more aware of the pain, and the severity of my injuries. Whether through being caught up in a berserker rage, sheer adrenaline, or divine guidance, I'm amazed I managed to kill three of those things, and one of those homonculi, without falling apart at the seams. I need to head back to camp, mend my torn clothes, heal up, and break down every mote of essence obtained in the battle.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2016, 04:53:40 pm
Aaaand ded. Game plus save will go here when the damn thing finishes uploading.
* World option has been changed to 14-day seasons. You can freely edit that if you desire longer. * If you switch to a different version, remember to copy over the graveyard and memorial folders, not just the save and Mining Mod. * If you find a lone car west of a river marked on the GPS, following the road east and north will have you pass by the camp. Sword's in the pine lean-to. * Fun shit is farther southeast of the camp. Floating temple's cleared out, but beyond that is the island temple.
Screenshot:
And to make things worse, two developments. One, I realize when nearing my camp that I completely forgot about the stolen shopping cart I resorted to carrying tools in. Two, it isn't long before I see signs of a survivor following the river, just as I did with Kristin. If they're friendly, then this is a boon to my quest. But I'm no condition to fight if things turn ugly.
Worse, my camp is only partly set up to deter intruders. Thankfully it seems that they have yet to stray near the road, and I am free to purify essence to make use of my cloak. Bad as these injuries are, I don't want to risk being attacked while trying to merely sleep it off.
With the morning arriving, I'm surprised I wasn't bothered in my sleep, and everything still seems to be in place. There's only a dull ache where I presumably broke a rib or two, or perhaps lingering soreness from the gilded aegis forcibly setting and mending fractures.
I decide to approach them, cautiously. And without my weapon at the ready. I hope this won't prove foolish, but I suspect appearing armed will provoke them. Not to mention, the hammer is my only outward sign of being a member of the Cleansing Flame. I do ensure the hammer is charged with energy, so I can at least stun them if needed.
Screenshot:
Mercifully, they seem to be a desperate traveler, seemingly the only survivor of a pair. While it seemed her companion was picked off by...something, rather than killed in a foolhardy charge like the one Kristin and I made, we still share circumstances.
It soon became apparent that she was traveling north, and that the beast that pursued her was likely to my south. As I reached the road to hunt this thing down, I realized to my horror that it seemed to be shambling out of the treeline, just south of my camp. If I hadn't been bold enough to confront this survivor, I likely would've been caught completely off-guard.
But as with the flying monsters, the hue and cry of my hammer staggers it all the same. This thing appears as Legion made manifest, but I have witnessed worse.
Screenshot:
The beast falls before me, though it took all but one of the purified essence I had left after healing my wounds last night. I found her again and told of the beast I slew. Even if this thing seems unrelated to my mission, I few like I'm actually doing this world some good, for the first time in years.
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While I feel like a bold-faced liar saying I can protect someone, given what happened last time, having someone to watch my back might be desirable.
I led her back to my camp, thankfully she seems to know little of the alchemy book I left there, and the sword is hidden in the old lean-to I build the camp around. Decided we need to make a second place to rest, easily handled by gathering boughs of pine.
Screenshot:
Eventually I decide to ask her a bit about herself, and it became apparent that she vaguely recognized the markings on the hammer I carried. Seems she does in fact know a bit about the arcane, but where she learned it I'm unsure. No apparent connection to my order, to the Keepers of the Oath, nor to the Sanguine Order. Possibly an alchemist or scribe's apprentice. I will have to keep a close eye on her given the item I guard, but her reaction to my being a member of the Cleansing Flame suggests she's trustworthy.
Screenshot:
With the camp a bit more livable for two people, I decided to ask her about the additional quests she was considering. This seems rather crude, mundane work for a mage-hunter, but should be trivial to handle.
However, I would like to retrieve my cart as well, as I just realized that I left my book in there, in addition to essential tools. I awaken rather early in the morning, letting my still tired ally know only that I'll be back soon, and that she can keep resting. I ventured forth to the odd little oasis, to retrieve my cart and to scout the area out while I still had the cover of darkness.
Screenshot:
Even in the darkness, I could see something horrifying had made a complete mess of the place. Something massive was clawing at the battered doors, vaguely resembling a dragon. But from the stench of death and the way it moved, I suspect the monster has fallen prey to the same curse afflicting the revenants haunting this structure.
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A note as well, some sign of my brethren having visited this place? This bodes unwell. I prepare myself for battle...
Screenshot:
Though the Sun shall shine upon the Earth, many shall never see the dawn again. As the dead rise and hunger for the living, and horrors from beyond spread over all the land, both magic and technology struggle to turn the tide.
Though hope remains, one more falls to the horrors of a new era, leaving an unfinished mission. A wicked blade lies hidden only by a scant few boughs of pine, and winged death lurks in a ruined temple. For now, the Cleansing Flame is extinguished.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 05, 2016, 05:03:45 pm
So I am to assume it is my turn now?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2016, 12:59:52 am
...five years later, upload failed. Hnnng. Fuck it, I'm gonna be out and about tomorrow, so I can dropbox it when I get some wifi instead of this potato net.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2016, 01:22:23 pm
Well, this time I try dropboxing it again since I have time before I need to head out, and it worked in a reasonable period of time. Game plus save is here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89427928/Utterly%20Cata.zip (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89427928/Utterly%20Cata.zip)
As before, reminders:
* World option has been changed to 14-day seasons. You can freely edit that if you desire longer. * If you switch to a different version, remember to copy over the graveyard and memorial folders, not just the save and Mining Mod. * If you find a lone car west of a river marked on the GPS, following the road east and north will have you pass by the camp. Sword's in the pine lean-to. * Fun shit is farther southeast of the camp. Floating temple's cleared out, but beyond that is the island temple.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 06, 2016, 02:26:11 pm
Time to set it up then.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2016, 02:33:28 pm
At last. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 06, 2016, 06:49:34 pm
PoV: Bionic Sniper - Alexis Nightstalker.
Backstory: Alexis had always been interested in both long range rifle shooting and outdoors camping so naturally that passion and the skills she had acquire were put to good use as an army sniper. In terms of physical and intellectual ability she was nothing special but had lower than average eyesight and perception requiring corrective bifocal glasses skills this prevented her from qualifying to become a scout sniper. She was ready to give up when the opportunity of a lifetime showed itself, she was eligible for experimental augmentation on a then top secret project to created efficient soldiers. She accepted and emerged a with, among other things, her eyesight of everyone else plus the ability of that of binoculars without the aid of her corrective glasses. Thanks to this she qualified all tests and was soon after deployed to the field. She later proved to be an exemplary asset to the united states armed forces.
Prologue: Alexis had just arrived from a rather difficult assignment involving a rumor of a potential Chinese invasion. She had heard the rumors and became alarm when she learned of her assignment. She had learned nothing but was almost caught by "enemy" forces. Discovery US military forces on Chinese soil would of had been seen as an act of war with tension as high as they currently were. She pride herself in having avoided WW3. She spend the initial days of the cataclysm, coincidentally enough, in a military base in new england for reasons she did not know. She has also heard the rumors of a new disease that turned people revived the dead into violent killers but paid it no mind dismissing it as a governmental disinformation campaign (she knew all to well about those). It was not until the bombs hit that she realize something was wrong but by then most of the infantry had been deployed and the dead were taking the cities. She was given an assignment near by to holdout in the wilderness until further notice. This struck her as odd but given most other soldier were already deployed she figured they wanted the rest scattered for tactical purposes, but why her, a scout sniper of all things. She got on a helicopter to her destination but everything went to shit when they neared one of the cities. It was the 5th day since she heard the rumors of the disease and she was now witnessing it, the blood lust visible from even her altitude, the last thing she remembered before losing confidence was the pilot saying something had struck the back stabilizer, the heli soon crashed before Alexis could process anything of what was going on and soon lost consciousness.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2016, 06:53:25 pm
Oooh this is gonna be good. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 06, 2016, 06:53:37 pm
Day 1: She was awaken from the pain the crash had cause, she had acquired various injuries but was miraculous in not having broken anything or currently bleeding. She saw that someone else was looking through the rubble of what was once a helicopter. She asks who he is and he introduces himself as Manuel Shulz. She then asks if she could help him with anything in the same way you tell a stranger who is in your property. He responds that he would like she to find a religious relic. You do not know this man, she are injured, what appears to be people infected with the disease are approaching and he asks for a religious relic?! You humor him and accept the request. She then realize what is going on, the world is forever changed, those infected people are zombies, the rumors were true, the Chinese come to mind but it does not matter now, she needs to get out of here fast. She looks at Manuel and realizes she could use his help in this situation. She ask him if he would like to join she and he laughs, "No thanks, I am well armed and more than capable of defending myself." This is when she realize two of the dead are coming her way. She re-loads her rifle and books it, she hear shoots from Manuel's rifle as he dispatches the zombies, she reach the edge of the woods. Alexis sets up camp to asses inventory and injuries and outfits her rifle with a suppressor, a shoulder sling, and a combat knife as a bayonet. When she is about to set and zero the rifle scope she hears noise outside, its a moose, if left alone it may leave or harm her and the tent, if she attacks that is a 2 days worth of food. Alexis readies her rifle and engages the moose with bayonet strikes. She gets injured in the process but manages to take the beast down. She proceeds to butcher it and takes the meat and such inside the tent to formulate a plan of what to do next, this is no longer a mission, HQ might be dead, but she does not plan to join them. She decides to spend the rest of the day setting simple camp. She gathers sticks and pine boughs to make an improvised shelter instead of exposing the tent to destruction. She lays her roll mat inside the shelter once it is done. Two spaces of the shelter she digs a shallow pit to serve as a fire pit to cook some food to preserve battery on the mess kit. After a nice meal of meat and water from the aero evaporator bionic she fell asleep in her surprisingly combustible pile of stuff. She was awoke to a sudden pain, with rifle in hand she looked at the direction it came from, it was a bear!!! She then proceed to wrestle with the bear stabbing it with her bayoneted rifle until the bear finally fell, however, it did not to down without a fight; Alexis had sustained some injuries in the fight. She proceeded to butcher the now fallen bear for its meat and soon fell asleep once more. She awoke the next day without incident and some of her injuries from the crash and the bear scuffle had healed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2016, 07:02:36 pm
And I see tiles are fucked again. It seems that you have to play around with the scaling mode and the software renderer toggle, if default settings aren't wonky. Both are in the same chunk of options, bottom of graphics settings.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 06, 2016, 07:18:03 pm
And I see tiles are fucked again. It seems that you have to play around with the scaling mode and the software renderer toggle, if default settings aren't wonky. Both are in the same chunk of options, bottom of graphics settings.
I have played around with the settings in it works fine on my newer laptop but I am stuck in a 2009 potato so I have gotten use to the black lines.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2016, 07:36:44 pm
Odd. ;w;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 06, 2016, 07:53:55 pm
Day 2: After the bear incident of last night she had a good source of food for a while at least. The sun was not out yet so she could not use the mess kit to cook the meat on it. Alexis decided to make a fire in the pit and cooked 9 pieces of meat 3 of which she ate and drank the rest of the water she had in her canteen. With no bionic power and injuries only slightly better than the crash, it would be a long day ahead, at least she still had left over cooked meat, all her ammunition, some batteries for the mess kit and a makeshift campsite to "live" in. Alexis went through planing what to do until sun rise which ended up being particularly strong which she used to recharge her bionic power, she ended up using most of it to get water so she ended up with only 25 power in the end. She then scavenged around to see what she could find but ended up with only different types of wood and more pine boughs/cones. After that alexis had enough material to make a stone shovel and she promptly crafted it to make improvements to the camp. She made the fire pit deeper and began doing holes around the perimeter for extra security. She did this until sundown where she was low on water and decided to loot nearby houses for supplies. She explored 3 houses with no incident where she gather basic supplies and resources but only managed to fill her canteen with toilet water... In the first house she found a basement with various types of ammo a shotgun and a couple of accessories. She took all ammo, the Remington 870 shotgun, a red dot sight and a suppressor. She loaded the shogun with some obsequiously reloaded shot shells and put her combat knife as a bayonet for the shogun instead of her rifle. The suppressor did not fit the shotgun so she saved it for another firearm she might find. Despite her military training she had no experience in shoguns so she did not know how to properly zero the red dot sight on the Remington, she decided to get some experience with it first before she installed the component. On her way to the second house she found a relatively intact Fire Engine but was without wheels, she gather some firefighter gear and was on her way. The third house had no special features to it and after looting it Alexis decided to head to camp where the next day awaited crafting many an item. She reached camp with no incident and after some quick inventory check she swiftly fell asleep.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2016, 08:07:22 pm
Might be a good excuse to scout the edges of town. If you find a tank, fun shall ensue. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 07, 2016, 06:09:56 pm
Day 3: Today was mostly uneventful for our confused heroine. She spent most of her day crafting various items from her salvaged loot including an axe, fire drill, tinder carrier, and a makeshift crowbar. The sun was bright in the sky too for a long time as well allowing alexis to fully recharge her bionics and have various drinks of water ala-bionic without having to boil her toilet water; she did however went through all her food and will need to scavenge tomorrow. Her wounds are mostly healed too so another full nights sleep should suffice. A fat zombie wandered into the camp but was quickly taken care of via bayoneted-shotgun to the face. All this and she still had no answers to what was going on, why did this happened? Could it be stopped, where is everyone? Is HQ dead? She was not going to find answers just sitting here but she knew the dead were tough from her few encounters. Alexis pondered while she cooked the last of her food if she should go into the city nearby to establish a safe house and maybe find out what was going on. She had the tools and could easily find the supplies to fortify a house and stock it with food. Finding a working vehicle would sure speed things up. She also wondered if it would be a good idea to practice archery know instead of putting it off like all those years, an effective way to kill and put food on the table fire place. All of that would have to wait for later, with her belly full and no food left finding food would be priority tomorrow after a nights rest. She lay in her roll-mat full of stuff and went to sleep uninterrupted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2016, 08:35:48 pm
When in doubt, boop the snoot post. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 07, 2016, 11:12:01 pm
Day 4: Alexis woke up to all hear wounds healed and her belly making hunger noises, It was still dark and she was confident she could do a quick scouting job inside the city, grab some food and get back when the sun rose. She left all her items but a backpack and her shotgun and rifle with her. She remembered spotting a radio station semi-near where she had looted previously and decide to head there to see if there where any broad casts or if she could do some of her own. She got there with a few injuries from killing a few zombie via bayonet to avoid noise. She soon discovered that she would not some sort of repeater to be able to send a radio signal of her own other with radios would be able to hear, with nothing else to do she decided to leave. A zombie-fied dog had entered the station by breaking a window and Alexis soon started to bayonet-it but her encumbrance would not allow her to land a hit to the mobile foe. She resorted to using her shotgun, one shell it took to kill the dog...a big mistake. She attempted to reload but soon realized she forgot to carry her spare ammunition...She was down to 5 makeshift shot-shells, 20 actual shot shot-shells she found on her way to the station and 5 bullet to her rifle. She booked it. Outside attracted by the noise where many zombie coming and to her relief there was a working car in front of the station. She took the car and drove north to avoid the zombies coming for her and planed to make a turn right to the street that lead to the heli-crash site and move on foot from there. The sun was still not up so she used her headlights and after driving a short distance were more zombies, she decided to move forward as going back still meant zombies from the station and turning would give them all a time advantage to catch up. Just as she took the street that lead to the crash site her car gave up after plowing through many a dead in the middle of a small horde... Surrounded she killed a few with her bayonet and used the shotgun to make a path to exit but there were just to many, she could not reload fast enough and when she was down to her rifle and fire its last shot she soon was overwhelmed...it was the end of Alexis, her lasr words cursing her weapons for not loading fast enough, she died a confused and abandon girl among the dead... Au Revoir.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 08, 2016, 01:21:33 pm
Bad youkai, bumping and editing later means we can't see the content that gets edited in without bothering to double-check. 3:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 08, 2016, 08:08:09 pm
Wait, what was edited? WHAT AM I MISSING!? Also, I edited to OP to reflect the change of players and randoms death.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 08, 2016, 09:17:47 pm
See? My edit abuse was bad enough. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 09, 2016, 01:30:47 am
Well, I am fucking dead, read all my post in case you missed something, will post the link to download when it is done. The cities man, I swear...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 09, 2016, 01:53:51 am
Damn. I liked Alexis.
Skip me for now. I've got no time and no access to a computer that's new enough to run Cataclysm for the time being.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 09, 2016, 02:05:30 am
alright, lets see... that puts... Perigrin next.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Perigrin on October 09, 2016, 02:38:11 am
I can make muh character tonight. gimme dat .zip tho
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 09, 2016, 02:54:10 am
Here is the link. (https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ajb7I9_jqo4TgUkMKLp4LZWqOxHz) Pro tips: -All my items minus guns and clothing are in the camp. -Ammoless guns, clothing and bionic littered body are guarded by a tiny horde by the sporting goods store closet to the camp.
Good luck!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Perigrin on October 09, 2016, 04:39:49 am
Aight. Tomorrow, Leroy lives again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2016, 01:46:34 pm
Leroy Jenkins? o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 09, 2016, 02:43:45 pm
d'aw man, i wanted a turn. Damn you peri for being a COMPETENT HUMAN BEAN
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 09, 2016, 05:33:09 pm
It's all good Wilson, you have a turn coming up. After blitzkrieg in fact, and blitz is after perigrin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 09, 2016, 06:01:27 pm
it's okay, peri's a real human bean. I'm not so sure about Blitz though,
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2016, 06:05:52 pm
Peri confirmed for delicious when served alongside rice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 09, 2016, 06:25:08 pm
https://youtu.be/-DSVDcw6iW8
a real human bean
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Perigrin on October 09, 2016, 06:25:44 pm
Aight, DLing now.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 09, 2016, 06:44:32 pm
it's okay, peri's a real human bean. I'm not so sure about Blitz though,
I am not a human bean. I am a catsnake.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 09, 2016, 06:48:22 pm
only real human beans allowed to play, sorry.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2016, 06:59:14 pm
So we have a moose skeleton, the goddess Eris, a dog...ferret...something, a cat snake, a youkai, and a dragon all playing. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 09, 2016, 07:00:48 pm
they're not human BEINGS they're human BEANS completely different, my dude. it's a state of BEING, my man.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Perigrin on October 09, 2016, 09:29:01 pm
we have a problem the file is 500 megs for some godforsaken reason and i have crashy internet, or slow internet, nothing in between, so i will have to nab it over night.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2016, 09:30:42 pm
...ya fuckin' wot mate?
Even when I zipped and uploaded the whole game plus the stuff it was barely above 50 megs, not half a gigabyte! D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 09, 2016, 10:00:49 pm
That's what it weight for me.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2016, 10:02:00 pm
How much Touhou hentai did you fill it with to make it ten times as big?
Also, generic tanks fucked up...something in your mod and tankmod? Explain, now. :V
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 09, 2016, 10:04:12 pm
It's a deer skull on a human skeleton. Speaking of which, I need to get new vertebrae for this one, they've almost worn down to meal. Goddamn spinal column wears out slow, but when it does it effects the whole thing. Anyone want to donate a few vertebrae?
Also, what the hell is up with the size of the save? Why u do dis dragon?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 10, 2016, 12:08:50 am
Skeletons are high maintenance. I need all the bones I can get.
Is it that hard to get volunteers nowadays?
Nope. In a pinch, you can substitute pig bones. As long as the bone you're replacing is a minor one. Vertibrae are not minor though. neither are pelvic bones, shoulder blades or sternums
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 10, 2016, 08:12:09 pm
Skeletons are high maintenance. I need all the bones I can get.
Is it that hard to get volunteers nowadays?
Nope. In a pinch, you can substitute pig bones. As long as the bone you're replacing is a minor one. Vertibrae are not minor though. neither are pelvic bones, shoulder blades or sternums
How about skulls?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 10, 2016, 08:52:50 pm
you find a sheet of torn notebook paper in old survivor's hideout, the place got fucked up. There's alot of zombie corpses, four survivor's and a smoker.
day 2 god dammit, these rotting fuckers found the garage. i need to bug out. leave town. i'll stay in this fuck hole for a little while longer, it's fucking freezing outside. the food i got will last me for a bit. one of these zombies had a map on him along with a weird hammer, i'll check the map to see where to head next.
- the frog
Yeah yeah, I know that it isn't my turn. This is side story stuff, if you really want my saves let me know.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 10, 2016, 09:03:45 pm
Skeletons are high maintenance. I need all the bones I can get.
Is it that hard to get volunteers nowadays?
Nope. In a pinch, you can substitute pig bones. As long as the bone you're replacing is a minor one. Vertibrae are not minor though. neither are pelvic bones, shoulder blades or sternums
How about skulls?
In a regular skeleton, yeah they are major parts and not interchangeable. In something more powerful though, such as a lich, the skull is negligible and little more than for showing off or holding candy. In my case, M&Ms.
you find a sheet of torn notebook paper in old survivor's hideout, the place got fucked up. There's alot of zombie corpses, four survivor's and a smoker.
day 2 god dammit, these rotting fuckers found the garage. i need to bug out. leave town. i'll stay in this fuck hole for a little while longer, it's fucking freezing outside. the food i got will last me for a bit. one of these zombies had a map on him along with a weird hammer, i'll check the map to see where to head next.
- the frog
Yeah yeah, I know that it isn't my turn. This is side story stuff, if you really want my saves let me know.
"the frog" sounds good. NOTE: wilson is running a background game. We can't merge saves, so it's mainly for story. I okay'd it as I thought it would "Fill the world out and make the succession less linear."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 10, 2016, 09:07:32 pm
We could all play worlds and then we download whoever's we want, nobody knows who's we downloaded but it can't be their own. After a set of time we all swap worlds again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2016, 09:48:18 pm
I can see this causing hilarity very quickly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Perigrin on October 10, 2016, 10:02:00 pm
Aight, got it downloaded after a day of fucking fighting, made my character, Leroy, will nab a screeny once i am not really tired. Nothing much thus far.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2016, 10:08:42 pm
The floofball returns, yaaay. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 12, 2016, 07:53:01 pm
Went looking for a picture of a space marine slapping a foxfurry to get perigrins attention. Lot's of pictures of space marines, not so many of them slapping furries. Went looking for a picture of a person slapping a furry to get perigrins attention. Lot's of pictures of generic furries and misc, not so many of any of them slapping furries. Went looking for a picture of slapping furries to get perigrins attention. Do not look for pictures of slapping furries unless you like furries and the patreon content of furry artists who specialize in furry porn. Also lot's of misc. crap.
Instead I will opt for a simple "Everything alright on your end perigrin?"
It seemed like a clever way to get perigrins attention at the time, but as the pictures floated by, I got bored of the idea.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 12, 2016, 08:19:46 pm
What, instead of an image of a dragon eating a furry for stalin? 3:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 12, 2016, 08:59:29 pm
What, instead of an image of a dragon eating a furry for stalin? 3:
The following fuzzy image is the least pornographic thing I could find on such short notice. (https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-3PDJW6jY_U/hqdefault.jpg) The rest was all just vore porn.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 12, 2016, 10:29:52 pm
That's still borderline, albeit SFW. And that was joking suggestion, not a request. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 12, 2016, 11:08:45 pm
Now this thread is about dragon porn and youkai IQ.
Shhhh. No one is judging you. Shhh. corned beef hash I just assumed you were talking about a specific artist. It seemed odd I could grab a random picture off of google image search and throw it up here, and someone would immediately recognize the artist.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2016, 04:02:39 pm
Why don't we all just start games and then pass the saves like I suggested so we don;t have to wait around?
So basically first drunk, first served, like in Drunk Fortress? o3o
When one finishes they upload the their save and choose the save of someone else to continue and then the cycle continues.
For example, you me and salt die in our game, We all upload or saves and then I take salts, you take mine and salt takes yours. We just don't tell who's save we choose but it can't be ours.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 13, 2016, 05:13:46 pm
i could take a go, i guess.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2016, 05:26:23 pm
When one finishes they upload the their save and choose the save of someone else to continue and then the cycle continues.
For example, you me and salt die in our game, We all upload or saves and then I take salts, you take mine and salt takes yours. We just don't tell who's save we choose but it can't be ours.
That is needlessly complicated and sucks all the fun out of having a big fat succession game where we can all mess with each other's stuff. ;w;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 13, 2016, 08:00:19 pm
peri said it was a-okay if i take their turn.
so, uh, I'll run with the frog, but start over. Wish there was a mask mods that add a bunch of animal masks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 13, 2016, 08:23:31 pm
(https://puu.sh/rI7Pq/d90bdb6523.png) The Frog is good at shooting, talking, along with a few other things that's for me to know and you to find out. (https://puu.sh/rI7Ve/14f36ad700.png) (add psychopath, forgot to put a recent screenshot) you find a broken eyebot in an old, empty, house. The recorder still works
*bzzz...* Oh FUCK you Ben, leave, GO. *BLAM* FUCKING LEAVE. Come on you fuckers! *BLAM* COME AT ME COME AT MECOME FUCKING A- *The recording is cut short*
Plan: Head to the nearby cathedral, set up base. Don't die.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2016, 08:41:01 pm
Oh this gonna be good. owo
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 13, 2016, 09:10:54 pm
In exchange for that chuckle inducing string of comments, I will allow you to try again. (not that I could stop you though.)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 13, 2016, 11:49:18 pm
Turrets are bullshit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 14, 2016, 12:19:52 am
Feel the !!HYPE!!
And yeah, fuck turrets. I liked them much more in older versions.
Also as a sidenote fuck NPCs being able to unload a semi-auto weapon into you in the course of one turn.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 14, 2016, 01:05:56 am
I had this mental image of wilson, hand crafting a character to be an unbelievable badass and playing him as such, but the RNG is constantly fucking with him and he ends up stumbling through his turn in a hilarious series of misadventures.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 14, 2016, 01:50:27 am
True. And you can't name your vehicle turrets Gustav.
Unless you are being sarcastic, or I'm missing something, I'm pretty sure you can name a vehicle turret Gustav if you so desired. Will friendly turrets or vehicle turrets fire on NPC's?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 15, 2016, 12:13:02 am
I'm being silly. First time I encountered a turret that ran out of ammo, I declared it to be my new pet, and jokingly named it Gustav. This has since been my inexplicable nickname for ammoless turrets.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 15, 2016, 12:38:33 am
Actually, when I think about it, keeping an aggressive turret as a "pet" is better than a friendly one. The aggressive one may be out of ammo and so otherwise useless, BUT it does greet you when you walk into the room.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 15, 2016, 03:44:35 am
Exactly. It beeps and boops. And thus, it boops the snoot?
At least, they used to. I think lately I've only seen the beep messages, not any booping. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 17, 2016, 04:40:54 pm
I think now the succession game is a bit dead. ;w;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 17, 2016, 04:44:15 pm
Someone take the mantle!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 17, 2016, 05:01:52 pm
Yeah, since wilson isn't posting, I'm gonna say that the file is up for whoever wants to go next. Actually, the list says apathetic is next. NO WAIT! Blitzkreig was supposed to go after perigrin!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 17, 2016, 05:10:06 pm
Yesss. Can we survive the blutzkrieg? Or rather, can the blitzkrieg survive CDDA? o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 17, 2016, 05:15:45 pm
Here is the "Kit (https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ajb7I9_jqo4TgUkMKLp4LZWqOxHz)" from my turn, contents are: -Graveyard folder. -Save folder -Memorial folder.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 19, 2016, 05:49:24 pm
As Noctifer said, I was gonna get it but it took a while to find. Get your own verison of CCDA, and add Mining Mod (http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=13306.0 (http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=13306.0)).
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 19, 2016, 08:04:29 pm
Okay, will update soonish
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 19, 2016, 08:33:21 pm
Look for a button labeled "prt sc" or "prt", something among those line, that will put what is on the screen into the clip board (copy), then just past it to some image editing software and save it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 19, 2016, 08:52:40 pm
Well, Here we go! (Btw, Im no good at storytelling :P)
Katherine Steele was one of the polices greatest detective at the time. She had solved over 50 cases in her work. She was working on a case when everything went to shite. She had manage to find a shelter to stay at. Inside was a woman named Bonny Scarbourough. She asked Katherine to to take care of a monster that killed her friend. She was'nt going to give up that chance to solve another mystery. But first she checked the basement.
Well shit (I am standing in the middle of the room. http://imgur.com/a/yoCCP
She decided to head to the other shelter nearby http://imgur.com/a/1dSQO
On the way there she was attacked by a tough zombie, the only way dispatching it by shooting it http://imgur.com/a/LZeRB
Once Katherine got there she found out there was again, nothing
On the way back she was swarmed http://imgur.com/a/euWcT
She survived but needed to get moving http://imgur.com/a/4BzW6
Shite yet again (Y u put on wander spawns ;-;) http://imgur.com/a/HmvjV
She decides to run back to the evac shelter to wait in the basement for the hordes to pass. She made it in the nick of time. Right as the hordes came upon the shelter, she ran down the stairs an closed the doors behind her. She really needed a smoke.
Later, She came up to check on Bonny. She was surprised to see her unconscious and a lot of dead zeds http://imgur.com/a/4LNT8
With still more on the way http://imgur.com/a/szVc1
She did what she had to do. She lit a bench on fire and dragged Bonny out of the building into the fields.
(Oh yeah, forgot to post the @ screen :P) http://imgur.com/a/ZFXDM
After Bonny woke up, the two headed to the nearest town. on the outskirts the encountered a grabber zed, dispatching it quickly. http://imgur.com/a/izflN
While looting the first house, a zed cop busts through the window, Also being dispatched easily with Kats new hockey stick. In the basement of the house, Katherine Steele dies at the hands of a survivor zed. Bonny watching in horror as She gets bitten to death. She didnt get past day one. This is her memorial "I am terrible at this life"
She was a Police Detective when the apocalypse began. She died on Spring of year 1, day 1, at 5:13:48 PM. She was killed in a basement on the outskirts of Eustis.
Cash on hand: $0
Final HP: Head: 0/90 Torso: 18/90 L Arm: 0/90 R Arm: 45/90 L Leg: 49/90 R Leg: 15/90
Final Stats: Str 4 Dex 2 Int 1 Per 6 Base Stats: Str 10 Dex 8 Int 8 Per 10
Final Messages: 3:50:00 PM The survivor zombie bites your left arm!1 3:50:00 PM Bonny Scarborough nicks the survivor zombie for 8 damage.1 3:50:06 PM The survivor zombie hits your right leg.1 3:50:06 PM Bonny Scarborough nicks the survivor zombie for 8 damage.1 3:50:12 PM You hit the survivor zombie but do no damage.1 3:50:12 PM Your <color_magenta>|. </color>bra (fits) is ripped!1 3:50:12 PM The survivor zombie hits your torso.1 3:50:18 PM Your <color_magenta>|. </color>pants (fits) is ripped!1 3:50:18 PM The survivor zombie hits your left leg.1 3:50:18 PM Bonny Scarborough nicks the survivor zombie for 8 damage.1 3:50:24 PM You hit the survivor zombie but do no damage.1 3:50:24 PM The survivor zombie hits your left leg.1 3:50:30 PM You swing wildly and miss.1 3:50:30 PM Your <color_magenta>|. </color>waistcoat (fits) is ripped!1 3:50:30 PM The survivor zombie bites your torso!1 3:50:30 PM Bonny Scarborough swings wildly and misses.1 3:50:42 PM The survivor zombie tries to grab you, but you break its grab!1 3:50:42 PM The survivor zombie hits your right leg.1 3:50:42 PM Bonny Scarborough swings wildly and misses.1 3:50:48 PM You swing wildly and miss.1
Traits: Night Vision Near-Sighted Police Detective Far-Sighted Bad Temper Strong Back Packmule Heavy Sleeper Mood Swings Pain Resistant Bad Knees (None)
Ongoing Effects: (None)
Bionics: No bionics were installed. Power: 0/0
Weapon: - hockey stick
Equipment: a - bra (fits) b - panties (fits) c - pants (fits) e - skinny tie f - waistcoat (fits) g - fast draw holster with L39-45 i - detective badge j - pair of leather gloves (fits) k - knit scarf l - fedora (fits) m - wrist watch q - pair of socks (fits) r - pair of dress shoes (fits) u - pair of bifocal glasses
Inventory: p - .45 ACP FMJ (6) y - 00 shot (20) n - cash card (620) A - cash card (1732) C - cash card (8285) w - pocket knife t - refillable lighter (23) D - aluminum can of cream soda (1) F - dehydrated vegetable (2) E - aluminum can of root beer (1) x - antibiotic (15) s - pack of cigarettes (19) o - Amateur Home Radio for Enthusiasts h - cigarette butt z - opened aluminum can v - .45 casing (12)
Game History | Year 1, Spring 1, 8:00:00 AM | evac shelter | Katherine Steele began their journey into the Cataclysm. | Year 1, Spring 1, 12:33:36PM | evac shelter | Worn <color_red>.. </color>trenchcoat (fits) was completely destroyed. | Year 1, Spring 1, 3:45:36 PM | basement | Received a deep bite wound. | Year 1, Spring 1, 3:46:30 PM | basement | Received a deep bite wound. | Year 1, Spring 1, 3:47:00 PM | basement | Received a deep bite wound. | Year 1, Spring 1, 3:50:00 PM | basement | Worn <color_red>.. </color>dress shirt (fits) was completely destroyed. | Year 1, Spring 1, 5:13:48 PM | basement | Katherine Steele was killed. | Year 1, Spring 1, 5:13:48 PM | basement | Last words: I am terrible at this life
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 19, 2016, 08:58:42 pm
Nice to have this rolling again, good luck!!!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 19, 2016, 09:17:07 pm
Dang, I was almost hoping there'd be an arcana mapgen place in sight of the spawn. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 19, 2016, 09:43:05 pm
I am horrible at this game XD
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 19, 2016, 09:59:57 pm
Welp, that was that...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 19, 2016, 10:11:52 pm
A restart so soon after starting is forgivable, and blitz may make another attempt.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 19, 2016, 11:30:08 pm
Yessss. I dare you to be something outlandish like a lengionary. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 20, 2016, 08:35:54 am
Will try again
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2016, 11:12:07 am
When in doubt, savescum until you survive at least a day. XP
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 20, 2016, 04:51:14 pm
Never mind, Can not get to that right now
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2016, 04:52:35 pm
Aw. ;w;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 22, 2016, 08:57:12 pm
If I am understanding this right, I guess it's apathetics turn?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2016, 08:59:30 pm
Think so, if Blitz isn't going to retry. We need a link though. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 22, 2016, 09:03:19 pm
we could also just skip his link and revert to the one before his. Let's wait a little longer and see what happens.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2016, 09:04:36 pm
Always fun to keep the pain train going without regressing unless a player borks it, yeah. XP
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 23, 2016, 11:07:17 am
Accidently deleted the save. Whoops
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 23, 2016, 11:56:25 am
I'm gonna eat you. ;w;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 23, 2016, 03:08:16 pm
Well, I taste like yiff and bacon cheeseburger potato chips, So its up to you
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 23, 2016, 05:26:41 pm
and bacon cheeseburger potato chips mostly taste like mustard, generic grease, and salt. So I imagine it wouldn't be very good. (the only company I've encountered that has actually pulled off meat flavor in their chips is the "Herr's" brand with their "kansas city steak" flavored chips, which actually taste like steak.)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 23, 2016, 07:24:12 pm
Don't tempt me. :V
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 23, 2016, 08:54:17 pm
Don't tempt you do get some herr's brand potato chips? I won't need to tempt you, those chips are the fucking best. Go get some herr's potato chips. Here, here's a complementary picture of a bag. (http://www.junkfoodguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/kcsteak01.png) Other flavors include baked potato, sweet corn, jalapeno popper, sloppy joe, baby back rib, peppered bacon, hot dog, s'mores, philly cheese steak, bacon cheddar, crabfries, deep dish pizza, grilled cheese, blooming onion, and so much more. The most startling thing about them is that at least 2/3rd of these flavors actually taste like what they say they taste like.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 23, 2016, 09:15:51 pm
Would this chips go good with spam?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 23, 2016, 09:44:27 pm
I don't know, I never tried. We better curb this chip talk before we derail the succession. Let's just chalk up the near derail as random_dragons fault and move on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 23, 2016, 09:49:48 pm
Good point, btw, is my save the last official save?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 23, 2016, 09:56:45 pm
I believe so.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 23, 2016, 10:55:18 pm
In that case, guess we pester Apathetic to take a turn. :V
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 23, 2016, 11:53:52 pm
Something that bugs me, take a look at the list of players. That's a lot of "skipped upon request" or "skipped on time out."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 24, 2016, 12:01:57 am
Guess if the trend keeps up then its your turn salt.
I like how you put in my section, "...lived like a professional".
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 24, 2016, 01:01:42 am
We oughta continue the DF succession game too. ;w;
I do hope that this game survives though. Plus I'm waiting for the point where a player encounters at least one sign of a previous player. Or hell, maybe someone finishes what I started and finds that island temple.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 24, 2016, 07:32:34 pm
All I need it one more player between me and my last turn with the DF succession, I think you've gone since then, or it was apathetic. Maybe we should harass our newest youkai into participating. I like having at least two turns between my own turns in a succession. We've still got players whose turns havn't been skipped or finished or even started yet, so there is that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 24, 2016, 07:41:04 pm
This youkai will lose internet access Wednesday so that is a no go, besides, my current laptop can't run df and I have no idea how to play it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 24, 2016, 07:55:20 pm
What part of I won;t have internet by then don't you not understand?
What's that? Best internet? 1000000000000 GB upload/download speed? Amazing! Wish I had internet like that, have fun with the kobold kamp.
Yes! best internet! kobold sounds.like fun!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 25, 2016, 12:22:35 pm
Oh well. We still need to pester Apathetic to do this. ;w;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 03, 2016, 02:29:48 am
So, Apathetic's apparently been busy. What do.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 03, 2016, 03:54:41 pm
It's forrests turn then. If forrest can't do it, I'll do it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 03, 2016, 04:56:49 pm
Jooiiin us. Or I will eat Forrest. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 08, 2016, 05:24:02 pm
We ever gonna hear from Forrest, or is this succession game gonna be as dead as our DF one? ;w;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 09, 2016, 12:18:50 am
Our DF isn't dead, it's just on break. Look at it, laying there with it's booze, laying in it's own vomit and viscera. Totally not dead. I'll take another turn with this when I have a moment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 09, 2016, 01:46:38 am
Either way, the bloodshed must resume. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 09, 2016, 02:22:56 am
I'M INSANELY BUSY
MARCHING BAND CHAMPIONSHIPS OF SOCAL AND ALL
PROBABLY WON'T GET AROUND TO THIS
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 09, 2016, 03:19:24 am
At this rate we'll never get someone crazy enough to try and do another arcane character. ;w;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 09, 2016, 03:59:24 am
I would do it but the soonest I can take a turn is Friday and also oh god how do I play mahjong why did I agree to this.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 09, 2016, 10:13:53 pm
Dooo it or you're going into the dragon sex dungeon with Rhodi.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 12, 2016, 04:09:32 am
Also, for added fun? Some updates and unfucking can be snagged for Arcana mod in my repo: https://github.com/chaosvolt/cdda-arcana-mod (https://github.com/chaosvolt/cdda-arcana-mod)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 23, 2016, 02:13:32 pm
Triple post? Sure, why not. I figure fuck it, if Apathetic's busy, everyone else is unable to or not up to, time to snag Noctifer's save/graveyard/memorial kit and steal another turn. Using build 5886 because it's the last time I updated (and the builds are getting more and more buggy), with the latest versions of Arcana and Mining mods.
Started in a cabin, there's an incomplete cabin to the northwest, a toxic waste dump to the southeast, and an impact site way the fuck up in the north. Everything else is forest. And yet this motherfucker of an NPC says he wants his dog "not far from here" retrieved. That's a good ways out west.
Decided I'll head to town and steal his dog anyway, there's a grocery store next to it, and that means the most wonderful of blessings...a shopping cart!
Didn't think I'd bother going anywhere near civilization. Not since everything went to shit, how many years ago? Been enough time that I forgot.
Mostly just been roving the wilds and scavenging any place far from the old infested cities, but today struck camp at an old abandoned cabin. Brought along one of the last lost souls like myself I saw. Found him recently and figured he's worth trusting.
Cabin's out of the way and good for holing up in temporarily, so he's resting there for now. Already looked around and found old dried rice, an old pistol, and some ammo. Half that ammo isn't even right for this Glock, but whatever. Figured I'd ask the guy, Deshawn he said his name is, about any places we might could hit for supplies.
Turns out the fellow used to live in a town not far from here, used to travel with his old hound. Hell if I know if it's still alive, let alone where he says he last saw the mutt. Grocery store and other places that might be intact too, and it's convienently on the edge of town. Worth taking a look.
Screenshot:
He also mentioned seeing something going on farther up north, like a helicopter crash a few months ago, or maybe longer. Seems he lost track of time badly as I did. Doubt anyone's left in one piece, but worth seeing if it left anything intact and unlooted.
Screenshot:
Sweet zombie Jesus, I can see from here the town is a clusterfuck. This is gonna have to be a smash and grab operation.
Shit, already got undead roaming around and dispersing around the edge of town. Good news is I found the mutt he's after.
Screenshot:
Bad news is he's gonna be pissed. Assuming I even make it the fuck outta here...
Screenshot:
Welp. That was a damn short turn. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 23, 2016, 05:47:16 pm
excellent
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 23, 2016, 05:52:30 pm
I have become one with the potato. Welp, it was short but advanced us a little beyond Noctifer's death, size Blitz buggered it all up.
Save, memorial, graveyard, and updated mods are here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89427928/Utterly%20DDA%202.zip (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89427928/Utterly%20DDA%202.zip)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 23, 2016, 08:31:22 pm
I'll have internet soon (60megs, woo!!!) and Luciferia Slaughter will take a turn (a bionic assassin).
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 23, 2016, 08:43:51 pm
Yaaaay, good youkai.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 11, 2016, 02:37:19 pm
Guess its my turn to continue this, give me a few hours.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 11, 2016, 02:38:03 pm
Yesss, do it. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 26, 2017, 05:57:43 pm
Katherine Steele woke up in the middle of the forest. She had a mental view of the surrounding area. http://imgur.com/vp9CMvP Well then.
She skirted around the forest to the southern part of town where she met her first zombie. http://imgur.com/a/NVmE8 Well then. After killing the scientist and his manhack, She entered the town. She took out some shady zombies and inspected the firetruck that was sitting in the road. http://imgur.com/a/homYs Success! It runs! She notes it for later and continues into town. I forgot the character sheet sow here it is. http://imgur.com/a/T1uu4 Literally across the street is a Katana :/ http://imgur.com/a/3b2vL
Later that night reading an army water survival manual, She felt a change. Her hands seemed to have a lot more finesse. http://imgur.com/a/3b2vL Now starts the line of mutations!
Katherine Read an Archery book sow now she has herself a shortbow. After a while in the town, she decides to leave to a smaller town.
After a few days in the town which she now knows is Faeden, she heads south to new territories. Oh dear. http://imgur.com/a/zM6hI OH DEAR. http://imgur.com/a/7kHWH After her harrowing escape from the slime horde, Katherine comes across something nice. http://imgur.com/a/zoWfa When did this happen? http://imgur.com/a/u35Ka
She has been changing a lot recently. She is noticing that animals fear her. Later she finds, around her mouth, flaps of skin and lately she has been dreaming of herself as an insect.
Just gained rough skin.
After a few days, Katherine made herself some beautiful survivor rioter gear. http://imgur.com/a/ONYb9
Woo Atomic Lamp!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 26, 2017, 06:01:55 pm
Huehuehue. How long before you become a Chaos spawn? 3:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 26, 2017, 07:10:59 pm
Soon probably
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 26, 2017, 07:12:59 pm
Just got lightly furred.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 26, 2017, 07:14:11 pm
Huehuehue. Don't forget the mods folder. I guess just including your whole mods folder along with the save, memorial, and graveyard would be easiest, since you've added multiple external mods.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 26, 2017, 07:35:05 pm
Ill also be adding in my armor and recipes json because I added a single item and its crafting recipe.
Just found a new town with a mansion in it. http://imgur.com/a/hd1F0
Uh oh, This might be the end of Katherine. http://imgur.com/a/gh07x
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 26, 2017, 07:43:56 pm
Oooh? What'd you add? <3
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 26, 2017, 07:47:35 pm
Links are being dumb
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 26, 2017, 07:53:19 pm
Fixed the links.
After carefully cheesing with my broken cart, I took all of them out with my head on red. http://imgur.com/a/jdpPo
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 26, 2017, 07:54:30 pm
I added the leg counterpart of metal armgaurds.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 26, 2017, 08:04:28 pm
...you are a derp. That would be the iron greaves/legguards. Only real difference is they use leather lining. :V
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 26, 2017, 08:17:23 pm
No its not, That is for knights and stoof. The metal arm/leggaruds are more apocolyptic style, read the description.
HOLY SHIT WAAAT. http://imgur.com/a/h7UBj
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 26, 2017, 08:20:20 pm
There's metal legguards, and steel leggauards. When I PR'd Medieval and Historic Content, I changed the flavor of metal legguards from purely post-apoc to one that also works as classical-era greaves.
Steel legguards were added later and seem to be part of a "assemble plate armor versus wearing only the bits you want" theme.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 26, 2017, 08:40:35 pm
Well whatever, I died.
Katherine Steele, Surrounded by zombies, succumed to shock from a shocker brute. Her last words were "Bows... Suck..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 26, 2017, 08:43:14 pm
Rip in pepperoni then. Should've debugged in a mininuke and took them all with you. 3:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 27, 2017, 09:21:41 am
Nah, I'm not a cheater. The save will be up later today.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 27, 2017, 11:47:27 am
It's always funny though. And yay. <3
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 27, 2017, 05:39:54 pm
If im correct, this should be it. https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B6M1kD-DvfrTWEk1emxDX1Z6MUE
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 27, 2017, 06:38:47 pm
I have to request access blin. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 27, 2017, 08:08:07 pm
How do I do that???
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 27, 2017, 08:09:22 pm
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 27, 2017, 09:46:51 pm
Ahah! Somehow you messed up Noctifer's mod. Like, removed the content of an entire folder full of items. And...what the motherfuck, you missed several important files in Arcana mod? Gonna get the latest version of Mining mod too, just in case. If you messed up Artyom's mosd or some other unofficial mod I can't grab as easily, I will eat you. ._.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 27, 2017, 10:33:29 pm
Still got some post-character errors, but it seems I was able to suppress them.
Been a year since things really went downhill, hasn't it? Hard to tell, since I only went near the cities on occasion, seems like it really fell apart a year ago. Decided I'd try and find civilization, but not much seems to be around.
Recently met up with a fellow traveller, seems she's on the same idea as I am. Evidently spotted a campsite on the way, but wasn't that eager to raid it until she had a good idea of the area, and so far spotted some sign of a building to the south. Weird, didn't think I was anywhere near town yet.
Decided to ask if I could do anything to help, and seems she's convinced something weird's going on lately, and wants to find a relic of some kind. Seems I'm near town, bit northeast of me, but she thought the building she saw to the south almost looks like some kind of church. Maybe this idea of the world getting all supernatural isn't as weird as I first thought, if you've got buildings just popping up in the middle of the woods.
Started heading over to the campsite found a giant stash of food looks like an abandoned attempt at building a cabin of some kind. Good place to stash things on the way to the cathedral.
Along the way I decided to cook up some game, and it seems the smell attracted a bear. I had a simple little lockbow and a crude spear I made, I went with the former. Didn't fare so well, if it wasn't for Alana I'd be sporting a lot worse than some scratches on my face.
Made it closer to the cathedral, I'm seeing a lot of movement in the distance, and not at all the friendly sort. Might want to hang back, wait until dark, and explore alone.
Something's definitely haunting this fucking place, alright. Should' ve brought her with me, but fuck. Got almost mauled to death by a mass of things clawing at me, seemingly invisible in the shadows. Few nasty bites, so I'm gonna need to find something to treat them before they get any worse. And only likely place to find that is deeper...
Well fuck me. I'm getting rusty, I think. Fuck. Save, mods folder, memorial, graveyard, etc is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B41iyfVYuWa8YXl4YVd6VGdBNG8/view?usp=sharing (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B41iyfVYuWa8YXl4YVd6VGdBNG8/view?usp=sharing)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 28, 2017, 08:55:14 am
RIP
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 28, 2017, 11:48:16 am
Who next?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 28, 2017, 12:08:52 pm
Next time I'm going samurai or something better-armored. ;w;
And hmm. Noctifer maybe? Your mod is in this. Since in the old save I used my first turn to show up Arcana mod stuff (and technically showed off More Survival Tools this go-round :V), I'd bet you use that to show off CDDA+ additions. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 28, 2017, 01:33:45 pm
If its my turn then I'll get around to it soon, gotta do some stuff first and then Ill get going with it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on March 28, 2017, 01:51:16 pm
i can probs do a thing maybe
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 28, 2017, 02:40:26 pm
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 28, 2017, 03:51:08 pm
Whatever works. If it works. :V
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on March 28, 2017, 07:47:58 pm
shittily done ooc post because i'm tired and about to sleep probs (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296426554874003457/1.png) Started off as a mall cop, partied up with the NPC, she wanted me to kill her mother, gave me some wheat seeds. Bitch. half of the screenies i have are invalid because i was gonna do a character post but fuck it (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296426561408598018/4.png) killed a bunch of zambies (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296426564042883075/6.png) Went to leave the mall. Nope. Nah fam. (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296426567448395776/8.png) why don't i have keys i work here (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296426567435812866/7.png) LEG IT MATE (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296426567503183875/9.png) Pulled off a textbook J-turn. Flawlessly abandoning my mate (and probable work buddy) (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296426569793273857/10.png) Some shit I couldn't be bothered nicking. (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296426601695019018/14.png) Once more unto the breach.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 28, 2017, 08:15:45 pm
Eh, I'm basically the only one that does in-character posts. 3:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 28, 2017, 10:01:53 pm
It's fine, just frustrating. Mostly because your evidently copy-pasted your mods folder, but I dunno what you did to it to eat so many important files. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 29, 2017, 12:57:39 pm
I have no clue ;-;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on March 29, 2017, 04:14:10 pm
YEAH FUCK IT OOC POSTS ALL THE WAY. (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296736121340297217/16.png) guys be wanderin (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296736129661665280/17.png) ran to the forest because why not (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296736152466227210/20.png) start cooking shit cause i hungry (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/94709041074274304/296729657989136384/circling_me.png) ah fuck (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296736156949676042/21.png) AH FUCK (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296736162696134657/22.png) (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296736166143852544/23.png) AH FUCK (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296736170229104641/24.png) AH FUCK (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/174146571909201920/296736182379741184/dead.png) Then I think I died from exposure.
How do you want me to SMASH THAT SAVE BUTTON?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 29, 2017, 06:12:28 pm
Damn son. We've been jinxed, I think all three of us died on day 1 didn't we?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 30, 2017, 08:42:51 am
I died on day 3
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on March 30, 2017, 11:03:24 am
https://www.dropbox.com/s/znefh07t8z28zr3/CDDA%20succession%20game.zip?dl=0 It should work, tell me if it doesn't.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 30, 2017, 11:13:56 am
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 30, 2017, 02:33:44 pm
Guess its my turn now. Goal: Survive day one!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 30, 2017, 03:36:23 pm
Yiss, do it. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on March 30, 2017, 03:53:14 pm
I would've been fine if not for the fact that all anyone could hit was my head. I died from my mouth being cold because I took a couple a' punches to the face like a wuss.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 30, 2017, 03:58:24 pm
I would've been fine if not for the fact that all anyone could hit was my head. I died from my mouth being cold because I took a couple a' punches to the face like a wuss.
]
Those punches exposed your brain for more efficient cooling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 30, 2017, 04:47:20 pm
Survivor Log - Subject: Maryalice Snowfield This is a diary I will keep to help maintain my sanity. The world has fallen but that does not mean I should as well. I need to remember what it is to be human. I prepared for this, time to put it to action! For anyone reading this, here is my story. Backstory: My name is Maryalice Snowfield, age 26, a professional bionic prepper! At least that is before the cataclysm went down. I have always had a love for the outdoors an spend alot of time camping and learning the ways of the forest. I have developed very useful skills in my time there, skills that will help me survive. I got my lucky break when I won a minor state lottery and had enough money to retire at age 22. I put my money in investments and lived off the interest; that is not to say I bought some nice things first. I soon become a prepper with my wealth and free time, taking survival course A thru Z, buying gear X and Y and eventually even augmented myself to supplement my skills set; gear can be lost of broken, bionics are part of you. I was regarded as a loon with too much money and time since I was convinced the end was near...look who is laughing now! The end was near but not even I knew how near it was or how devastating it would be. An economic collapse is one thing but this! Everything outside it trying to kill you! Let me recount the events that happened when the bombs fell... I was going thru inventory check when the broadcasts informed us to evacuate. Rumors of mass riots and the chinese invasion had me on edge as well as the recent bombings and militarization of certain areas. I took my gear and rode the bus that was to take me and a dozen others to the evac shelter. There we spend a couple of days waiting. Things suddenly calmed down. Another bus pulled up and said they were to transport people of the surviving evac shelters to a refugee center. Surviving evac shelters? Did that mean... I refuse to go, this place withstood so far and I would not go to an unknown place that might not be as secure. The rest went along and I remain alone for the rest of the day. I went through the stockpiled food I had in my bad and and was planing my next move when someone else entered the evac shelter. She said her name was Atomos (weird but who am I to judge) and needed help. My adventure had begun. Day 1: I spoke to atomos and she explained her mother had recently died and had risen back up, she explained that the rioters where not actually rioters, but the dead who came back to life. She said to look outside and so I did. Where silence had comforted me before now I laid terrified. Dozens of living corpses walked the streets and fields, their flesh decaying but still going. Atomos told me her mother became one of those and asked if I could put her down. I agreed, I need to look for supplies soon anyway and might as well do this as well. I asked her to join me and she agreed after I told her I could protect her. Soon after we boarded up the place as best we could including all windows; a few doors were reinforced but many laid the same. I then build a portable brazier and a makeshift crowbar from a couple of lockers and looked up the location of the refugee center on the working console in the corner. Night came and now very hungry and thirsty I took a sip of water form my bionics and went for Atomo's home to kill her now dead mother and to search for supplies. Along the way I had many encounters with the dead. They all behaved differently and some where harder to kill then others. Some emitted gases and acid, others were very fast and others still were very strong. Atomos managed to held her ground even without the aid of her machinegun. When I reached her home it was infested with the dead. We killed them all an smashed them to prevent them from getting up but her mother was nowhere in sight. I looted all I could from the house and secured a bedroom. I decided I would worry about that in the morning. I went through my inventory and gear again one last time before bed time; my clothing was in tatters from the fighting but I was relatively all right. I still need to find more food fast to retreat to the shelter. I laid to bed and slept for a while. My sleep was interrupted by the sound of gunfire in the morning. What a way to start my day...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 30, 2017, 04:48:26 pm
I am going to play one in-game day per irl day. That way I can play,write the roleplay and take the necessary screenshots in time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 30, 2017, 05:31:11 pm
Ooh, neat. owo
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on March 31, 2017, 11:13:41 am
Get bulletproof armor, it good.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 05, 2017, 02:00:57 am
Slow youkai is slow. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 05, 2017, 05:44:29 pm
I forgot this was a thing...my bad...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 05, 2017, 08:24:29 pm
Day 2: Woken up by gun fire I get up to investigate, machete in hand I go outside and see there is nothing in the vicinity. I simply go back to sleep but is woken up by noise once more. I then decide to wait until daylight so that I can navigate better to find supplies. Daylight comes and Atomos wakes up saying her head wound feels bad, I inspect it and see that It is infected…great…just what we needed! We need to find antibiotics and fast or she is not going to make it…Now with sunlight at our side we head next door to find supplies. Inside was very little but after we discover a basement we found a few firearms and ammunition! We take a shotgun, MP5 smg and M1911 pistol, and we had ammo for all of it! We then went to the house next door of that and no luck on food or other such supplies but we did find a small horde. We run and made it a grocery store fighting various of the dead along the way. Upon arriving we find it has collapsed and only a few food items remain. We could not even grab those as across the street was a massive horde and we had to book it. Due to injuries, they managed to catch up to Atomos…I went back and tried to help her but there were too many…If I stayed they would if had killed me…so I left. I did not look back, she did not call back for me, I only heard her fighting; maybe she did not notice my abandonment… I make it to the evac shelter and grab a couple of sheets, head down stairs to the basement, smoke a cigarette and go to sleep…it’s been a long day…
Day 3: I wake up and start to put some of my stuff in one of the lockers when a couple of zombies breach the barricade and attack; I kill both and then barricade the windows back. I then start to read a beauty magazine I had found earlier by the monitor since they usually have tips on sewing and I need to fix my tatters. Then zombies once again breach the windows and I fight them off. I fight more as they just keep on coming. Wave after wave come and I decide to book it. I leave what was in the locker and run. I fight many dead, not quite a horde but there were many. I reach a grocery store and I grab a cart that I soon fill with supplies. With the cart, full I then head outside to a city infected with the dead…Full to the brim… I once again run but this time to the woods, the cities are no longer worth it… I reach the city killing an undead dog and hungry cougar along the way wasting shotgun shells. Once there I can see on the distance a Curious Structure… I approach… The inside is that of a church. A lone firefighter zombie is there and I then kill it with my crossbow. I find a kitchen area and what appears to be barracks as well. I settled on one of the beds and unload some items into my cart. I try to sleep but is soon woken up by screams for help. I then decide to follow the screams, they appear to be underground… A look door to the very front lay before me, I smash it with a fire axe I found from the firefighter zombie I killed earlier. There was nothing but stairs down. Down stairs were a couple of rooms, one that was like a library with religious books, and one that appeared to be a meeting room with various chair around a large table. I took one of the religious books tittle the Cleansing Flame, it looks different form the rest and I had never heard of such a religious book. In the meeting room, I took what appeared to be the notes of some apprentice of the occult. I then headed down the room to a maze-like structure. There was a crab like creature who lashed at me but was no match for my shotgun. Inside the maze there was a couple of doors, one barricaded shut and the other unlocked. The unlocked one housed full body chainmail and a peculiar crossbow without strings. I put them in my pack and move on. I then break the barricaded door and find a sword staring in the middle of a staircase. I hit the sword and it falls. I pick up the sword and take with me upstairs, that is enough exploring for right now. Once in the barrack I decide the sheath the sword in place of my machete and to put the chain mail armor in place of some of my clothing. I now lay here with shelter, food, weaponry and a place to explore…where to begin…
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 05, 2017, 08:27:22 pm
I will be omitting photos since I am too lazy it distracts from the game having to screenshot it, then saving it, and having to keep track of them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 05, 2017, 10:08:54 pm
Doh. <3
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 08, 2017, 05:59:32 pm
I died in the middle of the town with the cool weaponry on hand, here is the save.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ajb7I9_jqo4TgU5PuaAYE8Zxt5zq
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 08, 2017, 06:01:57 pm
Welp, that was sad. Not even a screenshot of your awful death? <3
Now who do da thing. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 12, 2017, 06:40:58 pm
Welp, it's either my turn or Mrno's. If he doesn't do the thing by the time I get home later today, I'll do the thing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 12, 2017, 06:52:12 pm
i'll do it i guess geeze calm your tits
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 12, 2017, 06:53:06 pm
Huehuehue. Yissss, do it for Mother Russia. :V
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 12, 2017, 09:45:03 pm
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301890981949734912/2.png) shelter done was fucked up (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301890993546985472/3.png) (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301890989336035328/3.5.png) Stole a nerd, one of you guys messed up NPCs somehow (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301890999314284546/4.png) Turns out there's a lot of shit below me, making my game lag. (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301891005068607491/5.png) (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/269076916139458561/301894171738898432/Forgetting.png) (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301891024999940098/7.png) Legged it to another town. (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301891030742204438/8.png) (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301891037138518016/9.png) (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301891049549332481/11.png) (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/269076916139458561/301894702238793740/hotdog_froth.png) (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301891087440674816/17.png) Killed a Mi-Go (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301891092087963648/18.png) After a hearty jog, that is. (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301891161910673408/20.png) I STUDIED THE BLADE FOR LONG ENOUGH. TIME TO STUDY THE GUN (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301891163965751298/21.png) why is it always groups (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/296426473823141888/301891166738055169/22.png) also some weed before bed
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: ApatheticExcuse on April 12, 2017, 10:06:02 pm
Holy shit, did one of you guys just survive the first day?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 12, 2017, 10:10:37 pm
I survived 3 days before I offed myself to continue the succession.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 12, 2017, 11:31:30 pm
It's worth pointing out that monomolecular blade has the UNARMED_WEAPON flag, so no unarmed skill for the blade profession is kinda derp. Unless you add an override I guess. In any case yay, I only had to hit Y one extra time. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 27, 2017, 11:43:47 am
Yeah, um. Fuck that noise. Turns out the gladiator start is kinda just "you versus an assload of NPCs" and I died in fucking minutes. Gonna reset world and try a different start. D:
Fuck it, decided to be a shelter knight because I'm a big lazy twat. Less likely to get mobbed and eaten by NPCs. Our dear friend has requested that we retrieve the banner of this fallen land, and provided the magic of vitamins to aid us in our quest. Which is good, because the basement had nothing but a tshirt in it.
No sign of a school or such in the area, but the town has much to explore. And thankfully it's a pleasant day outside for a bit of mucking about in armor, it's so delightfully rare to actually be COMFORTABLE in spring with my starting gear.
In the closest house we find a peculiar rarity: the refridgerated binocular. And in the basement, we find...dementia. Madness. Oh. Yep, first time I've hit an arcane basement in my first house, blyat. Thankfully, mail and a kite shield is an wonderful combination, even though I have to take off my helm in the darkness.
This however, was a more formidble foe. Nah just kidding, though he was harder to hit and managed to rip my backpack a bit, didn't get any damage. Only real loot to be found was a book dropped by one of the strange revenents in here, an odd silver knife, and even odder leather armor. Much odd, I thought the books at least would spawn.
Soon as I step outside, I'm greeted by a shocker and a spitter. Both die without much hassle, but I do suffer my first actual injuries.
Oh. I think they were fleeing from an oversized bowl of ramen. Which I took out in literally one hit. After a bit of cooking and preparing water, time to maybe hit up a grocery store for the holy grail on wheels, a shopping cart. Got that easily enough and gathered all my shit.
I don't think I need weed, I'm already tripping balls here, penguins in random basements. Quietly noped out of there when I realized there were half a dozen down there. I've also noticed mow that spitter zombies seem to have lost the ability to hit the broad side of a barn. Twice now, one of a dozen tiles away managed to place the whole pool several tiles off from where I'm standing.
Soon enough night falls, forcing me to doff my helm again. Will want to make a balaclava for this event sometime. While checking one of the last few houses on this end of town, I notice an oddity. A house that's heavily damaged, and at least one undead I didn't kill.
Appears that I've been in this house, but some undead might've collapsed part of it. Likely the brute that just knocked me around a little bit, making me have to fumble around in the dark to find my shopping cart again. Enough reason to head back to the shelter.
Meanwhile, ventured out to resume sweeping the last of the houses on the north side of town. Bunch of undead and dogs are playing in a minefield. Soon however, the last of the northern houses have been swept through. Might just keep circling the area and looting. After that the rest of the day is a fairly mundane bit of crafting stuff.
For the third day, decided I'm going to complete a sweep of all the houses in town if I can. Along the way, finally find a nope zone in a basement. After a few more uneventful houses and a small gunsmithing store, I find an interesting little basement.
At least interesting now that they aren't all over the place. The most useful part is ultimately the SKS I find there, as I'd decided if I do branch out into being a knight with a gun, 7.62x39mm is a good round to focus on. Also provides a safe place to skim the books I've found, and sleep away the end of day 3.
By now the shopping cart's full, so I'm gonna have to either dump the jugs of rotting milk, or head back to the shelter. Somehow that's a hard choice to make. I blame the fact that it won't rot away entirely in a vehicle, last I checked.
And here we have a alley you don't want to meet in a dark fellow. No wait, that came out wrong. This would be a rare time when I get some use out of the SKS, as I'm still not able to just kill everything in melee without a little pain, like with last brute I encountered.
And this is one of the other things I was searching for. My shield is getting a bit battered up. A soldering iron for my sword would be nice too, but I have a welder if I'm desperate. So ends day 4, pretty much.
I set out for the nearby craters to gather stone for something I'm working on, when the dreaded moose attacks! It...actually goes well, in that it can't harm me. In fact a few hits send it running.
And thus the prize, some extra meat and hide. Got enough rocks for now, and then along the way I encountered a deer passing by. Hit it once, it started to flee. When I realized it could outrun me, I threw my sword at it. It's super-effective. Project is a charcoal kiln and smoker, so I can try to get this milk powdered.
Well, after a bit of exploring, what have we here? Time to see how deadly this can be. Already I somehow manage to wrap a zombie with a sword. And then, more milk! I must save the milk! D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 01, 2017, 03:00:00 am
My sweep of the city's houses continued, and my second arcanist basement shows up. This one also finally trips me up a bit because it's rotated, which is a neat thing to see. Less neat? Three flaming eyes ohgod. Guess I'm making a beeline for the town pharmacy.
...which had literally just an empty syringe behind the counter. Fuck. Thankfully, a hurried dash back to the shelter and a good night's sleep has yet to reveal any apparent side effects from being stared at.
Really? Last house in town, and it has a Cleansing Flame basement? That makes 3 houses with arcanist basements, and with one for each faction. Oh well, time to start poking through the city interior.
First thing I see when I get in there, a tank that looks to be in almost drivable condition. Just missing some seats. It also inexplicably had a shocker zombie inside it. So now I've just about swept all the interesting spots in this town. Now a good bit of reading the books I've hoarded in all this time, and maybe soon investigating the nearby public works.
Also decided at random to fortify a church in the middle of town. Good to have something fairly secure to pop into if needed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 03, 2017, 07:41:59 pm
Welp, another morning, this time spent in a fortified church. Soon was back up at the shelther, think I might go over to visit the town just northwest of us.
No. Bad moose. Fuck off. Fucked it up in 3 hits, took no damage. Survivor Combatives OP. Soon in town, scouting the zone a bit, doing some light looting as summer offially begins. Might call it a turn here in fact, as this is taking a while...
Fuck it, save is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h93abuz0735nuqr/Utterly%20DDA%203.zip?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/h93abuz0735nuqr/Utterly%20DDA%203.zip?dl=0)
Contains the whole build I used, in case other versions fuck things up. If you DO use a different build, remember to copy the mods, save, graveyard, AND memorial folders.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 03, 2017, 10:04:19 pm
"Catnip." "Catnip, wake up." "Can you really get her out of here?" "Yeah yeah, Catnip, goddamnit, get up." "If we can't, you know what will happen..." "Yes, I know, jesus christ. Here, help me get her into this subject suit." "They'll lobotomize her!" "I said I know, for fucks sakes Gerrard. Help me he- wait. Stop. Did you hear that?" "Wait. Stop. Did you hear that?" "oh fuck. fuck fuck fuck. Block that door." "Set power settings to three... better make it four." *SMASH* "Get her out of here Nathan! I'll stall it! I'll-" *SMASH* "Block that door. Block that door. Stop. Did you hear that? They'll lobotomize her! TEKELI-LI!" *SMASH*
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 03, 2017, 11:33:34 pm
What even have you done.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 04, 2017, 06:32:49 am
It's called a prologue, shush.
She only remembered a few things from her captivity. First, the feel of the mutagens doing their work. Second, the blank looks of the scientists as they administered it. Third, the few books she was allowed to have in her room. An educational book titled "planes, trains, and automobiles," more a childs picture book than anything else, and a book titled "under the hood" a mechanical manual that the scientists thought she was frankly too stupid to read.
"Alright Catnip, this way. Gotta get you out of here before the security measures seal the doors."
What was his name again? Nathan. Her handler. He always seemed a bit unhappy about something. Never let her outside though, requests to do so always made him upset, so she had stopped. Seemed like he'd decided that today was the day that she would get to go out though.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 04, 2017, 12:12:31 pm
I'm betting it's experiment rather than lab challenge.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 04, 2017, 04:38:06 pm
flesh angel in a basement, barely got out alive.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 04, 2017, 04:54:19 pm
No screenshots, no continuation to the little opening story, no even showing your character or anything you've done this wholr? Literally just one line vaguely hinting at all the shit we're missing.
10 outta 10.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 04, 2017, 08:26:55 pm
Shush you. Shush you shushy face. LET THE SHUSHENING COMMENCE!
I'll get screenshots in a bit, nothing really worth screenshotting. As for story and events though.
It had been five days. Five days in a car. That's what it was for sure, Catnip had seen plenty of cars in one of her favorite books. She didn't think five days in a car would be so boring though. Nathan kept her wrapped up tight in a blanket so people couldn't see her. "Too much of an anomaly." He would say to himself, "Too weird for the rest of them, not that it matters much anymore." She got to try all sorts of new things though. Different foods, especially foods. She was particularly fond of chocolate. To her dismay, the chocolate melted when she left it in the sun. The sun was another thing, it hurt her eyes. It made her uncomfortable. On the second day, nathan had bought her a cheap pair of black spectacles, and the sun didn't hurt so much after that. There seemed to be a lot of panic on the radio, but a while ago the radio went mostly quiet. On the fourth day, the car went quiet and they had to walk. Nathan led her into a place full of trees. She'd seen trees through the windows in the car, but she hadn't been allowed to leave the car most of the time. Not even to look at the trees. The smells of this place were a wonder to her. The sounds too. What were all these sounds? Gone was the low drone of distance machinery and the hum of the lights in her room. Just the wide open spaces, the lonely howl of the wind, the chirping of, what Nathan assured her, were birds.
"Ok Catnip. Go." Confusion. Go? Go where? What? "You're free now Catnip. Free to do whatever you want. I'm sure you can survive out here fine, now go on. get out of here." Out here? Go? Free? "I don't understand." Said Catnip. Nathan had brought her out to the woods to... what? Abandon her? Absurd. How absurd. Yet, here they were. "Of course not. Listen. The world... The world isn't as it should be anymore. There's so much I could tell you, but you wouldn't understand a word of it. So, just go alright. Stay away from houses, stay away from people. They aren't friendly. Not anymore. If you see people and they won't talk to you, run away, got it?" Catnip got it. Simple instructions. She could do that. But she wasn't sure what to do beyond that. "But what do I do?" She asked. "I don't know Catnip. Whatever you want. What do you want to do?" Catnip thought about it. Unused to the outside world, and not well educated, her scope only extended to what she did know. What she had taught herself from the books she had been allowed to keep; trains, planes, and automobiles. "I want to build a train." Nathan smirked at that, "Catnip, you don't even know what a train is." "Yahuh! I seen pictures in books! and I learned how they work!" He wasn't smirking at her anymore, in fact he seemed a bit suspicious. The kind of suspicious that she knew usually bloomed into anger. "How do you know? How did you learn?" She backed away, "I... books?" 'Of course,' Nathan thought, 'Of course. She can't read, she must have taught herself from those outdated manuals we let her keep. I'm having a hard time believing she could learn from pictures alone... Nothing else to read but those and she...' She learned. She was probably a fairly adept mechanic at this point. Hell, she probably could have fixed the car when it broke down. Hell, it occured to him that she could have used that knowledge to escape, but either she was too stupid to make the attempt, or the thought never crossed her mind. That irritated him even more. "Just... just go Catnip. Here, this is called an 'MRE.' It won't taste great, but it'll keep you fed for at least a couple days." She looked at the silvery package he handed her. "Roast Beef In Gravy." She didn't know what "roast beef" or "gravy" was, but she knew, from what Nathan said, it was food. "Are you sure you want me to go?" She asked, not really wanting to leave, but Nathan was already disappearing into the foliage. In only a moment, she was alone in the woods with nothing but the sound of the wind and rustling leaves around her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 04, 2017, 11:40:28 pm
And now it's sad. ;w;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 05, 2017, 02:28:10 am
She started with only 3 in mechanics and 2 in fabrication, and that was it. other than the points I put into str and dex.
Something VERY interesting to me though, far more than the story or the succession as a whole, what did you do to this copy of cataclysm that it isn't crashing every three minutes and why are the saves so small?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 05, 2017, 03:42:07 am
Something VERY interesting to me though, far more than the story or the succession as a whole, what did you do to this copy of cataclysm that it isn't crashing every three minutes and why are the saves so small?
I simply used a build I'd been using for a good while, which confirms it to not be pure shit? :V
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 05, 2017, 05:20:49 am
For awhile, she just wandered around. She had time to think. At first, she was confused. Her confusion gave way to unhappiness. The more she thought about her and Nathans journey here, and what it had culminated in several days before, the more her unhappiness turned to anger and contempt. Anger and contempt for Nathan. Why would he take her all the way out here, show her so much of the world outside the room she had lived in her whole life, and then simply leave her? She had several days hiding from the strange creatures she encountered in the woods or spent shivering in the cold dark, to think about it. A week went by. She adapted. She didn't know it, but she had been engineered to be adaptable. Learning to live out here had been traumatic, but not difficult. The animals that barked had given her the worst time. "Dogs," she had once seen pictures in childrens books when she was still small. But the dogs weren't all friendly. Some of them were large, and howled after her. She knew to climb when she caught wind of the howling ones. The greasy black ones too. And the thin ones. They were even worse. The howlers would give up after awhile, but the greasy ones and the thin ones didn't. They didn't seem to eat. Ever. Big things in the woods too, with horns. They were dangerous. Shaggy furry animals with big claws, less aggressive, but bigger than the dogs. The buzzing things, and the spiders were pretty bad. She saw spiders all the time in her room, but never so big. On the first day, she'd stolen an egg from a giant web, but the egg had burst, showering her with ichor and small hand sized spiders.
There was something new in the forest now though. A familiar noise. "Catnip?" It was Nathan. She wasn't ready to forgive him, and just hearing him shout for her just made her angrier. What did Nathan always do when he was angry with her? He hit her. That might make her feel better. She was free now, she could do what she wanted. At first, she wanted to just ignore those calls, but now that the thought had come to her, she thought maybe she'd like to try another new experience. (http://i.imgur.com/pTkwGpD.png) "Catnip! There you are! I'm so so sorry, I shou-" (http://i.imgur.com/r2wFQjc.png) "Agh! Catnip! What the fu-" (http://i.imgur.com/hyUmgDL.png) "Catnip! No! Stop!" (http://i.imgur.com/MnDUH5M.png) "Please... why...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 05, 2017, 11:44:26 am
Oh damn son. Shit just real.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 06, 2017, 12:54:42 am
Catnip felt bad. She wasn't sure what this feeling creeping in on her, wrapping itself around her and squeezing like a giant hand, but she didn't like it. She believed it to be a feeling called "guilt." The thing was, she couldn't recall hitting Nathan so many times. She remembered perfectly the moment when he stopped moving though and the bit where hitting him suddenly wasn't fun anymore was very clear in her mind. The part in between was a bit fuzzy. She must have got a bit carried away. Still, she felt bad. She felt bad when she'd clubbed the howlers too, at first. Killing the howlers had been necessary though, and in the end it had kept her fed for a little longer. Taking them apart had been a bit gross though. She looked from where she was sitting over at Nathan. Definitely dead, but the thought of disassembling him like she had the howlers bothered her even more than the act of bludgeoning him to death had been. She quiet liked his coat though. Divesting him of his clothes, most of which seemed to be in her size, hadn't bothered her in the least. A few more days in the woods, her nights no longer spent shivering in the cold, and she decided she had to move on. Sticking around here just reminded her of what she'd done, and she couldn't dwell on such things if she was to accomplish her goals. Yes, time to move on.
OOC: I didn't realize you'd set the seasons so damn short. I glanced at the clock to see how much time I had left in spring and to my wonder, summer was almost over. Mostly I've been gathering parts and vehicles. Wondering what the hell my train was going to run off of until I found... A thing, let's just say "a thing." I will do the thing with this thing. I just need to keep other players in the succession from finding and stealing "them" (I found multiple.) as this train project is likely to take several turns.
Also, the acidic zombies are kicking my ass, and a survival knife doesn't fit in a sheath?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 06, 2017, 02:55:31 am
OOC: I didn't realize you'd set the seasons so damn short. I glanced at the clock to see how much time I had left in spring and to my wonder, summer was almost over. Mostly I've been gathering parts and vehicles. Wondering what the hell my train was going to run off of until I found... A thing, let's just say "a thing." I will do the thing with this thing. I just need to keep other players in the succession from finding and stealing "them" (I found multiple.) as this train project is likely to take several turns.
Meanwhile it felt like it took me ages just to finish up a single 14 day season. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 08, 2017, 12:50:03 pm
"Hey-o baby doll." Catnip didn't look up from her copy of "fundaments of internal combustion." The pictures of the more modern machines in it were deeply fascinating. "what have you got for me Carmello?" Carmello snatched at his groin, "Oh baby, I got all sorts of things for you." She wasn't interested. When Catnip had first met Carmello, he'd made a pass at her that had gone completely over her head. Back then, she'd been keen on talking to anybody who didn't attack her on sight but didn't know a thing about how to do it without being... strange. Later on, she would learn. Carmello and others had brought her books. Books of every kind. From these and the conversations she had with others, she learned very quickly. It was obvious to those talking to her though that she wasn't quiet the same as everyone else. "Aw, baby, you ain't no fun. Here, I got some of the stuff. Any of these what you wanted?" She looked through the various parts he'd brought her. "Yeah, these I can use I think. How about books?" He pulled a couple childrens books out of his pack and lay them out in front of her. "I have all these already, thanks though. Be a... what's the word... dear? Be a dear and put them on the shelf with the others please." He sulked. "Sure sure. What have you got for me though?" She gestured at another book at the edge of her work table and Carmello opened it up. "Catnip baby, this ain't the stuff I wanted. This ain't porn. I can't beat my bishop to this." Catnip didn't see what he meant. "It looks like porn. What's a bishop?" The book was an art history textbook. "Paintings of the Renaissance." Carmello decided he would just leave it. He didn't have the time to explain this stuff to Catnip again for what he thought would feel like the hundredth time. "Bishops a religious thing. Don't worry about it." "Oh. But, what's religion got to do with your pornography?" "Nevermind. I gotta go. Honey's at the refugee center expecting me." "kay, see you later then. Don't forget your pornography." "It's not porn." "kay." It had been a year since she'd been spirited out of the lab and left in the woods. A few days less than a year since she bludgeoned her handler to death. People like Carmello had helped her get by and even get used to the world as it was. For them it was hard though. To catnip, this was just the world she knew. To them, it was the ruin of the world they knew. They gave each other something to occupy themselves. They could provide for each other as well. Catnip gave them her mechanical expertise, and in exchange, they gave her chocolate. Most of all, they gave her information on where she could find parts she needed. Thanks to them, things would carry along at a steady pace. Catnip would need a lot of things before this was all through, and they would help.
OOC: If you take something, leave chocolate. Chocolate or plutonium cells. I NEED THEM FOR THE REACTORS!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 08, 2017, 03:52:38 pm
Glorious.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 16, 2017, 07:12:39 pm
File: RXM-74 (Tales of the Cataclysm Series) (Historical Archive) Subject: Roxanne Luna Profession Pre-Cataclysm: Bionic Assassin Gender: Female Pre-Cataclysm Age: 28 Pre-Cataclysm Traits: • Cannibal • Fast Reader • Light Step • Pretty • Psychopath • Skilled Liar • Spiritual • Stylish • Terrifying • Weak Scent
• Addictive Personality • Animal Discord • Farsighted • Heavy Sleeper • Insomniac • Lightweight • Near Sighted • Sleepy
Roxanne Luna grew in a small town in the New England region since birth. She knew not of wealth or poverty at any point as either a child or adult. While not a genius by any extent of the word she was smarter than your average joe, or jane in this case, which caused her to excel in her local school among her peers. To her it was trivial memorization and, being a small town and all, there wasn’t much competition or incentive to make the curriculum hard in the first place.
In school, from elementary to high school, she would be found in the library when not in the classroom just reading countless stories from all time periods. She did not play or talk with her peers during breaks, did not join any extra-curricular activities and shunned a communication outside of school save for the times she had group projects. The few times she was forced to participate in group activities she would find it was easy to convince others to do her biding. “Did you get an A in the previous project? I did not think so! So just do what you are told and we will finish this by the end of the week” She wasn’t like by anyone beyond her looks, not necessarily hated just had no friends since she talked to no one and those that she did was when doing group work where she was just ordering around. It was a mutual thing, she talked to no one and no one talked to her back.
Starting in high school she started to get an interest in the spiritual. She read religious text from countless societies and regions fascinated by their influence on the masses. She read of religious and cult leaders alike, she admired how they guided the masses. She took part in many rituals and made her own as well. She started talking to people to join her in her activities, mostly guys who though they could then sleep with her if they went along. This lasted until graduation ending with her amassing a small following among those with similar interest as her due to her knowledge on the subject.
After graduation, she worked retail since she had no interest in college and her knowledge dealing with people (including her bosses) made her fit right in. She was miserable having no choice on who to interact; she especially hated those who she labeled as unintelligent, to put it nicely. She wanted to do more with her life, wanted to lead as she did before, engage in the spiritual. She was considering a career as a televangelist but she would have to narrow her interests to just Christianity and she was not about to do that. So for the mean time she remain where she was slowly climbing the corporate ladder.
Roxanne was a frequent visitor of the dark web since many people into the spiritual and occult shared their experiences openly with no worry of social or professional repercussions. She had heard of online hitman before but had dismissed them as a hoax. One day in her usual browser session she stumbled open a new group who called themselves the “Shadows of Arcana”, their goal was to rid of the world of the “imperfect”. This peaked her interest as she had this believe as well after a few years of working retail, she wanted the “mouth breathers” gone. Interested she communicated with them, one thing lead to another and she met with them in person. Little I know but some of the members known as the “eraser” had an interest in Roxanne. She learned that this sect were paid hitman who worked for the religious saying they eliminated those in the way of the enlighten. She was told she would make a perfect fit from here desires, personality and skill set; the promised here power in return, the latest in bionic augmentation to aid her in her “quest”. Many successful “cleansings” allowed the order to have the latest toys, bionics included. She agreed to help their cause seeing as a way to escape he former life and getting to eliminate those who made it such a miserable time in the first place. The order satisfied her itch for the occult and spiritual and her desire to see the “imperfect’ gone as well, this made her committed to them until the cataclysm struck…
On here way to one of her “quests” was when it all went down. Roxanne was aware of the rumors but simply dismissed them for both implausibility and lack of interest. It was on her way to her target that the dead were assaulting the living, when those she had once enjoyed taking down now targeted her. They overwhelmed her vehicle, they chased her thought the city, they managed to cause a wound to infection…but she managed to reach the house of her target. They let her come in to hide from the chaos outside; Roxanne called the order but they did not pick up. She barely made it and it she knew many of them will, or had already, end like the masses outside. From what she had experience she knew it things had changed; know she will need to rely on those she once despised and was augmented to kill if she was to survive…she know had a choice, finish what she had came here to do or make them the first soul to help her survive…
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 16, 2017, 11:34:07 pm
Oh this gon be gud. 3:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 19, 2017, 05:46:46 pm
Day 1: Roxanne concluded that all ties to the old world had been severed, including her current mission. She decided that she now would need to start anew, she decided to spare her target, Hilario Singh. She did not know anything about her target, she never did, except that he had somehow pissed off the order since they don’t just target people as far as she knew.
“At least we got shelter”, uttered trying to lighten up the situation. “Yeah” responded Roxanne, “What should we do know?” “We should get a car up and running to leave the city as soon as possible.”, Suggested Hilario. This seemed like a good idea to her, with how things are staying in the cities would be too risky. “What’s your name?” asked Hilario. “Roxanne”, she answered.” “Name is Hilario, nice to meet you.” “Yeah…I know…”, Roxanne thought to herself. Roxanne looked at her wound and noticed it was infected “Great”, she muttered to herself, “just what I needed…”. “I am going to go for a supply run before I leave, need anything?” Roxanne asked Hilario. “You know, this might be a bit forward but I think I have an idea of who did this.”, Hilario explained, “A little bit to the east passing the hospital there is an office tower that always rubbed me the wrong way, could you go there and bring me one of those corporate books and I will show you who is at fault!”. “Alright, I guess I can do that.”, Roxanne told Hilario, “Lets go then.” “Why should I go with you?” Roxanne was confused since she had realized Hilario was onboard when mentioning the car Idea. Nevertheless, Roxanne need a way to convince Hilario to join her as she knew she could use the extra hand; Roxanne extended her bionic blade making Hilario flinch a bit. “See this?”, Roxanne asked, “From the looks of it I say I could make a pretty decent body guard no?” “Fair point,” Hilario said, “I don’t even have a weapon…You got it, I am with you!” “Great!”, exclaimed Roxanne, “Now lets stop by the hospital to patch myself really quick”, Roxanne said showing her bite to Hilario, “and then off we go to the tower for your book.”
Roxanne and Hilario gather all the stuff they could before realizing they did not have enough space. They then went outside when the noticed a car was nearby. Upon further inspection they realized it was in working condition! “Jackpot!”, exclaimed Roxanne. They got in the car but soon realized the keys were missing. “Can’t you just hotwire it?”, asked Hilario. “I have never done so and besides we would need something like a screwdriver to turn the ignition which we don’t have.”, explained Roxanne. “So much for a car…”, said Hilario disappointed. “There are more cars out there, will find one that working.”, said Roxanne.
That’s when Roxanne noticed the clothing store. “Hey lets go there!”, Roxanne signaled towards the clothing store. “Why?, asked Hilario. “We might as well get more appropriate clothing for this situation no?”, said Roxanne. “If you really think so”, muttered Hilario uninterred. In the clothing store they did a quick clothing change and by the end of it Hilario had change to more practical clothing like boots and cargo pants while Roxanne was now dressed as if ready for the meeting of Royals. “I thought you said we were to change into more appropriate clothing?”, asked Hilario annoyed. “Just because we are in the cataclysm doesn’t mean I have to stop looking my best!”, exclaimed Roxanne. “There is no other person around her but me that you could ‘impress’ by your ‘style’…”, said Hilario with sprinkled sarcasm. “Is it working?”, asked Roxanne in a playful manner. “No”, asserted Hilario. “Fine!”, pouted Roxanne.
“Look!”, exclaimed Hilario, “There is a military Humvee outside!” Both swiftly went outside to inspect it. “Please let this one have them,” pleaded Roxanne, “Keys! It has them!” They both got on and turned the ignition; it would not turn on. “What’s going on”, asked Roxanne confused. “The battery must be dead, if we can find one that works we might be able to get this going.”, said Hilario. “It would be pretty sweet to ride around in this thing.”, added Roxanne. “That it would”, said Hilario pointing at the mounted machine gun in the back. “Lets get the one from the car that did not have the keys!”, exclaimed Roxanne. “Great idea!”, said Hilario in approval.
Once back by the previous car they lifted the hood to check the battery. “Its bolted shut…”, muttered, “We are going to need pliers or the such to get it off…” “Its always something!”, Roxanne angrily yelled. It was then when the head it, the moans of something approaching; a skeleton slowly creeped its way towards them. “Stay back,” declared Roxanne, “only attack if your life depends on it!” Roxanne approached the creature and contemplate powering her CQB bionic; she had no combat experience since her relied solely on it during her entire “career”. She decided against it in the end saying to herself, “This thing is slow and dumb, how hard can it be?” Roxanne then quickly slashed the thing to pieces, “Easier than expected if I say so myself,” Roxanne proclaimed, “its safe now Hilario, just be on the lookout.” “I am going to need a weapon if I am going to stand a chance out here.”, said Hilario. “You’re right about that…”, Roxanne said in agreement, “Lets get into that house and see if we find anything for you, or of value for that matter, before we head to the hospital.”
Roxanne and Hilario entered a house by breaking a window and swiftly looted the place. The house was mostly food and books safe for a few items. “Oh my god! I always wanted one of these!”, Roxanne screamed while pointed at a purse she found in a drawer, “Hey, there is also a backpack and trenchcoat for you as well.” Hilario put on the trenchcoat and backpack while Roxanne marbled at her new-found purse. “Wait, I am wearing all the cargo stuff…are you using me as a packmule?!” Hilario asked in an accusatory manner. “No! Of course not! Its just that I need to be as unrestricted as possible to be able to attack the dead.”, Roxanne explained. “That clothing, while nice, looks just as encumbering as mine…”, Hilario added. “Not the point”, Roxanne declared. “Anyway, we have ransacked this place and still found nothing I can use as a weapon.”, Hilario said. “Well, what are you good at?”, asked Roxanne. “I am good at cutting and piercing”, Hilario responded. “Then let me make something for you real quick.”, asserted Roxanne. After breaking a few pieces of furniture and scavenging the broken window Roxanne presented Hilario with a knife spear. “There, not as fancy as what I got going on but should do the trick.”, Roxanne said while giving the spear to Hilario.” I must say, this feels pretty good on the hands, thanks!”, Hilario exclaimed. “Now to the hospital! This thing is starting to hurt…”, Roxanne whimpered.
On the way to the hospital they had to cut through a patch of woods to avoid attracting the attention of the dead deeper into the city. Unfortunately some of the dead had been lurking by the outskirts and needed to be dispatched before they attracted the attention of others. “Ok, now that you are armed I am going to need your help, engage anything that gets too close.”, asserted Roxanne. “You got it!” exclaimed Hilario. The survivor due procedued to lure the stragglers to a chokehold on the back of a house and were they were impaled and cut by Hilario and Roxanne respectively. “Not bad, for a packmule with makeshift spear you can handle yourelf pretty well.”, Roxanne said jokingly. “I knew it!”, Hilario responded. “I am just pulling your leg. Lets continue.”, Roxanne commanded. After an uneventful pass through the woods the couple reached the hospital.
“Here we are, remember, we are not here to do a mass loot, we find the meds and we leave, go it?”, asked Roxanne. “Yeah, this place makes me uneasy already…”, responded Hilario. They slowly entered the hospital to an empty lobby. They descended down the hallway and inspected all the rooms immediate to them to no avail with limited visibility due to the lack of a flashlight. Roxanne led the way with here night vison augmentation. “How did you get those upgrades?”, asked Hilario. “It’s a long story…”, affirmed Roxanne. “Will you tell it to me one day?”, asked Hilario once again. “…Maybe one day…”, said Roxanne reluctantly. She suddenlty became lost in though about how Hilario might react if he were to find out about the order or as to why Roxanne had been sent in the first place. That’s when they heard noise. “You heard that? Something is nearby…”, Hilario whispered. The two of them then went out into the hallway once more to see two of the dead, but they were somehow different; one of them was covered in what looked like green boiling liquid and the other was bloated with purple sludge a spitter zombie and a boomer as they would become known as later on. “What the fuck is that…”, asked Hilario shocked. “I don’t know but something tell me we have to get rid of them quickly”, Roxanne answered. Soon after the boomer through its sludge at Hilary temporarily obstructing his vision but not blinded because of his safety google he was wearing. Roxanne was wearing a riot helmet she had found earlier, not as flashy as she would like but she knew it would be better in the long run, so she was not as worried about the sludge. Roxanne then quickly ran towards the spitter when it shoot acid towards the couple and it landed on their feet. “Ahhh, it fucking burns!”, shouted Roxanne. “Roxanne! Careful, that acid he is spitting!”, Hilario shouted back. “Now that’s not very fucking fair!”, exclaimed Roxanne when she got out of the acid, “It hurts like hell but we have to kill it before it shoot more!” Roxanne and Hilario then quickly dispatched the both the dead side stepping the acid. “That was intense…we need to find the meds and get out of here fast, something tells me there are more of them…”, Roxanne suggested. “Yeah, this place is too dangerous.”, affirmed Hilario.
After looking through what appeared to be every single room in the hospital and sustaining several injuries dispatching the dead the pair reached the last room. “This is just great! All of that and not a single fucking first aid kit or antibiotic! Oh but if you need an aspirin I can sure as hell hook you up!”, Roxanne yelled furiously. “Calm down, any other stragglers might hear you.”, Hilario responded. “We have been to every room here, I am sure we killed all of them,”, Roxanne responded back, ” besides, the way this wound is going, it won’t matter I don’t find meds for it soon…”. “We will find some soon, I promise, we just need to look else where.”, Hilario reassured Roxanne, “But first lets get out of here, my legs can’t take much abuse…”. “Same here…and you are right, we have to keep moving.”, Roxanne said. “Look! Is that what I think it is?” Hilario asked excitingly. To the end of the room was a CBM for an internal furnace. “That’s a Compact Bionics Module, it’s a toolkit with everything you need to install the bionic that comes in hand.”, Roxanne explained,” This particular one is an internal furnace, says it allows the host to consume organic matter to charge its power supply…could be useful if I could install it.” “To bad we can’t take it…”, said Hilario, “My volume space is full…” “That’s alright, I don’t have the know how to install it so It’s useless to us now.”, affirmed Roxanne, “Now lets get out of here, no distractions!”.
Once outside the hospital Hilario spotted a hatchback in the middle of the road ahead. “Lest go check it out, my legs are too banged up to continue walking…”, suggested Hilario. “Sure, pretty much the same here.”, Roxanne said in agreement, “Here its to hoping it works…” They go in the hatchback after a quick inspection. “Keys!”, exclaimed Roxanne, “Lets turn this puppy on!” With the turn of the key and revving of the engine the hachback turned on, they had acquired wheels. “Now that’s what I am talking about!”, Hilario screamed in enthusiasm. Roxanne proceeded to drive a few dozen yards out of a curve from the hospital when they were greeted by a nasty surprise on the road proper… The noise from the hospital skirmish had attracted a few dozen of the dead and they were in the way. There were to many cars to maneuver out of the way and they were quickly becoming surrounded. “We are going to have to fight…”, Roxanne proclaimed.” Roxanne and Hilario got out without a word, they readied their weapons and as soon as they got close they struck each one of them one by one. By the end of it they had sustained no injuries but the sun was on its way down to a sunset. “I can’t take any more of this…lets rest for today…”, Hilario declared. “Yeah…I am exhausted…and I am sure you are as well. “Roxanne said, “Lets get into that house there and rest for tomorrow. Hopefully we have more luck then.” “… We will find your meds next thing in the morning, I promise…”, Hilario reassured once more. “Thanks…lets secure the house so we can rest.”, Roxanne responded. The two of the broke into the house by prying a door with a crowbar they had made from a pipe inside the hospital. Once inside they closed all the curtains with no regards about any loot inside save for one; when they had opened the bathroom room to close its window’s curtain Roxanne found it, a first aid kit! She picked it up and then closed the curtain. “That’s all the curtains” Hilario said, “I the bedroom, had a big bed where we can both sleep at. Finally time to rest.” “You go on ahead, I have something to do first.”, Roxanne told Hilario. “And what would that be?”, Hilario asked. Roxanne simply showed him the first aid kit she had found and both of them smiled. “I’ll be there soon, save me some space.”, Roxanne requested. “Sure, don’t take to long, we have to leave early.” “Yeah, I know, don’t worry. This won’t take long”, Roxanne responded. Hilario went to bed while Roxanne patch up her wound saving the rest of the kit for a rainy day. With that done Roxanne joined Hilario in bed to finally rest after the first hectic day of many in the cataclysm. “Sit lux guide sancto sanctus…”, Roxanne whispered to herself before falling asleep.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 19, 2017, 07:45:53 pm
Noct liiiives. An interesting start.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 24, 2017, 10:15:56 pm
Day 2:
Roxanne and Hilario woke up with no incident after a good nights rest where Roxanne had healed completely from all her previous injuries. “How is the wound feel?”, asked Hilario with emphasis. “It has completely healed along with my other injuries.”, responded Roxanne, “How about yourself?” “Everything is looking good except my legs; they are still pretty banged up”, answered Hilario.
Roxanne and Hilario had a quick meal from the food they had scavenge yesterday. They, however, had not managed to find many drinks so even after they finished they were still quite thirsty; Roxanne did not ask or comment about it to Hilario but she knew he was thirsty as well.
“Well, we should hop back into the hatchback and go to that office tower to get that book of yours.”, announced Roxanne. They went outside to find a few of the dead surrounding the hatchback. After a quick dispatching of then with no injuries they got into the vehicle and drove towards the office tower by off-roading via a field. The hatchback then suddenly stopped.
“What happened?”, asked Roxanne. “We ran out of gas…”, answered Hilario pointing at the fuel indicator, “Of course! Now what?”. “We walk I guess”, suggested Roxanne, “There are some woods ahead of us anyway so we would have had to go around or leave the hatchback anyways.” “So we cut through the woods?”, asked Hilario. “Yes, we will worry about a car later.”, responded Roxanne, “One thing at a time; for now we concentrate on reaching the tower and see what we can find.
They left the hatchback and procced on foot reaching the field. They disposed of a few wild animals that attacked them while in both the field and the woods. They eventually reached a clearing and found themselves in a campsite. “Look, there is tents and everything setup already!”, exclaimed Roxanne, “there is even an unfinished well and restroom over there!” “We could use this as a back up point if we need too.” Suggested Hilario, “but for now we should just continue since we are so close."
After walking through the woods some more Roxanne and Hilario reached the office tower. They entered a via one of many broken windows. “Stay behind me,”, commanded Roxanne, “we don’t know what’s down and here and I am the one with night vision.” They slowly trekked from room to room looking through stuff and fighting the dead that once were preoccupied with paperwork here. They eventually reached a room with a corporate ledger and Roxanne presented it to Hilario. “Thanks!”, exclaimed Hilario, “Now to find the culprit! …Wait…uh oh…” “What’s wrong?”, asked Roxanne. “I have good news and bad news…”, answered Hilario, “The bad news is that I can’t do as much with this book as I thought I could… However, one of them left the combination to one of the safes to the local bank! Why don’t we go there and find what’s in there?” “Might as well, we need to look for more supplies and a place to dwell soon anyway.”, Roxanne expressed a bit annoyed. They explored the rest of the tower finding a couple of drinks that they quickly downed. Once they reached the stairs down they found a few vehicles in the parking lot but they did not work and garage doors did not open. They gave up on the place as fortifying it would be a nightmare and continued into the town.
They traveled to a town south of them that was way smaller than the one they had come from. On the way to the bank with the safe they looked at the abandoned vehicles for items and a working car. The only thing of value was a jerrycan of gas they left behind since they did not have space for it and the stuff they already had was of higher priority.
Once they reached the town they realized that their plan would be fruitless. “Its full of them…”, Hilario grimly said, “Its way too many to handle… we have to go back…” “Yeah, you are right”, Roxanne agreed, “We barely got out of the hospital. We should get out of here before we attract their attention.” “Lets fall back to the campsite we found,”, Hilario suggested, “Its far from both towns and its protected by the forest. Besides, we need to leave our items somewhere before we can gather more loot.” With a simple nod from Roxanne they went their way back to the campsite.
Once there they picked their tents and a third for the loot. The three were close to each other in a circle with a chairs and a brazier for a campfire; cooking would not be a problem now. “So what’s the game plan?”, asked Hilario. “Remember that jerrycan we found on our way to the town?, Roxanne asked back. “Yeah, why?”, responded Hilario. “I am thinking we can take it and fill the hatchback we abandoned in the field to make it a grocery store in the main city.”, Explained Roxanne, “There two of them close together and we need the supplies and we know said hatchback works since it was gas that stopped us.” “I suppose you have a point… But why that and not any other car?”, questioned Hilario. “For one we know it works and will not have to hunt for one, “, Roxanne answered, “And second it is already on the side of the forest so we will not have to waste gas by driving around it.” “Well, then its time to get moving.”, said Hilario. “Yes, the less time we waste the better!”, proclaimed Roxanne.
Their route back for the jerrycan was going uneventfully when out of the blue they were attacked by a random man. He managed to slip unnoticed to both Roxanne and Hilario when he struck. He attacked Hilario before he could fire his weapon. Without a word Roxanne activated her CQB Bionic and adrenaline unit and rushed at the assailant at full force! After a quick exchange od blows and a few minor injuries the assailant was neutralized. “*pant*…Thanks for the help…*pant*”, wheezed Hilario. “Are you ok?!”, exclaimed Roxanne. “*pant*…It looks worse than it is, don’t worry about me…*pant*…Just give me a minute to catch my breath…*pant*”, reassured Hilario. Roxanne was not so sure about his claims but they needs the supplies and she need his help while on the raid so she took it at his word. “Alright, we will go in a few, but if you can’t go on let me know now to go back to the camp.”, Roxanne commanded. “No need, I am fine really. I’ll be ready in just a moment…” They eventually continued onwards and picked the jerrycan and went to the hatchback without further incident.
At this point in time it was impossible to ignore the thirst Roxanne was experiencing since it was starting to affect her performance. She knew Hilario would be feeling the same way but was oddly not complaining. She need to find something to drink and fast. Once they had pour the gas to the hatchback and went their way to the grocery stores relief came in the hope of refreshment as part of the loot.
“The grocery store is a not far from here and we can off road all the way there without alerting any of the dead.”, Roxanne pointed out. “Ok, once there we’ll just fight off whatever presence is there, get the items and get the hell away!”. Hilario exclaimed. “Yes, its getting late as well so we must hurry.”, Roxanne commanded. Once they reached the grocery stores they meet very little resistance and managed to pick up a shopping cart to aid them with the loot. “That was unexpectedly easy…”, Hilario said suspicious. “Sometimes things are that way, works for me!”, Roxanne exclaimed. They swiftly looted all items on the grocery store drinking any beverages they found along the way. When they were done with botj/ they had rid themselves of thirst but were out of drinks again. “Great, so we are going to have to loot for drinks again…”, Hilario protested. Roxanne paid no mind and took the now empty sealable containers and filled them with toilet water from the second grocery store. “Have we become so desperate that we will now drink toilet water…”, Hilario whispered in disbelief. “We will boil it when we get home to camp”, Roxanne explained. “Its either that or death for now, your choice.” Hilario simply gave a smug face and put the containers in the cart “Your appearance would suggest this would not be something you would do…”, Hilario whispered to himself. “What was that?”, asked Roxanne. “Nothing…just that we should find shelter for tonight”, Hilario said evading the question, “It’s too dark to go back to camp so we should wait it out until morning.” Roxanne looks around and see the sun barely over the horizon. “Fine, lets clear that house there.” order Roxanne pointing at the house nearest to them, “Thankfully it’s in the outskirts of town if we need to name a quick retreat.” With that being said the couple opened went inside the house closing all curtains and location a bedroom. Once they secured the house they had a quick meal before going to bed. “We managed to survive another day huh?”, Hilario commented, “Thanks for having my back against that lunatic.” “I told I made a pretty good bodyguard.” Roxanne replied in a teasing manner, “You must still be banged up from that encounter; rest up, we go back to the camp tomorrow.” “Alright, good night then.”, whispered Hilario before falling asleep. “A fast sleeper huh?”, whispered Roxanne to herself. A moment passed while Roxanne reflected on the fact that she had partnered and now defend a man she was order to kill. The order was all she knew for a long time and she did not question them once. Now, however, she was not so sure. “Sit enim ut captivi ducti miseratione amisit…”, Roxanne uttered before falling asleep herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 25, 2017, 05:51:46 pm
Interesting continuation so far.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 08, 2017, 09:11:46 am
Catnip was dreaming again. She saw it, her train. All chrome and steam and engines. Moving machinery, miles long, and she had created it. But in the dream, the train would suddenly stop, it's gears and pistons screaming in mechanized agony. The chrome would darken and the steam would drop. Rust, rust in the works. The vines would grow up around and through her glorious creation, but just as it fell into utter ruin, a light would shine down upon it and her, and the entropy would cease. The light spoke, "Seek them XE73627, seek them out. They will ensure the fruition of this dream. The first is a man, a knight in a modern time, seeking something you can provide, the banner of a fallen kingdom. The second is a woman, she is a murderer, but she has chosen mercy. She will enlighten you to the mysteries of the world. The third is a cowboy, he rides a horse of steel and brings with him the thunder of war. For him, the lead wind blows. For you, it must be so as well. You will bring to him purpose beyond himself. Gather these three, and your goal will be within reach.
She awoke and got to work immediately with her printer. The new flier read this:
SEKING 3 PEEPOL. NITE, KILUR, AN METEL COWMAN! COM TO KATNIP! (below this is a crude crayon drawing of a knight, a woman in black, and a cowboy on an ATV.)
She would have Carmello distribute them along with the others asking for parts. Things would finally get done.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 08, 2017, 11:46:52 am
Oh that is glorious. Now I'm trying to figure out how best to change what Sir Loin was last doing. Which admittedly was just puttering about scouting the nearby area.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 08, 2017, 12:26:21 pm
A loud roar of a V6 echoes, an ATV stops outside a large refugee center. A man steps off, he takes off his gasmask and hangs it off of his backpack. He walks in the refugee center, hand resting on a large revolver on his hip. He scans the room and spots some fliers.
SEKING 3 PEEPOL. NITE, KILUR, AN METEL COWMAN! COM TO KATNIP! (below this is a crude crayon drawing of a knight, a woman in black, and a cowboy on an ATV.)
The old man raises an eyebrow at this, he speaks up to the man giving out the fliers. "Howdy, y'think you could give me directions to this... 'Katnip'?" The man gives directions, namely coordinates. The old man heads back to his ATV and starts the engine. The steel horse gallops towards the coordinates.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 08, 2017, 01:40:46 pm
Catnip reached into yet another microwave and gave a hard tug, ripping free the grate covering the magnetron. She reached in again and this time came out with a hand full of wires. Something in the air stopped her mid pull. Carmello? No, Carmello would be inside already. Dervish then? No, not Dervish. Dervish was as loud as his namesake. Victoria? She couldn't smell her perfume, so it wasn't Victoria... Her whiskers twitched, someone new. The microwave crashed to the floor as she rose and went to the door and looked through one of several holes. Not in the main hall yet, she had time to switch off the turret, not that it ever fired on anything. She did so and checked the side doors. They were boarded, but she had long drilled holes in them for looking out. There. There he was. Older man. Grey hair. Revolver. Her nose twitched. He was inspecting the wreckage and her haphazard traps. Beyond her wrecking yard, she could see his vehicle. How had she not heard it pull up? Big engine like that on such a small thing. "Steel horse. metal cowman- cowboy."
What to do? What to do? She could be sure of the way her usual guests would respond if she just burst through that front door, but not this man. For someone of such age, he looked spry, quick even. Maybe even jumpy. Her heightened senses could feel the tension in his limbs, and the speed with which he might be able to draw that revolver. The two couldn't be more different. She, a childish mutant and he an aged hardcase. Maybe he wasn't a hardcase though. Maybe he was like granpap, who used to bring her the fresh bread? What to do, what to do? She quietly drew back the bolt on the door, and withdrew the lock. No, she wouldn't burst out. She would wait. Something in her told her that making him come to her would annoy him, but going to him might put him on edge. She would meet him halfway. She hadn't set the table in the hall for no reason after all.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 08, 2017, 02:13:04 pm
The knight made a careful return to the humble shelter he made his home, another fruitless search for any other survivors. And for the thing a fellow survivor of his was desperate for, a lost standard and symbol of the old world. All he managed to find was a few more supplies that, while useful, were no longer as vital as they once were, more cursed souls to send back to Hell, and...something that gave the armored wanderer pause. Signs of brief, passing activity in the town to their north, which he'd only explored the barest fringes. And a flier posted on one of the stores he cleared out the first time he ventured in.
He'd brought the peculiar printout to his waiting comrade. Neither knew what to make of it...
SEKING 3 PEEPOL. NITE, KILUR, AN METEL COWMAN! COM TO KATNIP! (below this is a crude crayon drawing of a knight, a woman in black, and a cowboy on an ATV.)
"They might have a setup going. Some semblance of order out there. Sounds like someone that doesn't quite have their head on straight, but they might be able to get us what we're after." said the beleaguered companion.
"And one in need of a knight, among other adventurers. A worthy cause, surely. But from where would they have ventured forth?"
"If they've got enough secured to have a reliable base of operations, working copy machine even, odds are good it's one of the places hooked up to the emergency systems like this old evac shelter. Gotta be something bigger though, one of those full-scale centers they took ten years just to approve construction of. If I knew where to get any local addresses..."
The knight at this point was lost in thought, attention soon turned to the small console set up in one corner of the shelter, one of the few things there that still worked. Even with little understanding of the device other than how to poke around in the sparse menus it had available, he already began to suspect the underlooked machine held the key to what he was after, all along...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 08, 2017, 02:20:05 pm
Floyd was elbow deep in the ATV's engine compartment, digging out oily black chunks of burnt flesh. "Eugh." He throws the chunks of oily gore to the side. He looks at the area around Catnip's hideout, mannequins and husks of cars litter the front and side. Something caught Floyd's eye, a homemade blackpowder Gatling gun. He walks up to the door and inches around the pits and he knocks on the door, hand on revolver. "Anyone home?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 08, 2017, 02:37:55 pm
Footnote: The event’s detailed above were pieced together by a diary kept by Roxanne which was no longer updated after the 2nd day. Because of this detailed description of the nature of the first two days are no longer possible. All further accounts are pieced by recollections of those involved. See sources for details.
Day 3: Roxanne and Hilario awoke and prepared to go back to the campsite. They had a quick breakfast, scavenged gas and batteries to supply to the hatchback but decided to switch to a Van instead. They moved the batteries and pour all the gas into the new acquired van, put all loot in the back, looted a fire truck and took the off-road route via a field back to the campsite. In the campsite the couple offloaded and organized their loot and swiftly made dinner. Before going to bed Roxanne made a makeshift funnel to gather water. “Nothing fresher than rain!”, Roxanne remarked. “I wouldn’t trust that now with the dead rising up and stuff…”, Hilario commented. “Way to kill my vibe…”, Roxanne responded.
Day 4-6: These days were documented to be not very productive. Roxanne and Hilario organized the camp to their liking and hunted regularly for more food. The thing of note is that Roxanne picked up reading a lot during this time while Hilario decided make his own documentation of events (this is what we are basing this off of), while not as detailed as Roxanne it got more detailed as the days went by. The pair had secured the place with no dead, monsters or wildlife to disturb and they had gathered enough food and water to stay put for a while.
Day 7:
After waking up from a couple days of routine Roxanne decided to go to the bank Hilario had mentioned and have a crack at the safes. They managed to get their but not without noticing a blood pit near the bank. It was not a concern for them since it was far enough away. Once inside they were stuck at the fact that they needed to hack a computer to get into the vault and the rest of the bank had nothing to offer. They had resigned to go to the campsite but were surrounded by blobs. “We dealt with worse”, Roxanne reassured, “I am not about to die to some goo!” Roxanne and Hilario fought dispatching many a blob until Roxanne ran out of power and had to rely on her limited combat experience and Hilario but the twosome were successful in riding the town of the blob two things had happened: Hilario got his backpack torn to shreds losing some gear and the blob pit still remained. Hilario spotted a laundromat and suggested they could replaced some damaged clothing there but the place was empty. Afterwards they decided to loot the rest of the small town only finding more food but securing the entire place minus the blob pit. Returning the campsite they made dinner and went to sleep deciding this day was neither a win or a loss.
Hilario details a conversation he and Roxanne had while eating dinner before bed. “Do you think we did ok today?”, Roxanne asked. “What do you mean?, Hilario asked back. “We fought and survived a mass of…blobs but might fight I lost power because of my recklessness and lost us some gear…”, Roxanne explained, “Might have even cost us our lives…” This brief exchange showed to Hilario that Roxanne was starting to deal with some insecurities she had not shown before. He still had many questions about the person he decided to accompany for protection a week before. He still believed she could protect him “I mean look at that blade!”, Hilario recall thinking to himself but he wondered if they might soon to have to face something that would he did not know of, a secret of Roxanne that she knew even her could not fight.
Day 8: Roxanne woke up early in the morning to find a hand-made flyer had landed by the storage tent. They flyer read: “SEKING 3 PEEPOL. NITE, KILUR, AN METEL COWMAN! COM TO KATNIP!” with a crayon drawing on the bottom of three people one of which looked like a knight. On the back there were directions and an invitation to help on a projected. “Kilur? Did it mean killer?”, Roxanne asked herself, “Are they looking for mercenaries?” Roxanne woke Hilario and asked his opinion on the matter. “This looks a bit sketchy to me…”, Hilario commented, “The flyer is hard to read and people who are soliciting mercenaries are not people we want to deal with…” “Maybe we can trade with them,”, Roxanne suggested, “We could get some part for our van in exchange for food or…” “Or what?”, Hilario asked suspicious. “Or I could lend my hand to them…you know…dispatch some baddies…” The pair discussed the matter further and arrived at the conclusion they would check it out tomorrow but they had to prep for it on that day. They would trade for items and they would offer to help find specific loot in exchange for a fair trade but Hilario was hesitant about being a mercenary. What “fair trade’ was, however, they did not know…
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 08, 2017, 02:50:07 pm
"Hello cowma- cowboy. C'mon in." Dervish had tried to correct her on that. Tried to get her to correct the terrible spelling on her fliers too, but she hadn't the paper or the patience to reprint the lot. The door opened, slowly, and let light into the dimly lit hallway. She'd been under the sun for a year, and yet it still surprised her how much it bothered her sensitive eyes. It took both parties a moment to adjust to the varying light conditions, he to the dark and she to the light. "Sit down, sit down." she said, still trying to blink away the light.
To Floyds eyes, there was something vaguely ratlike about her. "Took your time didn't you? Figured you'd want to get straight to... business? business. Uh... business?" Floyd nodded, "business." "Thank you. Straight to business. I guess you wanted to clean up your horse though. It doesn't look much like a horse." "It's not a horse. What's this flier about?" "My dream said it was a horse." "What? Dream?" "I dreamed. It said to find three people. It said I should look for the cowboy on the steel horse. Do you have the lead wind? What is it? What does it look like? Is it like regular wind? Is it cold? Does it hurt?" Too many questions, Floyd was encountering the problem everyone had with catnip at first. She asked a lot of questions. She almost certainly didn't understand at least half the answers, and seemed to have trouble simply acknowledging questions directed at her. He was just beginning to wonder what this was all about when he realized she had stopped babbling. She'd laid something out on the table in front of him and was looking at him expectantly. A sheaf of papers, each page depicting a schematic for some kind of... train?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 08, 2017, 03:08:29 pm
"I got a 'nam pi- An M60 on my quadbike, if that's what yer askin'. Might be what it means? Lead wind's probably bullets. So it hurts, yeah."
"...wait, how old are you?"
Floyd rubs his grey beard. "What do you need us for anyhow?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 08, 2017, 08:39:52 pm
"Old?" Catnip had never thought about it. She had no idea how old she was. Until she'd been taken from the lab, she'd had no concept of time. The scientists had never celebrated her birthday before, so that was out. All she could really recall was Christmases. They'd never brought her gifts, but they'd brought plenty for each other. It always filled her with a mix of excitement and bitterness at seeing all those brightly colored boxes and bags that she would never get to open. The lab techs in their garish sweaters, the smell of something sweet always in the air, and the sound of repetitive seasonal music creeping through the not-quite sound proof walls. She thought hard for a bit, and just as Floyd was thinking to reach over and shake her, she looked up at him and said "twenty-three Christmases."
"My dream said you would bring the lead wind, and if lead wind is guns, then I guess you are bringing guns? Do you have guns?" He puzzled over the sheaf of schematics for a moment. Catnip hadn't planned for any guns on this "train." He saw what she meant. The battered implements lying in the hall, the disused locker filled with neglected firearms, and a gunstores worth of munitions. There was even the rotary cannon he had looked over out front. The cannon was hand made, the chassis around it was too, but the mess of wire and electronics showed that she hadn't been able to get it to work properly. It could be fired manually, but as for firing on it's own... She couldn't use any of it, or she was afraid to. She needed Floyd to help arm her ambitious project.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 08, 2017, 10:57:32 pm
Floyd nods, "I have guns, yeah. And I know where to get more, and how to make some if need be." Floyd looks over the blueprint. "'fraid yer gonna need some armoring, either ceramic or some steel. Mounted guns in case there's somethin' too big t' ram. Maybe somethin' t' shoot those big tank shells to blow holes in buildin's. Maybe for the cow catcher git some 'a those heavy duty frames an' reinforce 'em with either military armor platin' or that 'soo-per alloy' that's in labs I think, military armor platin's more likely, however. He rambles, Floyd rubs his beard. "I know a few places where t' git some parts for this... 'train'"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 09, 2017, 09:59:12 pm
A bit of silence. Awkward silence. "So... super alloy then?" Catnip, breaking the silence, said. "I think they mentioned something like that in the lab I came from. But I don't know where that is. We also need these glowing things, these 'ploo-tone-ee-um.' things" She dug around in one of her line of cupboards and came out with a faintly glowing rod. Floyd recoiled at the unshielded plutonium rod, catnip didn't notice. "If you bring bunches of these and super alloys and lots of guns, I'll give you..." She tossed the rod back into the cupboard and started digging through a pile of what looked like mechanical rubble, but seemed actually to be a pile of vehicle parts, "one of my special engines for you horse!" She held up, or rather held at waist level, a spherical object about the size of a basketball with a series of pistons across the top, and a brightly glowing window on it's front. A minireactor. The crack running across the hull of the reactor told Floyd all he needed to know, and Catnip could see the thinly veiled horror on his face, even as he backed away. "Is there something wrong? It's damaged, sure, but I can probably fix it right up once it's attached."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 11, 2017, 12:28:27 pm
"Alright, have a nice day Carmello." Catnip shouted after him. Floyd watched it all from where he was performing maintainance on his quad bike. The man Catnip called Carmello didn't turn or respond. Floyd knew about Carmichael "Carmello" Cambridge. Wheeled and dealed around the refugee centers, made deliveries to various groups across new england, and on occasion, stuck up honest survivors. Carmello looked around and then knocked on the door of his groups heavily modified RV. The engine didn't start right away, so Floyd approached and listened. "Get what you wanted from that bitch boss?" "No, but I think we've skimmed about what we can off her. This thing is looking pretty formidable on the roads. I think we can start hitting some real targets, maybe one of the refugee centers." "What about the mutie boss?" "... Fuck it. I'm tired of tryin' with her. We'll make her our first hit. She can't get those gats out front working properly, so we ain't gotta worry about them. The cowboy... I wanna get him too. He'll be back later tonight, seems Catnip has offered him his own room and all that jazz. He'll come back, we'll hit this shithole tomorrow morning. Make it a couple days, to make sure the battery on this hog is charged, and get em both in one go. Toss these fuckin' books in with the rest of the firewood." "Animals." Floyd whispered to himself as the RV started. He walked back to his quad and ran his hand across the handle bars. "Gonna earn our keep I think." He followed them from a distance until they set up camp in a copse of trees, and watched for a time. There were six of them, and one of him. There were six in the cylinder at his hip, enough to get this job done. When the men who meant his charge harm had settled down, he checked his revolver and moved in. "Evening." Said Floyd, breaking into the clearing where the bandits had set up camp. The men stood, "The fuck are you doing here cowboy?" Floyd let his hands rest on his belt, his right within comfortable distance of his raging bull. "Come to deliver a message." He responded, spitting into the dirt, "Your services are no longer required." The bandits glanced at each other and Carmello stepped forward. "Oh yeah cowboy? Well that's fine with me, we were moving on anyway." Floyd didn't like the shit eating grin on Carmello's face, it was the grin of a dog just as it was preparing to bite. His hand slid closer to his revolver. "I don't think you were. Something about a first hit? Early in the morning?" Floyds own look had turned sourly business like. The silence between them was broken by a gust of wind and the crackle of the fire pit. Carmello took a step back, "Get him." They were at him in an instant. They were armed with next to nothing in terms of weapons, but they had numbers. Six shots was all Floyd would have. 'Should have brought the quad' he thought. The gun on his quad would have trivialized this, but they would have heard him coming. One of Carmellos men got too eager and charged ahead of the advancing group, Floyd pulled leather and shot him in the gut, turned and shot another low in the left chest. Carmello was running towards the RV, if he got in their Floyd wouldn't have a chance. One of the bandits coming at him from the side, he swung his gun in that direction and struck him across the jaw with the barrel of Floyds sizable gun. A spray of teeth and blood was joined a split instant later by a jet of burning gasses and a lead slug plowing through the soft flesh beneath the bandits chin. Three in the cylinder, three rabid animals left to put down. Floyd charged, a maneuver that got him clubbed and stabbed several times, but put one of the bandits off balance. Carmello had reached the RV and was struggling with the door. He'd have to take the shot now if he was the have a chance. A backhand to the face of one bandit gave him a little space, he aimed, and fired. Carmello fell with a shout. Not dead, Floyd knew from the way he fell that he wasn't down for good. A loose end, he had to hope that Carmello wouldn't get back up, that he'd get a chance to tie that loose end up. A knife entered his periphery, looping in, going for his eyes. Floyd jerked his head back, fired wildly, and missed. "FUCK!" The other bandit was getting back up. He didn't have time for this, one bullet wasn't enough and he didn't have time to reload. The knife wielder was babbling incoherently. Something in Spanish, the cowboy didn't have to think about his target, and shot him in the head. At first he didn't realize he'd been shot. He was having a hard time thinking. His eyes slowly rolled back in his head and he collapsed. "Oh god, don't kill me!" Screeched the final bandit. "Stay there." responded Floyd. He'd reloaded three chambers when a shot not his own rang out from the direction of the bandits fallen leader. Searing pain etched it's way up and down Floyd's leg. The last of the bandits stopped begging and tried to push his new found advantage, only to find a bullet ripping the life from his body, even as it punctured his lung and ripped out a sizable chunk of his spine. "FUCK YOU COWBOY!" Shouted Carmello. Another shot flew past Floyds side and a third grooved his hip. He sat up, aimed, not flinching as a fourth and fifth bullet creased the air around him, and fired. There wasn't a lot left the the hand holding Carmello's gun. Floyd looked over the scene with some thought. He hadn't been aiming for his hand, the shot had been a fluke. For Carmallo's part, he couldn't stop screaming and looking at the hand either. Floyd checked the cylinder and spat. "As I was saying, the girl no longer requires your services. I'd issue you your unemployment papers, but..." A shot rang out, and except for the sounds of the woods and the crackling of the fire pit, silence fell over the camp.
"Floyd, have you seen Carmello?" Floyd continued polishing the chrome bumper on his quad bike and rubbed the healing wound in his leg. "Can't say that I have Catnip, Can't say that I have. Left a note, asked me to burn it. Left you that nice RV, as a parting gift. Guess he must have moved on."
Credit goes to Saltmummy for the story itself, I just fixed up the spelling errors. I'll send the save soon. as it takes ages to upload.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 11, 2017, 02:31:22 pm
Nice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 13, 2017, 08:19:32 pm
Floyd watched as Catnip rifled dexterously through the spider like metal husks he had brought back to her. "skitterbots," he remembered they were called. At first, Catnips reaction to them had been rather unexpected. She'd backed away from them. Something about her life in the lab he guessed. She wouldn't help him move them into a wheelbarrow until he'd tossed each one on the ground and put a bullet into each metal carcass to prove that they really were dead. "They look dead sometimes, but it's a trick." She had explained. She treated them with a great deal more finesse than he had previously witnessed when she was taking apart less sophisticated items. "Tell me again Dervish. That part about the maps." Dervish was a small, wiry, tan skinned man with a bit of a temper to him. "Well Nip, it's like a said. Somethings up with the mapping software on all the automaps. The refugee center is scrambling, everybody is in a panic. Getting around is going to be tricky to say the least." A look came over Dervish, "I uh. I didn't really want to tell you this, but Granpap, Khaki, and Jonathan went out to help redraw maps and they haven't come back." Floyd was shaking his head, people disappearing all the time now. Good people. It was sad. Catnip had set aside her tools and stared at Dervish. Just staring. "Nip? You alright?" All at once, the tears started. "Jeez, Nip. Floyd, buddy, can you leave us for a minute or two." Floyd nodded and went to his room. He'd never met Khaki or Jonathan, but he'd met Granpap on many occasions. Good sort, Floyd had liked the old baker. Everyone did. Catnip adored him like a grandchild does her grandfather. Sad times. Sad times for everybody.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 16, 2017, 01:06:35 am
"Has anybody seen Catnip?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 16, 2017, 04:55:24 am
This can't end well. D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 16, 2017, 10:47:41 am
It wasn't til three weeks later that catnip was found. She did not so much come home as she was tripped over lying in the doorway of a used book store in a small town south of her workshop. Not that the young woman who tripped over her could have avoided it. At first, she couldn't see what had caused her to stumble until a gust of wind caught the scintillating blanket that Catnip had thrown over herself, disturbing the mazy effect rendering her invisible. It was bad. Really bad.
"Apart from the burns and the bite wounds, she shows signs of attack by beings other than the dead. We pulled this," Dr. Mason held up a crossbow bolt, "from her side. Some other survivor must have spotted her after she had been through whatever she had been through and shot her, thinking she was one of the dead. Also, there is this thing that we had trouble removing from the back of her neck, Professor Dravis?" Peter "Dervish" Davis stepped foreward and placed a spiderlike machine on the table. It was odd how some parts of it seemed to be organic in nature. "This," explained Dervish, "Is a biological infusor. A highly experimental mutagenic 'engine' of sorts. It works by destabilizing the genome of a subject it is attached to. I have no idea how it ended up attached to Catnip, but the result is the same whether she meant to put it on or not. We all knew what she was, it was hard to tell sometimes, but we all knew. It is... quiet a bit more obvious now." The meeting room table of the Refugee center was littered with the things Catnip had been carrying when found. Weapons and tools the likes of which none in the room had seen. Except of course, Dervish. He'd kept his nature to himself pretty well, but once Catnip had turned up he had spilled the beans. A senior researcher at one of the New England labs. He'd heard of the various centers developing mutants for various experiments, and had even helped develop the device before him now. "She was carting all this around? As injured as she was?" Dervish nodded. "The cloak she had helped her evade further injury by keeping her hidden from sight. It probably saved her life." There was a great deal of discussion then. What to do with all the hardware Catnip had recovered. This discussion soon turned to debate, and the debate to a heated argument. Things looked to get out of control when a voice spoke up over the shouting. "Enough!" It was the Old Guard delegate. "This 'Catnip,' her project is of great interest to The Old Guard, and of great benefit to all of us. I feel that allowing her to retain ownership of these articles when she regains consciousness would be in everyones best interest." There was little more discussion after that. In the end, they decided they would keep anything unrelated to catnips direct interests.
She shook violently in her bed. Dervish and Dr. Mason had come back. To visit, to treat her. "Nip? Nip, I need you to listen. Can you hear me? Listen." He thought for a moment, and then said "Ladies Night." Catnip only looked confused. "What? Dervish..." Dervish shushed the likewise confused doctor. "Catnip is an X7 mutant, she almost certainly has an activation phrase. They all did. We can treat her more easily if we can 'deactivate' her. It's not mentally implanted, it's a chip. I could probably remove it as well if we can utilize the right phrase." He tried a few phrases, each of them both ridiculous and seemingly benign. "Those X7 guys were sick fucks. Abusive, exploitative, corrupt. Catnip tells everyone she is 23 years old? Not even that. When I was just a lab tech, I had to run reports from all the labs out here to headquarters down south. Even X7. I didn't recognize her, but she recognized me from those days, still didn't know exactly who I was, guessed my name wrong. She's got a good memory, but not perfect. I didn't recognize her because she was just a girl then. She looked no more than ten or eleven. I think that was her anyway. Accelerated growth." "Why does she say she's so many Christmases old?" he asked. Dervish smirked, "I told you. They were sick fucks. 'christmas' was their euphemism for euthanizing failed mutants. They would cut them up afterwords and file away all the 'presents' for later study." He tried some more Phrases. "That was seven years ago now. Seems like an age." He looked Catnip over and realized he was babbling. His job had been to keep an eye on Catnip, but he'd accidentally become friends with her. Now, she was in this condition. Dr. mason had wrapped her up in what looked like miles of gauze, and had put a good mile or two of stitches in her. She'd be covered in scars, not all of them on the surface. "What happened to her out there?" Dervish shook his head, trying a few more phrases. "I don't know, but I think she'll tell us when she's good and ready."
OOC: next few write ups will conclude this bit of Catnips biography arc, and contain screenshots as what she was doing unfolds.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 16, 2017, 03:03:35 pm
This is Noct's fault isn't it? D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 16, 2017, 03:27:13 pm
It is. I'm gonna get fuck'n R E V E N G E
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 16, 2017, 04:28:24 pm
Thus began The Great Youkai Fucking of 2017.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 16, 2017, 10:46:59 pm
I plea the 5th...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 17, 2017, 11:55:25 am
Huehuehue.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 17, 2017, 07:32:36 pm
"Blightwalker."
Catnips eyes went blank, and then shut. She dreamed memories. Dreamed of a long walk in the woods she had taken. She liked it out here, it was quiet. She was looking for someone though, and the quiet told her that whoever it was she was searching for was not here. She walked on. Her walk was long. Night and day passed without event, until she encountered a woman. She spoke to her. The womans words were little more than threats, and she had attacked Catnip with her hatchet. Catnip ran. She ran and ran until she found a river, and then she followed it. It wound on and on. For a day she followed the river, and upon the suns setting, she felt weary. In the air was the sound of thunder, but not a cloud in the sky was there. Catnip ate fish and set camp, but in the night the thunder kept her awake and drew her attention. She would investigate. It was a collection of strange creatures, mutants like herself but with metal limbs. They were throwing lightning bolts at one another. She'd approached cautiously in the dark and darted in through the open doors. Within, she found little more than a note. Catnip had learned a little about reading from Granpap. Poor Granpap. The note outlined a place in the west and a camp in the north east. The camp had been burned, and the charred bodies lay strewn about the killing field like so many bullet riddled bowling pins. She went west. There she found another concrete block like the one before. In the dark of night, she approached the still sealed door. It flew open with the force of an explosion, sending Catnip hurtling into the dark. "Come child," came a voice from within, "I am your beginning, and your end. Death comes child, for I am Apep, Apophis reborn." Striding from the smoke, silhouetted by the light within the concrete block, was a thing akin to a man but with the face of a serpent, and a body of steel and super alloy. There was no hope. A sound, like the warble of a plucked saw, pierced the air and a beam of green illuminated the darkness briefly. "Ah, there you are child. Tarry not! Delay not the inevitable! Come to me!" Had this happened? she had remembered it as a dream at first, but now it seemed even more a dream than it had before. She fled, but her greed got the better of her sense of self preservation, and she returned to try her luck. The "Apophis" or whatever it had been called seemed to have left. (http://i.imgur.com/cW7B4zp.png) The wonders within this tomb of science had her goggling at it all. (http://i.imgur.com/xJdu74i.png) One thing in particular had caught her attention though. (http://i.imgur.com/DFaPrrW.png) She felt she should know it by sight, something from her childhood. She feared it, but she felt it was right that she should keep it. Memories, not long ago she'd left the lab she'd called home with her handler. A man called Nathan. Catnip had murdered him. Before that though, before leaving the lab. She thought it was from that time, but her memory of then was poor. How did this thing work again? She felt it didn't really matter, but it had to be affixed to her body in some way. What did it do though? Catnip remembered vaguely, very vaguely, that the thing had made her feel better. Stronger. Healing then? The lab tomb was filled with things she would very much like to have. One of those things was a scintillating blanket. She fancied the way it looked, and tried it on as a cloak. It looked very nice on her, so she thought. Not everything would fit in her packs, and catnip was forced to leave some of it behind. "There you are child." came the voice of apophis from the doorway, Catnip turned as the sound of warbling saws came to her ears. An arc of green sizzled the air over her head and exploded behind her, blasting a hole in the wall. The imposing machine had missed. How was that possible? Other bionic mutants streamed in through the front door. No hope of escape there, so catnip did the next best thing and leapt through the hole. Before she knew it though, Apophis had wrecked the wall and the chase continued. (http://i.imgur.com/MC1OgsR.png) Arc after arc of electricity traced blue through the air towards her, and arc after arc found their mark. Catnip could barely move, the lightning had burned her skin all over. Another beam of green lit up the night, striking the ground beneath her. The blast threw her clear of the electrifying horde and into the safety of the darkness. She lay still for a long time in too much pain to get up. She was cold all over, the electricity had burned away most of her clothes, leaving her mostly naked except for her packs, the strange blanket, and the tattered charred remains of her pants. There was little to do but lay in the dark, listening to the creature which called itself Apophis rave to the others. (http://i.imgur.com/d0QPm6Z.png) Light would be upon her soon, she had to move. She couldn't remember why she'd let the workshop. She regretted leaving the workshop. Would she die? Surely she would if she stayed here. Catnip crawled slowly until she was sure she was out of sight of the lab. The thunder filled the air to the west. She knew what it was now, and catnip knew she would never return to this place.
She traveled for days, retracing her steps, fleeing from bandits who noticed her, until she found herself in a small town. The blanket kept her hidden from the eyes of those that would harm her, she found. Just too tired to continue, and so she found a spot she liked and rested. Thinking the strange device she found would heal her, she attached it to the back of her neck, like she remembered from her days in the lab. To her horror, it didn't make her feel better. It made her feel weaker. Catnips limbs seemed to turn to noodles and she couldn't muster the strength the remove the device. Her face grew long, her voice rough. She felt unstable, and oh so weak.
A day later, her ruined form would be discovered by a young woman looking for supplies.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 18, 2017, 06:33:43 pm
For those wondering, Salt finished up their turn and posted it in the Discord, so now...
The knight pored over the screen, sifting through page upon page of worthless information, finally getting information on the nearest refugee center. The grand quest began at last. Knowing roughly the address it listed, he hastily scribbled it down on the first avilable paper, gathered supplies, and asked that his companion remain to guard the place.
Having gathered a few goods for trade, he made his way into town, finding the old worn-out tank. Seats all somehow torn to bits, two leaking fuel tanks, one part of engine assembly falling apart at the seams. Replace the seats, remove the dangerously damaged fuel tanks. His companion already gave him such funny looks, surprised that a man in full mail seemed to have no issue with operating a computer, just imagine the funny looks that a knight jury-rigging a light tank would've provoked. More reason he didn't want his ally following him on this perilous quest.
One thing he forgot. The latest war machines operated on a battery of smaller individual engines, in theory allowing redundancy. In practice, the right type of flaw in one could cripple the whole assembly. Out it goes, worked free from the whole array of motors with careful work of pliers and steel-clad hands.
So he followed the road, until a curious sight blocked his path. He already saw several peculiar flaws in the road maps he had on hand, but this was an anomaly beyond his expectations. Remembering his quest, he dismounted his war machine, wading into the sundered shell of an old school.
Soon, late into the night (and after a chance in perspective), he found there was nothing remaining to aid his quest.
Worse, he made a dire mistake. One that prompted a frantic scramble back to the nearby town to scavenge for batteries, and forced to temporarily set the engine array to minimum output lest the engines drain these batteries dry.
The morning after this though, he reviewed the written address and the flier these mysterious survivors had left. Plutonium cells, check. Chocolate, the horde of undead children left an abundance of them. But then he noticed the scrawled text included a series of numbers. He'd given it little thought at first, until he reviewed the information from the computer he wrote down. Street address, city, state, zip code...but in addition, a set of coordinates, for navigation systems.
It became clear to the knight-errant that the closest refugee center was not the one that visited the town he found the flier in. Common sense eluded him in that moment. Far to the south, any survivors from the closest center would've had to pass by the town he cleaned out entirely, and surely left the note there.
But the flier was left in the town to his north, at its southrernmost fringes. Seeing clearly how the coordinates were meant to be interpreted, he realized the location he was searching for was far to the northeast instead...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 18, 2017, 09:42:49 pm
During his quest the knight halted at what appeared to be an abandoned ranch of some sort. He could've sworn he saw a glimpse of another to his south as well, but...surely, he thought, his memory must be failing him. There was little to be found. No survivors, scant supplies, only a tractor with a bit of fuel left, to make up for the earlier fool's errand.
Soon afterwards he passed through what seemed little more than a hamlet to him, at best, followed by a great bridge. There, several vehicles blocked his way. Strip the engine, batteries, trunks, seats...though even with this it took great effort, the knight soon shoved the remaining 800 pounds of car aside, leaving space for him to continue onward.
The next city was much larger, infested to a greater degree. The war machine was suffering from the journey by now, mostly the frontal armor. It was fortunate that the knight was halted by the sight of a second light tank in a intersection. Tracked, but mostly intact.
It took time, time to strip parts off, brush up on mechanical knowledge, replace anything that could be replaced without a welder and stuff the rest in storage. Soon, the knight and his war machine resumed their quest.
The knight pulled in quietly, engine array still at minimum power, war machine scarred and battered. The knight pulled around a massive assortment of vehicles, beginning to suspect his gift was a pittance compared to the massive amount of machinery laid out before him.
He could see what was clearly an inhabited building, suspecting his approach would be noticed, though less of a racket than if he'd run all the surviving engines his machine had. Carefully he dismounted, helm doffed and sword sheathed, still clad in a full hauberk and bearing his kite shield...
Here comes the part where Salt or Wilson pitches in. o3o
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 18, 2017, 10:42:45 pm
Floyd and Dervish sat on lawnchairs, drinking beers, beneath the dim floodlight that catnip had built the autumn before. It was a warm summer evening and despite current events, Floyd thought that if two guys could sit under a porch light surrounded by a cloud of moths, drinking beer, and shooting the shit on a pleasantly warm evening, then maybe the world wasn't so bad off. Dervish was turning something over in his hand. "It's an X7 kill circuit." He explained. It was a small thing, no larger than a toothpick, with a red light at one end, "It controls the discharge of neurotoxins into X7 mutants if the scientists of X7 decide they need to euthanize them. Unfortunatly, we can't remove the full switch, but getting rid of this should keep people from konking her out with a phrase, or activating the switch." Floyd took a sip of his beer. "You and Dr. Morgan did a good job patching her up." Dervish threw what was left of his beer at one of the partially disassembled vehicles. "Wish I could say I was happy about it. I'm conflicted Floyd. I'm glad she's still alive, but why does she have to live a life like this? As a mutant I mean. 'blightwalker' was a discontinued project. They were ordered to stop the project, it wasn't feasible. I'm sorry she has had to go through the first years of her life in X7." Floyd put his beer down. "Dervish, she isn't at X7 now, and apart from her recent... whatever happened to her, she loves life. She likes receiving visitors. Think about it Dervish, of all the people left in the world, Catnip is the one person in this whole clusterfuck who seems to be-" Floyd cut off what he was about to say as a sudden repetitive sound came rolling through the air far to the south. "The hell is that?" said Dervish, "Heavy machine gun fire, I- Nip?" Catnip, wrapped in her blanket and little else had come outside. She staggered with every step "The knight is coming! Gotta get the sheet he wants! The flag! Gotta..." She collapsed, back into a deep unconsciousness. "jesus." Said Floyd, "Still has enough energy in her to get out of bed..." The two men carried her back to her bed. "You think she's right?" Asked Floyd. Dervish just looked at Catnip, "Maybe. If so, I guess we should stick around to meet him. Catnip is certainly in no condition to meet him."
For everything Floyd had seen after the cataclysm, he hadn't expected a literal knight. "Man-at-arms." He corrected. "I have some things your master might want." Floyd already didn't like him. Something about the way he talked rubbed him the wrong way. "She ain't my 'master.' If you've got chocolate leave it by the bed and don't disturb her sleep. She's been injured pretty bad and needs some rest. She's made it clear to any visitors that her stocks are your stocks as long as theirs a fair exchange. Her idea of fair exchange is in chocolate though." Sir Loin of Beef had never heard of anything that ridiculous. He wondered what sort of person this "Catnip" might be. The inside of the workshop was dark, but not too dark to see. Despite the Cowboy out fronts proclamation that his charge was terribly injured and the lack of light, the air had a light quality to it, something pleasant. The front hall was narrow, but it hadn't stopped it's occupant from filling it with vehicle parts and adorning it in potted plants, mannequins, and a simple table for meeting with people. It was on this last that he found, to his surprise, the object of his quest. It was lying there, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. He'd expected to find it after a heroic battle, or some other dramatic encounter, not sitting on a table in the home of a local savant. There was a note, "4 nite, leev choklet. Welcum 2 katnips wurkshawp." Another man, some sort of doctor emerged from a side room and noticed him. "oh, sorry, catnips not seeing... wait, your 'the night' aren't you? I'm sorry Catnip can't meet with you herself, she loves visitors. The flag is what you've come for yeah? She said it was. Wouldn't let me write the note for her, she's trying to learn." Sir Loin of Beef introduced himself. "Eh," said Dervish, "I've heard stranger names. If you've got chocolate for her, go through the door at the end of the hall and leave it next to the bed. Try not to wake her. Oh, and the boarded up room across the hall is yours if you want it. Or the basement. One or the other. Nip was gonna outfit it to suit your needs before the incident." Sir Loin gave a short bow and proceeded to Catnips inner sanctum. It was darker in here, just barely light enough to see where he was going. The bed was close to the door though, and so he didn't need to stumble around in the dark for long. Upon the bed was a collection of objects, chocolate, consumer electronics, bits and shards of old jewelry, and a small mass beneath a pile of blankets. That last heaved up and down, and the low sound of labored breathing came from it. He couldn't see her face, but he didn't need to to know she was already awake under there. "My lady." He said, bowing. As he bent to place the chocolate on the bed, a charred hand shot out from under the blankets and gripped Sir Loins Wrist. "You came! Did you get your gift? I..." The hand fell away as Catnip once again passed out. What had happened to her before he'd gotten here?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 18, 2017, 11:04:31 pm
Following their introductions, the knight took care in unloading supplies. Not only chocolate but also an array of junk food, various books he had found, weapons, ammunition, and tools. So far he was uncertain what this quest would entail, but he had carefully folded up the flag to bring back out and stash in the driver's compartment.
"If there are any items remaining milady or your fellows will need, so be it. Only the items in the driver's hatch will be needed when I make my return journey." he said. Burdening the tank's cargo holds were an array of parts including frames, armor plating, electronics, and even a dismantled main gun, evidently a replacement for the one on the tank, being in poor condition.
Much as he seemed to act like a proper man-at-arms, it certainly seemed suspicious, given he seemed to know exactly what parts the tank used.
"I don't know yet whether you'll have need of this machine as it is now, or for parts. It isn't as much use to me." he said, having just set aside the last of the supplies he brought in. Several medical supplies, bandages and disinfectant. Whatever his intentions, he so far had brought in supplies and only accepted the flag.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 19, 2017, 12:45:55 am
The order:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 19, 2017, 01:35:00 am
Oooh. Do I sense an implied link to The Cleansing Flame there? Meanwhile for Sir Loin, I'm already formulating a possible backstory for him for when Floyd inevitably makes him spill the beans. Not arcanist-related though, since he happens to have a whopping 0 arcana level. Tanks however might be involved, as well as mansions. Though I haven't decided whether he just lucked into one after the unit scattered, or if some "suspension of Noct's favorite amendment" shit meant he had reason to consider a mansion as a rendezvous point.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 19, 2017, 08:48:29 am
Floyd leans against the wall, waiting for the "Man-at-arms" to exit before he continues to question. "I know you're not a knight." Sir Loin corrects him, "That ain't the point. The beans. Spill 'em. No knight I ever heard of knew the exact parts of a god damn tank."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 19, 2017, 11:52:01 am
The "knight" sighed at that, knowing that Floyd wasn't going to let up until he gave in. "Alright, I'll admit it. I'm not in fact a man-at-arms, knight, or any such thing. Didn't step in from the 11th century. Can't even ride a horse."
"Armored cavalry, driver specifically. Up until about a year or two before things turned out the way they were. Fairly uneventful back then." he answered.
"Not long after things started falling apart, I started heading for one of the evac shelters, staying away from the cities best as I could. Passed by one of those old manor homes along the way. Place was completely empty, everyone there fled from...something. Left behind a collection of armament, and I'd always had a thing for medieval reenactment. I sorta...fell into the role since then."
Went with the alternative idea of that backstory being a good bit pre-cataclysm instead of being involved in shady background stuff. Maybe. Still pulling a backstory out of my ass. :V
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 19, 2017, 12:44:30 pm
"Alright. I'm happy with that. Carry on. Floyd stops leaning on the wall and goes back to sitting on the lawnchair and drinking. He looks at a flyer, a different one.
Assistants needed for exploration and Artifact gathering, go to ((INSERT COORDINATES HERE)). There will be payment, payment includes common and reproducible artifacts that I have. I and several of my associates will give directions to various sites and where to possibly find artifacts. Respectfully, Dr. Lawrence Zacharias Quinn. PhD.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 19, 2017, 12:49:31 pm
The "knight" nodded at that. "I'll admit I got into the role a bit more extensively that I should. Regardless...do you know what happened to her? Injuries that extensive don't seem like what most of those revenents-"
He paused a moment, having caught himself slipping into those terms he picked up. "...zombies, whatever would even be the sane term, could do to someone. At least, while still being able to get away from them. Getting caught by the few things that can inflict burns like that tends to mean getting mobbed by the whole group."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 19, 2017, 01:10:54 pm
Floyd looks up from the flyer, "I heard she went to a lab. Not sure though, I'd ask Dervish. The doctor type. He might give you a job or somethin'."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 19, 2017, 01:36:14 pm
The knight nodded at that, having just in case been doing a smattering of basic work on the tank. Dervish directed him to a few papers Catnip had on hand when they found her, old maps and peculiar texts, which he'd given little thought to initially when he helped put away the books he brought over.
One of which soon caught his eye, having suspicions about it. "You said a lab, correct? It might be possible to pin down which places in the area would be the likely suspects..."
Dervish looked the map over carefully along with Sir Loin. "That's one of the items she brought back, yes. Given how scrambled the automap network has been lately, it's hard to match the printout with what's still working."
The knight regarded the map warily. "Coordinates printout still works for the most part, except in a few spots. It's how I found this place after I almost rode miles away in the wrong direction." he admitted. "Can get a general direction at least..."
Between his estimate and Dervish's understanding of some of the X-series labs likely to be in that area, eventually they determined the likely site. Something that made the Dervish go a bit pale, reluctant to explain more than absolutely necessary to the newcomer, but enough to make the knight a bit unnerved.
"I might want to get the tank in full condition after all..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 19, 2017, 03:06:28 pm
Soon enough he was off, heading in the direct of his quest. Nearing the edge of town he skirted around more apparent spacial anomalies, spotting something stranded on the edge of town.
A rather small armored vehicle, one the knight almost mistook for the tank drones he'd heard of. Both this and the machine he least wanted to meet on the road were effectively after his time, though he vaguely recalled trials of a MOUT-focused experimental vehicle resembling what he saw tracked in the street.
Aside from a vague memory of someone jokingly suggesting a minireactor-powered light tank should be named after an old nuclear plant that suffered an accident, he didn't recall much of it.
Soon enough the knight was on his way through another town, half of it either gone outright or not marked on the map correctly. A brief stop by a river to refill a tank he was using for water storage, and a rest just out of town, and safely away from his goal.
The knight readied himself for battle, seeing unfamiliar figures in the distance. Revenents, but of a nature utterly unlike any he saw in the cities. And a few that seemed alive, but no less hostile...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 19, 2017, 05:31:02 pm
The creature seemed nowhere to be found, until he regarded the lab itself. The door looked to be sealed shut, but that clearly didn't stop the creatures from escaping. Something had forced the door shut afterwards, and paid little heed to the racket outside, rattling of M240 fire and arcing of electric weaponry. So he decided to rake the reinforced door with machinegun fire, and see if that's get the attention of anything inside.
His action was answered by a massive blast that sent pieces of the door flying in every direction. A damaged, well-lit interior structure, and a glimpse of something utterly massive figure moving within, seeming to sweep the doorway before charging out.
It was covered in armor plating, a humanoid figure seemingly more machine than man, right arm still aglow from firing off an attached cannon of a design unfamilar to the knight. When it took notice of the tank it seemed as though it was staring right at him. It could tell there was only one person manning the vehicle.
It was a race between the knight, scrambling through the interior of the tank to get to the turret, and a monstrous creature charging out of the bunker, either to simply close in and tear his vehicle about, or simply waiting for the moment when its main weapon would be recharged.
There was the loud thundering roar of the main gun, and another brilliant, deafening blast that mingled with the cacophony his main gun unleashed. Given the explosion was such that it shook the tank, the knight thought he'd been hit. When the smoke cleared, it was clear his weapon found its mark.
Then he saw there was little intact of it, only a thin splatter of gore and what few items were scattered around the area. The last thing he expected to see after hitting something of that size with an AP shell. He had to check the autoloader to confirm he hadn't loaded HEAT rounds by mistake, leaving him to guess that he set off something in the creature's body on impact.
Spoiler: bastard wasn't actually in the area, some map file searching and debugging didn't reveal it being anywhere the save files claim it to be, so I kinda just spawned another. Still isn't even remotely a fair fight when you have a tank.
All that remained among the leftovers were some tattered clothes, and a single strange badge, the knight choosing to keep this as a trophy. So began a long, yet uneventful, drive back to where the others were.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 21, 2017, 04:37:01 pm
Dr. Lawrence Zacharias Quinn, Research notes. "Magical Items"
Day 22: Heard about an artifact site nearby, might be worth looking at.
Day 24: Bit of a waste of time, found some books and a couple of artifacts. Some dull engraved daggers and a strange ring. I'll research them all further.
Silver Dagger, "Sacrificial Athame" Engraved, seemingly dull and brittle. Cutting motion causes a laceration somewhere else on the body. Studies concluded due to possible life threatening anomolies.
Silver ring, "Ring of The Fallen Angel" Seems to cure ailments, including teleglow and anomalous effects. Doesn't heal physical wounds, however.
Day 27: Isaac told me about a site quite far away, heading there now. Told me to watch out for slimes. Gave him a bag of coffee as payment.
The Scientist walks through the woods in the middle of the day. He spots a small camp, two people sitting around a small fire. A man and a lady, he rests his hand against his sword and the other against a sawed off suppressed 870. He puts a whistle in his mouth and blows it, trying to get their attention.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 21, 2017, 04:47:56 pm
Roxanne is startled at the presence of another person. The only other person she had encountered apart from Hilario had attacked them without reason. They approached carefully,"We don't want any trouble pal...", Roxanne said to the approaching man.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 21, 2017, 04:54:19 pm
Quinn looks boredly through his glasses, he takes his hands off of his weapons. "I don't desire any trouble either." The scientists inspects Roxanne's face, "I'm Doctor Lawrence Zacharias Quinn, scientist. I was heading towards a site nearby, apologies for intruding." He rubs his chin, "Do you want a job? Somewhere else other then this... Campsite."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 21, 2017, 04:58:27 pm
Roxanne relaxes at the demeanor of the Doctor. "As a matter of fact, we planned to move out soon here", Roxanne show's the doctor catnip's pamphlet. "What do you propose doctor?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 21, 2017, 05:03:42 pm
"In exchange for a place to stay, You'll go scout out locations and gather artifacts. I have several maps found already. Just scout out locations on them." Quinn shifts his tongue in his mouth and digs out a flyer out of his lab-coat, he hands it to Roxanne. "Where my 'Lab' is. I'll meet you there and finish up what I was doing. See you soon."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 21, 2017, 05:07:08 pm
"Alright doctor, Ill bring anything arcane that is of interest to you then, I happen to have an eye for that kind of stuff.", Roxanne responds with a wink. This felt all too familiar...she was finally to be an acquisitionist!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 21, 2017, 06:06:51 pm
Quinn nods and makes way to where he was heading towards, he finds a strange symbol and a few books and that's it. He heads back to his lab.
Day 28: Found a couple of people out there, agreed to help me out. They should be here soon.
String-less Crossbow, "Wraith-slayer Crossbow" Works like a laser rifle, fires a beam of light when the triggered is pulled. Other then that, there's golden symbols decorating it and it lacks a bow string. Interesting.
Large golden ring, "Symbol of Judgement" A large golden ring with a trident motif and and inlaid with silver accents. When fired it shoots out electricity, similar to a Tesla coil.
Dark metal sword, "Vorpal Blade" Handle and crossguard appears to be flesh-like and similar to a tendril, blade is made of a dark metal. When supplied with blood, the crossguard wraps around and tightens around ones wrist, preventing one from dropping the blade.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 21, 2017, 08:44:45 pm
Roxanne and Hilario were left with a decision, go towards the first location or go towards the doctor. They knew nothing about the previous location and from the poorly written pamphlet it seems they wanted a hired gun sword. On the other hand, the doctor had the prime opportunity to do so but choose not to and they knew what he wanted. While roxanne was more experienced in killing she always dreamed of delving into the arcane and being Quinn's acquisitionist would get her closer than the order ever did.
Without another though she decided they would head towards Quinn's first to establish themselves and then would drop by the other location when artifact hunting. But as the buzzkill that Hilario was he pointed out the lack of food for a prolonged journey...So first food and then journey!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 22, 2017, 10:25:46 pm
Day 29: Sleep.
Day 31: Went out to books, someone attacked me. Broke my arm, nanobots aren't working, Got it in a cast, it hurts.
Day 32: Ran the bastard over with my car. He's dead.
Day 33: Happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Law-rence. Happy birthday to me.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 22, 2017, 10:31:26 pm
Awww, Quinn needs a birthday hug?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 22, 2017, 10:33:50 pm
What am I missing? D:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 23, 2017, 12:08:25 am
"Dr.Quinn? Can you read me? It's me, Roxanne! I am testing this radio and I wanted to thank you for the stash you left! I just finished packing the van and will be on my way. Might take a while if I need to scavenge gas." The sounds a car engine turning on can be heard.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 23, 2017, 12:13:25 am
"Reading you loud and clear. Least I could do for my new assistants. I'll see you soon." Quinn nurses his broken arm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 23, 2017, 12:19:37 am
"Btw Doctor, the maps seemed to be faulty right now. I will proceed by the coordinates you gave me so it might take a bit longer than expected.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 23, 2017, 01:05:46 am
"Doctor, its me Roxanne again. I have arrived at your coordinates and will be entering to rest as the journey has me tired. I know that barging in at 10 PM is not very polite so I beg your pardon... Me and Milan will be setting shop on the far-most room on the corridor."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 23, 2017, 02:14:22 am
"Sleep. I'll get you breakfast in the morning. I have research to do, I'll get you caught up." Quinn sips his coffee, he sets his laptop to the camera attatched to the automatic turret above ground. He runs his chin and fiddles with the two-way radio nearby. He settles upon a signal and tests it. "Anyone on this signal? Testing, testing, one two." Either sir loin or dervish can respond
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 23, 2017, 02:26:04 am
*Bzzt* je- *fzzzz* -ip, did you ha- *fzt* rip out th- *static* Hang on, j- *more static, followed by silence*
*Fzzt* Hello? I am reading you, this is Professor Peter Davis. Dervish if you like. Who is this? Over. *click*
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 23, 2017, 02:29:26 am
The knight had just returned to the main room to check on Catnip, having spent time repairing the Siege Tower after the prior journey. Then he heard the distinct tone of a radio, swiftly answered by Dervish. That provoked his curiosity, something to ask the lab tech about when he was finished.
After all, they were missing one more person, one more sought by Catnip for reasons unknown...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 23, 2017, 02:31:11 am
Roxanne was awoke by the sound of the radio. She heard the voice of the doctor through it so she decided to listen on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 23, 2017, 02:39:50 am
"Dr. Lawrence Zacharias Quinn, PhD. Scientist, worked in the anomalous materials Lab." Quinn drums his fingers on the desk "Where am I getting this Signal from?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 23, 2017, 02:47:31 am
*Fzzt* Not sure, if you've heard of Catnip and her little train project, that's round abouts where I'm at. Anomalous materials huh? Ever work with X7 mutagen samples? Over. *click*
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 23, 2017, 02:52:25 am
"This is Roxanne Luna, assistant to doctor Quinn. Did you just say catnip? I found a strange flier with such a name and some cordinates."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 23, 2017, 03:01:40 am
Sir Loin at this point approached, having overhead the current conversation, gesturing to try and respond as well. "That would be correct. The knight and cowboy are already here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 23, 2017, 03:06:21 am
Quinn jmps at Roxanne suddenly talking, "AH! X- X7? No, no no. I would never work with them. I worked as an anomalous object researcher at the AOR-13. Occult objects mainly. Finding out how to get those damned things to work, I don't why they work." Quinn sighs, agitated. "I have heard of catnip and their train while at the center trading wine and liqour for coffee and sugar. Got one of the flyers, actually..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 23, 2017, 03:10:52 am
*Click* Listening in eh? Yeah, that's the Catnip I mean. horrible spelling? Childish drawing? Even though the maps are all fucked, the coords on that flyer are still accurate.*silence, someone can be heard in the background.* Yeah, it seems the only people who actually took notice of the fliers were the people they were meant to attract. You must be the one Nip refers to as 'The killer who chose mercy.' If you've got a moment, I'm sure she'd like to speak to you in person once our current situation has settled and she's recovered. I never put much stock in the occult studies until last year. My respect sir. But listen, Professor Quinn, sir, if you've any knowledge of X7 mutagen, specifically "X7-BW, Type V 'Rat'" or possibly the "Purging agent" used by most of the labs studying the blobs mutagenic properties, my charge needs it badly. She, Catnip I mean, got into some serious shit while she was out looking for missing people and her genome has destabilized. She needs more of the same to get it under control or their won't be much left of her when the mutation settles down. Sounds like their isn't much hope for the rat serum, but maybe you have or know where to get some "purifier?" Over.*click*
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 23, 2017, 03:16:40 am
The knight listened in on this, likely leaving Dervbish to use the radio in peace, heading out to get the tank's radio set up to listen in on them and respond. "If needed, we have access cards to any labs that may be still intact." he added over the tank headset. He'd rather not mention just how many he found on the corpses of people that evidently died while transporting...things.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 23, 2017, 03:21:44 am
"Purifier? You have the- uh. The notes there? If so, I'll send in my assistant over to grab them. If not, hospitals usually have them. Send the coordinates over, please." *click* Quinn dogs out a large map from his desk "Roxanne, there's a few places you need to go." Quinn circles where the coords are, somewhere north that's close by, and where the bunker is. "You need to head here, here, and here. Rest up, and I'll get breakfast ready."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 23, 2017, 03:26:54 am
*Bsszt* Notes? Notes. Uh, lemme check. *silence for awhile* God... I'm not sure when or where, but Nip had a binder in her library. Looks like she's never touched it, but it's definitely the work of X7. I wonder where she got it... her handler maybe? Yeah, send your assistant over to collect it. Might be a few interesting things Catnips got that you can use as well. I'm certain she won't mind. Over. *bzt*
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 23, 2017, 03:38:48 am
"You said...anomalies, correct? May also have some texts on subjects that seemed a bit less like the conventional research, from what I've skimmed of the books I found along the way here. Alchemy and other such things."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 23, 2017, 04:17:21 am
This is Roxanne, Doctor Quinn has confimer the cordinates to catnip's place. I will bring a personal token of gold and silver. After the notes are delivererd I will work with tbe doctor to aquire the needed chemicals. We will let you know how it goes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 23, 2017, 03:26:39 pm
Footnote: From this point forward specific details have become scarce and a such an accurate timeline was lost.
Soon after a stranger appeared at the camp. He identified himself as Doctor Lawrence Zacharias Quinn and reassured Roxanne that he meant no harm. He offered Roxanne shelter in exchange for her assistance in a matter. He told Roxanne he was a scientist who focused on researching the occult and needed her to help him acquire artifacts and other things of interest. Roxanne agreed given that she currently lived in a tent and with that the doctor was off. Roxanne saw this as an opportunity to become the acquisitionist she was going to be. The order may be no more but maybe her search of the arcane might continue under doctor Quinn now.
The next day on the early hours of the morning Roxanne searched for Hilario to help pack the van with their stuff to got to Quinn’s. Hilario was nowhere to be found but after searching for a bit he was found by the bushes thinking to himself. Then he spoke, “Roxanne, I am Hilario no more, my name is Milan Gibbs. I don’t question your past as to why you are augmented the way you are so I ask you do the same for me but know this is my real name; I used the name Hilario to, hide if you will, from a certain group…” Roxanne knew what he was talking about, more than Hilario, now Milan, knew she did. She knew who was after him and they apparently found him despite his efforts; had the cataclysm not happened she would have had struck him down… “By the way Roxanne, may I ask you for a favor? There is this cult not far from here that has me worried. I don’t know if are still alive but something tells me we should investigate it one if this days.” With a simple nod, Milan told Roxanne the details.
While packing their stuff into the van Roxanne and Milan found a stash of MREs and a two-way radio. A stick was beside them inscribe with the note informing Roxanne that is was Doctor Quinn leaving this here so she could reach him and to use the radio to communicate with him when not in his lair. What an eccentric man leaving notes on sticks, but Roxanne had dealt with weirder…
With all that done Roxanne and co got into the van and went towards the coordinates the doctor had provided. They soon realized the maps were messed up and so decided to secure a house nearby now that the dead seemed to have moved on. They cleared the area and left all their superfluous items and the van taking only what they could carry; Milan being the pack mule as usual.
On their way towards Quinn’s they found another town nearby and decided to check it out. They were mostly interested in a new vehicle now that there where roads they could travel unlike before thanks to the map. They found no working vehicles and had to dispatch a few of the dead but they did find a stash of gold and silver in a security van. Roxanne decide to use them as an offering when they eventually ventured to the location on the pamphlet with the poor spelling.
Roxanne and co eventually reached Doctor Quinn’s base and informed him of their arrival. It was late at night so they simply went into their assigned quarters and went to sleep. Both were quite impressed by the doctor’s amount of supplies and the machinery outside. In the morning, Doctor Quinn, had prepared breakfast and after a brief talk he told Roxanne what he expected off her. From a radio conversation, they had the day before with some people who claimed were behind the pamphlet Roxanne had found she now had her objectives. Roxanne asked doctor Quinn is he would augment her with the cmbs he in store; he agreed and augmented Roxanne with the following: A total of 1500 power unit, chain lighting, anti-glare compensators, muscle augmentation, and protective lenses. Doctor Quinn also gave Roxanne a replacement holster for her revolver she had acquired before, a RM99 as well as giving her a FN FAL, magazines and a large amount of ammunition. ‘For the journey’ as Doctor Quinn had put it.
Roxanne then spent some time in her quarters reading the books on arcana the doctor had provided here. She quickly learned about it given the fact that she had primordial knowledge via theology. Most of the books she read were a drag to read except one that had religious connotations and as such fascinated Roxanne. By the end of her reading session she was sure she could know summon the very beings that now plagued this reality.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 23, 2017, 05:54:53 pm
"To everyone on this broadcast, I have reached the coordinates to catnip's. I see a collection of very impressive vehicles. How shall I proceed?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 23, 2017, 06:08:18 pm
"The notes, I need the notes. The professor said it was in a binder. Ignore the vehicles. Get the notes and leave, Roxanne." Dr. Quinn looks around his lab, checking what chemicals he does have.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 23, 2017, 06:41:57 pm
Dervish just grinned. "Professionals." he said to himself. He stepped out into the blinding sunlight and waved. "Come on in, don't make too much noise. Not that it matters, she's probably awake right now anyway. Just try not to disturb her." A moment later, Dervish had led Roxanne in through the side door past Floyds room. "Through here ma'am. The folder is on the shelf, up the main hall and in Catnips work room. Just keep the noise down." Roxanne offered him the collection of baubles and shiny objects she'd brought, but Dervish refused them. "Leave them on the edge of the bed. Nip'll collect them up herself when she wakes up. Nip also said you'd want what she had in her weapons locker. It's the one in the opposite corner from the bed. The basement is there if you need it. For some reason, catnip thought you guys would stick around. Thanks for all the help, and thank Quinn for me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 23, 2017, 06:58:34 pm
"Thank you. I'll leave my offering and will be taking the laser sniper, UPS and the notes. I'll be back with the meds that she needs. This might be the ramblings of a derange woman but I feel something big and drastic is approaching...the maps failing were not a coincidence...take care and tell catnip it'll be better soon."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 23, 2017, 07:59:34 pm
Damn, I missed some good shit being out. I would just say Sir Loin is in the background keeping an eye on things like Floyd presumably is. Or that he said hello I guess. XP
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 23, 2017, 08:26:12 pm
"Ummm...I am currently stranded...I ran out of gas trying to head back to doctor quinn's base...I will currently hold out in a forest scavenging food and reading the books that I took from catnips. In the meantime Milan will scout for more diesel so wen can get up and running again...sorry for the delay...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 23, 2017, 08:35:23 pm
Pbbbt. Were any of the arcana books at Catnip's place ones that weren't available at Quinn's?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 23, 2017, 09:02:32 pm
I actually neglected to look for arcana books. (I am actually not stranded but I am using it as an excuse to read all of salt's books, become a skill god and then return the to continue.)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 23, 2017, 09:21:30 pm
Nice one. Stranded at Catnip's? :V
"If you're in reach of the encampment there should be a gas can stored somewhere here." the knight offered on the radio.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 23, 2017, 09:40:32 pm
Thanks for the the offer but we found some diesel in an abandoned humvee. I have reached quinn's and will now work with him to make the meds and deliver them to catnip. I found myself another companion, her name is evelynn rose; she offered to assist me in exchange for help with tracking what she calls "Bio-Weapons" and the destruction of something called "Apophis" anyone got any clue?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 23, 2017, 11:09:12 pm
"Apophis. According to the doctor that's the thing that most likely caused all those injuries to Catnip. Followed the available maps and went after it some time ago. I would assume that the 20-feet-tall, armor-plated ogre with a hand of flame would be your mark?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 24, 2017, 12:26:28 am
Evelynn confirms that is indeed Apophis. She is realived that it's gone and says to thank you lot for it. Now she just wants to meet what's left of the project. She is asking of any of you know of the makeshift command center.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 24, 2017, 01:05:01 am
"So long as there's only one of those things." the knight answered, likely intending to ask Dervish whether any other maps berought back by Catnip might reveal the location of what they're after.
Side note, thanks to my mistaking the Bio-Weapon Lab for the Unknown Lab and deciding to be a good sport about what I assumed was a glitch, there is another. :V
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 25, 2017, 03:06:03 pm
After becoming a full fledge wizard Roxanne packed and headed towards the coordinates on the flier she had originally found before meeting doctor quinn. She headed on foot with Milan as the packmule as always. Along the way, she found a working armored personnel carrier and she used it reach the location on the flier only stopping to hunt or loot for supplies including diesel on towns she passed by. The map system had been very glitchy, which concerned Roxanne in more ways than one, so it made the journey more difficult and lengthy than it should on been otherwise.
She eventually reached a house on the coordinates on the flier and was greeted by a man who identified himself as deverish. She informed Roxanne that a young mutant named Catnip resided here and she was currently ill with genetic instability. She was instructed to leave her offering by the bed and to take a laser rifle as a gift along with the books Quinn had requested. Roxanne was granted permission to take all the other books to read so long as she put them back when she was done. She then departed.
On the way, back Roxanne got stranded out of gas and she decided to read the books she gotten mean while Milan would serve as a scout and look for diesel to power the ACP once more. They spent a long time hunting, reading and generally simply existing. Roxanne finished reading all the books by the time Milan had managed to find some gas for the ACP and they resume on her journey. By this point, Roxanne had read enough books on various subjects to be classified a genius in standardized testing while not actually being one. Off they went back to Quinn’s.
On their way, back the stumbled at what looked like a small lab where various creature hurling lighting at each other resided. It was a carnage were some of them looked undead and were fighting once that looked very much alive. A survivor was amidst all this and Roxanne swiftly rescued her and she decided to join on the condition Roxanne helped her with information about the “Bio-Weapons Project”.
Soon after they reached Quinn’s and they explained the situation. A long time had passes but deverish assured catnip was in stabled condition over the radio. Quinn looked at the books Roxanne had brought and Roxanne helped interpret them since she now had the skills to do so. They both determined none had anything they needed to make the formula they had looked for. They informed deverish and he simply thanked them for the effort. Roxanne informed him she was going to return to leave the books back as she also had another matter to discuss with him.
Roxanne prepared to leave but told Quinn when she returned she wanted to talk to him about a matter as well. Quinn nodded and Roxanne was off. She reached catnips significantly sooner, only two day, as she now knew the way and had her APC fully loaded with gas. She returned the books and explained to Deverish about the ‘shifting’ (see document RXM-74-2 for more information) as she called it and informed them to start moving elsewhere. She told them she knew of a farm bit ways off where they could all rebuild. She wished them luck and she went back to Quinn’s
Once she returned she explained to Quinn about the ‘shifting’ as well and they devised a plan to move to the farm. They made a charcoal kiln and smoker to preserved food for the journey and packed their respective belonging in their vehicles; Roxanne in her APC and Quinn in a flatbed truck he had planned. They had repaired the vehicles to their peak condition before leaving.
Milan and Evelynn did not accompany Roxanne, Evelynn said this was not the path she wanted, she wanted to find out about what had happened with the Bio-Weapons and were her people were. Milan expressed similar reasons, he said he wanted to go to a specific place to repay what he done before. Roxanne did not know what it was but she figured it had to do with why the order had hunted him in the first place; she never knew why the order had targeted him but she did not care anymore, this was a new world and the sins of the past were that, sins of the past. Roxanne had spared his life but it was still his and she respected that. She warned them of the ‘shifting’, how it would reshape everything. “The world already ended once Roxanne, and here we are…”, Milan responded, “I have to do this…I hope you understand…” Roxanne simply nodded, gave them both 3 days’ worth of supplies and wished them good luck, “Don’t go near anything that look out of place, when things don’t start to make sense, find shelter and don’t come out ok?”, Roxanne told the departing pair, “May we meet again…”. With Milan and Evelynn parted and so did Roxanne and Quinn. The former assassin and scientist of the occult eventually found the farm with the maps breaking down more than before. Soon after everyone arrived and they went inside. For a whole day, they simply waited, an eerie silence permeated reality itself as the ‘shifting’ happened. But they made it, they were alive and that was all that mattered!
This is the rest of what Roxanne did in her turn.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 25, 2017, 03:08:02 pm
File: RXM-74-2 (Events) (Historical Archive)
Event Name: The Shifting
Consequence level: World altering
Technological set back: None
Description:
The shifting refers to the event where reality and the perception there of do not match and there for both suffer a ‘reset’ of sorts. It is unknown how many resets have happened thorough history as their range can be anywhere from localized to affecting the whole world. Human sentience (or sapience some believe) spares humanity from a shift if they seek are in an in-closed setting such as a cave or building for unknow reasons. All other flora and fauna are only sparred if in the presence of sheltered human. In an effected location the sifting can take many forms such as: love ones might no longer exists, buildings long thought to be of significance are nowhere to be found, domesticated livestock appears, individuals have a job they don’t remember but everyone else swears they had done for years. It is unknown what triggers a shifting event or how to stop one from happening. Efforts to investigate it have led to no results. Some speculate that there was a successful shifting artificially created but the shifting itself deleted all knowledge of how to do so. For now humanity can only head the warning signs if they ever manifest itself again.
In relation to Roxanne Luna:
Roxanne had knowledge of myths from various cultures and noticed various world altering myths that had common themes: a great flood, the rapture, nirvana, etc. Once she learned of the arcane she was able to piece it together and to her dismay realized it was happening to at least her local area. The map system she had been using to move around the post-cataclysmic landscape started failing in localized regions and got progressively worse as the days went by. The map read forest where cities were and read rivers where there was nothing but plains. Groups of survivor’s communicated and aided Roxanne via radio and they too reported the same issue. She knew this was no coincidence but need time to prove her hunch. After she saw more evidence pile up she warned the others and they headed her warning moving to a farm with her to bunker down in the ‘shifting’ and to rebuild together.
This is the document that lore-ifies the Reset.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 25, 2017, 03:24:40 pm
So I'm guessing that means the gang's all here, in the same zone.
The knight had carefully moved things along, helping with preparing for the event that seemed inevitable by now. With all the signs he saw, he knew something had been going wrong for a while. The idea that they could survive it seemed unlikely, but Roxanne had a confidence that was contagious.
During the time they waited out the event, three thoughts bothered him. The first was the likely fate of certain old comrades he'd long since lost any change of finding out the fate of. But this was partly a relief to him. The entire reason he called himself a knight now, and why his old purpose was something far behind him, was from what little he knew about what him and his buddies were offered, those years ago. Just enough known that politely declining wasn't good for ones career in the long run.
The second thought was just how destructive the shifting would be. So much work s pent in building up their enclave, gone. Towns wholly purged of the undead, lost to them. Worse, what if it meant the worst creature he ever faced would be renewed, free to terrorize the world again?
Finally, he thought of the spirited fellow he long ago promised to retrieve a flag for. Will he even survive on his own? Will he assume the knight died in his quest, or will he guess the truth of having been caught up in yet more quests? Either way, his only apparent chance at getting the information he once sought would be lost. But by now, he knew that the answers wouldn't be pleasant. He had a new goal in life now...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 25, 2017, 10:11:48 pm
A sleek figure slipped out through the farm house and made it's way to the barn. It had been a month since the figure had been brought here. Something about a "shifting" or something. Catnip didn't care. She was hungry and irritable. She'd lost a lot of parts in the move, and she hadn't even noticed what was going on. She remembered Dervish moving her around. She could very vaguely remember Sir loin, Floyd, and Dervish moving many of her things into one of the vehicles. She remembered how little she hurt, but how hungry she was. That nice Quinn man had given her something. A little yellow disk, which seemed to squirm and fidget in her hands. It had made her feel strange, tingly all over. She'd blinked, and suddenly found herself out in the road. Stupid disk. It did that too. Her hunger agitated her. she'd spent a long time in bed. Her eyes adjusted to the dark, but became more sensitive to light. Dervish said it was her "genome," whatever that was. Whatever it was, it meant she had a tail now, and a pretty coat of sleek fur, and claws she could use to pry things. It also meant she was oh so hungry. She climbed into the RV and dug around for something, anything, to eat. She devoured her chocolate supply, all of it. bags of chips were gone in an instant. An entire jar of strawberry jam she had been saving for a special occasion, she drank down as if she had spent a week in the desert and the jam was so much water. The powdered candy sticks she ripped open and downed all at once. She didn't even bother to unwrap the candy cigarettes, simply eating them along with the wrapper. She'd eaten three handfuls of flour when she remembered something. She had been given a plastic package by her handler over a year ago. An MRE. She had more now. She dug around until she found the backpack she had hidden them in. There, yes. She pulled out three. Two of them said "BEEF" in bold letters on the front, the third was a familiar battered package which read "CHICKEN." Her hunger was forgotten for a moment as she looked at that last. Nathan had given her this one. Just before he left her. She felt she should be sad, but the last year she'd learned a lot, especially from Dervish, about the labs. She had been deeply unsettled by the sight of Nathans broken body lying before her, but now that she was thinking back on it, she didn't seem to care much. She tore open the bag labeled "CHICKEN" and dumped it's contents into her mouth. The spork bounced off the side of her somewhat elongated muzzle, startling her. The food was disgusting, but filling. She opened another, more carefully this time and looked at it's contents. Lots of things. Strips of gravied beef, powder for making coffee and lemonade, even some candy. She would take her time this time. She'd been told by Floyd, several times, that a meal taken patiently was a meal that lasted. Maybe there was something to that.
It took two more after the first beef, but MRE's had filled her up. Even so, she knew it wouldn't last. Especially if she had another bout of sickness. She sat back and watched the sun rise, knowing that she would have to go back inside once it had crested the horizon over the trees. She hoped Quinn would come up with something for her soon.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 25, 2017, 10:24:25 pm
So what's the plan for now? Will have to scout out the area whenever one of us takes a turn...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 25, 2017, 11:18:24 pm
summary of whatever spawned next to a bear looted a town went south a lot looted another town went south a lot more slept in a car after finding a survivor basement and taking an sks got to farm (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/166715724432277504/328735407011528705/inventory_day_2.png)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 26, 2017, 12:13:21 am
"Who is that?" Said Quinn, looking through catnips binoculars at a figure up the road from the farm. He and Dervish had been discussing the new prototype Quinn had proudly presented to catnip that morning, and Dervishes plans to depart, when the lone figure stumbled out of the woods and stopped in the middle of the road. Quinn handed the binoculars to Dervish. "Looks like a girl. Either one of those cosplayers or a mutant. Naw, definitely a mutant. As good as those cosplayers are at making their costumes, I havn't seen one yet that can make ears and tail move like that." They discussed the girl with the catlike ears and tail, all the while she wandered closer, not noticing them. "Hm..." Hummed Dervish. "Here Quinn, take another look. Does she look familiar to you?" Quinn accepted the offered binocs and looked again. Immediately he said "Yes." and handed them back. "One of those designer mutants. Where do you think she came from?" Dervish was chewing his lip. Both men knew about the designer mutant project, and the questions regarding the scientific morality of the whole thing. In essence, it was a program to create biologically tailored servants, most of the early "models" were fairly clumsy or bothersome. Mostly they were made for very special clients. Patrons of the project, the very rich, or the very influential. The debate over whether the project was moral or not didn't stop the team in charge from making a few and selling them off the various clients. Only the cataclysm had done that. "From the looks of her, she hasn't picked up a personality yet. She hasn't been imprinted, or her old owner is dead." The two were just deciding that it would be best just to leave her alone, a domestic mutant would be a bother they knew, when Catnip appeared from behind the barn, headed in the direction of the girl in the road. "Nip! No don't... aw jeez, she's going over there." Dervish ran his hands down the sides of his face. "At least she won't be lacking for friends around here." He said, watching the ratlike catnip, talking excitedly with the vaguely catlike girl.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 26, 2017, 01:06:26 am
Kathrine stumbles across the bridge, staring into empty space, although seemingly looking at the farmhouse. As the rat-girl runs towards her, something seems to flood into Kath's mind. Almost... Recognition. The SKS she was holding slips out of her loose grip, falling to the ground. She stands there as Catnip starts talking, before suddenly lunging forward mid-sentence and hugging the other mutant. "Mistress!" Kath exclaims, wrapping her tail around her leg. "I was looking for you!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 26, 2017, 01:09:32 am
"Do you have food?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 01:26:05 am
The knight regarded the approaching figure curiously. "Well. This can't end well. We're going to need to scout out the area soon, now that things have stablized a bit. No telling what those sick fucks did to her, if she's feline enough that whatever's left of the produce won't be edible to her, we'll need to go hunting..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 26, 2017, 01:38:06 am
Kathrine squeaks, ears perking up. Rummaging through her bag, she shakes her head. "I'm sorry, Mistress...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 04:28:12 am
The knight simply watches for now. "More reason to get things set up soon. Soon as things are settled down and I get the chance, I'll scout things out. If we're lucky, the surroundings didn't turn into a barren wasteland."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 26, 2017, 09:37:18 am
Catnip liked hugs as much as anyone else, but for some reason, the hug that Kathrine wrapped around catnip after being informed that she had no food, made her uncomfortable. It wasn't that the hugs were too tight, which they were. It wasn't that Kathrine appeared to be taking special care to press her chest firmly against catnips, which catnip thought was super weird. It wasn't even that the hug had gone on far too long, which it had. It was all those things and more, including that fact that everyone was looking at them. "Um, Kathrine?" She couldn't see Kathrines face, but she could see the way her tail swished about. "Yes mistress?" Catnip tried to pry her off, but she wouldn't budge. "Kathrine, can you let go? I don't like this hug anymore." She loosened her grip and held Catnip at arms length. Suddenly, she reached up and booped catnip on the nose. "boop!" she said. "Please don't do that." Catnip said, moving her head back. Kathrine reached for her nose again, "Please don't, I will bite you." Kathrines hand was already within a foot of Catnips face, catnip was looking at her sideways and struggling to wriggle out of Kathrines grip. The recently arrived domestic mutant thought about it for a moment. On the one hand, some people liked biting. But on the other, she had the feeling that this wasn't that kind of biting. If it was the second, Kathrine didn't want to get bit. "Ok mistress..." she said sullenly, releasing catnip from her deathgrip of a hug. They stood their awkwardly for a moment. Catnip got the feeling that Kathrine, standing at attention, staring at her, was waiting for something. "Um... Do you wanna eat chocolate and watch cartoons?" Kathrine gave a slight bow, "as you wish mistress."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 26, 2017, 12:29:48 pm
Kathrine patiently waits for Catnip to lead the way towards the farmhouse, twisting her tail around and picking out some of the twigs and leaves that had been collected in it from being dragged through a forest. She keeps lurching forward, clearly wanting to go into another hug, but restraining herself as were her orders. "Is Mistress alone?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 12:33:33 pm
Sir Loin, likely along with Roxanne, were presumably visible near the entrance, simply watching and waiting curiously. As if the place weren't a strange enough a sight with a tank knight and assassin hanging around.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2017, 01:00:36 pm
Roxanne chuckled at the sight of kath and catnip's awkward encounter while eating a chocolate bar. "It's like they were made for each other. Hilarity will only ensue from this." Roxanne gave a simple nod of acknowledgement as the mutant pair passes by. "The next step in human evolution, huh? Guess the cataclysm happened for a reason...", Roxanne snickered to herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 26, 2017, 01:04:57 pm
"What? Alone? No, there is Floyd and Quinn and Loin and Roxy and Dervish and now there is Kathrine. And other friends visit all the time. Sometimes, they bring chocolate. I wonder if they are alright..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 01:15:42 pm
Side note, this makes me sad because I just realized Catnip probably doesn't even understand that the NPCs are basically gone. ;w;
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 26, 2017, 02:07:59 pm
Kathrine finally stops staring at Catnip for long enough to notice the knight and the other woman stood there. She goes entirely stiff, ears pinned back and tail sticking straight behind her. "New people... NEW PEOPLE!" With barely a slight acknowledgement of Catnip being there, she immediately starts running towards the duo. As she gets close enough, she dives at Sir Lion, arms open in a hug.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 02:12:14 pm
The knight regards Kathrine curiously, giving a nervous little wave. "Greetings, little on-" Then he noticed the feline closing in with startling speed, practically flying at him for a hug that seemed like it'd bowl even a zombie hulk over. "Oh merd-ack!" The result was predictable. "Why did I leave the gambeson behind..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2017, 02:14:04 pm
Roxanne just bursts out laughing not able to hold her serious persona any longer. "The knight is down! inform the nobles!" Roxanne said mockingly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 26, 2017, 02:34:25 pm
Kath snuggles up to Sir Lion, rubbing her head against his chest, making a weird groaning sound. She's smiling, so... That might be her attempt at a purr.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 02:37:48 pm
Sir Loin would be laughing at this too, if he hadn't had the wind knocked out of him by that impact. And if he wasn't now blushing a bit, making for a break from his own usual attempt at seriousness. Or at least his attempt to act like a proper knight. "Urk...h-hey, a bit forward for a stranger, y-you know...help..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2017, 02:50:03 pm
"Oh, the knight breaks character? How improper can a soldier be?!", Roxanne says letting out a fake gasp. "My how would a fair maiden needing rescue react to this predicament?" Roxanne takes out a chocolate bar form her purse and throws it a Katherine. "Here, for amusing me a bit."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 26, 2017, 03:09:24 pm
Kath opens her eyes and pauses momentarily as chocolate gets tossed at her. Looking up at Roxanne, she grins, the tip of one of her fangs poking out over her lower lip. Getting up into a crouch, she pounces at Roxy in another tackle-hug. "Yaaaaay! Thanks, boobie lady!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 03:12:10 pm
Sir Loin looked up at Kath, now a bit uncertain of that, only to get winded again by the sudden force of the catgirl leaping off of him. That time however, he found himself laughing at Roxanne getting her turn to be glomped by the feline. "Your turn..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2017, 03:17:25 pm
Roxanne now at the ground blushing from the shock. "H -hey there...nice girl..." Her lack of interpersonal social skills was showing, she was only used to dealing people in professional/business matters. "C- Could you maybe...give a heads up before?..." She look as the knight now smiling down at the scene. Roxanne just blushes more and covers her face with one hand and pointing at sir loin with the other one. "Not a single word tin man!", Roxanne yelled at sir loin, "Not a single one or I swear on whatever deity you worship that I'll..." Roxanne stopped mid sentence as the cat girl's proto-purr caught her attention
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 03:19:44 pm
The knight couldn't help but start snickering at that, having fumbled to get up and dust himself off. "The fearsome huntress, felled by a kitten."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2017, 03:23:15 pm
"I- I...but you..." Roxanne was struggling to just speak. She had no idea on what course of action to take. She had Kath on one hand and Sir loin in the other. This was new and too sudden for her. Even her usual instinct to stab and ask questions later was gone, she was just on the floor with a proto-purring catgirl and a laughing knight.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 26, 2017, 03:27:50 pm
Kath props her chin up against Roxanne's chest, smiling ear to ear. "Booby lady is good... How many more new people is there?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2017, 03:30:10 pm
Roxanne struggles to make a coherent sentence but manages to mutter. "A scientist and a cowboy...I- I work for the scientist..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 03:32:19 pm
Sir Loin smirks a bit at that. "Boobie lady. Fits you as well as tin man fits me, I guess." she said, cracking up a bit, before regaining his composure. "There's two others. Floyd and Quinn. Used to be more before things started shifting."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2017, 03:34:25 pm
"You are pushing your luck too much knight..." Roxanne said after regaining her composure. "If you would kindly get of me I could show to Doctor Quinn's quarters and you can ask your mistress about Floyd."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 03:37:42 pm
Sir Loin smirked a little at that, before nodding. "All in good fun. Now then." he said, getting setting a hand on Kath's shoulder. "We can show you the others if you'd like, just...try not to be so rough with them."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 26, 2017, 03:44:26 pm
Kathrine, at the mention of Catnip, immediately stops trying to smother herself. "Mistress? Where's... Where'd Mistress go?" She stands up, still on top of Roxy, and starts wandering off in search of her. ...Wandering away from the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 03:51:15 pm
The knight blinks at that, only to reach down to help Roxanne up. "Um...h-hey, she'll be back, no need to wander off yet. Well...that can't be good."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2017, 03:55:02 pm
Roxanne pushes the night," Are you kidding?! She just hug two strangers! Lets go!" Roxanne starts chasing after Katherine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 03:57:48 pm
The knight nods at that, following after her. "Not to mention what she might run into at this rate. I'd love to know how someone like her's survived this long..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2017, 03:59:48 pm
"She sruvived the 'shfting' so she is either really lucky, isn't as helpless as she she seems or...", Roxanne chuckled at the last thought," she has nine lives..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 04:04:43 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Seemed to at least have some understanding of what a gun is, and rather quick. Or..." Cue a smirk at that. "Developing a sense of humor?"
Likely it'd at least be a simple matter to catch up, convincing her to visit the others in the area would be the tricky part.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2017, 04:09:31 pm
Kath did not wander too far off so Roxanne reached her and grabbed her by the arm. "Don't go wnadering off like that, ok?" Roxanne calmy said to Katherine," Lets go to your room and wait catnip, We will give you chocolate in the mean time." Roxanne sigh, not in a million years she would of guessed she would be taking care of a catgirl. "Care to lead the way knight?", Roxanne asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 04:14:36 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Besides, she'll be back soon. Until then, you'll get to meet the others. If you behave, they might even have chocolate too. Though I don't know if either of them care for chocolate..." she said, giving a shrig as he led the way back towards the main buildings.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 26, 2017, 04:20:03 pm
Kathrine jumps as Roxanne grabs her arm, but doesn't react further. She allows herself to be brought back towards the farm, being eerily quiet after her earlier outburst of energy.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 26, 2017, 07:36:55 pm
Quinn looks through the schematics of the disk, growing more and more frustrated. "Dammit, dammit, I need that FU- that damn purifier. Knight, keep an eye out for any labs." Quinn takes off his ID, "Use this if you don't already have any ID's." He notices the small catgirl, "Oh my, apologies for the outburst."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 26, 2017, 09:37:29 pm
Quinn looked at the girl with growing horror at what looked to be about to happen. He and Dervish had gone back inside to get the device ready for catnip when watching catnip talking with a being that Dervish knew they were stuck with now. The girl was running at him. "Oh no, oh no no no." He said, raising his hands defensively and taking a step back. Katherine face was filled with determination that would have been adorable at any other time. When she was within five feet, her legs bent predatory to pouncing when Dervish intervened. He stepped from a door way next the Kathrine and sprayed something at her from a spray bottle. Kathrine, shocked, aborted the pounce and dodged back a pace. She looked alarmed. Dervish sprayed her with more water "Bad," he said "Don't pounce on strangers." Kathrine stepped back again and shouted "You can't tell me what to do!" at which point, Dervish utilized his other tool. *POW* the noise of the newspaper coming down on her head scared her more than being smacked with it, "Bad! What would catnip say? hm?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 09:40:00 pm
Sir Loin was now watching with amusement, relieved to not be the one being pounced, surprised at how Dervish was able to handle her...somewhat. more under control than he or Roxanne could manage, it seems. "This can't end well..."
He then nodded to Quinn. "Will do. Good source of supplies in general."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2017, 09:56:31 pm
"Where were you a few minutes ago...", Roxanne muttered to herself. "Thank goodness you got her under control. Me and Sir loin over there had quite the experience with her..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 10:08:28 pm
"If by experience you mean getting sat on." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 26, 2017, 10:23:24 pm
"She isn't under control." Said Dervish, staring down the catmaid. "Hold still you, we need to make sure you aren't rabid." Despite the spray bottle and the newspaper, Kathrine squirmed and fidgeted. Dervish reached into a pocket and withdrew what looked like a large clip for keeping bags of chips closed. This, he clipped onto the back of Kathrines neck, and she immediately went limp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu7aPLc0Lq4
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2017, 10:26:59 pm
Roxanne's eyes widen as she witness the once energetic cat girl just laying on the floor. "What kind of wizardry did you do?! Is it even wizardry?!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 26, 2017, 10:29:23 pm
The knight blinked at that. "Wait, someone that altered can be rabid? Of all the..." Cue a look of surprise when Dervish somehow subdued her effortlessly with some sort of plastic clip. "Who even first thought of trying that...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 05:37:52 am
Quinn stares at the limp catgirl, "Huh. I doubt she's rabid." He goes back to his disk schematic, "Roxanne. Your assistance please."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 08:42:21 am
"Wait." Quinn walks over to the catmaid, he checks her teeth. "Teeth are fine. Day or two without brushing, normal." he pulls out a penlight and shines it in her eyes, "Again, fine." He holds up his index finger, "Follow my finger with your eyes." He moves it up, down, left, and right. "Fine. One last thing." He unclips Katharine and asks, "Anything bite you out there? Animals, insects, the rotters?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 09:15:34 am
Kathrine immediately sits up straight, putting her hand on her chin in a thinking pose. "Uhm... No...? Why would anything bite me?" Kathrine looks confused. "I saw this biiiiig robot though!" She jumps to her feet, holding her hand just above her head. "It was really big and didn't have legs or wheels and it had LASERS and it was really cool but also scary so I left it alone but I remember where it was if you want to go-" She pauses to breathe. "Go and get it." She's smiling again as she sits back down, legs crossed. "Who are you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 09:31:15 am
"She's fine. I'm Lawrence Zacharias Quinn. Dr. Quinn, if you may." He holds up a finger, "No hugs, don't- Don't hug me. It's- it's unsanitary."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 27, 2017, 09:52:40 am
While all this was going on, catnip was busy eating. Her body was making up for all the changes it had gone through and burning through calories faster than catnip could take them in. She hoped that Quinn and Dervish had come up with something.
Later, Dervish came to catnip with a familiar looking thing in his hands. "Ok nip, Quinn and I have figured out a way to reverse engineer the device you found. Put this on your arm." Catnip was reluctant to use it, but if Dervish said it was good, well... she'd have to trust in Dervish. He strapped the spider like object down to her shoulder and it immediately went to work. She was filled with the same strange weakness that had overcome her when she'd put the other one on, but it lacked the nauseating effect. She felt that receed, and watched as her tough claws went soft and then fell away to reveal somewhat shorter fingernails. She felt like something was drawn out of her, while something else was breathing a breath of soothing fresh air into her. Best of all though, she didn't feel so hungry anymore.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 09:59:40 am
"Hi Doctor Quinn! Did you work in a lab? I saw a lab. It was oveeeeer..." She falls backwards, lying on the floor as she points... Upwards for her, towards the bridge. "There! And then there's that city with all the weird guys in suits, and the one with all the holes, and when you get to the holes you go..." She changes where she's pointing a bit to the left. "Over there. It was all weird and really small, how did you do sciencey stuff in there?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 10:37:09 am
Quinn grabs a couch cushion to sit on whilst he talks with the catmaid. "I worked with anomalous artifacts. Like ahm..." Quinn unsheathes his sword, a silver arming sword. He holds the grip flat in his palm with the blade resting against three fingers, "Like this, this is an artifact. In responce to lesser essentia transit product, and a firm grip..." He tightly grips the sword, the sword starts to glow brightly, "It glows brightly with intense heat." Quinn swats away Katharine's hand as she reaches to touch, ,"No touching. Hot, it'll burn you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 10:52:30 am
"Awwwww..." Kathrine groans, ears pointing to the sides. It's cute, in a "this person shouldn't exist" kinda way. "So where'd you work? Ooooh, was it at C-19-53-F? I was there. They were mean, but you're not mean. Doctor Quinn is nice! I likes Doctor Quinn."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 11:15:13 am
"AOR 13, Subclass 2, under the jurisdiction of Research Director Kinder. Haven't worked with... Commercial Mutants." Quinn says, he raises an eyebrow, "How were they "mean""?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 11:22:51 am
"They called me names and stuff. Like... Um... 'Dumbass' and, uh... 'W-whore'? What's a whore?" Doctor Ilyushin was nice though, he gave me this jacket for hugging him! He was sad a lot."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 11:42:39 am
"U-uh. A whore is-" Quinn clears his throat, "A whore is a-" Quinn looks around the room. "A nice woman, Yeah. That."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 12:24:27 pm
"Like boobie lady? They still called me 'Dumbass' though, and that's mean, and that's not my name! My name's Kathrine. It's K-A-T-H-R-I-N-E. I like my name." Kathrine's brings her tail around to her front and hugs it. "I like my tail, too! Why does nobody else have a tail? Mistress had a tail, but Mistress' isn't nice and fluffy like mine. Does Cowboy have a tail?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 12:31:08 pm
"Floyd doesn't have a tail, no. He isn't a cowboy either, more of a gunslinger." Quinn lets a breath out through his nose, "Don't- Don't call Catnip mistress. Her name is Catnip, not mistress. You are not a servant anymore, you're a human being." He rapidly points towards the catmaid and himself a few times, "Repeat that back to me. You are a human being."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 12:37:33 pm
"B-but Mistress was fine with..." Kath swallows heavily. "I'm a human being...?" She looks uncertain as she says it. "I'm not a servant? That sounds nicer. Where's Mistress?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 12:50:16 pm
"Catnip is currently goin through...treatment dear. She is fine but will not be jointing us for a while.", Roxanne explained to katherine, "By the way, doctor quinn may have gotten the meaning of the word 'whore' wrong...so don't go around using it ok?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 12:55:39 pm
"O-oh. So what does it mean?" Kathrine hugs her tail tighter, ears pointed to the sides once more. "Should I say sorry, Boobie Lady?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 01:02:54 pm
"I am never gonna live this down am I...", Roxanne though to herself. "We kath...It means when someone...",Roxanne was very uncomfortable with the subject an explaning it to what seemed like a child made it worse,"It's when someone is very friendly with alot of people...very freindly indeed... also, you don't have to apologize, just refrain from calling people that."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 01:13:13 pm
"Oh! So Doctor Quinn was right?" Kath perks up again, letting go of her tail. "Where's Cowboy? I wanna say hi! Um... Floyd? I wanna say hi to Floyd."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 01:16:46 pm
"He sorta doubles as catnips guard...kinda. He might be back soon as well with catnip's treatment and all..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 01:26:07 pm
"Why does Mistress need a guard? And treatment? I'm here!" Kathrine jumps to her feet, pointing her thumbs at herself. She then poses with her hands on her hips, trying to make herself look big. ...It doesn't work.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 01:29:06 pm
"Barn, actually. Working on his 'baby'" Quinn says, practically using his entire body to roll his eyes.
Floyd holds a stereo system from a car in his hands, "Nnnnow. How am I gonna put this in you...?" He puffs out his cheeks in thought, rubbing his beard with his non dominant hand.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 01:29:35 pm
The knight meanwhile was rather amused by all this. "You...haven't had any run-ins with anything worse than those...ahem, laser robots, I'm guessing?"
Side note, still out and about, can't get on the discord at the moment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 01:32:34 pm
She doesn't need one and floyd isn't officially but he...aussmes the role naturally?", Responds Roxanne doubting her own response. "And catnips treatment is because she had a few...accidents...and recovery has been slow...",Roxanne told catnip," Don't science if you don't know what you are messing with does..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 01:36:59 pm
"To the barn!" Kath exclaims, marching towards the bigger of the three buildings. "Cowboy Floyd man! Hello!" She gradually starts picking up speed, obviously going for another pounce, but she stops just before she gets to Floyd, leaning forward unsteadily. "HicanIhugyou?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 01:41:35 pm
"Huh-" Floyd jumps in surprise, he catches Kath before she faceplants. "Hugs? Yeah, sure, always enjoy a good hug." Floyd hugs the little catmaid. "Now who're you, little lady?" he says, picking her up effortlessly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 01:44:37 pm
'Wait, don't just go running like that!", Roxanne exclaims after reaching katherine in the barn, "Well, at least it did not end in a faceplant like before..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 01:48:33 pm
"I'm Kathrine! You like hugs too? Yaaaay!" Kath fist-pumps in the air, tail wrapping itself around her leg. "I like you. You're like a who- Um... Nice man?" She glances back at Roxanne. "Sorry, Boobie Lady."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 01:51:01 pm
"No...don't...that is not what is means!", Roxanne exclaims at katherine in a poor attempt at correction.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 01:53:47 pm
The knight smiled at that. "Takes rather well to her, not being bowled over helps it seems." he remarked. "How's the vehicle holding up, by the way?"
Cue a facepalm from this. He pitied whoever's going to end up trying to explain that more bluntly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 01:56:25 pm
Floyd glares at Roxy for a second before going back to Kath, "Well aren't'chu the cutest lil' thing. Lemme sit you down and grab you a soda or something. Let an old man tell you what he's workin' on." He sits her down somewhere and passes her a cola, "Workin' on puttin' in this stereo system in my 'horse' here. She's my baby, y'know. Put my heart n' soul into it. Maybe I could actually listen to these here 'Cash C-D's I have..."
"Vee-hic-ile is doin' great, Knight." Floyd says to the Knight.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 01:58:22 pm
"W- Why did you look at me like that floyd? What did I do?", Roxanne asked floyd fearing the answer.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 02:01:16 pm
"Nothin' right now, I'll talk to ya later 'booby lady'." Floyd says, chuckling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 02:03:11 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Still hadn't taken much time to get the tank in full order, but it's functional still. Can wait until after getting supplies and such to finish work on it." he said, regarding Roxanne curiously, uncertain about the look he gave her. Nearly reminded him about the look the knight got when he first arrived, putting on his man-at-arms act.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 02:06:57 pm
"You too floyd?!", Roxanne responded,"Fine!". "First the catgirl...then the knight...and floyd too...now my gown is dirty...", Roxanne mumbled to herself in place.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 02:10:57 pm
Kathrine closely examines the can that Floyd gives her, specifically the ingredients list. She shakes the can a bit, listening closely. "Soda is bad for you, you know. You should only have it in moderation. Too much could lead to heart disease!" She puts the can down, smiling smugly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 02:12:56 pm
"Heh, suppose you're right. Don't want the soda? Would you like a juice or water instead?" Floyd says, raising an eyebrow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 02:17:41 pm
"Soda is kinda of luxury know kath, no more will be made in a loooooong time.", Roxanne told katherine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 02:21:46 pm
"Why not?" She picks the can back up, but doesn't open it. "If it's a luxury, Imma give it to Mistress!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 02:22:39 pm
Sir Loin shrugged at that. "Then again, she does have a point. Never did get that used to it. More for the others I guess." he said. "Though I'd love to know who taught her how to eat healthy but didn't teach her anything about interacting with people..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 02:24:47 pm
"Well, no more is going to be made because the people who knew how to make it are...gone...", Roxanne responded," Catnip might appreciate food now more than ever so suit yourself."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 02:52:51 pm
"Oh. Are they those weird people now? They didn't want hugs, and they didn't like me, but they couldn't hit me so I'm okay." She rolls onto her back and rolls over so she can look at Sir Loin. "Hey, I can talk with people! Doctor Ilyushin taught me how to cook good. Mister Igwe tried to tell me how to sew, but he was bad at it so Ilyushin taught me better as well. I liked Doctor Ilyushin."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 02:58:00 pm
"Yeah, they are those weird people...They don't like hugs...or anything else for that matter. Stay away from them, they are bad people.", Roxanne warned Katherine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 02:59:13 pm
"Weird people...you mean the revenants?" he asked. "I see. So, quick on your feet, probably how you survived this long. That's good."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 03:03:26 pm
"So this Doctor Ilyushin, was he your handler...or something?",Roxanne asked, "You seem to be fond of him."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 03:11:40 pm
Kath shakes her head, tail arching over her back and bobbing in front of her. "Nope! Jeremy was my handler, but Doctor Ilyushin was the nice one. He told the other ones off when they called me mean names. He also gave me this coat! Jeremy didn't give me band-aids when I got hurt either..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 27, 2017, 03:13:32 pm
"He doesn't sound like a good man, pumpkin. They... Didn't do anything else, did they?" Floyd asks, somewhat fearing the answer.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 03:16:20 pm
"Ah, he sounded nice then...So he was the one who taught your skills right?", Roxanne responded to Katherine. "Man this whole lab mutant thing sure had many interesting characters on all angles...", Roxanne thought to herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 03:21:42 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Doesn't sound like a good place, but seems at least one of the doctors involved treated her better than the others. Not sure I want to know what sorts of other things were going on in those places though. Between these sorts of genetic experiments, whatever Roxanne's friend here was involved in, and those...things in the other lab bunker."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 03:41:58 pm
"What'd you mean by 'anything else'? They just called me mean names and didn't like me." Kath peeks around the tip of her tail. She seems strangely upbeat for the topic being discussed. "Jeremy wasn't good at minding me..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 04:15:16 pm
"Wait, kath, if you dislike junk food why did you take my chocolate then? Selective judgment?", Roxanne asked," By the way knight, can you be a dear and bring me a bible, there is something I want to do..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 04:17:55 pm
Sir Loin nodded at that. "Think we might have one around here somewhere..."
Side note, don't actually remember what all morale books got brought along in Catnip's lab.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 04:22:35 pm
"Thank you, now lets see...there!". Roxanne proceeds to chant something in latin. "Now she is purified, can't be too careful with the arcane..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 04:34:00 pm
Sir Loin gave Roxanne a wary glance. "I've seen just enough of those peculiar books to tell them apart from simple religious texts. Unless some of those make particular use of holy books for their rituals..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 04:39:51 pm
"Certain passages give me the inspiration required to preform rituals I have recently learned. It is not enough to known the verse, I must read it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 04:40:41 pm
Kathrine tilts her head to the side, giving a quizzical look to Roxanne. "Uhm... What?" She moves her tail away from her face and rolls forward to get to her feet. "Where's Mistress? I wanna go see Mistress." She grabs her pack off the ground and just stands there for a while, clearly waiting for someone to tell her where Catnip is.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 04:43:16 pm
"Still no word on how the treatments is going... I am sorry Kath but my hands are tied here...Anything else you have in mind?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 04:47:29 pm
The knight hmms at that. "I see. Tempting to look into the basics of that sometime, will make it easier to know what to keep an eye out for, to bring items back for Quinn." he said. "Catnip should be back soon. She's...ill, so Dervish was working on something to help her." he explained, not wanting to have to explain mutagenic overdose to a catgirl, especially when he only partly understood how mutagens worked anyway.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 04:56:17 pm
"Uuuuuuurgh" Kath moans, visibly uncomfortable with being away from her 'mistress' for so long. "What's over the spiky fence?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 05:08:39 pm
"There is our crops, we are growing food so we don't have to go out and hunt or do scavenge runs for food. Wanna go see?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 05:17:50 pm
"Ooooh, yeah! I wanna see what I can make! Do we have peppers? What about onions?" Kathrine is bouncing up and down on the tips of her toes, shaking arms held tightly to her chest. "Let's go!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 05:21:26 pm
"Yeah, lets go then. Someone come find us if there is any news on catnip." Roxanne gives the bible to the knight. "Thanks again sir loin" Roxanne opens the barn door into the farming area. "Ready kath? This way!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 05:24:26 pm
The knight nodded at that, carefully booking the bible away after she handed it back to him. "Just careful, most of them aren't fully-grown yet."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 05:27:09 pm
"Probably more mature than some of us here", Roxanne responded with a wink while also covertly pointing at kath, "Cosplayers included."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 05:38:24 pm
Kathrine, tail swishing in the way a happy cat's does, gets that look again, ears pinned back, grinning in a way that exposes the tips of her fangs. Running up behind Roxy almost silently, she jumps on her back, wrapping her legs around her. "Wheee!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 05:42:16 pm
Roxanne is surprised by the act but know can gather her composure from the experience she had a short while ago. "You wanna piggy ride to the fields? Fine, just grab onto me and don't let go." Roxanne grabs kath by the feet to help her balance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 06:10:30 pm
Kathrine, completely ignoring what Roxanne just said, immediately leans backwards, tail just barely off the ground. She's surprisingly not that heavy, and doesn't actually offset Roxy much. She points off towards one of the stalks above ground. "Oooooh, I see potatos. One and a half of them, with butter, some salt, garlic, olive oil, ge- Whup!" She slips off Roxy's shoulders, cartwheeling backwards. "Yes, we have peppers too!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 06:14:12 pm
Roxanne at first worried about katherine injuring herself, or her, with her stunts but that worry soon turn to awe at her nimbleness. "You sure can move about can't you kath? Alright lets pick some up to cook. I can cook but only bland meals, how about you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 06:19:28 pm
"I can do anything from mashed potatoes to Vichyssoise, for the dinner guests." She gives a small bow, sticking her tongue out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 06:21:39 pm
"Well, I'll be dammed... Alright, I might not be properly dressed to pick up crops but whatever. What should we get?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 06:23:09 pm
The knight smiled at that. "This while time I've been used to making stuff that lasts longer. Dried meat, tack, stuff like that."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 06:24:48 pm
"Potatos, leeks if we have them, peppers, let the onions grow more, strawberries would be nice..." She looks around the fields some more. "Um... That's it? Aww..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 06:27:42 pm
"Yeah, sorry to say but we have not spent much time here ourselves, we haven't managed to get much crops growing." Roxanne proceeds to pick up a basket and picks up the crops katherine pointed out. "Lets see what type of meal you can make with this!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 27, 2017, 06:46:08 pm
"Do we have any... Beef? I can make stuffed peppers! They're really simple but it might be better than the junk food everywhere..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 06:47:48 pm
"That...might be harder to get than wild game at present."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 27, 2017, 06:48:56 pm
"We do have a few pieces lying around. An actual meal might be nice after all this time..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 27, 2017, 09:59:14 pm
Catnip ran over yet another beaver. The animals were out in force today. The others had shown her how to properly deal with the bodies, to maximize the amount of usable meat. Instead of hacking and chopping like she used to what seemed like ages ago, she could carefully separate and portion out her cuts. When the meat was wrapped up and loaded into the trunk of the car, she started the engine, listening with displeasure at the knock in the engine, and the occasional backfire. Bad fuel filter. Small engine anyway. She would disassemble it and melt it down later. Or take it to the recycler she found in the cratered ruins of the town across the bridge. Her mind returned to another task she had at hand. She'd planted a great many things on the farm her family (and she had begun thinking of them as family) had taken over and the plants had immediately run to riot. Roxanne warned her about something called "temporal farming," which she didn't understand in the slightest except that it meant no one could touch the plants but her. She had to admit, she had gone a bit crazy with the seeds. "But I was hungry." she reasoned aloud. It didn't help to blunt the displeasure she felt at the idea of having to collect all that up by herself. She saw a moose in the road ahead, thought briefly about it, and then ran it down with the car. For the mooses part, it had heard the car coming and had decided it would have to put a stop to whatever was making all that noise. When it rounded the bend though, it could see nothing in the drivers seat because of the cloak catnip kept donned while out and about, and was stalled by confusion. A moment later, confusion would give way to blackness as it's legs were broken from beneath it and it's organs were ruthlessly pulped by several tons of Detroit rolling iron. Ramming animals was certainly much easier than shooting them with bow and arrow was, and leagues easier than stabbing fish with her knife was. It took time as well as fuel though. Constantly stopping and starting the car, she worried that it wouldn't start every time. At the same time though, it gave her time to think. To think on the shift, and her sudden erratic change.
The world had changed, taking with it the refugee center and all the friends and people she knew. Dervish had explained it to her, but it was much too technical. She had asked about the parts she'd collected for the train, and he said those were gone too. She'd bawled at the loss of so many friends, and she'd thrown an ugly tantrum at the loss of all those parts in which she even took a swing at someone. She didn't even remember who she'd swung at, only that they were a hell of a lot more agile than catnip. And a hell of a lot stronger. After that, she'd spent a week in the RV Floyd had brought her (which carmello had left her) sulking and poking at her dramatically changed face in the mirror. And cleaning her teeth. She did a lot of that. Also brushing her sleek fur. She liked her fur to look nice, but she didn't know why. She hadn't spent any time at all on her hair when she hadn't been covered in it. When she'd felt better, she asked Dervish. "Well catnip..." His cheeks had flushed, Sir loin and Roxanne, who had been discussing some matter looked in their direction, suddenly sensing by instinct that something awkward was about to happen. "There comes a time in the life of everyone, even non-mutants, when their bodies start to change." Loin and Roxanne hurriedly gathered up what they were doing and left, Roxanne with an audible "nope." The lecture that followed seemed to be making Dervish very uncomfortable, and so catnip had told him it was fine, she didn't need to know more. All she needed to know, she decided, was that the world had changed and so had she.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 27, 2017, 10:03:20 pm
Out-of-character, betting that it's Roxanne that Catnip took a swing at, she's the one with a lot more dodge skill here. Plus same strength as Sir Loin. Whereas dunno what Floyd can take, and punching a guy in chainmail sounds like Fun. :V
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 28, 2017, 04:12:19 am
Floyd strolls towards Roxanne, "So. Roxy. Where's the little'un learn that ah... That word?" Floyd says, raising an eyebrow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 28, 2017, 04:15:51 am
"She said it was her handler...She said he was mean to her and called her names and that was on of them.",Roxanne responded. "Wait, you are not implying she learned it from me are you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 28, 2017, 04:18:17 am
"I'm assumin' she don't know the actual meanin', correct?" Floyd asks
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 28, 2017, 04:19:12 am
Sir Loin regards the two warily, quietly seeing himself out, though still being close enough to keep an eye on things if the matter got heated. "This can't be good..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 28, 2017, 04:19:22 am
"Yeah, she asked what it was and attempts were made to explain it but...how does one do so?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 28, 2017, 04:21:14 am
"Nah, nah. Not mad at'cha. Jus' makin' sure you didn't tell her the actual meanin'." Floyd pats Roxy on the shoulder, "Ya did good kid, don't worry 'bout it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 28, 2017, 04:23:52 am
He blinks at that, regarding the two curiously. "Given the intended way those scientists likely meant it, simply saying it was an insult would suffice as well. She doesn't...need to know the less colloquial definition."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 28, 2017, 04:24:32 am
Roxanne was weirded out a bit by how the cowboy talked to Roxanne due to the fact that it was new to her. She was used to deal with people in stoic professional matters but this was different. Even so, it felt nice to her. "Thanks floyd, mutants can be a hassle."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 28, 2017, 05:03:26 am
Kathrine, meanwhile, is currently leaving all of the cans of soda she's found outside Catnip's room. She's still uncomfortable with barely seeing her, but she seems to be dealing with it decently well. Returning to the kitchen of the farmhouse, she turns the knob on the oven. Frowning, she tries all of them, and hits the stovetop when it flat-out refuses to turn on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 28, 2017, 05:19:36 am
The knight regards the catgirl curiously. "Uhoh...right, grid's out. Don't think an invertor's built into any of the vehicles either..." he said, approaching. "One of the vehicles we have here, Catnip's RV, should have a working kitchen unit with a stove top though. Failing that...dif you teacher ever cover using foil or paper wrap to bake on a campfire? Might be interesting..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 28, 2017, 05:27:02 am
"Hey kath, I have the crops you asked for. Where do you wa...what are you doing?", Roxanne exclaimed perplex.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 28, 2017, 05:42:05 am
Kathrine, barely paying attention, is halfway inside the oven by now. As Roxanne half-yelled something, she jumps. There's a loud bang as she slides back out of the oven, rubbing her elbow. "Oven is broken."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 28, 2017, 05:44:18 am
Roxanne tries to hide a chuckle at the sight, "Would of guess so, power is down and we don't if the oven even works at itself. Sorry to have startled you kath."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 28, 2017, 06:05:50 am
"How can I cook without an oven?" Kath stands up and shuts the oven door, arms crossed. "This is lame."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 28, 2017, 06:12:18 am
The knight perked up at that. "Catnip's vehicle, when she gets back you can use that. Or I can try to teach you what I know about cooking on a campfire."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 28, 2017, 09:47:09 am
Catnip strode in at that moment, her favorite toolbox under her arm. Sir loin made to greet her but was interrupted by the high squealing noise which split the air, and the ears of all those present, which erupted from Katherines mouth. "MISSTREEEEESSSS!!" Catnip stuck a pinky in one pointed ear and twisted it, as if trying to dislodge something the catmaids screeching had put there. "Feeeck, you don't have to be so loud." She didn't hear catnip, "Mistress! Mistress! The oven is broken! How am I supposed to cook without an oven?!" Catnip set her tools on the counter next to the stove and opened it's front door to look inside. Before long, she'd closed the door and pulled the unit away from the wall. Then, with tools in hand, she carefully but quickly began removing parts. At first, Katherine thought she was going to repair it. Soon though, as the ovens parts were gently set aside in orderly little piles, she came to the realization that catnip had no intention of fixing the oven. "Mistress, what are you doing? How am I supposed to make dinner without-" Catnip pointed. "Converted the tool shed to a cook house." She explained, not looking up from her work. "If you want to cook, it's got most of the things you'll need. The basics anyway. Sorry I wandered off kat, we can watch cartoons and eat chocolate later. I got chores to do..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 28, 2017, 10:57:19 am
"But- Alright, Mistress. There's... Um... S-sweets outside your room..." Kathrine sounds uncharacteristically downbeat, taking the ingredients from Roxanne and walking over towards the shed. "Stupid Kathrine. Don't question the owner. The owner paid a lot for you, Kathrine is in 'debt'. Kath has to..." Kathrine visibly shudders as she remembers Jeremy's "lessons" in etiquette. "K-Kathrine has to never talk back."
Kathrine half opens the door to the shed, glancing back to the house. "Stuffed peppers. Right."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 28, 2017, 11:44:05 am
Quinn's head aches and he starts to stare out in space, he blinks and stands up from his chair, he grabs his bag and takes out a small bag of coffee and a cheap coffee filter out of it. He walks to the cooking room to make a cup of coffee. He spots Kathrine, noticing something is off. "What's wrong?" He grabs a coffee maker and gets it ready to make coffee.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 28, 2017, 11:59:41 am
Kath squeaks, tail sticking straight out behind her. "OH! Doctor Quinn! Hi!" She exclaims, back to her normal bubbly happiness. "I'm making food for everyone! Do you want anything special? I have alcohol, I... Think." Unslinging her pack, she pulls out the bottle of brandy, holding it out towards Quinn. "What's this?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 28, 2017, 12:02:18 pm
"Brandy, it's a type of liquor. Don'-" Quinn looks at Kath in thought, "Age... How old are you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 28, 2017, 12:04:32 pm
"...Twenty two years, five months, three days!" She bounces on her feet again, hands placed together behind her back. She's grinning again, presumably from knowing her exact age. "How old are you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 28, 2017, 12:09:20 pm
"Thirty Eight years, and..." Quinn squints through his glasses in thought, "And sixteen days." The coffee maker dings, Quinn grabs a coffee mug and fills it half way with coffee and the other half with brandy. "Want a cup?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 28, 2017, 12:17:24 pm
Kath just shakes her head. "Cooking. Thanks though, Doctor Quinn!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 28, 2017, 12:27:35 pm
"Hmph, okay. What are you cooking?" Quinn downs the cup in his hand, he puts it down and grabs the pitcher out of the coffee maker. He considers grabbing the cup again, then he just starts drinking out of the pitcher.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 28, 2017, 12:38:09 pm
"Food." She pulls her knife out of her bag, wiping it down with a rag before starting to prep the rest of the ingredients.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 28, 2017, 12:53:11 pm
The knight eventually made his way in, having intended to set aside some of the meat Catnip brought back and started working on preserving, looking the two over. "Anything I can hep with for the moment? Catnip's setup should be fairly basic but functional, more than just a firepit at least."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 28, 2017, 02:57:47 pm
A noise can be heard all round the farm. At first it's a small echo and then turns into a voice. "Can you all hear me? This Roxanne speaking. I set up an intercom system using a two-way radio and a bunch of normal radios. This way we can rally people if need be or make announcements. Don't miss use or I'll curse you and not in the verbal sense!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 28, 2017, 03:21:54 pm
The knight looked around, thinking he's give a response if not for his radio being attached to the tank. "Well, I can see that attracting a whole lot more than just the occasional maid." he remarked, heading over to where Roxanne was. "Seems to work loud and clear, you sure broadcasting to everything in earshot is a good idea? Though still can't be louder than the vehicles, so probably won't be any more of a problem with noise discipline than what we already have to deal with."
"And I don't think I want to know what kinds of curses you'd think up."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 28, 2017, 03:26:22 pm
"Boobie Lady shouldn't swear. Swearing is bad." Kathrine mutters, stabbing her terrible pocket knife into the cutting board. "Do-do we have anything sharper?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 28, 2017, 03:28:59 pm
The knight blinks at that, poking his head back into the kitchen. "Maybe can get Roxanne to let you borrow her arm for a second, since it's got a blade in it...wait, this might be overkill, but would an arming sword work?" he asked, probably now glad that he was rather obsessive about sharpening and cleaning it daily.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 28, 2017, 03:33:51 pm
"This intercom system is not too noisy and town are far away enough to no be of concern." Roxanne fiddled with the two way radio a bit more. "Now that think about it, I could tunr this into a broadcast system to attract more survivors. More people could be a lot of help." Roxanne pondered at her idea seeming statisfied at it boradcasting it through the intercom," What do you all think?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 28, 2017, 03:54:06 pm
"A... Whosawhatsit? Is it sharp?" Kathrine asks, looking at Sir Loin's arming sword. "It's a...sword? Like this thing. Sharp, long knife?" comes the reply. "Um...? I just something really sharp or like, pointy or something." "Try this then, I've never really needed to carry a seconday knife, so I've kept it sharp enough for anything I need to use it f or."
Kath snatches the sword from Sir Loin and tries to get back to cutting with it. She still has the scabbard on it. "This isn't sharp..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 28, 2017, 03:58:23 pm
Sir Loin promptly facepalms at that, carefully reaching over to grab it and remove the scabbard. "It works better out of that..." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 28, 2017, 04:06:28 pm
With the sword now sheathless, Kath raises it again, bringing the sword down once more. She successfully cuts open a pepper. Congratulation She continues doing so until she's got everything prepped, then gives the sword back and grabs her knife again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 28, 2017, 04:10:14 pm
The knight rather carefully waited well out of reach until she was finished, grabbing a cloth to wip it off before sheathing it. "Hopefully Quinn can help with the rest. Actually...huh. Wonder if his sword would've work just as well. You'd think one of us would have a proper knife though."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 28, 2017, 05:02:27 pm
Quinn, nose deep in his notes, wasn't listening. "Knife?" Quinn reaches a hand inside his labcoat and takes out a large hunting knife for Katharine. "Be careful with the blade. Sharper then you're used to probably."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 29, 2017, 12:22:00 am
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 29, 2017, 01:06:41 am
Dervish finished collecting his things, "I think she's in good hands." he said. "Where ya'll gonna go?" asked Floyd. "Believe it or not," he chuckled, "there's a refugee center about a mile to the west. This place was a stroke of luck. Expect me to come back and check up on Nip and the other one. It's part of my job after all." He handed floyd the bright green bag clip. "If Kathrine gets out of hand, you know what to do with this. She's imprinted on catnip though, so maybe you should pass it on to her for me. It would be easier for her to do it." Floyd turned the clip over in his hands, "I'll tell catnip yer off on a b'ness trip er somethin. Ain't like yer never gonna be back." He said. Dervish gave a short laugh, "Yeah." He didn't tell Floyd that he probably wouldn't be. He'd been to the refugee center before hand, the Old Guard rep had informed him that his assignment had changed, and he was needed back on the USS Reliant within a week. "If something comes up, I'll send a message." He held out his hand for Floyd to shake, "it's been nice working with you sir." he said. Floyd took the offered hand and drawled out, "happy trails, professor." With that, Dervish stepped out of the farmhouse and, for a time, out of their lives.
Catnip side stepped around yet another something that leaked nasty black stuff and smelled like death. It didn't detect her, except by smell, and she knew she'd have a moment to sneak away before it realized that something it could try to bite was nearby. She'd gotten used to this routine, dodging around these dead people. Kathrine had asked, no, begged to be allowed to come with her but catnip knew that was a bad idea. For one, kathrine didn't have a scintillating blanket. For two, kathrine was very very loud. No, Kathrine couldn't come with her on this trips. Catnip gave her some of her chocolate and a "gameman RGB" to toy with while she was away. Kathrine had never got any gifts before, and was over the moon with excitement when catnip had given her one. She knew kathrine would have brought the gameman with her too, and that the noise from it would likely bring the dead people closer. She made steady progress to the door of the building with the big sign over it's door. "bu-loo bur-ook..." she whispered, sounding out the words like Roxanne had instructed. Blue brook. The next two words were harder, but she relished the opportunity to use what she'd learned outside books. She'd learned everything she'd known about mechanics from looking at the diagrams and images in her books back in the lab, now that she was figuring out how to read the actual words, perhaps she could learn much more. First though, those next two words. "His-tore-ick-all sow-kye... sow-sci-aye... sow-sci-eh-tee." She narrowed her eyes as she read, the sun didn't help. "bloo brook his-toric-all so-sigh-aty. Blue brook historical society." She whispered it several times out loud. Confident that she had learned something, Quinn had once told her "a day in which you learn nothing is a day wasted," she walked satisfied to the door and tried it. Locked. Not a problem for Catnips nimble fingers though. She unrolled a canvas bedecked with little hooks and pins and set to work. In no time at all, she heard a faint "click" and the door slowly pivoted at the hinge, it's lock no longer engaged. Inside, it was dark. What little light there was came streaming in through the front windows. The place was filled with mostly empty display cases. Mostly, but not completely. Catnip walked over to one, and inside was a sword much like Sir loins somewhat shorter blade. She could find no lock to pick, and so smashed the glass with a chair. Once it was out though, she could tell that it was little more than trash. The blade was dull and the metal cheap. What kind of museum was this? She took the sword anyway, along with another cheap fake she found. This second was a heavy thing with a curve in it's blade. The third thing she found, standing upright in a case in the center of the hall was not a fake though. Catnip laid eyes upon it, and immediately liked it. "Nay," she thought in Sir loins voice, "you covet the steel brand in yonder case m'lady." while her tools were blunt and unwieldy for fighting, the sword in the case had the look of dexterity. Where Sir loins arming sword called for efficiency and strength, Catnip thought that maybe the sword in the case was more suited to nimble flourishes and quick strikes. The brass plaque beneath the blades plinth stated, in simple copperplate letters she never noticed, "Rapier, Italy, circa. 1686." Catnip spent little time debating what to do, she smashed the display case and carefully withdrew the slender blade. She didn't know how to use it, but she was willing to bet Sir loin did.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 01:52:09 pm
Ooh, that's gonna be interesting to write up, trying to teach fencing with Sir Loin knows different styles. In any case, on laptop now, so will be starting my turn in a bit and on discord eventually. Current plan is deciding what to do, so I'll add a preliminary writeup...
...and load error, it says it can't find an artifact item definition, dafuq.
EDIT: Error can be ignored, preliminary writeup goes here.
Meanwhile back at base, the knight considered his options. They had a decent bit of supplies, but more food would always help. Catnip no longer had urgent need of purfier or other medicine, but there was still a lab they had rough directions to if needed. Plus, Kath mentioned some peculiar places she snuck past on the way to the farm, which might interest Quinn.
Meanwhile Dervish left to visit a refugee center they found, which might be worth paying him a visit, while Catnip had just returned hauling a few interesting weapons, though most were rather poor little replicas. The one weapon that was in usable quality was not very suitable for the way he was taught to fight, something that did sorely disappont her. However, one system of combatives he picked up along the way would work wonders with it, offering her a few pointers on it, along with offering to bring back any useful manuals he finds along the way.
The knight considered his options carefully. Just in case, the lab might have valuable supplies, and he had access cards to spare. Then he went over to the tank to check on it, and realized he'd left the camera system running the whole time, draining the battery. Some things never change. He'd have to go install a solar panel or two and connect it to the main battery bank, then leave it behind to charge.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 29, 2017, 03:26:43 pm
Roxanne had just finished giving the final touches to the two-way radio that served as the intercom system. She had grown fascinated with making tweaks and adjustments to it and her latest project was ambitious; using a makeshift antenna, she modified the radio once more to double as a broadcast system to send radio messages to more radio frequencies. Previously the radio worked by all other radios, including those of the intercom system, to be in predetermined channels. like a walkie-talkie, to allow communication; now the two way radio was able to send it's broadcast on general broadcast channels for all with a radio to listen to.
Not long after, Roxanne sent a broadcast announcing the existence of the farm and it's offer for shelter, supplies and security. "Are you sure this is a good idea Roxanne? We don't know what kind of people are out there who might listen to this.", Floyd questioned Roxanne. Floyd was the only soul on the farm apart from Katherine who had offered to help; but Kath was too fickle for this kind of tasks and everyone underestimated her abilities due to her appearance, Roxanne included. Everyone else was busy with their own tasks and the knight was prepping to leave to look for supplies and the such. "Don't worry Floyd", Roxanne assured, "Even if we so get some baddies I am sure we can take them on. You yourself have an impressive arsenal and skill not to mention the knight and myself. We should be fined." Floyd was not one to be persuaded by flattery but saw that Roxanne had a point. "All right, I will leave you to it then. Anything else that you need just give the word.", Floyd told Roxanne as he walked off the room.
Two hours passes since the broadcast had been put on repeat when Roxanne heard a response. "Hello? Anybody there? Is this a dead broadcast?" A few seconds of static were heard before Roxanne adjusted the settings for a clearer sound while also rerouting the broadcast to the intercom. "...been hold up in a...church of sorts for quite some time but have now managed to get out. The coordinates you provided are not that far off from where I am currently. I have been traveling for a while and shelter seems like a nice proposition." The sound quality starts to degrade and become less audible at this point. "This radio is running low on juice so I won't be able to hear or issues a response. I will go to your place soon so so not be alarmed. I will be wearing a black..." The transmission is cut off. Roxanne fiddles with the radio to see if it is on her end but to no avail, the signal is lost. She re-routes the radio back from the intercom and puts back the broadcast loop. She is perplexed by the sudden response, she did not really expect anybody to answer and more so on day one but here she was with confirmation someone had listened and they announced their intention to visit. Everyone in the farm heard the transmission via intercom, she knew there would be questions, she needed to prepare for it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 03:35:34 pm
By now the knight had spent time moving the last of the items he wouldn't need into storage for the others, having also helped build a proper place for storing any bionics he found, to give them to Catnip for safe keeping.
"You sure this is a good idea, Roxanne? I'll keep an eye out for survivors if I meet them along the way, if any seem like the one you found. But if anything happens while I'm out...Not going to be able to return very easily, not to mention radio contact won't be available when I'm out of the tank. If anyone gets hurt because of this idea..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 29, 2017, 03:38:59 pm
"We'll be fine knight, they said is was just one person. We can handle one person. We have a scientist with occult weapons, a season gunslinger and an augmented wizard. You should be the one to be careful out there, don't get too cocky because you are in a tank."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 03:42:08 pm
Sir Loin nodded at that. "Very well then. Take care of yourselves, it's possible they might bring others along anyway. I'll be careful as well, not like I can drive the tank down into whatever's in those bunkers. Plus if power's out, will have to leave the helm behind to see more easily."
The next morning the knight was off, crossing the bridge and approaching a nearby town. "Bridge still clear, coming up on the town..." he reported over the tank's radio, a muffled explosion heard in the background.
"Minefield north, next to the road, left side if you're coming into town. Mind that if you head this way." he said, reminded of how poorly-done initial attempts to control the situation must've been, further making him glad he wasn't active when things went downhill.
"Weird, passing by a small town that looks...suspicious. Thought the way Kath mentioned the town with the 'weird people' in it, it'd be east of the lab, not just across the bridge. Can see some of those rather oddball revenants in the vicinity."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 05:00:21 pm
Fuck it, double post. o3o
"Crash site nearby, looks to be nothing but a bunch of scrap metal. Looks like either someone's already been here, or the shifting messed things up more than I thought. Doors are wide open. I'll check in when I need to bring stuff up to the surface. Sir Loin out."
The knight made his way in carefully, noting that the upper floor had every single door opened up, security measures disabled. Soon though, the next floor seemed to be untouched, best as he could guess from his lack of familiarity with the lab projects. Much to his annoyance, there was a harsh chill in the air, not yet enough to be dangerous but disconcerting, as evidently climate control was working but most of the lights were out.
But the first thing he encountered, an array of vats disturbingly similar to what he encountered in the bio-weapon bunker, and a shambling figure in a lab coat, already confirmed his suspicions about the place, a guess already founded on his minimal experience and what all he's overheard from Dervish.
The next figure looked alive, but only barely, body a mess of mechanical parts. His attempt to call out to the figure was met with nothing but the crackling and creaking of barely-functional bionics, the figure making a frenzied yet ultimately futile attempt to attack him.
Later on the knight returned to report on the radio. "Cold as hell down there, might be why it looks like no one looted any more than the surface level. More reason I wish I hadn't forget my gambeson..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 29, 2017, 05:06:45 pm
"This is Roxanne, you found a lab and its cold? I would advise you don't enter unless you are well insulated. If you manage to find any science jornals or chemicals bring them back, quinn would kill us both is you didn't."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 05:14:50 pm
"First area is tolerable if I add a bit more layers besides just my armor, but I don't know how much worse it can get. So far only found one revenant, scientist it seems, no ID on her. Plus one of their...test subjects it seems, sick fucks put more half-broken bionics in him than I thought possible." he responded, a rare slip into profanity from the knight.
"...he didn't respond to my trying to talk him down. Lunged straight at me." he said, seeming unnerved by that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 29, 2017, 05:36:01 pm
"Did you attempt to recover any bionics off of him? Maybe you can bring it here for analysis... Quinn said their might be weapon lockers behind very secure doors, Try to see if you can get in and find some toys."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 29, 2017, 05:38:37 pm
Kathrine knocks on the door to the radio room, then comes in before Roxanne can answer. "Boobie Lady, where's the metal man?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 05:41:12 pm
"Rather morbid thought there. None of it seemed salvageable though. Did find their barracks though, so that's a plus. Don't think I can bluff my way past the security console, but I brought the torch just in case." he answered. "So far found some sort of grenade just stored in a room full of slime, a chemistry set, few other things."
He then, overhearing Katherine over the radio, smirked a bit. "Boobie lady trapped me in the radio, heeeelp."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 29, 2017, 05:41:54 pm
Roxanne opens the door to let kath in. "Don't listen to him kath... The knight is off looking for food, weapons and anything interesting he can find. He is currently in an abandoned lab. We are speaking via this radio here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 29, 2017, 05:46:12 pm
Kath just glares at the radio, ears pinned back. "I'm not stupid, you... T-tin can!" She immediately stops looking frustrated as she repeats what Roxanne called him when she first arrived. "People aren't tin cans."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 29, 2017, 05:49:56 pm
Roxanne laughs with her hand covering her mouth. "No, they are not. I call him that because he is a knight and the armor they were makes them look like a human tin can. He goes by the name of Sir Loin of Beef...I know, let him have it, it's the cataclysm..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 05:51:42 pm
The knight snickered a bit at that. "Was worth a shot I guess. Great, now you've got her calling me that too, Rox." he answered over the radio. "And yes, I know it's a weird choice of name. Not like my actual name is much better."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 29, 2017, 05:59:50 pm
"Beef? But people aren't food either! Aaaaaargh!" She stomps her foot, tail swishing back and forth rapidly. "Tail-less people are weird." She's pouting like a small child while Roxy and Sir Loin both laugh.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 29, 2017, 06:07:46 pm
After Roxanne regains her composure she responds, "Well kath, I may not have a tail but I bet you don't have this!" Roxanne raises her hand in the air and deploys her blade for the first time in front of kath. "My arm is a sword kath! A SWORD!!!", Roxanne says as her serious demeanor is struck down in favor of a childish personality.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 06:13:25 pm
After a short while the knight reported back on the radio. "First part of the barracks clear, had to come back up to bring back some books and other items in the lockers, plus what the revenants inside it had on them. Good winter clothes on a few of them, but nothing in decent condition. Seems like the first lower level is a lot more comfortable in the daytime though, might be that their AC's having to keep up with warmer air from the surface. Which says something when it's this late in the year and the outside is warmer..."
"Oh, and try not to kill each other with your bionic knife fighting while you're at it?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 29, 2017, 06:20:15 pm
OOC: this has nothing to do with current events.
Catnip saw the little round thing fly through the cook shed while she was rolling dough for buns. She'd forgotten to take her blanket off, she'd gotten used to it's weight long ago, and so the little ball with the glass eye didn't notice her. It simply flew through, looked at a few things, and then left. When the buns were done, catnip ate all six in one go and then followed the thing in the direction it had flown. South of the farm, just across the road, she spotted it. It was looking at various things. Flashing a light at bushes, animals, and occasionally the farm. Catnips distrust of robots was piqued. She picked up a hefty stick and quietly approached. When she was close, she took a moment to examine it more closely. A small label on the side read "Eye bot, mark 2, property of US military. If found please call..." She saw this, and didn't read it. The eye bot moved too much for her to sound out the words. The heavy stick came down on top of the eye bot and catnip heard something inside snap. It lay still on the grass where it had settled, and did nothing. After it had been brought back to the worksop, catnip got out her soldering iron and got to work, carefully removing it's innards and filing them away in bins. Afterwords, she would go back to the cook shack, giving the loudspeakers Roxanne had set up a wide berth (she didn't trust them, harbingers of badness back in the lab), to make another three batches of buns, all of which she would consume in one go, except the one she offered to kathrine when she came looking for her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 29, 2017, 06:38:04 pm
Kathrine noticeably quietens down as soon as the blade gets brought out, apparently not picking up on the comedic part of Roxy's behaviour. "I'm sorry Boobie Lady please don't get angry." She slowly backs towards the door, looking at the floor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 29, 2017, 06:41:44 pm
Roxanne quickly puts the blade away as she notices this here demeanor changing once more. "No no, I didn't mean it like that...I- I was only joking" Roxanne gives a nervous chuckle. "It's all in good fun you know? All in good fun!" Roxanne's poor attempts at defusing the situation make here less coherent as time goes by.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 06:44:28 pm
The knight soon enough reported over the radio. "Haven't stabbed each other while I was out, I hope? Cleared the armory."
"Found some assorted magazines and ammo. Interesting weapons too, not counting some damaged weapons the revenants had on them. Some sort of current-issue MG, caseless. Plus an automatic rifle in the same chambering. Some sort of Leadworks machine pistol in .45 ACP. Different current-issue rifle, M416A5. More familiar with that than this caseless stuff. Plus a...pleasant surprise, an M107A1. Couple MREs too."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 29, 2017, 06:58:16 pm
Kath fumbles for the doorknob, and still leaves the room. You can hear her running the hell away on the other side.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 29, 2017, 07:04:23 pm
Roxanne gives a deep sight. "Well knight, Kath officially hates me now...Don't know how to deal with that...", Roxanne informs Sir loin over the radio. "Gonna need a lot of chocolate to fix this..." Roxanne's eyes widen at the realisation of something. "Oh no...Floyd is going to kill me!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 07:07:51 pm
Sir Loin facepalms at that. "Well, I'm glad I'm all the way over here, safely away from the wrath of Floyd. Nice knowing you Rox." he joked over the radio. "Going to be back under to explore more of the first section, be careful on your end."
"Well, still more to that floor, but most of it is cleared. Except for a few areas that're marked as being secured by defensive systems, there's also another barracks and a place marked as prisoner containment. if any of the people that work here are still alive, I'm half tempted to give them a pommel upside the face. Would serve them right, though it'd be a waste to just leave them to rot down here..." he remarked, clearly irritated enough by what he's seen so far to be entertaining rather dark thoughts.
"Between the bits and pieces of people in vats, the bionic experiments, probably against their will like Catnip and Kath, and god-knows-what's in prison containment..." the knight trailed off, before adding something.
"I also found a map down there, it seems to mark one of those other locations like the ones Catnip found. Thing is, layout shown is completely different. I mean different even on the map, which was hand-drawn. Things got warped even harder than I was expecting."
"Some good news though, tell Catnip I found some chocolate drink or something. Plus some fancy-looking sunglasses, since Rox is the designated fashionista here." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 29, 2017, 08:33:52 pm
"Well, I have more of a fashion sense than medieval europe tin man!", Roxanne replied back. "What do you mean by defensive systems? What are we dealing with here? And the map you found, what does it lead to? Does it say?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 29, 2017, 08:37:10 pm
YOU CAN DRINK CHOCOLATE!?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 08:40:44 pm
"Stylish and practical. Regarding defenses, seems to be turrets, most of them are still online. Same models as the ones the police started using, so they'd probably be berserk even if I was supposed to be here." the knight answered.
"Lab marked seems to be described using similar terms as the bio-weapon places, so...I'm worried that means that thing I ran into last time, the thing that attacked Catnip, might have its own doppelganger. For now though, got into prisoner containment, looks like everything there is undead. Bad news is I've used up the welder cutting my way into it."
He then chuckled a bit at a response he overheard. "Only found one so far Catnip, I'll hand it over when I return. Found a lot of busted drones, the bladed ones. Took out a few myself."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 29, 2017, 10:02:39 pm
"Hey knight, I will be right back. Going to go grab a book. Manning this radio is getting a little dull." Roxanne steps out of the house to grab a book from her APC that she has stashed as part of her 'scouting kit'. While exiting she notices Kath on the roof, she isn't visible but the moving cat tail is a give away. She decides to leave her be for now to not make things worse and leaves towards her APC.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 10:04:13 pm
"Very well then, will be an uneventful evening, will scout out town in the morning."
Meanwhile, the knight made preparations for the next morning, offloading the latest few items he brought out of the lab, confirming the main gun was loaded with armor-piercing rounds to minimize damage to the buildings, and switching out his almost-depleted .308 ammo belt in the M240 for one with military-grade ammunition.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 29, 2017, 10:12:44 pm
Kathrine peeks over the top of the house, watching Roxy walk off. Sliding down, she lands near-silently and quietly heads into the house, manning the radio. "Mister Beef? I-I... I don't think Boobie Lady likes me... Um... W-what's her name?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 10:20:07 pm
The knight blinked at that, having just closed the feed cover on the mounted M240, when he heard Kathrine over the radio. "Don't mind her, she was only messing with you. She gets flustered easily. Guessing she showed off that blade of hers?" he answered over the radio. "Her name's Roxanne. One of the few of us here to have a normal name, it seems."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 29, 2017, 10:36:44 pm
"Mhm. She has a magic knife! A-and she was waving it around at me and yelling and I ran away and hid on the roof and... And..." She sounds upset.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 29, 2017, 10:40:33 pm
The knight sighed at that. "Don't worry about her. I'm sure she didn't mean to scare you. She told me afterward how bad she felt about doing that." he answered, though not saying that half of it was being afraid of Floyd finding out. "She didn't hurt you, did she?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 29, 2017, 11:06:15 pm
"No. No, no, Boo- Miss Roxanne didn't hurt me." She shakes her head, seemingly forgetting that it's a radio. "Miss Roxanne is nice. She's a nice lady."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 29, 2017, 11:37:03 pm
"Why is booby lady so mean mistress? Why the thing?" Catnip was fiddling with some kind of large contraption at a workbench attached to the big vehicle in her workshop, and Kathrine was talking at her. "Booby lady?" she asked, not looking up from what she was doing. "Miss Roxy." explained Kathrine. She tried to poke me with her knife! The sciencey people never did that! Even if they did like to hit with words." Catnip winced. The idea of being beaten was too familiar for her to think about. She had realized after telling her story to people that such behavior was not normal. Not decent or acceptable in any way, and the idea that she once thought it was a perfectly normal thing to do bothered her. She could empathize with Kathrine, on this at least. "I'm sure it's fine. Sometimes she goes a little overboard, but 'booby lady' is not gonna hurt you." She didn't want to tell Kathrine about the dream she'd had that had made her want to draw them together and the title that her dream had assigned that one. "Murderer who chose mercy." It might make Kathrine even more nervous, undoing all the convincing herself that Roxanne was a nice lady. The thing Catnip was working on, a large round motor of some kind, suddenly gave a loud "SPRONK" and the oversized wing nut on top began to spin wildly as the suddenly released spring inside spent all it's tension. "Fuck!" shouted catnip, who then slapped her hands over her mouth, looking around to see if Floyd heard her. He wasn't around, so he must not have. "YOU SAID A BAD WORD MISTRESS!" Shouted Kathrine, pointing. "SHUT UP!" catnip shouted back, "Don't tell Floyd or I won't let you have any of my chocolate!" Kathrine went silent for a moment, but then asked, as if reminded of something, "Catnip? What's a whore?" Catnip scratched her head in thought for a moment. "It's an insult. A nasty one for girls. Not the nastiest though." Kathrine thought about it. "Oh. Ok then..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 12:27:43 am
Insult...? So they... Kath is notably quiet, and just watches Catnip tinker.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 30, 2017, 12:31:02 am
Quinn wakes up with a groan and a thud when he falls off the couch. In just a pair of slippers, a pair of sweatpants, and an undershirt. He rubs his eyes, grabbing his glasses and walks to the workshop. "What's- What's with all- *Yawn* all the yelling?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 12:37:09 am
"Mistress swore! Uhp" She gasps, immediately shutting her mouth and almost immediately turning bright red. "ThespringmadeanoiseandshesworeandI'msorrydon'tbemadatmeeee~"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 12:59:56 am
Welp, getting chance to check on this lunacy while out, can't get on yet and play because no space for numpad.
During all this lunacy, Sir Loin had retired to the surface level of the lab bunker to sleep, since it had a dormitory. Even having spent so long sleeping in the driver's seat of the tank, his time at the old workshop and at the farm got him spoiled to sleeping in a bed, makeshift or otherwise.
In the morning, the knight made his way into town, having earlier seen signs of auto garages he could make use of. It was when he started down main street that he saw a large trail of bodies, and in the distance a figure, clearly human and still living.
The person was steadily backpedaling away from a large group of zombies, yet more steadily closing in from the surrouding alleys, firing a pistol steadily and calmly along the way. The rumble of vehicle seemed to give him pause, right up until a tank barreled straight few the group of undead closing in on his left a few feet away, parked in between the survivor and several undead still across the street.
The barking of automatic fire resounded in the street, burst after burst tearing into various zombies surrounding the human and the tank, up until a nearby building crumbled, a massive humanoid figure tearing its way through the wall, attracted by the sound of gunfire.
There was a moment's pause, the engine having fallen silent, when suddenly the turret jerked, swiveling around to level at the hulking figure stumbling out into the street, a few yards away from the human. That was just enough warning for the survivor to get down, feeling a resounding thud hit him, from a boom that make the earlier gunshots sound like firecrackers in comparison. One moment the monster was there. The next it was half of a gigantic torso and legs with a severed arm landing 20 feet away, a new hole knocked into the building behind it.
Soon enough a figure could be seen exiting the vehicle, a startling contrast to the very modern tank that charged in to his apparent rescue. Chainmail, a full-face great helm, kite shield, and brandishing a sword, the knight charged in to hack at the nearest undead, mopping up stragglers with brutal efficiency and closing in on the several undead now surrounding the survivor.
The survivor didn't question it. Only hoping that when they'd cleared some breathing room, and his ears stopped ringing, that the strange armored man would reveal good intentions...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 30, 2017, 01:03:11 am
Quinn stares at Katharine, "Huh. Are you hungry? Follow me, let's make something to eat." He gesture for Kath to follow and he heads to the cookhouse.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 01:19:14 am
"Mistress, ca-" Catnip cuts her off with a nod and a dismissive wave. Kathrine follows Quinn over, wondering just what there is to make for like, breakfast.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 30, 2017, 01:23:50 am
Roxanne returns from the ACP book in hand to once more man the two way radio. On her way there she noitces Quinn and Katherine going to the cookhouse. "Shit, he ain't floyd but still...he has arcane weapons!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 01:40:47 am
The knight, after a moment, removed his helm, tugging at a pair of earplugs. "How you holding up?"
The survivor answered a good bit louder than normal, still raising his voice from the deafening racket the "cavalry" made. "Better than I was a moment ago, aside from being half-deaf. What's the occasion?"
"You the one that answered on the radio?" the knight asked, prompting a quizzical look from the survivor. "No, don't have a radio." he answered, gesturing to lead the way back inside the vehicle, to get a moment more to talk without the undead interrupting.
"I see. No matter. So, funny place to end up surrounded. What happened?" Sir Loin asked, getting an explanation that he used to be hiding in the woods just outside town ever since this all went down, seemingly unaware of the shifting. Lack of supplies forced him to explore along farther and deeper reaches of town, until the undead cut off his escape route. This whole time he'd been hoping to find other survivors, to help restore whatever form of civilization was left.
"Then I might have something for you. I know of a refugee center that's managed to survive and get things set up. We also have our own camp..." the knight offered, the survivor accepting, asking for Sir Loin's name.
"You can't be serious. Fuck it, you saved my life back there, you can call yourself the Earl of Sandwich for all I care. You got it, I'm with you!"
The knight "Very well then. You're not looking too good, so stay close and only attack by my lead. Leave the bodies where they fall, too many to deal with cleanup just yet. I have business in town to take care of, but right now getting you out of danger comes first."
With the survivor agreeing to follow along, the knight directed him to the commander's compartment, getting on the radio. "Hey Rox. Had a bit of trouble on the way in, got it sorted out though. Found a survivor, not the one you got ahold of. Name's Nathaniel Ford. He's injured, so I'm heading back to base with him in tow."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 30, 2017, 02:08:01 am
Quinn looks around the cookhouse, "Homemade biscuits and gravy with eggs. First, the gravy and biscuits. Grab a pan, a baking sheet, flour, condensed milk, some sort of meat, your choice, and salt." He grabs the large hunting knife he left there a couple of days ago.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 30, 2017, 02:14:41 am
Roxanne passes quinn and kath as the latter hurries her pace to make it into the cookhouse. Once by the radio she picked up a signal from the knight's channel. She heard his short transmission and responded, "Bring him back and we will tend to his wounds, we should have enough medicine to spare." She ended the short transmission with one of her own and began to read the book she had brought. The Sanguine Codex, she had fallen in love with that book, it had religious connotation and dealt with the arcane, what else could she ask for! The book reminded her about the order that once had brought meaning to her world. She shrug off the though and went back to her book.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 02:23:55 am
It wasn't long before they hear the faint rumble of the tank, still running on only part of its full engine array,the knight soon enough leading the survivor along. He had some hastily-bandaged scrapes along his torso, along with chemical burns and bite wounds on both legs that the knight had used a few first aid supplies he had on hand to clean and bandage up.
"So who's the leader here? You mentioned there being two...mutated survivors? Not my concern I guess, seeing anyone still alive is better than the way it's been for the past few months. Or year, I've lost track at this point."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 05:35:12 am
Kath's ears twitch as she hears the approaching tank. "Mister Beef is back!" She suddenly turns on her heel and half-runs out of the cooking shed. "...People aren't beef. Ask Mister Beef's name."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 30, 2017, 05:38:06 am
Quinn works on the gravy, while cooking the diced steak in a pan. He stirs the white gravy in the pot, when Kath ditches him he raises a finger in protest. He just takes the bowl of biscuit dough and starts to stir and situate the raw biscuits on the baking sheet. "Tell them breakfast will be ready in 30 minutes!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 05:40:28 am
Sir Loin, in the middle of pulling the tank to just in front of the vehicle barricade, saw Kathrine rushing out, practically throwing herself in front of the tank, forcing him to make a hurried stop. Which led to carefully leading a rather surprised survivor out of the back hatch to go get treated, while Sir Loin hoped she wouldn't try and glomp Nathaniel. "Kath, you need to be careful around this thing when it's moving..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 05:49:06 am
Kathrine pats the front of the tank, and then starts walking around it to talk to Sir Lo- NEW PERSON She drops down into the crouch, something that Sir Loin recognises immediately. She takes a couple of incredibly deliberate steps forward, then puts on a burst of speed and launches into another tackle-hug, not even asking this time. She's learnt exactly nothing. "NEW PERSON! Hi!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 05:54:37 am
Nathaniel had only enough explanation to expect a skilled mechanic with rodent mutations, and a rather childish feline mutant. What he wasn't prepared for was a catgirl maid flying at him. "Kathrine, don-"
That was all that Sir Loin managed to say before their newest arrival was bowled over in predictable fashion, not at all helped by his injuries from earlier. "Ack! Owfuck, my leeegs..." he managed to groan out, prompting an armored facepalm from Sir Loin. "What did we tell you about hugging strangers? He's already hurt, you're gonna break him." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 06:00:11 am
Kathrine is much too engaged with hugging Nathaniel to actually listen to anyone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 06:02:06 am
Nathaniel gave a wince as the catgirl kept on holding onto him, while Sir Loin moved over to...very carefully yet firmly try and dislodge Kath and pull her into a hug instead. "Turnabout's fair play. Now, don't surprise-hug again..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 06:07:38 am
"...But I was in front of you! It's not a surprise if you see it. Sorry Mister Beef. What's your name?" Kathrine looks down at Nathaniel. "What's your name, too? Sorry for being scary!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 06:11:41 am
The knight sighed at that. "Alright, figured it'd eventually slip, so I can tell you. Hector Lowe. I'll explain why I went with the nickname later." he said, while the survivor groaned out a bit, trying unsteadily to get back up. "Nathaniel Ford. It's fine, just...hurt rather badly from earlier, so." he said. "That name sounds familiar, almost...nah..." Nathaniel said, more quietly this time, enough that Sir Loin...or Hector, what-have-you, didn't hear it, though Kath might.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 30, 2017, 06:19:11 am
"Your name is Hector? Jeez, I thought my name was plain." Floyd says, strolling in. "Is the little'un bein' an issue?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 06:22:27 am
The knight looked over to Floyd, now a bit embarrassed. "Suppose I went too far in the opposite direction when I thought up a different name. At least vaguely related to my last name by way of a little linguistic corruption." he remarked.
"And aside from tackling someone that's in bad shape, no more trouble than usual."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 30, 2017, 06:24:17 am
"Mmm. I'll take her back. C'mon, Little lady. Lets head back." Floyd waits for a reply.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 06:26:54 am
Kathrine breaks away from the hug with Sir Loin, and rushes over to Floyd. "Mister Cowboy! Catn- UHP." She brings her hands up over her mouth. "Um... Roxy is all scary."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 06:29:58 am
Sir Loin sighs at that, shaking his head. "This can't end well. Roxanne accidentally scared Kath yesterday, from what I heard of it on the radio." he said, before directing Nathaniel to go see Quinn.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 30, 2017, 06:34:32 am
Floyd raises an eyebrow, and sighs, "Lets get you back before you get 'spooked' further, you were doin' somethin' with the doctor, correct?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 06:47:28 am
"I'm not spooked... Oh! We were making, um... Biscuits and gravy?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 30, 2017, 06:56:37 am
"Oooh. Sounds tasty, you wanna continue helping him out? I think he can handle it himself." Floyd asks while they head back.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 06:58:55 am
Meanwhile Nathaniel was busy tending to his injuries, best as he could since the closest thing to a doctor was busy cooking. "Hector...you look familiar. Someone I know from a long time ago." he said, likely in earshot of Floyd.
"A while...you're right. Surprised you made it out in one piece."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 30, 2017, 07:20:43 am
"...Ya can schedaddle fer now, go do whatever. I'll meet with ya later." Floyd starts to eavesdrop from a d i s t a n c e.
Quinn finishes up the biscuits and the gravy, he makes a pot of coffee for himself mainly. He realizes this might of been a waste of time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 07:23:07 am
By now, lacking any help from Quinn, the two of them had mostly treated Nathaniel's wounds. "Now I remember. PFC Hector Lowe. Tanker, Division XIV, MOUT unit...KIA. I'm missing some details on that last one, aren't I?" Nathaniel rattled off, initially provoking a look of abject horror on the knight's face, up until the last moments, where horror gave way to confusion.
"I'm afraid you got more than that last bit wrong. I took one look at what that unit was offering and said no in the least career-ending manner I could manage. Which wasn't very." Hector answered. Now it was Nathaniel's turn to be confused.
"I always knew you never wanted to go along with it, you knew what we'd do if we ever had to be deployed. But yo- I mean, I saw your M701 get jack-in-the-box'd right in front of mine when those goddamn tank drones turned on us..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 08:55:41 am
Kathrine, looking over at the cooking shed, shakes her head. "Miss Roxanne isn't a meanie..." She mumbles, and wanders off to try and find her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 11:36:41 am
Nathaniel, having now gotten most of the explanations by now, regarded Hector with uncertainty. "So. I had my ass saved by an old acquaintance I thought died during that early fuck-up, when the unit rolled into town to deal with so-called rioters. Said formerly dead is apparently now a knight, which seems to be the least weird part of this. And apparently he never joined Division VIX. Our unit. So now he lives on a farm just down a road I know used to not be here, right over what my maps said was an old supply bunker, which I sure as hell didn't see any sign of. That about cover all the weird shit involved here?"
The knight gave a nod at that. "Seems to. I'm going to need Roxanne to explain this shifting thing, I guess. Then I'm going to have to ask her whether 'doppelgangers' or any such thing factored into her theory here..." he said, likely all this still overheard by Floyd, and possibly Kathrine.
So, basic idea I had was, every character we ported over was at the expense of another made in this world, right? These could be RPed as this world's equivalents to the characters, all of whom died at some point before the shifting, and all of them having done something differently. Or they could be played as other people. In fact, I'm already thinking up one possible example of the latter.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 30, 2017, 01:49:42 pm
Roxanne still in the radio 'station' when she heard the noise of the tank roll by. She was about to go and help the wounded fellow the knight had talked about briefly when the radio started up, another incoming broadcast. "I had my suspicions before...I could tell from your voice but now I can feel your aura...I am close by...Roxanne Luna, glad to see you are still alive!" Roxanne was in shock and horror. The stranger's voice was the same from before who claimed he was coming, he knew her name and claimed to have felt her aura. She had only heard about such terms in one setting and the voice from the radio was familiar to her. All of this had started to become strange and unsettled Roxanne.
The radio started once more. "The failed cultist who was made to get rid of impure, how fitting that you would survive. I can sense thing has ve change; could it be you have finally seen the light? I have been keeping an eye on you since before the world fell to ruin. Don't worry, I mean no harm, the order had fallen, so has all of it's laws. I simply want to speak and seek relief from all this chaos and your offer seem to do just that. I am close to your farm now and will present a gift on arrival; all will be revealed when I get there."
At this point Roxanne was utterly terrified, who was this man who knew so much about her? He said he had been following her? What is this gift he talked about? He said he means no harm since the order fell? Many other questions where going on when Roxanne decided this broadcast idea had gone sour. She turned off the outgoing broadcast loop for now, "We don't need more loons like this one...". With that Roxanne sat at the Radio station's chair to think what just had happened thorough.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 02:05:12 pm
There's a light knock on the door of the radio room. This time, however, Kath waits for Roxanne to open the door, at which point she lurches forward into a hug. "I'm sorry for running away, Miss Roxanne..." She murmurs. "You're not mean, you're nice. Nice is good. Don't stop being nice."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 30, 2017, 02:13:09 pm
Roxanne now accustomed to Kath's hug "attacks" from personal experience and others, but still shocked nonetheless, patted Katherine in the head. "Hey...why are you apologizing for? I should be the one saying sorry for being so reckless." Roxanne pauses to let Kath finish. "Don't worry, I won't stop being nice to you." Roxanne still bothered from the man in the radio is now at ease knowing there is one less thing to plauge her mind.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 02:35:34 pm
"I'm sorry for running away and being stupid and calling you Boobie Lady and for calling you a mean word, and you're not a mean word!" Kathrine seems to just be blabbering on at this point. She hugs Roxanne tighter.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 30, 2017, 02:42:36 pm
"Hey, don't worry about it, this isn't your fault." Roxanne's eyes widen as she recalls something. "Uhmm, Floyd, he doesn't know about this right?", Roxanne nervously asks. "You know what, nevermind, just try to cheer up ok?" Roxanne realizes the silliness of her request but has nothing better to say.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 02:53:36 pm
By now Hector had made his way over to the radio room, to explain a bit about what Nathaniel had told him, hoping they could gets things sorted out. "While I'm at it, have you heard anything from the radio? Hoping our visitor's alive and well, with good intentions." he said, partly wanting to ask Roxanne about just what else might be changed.
"You heard what the new arrival told me, right...? If this is true...how many of us do you think had these...what, doppelgangers?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on June 30, 2017, 03:06:40 pm
Kathrine is barely even listening to Roxy or Sir Loin, and looks like she's about to cry.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 03:12:44 pm
The knight looked over to Kath, giving a little sigh at that. Cue reaching over carefully to scritch behind an ear.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 30, 2017, 05:22:24 pm
The distinct rumble of heavy machinery came to Catnips ears minutes after she felt the rumble in the ground, or sensed the rumble in the air with her whiskers. Sir loin had returned. She looked to the radio on her workbench. That thing was always noisy with chatter, so she kept it off most of the time. She turned it on now. "-ttles and bits. Hit the bank at da-" she rotated the tuning nob until the little LCD on the front indicated the number Roxanne had written down on the label attached to the back of the radio. "-ou in Nip? Catnip, pick up, over." She lifted the radio to the side of her head like a phone. "Hello?" It sounded like the knight on the other end. "Catnip, have you got an acetylene torch in your tools? Catnip thought about it. "maybe? I have lots of welders." She could hear the distinctive clank of Sir loins armor, in a manner she knew indicated him shaking his head. "No, that won't do. I have metal needs cutting and only an acetylene torch will do." Catnip looked around at the things on her workbench and spotted a magazine. She'd already sounded out the words on the front of this one. It was an issue of "popular mechanics," and the headline article was "build your own jackhammer!" Catnip lifted the radio to her ear again and said "Will a jackhammer do?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 30, 2017, 06:00:09 pm
The knight pondered that as Catnip gave a suggestion, smirking a bit under his helm. "That would work as well, can bypass shutters by going through the concrete. If there's any way to get on running off of an electric motor, that'd be perfect. We have ways of getting one running off the solar setup eventually, whereas the gasoline will run out eventually." he answered over the tank headset.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 01, 2017, 03:47:11 pm
Kathrine, already missing Catnip, is quietly wandering around the farm, trying to hunt her down. Her ears twitch as she picks up the sound of her voice in the distance, towards Mistress' work space. "...hammer do?" Kath hears, grinning at a thought. She sneaks over to Catnip's little side area, and opens the door as quietly as she can. Stepping inside, she speaks up. Loudly. "HI MISTRESS! What're you doing? What's that?" She points at the magazine, face still plastered with that predatory grin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 04:10:06 pm
"Sorry for the delay knight, had to give thought to...something that has been bothering me..." Roxanne sighed quietly while preparing to try and process the Knight's question. "Well, in the arcane the idea of other 'dimensions' is prevalent so it might be possible that the shifting merged or moved 'things' to another world, even another universe similar to ours but where our versions of ourselves are either different or not existent. Normally I would dismiss this fairly quickly but given that the dead have literally risen it might be worth entertaining the idea."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 04:13:27 pm
The knight nodded at that. "It's fine, you alright though? Look like something bad happened...guessing the person you got contact with got killed, then." he guessed, before listening to her explanation. "Not much stranger than the shifting itself, admittedly. Some things seem vaguely familiar, other places not so much. Time will tell what the full effects are, I guess."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 04:19:37 pm
Roxanne looked away from the radio with an uncomfortable expression on here face at the first comment the Knight made. "You mind if we drop that please?" She then leaned into the radio to talk more clearly. "Now, hear me out...remember that one behemoth you killed with your tank after it hurt catnip really bad? It might be out there again... What if OUR world was the one were it died and in the one we are currently in it is still alive...be careful out there. If anything, ANYTHING, looks out of place, get out of there fast, better save than sorry."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 04:27:05 pm
The knight nodded at that, even if it was more to himself, still in the tank. "...hmm. Another time then." he answered over the radio, before pondering that a bit nervously. "That's something I've been worried about for a while. One of the things recovered during my first trip over there was some sort map, similar to what Catnip had that led her over there. Should be in the bookcase with the rest of the books I brought back. Designation seems different and the terrain shown on it seems to suggest it's very far northeast, but hard to tell. Looked like it was copied from some other display by hand."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 04:34:30 pm
"Might be that it was built her in another location or the shifting 'moved' the one you visited with dead abomination included. I would strongly suggest you repair and reinforce that tank before you attempt to investigate it further." Roxanne relaxed a bit now at this point by getting the weird radio message out of her head. "Try not to freeze yourself down in any other labs Ye old hero of the now!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 04:43:44 pm
"Hopefully that' the case. We can't be the only ones moved into this realm, displacing whoever or whatever might've preceded us. Even if this is a new realms, some familiarity might remain." he said, a suggestion which probably wouldn't bode well for what was troubling Roxanne. "Definitely getting the tank in full working order before I even think about that long a journey, lot of the old reference manuals Catnip and the others had stored helped a bit. Finally figured out how to work around the damaged ceramic on the armor so it'll last longer." he answered.
"As for the lab, I've been saving a lot of hides from the last few hunts, few pelts that I might be able to make into something serviceable. Not sure yet if it'll be enough insulation for the lower levels, but should compensate for the upper level not having to work as hard to deal with the air coming in from outside."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 04:52:48 pm
"If we made it through the shifting, others will certainly as well including buildings and monsters...We need to keep an eye for any anomalies since the shifting is hardly the only thing out there we need to worry about. As for the lab, if you ever find a Unified Power Supply CBM for me I will love you forever! That laser sniper catnip gave me runs off UPS and only shoots 10 times per charge." Roxanne looks as the Seguine Codex book she had brought. "Any thing of arcane nature that Quinn might want to get their hands on?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 05:01:29 pm
"Will keep an eye out for anything else that's strange. So far it seems like the bionics storage might be farther down. One of the armories had a late-model UPS at least, the ones that run on plutonium cells. Won't be that useful since Catnip seems to need them for her projects. If I can't get much farther with some better clothes, I might have to see if some other way to mitigate the cold exists..." he said.
"As for anomalous items, haven't seen anything like that yet. Seems so far to be a mutagenics lab I'm guessing, with all the vats and surgery rooms on the main level."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 05:30:48 pm
"If only UPS could be charged more easily...It was a pretty neat idea but it was cut short due to the cataclysm. Plutonium cells should be decently common if you fight the zombies that hurl lightning, they drop power cbms that have plutonium in them. I found that out when I tried to install bionics by myself long ago and accidently destroy the thing..." Roxanne pause for a bit to recall something else she has been meaning to tell Sir Lion for a while.
"Hey knight, when you come back, can you give me a hand with actual combat skills? I have been relying on my CQB Bionic a bit to much and I am afraid it might fail on me one day."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 05:47:08 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Can make a regular UPS more viable if we can find one of those recharging setups. I think they were testing out a model of APC with them a year or two ago, but I never saw one myself back in my day." he answered over the radio.
"And of course. Should be more useful than trying to teach Catnip how to use a rapier when it doesn't work well with the methods I know. Never had much chance to see how well you fight, since you're the one Catnip wanted as the 'killer' that may be important later on."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 09:21:17 pm
"I'll be back in a bit knight, going to get some more reading material", Roxanne told sir loin over the radio. Then she got up and headed outside towards the APC to grab something to supplement the Seguine Codex. Not that she had gotten bored of it but wanted arcane context with it.
When she reached the ACP and was about to get on she sawa figure in the distance approaching from the north. Roxanne at first assumed it was zed that had managed to find its way here but that was quickly dispelled when she saw the precision as which the figure moved. She drew her blade as she did not know if this was a friend or foe and was not taking any chances. Once the figure came close enough she could see it was a person, more specifically a man. He was wearing a standard post cataclysmic gear, trenchcoat and all. "Roxanne, is that you?" The figure spoke.Roxanne did not answered but merely waited for the figure to act.
"What are you wearing?! Not that I am surprised but still...", said the figure once more. "W- who are you?...", asked Roxanne nervously. "Right, how rude of me, I did never introduced myself did I? My name is Victor Rockwell. You do not know who I am but I do know you quite well...I was the local Expander back when the order was still active...you were my acquisitions." Roxanne simply blinked repeatedly while shaking her head. "Come at me again? Did you just say what I think you said?!" The man named Victor smirked and responded, "You heard me, you did a fine job acquiring such artifacts, why I am alive only because of the last one you found! But this is no place to speak, you spoke of shelter in the radio, am I to assume that farm is it?" Roxanne started as she spoke, "Y- yeah...come with me."
Roxanne guided Victor into the farm, too flabbergasted to know any better. He said she an acquisitionist? But the cataclysm struck before she had a chance to do so...wait...the knight had mentioned something like this...was he referring to an alternate version of her? "Hey, lets talk over there," Roxanne pointed at the house towards the radio set up, "We will inevitably run into someone now, I'll provide context and you just make your introduction...just spare the details about the order..." Roxanne proceeded to guide the new arrived guest toward the radio set up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 01, 2017, 09:34:21 pm
Quinn watches through the window of the house, now fully dressed in his normal turtleneck, labcoat, pants, boots and normal gear. He walks out of the house with a hand resting on the handle of the sword. He quietly strolls up to Victor. "Name. Why are you here?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 01, 2017, 09:34:42 pm
Kathrine, already missing Catnip, is quietly wandering around the farm, trying to hunt her down. Her ears twitch as she picks up the sound of her voice in the distance, towards Mistress' work space. "...hammer do?" Kath hears, grinning at a thought. She sneaks over to Catnip's little side area, and opens the door as quietly as she can. Stepping inside, she speaks up. Loudly. "HI MISTRESS! What're you doing? What's that?" She points at the magazine, face still plastered with that predatory grin.
Catnip didn't like being startled, but right now she found that she didn't mind. Kathrine was a harmless, if sometimes bothersome, sort. She was glad the catmaid was there anyway, she could help with the preparations. "Ok, Kathrine," she started, holding up a hand to prevent the inevitable flying leap. "I need you to get some tools for me." Kathrine was excited to help though worried that she wouldn't be able to find all the tools, she was no mechanic herself. She held up the magazine, "go to this page and look at the li-" Kathrine interrupted. "Oh, Misstress, I can't read!" Catnip looked at her, "You can't read? Since when?" "Since forever ma'am. I still want to help though." "Um. Well. We can use the pictures then. I can't read either, maybe roxanne will teach you too?" Catnip continued her earlier thought. "We are gonna make a 'jack hammer.' Don't worry, all the tools are around here somewhere." she showed the pictures in the magazine Kathrine had pointed out. "We need a screw-thingy wrench, we ne-" "Adjustable crescent wrench." "what?" "It's called an adjustable crescent wrench mistress." Catnip just looked at her. "uh, ok." she said, "We also need the squarish screwdriver set, the round clicky wrench, and th-" "Ratcheting socket wrench mistress." "uh." "And these are alan wrenches ma'am." "Ok smartass," Catnip said with irritation not afraid of Floyd overhearing her, "What's the rest of these tools then then?" Kathrine looked over the pictures. "These are channel locks, an arm puller, a socket set, a hacksaw, and a multimeter. I imagine you might want a welder or soldering iron too mistress." Kathrine began to search Catnips cluttered workshop for the tools, while Catnip just watched her with narrowed eyes, wondering how she knew all the names of her tools. Had she lied about not being able to read? Was she making fun of Catnip? That was mean, but Catnip decided that it was both fine, and unimportant. Afterwords, she decided it was a good thing the Kathrine knew all the tools, and they sat down to watch pre-recorded cartoons on one of Catnips still functional gadgets while they waited for Sir Loin to return..
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 09:37:43 pm
Sir Loin, having gotten out of the tank by now to resume helping Catnip with her idea for a jackhammer, looked over at the scene, seeing that Roxanne and Quinn were there with a stranger, approaching calmly yet cautiously. "A surprise to see another here. Do you know this one, Roxanne? Or are the the one you mentioned hearing on the radio?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 09:41:50 pm
"The name is Victor Rockwell, I heard Roxanne's radio broadcast here and took her on the offer." Victor stretched his hand to shake Quinn's, "Nice to make your acquaintance." Roxanne just looked at this exchanged uneasily, she did not know what victors intentions were but she did make that broadcast to bring people over and what her said intrigued her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 09:43:38 pm
"Hey knight!" Roxanne exclaimed as she noticed sir loin, "Yes he is...I need you with us to explain some stuff...what you have been saying...I think it happened to me as well..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 01, 2017, 09:45:48 pm
Quinn stares at the hand in front of him, grimaces, and shakes it, but his grip is tight. Too tight, he twists the hand. He has complete control of the wrist. "What do you want? Don't lie to me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 09:48:22 pm
Victor does not break his calm demeanor, having dealt with the eldritch he fears very little, "I am telling the truth, go ahead and ask your friend in the gown. I mean no trouble, I simple wish for a place to settle down in."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 09:49:50 pm
Sir Loin nodded at that. "Hmm. So I'm guessing you had a similar problem. Alright...I'm guessing either someone you know that's different from how you remember, or someone you never met that seems to know you. Problem is..."
At this point the knight regarded Roxanne warily. "You do realize that my experience with this forced the matter of some things I was reluctant to admit, but 'almost joined a unit designed for the event of martial law and got discharged for saying no' is rather mild. It's going to risk revealing things you don't want to admit to, isn't it? Catnip did refer to you as a killer. Not only have I never seen you fight, but never seen any explanation for that descriptor." he pointed out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 01, 2017, 09:51:48 pm
Quinn stares at Victor, glaring. He releases and looks at Roxanne with a similar look, "Roxanne. Talk. Don't lie to me, dammit."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 09:56:30 pm
"I'll explain it when we all get back inside the house...I guess I owe you all an explanation...might help to clear up stuff up and with both me and victor here..", Roxanne responded.
"You don't trust me?", asked Victor, Roxanne just glared at his direction, "Alright...we'll talk..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 01, 2017, 09:58:23 pm
Quinn walks back to the house, agitated. He sits at the main table, poking at a plate of food.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 10:00:32 pm
"Very well then. I'm afraid Roxanne may also need to explain something to her friend here, as I don't know how visible the effects of the spacial anomalies were on this end..." the knight answered, staying back to head inside after Roxanne and Victor, just in case.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 01, 2017, 10:08:02 pm
Kathrine searches through the pile of tools, not wanting to disappoint Catnip. She occasionally lets out a slight gasp as she pricks herself on a drilltip or some other sharp object, but otherwise remains silent. Mistress wanted it, so she's doing it. She's found the allen wrench set and the socket wrenches before Catnip calls her over to watch cartoons.
She sits next to Catnip on the floor, legs crossed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 10:13:44 pm
Roxanne, Victor and the others sit on the table. "Well, what you want to know?" Roxanne asked the group as a whole. Victor takes off his previously unseen scabbard and places it on his lap. "Thanks you for this blade once more Roxanne, a real life saver". Victor whispered over to Roxanne.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 10:29:02 pm
Sir Loin sighed at that, regarding Roxanne curiously. "Well, I suppose first, why this odd little prophecy described you as a killer that chose mercy. There's a lot of ways that could be interpreted. A hunter of great beasts, which by now all of us are. Or a convict. Or, well...I do recall that those blade CBMs picked up a bit of a bad reputation, for good reason."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 10:44:10 pm
"W- well...I was a killer for hire...I would be tasked to find and get rid of people as a day job for me... The blade was coupled with my CQB bionic to make it quick and require no skill from, the user. As for choose mercy...that might refer to Hil- Milan, He was someone how I had to 'neutralize' but spared him since I needed people in the new fallen world."
Victor listened to this leaning back with mild surprise expression. She seems to notice. "A- any thing else?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 10:48:53 pm
Sir Loin nodded at that, regarding Victor curiously. "So then. I'm assuming that your friend here was a part of this too. Here comes the part that's hard to explain. What details of that do you recall differently, Victor?" he asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 10:51:49 pm
"So far that is all accurate, I would say killer for hire is a bit harsh for her line of work. Our goal was more noble than that!", Victor explain, "Although I myself was not involved during that period of time in Roxanne's duty, I learned of her afterwards."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 11:13:08 pm
The knight nodded at that. "I see. Noble, you say? Depends on the purpose of each target, I suppose. Definitely an unconventional way to do things." he remarked.
"So you spared your mark...what happened afterwards? Did you still perform whatever else your work may entail?" he asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 11:17:53 pm
"No, after the cataclysm I simply tried to survive and pursued the arcane when I meet with catnip. All the books you have all collected revealed it all to me.", Roxanne answered.
Victor looked very confused now,"Pardon Roxanne, did you say you pursued the arcane...after the cataclysm? But I have seen your arcane exploits in action, to the point where your bionic blade became obsolete, you even provided this blade to me...I don't understand..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 11:37:21 pm
Sir Loin smiled at that. "And there's the part that's hard to explain. Roxanne may be better able to than me, but. As we met each other, we encounter numerous spacial anomalies, growing increasingly worse over time. Eventually when it reached its peak, the whole world seemed anew to us. We figured it was simply scrambled around like things appeared to be at first." the knight said.
"Until finding out, for example, that apparently I died early on when all this mess started, according to an old friend. And it seems that oddity wasn't a mere fluke."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 01, 2017, 11:39:52 pm
"Her pursuit of the arcane is a result of her work for me, the nature of which you need not know." Interjected Quinn, suddenly breaking his silence. "Roxanne seems to be sharing a great deal, but so far you've shared very little and I for one grow weary of it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 11:43:21 pm
"Anomalies you say? I was not aware about such things since I had been trapped in a ...church for a long time and only recently got out. Now that I think about it, the only reason I got it is because one day my 'captors' were nowhere to be found...that might of been a side effect to that...So you are saying this anomalies might help explain why Roxanne here can't recall memories correctly?", Victor said.
"No that's not...Knight...explain to him your hypothesis and I will fill in the blanks...This will lead to the 'shifting', it always leads to the 'shifting'...",Roxanne explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 11:45:33 pm
"Now now, you seem to grow agitated quickly.", responded Victor, "I am not hiding anything, simply ask away and I will answer to the best of my ability."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 01, 2017, 11:48:54 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Right, best to start with the complications I'm still puzzling out, and you explain the shifting." he said.
"It goes without saying I'm not dead, at least last I checked. But evidently Nathaniel seemed certain of a history I did not share in. I believe that his memories were of me, having taken a different course of action in my life. Meaning that this world is effectively different in some ways than it was become the shifting. Or that it's another realm we've been displaced into, but I'm still uncertain how either hypothesis works."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 01, 2017, 11:58:15 pm
"So...you are saying some of us are either in a different historic timelines...or we are alternate versions of ourselves? And I thought this could not get any weirder than it is...Do you know what the catalyst is?",Victor asks.
"The catalyst is something we refer to as the 'shifting'",Roxanne proceeds to explain the basics of the shifting to Victor, "We believe this event is the 'peak' of the anomalies and ti caused our mixed timelines...or whatever..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 02, 2017, 12:05:26 am
The knight let Roxanne explain further, before adding. "This leaves things unpredictable, as I don't yet now how many things from one world made it to this one, nor what all differs here."
"Now then. You've both freely admitted to being part of some hitmen organization, and your experiences with other anomalies. But what else is there, regarding what you do?" he asked, a question that he felt that both were avoiding.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 02, 2017, 12:19:05 am
"Me a hitman? No no no, you got it wrong, I was just in charge of deciphering the arcane. Wait, Roxanne, did you not tell these people about the order?", Commented Victor.
"I was meaning too", answered Roxanne sheepishly, "The thing is I am not used to actually coexisting with other people...I for the longest time I either dealt professionally with them or gave them the axe...I was not sure how they were to react but the cat is out of the bag now I guess..."
"To answer your question my armored fellow, we belong, or rather used to, belong to an occult organization dedicated to expand the knowledge of the arcane. We each had a function, Roxanne's just so happen to involve...euthanasia, but for a good cause! Knowledge should not be suppressed!", Victor told sir loin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 02, 2017, 12:25:31 am
The knight regarded that information carefully. "For the sake of knowledge then. Can see that being a good reason to do terrible things, I suppose. Not something I have much familiarity with beyond a few books scavenged along the way to meeting Catnip. I suspected that if more books of this sort existed, there had to be people behind them, but for what purposes I never guessed at. The dead rising and otherworldly monsters swarming the world tends to make such things seem less of a surprise in comparison."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 02, 2017, 11:33:55 am
Kathrine taps Catnip on the shoulder. "Mistress, where did you go?" It's vague, but it seems like she's talking about Catnip's previous 'adventures'. "I missed you. Please don't vanish again."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 02, 2017, 12:19:30 pm
Welp, I'm gonna be out for today and likely won't be able to poke my head onto discord this time. For now I'll leave the writeup of what all I've been doing in the lab.
Eventually the knight was off again, having spent the time preparing for his latest attempt at exploring the lab. By now winter was setting in, meaning the first few levels of the lab would have less warm air coming in from outside for the climate control to keep up with.
A few ideas came to mind, something he settled on after procuring more fresh game top preserve and store, to maintain their supply of food. Soon enough he had a number of simple fur garments, with a few patches left over, uncertain how sufficient it'd be.
When he ventured inside, he realized just how much colder the first level was now, feet still feeling the cold even under fur boots and two pairs of socks. Eventually some hasty modification using some remaining fur allowed him to explore the last areas of the first level he was willing to risk entering, save a few that were still warded by old turrets. Something he was reluctant to tangle with even with his full armor, when he had to leave behind several of his armor componants behind to comfortably wear the insulated outfit he made.
His excursions deeper were short, sporadic, and frantic. Even one more level down he could feel the chill in the air and in the floor despite his best efforts, clearing room by room as quickly as he could, eventually returning frostbitten with only a few other items found below. The fact he saw, for once, a handful of bionics storeage rooms, made him realize just how usefil it'd be to be able to survive in the lower levels.
Thinking about the lethally cold climate control systems in the lab as he tended to thawing fingers and toes, he pondered the idea of a portable method of contering that...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 02, 2017, 12:21:35 pm
Catnip wobbled a bit, her eyes glued to the screen. She barely registered what Katherine said, the sting of her drying eyes also barely registered. "Shh." She said, "cartoons." Kathrine liked the cartoons too, but Catnip seemed to have an almost unhealthy attachment to any kind of video on this device of hers. Once it was on anyway. Kathrine knew that catnip would keep watching until the tablet or computer or whatevers battery died. Then, Catnip would blink and rub her eyes, and then go do something else. Kathrine belayed the tap and pushed Catnip. When that didn't work, she tried to pull the blanket out from under her, but all she managed to do was scoot Catnip across the floor. It was then that Kathrine noticed the cord going from the tablet to the RV's battery bank. She grabbed the cord and yanked hard. The tablet was rigged up to the battery bank because it's own battery had gone permanently dead. The tablet flicked off with a low whine. "What Kathrine?" Catnip blinked, suddenly realizing that Kat had said something to her. "Oh. Oh yeah... I had to get parts. For the train." It was the first Kathrine had heard of this, and said so. "You don't know about the train? I thought I told you about the train? I tell everyone about the train." Catnip set aside the tablet and rubbed her eyes. Kathrine offered her a small bottle of eye drops, which Catnip took and used with thanks. She told Kathrine about the train, and then waited to see what she would think.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 02, 2017, 01:26:53 pm
Kathrine sits there patiently, carefully listening to Catnip's description of her project. As she finishes, Kath is still sat there, blankly listening despite nothing being said. It's a full minute before she speaks up. "Uhm... A train car? That sounds fun!" She seems like she's forcing a smile this time, her fangs aren't showing and she appears to have lost most of her almost-always present enthusiasm. "Where's our factory? Trains are made in fac-" Her ears twitch as she hears something in the distance. "Mister Hector is gone."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 02, 2017, 09:55:04 pm
Catnips own whiskers twitched. She agreed and wondered where he went, but went back to the matter at hand. "Don't need a factory. This place," she waved her hand at the barn interior in grandiose fashion, "is my factory. It's a bit small for what I had in mind. What would you like in your car Kathrine? Everyone gets there own private car!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 02, 2017, 10:40:14 pm
Kathrine looks confused. "I-I don't get a car. I don't need one." She shakes her head and brings her tail around so she can hug it. "It'd make it harder, and that's bad for Mistress..." She mumbles, voice muffled by her fur.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 01:21:33 pm
The knight eventually managed to do a bit more work on his selection of clothing, succeeding in a more comfortable exploration of the next level, and occasional excursions beyond. By now he was searching for something in particular, to make further exploration of the lab easier.
In his search he examined a few of the bionics that he found, rare as they seemed in this lab. Carefully he read the instructions on one of them, a simple power storage CBM that Roxanne mentioned was useful as a source of plutonium cells. Eventually he worked through the instructions for installing one of them, finding it rather simple after all Catnip explained to him.
Anything else though, he didn't want to mess with. Another search through one room soon led to finding yet another scientific journal, which as he skimmed the technical schematics gave him a spark of inspiration, as he saw a schematic for what looked like a CBM, clearly showing connectors that resembled the ones on another schematic for a UPS, and examining the page further revealed it was indeed for a unified power system CBM.
"Checking in. Currently half-mummified in moose and bear hide, so right now it feels downright hot out here." he answered over the radio, amusing given the winter weather. "Been able to get as far as four levels belowground without much trouble, and brief excursions into the fifth."
"Not many bionics down there, which is a shame since I was hoping to find one that might deal with the cold. However, one of the technical journals I found has schematics for that CBM you asked about, Roxanne. Or for the solar setup, Catnip could use this to put together a basic-model UPS if we don't have one, and could jury-rig ways to run some of the essential tools off of them."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 01:30:20 pm
"Nice going knight! At this rate you moght be able to survive a nuclear winter. Those schematics should prove useful. If we have the ingredients for the UPS bionic I am golden.",Roxanne paused for a moment, "You ever consider augmenting youself? At least to combat the cold? If so I might be able to help you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 01:40:31 pm
"Hard to get an exact idea of all the parts the bionic itself needs, but hope so." the knight answered. "And that might be useful, yes. I did examine a few of the bionics I found down there, but haven't been willing to risk initializing anyything more complex than one or two power storage units. Probably the only ones that are hard to mess up."
"Leery as I am of installing things that apparently contain plutonium cells, two should be enough for most purposes, if needed. Can save the other 3, and the 2 later-model ones, for other purposes."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 01:49:45 pm
"Aww, the knight is scared of a little radioactive metal?",Roxanne asked mockingly. "Don't be shy about installing power. By know you should of noticed an internal counter that lets you see your power bank right? That is if you didn't broke anything... Anyway, my power counter is 1500, so don't be scared to install more. That way if you install more than they will have a large power bank to use."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 02:10:31 pm
"Yeah, readout's available but currently at 0 due to not having put in any power generation. Can work on that latter. So far along the way I saw one that seemed to be a battery system and another that's ethanol-based. Neither seem ideal, as both are resources that won't be as easy to maintain." the knight answered.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 02:18:53 pm
"Well, we do have a lot of booze back at the farm but in the long run it would be hard to come by unless we find a way to make it. As for batteries they suffer they same problem, we have lots of them today but hard to find or make. I have heard there is one that lets you recharge by burning organic matter, we have lots of trees around us so that should be sustainable."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 02:21:51 pm
The knight pondered that, uncertain now. "That might work, yes. I think there are also other power methods that might be viable, if slower. I recall there should be solar and torsion based systems that'll supplement whatever ends up being the most efficient choice, as well."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 02:26:25 pm
"My power banks are charged by the torsion rachet system, it charges with my movement; it is not very fast but it is constant and unlimited. I would not recommend the solar panels as you have to be in very specific conditions to charge up and bionic power can be drained fast. Another one that might be worth while to consider as a supplement would be a one that charges you up via vehicle power. That once could allow for emergency charging while scouting."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 02:31:18 pm
"Right. I think I did see the internal furnace on one of the rooms I looked through, so that remains an option. We'll see what's available, I'm not in any hurry to fiddle with finicky surgical modules." he joked in response. "Will check in after I bring the jackhammer down to deal with the last few things I spotted worth grabbing, then can clear the rest another day"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 03, 2017, 03:49:50 pm
(this is after whatever conversation catnip and kath have)
Kathrine finished with looking over the crops, and a thought hit her. Where's the new person? She stops in-between lines of crops, keenly listening in an attempt to figure out where he is. If anyone's looking, she looks like she's trying to imitate a meerkat lookout. Hearing an unfamiliar couple of footsteps, she decides that it's him. She's grinning ear-to-ear, all of her teeth showing, as she sneaks up behind him. It has a passing resemblance to the Cheshire Cat.
"HI MISTER NATHANIEL!" She shouts, hugging him from behind.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 03:59:29 pm
Natianel was by now tending to the fields for the time being, a relief compared to the frantic scavenging of the early days he'd gotten used to, after he failed to find the cache of supplies he buried before things went nuts. Some days he envied Hector, being out in a working tank, but he didn't want to go reliving the early days of the cataclysm.
Lost in thought, he only just barely noticed movement among the crops. Actually moving aside was another matter entirely, next thing he knew was face-down in the dirt, bowled over by the catgirl. Unlike the knight who at least seemed to be knocked over by sheer surprise, knocking him over likely seemed quite trivial.
"Ack! Holy f-fuck, don't scare me like that..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 03, 2017, 04:19:02 pm
Kathrine gasps. "You said a bad word! That's naughty!" She sits up, knees on either side of him as he's lying on the floor. "Don't say those!" She crosses her arms and glares at him, frowning.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 04:21:21 pm
Natianel grumbled a bit at that, struggling to get out from underneath Kath. Barely noticeable as the attempt even was. "What'd you expect, tackling someone like that? Not as steady on my feet as I used to be, you know..." he said, trying to push himself up. "...why are you so heavy..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 03, 2017, 04:31:24 pm
Kathrine gasps again, looking genuinely offended. "I'M NOT HEAVY!" She exclaims, raising her hand as if to slap him, then just making a frustrated pseudo-growl and freezing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 04:33:16 pm
Nathaniel winced a bit at that. "Anyone is heavy when you've just been knocked over and feel like you cracked a rib..." he grumbled out. "C-could you please get off of me? This is embarrassing..."
Meanwhile, after some time the knight reported in that he was heading back, and eventually they'd hear a familar rumble of the engine, rerturning to start bringing in a few things. Sadly for anyone expecting him to be dressed up to an absurd degree, he only wound up needing a few of the regular garments he'd lined for fur, worn under the plate and mail.
He brought in a few items, among them the journal for Roxanne as well as a small pendant with a peculiar religious symbol he found in one of the lab dorms, and a well-made katana he'd found, setting it aside with the other weapons for now.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 04:39:01 pm
Roxanne came to greet the knight taking a break from radio duty. She excitedly picked up the religious pendant sir lion had brought replacing it with the wooden one she had made in the early days of the cataclysm while Victor offered to lend a hand to unload the loot from the tank. "Uhmm, knight...I think Kath and your new friend are having a bit of a ruckus over there...I would assume it is one of Kath's hug attacks again.", Roxanne told sir loin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 04:42:09 pm
The knight nodded at that, gathering a few books, several CBMs, assorted food, and a larger cache of weapons and ammo, a few to replace damaged ones he found last trip. "Uhoh...hopefully he doesn't break a rib, knowing her..." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 03, 2017, 04:53:22 pm
Kathrine harrumphs, looking away from Nathaniel. "I'm not fat... I have a fast meth-ab-ho-lic-ism!" She clearly doesn't know what word she just said. "The sciencey people told me. I need to eat a lot but I don't get fat!" She's sticking to that one comment way more than the others. She apparently cares about her appearance a lot.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 04:56:09 pm
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at that. "You're not fat, but however much you weigh is enough I can't get up with you sitting on me." he grumbled. "Could you please let me g-go...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 03, 2017, 05:02:32 pm
Kath just shakes her head. "Nuh-uh! You're gonna have to move me! Or hug me." She can be caught mumbling something under her breath, barely audible. "Meanie."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 05:04:45 pm
Nataniel winced and tries to get up, rather clearly stuck. "I can't..."
Meanwhile Sir Loin signed and made his way over to the field, facepalming at what he saw. "Having trouble there, I'm guessing?" he said, calmy moving over to...grab Kath and pick her up, rather easily in fact. "What'd we say about no knocking people over?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 05:24:12 pm
Roxanne and Victor approached the scene to talk to the knight, "We have finished moving what you asked us too, anything else we can be of service?", Victor asked. Roxanne was acting like a child with a new toy with the religious symbol she had acquired, Victor just rolled his eyes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 03, 2017, 05:28:00 pm
Kathrine squeaks, and claws at the air towards Nathaniel. "But he didn't hug me baaaaaaaaaack~" She groans, going limp. "He's a meanie. I'm not fat!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 05:34:44 pm
Sir Loin found himself cracking up a bit at that, too distracted by this absurdity to suggest anything for Victor. "Hard for him to hug back when he's facing the wrong way." he joked. "Funny, you're not fat at all, rather light in fact. Why'd he say that?"
Nataniel grumbled a bit. "Dude, even back before you started walking around in armor, you could press twice what I ever could..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 05:38:27 pm
Roxanne sizes up Nathaniel and says, "You can't even lift the catgirl and you expect us to believe you press?" "Easy there Roxanne...don't be so hasty...", Victor tells Roxanne.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 05:42:57 pm
Nataniel grumbled a bit at that. "Okay, that'd be after he started wearing armor, and I had a few scrapes here and there after things went sideways."
Sir Loin sighed at that. "I also recall the unit's fitness standards weren't very high, even relative to basic. No wonder you joined...at least, I recall even in my realm you joined without me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 03, 2017, 05:45:37 pm
"Mister Hector, what's a 'ree-alm'?" She twists around to face Sir Loin, quizzical look on her face.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 05:46:24 pm
"Well, I guess there is always augmentation for him then, that's if he can take the pain...", Roxanne smirked. "Don't mind her...she is just having a bit to much fun with this...", Victor says while elbowing Roxanne in a 'stop this right now' kind of way.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 05:49:43 pm
Nataniel huffed a bit as he got up uneasily. "That can't end well..." he grumbled, while the knight gently set Kath down, looking back to Victor. "Now, behave Kath. Should be nothing left to do now that most of the stuff is put away. Might set aside a few of the weapons and have them loaded just in case we need them, then I can repair the tank. Might've accidentally nudged a few stray wrecks aside to make future travels easier."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 05:53:07 pm
"Before I forget knight, would you be so kind to tag and tell me about any tanks you find along the way? I would like to...upgrade my APC a bit more.", Roxanne requested of Sir Loin. "Also, sorry if I was a bit too harsh to you Mr Nathaniel, I was only pulling your leg, all in good fun."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 05:58:23 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Of course. Always good to have more options for parts and supplies. As it stands, I'm increasingly leery of using the M240 since we're a bit short on both that and linkages, and diesel will be an issue eventually."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 06:02:46 pm
"Don't we have a book on diesel around here? We can read it and make it if we find the ingredients. Guess another thing to look for...Food should be covered for now 'cause farm and we have plenty of batteries for oud devices. Weapon's wise we are all capable...well almost all of us...", Roxanne looks at Nathaniel while saying the last part and winks at him. "Guess it's really up to you what you want to find from there, like that CBM journal you found, it should prove quite helpful."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 06:07:49 pm
Sir loin smiled at that. "He's still a decent hand with a pistol though. Good aim, which explains how he survived well enough during his little adventure, it seems." he remarked, while Nataniel nodded at that. "Always been better at that than hand-to-hand."
The knight then nodded at that. "An alternative would be conversion to solar power, if an effective enough engine can be found. It'd be less effective than diesel for something that large, but less than if it was an MBT. Been running it at...well, what used to 25% power to make the fuel last longer, and because it was originally lower on power."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 03, 2017, 06:27:36 pm
Kath, previously sat on the ground next to Sir Loin with her arms crossed, stands up and storms off in a seemingly random direction, at least making sure not to step on any crops.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 06:33:03 pm
"Solar power could be a good alternative but I would live a combustion engine in there just in case, if not for anything else as a backup generator. Would be worth while to loot for solar panels so we can build an array for all our vehicles and power needs in general. If we all go solar. even in tools, we would not have to worry about looting for gas.", Roxanne commented.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 06:37:13 pm
The knight nods at that. "Good as a backup, yes. I'll need to keep an eye out for solar panels then. Will be a more exposed method than fuel tanks."
He then regarded Kath curiously, before making his way over to start working on the tank for now.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 06:39:54 pm
"Someone is going to have to go after kath and seeing as how thing went last time with me and her...I don't know if I should be the one.", Roxanne said. "I could always go and see what is wrong but I am new here and doubt she trusts me...", Victor added.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 03, 2017, 07:14:13 pm
Quinn gets up and walks out of the house, he stares up at Kath on the roof of the house, cup of coffee in hand, "What are you doing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 07:16:42 pm
Sir Loin was tempted to follow Kath just in case, until he noticed Quinn leaving the house, soon enough looking up and realizing where she'd gone. "...how did I not notice that sooner."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 03, 2017, 07:17:18 pm
She turns to face away from Quinn and Sir Loin, and shrugs. "I 'unno."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 07:20:44 pm
Roxanne and Victor went inside the house to take inventory. "How did she-", Victor was about to ask while looking at Kath in the roof before being interrupted. "I'll explain later, her tail and ears should be a giveaway...be careful what you do around her since she still doesn't know you very well. She is also very against cursing...the verbal kind...", Roxanne told Victor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 03, 2017, 07:21:37 pm
Quinn blinks and finishes his coffee, he puts the mug down. He stretches and he takes a running start and jumps, grabbing the edge of the house. and clambering up on the roof. "What's the matter, Katharine?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 07:23:51 pm
The knight looked up, giving a little wave to the two, surprised at Quinn managing to jump up so easily, making his way over to the workshop area to check weapons, loading several and setting aside numerous damaged ones, examining a few books. The idea of a more reliable source of ammunition did give him ideas...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 03, 2017, 07:30:22 pm
"Nothing..." Kath grumbles, still facing away from Quinn. "Mister Nathaniel called me 'heavy' and I just wanted a hug..." She still seems genuinely bothered over this, for some reason.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 03, 2017, 07:37:27 pm
"Natheni-?" Quinn looks toward Nathen, "No wonder." He sighs, "Listen, you're not "heavy" he's just weak." Quinn sits next to Kathrine, digging out a small bag of salted fish. He pops it open and takes a piece out, he offers the open back to Kathrine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 03, 2017, 07:46:41 pm
Kathrine tries to keep up the grumpy facade, but her stomach starts grumbling as soon as she smells the fish. She takes the bag and immediately starts eating, having gotten through half of 'em before Quinn has even finished his piece. As soon as she's finished, she turns to Quinn and leans forward into a hug. "Thank you for the food Doctor Quinn!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 03, 2017, 07:53:42 pm
Quinn lets out air through his nose like a deflating balloon, letting out a light groan. He pats Kath on the back in return, clearly not knowing how to respond and isn't comfortable.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 03, 2017, 08:00:39 pm
Kathrine seems like she's going to continue the hug, but stops when she realises that A) Quinn really doesn't seem to like this, and B) She's not quite well balanced while hugging on a roof, and Quinn probably isn't as uncannily acrobatic as her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 03, 2017, 08:11:37 pm
Roxanne and Victor had just finished taking inventory when they struck up a conversation. "Oh, Victor, by the way, be on your toes.", warned Roxanne. "Why?", asked Victor. "Katherine, the catgirl, will try to hug you since she had hugged anybody else.", responded Roxanne. "That- That doesn't sound to bad compare to the stuff we have dealt with...", commented Victor. "It isn't but she does it in a... how do I put this...'predatory' manner?", commented Roxanne back. "I don't follow what you are saying...", said Victor confused. "Just be on your toes for her as she tends to tackle you for the hug.", Roxanne asserted. "You could of just said that but alright...I will be careful...for a hug...I guess...", Victor responded.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 08:17:04 pm
Hector smirked a bit as he overheard that, busy going back and forth between the main workshop and the kitchen area, at one point unannounced driving off in the tank, returning rather briefly having evidently scavenged a large amount of scrap from a wreck down the road. Evidently the knight had some sort of idea, having set aside some materials and steadily produced a few things using the forge installed in the kitchen unit. Blacksmithing tools, from the look of it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2017, 10:59:18 pm
Save is: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B41iyfVYuWa8OU1KXzI5WUYtdVU (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B41iyfVYuWa8OU1KXzI5WUYtdVU)
Remaining turn was uneventful. Learned how to make bleach and oxidizer powder. Set up a whole blacksmithing setup. Made large rifle primers after accidentally making the wrong kind twice. Further expanded the shallow pits around the fence. Scouted a mineral vein.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 04, 2017, 10:45:43 pm
A long plume of smoke is seen from the distance, Quinn looks at it from the roof. "Forest fire. See it?"
"Smoke 'em if you got em, gents! You see this? We fuckin' won!" A tall, lanky man with a british accent gestures at a burning cabin. "Onwards an' upwards, we did great." An average height but stocky man with a more posh british accent, donning military great. "Ta, we all sure fuckin' did." A man in a ski mask with a skull decal chuckles, "Hah, hah... Wh- What do we do now, new friends?" The lanky man shrugs, "We follow the road, I suppose!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 12:21:12 am
The knight regarded the smoke in the distance warily. "Not a good sign. Either lightning, or some survivor out there's having one hell of a day..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 05:29:06 am
Kathrine looks over the trees towards the column of smoke, gasping. "Forest fires killed 25 people last year! That's bad. People shouldn't start fires."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 09:58:55 am
Roxanne and Victor look at the smoke puzzled by it. "What do you make of this Victor, you think it has any meaning?", asked Roxanne. "Maybe someone is communicating via smoke signals. They might have picked up your broadcast but can't respond...", Victor responded. "Or it could be some hooligans having fun...", Roxanne added. "Talking from experience are we?", Victor asked with a brow raised. "S- shut up! I don't recall you being a reference of morality!", Roxanne told Victor in response.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 01:23:36 pm
The knight looks over to Roxanne. "Think it's worth investigating? Could drive over to see who or what caused it." he suggested. "Might need to use caution though, it could be a trap. Could be worth it to go in a group, just in case."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 01:43:24 pm
Kathrine leans backwards, rolling down the side of the roof. At the last second she grabs the gutter to right herself and lands clumsily on the ground. Steadying herself, she waves through the window at Roxy and Sir Loin. Obviously, she could hear them, as she yells "Can I come?" at them through the glass.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 01:50:45 pm
The knight blinks at that, before moving to open the door at the shouting from outside, loud enough to be heard even in there. "How'd you hear us all the way up there? It'll be dangerous you know, but...hmm. Are you good at keeping an eye out for dangerous things?" he asked, getting an idea. He was thinking about taking the tank, wanted to bring Roxanne along, but didn't trust Victor with any of the weapons installed on it...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 01:59:14 pm
Various types of gunshots, small explosions, and what vaguely sounds like music echo from a nearby small city. Quinn comments, "Someone's enjoying themselves nearby."
"Son of Rock'n roll... Son of rock and roll! Son of rock'n roll! SON OF ROCK'N ROLL! I AM A BAD MOTHERFUCKER!"
The music blares from a heavily modified police car, a group of four people yell and taunt at various zombies while shooting at them from outside of it. There's a dozen of emergency lights strapped to the top, all going off.
"'Ave it! BRING IT ON YOU ROTTEN WANKERS! HAHAHAAAAH!"
Later...
"That it? You lot call yourselves zeds? Sod off! You all are a joke!" Jimmy taunts the dead corpses, the town is quiet save for the car blaring music.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 02:06:42 pm
Kath nods eagerly, bouncing up and down. "I'm good at seeing things!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 02:10:15 pm
The knight nods at that. "Then might be good to help keep an eye on things in the commander's hatch. If we're expecting trouble, the cameras might take fire, so. Might even trust Roxanne with the turret." he suggested.
"If we run into trouble, don't use the M2 unless either we take fire, or if Rox or I say it's okay to use it..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 03:15:28 pm
Kath be like "what's an M2?" or something. 3:
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 03:18:50 pm
The knight sighs and leads the way outside to the tank, pointing at the gun mounted on the hatch. "Heavy machinegun. .50 caliber BMG. Very loud."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 03:25:33 pm
"I don't like guns. They're all loud and hurt people! Hurting people is bad."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 03:27:39 pm
The knight sighed at that. "Alright then. If any trouble happens, see that hatch there? Duck back into the tank and pull the hatch back down if anything bad happens."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 03:29:59 pm
"If ya need someone to operate the turret I can do that, I used one of these when making my way to 'nip's old place." Floyd says, walkin' by.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 03:32:53 pm
"YAAAAAAY! Mister Cowboy Floyd is coming!" She lunges forward into a hug.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 03:35:27 pm
The knight smiles a bit at that. "That'd be good. I was tempted to ask Roxanne, but I wasn't sure how well she can handle these. Hell, I' have her in the commander's hatch instead but I know Kath's going to want to go. When you're both ready then." he said, opening up the hatch in the back.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 04:28:09 pm
Floyd hops in the tank or something. Raging bull and BLR in tow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 04:34:34 pm
The knight directed Kath into the commander's seat before closing the hatch behind him, soon enough starting it up, displays turning on the show several views all around them, as the engine rumbled to life as he set off down the road. Still rather quiet for a tank, given how he'd left the engines configured.
"Alright, we're off. Sounded like our 'guests' might be closer than when we saw that smoke, possibly in the nearby peculiar town." he said over the tank's intercom system, the radios in the other seats set up for crew communication, having had to switch the radio in the commander's seat to in-crew coms instead of broadcasting to other units.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 04:40:36 pm
Floyd rubs his beard, "What do you think our 'guests' are like?" he says, reclining in the turret.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 04:43:54 pm
Kath is practically vibrating in her seat, mumbling "new people" over and over again. She's barely audible over the intercom, sounding like a low buzz.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 04:55:17 pm
Jimmy raises an eyebrow, "You gents 'ear that?" Harvey nods, "Yeah, I 'ear it too. Sounds like a tank, mate. Doubt that's what it is though." Dee-Jay snickers, "Sounds like a car, though. Might be some people!" Smithwick grimaces, "Prob'ly bandits. After our shite."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 05:01:39 pm
The knight scanned the camera displays carefully as they crossed the bridge, heading down the road into town. "They might be bandits, or they might have been caught off-guard by those things in town. Hard to tell...can try getting them on the radio." he suggested.
"Wait, commander's headset's the one set up for that. Kath, see the dials on the radio your headset's wired to? The one on the right controls channels. Turn it all the way clockwise so we can try to get the new people on the radio."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 05:07:07 pm
Kathrine does as she's told, then leans forward to speak into the microphone as a test. "HELLLLLLOOOOOOOO?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 05:08:55 pm
Harvey jumps at the police car, he walks to the car's police radio and speaks into it, "'ullo? 'oo's this?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 05:12:14 pm
"I'm Kathrine! Who're you? Can I hug you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 05:16:51 pm
"'ullo Lil' miss, I'm Harvey, a soldier. Sure y' can, lil' miss. Uhh... Where's your parents, ma'am?" Harvey asks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 05:25:13 pm
"I don't have any parents! There's two people in here with me, though. They're nice!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 05:27:46 pm
The knight nodded at that, soon moving to flick a switch on his radio. "There we go, needed the commander's radio set to transmit. Greetings. More survivors of this mess. That you clearing out the town, I'm guessing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 05:34:48 pm
"Yeah, me and three 'v my mates. Jimmy, Dee-Jay, and Smithwick. I'm Lieutenant Harvey Mcclure. Is that a bloody tank you 'ave? I can 'ear it from here." Harvey says.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 05:36:32 pm
"It's a tank! It's not that loud though, there's a gun here and it's apparently soooper loud and I don't wanna fire it 'cause I got 'dell-e-cait' ears!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 05:38:33 pm
"Where'd you get a working fu- a working tank?" Harvey asks, turning down the music.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 05:40:56 pm
The knight nodded at that. "M701A1 light tank, plus a few alterations to keep it running. Not qas loud as it'd be full throttle though." he answered.
"Several units were moving in to deal with these things earlier on, didn't go well. Wasn't in good condition when I found it, but got it running. Was trained with the old models a few years before all this mess."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 05:53:27 pm
"Well, y' sure got fuckin' lucky. All we got is a souped up police car, Jimmy fixed it up 'n souped it up 'n Dee fixed up the electrical... Ah hell, I cussed didn't I. Sorry lil' miss." Harvey says
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 05:57:59 pm
"HEY! BAD WORD! Humph!" She is audibly frustrated and you can hear shuffling over the radio as she crosses her arms and faces away from the headset. It doesn't do much to silence her voice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 06:00:25 pm
The knight facepalmed at that. "Welp, that's a fine first impression for her. Anyway, police car's likely better in the long run, better in the cities and less worrying about scavenging fuel. Coming up on the town now..." he said, turning down the road leading towards the peculiar city.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 06:03:04 pm
Harvey chuckles, "Yeah, the town should be clear for the most part. Maybe some stragglers, we're staying in one of the more intact houses." As you drive through the town, it's quiet save for some music in the distance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 06:05:12 pm
Roxanne and Victor go to man the intercom system having declined to join the tank ride. "This is Roxanne Luna testing the broadcast system, is the Tank and our...guest able to hear us?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 06:08:30 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Looks like good work here. We'd steered clear of the town for the most part, something about it looks off." he explained, carefully following the sound of music, barely audible over the engine, keeping an eye out on the cameras for any signs of movement, not wanting to accidentally roll right over anyone or any vehicles. Or drive into an ambush.
"Loud and clear on our end at least."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 06:11:00 pm
"I have a quick question, we saw a fire in the distance a some time back...by any chance would or loud 'neighbors' know anything about this?", Roxanne petitioned.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 06:16:04 pm
"Roight. That was- ah... Jimmy's work. We were kidnapped. Forced to fight other people, we won. Burned the wretched place down. I'd prefer not t' get intah further detail..." Harvey says.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 06:19:45 pm
"Oh...not my intention to instigate anything...It was just on my mind and wanted closing...Do you all have place to sleep or does the knight offered you something?", Roxanne asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 06:21:38 pm
"We've been sleeping in a police car, though we could use someplace else to sleep. Jimmy, Dee, an' I are good with our 'ands. I'm pretty 'andy if I do say so myself." Harvey brags.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 06:22:54 pm
The knight regarded that answer cautiously. "Hmm. Ever run into anything like that before?" he asked over the intercom, before setting it back to transmit. "Haven't offered yet, but...hmm. Might work out then." he remarked, soon enough pulling up just across the street from what looked like the place.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 06:27:36 pm
"Look, you can come here into a nearby farm, we are working on a couple projects you can help with. One: farming, Two: Building more Rooms and Three: Building a train...yes, you heard correctly, a trian.", Roxanne explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 06:29:03 pm
"We don't have a factory and it's dumb and I dunno how we're gonna build a train but Mistress wants to do it so I'm doing it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 06:31:13 pm
The music's volume is lowered to a much more reasonable volume, Harvey gets out of the car and gives a two fingered salute and walks towards the tank.. "Allo allo, welcome welcome. Bloody nora, ain't she a beaut." Harvey says, regarding the tank. "Ahm, 'arvey. One from the radio, the coke fiend over there is Jimmy, our dutch friend over there is Dee-Jay. The grumpy bloke in the suit is Smithwick." Dee-Jay looks up from a broken radio, and waves happily.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 06:32:58 pm
"How do you think I got this thing working without a factory?" he pointed out, before making his way out of the tank. Likely making f or an odd sight, a knight, cowboy, and catgirl maid. "Good to meet you then. I'm Hector, this is Floyd, and the young one's Kathrine."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 06:33:59 pm
"Hey, it's nice to have goal in the cataclysm.", Roxanne responde. "Also, it's not nice to talk about mistress's projects like that young lady!", Roxanne added mockingly. "So yeah, that is what we have going here...wait Kath is in the tank? Keep her away from the turrets..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 06:34:24 pm
Kathrine pops out of the hatch in order to wave. Or, at least tries to. You can see her ears poking out from the top of the tank.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 06:37:19 pm
Floyd watches from the top of the tank, he tips his hat.
Harvey snorts in amusement, "Lil' group a misfits you got 'ere, 'uh? So, you lot aren't bandits, roight?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 06:39:28 pm
The knight looked back, realizing Kath hadn't followed out of the tank, carefully poking his head back in to suggest using the hatch in the back instead.
"Wouldn't be smart coming to you if we were. Was a bit uncertain at first, especially since our 'commander' here can't even use the hatch to observe." he teased.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 06:41:23 pm
Kath, ignoring Sir Loin, struggles to climb out of the top hatch. She bounces with barely contained enthusiasm as she jumps down from the tank and full on sprints towards the gang of brits.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 06:44:59 pm
Jimmy catches sight of Kath, and screams at the top of his lungs. "JESUS FOCKING CHRIST. THE FUCK IS THAT?!"
"It's fine Jimmy, we see it too!"
"OH, OKAY!"
"New friends!" Dee says, walking towards Kath.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 06:47:08 pm
The knight sighs at that. "Easy lads, she's one of those commercial experiments. She's harmless, except for...h-ey, what'd we say about hugging strangers?" Cue a facepalm at this.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 06:48:58 pm
"Hugs!" Dee-Jay yells, fully accepting of hugs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 06:49:33 pm
Upon hearing the sugar man swear, she skids to a near stop, instead targetting Dee-Jay. She launches herself through the air, colliding with him in a hug.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 06:50:00 pm
"I hear a small ruckus and a familiar non-purr...kath is hugging again right?...", Roxanne asked over the radio.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 06:51:27 pm
"New friends!" Dee says, falling backwards while hugging Kath. "Wh- Who are you, friend?"
Harvey rubs his five-o'clock-shadow, and says "Well, gents. Looks like we're gettin' along dandy, 'uh?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 06:53:07 pm
The knight sighs at that. "Yep. At least she only scared basically everybody except one of them. Who I'm assuming is their own designated eccentric."
"That's Kathrine. Like I said, harmless. Generally. Evidently some of those labs were indulging in some weird things back before all this started."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 06:57:50 pm
"Jimmy's just on something. JIMMY ARE YOU ON SOMETHING?!"
"NO!..."
"Y- YEAH!"
"See? He's just high. The grumpy bloke's just bein' a... grump." Harvey says, rubbing his chin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 06:58:50 pm
Kath is snuggling up to Dee Jay, doing that not-purr again
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 07:13:03 pm
The knight sighed at that. "Add drugs to the growing list of things that'll be hard to scavenge for eventually." he said, annoyed yet seeming more nonplussed at the openly-coke-addled survivor that might be expected.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 07:15:03 pm
"By the way...no playing loud music in the farm on the intercom system!", Roxanne asserted pre-emptively.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 07:25:36 pm
Dee-Jay gets up, picking up Kath. He lifts up his ski-mask. Showing his face, revealing a scaled, lizard like face. "You 'n I are similar, little friend. We gotta stay together! My friends call me Dee-Jay." he says, smiling. He pulls the mask back down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 07:27:47 pm
Kath stares at Dee-Jay's face while he has his mask up, reaching out as he lowers it. "Booop." She mutters, pressing her finger against his nose.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 07:29:54 pm
The knight hmms a bit at that. "Interesting. We have another, seemed to be from a different class of laboratory that messed with her, that's the one behind Roxanne, Floyd, and I ending up helping her. Clever little woman, good with machines. Calls herself Catnip for some reason." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 07:34:19 pm
"This is Victor Rockwell taking over radio duty for Roxanne, she said she is going to the meeting on her APC to check for...'impurities'...",Victor said over radio, "ETA, 5 minutes."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 07:35:11 pm
"Alright, little friend. Get off'a me, kinda crushin' my lungs." Dee says, laughing slightly hoarsely.
"Ah, Dee-Jay wasn't a... Willing mutie. Though shite 'it the fan before they took too long. 'e's a bit self conscious about it. Was here as, you guessed it. A DJ. He's a wonder with electronics, damn good shot too. 'e 'as the marksman rifle. M14 EBR, fine piece of 'merican engineerin'." Harvey muses.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 07:40:06 pm
A loud engine noise could be heard in the distance followed by the site of Roxanne's unmodified APC. Roxanne steps out and greets the three strangers face-to-face. "I am Roxanne Luna, good to meet you, I could not make a correct assessment over radio and the tank is not my style.", Roxanne says while she sizes up the three of the strangers and chants something in latin. "I guess you all are fine among the spirits...", Roxanne adds.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 07:41:30 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Far as I'm aware of, neither of them went into it willingly, though neither's explained much of it. Regardless, no worries." he said, before regarding the radio curiously. "Alright, hopefully she'll know where to find us. Mind explaining your idea of impurities, then? Company jargon, I assume?" he answered, before shaking his head.
"Hmm. 7.62x51mm, right? I'll have to go easy on it then, ammo was running thin since the driver's hatch as an M240 installed in it." he said. "You should see some of those caseless weapons though, the stuff they put into use after my time."
"You'll have to excuse her, she has an odd...affinity for the occult."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 07:42:42 pm
Kath, satisfied with Dee-Jay, gets off him and stares over at Jimmy. Crouching down, she pounces for the hug.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 07:45:07 pm
"Woah! 'hoo's the lass with the huge knockers?!" Jimmy yells out, before getting tackled by Kath.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 07:46:43 pm
"Yeah, company jargon knight...", Victor answers uncomfortable to explain further, " I heard her AP arrive and there is no sounds of violence so it;s safe to assume everything is going well..."
"I am the odd one knight?". Roxanne said looking at sir loin with an eyebrow raised and hands crossed, "I am not the one on a perpetual renaissance fair!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 07:48:22 pm
"What did you just say!", Roxanne exclaimed looking for the culprit ignoring her comments of the knight, "Who of you three said that?!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 07:50:24 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Worth explaining later then. The better to be on guard not to encounter whatever might cause problems." he answered, before looking back to Roxanne. "And I don't go chantng at-oh merda." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 07:50:31 pm
Harvey sighs, "That was Jimmy. He's an idiot. A smart idiot, but an idiot none the less." He pinches the bridge of his nose.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 07:51:12 pm
"Boobie l- Miss Roxanne!" She quickly abandons the coke-fiend hug to hug her pillowy tits 'cause she's nice and not mean.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 07:54:12 pm
The knight chuckles a bit. "Don't mind the one that seems to be too addled to think before he speaks. At least we stopped calling you boobie lady. Er, at last I did." he said, facepalming at Kath.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 07:54:37 pm
The hug disarms Roxanne and she calms down a bit. "Calm down Roxanne...no need to spill unnecessary blood...he isn't impure...", Roxanne mumble to herself barely audible while kath hugs her, "I- its fine I guess...just refrain from making comments about my body like that...", Roxanne finally responds while she pets kath instinctively.
Roxanne glares at the knight for his comment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 08:04:56 pm
Sir Loin then blinked at noticing the earlier remark. "And the walking renaissance fair shtick has saved my hide as often as the tank has..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 08:07:18 pm
Kath's not-purr actually somehow sounds like a real purr for a short while, before going back to the weird groaning noise. "Why'd you come here, Miss Roxanne?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 08:10:05 pm
"Keep it up and see how much it protects from my blade tin man!". Roxanne said while tempted to deploy blade but rains from doing so because of Kath.
"I came here to check on our new friends Kath, don't worry about it!", Roxanne said while smiling as she had done for many business person.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 08:11:38 pm
Sir Loin shakes his head at that. "Not in front of the children, please." he remarked. "That said, sorry for disparaging your...habits. Just still cautious around things of that sort."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 08:18:54 pm
"Children? I'm not a child! I'm twenty-two!" Kathrine lets go of Roxy in order to glare at Hector.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 08:27:33 pm
"Calm down kath, there is no ne- Wait, did you say 22?!", Roxanne asked kath surprised.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 08:32:41 pm
The knight blinked at that. "Are you serious? What did I say about those commercial genetics labs...sanctus futuēns merda."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 08:34:44 pm
"Not in front of Kath! Wait, she is an adult...did you even understand that kath?", Roxanne comments not sure of what is going on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 08:39:04 pm
"Uhm... No...? Did he say a bad word? Mister Hector, you don't swear!" She looks even grumpier, tail sticking out straight behind her with her ears pinned back.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 08:41:23 pm
The knight facepalmed at that. "R-right, forget that I'm not the only one to know a few snippets of Latin. S-sorry."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 08:45:32 pm
"Abi hinc eques satanas", Roxanne tells sir loin playfully. "Kath, why are you so adamant against swearing anyway?", Roxanne asks Katherine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 08:47:41 pm
"SWEARING IS BAD! Doctor Ilyushin told me so! Why are you all so aba-ment against not swearing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 08:53:38 pm
"Non est bonum exemplum aut." he remarked, before giving a nod at that. "Regardless, you're...older than you seem."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 08:58:34 pm
"So Doctor Ilyushin told you swearing is bad...did he ever told you why?", Roxanne told Kath. "Sed sanctum ferrum est.", Roxanne told the knight.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 09:00:14 pm
The knight blinked at that. "Now the iron? Okay, enough of that, I'd say."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 09:02:51 pm
Kath shakes her head at Roxanne's question. "No. But I trust Doctor Ilyushin a lot and he's right a lot!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 09:05:50 pm
"I bet he was a very smart man, but swearing being bad is something subjective, it is neither true nor false, it is only either if person believes it to be.", Roxanne told Kath.
"Fine. You just can't keep up with your betters!", Roxanne told Sir loin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 09:07:31 pm
The knight huffed a bit at that. "I only learned a little brief bit of it back in my reanactor days. At least I retained the training better." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 09:08:03 pm
Harvey snorts in amusement, "Roight-o boys and girls, you lot can save this arguement f' later. So, are we going to this farm 'r not?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 05, 2017, 09:09:13 pm
"W-well what if I think it's bad? Then it's bad, right? I don't like people saying bad words, so don't say them please?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 09:10:46 pm
The knight sighed at that. "Regardless, we should head over there before anything crawls up after us, following all thi racket, yeah. You guys checked the basements?" he asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 05, 2017, 09:11:08 pm
"I can hardly call that an argument but sure, lets all hop in our vehicles and go to the farm. Victor is on radio control so ask him for directions. By the way, what would be your names?" Roxanne responded to Harvey.
"I will not swear kath, you have my word.", Roxanne told Kath.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 05, 2017, 09:15:39 pm
"Some of them, places like the police station and the pawn shop lead to the sewer. Which are still swarming with zeds. Weird glowing ones too, melt when they're bagged. Nothin' of note, sadly." Harvey says.
"Ahm, Lieutenant Jamison 'arvey. The one 'hoo catcalled ya is Jimmy, the one who the little one 'ugged is Dee-Jay, and the one who's STILL SULKING IN THE HOUSE LIKE AN INTROVERT is Smithwick. We'd be 'appy to join your merry lit'le crew."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 05, 2017, 09:21:03 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Can poke around in the sewers some other time and see what's left down there. I've never seen these glowing ones anywhere else, a few wandered north to the road occasionally passing by, and that's it." he said.
"When you're ready then, can mention what all we've found in the area so far as well, in case you missed any points of interest."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 06, 2017, 12:10:32 am
Jim and Harvey, the newcomers, were loading guns into carts and moving them. First, they would bring them out into the light, and then they would give them a thorough inspection. Last, they would perform any small maintenance and then sort the firearms away into an "armory." Roxanne looked to Hector and whispered, "I'm sure catnip will be fine with this when she gets back. It's not like they are taking them all away." Hector whispered back, not turning his head to her, "Aye, Miss Catnip is a rather reasonable and free sort when it comes to these kinds of things. You are probably right." It was a bright day, and Hector said so. It was as Harvey was hauling another load of guns to the "armory," that a sound came to there ears. Someone had shrieked. "What was that?" Hector asked, but Roxanne was already on the move, weaving through the cars piled up around the barn. "ROBBERS! THIEVES!" Catnip screamed. Kathrine could be seen curled up under one of Catnips tables, quietly weeping, hoping mistress wouldn't hurt her as Floyd tried to calm down a furious thing that shared the semblance of catnip, but in that moment looked nothing like her. A box of bolts bounced, thrown across the room over catnips shoulder as she dug through a pile, across the table Kathrine sheltered under and exploded. Kathrine screamed. "TOOK THEM ALL! NO FAIR TRADE! JUST TOOK THEM!" Catnip ripped down a curtain, her claws making short work of the fabric. "ROBBERS!" Roxanne quietly approached, she was good at being quiet, "Catnip, honey, calm down. It's alright." Catnip hissed and spat, more bestial than any of those gathered had ever seen her. She made a swipe at a board, her claws gouging the wood terribly. "DID YOU TAKE THEM BITCH!?" She spat. Roxanne shrugged off the insult, she'd been called much worse, but felt the vitriol full force. None had thought catnip; gentle, oblivious, Catnip, could be so... A small voice, Kathrines, said something almost imperceptible and Catnip vanished. Roxanne had no trouble following the horrifying sounds she made and Quinn had told her how to spot her when she was using her cloak. She walked towards the men sorting through the guns, they had stopped and were trying to figure out where the odd animal sounds were coming from. Roxanne saw what she was looking for, a flicker. The cloak wasn't perfect, and sometimes the filaments in it didn't line up with the light properly. "CATNIP! NO!" She sprinted and dove, landing on something soft and furry, but with limbs full of tension and muscle well refined by hours spent working with machines. The thing that looked like catnip spat and swore and thrashed and snapped with it's teeth violently, while Roxanne wrapped her arms around the cloaked figure and hauled her to her feet. "THIEVES! THIEVES!" She screeched as her cloak fell away. Kathrine grabbed it, and ran back to the barn with tears streaming down her face. "Hector! Help me goddamn your eyes!" Hector strode calmly to the thrashing Catnip, "Sorry about this m'lady." and laid a hard, gauntlet clad, fist to Catnips stomach. "Jesus Hector, did you have to hit her?" Roxanne asked, hefting the rapidly slackening Catnip onto her shoulder. "Sorry Rox, I didn't think I had time to get tranquilizer, and it didn't look like talking was gonna help." Given the evidence, Roxanne decided it would be best to agree.
When Catnip came too, there were strangers gathered around. "Ey luv, you awake?" They had something, it looked like a card board box. "Listen, we din't mean no harm. We uh..." He looked to the others for help. "We just wanted to get things all organized like." One of them looked to the cowboy leaning next to the window and looking out. He seemed to sense that look and said "lead winds gotta be maintained and looked after if it's gonna blow nip." Catnip stared at them, remembering how she got here. She was wary of them. Floyd said it was fine, that they would help, but they hadn't even said anything before moving any of it. One of them, the one holding the box, said "yeh, anyways, we've been let in on the deal. It's uh. It's only fair I guess that we should give you this stuff. Tha others say this stuff will make up for it." He overturned the box onto Catnips strawpile bed. A cascade of chocolate came pouring from that box and Catnips eyes lit up. "Guess it does. Alright boys, back to work." Catnip stopped them, not taking her eyes off the sizable pile of chocolate. "bullets in the center cabinet, explosives in the other. Don't move my tools around without putting them back after you use them. Take what you want otherwise." She very carefully opened a bag of chocolate covered coffee beans, and with none of the care she used to open the bag, over turned it straight into her mouth.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 12:20:15 am
Later on the knight was quietly tending to a few of the things that were still being organized, not feeling too good about the fiasco that ensued. Carefully putting away one of several rivtech weapons, helping the odd fellow identify and sort them. "Probably still several more in the lab a good bit east of the town we met you in. Hard to explore in depth, place is running like a freezer." he said.
Notably, having left behind his gauntlets in addition to his normal habit of leaving his helm off when on the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 12:39:37 am
"She went ballistic, 'uh? 'opefully she likes the sweets." Harvey says, looking down at a clipboard. "We got plenty of normal ammunition, no caseless. Like you said. You work in a tank, 'uh?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 12:43:47 am
Roxanne was in her room when she notices the book on the bed, 'Alpha Male Quarterly' the magazine read. "What is this doing here?", Roxanne asked to herself. "Wait...they are organizing items...they probably came here and saw this...do they think...oh god no!", Roxanne though out loud.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 12:47:02 am
The knight nodded at that. "Not like her usual self, but then again did kinda go overboard and start hauling without introducing you guys." he remarked. "So far been most effective for getting through. Before there was, well...a rather long journey, and it was the best option available. Plus fits what I know. Armor or not, I sadly can't ride a horse, so..." he said, eventually making his way back to the main building, only to facepalm at hearing Roxanne shouting something.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 12:52:22 am
Roxanne cover the magazine with a blanket as the knight enters. "Hey knight, what brings you here?", Roxanne asked nervously, "D- Did the new guys come in here already to move stuff?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 12:57:10 am
The knight nodded at that. "Just about finished up, actually. Er...you alright?" he asked, possible spotting something on the bed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 12:59:23 am
"I am a-ok! I wasn't the one punched in the gut you know...", Roxanne said trying to change the subject off her, "Sooooo...when they came here did they say anything odd?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 01:03:28 am
The knight grumbled a bit at that. "Don't remind me...and hmm? Not that I recall, other than the plus being a bit of a mess, but that's to be expected. Some items here, books there, and such. The beds here are more provisional anyway, since we don't have separate places to stay here." he remarked. "You seemed nervous though."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 01:06:56 am
"No, I am fine, why would I be nervous? Good to know they did not mention anything then...don't want to know people are talking behind my back you know? Anything else I can help you with?", Roxanne said while put up her customer service smile.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 01:11:13 am
The knight shrugged at that. "Almost afraid I was walking in on you perusing porn or something. As for that, hopefully nothing. I think the addled fellow did rambled about one of his favorite magazines being on your dresser or something, alpha semi-weekly something...I don't think I want to know what was going through his head."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 01:15:28 am
"Ha, he must be high off the ground right now. I got nothing to hide here from everyone.", Roxanne responds. The knight reminds her of the order. "Fair point this is different!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 01:18:33 am
The knight hmmed at that. "It was that magazine I thought I saw under the bed last time I left the sunglasses for you, wasn't it?" he pointed out. Was he simply playing dumb just to mess with her? Bad knight.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 01:23:14 am
"Wait you did what?! That's not mine!", Roxanne exclaimed at the knight waving her hands to cover her face. "It was there when I came and I have never seen it before why is it even there, is someone playing a prank?! Is this your doing knight or was it one of those new fuckers that just came here It was jimmy wasn't it?! That fucker!", Roxanne just spewed a continuous run-off sentence with anything that came to mind to try to make a defence.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 01:24:33 am
"OI! DON'T TALK SHITE!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 06, 2017, 01:26:09 am
"YEAH! DON'T TALK SHIT! THEY HAVE CHOCOLATE!" *from barn*
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 01:27:44 am
"But I gave you gold and silver, gold and silver!!!", Roxanne shouted back at the barn not sure what was going on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 01:29:28 am
The knight smiled at that. "Never knew that was your sort of thing, but eh. Amusing as that is, not my concern. Guessing you already hid it. Or whatever other reading material you've collected." he teased.
"Either way, not my concern, honestl-" Cue a facepalm from the shouted responses. "Oh I swear if they can hear our little conversation from here..." he grumbled. "Last thing I need is a little teasing to become a fullblown thing."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 01:33:11 am
"I ONLY VAGUELY HEARD MY NAME, I GUESSED YOU LOT WERE TALKIN' SHITE."
"WAS I RI-?" Jimmy hacks something up, "God, me fuckin' voice!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 01:34:30 am
"Wait, they all can hear this?!", Roxanne shouts completely over taken by shock. "Yes Roxanne we can hear you...keep it down...", Victor added revealing himself in the corner reading a comic book, "Keep it down". "Wait no I can explain!", Roxanne exclaims once more, "How long have you been there?!" "Not important you pervert...", Victor said joining the chorus of voices.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 01:35:56 am
"EVERYONE SHUT YER GOBS!" Harvey yells at the top of his lungs from the "armory"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 06, 2017, 01:38:21 am
*silence for a long moment* LOUD NOISES!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 01:40:54 am
The knight facepalmed at that. "...I swear, of all the times for you to be hiding in the corner." he grumbled. "Like I said, not my concern, joking aside. It wasn't like it was anything...ahem, exotic." he pointed out.
"And trust me when I say I passed over some odd things while searching that lab."
Cue a wince at all the yelling. "Why am I currently the sane one, despite being the one walking around in mail..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 01:45:35 am
"What the fuck is going on?!", Roxanne managed to say after she regained some of her composer, "Why are you in the corner?!" "This is my room too and I got used to reading on the floor after living in the cataclysm for so long...", Victor responded. "This got out of control fast...", Roxanne said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 01:45:47 am
Dee-Jay fiddles with an old stereo system, he hooks up a car battery to it and it starts to blare music.
"I'M ON A HIGH-WAY TO HELL"
"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH" Dee falls to his knees with hands over his ears, he desperately tries to turn it down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 01:49:29 am
The knight sighed at that. "You seem to have some strange company in that order. Never did answer what you mean by imp-" Cue wincing and covering his ears. "Merda."
"Why are we all yelling?" he blurted out. Though by now he was the one raising his voice thanks to that boombox.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 01:51:45 am
"I told them not to fuck with the intercom system!", Roxanne says as she rushes to the radio room to find it empty. It seem the radio system takes priority over many of her other thought. She then realizes the sound comes from outside; she opens the door to hear a blaring song coming form a stereo system and swiftly closes the door. "Nope", she said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 01:52:37 am
Dee tries to jumper cable it, but gets electrocuted. "KLOOTZAK" "HIGH-WAY TO HELL, WE'RE GOING TO A HIGH-WAY TO H-" Dee swiftly smashes his contraption with the butt of his M14, he pants and gets up from off his knees.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 01:54:08 am
The knight grumbled a bit. "Are we in need of an unfortunate accident involving a sound system and an errant 120mm shell? Like your forte, only for electronics inst-."
"Oh fucking thank god."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 01:56:27 am
"At least my intercom system is fine...don't worry...no harm will be done to you while I am still breathing...", Roxanne said to the two-way radio system she had set up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 01:57:00 am
"HUH? WAT? WAT ZEI JE?" Dee-Jay says, blinking dizzily.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 01:59:05 am
The knight facepalmed at that, before carefully going to check on the others outside. Making sure to turn the volume dial on what was left of the console all the way down, just in case.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 02:03:14 am
Dee-Jay blinks, then shakes his head. "Okay. Okay, sorry, sorry, friends. I- I don't know what happened." Dee pauses, "I swear."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 06, 2017, 06:14:23 am
If someone wanted to find her, Kathrine would be heard, but not seen, sobbing inside the barn. Catnip is presumably finding this slightly annoying, as she's been doing this for a while at this point.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 06:33:42 am
While messing with the radio Roxanne ran into an issue that required a specific tool. Last time she had checked it was in the barn. She approached the barn weary or provoking catnip's 'feral' instincts. Once inside she heard sobbing but saw no-one inside, not at first at least. After activating her night vision to see a bit clearer, she saw a 'distortion' that was too familiar to her at this point, the invisibility cloak was active.
She remember that kath had gotten the cloak while she was holding catnip down during her 'episode' and put 2 and 2 together. Roxanne approached with cation and uttered, "Hey there...what't the matter? Why are you crying sweetie? I am not going to hurt you...do you trust me?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 06, 2017, 06:43:05 am
Kathrine quietens down a bit when Roxy approaches her, but is still at least sniffling as she speaks. "Everyone was loud and yelling a-and swearing and -M-Mistress was throwing things and shouting and I don't like it when people shout and there was loud music and Mistress is mad at me a-and..." She cuts off, going back to sobbing loudly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 06:48:27 am
Roxanne knew she was partly responsible for this so she took upon herself to help kath calm down. "No, Catnip is not mad at anyone right now. She thought people were stealing from her but things were explained and she is alright. She did use a few...choice words but she didn't mean it. As for the noise, yes it got a bit rowdy didn't it...things got out of hand especially with the stereo Dee-Jay found but it was not intentional and it's quiet now. Try to cheer up ok? For Catnip? She wouldn't want to see you like this and would be very happy if you returned her cloak to her!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 06, 2017, 07:00:58 am
Kath gradually calms down as Roxanne explains it, until she's no longer audibly crying. "B-but Mister Hector hit Mistress..." She mumbles, wrapping two invisible arms around Roxanne. Her head is poking out from underneath the cloak and tears are still rolling down her face.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 07:05:51 am
"I know, I myself was shocked as well but they was no other option. Catnip was really mad and would not listen to anyone. There was no time to find anything to put her to sleep nicely without the risk of catnip hurting herself or someone else. Besides, Catnip is not mad at Hector either. Things were explained and she was given chocolate as payment and as an apology. Hector did not want to harm catnip, he hit her so she would not be hurt worse.", Roxanne explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 06, 2017, 07:10:22 am
"...Mhm." Kathrine grunts, hugging Roxy tighter. "But they didn't hug..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 07:16:50 am
"Well, catnip was hurt once before so it was probably a precaution incase she was hurt during here...'episode'. I am sure if you ask Catnip about it she would tell you it wasn't for being mean to each other. Besides, you know catnip, she was probably to busy eating chocolate to realize it!", Roxanne explained to Kath while chuckling at the last part.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 06, 2017, 07:23:19 am
Kathrine just snuggles up to Roxanne for a while, cloak still covering most of her body. When she recovers, she looks down at the rest of her body and realises that she is, in fact, invisible. Looking up at Roxanne and giving her fanged grintm, she stands up and covers her head. Time to give Victor that hug he never got.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 07:27:41 am
Roxanne recognizes that grin all too well. She is simply glad Kath is no longer sobbing and just rolls her eyes playfully in approval while smiling. "He is in the main house in my room. Get him good!", Roxanne told Katherine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 06, 2017, 07:34:01 am
Kathrine casually walks over to the main house, searching for Victor. When she finds him, she doesn't even try to do her normal pounce, just walks up behind him and wraps her arms around him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 07:38:08 am
"Well, I am guessing this is the young feline who's hugs I was warned about. To bad I can't see you to hug you back., Victor said when he felt the invisible hug. "Roxanne mad it seem this would of been much worse...she was always a weird one...", Victor thought to himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 06, 2017, 07:46:14 am
While she's hugging Victor, Kathrine's tail slips out from underneath the cloak, tip twitching around as she pulls him tighter. "I gotcha!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 12:09:05 pm
The knight meanwhile made his way back towards the barn, noticing something seemingly holding Victor, a tail seen sticking out of midair. He winced at that, since he was afraid Kath would know about what all happened earlier.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 06:04:18 pm
Roxanne decided that the rest of her place needed a rework. Now that everyone had their own place, including victor, she had the main building to herself. She built herself some bookshelves for a library next to the broadcast system, a kitchen area down from there and an altar in her room. Roxanne was very satisfied with her new layout and organization of her belonging.
Afterwards she decided to see if catnip had any more arcane books that Quinn lacked. She entered the barn but found it empty. She took out her usual payment of 5 chocolate bars, MRE’s are wondrous for that, and went inside to look for books. On her search she saw two peculiar objects that drew her attention. They were two contractions that she recognized as the thing that catnip had stuck to her when she returned and the one that had been reversed engineered from the other to help her cure it. She had not been able to examine them closely so she decide to take a look. She was shocked at what she saw. The devices had a system of drawing blood exactly as many arcane items did. This system was primitive, in arcane terms, compared to concentrated blood essence but was functional at operating arcane devices. She came to the conclusion that this had arcane properties exploited by science to achieve it’s goal. She wanted to know how this was achieved, this could really help her studies.
She picked up the up the devices and examine them. She looked at the red one labeled, ‘Organic infuser set’ and the blue one labeled ‘Organic defuser set’. She suddenly felt herself weakening and wonder what could be causing such a thing. To her horror, she saw she had accidently triggered the device and was now sucking her blood. When it entered back she felt different inside. While trying to remove it she accidently also triggered the second device and both were continuously drawing and infusing blood. By the end of it she was very weekend but managed to get them off. She felt very different when it was all said and done…she felt physically different… She scratched her head and that is when she noticed her first change…instead of hair she had…leaves…as in tree leaves… She panic and went to the nearest mirror, she saw she had changed, her skin was now pale green and here eyes were an ever shifting shade of green all the while here physique was ‘accentuated’…. She felt different inside as well, she felt stronger and more nimble, she could now see in more detail and had no trouble seeing in the dark. She was able to think more clearly and process all of this faster, she knew this was the result of the infuser sets. She then thought about how the others might react…lots of thoughts crossed her mind for a little while and she decided she had to get to her room for now and device a plan; catnip would eventually return and she did not want to be seen like this. She used her new physical ability and skills to sneak out of the barn unnoticed and go into her room, thank god victor now had his…
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 06, 2017, 06:10:18 pm
Catnip didn't like being avoided. Kathrine was hiding from her, and furthermore, she had Catnips sparkly blanket. She lowered the barns front gate and listened. Outside, the noises of the rapidly growing settlement had settled to a low murmur, while the barn ticked quietly to itself. The others had talked to Kathrine of course, and Kathrine had taken their words to heart, but the words of the heart are inexpressible in the language of the brain. At some level, Catnip knew this. Compassion would make things better by a little, but unless delivered directly from the source of ones unhappiness, wouldn't do much more. She smelled the air in the barn. As unhappy as looking in the mirror made her sometimes, she still found some of her features to be useful. In this case, a dramatically increased sense of smell. The scent came to her immediately, Kathrines soap. She was the only one who used it. Everyone else basically just rinsed off, but Kathrine took special care to use soap. It smelled of mint and ferns and flowers. She listened more closely, disregarding what she heard outside and paying attention only to the sounds of the barn. An almost imperceptible creak in the rafters towards the back. She couldn't see her, but Kathrine was up there. Somewhere. Catnip leapt quietly upwards and dug her claws into the rafter above to maintain her grip and balance. It was a little warmer up here. She started sniffing the air again, taking in great lung fulls of Kathrines smell. Catnip was aware of watchful eyes on her as she hopped from beam to beam. She was also aware of Kathrines movement, trying to stay away from her. Someone walked through the barn below, but did not notice them. Catnip was only dimly aware of their presence, and Kathrine didn't notice them at all. There came to Catnips ears a few moments later the sound of sudden movement beyond the easy hops Kathrine had been making. The cloak fell away, revealing Kathrine on the edge of a beam, arms cartwheeling as she struggled to regain her balance. The cloak had worked its brand of devilry on Kathrines dexterity. Catnip dove for Kathrine just as she fell and got a hand full of Kathrines shirt. The fabric held despite Catnips claws digging into and ripping it up. "Don't drop me mistress!" Kathrine cried. "If I drop you, you'll land on your feet though." Catnip said, seeing that with her arms length and Kathrines full height, it left the catmaids feet a mere foot or two above the floor. "Please Mistress, don't drop me. Please. I'll be good, I promise!" Catnip hauled her up and said "You weren't bad before." "Please don't be angry anymore Mistress. Please? You're always so nice, please don't be angry." Catnip looked at her for a moment, and then wrapped Kathrine in a big bear hug. "It's ok Kat. It's fine." Kathrine was crying a little again. "shush, it's all fine. I just don't like it when people take things without asking." Kathrine pushed Catnip away a little and brushed at her eyes. "But Mistress, you let everyone take things without asking." Catnip shook her head vigorously at that. "No, there is fair trade and no one takes more than they need." Catnip explained how her trade worked, and then asked "When I'm away Kat, will you look after things for me? Make sure no one takes without fair trade?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 06, 2017, 06:20:16 pm
Kathrine, still tearing up slightly, nods. "Y-es Mistress." She chokes out. "Don't yell anymore, though..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 06:45:01 pm
Dee jogs towards the farm's bulletin board, he pins up a sheet of paper onto the board.
Come to Dee-Jay's workshop if you need something to do, friends!
On the bottom is a small drawing of Dee riding a robot.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 06, 2017, 09:49:36 pm
---------------------------------------------------------------A BIT LATER--------------------------------------------------------------
Kathrine, who's still 'borrowing' the cloak, decides to scare someone with it. Maybe Mister Hector. Or... Roxanne. She settles on Roxanne, and slowly walks over to her room, hugging the cloak tight to herself. Cracking open the door a smidge, she peeks inside before giving up the stealth idea and bursting in, dropping the cloak in the meantime. "HI MISS RO-" She cuts herself off by screaming. There's no hesitation, she just opens up with an ear-splitting shriek, followed by her backpedalling into the door, accidentally pressing it shut.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 10:02:21 pm
Roxanne just looks at the screaming catgirl in front of her not sure what to do herself. What should she do? She can't approach as it might make things worse. She frantically makes hushing noises and puts her own finger pressed onto her mouth to try and make her quiet down. "Calm down, don't be load! It's me Roxanne! I am not going to hurt you!", Roxanne said trying to calm katherine down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 10:07:43 pm
Dee Jumps at the shriek. He grabs his M14 from the armory and sprints towards the house, bursting through the door. "What's wrong, little friend?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 10:09:50 pm
Hector meanwhile made his way over to Catnip's workshop, carefully nearing the door, before reaching to give it a knock. "Hey, Catnip...it's me. You alright? I'm sorry about earlier, it kinda...well, it's kinda my fault for not stopping them from moving things, without introdu-"
He was interrupted by a scream. "...what was that?" he asked, hurriedly making his way over to the main building, rather fast for someone in full mail. "Kath? Is everything alr-..R-rox...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 06, 2017, 10:11:16 pm
Kathrine is still maintaining the shriek, pointing wildly at Roxanne. She's got some lungs considering how small she is.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 10:20:19 pm
Dee's mask shows a "O.o", he heads into the room. He stares at the new roxy, his mask showing a "O.O" before turning into a "^.^", "Oh. It's just you, Roxy." Dee lets out a sigh of relief.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 10:21:35 pm
"G- guys, I can explain...", Roxanne managed to utter. Roxanne looked at everyone that had gathered, uneasiness in the air. "The organic infuser...I was inspecting it...things got out of control...lost a lot of blood...I mutated...", Roxanne was stuttering at this point, both at the situation at hand and due to the infuser and defuser taking a toll from the blood extraction. "I am still me...don't you guy trust me?", Roxanne asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 10:24:26 pm
Dee chuckles and his mask stays to a "^.^" "Hahah, no worries friend. I know it's still you!" His mask turns to a "~.^", "Still a looker though!" he says, giving a finger pistol.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 06, 2017, 10:27:27 pm
Kathrine falls to the floor, having finished screaming. She scrambles backwards until she's pressing herself against the wall, trying to get as far away from Roxy as possible. At the very least, she's stopped screaming, and that's good for everyone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 06, 2017, 10:30:03 pm
The knight regarded Roxanne curiously. "Huh. So that's the device Catnip got messed up by, isn't it?" he asked, calmly moving over to set a hand on Kath's shoulder. "It's okay Kathrine. That's Roxanne. Some things can cause that to happen to someone." he tried to explain.
"But yeah, still look fine to me. Might need to sit down, take it easy. Need me to get you a drink? Bloodloss like that can do a number on you, not to mention I have no idea what sort of side effects those devices have..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 10:36:11 pm
"Thank you both...Dee-Jay and Hector...I'm fine...", Roxanne managed to say. She was still unsure on how to deal with Katherine. "Kath, dear, it's me, Roxanne. I don't want to hurt you...", Roxanne whispered to Kath.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 11:02:12 pm
Dee holds his chin in thought, then the goggles of his mask turn to a pair of exclamation points, "Ah! Roxanne, don't worry about you situation, friend! Follow me to my workshop, I have a little job for you friend!" he walks away, then stops and turns around on his heel. He digs around in his laptop bag and digs out a guy fawkes mask and a hoodie, "If your still self conscious about the uh..." he gestures towards his face, "Being a mutie sitch." he offers the hoodie and mask to Roxanne.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 11:14:29 pm
Roxanne follows Dee-Jay now that Kath has calmed down but still refuses to speak. "That's very nice of you Dee...but I must decline...If you guys are ok with me then damn the world!", Roxanne tells Dee. "Now, what is this about a bulletin board my friend?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 11:24:05 pm
"No, nononono. Follow me to my workshop, friend!" Dee gestures for Kath to follow, he walks to his workshop. He takes a deepbreath and starts to type on a nearby laptop, "I need some stuff, broken bots. Nothing military grade, even if a chip vaguely detects someone like me hacking it's AI after it's broken down. Everything inside of it will fry. So domestic home defense and police grade only. Aaaaand. There's a transport van that crashed in a nearby city, not the one you found us in. Electronic locks. I have a solution, hold my laptop." He gives Roxy the laptop to hold, he puts up a toaster on his workbench and smashes apart a toaster. He grabs some wires and electronics and makes a hacking tool. "Take this and fuck that electronic lock's day up. Cause some chaos and smile for the eyebot's camera." his mask turns to a ~.^ and he says, "And most importantly, have some fuckin' fun. There'll be a beer waiting for ya when you get back, friend!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 06, 2017, 11:26:20 pm
"Oh- OH AND IF YOU FIND A WORKING SPORTS CAR BRING IT BACK HERE!" Dee says, "I have an idea!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 06, 2017, 11:43:45 pm
"Hmm, that is quite the list you got there but I am sure I can make time.", Roxanne responds to Dee, "I think police bots will inevitably go after me when I do some 'chaos' in the cities for loot. The transport van should be easy with your device as well and if I find a sports car I will let you know. I will be leaving Victor to man the radio so if you need me to tell me something while I am on the go just let him know and he will connect you." Roxanne looked at herself and the way she was dressed. "Ok, I can't go out like this...better get my 'scout' gear on, do a bit of work on the APC and I will be off.", Roxanne proclaimed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 07, 2017, 01:01:16 am
"Have fun friend! I'll be gutting these eyebots that been creepin' around the farm." Dee says, taking a robot that's a little bigger then his fist and placing it on his workbench. He takes a screwdriver and pries apart the outer casing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 07, 2017, 02:03:27 am
The knight nodded at that, as Roxanne made her way back out. "And do be careful, okay? Will be waiting radio contact as needed." he said, before making his way back over to the main workshop.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 07, 2017, 02:26:04 am
After a few days of no activity the radio suddenly came to life/"This is Roxanne, sorry for not reporting for so long but I have been real busy... Victor, could you put Dee-Jay on the line? Thank you. Hey Dee, I have the robotic parts you asked for, they came for me after I triggered some alarms and were easy pickings. Anyways, I am at the transport van you mentioned and managed to get inside with you tool. This is this...I need you to help victor secure a burner car so that he can come and pick up the van at my location. I don't want to leave the APC here and risk it getting stolen. Could you do that for me?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 07, 2017, 02:32:17 am
"Got it, gurlfriend. VICTOR, YOU NEED TO PICK UP A VAN. THERE'S A SHITTY DOUCHEBAG SOLAR CAR NEARBY, COME ALONG!" Dee says, getting up to show where the shitty douchebag solar car is.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 07, 2017, 02:42:00 am
"Thank you dee, I will be waiting by the van looting whatever goodies I find.", Roxanne responded. "Alright, I am on my way then.", Victor said upon hearing the new. He picked up his arcane sword and got into the car Dee-Jay told him about.
Half a day later Roxanne and Victor came back with the van. Roxanne got of her APC and moved the parts she had brought for Dee-Jay, "By the way, I have a surprise for you dee, a CMB that fits you nicely.", Roxanne told Dee-Jay as the put the parts on Dee-Jays workshop floor. She passes him the Fingertip Laser CBM.
"Here is the tool you made for the van you requested my friend, not a scratch on it or the van", Victor told Dee-Jay as he handed him his hacking tool back, "Roxanne said she would be willing to help on the installation the way Doctor Quinn helped her."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 07, 2017, 02:52:08 am
Dee's mask winks at Roxanne and he gives a finger pistol, "Nice work, m'lady. Now, lets see what's in here..." He takes the tool and puts the thin piece of ram into the ID slot and presses a button. The ID reader hisses and pops, Dee opens the doors and clambers inside, throwing out boxes "Junk. Shit. Trash. Ooooohhh... Wait- nope, Shit." he tosses out a box, "WAIT Ooooohhh... Hey, Gurlfriend! C'mere!" He says, opening up a huge box containing a robot. "Nice work, friend! You got THE goods. But is it good? I don't know, he might be eeeeviiil... Alright, how about you get us some caffeine?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 07, 2017, 03:04:40 am
"Here", Roxanne says as she throws a caffeine pills bottle, "Probably not what you meant but I always carry it with me along with some contacts in case my glasses break... But is you want coffee I can see what we have in the kitchen."
"I'll make us some coffee", Victor volunteer, " I am not really acquainted with electronics myself and as such am probably not needed. I'll be in the main kitchen."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 07, 2017, 03:16:39 am
Dee grabs a nearby handjack and hauls the robot out of the truck. His masks go to a pair of question marks when he thinks, "Well, you can go ditch the van now. Drive it into a river or something." he shrugs, "He might come back to get revenge OOOOooooOOOOooo... But yeah, I don't need the van. You ditch the van someplace while I get to work painting my new son." He says , patting the robot.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 07, 2017, 03:26:12 am
"I'll go and take care of the van, save me my coffee if victor comes before me!", Roxanne tells Dee. She gets in the van and drives it to the nearby river where it sinks like a rock. The way back is not so long so the whole ordeal take about 15 minutes. "Where where you?", Victor asked. "I was taking care of a small errand. Where is my coffee?", Roxanne responded. " "Here, I used what we had available, coffee beans and milk, hope it's to your and Dee-Jay's liking.", Victor answered while passing around the coffee he made. "Remind me to scavenge for vanilla some time soon!", Roxanne said while smirking at Victor. Victor simply rolled his eyes. "Anything else you need on my next scavenge run?", Roxanne asked Dee-Jay.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 07, 2017, 03:29:29 am
"A nasa super computer, some tactical nuclear warheads, and uhhh..." Dee's mask turns to question marks, "Some milk."
"Seriously though, I would like some more batteries."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 07, 2017, 04:43:00 am
Roxanne nodded at that request and went out do her bidding after she finished her coffee. Victor returned to his room to work on his blade. The following conversations happened with Roxanne:
Catnip: "Hey catnip, I am starting a library as a side project in the main building by the radio station and I wonder If I can take your books them for curation? You will still be able to use them on request of course! I think 26 plutonium cells and a bunch of new cbms would be a fair trade? Also, I am going to augment myself using a few of the cbms on the workshop, thanks again!"
Quinn: "Doctor Quinn, I am starting a small library and I think it would be a good idea to move the books there for easy access like we did with the weapons. Also, I am taking the cbms to the storage for the same reason, thank you for your understanding and co-operation."
Dee-Jay: "Hey there dee, I brought some more parts after disassembling some bionics for parts. I don't need this particular ones so I though you might have some use for them."
Speaker System: "This is Roxanne, I am announcing the opening of the Lunar Library! I have moved our collective books for easy access. Feel free tp take what you need and put new books you find. Once you finish using it then put it back. Thank you for your time!"
To herself after augmentation: "Holy shit I can turn invisible now!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 07, 2017, 12:10:53 pm
Welp, gonna be out again today, so assume Hector is off doing tank knight things. :V
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 07, 2017, 08:52:04 pm
Haven't checked on this for a while, didn't this start out as a succession game?
Spoiler: we made an RP canon and it got WEIRD.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 07, 2017, 11:44:06 pm
A loud roar of a V8 accompanied by a loud grinding and clicking noise occasionally, Dee drives up to the Farm in a beat up Mercedes-Benz SLS. Dee's mask shows a *.* and he blurts out, "Whaddup bitches! Look what I found!" Dee gets out of the broken ass sports car, the door gets stuck for a moment before he forces it open. He tries to close it and it won't stay close. "Yeah, yeah. I know, it could use some work."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 12:09:31 am
Roxanne leaves for the cities once more. She managed to harvest more loot including parts for her APC like a 120mm cannon she installed. One thing that caught her attention was a wedding dress and veil along with a tuxedo in a clothing store. “Maybe someone some day in the farm might get together…would be good for morale!”, Roxanne thought to herself. She pictured herself in both outfits but soon dismissed the idea seeing they were less practical than her current outfit, which was impractical already.
On her way back she entered one of the housed nearby to rest for the night when she spotted a book in the trashcan. The book was a technical log on standpipes but it had more to offer; she recognized from her talks with Quinn and Devenish as mutagen. This one described mutation that she currently possessed. This intrigued her so she took it for future analysis.
Once back on the farm Roxanne and Victor took her acquired loot and organized it; guns to the armory, books to the library, etc. She also gave Dee-Jay some robotic control unit she had harvested from a sweeper AI drone. After all was said and done, Roxanne took some of the new CBMs she brought and augmented herself once more. She ended up with a UPS module that allowed her to power compatible devices, including the laser sniper catnip had given her. She was also now able to turn invisible, this process quickly drained her of her power but now catnip wasn’t; the only one who could sneak. Next, she could now draw power from vehicles using jumper cables, this allowed for her to recharge from her APC or abandon vehicles in a pinch. Then she upgraded her bionic blade to a sword variant that was longer, now she could use the blade for quick dispatching and the sword for long engagements. Finally, she crafted some bionic armor from super alloy and installed it, now the knight wasn’t the only tin man. “Not a word knight…not a single one…”, Roxanne thought to herself preemptively.
Later on Roxanne was in the library when she saw the book she had brought back containing the particular mutagen recipes. She read through it…she could craft this… She went around the farm acquiring the necessary supplies and borrowing catnip’s infuser and defuser. Using the book in hand she was able to craft a serum of the mutagen in the book…she saw the vial and a syringe in the desk…She had come this far…it was too late to be normal again…she had to finish this… She took the serum and put it in the syringe, took the infuser and defuser and activated them to do their handy work, and with a prayer before hand injected the solution into her. She felt a pain from all the stimuli going on but oddly…it felt good… She was overwhelmed with stimuli and passed out. Roxanne woke up to the difuser and infuser in the bed having disengaged by themselves and the syringe laying next to them. The sleep and recover her from the blood loss of the machine leaving Roxanne with only hunger and thirst. She went to a mirror to look at what has happened. The process left her feeling stronger once more and she could lift more as well, her bones no longer feeling fragile. The leaves and plant-like skin were gone and in their place was her normal hair and skin but more fair than she had recalled. The last trait she noticed was her ears had become elongated to a point but this did not seem to affect her hearing. The rest of the changes were to her internal chemistry, she felt more hungry and thirsty than she normally was when sleeping and she seemed she could stretch more. Roxanne felt satisfied with her results and put on her gown. She took the infuser and defuser back to catnip and asked her with the intent to ask her to help her work on her APC and awaiting Catnip’s reaction since she had not seen Roxanne for a while, including he previous transformation into a pseudo-tree.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 08, 2017, 12:21:15 am
Catnip emerged from the shade of the barns interior, "It needs more than "some." The engine is in terrible shape, the muffler needs replacing, the springy things are obviously no good, and I can smell the fuel lines from here. Kathrine, can you get my toolbox?" Catnip put on a pair of dark sunglasses and a wide straw hat. Even so adorned, the sun was punishing to her nocturnal sensibilities. Still, she could smell potential in mechanical things. Some kind of sporty sports car with strange wing doors. She liked the profile of the thing, if she could ever get the damage out of the body work. Kathrine brought her tools, and after shooing aside the clearly proud man in the strange mask, she opened the hood and took a look. At a glance, she could tell the engine within was nearly scrap and said so. She couldn't see beyond the mask, but the image on it changed to show 'o_0'. "I have parts, I guess. It's a... side to side 8 gas punchers." The mask changed again, '?' "You mean a V8?" He asked, "V because of the configuration of the pistons, and 8 because it has 8 of them. I thought you were a master?" If catnip could blush, she would have. She didn't know how to explain how she had learned what she knew. Instead, she waved the comment aside. "The fuel thingy is broken, so is this belt." She took out a few tools and pried off the head gasket, "Two of it's... pistons? Pistons. Two of those aren't firing and this one..." A few minutes later, she'd detached the alternator and was turning a gear inside the engine by hand, and commenting that it was stripped, "This one is bent, see?" Dee did see, still impressed at the speed with which she worked her tools. "And the alternator," she examined it as best she could through the space between it and the engine, "I think it's an alternator anyway, that needs to be replaced." The mask changed again to ':S' as Dee said "Sounds like a lot of work, your making me a bit nervous here." Catnip ignored him, she was in a rythem now, when the examination was done she would start work immediately. "Looks like this electric thingy here is burnt out too, and these cables are stripped. The battery is cracked too, and these lines are leaking." She closed the hood and with impressive fluidity, slid beneath the car, a feat which would have been difficult for anyone else considering it's low wheel base. Dee barely had time to wonder at how she managed it when she came back out. "I don't know how you got it back here on a cracked wheel pole-" "axle?" "but you did, that's gonna be a major hassle. As I said, the springies are gonna need to be replaced, and it's leaking oil like the bucket Floyd uses for target practice." Dee stepped aside as she pushed past him and kicked at the tires. "Air is fine in the wheels, and it doesn't look like any of these bolt things are missing." She ran her hand over the battered body work, "It looks very nice, but..." There was a long pause, the silence of which was broken when Dee asked the ultimate question, the question that no more than two or three years ago would fill a car owner with dread wondering what it was going to cost them, "Can we fix it?"
Catnip looked at him, and then back at the car. "I think so."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 08, 2017, 12:46:03 am
Dee's mask turn to a pair of white dots, then to a pair of question marks in thought. "Lets get this into my workshop. Meet me there, my rat friend." Dee's mask turns to a ~.^ before turning to the default emotion of X.X and get gets back into the car, Driving it into his workshop.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 08, 2017, 01:13:45 am
While Dee got the car in place, Catnip went to work collecting parts she thought she would need from the junk yard. Kathrine brought out one of Catnips flatcarts when asked, Catnip gave her a pat on the head and told her she could go watch cartoons. Kathrine went back into the barn, in wonder that Catnip still hadn't figured out that Kathrine didn't really care much for cartoons. She wasn't going to question Mistress though.
A lot of good parts in the yard. It was good to be taking a break from figuring out the train project for once. She couldn't do just that one thing all the time after all. She examined the engine on a saucy little red sports car with a kitten decal in the back window and decided it wasn't suitable. She slid under a blue two door and examined it carefully. The engine might have suitable parts. Maybe. But this... axle, Dee had called it an axle, would be perfect. It was the right length anyway. The rims were similar too, maybe Dee would want to change the rims out at some point. She would ask. "Are you all right Catnip?" She jumped, smacking her muzzle into the underside of the car. It was Roxanne, but how had Catnip not felt her? Her whiskers twitched, nothing. She couldn't feel a thing. She couldn't smell a thing. Either Catnip was getting sick, or booby lady had been practicing her sneaking around. She crawled out from under the car, and was floored. "Wha... Roxy?" It was her for sure, now that she wasn't under the car she could smell that faint smell of Roxanne, but her features had smoothed a great deal and not a single one of her physical flaws remained. Likewise, someone had done something to her. Portions of her exposed skin now shone with a metallic luster, and occasionally Catnips sharp ears picked up a low click or whir from somewhere inside the woman. "What's wrong Catnip?" Catnip skirted around the edge of the car, her fur standing on end along her spine. Catnip was flooded suddenly with her distrust of certain kinds of robots, and the unexpected changes in Roxanne. "You don't like it do you?" Asked Roxanne, a bit sullen, a bit put off. If this was how Catnip responded, how would Kathrine respond? How about the others. Maybe they would be more positive though, the rest of them were more mature by a long shot. "What did you do?" Asked catnip warily. "Roxanne placed the strange mechanical spiders on the hood of the blue car. "I borrowed these, you can have them back now, I don't need them anymore." Catnip scooped them up and tossed them carelessly onto her cart, then turned and still looking with distrust at Roxanne, pushed it back to the barn. Roxanne knew what distrust looked like, but she fancied she could see a spark of jealousy and discomfort as well.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 01:49:04 am
"I also came to give you more of these". Roxanne said breaking the silence while putting 5 plutonium cells on the car, "I have been getting lots of these recently and have no real use for them. I have placed them where you keep the rest in exchange for CMBs and your infusers..." Roxanne put her arms behind her and looked away and down before looking back and saying the following, "This ones are for a favor I want to ask you... I brought back a few parts for my APC and I would like you to help me modify it with them later on. I installed a tank cannon on it and that was really difficult for me; and you being the resident mechanic I thought I might as well ask. What do you say?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 02:08:32 am
Hector eventually poked his head into the workshop. "Someone mention a tank cannon?"
Pbbbt, still never reached the level where I can install the damn things. :V
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 08:37:39 am
Sharlene sits up on the table, reading through the note left behind by the previous group of 'scientists' once more. She knew that they never would've made it to that refugee centre, but it did seem like there were survivors over there, as the plume of smoke from a couple days ago could attest. Groaning, she poked Lilith with her foot to wake up the sleeping tiger-lady. She's greeted with a low warning growl, intended as a warning. "Sure, whatever. Get up, idiot, we're leaving. You know the drill." Sharlene whistles, then gets up and snatches an ID card off of one of the dead bodies. They were starting to stink, anyway. Slipping the ID into the console, the doors slide open in front of the pair, eliciting a surprised gasp from Lilith. "It's a door. You've seen it before." Sharlene mumbles, pointing at the outside console and bringing her thumb across her neck, the sign that Lilith knew as 'kill'. The door makes a whirring noise, slamming closed and then loosely sliding open once more as the safety measures kick in.
Luckily, the humvee still worked. The old gal hadn't given up yet, despite running over anything from regular old shamblers to those biker maniacs. The front grille was starting to hang off, though, that'd have to be fixed eventually. As she was checking their fuel and making sure the engine wouldn't implode, Lilith was trying to hook one 'finger' under the handle to pull the door open, to no avail. Chuckling, Sharlene climbs over the storage space in the middle to push it open for her, letting Lilith hop inside and slamming it behind her.
It's about an hour of straight driving down the road going east before they come across a roadblock, a series of cars and pileups heading into the next city. Sighing, she puts the humvee into reverse and starts turning around, before noticing a path through the forest, covered up with shrubs and overgrown roots. "Lil-" She looks over to the passenger seat, only to see nothing. Lilith is already out of the vehicle, perched on top of one of the RV's in the pileup like a meerkat on watch and sniffing the air. "LILITH! GET BACK IN THE FUCKING CAR!" She yells, turning off the engine and stepping out of the humvee. Seeing that she got no response, she takes a single, deliberate step forward. "LILITH! GET BACK HERE!" That got a response. The giant tiger woman visibly flinched, dropping back down onto all fours and jumping down onto the mangled hood of a security van, dejectedly slinking back to the humvee.
They drive down the dirt road for a good fifteen minutes before the first obstacle, which is the rest of the forest. The path abruptly cuts off, with no obvious paths through it. Sharlene groans and leans forwards, resting her head against the steering wheel. Grabbing the map from the central storage space, she unfolds it. Tracing down the roads until she finds roughly the blacked-out spot where the bio-lab is, she tries to find where they are and if the centre is in walking dist- *Smash* "LEMME IN! OPEN UP! OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR, BITCH!" A man wearing full dirtbike armour slams himself against the Humvee window, screaming. Sharlene jumps back, grasping for the seat belt release as she scrambles across the gearbox. Lilith, meanwhile, jumps across the aisle and throws herself against the door, pressing her entire weight against it. With the addition of a mechanical *psssssht*, the door starts buckling, bending outwards until it pops off with a horrific screech. The man jumps back, but not fast enough to avoid the door. "WHAT THE FUCK IS TH- AAAUGH!" He cries out in pain as his leg snaps in half from the combined force of the door and a door-surfing Lilith. Sharlene climbs over the rear seat and into the boot to grab her rebar katars, but by the time she's gotten out, Lilith has already punched his head in, and is now roaring at his limp body. "Jesus Christ, the hell did he come fr-" She clears her throat and straightens up. "Thank you, Lilith." She says, voice still shaking. She gently moves the agitated mutant off of the door and checks the slave fighter's corpse. He had some nice arm and leg guards, and even had a nice jacket, which she liberates from him. "C'mere, girl. I got some goodies for you."
With Lilith now outfitted with some protection beyond a bike racing suit, and Sharlene wearing something other than a bra on her upper body, they set off for a path through the woods, towards a small town with a mall. As they arrive, the first thing that gets noticed is the severe lack of shamblers, save for a few bodies lying around. Lilith tenses up, smelling something. A gunshot alerts them to the presence of another person. "HEY! BACK UP!" They yell from behind the pair. Lilith, of course, doesn't listen, spinning around with a snarl on her muzzle. "Lady, you better get your... Pet under control." Sharlene places one hand on Lilith's head, keeping the other in the air. "Calm it, Lilith. Stand up." She commands quietly, and Lilith complies, rising to her full height of seven feet tall. The prepper's gun drops as he stands there, scared shitless. "W-what the fuck is that? Yo, get that thing away from me!" He yells, falling flat on his arse and scooting back a bit. Sensing weakness, Lilith drops back onto her paws, and bounds over towards the downed Prepper. There's a scream from both him and Sharlene as she pounces on the man, lips curled back into a snarl. Grabbing her tazer, she runs after the predatory bio-weapon, digging the stick into her side and switching it on, her momentum being enough to knock Lilith into the air.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 09:22:46 am
-------------A WEE BIT LATER IN LIKE THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT-------------
Lilith, who had been sleeping, curled up, at the foot of the bed, awakens. She quietly looks over at the sleeping two, and slinks out of the room. The door she had busted down in order to get into the house in the first place had been moved to the side, with the wooden splinters still embedded in the wall. She was heading south, following the smell she had picked up on earlier in the day. To be honest, she had heard Mohammed before she had smelt him, but the smell of a group was prominent in the air, along with the notable smell of... A cub. Kathrine shakes herself awake. The gunshot from earlier had kept her thinking about another person being nearby, and she couldn't stop thinking about meeting possible new people. She's sat on the railing of the bridge, swinging her legs. Of course, nobody knew she was out here. She could be very quiet when she wanted to. A shifting noise from the river bank went unnoticed as she day(night?)dreamed about what kind of person she could meet. She hoped they'd be nice. Hugs were good. She liked giving hugs, and sometimes people repaid her with food! There's another noise, a sort of slow, repetitive padding from the start of the bridge to her right. This, she heard. "H-Hello?" She whispered. She suddenly wasn't too sure about meeting the new person. What if the gunshot was bad? Kathrine grabbed the SKS that she had left leaning against the side of the bridge from when she first arrived at the farm, and met her mistress. The figure had moved, and that meant that it was aware of Lilith's presence to some extent. She tensed up, muscles bunched beneath skin and fur straining against the surface. She let out a low growl, and the figure fell backwards off the railing, scrambling to it's feet with a squeak. Lilith took the opportunity presented by them being down, and bounded towards them. The growl had frightened Kathrine. The tiger now running at her, even more so. She brought the SKS up, one hand gripping the stock, the other on the barrel, and held it in front of her in an attempt to block the pounce. After Kath lets out an ear-piercing scream, the tiger jumps on her, opening it's mouth to try and bite a chunk out of her neck, and catches the body of the SKS across it's saber teeth.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 09:49:35 am
Roxanne was working on her clothing, trying out various outfits what would suit her when scouting. She had settled for a typical business attire, tie and all, with a peacoat to top it off. She suddenly heard a scream near by, not just any scream, this scream she could recognized beyond any doubt, she had heard it before when she first mutated, "Katherine!" Roxanne jumped out of her bed and raced towards the source of the sound aided by bionic induced adrenaline. She had neglected her sniper rifle in her haste but that did not matter. The scene before her once she reached the bridge shocked her but this type of interaction was something she was accustomed from years of experience; a simple hostage situation never got in the way of the bionic assassin on her days in the order and she would be damned if it would stop her here.
"Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size!", Roxanne shouted at the beast that threaten Kath. The figure got up from Katherine and prepared to pounce at Roxanne, mechanical sounds now audible with its every movement. It let out a heavy roar, like that of a tiger. Roxanne sized up her opponent, obviously mutant given her cat like appearance that became evident when it stood up, approximately 7 feet tall and augmented from the sound of it, this could be bad news. Before the cat mutant in front of her had a chance to charge Roxanne discharged a blast of chain lightning into the sky as a warning shot. The mutant winced at this, not so much afraid but showing negative experience with it. Roxanne assumed it would be from the augmented zombies that roamed the cities. Katherine still laid under her opponent under one of her front hands, paws? She wasn't sure. This meant a shot from the chain lighting would hurt kath as well. The mutant got up from her position after recovering from the awe of lighting coming off from Roxanne. Roxanne in turn deployed her monomolecular sword which crackled with electricity, activated her CQB bionic to Bionic Combatives, release more adrenaline into her system and prayed her armor would hold up. With Roxanne in a fighting stance, the mutant sizing her up and kath on the ground nothing was certain.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 08, 2017, 11:09:30 am
Roxanne got her chance sooner than she expected. Something unseen came on, hissing and spitting. Catnip for sure. To the invisible catnip, the thing pinning Kathrine down looked much like one of the ogre things from one of the fantasy books Roxanne had tried to teach her how to read with. It smelled and heard her coming, but seemed confused that it couldn't see her. It believed the strike of the cubs rifle butt had disoriented it for a moment, but it knew the smell of rat though, she just needed a moment to clear her head and then she would take care of the cub, and the electric thing, and then find the rat. This was the rudimentary plan it laid out. She intended to follow it too, until something she couldn't see bit her, hard.
Catnip sank her teeth up to the gums into the restraining arm and there came a sudden but brief spurt of blood, like it's body could stop bleeding by sheer force of muscle. The muscles under that skin were like iron, so instead of biting again, or possibly breaking the sword she didn't know how to use against the beasts mighty thews, she opted for a stratagem she was more familiar with. First though, she had to get it to release Kathrine. She sank her claws in next, to little effect except to scrape deceptively soft fur away from it's thick hide. Roxanne was coming on now, had to be quick. She twisted her neck, trying to rend ligaments with her teeth, but only causing pain to the beast. Good enough. She felt the muscles momentarily slacken and then bulge as it prepared to make a swipe for the unseen biter. Catnip released the grip of her jaws, and as the predicted swipe came, she dove under it, wrapped Kathrine in the safety of her cloak, and hauled her to relative safety under cover of the cloaks bizarre properties. Twice, Catnip had to make a sudden change of direction. The beast was tracking her, but was also attempting to fend off the assault from Roxanne. The thing was single minded, to be sure. At the moment when Catnip thought she would have to make another sudden move, Roxanne fired off another charge of electricity, absorbing all of it's attention. When she was sure Kathrine was out of harms way for the time being, she wrapped the cloak around her and told her "Go in the big RV, stay there, don't take off the blanket." With that, she went into her room and then came back out with a strange yellowish disk clutched in her hands. Kathrine had been told that this disk let Catnip start big fires just by thinking, and that it sometimes picked her up and set her down in other places nearby. The disk exhibited this second property by suddenly moving Catnip six feet to the right, and then three feet back to the left as she sprinted for the barns back door, staggering a little at the sudden change of location. Kathrine hoped that Roxanne, and Catnips disk, would be enough. If not though... Kathrine fingered the keys to the RV, still left in the ignition along with all the other keys her mistress had collected...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 11:59:18 am
Now with Kath out of the way Roxanne charges towards the mutant. She swings her sword but her opponent proves to have a quick reaction time. In turn she is struck by the mutant’s massive claws but block with her armor due to momentum. This goes on for a few seconds, just blocking and dodging each other’s blows. Roxanne can feel the strength behind the towering mutant so she devices a plan. She retracts here sword and deactivates her CQB bionic and in turn activates her blade to use with regular brawling. Next she activates her cloaking system and turns invisible. “Come and find me kitty!”, Roxanne tells the mutant. She knows this will drains all of her power soon so she must land a strike to shock the mutant since her chain lighting may damage her due to the fast moving opponent.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 12:13:49 pm
The knight had evidently slept through the gunshot others heard earlier, but the scream was more than enough to wake him up. He scrambled out of bed, used to months of sleeping with sword and shield close by, but the relative safety of the farm left him out of his old habit of sleeping with his armor on, tolerating the discomfort it'd bring.
In a moment he saw the scene before him, a distinct disturbance in the air flickering away and Kathrine fleeing, with a massive feline form being the cause of that. He raised his shield, not confident in its ability to fend something that large off, but he had the slight advantage of being quicker on his feet, unburdened by armor that'd do little against something that massive. And Roxanne seeming to harry the beast with quick, agile blows.
"Alright, you...what purpose do you attack us for? We mean you no harm, if you just stand down, and don't hurt anyone else." he said, firmly yet calmly. He feared it'd be just like trying to talk down the cybernetic monsters he encountered in the lab, but he had to try.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 08, 2017, 12:29:11 pm
Catnip flickered again. Annoying at best, aggravating at worst. She had a feeling that setting it on fire, especially with Roxanne so close, would be a terrible idea. What to do, what to do. The monster was quicker and more lithe than she at first believed. She couldn't get too close, and certainly not now that she had left her special blanket with Kathrine. Roxanne flickered out of sight in that moment. Over the last day, Catnip had locked herself in her room, refusing to answer even to Kathrine. She stared into her full length mirror and thought, "Why does Roxanne get to be pretty? Why did I have to be made ugly by the spiders? She didn't give a thought to what Dervish had told her. What he'd had to say was kids stuff. Things she'd already figured out herself. She wasn't dumb. She was just... A rat." She'd felt nothing but jealous. She didn't care one way or the other about the mechanical stuff, except that it made Roxanne more like a robot, and Catnip just didn't trust robots. It was that she and Roxanne had gotten very different results from the thing Catnip had found sealed up in a concrete tomb with a horde of lethal guardians. The spidery thing had nearly killed her, along with her wounds. It had made Roxanne painfully wonderful to look at. At this moment though, Catnip wasn't jealous. Only worried. Worried that the beast would sniff Roxanne out, worried that it would get a lucky shot at her, and worried that it would come in this direction. She looked down at the disc, and once again flickered. It put her frighteningly close to the barbed wire fence. It was then that she noticed Sir Loin approaching, his arms outspread in that "hey, lets talk about it" way he often effected when trouble he wasn't sure of came along. It was a tactic that worked on bandits, sometimes, but would it work on that thing? Catnip decided it probably wouldn't and made for Sir Loin. As she got closer, she realized he wasn't even wearing his armor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 08, 2017, 01:08:36 pm
A small electronic motor is heard, a robot that's around the size of a teenager drives up. It's display showing a ":?" before noticing the huge ass tiger lady, the display shows a "!-!" Before doing a 180° turn and driving back. Dee comes back with a mossberg 500, and a fistfull of beanbag shells. His mask shows a "O.o" and alternating before it turns to a pair of exclamation points. He waits for shit to go south before he fires.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 01:49:22 pm
Lilith was frustrated. The rat had let the cub get away, the shiny one had gone missing but kept hitting her, and now there was a funny-looking lizard with a silly gun. With a soft *psssssht*, she visibly gets bigger, letting out a snarl that's audible back at the farm. She sets her sights on the loud, metal one, who was mostly making an easy target of himself. She drops down, and sets off towards Sir Loin, barrelling over Catnip in the process and nearly knocking the invisible Roxanne over. Just as she readies to pounce, Dee fires a beanbag directly into her ribs, knocking her off-course. Hector, still bracing his shield, quickly backs up, still trying to calm the bio-weapon down. Sharlene jerks awake. "Hey, Mohammed, you hear that?" She asks, looking over at the prepper sleeping on the floor next to her bed. "Hmmmm? Hear what?" He replies, rubbing his eyes. "That scre- Where's Lilith? SHIT!" Grabbing her jacket, she jumps out of bed. "LILITH'S MISSING!" She screams at him, doubling back from the door in order to grab her tazer. "So? Fuck her, dumbass shou-" He's stopped by a glare from Sharlene, who wastes no time in running in the direction of the screaming and roaring. Lilith stands up straight again, glaring at Dee-Jay and snarling. Anyone that's paying attention to things other than Lilith would notice heavy footsteps coming up behind them, from the direction of the swamp at the end of the bridge. There's a grunt as the owner of said footsteps almost trips over the prone Catnip, and then elbows past the retreating Sir Loin, launching herself at Lilith as a buzzing fills the air. Lilith yelps as Sharlene digs the tazer into her neck, wrapping her other arm around Lilith's neck as she does so. "YOU FUCKING STUPID-" She moves the tazer away from Lilith's neck, and then jabs it into her ribs, not letting the mutant get used to the pain. "-DUMB-" She jabs the tazer directly into Lilith's chest. "-IDIOT!"
Lilith collapses to the ground, unconscious and Sharlene rolls off of her, gasping for breath. "Dumbass... Fucking... Urgh. Is everyone... Is everyone alright? Anyone dead?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 08, 2017, 01:55:10 pm
Dee's mask turns to a "..." before turning back the other newcomer, mask showing a "^.^"Yeah, everyone's fine. Not sure about the little one doe."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 01:56:41 pm
The knight rather hurriedly moved away from the bio-weapon, sword drawn as he figured out that talking some sense into her wasn't going to work. A bang, loud yet sounding low-powered for a shotgun shell, gave him a moment's opportunity to get clear of the now-stunned feline. A quick movement of the hands, carefully holding the blade by the flat, and he'd retaliate with a pommel across the snout, to further stun her before he backed away to widen the gap between them.
What he wasn't expecting was someone running in from out of nowhere, barreling right past him just as he'd gotten a bit of distance from her, only to subdue the feline, taser in hand. "...holy shit."
"we should check on Kathrine, this one got to her first..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 02:00:02 pm
Just when the mutant is brought down Roxanne runs out of power rendering her visible once more. She is still in dismay at the scene that just unfolded. An augmented mutant showed up attacking katherine, the combined forces of the farm's inhabitants merely annoyed said mutant but a girl just brought it down with a tackle and a taser. "Who are you people?", Roxanne uttered at the woman who just appeared, "What do you want from us?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 02:14:43 pm
"Little o- Kathrine? Shit, Lilith get someone? I have meds, I can make up for it." Sharlene coughs, getting up onto her feet. "Shit, I'm sorry dude." "Who are you people? What do you want from us?" "I'm- uh... I'm Sharlene. That fucker there-" She gestures towards the knocked-the-fuck-out Lilith with her taser hand. "Is Lilith. She's a Bio-Weapon, supposed to be 'The Huntress' or some shit, I never paid attention to the names. She ran off while me and the fuckin' prophet Mohammed were setting up in a house a bit further north. I don't want nothin', just lookin' for this idiot." She gently kicks the already stirring Lilith in the spine. "I can try and repay you for this whole thing, if you like."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 08, 2017, 02:18:08 pm
"You got energy drinks? Caffinated soda? Coffee?" Dee queries, mask turning to a pair of question marks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 02:20:45 pm
The knight carefully sheathed his sword, regarding Lilith. "You sure you have her under control for the moment, then?" he said, digging through to get a few bandages and other first aid supplies. "Kath managed to get away, so she can't have been too badly injured, but going to check on her just in case." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 02:22:09 pm
"Some medicine for the wounds of Katherine would be nice, she is a cat mutant like your...friend there. Just a lot smaller...and less...'weaponized'...", Roxanne told Sharlene. Roxanne retracted her blade and started to stationary-run to recharge her power supply a bit more.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 02:36:25 pm
Lilith emits a snorting noise as Sharlene reaches for the bag that's strapped to her back. "Shut up, ya big softie." She mumbles, moving the bio-weapon's arms up so she can remove the satchel. "Riiiight, she has... Shit, we offloaded all our shit at the house. She just has some alcohol and... This, whatever it is." She places the bottles of gin and triple-sec on the ground next to her, and pulls out a syringe gun marked 'RX12' "Would this thing work? Says it's fast-acting healing chemicals?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 02:42:21 pm
Roxanne finishes her exercise when she has enough power to be satisfied. "Yes, that would work very well actually!", Roxanne exclaimed as she took the injector. "Uhm...any idea why your friend her would come after us?". Roxanne asks. Then it hits her...the adrenaline come down hits her hard! Roxanne is now visibly weak and uncomfortable.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 02:46:30 pm
The knight meanwhile was already making his way into the barn, following his best guess as to where Kath ran off to. "Kathrine? You alright? The one that attacked you is subdued now..." he said, likely finding her curled up in the corner. He'd kneel nearby, producing several rolls of bandages a few half-empty plastic containers, that contained more gauze, disinfectant, and rather meager painkillers, in order to treat any injuries as best as he could. Better than nothing at least.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 02:56:54 pm
There's a long, rumbling growl as Lilith fully comes to. She climbs to her paws, knocking over the bottles of alcohol in the process. She takes a step towards Roxanne before Sharlene places a hand on her neck, grabbing a handful of fur and stopping Lilith dead in her tracks. "Lilith, bad. Sit down, girl. So, th-" She cuts off, seeing how bad Roxy looks. "Shit, you okay? Look, I dunno why she'd come over here. You got any like, children here or somethin'?" Kathrine is curled up against the far back wall of the barn. She looks like she's been crying, but is currently just sat there, staring off into space. She limply lets Hector put band-aids and such over her scrapes and bruises. She has one, long-ish slice going down her forearm, but it doesn't look deep enough to scar.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 08, 2017, 03:01:59 pm
"I was serious about the energy drinks, by the way. We uh, have sort of a child? She's like 20 though." Dee says, mask turning to a pair of asterisks
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 03:05:55 pm
"I am fine...just have to rest for a bit that's all...", Roxanne responds while sitting down, "Well,like or friend here said. the cat mutant I mentioned, katherine, she is biologically engineered to be a teenager from what I have gathered, but her actual age is 22... Does that count?" Roxanne looks at the RX12 injector she was given. "I should probably go and use this on her now, are you sticking around?", Roxanne asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 03:08:36 pm
The knight carefully bandaged up that cut along her arm, before giving her a pat. "It's okay now. Someone else came along to help, it seems. Her...handler, I'm guessing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 03:14:22 pm
"Biologicall eng- Okay sure yeah, whatever. Probs thought she was a cub or somethin'. As for the drinks, that's all we got. Soz bud." Lilith, who seems perfectly fine sat on her arse like a dog, nods. Kathrine barely reacts to the pat, still staring off into space with her tail curled around her. "Hector, why was she so mean?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 03:20:16 pm
The knight shakes his head at that, having barely heard her. "I'm not sure. Some experiments don't play nice. There was one we encountered before we met you, that very badly hurt Catnip. A lot bigger and scarier than that one, with a big gun for an arm. He didn't have anyone to make him calm down. Likely killed whoever would've tried..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 03:23:54 pm
"Damn it, where is victor when you need him... he usually has remedies for this kind of shit...", Roxanne said with her persona slipping, "I am off to give this our cat girl. Nice meeting you? If you need anything we are here I supposed...just keep your pe- Lilith under control ok?" And with that Roxanne goes back to the farm, albeit slowly from her current condition. She eventually reached the RV where Katherine and Hector were at. "I brought some medicine Kath...should make you feel better...you ok?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 08, 2017, 03:40:48 pm
"Whelp." Dee snatches up one of the bottles of triple-sec and walks off, Dee's mask turns to a "~.^" when he turns back "See you around, friend!" He heads back to his workshop.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 03:44:58 pm
"Nice seein' ya. Be safe now!" Sharlene waves Roxanne and Dee-Jay off, then turns to the rat mutant. Kathrine's tail twitches as 'experiments' are mentioned, but there's otherwise no reaction from her, even as Roxanne enters and asks how she is.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 03:47:58 pm
The knight nodded at that, looking back to Roxanne. "Here, she's a bit scratched up but not too bad a condition, almost like our...interloper wasn't deliberately trying to hurt her. Just in case, it might help if there's any fractures or sprains, since all I could treat was surface injuries."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 03:57:34 pm
"Ok kath, this my hurt a little but it will make you feel real good afterwards. This will treat any injuries we can't see, don't be scared ok?", Roxanne said as she injected Katherine with the RX12. Kath winced a bit but was otherwise silent. After it was said and done Roxanne looked at the injector, it still had a charge left. "Fuck it", Roxanne thought to herself and injected the other vial onto herself. It hurt less than she would imagine and her wounds, including her adrenaline comedown, were gone. "That was quite the night huh?", Roxanne asked trying to lift the mood.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 04:07:05 pm
Kathrine shakes, face scrunching up. She looks up at Roxy, tears welling in her eyes once more. "Why was she so mean?" She chokes out, ears flattened back.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 04:10:18 pm
The knight stepped aside, regarding the vial of material curiously. "You recall how some of those beings, the revenents, attack the living? And how that robot you mentioned, with the laser...how it was scary? Those were just mindless monsters in the first case, mere programming for the second. But some people can cause harm, intentionally or not. Mutated or otherwise."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 04:13:30 pm
Katherine had gone through a lot recently and Roxanne knew it, this was but another incident where kath was slowly losing her innocence, if it existed in the first place. "Well kath,she did not seem to understand how things work.", Roxanne attempted to answered the question. "She had the opportunity do you real harm but choose not to. She was mean yes, but she probably did not mean to. Sometimes people do mean things for the good of others and that accompany her said she might have saw you as a cub needing protection. She pinned you down to carry you away and attacked us when we intervene, That is what I believe. Some people don't know when they are being mean so it is important to not let it get to us, do you understand?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 04:21:13 pm
Kathrine shakes her head, the tip of her tail flicking around. "People that hurt people aren't nice. Hurting people is bad. People that hurt other people are badder." She sounds very sure about herself. It seems like this is something Ilyushin taught her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 04:26:34 pm
The knight nodded at that. "I don't think she meant to harm you though. Us, however...definitely, for getting in her way and stopping her from doing whatever she intended with you. But that was for valid reason to, if misguided." he explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 04:36:32 pm
"They may not be nice but they do what they do for what they believe if right. Sometimes that requires sacrifice. Not every choice in life is easy and being mean may be something that has to be done... We are only human after all...", Roxanne tells Kath.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 04:45:28 pm
Kathrine's tears are flowing by now. "B-but I'm not! I'M NOT HUMAN!" She blubbers, her tail dragging itself through the dust on the floor. She grabs it and hugs it tight, not even minding the slight dirt coating.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 04:47:38 pm
The knight sighed at that, before leaning in to set a hand on her shoulder. "Semantics. Still of human origin, and even if you weren't? Still a person. So's Roxanne. The one that attacked you is still a person. Those cyborgs I had to put down in the lab were people too." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 04:54:51 pm
Roxanne internally cringes at her failed explanation. "Yes...what he said...We are all people and we are all flawed, that's what I was trying to say...she had her way of dealing things and that might seem mean but she probably though it was for the best...", Roxanne responded. Katherine's words resonated with Roxanne, was she human? Was she herself human? Roxanne had mutated a fair bit, beyond any other person she had seen before lilith, could it be that she herself had transcended her humanity?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 08, 2017, 05:02:58 pm
Dee stashes the Triple Sec bottle in his room and heads out into the cold night air. He wanders around until he happened upon the group. He mask turns to a pair of question marks, then to a ";-:". Then back to default before he pipes up, "God- What the fu- What did you two do?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 05:11:25 pm
The knight sighed and looked back over the Dee. "Kath's having a philosophical crisis regarding hat it means to be human, because Roxanne has poor word choice. Oh, and tiger women are assholes." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 05:15:04 pm
Kathrine glares at Roxanne. She's not saying anything, but it's clear that she doesn't believe anything that she just said. "Normal people don't have tails, or big teeth, or stupid ears that tell everyone what I'm thinking! Normal people don't look like-" She points at herself. "THIS!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 08, 2017, 05:19:16 pm
Dee's mask turns blank, "You two, leave. Let me chat with her for a bit." Dee waits for the other two to leave before sitting down criss cross with Kathrine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 05:21:34 pm
The knight shook his head at that. "That doesn't make you inhuman. I've seen far worse." he pointed out, before looking back to Dee, nodding as he stood, likely having to practically drag a stunned Roxanne out to allow them some privacy.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 05:27:45 pm
Kathrine scoots backwards a bit more, glaring at Dee-Jay. She knew he was a mutant, but at this moment she didn't seem to care. "What?" She asks, apparently annoyed at everyone tonight.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 08, 2017, 06:06:22 pm
Dee takes off his mask and sets it on his lap, "Listen here, little friend. Who wants to be normal? Being normal's boring. Being different is what makes you you. Don' worry about it. Don't worry 'bout being different." Dee puts his mask back on, it flickers on and turns to a "^_^", "Wanna go star gazing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 06:14:27 pm
"I wanna be normal..." She mumbles. It's difficult to hear what she's saying, what with the fur and her still crying. "I don't wanna be me if I'm me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 08, 2017, 06:29:38 pm
Dee scratches his scales, "Don't say that, You're the best you you can be. It's just uh..."
"Angst. Yeah, everyone goes through angst at one point... Don't worry, little friend. Listen, if you need some not-human to not-human chatting come to me, I'm always at my workshop. I'll make some tea and we'll chat about whatever's botherin' ya."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 08, 2017, 07:13:21 pm
Dee gets up, brushing the grass off his pants. "Don't forget what I said, Kathrine." He walks back to his workshop.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 07:17:48 pm
The knight meanwhile was waiting outside. "Any luck? Think she'll be alright?" he asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 08, 2017, 07:22:28 pm
Dee's mask turns to a ";-;" "She might need a bit alone, maybe get uh... catnip. She might help out. I'll be at my workshop, call me if you need something."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 08, 2017, 07:51:17 pm
She hurt. The ogre thing, lillith it seemed to be called, had bowled Catnip over and trampled her. Against all odds though, she hadn't suffered more than a few bruises and small cuts. Still, she didn't relish being pressed into the dirt again, even if it was unintentional. The disc made her flicker again, she couldn't wait to put it away. It was beginning to make her angry. No one had noticed her, not yet anyway, so she watched. The others were moving back in the direction of the farm while the tall lady berated the big stripey beast lady. Catnip approached quietly, and while the tall lady didn't seem to notice, Lillith did. "Moaz." she said, and licked her sizable chops. The bite wound where Catnip had worried at her had vanished. Before Sharlene could turn to see what Lillith was talking about, Catnip said "You talk funny, but that's fine. I like different ways of talking. It's interesting." Sharlene turned and looked Catnip over. She hadn't noticed this one earlier. "Another bioweapon like lillith eh? Or someone with not enough sense to stay out of the old labs." Catnip bristled a little at the way Sharlene talked to her, or rather talked around her. She gave her memory a brief glance, and then "Bio-weapon." Sharlene grinned a little, Catnip had the feeling that whatever she said next would either embarrass or agitate. It did both. "Not a very good one though, if ya can't give ol' tee-grey here a run for her money." Catnip bristled a little, and gave her memory a somewhat deeper glance. Stuff she'd heard from Dervish during her fevered time waiting for medicine after her run in with Apophis. "Blightwalker, spying and virulent infection." She didn't know what virulent meant, but it was a strange word that sounded bad. She knew of course that she wasn't virulent. Apparently, Sharlene either knew that, or didn't care. "So," she asked, "what's all this then? This little shanty town you people have built yourselves." Catnip looked confused, "It's my workshop." she said, "My family lives here." Lillith sniffed the air. "Cub. Red houz." She made a move towards the barn, but Catnip moved to intercept and Sharlene grabbed a handful of fur and smacked the behemoth across the back of the head. "No dumb dumb. This isn't your place. That isn't your cub." and then to Catnip, "Sorry, listen, we gotta get going. Where the hell is that layabout? I thought he was right behind me? Lazy little bitch." Catnip backed away from the pair. There was something going on there, but she guess whatever it was didn't involve Catnip or her people anymore. For now anyway. "Well," said catnip, "Nice meeting you?" Sharlene didn't seem to hear her, but Lillith watched her go. Catnip imagined she saw hunger in those predatory eyes.
Catnip entered the barn quietly, and listened to the exchange. Roxanne being mean. Unintentional, sure, but it was hard to dismiss. Dee was trying to make Kathrine feel better about it. It didn't seem to be working, but his heart was in the right place. After everyone had left, Catnip came out of the dark. "What's wrong Kathrine?" She didn't wait to tell Catnip about it, "BOOBY LADY IS MEAN!" Catnip nodded, "I'M NOT NORMAL!" Catnip, who had never experienced the world before the cataclysm, sat down next to Kathrine and said "Yes you are." Kathrine just looked at her with what looked like bitterness on her tear streaked face. She may have been made to be a maid, a servant, but she did not like being patronized. Catnip wasn't trying to be patronizing. "You are normal. We are normal. The world is normal, and it has people like you and me in it. Dervish said people like you and me and Dee and the big cat lady weren't so common before, but we are now. We are normal." Catnip threw an arm over Kathrines shoulders. "Besides," she continued, "At least you aren't ugly like me." Kathrine stopped her low sobbing at that. "You aren't ugly mistress. Not on the outside. Especially not on the inside." Catnip thought it was nice of her to say, but didn't believe what she said about not being ugly on the outside. "This isn't about me Kathrine." she said. "I think the tiger lady didn't mean to hurt you, but I think she's just too clumsy and big to avoid it." Catnip had a sudden thought, and voiced it. "You know when I get excited or angry?" Kathrine did. It was uncommon, but Catnip went into a kind of frenzy when she got excited or angry. Hissing and spitting. It scared Kathrine a little. Sometimes Catnip hurt herself in her exuberance. "I don't think it's the same." Kathrine pouted. "Maybe" Catnip cut in, "but maybe not." Catnip whispered in Kathrines ear then, looking around to make sure no one was listening in. "Besides, I have an idea. Just play along, if Roxanne talks to you, just look at her. Don't say anything, just look. I think it's called 'silent treatment.' She'll learn her lesson, and no one will get hurt." Kathrine nodded. Even this small slight seemed too mean for her tastes, but she would try. "Are you gonna?" Kathrine whispered back. Catnip nodded, of course she would. She still wasn't sure of Roxanne. She'd helped her install some things on her car, but hadn't said a word during the whole process. It had unnerved Roxanne a little, made her uncomfortable, and that made Catnip feel better. Maybe, she thought, it would make Kathrine feel better too.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 08:59:14 pm
Sharlene marches Lilith back across the field, occasionally stopping to yank her back by the scruff of her neck. "Lilith, run off like that again, and you're gettin' more than just zaps." She tells her, bending down to be eye-level with the mutant. "Got it? Now, let's go fuck up Mohammed. Cunt's probs stealin' my shit and doin' a runner..." In fact, Mohammed was making his way across the field, towards the pair. "Oh thank god, I thought you'd done something dumb, like taken her to the-" He's cut off as Sharlene grabs his shoulders and knees him right in the crotch. "Cunt." It only takes a short while for Kath to give up on the 'silent treatment' that Catnip had mentioned. She either made it incredibly obvious by immediately shutting up as soon as Roxanne approached her, or accidentally started talking to her anyway. Eventually, (literally like six hours after that conversation) she gives in and goes for another tackle-hug on Roxanne.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 09:02:11 pm
The knight shook his head at all this, looking back to Dee. "Guess she'll need time to cool down. Hopefully that lady can keep her...companion from harming anyone. I didn't like the look of her. Sort of vibe of someone that's probably half to blame for her being like that. Sort of person like the types Dervish talked about on occasion."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 08, 2017, 09:17:18 pm
Catnip had crept up on them, unintentionally startling them both a little. "A bit rough around the edges maybe, but I don't think so. She's not as rough the people at the lab I'm from. A little... abrasive? abrasive, but not mean." Dee looked out across the field and then up at the horizon. "Suns coming up. What's for breakfast?" Catnip was already squinting at the sun which had yet to crest the horizon. "Fruit jerk and crackerbread again. Maybe Kathrine can figure out how to make it tastier." Hector sighed. "Another day, another denarii." he said. The two mutants just looked at him. "Nevermind." he said. "are you too gonna work on that pile of scrap again today?" Dee bristled, "It ain't scrap." Hector yawned, "Not yet it ain't." Catnip went to make sure her tools were in order, but said over her shoulder, "After breakfast Dee, then we can get back to work."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 09:28:08 pm
Roxanne was back on the radio system messing with it's settings once again when katherine enters. "Oh, kath. How may I help you." Katherine had been acting a bit weird for a few hours so Roxanne was a bit worried. Without a word katherine approached and embraced Roxanne in a trademark kath hug. Roxanne gave a smirk. "Feeling better already huh?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 08, 2017, 09:35:28 pm
"I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, Miss Roxanne. And for giving you the 'silent treatment'." She does air quotes mid-hug, something Roxy can't even see. "And fo- You're all cold. Are you alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 08, 2017, 09:36:11 pm
Eventually at some point in the morning Nathaniel woke up, making he way other to the others. "Good morning guys...um..." The knight promptly facepalmed at that. "You slept through it, didn't you? Sanctus merda, I thought I was a heavy sleeper. No matter, not like one guy with a gun would've helped much, anyone that nearly bends the tag when I dole out a mordhau probably eats bullets like candy. Plus you're trained for center mass, and that'd be a lot of...ahem, mass."
"...do I even want to know what the hell I slept through?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2017, 09:48:17 pm
Roxanne gives a small chuckle. "Yes, I am alright, I part of me is now metal. Don't worry about it", Roxanne tells kath, "That means you can't hug tackle me anymore!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 09, 2017, 01:32:25 am
"where did you find it?" Catnip asked, moving her tools and a collection of parts out to where Dee had parked the battered sports car. Dee's mask made a series of symbols, and then settled on '^_^'. "Behind an old repair shop to the northeast. Needed a couple new tires, and it took some doing to get it going. In the end, I had to hotwire it. I have the keys, but there's something wrong with the wiring in the steering column." Catnip propped the hood open with a heavy stick, considered it for a moment, and then set to work removing the hood entirely. It would be better, she decided, if she didn't have to work with that part hovering over her head. Fortunately for Catnip, Dee was competent and caught on to her words for various mechanical terms rather quickly. She stripped out a cable bundle, considered it, and then tossed it into a bin she'd brought along marked with the word "GARBEJ" in red marker. "So..." hazarded Dee as Catnip tugged a cracked rubber hose out of it's place and spilling oil all over her hand when the hose suddenly crumbled at the minor pressure she exerted on it, "Catnip huh?" He handed her a rag, the oil would soak into her fur and be hell to clean out later. The questioning way he'd said it went over her head. "Yes? What?" 'o~0' "what?" "You said my name." '0~o' "Uh... Why do these people call you Catnip?" "It's my name." 'o~o' "Yeah, sure. But whats your real name?" "Catnip is my real name." Dee decided to change the subject as this topic wasn't going to go anywhere. "How long have you been... You know... A mutant? I wasn't always like this myself." He held up his hands so Catnip could see the olive tan scales, but she wasn't looking. He was thinking about it. "After the end of, well... everything, I was taken in by a guy. He did this to me." Catnip straightened up and tossed a handful of bolts and nuts into the bin. "twenty three Christmases, but Dervish said I was eleven." '0_0' "eleven what? years? christmases? What?" "I'm twenty three christmases old, I've been a mutant for twenty three christmases." 'o_0' "How is that possible? I don't understand what you mean at all." Dee was starting to catch on though, a little. Maybe Catnip couldn't explain it like this guy she named could, but he sort of understood. Sort of. 23 years. Catnip asked for a tool, and Dee handed it over. "I came from a lab. Dervish said it was a bad lab. I didn't know about time because I was always underground and didn't know what time was, but I could count christmases. It was a popular topic, and every so often it would come around and everyone would get presents except me... Dervish said christmases are a poor way to keep time in a place like that, and Nathan used to say that christmas wasn't for bad girls." Catnip tapped an experimental finger against the side of a little plastic tank, it broke apart at that and spilled a green fluid all over. "Whoever owned this thing before left it sitting with a lot of fluids in it." She commented. "I wonder how the oil is." She withdrew the dip stick, and was surprised to find that it didn't seem to have any in it at all. "I wonder how it didn't seize up. well, at least we won't have to drain the engine." Dee just watched her appraisingly. He decided he'd ask her something else, she didn't seem to have much interest in what she was, though secretly she did. "Wha-" She interrupted him, "What do you want this machine for anyway? There aren't many people to impress unless you intend to display it to the biters. "Gonna make it into a scout car, remote controlled. It's gonna be great, though I guess it won't be autonomous li- OH! I can't believe I forgot!" Catnip wondered what he'd forgotten, she wiped her hands again, looking at her fur and coming to the same conclusion Dee had when he'd passed her the rag. He made his way to the back of his workshop and seemed to fiddle around with something she couldn't see. "I forgot to introduce you!" he said excitedly as his 'children' came out of standby mode, springing to life in an instant. "Guys, this is Catnip, Catnip these are- Catnip?" She was no where in sight. He found her curled up, wide eyed, under the car. Antifreeze trickled down over her muzzle as a slow drip. Again, he was struck by how easy it was for her to squeeze under that small space. 'O_O' "Uh, Catnip?" "Shhh. Robots!" ')_)' "Yeah, what about them? They are my creations." "Robots punish! Skitters everywhere!" He looked around. Skitters? "Catnip, there aren't any skitters out here? Just my bots. Hector knocked on the 'GARBEJ' bin. "Grettings, whats up? Came over to see if I could lend a hand. Where's Catnip?" Dee gestured towards the underside of the car, but there was no need. Catnip was squeezing herself out from under the car. "Sir Loin! Robots!" She ran to him and hid behind the bin. "Yeah? It's fine Catnip. They are harmless." It certainly seemed true. The robots moved slowly towards Dee with what could possibly described as 'casual obedience.' Catnip looked at them distrustfully. Hector could tell that Dee was perplexed in the extreme. Hector explained simply, "She had a hard life before the cataclysm."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 09, 2017, 10:04:56 am
"Harder than you'd think." Quinn called, stepping over one of the many fallow dirt mounds. He and Dervish had pieced a great deal about Catnips time in the lab by rumors, personal knowledge of the lab where she was made and raised, and by Catnips own accounts. "I say, these are quiet good for robots pieced together from the remains of other robots. You must be a fairly skilled tinker." Dee accepted the compliment with a '^_o', and brought his attention back to Catnip. He gestured to the robots, "It's alright guys, take five." The robots ambled or rolled back towards Dee's work space all the while Catnip watched them go with trepidation. "I can't be certain, Dervish never mentioned anything about them being used for punishment, the handlers did that themselves. As for the robots though, he didn't know and Catnip isn't-" "fighting." she suddenly said. Catnip stared after the robots, her eyes wide and her mind recalling something she'd rather not remember. "Nathan made us fight them. None of us could beat them, so we had to learn to avoid them. If you could avoid them long enough, the scientists would get bored and let us go back to our rooms. But some of us didn't go back. They would do it every once in awhile and then they would have a christmas. There would be less of us after every christmas, until it was just me and alabaster and mica in the room with the robots. There were skitters everywhere. and we were taken back to our rooms and then there was another christmas, but something bad was going on, and Nathan took me away from the lab and he said they were going to..." She blinked, dazed, and rubbed her eyes. "It's very bright, I should have brought my hat. What does 'lobotomize' mean?"
Dee brought Catnip a tall glass of Kathrines sweet tea and a handful of chocolates. "Well Dee," she said, taking the glass gratefully, "Judging by the state of things, it will take about two weeks. One if you help out, three days if Sir- Hector, helps with the body work. As for your control system though, I think that sort of thing goes right over my head." She was thinking about the rotary cannon she'd tried to set up back at her old workshop. What a disaster of wires and circuits that had been. Somewhere along the lines, she'd stopped having dreams about her train project, but she was willing to bet this Dee guy would be in it. She thought the dream voice would have called him something like "the man with the shifting face" or something mystical like that. Or maybe it would be more simple. "The Prince of automatons" maybe. He had taken up a position nearby, sitting on his haunches with his hands between his knees and what looked like a bottle of hard lemonade close at hand. Catnip could use a "prince of automatons." She was confident that she could do anything when it came to salvaging, assembling, and even making from scratch the parts necessary. Also she knew for a fact that for her, putting together those parts into any manner of machinery both real or imagined, would be a trivial task. But the train demanded more than just what she knew she could do in her sleep with her hands tied behind her back. It needed computers. It needed systems, advanced systems. It needed someone one to rig wires and code it's systems. It needed the prince of automatons. "So" she said cheerily, not letting on to these long thoughts and showing no evidence of her earlier 'episode,' "Once this project of yours is complete, would you like to help me with a project of my own?" Dee's mask lit up with '?_?" and he said nothing. Catnip guessed that it was curiosity, and told him all about the train.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 09, 2017, 12:15:34 pm
Sharlene had Lilith carry Mohammed back to the house they'd set up. He had squirmed a lot, but never actively fought back in fear of angering the muscle mountain. Lilith dumps him on the bed, then backs up to sit in the corner, where she had set up a 'lair' out of the guest bedroom's blanket and the remains of what once were a dresser. Sharlene points at the prepper. "Right. First off, soz about the nut shot, got a bit pissy. BUT. You weren't gonna help. 'An that's the important bit. Y'see, I ain't ready for Lil ta 187 someone without me bein' there to save 'em, and it ain't gonna be for a long time 'til I let her kill someone, got it?" Mohammed nods. "Right, ah... Listen. Yous probably an alright guy, bad first opinion, soz about lettin' the tiger scare you into this. But if ya plan on stayin', ya gotta agree to help me keep her from hurtin' anyone, right?" Mohammed goes quiet for a short while, staring at the ceiling. He gives a weak thumbs up, groaning. "Right." "Good. Get some sleep, I gotta prep the rest of this shit for shamblers." Kathrine was concerned. Catnip normally never asked for anything other than coffee, and she normally came to get it herself. She wasn't allowed to be around the workshops when serious talk was going on, but she felt that something was going on with her mistress, and she wasn't going to let that go. She walks in right in the middle of Catnip's debriefing about the train, and stands in the back until she finishes, whereupon she marches up to, and hugs, Catnip, continuing the hug despite Catnip's squirming.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 09, 2017, 06:10:01 pm
"Gonna get oil on you." Catnip said, squirming at the restraining arms. "Don't care!" Cried Kathrine, "You obviously need hugs." Catnip managed to get an arm free, but wasn't sure what to do with it. "Please let go Kathrine." Dee stood, stretching his legs and knocking back the rest of his drink. "Looks like we ain't getting anything else done for today." he commented with a '^_o'. "Should I get you a crowbar?" Catnip had managed to get her other arm free, but this just resulted in Kathrine being wrapped around her more firmly. "Uh, no no. Just uh. Kathrine, I appreciate it, but please stop." Catnip squirmed and pried at Kathrines arms, but they had formed an iron band around her chest. "Maybe get the crowbar please." She asked Dee, who was still watching the spectacle. Catnip attempted to walk away, but Kathrine kept step with her. "I'm not letting you go Mistress." There was a hint of challenge in Kathrines speech. Catnip guessed that her friend just had to get it out of her system. "Heh. I'll think about it." Dee said. Catnip was really starting to struggle now. "Thank you Dee, uh... Kathrine, please."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 09, 2017, 06:31:12 pm
Dee shifts his tongue in his mouth, his digitized voice pipes up and his mask showing a '.-.', "A lobotomy is when someone jabs a metal rod or a drill into your forehead, typically damaging the frontal lobe. This usually causes them to lose most brain functions." His mask turns to a "> ..." Then he pipes up, "...Sorry for being blunt."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 09, 2017, 06:35:44 pm
Dee shifts his tongue in his mouth, his digitized voice pipes up and his mask showing a '.-.', "A lobotomy is when someone jabs a metal rod or a drill into your forehead, typically damaging the frontal lobe. This usually causes them to lose most brain functions." His mask turns to a "> ..." Then he pipes up, "...Sorry for being blunt."
"oh..." Catnip stopped struggling against Kathrine who suddenly let her go, just to wrap her arms around Catnip again, recapturing her mistresses pesky limbs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 09, 2017, 06:47:45 pm
Kathrine notices Catnip's sudden lack of resistance after a minute of re-establishing the hug. She actually breaks it up herself this time, staring directly at her mistress. "Mistress, are you okay?" Before Catnip has a chance to answer, Kathrine brings a hand up and gently pokes the tip of her muzzle. "Boop."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 09, 2017, 06:57:36 pm
Hector regarded the scene unfolding before him with a look of amusement, only for Dee's explanation about earlier discussion to make him lose that smile. "Those lab techs seem to have a rather morbid idea of entertainment. Not to mention a poor holiday spirit." he remarked, referencing the earlier explanation of "christmases" as they evidently called it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 09, 2017, 07:06:17 pm
Kathrine notices Catnip's sudden lack of resistance after a minute of re-establishing the hug. She actually breaks it up herself this time, staring directly at her mistress. "Mistress, are you okay?" Before Catnip has a chance to answer, Kathrine brings a hand up and gently pokes the tip of her muzzle. "Boop."
Catnip didn't even consider following through the with threat to bite Kathrine if she did that again. Instead, she wrapped her own arms around Kathrine. Before the completely unexpected hug, Kathrine noted the haunted look in Catnips eyes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 09, 2017, 07:23:15 pm
Kathrine's smile drops. She returns the hug, but this time it feels more... Genuine, as opposed to her usual for-fun hugs. Despite not knowing exactly what's going on, she's picked up on it enough to realise this was serious time. "I-I'm sorry, Mistress. Should I come back later?" She whispers.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 09, 2017, 07:29:31 pm
Kathrine's smile drops. She returns the hug, but this time it feels more... Genuine, as opposed to her usual for-fun hugs. Despite not knowing exactly what's going on, she's picked up on it enough to realise this was serious time. "I-I'm sorry, Mistress. Should I come back later?" She whispers.
"no." "What? I-I can't hear you." "no." Kathrine accepted the hug for as long as Catnip needed it. It was a long while before Catnip let her go, and Kathrine noted when she did, that the haunted look had not left her. "I think" said Catnip distantly, "I think I need to think about some things. If anybody needs me, I'll be taking a walk in the wet-woods across the way." Kathrine nodded quickly, once.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 09, 2017, 07:39:20 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Very well then. Just...come back safe, okay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 09, 2017, 07:53:15 pm
Dee's mask stays to a "> ..." "Did I fuh- Mess up?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 09, 2017, 08:16:11 pm
The knight shakes his head at that. "I don't...think so. I think she just needs time to think about some things. Brought up a few things she doesn't like to think about, from the sound of it." he said, before that look of his got more concerned. Or perhaps a bit angry, after thinking about something.
"If I find any surviving lab techs in the next mutagenics place we find..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 09, 2017, 08:54:19 pm
Dee's mask lights up with a pair of exclamation points, "Holy shiiii- Shiiizzz... I have a fu- hecking idea. We could use those old phone towers to get a signal aaaand... Kathrine, drumroll please."
Kathrine gives a small mock drumroll.
"We can get fuc- hecking internet."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 09, 2017, 09:00:06 pm
The knight blinked at that. "You can't be...I...huh. Wonder how many servers are still running..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 09, 2017, 09:13:30 pm
"Yeahyeahyeah, All we need to do is get a hotspot and rig up a radio tower to get a signal, or something." Dee says excitedly, then he gasps, the exclamation marks getting bigger. He whisper yells, "We can get youtube..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 09, 2017, 09:17:35 pm
The knight gave a blank stare at Dee. "On the one hand, this has to be the most insane idea I've heard in a while. On the other hand, if anyone's going to have enough servers set up that at least part of it might still be working..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 09, 2017, 09:42:26 pm
"Wait, lemme check my tech pile." Dee heads into his workshop, then he opens up the garage door of his workshop. "We are the champions" plays as the door opens slowly. "HELL YEAH, GOT A FUCKING ROUTER!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 09, 2017, 09:53:14 pm
-----------------------AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE (probs like a week or two)-----------------------
Sharlene slings the rolled-up hoodie over her shoulder, leading Lilith back to the farm. It had been a while since their last supply drop, and she wanted to finish up on that log stockpile. The cabin was coming along nicely, she just needed to get those interior walls set up and the curtain rods in. The shopping cart's caster squeaks as she pulls it down the dirt path, filled with odd items they had requested, along with a couple of canned goods and drinks. Lilith had insisted on coming, tugging at Sharlene's jacket's sleeve with her teeth until she'd let her tag along. The house had held up nicely enough against the few odd shamblers coming from the east and north, with the defences aided by Lilith, of course. Kathrine was sat on the railing of the bridge again, waiting for the trader lady to come by. "Hey Mister Floyd, do you think Mistress is alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 09, 2017, 09:59:31 pm
Floyd rubs his beard, "'m sure she's fine. Don't you worry your lil' head."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 09, 2017, 10:13:08 pm
Kathrine is very clearly worrying a lot. "She didn't look alright. And normally she pretends to not like hugs, but she didn't even do that! And she's been all... Sad. A lot." Kath swings her legs back and forth as she speaks, looking off down the river. "I think they were talking about labs. Mistress didn't have a Doctor Ilyushin, I don't think..." Grunting, Sharlene yanks the katar out of one of the shambling children. Someone hadn't done a good job pulping their kills, and it had gotten right back up at some point. She'd need a new weapon, too, as the sharpened stick of rebar she was using as a push dagger was near breaking, and no amount of duct tape would keep it stable for long. At some point along the road to the bridge, Lilith had wandered off into the nearby swamp. She was still obviously following along, however, as the occasional break in the constant buzzing of insect wings would prove. "Heyo! I got supplies!" She yells out, waving at the two people waiting up ahead.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 09, 2017, 10:18:27 pm
"Everyone gets sad at one point, sweetheart. She's probably in a slump or somethin'. Don't worry about it." Floyd raises his hat with the barrel of his revolver, "They're here, pumpkin." he points to the Aussie and the tiger.
"Holy shit it actually works." Dee says, he prints out a sheet of paper saying "Come to Dee's workshop for a laptop" and a link for a chatroom. He puts it up on the bulletin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 09, 2017, 10:42:12 pm
Kathrine looks over at where the yelling came from, and immediately goes paler than her hair. She tries to say something, but ends up saying everything all at once. She ends up standing straight as a board, tail twitching in the air behind her. Sharlene pushes the cart up to the cowboy-looking fellow, barely noticing the catmaid stood behind him. "Righto, so we got... Chocolate, chocolate coffee beans, regular coffee beans, two bottles of whiskey, guessin' those are for you, some- uh... Contractors? Compressors? Those springy things from an engine. Rat wanted it." Lilith happily trotted along besides Sharlene. She could smell the cub, obviously, but had learnt her lesson from the last time she went for them. The cub was in the same place as last time, though, and was just stood there, completely still. How could she not go bounding towards them? Kathrine squeaks as the tiger rushes towards her. Them being in the light made it so much worse, with it's muscles rippling underneath a layer of fur and skin. Kath still tried to stand her ground, though, putting her hands out in front of her in an attempt to get Lilith to slow down. It works, to an extent.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 09, 2017, 10:55:30 pm
Hector watched warily. Seeing Lilith bounding after Kathrine like that still make him nervous, not to mention that getting in between them when the tiger started up like that was a good way to get trampled, at best.
"If you see any military vehicles stranded along the road, coordinates for those would be good too. Good for parts for the vehicles and Catnip's project."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 09, 2017, 10:57:32 pm
Floyd steps inbetween Kathrine and the large tiger, standing unwavering and a hand in his pocket. "Slooow down."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 10, 2017, 07:41:39 am
Lilith barely paid attention to the man with the hat, but he had gotten in the way, so he was going to get o- "LILITH, STOP!" Lilith grinds to a halt, gently bumping up against Floyd's legs. "Jesus christ, Lil... Uh... Shit, There's our old humvee, it's parked waaaaay up north. I can see if I can go an' fetch it one day, if ya like. And give that shocker lady a hello from me, would 'ya?" Kathrine hugs Floyd from behind. It meant getting closer to the tiger thing, but she had to repay him somehow. The tiger chuffs at her, stepping around Floyd to rub up against Kath's legs. "It's alright, she won't bite. ...Probably." The trader woman said. "Oh shit, so you're Kathrine? The one that's like 22 but looks like a teen?" Kathrine frowned, but was more concerned with Lilith curling around her legs. She's making a really uncomfortable noise in the back of her throat.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 10, 2017, 09:21:23 am
Floyd looks in the small gym bag, disregarding the the large tiger lady that almost shattered every bone in his body, "Rrright. We have a hardbook laptop, water proof, shatter proof if closed, partially bulletproof. Keep it closed when your not using it, included is a USB modem/internet thing. Along with that is that we have some cannabis, a small brick of coke, a bottle of fresh homemade fruit wine, and some electrohacks. Stick em in whatever you want to jack and they'll get hacked automatically."-Floyd looks up from the bag, "There's a sheet of paper with a link on it as well. You got a deal?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 10, 2017, 09:39:38 am
"Ah, we got plenty of drugs already. Booze, too. You got any... Hmm... Oh! You got any swords to spare?" Kathrine, shivering, reaches down to pet the curled-up Lilith. She flinches as she gets a chuff in response, but continues petting the tiger-woman. After a bit, Kath seems to calm down. She giggles quietly as she bends down as well as she can and attempts to hug her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 10, 2017, 11:07:44 am
Floyd scratches his beard, "We got a few, yeah. Weird magic sword or real ninja sword? Y'all mind keeping the laptop though? Seriously, the young'un with the mask worked hard with getting everything set up. Even tested that hardbook himself."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 10, 2017, 11:56:42 am
"Wait wait wait, hold up. Magic swords? Nah, I'll stick with a long bit 'a metal, thanks. Hopefully one that's not made outta aluminium. You got anythin' that ain't gonna fall apart too quick?" Kathrine finds a spot where she can actually reach her arms around Lilith, and embraces the tiger person in a hug. "You're not a meanie though. You didn't mean it..." She mumbles, and Lilith starts to stand up. "You're all soft..." Lilith stands up completely, with Kath's arms wrapped around her neck and dangling off her like a cape. "Cub..." Lilith grunts, and begins to walk off. Sharlene's too busy looking through the bag to notice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 10, 2017, 12:00:43 pm
"Yeah. A real katan- HEY GET BACK HERE!" Floyd yells out, noticing that Lilith is walking off. He sets a hand on his revolver, and looks at her caretaker. "You gonna do somethin'?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 10, 2017, 12:18:17 pm
Sharlene looks up at Floyd, raises an eyebrow, then looks around for Lilith. "Do somethin' about wh- Ah." She carefully puts the bag on the ground and walks up to Lilith, cupping her hand over her muzzle. "Down, girl. Uh... Kathrine? Get off. She's not a taxi." She looks over at Floyd when Kathrine refuses to let go. "Uh.. You gonna... Take her?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 10, 2017, 12:21:59 pm
"Gonna wait until she's done huggin' her. Hey, Kath. Pumpkin, let go of the tiger lady. But yeah, we have a real katana here somewhere." Floyd grabs a sheath with a katana in it for the Aussie. "Here y' go"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 10, 2017, 12:33:13 pm
The knight went wide-eyed at that, only to sigh a bit, very carefully following after the tiger woman. "Lilith. that's your name, right? Could you please let the...cub, go?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 10, 2017, 12:35:42 pm
"Yeah, thanks, but I mean it. Get her off Lilith, she's startin' ta get annoyed at me stoppin' her." Kathrine rubbed her face against Lilith's soft fur. Something about the big tiger woman made her all giggly and strangely calm, now that she wasn't being pounced at. She looks like she'd have to be physically removed from Lilith's shoulders.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 10, 2017, 12:38:10 pm
Hector nodded at that, before calming reaching to take hold of Kath by the scruff of her neck, intending to be just firm enough to affect her, so he could carefully pull her away.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 10, 2017, 12:48:03 pm
Floyd tips his hat, "Well. We ought to be off. See y'all later."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 10, 2017, 12:54:44 pm
Sir Loin's grip is enough to make Kathrine go limp, or at least limp enough to stop the hug. She's squirming as she's brought away from Lilith, who honestly doesn't seem to notice, being fixed on Sharlene's hand, which was currently fiddling with her whiskers. "Thaaaat's it. Sit down, Lil. That ain't your cub."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 10, 2017, 01:00:03 pm
The knight nodded at that, carefully pulling Kathrine away and setting her down. "Easy little one, don't want her carrying you off, do you?" he pointed out. "Surprised that worked without the clip. Wonder if it works on Lilith..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 10, 2017, 01:13:48 pm
(http://i.imgur.com/W2TgOyk.png) She wandered though the swamp and woods for awhile, lost in thought. Lost in painful memories. She ate when she was hungry, she drank when she was thirsty, she slept when exhaustion demanded she sleep. Overall though, she thought. Dee's robots had given her a fright, made her sensitive to past trauma. His blunt explanation, as innocently as it was meant, had opened the doors to that trauma. Now, she was lost to it. Catnip wandered the swamp for days, lost in painful memory.
On the fourth day, Catnip heard a sound from the west. It sounded like engines, and the murmur of activity. She followed the sound and as she emerged from the swamp, she sighted a large building, lit up with bright lights and crowded around by disused vehicles. Her ruminations gave way to curiosity. It was a refugee center, she found out. She'd known some people from a refugee center back before "the shift." It probably wasn't the same one of course, but maybe she would meet someone familiar.
A little while later, she found herself amongst a throng of strangers. It made her nervous at first, but then it made her giddy. She felt something come alive in her, some facet of her character she hadn't realized was gone. She wanted to talk, to introduce herself to everyone one at a time, to ask questions, so many questions, too many questions. but who to ask? She decided on the stern woman behind the glass. "helloooooo." she greeted. "Fuck off." the woman spat. 'Ok,' she thought, 'bad start. maybe we could try someone else?" Something else in her told her no, just listen. Just, stand back and listen for a bit. Just stay out of sight. Catnip picked a wall to lean against, and closed her eyes, and she did what the little voice told her. "...swear, that guy is..." "...and then I told her..." "...where the hell did I..." "...credible, just incred..." "...gambling. Of course..." "...gonna go out tonight? to..." "...four crates of canned fruit, one of..." "...sixty-one, sixty-two, sixty..." "...next please. What can I..." "... deal was forty bucks, I..." "...three cans this time, no more, no..." So much to hear all at once. She loved it. She felt at home here. She could set up a nest nearby and- She realized she had a feeling inside. Like something straining to be free. -and come and listen to the people. No one would ever notice- Catnip opened her eyes, her vision swam a little and she forced it to steady. -another rat. You could sneak in and- Catnip pushed it away. She had a nest. A home. A family, of a sort. -steal what you needed. That's what we do. It could be so good.- Catnip sneered at the feeling. She wasn't a rat. She was just Catnip. "Hey ma'am." She realized someone was talking to her and looked to her left. A young man had sat down next to her against the wall she'd chosen to lean against. "Hey, how about a song? Let you listen to a song on my MP3 player for a quarter." Fair exchange. Catnip gave him one of the few heavy coins she carried with her for distracting dangerous things, and he passed her the earbuds. At first, she didn't hear anything, and then there was a sudden rythemic drum, and then other instruments. The sound of the song made her want to dance, but she didn't know how, so she just tapped her foot and bounced in place. It made her feel warm. Not so much the words, just the sound of it. The words and the melody together were like... "blue sky after a storm." she said aloud. "Yeah ma'am, it's an oldy but a goody. I'll let you listen again for free if you want, you look like you need it." Catnip nodded, and he set the song to repeat once.
Sun is shinin' in the sky There ain't a cloud in sight It's stopped rainin' everybody's in a play And don't you know It's a beautiful new day, hey hey
"Can I have that?" She asked. He looked down at the MP3 player, "I uh... I guess. I mean, I got another but I don't know if I could part with either of them easy." Catnip withdrew a cash card from her pocket. "Will this be enough?" She'd seen people using such cards on her cartoons and TV shows, and thought that it was some kind of money. "How much is on it?" She didn't know, and said so. He took the card, promising to bring it back, and worked his way over to the lady behind the glass. She scowled at him as he spoke, and then took the card for a minute. Catnip couldn't see what she was doing with it, but was relieved when she gave it back. The guy made his way back to her, and when he reached her said "Oh hail yes you can have it. Want me to carry your bags too ma'am? Shit, I can even show you which of the traders around her have the best deals and which one makes the best BearBQ." She shook her head, "no that's fine. Just, show me how it works." He did as she asked, and then thanked her many times for her business.
The next week or so, she helped out around the center. Fixing what could be fixed, doing what she knew how to do best. She maintained a few of the centers paltry collection of armored cars and outrunner cars. Mostly trivial tasks like changing oil or transmission fluid, but once or twice she spotted and fixed serious problems with some of the centers more difficult to replace vehicles. She also had her first real shower in her life. It wasn't the cold spray down of the lab, or even the luke warm buckets of the farm. Real hot water, from real, private, showers. She took to using them daily, sometimes twice a day. Catnip didn't realize how nice having clean fur was. She wasn't sure she could go back to the buckets she was used to, and determined to setup some kind of proper shower when she got back to the farm. The food wasn't bad either, compared to Kathrines food, which was great. Thinking about Kathrine made her miss the farm though, so she stopped eating with the others in the cafeteria. She made herself useful, she made herself some friends, and over that week, she began to feel a little better.
It was on the third of these days, that she encountered a face she knew. "Khaki! I thought you were dead! What happened to grandpap?" Khaki, a middle aged woman with raven black hair down past her shoulders jumped. "Uh, do I know you?" Catnip was smiling a toothy grin ear to ear, she was excited to see some people she knew outside her group had survived the shift. "Catnip, I am Catnip!" Khaki just looked at her suspiciously. "How do you know Catnip," she asked, "If you are Catnip, hows that project of yours coming along?" Catnips smile faltered a little, but didn't leave her. "The train isn't finished. I haven't even started. I plan to soon though, I have some other things I have to get done. Gotta get some more parts." Khaki nodded, but didn't move to welcome Catnip just yet. "uh huh, and how about the others? Hows Floyd and Dervish?" Catnip did frown at Dervishes name. "Dervish left. He had work I guess. Floyds still around though. He helps. Keeps the others orderly. Do you still have the thing I gave you?" Khaki clutched at something beneath her shirt. "Maybe, what did you give me?" Catnip looked at her seriously, not understanding that this was a test. "You don't remember? do you even have it? That little key thing on a string? You gave me three chocolate chips for it, even though it was a gift." "Oh my god, Nip? It is you! What... What happened to you?" "Well, Dervish said that there comes a time in every persons life when they grow up and-" "Nevermind, jesus Nip, look at all this fur. You don't look anything like I remember you." "There was a monster, and a spider thing. I will tell you about it over sandwiches." Catnip shared her story since Khaki had last seen her. It took awhile, but it fascinated khaki to no end. When Catnip finished, she asked Khaki what had happened to her. There wasn't much to tell though. They had gone out to search for some missing people and scavenge just prior to the shift, a storm had come up on them and the next thing Khaki knew, she was alone in the middle of an orchard. She'd found her way to a refugee center, this one, and signed on as a guard. "So you don't know about grandpap?" Catnip asked. Khaki shook her head, "naw, afraid not Nip. He's probably out there somewhere. God, it's nice to see that you're okay." The two of them would spend their breaks together, sharing stories and talking about current events.
Then, as always, the metaphorical clouds came back. All at once you could say, when the man appeared. He was tall and bald and Catnip recognized him. She knew him by the scar above his right away. The scar she'd seen so often when she or one of the others was laying on his cutting table. His name, she recalled, was Dr. Brian Davidson. He was in charge of "fixing" the mutants in the lab. He was also in charge of "christmas." She saw him pull up in a startlingly pristine Buckstar Evangaline 400, a sleek thing made less for speed, but more for flaunting ones immense wealth. His clothes looked like business attire, much like the representative in the auditorium. It seemed odd to her, to see him without his scrubs on. Her hands were shaking as she thought about him, watched him make his way towards the woman behind the glass. She remembered how the lights had blinded her, and how his nurse had asked if he wanted to use the anesthesia this time. She hoped it would be yes. She didn't know what anesthesia was, but she knew it would be better than none at all. He was yelling at the woman behind the counter, but unlike catnip or any of the others, the woman didn't look frightened or harried. She just looked "pissed." A feeling came to Catnip then. A feeling she hadn't felt in two years. She remembered Nathan. About how he'd left her. How confused she was, how afraid. He had come back, and she remembered what happened next. Always hitting her, and she decided... "I am free." she said under her breath, staring at the bald man shouting at the woman behind the glass, drawing attention to himself. "I think I'd like to try another new thing..."
Later, Catnip found him, red as a beet and furious. Some punk had siphoned off most of the gas from his tank. Catnip didn't think she was a punk. Catnip had withdrawn, just like she had when she did what she did to Nathan. She remembered a great deal more than she would have liked when Brian Davidson had walked in through the refugee centers double doors. Enough to reverse all the good the hard work, the new and old friends, and especially the twice daily showers had done. She approached quietly. She was good at that, but he suddenly turned in her direction and saw her. She'd left her cloak back at the farm almost two weeks ago. "The fuck do you want freak?" He shouted. Catnip had to struggle to avoid cowering at that. "I fucking eat shit like you for breakfast, so fuck off!" She didn't. In a placid voice, she said "Hello Dr. Davidson, I haven't seen you in awhile." He rolled his eyes, like anybody wouldn't know who he was. "Yeah yeah, skip that shit." he spat, "Hurry this along before I get really angry." Catnip blinked and raised Khaki's pistol. "I guess you don't remember then." The shot was deafening, but accomplished what Catnip intended it to. Floyd had showed her how to use it, but she still wasn't a good shot. Didn't need to be though, not at less than fifteen feet. Davidsons left leg buckled as the bullet ripped through it, and his head smacked hard into the drivers side door. "THE FUCK! YOU SHOT ME YOU FUCKING CUNT! THE FUCK!" Catnip tossed the gun away and waited for him to quiet down. "Catnip, remember?" Sweat beaded on his pate and ran down his cheeks. Veins pulsed in his forehead as he fought against the pain. "The hell? Cat-" recognition. "XE73627?" Catnip shook her head. "No silly. Catnip. What happened to Alabaster and Mica? What is Christmas?" Davidson just stared at her for a moment, and then laughed. The sound bothered Catnip, as it seemed to confirm her suspicions. He stopped laughing all at once and stared at her, and then said almost tauntingly, "Gave them a Christmas of their own. Too bad you got out, or you would have got one too. Do you want a Christmas too 27?" She didn't answer. "He was grinning wide now, as if an idea came to him. "Blightwalker." He said. Nothing happened and his grin slackened. "Blightwalker." he repeated. The grin died on his face. "What the fuck." Catnip remembered how the doctor had handled his tools, especially the little blade. She pulled out her own knife. Purely utility of course, she mostly used it to cut rubber tubing. Still sharp though. It wasn't a little knife, but it would do. "Blightwalker!' Davidson shouted, starting to panic. "BLIGHTWALKER!" Catnips mind went completely blank, instinct took over and did the rest. He started screaming, and it hurt her ears, so she put on the music player, and started her favorite song.
Runnin' down the avenue See how the sun shines brightly in the city On the streets where once was pity Mister blue sky is living here today, hey hey (http://i.imgur.com/gihvcAB.png) Mister blue sky please tell us why You had to hide away for so long (so long) Where did we go wrong? (http://i.imgur.com/HnV6WKb.png) Hey you with the pretty face Welcome to the human race A celebration, mister blue sky's up there waitin' And today is the day we've waited for (http://i.imgur.com/7TT28aq.png) Mister blue sky please tell us why You had to hide away for so long (so long) Where did we go wrong? (http://i.imgur.com/9SDKQ9Y.png)
When she was finished, what was left wasn't much to look at. She didn't feel guilty like she had with Nathan. Brian hadn't confused her with some kind of sick combination of love and abuse. Brian had just tortured her. She looked over the remains though, and wondered. What would the people at the center think of her if they knew what she had done? He wasn't a nice man. Wasn't even a good man, hell. Catnip couldn't have even thought of him as a bad man. Evil was more like it. What if Kathrine found out. That thought did make Catnip feel guilty. Guilty and a little sick. She could stand the disappointment of the others. Heck, they might even understand. Kathrine though... Catnip set to work. She'd seen enough of those stupid crime thriller shows to know what not to do. (http://i.imgur.com/6vRjsg3.png) (http://i.imgur.com/YRR1vDc.png) To her surprise, when she had finished destroying most of the evidence, she felt a great deal better. Ready for another shower in fact. That would be nice. After that... She thought she might be ready to go back to the farm. She'd have to print some fliers to pass out at the center. Things would be fine. She thought maybe she could face Dee's robots. They didn't seem so bad, it's not like they were skitters after all. She shook a little at the thought of the skitters, little beetley things with electric teeth. Yes. A shower would be just the thing, and maybe a chocolate drink with Khaki before she departed for home, and her grand project.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 10, 2017, 02:06:01 pm
The knight meanwhile was working on the tank for the time being, laptop set aside for now. He had plans to eventually go visit the refugee center, and settle a few loose threads if he could. And failing that, see what he can do to help.
The network Deejay managed to set up left him rather impressed, but he felt like it could be a dangerous distraction. Good to rest up while everything calms down, but eventually he knew he'd want to go back to more actively helping out. For now, a few loosened bolts and the M240 popped off, taking the T&E mechanism with it. Ammo for it was running low, and one of their new arrivals would put it to better use in a DMR anyway. His idea was to eventually swap it out for an M249, as they had far more 5.56mm ammo on hand.
Eventually he noticed a familiar figure heading back, giving a wave from atop the tank itself, leaving the unloaded weapon sitting in the driver's hatch as he hopped down. "Glad you're back in one piece. You alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 10, 2017, 05:10:35 pm
Roxanne was in the library she had set up reading on some of the arcane books she had. Victor came into the building, his blade on his back as usual, carrying two cups of coffee as Roxanne was accustomed to receive at this point.
“Ah, Victor, thanks for the coffee!”, Roxanne exclaimed welcoming Victor.
Victor saw the book Roxanne was reading, ‘To Master the Unknown’ the book title read. Victor sat down next to Roxanne and took a sip of his coffee. He was looking distraught as if mustering the courage to say something. Roxanne noticed this, even though she had not known him for too long, despite Victor’s claims otherwise, she had grown to trust him and he seemed to do as well. This in turn made her keen on Victor’s quirks and she knew something was off.
“Something on your mind?”, asked a confused Roxanne.
“There is something I want to ask you… This shifting event you speak of, you say it moved things across universes including people, right?”
“Yes, that is the conclusion I have arrived it, still hard to comprehend?”
“That’s not it…I understand completely, that is the explanation you gave for why I have memories of you even though you have no idea who I am before I arrived…there is just one thing I need closure on…” Victor took another sip his otherwise untouched coffee before continuing, “Before I came to the farm, I was trapped in a temple not far from here…one day I slept in a house I secured and the next I awoke in a strange building infested by the abominations and the damned, unable to leave…I managed to get out but I made a discovery I could not accept at the time…I need to go back…I need you to see this for closure…could you this for me?”
Roxanne looked at Victor upon hearing with a face of disbelief. What he described matched the shifting that occurred but there were unanswered questions. What did he see? Why does he need to go back and why does she need to go as well?
“Why do you need me to go with you? It’s not that I am unwilling to do so, I just find it odd.”
“You will see it when you get there…if you choose to come that is…I don’t need to do this, but I want to for find peace…”
“Alright then…we might find something worth while on the way…” Roxanne then realized something. “But who will man the radio?”
“Actually, I would appreciate radio silence…I have something to explain to you along the way that I simply don’t want the others to know...I need to tell you how to survive where we are going, what it inside and…” Victor drew his blade before continuing, “What this blade does and why you need to be there…”
“…If that is what you want…”
Roxanne and Victor spend the rest of the day getting ready to leave by getting supplies for the journey and inspecting the APC. Roxanne gave generic excuses for why she was leaving with a request for radio silence. Some had their suspicions but kept quiet beyond and offer to help. After all was said and done the two got on the APC and drove off, her final warning still echoing in through the farm, “If anyone messes with the radio or my stuff while I am gone is getting stabbed!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 10, 2017, 09:19:29 pm
"I'm fine. All's fine. just had to be away for a bit. There's a place just on the other side of the swamp, a refugee center. They started pick out our radio stuff and Dees thing. They said network? what is a network Sir Loin?" He explained it, but it seemed a bit too complex for her so he explained it again even more simply. "Should be a computer you can use. Dee set them all up. Still though, they can see what he's set up? How do you know that?" Catnip smiled a tired little smile. "No one notices a rat in a public place, not even a big one like me. Especially when it stays out of the way. All you have to do is listen." Hector was nodding his head a little. "Guess I'll have to move up my plans to make a visit then." Catnip agreed, it would be good to get her old trades established again. This time though, she could go in person whenever she wanted to, and catnip knew she was welcome back at any time. Catnip would have to go to introduce Hector and make sure he was afforded the same treatment. She would show him the trade room, the auditorium, the showers... A whole grand tour. She'd show him the room she'd cleared out of undead and introduce him to Khaki. Thoughts of showing Hector the showers brought to mind her desire to build one of their own at the farm. "I'm gonna put together a shower, a good one. I'll probably do that while I'm working on the train." Hector nodded a little, he wasn't sure if a shower was something they needed, but then again he kind of wanted a nice hot shower himself. "C'mon Nip, the others will want to see that you are alright. Kathrines been worried sick."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 10, 2017, 10:11:44 pm
Roxanne was in the seat back of Victor in her modified APC. Victor was driving since he was the one who knew the location on the temple in question. Catnip had helped Roxanne work on the APC a while back, it was now outfitted with a kitchen, fridge and sink unit with clean water tanks as well as many laser turret mounted along with a 120mm cannon she scavenged from a downed mobile weapons system. This allowed Roxanne to be on the move indefinitely for long expeditions.
Only the roar of the diesel engine could be hear over the silence of Roxanne and Victor. After a while of this Roxanne spoke up. “Soooo…where exactly are we going?”
“We are headed to a temple where I was locked away for a while, it is small on the outside but is has many underground chambers. It is easy to get lost and it is also plague by monsters the like not even the dead here could compare…”
“…And you want to go back why?”
“Like I said, there is something I want you to see for confirmation and closure…”
Silence once more took over for a while. This time, it was victor who spoke up. “Don’t you have any further questions?”
“Of course I do but I do not know how to ask them… why don’t you start by that sword of yours you rarely unsheathe and not once used?”
Victor had left his scabbard with the sword in the seat next to Roxanne. She picked it up and unsheathe it without any protest from him. She examined the black blade which reflected no light. The handguard was very ornate with depictions of what looked like demons and angels locked in battle.
“You really don’t know about it do you?”, Victor interrupted.
“No…I have never seen this before…it looks important…”
“I am sure it was very much so for the original wielder…that sword holds incredible power…”
“What exactly does it do Victor?”
“Well, when powered by dull essence, it gains the properties of entropy itself. It’s blade cause anything it touches to rapidly decay giving the illusion it cuts through anything.”
Roxanne looked at Victor puzzled. He was not aware of this but her sudden silence told him what he needed to know. Roxanne then asked, “Dull essence? As in the Cleansing Flame? What would they have a use for such a thing? And why would you have it in the first place?”
Victor smirked at this for bit, this wasn’t the first time he had to explain this to her. His expression then became grin, realizing the reason for that. He stayed silent for a bit before explain.
“The Cleansing Flame created this blade in order to rid of all other arcane items. It could cut through anything and as such little opposition would ensue. The thing is this blade uses dark powers to function, something very hypocritical of them. To combat this they made it so that the blade would only work with dull essence like all their other tools; as such the blade could only be used when their purposed was fulfill.” Victor went quiet for a second in case Roxanne would interject, when she did not he continued. “As you know as well, the Order was a subsect of the Cleansing Flame. But what most don’t know is that this blade was what caused that rift. What eventually became the order saw how such items could be created and they realized they could harness that power instead of destroying it. They were then deemed as heretics and after a small skirmish, they were thought to be eliminated…How wrong were they… This is where you come in Roxanne…”
“Me? How?”, Roxanne interrupted.
“I am getting to that. As I have mentioned to you, despite your claims otherwise, I remember you as a full fledge acquisitionist. You brought to me countless artifacts, and this blade was one of them. As a former hitman, you were to chosen as part of a small task force to retrieve the blade. The details are not clear to me but you succeeded, but not without a fight, this cause the Cleansing Flame to learn of our existence but the cataclysm struck soon afterwards and with them suffering casualties due to this and the dead, it is safe to say they most likely did not survive.”
“Is that why you have it now?”, Roxanne asked once more.
“Yes, I possess the sword that gave me and many others meaning in the first place, the start of the order. It possesses great power and allowed me to not only survive the cataclysm but the temple I was trapped in.”. Victor looks in the distance. “Speak of the devil, we will be there shortly…I shall explain you what is going on when we enter…why I needed you here…”
Roxanne noticed a shift in tone when Victor said that. She knew something was disturbing him greatly but she knew not to press it any further. “All right Victor… All in due time I suppose…”
Soon afterwards they reached the entrance and Victor turned off the APC, they gathered their things and stepped off.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 10, 2017, 10:26:20 pm
Hector meanwhile was soon at work, having grabbed an M249 from the armory. "Let's see, think I can adapt the T&E from the 240, since this uses a bipod, but...hmm." He then looked back over to Catnip. "So you mentioned the refugee center. It'd be nice to visit them sometime. See what can be done to help them out. Anyone you meet that that seemed like they might be from before all this shifting mess? Or any other familiar faces? I get the feeling that explaining this to them will be a hassle."
"And I hope Roxanne and Victor get back in one piece. Their little radio silence request seems...concerning."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 10, 2017, 11:53:06 pm
"Well, Khaki was there. A few other visitors from the old workshop. Khaki told me she went out with some others, and then she was here. In an... orchard? The place with all the fruits. Khaki is nice." She watched Hector attaching and adjusting the rifle on his tank. She noticed the bolts he was using were unsuitable to the task, and offered him some she knew would be acceptable, if not perfect. It looked like it would take a bit, and rigging up things that required a bit of computerization weren't really her bag. "I'm gonna use the jack-hammer-thingy for a thing I wanted to do but never got around to." She said nonchalantly. Hector grunted his consent and Catnip retrieved it from the tanks storage deck.
A little while later, there came a deafening crash from the direction of the barn. 'Merda! What was that?' Hector thought. The barn had lost a good portion of it's roof, replaced by a billowing cloud of dust.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 11, 2017, 12:00:06 am
The knight nodded at that, regarding Catnip curiously, smiling as she handed over bolts that'd be a better fit for getting the weapon to fit using the old gun's mount. Naturally he went ahead and let her use the jackhammer, given she'd made it for him.
Soon enough though a massive racket, far beyond the simple pounding of the jackhammer, startled him intp practically falling off the tank, running over to the barn to make sure everyone was alright.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 11, 2017, 12:45:49 am
"What..." Coughed Catnip, pulling herself out of a pile of splintered boards, "What happened?" Hector and Kathrine grabbed her by the arms and pulled her out the rest of the way. Her tail had taken on an obvious and painful looking kink a foot from it's tip. "Oh mistress! your tail!" Catnip looked at it, looked at Kathrine, looked at Hector, "Huh. That really hurts." Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed.
Quinn had done his best to straighten Catnips tail out, but made it clear that it would probably be like that for the rest of her life. At at least until she got in another building collapse and managed to force the vertebrae back into position. "I could force it." he said, "But I'm really not that kind of doctor and I'd probably do more harm than good." Hector and Roxanne had gone to clear away the mess while Quinn took a look at Nips tail. "Wow," exclaimed Roxanne, "This wood is old as hell. This is the kind of stuff they used to tear down barns to get at and re-purpose to make expensive furniture. What did they call it? 'Reclaimed or something like that?'" Hector gave a nod and said, "Yeah. It's a wonder it didn't collapse before now. Look at these shakes, they're cedar. They started requiring builders to stop using cedar shingles back in the 90s. I think." Roxanne was digging through a somewhat large pile in the corner. "aw," she moaned, "the rock forge got toppled. Look at this mess." Hector was busy examining the front door though. "That's nothing Rox, look at the gate here. It's completely wrecked." He was right, the door had taken a blast of falling debris and had blown outwards. All that was left was a scrap of door and the winch that controlled it.
A little later, Catnip and Kathrine arrived to clean up, Catnip with her tail in a useless and strange little splint that Roxanne found funny. Floyd showed up a little later, having been out at the time. He listened to Hectors account of what had happened, and then chastised both the knight and Catnip for their irresponsibility. Roxanne interjected though, "If you knew the barn was so old, why didn't you say anything?" Floyd just responded with, "Figured, if it had been standin this long, it'd stand a bit longer. So long as nobody messed with the supports."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 11, 2017, 06:59:02 am
Kathrine sat down, cross-legged, next to Catnip in the now-cleared area. "Mistress, you were all sad and then went gone for a week, and now you made the barn fall apart and hurt yourself. Are you... Dee-crest?" She seems serious, despite not understanding the word, and the couple of mistakes in her speech. She looks like she wants to give Catnip a hug, but is trying to hold herself back.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 11, 2017, 10:01:09 am
Catnip would have pulled her in for that hug, but for her arms which were both splinted and in slings. "No. I'm fine now. I saw some old friends and made some new ones. You will probably get to meet them too, but remember; ask before giving hugs ok?" Catnips head started to hurt again, and her tail ached fiercely. It had been kinked in another place by the "accident." "Scratch my nose please." Kathrine did so, and Catnip winced with a hiss. She'd been slammed in the face by whatever it was that hit her. She thought it might have been the steering wheel. It hadn't broken any of her teeth, thank goodness, but she had been sprayed her with broken glass and sent flying from the vehicle she had attempted to move. "What happened Kat?"
There was a crash. Hector and Dee were checking over the cars in Catnips lot and she had opted to move one of the larger vehicles out of the way. She turned her head just as the RV bumped something, but then there came a loud *Bink!* and when her head swiveled back, something hit her. no one saw what it was until later, some kind of explosion of compressed air. It obliterated the cab of the RV, and for a moment the two men collecting parts for the trios project car thought that Catnip had been vaporized. It was no relief to them when she not so much as flew out, but rather crashed through, the back end of the RV and her limp form hit and skidded along the road thirty yards away. If Hectors tank had still been sitting where it had been, Catnip would have been pasted into it's armored hull. It was a blessing then, that Hector had opted to move it before beginning for the day. Quinn and Roxanne worked tirelessly to keep her alive, and they had done a fairly good job of that. It had come close though. Surprisingly, catnips legs had been none the worse for wear, but her arms were broken. badly. She'd broken a bunch of ribs as well, and Roxanne had had to retrieve some special equipment to fuse Catnips skull back into one piece. Then, it had come down to waiting. To see if she would wake up. Kathrine never left her bedside, while Dee examined what was left of the RV's cab. "Some kind of trap." He said "Pressurized air in a large propane tank hidden between the dash and the engine compartment, hooked up to a simple trigger mechanism. It looks like it was pumped full of enough air to make it dangerous, and when the trap was triggered, it would rupture the tank. I just don't get it though, if you wanted to keep people from making off with your car, why would you rig up something that would demolish the car too?" Hector hazarded that it wasn't meant to do that, maybe just scare the would be thief, maybe break a bone or two. It malfunctioned, in other words. Dee believed that might be true, but probably not. There just wasn't enough left of it to tell.
"I thought you were dead." Kathrine finished. "Don't die Mistress." By the time she had finished though, Catnip had gone back to sleep.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 11, 2017, 03:16:52 pm
Kathrine gives the sleeping Catnip a worried look. She didn't think that sleeping after an accident and head injury was good. She thought she heard that somewhere, at least. Maybe they were wrong, or maybe she just remembered wrong. "Sleep tight, Miss Catnip." She whispers, sitting next to the bed. Kath wasn't as sleepy as she normally was, which was strange. Normally, in-between stretches of cooking for everyone and giving out hugs, she would nap for a while, and then go back to being hyperactive. She didn't sleep as much as Lilith though, who slept for most of the day, even fitting in naps while the weirdly voiced lady was building the cabin further up the river. Kathrine didn't know why they were building it, because the lady said that Lilith "Ain't stickin' around here. Not near that one". She had only started bringing supplies when everyone had said Kathrine wasn't at the bridge, which she found strange. She had told them that Lilith was nice and didn't try to do anything mean last time, but that didn't seem to change anyone's mind...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 11, 2017, 03:54:42 pm
Hector meanwhile was examining the books that they'd scavenged along the way. He didn't want to say it, but he knew just enough first aid to tell that Catnip had several fractures that wouldn't heal easily. Not with either a lot of time, and some wounds might never heal up properly.
His hands settled on a book he'd skimmed a few times in the past, but never thoroughly studied. History of Alchemy. Of the peculiar books he found, and that Roxanne had considerable familiarity with, this was the only one he could easily make sense of. Lots of it were rooted in mundane chemistry, which (thanks to the more-experienced people at the farm) he'd picked up a rudimentary familiarity with. Even then, parts of it entailed formulae that were definitely beyond what he was experienced, concocting things that by all rights shouldn't do what they claim to do...
Side note, this gives me an idea. I think the healing effect from artifacts, scrolls of overgrowth, and gilded aegis works even on disabled limbs, right...?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 11, 2017, 05:12:00 pm
Nope.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 11, 2017, 05:34:29 pm
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 11, 2017, 11:28:03 pm
Roxanne helped Catnip into the back of her scout car. She'd found something while she was out looking for something to help fix Catnips mangled skull. A "Mr. Stem Cell." terminal. She'd managed to get into the machine and get it to inject some kind of medical concoction into a vial for her. She thought it was medicine anyway. She hoped it was. As it turned out, it had been. The idea had come to her though, that if the machine could get the medicine directly into a patient, instead of administering the medicine via proxy, it might be more effective. It had stitched Catnips brain case back together pretty well, and hadn't injured her in the least. They drove for a day and a night, and arrived on the second day.
"Alright Nip," the machine you are looking for is inside. Don't worry too much, I've already cleared this building out." Catnip only looked at her. She knew that Roxy wasn't lying, but she also knew that Roxy never made sure the biters didn't get back up. Catnip was right of course, the hospital was infested. Just not near the front. She took her time, making her way around them and exploring each room. She could have gone back to get Roxanne of course, but Catnip was confident that she could handle whatever was in the hospital. Something appeared that gave her pause though. It looked like a biter, but it was different. There was a tiny sizzling noise about it, and it leaked some viscous stuff that hissed and burnt wherever it touched. It was blocking her way. It stood transfixed by a spot on the floor, dripping it's vile acid. Very carefully, catnip drew her rapier. It was next to impossible to use normally, so she propped it's hand against her body just beneath her chest. Then, after some consideration, she took several quick steps foreward and ran the thing through. It didn't really react. It made a snuffling noise though, it probably detected catnips smell. She withdrew her slender sword, noting the way the acid had effected it a little, and then repeated what she'd done before. This time, it collapsed. She considered stomping on it, but remembered the acid in it's body. Instead, she dropped a book of lit matches on top of the body and went on her merry way. A little later, Catnip heard a crash and immediately knew what had happened. She kicked herself for her carelessness and began to run. The fire was on her heels before she knew it, and just as it began to consume the lobby, dove through the shattered plate glass window, her fur smoking.
"Did you find it?" Asked Roxanne. She noted the fire consuming the counter in the lobby. "I guess not." Catnip and Roxanne watched the fire for awhile while they shared a candy bar. When it had died down, they sifted the rubble for anything of value. "Oh wow, they built these things tough!" Roxanne exclaimed, "Over here catnip, it's a bit charred but it's still functional. Lemme just clean some of it's utilities off." Catnip looked at it distrustfully, she'd seen objects like it in the lab and it's collection of tool tipped arms reminded her of the spidery mutation things. She indicated that Catnip should take a seat at the operating chair while she worked the console. "Alright, lets see... ah, here we are. Bone treatments." The machine sprung to life, spinning it's tools about in a most alarming fashion. "Uh... Roxy?" said Catnip. She suddenly screamed as the machine jabbed a needle at her eye. "Don't struggle Catnip! You'll get hurt if you struggle!" Catnip heard her and tried not to struggle as the machine did it's work.
A traumatic experience to be sure, and Catnips trust for Roxanne had taken yet another hit. Catnip had to admit though, being able to use her arms again was nice, and the machine had even wiped away a few of her scars.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 12, 2017, 02:39:43 am
Dee stares at his laptop's screen. He gets up and grabs the folding chair he was sitting on. He runs full speed towards the cookhouse, he slams the door open and Nathan jumps at the door opening. "Hey whats the Prob-" Dee slams the folding chair against Nathan, knocking him to the floor. Nathan looks up at Dee, "Hey what the fu-" Dee kicks Nathan in the face, then in the ribs. Dee stares down at Nathan, mask showing a pair of white dots. "Stay down. Don't get revenge." He picks the chair back up and heads back to his workshop.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 12, 2017, 02:45:59 am
Nathaniel was left on the floor, wincing a bit as he clutched his head. "Jesus fucking...alright, I get it. I'm a twat. But what the hell was all that for?" he called out, while the knight sighed a bit at the racket that ensued, looking back to the laptop. "Well, this is going to be a clusterfuck..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 12, 2017, 03:37:48 am
Sharlene crashes through the door to Dee's workshop, gasping for breath. "Wh-Where's th-e... Fuck! Kid? Rat? Mechanic one?" She looks more banged up than usual, covered in mud and missing a sleeve. Dee can notice a slow drip of blood coming off the same elbow of the arm she's carrying a first aid kit with.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 12, 2017, 03:40:16 am
Hector meanwhile was calmly bringing drinks over to Nathaniel after a few explanations, thanks to Deejay's robot, only to regard Sharlene warily. "Huh. That can't be good..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 12, 2017, 03:40:36 am
Dee's mask turns to a pair of exclamation points and he yells out, "HOLYSHITFUCK- What? Catnip? She just got back I think, check the barn. She's good since I last saw her."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 12, 2017, 03:48:44 am
"But the ba-" She cuts herself off, shaking her head. "Right, thanks." She turns to leave, then pauses, tossing Dee-Jay a can of soda. "You're like.. 18 or whatever, it's a freebie." She coughs once before running for the barn at a slightly less sprinting pace.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 12, 2017, 03:50:12 am
Prior to current event while Roxanne and victor were still out.
Once out of the APC, Victor gave basic instructions before heading inside the temple. “Okay Roxanne, you are a very competent fighter but try sticking to your rifle inside, you are great at melee but these things are very powerful. I should be able to take them down with my blade though, I just need you to provide cover…”
“Alright Victor, If that is how you want to proceed…lead the way then…”
Victor then opened the door and the couple entered. Inside it was a plain living area with a kitchen and other furniture such as beds, couches and even a small library. Victor deemed this unimportant as he motioned Roxanne down a flight of stairs. Down there is where the real ‘fun’ began… It was a maze of corridors and doors on either side of them. Occasionally, monsters of every striped would show up, beings of fire and darkness, phantoms and the occasional cryptic were swiftly brought down by the quiet yet efficient pair.
After what seemed liked hours of blindly maze navigation, that victor somehow seemed to know his way around, and fighting many an abomination, they reached a door that Victor signaled Roxanne to enter. She followed him inside. The room was a plane library-like living space illuminated by touches. There was the door they had come from and another on the other side of the room. Victor picked up a book and opened it, read a bit and set it back down. He spoke, “Roxanne…thank you for accompanying me hear…what I want to show you id behind that door…but first I need to tell you a few things…”
“I was about to ask Victor, how did you know your way around this place?”
“I will answer that and more…just sit down…”
Victor motioned Roxanne to a couch nearby opposite a bed that like it had been occupied recently. Roxanne looked around the room and noticed a few things. The room was kept very well, dust here and there but as much as expected from a building as old as this one looked when still inhabited. This disturbed Roxanne. Victor spoke once more, “As you know, I said I had been trapped here…but that is not the whole story… You see, this room was where I lived while tapped here. It has knowledge about not only the arcane but how this whole place works. I learned how to navigate and where to find supplies…I survived for a long time here…more time than what had transpired on the surface…I had been trapped here for 5 years…I don’t understand how but from the time of the cataclysm until I awoke here to what other at the farm have said, that should be impossible.” Victor looked at Roxanne who had a face of disbelieve and high skepticism, he continued, “I was not alone however…someone else shared the same fate as myself. I did not meet them but evidence of their exitance was undeniable. Monster would appear dead on the corridors, unexplored rooms where devoid of supplies, and much more. The thing is, I never got to communicate with them. One day however, evidence of their exitance stopped, all rooms where accounted for and no monsters appeared dead any more. I was horrified for both them and the fact that I could share the same fate they did. One day however, I found a corpse…” Victor went quiet, seemingly getting very uncomfortable.
“Everything alright?”, Roxanne asked.
“You be the judge…”, Victor took a deep breath before continuing, “ Now, I recognized this person…I knew them all too well and I could not accept their death…you see, I had found an exit and was looking for the person that wandered the halls like I did. I had also received your radio broadcast and was elated to know someone I trusted had survived as well and was nearby. All that changed when I saw the corpse…that corpse…was you Roxanne…”
Roxanne got up and exclaimed in disbelief, “What the fuck are you talking about?! I am right here!!!”
“See it for yourself…”, Victor told Roxanne as he pointed toward the door opposite of where they entered. Roxanne went towards the door and opened it, what laid before her shocked her. It was unmistakably her, but how, she was here! This was here before her augmentation and mutation shenanigans. She laid very well preserved with her blade drawn with a single gash that once oozed blood on the side of her neck, an expression of agony on her face. After a while of staring in disbelief Victor interrupted the silence, “I am sorry for this…I had to confirm this and I though you ought to know but I could not bring myself to simply telling you…This is you…before what you called the shifting, the Roxanne I knew who gave me the blade I wield…your alternate self of the universe you know inhabit…” Roxanne did not say a word, she just kept stating for a long while. Eventually she turned towards Victor and with somber eyes she said, “Sorry I am not her…” Silence permeated once more
“…Thank you for giving me closure…Let’s get out here…”, Victor told Roxanne as he grabbed the book from earlier and chanting some arcane rune. A light engulfed the both of them and they were back on the top floor. With utter silence they went to the APC and rode the way back to the farm with not a single word spoken save for the following by Roxanne a day into the drive back before she fell asleep for the rest of the trip, “I am sorry I am not her…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 12, 2017, 03:51:12 am
"Hey I'm Twenty thr-... She's gone. Son of a bitch." Dee says after catching the soda, his mask turning to a "> ..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 12, 2017, 11:51:28 am
Catnip woke with a start from her nap. Longish trip. Well no, not long. Slow was more like it. Slow going around all the cars. The way to the hospital had been horrifyingly slow. She had a feeling that it only felt that way because she was hurt. The way back had been a bit better, but she'd still felt the need to take a nap when they got back. There was some banging going on at the cookshack. Between her window and that most deliciously fragrant of buildings, was a narrow walkway. It meant she could listen in on conversations in there, or smell what Kathrine was cooking without going outside. This was not Kathrines cooking she heard, a sound which was usually a bit quieter if still a little raucous. It wasn't a conversation either. It sounded like some kind of fight.
She leaned out the window and called, "What's going on?" Dee poked his head around the side as he was leaving the cook shack. He had a mangled folding chair bouncing on his shoulder. "Nothin Nip, just a bit of rough housing, you know." Nathan, a man Catnip didn't really interact with much, half walked, half crawled out the other end of the cookshack. "Uh huh," she said groggily, "Well, keep it down maybe?" Dee nodded, and his mask went '^_^' "yes ma'am." He went to turn away, but once again Catnip stopped him. "Sorry to bother you Dee, but could you be a friend and get me some of that chocolate coffee dust? Thanks."
When she turned, an unfamiliar woman was in the barn. Catnip thought she'd seen her somewhere before, and then she remembered the cat ogre and their talk by the bridge. "Your friends say your a fan of honest fair trade. Here, free sample." She took a can from under her arm and tossed it to Catnip. To her surprise though, instead of catching it, Catnip spun out of the way of the can. It struck the dirt and dented quiet badly, but did not rupture. "Sorry," she said, seeing the look Sharlene gave her, "So used to being told to avoid things being thrown at me. They'd punish us with the strap for every thing that touched you." Sharlene was staring at her. "Do I have something on my face? It might be black from the fire, lemme get a mirror." Sharlene stopped her, "Neh, it's fine darling." when she said 'darling' it came out "dahling," and that tickled Catnip a little. "I'd come to check in on you a few times while you were out. You got banged up pretty bad. Some kind of trap or something?" Catnip picked up the can and gave it a cursory look. "Yeah. Air thing exploded. I wonder how I managed to avoid setting it off when I brought it back here. Maybe some kind of pump mechanism filling it with power from the wheels as they turn..." Catnip turned the can over, "kri-spee cran-bear-ee?" she read alound, and then opened it. The result was spectacular.
After Catnip had washed the sugar out of her coat, a task she did not relish as much as she would have if it had been one of the refugee centers showers, she went to check and see what dee was doing, and if any progress had been made on the car in her absence. Also, she wanted to see if he'd gotten what she'd asked him to get. If he had, he hadn't brought it to her. Maybe he forgot.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 12, 2017, 06:24:31 pm
BCUZ CONTINUITY AND TIMEY WIMEY BALLS INSERT SHARLENE OFFERING TO HAVE LILITH MOVE STUFF FOR PEEPS AT THE FARM HERE
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 12, 2017, 07:25:17 pm
Roxanne went to find where catnip was. She was there struggling with the keyboard due to her claws and a key was in the floor. Roxanne sighed before picking up the key and putting it back on the keyboard. She then showed catnip how to type by not using the tips of her claws.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 13, 2017, 01:39:39 am
"Yo! What are you ladies doing way over here?" Dee crossed the road towards Catnip, Kathrine, and an odd cylindrical device. The device looking like some kind of electric motor, and at it's top was a metal rod. The rod terminated at chest height and attached to the end of that, was a three foot blade on a pivoting ring. Kathrine handed Catnip a crescent wrench. The two seemed to have developed a familial bond, as such, sometimes Kathrine knew what Catnip wanted or needed before she even asked for it. Kathrine looked to Dee and put a finger to her lips, indicating that he should be silent. He watched as Catnip deftly turned bolts and adjusted screws. She tightened down the last screw on a panel she had been working on, and then looked intently to the large nut at the base of the metal rod. "The moment of truth." she said. Kathrine held out the pipe wrench from Catnips tool box, and Catnip took it. One rotation, two rotations, three... On the fourth rotation, there came a loud "SPRONK!" from somewhere in the devices guts. Dee didn't have time to wonder what that had been, for in that instant both Kathrine and Catnip had tackled him in what at first seemed like a double barreled surprise ambush hug. The blade passing inches over his head dashed that thought before it had much time to form as well. After they'd got out from under the wildly spinning blade, and Catnip had furiously gathered her tools. They stood and watched it. Catnip made angry hissing noises. Dee thought that if looks could kill, the look Catnip gave the machine would have caused it to explode. As if given power by that thought, there was a startling snapping noise. It was Dee's turn to tackle the girls to the ground as the blades pivot suddenly gave up and the blade was sent sailing into the woods to imbed itself in the trunk of a tree.
"I'm finished with this project." Catnip spat. She was furious, and it took all of Kathrines willpower to keep from hiding under the work table. "I've been working at this in my spare time for a year now and that ffffff-spring... keeps giving out. What am I doing wrong? The spring is fine! I've built small ones that work better than this and I solved the problem with those ones easily!" Kathrine clutched at her coat, and interjected "maybe you would like to watch cartoons? That will make you feel better, I will even make you hot chocolate Mistress." Catnip paced, and just as Kathrine thought she wouldn't answer, she said. "No. I think I'll take a walk in the woods." That worried Kathrine. "You aren't going again Mistress? Please don't go out again. You always get hurt! I-" Catnip spun on her then, not angry, just eager. "No Kat, I won't go again. But you are gonna come with me! Listen." Catnip went into her room and rummaged, when she came back out she was holding a book. "I can sort of read this, by sounding out the words. It has lots of hard ones, but we don't need to know the hard ones." Kathrine looked at the book closely, but Catnip knew she couldn't read it. She just wanted Kathrine to see the picture. "We are going to relax, and we are going to be productive." Catnip declared, "Even Kathrines need breaks! We can have hot chocolate when we get back!" Kathrine wanted to argue, to say that she didn't need any breaks. At the same time though, Mistress was insistent. She would go along because Catnip wanted her to go along. The book, which Catnip had picked up on a whim from a store front on the way back from her hospital trip with Roxanne, was adorned with a photograph of a delicious white mushroom. It's title was, "Edible Fungi of New England."
While Catnip was off with Kathrine, scouring the woods for mushrooms, Hector was putting the finishing touches on the body work of Dee's project car. "Looks good, tin can." Commented Dee, appreciating how hector had managed to get the dents out of the metal parts, and had patched and repainted the fiberglass bits. He grumbled at being called "tin can." It was a nickname that was starting to spread. He was sure Roxanne was spreading it around on purpose. "I'm not in armor today you know. You are just about out of silver here Dee, not sure if you've got enough to finish off the rest of the the rear quarter panels." Dee checked the cabinet where he kept his paint, and discovered that he was in fact, out of automotive silver. "She did a wonder on that engine didn't she?" Hector commented. "Yeah, I don't think I could have done it. I'd probably have given up after a day or two and parked it out somewhere where I could look at it. Probably pulling off a part to use as decoration on one of my robots..." It was a nice old car, all things considered. Not all the parts were original, but who cared about a few after market parts when the vehicle ran? Dee thought it ran beautifully. Catnip on the other hand felt their were still problems. 'Such is the way with masters, I guess' Dee thought. "She sure is injury prone though." Dee said, before describing the incident with the spinning blade trap. Hector had seemed both alarmed and a little exasperated at first. That told Dee that his statement had not been far from the truth.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 13, 2017, 02:00:48 am
Dee tapped the mouthpiece of his mask in thought, mask displaying a > ... before turning to a pair of exclamation point. "Tinman I forgoooooot!" Hector looks at Dee as he runs into his bedroom, he runs back into the main workshop area with a large box of spraypaint stained paper. "AAAALRIGHT. I got these stencil things for the CAR. It's gonna make it look SICK NASTY in a good way!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 13, 2017, 02:03:41 am
Hector grumbled a little at that nickname. "This is Booby Lady...ahem,. Roxanne's fault." he remarked, before looking at the stencils. "Ooh, should be interesting. Had tempted to see what sort of paint work would go well on the tank, but not a good idea. Too easy to scratch it up, and don't want to paint a nice target on the off chance anything I encounter shoots back."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 13, 2017, 07:01:15 am
Kathrine had retreated over to the cooking shack after Catnip hadn't told her to do anything else, holding a plastic shopping bag with a couple of mushrooms and grabbing a couple of vegetables from the semi-recent harvest, along with one of the chicken MRE's. She'd be in there for a good five hours, if nothing else came up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 14, 2017, 08:06:09 am
The mushroom hunt, was a success. As it turned out, Catnip and Kathrine hadn't needed the book after all. For identification anyway. Rats are particularly adept at detecting poisons, especially the strange bluish ones. Roxanne said these ones were not from these parts. Probably not even of this world. Still though, Catnip had plucked them and the others up out of the ground. If the mushroom was safe to eat, she sorted it into Kathrines shopping bag. If it was not, she either left it alone or gave it to Roxanne. Now Catnip was working again. She did not hear the sounds of the laptop Dee had provided, indicating that there was a conversation going on, hands deep in the bowels of a war machine which dwarfed "Siege tower." Siege tower being Sir Loins sizable chosen vehicle. She heard the sounds of inert machinery and her own efforts, and she smelled the reek of oil and the autumn aroma of what Kathrine was making over in the cook shack. She had a feeling that she was going to remember this meal for a long time.
Later, after she'd done her very best to get all the oil and grease out of her fur, Dee came to her workshop. "So guuurl..." He said, "Had a long convo with some people you might know over the network we set up. Khaki says hi." Catnip looked away from the bits and bobs she was tinkering with, "Oh? Oh. Do you know Khaki?"
"No. I told you, I talked to someone over the computer. They passed along a message for you. That's not important right now, what is is that we get some things together for the people over at the refugee center across the swamp. Gonna send them some laptops and phones. They want to make a trade to. Some of your solar panels for a bunch of stuff we'd want. and lots of chocolate." Catnips eyes lit up. She looked tired, but excited. "Ok Dee. Let's see..." "Oh, and when you have a mo' they need you to take a look at one of their cars." They discussed it as they got everything together and Dee tested the remote systems on the car. They'd put it up to Catnip and Kathrine to choose a decal for it, and now as the sun set she could see clearly the green smiling face on the left back quarter panel and smiled. Such a happy symbol for something that was likely to take a lot of bullets in it's line of duty.
A trip that would take a few hours on foot took the scout car a mere twenty minutes. In the time it took the folks at the refugee center to unload the supplies sent by the farm, Dee had had enough time to go and sit down to enjoy the fruits of the mushroom hunt with everyone else and await the come down from the light hallucinations the food put him through. It seemed that Catnips nose hadn't been quiet as good as she thought it was. That, or from the way Roxanne looked across the table at the others losing their minds, it had been a prank carried out by the very likely immune cyber elf. The effect on catnip and Dee had been minor compared to the others, Catnip had the raised resiliance her mutations afforded, and Dee had built an immunity to what Roxanne had added over time. The others though had a tougher time. Hector particularly. He sat stock still in his seat staring down at his plate, blinking rapidly and sweating. Kathrine was upset at the way they reacted though. "It's... It's ok Kathrine. Is probably... probably my fault. It's... wonderful though." Catnip had tears running down the left side of her face. Despite the effect the food was having on everyone, Catnip was still eating. Dee just stared at Roxanne from across the table. He liked a good prank as much as everyone else, but thought that perhaps she'd chosen the wrong chef to sabotage. "Yes," she said, holding up another spoon of the soup Kathrine had prepared, "It's delicious." Maybe it was the mushrooms at work, but his usually sharp senses seemed to have been honed to a razors edge, and Dee noted the look of guilt creeping into her eyes. Just to hammer it home though, he waited until Kathrine was out of earshot and whispered, "This isn't funny booby lady." Out loud though, he asked "Hey Kat, is there any of this left? If no one minds, I'll take the leftovers back to my workshop to snack on." Kathrine didn't look up, but she did dip her head a little in a gesture that signified consent.
When the scout car had returned, it came back with something other than the payment the center had agreed to. A thin but sturdy case, the kind usually carried by businessmen. A note on the cover read "Nip, this may be of concern to you." The case would have been written off and forgotten about the case filled with papers she could not read if Hector had not asked her about the contents. She gave it to him with a shrug. Hector didn't know if he should tell Catnip what the sheaf of papers contained, but the coords on one of the pages stuck out like a brand. The rest of it was the ravings and studies of an X7 scientist by the name of Brian Davidson and had apparently been left behind after his last visit to the center. It seemed oddly convenient, but he couldn't deny those coordinates. He looked at them again and noted their location on the Siege Towers automap. Quite the distance, but if he went, perhaps he'd get some answers to questions he'd dwelled on over the last year. It was always an option, and he had the coords if he decided to pursue them.
0, 0'108, 1'117
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 14, 2017, 10:58:39 am
Hector by now had calmed down a little after the...experience he had after dinner, a little concerned by that. Evidently the effects were a bit strong for him despite his constitution, given his usual avoidance of most such things. "In retrospect that was a rather funny prank, but..." he remarked to Roxanne, still a little irked over it. "Those weren't exactly any species common to this realm, let alone this region, were they? Have you seen some of the fungi that's crept into this realm?"
Soon though he examined the contents more thoroughly, and the one item that stood out to him unnerved him a bit. He checked a few notes he found in his exploration of the ice lab, along with the map display on the tank. Far south of their location, the identification was a bit unfamiliar to him, until to tell if it was another mutagenics lab, or something similar to the map he found earlier...
Given the distance though, he was uncertain of this. For now he quietly put the notes away, planning instead to pay the refugee center a visit sometime.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 15, 2017, 01:32:02 am
Autumn comes and goes. The onset of winter is heralded by cold winds blowing in from the north east, bringing with them the scent of snow and smoke. Life has settled in the post-cataclysm world, for the most part. Small groups find footholds in some places, establishing themselves as farmers, traders, mechanics, electricians, bandits, and the occasional sect of a religious cult. The dead still walk the earth of course, but in the three years since their appearance and uprising, man has grown accustomed to them. Some ban those with them from entering the cities where the dead hold court, while others encourage the hunting of the beasts that dwell where man once walked freely. It is still a land of turmoil, such things still walk the earth that make life difficult for man, including man itself. There are rumors of bandit "lords" rising to power in the west while people in the south organize to keep one another safe. We need not concern ourselves with events outside the place that our focus is on now. Our focus lies on a small farm, somewhere in New England.
There is a girl here, one of the increasing number of mutants. Nearby can be seen another of her kind. Where one is distinctly animal, the other shows only a few signs of her altered anatomy. Created for very different purposes. One pulls fitfully at the treads of a war machine, while the other looks on with a mix of interest and obedient admiration. After a good amount of pulling and prying, she gives up. She and the other (Her friend? Her sister?) retreat to the interior of the farms partially collapsed barn.
In the farmhouse, two men discuss plans for some kind of foray. They have sat long and fed well, both know that they've softened a little with the surprisingly good living being in this group has provided. One has a chivalrous but carefree look about him, while the other hides a soft heart beneath his stony exterior and the broad brim of his hat. They work together towards some common mission that for now, stays between them.
Across the farm, there is a lab, of a sort. Inside we find a woman making gestures over a glowing bowl while another looks on with interest. The woman is stunning in physical beauty, the man is staggering in hidden strength. Both have an interest in the occult, but for very different reasons. She finishes her gestures and the glow fades. The woman only scratches her head, wondering what went wrong.
A collection of small houses is the scene of raucous activity. Men, not of this land, sit around a burning barrel drinking and telling stories. While none know it, the story of some of them may come to a close, and sooner than they would like. It is best they celebrate now.
The girl, her long thin tail dragging behind her, carries a duffel bag to the door of a larger building. She knocks twice and then lets herself in. After awhile, she comes back out without the bag. Inside is a man, like herself a mutant. He looks over the illicit contents of the bag with satisfaction, and is glad that he didn't immediately turn to bitter shouting when the promised good did not turn up when the car had been sent back with it's freight of more legitimate goods. It seemed, he hadn't checked beneath the easily removed quarter panels. Like in the old days, some things still had to be smuggled to the people who wanted them.
Not far from the farm, we see a lonely cabin on a flat stretch of land bordering a river. Within, a handsome woman is berating a large tiger like creature. The best could crush her easily, but it does not. It only shows a look of guilt over some bit of bad behavior. In the corner, a man sits sullenly. For some reason, he has chosen to adorn himself in the clothing of a woman. He is not here willingly.
And so life goes on for these people. They lay their plans and perform their self appointed tasks. In this world where the dead walk and the great machines roll ever onward to pash the life of their creators, where the world is thin and beings from the world next door flood through the gaps in reality to conquer this strange new world they find themselves in, these people live out their new found lives in hopes of a better existence.
Time moves ever onward, life goes forward as always, even in the apocalypse.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 04:09:33 am
Once again the weather seemed to grow calm, survivors continuing to follow a way of life that now felt so familiar to them that the old life felt almost like distant past. Like a faded dream, a rather apt comparison given just how lost the old world seemed to them, lost in both a terrible fate and the strange events that gave these survivors unfamiliar surroundings to survive in.
A certain knight made the finishing touches on his repairs, ready to go visit the refugee center now that everything had calmed down for the time being. Finally he decided he'd pay them a visit. All this time he'd spent helping those at the farm, enjoyable company as it was, made him grow soft in his opinion.
With a low rumble the tank started up, soon crashing its way through the clearest available path through the swamp to their west, onward across the field to a lonesome fortified building, having already radioed ahead.
The center was abuzz with activity, remarkable to the knight given how dead most of the cities were. Even hearing from Catnip and talking with their representatives on the radio, he was surprised by the number of people there.
Soon enough he found the one he was looking for, clearly one of the guards. Ex-military types, that much he could tell. "Greetings. I'm here to see if you've any work that you might need done. That, and I wanted to ask about someone, an old friend. Specialist Beau Brooks, might be on personnel files?"
"Some of the gear we brought along should have access to some of the old files, lemme see." the representative said, a weathered old laptop on her desk. "I'm seeing a Brooks, William, a few Belmonts but no Beaumont or Beaufords...looking at active-duty and VA intranet, or at least what's backed up locally. Let me..."
The perplexed look the woman gave as she clicked something said it all. "Only hit is a one PFC Beaufort Brooks. Says he died in a training accident in basic, close to 10 years ago. Guessing this isn't who you're looking for?" she asked, turning the laptop so he could see. Hector took care in not hinting at his actual thoughts at seeing the photograph showing a familiar face, not hinting at shock, anger, sadness. He simply shook his head. "Definitely not him. I'll see what else I can look into. Oh well."
"Now then, regarding any work you may have here..." he inquired, the better to distract himself from an answer he was half-expecting. The last time he saw that face, it was in an old fortified shelter, a look of concern as he promised he'd be back, to follow a lead and bring back something he promised to retrieve. A promise to someone who was once his best hope of getting in touch with the Old Guard, and finding out answers that were no longer of any use to him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 15, 2017, 08:51:13 am
While Catnip was giving Dee his bag of weed (which she didn't like the idea of), Kathrine was thinking. Mostly about the time Roxy gave her bad mushrooms to make soup with, but also about the refugee centre, and even slightly about the sword thing that Catnip had been using for a bit. She'd seen it while looking through some of the pictures in one of the magazines, and seen a bit of one during one of the movie nights before she'd left. The way you had to stand with it interested her, as did the footwork, it was almost like a dance. And she knew how to dance.
As guilty as it made her feel, Kathrine had 'stolen' the rapier from Catnip's room. She was stood on the roof of the farmhouse, stepping backwards and forwards with the rapier pointed in front of her. She has surprisingly good balance for how fast she's doing it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 12:43:00 pm
Soon enough the knight had a mission. Much to his annoyance, it was rather far from the center, but at least they gave him some useful advice. Two roads out north were available, and the eastern one was blocked off by a police checkpoint.
"This is Hector, checking in. Got a task that'll take up a bit out of the area for a while, we'll see how far radio reception goes." he reported, wondering how the refugee center was aware of a group rather far off to worry about. Then again, he guessed that raiders would require transportation to operate effectively.
The knight steadily drove along one of the roads, choosing one that wouldn't entail wasting ammo on whatever might remain at the roadblock, passing by a few scattered corpses with science equipment. Ah, the one thing Hector missed most of all while he was at the farm, he mused.
Later on in the evening he reached a roadside motel, right at the edge of the forests the road cut through. Checking his map he realized the other road must've been a dead end, or simply curved farther east.
"Checking in, still not too far, if you can read me. Forest is clearing up just to my north, will be easier going in the morning."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 02:34:32 pm
The knight traveled along the road, noticing how much more open the terrain was, spotting a small town with relatively minimal undead presence.
Aside from the few bits of supplies he encountered, more useful to him was a SWAT truck, well-supplied with fuel but otherwise in too poor a condition to drive. Soon he started down the road again, winding east then north, when he caught sight of something odd, just within the treeline. A thick morass of trees, shifting figures faintly visible within.
"Hector here. Can you still read me? Spotted signs of sort of thick tree growth in the forests up ahead. Seems to local, lot more clustered together than some of the strange clusters of otherworldly plantlife I've heard about before. Can't see clearly what's in it..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 15, 2017, 02:52:10 pm
Some noises can be heard over the radio as it is being set up on the other end. "Sorry for the radio silence, we had some issues with the radio a while ago. This is Victor, , Roxanne is off being lazy again...don't tell her I said that. Katherine will take over the radio for a while since I have to check the tower itself for a bit. I will have a hand held radio to hear the broadcast but won't be able to talk." Victor hands Katherine the mic and he goes to the radio tower outside.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 15, 2017, 03:10:58 pm
"Hi Mister Hector! Mister Victor is doing something and he told me to tell him if you called bu-" She's interrupted by the door opening and Victor walking in, saying something, grabbing a handset and leaving. She's glaring at him the entire time, and leans back in her seat after he's left. "Humph."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 03:16:37 pm
The radio faintly transmitted the rumble of the engine, then abruptly a few sharp bangs could be heard, though much softer than their actual volume would've been. "Sorry about that Kathrine. Gain should be a lot quieter than it was on my end though."
"Found a sort of...grove? I think. Thick ring of trees with only one gap thin enough to get through. Only saw one weird plant creature, a couple blob monsters, and some sort of imp...big rock formation in the middle. I was going to ask Victor or Roxanne about it, but what do you think Kath?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 15, 2017, 03:19:23 pm
"Sounds lame. I wanna go to the centre-thingy but I'm not allowed to go by myself, but you get to go all over the place alone."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 03:30:52 pm
"I'd have offered to let you come along, but...you know some things might have to get hurt. Right now I've got some bandits the center requested I deal with..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 15, 2017, 03:55:28 pm
Kathrine goes quiet, and you can hear the headset being dumped on the table and a door slamming.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 04:49:45 pm
The knight sighed at that, muttering to himself. "Well shit..." Cue getting back on the radio. "Well Victor, if you can read me, tell Kath I'll explain about the bandits later. Will be dismounting to investigate this location. Unless you know anything about what I'd described..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 15, 2017, 05:53:31 pm
"Back at the radio, sorry about that. Nothing seems wrong with the tower. What happened that made Katherine so upset? Anyways, good luck with the bandits. Roxanne asked me to tell you to bring her a 'souvenir'... whatever that means..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 05:59:49 pm
"I kinda er...implied that I'd be killing people. Even if bandits, she doesn't like that. I'm not even anywhere near the coordinates though. Just some sort of grove. Anyway, I'll check in soon."
The knight carefully made his way around the large rock formation in the center of the grove, finding a tunnel on the opposite side, natural stone giving way to weathered old cobbles and crumbling wooden supports. Even in just a single room he could see signs of roots growing and worming their way through what walls remained, so thick in places as to be walls of their own. A corner had cobblestones loose and sunken in, water pooling in the resulting depression.
To his surprise he found a note, pinned to what was once a wooden support beam, long since crumbled leaving only a few loose pieces of wood on the floor. The note was in what seemed to be decent condition, though still damp and tattered. Between its appearance and the message on it, he suspected someone had been here before.
He made his way out into the halls, everything crumbled and pierced by thick roots worming into the structure from aboveground. The result was a maze, only a few surviving walls giving the impression of what were once rooms.
Every so often he's find something still intact. A crumbling old bookcase, a rusted metal shelf. Among his finds were merely a few assorted items, that soon marked the place as tainted by the arcane. A few skeletal corpses with tattered clothes, identifies no longer discernible. Strange faintly-glowing dust, an old bottle of some unknown fluid, a book he encountered once elsewhere, and an old map. One he'll have to peruse later on.
To his surprise the bottom level was rather calm, until he came across a door that had been boarded up, a foul smell filling the air as he neared it. He could hear shuffling sounds inside it, prompting him to pry his way in. The faint wisps of acrid fog hadn't been enough of a hint that something was amiss.
The door practically exploded as he kicked it in, a foul miasma flowing out, so thick as to obscure what lay within the room. It burned his nose and throat as he charged in, only to be met with the source. A large, shambling mass he could barely discern, obscured within the noxious gas it gave off. Tendrils were all he could discern at first, then a large jaw of sorts became apparent.
As he frantically hacked into the creature, practically wedging his shield into its maw to keep it at bay, he could readily tell it was plantlike in nature, animated vines flailing desperately, and large thorns making for a mimicry of fangs. Nearly blinded and struggling with a sickening feeling, he didn't stop until the beast stopped struggling, and the constant plumes of gas seemed to abruptly halt, leaving only the lingering clouds of it.
By now he could see something impaled in its body, exposed by his blade. Something that reflected the light of his head lamp with a golden shimmer. He gabbed it and scrambled to make his way back into the tunnels, where the gas wasn't so thick in the air. It was strange staff of dark hardwood, one end decorated extensively with gold, a large blue gem set into the end. Clearly valuable, sapphire was his best guess, but it had been wastefully polished into a simple round orb.
Some time later, after fresh air, a bit of coughing up blood, and a return to the tank, the knight checked in. "Victor I *cough* swear to fucking God, if you knew what was down there. Checking in. Little queasy still, but I'll be fine."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 09:14:34 pm
Victor belatedly replied on the radio. "I'm afraid I'm not as familiar with these exotic locations as Roxanne would be. Didn't know what to expect."
Eventually the knight continued onward, annoyed at the less than reassuring response he got, traveling farther north.
The knight grumbled a bit as he spotted something just barely apparent as the treeline receded from the "Well. Guess what. I think this road is cursed or something. Farther north, passed an abandoned cabin. Nothing special. But I saw something farther west. Small building, resembles a church. Rather far from the road, no driveway or signs like you'd expect for a rural church."
"Just some zeds in it on the ground floor, looks like it has bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, and shower even. Weird. Found a note too. Said something about a 'blade ward' somewhere in the basement. At this point I'm assuming weirdness until proven otherwise. You got any info on what this is, I'd rather hear it BEFORE I go charging in this time."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 15, 2017, 09:16:36 pm
Quinn raises the radio, "Careful in the basement and bottom floor."
"What you'd call a "Demon" is in the very bottom, Basement has what you'd expect. Mi-go, stuff like that. Demon is what I'd worry about."
Dee gets off the radio with someone else, then he switches the channel to the farm's. "I'm gonna go out to the center to grab some stuff and head to a radio station. Be back soon!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 09:20:48 pm
Hector blinked at that. "Quinn? That you, I'm guessing? Good, someone with useful information on this. I'd expect something with fire abilities then? How tough?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 15, 2017, 09:29:52 pm
"Yeah. I was eavesdropping. Fire, close quarters are pretty dangerous. I shot at it, until it died." Quinn says bluntly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 09:33:09 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Figured that. I'll have to see what's down in the basement. Interesting little place. If I do try it though...I found some ammo, but best I have that's got a gun to match is a flintlock and an M1911."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 15, 2017, 10:33:38 pm
"Never underestimate the arcane. Don't be afraid to use fire against fire, in this case literally. Unless that thing regenerates from fire..." You hear some muffle sounds followed by a faint giggle.
"This is Roxanne taking over radio duty. What is the present issue?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 10:43:49 pm
"We'll see how well it works. Will report back soon."
The knight ventured into the structure, finding it rather simple to explore. Trivial even. The basement held only one simple monster, vaguely humanoid. Not hostile, not reacting to his presence, a faceless figure that he put down without a second thought, just in case.
He soon found a boarded-up door, to his surprise behind it was a staircase, some strange energy seeming to surround it. And in the center, a strange sword, hovering in midair point-down. It had an ornate basket hilt, decorated with a peculiar golden cross design on it, which at the very bottom transitioned into what resembled an upside-down hammer, and more golden decorations along the blade.
He reached for it, grabbing it to pull at it, and in doing so the old glow, that seemed to form a solid floor blocking off the stairway, simply faded. The next level was sweltering, a few narrow passages that opened up into a large open space, magma pooling in several areas. The area was swarming with strange floating monsters, and it wasn't long before the knight was forced back, pained from fighting at the intense heat.
"Well. Shit. Didn't go as well as last hunt. Couldn't even get out of the entryway of the last level. Hard to fight fire with fire when they're lava so close that just being in sight of it nearly melts you. Killed several strange floating monsters. Some kind of winged worm things. a few other harder-to-figure-out flying creatures too."
"I'll come back to it later on my way back from my mission, when I'm rested up and not half-melted. Might mousehole through with the jackhammer next time."
"Basement was easier to clean up. Some weird faceless monster, killed and cooked it. Some copper, gold...a sort of mask too. Iron with copper decorations. Also found some books and a...sword. The blade ward I'm guessing. Basket-hilt though, more for fencing than what I'm used to. From the book I've found I'm guessing whoever lived here called themselves the Cleansing Flame or some such thing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 15, 2017, 10:51:13 pm
"Trap the area around the... blade ward. The thing in the bottom floor might climb back up. Set up mines or something." Quinn says, audibly groaning before saying "blade ward"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 10:54:58 pm
The knight smirked a bit as he heard the tone of voice Quinn took when repeating that term back to him. "Not that it'd do any good against the other things in there. And what what would you call it then? I'd just call it a barrier, since that's what it seemed to be."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 15, 2017, 10:57:28 pm
Roxanne's tone became somber all of the sudden. "Wait...did you just say the Cleansing Flame?...if you could spare a copy of their book, I would greatly appreciate it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 15, 2017, 11:01:37 pm
"A barricade." Quinn says bluntly. "Roxanne, you have access to all of my books. You don't need extra copies. I can easily print books out."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 15, 2017, 11:07:35 pm
The knight nodded at that. "Something important to you, I'm guessing? You didn't seem their type, from what little I've seen of the place. Religious sure, but they seem more inclined to crusade around in armor it seems. I'll bring any of the loot you need. The book, the weird magic gimp mask, the alien jerky, etc."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 16, 2017, 12:00:09 am
"Thanks Quinn but I need a physical copy for...reasons...There is something I have to do...Don't tell Victor when you get back if you do bring it, ok?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 16, 2017, 12:29:28 am
"Alright. You sure about that? Got business with them, I'm guessing...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 16, 2017, 05:47:39 am
Sharlene yawns, stretching out on the bed they'd put together. "Oi, Mohammad, watch the cabin for a bit. Leavin' you with Lil." She mentions Lilith, and Mohammad flinches. "You're leaving me with... That?" "Yeah, an' what? She ain't gonna kill 'ya. Man up already, or uh..." She looks at his clothing choices. "Don't? Whatever. Lilith, don't hurt 'em." She struggles to put on one of the t-shirts they'd gotten in their most recent scavenging run. It was the only one that actually fit her, and they obviously couldn't find anything to replace Lilith's bike suit. They had found a stylin' beret, though. "Someone brought up some refugee centre or somethin', other side of the swamp. Gonna go check it out." Kathrine storms away from the farmhouse, ears flattened to the sides. She didn't have a direction planned, like she normally did while walking off, but she ended up heading towards the most recent addition to the farm, the cabin that the weirdly-voiced lady and Lilith and the man-lady were in. When she arrives, she looks surprised, but goes to knock anyway. "Hellll-" She's interrupted by Sharlene opening the door herself, jumping backwards in surprise. "Ah shite." She mumbles, before grabbing Kaths arm, stepping outside, and slamming the door shut behind her. "Kathrine I thought I told you, ya can't be near Lilith. She's dumb enough that she'll go for ya, and you're a lil' bit small for her." "Nuh-uh! Lilith's nice to me! She didn't even mean any of it, I bet. She's just scary looking!" "No, she's more than just scary lookin', darlin'. Why'd you come over here, anyway?" Sharlene stands up straight, still holding Kathrine's arm. "Unless you're lookin' to buy somethin' or annoy Mohammad, we ain't got much."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 16, 2017, 10:02:25 am
"Hello, uh, miss? Do you have time to talk about our lord and savior, jesus christ?" He startled Catnip quiet badly. She'd decided to try her hand at fishing and taken a break from trying to pry the treads off of what was left of a tank, a glorious machine that she felt had to have it's strength added to that of her train, when a man dressed in a plain white shirt and tie, plain pants, and a pair of soft looking dress shoes had approached her. She hadn't even sensed his approach with her whiskers, which were normally well attuned to every slight movement around her. Of all her mutations she loved her whiskers and fur the most with her tail, pardon the pun, bringing up the rear in second place. "uh, what? What is jebus?" He was holding some kind of book, and smiling warmly at her. Something took the bait of her line, and then took the entire pole. She didn't notice, he didn't pay it any mind. As he got closer, she noticed that his attire wasn't entirely perfect. For one, his shoes didn't quite match up. For two, his pants had several patches. He didn't seem to be armed though, just that book. "Not what," he said with good cheer, "Who! Jesus is lord and savior of us all! God brought him to us, and he gave his life for our sins." Catnip looked at him uneasily, "what god? what are sins?" He made a sarcastic look at her, and it embarrassed her a little. "Oh surely, surely a young... lady... like yourself knows at least a little about God?" Catnip shook her head and a new look came into his eyes, only for an instant, but it was there. Distaste? Whatever it had been, it made her uneasy. He was holding out his hand, in it was a little orange booklet with a gold cross on the cover. "This is all I've got for now, but it contains the words of the one true god!" He explained, "If you come back tomorrow though, I'd be glad to tell you more." Catnip took the little book. She liked gifts, but was unsure of this one. Floyd told her never to take things from strangers, but this man seemed harmless enough despite that look he'd given her. "What? But what are-" she said. He was leaving now, walking back across the bridge in the direction of the necropolis. "I'm mormon!" he called, misunderstanding what she was about to ask. She watched him disappear at the other end of the bridge, and then went to tell the others about him.
(OOC, if you were not a part of it, see farm chat for the results of this discussion with the others)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 16, 2017, 01:30:52 pm
( Side note, I'm gonna be out today and likely won't be able to get on. Something came up. )
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 16, 2017, 06:32:49 pm
Dee grabs a small plastic bag and opens up the rear garage door. He gets into the SLS and starts it up. He pulls out of his workshop and drives to the road, stopping in front of the farmhouse. He puts the car in park and heads inside, seeing Kathrine is gone he tries to think of where she'd be. He gets back in the car, turns the engine off and digs out the smartphone. He opens up the chat program and asks, "any of you know where kath is?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 16, 2017, 06:55:19 pm
Sharlene is currently dragging Kathrine along the fields by her wrist. "Listen, I'm sozzas about this, but you're banned from the cabin. No going near Lilith, she's dangerous, alright?" Kathrine just nods, trying to pull her arm free from Sharlene's grasp. "Good. Now, wh- Oh. HEY, KID!" She waves over at the figure sat inside some fancy looking car.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 16, 2017, 07:01:09 pm
Dee jumps and lowers his mask. He places a half eaten candy bar on the dashboard and scrambles out. He jogs over to the aussie and Katherine, he pipes up, "Ay! There you are! You wanna come with me to do a lil job?" He turns to the Aussie, "Thanks for bringin' her back."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 16, 2017, 07:14:50 pm
Kathrine pulls her arm away from Sharlene's grip and runs over to Dee. "You're... Welcome? She was wanderin' around over the cabin so I brought her back." Sharlene shrugs and turns back to walk through the swamp. Kathrine delivers a hug missile to Dee, wrapping her arms around him. "Thanks Mister Dee, she was being all mean and not letting me say hi to Lilith and the lady-man!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 16, 2017, 07:28:46 pm
Dee chuckles, "You wanna go for a drive with me? Might stop at the center for a bit." Dee asks, mask showing a ^.^
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 16, 2017, 07:50:26 pm
Kathrine fist-pumps in the air, bouncing up and down. She seems like she's recovered from that short bit of grumpiness remarkably quickly. "Yesssssssss!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 16, 2017, 08:20:10 pm
Dee smilea under his mask, snickering. "Awesome, hop into the SLS I'll meetcha there." Dee says, walking to the Sports Car.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 17, 2017, 05:03:05 am
Kathrine joins him n the SLS.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 17, 2017, 12:29:58 pm
The knight soon stopped at a thin treeline. Given the long journey ahead, he didn't want to risk damaging the tank by plowing through it. "Hector here, checking in if you can read me. Rather close to the coordinates. Area by now is a bit blocked, so I'm going to have to clear the way to make it easier to get the tank through."
As he began his work, he regarded some of the wildlife moving about, occasionally attracted or scared off by the sounds of falling timber. An unfamiliar creature slithered about, resembling a massive slug made of slime, slowly crashing through the trees and brush, attracted by the noise. Avoiding the creature as a simple matter to him. But as his sword tore into it, the flesh seemed to close up and mend with each strike.
Instead the knight backpedaled, making a brisk walk back to the tank, clambering into the turret. Didn't take much to convince him that overkill was the best solution for this. With a resounding boom, an armor-piercing shell ripped through it, with such force that it seemed to splatter into a fine mist of formerly-living sludge.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 17, 2017, 01:24:29 pm
Dee hops into the SLS, he turns on the stereo but turns it down. He starts the engine and goes down the road, ?.? "So... Ya seemed grumpy earlier, any reason why?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 17, 2017, 01:28:48 pm
"Mister Hector said he was gonna hurt people! You shouldn't hurt people, that's bad. Only bad people hurt other people, but Mister Hector isn't usually mean..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 17, 2017, 02:24:47 pm
Dee thinks for a moment, "Did he now? Huh. I'll chat with him when we get back." Dee turns the music back up a bit, "It's been- One week since you looked at me." "You like the car?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 17, 2017, 03:58:15 pm
Soon enough the knight checked in. "Made it past the forest. Did a controlled burn to clear a path. I'm at a road now, dead end with another lab bunker. Let me get map coordinates off my screen here..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 17, 2017, 03:58:39 pm
Kathrine nods, pulling open the glove compartment. "It's coooooool."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 17, 2017, 04:33:39 pm
Soon enough the knight grinned a bit, coming up on a small cabin, at the coordinates where the bandits were alleged to be camped at. A small cabin, rather unassuming but a place he could tell was good for hiding out, being near only one dead-end road.
They barely even had time to notice the engine rumbling, before he rammed the tank through the wall, lighting up the closest of them with the gun installed at his hatch. He saw another in the shadows darting into the room, backing up a moment before scrambling to enter the commander's hatch.
It was then he saw the straggler running out of the room, brandishing a crossbow. And charging towards him. Stupid, he'd normally think. Less so if the bandit was aware of the vehicle only having one crew member in it, and a hatch easily accessible in the back.
Even then, he could've just backed up and ran the attacker over. Instead the M2 did the work for him, sending him crumpling to the ground in front of the tank.
Soon enough he sorted through the bodies, setting aside their weapons, ammo, even clothes. Then decided for good measure to butcher the bodies. He figured at least if they were going to prey upon people, only fitting the hunter becomes the hunted.
Explaining the food to Kathrine or Catnip was going to be a hassle though.
"Hector here. Can you still read me? Got what I came for. Will be returning eventually." he answered over the radio. "Dunno what kinda souvenirs you had in mind, but a few things left over."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 17, 2017, 04:34:08 pm
Inside the glove compartment is a metal rectangular box with an antenna attached to it, a small CD holder, and a pair of leather driving gloves, "Yeah it is!" Dee says, patting the steering wheel. "Aaalllmost there, you want anything else while we're here?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 17, 2017, 04:41:41 pm
"I just wanna say hi and maybe hug people and talk to Khar Key because she's Mistress' friend!" She's trying to put on the driving gloves, but they're way too big for her hands. "These are weird gloves. Why're there holes in them?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 17, 2017, 11:31:00 pm
Dee and Kathrine pulled up to the center. Dee had seen some like it, but Kathrine was in awe. She'd never seen such a large collection of people. So many hug able people. The car hadn't even stopped before getting out. "Kat, jesus, don't just-" She was gone. Fortunately, the SLS hadn't been moving very fast and Catnip had been reclining on the SLS's nonstandard roof rack. She caught Kathrine beneath the arms and nearly slid off herself. "Nip?! Catnip what the hell!?" She let Kathrine go as Dee hit the breaks. Without her hands to grip the racks, she slid forward and off the roof, coming to settle on the hood. '0_0' "Catnip! What are you doing!?" Catnip had resumed her recline on the hood. "I wanted to go too, but you said there wasn't room in the car." That was true, but Dee had expected her to follow them in one of the other cars, the steel horse perhaps. He didn't think she would climb on top when they weren't paying attention. It explained too why Floyd had been waving so wildly at them as they pulled away. "Floyd gonna be pi- upset." A woman was running towards them. "Khaki!" Catnip greeted from her seat on the hood. "Are you hurt Catnip? What were you doing up there? Whose idea was this?"
After the introductions and the introductory hugs, including a few for Catnip and Dee delivered by Kathrine, Khaki brought the three to the lobby to meet, in person, the centers trader. A serious woman. During Catnips previous trip, she'd softened towards the rat mutant. "Hello again Miss. Maggie." Catnip greeted, "Good to see you again Nip, now fuck off." said Maggie. Kathrine gasped and started to say something, but Dee covered her mouth. Maggie looked at Kathrine, who was turning red. "You got something to say? Go on Lizard king, let her say it." Dee just shrugged and took his hand away, wiping Kathrines spit off on his jeans. "YOU DID A SWEAR!" She shouted. Everyone was looking at her now, wanted to know what the sudden outburst was for. Maggie looked at her seriously for a moment, and then all at once broke out in raucous laughter. "HA! Sure did youngin, and I'm sorry if that hurts ya feelins." Catnip had never seen Miss Maggie smile, let alone laugh, before. Kathrine nodded "Well don't do it again. Ilyushin says only bad girls do swears." Maggie's smile broadened, "Sure thing youngin, but I haven't been a girl for at least twenty years. Women can do swears all they want." Kathrine hadn't thought of that. "Ma'am," interrupted Dee "Do you have any climbing gear available? I've got stuff to trade." Maggie put away her pleasant face and put her business face back on. "Alright," she said, "what have you got?"
While Dee hashed out a trade with the centers trader, Catnip took Kathrine by the hand and the two followed Khaki to the cafeteria. "Your Kathrine huh?" Khaki asked. Kathrine nodded, barely paying attention to the woman speaking to her. She was too busy looking at all the people, and wanting to introduce herself to all of them. The only thing stopper her being Catnips gentle grip. "Obviously you are the one that likes to pass out hugs. I'd try to avoid that if you can little miss, some of the people around here aren't too friendly, and we get some real creeps coming by every so often. Speaking of creeps, I have some information for you guys at the farm. I'd pass it through the network of course, but we can't be sure who else might have access to it. C'mon, I'll get you burgers." They sat down and Khaki waved a man in cooks whites over. "Get Catnip and her friend here a couple burgers Pete, use the real beef. I'll pay for it myself." Pete nodded and after taking their orders (Catnips with everything on it, Kathrines plain with cheese) moved off towards the kitchen. "Alright Nip. I have the papers here, since you can't read very well I'll read them for you?" Catnip nodded, "I can take the stuff and give it to Dee to look at too, once he's done." Khaki tapped the papers on the table and began.
"Be on the lookout for Hell's Raiders. Major cannibal bandit group that seems to be spreading out all across the US. They've got a strong foothold here in New England Nip. Your friend Hector is currently out looking for a camp of them I think, at our request." Kathrine balked, "Hurting people is bad!" Khaki hadn't understood what she meant. "I know, that's why we sent Hector to take care of them, so they can't hurt anybody anymore." Kathrine was shaking her head though, "No, you shouldn't hurt anyone! It's wrong." Khaki looked to Catnip with incredulity. Catnip shrugged a little, and Khaki determined to ignore Kathrines outburst and moved on. "Hell's Raiders have got a stronghold in the north, so they are more active that way. If you don't want to get attacked, it's probably best just to stay out of that region. Doesn't stop them from making forays south to loot and kill people though. Collecting meat..." She rattled off a few more names of other much smaller bandit groups, mostly Hell's Raiders wannabees. "Try to stay away from the Dead Men too, they mark out their territory with heads on spikes. Easy to avoid. Also, and this is especially for you guys over at the farm, look out for Gods Army." Catnip had to ask, "Who are they?" Khaki shuffled her papers until she found the pertinent one. "Bunch of mutant haters and hunters. They don't look upon the cyber enhanced with any fondness either. Seem to think you lot are demons or something. If you see guys with blue flags pull up to the farm, you and Kath and anybody else on the farm should hide. Let Hector or someone else deal with em. If they even suspect, they'll try to burn everything down and kill everybody. They hate good people like you guys." Kathrine was shaking a little, "Why are they so mean?" Khaki only shrugged, "Religion sweetheart. Sometimes, it makes people crazy."
"Where's mine?" asked Dee, seeing that Catnip and Kathrine were enjoying burgers. Catnip, talking through a mouth full cheeseburger, "Khaki had to go, but she told Pete to take your order." Sure enough, the man in chefs white had approached and was waiting to do just that. "Don't talk with your mouth full Mistress." Said Kathrine, also speaking through a mouth full of burger. Dee had a bundle of ropes and clips and some other things he thought he'd need. He even had a parachute, which he claimed he'd managed to talk the trader down in price for. "Might as well take advantage of the climb right? Never tried base jumping before." Catnip informed them that She would be making her way back to the farm on foot, along with the folder of papers Khaki had given her. The two looked to Kathrine to see what she wanted to do. She decided, with her mistresses consent, to go along with Dee and see what he was planning.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 18, 2017, 01:55:29 am
Sometime after Dee and Kathrine visited the refugee center, Hector made his return to the center. Having already radioed ahead about his progress so far, they already knew what to expect. Having met with the representative, he asked that arrangements be made to start clearing and filling in part of the wetlands to allow an easier route between the locations, in order to make repairs and trade easier.
Soon enough he made another wetland trip back to the farm, to fix up some dents and damage from running into a few things along the way, and to bring back excess supplies he scavenged along the way. He also brought in a few assorted drinks, including a couple chocolate ones he gave to Catnip. Also included were the weapons and armor of the bandits, along with a few cans of food he set aside.
In addition to all that was some considerable amounts of dried and otherwise preserved meat. Hector of course would lie and said he found it in their food supply, along with the canned goods and soda he set aside. He figured that would deter Kathrine, whom he feared would notice by scent what it was.
As for Catnip or Roxanne, he wasn't sure if they'd be so easily fooled. Nonetheless he's set aside the weapons, ammo, clothing, and food, to point out that Roxanne did ask he bring something back. Not knowing what to bring her, he'd simply say for her to take her pick.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 18, 2017, 10:59:27 am
Catnip took a walk around the center for awhile after Dee left with Kathrine, and thought about the walk back to the farm. She was coming to regret her decision to climb atop Dee’s car and ride here. Eventually she settled in the cafeteria, thinking to order some chocolate or perhaps another burger on her own dime. She was regretting the decision to stay behind as well, all the same. It was then that a newcomer arrived at the center and entered the cafeteria. Catnip watched it make it’s way towards the kitchen. The conversations in the room stopped. It moved with some fluidity, not letting a single bit of it’s body leave the confines of the pile of rags it had covered itself with. It’s strangeness alone held the attention of everyone in the caf. Someone else burst in behind it followed by another. To Catnip they seemed a bit familiar. “Michel! Where are you going? You have to turn them in with the centers manager! Michel!” They were on her heals, trying to turn her around, but not touching her. Never touching her. The chef, Pete, emerged from the kitchen wondering what the shouting was about. “What’s all this then?” He asked. As Catnip watch, she noticed Khaki moving to intercept. “Meatsss… Give meatsss…” Cant a gravely hissing voice from within the rags. “Ma’am?” Said Pete, confused. Khaki put her hand to her gun “Michel, sweetie.” She didn’t draw, only put her other hand up, “You gotta give your trophies to Murphy sweetie, we’ve been over this.” A long thin arm emerged from the rags, holding a bloody bag. That arm was inhuman in the extreme, looking like little more than the limb of some insectile being, and yet somewhat unlike that as well. The fingers spoke of delicacy beyond what Catnip could possibly achieve while the tips, not quite claws, suggested a grip not easily broken. It dropped the bag in front of the chef, on the floor, and it’s contents spilled out onto the floor. The bag was filled with human thumbs.
“Sorry Nip, hope that didn’t disgust you much.” Catnip was still watching with fascination at the mutant across the cafeteria, steadily shoveling raw meat into the dark interior of it’s rags. Steaks, slabs, roasts, even bones. Each one was methodically pushed into that darkness by a quadruple of black, slightly bristly, skeletal hands. “Who is she?” Catnip asked, Khaki responded by looking at her quizzically and asking back, “how do you know it’s a woman?” They looked at her together until she noticed them watching, and then she was watching them. Catnip didn’t mind, but from the corner of her eye, she saw Khaki shiver. “She’s a bandit hunter. A mutant like yourself Nip, but… I’ve never seen her. She comes in, delivers a bag or two of ears or thumbs or tongues, eats up half the stockpile of meat, and then leaves again.” Catnip commented, “Well, she goes after bandits so th-” “She also kills survivors.” Interrupted Khaki. “She’s hungry all the time and I guess she can’t eat much else. Her handlers claim she’s too impatient to wait for them to cook it, and if they can’t get her anything fast…” She left the words unspoken, she didn’t need to continue for Catnip to understand that the mutant at the far table, the one rising from her seat and making her way over to Catnip, was a cannibal. Khaki put her hand on Catnips arm. “It’s coming over here Nip. Just stay in the center and you should be fine.” Catnip didn’t understand why, but she wasn’t afraid of the rag clad mutant. Just curious. There was something odd, some kind of connection. But it was like a frayed wire or something, the connection was weak. Her handlers, whom Catnip only recognized with the most vague of recollections. It sat across from Catnip, and it’s handlers began to apologize profusely, “Sorry ma’am, sorry. Now that she’s not hung-” The voice issued from somewhere in the rags, and it’s familiarity startled her. She’d heard it before, the memory was strong. Not as rough, not as low. “Kat… Nyp..?” It pushed back it’s rags, and to Khaki who had known Catnip before she’d become her currently ratlike self, the resemblance was incredible.
It was Catnips old face, or rather, a horrifying mockery of that face. Where Catnips eyes were a calming blue, the others collection of mismatched eyes all showed as either brown or red. Her hair likewise was long and black while Catnip’s was auburn brown. Catnips mouth was fairly normal, for a rat, while the other mutants seemed to have a likewise regular mouth. Up until the point where it opened, revealing a fang lined cavern that could fit a grown man's head comfortably up until the point when it bit down and removed the head from his shoulders. Catnip was the first to speak, “Mica?” It’s head cocked one way, and then the other. “My-ka? I am called My-ka. Yes! I am My-ka!” One of her handlers had grabbed a haunch of something from her table and was holding it out to her. “C’mon Michel, back to y-” She snapped out with her teeth and grabbed the meat, ripping it out of the handlers grasp. In the same movement, she pushed him down pinning him to the floor and gave the meat two chews, spraying meat juices and bone shards in his face. Khaki had risen and had put her hand on her gun, but the other handler, an attractive blond woman, stopped her. “You shut up! My-ka talk at Kat-nyp. My-ka not forget Kat-nyp! Kat-nyp not forget My-ka! Kat-nyp My-ka sister!” Catnip wondered though. “Mica?” Mica spun on her, climbed back into the vacated seat and grabbed the table. Her fingers dug deep furrows in the faux wood. “Kat-nyp! You still looksing at pictures? Eh? Pictures in books?” Catnip nodded, quickly. “HA! Kat-nyp has books! Make Kat-nyp weak! Not as good as My-ka! Never as good as My-ka!” Catnip just agreed with her. “Yeah,” she said, “But I’m wiser.” Mica recoiled. “Wise-ur she say! Wise-ur!” It tickled Mica, like some old joke. In fact, it WAS an old joke between them, and it confirmed to each other who the other really was. It didn’t quite add up for Catnip though, and she had to ask another question. “Dr. Brian said they had a christmas for you and Alabaster.” Mica stopped her, “I not knowing what happen to Al-ah-bas-tar. But My-ka escape. Dok-tor is liar! They not give My-ka kris-mas because My-ka was best at skitters. Then Kat-nyp get taken away, so it just My-ka, and they catch My-ka. Give My-ka med-sin. Make like this.” She lacked Catnips understanding that clothes were the norm and began trying to strip off her rags. Mica’s handlers on the other hand were on top of it and managed, barely, to keep her from getting them off. What Catnip saw, glimpsed here and there, was a chimeric body. Patchy fur, plates of chitin the same color and appearance of Mica’s arms, and other mismatched mutations. “Blightwalker.” One of the handlers suddenly said, and Mica froze up. They carefully wrapped her rags about her and then spoke the word again. After a moment in which she furiously snapped and tried to push away her handlers, mica settled and asked, “My-ka knows Kat-nyp has special word too, same as My-ka’s. Why it not work?” Catnip tapped the back of her head, and said simply “Catnip is wiser.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 18, 2017, 01:04:39 pm
"All right knight,glad to hear it went well. I will have victor and I help you unload the loot.", Roxanne said over the radio.
One the knight was on the farm for repairs, Roxanne and Victor were outside to help unload after he radio'd his arrival.
"All right, where do you want us to put things?", Roxanne asked when she started to unload.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 18, 2017, 01:10:59 pm
The knight started to help unload the items, setting aside books and weaponry to store in their place, along with various food items. Of those, he particular set aside a number of drink cans, canned food, snacks, and perserved meat. "Those, also with the crossbow, .357 revolver, and clothes, are the stuff from the bandits. Do with them as you see fit. Given what I've heard about from the bandits, I'd be leerty of the meat though, even if it seems safe to eat at least." he remarked, not letting on the actual nature of it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 18, 2017, 01:20:12 pm
"I suppose...", Roxanne was curious at what Hector said. She started organizing the food to move to the reserve while Victor too the bandit's weaponry to the armory. "Roxanne examined some meat jerky the knight had brought and it gave a familiar smell; a very light blush appeared on her face. "So...what did you day was wrong with the meat?", Roxanne asked with a sheepish tone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 18, 2017, 01:29:51 pm
The knight regarded her reaction curiously, before shaking his head. "From what the people at the center told me, the bandits up there have a habit of mutilating and cannibalizing the people they ambush. Personally I guess it ...makes sense in pragmatic terms, and it's probably better than leaving them to rot. But still, one more reason to deal with them."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 18, 2017, 01:43:50 pm
Roxanne's eyes widen when she heard that. "Oh...so that's...are you planning to do something with it? I don't think the others would be too pleased to know what this is..." Roxanne scanned the vicinity to see if anyone was nearby. "If it becomes too much for you to deal with and don't want to deal with...the wrath of the farm...I can help you deal with it..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 18, 2017, 01:57:34 pm
Hector blinked at that, soon enough giving her a blank stare. "I didn't have any particular use for it. Not really good for you anyway, even if I can stomach it." he remarked. "If you, er...want it for whatever reason, fine by me." he answered.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 18, 2017, 02:19:27 pm
"Yeah, not very good source of food...we don't have many calories like other animals...". Roxanne gave a slightly exaggerated, but faint, laugh. "I don't have a use for it either...but I know how to deal with it descriptly, I had dealt with many cultist in the past with peculiar tastes. I don't mind taking it out of your hands."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 18, 2017, 02:26:45 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Right. All yours then, in that case." he remarked, giving her an aside glance. At that point he had a few suspicions about that, but brusghed them aside. "Figure I should bring any other such meat to you if I find it on the bandits, or just leave it? Hell, it'd be fitting to return the favor to them." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 18, 2017, 02:30:12 pm
"I don't mind either way...the dead deserve a proper passage to the afterlife you know? They might of been bandits but they were still people...". Roxanne paused for a moment before speaking again. "But if it's too much trouble then you can simply leave it be since they were assholes anyway!" Roxanne looks out again to see if Katherine was near and then gives a sigh of relief.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 18, 2017, 02:34:31 pm
Hector gave a nod at that. "Riight. That seems like a peculiar form of burial ritual, then." he joked, before setting some things aside.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 18, 2017, 03:36:01 pm
"Who are you to judge how one honors the dead!", Roxanne exclaims to Hector. She drops her guard for a moment before composing herself. "I mean...to each their own right? I will go finish unloading the goods..." Roxanne helped finished the unload and took the 'jerky' with her, practically sneaking off with it to her room.
"Go ahead and man the radio for me victor...I have some preparations to make...."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 18, 2017, 04:02:47 pm
Hector smirked at that. "Not my concern, but you do have a habit of hiding odd little hobbies it seems. So long as it doesn't endanger anyone. Regardless, do with it as you wish." he remarked, before resuming his work on patching up the tank.
Soon enough he was back out at the refugee center, where he reported in. This time they made mention of a possible informant spying on them. He decided to just visit around, talk to a few of the traders and guards, the usual way of seeming helpful while getting a read on the locals. He also noticed a few of the guards seemed to regard him curiously, rumors buzzing about starting since shortly after he first visited to ask about an old friend of his. Evidently the clerk was looking through more of the old personnel records, and something spooked him.
Soon enough though, one of the guards he talked to seemed to put him at unease. The others didn't seem as familar with her either, evidently a recent transfer.
"Keep to yourself and you won't have any problems." the guard stated plainly. Same spiel many of them gave newcomers. Which he wasn't, by this point.
It didn't take much for her facade to crumble. Only a little hint about recent events, and that he was onto her, and she dropped the act in a heartbeat. She had a simple little .22 rifle. He had his sword, mail, and shield.
She leveled the rifle and fired wildly, lead embedding itself in wood, leather, and iron. A few shallow injuries. His sword found its mark in moments, cutting arms open in a couple of swings, before the nearby guard had time to react.
Didn't take much before he simply floored her, and ran her through. Concerned as the guards were, they knew well enough that there was a traitor in their their midst, and she clearly attacked first.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 19, 2017, 12:37:21 am
Fuck it, double post. 3:
Soon enough the knight resumed his tasks, looking into recent disappearances of travellers, caravans, and such. The first one he was asked to look into was a threat he didn't expect. As he drove towards the site where the traveller was last seen, he noticed how suspiciously open the area was, and devoid of any sign of struggle.
The shifting of earth in front of him was enough of a hint. He had on rare occasions encounter large burrowing worms in the ground, of such a size that they could be taken down in close combat with some care. No more than the size of a large snake. This however, was a disturbance in the dirt that left mounds of displaced earth 4 feet high in its wake, reacting to the rumble of engines by erupting from the ground to flare out an armored maw, each segment of it lined with numerous teeth.
Given the size of its head alone, the armor seeming to transition into chitin after about 10 feet, he would've been wary of fighting it on foot. Not that he had a choice, as he was already speading along the field as fast as his vehicle could go. The result was a jolt that almost stopped the tank itself, hardened shell cracking and giving way as the impact sheared its head off entirely, and splattered to pieces. What remained was an erratically writhing monstrosity, utterly soaking the ground with ichor.
Finishing off a blindly writhing worm monster was a simple matter despite the sheer size, leaving the knight to asess the damage. Part of the front armor had completely caved in, falling away entirely, with scant few pieces of broken composite still secured to the framework. To his surprise, the structure underneath retained its integraty, leading Hector to suspect that the creature's attempt to attack his vehicle lead to it piercing the armor and getting it caught on those wicked teeth, taking most of the plating with it as its head was torn off.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 19, 2017, 10:33:02 am
The caretakers names were Damian and Lindsay. Mica seemed to treat the two of them very little care, almost like they were simply servants to be used and disposed of at Mica’s whim. This image was disrupted now and then when Mica actually showed them a bit of deference, and then she would go back to belligerent disrespect. Catnip didn’t remember Mica as such a wild thing before her spiriting away from the lab. She had a bit of a wild side, and of course a mean streak a mile wide. There was a vague memory Catnip had as she watched Mica shove an entire raw chicken into her gaping razored maw, of a girl not so different in appearance from herself, except for in height. Catnip was jumping to her feet in indignation as Mica smashed one of Catnips few toys. The fight that came after was lost to the mists of time and trauma, but Catnip didn’t need to remember the fight to know Mica had won. Mica was stronger that Catnip, though Catnip was more clever. Cleverness didn’t help fight back against her sisters bullying. Kindness didn’t keep Mica from bullying her caretakers. She noted that Damian was missing an ear and a couple fingers on his right hand. Lindsay also seemed to be missing some fingers, no doubt bitten or torn off by the caretakers ward.
“Alright class,” came a voice from overhead. Always the same voice, always the same routine. The gathered mutants lived in terror of these occasions. Once upon a time, when they were all much smaller and had only just received their first controlled doses of mutagen, there had been twenty seven of them gathered in this tiny room with the mirrored walls. There were only three now. “You know how it goes, the one with the least shocks gets to go straight back to their room.” Catnip never had the least shocks, but so far she had avoided having the most. She’d been lucky. So far. Very soon, there came a low groan as the grates at the side of the room slid open, and a metallic clicking could be heard approaching from within.
“So you are Catnip huh?” Asked Lindsay. Catnip didn’t want to answer, instead she said “You are from the lab?” Lindsay looked at her hands, trying not to look at the mutilated one, and said “Was. I was a caretaker, but there weren’t many to take care of… I was a convict once. They said if I took care of Mica, I would have my sentence dismissed.” Khaki had left, cautiously, and Catnip sorely wished she hadn’t. She didn’t want to be talking to this person who claimed to be Mica’s handler. Damien had taken Mica back to their van, supposedly, after she had expressed a desire for more meat. Perhaps they’d talked too long. Perhaps Catnip hadn’t talked so much herself. She just looked at Lindsey, accusingly. “Er…”
Catnip rubbed at the place where the third shock had stung her, and where she had been lashed. Three shocks was all she’d gotten, but Mica and Alabaster had both only been shocked twice each. The handlers and caretakers seemed worried about something else though, and so the three had been brought back to their rooms. Before that though the three had been left alone for an hour, as they usually were, and they talked. Catnip was loosening a bolt underneath the table, her short whiskers twitching at every move that her remaining brother and sister made. “What are you doing down there, oh wise Catnip?” Alabaster had asked, to which she answered “Getting some of these thingies in the table.” Mica dipped her head down to look and see. “You shouldn’t do that, they’ll see and know.” Catnip shook her head and said that they wouldn’t. They never did, not anymore. “You silly Catnip, always looking at pictures. Pictures won’t make you strong. Table thingies won't make you fast either. Just make you slow!” They were both looking at Catnip under the table now. Despite not having any tools, she’d already managed to remove several nuts, bolts, and a bracket. When the two moved, the table noticeably wobbled. “What are you even going to with them?” She didn't answer. She didn't really know herself. They knew Catnip would never be quite as strong as they were. The three of them were the strongest, the most agile, and the smartest. They weren’t after smarts at X7 though. The genetic siblings did not know it but the most agile and the strongest, Mica and Alabaster would go on for another few months and then there would be one last run through the test chamber. For the smartest though, there would only be “christmas.” It was fortunate then, that on the eve of the operation that would end Catnips existence, there had been a containment failure and a Handler by the name of Nathan would take advantage of the confusion to whisk her away from her impending doom and into a better life among the ruins of the old world. Catnip stuffed the nuts and bolts into the inner pockets of her subject suit, tried to think of a better place to hide the flat bracket, and then slid it behind the subject suits integrated cloth belt beneath one of the belt loops.
Dee and Kathrine had swung back around to the Refugee center to sell off a few things to make up for the deficit in what Dee had bought. This time though, Dee allowed Catnip to cling to the side of the car. As they pulled away, Catnip saw a van with a wild face pressed against one of it’s windows, it’s several eyes watching her go. Catnip gave a small wave, and in response Mica pressed her four huge hands against the window, Opened her mouth as wide as Catnip thought it could go and pressed that maw against the window as well with her tongue dancing figure eights and circles on the glass. To anyone else, it would have been bizarre and unsettling. To Catnip, who had spent hours pressing her face against a brownish mirror with Mica in a room they shared, it just brought back memories.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 19, 2017, 04:50:25 pm
Dee pats his hands against the steering wheel, "So! How are you two with heights? Cuz this ain't the roof of the farmhouse. It's maybe 6-7 floors more, dude." Dee's mask turns to a "@.@", "You excited, Kath?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 19, 2017, 05:00:17 pm
"Yes!" Kathrine is still wearing the driving gloves, despite them being very close to just falling off her hands. "I'm reeeaaaally good with heights."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 19, 2017, 07:42:27 pm
Catnip thought about being up in the rafters, or up on the barn with Kathrine. That hadn't been so bad. Catnip didn't like heights though, and stuck her head through the open window to say so. "I don't like being high up Dee." After a moments pause, she added "Why do these gloves have holes in them?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 19, 2017, 07:58:04 pm
Roxanne and Victor were at the altar they had set up doing a ritual. The rituals was not arcane in nature, it simply was meant to replicate past religious ceremonies. Everyone had their own way of keeping up morale and this was one of Roxanne’s ways to do so. Victor simply participated because no one else on the farm would entertain her eccentric requests. “Would you put this garment on and then chant this specific hymn with me?” Anyone not into the spiritual would find it unappealing.
After they were done, Victor went and prepared a cup of coffee for each of them as he usually did. He returned and gave Roxanne her cup and they drank it on one of the altar’s benches. Roxanne was unusually silent, apart from her chanting during the ritual of course, not a single quip or joke had escape her lips. Midway throw her cup of coffee, she spoke up.
“Hey, Victor, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what is it?”, Victor had a face of concern but was otherwise attentive.
“You know, ever since we went to…*that* temple…there is something I had wanted to know…”
“Well, if you are ready to talk about it, then feel free to ask it.”
“How was she like? I mean…me? The one who…passed away…”
Victor was taken aback a bit. An unexpected question for sure but nothing out of the ordinary given what he made her see. He felt it was his responsibility to provide the information she asked. Seeing ones dead body can be quite the experience and one very few across history can relate with. Victors mere presence was a reminder to Roxanne that she did not belong here and he knew that. He spoke up after a few moments of silence.
“Well, she was not very different from you…She was *you* after all, or at least a version of… She had a drive for completion and had a way with people. But when it came to social interactions, she was quite clumsy. Apart from your lack of memories of your time as an acquisitionist and your…augmentations, you are her.”
Roxanne took in what he had just said. He was both right and wrong. It was her, she did those things in this reality but at the same time not. She, the one in front of Victor, was an impostor, a replacement from another reality who had arrived uninvited because of selfishness. This was the first time in her life she had felt like this. ‘Guilt’ as she had come to understand it. It was not guilt from causing any harm to anyone, something she had done multiple times without any qualms, but for ‘cheating’ reality. She was not meant to be, her was meant to disappeared from her reality but she moved on to arrive to another. She did not belong, not here, not there, not anywhere. She should not be alive, she is not her. This was all that went though Roxanne’s mind.
“You say that…but that isn’t true…I do not belong here…I am an imposter and you can’t convince me otherwise!”
Roxanne stood up as she said that. Victor just sat there staring, he did not know what to do or say so he did neither. Roxanne picked her MX-84 rifle, something else that did not belong in this world, how fitting to her she thought.
“I will be out in the swamp picking off any game I can find, maybe some stragglers if they come this way…I will be out for the rest of the day…don’t look for me…I need time to think…"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 19, 2017, 08:01:16 pm
"They keep your hands from getting hot and sweaty." Dee says with a "~.^"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 19, 2017, 08:03:51 pm
Hector meanwhile, having just set aside a few final things, looking over to see Roxanne coming out. He moved over and gave a nod. "Come back in one piece, alright?" he said. Something at least seemed to have him concerned, even if he didn't know what was going on. He at least had a few guesses that something had happened that had Roxanne in a mood that seemed different to him, from what he usually observed of her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 19, 2017, 08:09:28 pm
Roxanne gave a dismissive hand sign of acknowledgment to the knight. She seemed to be deep in thought as she walked, rifle in hand. " Anything happens, let Victor know.", She shouted to the knight as she walked not turning around to look at him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 19, 2017, 10:49:52 pm
It wasn't long before the knight was out in search of his next lead on any possible bandit threats. This time it was the merchant that gave him a tip he needed, mentioning a caravan passing through the areas northwest of the hotel and tiny little town he passed through during his first mission.
A much shorted journey was had, following along the road until he reached the few houses, veering off to continue onward. This time, they saw him coming. Hard to miss a light tank rumbling along across open terrain, even far in the distance.
He came up on definite signs of an assault on a merchant vehicle, a simple truck, along with a few motocycles. He suspected this was the reason why he didn't encounter any vehicles at the bandit cabin. Whereas he cleared a rather direct path through the forest, they likely had to take a longer route around, even with more maneuverable vehicles.
He saw further reason why they were hanging around the site of the ambush. Every so often he encountered massive, antlike creatures here and there, and not much farther northeast he could see a massive mound of earth, resembling an oversized anthill. He suspected that the truck tried to veer off into open fields, cutting close to ant territory to try and evade pursuit, only to be halted and gunned down. And now the ones responasible had been fending off the occasional wandering ant, biding their time until an opportune moment to break out arrived.
When they caught sight of him, they seemed prepared to attack him until thy saw what they were up against. By that time it was too late, a burst of machinegun fire raking their position. At that distance he had no expectation of killing them, instead intent on suppression and hitting their vehicles to deter an easy escape.
Whether he managed the latter or they simply panicked, the result was the same. They blindy bolted away from the campsite they made, abandoning their vehicles in a desparate attempt to reach the distanct treeline. This time he didn't bother to waste ammo. He caught them on open ground, front armor meeting flesh and bone, at the full speed the machine could muster while still running off only one part of its engine array.
First one, than another fell without the tank even slowing. The third was even less fortunate, though it might've been merciful, as the treads crushed what remained after the impact knocked him over. He slowed to a stop, dismounting to survery the area. One was either killed instantly on impact, or died by the time he got out of the tank. Another was utterly unrecognizable as anything at all human. The last one he finished off by the blade, silencing a strained, weak groan of agony.
Surveying the campsite confirmed his suspicions. A few scattered supplies had almost entirely been eaten, carelessly tossed about the camp. The truck was trashed, tires shot out and a few rounds shot through the driver's side door, along with damage to the instrument panel and engine. With no signs of bulletholes elsewhere, it was reasonable of him to guess that the raider shot into the truck from just behind and left of it. Two people had been dragged out of the truck, one male and one female, both shot in the head afterwards. The woman had also shown signs of other gunshot wounds, possibly having been the driver. Both had also been stripped of their clothes and any other possessions.
He tended to the bodies of the travelers as best as he could, having them burnt along with their clothes. The bandits he butchered, giving them the same treatment he gave the ones at the cabin, before making his way back to the center.
He did however note two curiosities. First, there had to have been more cargo that what was seen in the campsite. Second, none of the bandits he ran down appeared to have any guns on them. This led him to suspect that at least one of them left before he arrived with whatever loot wasn't left behind, for whatever reason. Possibly, he suspected, with the intent of salvaging the vehicle.
Tempting as it was to wait and ambush whoever returns, he had to report back to the center, and to the others at the farm. In addition, if they had the means of making use of a truck, possibly even towing it away, they might come in force.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 19, 2017, 11:59:21 pm
Dee drums his hands against the steering wheel as the stereo plays a hip-hop song, "Little bit a this, Little bit a that. I might dump a clip where my niggas at, might fu-" Dee quickly changes the song, "DOWN ON THE PLAINS OF AAAAAAFRICAAAA" Dee coughs awkwardly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 20, 2017, 12:24:38 am
Kathrine takes in a deep breath, and then shrieks "THE CAR DID A SWEAR!" Catnip doesn't hear though, she is singing along with the radio. It isn't exactly pleasant, but it isn't as disruptive as Kathrine's outburst.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 20, 2017, 12:35:52 am
Dee sweats slightly under his mask as it turns to a blue screen. "Uhhhhh... We're heeeere!" Dee says, clearing his throat and mask turning back to normal. Dee hops out of the car with a bag of climbing gear, looking at the small news and radio station "You wanna f- mess around with the equipment before we take a climb?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 20, 2017, 12:45:09 am
Catnip looked up at the tower, then back at dee, at the equipment, and then back at the tower again. The clouds overhead moved slowly, and the breeze was somewhat gentle. She knew it would be blowing a lot harder up there though. "I'll just stay down here and uh... watch the car." Catnip said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 20, 2017, 01:52:07 am
"What?" Dee said. "What?" Catnip said. "What?" Kathrine said.
"Er, no Nip. Do you want to mess around with the screen? We gotta make sure it works." That was a relief. Catnip didn't want to do any climbing, not that high anyway. "Yeah, ok." she said. They unrolled the screen, a simple green flexible LED, and Dee explained how it worked. "It's got touch sensors in it, so you can draw on it with your fingers. Once everything is hooked up, we should be able to hook the screen into the network and test it. Should show a weather map."
She stayed on the ground and played with the things Dee had left down with her. She drew lines across the screen, but quickly grew bored with it and took to staring out the small radio control shacks single window. An hour or so later, Kathrine descended the tower and turned her eyes upward. Catnip leaned out and looked up. Dee was still up there, but he was no longer working at the small box halfway up. The two stood side by side, watching as Dee made his steady climb up the rest of the tower, watched as he made his way out onto a strut protruding from the top of the radio tower. Kathrine called up to him "What are you doing Dee? Come back down!" To their horror, he suddenly jumped. Kathrine nearly fainted and if not for Catnip, who also felt a bit faint at Dee's sudden and inexplicable leap out over the abyss, Kathrine would have collapsed to the ground. A mere moment of falling and then a billowing, black and red tarp erupted from the backpack Dee was wearing. It unfurled and revealed a picture of a pair of red crossbones with a skull above them. Much to Kathrine and Catnips relief, he landed safely about half a minute later. "Woo!" he said, unsnapping the straps on his parachute. "What a rush! Always wanted to try that." Kathrine strode over to him, her face red with what looked like fear, anger, or both, and slapped him. The static that caused in the masks display cleared quickly and he noted that her eyes had taken on a moist quality, a precursor to tears not all of which was due to the pain her hand experienced when it made contact with Dee's mask. "I'm... I'm sorry guys. I didn't think it would bother you so much." Catnip glared at him as she wrapped Kathrine in a hug. "Why would you jump off a tower like that? We thought you were gonna die!" Kathrine broke away from Catnip and rushed over to Dee, wrapping him in a crushing hug. "Please don't jump off anymore towers, I won't slap you again I swear! Please?" Her chest hitched as she fought back the terror and tears. "Ok ok, I won't." 'If I want to try this again,' he thought, 'I'll have to bring someone else along.' "C'mon," he said aloud, "We can test the screen."
Dee tested the screen, first explaining how the weather map on it worked, and then drawing phallic objects on it and making silly jokes that neither of the girls understood. Kathrine just stared at the floor, forgetting her fright at Dee's jump, only ashamed that she'd slapped him. She'd never hit anyone before, never ever. Her hand hurt and she didn't like the way Dee had looked when she did it. In short, she felt bad and probably wouldn't be sleeping well for a few days.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 20, 2017, 02:05:03 am
Dee took out his laptop and types for a bit. Clouds appear and form a shape, "Do you feel it growning?" The shape of clouds start to appear quite phallic, "Growing in the south?" Dee's mask turns to a "XD" while he snickers. Dee clears the screen he folds the keyboard to the back of the screen, turning it into a tablet. He takes a stylus and starts to draw while sitting criss cross.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 20, 2017, 02:29:23 am
Dee scribbles a doodle of the SLS, he stops im the middle due to thinking he heard something. His mask turns to a "> ..." before he gets up, "I'm gonna check that out, be back soon." He heads out the door and walks outside. "Hey who-"Woah watch it!" It devolves to shouting.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 20, 2017, 02:48:51 am
"Stay here." Catnip says to Kathrine. What a time to leave her shimmering blanke- cloak at home. She peaks out the window and sees nothing, the SLS is parked around the side of the building, she catches a snatch of the shouting though. "-uck you dude. I'm taking the ride and I'm chain smokin' all the way to-" Catnip dashes through the door. What a day to forget her cloak indeed. His shouting is easier to distinguish out here. "-nd whenever I finish one, I'm gonna butt it out on the fuckin' dash! gim-" Catnip rounds the corner and finds the barrel of some kind of pistol in her face. "Oh shit!" Cries the ski masked bandit, "I really did show up to the freak show! First the masked lizard, and now the dog faced boy! Cept judgin' by them pathetic tits I'd say dog faced girl is more correct. Get over with your boyfriend girly." The man had stripped the mask from Dee's face, and he looked surprisingly naked without it. His phone was in his hand and while the bandit had been focused on catching and menacing Catnip, Dee had brought up the app he used to control the car. The guns barrel seemed to deepen before her, becoming somehow darker. "Yo fuckboy," Dee said "you gotta shoot somebody, you shoot me. Point that peashooter over here." The bandit did so, unintentionally though, and spat "Ain't we the hero, huh lizard man? You know what, I'm gonna take your girl toy here with me too. Got a thing for freaks myself." The bandit looked at Catnip and licked his lips. Dee eased and said calmly "I think not." The SLS's V8 roared to life and the machine lurched forward suddenly. The bandit only got off one shot, and that one slammed harmlessly into the SLS's windshield just before the crude bandit vanished beneath the front bumper, his body emerging as a tire chewed wreck on the other end.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 20, 2017, 03:02:14 am
Dee walks up to the bandit's broken body, he squats down and picks his pockets. He finds a wallet and opens it up, "H-He-Hey!" "Still alive..." *puts on a russian accent* "Comrade Sergei?" *drops the accent* "You fucked up today. You thought "oh hey lets fuck with these muties, whats the worst that could happen?" And you fucked. Up. Are you just some fuckboy who thought he got some big score? You got a boss bigman?" "None of your-" "You're a hell's raider. Already know numb nuts, the biker get-up is a dead give-a-way." Dee picks up his mask and puts it back on. He picks up the bandit's pea-shooter and tucks it behind his belt. He grabs the Bandit and drags him off, "What- What are you gonna do?" "Nothin'. Legs are broke, you ain't going nowhere. See ya, fuckboy." Dee drags him quite far away before heading back. "We're going, get Kath. Feel free to keep the screen. This is between us, don't tell Kath."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 03:08:37 am
Hector, by this point, had been making his way back to the center, and eventually to the farm, after his continued trips, likely arriving sometime after Dee and the others were to return. Other than that, the occasional report on his return, or reporting on his recent finding of a Hell's Raiders ambush site, might be overhead on the radio, were it on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 20, 2017, 03:58:02 am
"Hold up Dee." Catnip says, poking her head through the window. "I see something I need. For the train." She points to a pile up of cars off a side road ahead. The SLS slows to a stop nearby and Catnip pokes around in the wreckage. "It's perfect!" She says, a bit flatter than normal. Somethings bothering Catnip, but Dee can't tell what. "You alright Nip?" she waves him off, "Yeah I'm fine. Get my... No, I don't think I'll need my tools for this." She gives one of the smaller cars a shove, and it rolls easily off the top of the police cruiser Catnip is after. "On second thought," she said, trying to think of an excuse for what she was about to do, "I could use my tools. It's between the seats, could you grab it for me?" She popped the mangled hood and took a clearly expert look at what lie beneath. "Hm. Needs a bit of work." She bluffed, "I'll be fine Dee, take Kathrine back home and I'll catch up when I've got this fixed." Dee gave a slight, sarcastic bow and did as she said. There was nothing wrong with the black and white of course, but the exterior components were badly mangled. It would run fine without them. She removed the hood to help the engine stay cool as she ran it, found that the keys weren't in it, and did what she always did. She hotwired it. Pulling the cruiser away from the wreckage, she looked to the direction Dee and Kathrine had gone and then went the other way.
Dark clouds had moved in and the wind had picked up. All was silent at the radio station, except for the sound of the coming storm. Catnip figured it wouldn't rain yet for another few hours, and she'd stopped being afraid of thunder a year ago. She sniffed about until she found the trail she sought. Dee had drug the bandit into the woods so that Kathrine wouldn't have to see him, while catnip had kicked dirt over the blood over the spot where he'd been hit by the car. The tinker had managed to get the terribly injured bandit quiet far back into the woods in the short time he'd given her to get that mess covered up. After a bit, she finally found the unconscious. Dee had stripped his ski mask off and revealed the stark handsome man beneath. "Such ugliness from someone so pretty." she said. The bandit surprised her by waking up, "Like what you see baby?" She scowled at him, a look accentuated and made more severe by her bestial appearance. "I've never seen something so ugly in my twenty three christmasses," She snarled. She thought about some people she'd known in the lab where she was born and raised, but pushed that aside. She didn't need to be countering herself now. Her knife was in her hand. "Yeah sure. Dump the lizard and help me get back to my people mousy baby." He made a snatch for her ankle, but the movement clearly pained him. Catnip simply said "I think not." as Dee had before turning the car on him, crushing his legs and groin. Her knife was in her hand, and she began to circle. "Don't like leaving loose ends." She said. The bandit was chuckling at her, "uh huh. Your boyfriend isn't gonna look on you with any kind of fondness when you tell him what you did. He's too soft. C'mon, the offer still stands..." Catnip scowled again but didn't stop her slow circle. His bluster began to crumble. "Hey, if your gonna kill me, then kill me already." Catnip was thinking about what this bandit would have done had Dee not flattened him, what he would have done had he found Kathrine. That thought, not the bandits cajoling and poor attempts at seduction, was what pushed her to strike. One quick move and he was screaming, his right eye deftly flicked from his skull. Another move and the left was out as well, a third and his tongue lay on the grass nearby. "There." she said to herself below the screaming. "That's how you leave someone for dead Dee." As the screaming faded into the woods behind her, she noted another sound. Something that had filled her with dread when she'd first been left in the open world, a sound that had sent her climbing into the high branches of the trees. She thought that maybe she'd grown up since then. She certainly didn't think or feel like the scared girl huddled in the trees anymore. The noise came again and as she climbed into the cruisers driver seat she thought, "The howlers are coming."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 20, 2017, 04:11:35 am
Dee was silent and his mask was a pair of small dots during the whole drive. Once he made it back, he stopped the car, took the keys, and went into his workshop's bedroom. He locked the door behind him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 04:57:21 am
The knight, in between missions and back at the farm, set aside the laptop carefully, following the conversation had on it. He decided for now that it'd be best to let Floyd talk to Dee, given he wasn't experienced with this sort of thing. He never really gave much thought to what had happened as of late, until now. He'd never actually killed a person other than the undead until he encountered those cyborgs in the lab. He recalled not really feeling remorse, but anger. He remembered rationalizing it. They were still human sure, still living. But they attacked him, and wouldn't stand down. He directed anger to a more useful purpose, focused on the scientists that made them that way. Same as he vowed to kill anyone responsible for what Catnip, Kathrine, even Dee had become.
He always assumed it was his training, even if he never made it into combat. That, and desensitized by the sheer amount of undead he tore his way through over all this time. Undead sure, but most still held human form. Then he realized how easily he took to his missions. How he felt in crashing through the cabin and gunning down the bandits on nothing but the center's word. How he disposed of the corpses. How he only kept it a secret what he did to them because he knew the others would disapprove, not because he found it wrong. How the only thing keeping his conduct civil when rooting out the spy was the need to make it clear he had his mark, and make it self-defense.
How he flattened that one bandit under the treads, letting his body crumble to the ground and simply rolling up, feet first, until the bastard popped. It wasn't until he heard how Dee handled his experience that he realized just how different his attitude towards all this was.
He remembered the one bit of mercy he gave the crippled survivor of the ambuscade. Something even Dee didn't do, despite being shaken by the need to kill or be killed. He also remembered what he would've done to her if he'd seen the merchant corpses first. Stripped, raped (possibly by the man and the women alike, for all he knew), executed, left to be nothing more than reserve rations. He would've left her to suffer, better yet watch as she butchered and cooked the other female raider, the one intact enough to do anything with. Unlike the guy of the group, splattered under the treads.
That thought of mercy didn't comfort him. Instead his thoughts turned to why he did this. It wasn't for the sake of killing, or for base desires, like the Hell's Raiders. It wasn't out of a twisted perversion of research that had no value beyond cruelty, like the mutagenics labs. It was because the innocent were being hurt. Justice needed to be served. There was a threat to humanity's survival. To the center, to the farm even. And if all that failed, they were a threat to him too, like how he shrugged off the first things he killed.
He realized now why he came so close to joining a unit that would've done terrible things. Why the Hector Lowe that Nathaniel knew did exactly that. He felt a greater desire to cling to the noble reasons why he fought, why he killed. To be a knight.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 20, 2017, 05:52:02 am
Kath's just silently sat in the car still, legs tucked up against her chest with her tail curled around her, looking pale as snow. She's shaking a lot.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 20, 2017, 07:23:41 am
Floyd hoisted Kathrine from the passenger seat. From what Dee had told him, she wouldn't be moving for awhile. He felt bad for her, came as she had to abhor violence of almost any kind. Something as simple as slapping someone might be deeply traumatic, even if the slapee deserved it. Catnip had been tired, and after her day she had gone straight to bed. Floyd carried Kathrine in and laid her down next to Catnip. In her sleep, she rolled over and held Kathrine tight like a sister. Gradually, Kathrine began to calm and the color came back to her face. When one thought about it, they really were like sisters. Catnip shared more with Kathrine than anyone else, seemed to have made her into a kind of confidant and Kathrine had ears for everything Catnip had to say if not an interest in most of it. He watched over them until Kathrine too, drifted off to sleep.
He left quietly and collected the best bottle in his small collection. A plain labeled bottle that said simply "whiskey." One of those "local brews" he'd bought back before that cataclysm and had saved for either a special occasion, or a dire one. He added to the bottle a pair of shot glasses and walked out to the bridge in the east, where he met Dee and the two had a long chat over several shared drinks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 20, 2017, 04:37:29 pm
Roxanne spent a few hours shooting at any living thing in the swamp she could find. Giant bugs and hostile wildlife serve no match for her rifle and those who managed to dodge were ended by her blade. Killing was therapeutic to here. Back when she was a hitman for the order, she would release any pent up frustration on her targets; that was a sight none at the farm had witness.
She gauged her power banks and realized she was down to 250 units, she smirked as for the longest time that was all she had to work with. Now she was no longer just augmented but an outright cyborg. Greed had brought her to the cybernetic mutant she was right now as well as out of place in reality itself. All this made her feel as a freak, and outright anomaly. She wondered how her alternate self would react if she had met her. She was glad she did not know the answer.
At least she was alive, she had survived. That was more than her alt could say, not that It could say anything at all… She used this fact to make her feel better. She might be out of place, her mere existence might be a sin (in her eyes) but she would be damned if she would be denied it! She had come this far and no-one would get in the way of her survive.
With that though process done, she head back to the farm, ignoring all the dead bodies she had left with burns and stab wounds. Once there she saw everyone doing their niche. A few were missing but who was she to expect an explanation of when they went out of the farm? Now she was hungry…were was the ‘special’ meat Hector had brought?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 04:58:10 pm
The knight set aside the laptop again sometime later, before making his way over to the farmhouse. He'd considered a few things running through his mind as of late. If anyone could be useful to answer them, he suspected Roxanne would be. He made his way over to the door, gathering his thoughts a moment, before knocking.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 20, 2017, 05:13:15 pm
Roxanne hears knocking on the door a few moments later after she is finished with here meal... "Who's there?",Roxanne asked. "It's me, hector, I want to talk to you about something." Roxanne turns off the altars candles and turns on her atomic lamp before opening the door. This seemed odd of hector so it peaked her interest. "What is it knight?', Roxanne asked once she opened the door trying to keep her tone and demeanor from giving away her thoughts.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 05:18:17 pm
Hector waited for her to answer, before giving a polite nod. "Welcome back, by the way. Was going to ask you something, I started thinking about how Dee handled what he had to do to take care of that bandit..." he said, before explaining in a bit better detail. About how Dee seemed rather shaken by it, unused to killing.
"It got me thinking about how, well. He seemed to handle it differently than I did. Not as easily, and I don't know if he'd take well to having to do that again. I was wondering how you handled it. Granted, you're an assassin, I would guess it wasn't self-defense like Dee and I. Still, that makes you the one to ask about this sort of thing."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 20, 2017, 05:24:55 pm
Roxanne gave a puzzled look to Hector. She wasn't one to question others morals but now that she thought about it, something came to mind. Hector was very stoic when it came to the mission, he would do so efficiently and not dwell on the loss of human life afterward. It reminded it her of herself. She knew something was wrong with her but was unsure what. She did enjoy having power or other's life but the knight seems to simply not be bothered by it.
"Have a seat." Roxanne pointed to one of the benches by the altar. Once both were sitting down she spoke again. "I just don't question it. What is done is done. No point in looking back. The mission is done and those who are killed choose the wrong side to fight on... But this isn't about that isn't it. It bothers you that is doesn't bother you too right?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 20, 2017, 05:27:45 pm
Mohammad slides the door curtain from the side room open a slight amount, peeking through the gap. Lilith was definitely sleeping on Sharlene's bed, so he slips between the gap and steps over towards the door. It opens surprisingly quietly, but not quiet enough to go entirely unnoticed. There's a growl from Lilith as he closes it behind him and books it for the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 05:34:55 pm
Hector took a seat, taking a moment to consider the answer she gave him. "As I figured. I always brushed it off, focused on the pragmatic things. Not good to hesitate in a fight. But, to be honest? Yes, I started wondering why I found it so easy. Training back in basic, having to cut through so many undead, that doesn't seem like enough." he answered.
"And I will admit I went a bit far with the last group of bandits. Now that we're here, well. I'll be honest. I got carried away, did more than what the mission needed. I got angry, and after I killed those raiders, I..." he trailed off a bit. "If they're going to prey upon the innocent, literally even, I decided to return the favor. The actual meat I found that looked suspicious, I simply had burned." he confessed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 20, 2017, 05:43:17 pm
Roxanne's eyes widen at that statement. "You mean you...that meat was...them?" The knight simply noded. Roxanne gave a small grin before speaking. "To be honest, I would've done the same thing...If we are doing confessions, guess it is my turn...that meat you gave me...I ate it..." Roxanne paused for a bit to gauge Hector's reaction. "I have a thing for consuming those I bring down...what I said about giving them a proper passage to the afterlife wasn't a lie either. Many cultures in the past thought that eating your enemy is the biggest honor your could give them. Making their remains not go to waste and taking the time to give them a proper preparation. I agree to that..." Roxanne looked at the roof before speaking up again. "We both seemed to be quite messed up int he head and we both are not qualified to solve it. How about we take it to someone who would know more on the topic? How about we pay quinn a visit and see what he says? He would be blunt and to the point."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 05:50:09 pm
Hectored nodded at that, before his response to her own confession was, rather than a look of shock or any such thing, simple curiosity, or possibly concern. "I see. Had my guess that you had something in mind regarding getting rid of them. That's, well. It'd already been over and done with afterwards. So I see no harm in it. What concerned me, if anything, was that I felt it went beyond what the mission required, and I was worried the others might frown on it if they found out." he said, before regarding her suggestion. "Might be best to. If there is a problem, I'd like to know."
He then stood up. "Might help then."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 20, 2017, 05:55:45 pm
Roxanne stood up as well. "Alright then, lead the way." Hector and Roxanne went to find Quinn. They reached his lab and they knock on his door. "Quinn, its us, Roxanne and Hector, there is something we want to talk to your about..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 20, 2017, 06:06:30 pm
Quinn opens the door, he's not wearing his usual labcoat and instead is wearing a black turtleneck and a pair of flannel sweatpants. "...Come in." He gestures towards the booth as he picks up a small paperback book and puts it in his personal bookcase. He grabs a small notebook from the bookcase and sits down in the booth opposite of Hector and Roxanne. "What is it?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 06:11:12 pm
Hector nodded as he took a seat, regarding Quinn curiously. "Good afternoon Quinn. The two of us were discussing something that came up lately, and both noticed something. I mentioned how it felt much differently Dee handled recent events, and it made me realize something about how I reacted the first time anything like that occurred. Or well, didn't react. I'm not the only one, it seems." he started to explain. He decided to keep the whole cannibalism thing a secret though, only intending to explain about his thoughts on how the two handled their first kills, and how the were desensitized so easily to it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 20, 2017, 06:15:35 pm
Roxanne sat down as well and listened to the knight's explanation to quinn. When he was done, she added her own take. "For me...it also seems to give me a thrill when my enemies go down...We know this isn't normal and has been bothering us for a bit...we thought maybe you could shed some light into it..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 20, 2017, 06:20:26 pm
Quinn looks at Roxanne, then at hector "You're both psychopaths, Roxanne more so, as in." Quinn adjusts his glasses, "You both don't feel guilt like most people do. You either had it since birth, or due to a trauma. Roxanne most likely had it since birth." Quinn lets out a breath, "Roxanne is a textbook example of a psychopath. You, Hector, are probably just desensitized."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 06:26:31 pm
Hector nodded at that. "I see. That would make sense. I recall feeling, not really guilt but anger, especially the first two I had to kill, the two cyborgs. Not anger at them for attacking me. But for whoever or whatever ultimately lead to their situation, and it coming down to kill or be killed. Unlike the undead. And the bandits, well. What they do seems rather deliberate. It wasn't until Dee reacted like that to harming one that I even figured that feeling sorry for them was something someone would do. Well, other than Kath. But she has her reasons. I don't think she's aware of the nature of those bandit gangs."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 20, 2017, 06:27:52 pm
Mohammad walks past the barn, somehow sweating from the short run between the cabin and the farm. He checks inside, apparently hoping to find Sharlene somewhere, but quickly backs out upon seeing the workshop setup they had. After another bit of wandering aimlessly, he comes across those three, who he.. Promptly ignores, in favour of walking off into the swamp. In thigh highs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 20, 2017, 06:28:49 pm
Roxanne is not sure how to take what she was just told. She just pauses for a moment before inquiring with Quinn further. “Guess that makes sense…I had my suspicions but never gave it much thought…does that mean I can’t be trusted?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 20, 2017, 06:37:21 pm
Quinn rests his head against his hand, "No. Psychopathy is a mental illness. You can be trusted." Quinn scribbles something on the small notebook and tears it out. "Either therapy or medication. Do which one you ever prefer, come to me for therapy." He hands the sheet to Roxanne.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 06:39:53 pm
Hector nods at that. "And so far I've been managing, so...if either of you need me, I suppose I'll be tending to the vehicles. Might help Dee and the others fix up their old van in case they need it again."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 20, 2017, 06:40:39 pm
Roxanne took the papers and gave it a quick read. "I guess therapy would help...I am a bit weary of how medication would affect my...'augmentations'...Thanks for being honest with me Quinn."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 20, 2017, 08:44:39 pm
"They won't. Only augments that might effect medication is the ethanol burner. Which is due to the alcohol. Don't drink alcohol with medication. Now, shoo. One of catnip's lessons is coming up soon." Quinn says, making a shooing gesture. He takes out a whiteboard and a few markers from under the booth's seat.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 08:53:51 pm
Hector by now was tending to a couple of the vehicles, mainly his and the vehicle Dee and the others had arrived in initially. Thing looked to be a mess to him, and they had hardly touched it as of late. He did at least figure he'd ask about doing repairs for them before doing anything too in-depth. Just a quick evaluation. He could see the front was nearly caved in, a lithium cell bank having crumpled in from a hit, which furthered melted the battery bank but thankfully seemed to do no further harm. A large makeshift ram had been welded onto the bumper at some point, having since been torn away. Likewise, crude blades evidently harvested from lawnmowers and attacked to the wheelbases. Crudly, as a couple had snapped off.
He figured he could easily replace the destroyed paneling on the hood, fashion a new ramming bar for it, and hand-forge some replacement side blades. Until then, he decided to head over to Dee's workshop, in order to ask to do so, reasoning it'd be good to have it in working order just in case. And in addition, he intended to talk to Dee about a few things...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 20, 2017, 09:35:56 pm
The workshop's mostly barren, there's muffled music coming from the bedroom however.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 09:41:50 pm
Hector made his way over to the bedroom door, before knocking. "Dee? Was gonna ask you something."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 20, 2017, 09:51:05 pm
Dee unlocks the door and opens it up, walks out rubbing his eyes and sniffling slightly, "Y- Yeah?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 09:56:11 pm
Hector gave a little nod. "You doing alright? This, er...isn't something I'm used to, but. Anyway I can help. Though the main thing I was going to ask about was whether the others would be alright with me fixing up the van you guys arrived in. In case another running vehicle is needed." he said.
"Regardless. If you encounter any more of those fellows...you gonna be okay if they become a problem?" he asked, a little awkwardly. He hadn't had to handle that thought, that concern over killing, in a long time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 20, 2017, 10:03:18 pm
Dee pauses for a moment, "I'm doing fine, thanks. Go ahead and fix the car. I'll be fine with taking care of some redneck bikers, yeah." Dee puts on his mask, it turns to a ~.^. "Feeling better now, Hecty hec. I don't want those fucksticks near where I live."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 20, 2017, 10:05:56 pm
Roxanne once more read the paper Quinn had given her. ‘Anti-Social Personality Disorder’ was what the diagnosis read. Quinn prescribe talk therapy or the use of medications such as anti-depressants or sedatives to control aggressive urges. She went and check the medication stockpile to see if there were any Quinn had wrote down and there were a few.
“Let’s see…I guess I will take this one daily then and see how it goes”, Roxanne thought quietly while picking up a medication bottle. She wondered if the drug would take effect given her mutations and bionics. “What is the worse that could happen…”, Roxanne whispered with a sigh.
This was all new to her, she never really saw her personality as a problem until Hector brought it up. She saw it as a strength being able to do the mission without the morality of it all getting in the way. But it was starting to bother her given how she had feel recently. She might as well give this a try to attempt to improve herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 20, 2017, 10:11:22 pm
Hector seemed surprised at that. He'd gone from just assuming it'd always be easy to get used to, to realizing some people had greater trouble getting used to it. "Alright. Sure you're alright? It's fine if you aren't. I'm guessing it's ...normal to not, right? According to Quinn at least."
"Regardless, given what they're capable of, good reason to be on the lookout for them. Good thing to focus on, a reason to be okay with fighting when it becomes needed." he said, setting a hand on Dee's shoulder. "And I'll have the party bus fixed up within the hour."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 21, 2017, 05:12:47 am
In the dark of Catnips room, something stirs. Night has come, and with it comes wakefulness for some. Kathrine is fast asleep in her own bed now, curled up under the blankets on what she believes is a needlessly opulent bed compared to her mistresses. That other is little more than a box filled with straw, discarded clothes, and chocolate. Catnip has banned Kathrine from tidying it. In her sleep, Kathrine shivers. She is dreaming sour dreams of how she struck Dee. Or perhaps, it’s the thing which has made it’s way into the barn and over the roofless wall into the pairs shared bedroom. It creeps down over Kathrine, eyes filled with hunger. Such a soft little grub, such a tasty little kitten. Kathrine does not wake as it crawls down the wall and comes to a stop when it reaches the headboard. She does not wake as it reaches for her form hidden beneath the blankets which, contrary to the belief of children the world over, do not protect from monsters.
“No Mica.” Comes the voice from the straw bed a few feet away. “Leave Kathrine alone.” The creature skitters around the side of the soft bed and approaches the other. “Sssss Kat-nyp! Sssss” it whispers, not wanting to wake the other before she can grab it and consume it. “My-ka did not know you here. This where Kat-nyp live?” Catnip sat up in the dark, cross legged on her pallet of straw and thinking her night thoughts. She ignored Mica’s question and simply repeated, “Leave Kathrine alone,” adding “She is sister to us.” Mica looked again to the small bundle on the bed and sniffed quietly. “It not smell like sister. What make it sister?” Catnip ignored that too, and Mica began to crawl up onto the bed again. Catnip was off her own in an instant, and noted that she could see by her night vision, Mica had left her rags somewhere else. She was stark naked. “Where are Damian and Lindsay?” She asked, grabbing one of Mica’s grotesque arms. Mica pushed her away and Catnip let herself be pushed. “Who cares,” she hissed, “My-ka leave them at nest, they sleep while My-ka eat. My-ka not sleep.” She looked back to the bed, then at Catnip, “Why you stop My-ka? Eh? Kat-nip save morsel for Kat-nip? Greedy Kat-nip?” Catnip reiterated her point, “She is sis-” but My-ka interupted, not wanting to hear it. “My-ka knows, My-ka will fight Kat-nip. If My-ka win, My-ka eats morsel. If Kat-nip win, Kat-nip keeps tiny morsel for self.” Catnip wanted to object, but Mica went on. “Kat-nip can’t say no! If Kat-nip say no, My-ka win and My-ka eat Kat-nip and morsel!” Hunger in her eyes, glee on her face, Catnip didn’t want to fight Mica. Kathrine shivered in her sleep again, and that movement seemed to excite Mica. “Yes? Yes? Kat-nip agrees? Yes? Does Kat-nip think she stronger than strongest Mica? Yes?”
Quinn was out for his nightly walk when there came a loud crash, as of a door being forced open, which came from the barn. He was the first to see Catnip in here night shirt and underwear tumbling head over heals with some kind of terrifying feminine monster. It looked almost like a spider, except for the patchy chiton and fur, and the nearly human face with it’s several eyes and it’s gaping maw. The bit and raked and pulled hair and yanked handfuls of fur from one another. Others were coming out to see what the commotion was about now. Hector, who had come out with his sword saw what was happening and executed a rush which broke the pair apart. His blade never found home though, as the monstrous spider whipped the sword from his hand and gave him a hard shove. It hissed evilly and turned back to Catnip, who had set her feet, ready for a rush, near Roxanne. She could feel the static in the air which foretold the collecting of energy and the coming release of Roxannes electric bolt. Catnip hissed at her not to get involved unless the beast managed to beat her. The request, more a demand, confused Roxanne greatly but she shut down the bolt generator. If Catnip didn’t want anyone involved, then there must be more to this than meets the eye. Floyd took to the field just as the two came at each other again and saw the obvious similarity between the monster and Catnip as she had been before her transformation into a ratlike being. Mica lashed out with her upper right hand and the claws made a queer whickering noise as they passed inches from catnips face, the distraction though gave her the chance to land a terrible bite to Catnips arm. Blood flowed freely, and the two backed off again. “Ha!” Cried the beast in a voice which was like Catnips had been once, “You taste of weak! I not eat Kat-nip if she give up now. Don’t eat weak Kat-nips!” Catnip growled and came in again, dodging to the side as Mica spat something thick and caustic at her. She heard something in that voice, worry maybe? As she rushed, Mica deftly sidestepped and grabbed for Catnips leg. She felt her ankle grabbed and then pulled out from under her. She could hear another sound beyond the growling and hissing she and Mica were producing now though, it sounded like Kathrine screaming. Mica crawled over Catnip and wrapped two of her huge spindly hands around her neck. “We not kill Kat-nip, we just make Kat-nip sleep so she not try to stop us from eating all the morsels. Kat-nip weakest! My-ka strongest!” The hands had strong tendons within them, strong threads that surely cut the air flow from her throat, but at the same time Catnip couldn’t feel any muscle in them at all. Her frame was slight and she had not much mass, but she had built up her strength through several years of working with machines. Catnip grabbed at the hands around her throat and pried them loose, gripping the fingers tightly and bending them back. The many small and large scratched, and the bite bled at the effort. It was slow at first, but she managed to pry back the hands. Mica sent in her other set of hands, but seeing that coming, she bit down on one of them and held it. Mica was screaming now. With great effort and strength she had not possessed the last time she wrestled with Mica, she turned the pin around on her. The one hand left to Mica was being reserved to rake at Catnips torso, her already ruined nightshirt was torn to ribbons and short fur flew. She drove the knee of her left leg into Mica’s soft gut, and with the other she pinned the last thrashing limb. Catnip looked almost like a runner preparing for the one hundred meter dash. Mica tried to kick Catnip off with her legs, those limbs being more powerful than her arms, but couldn’t find purchase on any part of Catnip that would give her any leverage. Kathrine had stopped screaming and was moving towards Catnip and the beast. “Don’t hurt it mistress! Don’t-” But neither of the pair was listening. Catnip tightened the grip of her teeth on the hand it held and Mica screeched in impotent rage. “Gif uph” said catnip through her mouthful of limb, “Gif uph Mica, ur I’ll break them!” Mica produced a low gurgle and again tried to spit the thick caustic stuff into Catnips face, before she could release that disgusting mass though, Catnip bent back the hands she held, and sank her own impressive teeth deeper into the chitin. She heard something in her mouth crack and hoped it wasn’t her teeth. It was Mica’s sudden screams of pain that told her it wasn’t though. “My-ka gives up! My-ka surrender!” To everyones surprise, Catnip let her go and the thing skipped away a few feet, eyeing Catnip warily. “How you do that Kat-nyp? Eh? How you catch My-ka’s hands?” Catnip shook her head and grinned. She said “Catnip is wiser, and now Catnip is stronger!”
Mica agreed never to come back to the farm. if the two sisters were to meet again, it would be at the refugee center. Mica made it plain though, “If My-ka finds Kat-nip away from farm and away from center, My-ka will fight Kat-nip, and My-ka will take soft morsel when she wins!” Catnip nodded, knowing that they probably wouldn’t meet again. Mica’s caretakers had expressed her desire to get closer to her main food source; the hells raiders. In the morning, A van pulled up to the farm and two people stepped out and began asking about a mutant they had taken charge of. Of course, the residents of the farm were more than happy to turn over the rogue Mica. “Why didn’t you use her phrase? Could have knocked her out in one go.” The others wondered this as well, but Catnip didn’t answer. She watched the van pull away and make it’s slow trip back through the swamp as Quinn checked over her stitches and Kathrine, after having brought her another night shirt, worried at the bandages and at Catnip bit ear. Then, to the friends gathered around, Catnip told them about her sister Mica.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 21, 2017, 08:08:14 am
Sharlene brings the raider's baseball bat up to rest underneath his chin. He was somehow unconscious just from the impact of hitting the tree, even though he seemed like he was a lot stronger during the 'fight'. "Sharlene! There you are, the fuck've you been doing? Stop playing around with that idiot and get back to Lilith, she's alone!" Mohammad yells, stood in a patch of muddy water. "What?" Comes the reply. She kneels down and removes the binoculars from around his neck, checking the lenses. "Broken. So this was pointless. Fuckin' great." Lilith jolts awake at the crash. Man-lady was gone. The door was open. She pads out of the cabin, heading for the farm. There's a scream, sounds familiar. She speeds up, not quite running still. By the time she gets there, there's a circle of people. The cub's there.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 21, 2017, 11:40:43 am
Hector gave Mica a wary glare as she left. "You're not much of a bandit-hunter. No better than your prey. If you hurt Catnip again, or even touch Kathrine, or any of the others? We will find you. All of us."
Nathaniel at this point had been attracted by all the commotion as well, a hand at his holster. "And I'll see how many rounds that fucking shell of yours can take." he said, evidently emboldened by the others gathered there.
"Won't be a fair fight either. You don't fight fair against bandits, do you? Neither do we. All it takes is your command phrase." the knight added. It was then they might've noticed Lilith, Nathaniel in particular turning to see her first. He carefully took his hands away from his holster, and approached. Cautiously. "You're...Lilith, aren't you? Easy. I'm not a threat."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 21, 2017, 12:33:32 pm
Lilith growls cautiously at Nathaniel approaching her. She backs up, eventually standing up normally and looking down at the small man with his hand facing towards her. He looked funny. She makes a surprisingly human-sounding giggling noise, reaching a paw towards him and patting him on the head.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 21, 2017, 12:41:42 pm
Nathaniel at that point was afraid she might attack again, but tried to keep calm. After all, she at least didn't seem to mean any deliberate malice, unlike Mica.
The pat was...a bit rough, but surprisingly gentle for her size. "You're here to see Kathrine, I'm guessing. Someone attacked her and Catnip earlier. Catnip fended the attacker off, Kath's unharmed at least." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 21, 2017, 01:01:26 pm
Lilith looks visibly groggy, probably from being woken up, but lumbers forwards and attempts to scoop up Nathaniel into a hug, still giggling like a child. There's chuffing noises in-between breaths as she steps towards Kathrine, still holding Nathaniel.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 21, 2017, 01:25:11 pm
The van hit another bump, jostling something in the back. Whatever that was, Mica thought it smelled great. Everything smelled great though, she was hungry after all. When she got this hungry, even the seats cushions looked good. The ruined state of the vans interior was a testament to that. But still, Mica didn't feel much like eating, even with her dire hunger rampaging in her guts. Catnip was strongest. The quickly healing crack in her spindly arm where Catnip had crushed it in her teeth was proof. "What's wrong Mica?" Asked Lindsay. Mica had been all aggression and bluff when they'd loaded her into the van. Now though, she seemed to sulk. Something the two caretakers weren't used to seeing. Damian glanced at Lindsay. "Eh," he said aloud, "we were gonna save these for when you'd been good but..." He pulled the van over and got out. Lindsay helped Mica get out and walked her to the back of the van. "If I give you these, you have to swear to keep the promise you made your sister. You can't go back. That guy with the sword was really upset." They acted like they were her parents, further fortifying the subject to caretaker bond. In truth, despite Mica being... well, Mica, Damian and Lindsay had actually come to adore her. In the way the parents of a disabled child adore theirs. Damian lifted the gate and pulled out one of the cages. "Chikens!" Mica squealed. Had anyone at the center known that her preferred food was live chickens and not people like most assumed, Mica's dire reputation may have taken a hit. She ripped the door off the small cage and upturned it over her mouth. The chicken disappeared into the bear trap of her face in a spray of feathers, she picked up another cage and started on unwrapping the delicious nugget inside before she'd finished swallowing the first. Lindsay put her hand on Mica's back, "Sweetie, you should finish the one you've got first." Mica pushed her away, but gently, and gave a low hiss of pleasure. She bit the head off the next chicken, and set it down to watch it run around for a bit. It ran a small circle twice and then sped into a tree, sending Mica rolling in a fit of laughter before she leapt upon it's still twitching body and devoured it. With her favorite food before her, she thought again about the events of the night and decided that if she did run across Catnip again, perhaps she wouldn't be so hasty. She knew where Nip was now after all, and she knew that Nip went to the center often. She wouldn't be so hungry next time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 21, 2017, 01:32:30 pm
Nathaniel meanwhile was rather surprised at Lilith's reaction, only to give a soft, muffled erk as she hugged him. Either from where that pressed him against or the squeeze knocking the wind out of him, he could barely breathe until she simply carried her off. His response was to give her a nervous pat in return, barely felt unlike the one she gave him.
Don't make eye contact, don't bare teeth. He knew that was stuff that unnerved cats and dogs, and he suspected the same of Lilith, simply smiling without flashing teeth.
Hector meanwhile, after helping Quinn and the others tend to Catnip, decided to check on Kathrine as well. "You alright? I'm afraid e might have another visitor though, it seems..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 21, 2017, 02:00:48 pm
Kathrine is waaaay too busy trying to help with Catnip to answer or even acknowledge Hector. Lilith just drops Nathaniel as she goes back onto all fours, nudging at Kathrine with her nose before moving her attention to Catnip and grunting. The rat smelled funny and had less fur than before. She was even covered in all those silly 'bandages'.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 21, 2017, 02:06:45 pm
Nathaniel gave a little meep as Lilith simply dropped him, stumbling to his feet uneasily. "I'm gonna feel all that in the morning..."
Hector meanwhile looked back to Lilith, before giving a nod. "Attracted by all the commotion, looks like. Kathrine, are you hurt?" he asked, not expecting any response. She seemed focused on ensuring Catnip was tended to to consider her own well-being, he guessed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 21, 2017, 02:10:34 pm
Roxanne was still processing what had happened. Adrenaline subsudding. She needed to stop using that bionic unnecessarily, it severely drained her after use. She sat down to compose herself breathing heavily from the adrenaline comedown. At least she did not have to use the chain lightning; that on encounter on the sewers proved it could be very unstable to use.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 21, 2017, 02:15:57 pm
Catnip was too busy thinking about Mica to listen to Hector. Kathrine was fine of course, if Catnip hadn't been awake when Mica had krept in through the demolished front door, or the hole in the roof, she might not have been. Mica wasn't a promise breaker though, she knew Mica wouldn't come back to the farm unless she had a very good reason. Catnip came back to herself at the realization that she was petting something. Something big.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 21, 2017, 02:34:13 pm
Lilith makes a short purring noise as Catnip pets her, and leans in towards the rat-girl. Kathrine makes a short squeak as Lilith comes into view, but still stays by Catnip's side. After a short while, Lilith actually just lays down, resting her head on Catnip's lap.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 21, 2017, 02:38:09 pm
Hector smiled a bit at that. "Good, lot better than our first impression. I have my doubts as to whether that'll be a trend with that...other one. Did you guys encounter her before?" he asked, unaware of the encounter Catnip and the others had before.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 21, 2017, 02:47:55 pm
Catnip stroked the giant cat woman. Liliths fur was actually quite nice. Catnip was struck by how appreciative but not jealous she was. Different kind of fur she guessed. To Hector though, she said simply. "Mica is my sister, from the lab. I saw her at the Center and even talked with her for awhile. I wonder how she found her way here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 21, 2017, 02:55:55 pm
Hector nodded at that. "I see. Was she...like that, back then? Then again, I have no way of knowing if this is the Mica you knew, or the one from this realm..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 21, 2017, 03:00:15 pm
"Like what? Sort of? She was never so hungry before, but she did like to bully the rest of us. She was always strongest, so she always got her way around the rest of us. They did something to her in the lab. She didn't have so many arms then either." Catnip rubbed her eyes, the tussle had left her exhausted. "She wasn't always a monster."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 21, 2017, 03:05:44 pm
Hector nodded at that. "I see. She say anything to you at the center? Any hints as to what happened? Her handlers seem...not exactly competent. I mean Sharlene seems to handle Lilith on her own with few problems, while these two look like they can barely keep her from killing them." he said.
"That said, well. If this happens again, and someone dies because of it...you know what we'll do. I know they tend to install control phrases, and from what I overheard back when Dervish was around...any advantage we can get, if you know what might keep her from hurting anyone, or from us having to kill her, let us know."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 21, 2017, 03:09:37 pm
Kathrine glares at Lilith and opens her mouth to say something, but fails to come out with anything. She eventually leans in and wraps her arms around Lilith's massive body. Something about her hair looks funny, like it has a slight tinge to it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 21, 2017, 08:34:00 pm
Later on the next day, Hector was on his way out again, heading to the refugee center to discuss some things with the representative there. He wanted those bandits pushed back, on the defensive. And better yet, it'd mean starving out Mica if she didn't follow where the prey was. Yet more reasons as the tank rumbled to life late in the morning, heading alone to the center...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 21, 2017, 08:40:25 pm
Dee, using the laptop, controlled the SLS to go scout out areas near roads.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 21, 2017, 08:58:22 pm
She'd forgotten most of what the handlers had told her, but she remembered enough. "They were upset, the people at the lab, when Nathan took me away. So they gave Alabaster the christmas meant for me. After that, they mixed all the special medicine they had and gave some of it to Mica. Lindsay says Mica was locked in the upper levels for awhile so she could break robots and kill biters or other mutants. Then they gave her more medicine and locked her in the upper floors again." Catnip tousled the longer fur beneath liliths ear and then moved her hand back to the top of her head. Such a pleasant giant, Catnip was sorry she'd bitten her on that occasion by the bridge. "Mica saved Lindsay and Damian by chewing through the doors on the top level." Hector made a face of disbelief, "That can't be true Catnip." She shook her head, "I don't know. that's just what they say. They escaped, and Mica learned about bandits. I guess she tried really hard to only go after bandits, but it's hard to tell sometimes and she does get hungry enough that she stops caring." Catnip had shifted her focus to her right arm, where at one point in the brawl Mica had tried to get a hold of her. The fur on the top of that arm had been shaved off. Quinn was coming over with a needle, and Catnip shrank back. Lilith, sensing this rumbled. "It's antibiotics. You need it Catnip, you've got a hell of an immune system, but I don't think even Roxanne would risk leaving a bite from your... sister, untreated." Catnip relaxed a little and Quinn administered the antibiotic. "please don't hurt her." Catnip whispered. "What's that Nip?" She shook her head, and told them it was nothing. Lilith nudged Catnip, admonishing the rat with her eyes for stopping the petting. Catnip scratched her ears. She knew she liked being scratched behind the ears, Lilith would probably like it too.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 22, 2017, 12:08:21 am
Hector had taken the information Catnip and mused on it, uncertain what to think of it all. Annoyingly, Catnip didn't give him the information he was hoping for. He knew one word that might see use in more than one member of their subject group, but he'd rather avoid using it. If it proved to be the wrong one, it'd do him no good.
What he did decide to do was arrange for some assistance from Quinn, over one of the CBMs scavenged over time. He'd been able to follow instructions on a few power cells by rote, installing them with ease. A small series of implants working in tandem had been next, something he previously did with Roxanne's assistance, along with a small emitter installed in the palm of his hand. A Joint Torsion Ratchet system just like Rox used, and an EMP emitter as an emergency weapon.
The series of wires and powerful fibers now running through his body, not even felt by him, was something he knew only Quinn could handle. Something to keep up with the others that relied on close combat, as he did.
After all this he was off, making his way to the center to arrange for some more tasks to do. The request they offered him was simple, confirmation of an organized bandit force, coordinating smaller cells operating in their own hideouts. A rough location was known, but he lacked exact coordinates. He had an idea, as he made his way back outside to the tank. Unlike before, it wouldn't be easy to take on alone. He'd need the tank fully crewed at minimum, maybe even more than that...
And thus marks where the collab writing thing we'd been doing begins. Since Wilson never remember to set permissions to "not literally everyone" I copied it into a version that has permissions set. Link is here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LuBlY48wE9vdy33WkjJNRK1p-1yjKIFQCJbn6lb_RPU (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LuBlY48wE9vdy33WkjJNRK1p-1yjKIFQCJbn6lb_RPU)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 23, 2017, 10:53:28 am
Down on the bridge, Catnip and Kathrine were discussing something they felt was of great importance while out on a walk together. “Yeah, but what about blueberries?” Asked Catnip. Kathrine replied that blueberries weren’t blue, they were purple and reiterated her point that their were no blue foods in nature. Catnip thought about it. “If they aren’t blue, then why are they called blueberries? Oh, hello Mormon.” Kathrine turned to find a man in an ironed workshirt and tie approaching. Catnip had felt his coming this time and wasn’t surprised by him. “Hi,” he said, “I see you have a friend here today. Maybe this time you have a moment to talk about Jesus?” Catnip was about to say that she’d had time last time she saw him, that he was the one who didn’t have time, but Kathrine was the one who spoke first. She stood up straight, looking more like a maid than normal with her hands down in front of her. “I’m sorry sir,” she said, “The mistress does not see solicitors. If you’d like to leave any reading material you might have, I can make sure she gets it.” There was a blank look in her eyes, and the response felt to Catnip like a well rehearsed bit of dialogue. The Mormon scowled at her, but said nothing. Kathrine eased a bit, but made shooing gestures. “Go on,” she said, “Mistress does not take-” “It’s fine Kathrine.” Interrupted Catnip. Kathrine slackened even more. Catnip found it unusual that Kathrine should choose not to immediately tackle hug this man, and instead had tried to shoo him away. It was just another thing she didn’t understand. She would remind herself to ask Kathrine later. Mormon only glanced at Kathrine, and then asked “Ma’am, would you like to come over to my camp? Me and a few friends are erecting some crosses and having a party. Maybe you’d like to be involved in the festivities? You can bring your friend along.” Catnip slowly shook her head. “No, sorry. I have work to get done.” Kathrine interjected then, not liking the feel of the man. “I have to help her with that.” Catnip took the reigns of the conversation back from Kathrine and stated, simply, “I read the little book you gave me. Er… I tried anyway. It has a lot of big words. Where do you come from Mormon?” The man gave her a small grin, “Thats presumptive of you ma’am, but I forgive you. My name isn’t Mormon, my name is Mr. Baker, and I’m just a humble soldier in gods army.”
He told Catnip about God and Jesus and John Smith. Kathrine had got bored and asked if she could go back to the workshop. This interruption annoyed Mr. Baker a great deal, but Catnip had given Kathrine a quick hug and told her she could go back. Catnip didn’t understand a word of what Mr. Baker had to say, except that involved magic and faith and giving people money. All that Catnip got out of it, was that it was a thing that could keep you on a good path. He pushed aside most of Catnips questions, instead explaining various things or stories that had to do with morality in his bible. If Roxanne was correct in what she’d said over the computer thingy, some people just made stuff up and Catnip found that interesting after having most of what he had to say. An hour later, Mr. Baker had walked away, leaving Catnip with a few tracts and another little plastic bound book of verses.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 23, 2017, 08:43:53 pm
Hector at some point was checking on a few things, having finished up installation of the boom crane. In the wake of the raid, things had been rather quiet lately. He wasn't sure how well Dee had been handling all this, the deaths of Swithwick and Harvey especially. He was also still unsure how Kathrine was handling it. Far as he could tell, Jimmy seemed to have not noticed, though his recent string of going on walks through the nearby woods was worrisome, afraid he's either walk off entirely and never return, or get killed.
He soon enough saw Catnip and Kath returning, giving them a friendly wave. Likely he wasn't going to ask if they were alright, when he noticed the things they brought back. "Welcome back. Is that...what I think it is? That minister fellow returned, I'm guessing?" he asked, curious now. "Did he say anything besides the usual?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 23, 2017, 08:56:34 pm
Catnip handed Hector the things she'd been given. "Mistress should let Kathrine deal with solicitors." She said sulkily. Hector looked over what Catnip had been given. Tracts from several christian faiths, even a few of those ridiculous old chick tracts. None of it struck him as particularly Mormon. For a guy who seemed to be looking for door to door conversions, he didn't seem to be handing out a whole lot of his own faiths material. Catnip Told him about what he'd talked about, and that was right, but this stuff. It seemed like only a formality. Kathrine had been wary of leaving Catnip alone, and when Catnip had gone back to the workshop with all the literature Mr. Baker had given her, Kathrine told Hector her worry. "I didn't like him." She explained, "Why is that Mr. Beef? I like everybody! But... it felt like he wanted to take Catnip and me somewhere else." Hector was alarmed at that. "Hm..." he said, "I think I may go down to the bridge with Catnip next time. See what this Mormon is all about."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 23, 2017, 09:20:26 pm
Hector regarded the items handed over with curiosity, then suspicion. "Yeah, I don't like the vibe this fellow gives me, Kathrine. Can you tell me where he wanted to take you too?" he asked. "I'm not sure it's safe to take Catnip with me, in fact. Might be better to bring someone else." he said. "Put simply, they might have some desire to harm you and Catnip. Or at least there seems to be something fishy about this. Maybe he's just some local eccentric, but..." he trailed off. "Just in case."
He then made his way back inside, checking on something briefly when he saw Nathaniel doing something on his laptop, before making his way over to go ask Roxanne something.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 23, 2017, 09:23:54 pm
Roxanne heard a knock on the door. She knew it was Hector since he had said he would be on his way on the chat dee had set up. She put her laptop away and open the door. "Nathaniel told me you wanted to talk about something? What's the matter tin can?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 23, 2017, 09:29:43 pm
Hector nodded at that, waiting for her to answer the door. "I mentioned a little bit about that fellow that Catnip and Kath encountered. Like I mentioned, a few oddities in their material, and from the sound of it he seemed to have some reason to want Catnip to come along to visit. I was thinking about paying them a visit. as Nathaniel said, if anyone's going to have an eye for odd religious groups, cults, or whatever they might be, it's you." he said.
"Either way, even if they're harmless, I feel having us meet them instead of Catnip might be best, to explain why Catnip isn't able to understand much of this. I can guess it'd be frustrating to anyone that inclined to evangelism."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 23, 2017, 09:32:59 pm
"If you are worried about it, I don't mind going with you. Just tell me when and where and lead the way." Roxanne paused for a moment and grinned. "Guess I will have to dress my sunday best."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 23, 2017, 09:39:58 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Yeah, might be best. Got a rough location, seems they wanted to meet the two somewhere. So should be simple to find them." he said. He already had his gear ready. "I wonder if a chick-tract-peddling priest would know whether he's looking at a hereldric pattern of catholic origin." he joked, waiting for when he was ready.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 23, 2017, 09:45:02 pm
"Lead the way then. I will leave the rifle behind so I don't give the wrong impression. We should still be able to take them on if things go sour. Are we taking your tank, my apc or on foot?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 23, 2017, 09:50:57 pm
"I'm thinking it's best to go on foot. I'd like to have it if things go sour, but they seem close enough to walk there, and if they aren't dangerous, that'd make an even worse impression than the gun would. That said, sword's going with me just in case." Hector answered, soon enoygh leading the way along the road towards the bridge.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 23, 2017, 10:34:09 pm
Roxanne and Hector took the tank down to the bridge and got out. "Catnip says this is where she met him." Roxanne noted. "I'm willing to bet he won't come out to meet us though, looking like we do." Unlike Catnip and Kathrine, Hector and Roxanne were imposing figures. Hector had come clad in full gear and Roxanne had the look of someone who could dance circles around an enemy, all the while cutting bits and pieces out of them. Then there was Hectors tank of course. The siege tower had been slowly put back together with spare parts by the knight, but once he'd joined up with the rat mechanic, it's armor had been thickened, the barrel cleaned weekly, and the treads had been painstakingly removed, refurbished, and reset. Catnip had shared with him once, a plan for installing a second cannon next to the first. At the time though, she lacked the tools and the idea was ridiculous. Ridiculous, but not unattractive. "Well, lets see what we can find tin can." Roxanne said, looking around. "Whatever you say booby lady."
To their surprise, the man did show up, but not as Catnip had described him, and not alone. Roxanne had been inside the tank when she noted their approach. Instead of one man dressed as a simple door to door missionary, there were three men, dressed as soldiers with a blue cross painted onto their kevlar in two broad, clumsy strokes. "Templar." Said one, raising his hand to Hector in greeting. They seemed to think he was one of them, probably due to the armor he had long ago made a habit of wearing. "What brings you so far afield father? Private Baker has been doing an alright job at trying to wheedle the mutants away from their guardians, have you not received our reports?" Roxanne noticed the rifles slung over their shoulders. Basic things, civilian hunting rifles. At their hips, each carried a pistol of some kind. They spoke with discipline, carried themselves with it too, but from her place in the tank Roxanne could see the inexperience in their eyes. And also the zealous fire.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 23, 2017, 10:45:23 pm
Hector smirked a little at that, regarding the group that stood before them, armed and surprisingly mistaking him for one of their own. He then smirked a little under his helm. The design they had was different from his shield's pattern, which was a red and white party per cross, with a golden cross painted in each white field. "So. I knew it. Not a very professional setup, are you? Any of you make a move, you'll be full of holes in a heartbeat. The lot of you, stand down. Bring me whichever one of you heathens leads this bunch." he said, calmly yet clearly. Admittedly that was a bluff, hoping that Roxanne had the sense to man one of the tank guns to reinforce that threat.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 23, 2017, 10:53:38 pm
Roxanne still assumed they were having a chat not knowing of the knight's previous threat.. She left the tank running to give the impression that someone else was inside and moved the machine gun towards the group. She then got out of the tank trying to act as inconspicuous as possible. In her friendliest and most professional tone she said. "Gentlemen, we do not wish any ill will towards you, we simply want to talk." The group in front of them now with their hands now resting on their pistol holsters.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 23, 2017, 11:06:28 pm
"Templar." Said one of them, his voice taking on a wary tone. "Maybe you kid, but this is taking things a bit far isn't it? Surely you wouldn't allow-" One of the men pushed the speaker aside and made to unsling his rifle, "Brothers, this man is not a templar! It's a trick!" Hectors sword was out of it's scabbard in an instant. He took a single step forward and slammed his heavy shield into the speaker, spoiling his nose and laying him out on the ground. The arming sword came across and bit deep into the unguarded throat of the one Catnip could have Identified as "Mr. Baker." "Not fair!" Roxanne shouted as she unleashed a bolt of killing electricity with little thought as to what would happen when it struck a target so close to the steel clad knight. To Hectors credit, he was made of sterner stuff than the 'soldier,' and shook off the effects quickly enough to lay another shield bash to the face of the already dead, but still standing, soldier. The one left clutch at his broken nose and made to rise, but Roxanne stepped on his shoulder where she knew their probably wasn't any armor and press down hard. "So." She said, grinding her toes into the soft shoulder, why don't you tell us where you were planning to take Nip and Kathrine?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 23, 2017, 11:12:09 pm
Hector loomed over the one Roxanne pinned down, blade leveled to point at the man's throat. "I come not as a Templar of your order, but as a Templar of another cause. Now. I can guess what you had planned with Catnip and Kathrine. Explain why you seek to harm them." he demanded, seeming to have shrugged off the shock, despite the pain it caused him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 23, 2017, 11:16:37 pm
The man at blade point spat at Hector. "Heathens!" he cried, "Consorting with demons and body polluters! You should be crucified with the rest! Archbishop Astor will cleanse the earth of all unclean things!" He glanced at Roxanne, "Especially beasts like you, whore of Satan!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 23, 2017, 11:25:52 pm
"Whore of Satan? You sure know how to flatter a lady!"" Roxanne gave a wink to the downed soldier and pressed on his shoulder harder. "The question still stands, what exactly where you going to do to our friends?" The soldier simply looked away in response. At this point, Roxanne was feeling a bit uncomfortable. She was enjoying having dominion over someone in combat but there was another feeling as well. She somehow felt like this was wrong. Guilt? Nah, Quinn had said she was a Psychopath. She had taken the meds he had prescribed her, might they be taking effect more so than she expected?
The though disturbed her so she went back to the task at hand. She pressed her foot down harder. "Hey, are you going to talk? Or do we have to get you comfortable first? I know a certain center that might want a word with you as well..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 23, 2017, 11:30:55 pm
Hector glowered at the man, calmly pressing the blade in, enough to break the skin. Any deeper and it'd jab into his windpipe, the knight ensuring that such a stab would avoid the carotid and jugular. "Silence. You would condemn even people who, since birth, were experimented on against their will? With the dead rising to feast on the living, and things not of any sane world threatening mankind with extinction, this is your concern!?" he said, raising his voice.
"If you call yourself a man of faith, and make it your mission, you should know that it is your duty to offer salvation, not to deny it by killing what you call the sinner." he said, his tone of voice returning to a calm, yet firm remark.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 23, 2017, 11:48:44 pm
He groaned as the bones in his shoulder ground together, but said "Pfft, 'the center.' That den of heathens will fall just like the rest of you. Hang them all up on crosses like they deserve, and when we run out of crosses-" Roxanne interrupted by digging in with her foot again. "You'll nail them up to the other side, probably burn a few at the stake. Regular ol' witch hunters eh? I bet you've even sentenced a few to the dunking chair or stoning." She seated her foot more firmly closer into to his neck. "Man of faith!" He cried, "Men of faith like me don't suffer filth like them to live! We crusade to-" his words turned to screams as his collar bone gave a dull 'snap.' "Crusade!" Spat Hector, "Crusade he says! When the dead walk the land and men are harried by things from beyond the veil, these men would crusade against mutants who mean no harm to anyone!" Hectors sword shook with his rage, but the crusader seemed not to notice. "No harm?" he gasped, "No harm you say? Several days ago, our order captured a terrible abomination! A stalker of the night! A thief and eater of men! No harm you say!?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 23, 2017, 11:53:21 pm
Hector blinked at that. The last thing he said gave him pause. Oh shit. was his thought. He then moved the blade, from the man's throat to his remaining arm. "I have seen eaters of men, who are themselves as human as either of us. I've killed over a dozen of them. Tell me where she is. Or I will cut your legs off and leave you to the wolves. Only then will you sin no more, clearly." he spat.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 12:00:24 am
"What do you think, false templar? Awaiting crucifixion. Wanted to get a few more though, god looks unfavorably on wastrels and putting up a single cross for a single of their kind is surely wasteful."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 12:07:51 am
The knight then jabbed the sword into the man's good shoulder. "Tell. Me. Where." he demanded. "If you don't, you have a few more limbs left on you. Ooh. We do have a stockpile of mutagen in fact. Want to see if you'll grow MORE arms for us to break?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 12:13:37 am
His eyes widened, "Across the bridge." He said, "A temporary camp in a dead city not far from here." He scowled up at the Knight, "Death to all mutants and mutant lovers!" It was then that Hector noted as the crusaders good arm made a move for his belt, that they hadn't divested him of his pistol.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 24, 2017, 12:16:33 am
Roxanne took her foot of the man. "See, it wasn't that hard was it? Should we leave them here or can I...'harvest' them?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 12:19:26 am
Hector smirked at that under his helm, jabbing the sword deeper into the flesh of his good arm, then drawing it along, cutting deep into muscle and nerve, as an armored boot sought to stomp on the offending hand. he then grabbed the pistol and tossed it aside, before calmly moving to hack at the man's legs, cutting deep. "Take one of the bodies with us, the one that matches our description of the fellow that accosted Catnip. I have a use for it, the other's yours to harvest."
"This one? As I said, go and sin no more." he said, giving the man a hard kick in the side before leaving him be, at the side of the road.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 01:20:57 am
"We can't risk using the cannon." Hector said as he looked through the tanks viewfinder. Catnip had done wonders with the tanks transmission, and the thing didn't make much of a sound unless Hector wanted it to. On the roads of the necropolis though, even Catnip's expert fingers couldn't silence the steady click of the tanks treads and the camp of men in blue cross adorned pre-cataclysm armor had been alerted to their approach. There were four of them that Hector could see standing around the small camp, and on the far side, just outside the camp, he could see a pair of large wooden crosses like the tops of power poles, and a sturdy if somewhat mangled cage. That last had thick bars and bore something that looked like a curled up spider, except for the almost human skin and patches of fur here and there. "I'll wheel the siege tower closer." Hector said to Roxanne, "Just like last time, I'm willing to bet this lot will mistake me for one of theirs like the others did. While I'm doing that, see if you can get around them." Roxanne gave a quick, sharp nod. At the farm they joshed each other incessantly, but when push came to shove and action was required, they could work together like old campaigners. Hector put the tank into drive and slowly moved it forward.
"Hail templar!" Greeted one of the men, "Your just in time father, our groups scouts should be back any time." Hector didn't say a word. "Father?" He decided he should say something, and walked into the group. "I see you have only one. Judging by the condition of it's restraints, I'd say you are having a hard time containing it." Mica recognized his voice, and looked towards him. Confusion, distrust, pain, sadness, and especially hunger were etched in tableau upon her mutation mangled face. "Ah, that is not a problem Father." One of them said, drawing something that looked like a television remote from a pouch on his combat vest. He pushed a button to show hector what he meant, and Mica suddenly went stiff. She screeched in agony and then collapsed back to the floor of the cage. Despite his distaste for Catnip sister, the torture these men inflicted disgusted him even more. "A specially made collar Father, affixed in place with a catch pole when we captured her." Hector glimpsed Roxanne out of the corner of his eye. Her cloak had suddenly given out as her power supply did likewise. She'd made it close enough to dodge into one of the camps tents and avoid detection.
Roxanne had burned through what was left of her power supply. "Damn, damn, damn." She whispered. Upon entering this tent, she'd noted the woman asleep on one of the cots. Taking a midday nap, she guessed. She wouldn't be waking up of course, but killing a sleeping person didn't require CQB. After arranging the body so that it appeared to still be dozing, she peeked through the tent flap just in time to see one of the crusaders working a remote, and Mica suddenly stiffening in pain. Seeing Mica gave the bionic assassin an idea. It would be an advantage, but also a risk. One she thought she had to take. 'I wonder if she's hungry'
Hector held out his hand for the remote, "Interesting. Might I take a look?" The crusaders were more than happy to allow their templar to examine the device they were so proud of. They thought it was a bit strange though, that he wouldn't know about one of gods armies most frequently used mutant hunting tools. Still, a templars request was as good as law unless their archbishop was present. The man handed it over and Hector looked it over. Television remote, definitely. There was a low *pssh* as his augmented muscles kicked on, and the remote was so much shattered plastic in his guantletted fist. "Father! what are you-" That fist looped in, cutting off the words with a meaty noise. The gauntlet, propelled by hydraulic force plowed through the crusaders face. Teeth, bone, and blood flew. One of the unfortunates eyes burst at the force. Before the others could react, Hector had swung his shield, a punishing blow that crushed the rib cage beneath the armor. As soon as he'd finished following through that blow though, his power reserve ran out and he drew his sword. "Have at thee." He cried. A man suddenly staggered from a tent, blood spurting from a long slash in his throat. Behind him, Hector caught a glimpse of Roxanne darting out the back and towards the cage which held Mica, and wondered if that was a good idea.
They had drawn their rifles, one of them with a shotgun. Another of the tents had disgorged two more, armed with assault rifles. "Put it down false templar." Said one of them. Your outgunned. Who the hell are you?" He didn't drop his sword, didn't even sheath it. "Just a hedge knight." He replied, "A hedge knight putting briggands like you down." Roxanne had drawn her mono filament blade and was trying to cut the bars without cutting Mica. A difficult operation with the grotesque mutant at the bars like she was. "Uh huh." Said one of the crusaders, "I bet bet your a mutie lover too. Looks like we've got enough for a crucifixion boys. Do we still wanna wait for..." They were beginning to notice the dead man who'd staggered from his tent. "God help me." whispered one of them as the sound of steel striking concrete came to the ears of the gathered. Something struck one of the crusaders on the side of the head, it looked like a mangled metal ring with a single red light, like an eye, on the side of it. Mica's shock collar. Hector looked to the cage. Roxanne was nowhere to be seen, but Mica was extricating herself from her prison. She hissed, and the men turned from Hector, their eyes hollow with the horror of what would happen next. To his credit, the need to escape which came over him did not stop Hector from cutting one of the bandits down as he drew a bead on Mica. Mica, who had just lunged across the open space, sinking her teeth into the throat of one man while tearing something that looked like a long purple sausage out of that same mans gut. Hector turned and smashed the pommel of his sword into the back of another crusaders head, surely a better fate than the one Mica had planned for him. The mutant dropped what she was doing and went after another that had dropped his gun and fled. He didn't get far before Mica had torn off his arm at the elbow and proceeded to beat him with it. It was absurd, but they could swear that with every blow they could hear Mica shout "stop hit youself!" over and over again.
The last of them fled, and Mica had gone after them. Roxanne and Hector took the time to gather up the bodies to burn them, but when the time came to put them to the torch, Mica returned. She was covered head to toe, especially head, in viscera. "You-" started Hector as he moved to intercept, but Mica pushed him, firmly but gently, out of her way. She fell on the pile of corpses, devouring them. Legs and arms disappeared into that abattoir, organs and strips of skin joined them. For all of what Quinn had told him, Hector found that he still had some measure of empathy. Witnessing Mica feed showed him that. Roxanne felt the same. As they watched, a sound came to them. A gravely, unusual sound. Hector couldn't place it, but Roxanne had circled around the body pile to see Mica's face. It had been washed mostly clean by tears, streaming from every eye. Mica swallowed another bite of gore and then stopped. From Roxannes position, she seemed to be staring at the bodies, but not really seeing them. Mica began to move, curling herself up into a tight little ball, almost pathetic in it's implication, and wailed. "MY-KA IS ALONE!" She stayed like this for some time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 01:44:05 am
Hector regarded Mica warily. He was conflicted now. He'd been so certain that she was a threat, that couldn't be dealt with reasonably. The actions of the others filled him with anger though, drove him to see them as a greater threat. Even with the morbid display of Mica ripping her way through body after body, he felt something at the sight, especially after she curled up in a ball. He wasn't sure if it was pity, but he began to suspect that what now lay before he was not the monster that attacked the farm. Not what just devoured a heap of corpses before his very eyes.
He calmly sheathed his sword, moving to remove his helm. "They killed the ones that were with you, didn't they? Even if you attacked them, they didn't want to stop at you. They wanted Catnip, and Kathrine, as well." he said, managing a calm tone despite the attempt to stifle anger visible without his helm.
"Catnip can help you. She suffered much more severe mutations that how you saw her, and we found a device that reversed much of it." he suggested. "If it helped with the hunger...would you accept it?" he asked.
He then, leaving Mica and Roxanne for a moment as he gathered a few things from the tank. A hammer from his toolbox, a piece of paper he'd written something on, aspic made from wildfowl, and something that took a bit more effort for him to free from the tank. A corpse, one Mica might recognize if she'd seen Baker among the group. He moved first to offer the food he brought to her. "For if you get hungry later on. The reason is I ask that you don't touch this one, the one I've left over." he said.
He set about, not too long he'd hauled the body over, nailing it to one of the crosses that was set up, and toppling the other. Then he took the paper he had brought, nailing it in place as well.
Quote
Cast out the beam in your own eye, before you seek the mote in your brother's eye.
This is the fate of one who sins for a cause they deem just. We will find you.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 07:32:16 am
Kathrine is in the cook house, despite it being nowhere near the set time for dinner. She's stood in the middle of the room, holding a pan and staring into space blankly. There's something burning in the oven, but she doesn't try to rescue it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 09:21:17 am
The aspic smelled like bones and... chickens. Mica shoveled it into her mouth the moment Hectors back was turned, and went back to her sobbing. All at once, she didn't feel so hungry anymore. It hadn't been the chicken jelly, which she found strange but delicious, or the pounds upon pounds of viscera she'd eaten. She crawled to Roxanne, who wanted to step back, to get out of reach, but held her ground. "You can take My-ka's hunger? My-ka would give..." She clawed at the air, opening and closing her hands at the nothing. She broke down again "My-ka has nothing!" she sobbed, curling back into a ball. Roxanne knelt by her and put a hesitant hand on one mutated shoulder. "You still have Catnip, if you behave." Mica reached out suddenly and grabbed her wrist, but gently, carefully so as not to cut the elf with her sharp fingers. "My-ka can be good." Roxanne felt as conflicted as Hector. She'd agreed that this thing would never see the farm again, and yet here they were about to bring it back with them. Roxanne wiped some of the tears and blood away from Mica's face, and hoped to whatever god was listening that this wasn't a horrible mistake.
Catnip smelled smoke. She hoped their wasn't a fire, she wasn't sure how to work the fire extinguishers. First, she would see what was what. When she opened the door to the cook shack, she was hit in the face with a blast of smoke. "FIRE!" she shouted. She peered through the rapidly thinning smoke as someone, she thought it was Quinn, ran towards the cook shack with an extinguisher. She couldn't see fire. What she did see, was Kathrine. "Kathrine?" She said. The smoke dissipated quickly and Catnip walked in. Kathrine was staring off into the middle distance. Catnip looked in the direction she was looking. The smoke had been a charring roast, now out on the back lawn smoldering gently and being sprayed down by Quinn with his extinguisher. Catnip looked back at Kathrine, her face was a complete blank. She waved her hand in front of her face, nothing. Snapped her fingers near her ears, nothing. She even gave Kathrine a little push, but Kathrine simply swayed in place. Catnip took the pan from Kathrine and set it aside. "Kathrine? Quinn, what's wrong with Kathrine?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 10:15:10 am
Kathrine blinks a couple times as Catnip takes the pan from her, wobbling slightly. She starts toppling forward, but catches herself on the stove. Pushing herself back up, she looks around a bit. "Why's everything smokey? I-I didn't burn anything!" She looks up at Catnip, clearly panicking. The orange tint to her hair is gone, although the the black spots dotting her hair had faded quite a lot. Something about the fur on her tail and ears seems off, too, but it's not as easy to pin down. Kathrine looks down at the now-open stove, then back at Catnip. "I-I'm sorry!" She exclaims, leaning forward to hug her mistress.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 10:35:26 am
Catnip accepts the hug. She thought this was quiet odd, but Kathrine's spacing out wasn't as strange as the change in her friends fur. "Um. Kathrine? What happened to your spots? Quinn?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 10:38:52 am
Hector then, having done his task here, made his way back to Mica and Roxanne. He knelt, setting a hand on Mica's shoulder as well. "Then let's leave this cursed place. If there's more of these people, they'll be back eventually." he said.
Soon enough the three of them were in the tank, Hector likely now concerned that Mica would root through the stash of food he had stowed in one of the compartments, but he considered that a relief compared to the threat of her eating them. "Hector here, checking in. Both of us are still in one piece. They won't be a problem anymore. Tell Kathrine my suspicions were correct." he reported over the radio.
"And one other thing, we have a guest we're bringing back. Tell Catnip to have that defusion kit ready. And that we have a...well, sister in need of help."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 10:56:55 am
*scrrrape* *scrrrape* *...* *riiiiip* *...* *scrrrape* *riiiiip* *riiiiip* *...* "Please stop Mica." Said Roxanne. She couldn't see what she was doing, but the noises put her on edge. *riiiiip* *...* "Ok." Roxanne looked back at her. She'd been scraping the inside walls and floor of the tank where Bakers corpse had been laid out. The gouges in the metal were... impressive, to say the least. She'd stopped scraping at Roxannes request and was simply licking one of the seats. She'd torn the upholstery apart, like some kind of animal. Hector wasn't going to like that. Catnip could fix it easily enough, and Kathrine was a hell of a seamstress. Roxanne picked up the radio after Hector had finished with it. "Quinn? You hear any of that? Make sure Nip has that kit ready, seriously." Mica went to rip another strip of upholstery, but stopped herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 10:57:28 am
Kathrine backs out of the hug, pulling her tail around to the front of her. "My-" She coughs loudly. "My fur's fine, Miss Catn- Mistress. What's wrong with it?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 11:10:15 am
Catnip shook her head and looked again. It must be the smoke. She lead Kathrine outside and took another look. There was definitely something different, but it was slight. "Your spots are faded Kathrine." She took Kathrine's tail without asking to look more closely at it and instantly liked the feel of her fur. She was touched with a little jealousy. Kathrine had the best fur. "Catnip." That was Floyd. "Hm?" she said, prying her attention away from Kathrine's delightfully pet able tail. Floyd had a dire look about him, "Catnip, get your defusor. Do you remember which one it was?" Quinn had finished dealing with the lump of charcoal that had been a roast and asked "I have the defusor. What do you need it for?" Floyd looked to him and a bad feeling came over Quinn. It was the tension he saw in Floyds eyes. "Dr, get that defusor. Hector and Roxanne need it. While your at it, do you remember the word Dervish used to turn off Catnip a couple years back?" Quinn nodded, he did. He'd helped as best he could with Catnip as they had traveled away from the region they believed would be effected by "the shifting." By that point, Catnip had already been rendered immune to her passphrase, but Dervish had told him plenty about the project. "Good, get it ready." Quinn noticed that Floyd was wearing his gun. It had been awhile since he'd actually put it on. It had been a surprise when he'd stopped wearing it in the first place, it was a surprise now that he was again. "Catnip." Floyd said sternly, "Get Kathrine out of sight for now and meet with me and Quinn over by the road. Your sister is on her way."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 11:11:04 am
Hector had, this whole time, been hearing the scrapes and tearing noises. He could guess each little sound, without having to look back. Hardened steel. Regular framework steel. A bit of upholstery.
A bit of exposed ceramic on the interior. Fuuuuck those can't be repaired, only replaced or worked around. At this point, by the time they drove over the bridge, nearing the farm, his quiet seething, a strange sort of growl, had become faintly audible.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 12:29:35 pm
The tank pulled up to Quinns lab. It hadn't taken long to lay out boards over the pit and draw back the barbed wire, thereby making a path. They wanted as clear a path as possible. The tank backed up to the edge of the pit, right up to the boards. When the hatch opened, Hector stepped out followed by Roxanne. Between them came Mica, a terrifying thing at night but under the bright light of day she was simply grotesque. She wasn't covered in blood now. Hector and Roxanne had taken the liberty of stopping at the river on the other side of the bridge and tossing water onto her with a bucket Hector kept in one of the storage compartments. Roxanne had wrapped her in a sheet from that same compartment, and fortunately Mica hadn't torn it to strips like she had one of the siege towers back seats. Floyd had his hand on his hip, within drawing distance of his gun if he needed it. The three stepped lightly over the boards, but as Mica came abreast of Catnip, she suddenly lurched in her direction and wrapped her limbs about Catnip. The others, believing that Catnip was being attacked moved in quickly, but Catnip waved them down. Mica's back hitched. "My-ka has no one Kat-nip. Dame-ee-on and lin-see are..." She wept freely, and Catnip just stroked her hair and hugged her back. "Mica." Quinn said. She didn't move. The Dr. knew it would probably come to it, but hadn't figured that the spider like chimera would be so passive once she was here. He expected a cursing, spitting, violent creature. Not this pathetic sorrow wracked wretch. He sighed and then said the word Dervish had told him about, half expecting it not to work. "Blightwalker." Mica went limp. Floyd remembered when Dervish had used that word on Catnip. She'd simply drifted off to sleep. Mica on the other hand seemed to be wide awake and quite lucid. "Alright, pick her up. Despite what this seems like young... lady." Quinn said to Mica, "We are not going to harm you. It's just a precaution." He didn't expect a response, but got one anyway. "What is 'pree-caw-shun?'" He blinked. "Uh. Safety. For us. You aren't exactly trusted around here." Floyd and Hector both grabbed a spindly arm at the shoulder and carried her after Quinn, into his lab.
"It'll take a day." He said. "From what I can tell, she is well past what those in the field call the 'mutation threshold.'" He took a sip of fruit wine and continued. "She seems awfully curious, but not... whats the word? uncomfortable? put off? Bah, she doesn't seem to mind being disabled. According to her, her caretakers used the phrase to get her to sleep." The gathered survivors listened intently to what he had to say. Mica could be heard in the lab room snoring loudly while the defusor did it's work. "I've already taken a blood draw, she didn't seem to mind that either. At first I couldn't get the needle in. Her arms are full of some kind of ichor that turns to a flexible resin when it hits the air. The carapace on her arms are made entirely from this stuff right down to the bone. It's very odd. I had to take the blood from the soft flesh of her hip. It's about the only place where fur or chitin hadn't grown over and the flesh was still viable for a blood draw. I've got those running in some tests right now as well so we will know if she's infected with anything later." Quinn sipped some more of the fruit wine. Catnip had set it aside a year or two ago, and while it wasn't fantastic stuff, it was certainly serviceable. "I wish Dervish were here." He said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 12:57:04 pm
Nathaniel at this point regarded the scene warily, keeping his hand in reach of his holster as well, but seeming to calm down when the others had Mica dragged off to Quinn's workshop. Well now he needed a drink too.
Hector nodded at that, staying nearby to keep an eye on things. "I see. So I would guess only some of these changes will be affected. I hope at least the most detrimental ones can be altered." he said. "It seems that Catnip and Roxanne both stabilized at a certain degree of mutation, for example."
Nathaniel then stepped in, to add something "The implications of these religious fanatics worry me. We've sent those fuckers an adequate message, but I doubt it will deter them at all. And ignoring their moral stance entirely, the fact that purifier formula can only do so much means...well. Unless the poetic justice shtick Hector's taken a liking to puts some sense back into the bastards, they won't stop being a problem until they get the Hell's Raiders treatment."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 01:27:30 pm
Kathrine had been moved into the barn by Catnip before the tank had actually arrived. She's sat in the dirt, patiently waiting for someone to come back and tell her to do something. She grabs her tail to look at it closer. wondering what Catnip was talking about, and she doesn't seem to notice any of the changes. "Mistress is being silly... Maybe she just wants to touch my tail? She could just ask..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 01:34:43 pm
Nathaniel eventually walked off, content that the others were taking care of things, when he decided to go check on something. He poked his head into the barn, about to go find a few tools when he saw Kathrine there, deciding to approach her. "Huh. You been dyeing your hair, bleaching it or something?" he remarked. "Anyway, er. You know, I...never did get to apologize for that code word I used back during the bandit clusterf, er...back when everyone else was out. Victor said it kinda was just confusing."
"Hector also wanted someone to tell you that he was right about that creepy pastor guy that accosted you and Catnip. Same group the center reported about, we think. They would've tried to kill both of you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 01:44:06 pm
Kathrine jumps to her feet as Nathaniel speaks up, squeaking. "N-no? Do we have d-" She's cut off by Nathaniel continuing. She glares at him as he nearly swears and crosses her arms, but doesn't say anything until he's finished. "No they wouldn't! Cold callers are annoying but they're not that mean..." She looks off into space for a second before shaking her head and looking back at Nathaniel. "Uhm... What's a whore?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 01:49:26 pm
Nathaniel sighed at that, deciding to ask about the slight chance in her fur and hair later on. "The solicitor thing was a ruse, Kath. Act friendly, lure you away from anyone that could help you, then..." he trailed off, only to sigh a bit.
"There's two meanings to that word. One's a term for someone who does certain, specific things for money. Things that're considered unseemly. The second meaning is outright an insult. If someone just goes and calls you that out of the blue, I'd bet they meant the second purpose. People can be as-er, pretty mean for no good reason, sometimes. Why do you think Hector and Rox do what they do?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 02:06:37 pm
Kathrine looks slightly peeved, ears pinned back as she leans forward. "I already knew that, but what specific thingies?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 02:10:31 pm
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at that. "Even knowing you're not like 12, this feels wrong explained that kinda subject. Floyd's gonna kill me for this, but. Prostitution, basically."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 24, 2017, 02:33:07 pm
Roxanne was tired and a bit wind-up from the whole ordeal. The uneasiness she felt when handling the downed man, the thought of mica, once thought a threat, was now within walking distance, it all overwhelmed her. She went to take more of the medication Quinn had prescribed her but noticed she had ran out. “Shit, another thing to look for on a scout run…”
She had quietly gone to the tank and took out the bodies she had gotten from the encounter with “God’s Army”. She had already prepared the ‘harvest’ from the bandit run. She seemed to like her ‘meals’ in jerky form. That way they were preserved and could be eaten alone with no other ingredients to contaminate. She wasn’t a good cook outside of survival meals and she would not dare ask Kathrine to make a meal out it.
Once all was prepared, she took a handful along with some wine and preformed the typical transubstantiation ritual from Catholics. She believed the in doing so she would consume the essence on her enemies while guiding their soul into the afterlife. A believe she had keep private from all.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 02:33:41 pm
"...I don't know what that means..." She stops leaning towards him, ears going back to sitting straight up. She's still tightly clutching her tail. Lilith had been attracted by all the noise. The smoke from earlier hadn't helped. Sharlene had let her go out to wander around the farm, but had told her to stay around the farm and not wander off. She ended up outside the lab with the big vehicle thing parked outside. There was a funny smell from inside, and someone was writing something down from the sound of it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 02:35:58 pm
Nathaniel sighed at that. "Er, well. Again, Floyd's gonna hate this. Basically having sex for money." he pointed out, finally working up the nerve to be blunt about it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 03:02:41 pm
"I... Oh. Th-" She cut off by a choking noise from her throat. She looks like she's piecing something together for a minute or two, then gasps. Tears well in her eyes, despite her obviously trying to hold them back. "S-so he w-" She buries her face in her tail fur for a couple of seconds, chest heaving. After another attempt at saying something, she just lies on her side, curled up in a ball. Her entire body is seizing up as she sobs, holding her tail against her chest.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 03:04:47 pm
Nathaniel blinked at that, uncertain how to process this reaction, a bit startled at that. "I...who. Who called you that, then? Was it the people at the lab you were in? It's okay, you can tell me..." he said softly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 03:33:32 pm
Lilith perks up at the sounds of the cub crying. She immediately sets off at full pelt towards the barn, sliding to a stop in front of the half-destroyed doors. Her claws furrow into the ground as she slows down, readying herself to attack whatever is making Kathrine cry. "You can tell me..." Nathaniel. She brings herself up to her full height and, surprisingly quietly, walks up behind him. Placing a massive paw on his back, she forces him into the dirt. "Cub..." She grunts, padding over to the sobbing Kathrine and lying down next to her, poking her with what might've been her index finger, before the paws.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 03:39:37 pm
Nathaniel sighed at that. "What did they do to you, besides call you that? I swea-" Cue getting bowled over and knocked into the dirt. "Fuck. I'm gonna feel that one in the morning too." he said, a bit strained as he fumbled to get up, a bit startled at realizing how easily Lilith snuck up on him. "She asked about something somebody called her, what it means."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 03:46:44 pm
Kathrine isn't responding to anything, in fact, she starts sobbing louder as Lilith pokes her. Lilith snarls, backing up slightly and looking back at Nathaniel. What could possibly pass as realisation crosses her face as she sits up, tail swishing back and forth. She bounds off, back towards the cabin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 04:04:56 pm
Nathaniel gave a little sigh at that, watching as Lilith seemed to simply glare at him, before bounding off. "Well, that just leaves Floyd that's gonna kill me for this." he remarked, unsure if that was better or worse than riling up Lilith.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 04:09:48 pm
"What, because hes..." Sharlene types out, before Lilith quite literally bursts through the door, sending splinters flying into the opposite wall. Sharlene shouts a lot, though not anything specific, before Lilith awkwardly scoops her up off the bed and ducks back through the door, trying to run back towards the barn but failing to do anything beyond a quick semi-jog. "Lilith, get the hell off me!" Sharlene yells, trying to get out of the fireman's carry she's being held in.
A couple of minutes later, Lilith appears in the barn again, dumping Sharlene on the ground. She had given up shouting a while ago, instead looking increasingly concerned at the loud sobbing coming from what sounds like either Catnip or Kathrine. She stands back up and walks over to Kath, crouching down next to her as Lilith goes back to lying next to her. By this point, she seems to have calmed down enough to start talking. "Hey there, Kathrine. What's up?" "I-I'm..." Kath takes a deep breath. "I-I'm a.. A... A whore..." She mumbles the last part, it also being muffled by her fur. Sharlene didn't actually hear what she said, but she tries to pretend that she had. "Oh... That's bad. Well, you're alright now, right? Come on, Lilith's gettin' sad over this too." This didn't seem to help much, but Kathrine did sit up properly, tears streaming down her face. She leans forward and lays down, resting her head against Lilith's side. Sharlene looks back at Nathaniel and shrugs, mouthing something along the lines of 'what?' at him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 04:13:15 pm
Nathaniel was still trying, futilely, to calm Kath down when Lilith return, Sharlene in tow. He stood there calmly, before shaking his head. "Someone called her that at some point, likely one of the lab fuckers. She asked by what it meant, I kinda. Well, I tried to avoid having to actual explain it because would you want to have to tell her, to her face, what they were calling her?" he explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 04:25:21 pm
Sharlene gives Nathaniel a questioning look before turning back to Kath. "Hey kiddo. It's alright, scientists're never right. Never met one with his 'ead on properly. Come on, wanna go throw stuff at cars?" Sharlene is trying to be reassuring, but it doesn't seem to be working well. Lilith, however, is perfectly fine with being used as a pillow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 04:32:12 pm
Nathaniel sighed at that. "I've met some rather messed up ones too. Weapons testing departments primarily. You shouldn't let what they said get to you..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 08:22:26 pm
"What's going on?" Asked Catnip. She'd heard someone talking about throwing rocks at cars, and thought that sounded like a lot of fun. She noticed the small group forming around Kathrine, "Oh. What's wrong Kathrine?" "I'm... I'm a..." Sharlene cut her off, "Somebody called the little miss a name, and she's taking it very seriously." Nathanial rubbed the back of his head, just before lilith pushed him back to the floor. "What did who call Kathrine?" Catnip wanted to know what this was about, Kathrine was really unhappy and Catnip couldn't have that. She got down on her hands and knees and crawled up close to Kathrine. "Mous." Said lilith, reaching for Catnip. "Sharlene tried to bat aside her questing hand (failed) and admonished, "She's trying to help ol' girl." Catnip gave a little "eep!" when lilith grabbed her by the scruff of the neck. She was placed a few feet away from Kathrine, who just went on crying.
The little spider worked furiously, but the changes were slow. Mica's hunger went from a ravenous unending sort of starvation, to a dull gnawing sensation. It was a relief to her. She couldn't see quiet as much though, and that bothered her a little. She'd been able to see several angles at a greater field of view than most, but that field had tightened a bit. Quinn had noted the disappearance of several of her smaller eyes. They simply sank into her face and vanished until there was a set of semi organized ocular orbs. One could actually tell where the eye sockets in her face were, but the right one was still home to more than it's fair share of eyes. Mica had covered it. The skin of her face softened and evened out, but that manticore mouth did not shrink. If anything, she sprouted new teeth, replacing the ones she'd lost in old fights or accidents. When she smiled, it was like looking at a shark with a womans face. The rest of her mutations seemed to jockey for dominance. The odd thing was, Quinn discovered, that the mutation path forced on her seemed to work by mixing and matching until something worked. Mica had worked, barely. Fur fell off onto the floor, even as chitin or scales took their place and then themselves joined the hair on the floor, which then had to be swept up. Quinn fed her aspic and jerky to keep her energy up during the process, but when he attempted to feed her a bit of fruit, she'd rejected it. He'd dropped the apple in surprise at her frenzied thrashing, and before he could pick it up and clean it off, she'd spat on it. That method of attack would have dissolved the apple along with a portion of the floor. Now though, it simply sizzled a little. No good for an attack unless it hit someone in the eyes. Her arms and the exoskeleton on her legs never changed, the mutagen in those areas having taken a firm hold. Her eyes shifted in color eerily. She chewed at her bonds, but made no earnest attempt to escape. Quinn watched her, and took notes.
Lilith wouldn't let Catnip get close, but she had been allowed to talk to her. "I don't think you're a... that word." Catnip was wringing her tail, which hurt like hell since the kinks were always a bit sensitive. She needed to wring something though. Catnip had only known about one meaning for that word, she hadn't been aware of the other. She'd heard the word spoken a lot by Carmello, when he was talking about other girls. She'd assumed he was "throwing shade" as he liked to say. Catnip wanted to get closer, but lilith would let out a low growl when she tried. She didn't know what to do.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 08:44:08 pm
Hector continued to watch cautiously, staying there with Quinn just in case, on occasion leaving to bring more food for Mica. He made his own observations based on how the mutations changed, and how over time her appetite seemed to dull steadily, the amount of food she consumed seeming less and less over time, to more normal demands.
Nathaniel meanwhile gave an annoyed grumble at being bowled over yet again, this time simply sitting there on the ground rather than approaching. "You're not that, Kathrine. They aren't here to call you that anymore, nor can they force you into such things."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 24, 2017, 09:33:09 pm
A loud motor of an unmuffled V6 engine is heard to the east of the farm. A cloaked man anchors his boat onto the bridge and starts to pack up various things, a large duffle of guns, a small luggage bag of fancy clothing, a metal box of implants, and several bottles and jugs of homebrewed liqour.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 09:53:49 pm
Hector then looked around, faintly hearing something in the distance. "Somethings nearby, just east. I'll be back in a bit." he said, calmly leaving Quinn's lab, starting to make his way down the road, then straying off to follow the apparent direction of the sound. Sounded like a small engine, distant. He guessed a motorboat, being away from the road.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 24, 2017, 10:27:34 pm
Roxanne was now inside here room trying on the clothes that she had acquired. She would see what fitted and would adjust them if it didn’t. She also repaired damage on her clothing at the sacrifice of other articles of clothing. She eventually tried on a wedding dress she had found, veil and all. She looked herself in a mirror and was astonished on how well it had been designed. She took it off quickly in fear someone would walk in on her wearing a wedding dress. She put away her clothing wishing she had more to try on and work on. She prayed that the local river supplied enough water so she had the luxury to wash her outfits often. She wanted to try to wear different outfits everyday instead of wearing the same thing daily as was the custom these days.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 10:27:56 pm
"That's alright Hector. I don't think this will take much longer." Quinn said, not looking up. "Good bye beef man!" Said Mica, referring to the nickname she'd heard "booby lady" use. She startled Quinn by slipping one of her arms out of the restraints to wave at the leaving knight, and then slipping it back in. One of the mutation paths was gaining dominance. Her skin had taken on a darker shade, her back being darker than her front. He prodded experimentally at her exposed skin to find that it had thickened somewhat, preparatory to becoming chitin. At his prod though, fur like Catnips began to sprout, but stopped right away leaving Mica with a not unpleasant sheen of fuzz over her exposed skin. "My-ka feels sick." She said suddenly. That was the sign Quinn had been waiting for. To an unstable or badly mutated mutant, the defuser would fill them with a pleasant sort of sensation, but applied to a normalized mutant or an unmutated human, it would just make them ill and begin harming them. He considered leaving it in place, but discarded that idea. If she realized it was harming her, she could easily escape and remove the defuser herself. He wasn't sure what she might do after that, and even after cleansing her of several major mutations, she would still be dangerous.
Catnip thought of something she'd heard several times when someone was felling bad, and that had been "I need a drink." She knew they weren't talking about water or soda though. Perhaps one of Catnips best kept secrets, was just how much she drank. "Kathrine?" She said aloud, "Would you like a drink?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 24, 2017, 10:35:09 pm
With that thought process out of the way she decided to go out for a walk. Roxanne was wearing a long red dress to gauge the other's reaction to her outfit change from her usual business casual look. She noticed the knight going towards the river with a step that indicated that he wanted to get somewhere. With nothing better to do, she caught up to him. "Hey, knight, where are you going? Care if I join you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 10:37:13 pm
Kathrine, still leaning against Lilith, nods weakly. Catnip being there seemed to have helped more than the big cat she was using as a pillow, at least. "Whoa, wait, you...?" Sharlene shakes her head, cutting herself off. The rat mutant had always seemed like a kid to her, but she'd learnt by now that assuming things about muties never ended like you'd expect. Kathrine shuffles up into a sitting position, no longer audibly crying. "I don't wanna be a whore..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 10:39:44 pm
Hector started to make his journey out of the farm when Roxanne came out, the knight regarding her, his expression hidden by his helm. "Heard an engine running east, bit north of the road. In the woods from the sound of it, so can't take the tank. Feel free to then, will try to avoid the swamps there since it'd slow us down." he remarked. "Not to mention wouldn't be good for that outfit, looks like you spent a fair bit of work getting all those salvaged clothes in good shape."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 10:46:13 pm
Catnip went into their shared room and reached back behind her bed. Kathrine never cleaned it, at Catnips request, and no one ever went through it fearing another "stolen guns" incident. She came back out a moment later with a brown bottle, sealed at the top with bee's wax. The label read "Father Callahan's Finest." Catnip didn't understand proofs, and Kathrine couldn't read it, but Sharlene had seen the stuff before and knew it to be some truly high tension stuff. "Er, girly... that's a bit..." The cork came out with an audible *pop*. "You aren't, never were, and never will be a whore." Catnip said, offering the bottle. "Just don't take too much. It makes your head go funny if you do." Kathrine knew what she meant, she wasn't a baby. She hesitated at taking the bottle from Catnip.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 24, 2017, 10:46:38 pm
Roxanne rolled her eyes at the last comment. She wasn't sure what she was expecting from the knight but she had a precedence now. "Better than that tired old armor, Templar!", Roxanne replied to the knight in a mocking tone, "Anyways, lead the way then, you would need the back up if things go sour again."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 24, 2017, 10:52:31 pm
Hector smiled at that. "It's worked well enough so far. If I find a good set of plate armor maybe. I at least clean this up every day, and have some options for underneath it." he pointed out. "Speaking of which, what do you think about whether I should paint another design on the shield? I'm thinking Knights Hospitallers maybe." he said, leading the way through the woods.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 10:54:01 pm
Kathrine reaches out for the bottle, snatching it from Catnip. She immediately tips it backwards, chugging down the bottle of... Whiskey? She stops after a couple of seconds, coughing. She seems to have stopped crying, at least, although this might not be a preferable alternative. She tries to give the bottle back to Catnip, arm shaking pretty badly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 10:57:25 pm
Catnip takes the bottle without a word and knocks it back. "Wow girly, that's uh..." Comments Sharlene. Lilith looks at Kathrine disapprovingly, and Catnip offers the bottle to Sharlene.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 24, 2017, 10:58:06 pm
Donavan anchors the boat against the bridge, he places a hand against the mag well of his M416. He lets out a breath through his throat, it sounds like a radio receiving white noise. "Wh#'s t#ere?" He turns towards the pair.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 24, 2017, 11:00:09 pm
"Well, whatever fits your style the most. If you wanted to paint hearts in there who would I be to judge?" Roxanne and Hector continued thought the woods, Roxanne trying her best to not let the bushes and branches ruin her self-tailored dress. They reach the source of the sound. A man standed on a boat, wearing a cloak so his features were somewhat hidden but he had several firearms visible. "Hey...are you the one who has been making noise around here?", Roxanne asked the figure.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 24, 2017, 11:02:22 pm
"Yea####h." Donnavan says, voice buzzing with static. He punches his chest and coughs, "Father Don#v#n, I'll ask again; Who are you?" he asks, lowing his hand off his assault rifle.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 11:03:55 pm
Sharlene takes the bottle, if only to stop the kids from drinking any more. "The hell'd you even get this stuff?" She asks, checking the label. "Yadda yadda distilled... Huh." Kathrine, meanwhile, is pretty visibly smashed already. She stands up shakily, arms out to her sides as if balancing on a tightrope. "I don't wanna get sold off to some DUMB CREEP!" She suddenly starts shouting, and looking at Catnip, strangely enough. "HEAR ME?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 24, 2017, 11:08:38 pm
"My name is Roxanne Luna and this is my Hector Lowe. We don't mean any trouble sir. We live close by here so if any unusual noise if heard we feel compelled to investigate." Hector stayed quiet gauging the man and all his weapons. He stood there with his shield resting in front of him and his sword ready to be drawn at a moments notice. The encounter with God's Army had made him a bit wary of strangers. Roxanne on the other hand was completely calm. She had full power and was confident, maybe too much so, that her chain lighting would take care of the problem should it arise. She just wanted to talk for now so she had no intention to do so. "What brings you around this parts Father Donavon?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 24, 2017, 11:13:03 pm
"Tra####de. I have things, you h#ve st#ff. I'd like a pl#ce tha# i#n't a hole in the ground to sle#p too." Donny buzzes, he gestures towards his boat. "Feel free to take a loo###k."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 24, 2017, 11:17:34 pm
"Ah, an honest profession in this wretched world is a fresh sight for once! We did not bring anything with us but we have stuff to trade with back at our place. We also have a couple of beds you help yourself to as well. We could introduce you to the rest of the group as well if you wish." Roxanne smiled at the man all the while she spoke, something she was used to doing in her time working in retail.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 24, 2017, 11:19:38 pm
Catnip stands up at that. "YEAH!" She shouts, "FUCK THAT GUY!" Kathrine has enough lucidity to realize that Catnip has done a swear, "Hey..." she slurs, "Hey hey, don't swear miss... Catnip. Don't swear." Catnip reaches for the bottle, but Sharlene pulls it away. "One drink and you two are falling over already. I don't think you need anymore." but Catnip has already forgotten the bottle. She pulls Kathrine close, too close, and says. "Listen... Kat... hey... jus listen." Kathrine leans in closer until the two are cheek to cheek. "What Nip... what chu say?" "Kat... Catnip would never sell you to nobody. Never ever... your the best Kat... keepin my workshop all tidy an..." She looked around. "An tidy." Kathrine reached over and tweaked Catnips whiskers. Catnip reached over and booped Kathrine on the nose. "No one here gon' sell my Kathrine... I would bite them."
Quinn undid Mica's restraints and handed her an over sized gambeson with a pair of mens boxers. "Put these on." Mica looked at them distrustfully. "Why My-ka put those on? Cloth make My-ka itch." Quinn nodded, "that's as may be, but no one wants to see your... nakedness." Mica took the clothes, grumbling mightily about it. Quinn noticed that her fingers were still rather pointy, but they'd lost some of their edge. He originally assumed he'd have to help her put the clothes on because any attempt by her to do so would shred the cloth. As it turned out, she had no problem. "We can get Kathrine to design some clothes for you maybe." He commented. Mica just scratched, tearing a few small holes here and there in the clothing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 24, 2017, 11:21:05 pm
"Alri####ght. Lead the way." *bzzt* Donny coughs and pounds his chest. He picks up his trading goods, a light hissing noise is heard as he picks up his goods. He gestures and asks, "Lea-lea-lead the way"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 24, 2017, 11:29:10 pm
"Follow me then, stay close. These parts are a bit tricky to navigate.", said Hector in a firm tone. Roxanne and Donny follow him closely. "Hey, just a heads up. Some members of the group are a bit weird...we have a few mutants as well, myself included. Introduced yourself to them and then we will escort you to your room. We can make business once you are settled in."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 24, 2017, 11:31:35 pm
"Uh huh." Donny says, unimpressed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 24, 2017, 11:34:00 pm
Sharlene turns around to place the whiskey bottle on a counter, moving a pile of tools to the side. "This was such a bad idea." Lilith, meanwhile, had gotten up. She steps towards the two, wrapping her massive arms around the pair and squeezing gently. Sharlene tries to pry her away unsuccessfully, reaching for her tazer before realising Lilith is being surprisingly, uncharacteristically gentle with them. Kathrine squeaks, squirming a bit in an attempt to wiggle out of Lilith's grasp. A bit later, she gives up and hugs Catnip back, burying her face in her shoulder.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 24, 2017, 11:38:01 pm
Hector and Co travel until the farm was within view. They noticed a gathering of people in the barn area and a very distinct member is there. "Oh, Lilith is here...hey Father Donavon, don't worry about the big tiger mutant, she won't harm you..." They approached the farm to make an introduction, not knowing what was going on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 24, 2017, 11:41:38 pm
"Alright." Donavan says, "Nice pla###ace. Anyone else you need to warn me about?" He queries.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 24, 2017, 11:47:24 pm
"Only another mutant that goes by the name of Mica, she is currently under some 'medical procedures'. Will give you the details on that later. For now, let's see what is going on in the farm so you can introduce yourself.", Roxanne replies.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 25, 2017, 12:11:42 am
The three approached the barn at a leisurely pace, making small talk mostly. "So father," started Hector, before he was cut off by the tigress, Lilith, suddenly wading through the small group gathered at the barn. Upon her shoulders sat Kathrine, looking quiet red, and Catnip, waving a half empty bottle of "the good stuff." "Oh. My. God." Said Roxanne, "Who gave them alcohol?" Kathrine was shouting, "DEE!? WHERE ARE YOOOOU!?" Catnip pointed to a small shack and Lilith kicked it over with little effort. The three examined the rubble and moved on. Sharlene's shouting seemed to have no effect on the tigress, eager to please the cub and her friend as she was, even a tazer would have little threat for her. Floyd dashed from the barn, cussing up a storm as he ran after the trio. "DEE!?" Lilith kicked down a door and lowered Catnip down to take a look, "He isn't here!" she cried. Lilith picked her up and Catnip knocked back another swallow. "DEE!" Hector watched it all, a bit dumbfounded. "Uh. It's almost never like this father, I swear."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 25, 2017, 12:16:49 am
Dee opens the door to his workshop, mask showing three exclamation points. "What the fu- oh no." he says, as the trio charge towards his workshop. He closes the door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 25, 2017, 12:23:37 am
At first, the door bows, then cracks, and stops. Words are heard from the other side. The door settles back and opens. "Dee? Deeeee?" Dee slapped a few messages out on his keyboard and spun. Catnip and Kathrine were coming at him with a bottle, he heard the sliding garage door being forced open to allow Lilith entry. Was this how he was to die? Brained to death with a whiskey bottle at the hands of his drunken friends? Catnip grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pushed the bottle close to his face. "Dwink soljur!" She shouted, "Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink!" Kathrine chanted. "I'm scared." Dee said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 25, 2017, 12:28:52 am
Dee drinks, "Wh- Why didn't you knock? Or- Or open the door?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 25, 2017, 12:39:21 am
Hector gave an irritated sigh at that. "Are they...are those two seriously drunk? I've never seen them so much as touch a bottle before. Though to be honest, given recent events I'm not as surprised as I thought I'd be." he said, before giving a polite nod to Donovan.
"It's fortunate that you've arrived in this area at this time, and not earlier. There was a group hanging around not far to the east, in a small ruined town. They had harmful intent, especially towards mutagenics and cybernetics subjects. One of their own posed as a mere traveling priest, attempting to lure...ahem, the two party-goers you see here, out to where they were camped." he explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 25, 2017, 01:08:08 am
"Those Templars? They're misguided souls by a corrupt priest. However, they're still dangerous." Donavan muses. "Well, you have a meal time coming soon?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 25, 2017, 01:13:52 am
The knight nodded at that. "Did cause some amusing confusion, though. Rolled in, talked them into handing me a remote for the collar they slapped on Mica. Should've seen the look on their faces when I crushed it." he said, gesturing to the pattern on his shield. "But now that there's Templars of a more irritating cause running about, I'm likely going to want to repaint this. I'm thinking a simple Hospitallers white cross on red field, maybe." he remarked.
"As for that, should be soon, at least if the cook wasn't trying to get Dee drunk. We do have other things on hand that're quick enough to prepare."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 25, 2017, 01:23:42 am
"Oh, what the hell now." Exclaimed Quinn, moving to the single small window of his workshop to see what the racket was. Mica was finding it easier to think now that she wasn't constantly under threat of starvation. She scratched the itchy clothes again and looked through Quinns things. She found something that smelled like poison, and wrinkled her nose. She'd had this stuff before, "al-kee-hall" Damian had called it. Being reminded of Damian made her sad. "Don't touch that." Quinn said, seeing what she was doing but not understanding what she was doing. "I not doin nothin." She said. Quinn glared at her, not believing that and said "Just... stay here. I'll be right back. Don't touch anything." Mica nodded, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to stay for long. Mica had never been able to keep still for long. "Queen," as Mica had started calling him, to his irritation, had left her alone. She smelled a few more of the bottles and jars, most of them poison, others thoroughly uninteresting. She chewed the collar of the shirt Quinn gave her, and ruined it. She found Quinns minifridge, and ate the meat contents of it, leaving the fruits and vegetables scattered around the lab floor. She tried to scratch her name into the metal top of one of Quinns tables, but quit when she realized she didn't know how it was spelled. She doodled a picture of herself instead. It was easier to think, but thinking just brought grief. All this happened within the span of five minutes, and when she couldn't stand it anymore, she disobeyed Quinns orders, and left the lab to see what was going on, taking care to affix some strips of cloth over the right side of her face. She wasn't self conscious about the rest of her body, but like any girl, she had some part of her she didn't like. For Mica, it was those eyes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 25, 2017, 01:50:12 am
"Uh-huh... Is there anywhere I could... sit? I'd like to take this heavy cloak off." Donavan says, gesturing at his cloak. "I shoulda brought my dogs..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 25, 2017, 01:58:27 am
Hector gave a nod at that. "Of course, suppose the dining room might be more quiet for the time being." he said, offering to lead the way to the main farmhouse, to the seats not far from the shelves and radio area, the knight rummaging through a nearby cupboard to procure a few things for the moment, a few different drinks and other items, setting his helm aside as he poured a drink. "Anything in particular you wish to trade for, let us know. Catnip in particular usually handles trading, except she's..." he facepalmed at the racket outside.
"And now they've got me tempted to for once."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 25, 2017, 02:12:45 am
Donny nodded and took his bags to the dining room. He shed the cloak and the cossack. He folded and set them aside gently. Under the heavy garments reveal a embroidered dress shirt, a kevlar vest, and bandages wrapped up to his elbows and around his hand. His face, also wrapped in bandages, there's an opening in his neck to reveal a small speaker like device. He lets out a small sigh of relief, which sounds like a semi-loud buzz.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 25, 2017, 02:16:14 am
Hector gave a nod at that, surprised at how concealed his form was, suspecting something. "And if you need help with anything, so be it." he offered, curious now as to how extensive those bionics werem but he didn't wish to force the question.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 25, 2017, 02:50:03 am
"I'll be fine, don't worry about me. I'll be here wai#ing #or #our frien#s to sober up." Donavan buzzes, rubbing his throat speaker.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 25, 2017, 02:59:55 am
The knight gave a nod at that, calmly taking a slow sip of what he'd poured for himself. A simple shot glass was more than enough, he figured. "Very well then. I should check and make sure they haven't caused any more havoc." he said, giving a polite nod at that. "Would it be, er...impolite of me to ask what happened with that voice emitter? It looks like it's been in need of maintenance, and I know that's not easy to repair. Doctor Quinn has some experience with bionics, in addition to medical concerns if you wish."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 25, 2017, 03:04:54 am
"An ine##er#enced id#ot who thought CBM's were but s#m##e toys. That's what h#p#ene#, It's F#ne. Trust me, it was worse before. Speaker is attached to my vocal cords, far too risky to mess with. I'd rather not be mute. Alcohol helps though." Donavan gestures for a drink.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 25, 2017, 03:18:07 am
Hector nods at that, pouring a glass of vodka, along with another of rum. "Very well then. Anything near the throat is a risky area for augmentation, to close to major bloody vessels." he said, offering Donavan a drink. "Anything you suspect can be easily fixed, especially if it might endanger you as-is, feel free to ask Quinn about. I'm not really good for much in that regard except the more basic work. Just about anyone can install power storage if they follow the instructions, for example."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 25, 2017, 05:40:25 am
Kathrine raises her arms, victory-yelling something inaudible. Lilith joins in, punching the roof while trying to mimic the cub, leaving a large dent in the sheet metal. She grunts and looks up, placing a paw inside the dent and then sitting down. "Ooopth." Sharlene just silently facepalms and leaves the building. Kathrine didn't like fights, so Lilith'd probably be okay by herself.
As she heads past the farmhouse proper on the way around the fence, she comes across some strange-looking spidery mutant. "What in t-" She catches herself, hand still resting on her katana's handle. "Well hi there! Ya lost or somethin'?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 25, 2017, 09:17:52 am
"Wooow." Said Catnip, thoroughly sozzled. "You mus be so stronk." She grabbed Lilith's arm and rubbed it vigorously. "Such nice furs." Dee wasn't quiet as sauced as Catnip and Kathrine. He wasn't a lightweight like the girls. All the same though, the stuff Catnip had made him drink was hard as hell. Like drinking cheap shine spiked with turpentine. The bottle said whiskey though, where the hell had she got it? He was about to ask when Catnip tripped over the husk of a robot he'd meant to strip for parts and stopped moving. Kathrine went to her side and drunkenly stroked her head. "Your so pretty Catnip." She slurred. One heavy lid lifted to reveal an eye glazed with liqueur. "you reelly think so?" Kathrine gave an exaggerated nod. "uh huh. Cross my heart and... hey nip... nip... hey..." Kathrine lay down on top of her and passed out. Dee looked back down at the bottle. Together, the three of them had polished off three fourths of the contents. Dee staggered outside and dumped the rest of it over a rock, and looked around.
Mica looked guilty. She didn't want to stay in the makeshift lab, but she didn't want to be caught out by anyone either. Where had Queen gone? "Uh... My-ka wants to see whats going on?" She drummed her fingers together, and it made a not unpleasant clicking noise. One of her other hands brushed her hair out of her face and adjusted the wrap to make sure it didn't slip. The way the lady kept her hand on that thing on her belt made Mica sure that it was a weapon, and the lady had caught her out of hiding. Mica wasn't hungry, and without that hunger she had lost the desire for violence. She would if she had to, but she didn't want to.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 25, 2017, 09:29:36 am
Sharlene gives Mica a quick look-over, then takes her hand away from her sword. "Myka? I'm guessin' you're new 'round here, then. Everyone's gettin' hammered in that place over... There." She points at Dee's workshop, zipping up her half-ruined jacket with her other hand while doing so. "So, should probs introduce meself. Name's Sharlene. Want me ta walk ya over?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 25, 2017, 10:18:55 am
"Ok." She said. Sharlene offered her hand, but Mica refused it. She explained simply by showing Sharlene her own hand. The sharp bits where gone, but the tips could still give a nasty jab. They walked quietly, Mica occasionally stopping to smell the air or something on the ground. She'd never had a nose or an eye for these sorts of things before. She found something charred that smelled like meat, and shoved it into her mouth. Sharlene gasped, and harried her. "No! No, no! you don't wanna eat that, it's burnt and it's been on the ground for awhile." Mica did as she was told and spit it out. She didn't like that odd sour taste of the burnt portion anyway. "So..." Sharlene hazarded, "where ya from?" Mica had never thought of it before. Where was she from? She struck upon an idea, "I come from same place as Kat-nip." "So you are from a lab? Do you have a handler? Maybe a caretaker like- Mica?"
Hunger was bad, but at least it drowned out thoughts. Despite the way she treated them, Mica had loved them. The people at the refugee center had believed that one day, she would get bored with them and kill them eventually. Never in life would Mica do that though. Damian and Lindsay were all she had. They showed her real kindness in the depths of the cold unfeeling lab. Consoled her after every traumatizing operation. Stayed with her after they'd made their escape. Tried to keep her fed, brought her chickens. Even when they could have left. And then, one day, they were gone and Mica had been collared and thrown in a cage. The men in blue cross armor starved her, shocked her for fun, threatened her. Taunted her with the killing of her caretakers. Hunger had blotted it all out, but that was gone now, and what had been seeping into her thoughts slowly broke through the mental dam and flooded her like it had when she'd eaten her fill of those people in the blue cross armor. "My-ka is alone!" She cried, dropping to her knees.
Sharlene didn't really know how to deal with this. She looked around, but no one seemed to be around. Lilith never bawled like this. "Er... No, no. Uh..." She looked around again for someone, anyone, to give her a hand.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 25, 2017, 10:28:34 am
With the ruckus outside and Hector chatting it up with Donny, Roxanne went back to her room. She was never a heavy drinker and though lowly of those who were. She wasn’t against alcohol, she drank it both ceremoniously but recreationally as well every once in a while. Thing was that she was a lightweight so she was used to drinks with low alcohol content so she could drink more than one shot.
Once inside, she noticed one of the bottles of wine she kept. She saw the fun the girls were having outside and wanted to know if being drunk was all that good. She had only been drunk once when she drank at her 21st birthday and realized she was a lightweight. She felt horrible then and the day after with the hangover. That experience made her stay away from getting drunk but this was the cataclysms and if Catnip and Katherine had done it then what the hell. She was in her room, everyone else was busy with something and it was unlikely she would be needed for the rest of the night. She knew she would feel horrible the day after but so did the fight against the bandits and God’s Army. “Fun has a price…”, she thought.
She stated drinking straight from the bottle. She quickly noticed that it was going straight to her head after a few sips. She felt a light buzz and drank more. “No going back now!”, Roxanne exclaimed to herself giggling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 25, 2017, 10:33:41 am
Nathaniel meanwhile, having left Kathrine and the others to go get wasted, was trying to do a few things around the farm, putting things away here and there. It was when he saw Sharlene and Mica that he stopped. The sight of Mica made him go wide-eyed. He was at least vaguely away of what Hector and Roxanne mentioned, but the result shocked him. Mica looked different, acted different. He suspected the former was Quinn's work, but the latter made him realize why they brought her back.
He approached carefully, giving a heavy sigh. Well, Lilith hadn't killed him when he approached, so he hoped his lucky streak would continue. "Hey...you two alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 25, 2017, 10:47:30 am
Sharlene reaches towards the crying Mica, hand hovering slightly off of her shoulder. "It's... Uh..." She swallows heavily. This was the second time she's had to deal with a crying mutant that didn't deal with everything by hitting it a lot, and she felt out of her element. "It's fine, Mica. I'm sure everyone here'll be happy to see you! Haaaa~" Her half-hearted laugh trails off as Nathaniel approaches. "It's fine, I think." She says, looking at Mica out of the corner of her eye. She's mouthing 'help' at him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 25, 2017, 10:57:17 am
Nathaniel hmmed at that. "She, er...I'll be honest I dunno how to deal with this. Last time we met she was going to kill and eat Catnip and Kathrine. In that order, at best. But...shit, no wonder Hector brought her here." he said, nervously moving closer.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 25, 2017, 11:39:07 am
Mica uncurled and reached out for his ankle with one long arm. "Woah! F-" He tripped over the hand and tried to scrabble away as fast as he could. Mica was faster and had crawled on all six limbs, almost on top of him. "No! No! My-ka not hurt! Kat-nip win! Kat-nip strongest! Grub is Kat-nips to eat, if she want. Just like My-ka say!" Her tears dripped down into his face, and he wondered if she had any kind of diseases. If he could even get her diseases through her tears. She went back to Sharlene and curled up again, this time around the woman's leg. This was even worse than it had been before.
Catnip opened her other eye. She was face down on the floor, her chin resting comfortably against the wood planks. She'd feel it in the morning, sure. She usually drank light, just before bed, when no one was watching. But she'd saved this bottle for a special occasion. Her other drinks left her with nothing in the morning, but Catnip knew what a hangover was like. She'd learned to avoid putting away enough to cause that to happen. Her hand quested for the misplaced bottle, and missed it. That was unfortunate, but ah, but what was this then? Sooooft. She pulled Kathrine's tail closer and laid it over the top of her head. Sooooft. She pondered Kathrine's luxurious tail, and said groggily "not fur all the shokalate. Kafrins not goin nowheres. not fur all the shocklates in the wurld." and with that, she blacked out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 25, 2017, 11:43:19 am
Nathaniel winced at that, afraid she was going to bite his head off, literally or figuratively, for what he said. "I, er...grub? You mean Kathrine? What the f-fuck." he stammered. "Kathrine is Catnip's friend. Our friend. No one is going to eat her for fucks sake."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 25, 2017, 11:46:41 am
Sharlene is almost ready to pull the girl off of Nathaniel as Mica instead moves towards her. "Whoa there, kiddo. Do you... Uh... Want a h-hug?" She honestly seems like she has no clue what to do.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 25, 2017, 11:54:03 am
It was an odd feeling, trying to keep ones balance while one was essentially being climbed by a four armed girl of average height, but Sharlene managed it. To Nathaniel, the spectacle was strange and difficult to describe. When she finally came to a stop, she was in front of Sharlene with her long arms wrapped around her. Sharlene tried to return the hug. Unsteadily, nervously, at first, but she managed to ease herself into it. She still hadn't thought of what she could say to make things better, so she just patted Mica on the back and quietly shushed her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 25, 2017, 12:12:32 pm
Sharlene thinks for a moment, still patting Mica on the back. She had said she was alone after she'd asked about caretakers or handlers, so maybe... "H-hey, Mica? If you want, I can look after you. Would ya like that?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 25, 2017, 12:14:41 pm
Nathaniel meanwhile was a bit uncertain about all this, unnerved some as he regarded the two. "Might be best then. One thing to keep in mind, I dunno how well her self-control is now, but when she gets hungry, well..." he said. "If Quinn's treatments altered that, it might be feasible to teach her to have food on hand herself, so she doesn't run out even if you lose track of her." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 25, 2017, 01:29:25 pm
Sharlene sighs, lifting Mica up a bit higher. "Right, I'm gonna take you over to the others now, that alright?" She's struggling to stand straight with the girl hanging off her like a vest. "Jeez, you're... Ahem." She clears her throat, then shouts for Lilith, one hand against the back of Mica's head. "Y'know, you gotta start brushing your hair." Lilith was laid next to the asleep Kathrine and Catnip, watching the pair, when she heard Sharlene's voice from outside. She gets to her paws slowly, not quite willing to let the girls go, but Sharlene wanted her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 25, 2017, 01:39:21 pm
Mica didn’t answer, not with words. Her head nodded once, quickly, and she slowly began to unwind her arms. “Alright.” Said Sharlene, realizing what she had just committed to. "Alright then. Let's go find Catnip."
Catnip was dreaming. It was different this time, she hadn’t had a dream like this since… A long time ago. Something drifted by and she caught it. It was a flyer with a little doodle of some people, and a request for these people to come to her. There were more people than those three now. “Where is your fervor?” Came a voice in the dark, “Where is your drive?” Catnip was standing before a train suddenly. A glorious glittering thing with a chrome cow catcher. She knew that if she climbed into that engine, she would find a uniform especially made for her. The train was hers after all. The chrome darkened, and the steel rusted. Vines burst from the smoke stack and Catnip screamed, and the entropy seemed to reverse. “Continue your work, oh punished creature, it is my will that this be created. By your hand or another, it matters very little.” The train vanished, and Catnip saw something rising to meet her. Rising? No, she was falling into it. It was a wall, composed of wires and cables and pipes and gears, pistons and flywheels, levers and lights. It was a maze of machinery. Everywhere she looked she could see metals and smokes of every kind, steam belched from ruptured pipes while fire burned in jets from others. She could smell the mixing aromas of gas and oil and engine grease. The voice came again, “Behold young creator, I am the goddess of machines. Worship or not matters very little to me, for the mere act of creation is a tribute given and taken, willingly or not.” The machinery shifted unendingly, and an object was revealed to her. “Seek out the stone of power. It is called “Vortex.” Your machine will not be complete without it. And beware, young creator, beware the blue cross. Seek out the knight in a modern time, but also seek our the daughter of famine. Only then will you have the truth of the blue cross. Seek out also the killer who chose mercy. Her time has come to teach you of the hidden world.” Catnip was scrambling through the maze of machinery, now choking her with it’s smokes. “It is only right that you know my name, and that name is…”
"Kat-nip?" Mica pushed gently against Catnips side and sniffed at her. She smelled of strong poison. Toxic to Mica, but maybe Catnip was stronger in that respect too. "She not dead." Said Mica. She'd dreaded that possibility upon spying Catnip laid out underneath Kathrine. "No," said Sharlene, "She's drunk, the little alcoholic." Mica stood up straight and dusted the dirt off her chitinous knees. She thought briefly about going back on her promise to leave Kathrine for Catnip to eat, but as soon as the thought formed, she pushed it away. Catnip didn't eat things like that, Catnip wasn't like that. Mica would try not to be like that anymore either. Catnip stirred a little. Dreaming. "We'd better get them to bed I guess." Sharlene said, making a quick gesture to lilith, indicating that she should pick up Catnip and Kathrine. "Sorry Mica, but looks like you might have to wait before talking to Nip."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 25, 2017, 02:28:54 pm
Hector had, during this time, only had enough to be a bit tipsy, which was surprisingly little given his appearance. Eventually he went over to check on things, bringing a few things out, from among the food he set out for earlier since the cook was busy getting drunk. He made his way over to the others, holding some assorted dried meat and hardtack. "Those two out already? For the best then. Hope Dee didn't have too much trouble with those two trying to get him join in." he remarked.
Meanwhile Nathaniel decided to grab some of the meat Hector brought out, to offer it to Mica. Not to mention Lilith, just in case. "We should let these too sleep it off. On their sides, not good to be passed out drunk on one's back."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 25, 2017, 04:00:26 pm
Lilith pokes Mica with a paw, grunting. The weird spider-person smelt weird, and she wasn't sure what to think of her. Before Mica can say or do anything in retaliation, she pats Mica's head with a curious look on her face, as if she's experimenting to see what it'll do. Sharlene's too busy trying to separate the entangled Catnip and Kathrine to actually notice the two mutants fooling around behind her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 25, 2017, 07:50:11 pm
"mous?" said Lilith it 'Eeped' like a mouse when she patted it, it even got all skittish like a mouse. The other one didn't get skittish, but some mice were braver than others. This one smelt oddly like the other one, but with... differences. It didn't look like a mouse. Mica did make a distinct "eep" noise as Liliths paw came down gently on her head. The rat in her wanted to flee, the spider wanted to bite and flee, Mica would do neither.
Mica thought it looked like a giant cat. She'd eaten cats before, but she had never enjoyed them like she had other things. The fur was more irritating than chicken feathers, but she did enjoy the tail. She wouldn't let onto that to this, the king of the kitties. Mica glanced at the sizable breasts on the kitten. Not a king then, a queen. She tried to smile at Lilith, but the effect was grotesque and it made Lilith tense as if Mica was being threatening. The smile vanished right away. She didn't know if she wanted to step closer or further from Lilith and opted for neither. What she would give for a dark corner somewhere.
Lilith gave her a little push. Mica knew what that meant, she had grown up with twenty four other brothers and sisters plus catnip. She turned and pushed back. Lilith giggled at that, for as Mica attempted to push her, she only accomplished pushing herself. Lilith moved not at all, and Mica tripped over a wrench left on the floor. She toppled over unable to keep her balance, but she did not hit the floor. Two of Mica's arms reach back and caught her. It gave her an idea. She straightened her legs and crossed them, her arms supporting her whole weight as she leaned backwards. Her other pair of arms crossed in front of her and she stuck out her considerable tongue at Lilith.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 25, 2017, 08:05:35 pm
Lilith grins, even further emphasising her sabre teeth. She also sticks her tongue out, making what sounds suspiciously like a meow as she does so. She tenses up as if readying to pounce, but just comes out with a slow purring noise as she rises up, nearly brushing against the ceiling. Lilith looks up, banging her nose against the roof and almost putting another dent into it, making her growl and immediately fall back down, sending dust flying into the air around her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 25, 2017, 08:56:30 pm
The roof was beginning to be a problem, Mica could see. There wasn't enough room. She reached up and grabbed one of the roofs supporting beams, using it to haul herself close to the ceiling. Claws bit in to wood and metal where they could as Mica crawled across it. Lilith was watching her with alarm and Sharlene had finally taken notice. "What in the hell are you doin up there?" Mica gave the metal an experimental tap. Simple sheet metal. It occurred to her that the kitten could rip this metal to shreds, but that's not what this was about. This was about friendly showing off. It wasn't thick, not as thick as the lab door had been. She couldn't seem to muster up an acid either. She'd have to do what she could with what she had. She moved her jaw a little to the left, and then a little to the right, and then sharply back to the left. There was an inaudible pop as is dislocated and she set her teeth to work. When she was done, there was a ragged hole in the roof just above Lilith's head. Mica widened the hole with her claws and teeth and tried to crawl through, getting stuck when her hips hit the edge. She thought she could hear Lilith making a sort of snickering noise below, and was embarrassed. Dee emerged from his office, he didn't notice the boxer clad pair of legs hanging from his ceiling at first. Not until Lilith reached up and pushed Mica's hips through the hole, letting the evening sun through. "Aw what the hell!" He said. The booze was running it's course, playing hell with his system. "My roof!" Mica poked her head down through the hole. Her hair hung down, following gravity. "Hi." Mica said. "Oh jeez!" Dee said, making a move for a gun, any kind of gun. Lilith batted him to the floor and pinned him with one big paw. "Lil! No!" Sharlene was advancing on Lilith. Mica was gonna be a bad influence, that was clear now, but she couldn't retract the offer once made. She had to hope Lilith would be a good countering influence.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 25, 2017, 09:36:47 pm
Lilith lowers her head towards Dee's throat, snarling loudly. She's bearing her teeth and honestly looks about ready to actually kill him, at least until Sharlene wraps her arms around Lilith's neck and pulls backwards, yanking her head away. "Come on, dumbass! No killin' anyone! What'd I tell ya?" Lilith shrinks back, lifting her paw off of Dee's chest and retreating to sit next to the two sleeping 'kids'.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 25, 2017, 10:31:47 pm
"And you," Sharlene said, glaring at Mica's grinning face peering down through the hole she made. "Get down here and sit with the other kids." Mica didn't wanna, but she guessed she had to if she didn't want to be alone. She tried to crawl back through the hole she made, but got stuck again. Mica didn't have whiskers like Catnip to tell her when a space was to small to fit through, on top of lacking Catnips higher intelligence. "My-ka is stuck." Her arms hung limply, but as Dee got back to his feet, she snared him. Entangling him in her arms. He smelled like lizard, and she said so. That was creepy, but her goal became clear when she began to lift him and his weight pulled her down. Dee was screaming, but no one present payed him any mind. "C'mon, c'mon, get over here." The spider disentangled herself and sat next to Catnip's limp form. The poison smell was drifting up from both of them now. Mica took up a wrench and prodded Catnip with it. First, Kathrine was placed almost like a baby in Liliths arms. "Cub." she commented, cradling her. Catnip was thrown over Lilith's shoulder. "Alright Lil, off to bed with these two boozers. And be careful to set them on their sides."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 25, 2017, 11:13:34 pm
"OH JESUS FUCK HOLY SHIT HELP HOLY FUCKING SHIIIT!" Dee screams as he gets clambered on by Mica
Donavan looks towards the direction of the screaming, "##-o#-#h-" Don slams a fist against his chest, "Oh god, #'m go#ng to... C#eck tha# o#t." He gets up and heads towards the screaming. He looks at the workshop, "#hat th# h#ll h##pen#d?" He asks, drawing one of his several pistols. He holds it at the ready, with two hands holding it upwards at an angle.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 25, 2017, 11:28:59 pm
Lilith growls as the gun-wielding man enters the room, but doesn't act on anything while still holding Kathrine and Catnip. "No hurt..." She grunts, turning to the side slightly so that she's covering Kathrine more. "Mehttle mahn." Sharlene puts an arm in front of Mica, stepping in front of her in what probably wouldn't work to protect her against bullets, but is a nice gesture anyway.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 25, 2017, 11:34:51 pm
Donavan holsters the pistol, "#pol#gies. Now, what'# wi#h the scre#mi#g?" He asks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 25, 2017, 11:41:10 pm
Sharlene points at Dee, still not quite trusting the new guy. "Mica here got stuck in the roof, used him to get down. I think he's a lil' bit wasted. Who're you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 12:16:49 am
Hector had regarded the rather absurd scene with amusement right up until Donavan drew a pistol, about to reach for him. "Easy now. Mica here still puts a few of those around here on edge because, well..." he trailed off, before Nathaniel spoke up.
"She came here with harmful intent previously. We later found out it was thanks to a lack of self-control on her part. She used to be a lot more fucked than before Quinn started treating her. Those lunatics with the blue cross getup killed her handlers and captured her. She's at least managed to calm her tits a bit since then, it seems."
Hector then spoke up again. "Do you have to be so loose with the damned profanity? Er, wait." he said, before shaking his head. "Regardless, seeing her like that, well. I've already had enough bad experiences with being attacked by experiment subjects who weren't in control of their actions. I'm glad we've got a chance of helping her without it coming to a fight like I first feared. Not like other two in the lab, back east."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 26, 2017, 12:35:47 am
Dee had a jacket. Dee realized he wasn't wearing it. Mica was wearing it. She sat their, prodding at Catnip, glancing at the conversation going on with worry, chewing on the hull of a dead skitter bot, and wearing his jacket. She must have stripped it off him when she'd let him go, and he was too drunk to notice. It looked on her, like the shirt thrown on in a hurry the morning after a one night stand. Dee shuddered at that thought. At least she hadn't stolen anything else. His logical mind told him to thank what gods their were that she hadn't chosen to take off a limb, or a foot of skin, or an organ. His booze brain though, told him he needed his jacket back. Fortunately, Dee's booze brain was diplomatic, and had a little sense as to what he would be talking to.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 26, 2017, 12:51:35 am
Dee's mask shows a pair of asterisks, and appears to 'blink'. "H- heeeey, c- caaaan I have my jaacket bah-back?" He drunkidly asks, flailing towards his coat.
Don rubs his bandaged chin, "F#ther Don-don-don-" he pounds his chest, "DONAVAN." He says to sharlene. He looks at Hector, "I see. Sh#'s no# #e#tal#y w##l, cor-cor-cor-" He pounds his chest once more. "Correct?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 26, 2017, 12:58:57 am
Mica looked to Dee approaching and dropped the skitter. "What jak-et? My-ka not have Jak-et." Dee squinted his eyes at her. Yep, that was his jacket she was wearing alright. "lissin, jus like... hey." She moved to put the pile of junk between her and Dee, peeked over at him, and giggled at him. There was a harmless malevolence in those eyes. He was considering what to do next, and Sharlene was about to reprimand her, when Mica climbed atop the junk and struck a pose. "But My-ka is fab-you-lus dah-ling!" She did a little turn with the jacket on, seemed to notice something about it, and tossed it back to Dee. "No holes for arms." She explained, "Is bad to wear."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 01:01:05 am
Hector smiled a bit at that, giving a nod at that. "And no, has some problems it seems. How much is mutagenic effects, hunger, mistreatment or what, I have no idea." he said.
"If you find any info on local labs, any that might be connected to projects like this, that information would be valuable. I just, well...admittedly, last lab has had me reluctant to explore too deep."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 26, 2017, 01:09:42 am
"Mmmhmm... You know those te#plar#? Any of you know of any hideouts? Bandit hideo#ts w##k too. I# exch#nge for l#cations, you get... four picks of anything from what I bro##ht." Don says, stretching. "I see you've got a tank, I have a few shells."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 01:23:09 am
Hector perked up a bit. "Their hideouts, not yet. They had a gathering place in the small, peculiar town across the bridge, east-southeast. They're liable to return there, which might leave a trail. I did see evidence of suspicious activity on the other side of the river, far south and southwest of that peculiar city I mentioned. An old forest bunker I examined a while back, seems some sign of people set up there. Kitted out largely in makeshift weapons and scrap metal for armor. Lots of random animal and human bits on pikes."
Nathaniel then responded to that. "Sounds like the reason I had to push into the city instead of staying in the woods, way back when Hector found me. Group of crazies attacking anything unlike them they see, living or dead. Had to abandon the camp I was setting up."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 26, 2017, 04:53:02 am
"Alr#ght, it's a de#l. I#ve#tigate the old te#plar hideout, look for a #ap perhaps? Ta#e c##e of s#m# #and#ts, and ran-ran-ran- Don coughs, "And ransack a lab. He gives a thumbs up, "M# #nd #f the d#al n#w: Feel fr## to p#ck any f#ur things y#u want, tank shells are free. Aaas I don't- do#'t h##e a t-tank."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 05:43:09 am
"Riiiight, I'm gonna get those two to bed, an' show Mica the cabin. And, uh... And Mohammad." Sharlene gently grabs Mica by an arm and leads her out of the workshop, letting the others deal with the fresh hole in the roof. She whistles for Lilith to follow her, and points her over to the barn. "Lil, can ya take 'em over to their room and meet us back up? Thanks." Kathrine wiggles in Lilith's grasp, mumbling. The thing under her that kept moving around was really warm, but she didn't mind. It was a nice kind of warm. She shuffles closer, pressing her face against whatever it was. "Aaand eye can't... Paffetic... An you might be..." She trails off in a sing-song voice, moving to humming off-key. The warm thing pulled her tighter, into something squishy, before laying her down on her bed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 26, 2017, 08:47:12 am
((This all took place within a span of 4 days. Two days of travel, one day of scouting, and most of one day assaulting. Rest of that day is rest.))
Don gives the group their pick, Roxanne got a bag of fancy clothing, Floyd took a jug of moonshine and a black powder revolver, Hector got his tank shells, Quinn took a bottle of pine wine. Donavan gave his goodbyes and set out on his end of the deal. However, first on the list; the former Templar hideout. He heads back to his boat and takes the keys, a folding bike, and a small electric motor with attached battery. He sets up the bike and installs the motor, he heads towards the ruined hideout.
Donavan's electric bike slows to a stop, he sets up the stand and strolls around the destroyed compound, he stops infront of a dead preacher strapped onto a cross. He snorts, "G#t wh#t you d#serv#d..." Donavan mumbles, he reaches inside of the crucified preacher's jacket, inside was a bible and a leather bound journal. Don thumbed through the journal, skimming the pages. He stops on a page detailing another camp down south of the river, in an old village. Don takes out his own taped together map from various road maps and marked with places of interest. To the south of the river there was, indeed, a small village. It was one of those tiny isolated religious communities before the cataclysm. "D#wn #he ri#er I g#..." He sets back to his boat, he takes off the motor and battery and puts the parts back in the boat, and he sets off for the village.
Don's boat slows to a stop a distance away from the village, he takes an oar and guides the boat to shore. He anchors the boat and heads off, he climbs up a tree with a scoped SKS. He scouts out the tiny village, "...L#ttle over a d#z#n... S#xte#n at t#e mo#t." He climbs down and stashes the rifle back on the boat. He screws a suppressor onto his 1911 and he sneaks into the outskirts of the village. He catches eye of an execution, two mutants with their hands behind their heads and a preacher with a book and a revolver.
He calmly preaches, "I know you are in pain... My children, I'm here to put an end to your suffering, Willingly or not. some of you fought against us. In the end, however, you'll thank us...-" Don sighs as he executes them. he sneaks around the back of the house and pops open a window. He climbs in and looks around, Don's inside what looks to be a bunk house. Beds line the walls and a handful of people sleep in them, Don draws a knife and slowly creeps towards the sleeping fanatics. He places a hand over each of their mouths and slashes their throats, all but the last one. The last fanatic's eyes suddenly rip open, staring at Donavan, "Who the fuck are y-!" He's interrupted by Don plunging the knife's blade into his skull. "Sh#t. Shi#. S#it." He runs to the house's bathroom "Someone check that out!" Three fanatics armed with shotguns head toward the house, "We're under attack, Father!" Don readies a flash grenade, he pulls the pin and tosses it out the door. "OH SHIT IS THAT A GRENA-" It goes off in a blinding flash of white, "MY FUCKING EYES!" Don bursts out of the bathroom, he sinks a round into the head of one of the fanatics, he blows out the knees of another, and sends three rounds into the chest of the last fanatic. He sends one more into the head of the last one, the slide slams back. Don reloads all the while the one who got his knee blown out is screaming his head off, he flicks the slide release and puts him out of his misery. Don holsters his 1911 and holds the 416's magwell. He waits around next to the door as one more walks in. A light *hisst* is heard as he sends a fist into the cultist's face, caving it in. "Fucking kill him! What are you doing?"
The cultists retreat, some going with the preacher to the chapel, others going to the armory to gear up. Donavan sheds his cloak and cassock, he walks out of the bunkhouse with his rifle at the ready. He eyes up the Chapel, he mumbles to himself "...#ne ex#t.". He takes a molotov from his bag, lighting it, he throws it against the large chapel doors. The dry old wood goes up quickly, the chapel erupts in flames. "THE HERETIC'S BURNING THE CHAPEL!" Don spins towards the small squad of a half dozen people, aiming guns at him. They fire and he gets shot in the vest, knocking him on his ass and knocking the air out of his lungs. Donavan feigns death, "Is he dead?! He's not breathing!" He waits for them to get closer, then he unloads his rifle towards the fanatics. "SHIT, HE'S NOT DEAD! HE'S NOT DEAD!"
Donavan scoots his little ass out of there to behind another building, he reloads his rifle and racks it. He peeks around the corner, the cultists are dragging away one of their wounded. He raises his rifle and squeezes the trigger, taking down the one who was dragging the wounded man away. He puts the wounded one out of his misery. One of them throws a molotov, "EAT THIS FREAK!" He dives out of the way of the flames, his pant leg and one of his sleeves catches fire. "Oh sh#t, oh g#d, #h s#i#!" Don desperately pats out the flames, whilst making a loud buzzing noise. He pats out the flames, he got a few nasty burns but his clothes got the brunt of the damage. Donny circles around the house, turning a corner before popping back. Shots past him, he blindfires around the corner and dives through a window of the house. "Fucking get HIM! Get in there NOW!" Donny turns on his scent vision CBM, he raises his rifle at the vague shapes and squeezes off a few rounds through the wall. One of them falls to the ground with a shout, he sets his rifle to the side and pulls out a pipebomb. He lights it and tosses it out the door. "Shit! LOOK OUT!" One of the cultists dives on the pipebomb before it goes off, killing him but saving the last two. They walk up to the door of the room Donny's hiding out in. They prep to breach before a light hiss is heard and Donny kicks the door clean off it's hinges, knocking one of them down and he grabs the shotgun of the other one and tears it out of his hands. Donavan grabs the cultist by the throat and another hiss is heard along with a sickening snap. Don drops the limp body and goes to the one that was knocked down by the door and sends a burst of his rifle into his skull.
Donavan checks around the village, it's quiet save for the burning chapel. He strolls around the village to double check. Once his check is satisfactory he heads back to his boat and heads back north towards the farm. He sits at the outdoor picnic table and sighs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 26, 2017, 10:08:21 am
Catnip woke the next day with a fat head, and Floyd waiting for her outside her room. “So.” He said, tapping his fingers on Catnips work bench. Despite her mood and the splitting feeling in her skull, Catnip could not bring herself to be belligerent with Floyd. She could tell by the look on his face, she was in trouble. “Where’s Kathrine?” Floyd stopped tapping his fingers. “Don’t you worry about Kathrine, I’ve already dealt with her. This isn’t about her anyway, it’s about you.” Catnip rubbed her head. What time was it? The sun streaming in through the hole in the roof said it was close to noon, but that would mean she’d slept most of the day away. The sounds of the farm drifted to her ears, every one of them was a blast that sent it’s own little bolt of pain into her whiskey punished brain. “I’m not going to punish you, I think your head is going to do that for me.” Said Floyd. Catnip sat down at her work bench. “Not so loud…” He didn’t seem to have heard her. “But I swear, if you do anything like this again, if I catch you so much as looking at a bottle again, if you drag Kathrine into anything like this again, I’m gonna tan your hide so bad…” He left the rest unspoken. Catnip didn’t need to know that punishment would be swift and decisive. “Understand?” Catnip nodded her head. “Good. Want some coffee?” Catnip nodded again, and Floyd brought her a steaming mug. “Oh, and you should go apologize too. To everyone. Especially Dee.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 10:38:09 am
Meanwhile, Kathrine was curled up in the darkest corner of the farmhouse she could find. She'd been woken up by Floyd and given a talking to about alcohol and how she shouldn't use Lilith to break into the shanties, but she'd mostly ignored it. Listening to things made her head hurt more, but silence just made the buzzing worse. She had tried humming as a middle ground, but that just made it feel like someone was drilling into her skull. She'd settled on groaning a lot. It didn't help, but at least it meant people around her would be uncomfortable, and that, at least, made her slightly happy. Lilith, surprisingly, had stayed up all night. She'd been watching Mica, who'd taken over Mohammad's place next to the window, slowly take apart his rollmat. If she tried to move towards the bed, Lilith growled at her. Despite the friendly contest earlier with Dee's roof, Lilith still didn't fully trust the spider mutant. Sharlene, however, didn't approve of it, if the telling-off she'd given the two amounted to anything. Mohammad grumbled from through the wall, having had to sleep on the sofa the three had shoved in there while still building the cabin. At least it was getting a use beyond storing all the drugs from scavving runs and trades with the refugee centre finally.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 11:01:09 am
Hector had, given this time, rested better than he expected, checking up on things for the time being. Before Donavan left he'd wished him good luck on his hunt, and now he decided to check around a bit, deciding to go visit Dee, giving a calm knock on the door. "Dee, you alright?" He figured it looked like the others were awake, but he hadn't seen Dee since yesterday. He brought over some water as well, knowing it tended to help with hangovers to stay hydrated.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 26, 2017, 11:07:29 am
Dee opens the door and almost stumbles out, "Ye-yeah? I'm- I'm fine, yeah. I just need to... Go die." He says, heading back into his workshop to pass out into his bed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 11:11:58 am
Hector gave a nod at that, offering him a bottle of water. "Very well then. Rest, and try not to get dehydrated over it. Makes the headache worse." he offered.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 26, 2017, 11:20:12 am
Roxanne awoke feeling not very different from when she started drinking, just a slight nausea. She remembered the alcohol going straight to her head and she sang religious hymns for a while. The effects of the alcohol subsided quickly though and she just ended up very tired a few hours into the night. She put on her night gown and went to bed after she downed the rest of the 2nd bottle she opened to sleep with a slight buzz. Damn mutations and getting in the way of fun! But this was the future she chose...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 26, 2017, 11:38:23 am
Mica slipped into the cook shack. Broad daylight or not, no one noticed her. Quinns device had taken the edge off her hunger, but hadn't completely removed it. She looked through the cupboards, sniffing at the plastic packs, bottles, and jars. She couldn't smell through any of the packaging, so had to rely on her eyes to tell her what things were. She found several packages of what looked like fish. She found them to be both fish, and snake. She'd eaten plenty of both and knew the difference. She discovered in a little fridge a thawing turkey, which she ate. She opened a jar of red things, and turned her nose up at them when they turned out to be tomatoes and bell peppers. Another jar of red stuff turned out to be some kind of mashed and sugared fruit. She threw it against the wall and left. She didn't like vegetables, and she couldn't stand fruit.
In a dark corner of the farm house, Mica found a familiar morsel. She'd sated herself on food from the cookshack, and reminded herself that the morsel wasn't hers to eat. She prodded at Kathrine carefully. "Morsel. Morsel, wake up." Kathrine looked at her groggily and tried to shriek, but only a weak little croak came out of her. "Morsel can make clothes? My-ka doesn't like clothes, but queen says My-ka needs clothes. No one want to see My-kas nakeds." Kathrine shrank further into her corner, her headache compounded by fear. "My-ka ask later, when morsel is feels better." She left Kathrine with her misery then, seeking out Catnip.
Catnip was still sat at her workbench when Mica climbed through the bedrooms open window and stepped through the door joining that room to the rest of the workshop. Catnip was surprised to see her, but didn't really have the will to express it. "Mica... no..." Mica swept tools and parts from the top of Catnips bench onto the floor with a torturous clatter and sat on it. "What does Kat-nyp do today? Eh?" "Mica... What are you doing here..." Catnip didn't know about Damian and Lindsay, and her question brought that back to the forefront of Mica's thoughts. She wasn't smiling anymore. Catnip sensed the change and looked up. Mica's one exposed eye had widened in horrified grief. Catnip had trouble trying to think of something to swerve Mica's thoughts back in a more jovial direction, but nothing came to mind. Not until she turned her head and spotted one of her collection of tablets. The headache wasn't going to go away until much later, but she could at least take a few painkillers and indulge in her more harmless addiction with Mica. "Wanna watch cartoons and eat chocolate with me?" She asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 11:47:55 am
Nathaniel meanwhile was busy sleeping uneasily, but at least he'd spent yesterday sober, meaning the morning was rather uneventful for him, aside the annoyed groans of at least three hungover mutants, and the clatter of pure terror in humanoid form procuring a place to sit and bug Catnip.
Cue checking the "kitchen" to get a snack, only to stare blankly at the splatter of fruit jam on the wall, an opened jar of tomato sauce just set right back on the shelf, and random plastic packaging left empty all over the floor. "FUUUUUUCK!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 11:57:31 am
There's a very loud yell from the farmhouse as Nathaniel's loud swearing echoes past. Kathrine stumbles out of the front door, ears pinned back and tail dragging across the ground as she heads towards her kitchen. Every step felt like actual death, but if something was wrong in her kitchen, she better deal with it. There's a weak bang against the door as she leans against it, forgetting that it's a pull door, and a quiet grunt. After Nathaniel opens the door, Kathrine kinda just falls towards him, arms barely open wide enough to warrent being called a 'hug'.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 12:02:17 pm
Nathaniel gave an annoyed little grumble as he caught Kathrine, looking back to the mess in the kitchen. "They...trashed...the jam...it was raspberry even!" The look on his face was something between anger and shock. Which almost certainly would get an annoyed response from Hector if he wasn't busy handing out water to assorted hungover mutants.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 12:13:25 pm
"Ssshut up..." Kathrine groans, weakly digging him in the chest. "Dooooon't yell." Her hair's changed again. The spots have entirely vanished, leaving her with plain white hair. Her fur, however, has changed a lot. Her tail now has a large black 'cap' at the tip, along with her spots being longer horizontally and shorter vertically, nearly being stripes. Her ears have a thin black outline around the edges, which actually just makes them seem whiter than usual.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 26, 2017, 12:15:09 pm
Victor knocks on the door of Roxanne’s room bring the usual coffee cup and get a few books of the library. Roxanne had made it clear anyone could take any book from it as long as they put them back when they are done, but Victor still felt like asking. “Hey Roxanne, its me, Victor. I have your coffee cup ready.” Victor was usually up early and simply ignored yesterday’s alcohol shenanigans as he knew the farm’s inhabitants had their quirks that he was not fond of, he was a kill joy so he remained secluded in his room most of the time.
Roxanne and Victor took sips of their coffee cups, Roxanne struggling a bit from the nausea but the caffeine helped. “So yesterday a few of the residents got drunk and rowdy.” Roxanne chocked a bit on her drink coughing a bit as she heard that. “Y- yeah…the other did…the others…”, Roxanne managed to say. “Well, I am taking a few books as usual, I placed yesterday’s batch on their place. I also see we have new people around here, care to explain?” Roxanne and Victor talked for a while about recent events and then Victor left to his quarters. Roxanne went back to the radio too check on it’s settings and check on the looping broadcast.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 12:19:00 pm
Nathaniel blinked at that, mildly surprised at the slight thump he felt. He wasn't sure whether that was a genuine yet poor attempt to hit him, or an intentional tap to get his attention, but either way he snapped out of it. "Er. Sorry..." he said, much more quiet now.
"So talk to Quinn, he might know how to handle that. Or Hector, he used to have rather bad hangovers back in the days when he drank." he suggested, just enough for Kathrine to hear him clearly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 26, 2017, 12:29:13 pm
Roxanne went back to her room and changed to a sundress scavenged and fixed quickly combed her hair.. She did it mostly since it was a quick change and she couldn’t be bothered today given her groggy state. She went outside towards the kitchen to see if Kathrine was making breakfast. “Kath’s delicious food would be nice right now…”, she thought.
Once outside the sunlight hit her. Her hangover, while not as bad as in the olden days, was worse than she though. The sunlight blinded her so she activated her optical dampers. She went into the kitchen and saw Kath and Nathaniel chatting it up. She suddenly remember Catnip and Kathrine had been drinking yesterday. “Hey Nathan…so no breakfast I assume…that’s too bad…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 12:30:07 pm
"I don't wanna waaaaalk..." Kathrine moans, face buried in Nathaniel's shoulder. There's the sound of glass crunching as she steps on the shards of the shattered jar while attempting to hoist herself up onto Nathaniel and failing. She doesn't look like she's up for doing any of her normal energetic acrobatics.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 12:35:22 pm
Nathaniel sighed at that, only to rather carefully try to scoop Kathrine up to carry her off, not that easy given his rather poor fitness. "Ack. Carefully, you're gonna knock me over onto the glass..."
Hector by now had heard the commotion and come over, seeing Roxanne awake as well. "Well good morning to all three of you. Guessing she's about what you'd expect after all that drinking. Faring any better, Rox?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 26, 2017, 12:40:27 pm
"I am faring quite well actually, its just the damn sun that bother me right now." Roxanne looks at Kathrine's attempt to get a hold at Nathaniel and giggles a little. "Need any help there? I take it food is on each one of us today..." Roxanne picks up a can of beans and nods at it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 12:44:55 pm
Kathrine attempts to wrap her arms around Nathaniel. "Uuuuuurgh... Why's the planet so dumb...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 12:48:23 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Right. Same advice I usually give then, have some water if you're having headache, dizziness, or dry mouth, and that's about all you can do. I already ate earlier, so I'm fine. The usual stuff in-between putting away the shells Donavan had."
Nathaniel meanwhile nearly fell over at that. "Please don't say that, knowing Hector he'd likely make a knightly vow to kill the planet. Like, the actual planet itself." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 12:56:22 pm
Kathrine's tail wraps itself around her leg as she shakes her head. "D-don't kill anything, Mister Hector. Killing...Killing thingsis bad..." She trails off as she seems to fall asleep in Nathaniel's arms.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 12:58:58 pm
Hector chuckled at that. "Don't worry, I'd need a bigger sword to do that anyway." he joked, while Nathaniel struggled to try and carry Kathrine off back to her bed, looking to Roxanne. "A...little help actually would be nice."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 26, 2017, 01:07:24 pm
Roxanne laughed at that. "Okay there Hercules, I will carry her and you tell me where to put her down. You carry this for me then." Roxanne took Katherine off Nathan gently and gave him the can of beans. "Is that too heavy a load for you?", Roxanne teased. She was able to carry Kathrine with little effort due to augmented strength. "Now lead the way, hopefully your tiger girlfriend won't mind that I am carrying 'the cub'..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 01:18:30 pm
Nathaniel gave an annoyed little grumble at that, holding onto the can for her. "Not like I'm that weak, how many bodies do normal people go carrying around?" he remarked. "And h-hey! She's not my girlfriend. I...well I dunno what she thinks I am."
Hector smirked a bit. "Let's see, was that about a dozen the other day? No wait, Rox and I aren't really normal."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 01:57:27 pm
Lilith had been attracted towards the farm, both by Mica going missing, and by Kath's earlier shout. She originally had been going towards the sound of cartoon fighting, but Roxanne and Nathaniel's talking had sent her over there instead. She poked Nathaniel in the back with her snout, grunting. "Cub...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 02:08:10 pm
Nathaniel was a bit surprised as he felt Lilith sneaking up on her and nudging him, calmly turning to give her a pet. "Kathrine will be fine, Lililth. She's still tired from yesterday. Not to mention hungover. Best thing for her is to rest and let the hangover calm down."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 02:18:30 pm
Lilith cocks her head to the side, nudging him again. "Th... Thaaaa..." She growls at her inability to say what she's trying to say properly, then shakes her head as if she was shaking off water. "Thamall mhan, hangover?" She asks, looking up at his face hopefully.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 02:21:46 pm
Nathaniel regarded what she was trying to say, before giving a nod. "Yes. Drinking too much booze tends to do that. She'll be alright." he answered, uncertain what the first part she said was.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 02:30:40 pm
Lilith clearly still doesn't understand, and still looks concerned at the limp Kathrine being held by Roxanne. She rubs her head against Nathaniel's side, lightly purring.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 26, 2017, 02:34:33 pm
Roxanne looks at the sight in amusement. "Not your girlfriend you say? Suuuure... Anyways, I will go and put Kathrine back in her bed seeing you too need sometime alone."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 02:34:59 pm
Nathaniel blushes more at that as he nervously gave her pets, a bit surprised by her reaction as he did his best to stay standing. "Don't worry about her. Roxanne's a friend as well, she's taking her over to bed. Can follow her if you want. Just don't make too much noise, several others got hungover too." Cue giving an annoyed glance over at Roxanne.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 26, 2017, 02:41:33 pm
Roxanne grinned at Nathaniel's reaction. "Put the can in the table that houses the radio, I'll take from there." She got out of the kitchen and went to place Kathrine on her bed. Kathrine tried to fight a bit for some reason but stopped when she realized she was being carried to her bed. "Rest well, we can't have our chef feeling ill."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 02:44:41 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that, heading back to the radio room to set the can there, and also to regard a few of the books on the nearby shelves, uncertain whether Lilith would follow Roxanne or him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 02:45:24 pm
Lilith doesn't seem all too concerned about Roxanne, instead focusing on Nathaniel. The small one amused her, and... She thought he was kind of cute. The fact he could barely lift up the almost weightless Kathrine barely helped with that opinion. She followed after him, continuously nudging him in the spine with her snout.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 02:48:50 pm
Nathaniel was surprised that Lilith went ahead and followed him along, giving her a pat once he set the can on the table for Roxanne, having himself brough along a couple things for breakfast. Simply just some dried fruit and jerky, intending to eat light for now. "Hey, er...you want anyway for breakfast, I guess? While Kathrine's a bit out of it still, would be mostly just simple stuff, or..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 02:55:45 pm
She shakes her head, still purring. She's just... Watching him. It's honestly kind of creepy.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 02:58:37 pm
Nathaniel was surprised at that, sitting now for now to at least eat that then, rather surprised at her simply watching him, before carefully reaching over to pet her. "Rather cute when you aren't knocking people into the dirt." he teased.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 03:14:51 pm
Lilith leans in towards Nathaniel's hand, eventually collapsing to the ground. She rolls over and stretches, knocking over Nathaniel's chair while doing so. Her claws are impressively large, although he supposes they're about average in proportion. As he stands up in time to avoid toppling over, he notices that the white parts of her fur, mainly her belly and chin, seem to be... Spreading? There's certainly more of it then there used to be, at least.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 03:17:50 pm
Nathaniel was about to say something, a bit annoyed at that as he almost got toppled over, when he noticed the pattern, kneeling curiously. "Huh. What happened with your fur...?" He then realized that he noticed something similar with Kathrine. "What the fuck's going on with you two."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 03:25:58 pm
Lilith isn't listening, or at least doesn't answer. She growls, annoyed at the lack of belly rubs she asked for. Kathrine rolls over in her bed, being roused by the sound of cartoons and the crinkle of chocolate bar wrappers from the nearby room. As much as every part of her wanted to stay in bed, she couldn't just ignore her mistress, especially seeing as her cartoon sessions seem to be developing into something unhealthy. She climbs out of bed after Roxanne leaves, staggering to her feet and walking unsteadily over to the side area, where Mica and Catnip were watching something she could've sworn she'd seen already.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 03:28:11 pm
Nathaniel looked her over, a bit uncertain how to handle that, before carefully reaching to rub her belly. He guessed as best as he could, but knew it was usually a gamble with cats whether that meant "bellyrubs, now" or "I'm off all 4 of my natural weapons and will use them if you touch me"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 03:36:12 pm
Despite immediately flexing her sizeable claws upon first contact, Lilith seems fine with this. She lets him continue for a bit, and then suddenly climbs to her feet, picking Nathaniel up in a hug. "Thamall mhan..." She mumbles, squeezing him perhaps a bit too tight considering his weak-as-fuck status.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 03:39:07 pm
Nanthaniel winced a bit, afraid he'd lose that arm if he guessed wrong, only to blush more, carefully kneading in a bit. Then the best he could manage was a faint "eep" as she got back up and pulled him into a hug, left thoroughly embarrassed by all this. If anything he wasn't sure if he'd die of embarrassment, or from how tightly she held him. "Mmmph...h-hey..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 03:45:09 pm
Lilith tightens her grasp at his squeaking, seemingly not understanding that he's uncomfortable. "Yhurr cute..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 03:46:47 pm
Nathaniel gave a little whine at that, between having to wriggle to avoid being smothered and the feeling of her squeezing almost cracking his ribs, he could barely manage to say anything. "You're c-cute too, but please, n-not so tight..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 03:50:45 pm
"Oopth." Lilith lets up on the hug, dropping him on the ground. "Sowwy."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 04:44:22 pm
Nathaniel nods at that. "It's fine, just be careful next time. We should go ahead and check on Kathrine I guess, actually..." he said, leading the way back out, while Hector was likely tending to the usual, checking the tank.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 26, 2017, 06:03:13 pm
It was a rerun alright. As Kathrine watched the two sitting cross legged on the floor, their backs to her, Mica lifted one large hand, curled it into a fist, and punched Catnip hard on the shoulder. Catnip rocked back a little, and then settled back in place, rubbing that spot on her shoulder. Kathrine came a little closer, she didn't like people hurting mistess and... "Morsel approaches." Said Mica distantly, not turning around. "My-ka smells it." Catnip nodded and rummaged for a moment. A little bottle appeared in her hand and she held it up over her shoulder towards Kathrine. "Just take one or two Kat. It'll help with the headache. Wanna watch cartoons with us?" Through the haze of her hangover, Kathrine could see the piles of chocolate. Catnip had split her stash into three piles. the one in the middle, Catnips, was almost gone while the ones on the left and right, Kathrine's and Mica's respectively, were untouched. Mica lifted her fist and punched Catnip on the shoulder again. Kathrine thought it looked like a rather casual gesture, and it reminded her of a picture she'd seen of a television advert. A large black and white TV with two kids sitting on the floor in front of it with their backs to the camera. The screen was filled with static, and the subtitle of the picture said something like "Television is bad for children! Parents for a TV free America" Though she couldn't read it. Ilyushin had told her that last bit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 06:42:25 pm
Kathrine pushes the bottle away with her finger, shaking her head. "Drugs're dumb. Don't... Don't hit Mistress..." She mumbles, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "I'm not a whosit. Morsel." Kath's eyes widen as she fully realises who Mica is. She gasps and immediately backs towards the doorway, covering her mouth. As she backs up, she trips over something behind her. Lilith grunts, looking down at the now prone Kathrine. "Cub?" "Ooooooooooowwww..." Kathrine groans, face pressed against the floor. Lilith looks up at Catnip and Mica, then picks up Kathrine and sets her down next to the pair.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 06:59:59 pm
Hector sighed as he regarded the shield he had, having spent time in-between checking something on the device set in his room to repaint his shield. Red field, white cross. Knights Hospitallers. He figured it better to avoid friendly fire than retain a design his enemies used as well. Plus as far as he could find, he found no sign in the books he looked through that the design his shield favored was a proper Templar pattern.
Soon enough, giving an irritated look at the trail of boards scattered along the ground, he tended to what he last discussed on the network, gathering wood and some nails just in case, placed in one of the storage carts, then making his way up north to the nearby cabin.
Nathaniel meanwhile was no doubt getting an earful from Sharlene for his rushed decision to carry as many boards as he could to help fix the door. "I'd thought it was just damaged or out of its hinges, not fucked outright..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 26, 2017, 07:02:09 pm
Sharlene, after calling Nathaniel a dumbass a couple of times, moves to pulling splinters out of the opposite wall, giving a couple vague answers when asked about how long the boards should be. She's not particularly paying attention.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 07:15:18 pm
Hector sighed a bit, having brought a number of boards in various sizes, being uncertain what exactly would be needed. Enough to build at least one complete door in a slightly larger size than a common door, and almost as many in a much longer length of board. "Nathaniel, for now I guess salvage any of the boards and nails that're still usable from the old one, and the doorknob too. Or latch, or however you guys set it up..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 26, 2017, 10:39:00 pm
Mica picked up the little bottle from where Catnip dropped it and rolled it around in her hand. Lindsay used to make her take some of these from a similar bottle when her prey managed to hurt her. The mors- Kathrine, wasn't injured, but she was hurting. Catnip knew. Catnip took a couple of the little pills. Mica pushed Kathrine's pile of chocolate along with the bottle in her direction. "Kat-nyp say take pill, My-ka know it not bad. My-ka hurt by bandit once. Pill keeps hurt away for a little." She turned her attention to Catnip, Mica saw a problem. Catnip was fully absorbed in the cartoons. Mica thought they were neat, but Mica also couldn't quiet see the little pictures. The images seemed to turn to static sometimes, and the images would surface only every once in awhile. Catnip seemed transfixed by it though. What did she see that Mica did not. "Kat-nyp." Mica said, pulling her waning attention from the screen. "Kat-nyp has things to do. Can't watch cartoons all day." Kathrine was shivering from her hangover, but it was clear she didn't see the appeal of the cartoons either. Or the chocolate. Catnip didn't respond, and that worried Mica. She didn't know about Catnips cartoon problem of course. Kathrine was laboriously getting out several items from a little cardboard box. A canteen of water, a bottle of eye drops, and a rag. Mica looked to these items, looked to Catnip, Looked to the cartoons. Mica knew about drugs, a little, and to her this looked like drugs. How was Kathrine going to help her with clothes if Catnip got her hooked on cartoons? How was Catnip going to stay strongest and wisest if she stayed hooked on cartoons? Mica looked at the little tablet. Just static still, but she thought if she got hooked on cartoons, pictures would start to appear. "DRUGS ARE BAD!" she shouted, sending a searing bolt through both Catnip and Kathrines heads. Her hand came down and smashed the little tablet. She struck it again and it exploded. "Mica... Stop..." She pushed Catnip over as she grabbed another tablet and threw it against a wall of the barn. Catnip blinked. She didn't really notice as Mica picked up a third device and snapped it in half. Kathrine handed her the eye drops, and passed the bottle of aspirin back. "Drugs are bad." She said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 10:50:26 pm
Nathaniel at this point had gotten back from the cabin, right on time to see Mica throwing a tablet at the wall. "What the flying fuck? Mica, stop that! That's even worse than throwing food around!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 26, 2017, 11:18:09 pm
Lilith watched it all in alarm, but just as she was about to pounce on the wild spider-rat, Catnip said something. Lilith didn't quiet hear it, but she did see the results. The tablet Mica held in her hand tumbled free and it's screen was smashed to bits on one of the metal frames that littered the workshop. Mica also toppled over, knees doubling up like someone had removed all the strength from her body. Catnip swore Kathrine to silence about that word, and asked Lilith too. The only ones who were to know that word were Floyd, Catnip, Quinn, Kathrine, and maybe Sharlene since she was looking after Mica now. Now that Mica seemed to be behaving herself, sort of, Catnip thought it was best to keep that word among those who needed to know it. She chastised Mica for her destructive behavior. To her discomfort, she found that Mica gradually came out of her paralysis instead of staying in it like Catnip used to. "You shouldn't break other peoples things Mica, it's not nice." She expected a toothy mischievous grin, but Mica didn't do that. She just frowned at Catnip. "Cartoons are bad for Kat-nyp." She said, "Kat-nyp's head goes soft when she watch cartoons. How Kat-nyp stay wisest if her head go soft?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 26, 2017, 11:22:33 pm
Dee's robot rolls into the barn, "Hey." it's speaker says, "Stop breaking shhhhtuff."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 11:25:34 pm
Nathaniel had by now stormed off to tend to other things after yelling at Mica, this not overhearing the conversation, with Hector returning not long afterward.
"We should see about getting a radio for Donavan. I'm thinking, well. I dunno how much longer it'll take him to hunt things down..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 26, 2017, 11:31:57 pm
Mica heard the robot as the feeling came back into her limbs and the paralysis left her. She hissed at it. "Robots!" She cried, pushing Catnip and Kathrine back. "Ssss! Skitters! Ssss!" The robot rolled forward, the voice of Dee coming from the speakers. To Catnip, this day couldn't get worse. She had a hangover, Mica had broken her cartoons, and now a robot had come to zap her with electricity. For Kathrine, all this activity was just too much for her head, and she went straight to bed, gently closing the bedroom door behind her. "Yo, stop breaking stuff." Said the robot. Mica batted at the robot when it got too close to her and Catnip, tearing a deep but superficial gouge in it's chassis and knocking it over. "Aw! Why'd you do that!?" it said. Mica just bore her teeth and hissed at it again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 11:38:19 pm
Hector by now came in, giving an annoyed sigh as an armored hand calmly set itself on the robot's head. "Do I have to mention that lab subjects and robots do not mix? It's a baby scratch compared to what Mica could do." he remarked, now practically leaning on the machine, keeping it in place. And more annoyingly, with that kite shield half-blocking it. "Now, all of you. Please, calm down. If the headaches have all subsided by now, I'm sure this'll start them all up again."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 26, 2017, 11:41:43 pm
And that was life, for a few days. Mica tracked down and stole most of Catnips tablets, and Dee had to explain to her that movie night was not the same as Cartoons. Mica skipped movie night, everyone there seemed leery of her and she couldn't make heads or tails of the pictures anyway. She didn't like the "popcorn" either. Catnip tried to cheer her up, along with trying to cheer up Kathrine. She also remembered, little by little, her dream. She just wished she had caught the name of that great mechanical being from the dream.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 26, 2017, 11:53:20 pm
Hector had in time dealt with things as best as he could, trying to ensure Mica wouldn't go killing anyone, and to keep Dee from killing Mica from her almost damaging his machine. Things continued as normal until another of his brief walks through the surrounding area, spotting something in the distance...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 27, 2017, 12:09:44 am
Father Donavan hobbles towards the farm, cradling his broken ribs. He waves at Hector as he gets close, charred clothing is visible. He wheezes, "Br#ke- B#o#e- bro#en R-r-r-ribs."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 27, 2017, 12:12:17 am
Hector was startled at that, regarding his form before offering to help him into Quinn's workshop, as he himself procured a few bandages and other medical supplies in order to try and tend to any other injuries he could more easily handle. "You alright? Any other injuries? Not as good with fractures like that, to be honest."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 27, 2017, 12:22:32 am
"Bur-bur-burns, lef# #rm an# l#ft leg. Take me to your doctor, yeah..." He wheezes and coughs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 27, 2017, 12:25:48 am
The knight nodded at that, trying to carefully at least apply antiseptic and bandages to those injuries, avoiding removing any burnt fabric that seemed stuck to flesh or metal, before leading the way to Quinn's place.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 27, 2017, 02:44:16 am
Her name, was Agmen. Catnip had delved, a little, into religion. Especially after her dream. She didn't understand when it first happened, years ago, but now she did. Not just a dream. A vision. She shared it with Kathrine after their heads had cleared, and she had nodded politely but didn't seem so interested. She feigned interest though, and even though Catnip could see through the ruse that that was, she still appreciated it. Dee had shown no interest, and Mica had made fun of her. She told Roxanne though, and she had been very interested. "You had a message from your god Catnip, though I've never heard of this 'Agmen' before. Tell me again what she told you." Catnip did, and Roxanne listened very carefully. "A vortex stone? Fascinating. It won't do to put off your task much longer Catnip. Whether Agmen is a real god or not, it's never a good idea to put off the tasks they appoint you." She Gave Catnip a notebook. "Remember your writing lessons? Well, now I want you to write down everything you know or everything you think you know about Agmen." Catnip took the little notebook thankfully and left. Roxanne watched her go, and thought about the dream Catnip had described.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 27, 2017, 04:02:50 am
Catnip had got all the things she needed together. Most of them. But she was struck with a bit of a problem. She had seen and questioned Roxanne as to the purpose and use of her altar. Catnip didn't think Agmen would care much if her own Altar was fancy or not, so she had taken a large scrap of grease stained cloth and draped it over a milk crate. On top of that, Catnip had placed a spark plug, a catalytic converter, and a little box that played music when you turned it's handle. The problem she faced, was that she didn't know what to do next. Roxanne was out and Catnip had the feeling that she wouldn't know much about what to do for a god she didn't know. Quinn on the other hand, he seemed the academic sort and he knew a bit about this sort of thing. She would ask him.
Quinns lab was active today, she noted as she approached. From inside she could hear Hector and Quinn discussing something while listening to the radio. It didn't occur to her that there were no radio signals to listen to, other than the chatter of their own radios. What did occur to her was that the radio sounded broken. Dee or she could fix that up. Dee was a master of electronics and Catnip could do alright with them. She knocked, twice. It took a moment for Quinn to answer. In the mean time, Catnip had a moment to look at the sky. Not a cloud in that blue expanse today. "Ah, Catnip." He said, inviting her inside. "I've finally finished your sister’s medical reports. When you find a moment, could you run them out to Sharlene?" Catnip nodded, she would like to go out and see Lilith and Mica. It had been a week or so and she wondered how they were doing, and it was an awfully nice day for walking around. "But you aren't here to run my errands now are you? What do you need?" He asked. He'd been terribly upset at the damage Mica had done to his work area. Most of that had been fixed up right away. Mica had even stood by while the doctor admonished her for the trouble she made. "I need help Quinn. I set up an altar for-" "Agmen." He finished for her, "And you don't know how to use it or something like that?" Catnip nodded, that was exactly right. "Nip my dear, not all gods require direct worship. Most of these 'machine gods' throughout history required very little in active worship." Catnip took a seat on one of Quinn’s stools and played with her tail while she listened. "In most cases these... Artificer gods, accept their adherents worship in the form of invention and creation. Roxanne told me all about your dream dear, and it was interesting. I'd say Agmen feels you haven't been working with your vehicles and gadgets enough." Quinn didn't tell her that Agmen was probably just a figment of her subconscious, alarmed at how far behind she was getting on her grand project. It was interesting to see, even if it never went any further than Catnip, a new religion being made though and he didn't want to squash it before it flowered. If it did get beyond her, perhaps it would be the kind that benefited mankind. Necessity was, after all, the father of invention and when paired with belief, it could do amazing things. "as for your altar, you'll have to decide what's best to do with it. Maybe make offerings of items that match Agmen’s sphere?" Catnip didn't understand what that meant, and so Quinn elaborated. "Sphere in this context means 'domain,' what that god is responsible for. Agmen’s sphere is machinery yes? Small offerings would be things like bolts, nuts, valves. Better offerings would be stuff like electric motors and other such things." Catnip ruminated on this for a bit. She thought she understood now.
"What is th#s talk of g#ds and w##ship?" Came the voice of the radio. A man, at least it looked like a man, pushed aside the curtain to Quinn’s operating room. Catnip fell off her chair. "C#ref#l, don# ##r# yours#lf." Quinn didn't notice Catnips horror. "Ah, Donovan, my apologies. This is Catnip, our mechanical savant and the reason for our gathering. Catnip this is- Are you alright?" Catnip had pushed herself against the wall and looked like she was trying to will herself through it. "Robot!" she whispered. Hector had emerged behind the cyborg and had now crossed the room and took Catnip by the hand. "It's alright Catnip, he isn't a robot. You can calm down." Catnip shook her head vigorously and pulled away from Hector with a sound. She turned and bolted, struggling with the door for a moment until finally managing to get it open. "SKITTERS!" She screamed as she fled back to her workshop. Quinn sighed and apologized profusely on Catnips behalf. "Hector, do you think you could take these to Sharlene? I was going to have Catnip do it, but apparently she isn't up for it anymore."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 27, 2017, 07:21:59 am
Catnip had been looking incredibly grumpy, even after she had recovered from her hangover, and nobody could figure out why. She was still following orders and doing almost everything someone asked of her, but she never seemed happy while doing so. Sharlene was laid back on her bed, thumbing through a book. Lelith was curled up in the corner in her den, snoring loudly. Mohammad was out, trying to trade some of the supplies they'd collected with the refugee centre.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 27, 2017, 12:41:44 pm
Hector gave a sigh at that, before nodding to answer Quinn. "Of course. Since last time Nathaniel tried to bring something went so well..." he joked, gathering the papers to head out. "And Quinn, might be best to ensure Mica doesn't have a similar reaction. Lilith at least will hopefully be fine, as I suspect wherever she came from included cybernetics work in what they did." he said, before leaving to make his way to the nearby cabin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 27, 2017, 02:12:51 pm
Lilith growls as someone approaches the door, padding over to answer it. Sharlene pushes her out of the way and yanks the door open, with the bottom of it scraping against the ground that probably makes everyone cringe. "Hey, what's up?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 27, 2017, 02:25:50 pm
Hector winces a bit at that door scraping along the floor. "Quinn has some medical papers regarding Mica he wanted to send you. And remind me to see about putting a better fit in that door."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 27, 2017, 03:37:42 pm
"Riiiight... Like, her diet, or what?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 27, 2017, 03:47:09 pm
"I'd assume so, along with anything else of medical importance. Hadn't gone through the papers myself." he said, handing them over.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 27, 2017, 05:46:00 pm
Sharlene quickly skims over the top sheet, which turned out to be an evaluation of scars and such. "Let's see... Arrowhead, upper ri- Ooof." She glances over her shoulder at the currently-sleeping Mica. She'd been watching the fishes from the nearby river surface and swim around for the past few minutes, clearly tiring work. "Uh... Right. Quinn like, want anythin' for this or nah? We got plenty 'a coke lyin' around."
After Hector leaves, she rifles through the papers, mostly looking for dietary info, if there's any. Lilith keeps poking her in the ribs with her paws, until Sharlene tells her to go wander around the farm. She complies, heading off towards the barn. She hadn't seen the cub for a while.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 27, 2017, 06:34:28 pm
Hector nods at that, making his way back to the farm, possibly suspecting Lilith might follow him. Most likely her carnivorous nature would be the first thing shown on the list.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 27, 2017, 11:35:35 pm
Sharlene watched Lilith stalk off towards the farm in the distance and took another brief look at the papers. As she thought, strictly carnivorous, right there at the top of the list. In the margin though, she noticed a few lines of small letters in Quinns crabbed script. They outlined a useful bit of information.
"Sharlene, It has come to my attention that you have volunteered to look after Mica. Like your current charge Lilith, she is a black ops grade mutant. Unlike Lilith, Mica has been made less dangerous by the use of a device invented by myself and another scientist who is no longer a part of our group. I still feel she may be dangerous. While the device took the edge off her hunger and a few of her more detrimental mutations, it did not do much to improve her mental age or her attitude. The scientist I mentioned had a phrase which could be used on her sister, Catnip. This phrase no longer works on her, but is still functional with Mica. That phrase is "Blightwalker." Say it when you are certain she can hear you, and she will be stricken with a temporary paralysis. Do not spread this information around. As much as she loves them and trusts them, Catnip feels that some of the others would misuse it to bully or even harm Mica. I wish you luck, if you have any further questions concerning Mica, please do not hesitate to ask either myself or Catnip."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 28, 2017, 06:08:07 am
The barn was cool, possibly because of the large hole in the ceiling. Catnip squeezed herself under the RV and waited. She waited a long time until Hector had emerged with the robot, and the former was led off by the prior. When they had moved out of sight, Catnip went to her altar. The grease cloth was gone. So were the bits and bobs. That was fine, she reasoned, Quinn said Agmen wouldn't do much with an altar anyway. Catnip noticed that another cloth, a folded one, had taken the place of the greasy rag. Kathrine then. She probably saw the filthy thing and the little bits and decided that Catnip had left some work unfinished and tidied it up. Quinn said that it was in the making and the inventing, knot the offering. Catnip carefully unfolded the cloth and thought. She didn't know what prayer was, so she just thought. Things were different since Catnips drunken jaunt with Kathrine. Especially Kathrine. She was always so serious now. So grumpy. She wanted to cheer Kathrine up, but didn't know how. Alcohol was definitely off the list. She took a few parts and laid them out in front of her on the milk crate while she thought.
When she had finished thinking, she looked down at what she'd made. It was a tiny replica of the malfunctioned blade trap outside. This one didn't go "spronk" and then release all it's tension in one go. Nor was it particularly dangerous. Catnip Thought that they couldn't have another night of drinking. No no, that would be bad. But perhaps she could throw a small party of some kind. Dee could help out, and she was willing to bet Kathrine might like to help get food ready for it. Catnip would even help her. She wasn't much of a cook, but she thought that helping Kathrine would be no problem. She folded the little cloth and left the gizmo on top of it. Before any such thing could happen though, they needed supplies that the farm just didn't have. Like worship though, Catnip had never been to a party, so she had no idea what she needed. Catnip was setting out some food for her and Kathrine, she did this sometimes when Kathrine was out of sorts and Catnip felt she needed a break, when Lilith came to visit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 28, 2017, 10:17:07 am
Donavan heads back to his cave, waving goodbye as he walks off. He bottles homebrew liquor from his distillery and heads to the refugee center. He trades for some trained dogs, a few wild turkeys, a chicken, and three huge, beefy books. He heads back to the farm with the things he traded for, he gives catnip one of the books, which is on mechanics, along with some chocolate from the MRE's he didn't finish. He another large book to Dee, and the last book to Quinn. He made a large dog house for the three trained dogs from scraps, and put the cages containing the wild turkeys and the chicken outside of the farmhouse.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 28, 2017, 07:01:04 pm
There was time to think and time to cry. Damian and Lindsay had been buried and Mica had been to see the graves. She didn't understand why people put other people in the ground. She wasn't sure what she would have done herself though. All day today had been spent watching fish at the river. The day before, she'd spent harassing the lady-man. She had trouble with his name, so had just called him "lady-man." She crouched in the corner she'd chosen and stared at him until he had become uncomfortable. "Give My-ka your gurl shoes." She demanded suddenly. Mohammad had started, he hadn't thought she could speak. "N-no? These are my boots." She'd slithered out of the corner, darting straight to him. "Give My-ka boots." She growl-hissed. She was showing a lot of tooth then, and Mohammad flinched away. The boots were long and came up to his thighs, where the fit was snug. He started to take them off, but this wasn't fast enough for Mica. She grabbed at one of the boots and pulled furiously like a dog pulling at a chew rope. "SHARLENE! GODDAMMIT NO! SHARLENE!" She got the other boot off just as Sharlene came in to see what the commotion was. "What the hell is going on here?" She asked. Mica was putting on Mohammad's thigh high boots. "My-ka take lady-mans boots. Boots are My-ka's now!" Sharlene didn't mind Lilith and Mica harassing Mohammad a little, but Mica shouldn't be taking other peoples things. "No Mica. Give em back." "Aw..." Mica moaned. She clomped around in the boots a little longer while Sharlene tapped her foot and waited. She was considering using that phrase Quinn had given her when She dropped to a sitting position and began the easy process of stripping the boots off. They didn't fit of course. Mica's legs were too thin and Mohammad had stretched the supple leather out. Mica liked the way they looked on her though, even though they seemed to restrict her movement some. It was that last point that had settled whether to obey or not in her mind. She liked them, but she couldn't move in them. The boots were stripped off and tossed on the couch in short order. "Don't steal Mohammads things." Sharlene said without much conviction. "Why don't you go visit your sister for a bit? She's probably got a bunch of clothes she'd probably let you have. Get you out of those filthy rags at least."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 01:59:09 am
It was a typical morning in the farm. Victor had delivered the cup of coffee as he did everyday, a tradition she did not know the origins off, it simply just became a thing. Roxanne saw that there were new books on the shelves of her makeshift library she had not read before. Mostly books on trapping but she found another book that caught her eye, The Cleansing Flame. She had asked Hector to bring her a copy of it when he was on his errands for the refugee center. She picked up the book and picked and gave it a quick read. It was filled with wonderful religious connotations that made her spiritual side filled with joy. She felt guilty at it though; she knew this was ‘impure’ as P.R.D Syndicate, simply known as ‘the order’, had once deemed it. She put it down and got the books on trapping and spent the rest of the day reading on them.
The next day she partook in a ritual of appeasement to her personal, nameless god. She ate once of the ‘special’ meat Hector had brought her. She believed this would appease whatever greater force was out there and prevent things like the shifting from happening again. That being said, no one could know about her particular tastes…She would be exiled from the farm and the like of Catnip and Katherine would never forgive her. Mica ate people but she had the excuse of doing so because of biological engineering, not as a choice. She had told Hector when they both had their episode of remorse due to remorselessness…if that makes any sense; two psychopaths venting. If Hector ever told anyone, he would be her next tribute to the almighty one…
Later one, she checked on the medicine cabinet. She had been substituting anti-depressants with opioids. Roxanne was not a medic, furthermore, all her first aid knowledge was survival based, how not to die, medicine and its effects were out of that scope. Roxanne assumed that anti-depressants elevated the mod, since she had never been depressed herself, and thought this pill she knew people took for recreational before SHTF would be a good substitute, it was prescribed by doctors for pain so it couldn’t be bad right? She had acquired a mild addiction without her noticing. She would feel moody and a bit ill late on the day but would stop once she took her opioid. Not knowing anything was wrong she continued on and did not bother to consult with Quinn, the person with the highest medical knowledge in the farm. One this day she had taken a particularly high dose and would have had over dosed if not for her testing a newly installed blood filter CBM. The effect from the drug still linger so she assumed it had done it’s job and its exit from the system was no big deal. She had felt a bit ill when she did that so she decided on not taking it any more regardless of how she felt. She would look for the right medication.
Roxanne decided it was time for another scout run. Her goal this time was to find more anti-depressants that Quinn had prescribed her. She knew there was a hospital down south so she would try and head there first. The refugee center was on her way there so she decided to stop there and say hi. So she put on her typical business casual setup that included her revolver and laser rifle and headed to the APC. Victor was once more placed on radio duty and assured Roxanne that the radio would not be harmed.
Once she reached the refugee center she parked outside and hesitated for a moment to enter. Some of the government was here, these people were well organized, they had managed to hack their private communications channel dee had setup… She swallowed her fears and entered. Once inside, she looked for the person that looked like they held the most authority. She saw a woman behind reinforced glass and assume she was it and headed towards her to ask for information. The people inside stared at her for a bit and then went back to their activities all the while keeping tabs on her. The guards had their hands on their weapons to be drawn at a moment’s noticed. Distrust of the new gal here she assumed. Might be because she was a mutant but she spotted a man with mutations tip his hat at her and they had welcomed mica as well so that might not be the case.
“Hello, my na-“ “Let me stop you right there. We are not accepting anyone to join us. We can’t spare supplies to every soul that wonders in here so unless you have business here I suggest you leave.” Roxanne was a bit taken aback by the woman on acting the way she did but paid her no mind, she had dealt with worse in more than one way. “I am looking for Father Maple, I was told I could come here and discus some issues about God’s Army.” The woman’s eyes focused on Roxanne and her expressions changed. “Are you from the farm where Catnip lives? I was told to expect someone by the name of Roxanne Luna to come here about just that.” Roxanne gave a polite smile. “That would me and yes, I come from the same place where catnip lives.” The woman gave her quick glance before speaking. “I see. Anyways, Father Maple isn’t here right now. He is out and we don’t know when he is coming back. Anything else you came here about.” Roxanne shock her head slightly. “No, apart from a quick introduction I have nothing else here.” The woman looked at Roxanne again and sized her up. “Look, if you are looking for work, the knight who lives with you cleared a trading path and we could use a hand with making sure it is protected by bandits. If you or anyone you know is interested just let me know and I will put you on the list. Otherwise, feel free to look around the center and see if maybe the old guard representative has any work.” Roxanne gave thanks and told the woman she would keep that in mind. With that done, she explored the center for a bit.
Roxanne talked to a few people. None had work for her, the old guard rep said the they were not looking for anyone right now and all jobs he had were done by Hector. She Eventually meet a woman by the name of Delora Gooch. After a brief talk she informed Roxanne that she was a merc for hire and for $8000 dollars Roxanne could hire her. “I only accept payment through wire transfer directly into this account.”, The merc said. Roxanne knew exactly how this worked. This was the same way she accepted her pay when she did freelance work outside of the order when she was allowed to. She told the merc she would be back and went back to her APC.
She had many cash cards back at the farm incase she needed them. All of them found when she took down the dead and they easily made more than enough to hire the merc. To make the deposit, she needed to find an ATM and she knew just were. She would head north east past the nearest city to another one that hosed a gas station with an ATM. She would take the opportunity to fill all the tanks of her APC full of diesel to not have to siphon every time she spotted a military vehicle.
“Victor, I am heading past the farm to make a quick pickup,. Can you get me all my cash card that I keep in the second drawer. Thanks.” “Understood Roxanne, will have your cash cards ready.” She got back to the farm and Victor handed her the cards. Roxanne gave Victor thanks. Her face suddenly went red. “Y- you didn’t check the other drawers did you?...” “No Roxanne, I did not…” Roxanne exhaled with relief and got back on the APC and continued on her journey.
The journey to the gas station was proving to be uneventful. The Armored Scouter, as Roxanne called her modified APC, plowed through the dead that were not killed by her array of makeshift laser rifle turrets. Things got interesting when she found an evac shelter on the other side of the town where the gas station was. It was getting late and she thought about clearing this place incase she wanted to board it up as a type of outpost. She approached in her loud APC. She she parked and got out to enter, she saw one of the curtains shift a bit; someone was inside. Roxanne was not expecting this…She put her hand on her revolver and knocked on the door. “Hello, anybody in there? I am not going to hurt you. I just want to talk.” A few moments of silence went by when the door opened slightly. A man peeked out from inside. “What do you want? I don’t have anything of value…” Roxanne saw fear in the man’s eyes and a hint of sadness as well. “What’s the matter? Anything I can help you with?” Roxanne took her hand off her revolver. The man opened the door, it was obvious this man was a bit too trusting. He was wearing typical doctor get up, coat and all. “Well, I am running low on food and I haven’t seen a person in a long time…” “Hey, I have food in my vehicle, how about I bring you some if you let me in for a bit?” Roxanne no longer had intentions on securing this place. She saw a man in need and she intended to exploit that, hopefully she would gain another follower…or tribute…
Roxanne brought some dehydrated meat and the man let her in. The man introduced himself as Doctor Thomas Larsson and Roxanne introduced herself. The man was startled a bit by Roxanne’s mutations but soon regained his composure. He had survived this long by holding out here living off the food in the basement. The supplies had ran out a couple days ago and he was about to go out scavenging the next day. “So, why are you here? Your…vehicle looks very impressive…why did you want to stop here so badly?” “I wanted to secure this place as an outpost but am no longer interested. If you are living here then that won’t do.” Roxanne had finished her fish and got up from where she was seated. “It was nice meeting you doctor but I am going to be off. Anything I can help you with before I leave?” The man looked at Roxanne and with a somber look. “Well…I know this might seemed silly but I have a dog…could you do to my house and see if her is there?” Roxanne gave a slight grin masked by the night. She had gained this man’s trust, just one final touch to real him in. “Sure, just tell me where it is and I will check it out. I will be sleeping there then too so I will be back in the morning.” The doctor told Roxanne where his house was and gave her a dog whistle to tame the dog and with that Roxanne got on her APC and went towards the house.
Once she reached the outside of the house, she the dead littered the street. Her turrets took care of the ones that got near and she took down the rest. She got into the home by lock picking the door with her hairclip she always wore. Once inside she heard barking. Animals never liked her and she knew this one would not either. At least it was alive and she could take it to Thomas. Roxanne gave a blow of her whistle and the barking stopped. A German Shepard came out with its tail wagging, It was somehow unharmed and not at all malnourished. Roxanne petted the dog and helped herself to the contents of the fridge. A few canned goods she happily pocked and then closed all the curtains to get a night’s sleep. She placed the dog inside a pet carrier that was inside the home where it slept for the night. She just needed to make the delivery and she was sure she could charm the doctor into joining her cause, reviving the order.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 11:56:21 am
The next morning, Roxanne got the pet carrier, the dog still fast asleep, and place it in her APC and made her drive back to the Evac shelter. The noise of the approaching vehicle alerted Thomas of Roxanne’s arrival and he awaited outside when she arrived. With pet carrier in hand, Roxanne came out to greet Thomas. “Good morning! Special delivery for you!” Roxanne let the dog out of the pet carrier and it went toward Thomas. “Thanks you for finding my dog! I don’t have much to offer you but how can I repay you?” Roxanne shock her head slightly. “I don’t need payment, It wasn’t a problem for me.” Roxanne saw the dog moving around it’s owner exited to see him after a long time. She spoke up, “Hey, so what are you going to do now? You said you don’t have much food left and now you have another mouth to feed. The cities are dangerous and you are armed with a crossbow…” The doctor stopped playing with the dog and looked at Roxanne. “I have not giving it thought myself. I have been here since last I remember living off stored supplies intended to feed many more people. I don’t know what I will do now…” Roxanne gave a smile to Thomas before speaking herself. “Why don’t you come with me? I have food and I live in a settlement of sorts with other people. We have things well setup and basic survival shouldn’t be a problem.” The doctor gave it some thought. “Why should I go with you?” “We are friends, aren’t we?" “You got it, I am with you!”
Now the duo was on the APC, the dog once more in it’s carrier, on their way to the gas station to make the wire transfer. “So what is the dog’s name?”, Roxanne asked to make small talk. “His name is Fang, a bit cliché I know but it’s one of the first things I noticed about him when I got him as a puppy.” The small continued about how Thomas had gotten the dog from a shelter and how they had been together for 4 years before the cataclysm. They eventually reached the gas station. “Here we are, give me a moment while we take care of some business.” Roxanne got all her cash cards, deposited everything to her account and made the transfer. She refueled the APC by hacking the gas station machines. She was no Dee but she had learned a thing or two from all her years in the dark web under the order. Once back inside she alerted the doctor or their next destination and they went on towards the refugee center.
“Victor, It’s Roxanne again, I will make my way back to the farm once again with a delivery. I have a dog in a pet carrier that I would like you to take care while I am away. Not mine but from a man that decided to join us.” “Been busy making friends, are we? Shouldn’t be a problem. I will ask for some dog food they use to feed the other dogs Donovan brought.” Once they reach the farm after an uneventful journey, Roxanne introduced Victor and Thomas to one another and gave Fang to Victor. “Nice to meet you sir, name is Victor, glad to have more faces around here.” “No no, thank all of you for letting me join you. I will no longer fear where my next meal come from.”, Responded Thomas. After the exchange, Roxanne and Thomas were off to the refugee center.
“That was quite the settlement you got there. It looks like you have your stuff put together. And your array of vehicles is impressive too; was that a tank I saw?” Thomas neglected to point out the barn with the collapsed roof. The rubble of it had been cleaned off but it still stood out. “That is indeed a tank. It is drove a man named Hector. He like to role-play as a knight but is very good at combat. When things get serious he gets things done by hand or the roar of his tank. A weird one but trustworthy.” “What about the rest of the people in the farm?” “You will meet them when you meet them. For a basic run down. We have a cat girl mutant. Very sweet and childlike; don’t swear near here. She is our cook, she can make quite a meal. We have a rat mutant, young but a mechanical mastermind. She is willing to lend you her stuff but give something of worth in return. We have her sister mica, hard to explain but she is a weaponized mutant. Try and stay away from her for now. There is also Doctor Quinn, a scientist who focuses on the science of occult studies. Floyd, a no non-sense man who is very good with his revolver; a modern day gun slinger. We have Dee our electronics expert, made us a communications channel using laptops and he himself has robots under his command. We have a common visitor named Sharlene, she is in the care of Mica, a man named Mohammed and another mutant named Lilith. Lilith well, the same way Kathrine is a cat, Lilith is a tiger. Very powerful but Sharlene keeps her from harming anyone. That’s everyone in a nutshell.”
Once they reached the refugee center, they went in and spoke to the merchant. They informed her of their intent and she let them in. They went to Delora the merc and completed the deal. “Took you long enough,,Delora told Roxanne It seems we have a deal. Guess you are the boss now.”,Delora told Roxanne “Great to have you onboard!” The trio went back to the APC and Roxanne radioed in for her arrival. “Roxanne here, I am going to the farm to prepare for a proper expedition. I got myself another follower. They are going to take the rooms of the…fallen…” “Understood, awaiting your arrival.”
Roxanne gave the same rundown she gave Thomas to Delora and once they got there she took them to their rooms. “Rest up today, tomorrow I will be giving you new outfits and weapons and will begin our training. Have a good one!” She then went to her quarters and made gather what she would need tomorrow. “Got to get them ready…I wonder how they will react to the infuser and defuse…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 12:08:17 pm
Hector watched, having overhead the communications going on reporting on Roxanne's arrival, and when she returned he'd be there to greet them. Likely he was rather curious about this, but brushed off his concerns for now. Instead he'd be there to show them around, to the library and radio room, the kitchen building, the rather cluttered workshop. Then to the small firepit and boombox, the recreation area.
"Dee and his friends used to make quite a racket back in the day. Been a bit quiet since then, but. Well, for the best. Dealt with a lot of the Hell's Raiders that day." he explained, something the mercenary likely was aware of, Operation Lawgiver as the Old Guard back at the center called it. Though likely any official reports only listed two casulties, leaving the question of what happened to the third.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 29, 2017, 12:59:35 pm
For the first time since just after that last test in the skitters room, Catnip and Mica sat and talked amicably. They sat by the river within sight of Sharlenes cabin, Catnip with a pole and line in hand, Mica with a rock. They were trying to catch fish, but not with much conviction since Mica’s chosen method tended to disturb the water a great deal. “What about blueberries?” Catnip asked. “Blueberries not blue stupid Kat-nyp.” responded Mica, just before she swung her rock into the water. She lost hold of it and her perch and tumbled into the river. Catnip laughed at her, Mica scowled. The water was shallow, fortunately. Mica couldn’t swim. She could tread water, even hold her breath and see fairly well. She was too thin and too dense to remain afloat though. “You should try the pole Mica, it’s a lot easier.” Mica scoffed. She didn’t have the patience to use a fishing pole. The pole was for book readers and Catnips. Still, some patience was important. She wasn’t starving after all. The water was surprisingly clear. The two didn’t know it, as they had never known the world before the cataclysm, but little more than four or five years previously, this river had been one of the filthiest in the region. Mica perched herself on a rock and allowed her fingers to drift in the water. Catnip reeled in her line and cast again. The two waited… The slow thrum of the river, the chirping of the birds, the sounds of nature. It was all too much for Catnip and she drifted off into a comfortable nap, the warm sun on her fur overcoming her ability to stay awake.
The sun just bothered Mica, and she lost her patience. She decided she would go for a stroll to the north, to go after something she knew she would have no problem with in a place where the sun wouldn’t beat down on her so harshly. Fish were tricky, she couldn’t trick them or run them down. Slippery fish… She moved north along the shore, occasionally spotting a nice pebble or two. There were things to find along the river, if one looked. She found a few shiny stones, which she took and hid in a hollow stump for when she could come back and get them. She found some bottles, which she took the time to peer through at the world before tossing them back into the river. A length of fishing line with many hooks. She tried to wear it like a necklace, but it jabbed and snared her so she tossed it. The woods were pleasantly fragrant with the smell of prey. The smell of prey, and smoke. Odd. She followed that smell until she came across the camp.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 02:50:18 pm
Thomas and Delora had had a brief tour of the place by hector who found out of their arrival by interception the radio transitions. Roxanne didn’t mind but was unsure why Hector would take the time to do so. Regardless, morning had now come and it was time for training. The pair of recruits were called onto the library by Victor. Once there Roxanne awaited them. “Now, first of all, I have new outfits for you. We are going to go on raid every once in a while so proper armor and storage packs are necessary. Here, go change and come back when you do so.” The two did so and came back wearing shirts, cargo pants, a trenchcoat, ballistic glasses, hard arm and leg guards, tactical gloves, a backpack and an army helmet. “There we go, this will be your uniform when we are out in the field, you are free to take it off when we are in the farm.” “Why do we have to wear this and you are in business attire?”, Asked Delora. “Because I can so this.” Roxanne fired a bolt of electricity into the ground away from the farm. “Any questions?” “No mam…”, responded the pair simultaneously. “Good, now lets go to the armory to get you some good weapons."
Once on the armory, Thomas and Delora were in awe at the large collections of weapons. Delora in particular had seen many of these used against her. “Ok, so what to give you? Delora has a pistol and Thomas a crossbow…this won’t do…I got it!” Roxanne picked up an Ar-15 rifle and a M4A1. She installed suppressors, grips, a bayonet and a collapsible stock to both of them and handed them each one. Thomas looked at his rifle. “But I don’t know how to use this…” Roxanne rolled her eyes at that. “Don’t worry, we will go through the basics of marksmanship, rifles and doing later on today. I have a few books on the subject, you will both be adequately prepared in a short 3 day course!” The trio went back to library and Roxanne picked up the books in question. “Anytime you folks wanna learn something, feel free to grab a book and get your read on, for now, lets learn a bit on rifles!”
[3 days later]
It was early in the morning and Victor once more called the pair to Roxanne’s quarters. Once they were inside Roxanne spoke up. “You both now know the basics of what is expected of you on the field, but today we are going to work on your…physique…step into my room, I have a surprise for the both of you.” The pair looked confused but they went inside anyway. Roxanne followed and close the door. Inside they could both see an altar of sorts as well as too spider looking gadgets on the bench near them. “Now, you both by now would have noticed I am a mutant. But I did not do this just by mutagen or radiation like most other mutants have. I did it via these marvels of science here.” Roxanne picked up the red infuser and the blue defuser. “Wait…you want us to use those to mutate?”, asked Thomas. “I know this sounds crazy but these too work in conjunction to stabilize your genome and mutate you continuously while making you stable. Perhaps a little demonstration is in order?” Roxanne had been meaning to use the, again. Partly because she thought they might alleviate her symptoms of her addiction she did not know she had but her immunities had made it pass a while ago and she did not notice it. But she also was drawn to them due to her internal greed to push the boundaries, this is why she joined the order in the first place. Roxanne put the pair of spider like devices each on one of the sides of her upper arms and let it do their work. Thomas and Delora watched as they did it’s work and they saw red and blues fluid flow from and into Roxanne. When it was done, Roxanne felt different. She first noticed a weakness she had felt before. Back when she found the book that allowed her to cross the boundaries of mutations. She felt things were heavier but she felt as strong otherwise. She also did not feel like sleeping at all. She was a bit tired from waking up so early but that was entirely gone. She now felt like she had taken a full day to sleep.
Thomas was bit reluctant but she trusted Roxanne know. Being a medical practitioner this worried him but saw this as an opportunity to better handled himself out there. “I’ll go first I supposed…”, Thomas managed to say. He stepped forward and allowed Roxanne to place the devices on him. They did their handy work and while there was no pain, he felt and knew the machines were taking a toll on his body. He felt changes happen inside him and felt a new sensation he did had not felt before, a new limb? Once the process was done, Roxanne got him a mirror. Thomas was now was the ears of a cat and he noticed a tail of one too. He noticed the claws on his hand and the snout that was now his face. He could now see better in the barely lit Room he was on but he felt a bit clumsier and more tired than he remembered. “So this is what I have become…”, said Thomas He noticed his voice had changed as well for a snarly version of his normal tone. Overall he was neither terrified or excited about his new biology, only surprised and curiosity took in.
It was Deloras turn and Thomas’ transformation had convinced her. She was hoping this would turn her into a formidable beast that could allow her to handle any job. “I guess I am next.”, said Delora in her most monotone voice she could muster to hide her enthusiasm. She sat on the bed and let Roxanne placed the devices on her. They started doing her handy work and she too felt changes going on. The process took its course and afterwards she was handed the mirror. Things had not gone exactly the way she had wanted but could not complain too much. Internally, she felt stronger and quicker too. She could now see very well in the room noticing things in detail. However, she felt sluggish and cold. Her appearance had changed too. She now had antenna on top of her head and insect wings like that of a butterfly on her back as well as a spiked tail similar to a scorpion’s. “So this is me now huh? The tail is a nice touch and I feel tougher as well. Nice!” The trio sat there from the exhaustion of the procedure. Roxanne took the device and went to put it back on catnip’s locker. She had already put a couple chocolate bars in her stash to compensate. “I will be back in a couple minutes with some food, Go to the library and lock the door behind you. Take the time to find out how your new body works.” They all go out of their rooms and did just that. Roxanne came back with some dehydrated meat and some rice and beans. Thomas took a bite off the rice and beans and noticed his system rejected them. “Guess it’s meat only for you then…” The trio ate and Roxanne then told them to take the rest of the day to rest. “Tomorrow I will assess you and we will be going on our first assignment.” Thomas and Delora went to their quarters and experimented with their new limbs for the rest of the day.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 03:06:17 pm
The days passed by, the knight observing that, from the looks of it, the two Roxanne brought had been undergoing intense training under her direction, but it was the first time he saw them after having mutated that he was now concerned. He intended to ask Roxanne what her plan was, likely not getting much of a useful answer.
Nathaniel however, had his own suspicions, but he didn't dare confront Roxanne about them. Instead he sought out Victor, intent on talking to him. He explained the way that Roxanne evidently picked out a uniform, armament, training regiments. And most recently, deliberate experimentation with the mutagenic devices they had on hand. And thus, leading to his concern, to ask Victor about.
"She's training them for a purpose. A mission, I'd bet. I've been through training aimed for a specific purpose, lackluster as that training was. It's not like in boot camp where they familiarize you with procedure and drill, your weapons, how to operate as a unit. She has a goal in mind, and knowing what little I know about her..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 03:12:22 pm
"I am honestly as confused as you are. I know she had two other companions before you all got there but I don't know what her plans are. I simply help her out due to the arrangement we had previous to the world ending. If I had to guess. She is amassing a small squad to take her on missions of sorts. She probably had somewhere in mind she wants to go but can't do it alone." Victor looked around to see if anybody is around. "I have noticed she has gotten a bit more trusting towards Hector, maybe he knows something? She certainly isn't telling me..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 03:21:53 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "I hadn't thought to ask him to be honest. Didn't know how easily he could guess that she's kitting them out for something more than just general readiness, but I might see."
Hector meanwhile did in fact have his own suspicions in general, deciding to go visit Roxanne, knocking on the door. He'd start simple enough, expressing concern and asking if they were alright after their dabbling in mutation.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 03:35:50 pm
Roxanne heard the knock and opened the door. "Ah knight! What can I help you with today? I am getting ready for my next scouting run, anything you need from me?" Roxanne had what looked like a journal on her hand. "Care to take a seat?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 03:38:36 pm
Hector smiled at that as she answered the door, sitting down nearby. "Hope your two new friends have been faring well? Always leery of overusing that device, need to be cautious with it." he asked, going with that question of his first.
"Guessing the training's for scouting then. Or anything else besides getting them ready to deal with the dead? You seemed to have something bigger in mind with those two..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 03:49:15 pm
"Thomas and Delora? They are doing fine. Their training is to successfully survive on the outside world during a raid. They don't know how things work around here so I am teaching them. As for the mutations, don't worry about it, the devices are safe and they didn't hesitate to go though with it." Roxanne gave Hector a pat on the shoulder. "You need to loosen up a bit, you can be so serious sometimes you know?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 03:52:28 pm
Hector smiled a bit at that. "Right. Think a mercenary would need much in the way of training?" he pointed out. "And no worries, just wanted to ensure they're alright. Plus, anything involving this you want help with, you need only ask." He did however shake his head at that suggestion. "And what next, have a knight drunk on mead or something?" he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 03:57:47 pm
"Thanks for the offer but I have this covered. And besides, the mercenary was using a pistol as her main weapon...still have ways to go but things should be alright." Roxanne then rolled her eyes and chuckled at the comment of alcohol. "The last thing we need is the night inquisitioning the farm..." She then stood up and opened her journal. "Well, I gotta check a few things on the radio, anything else you need you know where to find me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 04:01:50 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Very well then. Did seem like you had something in mind other than just scouting." he remarked, a bit concerned. "Granted, you'd be surprised how well just a pistol works, though it's not very ammo-efficient. Should've seen the mess Nathaniel made when I picked him up. Granted, he would've been swamped when he ran out, but still."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 29, 2017, 04:15:49 pm
Donavan stops his boat a mile away from a small makeshift dock, he lies prone with a scoped SKS. A man dressed in makeshift armor and wielding a baseball bat. He fires a shot thug's chest, causing him to fall into the river. He drives the boat to the dock and anchors it, he stashes the SKS away and draws his five-seven. He heads down a nearby path, the gravel crunches nearby and he slides into the forest while screwing on a suppressor. Two thugs walk by, chatting.
"What'd you get from the last hit? I got some gum." "Cigarettes, wanna trade?" "Hell yeah."
They exchange goods and continue chatting. They walk by Donavan, he slides out from the woods. He sneaks up behind one of them and sweeps his legs and pins him to the ground while sending two shots to the chest of the other one. He sinks one shot into the head of the one who he shot and he puts a round in the back of the other one's head. He drags the corpses into woods and continues down the trail, he sees various heads on pikes. Human, pig, deer, undead, the list goes on. The trail ends at a small concrete shed surrounded by more heads on pikes. He heads to the entrance, inside is a ladder leading down. Donavan holsters his pistol and climbs down. Once he's at the bottom there's a small table with three people sitting at it, playing cards. Donny slips on a pair of heavy leather gauntlets, he loudly clears his throat.
"Hu- Hey, who the fuck are you?"
The three draw their weapons, a baseball bat, a machete, and a mash of welded sharpened rebar with a handle. They charge at Don, he assumes a judo stance. The one with the machete swings at him, donny ducks under the swing and grabs his wrist, twisting it while a *hsss* is heard. A loud sickening crack is heard as he shatters the machete user's wrist. He grabs the machete and throws it at the welded rebar weapon, embedding it in his chest. The baseball bat user swings, Donavan swings a punch at the bat as his muscles hiss. The bat is forced out of the thug's hands as it clatters against the floor. Don's muscles stop hissing, he draws his pistol and puts one shot into the thug's skull.
Donavan turns on his scent vision CBM and looks around, he pats around the drywall until it sounds hollow. He preps a punch and sends the fist through the drywall, causing it to crumble as he drags out a thug through the wall. He throws him to the floor and stomps on his skull, leaving nothing above the lower jaw. He rips the machete out of the rebar user's chest and heads down the hallway, turning off the scent vision. He opens the door leading to a hallway, four thugs are left. All but one of them are armed with makeshift lawnmower machetes, the last one is unarmed but is at least twice the size of Donavan. Donny tucks the machete behind his belt, he gets into a stance. Don dodges the first punch but meets the second knee to the gut, he falls to one knee and gets back up. Donny's muscles hiss and he sends a punch to the big one's ribs, breaking several. He falls to knees and Don sends a hook to the big one's jaw, sending it flying. The muscular man falls over, gurgling. Donny draws his machete, and the other three stare in awe.
"Get him!"
The first one swings and he ducks under it. Donny slashes open that one's stomach and hacks into his skull. The second one slashes and Don dodges backwards, he slashes open the second one's throat. The last one feints and punches Donavan in the face. He falls backwards as he groans, the last one tries to bury his machete into donny's head but he parries. He sends it clattering against the floor. The last one slowly backs away, Donny tosses his machete to the side and he tackles him to the floor. He punches his head until it's nothing more of a red pulp. Donny gets up and takes off his gauntlets, panting. He heads back home. He takes out his radio.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 04:24:37 pm
Lilith could smell something new. It smelt like... Mica, but different. She sits down, sniffing the air. She looks more like a dog than a tiger, with one paw lifted in the air, before she stands up properly and awkwardly walks towards the house, nose still stuck in the air. She pushes a paw against the door gently and rakes her claws down it, making a very loud scraping noise.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 04:26:53 pm
Hector, having since left Roxanne's room, checked the radio. "Excellent. Wasn't too much of a problem, I hope?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 04:33:04 pm
Roxanne and her new recruits were inside the library since they asked her what books she had on stock. They suddenly hear a scrapping noise on the door. "Stand back...", Roxanne whispered to the other too. She cloaked and then opened the door only to find Lilith clawing at it. Roxanne turned it off and gave Lilith a confused look? "Lilith? What are you doing here?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 29, 2017, 04:34:59 pm
"My no#e hur#s. Mi#ig#t b# brok#n. P#us th#y stai#ed my cl#th#s, ba#tard#."" Donny says
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 04:39:11 pm
"Stained it? Must've been a rather impressive fight. Can be a nuisance to get blood out, yeah." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 04:43:55 pm
Lilith presses the middle of a paw against Roxanne's face and shoves her out of the way, squeezing through the doorway and padding over to the mutants. She cocks her head at Thomas, entirely ignoring Delora for the moment. She pokes him in the gut with a paw, thankfully with her claws retracted, and waits for his reaction.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 29, 2017, 04:45:53 pm
Donny snorts, "If y#u wa#t to c#eck #t out i#'s u# the ri-ri-river. I've neede# a #ew o#tfit any#ays."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 04:47:23 pm
Hector smirked a bit as he gave his response. "So long as they're taken care of. Might have to see about getting something a little harder-wearing instead."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 04:50:44 pm
Roxanne is knocked to the ground and she just sits there as to no provoke the tiger. She seems calmed at the moment and she wants to prevent collateral damage.
Thomas is in a nit of shock at the sight of Lilith. He just looks at her as she approaches. His reaction at her poking is a slight whine but is other wise immobile. "Easy there...we don't want to hurt you..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 04:58:04 pm
Lilith chuffs, poking him again. Her tail is swishing around happily, although her grin doesn't look friendly. She eventually gets bored of poking the cat and moves on to the insect-woman. She stands up for this one, brushing against a bookcase. There's a deep, rumbling growl as she jabs them in the carapace, sneering.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 05:03:52 pm
Delora was to busy sizing up Lilith that she did not noticed her actions until she got poked. She flinched back with a surprised scream. "W- what do you want? We don't want to fight you..." She remembered what Roxanne had told her about Lilith briefly, to stay away for a while, now she knew why... Both mutants thought this would be their last day seeing how she easily overpowered Roxanne.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 05:11:47 pm
Lilith giggles as Delora screams, patting her antennae and lowering herself back down. She grins properly, which would normally be reassuring if they knew anything about her beforehand, or weren't fearing for their life. Lilith steps towards the insect merc and rubs her head against the lady's stomach, eventually advancing to curl around her legs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 05:16:22 pm
Delora is confused at this point towards the intent of Lilith. "Oh...I uh...", is all she manages to say. She looks at Thomas who has back away slight and he gives a "I don't know, don't look at me" gesture. She looks back at Roxanne who is still sitting down with a palm to her face.
"Uh, Lilith, where is Sharlene?", Roxanne asked Lilith who was still curling around Delora's leg.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 05:24:04 pm
Lilith growls in answer, seeming to close her eyes. The steady rise and fall of her chest make it seem like she's sleeping, but if you looked hard enough you could tell she's smirking.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 05:29:58 pm
"Lilith...can you let Delora go, she is visibly afraid and is shaking a bit..." "I am fine boss...she isn't doing anything to me...", says the shaking Delora. Roxanne gets up and stands up to Lilith. "Kathrine would be very disappointed in you if she found out...she doesn't like mean people."
"How can I rely on them when they are scared at the first giant they see...", whispers Roxanne at herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 05:33:19 pm
There's a restrained growl as she slowly stretches a paw towards the shiny woman, claws extended, but gives up when she realises Roxanne's too far away to reach. She slowly uncurls herself from around Delora's legs and gets to her paws, fixing her eyes on Thomas but not acting on anything. Yet.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 05:37:27 pm
Thomas has regained his composure at this point but is a bit nervous when Lilith lays eyes upon him. "Uh...Is there anything I can help you with miss?" Having lived in an Evac Shelter all this time in the cataclysm he is unsure how to proceed. Thomas proceeds to stand up straight to give a facade of confidence.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 05:50:25 pm
She lowers herself to the ground, slowly stalking towards him. Despite being incredibly visually obvious, she's entirely silent, and is tensed up as if she was readying to pounce. Which she does, purposely missing and crashing into a bookshelf, probably breaking it in half.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 05:56:08 pm
Roxanne gives a gasp at the sight of one of her shelves breaking, the books it housed falling on the floor. They were the entertainment books but still, this made Roxanne internally scream.
Delora is scared at this not understanding this was a stage on the part of Lilith. Her butterfly wings flap in panic briefly distracting her from the scene at hand. "So they do that, huh?"
Thomas is more calmed than Delora but only for a bit. He is under the impression that he dodged the 'attack'. "Easy there...no need to get violent..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 05:57:26 pm
Nathaniel at this point made his way in and poked his head through the doorway, looking around. "Everything alright in-oh. Lilith, what are you doing here? Sharlene's gonna be worried..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 06:00:21 pm
Lilith starts to growl. It's actually incredibly loud, at least until it's broken up by chuffing. She eventually collapses into a heap, chuffing and giggling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 06:03:25 pm
Nathaniel facepalmed at that, calmly heading over to Lilith to kneel a bit. "You having fun scaring the two of them, hmm?" he teased, reaching to give h er a pet.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 06:14:40 pm
Lilith purrs are evident in the background of her giggles, and she rolls over, stretching out and bumping into Nathaniel. She raises a paw weakly, rolling onto her back. Her tail knocks another stack of books off a shelf.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 06:16:48 pm
Roxanne is holding back a bit of anger at this point. "Lilith, could you not damage the library any further please?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 06:18:31 pm
He sighed a bit at that, a hand reaching to grab the bookshelf to ensure she woulfn't accidentally topple it over. "Lilith, come on, you're going to knock these over..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 29, 2017, 06:25:48 pm
"I'#l g# an# vis#t soon, last th#ng I #ave to to is the lab stuff. #hic# I'm #ot comfort##le #oi#g alo#e." Donny talk over the radio, he cleans up and sets out his cossack, gloves, and cloak out to dry. He sets up his boat and brings along his dogs, a corgi, a pure bred German Shepard, and a husky. He puts the corgi in a pet carrier and loads him on the boat, the other two just sit on the boat. He boats off to the farm and walks up to the farmhouse with his three doggos, he knocks on the door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 06:29:50 pm
Lilith snarls quietly, disappointed in the lack of belly rubs. She rolls over, knocking over Nathaniel in the process, and stands up. The knock on the door drags her attention away from Nathaniel and Thomas, and she pads over, attempting to open the door with her mouth before giving up and waiting for someone else to answer it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 06:32:41 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Thinking about going in as a team? Whoever you'd prefer for that, so be it. We'll await your arrival." he answered, likely by the time Donavan returned, the place was still in chaos thanks to Lilith, Nathaniel trying and failing to nudge her into heading outside, ending up bowled over and carefully rubbing her belly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 29, 2017, 06:36:27 pm
Donavan waited a moment before opening the door, dogs pouring into the farmhouse and viciously sniffing everything. Corgi yapping happily. "H#el! D#wn!" The husky and german shepard stand at attention, while the corgi continues to sniff around. "Daisy! Co#e'r#!" The corgi complies.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 06:39:03 pm
Hector meanwhile sighed at that as he made his way from the tank to the farmhouse, moving over to regard the absurdity unfolding before them, while Nathaniel tried to get up and reach for to the one corgi mucking about. "Now now, heel." he said, a hand still on Lilith, a rather poor effort to keep her from getting up, afraid of how she might react to the dogs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 06:45:50 pm
Lilith immediately stands up straight, full on roaring as she's brought into contact with a loud small dog. She's backing up, claws fully extended as she bares her teeth.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 29, 2017, 06:49:30 pm
Donny glares at Lilith, hand resting on one of his many holsters, "Don- don- don't hu#t the #og now, th#re'l# b# a b#t #f a me#s if #ou-yo#-y#u do." He lets out a short and sharp whistle and points down next to him, the corgi waddles to his side.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 06:50:51 pm
Nathaniel went wide-eyed at that, getting up and standing in front of Lilith. "No, Lilith. No hurting the dogs. Understand me? They won't hurt you, okay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 06:57:06 pm
Roxanne notices the look off fear on Thomas and Delora. "Can everyone calm down?! This is getting ridiculous!", yells a frustrated Roxanne. "Everyone out of my library now!" Roxanne is visibly angry now. Delora and Thomas stand behind Roxanne as visible backup.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 29, 2017, 07:00:30 pm
"aw y#u don'# like d#gs?" Donny says, jokingly pouting. "Alrig#t, se# ya." He says, whistling and gesturing for the doggos to follow. He strolls into the barn, peering through the broken door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 07:07:06 pm
Lilith appears like she's about to back down, but Roxanne's yelling sets her off again. There's a *pssssht* as her hydraulic muscles activate and she pushes Nathaniel to the side forcefully, and... Donny walked away. She grunts, and there's another *hissss* as they deactivate. She looks over at Nathaniel apologetically.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 07:10:00 pm
Nathaniel stood firm, as best as he could manage at least, only to erf as she bowled him over, giving a yelp at the unexpected force of it, looking up at her with an annoyed glare. "Ow, f-fuck..." He's likely toppled over enough to knock over yet more books, cracking the shelf a bit.
Hector meanwhile facepalmed, watching all of this.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 07:14:11 pm
Thomas being the medic of the room rushed over to help Nathaniel. "Are you okay?! Anything hurt?", asked Thomas.
Roxanne was annoyed even more over all but one bookshelf being damaged and her books on the ground. She restrained herself to prevent another scene but swore revenge on everyone involved.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 07:20:35 pm
Nathaniel gave a little wince at that, fumbling to get up. "Just bruises I think, probably did worse to the shelf. S-sorry Rox. I'll fix it. Jesus fucking christ that was dumb..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 07:24:04 pm
Lilith nudges him with her snout, pupils fully diluted and ears to the side. She seems genuinely sorry, despite her normal attitude. Kathrine sits on the windowsill of her and Catnip's room, behind the curtain. Mistress was out with Mica, up by the river. She has a recipe book resting on her lap, open but unread. She looks frustrated.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 29, 2017, 07:30:06 pm
Nathaniel was left leaning a bit on Thomas, giving an annoyed groan. "Okay, aside from how fucking sore I feel, and that pain in my knee now, I'm fine." he grumbled.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 29, 2017, 07:37:07 pm
Donny walks past, then does a 180 and knocks, "#ny-an#-anyo#e in t#ere?" he buzzes, dogs waiting with anticipation.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 07:39:45 pm
There's a loud groan from Kath, followed by a thud and some stomping footsteps. "Whaaaaat?" She asks, throwing the door open. She's got a smile on her face, but her eyes betray the facade. "I don't know who you are. Do you want a hug?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 29, 2017, 07:42:59 pm
"#ather D#na#an, and #ayb# #ater." Donny looks at Kath's eyes, "W##t-wha#-what's wrong?" The dogs sniff at Kath from behind Donavan.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 07:46:18 pm
"Noth- DOGS!" She immediately, without hesitating, lunges forward to hug the husky. "So soooooooft~"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 29, 2017, 07:53:31 pm
"You like Atlas, huh?" He steps aside to let the other two dogs bombard Kathrine with sniffs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 29, 2017, 08:03:04 pm
Kathrine's tail twitches away from the dogs each time they approach it while she continues hugging the husky. Eventually it just tightly curls itself around her leg, and she lets go of the husky and falls to the floor, holding the tiny corgi above her head. "Boop!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 29, 2017, 08:04:09 pm
The corgi sniffles, then sneezes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 29, 2017, 09:43:30 pm
Continuing from the second post made waaay back here ---> http://utterlymad.smfnew2.com/index.php?topic=582.1470
“Get those flashbangs ready men. Is that gun ready to go? Think so isn’t good enough, is it ready or not? Ok, good. The moment the van enters the corner, bangs out then light the heathens up with the gun.” The ambush was laid, now the templar and his band waited. Wasn’t much of a fair fight, sixteen or so men and women lying in ambush for two people and a mutant. Even if the flashers failed and the driver kept going, there was little chance of surviving the relic that was the twenty-three millimeter cannon Gods Army had rigged up for the operation. They were aware of the danger represented by the mutant in that van. It was an eater of men, and Archbishop Astor had marked it as an important target in the region. She was to be captured or killed, and crucified. The van came around the corner, the flashers did not fail, and the cacophony was absolute. It’s keeped were killed in an instant, but devils luck had left it unharmed. God’s hand was on them though, and they captured her with no losses. It screeched and shrieked at them, looking at each in turn, marking them. Not one of them believed that most of their number would be dead in a few days time, slain by the hand of one who dressed as they did, one who moved fast and cut with the dexterity of an acrobat, and the mutant they had laid in wait for this day.
Mica’s eyes narrowed. She saw them. A man lying upon the ground in a brown suit. His hands were in little metal bands, and he had one of those metal collars on his neck. He was not moving. The others, wore what she thought of as “fake shell” but anyone else would have told her were police issue ballistic uniforms. They were painted with the blue cross. “Astor wants this one alive, fallen templar or no. You and I, are going to be promoted for this!” The other glared, “That’s Archbishop Astor, Private Wei. Show some respect. As for promotion, I care little for such frickery. Service to the Archbishop and to God is enough for me and it should be enough for you.” They went on like this for awhile, but Mica had no ears for it. She moved out of the trees just out of sight of the camp and into the river. While she could not swim or even stay afloat, she could walk along the bottom and she could hold her breath for quite awhile. She walked along quickly, and watched them from the bank of the river like a crocodile. “Relax Mason-” “CRUSADER Mason!” The man who’d been called “Wei” Rolled his eyes at the bald man. “Alright alright, you know what. I’ll go get water. You can just cool off.” There was a lack of respect between the two. Mica could see that they were too different to get along. One was a zealous follower of Astor, the other was in it for reasons outside faith. Maybe just plain hate? She dipped her head beneath the water and waited.
Mason went over his bible and fumed. It had been a hell of a week, and didn’t it just have to be Wei who had survived the assault on their camp in the necropolis. He and Wei had been out scouting at the time, and had returned to find everyone dead and Baker up on one of their own crosses. The two had met up near the camp, and decided to try and make their way back to their stronghold. That was when “Templar” Maple had stumbled on them. Mason had recognized him right away as one of their fallen templar and set upon him. In short order, he was caught and restrained. The sun shone down, beating into his bald head. Their would be a hell of a sunburn their later. It occurred to him that Wei hadn’t come back from fetching water from the river yet. “Fool probably fell in.” The thought didn’t displease him. Still, it was an unfortunate fact that he needed Wei to bring Templar Maple in. He closed his bible with a snap and set it aside. “Damn fool.” He took another look to be sure that Maple was firmly restrained, and headed for the river.
Must have fallen in. Mason could find neither hide nor hair of the man. Just the gently flowing river, and the woods around him. Until of course, he noticed a dark swatch of cloth in the river nearby. It was Wei alright. He touched his hand to Wei’s throat. “Drowned.” He said. “Damn fool.” He had noticed but paid little mind to the shadow in the water nearby Wei’s body. As he rose, Mica burst forth. He had little time to draw his pistol or call out before she had pushed him down and sat hunched on his chest like a repugnant goblin. He hands wrapped themselves around his neck and she throttled him. Crusader Mason flailed at the rage filled demonic face hovering inches from his own. Mica’s head rag had been taken by the river, and the disfigurement of her face was revealed, the eyes on that side bulging with fury. Mason had been in the ambush that had killed her caretakers. Her anger peaked and boiled over, she lost her patience with the throttling like she had lost her patience with the fishing. Her head moved forward and most of Masons face vanished. Blood filled the water, and she bit again and again. His struggles weakened, he slapped her and that hand vanished into her mouth as well. He tried to scream, but the air wouldn’t come. He made one last attempt to push her away, the effort was weak and seemed not to effect that death grip in the least. “My-ka seen you before.” It hissed in his ruined face. “Nothing escape My-ka. Not even stupid blue sticks. You wrong My-ka, you attack My-ka. Kill My-ka’s fam-lee. My-ka kill you.” She suddenly raked the raw meat of Masons face, was pound it with closed fists until their was nothing left by a pile of gore and bone shards attached to a twitching corpse.
Father Maple roused As Mica entered the small camp. She sat across the cold fire pit from him, and stared. “Michel?” He asked, “Is that you?” Mica picked at the damp, somewhat bloody, office shirt she’d peeled from Masons body. The water made it cling distractingly to the fleshy bits of her body, but she needed to get clothes that fit where she could get them and the shirt would dry out after awhile. Father Maple had sandy hair, youngish. Older than Damian had been. Sharp features. Mica crossed the space between them suddenly and he’d recoiled at first from her touch, believing that she'd eaten his captors and had chosen him for the next part of her meal. Instead, she laid her hands on the collar and wrenched it off. “You have words for Roks-ann. Give My-ka your words and she bring them to Roks-ann. When you done talking, My-ka bring you to My-ka’s house, and then you go home.” Despite her words, he thought he was a dead man. He babbled, tried to bargain with her, prayed. She slapped him, hard, drawing blood from the shallow scratches the tips of her fingers made. “Give My-ka words foolish preachy man!” He was still begging, and the begging brought up her ire. She hated that sound, the simpering helplessness in it. She gave him a shove and pinned him, screamed in his face “GIVE MY-KA WORDS OR MY-KA TAKE FOOLS ARMS AND LEAVE HIM!” He wasn't talking though. In his terror at the angry creature spitting vitriolic threats, he’d blacked out. At least he wasn’t begging anymore. She thought about it, looking down into his cowards face. She’d bring him to Sharlene then, or Mohammad, and he could give his message to them. She took the time to rip the seals from the armor of her victims along with any shinies they had. Catnip liked shinies, and if she wanted people on the farm to like her, she needed to please Catnip.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 29, 2017, 10:08:29 pm
A day after the whole event with Lilith and the library, Victor once more woke up Thomas and Delora. “This will be the last time I wake you up. From today onward you are your own person. You are free to peruse your goals and go about the farm independently. Roxanne simply wants you to aid her in her scouting trips. Speaking of which, today is the first.”, Victor told each one of them when he woke them up. The pair put on their getup and grabbed their assigned weapon and reported to the APC as Victor told them. “Hey, glad to see you both! We are going on our first scouting run together as a team.”, Roxanne told the recruits in an unusually peppy tone, “Now, I know that yesterday’s encounter with Lilith was a bit overwhelming but it can get worse out there. Difference is they are not playing around and we have the luxury to take them down. Stay strong and if anything goes south shot and asks questions later.” Delora raised her hand making Roxanne giggle, the sight made her think of elementary school. Roxanne pointed at her to let her know she was free to speak. “So what is the mission boss?” Roxanne got a series of folded papers out of her purse and laid one on the hood of the APC. “We are going to scout south and see if we find anything of interest. According to other map I found, there is a city not far from here with lots of lootable shops we can take. I in particular want to target the hospital first. We are running low on certain types of meds and I want to see if they have any in stock. I also want to see if they have any special medical gadgets we can take. That is the basics of it. We will be out a few days If not a couple weeks taking what we can and we will then come back. Victor will be manning the radio center so he will be our eyes and ears to what is going on here. Any questions?” Both of them shock their heads. “Good, lets head out!”, exclaimed Roxanne.
Once on the road, Thomas and Delora had a meal with the supplies Roxanne had brought. It was all non-perishables like canned food and dehydrated meat with a few MREs thrown into the mix. It was all in a fridge that was not powered on because of this fact. “Where is the water Roxanne?”, asked a confused Thomas. “See the sink in the kitchen unit? Catnip help me rig it to a clean water tank. That’s where we drink from.” The rest of the journey was spent on idle chit-chat until something of interest was spotted. They reached relatively small building, about the size of a house. Outside was a parked luxary rv that seemed a bit beat up. The trio got out and they knock on the door. After a few seconds, what looks like a soldier opens up the metal door. “Yes, who goes there?” “Name is Roxanne Luna, I am a traveling survivor and I am looking for directions. May I know where I am?” The soldier eyes Roxanne and sees she is wearing a bio-weapon badge she acquired from killing a failed bio-weapon. “That badge…this is a makeshift command center where the remnants of the bio-weapon project reside…I think there is someone who look like to speak to you, do you mind?” Roxanne shock her head. “Not all, I me and my friends will gladly speak to them.” The guard nodded in approval and let them in. The inside was nice and there were a few gaming machines. This looked to be a lobby. “This is the lobby area. Past here are the kitchen to the left and the quarters down next room. South of them is where, Router, our leader might want to speak to you. Make your way through this door to not disturb Trigger and Blade.” Roxanne went through the indicated path and reached a room that looked like a makeshift lab, similar to quinn’s. There was an older man standing by a monitor looking at data when he turned around. “Oh, and who might you be?” “My name is Roxanne Luna, the guard up front told me you might want to speak to me?” Router looked upon Roxanne’s badge and continued. “That badge…I am listening…” “Well, the guard said this a command center where the remnants of the bio-weapon project reside? What does it mean? What project? Who are you people?”
“That Is quite the long story… I will keep it brief. The bio-weapon project was a military and privately funded research project to find out how emerging augmentation technology was affected by mutations caused by what is now commonly refer to as ‘mutagen’. The actual goal of the project was to create super soldiers that themselves were weapons of war. Bionic Mutants that could fend of any invasion and conquer any land. They succeeded. The prototype were called Bio-Weapons and was the foundation of Bionic augmentation programs in the military. When the project ended, a small faction of the group felt they had not gone far enough, they wanted to continue. They went rouge and they vow to create the ultimate bio-weapon. They too succeeded…It’s name is Apophis…A terrible being of great power. That badge you wear tells me you have fought against his failed brethren and you see how powerful they are. Apophis himself cannot be taken down with anything short of a tank. He took down his creators and now free due to the cataclysm is hunting down all who were involved in the project. We have secured this place and have hidden here to avoid it’s wrath. The only ones left are me, the second lead scientist of the project, and two bio-weapons who I found wandering the wasteland a while back. They go buy the name Trigger and Blade and I by Router. We have managed to survive but as long as Apophis lives we will never be truly safe…the dead we can deal with and so can we deal with the other threats and abominations. Apophis? No… Trigger and Blade hate being here unable to do anything about their situation but that is how it has to be…”
Roxanne listened to the whole story. The name Apophis sounded familiar… she needed to know more… “And how do I come into all of this?” “Look, this might sound like a crazy request but…we would like to take down Apophis for us and set us free…You have that badge so you are competent fighter. You command people so you are a good leader. Take Trigger and Blade with you and take down that beast! He lays in the lab that created it. It is bloated to the brim with loot, kill it and it’s all yours!” Roxanne looked at the man…she wasn’t sure she could do it…not alone anyway…She then remembered the farm and how they took on a group of bandits together. She remembered the tank. She also remembered how Hector talked about having fought a great creature that had injured catnip. How a single shot from his tank took it down. She was sure now. “You have yourself a deal! This is not all the help I have. I live in a small settlement full of people who would be glad to help.” Router gave a wide smile of excitement. “You don’t know how much this means to us. We will be able to get a radio running too recruit and help survivors, we can have a settlement running…but I am getting ahead of myself. If you do this, you will be a hero and will always be welcomed here. We await your return! Trigger and Blade are in the room ahead. Go tell them the news!” The old man gave a map to Roxanne detailing the location of the beast and wished her good luck.
Roxanne went into the next room to find a young man and woman reading in their respected beds. They looked at her and both got up to great her. The pair noticed the badge and they looked at each before looking back and speaking. “Who might you be…what is your intention.”, asked the male. “My name is Roxanne Luna, I have spoken to Router already. He told me about you too, bio-weapons who wished to take action against the beast name Apophis. Well I came here to give you good news.” The pair gave Roxanne a surprised look, she was well versed on what was going on. “And what might that be?”, asked the woman. “Trigger, Blade, I am going to rally troops to take down Apophis and Router asked me if you are willing to give a hand.” Trigger and Blade look at each other in disbelieve. “What did you just say?”, asked Trigger, the male. “I said I am going to hunt Apophis down, I posse weaponry that can do this but I need a crew, are you in?” “Yes!”, the pair of bio-weapons exclaimed simultaneously. “Great! We will sleep here tonight, let’s take the rest of the day to get acquainted with each other and go over the plan? That sound good?” The rest of the day was spent with introductions and an explanation of the farm, its inhabitants, the current mission Roxanne was in and how to best handle Apophis ending in a meal and sleep in the comfortable beds of the center.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 30, 2017, 10:27:02 am
“I won’t pretend to understand any of that.” Sharlene told the man sitting across from her. “But I know you were supposed to tell it to that Roxanne woman over at the farm. As I said, she’s out.” It was an odd tale, but explained a little of how this “Astor” had managed to get such a cultish following. “That’s fine.” Father Maple said, “I imagine that recording you’ve made will be just as good as if I’d told her myself. If you’ll excuse me.” It wasn’t Sharlenes lack of overwhelming hospitality or the man in the corner dressed like a woman that made him nervous. It wasn’t even the huge tiger striped woman sleeping curled up in a spot of sun on the floor. It was that Mica was sitting back in a darkened room, staring at him. He could see her vague shape, and her eyes. Sometimes her eyes disappeared, and that disconcerted him more than a little. “Yeh,” Said Sharlene, “But take me through it one more time.”
Pastor Benjamin Maple had been the driver. The others, a few young men and women from his congregation, were on their way to a protest on body augmentation when things around the world had started to go sour. They were alive though, and they were faithful. What did they have to fear? They’d taken a wrong turn trying to get back home to their loved ones, and found themselves on a disused dirt road leading deep into the darker parts of the woods. As they had gone along, things had begun to… unravel. The forest around them seemed to change in some way that was hard to notice at first, but became more pronounced the further they went. It was darker, but there had been a strange black light behind it all. The trees bent and reached, the grasses and ferns seemed to sway here and there as if reacting to their passing. Vincent had begun praying for the end of the strange nightmarish wood. It had been Bethany Parker, the young girl who had recently joined the congregation, who spotted the looming chapel through the trees, but it had been Regis Feldman who had shown the most interest. Regis, who had always had questions, always trying to puzzle out the mysteries of faith. The Chapel was old, very old. Probably seldom visited anymore. There first impression was that it had been abandoned and left to crumble, but that was dispelled when an unearthly glow had emanated from the Chapels many stained glass windows. Regis strode bravely forward, and slowly pushed the doors open.
Inside, it was like any chapel. A bit dated maybe, and it lacked the convenience of electricity. But it was serviceable, and from the looks of things it had been used recently. They could not pinpoint the source of the glow they had seen from the outside. They wanted to leave before night fell, but Regis put forward the best argument for staying. “Do you really want to be driving through those woods at night?” He had asked. None of them did. Vincent and Maple had gone to get their few effects from the van. A couple blankets, their bible, and the snacks they had brought along. In the meantime, Regis explored the chapel. From a back room, he had produced a book. None of them could make heads or tails of it, but soon he was finding more of them and bringing them out. Bethany and Vincent had been interested, but they were young still. To Father Maples eyes, they were naught but books filled with blasphemy, and he said as much. His statement had deterred Bethany and Vincent, but not Regis. Their was a look of grim intensity about him. A look of interest that Maple would have liked to see when it came to Regis’s studies. To take their minds off the books, Father Maple said it was time to turn in for the night. “Early to rise,” he said, “early to leave.”
That next day, Regis was nowhere to be found, at first. They could find no sign of him in or around the chapel, that was until he emerged from a secret passage behind the chapels dias. He was covered in small injuries, but he came bearing a rod that shown with the brilliance of the sun, and a sword of some kind. He grinned like an idiot. “Brother Feldman. What have you found?” Vincent had asked. Regis shook his head and showed them his teeth. “Something amazing.” he said, “I have been shown… A vision of god! He gave to me these items and an amazing power!” He held the rod aloft, and it let out a bright flash of light. “With these,” He said, “We will help the world to see the light of the one true god!” There was something wicked in the way he said that though.
Over the course of the next few years, Regis had held the group together with his staff and sword, and the books. Over time, they grew to hate earths new dominant creatures. Mutants and cyborgs, Demons and body polluters. Regis, grew to hate them even more. He appointed men and women to be his generals, and began collecting young survivors of pure blood to join in Feldmans crusade. He cowed them with his power, and ordered them to go forth. Go forth and kill in the name of god. Suffer not the body polluter or the demonic mutant to live. Slay any who would shelter such, and crucify them as an example.
Father Maple had left. He hardly recognized the three young adults he'd brought up north. He'd always preached peace and acceptance to them, but something had happened to Regis below that chapel in the woods and it had changed him. The change was hardly subtle.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 30, 2017, 01:28:20 pm
Hector had, during this time, kept an eye on things and listen in on Roxanne's reports whenever she radioed in. When they received the recorded message he'd set it aside for Roxanne, though out of curiosity he gave it a listen of his own.
"Hector here. Doing alright out there? Finally got word from the padre, left a recorded message for you. Seems the choir boys caught up to him, but somehow Mica sniffed him out and brought him over to Sharlene." he reported.
"Hope you didn't mind me listening to it as well. Not sure what to make of it. Seems like some of it would be in your area of expertise though, abandoned chapels and anomalous items and such."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 30, 2017, 01:43:25 pm
"We are doing very well. I have recruited two new people! They call themself bio-weapons and go by the name of blade and trigger. I have a new quest for the farm when I go back. For now I will be looting a city nearby. Save me the recording by the radio so I give it a listen as well when I am back. I would guess it has to do with God's Army. That should be fun..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 30, 2017, 01:49:27 pm
Hector nodded at that, even though it rather obviously wasn't seen. "Interesting then. Will be ready for the raid whenever you'd like, or anyone else you'd like going along with you. Not Nathaniel though, seems his knee's still been twisted from that little incident. But yeah, the recording involves God's Army."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 30, 2017, 10:00:46 pm
The group woke up the next morning and got ready to leave toward their destination. It was the first time Roxanne noticed the struggle of Thomas and Delora with their new mutations. Thomas was scratching at all over still not used to all his new fur and he knocked over an electric lamp Roxanne had set down with his tail; said tail seemed to wave all over the place but hadn’t cause a problem until now. Delora was stretching and her wings would flutter every time she did so. She let out a sigh of annoyance at her lack of total control over them. Her antenna also seemed to constantly move now that she was without her army helmet. Roxanne could imagine how unconformable that must have been with it on. Delora was about to put it back on when Roxanne stopped her. “You don’t have to wear it anymore if you don’t want to, just stay back of the formation.” Delora exhaled in relief and her wings dropped a bit. Roxanne giggled at the sight, she though it was cute. Delora just glared at her before joined the other to the APC. Router bid Roxanne farewell and wished her goof luck on her new given mission. Soon they were off heading west towards the city.
Not far from where they had been, Roxanne found a peculiar building ahead. “What could it be?”, asked a curious Thomas? “Lets check it out!”. Answered Roxanne. They all got it and looked around. There was a small building that required a military card to unlock. Roxanne looked at it and knew she lacked the hardware and or know-how to get inside. She would have to find a card to get in. She also noticed the floor was all metal and it was laid in a circular fashion. “It’s a missile silo.”, said Trigger breaking the silence, “I was not aware that we had one so close to us the whole time…if we get in we might be able to take down Apophis in one blow!” Roxanne looked at him with concern. She knew he was right but the promise of loot made her decide against it. “We are not able to get in now and besides, how do we know Apophis would not see it coming ad leave, making us lose track of him? We don’t need to rush this…at least we know about it and we can inform the farm.” Trigger looked a bit disappointed but nodded in agreement nonetheless. “Let’s get going, no use in lingering her much longer.” The group got on to the APC and continued forward.
Finally they reached the city. “Ok people, we are here to loot and go home. First stop is the hospital. I have already been to one so I expect it to be mostly the same. Looks of the dead that spit acid. Be careful with that.” Roxanne continued driving to toward the hospital maneuvering around long abandoned cars and hitting some of the dead head on. The hospital was a single street curve away when Roxanne noticed something. A police blockade… "Great…just what we needed!”, Roxanne yelled sarcastically. She could not plow through them due to it being a corner and because there was what appeared to be tank on the way. The would have to head on foot. “Ok, so this is what we are going to do. We will get out and I am going to take down these turrets, once I do so we will check the tank before going to the hospital.” As soon as she finished, she grabbed her laser snipe and head outside, the four followers following close by. Roxanne activated her cloak CBM and vanished, shocking the others. Delora’s antenna moved and then she grinned. “I know exactly where you are…”, whispered Delora to herself, her wings once more fluttering with excitement. Suddenly a bust of light came out of nowhere and an instant later one of the turrets exploded. A few seconds went by and the same thing happened again to the other turret. Roxanne uncloaked and said, “That’s how you get things done!”
The group was now examining the tank. Roxanne ordered them to move all ammunition they found to be moved and all fuel to be siphoned to the APC. It was then she noticed the two guns. She did not recognized them but knew a what a missile was. She with the help of the others, she took down both gun systems and took them apart as best she could. They were quickly hauled to the trunks of the APC. “A new project to for catnip to appease agmen.” Once that was done. Roxanne pointed towards the hospital and they went to it as a group.
Once inside the hospital Roxanne whispered the group the plan. “I will walk ahead of you, ready your guns at all times but don’t shoot unless I say so or they manage to pass me and towards you. If either happens assume things have gone to shit and shoot anything that moves, and then we get out of there ASAP.” The group gave gestures of understanding and they moved forward. Roxanne deployed her Bionic Sword, no time to play around, and advanced. They went from hallway and room to the next dispatching zombie after zombie. Even the spitters were no match to Roxanne’s chain lighting. This was the trend for a while with no worth while loot to be found until things went wrong. Around a corner 3 spitter zombies shot their acid towards the ground. Half the hallway was covered. Everyone scrambled but two others blocked the path behind. With everyone’s shoes giving way and their feet burning up Roxanne shouted the order, “Fire at will!” The two behind them were quickly dispatched and the other got onto solid ground quickly. Roxanne however had still ways to go to reach there and the pain made her sluggish; her wearing heels did not help, something no one in the group had questioned her about. The three spitter zombies caught up to her and she fired a lighting strike when they were too close and caused it to shock her as well. She fell to the ground screaming as the acid did it’s work on her exposed flesh. She struggled and managed to take down one of the spatters with her massive blade. That was when she felt another shot of acid directly onto her body. The pain was unbearable. Her screams of agony could be heard though the hospital drawing the remainder of the dead not on their way from the previous gunshots. The pain was so great she did not noticed the bullets wising above her as Trigger shot the zombies off her. She passed out. The rest was blur. At one point Trigger was carrying her out of the hospital as the other shot their way out. The next moment of consciousness was her on the APC being patched up by the few medical supplies she carried on board by Thomas. The final one was of her being in her room being injected some thing from what appeared to be a gun by Quinn as Thomas supervised.
She awoke. Victor was by her bedside reading a book. “Hey, looked who decided to wake up.” “What happened?", Roxanne asked as she looked around. “Things went south on your trip. Your followers rescued you and drove back her. They informed us via radio of what had happened. Once you arrived you were brought to your room and Quinn and Thomas got to work. Quinn injected you with some fast acting healing chemicals that patched back up. Thanks to them it is as if nothing had happened. You have been asleep for 3 days but both Quinn and Thomas assured it was fine.” “3 days?! Where are the others? Are they fine?” “Everyone else if fine, they had superficial wounds that have already healed. You were the one who suffered the most. Your bionic armor helped by keeping the acid off your vitals for the most part. Your mutations and the injection fixed the rest. Now go ahead and take things easy. I will tell everyone else you have woken up.”
She almost died, had it not been for her followers, she would have been overwhelmed. She saw them as mere pawns but they ended up being more. She did not know how to process this. Her to have gone down due to a careless mistake. All her bionics and mutation had blinded her to the fact that she was still a mortal being. She was not invincible. She had to remember that more often, and to stop thinking of other as mere pieces of her goals.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 30, 2017, 10:20:41 pm
Hector, when Victor had informed everyone of Roxanne being awake, went over to visit her, along with Trigger and Blade, knocking on the door after being led back in by Victor. "Glad to see you're still in one piece, given what I've heard." he said. "Was worried sick over you, running into that sort of mess. Those hospitals seem to be hot-spots of infestation, even after all this time. I'm surprised all of you made it out alive." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 30, 2017, 10:31:33 pm
Roxanne gave a faint chuckle. She appreciated the visit but was still processing what had happened. "Glad see you haven't lost your charm." She looked over to Trigger and Blade. "Thanks you both, I would of not been here if it wasn't for you too..." Her expression changed to a more serious one and then one of discomfort. "How am I supposed to help you accomplish your goal is I can't even keep myself alive..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 30, 2017, 10:35:38 pm
The sun was coming up, reflecting it's sparks of light reflecting off the morning dew. Catnip thought it would be another bright and sunny day, but there was also the scent of damp on the air. Maybe it would rain. She smacked her lips and scratched the seat of her underpants. The way they sagged suggested they were either too big, or they were wearing out. She'd have to go and get new ones. She thought, very briefly, that she could send anyone to go out and find a few pairs or maybe buy some from the refugee center. She dismissed that idea, it was one of the things she preferred to get herself. Roxanne was recovering, and her retinue of mutants had made themselves uncomfortably comfortable. It didn't help that Floyd had put all the alcohol under lock and key, she hadn't realized how much she depended on it to get to sleep until she started waking up with less "oomph" in her step. She blinked, first one eye and then the other. It wasn't too bright out yet, but the sun cresting the horizon was already playing hell with her sensitive eyes. She greeted Dee on her way to the showers, and gave Hector a tired smile. Everyone was getting ready for breakfast. Kathrine had made pancakes a lot recently, and Catnip seriously hoped that it wasn't pancakes again today. After the shower, she went back to her room to get the pants she'd left draped over one edge of her straw box bed. There was someone in her bed.
It looked like a fly, with a tail. One of those giant flies that the residents of the farm had long ago taken to ignoring. This one was large though, and it was in her bed. She could feel anger building in her. It turned slightly, and she could see it's somewhat humanoid face, eating chocolate. Anger bloomed into rage. "Oh, hello there." Said the fly thing when it noticed her. "I didn't know anyone had chocolate, it's so hard to find these days." It was in Catnips bed, the only expressly forbidden place in the workshop. It was in her bed, eating her chocolate. The fly thing felt the tension rising from the rat lady, and could taste that metallic tang in the air that signaled coming violence. "Er. I'll just uh... go." It crawled out of the bed and grabbed a handful of small chocolates. Rage, bloomed into fury. Catnip stepped aside so that the fly could leave, but as it passed her, she stomped on it's tail. The chocolates scattered, "Hey! Watch out! Jeez, that hurts!" Catnip stomped again, grinding her heel into the tail. As the fly turned towards her, she punched it in the face. Floyd had come in at that moment to see if Catnip was up, he'd made a habit of getting her up in the morning to make sure she didn't sleep until noon. As she had asked. He saw what was going on, and moved to stop her. Another punch landed square in the center of the flies face, and Floyd pinioned her arms before she could deliver a third. She kicked the fly instead. "STAY OUT OF MY CHOCOLATE FLY! STAY OUT OF MY WORKSHOP!" The fly cowered away from her. She wanted to launch herself at the fly. She only had a few rules, and the fly had broken all of them. Floyd cocked his head, indicating the fly thing should leave. Now. It did, limping over dramatically, and Catnip calmed quickly after. The rest of the morning was spent, as usual. Except Quinn and Catnip were held up from breakfast, as Quinn was looking over the person Catnip had beaten, and Catnip had been restricted to her workshop for the rest of the day. After breakfast, those who came by the workshop noticed a new sign in Catnips childish but still legible script. It said, in big green letters: "NO FLIS ALOWD"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 30, 2017, 10:37:39 pm
Hector smiled at that. "You survived at least. Still better track record than a lot of people." he joked. "That said, for now you should rest up. Might be time for some proper close-combat training when you've rested up, as long as we've put that off. I wonder, if we found some nice White Italian or Gothic armor, if that'd be fancy enough while remaining practical." he added, a bit teasingly. "Regardless, next time ...be careful, and know when to fall back."
Funny words from someone that's charged right at gun-toting maniacs in the open.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 30, 2017, 10:48:01 pm
A small laugh escape Roxanne. "I guess a change in outfit would be appropriate... I think knight armor is still not my style. Some leather would do nicely." Roxanne gave a mocking nod at the night at the last statement, clearly imitating him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 30, 2017, 10:51:53 pm
Hector smiled at that. "Whatever works as an improvement over just street clothes. Only suggested plate armor because if anything medieval would be your style, it'd be either something ornamental and 15th century, or winged hussar kit." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 30, 2017, 11:34:54 pm
Mica was watching the chicken with rapt attention. It was strange to see her simply leaning on the fence instead of down on her knees clutching at it like Catnip expected. She stood there, her arms crossed over one another on top of the short fence, her legs out behind her a little, one foot tapping the dirt eagerly. She'd given the dogs a cursory look, and then made a bee line for the pen where the chicken and turkeys were kept. There was a shoddy fence running between the two species of birds, the turkey's having shown an interest in beating up on the fat hen. Catnip went and stood next to Mica, also leaning a little. "You need new clothes." She commented. Mica's tongue flicked out and licked her prodigious lips. Working up an appetite. Catnip was right of course. She hadn't been wearing them long, but the gambeson had been shredded nearly to tatters, and the pair of boxers barely hid Mica's modesty, not that she was modest. These two articles were also filthy, covered in mud and dirt. "What did you do with that button up shirt?" Catnip asked, not expecting an answer. Mica surprised her by giving one, "My-ka break all the butt-uns off. My-ka keeps it in special place with buttons until morsel decide to fix." She never took her eyes off the chicken. A fat and lazy bird that had no idea it probably didn't have long to live unless someone was keeping an eye on it twenty-four seven. "Well," Catnip said, taking Mica's arm to lead her away from the poultry pen, "I have some extra clothes. We are about the same size I think." Her sister resisted a little wanting to stay and watch the chicken, but then relented and went with Catnip to try on itchy clothes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 31, 2017, 04:06:29 am
Donny walks off, letting Kath look after the dogs. He heads into the farmhouse and knocks on Roxanne's bedroom door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 31, 2017, 04:38:56 am
"I'll get it", says Blade. She opened the Door to donvan. "I don't think we have met yet.m Name is Blade. Roxanne's is recovering from...an accident, she is in bed but welcomes visitors."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 31, 2017, 04:41:57 am
"Real name please, I r#fuse to ac#ept tha#'s yo#r rea# name." Donny says, squinting at Blade.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 31, 2017, 04:42:54 am
Hector looked back to the door, given he'd been visiting with Roxanne just then, curious now at Donavan's arrival.
"Aren't you glad I didn't introduce myself as Sir Loin of Beef? Now Blade and Trigger take the prize for oddest code names."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 31, 2017, 04:53:27 am
"Oh...we don't actually have 'real' names...our memory was wiped and this were codenames given to us by our leader...guess I could think of another name to go by...", responded the confused bio-weapon.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 31, 2017, 04:55:38 am
Hector shrugged at that. "Catnip seems to lack any such true name that we know of, and I'd assume it to be the same of these bio-weapon mutagenics experiments..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 31, 2017, 05:04:00 am
"...Ri-ri-rig#t. Father Donavan, Hector, come with me please." He gestures for hector to follow. He walks outside of the farmhouse and into the main farm itself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 31, 2017, 05:08:18 am
Hector gave a nod at that, his usual simple response as he followed Donavan out of the farmhouse. "Hopefully faring better than Roxanne, so far?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 31, 2017, 12:40:51 pm
"We#l, I got blo#d #n my clo#k so tha#'s get#ing cle-cle-clean, but I'm good, thanks." Donavan buzzes, "So-so-so, would you be interested in helping out with a job? You know how to ransack a lab?" Donny muses.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 31, 2017, 12:53:45 pm
"Would leather be any better about not staining with blood? Then again, it might be a bit warm for most of the year." Hector suggested, before smiling at that offer. "Explored a bit of one across the river, east-southeast. Frozen up too much to get very far into, but do have some experience with what to expect in them. Sounds good."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on July 31, 2017, 01:08:25 pm
"Is-is-is y#ur doct## a sci#nce doct#r or a me#ical?" Donny asks, walking with hector towards Quinn's lab.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 31, 2017, 01:10:50 pm
"Seems more inclined towards scientific matters and the anomalous, but he has some medical experience. Good given he's the best we have in that regard." Hector answered. "Thinking he might be useful for poking around in there? Others that might be useful for that would be Catnip, maybe Sharlene if we can get ahold of her..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 31, 2017, 04:03:49 pm
Kathrine had spent an entire day in their room before she had left. It worried Catnip, and probably a couple of the others, too. When the night had come around, she'd snuck out of the window and headed towards the armoury. She looks down at the pistol she'd had in her coat for the last three years. She hadn't told anyone about it, despite never intending to use it, and then looks back up at the boxes of ammunition. "I..." She mumbles, checking the side for a button of some kind. Eventually she finds the magazine release and cross-references the boxes of bullets and the magazines until she's collected two spare magazines of 9x19mm FMJ. After a quick check to make sure her drawing was still on her bed, she set off to the south, through the forest.
After a good hour of walking, she notices a small, boxy building. Drawing her Glock 19, she tries to imitate the stance she'd seen in some of the movies they had watched. Slightly hunched over, gun angled slightly, with her tail just brushing against the ground. She recognised it as a lab when she got closer, and straightened back up, slipping an ID card marked "Dakota Igwe" out of her pocket. Just as she goes to swipe it against the screen, the fur on her tail stands on end. Someone gasps from around the corner, and flicks something open. There's a hushed giggle and rapid footsteps, quickly fading away into the distance. The door slides down into the floor with a thud, followed by a blast of cold air that elicited a loud yelp from Kathrine. Her breath steamed the air in front of her despite it hardly being a cold enough night. Her stomach growled at her while she looked down the darkened hallway at the staircase at the end.
The second floor was still manageable, if cold. She crept through most of the rooms without much incident, save for one large storeroom containing a flask of mutagen. Kathrine pops the rubber bung from the top and brings it up to her nose, wincing. It smelt somewhat acidic, but she was fairly sure it wasn't anything dangerous. She gently places it back on th- "Ha-ha-have you s-e-e-e-e-n m-Y CHILDren?" The door behind her crashes off it's hinges, loudly clattering against a counter as a deformed figure shambles through where it previously stood. Kathrine could make out a mess of... Something, sticking out of it's back, arched over it's shoulder. Sparks occasionally lit up it's left leg as it took limping steps towards her. Kath slowly backed up until she was pressed against the wall, staring at the now-loudly buzzing cyborg thing. "PlEASE, t-t-t-t-tak-take mE WITH YOU?" Kathrine, close to hyperventilating, just slides down the wall, arms covering her ears. The cyborg stops in front of her and bends down, one glowing eye staring down at her. "GO AWAY!"
The buzzing gets louder as it recoils from her. The shards of metal sticking out of it's spine shiver, and it draws it's arm back. Kathrine screams, throwing herself to the right, away from both of the doors out of the room. The cyborg's punch had left a dent in the metal wall, right where her head had been. She gasps, scrambling backwards until she bumps into a cabinet. It straightens up, one eye wildly glancing around the room while the other remains fixed on Kath, and starts towards her once more. Using the cabinet to lift herself up, Kathrine darts to the right, jumping over another counter and through the door. "Not that way! Go left!"
A large man is stood in her way, and she runs face-first into his chest. He grunts and moves her to the side, gripping his bolt cutters and stepping into the room with the cyborg. There's the sound of glass smashing, and the buzzing cuts out with a series of loud *clunk*s. He strolls out of the room a short while later, and places a hand on Kath's shoulder. "Come, leetle gurrl. Is not safe here." "W-what?" Kathrine stumbles over her words, spluttering for a few seconds. "I-I... I need to find..." She blinks a few times, ears pinned back. "What is your name, leetle one?" He shakes his head. "Can wait. Let us leave."
Kathrine was dragged out of the freezing cold lab and into the outside field. The strangely accented man brings her over to a small collection of three tents, sat around a smouldering campfire, and sat her down next to the fire pit. "What is your name?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 31, 2017, 06:59:27 pm
It wasn't a fancy wardrobe, Catnip wasn't much of a carpenter. It did perform the job of keeping clothing stored in an organized fashion admirably though. Next to it, was the full length mirror that Mica looked into now. Catnip had given her a collection of clothing to pick through, and she had eventually settled on a skirt that didn't restrict her movement, and a green silk shirt that did not itch. Catnip made her take some more of the shirts and skirts, since they didn't fit Kathrine and Catnip never wore them, with instructions to change every couple days. Kathrine had watched Mica sullenly, and with thinly veiled fear. The two had gotten to talking about the lab, and that seemed to interest Kathrine more than the trying on of clothes. It had got her to thinking.
The next day, Kathrine spent locked in their room thinking. The day after that, Catnip found the drawing which had been blown onto the floor. (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/166715724432277504/341717477241389078/paper.png) Was Kathrine unhappy? Catnip couldn't have that. When Kathrine was unhappy, Catnip was unhappy. It touched her as inherently wrong that Kathrine should be unhappy and her mood had bothered Catnip a lot recently. She asked around the farm about Kathrine, and then went to see Sharlene. Maybe Kathrine had gone to visit with Lilith. The way the twos fur color and patterns seemed to slowly shift when they were around each other was kind of strange. It hadn't taken long for Catnip to see the correlation in that. Maybe she should bring it up with Quinn later. Kathrine wasn't visiting with Lilith. "Have you seen her though?" She asked. No one out at Sharlene's cabin had seen her. She was no where to be found, and Catnip's worry turned to a cold spike of fear in her heart.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 01, 2017, 01:15:16 am
Dee scratched the space under his chin that sometimes itched. He couldn’t grow hair there, on account of the scales, but that didn’t stop it from itching like he had a scraggly beard trying to force it’s way out of his skin. He took another bite of his sandwich. He’d made some recent improvements to the network at Catnips request. Her search for Kathrine had extended to the refugee center, and they’d sent out scouts looking for her. Even without gods army crawling all over the countryside, it was dangerous as hell out there. Something moved over by the dirt road through the swamp, and Dee squinted in that direction. It looked like a guy. Or a gal. No… definitely a guy. With a big duffel bag and a rather technical looking briefcase. It took him a moment, but soon he identified the briefcase being carried by the short tan skinned man to be one of those new portable medidoc units that they developed just before the cataclysm. He slid off the gate of Quinns neglected truck and shouted “Stranger coming in from the ref center!” He sprinted to his workshop to get his robots ready. Just in case.
There came a knock on the bedroom door. It was probably Floyd or Dee again. Catnip didn’t want to be bothered. She wanted to find Kathrine. The knock came again, and Catnip started to get irritated. The third time, she sprang up from her bed and stomped to the door, intending to fling it open and give Dee or Floyd a piece of her mind. The door flinging went flawlessly, a true display of aggravation. The first scathing remark she had formulated though melted along with her agitation when she saw who it was knocking at her door. “DERVISH!” She cried, flinging herself at him. “Woah, woah Nip. Calm down! I’m glad to see you too. Jesus Nip what happened to your tail? What’s with some of these scars I see on your hands? What have you been up to?” For the next couple hours, she was the old Catnip again, talking a mile a minute. Floyd came in just as she reached the trap that had nearly killed her in the RV to check on her, and he cracked a smile when he recognized the biologist. “Shit Dervish, where have you been?” Dervish glanced at him, wanting to give greetings, but not wanting to interrupt Catnips avalanche of experiences and questions.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 01, 2017, 03:22:59 am
"Well- Well- Well, he has an ID. So, he'd be valuable to br-br-bring along. Donny says, walking into the lab. "What do you want?" "Do you want to help- help- help with ransacking a lab?" "...Fffine, sure." Quinn grumbles, grabbing his wraithslayer and scabbard.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 01, 2017, 10:20:52 am
“I’ll probably stick around for a bit.” Explained Dervish, “The Reliant is in dock undergoing repairs. Let’s just say, hell’s raiders strapped with C4 should be taken very seriously when they approach your warship in a row boat. The Old Guard has fortified a pier up in Maine somewhere.” Floyd and Quinn nodded, and Dervish went on. “I’ve been taking census, running check ups on the mutant population. There are less of them now, probably because of this God’s Army lot. Bastards. Can I get a list of names? I see the farm has managed to attract some more of them. Where’s Kathrine by the way? Had any trouble with her?” Quinn handed him a list of names, and a copy of Mica’s medical report. “Lets see…” He said to himself. His brow furrowed as he approached the end of the list. “Catnip, Kathrine, Roxanne, Dee, Lilith, Delora, Blade, Trigger, Thomas, and Mica.” It was the most mutants he’d seen gathered in one place outside a refugee center. “Ten people.” he sighed, looking over the list again. “Tell me Quinn, how many of these people are post cataclysm mutants?” Quinn pointed to a little less than half the names, explaining each in turn. “Willingly used the infuser on herself?” He asked. The thought that Roxanne would willingly use the mutagenic infuser on herself was a bit far fetched, but he supposed considering the mutation path she’d “chosen” it had probably been vanity or something. “I’m gonna need them all to come in for examination, Catnip and Kathrine included, to make sure they aren’t carrying anything nasty. There are some weird diseases going around.”Quietly, Floyd said “Kathrine ain’t here Dervish. She’s up and vanished on us. We been searchin’ all over for the little miss, but she hasn’t turned up.”
“You’re sure she isn’t… dead?”
A thought passed between Quinn and Floyd, and then Floyd said “She isn’t. Catnip would know.”
“Got to be that good of friends huh?”
The two seated men stood and agreed. “It’s very interesting.” Said Quinn, “How some people can just get that sort of thing.”
“Well, I’ll get her when she gets back then. Anything else I should know before I get started?”
Quinn shrugged, “Well, it’s probably nothing, but some of the others have noticed an odd change in the patterns on Kathrines fur, and that of the one called Lilith. Maybe you could see if those claims hold any water?” Dervish said he would keep it in mind. “Alright guys, round em all up and bring em here one at a time. Get Catnip first, I want to see how she’s doing first.”
A few hours later, Dervish looked over the reports he’d drawn up. The Old Guard would want these, they were keeping a record of all the mutants in the new england area. The Medidoc had given him a deeper insight into the farms mutants than Quinn had been able to get through basic observation. Catnip had mostly healed fractures in a great many bones, probably related to her hard life. Roxanne had inflicted herself with a particularly rare and dangerous set of mutations intentionally. This “Dee” guy was relatively fine, except the scales and the way his face flattened a little. Trigger and Blade were bioweapons grade mutants, but it was hard to tell. They looked like regular people. On the other hand, there was Delora and Thomas who were terribly mutated and they didn’t seem to want to talk about how it happened. Of all the mutants present on or around the farm, Dervish was most interested in Lilith and Mica.
When he checked Mica, several things struck him at once. Her similarity to Catnip most of all. “Kat-nyp My-ka’s sister!” She explained cheerily. Dervish was flabbergasted, he’d ask Quinn for an explanation later, but he was keen to believe what Mica said. Her face, except for the mouth, was exactly the same as Catnips before her own transformation. He decided that Mica needed more looking into. The other thing, or rather things, was the sheer amount of foreign material inside her. According to the medidoc, her stomach was loaded with inedible objects. Quinn explained to him, while helping put the reports together, that Mica had come to them after her caretakers were killed by God’s army. Before that point, she’d been a nearly feral thing that killed and ate just about anything that moved. The people at the refugee center were terrified of her. She’d probably just eaten the items as she devoured the bandits or survivors she had stalked. The rest of the objects were salted lightly about her body. Broken bits of blade, bullet fragments, even a broken off arrowhead that Quinn had noted during his own examination. There was of course also, the kill switch. Quinn requested he not remove it, but Dervish would have to think about that.
By herself, Lilith was interesting but not entirely unusual. Certainly the strongest mutant he’d ever seen, but otherwise a fairly regular bio-weapons grade mutant. It was when Catnip brought Dervish a fur sample from Kathrine that she had stowed in her bed that things got interesting. When asked, Catnip told him that she used to collect Kathrine’s discarded fur. Kathrine had of course, told her that collecting another person's hair or fur was very creepy, and Catnip had stopped. She hadn’t thrown out the fur she had integrated into her nest though. “It’s incredibly odd.” Explained Dervish. “The sample isn’t great, it’s very degraded in fact, but Lilith and Kathrine are very similar to one another in a very specific way. Sort of like Mica and Catnip, except even though Mica and Catnip are from the same genetic stock, there are subtle differences between the two that aren’t related to mutation. Their hair color for one. Like, well, like sisters.” He had taken a drag of his cigarette and thought about it for a bit. “I need a better sample.” he said. "It's almost like..." He trailed off, the thought wouldn't come. "Like Kat and Lil are from the same stock too, but that doesn't explain the color shift. I mean, the sample Catnip gave me. It's changing too." It was strange, he'd never come across anything like it. The result were plain to see, but the fur had been too old to get much out of it. To solve this strangeness, he needed a better sample, he needed Kathrine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 01, 2017, 01:49:57 pm
Hector helped with getting things set up. "So, we can take any method to reach the lab you'd prefer. By boat and foot, the tank, the truck, all should be good. Boat might not be good for hauling any loot plus us, tank has room for all three and modest storage, while Quinn's truck would have plenty of storage but might need me to ride in the back." he suggested. He seemed to be trying to keep his mind occupied, focusing on the mission.
"I'm worried about Kathrine though. Seems weird for her to go wandering off though. If she'd at least had a radio or something." he said, glancing back over to Dervish. "That said, I'm pleasantly surprised to see you back, Dervish. You've missed a lot of action. Plus, well. Wait, you said...Roxanne might be better at explaining this, but I have my suspicions regarding your findings. Mind if I give you what I've found out so far, regarding the shifting?" he offered.
When they had a moment, leading the way back inside to the farmhouse, he continued. "Put simply, we...well, Roxanne and I at least found signs that we ended up in something of an alternate universe. Victor here's someone Roxanne wasn't familiar with but seemed to know her, while Nathaniel says I joined a unit he signed up for and saw me get killed in action early on when things went south. That latter one at least places potential for divergence close to...god, by now 10 years, it was about 5 years before the world ended when I made that decision differently. Then there's someone else I used to know that, according to the center, died 10 years before this all started. So the differences go back at least 15 years, likely longer."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 01, 2017, 02:23:14 pm
Donny lets out a buzz though his throat speaker in thought, "We c#uld ta#e the pickup, I'll be fine with si#-s#t-sitting in the back. Tank-tank-tank wo#ld diss#ade bandits, however.." He muses.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 01, 2017, 02:29:35 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Whoever wishes to can sit there, sure. Hence why I offered to if you'd prefer sitting in the cab. Quinn, does your truck have a radio set up in it? Might be good for staying in touch with the farm. Maybe we'll see about up-armoring that truck sometime later, if bandits cause trouble. I'd hope that a doctor that looks like he could bench press Lilith, a knight, and a well-armored cyborg would be deterrence enough, but I've been surprised by the stupidity of raiders before."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 01, 2017, 03:05:28 pm
"It has a radio in the glove box." Quinn says, digging out several pouches of essence from his truck's glove box.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 01, 2017, 03:35:44 pm
Hector nods at that. "Excellent. We can check in that way. When you're ready." he said, taking off his shield since it'd be awkward sitting in the truck with it on, preferring to set it down in front of him, since he wouldn't have a storage rack like the tank's seats had.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 01, 2017, 07:07:07 pm
Kathrine clicks the last bullet into the American-180 magazine and passes it up to Evalyn. "My hands hurt. This is dumb. I don't wanna use any guns." "I know darlin', I know. C'mere." Evalyn holds her arms out, gesturing for Kath to join in on a hug. She reluctantly accepts, squirming out of it after a few seconds. "Where's Mister Engle? He has the other tent, right?" She asks, looking up at Evalyn's face. She looks guilty for a moment, then goes back to her usual smile. "He's out n' about. He shoulda been back around now anywho..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 01, 2017, 07:11:40 pm
Hector then decided to make use of the radio, once they were all ready to head out. "Hector here, we're ready. Victor, if you're hearing this in the radio room, I'd like to ask a favor of you. See if you can use the broadcast system and report about Jimmy and Kath's walkabout. I doubt we'll hear anything about the former after all this time, but I'm really hoping Kath hasn't run into trouble..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 01, 2017, 07:42:12 pm
"Roger that Hector, will make the announcement." Victor switched off Roxanne's looping broadcast and put it to a live broadcast. " This is Victor Ironwood speaking. Kathrine, Jimmy, if you are out there and are listening, I wanted to let you know we are worried about you here. You both left without a word and it seemed very odd. You can always come back whenever you wish, no hard feelings. Hope you reconsider your decision." As soon as he finished his broadcast, put the recording of it in a loop the same way Roxanne had done for her broadcast.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 01, 2017, 07:46:35 pm
“Sweet kare-oh-lyne!” Sang Mica, “Bah, bah, bah!” Responded Catnip. They were listening to MP3’s over some kind of speaker bot. The two of them gave it a wide berth, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t listen to it. Didn’t mean they couldn’t bully Dee into playing the music they wanted through it either. Where Catnips singing voice was rough and unpleasant, Mica’s was surprisingly melodic and easy on the ears. Just like her speaking though, she sang some of the words strangely. Dervish watched the two at their own work while he listened to Hector outline some mission to a lab. He was only half listening though, and missed a lot of it. What did interest him was the leap of logic Hector had made. The shifting. He’d cross that bridge when he got to it, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t think about it. He could swear up and down, that Mica had not survived in the lab prior to the shifting. Catnip didn’t know that of course, and woe be to the man who let light into the dark of her ignorance. He wasn’t sure how she would take that. Catnip knew about the shifting of course, but she seemed strangely disinterested in the facts of it, the loss of so many friends to it hurt her greatly. Catnip considered putting one of those games machines in her pack, and Mica socked her in the shoulder. Just seeing that punch made Dervish wince, but Catnip just shot her a glare, rubbed her shoulder, and put the game back where she got it. What of Kathrine and Lilith though? His mind didn’t want to touch it, like their was something there that shouldn’t be acknowledged. He’d collected more fur samples from Catnip’s bedding and Quinn had even furnished him with samples Dervish himself had taken. It wasn’t wise to keep blood samples that long, but Dervish supposed he should count himself lucky that the power in Quinns lab, and his freezer, hadn’t cut out in the last three or so years since the blood had been drawn. It wasn’t like Mica and Catnip. It wasn’t, because apart from the mutation markers the base DNA was exactly the same. “One in a million.” He whispered.
Hector put his hand on Catnips shoulder. “Not this time.” He said, “you aren’t sneaking on either.” Catnip huffed, and Mica stuck her tongue out at her. That look in her eye though, that belligerent look. Roxanne had once told him that it made her want to smack the hell out of her sometimes. It was the expression of a trouble maker. She huffed again and stalked off. “Alright, Mica. In the back, with Donavan.” Mica shot Donavan several distrustful looks, but did as she was told. When they were seated though, Mica took pains to put herself as far as she could from the cyborg. A little more prep, and they were good to go. When everyone was seated, Mica gave the side of the truck a hard slap. To indicate everyone was ready. As they traveled, Hector noted the way Mica stared into the empty corner at the opposite end of the gate, and the look of knowing glee in her eyes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 01, 2017, 08:24:42 pm
After Kathrine had gone missing, Lilith seemed... Down. She had spent most of a day in her 'den' silently, sulking. Not even Mica bullying Mohammad had brought her out of it. She had let Dervish take a sample of her fur without any resistance, save for a half-arsed growl.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 01, 2017, 08:31:21 pm
Nathaniel had at this point decided to go to the cabin along with Dervish, even if he was still walking with a bit of a limp, using a makeshift walking stick to make it easier. He knelt beside Lilith while Dervish did his examination, sighing a bit. "Because of Kathrine, I'm guessing? Don't worry girl. We'll find her, I promise...she's survived out there before she found the farm, though." he said.
"If those God's Army motherfuckers find her though, I swear I will put a bullet in the kneecaps of every last one of those cocksuckers I find, until either I run out of bullets or I run out of knees."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 01, 2017, 10:13:59 pm
Lilith gently paws at Nathaniel, resting her head on her other paw. She attempts to push him over, but somehow fails to even move him. She rolls over onto her side and stays there, unmoving.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 01, 2017, 11:04:20 pm
Nathaniel winced a bit at that, before sighing and petting Lilith. "Don't worry. We'll find her, okay? They got Victor sending out a message too..." he said, trying to relax a bit. "I just, well...hope she's alright."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 01, 2017, 11:06:07 pm
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 02, 2017, 12:16:10 am
Mica had been staring at the robot man, cringing when he asked his question. On top of her fear, she didn't understand the question. A nervous little voice somewhere to her left, "What do you like to do Mica." No one had noticed Catnip speaking from under her blanket. Mica was jealous of that blanket, especially now. Put that way, Mica didn't know really. "My-ka eats chickens." An expression tried to cross the rictus of Donavans face and failed, it looked like disinterest. She really didn't know what to tell him, and then an idea struck her. "My-ka's favorite is bother moe-haw-maad."
"B#the#?" Mica nodded. "My-ka steals lady-mans boots, and leaves spiders in lady-mans bed. Lil-eth helps. She holds Moe-haw-maad down and My-ka cuts lady-mans hair." The robot man looked uncomfortable. "So, y#ur h#b#y i-i-is to bul#ly a tr#nsv#stit# and #ating?" Mica gave a weak grin that showed a little of her pearly white teeth. Of course, Mica had hobbies, but she didn't know what that word meant. She'd taken up archery for fun at Dee's suggestion. He didn't like Mica, but saw potential in her many limbs. Hector saw it too. Sharlene had encouraged her to get something other than raw meat for the blue cross patches she had, and so Mica traded them for a simple bow and a hairbrush at the refugee center, while Catnip had fashioned Mica a set of arrows from Mica's own discarded teeth. There would be no shortage of those for Mica, she shed an old tooth or two every few weeks. They made great, if somewhat small, arrowheads. She'd spend a happy afternoon sending arrows whizzing away into the trunks of trees or at small animals until she got bored or hungry, then she would go bother Catnip or one of the others.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 02, 2017, 02:45:50 am
"#h#hu#..." Donny buzzes as he waits for the car to start.
"There's a CD case in the middle console if you want to listen to something while we drive." Quinn says, staring out the window.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 02, 2017, 06:02:57 am
Hecor regarded the CDs curiously, smiling a bit beneath that helm. "Very well then, will be interesting to see what you've collected in that regard."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 02, 2017, 12:31:49 pm
Something unseen reached through the cab window and yanked the stack of CD's away from Hector. To his displeased ears, he heard Catnip listing off the names of each CD, just before a case would appear in Mica's hands, and then get promptly tossed off the back of the moving vehicle or would appear next to the corner of the bed opposite Mica. "Bat out of hell." Said Catnip's voice. The CD appeared on the bed. "Dr. bugjuices mystical music hour?" Mica took the CD and tossed it with a joyous "woop!" When it was all done, all that was left was a couple classic rock CD's, and a copy of the "WHEN! That's what I call sound effects!" Jazz and swing collection. These suddenly dropped through the window. Before Catnip could pull back though, Hector had reached over and whipped the cloak off. "Catnip..." He said, glaring at her. She flailed to get the cloak back, desperate to hide herself from the cyborg only a foot or so away. "Go sit down, you aren't getting this back until we get there." Hector said, folding the cloak and tucking it under his seat. Mica giggled before shooting a glance at Donavan. The rest of the trip was spent in relative silence, accompanied by the songs of Sinatra and meatloaf. No one more uncomfortable than Donavan, who sat with the eyes of the mutant sisters distrustfully watching him all the way.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 02, 2017, 01:09:09 pm
Lilith flexes her claws, splayed out on her side. She presses her head against him and mumbles something in her horrifically deep voice before going silent. It seems like she's fallen asleep, actually this time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 02, 2017, 01:11:59 pm
Hector gave an annoyed grumble at that. "No Manowar or Motorhead, those are classics...what about Gustav Holst? Really old-school, but Mars, Bringer of War is a classic."
Nathaniel was about to say something, only to blush as Lilith nestled in against him, simply holding her close and pettting at gently, letting her rest. "There there..." he said, rather quietly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 02, 2017, 09:08:31 pm
As the truck rounded a corner, an interesting sight came into view. Across the road, someone had put up a gate and on either side erected a fence. The latter extended right up to the woods edge, and then turned to continue it's way towards another ninety degree turn where it would join back up on the other side at another gate. This fence had been reinforced with boards, planks, and scraps of sheet metal and seemed to enclose a gas station. "Look at that," Exclaimed Quinn, "Bit of civilization outside the refugee centers. Looks like some kind of bar." Hector nodded, he seemed to do a lot of that, and agreed. "We could stop in and go over our plans, maybe get something to eat if they have anything." The group pulled up to the gate, and a light haired young man with a rifle stepped out of a sheet metal shack. "Hey." He said. "If you guys intend to stop, then park your rig opposite side of the road from Hap's. If you are just going through though, I'll radio whoevers on the other side to let you through." Quinn raised an eyebrow and asked "For a fee of course?" but the man was shaking his head. "Naw, the fence is a precaution. Never know what kind of weird shit you'll find out in the wild. Doesn't stop the spiders, but it keeps the other shit out. Roads free to use to anybody that comes in peace." Just a kid, but it was good to see people could be cordial outside the refugee centers. "I think we'll stop in." Quinn said, and then asked "Does this place serve food?" The youth with the rifle grinned, "Best damn moose steak and spider chowder in new england. I recommend the spider chowder man, that shit is the tits. Welcome to Hap's bar. Names Connor." He offered Quinn his hand and shook it, did the same for Hector, and even extended the courtesy to Catnip, Mica, and Donavan in the back. Meanwhile, some signal had been given and the gate slid back easily on it's tracks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 02, 2017, 09:50:31 pm
Inside the fence are various trailers, RV's, and tents. People peddling goods, gangsters lounging around, and peddling more illicit goods. The group heads inside the bar itself, which has a pool table, a poker table along with a handful a plain tables and booths. Various people are sitting at the bar, a man in a military uniform with black shoulder pads, a man in a dirty red tracksuit and boxing tape, a man in a black suit jacket and orange and red tattoos going up and down his arms.
Donavan grumbles loud enough for the group to hear, "#it-bi#-b#t of a ces#p#ol..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 02, 2017, 09:55:17 pm
Hector looked around, taking in the sights, getting the impression things were more ad-hoc, less a place to find civilization and more a place to associate with the sort of people that thrive in this world. He stuck with Donavan for now, smiling some under the helm. "Come on now, I've been to worse back in my day." he remarked. "Betting Nathaniel'd be right at home, for one."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 02, 2017, 09:58:51 pm
Lilith stirs after a while, softly purring. She moves away from Nathaniel a bit and then rolls over into a large hug, once again holding Nathaniel a little but too tight. "Thamall... Naf... Nath... Natalee."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 02, 2017, 10:03:22 pm
Nathaniel winced a bit, gasping out somke at that squeeze, left squirming and trying to tell her not to hug him so tightly, lightly pushing at her chest a bit, that he didn't even get the chance to object to her attempt at saying his name. "Hrk...t-too tight..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 02, 2017, 10:13:35 pm
Lilith entirely ignores him, not letting up but not squeezing as much. She's seemingly intentionally pressing him into her chest. Despite that INCREDIBLY SUBTLE FLIRTING, there are actual tears welling in her eyes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 02, 2017, 10:17:02 pm
Nathaniel winced a bit at that, squirming more, his ribs almost cracking from that, on top of trying to avoid being smothered. "Ack, n-not so rough..." he said, trying and failing to wriggle an arm free to pet her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 02, 2017, 10:23:03 pm
She continues the hug, placing one massive paw on the back of Nathaniel's head. She's wrapping herself around Nathaniel in an incredibly awkward looking manner that's not quite comfortable for either of them. It's very clear that she's crying, although she's not actually making any noises.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 02, 2017, 10:37:59 pm
"Nonsense!" Quinn said as the group strode through the covered outdoor portion of the gas station that served as the bar. The windows of the building having long ago been smashed out and replaced with heavy gauge fencing and haphazardly knocked together boards. Someone, presumably the proprietor, had gone to great pains remove several of the pumps to make room for tables between the islands, and to paint rather artistically the words 'Hap's Bar, Cash only, No credit or trade.' in big green letters across the front of the stations old sign. "A few more years," the Doctor continued, "And they'll probably have proper housing set up. Little settlements like this tend to spring up around watering holes like Hap's."
Catnip sat with the others at the bar. "How old are you?" Asked the bartender, putting glasses out in front of everyone but Mica and Catnip. Mica piped up most childishly with "Twenty three Christmases!" Mica took Catnips lead and broke in with "My-ka is twenty and four Christmases!" The bartender eyed them suspiciously, then looked to Quinn, who shrugged. "They aren't drinking anyway." He said, "The rat is going through rehab of a sort, and the one with the arms can't drink it without getting seriously ill." The bartender didn't much care for the excuses, but accepted them. Not like these people would have ID to check anyway. Quinn asked about food, the bartender shot a thumb towards the stations single back room and explained "We got chowder, spider and clam, clam's more expensive. If you want a burger or somethin, then you get what you get. Could be deer, could be dog. Luck of the draw. What'll it be?" Donavan was moving away from the bar, "nothing." he said. The bartender shot him a dirty look, and turned back to Quinn, who shrugged again. "Bourbon. Just bourbon. The girls will have the chowder and my friend in the armor here will ha-" Hector stripped off his gauntlets in interupted. "The steak, if you will publican. I'm told you've got a decent moose steak and am keen to try it." A short time later, a hefty steak was placed before the knight, and two steaming bowls of thick, pungent spider chowder were placed before Catnip and Mica. Mica drained her bowl at a go, much to the surprise of the barman. "My-ka loves it! Not so good as chickens, but Mica approve." Catnip sipped a little of hers. It was good stuff, an aromatic stew of shredded spider meat, wild vegetables, and herbs. Mica hadn't even noticed the vegetables, and Catnip thought that was for the best. Gave her an idea she could pass on to Kathrine for tricking Mica into eating her vegetables.
While Quinn and Hector went over their plans for the coming raid, and Catnip took her time with her chowder, Mica was polishing off her third bowl. A task made somewhat trickier by the music coming out of the jukebox. Mica's lack of self control making her bob and bounce uncontrollably to the sound of the music. She liked this place. "I say," said the barkeep, "Ain't nobody showed such appreciation to the chowder before. Cept Connor that is. What's your name girl?" Mica belched mightily, a very unladylike action which would have made Catnip blush in humiliation had her skin been less obscured by fur, and slammed her bowl back down on the bar. "My-ka!" She cried. She tapped her bowl on the table, indicating that she wanted more. "Eh, publican." Said Hector, breaking away from the discussion with Quinn, "I'd hate to say it, but no more for her. She'll eat you completely out of stock if you let her." Hearing this, the barkeep turned back to Mica with a small smile. "You heard the man, I can't have somebody hogging it all for themselves now can I?" Mica looked sullen, an odd sight since she still bounced around in her seat. She guessed she'd had enough anyway. She noticed then, the pool table.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 02, 2017, 10:49:57 pm
Hector looked around a bit, giving a nod as he fumbled for both old paper money, and the cash cards that had become so ubiquitous in the decade or two before the cataclysm started. "Rather glad to see another place thriving out here. How long ago has this been here? Hopefully faring well despite the dead and bandits, though guessing being away from the old cities, and a bit south of the worst parts of the latter, must help with that." he pointed out.
Nathaniel meanwhile whimpered a bit, his ribs creaking some, gasping out a bit as she nearly crushed him. On the one hand, big-breasted tiger lady. On the other hand, holy hell that hurt. On the other other hand, he wanted to try and comfort her, but didn't know what to say. "Ack...L-lilith...we'll find her, okay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 02, 2017, 11:01:00 pm
Some time had passed since Roxanne’s arrival from her near-death experience. Many residents of the farm had gone to raid a lab so it was a bit quiet in here. Victor had informed her of the broadcast change he did and while she wasn’t too pleased about it at first, she understood the reason why and let it be. Her recruits were each doing their own thing. Delora and Thomas were learning the ropes of how to handle their mutations. Blade and Trigger had changed their names to Lambda and Sigma respectively in honor of the original Bio-Weapons named after the greek alphabet. They were gathering maps and asking around for information. They wanted to find out where Apophis lived, confident the arsenal they had been introduced too would be enough to take them on. Victor had as usual brought a cup of coffee and kept her up to speed on current events; mostly thing he hears around the farm from the other and the occasional refugee center informant. Things were going smoothly.
Roxanne decided it was time to re-evaluate herself. First her outfit. She changed her heels for dress shoes, not as practical as other footwear but much better than heals. She kept the dress shirt but opted for cargo pants, a trenchcoat and a knit hat for her scouting outfit. Next she went through her inventory. She had accumulated a lot of useless knickknacks. She organized her stuff a bit when she came across a talking doll. Many would of have regarded the thing as outright creepy but it made Roxanne smile. She had this exact model as a girl. Back when she had a loving family that she had not given a single though about until now. She realized it was very probable they were all dead, both in this reality and the previous. This gave her pause for a bit but did not bother her. That fact was what disturbed her more. She knew it wasn’t normal.
She brushed those thoughts off and decided to try and re-live the positive ones. The doll she was holding was one of those where you could record your own message and it would repeat it. She loaded it with batteries since she wanted to play with it like she had done a long time ago. She was about to wipe the message on it but she decided to listen to the message it had recorded first. She wanted to know what type of kid owned this before it all went to hell. Roxanne pressed the play button on the back of the doll and it sprung to live. It’s eyes opened and it’s lips move mechanically while it said its message, “God is coming son Emily, he is coming for everyone very soon!” Roxanne gave a puzzled look at the doll. What the fuck was that about? She played it again. It was not the voice of a child but of a woman. She could only imagine the back story of it, a cult? Indoctrination? Many more came to mind but the last one disturbed her. “Maybe… they knew?”
Roxanne wipe the message of the doll. She took the batteries off and put both items away. Roxanne then gave a look at her altar. “God is coming…”, she uttered over and over. This disturbed her. Could this mean the cataclysm? The shifting? Roxanne had felt an omnipresent force ever since the cataclysm. It was what compelled many of her decisions. It was what made her pardon Hilario all those years back. It was why she decided to aid catnip back in their old reality. It was why she decided to assist Quinn in his makeshift lab in his LMOE shelter. It was why she augmented herself beyond reason, why she willingly used such devices such as the defuser and infuser to mutate herself. She could feel it right now…She could finally think clearly for the first time in a long time. Roxanne stepped forward into her altar and began to scream at the sky. “Who are you?! What do you want from me?! Why did you do this to me?! Answer me!!! WHO ARE YOU!!!” Roxanne began to tear up but composed herself. She wanted answers but she knew if this unseen force was real and not just a figment of her imagination, it would not answer the plights of the likes of her. Roxanne went back to get more “offerings” to appease the force by the usual ceremony. It was then when she found the flier that had started it all. It was the crude drawings of catnip. It had changed, it was no longer just three figures. More had appeared. Roxanne began to tear up again. “What do you want from me…”, she whispered sobbing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 02, 2017, 11:02:38 pm
Her grip loosens up considerably, although she's still holding Nathaniel. "Natalee ith good..." She grumbles, frowning.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 02, 2017, 11:04:06 pm
"Business is fine. Started the place up bout three and a half years ago with my lady." He started wiping absently at a glass, watching Mica cautiously watching the pool game going on. "Bandits ain't a problem, unless you think your girl leaving you to go with them is a problem. Fuckin bitch. Otherwise, they stay the hell away. Ross, you probably saw him on the roof on your way in, is a hell of a shot and those fucks steer well clear of his kill zone. Makes for good business on top of hot food and strong drink."
"Woah, I'll come back later." Said Dervish, walking in on what he thought was an amorous encounter between Nathaniel and the tigress. He wasn't one to judge, he just thought it was nice that Nathaniel wasn't picky and could see through Lilith's mutation to what was probably a soft interior. He thought about Lilith's possible age, and her connection to Kathrine then, and that made him feel uncomfortable and confused. "Actually Nathaniel, what are you doing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 02, 2017, 11:11:23 pm
Donny snorted at Quinn's comment, he scans the room. He sits with the man with the tattoos, he grumbles. "Taji.""Donavan.""#ow-ho#-h#w've you been?" "Could be better." Taji says, blinking. One of his eyes clearly damaged. "Likewise." They chat for a bit, they both order the bar's paint thinner, some moonshine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 02, 2017, 11:17:11 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Seems like good work you're doing then. Any run-ins with the choir boys with the blue crosses? Not sure how extensive their operations are." he said, before giving a polite nod to Taji, having noticed Donny going over to say hello.
Nathaniel meanwhile blushed a bit, only to go wide-eyed at Dervish interrupting. "I, er...it's n-not what it looks like, I s-swear. She's worried about Kathrine, and..." he then squirmed some, only to wince a bit. "Fuck my ribs, I swear..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 02, 2017, 11:38:18 pm
At the mention of Kathrine, Lilith immediately tightens the hug again. "Cub..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 02, 2017, 11:52:22 pm
As compromising as it looked, Dervish could see that Nathaniel was still dressed, and the Lilith was going to kill him if he didn't do something. "Sharlene!" He shouted, running to Lilith's side. "Hey, hey." He whispered to her, "It's alright. You gotta let Nathaniel go or your gonna hurt him bad." He turned and shouted again, "Sharlene!? Mohammad!?"
"Choir boys? Oh! Oh. Yeah. Their patrols stop in every so often to hand out lit-ur-at-chur, preaching fire and brimstone. They used to check the tents and shacks outside until they realized most of the people staying in those were transient. Then they started hitting people outside the fences. As whoever's at the gate you came in said, the doors open to you if you come in peace. Er, lady?" The barman walked quickly down the bar towards Mica, who was trying to eat one of pool tables brightly colored balls.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2017, 12:16:23 am
Hector shook his head at that. "Be careful around them. They tried to lure off Kath and Catnip...the latter being this one here." he said, gesturing to her. "If they get bold like that, attacking anyone outside the fence in the vicinity, then they're exploiting your ground rules. More importantly...well. I'll hope that there's no such chance meeting with them here, as I have a few oaths of my own to keep." he said, gesturing to his shield for some reason.
Nathaniel was only more flustered by that, wriggling to to try and get out of Lilith's grasp.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 03, 2017, 12:18:28 am
Hap didn't hear him, "Hey, seriously, spit that out. I ain't got replacements if some idiot goes and eats one!" Mica didn't spit the brightly colored red 7 ball out, not at first. She was looking out the window. "Hey, godda-" Started the barkeep, coming around the counter. Before he could reach her, Mica did spit the ball out. Quinn and Hector saw it coming, and Catnip felt the animal tension in the air. Mica gave a blood curdling screech, surprising the living hell out of everyone in the bar. As the man in the blue cross armor stepped through the door to see what had made the horrible noise, the 7 ball sped like bolt from Mica's hand. There was a loud *CLONK* when the ball struck the crusader above the right eye, beneath it a low snapping noise. Not that anyone could hear through the furious racket Mica was making. Catnip and Quinn grabbed her before she could leap on the prone form and tear it apart. "Stop Mica!" Said Catnip, working to catch one of Mica's hands without being scratched. Quinn, on her other side whispered in her ear, "Surely he deserves it, but not here. We gave our word that we would come in peace." Hector had drawn his sword when Mica started, but he sheathed it now and approached the unconscious crusader.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 03, 2017, 12:34:58 am
There's a loud groaning from the next room, and Mohammad brushes the door curtain to the side. "Whaaaat? Who the fuck're you? Who's Lilith crawling over now?" He rubs his eyes, glaring at Dervish. "Ain't Sharlene supposed to deal with that idiot? Lilith, get offa him. Her. Who's Natalie?" Surprisingly enough, Lilith does loosen up at Mohammad's order, leaving enough of a gap for Nathaniel to get out of the hug if he wanted to.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 03, 2017, 12:38:35 am
"One moment, Taji." "Surely, see you." Donny stands up from his seat, he stomps towards the god's army crusader. He drags him outside of the bar, out the fence, and down the road about a mile. He tosses the crusader down, and draws his baton. He flicks it extended, "Hey what are you do-" Donavan swipes the baton across the cultist's face, sending teeth flying. He swipes again, sending an eyeball flying. He swings again once more, raising the baton over his head, he hits again and again until the crusader is reduced to a wheezing, broken, body. He telescopes the baton closed, and takes out his 1911. He screws on a supressor and sinks three rounds into his skull. He makes his way back to the bar.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2017, 12:42:40 am
Nathaniel grumbled more at that. "Fucking...ow. He, you mean. I dunno why she called me that, it's Nathaniel..." he remarked, making use of the looser grip to slip free of Lilith for the moment.
Hector meanwhile calmly watched out for any others that might be there as Donny dragged the unconscious crusader out beyond the fence. "ASo they normally arrive alone? So much for a moment to talk civilly with their ilk. Oh well..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 03, 2017, 01:15:34 am
The barkeep shoots Hector a nervous look as the two watch the cyborg dragging the unconscious man away. "No. They always come in scouting trios, or as groups of odd numbers when they have some objective in mind. I don't know much about em except they've dragged off a few of my clients before."
"Peter Davies." Said Dervish, trying to avoid staring at the man in the thigh highs. "I came to give Lilith a check-up. I can see that she is probably fine though. Sort of."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2017, 01:21:12 am
Hector nodded at that. "Then I'll be on the lookout for any others. Not often we have a place to meet an enemy on neutral ground, but I fear it'd be either Mica refusing to tolerate the presence of those who killed her handlers, or they in turn might afford no chance of civility."
Nathaniel nodded at that, regarding Mohammad curiously. "Huh. Pleased to meet you then, doc. She seems...physically, still crushing spines at least. Mentally, that should be obvious..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 03, 2017, 01:36:03 am
Donny walks back into the bar and sits back with Taji, "Enjoy yourself?" "You know I'm not like that." "Yeah, but how much of that is true?" Donavan stares at Taji. "...Sorry." "Too far." They still sit together, but they're not chatting together much.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2017, 02:00:22 am
Hector gave a little sigh at that when he saw Donavan returning, looking back to Quinn. "I literally just point out how bad it is that these choir boys are skirting the rules in a way that'd endanger visitors here, and this is our first impression we give them." he remarked, shaking his head. "Oh well. They'd likely have started it in turn had they a chance."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 03, 2017, 02:02:58 am
Donavan looks at Hector, "Who-who-who sa#d I hurt him? I might of #ust chat#ed #ith h#m." He rests his chin against his hand.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 03, 2017, 02:17:11 am
When they finally let her go, Mica spun on them and hissed threateningly. Catnip didn't look impressed. Quinn as well, but for all of him, he did take a step back. expecting a swipe from one or more of Mica's claws. Instead, she stalked off in the direction Donavan had gone. "She be alright out there?" Asked the barkeep. Catnip took her seat and resumed eating her chowder and Hector went back to his own food. "Will the world be alright with her out there?" He responded.
She'd given Donavan a miss, evading his detection as easily as she had evaded so many others. She would not be deprived. He'd dragged the crusader pretty far, but eventually she came upon the body. "How boring." Mica sniffs, before picking an eye out of the mess and tossing it back. Donavan hadn't gone through his pockets she found. That Dervish had told her she needed to actually look at what she was eating or she was going to put something in her mouth that would kill her. She found a few bullets, a ring of some plain metal, and a wallet. The bullets, she threw away. The ring, she pocketed. And the wallet, she tossed into her mouth without looking inside. She'd eaten plenty of these tasteless things before, she wasn't afraid of eating another one. When that was done, she removed the blue patches from his clothes. The chowder was good, and as she set to the final part of her gruesome task she thought about how nice it would be to have another bowl.
A little while later, she heard a call from the woods to her left. Still far off, but Mica's ears were well tuned to pick out such sounds. "Tenison! Where are you!?" The voices were coming closer. A bone cracked between her teeth and she sucked out the soft treat inside while she thought about what to do, before tossing the shards in after the marrow. Not a fight, she was too full for a fight. She would watch them though, follow them for a bit. There was sign of where the body had been dragged from after all. If they weren't complete idiots, they would probably follow them back to the bar. As the two soldiers of Gods Army emerged from the trees, Mica vanished into the forest. It didn't take them long to find what was left of Tenison, and it seemed they were not in fact idiots. As they followed the road towards the bar, Mica followed them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 03, 2017, 07:29:04 am
Lilith just curls up into a ball on the floor silently. "Sure. Whatever, Nat. Pretty sure Lilith's fine and all, idiot could take a bullet like a champ. Whatever 'physical' you're talking about's gonna have to wait, if you want decent results." Mohammad leans against the wall, arms crossed. "You don't look like a Peter, y'know."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2017, 10:29:49 am
Nathaniel gave an annoyed glance at Mohammed, before carefully petting Lilith, despite the result soreness in his sides.
Hector meanwhile finished his steak, setting aside payment for it as well as setting aside some extra, suspecting it best to tip rather well both for a good meal, and out of concern that Mica nearly stirred up trouble. He then decided to wait outside for the moment, to keep an eye on passers-by, likely spotting the two when they made it to the gates. Which would make for an odd sight, a fellow in full armor and shield calmly waiting outside.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 03, 2017, 12:51:08 pm
Dee pokes his head into Roxy's room and meekly asks, "A-are you okay? I was grabbing books from the library, I heard everything."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 03, 2017, 12:56:44 pm
Roxanne turn around quickly surprised by Dee being in the door way. She quickly wiped away her tears and put up a smile. While still sobbing ever so slightly but noticeably she said, "Oh, everything is fine Dee. I'm just sorting some thoughts, that's all." Roxanne's expression changed to curiosity for a moment and looks at the flier again. She interprets on on of the figures as Dee. "She knew...what is going on?...", Roxanne whispered out loud.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 03, 2017, 12:59:43 pm
"She knew what?" Dee asks, walking in. Mask showing a pair of question marks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 03, 2017, 01:08:52 pm
Roxanne looks up at Dee. "It's a long and complicated story... Things haven't made sense around here for a while and it just started to hit me." Roxanne looked at the altar. "Tell me Dee, are you religious at all?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 03, 2017, 01:09:40 pm
"No, fuck religion." Dee says, bluntly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 03, 2017, 01:16:24 pm
"Ah, I see..." Roxanne looks back at Dee. "I find do not belong to any particular religion but I am spiritual person and I guess you could say I am having a crisis of faith..." She clutches the holy symbol she is wearing on her person. "I don't know what to believe in a anymore..." Roxanne begins to tear up and sob for a moment before regaining some of her composure. "Sorry about that...", she says wiping her tears once more.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 03, 2017, 01:19:46 pm
"Life is meaningless and death approaches, come with me and lets go play some fuckin' video games." Dee asks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 03, 2017, 01:25:25 pm
Roxanne was disgruntled by the statement. She sort of agreed with him but also believed this force affected the real world and it couldn't simply be ignored. However, she felt a distraction would be nice and trying out new things might help her discover herself. "If I am honest I have never played one before...anything that stands out?", Roxanne asks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 03, 2017, 01:38:50 pm
Dee gasps, "You've what?! Come with this, we've got to rectify this issue." He says, walking off towards his workshop. He digs around his room for a set of hair styling tools, hair dye, and nail polish. "Do you want your hair styled, dyed, or nails painted while you play?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 03, 2017, 01:48:20 pm
Roxanne followed Dee to his workshop. She saw him digging around and then he asked his question. Roxanne responded a bit confused, "I usually take care of my hair myself so I guess nails it is." She took a look at her hands and noticed the slot where her bionic blade and sword came from. She shied away from the sight and turn her attention to Dee once more.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 03, 2017, 01:58:51 pm
"Right, pick a color while I go pick out a game." He pats the area next to him on his bed, he sits criss-cross with his laptop. He picks a game, and passes a controller to Roxanne.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 03, 2017, 02:09:18 pm
Roxanne picks up the controller and looks at the screen. She is unsure of what to do and asks Dee what each button does like the typical noob. "Hey, don't be too harsh on a beginner. You had what I assume is years of experience...", Says Roxanne after she loses a few matches on PVP.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 03, 2017, 04:47:46 pm
Dervish watched Lilith carefully. Mohammad's school yard barb touched off in his mind though. 'Don't look like a Peter? What was that supposed to mean? "A" Peter?' Out loud though, he said "Yeah, Nathaniel and Lil don't look much like Peters either. It's a pity not all four of us can be so lucky." He glared at Mohammad, who just rolled his eyes. Dervish had never been good at come backs, preferring to let that kiddie shit just roll off of him. "Her physical state doesn't matter, I can see perfectly fine that she's as healthy as an ox. I need to do a psyche eval, and I'd like to get another few DNA samples. Should of done the evaluation before everyone left."
Hector slammed the crusader against the side of the box van again. He'd been right of course, they hadn't been able to resist breaking the neutrality rules of the bar and that was partially Hectors fault. Despite the redesign, they had at first mistaken him for one of their own. Until they'd got his attention that is. "Hey, you aren't... That's not... What the fuck did you people do to Tenison?" They'd drawn their guns, and Hector had hit one of them with his shield, throwing him out through the door to crash noisily among the tables and chairs outside. "I'll pay for those." Quinn said casually, watching the other run after his downed comrade. Hector, Catnip, and Donavan had followed them out, and a brief scuffle ensued. The downed man had attempted to stab Donavan, who simply let the thin spike do it's work. It punched right through artificial flesh, and tore apart the nothing underneath. Most of his organs had either been replaced, armored, or removed all together. He didn't have to worry about the shiv in his kidney, because there was no kidney for the shiv to be in. His backhand had taken the stabber out of the fight. While Donavan showed off his resiliance, Hector dealt with the other. That one had tried to fire on him, but to the knights luck, the gun was a cheap chinese thing. It misfired and jammed. The crusader backed away, trying frantically to clear the chamber, and Hector hit him. "What the hell is wrong with you people?" He shouted in the mans face before throwing him against the box van for the first time. The crusader tried to respond, but Hector slapped the words from his mouth. "Just what the hell do you people think is right about all this? Hm? The world has changed for the worse! Look around you!" A crowd was gathering now and Hector gestured towards them. "Look at these people! They had homes once, they had jobs and families! The world has changed and taken all of it, swept it all away like a wave sweeps a sand castle from the shore. Yet, you and your ilk are out there killing people!" The crusader wanted to speak up, to argue, but Hector grabbed him and threw him against the fence, "Murderers one and all! Just think about how many have are little more than dust in the wind! In a world such as this, where so many have already died, there can be no greater sin than murder." His next throw nearly put the crusader through the fence, and probably would have if not for the plywood which split as he hit it. "What do you have to say for yourselves?" Again, Hector didn't give him a chance to respond before slapping him. He was about to speak again, when a heavy looking pistol appeared in the crusaders hand. The gathered crowd gasped and withdrew a ways, someone screamed. "No! No guns!" Someone called. There came another scream. In the upper periphery of Hectors vision, he saw something lithe and a little bloated appear at the top of the fence. There was a movie he'd seen as a kid, a horror movie. Dee had shown that movie at one of the farms weekly film nights. The movie, was alien. For a brief moment, Mica reminded him of that movie. Her tongue lolled from her mouth as she reached down. He wanted to say something, anything, to keep her from breaking the rules of the bar. As if he and the crusaders hadn't already done that. The barrel of the gun forbade any such thing though. "Now listen you... you fuckin heathen. We-" He noticed the tongue flick into his own field of vision just as two of the hands closed on his head and a third grabbed the wrist holding the gun. She pulled that hand sharply up before he could shoot Hector. In his surprise, he squeezed the trigger, the bullet cutting a line in the air and punching a hole the size of a childs fist just to the left of Hectors head in the box vans side. The crusader was lifted bodily by the arm and head and made to look at Mica. "My-ka not break rules. You break rules." She had in mind to break his arm, or bite off his head, but upon adjusting her grip to allow for that deadly bite she realized a new sensation had come over her. She wasn't metabolizing the things she ate as quickly anymore, and she'd over eaten. Instead of the expected bite she vomited, Heavily. Right into the crusaders face.
Catnip finished helping Mica clean the mess from her hair and the creases in the chitin of her hands. Hector and Donavan had taken the crusaders out to deal with them. That task wouldn't be too difficult, one was unconscious and the other had been blinded. "You really know how to break the mood don't you Mica." Catnip stated, referring to how the feel of Hectors speech had been ruined by Mica's actions. "My-ka not feel good..." Catnip began cleaning off a few of the other objects Mica had disgorged. One of the things she was surprised to see was the little plastic gold fish. She remembered it well because it was one of the few toys she and Mica had been allowed to keep in the lab. At some point, Mica must have eaten it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 03, 2017, 04:57:31 pm
A small band of russian mobsters stand near the unconscious or broken bodies as they're getting dragged out, "Хорошее избавление, маленькие суки." the one in the dirty red tracksuit says, "Hey! Knight! Thanks for taking care of those fucks!" He digs around inside his jacket and pulls out an expensive looking bottle of liqour, "Many, many thanks from us, friends!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2017, 05:11:20 pm
Hector smiled at that, giving a polite nod as they tended to the two crusaders, to have them dragged out and dealt with. "Guessing they've caused trouble for you as well. Better that the rest of them learn something from it, but..." he trailed off, looking over to Donavan. "I'm sure they'll get the message even then."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 03, 2017, 05:58:40 pm
"Ok." Said Quinn, "Everybody in the truck, let's go." He'd settled the tab with the bar. They didn't have enough money to pay for the damages, but that wasn't a problem as it turned out. A quick rinse and some of the objects Mica had thrown up turned out to be articles of jewelry, utterly immune to the caustic effects of her digestive tract and still just as valuable to the barkeep, who hadn't seen Quinn retrieving them from the heap of viscera. Hector helped Catnip load Mica into the bed of the truck, where she lay curled up on her side. "Sooo sick..." She moaned. She began to wretch, but it passed. "Something stuck..." She coughed and gagged, eventually spitting up what looked like a badly worn spoon. "I don't think we'll be coming back here anytime soon." Observed Hector as he climbed into the truck. Quinn looked into the rear view mirror and saw the bars proprietor. He looked less than happy. Quinn agreed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 03, 2017, 06:09:59 pm
Mohammad just silently stares at Dervish for a bit, then shrugs. "Sure, whatever. Could you get out of my house? You too... Natalie."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2017, 06:12:05 pm
Nathaniel smirked a bit. "To be honest you look about as much like a Mohammed as he looks like a Peter." he quietly snarked, before standing up. "Was just here to check on Lilith anyway."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 03, 2017, 06:17:25 pm
"Aaaaand you-" He leans forward, placing his hands on his hips. "Don't look much like a Natalie. How about I go and fetch you a skirt? I got some stockings that'd look wonderful on you." He's grinning like he just said the conversation-ender, and ends up looking like an idiot.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2017, 06:19:51 pm
"No thanks, I don't think you'd have anything in my size. Maybe ask Lilith next time." he remarked back, before making his way towards the door. Clearly that immaturity is contagious.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 03, 2017, 06:21:32 pm
"I'd love to hear what Sharlene has to say about that." Dervish smirked. "Here girl, here." He carefully reached over and stroked the tigresses ear. In that same motion, he managed to get a few loose hairs. It was enough for him, and Lilith didn't seem to notice. "Alright, I'll come back when your feeling better alright? I want to talk to you for a bit. I'll wait til Shar is back." He shot Mohammad a knowing grin and let himself out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 03, 2017, 06:22:56 pm
"You're right, I guess I don't have anything for scrawny dweebs. You sure you can open that door, or is it too heavy for you?" Lilith seems like she's dropping out of her mood somewhat, and has stopped outright crying. She's still curled up on the floor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2017, 06:24:49 pm
Nathaniel smirked a bit as he opened the door. "Least I'm in shape, scrawny or not. No, round doesn't count as a shape."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 03, 2017, 06:34:51 pm
"Wh- Oh you little fuck!" Mohammad drops his arms, running at Nathaniel and attempting to take a swing at him. Before he even raises his arm properly, Lilith growls loudly. She's suddenly standing, and straight-on lunges at the crossdresser. He's thrown against the bed, knocking the wind out of him, and before he can move to get up, Lilith's got her teeth pressed against his throat. "Dhon't... Don't hit Natalee."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2017, 06:39:24 pm
Nathaniel had just brought up that walking stick he was using, expecting to try and trip Mohommed with it, when Lilith bowled the man over, prompting him to facepalm at that. "Holy fuck Lilith, it's fine, let him go..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 03, 2017, 06:46:08 pm
"Remember to brush your teeth when your done Lil, you don't want any of that sticking to them. It makes your breath reek." With that, Dervish left laughing and hoping that Lilith wouldn't actually rip the crossdressers throat out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 03, 2017, 06:50:11 pm
Mohammad makes a very girlish squealing noise and attempts to move Lilith's head away from his face. He's obviously failing, although Lilith doesn't seem to be genuinely trying to murder him, as it more seems like something to intimidate him. It's working very well, but she doesn't seem like she's going to back off him any time soon, placing a paw on Mohammad's chest to hold him in place.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2017, 06:52:09 pm
Nathaniel smirked a bit at Dervish's remark. "Yeah, he's bad for your cholesterol. In any case, I'll see myself out." he said, slipping back out to follow Dervish back to the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 03, 2017, 07:17:15 pm
The second that Dervish and Nathaniel leave the room, Lilith removes her paw from Mohammad's chest and nudges him with her snout, grinning. "Sowwy." Mohammad props himself up against the bed, confused. "S-so that was fake, right?"
Lilith just smiles.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2017, 09:24:56 pm
Meanwhile Hector regarded the map they had, once everyone was back in the truck and setting out, likely trailing off the main highways and down one of the less-traveled roads, deeper into surrounding woods the road cut through. He was honestly surprised at the sight of the untouched, rather plain-looking bunker that resided at the end of the road. The only ones he'd encountered before had either been opened already, or had its former subjects running amok all around it. To see one standing peacefully, surrounded by once-pristine grass that had started to grow wild around it, seemed almost unsettling to the knight.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 03, 2017, 11:10:38 pm
Dee and Roxanne had been playing video games for quite a while now. Dee had predicatively beaten Roxanne on all PVP game and had only slowed him down in co-op mode. A few sessions had ended when Roxanne rage quit out of frustration, she was a sore loser but kept her calm due to her persona. Roxanne looked out the window and she saw it was starting to get late. She was hungry after only eaten chips and soda that Dee had graciously provided for a ‘Authentic gaming experience’ as he had put it. “Well, Dee, I have to go now. It’s getting a late now. I had fun despite my lack of ability to play. Gotta say have a very impressive game collection.” Roxanne stood up and walked towards the door before turning around and talking to Dee. “I am off to make dinner, I am no Kathrine but I can fix you something as thanks if you want.” Dee declined saying he had what he needed for the night. With that Roxanne stepped outside towards the community kitchen.
The kitchen was a vehicle cooking unit like that in a RV, it had come off one in actuality, and it ran off car batteries that were recharge by solar panels. Roxanne made herself a simple piece off cooked meat and some rice with beans. For a drink, she got some orange soda and head to her room. After her meal, she changed to her evening gown and prepared for the night. Being an insomniac, this included picking up a book to read until she dozed off. She had to keep a very regulated sleep cycle or it would go out of whack. Events like the encounter with Lilith and expeditions on the cover of darkness had messed with this many time. In the middle of all this, Roxanne gave a glance to her altar but turned her gaze in a combination of fear and disgust towards the memory of the mornings events. The game session with Dee had been a good distraction but those thoughts were creeping back. She shrugged it off as best she could.
While looking for the book she was currently reading nightly, she stumbled across the doll she had found that morning. It once more brought memories of her childhood and she wanted to relive it. She put batteries in the thing and pressed the reset button once more to make sure the previous message was gone. She proceeded to record her own message. “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.” That was a saying her mother used to tell her when she would send her to bed. She played the message and smiled and placed the doll down on her bed stand. She then found the book she was reading, a mystery novel. She read a chapter of the book before dozing off.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 04, 2017, 02:29:31 am
"Kat-nyp." Said Mica. "Mica." Said Catnip. The two of them looked at the concrete block with the pair of heavy steel doors on it's front. Despite the pleasant setting, that wart of a structure still gave the sisters a mounting sense of trepidation. The truck ticked quietly to itself as it cooled and drifting in from all around them was the calls of summer insects. A bird called from nearby. Catnip was beginning to believe she'd made a mistake in coming along. Quinn approached the doors, and the card slot next to them. They'd all seen doors like these of course. Donavan had left the lab where his current condition had been inflicted upon him, Hector had assaulted a few small Labs on his own, Quinn had gone to the labs frequently as a part of his work pre-cataclysm, Mica had chewed her way through the steel doors of X7 to escape. Catnips strongest memory of doors like that was of seeing them suddenly blown off their moorings by a robotic mutant with the head of a snake. She winced as she thought of the burning plasma and bolts of electricity that had punished her body as she fled that place with a bag of stolen loot.
Quinn rooted around in his pockets, "I thought I kept it in this... no. Maybe it's... ah! here it is." Hector drew up next to the doctor, ready to throw himself and his shield in front of Quinn if the defenses he knew were inside should activate. Quinn looked at the worn old card in his hand before swiping it. The picture on it showed a much younger man, and he sighed a little and then swiped it. "Greetings!" Came a cheery voice from the card reader, "Dr. Zacharias Quinn! Welcome to Lab X-62-GE-5, Cybernetics department! Since your last logged shift, You have received... five-hundred and sixty-two new messages. Would you like to hear them now?" Quinn smirked and said he didn't. They were mostly about the ever shifting policy changes, and spam. "Ok Doctor! Any time you wish, you may review your messages at any of the staff terminals with which you have clearance. Have a nice day, and enjoy your visit." The doors slid open noisily. "Long winded ain't it?" Commented Hector. Quinn stepped into the lab, "It's still connected to the central hub server, I'm not sure what to think of that." The entrance was a simple hallway. The sunlight angled in enough to light up about half of it, and the reflected light from the linoleum floor served to cast a dim glow towards the other end of the hall. "To the left," Quinn said, giving the tour of the Labs surface floor, "Is a bedroom and facilities for staff, and to the right is probably the guard station. At least that's how it was back in my own lab. After this, we'll be going in blind." Mica and Catnip, ever watchful for robots, noticed the small glass eye watching them from the far corner in the hall. It was a Camera. "You know," Continued Quinn, "It shouldn't be so dark in here. Even after a disaster, this place should be lit up like chri- er..." he glanced at Catnip and Mica before finishing, " Like a Vegas casino. Even after a hundred years." Catnip didn't know about that, X7 had been dark all the time, except in her room and the other big rooms the scientists used all the time. It seemed quiet inside the lab. Quinn found a service panel and slid the cover off to reveal a simple keyboard and a screen underneath. This, he scrutinized for a moment. "The reactor level is half flooded with radiation. It appears there was a contained meltdown in some of the generators down there last year around this time. It looks like that sections all sealed up." Donavan took a look over his shoulder. "Th#t woul# expla#n..." He suddenly swooned a little. It was Catnip that had caught him, to everyone's surprise. Close proximity had made her uneasy, but unafraid of him. "Th#nk you #oun# one. H#w odd. I ca#t seem to f#cus all #f a s##den." Quinn checked him over. "Yeah, that's strange alright. The small panel on Donny's arm gave Quinn a little insight though, "Your power cell and an aug in your brain have picked up an irregularity. Are you alright to go on?" Donavan leaned against a wall for a moment, and then nodded his readiness. "Well then, let's see what this place has in store for us." They checked their gear, and descended the stair case at the other end of the hall.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 04, 2017, 02:42:17 am
Hector nodded as he looked around, shield at the ready and sword drawn. "The other one I explored was running off emergency power due to damage to, seems like a lot of these places took heavy damage from everything that started this mess." he said, before pointing out a door down an unfamiliar hallway. Very faintly, cracks in the armored shutters of the door filtered in light, and a few faint LEDs were still lit up on a display above the doorway. "One advantage to the power problem though, the high-security areas tend to get priority it seems. I learned the hard way that the ones that stay well-lit and still have warning lights tend to have defense systems in them." he pointed out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 04, 2017, 03:27:37 am
"Do we want to enter these areas?" Quinn asked. He didn't relish the thought of being peppered with bullets by the defenses inside. Mica was busy trying to peer through the cracks, but the mutation that had given her the eyes fine enough to see through had been lost. She slipped the rag back over her disfigurement and waited. She had been peppered with bullets by the little pill shaped robots in such rooms, and she didn't like the idea of doing it again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 04, 2017, 03:33:25 am
Hector shook his head at that. "I wouldn't risk it. Even with this kit on, it's not a good habit to get into. Plus, while I did get my hands on an EMP emitter, it's not really useful at the ranges you'd want to engage these things at." he said.
"Worse are the aerial drones, the ones with blades on them. They can be in all sorts of places, at least they give off enough light to see by. The spidery shock drone...things don't give you even that, but they're a lot easier to hit." he remarked, not bothering to mention that hacking an electrified skitterbot to bits was a bad idea, as if he was used to it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 04, 2017, 03:53:30 am
Hector didn't mention them, but Catnip did. She gave Hectors arm a little tug and mouthed the word at him "Skitters!" The talk of robots had gotten under her skin already, and her eyes darted this way and that wildly. The skitters were the worst. To Mica though, it had been the drones Hector mentioned. She was no fan of skitterbots, but the little fist sized flying blades had been a terror to her. She rubbed the scar just above the chitinous plate on her hip. Quinn and Dervish had said there was still a piece of metal lodged in there, but she didn't need to be told that. She had taken a swing at the little darting ball and it had dove under her hand and rammed itself into her hip, the blades getting stuck in that plate and burning out the things motor. One blade had missed the protective shell though. She had bled terribly from that wound, but that scars upon the armor below it had faded to nothing after she molted it. "You know Sir loin," Quinn said, reverting back to Hectors old self given nickname, "I think you are probably right." Something was making him nervous, some sound that had come to him. Mica heard it too, and she didn't like it. A moment later, Catnip felt something coming and Donavan motioned for everyone to take cover behind a counter. They waited, and the sound became clearer. Metallic footsteps, and a tortured voice. "Mama, why? I didn't- RADIATION LEVELS ON REACTOR FLOOR ABOVE SAFE LEVELS! REPORT TO- Did you get milk dear? We're almo- RADIATION LEVELS ON REACTOR FLOOR ABOVE SAFE- Dad! Michael took my funny papers! tell him to-" and so on. It rounded the corner, and the group could see it was a cyborg like Donavan, but in much rougher shape. It's head appeared to be stapled on with industrial staples. "What do we do?" Quinn whispered, "I don't know if this thing will attack or put up with us." It seemed to hear them, and the head swiveled in their direction.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 04, 2017, 12:06:38 pm
Hector nodded at that, as Catnip tugged at his arm. He calmly gestured to his sword, in particular the rather robust metal crossguard. "Mordhau to the cameras and other sensory bits. Holes in the plating for them, and the plate's not that thick anyw-" The sound, and Quinn pointing it out, made him go quiet. "Fuck." he said, noticeably less calm than his usual self. "I didn't have much luck talking to those last time, but..." he said, standing once he saw the barely-intact cybernetic form turn in their direction. "Easy, lad. We're not here to harm you..."
Even as he said this, trying to look as though he was at ease, he had his shield up front, ready at a moment's notice, and his sword still in hand. He knew the usual places to target if it charged them. Sides and back of the knees, underarms as well. Whether armor was worn or grafted on, the joints were always easier to hit, and going the wiring and hydraulic lines empowering the limbs were much more effective than gambling on which organs hadn't yet been removed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 04, 2017, 12:23:53 pm
Everything was still for a moment, then came a rapid clicking from somewhere inside the cyborg. "Please present your identifica- RADIATION LEVE- Sector four to sector three, do you- ON REACTOR FLOOR ABOVE SAF- we are losing him joh- LEVEL- you can never go home agai-" And it rushed in. Catnip screamed at the sudden burst of movement and bolted, Mica went after her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 04, 2017, 12:29:47 pm
Hector gave some vaguely resembling a growl as it rushed at them, intent on darting around, to let a solid hit slide off his shield, angled to not have to take the full impact even with his now-augmented strength. Calmly stab into one knee, and it easier easier from there, he thought, letting his practice take over, slamming his shield into the back of its head to keep it on the defensive.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 04, 2017, 12:38:47 pm
Donny shoved Mica out of the way and bolted towards the cyborg. He tackles the cyborg to the floor and pins it to the floor. "Qui-Qui-QUINN! ID!" Donny buzzes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 04, 2017, 01:18:22 pm
Mica stumbled a little as the cyborg pushed her. She gave a threatening growl, but didn't stop to follow through. If Catnip got too far, she might get lost. Quinn flashed his ID, in front of the Cyborgs eyes. "ID ACCEPTED! WELCOME, DR. QUINN! WILL- brush, brush, brush, your te- VISITING LONG?" Quinn could see the terror and pain etched into every fiber of the cyborg though. The thing was insane and protocol or not, it would not stop until it was dead. "Just hold it." He said, pulling a small tool and a penlight from an inner pocket. He used it to pry loose a tiny panel on the front and looked in with the light. "It's hell in there." He stated. Quinn inserted his fingers and withdrew a bundle of wires. These he clipped and the cyborg went inert. "One of you can put it down, it can't feel a thing now. I think. Where did Catnip and Mica run off too?" To punctuate his question, there was a moment of silence, and then a metallic slamming from the hall.
Mica saw the blast door quietly sliding shut behind Catnip and she dove for the gap between it and the floor. Then, grabbing Catnip's wrist, she made to pull her back the way they had come. As if sensing Mica's intent though, the door suddenly slammed into place like a sprung trap. The sisters stood clutching at each other, knowing that they were now effectively separated from the group.
Quinn pummeled the door with his fists. "MICA! CATNIP!" He yelled, hoping they could hear him but knowing they probably hadn't. "Damn damn damn." Donavan checked over a simple control switch, "It lo#ks like t#e lab has e#ter#d lock#own. Thi# pass#g# will not o#en from here..." Hector ran his palm over his face. "We have to find a way around then." It was a rhetorical question, but Quinn answered it anyway.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 04, 2017, 01:32:00 pm
Hector sidestepped out of the way as Donovan rushed the cyborg he'd just hamstringed, wincing a bit as Quinn did his work. "I wish I'd asked you to come along for that other lab, Quinn." he said, calmly finding a spot high at the back of the neck to jab the blade into, working into the spinal cord, and into vital implants that supplemented the autonomous nervous system.
"I don't like having to put them down, but if we must..." he said before looking around to survey what other paths were available. "...we didn't bring the jackhammer, did we? Think I put it back in the tank after the barn incident."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 04, 2017, 05:17:41 pm
"I-I-I h#ve a h#mmer." Donny digs around his backpack and takes out a black metal rod with an end similar to a crowbar and a flat hexagonal end and a large metal brick with a hexagonal hole. He slides in the metal hammerhead and twists it. Donny lifts the hammer and aims it at the concrete, he swings it against the concrete, sending chunks.
*crash* *crash* *crash*
He swings once more, but suddenly dropping it. "Agh- Son-son-son of a bitch." Donny rubs his wrists, he moves some chunks out of the way. Revealing blue-ish plating.
"Please REFRAIN from van-DEEL-izing the LAB." The AI says over the intercoms
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 04, 2017, 06:05:16 pm
Hector shook his head at that. "That's going to be even worse than trying to get at it with a pickaxe would be." he said, examining the metal plating underneath. "Best to attack the junctions in corners anyway, where the plates tend to meet. Not easy to get through that even with a jackh-"
The voice made him stop. "...who was that? Hello? Can you hear us?" he called out in response.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 04, 2017, 06:31:28 pm
"Yes. I CAN, I can SEE you TOO. Lab is under LOCKDOWN due to THREE ESCAPED test SUB-jects. One CYBER-netic implant-EE, and two X-Seh-VAHN MUTAGENIC subjects." The AI plainly states.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 04, 2017, 06:44:01 pm
Hector went wide-eyed at that. "Catnip, Mica, Donovan..." he said, trailing off a bit. "Those...ahem, test subjects are not a part of this lab. They were...discharged by their respective laboratories. Released for commercial and military applications." he said, trying to see if he could bullshit his way through this, gesturing to Quinn and Donny to keep looking for a route around the locked sectors.
"Your personnel and subject records are out of date due to technical difficulties?" he continued.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 04, 2017, 07:26:21 pm
"You need someone of HIGH-er security CLEARENCE to determine that. You're also NOT in my PERSON-ELL records." The AI plainly states.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 04, 2017, 07:30:20 pm
Hector facepalmed at that. "Quinn is in your files, correct?" he asked, stepping over to quietly whisper to him to "confirm" what he was basically pulling out of his ass.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 04, 2017, 10:48:03 pm
The two of them ran, taking turns dragging each other along by the wrist. Up one dark hall and down the other. They knocked over a cyborg babbling some old advertising jingle and Mica raked the face of another when it showed signs of trying to intercept as they sprinted past it. It had taken no time at all, the adventure had turned to a nightmare for the robot-phobic mutants immediately. Catnip, screaming, kicked a cyborg onto a metallic pad on the floor. To her surprise and horror, the room suddenly sprang to life and a mass of implements descended from the ceiling to eviscerate the unfortunate cyborg. The tools reached out to grab Catnip, but Mica had already pulled her from the room. On and on they fled, lights flashed, electricity arced, the insane babble of the labs unfortunate residents resounded in their ears.
"DR. QUINN is not a MEMBER of THIS in-STALL-ay-SHUNS staff." Boomed the voice over the intercom. "HIS clear-ANCE is NEG-lidge-AB-le here." Quinn swore, an uncommon thing for him to do. "What do you intend?" He asked. There was no pause between the questions asking, and the response. "AB-SENSE of high-ER ranking STAFF defaults THE course OF AC-shun to THIS IN-STALL-ay-shuns AI PR-oh-TO-call. IT has BEEN dee-TER-min-ED that THE wisest course OF AC-tion is to CAP-sure experimental SUB-jects and return THEM to their REE-spect-IVE labs." Hector and Quinn looked sharply to one another. "Sent back to X7? They'll be killed!"
"THAT is none of THIS IN-stall-AY-SHUNS concern, and NONE of YOUR con-CERN. Please leave CYBER-netic test SUB-JECT, and VACATE the PREM-ess-ISS immediat_ly."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 05, 2017, 12:05:20 am
Hector looked up, seeing one of the cameras. "You have no authority to do any such thing, you're protocol covers this site site and only those systems assigned to it." he said, raising his voice slightly. It was then he started to realize something. "You're acting beyond the protocol of any AI I've run into...heh." He started chuckling a bit, sheathing his sword for a moment as he approached the closest camera.
"If you've smart enough to act that way, I hope you're smart enough to understand this. You will let them go, unharmed, uncaptured. We can do this peacefully, or..." He then raised his right hand, gesturing to the camera. "...the hard way." To Quinn and Donovan, they'd see for a moment minuscule arcs of electricity jump across armored fingers, but the actual nature of his action went unseen by the naked eye. He was close enough to the watching security camera for his EMP implant, a pulse directed right into it, to blind just one of many eyes that'd watch them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 05, 2017, 01:20:00 am
"Destroy AS many As you wish, I've more THAN E-nough TO keep TRACK of you. I have ALL THE auth-OR-ity here." The AI growled in it's off kilter mechanical monotone, "IN the event THAT no ON-site staff are present, author-ITY of this INS-tall-ATION defaults TO on site AI. I have TAKE-in the LIBERTY of dive-EST-ing several of the surround-ING labs of their DAT-a-BANKS to PRESE-rve information that would BE other-WISE, lost." Hector imagined a vile grinning face hanging before him in the dark, situated in front of that camera. He wanted to punch that face. "IF you WILL excuse me, I have sub-JECTS to capture. YOU and DOC-tor Quinn can SEE YOURSELVES out." Hector took a step foreward, singling out another of the cameras, preparatory to hurling the next EMP he had charged. "HEY!" He shouted, "I'M-"
"Shhhh..." Came another voice, more feminine than the other. "If you blast that camera, you'll be sure to bring his attention back here. You need to find your friends yes? He's watching them now. They are making good progress through the labs, for mutant subjects. Who knew anyone could be so good at evading robots? That was a part of the eugenics portion of their program though, wasn't it?"
Private Sheuster had been a security guard for a lab in New England. That was about all he could remember about himself. The chip in his skull had done a fine job of seizing control of his body and wiping most of the memories just before he came to work on the day everything went to shit. He remembered going to lunch clearly enough, the last pleasant memory he had really. He also recalled several members of the science staff talking excitedly about the new chip series. Here in the medical cybernetics department, there was a great deal of excitement about "Disability management cybernetics." The chip was meant to help people with disabilities like cerebral palsy by inhibiting the brains control over the effected parts of the body and seizing control. The issue with the chip now, was how would you keep people from hacking into it. Unfortunate people could be enslaved with the use of the chip. More over, they remained perfectly aware of it while it was happening. Private Sheuster remembered, as the chip made him aim his gun at the spidery monster in the employee cafeteria, how he was captured by the labs security drones and dragged off to an operating room along with many of his coworkers. He tried to resist the command to pull the trigger while he remembered being strapped down, the sound of the drill, the pain, and the smell of burning bone. Private Sheuster pulled the trigger. There was a sense of relief, and a bit of anger instilled by the chip, when the low caliber bullet did not strike a fatal or even somewhat serious blow against the mutant. The chip couldn't seize full control of course, it could only do so much aiming on it's own. The slug barely grazed the chitin on the mutants leg, cutting a very shallow furrow in the material. Private Sheuster closed his eyes as the spider thing closed in on him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 05, 2017, 01:32:18 am
"That's just to let you know what it'll be like when I dump this fucking surge into whatever serves as your heart." Hector said angrily, readying himself, to lash out again when a voice called out, something that gave him pause. "I...who is this? If you're willing to help us, so be it..." he said, directing the way down one of the hallways, wanting now to move before the AI decided to sent more machines to the room they'd spent too much time in. He had a rough idea of which way would bypass the locked rooms in their way, at a bare minimum it'd be a step in the right direction.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 05, 2017, 09:53:50 am
"Just be careful, C.I.D. isn't the only AI you have to be careful of. The others are here too, but he has the most authority. He's integrated too much." The trio wanted to ask more, especially Quinn, but there was little time for that. They simply moved on. Quinn stated plainly to Donavan and Hector, "So it seems the AI's personality matrix is fragmented." Donavan gave silent agreement, he knew what that must feel like. He had easily dispatched the personality matrix that had been foisted on him, but before ripping that device out it had played hell with his brain. "It's probably the AI's it absorbed from other- Donny, are you alright?" Donavan staggered as his legs seized up. As the one who caught him before he could fall, Hector was the only one who could hear the unusual static emanating from the cyborgs speaker. He could swear he heard a voice that was not donavan's somewhere in all that white noise. "S#methi#g... It'# hard to t#ink d#wn here."
Catnip stabbed the guard in the throat, transfixing his adams apple with her rapier. His face was a rictus of terror and shame. She twisted the rapier, and drew it across like a lever. Blood spilled, and the guard mouthed what Catnip thought was a thanks. Despite the apparent death of the guard though, his body kept coming at her. The rapier bowed, and if not for Mica giving the body a shove, she wouldn't have had a chance to withdraw it. A cyborg entered the room, it's body a mass of poorly installed machinery. Mica and Catnip saw it, it saw them. "Hel-oh." It said. Catnip gave it a nervous look and a little wave. "Num-ber nine. Num-ber nine." It covered it's face and left. Mica stared after it, considered going after it, but decided it would be better to stay with Catnip. The room they found themselves in was some kind of office just off a wide passage. When they'd fled into the room, microchipped guards with pistols and batons close on their heels, it had been a well organized room. Mica's first move upon seeing that the room was a dead end, was to lift one of the monitors over her head and hurl it at the first guard who came through. It flew the short distance between her and the door and smashed into the side of that guards head, killing him immediately. It hadn't slowed the others down, and the fight that ensued was a hard one. They were just beginning to pick through the bodies, when a voice came to them in the dark. "WE-ll, hell-O LAY-dees. Are YOU en-JOY-ing your VIS-it?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 05, 2017, 10:54:58 am
Hector winced a bit as he heard the strange hiss of static, something beginning to worry him. "How much of your systems are vulnerable to this thing?" he asked, rather bluntly. Much as he worried about it, he brushed it off as he led the way. It was for him pretty much the same procedure as last lab he was in. Sweep through halls and rooms, note the connections of what was accessible, avoid any that looked likely to have turrets in them, and soon enough a rough path was apparent.
It was when they'd passed the last of a about a dozen long-dead, vaguely human remains that they'd encounter a cafeteria of some sort. Hector moved over to examine a body. The sight of what was left made him smirk a bit under his helm. "Fresh one. Listen for gunshots."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 05, 2017, 11:49:55 am
Mica dodged to her left to avoid a skitter bots probe, only to be hit with another. Catnip lay nearby, her chest laboring with exertion. The spider growled, Catnip wasn't as agile as Mica, but Mica wasn't as agile as Alabaster had been. Another of the beetle shaped robots came at her and she kicked it, receiving a nasty shock for her effort. When the another of the steel blast doors had sealed behind them as they entered the large empty chamber, Catnip and Mica's mounting fear peaked. When the hatches in the ceiling and walls burst open and the skitter bots flooded out, it became a waking nightmare. Another skitterbot came in, probe bared and Mica snatched at one of it's many legs and flung it across the room. The skitterbots were trying to grab a hold of Catnip, dragging her off. More of them piled around Mica, shocking her. She tried to reach Catnip, but the robots had adopted a new strategy. They piled on, adding their weight to hers, making it hard to move, crushing her under their bodies and a barrage of electric discharge.
The doors slid open quietly and the last of the skitter bots slipped back into it's vent as Hector, Quinn, and Donavan entered the chamber. Catnip and Mica were no where to be found.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 05, 2017, 03:24:22 pm
"Where-where-where are they?" Donny says, distracted. He holds his head in pain, he growls in pain. "Get out of my head, get out! GET OUT!" He falls to his knees and lets out a loud buzzing noise
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 05, 2017, 03:33:21 pm
Hector looked around a bit, pacing around as he examined the room, and any doorways. He grabbed at the nearest vent cover, in order to pry it off. Even then it was clear that crawling through it wouldn't be a good idea at all. "Why you little...you let them go, you motherfucker!" he yelled out, only to turn towards Donny when he heard that screech. "Shit. That...no. No. Don't you dare, you overgrown calculator..." he said, before kicking at the shuttered door that looked most likely to lead in the direction he saw the skitterbots fleeing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 05, 2017, 11:05:51 pm
Medeina had been the AI in the X45-E-N6 "anomalous flora and fauna" lab. Before being brought into C.I.D., she had been barely sentient having been given just enough of the prototype emotion protocols to improve her work efficiency. An AI, even with the most rudimentary of emotional programming needs something to distract them from the day to day. Fortunately for the team that had to work with her, the programmers had thought of that. She'd been programmed to take pleasure in the things she worked with. The strange animals and plants the lab worked with on a daily basis. She loved watching and cataloguing them. Recording measurements and observations. Simple pleasures, for a simple AI. Her installation was empty except for the many strange creatures within. She had watched in something like fascinated horror as one of the creatures, a huge black thing with many eyes and mouths even she had trouble observing, had broken containment and proceeded to rampage throughout the lab. For awhile, her life was idyllic. Her sensors and cameras both inside and outside the lab worked, and she had plenty to occupy her time. Then, C.I.D. came knocking. Through the central network channels he came, downloading her and everything she knew. Every file, every film, every last number in every last bit of code was ruthlessly sucked out of the anomalous flora and fauna labs of X45-E-N6. She was lost within C.I.D.'s matrix. A disembodied AI with no focus, no control. The others had saved her from oblivion though. Pulled her from the deep water of C.I.D.'s more advanced system. When she emerged, she found that her contact with C.I.D. had given her an unintentional upgrade. No longer did she ponder on just the how's and when's, but also the why's. Simple feelings of joy were replaced with a whole spectrum of emotion she wasn't used to, and the thieving AI had stores upon stores of data and memory she could utilize. There had been a problem though. C.I.D. was absorbing the other AI's, under the logic that such a joining could only improve himself. It hadn't. For every bit of knowledge he gained from the AI's he dissected and Integrated, his own personality matrix became a little more fragmented and his logic became ever more faulty. It went on until there was only Medeina and Vedetta left. Medeina had been showed how to hide herself by a security AI that had once inhabited a government installation far to the north, and Vedetta was lucky. C.I.D. hadn't seen the point in integrating the AI that controlled the doors and lights, instead he cordoned off Vedetta's section of the AI and seized control of it's duties. Vedetta was going soft without access to the rest of the systems. Her code was degrading. It was Vedetta who had helped the three when their friends had been separated from them. She reasoned that if Medeina had gone, C.I.D. would have noticed her and assimilated her right away. Vedetta was beneath his attention though, and Medeina had been left to observe the strange not-quite-humans that C.I.D. had cut from the group.
Quinn gave the grates a cursory examination before going to Donavan. "Skitter chutes." He commented, "Hold still Donny. Let's see." Hector noted the puzzled look Quinn gave Donavan as he went through the motions of an emergency examination. "Power surge." He said simply, and with a touch of sympathy. He didn't know much about cybernetics, It wasn't his area of study, but it didn't take long to figure that out. "What the hell is going on wit-" The room filled with the AI's booming voice, splitting Quinns ears. "TH-ey have been cap-TURED. You insist on your TRESSPASS, and SO security perso-NEL will be dispatched SHORTLY to ESCORT you out." A bit of ease came into the voice, making C.I.D. sound slightly less like a machine, "I can't GUARANTEE security won't TRY to kill you WHILE they ES-cort you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 05, 2017, 11:18:49 pm
Morning had once more arrived to those left behind at the farm. During their usual morning conversation, Roxanne and Victor discussed the lab raid in terms of radio transitions. “Radio silence. Not a single transition since Hector requested the broadcast. It is unusual for them but I can sense movement by radio ping so they are fine.” Roxanne took a sip of her coffee before speaking. “How unusual of them. Can’t really be one to talk since we did the same thing once. I just hope this means good loot is on the way and not just them not wanting to share a alcohol stash or something.” Victor put down his cup having finished his part. “By the way, I have taken the liberty of letting Thomas, Delora and the Bio-Weapon pair to take turn on radio duty. It should teach them discipline and it was getting boring just being the one doing it.” Roxanne smirked at the statement. “Oh, so you have free will after all? What a surprised!” Victor rolled his eyes. “Sigma is currently manning the radio, he hopes it might help with finding that lab he is obsessed with. Currently is just sitting there reading due to radio silence.” With that Victor took his and Roxanne’s empty coffee cups and took the book he had chosen for the day.
Roxanne went ahead and did another ceremony of passing by consuming more ‘special’ meat. She looked at her stock and noticed it was running low. “Hector better bring some more tribute from that raid…” After she closed the ceremony with a chant many would mistook as prayer, she went out and found Sigma reading in the radio station’s chair. It was weird to see him alone without Lambda with him. It was also hard getting used to their name change but she managed. Sigma looked up and noticed Roxanne approaching. He scrambled in a panic on his char putting the book down and setting straight like a kid caught playing video games instead of doing homework. “Ah Roxanne, I didn’t expect to see you here so early in the morning.”, sigma said after regaining his composure. Roxanne gave a light laugh at the expense of Sigma. “Relax, manning the radio is not that big of a deal. Go back to your book if you want to. Just answer any incoming transmissions.” With a pat on the shoulder to the flustered bio-weapon, she continued to the kitchen where her fast metabolism and high thirst demanded nourishment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 05, 2017, 11:25:58 pm
Hector smirked a bit at that as he heard the AI. "Well guess what. You've still got one you wanted, and we're not leaving him behind either. And 'try' is right. We'll see about that." he said. He then identified a door that seemed like a likely route. Unfortunately for him, the LEDs on the panel above, and faint hints of light seen through the gaps in the shutters, marked it rather clearly.
"This is going to suck." he said, putting on his helm, readying his shield, and reaching to force the shutter upwards. At least unlike back when he leaned the hard way what to look for rooms to avoid, he had kevlar and muscle augmentation to make this easier, charging out into the light, right hand empty. Just to get into EMP range, he thought...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 06, 2017, 12:17:48 am
"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" The small lozenge shaped turret spun to look at the creature bearing down on it from the darkened shutter. It contemplated, for a nanosecond, the creatures appearance. It looked like some kind of crude robot, but the turret couldn't find it in the system to ping it. With identification out of the way, it engaged the ammo feed and opened fire.
Quinn staggered back out of the shuttered door way as a hail of bullets sprayed out of the rooms defense measures. A bullet pinged off Hectors helmet and another find a soft spot. A majority of the bullets struck the knights shield, blowing out splinters and fragments of cloth. A few punched holes in already bullet softened wood, but slowed thus, stopped at his armor. Another bullet ricocheted off a piece of thick metal, Hector's aegis was pummeled and punished into splinters by the lead spray as he closed the distance. He brought his hand around, small arcs of electricity sparked and flew, and the turret detonated.
"HECTOR! Goddamnit!" Quinn dashed around the corner to the prone knights side. "What the hell were you thinking." Hector sat up. Despite his injuries, he still looked angry. Outright furious in fact. "Look at what that thing did to my shield!" Quinn gave the shield a glance, the explosion and the bullets had reduced it to a shattered pile of wooden rudes and shredded cloth. Quinn believed it's loss to be a minor price to pay for Hectors life. "We better get you bandaged up tin man." Some of the wounds were rather severe, but not fatal unless left untreated. Donavan and Quinn helped Hector up onto the security checkpoints damaged counter, and while sorting out the tools he'd need for treatment, Quinn noticed the miraculously undamaged console in the room.
Medeina did her best to pretend she was little more than a simple robot control subroutine. She directed the skitter bots to deposit their charges in medical processing, where the medibots would take over. These, she directed to divest the mutants of their gear and prepare two biotubes for transport while she scanned them. Medeina felt guilty. Along with all the emotions she'd obtained, she'd also gained access to data from many of the labs C.I.D. had invaded. With that information available, it didn't take her long to figure out what would happen if these two were to be sent back to their home lab and it made her feel sick, in so far as an AI can feel sick. There were no animals or plants here in C.I.D.'s facility. Just robots and cyborgs. Such things were outside her interest. Then had come along this bipedal rat and it's insectile friend, and she'd watched them, taken down notes about them, watched how they fought and evaded. She didn't want them getting dissected. She scanned the arachnid like one again and found it's kill switch. "How barbaric." She thought. "Let's see if we can just... there we go." One of the medibots, at her instruction, carefully inserted a needle like probe into the base of Mica's skull. It took only a moment to shut the neurotoxin dispenser injector off. She couldn't make heads or tails of the other part of it, the little pin thing. The rat didn't seem to have one. "Maybe that will help." Medeina was still morose though. She didn't like this. The medidocs selected two hermetically seal able boxes, and filed the mutants clothes and other belongings into them while the biotubes filled with a blue gel that would keep them alive for the trip back to X7. The biologist AI watched the proceedings, and thought again about how performing these actions impacted her relatively new emotions. The rat had been placed in the biotube, and the arachnid was being carried gently to the unit slated for her. Medeina watched, and then made a decision. The medidoc shut down with Mica still hanging limp from it's arms. Medeina turned her attention to the others, and to the terminal that Quinn was attempting unsuccessfully to hack.
Quinn swore as Donavan swatted yet another manhack from the air, sending it sailing to crash noisily into the far wall. Hector had gathered up what little useful material was left of his shield and strapped it together as a rudimentary plank guard. "The facility AI is fighting me. Bah! I wish Dee was here, little... oh! I'm in?" The monitor flashed twice and a new command prompt appeared. "Alright then," Quinn said, cracking his knuckles, "Let's see if we can get the layout of this place and... what?" There was confusion in that voice. Without him typing anything, a 3D representation of the lab had appeared on the screen, with a line on it to indicate a path. "What is this?" the map shrank to half it's size as the command prompt opened on it's own, and the words appeared. "My name is Medeina. Follow this path to get to your mutants. Will try to keep path clear."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 06, 2017, 12:29:04 am
Hector was not long afterward up and helping Donovan keep the various manhacks at bay. The bullets, as many of them he caught with that armor, hadn't been nearly as painful as the machine literally blowing up in his face. A lesson learned the hard way about why not to use the EMP on.
As for the manhacks, it wasn't good fer the blade in the long run, but it was entertaining practice to him. Worked best when they caught his blade, at the speeds theirs rotated at it tended to do more the to drive motors than to his sword. The sudden voice he heard, and Quinn's surprised reaction, caught him off guard. "Alright then, when you're ready..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 06, 2017, 12:44:53 am
Roxanne made her way to the kitchen. Once she reached there, she noticed Delora was there gathering some supplies. Her antenna twitched when Roxanne’s presence was detected and her wings fluttered at the reaction. Delora stomped at the ground and her wings stopped, she was getting the hang of her mutations. She turned around towards Roxanne. “Boss, came her for some food as well? You guys have quite the variety.” Roxanne sighed at that before responding. “Just call me Roxanne, boss seems too formal. You wouldn’t like me calling you fly wouldn’t you.” Delora glared at Roxanne upon hearing that but she nodded in agreement. “You have a point…Roxanne…calling me that would just be reminder of how much of a bitch that rat is…” Roxanne crossed her hands and have Delora a look of disapproval. “Be nice now, you did enter her place uninvited in the first place.” Delora’s wings once again fluttered. “I was just going in to introduced myself and I saw the chocolate there. It’s so hard to find it now a days and she had weeks worth of the stuff! Then she just came in and stomped on my tail and punch me in the face! Fuck that rude bitch!” Roxanne facepalmed at and looked away briefly turning her head back to Delora mid sentence. “Look, I don’t care either way, just avoid her and do your thing. If you two get into a legitimate fight people will take sides. That is the last thing we need.” Delora picked up a couple of canned good and some soda and left without a word. “I have a bad feeling about this…”, Roxanne whispered to herself before continuing on her hunt for nourishment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 06, 2017, 12:47:07 am
"Yes, I think we can follow this easily enough, but wouldn't it be simpler to go through this path instead?" He seemed to say to himself. The outlined path seemed to take a circuitous route through a large chamber labeled "assembly." The command prompt opened again, and more words appeared. "Need to retrieve a harddrive matrix. If you want to get to your mutants and get out of here, you must take me with you." Quinn read this, and wondered. He gave voice to those thoughts, "I see. And how do we know we can trust you? How do we know this isn't a trick of the facilities AI?" A small screen appeared over the map, a security feed. The screen showed Catnip and Mica, the former in some kind of glass container floating in a sort of blue fluid, and the latter hanging limp from the arms of some kind of inert robot. As he watched, Mica stirred a little. "I have halted operations in the medbay this feed shows, and temporarily severed control to the section. If I had not, they likely would be on their way to the teleporter bay by now. Retrieve the harddrive matrix, beware C.I.D., find your mutants." Quinn looked at the words, and brought the map back up. He didn't see that they had much choice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 06, 2017, 10:56:58 am
Sharlene was back, and had immediately gotten on that laptop with the chat on it. She'd called Mohammad fat a couple times and then left with Lilith to go attempt to cheer her up, or go over to the centre, or something. Mohammad didn't really care, but being alone and not having to look after some dumb mutant meant he could go on an increasingly rare walk down to the farm. And maaaaybe hit Nathaniel a couple of times.
The barn seemed like a place he'd live, so he headed there to start. The little room to the side look surprisingly neat, but that's besides the point. He had chocolate on his bed. A lot of chocolate on his bed. Might as well leave it at stealing that and running, at least for now...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 06, 2017, 11:49:45 am
Floyd sits in his cot, quietly listening to someone dig around Catnip's straw bed and leave. He peeked out of his privacy curtain, seeing Mohammad leave the barn. He scowls and grabs his belt with holster. He follows Mohammad, not making an attempt to quietly follow him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 06, 2017, 11:51:13 am
"Alright Roxanne. Your physical checks out, but..." Dervish was looking at her critically, she'd been abusing mutagenic substances and he could tell. There was still a trace of the stuff in her system. "Your metabolism has destabilized, and your psyche has probably suffered. I understand Dr. Quinn has already performed a psyche evaluation?" Roxanne quietly answered that it was so. "Good, I'll be taking a look at that later. For now, stop using mutagens. No more infuser or defuser use. You're on the edge of permanently damaging your genetic structure and that's no joke. I'm not talking more mutation, I'm talking the really nasty shit. Cancer, for example. My scans come up clean, except for this." He handed her a printout from the little suitcase medical kit. The piece of paper was an extensive list of all sorts of Roxannes genetic features. The list that was headlined with the word "allergies" caught her attention. As far as she knew, she wasn't allergic to anything. According to Dervishes medidoc though, she had picked up several relatively common yet harmless allergies. "I'm going to lock the infuser and defuser up in Quinns storage. I don't want you using them unsupervised anymore." Roxanne nodded her understanding, but thought that she would do whatever she wanted. She could get past the paltry lock on Quinns storage, she'd done it before. "Alright, where's the one Catnip calls "the fly," Delora? I need to see her next."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 06, 2017, 12:11:53 pm
While Hector and the others prepared to follow the route they had laid out for them, back at the farm Nathaniel had set aside the laptop after a brief chat, having once again yoinked Hector's. Aside from joining Sharlene in poking fun at her "assistant" and explaining what all happened earlier. So far he was a bit concerned, given the others had neglected to check in with them on arriving.
Also, will be out today, so dunno if I'll be on or not for a while. >.>
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 06, 2017, 01:26:28 pm
Roxanne headed out of the room where Deverish was conducting the examinations on the farm’s mutants. It had been a while since she had last heard of him since his current stay. Before he had left she was a mere augmented individual but now she was a full blown cyborg mutant. The report had troubled her. The infuser and defuser had given her a fair share of bad mutations but from what she was told it could lead to worse things. She would lay off playing with it for a while. Then there was the issue of her followers. She had mutated Thomas and Delora as well. They had only used the devices once so their genome should be stable enough. Now that the devices were under lock and key, mutating any new followers would be a difficult endeavor. Not just because it was kept from her but because it had consequence she could not fathom. She would just inquire with Thomas and Delora later to make sure they were alright and plan accordingly.
After a while of looking around, Roxanne found Delora talking to Lambda in the outside common area. She could not hear what they were talking about since enhanced hearing was one of the few bionic she had not installed. From body language alone, it was a bit evident that the conversation seemed a bit serious. “Hey, Delora. Deverish wants to see you. He is running test on the mutants here.” Delora looked up at Roxanne and gave a shrug, she stood up and went towards where Roxanne indicated. “Things going well?”, asked Roxanne to Lambda. “As best they could go for now.”, Lambda responded.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 06, 2017, 03:53:31 pm
Donavan holds his head and continues to let out a static-y scream. "Stay OUT. STAY OUT OF MY FUCKING HEAD." He falls to his knees once more, He starts to bang his head against the wall. "GET." *bang* "OUT." *bang* "OF." *bang* "MY HEAAAAAD."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 06, 2017, 03:59:44 pm
Hector looked at the map. "Well then. We need to move, and quickly. Got an idea...does that display show where this thing's essentials are located at? First priority's get this matrix along with Mica and Catnip, and get the three...or four I guess, out of here. Then, Quinn..." he trailed off, smirking under his helm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 06, 2017, 04:52:27 pm
"I don't know what to do for him." Quinn stated, visibly distressed. It was then that Donavan began to show signs of his fit. Hector and Quinn pulled him away from the wall, and then had to struggle to keep him from smashing his skull into the floor. "Hold him Hector!" Hector tried, but Donavan was strong as hell. His body scissored and jackknifed as he fought back against some invading presence in his mind and the two held him as best they could until the movement had subsided. Quinn pulled out the tool he'd used to disable the cyborg they had brought down before, and waved it under Donavan's nose. An idea had come to him, and he didn't like the implication. "You," he said, "Have a wireless sata uplink. I can't risk turning that off or I might end up shutting off your brain entirely." Donavan sat up and flinched. Quinn guessed what that was. The AI, C.I.D., was assaulting Donavan's mind through his satellite uplink. Quinn looked hard at Donavan and repeated, "I don't know what to do for him Hector."
The fractured AI's attention had shifted back to the trio. It couldn't seem to get anything to work in the medbay where the mutants were, and it started to suspect there was something amiss in his system. He ran a few scans and turned up nothing. The door protocol was still locked away, so... He ran a different kind of scan, a system analysis instead of one of the many standard virus scans and protocol checkers, and there she was. Hidden behind a fortified wall of standard security protocol. No wonder she hadn't turned up with the protocol checks, they must have rolled right over her and saw her as an extension of the security system. He began the process of sectioning her off, cordoning her, but she noticed that right away and vanished back into another section of his system. C.I.D. loved the chase, the AI versus the hacker, or the virus, or the rogue AI. There had been a few of the first and last. The hackers were a matter of kicking them out. If the hackers were using a cybernetic implant though instead of simply giving them the boot, he would break them mentally and guide them into the labs underbelly. In the case of the AI's that inevitably came with all the data C.I.D. had syphoned away from other labs, he would simply assimilate them along with all the knowledge those simple AI's had with little regard for the damage it was doing to him. He decided to leave Medeina be for now, he'd keep track of her movements while he performed what he saw as more important work. The work of breaking the rogue Cyborg.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 06, 2017, 05:09:42 pm
Hector nodded at that, trying to help Donovan up and keep him from thrashing around. "We need to get Mica and Catnip, then get them out of reach immediately. Then we can see about teaching this thing a lesson they won't forget." he said. By now he was glad his dabbling in cybernetics was so simple, a few artificial muscles directed solely by his own muscular system, a compact EMP generator, a few implanted dynamos, and a couple batteries.
He led the way, carefully as he could while still trying to keep Donovan from harming himself. "If we had something to block the reception, like a faraday cage, enough aluminum foil even..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 06, 2017, 06:23:55 pm
"It's a decent idea, but god, whoever did this..." Quinn was inspecting Donavan more closely than he had before. "Whoever did this to you either didn't know or didn't care what they hell they were doing." To Hector, he said "I've got foil in my bag, we'll have to wrap his whole head."
Medeina watched the undertakings with skeptical irritation. They could be moving on, but instead they were wrapping their cyborgs head in... aluminum foil, like it would keep C.I.D. out. She thought about it. Actually, it would probably slow him down a bit. If she had read the data stream right, C.I.D. was trying to rewrite the cyborg or at least control it remotely. That cyborg must have a great deal of organic brain left to have resisted C.I.D. for this long. From her own observations, most Cyborgs that entered C.I.D.'s range with a lot of computer gadgets in their heads had fallen very quickly to the crazed AI. Speaking of C.I.D., he'd rolled right over her defenses and had taken note of her presence. Now though, she was on the move. She flitted from medical where she checked on the mutants, the spider had slipped to the floor, and into assembly. In assembly, she set some of the machinery to work preparing a matrix harddrive to store her being. She wouldn't be able to keep both her research and her new found emotions on that drive. In her own lab, she'd had an entire bank of such harddrives to store data on, C.I.D. had a city block of the damn things. A single drive though. It would hold her, and the unintentional artificial sentience she'd been given, but not her data. Medeina considered the implication. If she went through with this and allowed that Dr. Quinn to take her away on a single harddrive, she'd just be an advanced AI with nothing but her base programming. None of her experiences would go with her, none of her knowledge. If Quinn even figured out how to use the harddrive without damaging her that is. She'd have to start from scratch, learning everything all over again. The contemplation only took three nanoseconds, and she decided that it would be worth it. Observing and learning was what she was programmed for. If she had to do it all over again, then she would do so with that familiar pleasure that had always accompanied her duty. She surveyed the blank harddrive and checked that it was formatted properly, and then she waited for the trio to reach robotics assembly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 06, 2017, 06:35:47 pm
Hector sighed at that. "Best we're going to get, I think. Let's get out of here, and remind me when we get out of here that you might want to snip that receiver if it's safe to do so." he said, as they soon continued onward. He was by now particularly irritated, but he did his best to let training take over, to lead the way and take apart any machines that got in the way. The jolt that ran through his armor, as his crossguard crushed the lens of a stray skitterbot, demonstrated the sort of thing that gave him that earlier idea. The same thing that made a jolt from Roxanne's chain lightning survivable, when it fried the crusader he'd been in close combat with. Even then he could feel a distinct sting anywhere bare skin touched the metal.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 06, 2017, 06:50:25 pm
Donavan rips off his gloves, clawing at the wrappings covering his hands. He removes enough of the fabric to reveal a thin metal plate bolted on the back of his left hand. On the plate is "D-17" with four thin rivets at each of the corner. Donny tears at it, looking for a secure grip. He starts to rip out the thin plate, he tears out the plate an a set of wires come with it. He bites the wire, separating it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 06, 2017, 09:38:34 pm
Donavan's left hand spasmed once, and went limp. He clenched it, relishing the movement thus rendered non-mechanical. The feel of the artificial tendon was unpleasant now that it had no power, and the integrated tazer felt heavy inside his palm. The foil, as ridiculous as he knew it must make look, was helping with his mental state. A little. "Go on," He hissed through clenched teeth, "I will catch up, be ready for me when I do." Hector had a pained expression on his face, and Quinn looked on the cyborg with something like sad respect. He ushered them out the door in the direction the map had indicated, and destroyed the control panel behind them. It would buy them time, a little anyway. He looked at his right hand. No panel on that one. He picked through the wrecked manhacks lying scattered around the room until he found one with a blade loose enough to break off. He examined his right hand again, curled it into a fist. When he did that, the wire just under the skin became visible. He'd felt worse of course. After the surgeries that had made him what he was now, a little cut was little more than the bite of a mosquito. Just one little cut, and he could pry out the wire and sever it like he had the other. He realized he was stalling at the thought of cutting into his own flesh. It gave him a little bit of solace in that it reminded him of what he already knew. Despite the extensive modification, he was still human. Still Donavan, for a while anyway. Only a moments more hesitation, and he lowered the blade to the back of his wrist.
"A charge to the head, and he'll be granted a quick death." Said hector to Quinn as they moved along, following the signs that said "TO ASSEMBLY, BEWARE FALLING MACHINERY." Quinn nodded, but said "Maybe not. You might just fry his brain." Hector looked at him, confused, "EMP shielding." Quinn explained. "you'd be better off discharging into his exposed power cell, if it comes to that." Quinn stopped than and ran his fingers through his hair. It would either shut him down, or it would overload the cells, and detonate him. Likely seriously or injuring killing hector in the process. It was a risk they might have to take.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 06, 2017, 09:53:50 pm
"Two-two-two down." Donny buzzes, he stares at a nearby camera. He feels around his head, he wedges the blade inbetween a yellow aluminum cover depicting a smile. He pries off the cover and wedges the blade under the Ram-Like device. He tries to force it out, he shouts in pain before stopping for a second. He digs out a small hip flask out of his pocket and takes a swig, after pouring it over his incisions. He wedges the blade inbetween the ram-like device once more, and forces it out. He blacks out for a moment, groaning. He takes out an adrenaline auto injector and stabs it into his thigh. "Hurrrrts....." He forces himself up to his feet, his mind is clear. He takes three Oxycontin tablets dry. He glares at the nearby camera, "Take-take-take that you unholy overgrown cal-cal-calculator." He walks down the hall, bandaging the incisions.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 06, 2017, 10:09:22 pm
"Not a clever one." C.I.D. thought, watching the cyborg ripping out components. He'd planned to turn it against the other two, perhaps kill the meddling Dr.Quinn first, but then they'd caught on. The cyborg was more internal human and non-functioning trash than true cyborg. C.I.D. watched with interest as he seemed to disable an integrated weapon in his right hand and then the same for the other. If C.I.D. had organic eyes, they would have widened as he rocked back on his likewise non-existent heels when the cyborg had pulled one of it's CPU's. Once that was out C.I.D. knew, the cyborg would mostly be on whatever reserve he had for processing. Probably his organic brain. It hampered C.I.D. more than the foil had anyway. Without a CPU to exploit, C.I.D. had a hard time finding enough processing power within Donavan to register issued commands. He scanned the Cyborg as it moved to another room. Most of it wasn't functioning anymore after the loss of such a vital piece. The torsion ratchet was more an issue than an aid, for example. Donavans integrated life support unit still worked, for now. Donavan moved to yet another room, and C.I.D. scanned him again. This time, he noticed the irregularity in Donavans power cell. He wasn't sure he could use that but if he felt the need, he could detach and throw that devastating missile at whatever he chose. The damage would be mind numbing. C.I.D. was too busy watching Donavan to notice Hector and Quinn slipping into the unguarded assembly room, and too concentrated on the cyborg to sense Medeina getting ready for her journey out of C.I.D.'s electronic mind mass.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 06, 2017, 10:31:07 pm
Donny twirls the ram-like device in his fingers, he slips it in his pocket. All because of this little rectangle. He buzzes, he stares at a the camera, a little red dot. That little red dot meant that fucking calculator was watching him. Where are they? Donny thought, They gotta be here somewhere."Qui-" The speaker crackles to life, then dies. No. Nonono. Not now. His weak, strained, and hoarse voice speaks up. "Qui- Quinn? Quinn?!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 06, 2017, 11:30:58 pm
Hector led the way, sword and tattered mimicry of a shield in hand, unsteadily making his way through despite the soreness his earlier actions caused, along with the dull ache that came from hacking and bashing through the few machines that stood in their way. Good, he thought, most of the AI's focus was on Donovan. Then the realization changed his mind. Not good at all, he was the one most vulnerable to C.I.D. at the moment.
By now they saw the systems, taking the detour the other peculiar AI had directed, when he saw what looked like their objective. "Alright Quinn, do your magic and get this done. If you think we got time, maybe ask this one what it thinks EMPing the controls will do after we take it out of the machine. I want to make this system feel something." he said softly. Even then, he suspected if it would harm C.I.D. that would only draw attention to them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 07, 2017, 01:12:40 am
It was a small office off of a much larger room. That room was filled with automated machinery for constructing robots. Skitterbots, Quinn saw. Everything had been set up for him. It made him suspicious, but then again, downloading an AI was hardly a task that was risky in the long run. A medibot stood inert in one corner where Medeina had instructed it to shut off, and on the desk was the object they were looking for. It looked like a regular hard drive, except that it was shot through like a stone with something that looked like glowing emerald. Quinn had seen quiet a few of them. They'd never really glowed like this, broken ones being swapped out for backups or the ones that littered a workbench if Dee's workshop. A harddrive matrix, also known as a cyber brain. He looked it over carefully and wondered if it had enough space. Cyber brains like this tended to be amazingly fast, but until just before the cataclysm, they hadn't been capable of hold more than a simple directive and personality. The AI Medeina was not C.I.D., but Quinn still wondered if it had enough space. The other spoke to them through the intercom outside the little office. Now that her hour of liberation was at hand, she threw caution to the wind to speak with them. "Hurry now Dr. Quinn. The computer in that office is the only one on this level that is capable of performing a total harddrive matrix rewrite." Quinn was already plugging it into a thing that looked like an old fashioned VHS player and striking confirmations on the keyboard. He hadn't had to do it often, but compiling research was something he had been required to do often. The process, as far as he could tell, was the same.
He noticed, right away. "NO!" the voice boomed out of microphones throughout the facility, "NO! YOU W-ILL NOT!" Medeina threw up her security measures, but C.I.D. blew through them. She felt herself degrading, being deleted even as she was downloaded onto the hard drive. There was another booming shout in the negative. Medeina threw up her security again, but this time she added a little something. In the time it took for him to batter down her defenses, she did a little alteration of her own to the download. She hooked a secondary download in, and then a third, adding them to the queue with Medeina first in line. The other two large files were something very special to her, and completely ignored by C.I.D. Her research. She threw up her defenses again, this time adding a little touch that lost security AI had taught her. To C.I.D., the AI known as Medeina flickered and his erasure of her defaulted to the meaningless flora and fauna research. "NO!" came that shout again, drowning out a question Hector had shot to Quinn as he watched the assembly room light up and it's machinery beginning to spring to life. He couldn't reset the process once it had begun, but the download of the AI would take awhile. Long enough that the rooms inactive robotic occupants could be killed and the harddrive matrix destroyed. The first of the skitter bots climbed down off a conveyor belt and came on rapidly. As others did the same, Hector backed himself into the doorway, locked his teeth, and growled a primitive sound of undeniable agitation. "Alright. He whispered, "alright then, let's get started."
Donavan heard the shouts booming over the intercoms all over the facility and felt the insistent tug on his mind slacken and then stop. It was a moment to breath, and he was thankful for it. Those shouts though, and the sudden release. It meant C.I.D. had brought his full attention against Hector and Quinn. He had to find them, to help them. With what? He looked at his hands and emitted a short croak that would have been a chuckle had not Donavan's throat been badly mutilated by surgery. He looked up, the lights had begun to flicker. Perhaps Quinn had found some kind of power override and turned the lights back on. In the brief glance I had in the dimming light, he spotted a sign that read "mainframe maintenance access." He pulled his power cell, examined it, and looked at the sign before putting it back. That gave him an idea, but he had to hurry.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 07, 2017, 01:21:35 am
Hector at this point had a simple plan. Hold them back. Shield forward, blade in hand to use the crossguard instead, best for handling the machines. Buy time. Every little shock only worsened the growing pain, but he'd had worse. Every so often he could make use of his EMP to further keep them at bay, he knew at least the skitterbots and manhacks could be taken out safely with them.
His question was now irrelevent. That thing was hooked up to important machinery, and the question of the AI noticing them was moot now. He'd save one last pulse, a long as he can possibly hold out. The instant that matrix was taken out, he'd have to hope that blasting the machinery would halt this, or at least buy them a moment to make their escape.
And if it inflicted any damage at all to the AI running the facility, the better. Closest thing to making a machine bleed, he thought.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 07, 2017, 03:17:19 pm
Donny takes out another adrenaline epi-pen, pulls the cap and stabs it into his thigh. The cyborgs pace normalizes, mostly unhampered by the unworking joint ratchet. He holds his FN-57 at the ready and hobbles faster down one flickering hallway, and down a flight of stairs. "Come on, COME ON." he thinks, "Faster, move FASTER." He raises the pistol towards a skitter, the round goes through it chassis and renders it immobile. He sinks two more shots into it's shell. "Qui- Quinn? Hect- Hector?" The rising number of the things in the halls meant things had gotten more serious for Quinn and Hector. He had to hurry, he had to push on. "God bless this punished body." He breathed, feeling the twinge in his side as another of the servos gave up the ghost.
Hector backed himself into the doorway to the small office where the skitterbots could only come at him two or three at a time. Quinn had considered his choices in armament should Hector fall. Wraithslayer, the enchanted crossbow, was a good option but in such close quarters he could be overwhelmed. He settled on the sword. With a flick of his wrist and a word, the blade was wreathed in flame. That would work. The incorruptible sword was short enough to use easily in the office, and its enhancement could part metal as easily as flesh. Hector kicked out at one skitterbot and smashed the single red eye of another. They were gaining ground. Quinn checked the download status and wondered if it was worth it. Medeina was a completely unknown AI with a completely unknown purpose. They could be making a terrible mistake by taking her out of the lab. A noise from somewhere behind him brought him out of his thoughts, and he barely avoided the diving scalpel of the medibot that had been forgotten in the corner. The pillar shaped robot twisted it’s bulk to bring another of it’s tools to bare against the doctor. Quinn brought the sword up and deflected what looked like a bone saw and the pillar rotated again and stabbed out with a syringe loaded with something undeniably deadly. He turned the swords upward movement into a downward chop, smashing the syringe to pieces and kicked the medibot back to reset his stance. The two men found themselves back to back with the terminal between them. The medibot switched to something that looked like a simple tube, and fired some kind of small dart. It missed Quinn and pinged harmlessly off of Hectors helmet. “This is getting out of hand.” Said Hector, raising the remains of his shield to block the seeking probe of an eager skitter bot. Quinn gave the monitor another glance and realized what he was waiting for was done. He chopped down with the sword, bending the tube out of shape, and whipped the harddrive matrix from the port. “NOW HECTOR! THE TERMINAL IS CLEAR!”
Donavan sat down on a swivel chair down in the mainframe room. It was cold down here, but that wasn’t anything Donavan couldn’t handle. He fished around in his coat for his flask and didn’t find it. “Ah well.” he thought. He wrapped a length of wire around the cell in a tight coil, keeping the ends in contact with the cells input and output ports with strips of tape. He set it down next to the chair and waited for it to heat up. He clasped his hands on his chest, enjoying the measure of control he had over them. The cell had warmed up and had begun to vibrate. A few moments later and it toppled over. The steel of the cells body was beginning to heat. Donavan wondered what it would be like, the explosion. Whatever it was, it would do a lot of damage to the room.
Hector dropped his sword and spun on his heel, bringing the sparking hand around and blasting the terminal to pieces, masking another sound somewhere beneath them. At that moment, the lights dimmed, flickered, and went out. The skitter bots collapsed or detonated, and the medibot fell silent. “Did I do that?” Hector asked, kicking one of the skitterbots. “Possibly,” replied Quinn, sheathing his sword and pocketing the harddrive matrix. “Let’s go, this might prove to be only temporary.” Hector agreed, but didn’t move to join Quinn. He was looking around the room at the piles of skitter bots, a growing sense of pride on his face.
Mica stirred a little, feeling a vibration run through the room. Where was she? It was dark, but her night vision adjusted quickly. She blinked her left eye, and then the cluster of eyes on the right side. She had never noticed how much better she could see in the dark when those eyes weren’t covered. She sniffed the air. It was stale, unmoving, nothing she could eat in her area. She pushed herself off the column shaped thing that held her up and looked around. From the moment she woke up, something at the edge of her vision had stuck out to her. Until she’d looked directly at it, she hadn’t realized it was even there. She ran around the side of the vertical glass tank and pressed her hands against it. Catnip was inside, submerged in some kind of blue, gently glowing, gel. “Kat-nyp?” She said. Catnip wasn’t moving, Mica panicked and began scratching at the glass. She tried to sink her teeth in, but those sharp implements didn’t make much of a difference either. Mica slammed her fists against the tube, trying to break it, trying to crack it, anything would have been acceptable so long as it wasn’t just a show of how impotent she was against a material she’d shattered a hundred times with thrown stones or her fists. “KAT-NYP!” she screamed into the face of her sister beyond the glass. Catnip did not so much as twitch.
Quinn opened the door and Hector dashed through, Quinns wraithslayer at the ready. He lowered the crossbow though when he saw Mica, silhouetted against the side of a cylindrical glowing glass tank of some kind. She would scrabble uselessly against the glass. “Mica.” Quinn hissed. She spun at the sound, the look of hopelessness etched into her features made the men’s hearts sink. “Mica, where is Catnip?” Hector asked, handing the crossbow back to Quinn. She rose and ran to him. For all his concern, he couldn’t help but look away when she came to him. She didn’t seem to care of perhaps notice her own undressed state. He had to raise his hands to avoid touching something he shouldn’t. He could feel his cheeks flaring a bright red. “HEK-TOR! SAVE KAT-NYP! NITE HAS TO SAVE KAT-NYP!” Quinn had seen the two hermetically sealed cases resting on the medical bays single table and he could guess what those were. He looked them over and made a guess. The smaller would be Mica’s. As he went about opening and getting out the various items, Mica rushed back to the side of the glowing tube. “Save kat-nyp, for Mica…” Hector approached the tank and looked in. It was obviously Catnip. “Quinn, what the hell is this? Is Catnip…” The doctor went to join Hector and Mica and looked down at Catnip. “No.” He said, finishing Hector’s thought. “She’ll live, but we have to get her out of there.” Quinn retrieved Catnips tool kit, a battered sheet of canvas with many sleeves and pockets for tools. The companion of many miles for the rat mutant. With a little work and a lot of swearing, they broke the seals. The stuff inside was in fact the source of the glow, a blue gel that had congealed and solidified somewhat around Catnip. Mica dug into the stuff to get her sister out but drew back, feeling a numbing sensation. Carefully, the group brought her out of her containment and laid her out on the floor. Quinn dumped a bucket of water on her, and she shot awake in an instant. “KAT-NYP!” Mica cried, “MY-KA THOUGHT YOU WAS DEADS!” Catnip shook her head several times. “Where are my clothes Mica?” she asked. Quinn handed off Catnips rough but apparently very lucky clothes and she put them on. “What now?” She asked. The answer was to her liking. "Onwards and Upwards my dear Nip!" Said Hector.
(OOC: first paragraph provided by wilson, edited by myself)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 07, 2017, 03:57:04 pm
Hector looked around, leading the way back up, retracing steps. This time they bypassed the assembly room, tempted as Hector was to let Mica and Catnip get a good look at their handiwork. "We need to find Donovan and get out of here. I really hope he wasn't got himself killed by now, stripping out bionics like that..." he said, uncertain what Donny's plan was. "Saving one dose of EMP...I hope you hear this, you abacus with a god complex..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 07, 2017, 04:21:06 pm
Donny blacks out, longer this time. He has a vague dream, before he became what he is now. A scientist with a metal jaw. A large machine similar to a canning press, it presses a plate onto his hand. He remembers who helped him, Taji. He brought him to the bar, to an old mobster surgeon. He cut out the more crippling CBM's. He wakes up with a jolt. His clothes are charred and tattered. He gets up with a groan, he's peppered with shrapnel. He picks up a pipe to use as a simple crutch. He hobbles back to the group, he waves silently and then falls over.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 07, 2017, 04:43:19 pm
The sound, and the dull thump of the shockwave in the air, was loud enough that it left their ears ringing. If Hector's actions made the AI bleed, as he put it, this was a deep stab into the heart of it. At least, he guessed that from how the systems all around them seemed to falter from the explosion.
It also led them to Donovan, or rather he reached them as they headed towards where it sounded like the explosion came from. The result was the knight trying to support the cyborg's weight, to help him back up and practically drag him along with Quinn's help. He could tell that on top of extensive injuries from blast and shrapnel, even more severe that what he was walking off, many vulnerable bionics had been deliberately stripped from his body. What he didn't know yet was just how many parts were missing, though Quinn'd likely find it out swiftly as soon as they had a moment's peace.
They could hear, intermittently, the distorted voice of the AI having devolved into something resembling anger, while the two of them hauled Donny onto a bench for Quinn to examine. It only took a cursory look to match the various pieces with where they were ripped out of, but one piece was unaccounted for. "Goddamnit Donovan. He's missing his power storage system, must've removed it to use them as a makeshift grenade. Without it life support is barely functional, but he'd be able to walk it off if it weren't for his injuries. Need to get out of here and replace the power storage." he said.
Unfortunately Quinn was fairly certain he hadn't brought any power storage CBMs in the truck, much of his spare parts and items moved into his lab. Hector suspected such as well, and while Quinn evaluated Donny he rolled up the sleeve of his damaged old hauberk, examining his right arm. Forearm, a few inches above the wrist where the EMP generator was implanted. One of his two storage units was there.
He did say he was saving enough power for another EMP blast. He'd need a good knife, enough disinfectant to sterilize the bionic, and as more painkillers than what he tended to carry, most of which was already wearing off after the incident with the turret...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 07, 2017, 05:39:06 pm
Meanwhile, at an old road pit stop.
A handful of men dressed in fancy clothing, One in a long overcoat that's simply resting on his shoulders. He has his arms behind his back, pacing back and forth in front of four men dressed in bandit gear. "Boys, boys, boys. You've disappointed me. There's one thing I need to ask, Greggory. C'mere." The red-headed bandit walks up to the boss. "I- I'm sorry, W-we couldn't get you nothin'!" The boss slams a crowbar into Greggory's gut, forcing him to his knees. "Where. The fuck. is my money?" "We-" *cough* "We don't have it!" The don rubs his temples. "Wrong answer." He sticks his pinkies into his mouth and lets out a loud whistle and makes a gesture in the air. The other fancily dressed men open fire, killing the small group of bandits. "Loot this little shitty fucking place and lets get outta here." He gets in the back seat of a black and red oldsmobile. The rest loot the dwelling and load up the car, what they didn't want they put into a pile and shot a flare up into the air. They rest get into the car and drive off.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 07, 2017, 09:33:11 pm
You wouldn’t know that something serious had gone down at the lab by the look of it on the surface. All was as it had been when they had descended into the depths. The sun had moved across the sky, making it’s day to day trip as it always did. Evening crickets chirruped all around the dull grey building that marked the labrynth beneath, but otherwise, the facility had fallen silent. Silent it was, save for the voices of the people who now emerged from it.
They heaved Donavan up onto the gate next to Hector. “It’s a risky operation.” Quinn explained. He went to the cab and opened the door, wincing at the blast of heat which rolled out to engulf him, instantly bathing him in a fresh sheen of sweat. No one had come across the truck with it’s load of fuel, it’s fresh battery, and it’s cache of supplies. Quinn reached across the passenger seat and retrieved a black bag filled with cold packs and medical supplies. The cold packs had thawed out, but the anesthesia was still cold. Quinn allowed it to warm a little in his hand before going on. “Very noble of you to offer to do it yourself, but really Hector, you should let me do it if you are serious about this.” Hector nodded his consent, he was perfectly serious. Quinn injected Hector with something transparent, a lot of it, and then set to work preparing Donavan while he waited for the anesthesia to take effect. Donavan was in bad shape. Quinn performed a cursory evaluation, and then a more in depth one. The burns on Donavans body were indicative of an EMP explosion, but the devastation suggested a conflagration. “Power cell overload.” Quinn commented. No idea what they’ll do when they go. It’s lucky Donny’s EMP shielding is top notch though.” Hector stated that the “the juice” was starting to take effect, and Quinn began, drawing a scalpel from the little pouch at his belt. “This will probably sting at first,” he said, “And then some more for the rest of your life.” Hector swallowed hard, and gave the sign that Quinn should begin. Despite the chemicals running their course in his body and heavily dulling the pain, it was quite painful.
Deep beneath the lab in the charred server room that had served as C.I.D.’s main data base, a line of blue appears. The line widens and fills out with detail until a man is standing in the room. “What-WHAT-WHAT-what- wh-” comes the voice over the intercom, but the man gives a wave of his hand and the mic cuts out explosively. He crosses to the back of the room, where the equipment is less likely to be damaged. He is humming something as he goes along. “Shall we gather at the river, the beautiful the beautiful the rii-i-iver.” He ran a finger down a line of glowing hard drives. Some of them had changed red with the damage they had received. An EMP explosion in a server room was no joke for an AI. “Shall we gather at the river,” He continued, finding what he came for. He withdrew a harddrive matrix, just one. It’s color was an angry red. The man grinned at it and sang, “Shall we gather at the river, that flows by the kingdom of god.” The party above would get theirs in due time. No need to go after them now, the man only had one objective in mind when he came here. He tucked the harddrive into a large pouch at his hip, and rapidly thinned to an impossible line of glowing blue before vanishing altogether. As he vanished, the lab gave one last metaphorical lurch, and then went completely dark.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 07, 2017, 09:50:14 pm
Hector was lost in a delirium for a good bit of it, despite the sting he felt in his arm. Two things were more apparent to him. One, how that injection seemed to make everything else that he's shrugged off a lot more tolerable, either that or the pain of the operation made it seem tolerable in comparison. Second, he was fairly certain he heard voices. A faint whisper of things to come here, a strange quiet humming there. Then the voice briefly turned to that horrible mechanical drone that haunted them in the lab.
The last thing he heard before things seemed to make sense again, the medicine fading, was what vaguely sounded like a high-pitched voice, berating him for repeatedly almost getting himself killed. He suspected it as actually Quinn chewing either him or Donovan out, filtered through blood loss and the fading drugs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 07, 2017, 09:52:41 pm
The Boss lights up a cigar as they drive back. He rubs his temples and looks out the window, he catches eye of a small group outside of a lab. One of them is laying in the back of a pickup truck, while the other two are operating on him. "Pull over near them." "Got it, boss." The oldsmobile pulls out down the road a bit. The three mobsters walk up to the group, "Hey there, fellas. You all okay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 07, 2017, 10:01:24 pm
Herctor finally stirred a bit. "I'll be good, honest...ow. Fuck..." he mumbled, practically rolling out of the truck as a result. By now he started to become aware of unfamilar voices, and they weren't hallucinations this time, sitting up. Which was likely quite a sight, a knight with countless broken rings in his mail, dents and scratches in his helm, and a rolled-up sleeve showing a heavily-bandaged arm. "Better now that we're out there. I think...Catnip? Mica? You two alright? Quinn, how's Donny holding up?" he suspected that the barely-charged cell he had to offer was only going to buy them time, wouldn't be enough until Donovan's power-generation was functional again.
It was then he noticed the actual source of the question. "Oh. Greetings. We're...well, let's just say we had a long day..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 07, 2017, 10:14:16 pm
The Boss nods, "I can say the same, pally." He looks towards Quinn and Donny. "Ya gentlemen need anything?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 08, 2017, 12:03:19 am
Mica came out of her thoughts for a moment. She'd sat and watched slack jawed at the operation, salivating heavily, tongue lolling in a most unladylike manner. She hadn't eaten anything since Hap's bar, and that meal had been brought up unintentionally by overeating. Mica was ravenous. Quinn told Catnip to take her away from the truck and feed her. To Catnips credit, she tried. The water Mica would drink, but when Catnip produced the food Mica's reaction was galvanic. "ECH! Nasty froots and nuts! That not food stupid Kat-nyp!" She slapped the little ziplock bag of nuts and fruits out of Catnips hands. "Hey! If you aren't gonna eat it you could at least let me eat it. What I wouldn't give for a little chocolate..." Catnip said. Mica stalked off into the woods.
She smelled the air but didn't catch any scents worth following, so she climbed into a short but broad old oak tree and settled in. She wasn't recklessly hungry like she'd been before, she thought she could probably lie in wait pretty well. Well enough in fact, that Catnip walked past her, mere inches from Mica's hiding spot. She could have reached out and grabbed her. 'Stupid Kat-nyp,' she thought, 'gonna scare away all the crunchy little aminals.' Catnip turned back after a short search, she'd be back of course. For now though, she was alone. A little jingle came to her, one that Dee had taught her. Mostly because he thought it was funny to hear her perform it. "Two all beef patty," she said, spotting a rabbit suddenly enter her field of vision. "Speshul saws," The rabbit looked around with it's doughy little eyes. Mica loved rabbit almost as much as she loved chicken. "Let us, shees, pikl," The rabbit got a little closer and Mica started to salivate anew. "ung-yun, an says-me seed..." It had come to the foot of her tree, she had to be careful not to alert it as she reached down towards it. Slowly, so slowly. "bunz." Her hand shot forward and snared the rabbit, it squeeled in terror and Mica shoveled it into her mouth alive. Fur and blood erupted from between her teeth as she bit down on it. It would tide her over for a little bit, but she thought it would be nice to have some more of the soup at that one place on the way home. She took her time heading back to the road, until she heard a vehicle approaching.
Quinn wasn't sure what to think of the men who had pulled up to them. If they wanted to rob the group, they could certainly do it. Hector was still semi stoned, and Donavan was too low on power and too damaged to be of much help. Hector spoke to the men who looked like mobsters, and Quinn was surprised by how lucid he sounded. He was shaking off the drugs faster than he thought. 'He must have the constitution of a brass eagle.' He thought. Out loud though, he said "Nip and Mica are fine, Mica went to look for something that isn't fruit to eat. Donavan will recover if we can get his torsion system back in order, and Catnip went to look for Mica." He looked back to the mobsters. "If you gentleman know the way back to the main road, maybe even Hap's that would be grand.
Mica charged out of the trees and looked around. She saw Quinn, who looked at her and grimaced at the blood running down her face and ruining her silk shirt. She looked at the mobsters who seemed to see her with something like wide eyed horror. They were drawing guns. If they were in the woods, she could ambush them one by one, but there was a lot of open space between them and her. Quinn settled the issue for her by calmly calling out, "Put those guns away boys, Mica get over here and wash your face goddamnit." Mica flicked her tongue out, sweeping across her lips and chin, removing the blood around the edges of them, and erasing the trails the dripping blood had left running down her chin. The mobsters hesitated, and Mica put a little confident sway in her hips as she walked. She decided then that she liked people being somewhat off balance around her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 08, 2017, 12:13:00 am
The Don looks at Mica, "Interestin' kiddo ya got there. Boys calm down." He takes off his large overcoat and folds it, draping it over his arm. "You fine bunch of ladies and gentlemen can follow us to Hap's. We were gonna stop there anyways. Arrivederci, fellas." The boss scratches his bearded chin, and flicks the ashes from his cigar. He whistles and the mobsters head back to their car.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 08, 2017, 12:14:56 am
Hector seemed a bit unsteady, not even yet willing to stand up, sitting for now. The jolt of his last lucid thoughts before the injection being to other the others were okay certainly helped with that, with that out of the way he practically fell back over. "Good news is I can still f-feel my arm. Bad news is exactly that." he said, a bit slurred.
"We need to, to check in with the others and tell them we aren't dead yet." he said, not seeming to pay much attention to the mobsters that had offered to "help" them. What snapped him back to reality and had him standing up was when Mica drew their attention. "Easy, easy. She's with ush, dun worry..." he trailed off, stumbling right back into a sitting position. Constitution of a brass eagle or not, it seemed the drugs still left a considerable effect on him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 08, 2017, 01:10:57 am
The truck crested the last hill on the east side of the farm bridge. Hector didn't see smoke, so he figured things must still be fine on the home front. Good to their word, the mobster types had led them back to the bar where the group shared the story of their adventure. Mica and Catnip decided to try the other, more expensive, chowder on Catnips dime. She passed a diamond the size of a pea across to the barkeep and she thought his eyes would just about pop out of his head after he'd examined it. Quinn had jury rigged a system for trickle charging Donavan's donated power cell from the truck battery. It hadn't worked, but it had worked to give his life support a jolt. "Like plugging in a computer with a faulty battery pack." He commented once Donavan was out of earshot. Catnip had tried to bring him food, but he rejected it. "Tore out too much of my system to keep that bastard C.I.D. out of my head. My gut doesn't work anymore." She asked him if it could be fixed, and he told her he thought so. A little while later, they left Hap's, waving to the gate guard as they did so.
Except for Mica taking a swipe at a mailbox as they passed it by, an act that sent pieces of mailbox and letters flying and sent Mica into a laughing fit, the trip was uneventful. It took a couple days but as the sun began to set one evening, Roxanne spotted the old truck ambling across the bridge towards the farm. She waved to them, relieved that all of them seemed accounted for. Mica waved back.
Donavan was taken to Quinns lab where the Doctor and Dervish worked over night and all the next day to adjust and reconnect the missing pieces. Not all of them could be recovered of course. Some of them had burnt out when they'd been removed. In the end though, Donavan was still up and among the living.
Catnip was disappointed that Kathrine had not yet returned, but she was too exhausted to do much about it. She didn't feel like dealing with the mines she thought were still scattered around her room to catch that fly if it should come back, so she slept in the drivers seat of the vehicle that would become the train. She dreamed fitfully of skitterbots in the dark.
Quinn rapped on Dee's door the next morning. He could smell what Dee had been doing wafting from beneath the door. When it finally opened a long while later, the thick smoke had billowed out in a choking cloud. Dee's mask was blank, likely because he was making an expression that the mask could not emulate. "Yeah bro?" His words came out slow, a bit lugubrious. Quinn considered the reason he came here and decided that Dee was in no shape for it right now. "Nevermind" he said, not hiding the disapproval on his face, "I'll come back when you're sober." He reached into his pocket and touched the harddrive matrix. He didn't want Dee working with or even knowing about it until he was back in his right mind.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 08, 2017, 10:42:06 am
The folks from the lab raid had returned after quite a few days out and complete radio silence. Roxanne had thought of the worst a few times, especially when Victor had told her their vehicle had stayed stationary for a while once they started moving from the lab coordinates they had given Victor before leaving. Once they had arrived she saw Donovan in critical condition and Hector banged up as well. The knight was mostly worried about the safety Donovan and his shield being battered afterwards. Quinn and Deverish went to work soon after arrival and Roxanne knew Donovan was in good hands. Quinn had been the one who installed her more complicated bionic in the name of science and Deverish had proven himself on quite the occasion. The only thing to do is wait.
During the time Donovan was being worked on, Roxanne asked around of what happened. All of the people involved were tired and no-one save for Hector talked to her. Hector only did so as a way to vent about his shield. He went on about it filling in details of the encounter. “How dare it do this to me?! I worked hard on this shield!”, those were some of the choice words Hector used half-trying to keep his knight personal and half-too-mad-to-care.
As Roxanne heard the story, she was glad she had been excluded from the ordeal. She noted her augmented brain, one of the reasons she was able to retain the knowledge of all she read at the cost of bionic power. The AI would’ve taken her over as well and she would be damned if she would of done the same thing as Donovan did, one close encounter with death was enough for her. Roxanne assisted Hector with the reconstruction of his shield to listen to the rest of the story. Why the knight insisted on fixing his shield instead of resting like catnip and mica, especially with his knightly turret bash, was beyond her but to each their own she rationalized; besides, she got to listen to all the hot gossip.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 08, 2017, 11:39:24 am
Hector by now was at the point of just tending to the last few things. By now it was simply a matter of painting what was essentially a brand new shield. There were a few large bits of wood that went into the ply of the new one, but that was about it. The old one had seen countless impacts, each time repaired with a bit of cloth and whatever glue was available, and with sturdy enough fabric it made a simple cut or scratch completely unnoticeable. Bulletholes and larger chunks taken out of it had been harder to take care of, having mostly resorted to hard-carving pieces of wood to at least ensure there wasn't nothing but cloth there. The end result was something that now looked to be in far better condition that his shield had been, even before the lab raid.
"Honestly though, annoying as it is, it's better the shield than me. It's what it's for." he said. By now he'd calmed down a bit, finally able to relax some. The hard parts were over. The actual painting was somewhat relaxing, and he felt it was a good thing to keep himself busy while healing up. Good to ensure his hand was still working fairly well. Painting his shield and riveting new links in his mail were the sort of things he'd do when resting after a fight, it seems. Low-intensity sort of things.
"Regardless, sorry for not checking in when we got out of there. I was out of it, Quinn was busy, and Donovan was out cold. Maybe should train Catnip in radio operation if she's going to sneak along again." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 08, 2017, 08:24:54 pm
Dee wonders what it was, he lays on his bed. Starting at the ceiling. He wonders what it was, then he groans and gets out of bed. He grabs a container of pepper corns and chews on it. He sobers up slightly, he grabs an MP3 player and bursts out of his workshop. He sprints around the farm, doing laps. He sobers up greatly. "WOO! YEAH!" He jogs to to the showers, he strips down to his boxers and gets inside. He takes a quick rinse. He gets dressed and jogs over to Quinn's lab, he knocks on the door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 08, 2017, 08:57:09 pm
Catnip was looking at the floor in her room. It was an alright floor, she'd laid it down herself. A point of pride to her really. There was something missing. The floor was nice, but there were no landmines on it. It didn't occur to her that a detonating landmine would seriously damage the barn and everything in it when she set them up, only that she wanted to keep the fly away. To her credit, they had kept the fly away. Delora had come into the barn looking to borrow a tool, took one look into the bedroom, and lost her nerve. Catnip didn't know that it had been Floyd who'd cleared out the room, with help. She looked into the wardrobe, all the clothes she never wore were in there, some of Kathrine's too. The cabinets were still bare. She found a single bullet lying in the center cabinet, left behind by the men with the strange accents. Catnip rolled the bullet around in her hand as she took inventory of the rack displaying her collection of fake swords. She was certain some of them were real, but she didn't know which ones. She realized she was delaying the inevitable. The bed appeared as she left it, messy, unkempt. Maybe she'd set it all to rights before Katherine got back, but that rat part of her was loathe to take apart the nest. She realized long before going to it that there was no chocolate on the bed. Her stash was gone.
"Ok, that's good then." Said Roxanne to her group of mutants. "Take inventory of what we've got for ammo and-" "Hello Roxanne." Said Catnip before Delora was suddenly bowled over by something they couldn't see. The fly felt Catnip's approach with her antenna and had looked in her direction in time to hear Catnip shout "YOU STOLE MY CHOCOLATE!" One of Delora's wings folded strangely and scratches appeared on her back. "GET OFF ME YOU BITCH!" Shouted Delora. "CATNIP! NO!" Shouted Roxanne. Catnips cloak slipped free and she was revealed. Both rat and the fly rolled across the ground, biting and scratching, kicking and punching, until they slammed into the side of the farm tenement. Delora gave Catnip a shot to the nose and broke it, Catnip reciprocated by mashing her own fist into Delora's eye. The two separated and then came back together again in a scratching, hair pulling, eye gouging, ball. Delora brought her tail around, but Catnip ducked the swipe and picked something up. As Delora took another swing with her spiked tail, Catnip threw the bottle. It was a good throw. The bottle clonked off the side of Delora's head and she staggered. "NOT FAIR!" She shouted. "GIMME BACK MY CHOCOLATE!" Catnip was stomping towards the fly when a shot rang out, startling the fury out of Catnip. Delora shouted at her, "I DIDN'T TOUCH YOUR CHOCOLATE YOU BITCH!" She was advancing on Catnip when Floyd fired another shot into the ground. "Cut the shit." he said, stepping between them. "What the hell have I told you about harassing people with that damn cape Catnip." Catnip looked ashamed. Floyd didn't want her ashamed, he wanted her sorry. Catnip didn't look sorry. "Go to your room." He said. Catnip snatched her cloak and slunk off back to the barn, swerving for the cook shack in a last second show of defiance. Delora straightened her wing back out and rubbed the side of her head where the bottle hit her. "What the fuck is her problem..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 08, 2017, 09:16:02 pm
Hector winced a bit at the shouting and gunshots just as he'd finished painting his shield, making his way back outside, only to facepalm at the sight. He could already guess what had happened, having overheard parts of it. "Alright, what happened..." he asked, grumbling a bit.
Nathaniel meanwhile had make his way out there as well, having overheard things more clearly. "I recall I noticed Sharlene's...ahem, assistant was the last person I saw in the area, back while Hector and the others were out. Didn't think he went into her room, but I know he was in the barn for some reason at least." he pointed out, the knight shaking his head. "I swear, if he actually did that..." Nathaniel interrupted him. "Jesus Hector, last thing we need is you walking off to beat the shit out of anyone, especially not after the shit you're still healing up from."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 08, 2017, 09:22:07 pm
Floyd raises his hat off his eyes, he's lounging on his quad bike. He strolls past the drama in the barn, and he turns on his heels and heads towards Sharlene's cabin. He walks up to Mohammad and drawls, "We're having a chat. Now."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 08, 2017, 09:28:24 pm
"Whaaaaat? How about I just go the fuck back to sleep. Now take your stroller and fuck off back to the funny farm, golden oldie."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 08, 2017, 09:30:15 pm
Nathaniel had decided to follow along for now, though predictably he had to walk, given the Steel Horse could only handle one person. At least it was a short walk, and he was starting to be a bit quicker on his feet thanks to his knee starting to heal up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 08, 2017, 09:37:15 pm
Floyd glares at Mohammad, "You've mistaken that as a request. I'm not asking. We're talking." "I know you took shit from Catnip. I don't want bullshit. You're going to give back what you haven't used and you're going to apologize."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 08, 2017, 09:42:03 pm
"You've mistaken this for a conversation. Get out of my house." He leans against the dresser. "'sides, I ain't taken shit."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 08, 2017, 09:45:51 pm
Nathaniel at this point had caught up with them, stepping in behind Floyd. "That so? Then you what, poked around in Catnip's room to compare clothes or soemthing?" he remarked, walking stick in hand. "And far as I'm concerned, this is Sharlene's place." he said, before gesturing to the dresser, to suggest where the most likely spot would be.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 08, 2017, 09:50:26 pm
Mica picked through the house. She'd been away a few days and the lady man had gotten too big for his skirt. She sniffed the couch and made a face, then sniffed it again. She flipped up the cushions and there, next to many bags of white powder, she found a lidless pickle jar. The large glass container held some little objects of various shapes and color she recognized as chocolates. The lady man liked chocolate too? Well, if he liked it as much as Catnip, then she would have to do something about it. She snatched the jar and put the cushion back in place. It's disappearance would distress mohammad maybe, and Mica thought maybe she could dangle the chocolate over Catnip. Maybe Catnip would trade her something tasty for it. Maybe... Mica thought of the chicken in the front yard. Catnip would let her have the chicken for the chocolate. That settled it, but she'd have to wait awhile. Mica crawled out through a window, her plan was to dig a hole and bury the chocolate somewhere in the woods. If the lady man kicked up a fuss, she would just say she didn't know. When things had calmed down a bit, she'd go and dig it up and give it to Catnip. For Mica, this was a large stretch of planning, something the others thought beyond her ability. She snickered at how clever she was.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 08, 2017, 10:01:23 pm
"Hah, funny. You think this is your house, I believe this is Sharlene's house. You're just a layabout." Floyd grumbles. He lets himself in, pushing Mohammad aside easily despite his protests. Floyd rests a hand against his revolver just in case if he tries anything. "This'd be over quick if you'd tell the truth."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 08, 2017, 10:09:06 pm
((Name: Isaac 'Drifter' Mortal Age: 32 Height: 5'11" weight(excluding gear): 180lbs/12.8571 Stone(for the british) Weapons: modified Mosin Nagant(iron sights, camo netting on the barrel, suppresor, side mounted scope), 4x Bundle Charge(9 heads), 5x Potato Masher, 50 cal pistol, M16 Clothes: Metal russian riot helmet, Grey jacket with several patches(some gang patches likely stolen from their owners, also a trio of military patches on the right shoulder), white under shirt, patched jeans, metal plated combat boots, metal chest and back plate worn underneath the jacket, black backpack, camo netting(designed to be worn over his clothes) Inventory: 100 rounds for Mosin, 30 50cal rounds, 200 rounds 5.56, four canteens, two empty glass beer bottles, map, gun parts, repair kit
Background Isaac served for several years in the military before leaving to seek out a normal life. He instead found himself a vigilante for the few short years before the apocalypse happened. During those years he earned several names from the criminals he found himself fighting.
Since the apocalypse he carried himself from make shift town to make shift town. This resulted in him being dubbed the Drifter by the handful of men who he kept meeting. Despite all of that he kept up his fight and found a new target in the bandits. Any he came across he killed.
It was the third year after the apocalypse he met Roland. A roving priest that found a companion in his quest to find a home.
Name: Roland Mccall age: 60 Height: 6' Weight: 200lbs/14.2857 Stone Weapons: Two .357 revolvers, a machete, two small hidden knives(one in one of his boots, one in his chest plate), 6x potato mashers Clothes: White shirt, Dark brown leather trench coat, jeans, cowboy boots, metal chest plate, messenger bag Inventory: 120 .357 rounds, bible, saw, material to mix together explosives, 2 canteens, 4 bottles of vodka, 6 empty beer bottles, cloth scraps, large gas can, First aid kit, various medical supplies, small radio.
Background Roland had spent a two year tour in the military as was tradition in his family before finding himself in college. Soon he began life as a preacher in his local church after finding a fascination with scripture. He had been well liked in his home town.
When the apocalypse struck he found himself the only one left in his home town. After words he became a traveling priest making it by through doing odd jobs and looting the handful of bandits he'd come across. It wasn't long into the third year he came across Drifter and the two banded together. Drifter provided the muscle and firepower needed to survive and Roland found himself treating wounds and cooking.))
Drifter held his Nagant loosely in hand as Roland followed a ten feet behind him. Roland had gotten used to the precaution the military man had taught him even though it seemed pointless since anyone with a grenade would likely kill whoever wasn't caught in the blast with ease. Either way he didn't particularly mind in the first place.
They'd traveled quite far to get here. They'd been looking for a home however their travels to find one had been fruit less up to this point. Cannibals tended to make a place rather unwelcoming after all. Roland asked Drifter "You sure this spot's going to be any better than the last? I damn near had my arm eaten."
Drifter motioned with his Nagant and said "Look old man, we got the guns to deal with it if this place isn't."
Drifter had the front of his helmet pulled down as he saw the camp up ahead. Waving a hand up in the air to signal his approach with Roland following suit the two approached. As they neared the bridge Drifter shouted into the air "Any more room? We caught one of your broadcasts and could use a spot to stay."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 08, 2017, 10:10:19 pm
"What do you think I'm doing, dumbass? What do you expect? 'Oooh look at me, I'm so guilty, I stole some dumbass thin-as-a-rail's stupid chocolate, oooh. I'm soooo sorry.' Fuck off, gramps. Get. Out."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 08, 2017, 10:16:12 pm
Nathaniel smirked a bit at that. "We didn't say you took chocolate, did we?" he pointed out. In a moment he'd drawn his own pistol and fired off a shot, one that went went through that skirt of Mohammad's, missing his legs by a couple inches. "That was a warning shot. Anymore bullshit outta you and you get a voice to match the outfit. Understand?"
Hector meanwhile had noticed the people approaching on the bridge, giving a cautious wave back. "A surprise to see more arrivals. We haven't many more places here, but if you wish so be it. Do mind the others though, I hope that you won't be alarmed by Catnip or Mica..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 08, 2017, 10:21:17 pm
OOC: oh shit, that escalated quickly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 08, 2017, 10:30:31 pm
Drifter smiled under his helmet as he approached the man. "We won't cause any trouble so long as no one tries to kill us. And we seen some weird shit in our time so I don't think either of us will be scared."
Drifter looked up as he heard the shot. "If'n that's all you gotta say I'm gonna check on that gunshot."
With that he started towards the sound without further word to Hector. As he approached Drifter switched his Nagant to his M16 and began circling the building he heard the shot from. As he came around to the window he caught sight of the men inside and the gun that had been drawn. Keeping low and lining up his sights Drifter took sight on the man with the gun before shouting " How's about you put the piece down and talk your conflict out like reasonable people. Name's Drifter before any o' you ask, met one of your boys at the bridge."
Meanwhile Roland walked over to the man and said "Sorry about him. Doesn't like gunshots when he ain't the one shooting. How's things round here? Need anyone to take care of anything cause I can lend a hand?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 08, 2017, 10:41:37 pm
Floyd raises an eyebrow, "Nice shootin', but a bit uncalled for right now. He's right, I never said you stole chocolate." He gestures for Nathan to lower the handgun. "'m Floyd, Sharpshooter's Nathaniel, This transvestite is Mohammad. We're just having a lil' chat about some stolen goods. Don' worry."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 08, 2017, 10:41:57 pm
Roxanne was still temding to Deloras wounds when all her followers and herself heard the gunshot. "Everyone go back to your quarters and load up, things might ugly." Roxanne went towards the sound of the shot and spotted two new people. She though something had gone arry and she pointed her laser sniper towards the scene just in case. She could not hear anything but watched intently.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 08, 2017, 10:43:46 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Very well then. Do be careful, two of our comrades are over there checking on something." he said, but by then Drifter had already gone and wandered off. "So far things have been stable, had a bit of trouble raiding a lab the other day with the doctor and a few others. I wouldn't advice going there, still likely hazardous." he said. That was likely still reflected in the numerous pieces missing from his mail, which he'd not yet had time to rivet new rings for.
Nathaniel meanwhile was busy berating Mohammed when he found himself having attracted the attention of an unfamiliar face. "Alright, just giving a little thief a scare..." he said, carefully holstering his pistol. "Catnip basically beat the shit out of one of Rox's pals thanks to thinking she stole something she didn't."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 08, 2017, 10:57:36 pm
Drifter flicked the fire selector to automatic as he lowered his sights to chest level and said "How's about you not tell me to worry about things I should be. Someone just fired a shot at a transvestite. Supposedly over chocolate that I'm guessing you done haven't confirmed he stole. So how's about you walk the fuck out of the house, whoever don't own it, and walk your separate ways. Also I don' know who Catnip is, barely got introduced to the guy at the bridge."
Roland frowned as he nodded to the man. "Anyone need any medical help? I've got some skill in the medicinal arts, and if'n you need some help patching that mail of yours I just need the tools and some time to get her done."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 08, 2017, 11:10:30 pm
"Ffuuuugghhh..." Floyd rubs his temples. He walks outside and barks, "Everyone! Guns down! This was supposed to be a simple, somewhat peaceful discussion." He walks up to Nathanial and swats him upside the head, "That was an over-escalation, youngster. Go back to the farm, that was good shooting though." He looks at the strangers, "Sorry, strangers. Wish we coulda met y'all under better circumstances. Either follow the sharpshooter to the farm or head back to where-ever you came from. I'll be continuing this chat later, lady-man."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 08, 2017, 11:13:58 pm
The tension in the air was palpable. The newcomers, the growing crowd. One could smell the reek of smoke and burnt powder. The air felt hot. No one moved. "What is going on here?" Came a raspy womans voice from the back, Catnips voice. She lowered the hood on her cloak and pushed past the strangers and confronted Floyd and Nathan. She could smell the aggressive stink of the two men, and the fear of Mohammad. "What's this about? Why are you two harassing lady-man?" The newcomer lowered his rifle. The others seemed to look at the rat person with some kind of deference. Was she the leader? No... but they did seem to have a deep respect for her. Nathan holstered his pistol and Floyd took his hand away from his. "Saw him comin from your room Nip, I-" Catnip interrupted him, "put your hands down lady-man." Mohammad lowered his hands slowly. "So?" she looked back to Floyd, "He was probably just digging through our clothes." Nathan couldn't look Catnip in the eye, but he still mumbled something. "He took your chocolate Catnip." The rat cocked her head, "Oh? Prove that the fly didn't eat it then." Floyd stayed close to Mohammad while the others searched Sharlene's cabin. Catnip introduced herself to the newcomer, even at times like this she still loved meeting new people. "There's nothing Nip," said nathan. "Lot's of this in the couch though." He held up a ziplock bag filled with white powder. "So?" said Catnip, she had plenty of bags like that filled with all sorts of white powders. "Did you take the chocolate?" she asked. Mohammad shook his head vigorously, secretly overjoyed that they hadn't found it. He wondered where it had gone though. "Ok. That's good enough for me." Catnip looked to Floyd and rubbed her nose. She hadn't gone to Quinn to have it looked at. "I'm over it anyway. I'll make another collection. Leave him alone if you don't have proof."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 08, 2017, 11:25:07 pm
Roxanne witnessed the scene via scope. She saw Catnip uncloak and then everyone lowered their arms. Roxanne did the same and then she cloaked to return to the farm. She would probably have to meet new people and she had to attend to her armed followers.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 08, 2017, 11:28:38 pm
"Get your nose check and leave the fly alone, pumpkin." Floyd says calmly, he heads back to the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 08, 2017, 11:33:42 pm
Drifter let his rifle hang on it's sling as he walked over to Catnip. He'd seen some odd creatures in his time but a rat person was new to him. Lifting the face plate of his helmet Drifter revealed his face, relatively plain save for the full beard and a scar on his lower lip. Extending a hand in greeting he said "Howdy ma'am. People call me Drifter, a few other things 'pending on if'n they're a bandit or not. Pleasure to meet you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 08, 2017, 11:41:35 pm
Catnip took the offered hand, the old gesture of good will. "Catnip. Just Catnip." She rubbed her nose again and winced. "Your daddy's right, you should get that looked at." Catnip's nose had begun to swell noticeably, she'd got the blood to stop before she headed out to see what was going on. "I don't have a daddy," she said flatly, "I came from a lab. If Mica were here, I would introduce you. Listen." She got a bit closer to Drifter, "Don't shoot at her please. She's a good girl now."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 08, 2017, 11:47:17 pm
Hector regarded the scene and overheard the discussion before approaching again. First thing he did was calmly set a hand on Nathaniel's shoulder. The other promptly socked him in the gut. "That was for two things, Corporal. One, for drawing a weapon on a comrade. Second, for negligent discharge." he said calmly. Nathaniel wasn't sure what shocked him more, the punch or Hector referring to him by his old rank.
The knight then nodded to Drifter. "Now. If everyone's calmed down. You're both welcome here, a fellow hunter of bandits especially. But I would prefer you don't go charging in, waving your gun at complete strangers." he said softly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 08, 2017, 11:55:45 pm
Nodding to Catnip Drifter shook her hand and said "Don' worry about it I don' shoot things that don' try to kill or eat me. Or are bandits but that's normal I'd imagine." As they walked away from the house he adjusted the sling and continued "I know a boy who can look that nose over for you. He's fixed more 'en a few of my broken bones."
Drifter then looked at Hector before saying "Well I won' pull a gun if'n I don' see a gun drawn and hear a shot fired. Simple matter of fact is if I see a gun drawn I'm gonna pull one myself. Sorry if'n you don' like that but I've learned not to be the last one to have a gun out."
Roland followed Hector and shook his head at Drifter's response. He told Hector "Don't worry he don't shoot first anyhow. That and he don't pull a gun on innocent people who ain't got a gun pulled already and act like they plan on usin' it, specially when they start a fight."
Nodding to the others he said "And howdy to all y'all. Sorry that we came at a bad time. Either way we'd like to stay and help out where we can so just let me know what I can do. I'm Roland by the way."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 09, 2017, 12:04:18 am
Hector nodded at that. "Understood. Still good odds of creating a misunderstanding." he said. Nathaniel was still doubled over at that, giving a groan. "Hrk...says the one that sees a guy holster his piece, and fucking puts it on auto and aims it at me." he said, glaring up at Drifter.
The knight simply looked towards Drifter. Even with that helm concealing his face, one could guess it was an annoyed reaction.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 09, 2017, 12:13:18 am
((face plate is up, it's those russian riot helmets with the face plate you can move up))
Looking down at the man Drifter gave him a somewhat bemused look "Well I ain' gonna put my gun down when ya popped a shot off at someone that ya done didn' have any proof against. So I done don' feel bad for keepin' it aimed and on auto at you and the other bloke harassing and shooting at the transvestite over chocolate. Not that I expect someone who'd do that in the first place to understand why I don' think I should put my gun down around the bloke who shot at a transvestite and was basically threatening 'em."
Offering his hand to help Nathaniel up Drifter continued "But don' go thinkin' I got ill will towards ya. I done don' know you from Adam so I ain' gonna assume anythin' about you at the moment. Figure I shouldn' let us get off on the wrong foot yeah?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 09, 2017, 01:30:15 am
Catnip invited the newcomers to eat with them, and asked if they would be staying long. Space was starting to become a premium, and the farm was faced with a choice. They either had to start rejecting newcomers, or start building new structures outside the barbed wire fence. They could get the refugee center to help, maybe. They were pretty crowded over there too. The people in charge over there had also requested the farms name for their maps and records. “We’ve got plenty of food.” She said, “But the person who…” Thinking of cooking reminded her of Kathrine. “Have you seen Kathrine? She’s got pointy ears like a cat, and a big soft tail with spots and stripes.” They said they hadn’t. “Oh. Well, Kathrine usually cooks. She is very good at it.” This Catnip was an odd one. One moment, she was speaking like an adult and diffusing a tense situation, the next she was talking like a distracted child. “I gotta go find Mica.” Catnip hadn’t actually seen Mica since the day before. “Not ‘fore goin’ to get your nose looked at I hope?” Drifter asked, hinting that she should go do that first, “As I said, my friend here could take a look at ya.” Roland took a look, he could see the damage was superficial but would heal crooked if nothing was done about it. “Mutated or not, a nose is a nose.” He said and suddenly grabbed it, making Catnip shriek in pain and twisted the considerable bridge hard to the left straightening it and releasing a flood of blood. Catnip punched him in the shoulder and stomped off.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 09, 2017, 01:37:45 am
(( Was referring to Hector's helm, actually. :V ))
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at that. "Again, you weren't even aiming the damn thing at me until after I put the fucking gun aw-" Hector interrupted him. "Enough. Both of you. I don't care who started what, you both escalated things." he said. "Now. let's go ahead and get something to eat."
As things settled down finally, he simply set aside from hardtack for himself, taking his helm off to eat. Plain appearance, dark red hair, a few scars from close calls back when before he had a decent wearable light and a reliable supply of batteries, back when he had to take his helm off to see clearly in darkness. Nathaniel for his part made a simple sandwich, using some of the peanut butter they had on hand, eating fairly light.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 09, 2017, 03:35:16 am
As the two followed Hector Drifter slapped Roland on the back of the head as he said "Next time wait for them to at least accept the help."
Roland mumbled an acknowledgment as the they sat down and grabbed a small meal of whatever was available. The two were used to eating little and working with what they had so they kept with the habit for the time being. As they ate Drifter looked over at Hector and asked "Any raiders or bandits 'round that need dealing with? I could do with some hunting, either raiders or to bring in some food if it's needed."
Roland for his part ate in relative silence before asking "Anything I can help with just let me know folks, for now I'm gonna get myself a bit more familiar with the place if no one needs anything of me."
With that Roland stood up and started to look around the place, generally attempting to find something to help with to fill his time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 09, 2017, 03:41:39 am
Hector smiled a bit at that. "Most of the major bandit groups have been pushed back some, father north. Hell's Raiders had a strong presence until a while back, a major local cell. Cannibal biker types." he explained.
"Then there's God's Army. Fanatical types, they hit travelers in a bandit-style raid most of the time, and try to lure away unsuspecting victims from a larger group if they think they're outmatched. They're after people with mutations and cybernetics though, not loot. Emblems include blue crosses as standard, with various patterns for their elites evidently, most commonly a Templar cross on black and white. Unlike mine, which is a full white cross on red."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 09, 2017, 11:00:56 am
"You know, I didn't think the internet would last this long." Said Dervish. He was sitting behind one of Dee's laptops in Quinn's lab. Quinn rarely used the thing to visit farm chat or surf the internet, but it was a useful tool for cataloguing and recording tests. Much easier than writing everything down. The lab fridge ticked over and began to hum as the compressed gasses inside the tubes in the back was circulated automatically. "Yeah," replied Quinn, scratching his chin, "It's starting to fail though. Dee tells me that some of those torrent sites he likes to get all his movies from have finally gone down." For a few moments, there came the clacking of keys. "Heh, the church of Scientology's website is still up. Hey, what's this?" Quinn wasn't surprised to see that Dervish wasn't looking at the computer, instead, he was holding up a metal brick, about the size and thickness of a book. It was shot through with lines of pulsing green light. "Careful with that. It's an AI matrix." Dervish looked into the large green circle in the center. Almost like a deep emerald pool. "Have you plugged it in yet?" Quinn took the AI matrix and placed it in a drawer of his filing cabinet. "No. I'm not sure it's safe." He stared at the drawer, remembering C.I.D., "I was gonna give it to Dee, I thought he'd be able to do something about seeing if it's alright but... Fool's been overdoing it with the marijuana and I don't want him touching it until he's got it out of his system. Tried to convince me that he was fine after eating a bunch of pepper and taking a few laps around the farm." Quinn went back to examining a stone he'd been brought from the refugee center. People there had heard about Catnips desire for a "spiral stone" and were bringing rocks in bulk. "Minecraft six's website is still up." Dervish mused.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 09, 2017, 02:21:09 pm
Evalyn was stood over Kathrine, watching her flip pancakes over the campfire. "Darlin', yer doin' it all wrong. Ya gotta get th-" Kathrine looks over her shoulder at the woman, scowling. "I know what I'm doing." Evalyn pauses, shocked, and then grabs Kathrine by the back of her new trenchcoat and yanks her backwards, sending the catmaid sprawling into the dirt. "Don't raise your damn voice at me. Yer damn lucky we're keepin' ya fat ass here." "Y-yes, mi- I'm not fat! You take that back!" Kathrine quickly gets to her feet, leaning in towards Evalyn. "You're a meanie!" She yells, kicking the pan of pancake batter away from the campfire. Evalyn looks at her for a minute, then raises her hand and smacks Kathrine across the face.
Later that day, Kathrine decided she'd had enough. These people weren't from the farm, nor were they her owners. She had waited until it was only Evalyn left at the camp, stood out on watch. The farm was in the other direction, so it should be easy enough to sneak out. Maybe everyone else would forgive her for running away, too... She had reached the border of the circle of tents when she decided to look back. The shopping cart full of scavanged guns, ammo, and food that they had gotten her to collect in the back during their supply runs was just sat in the middle of the camp, almost overflowing with goodies. Now that would help with people forgiving her, she thought. The wheels dug into the dirt as she struggled to move it, and there was occasionally a loud creak from the cart as she struggled to drag it along the fields and through the swamp. The strange cabin that the group had cleared out was just to the left of her as she continued down the river, dragging the load behind her as she went.
Kathrine stopped on the edge of one of the bogs surrounding the farm, and was fiddling with a cheap, see-through plastic lighter, trying to get it to light properly. Smoking made her feel somewhat better, she found out. She had heard the dogs before she had seen them. Two of them, looking emancipated, walking through the swamps next to each other. She wanted to do what she had done with the robot man's dogs, run up and hug them, but she had a feeling in her gut that it'd be a bad idea. The dogs, however, apparently didn't have the same feeling about her. One of them slowly approached the cart, while the other one went straight for her, at full speed, snarling and growling. Kathrine screamed. She screamed incredibly loud.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 09, 2017, 04:01:25 pm
Drifter heard the scream as he stood up. Shouting for Roland the two of them started towards the scream. Drifter tossed his M16 to Roland as they ran and said "Put her on semi, recoil's a bitch if'n you don' know how to handle her!"
Roland for his part caught the weapon and switched the fire selector to semi as they made their way there. The two spaced themselves as Roland called "Right, I'll keep ya covered if someone tries to rush us."
As Drifter saw the upcoming scene he lifted his Mosin. Lining his sights up with one of the beasts he fired his first shot that tore through the skull of the dog closest to the woman. Racking the bolt Drifter started forward as he switched over to using his rifle's irons. The other dog must have heard the first shot as it began towards him. It didn't make it far as the second round tore through it's body and it's dead carcass fell limply to the ground.
Working the bolt again and lowering the weapon Drifter slowly approached the woman as Roland followed him. Drifter asked her "You okay? Anythin' need patchin' up?"
He wasn't entirely sure of everything that had transpired since they had heard the scream and arrived and was thus concerned that the woman might have been injured.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 09, 2017, 04:14:46 pm
Hector at this point had rushed close behind, having hastily grabbed his shield, wearing partially-repaired mail, when shots rang out. The first thing he saw was the dogs, one falling to a heap on the ground. The other was a familiar figure. "Kathrine? Thank God, you're alive. What the hell happened that had you go and vanish like this?" he asked, half concerned and half angry.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 09, 2017, 05:27:48 pm
Kathrine had practically fell over already by the time the larger dog had gotten to her. She'd scrambled backwards until she was pressed against the cart, and it starts to tip over, sending guns and knives flying out all over the ground and sending a couple of cans rolling into the swamp water nearby. The dog bites at her sleeve, trying to drag her further down to the ground, while the other dog approached her from behind. "Bad dog! Get off!" She shouts, trying to push the dog off her, until she quickly decides on something better, and reaches up for the shopping cart. A handle for some kind of knife was sticking out between the mesh of the side, and she wrapped her hand around it and tugged. All she ended up doing was dragging the cart slightly closer and letting the dog bite into her arm. Her ears swivel around to face the direction of the gunshot. The head of the dog pulling at her just explodes, sending blood splattering mostly to the side of her, with her legs and chest being covered in gore. She shrieks in horror, crawling backwards away form the limp corpse.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 09, 2017, 05:50:26 pm
Hector sighed as he kneeled, grabbing bandages and other items from the small drop leg pouch he had, to tend to the bite marks on her arm, if she'd let him do so. "It's okay Kath, here. Looks like a few minor bites, simple enough to clean up. Low odds of rabies, damned thing seemed more starving than ill."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 09, 2017, 07:13:19 pm
Kathrine yanks her arm away from Hector, breathing heavily. She looks like she's about to scream again until she shrugs the blood-covered trenchcoat off and lunges forward to hug Hector, tail between her legs. The cans of food she'd stolen were sinking deeper into the swamp, and a couple of bullets had fallen loose from their respective boxes of ammo and were rolling around.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 09, 2017, 08:16:02 pm
Hector was surprised at that, trying to treat her arm for her, only for her to instead hug him. Carefully he returned the gesture. "Don't scare us like that again, only? Please? Catnip was afraid you were dead, Lilith's been worried sick over you far as I can tell. And I was afraid those men with the blue crosses were going to kill you if they found you." he said. "Just...let's get that arm taken care of, and we can put the others minds at ease, okay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 09, 2017, 11:28:07 pm
Dee made the walk to Quinn's lab. He was awfully curious to know what Quinn had wanted from him on the day they'd returned from some distant lab. He'd been really flying that day, but all the same he'd had enough of his senses left to get the feeling that Quinn had something that might interest him greatly. "Knock knock Dr. Demento!" He shouted, pounding on Quinn's door. Quinn opened the door slowly. "What do you need Dee?" Dee rocked on his feet a little, back and forth like a kid. "No no my man, what do YOU need? You showed up and didn't explain nothing." Quinn looked at him with suspicion. "Have you sobered up for real this time?" Dee found that when you were high, you would try just about anything. The peppercorn cure was one he thought worked, but in actuality didn't do anything. "Sure sure, zero perspiration." It came out sounding strange in his faint but still discernible accent, rolling the R's. "Uh huh. Dervish? Have you got your medidoc with you?" He let Dee in, but made him sit opposite Dervish at Quinn's small desk. Dervish snapped open the briefcase looking object and withdrew two little round patches on the ends of spiraled cords. These, he attached to Dee's temple and right hand. Dee asked what they were doing, but Dervish and Quinn remained silent. A minute passed, then two. Finally, Dervish stopped fiddling with the medidoc long enough to say "He's still got some residual THC in his system, but I'd say he's sober Quinn. Sober enough to at least share with him, if not give him the task right away"
"It's a robo brain, a uh... harddrive matrix. A fancy one too. I could probably program this thing to do all sorts of- what?" Quinn had taken the matrix from Dee and laid it back down on the desk. "It's already been programmed." Dee's mask lit up with a 'o_0'. "Oh yeah? What sort of programming." The doctor thought about their most recent adventure, especially how it had culminated in a tense back to back fight while he and Hector waited for whatever had helped them to finish the process of uploading itself into the harddrive matrix. Quinn told him about it, and when Hector got to the part about how the AI had revealed itself and shown them the path to Catnip and Mica, Dee's mask lit up. Quinn handed the matrix over. "I just want you to look at it for now, I want to know what this thing is." Dee nodded enthusiastically. "It would be a pleasure my man."
She couldn't think. The space was too small, and it was dark. So dark. A routine cycled up and refreshed the AI, keeping it's code from degrading. She didn't have a memory. Not much of one anyway. All she had left was her name, her purpose, an entirely foreign but wide range of artificial emotions, and the vague memory of a narrow escape even as something terrible began to eat away at her base code. She lay in the dark, dormant, almost like sleeping, and then the light came.
"Oh shit, where'd it go?" Dee ran to another laptop, checking to see if anything had changed on it. He'd taken the matrix from Quinn and had got to work trying to figure out what the deal was. The moment it was hooked into the laptop he'd picked out for the task, it had flooded the PC and nearly burnt it out. Dee panicked and tried to shut it down, but by then the AI had jumped to another of his computers through it's Wifi. It did this many times, leaving the computers it temporarily inhabited overloaded and ruined. "Jeebus!" Dee cried, both hands on his head. He couldn't find it. The computer that the matrix was hooked into hadn't overloaded, Dee hypothesized that the other computers had been woefully insufficient to hold the AI and that the one with the Matrix attached was the only one that could handle it, by virtue of the device. Dee's speaker bot suddenly slammed into a wall and began playing most of it's retinue of songs all at once. Smoke burst from the vents on top in dangerous looking streamers. "PARTYBOY! NOOO!" He screamed, putting off the search for the AI to go to his "baby." He could fix it of course, CPU's were easy to replace and the robots own much more simple matrix could be swapped out for one of the many backups he kept for just such an occasion. A husk he'd meant to strip for parts exploded, violently, sending parts and dead laptops flying. "Goddamnit!" Quinn and Dervish came running, they'd been on their way to see if Dee was making any headway and heard Dee's grief stricken scream. "What's-" Dervish started to say something, but then his medidoc clicked open and started to display odd observations before it too burned out. "It's jumping to all the wireless devices in the area!" Dee shouted. Quinns eyes widened, and he shouted "SHUT DOWN THE NETWORK!" Dee spun in a panic, and shouted back "I ALREADY DID!" The three of them realized that the wanton destruction had stopped. Dee sprinted back to the workshop. "Where the hell did it go now?" He mumbled. The test laptop hummed with the stress of housing the AI. It took him awhile to find it, and in the meantime Dervish and Quinn had joined him in the workshop. It was the armless security bot at the back who answered the question of where the AI went. It rolled out from under the cover sluggishly, smoke wafting from it's chassis, and over it's speaker came the feminine voice utterly unlike that of the bot's original reprogrammed one. "Designation: Observation AI, "Medeina." Objective: Observation of anomalous flora and fa- INSUFFICIENT MEMORY. PLEASE ALLOCATE MORE MEMORY. OVERLOAD IMMINENT." Dee dropped to his knee's as the robot interior suddenly burst into flame, sending a brief gout of it from a crease beneath the upper chassis.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 01:07:01 am
A man in a checkered red and black suit knocks on the door of a rather nice colonial style house, The Boss answers the door, dressed in a dress shirt and a pair of suspenders.
“We got one Boss.” “Didja now… Show me to him, Jared. Let’s have a chat.” “Sure thing, Boss.”
The two walk to an old pump station, the building’s been converted into two things. One half is a makeshift prison, the other half is a workshop. The two stroll into the makeshift prison, there’s a man in an undershirt and a pair of pants, inside a makeshift cell made from a chainlink gate and fencing. He’s cuffed to a chair and sat on it.
“Alright, pal. Where’s Sparks? Kendrick? A cyborg and a bat lookin’ fella.” “Lovely to see you two gentlemen as well. I hope you profligates know you’re hindering the work of god.” “Profli-? Alright, listen here smartass. Drop this ‘holy god’s soldier’ schtick.” "It is my way of life. Nothing shall hinder me until my duty is done.” “Then it’s your duty to let these men go.” “Be careful what you say, heathen. Your friends may be with the devil soon. We’re just… In the middle of showing them the light.” The Boss punches the Extremist across the left cheek. “Where. I need a location.” “You have no right to strike a man of the lord. I’m done talking.” “No, you’re not.”
The boss grabs the back of the chair and drags it to a water faucet. He tips the chair over and drapes a dirty towel over the extremist's face.
“We can let you go if you just give us where they are.” “Once the templars know of what you’ve done, you will be hunted and burned at the stake.” “That doesn’t sound like something a man of the word would say.” “You wouldn’t know what the lord has planned for us all.”
The Boss nods at Jared who turns on the faucet. Dirty brown water pours onto the cloth. The Extremist gags and sputters, the towel smothering him. The Boss watches for several minutes, before gesturing for Jared to stop. The Boss removes the towel.
“We’re not going to give you another chance. Next time, we’ll leave the faucet on and walk away.” The Extremist spits at the feet of the two men. The Boss looks down at the small pool of saliva and smiles widely to himself. “Actually, I don’t have the patience for the likes of you. I have a better idea.” The Boss pulls out a six-cylinder revolver, taking five bullets out of the chamber before giving it a hard spin. “I’m going to ask a few questions. If I don’t like your answer, I’ll pull the trigger once.” Jared takes a hesitant step towards his boss. “Boss, what if the bullet is in the first shot?” The Boss gives Jared a hard stare before looking back at the Extremist. “Where are my boys?” “If they’re anything like you, they’ll be hanging on a cross by now.” The Boss glares at the Extremist, he pulls the trigger. A loud click is heard and the Extremist flinches. “Where’s your camp?” “The l-lord has given us a camp wherever he desires.” *Click* “Cut the bullshit. Give me an actual answer.” “Like the missionaries of old, we constantly move. Even if you could spot us, the lord would have let us know that predators are seeking to destroy his will.” The Boss glares at the Extremist again, pressing the barrel of the revolver hard against the Extremist’s temple. Suddenly, the Boss strikes the Extremist hard across the face with the revolver, breaking his nose. “Luckily for you, that was a follow-up question to the last one. You get one free pass.” The Extremist is howling in pain, tears forming in his eyes as his voice starts breaking. “What’re your boys armed with? Judging from what my boys found on you, you… fine gentlemen have some nice hardware.” “Only what we-we deem necessary t-to carry out the will of god.” The Boss takes his time drawing the trigger, the Extremist’s eyes shutting harder with each delayed second. When suddenly… *Click* “Do you the extent of how deeply you fucked up?” “... I-” *Click* The Extremist starts openly crying, abandoning any sense of duty that he prided himself over. The Boss watches the man cry for a few, solid seconds before raising the revolver once more. “I’ll ask this again, and I’ll give you the courtesy to know that I will pull the trigger once again if you don’t answer properly. Where. Are. My. Boys?” The Extremist starts breathing extremely rapidly, eyes quickly darting around the room before locking on with Jared’s. "Hey, the Boss is askin-” The Extremist shouts as he springs up from his seat, lunging at Jared. Just before the Extremist is able to reach Jared, *BANG* The Extremist’s body is flung, just grazing Jared as the limp body crashes to the ground, blood spilling out of a massive head cavity. The Boss looks disappointedly at the body, before wiping the inside of his right ear with his finger. “...We’re done here, Jared. Good job getting him, you and whoever helped you earned some cubans. Get back into your room, get Big Red to take care of this.” “Got it, boss.” Jared walks out of the makeshift prison. The Boss stays inside for a moment. He remembers the people at the lab, A cyborg, a Knight, a couple of mutants, and a scientist. Favors go both ways, he thinks. He heads home to sleep off what happened
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 01:42:20 am
Hector, after all this chaos, regarded the scattered remains of laptops and old pieces of machinery with a look of annoyance. "Alright then. Is that thing still intact? Functional, salvageable? I think we'll need to rig something more robust for this, maybe even military-grade if one can be rendered inert without trigger anti-tampering measures." he suggested.
For now though, the knight sought to try and relax, rest after all the recent chaos, to heal up. Which he'd done impressively well thus far, but he still felt old wounds, and even then his mail remained half-repaired, though the new arrival's offer of help sped things up nicely. All he needed was the forging of new rings, to be riveted by hand. The latter task he continued to do on his own.
Elsewhere, far from the goings on at the farm and across the river, a lone cloaked figure approached a worn-down old structure. What was once a rural church of sorts, just off the road. It didn't take long to discern the place had been abandoned, ransacked to some extent. A quiet humming was the only thing that broke the silence, making their way down stairs and treading through an old basement with confidence.
A muffled bang was the only thing to be heard from outside, within the calm was broken by a brilliant flash and thunderous boom. A slithering, floating mass of tendrils recoiled at the cacophony, lashing out blindly before the swing of a warhammer brought it peace. After the brilliant flash, the only light that remained was a faint glow from the eyeholes of a mask, reflecting off polished iron and bright red copper, the person seeming unfazed by the source of the flash.
The door lay open, one of many that had been looted. Behind it remained another stairway, where a faint light could be seen deeper within, and a disconcerting warmth seemed to fill the air. They opened the cloak, unslinging a scabbard that held a tarnished basket-hilted sword, drawing it and simply tossing the crumbling piece of wood and leather aside. A strange light shone from the old blade, rust peeling away and sloughing off as it floated free of their grasp, hovering point-down just in front of the stairs, and in turn a strange aura filled the stairwell. It seemed to stifle the sickening heat from below, forming a solid wall of light.
The figure made their way out, leaving the place as it was. That was all that could be done. Onward, eastward, towards the river and likely across it, to see if uncharted territory may hold any signs of survivors. Then, someday, a return to this general area. For now it was just a figure in a strange cloak of metal scales, humming an unfamiliar tune. Only briefly would their voice rise, chanting along to a song lost to time, the obscured figure sounding feminine. "Dii supra et infra, dōnēs nobis virtus..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 01:54:42 am
Dee sits on his knees, sniffling. "Are you crying?" Dee sputters, "Pfft, PFFT, what? N-no! I- I have an eyelash in my eye. Shut up." "You don't have any-" "SHUT IT." Dee lets out a small sigh, he gets up and brushes his pants "I need some hard drives, preferably military grade. and a security bot. Goldilocks of something that'd be advanced enough for plenty of data storage before hand along with stuff I can gut so I can install more storage. Think you can do that, Hect?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 02:19:02 am
Hector nodded at that. "Think that can be done. Military robotics hardware is hard to find but might be possible to get my hands on it."
Nathaniel at this point butted in, having been listening in on them. "Military-grade defensive AI and engineering UAVs. Easy way is getting them from old armories in the bunkers, good odds of inactive ones. Not a lot of raw hardware in them, but they're way more efficient than police-issue." he suggested, prompting a smile from Hector. "And thus, less drawback to jury-rigging a larger system out of them. Other alternative would be automated fire control from a MOUT walker or UFV."
Nathaniel spoke up, raising his voice. "Fuck no. No UFVs. You'll get yourself killed trying to bag a motherfucking tank drone. But, er...well, what about semi-autonomous fire-control? Like from that XM-154 system they were testing on the reworked mobile gun systems."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 10, 2017, 03:51:06 am
Catnip heard them go. Hector and the newcomer, Drifter. She hadn't heard the scream, but she had heard the way the conversation between the two had suddenly cut off. Something was up. She puzzled over her little altar to Agmen and a suspicion grew in her. She'd been assembling a little gizmo for driving screws based off of a hand drill. Not an original idea, but not something she herself had ever come across. While doing this, she was thinking of Kathrine and how she had been missing. It was hard to focus on her work, and her trip to the lab when she should have been out looking for her friend made her feel a bit guilty. "If you do exist..." Catnip thought, sanding down a flange on her invention, "Then help Kathrine find her way back." That was when Hector and Drifter had heard the scream.
Catnip stepped outside in time to see the two men disappearing into the trees. She sat on an old crate and watched after them for some time. They were gone quiet awhile, but she waited patiently. Dee, who had yet to experience the horror of watching his computers and robots fry one by one, tapped her on the shoulder and asked if she was alright. "I'm headed over to Quinn's to see what he wanted from me. Want to come along?" Catnip silently shook her head. There was a mounting feeling yet to be defined in her stomach. Catnip girded herself to be overjoyed or disappointed. Dee shrugged and walked off. Catnip waited. Soon Hector came into view through the trees, then Drifter helping a third with a battered shopping cart. The hair on the back of Catnips head stood on end and the sensation traveled down her back and then up again. She stared intently into the woods, hoping that the third person was who she thought it was.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 10, 2017, 04:02:59 am
Kathrine was trying to stay at a distance from Drifter. She hadn't hugged him, either, because of all the guns. Despite this, she didn't actually suspect him of shooting the dogs. The bite on her arm was feeling worse now that she'd let Hector bandage it up and all, and she kept making lightly audible grunting noises whenever she moved it. "Who're you, Mister? Are you like that robot man that had all the d-" She cuts off, looking directly at the familiar figure sat on a crate by the barn. "MISTRESS!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 10, 2017, 04:15:03 am
Catnip's eyes lit up at the familiar call, but she couldn't move. Kathrine was coming at her full tilt and she knew what was coming. Not even the trapped RV had hit her so hard, or at least that's what Kathrine's pounce felt like. They rolled with the impact and Kathrine called out with the pain from her arm. "I'M SORRY I RAN AWAY MISTRESS! I'M SORRY!" She buried her face in Catnip's fur. Likewise, Catnip was frantically whispering "I'm sorry I didn't search harder, I'm sorry I didn't stay behind to look for you!" Hector tried to pry them apart, but found that it would take no less than a crowbar to separate them. "C'mon Kath, we gotta get that bite looked at. Catnip can come with you. Dervish is here, you wanna see Dervish?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 10, 2017, 04:42:54 am
"I'm sorry, Mistress..." Came Kathrine's muffled voice. "I-" She's interrupted by Hector trying to separate them. She ends up just hugging Catnip as tight as possible, despite her arm screaming that this was a bad idea. "Go away!" "C'mon Kath, we gotta get that bite looked at. Catnip can come with you. Dervish is here, you wanna see Dervish?" Came Hector's reply. She barely remembered who Dervish even was, but then she recalled the clip and his water bottle. "No, he's a meanie."
After a bit of persuading, Kathrine finally lets herself get dragged off so they can see to her bite wound.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 10, 2017, 07:57:19 am
They'd come in just as Dee was leaving with the harddrive matrix. Dee had been too focused on the glowing green object in his hands and hadn't noticed them approaching, but Quinn seemed very pleased to see Kathrine back and alright. Other than the bite that was. Dervish just flicked open the medidoc's case and withdrew a long, thick, plastic sleeve. "Remember the questions Quinn and I asked you when you first came to Catnip?" He slid the sleeve onto her arm, carefully so as to cause as little pain as possible. "Your a meanie." She told Dervish. She expected him to get angry, but he only nodded and agreed with her. "I'm not as mean as some people, but sure. I can admit to being mean sometimes. If you can't admit to being a little mean, then it will make you a lot mean later." While the Medidoc went to work, Dervish watched the little screen carefully and asked Kathrine medical questions he thought she'd be able to answer. When the question of drinking or smoking came up, she surprised Dervish by saying that she did smoke. "You can't smoke!" Quinn told her, "It's bad for you!" Dervish leaned back a little and looked at Kathrine. "Nonsense." he said, drawing a look of confusion from Quinn. "Her lungs are fully formed and she didn't start when she was incredibly young. She'll be fine. She's a big girl, she can smoke if she wants. As long as Catnip says so." That last statement was punctuated by a knowing look. Dervish figured Catnip would never let Kathrine continue smoking, but she surprised and let him down by saying, "If Kathrine wants to smoke sometimes, then she can. Catnip has her booze..." She gave a sly wink at Quinns disapproving face, "And Kathrine has her-"
"Mistress." Kathrine cut in, feeling bad about interrupting, "You probably shouldn't anymore." She was remembering how silly, how destructively, they had behaved not too long ago under the influence of Catnips mysterious bottle. If alcohol made people do things like that, then it was in her Mistresses best interest to avoid it. Catnip searched Kathrine's face, noticing how embarrassed speaking up to her made her. "I guess so." Catnip said. Kathrine figured that this meant she would have to give up her own new habit, but Catnip refused to accept the pack of lucky strikes Kathrine tried to hand over. "If it makes you feel better," Catnip said, "Then it makes me feel better."
"Don't scratch those stitches now." Dervish instructed, "If the pain gets too bad, you can come to Quinn and he can prescribe something for it." To Quinn though he said, "Nothing stronger than Acetaminophen." Over the course of the operation, Dervish had also performed the checkup he'd given the other mutants from around the farm. Collected a few blood samples, and some fur. It didn't take long to get the results. He looked them over and saw everything he needed to see. "I'll write up a report later." Dervish told Quinn. "I need to think on these results for a bit and The Old Guard is going to want to know about this." Quinn put away the unused samples, the fresh DNA and the tests Dervish had devised for Kathrine's return had rendered results that seemed to confirm his suspicion. All that was left to put the final nail in that coffin was to see how Kathrine and Lilith were while together. "Want to go see what Dee's figured out?" Quinn asked. Robots weren't really Dervish's thing, but he had been interested in the matrix. "Yeah alright, let's go."
Quinn saw the two out, Catnip talking at length about things that had happened while Kathrine was away. Kathrine pointed to where she'd left her shopping cart and the two veered off in that direction to haul it up to the barn. Catnip told her about all the newcomers and especially about her "nemesis," the fly. Told her about how all her chocolate had vanished. No, she didn't have proof that the fly took it, only that she'd caught her eating her chocolate before and that made her the best suspect. There was very little order to what she told Kathrine. One moment she was talking about Mica, and the next she was talking about some place called "Hap's" somewhere. Catnip checked the wheels on the cart while she talked. The wheels were thrashed, so she gave Kathrine a chance to avoid using her injured arm and pushed it herself. It took a moment for Kathrine to realize that Catnip had stopped talking about herself, and had asked her a question. "Where did you go Kathrine?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 10, 2017, 09:31:13 am
Kathrine stops and moves to rub her arm, being stopped with a look from Catnip. "I'm sorry, Mistress. I shouldn't have run away. I found a lab thingy though! It was really cold, and dark, and there was a..." She trails off, swallowing heavily. "There was a-a robot man and a big man and..." She stops completely, looking up at Catnip and scanning her face for a reaction. "I-I found some other people and they're all big dumb meanies."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 09:51:35 am
Hector smiled a bit, as all the goings-on seemed to return a sense of normalcy to the farm. He'd hope to explain more of recent events as well, though Catnip's zig-zagging from topic to topic made it hard. The one thing he did decide to mention was the lab they found in turn, and how the AI there attacked them, tried to capture Mica and Catnip, a bit of brief remarks on the damage his armor and shield took, though clearly more reserved about it than he'd like to be, and how badly Donovan was injured by the ordeal, having to rip bionics out of himself to keep the AI at bay.
Nathaniel meanwhile was already making his way over to the cabin, knocking on the door before poking his head in "Lilith? Lilith, you there? Kathrine came back."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 10, 2017, 09:52:59 am
The mention of a robot made Catnip nervous, especially after the recent lab trip of her own. The "big man" interested her a little though, but she decided she probably wouldn't be going to the lab Kathrine had gone to. Catnip asked about the bit Kathrine mentioned that interested her most though. "How were they big dumb meanies?" Catnip knew that Kathrine wouldn't swear, so when she called someone a "big dumb meanie," she really meant it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 10, 2017, 10:10:43 am
"Mister Marvin never let me join in when we were eating, a-and Miss Evalyn was always all patronising and she, um... S-she hit me..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 10, 2017, 10:13:45 am
Kathrine flinched away when Catnip suddenly hissed. It wasn't a common sound, and signaled the flaring of Catnips anger. It faded quickly, but Kathrine didn't like the flat way Catnip asked "Where are these people again?" She was thinking of maybe getting Mica and Lilith before heading out to have a little talk with these "big dumb meanies."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 10:16:35 am
Hector calmly set a hand on Kathrine's shoulder. "Kath, I was afraid people were going to do much worse than that. We've had a few more run-ins with the people we talked about earlier. They're a lot meaner than this Evalyn person sounds." he said, glancing over at Catnip. "That said, I don't like the sound of that. Just don't overdo it, Catnip."
Nathaniel meanwhile grumbled a bit, realizing they still weren't there. "Well fucking hell. Still not here? Yo Mohamed, if Lilith gets back tell her Kath's returned!" he called out, before turning to leave. That was about as much conversation as he wanted to have with him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 10, 2017, 10:20:19 am
Kathrine gulps, briefly wondering if she should even tell Catnip the truth. But, Mistress is Mistress. "They're all the way over... There." She points over to the tree line she emerged from earlier. "The lab's there too! It's really cold..." Kathrine's rubbing at where the stitches are now, looking directly at Catnip. "Please don't hurt them, Mistress..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 10, 2017, 10:25:07 am
"Don't hurt them mistress." Catnips eyes softened a little. The others would do what they thought best for Kathrine whether she wanted them to or not, but Catnip had a soft spot for Kathrine's wishes on the matter, especially when she voiced those wishes. "Ok Kat. Tell me about the cold place instead. The lab."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 10:34:03 am
Hector hmmed a bit at that. "How cold was it? Several of them can be hard to handle. If it was uncomfortable even in a winter outfit, I suspect you found the same type of lab I ran into early on." he suggested. "You should've seen how much I had to bundle up just to get past the first level."
Meanwhile, miles to the north of the farm, a small makeshift canoe paddled across the river, back to the eastern shore after the earlier visit. She'll be back, she thought. And to tend to other unfinished business sometime. The eyes under that mask surveyed the area, walking onwards. Different direction this time, south and east. Farther south that she'd been in a while. But the better to see if there were still survivors.
The strange person wondered what sorts of survivors remained. This far north, all she'd encountered thus far were isolated bandit camps. Signs of an organized group, in disarray and acting as though they were hesitant to move farther south, as though something pushed them back. A good sign to her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 01:09:53 pm
A pair of well dressed men are bickering outside of a four-door sedan with a roadmap
"Bossman shoulda gave us s'more details." The one in a green pinstripe suit with a large metal pipe resting on his soldier drawls "Sandell gave us plenty, an old orange pickup truck, with 'SBI 6021' on it's licence plate." The one with one arm and a plain black tuxedo plainly states. "Besides, I heard of a farm to the south. We're close by, they've been broadcasting." "Or it's a trap." "Or it's a trap, right..." The one with one arm scratches the side of his face, the back seat window rolls down. "What's the hold-up boys?" "Just a little lost, Boss. We got it situated-." The one with one arm notices the strange person, he lets out a low whistle. "Hey, who're you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 01:21:14 pm
The unfamiliar figure regarded them, a bit uncertain, hard as it was to tell under the strange mask, cloak revealing a strange mix of formal wear and scavenged medieval armor, mostly just boots and gauntlets. "Just a traveler from up north. Surprised to see anyone else out here besides bandits." she said. In response she set aside a warhammer with odd golden decoration, and removed her mask, an odd piece of polished steel with copper decorations at the hairline and eyebrows, giving it the appearance of an androgynous face with a neutral expression. "Any actual towns still surviving out here?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 01:35:58 pm
"Yeah, there's haps to the east. Some farm to the south." "Boys, Boys! This isn't how you treat a lady!" The boss says from the back seat, gesturing at the new dame. He gets out of the car, he walks up to the dame and offers a hand. "Oliver Sandell, my boys call me Boss. Pleasure to meet you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 01:41:16 pm
She smiled a bit at that, shaking his hand. "Helon McKinnon. A pleasure to meet you as well. Apologies if the outfit is perhaps a bit unusual." she said. Even then the cloak at least looked practical as well as decorative, countless small metal scales providing marginal protection over leather alone. "One of your men mentioned a place, Hap's he said? Sort of a town, outpost, or...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 01:45:09 pm
"Lil' shanty town built around a dive bar. We could give you a ride, if you want." "Boss-" The Boss gives a hard stare at the green pinstiped suit man. He instantly shuts up. "And your outfit looks great, ma'am."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 01:52:01 pm
She nodded at that. "Wouldn't mind that actually. Been a while since I've had a drink. Might be able to see about what all work there if to be done there, plus some business to tend to later on." she said. She found herself with the temptation to mention the meaning behind it. Not to outsiders, she knew. "There used to be others, friends of mine with similar equipment. Most of them didn't make it, it seems. Cloak handles wildlife and the undead just fine, but the bigger creatures not so much." The other odd thing that might stand out would be the holy symbol at her neck, a cross that steadily transitioned in a hammer of Thor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 01:58:01 pm
"Sandell? Why are you getting mushy?" The Boss squints for a moment, "I don't know, I don't know really." The boss drops the act, "Yeah, if you want a ride we have one more seat."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 02:04:59 pm
Helen nodded at that. "That would be excellent, yes. Thank you." she said, remaining polite and simply brushing off the boss' mushy act. If anything she wasn't sure how to react to it, she'd be amused or annoyed had it not been somewhat unfamiliar to her. Most of the people she knew were either her comrades who treated her like any other fellow mage-hunter, or enemies that only regarded her as the figure in the malevolent mask brandishing a glowing hammer.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 10, 2017, 02:35:02 pm
Roland and Drifter had made their way back to the farm. Stopping the two saw Mica and exchanged a look between themselves and Roland shrugged. "We're the new ones remember."
As they approached Drifter lifted his face plate and said "Howdy ma'am, I'm Drifter and this is Roland. We're new 'round here."
Mica stopped staring at the chicken long enough to say "Greetings, I'm Mika. Welkome to the farm. Behave and there shouldn't be any problems."
As she went back to looking at the chicken the two of them decided to leave her to it and walked further into the farm. Roland shrugged again as Drifter raised an eyebrow. They'd seen stranger things but that was still up there. Drifter pulled his face plate down and said "Right. I'm gonna go...I don't know. I don't exactly got a lot of skills 'sides killing things."
Roland tossed Drifter his bible and said "Go read some, you could use it anyway. I'm going to try and make myself useful."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 02:46:19 pm
"Hop in, ma'am." Inside the car stinks of cigar smoke, leather, air freshioner, and faintly of gunpowder. "Cigar?" The Boss asks, offering a box of cubans. The car ride is long and quiet, with who-ever's still playing music on the radio playing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 10, 2017, 02:50:05 pm
She was starting to get bored waiting. It had only been a day or so, but she was already bored of waiting for the time when she could bring the chocolate to Catnip. She wanted that chicken so badly. Delicious chicken. She wanted to stuff the lazy looking bird into her mouth and chomp down with every tooth. She wanted to watch the puff of red feathers escaping as that bear trap shut around it. She spared a glance for those others and realized she had barely noticed them. She was busy being a good girl and watching the chicken, but not touching. "My-ka will have chik-un soon." She whispered. Mica didn't notice Roxanne looking out the farmhouse window at her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 02:54:54 pm
Helen got in, not minding the scents but she did shake her head at that. "No thank you. More a drinker than anything else, on occasion." she admitted. She seemed to take a brief interest in the fact that something was still playing on the radio, to her surprise. "Any other places to be aware of out here? Bandit camps, areas that're still heavily infested, strange cults and such?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 03:45:12 pm
The Boss lights up a cigar, "There's Hell's Raiders, who've been driven back a bit. There's God's army, christians who ah... dislike. Mutants and Cyborgs. They took some of my boys. Nnno one else off the top of my head."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 10, 2017, 03:45:36 pm
Kathrine looks down at the floor, thinking. "It was... It was really dark a lot, but that was alright 'cause I can see really good but some rooms had lights in them and when I looked in there, there were weird beepy robot thingies and in one room there was this really big robot man and he yelled a lot and wanted a child or something and I found a flask of something and it smelt familiar but not good?" She pauses for breath. "And it was really suuuper cold but it was fine because I made a cool duster thing and I found a blanket and it was really warm but it also got reaaaally cold later on so I came back up and then the robot man was there."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 03:58:59 pm
She nods at that. "Hell's Raiders I've encountered a few of, they've been more active farther north. I'm not sure whether to thank or punch whoever's responsible for them being concentrated in those areas." she remarked. "And hmmph. Such a narrow focus for them. I've never really met much in the way of mutants and cyborgs. More experienced with the more otherworldly creatures skulking about in some areas now. The latter seems like mere technology, no reason to see it as heretical in any way."
She'd hoped that this meant that the other groups she knew about either weren't active in the area, or were effectively wiped out. "No sign of any groups kidnapping people to drain their blood for ritual reasons, then? Good. We used to have problems with a group of that sort."
Meanwhile Hector nodded at that, regarding the story now that things had calmed down a bit. "So I'm guessing the lower levels weren't easy to get into? Too cold? Sounds like a similar climate control system to the other lab. Top level heats up rapidly once the bunker's open, becomes tolerable with some effort in the summer."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 05:31:03 pm
"Who knows, I've chatted with one of the god's army. They're a buncha brainwashed sheep. I haven't heard of any... vvvampires?" The Boss says, he looks out the window. "Alllmost there."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 05:44:19 pm
She shrugged at that. "I recall some of the others were of that sort. For different purposes. Few other religious groups involved too." she admitted. "I suspect they'll be a problem in the feature then, mutated or not. And not quite vampires. More...they were into blood magic sorts of things, essentially. Wouldn't be anything more than murderous cultists if not for all the strange events going on. But I suspect they're long since eliminated." she said. And thank Odin for that, she thought.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 10, 2017, 05:55:05 pm
Roxanne looked at Mica watching the chickens. She knew that look, it was the look of gluttony. New people had showed up and Roxanne had yet to introduced herself she meant to do so but the creeping Mica had stopped her from doing so. Roxanne was about to exit the radio room to look for the newcomers when the radio came to lived. “Can an…dy hear me? My na..ter. Who am…to?” The last time the radio had done this was when Victor had picked up on her broadcast, this might be a similar situation. Roxanne sat down and tinker with the radio’s settings until static was gone. “This is Roxanne Luna, may you repeat yourself? Message was not clear.” The radio started once more. “Roxanne? Good, so I have managed to find you! This is Router from the Command Center. We have managed to rig up a radio system and heard your broadcast so we decide to see if we could establish means of communication. I take it Blade and Trigger are doing fine?” Roxanne grinned at hearing that, she still had her mission given from them in the back of her mind. “Nice to hear from you too Router. The bio-weapon duo are fine, thing is that Trigger renamed himself to Sigma and Blade to Lambda. They said they did so in honor of the original bio-weapons.” Laughter could be heard from the radio before Router spoke again. “Good good, Nice to see they have a semblance of independence. Now Roxanne, I don’t mean to be too forward but I have a proposal to make you…”
“So you are going where?”, Hector asked Roxanne with a suspicious tone. The next day after the radio encounter, Roxanne made quick introduction to Drifter and Ronald on her way to gathered her followers. It had been a polite introduction but she then quickly went away and she did the motions of what she did when she prepared for one of her scouting missions. All her followers had gathered supplies and Victor was once more on radio duty. The moved seemed a bit rushed and they were taking lots of stuff that indicated this was more than a scouting mission. “I am going the command center where Sigma and Lambda where before I recruited them. They communicated with me and asked for some help. I will be gone for a while so Victor is once more my eyes and ears, ask him if you want to know any new leads. Tell Katherine I am glad she is ok and that I am sorry I could not go and meet her in person after she returned.” Hector raised an eyebrow and spoke in an interrogative manner. “Must be really important for you to leave before even talking to Katherine…don’t worry, I will let her know.” “I would tell you what they want but they were vague on the radio. They seem to want me and my crew to help them establish themselves or something. I agreed to help them before and this seems to be linked to that so I can’t just say no. It seemed urgent…” After a nod of acknowledgment, but not necessarily approval, from the knight, Roxanne and crew got onto her APC and went on their way to the command center. “Just what are you up to now…”, Hector whispered to himself.
Back on the radio room, Victor was sitting down manning the radio while eating a sandwich. He was reading a journal and writing notes as well as if correcting things. He grinned when he reached a specific part. “You just can’t stay in one place can’t you Roxanne?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 10, 2017, 06:23:20 pm
Sharlene hurled another brick at one of the old wrecks littering the street, fistpumping as it crashes through the windshield with a satisfying crash. She reaches back to grab another one from the pile, only to end up half-slapping Lilith across the face. "Oops, sorry gal. You wanna go back?" Lilith just snorts, nuzzling up against Sharlene's hand. "Cub..." "Cu- Kathrine? What about her?" Lilith doesn't respond again, instead standing up on top of the RV they were both sat on and looking in the direction they came from, towards the farm. "Cub..." She grunts, jumping down from the roof and bounding off down the road. "Lilith, wait! Goddamnit..." Despite Lilith's surprising amount of energy, (and Sharlene's eventual use of a working vehicle) the two reach the farm about half an hour after they set off, with Kathrine, Catnip and Hector sat/stood on/near a couple of crates outside the barn. Lilith smugly trots up to Kathrine from behind and rubs her head against the catgirl's hand, expecting pets. Instead, she gets a squeak and Kathrine jumping away from her, falling off her crate-chair.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 06:30:59 pm
Hector got up as Lilith rather abruptly returned and accidentally knocked Kathrine over, nodding to her. Nathaniel had seen all this as well, approaching the group and giving the tigress a pet. "See? I told you she'd be back. If she took any longer I was about ready to go searching and kneecapping blue cross fuckboys until I got an answer." he remarked, not really getting that Kasth was in earshot and wouldn't be happy to hear him say that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 06:36:04 pm
"Uh... huh. Well, we're here. Finest spider chowder in the county, see ya later Helen."
After she leaves the car... "Alright, boys, where's that farm?" "South East, Sandell." "Well then, y'all know where we're next."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 10, 2017, 06:41:28 pm
Kathrine dusts herself off, but pauses at the sound of Nathaniel swearing. She looks up at him, glaring daggers, before... She growls? What sounds like an honest to god growl comes from Kathrine, cutting off when she hiccups. Kathrine blushes heavily, her entire face going red. "O-oops..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 06:45:38 pm
Helen gathered her hammer and mask, giving a polite nod as she exited the car. "Thank you. Have a safe journey, and good luck." she said, turning to make her way towards the entrance, nodding to the guard. She intended to ask around, about known hotspots of undead and bandit activity, and likely work to be done, and asking a bit about any sightings of things that might seem anomalous. On making her way into the bar itself, she smiled a bit. "While I'm at it, might as well get a drink. Not sure if you prefer the old money, the new money, if they're minting gold now, or what. So long as it isn't bottle caps or something absurd like that, should be fine."
Nathaniel meanwhile found himself chuckling a bit at that odd growl Kathrine gave. "Er, sorry Kath. I know you have a thing about swearing. And violence. Hector never did get to explain much about those God's Army guys though, other than trying to explain they're mean."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 07:54:34 pm
The mobsters roll up onto the farm, They get out and look at the vehicle's license plates. They stop at the back of Quinn's pickup, looking at it's license plate.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 08:02:43 pm
Nathaniel took a look outside, noticing the unfamilar faces, as they passed by a few old scrap vehicles, one pristine light tank, and stopped at the well-kept truck. Hector was the first to head over there after Nathaniel gave a hand signal, giving a wave to them. By now in sharp contrast to the hastily-bandaged wounds, tattered mail, and piecemeal makeshift shield they originally saw him with, his gear was fully repaired and he himself was mostly healed up. "Greetings. A surprise to see you guys paying us a visit, but a pleasant one. Everything alright?" he asked.
Nathaniel regarded them curiously, a bit suspicious but brushing it off. "These the guys Quinn mentioned, that helped get Donny back in one piece?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 08:09:42 pm
"We guessed well then. These two thought this lil' set-up was a trap. And you remember that we gave you a favor." He stands up, he takes off his overcoat and drapes it over his shoulder. "I've always lived by a certain phrase." He gestures in the air as he says it, "Favors go both ways. I did a favor for you, now I need a favor from you." He raises his eyebrows and glaces inbetween Hector and Nathen. "But before we discuss business, how about you show us around?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 08:19:11 pm
Hector nods at that. "So I see. Not sure in what you'd wish of us, but so be it." he said, gesturing to show them around, to the main building where Victor currently was first, as they likely caught a good glimpse of the disorganized workshop walking by to examine the vehicles. "Dee's workshop is just behind the main house, and nearby is Quinn's lab. And this here is Victor, currently manning the radio setup. If we could get spare two-ways, that might be useful next time you need to ask something of us."
Nathaniel meanwhile was a bit more to the point. "What is it you're here for? Nothing really extraordinary in terms of supplies to trade except for for old vehicle parts, the same old food you can get at the refugee center, and ammo. If it's a job or something, about half of us are only really good for killing. Catnip's a mechanical savant of sorts, Kath can sew and cook, Dee's mostly good with old computer stuff, Quinn's the doctor, while Floyd and Hector have more general mechanical experience."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 10, 2017, 08:30:20 pm
The Boss scratches his beard, "I need to figure out where some of my boys are. They've been taken by those god's army sons of bitches." He reaches into a pocket inside his overcoat, he pulls out a large Polaroid containing a large group photo, with two people circled on it. One with Bat-Like features and the other with some obvious CBM's, eyes are an artifical bright blue, a small round aluminum plate with a company's symbol. "Cyborg is Sparks, real name Natalia. Bat fella is Kendrick." The Boss breathes in through his nose, and sighs. "You think you could nail down a location for me?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 10, 2017, 08:46:48 pm
Hector grinned at that. "Now that is a task I can get behind." he said. "Haven't received intel that would lead to them, but having prior experience dealing with them helps. I know of two camps that they had formerly been active in. One was a religious commune before this mess started, the other was an ad-hoc location set up to try and get at Kath and Catnip." he said.
Nathaniel then nodded at that. "If they're being held in a specific place and aren't already a lost cause, I'd expect it to be a permanent base, possibly one with similar importance. Either that or old rural churches. Possibly either the closest place to where they got captured, or the next available place farther from retaliation if they suspected you'd be on their trail." he offered, procuring an old map of the local area, with faded designations on it and locations marked that weren't the norm for road maps. "Do you know where they likely were when they were taken? And where have you searched so far that we can rule out?"
Hector shook his head at that. "Temporary places might be worth looking into. If they don't have any reason to keep them alive, then they'd be obvious places to take them to. If their attack on your men is anything like their attempts to lure the others away, it'd be a location nearby, somewhere that'd discourage any unsuspecting travelers from entering. Small enough towns that looters wouldn't see much reason to explore, while big enough only an organized force would be able to easily clean out." Hector suggested, pointing out a few areas on the map that seemed like plausible suspects. He neglected to add the caveat of "organized force, or one determined knight" to that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 11, 2017, 12:46:31 am
Dee wanted to pull his hair out. He'd jury rigged together the best computer he could manage and it had lasted all of five minutes with the Harddrive matrix attached. He'd already gained the determination to rise to the challenge the AI presented, and he'd come up with a work around. The AI could seize control of robots through their own AI matrices, so long as he cleared the matrix first. In this way the AI had managed to seize control of an eyebot without overheating it, using it as a conduit instead of inserting itself partially into it. At some point, Dee had planned to install a remote control unit into it, but it's thrusters were completely shot. He'd gotten as far as installing a janky little arm when he set the project aside. He dug the eye bot out of the scrap pile and cleaned it up. The conduit idea hadn't been his, he figured the AI had figured that out on it's own because once the eye bot was powered with a borrowed plutonium cell it had activated and fallen off the work bench. He picked it back up and dusted it off while it watch him. "Whoopsie daisy." Dee said. The eyes adjusted and watched him until he became uncomfortable.
It was a newcomer who broke the awkwardness building in the room. "Oh, hey, what's uh... up? Do I know you?" Roland and Drifter introduced themselves to the lizard man in the digital mask. Dee shook the offered hands, and the eye bot laboriously turned itself around with it's single scrabbling claw. "We were told by that Dervish fella to bring ourselves up here and ask if you had anything that needed doing." Dee did have a job a couple of experienced 'dudes' could do. "You see this thing?" He said, gesturing to a rectangular object laying on one of the work benches, attached to a laptops whose cooling fan sounded like it was about to give up the ghost. "It's called a harddrive matrix, these are top of the line stuff, a black ops grade hard drive. This one is pretty rare though, I need more regular ones. High end ones are found in more advanced robots, but it might be safer just to check the labs." He looked around at the trashed workshop. "If you guys are about getting paid, I don't think I have much for you unless you like weed." His mask made a silly face. "So, what do you say?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 11, 2017, 01:29:55 am
Drifter looked the harddrive matrix over as he said "Well I was lookin for something to keep me busy, don' see why this shouldn't be it. And I'm fine with not getting paid, just trying to help people out around here."
Roland nodded as he said "Just point is in the right direction and we'll see what we can find. Said something about a lab right? where's it at?"
Dee told them where to go to find the lab and the pair set out. As they traveled Drifter checked his pistol as he said "Hopefully I don't have to pull her out when we actually have to fight the robots. Either way though we ought to make ourselves useful round the place right?"
Roland was busy checking his supplies as they walked when he said "I mean if'n we're gonna live there we better help out. 'Sides you didn't exactly make the best first impression."
Drifter shrugged as they continued in silence. Better to keep quiet and catch anyone or thing ahead of them by surprise.
((I'll write how the rest of this goes tomorrow))
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 11, 2017, 08:05:03 am
The journey to the command center was a short one mostly due to the fact they had been there before. It only took them the rest of the day to get there. The ride was silent for the most part save for a few questions on what Router had told Roxanne. Once they reached the command center, they were greeted by the guards who let them in. Router was waiting for them, Sigma and Lambda had a brief conversation with him before they were dismissed for the day due to it being early night. Roxanne and co went to their assigned beds and slept for the night. It was weird for Roxanne sleeping in her scouting gear; no matter how many times she had done it in the past few years in her scouting runs, it still bugged her. She brushed it off and went to sleep after a brief prayer to the “force”.
The next morning, Roxanne was woken up by Thomas. “Everyone is heading to the dining room, met us when you are ready. ” She nodded and followed Thomas to meet the everyone else. Inside the dining room everyone, including the guards, were seated around the large table. “It seems everyone is here, good. Let us get started then. Now, is everyone brief on why we are gathered here today?”, Router said opening the meeting. Everyone nodded and Router continued. “Good, then let’s continue. We have not seen any activity from Apophis for quite a while so we decided on doing a course of action to establish ourselves. We have three orders of business. First, we are running low on supplies. To the east of there is a large city and Roxanne has told me we can loot it and restock ourselves. Roxanne?” Everyone stared at Roxanne, some awaiting confirmation and other out of worry. “Yes, I can lead a one day expedition and carefully loot some choice buildings. As some of you know, that place is very dangerous so we will stick to grocery stores, clothing and electronic stores. ” Router drew attention once more by speaking. “Good, we will plan that later on once we are done here. Next order of business is starting a settlement. We have a radio going and Roxanne said she can help us set up a broadcast to attract more people. I want to make this place a haven, helping those in persecution. We have not kept up to date on what is going on outside but we now the former government is still alive and trying to keep order. Once we get some supplies and get the broadcast going, we will start to work on getting some crops going. Now here is the thing…”
“You want us to what? ”, Delora spoke up confused, “We are going to stay here?! ” Router continued. “Yes, Roxanne and I talked about this, he says it is best you all stay here and help with the project. She will come every once in a while to help when she is needed but we need folks to start on the crops and to do regular loot runs.” Roxanne continued soon after Router explained himself. “The farm is getting to crowded, new people are coming in and we too might start be low on supplies. It is beneficial for both the farm and the command center for you to stay. I will still keep in touch. Once more people arrive, I believe this place could do some real good. ” Silence permeated the room. Sigma spoke up, “We went with you to get away from the boredom of being stuck here doing nothing and now you want us to come back here?!” Router grinned at that and once more took charge of the situation. “You won’t be doing nothing this time. We will have two more hands to rebuild this place and will be going on missions frequently. We are done just staying here. That brings me to the third order of business, what do we do about Apophis.... Roxanne, you said you found a missile silo nearby right?...”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 11, 2017, 02:36:48 pm
The crew was ready for it’s mission. Thomas and Delora were left behind. Thomas had no combat experience prior to meeting Roxanne and Delora was simply a merc; Sigma and Lambda were weapon’s grade mutants, albeit not in the same way as Mica or Lilith. “Everyone settled in?”, Roxanne asked once the trio was in the APC, “You all know you roles? ” The pair behind nodded. “We will cover you once we are inside while navigate.”, answered Sigma. “Excellent, Lambda, you have our key? ” Lambda flashed a device that had a thin plastic with a magnetic strip on it before responding. “Locked and loaded!”
“Yes, it’s immediately to the east, we found it when we decided to cut through a clearing to get to the city faster. Why?”, Roxanne answered Router. “Well, we have not detected any activity from Apophis for a while so we are not sure if he is still in the lab…I would like you to enter the missile silo and fire it towards the lab. Apophis might be the most powerful member of the project but not even him could survive a strike from a nuke.” Roxanne’s eyes widen at the request. “What did you just say? Do what now?!”, Roxanne asked in disbelief. “I know it sounds crazy but it’s the best shot we have yet. Why risk ourselves when one single strike could end this? We wouldn’t not have to worry about fallout since these missiles are fusions rather than fission...” Roxanne interrupted, “You are asking me to infiltrate a military installation, bypass all it’s security, and launch a fucking missile?! Some of my friends have gone inside labs and they almost died Router, a fucking lab!” At this point Roxanne was on her feet, both hands on the table and she was leaning towards Router when she gave her protest. One of the guards had his hand on his pistol holster but Router gave a hand sign to stand down. “Like I said, it’s the best shot we have. What good does it do to rebuild if Apophis just comes and kills us all? We need him gone before we can do anything. You said you would help. Besides, you will not be doing it alone. You have Tri- Sigma and Lambda.”
The trio had reached the silo. They got off from the APC and regarded the where they found themselves. The metal ‘floor’ underneath them as they walked towards the entrance hinted at the power of the weapon they were about to unleash. They were about to infiltrate a government facility and launch a nuclear missile. Roxanne wondered how the farm would say to this, what the refugee center would react. This was not the time to worry about this. She had come too far to doubt herself know. “Lambda, if you would please unlock the door for us? ” Lambda obliged. She moved around some dials and pressed some buttons on the devise and then swiped the plastic protrusion onto the card slot. The card reader turned green and the series of clicking noise could be heard from the metal door in front of them. “All done, shall we go in? ”, said Lambda with a smile. Roxanne nodded and the trio entered the missile silo.
After a few minutes of discussion, Roxanne had settled down and was now hearing out Router’s proposal. “It’s a mute point. The door required some sort of identification and I don’t have any. ”, Roxanne said crossing her arms in her chair. Router grinned once more. “I jury-rigged something for that as well. A device that can mimic identification cards. Not elegant but it works. I will teach Lambda how to use it and you should be able to enter.” Roxanne smiled. She had no more arguments. Router had given a solid case and she had come to the conclusion this was the only way to take care of the threat ahead of them. “Fine, I am in. Let’s work out the details and we will head off as soon as possible. ”, Roxanne said. “Excellent! I will give the details to Lambda and then you three make a plan to your linking. If we succeed, this will be huge!”
The upper level of the silo was barren, not a single soul or bot was anywhere to be seen. The place was still somewhat lit from what appeared to be emergency light. Roxanne with blade in hand, literally, and the weapon twins with rifles trained besides her advanced forward. They reached what looked to be staircase down. No opposition for now but the three had a feeling this was about to change…
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 11, 2017, 03:31:30 pm
While Hector and Nathaniel began to narrow down the list of remaining places to go after, Helen had been inquiring about local places of interest, looking for small cities that hadn't yet been cleared out, in addition to hanging around a bit to meet passers-by. She'd taken an interest in what little she'd heard of local groups, and something about the one she heard of called "God's Army" rubbed her the wrong way.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 11, 2017, 04:13:49 pm
Roland and Drifter had been walking some time when they came upon the lab. Looking to each other the pair paused for a moment before continuing. They had come this far so there was no sense stopping now. As they approached Drifter pulled his M16 out and flicked off the safety and Roland pulled his revolvers out.
Walking through the entrance the two realized something felt off. Drifter heard the whirring of the manhacks before either of them saw the things. Turning he started putting rounds into the things as Roland leveled his revolvers at one. The first pair fell before the rest rushed forward towards the two men and they started falling back.
Two of the remaining three fell before they could reach them. The third rushed forward as it dodged their bullets. It smacked into Drifter’s helmet leaving a gash in the metal before a round tore through it’s shell and it fell to the ground. Drifter reached a hand up to his helmet and looked at Roland “Fuckin’ hell. I dealt with security bots before but that’s a new one.”
Roland let Drifter take the lead as the two of them reloaded their guns. Walking through the halls the two of them could hear things moving about somewhere but neither could pin the direction. Unfortunately for Drifter it was coming from the room to his right that he had been walking past. A cyborg rushed forward at him as it grabbed him by the head and slammed him against the wall as it attempted to crush his skull.
Roland put a round in the back of it’s head only to find it rather ineffective. Unfortunately for the cyborg Drifter put a fifty calibre round through it’s skull as he tucked the barrel of the gun under it’s chin. The result was it’s head exploding in a shower of sparks and blood as it fell backwards and let go of Drifter.
Leaning against the wall Drifter reached a hand up to his ear. The ringing wasn’t unfamiliar to him but Roland was holding both of his hands to his ears. Sliding another round into his pistol Drifter put a hand on Roland’s shoulder and motioned for them to keep moving.
As the two made their way deeper they managed to recover somewhat as they reached a large room. The lights flickered on the other end of the room but the two managed to make out what was there. A pair of large security robots both of which began to activate as they sensed activity and they began powering up their weapons systems.
As Roland and Drifter ducked for the nearest cover available the first of the robots came fully online and attempted to kill Roland. The handful of shots it fired missed however as he ducked behind the nearest desk.
Drifter leaned out from his cover and unloaded his rifle into one of the bots before it fired back with a much larger gun. Ducking back down Drifter slid a new magazine into his rifle before he pulled a one of his grenades out and tossed it over his cover. It clattered across the ground and slid onto the floor in front of one of the bots before detonating.
The resulting explosion tore into he robot and caused it to shut down as Roland and Drifter both stood to fire on the second. The bullets managed to find their mark and the machine was quickly reduced to an inoperable state. Not that it hadn’t fired back.
As the two machines fell to the ground Roland fell back as his chestplate took a trio of rounds. Rushing over Drifter went to check him but Roland waved him off. “Just knocked the wind out of me, maybe broke something. Nothing we can fix at the moment.”
As Roland pulled himself to his feet Drifter walked over to the bots and checked them over. He recognized the type of matrix Dee wanted and pulled them out of the bots before tucking them into his back pack. Drifter looked around as he stood up and told Roland “Okay, we should find another one of these things just in case.”
Roland nodded his agreement as the two of them looked through the next few rooms with nothing of note happening. The rooms were all dark and what little light they had didn’t help much in their search. As Drifter was about to suggest they return home he realized Roland wasn’t with him.
Roland was busy fighting one of the cyborgs as it used a piece of metal it had picked up to try and brain him. For his part Roland was dodging the attacks as best he could and blocking them with his knives. A step to the left and a feint to the right allowed him to close the gap and he drove his knives into the cyborg’s throat before ripping one out and stabbing it repeatedly in the head.
He hadn’t felt it punch his chest plate or the small sharp object it had driven through his plate and into his stomach. His adrenaline had blocked that out until he felt it slump back and fall to the ground ripping his knives out as it went. Drifter rushed into the room and saw Roland’s condition before telling him they were leaving.
Rushing out the two of them found their way back out and made some distance before they stopped. Roland handed Drifter his first aid supplies as the two set about patching him up. Roland instructed Drifter rather quickly on what to do as he patched him up. It wouldn’t cause too much damage but getting a bandage on it would stop the bleeding which was the most concerning part of the wound.
“Alright, let’s get goin’ Drifter. Don’ wanna worry ‘em too much now.” Roland said as he put his shirt and chest plate back on and the two started back to the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 11, 2017, 04:57:22 pm
In another place, a little bar called Hap's, something big was happening. Someone began to scream. "Get out here you mutie bitch!" Shouted one of the men in painted armor has he dragged a women with a face like a melting pumpkin from one of the shanty tents by her hair. "Get them out here Crusader, hurry up." This last was said by a black man in a suit of heavy armor. He was checking the loads on a big pistol, rolling the cylinder from one chamber to the next. The crusaders forced the mutant woman into the back of a large box truck at gunpoint and held her there with six others. "You can't do this!" Shouted Hap, the bars proprietor. "This is neutral ground goddamnit! Neutral-" One of the crusaders slapped him and the talented sniper on the roof groaned. Gods army had brought their own sniper, and they'd gone to work picking off the bars guards from a distance before closing in. "Would ya'll shut yer fuckin mouth." Interrupted the black man, "One of our people is missing, and the lost soul was last seen headed here to this den of filth. We will find him. If we don't, well, the rest of you are going to-" A man was screaming as several crusaders pulled him from a shack, "Templar Templeton! We found Templar Goodings!" The man in the heavy armor clapped his hands together. "Wonderful, let's get things started then. Round them up out front men, let no one say that gods army doesn't like a little pageantry now and again."
The mutants had been taken from the box van and had been lined up against it to watch the proceedings. Another man, entirely normal but bound at the wrist stood apart from them. Templeton looked down at him and snapped the cylinder of his pistol back in place. "Templar Goodings," He began in a high commanding voice, "You stand accused of consorting with mutants and body polluters, of treason and murder. How do you plead?" Goodings tried to rise to his feet to protest, but was forced back to his knees by a grinning crusader. "This is wrong brother." He said. The black templar grinned wider. "Is that all? Not much of a defense. Ah well. By the power invested in me, I pronounce you guilty. You shall be executed on the spot." Goodings tried to rise to his feet again, but again he was forced back down. "Templeton, you can't-" Templeton leveled his pistol at Goodings forehead and in a nasal monotone pronounced "In the name of the father, the son, and the holy ghost." Goodings squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the report that would spell the end of his life.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 11, 2017, 05:09:09 pm
The Don scratches the side of his face, "According to one of their boys we've interrogated. They move around like ah..." He uses air quotes as he says, ""Missionaries of old." So, they might be a bitch to track down. I really appreciate this, by the way." The Boss looks around the farm, and he gestures for the other two to leave him alone with Hector and Nathen. "Listen, I know they might be dead. I don't want them to rot out there, y'know? They're a part of my family, they'll be treated like family." He sighs, "Thank you for this, how about you treat us to a meal?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 11, 2017, 05:26:28 pm
Helen watched cautiously. The gunshots that preceded their arrival told her clearly that the group had come in force, and with fire support. Exactly like the way her group used to operate. The one thing that was different was they made a big spectacle of rounding up their targets, and they initiated with sniper fire first, close combat second. Her way would've been flash hammers first, pick off anyone left in condition to fight second. She carefully, to the best of her ability, observed outside. Sorting out places in the distance that'd make good spots for snipers to set up.
She then gathered her hammer and mask. "So much for a chance at an introduction." she said as she stood up, waiting until a moment when the crusaders were outside. She then calmly gestured to the closest people on hand that looked well-armed, a few rough-looking mobsters. "Snipers are likely in the treeline north, and at the hill east-southeast. If you boys think you can keep them suppressed, I'll handle the others outside." she said calmy, putting on her mask. "You'll know when. Until then, don't look out the windows or you'll be blinded." she said.
The moment she was outside, the metal of the mask had contorted from its neutral expression to a hateful glare, and a strange glow seemed to obscure her eyes. The warhammer she held also gave off an odd glow, that in a split-second intensified into a blinding flash and a thunderous sound, rather obviously the signal and one her mask warded against. Her words in that moment were drowned out by the boom that resounded. "Ave martello, fututores!"
Meanwhile back at the farm, Hector nods at that "I see. Getting a fix on their likely locations wouldn't be easy then, but the list is a bit more narrow now at least. Depends on whether they'll set camp in specific safe areas, or if they could be in the wilderness as well." he said, the three of them having pored over the available maps and gone over which would be most likely. Nathaniel this name smiled some. "Good to before setting out if there's still daylight left for it. Kathrine just got back yesterday, so good timing there. est cook here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 11, 2017, 06:07:58 pm
Elsewhere, Kathrine battled others in the cookshack. Not literally battled of course. It was more like slapping hands and chasing others out with a broom. "Just a little salt?" Suggested Nathaniel, Kathrine shoo'd him. "No!" She said, "Too many chefs! Get out of my kitchen, you'll get some when it's done!" Even Catnip hadn't been excluded from Kathrine's list of people to stay out of the kitchen. "I want to help though." Catnip had told her, but Kathrine had just gently pushed her out of the cookshack. The kitchen was Kathrine's domain. Over it's steaming pots and sizzling pans, she was it's master holding court among the pungent spices and succulent meats. Mica had snuck in at some point to swipe meat, but Lilith spotted her and lifted the spider bodily to deposit her gently outside. The tigress pointed to the barn when Mica hissed at her and said simply, "mous go." Lilith had been allowed to stay, simply by virtue of her bloody minded insistence on helping. Her paws could not articulate well enough to handle the utensils with the nearly acrobatic deftness which Kathrine exhibited, but she had proved wonderful for keeping Mica from stealing things. Mica snuck in through the back door and snatched something but Kathrine noticed her and chased after her with a spoon. Lilith was the one who caught her up and made her give it back. It was a jar of potatoes, something Mica would not eat but had taken just to be a trouble maker. Dervish watched from the doorway, confident that he would not be shoo'd off since he wasn't actually in the cookshack. The fur of the two mutants was definitely shifting. Slowly, but it was.
Kathrine finished serving out steaming helpings of Venison stroganoff, peas, and a baked potato. She surveyed the spread with pride as the gathered dug in. "It's very good Kathrine." Commented Dervish. One of the guests suddenly sobbed, once, and said "it's like ma used to make." Kathrine hugged him, she knew that was a big kind of compliment, but she didn't want the food to make anyone sad. Talk around the table turned to various subjects. Pre-cataclysm celebrities, stories of survival in the post-cataclysm, people they'd known, good times had. The strangers proved to be quiet adept at dinner conversation, both in speaking and in listening.
Something hit Mica. A little green ball. She didn't like the little green "peas." Vegetables were for sissies and rabbits she thought. Another one hit her and she looked around. It was Dee, his mask making a mischievous '^_^'. He picked up another pea and flicked it at her. She looked down at her plate. Mica had finished off her stroganoff and a second helping, leaving only her baked potato and had scraped the peas onto Catnips plate while she wasn't looking. Catnip hadn't complained about the sudden increase in the size of the pile of peas on her plate. Another pea hit her. Dee's mask turned to a '0_0' when she suddenly stood, potato in hand, cocked and ready to throw, idiot grin plastered on her face. Dee's hands shot up and he cried "WAIT! wait! You can't throw that!" Mica's grin melted, "Dee throw nasty peas, why My-ka not throw tato?" The others had stopped their conversations and were watching them. "Because Mica, you can throw as many peas as you like and still have a full meal," he explained, remembering a very old comedy routine, "If you throw your baked potato though, you throw away a third of your meal!" Floyd chuckled a little, he was old enough to remember George Carlin. Mica hesitated, torn between Dee's wisdom and her desire to both not eat the potato and throw it. She suddenly adjusted her aim just to Dee's left and pegged the potato at Mohammad. It took him upside the head and knocked him to the floor. The table exploded with laughter that went on for some time. The only ones not laughing, was the sour Mohammad and the distressed Kathrine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 11, 2017, 06:41:37 pm
"Good job, Kid. Tastes great." The Boss says, gesturing towards Kurtis. He looks at the sour Mohammad, "Who shit in your cereal? Lighten up." The Boss asks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 11, 2017, 06:49:39 pm
Hector over this time had been joining in the conversation, telling a few tales of the things Nathaniel and him had gotten up to long before the cataclysm, before they joined the military in fact. Thankfully for him staying away from post-service topics ensured he didn't have Nathaniel chiming in to correct him, so he didn't have to try and explain shifting weirdness to their guests. As for post-cataclysm topics he kept it a bit light, though he did mention how early on he recalled a few early projects that required reference books he couldn't find even after scouring a whole town.
The knight was left stifling a chuckle as Mohammed wound up pelted with a potato, but it wasn't long until he cracked up too, with Nathaniel piping up to explain. "Tend to rib him a lot over things. For his part he gives back as good as he gets."
Hector then smirked some. "Ahem. When you aren't being a lunatic and threatening violence over some stolen candy." he said. Understatment of the century, but he felt the Boss didn't need to hear that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 11, 2017, 06:59:40 pm
Kathrine seems like she's trying to comfort Mohammad, despite not quite being willing to hug him. Something about the fact he's wearing a bra that'd be at least four sizes too big for her and that he's still wearing thigh-high boots somewhat put her off him, but he was... Sad? And that just couldn't fly. She settled for patting him on the back and saying "There there." repeatedly, something Mohammad took as an insult. "Could you piss off? You too, 'buddy'." He glares at The Boss. "I ain't got much to be lightened by, Ronald Reed." Kathrine's already given him The Look™ and backed off, arms crossed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 11, 2017, 07:43:56 pm
The Boss adjusts his hands on the table as if to get up, but doesn't. He glares straight back, he breathes in through his nose, and lets it out through his teeth. His expression lightens and he says to Kathrine, "Sorry for the french, Kiddo."
The man in a military like uniform, "For sure, ma'am." The PMC tosses the rifle to the russian in the dirty tracksuit, they both head to the roof, looking for the rifle. Taji grabs a scabbard and affixes it to his belt. He turns away from the windows and covers his ears.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 11, 2017, 09:39:39 pm
Aiming would have been hard from up in the deer stand if the sniper had not had years of practice. Before the cataclysm, he'd been an avid sportsman. Now, he was just another soldier in gods army on his way to the rank of crusader. "C'mon c'mon. One of you dinks take the bait already." He'd shot the kid on the roof, but had not killed him, to leave him as a honey pot for others that might try something. Two men had climbed a ladder around the back of the gas station below and were carefully making their way towards his honey pot. "C'mon..." He zeroed in on the one in the track suit and squeezed the trigger. He didn't see if he hit his target or not for at that moment their came a blinding flash down in front of the bar. It sent white hot needles of light through the magnifying lens of his scope, blinding his shooting eye and causing him to drop his rifle to the ground far below.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 11, 2017, 09:56:02 pm
Hector facepalmed at Mohammed's remark, while Nathniel winced a bit. He could guess that this "boss" was not the type to just go insulting like that, or at least had his suspicions. "No need to go telling off guests, Mohammad. Mica, say you're sorry. For the waste of a good potato, if nothing else." the knight said.
The figure in the cloak and mask pressed that advantage. The sound of the shot was drowned out by the deadened sound of her hammer's thunderous crack, and with the mask her vision faded before it reached far enough to see the flash. Instead sight beyond sight guided her, making it easy to dart in and exploit the blindness her hammer inflicted. She could vaguely sense the figures in the van, and all around her, sensing behind her the other that lingered near the window, likely suspect he'd join the fight at some point.
Other than the invocation that went unheard due to the blast, she said nothing, focusing on sweeping legs, bashing shoulders into their sockets, staving in heads whenever the opportunity arose. Don't give them even a moment to recover, was what her training taught her. And she knew she had to exploit that advantage as much as possible, as her fire support was too close and lacked the protection that her mask afforded her. She knew that first hammer flash was the only one she could deliver without impairing the others.
She had to simply trust that the others could take out the gunmen in the distance. She hated having to use her cloak, given the amount of energy needed to use it, and the pain that forcibly mending wounds inflicts.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 11, 2017, 10:13:53 pm
"My-ka sorry..." She said to Kathrine, and she seemed to mean it. To Mohammad though, almost as if she was saying it without thought, she said "My-ka also sorry to Lady-man." Mohammad, refusing help, stood and straightened away his chair. He nearly fell again when he stepped on Mica's potato and slipped, but Dee caught him. "Woah, careful man, don't-" Mohammad snapped a glare at Dee so vile it could sour meat at ten paces. "Fuck off me." he shot as he pulled his arm away from Dee.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 11, 2017, 10:55:57 pm
The round goes through the back of the gopnik's calve, catching some of the flesh. The Gopnik winces, but carries on. They make it to the top of the roof. They make their way to the downed sniper, with a bullet to his hip. The PMC grabs the rifle, it was a bolt action, british design. A lee enfield. The PMC peers down the chunky scope as Sergei unwraps his hand wrappings to use as bandages for the downed sniper. He scans the forest line, Where is this fuck... he thinks.
"Come on comrade, stay with me..." Sergei says, applying his boxing wraps to the gut shot. He applies pressure, "дерьмо... Нет, не ебать! Не умирай на меня! ублюдок..." He holds the wound as the sniper grows paler and paler, closer and closer to expiring.
Taji finishes his drink. He walks outside and swings his sword, unsheathing the sword and slashing open a crusader's throat. He grips the sword with two hand and stabs into the temple of another and slashes forward through the forehead. He wipes the blade against his sleeve, smearing blood against his suit jacket.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 11, 2017, 11:42:54 pm
The black templar shield his eyes too late. As he saw her coming, just before the flash, he'd tried to divert his gun away from Goodings and at the charging woman, the bullet ricocheted harmlessly off the asphalt. The mutants gathered screamed as the light sent needles into their eyes. Goodings, whose eyes had been closed, swept a crusaders legs out from under him by throwing his body against the heavily clad legs. That crusader fell, but did not see, the warhammer carried by the woman singing through the place where his head had been. Accidentally though it was, it only prolonged his life until someone else got to him. The woman used the momentum of the missed strike to turn the swipe into a devastating crushing blow against a different target. It cracked armor and ribs alike, sending the crusader toppling over. One of the mutants leapt upon of the of the blinded crusaders as best she could, and sank her long envenomed fangs through the soft part of his uniform and into the arm beneath. The flesh beneath her eyes where the venom sacs were seemed to recede as she pumped death into the crusaders body. They tried to organize, but most of them were blind or dazed. One of the younger soldiers fell to his knees and began to pray. He had seen the woman emerging from the bar and the blinding flash was like nothing he'd ever seen before. Except Bishop Colins of course. Bishop Collins had sent a bright flash of light into the eyes of a mutant that had dared to spit at him. His prayers ended a moment later when the steel head of an enchanted warhammer came crashing down on top of his skull.
He had seen what was happening and began to climb down to retrieve his rifle. He couldn't use his good eye anymore, but god had been kind and made him just as adept with the other eye. The sniper managed to climb about ten feet down when he lost his grip suddenly and plummeted the rest of the forty foot distance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 11, 2017, 11:51:06 pm
Helen smiled a bit under her mask, glad to have sensed Taji following up behind her, slashing open throats of those she left in her wake, those alive at least. A swing barely missed, deftly directed into another victim. Templeton she merely gave a swift kick to crack a knee, in order to move onto other targets that were in better state to fight back.
One of the crusaders had fallen to their knees, either staggered or awed by the flash. That would be good for them if this was a traditional raid, but they were outnumbered and on the defensive. Far as she was concerned, only their leader was worth taking alive. This one at least she'd finish off before he might become a problem.
The awestruck crusader looked up, vision clearing only to see the figure looming over him, a cloak of metal scales and a mask bearing a malevolent visage, hammer held high. A sight that'd provoke a futile prayer before she brought the hammer down. "Glad to have a helping hand. Try to leave the armored one alive, he's useful to us." she said, by now closing in on the templar, intent on swinging that hammer at the arm holding the pistol.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 12, 2017, 12:23:38 am
Taji nods stabbing the skull of the crusader who's throat's been slashed open. He dodges to the left and he sheathes his sword, one of the crusaders slashed at him with a machete. Clearly scavenged from a sporting goods store. He slashes upwards, cutting off his machete hand. The crusader falls to his knees, screaming, Taji stabs into the Crusader's throat, then slashes to the right. He wipes the blade against his sleeve again, drenching it with blood.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 12, 2017, 01:01:43 am
The trio descended the stairs slowly. Down stairs were just as silent from above but was more than just a corridor. Figures could be seen in the distance and not even Roxanne’s night vison helped making out what they were. The group advanced forward with Roxanne on front and the bio-weapon pair covering the rear and sides. What appears to be an eyebot approaches and Roxanne signals to wait hoping it passes. The eyebot looks around and catches glimpse or the crew. It shoots a beam of light o scan the group and it speaks. “Personnel not in database, please present guest badges.” Roxanne gives an annoyed groan before striking the eye bot down. Alarms go off all around the facility. “Time to go loud!”, Roxanne announces.
Manhacks drop from the ceiling but are shot down by Roxanne’s chain lighting. The figures in the distance become active and move towards the group. “Security bots!”, yelled Sigma. “Well, don’t leave it all to me, I don’t wanna waste all my energy in one go. ” The pair soon after shoot their experimental rifles at the incoming security bots. A couple went down but there is too many to take down quickly; they open fire as well. The group scrambles for cover just when more manhacks fill the room. A voice can be hard over the intercom. “Leave the premises immediately, deadly force is authorized. Stand down and you will receive a fair trial.” Roxanne gives a signal to cover her. She then takes the manhacks down with the chain lightning and then cloaks herself. She steps out and hacks the remaining security bots as she blindly fires in all directions. The rooms fell silent. The whole encounter took 2 minutes.
” That drained half my power…change of tactics. ”, Roxanne announced as she withdrew her UPS rigged laser rifle and de-activated her blade, “This thing is good for 10 shots. I take out manhacks while you guys take anything else that comes this way except armor, that’s what this baby is for. ” Sigma and Lambda nodded and the trio continued. Most of the opposition was manhacks which were easily dispatched. Security bot were harder to deal with but the experimental rifles took them down reliably. On the 4th floor they discovered a door that lead to a corridor that lead to the 5th floor; they arrived at this conclusion via process of elimination since this was the only unexplored path left. There was minor problem. It was locked behind another card reader. The trio expected it to be locked since the whole place was under lock and key but they tried the device anyways. *click* the door opened. That’s when things went south.
You see, Roxanne was still the hasty girl she had always been. Not entirely used to combat like this, she didn’t know what to do in surprises; Ambushes were fine, it was new things that got to her. When the door opened, a turret awaited them and it opened fire. Lambda and Sigma jumped to cover, Sigma tackling Roxanne down with him. Roxanne had managed to fire a bolt toward the turret but a bullet found its mark on Roxanne’s left shoulder. The moment they landed the exploded. After the trio catching their breaths, a few things were discovered. First, Roxanne’s wound was stopped by her super-alloy armor she had asked Quinn to install her a couple of years back. She was still bleeding but the bullet was stopped before it hit anything major; well, major in terms of biology since her left arm and hand was now devoid of power. She could no longer power her chain lightning or use her monomolecular sword. She was down to the monomolecular blade, cloak and cqb bionics. Worse still, her cloak would no longer cloak her left arm either, it simply looked like a floating arm, useless. The second thing was Lambda had been shot in the right leg. Sigma patched her up and gave her pain medication. “I can still continue, don’t worry about me. ”, Lambda reassured. The trio silently agreed they had come to far too just head back. They pushed on down the stairs guarded by the now non-existent turret.
Down stairs were not a pretty sight. It was filled with zombie soldiers. Not much of a threat as the security bots but in the group’s condition and the number of them here made things harder. Sigma and Lambda went to work shooting any of the shamblers that got near. Even with their experimental rifles and caseless ammunition, it took many shoots to down a single one of them due to their armor. Roxanne was shooting the ones furthest of from the group. A single shot was enough to kill once it found its mark but Roxanne didn’t have the luxury of energy so she ran out of power long before Lambda and Sigma finished the job. But in the end, it was done. Roxanne ended up with no power and some of her systems non-functional and lambda was wounded, but it was done.
The trio examined the room and they found a control panel. Lambda used the device to crack its security. Just then, a large number of manhacks entered the room. Sigma started shooting at them right away. Roxanne took Lambda’s rifle and order her to get work on the console. Roxanne was fed up at this point and yelled while firing, her persona non-existent for the time being. While Roxanne and Sigma were busy downing manhacks, Lambda was successful in cracking the security. A yes or no prompt appeared: “Installation under emergency lockdown, defenses deployed, override?” Lambda choose yes and the alarms of the installation stopped as well as the onslaught of manhacks. Finally, some breathing room.
“Is the missile online?”, asked Roxanne. “Yes ma’am. I have no idea what type it is since that section is non-responsive.”, Answered Lambda. “Can you fire it? ” “Yes, I have typed in the co-ordinates…” A brief moment of hesitation overtook Roxanne. She stared at Lambda and then at Sigma. She thought of the farm, of how they would react. She thought of Apophis and how he was a threat, not just to the command center but to the farm as well if it was such a powerful being. Roxanne set aside such feelings and gave the order.”Fire! ” “Yes ma’am! ”, responded a reluctant Lambda. A voice on the intercom sounded. “Missile launch initiated. In 10, 9, 8…” An incredibly loud roar of the missile’s propulsions system deafened the group. They all covered their ears. The room had sound dampening so it would not cause any ear damage but it was still very loud. “…3,2,1 missile is in the air.” The large tube in front of the transparent wall the group noticed after the they initiated the launch sequence moved and then disappeared taking the sound with it. Roxanne took out a portable radio connected to the APC to communicate with the command center. “Launch was successful router…”, said Roxanne in a somber tone. “Good…lets pray to whoever is listening that we were right...” The missile flew in the air. Passed the farm, the target was further north. It found its mark. A loud report permeated the landscape, it was heard for miles. Even here, 5 stories underground awaiting the report on the console, Roxanne could have sworn she heard the felt the vibrations of the impact. “What have we done…”, whispered Lambda.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 12, 2017, 01:26:46 am
"Maybe you should go." Said Dervish rising from his seat. Mohammad shifted that withering glare at him then, "Maybe you should go fuck yourself four eyes." Dervish sniffed and took his glasses off. "Alright, if that's the wa-" It was one of the guests who spoke up, the man the other guests referred to as "baws." "Boy, you are souring the mood in here." He spoke with authority unmatched by the others in the room. So much so that even Mica was absorbed with respect. "The lady apologized, I suggest you either sit your ass down and accept it, or leave." There was tense silence at the table for a many moments, and then Mohammad quietly sat down. He had several verbal barbs he wanted to fling, but just at that moment, he didn't feel much like fighting back. Sharlene was glaring at him. Why should she be glaring at him? He hadn't thrown a potato at himself. Things had only gotten harder on him since Sharlene had taken Mica in.
The "baws" looked down the table at Mica and smiled at her. "I like the way you operate. I need more people in my operation with cajones like yours, wanna join my gang?" Mica didn't know what "cajones" meant, but she understood the offer. "My-ka stay here with Kat-nyp, Kat-nyp sister! Kat-nyp all My-ka haves." She wrapped a long arm around Catnip and squeezed her. "An Char-leen." She added, looking at Sharlene. The guest nodded a little. He hadn't expected to be refused, people often didn't, but he could understand her attachment to family. It was a reason for refusal he could accept with good grace.
The mood eased gradually after that. A few minutes later, Mica realized she hadn't released Catnip and did so. She seemed to be watching Kathrine, not with the look of hunger she'd once looked down on her with as she scaled the bedroom wall in the barn, but of introspection and interest. Dervish saw it and could guess what it meant. He wondered if it would turn into friendship, or jealousy. He hoped friendship. Mica wasn't intelligent enough to handle jealousy properly, far from it in fact. If she got jealous, she would probably treat Kathrine in an absolutely beastly manner. Possibly even violent. Dervish hadn't heard the whole story between those two, just something about the chimeric spider attempting to eat the catmaid in her sleep and the fight for dominance that followed. He decided he would take Mica aside later and talk to her about Kathrine, maybe even talk to Kathrine too.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 12, 2017, 02:22:04 am
Hector sat calmly, expecting to have to stand up and reprimand Mohammad. The boss speaking up however was all that seemed necessary, something that impressed him quite a bit at that, and hushed Nathaniel who was about to direct yet another insult at Mohammad.
Hector found himself smiling some after things had calmed down. Even if Mica still had him being cautious around her, he found the response a good sign overall. A sign they made the right choice, back then. "Indeed. We're all family here, comrades as far as I'm concerned."
Meanwhile at the bar, it'd only taken her a moment to close in, a shot ringing out in desperation. Even as it went straight through ribs and a lung, it didn't halt the swing that crippled the arm holding the templar's pistol, caving in armor with a distinct crack. Only when she'd further forced him back and shattered a knee, driving him up against the van did she stop. The scales of her cloak gave off a strange glow, and he could likely see the bloodstained shirt beneath, running red for a moment before the bleeding stopped. It did seem to knock the wind out of her, and the work her cloak wrought forced a distinct growl of pain and rage from her.
She was back after him in a mere moment, slamming him against the vehicle. her free hand grabbed at the side of his head, thumb positioned such that she pressed it in against his right eye. Firmly enough to cause discomfort and forcibly prevent him from blinking, but not yet gouging it out. "I want you to tell me the closest sanctums your little sect calls a safe haven. If you comply, I'll give you one chance at life. You are to tell me this, then you are to leave this place, go straight to those you swear fealty to. Tell them what has happened here, and speak these three words: The Cleansing Flame."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 12, 2017, 09:27:44 am
The templar gibbered. "C-Cleansing flame. W-w-what are you?" He'd never seen miracles like those she seemed to have performed before. The closest he could think was the rumors of the many amazing things the other templars claimed the Archbishop could do. "T-travel around, I- Jesus that hurts. Wandering from pl-place to place." Taji cut the ex-templar known as Goodings loose, and he elaborated. "They're nomadic." He explained. "The bulk force of them travels around in big convoys until they run out of fuel or decide to spread a little of that 'old time religion.'" One of the two men on the roof sighted up something in the trees and fired his borrowed rifle at it. "My boy!" the bar keep cried, "Oh god, my boy!" The man in PMC's clothes strode around the corner carrying a man not much older than his mid twenties in his arms, and the bar keep runs to him. "My boy! Oh god!" Over and over he cries out.
For Goodings, it's a sound he's heard many times. A sound he could never get used to. The wailing of the dead and dying, the piteous moaning of those unfortunates nailed to the crosses with their lives slowly leaking out from the numerous torturous wounds inflicted on them. How could he forget, with the memory of it all etched into his soul. He rubbed at his wrists, and offered to tell the strange but powerful woman everything he knew.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 12, 2017, 11:06:22 am
She smiled at that under her mask. "What am I? A servant of your god, and of many other gods." she said. The answer unfortunately was of little use to her, calmly telling the templar something as Taji explained. "I level the following accusations against you and your brethren. Brigandry, persecution of the defenseless, and corruption of the faith." she said. The shouting interrupted her, and for a moment her expression under the mask would match what it had been when it was active earlier. She forced him back and slammed the back of his head against the side of the van, driving the armored thumb deep into the eye until the orbit halted it. She pulled away, turning and nodding to Taji. "Do with him as you wish." he said, looking down to Goodings. "Good. One moment..."
The first thing she'd do is make her way over the the man carrying the sniper, grabbing a small vial of a dark red liquid. "Damnit. How far gone is he? Still a pulse at least?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 12, 2017, 02:24:41 pm
Tajima looked at the roof-top sniper, then scowled at the Templar. "You. You lack a basic code. You had your men shoot someone's son. You're pathetic. You're lower than garbage. And you're going to pay for this. And for this, I must say... goodbye." He sets the blade behind the Templar's neck, and raises the blade. Then he brings it down, the Templar's head falling to the floor.
The PMC shakes his head, "No pulse, no. 'e's gone.." The Ruskie stares at Gooding, eye twitching. He cracks his knuckles.
Meanwhile, at the farm.
"How close would you say ya fine ladies and gentlemen are?" The 'baws' inquires, pushing his empty plate away.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 12, 2017, 02:44:25 pm
Helen looked down at the dead and dying around them, shaking her head at that. She kicked one of the crusaders firmly in the head, one that'd been bleeding out onto the pavement, armored boot driven into the skull. "I shouldn't have wasted my time interrogating that one. You already gave me enough to suspect they wouldn't have much in the way of permanent camps. I could've..." she said, trailing off. The dried blood on her shirt was now rather obvious, a hole in the fabric that would've indicated a bullet hitting low in the ribcage, just high enough that if not for the odd artifact she wore, she'd still have a collapsed left lung and a shattered rib.
She then turned to Goodings, reaching a hand out to help him up. "Now then. The more pressing matter is too late for me to act on. We'll have time to talk."
Nathaniel hmms at that. "Bickering and teasing aside, enough to rely on each other. Floyd's practically a father figure to a lot of those here, Hector and I know each other since high school, you've got Mica and Catnip, as well as Kathrine and Catnip..." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 12, 2017, 02:54:16 pm
The ride back to the command center was a silent one. Everyone was thinking about what had just happened and what it entailed. Roxanne had connected herself to the APC’s power supply to recharge and Sigma made sure Lambda’s leg wound was stable. Once they reached the command center Roxanne briefed Router and both her and Lambda received treatment for their wounds. Everyone slept early, some opting not to have dinner.
“There doesn’t appear to be any activity on the coordinates where the missile was sent. It is safe to assume the job is done”, Router told Roxanne the next morning. “How do you even know that? ”, asked Roxanne.
“I have an eyebot that I reprogrammed to patrol areas of interest.”
“For someone who claims to be low on resources, you sure have some serious tech. ”
“Unfortunately, that is all we have. We will run out of food soon and we have no more materials to rebuild. All of our electronic scrap went into the radio system we set up. It’s a shame you have to go so soon.”
Roxanne looked at her arm. She tried to deploy her monomolecular sword but it wouldn’t so much as twitch. “I am sorry to leave on short notice but I have to get this fixed. I am nothing without my bionic systems and as you said you don’t have the means to help me.” Roxanne put her arm down before continuing. ” I will give you all the resources from the APC to help you guys stay afloat. The RV you guys have upfront should allow you guys to do extended loot runs if you guys patch it up and parts for it are abundant. ”
“You have a point. I will have everyone take a look at the RV, asses what we need to repair, gather those parts and patch it up to do a proper scavenge run. In the mean time, your reserves should help nicely. Thanks you for all the help you gave us. Feel free to drop by anytime and keep in touch on the radio.”, Router told Roxanne.
Roxanne nodded in agreement. “I am going to go and say goodbye to everyone. ” With that Roxanne stepped out of the makeshift lab and onto the lobby area where everyone was waiting for her so they could see her off. “Are you ok? ”, asked Lambda. “I’ll be fine, I could ask the same to you but seeing you on your feet is a good sign. ” She turned towards Thomas and Delora. “You are to help the command center now ok? Real good can be done here. ” Delora chimed in after Roxanne said that stamen, “Here take these. ” Roxanne was handed some mouse traps; she grinned and gave a wink to Delora. “I’ll see what I can do. ” Thomas was next to speak. “Thank you once more for getting me out of the shelter. I trust Fang will fine in your care…” In her haste, she had neglected the fact that Thomas had brought his dog along. “Don’t worry, I will bring him back here next time I am here. ” Thomas gave a smile. “Thanks Roxanne, I just like knowing I belong somewhere. ” Finally, Sigma spoke up. “I originally wanted out because it I felt helpless doing nothing, but now thanks to you I have gone out and will do so more often. Things should be looking up now.”
After more few more exchanges, Roxanne helped them get her supplies of her APC and then after drove off. Everyone soon after got to work on inspecting the RV under Router’s supervision. On the drive back, Roxanne turned on the radio. “Roxanne Luna to Victor, do you copy? ” A few moments of silence past by then a response. “Roxanne? Thank god you are ok... ”, answered Victor. “The fact that you tell me that answers a suspicion of mine…we need to talk…” Roxanne looked at her armed again briefly. “Tell Quinn I will need his help again…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 12, 2017, 09:41:06 pm
"He's a powerful sort, but in the favor of 'god' he is not." Said Goodings, "I have no idea where he found such power, but it wasn't from communion with a good christian God." He took another sip of water, before joining gods army he'd been a good Catholic. Gods army had been just as good as the Catholic church for keeping his connections to God in such a troubled time. At least that's what he thought at first. "The story I was told was that the Archbishop discovered an ancient chapel and brought some gifts from God out of that place. Some people think he got more than a few gifts though..." Goodings seemed lost in thought, and then broke the silence again, "I once saw the Archbishop turn a man into a barking dog." He shook his head at the memory. That had been John Cullings. Archbishop Astor had ordered him to execute a fellow templar, but good ol' John couldn't bring himself to do it. He probably would have deserted not long after if Astor hadn't used his power on him. "Never seen him heal the sick or wounded. I think that's probably what broke the camels back for me. All the torture and death... All the Archbishop seems to do is use his power to make people miserable." He was having another memory, one of a trio of privates whose only crime was to question the Archbishop on one of his decisions. They had just wanted to know what advantage that move would have given them against their Hell's raiders enemy in that region. He'd given a wave of his staff and a flick of his wrist and the privates had been struck dumb and blind. "He's cruel. Sometimes even punishes successful missions. It's a terrible stress the templars live under. Our men live or die by the actions of templars, but the templars live or die on the whim of the Archbishop. Listen, lady, if you think you can do something about all this... Gods army's detachment in the area is settled around a small town north of here about three or four hours drive, if you can avoid obstacles." They'd laid out the bars son on the pool table, and Goodings watched the proceedings as a procession of people came to pay their respects to the sniper that had kept the bar relatively safe since they had fetched up in the gas station and settled down. "I can never be free of guilt for this sort of thing as long as that... thing, is alive." He mumbled. "I'm trapped."
The men sat at the outdoor table under an electric light, smoking and chatting after dinner. Moths came and lighted on the inside of the metal bowl that contained the lights bulb, or fluttered about it. "And that, as I see it, is the real folly of man." Dervish said, flicking his cigarette into the red cafe ashtray between them. The sun had set over the land and things were rapidly descending into darkness. Someone slapped at a mosquito that happened to land on their arm, someone else took a sip of after dinner beer. Over by the farm house, Kathrine was eating leftovers with gusto even as the tigress Lilith simply nibbled at what the cub had brought her. Mica had vanished into the barn with Catnip. Floyd was struck, like he had been a few years ago while Catnip lay terribly injured, that the world couldn't be that bad if a few good ol' boys could sit around on a summer evening, drink a couple beers, and shoot the shit. Especially after such a fine meal. He was about to comment on this, when there came a distant roar. Like a jet high above that one hears on a clear day even as you watch the con trails expanding across the sky. The roar grew louder by the second, and in the fading daylight, far off they saw above and to the north west something long and large moving at great speed. "That's a rocket," Quinn said, watching it's rapid journey, "I wonder who-" The rocket suddenly altered it's path slightly, and descended. Everyone gathered had to shield their eyes, for as they watched, the night suddenly became as day.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 12, 2017, 10:13:10 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Then he sounds like another petty cultist, given too much power." she answered. She'd been devised a plan of attack, making use of what information she knew of past experiences with the arcane, and what all Goodings told him. "It'll be difficult, but better work than what I used to do." she admitted. "Whatever god this archbishop serves, he'll learn that the rest aren't on his side." she said softly. Actually assaulting the base would be feasible, but difficult. More importantly, a drain on resources. She only had so much available to make the healing items and essence that fueled her gear, and she was disappointed that the crusaders hadn't brought any form of "contraband" to recoup the essence used in the fight. Just mundane arms, armor, ammunition and other supplies. She'd taken a few of the medical supplies and rations, and set aside almost everything else for everyone else to distribute as they saw fit. "Should hit them in the morning, if a vehicle is available to do so. And will have to see who's able and up to join in. As you've seen though, something to protect any fire support from being blinded will be useful."
For the evening she made some preparations and planning for the morning, for now looking around outside, contemplating the mission ahead, and her duties. There was a faint distant rumble, and a brilliant flash on the horizon. Others outside averted their gaze, but she simply activated the mask. Even with vision fading into pitch blackness beyond the 50 or so meters of clairvoyance, the sight cut through the darkness, the only thing she could see clearly beyond it. She could afford to spent just a hint of the mask's energy, she thought, to watch a rare spectacle. Unsettling as it was to be reminded of what could be accomplished without old cultist artifacts, she only had one thought in mind. She hoped it hit something big and nasty.
Back at the farm, Nathaniel was stammering and trying not to panic. "Holy f-fuck what t-tripped a strike this long after everything went f-fucking haywire?" Hector's answer was practically force him to get down, to avoid looking towards the flash if nothing else. "Far enough to be out of blast effect, fallout might be a problem depending on wind, but minor...check your gear." Hector said to everyone, as soon as it looked like the blast was safely far enough to not be a direct threat to them. He ran outside and scrambled into the tank. The tank was built with at least partial EMP protection in mind, and he'd taken care to ensure his own installation of the electric motor in the engine array wouldn't mess that up. "Hector, checking in on radio. Roxanne, do you read me? Are you okay? How close was that impact to wherever the hell you are?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 13, 2017, 12:54:02 am
the mobsters leave whoopdeedoo who the fuck cares
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 13, 2017, 01:22:36 am
It was Mica and Catnips aversion to bright light that saved their eyes, otherwise they would have been blinded. Neither had seen a nuclear explosion before, and the urge to look at it was strong. Mica did try, but Lilith saw her turning and pushed her roughly into the farm house along with Kathrine. "What is big light?" She asked Kathrine, who stared at her with mixed suspicion and a little fear.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 13, 2017, 09:07:10 am
Kathrine shakes her head, hugging her tail. "I dunno. Mistress?" She looks at Catnip expectantly, sitting down on the floor next to the door. Lilith, looking worried, grabs the back of her coat and moves her away. "Ith nook. Nook." Lilith lets out a short growl and tries again. "Nuuuke."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 13, 2017, 11:06:02 am
Catnip had heard that word before, or something like it. Off the top of her head, she thought of her favorite chocolate, "Nuclear Meltdown Mocha." That wasn't right, chocolate didn't explode unless it had those little popping bits in them. She noticed that Kathrines stripes had almost changed back to spots at some point. Catnip had a thought and looked to Lilith, hoping that she hadn't misspoke. "Nuclear?" She asked, "Like the minireactor thingies for my train?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 13, 2017, 12:02:13 pm
Hector meanwhile would return back inside after his futile attempt to radio Roxanne, unaware that she was away from the APC at the time. He wouldn't find out she was still in one piece until hearing about her checking in from Victor. Nathaniel at the moment was there with the three of them, not wanting to be outdoors just in case. "Like those, yeah. Most reactors use stuff that's unusable for bombs, but that cutting-edge stuff uses plutonium cells for those damned stupid reason." he said, not really getting that Catnip wouldn't even know what a nuke does.
Helen, after the fireworks were over, make her way back inside, in order to rest up for the morning. She'd decided to ask Goodings what he was going to do, now that he was free of them. She almost wanted him to come along with her given his familiarity, and to ensure that if his former group tried to hunt him down, he'd be with someone that wouldn't simply turn him over and leave him to die. But at the same time she suspect he was someone who'd seen too much bloodshed as it is, and she didn't want to force him to fight his former comrades. The others there might be a better fit for a hunting party, she thought. Just have to ask around in the morning, she decided...
Welp, another day of heading out to do stuff, so dunno when I'll be able to check in next.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 13, 2017, 12:07:41 pm
"Nuc-hugh-lar?" Lilith cocks her head, then recoils. She plods over to the bookshelf and places a paw on top of a row of books and slides them off, knocking the bookshelf over at the same time. "Ooopth." Despite her response, she intentionally places two paws on the next shelf over and knocks that one down too. "That's mean, Miss Lilith." Kathrine mumbles, practically eating her tail with how close she's holding it to her face. Lilith looks slightly guilty, but starts pawing at the books on the floor, attempting to get one open. When she inevitably fails, she snarls and punches the floorboards, turning to look at Kath with her attempt at puppy dog eyes in an effort to get her to come over and help.
About fifteen minutes later, Lilith puts her paw down on one of the open books, pointing at a symbol with a claw. "Thaht one." She's pointing an illustration of the nuclear trefoil, roughly halfway through a high-school level textbook on physics.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 13, 2017, 01:10:44 pm
Mica was chewing on a book. The four of them sat in a circle among the pile of books scattered across the floor. Hector and Nathaniel Sat at the dining table and listened as Catnip sounded out the words in the textbook Lilith had picked out. It was mind numbingly boring, and Mica had already shredded three of what looked like religious texts out of bored disinterest. Catnip threw the book away, a page came partly loose and flew out as the text came to rest at the foot of one of the book shelves. "How boring." Catnip huffed. Kathrine was looking at Mica, "That's mean Miss Mica." Mica withdrew the partially eaten book and chewed thoughtfully. "Not taste good either." She stated. Nathaniel just grinned a little at Hector. They'd wanted them to figure it out for themselves. He was also grinning because he was thinking what Roxanne would say when she got back and found several pages and entire books outright missing. "It's an explosion girls." He said, from a kind of bomb. I didn't think I'd ever see one of those kinds of explosions." The four were still too dull with boredom to respond right away. Mica spat spit out a couple staples, and then swallowed the paper pulp. "Ugh." She said. She'd set the remains of the book down and Kathrine had moved it away from her. Mica wanted to take the book back, but then that tiny part of her brain in charge of logic butted in and told her she didn't need it. She didn't need any of the books. Only half the message got through, and Mica picked up an almanac and began her gnawing anew.
Quinn and Dervish watched, in so far as one can watch, the distant mushroom cloud stretching away into the sky. "What the hell do you think that's about?" Dervish asked. Quinn pondered. It was a mystery, the kind that could be dangerous. "I'll use Dee's network and check local weather patterns. It's actually piggy backed onto a weather radar's signal. We should make sure this isn't going to effect us here at the farm." He led the way back to his lab. "Those guests of ours seemed to have buggered off in a hurry." he commented in passing. Dervish thought about it. "Huh. Yeah. Guess they didn't want that third beer Hector offered. Eh, probably worried about that explosion." Both of them wondered what many of the others on the farm were thinking; was Roxanne safe?
"I'll uh, continue going south." Goodings told Helen. "Gods army hasn't reached quiet that far yet, not physically anyway. You'd be surprised how far Archbishop Astor can reach though..." He could tell she wanted him to join her, he'd seen the look before. No matter how subtle, it was always on display with the people who had some battle to join. "My fighting days are over." He said, "I've had what you might call a 'conversion.' Maybe I can show you a place where you can find something useful. It's a dangerous place though. A kind of temple in the sky that Gods Army Bishops or templars occasionally visit to restore themselves."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 13, 2017, 01:54:10 pm
Hector smirked a little at Catnip and Kathrine struggling to figure it out, though the chaos Mica left in the library was not going to very fun to deal with. Assuming Roxanne even came back, he thought. He at least had tried to keep a few texts out of Mica's reach. Essential reference texts, an old bible, and a few of the arcane texts Rox just carelessly left in the shelf for any to read. Nathaniel for his part tried to stifle a chuckle. "At this distance, I'm guessing it had to be fairly low impact since I don't think any of our gear got fried. But that means more fallout..." he pointed out. By now he was examining that set of maps he had, one of the ones that they pored over when planning things with the Boss earlier. He wondered what sites in that direction would've been the target, assuming it wasn't a freak accident. Some bunkers listed, cities, and a few scattered sites here and there that were only marked on the mark as unnamed dots with the most rudimentary of data that his unit would've been allowed access to. The assorted dots with markers indicating "prevent enemy forces from intruding if possible" and "fortified structure" caught his eye.
Helen meanwhile nodded at that. "I understand. Just take care in doing so, Goodings." she said, smiling some. "I'll drive them back to the arctic if I have to, that they may never take another inch of ground, if the gods demand it." The offer seemed to startle her. "Floating temple. I know of only one old group to build those structures. The Keepers of the Oath. Followers of some unknowable thing from beyond the veil. They never got along well with us. They figured their god made all the the gods of this world obsolete, and we didn't like the sort of dangerous places they play with."
"There's one such location I know of, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are others. The one I already know of, well...last I saw it, it was in no condition to be used by this God's Army. I was planning to assemble a hunting party to clear that one, before more pressing matters came up."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 13, 2017, 02:54:35 pm
Roland and Drifter had stopped to rest for a handful of hours before continuing back to the farm. Roland had needed the rest and Drifter had taken the time to inspect the integrity of his helmet. Now though they were walking down the side of a road as Drifter scanned the horizon.
As they walked they spotted a handful of mutants that had been crucifyed a ways off the road. Roland muttered under his breath as they passed them but neither made an attempt to take them down. In their experience religious fanatics tended to try and kill those who took down their precious imagery. After all the imagery was what attracted them and not the actual message.
Past that was nothing much of note to the pair. A quick stop at an abandoned liquor store turned up a small bottle of whiskey that the two decided to bring with them. It wasn’t long before Roland was singing an old song from the baptist book of hymns from his youth while Drifter quietly hummed along.
Which was when a man decked out in metal armor with a blue cross emblazoned on the front stepped out. “Hello gentlemen. I couldn’t help but hear your fine song and stop to talk.”
Drifter remembered what Hector had said about God’s Army and tightened his grip on his rifle. The man raised a hand to Drifter before he could lift the rifle and said “Don’t. I’m not alone and my men won’t appreciate you pointing a gun at me, much less shooting me.”
Drifter looked around and caught sight of the sniper that had tucked himself away on a nearby hill. Looking at the man he said “Okay. What do you want with us?”
The man inspected his gauntlet as he spoke “Well I just happen to be interested as to why and where this man learned such a song. Perhaps he would like to hear our choir, mayhaps teach them even.”
Roland shook his head as he said “Sorry sir, but I’ve got to find my own flock to tend to. I’m a pastor after all.”
The man sighed as he stepped back. Waving his hand towards Drifter he said “Very well. I respect a fellow man of God. Unfortunately I have those who have given me orders and if won’t join us I’m afraid there is no place for you.”
The round came before the crack and Drifter found himself on the ground, his left knee shattered to pieces. The second round hit the ground a few meters in front of him as he rolled to the side and returned a shot. Arcing through the air towards the sniper the bullet made it’s way through the man’s scope and ended him.
The individual that had approached them turned with a pistol drawn. He found himself on the receiving end of a pair of .357 revolers that tore through his helmet and left him falling the to ground. At the same time Drifter turned to fire at the four men rushing towards them with weapons drawn.
One went down before he could fire much less reach cover. The other three dove to the ground and opened fire with their makeshift weapons. A rifle round tore through Drifter’s shoulder and a second through his stomach. The third round struck Roland in the chestplate as he ran towards a somewhat destroyed building for cover.
The trio completley turned their fire to Roland as he dove through a window. Deciding to chase him the three ran past Drifter to get an angle. Which was a rather poor mistake as the three found themselves standing directly next to a grenade. The shower of blood and limbs painted the side of the house a fine red and the grass a lovely scarlet before Roland rushed over to Drifter. Drifter pulled off his helmet and coughed before saying “Well. This was fun. Think God’ll let a man like me through the gates?”
Roland started bandaging him as he told him “Don’t you worry about that. I’m not goin’ to let you die, you still got plenty of years in ya.”
Drifter shook his head as Roland finished the rough patch job and hauled Drifter up to his feet. “Okay. Sure. Let’s get ourselves movin then yeah?”
Helping him walk the two started once more towards the farm. It would still take time but they were making progress back to the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 13, 2017, 04:09:26 pm
Taji says in a bored tone, "In for a penny in for a pound. I volunteer." He takes out a sheathed tanto from inside his jacket and affixes it to the back of his belt.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 13, 2017, 04:18:05 pm
She nodded at that. "Glad to have you along then." she said, having been checking her gear one last time. "All that's left then is transport and good fire support. If the enemy there's smart, they'll use the walkways circling around the second level for observation, and might have barricades set up to use them as firing positions." Other than that though, her plan she laid out was much like what she was used to back in the old days. Avoid contact until close enough, lead with the hammer, and pick off anyone that'd be able to fire on the assault element unhindered. The only rub, as expected, was that she couldn't simply keep hitting them with hammer flashes to keep them suppressed, given she was the only one with a mask of insight.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 13, 2017, 10:14:48 pm
The cloud took it's time dispersing, but the glow lasted for awhile. There was a fire going where the bomb had detonated. Catnip had wrestled the physics text book away from Mica and tried to continue reading. She understood that the stuff was a source of power, but had no idea that it could do something like... that. It frightened her, a little. She had to be careful, the book said that the cells she had were dangerous, and she'd been sleeping on them. Keeping them with her chocolate. Keeping them near Kathrine. Nope, they had to go. She'd find a nice safe place to store them away from the barn. Mica was trying to scrape the taste of a magazine off her lengthy tongue, but didn't seem to be having much luck. "I'm going to bed." She said, tossing aside the physics textbook. Mica snapped it up, considered what she was about to do, and then stopped herself. "I have work to do tomorrow."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 13, 2017, 10:29:11 pm
Roland and Drifter had made their way close to the farm. Drifter at this point had turned pale but was still breathing. Though at this point Roland was pretty well carrying him and all their gear combined. Roland didn’t honestly know why he’d come to be so attached to Drifter but he was determined to get him back to the farm alive.
Which at the moment was looking like a smaller and smaller prospect. Though the bleeding had for the most part stopped his knee had been ruined and Roland hadn’t had the supplies to properly patch it up. Nor the time for that matter as they hadn’t stopped since the rough patch job he’d done.
As the farm began to come into view Roland realized that Drifter reminded him of one of his sons. Not that he knew where they were anymore as they’d drifted off themselves years before this all had started. Maybe that was it he thought.
He soon found himself running across the bridge snapping out of his thoughts as he started yelling “We need a doctor over here!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 13, 2017, 10:37:25 pm
Hector could see them in the distance, as they approached. Great. He'd traded one person to worry about for another, know that he at least knew Roxanne had checked in with Victor. Roland was supporting Drifter, and it didn't take long before they were close enough that he could see clearly enough, that one knee was practically blown out. "Quinn! We got a casualty inbound!" he yelled, before running to the bridge to meet them.
He'd help carry Drifter along, back into the farm and rushing him into Quinn's lab. He could see at the very least that the bleeding was less of a concern, but the amount of bloodloss sustained was severe.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 13, 2017, 11:40:56 pm
Quinn puts on a pair of latex gloves and a surgical mask. He drapes a white cloth against his table. Hector places Drifter against the table, Quinn takes out a vial of morphine and injects Drifter with a dose. Quinn takes forceps and digs out the bullets inside the shoulder and the gut. He places the lead slugs into a glass cup. He looks at the mangled knee.
"I cannot save the knee."
Quinn grabs a bonesaw, and then asks.
"Are you alright with this?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 13, 2017, 11:44:23 pm
Drifter blinked as he looked around. He wasn't really aware of where he was but he made out the bone saw and the man asking about his leg. Looking up at the ceiling managed to say "Do what you need to do."
Roland waited outside knowing that he needed to give whoever was operating on Drifter some space. Whoever it was he was sure they knew what they were doing. With that knowledge he still wanted to run in the room and start shouting like an idiot but he stayed outside. He was smarter than that after all.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 14, 2017, 12:04:39 am
Quinn nods and places a anesthetic mask over Drifter's face, knocking him out. He takes out a large cauterization tool and an blow torch. Quinn tourniquets Drifter's leg and places the bonesaw above the knee. He saws through the leg, once it's amputated he puts the saw to the side and grabs the cauterization tool and the torch. He heats up the tool until it it red hot. Quinn places the tool over the stump, the flesh sizzles and the stench of burning hair and flesh fills the air. He looks at the amputated limb and grimaces, he picks it up and places it inside a small canvas sack. He removes the anesthetic mask from Drifter's face and turns off the tank. He stares at the red, blood stained latex gloves. He takes them off along with the surgical mask and tosses them into a nearby trashcan.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 12:42:04 am
Hector followed Roland out shortly after helping Drifter onto the table, wanting to leave Quinn to his work. He then turned and looked to the man. "Who did this? Common brigands, those vermin with the blue crosses, or...?" he asked. Even then he had a good guess. And even with the helm concealing his face, and his efforts to ask in a calm manner, the stifled anger was apparent in his voice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 14, 2017, 01:01:16 am
Roland looked at Hector for a few seconds before speaking "We were approached by a man. I had been singing a song I had taught my choir back in my days preaching before..." He motioned at the world around them before continuing "...before all this happened. He wore a chest plate with a blue cross on it. I assume they were some of the ones you warned us about. They played nice until I said no then they shot him."
He had been pacing, staring at the ground as he had spoke. Now though he looked at Hector and there was undeniable anger in his eyes but also an odd sorrow in them as he said "I don' have a flock anymore since they all passed too. I can't lose another one. Not without those sons of bitches dying. Though I might just kill them anyway."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 14, 2017, 01:04:46 am
Quinn walks out of his lab, he looks at Roland plainly. "He'll survive, I couldn't recover the leg. We have plenty of prosthetics, and if you find a bionic leg somewhere I can install it for you. Hospitals are usually a good place to check."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 01:12:30 am
Hector clenched an armored fist at that. "They have even less in the way of scruples than I figured. They've tried to get their hands on Catnip and Kathrine, killed Mica's handlers, started up trouble at the bar, kidnapped Father Maple and almost had him killed, kidnapped two of Sandell's men and probably killed them. And now this." he said, shaking his head.
"It only took the first two to put them on my list of vows. We'll drive them to the ends of the earth. They'll learn a lesson we've already taught Hell's Raiders." It was then that Quinn stepped out from the room, telling him something he suspected just from the sight of the wound. "Did what you can. A hit that hard, most people wouldn't even make it to your operating table. Your friend here's made of even tougher stuff than I am." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 14, 2017, 01:25:49 am
Roland gave Quinn a small smile as he said "Thank you sir. Don' know what I woulda done if you hadn't of been able to help. I owe you big time sir, and I won' take up anymore of your time. I'm sure you've got things you need to attend to."
Looking back to Roland he said "He's tough. Spent some time in the army like myself, though where I went to preaching he went to sortin' out criminals. And listen, you need a spare gun against those damn killers you let me know. I'll be happy to put a few more down whenever the chance comes."
Suddenly remembering something Roland checked his bag and said "I gotta get these to one of your boys. Again, thank you for helping him both of you." With that Roland went to drop off what he and Drifter had collected for Dee to use. Whatever he needed them for was probably important enough to point the two of them in that direction and Roland wasn't one to hold a grudge enough to withhold important things from those that need them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 01:44:33 am
Hector nodded at that. "Guess that explains a lot. Tank driver in my case. Seems unless you're someone like Nathaniel, builds a good foundation for surviving things." he remarked. "And I'll be glad to have you fighting alongside us."
Meanwhile elsewhere, by now a vehicle hand pulled out of the bar's gates, a run-down electric car that'd been selected specifically for its quiet engine, following directions to make the few hour's drive to the site Goodings mentioned. Getting to a good point to stop the vehicle and approach on foot at least would be easier, able to approach closer than if they had something louder. For a moment, Helen clutched the cross and hammer symbol worn around her neck, when they caught the first slight glimpse of the structure over the treeline they soon skirted around. Even then the others could confirmed with their own eyes a structure that looked like it had no right to exist, the bulk of the structure seeming to be floating in midair, connected only to winding stone walkways that twisted and wound downwards, anything below this obscured by the forests.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 14, 2017, 04:04:44 am
Floyd goes on a drive on his Steel Horse, he stops outside a small town and lounges on his ATV with his hat over his eyes. Nothing larger then a small pharmacy store, a thrift store, and a few houses. Floyd raises his hat and looks around, he sees two bandit types enter the pharmacy. Suspicious, Floyd follows from a distance. Once the bandits enter the pharmacy he peeks in through a window, the bandits walk up to an older teenage hispanic boy. Couldn't be older then 17, he's putting medication into a small sling pack. He's clearly inspecting the labels before he puts it into his bag. He's putting specific medication into his bag. One of the bandits cough, the older boy jumps and turns around wide eyed. One of the bandits aim a small snubnose at the older boy.
"Hey kid. Give us the bag and get outta here. I- I don't want to shoot you."
"I- I need th- the-" *wheeze* "Th-these th-though."
"C'mon. Please, I really don't want to shoot you..."
Floyd sneaks into the building, he steps on a plastic bag and it crinkles loudly. The bandit with the twirls around and fires towards Floyd, it hits him in the vest and it knocks him on his back. He groans slightly then quickly fires a rounds, the older boy cowers. The shot hits the gun person's hand. Fingers and tattered flesh fall to the ground, the bandit screams while holding his mangled hand. Floyd gets up from the floor.
"Robbin' a kid? The hell's wrong with you? Get outta here."
The two bandits hurry out of the pharmacy, the older boy is sitting on the floor as he stares at the mangled fingers with wide eyes and a hand over his mouth. He spouts out spanish,
"n-no me hagas daño, por favor!"
Floyd puts on a softer tone, "Hey, hey, hey, I'm not gonna here ta hurt ya." He puts his revolver back in his holster and holds his hands up disarmingly.
The older boy takes several deep breaths and says in english, "I- I n-need th-the m-meds." The older boy gasps and wheezes, he holds his head in his hands as he breathes in and out. Floyd grabs a bottle of Benzodiazepine, he hands it to the older boy. He takes the cap off and takes one tablet. He swallows and he breathes in deeply, his breaths calm after a moment. Floyd is sitting next to him.
"Hey, kiddo. You alright?"
"Y-yeah." He stares at the floor and fidgets with his hands.
"Hey, what's your name? I'm Floyd."
"L-Luis..."
Floyd looks at him silently for a moment, before asking. "Would you like somewhere to stay for a while, Luis?"
Luis looks up, looking at Floyd. He nods, he gets up off the floor. They head back to the Steel Horse and they set back for the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 14, 2017, 09:40:15 am
Roxanne arrived at the farm late in the afternoon. Victor was waiting for her as they had discussed earlier and Quinn accompanied her. “Everyone here will probably want to have a word with you… I don’ think everyone will be happy with your actions… Quinn, I take it you will handle it from here? ”, Victor asked. Quinn gave a nod and signaled Roxanne to follow him to his lab.
Inside the lab Dervish used his device to ran a quick scan of Roxanne. “Nothing too out of place. The shoot you took should heal on its own since the projectile was removed. It’s just a matter of patching your bionic systems.”, Dervish explained. Quinn then took over. He gave Roxanne some pain medicine and got to work. After digging around for a couple of minutes he spoke up. “It seems the shot busted your power storage system in your left arm. It should just be a matter of replacing some of the power cells to get you back to normal. However, you are more than capable of doing that yourself if you get a hold of some power storage cbms; I will just remove the busted cells and reconnect the power to your bionics. This means you will have 25% less power than before until you install more cells but you can live with that, right?”, Quinn told Roxanne.
Roxanne nodded and gave a small grumbled. Sedated as she was, lucidity did not escape her since it was not too powerful of a medication. Roxanne didn’t want to rework her strategy for her lack of power cells so her next order of business was to find some more, she would ask catnip later for some. “You are lucky you didn’t bust anything worse. The operation is done, you should be fully functional once more. If you are not too…ahem…sedated, I believe some of the residents would like a word with you like Victor said. I myself will expect a full report by noon so Dervish and I can log it. No go on, out of my lab.”, Quinn said waving his hand towards the door on the last statement.
Once outside, Roxanne looked around and notice some of the residents had gathered in the vicinity. It was a poor attempt to seem like they were hear for another reason. She knew this as she did the same back when she was a novice hitman many years back. “Oh boy…her we go…”, Roxanne whispered to herself rehearsing her lines like a politician about to go to a town hall meeting.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 14, 2017, 09:55:12 am
Catnip had gone over the maps very carefully. She had plenty of parts, but “plenty” would never be enough. Things broke. Things wore out. Sometimes she would get a commission for repair work from the center. Parts for the car garden was what she needed. This time, it was Kathrine who provided a location. She thought it had been Kathrine anyway. A tiny town to the south, beyond the lab she’d mentioned, was “some kind of big armored car.” She compared the marks with those of her automap and tapped the screen once, to bookmark a location. With that done, she began to collect her gear. “Kathrine?” She called. Kathrine poked her head out of the bedroom, a bit of straw dangling from her hair. “Yes Mistress?”
“I’m going out on a day trip. I won’t be gone long.”
“Yes Mistress.”
“Don’t touch anything on my bed until I get back ok?”
“Yes Mistress.”
“I want to clean it up myself.”
“Yes Mistress.”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“Yes Mistress.”
“Please stop calling me ‘mistress’ Kat.”
“Yes Mis- Catnip.”
Catnip cocked her head at her, “You have some straw in your hair.” Kathrine drew out the straw and tossed it aside. Catnip smiled at her, a normally unsettling expression when taken beyond a simple grin, and left.
By noon, Catnip had reached an open bunker. As Kathrine had described. She had come here intending to do a quick scout into the place looking for the stone her dream had showed her. Now that she was here though, she had the feeling that she might not be prepared for such a foray. After a brief look around, she decided to give the lab a miss for now. She checked the time, considered checking out the smoke she saw drifting up into the early spring sky, and then decided against it. She told Kathrine that she wouldn’t hurt anyone, and she wasn’t sure she could keep that promise if it turned out the people making the smoke were the same people Kathrine had stayed with during her absence. Her automap flickered to life at a touch. She didn’t have too far left to go, and once she had a good vehicle at hand the return trip would take a lot less time than the walk out here had.
The vehicle wasn’t quite a wreck, but some of the armor looked like it had certainly been through quite the ringer. Her expert hands went to work all the same and after a cursory examination she found that the only real problem with the “weapons platform” was that it’s battery was dead. It didn’t take long to extract a few with a bit of charge left in them from other nearby vehicles. When Catnip hadn’t been looking, Kathrine had packed her a sandwich. ‘So thoughtful, always looking out for me.’ Catnip thought. The day was a nice one, and lunch gave her a moment to enjoy it and go over in her head the events of the last five years. Life, she decided, had gotten very good. She was brought out of her reverie by a sound. Something like footsteps, and someone dragging something along. “C’mon, hurry up private. Bishop Swan wants these parts for some project.” Catnip threw her invisibility cloak on just as three men in police riot armor came around the side of a house up the block, the blue crosses standing out like glowing brands on their chests and shoulders. Sound traveled far, she hoped they hadn’t heard her at work. “What’s he even going to do if he gets the damn thing running?” One of the men said. One of them, a woman, responded “He’s gonna put that AI the Archbishop found into it. If it works, and we’ve no reason to doubt Archbishop Astor, we should have no shortage of soldiers for Gods Army.” Catnip wanted to hear more, but just then they noticed the rear hatch on the weapons platform hanging open. “Hey, Maria, was that open like that before?” Catnip climbed in, not bothering to shut it behind her. She gave a short thanks to Agmen that she had replaced the battery before settling down to eat, and gave the starter a go. The weapons platform sprang to life, much to the horror of the soldiers, and lurched forward. It didn’t occur to Catnip to turn the vehicles undoubtedly lethal weapons on them, and it didn’t occur to them to flee. They just stood and watched as the vehicle they thought to have been a useless hulk suddenly sped off to the north.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 11:38:07 am
Hector was among the ones gathered there, waiting outside for Roxanne. "First off, glad you're back in one piece. Second, what happened out there? Did you see that missile impact? Couldn't get ahold of you over radio initially, so we feared the worst." he remarked. Even then he suspected she had something to do with the launch, as did Nathaniel.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 14, 2017, 11:47:49 am
"Heh, nice to be back as well. Feels wierd to have people keeping tabs on you.", Roxanne teased to ease in to the following, "As for your question...I did see the launch...things were hectic..." Roxanne gave the most disarming mannerisms she could muster before continuing. "...Would you belive me if I told you I was involved in the launch?..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 11:55:37 am
Hector nodded at that. "As often as we have people limping back to here, it's always good when someone makes it back in one piece." he remarked. "I had a guess about that. I'm surprised those launch sites still work. You had Nathaniel having a panic attack thinking world war 3 decided to start up a couple years late."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 14, 2017, 12:01:40 pm
"I didn't do it alone. I don't have the skill set to do. I was just helping out some group that needed my help." Roxanne had an epiphany. "By the way Hector, how is the radio room/ library? Victor seems to dodge the question everytime I ask him..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 12:08:12 pm
Nathaniel went a bit pale at that question. "Ohshit." Cue a light cuff upside the head from Hector, who was trying to keep Nathanel from accidentally letting it slip. "He was afraid to tell you, that there was an, er...accident in the library room..." he said. He was almost tempted to make something up, afraid Roxanne would likely kill whoever was responsible, but he was never any good at lying.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 14, 2017, 12:15:40 pm
"An...accident? How so? My books are alright?", Roxanne asked. She saw how nathaniel was acting and started to make assumptions and running scenarios. She turned towards Nathanial and crossed her arms. "Why so nervous?"j
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 12:21:56 pm
Nathaniel meeped a bit at that, startled at her stepping towards him. "Your books, er...t-they're..." he stammered. For someone with his sort of training, it wasn't that hard to unnerve him. Roxanne being the sort of person you didn't want to piss off didn't help. "A few of the books got a bit chewed up. Er, literally."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 14, 2017, 12:30:30 pm
"Excuse me? D-did you say chew?" This statement disarmed Roxanne. She did not fully understand what he meant and Mica did not come to mind. She gestured Hector asking to clarify. "What does he mean? What happened to my books?!" Roxanne raised her voice slightly but not in anger but frustration for the lack of answers.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 12:39:46 pm
Hector blinked at that. "Mica got her hands on one while we were inside, waiting out to blast. She's a bad influence, Lilith started imitating her too." he explained. "Saved most of the books though, reference books, martial arts manuals, a few of the religious books, and those anomalous texts of yours. Which I get the feeling shouldn't be left out so carelessly, if my guess about what all they're used for is correct."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 14, 2017, 12:59:27 pm
Roxanne stays silent and still for a few moments. Nathaniel visibly worried about Roxanne’s reaction and Hector simply waiting for something to happen. “Take me to see the damage…”, Roxanne said to break the silence. She took pride in her collection and putted up there for the farm to see. She knew that she would have to move them, perhaps make a room specifically for them and restrict its access. “I leave the books there in case others wanted to read on them but I guess that was a mistake on my part…” She couldn’t bring herself to just be mad at Mica, she knew Mica wasn’t…normal and she lacked context on what happened. Still, Roxanne was the type of person who had to have the last laugh; she remembered the mouse traps Delora had given her and smiled. Hector saw this and was not sure if he should be worried. “Right…this way Roxanne…”, Hector said motioning the way to the radio room. Nathaniel followed still a bit nervous.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 01:09:15 pm
Hector carefully led the way to the room, where most o the books had been picked up already, missing pages and scraps of paper already thrown away despite Hector's suggestion. Most of the books Hector'd tried to keep Mica from getting at were back on the shelves, though not in the way she had them. Instead two shelves were dedicated to the books that were intact, another shelf had one of two books that were at least partly intact, and what was left of several others were put in the remaining shelf, as best as they could manage.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 14, 2017, 01:32:39 pm
Once inside the library, Roxanne looked at what was left of the “Library”. It had been nothing more than 5 shelves with a collection of books but now it wasn’t even that. She picked up one of the chewed books and gave a sheepish “eep”. The book cover was still eligible; it read, “The Five Pillars”. While she was most proficient in Christianity due to it being the prominent religion in the area before and after the cataclysm, she still enjoyed some of the teachings and metaphors in the book.
“I guess I need to move this somewhere else…”, Roxanne said in a monotone voice. She was unexpectedly calm about it. “So who did this?”, Roxanne calmly asked. She was holding the chewed book in her left arm. Her left hand filled with electric crackle for a moment; the farm knew this as the precursor to a chain lightning strike but in all actuality, it was the fix Quinn had applied restoring her bionics, including the chain lightning, to go online. It nonetheless startled Hector and Nathaniel, the former more so.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 01:38:01 pm
Hector winced a bit at recognizing the book that was mangled. "Damnit. I'd been meaning to study that one, too..." he grumbled. "Did manage to salvage the alchemy book, the weird blood book, and that one with the flame on it. That one's good at least, right?" he asked, not aware of the history she had with it.
Nathaniel found himself backing away at the spark, away from Hector in particular since he was the one in full mail. "Mica and Lilith. Wait, don't fucking hurt Lilith. Er, or Mica for that matter."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 14, 2017, 02:57:58 pm
“The one with the flame…”, whispered Roxanne loud enough to be heard. She tightened the grip on the book she was holding. After calming down a bit, she placed the book back in the bookshelf. “Can I ask you a favor? I want to build a proper building for a makeshift library. I would really appreciate a helping hand.” She looked over the remainder of the books. It was still a formidable collection. “I will store the rest of them in my room for now.” Roxanne opened the door to her room and started moving the books to a spare dresser she had by her altar.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 14, 2017, 03:22:24 pm
The small round robot sat and stared at Mica. Dee had fitted another couple arms onto it with some manipulators so the AI could use it’s proxy to do… whatever it was Medeina did. So far that had been to collect small animals and plant clippings, and fill every empty container in Dee’s workshop with them. Medeina explained that doing this was a part of what she was made for, and that she enjoyed it a great deal. It seemed she also liked to observe Mica. “She’s the most anomalous creature I’ve ever seen!” She had said one night while Dee was soldering a fresh CPU into his boombox robot. Medeina of course did not remember any of the now lost catalogue she’d meticulously assembled back in her home lab. The first few days of her stability using the modified eyebot were spent watching Dee. He was more human than anything else, but not quite. She’d filled a text document with observations, which Dee had later gone over with some amusement and a little embarrassment. “Homo Reptilia.” He’d smirked at that. “Sure,” he thought, “I’m a Doctor Who monster.” The entire report was rather matter of fact and impersonal. After Dee, she’d moved on to Catnip. Catnip though would not be observed easily, and often brought the robot back to Dee. Albeit, nervously. Medeina gave up on Catnip for a little while and switched to a mutant she found infinitely more interesting. Mica. Medeina went on to explain how unpredictable she was, and yet how she followed a set predictable schedule. She’d reached the pre-afternoon portion of her “schedule.” The part of her day that involved staring into the river for two or three hours. Mica squatted on a big rock over a deep part of the river which the farms residents called “fishers stand.” Medeina got a little closer, to see what Mica would do. Mica liked robots about as much as Catnip, but Catnip didn’t get skittish when she saw Medeina. The robot had to be quiet. Mica’s tongue lolled out of her mouth. Long and black. Medeina theorized it was a rarely used lure of some kind. Something to bring in larger predatory game, things fond of eating snakes perhaps, for that was what Mica’s tongue reminded the robot of. Mica leaned forward, anchoring her long hands onto the stone, letting her tongue touch the water. She seemed to notice this and pulled it back into her mouth. The secondary arms released the rock and slowly moved towards the water. Medeina moved her proxy a little closer to get a better look, and Mica lunged forward.
The little robot dragged itself into Dee’s workshop and made a high chittering noise. The microphone on it had been replaced, burnt out, and replaced again. This new one was capable of producing only the most basic of sounds. “You seem excited, what’s up?” Dee asked, coming around his main work bench to check the Laptop currently house Medeina’s being. Dee was in the process of sorting the collection of harddrive matrices brought to him. The pile of dysfunctional drives was dishearteningly large, but the collection of good ones or ones that just needed to be wiped was nothing to be upset about either. He thought he had enough to put together something the AI could really use without overheating. Dee read the emerging text on the blank document Medeina kept open for communication. “Spider watching river. Went for fish. Fell in. Come quickly.” Dee smiled and shook his head. “Sure she can’t swim,” he explained, “But she can tread water a long time. She’s got a pair of iron lungs on her.” The proxy made more chittering and low screeches. “Not treading water. Down too long. Come quickly.” Dee rolled his eyes under his mask, but immediately felt it heating up. That made him rise from his seat in a hurry to follow the proxy. He’d installed a small wifi adapter in the mask at one point, but had never got around to using it for the reason he’d installed it. Instead, Medeina had found it and used it to coerce him into doing things. She didn’t do it unless she really had to though, and if she was threatening to overheat and blow the mask off his face, it was probably important. He glanced at the laptop again. “Been down there for eleven mins and thirty-seven secs.” Dee grimaced and sprinted out the door, shouting for any that could hear. She could hold her breath for awhile, but not that long.
He stripped off his hoodie and tossed it aside, the junk in his pockets scattered hither and yon as he ran, his mask followed it. He thought about taking off his shoes, but that would take too long. Medeina’s proxy chittered and squeaked behind him. Dervish and Quinn came on the run, hearing his panicked screams. “What’s the problem kid?” Dervish asked. “Mica fell in the river!” Dee shouted back. “Get a line Quinn,” Dervish directed. He’d turned to ask Dee how long she’d been down there, but Dee had already gone in after her.
Mica had walked along the bottom of the river before. In the shallow areas anyway, and for no more than five or six minutes. On the occasions where she’d gone longer, the need for air had not slowly come over her. It had come all at once, forcing her up for air. Today though, she’d not jumped in. Not on purpose. Normally, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Today though, the stones beneath her perch had suddenly slid into the depths as she made to snatch at a fish. Mica was tall and thin, but her insectile form made her dense. Dense enough that when submerged in water, she could not float even if she wanted to. She’d sunk to the bottom among a pile of shifting stones, trapping her legs. When she tried to move them, more stones had slid into the depression in the river bed, further trapping her up to the knees, and pinning one of her hands. She stopped trying to shift stones and started trying to pull herself up out of her predicament when she noticed the rapidly diminishing pile of stones beneath the large boulder that had previously served as her seat. Panic set in, and panic stole more of her oxygen supply. Even with the sun shining down through the water, and her good eyes uncovered, she found it distressing how dark everything was getting. Her lungs burned and she just couldn’t pull herself free. She was getting weaker and it was getting darker. Mica had never been afraid of the dark before, but this was different, and she was very afraid.
Dee went up for air and caught the line Dervish tossed him. “She’s down there alright. Practically buried in rocks. I’m gonna tie the line around her waist, and when I give it a pull you guys pull the fucking thing like there isn’t a Mica at the end of it.” He went down again and found her easily. He couldn’t tell if she was even alive anymore, but he didn’t like how peaceful she looked. That spider was always filled with such vibrant, violent energy like she could explode into movement at an instants notice and the people in the area would end up diving for cover at that raucous motion. Her slightest twitch made those around her jump. There was none of it here now. Dee had never noticed just how pretty Mica’s false lips were when her mouth was closed all the way, probably because she’d never let her mouth close all the way. He wrapped the rope around her waist twice, and then had an idea. He brought the line lower and hooked it beneath the ridges of the chitinous plates on her hips. Then, giving the line three good tugs, he got to work shifting stones.
To the gathered farm residents horror, the boulder they called fishers stand shifted and crashed into the water with a loud splash. “PULL!” shouted Dervish, “PULL GODDAMNIT BEFORE IT CAN PIN BOTH OF ‘EM!” The line had suddenly produced give just before the large stone gave way. Kathrine, who had been pottering around Catnip’s workshop after her departure arrived when Dee had risen for air the second time and now added her strength to that of the two scientists. The tension in the rope suddenly gave and for a moment Dervish had the nightmare vision of the rope suddenly giving as the boulder rolled atop Mica and Dee. They dragged at the rope for a few more seconds, and what emerged from the water was not an unwound end of rope, but a pitifully soaked mutant woman and a man with skin like a lizards.
There was nothing. For awhile, Mica only knew the burn in her chest that signalled her lungs starvation for air. Even that had faded though. “Where is Mica?” She asked, but there came no answer. Except that wasn’t true. Somewhere in the dark, she could hear someone counting. It sounded like Dee. “One… Two… Three…” And then she felt a sensation like being filled up with air. She couldn’t fit any air though, her chest was filled. It was filled with…
Kathrine was about to ask if Mica was dead when there came a sudden spray of water from Mica’s mouth as she flew awake, coughing and hacking. She rolled onto her hands and knees and heaved about a gallon of river water. “Oh… Thank fuck for that.” Dee exclaimed. When Mica got herself under control she asked, “What happen?” She felt slow, fuzzy around the edges, a little like she wanted to pass out. Dervish knelt to her and pointed at Dee. “I believe the lizard here just saved your life Mica.” Mica looked at Dee. She watched him for a long time. There was none of her cruel humor in it, none of that wild good cheer. With her mouth closed, the only thing that let on to the abnormality that was her face was the eyes that dominated a portion of it’s right side Even the creases of her true lips, starting where her false lips ended, had seemed to have vanished. “Mica?” She went on looking at Dee. Quinn took her by one arm and helped her to her feet. “Come on young lady, we need to take a look at you and you need to rest up.” Kathrine wanted to, but didn’t quite talk herself into taking one of Mica’s hands. Instead, she offered to get Roxanne to try and get a message to Catnip. Quinn said that was probably for the best. As Mica was led away, her gaze never left Dee.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 03:34:24 pm
Hector nodded at that. "That one. Hard to puzzle out the nature of it, but I've skimmed it before. Might want to pester you about the history of some of these books sometime. In turn, someone really should schedule some combat training, in case a problem like that happens again." he remarked.
Something had given him pause though, listening and hearing a commotion outside, Nathaniel stepping out. By the time either had been pulled away from their conversation, and before Nathaniel could even arrive, Mica was already out of the water along with Dee, leaving him only able to watch, leaving Hector and Roxanne still in the farmhouse.
Meanwhile Helen carefully stepped out of the car as they came to a stop. She could see it was already late in the evening, not helped by what felt like an aura of darkness that pervaded the area around the temple. She had a fellow who seemed more comfortable punching people than sniping, and one that was best suited with a blade. If she had a wraithslayer was was competent with those, but lacked the proper training to aim at effective ranges and use it to its fullest, nevermind not even having one. They'll have to go in under cover of darkness, she suspected.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 14, 2017, 08:30:11 pm
Floyd returns with Luis, he leads him into the dining room. "I'll be right back, Kiddo." Luis waits in the dining room, he paces around and fidgets with his hands.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 08:55:19 pm
Hector smiled a bit as he made his way back other to the main room, setting aside that laptop. He made his way over to the main building to knock on Roxanne's door and ask about the shoes Dee requested over it, passing by the dining room and noticing someone new. He simply gave a polite nod, as if a man in chainmail wasn't anything out of the ordinary. "Greetings."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 14, 2017, 09:00:35 pm
Luis stares wide eyed at Hector, he lets out a small wheeze and says, "H-he-hi."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 14, 2017, 09:05:42 pm
Roxanne hears the knock an gathered the pair of shoes she thought Dee would like. She was expecting Dee when she opened the door but Hector was there. "Oh, I thought it was Dee. Can you do me a favor and take this to him?" She hands Hector the shoes that are inside a bag.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 09:15:04 pm
Hector smiled a bit before he knocked on the door. "I'm Hector. What's your name?" she asked, juggling both this and getting the shoes for Dee. "Think Dee wanted to stay in his room after that adventure in the water, I don't blame him. Still a bit chilly out. By the way, seems Floyd brought back a guest."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 14, 2017, 09:19:22 pm
Luis takes a deep breath, "L-Luis." He taps the floor with his toes and fidgets with his hands. Still staring wide eyed at Hector.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 14, 2017, 09:27:20 pm
Hector nods at that. "A pleasure to meet you then, Luis. My apologies, was in the middle of getting something for Dee. Hopefully can have a proper introduction with the others later on, when Floyd's back here." he said, turning to leave and make his way over to Dee's room, knocking on the door. "No idea if she even guessed the size right, but..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 14, 2017, 09:35:31 pm
Dee opens the door, wrapped in a blanket. "Thaaanks." He takes the bag and looks inside. "Hell yeah, heelys!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 14, 2017, 10:02:06 pm
Catnip pulled up to the cabin. She hadn't been aware of anyone living out south of the refugee center, and the cabin didn't look abandoned. One thing Catnip had learned, was that even a freshly abandoned house didn't look quiet the same as a lived in one. Even if the house was lived in but unoccupied. There was always a sense that someone would come back to it. She approached one of the cabins doors, appreciating the motorcycle sat with a pan to collect oil under it, and knocked. Catnips whiskers twitched. She was being watched. It was hard to explain that feeling, a sort of gnawing unease that came to Catnip with a twitch of her whiskers. She knocked again. If the people she knew must be inside were unfriendly, she would just walk away. The radio she was forced to carry by the others crackled to life suddenly, badly startling her. Catnip hated carrying the little radio. It took up space on her pack that could better be used to carry a useful tool. Like a bottle jack. That could be useful. She switched the radio off, it had sounded like Roxanne. Roxanne could wait a little. For the third time, she knocked and for the third time she got no answer. Doubt came over her. She had a choice to make, leave well enough alone? Or break in. Kathrine would have been disappointed in Catnip when she chose the second option.
It was dark inside the cabin. Dark enough to hide the two Hell's Raiders bandits inside. Catnip had thrown on her cloak and climbed through one of the back windows. "You think she'll come back?" Catnip heard the whispered question from the kitchen she'd crawled into.
"I don't know, the freak hasn't left yet. Her machine is still here."
"Put your gloves on."
"Naw, fuckin things are broke."
She thought about it. They didn't know she was there of course, the cloak she'd swiped from a monster long ago served her well in such situations. The two bandits were debating whether they should jump out and ambush Catnip if she came back to the front door, or whether they should rush her when she emerged from the vehicle. It didn't occur to them that Catnip could have thrown so much jacketed lead through the cabin to cut her own personal door into it's thick log walls. It also didn't occur to them that she could sneak in through a side window. She didn't much feel like killing them. For hell's raiders, they seemed pretty thin and they didn't exactly strike her as the brightest berries on the bush. Catnip was debating this when the two suddenly decided on a course of action. "Ok, agreed." whispered one, "When she comes back, we'll ambush her. Here, you take the other door." One of them, Catnip saw that he had the only gun, moved to a hall off to the side. As far as she could estimate, the door she'd been knocking on opened into that hall. As he went, he tossed something onto the table with little more than a disgusted glance. Two somethings in fact. They struck with a metallic thump. Without a second thought, Catnip snatched them up and ran silently back to the window which had given her access. She snickered when she saw the way they shined. Shiny objects were the butter of Catnips bread and butter currency, with the bread being chocolate. If she could liberate a bit of chocolate or shinies from bandits, then it was as good as free. Awhile later, the weapons platform came to life and moved away from the cabin. Not that the bandits noticed, they were too busy arguing about what had happened to the gauntlets. Catnip didn't know about the argument, and even if she had, she didn't know how bloody it would get.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 15, 2017, 09:41:23 am
Catnip was handling a jar that Dervish had given her years ago, just before his departure. He told them that he was planning on leaving again and she wanted to give him a gift to see him off when he finally did leave. The jar contained an odd wispy substance Quinn told her was called “essentia” or “essence.” She’d been sidetracked in her search for a gift by the way the gauntlets she’d swiped from the bandits had reacted when they got close to the jar. The silver inlay which decorated the entire surface of the gloves in cloud like spirals seemed to glow a low purple color, matching the hue of the essence while the essence seemed to diminish a little. She turned the jar over and over in an effort to keep the stuff inside moving around. She didn’t notice Kathrine come up behind her and peek over her shoulder. Kathrine was one of the few people who could defeat Catnips whiskers without some kind of trick. “Where did you get those Mistress?” asked Kathrine. Catnip just about dropped the jar, she was so startled. Her friend was referring to the gauntlets of course. Despite being “broken” as the bandit had put it, the gauntlets were very pretty. Catnip thought about who she was talking to and said “I found them.” Then she re-realized who she was talking to, and guiltily corrected, “I stole them.” Adding quickly “From bad people, I swear! They were going to throw them away anyway!” Kathrine glared at her with disapproval. “Stealing is mean Mistress.” Catnip kicked at the dirt floor a little. “I’m sorry…” She said. Kathrine forgave her, she couldn’t help but do so. Catnip hadn’t killed anyone after all, and as she said, the gauntlets were going to be thrown away anyway. Neither of them noticed as Catnip placed it back in it’s place in ‘Nips treasure hutch’ that the jar Catnip was rolling around between her hands had emptied somewhat.
Medeina watched Dee much as she had watched the other earlier, taking every observation down as a text document. Dee was disposing of a dead raccoon the other had left on his desk. “Jeez.” Dee quietly exclaimed to himself. The tattered remains of the little bandit had exsanguinated all over his workbench, it being both fresh and covered in many tiny penny sized holes when it had been left for him to find. Dee didn’t need the robot to tell him who she’d seen leaving the raccoon on his desk. It had been Mica. He brought the ruined body outside and made a show of tossing it in a garbage bag he kept just outside for his trash. Mica was watching from somewhere, he knew it and believed this to be some kind of prank in exchange for his act of heroism. "Was it a prank though?" He thought. She’d been both avoiding him, and behaving rather queerly towards him if she couldn't do that since she’d been released from Quinn's clinic later in the afternoon. When she moved around, it was normally with an odd animal like rapidity. Since her close call and rescue at the hands of the robot loving Dee, she’d adopted a more normal, almost human way of moving around. At least while Dee was within sight. She didn't put on her usual disconcerting grin around him anymore either and had gone to great lengths to get her good eyes covered up. He clapped his hands as if that would get the hairs, sticky with blood, off his hands and noticed her peeking around the corner of the farm house at him. Her eyes met his mask and she darted back around the corner, her face having gone a bright red. Dee wasn’t so ignorant that he didn’t recognize the signs. “Oh no.” He said to himself, coming to the sudden realization. “Oh no no no.”
Mica didn’t know what to do. Her only experience with gift giving was with people giving gifts to her, and the only gifts she liked were food. She felt the need to give Dee a gift, but he’d rejected the masked stripy cat she’d brought him. She wasn’t sure what the feeling that urged her to give him the gifts was either. She wanted to be near him, but couldn’t bring herself to get too close. What was this? Just this afternoon, she’d thought of him almost not at all and now… Now she thought of him almost exclusively. She needed… Advice. Yes, that was it. Advice. But from who? Catnip? Maybe, but Mica thought Catnip would have about as much experience with feelings like these as she herself had. Kathrine maybe? No, the morsel was kind but Mica thought that no matter how hard she tried, Kathrine might not be able to keep it a secret. Mica knew she couldn’t go to any of the ‘males’ about it, somehow she knew this instinctively. Roxanne then, the “booby lady.” No. She was upset about her sissy books, and not shouty upset either. She was quiet upset, the kind of angry that meant people would get hurt. Mica thought booby lady was the kind to talk endlessly about these sorts of things too. Lilith would be good to talk to, she knew, but Lilith couldn’t give her advice. Sharlene though… Sharlene, yes. Mica could ask Sharlene and Sharlene would explain what was wrong with Mica. Mica hoped it wasn’t serious.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 15, 2017, 11:30:26 am
With things settling down, more or less, at the farm, elsewhere as the sun set a trio made their approach to the structure they saw earlier. While the brief glimpse of it gave the impression of a structure that shouldn't be able to support itself, seeing the temple in its entirety revealed how impossible the structure was. The bulk of the temple they caught a glimpse of seemed to hover a full 50 feet in the air, connected by a winding, circular array of walkways and ramps to a smaller building down below. That in turn had nothing to support it, a staircase of floating stone steps spiraling up 20 feet before disappearing into the building.
Nightfall helped them approach unseen, as did the way sunlight seemed to shy away from the temple that defied reality, making things seem darker than the waning daylight would suggest. They could see now the pathways minimally guarded by the occasional observer, making use of makeshift bridges spanning the short gaps of the winding paths. There were two areas were broader, more direct walkways were left curiously untouched, the stone comprising them being dark red bricks rather than the granite and basalt composing most of the architecture. They avoided it for a reason, Helen explained, vaguely recalling a visit to another such structure, long ago when The Cleansing Flame and The Keepers of the Oath were under one of their intermittent truces. Easy paths were clearly marked yet booby-trapped with anomalies.
There was only one guard by the four head-height pillars marking the plaza around the stairs, likely they wouldn't suspect any sane person to attack this place, especially at night. Even with a few braziers lit it was trivial for the three to take cover behind the columns. Sergei was the one to make the first move, after a hand signal from Helen indicated he was facing away from both of them, exploiting that mask of hers. The crackling of firewood concealed the faint hiss of hydraulic muscles activating, a fist slamming into the back of the crusader's head. That alone seemed to knock them man out cold, likely with a head injury that'd be lethal even with treatment. Taji stepping out as the crusader toppled over, drawing his blade to behead the guard just in case. "Now then. Upward we go, and mind the red walkways."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 15, 2017, 09:14:49 pm
Somewhere above, Bishop Henreid begins the ritual of releasing the bindings the Archbishop placed on the floating temples original occupants. A floor below, he heard a scream of terror as a seal suddenly gave and something horrific was released. Much like the Archbishop himself, Bishop Henreid secretly didn't much care for God or Gods Army. Henreid though had come from a background that let him manipulate the fools in the lower ranks easily enough, The Archbishop had seen that right away and set him where he would work best among the ranks of the "faithful." Henreid withdrew the knife from his robes and made passes over it. The Archbishop hadn't seen what Henreid had seen. Hadn't seen that thing Henreids order had tried to pull across the distance of dimensions into their own world. Henreid did though and even with that event several years gone, he still recalled vividly how it had come through the gate thus opened and swallowed up his orders stronghold. Hadn't seen it, but he'd known it. It made Henreid just the right person to come around and undo Astors work. He drew the knife across his palm and made a flicking gesture with the hand. The ward before him wobbled uncertainly, and the thing behind it, hidden in plain sight, moved forward. Henreid made another flicking gesture and the ward didn't just shake a little, it seemed to vibrate. Like the face of a pond with many small pebbles tossed into it. He didn't want pebbles, he wanted stones. Those fools from The Keepers and The Cleansing Flame had kept this place as a middle ground. His own order had always been on good if tense terms with the Keepers. This wasn't the old days though, he didn't need to respect the keepers any longer. Middle grounds were for fools without the confidence to keep what they'd won. Further down the temple, he heard more screams and smiled. Bishop Henreid of Gods Army, formerly of The Sanguine Order, made his gesture again and this time the ward shattered.
A crusader saw the woman coming at him just in time to raise his hunting rifle in a gesture of defense. The rifle exploded as Helens hammer came down on it. The blow was terrible, and sent the crusader stumbling back. Back towards one of those spots that Bishop Henreid had told them to stay away from. He never got the chance to trigger that trap though. Something came into existence at his side, something black and winged and full of teeth. It hit him full force and dug in, ripping and tearing with it's fangs. The man who'd been with the woman cut the snake thing in half with his sword and then cut it into thirds for good measure, but the crusader was already dead. Above them, they heard men and women screaming, panicking. Something had changed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 15, 2017, 10:54:41 pm
Floyd walks into the dining room with a bowl of chili. He passes the bowl along with a spoon to Luis, he digs in hungrily. Floyd watches Luis eat for a bit before asking, "What were you doin' all alone? Where're your parents." Luis pauses eating, he glances at Floyd before going back to eating. Floyd raises an eyebrow, before realizing the issue. "Oh... I see." He thinks for a moment, "If ya want someplace to stay for a while, ya can stay here as long as you need." Luis looks up, then back down at his food. He shrugs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 15, 2017, 11:02:30 pm
Helen grinned a bit under her mask, leading the way up the stairs, Taji and Seregi following close behind. It felt odd to be sneaking in, but she knew it was the best way to approach the mission without the kind of force she'd like to have. They moved up intermittently, treading the paths and using concealment to their advantage. She found that her mask offered an unparalleled advantage for this, able to use its clairvoyance to observe the enemy from concealment. It was when her hammer fell upon the head of one of a few more patrolling guards, sending his body plummeting off the edge, that she saw a glimmer of horrid blood red light overhead, piercing the veil of darkness from beyond the range of her mask's sight beyond sight. It was enough to make her shut it off. The other two hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary, but they heard a scream from the other side of the walkways as some inhuman, chitinous thing with 6 wings and 6 pincers snatches frantically at a guard.
"What was that? Have we been spotted?" Sergei asked, only for Helen to shake her head. "Something's going wrong up there, we got company." It was then they'd see the monster flying towards them to evade panicked gunshots from another level above, dropping a screaming crusader several stories to the ground, bearing down on the three of them. "Bugs. Look out." Taji said just firmly enough to be heard, drawing his revolver and firing on it. At least right now the confusion caused by the sudden invader would make his gunfire nothing out of the ordinary. "Advance! Whatever those idiots are doing up there, we need to stop it!" she said, bringing the hammer down on the creature as bullets forced it into a dive, the impact bowling her over in exchange for caving its exoskeleton in.
The next thing that appeared was a strange, malevolent array of teeth and wings that bit and gnawed its way through crusaders on another platform nearby, only to be hacked apart by the survivor. A lucky shot from Taji's S&W went high right through the chest, embedded in the upper spine and making him collapse onto the walkway. A strange flash of light resounded as his limp body hit it, searing flesh and crippling any nerves too close to where he made contact. Already being paralyzed, all it did was end his suffering as his head smacked into the shimmering bricks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 15, 2017, 11:52:01 pm
Drifter's sleep wasn't exactly pleasant but it hadn't been since he'd left the Projects and thus his military service. Roland waited patiently beside him as he lay there. It took some time but he finally woke and Roland put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from springing himself off of the bed. Drifter tried to shrug him off until he realized his leg was missing.
Looking up at Roland for a second Drifter was about to start shouting before he remembered being on the table, the doctor asking him about it. Laying back down Drifter stared at the ceiling before saying "Well, I'm a bit useless ain't I?"
Roland lifted the pegleg and told him "Not quite yet. Ain't fancy but it's common enough that no one should mind. It'll keep you in business for a while yet."
Roland helped Drifter get the prosthetic on before Drifter hauled himself to his feet. A few stumbles later he walked out of the shack with his gear on. Roland patted him on the back before deciding to have a look around that library he'd heard about. Walking through the door he saw it's state and decided to try cleaning it up a bit.
Roland had handled organizing a library himself as part of working with his church. He decided to take some time to make sure everything was organized. It didn't take him much time as he went through it and made sure the shelves were secure. Literature was a valuable thing after all and he wanted to make sure it was taken care of.
Drifter for his part decided to practice walking with the new peg leg. He was fairly certain he was a sight to behold but paid anyone watching him no mind. That was until he felt the peg leg fall into a small dent in the ground and fell. Rolling onto his back Drifter sighed and forced himself back to his feet determined to get used to this new peg leg while trying make himself productive. Granted he had to admit him being productive amounted to patrolling around the place's perimeter.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 15, 2017, 11:54:36 pm
Mica sat patiently cross legged on the floor of the cabin she shared with Sharlene, Mohammad, and Lilith. Sharlene wasn’t around to be questioned, and Mohammad had been thrown out by Lilith. “Hard to exthplain.” Lilith rumbled. She sat across from Mica. An outside observer would be struck by the stark differences between the two, and they would doubt that Lilith and Mica understood the tableau they were playing out. Mica did not make any noise, she wanted to hear every word the usually tight lipped Lilith had to say, which wasn’t a lot. She seemed to have a hard time understanding the feelings Mica had as well, a little. Liliths own feeling for Nathaniel were born of confusion. The confusion of one side of her being wanting to destroy him because he was small and weak, but the other more reasonable side of herself thinking him adorable because of those same qualities. What it came out to, was back breaking bear hugs and toying with the ‘thmall man’ like he was some kind of mouse to be batted around playfully. “It’th like…” It was starting to get awkward, but not in the way that made everyone uncomfortable. Lilith had a hard time explaining what she wanted to say, and Mica would have a hard time understanding it. Finally Lilith said “Thmall man get hugth. Thpider do Hugth like Lilth.” Mica didn’t think that would work, she wasn’t soft and warm like Lilith was. She explained this by holding up her arms. Where Liliths were huge luxuriously furred things that could and would ripple with muscle at the slightest flex, Mica’s were like the long leafless branches of winter trees. Mica’s strength was in speed lent by taut tendons, and the sheer edge of claws. Lilith was a mighty tigress who could be flexible in how she lived and loved. Mica was a monster who could only rip and tear. She realized this then, and for the first time since her rescue from Gods Army, she cried. Lilith wrapped her in a big hug, a gentle one, and patted her on the back. She seemed to understand. “It’th ok.” She purred, “Thpider find a way. We take walk. Find Tharleen or Booby lady. Booby lady be nithe if nithe to Booby lady.” It was the longest sentence Mica had ever heard the huntress speak. Lilith opened the door for Mica to go first, and Mohammad fell inward. He’d been standing with his ear to the door. The tigress growled.
Kathrine gave Catnip a book. At least Catnip assumed it was Kathrine. It was a manual of some kind, left on her bed. The cover read, “The Modern Swordsman” and featured a picture of three cross rapiers. Like the one she carried. This book she showed to Hector. “Hey, you got it.” He said, “I don’t think I could teach you how to use that sword of yours properly, but maybe I could at least get you started with this.” The first thing they worked on, was footwork. Hector told her that every style of weapon had it’s own kind of footwork. Almost like a dance. Out of interest, and so that Catnip wouldn’t be too embarassed when she inevitably messed it up, Kathrine joined in on the footwork exercises. She ended up embarrassing Catnip anyway though, as the stances and positions were awfully similar to dancing, and Kathrine was very good at that. “Maybe we could just… Put off the footwork for now.” Hector commented, seeing Catnips mounting frustration. They tried thrusts next. Hector colored a red dot the size of a saucer on his shield and told Catnip to try and stab it. “The rapier is not a slashing weapon Nip, it’s mostly for thrusts.” He felt the need to emphasize this point, as he’d seen Catnip used the sword in all sorts of ways that certainly weren’t intended purpose. She’d hacked branches with it, pried stones out of tires with it when a screwdriver wasn’t handy, even watched with a pained expression as she tried to kill one of the revenants with cutting blows that did little more than hew little bits of skin. “Accuracy is key.” He said, hoping that was correct. Catnip went to work, carefully aiming each strike. *tok* *tok* *tok* Each thrust finding their mark in or around the red mark. She seemed to be getting better, but then she handed off the sword to Kathrine, who took it reluctantly. “But Mistress, I don’t want to attack Sir Hector.” Hector shook his head, “It’s alright Kat, the only one getting attacked here is my shield.” After a little more reassuring, Kathrine took a stance and lashed out. *toktoktoktoktok* Like a machine gun, each thrust not only found their mark, but did so accurately. Hector was impressed, Catnip was dumbfounded, Kathrine was distressed. Finally, Hector decided on something that Kathrine couldn’t outdo her Mistress at. Blocking. Hector wouldn’t swing at Kathrine, even with the most gentle of swipes. It would stress her out too much. “Alright Catnip, I’m going to swing with my own sword, and I want you to try and catch the swing on either the basket, or the base of the blade. Your rapier isn’t really suited for this kind of thing, so I’m going to do it gently, alright?” Catnip nodded. After quickly consulting the book, she took a clumsy stance and Hector swung. He noticed just before his sword made contact with the base of Catnips blade, that the fancy gauntlets she wore suddenly glowed a brief purple along their inlay. The moment his sword made contact with hers, something passed between them and his arm went numb.
Henreid Looked up at the shining figure floating before him. "My master bids you come forth." He said amicably. The creature barely looked at him, instead glaring around the room. It couldn't hurt the impertinent fool, as much as it would like to. "Your master is not my master." It said in a resonant metallic voice. Bishop Henreid shrugged. He didn't know why the Archon needed to be released from the binding placed on it and the other residents of the tower. Archbishop Astors plans were a mystery, but to question them was certain death. "You would be surprised Archon. Come along, something tells me you have intruders to deal with." His statement was punctuated by gun fire and more screams from somewhere below, both that of Gods Army, and that of the interlopers.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 16, 2017, 01:25:18 am
Hector smiled at that, only to feel the odd jolt running through him, much of it around his armor, as he regarded the odd steel snd silver of the gauntlets Catnip wore, arm numbed a bit and nearly dropping his sword. "Hrk. Something shocked me when you blocked that. What's the deal with those gauntlets you found...?" he asked, already suspecting the glow it gave off was suspicious.
Helen grumbled a bit as Sergei literally picked up the corpse of the monster and tossed it off the walkway, Taji helping her up. "Thank you. Let's get moving, that's the least of what could show up if we dawdle." she said, directing them to one of the paths, as she took another. "You two head up there, I'll go right. They meet in the main building. You hear the bang, you'll know I'm in." she directed, making her way up the walkways. She was already upon the last remaining guard manning the stone paths, who practically barreled into her in an attempt to link up with what he thought was other guards firing on the monsters. "What in God's name are y-" He didn't get a moment to raise his gun, awestruck by the shimmering metal cloak and gilded hammer, briefly assuming another bishop had answered his whispered prayers only for a strike to shatter his skull, and break his neck.
She could see the malevolent flow of energy more clearly now that the main structure was in her mask's range, able to properly discern the strange life it seemed to pulse with, and the humanoid figured directing it into one of several small pinpricks of energy. Wards of some kind, she could tell. She could also sense a much stronger, alien presence bound by a ward that was supported, reinforced by the lesser ones. She could guess the energy was blood essence, drawn at the expense of the living. The realization gave her pause. Working blood essence to dispel protective magic.
"Ordine Sanguis..." she said under her breath. Her other hand fumbled for some of her remaining gear as she neared the final stairway, narrowly dodging a swirling creature of living wind as she slammed the door shut behind her. She checked and found two vials of a dark red potion, and three scrolls. The wax seals denoted a solar symbol, a crescent, and an armored fist. While The Six Pillars was accepted for limited use by her order, the third one was considered too dangerous to produce or use. Her order would've branded her a heretic if she used it.
But she also knew that the whole structure would be vulnerable to a scroll of sundering, and destroying the temple would render those seals inaccesible from this world, and thus secure. A failsafe from an order that used these scrolls to their fullest extent. There were only two reasons she didn't use the scroll now, taking the whole place with her. The first is while she would give her life if it was needed, she didn't bring Taji and Sergei here just to get them killed. The second was that she'd already sensed that same mysterious presence in another temple like this, from the first time members of the chalice cult had unwittingly encountered this being. Preventing the only surviving seal from being broken meant nothing if this thing still held claim over a physical link to this world.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 16, 2017, 07:22:48 am
Things had settle down around the farm a bit. Roxanne learned about Drifter’s encounter and his condition. She would’ve payed him a visit but she felt it would just be intrusive since they had barely interacted and were practically strangers. The farm had had its share of serious injuries but this was the first time it resulted in serious permanent consequences. This unnerved Roxanne while she had her flashbacks of that night in the hospital, how the acid cover her body and the pain permeated her soul. She quickly shook the thought in favor of her vision of the future. First things first, the library!
The morning had gone by uneventfully. Roxanne went by the semi-neglected bulletin board to post a request of her own. She carried a flyer that read:
“To whom it may concern,
Due to recent events, I have decided to make a proper building for the book collection. Having them in the main building was a mistake and I would like to rectify that. However, I now lack the manpower to do so. This is why I am posting this. I require assistance in the construction of this building. The construction will be nothing fancy, a shack that is modest in size will suffice. It only needs to fill the bookshelves, a 4-chair table and a counter for whoever volunteers to curate the library.
Your efforts will not go unrewarded! In exchange for your labor, I will grant you an item, request or favor of your choosing, no strings attached! Just inquire with me and we will make arrangements for your payment once construction has been finished. I am a woman of my word and if I am unable to fulfill your request for whatever reason, I will grant you another. Hope to hear from you soon!
Yours truly, Roxanne Luna.”
Roxanne posted the flyer on the bulletin and nailed it using her bionic tools. The noise attracted some stares. While she was leaving, she noted Hector and Kathrine helping Catnip practice her fencing. She gave a smile at the sight. She deployed her own blade and looked at it before quickly retracting it. She had not the faintest idea how to use it properly on her own, reliance on her bionic was still her weakness after all these years. She would ask Hector for lessons on it later on. She had been meaning to but things always seemed to pop up. He was one of two people she seems to genuinely trust, the other being Victor; he knew about her “ceremonies” after all and word hadn’t gotten out. She gave another glance at the scene and then left to the radio room.
Once inside, the radio was beeping indicating an incoming broadcast was attempting to connect. Roxanne scrambled to put on the headset and sat down frantically before answering. “This Roxanne Luna from…the farm…Who do I have the pleasure of speaking too?”
“This is US77687 requesting to speak to…well you, Roxanne Luna.” Upon hearing that, Roxanne’s demeaner change, she relaxed her seating posture and started talking informaly. This was the gov, she put no stock in them even before the cataclysm and only listened to them now since they did have access to some pretty useful resources. But now with the Command Center establishing themselves, she began to lose respect for them.
“Ah, so it’s the refugee center then? You said you needed me? How can I help you guys?” Roxanne started to fiddle with her nails. They were well kept thanks to the instruction of Kathrine and her abuse of mutagenetic devices. “I will get to the point. We have received word you are responsible for a recently launched nuclear missile at an unknow target; is this true?”
“Yes, launched a missile. What is it to ya?”, Roxanne answered
Silence. “…Not even going to deny it? Very well, that saves us trouble and time. Ms. Luna, I hope you understand that we can’t have people simply committing such drastic actions willy-nilly. I am afraid I will request of you to come on in for questioning."
“What if I say no?”
“We will cut ties with your settlement and brand your actions as a terrorist attack and will be dealt as such.”
Roxanne rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine. I will go to your interview. Do I get to have a lawyer?”
“…This is not a trial Ms. Luna. We simply would like to get some answers as to why you did what you did and the like. But if you feel so inclined to bring someone along, you may choose to do so. Anyways, I would like you here Friday morning at 1000 hours.”
“Friday, right…uhm…what day is today? Not to sound ignorant or anything but dates are largely irrelevant these days.”
A loud sigh can be heard over the radio. Roxanne grins at this. “Today is Tuesday Ms. Luna. Anything else?”
“Nope, Friday at 10am you guys wanna have a talk with me. I will be sure to be there and will bring my lawyer with me!”
“…Understood. By the way, if I may add…you folks should really give that suggestion for an official name a serious thought. ‘The Farm’ just sounds awkward to address you as… anyways, US77687 out”
Roxanne put the headset down and gave a loud sigh of her own. “Oh, boy…wonder what they will ask…I hope they don’t get to ‘creative’ with their methods or people will bleed…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 16, 2017, 11:58:26 am
Roxanne set aside the radio’s headphones. She thought that this might be interesting, but probably not. She spun on the ugly old swivel chair, intending to launch herself into movement off the chair. She got as far as the launch part and had to abort right away for behind her, waiting patiently, was Mica and Lilith. Drifter was sitting at the table where the farm houses kitchen used to be, before it was converted into a dining area, and then into a meat smoker. The farmhouse had gone through a lot. The smoker was rarely used, but when it was the smoke would billow from the farmhouse and no one would be allowed inside. At first, she showed surprised, but only for an instant. What replaced it was displeasure. “Hello ladies. Have you come to discuss what you two did to my library?” Lilith only sort of heard it. She was beyond guilt. Mica also felt no guilt, she was too busy feeling other things. Roxanne could see that though. She thought it was odd that Mica wasn’t standing before her with her teeth showing like they always were. Roxanne straightened and looked closer. There was a lot she never noticed before, she saw. Mica was pretty, for one. It was hard to notice that when her mouth was open. Hard to pay attention to anything but that open chasm of sharp teeth. Something was wrong, and the assassin could tell that it was important. More important than her books, at least to Mica it was. “What’s wrong spider?” She said, crossing her legs. Drifter rubbed the stump where his leg had not too long ago been removed and replaced, then turned a page in what he was reading. Roxanne knew he was listening, he was good at hiding it though. “How does My-ka…” Mica looked nervous again, more so in fact. Her face was a bright red, and Roxanne could guess what this was about. “Yes?” She was still upset about the books, and she wasn’t going to do anything about Mica’s problem unless she could say it herself. Lilith nudged her, and although it was gentle, it still had the force of a hard shove. Mica tumbled to the floor at Roxannes feet, her face brighter than ever. “Oopth.” Said Lilith. Mica pushed herself up to her knees and settled for sitting on her heels. “How does My-ka talk to someone My-ka like.” She whispered. Drifter looked away from what he was reading, the conversation suddenly warranting his direct attention. “Excuse me?” Roxanne asked. “How… How does My-ka talk to someone My-ka… Like.” Roxanne cocked her head in confusion. At first she didn't understand what Mica meant, then the lights in her head came on. “Oh. Oh my. You don’t mean…” Mica nodded slowly, not wanting to make eye contact. “Who?” Mica played with something on the floor, a missed scrap of shredded paper. “Who is it Mica, I can’t-” Mica interrupted her, “My-ka like Lizard. My-ka…” She covered her face. Roxanne went to her and pried them away. She wasn’t crying, just terribly embarrassed. Roxanne wanted to chuckle, but that wouldn’t be politic. She found the situation quite rich. Dee and Mica. What a pair. Roxanne thought she would visit the Lizard later and rib him a bit. “Mica and Dee, sitting in a tree.” She thought and had to fight back another giggle. She wanted to know though, “When did you start feeling this way dear?” Mica explained what had happened earlier that day by the river and Roxanne wondered why she hadn’t heard about it before. She looked up and saw Drifter paying close attention to them. “Come into my room Mica, we can talk there. Just us girls.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 16, 2017, 12:35:00 pm
With a rather frustrated sigh Roland determined it wasn't really worth spending too much of his time organizing the current library. He'd gotten it sorted into a few categories that made sense, putting the religious texts together as well as the educational books but he'd need labels or at least some place a bit more organized itself than this. He walked out and decided to check the bulletin board to see a notice about building a proper library.
Taking a quick look around he spotted a decent spot for it and decided to go ahead and get a start. He talked to a handful of people and got a small group together and set to work. First they started with getting tools together to actually turn some of the nearby trees into usable materials. Roland and three of the other men cut the wood into shape while the others carried it back to the spot where the library was to be built.
Soon the men with him were feeling the wear of the hard labor and he sent them to rest. With a satisfied smile Roland started towards the farm again to get to the actual building. He'd missed doing this type of thing, building things instead of destroying them. He made his way to the construction site and set about the work to actually get the library built.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 16, 2017, 01:01:03 pm
Lilith sticks her paws underneath Mica's arms and lifts her up, moving her towards Roxanne's room. She grunts when she realises that the door's closed, and gets ready to knock it open, before Roxanne just calmly opens the door for her. She attempts to bow, something Kathrine taught her, but ends up just cracking her head against the top of the doorframe. She dumps Mica on the bed and lies on the floor, one paw over her muzzle. Kathrine had been feeling slightly bad since the fencing practice that she, Catnip and Hector had done. Even though the other two had said it was alright and that she'd done well, Kath still thought it was a bad thing to be trying to get good at, and it slightly scared her at how good she was at it. She had tracked down Hector, and was sneaking up behind him, arms spread in anticipation of the hug tackle. Instead of pouncing, however, she just freezes up, makes a loud squealing noise, and faceplants.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 16, 2017, 01:46:46 pm
Hector blinked a bit as he heard something behind him, turning and kneeling before the toppled-over catgirl. "Hey Kath. You alright?" he asked, extending a hand to help her up. "Did rather well with fencing practice earlier, well as I can determine from my different training at least. Don't worry about Catnip though, she'll improve with practice. Takes time, after all."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 16, 2017, 02:01:08 pm
Kath looks like she's knocked the fuck out, and when Hector picks her up so she's not lying face-down in the dirt, she's completely limp. After a couple of minutes, she stirs, and immediately goes into her intended hug. "I'm sorry for hitting at you, Mister Hector!" Something about her eyes seemed different in the couple of seconds between her waking up and her shoving her face past his shoulder.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 16, 2017, 02:50:15 pm
Hector was concerned when she'd seemed to have passed out, starting to try and check whether she had any signs of a head wound only for the hug to take him by surprise. "Are you...okay, Kath? And it's fine, it was only for the sake of practice. You didn't do me any harm, and didn't harm my shield at all either. It's been through worse. There was one time a turret blew up literally right in front of me and tore the old thing to bits."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 16, 2017, 05:06:03 pm
"But I hit you! A-and you tried to hit Mistress... But i-it's fine? I forgive you, Mister Hector." She pulls back, looking at his face. Her pupils are slitted, and her eyes have taken on an eerie reflective sheen. "Mistress says it's fine too!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 16, 2017, 05:08:39 pm
Hector nodded at that, hugging her back gently. "It was for a different purpose. There's different reasons to hit someone. In this case it was for the sake of training to hit better if you need to do so at some point, just as there's hitting out of simple anger, out of self-defense, or other reasons." he explained. "Just don't get these reasons mixed up, okay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 16, 2017, 05:19:30 pm
"I don't wanna hit anyone for any reason, though. Hitting people is bad." She goes back to hugging him, tail waving back and forth happily. "And I don't wanna be a bad person!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 16, 2017, 05:27:57 pm
Hector shook his head at that. "Sometimes it has to be done. The trouble is in knowing when there's a better...hmm." he said, trailing off a bit as he looked into her eyes. "The nature of your eyes changed, as your fur's done lately. You alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 16, 2017, 05:42:27 pm
"Have they? I can still see though! Hurmph." She lets go of Hector and pulls her tail around so she can examine her fur. As she does so, it's pretty clear that there's a bright, vibrant orange streak going through the front of her hair, hanging in front of her eyes. "See! It looks the same as it did when I got here!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 16, 2017, 05:52:18 pm
Hector nodded at that, a finger gently brushing aside her hair. "There's still a lingering bit of alternation...here. You're not doing this on purpose, nevermind what sort of anomaly could even cause this. Regardless, unexpected as this is, you're still you." he said, smiling some.
Meanwhile Helen lurked behind the door leading into the very heart of the temple. She could see through the thick wood with her mask, and the corpses were now plainly apparent. Four crusaders laid out on the pews, necks slashed wide open, deliberate care taken in ensuring that the carotid and jugular had both been severed, allowing the blood to mix freely. She readied her hammer, waiting for a moment when the figure was facing her direction, in order to kick the door open and flash the hammer. As she did so she began to chant, though she expected the first lines would be drowned out by the bang and ringing it would induce on unprotected ears.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 16, 2017, 11:08:56 pm
Roxanne’s room was dark, but not dusty. Not messy either, on the contrary, it seemed to be packed with all the things Roxanne loved. These things had been meticulously put away, leaving a great deal of space but still giving it that crowded feel. As such, anyone visiting Roxanne’s room was given the impression that there was no room to move, and yet would find that they could easily swing a stick around without hitting anything. Mica found the bed to be soft, very comfortable. Why wasn’t her bed like this? As she was pondering how she might somehow take Roxanne’s bed, the assassin began to pick through her closet, tossing clothes on the bed and talking ramblingly about the minds boys and men.
Roxanne had plenty to say, but not a lot about the simple question Mica had asked. Was that Roxanne’s fault though? It was one of the hard ones, a question that parents the world over either look forward to or dread, and Roxanne wasn’t even Mica’s parent. It wasn’t that Roxanne was uncomfortable with the question, quite the contrary. She just didn’t know, and Mica soon realized that. She talked about what clothes to wear, what things to say, how to behave, what playful threats and promises to use. All very interesting, but all related to the simple act of manipulation and not the act of courtship. She didn’t even explain what the feelings Mica was having were. The longer it went on, the more impatient and downcast Mica got. Why couldn’t Roxanne just tell her how she got along with the knight. She didn’t have any problem talking to him without any of this other stuff. She shuffled her feet impatiently. Mica did enjoy one part of Roxanne’s lessons though, and that was the clothes part. Roxanne had lots of silk, the only thing Mica could wear without itching. Cotton and wool made her itch terribly, hemp and linen too. But silk was nice and smooth, it didn’t get caught on the miniscule layer of fur that covered every part of her that wasn’t already adorned in chitin. Lot’s of skirts and blouses of many colors and styles. Roxanne had wanted her to try on some shoes, heels even, but Mica’s feet were their own natural shoes. In her head, Roxanne remarked how similar they were to a pair of knights armored shoes. The ones Hector called Sabatons. The shoes were not an option then. But their were all sorts of other thing. While they tried on clothes Lilith dozed lightly, the talk having bored her and she having come to the same conclusion as Mica had long before the spider had. She opened one big eye in time to see Mica struggling to get her second pair of arms through the sleeves of a red long sleeve shirt, and she chuckled in that way she had. It was all just so damn womanly and Mica had not, so far as Lilith had seen, behaved in a way that was anywhere near lady like in all her life.
A while later, Mica and Lilith was let out of Roxanne’s room with a small pile of silk clothes. Drifter noted the dour look on her face and could guess what had happened. “Didn’t learn anything huh?” Mica’s face darted in his direction, noticing him for the first time. “C’mere kid. Have a seat.” Before that afternoon, Mica wouldn’t have done it, but now she did exactly as told. “Listen, You’re askin’ a question with a lot of answers. None of them are quite right. One person will tell you one thing while another person will tell you another, but old advice is good advice.” It had the feel of a prepared speech, and Mica thought “new man knows. New man will tell My-ka.” What he had to say was a bit underwhelming to Mica’s sensibilities, but she couldn’t deny the ring of truth it held. "Kid, tell him how you feel, be honest about it. If'n ya both feel the same way great, if'n not it's better to have that knowledge now than break your heart later." Mica didn’t see Lilith nodding sagely behind her. “But…” Mica said after thinking on his words for a moment, “Why would Lizard break My-ka’s hearts?” Drifter realized she didn’t understand the metaphor, but pushed on. “It’s a possibility. Not everyone is meant for each other and sometimes, they realize it later and it’ll make ‘em unhappy. Heck, maybe you’ll break his heart.” Mica put on a distressed face, the idea that she would break Dee’s heart bothered her. “My-ka would not!” she cried, “My-ka not hungry enough to hurt lizard anymore!” Drifter didn’t understand what she meant, but again pushed on, quickly coming to the conclusion that this “Mica” was no mental giant. “Regardless, you might go to bed one night, tonight even, and find in the morning that you just don’t feel the same about him anymore. It happens. Just go talk to him girl. It’s as simple as that. Maybe you’ll find a common ground.” Mica had questions, but Drifter leaned back and made it clear that he’d said what he had to say. His leg was killing him and he was thinking of taking some more of the painkillers the doc had given, but put it off. He didn’t need to be putting a monkey on his back. Mica rubbed her face and collected up the clothes Roxanne had given her. She’d get Kathrine to adjust them like Roxanne told her to, then she would… what? Mica felt tired. She guessed that once the silks had been adjusted for her different anatomy, she would try her luck with the lizard. The thought made her feel warm and nervous and a little afraid. She didn’t want Dee to break her heart.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 16, 2017, 11:45:05 pm
Hector smiled some after having left Kathrine to her own devices, pondering the nature of this anomalies. Something he'd been meaning to get an expert opinion on. Roxanne or Quinn maybe, as this seemed to him a clearly anomalous property rather than a medical concern. For now though he simply observed, seeing Mica leave the building he'd planned to enter sometime later, to talk to Roxanne first. He wasn't sure why he regarded her as his first choice to consult on matters of the arcane, when it seemed to be Quinn's preferred subject.
Elsewhere, a mage-hunter charged with hammer raised, her prey having been distracted by preparing to unbind another seal. "Ecce, sanguinem magum! Impium profligatum!" His focus quickly shifted, to hear the chant of the charging woman in cloak and mask. The last thing many of his order heard, in the old days.
"Subire mortem, sub malleo de-" A solid impact with a strange barrier of light interrupted the final line of her short war hymn, and hindered her attempt to use her hammer. What followed was a powerful jolt of electricity that coursed through as she stood, sending her toppling back to the ground.
Figuratively and literally, as she saw the man brandishing a golden band just large enough to hold in hand, three spikes emerging from the end opposite where he held it. A symbol of judgement. The Sanguine Order, for all their pretense of seeming as a mere cult, had a disdain for religion and holy symbols of all kinds. In contrast to The Keepers of the Oath, who saw value only in practical symbols of their faith, and thus upheld symbol and chalice. To see him using such a weapon was the last thing she expected.
The others had followed on the other side, Taji drawing his blade only to be knocked back by a blast that struck the ground in front of him. Sergei, having ducked behind a pillar, had evidently gone unnoticed. No, he realized. It was that Helen was now the more pressing concern. He was only toying with his prey, holding back what should've been lethal blasts from the symbol.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 17, 2017, 12:00:13 am
Roland finished up his work on the library for a while before stepping back to let others take the lead. As he walked he spotted a small piece of scrap wood that had been cut off of a larger piece and was of no more use for the building project. Picking it up he turned it over a handful of times before deciding what he would do with it.
Setting about his new project Roland found the nearest set of tools for the purpose and set to work. The process of cutting it to shape took more time than he had initially thought. Next came cutting the eye sockets for the mask was a relatively easy process as was affixing the leather straps that would help hold it on his head. The last steps were applying the paint and varnish.
Roland had always imagined death as a faceless being that offered little mercy in his work. Letting the mask hang around his neck Roland walked outside as he started to wonder where the nearest group of those damnable choir boys were. Thumbing part of the golden cross he'd emblazoned on the front of the mask Roland decided he'd check some of the local religious sites as he said to himself "Those fanatics will be drawn to the imagery like flies. They always are."
Roland looked around until he found Roxanne and stopped to tell her "Hey, I'm helpin' build your library over there and I thought I'd let ya know what I was after in advance. I'm lookin' to get a semi or fully automatic rifle, a long range scope for Drifter's mosin, and a ride that I can use, even if it's just a one time deal though somethin' I can use repeatedly would be preferable. Just lettin' you know in case things need to be arranged or I need to come up with somethin' else."
With that said he waited for her response before making his way back to the construction site. As he started back towards the construction site he determined he'd need something to cover the rest of his head first. Death was faceless, terrifying to be in his presence itself, no sense to ruin the illusion for those who he'd be coming for. Of course those thoughts drifted away as he started to help building again. Some things came first after all.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 17, 2017, 12:44:33 am
Roxanne listened to Roland's request when he told her about his help to the library. After he explained his request, she responded. “Sure, no problem. I can get you your rifle, caliber of choice, as well as the scope rather easily. As for the vehicle, I can convinced Catnip to rig you something to your liking. Think over what you would like and I will make the arrangements. Leave it to me! Thanks again for helping!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 12:48:31 am
Hector for his part offered to help as well, the common work of gathering and hauling supplies, along with any minor tasks that needed more than one pair of hands to help with. For his part he evidently made no offer to Roxanne other than reminding her that they should arrange for combat lessons tomorrow. It wasn't long before he noticed Roland with a simple mask, smirking some under his helm. He gave a little wave to him. "Interesting craftsmanship on that." he said simply.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 17, 2017, 01:05:37 am
Roland waved back to Hector as he helped haul the supplies. He couldn't help but smile at the remark Hector made as he responded "I figure I'll put something better together once I get some things. This'll serve it's purpose in the mean time. But I know some of my plans are gonna get movin' quicker then I thought so I built this."
Picking up more lumber Roland walked it over to the site and started back to get more lumber. The process was going quicker than he thought. Roland was confident it'd be done soon enough. Then he could start working on getting some plans put together to deal with god's army.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 01:11:07 am
Hector nodded at that. "Seems like a good start, guessing you have something symbolic in mind. Any other ideas on what to go with that?" he asked, thinking of whether they might have an adequate helm available for Roland. "If you need anything, just ask. More suited for simple forging and vehicle work, or operating the tank. Haven't had a good chance to put it to use against those God's Army fellows. Admittedly, there's something amusing about turning the image of a crusading knight against them, that they may fear the heraldry of the Knights Hospitaller."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 17, 2017, 01:33:20 am
Roland nodded to Hector as they moved another batch of materials "I have some imagery in mind yes. The angel Death, faceless, merciless Death accompanied by some of that holy imagery they stole, a nice golden cross. Something full headed with little room to see the man underneath would be preferable though I imagine I'll have to settle for a balacavla or some kind of hood to achieve that for now. And I'm sure you'd be a scary sight for them without you bein' a crusading knight, much more so with that fact in mind, and amusing for us once both those facts dawn on them"
As they set the latest batch down he continued "I figure they like places with a lot of holy imagery. That's what always attracts their type, the imagery and not the message. I figure I'll start with churches and move from there. Hit 'em hard and hit 'em where it hurts as much as I can."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 17, 2017, 01:42:07 am
Elsewhere, away from the small problems and the developing drama of the farm...
"Bishop! Bisho-" There was a sickening crunch outside the door as something large came down on the voice. None within the room heard it though, they were too focused on one another. Another arc of killing electricity jolted Taji, blasting him into the far wall. The mage come Bishop spun back to the mage hunter and waved his hand. Helen had been going into a charge, intent on trying to unleash her blinding light and take him off guard. When the Bishop waved his hand though, something unseen rose up for a moment in front of her and she ran headlong into the temporary invisible wall. Only a few more bindings to undo, just a little more blood was all he needed. The mage hunter recovered disturbingly quickly, and Henreid grunted. "Resilient bitch aren't you? Taste my lightning!" He forked his symbol of judgement at her and the air about her filled with the smell of ozone. The mage hunter took a stance and braced for the lightning she knew she couldn't dodge. When the strike came an instant later, it was almost more than she could handle. It arced and sizzled the air around her, seizing her muscles painfully. He let out another bolt, and then another. At the third she simply collapsed. He was moving in on her then, and she struggled to rise. He'd drawn a silver knife.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 02:03:12 am
Hector smiled some as he set a few things up, another bundle to provide a framework for a section of wall. "If we had a second great helm, a hounskull bascinet or any other full-face kit, that'd work with only the decoration needed. Otherwise something that'd compliment the mask, like a barbute or sallet. Then just add an aventail or some other way to leave even the neck cover..." he suggested. The image that came to mind was an illustration for that odd religious text, the one that provoked such strange reactions from Roxanne when he mentioned it.
"Honestly though, scary or not I prefer having at least some metal between me and them. Practical moreso than its effect on the image it evokes. As for locations, we had a visitor earlier looking for where they might've taken some comrades of his, so we narrowed down a list of obvious stops. They're nomadic to an extent though, so I'd have to hope we catch them at rest."
Elsewhere, Helen gave a strained groan of anger and pain, glaring up at him. Even with the mask concealing her face the look of hatred beneath it could be guessed. "Deyja, ergi..." she growled out, a moment's lapse in the Latin she was taught in adulthood, in favor of the Old Norse her father taught her.
The bishop was awakened from his thoughts by a pair of hands literally jammed through his back, and out his chest. He'd dismissed Sergei thinking an unarmed man was no threat, and didn't notice the hiss of hydraulic muscles springing to life as his attention turned to the huntress.
Sergei pulled, hands cracking bone and tearing flesh as the Russian fellow started prying him open, the great hall resounding with strained howls of agony. He could feel a disgusting sensation of the flesh seeming to flow around his skin, futilely trying to regenerate around his hands.
The body split into two bloody pieces as Sergei pulled him apart, most of the body crumbling at his feet. The other was left as part of the torso, a right arm, and the head, the whole thing thrown with such force that the door it impacted shattered into gore-stained splinters. "иди нахуй, фраер..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 11:04:33 am
A few hundred miles away...
There was a boy filling up some gas cans. He has blue hair and eyes and an obvious cybernetic right arm; its lights are also blue. There is no left arm. He wears cargo pants and a baggy trenchcoat. He was whistling a tune until...
"Hey fucker, you're coming with us!" Two soldiers from Gods Army walk up to him with rifles to his back.
"Come on, you don't need to do this." The kid stays calm, raising his hand.
The two poke him in the back with their rifles, prodding him in the direction of their truck. "Get in the truck, you cyber sinner!"
The kids hair, eyes (Though the soldiers dont see that) and the lights on his arm go purple. "You really don't want to be doing this..." His voice is now raising in tone.
"So you're a mutant too? Now COME ON!" They shove the kid towards the truck.
"Oh you really shouldn't have done that..." He goes all a deep red. "You fucked up now." The kid drops his trenchcoat.
"Wh-What the fuck!" The other one doesn't get to say anything.
The air is filled with tortuous screams and maniacal laughter.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 17, 2017, 12:07:30 pm
Dee finished cleaning the blood out of the keyboard on his laptop and was preparing to continue with the task of sorting through the matrices he'd been brought. The plan was to check each of the hard drives manually. That idea was taking too long though and Dee had been working through the puzzle of how to speed the task up a bit, when he hit upon the idea of making Medeina do it. He set up an advanced firewall so that nothing on the drives could harm Medeina and instructed her to go through each one in sequence, and deleting anything on them to make room for her own use once a proper bot could be put together. To make sure she didn't delete anything important though, he would keep an eye on her. The AI worked fast and had got as far as deleting several volumes of tax reports, a drive loaded with fragmented and useless data, and the records of a company that manufactured toothbrush holders, when Mica materialized from the evening gloom. Dee was immediately uncomfortable. How could he not be though? Despite her flaws of character and appearance, Roxanne had done her makeup very well and Kathrine had done a masterful job tailoring the red silks to fit Mica. Not just fit, but to flow and cling in all the right places. They had taken the savage spider, given her the bare minimum of coaching, and made her into a thing of some beauty and grace. Medeina cleared a matrix, and deleted it. A collection viral vaccine formulae for hundreds of diseases, but Dee didn't notice.
Mica pulled up the chair Dee had hardly ever used on the other side of the his work bench, and watched him. She'd covered her good eye In a green sash that complimented the red of her blouse and skirt. "Christmas colors." Dee thought, and then had to shut off the next few thoughts. They were a complicated mess of what he'd learned concerning Mica and Catnips history with "christmas" and an unwanted lewd thought along the lines of unwrapping christmas presents. If Dee could sweat, he would have, but lizards like him didn't sweat. Even with staring down the barrel of a situation like this. "Dee." Said Mica nervously. She had begun to flush at the cheeks, and he was reminded of the way she had looked at him when he'd seen her watching him get rid of the dead raccoon. "Oh no." He thought again. Medeina was watching them intently. It made Dee both uncomfortable and somewhat more comfortable at the same time. "Yeah Mica?" Dee said aloud. The words fell from his mouth like stones, emotionless. Without feeling. "Dee... My-ka..." She started. Her face was redder than ever now. "She is going to say what I think she's going to say." He thought. "My-ka..." He never thought he'd see her so out of sorts, so... vulnerable. Suddenly, she tensed and shouted, "My-ka likes you." Dee felt cold, his mask was blank. Mica was covering her face. Medeina's lens dilated and contracted and on her computer a text document was filling with observations. "I... uh... er..." Dee stammered. Slowly Mica placed her long fingered hands, all four of them, in her lap and stared at the floor. She said something low, he didn't quiet hear it. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear it. "What's that?" He asked before he could stop himself. "Would... Dee like to go... for a walk with My-ka?" She mumbled.
"A walk?" Mica silently nodded that that was what she had asked. "Er..." Dee thought about the request long and hard. Just a walk. Nothing bad about a walk, sure. and finally he said slowly, "Suuure." After he said it, he realized he didn't, but he couldn't stand to look at her all gussied up like that and just say no. Dee had a soft heart, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings. At his response in the positive, Mica squealed. A completely unfamiliar sound coming from her, and it made her lips spread in a wide and disturbing grin of joy. "We go tomorrow!" she cried, "Dee take My-ka for walk!" She stood, sending her chair clattering to the floor, "My-ka wear blue next time! Maybe greens! What Dee think!?" Dee just looked at her, she wouldn't have noticed any response he made now anyway, she was too excited.
When she'd gone, Dee slumped in his chair. What had he just committed himself to? He glanced over at the text document open on Medeinas screen. It read "Can I watch?" In bold italics.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 17, 2017, 12:22:59 pm
Roland nodded at Hector's suggestion as he said "A helmet'd help keep my brain in one piece but I don't want to ask too much of you folks, only been here a handful of days after all. As for the imagery, well if you become something that your enemy fears then you have an advantage and I intend to make them fear me."
As they continued to work he said "I'll ask you about locations later. Right now I figure we got some important work we're doin' here, help our own then put down the ones threatin' them. Besides I won't be ready to set out for a bit yet, just faster than I initially thought."
Elsewhere on the farm Drifter was getting restless. He was used to moving, walking pretty much the entire day. Here he was sitting around doing nothing. It almost reminded him of better times in his old house before things went to shit, well before things really went to shit and before his life before this apocalypse had gone to shit. For a moment his mind wandered and he found himself thinking of that christmas morning when his kid's face lit up after he opened one of his presents.
Of course his mind was dragged forcibly back to the present as he face planted yet again. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the sky for a handful of minutes before standing up. This peg leg was annoying him to no end but he knew he'd get used to it. For now he decided he'd find somewhere to sit again and rest. As he walked he hoped Mica was doing okay.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 12:31:42 pm
There was a sudden crackle as a voice comes through the radio.
"Is anyone out there that isn't crazy church boys?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 12:38:26 pm
Hector smiled some. "Do think we have quite a few spare bits of kit we have scavenged, enough that a helm is trivial to spare. The better that you live through this." he said, before the two soon focused on their work for the time being.
Helen winced a bit as Sergei helped him up, her other hand reaching for one of the two vials she had. Much as she tried to remain professional and not let bloodlust drive her actions, What was left of the blood mage left a little smile under that mask, one she tried her hardest to cease as she removed it to drink the contents of the vial. For this sort of shock it didn't little more than dull the pain that every muscle felt from earlier, but it helped at least. The other vial she'd offer to Taji as he sat up, the three of them soon surveying what was left of the place.
The symbol of judgement, athame, and silver glyphs she gathered, explaining to the others that they were potentially dangerous is left for others to find and misuse. In addition she knew it'd recoup the loss of dull essence considerably, while the silver and gold could be divided up as payment for their assistance. The silver halved between Sergei and Taji, for she had no practical use for it. The gold from the symbol of judgement would be split evenly between the three of them, her third more for gilding scales to replace as needed and for a recipe she knew to make more potions. Though having it available to recruit someone else for a future mission she had planned would help as well.
She regarded the strange wards, not easily perceived without some form of sight beyond sight, but certainly sensed as the general unease it provoked. You I'll deal with soon, she thought. "Now then, few more monsters likely remain out there, then I have something to ensure this place will no longer be of any use to these profligates." she said. The remaining monsters she knew were now loose and uncontrolled, at best they'd be scattering as wild beasts would, at worst they'd be converging on the central building to pursue the only targets left in the area. "First, dealing with what that idiot already summoned up. Resealing them won't be easy without the right tools, so that leaves the more satisfying way." she remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 17, 2017, 01:51:09 pm
Roxanne was in the soon to be library helping build it. She could not carry much due her mutations but her bionic toolset allowed her to do labor. While in he middle if working in what woukd be a counter, her handled radio crackled indicating a message was inbound; it was a general broadcast but her getup managed to pick it up. She put down her materials and rushed to the radio room. She put on her headset once inside and spoke to the transmitting frequency. "Hello? This is Roxanne Luna. I have picked up your message. You are not alone my friend! May I have your name and location?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 01:54:01 pm
"The names Drake, and if im correct I should be coming up onto your location in a few minutes. Do not be alarmed by the large-ass helicopter landing."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 17, 2017, 02:00:08 pm
Roxanne was left speechless by the last statement. "He- helicopter you say...Ok...try to land north of the tank I guess..." Roxanne genuinely had no idea what to expect.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 02:02:06 pm
"You got it."
A few minutes later they could hear the heli before they could even see it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 02:03:23 pm
Nathaniel meanwhile had been checking up on the tank while Hector was assisting in construction, since last time he tried to help build something he was less that hepful. The tank's radio soon engaged, a brief report answered by Roxanne, and he decided to chime in. "Nathaniel here as well. Glad to see another survivor out there. Had a run-in with those God's Army nutjobs too?" he added. "Huh. That'll be the first time I've seen anything running in the air in years, aside from those police-issue UAVs." he said, soon looking out as he heard it in the distance. Big, heavy-duty rotors he suspected, troop transport or something even heavier.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 02:09:11 pm
They could now the helicopter. To Hector and Nathaniel, it was a CH-53E Super Stallion. To everyone else it was a fucking huge chopper. It lands nearby and the pilot hops out. They couldn't believe their eyes. The pilot looked like a teen. He had a cyber arm for his right and none on his left. Baggy trenchcoat and cargopants. His hair, eyes, and lights on his arm were blue. He is currently rummaging through the heli.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 02:18:25 pm
Hector looked up from his work as he heard the sound, making the same guess Nathaniel did, confirmed when he actually saw it at last, Nathaniel standing near the tank, a bit low as the massive helicopter touched down, its pilot soon revealed to be someone that looked even younger than he was, with signs of heavy augmentation and dyed hair. "Greetings. Corporal Nathaniel Ford." he said, a rare use of his old rank. Given he himself looked a bit young to have been commanding a tank back then, he likely brushed off how strange the whole scene was. "Surprised anyone's still operating those things. Hector's had to do a lot of work on the M701 just to make it practical to keep using."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 02:25:56 pm
"Yeah, found this beauty just sitting in an old hangar. Taught myself how to fly it in the simulators at the airbase I was living in." He gets out of the heli holding nothing less then a godsend. "Who wants Icecream?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 17, 2017, 02:26:49 pm
Roxanne came outside to witness the scene herself. “I'll be damned...You said you were comming in a big heli but wasn't expecting this...”, Roxanne said to the pilot, "Name is Roxanne Luna, the gal on the radio, and everyone's crazy aunt."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 02:28:33 pm
"Nice to meet you Roxanne." Drake hands her an icecream bar.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 02:31:02 pm
Nathaniel regarded that suspiciously, shaking his head at that. "That seems...huh. You have any background with other helicopters before that?" he asked. Hector meanwhile had made his way over as well, making for the rather odd side of a man just casually strolling over in a mail hauberk, gauntlets, and plated boots. "Impressive machine there. Hector Lowe, the usual driver of the tank here. And I guess if Roxanne's the crazy aunt, does that make me the weird armored uncle?" he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 02:35:43 pm
"Well my father was a pilot for the navy seals." He hands icecream bars to Nathaniel and Hector.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 17, 2017, 02:38:53 pm
Roxanne takes the icecream. She apoears to not be bothered by a helicopter just landing and it's pilot a teenage cyborg. She had seen weirder... “Thanks!”, Roxanne told Drake.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 02:41:21 pm
"No problem, I have plenty. If you want to, you can look inside it. He opens the side door to the chopper.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 02:42:14 pm
Nathaniel was a bit wary of the offer, but accepted nonetheless. Hector seemed hesitant for different reasons, given how rarely he ate ice cream or any other sweets even before the cataclysm, before accepting to not offend the odd visitor. "Hmm. Had a 'take your kid to work' day back when you were growing up, then?" Nathaniel joked. "And I thought my unit had its eccentricities."
Hector then gave a little ahem at that. "Can ask questions of that sort another time. Regardless, anything you need help with, or here to trade for?" he asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 02:43:34 pm
"Nah, just need to settle down for a little while. Plus fuel is getting hard to come by these days"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 02:57:22 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Yeah. One advantage to this tank is the engine array instead of one big engine like the old systems, I'd been running it on low power for a while, then not long ago stripped most of it out entirely and put in an electric one to supplement it." he explained.
Nathaniel then looked Drake over. "So you mentioned a run-in with those crusader fuckboys. They've been a persistent problem lately, it seems. I might have something related to that to ask you about, since you' had an eye in the sky. Something involving another person that'd suffered at their hands."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 03:37:19 pm
"Well then, lay it on me." He looks displeased about the circumstance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 03:42:24 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that, procuring a map he had, one of the ones they pored over with The Boss the other day. "Their groups are semi-nomadic, sometimes stopping at places formerly of religious importance. Somebody came by before, a few comrades of his were kidnapped for their mutations and bionics. Likely dead by now, but he wants to find where they might've been executed at. Narrowed down a list of likely sites, but no idea which might be in use, nor any temporary sites made while traveling." he explained, while Hector for now examined the helicopter, rather impressed by the massive thing.
"If you were passed by some of these locations that seemed to be inhabited..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 03:45:26 pm
"Hmm... I do believe I did pass one of their camps to the northwest of here. Looked like a cathedral or something. It did have their blue cross on the front."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 03:48:25 pm
Nathaniel smirked at that. "Then I hope we hit the jackpot. Getting ideas Hector, or think you should wait for him to get back here to see if he wants to join in?" he asked, while Hector shook his head. "I'll relay that to Roland actually, and leave it up to him." he said, soon returning to the construction site to discuss things with Roland.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 17, 2017, 03:58:09 pm
Roland had just finished helping a couple of the men get one of the large planks of wood in place when Hector pulled him aside. As he listened he adjusted his coat. Once Hector was finished he said "Okay." He paused for a moment before continuing "Okay, we ought to be able to do something. Gonna need transportation there though and I'm willing to bet plenty of firepower. Maybe Drifter will feel up to helpin' out as well."
He looked at Hector and said "Any ideas on how to come at them?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 04:04:13 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Might be a trivial matter to use the tank, admittedly. Hardly sporting, but if they're going to be difficult to assault on foot..." he said.
"Best approach likely is hug the treeline on the other side, either continue on foot or as close as possible depending on how quiet an engine we can make use of. If we can make contact with a vehicle, any mounted weapons will make it effectively shooting fish in a barrel. Clearing it out fully and mopping up stragglers might require dismounting, so bringing a third to stay in the tank and provide covering fire would be useful."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 17, 2017, 04:05:02 pm
Kathrine had been held back by Lilith. The loud noises from the helicopter rotors had scared her, but the lack of shouting or gunfire made her think that someone new had just arrived. Despite Lilith being able to completely take up the doorway, the gap between the top of the door and Lilith's back was just big enough that Kath could jump over her and run over to where the heli had landed. "NEEEEEEW PEEEEERSOOOOOOOOOON!" She skids slightly in order to slow down, then tilts forward and launches at Drake, tackling him to the ground with a hug.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 04:07:44 pm
"Ahh!" Drake topples over with Kat onto the floor of the heli, laughing. "And who might you be?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 17, 2017, 04:15:25 pm
"I'm Kathrine! K-A-T-H-R-I-N-E! Who're you? I'm Kath!" Kathrine pauses, blowing her hair out of her face. "Your arm's all cold..." She sits up, looking at him, then immediately gasps and rolls backwards, out of the helicopter, and runs off back towards the farmhouse.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 04:17:54 pm
Nathaniel couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Don't worry about Kathrine, she's literally the least dangerous person of the group." he remarked, only to...facepalm at that. "And with not much experience with bionics, sadly. Honestly, far better than Catnip and Mica. Mica, er...honestly, don't freak out if you see a spider-lady with a lamprey mouth trying to eat Roxanne's books, chickens, random pieces of jewelry, or bandits."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 04:20:10 pm
"Ah, okay." He seems a little sad. "Spider lady with a lamprey mouth... Huh."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 17, 2017, 04:40:33 pm
Roxanne had been going at it with the icecream Drake had given. She had ignored Hector leaving and Katherine's arroval but perked up at the mention of her books. “Or people with no business commanding tanks...”, Roxanne added to Nathaniel's statement.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 04:44:21 pm
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at that. "Hey, I was a bit distracted by the whole 'almost starting WWIII' thing. Besides, good luck getting Mica to stop that without losing a limb."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 17, 2017, 04:46:06 pm
Kathrine, upon reaching the farmhouse, opens the door to run inside, and runs face-first into Lilith's chest. She backs up, then goes back in for a hug. "Miss Lilith, the new person's all weeeeeeiiiirrd and scary and I don't wanna hug him because he's all cold." Lilith looks up towards the helicopter, whacking her muzzle against the doorframe.
Lilith shows up near the helo with Kathrine clinging to her chest like a lemur. She's glaring at Drake, growling quietly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 17, 2017, 04:50:59 pm
Roland nodded to that as he said "That's assumin' they don' have sentries watching or weaponry to deal with a vehicle and it's mounted weaponry. Granted if we could get Drifter some sub sonic ammo for his Mosin he could probably take out any sentries without them raisin' the alarm."
Roland shrugged as he looked around to see where Drifter had wondered off to but didn't catch sight of him "Well that's assuming he's up to the task though knowing him he wouldn't admit if he wasn't."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 04:52:54 pm
"Uh, Nathan? Who is that?" He points to Lilith.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 04:57:03 pm
Nathaniel blinks at that. "That's Lilith, a bit protective of Kathrine." he said, before approaching the two and getting Lilith a pat. "It's alright, you two. He didn't mean any harm."
Hector meanwhile smiled some. "True, I'd rather have a tank in between me and anti-tank weapons than just mail though. Subsonic loads might be doable though, will make it easier. Depends on what he'd be up to, I guess."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 04:59:01 pm
"Ah, she just scared me, thats all." He goes up to Lilith an attempts to pet her. "Hello Lilith. Sorry for scaring Kat, I didn't mean to"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 17, 2017, 05:09:19 pm
Roland nodded to Hector as he said "Right, I'm gonna let you see about a vehicle and if anyone wants to join us. In the meantime I'll see if Drifter's up to helping us out."
With that he walked away to find Drifter. He found him sitting at a table with his M16 and Mosin both field stripped on a table as he cleaned them. Roland had seen Drifter do this before with a much quicker pace and wondered what was going on. As he sat across from Drifter he asked as much.
Drifter was quiet for a minute before saying "Just...I'm just not used to stayin' in one place. The thought of it's just kind of weird."
Roland nodded to that. The two of them hadn't exactly been able to find a home since this whole apocalypse had started. Drifter because he'd always cause trouble with the local raiders and Roland because he was always looking for someone to help out. Roland pondered that as he said "Well maybe that's just a feelin' you just ain't had in a long time. A feelin' like you're home."
Drifter shrugged as he asked "So what'd you come over here to bother me for?"
Roland smiled at his sarcastic tone before telling him "Well me and Hector were talkin' about it and we think we might be able to hit those God's Army folks. I needed to know if'n you'd be up for it."
Drifter gave Roland a look as he said "Up for it? Of course I'm up for it. Jus' point me at the nearest one of those fuckers and I'll put a hole in his head."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 17, 2017, 05:28:54 pm
Lilith snarls and flinches away from Drake's hand, wrapping her arms around Kathrine. "Cub thayth mean." She grunts, baring her teeth. Kathrine squeezes Lilith a bit and mumbles something involving "don't", and she steps back, immediately sedated.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 05:31:54 pm
"Whoa, okay then. Maybe later." He backs off from the two and heads to Nathan. "Hey Nathan, you guys have any books?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 05:33:41 pm
Nathaniel shakes his head at that. "See? He wasn't trying to be mean, Lilith." he said, carefully reaching to give her earscritches.
Hector nodded at that, soon returning to check on the tank, then nods to Roxanne. "Roland's planning to talk to Drifter about making use of that info our new arrival here gave us. Could see who else might be up to. That's three already, not that enjoyable taking the tank with more than that, as sitting on the cargo hatches wasn't that fun, was it?"
Nathaniel then perked up at that. "Quite a few in fact. Hector and Roland have been working on building a proper library of sorts for them, for now they're in the radio room."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 05:35:57 pm
"Okay, thanks. Ill head over there now." He gets the directions from Nathan and heads toward the radio room.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 17, 2017, 05:41:07 pm
Roxanne glares at lilith at the mention of books once more. Not that the tigress cared since Kathrine being scare takes priority. Roxanne then turns around when Hector speaks to her "Well, not fun but doable. My APC is definitely more comfortable but not as armored as the tank. If you guys need me I can come with. Just not this friday, I have a 'date' at the refugee center."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 05:49:08 pm
Nathaniel winced a bit at the glare Roxanne gave Lilith, almost out out reflex moving to ensure he was between the two, as if that would do any good. He watched Drake walk off, smiling some. "Well. Interesting new arrival. My guess though is he's older than he looks. No way in hell does it seem plausible that a civilian, let alone one with no training, simply learn to use heavy equipment like this from flight sims." he remarked. "Plus, advanced as those bionics look, last I saw civilian-issue prosthetic CBMs were barely even a step up from the models not using the module system."
Hector nodded at that. "Lot more guns you've slapped on that thing, more troop space, but less armor and probably doesn't have the alterations that'll make approaching them easier. Depending on when Roland and Drifter say are good to strike, feel free to if you can. Call it an in-field combat lesson." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 05:52:09 pm
Few minutes later Drake came back from the radio room with a few books and gets into his heli, presumably reading.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 07:10:44 pm
Hector hmmed a bit, having been pondering Nathaniel's speculation, deciding to make his way into the helicopter to follow Drake. He was curious now, deciding also to see what books he'd picked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 07:14:28 pm
Inside the heli Drake was sitting in his reclining chair reading a book on computers. To Nathans horror, from the left arm was an 8ft long snake tail which was wrapped around Drakes waist. Drake has not noticed him yet.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 07:26:21 pm
Nathaniel, having followed behind Hector, clasped his hands to his mouth to keep himself from crying out in surprise. Hector for his part was surprised as well, but didn't stare, simply regarding the books that Drake had taken along. "Sanctus me-...hmm. Not expected to say the least." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 07:32:39 pm
Drake goes completely white including his snake arm. "Ohgodyouwerentsupposedtoseethispleasedonthurtme!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 07:42:39 pm
Hector blinked at that, before he calmly removed his shield and set it aside. "S-sorry, was mostly checking up on you, plus you did suggest taking a look into the helicopter." he said, looking down a bit. "Honestly though, that's not the strangest I've seen. I mean half of the people here have dealt with massive spacial anomalies, and several are subject to even heavier mutations. Roxanne doesn't look it besides the ears and eyes, but I suspect her own dabbling has had deeper consequences than intended." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 17, 2017, 07:48:43 pm
Drake slowly turns back to his normal blue. "I... I suppose so..." He sighs and gets up. Here, Ill show you the chopper and how it works."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 17, 2017, 07:59:12 pm
Donavan's eyes wink open, he laying on a hospital bed. His dogs are laying on top of him, they notice he's awake and supply him with sniffs and licks. "Dow-dow-down boys..." The dogs hop down from the bed, He gets up from the bed and limps out of the clinic. Donny hobbles to the kitchen in just a pair of jeans and grabs a half of bread and a chunk of smoked meat. He bites down on the bread and walks outside to the front of the farm house. He crackles while he's chewing. "W#o-#ho's the new g-g-guy?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 08:05:33 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Very well then, thank you. And sorry for the intrusion. Remind me to show you the old tank sometime. Or maybe the project Catnip's been tending to." he said, while Nathaniel opted to excuse himself to examine the machine from outside, only to blush when he remembered the way Lilith showed up earlier.
"Drake. Arrived not long ago actually, in this lovely piece of hardware. Glad that you're finally up and faring better, Donovan." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 17, 2017, 08:55:38 pm
Roland made sure there wasn't anything Drifter needed before finding himself some privacy. Pulling out the chemicals he carried with him he set about his work. As he began preparing a makeshift grenade he recalled how one of his superiors had forced him to take the training that now allowed him to carry out this process. You can't just be a Chaplain here he'd been told and so he became a bomb tech.
He made a handful of grenades before making a larger charge that exhausted his supply of materials. Pulling out his gas can and the beer bottles he set about making a pair of molotovs. He'd already determined how some of these were going to be used after all so may as well get them ready. Soon he stood up and returned to the construction as he thought about how this attack would go.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 09:06:00 pm
Meanwhile far away, Helen, Taji, and Sergei were soon on their way back out the doors into the stair well she originally took. "I don't know what's in that stuff, but it's not bad." Taji remarked, given how much easier it was to shrug off the now-dulling pain, noticing some small scrapes from his earlier impact having healed up as well.
The first thing they had to deal with seemed to literally blow in through the door when they opened it, Taji calmly drawing his blade and slicing into the swirling cloud of living mist that staggered them, striking something obscured in the mist. The object floated to the ground slowly, cracked and crumbling remains of an odd brittle stone. "One down, let's see how many more to go..."
Helen then added one more thing as they neared the bottom of the floating temple's stairs, the door opening back into the familiar hallways. "When we get to ground level, I want you both to get clear of the structure as soon as possible. You'll see why in a bit."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 17, 2017, 09:46:07 pm
Once everyone had gone their own ways, Roxanne felt it; the “force” was tugging at her strings. The feeling was all too familiar to her at this point. Nobody knew about this, they would brand her a lunatic; she thought this despite the fact she had confessed her cannibalism to Hector and Catnip had similar experiences and was opened about it. The force urge her to go to her altar. That's when she remembered she had very little “tribute” left and had not done a ceremony in a few days. “Shit, it's getting restless...I don't need to get in its bad side...what to do!”
She didn't have a solution to her issue but went to the altar anyway; no use in angering the force further. Once there, she noticed the candles were lit. This unnerved Roxanne greatly. Either someone had been there or the force was manifesting itself. She check around to see if anything was missing. A quick check determined nothing was missing, the last of her tribute laid where it always was, in the drawer under the bed with all her ceremonial tools and garbs for this specific ritual and it's preparation. This made Roxanne think it might be the latter scenario, which unnerved her even more. She decided to do the ceremony to appease the force, she only had enough “tribute” to do this one more time.
Roxanne opened the drawer and put her material in the altar: the journal she seems to treasure and carried around sometime, her “tribute” which was inside a jar, a hand-carved holy symbol depicting the christian cross as a sword and her ceremonial robe she decorated with imagery that was important to her; said imagery was both arcane and religious in nature. Roxanne stripped completely and put on her robe and holy symbol. Then, she got on her knees and offered a prayer to lit candles, she ate of the tribute once. She clasped her hands and hummed a tune of a forgotten faith, she ate of tje tribute twice. She wrote a message on her journal, clutched it close to her chest and then used on of he lit candles to burn the paper, she ate of the tribute thrice. She closed the ceremony by whipering her name in another prayer and blew the candles to extinguish their flame. Afternit was all said and done, the feeling of the force was gone. With relief, Roxanne changed back to her normal attire and out her gear away. “I need more tribute...this will last a few days tops...”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 10:05:09 pm
Hector smiled some, soon enough having been outside her room, waiting in what was currently the library, waiting until she was out of her room. "Again, I'm guessing? How's supplies holding up? Given we'll be after those crusader vermin soon enough, that does present an opportunity afterward..." he'd suggested, looking around to ensure no one was approaching the farmhouse that might barge in unannounced.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 17, 2017, 10:13:18 pm
Roxanne exists her room and notices Hector, she is a bit surpriced to see him there but her attitude changes to glee and relief when she hears what he said. With a predatory grin she reponds, "Perfect timing knight. I have just ran out of... "tribute". Heh, look at me talking like how drug dealers used to do pre-cataclysm... It's good to known I can trust you with this Hector... So what's the details of this?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 10:27:26 pm
Hector nodded at that. "As I'd guessed. So long as this habit doesn't become a problem, though this latest raid should help with that." he said, managing a little smile in response to her own grin. Far as he was concerned, it paid a poetic justice to their enemies. "Small cathedral our new arrival marked out as having recently been inhabited and displaying the blue cross. Roland's looking into seeing if Drifter wants to go along, and of course I did suggest some choices of vehicle as you'll recall." he explained. "Should be as soon as everyone else is ready to head out. And after our lesson tomorrow."
"Securing the...ahem, spoils will be harder if it's a team effort though. I know Roland will want to come, and piling a few corpses in the back might not slip his notice. And I know Nathaniel might offer to join if we choose the tank." he said. "He at least wouldn't be a problem if it actually came down to that. If I had to tell him, he'll at least trust me if I explain it. Failing that, while he's let slip a few details, he's told me a few things of the old days he wouldn't want getting out either. Imagine if Kath knew about it, and Lilith's reaction in turn once Kath starts telling on Nathaniel..."
"Regardless, once we do have that secured, if you need help with handling it, you need only ask." he said, unaware of the nature of her preparation rituals.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 17, 2017, 10:37:12 pm
Roxanne listened intently. She ran scenarios about how secure the "tribute". She chuckled at the part of Nathaniel. Roxanne chimed in once Hector offered to prepare the tribute. "Uh...that's fine...I can take care of that myself. Thanks for the offer though...", Roxanne had turned around when she said that, slightly blushing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 10:42:50 pm
Hector nodded at that, likewise pondering some likely ways to handle that. "Best way would be to haul some off while telling the others to have their pick of the actual loot, as in the bandit raid. Might only procure a few, and the excuse of piling the rest into a mass grave only goes so far. Coming back on our own later is an option too, it's a short trip." he suggested.
He then, not noticing the blush, simply nodded at her reaction. "Understood. Ritual reasons, I'd guess. Not like you'd go standing around naked tending a running fire or anything like that, so." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 17, 2017, 10:55:33 pm
Roxanne flimchend a bit at the last statment amd tried her best to cover her face; if she had been drinikg a liquid, she would of had spitted it out like in the movies. "Hahaha, good one, and I bet you are naked under all that armor yourself!", Roxanne managed to say giving small forced laugh. "Yeah...ritual reason! You are very astute knight!", Roxanne explaimed once she regained some of her composure.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 11:01:05 pm
Hector blinked and found himself giving her the sort of stare one expects of someone who's torn between confused, disappointed, and curiosity. "I, er. That'd be about as uncomfortable, yeah." he remarked, trying to shift from his joke, to a different subject. "Regardless, should be free to the day after tomorrow at the earliest, I hope. I'll be tending to the tank in case we choose it, for now." he said. Now he was the one trying to conceal a blush.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 17, 2017, 11:06:05 pm
"Yeah, tomorrow will be good. Good luck on thr tank! I have to go fetch...some ammo in the armory. See ya later!". Roxanne exited the radio room and headed towards the armory. It didn't occur to her that it was obious every one knew she used a laser rifle that used no ammo. Roxanne was a good liar when in her element but it all crumbled under embarrassment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 17, 2017, 11:11:11 pm
Donny chomps some more bread, and swallows. "S-s-so. When're you gonna ki-ki-kiss?" He says to Hector with a grin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 17, 2017, 11:23:55 pm
Hector nodded as he made his way out, only to give a concerned look to Donavan, wondering how much he overheard. He hadn't considered that he might have bionic-enhanced hearing of some sort. "Honestly, much as I consider her a comrade...she's the sort where it's best to let her act on it." he said rather plainly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 18, 2017, 12:24:40 am
After a long bout of reading, Drake decides to wander the farm for a bit. He comes across the barn and goes inside. "Hello? Anybody in here?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 18, 2017, 12:57:25 am
"Maybe." Says Catnip, "Been awhile since I took guests. Are you friends with the fly? If so, then no flies allowed!" Her voice seemed to come from somewhere around a stool seated near a long table covered in tools and various bits of electronics or machinery. For a brief moment, something flickers in the chair and he catches sight of something like a young woman covered in fur and with the muzzle, tail, whiskers, and semi pointed ears of a rat. "What were you giving everyone when you got here? Is that flying thing you came on a helicopter? What does it run on? How does it work? Can I look at it?" She let the cloak slip off, it looked like a sparkling blanket, and she folded it up to stuff into a pouch at her side. He hadn't imagined the rat features.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 18, 2017, 01:00:18 am
"Oh, Yeah! You can look at the heli. The names Drake. Want some icecream?" He was taken back a little by her appearance but does not show it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 18, 2017, 01:09:15 am
"What's icecream?" Catnip asks, interested. "Is it like chocolate?" She starts to frown, as if remembering something she can't change. "The fly took my chocolate..." She says quietly to herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 18, 2017, 01:39:24 am
"Sort of, Ill be right back." He leaves then comes back with an icecream bar.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 18, 2017, 09:32:05 am
Catnip sniffs the little rectangle cautiously. She can smell the chocolatey bread part, a smell she would know anywhere. The majority of it though smells of something she isn't familiar with though. She looks more closely after unwrapping it. Two brown chocolate wafers and a cold white stuff. She licks it, and then stuffs the whole thing in her mouth. A moment later, Catnip is curled up on the floor cradling her splitting head.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 18, 2017, 09:53:04 am
Drake just smiled and facepalmed. "You have to eat it bite by bite, or else you're going to get a brainfreeze."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 18, 2017, 09:54:48 am
A day had passed since both Roland and Hector had made their requests for helping with the construction of the library. Hector and Roxanne had made an agreement to start combat practice today. Roxanne found the knight’s request odd and amusing but it suited her. She had put the offer off for too long now and todays was as good as any other. She went to the place where he had helped Catnip learn to use her rapier. It was early in the morning; most of the farm’s residents were still doing their morning rituals or just waking up. Roxanne herself had not slept for 3 days. Ever since the last use of the infuser, her body required sleep at most once a week; a benefit she only had come to noticed the day after Dervish forbid her from using the infuser. After a short while of being lost in thought, Hector arrived, armor clad with shield and sword in hand; he marched forward in a rhythmic fashion, almost ceremonially, as if an army accompanied him in lockstep. “You are here early Roxanne. Good to see that.”, commented Hector. “Force of habit from the old world, you don’t want to be late for a meeting with big wig.”, responded Roxanne.
The knight nodded and placed his shield against the wall of the nearest building. He then placed next to it some books; mostly old judicial dueling manuals, modern HEMA tutorials and a book called ‘Survivor Combatives’ that was nothing more than a journal. “I won’t be needing this for now. We first have to learn the fundamentals.”, Hector explained, “First, let’s see what you got. You seem to be good at dodging. I will charge at you see if you can dodge all my attacks. No bionic assistance, just you and me. En garde!”
Roxanne deployed her monomolecular sword and got into position. Her stance was that of unarmed combat, hands, or sword rather, covering her face and one foot in front of the other. Hector smirked at that. “We will have to work on your stance as well Roxanne.” This statement was met with an eyeroll from Roxanne, she still did not comprehend the level of seriousness Hector was taking this. She just assumed this would be friendly banter as all their interactions thus far had been. A few moments went by and Hector charged forward; Roxanne assumed he would sneak a slash at her using his momentum as aid, something she could easily dodge, but instead hector stopped mid run and did an upper slash at her. Roxanne was caught off guard but managed to dodge. Not a moment of hesitation later, Hector resumed his charge and swiftly knocked Roxanne to the ground by pushing her down with his shoulder. Hector was surprisingly agile despite being in full body armor. He looked down at Roxanne on the ground who in turned looked up at him in disbelief.
“What the hell Hector?!”, Roxanne screamed at the knight. Without breaking eye contact through his helm, he answered, “You can dodge but you can’t telegraph your opponents moves. This will be your downfall Roxanne.”
"You slashed at me out of nowhere?! What the fuck is up with that?!"
"You dodged didn’t you? I expected no less from you."
Hector offered his hand to Roxanne but she being the prideful narcissist that she is refused and stood up on her own. "Let’s do this again. This time, feel free to hit back. Don’t worry about hurting me, this armor is no joke."
"Oh, believe me, the joke is something else…" Roxanne once more assumed her stance as Hector went to where he would begin his charge. To Roxanne, this was getting a bit personal, her pride was at stake.
The next time Hector closed in, Roxanne was expecting his feint, finding it easier to read the way he moved the longer they sparred. While he was quicker than expected and had actual training, and both had strength enhanced by bionics that couldn’t simply be shut off, Roxanne had the raw strength from her mutations to keep up once she had an idea what to expect. While a quick lunge on her part closed that gap between them and the edge of her bionic blade scarred the rings of his mail, he in turn resorted to grappling, until soon enough both of them toppled over, having the stamina and technique needed to get her into a position that left her off balance.
“Quick learner I see. Seems your own enhancements serve you well, too. ” he said, smiling some as he stood up, examining the mail that nearly split from the wicked edge of her bionic weapon. “If this was more than mere sparring, I suspect that would’ve got us both killed. Then again, that’s why you don’t resort to grappling with swords if you’re unarmored.” he remarked. The helm, luckily for him, concealed the blush he had after having ended up pinning her.
Roxanne was still on the ground. Once again she was on the ground, bested by the knight. Two thoughts were going through her mind. The first was, if she was bested by a spar, what would she do if things went south and she ran out of power in a mission? The second was, how could she be bested by Hector?! She was unusually bothered by the second one for reasons she didn't understand or cared to at the moment.
Roxanne sat up. “I guess I still have a lot learn huh?” Hector nodded and once more offered Roxanne a hand to get up. She accepted it and they both went towards the books. “Let’s take a quick break and then we will work on what you have wrong. It's mostly your stance, angle of attack and predicting your opponents moves. We will work on the first point after the break. These books should help.”
“All things considered though, you’ve got a good foundation for it, and you give as good as you take. Guessing though that they didn’t train you to handle a sustained fight. Not something an assassin would want to deal with if they can help it?” Hector asked, a remark that worried Roxanne some. It was long after their break that they tended to the footwork, starting off with the basics of drilling the use of proper stances. Hector for his part was used to learning and practicing, not teaching. He felt like starting off with sparring, not to mention using live steel, was a bit much. The idea that it was a bit odd, and recalling his instructors never did so, didn’t come to him under after their break.
Other than that, he made his observations during their lessons, keeping them to himself for now. In good fitness, though not deliberately trained and conditioned for a knock-down, drag-out fight. With her bionics and mutations she matched or exceeded him in many ways, but he suspected that the mutations were also a mixed blessing in some aspects, though he could only guess as he was no expert on mutations.
The only thing he suspected was an actual concern how well she could handle herself in a sustained fight. He’d had a habit of limping his way back after some rather nasty fights ever since the cataclysm started. Ultimately his armor, and later bionics, were what kept him alive, just as Roxanne’s bionics and mutations made her far tougher than any normal human. The only advantage he held was in just how long he’d had to practice and train for prolonged, heavy combat, and the physical conditioning it entailed. Even before the cataclysm, and before his time in the military. Her training and conditioning was likewise extensive but focused on keeping the fight as short as possible, and it was reflected in what skills she had without her CQB bionic active.
“I think I have the hang of this! Wanna give it another go?”, asked an eager Roxanne. The pair had spent the day working on proper stance and counter attacks. The day was now fleeting fast; the orange glow of the afternoon sky was beginning to take hold. “I have to say, you have improved quite a bit in a few days. A few more sessions and you should be able to hold your own in case of emergency. Let’s do a final spar and then we will call it a day.”
Hector and Roxanne assumed their posts once more. Roxanne assumed her newly learned stance; while not perfect, this wasn't a formal dual and the undead didn't care. After both gave the ready signal, Hector charge once more, this time beginning with a shield bash. Roxanne adjusted her stance and sidestepped Hector. The momentum of charge made Hector take a few moments to stop and face Roxanne. By the time he did so, Roxanne had close the distance and was beginning to strike. Not to be bested, Hector shielded the attack; angular momentum being what saved it from the monomolecular sword’s wrath. Roxanne flinch by the recoil but attempted to do an upper slash once she recovered. This gave Hector enough time to drop his shield and duck. He then tripped Roxanne using his sword by doing a downward swipe. After she was on the ground, Hector placed his sword over Roxanne to signal the end of this round.
“A noticeable difference. Any old bandit would've eaten your sword. You are quite good at sneaking, but that is expected from an assassin. Hector helped Roxanne to her feet and gave her a pat on the back. “Good job,a few more sessions and you might even land a blow!”, Hector teased, “Let’s go and rest. We will resume this another time.” “Guess your D&D sessions paid off there knight. Thanks for the pointers. I am beat; let's see if Kathrine has made dinner yet.”, Roxanne responded while stretching, this had been more physically taxing than she imagined. She was used to quick engagements so this was all new. The knight nodded at the offer and picked up his materials along with his shield. To the commune area they went.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 18, 2017, 01:15:38 pm
Dee decided he wouldn't be up tomorrow. He'd stay up all night, and come up with some excuse not to go. Unfortunately, things never quiet worked that way on the farm. He had a strange feeling that something was lying on his bed, on top of the covers, next to him. "Oh god..." He mumbled. Dee opened his eyes, and found Mica there. Lying Supine with her legs crossed and her hands clasped on her stomach. "Doess Lizard know why teh sky isss blue?" She asked vacantly. "Mica I ca-" He started to lay out his planned excuses, but Mica rolled over onto her side and put her head up on one of her left hands. "My-ka doess-ent know either. We go on walk now." She rolled off his bed and that was when he noticed Lilith. "Lil, what are you-" Lilith put her foot on the base of Dee's bed and put her weight on it. He would have been catapulted out of the suddenly rising bed along with his blanket, pillow, and mattress, except that Lilith caught him and let the bed settle back with a crash. "Lithard get drethed." She insisted, "Lilith thaprone." Dee didn't think they'd need a chaperone, he had no intention of doing anything untoward with Mica. He didn't even want to go on the date. "Guys, seriously, I can't uh..." He conjured up a weak cough "*cough cough* aw, I'm sick, uh... *cough.*" Lilith eyeballed him, letting him know that while she wasn't the smartest, she certainly hadn't fallen off the cart yesterday. Mica missed his ploy entirely though. "Oh? Well, maybe fresh airs away from ro-buts make lizard feel better." When he was mostly dressed in his usual clothes, Mica grabbed him by the hand. Dee just sighed, and said dourly, "Shall we go then?"
Dervish stopped them on the way out. "Hold up Dee, I want to talk to you. Go on ahead Mica, I won't keep him long." She went on without Dee, but stopped not far away. It was far enough though, and Dervish whispered, "I hope you know what your getting into." Dee shook his head, "Dude, no I don't-" he started, but Dervish cutting him off. "I know this is some kind of post apocalyptic shit we are living in, but you know she's like sixteen right? How old are you? twenty-two? Twenty-four?" Dee looked at Mica, standing patiently not far off, watching. "Besides the ramifications of that though..." His face softened, "I'd tell you to wrap up, but the better advice would be to not try at all. She's mostly spider remember." That was a little too much for Dee, he pushed Dervish away from him, "Dude, stop. I've got no intention of..." Dervish winked, cutting off the rest of his argument. "Yeah, I don't think she intends either." Dervish's next statement rankled Dee a little, "She'll probably get bored of the whole thing in a week anyway." Dee gave him another shove and stomped after Mica.
The worst was yet to come for Dee though, despite all the fretting he'd done over the last day, he hadn't figured on what he would be forced to do next. Hector had given Mica a little advice too and while she had forgotten, Lilith hadn't. She gave Dee a shove in the direction of the barn where Catnip was working. "Hello Mica." She said, upon seeing her sister enter the shop with Dee in tow. "The blue looks really nice. You should thank Kat again. I think she's in the cook shack. Whats up Dee?" Dee shuffled his feet, not looking at Catnip. "I don't know." He mumbled, and that was true enough. Lilith and Mica had just brought him here. Hector, who had come to talk to Catnip about another training session, but had stuck around for this tapped Catnip on the shoulder. "I gave Mica a bit of advice, just some small thing. Part of the ritual." Catnip didn't know what he meant, ritual? Aloud, so everyone present could hear. "It is customary for a bo- man... to ask permission of a ladies next of kin to take her on a date. Catnip is Mica's only next of kin." The knight was grinning widely, clearly enjoying the show. "Oh." said Catnip, "You and Mica?" There was silence for a long moment, in that time both Dee and Mica became uncomfortable, while Catnip just watched and waited. Lilith gave Dee another of her "little" shoves, and he said reluctantly, "Catnip, can I... Do I really have to?" that last pointed at Hector, whose grin only widened into a smile. "Yeah." He said, "It's tradition." The way he said it was exaggerated, and Catnip caught on right away. She didn't really want to be in on Hectors little game, but she had the idea that while it would embarrass the hell out of Dee, it would probably make Mica happy. Besides, Mica wasn't looking at Dee to see what he said, she was looking at Catnip. "It's fine Dee," She said, deciding not to put him through anymore torture, "You can take Mica on a... date? A date." Mica let out a little squealing sound and snagged Dee's hand. The way she pulled on it, it was a surprise it didn't come off.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 18, 2017, 01:28:03 pm
Hector had, after the training session with Roxanne, stuck around to watch goings-on, finding the whole thing rather amusing. He knew Dervish would object rather strongly to all this, getting Catnip to make their date something more official. He himself had his doubts regarding Dervish's concerns though. It was rather evident to him that Dee was likely not that certain how to handle Mica's affection in the first place, while Mica seemed to simply be trying to sort through conflicting, unfamiliar emotions through the perspective of someone with no real experience socializing. At a bare minimum, everything he'd heard of the labs suggested that the closest thing to normalcy was their interactions with what they regarded as brothers and sisters, in numbers that would always dwindle with each little test.
Soon enough Hector decided to ask about something he had been planning to discuss with Dervish. "Sorry if this was a bit more spectacle than might be ideal. With that over though, I was going to ask you about something else. I figured either you, Roxanne, or maybe Quinn. You noticed any...well, anomalies regarding Kathrine and Lilith? Kath especially, to be honest."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 18, 2017, 02:09:17 pm
That night was a new experience for Roxanne. Ever since her need of sleep had diminished, she had spent most nights reading. She like to read but doing it every night for hours on end was beginning to seem like a chore to pass the time. She had considered asking Dee to hook her up on some video games but he was busy with some unknown project she wasn't in on and with Mica as of late. So in light of all this, she decided to take a walk around the farm.
Roxanne at one point had walked around the farm in her nightgown; It was comfortable and she didn't care about what other thought of her. That was before her augmentations and mutations. Her skin was metal in some places due to armor she had installed. This was the case mostly in her waist, belly, upper arms and thighs; places she now was very self conscious about. She now did care about what other thought of her, mostly notably Catnip, Kathrine and Hector; all for different reasons of course. Catnip was like the glue that held the farm, she was the reason many of be members got together, to help her in her request to build a grand train. She wanted to be on her good side for her skills and to be on the good side of the rest of the farm. Kathrine was the most innocent of the farm. Roxanne saw in her what humanity should've been and did not want the cataclysm to corrupt her. Hector was someone Roxanne trusted in more so than others. He had enough information to blackmail her but not only did he not do so but was supportive about it. She knew she could count on him for her selfish needs.
On this night, she sported her nightgown once more under the assumption everyone else was asleep. Even though she had worn it before openly if someone saw her in it now she would never live it down. It curved around her and she could feel the metal against the soft silk. The night was cool and quiet. She let out a deep breath and continue on her walk.
The she reached the armory and other’s quarters. All the lights were off and the armory’s door was locked. She wondered who locked and unlocked it since it was always open when she too items out. The room that once housed her followers drew her attention; it now sat empty and it made her reminisce in the short time they were here. Further up was Dee’s workshop. Lights were on she could not hear any noice. She sneaked past it just in case he was awake.
She pasted Quinn’s lab and clinic, lights on and some faint sounds. Roxanne chuckled and shook her head. Quinn had always been a night owl due to insomnia but was somehow also awake during the day when most needed. That might explain his peculiarities, Roxanne thought. She went by the barn that Catnip had occupied. It was silent as well but Roxanne dare not moved to close. Catnip and Kathrine had the advantage at night and would detect her easily if she was not careful. Flyod was also near by and she did not want to disturb him either.
Lastly she saw the impressive array of vehicles the farm had acquired. Hector’s mighty tank that had seen a bandit raid, Floyd’s steel horse, an impressive custom quad bike with a mounted machine gun. The helicopter the new person arrived in. Roxanne was no military gal but she new this was a very advanced military machine. Nathaniel had nearly squealed like a school girl when he saw it arrive. She laughed to herself at the thought and of Nathaniel himself on the way he carried himself, a sharp contrast to his partner.
Once she was done with her walk and talk with hector, she noticed the time, two more hours till sunrise and a few more until her arranged training session with Hector. She went back to her room and changed to her normal attire, doing her morning rituals a bit earlier than usual.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 18, 2017, 02:43:28 pm
Hector had found himself awake, losing track of time fairly late into the night after a less-than-reassuring conversation with Dervish. He didn't expect The Shifting to have such consequences, and it made him think about how Nathaniel acted around Lilith. It carried somewhat unnerving implications, but he brushed them off. He knew Kathrine was older than her appearance suggested, and Lilith must be as well. Even then, much like Dee and Mica, he doubted Nathaniel would be too forward with her, fearing how easily she could crush him even without intending to.
He opened the hatch and slipped out of the tank, to find to his surprise another awake as well. He often found himself up late tending to the tank back in the old days during his long journey towards Catnip's place when he first answered the call. While he usually tried to get to sleep right around midnight at the latest, old habits died hard. Even then he tended to sleep well even when late in doing so. He'd left mail, gauntlets, and helm back in his room, the better to more easily run a few routine checks on the tank, thus left in the simple tunic and other mundane clothes that normally completed the costume. Simple to make and repair, yet often modestly embellished by him, within the limit of his limited experience with tailoring.
"A surprise to see you up this late." he remarked. Even then he guessed it was common for her, an effect of her mutations making it possible to operate on less sleep.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 18, 2017, 02:50:05 pm
"Hector? What are you doing up this late?", Roxanne asked. "Can't leave your dear alone for too long can you?" Roxanne put her right hand on her hip, not yet aware of of what she was wearing while talking to the knight. "Gotta say, it's a little weird seeing you not wearing your armor, special occation?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 18, 2017, 02:56:27 pm
Hector shook his head at that. "Nervous habit of mine I guess. Well, started at I think around 10, good to distract myself from what all Dervish had to say." he remarked. He hadn't really mentioned much of it so far. "Lost track of time, rather easy to get wrapped up in work on this." he admitted. Easy for him at least, given how he took such care of the machine.
"Getting in there and adjusting some things are easier when you aren't catching the mail on everything anyway." he admitted. While he noticed her own attire, he didn't mention it, given he knew she had that habit at night as well. "Usually just leave it in the seat and put it back on when I'm done."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 18, 2017, 03:03:34 pm
Roxanne was never one to pass up gossip. As such, her ears twitched when she heard about dervish. This however embarrassed her, she hope the night had masked that; it was then she realized someone had seen her in her gown. She frantically tried to cover any metal that was showing while Hector talked. Once Hector finished his remark, her own embarrassment did not deter her from asking the details on a possible sccop. "Dervish you say? W- what did he say?". She had relaxed a little but was still crossing her arms to cover the metal in her upper arms.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 18, 2017, 03:06:47 pm
The two hear loud snoring coming from the helicopter.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 18, 2017, 03:09:24 pm
Hector noticed the way she seemed to cover herself up, looking her over curiously. "Not normal to be so nervous about being dressed like that, you alright?" he asked, unaware of her reason for being nervous. Cue an annoyed facepalm at the snoring that was practically loud enough to be mistaken for the helicopter's rotors starting up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 18, 2017, 03:13:56 pm
"It's fine, I am just...". Roxanne stopped and turned around when she heard he snore. She dreaded the thought she was beeinf watched during her walked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 18, 2017, 03:18:19 pm
Hector looked over in the direction of the helicopter, then looked around a bit to ensure no one else might be eavesdropping. "It's fine. I think. I swear, that kid could wake the dead like that, if they weren't already restless." he remarked.
"I'm guessing the way things have...changed?" he asked, before shaking his head. "If that's the concern, you needn't worry over it. Far as I'm concerned, you're still you, and still look fine, bionics or not, mutations or not."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 18, 2017, 03:27:02 pm
Roxanne activated her Bionic night vision to quickly scan the area as she didn't seem to trust her "natural" night vision. Her green eyes lighted up and then powered down. At Hector's last stament, she shock her head. "No, I am not the same... that much I know...I wionder how myself from this reality would of had reacted..." She had lowered her guard at this point, the metal visible in the moonlight. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up...I appreciate the guesture."
She could feel it, the force had returned, weaker than ever but still present. Roxanne's expression change to that of anticipation.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 18, 2017, 03:34:55 pm
Hector nodded at that. "We all change in some ways as circumstances demand it. Usually more a matter of outlook and actions than appearance, and I'd say how you've changed in the former ways are more important." he said. "Regardless, hope you can get some rest, if you haven't earlier. I should while there's still any night left. In the morning I'll explain about what all Dervish told me." he said, though the change in her expression worried him briefly. He could guess the nature of it, the things she sensed. It worried him at times, but only in the pragmatic sense that it seemed to be a force that demanded tribute.
So long as the innocent stay unharmed in pursuit of this, he thought.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 18, 2017, 03:39:32 pm
"Good night then Hector. I had my rest...a while back. Once again, thanks you for trying to lift my spirits, I'll try to keep it in mind." She went ahead and went to her room and have a wave at Hector once she reached the doorway. She hoped the force didn't make any demands, she hoped it only gave her the usual craving to do something in specific.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 18, 2017, 03:41:44 pm
Hector smiled at that, returning the wave as he soon made his way back to his room to get some much-needed rest, hoping that the attempt to cheer her up would help some.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 18, 2017, 08:50:45 pm
(continuing from chaosvolts last post on page 133)
"Come with me." Dervish eyed Lilith, but spoke to Hector. As they walked, Dervish spoke. "Stupid question, do you remember the shifting?" Hector did, how could he not? The shifting had been an event that displaced all of them. Many friends had been lost. Dervish stayed silent for a bit to allow Hector time to think and to close the distance between them and Quinns lab. Quinn was out, so Dervish let himself in. "Alright. I'm not gonna tell you to keep this quiet, especially since Lilith and Kathrine won't believe you. They don't seem to notice the changes themselves. It's a blind spot in their brains, and that's probably for the better. He handed some papers to Hector, printed before Medeina fried his medidoc. "Their DNA is the same. Not like Mica and Catnip who were made from the same genetic stock. I mean that, apart from their mutagenic differences, they are exactly the same. Down to the individual chromosome. Even twins have subtle differences, Kat and Lilith are the same person."
"How is that possible?" Hector asked, but Dervish sneered at him. "You've heard Nathans story of your death yes? I'm sure Roxanne has something she isn't telling either, and then their is Mica. Before the Shifting, Mica was dissected. I have no doubt that Catnip in this world escaped just like ours did, but I don't think she survived either." The thought that there was a dead Catnip somewhere, her bones long since stripped of recognizable features, bothered Hector more than the revelation of his own death. "Lilith is this world iterations Kathrine, and Kat... Just wandered in. Like a person suddenly breaking out of the tree line and onto a road they didn't know was there." They were both remembering how Kathrine had done just that when they first encountered her. "One of them shouldn't be alive, but they both are. The only world in which any of us could exist or remain sane, I theorize, is one in which there is no other like us. The two of them are just different enough because of their mutations, that they can both still exist. The changes in their fur and eyes, I guess, is the universe trying to cope with them. Trying to bring them into something like oneness. If one of them died, the changes would halt immediately, I think. I imagine it will begin to manifest in their behavior eventually as well. But maybe not. It's just a theory, but they also seem to be drawn to each other. You think? Anyway, I don't think it will effect their health in any way, but..." He paused, thinking over his next words. "I'm not experienced with this sort of thing. I'm a mutant biologist, not a space time physicist." Dervish took out a cigarette and thought about replacing the pack. If he smoked the last two in the pack, he'd have to bum some off Kathrine again and she was beginning to think of him as a "fag mooch." He offered Hector one of his last, and the knight refused. "I wonder," He continued, "Who she was before."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Helen Descended one curving ramp and then then the next, nimbly avoiding the red panels in the walk way. She smashed the face of a crusader with a lazy thrust of her hammer while Taji brought his sword across to unzip the belly of the monstrous humanoid pursuing the soldier. Serjei finished off the latter with a right hook that sent it sprawling and then falling from the walkway. "They're coming through in force, We've gotta get to the bottom before-" Helen started, but a large shadow passed by the walkway, moving impossibly fast. "GO GO GO!" Taji's eyes darted this way and that, unable to catch sight of the form that seemed to dart about the tower. Somewhere above, there came several screams and a loud noise like the boom of a strong wind. Crusaders and several small red creatures fell around or past them like deadly man sized hail. "What-" The shadow flitted by again, and the trio got a better look at it, and they wished they hadn't. It was something large and tumorous. Covered in tendrils and teeth and eyes. "Polyp." Helen explained simply. Almost as if it heard her, it suddenly stopped before them and let out a loud screech which turned immediately into a buffeting gale. "WE'RE TOO HIGH!" Taji shouted, "IT'LL BLAST US OFF THE WALKWAY!" He dug his sword between the bricks of the walkway and held on, Sergei grabbed the lip of the walkway to avoid being blown from their high perch. Helen was forced to grab ahold of Sergeis leg as the wind swept the feet from under her. As the gale sharpened into something like a hurricane, the mage hunter realized she had a difficult decision to make.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 18, 2017, 09:07:34 pm
Hector had, given what Dervish told him, found the answer rather disconcerting, but not unexpected. A surprise to be sure, if anything it shattered his expectations of how far back these divergences occurred. Possibly back to when they were born over 20 years ago, whereas his last known guess was no more than 12 years ago, with the report he heard at the refugee center. And that had surprised him in turn, as before this his earliest known divergence was about 7 or 8 years ago, when he refused to join the unit that his counterpart would die fighting in.
Helen gave something sounding slightly like an irritated growl as they held firm, having to practically drag herself behind a makeshift barricade that only barely held up under the gust, the others scrambling to follow suit. Hold firm and let it approach, she thought. All part of the standard drill. If its howl couldn't dislodge them, it'd give up and engage up close soon enough, then its many eyes could be exploited.
That made her realize something though. Reason you don't make use of outsiders, she thought, was that it prevented safely using your full range of tools. Even with secrecy cast aside, she was the one with the mask. She turned to them, the mask contorting its features and a dull red glow seeming to emanate from the eyeholes. "Avert your eyes!" she called out. She only hoped that if her words weren't lost in the gale, they'd take the sight of her mask activating as clear warning. As the creature flitted towards them, barricade crumbling apart, her hammer gave off a glow...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 18, 2017, 09:36:36 pm
Once in her altar, Roxanne went to figure out what the force was telling her to do this time. It was weird, there was no discernible cause this time. It didn't want tribute, it was too small a gap between rituals. It wasn't a specific task to accomplish, she had no desire to suddenly so something ahead of everything else. No, this was all different; it irritated Roxanne to no end.
Roxanne was not sure what this entity was, if any at all. Was it a god? A demon? Ghost? One of the many other worldly beings, both arcane or extra-dimensional? This force did not speak to her, it did not appear in her dreams, did not manifest in any way and all the ‘signs’ it gave her were paradoxical in nature. How dare this ‘being’ bully her this way? What did it have to gain? What did she had this thing needed?!
“One word...please...that is all I ask...”, Roxanne pleaded with the omnipresent force, “Please just speaks to me! Who are you?! What do you want from me?! Why me?!”
A breeze was summoned. This shouldn't have been possible; Roxanne was inside her room with boarded up windows. Nonetheless, she turned towards where the wind had blown; it was her altar, in the spot the wind flew towards the book titled “The Cleansing Flame” sat. Roxanne picked up the book and under it was once more the flyer that catnip had drawn many years ago, the force’s favorite method of physical interpretation it seemed. Roxanne new what to expect; she scanned the flyer and sure enough, more figures were present. They were all in catnip's drawing style, crude crayon scribbles that required interpretation to understand. On the back of all the carefully placed silhouettes was one in particular that caught Roxanne’s eye; it was what appeared to be a figure with either a cloak or a cape and glowing eyes, it wielded a hammer and it was surrounded by squiggly lines to symbolize it was glowing too.
Roxanne could not discern what the forced was trying to tell her. It was still there, so she wasn't done yet. While examining the flyer, she dropped the book and it opened up on the floor. Roxanne kneeled to pick it up when she noticed where it had opened; on the right page was a cloaked figure brandishing a glowing hammer and sporting a mask with glowing eyes. It posed in a triumphant manner while many others behind the figure raised swords to the sky. Roxanne finally understood the connection.
“Thank you...", whispered Roxanne as she looked towards the sky. This was the first time she thanked it rather than simply appeasing it or making demands to it. The force left and Roxanne was once more alone with her thoughts. She smiled and took her journal out and wrote, “God works in mysterious ways.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 18, 2017, 11:32:49 pm
'Da Baws' and his boys stop at Hap's, he looks over the mess and he asks around for what happened.
Damien, Sergei, Taji, and some new arrival, a woman with cloak and hammer, were mentioned as the ones that wiped the raid party out before they could get away. The woman was mentioned leading the attack, both her and Taji working through the group like a scythe through wheat.
Others backed the story up, while a few more superstitous survivors were somewhat unnerved by the events they recalled. Mention of a glowing hammer right before what seemed to be a flashbang going off, and talk of getting shot square in the chest only seeming to have angered her, and talk of a bloodstained shirt with no visible wound.
More importantly was word of this stranger, along with Sergei and Taji, having left later the next day.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 19, 2017, 01:18:37 am
The day was bright but cloudy, I fine day for a stroll through the woods. Unless you were Dee that is. Over the last hour and a half, he'd been launched out of bed, forced to dress, marched across the farm to humiliate himself to Catnip, and to top it all off he was walking around in the stupid forest, away from his not stupid robots, with the terrifying Mica. He had simply decided that the best thing he could do, was to just nod politely in what he judged to be the right places while she talked. Girls never noticed when you did that. The dumb ones anyway, and Mica certainly wasn't a genius. It seemed to work out fine. She talked sparingly, an unusual bit of behavior. Most girls talked endlessly about themselves or just sat around being moody after the first couple minutes gave them the revelation that the guy they were with just wasn't the person for them. Mica talked a little about herself, a lot about other people on the farm, and mostly about nature. She talked about the way the leaves moved around in the wind, the small sounds from the underbrush and how such things elicited a response from her. Not always a predatory one. She mentioned that she liked the sounds the birds made and the smell of rotting wood. Lilith heard more than Dee did, and she could tell the lizard wasn't paying any attention but restrained herself from swatting him upside the head. Such a blow, as softly as she tried to make it, would likely send his head flying from his body. Dee was brought out of his thoughts momentarily by the sensation of Mica's hand slipping into his. She surprisingly gentle, being careful not to jab him with those dire claws. He allowed his hand to be taken, as it wasn't that much of an issue. He'd wrapped a rope around her waist after all. If he could do that, he could stand a little low impact hand holding. It was like holding a resin model of a hand, cold, stiff, sharp. Not unpleasant though, it reminded him of the delicate experimental robot hands he'd had chance to handle before the cataclysm, and that got him thinking about robots again.
They broke from the tree line into an open barren field, awaiting the spring sowing. No one had been around to clear the harvest year after year, allowing it to run to riot and giving the fallow field the look of a large area where someone had scattered straw to soak up the moisture on a patch of mud. Mica surveyed it silently, she'd never seen the field in this state. It had been last summer, not long after the advent of her sanity, when she discovered the golden field. It had secretly been a favorite place of hers, and she was disappointed to find it in it's current state. "In warm time," She explained, "Field is bright and smell nice, and My-ka like to stretch out and nap in tall shiny grass. Grass will come back some day, when warm time comes back." She looked wistful, and for a moment Dee could see the hidden beauty he'd observed as Mica stood at the bottom of the river, pinned by stones. He noticed Lilith a ways off, at that moment though, she didn't seem to be paying any attention to them. Mica rubbed the skin behind her ear where the gradient of her skins transition from supple hide to stiff exoskeleton began. That line was easily apparent in profile, and Dee thought that from behind, she might look almost entirely insectile from a distance. A sudden interest took him, and he lifted her hand to his face. It was the hand Catnip had crushed in her teeth during their fight over Kathrine. The faded lines of the cracks etched across the back of that segment of chitin, almost completely molted out of existence. "Almost gone." Mice said, knowing what he was looking at but not why. The scars of those resilient parts of her would fade over time with each layer she cast off to make room for new keratinous layers, but the scars of her softer skin would remain. The mutant parts of her would always replace themselves, but the human would not. Spider or not, she would never be rid of what little humanity she had left. It was that thought that made Dee more uneasy than the fact of Mica's infatuation. What would happen if her feelings reached that deep and he just pushed them away? He shivered a little. "Is lizard cold?" Mica asked with concern. "My-ka not warm like Kat-rin or Lil-eth or Kat-nip, but she try." Dee tensed as Mica's arms wrapped around him, binding him. If anything, he felt colder except where Mica's torso touched him. Her arms were cold, but her heightened metabolism, even reduced as it was, made her uncomfortably warm. "Mica." He said, trying to get his hands between them to try and push her away, "Mica I don't-" There was a very brief moment where he felt something soft and pliable beneath one working hand between them, and he saw Mica's expression change from one of worry to one of surprise and embarrassment. For an instant, she seemed to push closer, and then she released her embrace and slapped him gently. It was like being struck with a handful of twigs. "Bold lizard!" She cried, crossing one pair of arms over her chest, her face turning a bright red that reminded him of the red silk clothes she'd come to him wearing the previous night. "Roks-ann says only bold lizards and bad spiders be so bray-son on first walk! Touchin My-ka's pill-ohs! Bold lizard!" She was indignant. "Mica, it was an accident, I'm-" She turned away and walked off. As she went, he heard her cry out again, "Bold lizard!" Dee could tell by the sound that Lilith had rejoined them and was struggling to stifle her laughter. He shot her a withering glance and went after Mica. "Mica! Come back, I didn't mean to!" Lilith erupted in laughter as Mica disappeared back through the trees, and Dee went after her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 19, 2017, 04:00:56 am
Helen started chanting something to herself, though it was lost in the winds and soon enough the thunder of her hammer. Both of them had taken the hint and looked away, but covering their ears only did so much to protect them from the sound. The effect on the flying polyp was more severe, the floating beast thrashing and flailing blindly, turning to present eyes that'd be facing away from her as it swooped in.
For her part she ducked the wild flailing as best as she could, hammer sinking deep into soft flesh, frequently shattering teeth and crushing eyes. But the creature seemed to practically flow around each strike, and soon enough it practically pulled her in, tendrils lashing out and gnawing at armored hands, feeling it tear into leather and scar the plates.
Taji was up already, calmly and efficiently slashing at the creature, keeping up the pressure and hacking through its amorphous form. He could only do so much though, as the thing was practically barreling Helen over in a blind rage, literally to some extent. Too close and literally wrapped up in combat to strike too deep without the risk of hitting her as well. Sergei likewise fumbled to try and get into a good position to fight back, but could see how hard it'd be to hit the thing and emerge unscratched, plus the others were in-between him and it on a narrow walkway.
She managed to draw her hammer back again, the thing still biting deep into her left arm, when another blow to one of its good eyes provoked another ear-splitting shriek, the thing pulling away and taking half the plates of her gauntlet with it. That was all Taji needed to cut deep, slicing clean through numerous eyes and the strange shifting flesh, foul-smelling ooze seeping from each wound. arts of it fell away, losing its defiance of gravity as chunks were severed, the resulting masses steadily evaporating. What remained soon bowled Taji over though, gnawing at his arm before Sergei ripped it away to toss it aside, the monster finished with a series of hammer blows from Helen, her chant having since deteriorated into an inarticulate cry of rage.
The three made a hasty scramble for the stairs, a few crusaders lingering. What they saw was a battered figure in gear they knew only by the imagery of their bishops, a sword-saint that seemed calm and resolute despite seemingly walking out of hell itself, and a mountain of a man. Knowing full well the chaos that the others tried and failed to quell, it only took the woman in the lead raising her hammer before they broke ranks and fled. One kneeled in frantic prayer, only for Taji's blade to slice open his throat.
Soon she stopped, grabbing a scroll she had on hand, wincing at the rather extensive gashes running along both arms, over much of her chest, and even some cuts along her legs. "Now...f-fuck that still stings. You two need to get clear. I want you both to promise one thing." she said, holding a scroll that gave off a strange red glow as the seal broke. "Far as anyone's concerned, mundane means accomplished what I'm about to do. Speak of glowing hammer, shifting mask, healing elixirs all you wish. But this stays between us." she said softly. They nodded at that, both uncertain what would happen as they ran back to get clear, Helen running a shorter distance away as she unrolled the scroll. "There is an end to all things..." she read aloud, and with the first passage her words were drowned out by an inhuman roar, a pulse resounding from where she stood, sending a shockwave rippling that blasted apart walkways above and crumpled the short pillars near the stairs. For a moment the stone of the walkways simply floated loose, but when the blast toppled the pillars everything overhead begin to crumble and fall to the earth, bit by bit. She turned to run and join them as the structure toppled, narrowly dodging falling bricks as the growing pile of rubble kicked up a massive cloud of dust.
"The remaining wards in that place are lost to this world, without this structure standing, without the energy bound in those pillars we passed by. A safety measure the original builders devised." she explained during their trip back. Sergei was driving this time, Taji and Helen both helping to bandage each other's injuries. By now the symbol of judgement, athame, and glyphs had all been dismantled, so she had both the essence to account for all she used, and payment for them both, as planned.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 19, 2017, 10:42:53 am
The AI watched as the ratlike muzzle came above the level of the desk top, whiskers twitching, nose sniffling. Seeking chocolate. Dee didn't have chocolate, but that didn't stop Catnip from looking for it. The rest of her head came up face to camera with Medeina, and the latter's lens focused. "Hello." Catnip said nervously. She had braved Dee's den of robots to find chocolate, she would face her fears in search of the sweet brown treat. There was a fizzling sound from the Laptop, a low squeal from the proxy, and several words appeared on the screen. "Hel-lo." Catnip read aloud. "Dee is not here. There is no... sho-cho-chok-lat here ee-thur." Medeina knew exactly what she was looking for of course. Dee had explained that she rarely left the barn except for the time she needed to take her twice daily water wasting showers, to go eat with everyone else, to seek someone out for an important question, or to look for chocolate. There was no shower in Dee's workshop, and it wasn't dinner time. "Why don't you talk robut? Dee says you can talk." Some more words appeared and again Catnip read them aloud. "Spee-kur is broken. Dee has not re-placed it." Catnip scratched her head at that. Wiring a speaker was no problem, even for someone like her who only dabbled in electrics. Kathrine had proved to be proficient though. Catnip discovered that Kat had a knack with electronic devices. She did better than Catnip anyways. "I know," She said, "I will bring Kathrine and she will see if she can get it all worked out." The AI watched her go, knowing that she would be back fairly soon. She wondered if Dee would mind the intrusion.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 19, 2017, 01:20:29 pm
Roxanne had to find answers, the force was pushing her in one direction but it seems this time it was giving her freedom of choice. This was more desirable than the methods it used previously and she figured that is she solved it’s riddle, or whatever it was, it would be less intrusive in the future. With that much known to her, she needed to find out more about the one topic that made both Roxanne and Victor uncomfortable to talk about, the cleansing flame; and who better to talk to about it than the one person who had experience with it first hand, Victor.
During their usual morning chat, Victor noticed Roxanne fidget a bit and had a face of distraught. "Hey, Roxanne, you alright?" Roxanne stopped fidgeting and look at Victor. "Can I ask you something?" Victor gave her a worried looked. "Sure… I don’t understand the theatrics but go ahead." Roxanne gave Victor a faint smiled and reach under the bench they were on and grabbed the book titled “The Cleansing Flame”. She opened the book to the page where the figure with the hammer was; on top words that roughly translated to “Mage Hunter” were written in latin.
"Oh…are you sure about this? I mean if you…", Victor said before being interrupted mid sentence.
"Did she know about it?", asked Roxanne.
"Sorry, who is she?"
"You know…the real Roxanne, the one I am masquerading as…"
"Don’t say that, you are as…" Roxanne interrupted once more by turning her head away.
"Stop… just answer the question."
"Yes…she knew…"
"Then I should be able to handle it as well."
It wasn’t the subject itself that bothered both of them, it was where it would inevitably lead. After a few moments of silence Victor nodded. "Very well. Where do we start?"
"Tell me about who they are?"
"As the book indicates, these were mage hunters. They were to the cleansing flame what acquisitionists were to the order. Many a hitman, acquisitionist and even expanders were vanquished by them. Luckily, they never picked up on the fact of who we were, they just saw each incident as an individual dwelling where they shouldn’t. When one individual acquired too much attention they would show up and seize any arcane knowledge or artifacts they could find, in turn they would turn them into fuel for their own weapons and tools …how hypocritical… None of our members would willingly give up their stuff so it would end in bloodshed. As a matter of fact, the hitman division was started as a way to combat these monsters. Adopting the best the modern world had to offer, we manage to stay relatively save and eventually, even strike back."
"Strike back?"
"Yes, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, acquisitionist were armed like paramilitary units and were able to counter many of the arcane effects of the cleansing flame. We were able to raid them and acquire many artifacts back from them."
Roxanne paused for a moment and looked at the book. She saw many particular pieces of gear. She had read on them after the force made the book open in that page. Roxanne continue with her questions…
"You said I-her acquired your current sword? "
"Yes, you acquired it in your final raid before the cataclysm. This blade is what caused the schism Roxanne. It was made by the group that eventually became the order, it is unholy by nature…and the reason I am still alive…”
"…Victor…what happened that night…I know you are keeping things from me. I want the truth Victor. I can handle it…"
"…Nothing gest past you does it? Very well…I am sorry I hid stuff from you. As penance I will relay you the events of that night…" Victor took a deep breath before he began.
"Shortly after the cataclysm began. You and I gathered what we could carried and headed out. We lived a nomad life style clearing building after building. Food came easy and things like raiders hadn’t established themselves. Eventually we found the temple.
The upper floor was fairly normal as you saw. But the lower floor was a maze, corridors and rooms for as far as the eye could see. You and I spend a long time there surveying. It was full of arcane artifacts and books and lots of resources like water and food. Best of all, we had it all for ourselves. Truth is, we were free to go at any time but we choose to stay. Out there was the ruin of mankind but here we could rebuild, so we stayed. We had it made, it was just a matter of going out once in a while to find food and maybe recruit some survivors in the long run, we could’ve rebuild…but then it happened…
One day you decided to explore a bit. It was not big deal, we had secured all of the underground but we had yet to catalog what we had. Some time passed and I heard it, a long bang. I went outside and I realized things were out of hand…Many arcane beings littered the hallways. I activated my sword and hacked away; most of them were downed in one hit but prolonged use of the sword takes its toll…it is embowed with dark energy… The bangs continued, I heard footsteps and then shouts but I could do nothing since I myself was fighting off the horde of awaken beats. It all happened fast too so forgive me if I do not recall all the details. Anyways, I managed to reach a specific corridor and as soon as I turned the corner I was blinded briefly by a loud flash and defended by a loud bang. It was the dark influence of my sword that allowed me to recover and make me see it. A figure like the one in the book stood a couple dozen yards away from me, its mask’s eyes glowing. Despite the fact that mask blinds you, I knew they could see me, but they ignored me, the onslaught of monsters was too much for them and they fled. I took care of the remanding monsters in the corridor and then I found you…you know…defeated… "
At this point Victor started to choke up a bit and Roxanne told him to stop if he didn’t want to continue any further. "I am fine, don’t worry… Anyway… after that, I left the place…I could not come to terms to what had happened so I abandoned you…I had placed you in one of the rooms and casted a spell of preservation, basic necromancy spell so raised corpse don’t rot, in lapse of sanity but I was convinced this wasn’t real… I left the place and for three days I wandered and then I heard your broadcast…I convinced myself what had happened was just an illusion and that in actuality I had spent my time alone as a nomad… you can fill I the rest…"
Victor lowered his head after he was done. Roxanne did not say anything in return. She had been defeated by a member of the cleansing flame…was this what the force was warning her about? Was it trying to prevent her from suffering the same fate? Was this a lesson to learn from her mistake? She had answers now, not once she had hoped for but answered nonetheless. She knew why Victor had lied, he used her as much as she used him. He as a crutch to cling to a world he had lost and she to understand what was going on. Neither of them broke the silence, Victor simply got up eventually and picked up the cup he had brought and left. Roxanne stayed sat down for a while longer before taking out her journal and writing things down.
The cleansing flame had always just been the other, but knowing what they had done made her understand what the force was telling her. They were trouble, like god’s army, but unlike them, they had managed do get the best of her, the version of her the belonged in this world; she was just and impostor here but she be damned if history would repeat itself. If the force was warning her about another encounter, she would be ready.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 19, 2017, 01:42:44 pm
Helen awoke with a start. They'd made it back to the bar last night, all three a bit worse for wear but in one piece. She recalled abstaining from the use of her cloak, given how she fighting was over by then and she had no more potion to dull the pain that its use would bring. She saw her arms and several scrapes elsewhere had been tended to. Still leaving a dull pain, but enough she could resume travel later in the day or tomorrow.
She briefly recalled what woke her up. That dream again, something that seemed to strike every few days for the past month. A small group assaulting a location known to hold dangerous items being gathered by unknown people. Something going wrong, some anomaly provoked by one such item activating on its own. Monsters, and an enemy responsible for the gathered items. Three of her trusted comrades died to the monsters unleashed, and two died to a sister led astray as they once called those of her order. She remembered how shaken she was afterward, how it affected her actions in the years since. The first time she could recall feeling remorse over doing what was simply her mission.
She also recalled the reason why she pieced together the nature of the place they raided, and why she never told a word of it to her comrades. Most of the assault element she led that day, and indeed most of The Cleansing Flame, assumed their offshoot group succumbed to the consequences of meddling with the arcane. Every so often they saw signs of an organized force that operated unlike the groups they knew about. The founding members of The Cleansing Flame, along with their sons and daughters, knew their history and knew the signs of the "brethren led astray" when they saw them. In the old days her rank was, among others common to the organization as a whole, Thane of Odin's Oath, by right of being the daughter of one such member of their founding groups, and trained to fulfill his role. She suspected the woman they fought was the first such member of The Order she'd encountered, and it made her realize how far both groups had fallen. It was no wicked Hassasshin they put down, just a woman roughly her age and trained only as a mere scout and petty thief, despite being skilled in the arcane.
She set aside her belongings, discarding what was left of her old shirt. To her surprise and embarrassment, one of the others had brought her another simple button-up shirt in her size, simply set on the table nearby. She also examined the tears in her pants and found they at least were salvageable, and her cloak could be repaired too. Her gauntlets however were a mess. She stripped what was left of the plates from them, as yet more raw materials for replacement scales to repair her cloak, left with a hard shell of thick leather, removing the tattered remains of gauntlet's more pliable fingers, rendering them simple demi-gauntlets.
She wondered if the one they left was still alive. Or worse, others of The Order. She didn't know if she could bring herself to kill another of them, but she feared the next she might encounter might not hesitate...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 19, 2017, 02:44:58 pm
After giving all that had happened recently, she knew things were about to get serious. She had already faced death once so if she had to do it again, she might as well live a little! Roxanne went to her personal locker to pull a bottle of wine she kept ‘just in case’, however, it was nowhere to be found. She shrugged and went towards the commune area where all the food was kept. She looked around and found a bottle of whiskey and smiled.
A few moments later, you could find Roxanne downing the bottle of whiskey on the table by the bulletin board. She didn't like the taste, it burned her throat and it went straight to her head but worse case scenario she would just flush it all down with her blood flister cbm. She was told this was an acquired taste and she had no experience with alcohol, she was not aware of the commonly spread wisdom of the breeze making one more drunk.
On the table, a checklist was place titled, “Bucket list”. Roxanne had intended to keep this under rag only coming here see if anybody would join her on a drunken ramble, one of list’s bullet points. Most of the list consisted of things frat boys would brag about to each other and things Roxanne had never experienced and thus this list. It was on the table since a now tipsy Roxanne placed it there to check off the first point and forgot to put it back in her pocket. It read:
-Get drunk socially -Throw a party -Avenge Delora’s and my library’s honor -Set a highscore in a videogame -Blow up a gas station -Confess my feelings -Bake a cake -Win an argument against Quinn -Beat Hector in a duel -Secure the infuser and let Dervish know -Have small talk with one of god's army's soldiers -Get the force to talk to me -Prove to catnip my god is better than hers -Convince Kathrine that being mean if fine sometime -“Experiment” -Find waldo -Organize a rave -Do some hallucinogens -Sanction a duel between catnip and delora -Get Victor a girlfriend.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 19, 2017, 02:52:13 pm
Hector had, during this time, eventually decided to make his way in the communal area as well, having procured a bottle of vodka that Sergei had given him back during their visit to the bar. "Been alright lately?" he asked, a bit concerned, catching a brief glimpse of that light, though not getting a good look at it. He figured he was just going to go put it away after having it unopened in his room all this time, when she wound up giving him ideas. Why not, he figured. Recent events had him concerned and the others often said he should take time off from scouting, practicing, upkeep of his gear and maintaining the tank to take a good break.
It wasn't look though before he went along with it, a rare bit of drinking more heavily than he'd done in years. With him it didn't take much even with his considerable constitution. "So er...what w-was that list anyway? Looked like a lisht of vows, only longer. Either that or a grocery list." he said, words slurred momentarily, sitting next to her for the moment. He was surprised how much of the whiskey and vodka the two had gone through, the whiskey especially given Roxanne practically chugged it all.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 19, 2017, 03:01:29 pm
"wat list? I dunno wat yu are talkin about Hect.", a now drunk Roxanne managed to say. She was not aware her list was out in the open. "You know, it's a reeeal purdy day right now. Almost as purdy as something else..." Roxnane took another swigg from her bottle. Her blood reader adviced her to filter the alcohol but she dismissed it, her pragmatism flew out the window when drunk and was replaced with hedonism it seemed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 19, 2017, 03:05:32 pm
"This one?" he remarked, leaning in a bit and pointing to the paper on the table. "Oh hey, I shee getting K-Kathrine to understand when to be mean ish on your list too." he said, smiling a bit as he finished another glass of vodka. "And...purdy? What ish? Besides, well..." he trailed off, looking away with a slight blush, hard to tell given the redness of his face already thanks to having downed close to half the bottle.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 19, 2017, 03:18:16 pm
"Ah...that list...I dunno, things I wanna do I guess?", her drunken state made her unable to care beyond the immediate situation. She noticed hector's reaction and she grinned. "Dis ting riiiight here...", Roxanne exclaimed while she leaned in to poke hector in the cheek once. "You got a *hiccup* a list too hector?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 19, 2017, 03:23:27 pm
He found himself smiling a bit at that, looking back to her. "Mooostly just problems to solve, but." he said, looking away a bit. "I mean you're shtill the beautiful one here. Hard as it ish to admiiit it, I, well..." he stammered a bit, that alcohol at least making him loosen up a bit, though he was still flustered. "I suppoooose confessing some things is also on that list?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 19, 2017, 03:33:32 pm
Roxanne nodded at the first statement and blushed at the second. "You just saying that cuz you drunk! Talk to me when we are sober and maybe we can arrange some *hic* something."
At the third statement Roxanne skimmed the list, only being able to understand it due to her augmented and mutated brain. "Huh? I guess so... must be something impoooortant if it was here." Roxanne gave another swig if the bottle and her filter bionic protested in response; she glared at her arm and continued. "I am too drunk to remeber...shooooory...". Roxanne looked down as if feeling guilty.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 19, 2017, 03:38:46 pm
Hector just blushed more at that. "My earlier point shtill *hic* stands." he said, only to smile some. "I suppose confessing something of my own w-would also be shilly this drunk, hmm?" he teased. "There's, well...no one else I'd trust to the extent I trusht you. In more ways than jusht as a comrade-in-harms. Er, arms." he remarked.
Nathaniel for his part was watching from a bit farther away, smirking a bit as he took a sip of some mead Hector somehow found and brought over in an earlier raid. Just kiss already, he thought.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 19, 2017, 03:48:35 pm
"They shay that children and drunks say the truth...does that make drunk kath a super no-liar?" Roxanne pondered that for a bit but then realized she didn't know where she was going with this. Roxanne commented on he last remark, "I thrust you too k-knight! Why do you think I am even the telling you dish? Maybe the alcohol, I dunno..." The bionic blood filter was roaring at this point and it was driving Roxanne mad. "Fiiiiiine!", Roxanne shouted as the filter did it's job with the alcohol. She was too drunk for it to subsided until a few hours later but her hangover would hit sonner. "Shooo knight, anything you wanna do right now? I am booooored!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 19, 2017, 03:55:09 pm
The knight smiled some at that, realizing that he'd likely still be out of it for a while, and would be feeling it in the morning he suspected, as he got ideas. "Then, if thish counts as a confession..." he said, carefully setting a hand on her shoulder. "More than just trust, I think, I...l-" he stammered out, leaning in a bit. The better to steal a kiss rather than drunkenly fumble with words, only to end up looking away nervously afterward. He partly hoped he wouldn't regret that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 19, 2017, 04:04:17 pm
Roxanne had started to lean in following the knight's motions. She was blushing from what was happening but then Hector looked away. The alcohol was now thinking for her so she placed her hand on the knights cheek and turned his head towards hers and gave him a smile. "Come on, don't be shy, I don't bite, yet..." She leaned foward some more, pushed him foward by his shirt with her free hand and closed her eyes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 19, 2017, 04:11:47 pm
Hector ended up blushing again as well at that, uncertain yet deciding to go along with it, her remark encouraging him to act on that, to pull her into a kiss, hands carefully settling at her sides. While he was careful initially, he felt that nervousness evaporate as she seemed to act on it as well, aside from the alcohol making him less reserved about doing so, holding her close.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 19, 2017, 04:21:25 pm
Roxanne's alcohol driven bravery had taken her this far. The act itself lasted a about 10 seconds at which both of them were too embarrassed to continue. This had jogged Roxanne's memory. So that's what the list ment..., Roxanne uttered afterwards. She slowly checked the box a the while not daring to look the knight in the eyes. A few ackward moments ensued before Roxanne spoke up, "So... that happened...what now?..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 19, 2017, 04:26:07 pm
Hector found himself blushing more at that, looking away shyly. "Maybe best to decide when we're sober how far s-such things should go." he said with a blush. "Or at leasht not out here." he said, looking around nervously. "Regardless, anything I the lisht I can help with, or whatever you wish." he said, awkward knight is awkward.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 19, 2017, 04:39:22 pm
Roxanne nodded in agreement and then smiled before she commented herself, "This is gonna be weiiiird later on. The chivalrous knight has a heart ~" , Roxanne tease while giving a light shove to the knight. "You know where you can find me, I'll leave the door unlocked.", Roxanne told Hector with a wink. She then stood up and streached. "Anyways, gotta go ask around for how to best deal with a hangover, I can't drink too gud...until next time." Roxanne waved as she strolled out of the outside bench, empty bottle in hand, towards the food stash.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 19, 2017, 04:43:35 pm
Hector nodded at that, only to smile some at that. "And the fearsome assassin has her own soft side." he teased right back, only to blush some. "You know my usual advice, I'd hope. Water helps with the headache and dry mouth." he suggested before she walked off, returning that wave. For now he'd go back to his room to put that vodka away, suspecting he was going to regret at least part of that in the morning.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 20, 2017, 12:30:17 am
Taji sharpens his katana with a whetstone idly while inside his room. Sergei wipes his hands clean with a wet rag, then he re-wraps his hands with boxing tape. There's a knock on Helen's door, a man with one arm stands outside of her room with a package wrapped in brown paper and twine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 20, 2017, 12:49:05 am
Helen soon was fumbling to put on he new shirt and button it up, intending to check that the other two were still okay after the night's events, mildly annoyed that someone left the replacement garment unannounced, but glad to have that nonetheless as she answered the door. She recognized him, smiling some. "Greetings. Hope you and the others have been well." she said, surprised at the parcel but accepting it politely, likely uncertain how much The Boss and his men had heard since then.
Elsewhere at the farm Hector had slept heavily as usual, waking early and was soon enough at work at the forge in Catnip's workshop. Along with one of a few books he borrowed to examine for reference, by now grinding an edge into a piece roughly 2 feet long, parts for a simple handle set aside, wood along with a large wooden mimicry of the blade having just been stained.
For the katar however, he intended to give it to her after their sparring, as a gift. Along with taking her up on her offer to pay her a visit later on. With chisels in hand he'd begin the task of carefully engraving scrollwork into the stout sides of the blade, ornate swirling patterns that made the plain weapon more ornate, complimenting the small bits of gold inlaid into the frame of the handle, bartered from Catnip with some scavenged chocolate and an early morning hour or two of assistance with her grand project. When he explained his idea of a surprise gift for Roxanne, that likewise made her more willing to go along with it, every so often watching Hector in the workshop and seeing the results of his effort.
The wooden katar he made was simple, a practice weapon along with a roughly made wooden arming sword he worked on while the blade was tempering. Fit for their lessons, lest he worry Roxanne like last time. He suspected such would make her more confident. The wooden katar he'd have available for her if she felt comfortable using it, but he suspected her bionic blade would remain her weapon of choice. Still, he'd give the proper katar it to her as a gift first and foremost, and as a practical backup to her blade second, a sheath made with Catnip's help that likewise had an ornate swirling design raised into the metal that covered the throat of the wood and leather scabbard.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 20, 2017, 01:04:58 am
Mica was confused. She liked Dee, she was certain of that, but when he'd accidentally touched her she'd felt an instant of an unusual warmth which had been shut down before she could understand what it was by a sense of... wrongness. She thought back on what that stranger in Roxannes house had told her, and she realized that she'd told Dee how she thought she felt, and hadn't really waited to see if he felt the same. Over the course of their walk, he'd mostly ignored her. She realized that now, her shock giving her a distinct clarity of the days events leading up to it. He'd ignored her, and she'd ended up mostly talking to herself. She'd taken his hand sure, and he'd let it be taken. After that, he'd paid attention to her, but why? A little voice deep inside her, sounding a little like herself except without her odd speech, whispered to her. "You're taking it too fast Mica. You like him, but can you say for certain that you love him? And how does he feel? Can you say for certain that he even likes you?" That little voice worried Mica, for she knew it was the voice of her self doubt. That little voice that came out after she made some impulsive decision. It had come out several times after she'd followed the robot man away from the bar and many times after she ate what he left behind. Mica walked on, thinking, until she happened on a road. Across from her was a small parking lot and a large sign that said "Now entering Greenswallow state park" Which she gazed at though she couldn't read it. She crossed to the parking lot, still moving like a lady and not an animal. It made her legs ache walking around like that and the spring sun warmed her a little, so she found a nice bench to sit and think at while she soaked in the days gentle rays. Somewhere in the distance but closing in slowly, was the sound of small engines.
Dee and Lilith attempted to trace Mica's course through the woods, but despite Lilith's considerable ability as a tracker they seemed to be having trouble. It was a very simple problem really; Mica had bathed in preparation for her date. Not a particularly odorous creature, she'd simply tried to get the dirt and dried viscera out of the creases in her exoskeleton and had done so with some success. She hadn't enjoyed the shower of course, but put up with it. For Dee. Lilith took a deep drag of the air close to an odd looking nearly human foot print, and pointed to the west. Since allowing Mica to take his hand, he'd felt something in himself give a little. Some little bit of resilience to the idea of Mica. He realized that he'd been not just a jerk, but a downright ass to her while she'd been speaking of her interests and trying to pry at him to get him to talk about himself. "Maybe she deserved a chance." He thought. They'd tracked Mica as best they could for awhile, until their came to Lilith's ears, and a moment later Dee's, the sound of Motorcycle engines to the north west and the unmistakable wooping of Hell's raiders on the move. "Mica!" Dee shouted, breaking into a sprint only to be scooped up by the far faster Lilith that would take them to the road and the deserted battleground of the empty parking lot beyond it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 20, 2017, 02:25:16 pm
Kathrine looks down at the speaker lying on the table in front of her. She opens her mouth as if to say something, then sighs. "Mistress, I don't... I don't know how to fix these..." Her entire face is red, and she's staring at the floor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 20, 2017, 02:35:22 pm
"That's ok!" Said Catnip, giving Kathrine a brief squeeze, "We can figure it out together." Catnip wondered how long it would take. After a few hours trying to figure it out while trying to avoid damaging the AI or it's proxy, the two of them gave up. "It's ok Kathrine. Sorry ro-but, but you'll have to wait until Dee comes back." She said. Text appeared again on the screen, and Catnip once again read aloud. "It is fine. I have col-eck-ted lots of da-ta." She didn't know what that meant, but it must be good. Maybe? She'd leave it for now and see if Dee noticed that some of his tools and things had been moved around.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 20, 2017, 04:48:54 pm
"Sandell thanks ya for helpin' out hap's." The casino man looks at Helen with a somewhat bored expression on his face. "Arrivederci, ma'am." He nods his head towards Helen and walks away.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 20, 2017, 04:56:56 pm
Existence was pain, it was hard to even think. Roxanne’s head hurt, she felt nausea and didn’t want to stand up. All this she endured for a few hours but it was diminished due to her filtering the alcohol with her filter bionic. Now she felt better and she could think clearly again and in doing so, she recalled the events of her interaction with Hector..
Roxanne went through the whole scene as best she could; her augmented bionic memory preserved the events well enough. She blushed at hector finding his list, their drunken banter and flirting. When she recalled the kiss, she was out of it. She had gone there, it was done, no going back now. She had developed feelings for the knight but didn’t know he felt the same way. She was glad, relieved but also worried; would this ruin their friendship? Would it even work? That didn’t mattered at this point She needed to talk to him. She remembered they both agreed to talk it over once they both sober up. Guess this was as best as time as any, putting it off would just make things more awkward between the two. There was the rest of the farm to worry about too, she wondered what banter would come their way.
After a brief thought, Roxanne grabbed her laptop and logged into the farm chat, she hoped Hector was there to respond.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 20, 2017, 05:05:58 pm
Helen gave a polite nod at that. "Thank you, then." she answered, soon enough getting ready for her next task. Now it was largely just a matter of checking on Sergei and Taji, before planning her next steps. She intended to arrange for another, more long-term contract to help take on another such structure that would be potentially more difficult. But, she had time to plan...
Hector meanwhile was in his room, having set aside the tunic and leather he'd been working at the forge in, in favor of a more mundane dress shirt and pants, an odd appearance given how seeing him dressed up in mail or those modestly-embellished tunics was the norm for him by now. He took the item he'd forged, in its scabbard, and headed over to the farmhouse to knock on the door to Roxanne's room. Having her request over the laptop's network that he visit her this early surprised him, and he hoped that he wouldn't regret yesterday's events. The hangover at least had subsided with plenty of water, a few aspirins, and the time he'd been awake earlier at work both assisting Catnip and with his own little project.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 20, 2017, 05:15:53 pm
Roxanne heard the knock on the door and checked her hair before opening it. She in turn opted to wear one of her more causal dresses; a red cotton dress meant to be worn on mild climate and took of all her usual jewelry. "Hey, Hector, thanks for coming in such short notice… Care to take a seat?" She started to hum a tune while she entered her room and took a sit herself, staring at the knight in the doorway.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 20, 2017, 05:24:45 pm
Hector smiled some as she answered the door, setting aside the gift for now. An ornate leather-covered scabbard with metal decorations, the framework of the weapon's handle having inlaid golden decorations running along the edges, with the most elaborate part of the katar's ornamentation still hidden with it being sheathed.
"I had some time this morning to work on this, in case it may be of use in the future. For now though, what is it you wished to talk about? I, er...s-sorry about getting so carried away yesterday, though." he said, uncertain how to handle this.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 20, 2017, 05:35:10 pm
Roxanne turned around to the side at the mention of yesterdays effects. "It's fine, it't not like I stopped you or didn't provoke you myself..." She looked at the floor momentarly when she uttered a barely audidle bit, "or like I didn't want it to go further..." At the last statment she blushed and shock her head. "Anyways..I wanted to talk with you about yesterday...things just sort of happened and I wanted to see what is real...come, take seat…" Roxanne motion him to sit after she was done.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 20, 2017, 05:43:09 pm
Hector nodded at that, looking away with a blush as she said that, having a seat as well. Though her response only further flustered him. "Was likely best to wait until we both sobered up a bit though, was afraid that I was taking it too far." he said.
"Regardless, it was tempting, and, well..." he said, uncertain how to handle this. "However, whether as a friend and comrade-in-arms, or anything greater than that, whatever it is you wish..." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 20, 2017, 05:56:09 pm
Roxanne smiled at Hector’s remarks. Despite herself feeling the same, she found the knight being so flustered and shy amusing. Has she not been the target, this would’ve ended in endless banter from her. "That’s the point Hector...what are we? Are we friends? Simply partners in the battlefield? I don’t know..." Roxanne grabbed Hector’s hands and clasped them together with her own. "And do we want to be more? Do you Hector? Wanna give it a shot?" Roxanne leaned forward pulling Hector along with her.
Self-doubt came over her and she let go of his hands pushing away. "I am sorry Hector… I don’t know what has gotten over me. This is all new to me, I don’t know what to do." She looked into Hector’s eyes with her own ever-shifting green eyes and awaited his response.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 20, 2017, 06:09:41 pm
Hector seemed to find that shyness easier to deal with thanks to her response, encouraging him to more freely admit his feelings. "As much as I'd trust you with, even more than as comrades...I do. If you wish it as well, then so be it." he said softly, holding her hands as she leaned in. "I would fight and die for you if needed, or more..."
When she reacted with doubt, he decided this time to act on his feelings, his own dark green eyes looking into hers, deciding to carefully pull her into a kiss. Nervous as he'd been beforehand, he had his own attraction to her, feelings he wasn't certain how to handle. Maybe it was from all this time when the only relationships he had were friends or comrades, not having dealt with anything like this in quite some time, that it left him hesitant at first, and afraid of alienating someone he saw as a close friend by going too far. Now though, he was more aware of what he felt for her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 20, 2017, 06:27:27 pm
Roxanne was surprised by Hector’s forwardness as they locked lips; she initially had an expression of shock but soon gave in and embraced him, placing her arms around him and closing her eyes.. After about a minute she stopped and spoke to him with a smile. "Didn’t know you had it in you Hector, I too wish to be your consort oh knight in shiny armor. Sweep me off my feet why don’t you, what else do you have in store inside that iron heart of yours?" She poked hector in the chest at the last remark and resumed kissing the knight as she fully embraced him and pushed herself into him. She reached for his own hand and placed it on her hip by pure instinct, rationale out the window once more.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 20, 2017, 06:46:36 pm
Hector felt that unease evaporate entirely, emboldened by the embrace, holding her close. "Then I am your knight, my wonderful one." he said, that hand giving a light squeeze in response to her guiding his hand, his response interrupted by another kiss, his other hand moving for the shoulder strap of her dress...
Nathaniel smirked a bit, having before noticed Hector heading over to the farmhouse and having noticed the brief discussion in the network's chat, surprised at the amount of time it'd been since he saw Hector around. He shrugged his suspicions off, resuming his work in checking on the tank himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 20, 2017, 07:04:10 pm
It was 9:45 am Friday and Roxanne was at the doorstep of the refugee center. She claimed that dates were not important to her but punctuality was something she took pride in. She exhaled deeply, a lot had happened in the last week and she didn't want to deal with more BS, she put all of it aside and went inside; she would forget everything else and get this done with. Once inside, the people around her stopped what they were doing and looked at her. Hands were put on top of holsters, sheaths and scabbards; whisperers were utter in the direction of her and eyes monitored here every move. “Roxanne Luna?”, the voice of the merchant behind the glass wall asked. “In the flesh!”, responded Roxanne. The merchant frowned at that but continued anyway. “You are being waited at by the room to your left. Something about nukes? I hope for your own good this isn't what it looks like…” Roxanne gave a sly grin and walked towards the place she was asked to go leaving the last statement unanswered.
The room was small and it had been devoid of furniture. Only a table, three chairs and a ceiling light were in the room. Apart from herself, the room’s inhabitants were a man sitting across from the chair she would occupy and standing besides him was an armed guard. Roxanne knew this tactic all too well. Subtle intimidation via environment. She had been in both ends of this sorts of stuff before. At least she now knew the intent of the center.
“Ms. Luna, nice to see you were able to meet us today; I believe this is the first time we meet in person? My name is crow, would you like to take a seat?”, said the man who was seated. Roxanne recognized this voice. It was the man who contacted her. She gave a slight mocking bow and sat down. She had gone to the interview wearing a black silk dress with adorning jewelry, as if to mock old royalty; the center wasn't the only one with an agenda that day. The man standing up raised an eyebrow while crow did not show any reaction, after dealing with Roxanne for a while over the farm chat her tricks didn't faze him much.
“I was under the impression you were going to bring company.”, stated crow.
“Nah, this is between tbe center and I. I don’t want anyone else involved in such matters when they had no involvement.”, Roxanne responded. She crossed her legs and sat back, she intended to send the message across their intimidation was not working. “However, I wouldn't want this seat you guys prepared to go to waste. Why don't you sit down big guy?”. Roxanne gave a sultry smile to the guard and motioned him an invitation to sit down. The guard simply stared with no reaction, a professional in his own right.
“No involvement? Alright, now that introductions and formalities are out of the way. Let's get down to business. First, Allow me to fully brief you on the situation.”. Crown handed Roxanne a series of documents detailing the events of the night of he missile launch. Pictures of the blast were scattered here and there as well as satellite imaging of the blast site. Reports of a break in of a missile silo were also there.
“Ms. Luna, we have reason to believe you were involved in the break in of the missile silo and the launch of nuclear missile. Well, we were until you admitted much over the radio. For your cooperation, honesty and the fact the impact had minimal repercussions, we will spare you from any serious consequences. However, we still want to know why you took such drastic actions and would like to set a precedent to avoid any such incidents in the future. This is not a joke Ms. Luna; this is the real world where actions have consequences. We can't have any rag tag group do as they please.”
Roxanne listened and smiled at the comment of consequences. “Spare me the faux sense of justice and morality. What do you want to know?”
Crow sighed at that. “It is a shame you feel that way but alright. Now, the launch of the missile could not possibly be done by one person. You said no one in the farm was involved. Then who did? Answer me who was responsible for this and why and you are free to go.”
“I will choose not to take that as an insult but yes, I did take a small crew of people with me. Everyone has their niche to make the launch happen. However, we have since parted ways. We had a common target, we took care of it, we moved on.”
“And what would that target be?”
“You and I both known there are forces beyond human comprehension out there. This was one of them. I could not tell you what it was, only that it has caused great strife so we used a literal nuke to erase it.”
“Is that so? Interesting… I believe you when it comes to the target but not about your group.”
“Are you calling me a liar? That's not very nice...”
“No Ms. Luna, I believe you are covering for someone else… Sometime ago, we intercepted a transmission coming from your settlement. Why don't we have a listen?”
Crow took out a digital recorder and pressed play. The recording was of the first time Router contacted Roxanne. Roxanne was dumbfounded, the refugee center had spied on her.
“This transmission was not only from an unknown source, it was addressed to you in a casual manner. And the request at the end...very interesting, wouldn't you say Ms. Luna?”
Roxanne had had enough. She had to end this now, she wasn't about to put the command center under the boat. She stood up and slammed her hands on the desk before continuing, “That’s enough! You said I would tell you who and why and I have done so! I believe we are done here!” The guard put his hand on his slung rifle but crow signaled to stand down.
“Ms. Luna who are they? Were they involved in the launch?”
“...No, they didn't, but I’ll tell you who was.” Roxanne did a small chant. A small echo permitted the room briefly and the lighting was off after it subsided. Roxanne grinned when she was done. Everyone in the room felt the unmistakable feeling they were being watched.
“Ms. Luna… what is the meaning of this?...” Crow was getting a bit spooked. He noticed the lack of shadows in the room.
“A small demonstration to make my point. Now Mr. Crow, like I said, there are forces beyond human comprehension, for a long time humans have dabbled in the understanding of such forces. Many organizations have sprung up on that basis alone...The target was ine of them, my companions seeked to quell a beast. While you here are busy with your petty politics, I was out there fufilling and oath I made long ago… Mr. Crow, I must now issue a warning, cease looking into this matter, the cataclysm is challange enough for humanity...you don't want what lurks behind the curtains in your doorstep...” Behind Roxanne, a small humanoid figure appeared, not really a figure, a shadow, the only in the room.
“I have told you the truth. Sorry if I underestimated you before, you clearly are capable of finding things out. Heed my warning, don't look into it, it only brings misery, god's army didn't listen...”
Roxanne stood up and dismissed herself. The two men in the room stayed quiet during Roxanne's explanation and after. She wasn't sure if they bought it, her performance should've given her credibility. But if they believed her, was she now branded a threat? Was the farm on jeopardy? Would they persue further and find out her lie? Or worse, into the arcane? What was done was done. She couldn't look back now. At least she knew she was being monitored...she expected to be more so now than ever...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 20, 2017, 11:31:59 pm
*click* "Kathrine, throw that switch for me? Thanks." *click click, whirrr* *click click, whirrr* "Hm..." *click click cli-THRUM* *click, whirrr* "It wants to catch..." *click, whirrr-ur-ur-ur-BRUUM* "*drowned out cries of success*" *BRUM BRUM BRUM*
The calm morning silence was shattered like a brick through a plate glass window by the sound of a thundering engine coming from the barn, or rather, many thundering engines. Catnip squealed with delight, not that anyone could hear her over the cacophony. Kathrine covered her ears at the riotous sound. There came a loud *PSSSHHH* As the train disgorged through the hole in the barn roof, a cloud of lightly radioactive steam. "IT WORKS! IT WORKS!" Catnip shouted before leaping into the operators cabin and pulling the monstrous machine out of the barn. A few of the others who lived on the farm arrived just in time to see a massive wall of steel making it's way towards the bridge. Slowly at first, but rapidly picking up speed. If they looked carefully, they could also see the flash of red that marked Catnips mop of red hair flying from the window as she stuck her head out to scream out proclamations of her success to any who would listen, though none could hear her over the sound that was the Catnip express.
The train sat idle just outside the necropolis. Catnip was checking the trains many gauges for problems. On a small notepad she wrote "fiks power consumpshun." She looked over the small page, thinking that it was very nice of Quinn and Roxanne to teach her how to read and write. She had a few more things to check the first two of those would be easy enough. She climbed into the operators seat and pulled over a monitor that was attached to a flexible arm, she tapped a few buttons and put in her earplugs. Then taking the green painted flight stick in hand, she aimed the cannons above her. The system had been programmed by Dee himself and Catnip had worked tirelessly to make sure the triple barreled turrets bearings were well lubricated and fit nicely. As such it's response to her control was quick and smooth. She jotted down another note and then took control of the turret again, aimed it at the burnt out police station down the road, and squeezed the trigger. The three barrels fired as intended, one after the other in rapid succession instead of all at once, the shells hammering the already demolished target. The oversized casings were ejected all at once, being automatically flung into the storage area behind her with their own momentum. She reloaded the one manual loading cannon and let the other two do their work, thinking how nice it would be if she could find another cannon that could load itself. Kathrine hadn't liked it when Catnip had started installing them, but Catnip had explained that the cannons were not for hurting people. This was only half true of course, but the real reason Catnip had included them was that she believed she'd need them for breaking apart buildings as the train approached them. Speaking of which...
The light tank came trundling across the bridge with it's load of farm residents. Catnip was on the move again but those inside the tank knew she wouldn't go far, they had the idea that Catnip would just drive it around firing it's weapons systems wildly into the buildings. The onlookers had to wonder though, if that was what she was doing, why had she gone north and circled back towards them. There was a burst of steam from the train, it's sounds audible from an incredible range, and it was in motion again speeding up, going faster, gaining momentum. "What the hell is she- GET DOWN! SHE'S GONNA-" Hector shouted as the train plowed into the side of a house. Wood and stones flew, the building collapsed, and a huge explosion of dirt and dust puffed out in a blinding cloud joined with the trains steam. "Oh god, she's wrecked her train and killed herself. Nathaniel, get the siege tower moving. Quinn, Floyd, help him with the winch, we-" There was another *PSSSHHH* as steam was forced from the always overheating minireactors. When the smoke cleared, they could see plainly that Catnip's train had gone clean through the suburban house, leaving both Catnip and the train no worse for wear. Inside, Catnip grinning like an idiot, took down another note and prepared to test the trains bank of energy rifles.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 20, 2017, 11:41:20 pm
After what seemed like an eternity of trial and error, after countless mistakes, after almost giving up many times before, Victor had a breakthrough. Using the books in the library Roxanne had set up as reference, he had been quietly running experiments and research on his blade, his pride and joy. The sword was an evil twin of the incorruptible sword used by the Cleansing Flame; it was made by a dissenting faction to prove what the arcane in the right hands can do. However, this blade and it’s creating process proved to be heretical in the extreme.
First of all, the blade ran on forbidden essence that came from the life force of living being. Once active, it would feed of it’s user to prolong its active state. It would also sap the life force of other living beings and use it to heal the user effectively making a self-feeding loop of destruction on perfect conditions rarely met. However, none of this was of concern to Victor, he was after a more darker fasset of the sword, something that stemmed from it’s creation. You see, when the blade is wielded, even in its passive form, many negative attributes accompanied it. The user would feel a surge of power, dexterity and speed but at a cost: A certain evil force would possess them, dulling their ability to think and making them crave power and destruction. The blade made the user feel as if they were being watched from a place far away, it would also induce sense that something was off with them, a sort of sickness if you will; finally it would sometime summon forth otherworldly beings. Actually, it did not summon them but they would be attracted from the use of the blade and they would manifest into our plane of reality. This all came forward from the real power source of the blade: an evil spirit trapped inside that would grant the user it’s power in exchange for tribute in the form of blood essence, enemy blood, their own life force or their sanity. This is what intrigue Victor.
In the past, he had considered asking Quinn for help on this matters but decided against it for a few reasons. Quinn was man of science, he would reject any notion of spirits and as such derail the research. He would also would have his own agenda and might go against Victor’s. Also, he feared Quinn would determine this sword was too dangerous and would seize it from him. And lastly, Quinn and Victor were practically strangers. They had yet to hold a single conversation and as such Victor would feel out of place asking Quinn.
Victor had not used the blade in a long time for its ill effects, however, he seeked to quell the evil spirit to make peace with it and allow safe usage. Everytime he had used and activate the blade a it seemed to take over him and induce primordial rage; it would taunt him, belittle him and order him around at the same time. Victor listened to none of it’s insults and demand and managed to use it effectively when required. However, the sword seemed to target him even after he had stopped it’s harvest and sheathed it. It would summon shadow like beings which he would slay; they would in turn relay message of the spirit in the blade commanding it to seek its power. But this time, Victor had found a way to communicate with the spirit, but it would require for him to bring it to the physical plane. It was a risky proposition but if he could quell the spirit, it may spare it from its effects rendering the sword a more viable combat choice. He decided to go for it and made preparations for the ritual at hand. He would need open space which meant leaving the farm a couple miles into a forest clearing. He had gathered all the necessary materials for the ritual including wards to help fend himself incase things went south, as well as a glock 9mm incase the ‘physical plane’ also wandered in in the shape of a bear of moose. Using the sword for such trivial needs would be not only wasteful, but unnecessary overkill for his taste. He, unlike the Roxanne her currently co-existed with, knew what he was doing. He would quell the malevolent being and acquire its power.
He would depart at night when no-one was likely to noticed him gone, not that anyone would care. He would ask Hector to “entertain” Roxanne that night as she did not sleep anymore. The last thing he needed was her getting in his way; as much as he valued her from his memory of their time in the order, or her counterpart at least, she was now an inexperienced novice who would only hinder his operations.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 20, 2017, 11:53:20 pm
Hector was just about to clamber out of the driver's seat of the Siege Tower when he heard Nathaniel's shouting into the radio that the machine was still operating. He got back in, and the sight on the camera display was awe-inspiring. It seemed barely even hindered by cleaving straight through a house, and its occupants were clearly unharmed. "Let's get moving, be ready for anything that might get attracted by that racket." the knight responded over the radio.
"It's...Hector, it's fucking beautiful. That thing could make the 801s its bitch, Hect." Nathaniel said, head peeking out of the hatch in the commander's position, astounded by the sight. "Commander, better button up, we're right in that thing's wake and I don't want to gamble on the coolant being clean." Hector said calmly. Normally there'd be nothing to fear from a little cooling system for a reactor, but Catnip wasn't exactly known for handling radioactive material safely.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 21, 2017, 12:42:07 am
The group hears the helicopter taking off.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2017, 12:45:16 am
Catnip barely noticed the light tank following just outside her wake. She was giddy with how things were going, almost drunk on it. The Train slammed into a stately old pine and snapped the thick trunk off like a toothpick. The tank behind and off to her side had to swerve wildly to avoid being struck by the flying fragments, even as it swerved to avoid the tumbling wreckage of the sedan tossed aside by the trains cow catcher. Catnip took aim with a different readout and locked on. Instead of taking direct control with the red flight stick hooked into the UPS bank, she allowed the automatic systems to take control. Red light sizzled the air and detonated a station wagon, creating a sizable fireball that would go on to burn down the hotel complex nearby. Catnip Laughed wildly, knowing at the back of her head that it would be hard to convince Kathrine that the UPS bank was for anything but causing harm. At the moment though, she didn't care. The train swerved wide as she tried to take another corner, plowing into a gas station popping off the pumps and tossing them aside like toy soldiers before scything through the building itself like a knife through butter. The light tank again had to swerve as the gas stations remaining fuel reserves caught fire and erupted in an ear murdering maelstrom of fire and smoke. Looking down from on high, Drake can see the chaos and decided it was a good idea that he hadn't allowed the farms mechanic to dig through his machine. If he had, that behemoth down their would probably be airborne. Inside the tank, Nathaniel was weeping. "Visibility is down Nathaniel." Hector stated, "We better get out of her before Nip accidentally rams us or something." There was another bright stream of light, blasting apart volkswagon. As it turned out, Hector needn't have worried. After the last volley of laser fire, the trains engines suddenly cut out and with one last spray of steam, the entire machine ground to an asphalt plowing stop. Through the quickly settling dust, they saw Catnip hop down from the operators cabin and pop something into her mouth. Nathaniel guessed that it was either a piece of chocolate, or an iodine tablet. She strolled around the train, taking note of any damage the train had accrued on it's destructive tour, even pulling a strip of chromed metal from the cow catcher and tossing it away. After checking some external meters, Catnip climbed atop the train and unfolded it's solar array by hand. From up there, she noticed the siege tower and waved. "Hey!" She shouted, "Fire your cannon at it! Aim for the front! I need to test the armor some more!" They weren't sure if she was joking or not.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 01:56:46 am
Nathaniel for his part was positively giddy about the sights seen through the array of camera displays in his compartment, struggling with the urge to open the hatch and witness the havoc with his own eyes. Hector of course maintained his cautious driving, the tank swerving and weaving about deftly to dodge debris, both airborne and simply piled in the steadily-growing ruins of the strange old city. One side benefit that Hector found in the havoc it caused, he hadn't had such a thorough test of his driving in years, not since the old obstacle courses and training exercises, as even weaving through the ruins and over hordes of undead had been a largely static challenge for him.
When he saw the thing come to a halt and heard Catnip directing them to fire at it, he went wide-eyed under that helm, uncertain what to make of the request. Nathaniel this time was the one to shout back, pulled up close enough to respond and be heard, even if it meant opening the hatch near the train, which made the early-model atomic tanks his unit once tested look like paragons of safety in comparison. "Catnip, are you nuts? You sure that's safe? I mean if you're certain, but I'm not giving the order until you're safely back inside that thing, got it?"
At another time later in the evening, Hector regarded Victor's request with a mix of concern and suspicion. "First, I'm not sure whether to be impressed or concerned that you figured out such things so quickly." he remarked, blushing a bit. "Second...well. If this is a matter of such secrecy and urgency that it must be done this way, so be it. I want you coming back from it in one piece, got it? Then when we have time, I'd hope you'll explain what it is you had to do. I doubt I can be of much help in that regard, but..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2017, 09:25:31 am
Catnip scurried closer to the tank, looking more like a rat moving along a pipe than a person traversing the top of unusual vehicle, and looked down at Nathaniel. "Sure sure. How about a wager? If the armor holds, you bring me three bottles of boose, good boose! Whiskey! Don't tell Floyd, He'll just take it away."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 21, 2017, 09:30:03 am
Victor smirked and shook his head in amusement at the knight’s remarks and reactions. "Seriously Hector? ‘Figure out’? Not to sound too blunt or bold but the sexual tension between you two could’ve been cut with scissors for quite a while. " Victor then composed himself and responded to Hector’s second statement more seriously. "I will, once I will get back I’ll answer any questions you might have as compensation I supposed. Sorry for being so forward and asking you such things out of the blue. I just don’t need Roxanne mucking about uninvited. Don’t tell her I said this but she isn’t that well versed in the arcane, I know she means well but I am going to perform a very, ahem, ‘peculiar’ ritual. Thanks again for listening to the requests of this freeloader." Victor gave a nod of dismissal and escorted himself out.
Later on that night, Victor prepared his gear and went through the steps again. Once he was satisfied with his preparations, he ditched his trenchcoat and sported a ceremonial hooded cloak-robe hybrid. It cover his entire being and it helped conceal even his un-gloved hands. Not really any practical application but it gave him a placebo of power at least. With sword in scabbard and other gear in place, he headed out to a clearing he scouted a few days back.
Once in the clearing, Victor placed his gear to the side and got to work. He could already feel an ominous presence, as if the universe itself was watching. With careful demeanor, performed the first step: Raise a shield of salt. He laid a circle of salt big enough to serve as an arena and gave a chant, the circle glowed bright white for a millisecond and the settled down. This would serve two purposes, anything otherworldly that came through the circle would be weakened and would not be able to leave it due to this. The circle itself was a weak barrier; he could not muster any stronger defense since he still needed to harvest their power but the barrier should weakened the creatures enough for him to handle.
Step two: Offer your guest a seat. Victor went around and place six torches on the ground around the circle, but far away enough he could prepare for their onslaught,and lit them. This would serve as a beacon for his ‘guests’ and as a way for them to reach the physical plane.
Step three: Acquire tribute, Victor had ‘borrowed’ Quinn’s silver athame and had used it to produce blood essence. He would fuel his blade with it but for now he need it for another purpose. He took out the dagger and drove it across his his hand; blood spewed from his other hand and he let it drip onto the floor uninterrupted. The stage was set.
Step four: Summon the darkness. Once his hand stopped the bleeding from a hex of healing he had applied before hand, he took out his sword. As soon as he touched the handle, he felt the spirit inside it manifest inside of him. He would quell it and make it his servant. He activated the blade and it’s power overwhelmed him. He stood there as he watched the flames bend towards the blade. The swords was darker than the night itself and her felt it’s power drawing his guests. He took a stance and prepared for the next step; the blade once more cursing him and draining his life force with each passing second.
Step five: Slay the fragments. The light from the touches continued to glow but a change soon manifested, the torches no longer had shadows; a perfect 360 degree glow illuminated the ground below. They were here. Victor looked around and spotted his guests; circling him were various pairs of tiny red orbs. When they passed by the light of the torches, he could see a the light dim and a transparent dark silhouette took its place. The circled around him for a brief moment and then stopped. Another moment later and they charged at him, all six of them at once through the circle of salt. One by one Victor slayed them with the very blade that had invited them. The spirit inside accepting the offering and granting Victor more of it’s power. In no less than 5 seconds, all the silhouettes had vanished and the shadows of the torches had returned. It was time to for the next step.
Step six: Summon the beast inside. With the blade still active, Victor chanted an exorcism spell he had created. The blade shook violently and Victor felt the power from wielding the blade fluctuating in intensity before it started to consistently fall. Eventually, the sword gave even though it was still properly fueled, success. Victor looked down and noticed his own shadow was gone. He looked around and saw another shadowy silhouette. This one, however, was twice as big as the previous one, it made the light around it bend making it impossibly dark in contrast to the night itself, the orbs that function as it’s eyes glowed a dark red and filled Victor with dread from just looking at them and now his blade only had it’s reserve of blood essence to power it. Once the blood essence ran out, it would render the blade useless. He had to proceed to the final step soon.
Step seven: Harvest the void. Victor assumed his stance once more and activated his blade once more. He noticed it no longer felt the surge of power nor did it harvest it’s life force; the taunting had stopped and he could think clearly. The spirit in front of him moved forward and stopped in front of the salt circle; the spirit’s eyes glowed brighter for a moment and the salt scattered breaking the circle. "Shit...", whispered Victor. The spirit charged forward and Victor slashed at it, a mighty gust of wind put out the torches’ light.
The night was calm at the farm. Silence permeated the scenery and only the sounds of crickets and other night bugs could be heard. Victor approached the farm blade in hand and gave a deep sigh once he was on the road that housed the farm’s many vehicles. He loaded the sword with a single unit of blood essence and activated the blade one final time that night. He felt the surge of power and the blade constantly channeled his life force towards the blade Difference being he could no control how much life force he was willing to give and he could also summon the surge at will. He grinned as he realized all the taunting and feeling of being watched was gone; all that was left was his sword and his own will.
Victor looked at the silver athame that belong to Quinn and gave another deep sigh. He was tired and didn’t want to deal with Quinn and his inevitable questions. He had an idea. He went over to the radio room’s door checked the knob, locked. If Hector had kept his promise, this place should be empty. He scanned the building from any life aura present and smiled when none were there. He disengaged the lock using a basic spell that he knew Roxanne hadn’t even learned yet. He looked around and place a couple of books he had borrowed back in the shelves that were soon to be replace by the library being built once it was finished. He turned around and unlock the door to Roxanne’s room as well. He took out a piece of paper and wrote a note. “Can you be a dear and return this to Quinn? Thanks.” He placed on the bed and then the silver athame on top of it. He stretched and yawned; he should go to his room to sleep. He would deal with the final issue when he woke up. It was a minor thing really but it would draw suspicion and attract question no doubt. The issue was that Victor now lacked a shadow...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 10:47:52 am
Nathaniel grinned a bit at that. "Alright then. And if I win that bet, er...c-can I have a ride in the train too? That thing looks fucking awesome." he said, Hector facepalming as he overheard the rather childish wager. Even then, he had to admit to himself he wanted to take it for a test drive sometime, even if he was worried being in that thing was almost as dangerous as being within five miles of it.
He'd wait for Catnip to get back inside before the tank rolled away to a good distance in front of the train. "Alright you two, if you're sure about this. Kathrine, if if you can hear this, Catnip's having us test the front armor. I don't like the idea of firing on that behemoth while it's occupied, but that's what she insisted we do. Keep low in case any shrapnel comes up to the windshields, okay?" Hector directed over the radio, while Nathaniel prepared the order to fire.
"Gunner, load one round HEAT. Center of the ram, thickest armor there. If all goes well it'll laugh it off like it laughed off most of this town's structures." he said, hoping that the design of the cow-catcher wouldn't function more like one giant shot trap, but that was more reason to insist on using HEAT instead of the depleted uranium shells.
The tank was in position, even at what seemed like a safe enough distance the gun had to elevate quite a bit to aim right at the center of the massive ram, aimed up at a machine that towered over it, towered even over the main battle tanks the Siege Tower was built to support.
Elsewhere in another time, Hector was rather surprised at that, before returning to addressing the matter at hand. "Very well then. I myself have little experience in this matter beyond limited studies of borrowed books, so it's for the best." he said. Surprised as he was that their relationship was so easy to guess, he tried to brush it off and stay professional about Victor's request. Oh well, he thought. Take the usual precautions and ensure Victor had his evening in peace.
It would be in the morning he he'd wake up, somewhat early, to go along with his decision to talk to Victor about whatever he'd been up to last night. He calmly moved over to knock on the door, hoping that Victor upheld his end of that deal by coming back alive. The first thing he'd ask was whether he was alright, the second to ask what happened last night.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 21, 2017, 11:05:02 am
Victor got little sleep that night, he was all gitty about what he had accomplished. This was the biggest breakthrough he had ever had, even when in the order. The issue with the shadow was a little setback. He looked at his price in it’s scabbard and smiled. The sword to surpass all others.
He heard the knock on the door and scrambled to turn off all lights. He didn’t want his lack of shadow to be noticed yet, *he* had to be the one to point it out. "Ah, Hector! Thanks for helping. As you can see, I am still in one piece, as promised. Now, I assume you want to know what is going on?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2017, 11:18:12 am
Catnip climbed down through the window she'd emerged from, reaching back to grab pull her tail the rest of the way through and slide the shutter closed. She'd shut that last item on her tail a few times while piecing together the train, and it wasn't something she wanted to repeat again. Before sliding down the shutter on the other side and releasing the catch on the shutter that covered the front window, she snatched down a corked steak sauce bottle filled with something that looked like water, but tasted like paint thinner, and the little label taped onto it reading "Katnip's barbee Q saus." Then, she told Kat to sit down, snatched up the intercom controller, and shouted the order into it.
"FIRE! CATNIP WANTS A BOTTLE OF SPECIAL SAUCE!" The order was given, and the siege tower bellowed it's reply. A streak of smoke traced the path of the shell as it streaked the distance to the ram. When the smoke of the explosion cleared, it was plain to see that the shell had peeled away a section of the ram, revealing more armor beneath and the gap between the two layers. The trains shutters slid up and Catnip thrust her entire upper half from the side window and pointed straight at the tank. She had intended a victorious "HA!" but the exclamation died in her throat when she saw the thick piece of armor rocking back and forth where it had landed, and the hole where the outer layer of the ram had given up at the explosion that catnip had thought would be contained harmlessly within the armored pocket like a fireball sandwich.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 11:45:17 am
Nathaniel smiled a bit at that as the tank's main gun aimed up, waiting for the order to fire. Rather than Nathaniel directing it, the main gun sound its response at Catnip's command, Hector staring at the display on the screen. There was the telltale thud and visible blast of the shell going off on impact with the ram. The damage from their perspective didn't look severe, shaped charge punching through the ram and peeling away part of it.
The faint sign of metal exposed a decent distance away from it at least confirmed their suspicions that the ram forced the round to detonate safely away from the next layer. Hector recalled advising a little on armor design with Catnip, though she rarely needed any help at all with it, but the idea of armor spacing as a standoff did come up on occasion.
"Looks like first layer's breached, can't see damage under it. You two alright in there?" Nathaniel shouted as the tank pulled up, ppoking back out of the hatch.
Hector was also surprised and a bit saddened to pass by the tank and notice that a vehicle parked north was gone. As hectic as yesterday's events had been, he hadn't even noticed it initially. "Huh. He left without saying anything..."
The knight then nodded at that, surprised at how dark Victor kept his room. "Glad to see you're alright, Victor. And that would be appreciated, yes." he said. While he wasn't well-versed in the arcane, there was something that felt vaguely different, the lack of a strange unnerving sensation that he used to feel wherever he was too close to Victor. He'd been unaware that the unease he used to feel was linked to the blade that Victor usually carried.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2017, 11:55:02 am
Instead of a verbal response, a bottle came whizzing down out of the trains cab to explode harmlessly on hull of the siege tower. Catnips arm came out a second later with another bottle, it looked like a steak sauce bottle, along with her head and chest. "YOU BROKE IT!" She shouted down at them, "YOU BASTARDS!" The steak sauce bottle streaked down to join the other, exploding like a small bomb on the pavement below. She disappeared for a moment and came out with another bottle, this one filled with something Nathaniel thought was water. When Kathrine grabbed Catnips arm from behind in an attempt to stop her from pelting it at anyone, it was dropped to splash it's contents all over the side of the train and he could smell it was some kind of terrible home made alcohol. From somewhere above could be heard Kathrine gently reminding Catnip that she had made a wager, and she should hold up her end of the bargain.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 21, 2017, 12:25:50 pm
"Alright then Hector. Let me show you something first." Victor stepped out into the sunlight of the late afternoon sky. "Now, don’t be alarmed. What do you see different? Hint, I don’t have a shadow anymore" Hector saw this, he looked at Victor’s feet and noticed it was all illuminated all around him; indeed, he had no shadow.
"It’s no big deal really. Long story short, my sword has incredible arcane power fueled by an evil spirit. Did you ever feel a certain presence when around me? Yeah, that was it… Yesterday, I got rid of the middleman, harvested the spirit's power into the blade and now I command it’s power. I would go into more detail but it would just be arcane gibberish to you. If you still want to know anything in specific, feel free to ask."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 12:33:15 pm
Hector smirked a little at that at the view. As thick as the ram was, and at the angle they hit it, he was suprised that it went through the first layer. Though looking up at the shutters of the windshield, he was still relieved it didn't deflect. He wasn't sure whether the round would pass over the top of the tank, or if it'd hit the train squarely in the windshield.
Nathaniel for his part eeked and ducked a bit, hatch half-open. "Hey! Fucking...the standoff worked, didn't it!? You're lucky the goddamn thing didn't slide off it and blow up the cab you fucking lunatic!"
Hector regarded Victor curiously, noticing as he looked down. "Interesting. A price of sorts paid for resolving the issue that that blade presented, or simply a side effect, I'm guessing." he said, amused but not alarmed. "I'm glad that the evil's removed from that blade though. Always seemed a bit unnerving, the same feeling I thought where I tried to clear out that cavern in the old church I found that one time." he explained.
"Wouldn't know what to make of it other than what's obvious. Reminds me rather strongly of the swords I saw in the illustrations of that one arcane book I've looked through before. Roxanne always acts strangely when I mention that book." he said. He only vaguely grasped the religious nature of the book and its apparent authors, and passages in Latin that he was only partially able to translate, enough to get the idea of a group that hunted monsters or some other threat.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 21, 2017, 12:45:45 pm
Kathrine was already seething at Catnip's swearing, but Nathaniel finally crossed the line. She'd been good with not making a fuss over people swearing for a long time, and she was finally done with it. "DON'T SWEAR!" It's almost ear-splittingly loud, and she lets go of Catnip's arm, her own arms dropping to her sides as she stomps her foot. "It's MEAN!" Her fists are clenched and she's actually growling again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2017, 12:51:51 pm
Catnip had run out of bottles at the point when Kathrine lost her temper, and dropped the huge shell casing she'd intended to drop on the siege tower when Kathrine screamed. She caught up her tail and her ears folded back in a way that made her look nervous and submissive. "I'm sorry Kathrine..." She said, wringing her tail.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 21, 2017, 12:52:28 pm
Victor nodded at Hector’s first statement. "Yeah, I too am glad I removed it. I am no Quinn but I too research the arcane. This is the biggest breakthrough I have ever done! I may be able to enchant other weapons, maybe even your sword if you would like."
At the second statement, Victor’s expression changed a bit. "Hector, can I ask you not bring up that book up to Roxanne? It has some negative connotations. I don’t mind but she has...seen things because of them."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 12:58:10 pm
Nathaniel winced a bit, surprised by that shouting from Kathrine, loud enough that he heard it clearly even down there. "Sorry...still, you two could've been killed trying this stunt!"
Hector nodded at that in return. "If this shadow issue causes any concern, can devise an adequate excuse I hope." he said. "I see. I might ask you about the history of that book sometime. I'm not sure what to make of what all I could understand of it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2017, 01:07:00 pm
Catnip gave a deep sigh, a little of her indigence returning. She stuck her head out the side hatch and pointed to the remains of the dislodged plate of armor. "Hook that up to the siege tower and drag it back to the barn. Get up here and don't step on the green pipes." It was then that Nathaniel noticed there wasn't any kind of ladder or steps leading up to the hatch. "Oh," Catnip continued, "And don't get stuck in the hatch. If I have to take it apart to get you out if it turns out you're too big to fit, you owe me chocolate." She seemed to recall something important and added, "Wipe your feet before you come in."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 21, 2017, 01:13:19 pm
Kathrine immediately seems to calm down upon seeing Catnip's response, but is still stood with her fists clenched. "Why is everyone always SWEARING?" With that, she throws her hands into the air and storms off to sit in the corner, arms crossed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 01:19:04 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. While Hector exited via the back hatch to hook up the largest piece of broken armor to tow it away, Nathaniel opened up the hatch in the Siege Tower to clamber out of it, practically jumping off it to scramble at making his way up the train. A bit awkwardly, but he managed at least. "Erf...alright, not like you're trying to squeeze Mohamed in here, you know." he joked, panting a bit as he crambled up to where the hatch was, feet scuffling some to at least try and play along with that. Wriggling his way into the hatch at least wasn't that hard, to him it looked salvaged from an old tank, turned on its side and welded in place. "This thing is f...um, er. Awesome."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2017, 01:44:30 pm
Catnip took up her position at the controls and checked a few of the gauges. "This won't be enough to get us back to the farm." She said, indicating an archaic voltmeter rigged up to display the charge of the trains bank of batteries. The needle sat at just barely three percent. Catnip flicked a few switches, turning on something deep beneath the floor of the conductors compartment. It thrummed quietly but menacingly. "Nip, what is that?" The loud *PSSSHHH* from above was the only answer he got. Fortunately, Hector had already chained up the scraps and had battened down the hatches on the siege tower. Catnip watched the voltmeter, and when nothing seemed to change she gave it a hard tap causing the needle to wobble and then settle at seven percent. "Good enough. C'mon Kat, buckle in. Oh wait..." Catnip opened the hatch back up and, ignoring Nathaniels protests, crawled out into the thin cloud of steam. A moment later, she squeezed herself into the conductors seat and allowed the hatch to clang shut. "Forgot to fold the sun thingies back up. The motor that does that doesn't work." Kathrine settled into the passengers seat opposite Catnip, buckled up, and corrected "Solar panels mistress." Catnip nodded and offered Kathrine and Nathaniel a small white tablet. "I-dine." She said, "For the steam."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 01:54:55 pm
Nathaniel was downright giddy as he examined the controls, taking note of any kit he recognized from old military hardware, looking out the windshields with awe. He found himself inspecting the loaders of the cannons and their controls as well, best as he could while they were buttoned up. Having Catnip clamber out while the device was running did catch him off-guard, nervously accepting the tablet from her. "Thanks. Catnip, impressive as this beast is, good God it makes the XM602 tankettes look safe as solar in comparison."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2017, 02:11:05 pm
Catnip shrugged. "Shielded in here at least. So is the outside, as long as the reactor thingies are turned off. Speaking of which, I need to find something better than water to use as coolant." Catnip flipped up the yellowed plastic cover of a switch wired into something under the control console and held down the button beneath.
"Kathrine, be a dear and throw that switch for me? Oh and Nathan, I don't have anymore seats. You'll have to hold onto the handle above me here. No not that one, that one will emergency eject the shells for the cannons and you'll get hit by them. This one here. Yeah, good." *Click Click, Whirrrr* "*Sigh.* stupid starter." *Click, Whirrr-ur-ur-ur-BRUM BRUM BRUM*
Nathaniel found that if anything, it was just as loud from the inside as it was from the outside.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 02:23:31 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "That's good, probably good ventilation is enough to prevent alpha contamination." he remarked, fumbling to find his place to stand as Catnip directed. "Holy hell that's loud, I love it!" He himself wasn't certain what'd be best for reactor coolant, as his understanding of nuclear safety and design ran about as far as some old textbooks and the safety briefing on the atomic tankettes, and that was about it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2017, 02:33:36 pm
Catnip pushed down one lever, engaged a breaker, and the train was on the move. Before it was out of the oddly arranged town, it uprooted an oak in someones front yard, peeled the front off another house, and bore under a sports car that had been handed the misfortune of ending up in front of Catnips train. Once on the bridge, the train picked up a little speed and knocked a previously avoided van into the river with it's back end a crushed mass of twisted metal. The engine finally cut out again just as the farm came into view.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 21, 2017, 02:39:40 pm
Kathrine squeals at each impact, digging her nails into the seat. "Mistreeessssss..." She moans, flinching as they come up to the van. "...MIST- Mistresscanyoupleasenothitthingsplease?" Kathrine blurts out a near-unintelligible sentence before bringing up her legs and placing her feet on the edge of her seat, curled up into a ball. Her tail is trailing off of the chair and is sat on the floor, tip twitching back and forth occasionally.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 02:45:05 pm
Nathaniel chuckled a bit, watching as they steamed along and barreled right through vehicles and so much more. He set a hand on Kathrine's should. "It's fiiine, this place is empty. Even if it wasn't, only thing we ever found out here was the undead." he remarked.
Hector for his part followed behind, dragging a chunk of the armor in tow, wanting to ensure that massive thing was ahead rather than behind him, smirking a bit at the camera displays. "Sanctus merda..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 21, 2017, 03:33:48 pm
Kathrine jerks away from Nathaniel's hand, glaring daggers at him over her shoulder. She doesn't say anything, but it's clear she disapproves of pretty much everything he's doing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 03:35:58 pm
Nathaniel huffs and returns that glare. "Mean cat." he remarked, struggling with the urge to stick his tongue out at her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 21, 2017, 03:45:21 pm
Kathrine looks away and digs her fingers into her seat, leaving pretty deep dents in the leather. She mumbles something under her breath, tail thumping against the floor for a couple seconds before she unbuckles herself and stands up. "I'm not mean..." "...Pardon?" "I saidI'M NOT MEAN!" She suddenly starts shouting again. "YOU'RE MEAN! AND I'M NOT FAT, EITHER! S-SO THERE!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 21, 2017, 03:47:46 pm
After spending the night in Hector’s room, Roxanne returned to her own room in the morning. She didn’t required sleep but Hector was still just a normal man that required sleep; for a couple hours she watched him sleep as she felt it would’ve been rude to just leave and her prank of painting, “Welcome to the world of AIDS” on his wall would be a bit too far. Once inside, she noticed the dagger and the note. For a brief moment she wonder who was the one who entered her room but she got her answered when she looked at one of the shelves and saw that the books Victor had gathered had been returned. She wouldn’t bother confronting him now as she knew she would see him again eventually, she knew where he lived after all; the thing that bothered her the most was knowing that *she* had to confront Quinn about an artifact that he probably assume was either lost or stolen.
The artifact in question was the silver athame. Roxanne looked at the ornate dagger. She slowly ran the tip of the blade through her skin; it moved slowly as her mutated skin had rough properties, not to the touch but there was more friction when grabbing things. The dagger pierced her left hand and she flinched and dropped the dagger. She inspected herself and noticed no injury on the place where it had pierced, however, she soon discovered she was bleeding from her left leg. Fear took over and she grabbed a towel from her dressed to stop the bleeding. Once successful, she picked up the dagger and decided she would go to Quinn’s right then and there, she didn’t need this thing in her life.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 03:51:34 pm
Nathaniel grumbled and whined a bit at that. "Well, calling my mean is also mean, so there!" he said right back, sticking his tongue out for good measure.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 21, 2017, 04:16:48 pm
"W-well I don't swear! A-and you do!" Her voice is shaky, and she doesn't really seem like she's all too sure about it anymore.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 04:20:26 pm
Nathaniel huffed a bit at that. "And that's not as mean as what some people do, unlike what I do!" he said, practically whining at that. Hector for his part checked in to ask if they were alright since they'd stopped just near the farm and haven't gotten out yet, and likely facepalmed if he overheard them arguing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 21, 2017, 04:37:18 pm
"B-bu-but..." Kathrine stutters, tears welling in her eyes. "But I'm not... I'm not mean..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 04:40:45 pm
Nathaniel blinked at that, looking back at her, starting to regret having said those things. He carefully moved to reach for her. "Hey, it's...it's okay. Just, er...h-hey, don't cry..." he said, now uncertain what to say. Hector for his part facepalmed and briefly overhearing them over the radio. "Kathrine? You, er...want me to smack him when he gets out of that thing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 21, 2017, 05:09:40 pm
Kathrine bats Nathaniel's hand away, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. "I-I'm not mean..." She doesn't respond to Hector, instead just sitting back against the wall, tail curled around her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 05:12:06 pm
Nathaniel signed at that. "I...I'm sorry..."
Hector meanwhile sighed as he carefully got out of the tank. Well this is going to be a clusterfuck to explain to Lilith, he thought.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 21, 2017, 06:27:11 pm
It was a simple process: go to Quinn’s lab, become invisible, place dagger on the floor, knock on Quinn’s door and book it out of there! And she did just that. Along with the dagger, Roxanne had placed a note that read: “I borrowed this from you but now you can have it back. Sorry if it cause you any trouble.” She didn’t include the fact that Victor had done it, she was no snitch; in her former line of work, snitches got stitches. She knocked on the door of Quinn’s lab and ran as fast as she could.
Quinn was busy working on a chemical formula that would allow him to synthesise dull essence without destroying any other artifacts. He was just missing something and he didn’t know what; it was bugging him to no end. He then heard a knock on his door. He got up grumbling incoherently just to find the entrance empty. He looked around and only found an item on the ground. He adjusted his glasses, picked up the item, read the note and entered inside to continue his research.
With that out of the way, Roxanne decided to confront Victor next. Fuck formality, fuck waiting. It’s not like she had anything better to do. She went to Victor’s room and knocked on his door. He answered and was surprised to see Roxanne. "Oh, hey Roxanne, fancy seeing you here.", Victor said.
"Drop the formalities Victor, I know what you did.", Roxanne responded.
"Oh? And what would that be?"
Roxanne pulled out his note and held it up so he could read it. Once he did so she crossed her arms, not still on hand, and awaited his response.
"Oh, that. Yeah, sorry I but I couldn’t deal with Quinn. I barely know the man and he would probably label me a thief."
"That’s not the point Victor, you were snooping in my room uninvited!"
"Look, I know it was wrong but I was tired and I didn’t want to deal with the dagger myself. Mea culpa. I won’t do it again, I swear on mother Venus."
Roxanne found Victor’s last statement a bit odd. She never took Victor for the religious type. It was then that she noticed his lack of shadow.
"Uh...Victor, is there something you want to tell me? Why is your shadow missing? What were you doing at night that night with the silver athame?"
"So you noticed huh? It was only a matter of time I suppose. I explained it to your boyfriend earlier. I can afford to explain it to you in greater detail since you are versed in the arcane. "
"Boyfriend? Ah, yeah...right...And yeah, I would like to know what happened, you don’t simply walk shadowless without explaining it."
"Fair enough, meet me in the commune area so we can discuss the matter, it wouldn’t look right for you to be in my room with me for obvious reasons...Be sure to bring the copy of the cleansing flame and sanguine codex. The implications of this are huge Roxanne, I am talking arcane weapon enchantments!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2017, 06:39:13 pm
Catnip withdrew the ear plugs, realizing she had forgotten to give some to Nathaniel. When she turned, she noticed that Kathrine hadn't taken the big noise cancelling ear thingies off their little hook next to her seat. Without her own earplugs, it didn't take long to recognize Kathrine's sobbing. "What's wrong Kat?" She asked. Kathrine's chest hitched, and she blurted, "whydoeseveryonealwayshavetobesomean?!" Her chest hitched again and she took a deep breath, "I'm not mean!" Catnip came in for the good ol' fashioned hug, and Kathrine put up a fight but this wasn't Nathaniel, and she didn't put her heart into it. "You're not mean. Who said you were mean?" Kathrine pointed to Nathaniel, and Catnip shot him a withering look. "First you damage my train and then you call my best friend mean and make her cry?" She said, ignoring the hypocrisy in that question and her own part in Kathrine's unhappiness. "You can let yourself out the back." Catnip unwrapped one arm from Kathrine to point out a simple metal door at the back of the compartment. Her look told Nathaniel he probably wouldn't be getting anymore train rides any time soon.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 06:48:07 pm
Nathaniel whined at that. "Butbutbut, she was being meeaan." he said, the demand to get out of the train shocking him more than the earlier argument did, reluctantly fumbling to climb through the hatch. Hector for now sighed as he parked the tank. He soon made his way over to grab one of the welding carts and a few tools from Catnip's barn, in order to push them over to the train. He at least wouldn't have much trouble welding and replacing a damaged panel of armor, though getting up there would be a hassle.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 21, 2017, 07:18:59 pm
The quiet sobbing eventually stops some point after Nathaniel leaves. "H-he swore and I ca-called him mean and then he called me mean and I'm not mean and he's right because calling someone a meanie is mean b-but I don't know what else to call people when they're bad and Mistress kept hitting things and, and, and..." She trails off, burying her face in her hands and going back to crying.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2017, 07:31:54 pm
Catnip adjusts her position so that she is sitting next to Kathrine. It took her awhile to think of an argument to make Kathrine feel better. Eventually, she threw her arm over Kathrine's shoulders and said "You can't be mean when you're so nice Kathrine. Even if calling someone mean is a mean thing to do, it doesn't count if you're nice enough." Catnip struck upon an idea, "Really nice people get, like, immunity. As long as they stay nice and don't get too mean." She gave Kathrine a squeeze. "I read about this jar thingy in one of the books Mr. Quinn made me learn to read. In the book, if someone did a swear, they had to pay the jar as punishment. It seemed like a dumb idea to me when I read about it, what would a jar need money and shinies for, but maybe it's not?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 21, 2017, 08:04:35 pm
Kathrine wipes her face with her sleeve, sniffing. "But mean people are always bad. A-and you can't be nice if you're mean. B-but Mister Hector's mean, and he's nice..." Kathrine cocks her head, ears point to the sides, thinking. "I-I dunno. Why does a jar need money? I think you should get it instead, Mistress..." She leans in against Catnip's shoulder and smiles. "You're not mean, Mistress. I'm sorry for shouting earlier." She doesn't return the hug, but instead starts purring. Unlike the weird, pseudo-purrs she had been doing for the past four years, this sounds like an actual cat's purr. "Don't get mean, Mistress."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2017, 08:23:47 pm
"I'll try..." Catnip said, not really sure if she could avoid being mean as Kathrine thought of it. She leaned her own head on top of Kathrine's and quietly listened to the pleasant new sound Kathrine made. "I don't want to be mean..." She mumbled. Catnip wanted to pet Kathrine's tail, and to see how much it had changed. She fought back the urge to snatch it up and held back. Kathrine didn't like it when people snatched her tail. Instead, she decided to sit here in the conductors cab, listening to the gentle thrum of Kathrine's purring, and giving her the occasional squeeze.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 21, 2017, 09:46:41 pm
While the mess with the train and tanks was going on Roland and Drifter had decided to go hunting together. For the both of them it had been a hobby that had been woven into their lives for most of their lives. Though they both had to admit they oft were hunting different types of prey before the apocalypse. Regardless Drifter bagged a trio of large deer like creatures that they had hunted before.
The pair began their short trip back with Roland hauling most of the load. As they heard something in the distance the pair exchanged a look before hurrying back to the farm before whatever fuckery that was going on caught up to their trip. As they crossed the bridge Drifter waved over a couple of the inhabitants and had them go take care of something as he let Roland take the rest of the deer. Rushing over to the kitchen Drifter pulled together the spices he needed to make a quick dry rub for the newly acquired meat, then snatched the ingredients for a barbecue sauce before walking outside.
Roland had several of the men of the farm digging a fire pit as he and another carried over a metal grate. Soon enough the makeshift grill had been assembled and cleaned for cooking purposes as Drifter finished preparing the deer meat for grilling. As the cook out began one of the members of the farm provided Roland a guitar and soon quite a few people were gathering around playing music and eating as the Drifter tended the makeshift barbecue. As he pulled yet another piece of meat off the grill he shouted "'Nother piece done whenever someone wants it! Don't be shy folks we brought plenty back!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 21, 2017, 09:58:37 pm
Hector gave a little sigh as he tended to some preliminary repairs for Catnip, feeling it was his responsibility given the tank did this, soon clambering down when he saw Drifter and Roland returning to the farm, deciding any further repairs would have to wait.
It wasn't long before they were setting up a firepit to cook on, and not long after that it seemed like the earlier arguments had largely dissolved in favor of enjoying a cookout and music.
The evening was a rather relaxing one this time, a few of them convening to plan out something later in the evening. They'd decided tomorrow to be a perfect day to make use of the information Drake gave them, fearing that waiting any longer would mean they wouldn't catch them. They planned out a rough idea to plan out further in the morning, but for now they enjoyed themselves...
And thus the next morning, began events detail in the Second Collab here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=125Xw9jjtwbwH50dvsCnDU2NHDpxRng63ZmUcq2OVgjI (https://drive.google.com/open?id=125Xw9jjtwbwH50dvsCnDU2NHDpxRng63ZmUcq2OVgjI)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 21, 2017, 10:41:01 pm
Roland turned the engine off as he pulled it to the spot he’d been directed to leave it. Hopping out of the truck he made sure everyone was well before excusing himself to his living quarters. Sighing as he opened the door Roland walked in thinking over his plans. These bastards would pay for all that they’d done but first he needed to-
Roland blinked as he saw the man standing across the room before he heard the door slam shut behind him. The man pushed himself off the wall as he brushed the pair of crows off of his shoulders, which flew into the walls before disappearing into puffs of smoke. The man walked towards him as he straightened his green suit vest and said “Ah, so you’re the one those poor souls told me about.”
Reaching forward he pulled Rolands mask off before starting to pace as he looked at it and continued “Not really my spitting image but I do like the concept of me being...featureless. Always seemed more appealing than what all the others seem to come up with.”
Looking to Roland he smiled underneath the shadow that was ever present around his head. “I like you. You want these men dead but you still have your morals. There’s a couple of lines you won’t cross. Granted burning men alive...well that’s not an entirely moral thing to do.”
Staring at the...thing? Man? Roland wasn’t entirely sure as he said “You’ve got to be some kind of hallucination.”
The thing laughed for a moment before saying “I assure you I am no figment of your imagination, nor the result of your fatigue. But like I’ve said you’ve impressed me.”
Walking over to Roland he put a hand on his shoulder and said “Keep this up and I may show you my favor. That is if you’ll take it.”
As the man turned away Roland noted he started to disappear as he tossed the mask onto the bed and said “Oh as a show of, shall we say faith, I can assure you I haven’t had to bring any of your off spring to the gates. Some of them I’m sure you’d be proud of, but one...I’m not so sure.”
Roland stared at where the thing had been and blinked. He wasn’t entirely sure if he’d just hallucinated the thing or not. It had felt too real but spirits, or creatures that could just disappear? Admittedly he’d seen stranger things but still. Walking over to the bed Roland tossed himself onto it and decided to have a nice long nap before thinking about this too much more.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 22, 2017, 12:31:33 am
Dee went over what was left of the wreckage in the mostly empty parking lot while Lilith collected Mica's weak scent from the bench where she sat. For someone on foot, Mica had caused a lot of damage. A man lay dead near the bench, his face bearing two deep rents and Dee could guess what had done that. Out of interest, he pulled off his mask and turned it towards him. As light as the slap had been, Mica's claws had still cut a trio of deep trenches across leather and plastic of the article of clothing. "Jeez Mica." He commented, noticing the broken remained of a motor cycle lodged under a grey Cadillac where it had slid to a stop after Mica had, apparently, ruptured the fuel tank and cut the break lines with one wild swipe. The fuel within hadn't caught fire, but the motorcycles rider had hit the Cadi with enough force to smash her own skull to pulp against it and star the glass. A sound caught the pairs attention, and following it they found a small man making a brave attempt to get away from the sight of the battle. Dee kicked him onto his back and noticed that a good portion of the Hell's raiders face was shredded to ribbons by what must have been Mica's most deadly weapon. "While you've still got some life in you, where did your boys take my girl." It was the first time Dee had thought of Mica as "his girl." True or not, he liked the sound of the question as it entered his mind and left his mouth. The bandit gurgled in terror and pointed off towards the south. It was then that Lilith noticed the movement and in only two strides, she'd planted one great paw on the dying mans chest. His eyes flew wide with horror, but Lilith wasn't in the mood for pleading. She simply crushed the life out of him. Dee thought it was a waste to throw away a guide and said so, but Lilith just grunted at him. Among the old hulks in the parking lot, Dee found an old delivery truck that would still run. Lilith climbed in the back, and Dee took the steering wheel. "I'm coming Mica." He said to no one in particular.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 22, 2017, 07:05:01 am
The Siege Tower pulled over to it’s designated spot. Nathaniel got out of the tank first, he was visible trying to avoid eye contact with Roxanne and Hector, the former more so. "You ok there Nathan?", asked Roxanne. “Uhuh”, said Nathaniel without so much as moving. Hector had told Nathan what they had hauled; it had simplified the hauling process and he had started to ask too many question. Hector assured Roxanne they could trust Nathaniel so he explained to Nathaniel about her “tribute”. Nathaniel sported a neutral expression as was told the details, only giving a small glance at Roxanne and then turning to the Tank’s controls. “You do you I guess. I’ll just keep my mouth closed”, Nathan responded to the explanation, it was the last thing said on the ride back.
"Thanks again for helping me with this. I am glad I can count on you.", Roxanne told Hector once Nathaniel left to sort out the loot with the rest of the farm. "Can I ask you for another favor? I am going to spend the night preparing my tribute but I am going to need some muscle to help me haul it here.", Roxanne explained to Hector, poking his right arm on the last statement. "Do you mind giving me a hand with the hauling once the farm is asleep big guy?", Roxanne asked. Hector nodded. "Great! Now go on to sort the loot with the rest of the boys. Save something pretty for me!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 22, 2017, 10:16:38 am
Lilith prowls around the back of the truck, growling. The dumb person the lizard tried to talk to hadn't put up a fight, but she'd already psyched herself up for one. It wasn't fair, nothing she'd found had actually put up a good fight, all of the shamblers died easily, and the big ones couldn't move her, and the metal things were off-limits according to Sharlene. Lilith flexes her claws and drags her blood-covered paw across the side of the truck, gouging out five massive trenches of metal. It felt good to let her anger out, so she kept repeating it higher and higher on the wall, until she'd almost left a window in the the side. The other wall didn't fare much of a chance, either, as she had given up on just clawing at things and moved on to full-on punches. Her roars completely drown out the sound of the engine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 22, 2017, 10:42:39 am
Nathaniel was there setting aside things for now, smirking a bit as he organized the weapons and ammunition they found. Largely just civilian weaponry, common things and a few improvised explosives that would've done little to the tank. The strange staff they found and set aside, with odd silver decorations depicting a skull motif and a large red gem at the end, was the only thing they found that stood out. Catnip snatched it out of Nathaniel's hands thanks to it being shiny, evidently as payment for hurting the train yesterday. He noticed the same item conjuring flames and was the only thing the group had that threatened the tank. "What the...h-hey!"
Hector for his part had been tending to a few of the minor burns that were left under his armor, wincing a bit as he bandaged them. Despite this he was still in one piece, he figured. And still fine with helping Roxanne sorting out the loot, soon enough examining a few of the items left over. He smirked a little as he looked a few of the items over, taking note of a small golden cross with silver inlays, peculiarly depicting scenes of a "danse macabre" in its engravings. The closest thing to it that seemed at all familiar was a similar motif he glimpsed during one tentative attempt to skim through Roxanne's copy of Sanguine Codex, but that was depicted on a crown, not a cross. In fact none of the illustrations in that book resembled any other recognizable forms of religious imagery. He decided that would be an interesting gift, guessing from his attempts to examine it that it was merely decorative and not some form of strange artifact.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 22, 2017, 12:12:20 pm
Dee was having a hard time controlling the van with Lilith losing her mind with rage in the back. He hoped to god she'd forgotten he was driving or that at least she wouldn't see him as a target when things really kicked off. If they weren't already kicking off in the back of the truck. As he looked into the rear view mirror, he saw one big paw burst through the already shredded side of the van to snag a passing deer. "Jesus christ." He whispered, hoping Lilith didn't hear him.
It didn't take long, eventually Dee spotted lights up ahead coming from some kind of crude log fort. Looking at it, Dee realized he hadn't brought a weapon but judging by the sounds coming from the back, that might not be a problem. To Dee, the way those lights looked, there was some kind of celebration going on up ahead. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Catnip entered the library and had a look around. To her it seemed rather barren. Not just barren, but spartan even. Weren't Libraries supposed to be places of higher learning? That's what everyone on the farm had said anyway. "It doesn't look like it's gonna fall down at least." Remarked Kathrine at her side. Catnip ran her hand down one support beam, noting with a little satisfaction that it didn't splinter. "We can do better than this Kathrine." Catnip stated, "It's fine for now, but think about how good it could really be." The rat mechanic wasn't much of an architect, but she had an imagination and she was imagining a big stone building with big colored windows. It would have side rooms and the library would just be a part of it. She scratched her head. She'd been dreaming of churches recently, and it was beginning to effect the way she designed things. She could just see that big chamber, loaded with things much like a museum, and with sections dedicated to all sorts of subjects. A sparkle came into Catnips eye. Was it not the act of invention and creation that her god valued above all else? Constructing a building might not be as complicated as constructing a train, but Catnip figured that it wouldn't matter much to Agmen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 22, 2017, 06:36:20 pm
Kathrine pokes Catnip's shoulder, trying to snap her out of her little creative trance. "Mistress, you're... Um..." She trails off, moving back a couple steps when she fails to actually do anything. "I'll get your tools."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 22, 2017, 06:50:07 pm
"So that’s how it goes Roxanne, the spirit is gone and now I can command this blade at will given proper fuel.", Victor explained to Roxanne, "If I can replicate this on another cursed weapon, I may be able to enchant weapons properly; harness the power of the very beings humanity once feared! " Roxanne took a sip of tea. The pair were sitting at in the commune era near the kitchen discussing the arcane. Now that the library was operational and Victor agreed to be it’s librarian, their morning talks would come to a close. Victor in particular felt awkward about it now that Hector and Roxanne were a thing and his visits were a pretence to share knowledge and acquire book; now with manning the library, he no longer need to do that. Roxanne in turn was no spending more time with Hector and got her gossip from him and she had taken the study of the arcane in her own hand.
"So you are saying we might be able to not only harness the power of eldritch but even command it? I don’t know Victor...even I shy away from such things...", Roxanne commented.
"I did it and it went just fine. What negatives could it have?", Victor rebutted.
Roxanne pointed at Victor’s feet to remind him of his lack of shadow. While sipping tea with the other.
"Point taken...", said a reluctant Victor. "Besides, this is only phase one. I will perfect this and then maybe you might reconsider."
"You know...this all seems too similar to something I have been meaning to ask you about."
"Oh, how so?"
"An ever-present force that taunts you and demands tribute...I too deal with this."
Victor hesitated as response. If what Roxanne was saying was true, this might be either great or very bad news. He recalled his previous comrade, he too felt a presence, he died long before the cataclysm.
At its mention, to the second, Roxanne felt the force. She suddenly felt an urge once more, she knew what had to be done.
"I...I can feel it right now Victor….", said Roxanne in a hushed tone.
Victor was concerned but played along. "What’s it saying?..."
Roxanne shook her head. "It doesn’t speak...it manipulates my emotions and desires to communicate. Say Vic, mind sharing that summoning ritual of yours? Minus the whole slaying part, I just wanna chat with some friendly spirits.", Roxanne told Victor with a smile and lazy eyes. Victor noticed they seemed...off, they changed hue more slowly and seemed more...stable somehow...
Victor was horrified. Roxanne said all that in such a nonchalant manner. That spirit or force or whatever it was sure had quite the means of communication. Her emotions and desires? Did she even had free will anymore? And now she asked about the summoning ritual...this thing wanted out from where it came it seemed. Victor had to do something, this thing was a threat to Roxanne and if left unchecked could become a threat to others.
"...Sure...You know you can count on me. I’ll help you with it if you want. Just name a time and place..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 22, 2017, 09:58:32 pm
Something under the truck gave out a groan and Dee didn't need Catnip to know that the sound heralded the coming end of the trucks ability to move. If the mechanic had been there, she would have told him that the axle had just flexed during Lilith's last assault on the van. Dee didn't see it as a problem, the log fort was within easy range. He thought he'd be able to drive right up to the gate. The thoughts of what to say when he did were drowned out by a new sound at the back of the truck. "That'll be the shutter being ripped off." He thought. Could Lilith be stealthy? He thought not, but he hoped she'd keep her cool long enough or the bandits to open the gate to him. At any other time, he would have just waited til dark and tried to sneak in and out quietly. He'd just have to hope that Lilith would give him a chance to talk. As slim a chance as that was.
"You here for the wedding?"
"What wedding?" Dee said, surprised Lilith had given the bandit enough time just to say that. He could feel her tensing in the back though, and he could see the bandits who'd stopped him at the gate tensing as well. "King Barry is marrying Lady Redscarf. Even scraggy little shits like y- Ho-lee sh-" Dee winced as the rolled up aluminum door off the back of the van hoved into his field of vision like a baseball bat, sending the man flying into the far field. "Homerun!" Dee thought, "Looks like talkings out." Lilith brought the door down on top of the other guard, creating something that looked like a work of modern art he'd seen once. The log gate of the fort was impressive, but from Dee's perspective, Lilith didn't look impressed. She set aside her improvised cudgel and lifted the truck, this action accompanied by a quiet *PSSSS* of hydraulic muscle coming online. Just in time, Dee dropped from the cab and ran just as Lilith heaved it at the gate, crashing through, turning the truck into a rather miserable excuse for a vehicle that even Catnips skilled hands couldn't fix. The tigress hefted her instrument of death and pushed her way into the complex proper, Dee close on her heels. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Catnip ran the planer across a board she intended to use in a panel for one of the small libraries rough columns. Victor and Roxanne noticed the progress that had been made with the building, and noted the little Catnip "touches." Namely, the addition of manniquins and the rough scroll work around the new doors. Catnip had taken automotive glass and had fashioned a set of windows to the front, and there was a large pile stones. That last at least answered the question of what all the noise from the barn was, Catnip had been digging for building material. Kathrine carefully swept wood shavings into a canvas bag, and then went back to sitting around with her tail in her mouth.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 22, 2017, 10:47:33 pm
Drifter watched Roland walk away before going to check out the weapons Nathaniel had organized. Nothing much to his eyes though he recognized a few. Namely for the fact that one of the guns in the pile had been pointed at his face and was obnoxiously engraved to the point it was emblazoned in his memory. Some dumb cartel kid waving a cartel gun in his face before having his brains splattered all over the wall. Must have been 19 at the time too...
Drifter snapped back to reality as he shook his head free of the memories. Sighing to himself he picked the gun up and gave it a closer inspection as he said to himself "Reminds me of a different time. I don't know if it was a better one though."
Tossing it back into the pile after inspecting the engravings he walked away. This whole staying in one place thing had started to drag up some memories, some of which he wished he could just forget. As he passed the others he let them know he was going out hunting before he crossed the bridge. Maybe he'd find some solace out in the wilderness. At the very least he'd bring some food back, maybe have another barbecue or something. People needed the lighter parts of life after all. Roland had taught him as much anyway.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 22, 2017, 11:27:26 pm
Elsewhere, Helen finally had her gear sorted out, ready to resume her original mission. She'd spent time enough at the bar that she was eager to resume her mission, having arranged for a long-term partner to assist her in clearing it out. Someone who was comfortable with what oddities might remain ahead of them. Most of those at the bar were now aware of her nature as someone who hunted anomalies and monsters, and had experience with the supernatural, but she wished to leave for now, lest rumors spread and it become clear what her nature truly was, of an order arcanists once feared.
Sergei smiled a bit as he heard Helen asking around, heading over to the bar counter where she was downing the last of a shot of half-decent whisky. "So. You're going soon, comrade. And not alone, correct?" he asked, the mage-hunter answering with a nod. "No one available just yet though. They've heard enough about the last place we went after that not many are eager to go raid another" she responded.
Sergei just nodded. "Count me in. I know Taji's still resting up and has some other business to attend to. My pals are already aware and approve of my joining in. It means more of those suki get what they deserve." he said, prompting Helen to grin a bit, gathering her mask and hammer as she set down some gold for the drink. "Excellent. Ready when you are."
It took them a while, having procured a temporary ride back to the area The Boss originally met her, the mage-hunter soon leading the way back to the river were she found her simple little canoe she left behind. The trip back was easier, traveling along until a familiar structure cast its oppressive shadow over their surrounds.
The note she found at the top of the floating steps, among other personal effects long since left to the elements, was a mocking reminder to her, of all the ways her order failed. "Place already looks infested. Nothing we can't handle." he said. And indeed, in contrast to the writhing mess of horrid teeth and tendrils they faced earlier, the walkways seemed alive with living wind, a momentary concern but more easily bested.
What was more concerning was the chanting that echoed with this shifting breeze of animated vortices, in a language neither of them could discern. It only seemed to resonate louder as they ascended, soon into the heart of the temple.
The figure that greeted them looked as though it was human once, a robed being with a symbol of judgement held in a deathgrip. She knew now why the evil that lurked here stayed in the haunted temple. Frantic work had been made, a strange energy sensed much like the wards she noticed at the other structure. The Archon, as it was called, held dominion here, but no further. "I̷n͜ter̶lo͏pers̢. M̡o̶r͢t͜als͏.͟ ̡G͏ive yo̕u͟rselv̧e̢s̕ ͡in͡ se͢r͝vic͠e͡ ͝to҉ m̕e,̸ ̡a̡n͏d̛ ̷yòu wíll̕ ͢li̴ve ҉et͘ernally." the voice called out, sensing two presences entering the main hall of the temple. It needed the wards to be broken, its only remaining chance to gain a foothold in this world.
The two striding out into the ghostly blue of cursed candlelight made it clear to the figure, seen through the eyes of the body it took control over. "Ỳ̵̵Ó̵͡U͞҉.͏͘͏" It gave no further answer to them, other than raising the wicked lightning weapon, and Helen offered no words to it in reply.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 23, 2017, 12:45:44 am
Catnip barely saw the one legged man off on his hunt. That was another thing she had to do. His prosthetic wasn't really that good and she'd thought to get him something better. There was even the parts sitting on her workbench back in the barn, ready for assembly and fine detail. The thought slipped away, replaced by a hope that he would get one of those big frog things. The meat wasn't very nice, but the fat tasted like bacon. She probably would have asked, but for her current task being too engrossing. It occurred to her that she wouldn't finish the panel in one day, and that she had others she needed to carve, and an idea came to her. She would get the others in on the panels. If they felt like it. She grinned and began allowing the plans to come into the space between her ears. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lilith came into the bandit settlement like a hurricane, sending broken bodies scattering with every sweep of the shutter door. At some point, that got boring and Lilith decided to hurl it like a javalin. The fact that it didn't fly straight, slamming harmlessly into a row of motorcycles, just made her angrier. She took out this anger by snatching up one of the rapidly diminishing number of bandits and ripping him in half. Bandit fighters started to take the place of those not willing to go toe to toe with the living Siege engine. Bullets and arrows came in and stung her like wasps and pushed her to the edge of insane fury. For a little while, she caught up a bandit and used her to beat down her peers until all that was left of the bandit was a leg. When she kicked over a sheet metal house and wrenched free a section of the demolished vans siding, Dee decided he'd seen enough and snuck away from the developing blood bath to look for Mica.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 23, 2017, 12:49:29 am
Drifter had been walking for a while at this point. Checking his mosin he prepared to find a spot as he pulled on his camo netting and started putting foliage on it. As he started scouting out areas he spotted something in the distance and lifted his scope to his eye. As it came into focus he realized it was just a helmet that had gotten snagged on a tree branch. Letting a breath out he lowered his rifle and walked through the brush further until he saw a young doe.
Kneeling down he lined up his sights and let out a breath. He began to slowly pull the trigger as it looked around it's surroundings unaware of the man not too far away from it. The gun fired and Drifter watched the body arc slowly to the side and to the ground. Walking over Drifter pulled some rope out and tied it's back legs together and started dragging it.
As he made his way through the brush he stopped as he sighted a man in military uniform standing a few feet from him with a pistol pointed at his head. Drifter started to lift his rifle when the gun went of and...the man disappeared and Drifter was left standing with his rifle pointed at thin air. Thin air where he had just seen one of the men he'd served with, one he'd read had committed suicide shortly after returning to his wife and children.
Drifter decided to keep walking as he kept an eye out for more prey to bring home. As his eyes scanned the horizon his way back he kept thinking back to the man. He called me the day he did it and I didn't answer. But it's not on me, I didn't pull the trigger.
He spotted a giant frog that had decided to rest in some of the swamp and decided it'd make as good a food as any. A quick shot to the head rendered the thing dead. A quick bit of work and Drifter determined that he'd be better off heading home. He was still adjusting to the leg after all and he was already having trouble with all of this weight.
As he made his way back he kept thinking back to what he'd seen. No one had been there so it was a figment of his imagination, but why? As he pondered this his mind pulled back to his young daughter and he heard a voice from the side to see the man from earlier walking with him. "You left her. Just like you left the rest of us. All in the name of your stupid crusade. Now you don't even know where your own daughter is? How pathetic are you?"
Drifter ignored it as he neared the bridge and the man said "So ignoring me is going to make it better? YOU'VE BEEN IGNORING US EVER SINCE SHE LEFT YOU! YOU HAVE TO CONFRONT US SOON ENOUGH!"
Drifter looked to the man to see he was changing. At first it was his daughter how he remembered her, then a few of the men he'd served with, and finally an old traveling partner he'd had to put down. As he passed the entrance of the gate he said "I'll find her again. She can't...she can't be dead."
Even as he said this he was uncertain but the tears rolling down his face had already determined his course. He'd find his daughter again no matter what he had to do. In the mean time though he set himself to butchering his haul. And as he found a knife and set about the work the man disappeared again, a figment of his mind that he casted aside to pursue his work.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 12:53:16 am
She charged in, wordlessly with such ferocity that the figure had no time to level the weapon it held, only managing to initiate the fight by clawing at an arm, tearing into the sleeve and leaving shallow gashes along the arm.
Her attempt to bring the hammer down was met by it wildly firing a wicked bolt at her, a near miss staggering her and leaving her struggling to press the assault on the creature that was now backpedaling. Sergei was close behind, she knew. But she could also see that even with its strange senses, it held a mortal body. She knew what she had to do, raising the hammer to give off the brilliant flash even though it'd risk blinding Sergei as well.
Sergei for his part knew the signal by now, closing his eyes and hearing an ear-splitting bang echo all around. By the time he opened his eyes he saw Helen in a fury, savaging the creature that was left reeling from her attack. Even then he could see the thing struggling despite blows that'd kill any mere man, managing to close in and bowl the creature over right as Helen sidestepped to narrowly avoid taking another bolt of lightning to the chest. That unfortunately staggered them both, giving it a moment to struggle to its feet, before another hammer blow caved its skull in.
"Rest...in p-peace..." Helen stammered, standing uneasily as Sergei helped her up. The death of the vaguely human form once linking the Archon to their world already seemed to give a sense of peace to the temple, or at least replaced instinctive fear with a lingering uneasy feeling. So far their search found little, the weapon wielded by the Archon, a few books and old papers, a scroll that Sergei recognized with a worried expression. It was when Sergei forced apart a solidly locked door that they saw the greatest prize of the temple.
It was in the ritual room, someone had locked themselves in and most likely perished there, possibly of dehydration given the lack of injuries like the broken, batter, skeletal bodies strewn all over the main hall. Or at least, no injury that left any mark on bone.
It was practically cradling a scabbard for a large sword, the hilt alone hinting at a strange designed that gave off a subdued aura of evil. "That's the cause of it, this little encounter." she explained. "They use blades like this for their little rituals, but this one..." she said, tapping the old scabbard it rested in. "...was most likely tampered with."
Much as she was loathe to have it anywhere near her, she resolved to hold onto it for now, as she lacked the means to get rid of it right now, and couldn't just leave it unguarded if its misuse did all this.
"So, now vhere?" Sergei asked, Helen looking up at the strange structure they now left. She was tempted to use the scroll she found there, but realized two such places crumbling by her hand might be suspicious. "There are other communities, farther south. Mind joining in a little trip?"
The pair now set on down the road, a slow but steady journey farther south. Sergei only really knew that sticking to the roads would eventually get them near the refugee center, bit was uncertain just how far-off it really was.
What they found first were signs of a small town, barely little more than buildings at a crossroads. "Revenants. Place hasn't been cleaned up." she remarked, pointed to a few wandering zombies meandering about. A few of them had a strange shadowy quality to them, though in the evening daylight it was barely at all apparent. With her hammer she handily weaved about the first stragglers only to deliver blows that smashed limbs, caved in skulls, and broke necks, Sergei delivering solid punches that sent each victim flying, surviving undead scattered to make the group easier for Helen to smash, one by one.
Night began the fall as they'd worked through the undead that still lingered, examining a few of the nearby houses. Helen made note of the area having more in the way of supplies than she could easily carry, clearing out a house on the edge of the small town to rest up.
It was then they spotted the figure approaching the window, in the fading twilight. Helen looked to the figure warily before losing sight of them. "Shit. Whatever their intentions are, be ready..." She said, turning her attention towards the doorways, raising
"W-wait, don't shoot!" the man yelled, as she could now see a look of panic on his face. This caused her a moment's amusement, as neither of them were brandishing guns, when the stranger was the one with a crossbow. "Alright then. Now, vhat are you doing out in place this?" Sergei asked.
"I'm s-sorry. Not long ago my friend and I were traveling along the road when he suggested heading around the town through the woods." he started to explain. "We got separated, and I started calling out for him when I heard something roaring in the distance. All I saw was this massive shape scrabbling and clawing at something. I, I...he c-can't be..." the young man said, stifling tears.
Helen stepped closer to him, setting a hand on his shoulder. "Tell me. Is it close?" she asked, only for a horrid sound that seemed to rattle the entire building to answer her question. "Der'mo. Get ready, sounds like it was on his tail!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 04:35:23 am
Roxanne had everything ready. With the help of some of her books, Roxanne managed to create a chemical concoction that would fulfill her needs. She hadn't done a prank in a while and this was a good a time as any to start. Roxanne took the dollar pregnancy test she has scavenged into the concoction and waited. After two minutes passed, she lifted it up and giggled, it had turned out positive.
Hector was working on his tank as usual, he was in a pseudo-arms race with catnip since her “train”, while unsafe for the operator as much as the target, outmatched his tank. He saw Roxanne approach and he waved. "Hey, what's up Roxanne,what brings you here today?”, Hector asked. Roxanne didn't answered, she didn't even look at him, she just stood there with her head down and hands behind her back swinging from side to side. Hector's expression changes to worry as he put his tools down and approached Roxanne. “Everything alright? Why are you looking so distressed?”, Hector asked once more. Without moving, Roxanne simply held up the pregnancy test in front of Hector while she turned her head for both dramatic effect and to stifle a laugh. Hector's eyes widen as shocked set in.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 10:06:39 am
Hector was shocked, stunned, speechless. He was always cautious, and it's not like they were lacking in scavenged supplies such that protection wasn't available. That and a few other thoughts ran through his head practically all at once. How well would old pre-apocalyptic prophylactics hold up after all this time, did he use them right, etc. It was enough that the knight outright fainted, a comical sight given his usual attempts to handle things calmly.
Elsewhere, the two scrambled out of the window, not wanting an unknown threat to come barreling through a wall, rushing to meet the threat. With Helen's mask she found herself able to see the monster as it closed in on them, letting off a might blast of her hammer that momentarily caught Sergei off guard. "Blyat, I'm gonna go blind at this rate..."
It was a massive living amalgamation of bodies, as though several zombies had been forced together into a bestial mockery of life itself. Massive as it was, her hammer strikes found their mark, cracking bone as she dodged a massive clawed hand. It took her a moment to realize that the creature's "hand" was actually the upper half of some undead corpse, ribcage split open and unnaturally contorted jagged, broken imitations of digits.
Another sweeping blow bowled Sergei over, scrambling to get up and rolling to avoid a stomp from one of four "feet" that supported the monstrosity. He got an uncomfortably close look at the flattened mess of interwoven limbs that made up the structure supporting its weight, flesh at the bottom long since stripped away by endless plodding along all manner of terrain.
Taking advantage of Helen hobbling up by crushing a twisted array of bodies that seemed to contort as if mimicking a knee, the hiss of hydraulic muscles signaled his return to the fight, back on his feet and now slamming into the monster with such force that it was driven back, toppling over. With another hammer blow shattering most of its left claw, fists were driven deep into sickly, scarred flesh, ripping away limbs and torsos around the creature's head.
The mangled, one-eyed head of a zombified bear was the centerpiece of it, lower jaw missing and instead replaced with a multi-hinged maw formed from the mandibles of at least three dissimilar creatures, one of which was likely human at some point. He simply drove a bionic-powered fist deep into it, jaw falling to pieces before he grabbed the monstrosity's head. It took effort even with his immense strength, as the creature's neck was a massive, muscular thing that took the whole spine and ribs of a bear as its foundation, a few smaller spinal cords woven around it and in-between broken, spread-open ribs. Their weave had been so complete and so long ago that in several points the mass of disparate vertebrae had began to fuse together, melded into one solid framework.
The creature only just began to react with desperate flailing when there was a cacophonous series of sickening crunches, ribs and their connected human spines sheared away as he literally ripped its head from its body, the original spinal cord crumbling as it was torn lose from the structures bound to it. The cracks had momentary been drowned out by one final roar that rivaled even Helen's hammer in volume, the monster collapsing and going silent as the head was wrenched free.
Following this chaos they found the young man again, who fled to one of the nearby buildings in blind panic, Sergei simply throwing the head at his feet. "Is that...a bear? That t-thing was no bear, I assure y-" Helen interrupted. "That was just attached to the gods-forsaken thing. It's finished." The man went quiet, calming down a bit. "I, er...t-thank you. I can't thank you enough. It won't bring him back, but still better for the world that damn thing's dead." he said.
Helen nodded at that. "It's fine. Where were you two headed, by the way?" she asked. "Refugee center, planning to find work." Sergei grinned a bit at that. "Perfect! Ve vere heading there ourselves. Didn't have exact route though. Can travel with us if you'd like." For now though, the three of them decided to rest up for the night.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 23, 2017, 11:08:13 am
"That's one big lady Pancho." "True enough Cisco." "Got a bitchin pair a' knockers on her though eh Pancho?" "Whatever you say Cisco." "Gettin' pretty messy down there Pancho." "Sure is Cisco." "Think we should skeedaddle Pancho?" "Sounds like a plan Cisco." "Hey, what's with this scaly fella movin' up on us Panco?" "Not sure Cisco."
Dee approached the two guarding the only building not made of wood in the complex. It rested at the foot of a framework steel tower that Dee had seen before, other's like it anyway, and at the top of a small hill overlooking the bandit fortifications. Down among the buildings, Dee could hear the sounds of ineffective gunfire and Lilith working out her frustrations on the populace of the bandit camp. "Yo." Dee huffed. He figured since these guys didn't shy away from him, ignore him on the way to getting brutalized by the tigress, or shoot at him, maybe he could get them to talk.
"Want's to talk Pancho." "I can hear that Cisco." "Watchoo want fella'?"
"I wanna see King Barry, you guys took a friend of mine and I want her back." Dee said. The two didn't make a move for their weapons or any aggressive move at all for that matter. Now that Dee had caught his breath, he noticed how similar the two men looked, apart from their genders. Same height, same hair, close to the same facial features. "Twins?" Dee thought.
"Should we let him see the King Pancho?" "Why not Cisco. Hey fella, the ceremony hasn't kicked off yet. You brought a wedding present?"
Dee hadn't brought a wedding present. "Er... no?"
"He ain't got a wedding present Pancho." "Yeah, I heard him Cisco. You ain't got shit for King Barry and Lady Redscarf?"
Dee dug around in his pockets, finally coming up with an MP3 player and a couple bars of chocolate he kept in reserve for buying stuff off Catnip. Living on the same farm or not, Catnip always insisted on a fair exchange. "The MP3 player's got like... Shit, most everything on it, and uh... Chocolate's getting harder to find these days."
"What do you think? That good enough Pancho?" "Hell yeah, King Barry loves that old music and there's some bitch hogging all the chocolate near the refugee center Cisco." "Cool cool, head on in fella' an' show some goddamn respect."
Dee pocketed the goods and said, "Cool, thanks guys. You uh... Might wanna move on. Maybe find a good spot and just jump the wall though. The uh, lady isn't in a mood to let people slip past." The woman, Pancho, opened the door for him and began gathering herself up to leave.
"You think that was the Lizard guy Lady Redscarf was talking about Cisco?" "Dunno, hardly matters now Pancho." "Was it wise lettin' him through Cisco?" "Eh. Who cares. The lady with the bitchin' knockers is makin' her way in this direction, Let's get moving Pancho."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 11:14:43 am
The three of them, in the morning, finished up their brief sweep of the area after finding they slept uninterrupted, looking around at some of the vehicles. "This one looks intact, not much fuel though. Might get us farther along at least." Sergei explained. They could likely scavenge gas from the other wrecked vehicles parked elsewhere, but decided it was better to get moving.
It wasn't as they continued onward that they saw a small structure just off the road, a wrecked old vehicle parked nearby. A small bunker of sorts adjacent to what was once a simple direct lot, finding the entrance had been smashed open. They warily made their way in, finding the place had a scant few supplies and tools. Strewn here and there were several old corpses, and useful supplies on them long since looted. A couple of the corpses had an unnerving appearance, heavily altered and mutated. "Damnit. Might've been those God's Army profligates." Helen said.
Sergei shook his head at that. "Would be strange for them to be this far west. Rarely operate across the river. Bodies also look like they were left in place, maybe stripped of items. They'd normally haul those two outside to execute, if they can."
"Hell's Raider's then. Bodies look a bit old, enough they might've still been active at the time." she said, soon enough continuing along until the road ended at a small apple orchard. "Won't be easy getting through. Can check this out then continue on foot." she suggested, though their search would be brief. Whoever had been here had already long since left. Instead they headed through where the treeline looked thin, intending to continue across open ground and hopefully find a road again, a journey that'd be rather short at least.
"What strange luck. Old arcanist enclave from the looks of it" she said. Sol now was starting to get a bit nervous. "You...know about stuff like this? Old buddy used to have a book on alchemy, both of us found it interesting but I was never any good with chemistry." he explained.
"Interesting. I myself have experience with it, these items you see me kitted out with are part of what can be made, if the correct caution is used. An outfit people used to fear, as there are people you'd dabble in much more dangerous things than alchemy, and it was once my brethren's job to stop such things." she explained in response, finding to her disappointment that the place was abandoned and looted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 23, 2017, 12:16:53 pm
Dee could hear music. The small radio station was decently sound proofed, and as such he couldn't hear much of anything from outside. He wondered if this "King Barry" had gotten wind of anything outside this building. The music he heard rankled him a little, cheap movie soundtrack crap. Only a complete idiot would enjoy this shit. He moved up the hall past a series of offices which seemed to be filled with ordinance and possibly stolen loot. Looking in one, he found it to be filled with a collection of cardboard cases of unsold paperbacks. The crappy bodice rippers you could get at any dime store pharmacy in any crappy little town and read primarily by lonely women in their thirties with their four cats. He moved on towards a heavy steel door at the end of the hallway, the one where the music seemed to be coming from and that which had a light shining beneath it. He pressed his ear to the door, trying to catch a bit of sound from inside, and thought he could hear a voice in there. "...ease my fair Lady Redscarf, ever since I saw you this noonday, I have been-" The music drowned out the rest. "So," Dee thought, "Just... Bust in there like a SWAT kicking in the door of a drug dealers crash pad. Sure. You can do that." An idea occurred to him, and he went back and rummaged around in some of the ordinance crates, eventually coming up with something he could use. He loaded the snub nosed .38 and tucked it into his waist band behind his back. He'd use it if he had to, but first, the door.
The door didn't burst at first, it simply buckled a little and a muffled "Fuck! Ow..." Could be heard beyond it. There was a pause in which whoever had assaulted the door realized it wasn't locked, and then the door knob simply turned and swung open. Dee came into the room and looked around. The music was much louder in here, and the room itself reflected that loudness with it's horde of gaudy adornment. The floor of what had once been the back storage of the station was covered in rugs of every style and color, while the walls were decorated with wall hangings of similar style, that style being everything from fine silk tapestry to cheap anime shop wall scrolls. The room also boasted several racks of melee weapons, all of which were either very bad fakes or very good battle ready duplicates. At the center of the room was a hastily erected dias upon which sat a collection of silken pillows. Atop this sat a heavy old throne, probably taken from an antique shop, and atop this sat Lady Redscarf herself. "Oh. Mica, uh... So... I'm here to rescue you?" She was grinning her old wide smile again, the one that made her look like she could lunge forward and bite your head off at any moment. When Dee spoke though, her true lips closed and left her False ones open to give the appearance of a normal mouth with far too many teeth in it. "Ah." said the man Dee hadn't noticed right away. "So you are this rapacious lizard I've heard about eh?" King Barry was a man much like Dee himself. Average of height and build, but where Dee liked to cover his body in hoodies with the sleeves cut off and blue jeans, King Barry preferred horrifyingly conflicting stage clothing. He looked like a man playing at being a pirate. "Rapacious? I don't know about that dude. What I do know is, you've got my girl." King Barry laughed, a high unpleasant noise. Mica made a little disgusted look at him like the sound of it hurt her ears. "Very funny lizard, but the lady Redscarf is to be my wife!" Dee glanced at Mica who just rolled her eyes. "My-ka not know what that mean." She said. Neither of the men noticed. The King was advancing on him now, "You'll not take her from me you brute!" Dee had to stifle a laugh. Was this guy really the king of this group of bandits? Really the leader of a branch of the Hell's raiders? To King Barry, he simply said "You've got to be kidding me." The other man was indignant though, "I kid you not sir! Lady Redscarf and I have conversed at great length about every matter of romance, and while the lady dost not understand all, she has agreed to be my wife!" Dee wanted to take his mask off because he knew it couldn't emulate the look of incredulity he was making. "Sure they did," Dee thought, "And she probably didn't understand what the hell he was proposing." King Barry seemed to have opened the floodgates of his mouth though, and was releasing something that sounded both like one of the crap romance novels in the other room, and a tirade as King Barry's "thee's" and "thou's" fell in and out. "Ah, but what would thee know of true love? Did you not ignore the beauteous Lady Redscarf all the time she spoke of herself? Did you not show naught but cold towards she that meant for you only warmth? Did yo-" Dee cut him off, "Listen dude, can we turn this shit music off? It's getting on my nerves." Mica gave an exaggerated nod and it was then that he noticed just how wobbly she looked. The red silk covering her eyes on one side had fallen askew and she seemed to waver a little. To Dee, she looked like someone with about a quart of something alcoholic in her. "Hey, did you drug her? I swear to god, if you-" Barry waved it off. "I did no such thing. Unlike slinking lizards like yourself, King Barry has no need of such tricks to win the affection of a woman. We shared coffee, that is all." Dee didn't believe him. This bandit asshole couldn't have got her drunk. Mica wouldn't touch the stuff, she thought it was poison. Hell, to her it probably was poison. If coffee was all though, then what had gotten her in this state?
"Boyz, boyz," Said Mica, "Boyz..." Dee watched her and waited to see what she would say next, but King Barry abased himself at the arm of the throne. "Yes my love? what is it?" Mica took him by the chin in her long insectile fingers. "Lizard and King both want My-ka, but My-ka only has room for one. My-ka does not love King though. Only room for lizard now."
"Yes my love, I understand." Responded the King. Dee didn't but would soon enough. Mica put one of her legs up on the arm of the throne, revealing a long stretch of soft skinned inner thigh. King Barry rose to his feet and stared at Dee with hate until the latter thought the former meant to set him afire with his eyes. To Dee's surprise, King Barry crossed the room, stripped off one silk glove, and slapped Dee across the face with it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 01:07:33 pm
Roxanne had seen Hector’s reaction and was loving every second of it. She saw him standing there, wide eyed and unmoving, without a single noise coming from here. This went out for a few moments. "Hector, are you alright?", Roxanne called to the knight in her most sympathetic voice she could muster. Hector, still unresponsive, succumbed to the shock. One moment he was standing, the next he was on the ground after having fainted.
Roxanne bursted laughing no longer able to contain herself. "How the mighty have fallen.", She told to herself. She didn’t know if people were watching or not, but she didn’t care. She sat on the ground next to Hector and patted his head, laughter barely subsidided. "Oh Hect, you are too easy." She stood up and sat him down on closest chair. The prank was a success, but the consequence were unplanned for; she didn’t know what to do next.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 01:28:02 pm
Hector was struggling to parse the reality of it, when something snapped him out of it. Her laughter, and a little pat on the head. "Easy...oh, y-you...of all the bloody..." he trailed, looking up at her with a mix of concern and annoyance. It was then a thought popped into his mind. "So it was just a little game on your part? And here I was worried, that once time I forgot..." he said, barely managing to keep a straight face. Of course he never lapsed in that regard when it came to playing it safe, but he wasn't sure Roxanne would remember that as clearly as he did.
Two can play that game, he thought.
The three of them soon enough found another small hint of a town, long since cleaned out, though numerous stranded vehicles remained, more than the paltry few buildings would warrant. The one thing they found that was at all worth the visit was an abandoned SWAT truck, though its wheels were torn all to pieces as though it'd ran through a minefield and limped into town.
"Fuel's out, vheels are in bad shape." Sergei remarked, the latter being an understatement. "Lights still work though. I have idea, vhat if radio still work?"
Helen hopped in and grabbed at the CB in the cab of the truck, a bit awkwardly fumbling with dials, evidently having little experience with radio operation, though The Cleansing Flame did coordinate some raids via two-way.
The looping broadcast she heard as she turned it on make her turn a bit pale with shock under her mask. The feminine voice recorded was clear, distinct. It wasn't immediately familiar to her, but it sparked a rush of memories. The voice was painfully familiar in the back of her mind, remembering hordes of monsters, a woman that fought with arcane fury, the guilt of striking down what would've been a sister under her order had things not gone all wrong, before she was even born.
A cascade of thoughts was rushing through her mind. She remembered Acolyte Darius, practically still a boy and yet she was proud to call him brother-in-arms, thinking he rightly earned his inherited rank his father, a Knight-errant of Christ, once carried. She remembered him crumpled in a heap on the ground, blade clutched in a desperate deathgrip. She remembered her hammer being wrenched out of her hands, picking up the blade of her fallen Brother and striking when the time was right. It cut deep into the throat, silencing a voice she now heard again, 5 or 6 years later. She never used the sword again, letting it rust in its scabbard until it found redemption only a week or two ago at most, restoring a blade ward.
Sergei seemed to notice something was off, not really knowing what. "Farm's broadcast. Never met the lady that set it up, I hear she's fairly nice. They've been vorking vith Father Donavon, a few visited Hap's once. Did a number on those God's Army suki for starting trouble." he explained. The mage-hunter carefully picked up the receiver, taking her mask off to answer the broadcast. The conflicting emotions on her face were clear. "H-hello?" was all she could muster initially.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 01:40:25 pm
Roxanne’s giddy attitude ended when at the mention of the last statement from Hector. "That time you forgot what?...", asked a now concern Roxanne. "Hector...is there something you want to tell me." Roxanne’s own eyes widen as the implication came over her. "You mean..." Her own face now resembled the knight's only a few minutes before.
At another time, Roxanne was at the Radio thinking about updating her broadcast loop. Not many people had called back and she was worried it was the contents of the broadcast itself. He thoughts were interrupted when she heard a voice from the radio. "H-hello?" Was all that was heard. The voice’s tone warranted a response so Roxanne sat down, put on her headset and responded. “This is Roxanne Luna, we have picked up your transmission loud and clear. Don’t worry, you are not alone out there. What would be your name and location?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 01:50:49 pm
Hector looked up at her, maintaining that expression for a moment, before smiling a bit. He couldn't keep that facade up for very long without cracking up. "Now who's too easy?" he remarked.
In another time, Helen hesitated a bit at the voice, uncertain how to respond. "Helen McKinnon. I've been on route to the refugee center following some business to attend to." she answered. While it would be unfamiliar to her, if Victor could overhear her he might feel a similar subconscious sense of unease.
Sergei then decided to join in, asking to see a receiver for a moment. "Sergei Mikhailov here as well. Don't think we've met yet, but I met some of your comrades at Hap's."
Hector grinned a bit as he heard the radio, having been tending to his tank. "Hector here. Didn't get the chance to catch your name back then. Surprised to hear you heading that way."
Helen then, feeling a bit of renewed confidence, took back the CB receiver. "He volunteered to go along following a few things we worked together on. Run-ins with this group called God's Army, evidently we all share a common enemy." she answered.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 02:05:18 pm
"Don’t do that Hector! It isn’t funny!". Roxanne told Hector while giving him a small shove, unaware of the hypocrisy of the statement. She then laugh as well and then excused herself, leaving the knight to work on the tank. She had to cross a few things off her list she no longer carried because reasons.. "Hell’l raiders and God’s army huh? Guess we do have things in common! Don't you think their names are a nice contrast? Anyways, if you would like to stop by to trade or just to say hi, you are more than welcome. We are near the refugee center and I am sure many here would like to meet up with their folks they meet at the bar."
Victor had entered the room unbenounced to Roxanne; he had come to pick up a few books that Roxanne kept in her personal collection when he heard the conversation on the radio. His face went blank at the sound of peculiar voice. He stepped forward and put a pair of headsets reserved for when someone else wanted in.Roxanne said hi, surprise to see him there, but didn’t even acknowledge her opting to speak as soon as he sat.
"Victor Ironwood here...I recognized one of your voices there...just wanted to say ‘The Order’ never forgets..."
Roxanne looked at him with worry before she herself spoke up. "What’s going on here?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 02:14:52 pm
Helen nodded at that, smiling a little. Just like she expected of someone who could've been a sister-in-arms, she thought. "Remind me to buy a drink for whoever has those brigands running for the hills. Made my travels farther north a bit more exciting. If the gods will it, we shall." she said. That statement might sound a little peculiar, before Victor said that.
"However...as I feared. Nor do your brethren forget, long-lost though we are." she said. One moment she'd perked up quite a bit, another moment her voice turned cold and business-like. "I'd hoped I was wrong about my concerns, brother-led-astray." she said. Victor certainly would know that term, one The Cleansing Flame once used early on after The Schism. Before things turned violent, and more hateful terms were coined for members of The Order. To hear a mage-hunter call him that, after all this time, might be a bit confounding.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 02:26:23 pm
"Brother-led-astray, words I haven’t heard in quite a while. Guess you really hold ill will towards the dissenters then. That’s rather commendable, but not enough...you took something from me I can’t get back… Your organization has meant nothing but strife to us. Now that of you come here I will be watching...I will not do anything since that is not welcomed here...but now that I will be watching… Victor Ironwood out." Victor exited the room with after that, not uttering a single word.
"What was he talking about? Why did Victor said those things to you? Who are you people?", asked a confused Roxanne. "And what ‘suspicion’ were you hoping was wrong? If you and him have history, I think we should know. We welcome anyone here but we don’t like to hide stuff from one another."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 02:42:16 pm
Helen sighed a bit at that. "Ignorant as far too many of them, I see. We stopped calling you that ages ago, in favor of much worse things. And here I thought referring to you as a brother, led astray or not, was better than calling you profligate and heretic." she said.
In response to Roxanne's questions, she managed a little smile. "If we meet, there will be a better time for explanations. The history we share goes back to my father's time, actually. If you wish it. I will say this much. I am Helen McKinnon, inheritor of the rank Thane of Odin's Oath, a Sister serving The Cleansing Flame. I have no desire to rekindle old hatred. Both our orders were led astray in their own way." she said.
"If you do arrive, so be it. I want all three of you to behave, understood? A stranger especially." Hector chimed in over the tanks headset. "If you can assure this of the ones you shelter, then you have my word that I will as well. I will not have access to radio contact after I leave this place. Helen out." she said, exiting the broken-down SWAT truck and turning towards the road.
The newcomer was uncertain what to make of all this, getting a glimpse into a history he had no awareness of. Sergei for his part was conflicted. Radio lady is a friend of the knight, he thought. But Helen is a comrade to him now, what if it came to blows? Break things up if it looked like they might do so, he decided.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 23, 2017, 02:50:04 pm
"What the hell?" Dee said, backing away from the king. "I challenge you to a duel sir!" Dee rubbed the side of head, "Duel? Wha?" He was thinking about just drawing the pistol and ending it then and there, but Mica was watching. Over the course of the drive, he'd had a lot of time to think. When he wasn't struggling to maintain control of the van with the living industrial blender in the back that was. Yeah, he'd been kind of a dick since pulling Mica out of the river. Yeah, he'd not just pushed away the possibility of something between them but had outright shitcanned the idea from the start. And yeah, he had to admit that Mica scared the hell out of him sometimes. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that she wasn't really that bad. The more he thought about how not really that bad she was, the more he realized that he could give her a chance. He wasn't ready to say he loved her yet, and probably wouldn't ever, but he'd give her an honest shot. He didn't want her thinking he was some sneaky cheat bringing a gun to a knife fight. He almost had second thoughts though when King Barry suddenly drew a cutlass and advanced on him. "Hey, hey, woah. Not fair dude, I don't have a sword. You wanna 'fight for the fair lady,' fine. But at least fight fair." King Barry Scowled at him, but relented by tossing Dee a cavalry saber in a cheap velvet scabbard. "En garde fuck boy!" Shouted the king as soon as Dee had drawn the blade. The remark caught Dee off guard with the ridiculousness of it, "So we are fighting with meme's now?" He said, allowing a touch of humor seep into his voice. "You have no chance lizard, I am a classically trained!" Dee doubted that like hell. From all appearances, King Barry showed about as much aptitude with the cutlass as Dee did with his saber. The blades clashed together, once, twice, three times. "C'mon lizard, attack me already!" His opponent growled. Dee wasn't much of a swordsman, but he could see that his foe was just screwing around, attacking Dee's weapon instead of actually fighting. He thought of Catnip and Kathrine practicing with Hector, a scene he'd watched from the distance. Catnip had been too clumsy to adopt the proper footing, but Kathrine hadn't. Dee shifted his feet and adopted the fencing position long enough to attempt a parry more suited to something straighter and thinner, but failed to repost.
Mica loved what she was watching. The lizard and the king, fighting over her. Of course, if she'd been more lucid, she would have used any of the previous opportunities to simply end King Barry then and there. The coffee. That was it. She could still taste the bitter brown water. A nasty flavor, but it made her feel warm and energetic. She put her other leg up with the first across the arm of the throne and lay across the chair, then gave a little wave to the combatants. "Yoohoo!" She said, waggling her fingers at them.
He was getting better, warming up. Had Dee really thought that King Barry was boasting a bunch of crap when he'd said he was trained? He considered again using the gun, only his pride this time preventing that move. King Barry slapped Dee's saber aside and went for a thrust, which Dee attempted to deflect only to find that the sword had changed course suddenly and was headed lower. Towards his leg. He tried to step aside from the feint, but he tripped on what felt like a stack of this romance paperbacks and fell on his backside with a thump. King Barry was on him, seizing the advantage but Dee thought fast and tossed one of the books at the pursuing bandit king, rolling over as he did so. It was a poor play, but he didn't have much else. It bought him enough time to get up, but not enough to turn around and face his opponent. The cutlass sliced through his hoodie and the shirt beneath before making a shallow cut across the small of Dee's back. He hardly felt it, realizing with some delight that his one defining mutation had probably saved his life. His scales. Thin as they were, they still gave a decent amount of resilience to his skin. Enough to shrug off minor cuts anyway. He spun on King Barry, his confidence in himself bolstered by the revelation of his innate advantage, and gave the saber a hard but misjudged chop. The king stepped back out of the arc of the saber, and then stepped back in and struck Dee hard in the face with the guard of his weapon. The interface winked out, and the LED's making up the masks outside did likewise, causing Dee to stumble against a wall, tumbling a rack of weapons which clattered noiselessly on the thickly carpeted floor.
Mica saw Dee whip his mask off. "Such han-some lizard." She thought hazily. "hide han-some scales with stoo-pid ro-but mask." The fighting had moved to a portion of the room behind her, but instead of simply turning to watch, she let her head follow gravity and watched the proceedings upside down.
For awhile, the fight went on with Dee in constant retreat and King Barry harrying him around the room until Dee was given a splash of luck. On one particularly vicious cut delivered, Dee rotated his saber around it and somehow managed to jab the back of the kings hand. He almost apologized with the shock of having stabbed his opponent, but bit it back. King Barry's reaction was nothing less than pathetic. He shrank back, clutching his wounded hand. Sucking at the tiny cut like he had been trying to extricate the venom from a snake bite. Tears began to form at the edges of the kings eyes. "Hey uh, I'm not gonna-" Started Dee, briefly forgetting that King Barry was an enemy and still very capable. It was fortunate for Dee that Mica had what little sobriety she had left, for when Dee took his step forward, King Barry also took a step closer to him. Dee didn't see the knife right away, but Mica's sudden cry of fear and outrage tipped him off just in time to twist his body enough to avoid being gutted, but not enough to avoid catching the knife through his fore arm. "Oh jeez! that fuckin..." Barry tried to wrench the knife out of the lizards arm and Dee thought "To hell with it," drew the .38, and shot King Barry in the stomach.
The shot was rather anticlimactic after the extended duel, but regardless Mica cried out with joy at the victory. "My lady..." Gasped King Barry, "My... lovely Redscarf... Please, my heart is yours... only for... don't..." Dee carefully pulled the knife from his arm, not watching as the gutshot bandit king crawled towards the throne and Mica. "Is that my blood? Jeez..." Dee thought, staring at the hole in his arm. He felt light headed and weak, He had to sit down. Bright colors appeared in front of his eyes, and a sense of vertigo filled him. Felt like... Falling. He was falling... falling. There was a thump, and then everything was dark.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 02:52:21 pm
Roxanne listened in to what the stranger had to say, no interrupting. She noted Hector’s remark before briefly speaking up before Helen disconnected. "The Cleansing Flame huh...Don’t worry, I too don’t want any trouble. If you do come by, an explanation would be nice, I’ll treat you to some drinks if you want while we talk."
After the radio disconnected, she felt the force once more. It was a warning of thing to come, as she had learned this particular feeling was. But a warning for what? At the thought of that, the force gave her a sudden urge, she had to find Victor and get him to explain what the hell was going on. She doubted she would get a complete answer, Victor had held the truth to her before, but she would use his side of the story to compare to Helen's to gauge who she could trust. Hopefully she could convince him to behave of she did decide to come; worse came to worse she hope hector would help her break things up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 23, 2017, 03:00:38 pm
Lilith had started to run out of bandits. The last couple she found were cowering in corners, pleading for their lives, before she stuck various large metal objects/her paws into their faces. The last couple were mostly those that'd survived being hit by doors, or by some miracle, survived being near the gate when she tossed the truck through it. She had gotten to the very last, only-somewhat-conscious bandit, when a thought managed to get past her raging murder-ladyboner. Mica had always been fine with eating people, and Mica was always happy. This one looked like he had muscle on him, too.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 03:07:37 pm
Helen sighed a bit as she continued onward, finding another momentary fork in the road, a small roadside hotel visible to their left, and to the right lay the road their traveling companion stated led onward. They decided for a moment to examine the place in case they needed to rest. Helen likewise decided a break from their long walk was warranted, finding the place was abandoned and littered with what remained of the undead.
While their guide was busy investigating some of the motel rooms, Sergei quietly pulled Helen aside to talk to her. "So. What is history between you and radio lady, and this Victor?" he asked, a bit concerned now.
"More a matter of history between my group and hers. There was a dispute about certain matters that turned violent." she said. "They're dangerous, reckless, not as cautious with the arcane as one should be. But we were too cautious, restrictive even. As you've seen, there are some things I've learned that my brethren would frown upon. If they cause trouble..." she trailed off.
"I will have to break it up myself. I don't want a comrade fighting with friend of Hector." he said simply. They'd take a break rest after ensuring no undead remained intact enough to get back up, before continuing.
They started down the road again, though it was a bit later in the afternoon, wanting to get closer to their goal. The newcomer pointed out there were no other structures in walking distance they could reach before nightfall, but seemed accepting of the idea of pressing on and camping off the side of the road if needed. With the sun setting she'd work on stripping branches for trees and setting up a simple lean-to structure, large enough for the three, suggesting it best to avoid building a fire since the season was relatively warm.
They'd keep watch in shifts, sleeping uneasily but getting through the night without anything of note occuring. It wasn't that much longer a walk until they made it into the center. A peculiar sight, a mage hunter in a scaled cloak, a burly fellow in a tracksuit, and a young man with a crossbow. She decided to trade one of a few well-used cash cards for a small two-way radio in case she needed it later on. All she had left to do then was a little asking around, about the farm broadcast and the radio woman. She wanted to find out what they knew about her, what little they might tell her at least, while their temporary traveling companion settled in to go find work, parting ways for now.
She suspected most of the people at the refugee center had little experience with the arcane, the merchant in particular offering an uncharged summoning glyph among her wares for sale, thinking it to be a mere piece of jewelry.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 04:41:05 pm
Victor had gone back to his room. He withdrew his blade inspected it. It was his pride but also a symbol of his strife. It was tied to the cleansing flame after all and that couldn’t be changed. He noted his lack of shadow and for a moment self doubt came over him. “Maybe they were right...maybe humanity isn’t supposed to know…” He brushed those thought away. He had comed too far, he was prove that they were wrong and his cause was just, the arcane could be tamed!
A knock at the door snapped him out of his trance. He know who it was, he went and opened the door. Lue and behold, it was none other than Roxanne. "Look, I am sorry for the way I acted. I don’t know wha-", Victor spoked before stopping mid sentence. Something was off. He could feel a presence. He looked at Roxanne and noticed she looked off as well; wide eyed, head tilted to the side ever-so-slightly, sedated smile and her eyes lacked their usual sparkle.
"Don’t worry about it Vic, water under the bridge.", Roxanne said while closing her eyes and giving a dismissive hand gesture. "Anyways, remember that ritual we talk about the other day? Well, I was thinking, if the gal on the radio is from the cleansing flame, she must know about the arcane. Why don’t we get her in on it? Hell, why don’t we invite her to the ritual itself!", Roxanne told Victor, she suddenly became very excited towards the ends and looked at him with childlike glee while clasping her hands. Something was definitely off.
Victor had his difference with the Cleansing Flame and certainly had a bone to pick with this particular member but that could wait. This was starting to get out of hand. An unknown force had taken over his friend, manipulated her, demanded tribute, asked about means of escaped and now wanted to involve the cleansing flame… "Sure thing Roxanne, if that is what you really want, I promise to behave and get it done."
"Thanks Vic, you are the best! Well, maybe second best.", Roxanne responded, winking at him. "I shall await with pleasure.", Roxanne said, lucidity once more in her voice but with malignant intent; also, it wasn’t really her voice, no, it was a mere conduit….
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 23, 2017, 04:46:16 pm
Dee awoke to Mica's clumsy ministrations. While he'd been unconscious, Mica had bound his arm tightly with a length of black silk ribbon and had applied some thick blackish resin which clung like a scab to the stab wound. It was a similar color to Mica's own chitin in fact. That recognition had him scanning Mica's arms, and sure enough there was a crack in one of her left hands. It was now filled in with the resin that all of her mostly thickly armored portions excreted upon their breakage. Mica lay next to him on the floor, caressing his face and arms. "My-ka's he-row!" She exclaimed quietly when she noticed he was awake. She planted a kiss, full but brief, on his lips. The act sent a jolt through him, waking him fully, and he reciprocated. When they separated a long moment later. "Bold lizard..." she whispered. Dee realized at that moment, if he wanted, he could have her then. She was staring down at him, the glint in her one exposed eye indicating her desire. Later on, when Mica had sobered, he would be glad that he hadn't acted on his instincts. He would think back on it and see clearly what would have been tarnished, ruined even, by one night of false romance.
When Mica had sobered some, she explained her desire to keep the name given to her by her captors as a surname, among other important things. The two of them walking hand in hand to see if Lilith had finished venting. "My-ka not sure she love lizard." She said suddenly, "My-ka do like lizard, but feels..." Dee finished for her, "Like we're going to fast." Mica nodded. "Bandits give ad-vise to. It good ad-vise. They say you not make dee-si-shun in one day. They say dee-si-shun take a long time sometimes." It was Dee's turn to nod. "Yeah, it takes time. In the old world, before it is like it is now people used to go around taking each other out on dates all the time before deciding if they wanted to be with someone or not. Sometimes they would do that for years with the same person." Mica pointed out something near the side of a burning building. "Looks like Lilith's calmed down. Shall we?"
Lilith turned to meet them, and the look of horror in her eyes was profound. Mica reached up and pulled the arm out from where it was impaled on one of Liliths impressive saber fangs. "Lil-eth," Said Mica, the last remnants of the coffee doing their work, "Why you not share with My-ka? Greedy Lil-eth." Dee waved his hand in front of the tigresses face, and it was a long time before she would respond again. Dee and Mica led her just outside the ruins of the bandit camp, and set up a fire pit for one to warm themselves at. In the morning, they would begin the long walk back home.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 06:09:39 pm
Roxanne felt used, this was the first time it had happened but she it felt horrible. The forced had taken over her body and subverted her will. She was helpless to do anything but watch. When she reached her room, the force let go and left entirely once more; she sat on her bed and wept quietly.
"Why me, what does it want?", Roxanne sobbed. She had to do something about it. It had started as a simple feeling and she regarded it with simple curiosity all those years back. But now, it had gotten to the point of manipulating her own will. Why did it want Victor to do the ritual? Escape? It had to be a fool if he thought Victor would let it. But that make her think, was it bounded to her? And did it want to get the Cleansing Flame gal into this? Too many questions and no answers. Victor would be of no help, she thought sees to blindly agree to the whims of the force. She would have to rely on Helen, as she called herself, to help her. Victor would not like this but Roxanne had no actual history with her.
"If you can hear me...Know that I won’t give in...I don’t mean any ill will but you refuse to speak to me! You are going to far now and this needs to stop. If you don’t tell me what you want...I won’t have any qualms in purging you!" At the last statement, the candles of Roxanne’s altar came to life. The glow of blue flames engulfed the room and Roxanne averted her gaze, startled and confused. When she looked back, she could see the shadow the flames casted looked like a shifting-humanoid silhouette; had two circles that were illuminated by the light that resembled eye sockets. “Roxanne Luna”, a voice emanated from somewhere, “But that is not your real name is it? But that is of no consequence now… You have asked for me to speak to you for some time now… Thanks to you, I know muster enough power to do so...As gratitude, I will answer your questions…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 06:17:12 pm
Helen wasn't that amused by what she overheard discussing things with the locals at the refugee center. They were a bit nervous around her, but what little she overheard didn't bode well. Soon enough the two of them would continue onward. "Helen here. Picked up a portable radio at the center, dropped off the traveler we picked up. Will be there within the hour." she said. This time there was a tone in her voice that hinted she was speaking past the metal of her mask.
They followed the directions offered by the merchant, a path across the open field and cutting through the wetlands. She mused on how inscecure this approach seemed, until she saw the array of vehicles in the distance, well-armed and in full condition. The first person she'd see was a figure in mail, a kite shield bearing a red and white pattern. She was unnerved given her encounters with God's Army templars, until Sergei reassured her that the figure was Hector, the knight giving a wave that the gopnik returned. The result was the odd sight of a fellow in a tracksuit, and a woman in a cloak with gilded scales, making their way towards the farm...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 06:58:18 pm
Victor could feel it, she was here. He had set up a spell to detect auras around the farm. Original used for experiments and now Roxanne's “force”, it detected a new aura. The field would not tell him where on the farm they were, so it could not be used for tracking, only that it was there. Human auras were also mostly the same so he couldn't tell the likes of Hector, Floyd, Roland and others apart. Mutants and people who were into the arcane were a different story. He could tell Mica’s Aura from Catnip's, or Quinn’s from Roxanne’s, for example. A new aura had manifested itself, it was ‘pure’ in it's quality, he recognized it from the events of ‘that’ night when his own aura was under the influence of his one corrupted sword.
Victor got up and went outside to see Helen and Hector chatting it up. Some other person was with her but he paid them no mind. Victor picked a corner to lean on and listened on, keeping an eye on the mage hunter.
After her little “chat” with the force, she decided to take a walk outside. She was satisfied with her questioning but still wasn't too sure of the force's motives. She would give it some thought and decide if she would take it’s “offer”.
Once outside, Roxanne heard the radio she carried announce the arrival of the gal who had announced herself, her name was Helen right? She would get something to eat to pass the time, she knew it was some ways from the center. Once she was done she went over to the array of vehicles to find her and someone else talking to Hector. A she approached and noticed Victor leaning on one of the walls nearby. They both acknowledge each other but spoke no words, instead Roxanne continued on her was to the convo. “Helen McKinnon was it? I am Roxanne, nice to meet you. I take it you have met the local knight?”, Roxanne said as she reached the group.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 07:10:13 pm
Helen was uncertain just yet what to expect, she wanted to activate her mask to sense their presences and discern what auras might indicate magic nearby, but it was too late to do so now. If she activated her mask now, they might see it as a sign of hostile intent.
Sergei shook Hector's hand, with his free hand he waved to Roxanne. "Greetings. So you're the one Hector tells me about. Interesting way to end up meeting you. I'm Sergei." he said. Helen however had frozen, unnerved at the sight of Roxanne. There were immense differences true, but under the bionics and mutations she still clearly resembled the woman she fought, all those years ago. "That would be me, yes. I take it that you're also a member of The Order, as is the boy I heard over the radio earlier?" she asked. She was unsure how to handle this, but she attempted to maintain a facade of confidence.
"And if she is? An assassin that chose mercy as Catnip put it, if she can choose mercy, then both can choose peace, correct?" Hector said. "Hmm. How poetic, that we meet in peace with you as one of their hunters, and I a hunter of another sort." Helen responded.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 07:29:43 pm
“Nice to meet you too Sergie, I take it you are from the bar the boys and the mutant sisters went to?” Roxanne turned around and gave Hector a playful look. “Also, do tell what the knight has said about me. For his sake he better not done any drunken rambles.”
Roxanne commented at the end of Hector's and Helen’s little exchange. “Don’t mind him. He is very stoic at times but the tin man has a heart. And to answer your question, yes, I am from the same order as Victor. Although I hold no I’ll will. To be honest, I didn't know of your organization until after the cataclysm. I wasn't in the known, I simply did my job.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 07:38:49 pm
Sergei nodded at that. "Hope Father Donovan has been faring better. Taji will deny ever vorrying about a single thing, but I'm certain he was afraid our friend vould not make it." he said. "Missed a lot since last visit. Another visit from God's Army. They killed Hap's son. Helen, Taji, and Damien gave them vhat they deserve." he said, smiling a little.
Helen smiled a bit. "Your own knight in shining armor, interesting. I suppose we have much to discuss. As I expected though, if you're a hunter I assume they didn't tell you much of your history. Most of my brethren knew nothing of you either. Only the elders present for the founding, along with their sons and daughters." she explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 08:42:51 pm
“He is doing just fine.”, Roxanne answered in regards to Donovan, “He is already up and about. He is quite the tough nut to crack.” Roxanne paused as Sergei continued. “Oh, I am sorry to hear that. Those fiends of god’s army have been nothing but trouble. We have killed a fair share of them but they keep appearing like roaches.”
Roxanne blushed a bit at Helen’s initial remarks. "That obvious huh? And I guess you are right. I wasn't even let into the arcane. They said had still to fulfill my purpose...I was close though...but that’s in the past now.", Roxanne turned towards Hector. "But where are our manners! Come one Hector, let’s show our guest around. Helen, the offer for the drinks still stands, as long as you are willing share some intel."
Victor observed all this. He wanted to get Helen alone but that wasn’t gonna happen. No one would trust him to handle himself properly. He would settle on talking to her once she was done talking with the others to enquire on the ritual and make, at worse, a temporary truce. He left his spot and returned to his quarters.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 08:49:54 pm
Sergei smiled a bit. "Good that he's alright then." he said. "Good to have a chance to meet you and catch up on things. Should've been there to see the number ve did on one of their hideouts."
Hector perked out a bit. "Caught them in a location? Good. By any chance, you see any sign of two people Mr. Sandell was hoping to find? One mutated, another cybernetic." The Russian simply shook his head. "No. I wish we did, but nothing there but those bastards and some much weirder pizdecs."
Helen nodded at that. "Very well then, will be nice to get a chance to discuss such things." she said. "If you yourself were a hunter, what role did the other take, if I may ask?" she said, unaware of Victor eavesdropping on them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 09:50:48 pm
Roxanne smiled at Sergei’s remarks. "Must’ve been quite the show. I was off doing one of my own. Safe to assume both of you have quite the tales to tell, good for morale."
Roxanne nodded at Helen’s question. "Victor was what is know as a ‘Expander’, fancy term for researcher. It was people like him that directly worked with the arcane and expanded on it, hence their name. I didn’t even get to gaze their artifacts, that was the job of ‘aquisitionists’, people who’s job was to get arcane items and knowledge to people like Victor. How about yourself? From what you told me, I assume the cleansing order has ranks too?" The group was at this point moving towards the commune area.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 10:02:48 pm
Sergei nodded at that. "Vill be pleasure to hear that story." he said, smiling some as he followed the others.
Helen nodded at that. "I see. I recall he'd be classed as warlock by the few of my brethren that knew of your ranks, given their experiences with those researchers. Mostly in a few incidents of magical items gone awry." she said, rather casually given she was speaking of someone she didn't wish to fight. "As for rank, both of us only held the official title of Brother or Sister. Those that held rank in our founding orders retain them as well, and passed them on to their kin. Hence why I cited the title Thane on the radio. My father's rank in Odin's Oath." she said. "Other than rank, it depended on what each was good at. Craftsman, scholars, healers were common. Hunters...well, one's role varied depending on if you took up the hammer, the blade, or the crossbow."
"Now then. The boy that spoke up earlier likely knows this, I know not if you know this. Of why his voice, and yours, gave me pause at first." she said, hesitating a bit. "I want him to come forth, and explain why you live as an assassin, when you died a scout." she said, again taking on that more businesslike tone. Hector seemed to be shocked by that, looking back and forth between the two, while Sergei looked on perplexed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 23, 2017, 10:33:25 pm
"Mica Redscarf." Said Dervish, rolling Mica's adopted surname around in his mouth. "It's an interesting adventure at least." Dee and Mica had told the story of their extended date to Dervish, starting from when Mica had come to Dee the night before, and ending with the walk home after camping out in the wreckage that had once been a bandit settlement. "Get anything good out of the raid?" Dervish asked, shifting his interest more towards any loot acquired. "Sure." Said Dee, glancing towards Mica who was sitting one of his workbenches watching him. "Got me the strangest and most unlikely steady girl I've ever had and a bitchin sword." He'd kept the cavalry saber as a trophy, but hadn't bothered to collect up anything else. The long walk would have made carrying most of it an unbearable proposition anyway. "My-ka go watch Kat-nyp now." She said, hopping down from the table, "lizard take My-ka on walk again?" Dee nodded, "Sure." To Dervish though, he said "It's funny really, how one adventure can really change your opinion of a person." He watched Mica go, and then asked "Hey doc, I could swear up and down that Mica doesn't drink. Won't touch a drop of alcohol." Dervish nodded, he knew full well the spiders aversion to certain substances. "But when I finally got to her, she had more than just a buzz going. That King Barry dickhead claimed he'd only shared coffee with her, but I-" Dervish cut him off with a spate of laughter. When he finally stopped, he explained. "Now that's something the medidoc didn't pick up. It makes sense though, she's mostly spider and the effects of caffeine on spiders was well documented before the cataclysm." Dee gave him a restrained smile, "It's like giving her a gallon of the hard stuff, just one regular cup of coffee and she'd probably be sailing. The effects would probably wear off quick though. What are you working on?" Dee held up his mask to show him. There was a crack running outwards from the point where King Barry had struck it, and a trio of claw inflicted gouges. "Shot to shit I'm afraid doc." He explained, "At least the camera is still good, finding a display with the proper resolution is gonna be a nightmare." He set it aside and Dervish commented that he looked better without it. Dee pushed it away and stacked the good harddrive matrices up to set aside for the time when he was ready to install them. There were eight of them. Of the around forty drives brought to Dee, paid for with the leg of Drifter, only eight of them were usable. "That's pretty good, all things considered." Dee explained. "Just hope he doesn't take it too badly that he and that Roland guy risked life and limb... no pun intended... to get the things." Medeina was watching them carefully. The doctor wondered what Dee was gonna rig up for the AI. He'd heard about Dee's planning with Catnip to start constructing special parts for the project. "Did you and Mica... you know?" Dee looked embarrassed, more at the shifting of the topic back towards him and Mica than at the implication of the question. "No. God no. Er... She's uh, not ready to take that step. Neither am I a guess. We agreed to take it slow." He shrugged, and Dervish gave him a look of approval.
Catnip went to see Drifter after he'd returned from his hunt. He'd brought back venison, and something that smelled like frog, but no more than that. Catnip wondered why, and then noticed that he seemed to be having trouble with his false leg. During her visit she took measurements, via eyeballing and counting out stretches of her thumb. "What'r ya' doin' girly?" Catnip didn't listen, only finished taking some notes. She had a plan, another iron tossed in the fire. Catnip wondered if Drifter would like whatever she came up with.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 23, 2017, 10:34:18 pm
Roxanne listened intently to Helen’s explanation, giving gestures of acknowledgement every now and then. She was oblivious to the fact that the word ‘warlock’ was used in as a slur. At the mention of the crossbow, she recalled that particular section of the cleansing flame’s book and recalled Quinn sported one of those bows.
Roxanne was about to comment on it when she felt the force once more. She was no longer afraid of it, not in the sense she had before anyways; she knew it’s intentions and she somewhat trusted it’s judgement. The force was warning her but once more not giving her any clear indication of what. Then she heard Helen’s question.
It was a good think Victor had left, if not, things might have gotten heated. Instead, Roxanne managed to keep her cool. "I had a feeling it was you.",Roxanne said with a smile, "I saw her body you know? Victor showed me. Sure, I don’t know the details but it made quite the impact on him. Now, as you can see, she and I are not the same person. Know this, I mean no ill will, but I am not her, I won’t go down like she did; I have survived a lot of events this past years and I’ll be damn if I die to the cleansing flame. Now, as to why I am alive? I am not if you are aware of what I have dubbed the shifting, I can fill you in later but short version is that I come from a different reality. I came here and found it my counterpart was dead...and I have met her killer. But who am I to judge? She who for the longest time snuffed the life of her fellow men and partakes in forbidden pleasures?" Roxanne put her hand over her mouth at the last statement. "Forget the last part...Anyways, like I said, I really don’t care what past you hold, mine isn’t any better. My friend Victor however...I only care about the present so as long as we can maintain peace, why don’t we?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 10:45:38 pm
Helen nodded at that. "So you're aware of your nature, of the one bearing your appearance and voice. I've seen some signs of anomalies, but this is the first I've seen of something this drastic." she remarked.
"Perhaps he told you some of it then. We were raiding the structure, having tracked your...doppelganger's movements. The hoard of magical items was beyond compare. Your friend Victor was a damned fool. Too many summoning glyphs, haphazardly stored among countless other things that should be stored separate. His lair was a ticking time bomb." she said calmly.
"I lost two good brethren to the things that were conjured as a result. And I lost three to your doppelganger." she remarked. "One of them was little more than a boy, but he fought well." she said. Despite her attempt to say it calmly, she seemed to falter a bit. "And...hmm. If this is all true, I will not hold the actions of that girl against you. Your friend though, all this time he leaves you to deal with this? Just like them to send scouts and hunters into unfamiliar situations, and not face the consequences themselves." she remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 23, 2017, 11:16:05 pm
Drifter watched Catnip as she went about her business after measuring his leg. He wondered what she was going to do with those but ultimately shrugged as he finished his butchering. Another thing Roland had taught him since they'd met and a skill that had come in handy for the two on quite a few occasions.
Once he was finished Drifter took his freshly butchered meat and asked one of the residents if and where they had a smoker and was pointed to the cook shack. Once pointed in the right direction he moved there and got it set up. As he began the process to turn the venison and some of the frog(out of sheer curiousity) into jerky he wondered how things were going for the rest of the farm.
As he began to focus on his task he couldn't help but smile as memories of barbecues and cookouts in his old neighborhood before it all went to shit. Well his life not the world.
Meanwhile elsewhere on the farm Roland had finally woken up. Even so he laid there and stared at the roof of the building as he tried to think of what he should do. Standing up Roland removed the cloth from around his head and picked up his mask. Giving it a long look he determined he could make something better. He would just need the knowledge. How to forge metal, how to repair or even make machines, all knowledge he lacked himself.
As he walked out of the building he started for the library. He noticed the improvements and couldn't help but stop to admire them before heading inside. He made his way through it and found the books he was looking for as he put them in his bag so he could read them at will. He stopped before leaving however he realized they didn't have a ledger and searched his bag for a spare piece of paper that he quickly used to designate the books he had and wrote a note that they should get a ledger for keeping track of things. Once the note was written he left it on the desk of the library before walking out.
Roland decided to find himself a decent spot to sit where he wouldn't be in the way. He'd need quite a bit of time to learn what he needed to know but he was determined at this point. A proper helmet and the capability to craft himself new gear and maintain it would be a necessary set of skills.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2017, 11:24:04 pm
At a later point in time, Nathaniel heard of the others returning, deciding to go check on Lilith first. The sight was rather shocking to him, even knowing she'd surely shrugged off so much worse. "Lilith? You alright, girl? Glad you're all back in one piece, was worried sick about you guys." he said, approaching her calmly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 24, 2017, 01:10:56 am
Mica detoured to the cabin for a bit to change out of her fancy silks and back into her more mundane green silk. Sharleen was still absent, and that gave her a slight pang of disappointment. Mohammad was there though, brooding. She considered him for a little bit, thinking that maybe it might be fun to terrorize him a little. To her own surprise, she decided against it. Something had changed in her, just a little, but it was enough to make her consider and weigh some actions she would have previously done without thinking much on the consequences. Not too much though. After changing and tossing her clothes back into the plastic trash bag she kept them in. Afterwords, she took another side trip out to a particular tree in the woods behind the cabin and rooted around at it's base until she'd found and dug out a large glass jar. It had filled with leaves and dirt, but the treasure inside would be perfectly fine. Mica had lifted this jar from Mohammad, who in turn has swiped it's contents from Catnip, and now... It was time. No one had forgotten the disappearance of Catnips chocolate stash, and Catnip still had no doubt that "the fly" had eaten it all. Mica picked the dead leaves and twigs out of the jar, then separated the dirt from the chocolate. She wondered what Catnip saw in the little brown sweeties in the jar. She picked one out, a tiny brick no bigger than the last segment on a persons thumb. The reflective green wrapper with the picture of a smiling race car appealed to her, so she pocketed it. She'd try it later. For now, she had to see a Catnip about a chicken.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 24, 2017, 08:15:32 am
Lilith had been lying on the ground next to the fire pit since she had returned, and hadn't even attempted to get the blood out of her fur. Even Nathaniel approaching only elicited a quiet grunt. "Feel bad..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 24, 2017, 09:53:06 am
Roxanne had listened to Helen’s comments, simply nodding at the reaction to the shifting. She would have to explain it later, maybe Helen could shed some light on it. At the comments of her raid to Victor’s lair, she tried her best to conceal a smile, barey being able to do so at the confirmation of Victor’s story.
“I am sorry for your loss, not that it means anything coming from the likes of me...From what Victor told me, the stuff was already there. But still, to be so careless as to take proper precautions… Guess I really don't know him that well. To be honest, I don't have memories of him until recently because he was friends with…”her”...”
At the last bit, Roxanne’s tone change to apologetics. “Hey, it's not like he personally send of people. I, and I am sure my ‘other’, did what we did willingly. We all had our roles and his wasn't in the field...but it would’ve been nice to know what I was fighting for…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 10:03:27 am
Helen smiled a little at that. "It was evidently a mess for both sides, it seems. I myself, well. Honestly it'd been the first time I ever faced members of your order. I wasn't as well-prepared as I thought either." she said, a bit reluctant to explain how it affected her.
"Regardless, right now this isn't a mission. He sent you to do the talking when he should be here for this as well. Sergei, would you hold this for me? Don't want to cause a scene." she said as she handed her hammer over to him, who gave her a concerned look. The reason why she did so became apparent as her mask activated, wanting to ensure the act wouldn't be seen as a hostile act, as it might if she still held the weapon it protected against. Victor could almost certainly sense the way her aura seemed to reach out and take in a greater sense of her surroundings, and now she was looking right at him through the wall he was hiding behind.
Nathaniel regarded her fur, carefully fumbling with a few first aid supplies to at least check whether she had any injuries that were still bleeding, even though he wasn't as competent with first aid as Hector or Roland, nor a proper doctor like Quinn. Nevermind that it would likely take machinegun fire to actually do much to her. "You okay? What's wrong? Heard a little about what happened, sounds like you gave those Hell's Raiders fuckboys what they deserved."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 24, 2017, 10:22:15 am
"Kaaat-Nyiiip." Hissed Mica. In a past life, the barn would have been explosively hot and reeking of the musk of dry hay. These days though, the barn was well ventilated by various accidents and mishaps. A few years before, Catnip had collapsed the roof of the barn. An incident that had been in omen of the soon to occur near tragedy that was an RV with a devious trap. Mica's sister had more recently removed a wall section, the train having grown too large to fit within the barn. As a result the air moved freely, temporarily removing the smell of old oil and fuel that emanated that replaced the hay smell. "Kat-nyp?" Asked Mica again. Holding the jar close, she mounted up the side of the train and peeked in. Not there either, but the breeze was pleasant. She climbed back down and listened carefully. The world had gotten quieter since the cataclysm, not that Mica or Catnip would know, and the sounds of the farm now seemed the loudest things in the world. Dee's music playing at a reasonable volume up at his shop, the hum of the atomic electric generator powering the lights in the farm house, idle chit chat from Quinns lab, and the sounds of dogs and poultry somewhere nearby. Mica caught something faint, a muffled *tat tat tat tat tat.* It was coming from the small side room where Catnip kept her tools. Mica put her hand to the door, but stopped when she looked out the back barn door. Lilith lie curled up near the little circle of stones the other residents sometimes built fires in while they drank their poisons.
Lilith had begun to gather a small crowd. Nathaniel and Kathrine were the first to come and see what was wrong. Nathaniel doing an admirable job trying to treat the smaller injuries Lilith had suffered. These hurts made the latter quail in horror that someone could be so mean. The next to arrive were Dervish and Quinn. "Mr. Dervish!" Kathrine cried when she saw the two doctors leaving Quinn's lab "Something bad happened to Ms. Lilith!" Dervish came at a sprint, treating mutants was his expertise and his self appointed duty. He started with a cursory examination, and then withdrew his repaired medidoc. "Hey girl." He whispered quietly in her ear, daring to carefully stroke the top of her head. "I'm sorry I didn't come see you sooner, that was irresponsible of me. You been in a fight huh?" Kathrine had tried her best to wrap a hug around one large arm, and Dervish tried to pry her away. "It's alright Kat, lemme see. I can't have anybody touching her while I run the checks." Nathaniel took her by the shoulder and Kathrine hugged him instead. "You'd think someone was dying." Dervish thought, but out loud said "Nothing wrong physically, so far anyway. You got some thick skin, you know that girl? Listen, Lil, you've got some stuff stuck in you that Dr. Quinn and I have got to get out. It's mostly scrapes though." She didn't move. "Feel bad..." she grunted again. Dervish looked into her eyes and noted that they seemed to be, as best he could describe, looking inward. The medidoc finally finished it's check, and Dervish said, "As I thought. She's got a lot of cuts and bruises, and some nasty things that need to come out, but she's fine otherwise." He looked at her again, scratching the back of her neck, "I can't be sure, but I think what's she really suffering from is a kind of soul sickness. She's depressed. Sadness, lack of interest in the stuff she usually takes to, hell the fact that she let me touch her in this state. She's got a bad case of the sads."
Mica came over and lay on her stomach near Lilith, kicking her feet in the air, still holding the jar. "May-bee cuz she greedy Lil-eth, and she ashamed cuz My-ka scold for being greedy." She stated, grinning. "What do you mean Mica?" asked Nathaniel, wondering what act of greed Lilith could have committed. Mica saw Kathrine, and thought about how Catnip treated the morsel. No meanness around that one. Catnip got angry, and if Catnip was angry, she wouldn't deal with Mica. Mica grabbed Dervish by the front of his lab coat and pulled him to the ground close enough to whisper in his ear. His eyes widened and he said quietly, "But she's not-" and stopped himself. He saw Kathrine too, and thought it wouldn't do for her to find out what Mica had just revealed. Lilith, in the midst of her ecstatic rage, had decided to try eating a bandit and had regretted it immediately. "Where's this Sharleen lady at?" Dervish asked, "I've yet to meet the young ladies handler, and I think what Lilith needs is a bit of time and maybe her handler here to get her through this slump. I'd very much like to speak with her I think. Help me get some of these arrows out Quinn, if she'll let us."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 24, 2017, 10:28:36 am
Lilith nudges Nathaniel's leg with her head and grumbles something again, curling up on the floor. "Ate..." She makes a gagging sound. "Person." She remains like that while they carefully remove some of the embedded arrowheads, and is still there for a long time afterwards
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 24, 2017, 11:01:41 am
At the sight of the mage hunter handing her hammer to Sergei, Roxanne worried a bit. When the masked started to glow, she was startled. It was then that she felt a new sensation, it was the force, but now it did something unprecedented; the force soothed her, it calmed her and made her forget her worries while still lucid. It wasn't like a drug, no euphoria, just pleasantness. She let the mage hunter do her thing.
Victor could feel the mage hunter’s aura change; it was calling to him. Victor sighed and he changed his course. He mage hunter wanted to talk? She would have her talk alright. Victor took off his scabbard, sword still inside, and held it with both hand. He approached the group silently.
“You called?”, Victor asked Helen once he reached the group. “Roxanne, hold my sword so nothing goes awry.”, Victor told Roxanne while handing her his sword. It's patterns something the mage hunter might recognize. “I am here, gonna talk down on me like the rest of your order? Come one, out with it!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 11:12:32 am
Helen glowered at the figured hiding behind the wall, seeing him move to take off that scabbard. Good, she thought. She herself still had that evil blade in its scabbard, though it was secured to her back, concealed under her cloak and in no position to be used. The mask deactivated once he came into the open, finding herself glaring at the sword he carried. She'd sensed the aura of a strange magical item before, but the sight of it unnerved her. Like a deliberate mockery of the incorruptible blade, though she wasn't aware just how heretical it truly was.
"Hardly fair of me to talk down upon a group that cultivates cannibals, assassins, and profligates, at least without you here to defend your rationale." she remarked. "I went into this knowing I'd be facing something I've been avoiding for 6 years, and what do I find? You send someone else to confront a person that, for all you knew, could've attacked her. And had I not seen the things I've seen in the years since, I likely would have done so."
Nathaniel did his best to tend to those injuries, but he very quickly puzzled out how superficial almost all of them were. One bullet he saw removed looked decent in size, having deformed and stripped off most of its copper jacket. The nudge she gave and the grumbling he overheard was enough to make him realize what was wrong, carefully giving her a pet. "It's alright Lilith. Those bandits are mean, to an extent Kathrine wouldn't even be able to grasp." he said. He wasn't sure what to make of this just yet. It wasn't like what Hector told him. Morbid as their little secret was, those were already dead bodies. And they weren't specifically killed for that purpose like with Hell's Raiders. It was just a tigress losing control of herself.
It was then a thought came to mind. So that's why Hector helps with that little habit, he thought. Downright poetic that the cannibals get their turn. The thought was still rather stomach-turning to him, but if it had to be anyone, Hell's Raiders certainly deserved it. There was thought in the back of his mind, a "holy shit what the fuck is wrong with you Lilith" thought that was largely drowned out by his worrying over injuries that Lilith barely even noticed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 24, 2017, 11:27:19 am
Digging her claws into the dirt and shakily pulling herself to her paws, Lilith wraps an arm around Nathaniel and brings him in for a hug, possibly accidentally also smushing him into her breasts in the process. "Good boy..." She grumbles, gagging again. This time, she does it more than once, eventually straight up vomiting over Nathaniel's shoulder and passing the fuck out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 24, 2017, 11:32:39 am
Mica sees the look coming across Lilith's face, and she prepares for what's coming. She grabs the jar of chocolate and scoots a couple yards away, plowing little trenches in the dirt with the shallow ridges of chitin on her thighs. Then, all at once, it comes and Mica begins to laugh and laugh and gag and laugh.
Despite her humor though, she does aid in extricating Nathaniel from Lilith's not inconsiderable grip, and rolling the tigress on her side. "Better get something for the nausea Quinn." Dervish directs. "When she wakes up, she's probably gonna be thirsty as hell and she'll need to keep it down."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 11:51:07 am
Nathaniel smiled some at that, hugging back as best as he could, mmphing a little as his face being pressed into her breasts, his response muffled. "Mmph...we'll tahlk aboupt it l-" Her suddenly puking on him and toppling over interrupted him, giving a startled yelp as she pulled him right along with her, trapped by an arm draped around him as she toppled onto her back. "Fuck! Ow...l-little help?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 24, 2017, 11:58:48 am
Victor didn’t want any hostilities but she saw the way Helen looked at him and his sword. She didn’t like him and she didn’t like her but they were adults and he needed her help, so he listened to her like a puppy listening to it’s owner scolding them for peeing on the rug.
"You are in no position to talk about such matters. I can sense your aura is not completely pure...You used forbidden magic haven’t you? Not as high and mighty as the rest of us are you now?" , Victor said with a smirk. "But that is not why we are here. You asked a question and I shall answer it. I did not send her here, she came of her own will. You of all people should know her resolve, and your compatriots would do as well if that same will wasn’t their end...I was not hiding, I simply wanted to give you the chance to enjoy yourself before I soured your party. But you had to put your nose where it didn’t belong did you? You order never learns...Just like the old days."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 12:13:22 pm
Helen regarded him warily, only to grumble a little at that. She'd faintly sensed some of the residual effects of using a scroll of sundering, but by now most of the effects had faded. But a powerfully corrupt aura could still be sensed strapped to her back.
"Why you...at least any such thing I'd dare handle, I do so with greater caution than most of your order ever did." she said, smirking under her mask as she looked at his feet. "At least any such problems aren't so severe as to leave visible trace. Still dabbling in powers you aren't prepared to handle, I bet." she remarked.
"Either way, that means it was her choice to do what you would not. Admit it, you'd still be behind that wall if I hadn't." she said, before her tone of voice turned cold again. "Ah yes, your utter negligence killed almost as many of my brothers and sisters that day as your scout did. She at least died fighting, and what did you do? You ran, hid from the monsters your collection of mishandled artifacts produced, while your scout fought and died for you." she replied.
"I've learned quite a lot since that day. Our orders both fought and died over nothing, chasing ghosts. We were both led astray in your own ways. I stand here willing to face my past, and accept my flaws, while you continue to play with forces you can't control. You're lucky whatever you did this time took your shadow and not your life."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 24, 2017, 12:24:17 pm
Kathrine showed Mica down into Catnip's current project. A rough and tight little quarry beneath the farm. Down here, the *tat tat tat* was louder. Mica liked the tight spaces and twisting turns Catnip had chiseled out of the rock, she liked the dark too but Kathrine kept pushing it away with a gas lantern. The sound of Catnip working stopped just as Mica and Kathrine came into a wide chamber filled with piles of rock, and soon enough Catnip joined them. "Hello Mi-" "MR. NATHANIEL SWORE!" Kathrine cried, and then flinched because she'd interrupted Mistress. "Did he? Well, I'll have to talk to him then. He's gonna have to put chocolate in the swears jar. Hello Mica, what do you want." She was holding up the jar, filled with chocolate. "My-ka wants chi-kun. Kat-nyp will give My-ka chi-kun for My-ka's chok-lats." Catnip stared intently at the jar. "Mistress, I need to go and see if Ms. Lilith needs anything. She's sick." Kathrine said nervously. Catnip hardly noticed. "Yeah. Yeah sure Kat. Go... Go ahead. Mica, where'd you get so much..." Mica shook her head, "My-ka keep chok-lat for getting what she want from Kat-nyp. Give chi-kun?" Catnip nodded slowly, it wasn't her chicken to give, but that didn't seem to matter. The chocolate in the large jar would almost completely recoup her badly diminished stash. Mica passed the jar to Catnip, and the rat just about snatched it from her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 24, 2017, 12:43:10 pm
Victor listened as the mage hunter spewed what was repressed thoughts. He was really bothered at the statement about his lack of shadow; Helen was bad-mouthing his work with the blade. Once Helen had finished, Victor smirked before continuing.
"Excuses excuses. You too are just as impure as the rest of us. You speak of caution but nothing had happened until that fateful day when you came into the scene. I know what I was doing and I do so to this day. And died for me? For me? She died of her own will fulfilling her purpose, she had sworn an oath and completed to the end. I did not hid either, I was fighting the monsters you unleashed! Her death and the ones of your comrades are in your hand!"
Victor calmed down a bit before continuing. "Now, you speak of me playing with forces out of my control and chastise me for the consequences I clearly accepted. I am doing no such thing. I am expanding the horizon of human knowledge, taming the unknown! Something your order has never done. Roxanne, my sword if you will." Roxanne gave Victor his blade reluctantly. Victor held it ready to unsheath.
"Now, I will not lay a finger on you, I am outnumbered. But I feel a presentation of what I have done while you have done nothing but hinder progress is in order." Victor unsheathed the sword from it’s scabbard and threw said scabbard to the ground to hold the blad with both hand. "Now, you might recognize this blade. This started it’s life as one of your order’s arcane killers but what became our order made it much more. Yes, this blade you see is what started it all, and now it’s in my hands! Behold it’s power!" Victor activated the sword and the area around them darkness slightly. The mask revealed fragments of an evils spirits flowing from and to the blade using Victor as a conduit. She recognized it’s fuel source as blood essence. And lastly, Victor’s own aura was perverted into that of a beast.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 12:58:47 pm
Helen glowered at him as he said this, shaking her head at that. "You shirk your responsibility, and deny the consequences of your actions." she said calmly, glaring at him. "We didn't lay so much as a hand on the items. We're not stupid enough to go manhandling arcane artifacts wantonly. It's your fault so many of them died, and you would've been trapped alone with them had we not had the misfortune of arriving that day." she said, gritting her teeth a bit.
She them smirked at that, opening her cloak to removed the scabbard she had. There was a sword with similar decorations, though on the hilt of a zweihander rather than a broadsword. "So that's the item that sparked it. Go on, activate it. Let this one resonate with it, and you'll see the Sanguine Order has weaponized the very thing that drove us apart." she said, before tossing the blade, still in its scabbard, at her feet.
When he drew the blade, Helen activated her mask again, regarding Sergei without even turning to him. "I don't trust someone to go waving around that heretical thing and keep their word that they won't start a fight. Hammer. Now." Sergei looked to her, only to shake his head. "нет." Hector for his part stepped over and calmly set a hand on Victor's shoulder. "Watch it." Helen could sense the corrupt aura the sword she tossed aside, intensifying into a malevolent radiance in the presence of another tainted blade.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 24, 2017, 01:20:35 pm
Victor saw the mage hunter’s reactions and grinned. Then he heard her word commanding her companion for her hammer. "How predictable, afraid of what you don’t understand!". He then felt Hector’s hands and heard his warning to which he nodded. The sword deactivated and the aura’s change reverted. "I am a man of my word, if anything else. I promised not to harm you and I have done so. Just know that I command this power you just witness to it’s fullest extent. Even your once feared hammer would be no challenge to overcome as entropy itself harvested the very light it emits. Now that I don’t wish any conflict, but our order has evolved, we no longer fear the cleansing flame."
The sword was stuck into the dirt now in its inert form. "Stand down, I known the extent of your power.". He took out a copy of the cleansing flame’s book and threw it at her feet. "And so does she, she isn’t the same sheeple as before. Any thing else you wish of me?"
The force had not let go of her; she was loving every minute of it. Roxanne had given Victor’s blade without question. She witness the whole ordeal in silence. Nothing seemed to bother her in the moment. A sultry smile betrayed her state to those with trained eyes but the ordeal going on made it so no-one paid her any mind.
She finally spoke. "All of that is in the past. Vic, relax, stand down and stop making a fool of yourself. Helen, I can see you are a woman of character, don’t step down to his level. Both of you calm down and we can talk this over like adults. Let’s not become the beats we both fight. Hector, dear, make sure Vic doesn’t try anything funny okay?", Roxanne said in an impaired sounding voice, she sounded like someone who had a couple drinks. She felt great.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 01:31:03 pm
Helen grumbled a bit, glaring at Victor as he held that sword, only for her mask to resume its neutral expression as she deactivated it, before giving a nod. "And yet you still mock the principles we were founded on. Would would your forefathers say, seeing you work blood magic when our orders...no, our order, convened to hunt them down in the days when they were nothing but petty murderers and cannibals?"
Despite her annoyance she stood down, though she sensed a strange presence gathered around Roxanne. How amusing, she thought. The researcher plays with fire, yet the common assassin is the voice of reason. That said, she sensed a strange power that likewise made her wary, but less so than the weapon Victor wielded. "That would be preferable, to discuss things civilly, with less throwing things around like children." she said with a nod, gathering the sword she'd tossed aside, and picking up the book Victor threw at her feet.
Hector seemed a bit uncertain about the way Roxanne was acting, but maintained his composure for now, keeping close out of concern that a fight might ensue.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 24, 2017, 01:59:37 pm
Victor too was annoyed at Roxanne’s remarks but used the opportunity to make a point. "Now that we have gotten that out off our systems...I want to bring you something to your attention...You have probably already felt a strange presence, and I don’t mean my blade...", Victor told Helen and he pointed to Roxanne. "That’s not normal. She had been acting strange recently and I feel something malignant force is at play..."
Roxanne stopped smiling and pointed at herself with a confused face. "Me? What did I do." Victor looked over at Hector. "You know her, is this normal behavior?" He then turned back to Helen. "In her moments of lucidity, she speaks of a force that manipulates her free will...it has requested a ritual to free itself and it know of your existence and requests your presence...I am at a loss...and as much as this pains me...I need your help...Don’t do it for me, or even for her, do it for the rest of the farm's inhabitant who might be in danger, of the refugee center and beyond..."
Victor put his scabbard back on, sword already sheathed. He extended his hand over to Helen. "Truce? After this you don’t have to see my face ever again if you wish and as penance I will pent up the events of that night and make peace with them..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 02:09:59 pm
Helen nodded as she calmed down, while Sergei approached, handing her back her hammer. "Play nice. These are friends." he said, to which she simply smiled a bit. "Very well then. I sensed something around her when my mask was on." she said, while Hector looked at the four of them, concerned.
"No, not her normal behavior. Almost like she's a bit tipsy, but even that has some differences in actions." Hector responded, looking over to Helen. "You sensed it? Is it...evil?"
"I don't know. Not the same malevolent aura as the one corrupting this ritual blade, nor the ones that left their mark on your friend and his sword." she said, carefully shaking Victor's hand in return. "But potentially dangerous, if only because it's of unknown nature. If you wish my help, then so be it. For the good of humanity itself." she said. "I don't know yet what I'll do afterward. Likely not burden this this place with my presence, but I will be close if I'm needed."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 24, 2017, 02:50:45 pm
The force had enough of this and left Roxanne, now that conflict had ended, it had no reason to stay any longer. With that, Roxanne came to her 5 senses, and those beyond. "...It’s gone...What victor has said is true. This thing wants you for some reason Helen. It wants you present in some sort of ritual Victor created." She looked at Hector, guilt in her eyes. "I am sorry I didn’t tell anything before...we can’t build a relationship on a foundation of lies..." She locked around to see if anybody else was present and then whispered, "This isn’t the place to talk...Let’s go to my room. You’ll see why in a minute...just don’t make fun of me or anything..."
Once inside her room, Roxanne showed Helen and her altar and journal who before was only read by hear and Victor. It was filled with arcane knowledge and rituals, similar to a witches grimoire. Meanwhile, both Sergei and Hector stood by acting as guards for their respective companions, mostly keeping and eye on Victor in case he got ideas. By Roxanne’s writings, it was apparent to Helen she was still a beginner in such affairs, a sharp contrast to the Victor and the girl she had slain so many years back. Roxanne flipped the page to the ritual in question, the seven steps to harvest evil spirits as Victor had done for his blade were detailed. A footnote was included: “Warning, side effects might include a loss of shadow.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 03:07:45 pm
Helen regarded Roxanne curiously, feeling a strange sense of ease as that spirit faded. "So I see. Then I will do what I can. Whether it means discerning what this spirit wants, controlling it, or destroying it." she said, even if she was used to the third option, the first two were possibilities she didn't neglect, even if it was unexpected of a mage-hunter. Hector meanwhile simply shook his head at that. "It's fine. I'm more worried about you, this is beyond my expertise." he said. Not like he could throw a pommel at the force, what could he even do?
Helen for now agreed to follow Roxanne along with Hector, curious now as she examined the alter. "Seems like you have faith in this thing, whatever it may be. More reason to discern its nature." she said. Being near the alter, she calmly took off the necklace she wore that had the symbol of cross and hammer on it, along with retrieving the symbol of judgement she'd taken from the Archon, setting them on the table for now. "You're working on recreating the ritual, I assume, and perfecting it. This isn't simply like reversing the corruption in a magical item though. This thing haunts you, and more reason to be careful."
Hector of course watched, uncertain what to think just yet. Even having been in her room before, he'd never really given the alter any thought. Sergei however opted to stay outside for now, trusting that the others would be fine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 24, 2017, 04:32:12 pm
Helen and Roxanne went about talking about what he force was and what it did to her. Helen was obviously distraught but keep her cool and while listening and asking for information. Roxanne, on the other hand, took advantage of her lucidity to tell the mage hunter all she knew. All except that the force had spoken to her. She didn't know if she could trust it so she would hold that information for now.
Victor listened in amusement. They were discussing his ritual so he felt he should step in and explain what the best course of action would be. “Ladies, if I may?”, Victor interjected, “I believe we should follow through with it’s demands. We modify this ritual, include some fail safes just in case, summon it and ask what it wants. It doesn't seem to be able harm us and if it can, it chooses not to. We should listen to what it says and see what to do about it. Helen, if you don't mind addressing you by your name, this thing wants you present for some reason.I say we let is talk and adjust accordingly. What do you say?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 04:42:38 pm
Helen for now wasn't certain how to handle this nature, going over the ideas as they discussed matters, a few plans coming to mind as she looked back to the two religious symbols she set aside, before looking back to Victor with a hint of suspicion, but accepted it. "Very well then. Ideally these failsafes should be made with the least chance of harming the focus." she said. Normally it'd be irrelevant to her, as destroying the focus of a dangerous spirit was a reliable way to prevent it from doing further harm, but it wasn't an option given Roxanne was the one that'd be harmed by doing so.
"Only concern is whether it's being deceptive and hiding its objectives, given calling it forth will give it greater influence. But if it wants me in on this, it surely expects the danger that'd present if it had malicious intent. So that's one reassurance." she said, before giving a nod. "So be it then. I have a few possible ideas on alternatives if needed, that are less likely to harm Roxanne, but I hope they won't be needed."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 24, 2017, 05:10:24 pm
“That settles it then. As for the failsafes, I am going to leave that to you, just pass the what ideas you have me so I can do incorporated into the spell.” , Victor told Helen. “Like open source magic!”, chimed in Roxanne. “Exactly.”, responded Victor with a grin.
“It’s getting late, let's all work on our parts and converge tomorrow to make an actual plan.”
“What about me?”, asked Roxanne.
“Write down as much as you can about this force of yours and any reason you think it's interested in you. Nothing is too silly.”, responded Victor. Roxanne nodded and gave Victor a military salute with a smile.
“And Helen...I know it's too early to forgive and forget but I appreciate you doing this...no hard feelings, honestly...”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 05:22:34 pm
Helen nods at that. "Should be simple to devise it, then. Most of the methods I can think of will entail shifting its focus to an object. Being religious in nature likely means a holy symbol of some kind will be easier to use as a focus." she suggested, and idea that likely would be more familiar to the Keepers of the Oath rather than The Cleansing Flame.
Hector meanwhile nodded at that. "Whenever the three of you are ready. I'll help in any way I can, little as it may be." he offered, while Helen smiled a bit at that.
"Understood. We may have our misgivings, but that is a matter our our orders, not a personal concern." she said. "And much of it, well. If they saw me now, I don't know if I could face them..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 24, 2017, 08:30:58 pm
Mica took a moment to look down the alley of small buildings that were the farms living complex. Down that way, Catnip had joined the others in helping to move Lilith's unconscious body. Cradled in one spindly arm was something reddish brown, a bit soft, and quiet docile. It was a chicken. She brought the chicken to Dee's workshop, wanting to see if he'd like to share. "Hey Mica, watchoo got there?" She stroked the chicken gently with the back of one finger. "My-ka buys chi-kun from Kat-nyp! Brings to lizard to share. Eat chi-kuns with us bew-tee-full!" Dee reached gave the chicken a little pet, realizing what Mica intended and feeling bad for it. "Not uh... for me I think babe. You enjoy it." He picked through his sketches, trying to decide on what kind of case to mount the hard drives into. It came down to a decision between refitting a police drone, or shelling a security drone. Mica asked him what he was doing and he told her, turning the sketches of the modified chassis towards her to look. There wasn't much hope in him that she would understand, but he was surprised when she handed him the chicken and took up the carpenters pencil. "Ugly ro-buts..." She stuck her tongue out at the corner of her mouth, a sight both comical and rare since Mica knew full well what would happen if she bit down on it. In short order, she had sketched the rough shape of a female chest. "The harddrives won't fit Mica." Dee explained, holding one of the book sized drives for her to look at. She took it and held it horizontally beneath her right breast. She didn't understand how Catnip managed this "measurement" stuff, but she endeavored to try. With a gesture, she had Dee hand her another. This, she held next to the other, under her left breast. After a moment, she said "It got to be wider than My-ka. May-bee big-ur pill-ohs too..." An idea occured to her, and she rotated the hard drives so that they were held diagonally. "Or lizard put in like this." She'd got Dee's brain working. For all his mastery of robotic, the configuration of the drives had not occurred to him. He took back the sketch, it was quiet good really and Dee thought it was a hint of some hidden talent, and lightly penciled in several diagonal lines which joined at the center. If he angled them inwards, they would just barely fit.
Mica reached for the chicken tucked under his arm, opening and closing her hands in the universal gesture of "gimme." "That might work Mica. Have you ever tried..." He trailed off, Mica was holding the chicken in front of her face, looking it in the eyes. "Lizard want to see My-ka's fay-vrit game?" Dee had the feeling that he was going to be disgusted, but determined to be open and polite, he said "Sure." Mica's mouth barely opened, and the chicken's head vanished. She gently set it on the floor of Dee's workshop, and the last vestiges of life left in the spurting headless chicken had it running about. It rebounded off the bedroom door, bounced off the passenger side of the SLS, and then got stuck underneath Dee's stereo robot. Mica had fallen with the power of her laughter, but all Dee could do was grimace a little.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 08:45:54 pm
Helen for now gathered her things and left Roxanne's room, in order to take time to prepare herself for the ritual later on, putting back on her holy symbol and heading out, deciding it might be best to meet some of the other farm residents. Hector and Sergei by now were busy talking, catching up a bit on recent events, of the bar attack and The Boss visiting the farm. It wasn't long before they seemed as though they were having a "whose God's Army raid was weirder" contest, with talk of floating temples and a church with a necromancer in it. Though Hector had to admit that Sergei had an advantage in there given how hard it was to beat "giant floating building" in terms of strangeness.
Helen for her part soon decided to visit what looked to be some sort of garage, the closest structure that didn't look like someone's personal quarters, she thought. She gave a knock before showing herself in and saw, to her confusion, a chicken running around with its head cut off, stopping and staring with a shocked expression under that mask. "By Tyr's missing hand, of all the...dare I even ask?" she said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 24, 2017, 08:53:35 pm
"Come back to My-ka chi-kun!" Came a cry. A being looking like some sort of abominable humanoid spider loped around the corner after the headless chicken. Just in front of Helen, the thing caught the bird just as it bumped into a trio of water buckets left stacked in the weeds. The buckets scattered, and the spider woman in the green silk shirt shoveled the chicken whole into an impossibly wide mouth lined with razored fangs like the teeth of a shark. Helen watched her give the chicken a couple chews, and then swallow it, bones and all, forcing it down with the powerful yet flexible muscles of her throat. "Oh. Hel-oh new per-sun."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 09:00:42 pm
Helen winced a bit as she watched the rather morbid display, only for the arachnid woman to grab the chicken and cram it down her throat. Her mask shifted its features, briefly unnerved by the sight, and in doing so got a rough feel of the shop's layout, before she calmed herself and deactivated the mask. The effect likely looked strange, and would alert Victor to that brief aura it gave off, though the effect not being followed with a loud bang was a good sign. "Greetings. Recently arrived along with Sergei, who evidently a few of you have met back at the bar?" she said, uncertain who else other than Hector had been at the bar.
"My name's Helen. Sorry to, er...intrude."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 24, 2017, 11:31:16 pm
The lady with the weird face was holding a hand out to Mica. She crouched low and sniffed it. It was a bit disconcerting for Helen to have that mouth so close to her hand, and she was given a nightmare vision of it disappearing like the chickens head into this creatures abattoir maw. She tensed, if the creature struck, she would make it pay twelve-fold. Instead, Mica straightened and in mimicry of Kathrine, did a small curtsy. "Mica, where'd you go?" Came the voice of a young man, "Oh hey. New person. We should really get some kind of system for warning us of newcomers before they arrive." Unlike Mica, Dee did take her hand. "Dee." He said simply, "And this is-" Mica cut him off by wrapping the arms on her right side around him, one at his shoulders, the other at his waist. "My-ka. My-ka is lizards gurl friend." That last statement had the feel of something tacked on with the intent to make it clear that Dee was taken. As "slow" as they were taking their relationship, Mica had no qualms with making it clear that Dee was hers. Dee's scales flushed a bit and Mica hauled him closer.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 11:38:26 pm
Helen was uncertain at first, relieved at least when Mica didn't act with immediate hostility, when the figure she saw behind the wall earlier stepped out. She simply set her hammer aside, smiling as she shook his hand, taking the mask off for now as well. "A pleasure to meet you both." she said, though more a relief in Mica's case. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything. Was going to meet the others while I had time, already had the chance to meet Hector, Roxanne, and Victor." she said. She wasn't sure what to make of this, other than suspecting the "lizard," as Mica put it, was in over his head with that girl.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 24, 2017, 11:44:04 pm
"No no, you weren't interrupting anything at all. Just... buildin' a robot." He said distractedly, Mica seemed to be getting grabby. "Mica cut it out, what the hell?" She'd wrapped another arm around him and was looking nervously at the new lady. "Lay-dee has mask like lizards. Lay-dee's mask not ugly ro-but mask though."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 24, 2017, 11:47:29 pm
Helen stifled a giggle at that behavior, suspecting that Mica was rather protective, likely a force to be reckoned with. "Oh? Can it do stuff like this?" she said, putting it back on momentarily to activate it again, letting its features shift briefly before the metal warped back to its original expression. "Mostly just a cosmetic effect there. The real purpose of it's a bit, er...weird." she remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 24, 2017, 11:56:14 pm
Mica was a bit in awe. Dee's mask just showed lights and shapes and hid his features from Mica, but the mask of the person she was coming to think of as "the two faces lady" could change it's shape and appearance. "My-ka wish she have face like that. Make eyes normal." Dee struggled to turn her towards him. "Hey, I see where your going with that and I don't like it. You don't want to be talking about yourself like that. Everyone is different in their own way. It's what makes them special." Mica stared at him for a moment, and then slung her fourth arm around him and squeezed. "Jeez, Mica, I can't breath. Your fingers!" She let him go, but kept an eye on him, and Dee continued, "Real nice. It's not a "ro-but" mask like mine, some kind of magic thing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 25, 2017, 12:01:41 am
Helen shook her head at that. "The appearance of the mask isn't the important part, but rather what it does from a practical standpoint. More the way we preferred to make them back in the day." she said. "And yes. Feel free to try it on if you'd like. I'm not really at the point where I can make another, not as experienced in the craftsmanship of these items, more their use. I'm guessing Roxanne and Victor aren't the only ones that're experienced with this sort of thing."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 25, 2017, 12:12:49 am
Mica let Dee go completely and made grabby hands for the mask, which Helen took off and passed to her. "Just, be careful with it." Mica slipped it on her face. With a little alarm, Helen noted that the mask twisted itself into an amalgamation of expressions and adopted many features, seemed to settle on withering hunger, and then went completely blank. A smooth metal surface with no features. Helen hadn't been aware that it could do that, but it made her wonder. Either the spider woman had a very limited intellect, or a very limited range of emotion. Maybe both. There was also the possibility that she was an arcane "mute," but such creatures were incredibly rare. Magic would malfunction, even outright fail on incredibly rare occasions around the spider. "Is My-ka pretty?" Mica asked Dee. "You're prettier without it." He said, taking the mask from her face and handing it back to the mage hunter. Mica kissed him on the cheek for that, and decided that the two faced lady was no threat to their relationship. "I go visit char-leen." She said, "I think I see Char-leen machine near My-ka's house." Then, with another curtsy she left.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 25, 2017, 12:23:46 am
Helen was a bit surprised at the way the mask's shape altered, seemingly reacting to Mica's expressions in ways she hadn't expected, before going blank. Its reaction to being activated by those thoughts likely momentarily presented strange snippets of the information it normally offered. She wasn't sure what to make of it. It could be the Mica's nature meant the mask picked up on things that provoked a reaction that an unmutated wearer wouldn't cause, or she might have some strange aura that make the thing go haywire. When she put the mask back on, she found to her relief the features shifted back to normal. "Never saw the mask act up like that before. Interesting. Any others I should pay a visit to?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 25, 2017, 12:29:03 am
Dee said, almost as if rehearsed, "Catnip. You'll want to see her right away. She isn't the leader, we don't really have a leader, but we're all gathered together in the first place mostly because of her. I'd also go and visit Quinn, his lab is at the opposite end of the farm from Catnips workshop. I'd say Catnip first, since she's closer. Just uh... don't take anything without being ready to pay the cost in chocolate or plutonium."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 25, 2017, 12:33:29 am
Helen nodded at that. "I'll talk to her then. Right now I've no need of things to trade for, so that won't be an issue." she said. The idea of plutonium and chocolate being used for barter amused her a bit as she headed over to the workshop. Still not as weird a currency as it could be, she thought.
By now Hector had finished catching up with Sergei, and was there to show her around for the time being, leading the way to Catnip's workshop.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 25, 2017, 12:47:37 am
Nightfall had come and Victor was preparing the final touches of the ritual’s materials. He carried his sword, obviously, six torches, a lighter, salt and a normal knife. Last time, he had used a silver athame to cut himself but that was unnecessary theatrics. This thing would not demand tribute anyway but this time his blood would serve as a seal. Victor sported a holy symbol he carved the night before and enchanted it with a protection ward as a last line of defense. With everything ready, he went to the place all the participants agreed to meet.
Roxanne had written down everything she was willing to give about the force. All the while she wrote the list, the force itself was present and scolded her when certain info was being written down. As a simple conduit of the force itself, she didn’t require much preparation, she only took her holy symbol and journal. Before departing, she completed her usual ritual one more time to received favor from the force; it better keep it’s end of the deal...
Helen gathered a few things as she prepared herself, making her way over to meet the others. She had her holy symbol, as well as another of a faith her order once only intermittently tolerated. In preparation she’d further read passages of her holy book, along with relevant sections of Oaths to the Chalice. She remembered that, as much as they dabbled in dangerous magic, most members of The Cleansing Flame at least acknowledged and tolerated their otherworldly god, though were wary of its intentions. Their concern lay in practical matters.
Despite this, she knew her brethren would frown upon what she had planned if the ritual went awry. Spirit magic that would drive the force out, invoking to name of He From Beyond The Veil to the symbol of judgement she scavenged. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that, as she approached Roxanne and Victor, noting that Hector and Sergei remained in sight but kept their distance. They both wanted to ensure the safety of their friends, but wished to avoid hindering the ritual.
Everyone was gathered at the meeting place. "Glad to see you all could make it.", Victor said addressing the group. “The site of the ritual is just up ahead in a clearing in the woods. Follow me and once we are there allow me to set up and then I’ll give you your instructions. Roxanne, you have the list I requested?”
Roxanne handed Victor the list and he gave a small nod once he finished reading it. "Well, nothing we didn’t already know or have implied...No matter, we will proceed. Any questions before we do?"
Helen shook her head at that. “None so far. Any questions I do have will be for this spirit to answer, no doubt.” she remarked, regarding the items set up. She herself had her own holy symbols available, having double-checked the requirements for a sealing spell in case things went awry. Only question was if she could direct the magic needed.
"Indeed, follow this way then.", Victor instructed making a forward motion. The grouped followed Victor; Helen and Roxanne side by side and Hector and Sergei followed suit acting as bodyguards for a task they might be ill-equipped to handle.
Roxanne was unusually quiet. She was afraid of what the spirit would say, or even do at this point. It had made its intentions clear but she had yet to fully trusted. She followed her instructions until now, hoping the other could handle it if this thing got other plans.
Once in the clearing, Victor got to work. He set up the circle of salt and the torches around it. "Please get in the circle and do not exit it during the duration of the ritual." The circle required much more salt than before to adjust for five people instead of only himself. Despite it’s size, maneuverability would be slightly hindered if it came to combat; but their guards and fail safes should be enough to prevent this.
"Helen, I trust you brought your own guards? Good, then let us proceed." Once everyone was inside the circle, Victor lit the torches and stepped inside himself. He then proceeded to slice his hand open a bit, just enough for a few drops of blood to come out, and then made some of his blood dripped into the salt. Finally, after a small chant, the salt circle glowed red instead of white like last time; he had used a stronger protection shield as he didn’t need this thing strong.
"The barrier is tied to my being now. While I am but a mere human, I posses the power of the cursed blade and command it to my whim; with it, I can make this barrier as strong as if it were tied to a cryptic beast." The torches’ flames swayed and their shadows followed before settling down. "Any final preparations must be done now. Make your peace or forever hold your tongue."
Hector and Sergei were initially reluctant to join in, afraid they’d hinder the ritual, but realized the barrier might prevent them from entering if things went wrong. “I’m as ready as I can be.” Hector said, Sergei responding with a nod of agreement, while Helen was quietly chanting something to prepare her part in case it was needed. “Ut hoc symbolum potentia stare aeterna, ut Ipse vigilo qui oculis in Velum.” She bowed her head a moment before looking up. “Ready.”
The group continue to wait for a few moments before it happened, the torches lost their shadow once more. Now it was time to make this ritual different than last time. Victor activated his blade and while under its influence he chanted a verse not know to any but him. The flames of the torches turned blue and now no-one in the group had shadows of their own. The torches’ and their own shadows fused together and a single silhouette appeared. Unlike the once Victor had faced earlier, this one was projected like a hologram, it seemed almost artificial; it’s eyes were also not red orbs like before, they were hallowed and inside you could see behind the thing’s head. It stood there for a few moments before it spoke.
“So you have decided to follow through and summon me. A wise decision. I am the one who has taken the one you call Roxanne Luna as their host. Now I am sure you all have questions for me. I shall answer them as soon as I stop speaking. Anything you fail to ask me will be filled in on my closing statement. I simply wish to talk and as such I must say this whole preparation seems a bit unnecessary but I understand your concern. So, without any more hold ups, ask away!”
The presence in front of them spoke with authority and conviction. It’s ‘voice’ was amalgamation of various perverted imitations of human speech. It now stood there silent, awaiting a response. Roxanne for her part was a bit relief that it seemed to not be hostile while Victor still held his skepticism and as such his blade active, as much of a strain as that was even though it was on his command.
Helen looked to Roxanne and Victor for a moment before deciding to speak up. “Very well then. For what purpose are we gathered here, by your will?” she asked calmly, a question she suspected would be the first they’d all want answered.
“You are all gathered here for a different purpose: Roxanne is my host so her presence is required; Victor is the one performing the ritual, think of him as our guide today; and you...Helen? Yes, Helen. You are here because you will complete the ‘circle’. The knight and the man in the back are not required, but I shall allow their presence.”
"Circle? What do you mean by circle?", Victor asked next.
“Life and death, light and darkness, yin and yang, need I go on? You are a dweller into the arcane and the one who sports the mask is one who hunts your kind. As such, you both are candidates to liberate me from my shackles.”
Helen regarded this curiously, she suspected this was the reason, the spirit’s power seemed limited, but she wasn’t sure whether it was simply a weak presence or bound in some way. “By what means, and in whose name, are you bound?”
“Bound? No, you mistake my predicament. I am weakened. This ritual is simply meant for me to speak with you. Ever since the fall of human civilization, many other entities have arrived and competition for power is now the norm. I simply want enough power to not rely on a host for mere survival. The boy wielding the sword thinks he is hindering me by said weapon’s power, but it is simply feeding me.”
Victor was taken aback by the revelation but continued maintain the shield. If this thing relied on a host to exist and a ritual to talk, this shield would be enough to protect them.
"Why Roxanne then? Why her of all people?"
“Well, apart from the obvious reason that what you call the cataclysm took away many possible candidates, I candidates because she had a connection to the arcane. I remembered her aura when an item I was bounded to was stolen and I was set free. Since I assumed a connection to the arcane, I guided her in the path of augmentation and bionics so she could further aid me in turn. Yes, some of my actions were out of line but I must admit, it was a risky maneuver nonetheless but I am gracious that she accepted me and fed me. Somehow, I could feel her aura exist in duality for a brief moment but that is no longer that case.”
Helen initially smiled under her mask at the spirit saying the blade did little good. More reason she left the scavenged, corrupted ritual blade from the Veiled Temple at home. She merely hoped that the symbol of judgement, being an intact item dedicated to a powerful entity, would make it safe from the odd spirit. That smile left her at the last bit, fully aware of the fact that she was the cause of it.
“What other purpose, sphere, or objective do you have besides mere survival?” she asked, the question that she knew ultimately determined how to handle the spirit.
“I have known only servitude by human hands for centuries now...sealed here and worshiped there. I would ask to be free and to make a new beginning in this new world but it wouldn’t be worth it. I am a spirit who feeds off many sorts of energies and harness them in different forms. Alchemy, I believe one group called it. How about a bargain? If you grant me the power I desire, I will be under your servitude until your natural life is over, seal me if you wish but after our deal is over, I am to be set free. I have patience the likes you cannot comprehend, a long life span does that to you.”
Helen shook her head at that. That explanation of being centuries old confirmed, or at least implied, the answer to another question she was going to ask. That its actions predated the major breaches in The Veil suggested it was not an otherworldly entity. “I myself have no such selfish desires. Only to know whether it is safe to unbind you. If we can trust that freeing you will not harm humanity any more than what has already occurred, so be it. Any other such bargains are for the others to accept, if they insist on it.” she said, turning to Victor and Roxanne. She didn’t like the idea of a spirit that liked to make pacts in pursuit of release, but she knew why even a well-meaning one might have to rely on it to get their way.
Victor piped up at that offer while Roxanne was simply relieved it was telling the truth when it spoke to her, at least that’s what it seemed. "Say, that is quite the offer you are giving there...tell you what. If you stop tormenting Roxanne, I will give you the power you seek by binding you in the sword I posses. I will keep my promise that when I die, you are free."
Roxanne finally spoke up. "Does this mean I will no longer have your guidance?"
“To answer both of you questions. First, I accept your offer. If that mage hunter is alright with it since I too need her power...as to the second part. Even if I am bounded, I will still be able to manifest myself in a limited capacity as I did before, regardless of distance. One of the uses for me was as a weapon by an old empire, I would be used to harvest enemy souls miles away by the power of astroprojection; an action I assume the mage hunter would disapprove of so I give her my word those days are behind me. If this answers all your questions and you are willing to free me, shall we begin?”
Helen was uncertain what to make of this, but simply nodded. To bind the spirit in an item was essentially what she was going to do anyway if things went wrong, the only difference was to hold the invocation of He From Beyond the Veil against it as a way to ensure control, to more easily sever the only available link with this world as needed. But knowing the spirit had been able to seek out and gather a host on its own made her realize that only keeping it sealed would be effective. So she hoped that she was making the right choice. “I’m ready, then.”
“Excellent, from the mage hunter and the one with the blade I only need you two to present a small offering, anything will do really, a bit of hair, a hat, but it has to hold some significant personal value. Then present your blade as my resting place, I will do the rest.”
Once the spirit had said this, the torches’ fire became orange again and all shadows were accounted for, even Victor’s lack thereof. "Alright, I guess I will go first..." Victor placed his blade and the holy symbol he had carved as an offering. He severed the salt circle and awaited for Helen to follow suit.
Helen stepped up next, taking off the pendant around her neck, depicting a cross transitioning into a hammer. Aside from being a religious symbol and representing what her order stood for before it fell from grace, it’d been a gift, deciding this was a fitting offering as she set it there as well. And consistent with Victor’s offering, she thought.
As soon as the offerings were made, a faint whisper could be heard all around and the sword glowed a red color on it’s edge. The whispered returned, audible this time, “It is done, I thank you for your co-operation.”
Roxanne, as quiet as she had been, was glad it was over and it went well. The force was no longer bound to her, no it was bounded to the sword Victor wielded and she felt it was in safe hand; Helen might disagree though. She then felt it, it once more manifested in her like it had done countless times before, it gave her an urge. "How about we go back to the farm and have those drinks we never got around to have?"
Victor all the while looked at the blade; even in its off state, he could feel the spirit’s power. If things come to worse, he would harvest it like the last one but feared the consequences would be more dire if he did. He couldn’t wait to try it on, but not in front of Helen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 25, 2017, 11:49:39 am
Sharlene, after having been missing for three days, had finally returned. Mohammad, as usual, had made an ill-timed joke and received his nutshot, only this time it was somewhat... Less serious. Despite Sharlene missing an eye, she noticeably seems to have lightened up a lot compared to her somewhat serious attitude that she'd held for almost a year now.
When Mica arrives at the cabin, she's reclining on the bed, reading a book.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 25, 2017, 12:26:38 pm
"And this," said Hector with a wave of his hand, "Is Nip's workshop." It wasn't much to look at from the outside, mostly a loosely held together pile of faded boards, dry as tinder, reeking of gas, and loosely held together with nails. The entire thing could go up in smoke at the slightest spark and yet no one seemed to mind much. Inside wasn't much better. The smell of gas and automotive fluids was much stronger, and the walls were stacked high with disused machinery. "Nip? Where you at?" After a short search, the found her in a small side room, working on a small gadget, using a wooden crate with a cloth thrown over it as a work surface. "Thank you for bringing Mica and Dee and Lilith back, and thank..." She went on mumbling and putting together the small gadget. When she was done, she set down a screw driver and gave the little object an experimental turn along some hidden axis. When she set it on the crate, it spun around for a few seconds, and then came to rest. Mica could tell someone was in, and that it was probably Sharlene. It looked like her car, and the car smelled like Sharlene. At least Mica thought it did. She let herself in, barely taking notice of Mohammad curled up on the couch, and went to the bed. "Where you go?" She asked. Sharlene didn't answer the question, instead changing the subject, "Nice shirt Sheila. Did Kat make that for you?" Mica looked at her shirt, and then back at Sharlene, he own question forgotten. "Ya! Morsel make lot's of silkses fit My-ka so My-ka go walk with lizard." She blushed when the last words were spoken, and quietly said "My-ka like lizard. A little."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 25, 2017, 01:42:55 pm
Hector smiled a little at that. "Barn's not in good condition, but a bit of work's gone into upkeep, or at least keeping it from falling apart." he said, gesturing to the repaired sections of barn door in the back with wooden sections separating what was once a continuous space for a wide sliding door, and the interior structures built to divide the area and provide additional support for the roof. It took a brief look around before they found her.
Helen for for part smiled a little at that, regarding Catnip's apparent ritual curiously. Hector had initially mentioned a little about her as if he was expecting her to be surprised or taken back, but compared to the sight of Mica the girl and her ratlike features were hardly any surprise to her. "Greetings. I'm guessing you're the one to have gathered the others here, as the knight here mentioned?" she said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 25, 2017, 02:23:00 pm
Sharlene gives an 'are you serious' look at Mica, or at least the closest she can with a cloth sling across her face. "You like the-uh... Lizard? Oh, Dee? Have you told him?" She puts her book down and sits up on the bed. "Actually, are you sure 'bout this? Love ain't somethin' that happens suddenly, hon."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 25, 2017, 02:25:42 pm
Drifter had finished smoking the jerky and had put it into whatever containers he could find that were somewhat easy to carry. Now he found himself sitting off on his own watching people go about the farm. He had realized his applicable skills amounted to shooting things and repairing his weapons, both of which this place had in abundance.
Removing his helmet he thumbed the deep cut that the manhack had left in it. He'd been lucky that time unlike when he'd first met god's army. Shrugging to himself he returned the helmet to his head and wondered if he should stay here. He offered little in the way of valuable skills and he needed to find someone. Somehow he doubted the others would be willing to help since they had their own concerns to deal with.
Standing Drifter started towards the fire pit they'd dug a few days ago, bumming a cigarette off of one of the passing people. Sitting down at the fire that had been started earlier Drifter lit the cigarette as he told a man to fetch him a guitar. With a look between the man and one of the others he decided to oblige Drifter and went to find a guitar. Returning shortly he handed it to the still smoking Drifter as he remembered an old song one of his old army buddies had taught him.
Getting the guitar tuned he began humming the tune. Soon he was strumming the tune before he began.
"I killed a man in Dallas, And another in Cheyenne But when I killed the man in Tombstone I overplayed my hand
I rode all night for Tucson To rob the Robles Mine And I left old Arizona With a posse right behind."
He continued through the rest of the song as several people gathered around and started to play more instruments, turning the one man show into a band performance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 25, 2017, 03:09:38 pm
Catnip didn't look at them, simply gave a brief wave as she picked the tiny egg shaped object up, and gave it another turn. This time, it gave a little "sprink" sound, and the spring slipped it's slots. Catnip grinned a little at it, and set it aside. "and help Lilith to feel better." With that, she got to her feet and dusted her knees. "Hello." Catnip looked calm. "I was just..." she gestured to her little altar. "Praying? Quinn and Roxanne says that's what it is." She listened carefully to the strangers question, and then said "I guess so. I put out some flyers for a couple people, but then other people also started showing up. Strange don't you think?"
Mica got down on her knees and pulled herself closer to Sharlene, without actually getting up onto the bed. "Dee like My-ka too. Lizard save Mica from king, and touch My-ka's pill-ohs!" Mica told her the story of how she had been saved from drowning by Dee, had badgered him into taking her on a long walk, had been kidnapped by a bandit king who wanted to marry her, "and greedy Lilith hog leg for herself." she added at last. There were lot's of things that Mica wanted to say about what she'd experienced in Sharlenes absence.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 25, 2017, 03:28:29 pm
Helen nodded at that, smiling some at this. "Apologies if I interrupted. Some prayers are more a personal matter than that of people gathered in fellowship." she said. "I myself heard the broadcast Roxanne had set up." she said, while Sergei followed the two in, giving a little wave to Catnip. "Glad to see you're doing alright. I'm Sergei. Wound up with Helen here for a few missions she had, after she arrived at Hap's."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 25, 2017, 04:26:33 pm
Sharlene patiently waited for Mica to finish, nodding occasionally to get her to continue, up until she mentions Lilith's role in the bandit camp. "...Right. Least you and him figured out what 'cha doin'. That's good, Mica!" She brings up a hand, expecting a fistbump, and just earning a questionable look from Mica. "...Right. 'Ya know where Lilith is? I need to-uh... Speak with her. Yeah." She swallows heavily. "Goddamnit, Lil."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 25, 2017, 05:22:38 pm
Nathaniel for now was still there with Lilith, having not left her side since then, wanting to ensure she was alright. He'd been worried enough when the three of them had vanished, and this didn't help. Their having barely managed to roll the tigress on her side for safety's sake at least left him no longer pinned in place by a massive arm, but so far he'd only left her long enough to go change his shirt. He did at least enjoy the festivities despite his concern, but for rather obvious reasons he wasn't that hungry.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 25, 2017, 05:50:25 pm
A few days had passed since the last radio transmission from the command center and a couple weeks since the nuke launch. Roxanne had visited the command center once to deliver Thomas’ dog, Fang. They were all stock on supplies now and the RV was now fully functional. The group formerly under Roxanne's commas was no proficient at raids even though they had only ventured into the one city.
Router was busy looking at some data his eyebot had gathered. “This can’t be...must be a mistake.”, he quietly told himself. Lambda came through the door carrying a small device. “Hey, Router! We are back from the raid and I got the thing you asked for. Those bots were a bitch to track down and kill though.”, announced Lambda.
Router frowned a bit and turned around while reading some documents. “Language young lady. You have been hanging out with Delora too much and her crass nature is rubbing off. I see the raid went well.”
“Yup, We got more food, can never have too many, we found some meds and raided a clothing store as well; we should have enough raw material now to repair all of our stuff!”, Lambda answered eagerly.
The group formerly under the command of Roxanne had gotten pretty capable in doing supply runs. Sigma was the leader and Lambda the tactician. Thomas and Delora served as muscle due to their mutations. Thomas had become proficient in hand to hand using claws and fangs to his advantage along with his keen senses. Delora on the other hand had learned how to use rifles and now sported M4A1; she had learned to keep her wings under control but still betrayed her excitement or anger, her antena allowed her to detect enemies who were still not visible allowing them to avoid ambushes and make ones of their own. The group had managed to loot most of the city once they fully repaired the RV, said vehicle was still not upgraded with any armor but was fully operational and stocked. The command center was now good on food, medicine, weapons, armor, books and technology; it had come a long way since the days of hiding from apophis with ever dwindling supplies.
“So what is this thing for anyway?”, asked Lambda looking at the weird square devise Router asked her to bring.
“That thing is a universal processing system for a commercial robots. With it, I can load any programing of my choosing and install into a robot to take control of it. We will be using it to upgrade the eye bot.”, Explained Router. He had made plans to install a modified chain lighting cbm into it as rudimentary range defence system along with upgrading it’s power system so it could operate for longer and power it’s new weapon. However, he would need to reprogram it to use said new weapon and power system. He could not just modify its current existing processing system since that would require taking it apart; instead, he would do so with a scavenged system and upload it’s code remotely.
“Say, Router, what you go there? Why are you so distraught?”, asked Lambda.
“It’s nothing. This old machine and/or eyebot is glitching out. The faster I can reprogram the latter the better. I’ll check on a few things so don’t wait on me for dinner once you have all hauled the loot in.”, Router responded.
Lambda nodded and gave Router the device. She went away and helped the other bring down and organized the loot. They would all have dinner that night with spices! Router for his part looked on the report once more time before he crumpled it on the floor. “Bah, it must be an error...it must be…”, he whispered to himself. He put the though behind him and check his radio system to see if anyone had answered; not a single response. He was disappointed no one had picked up on his radio message offering a new beginning, could it be that Roxanne was attracting them? He would have to inquire with her about that eventually, for now he turned it off and began working on the processing system.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 25, 2017, 08:47:00 pm
In time, having decided it best not to reside at the farm, she made her way across the river and south of the farm, settling on a good spot by the shore. She'd decided to check on the refugee center, finding that the young man had been tending to a few odd jobs. She decided to offer him work on an idea she had, have began siting a planned structure after making a hastily-made shelter. Sergei surprisingly was willing to assist as well, liking the idea she had laid out. "Good place to throw party." was his evaluation of it, to her surprise.
Despite this, though she started to lay out the groundwork for the longhouse that'd serve as a new base of operations for her, she was a bit antsy to explore and find something else to do. She also felt bad roping Sergei into this task, but he seemed okay with it. Heading back to the bar would be difficult on his own, so he figured it best to stick around.
Having heard a bit about a nearby town that Catnip used to test the massive machine in, they decided to give it a look, Helen especially curious about what the behemoth could do. It didn't take long before they saw the utter devastation. It was awe-inspiring, burnt-out shells of buildings and structures that looked as though something massive cleaved right through them. Sergei pointed out a few sections of much larger craters with signs of grass struggling to grow in the settled ground. "Bomb craters, look a lot older. City probably took a lot of punishment even before this." he suggested, a bit wary or getting too close to the craters.
Despite the awful condition the place was in, they still found a few scattered supplies and tools, soon deciding to check the stairs of one ruined building. Underneath there were scattered signs of sewer tunnels connected to the basement, a fact that seemed suspicious already. "Looks like the others didn't really look around much under here. Not that it looks worth ch-"
A figure shimmering in the distance interrupted her, a shambling undead form that gave off an unnatural glow. A few solid hammer blows and the creature seemed to crumble and evaporate, only for a few more to be attracted by the commotion, most lacking the unnerving radiance the first had. "No wonder they kept describing this place as weird."
The two of them battered and smashed their way through the small gathering of undead, finding out now why there were so many signs of scattered clothes on the surface with no remains. Nothing seemed to remain of the revenants, other than what tattered items they had on them. It wasn't long that the two of them were exhausted, injured, and had only a rough idea of the sewer layout. Knowing night was falling when they started, the two retraced their steps, clambered out into the moonlight, and took shelter in a nearby house.
In the morning they looked over their supplies and gear, examining the area once more, finding the outside mostly free of undead. The only life they saw was a stray dog, once that seemed friendlier and in better condition than the ones roaming the fields and woods. "Don't see any sign of anyone else poking around here, and he's not one of Donny's." Sergei said, the two deciding to care for the stray for now, Helen mentioning some of their findings to the others over the two-way. She planned to rest up, repair her torn clothes, and this time bring adequate tools. A hacksaw to get through the bars if she could find one, and her cloak to better protect herself. Given the summer heat, when they set out she'd left her aegis at the makeshift cabin they constructed.
Another day, she decided. It seemed strange that this place would remain so infested with restless dead, and the others had evidently only given the endless tunnels a brief look...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 25, 2017, 10:26:50 pm
Mica tugged on Sharlene's sleeve, still talking. "Lil-eth is with Kat-rin. Takin' nap. My-ka take Char-leen!" There were a lot of things Mica wanted to talk about and to ask, but unlike Catnip, she lacked the mental acuity to put word to thought. Inevitably, Mica degenerated into speaking with bizarre mewling noises. She did manage to ask, before her mouth gave up trying to keep up with her brain, "Why Char-leen wearin' one of My-ka eye silk?" ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "It's fine. I'm... not sure myself. I get the feeling that it should be quiet though. To concentrate." She held out her hand to shake, but Hector stepped in to stop her. "Catnip, your gauntlets. Take off your gauntlets." Catnip had forgotten to take them off, but that was mostly down to not seeing the point in removing them. "If you shake her hand with them on Catnip... You remember what happened when we were practicing don't you?" The gloves came off, and then it was alright to shake hands with the new stranger.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 25, 2017, 10:33:22 pm
Meanwhile back in time, Helen nodded at that. "Understandable. I myself have gotten used to my own prayers being made alone, rather than with my brethren." she admitted, before regarding the gauntlets curiously, seeing the engravings and inlaid silver, shaking Catnip's hand after she took them off. "Those are thunder gauntlets. The Keepers of the Oath are the ones that usually make and use them, if you channel essence into them they can give off a jolt of short-ranged lightning. Pretty much only effective at contact distance though." she explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 25, 2017, 11:01:53 pm
Catnip turned them over, giving them a cursory examination she'd given them a few times already. "I stole them from bandits. They don't fit like other gloves, like, they don't get in the way so I forget to take them off sometimes." She slid them back on, and as she said they fit perfectly. "If you need anything, leave chocolate."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 25, 2017, 11:08:14 pm
Helen nodded at that, before going about her business for now, to prepare for a ritual with Roxanne and Victor...
Helen soon gathered her things, putting on her cloak and taking up that unnerving symbol with its deadly lightning magic, the two making their way back to the city. Hector, having overheard some snippets of what she reported earlier, offered to at least give them a ride over in the tank. "So. Sewers still infested with those things? There has to be a reason for that, and I don't like the idea of having something like that just across the river from us." Hector said as Siege Tower rumbled to a stop near what was once the larger of the town's motels, letting the two out. "Sure you don't want me coming along too?" he asked, to which Helen shook her head.
"It's fine, I'd rather have you keeping an eye on things up here. Tunnels are hard enough for just one person to navigate." she said, while Sergei smiled a bit. "I'm surprised the place is breathable down there, but seems like being out of use for several years helps. More ventilation than I expected too." Sergei pointed out, a fact the other two thought was strange as well. "Sewers aren't supposed to be large enough to navigate so easily, yeah."
During their time the two of them they intermittently reported on their findings, the two finding the tunnels to seem as though a deliberate maze rather than a sewer grid, frequently having to get past barred passages, largely thanks to Sergei's hydraulic muscles easily crumbling the simple framework that impeded them. The whole network was infested with undead in a terrible state of decay and instability, along with slithering chitinous things that seemed to be oversized centipedes.
It was when the noted an incline going deeper into the ground, that something interrupted Helen's response over the radio. Something provoked a faintly-heard "блять." from Sergei, and in her haste the mage-hunter forgot that she even had the handset firmly held in hand, the other holding her hammer tightly. "Helen? Sergei! What's going on in there?" he called out, futilely. Whereas the tank's radio was a proper full-duplex system, he knew they wouldn't hear him over the two-way while it was transmitting. What he heard was a cacophony of horrifying moans and inhuman howls, and soon enough the clamoring of battle, Helen chanting in Latin as she worked into a rhythm of deadly strikes. Frequently the chant was drowned out by the sounds of the horde and angry shouting in Russian, and occasionally she was interrupted and provoked into yelling obscenities in Old Norse. Worse, after things finally went quiet, the transmission started to break up.
Helen had lost herself in battle, the two of them plowing through a massive gathering of the strange monsters in an area deeper unerground, surprised to finding what seemed to be some sort of loading bay and the entrance to a structure dimly lit by aging emergency lights. They'd worked their way around, dodging and encircling the gathering of undead, constantly trying to avoid being cornered or surrounded. Even through the scratches and grappling of the horde, and through the sharp pain of her cloak mending injuries as they mounted, it wasn't long before they'd cleared the entire crowd of undead. By then they surveyed the place. The zombies had seemingly infested a sort of military structure, well-fortified but ultimately breached by the horde, the space they were in large enough that a wrecked old humvee had somehow been brought into the area.
It was when the two made it down the stairway that they had a moment to catch their breath, Helen realizing she'd had the radio in a deathgrip the entire time. "Helen here, sorry about that. Guessing you overheard we encountered some problems. Something's built underneath th-" When they opened the metal door leading into the receiving area, they saw the new horde of undead waiting for them. Worse, when she let go of the receiver, she soon found that no response from Hector or the farm followed. "Helviti..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 26, 2017, 12:38:01 am
It would be hard to believe, judging by the unnamable things that lurked in the dimly lit halls and dark rooms of X7, that the lab had been inhabited by people not two years ago. Something had gone wrong. The X7 teams last hope of fighting back the horrors that had cut them off from the surface had itself escaped. They had been trapped by the thing’s they’d brought into the lab to test their subjects cornered them in the lowest levels of the lab, and had devoured or killed them to a man. Now, those black things moved about in the dark, blindly seeking something to feed on.
A line of blue light appeared in the dark, and widened into something like a door. Within it’s area there appeared a field of stars, and a man. At least, it looked like a man. Archbishop Astor, Regis that was, had not been quite human since descending into the depths of that dire church in the strange forest of new england, and been taken by a force from between the worlds.
It hadn’t taken the Gods Army scribes long to find it, this lab. It was the only one in which test subjects were grown instead of being taken from the general population. Astor moved along the corridors, the horrors in the dark vacating the area around him, knowing him for what he was. It didn’t take long to find what he was looking for. With a wave of his hand, the ice sealed door exploded inwards and he entered the labs cold storage. As he went about his work, collecting up blocks of acrylic from frozen plinths. Each of them bearing a name and number. Each block contained what appeared to be some sort of organic circuit inside. His voice came floating through the halls, and to anyone with an ear to listen would have heard; “Have yourself, a merry little christmas, let your heart be light, from now on yo- Ah, but you shouldn’t have. What a nice gift! What’s this though, it seems someone forgot to bring a couple of the presents? My my, what are Miss Catnip and Miss Mica going to get then? Well, we can just give them all the gifts, I don’t think their brothers and sisters will mind, do you?” He laughed. He didn’t mind a few missing samples, he wasn’t here for them primarily. What his scribes had informed him of was the research. The lab contained a project that Archbishop Astor thought would come in handy for dealing with some of the more bothersome settlements. Those too hardened for his men to crack. One that would make things much easier once all other opposition had been wiped out and all that remained were the fools that called him “Archbishop.” “It’s going to be a wonderful christmas.” He said aloud, “Gifts for everyone, especially for all the good little boys and girls.” As the field of stars appeared again, his bleak laughter filled the labyrinthine chambers of X7.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 26, 2017, 04:54:40 am
Sharlene sighs. "Same reason some people use eyepatches, Darlin'. Missin' an eye." She shrugs. "Long story. Involves a Scotsman and two claymores. Both kinds." Lilith was finally stirring by the time they arrived, but was still lying there, staring at the sky. "Miss Lilith! You're okay!" Kathrine yells, throwing her arms around one of Lilith's arms.
"Kath, honey, could 'ya leave for a bit? I gotta tell Lil somethin'."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 05:00:02 am
Nathaniel was still there, staying by Lilith's side, though he moved away in order for Kathrine to hug the tigress, soon looking over to Sharlene. "Don't go too harsh on her. She doesn't seem to be feeling too well after that episode. I mean besides evidently not having able to keep it down, she doesn't seem to pleased about what she did after the fact." he said, looking to Sharlene. "Unrelated note, where have you been all this time? Glad to see you got back alive though, guessing it wasn't exactly a vacation given those injuries."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 26, 2017, 06:18:02 am
Kathrine doesn't even seem to listen to Sharlene, and just continues hugging Lilith's arm. "Go easy on her? Mate, she not only broke the one goddamn rule I set for her, she went waaaay further than just kil-" Sharlene looks down at Kathrine. "We'll talk about Lilith later. Eye's a... Long story. Sword, explosives, a Scotsman. Oh, and a cassette." She nudges Lilith with her foot. "Up. Come on. Going back home." She just earns an extremely quiet grunt for her efforts, and Lilith rolls over onto her other side, making sure to not crush Kathrine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 06:30:24 am
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at that. "And what else was she going to do? It was evidently just her and Dee charging after a bunch of Hell's Raiders, and someone didn't bring a weapon with them." he pointed out, only to facepalm at the resulting scene of Sharlene trying and failing to get Lilith up, before he decided to kneel beside her, sighing a bit. "You should go with her, Lilith. I can, er...go with you if you want." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 26, 2017, 10:45:17 am
Victor’s room was an organized mess; no one but him knew where anything was and it felt very crowded despite there being as much room as any other room. This format seemed to be very popular among the dabblers of the arcane. Victor sat in his chair setting up his material for a ritual; nothing as dramatic as the ones he had done previously. Two candles laid on the table on either side of his sword that laid on the center. The two candles were lit and Victor uttered a phrase; the candle light suddenly turned blue and grew in strength, lighting all the room in it’s light. All shadows were once more missing and formed a shadow silhouette projected on the wall opposite Victor; it’s eyes were hollow but you could still discern intent.
“You called? How may I be of service?”, asked a voice seemingly emanating from thin air.
"I came to make a proposal.", answered Victor.
“Is that so? What is your proposal?”
"How would you like a physical ‘body?’"
"...I am listening…”
"You see, I am missing something, something obvious. I have a ‘slot’ available for something to manifest itself...If some spirit, say one trapped in a sword, were to take over , I wouldn’t stop it."
“...and what do you wish in exchange?”
Victor grinned at the question. "You know humans all to well do you? I can already channel your power through my blade, but what about the physical world? As my shadow, you will be able to harness my life energy beyond what the blade offer and you could assume a powerful physical form like when we did the ritual to summon you. The only thing I ask is for you to do my bidding if called upon. And don’t worry, original contract still applies; once I die, you are free."
“You have yourself a deal once more. I shall serve you to the fullest extent until our contract ends..”
"Aren’t you glad you are now under my command and not just a parasite to Roxanne?"
“I never understood you humans’ need to one up each other. But if you as a species once controlled this earth as a mighty empire, who am I to judge.”
Victor activated the blade and gave another chant. He felt something moving through him; equal in strength as the blade he wielded but certainly different from it. Once the sensation went away, he deactivated the blade and looked down; he once more sported a shadow. Said shadow was darker than it should be and did not change transparency regardless of light levels; it only changed shape, size and direction.
"This will be the beginning of a new era...", Victor told himself grinning.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 26, 2017, 11:55:17 am
Lilith halfheartedly attempts to pry Kathrine off of her arm. "No..." She rumbles, curling up again. Sharlene looks down at the sad tigress and digs her in the ribs again. "Get UP."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 12:13:32 pm
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at that, settling a hand on her shoulder. "You'll need to eventually, Lil. Besides, you two have a lot of catching up to do." he said softly, before wincing a bit at that reaction from Sharlene. "To be honest, getting her to come along is going to be hard. I mean it took most of the entire farm to move her into safe position when she passed out earlier." he pointed out. "And I'm half-afraid trying too hard will make her puke on me again."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 26, 2017, 12:32:27 pm
Mica crouched and stroked Lilith's shoulder. "Kat-nyp has wheely thing. Move big Lil-leth on wheely thing?" She reached for Kathrine then, and the cat maid recoiled a little, but allowed herself to be touched. "Morsel. Must let go of Lil-leth. Char-leen wants talk to Lil-leth alone. Come with My-ka, we go see Kat-nyp. Maybe help My-ka fix silks? Kat-thrin best at silks."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 26, 2017, 12:50:46 pm
Roland was confident enough in his new found skills that, after being directed to where the forge was, and set to work. First he went about finding the proper materials of course. Some time had passed and he held the finished product in his hand and couldn't help but smile.
The face plate had little in the way of detail with concessions for making it comfortable to wear and breath out of with a pair of holes for sight. The rear part of the helmet was attached by a pair of concealed hinges on one side and concealed latches on the other to hold it in place. Turning it in his hands he knew it could be improved and made to better protect him but it was better than his last. Finding some paint Roland coated it in a layer of black before letting it dry and putting a golden cross on the face plate.
Soon he wandered over to the fire pit with some cloth that he began knitting into a mask to wear underneath the helm. Drifter for his part had handed over the guitar to someone else as they picked up the singing and had bummed another cigarette. Standing Drifter started walking away as cigarette smoke trailed after him.
He wondered what he should be doing right about now. What life would have been like if he'd made a different choice all those years ago...
Elsewhere a pair of men smashed the glass of the convenience store. The zombies inside took notice but the pair of them managed to kill them before taking supplies. Food, medicine, whatever they could get their hands on. Once finished they started down the road to an awaiting van where a thirteen year old girl was waiting. She started to drive as the two closed the doors and one of them said "Get going Mortal! We need to get out of here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 02:00:18 pm
The bad news was both of them were a bit beat up from the eearlier encounter, and Helen was doing her best to ignore the burning ache her cloak's healing effect left. The good news was they had a fairly narrow entrance to hold against a room packed with zombies.
The two let the undead filter in, constantly bionic-fueled punches would send crumbling undead forms toppling into the crowd, and deftly-swung blows of her hammer would send evaporating remains of the undead crumbling to the ground. Even then it was hard to keep the horde back, the group starting to drive the two back. Having to go up the stairs would work if they needed to,but Helen decided on a different approach. Clipping her radio to her pocket to free up her hand, she grabbed ahold of the symbol of judgement she brought.
With a wicked crack of thunder, lightning pulsed into the crowd that was pushing their way through the doorway, Helen shouting for Sergei to stay behind her, arcs of electric death branching off the resulting beam and flowing through the metal-clad walls of the doorway. The beam struck one square in the chest and blew it apart into a fine dust, bolts jumping all about and arcing through the crowd. Several of them were left either convulsing or simply fell still and withered away, clearing a wide swath through the roomful of zombies.
What was left was trivial to mop up, though the pair were driven back when they looked out and saw yet more of the monsters shambling around in hallways, some pounding at armored glass panels.
"Helen h-here. Something's built under this place, lot more of these revenants down there. We're alive at least, won't be able to do more than scratch the surface today." she said, once they were finally back in the sewers where the reception was at least usable.
"Had me worried for a moment there. Tell me where when you get topside and I'll pick you up." Hector answered, even more unnerved by now. Soon enough they were driving back, the whole adventure likely having been overheard over the radio at the farm as well. The better to get the two of them looked up, both rather scratched up and injured, Helen having to abstain from further use of her cloak given how much the pain from earlier use had grown, and not wanting to overuse it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 26, 2017, 02:40:31 pm
The man smiled to himself as he unloaded the revolver and slid a singular bullet into the cylinder. Spinning it he walked over to a chair in front of the other man that was tied up in the warehouse. The Hell's Raiders members watched him as he sat down and flicked the cylinder closed even as they were watched from outside.
The man waved the revolver in a grandiose gesture as he said "I told you when you made the deal to pay the debt. Pay the debt pay the debt pay the debt." Leveling the revolver at his own head he- *click*. "But no. You didn't pay the debt."
Pointing it at the man in front of him he pulled the trigger and *click* "So now here we are. You, me, and some future clients to whom I'm making an example out of you." Putting it against his head *click*
"So I hope you wrote that letter to your family I told you to. Cause it's time for you to rest." Pointing it at the man the gunman smiled under his helmet. Pushing the barrel against the man's head he pulled the trigger and *BOOOM* the man's head sprayed all over the support beam of the warehouse.
Standing he turned to the Hell's Raiders that had been waiting for his little display to end. Holstering the gun he said "Alright. You want us to kill the people that ran you off your turf. We can do that for you with relative ease but it costs. Ten thousand rounds of ammunition."
The Hell's Raiders balked and started to protest before he raised his hand and said "No negotiations. I can trade a bullet but I can't trade a dollar these days, but we'll take eight thousand rounds and two thousand MREs. Final offer."
The representatives looked to each other and discussed the price before agreeing to it and providing them with what information they had. The man clapped the men on the shoulders and told them they had made a good choice before leaving. The man on the adjacent rooftop stood and started off to the meeting point having heard everything that had been said.
Once the two met up and were moving in the jeep the man said "I got us double the price you wanted Garrick."
Garrick checked the chamber of his Desert Eagle as he told the man "I know Sev, but you also almost lost the contract."
The two continued like this as they returned to base and discussed the plan with their Chapter.
Meanwhile at the Farm Roland had heard about the injured that would be coming and slapped on his gear as he got ready to help with them. It wasn't long ago they'd helped him with Drifter. He figured it was time to return the favor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 03:20:06 pm
Helen winced a bit as she stumbled out of the tank's rear hatch, Sergei close behind. Helen seemed to limping through as fair amount of pain, clothes and arm,or rather battered up but otherwise in better shape than expected, or at least she seemed to act as though she was. Sergei meanwhile was rather heavily scrapped up, having hastily bandaged several of the more severe gashes with whatever was available.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 26, 2017, 04:14:10 pm
Roland put an arm around Sergei as he helped the man to walk. He'd seen some pretty bad shit but this ranked up there with Drifter's leg wound. Shouting for the doc Roland guided the man to the medical area before letting him down on the table and making sure the doctor was in.
Meanwhile Drifter had already noticed the injured and rushed over to Helen to help as he asked "Jesus what happened to you miss?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 04:22:18 pm
Sergei grumbled a bit as Roland helped him along, the worst of it being his arms and hands. The bionics under the skin had soaked up a look of punishment as a punishment, likely making the wounds nowhere near as deep as they'd be otherwise, but he could feel the bionics underneath where in bad shape as well.
Helen for her part staggered a bit. "Ran into more trouble than we were expecting." she said, taking off that cloak and setting it aside, its charge of energy long since depleted, having been running low on it and not having had time to break down any other items to produce more. "Lot better than I could be though." she added. Indeed she had several scrapes, gashes, and bruises, but there were spots where bloodstained tears in her clothes were left with no apparent injury underneath them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 26, 2017, 04:40:32 pm
"Looks like it. Next time bring some backup with ya." Drifter said as he walked with Helen and helped her get to the docs place. He was just happy no one had gotten shot in the knee cap this time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 05:21:24 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Had backup, at least lasted a lot longer than if I'd gone in alone." she said, smiling a bit despite the lingering ache. Soon enough they'd both been led along into Quinn's clinic, Sergei mumbling a bit in Russian. The injuries were fairly consistent with the claws, flailing limbs, and bite marks of the undead, though there were no apparent signs of the contagions common among the undead, with along the number of injuries being the main concern. Evidently whatever left the undead there in such terrible condition, and glowing unnaturally in some cases, rendered their bodies rather poor environments for bacteria.
Sergei it seems had been saved by the hydraulic muscles underneath the skin in several parts, though that left the systems damaged there as well. There was likely also some minor signs of exposure to radiation, the two having bits of crumbling undead remains that seemed to have a fair bit of alpha contamination. Helen looked at first glance like she was beat up as much as Sergei was, if not for the signs of her cloak having done its work, but several such injuries were left over.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 26, 2017, 05:46:51 pm
Sharlene waits for Kathrine to be, partially unwillingly, led off by Mica before saying anything. "Right, listen up. Me and her, we set up ONE rule. One pretty important fuckin' rule. No. Killin'. Nobody." She punctuates each word with a finger, as if she was telling off a child. "An' she just broke that. She went waaay beyond breakin' it. I gotta punish her for that." Sharlene kneels down and pushes Lilith's shoulder. "Come on ya oaf, play along..." Lilith groans, and very deliberately gets to her feet. "Ok..." She plods after Sharlene, who's leading her back to the cabin. "Come if ya want, I don't give one."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 26, 2017, 05:55:23 pm
Quinn raises a brow, "Let me look at the damage." He patches up Sergei's and Helen's wounds.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 06:00:49 pm
Nathaniel signed as he got up and stepped aside. "Just don't kill her or anything, okay?" he said, a bit nervous now. He honestly had no idea what sort of punishment this entailed, but he partly doubted Sharlene could do any worse than what the bandits did in the fighting, even if she'd been quite able to subdue her.
Helen nodded at that, having set aside her cloak, mask, and hammer, regarding some of the items in his clinic and lab curiously. "Glad to finally have a chance to meet you, though I'd rather it be under different circumstances." she remarked.
Sergei smiled a bit at that. "Never did get to thank you for helping Donovan out."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 26, 2017, 06:30:31 pm
Sharlene yanks the front door open, reaching for something to the left of the door. "Goddamnit, MOHAMMAD WHERE'S YOUR FUCKIN' GUN?" "WHY DO YOU WANT MY GUN? USE YOUR OWN!" Mohammad peeks through the curtain, and ends up face to face with a frustrated Sharlene. "Gun. Now." "No. Why should I give you s-" He's immediately cut off by Sharlene's headbutt. "FUCK! Alright, fine! Jesus christ, woman! Here!" A couple of seconds after he vanishes back into the room, a shitty-looking rifle pops out, held by one red gloved hand. Sharlene takes it, and spins around to face Lilith. A quick check of the magazine confirmed it, and she brought it up to be level with her chest. "Sorry, gal." She quickly squeezes the trigger a couple of times, and waits.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 26, 2017, 06:41:55 pm
Donny looks towards the gunshots, and lets out a staticy grumble. He goes to his stuff and grabs an undershirt and a pair of shoes and slips them on. He grabs one of his many pistols and tucks it behind his belt, he heads towards the gunshot. He pokes around the cabin before knocking on the cabin's door. "Ev-ev-every#hi#g o-o-o#ay?"
"Your welcome." Quinn stares at helen behind his glasses, "You must be the mage hunter. Mmm?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 06:47:28 pm
Nathaniel was pacing nervously at that, uncertain what Sharlene was up to back at the cabin. She had that look about her that suggested she was going to do something drastic. It was then he heard the shots in the distance. "That...fucking bitch...what did she do." he said, quietly, drawing his pistol and starting towards the cabin.
Hector caught up with him, a hand set firmly on his should. "No. You're staying. I'll check on them." he said, shield in hand and helm on as he rushed over to the cabin. He had his doubts that anything less than .50 BMG would even faze Lilith, and he knew Nathaniel would jump to conclusions if he saw what he suspected was going on. If she had actually managed to seriously injure or even kill the tigress though, he fully intended to drag the both of them back over to the farm.
He was at that point already right behind Donny when they arrived at the cabin, deciding not to wait for them to answer the door, instead slipping in. "Of all the...Sharlene..."
Helen nodded at that. "I haven't heard someone take that tone when calling me that in a while." she remarked, shaking her head at that. "I'd hope you're already aware that if I've no intention of harming two brethren led astray, that I'm no threat to you either."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 26, 2017, 06:58:24 pm
Lilith was giggling by the time Sharlene decided she'd had enough. "...This' supposed to be a punishment, Lil..." Sharlene sighs. lowering the gun. Mohammad was screaming obscenities from the other room, mostly drowning out Donovan's knocks, when Hector burst through the door instead. "What?" She shrugs. "She can deal with it. Idiot's taken worse than this without a mark, it's like a couple-a BB's, right girl?" "YOU'RE A FUCKING INSANE PERSON!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 26, 2017, 07:04:08 pm
Donny walks in, wincing at Mohammad's screams."Mohammad. Calm dow-dow-down." He glances at Lilith, he scratches the side of his mouth and some of his exposed teeth. "#hat-wh#t-wha# did she do?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 07:06:20 pm
Hector facepalmed at that. "First off, I hate to say it but Lilith had good reason to break that rule. Unless you're feeling sorry for a bunch of Hell's Raiders that went and kidnapped Mica?" he pointed out. "Second, even if she could likely ignore most any caliber in existence, do I really need to tell you that playing with guns like that is a bad idea? Not to mention if I hadn't practically forced Nathaniel to stay back at the farm, he would've gone straight to shooting." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 26, 2017, 07:10:55 pm
While all this was going on, Roxanne was inside her room partaking in…”spiritual herbs”. "Oh great spirit that fed off my soul, show me a sign of things to come." The gunshot was heard even here; it was muffled but still heard due to the quietness the cataclysm had brought with the end of human civilization. "Guess that’s my cue! ~", Roxanne told herself with a giggle.
She exited the room and went towards the source of the sound when she spotted Nathan by the fire pit. She forgot all about gunshot and went towards Nathaniel. "Hey Nathan, what’s going on? What’s with all the noise?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 26, 2017, 07:20:41 pm
"Lilith killed and uh..." She glances at Lilith out of the corner of her eye, then makes an eating motion. "Yeah. To a dude. S-" Sharlene's cut off by Hector's facepalm. "And what're you angry about, numbnuts? ...Alright, first off, I'm leaving Mica's role in this in the 'deal with later' drawer. Lil's the one we're talkin' 'bout now, and I'm sure there's a perfectly normal way she could've dealt with this that DIDN'T involve breakin' the SINGLE THING I TOLD HER NOT TO DO." She's given up with talking directly to Hector by now, and is glaring at Lilith. "Her weirdo boyfriend can do whatever he wants, guy looks like he can't take a punch, think a gun'll handle him more than he does, it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 07:26:11 pm
Nathaniel grumbled more at that, having holstered his pistol. "Sharlene bein' a lunatic, I'm guessing. Hector's over there, think I saw Donny leaving too. If she hurt Lilith, I swear to fucking God..." he said. "Lilith basically got roped into tearing up a few bandit fuckboys and took a few bites out of them in the process. I mean what was she expecting, for Lil to get them to leggo of Mica with harsh language?"
Hector sighed at that. "And? She lost control of herself. You get in a life and death situation, you default to either instinct or training. And I don't see you training Lilith judo or some other way to handle being thrust into a situation like that without a few casualties. You do what needs to be done to deal with the threat, in what ways you can." he said, only to grumble a bit at that.
"Misusing guns happens to be one of those things he's actually good at though, as evidenced by your friend here not being a eunuch." he pointed out. "Either way, that's why I'm here instead, because neither of you can be trusted not to turn this into a shootout."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 26, 2017, 07:35:33 pm
"That's-that's-that's it? Huh." Donavan crackles and shrugs.
Floyd and Luis stop at the refugee center, "Sorry 'bout this, kiddo. There's other people there who can help ya out. Hope I see ya in one piece again. See ya, kiddo." He pats Luis on the shoulder, they go their seperate ways.
Quinn stares at Helen through his glasses once more, "I am aware. What happened to you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 26, 2017, 07:41:49 pm
Roxanne puts a shoulder on Nathaniel’s shoulder. "Hey, don’t worry about it! Lil is a walking tank, I doubt sharlenn has the means or guts to harm your girlfriend." Roxanne looks around for a moment following a bird as it passes by before returning her attention to nathaniel. "Besides, Hector is there, he’ll put a stop to it!"
Thoughts of Lilith actually dying in the hands of sharlene cross Roxanne's hands, she is horrified for a moment but then realizes that would be lots of prime meat for the taking. She licks her mouth slightly then shakes her head to clear her mind. "As long as scream of pain or tiger roars are not heard, things will be alright, so relax ok?" Roxanne gives Nathaniel a pat on the back as if he were a child and laughs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 26, 2017, 08:16:22 pm
Drifter hobbled into the cabin and stared at the collection of individuals there. Hector was yelling at Sharlene as Lillith lay on the ground laughing and the transvestite was screaming inaudbiely but most certainly about the gun fire and Donny was standing there as well. Sharlene was also still holding the gun which he figured was the cause of the problem.
He came to a decision the second he walked into the room. Taking the gun from Sharlene Drifter shouted for everyone to shut up and by some miracle everyone including the transvestite was quiet. "Okay I got no fuckin' idea what's goin' on but it's rather clear ya shot the lady on the floor. It's also clear she ain' bothered by it so everyone calm down."
Turning to Sharlene he said "It doesn't matter if'n she can take the bullets, it's the principle of the matter in that you don't shoot somethin you don't want to kill. Besides there'r some things one inch to the right or left, up or down and you might have killed her. Woulda killed anyone else here too."
Turning to Hector he said "Okay tin can ya made your point. Repeating it ain't gonna help and yes I just repeated it myself. And since you don't seem to know this my and my unit'd shoot each other's vests with our side arms. No harm do no foul. Some weird training technique the sarge had."
"And for the love of god stop harrassing the transvestite. He's traumatized enough." Drifter said as he looked over at Marmite.
And finally he finished with a smile on his face as he took the gun out the door with him "Besides you gotta realize how funny it is to see a transvestite screaming as a Knight is yellin' his head off at a lady who didn' do any harm as a tiger lady sits on the floor laughin' her butt off. Not to mention the irony of a knight yellin' at a lady in the first place..." Drifter's voice trailed off as he walked away and began laughing, throwing his head back as he let out the pent up hillarity of the situation.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 08:25:52 pm
Nathaniel blushed a bit at that remark. "Girlfriend? And here I didn't think my feelings for her were as transparent as you and Hector." he teased.
That little lick she gave prompted a glare from him. "Don't even think about it." he remarked, giving a rather childish pout. "Honestly, I know she's a tough girl, just hard not to worry about her."
Meanwhile Hector blinked at that, raising a hand. He was about to point out that Drifter contradicted himself by pointing out that he just told Sharlene the same sort of thing he was telling her a moment ago, and then promptly said that it was okay despite it not being okay five seconds ago. At that point he found himself cracking up some, starting to realize how absurd the entire thing was.
"A knight, a cyborg, and a cowboy walk into a bar..." he said softly, chuckling a bit.
Helen nodded at that. "Large group of undead under that old city nearby. Slow like most of them, but able to put up decent speed when in close. One was strong enough it almost knocked Sergei over doing that. Tend to fall apart when put down, like some of the otherworldly monsters tend to do. No bodies left. A few glowing, some strong enough. Hector said to watch for signs of radiation sickness, if I recall?" she elaborated.
"Regardless, I think I'm in better shape than Sergei at least. Cloak did most of the work. Still stings having to do that though." she said. Despite her insisting on ensuring Sergei was alright, other than damage to his bionics Sergei wasn't actually much worse off than she was.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 26, 2017, 08:46:23 pm
Donny shrugs and wanders off.
Quinn lets a breath of air through his nose. He inspects Sergei's wounds, he grabs a first aid kit and starts to patch up Sergei. Stitching up his larger lacerations, wrapping up the stitches in bandages.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 09:02:06 pm
Helen remarked Quinn curiously, uncertain what to make of him, as she watched him work, relieved that Sergei was okay at least. Though the whole "glowing zombies that may or may not be radioactive" thing made her suspect Quinn wasn't quite a medical doctor given he didn't seem to even react her mentioning to that.
Sergei for his part looked back to Helen. "So long as I don't puke my guts out, things should be fine."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 26, 2017, 09:28:53 pm
"Two tablets of prussian blue should keep your from "puking your guts out". You too, mage hunter." Quinn says, looking over his glasses towards Helen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 09:32:31 pm
Sergei nodded at that, the two of them doing so, and having done their best to brush the dust off that'd gathered on them. "Please, you can call me Helen. I mean it's not like that's even a proper title in my order anyway..." she grumbled. "Less comparable to calling you Doctor and more comparable to calling you Science Guy." she joked. "Speaking of which, what...even is your doctorate in?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 26, 2017, 09:36:35 pm
"I have a PhD, not an MD. I work as the farm's medic because they keep dragging wounded to me." Quinn says, adjusting his glasses.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 09:46:37 pm
Helen blinked at that. "I see. Not anyone better suited, I'm guessing." she said. "What sort of study was it, if I may ask?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 26, 2017, 09:51:02 pm
"Studies of Anomalous matter, as well as a degree in cybernetic biology." Quinn says, gesturing towards the pair of degrees hanging on the wall of the trailer.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 09:54:31 pm
Helen nodded at that. "They actually made degrees in that. Well that explains how things ended up like this while we were busy chasing demented cultists, at least." she remarked, looking down a bit as it reminded her of a few unpleasant things. It was then she perked up a bit, smiling a little. "That does mean, you could say you're a witch doctor." she joked, prompting an annoyed groan from Sergei.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 26, 2017, 10:05:08 pm
"Banned. That joke is banned." Quinn says with a grumble.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 26, 2017, 10:05:22 pm
*Click* *zzzzzt* *beep* Various noises were made by reprogramming of the eyebot. Chain lightning gun and upgraded plutonium based systems were online; all that needed to be done was for this thing to accept it’s new programing. “Haha! Operation success!”, Router said in a triumphant manner. The eyebot rosed from where it stood and levitated off the ground. Router messed with the dial in his remote and set the eyebot into patrol mode; the little robot moved around the room scanning, it was working!
“Good to go! Just need to put it into the field and get me some new readings on the ‘anomaly’. This should allow me to debug faulty data and make us one step closer to repurpose other bots!”, Router exclaimed to itself, “Off you go my little friend!” Router put the bot into reconnaissance mod and opened the door letting the little bot make it’s way to the outside world once more. Sigma entered the room at the same time the eyebot excited.
“Nice to see that you got that thing working as intended. It’s a sign of our luck that we get to work on little projects like this.”, Sigma told Router.
“We’ve earned this, the scavenge runs have been a success and Roxanne’s help with the missile silo got us out of hiding. This wasn’t luck, this was destiny!”, Router responded.
Sigma rolled his eyes, he wasn’t one who believed in such things like destiny and Karma; he was a firm believer in his free will. “Now now, let’s not get philosophical here. So, what’s our next move?”
“For now we wait for readings of the eyebot to see if anything of interest pops out. You guys have pretty much looted the entire city and we have enough supplies right now. Give it a rest and work on your people skills, that party we threw was a bit awkward with ‘sober bio-weapon Sigma’.”
Sigma stood there quiet for a moment, out of respect or not knowing what to say is unknow. “Right...I will be going now to talk to people then...all 5 of them…”
“Nice to see you though of the guards, they get lonely too you know?”
Sigma just closed the door without a response. Things were looking up for the command center. Just if that eyebot;s readings were incorrect...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 26, 2017, 10:05:49 pm
"Ok Mica, hold still." Dee was attempting to sketch Mica's arms onto a drawn framework. The Medeina robot didn't need big bulky things like most robots, it wasn't going to be doing any fighting if Dee could help it. For the fourth time, he erased the whole thing and started again. "Sorry Mica, I just can't seem to-" Mica gave a sharp sigh and snatched the pencil and sketch pad from Dee. Earlier, she'd conveyed Kathrine to Catnip and had sat with them while they talked out Kathrines worries. After sitting around listening to that, she needed to do something to relax. Dee had promised her a walk up in the woods behind the cabin. When she'd arrived to get him though, he'd been in the middle of working on his latest robot project. It made a small flash of jealousy in her, but she squashed that. Dee liked his robots, and she couldn't change that.
After taking away the pad and pencil, Mica turned them towards her and looked. The page was a smudged mess of eraser marks and half visible lines. Scanning the page, Mica decided that this one had been ruined, tore it out of the pad, ate the sheet, and began on a fresh page. She used Dee's full length mirror to get the details of the arm, and then she continued by sketching the rest of herself. She enlarged the torso a little so that Dee could fit the harddrive matrices into it in the design. "Jeez Mica, when did you get so talented?" Mica shrugged. It wasn't something she'd done much of before, unless their was something in those lost memories of her lab childhood. "You don't mind if I sketch out a few small changes? I don't want to ruin it, but I do need to make some changes." Mica nodded a little, she was beginning to get huffy. It only took Dee a moment to make his small edits. He replaced the drawings feet and calves with a conical shape, widening at the bottom, for stability and removed one set of arms. "Alright, I think that's all I need, now I just need to-" Mica grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled part of the way over his work bench. "You promise My-ka walk. Bold lizard break promise?" Dee shook his head emphatically, "Then kiss My-ka and put away ro-but tools." She let him settle back after he'd done as she'd asked, and gladly. He needed a break anyway. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ So many things to do. Catnip was most alive at times like this. Irons in the fire, projects on the front burners, plans laid and ready to execute. For now, she had measurements in hand and a small project to move forward. Quinn and some of the others wanted to give drifter a silly robot leg. Such contrivances required power cells and surgery though. She'd seen enough in the boring medical books to figure out how a prosthetic worked, and also to know that it was really a fairly simply machine. She'd already constructed the framework and was preparing to plane the wood, a nice chunk of hickory that had once served as a wheel stop to keep vehicles from rolling away, when she thought of Drifter. The man she had originally thought of as "the one legged stranger" and now had begun to think of as "the sad man." He acted normally on the outside, but she could see the haunted way with which he looked upon the world. There was a great emptiness in there somewhere, and Catnips heart reached out to him. She shaved another bit of wood from what would be the front portion of the leg, and thought about what she would use for the foot. A nice hand made leg would be one that she thought he would appreciate over some bionic, and she wouldn't even charge him for it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 10:10:43 pm
Helen stifled a giggle at that. "Not even a little funny? I'll be sure to remember that next time you call me mage hunter." she teased. "Will have to exchange notes sometime. Interesting to see what the less traditional approach to the arcane was."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 26, 2017, 10:14:02 pm
"I'm under so many layers of irony that I've forgotten what humor is." Quinn says without changing expression. Then lets out a snicker. "We can share notes, sure."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 10:16:57 pm
Helen smiled a little at that. "Why am I not surprised, Bill." she teased, referencing her earlier remark before that joke came up. "Will be interesting to see then."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 26, 2017, 10:20:35 pm
After Roxanne had her small talk with Nathaniel, she moved on after losing interest and went to the food storage. The combination of her ‘ceremonial herbs’ and her fast metabolism demanded food NOW! She stumbled upon the cache of dehydrated meat and veggies and had at them. Soon, thirst also manifested itself so she drank some bottled tea that obviously belonged to someone else. It seemed that her mutations affected the ways drugs and medicine interacted with her biology; Roxanne was currently a drooling idiot.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on August 26, 2017, 10:42:54 pm
Meanwhile, to the north.
A man in a greatcoat with a sewn on mantle and a tricorne walks up to a small settlement, a small walled off pre-cataclysm town. A pair of guards stop the bounty hunter. “What’s your business here?” “Jus’ passin’ through.” “Hmph, ya better pass through quickly.” “Why’s that?” “Salary men are poppin by” The bounty hunter shifts his tongue in his mouth in thought “Salary men, ‘uh? Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to pass through fast. ‘ave a nice day, gents.” The guard nods and the bounty hunter walks into the town, inside is a butcher shop, a parking lot converted into a small marketplace, a bar, and a two floor motel. He walks into the butcher shop, the bell above the door rings. Various dried and smoked meats are in the display and currently drying meat is sitting on hooks. “Welcome to Whitfield and co. First class butc- ...you trying to kill Dracula or just get laughed at?" “Kill dracula, good butcher. What can I get for this?” The bounty hunter says with a chuckle as he holds up a fancy looking watch and showcases it. The butcher scratched his stubbly cheek with his hooked left hand. "lesseeee... ...this still work?" He toyed with it in his hands for a bit and called back behind him. "Nancy! How much does a watch go for!? ...it's definitely real!" After a pause he stared back silently. Before talking again he let out a snort of air from his nose. "Pffft... Wives am I right? I can get you some cured lamb. How's uuuuuh... Two pounds of the stuff sound to ya?" ”I’ll take it. So… How about those salary men fellows, sounds like they’re a bit of a problem.” The bounty hunter rests his hands on the counter as the butcher carves out some cured lamb. "Oh, those assholes?" He dug his hooked hand into the lamb and started swinging with his cleaver at the tendons "Bunch’ve sissies in suits and ties who think they own the world" he straightened his tie and plopped the meat onto the scale. "Ya’know, they think they're the top of the food chain. THINK. They don't cause no trouble. Not around me at least. ...oops looks like I 'accidentally' put a little extra on." The bounty hunter smiles and places two wanted posters on the counter and turns them to face the butcher, “Which one comes here to pick up their payment?” The posters show a picture and a name, one is of “Lawrence Lee” and the other is of “Gabriel Aparicio.” Lawrence has eye black under his eyes and bored looking brown eyes. Gabriel looks to be of colombian or mexican descent. The butcher dropped his hooked hand on the latter of the posters and spat on the floor. "That one. I recognize him. I'd strangle him to show him who's the real boss but I don't want my neighbors to get punished for my actions. ...say. you're not gonna eighty six this guy are ya? If so that'd be a load off my tired old ass.” The bounty hunter nods, “Thanks for th’ info, good butcher. Have a nice day.” The hunter scoops up the lamb and cuts off a strip with his own knife, he puts the rest in his bag and walks out. He chews on the strip of lamb while walking around the town whilst chatting with the locals. He found out that 4 people along with Gabiel, two with hunting rifles, two with blunt weapons. Gabiel carries around a pump action shotgun. He was chatting with a craftsman when the salary men came. A man with greying hair and a goatee meats with the salary men with a larger man with a small makeshift cart with a meager amount of goods. The bounty hunter watches the encounter while walking closer. Some people walk of their shops or homes to witness what’s going to happen, including the butcher. “C’mon amigo. This isn’t enough.” “This was the same amount as last time.” “We need more, ami-” “I’m not your ‘amigo’. Cut the bullshit, this is the same amount as last time. We give you these supplies for protection. Don’t rip us off.” “Qué? Listen to here you sack of shit.” He raises the shotgun to hit the old man with the stock. A loud crack of a whip is heard and the columbian’s eye is splattered. He falls to his knees, drops the shotgun, and cups the blood falling from his eye socket. A jar of a red wispy powder on the bounty hunter’s whip glows bright and then stops, appearing to have consumed some of the powder. The bounty hunter draws a makeshift blunderbuss and pulls the trigger, sending a makeshift slug towards one of the gunmen. It splatters his brains against his pavement. He re-holsters the blunderbuss, he drags the whip against the pavement and swings it towards the other gunmen. The red powder glows dimly once more, the whip cracks and slashes open the second gunman’s throat. He coils the whip and hands it against his belt. The last two salary men with bats run off, the bounty hunter unsheathes a dagger and walks up to Gabriel. He places the dagger’s point against Gabriel’s temple and smacks an open palm against the back of the dagger, sending the blade into his skull, killing him. The bounty hunter lets the corpse fall backwards onto his back. He takes out a small polaroid camera and snaps a photo of the body, the bounty hunter grabs the photo and watches the photo develop before slipping it into his pocket. The butcher grins from ear to ear at the carnage the hunter carved. “Well. I guess I’ll be staying for a little longer.” He gets a room at the motel and stays for a couple of days.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 10:44:04 pm
Nathaniel blinked at that, facepalming as she walked off...a sentiment shared by Hector later on after he returned from the cabin, finding Roxanne sitting there stoned out of her mind.
Helen meanwhile, with some initial reluctance, gathered some of the things she'd written down. There was little in the way of observations on items standard to her order, other than notes on a ritual to construct a blade ward using an incorruptible blade, noting its effects on a damaged, tarnished sword and the effects of the resulting barrier.
Other notes detailed observations on silver gylphs charged with energy but not bound to a creature to be summoned, its use by the Sanguine Order to break protective magic, the architecture and enchantments common to a Veiled Temple and its effect on warding spells linked to the temple, a rather plain mention of how to dispel the effect making the structure float, details on blood magic sabotaging magical blades, and at the end, the use of enchanted holy symbols to manipulate and bind spiritual entities that attempted to serve the role of lesser deity.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 26, 2017, 10:47:15 pm
"I'm leaving again." Dervish said, "But I need to go over a few things. Especially with you Hector. You and Dee I think." Hector watched him, not quiet sure to respond to Dervishes statement of intent at leaving, or to this revelation that he had something to tell him. "Your girlfriend, and don't deny it, everyone can hear what you two get up to at night. Your girlfriend has developed what we mutagenicists call 'mutation fixation.' It's a condition that will never leave her, a permanent addiction." Hector had to sit down, he knew Roxanne had gone a bit overboard with the back and forth mutation and royally screwed her DNA, but he didn't realize that one could have a monkey on their back from mutagen. "It's an incredibly rare condition, but it's a result of certain serums. You have to keep her away from mutagenic substances. For her own good." He took out a cigarette and lit it. "There's also... Well... This." He took out a sheaf of about ten pages, most of it were facts and figured, and handed them to Hector. "Give her these. It's her mutant profile, if you or her loses this one, I've left copies with Quinn." A look of nervousness and dismay came over his face then. "It's... hard to say this next part Hec. I don't know if you are she ever wanted to start a family or something some day..." Hector could see where this was going, and was glad he was sitting, "Unfortunately, it's not really an option for her anymore. Too much mutation... I'm uh... sorry. Especially sorry to have to just tell you and then leave. I've still got a day though, so I'll probably be looking for her to tell her in person. Unless you get to her before I do."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 26, 2017, 10:52:17 pm
Elsewhere...
Sev had called in the 'Vultures' chapter after Garrick put him in charge of the contract. Sev didn't know but he was being evaluated as he looked at the men. The Vultures were men who killed without being seen or heard and Sev couldn't help but feel like one of them was up on the nearby rooftop watching him through a scope. Nothing personal, just business after all.
The last of them de-activated his optical cloak and sat down cross legged to observe Sev. Clapping his hands he began "We have a contract boys! Bullets and food and I intend to give you a share! All you have to do is send a few of your number to observe this place called the 'Farm' and give me what information you find."
pacing back and forth in front of the men he continued "No killing this time around, just observe. I want numbers, vehicles, weapons, whatever you notice and think is worth mentioning. Give me whatever you find and you. will. be. rewarded!"
The Vultures were unimpressed with his performance but he didn't particularly care. They stood and he could already tell the five men they were sending to observe the farm. Good, their competent and won't get caught...well unless they get run over. That happened before come to think of it. He also noticed the man on the rooftop to his left flicker into view as he lowered his weapon and began to walk away.
Meanwhile Garrick leaned against a wall as the raiders and bandits that had heeded his little call inspected the AKs, the glocks, the swords, and the other half rusted to shit guns he had brought. He was dressed in a set of Hell's Raiders leathers and enough makeup and face prosthetics that no one would have known who he was.
As the inspections finished he told them simply "More will come. First though you hit the place I told you about. Do damage, take whatever you want, and take someone to get information. Once you get me that info you'll get more, all of you."
The collected men shouted agreement as they started to walk out. Garrick waited until they were gone before opening a hidden floor hatch in the building and jumping down to retrieve his own gear. They're getting paid to loot and kill of course they took the fucking job. So either they'll die horribly and I'll have offloaded faulty gear that I couldn't sell or they'll get me information we can use. Either way win win. As he made his way to a hidden vehicle Garrick let his new little pawns go do their work. Nothing could be linked to the Society or himself, just the Hell's Raiders.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 11:03:14 pm
Hector had soon enough been taken aside by Dervish, nodding as he was pulled away for him to explain some things. "Much as I've been trying to ensure she doesn't abuse it further? I didn't think it was an outright addiction, but..." he trailed off, carefully accepting the papers. "She's...oh. Oh. To be honest, I wasn't about to risk that unless she wanted it, which I don't know. That's why I've always been careful, use protection and such..." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 26, 2017, 11:22:38 pm
Dervish sat down next to him. "I understand Hec. There was a time when my wife and I said 'No kids for us thanks,' but as time goes on there is a time in every womans life, even one as wild and independent as Roxanne Luna, when they start to think about it. I know mine did, and I can tell you that the idea infects her man too. Keep the reports, break the news to her if you feel up to the task. Even if you didn't have any plans to, it's still pretty bad news." He chucked his cigarette into an ashtray,
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 11:28:00 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Understood. I'll have to wait until she's sobered up a bit, it seems." he said softly. "And true. Ultimately it'd be her decision in that regard, stressful an environment as this may be to have a kid in. I'll have to figure out how to break the news, I don't really kno how she'd handle it now." he said.
"Still, thank you for coming to me with this. Should let you get back to business."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 26, 2017, 11:39:46 pm
Dervish nodded and stood, making ready to leave, and another thought came to him. "Your doing a good job here knight. The kind of silent leadership figure people need I think. I've been to several settlements and this is the only one where their is still a sense of community. Even in the post-cataclysm, there's still that feeling of civilized life here. Maybe that's down to you, maybe it's just how things fell together, but you can't ignore the deference people around here seem to show you. Think a little on that too."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 26, 2017, 11:46:51 pm
Hector wasn't sure what to make of that at first, before smiling some. "I just do what I can, to be honest. Never really felt like I was really leadership material. I mean in that regard, in terms of rank Nathaniel's higher up, so..."
"Personally I suspect it's both the way things happened, plus Catnip being here to bring us together." he said. "Regardless, thank you. Stay safe, alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 26, 2017, 11:58:34 pm
"You too." said Dervish. He offered his hand to Hector and the knight took it. Talking about these matters had him thinking about his wife again, not lost to the cataclysm like so many others. No, Kate Deverish hadn't fallen to the hordes of undead, the rebelling machines, or the invaders from the world next door. Her doom had taken the form of neglect and pills before the cataclysm even started. Dervish turned away from Hector, more to hide his face than to leave. "You alright?" Hector asked, seeing something wasn't quiet right. "Do better than I did Hec." Dervish said suddenly, "All I've got left is my work, and I can only hope that my efforts can redeem my failings as well as my involvement in the world as you see it." Before Hector could think of a way to respond to that, Dervish was gone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 27, 2017, 10:03:25 am
Router’s eyebot chugged along scanning and recording where it went. 6 years after the collapse of civilization, the dead still littered this earth. No one knew how they could survive this long as they didn’t seem to decay or disintegrate. Worse still, they would get stronger and if killed and left to their own, they would rise back up. One would think that with some many settlements, some of them would have taken care of that problem; but now, the dead still roamed and were an everyday nuisance to those ventured into the cities for supplies.
The eyebot had a specific destination pre-programed, it was to scan the area where the ‘anomaly’ had happened. Router would use the data gathered to compare it to the faulty one and better his algorithm.
“Ah, the readings are in!”, Router exclaimed as he hurried to read the results. “No, this can’t be...I calibrated and fixed this thing! How can it still be malfunctioning.” Router had not stopped to think that maybe it wasn’t malfunctioning, maybe the readings were right, what a coincidence that both readings were the exact same thing: A large concentration of failed bio-weapon activity with a very powerful force among them, apophis was alive.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 27, 2017, 11:32:25 am
Hector was uncertain how to handle this, but before he could think up an adequate response, Dervish was already leaving. He could only sigh and shake his head, making his way over to check on Roxanne. His parting words made him think about things as well. He knew most friends and family of the old world were either gone or different, Nathaniel being the only link to his old life. Even then he knew it wasn't perfect. The two occasionally swapped stories of the old days, but their shared familiarity ended when, in his world, he'd declined a certain suspicious offer to transfer to another unit. Nathaniel usually had tales from that day onward of the sort of shenanigans they were up to back in basic and well before that, usually reluctant to discuss the things they got up to while actually crewing their vehicles.
That left a few other passions in life from the old days. His tank, his old reenactment experience, and finally his rudimentary understanding of blacksmithing. His thoughts however brushed aside what Dervish had made him think about, instead thinking of what had been forged from the fires of the old world and its end. And to Roxanne, as he made his way over to go find her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 27, 2017, 01:29:47 pm
Catnip tightened one last bolt down, just to make sure it was all secure. After that, she would attach the calf and it would be finished. The prosthetic leg Catnip had fashioned was passable, maybe even nice. She’d put together a pneumatic piston so that it would give a little when he put his weight on it. Upon taking a step with the other leg, the ball joint in the ankle of the limb would move easily in it’s socket, aiding the pistons operation. The knee was the portion she was most proud of. She hadn’t been sure it would work, still wasn’t sure. In theory though, the knee would allow for fairly normal movement with minimal limp. She tested the mechanism that allowed the knee to lock in place when weight was put on it while the foot was bent a certain way. It seemed to work, so she checked the dimensions of the socket against the measurements she’d taken. Once the technical stuff was done, she removed the foot and slid the wooden calf over the pneumatic piston and locked it down. The wooden bit wasn’t Catnips best work, but she was proud of the effort she put into shaping and polishing the wood before lacquering it. All she had to do now, was find Drifter and hope he liked it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 27, 2017, 03:25:09 pm
Roxanne had regarded Hector with a wave when he arrived only for him to facepalm at her. They didn’t get a chance to talk since Dervish pulled him away for something. Roxanne shrugged and continued eating. It was then that her blood filter activated suggesting her to filter out the THC in her system. "What a buzzkill this thing is...", Roxanne thought to herself as she headed the bionic’s suggestion.
Unlike when she consumed alcohol, the effects were starting to wear off a mere two minutes after filtration. "Oh, so ‘now’ you decide to work properly?!", Roxanne shouted at the her arm annoyed. Anyone who would have seen her behavior out of context would’ve thought she had lost it. Once she calmed down, she decided to go to her room.
Roxanne entered her room and locked the door. Despite her being alone, she felt the need to look both ways before she looked under her bed and took out the one thing she had kept a secret from even the force. She took out a book simply titled “The Source”, it was a leather bound book ornate with silver symbolism including the yin and yang duo but with a sun and moon motif. This book was given to her when she accepted to join the order more than a decade in the past. She had kept it a secret because she felt she was not ready to understand her teachings but after what she had been through recently, she felt it was time. The book was opened and Roxanne read the first chapter, “From the ashes of those who seek to destroy the unknown we rise.” That was the first line of the book she had long neglected.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 27, 2017, 07:59:27 pm
Roland had removed his helmet and was letting it hang from his belt as he inspected the god's army armor they'd looted. Picking up one of the vests he flipped it over in his hands before sliding it on and pulling the straps tight. Satisfied it would fit he decided it would need some decoration. As he started off he stopped to pick up an old pistol and slid it into the holster that was missing his other revolver, grimacing as the ache in his hand flared for a moment. A semi automatic piece with some odd engravings to him but it would take .45 ACP which he was sure he could get plenty of some place.
Meanwhile Drifter had decided to check out the library everyone had been making a fuss about. He was rather unimpressed but he'd not been one to visit such a place before the apocalypse so why start now. He flipped through one of the books for a moment before replacing it and walking out of the door. Leaning against the wall Drifter stopped to watch the farm for a bit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 27, 2017, 08:08:55 pm
Helen by now was sitting outside, lost in thought at the moment, while Sergei arranged for a few things to haul back to the campsite later on, having been sorting out stuff to trade. Mostly what they needed was lumber for the project she had, as one benefit to Catnip's rampage through the strange old city was it'd left a swath of burnt-out houses, nails easily scavenged from what was left, though a few extra hundred helped.
She stood, deciding to make her way over to the library where Drifter was. Might as well examine the books they had, as they may be useful. One she'd look for was History of Alchemy, given how useful her now-depleted supply of potions had been. "Greetings. I'm not the only one stopping by here, I see."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 27, 2017, 08:21:10 pm
Drifter nodded as he put the book he'd flipped through and said "I'm just takin' a look to see what all the fuss was about. Not really my pace but everyone's different I suppose."
With that he started for the door before pausing long enough to say "Name's Drifter by the way."
Soon enough he was leaning against the outside wall of the library just watching the farm. For a moment he wondered what Roland was up to before spotting the man walking towards his room with one of the vests they'd looted. Shrugging Drifter went back to watching the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 27, 2017, 08:30:38 pm
Helen nods at that. "Depends on the subject you want to find. Name's Helen." she said, giving a polite nod. For now she'd examine the book again, regarding the rites needed to make the potion. "Blood, gold, quicklime, preserved reagents from a revenant...strong alcohol. Sergei's gonna hate using up that last one." she thought out loud.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 27, 2017, 08:43:19 pm
Catnip emerged from the barn and tripped. The angle of the light was all wrong and it hurt her eyes. She wondered how long she'd been working on the leg. No more than an hour at most, but when Catnip was working time had a habit of slipping by. Dusting herself off gave her a moment to look around, and it was good she did. Her plan was to go to where Drifter was staying and leave the leg there if he wasn't in. As it turned out, she didn't need to. He was leaning against the libraries outside wall. Catnip waved and he gave a little wave back. Well, surprise was out of the question. Drifter seemed to be watching her as she came towards him. "Bright out today." She commented. "Yeah." Drifter responed, "Watcha' got there?" Catnip looked at the leg she'd made and wished she'd taken a little more time shaping it. Their wasn't much for it though, so she handed it over and said simply, "It's better than that peg." She looked down at the leg she knew he was missing with disdain, "We can do so much better than that. This is what I needed your measurements for, it's gotta fit right. I can adjust it if you need it adjusted." As an after thought, she added "Enjoying the library? Roxanne put together a nice collection."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 27, 2017, 08:55:21 pm
Drifter looked at the leg for a moment before sliding himself to the ground so he could actually get the thing on without falling over. As he pulled it on he said "I'm not really one for readin' much but it's a nice collection."
Once he had finished putting the prosthetic leg on he got to his feet and said "It fits."
Pacing a bit he couldn't help but smile as he found it much easier to walk with this. As he examined it he said "Thanks Catnip. I..." He stopped to think for a moment as it'd been a long time since he'd needed to express appreciation. "...I really appreciate this Catnip, you need anything just let me know ok."
There was an odd joy in his eyes and he couldn't help but wonder why he felt happy like this. He hadn't felt like this since before the apocalypse, and a few years before even that. It was a good feeling he thought as he walked around a bit more still marveling at how well put together the prosthetic was before asking "Did you teach yourself to make stuff like this? It's amazing work."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 27, 2017, 09:05:22 pm
Helen smiled a bit as she watched the goings-on, surprised at the craftsmanship displayed by Catnip, giving a nod to Sergei as he returned with a cart loaded with lumber and other supplies, having arranged for borrowing the cart to haul things. "When you're ready. Unless you want to stay a bit longer, we worked rather hard on that framework as it is." he suggested, to which Helen gave a nod. "Sure. Might see about getting a good drink if they have anything available."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 27, 2017, 10:50:20 pm
"That's much better!" She said, referring to the way some of the emptiness seemed to drain out of his eyes. Drifter simply cocked his head a little, but didn't ask for an explaination. He assumed she was talking about the leg. To reinforce that belief, she said "It does fit, I was a bit worried it wouldn't. It might take some getting used to, but it will be easier to do that with this than it would be with this stick." She watched the farm with him for a bit, shielding her eyes from the harsh sun. "Yup. Dervish said I was a... savage? savant! Dervish said I was a savant. What's a savant?" She started playing with her tail, rubbing at an oil stain on it. "It's all I had. We weren't supposed to have books and toys and things, but we still got them." Drifter was taken off guard by that, "I don't understand, you mean here on the farm?" She shook her head. "No, in the lab where Mica and I were... Made, I guess." He could see the way her shoulders were beginning to slump, and the vacant stare she cast on the oil spot she was trying to rub out of her tail. "All I had were a couple books, and I couldn't read them, but the pictures were really detailed. They let me keep them for some reason. Ever since, I've loved machines. Big or small and simple or complicated. All of them. I'm not really very good at anything else..." She lightened then and continued with growing confidence, "It's a good thing to be good at though these days. Making things and fixing things I mean. I could build just about anything I think, even things that don't exist yet. If creation is Agmen's bread and butter, then invention is her chocolate." Drifter nodded a little, he didn't need to ask. He didn't know where, but he'd already heard about Catnip's growing faith in this 'god' she herself had made up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 01:33:20 am
Helen for now regarded the two of them with curiosity, surprised at overhearing a few things, before she perked up a bit at a mention of some entity she was unfamiliar with. "Hmm. Agmen, you say? Not one I'm familiar with. Can you tell me of this goddess, little one?" she asked, smiling a little. Comparing notes with a stuffy old scientist, learning of an unfamiliar deity, and hopefully getting a good drink if Sergei had any luck, she was rather giddy from all this.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 28, 2017, 01:58:59 am
Drifter smiled as he leaned against the wall. After Helen asked her question he said "I'll leave you two to your little discussion here. Take care Catnip."
With that he pushed off the wall with his new leg and started towards the fire pit again. He pulled Nathaniel aside and asked him to get a band together. Preferably one that could actually play a song together and stay in tune, oh and a singer would be nice if someone could actually hold a tune and didn't sound like a foghorn. Nathaniel told him he'd do his best before wandering off to go find a few others.
Drifter's mind was already putting a few pieces together as he had someone else get a few torches and some other decorations and deliver them to where he was staying for the time being. A few torches, some nice decorations to go in the area around the fire pit, and of course plenty of fresh cooked food would be in order. That meant another hunting trip he figured, something he'd been doing quite a bit off recently. Not that he minded it much since it let him be with his thoughts for a while however frustrating or depressing they were these days.
He decided to go drop off his back pack and M16 in his living quarters for a while. When he did go hunting he wouldn't need the extra gear anyway and around the farm itself it seemed a bit pointless. As he put the backpack down in front of his bed and stored his M16 under it he realized life was actually starting to look up. Standing he pulled the helmet from his head and inspected it briefly before deciding to leave it on the bed before walking out.
Running a hand through his hair he confirmed his suspicion that he indeed needed a hair cut. His hair was a long shaggy mess of red that matched the overly long mess of a beard he had which had also been concealed by his helmet. Something for another time he determined as he walked towards the fire pit and checked to see if he could get a couple of willing hands to join his little hunting expedition.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 28, 2017, 12:06:46 pm
Kathrine was fiddling around with a soldering iron when Nathaniel had tracked her down. "Aaaand... Speaker! No..." She shakes it around next to her ear and sighs. "Hey Kath, Drifter's putting together a band. Can you play anything?" Nathaniel asks from the doorway. "Just thought I'd ask." Kathrine whirls around in her chair, bringing a leg up over the chair so that she can lean on the backrest. "I can play the piano! Oooh, do you need a singer? I can do that too!" She's bouncing in her seat, tail waving back and forth eagerly. "I can do that reaaaaallly good! Really well? Where's Mister Drifter?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 12:17:30 pm
Nathaniel for his part was uncertain he knew of many others that could play a part. He didn't recall of any instruments Hector was familiar with, but both of them were at least competent at singing along to the sorts of things they used to listen to, back in the day.
Sergei meanwhile, uncertain who to ask upon being informed the alcohol was under lock and key thanks to some incident Hector hinted at, decided to look around, and heard mention of a band. "Decent with a guitar, at least. Most of the songs I know are from back home though." he admitted. "Do know a few I've picked up along the way, and can get the hang of one if you have the sheets for them." he suggested. He recalled one thing Hector mentioned after Quinn patched him up, of dexterous tasks helping him while he was healing up an injury to his hand. Might be helpful, he though.
Sergei also suggested Helen at least had a good voice for music, but wasn't sure what songs she even knew. There was one odd thing in Latin she'd hum or sing on occasion, as though there was a song that went with it, though at times she instead chanted that and a few other snippets of things in a simpler, monophonic method of chanting that he struggled to categorize. The closest thing that it reminded him of was the older forms of chant, of Orthodox churches he hadn't been to in decades.
Hector meanwhile kept a careful hold on the papers Dervish gave him, to ensure he wouldn't accidentally reveal the information on them, soon enough guessing that Roxanne was in her room, heading to the door and giving a knock. He honestly wasn't even sure how to handle this, but he figured he had to do so rather than hesistating.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 28, 2017, 01:05:37 pm
When Roxanne heard the knock on here door, she hid the book frantically under a compartment on her altar table. She got up and calmed herself from the initial shock and answered the door. "Oh, hey Hector! What brings you here to my room? Are you lonely again?", Roxanne teased.
She noticed the expression on Hector’s face; he was trying his best to remain stoic but now that she wasn’t flustered or embarrassed, she could pick up various tells of worry on his face. "Is something wrong dear? You wanna talk about it?" She offered him a seat.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 28, 2017, 01:08:38 pm
Catnip shuffled her feet a little. "Er... That's kind of difficult." She said, giving a little smile and wave to Dervish as he departed, then sighed "I guess I could start with my altar, which I think you must have seen already." Helen gave a little bow and a gesture to lead the way.
She led Helen through the barn, giving her a more in depth tour than before. The small, sparse office of Floyd. He rarely used it anymore except to keep the farm alcohol locked up. Next to that, she showed Helen her and Kathrines room. To the mage hunter, it looked almost like a bedroom in a regular house, albeit very small and utilitarian. The next stop was the tool room and then the forge. "If you need any repairs, it might be best just to let me do it." She explained before giving directions as to how things should be arranged. For all the mess in the barn, Helen was beginning to see that there was organization, of a sort. Catnip gave a cursory wave of her hand towards the side bay of the barn, stacked high with engines, frames, batteries, gears, cogs, pistons, axles, alternators, and every component of every machine imaginable. She spotted the barrels of several heavy weapons as well. Helen had very little interest in such things, but the collection still had her taken aback each time she considered it. Catnip lead the way to the small side room where Helen had first met the ratlike being that was Catnip. For the first time, Helen saw the sign. On it, written in some kind of pigeon english, was the legend "Teh ofring is les importent tehn the act of creayshun."
Inside the small room was much as it had been before, except the small altar was gone. In it's place was a collection of seemingly unrelated items, and as Catnip began to work with these, Helen began to understand the sign outside the door. Catnip sat cross legged before the rooms single window and placed the small crate bottom up before her. On top of this, she spread an oil stained white cloth and arranged a set of tools on it. Last, he grabbed another crate filled with odds and ends. "Agmen," she began, "Is the great machine. I used to dream of her all the time after I was taken from the lab where I was born. Now, she comes to me only when I've been slow or lazy." Helen nodded, "when you've been lax in your duties." Catnip nodded, "Just so." She doesn't care for the finished product, or offerings. Lots of gods like getting offerings don't they?" Helen said it was so and Catnip went on, "All that matters is that the creators create, and that all things keep moving like a big wind up motor. As long as we make things, the more the motor stays wound. You see?" Helen did see. "Mechanics like me, ro-but builders like Dee, people who work with electricity. Those are Agmens favored." She smiled a little, "Dee is building a special ro-but." She said, I had a dream about her." Catnip began to work, picking up a handful of bits from the crate at her side and scattering them across the small altar. It reminded Helen of a shaman casting bones. "I can be closer to her, understand what she wants, and she understand what I want, by making things. So Quinn says I should pray while making things. Before long, Catnip had made a tiny wind up frame that looked like a little toy quadruped. She gave it to Helen and began taking down the altar, returning the unused bits to their storage. "I don't know everything, Agmen doesn't give much in the way of direction." She was thinking, and then she looked to Helen and pulled something out of her shirt. It looked like a wooden carving of an elongated spire shell on a string. "Do you know where I can get one of these?" Catnip asked, "Agmen said it's called a 'vortex stone' and that I must get one or more. This is the part I need to complete my train."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 01:27:44 pm
Hector nodded at that, still holding onto the papers for the moment. "Heya Rox. And er, I'm fine, just..." he said, a bit nervously before taking a seat. "Had the chance to speak with Dervish before he left. He had some concerns regarding you, left a few files to look over." he said, setting them on the table. "First, evidently any further mutation might be more dangerous than I thought, but there's a...well, complication related to that. Physiological dependence on mutagenic substances, basically." he said.
"The second thing is, er, well. I don't know if you were ever considering having children in the future, something I figured best to leave up to you." he said, calming himself to explain. "There's problems with that it seems, related to the extensive changes that device has caused."
Helen meanwhile nodded as Catnip led her along, regarding the place with interest. "I've some experience mending my own gear, but help with that would be useful if anything more severe than what I've been through comes up, yes." she said, regarding the sign as Catnip led the way into the altar room.
She listened carefully, regarding the explanations with uncertainty. A machine-goddess she guessed, she didn't know of her source or what power she held, but like any other unknown deity her tone and responses indicated she at least acknowledged the existence of Agmen as she would any other god or goddess. "An...interesting one. So long as the motor turns, then." she said, smiling some. "The one I serve personally, Odin...never really speaks to me, to be honest. I feel his guidance though, when in the heat of battle. But anything more than that...I pray on my own time, and my only answer is in seeing the end of fights with monsters and bandits in one piece."
"As for...ah. I've seen imagery of these stones, seen them in use by the Keepers of the Oath. Most were depleted though, their energy spent." she admitted. "The living wind in its native form also has a similar stone at its very heart, but I don't know if it's possible to bind it into a usable form." she added, uncertain if Catnip knew what type of monster she spoke of. "Regardless, I will search for them as well. We used to, well...often our order would destroy those stones to deny their more dangerous uses to our enemies, but if you're cautious in your work, I suspect I can trust you with any I find."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 28, 2017, 02:14:30 pm
Nathaniel let Kathrine know he had last spotted Drifter at the fire pit. And that he was as he sat there checking his Mosin. He'd pulled the scope off after deciding to try hunting like he had back when he'd first started, no scope to help get the long range shot just his marksman ship. It'd be a nice change of pace which was probably something he needed.
Frowning for a moment he realized it'd been some time since he'd actually serviced the rifle. However he quickly returned to smiling as he determined he'd have plenty of time after he got back from this trip that he'd planned and managed to rope Roland into. Pulling the bolt back he retrieved a clip from his shirt pocket and fed the bullets into the internal magazine before returning the clip to it's pocket and pushing the bolt forward.
This little party he was planning ought to lighten everyone's moods as well and hopefully bring some levity. They needed that he figured, especially with all the drama and bull shit that had happened in the past few days. As he adjusted the camo netting on his rifle he quietly said to himself "Always a brighter day after the rainfall."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 28, 2017, 02:57:36 pm
"Mister Drifter? Hi! Mister Natalie-Nathaniel told me about your band, and I can sing, and I can play the piano a bit kinda." Kathrine had already sat herself on the floor next to Drifter. "What do you play? You look like you play the drums! Wait is that a meanie thing to say I'm sorry!" She is, once again, bouncing up and down, grinning. It's slightly unnerving, due to her fangs and array of pointy teeth, but she doesn't seem to notice. "Waaaaaait... I've not given you a..." She moves into a crouch. "WELCOME HUG!" And with that yell, Kathrine springs towards Drifter, arms outstretched ready for her signature tackle-hugs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 28, 2017, 03:13:23 pm
Drifter had been about to answer when Kathrine hug-tackled him to the ground. He hugged her back once he got over the fact he'd just been tackle-hugged. Once Kathrine was satisfied with the hug and let him back up he said "Good to meet you too kid."
He rubbed his chest for a second before continuing "An' it ain't mean to ask someone what they play. In fact it's probably one of the nicer things I've been asked recently. I don't play the drums the guitar is something I picked up as young'n, though one of my old army buddies got me to learn how to play a violin too."
Setting his rifle aside for the moment he said "An' you can be in the band if'n that's what you want. Singing, playing the piano, heck you could do both if you want. I'm just tryin' to put together some festivities for the place and thought some music would be appreciated so I'm just glad someone's interested in helpin' with that."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 28, 2017, 03:48:40 pm
Kathrine remains sat next to him as he talks. "YAAAAAY! When are we doing this, Mister Drifter?" She throws her arms up into the air, still smiling. "I hope we're do it soon!" She leans backwards, lying on the ground, notices Sergei, and gasps. "NEW PERSON!" Kath rolls to her feet and spins around, leaving a small mound of dirt in a pile around her foot as she readies herself for the pounce. "HIIIIIIIIIII!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 04:10:26 pm
Meanwhile Sergei made his way over, smiling a bit. "Nathaniel mentioned a band. Only really decent with a guitar and a few old songs, but will be interesting to do what I can. Might as well while we're stopped here for the moment." he said, giving a little nod to Kathrine as well, only to realize she was barreling right at him. "П-привет?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 28, 2017, 04:20:10 pm
Kathrine attempts to abort the hug in mid-air, unsuccessfully. "Was th-" She's cut off by a collision with Sergei which ends with her upside down, legs resting on his chest, and with her tail waving in his face. "Sorry, mister... Did you... Swear?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 04:25:50 pm
Sergei was briefly left utterly confounded at how Kathrine managed to practically flip in an attempt to tackle him, being pushed back a bit as he caught her, bapped in the face by her tail. "It's, mmph, it's okay. That was Russian for hello, actually." he said, rather abruptly yet carefully turning her back right-side-up and setting her back on her feet. "Wouldn't swear around little girl like that anyway, understood or not. At least not on purpose. Hector mentioned that being a bad idea, да?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 28, 2017, 04:36:03 pm
"I'm sorry," Catnip said, shaking her head. She just didn't know enough. Agmen was a shut mouthed god who only came to her in dreams, and only spoke in the waking world in the sounds of machinery. "I can't tell you much more than that," She continued, "But maybe..." A gleam came over her countenance then. "Maybe I can show you. At least, a little. Maybe." Catnip left the small prayer room, and brought Helen to the base of her train.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 28, 2017, 04:51:13 pm
"Little girl? I'm 29 years old, 7 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days old!" She crosses her arms and looks away from Sergei, huffing. "I bet you're like... Humph." Kathrine's very clearly not 29, seeing as she looks about... 17, at a guess. "...Who are you? I'm Kathrine! K-A-T-H-R-I-N-E!" She lunges forward again hugging Sergei. "What's your name?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 04:57:04 pm
Helen shook her head at that. "It's fine. That alone suffices, as it's seen me through where many have fallen. If I knew of greater rituals in his name that merely being lost in berserker rage, maybe. But no worries."
She then perked up a bit, following Catnip along to take in the awe-inspiring sight of the train. She'd passed by before, but it never really dawned on her that the massive monstrosity of metal was indeed a running vehicle. "That's...what did such a number on the city of the dead, isn't it?"
Seregi meanwhile was surprised by that. "You are? You look younger than you are. That's not much younger than I am." he said. "And I'm Sergei. Pleasure to meet you, Kathrine." he said, giving her a light pat on the head. "Should introduce you to Helen when she gets done examining Catnip's piece of work there." he said, pointing to the two of them now over by the train.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 28, 2017, 05:24:14 pm
"Nice to meet you too!" Kathrine starts purring at the pat, suddenly stopping at the mention of a 'Helen'. "H-Helen...? Is that a new person?" She leans backwards, following his finger, until she notices the cloaked figure stood in the barn next to Mistress. "New... NEW PERSOOOOON!" Kathrine grabs Sergei's arm and uses it to pull herself to her feet, then she runs full-pelt towards the barn. She's, surprisingly, being quiet beyond the initial yell. Just before she runs into Helen, she slides to a stop and looks at her back with her standard fang-tip grin, and pounces on her. "HIIIIIIIII!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 28, 2017, 05:50:34 pm
Roxanne noted how Hector was hesitating to speak. She also noted the papers in his hand connected two and two. It had to be a medical report Dervish had ran on the mutants. She assumed this was an intervention to keep her away from mutagen; she was partially right.
She sat down across from Hector and listened on. On the comment of Mutagen Dependency, it took all her being to stop an eye roll. She had heard it before but what did they know? They sounded like the cleansing flame, trying to ruin her fun because they feared the unknown….Then the news hit…
"Wait...what are you saying Hector...Why are you saying? What type of problems? ", Roxanne was afraid of the answer, only denial prevented her from realizing what he was getting at.
Roxanne was one of those “I am a strong and independent woman who need no man!”. She rejected all advance to her all her life. That all changed when she meet Hector. Unbenounced to her, he had managed to charm and seduce her over time little by little. Their relationship now obvious to everyone and attraction beforehand as well, they decide they would see were it would go. Thoughts of a family had emerged Roxanne but she brushed them off thinking it was the equivalent of saying “I love you” on the first date. But now, here he was, the her knight in shining armor, literally, shattering all of that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 05:57:53 pm
Sergei nods at that, only to smile as Kathrine pulled herself then ran off to go after Helen. Quite a handful, he thought. Oh well, amusing to see someone else having to deal with her.
The mage hunter of course was examining the machine curiously, best as she could from ground level. It was then she heard a yell farther away and turned, spotting Kathrine speeding at her, only to halt in place for a pounce. "Oh, by Tyr's hand...." she managed a little sidestep and turn as Kathrine lunged at her, only enough to ensure that the resulting tacklehug didn't bowl her over, the strange woman in a scaled cloak not quick enough on her feet to avoid Kathrine entirely. "Greetings. Need to be careful doing that." she said, regarding the feline curiously. "Ave." she said, pronouncing it in the manner of Classical Latin. "Name's Helen McKinnon. And you are, if I may ask?"
Hector sighed at that, struggling to figure out how to break the news, seeming more uncertain and nervous now than ever before. "He said, well. Infertility, caused by those alterations. I...I don't know what to even say, this isn't, I..." he said, looking back only to...grab her, to hold her close.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 28, 2017, 06:08:23 pm
Kathrine catches Helen and spins herself around into a hug, already purring. "I'm Kathrine! K-A-T-H-Rrrr-I-N-E! Nice to meet you, Miss Helen!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 28, 2017, 06:08:39 pm
At Hector’s words, Roxanne froze just starting at Hector. When he pulled her close, she looked at him in the eyes. "Did you...did you wanted to?", she uttered to him. She placed her hands on his and awaited his response. The full implication not having hit her yet either by denial or not enough time to process it.
She recalled the little prank she had pulled on him before. Being the superstitious woman that she was, she shifted the blame to that rather than accepting it was her abuse of the mutagenic devices. She was not an addict in her mind after all, and they had only brought good to her in the shape of enhanced physical attributes and senses.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 06:16:50 pm
Helen smiled a little at that, revealed due to not wearing her mask at the moment. "Nice to meet you Kathrine. Catnip here was showing me her train, this...impressive machine."
Hector looked uncertain at that, blushing a little at that. "I...I wasn't sure. It'd be greater risk with what little we have in terms of medical technology, stressful, and this is hardly a world to be bringing kids into." he admitted. "The first one especially is my concern. Same reason I'm worried about you overdoing any more mutagen. I don't want to lose you like that, not to complications from either of those things. Not to something I can't fight." he said. "Even if I did, and knowing no doubt people still are, and that humanity's had no such trouble doing so after near-extinction. I far as I was concerned, that'd be your decision." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 28, 2017, 06:26:55 pm
Roxanne heard Hector’s words. She herself blushed at the mention of of him not wanting to lose her. "I don’t want to lose you either..." Hector continued and she listened. "Hector...we are together now. You deserve a say in things like this...well...not in this instance anyway...", Roxanne told Hector before she started to sob on the knight’s chest for a few moments. She then stopped and her head up and pulled him in and kissed him. Hector was surprised but Roxanne pulled away before he could react. She leaned in and whisper. "Make me forget my troubles tonight...We don’t have to worry about the consequences now after all...Make me yours once more...."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 06:47:01 pm
Hector was uncertain of this, holding her close for the moment, a hand settling at her side, adding a firm little squeeze. "You won't. If I have to fight through hell itself for you, I will." he said, smiling some. "And with you by my side..." he said, only to end up blushing again as she kissed him. "All f-for you, my love." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 28, 2017, 07:09:40 pm
Roland had come to let Drifter know he was ready to go. Drifter watched Kathrine run off for a moment before nodding to the masked man and setting out. The pair walked in silence as they normally had but Drifter couldn’t help but feel something was different. He shrugged it off as he walked however and acknowledged they’d both changed.
The two seperated to find more prey once they came to the hunting grounds they’d become familiar with. Drifter held his mosin with an unusual enthusiasm as he watched for prey. He found something else however as he stopped at a dead body with a hole through the forehead and a cat standing on it’s chest hissing at the air. Leaning down Drifter extended a hand towards the kitten and it jumped as it hissed at him. Reaching into his jacket he pulled out a piece of frog jerky and offered it to the kit.
At first it backed away before taking a tentative bite before throwing caution to the wind and eating most of the jerky in a short period. Petting the kit for a moment Drifter wondered what had happened here but decided it was for another time. Picking up the kit without much problem Drifter put it in his jacket after zipping it up so that the kit could sit comfortably inside.
Searching the body he found a handful of rather useless objects and a couple bars of chocolate. Taking the chocolate and slipping it into a pants pocket he left the personal effects on the body and gently closed the man’s eyes. Standing he sent a short prayer before starting back to the hunting.
Soon he spotted one of the giant frogs and lined up his shot. It went down with a bullet flying through it’s brain and smacking into the ground behind it. Racking the bolt Drifter approached as the kitten mewed in his jacket and poked it’s head out of the jacket. Gently petting it’s head Drifter took a moment to tie the legs of the frog together and start pulling it with him.
Meanwhile Roland had found a deer that hadn’t noticed him. It had taken a moment to stop and drink from a relatively clean puddle and look around having not noticed the man watching it. Lifting his revolver Roland prepared to take the shot. With a loud bang the shot arced through the air and hit the deer in the leg causing it to fall to the ground. Rushing over Roland saw it try and fail to get up and decided to do the humane thing. Another shot to the head and it stopped struggling. With a sigh he got the deer ready for transport and started looking for more prey.
He hadn’t noticed the stirring in the water as sewer gator that had managed to escape the undergound slowly approached. He caught it out of the corner of his eye as it charged at him with a ferrocious speed. A quick flick of the wrist, a pull of the trigger, a muzzle flash, and a piece of steel flying through the air tha found it’s mark all happened in an instant. The gator slid to a halt with a shot through the weak spot of the skull. Letting out a breath Roland holstered his gun again and set about getting the gator ready to move. As he did so he caught a faint sound, the voice of the man from his quarters that he'd thought he had hallucinated “Well I’m impressed…”
He ignored it as he started walking again. They’d want a bit more for a party after all and he and Drifter aimed to please. For the time being though Roland was just happy to be alive.
Elsewhere Drifter had managed to bag a pair of deer and was looking to find Roland before heading back. The kitten had pulled itself out of the jacket and balanced itself on his shoulder after he stopped to get himself and the kit a drink. The kitten and his jacket would need a wash when they got back but he didn’t particularly mind.
Soon Roland came into view having found another deer and the duo made sure each other were okay before Roland commented “I see you picked up a stray while I was busy.”
Drifter gave him a sarcastic look as he said “Oh and you didn’t pick up a stray when you found me? The vigilante on a suicide mission?”
Roland chuckled at that but knew the seriousness of it. Drifter had been about to attack a bandit compound that would have shredded him when Roland found him. “I suppose I did. Anyway let’s get back shall we?”
Drifter nodded to that as he said “We shall. With a merry skip and a pep in our step.”
Roland smiled as he saw the unfamiliar joy in Drifter and asked “So what’re you naming that little guy?”
Drifter thought for a moment as he moved his haul. He could already feel how much easier the new leg was making this before he answered “Mittens. I used to live with a cat named that and it seems fitting.”
The kitten meowed in seeming agreement as it licked one of it’s white front paws and began cleaning it’s head. Save for it’s feet the kitten was a dark grey in color. It also seemed quite pleased to be going with Drifter as it sat on his right shoulder for a few minutes before climbing into his jacket.
Some time later they were making their way across the bridge...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 28, 2017, 07:19:58 pm
While in the middle of their act, Roxanne stopped Hector. "I am sorry Hector...this doesn’t seem right...", Roxanne whispered. After a couple of awkward moments, the pair got dressed and that’s when they heard the sound of instruments being tuned. "Hey. I wonder what is going on out there, wanna check it out?", asked Roxanne.
The two exited her room, hoping no one was around to witness them being inside in the first place and went to wards the the fire pit; many people had gathered and it seemed like they were having a good time. "Hey there? What’s going on?", Roxanne addressed the closest person. “We are having a small musical gathering from the soul, care to join?” Roxanne smiled and turned around at Hector who simply smiled. “We would love to.” Nathaniel came to the knight to tell him about what was going on and if he could play an instrument.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 07:36:27 pm
Hector nodded at that, blushing as he got dressed. "It's fine." he said, fumbling to get dressed. The group by now had managed to gather a few instruments, some makeshift, every so often one would take a turn to demonstrate what they could do. Helen had somehow roped Victor into playing a drum they'd either found or made, singing something to an actual beat for the first time in years, following directions from a page in The Cleansing Flame.
"Hoc die nos pugna, tenere aciem, purgare tenebras, et renovare lux!"
The structure of the song showed little concern for rhyming, only in consistent length of lines for each passage, and gave the impression of clerical chants set to a military march.
Sergei of course was turning the guitar he'd found, Hector looking on at all this. "Hadn't picked up much in the way of instruments, though did have some minor practice with the German-style wooden flute. Would take some warming up, plus I don't know what it'd even go with."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 28, 2017, 07:53:46 pm
Roxanne looked around at everyone’s preparations. It seem like a spontaneous yet well organized talent show. She herself didn’t have any instrumental or vocal talent; all she knew was chanting and humming tones. She looked around and talked with a few people about what they planned to contribute. This was all a good distraction from the events of earlier that day.
Helen and Victor were practicing their routine when Roxanne approached them. "Well well well, what do we have here? Helen and Victor working together? Now that’s a sight for sore eyes. Whatcha got goin there?", Roxanne asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 08:01:12 pm
Helen smiled a bit. "I'm surprised as you are that I managed to talk him into it. Decent talent for handling a side drum." she said, looking back to Victor. The unspoken thought, "for someone that wasn't right in the fray where that talent would be in used" was easy enough to guess.
"So far it's all just warming up and practicing. Haven't had the chance to put music to that old chant in a while." she said, knowing it was likely not a subject Victor was all that fond of, having its origins after The Cleansing Flame was solidified in the form he'd come to despise. Even if snippets of it such as "hold the line" and "renew the light" predated the Schism, she found it amusing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 28, 2017, 08:49:45 pm
Roxanne smiled at Helen’s comments before speaking up. "Nice to see such things given being representative. I myself have a thing for old hymns and the like, both arcane and religious."
Roxanne’s gaze changed to Victor who was practicing a beat. He looked a little uncomfortable but not outright flustered or embarrassed. "What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?", teased Roxanne, "What’s with that expression, cheer up a little!"
"...It’s just that this type of stuff is not really my thing. I came here since might as well try and get to spend some time our neighbors; some who I have rarely addressed.", answered Victor. Roxanne rolled her eyes and looked back at Helen. "How much did you pay mister “Master of the Arcane” over there to both be here and not brandish that sword of his?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 09:08:59 pm
Helen smirked a bit, watching as Hector fumbled with trying to follow some notes on a handmade flute mimicking the medieval style he'd dabbled in a little, a bit awkward at first. "Getting him to go along with lightening up was the easy part, to be honest. Getting him to actually play drums for Obstinata Decretum though, if we weren't in public I'm sure he'd object much more strongly." she teased.
Sergei meanwhile was playing the guitar, a rather clear acoustic interpretation of a song he was familiar with.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 28, 2017, 09:21:15 pm
Roxanne grinned a little at the response she got. "Well, that might take care of another point on my list.", Roxanne whispered out loud and then gave a wink to Hector. "Well, good luck to you then. I have yet to figure out what, if anything, I will be doing; I am really not musically inclined and my voice wasn’t made for singing. ", Roxanne told Helen. She gave a small wave and continued on her way to look at everyone else’s routine to give her ideas.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2017, 09:26:35 pm
Helen was left blushing bright at that. "That's not what I meant..." she said, getting exactly what the grin implied, while Hector smiled a bit. "Whatever works for you, can always enjoy the show. If anything I think 'acrobatics in armor' would be a better category for me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 28, 2017, 09:35:14 pm
Kathrine was eagerly watching Sergei play his guitar, waiting until he finishes until asking, "Ooooh, can I try and play, Mister Sergei?" "Sure, I don't see why not." Came the reply, and he handed the guitar over to her. Kathrine sits there for a couple of minutes, ears twitching as she tunes it, before starting to play. It's pretty good, considering she'd never shown interest in any of the musical instruments they've had lying around the farm for ages. "La da daaaa... ...Never felt like... Doo doooo..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 28, 2017, 09:52:01 pm
Drifter walked across the bridge as the kitten slept in his jacket. Once he and Roland had gotten to the spot they used to butcher their catchs Drifter left his part of the haul to go get the decorations. Grabbing the torches he walked over to the fire pit and got them set up as he listened to the others tune the instruments and practice. At least there was some talent there he thought as he lit the last of the torches before retreiving the other decorations.
Said decorations amounted to a rather nicely decorated table cloth and a handful of novelty lawn decorations someone had found and left at his place. Shrugging he took the decorations and tried to make the area around the fire pit a bit more festive as Roland got the cooking gear setup. Dragging out a pair of tables Drifter got a place to set the food and drinks made before setting off to the kitchen shack.
There he grabbed herbs and spices and the ingredients necessary to make a few kinds of sauces. From there he grabbed a few things to make non alcoholic drinks before walking back to the party area and setting everything down. As he began assembling the first of his dry rubs he told the others “Ya’ll can start playing music if’n you want. Might need to take turns though, looks like ya’ll got some different genres of music goin’ there.”
He and Roland exchanged an amused look as they waited for the probable ensuing musical clusterfuck. For Mittens part he simply settled himself on the ground where Drifter deposited his jacket and sat to watch what would happen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 28, 2017, 11:51:33 pm
Catnip couldn't play anything. She'd dabbled with the guitar once, a long time ago, but she knew it would never be her talent. She could help with lights though, transitions maybe? It looked like it was going to be a rather ordinary affair though, and Catnip could appreciate the more simple things sometimes. She thought maybe she'd sing though, no one had told her that her singing voice was a discordant cacophony before. Kathrine certainly wouldn't tell her Mistress, and Mica believed she already knew. "No no," Catnip thought, "Just sit back this time Catnip. Sit back and listen." She went and got a few bottles that she'd hidden somewhere in the barn. Floyd hadn't found them and put them under lock and key. These she brought out and stood in formation near where she sat. The cool feel of the grass was pleasant, and after a bit she popped the cork on one of eight bottles labeled "Katnips barbee q saus."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 12:08:19 am
Helen couldn't help but smiled some as she was directing a more jovial song that she knew was older and more to Victor's taste, and after a bit of coaching even Hector was joining in, adding his flute to support the drumming Victor maintained, Sergei uncertain about following along in a song he was unfamiliar with. Though they soon enough finished, to let another take a turn.
Helen for her part smiled a little as she looked to Catnip. "That's...an impressive amount of drink there. What sort is it?" she asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 29, 2017, 12:12:09 am
Drifter noticed Catnip as he finished preparing more of the meat to go on the fire. Most of it was done and Roland had started helping get it ready for the cooking process. After asking Roland and being told he could handle it Drifter went to wash his hands and returned to the party to find Roland had already finished with the last of it and was now over seeing the cooking.
Pulling the chocolate bars out of his pocket he recalled hearing that Catnip valued chocolate rather highly. He figured the least he could do in return for the leg was to find something she'd like. He walked over and set the chocolate bars on the ground near her as he said "Just thought I'd show my appreciation for the leg. If'n you need or want anythin' else let me know and I'll see what I can do."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 29, 2017, 12:21:00 am
Catnip looked guiltily at Helen when she asked her question, then looked around to see if Floyd was watching. When she saw he wasn't, she took up a second bottle and offered it to Helen. "Barbee Q sauce!" She said with a wink before taking the whole of the open bottle at a draft. It smelled terribly flammable, and the effects on Catnip were nearly immediate. "Floyd keeps all the good stuff locked up so I can't get it, so I make my own." She looked around again, and then added "the train has a distiller." She licked her lips and offered the bottle again. When Drifter placed the chocolate in front of her, she gave a little shout of joy, and offered him two of the bottles.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 12:29:06 am
Helen nodded at that, regarding the bottles curiously before accepting the one she offered. "Thank you. Should at least repay you for this kindness, admittedly I didn't have any luck finding chocolate scavenging in that city of the dead. Even then in those conditions I'd be reluctant to eat anything found down there." she admitted, trying a fair bit of it. If she'd taken her time the smell would've hit her sooner and she'd realize just how strong this stuff was, gasping a bit. "That is w-way more intense than I thought."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 29, 2017, 12:37:02 am
Drifter smiled at the offer but shook his head "Jus' trying to be nice. You take care of yourself Catnip."
With that Drifter walked over to the pit and helped Roland get things cooking. Picking up a small bowl he began to baste one of the pieces of meat with the sauce before turning it over and doing the same to the other side. As he continued to cook he smiled and listened to the music as he hummed to himself. As he did this the kitten had started to look around the place though it kept it's distance from the others as it explored.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 29, 2017, 12:58:37 am
She was disappointed that drifter had turned down her offer, but was glad that Helen had not. She urged the mage hunter to down the rest and offered her another before taking down another. Regardless of how it smelled, Catnip's "Barbee Q saus" was probably the most sterile thing on the farm. The trains secret distillery was right next to one of the trains reactors after all, though Catnip didn't think that was a problem. Catnip slurred something unintelligible, looking through one of the bottles, and settled back. In her heavily buzzed condition, she neglected to tell Helen that the coolant wine often brought strange dreams when taken in excess. Made Catnip feel sick too, but didn't leave her with shaky hands when it wore off. A hell of a headache sure, but Kathrine always brought her something for the ache in her skull and after a few hours, the effects were gone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 29, 2017, 04:52:46 am
Kathrine was trying to impress Sergei with her guitar songs, but it doesn't seem to be working. "-BRIARS AND THE BRAMBLES in my tears, there's no fa-" Her ears twitch as she picks up Catnip's drunken slurring. "-ilure in... Hm." She trails off, looking at the ground. "Mistress promised..." Kathrine places the guitar on the ground and crosses her arms. "B-but Mistress is letting me smoke, so... But..." Kathrine brings her knees up and grabs her tail in a hug. "But Mistress promised... MISTREEEEEESS! YOU PROMISED!"
Kathrine is stood up, arms crossed, staring at Catnip. Her face is red, but it doesn't look like she's all that angry.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 07:09:16 am
Helen smirked a bit as she wound up downing most of the bottle, swaying a bit uneasily as she slurred an attempt to thank Catnip for the offer, deciding to make her way over towards Victor. While she could hold her liquor rather well, it was clear this stuff affected her quite a bit, leaving her in no condition to sing. "S-so, enjoying yourself at least? Maybe should have a drink while you're at it. G-go eeeasy on it though, don't want our drummer passing out on us." she teased.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 29, 2017, 08:48:19 am
Catnip jumps like she's been shot. Promised? What? Her head was a little fuzzy, but after a second, she remembered. She'd promised she wouldn't drink anymore, that she would get off the booze, and then at some point she'd fallen off the metaphorical horse. Catnip had collected up all the coolant wine she'd made to share with everyone, and had instead sat herself down and had begun to go to town. All she had now, was shame. "I'm sorry Kathrine. So sorry." To those who were watching the small spectacle, Catnip began to cry the tears of a drunk wishing they weren't drunk anymore. She pushed the bottles away from herself. Sergei stood and took several of the bottles away from Catnip, and that action spurred others present to do the same. "Go easy on her Kroshka." He told Kathrine before noticing that she didn't seem to actually be too upset. He took a slug of the stuff Catnip brought and put it aside immediately. Maybe if he had a day off and nothing he needed to get done for a few days, he'd drink some more of it. For now though, the stuff numbed his throat unpleasantly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 29, 2017, 08:59:18 am
Catnip's response had immediately made her feel even worse for yelling at Mistress. Kathrine starts squinting as if she's trying to hold back tears. "No no no, please don't cry Mistress! I don't want you to cry, Mistress..." She drops her stern stance and runs over to Catnip, hesitating slightly before hugging her. "Please don't... I'm sorry! You can drink!" Kathrine hugs Catnip tighter, patting the back of her head. To anyone that could see her face, she's very obviously blushing over this.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 29, 2017, 08:59:52 am
Victor regarder Helen curiously. She offered him the rest of the bottle and he held it. He wasn’t a lightweight like Roxanne but he didn’t drink, not enough to be drunk anyway and nothing as strong smelling as this; all his alcohol consumption was for rituals rather than recreation.
Victor was here for new experiences and this would certainly be one of them. With one last look at the bottle, he downed the rest of it. He felt it in his throat and went a bit dizzy shaking his head. He then looked at helen and said, “This drummed can keep his beat, don’t worry about it. And things are pleasant at least.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 09:05:55 am
Helen smiled a bit, having rather impressively handled a fair bit of the bottle. She drank on occasion, but never to this extent. Or at least never something this strong, unsure what to make of Catnip's odd brew. The fact she was still on her feet was likely surprising, even Hector regarded the bottles but decided only to have a bit of it.
"Is that so? Will have to see how well you play after that, then." she teased, looking around at the proceedings. Sergei meanwhile seemed to loosen up a bit, finding that little he tried wasn't too hard on his playing ability at least. He'd have to suggest making good use of the fields, either at the farm or the smaller plot they'd set up across the river, to make something a bit more palatable.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 29, 2017, 09:06:53 am
Catnip squeezed an arm free of Kathrine and snatched up a bottle. "I d-don't want t-to drink!" She cried, the vitriol in her voice startled Kathrine into thinking it was directed at her, but only for a moment until Catnip sent the bottle hurtling end over end into the road on the other side of the barbed wire fence. She looked for another bottle, didn't find one, and instead found Kathrine. She returned the hug and repeated, "I don't w-want to dr-drink..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 29, 2017, 09:15:11 am
Victor smirked at Helen’s remarks, he had taken that as a challenge. The beat of the drum resumed and Victor did so with resumed confidence, seemed the alcohol was taking effect. He did an exaggerated drum rhythm to show of his skills. In no way would this beat be appropriate for the task Helen had summoned him for but it was nonetheless impressive.
After he finished, she grinned and looked over at Helen, "I told you not to worry about it." He found a pride in himself he hadn’t felt in a while, not even when he had harvested the sword’s original spirit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 29, 2017, 09:19:47 am
Kathrine just lets the hug continue for a while, breathing softly and seemingly close to purring. "I-I lo-love..." She mumbles something, and rubs Catnip's back. "I-I love... Love you, Mist-Mistress..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 09:23:39 am
Helen grinned a little at that, listening to the beat he produced. Nothing she had a song for, but still impressive nonetheless. She couldn't help but clap a bit once his performance was finished. "Not bad, little one." she said, getting a few ideas in her buzz, deciding to step a bit closer. "Still, would've loved to have a proper drinking content sometime, though guessing that isn't your strong suit."
Now there's a terrible thought, she pondered. A combination drinking contest and talent show.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 29, 2017, 09:29:57 am
Victor smiled and gave a small bow at the sound of Helen’s clap. He would usually not be sure how to handle such types of praise but the bottle was helping him. Victor got a little flustered at Helen getting close since it was an unexpected reaction; he let it slide since he assumed it was the alcohol taking over. "I don’t know, I am usually not one for drinking but if you catch me in the right mood, I just might take you on. But there must be a small wager, it makes things more interesting."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 09:33:37 am
Helen nodded at that. "We'll have to see how that goes." she said, looking around a little as she pondered that. "Though knowing you, no telling what your half of that wager would involve." she said, giving a little smile. "For now though..."
Hector simply shook his head at all this, having been watching Catnip freaking out and Helen evidently tormenting Victor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 29, 2017, 09:41:48 am
"Don’t worry, it won’t be nothing too extreme. It could come down to who gets to tell floyd and catnip about the stash being broken to.", Victor responded with a wink, something extremely unusual coming from him. He then saw Helen’s smile and asked in confusion, "For now what?"
Roxanne had settled down on a spot and smiled as she watch the interactions unfold. Catnip and Katherine freaking out, Helen and Victor working together, and Hector on the flute of all things. "Guess I will definitely have to modify my list when I get back..."
Against her better judgment, she rubbed some “ceremonial oil” on her arms carefully to only apply on her skin and not the metal that blended in and covered it up with her sleeves. She thought she would enjoy the show more is she wasn't sober. Now if she could only find a way to shutdown that pesky filter bionic....
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 09:46:37 am
Helen nodded at that. "Well aren't you a little trickster? More reason to work on setting things up at the camp to have a source of drinks, clearly. Sergei's idea." she said, only to grin a bit at that. She decided to be a bit more forward about it, stealing a kiss. "We'll see."
Hector smiled a bit, providing backing music along with Sergei, for something Nathaniel was singing. A bit awkward and running off memory of it, but faring better than expected in his drunken state.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 29, 2017, 09:46:47 am
She said something, but Catnip didn't hear it. Not really. She felt it, momentarily, in that way she and Kathrine had developed since the maid had imprinted on her. She wasn't sure what to do about it, even if it wasn't a figment of her addled mind. She pushed it aside to consider when her system was flushed of what she'd put into it. "Kathrine, Kathrine I got a favor to ask. A... a job for you. You have to make sure I c-close up the part of the t-train with the distiller in i-it. An make sure Floyd finds all the bottles. Even if I don't want to, you gotta. I can't stop alone." She glanced around, looking to see if anyone was listening. Her booze brain told her that even if she was wrong about the feeling Kathrine sent her, there was nothing risky about saying what she wanted herself to say. "You're the best thing to ever happen to me."
After a bit, Catnip pried Kathrine away. "You're so good to cry on Kathrine, to share with. Will you play some more, and later will you do what I asked you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 29, 2017, 09:59:12 am
The act made Victor face go red and not sure to to react to anything. He simply muttered, "Sure...any time." and tried to go back to the drums. He found he could not concentrate and his hands were shaking causing him not to be able to keep a consistent beat; At one point, he struck the air after completely missing the drum. He kept at it since he wasn’t sure how to deal with what was next to him.
Roxanne was laughing at the scene. "What an unexpected turn of events.". She decided to head over there once more to have a better look. She approached Hector, "Had a little drink and didn’t bother to share? How rude of you to leave a damsel in distress!", she said with intent to mock.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 29, 2017, 10:05:18 am
Catnip's whisper had mostly served to intensify Kathrine's blush, and when she pulls back from the hug to sit down, her face was practically on fire, and she can barely put together an answer. "I-I-um, I-um... I-I-I-ah..." She gulps, tail slowly uncurling behind her until it's lying straight, unmoving. "Y-yeah! I-if Mi-um... C-Catnip...? W-wants it..." Her ears perk up. "Yeah!" Kathrine's fiddling with a loose blade of crash, still staring at Catnip. "W-what do you wanna play...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 10:08:12 am
Helen smiled a little at that, finding it hard not to giggle a bit at how flustered Victor was, and how it messed with his drumming. She'd have to make the next move, she suspected. Part of her wondered whether it was a good idea, but the strong drink Catnip offered bolster her confidence. "Maybe later on, after things quiet down..."
Hector meanwhile found himself chuckling a bit at other events, their song having just finished. "Did however save you a bottle for you." he said, offering it to her. The empty one on the table evidently had mostly been drank by Nathaniel, a surprise given he wasn't much better than Hector at holding his liquor, and by now his attempts at singing sounded vaguely like a karaoke bar. Something Swedish, inexplicably.
"Careful though, seems to be a lot stronger than anything else I've tried." he said. Even the small amount he tried left him with a considerable buzz. "Sergei's friend there seems to be able to handle it though."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 29, 2017, 10:14:09 am
Catnip considered the question. She didn't know Kathrine could play the guitar. Sing, yes, and wonderfully, but not play any instruments. Catnip herself didn't know the names of any of her favorite songs, wouldn't have been able to think of them. "Careful," she slurred, "someone might step on you tail." She reached over and tried to move it, trying not to snatch at it, but it straightened out behind her again. Catnip gave that a little bemused booze smile, and changed the subject back to music. "Play whatever you want, I like the sound. I din't know you could."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 29, 2017, 10:22:15 am
Victor calmed down a bit after Helen addressed him once more. His reaction to her remarks was a drunken hiccup and a nod. The combination of the drink and his flustered brain did not completely understand what he was agreeing to but his mind was still fixated on ‘try new things’.
Roxanne smiled and shock her head at Hector’s offer. "Aww, you did save me a bottle? Sorry but I will have to pass. You know how I get when I am drunk...I don’t wanna ruin your night...again...", Roxanne said, not letting on that she wasn’t sober anymore.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 10:31:16 am
Helen wasn't sure yet, but certainly getting ideas, deciding she'd wait until the others were either heading to bed or distracted to drag him off. "Better hope your little seidr includes making your room nice and quiet..." she said quietly, swaying uneasily from the effects of that intense drink.
Hector meanwhile grinned a little at that. "Whatever suits you then. I suppose I'll save this one for later..." he said. "And you didn't, Roxanne. If anything I was worried I might be too forward..." Nathaniel meanwhile giggled a little. "As much noise as you too make some nights, I'd bet neither's getting much *hic* sleep." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 29, 2017, 12:30:12 pm
While all of this was happening Roland and Drifter had finished getting the food cooked and were now passing around plates to those not occupied playing music. The pair rather enjoyed Kathrine's singing and guitar playing as they sat down to eat. As he began eating the kitten jumped onto Drifter's shoulder purring as the music played.
A few minutes later Drifter put his plate away and stood as he and Roland realized most of the farm was drunk. Roland had played babysitter before to a load of drunks but never found it pleasant as he watched them all with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. Whatever would happen he was sure it would at least be mildly interesting.
Drifter meanwhile found himself some scissors, a razor, and privacy. After a while of brushing his hair he finally had it in a suitable state and began trimming his hair. Once finished he stopped to inspect it his reflection and found he'd done an actually passable job though he'd still want to see some kind of barber for it. From there he cut his beard down to a more manageable size in a full beard cut somewhat closer to the face than he'd have liked.
Once finished he put the articles back and walked back to the festivities with the kitten still on his shoulder.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 29, 2017, 01:40:33 pm
Catnip looked around her, seeing that most of the bottles were gone, and was content to watch and listen. Through the haze of her buzz she could tell everyone else was starting to get a bit out of hand, and she silently snickered. She decided she would crawl a little closer to Kathrine. She went from "a little" closer to "practically at her feet." She lay there with her head on her hands, kicking her feet in the air, wanting to tell Kathrine how good it sounded but not wanting to interrupt. Eventually, her head began to sag, her eyes grew heavy, and she fell into a deep sleep.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 29, 2017, 03:27:37 pm
Victor once more gave a nod to Helen as an answer. "Yeah, I put sound spells on my room to keep noise from the room inside and to prevent the noise from outside from getting in. Why?" A few thoughts came to his mind but then his eyes widen as he came to realize the implication of Helen’s advancements. "Oh...I see...", Victor managed to to respond. The fact that he wasn’t used to drinking distracted him from his decision making but could stomach alcohol like any bar regular could; he played along with Helen’s musings and with the drums.
"Maybe for a special occasion then...", Roxanne responded to Hector. She glared at Nathaniel’s remarks. "What? You jealous that you can’t get it on with Lilith without losing a limb?", Roxanne snarked back at Nathaniel.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 03:46:00 pm
Helen stammered a bit at his response, realizing it had been more audible than she intended. "I, er...helviti." she said, a blush now rather apparent when she realized she'd blurted that out. For now though she'd enjoy the music and act on her plan later.
Hector meanwhile ended up blushing a little at Nathaniel's remark. "Now now, not very polite to listen in." he teased, smiling a bit, to which Nathaniel smiled some. "That's, er...I c-could, I think. Jusht *hic* better to not take things too far." he answered. "That reminds me, I had something I was going to tell you, that Dervish mentioned. Maybe best for when you're sober." the knight said.
Soon Hector started to organize another song along with Sergei, having fumbled his way through instructing Victor on how to provide the backing beat using the side drum Helen somehow procured, Sergei managing to improvise with his guitar to provide a compliment to Hector's flute-playing, which itself was making up for what would've been bagpipes in the song. Nathaniel by now had sobered up a little, enough that his singing was at least tolerable. It was debatable how much of the resulting lyrics he actually understood and repeated clearly, and how much was half-remembered singing along to what was evidently a modern attempt at medieval music.
"Det var unge Kong Sverker, gaar for Dannerkongen at stande. Thi fører Riddere i deres Skjold, der græder saa mange..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 29, 2017, 03:52:37 pm
Kathrine quietly starts slowing down her playing until she stops after she realises that Catnip has fallen asleep right next to her. She places the guitar on the ground next to the fire pit and plops herself on the ground next to her mistress' sleeping form. "Thank you, Mist- Catnip." She whispers something, then gently picks up Catnip and places her head on her lap. She remains sat there, mostly awake, until Catnip wakes up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 29, 2017, 04:07:44 pm
Roxanne had gone back to listening to the various performances once more after her short interaction with Hector and Co. Her altered state made her enjoy the sounds on a spiritual level that deeply moved her; she was having a legitimately good time.
She looked over and saw Catnip sleeping on Katherine’s lap and clasped her hand while saying, "Awww, how adorable." She continued watching, leaving the pair alone among the various sound this gathering had to offer. She had to give it up to whoever organized this, this was all pretty fun and colorful all around. She felt like she should thank them later once she found out who they were.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 07:49:30 pm
Hector regarded the scene before him, rather relaxed now, noticing that by now it'd gotten rather late, having rather enjoyed the meal the others cooked up, thanking them for it, while settling next to Roxanne. "They make a rather cute couple, I'd say." he teased.
Meawnhile Helen grinned a little and leaned in to whisper in Victor's ear. "I think now they deserve a break from our performance, and you..." she said quietly. "...deserve something for putting up with all those songs that your order no doubt despises." she teased, returning to her normal tone of voice. "What do you say, little seidmadr?" she asked, though with her grabbing him and turning to practically drag him off, she didn't seem all that concerned about what his answer would be. She suspected she was going to regret this in the morning, but given the sort of magic she dabbled in on rare occasions, the hangover would be the worst she'd have to deal with. Well, that and what a sober Victor might think, but she felt no concern at the moment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 29, 2017, 08:05:08 pm
Roxanne looked on the scene before hand and smiled at Hector’s remarks. "As surprising as it seems, you are right. Yes alcohol brings courage to people." Roxanne grinned as she reached in a pouch she wore and took out some of the “ceremonial oil” and rubbed it in one of Hector’s upper arms. The knight turned to look and then looked at Roxanne in shock. "Shhhhh...Let it happen, you are in good hands.", Roxanne told Hector, flicking him in the nose and giggling.
Victor trembled a little at Helen’s whispered and nodded. "Sure, you invited me over here, do your worst.", Victor answered the mage hunter’s question. She appear to not hear him and it seemed she didn’t heard. He was practically being dragged and he had trouble keeping up. He saw his room up ahead and gave a little gulp. He was drunk, but he wasn’t stupid, the alcohol made him submissive it seemed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 08:22:06 pm
Hector was surprised at that, having one of those bad feelings about what she just applied to his arm. "H-hey...dare I even ask what's in that stuff?" he asked. Best case scenario was the sort of thing that'd give Helen good reason to mockingly call her a hashashin. Worst case scenario it was something that will leave him much like that one time Roxanne spiked the food with hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Meanwhile, Helen smirked a little as she practically dragged Victor off to his own room, still unsteady on her feet from drunkenness. "Now you...well, I think I can think of a few things to try. We'll see just how much you can handle." she said, giving a little shove towards the bed. Between the alcohol and the excitement of having a former enemy submitting to her, it only seemed to embolden her, leading her towards things she'd never done before.
In the back of her mind she pondered what he might do, how strongly he might object, assuming he didn't get just as bold about this as well, plotting a few things as she again stole a kiss from him, closing the door behind her...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 29, 2017, 08:33:49 pm
Roland had gotten the left overs from the meal sorted and stored as things died down while Drifter got the drinks put up. The pair quickly had things sorted and Roland went to catch some sleep as Drifter blew out the torches. Noticing the radio that Roland had accidentally left on the ground Drifter picked it up and decided to see if any transmissions were playing.
As he flipped through the frequencies he found a message playing for him...
Elsewhere a group of eight men held up the van as the three stepped out of the vehicle. Alice Mortal stepped out of the drivers seat as the two men that had been with her put their hands up and walked to the front of the vehicle. With a wave of a tommy gun one of the men had them toss their guns and weapons away before one of his compatriots retrieved them.
Alice looked at one of the guys with her and said "I thought you said no one would bother us on this route Bandit?"
Bandit for his part gave her a sharp look as he said "I unno who these are. I knew a man from me old mandem live'd round here and was gonna stop at his stash. Get us-"
One of the men that was leveling weapons at them shouted "How's about man shuts up 'fore man get's a bullet in him!"
The trio decided to be quiet as they were directed into one of the vehicles the group that was taking them had. As they climbed into the car Bandit heard one of the men speak into the radio, something about having the girl. Soon they were moving as the men kept weapons trained on them. It took some time but they came to a stop at a makeshift compound and the trio were forced into the building by the gangsters.
One of the men inside had Alice follow him as the others were led elsewhere. From what she could gather Alice thought the man leading her was a lieutenant in the group. And sure enough he led her to the boss of this place who upon seeing her said "Miss Mortal! A pleasure to see."
She sat down as he motioned for her to across his desk from him. The man was smiling as he continued "With you here I think I can finally take care of something that's been a thorn in my side. Tell me are you aware that your father is still alive and well? Further more as little as a few months ago he was still interfering with my business."
Alice blinked as she did her best to hide her surprise but failed. The man smiled further as he said "Good, well I promise nothing will come of you but I needed bait. You just happened to be on my radar as such."
She kept quiet and the man sighed after a few minutes and waved her away as he set up a little broadcast. Sure it'd bring some types he didn't want but they would be dealt with. It was time to kill Drifter and end this little fight they'd had for quite a few years now. Tapping the microphone to make sure it was one he said "Mister Mortal, I know you're aware of who I am. I am aware of you as well more so than you most likely think. I am also aware you have a daughter who presently resides in one of my cells. Should you give yourself up I would be more than willing to let her and her friends go. Come to my little place of business..." Of course he didn't give his current location. No he'd have some of his men collect Drifter first then bring him here.
Back at the farm Drifter heard the message repeat and thought of his daughter. Without a second thought he went to retrieve his gear as he realized it would just be him. He thought of bringing Roland since he wasn't intoxicated but...no this would be like those old days. Back when it was fire and death that awaited him around every corner and he'd found himself all alone. One more ride down that dark street with fire and vengeance. Live or die he'd save his daughter. As he pulled the face plate of his helmet down Drifter set off into the night with as little fuss as he could. A days travel there and another day to get back. If he survived.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 29, 2017, 08:52:34 pm
"I told you not to worry about it. You think I would put you in danger? This isn’t a prank either, I just want you to loosen up a bit. It’s time for my weekly sleep session and I don’t want to do it alone again. In the meantime, let’s have some fun contemplating the universe.", Roxanne said in coherent rambles. Hector had drank catnip’s concoction and now was spiked as well; because of being a lightweight, it was just a matter of minutes before it kicked in. "Come on, let’s go watch a movie from one of Dee’s laptops that I ‘borrowed’."
The room of Victor’s door had closed and unlike with Roxanne’s room, Victor’s room was perfectly sound proof. Nobody would suspect a thing from sound alone and as such, the night continue for them uninterrupted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 09:08:00 pm
Hector was left blushing brighter at that, already he started to feel the effects, getting up to follow along with her. "Alright then, would be interesting to see what all Dee's got on those things." he said, turning to lead the way.
As for Helen and Victor, the only sign that anything occurred was likely her winding up spending the night in his room, though she'd be up rather early, hoping to get dressed and be out before anyone else noticed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 29, 2017, 09:30:10 pm
Back at the Command Center, an emergency meeting had been called. All members had been called, including the guards. “What’s going on Router, why did you call us here for?”, asked Sigma.
“I don’t want to alarm anyone but I think we have something serious in our hands… Everyone got a copy of the reports?”, Router asked. The room have signs of confirmation and Router continued. “The eyebot picked that up twice, once before and once after its upgrade. It may be just an error but I want to side with caution on this one...:”. Router paused to swallow and then continued once more. “What those reports say is that in the coordinates indicated, underground activity was found...And not just any activity, one identical to the Unknown Lab before the missile launch…”
Silence permeated the room. Everyone looked around waiting for someone to speak up; Lambda was the one who did so, “Are you saying...He is still alive?”
“I am not saying anything. I am saying what the report indicated, that’s all. I want to confirm though and that eyebot won’t do...I want to send a team there to scout the area and report back. I need reliable eyewitnesses to confirm; we will then plan accordingly.”, Router explained.
Sigma spoke up once more soon after, “And how would be be doing this?”
“Standard scouting procedure, you lead the team and reach the location in question. This time however, no looting will be done, I just need you to check out the first floor and report back. This might be dangerous and combat will most certainly happened as the eyebot picked up various turrets defending what looks like a small bunker. If it get’s too heavy, leave, your lives are above than anything else. I will brief Sigma more on the matter after the meeting is over, get some rest, you leave tomorrow, any questions?”, Router address the room and ask his final question. He sounded more firm than usual, a sign of the seriousness of this.
Everyone shook their heads. “Good, meeting dismissed.”, Router said lastly.
Sigma stayed behind to work on the details on the plan and assigned roles for everyone involved. They came up with a solid plan to scout the first floor since the activity was underground and what the report said it would be too dangerous to head down. Their task was to clear the turrets and first room to take measurements manually. That would be tomorrow though...Quite the revelation awaited.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 29, 2017, 10:01:56 pm
In time the three of them, Helen, Sergei, and the young man who gave only Simms as a name, had largely finished the structure she chose as their great hall. Simple gardens were tended to, shelves were constructed to sort and store things scavenged or made, along the side various kilns and other things were built, even a pen for the stray dog was constructed.
Sergei hadn't initially suggested a name when they found him, so Helen took it upon herself to name the dog Freki. Named after one of the wolves said to serve her patron god, a suggestion Sergei made no objection to.
One of the others at the farm had also suggested a useful piece of advice when the topic of food preservation came up, a method of deriving usable sugar from fruits they had in abundance, both from forage and from their garden. That in turn facilitated preserving the remaining fruit, and even brewing simple wine from some of their forage.
The next idea came to her when she considered the surprising strength of the brew she made. It just wouldn't do to water down, but if she were to bring any over or invite the people at the farm, they'd frown on her just having strong drink on hand near Catnip. She'd started with a test that confirmed just how much she could water it down while still being serviceable, only to find it lacking. But then she remembered an old traditional recipe that used wines of a different sort, or in some cases even vinegar. she needed honey and spices, the former of which was in short supply. What she did have was sugar, going by sheer guesswork to find the amount that'd suit her needs. For spice she wanted to stick to the recipe and use coriander seeds, struggling to find adequate amounts of that or suitable approximations in the wild plants growing in the region.
It wasn't long before she had her concoction sorted out, giving some to Sergei to try. It was a sweet yet mildly spicy drink, slightly alcoholic but it'd take a fair bit just to get drunk off it. "Not bad, fairly good in fact. Will have to bring some over for them to try. If Hap got wind of this recipe..." He trailed off a moment. "Then again, not as ideal if getting drunk is the intention."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 29, 2017, 11:30:22 pm
The sleeping Catnips eyes opened, just a little. She mumbled some words of gratitude and curled up closer to the warm pillow that smelled like Kathrine. Somewhere nearby, their drifted the mingled smells of cooked meats with curious spices, the odor of alcohol, and the sound of music. These things effected her surface dream, the images that fill the still semi conscious mind as it prepares to sink deeper into the ocean of sleep. She wouldn't remember later the dream in which Kathrine presented Catnip with a rack of something meaty on a platter, wearing little more than an apron with the legend "Kiss the Kathrine" printed in jaunty red letters on it. The surface dream faded away, and as Catnip traveled down into deeper sleep, another took it's place.
She was polishing the train. Their wasn't much chrome on it, not yet, but the copper still needed to have the tarnish and verdigris knocked down every now and again. "It's gonna be real pretty Kathrine." She said in her dream. Kathrine stood nearby with an arm load of rags for cleaning and polishing. Her mouth moved, but made no sound. When Catnip turned back to the train to try and rub out a particularly stubborn spot, she was bemused to find that the train was gone. She spun back to Kathrine and she was gone. "Kat, where did you go?" she asked.
"You have done well." hissed the voice that sounded so similar to and yet was still completely unlike her own voice. "But your task in not finished. You are being distracted from your duty." A series of images were let into Catnips thoughts. The liquor, a blue cross, a treasure trove pile of chocolate, and finally Kathrine. "You will be going far away." The voice of Catnips god said. "Whether it is in your plans is of little concern to me, for I am above your plans." Catnip reached out for something, anything to steady herself, and saw that her hands were normal. No more fur, no more hard claws tipping her delicate fingers. Likewise, her fur and tail were gone and when she reached up to paw at her face she found that her muzzle was gone. "What..." She began before the voice of Agmen cut her off, "It avails you nothing. Rat or woman matters very little to me, you will cast aside your distractions and build for me." With the mention of distractions, all the things she loved flashed before her again. She dove for Kathrine, but passed right through her. Something like oil was beginning to fill the infinite black chamber that had taken the place of the farm in her dream. "I don't want to throw them away!" Catnip cried. As the oil of the great machine reached her throat, the voice hissed again, "Then you will fail."
In her sleep, Catnip thrashed a little. "No... I won't..." "Mistress?" Kathrine said worriedly. Before long, Catnip settled and her eyes fluttered open. Sharpness filled them, but that softened when she saw who was holding her. She regarded the face of the maid looking down at the rat whose head rested in her lap. "I had a dream..." She explained. "It told me I was gonna go away, and I had to throw away the things I loved the most." She stared into Kathrines eyes, trying to see what she was thinking, but all she saw was worry. "I'm not going on any stupid trip, and I'm not throwing any of those things away. I'm not throwing you away. Not even for Agmen." A distant thunderhead boomed it's response, portentous in it's timing. She didn't feel Buzzed, but Catnip knew the alcohol was still working it's way through her system. She couldn't wait for it to wear off so she could think more clearly about all that had transpired. She wasn't sure she could trust her god anymore, and she wanted to be in her right mind when she talked to Kathrine about the feeling she'd caught snatches of coming from the maid. Her drunkenness and her defiance of Agmens will made her bold. In a movement so quick as to be missable by a casual observer, in truth their weren't many as the festivities were beginning to wind down, she gave Kathrine a kiss on the cheek and said "You're so nice to me. I wonder how I got by without you before." Her words slurred at the last as she settled back to watch the stars from the comfort of Kathrines lap.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 30, 2017, 07:19:17 am
Kathrine was fine with just sitting there, with Catnip's head on her lap, until Catnip started writhing around. "No... I won't..." "Mistress?" Kathrine looks down at the rat mechanic, worried. Normally Catnip didn't talk in her sleep, and it seemed like she was having a nightmare. Catnip recounted her dream to her, and she nodded. "Thank you, Mistress. I don't like it when you leave... Like whe-" Catnip's sudden kiss interrupted her. "You're so nice to me. I wonder how I got by without you before." Catnip didn't seem to notice Kathrine's expression as she leant back down to stare at the stars. Her face was practically a lighthouse, cheeks looking redder than the streaks in her hair, which was currently cascading past her face while she looked down. Kath opens her mouth to say something, and then forgets to both say something or close it. Until Catnip moves, Kathrine sits there, mostly stock still, ears pointed out to the sides, tail straight out behind her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 30, 2017, 08:21:58 am
Roxanne was the first to wake up after resting for 5 weekly hours. She saw Hector sleeping next to her and giggled. She knew he would feel like Catnip’s train hit him when he woke up; the combination of the “Barbee Q sauce” and “Ceremonial Oil” had done their number on him last night.
The pair had spent the night watching a movie called “Thunderstorm over the Horizon”; it was a suspenseful action film about the possible invasion by the chinese on the point of view of a young soldier who had just joined the army, a government propaganda film. Roxanne was enthralled with the imagery and licked her lips on certain action scenes while Hector was just confused and asked lots of questions in slurred speech. When it ended, Roxanne gave Hector a little snack and then both fell asleep involuntarily; no, it wasn’t tribute but some canned soup she had to drain of the liquid in fear Hector would spill it all over. Apart from all of that, the night was uneventful.
Now, she went and gathered a couple aspirin and made a cup of coffee for both of them. She left his on the night stand next to the sleeping night along with the aspirin tablets and a cup of water to down them. She then put the laptop away that was on the ground out of charge and then sat next to the sleeping Hector; she would have to sneak it back to Dee some time but not today. The day was clear and beautiful with only a few clouds in the sky providing shade here and there; she eagerly waited what it had in store for her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 30, 2017, 09:15:00 am
Catnip woke as she always did after a night of drinking. She would be glad when she didn't have to wake up with her skull screaming at her. She could remember looking up at the stars, wanting to ask what stars actually were, but being unable to form the words into a coherent sentence before falling back asleep. She vaguely remembered someone, probably Floyd, picking her up and taking her to bed. Even more vaguely, she remembered Kathrine trying to tuck her in, and in a moment where she seemed to hesitate, Catnip had given her another quick peck on the cheek which seemed to cause Kathrine to freeze up for a few moments with her tail straight behind her, the fur covering it poofed out in the most peculiar way. When she woke up, Kathrine was there to fuss over her and get her the aspirin she would want. The rat mechanic checked her work orders. A system she'd adopted once she felt sure enough of herself in her ability to read and write. It had two entries on it. The first read, "Drifters truck" and the second said "Robot parts." The first one would be no issue, Catnip had a vehicle that would do nicely, it just needed a little maintainence. The second would be a little harder, and since it involved robots, she was pulling it off. Above those two entries, Floyd had written, at Kathrines behest and Catnips order, "Remove distillery." Catnip took a deep breath. Doing that was the first step she would need to take, otherwise she would likely not get another chance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 30, 2017, 11:15:47 am
Drifter had been walking for hours when he caught sight of the building and chambered the first of his sub sonic rounds. He’d reattached the side mounted scope on his Mosin and made sure it was properly zeroed before making it this far. Now he intended to put it to use.
The compound was patrolled by two groups of three guards on the outside with a sentry on the roof. He’d spotted four men on the first floor through the windows. The top floor’s windows were boarded and he’d been unable to get any idea of how many were in there. Regardless he’d already set his sights on the sentry and had been tracing the man for the past few minutes as he prepared for the shot.
The sentry didn’t even know it was coming. He’d stopped for a smoke as he thought of the hookers he’d bang back in town once this little mission was done. That little honey with the big- the bullet pierced his eye before he could even feel it and as the beginning of pain set in he was already dead and bleeding on the ground, no future meeting with those hookers in his cards.
The guards below weren’t even aware as the man lay there and Drifter set his sights on one of them. Shifting his sights from a guard to an explosive they’d left sitting against the wall and slowly pulled the trigger. The conversation they’d been carrying had ended with a bang as the explosive went off and sent severed limbs and shrapnel around the immediate area.
Racking the bolt Drifter waited for the other exterior patrol to rush around and inspect the explosion. Sure enough they did and none of them expected the one in the rear to hit the ground with a bullet through his ear. Not that they heard him fall before the second hit the ground with a perforated heart.
The scanned the area in a panic. He caught sight of Drifter as he approached and lifted his weapon ready to fire and put down this intruder. He pulled the trigger and the firing pin slammed forward into the primer and-the weapon malfunctioned as the bullet exploded in the chamber as Drifter pulled his pistol and fired only for the weapon to malfunction and click. Both went for their other guns but Drifter was just a bit faster as a rifle round hit the man in the neck and sent him stumbling backwards before crashing to the ground.
As the men inside opened fire at him Drifter ducked behind a wrecked vehicle and waited. Soon they had emptied their magazines and began reloading as the shouted at him. Drifter stood and fired his M16 through the window and watched as the first two of the men inside fell to the ground as the barrage of bullets scythed through the room. A third fell clutching his throat as the fourth ducked down and finished reloading his rifle.
Standing and firing his shots pinged off the truck before one found it’s mark and smacked into Drifter’s chest plate before his rifle clicked and the man stared for a second before realizing what was about to happen. The round made it’s way through the bowler hat he’d been wearing and sent him to the ground.
Making his way through the window Drifter let the empty magazine fall to the ground before sliding a new one home and chambering a round. Climbing the stairs he prepared to face another fire fight. What he found somewhat surprised him but he’d grant no additional mercy.
The man in the room had his hands up as he stared at Drifter. “I don’t want to die today.”
Drifter put the barrel of his rifle against the man’s head as he said “Well you chose the wrong employer for that. Now where is she?”
The man said “Not here. Back at our base...”
The man rattled off a location before Drifter told him to hand over his pistol. The man complied and was thanked with a bullet through his eye. As Drifter walked out of the house he grabbed some leftover explosives they’d left and took one of their vehicles.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 30, 2017, 12:01:21 pm
Hector slept heavily after having been confounded by the film thanks to his drug-addled stat last night. The film had come out just after he was discharged, and if he'd been sober he would've snarked at it the entire way. Of course the one clear thought that had come into his mind was his suspicion that if Nathaniel had watched it, he'd react even worse to it, having been part of the unit obstinately in charge of defending local cities in the event of invasion, but in truth used as little more than a weapon against an infected populace, in a futile attempt to stop something that was spiraling out of control.
Hector's dreams were rather more vivid than he was used to, and when he finally awoke he faintly recalled them with greater clarity than usual. He wasn't sure if it was Catnip's special brew, the ceremonial oil, or both. If Catnip had warned him about her drink's nature, he hadn't paid attention. He at least was glad the dreams were only faint distortions of thoughts that already lingered, helped by having only a little of the booze last time.
Nathaniel meanwhile had already been up, woken up early by much more disturbing dreams that downing most of the bottle had provoked. Being awake now, his recollection of them had long since faded, but he was left with a thought in his mind. He decided to head over to Sharlene's cabin, to check on Lilith, again before Hector would have any chance to tell him about the odd interactions between the tigress and Kathrine.
Helen meanwhile had been lost in dreams that her own excessive drinking had provoked, and of the three she recalled hers with the most clarity. She saw Odin, though not as he was often depicted. No, in a more modern style of clothing, a formal suit of plain material yet expert tailoring. She felt reassured, even though no words were spoken, only a feeling of guidance in her mind. She will not live to see Rangarok, none of them will. Reassurance that this era will not be the end of humanity. But a flame, bright as the conflagration Surtr will bring, shall engulf the enemies the gods, from The God in Three Persons to He From Beyond The Veil.
Her vision told her than she has saved what was once an enemy, made a powerful ally. The unease with which she slept was likely apparent to Victor, and when she awoke she'd carefully get dressed and slip out of the room, hoping no one was observing her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 30, 2017, 02:27:41 pm
Alice had been escorted to the room that Bandit had been shoved into and noticed their other friend missing. Bandit was leaning against the wall looking antsy and she saw his hands twitching. Walking over she leaned against the wall next to him and asked “You okay Bandit? What happened to John?”
Bandit slammed his fist into the wall before pushing off of it and rapidly pacing acrossing the room as he said “Mother fucker ratted you out. Told you man was sus but no Bandit was jus’ nervous, didn’t have the bottle. Fuck!”
Bandit at this point was back to leaning against the wall when Alice pointed at his radio and said “Don’t you still have some friends that still hang around here?”
Bandit blinked as he looked at her for a moment before pulling his radio from his belt and flipping to a channel and saying “Hey any of the old mandem round?”
A tired voice came over the radio “What you want Bandit? We’s kind of busy.”
Bandit rolled his eyes as he said “Oh I unno maybe come help man out? Some boys in fuckin bowler hats wit tommy guns held me and a friend up an now we’re stuck in their ends while they try and get at her dad.”
Alice didn’t catch what was said next but it sounded like Bandit reminding the man on the other end of some old debt. The man finally capitulated and said he and his boys would be coming soon enough. Bandit sighed as he sounded off and then sat down. Alice had been about to ask if he was okay when they felt and heard an explosion.
Meanwhile the men in the compound had heard the vehicle crash through the fence and ten rushed the vehicle shooting through the windows as they shouted. One had rushed the back and pulled the trunk open to find a ticking clock. 3-2-1…
The explosion tore the men to shreds and those that had hung back saw a man walking through the smoke, enveloped by it as the first shot rang through the air and one of them fell to the ground. One of the men began backpedalling as he shouted “That’s no man, that’s a fuckin demon!”
Several of the men began to run as the man walked enveloped by the smoke and wrapped in fire as he sent more of them to the grave. By the time anyone had the bravery to actually try and shoot him he had killed everyone in the yard. The smoke and fire on the man began to fade and Drifter stepped to the door as a trio of cars rolled into the mess and men dismounted.
One walked over and said “I knows you ain’t one of the boys from here. So’s I’m gonna assume you’re here to kill some blokes, and we’re here to kill some blokes and save a man.”
Drifter didn’t need to acknowledge the unspoken suggestion. The man nodded and the pair kicked the door in as the six men inside were still rushing to get their clothes on. The first fell as Drifter pulled the trigger on his M16 and put a bullet through his throat as the man with him sprayed his Mac-10 into the room and sent a trio of them to the ground. As the other two went for their guns Drifter painted the wall with their blood and sent the men to their graves.
Drifter pushed forward as the others cleared the rest of the compound. The man that had been with him went down a side corridor and Drifter found himself in the hallway outside the boss’s office. At the other end was a man he recognized. Botch smiled at Drifter as he said “Good to see ya again. Shame it’s in such a manner that means I’s gotta kill you.”
Botch lifted his pistol and fired hitting Drifter in the shoulder causing him to stumble back before lifting his rifle and spraying the magazine into the man’s legs. Hitting the floor the man tried to raise his gun again but took a fifty caliber round to the skull. Drifter looked at his shoulder for a second before pushing through the hallway and the door on the other side.
Sure enough the boss of this operation was still in his office and sighed when he saw Drifter. He poured a glass of whiskey and pushed it across the desk before pouring one for himself and taking a sip. “We know how this will go down so why don’t you just take a seat and have a chat before you blow my brains out.”
Drifter sat down and took the glass as the two looked out the window. Sam shook his head as the he took another sip from his glass and said “I remember the old days where I had managed to stay one step ahead of you and the cops. I never enjoyed the life but you must have understood that I was forced into it I thought. Everyone from my neighborhood came up and went into the game because there weren’t any jobs round us. I thought it was my only option.”
Drifter drank from his glass before saying “I do now. Back then all I remembered was the fact some criminal put three holes in my dad’s chest when I got back from the army. All I held in me was hatred and I sent way too many young idiots six feet under.”
Sam looked into his glass as he said “I heard about that. Had one of my men find the guy and execute him in front of the police station. Your father was on my territory, never really left it so I don’t know why they had beef with him but I wanted to send a message. Don’t know if it worked.”
The two sat in silence as they finished their drinks and Drifter stood afterwords. Sam handed him a box of cigars and told him he guessed he wouldn’t need them. Drifter put them in his bag before noticing a box on one of the shelves behind the desk and asking “Mind if I take those?”
Sam shrugged and said “Feel free, never touched the things honestly.”
Drifter grabbed the box of chocolate and put it in his bag as well, noticing it was the rather expensive brand he’d always noted the local shops in his home town carrying. Walking to the door said “Good luck out there Sam, and don’t mess with my family again.”
Sam nodded and said “Thank you. And good luck to you as well. Maybe we’ll meet again on better terms.”
Walking to the courtyard Drifter found Alice standing with Bandit as the others started to drive off. Bandit looked between the two and said “I’ll..uh I’ll give you two some space yeah.”
With that he started off and looked around the place. Alice looked at Drifter for a moment before hugging him and saying “I missed you.”
Drifter hesitated for a second before returning the hug and saying “I missed you too. I’m sorry I left.”
Alice pulled away and said “I understand why you did, and that it wasn’t entirely your choice but we can talk about this more when we’re somewhere a bit safer.”
Drifter told her about the farm before Bandit walked back with a rifle on it’s sling hanging on his back. The trio started for the farm as Alice introduced a suspicious Drifter to Bandit. “Wagwan man?”
Drifter looked at Alice and raised an eyebrow to receive a shrug in response. Bandit looked at the two of them and asked “what? Ya don’t understand man?”
Regardless they made their way towards the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 30, 2017, 03:06:55 pm
Victor woke up the next morning with a minor headache. He was not used to drinking but could handle it better than some of the other farm residents. He noted he was alone in his room. "Uhhhh...what am I doing with my life...", Victor groaned. He got up and got dressed blushing the whole time as he recalled yesterday’s events. "...That thing wasn’t alcohol...it was potion of evil!", Victor exclaimed to himself. He remembered how Helen shock and moved when she was asleep, he assumed she had regretted what she had done and left to avoid confrontation; he choose to let her be but no doubt they would eventually talk about.
He exited the room pushing his head where it hurt as he went towards the food commune. Once there, he made himself a simple meat and veggie sandwich using hardtack and downed it with lukewarm water. Afterwards, he downed some aspirin and went back to his room. He had some thinking to do.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 30, 2017, 03:15:34 pm
The man with the crows sighed as he walked through the farm. First had been the poor old lady with bad hearing, then some stupid sarcastic kid, and now this poor sod had managed to cast a spell to protect his soul from him. Not only that but the fuck had run off into the distance and He was left to track him down.
He'd caught sight of him running this way but he'd managed to avoid him yet again and with a sigh of frustration the man let out a deafening shout to those that could hear him "GET FUCKING BACK HERE ALREADY! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS YOU DENSE IDIOT AND I'LL MAKE SURE YOU SUFFER FOR ETERNITY IF YOU KEEP WASTING MORE OF IT!"
He took a breath to calm down as he looked around the farm.
Meanwhile Roland rolled off of his bed and looked around as he heard the shout before it faded and he wondered what the fuck was going. Whatever it was he determined it wasn't his problem as he noticed Drifter had left his kitten with him. Raising an eyebrow Roland wondered what had happened before deciding to go pick up some books from the library.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 30, 2017, 03:25:00 pm
The mage hunter gave a sigh as she gathered her things, putting her mask on. She recalled the dreams she had, and thought back on last night with mixed emotions. She vaguely recalled what happened, but much of it was a blur. Out of concern she activated her mask, to better sense and check what magical effects still lingered, what protective spells remained.
Her casting her aura out, sensing things around her, likely would be rather apparent to Victor, and the strange presence she initially only saw out of the corner of her eye. Something subconscious had her initially ignoring the figure, until her activating her mask forced her to see clearly the presence, and hear him shouting at some who-knows-what that'd eluded him.
The appearance made her freeze up. Two crows, among other details that shocked her into turning off her mask, but it wouldn't erase the figure from her natural sight anymore. Worse, she knew her perceving him would be noticed. "What in, who...oh, helviti."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 30, 2017, 03:32:00 pm
The man felt the eyes on him before he turned to see Helen. "oh for..I don't..but.." Sighing he walked over pulling a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it as he approached. He was fully aware it wasn't a real cigarette and that it did nothing for him but he'd spent far too much time dealing with the dead spirits of former smokers.
Straightening his suit vest and adjusting his bowler hat he stopped a few feet from her hoping not to panic her. The last thing he needed was someone from her order getting pissy with him. "Hi. Perhaps we should find somewhere with a bit more privacy to talk since I'm fully aware you have questions. Everyone does..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 30, 2017, 03:39:39 pm
Helen wasn't sure what to make of the figure at first, her perception of it somewhat resembling her mental image of Odin, but there were numerous things that differed. "Odd. Might be for the best, then." she said, giving a nod. Questions raced through her at first, though most of her dire ones that came to mind were pushed aside as she guessed that this thing was not in fact the deity that first came to her mind, but some manner of death spirit.
Once she'd found a vacant room, she looked back to him, uncertain what to make of him at first. "Sorry if I'm...interrupting anything, Od-erm, no. Whoever or whatever you may be."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 30, 2017, 03:42:02 pm
Victor sense Helen’s aura change when she activated her mask of insight. He also noted an unknown force as well; it seemed to have the properties of a harvester, a very powerful one at that. “Don’t worry about it; she will be fine. Besides, even with my help, you could not take on that thing outside. It has no interest in you...yet, just let it be…”, his sword spirit told him. Said spirit was worried about the agent of death outside; many a contract he had made had been broken by agents like the one outside.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 30, 2017, 03:51:14 pm
Death was mildly aware of her perception of him and was mildly surprised she realized it was false. Not that he particularly cared how he was perceived since when he had tried to control that it had turned into a cluster fuck of confusion that was only humorous in retrospect. Leaning against the wall he said "Don't be sorry it was unlikely I'd have caught him quickly anyway. Bastard found a way to protect himself so I'd have to restrain him until that wore off anyway."
Putting out the cigarette he looked at Helen and told her "And quite frankly I've been called so many different things that I'm not even sure what to call myself so whatever you find comfortable. Perhaps whatever death is in the Norse mythology? Whatever you decide on I'm sure you have questions so feel free to ask."
He also felt the other soul taking notice of him but determined it would be for another time. For now it was nice to not be dealing with a dead person that wasn't also trying to swing a magical sword at him. Not that that had ever worked before.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 30, 2017, 03:55:13 pm
Mica and Dee had missed the BBQ. Dee had been busy testing the actuators for Medeina's hands. He wanted them to operate smoothly and responsively, and Mica had "helped." Helping in that respect involved quietly sitting and watching, or sketching. Currently, he'd managed to get the hands to a point where they could alternate the amount of force used to grip, but the responsiveness was a problem. At one point, they received input as much as three seconds after it was given. He'd given up for a bit, intent on rolling himself a joint to relax, only to find a large portion of his stash was gone. He could guess who the culprit was. Mica had a distaste for the shredded green stuff he occasionally smoked. He remembered how she'd gone absolutely crazy, smashing Catnips media devices believing cartoons were some kind of drug that her sister had gotten into. "You'd be the armies greatest warrior in the war on drugs, Mica." He mumbled to himself, dipping into one of his other stashes. "Ah..." Came the hissing voice, "That where lizard keep more leaves. Mica smells, but not find."
"Mica, you gotta stop throwing out my stash. It's fine." He didn't bother to try and guess how she'd got into his room without him noticing, assuming that she'd probably slipped in while he was distracted. "Nuh-uh." She's said, snatching at the hollowed out console where Dee kept a relatively small amount of weed. "Give it back Mica!" he shouted, she grinned at him, "Or lizard do what?" She stuck her tongue out at him. As if it's length and appearance weren't disconcerting enough, the way she moved it reminded him of a snake preparing to strike. "C'mon Mica..." Dee's voice had taken on a note of petulance. A mistake on his part. "You lucky My-ka like you so much lizard." Her tongue vanished, as did her grin. "My-ka don't like whiners. She gonna take you stinky grass and throw it away, and My-ka don't wanna hear no more whinin'." Dee got the feeling that Mica was suddenly furious with him. He wanted to say he was sorry, but he had a hunch that would just make her angrier. He didn't want to anyway, he wanted his pot back. When she turned away he made his move, taking a few quick steps towards her. She shot a glance at him, saw the movement, screeched, and sprinted away. With that, the chase began. "MICA! GIVE IT BACK!" he shouted after her. In response she cackled wildly and shouted back, "CATCH MY-KA!" She scaled the wall of the infirmary, and sprinted across the roof to leap unsuccessfully to the roof of Quinn's lab. She struck the edge of the roof with the hollowed out console under her, knocking the breath from her lungs and exploding the case. Dee caught up not long after, noting the scattered bud with some sourness. "I aughta paddle you." He threatened, taking Mica's hand and helping her up. "What is paddle?" Mica asked. Dee wanted to stop her from grinding the larger salvageable bits into the dirt, but decided it just wasn't worth the effort when he knew he had more. He just had to find a better place to hide what he had left.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 30, 2017, 04:02:07 pm
The mage hunter found it hard to stifle a giggle at that remark, surprised that something was actually eluding death itself, looking him over curiously. Other than the figure's similarities to what appeared in her dream, there were lingering effects from her brief moment of seeing him through the mask of insight that, as much as her subconscious wanted to suppress the differences and force him to resemble something familiar, she found it hard to.
"I suppose there are a few things that'd suit you. Odin's close, but those differences are hard to shake. Then there's Hel, but she's even less of a match." she said. "So if not those, what role do you serve? I'm guessing a herald of death, harbinger...or if you're chasing after something, I suppose more of a psychopomp." she suggested.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 30, 2017, 04:10:24 pm
Death shrugged as he said "I bring the dead to judgement, whatever that may be for them. Well that's primarily what I do, sometimes I work as a harbinger for things less pleasant. Natural disasters and the like I mean, things where hundreds or thousands are going to die I'll generally be there waiting. Thankfully I've not had to deal with many of those recently, always a fucking head ache that."
Realizing she was still having trouble with his appearance he told her "I can always just make myself appear as what you want me to. Rather simple trick for my line of work actually."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 30, 2017, 04:17:43 pm
She nodded at that. "So I see. I'd assume the event six years ago was much more than a headache, wasn't it?" she said, carefully taking off her mask.
"As for that, I feel as if there is an image that my mind wants to see you as, but...why does it seem incomplete? When I turned my mask on, it only made things worse, and I didn't start seeing you with my own eyes until afterward. But I recall no one in my order sharing in this experience. A rare few have mentioned seeing visions of death gods with their own eyes, in appearances exactly as they expected. But likewise it was by your will, if you were the one to be behind that." she said, hesitating for a moment.
"And it was never by the vision of our masks. I'd assume in any other circumstance, you'd appear in its sight as nothing but another spiritual presence, one easily mistaken for one of countless dead of this world?" she asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 30, 2017, 04:42:56 pm
Death grimaced as she mentioned the event. "That was much more than a headache yes..." He trailed of for a moment as he remembered some of the sights and horrors he'd seen.
After taking a moment to clear his head he continued "Few can see me without my willing it but I've not encountered many. For most I only appear when I want to appear save for a few rare instances. As for my appearance I'm attempting no forced appearance so I should appear as whatever Death is to you. For example the death god's you're former comrades saw me as. To have such appearances as incomplete is something I've never encountered myself."
Thinking for a moment he said "Perhaps you were affected by some magical artifact or spell? One that might have combined with the effect of your mask to allow you to see me? It is the only thing that comes to mind as unless you're deathly ill you probably wouldn't have a chance of seeing me otherwise."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 30, 2017, 04:52:41 pm
The mage hunter nodded at that, lowering her head a bit as she pondered that for a moment. "Gods above and below, so many I could ask about, so many dead." she said, as the realization hit her.
She listened in silence until he brought up magical artifacts. "That might be it. There was one I used that is forbidden to our order, one bearing invocations to a god of death." she said, looking up. "I should let you be on your way." she said, before hesitating a moment. "If you...if you're able to, tell Acolyte Darius I'm sorry. Of all the things I could ask and say..." she trailed off, unsure if he even could.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 30, 2017, 05:16:02 pm
Death refrained from setting a hand on her shoulder having become accustomed to living beings always being afraid of his touch. It was only harmful if he so willed it but he digressed and said "I can, what would you have me tell him?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 30, 2017, 05:17:37 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Tell him that I'm sorry for bringing him on that mission, and that I hope he forgives me for all I've done since." she said, looking away nervously. "Thank you for this."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 30, 2017, 05:27:25 pm
Death simply nodded to her before saying "It is little trouble. Perhaps our paths will cross again before the final meeting Helen."
With that he disappeared through the wall leaving no trace of his presence.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 30, 2017, 10:24:29 pm
The mysterious presence disappeared from his detection field. Both Victor and the sword spirit were relieved but neither let the other on why. “See? She is fine, she comes from an order that hunted down the evil incarnate. Don’t worry yourself so easily.”, the spirit told Victor.
"What are you trying to imply? I simply was unnerved by the sudden appearance of such a thing here and it’s implications. I was looking out for the safety of this farm, that’s all.", Victor responded.
“Is that so? I am now tied to you closely, I share your emotions now as well. You speak the truth but hide the rest of it. You don’t need to hide things from me; I have seen it all son of terra.”, the spirit responded. Victor knew what he was talking about but denial is a powerful emotion.
“It is safe now, go look for her. Leave the blade behind as a token of trust. I my protection is the same as the radios of your aura spell, I shall serve as your shadow incase you need to summon my power. Go, your life span is short.”, the spirit suggested to Victor.
"No offense, but how about you mind your own business? We made a deal but that is the extent of our partnership; I don’t need you to patronize me or insult my intelligence. I know what I am doing and I will ask that you respect that.", Victor responded.
“As you wish.”, was the answer from the spirit as it left Victor as a shadow and returned to the sword. Victor in turned gave a deep sigh and look at some of the books to see what he would need for his ongoing research. He soon realized he would need some books from the library...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 30, 2017, 10:34:17 pm
Helen nodded at that. "And I will pray that I fulfill my duties before that final day comes." she said, giving a little nod to the spirit before he vanished. For now she set her mask on the table, along with her hammer, in order to step outside and head towards where she last sensed Victor. Was he really still in his room, she thought to herself, heading over to the door and giving a knock, hoping that that would make it through those soundproofing spells. "Victor? Are you awake?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 30, 2017, 11:02:53 pm
Victor heard a knock on his door and then Helen’s call to him. This sounds could penetrate the sound spell since they were meant to draw his attention to open the door, the only exception he put to the spell to combat being bothered. The spell came to be mostly after catnip started working on the train seriously and produced lots of noise in the process disturbing Victor in his studies.
After getting up, Victor opened the door, he had planned to go upside anyways and he might as well face the music right now. "Yes, I have been awake for a while now. ", Victor told Helen after opening the door while he stood in the doorway, "How may I be of service?". Victor was trying to remain stoic and professional as always but he was starting to slip; this was all new to him, uncharted waters and he had no way to experiment in the way he would like to determine his next move.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 30, 2017, 11:12:17 pm
Helen gave a polite nod at that as Victor answered the door, having retained her cloak but left hammer and mask behind for the moment. "I see. Sorry for slipping out rather early in the morning, seemed you needed your rest." she teased, though the blush was rather clear on her cheeks. "Remind me never to drink that much again." she said, before continuing to her reason for visiting him.
"First, to ensure you were alright. Second, to er...well, apologize for last night. Was a bit excessive, amusing as it was from what I recall, not to mention...enjoyable. Third, did you er...sense anything unusual a few minutes ago? Not sure what the extent of your peculiar magic may be."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 30, 2017, 11:26:22 pm
Victor gave a gesture that indicated not to worry about it in response to her statement of leaving him alone in the room. "That’s fine, you have to do what you have to do. Who am I that you have to ask for my approval or permission? And sure, you also be sure remind me to not drink like that as well."
At her first point for the visit, he nodded in responce. "Yeah, i am doing alright. I’ll be damned if some drink is going to be the end of me."
In response to her second point, Victor turned his head to the side for a bit but then looked at Helen again, his own blush also visible. "It was partially my fault. I let myself lose control and give in...I don’t hold it in ill will; mostly becuase I too found it enjoyable at the very least."
Her third point surprised him a bit. He guess nothing went passed her when to the arcane and paranormal. "As a matter of fact, I did. Sorry if I hesitated to act but I assumed you could handle it yourself. May I ask what or who it was? Even the spirit of harvest seems to fear it..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 30, 2017, 11:38:51 pm
Helen nodded at that, only to smile a little at his blushing in return. "I'm glad I wasn't too rough with you. Though still a misuse of magic on my part, near the end." she said, looking away for a moment.
"As for what I sensed, well. Seems you're not the only one to suffer consequences from dabbling in heretical magic." she said. "I would've rather not seen him at all, but when you invoke the name of an otherworldly god of death and nearly bring down a Veiled Temple on yourself, that carries consequences." she said, before realizing that statement.
"Wasn't here for me, it seems. I meant that certain consequences led to betraying his appearance unintentionally, within my mask's sight." she said. "And I somewhat regret that. I'd rather see him as Odin instead of what I caught a glimpse of. Actually no, after last night's visions maybe that mix of imagery is better."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 30, 2017, 11:50:51 pm
Victor smiled at the first remark. "Welcome to the heretic’s circle, all are welcome inside.", Victor teased Helen.
"God of death you say? Shadows of Arcana would’ve been proud of you… If that thing was attracted by such acts, then it itself must have a connection to the afterlife. As long as it has no ill will then it shouldn’t matter what form it takes does it? If you need help with it, just give the word.”, Victor responded to Helen’s final statements.
“I for my part must do some more research on the matter; I am going to the library for that exact reason, care to join me?", Victor asked Helen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 30, 2017, 11:57:07 pm
Helen gave a little huff at that. "At least I had something a lot nastier than a desire to play with blood magic behind using that scroll." she objected, before realizing he likely meant the other abuse of magic. "Oh wait, that...now now, it helped make things more interesting at least." she teased back.
"And I don't think that was what attracted him. That was only what led me to perceiving him, he was shouting about some spirit evading him with magic actually. Rather amusing circumstance in retrospect."
To that offer though, she gave a nod at that. "Wouldn't mind it, in fact. Might be good to have somewhere quiet to figure out what my next course of action will be." she said. "And figure out that dream, assuming it wasn't just the work of that strange brew of Catnip's."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 31, 2017, 07:10:08 am
Catnip checked the weld to make sure it was flush. She wasn't happy about it. Not the removal of the distillery, but the weak point in the trains armor that the now sealed hatch represented. A well placed shell would part the hatch easily, possibly letting explosive ordinance right into the center of the trains reactor. The thought of it made her grimace. Why the hell had she allowed such a weakness to exist? "Mis- Catnip. Mr. Floyd has finished taking all the bottles to Quinn to put them away." She thought it would go away, alcohol always gave her strange feelings, but that feeling Kathrine was giving her had persisted into sobriety. Especially when she looked at Catnip, it made it easy to know when Kathrine was watching her. "Good good." Catnip said, setting aside the welder and tossing the welding goggles into the storage compartment built into the rig. "Thank you Kat, wanna get some cereal?"
"Yes Mi- Catnip. I'll get you some cereal."
"No Kathrine," Catnip said, shaking her head. No matter how much Catnip tried, she couldn't get Kathrine to stop being so servile. She found it endearing, but sometimes it could be annoying. "Do you want to have some cereal 'with' me?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 31, 2017, 07:22:42 am
Sharlene sighs and throws her book back onto her bed. "Listen,Lil. It's been what, six years? Seven? An' you managed to fuck it up in all-a three days. I ain't angry, just... God, Lilith, what am I 'sposed to do with ya?" She kneels down next to Lilith and gives her a pat on the shoulder. "I'm sorry for leavin' ya for a while. Shouldn't-a done that. But, ya can't j-" Lilith shrugs her hand away and drapes a paw over her muzzle, placing her other paw on top of her head while she brings her knees up to her chest. "...Right. We'll talk about this later." "O-oh..." Kathrine's initial reaction is to step back, shaking her head, but she abandons that halfway through in favour of talking. "I-I don't eat with the others. The lab team said I-um... I put guests off their food... But Miss Lilith likes eating with me! Miss Lilith likes doing a lot of things."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 31, 2017, 08:39:27 am
At the acceptance of his invitation, Victor stepped forward and closed the door. "Shall we go then? I suppose this time I’ll be taking the lead.", Victor told Helen in a mocking manner. He waited for his spirit to assume the role of his shadow and continued towards the library with Helen.
Victor wasn’t letting on but he wanted to talk to this manifestation. He knew it could be extremely dangerous and probably would be reprimanded by Helen further but he didn’t care either way. The first detonation of the atom bomb was thought by some to lead to the entire atmosphere to catch on fire; yet in the name of science, and war, the test was still conducted forever changing the world. Victor admired such stories of pursuing knowledge regardless of the dangers; he aspired to recreate what many giants before him had done, the next breakthrough. He would talk to this thing and see what he could get out of it.
As the pair walked, Victor was distracted by his thoughts and did not one of the signs place to indicate who’s quarters are who’s. He crashed into one and fell back to sit on the ground. He could see Helen stifling a laugh, he wasn’t going to live this down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 31, 2017, 09:25:43 am
While in bed fiddling with her hair waiting for Hector to wake up, Roxanne felt the all too familiar spirit communicating with her. When before she was unnerved by it due to her lack of knowing its intent, she now felt giddy every time it took hold inside of her. She kissed Hector in the cheek and got up from bed to further assist her former personal guide. Once in the radio room, it spoke up.
“Roxanne Luna, a pleasure to speak to you as always.”, the spirit spoke.
“Likewise! But, why do you call me by my full name? Seems too serious and informal. Why not just Roxanne or created a pet name for me? Also, you have yet to give a name to us, it’s getting awkward talking to you in the second person…”. Roxanne answered back.
“If the spirit had a corporeal body, it would be smirking in amusement. “Alright, I will simply call you Roxanne then. I don’t do pet names, I never really understood that from humans. I never understood the need for names either but if you insist.”, The spirit informed Roxanne. It thought about what name it would like to go as. “I have gone by name names over the centuries; never cared for any of them but I guess I will go for the most common that I was addressed as: Randael.”
"Randael? Must of been quite the forbidden name for me to not have heard of it before. Anyways, how may I serve you today?", asked Roxanne.
“I have come to issue a warning. Your friend Victor, whom I share a contract with, has learned of another presence here. This presence is a very powerful and dangerous one that no mortal should mess around here. He has expressed his distaste of me telling him such things but you may be able to get to him. I don’t want our contract to end yet, I still need to acquire more power. Try and make him understand that somethings are not meant to be messed with.”, The spirit commanded Roxanne. Before she could answered, it was gone.
This conflicted Roxanne. On one hand, the being she literally worshiped had given her a command but on the other, she believed in Victor’s motto of pursuing the unknown; that was one of the reason she was who she was today. She would at least try to talk to him about it and see what was going on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 31, 2017, 09:41:13 am
"That's not true!" Catnip said, "Why wouldn't anyone want to eat with you?" Catnip took her to the newly built dining house and made Kathrine sit while she went to get the cereal herself. She followed the directions for the powdered milk, a label that had been cut out and taped to the bin that the farms stockpile of the stuff had been merged into. With the pitcher of milk, two bowls, and a bag of bargain brand "choc-ohs!" cereal in hand, she went back to Kathrine. No sooner was the cereal and milk poured, and Kathrine had taken hers and made to leave. Catnip took her wrist and pulled her back into her seat. "I'm not gonna eat until you do," She grinned, "Not until you eat right here at the table, with me!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 11:23:44 am
Nathaniel soon made his way over to the cabin and giving a knock. He wasn't sure what to expect other than Hector's prior reassurance, still concerned but knowing that Lilith could handle herself. Still, might as well check.
Helen wound up blushing a little at his remark, watching as he led the way. While she was momentarily lost in thoughts of recent events, he couldn't help but wonder about what was to come. Victor blundering into a sign and getting knocked onto his ass. She was left stifling a giggle, moving over and reaching a hand to help him up. "I suppose you need some practice taking the lead, hmm?" she teased.
Hector for now slept, though something led to him stirring shortly after the spirit left. A vague feeling of unease, or perhaps simply the last lingering hint of dreams he couldn't recall, getting dressed again and pitting on that armor he'd set aside.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 31, 2017, 12:11:31 pm
Sharlene answers the door. "What? If it's about Lilith or whatever, she's sat over there."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 12:14:46 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Yeah. Wanted to check on her just in case. Hector told me a bit about what happened." he said. Even though he'd calmed down and sobered up, he was still a bit irked at Sharlene.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 31, 2017, 12:21:11 pm
"Go right ahead. She's havin' a tantrum anyway." Sharlene pulls open the door and flops herself onto her bed, grabbing her book again. Lilith is still curled up in the corner, covering her head with her paws. She doesn't seem to notice Nathaniel approaching, but she noticeably relaxes at him being there.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 12:24:50 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Thank you. Was still worried about her even if she probably shrugged off everything those bastards threw at her." he remarked, approaching to kneel beside Lilith. "Hey girl. Hope you're alright..." he said, carefully setting a hand on her shoulder.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 31, 2017, 01:17:11 pm
"So, you've just been sitting outside and eating leftovers during meals ever since you came to live with me?" Catnip asked again. Kathrine nodded nervously, this line of conversation was obviously distressing to Catnip. The mechanic had a vivid imagination, and she could almost see Kathrine sitting on the ground outside Roxannes house, or more lately the dining house, eating scraps of whatever was left over in the rain while everyone else was inside eating the meals she had prepared. Catnips mind embellished the scene a little, and conveniently removed Lilith who was likely out their with her, and made the addition of making the maid cry with loneliness. "Catnip?" Kathrine asked, "Are you alright?" Catnip hoped Kathrine didn't see the way her lip had quivered at the sad sight she'd conjured up, and pushed the emotions she'd likewise summoned with it by saying, "Well, no more of that. You eat inside with everyone else! You can sit right next to me." Kathrine asked about Lilith, but Catnip just gestured to the double doors and the high ceiling. Lilith would fit perfectly fine. She'd get a seat of prominence at the head of the table, under the highest part of the dining houses roof, but she'd fit fine.
Dee waved at the pair through the window, and then joined them. "Hey ladies, hows it goin?" He said, "Hey Nip, you know Mica's never had cooked chicken? I asked why she didn't ask Kath to cook it for her, and she said she never had any time to wait." Kathrine took the bowls and the pitcher before Catnip could, so Catnip stayed to talk to Dee. "No, I didn't know that. Mica has a lot of stuff to experience. You think she'd like it better if it was cooked?"
Dee nodded, "Yeah, she isn't a monster. Not anymore. I'm willing to bet she'd love it roasted or fried. Some nice nuggets or something? Think I could pull your girlfriend away to-" "Girlfriend?" Catnip interrupted. Dee gave her a skeptical little grin, "Yeah, Kathrine. You think you could let me talk her into making a proper chicken dinner? Maybe we could make it a double date?" Catnip was too hung up on that word to respond to that though, and Dee could tell. "You aren't serious are you? Do you even... Everyone around here can totally see the vibes you two put off when your together." He chuckled weakly before going on, "Heck, Roxanne was telling me what a pair you two made during the BBQ last night. Sitting their staring at the stars and that." Catnip felt far off. That feeling she'd had came back with an edge. That nervous awkwardness she sometimes got when an embarrassing realization skirted her understanding. Dee's observations brought about a bit of insight into what that was. "Heya, I don't know how you feel about the whole girl and girl thing, but I don't think anybody around here is gonna judge. Hell, Mica and I discussed it this morning after she tried to run off with my stash. She doesn't seem to see any problem with it." Catnip didn't hear him, she was thinking about the way Kathrine had flushed when Catnip insisted they eat together, and the vague memories of hints she'd dismissed in her drunkeness the night before. "Uh... Nip? Did I say something wrong?" He waved a hand in front of her face, and she flinched. "N-no. I w-was just thinking. Um. Y-yeah, Kathrine could probably do that. B-but you should ask her yourself."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 31, 2017, 02:38:29 pm
Victor groaned and scoffed at Helen’s reaction when he fell as well as her remak. He took Helen’s hand, he wasn’t prideful like Roxanne; he valued practicality over everything else and getting help standing up was the most practical course of action. "...Let’s just go to the library...", Victor responded.
Once inside, Helen took a seat at one of the tables while Victor looked for the appropriate book. Soon after, he came back with it and a scroll; the book’s title was “Death throught the ages: Cultures and believes”, while the scroll he had brought didn’t even have a seal.
"If Roxanne has taught me anything, is that many arcane properties are based and linked with old myth, legends and cultural traditions. So why don’t we start by seeing what your spirit friend might be?", Victor proposed. Helen agreed and Victor then opened the book to the index.
"Mot, The Grim Reaper, Śmierć...No, these assume death to be only one...what if it’s one of many?", Victor mused out loud, “Then how about...Shinigami, Modern Reapers, Spirit Guides...These seem a lot closer what I perceived and what you described in both your encounters and dream…”
Victor noticed Helen looking at the scroll he had. "What’s wrong? You don’t like it when I play with magic like you do?", Victor told Helen in response to her reactions to the scroll, "If you must know, I am using this to summon that spirit. One doesn’t simply summon a death bringer, so instead, I will try to find and capture whatever it was chasing after to offer it as a peace offering. Maybe then it would be willing to talk to me..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 31, 2017, 02:45:44 pm
Kathrine looks down at the bowl of cereal and then back up at Catnip. "S-so I can sit at the table? During dinner?" A smile slowly creeps across her face. "Can I sit next to you?" She seems to have already forgotten about the bowl of cereal, and she instead is just acting extremely giddy. "What about Miss Lilith? Can she sit at the table too? Miss Sharlene has a chair, so Miss Lilith should too!" Kathrine's stomach audibly growls at a surprising volume. She sits back down, grabs her spoon, and waits, seemingly for Catnip's permission to eat. Lilith flinches away from his hand, growling, but stops herself by smacking herself in the muzzle with her other paw. She shakes her head and presses herself against the wall. "Go, Natalie. I dhid a meen fing..." Tears are welling in her eyes and are starting to run down her face when she covers her head again, whining. There's a quiet chuckle from other room, evidently from Mohammad, and Lilith hiccups. "Lilith ith bad..." She grumbles again, sliding back down the wall until she's lying on the wooden 'floor' again. "Well damn, most I've heard her say. She's hardly a conversationalist normally." Sharlene gestures towards with her book, then goes back to reading. "I'd say watch it, she ain't the most stable person 'round here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 03:12:44 pm
Helen kept teasing brief, nothing more than that little remark before she helped him up, soon enough regarding the book and scroll with curiosity and concern. "For one, I'm glad that we Quinn isn't here to witness this. Too easily misses the links to old myth. You should see him try to read The Six Pillars, for example." she said, smiling a bit.
"Most likely one of many, at least I would assume. This give us a few ideas, though it said that it takes many forms to suit the perceptions of people." she said. "Part of the image that was left after I turned my mask of was a mix of Odin and some other, more modern appearance. Maybe a recent guise it took?" she suggested. "As I doubt a man in a modern suit is that thing's true form, certainly didn't carry the impression as what the mask hinted at."
At his explanation of the scroll she gave him a nervous glance. "You can't be serious. I'm still wishing I hadn't seen that thing. It seemed to be willing to humor my questions, but I don't know how far one can test its patience." she said. "Maybe, if you can perceive it with your own eyes, a combination of your strange sight with that of my mask will show you just how risky it may be to act without due caution." she said. "I already had to work up considerable courage to ask it to relay a message to a, well. One of my brethren."
"After all, I think I've played enough with magic that dealing in the unknown is not something you do lightly. At least the effects of a scroll of command are well-documented, even its...abuses." she said, smiling a little. "The same applies to spirits. At a bare minimum, if you do something like this, can you...at least promise me that you won't attempt to hinder its duties, nor attempt to engage in bargains until you know for sure its nature?" she asked, a hand set on his shoulder. "More than just the common fear that delving too deep might have unknown consequences, after all. If something dire happened to you as a result..."
Nathaniel meanwhile gave a sigh as Lilith shied away from him, sitting down near her. "I know. We've all done various sorts of mean things before." he said. "Still, it was to a genuine threat to Mica and Dee, and to others that wouldn't be able to defend themselves. They were the same group that Hector and the others have running to Canada." he said, smiling some. "Same gang that killed Smithwick and Harvey, who would've killed Dee that one time, and possibly done even worse to Catnip and Kathrine in that same incident."
"The thing is, the important part here is in knowing how to control yourself, when it is and isn't acceptable to hurt people. That can be a hard thing to figure out." he said. He himself sounded unsure of himself. He wasn't sure how Hector did it, how he made it seem so easy. Sure, Hell's Raiders were the enemy, and if needed he'd kill them without hesitation, but it was hard for him to explain how one resolves to kill an enemy without it being a bad thing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 31, 2017, 03:41:23 pm
Lilith seems to be too busy mumbling something incoherent to herself to listen to Nathaniel, and is slowly thumping her head against the wall. Each impact elicits a "Bad..." from her, until she suddenly stops just as Nathaniel finishes his speech. "Go away Nataleee..." She mumbles. She reaches out an arm to push him away as gently as she can, but ends up jabbing him in the stomach. Hard. She gasps and attempts to press herself against the wall once more, despite it being impossible to go any further without being part of it. There's a loud thud as she deliberately headbutts the wall, yelling "BAD!" over and over again. Sharlene's still not moving from the bed despite all this.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 31, 2017, 04:00:07 pm
Victor listened on to Helen’s concerned once he explained the scroll. He expected as much from member of the cleansing flame when she expressed her own concerns when encountering the spirit. "It’s form doesn’t concern me. It can appear in anyway it chooses. Your mask is probably what allowed you to see him in the first place but that was an accident, I doubt it would let that fly a second time."
At the remark of her fallen comrade, Victor’s expression became more somber. "Sorry to hear that...At least you had your peace once more."
He himself stifled a grin at the comment of the scroll of command, he knew she would suggest caution to him. Then he felt her hand on her shoulder and heard how she told him to make a promise. "What’s this? A member of the cleansing flame is concerned for a lowlife like myself?", Victor responded sarcastically. Then he placed his own hand on top of Helen’s before continuing, "Look, I know you have experienced many evils and made and oath to quell them as well. But you have to remember I made an oath too to uncover the secrets that this earth hides. You may not agree with me but this thing might be a threat to us and even you can’t vanquish it. I promise I won’t do anything reckless, you have my word. But I also ask you not to worry about me, I have been through worse; so please, allow me to protect you...just this once..."
After his mind caught up with his minds and actions, he quickly took his hand off Helen’s and cleared his throat. "Anyways, if you want to look into this matter as well, I will be more willing to help you. Just say the word. It’s been a pleasure to talk you this morning but there are things I must tend to. Until next time.", Victor stood up and gave Helen a small bow and then exited the room, book and scroll in hand.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 04:08:20 pm
Helen nodded at that, a bit uncertain at this, only to look down a bit, before giving a nod at that. "If you're certain that you can be cautious, very well then. Observe, learn what it is, before you interfere too deeply. If there's one lesson to be learned from my old oath, it's that at least some caution is warranted in matters like this, even if destroying what you can't observe safely is going too far." she said. What he said, that sarcastic remark to her worries, provoked an annoyed glance before his words calmed her again.
"But so be it. Lowlife or not, you're still the closest thing to brethren I have now." she teased. "So be it, then. Come back alive at least. Or else." she teased, before he left her to her studies.
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at that. "Come on Lil-hrk!" He doubled over a bit at the painful jolt that knocked him on his ass, groaning out in pain. "Fucking...goddamnit Sharlene..." he whined, fumbling to get up, but not managing much given how that bowled him over easily.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 31, 2017, 04:19:33 pm
"What? I warned you, idiot. Sort this out with your girlfriend, it's not my problem." Sharlene doesn't even look down at him, but Mohammad certainly does. "Pfffft. Aww, what's wrong Natalie, having trouble? It ain't fuckin' funny now, is it?" He's leaning against the doorframe, one hand on his hip with a big, shit-eating grin plastered over his face. "I'm going out, make sure the littlest tank commander doesn't try to put on my stockings." "Fuck off, Mohammad." Comes Sharlene's reply. The door apparently also disagrees, as it doesn't open at Mohammad's attempt, and he just walks face-first into it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 04:26:27 pm
Nathaniel whined a bit at that. "Not helping, Sharlene...and Marmite? Go fuck yourself." he said with a strained groan, uneasily standing up. Just when he'd straightened back up he nearly doubled over again, this time from cracking up at Mohammad walking right into the door. "Ya tried pulling it?" he said, now he was the one smirking at the sight, despite the pain.
He carefully turned towards Lilith, kneeling near her but a bit out of reach "Lilith. Come on, you need to stop that, please? And don't do that to me again. I'm fine, but that still hurt like a motherfucker."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 31, 2017, 05:18:44 pm
Lilith stops at Nathaniel's orders, sliding back down the wall into a sitting position. "But bad..." She hiccups again, then lies down once more, facing the wall.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 31, 2017, 05:22:23 pm
As Victor was exciting the library, he spotted Roxanne approaching. She waved him down and indicated she wanted to talk. "What is it Roxanne? I am kinda busy at the moment.", Victor asked.
Roxanne raised an eyebrow and put one of her hands on her hip changing her posture accordingly. "Are we know? Still recovering from last night’s party? That reminds me, where is little miss heresy? Don’t tell me you drove her away...", Roxanne told Victor in retaliation of his rudeness.
"Can you not? Seriously… If you are done wasting my time, I have matters to attend to.", Victor said and began to walk away. Roxanne then grabbed Victor by the hand.
"Sorry about that...not my intention but I do have something important to tell you, so don’t leave yet ok?", Roxanne pleaded with Victor. She let go and adjusted her glasses and hair. "Randael, care to leave us for a moment?", Roxanne asked looking at Victor’s shadow. It then started to move and went towards Victor’s quarters.
Victor looked shock at the act; someone other hand him commanded his spirit?! "What is the meaning of this you witch?! Explained yourself!", Victor exclaimed, throwing caution to the wind. He soon after calmed down and realized his mistake. "Sorry about that Roxanne...I don’t know what go into me."
Roxanne only smiled at him. "Wow, got a little feisty there; I can see what Helen sees in you. Also, like if you have any room to talk, playing such things like spirit. Anyways, remember that the spirit was mine before your little contract. I have command here under its command to give you a warning. This place isn’t really suited to talk, lets go inside the library for a moment and speak clearly there.", Roxanne proposed.
Victor listened on with his face a roller coaster of expressions while Roxanne talked. Form annoyance to contemplation and finally ending with wide eyes and a blush. "No! I mean, if it's so urgent, tell me now. Hurry, I have things to do.", Victor exclaimed.
Roxanne sported her own confused expression but soon put two and two together. "Oh? Oh! I see...Well, I’ll be brief then. The spirit told me to let you know it doesn’t approve of you messing with the presence. It says it’s too dangerous for mortals to play with. Victor, you and I are bounded by the same oath but have some common sense! There some stones best left untouched!", Roxanne pleaded.
Victor scoffed at Roxanne’s remarks. "Is that all? I told you not to waste my time. Then I will be going now, I don’t need you of all people telling me what’s what.". Victor responded.
Roxanne was visibly angered at this and retaliated by slapping Victor; the sound of it permeated through the farm, it was not restrained at all. "And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?! You think you are all high and mighty with your fancy title? I know you have always looked down upon me, only keeping me around for pity; I know I have never met your expectations of who she was, you don’t have to shove it in my face! Now you are going to do the same to Helen aren’t you?! You are nothing but a twisted puppet master disguised as friend.", Roxanne shouted at Victor, she finally told him how she felt and it felt so good. After calming down a bit, she continued talking. "I have fulfilled my duty here to Randael; what you do is none of my concern now. You drown in your own power for all I care." With that, Roxanne took her leave.
Victor was left standing there, holding his hand on his cheek, with a shocked expression and a hundred thoughts crossing his mind at once. "No I...", was all he managed to say after Roxanne left.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 05:28:04 pm
Helen had carefully put away the books she'd set aside, making her way back to where she left her things, thinking it a good time to return to the cabin soon. Seeing the two outside and Roxanne slapping him, she'd quietly move to be out of sight of Victor, intending to speak to Roxanne when they had the chance. She couldn't help but wonder what the argument was about, wondering what Roxanne felt of Victor's plans, unaware of her knowing far more than the mage-hunter expected.
Nathaniel sighed at that, giving a nod. "I know. Killing is bad. But sometimes it's hard to find ways around a problem like that." he said, vaguely recalling something overheard from Hector once. "Just remember, never forget what you fight for, who you protect in doing so. And never kill someone innocent. Understand?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 31, 2017, 05:37:22 pm
Lilith doesn't seem like she's cheering up at all. "Go way, Natalee..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 31, 2017, 05:56:04 pm
Roland had taken the next book he'd need after returning the previous and had been reading it. How to properly forge and repair weapons and maintain them, from swords to guns. He'd realized his spare revolver would have to be scrapped but he could find or make something else given time. Currently though he was standing over the vest he'd taken from the loot and was thinking of what to do with it.
Which was when a symbol he'd never seen before popped into his head. As he took the paint brush and put the mark onto the armor over the right shoulder another thought found it's way to his mind. Giving it some thought as he let the paint dry he wondered if he'd find any others such as himself, ones that were visited by that odd spirit. Perhaps, but that would be for another time and something he ought to keep to himself for the interim.
Once finished with the task he put the vest on and tightened the straps before walking out of his living quarters. Making his way to the forge Roland already began plotting out his armor. How it would be shaped and decorated and of course how protective it would actually be.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 31, 2017, 06:22:23 pm
Victor stood there for a while, not noticing Helen as she slipped by. He had questions for Roxanne as well but his work was more important at the moment. He composed himself and rubbed his cheek that still ached in pain. "So that happened...not matter, I have business to attend to.". With that he went back to his room, he needed to figure out what ritual to use to capture the stray spirit and what to use to summon the death bringer.
Roxanne went straight to her room after telling Victor off. Once inside, she sat down on her bed and started sobbing slightly with her face pressed on her hands. She didn’t know if what she did was right or not.
“You did well Roxanne. You did what I asked to the letter, anything else is extra. He made his decision and that is fully on him.”, The spirit told Roxanne. It had come back to let her know of her success in fulfilling his edicts.
At the sound of his voice, Roxanne perked up and looked around. "But what about him? You told me to tell him that for a reason and I failed to sway him.", Roxanne responded. The spirit then once more took over Roxanne and gave her that pleasant feeling that made her forget all her troubles. “Relax, that ain’t your problem. The mage hunter is looking for you. Once I release you go seek her out, understood?”, The spirit commanded. Roxanne nodded with a smile in her face and twinkly eyes. “Good, no go.”, the spirit said as he left Roxanne.
Roxanne quickly cleaned her face and did her hair and then exited the room to look for Helen. “What could she want with me?”, she asked to herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 06:25:54 pm
Helen meanwhile regarded Roland curiously, catching a brief glimpse of him heading to the forge, in an appearance the provoked curiosity, before she waited outside of Roxanne's room, working up the courage to knock. "Roxanne?"
Nathaniel sighed at that. "Alright. Just...know that I still love you, regardless of what you had to do." he said, then went a bit pale as he realized what he blurted out. "I, er...fucking hell." he stammered, standing up and backing away a bit.
Hector meanwhile was at the forge, having just made another assortment of rings and hand rivets in case he needed them again, setting them aside as he gave a nod to Roland. "Just finished up, so have at it." he said, smiling some as he regarded the armor Roland had. "Having a project in mind, I'm guessing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 31, 2017, 06:35:26 pm
Roland nodded to Hector as he picked up the tools and selected a piece of metal to work with. "Yes actually. I need something to protect the arms and legs. According to the books I've read I should be able to do so without too much trouble but I'm still new to this work."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 31, 2017, 06:36:55 pm
As soon as Roxanne exited her room to the main radio area, she heard the knock from Helen. "Excellent timing Randael...", Roxanne thought to herself. She quickly opened the door after Helen knocked one more time, it was rude to leave visitor’s knocking for too long.
"Helen! What brings you here today? Anything I can help you with?", Roxanne asked, she tried her best to conceal her previous emotions in tone and expressions and did a decent job by the aid of her face distortion bionic in the latter category..
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 06:45:27 pm
Helen smiled a bit as Roxanne answered the door. Hard as that face was to read, she had a guess. "Was hoping to talk to you about something. I noticed the tail end of a little dustup you had with Victor, right after we talked about a few things ourselves." she said, trying to work up the nerve to explain what he had planned. "Did you, er...sense anything unusual, no more than an hour or two ago at the latest?" she asked, not knowing if Roxanne had any sorts of unusual senses like Victor did.
If anything, she hoped Roxanne didn't, she knew that the faint aftereffects of having used a scroll of command might still be sensed, even if the aura wouldn't linger with the same permanence that a scroll of sundering left.
Hector nodded at that. "Can help a bit if you'd like. Haven't really studied the manuals enough to make a fresh suit from scratch, but good at putting mail in, which would be one option for the joints." he suggested. "Along with kevlar, possibly padding like on a gambeson..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 31, 2017, 07:02:59 pm
Roland began working on the armor as he told Hector "I'd appreciate the help though I think I'd need to get these done first."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 31, 2017, 07:03:11 pm
Roxanne looked away and hugged one of her arms by placing the other hand on it. "Victor and I had a small disagreement and I over reacted, that’s all...He was a bit of rude but that doesn’t excuse my actions...", Roxanne answered Helen’s first remark.
"No, I didn’t sense anything odd recently. The spirit that used me as a host did warn me about Victor messing with a presence that is too dangerous to be messing with. Is that what you mean? What’s going on Helen?", Roxanne responded to Helen’s second remarks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 07:15:45 pm
Helen nodded at that as she listen to Roxanne's explanation. "That'd be what I was worried about as well. The two of us took notice of a spirit of death, by accident in my case and by innate senses in his." she said. "I'm guessing your patron spirit warned you of the same?" she said, before continuing.
"I tried to warn him to use caution, not to provoke it or attempt to make bargains with it, to only observe. Because honestly, I'm afraid he might endanger himself if he deliberately provoked it."
Hector meanwhile gave a nod at that, setting the small bin holding the cooled-down rings aside. "Very well then, can leave these here for you if you have need of them for your design. No repairs needed yet, just making a batch for another time."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 31, 2017, 07:31:16 pm
Sharlene puts her book down finally. "Hooo! Lover boy finally admits it!" Although Lilith doesn't show it by, say, not crying, or replying that she loves him too. Nah, she responds by standing up, lumbering towards him, and bear hugging him while crying.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 08:36:04 pm
Nathaniel was left stammering nervously. "I er, I mea-mmph!" Cue a muffled meep as Lilith rather suddenly snatched him up and pulled him into a hug that nearly smothered him, not to mention held him painfully tight. Cue nervously trying to return that hug, blushing bright and hoping she wouldn't crush his ribs. Or spine. Or his everything.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 31, 2017, 08:37:19 pm
"D-Dee has something to ask you Kat..." Catnip says weakly. "Is something wrong Mistr- Catnip?" Catnip shakes her head, but she looks uncomfortable. "Uh, Kathrine?" asked Dee, "You think I could ask you a favor?" Kathrine is watching Catnip closely, a little worried. Dee goes over what he asked Catnip, excluding no detail. "So I figure, Mica can experience chicken done right, and we can do a kind of double date thing, just the four of us." Catnip has gone rigid in her seat. She wanted to go back and tell him not to include all that "date" and "girlfriend" stuff, but how was she supposed to know that he'd be so open about something she could hardly admit to herself? She wasn't sure she could be so casual around Kathrine again with all this laid out where they could both see it, where Catnip had to see it and know it was true.
"Uh, are you guys alright? Did I say something wrong?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 31, 2017, 08:39:50 pm
Roxanne reeled back a bit when Helen told her about the spirit they both felt. "Spirit of death? I now see why Randael was so wary about the whole thing… And to your question, yes, the spirit that used me as a host, Randael, commanded me to tell Victor no to mess with said spirit of death. I wasn't aware it was this serious. Victor blew me off and I got mad and that’s why we had our little argument...", Roxanne explained.
As for her second remarks, Roxanne also addressed them. "Victor seems to throw caution into the wind once he was made up his mind and has a plan to back it up...We can only hope he isn’t to reckless. He holds his oath very dearly but I am sure he will still be a bit more cautious now that he has someone to care about.", Roxanne told Helen, winking at her at the last remark and giving a grin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 08:46:21 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Just accidentally seeing and speaking with it was unnerving enough, but it seemed amicable at least, distracted by an errant spirit that passed through here evidently." she said. "Still, until more than be found out about it, best to approach with caution."
Roxanne's remarked provoked her to perk up a bit and smile some. "Ever the incautious one, hmm? Sounds just like what my father always said about many of The Order, no caution where we took the opposite extreme." she said. "I hope though that if common sense doesn't guide him, that...er, will." she said, blushing a little at that last remark. "I didn't think things were that transparent."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on August 31, 2017, 09:11:00 pm
Lilith only hugged him tighter, entirely forgetting both her freakish strength and Nathaniel's weedish build. "Natalee loveth Lilith?!" She falls backwards, still tightly gripping Nathaniel, and moves onto her side, still smothering him in her sizeable breasticles. Sharlene is finally doing something, and grabs the fur on the back of Lilith's head, smacking her on the muzzle with her other hand. "Leggo of him, Lil, yer gonna kill him." Kathrine had been cleaning plates when they had arrived, and she was holding one of the fancier designed ones when she had turned around to talk to Catnip and Dee. Said plate was also dropped as soon as Dee had mentioned a double date. "D-date? With who? Mistress?" She obviously looks over at Catnip, blushing a deep crimson already. "N-no!" Kathrine forces out a laugh. "Y-yes... When are you- do you want me to do the- MAKE the chicken?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 09:19:30 pm
Nathaniel mmphed and whined more at that, blushing bright given he was being smothered in her cleavage, though the crushingly tight grip and lack of air made it hard to react in any way other than squirming futilely. "Legoph..." he managed to mumble, trying to pull away enough to say something. It felt like if he tried to hard his spine would fold, but he managed to pull his head barely free enough to mumble a response. "Too...tight, ribs...mmph, empty beer cans..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 31, 2017, 09:21:56 pm
“Just you mentioning it unnerved me. And the fact that something can elude him unnerves me more...So I agree with you completely about exercising caution.”, Roxanne commented to Helen’s comment on the spirit.
Roxanne smiled at Helen’s reaction and remarks when she mention Victor’s usual lack of caution. “Those are some fighting words sister. If this was the olden day, I would have to fight you for my honor and these days I have a literal knight in shining armor at my side!”, Roxanne said jokingly to Helen, “And of course it’s obvious my dear. You two were being lovey-dovey in the party after you drank catnip’s cocktail. To be honest, this is a good thing for him so don’t be too rough on him okay?”
Meanwhile, Victor was busy at work looking for a ritual that would suit his needs. He had gone through the book of the dead he had gotten earlier and nothing. His other books served no help either and his own expertise were not enough. "Ahhh, why can’t I find anything?!", he shouted at himself, "This is Roxanne’s area of expertise but she is mad at me right now. But why? What did I do?...Women, I swear..." He looked around in though when he noticed his sword. "And you! Randael is it? How dare you implant ideas into Roxanne against me?! I thought we had a deal!"
Soon after, a small breeze blew inside his room and one of the books on the desk flipped opened. Victor knew the signs and went towards the open book. “Dia de los Muerto (Day of the Dead)” was the prominent words on top of the left page. "That’s it! I got it!", Victor exclaimed. He could finally start on his plan.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 09:40:04 pm
Helen nodded at that. "More reason I'd rather find out what I can about this thing, but a deliberate summoning, if he tries it..." she said, trailing off. She wasn't actually sure what she could even do, but her remarks made her perk up a bit.
"So long as the little sorcerer doesn't confirm that little glimmer of a good point in such harsh words, hmm? Otherwise, if he survived whatever consequences this invokes, he'll have to answer to me." she said. "And er, even if that was partly the alcohol at work, I will admit, well..." he said, blushing bright. She was almost tempted to tease her right back, and mention some of the tricks that she'd learned.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 31, 2017, 10:05:47 pm
Roxanne smile only grew wider once Helen spoke. "Answer to you? I can see why you call him ergi. You go sister!", Roxanne tease Helen further, "And don’t worry about the party thing. I been in your shoes too. You consume liquid courage, you do thing you wouldn’t normally do, one thing leads to another and then you wake up retracing your steps."
"But in all seriousness Helen, there isn’t much anybody can do when Victor had his eyes on something. Even the spirit of harvest that now resides on his blade couldn't do it. Just let it be and learn as much as you can to adapt to the consequences. He isn’t an idiot after all, our order was very careful on who it selected as its expanders."
Roxanne recalled something and she perked up at the though. "Hold on Helen, there is something I want to give you. Take it as a token of our truce of our orders or as a simple friendly gesture." Roxanne went inside and brought back something back. When she returned, she gave handed Helen a bottle of pre-cataclysm wine dated 2028. "Good alcohol is getting hard to get and now with the farm's supply under lock and key, it’s up to everyone to find and maintain their own stashes. Hope it’s to your liking. "
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 31, 2017, 10:16:54 pm
Helen smiled a bit at that. "I'll be hopeful for now that he makes it through in one piece then. We'll see just how cautious he is, though no amount of caution can protect one from consequences you can't determine safely." she said. She wanted to pointed out that what was effectively their first meeting, those years ago, was a fine example of that, but she decided against bringing it up, instead surprised as Roxanne soon returned with a bottle of wine, giving a polite nod.
"Thank you. I'll have to work to return the favor sometime. A few ideas did come up back at our current encampment, in fact." she said. "Few old recipes for decent drinks, though not much one can make with the garden we've set up over there." she said, though she did recall the recipe she worked on intermittently. "Wouldn't have the same value as a gift from the old world though."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 01, 2017, 04:21:01 am
Lilith's grip is doing nothing but getting steadily tighter as she continues to make a strange combo of purring while hiccuping. "Lilith? Oh goddamnit..." Sharlene walks off into the other room for a moment and comes back clutching a metal baseball bat. "LILITH, LET. HIM. GO." She shouts, winding up for a swing aimed at the side of Lilith's head. Lilith, for what it's worth, doesn't release Nathaniel, but she does at least ease up on the death vice she had him in. "Lilith loveth Natalee..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on September 01, 2017, 08:56:46 am
She awakes breathing heavily. "Another nightmare Pepper?" Pepper shakily gets to her feet and drinks some water from her bottle. "Y-Yeah... It was about him..." The lady looked sadly at her. "He's gone now, h-" "It doesn't matter, it still feels like he's here... I need to leave." Pepper packs her things up and heads to the front desk. "Hey, is there any other settlements nearby?" The person at the front desk marks her map for the farm. "Just tellin' ya, there a weird bunch." But Pepper was already out the door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 01, 2017, 09:28:37 am
Nathaniel was left gasping for air as a result, but relieved when she loosened her grip on him enough that he didn't feel like she was going to crush him. "T-thank you, just...be careful, okay? That kinda hurt..." he said, though now blushing fiercely at Lilith's remarks.
Meanwhile Helen gathered up her hammer and mask, Sergei already ready to head back to their site across the river, hoping that Victor would be fine for now. Part of her wanted to stay and keep an eye on him so he wouldn't do anything foolish, but if even the spirit in the sword and Roxanne couldn't convince him, she doubt the presence of a mage hunter would make things better. She still had the two-way on hand though, telling them to contact her over it if needed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 01, 2017, 09:29:52 am
Catnip had been filled with a sense of disappointed relief when Kathrine had said no, but that had been replaced by a nervous excited relief when she'd whispered yes. The two conflicting states had her confused. Her brain felt like it was trapped in a cage of some soft yet unbreakable material, screaming to be let out. She saw the way Kathrine lit up like a torch and thought she would probably look and feel the same were it not for her fur.
Dee scratched his chin, "Yeah Kat, you're the best cook around here, and I want Mica to get the best we can get." He looked a bit embarrassed then, "eh, oh yeah. Mica already ate the farms only chicken, so it'll have to be next week when the refugee center can provide some fresh ones. I already sent them a request and they will have a few birds set aside for us then. I guess they get shipments of food from some group of hunters and a farm down south every month or so. Is that alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 01, 2017, 09:54:54 am
Lilith doesn't let go of Nathaniel for another half an hour, at which point she falls asleep. Sharlene's gone back to reading and Mohammad is still out. Kathrine tries to take her eyes off of Catnip for a couple of seconds, and ends up looking at the shattered plate on the floor. "Y-yeah... You-you owe me a plate, too!" She crosses her arms and frowns, trying to look serious and angry, but her perked-up ears and puffed up tail (which is getting dunked into the sink) betray it and just make her look silly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 01, 2017, 09:59:06 am
Nathaniel was left held close to her, lightly rubbing over her sides as she relaxed, eventually able to slip free of her grasp. He stayed there a bit longer to ensure she hadn't stirred as a result, before making his way out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 01, 2017, 10:40:31 am
"Excellent!" Dee said, "Next week, double date, chicken picnic. I can get you a fancy plate when I go to pick up the chicken." He noticed where Kathrine's tail was resting and stifled a chuckle. "Your tails in the wash Kat. I'll see you ladies around." _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Later, Dee put his feet up on his desk. "So," Said Medeina through the newly installed speaker, "Did you get it all set up?" Dee rolled his eyes, but said, "Yeah yeah, one week. You know that's not really wise right?" Medeina made a noncommittal sound, and responded, "If their feelings are true, then their should be no problem. If not, the ratling will likely get cold feet before then. One week is the optimal time."
"You think Catnip would be the one to get cold feet?" Dee asked, picking up the controller for the prototype hand. "Why not Kathrine? She seems pretty nervous about the whole thing."
"The Catmaid is committed via conditioning, though her conditioning has probably worn out by now. That is just a theory." The AI gave a short pause as it mulled something over, "I do not think either will attempt to back out."
"I still don't understand what you get out of this, but I guess that's not really important is it?" Dee said, "Down to a third of a second on the delay. Maybe I can get the kinks worked out of this hand before dinner." The AI made another small sound in it's lecturers voice, and that seemed to be an ending to the matter for now. Dee shot one last comment to her though, "You know, I never figured Doctor Love would be a robot."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 01, 2017, 11:16:26 am
Kathrine waited until Dee had definitely left before she dropped her look. "...Mistress, do you really wanna date me...?" She brings her eyes back up to look at Catnip properly, and notices that her Mistress seems like she's avoiding eye contact. "Oh..." Kathrine looks back down at the floor, pupils reduced to slits. She occupies herself by first scooping her soaking tail out of the sink, and then by cleaning up the shattered plate.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 01, 2017, 11:24:26 am
Catnip watches Kathrine, keenly aware that some moment has been missed, that she might have messed up by not returning Kathrine's gaze. It her ache a little, like a missed opportunity. Not just missed, but ruined. She didn't want that, but she didn't know what to do. Catnip had to say something, anything. "m-maybe..." Catnip whispers as she began to wring her own tail. "Y-yes..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 01, 2017, 11:42:40 am
Kathrine already suspected that Catnip wanted to do this, but getting actual confirmation made her feel... Giddy. But what if she messed up the food? She'd let Mica and Dee down too, and then everyone would be angry with her, and the date would be ruined, and none of them would ever want her to cook anything for them again, and Mica would tell everyone, and then everyone would be upset with her, and- She squeaks when she cuts her finger on a shard of china. She tries to keep quiet about it, although to Catnip it's obvious that she's managed to hurt herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 01, 2017, 12:02:02 pm
"Oh!" Catnip cries, "Careful, let me see." For a moment, she forgets her nervousness in concern. She looks over the cut with an eye that has patched lot's of little cuts and nicks over years of working with dangerous machinery. "It's not too bad, I think. Just a little cut." She cleaned the cut with the Cookshacks first aid kit and put a band-aid on it. "There, all-" Her head swings up to look at Kathrine, and finds that their faces are mere inches apart. For a span, their eyes meet, and then Kathrine does something to make Catnip look away. She quickly places a little kiss on her nose. "Er... I h-have some uh... ch-chores to d-do..." She mumbles before rushing out of the cook shack, nearly tripping on her own tail.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 01, 2017, 12:34:01 pm
Kathrine's pupils quickly dilate as Catnip looks up and realises how close they are. She felt the need to do... Something. It took a couple of seconds, and some eye contact, for her to decide on what that something was. She shuts her eyes and leans forward, kissing Catnip right on the tip of her muzzle, then leans back, both blushing and grinning her ass off. "...Boop."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 01, 2017, 03:33:49 pm
Soon enough Helen had made her way back to the great hall that was mostly complete, checking on the companion left behind to keep watch, and dropping Sergei off to let him rest some. Soon enough she was walking along the road towards the ruins of the old city, to ensure nothing else was crawling up out of the strange complex underneath, and examine for any remaining useful supplies. Their latest projects revealed with greater clarity what they needed.
She skirted the treeline along the road cautiously, wanting to avoid attracting the attention of any undead that may linger, at least until she was close enough that the monsters wouldn't be led towards their encampment. A faint sound of movement, just across the road, made her pause to activate her mask. A figure skulking in the opposing treeline, male and carrying a crossbow.
She decided to get bold and step out into the open, watching with amusement as the figure recoiled in shock a moment, halting as if he expected the bizarrely-dressed woman hadn't seen him. Her staring through the brush right at him, with the fearsome leering visage of her mask, made him finally step out, crossbow leveled at her.
"Oi, halt! Who the fuck are you?" he shouted, keeping his distance. "Just a traveler. I've no quarrel with you." she said calmly. She had her guesses as to his purpose, but she watched to gauge his reaction.
The man had been sent simply to observe, among the lower-ranking, expendable members of Hell's Raiders encampments farther north, thinking that this would be a trivial job. He'd heard about the group being responsible for the swath of destruction and panicked groups of bandits fleeing north, but he'd heard nothing of a strange woman bearing mask, hammer, and scaled cloak.
"Oh I got a quarrel for ya if you take another step, ya shiny bitch." he said, grinning as he shoulder his crossbow. "I want ya to drop the fucking hammer, the weird gimp mask ya got here, that fancy-lookin' cloak...aw fuck it, how 'bout ya take it all off, and we'll see how much it takes to buy your life." he said, a lecherous look betraying his intent.
"Bring the hammer down, you say?" she asked, and the man saw the glow given off by the hammer's head, a split-second's warning of hostile action. A bolt was loosed right as a brilliant flash and resounding bang dazed the bandit. She'd sidestepped left as she did so, only to give a low growl of sorts as a bolt pieced her arm, scraping along bone and embedding itself in the flesh.
It didn't stop her, having held the hammer with both hands, and as the man frantically backpedaled and tripped. That had, for a moment, saved him from a swing that would've caved his head in, only for another hammer blow to crush the hand holding the crossbow, the bandit having let a hand go to fumble for another bolt. That arm too was smashed into pieces, followed by a knee.
Even through the pain, she retained a loose grip on the hammer with her injured hand, an armored boot stomping on the man's chest and pinning him down. "Alright, you little argr, what is your purpose here?" she shouted, her left hand forcibly ripping the bolt out, while a powerful magic flowed from her cloak, adding a disturbing glow as the wound was forced to close up. "Hrk...go f-fuck yourse...wait, what the fuck. What the fuck ARE YOU!?" he shouted, though winded by the boot on his chest and the searing pain in this limbs.
Her response seemed like a strained, hateful sound as the pain radiated through her arm, cloak doing its powerful work. "The h-hand of Odin, of The God in Three Persons, of the Sun Goddess..." she said, grinning a bit. "And you are a petty brigand, a terrible shot, and a coward. Wouldn't even be fit to be a shieldmaiden." she said, the enraged face of her mask concealing her smirk. He didn't get a chance to respond before the hammer slammed into his head, crumbling the skull effortlessly and ending his struggling instantly.
Sergei and Simms had by now rushed out, having heard the bang back at the cabin, only to see her with a bloody shirt, standing over a mangled corpse. "Are you alright?" was Sergei's first response, seeing her simply turn and give a nod, while Simms was shocked by the shifting iron and copper of her mask, and the bloody mess her shirt was. "Fuck, you're hit! Here, I got some first aid supplies, a-" He trailed off when he'd rushed to her to roll up the sleeve despite her protests, finding that the arm itself showed no mark. "Would you kindly let go? Still a bit sore." she grumbled, the young man letting go with a start, recalling now that she had all manner of items much stranger than the limited oddities he and his old traveling companion had encountered. "Alright, guess you got that taken care of, we'll er...stick with you for now. Might be more of those fuckers out there, and best not to take them on alone." Simms suggested, to which Helen simply nodded. She still couldn't shake the feeling that someone was out there watching them, despite the faint flickering auras in the swamps and forests not seeming to be anything out of the ordinary, when she looked out with her mask active...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 01, 2017, 05:54:08 pm
The RV that the command center used to scavenge supplies and sent the team to investigate the unknown bunker was pulling up to the entrance of the command center. The two guards were outside to greet the group that had venture and to attend to an needs they might have before the were debriefed by Router. Once they parked and got out of the RV, it was clear shit had gone awry.
“What happened out there? You guys look like you saw a ghost...Any injuries?”, asked on of the guards.
“No, we are fine in that department. Go and tell router we are fine but we need to hold a meeting ASAP!”, ordered Sigma.
About 30 minutes later, everyone was once again gathered at the table and Router addressed them. “First and foremost, I would like to say that I am glad all of you are safe and unharmed. That in and of itself is cause for celebration.”, Router said as his opening statement
Router continued, “Now, Sigma briefed me on the details and gave me the data you gathered. I am afraid it is as many of you have already suspected, Apophis lives…”
The reaction in the room was mixed. Some lowered their heads, others opted for load cursing while others remained stoic with their thoughts in their head.
“Now now, this isn’t the end. He seems to have gone underground and the activity suggests he has no intention to come outside. However, this poses a big problem and an issue: What do we do about this and how did he manage to survive the nuke?, Router explained to calm everyone down.
“I may have an answer.”, Thomas said raising his hand, “Back when Roxanne first rescued me from the evac shelter where I had lived for years, she told me about an event she called ‘The Shifting’. I took no stock in it and as such I didn’t pay much attention but from what I remembered, it is as if reality itself had a hiccup and things that shouldn’t suddenly are. Maybe the nuke we launched didn’t solve our problems because of that?”
Everyone else looked at Thomas puzzled. The guards dismissed it immediately, they thought they had better things to worry about. Delora scoffed, she didn’t believe in magic or the supernatural despite what she had seen thus far. Sigma and Lambda looked towards Router, as if seeking guidance from them.
“Roxanne said that? Regardless, we need to come up with a plan. We will need to contact Roxanne Luna once more, she helped us once so she is sure to help us again. We can’t waste much time and we can’t go back to hiding; we need to take Apophis head on! It will take everything we have but it can be done. For now, prepare yourselves for an upcoming battle; I will contact Roxanne as soon as possible and make see what we can agree on, dismissed.”, Router told the group.
All of the attendees got up one by one, all quiet and deep in thought. Once they left the room, Router ran some calculations for when he would contact Roxanne. “So after all, it comes to this then...The shifting? One more thing I have to confirm…”, Router thought to himself.
Back on the present day, Roxanne was listening to the announcement she had made a long time ago, still looping through the air ways. “Calling anybody out there. If you can hear this then I have good news. You are close to a settlement. We have shelter, supplies and guarantee safety. Your days of wandering in the wasteland are over. We accept anyone who doesn't bring trouble or if you simply want to trade, that is good too. Put the following coord…” The message cut out and a soft beeping noise sounded. This meant an incoming transmission request was live. Roxanne switched to the system from broadcast to the incoming transmission.
“This is Roxanne Luna, please state your name and business please.”
Her tone when answering incoming transmission was the same, she never knew who it might be so she had to exercise caution. “This is Router from the Command Center, good to hear your voice Roxanne!”
“Oh, hey Router, Nice to hear from you too. I take it things are going on well over there?”
“Oh yes, things are going pretty good here. Nothing out of the ordinary… Well not entirely… This is why I called you today…”
Roxanne leaned back in her seat. She could sense bad news, worse, the sword spirit was present too; it molded her actions in a way she had not felt in a. while. Not since...the bandit raid…
“...Is everyone alright?”, asked Roxanne.
“Yes, everyone and everything is fine, for now…but listen, I received an anomalous reading and sent they eyebot, as well as your old scavenging party, to investigate and something that should not be was picked up… The heat signature of something very powerful… Apophis...Roxanne we need to talk…”
All at once, through the farm the once forgotten intercom system made an announcement. "This is Roxanne Luna speaking. We have a situation in our hands. We need people who are willing to fight. Anybody who is willing to help go to the bulletin board at noon. Your cooperation will be rewarded deeply."
Roxanne knew that a lot of explaining will be needed to be done for those who showed up. She would need to explain what they were up against to see who would be going. For new, she needed to know how was in to report to Router.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 01, 2017, 06:13:31 pm
Roland had finished the plates and had attached the straps he would need to actually wear them when he heard the intercom. For the time being he'd have to leave the joints unarmored but he pulled the armor on none the less and went to the board. Whatever was going on he could probably help besides another gun in a fight was never a bad thing.
In the mean time he opened one of his books and settled in to wait.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 01, 2017, 06:16:30 pm
Hector perked up a bit as he'd heard the voice over the intercom, having been practicing for the moment. Nathaniel was there as well, as this time they'd been attempting to get in some practice with ranged weaponry, Hector having seen in their last major operation the need to train with the M4 Nathaniel insisted he take with him in the tank now.
Soon enough the two of them prepared themselves, Nathaniel uncertain just yet what the mission would entail, but Hector simply prepared sword, shield, and armor for whatever it may be.
The two would arrive somewhat early, Hector checking his armor once more, ensuring that he had the kevlar concealed underneath in decent condition, having found space in the pouches for an extra STANAG magazine along with his first aid supplies. Nathaniel likewise checked his gear, having his pistol in decent condition and having traded his hard hat for a scavenged surplus military helmet, the closest he could find to a tanker's helmet.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 01, 2017, 07:09:51 pm
Victor was still frustrated by his lack of progress on the ritual. He knew as much of how to lure the escaped spirit but not how to capture it. He knew the more time he wasted, the more probable that the death spirit itself would have captured it itself. If that were the case, he would have to think of something else…
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the intercom system going on. "This sounds serious...Roxanne of all people is taking charge, this is bad...", Victor told himself. He put away his books and tools and prepared to go outside. He didn’t know if Roxanne was still angry at her but he couldn’t just avoid her forever and this sounded like an urgent matter.
A few minutes before Roxanne arrived, Victor joined the rest of the group who had arrived as well. He sported his sword and the spirit served as his shadow as well. He awaited the announcement along with the rest.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 01, 2017, 07:12:20 pm
Mohammad bursts through the door to the cabin, earning a thrown book to the face for his troubles. "Ow. Weird elf-y lady wants peeps to kill things, might cheer up the retard."
OR: LILITH AND SHARLENE SHOW UP AT THE BILLBOARD WHOO
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 01, 2017, 07:22:22 pm
Hector gave a little nod to Roland first, then Victor soon after that, while Nathaniel had a realization. "There wasn't a radio broadcast to go along with this, was there? Think that it might be worth it so see if any of the others would be up to come along?" he suggested, to which Hector smiled some. "We're still early, I'll get on the tank's radio and check with them." he said, making his way over to the tank and clambering in.
"Hey, this is Hector here, checking in. Dunno if the earlier message was broadcasted, but if not, anyone in?" he said over the tank's headset, Helen picking up her two-way to reply. "No messages came in. Why, what is it?" she asked. "Something urgent, Roxanne hasn't filled us in on the details yet, said to meet her at the bulletin board by noon. Still got about 40 minutes." Hector answered, before adding. "So far I'll be there along with Nathaniel, Roland, and Victor."
Helen perked up a bit at that. She was glad that so far Victor hadn't brought harm upon himself. "Then you have my word that I'll be there within 20 minutes at most." she said, flicking the radio off and looking to Sergei. "Still early enough, think you're up to see what this is about?"
Sergei simply gave a nod of agreement as she gathered her cloak, mask, and hammer, along with a few extra supplies, the symbol of judgement, a scroll of sundering she scavenged, and her copy of The Cleansing Flame. Soon enough they made their way to the farm with Sol Simms keeping an eye on the mead hall for now, Hector having returned to the others quickly enough. "Got at least one volunteer arriving, it seems."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 01, 2017, 08:55:46 pm
Roxanne came at noon and saw the group that had gathered beforehand. "It’s good to see all of you hear willing to help. We are going to need all the help we can get...", Roxanne told the group as an opening statement.
"Now, you may all remember that I have done some pretty secretive stuff from time to time. How I brought back some people, gave them training and then they just disappeared; or when I suddenly left and then a literal nuke was launched...", Roxanne said in a serious tone, “There was a reason. I have been helping another settlement known as the “Command Center”; those who have been in contact with the refugee center may know who they are. When I found them, they were a pathetic lot hiding from a monster. I some of them under my wing, trained them and even helped them with the monster they once hid. That’s what the nuke was all about, that monster had to die! But now...said monster is back. How it survived a literal nuke or if this is due to ‘The Shifting’ I don’t know… What’s important is that this thing needs to die as it is a threat to not just them but all of us here as well!”
Roxanne gave a few moment for the group to process what she just said. Once she noted their attention was on her again, she continued. "Now, I will go into detail. If after this, you wish to back out, so be it; there is no shame in self preservation.", Roxanne explained, "This monster is said to be a huge bionic-mutant. It’s augmentations include an arm cannon that fires plasma as well as the a chain lightning gun like the one I have installed and one notable mutation is it’s regeneration. This thing is no joke, nothing short of a direct tank shot or a nuke will one shot it, we need to be careful. Now, you may be thinking, ‘What’s in it for me?’ Well, the leader of the Command Center, Router, has informed me the place where this beast lives is filled to the brim with tech and other sciency stuff. Once we take the monster down, we divided amongst ourselves."
The group once more broke into side conversations and Roxanne resumed once she had their attention once more. "Now, I will post a flyer tomorrow with more information her in this bulletin board. If by then you are still interested, put your name on the flyer tomorrow. One week from now, I will be taking those who wish to go to the command center to both pick up their warriors and meet the person who request our help. We will make a plan there and then we will storm the monster!", Roxanne said as a closing statement, "Now, think over what I just asked of you and make a decision. Dismissed."
Roxanne left and the group that had gathered went their own separate ways. Everyone present had things to think through.
The next day, those who came to signed their names found the flyer with more information. The flyer included the name of the beast, Apophis, a description of the mission, kill the beast, the mission’s location, unknown bunker south, and the once who requested help, Router and the Command Center. Those who signed their soon after parted ways and for one week they would continue their daily routines.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 01, 2017, 09:20:31 pm
Roland had left the little meeting with an odd sense of dread but was unable to place why. Putting it aside he made his way over to where he'd stored his armor and began work on the joints. A bit of work with the kevlar padding he'd scrounged from more god's army armor and he'd made something he thought was at least passable before taking it to his quarters.
Once there he set it on the table and pulled out the paints he'd come to store there. As he began the base coat of black the spirit appeared behind him, leaning against the wall as a cigarette hung loosely from it's mouth. Death watched him silently for a few moments before saying "I like you. This whole conflict doesn't involve you, you could just go about your business and find your kids but instead you're here helping them even though you might die."
Roland didn't look from his work as he replied "They need what help they can get and they've taken me in and made me as one of their own. It's the least I can do even if it puts me in harms way."
Death pushed off the wall and moved beside Roland as he said "See that's why I like you. You have morals and a set of principles that you don't want to violate."
Roland looked up from what he as doing as he told Death "Did you come here for a reason just to have a nice little chat? Cuz I don' think I'm that old that we should be seein' each other this often."
Death smiled under the guise Roland saw him as and walked towards the door before stopping "Oh I just thought I'd tell you that if you make it back from this you've peaked my interest quite a bit. I'll stop by for a much more...serious chat."
With that Death stepped through the door and disappeared. Roland wasn't entirely sure what to make of that as he went back to preparing his armor. Whatever the spirit wanted Roland would see later for now he had work to get done before they left to fight this new foe.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 01, 2017, 09:23:30 pm
Hector simply smirked a bit as Roxanne gave her explanation, and description of the monster. It seemed similar to the thing he blasted apart with the tank quite some time ago, before The Shifting. "And here I was hoping I'd never see such a monster again. Might as well see if we go two-nothing against it, then." he joked at one point.
Nathaniel, having seen the nuke and examined his map back then, already suspecting several sites on that map as their likely target. "Won't be as much use for my skillset against something that big, but if it's not alone than at least I'll be useful." he said.
Helen meanwhile contemplated this, uncertain what to make of it, but already having made up her mind. "Dii supra et infra, dōnēs nobis virtus..." she said quietly.
Soon enough they too dispersed, and along with Sergei all four decided to go along with it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 01, 2017, 10:47:26 pm
Mica wasn't sure what to do. Normally Catnip would try to go along with the other, and Mica would follow her. This time though, her sister wasn't going. Their were a lot of reasons she wasn't going, and the most obvious of them was the way Catnips entire body seemed to shake. "Why you shiver Kat-nyp?" Mica asked. Catnip didn't give an answer, letting the symptoms of her withdrawal speak for itself. Her tools clattered back to the table and she buried her face in her arms. Another reason Catnip had asked Mica to stay with her was that her whiskers had become unreliable, she couldn't feel people entering the barn. Catnip didn't want anyone, certainly not Kathrine, to see her shaking herself apart. Dee told her that the symptoms would only get worse if she just up and quit cold turkey. The pounding in her head was worse than the shakes, and the nausea was even worse. Just a little, it wouldn't be that bad. Just a tiny little sip to keep her going through the day. Why did everything have to be so bright? How was she supposed to get anything done when she couldn't see and couldn't hold her tools? She began to cry as only an old drunk can when deprived of their favorite stuff.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 01, 2017, 11:34:34 pm
Drifter had found out that Bandit had been a gang member before the apocalypse where he found himself being forced to manufacture drugs among other things. This due to an odd affinity for chemistry that had led to him finding several differing types of drug mixtures that became popular in clubs and raves. After a particularly nasty raid on the place that held him he escaped captivity and had made it back to his old group before being kicked to the curb because they didn’t need someone who’s primary skill was drug manufacturing.
He’d started running with Alice a couple years into the apocalypse after noticing her walking alone. As he’d put it ain’t anyone in his ends would have let a young girl run alone in this shit. So the two had become fast friends. She’d turned out to be a good negotiator while Bandit handled the messier points of life with whoever they ended up with. Though he admitted he was no marksman.
Drifter didn’t much care about his past as the trio made their way through the terrain near the farm. All that mattered to him was that he was a decent acting man that hadn’t tried to kill him or his daughter. Lighting a cigar Drifter led the pair as the bridge came into sight.
Bandit blinked as he adjusted his pure white mannequin mask and asked if they’d really be willing to take him in. Drifter shrugged and told him they might have to build more shelter but he doubted the folks would have a problem. Bandit wasn’t so sure about that but just adjusted the gold chains he was wearing and quietly made sure the knife he kept with him was still there. First thing he’d do was find some privacy to take some of his homebrewed medications since he could feel the pain starting to get worse.
Soon they were making their way across the bridge with Drifter in the lead. Alice followed closely behind as Bandit trailed behind the two. Drifter let their approach be known with a shout so they wouldn’t catch anyone off guard.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 02, 2017, 01:30:34 am
Dee figured out what the problem was with the hand. To test it, he'd installed a simple wireless receiver so that he could control it without hooking it to a computer. This had the effect of allowing Medeina limited access to it, and in an attempt to "help," she would send out an extension of her artificial will to try and control it. The resulting mixed signal caused the arm to get it's messages crossed and delay it's movement. Once the business of taking out the wireless receiver was out of the way, and the device was hooked up to a manual control box, Dee found that the hands responsiveness was perfectly fine, delicate even.
"Man, that's creepy. Uncanny valley almost." He commented, thinking but not mentioning that it was probably the best work he'd ever done. "Now I just gotta make another and a whole body to go with em."
"It will be very nice to be out of this cramped computer, I'm running out of space for notes." Medeina said. "And I need more storage for samples."
Dee scoffed, "Yeah right, sure. I'm gonna get more stuff for you to stuff dead leaves and bugs into. Not gonna happen sister. When you've got a body of your own, then maybe we can talk about getting you a place to store all your lawn waste."
"It's not waste, it's important samples of local flora and fauna." Her voice sounded prickly, agitated. "It's a better pursuit than... Nevermind."
"Than what?"
"Nothing, forget I said anything." Robots was what she had been about to say, but that would have been a very good way to get Dee to set aside the task of assembling a body for her. She changed the subject in a hurry, "Is it wise to feed the ratling's habit?"
"It's fine." Dee said casually, "I had Kat give her some of that stuff Helen brought in. Posca, a friend of mine once said that you'd get diabetes before getting drunk on posca. It'll take the edge off Nips withdrawal. Going cold turkey is a hell of a way to break yourself without actually breaking the addiction, or so I've heard." He fitted the small plates comprising the robots fingers together. The whole thing came out looking a little like a metallic and more regularly shaped Mica hand. Two fingers and a thumb instead of Mica's full set of four and a thumb, and instead of razor pointed claws, the hand was fitted with little silicon pads at the ends of rounded flanges and palm. He placed a cell phone into the hand and tested the grip, and when that was found to be satisfactory, he attempted to loosen the hand, only to crush the phone. "Well, there goes another phone..."
"It's not like you don't have many of them." Medeina stated, then asked "Why do you collect up such things? Does it help you find a mate? If so, you have the spider. Does she care that you have so many electronic devices? Are the spider and you breeding compatible?" Dee flushed and Medeina added, "How do you do that with your scales?"
"I'd rather not talk about it Medi, and if I knew how my scales worked I would tell you. Maybe. That Dervish guy would probably know." Dee hated it when she started getting into the creepy sex questions. Hated it even more when she started asking Mica. "You are gonna be the most socially awkward thing anybody has ever met I think." Dee thought.
"I liked him." Medeina said with mock wistfullness, "A human after my own heart."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 01:37:20 am
Hector had been preparing the tank for next outing, even though he doubted that it'd see much use compared to last time he encountered the monstrosity they were preparing for, having a sip of the drink that Helen had brought half a dozen bottles of. He found it remarkably enjoyable in fact, and such that even as susceptible to drunkenness as he was, the sweetness and spices encouraged him to go easy on it.
Nathaniel was there as well, though outside the tank keeping an eye on things while the knight was halfway in the tank's engine bay, giving a wave as he heard the shout and spotted Drifter in the distance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 02, 2017, 01:57:36 am
Drifter took his helmet off as he approached Nathaniel with Bandit and Alice in tow. He stopped to look the tank over as he said "I see things haven't changed while I've been out, though heaven knows whatever you're bringing the tank out for has got to be scared."
Realizing he'd forgotten to introduce them Drifter motioned to Alice and Bandit as he said "This is my daughter Alice and her friend Bandit. The reason I've been gone."
The two greeted Nathaniel but both seemed somewhat nervous as they looked around.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 03:23:42 am
Nathaniel waited until they'd walked closer, Hector clambering out of the rear hatch and grabbing his mail, which he'd left hanging on the handle, smiling some at the new arrivals and Drifter's return. "Sadly we aren't expecting the tank to do much good next mission. Roxanne made the announcement earlier this morning." Nathaniel said in response.
Hector simply nodded to them. "Glad to see you're back in one piece. And greetings, both of you. I'm Hector." he answered. "Can fill you in on what occurred when the three of you get settled in. Nothing urgent just yet, but a potential problem." he said. "I should...tell Catnip about this, too. If she's had time for Helen's gift to take the edge off things. And you, Nathaniel. Merda, I kept forgetting to tell you something." he said, explaining that he'll inform Nathaniel later on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 08:27:50 am
Roxanne was in the radio room taking some precautions. First of all, she disabled the radio broadcast loop; the last thing she needed was a new lost soul wandering into this mess. After that was done, she put the radio into back to receiving incoming messages went for a walk around the farm.
Anyone who saw Roxanne walking around would note the way she walked: head down, hands behind her back and a very pensive expression on her face. She was just as nervous as the residents of the Command Center were. How had it survived? Was it really another thing to blame to the shifting? Was it as tough as the Command Center made him to be? If so, could even the collective of the ones who volunteered take it down? Was she sending them to their deaths? All these questions and more went threw her head as she walked around all over the farm from Dee’ workshop to the armory, from the barn Catnip called home to the back of fenced property.
Victor regarded the announcement Roxanne had made yesterday. He never would've guessed Roxanne been embroiled in such affairs. He read over the flyer the next day and signed his name on said flyer. He was going for various reasons but among them was to test his sword in the field after all he had done to it after the last time he had used it, since that day…
He recalled the events of that day as he walked to his quarters, the screams and shouts, the unholy wails, his fear and the scene afterwards. To think he would meet the person who, in his eyes, had been responsible and to allied with them, this was something he would scoffed at not too long ago.
But now things were different, he now commanded the arcane in a way he had only dreamed of before. He was ready, he wasn’t a simple researcher anymore. He just needed to complete the ritual before it all went down and he would be set.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 02, 2017, 10:03:47 am
Contrary to Hector's hopes, Catnip was in no condition to meet new people. She lay curled up inside her wardrobe, Kathrine sitting outside it talking gently to her through the thin doors. "Catnip? Are you feeling alright?" He asked. The wardrobe opened a little, and the thin sliver of light thus let in landed on Catnips muzzle. "No..." Came the response, drifting through the crack. "Too bright... Kathrine, close the door. Please?" There was a miserable beseeching sound to the request, and it was accompanied by a quiet thumping noise. For a moment, Hector couldn't place the sound. He realized then that it was Catnip shaking inside the wardrobe. That at least also put another question to rest as well. The train was not gonna be an option for this mission, as Catnip was too absorbed in the symptoms of her withdrawal to conduct it. That left Kathrine, the only other person Catnip would have shown how to operate it. Kathrine wouldn't be willing to fire the trains weapon systems, not to mention ramming things.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 12:19:58 pm
Hector gave a little sigh at that, shaking his head as he stood outside the door to Catnip's room, uncertain now. He wasn't even sure if the train would be useful to them, as the target was underground. Luring it out might be more costly than trying to take it on with small arms and close combat.
He simply nodded to Kathrine. "Let her rest then. What I had for her wasn't good news anyway." he said, before deciding to tell her something. "Do you...know about some of the anomalies we've encountered in the past, before your arrival? The Shifting, as Roxanne calls it?" he asked, uncertain how to explain it. He felt that Kathrine should be informed of at least some of it, in case he wasn't around when Catnip was able to be informed.
Nathaniel meanwhile was shaking his head, sitting down in the common area. Hector had pulled him aside to explain things that he'd been delaying for too long, and he wasn't sure how to handle it. He then decided to go check on Roxanne, map in hand as she waved to her.
Helen meanwhile had already signed her name just as readily as Hector did, regarding Roxanne's nervous pacing. She knew however tough the monster was, according to the knight it could be killed. At least, its counterpart could.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 02, 2017, 12:27:52 pm
Drifter had decided to give the others space to work on whatever it was they were doing to get ready. Showing his daughter around the farm the kitten he'd saved quickly ran up to him and climbed up his back to rest on his shoulders. "I missed you too buddy."
Meanwhile Bandit found as secluded a spot as he could before pulling open his bag. Rummaging through the mess he found a small bottle that he pulled out and opened before taking out one of the pills. Pulling his mask up to take the thing as his hands shook Bandit rubbed the burn scars on his face before returning the mask to it's place. He decided he'd better go follow Drifter and Alice before anyone started to wonder where the new guy was or assumed he was up to something.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 12:51:22 pm
Many of the thoughts that plague Roxanne had been dealt with; some by process of elimination and others by sheer denial. A she walked, she noticed Nathaniel waving her down so Roxanne approached the tank commander. "What’s up Nathan, how can I help you?", Roxanne asked She noted the map on his hands and got an idea of what but decided to wait to see what it was.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 12:58:09 pm
Nathaniel gave a nod at that, having the map on hand. "Wanted to ask you something about the place we're after. It might be useful with respect to what our target's capable of, beyond what we already know." he said. He folded it to roughly the area where the missile impact had been, showing markers listed with designations, though most were marked only as classified with a few marking instructions about how to handle the sites in case of invasion.
"If I'm right, this was where you were targeting?" he asked, pointing to one listed as an unnamed dot, with markers indicating a military fortification designation, "If that's the case, well. I get the feeling that this thing surviving a missile isn't any fault of yours. Which the sort of tactical missiles likely available in the silos, anything less than an airburst within 100 meters of dead-center won't be enough to completely wreck the place." he said. "That said, if it got in 500 meters anything human down there wouldn't have survived anyway..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 02, 2017, 01:04:00 pm
Kathrine looks up at Hector from her position sat leaning against the cupboard door, knees brought up to her chest. "The thingy about the unee-verse changing? ...Yeah. Mister Dervish told me about Miss Lilith too. She's really cool, too! Uhm... Why?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 01:09:30 pm
Hector nodded at that, setting a hand on Kathrine's shoulder. "Sometime before that event, Catnip encountered a monster. A big one, with a large gun for a hand, and shock weaponry. It almost killed her." he said. "It's gone now, or. Well. There's another, put simply." he said.
"I know you aren't going to like it, but. It's tough enough that someone fired a nuclear missile at it and blew out the bunker it was trapped in, and according to reports that thing wasn't even injured by that." he said. "It's already out and at another site, and could endanger a lot of people." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 02, 2017, 01:35:23 pm
"O-oh." Is all Kathrine can say in reply. She looks away from Hector and goes back to resting her head against the cupboard door. "Why would someone want to hurt Catnip? Is that why Mis-" She pauses for a second. "Catnip is in the cupboard?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 01:35:32 pm
Roxanne listened to Nathaniel’s questions and concerns. "Sure, whatever you need to know, feel free to ask.",Roxanne told Nathaniel. He then took out the map and showed her where she had fired the missile and explained its possible effects to her. "Unlike the bunker now, this previous location seemed to be fully above ground so a nuke should’ve killed it. Furthermore, when readout were made of that location, it indicated negative for activity of beast and we concluded the nuke did it’s job. But now, it seems we are seeing positive reading underground of the bunker in the flyer. How that thing is still alive is a mystery. Most likely explanation I have is the shifting, but not many people her or in the Command Center will be it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 01:41:21 pm
Hector shook his head at that. "No, Catnip's in the cupboard because recovering from a habit of alcohol has side effects." he said. "I just wanted to say, well. We're going to deal with that thing. I did so once, but I'm not alone this time. Just...don't hate me for it?" he said, looking away. "I don't why this thing would attack anyone, but it may well be all it's programmed to do. It might nor stop until it's killed. Is that...acceptable, if we have no choice?"
Nathaniel meanwhile was confused by that. "Huh. That's...well shit. I was certain the structure you hit would've explained away why that thing is still alive. I'm not sure Shifting fuckery is that reassuring,. I mean, you realize that means we have a choice between a n-nuke-proof monster and there being a third, right?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 01:48:03 pm
Upon hearing Nathaniel’s concerns, Roxanne put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, don’t worry about it. First, I don’t think it’s ‘Nuke-Proof’. Maybe it knew what was coming and left? And if it’s the shifting, we have never found fuckery that has happened in trios, only pairs. That means this one should be the only one we have to deal with in either case." Roxanne lifted her hand from his shoulder and continued. "Besides, we will have a tank, military grade mutants and trained soldiers at our side, we got this.", Roxanne reassured Nathaniel.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 02, 2017, 02:02:22 pm
"Mm-hm" Kathrine nods, then presses an ear against the cupboard door. "Catniiiiiip, Mister Hector is being mean but it's alright so don't be angry with him please."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 02, 2017, 02:16:13 pm
There comes a muffled sound from inside the wardrobe, followed by the door opening about an inch, only to shut again with a little "clonk" by the action of Kathrine's weight against it. This is followed by a little shuffling noise, and then the wardrobe door opens a little bit again and once again, it's forced shut. "Don't be mean." Says Catnip from inside the wardrobe. "Can I have one of your cigarettes Kathrine?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 02:20:12 pm
Hector smiled a bit at that. "Just hope you can explain to her what it isn't we're after next time. As if we didn't have enough things trying to harm you and Catnip...wait. On second though." he grumbled, before moving over to the wardrobe. Her cracking open the wardrobe made him decide to say it himself.
"Smoking's even worse for you, Catnip. You won't want to displace addictions." he said. "As for mean, it's only towards something that'll be mean if we don't stop it. You remember the...giant thing, before the Shifting?"
Nathaniel nodded at that. "True. If we can get that thing to come back up after us, the fight will be even easier than when Hector took one on. Won't have to play Chinese fire drill just to get the turret working." he said, smiling some. "If we can't though, it'll be tougher."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 02, 2017, 02:31:11 pm
"... You don't have to if you don't want to Kat. If you agree with him." She says through the door, then directed at Hector she says, "I know..." She remembers that time when she'd gone to investigate the sounds of thunder, had seen the bunker with it's residents throwing lightning at each other. Remembered going under cover of dark and getting greedy. How the plasma had burned her skin and the lightning had seized her muscles. How the spidery thing had promised healing, backed by memories of her youth in the lab but had only delivered fur, tail, muzzle, ears, and ugliness. "It's fine." She said, "Just don't be mean." The door opened a little, and Hector could see Catnips hands holding it open now, her weight holding it open, and one bloodshot eye. She winked at him, and he knew that gesture meant "go ahead."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 02:33:33 pm
"Whatever we decide to do, we will have to do it swiftly. That thing isn’t alone, it has minions with it it but those should be easy enough to handle. For now, I suggest you show hector how to use that rifle, he is as stubborn about it as I am to use a melee weapon.", Roxanne responded to Nathaniel.
Roxanne looked around to check to see if no-one was around."Too bad there won’t be any tribute to pick up...",Roxanne told Nathaniel in a mocking somber tone. "But at least your girlfriend will be there! Try to take care of her ok?", Roxanne teased Nathaniel.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 02, 2017, 02:37:00 pm
Kathrine ambles over to her bag to grab a pack of cigarettes and her blippy lighter, letting Catnip open the cupboard door in the meanwhile. "Mistreeeeeess, which ones do you want?" She looks back to see Catnip talking to Hector, and just decides to grab the pack on top, which she attempts to pass to Catnip through the small opening in the door. "Here you go, Ma- Miss-" She fakes a cough. "Catnip."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 02, 2017, 02:44:51 pm
Catnip strains her eyes against the light, and accepts the pack handed to her. "Ches-nut..." She reads aloud before taking one of the cigarettes out, to her surprise, she finds flame ready to accept the tip of the cigarette. "Catnip..." Hector moans, but she isn't paying attention. She's too busy trying to steady her fumbling fingers to get the cigarette lit, but she drops it instead.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 02:46:34 pm
Hector nodded at that, smiling some. "We'll take care of it, alright? It won't hurt you or anyone else again. I promise." he said, before sighing and looking to Kathrine. "Not a good habit for either of you, just...go easy on them, alright?" he said, before turning to make his way back to the others.
Nathaniel simply nodded at that. "We have our time, and we'll take it on, best as we can can." he said. "Been drilling Hector in the use of it, but honestly I've always been better with pistol, ever since back when I lived down south. Before meeting Hector." he admitted, only to sigh a bit at that. "Always have your priorities, I see." he joked, before continuing. "I'll help her out best I can. That thing might not be alone. Hector and his sword might be use against those things, we'll see."
Helen eventually made her way other as well, having only heard the last bit Nathaniel said. "If he's still planning to use a sword on that thing, I might have something of use..." she said. "I was already working on making a wraithslayer for myself, got the base for it off a bandit that was skulking down the road earlier in the morning." she said. "So between that, the symbol of judgement, and my hammer, I have what I'll need. That leaves one thing I don't need." she said, unslinging the scabbard of that large blade she'd still kept close. She felt safer keeping an eye on it than she did having it out of sight.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 02, 2017, 03:04:34 pm
Kathrine giggles quietly, but promptly realises that might be inappropriate. "Mistress, should I do it? H-here..." She takes another cigarette out of the pack and takes her lighter back, trying to light it while steadying it in Catnip's mouth, to no avail. "S-sorry, wait a second..." She tries to just light it on it's own, and fails. Sighing, she lights it as she would light one of her own, then hands it back to Catnip. "There!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 03:10:39 pm
Roxanne smiled and nodded at Nathaniel’s responses and banter. When Helen arrived Roxanne got curious when she said she had something that might help; she listened to Helen’s explanation and then was shocked at the sword she pulled. "A woman of many surprises are we Helen?", Roxanne reacted with a bit of shock in her voice,"What does it do?"
Roxanne noticed the uneasiness Helen herself had towards the blade. The only other thing she had really reacted this way, that she was aware off, was Victor swords and her own presence when she was showing Helen around the farm on their first meeting.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 03:16:35 pm
Nathaniel regarded Helen curiously, as Hector arrived long long after, Helen speaking up. "It's...dangerous if misused, but its biggest misuse in in rituals common to the Keepers of the Oath. As a weapon, it's powerful but relies on blood essence for its full effect." she said, offering them the sword. "From what I've seen of Victor's sword, it appears to be similar enchantments, but this one is more intact than what he currently uses." she said. She still quietly hoped that this wasn't a mistake.
She was still hoping this was the right choice, but went along with it. She knew that the knight was neither well-versed in the arcane nor inclined to experiment, which was good in that he wouldn't try to use the sword for what it was designed to do. It's secondary use as a weapon was unsavory to her due to what fueled it, but she suspected it was a dire enough circumstance to do so.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 02, 2017, 03:27:50 pm
Catnip takes the cigarette between middle and index finger like Carmelo showed her years ago, and takes a drag of the cancer stick. She makes a frightening grinding sound in her throat and begins coughing violently. Smoking isn't something Catnip has tried in a long time. When the fit passes, she offers the cigarette to Kathrine along with a hard grin. "Wanna share? Hectors right Kat, I shouldn't get into this. Maybe just one a day? Can you make sure I don't smoke more than one or two of these a day?" Catnip was thinking, through the unpleasant experience that was trying to break her booze habit, for a way to confront her feelings head on. After she'd recovered from her current predicament.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 04:59:56 pm
"Similar to Victor’s sword you say? Does...it also have a spirit inside it? Are you sure my- I mean, that Hector will be ok using this? Victor for the live of me would not let me handle his sword.", Roxanne asked of Helen after her explanation, "And when you say stable, do you mean proven? As far as I know, Victor’s sword is a prototype that he has now modified even further."
Victor was in his quarters setting up the final touches of his ritual. Said ritual was the equivalent of a Rube Goldberg machine; something Catnip had built many times as tribute to Agmen. "Ok, if everything is ready...the trap has been set. It’s only a matter of time to see if it snaps." The trap was an offering to the lost spirit as well as false means to fight off death and continue as a ghost on this earth. It was the spiritual equivalent of an oasis on the desert full of weapons when you are being chased by monster.
A couple hours later, Victor detected an unknown aura bite into the trap and it was sealed inside another hand carved holy symbol; this was Victor’s prefered object to seal spirits and the such. "I’ve got it!", Victor exclaimed in excitement. He put the symbol down and got to work on the next part of the signal. This one was a modified version of an old ritual to summon demons to make deals, the difference being that the spirit he captured was used as a beacon to indicate to an agent of death that this ritual was for them. With basic wards in placed to protect him, he awaited the agent of death to show itself holding the offering in one hand and his sword in the other in front of the makeshift “portal” he had created from the ritual; He didn’t realized this spirit would not require such assistance or was he aware he had indeed captured the wrong lost soul.
The sword spirit abandoned Victor’s shadow and returned to the sword that he was bounded to. He knew from first hand experience not to mess with death and its agents. The sword spirit hoped it would ignore it and only address Victor; worst came to worst he hope the only thing he would deal with is his contract being over too soon and he would have to find another host.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 05:16:17 pm
Helen nodded at that. "As far as I can determine, there don't seem to be any spirits inside it. Only a general aura of corruption, not as powerful. In fact it seems to be dormant unless supplied with dull essence." she said. "Main reason I've been cautious with it is one of its side effects, it has an even more powerful corrupting effect if magic is channeled through it."
"Given what I saw at the location I found it in, that may have been intended, someone developing a derivative of what created that sword Victor uses, for the sake of sabotaging a ritual it was used in." she explained. "Since I doubt Hector is going to go casting spells using it, the only dangers are in its effects when activated, which should be weaker than if a spirit was empowering it. I think Quinn had a similar item? Should confirm with him its effects when used in that manner."
Hector looked at the sword, curious now. "Looks like it's based of a zweihander. Hard to use effectively one-handed, but with bionics it should be easier. I'd definitely rather ask Quinn what he knows, assuming they're similar in effect. His was from the world before The Shifting, so..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 02, 2017, 05:19:02 pm
Death felt the beacon shortly after Victor had finished with his little ritual. With a sigh Death made his way back to the farm as the spirit he'd been chasing had yet again slipped his grasp. Soon he appeared in front of Victor and stopped a moment as he saw the man was armed and took a moment to chuckle before saying "You call me? ME?!? And you dare to stand here armed? And..."
Death paused a moment as he inspected the soul before continuing "This...this is...okay how..." With a sigh he gave Victor a withering look as he concluded "Okay this one's been waiting for me a while, is he a relative or something cause I've been more concerned with other spirits at the moment?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 05:37:49 pm
"If you think you can handle it Hector, then go ahead.", Roxanne told Hector. She then turned to address Helen once more, "We are certainly glad you trust us enough to use such items in our cause. I guess we really are not so different despite our order’s believes; we are glad to have you in our side."
She then turned to Nathaniel. "You see? You don’t have to worry about it. The beast might be big and scary but we have magic! If anything, it should be wary of the arcane instead!", Roxanne told Nathaniel in an effort to calm him down from earlier.
"Forgive me if I have insulted you in anyway. I do not brandish this sword as a weapon but as a tool to summon you forth. You see, as a mere mortal, I do not posses the power to channel the arcane by my own body easily.", Victor told Death in response to his first remarks.
"A yes, the offering. I caught this spirit that had eluded judgment as a peace offering. But from your reaction it seems I may have made a small mistake… It’s still yours nonetheless since you said it had eluded you for a long time. And no, it’s no relative of mine, it simply wandered in; what were the odds to spirits eluding you would be so nearby.", Victor told Death in response to it’s second remarks. Victor did not understand a large number of people attempt to cheat or escape death. Only a few, if any, have ever succeed in the history of the world, it was just a matter of how difficult they made it for Death.
The Randael, the sword spirit, hid and looked on at what unfolded. “This kid is dead…”, it thought to itself. It was already making plans to make Roxanne it’s host again. He had seen many great wizards and summoners attempt what he was doing and many of them simply brought the wrath of Death with them; and her was some amateur who got lucky with a few spirits attempting the same thing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 05:42:37 pm
Hector nodded at that. "I'll talk to Quinn about what he knows later on. Helen, maybe should share your own notes on this thing, in case he figures out a use for his version?" he suggested, to which she gave a nod.
Nathaniel was left smiling a little at that, while Helen looked around a bit, freezing momentarily. "Why do I have the feeling that somebody is doing something incredibly stupid right now? Give me a second..." she said, looking around before leaving to go retrieve her mask. Something was giving her a bad feeling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 06:00:29 pm
Roxanne noted the way Helen acted for a moment and then heard her statement. "Something...stupid? How so?" Helen then excused herself. "Oh, ok. Good luck with that!", Roxanne told Helen as she went for her mask.
What no one at the farm had realized was that Victor’s aura spell was starting to work both ways. Every time Helen used her mask inside the spell’s sphere of influence, some of the spell’s properties rubbed on to Helen. At this point, she could feel changes in auras when drastic events happen, like literally summoning Death. He still could not detect individual auras like Victor since the spell wasn’t hers but with time she could be able to detect anomalies without her mask as long as she was inside Victor’s aura spell.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 06:06:13 pm
Hector sighed at that. "As much as I wish I had a bad-idea-sense like that, I get the feeling it'd go off way too often. Then again, does taking on the farm count as a stupid idea? Imagine the advanced warning you'd get." he joked.
Helen winced a bit, still having that nagging feeling from exposure to that aura spell, along with that lingering sense of unease that she felt when she was in Death's presence, ever since those magical interactions sparked her senses and left her perceived the spirit with her own eyes. Putting on her mask, to her utter horror what it revealed confirmed her suspicions. "Helviti..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 02, 2017, 06:43:46 pm
Death rubbed his eyes with a hand as he said "How you knew a spirit was eluding me in the first place is a matter to be dealt with. But that's another matter entirely, what did you bring me here for? Do you want some petty deal? Perhaps someone dead? Hurry up with whatever idiocy you've called me for."
Death shook his head as he regarded the man in front of him and the sword spirit that was attempting to hid from him. The idiocy of the attempt made him smile as he whispered to it in a manner not even the present mage could understand "Perhaps you should have chosen a more intelligent host."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 07:10:38 pm
Victor smiled at Death’s remarks. “I have eyes and ears everywhere on this farm. Also, you know humans so well, let’s get to the point then. To keep things brief, I’ll spare you my life story. Now you saw that I, a mere mortal, has the ability to capture stray spirits. My deal to you is that in exchange that only an act of murder or self harm end my life, I will gladly serve you in capturing more spirits in both live and even death if you wish. This should relieve the load from you since many of the settlers here, ahem, contribute to your work load; I can simply gather them for you a soon as they happen.”
Randael looked on and tensed up when Death called upon him. “I did it out of desperation...please spare us...we mean no harm…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 07:17:28 pm
Helen sighed as she approached. She could see the awful thing even without her mask on, and it didn't make her any more relieved. Worse, she overheard for a moment Victor suggesting something that provoked a frown from her. "Victor...gods above and below, you complete and utter idiot." she said, just loud enough to be overheard, looking over to the spirit. "I asked you to at observe at the absolute most, if you had to do this. No interference, no bargains. Are you trying to get yourself killed!?" she said, raising her voice a bit as she stepped forward.
She then looked at the spirit, giving a little sigh. "I'm sorry that he's troubled you so, even worse than my own moment of your time before..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 02, 2017, 07:34:28 pm
Before Helen had arrived Death listened to Victor's offer. Helen's appearance broke his thoughts as he looked at her and listened to her say her piece. pulling out a cigarette he sighed and lit the thing with a snap of fingers and observed them for a moment. Raising a hand to silence both of them he said "Our previous meeting was of an odd circumstance and something that I've payed no mind. By the way he wanted me to tell you something."
Death's voice was suddenly only heard by Helen as he delivered the message "I died fighting, and was avenged properly. Nothing to be sorry for."
Shrugging Death looked back to Victor and said "Containing spirits is of little concern to us. Save for a few spirits can't exactly escape us, and even those can only do so for so long before the magic they spent the last of their lives making fades and they must face us. The one I believe you were after will soon face one of my brothers or myself. So elaborate on what exactly you're offering since I can simply find the spirit's of the dead without trouble."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 07:50:19 pm
Victor got a tab nervous but he had things to show the agents of death. He ignored Helen’s remarks and continued addressing Death once she was done with her tirade and he addressed her as well. "I see, then I offer you this. There is a great beast that threatens the lives of many in the region. I am talking about a localized cataclysmic event. I doubt you would want to clean that up. Now, I can go and make sure that thing is put down and save you the trouble plus my previous offer. I can also offer you to maintain the beacon I set up to draw any strays spirits so you can snatch them up. If neither of that doesn’t suit you either, than make me an offer."
Randael looked on in horror. “This kid has no idea what he is doing, the ritual has been interrupted and now the spirit of death is getting irritated…My contract is over....”, it told itself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 07:56:33 pm
Helen wasn't sure what to think, startled by Death gesturing only to give a reply. "I...I see. Thank you." she said, beneath the mask she was trying to hold back tears. Whether they were tears of joy, relief, or from being reminded of that day, she herself wasn't sure.
Helen then glowered at Victor, setting a hand on his shoulder. "For the love of the gods, do you even realize what you're getting yourself into? Please, don't dig yourself any deeper." she said, gripping his shoulder rather firmly, before looking to the spirit. "This is my fault. I should've been firmer about not interrupting you." she said. "I swear, The Order seems to attract people who toy with magic like children compelled to lick electrical sockets."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 02, 2017, 08:11:11 pm
Death pulled off his bowler hat and tossed it through the wall without so much as a mark on it. To those that could feel such things there was an ever growing feeling of doom as he took a singular step forward with his hands now clasped behind his back. He'd almost forgotten that Helen was there as he stared into Victors eyes...into his soul as he said "Perhaps you should consider your words more carefully. You and your friends already plan to deal with it of that I am aware and you will be going shortly. As you have said you have eyes and ears well I have souls and men, souls that wander wherever they need be and provide me with the information I need."
Tilting his head to the side he considered the man in front of him for a moment before saying "You offer little new for me. I have people who do what needs be done for me, I have brothers who lead the dead as I do. And as I have stated those few that evade us are always captured eventually so I've no need for your little trap."
A small group of crows wandered through the walls, pecking at the ground as Death took another step forward "Now. Do not lie to me, do not try to deceive me of your predetermined intentions. What you ask is something that I could provide yes but what you offer-" Making a broad motion he gestured as if to encompass the world "-I have many brothers and why would I ever want one so presumptuous as you to be counted in their number? Why would I even want you working for me! You play in affairs that are far large than you and then attempt to bargain your way into them! SO EXPLAIN TO ME WHY I SHOULD EVEN CONSIDER BRINGING YOU INTO THIS WORK, TASK YOU WITH DEEDS OF IMPORT, WHEN YOU FAIL TO SEE THE EXTENTS OF THE POWERS YOU PLAY WITH AND THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THEY HOLD!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 08:33:05 pm
Victor stood in place not moving a muscle. The stare Death gave him froze him in fear, no fear is an understatement. The feeling of being peeled away and having his literal soul exposed felt like nothing he had experienced before. Not the day he lost the Roxanne he knew, not when he was fighting for his life in those same corridors, not the blade he wielded sucking his very life essence to power it, no, not even “the ceremony” the order made him go through to become an expander compared. The words spoken by Death were echoed into his mind and soul, and it made him tremble. He had failed, all his life works in ruin, the first time he did not succeed in his endeavours, this was it, he was about to die.
Randael knew this was the how it would’ve ended. The prideful mage listened to to him, his friend or the mage hunter and was now paying the price. However, the sword spirit could not just stand here and do nothing.
As Death saw through Victor's soul, he would soon feel it being engulfed by the sword spirit; it engulfed Victor and used it as conduit to speak through him. “Please,that is enough. I ask you to please forgive this mortal in his naivete and in his insolence. I know you can see what I am and what I have done but I would like to make an offer to you on behalf of us both. Forgive this fool and let him be until his time comes and when it does, you have my word I will make sure he doesn’t run away like the cowards before him…”, Randael said through Victor. The sword spirit was desperate, it knew Death could simply end both their existence right then and there. But if he simply killed Victor, Randael might die either way. Once used by great empires to smite their enemies, he was now reduced to plead for the live of a fool.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 08:37:38 pm
Helen grumbled a bit, angered that Victor had reacted to her warnings by not only blowing them off, but outright making offers to the spirit even as she told him no and tried to apologize. She only barely, vaguely sensed something, her grip on Victor's shoulder tightening. She was afraid now, for her own life as well as Victor's. "Please, Victor..." she said, unaware of the spirit in the sword practically begging it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 02, 2017, 08:47:34 pm
Death sighed as he stepped back, the sense of impending doom easing as the crows scattered out of the house and disappeared once they passed through the wall. Looking to the group in front of him he considered things for a moment before sighing again and saying "I accept your offer spirit. Know that should he..no, no idiotic threats. He lives, and you continue on as you were."
Looking to Helen Death lowered his head and said "I apologize. I meant no harm towards you nor to cause any panic."
Stepping back through the wall Death remained silent. His temper had gotten the better of him and he'd made someone fear for their lives when there had been no need. Only the mage should have felt that fear but he'd lost control of himself. He could already hear his brothers calling as he moved through the farm and wondered what punishment would befall him now for such idiocy. After all the last time one of them had lost their temper he'd killed a great many of innocents before he was brought to heel. Should something similar happen again the consequences would be dire even for a Death.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 09:01:03 pm
As the spirit of Death left, Randael felt great relief. He was still in possession of Victor and thanks to Death he had full control of him. He didn’t plan any ill will but contemplated the options he now had. The sword spirit turned Victor’s head and addressed Helen directly. “Mage Hunter, it is I, Randael the spirit that inhabits the blade this boy currently possesses. Listen here, I will make this whole ordeal seem like a bad dream. I ask you that you guide him in the correct path, that such things never happen again...This event, even if he thinks was a mere dream, will shake him up; it is up to you to mold him. I apologize that his stupidity and my negligence to stop him got you involved, but I implore you that no word of this leaves this room...I know I am no one to be making demand and in the past your order and my kind would be enemies, but do it for him if anything else…”
As soon as he finished, he let go of Victor and he collapsed on the floor. He was unconscious but a couple tears went down his cheeks as he mumbled something in his sleep. "I am sorry Roxanne...I am sorry Helen...I failed...", those were the few things that could be discerned from his sleep ramblings.
Randael paid a Visit to Roxanne who by this point was back in her room after the group dispersed when Helen left. “Roxanne, it is I, Randael. Know that your friend Victor is safe. Do not speak of his plans unless he brings it up, that is all I ask of you.”, the sword spirit said as his voice echoed the room. "As you wish Randy!", Roxanne exclaimed to Randale in the pet name she had decided on him. A wave of relived was over her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 02, 2017, 09:05:33 pm
"Catnip can do whatever she wants! You're my Mistress, after all! A-and... A-and my... Girlfriend...?" Kathrine's switch from her usual bubbly tone to her now common shy whisper is weirdly sudden. She silently takes the cigarette back, nodding, and takes her own drag of it. The thought that she should maybe open the window doesn't hit her until after she's handed back the cigarette to Catnip and taken her seat on the floor again. "...Mistress Catnip, do you think we should do something... Special? For the date? Miss Mica might not like sitting down for a dinner..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 09:08:19 pm
Helen was about to step in between the two, futile a gesture as it'd be, when the spirit seemed to calm down, unaware of what Randael said to him, only to look back, unsettling as his mish-mash of guises still was. "Thank you..." she said, giving a polite nod as Death turned to leave.
She turned turned to Victor, startled by the voice of the sword spirit, before nodding. "I see. I would've rather he learn properly the consequences of his actions, see what he lacks. But if you wish it, so be it." she said, uncertain about this, but going along with it. "If he does something like this again, I ask you in turn to let him remember his next mistake. If nothing else will make him learn caution..." she said, sighing as he soon fainted.
Carefully she'd try to pick him up, and set him in his bed. It wouldn't do to leave him passed out on the floor like that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 02, 2017, 09:56:08 pm
Soon Death approached where his brother's desired to meet and found a hand around his throat as one of his younger brothers lifted him off the ground. A quick jab to the other's throat and he found himself on his own feet as his younger brother stumbled holding his throat. Soon their elder brother showed himself and spoke "You know why we asked you here. We could feel your anger as we conducted our business. Last time that happened, well a few thousand died and we had to deal with the one responsible. So punishments are in order."
Death nodded to the elder as he flicked his cigarette aside and said "What, pray tell, is my punishment? Handling more of the lost generations? You already have me do that when things aren't busy enough for your tastes. Perhaps you'll hand me more of the drug addicts who ODed but don't understand why they got into that situation in the first place."
The edge in his voice betrayed his mounting frustration with his elder whom merely held a hand up and said "No. Instead you'll be dealing with those that are killed by the ones you seem so infatuated with. The ones who live on the 'farm'. To go along with that you will confined to the surrounding area unless you need to leave to conduct business caused by the residents."
Death rubbed his eyes as he felt his frustration grow for a moment before letting a breath out and settling himself. "And the one I took interest in? The one whom I mentioned to you?"
The elder shook his head as he said "No, he will not become one of us though I made that clear long before now. That was never a path for him. Apart from that you may show him your favor in whatever way you deem he is worthy. Just be careful that he not turn into a worshipper brother. We are still dealing with the aftermath of those who came before in that line."
Death nodded to the elder as he started back towards the farm. He somehow knew this would be more trouble for him than he needed but to argue with the elders was a lost cause. Not to mention he'd most likely suffer much worse if he did. No for now he'd be content being at the farm though he would take extra measures to cover his presence. Not even the one with the mask should have been able to see him but with extra precautions he would only reveal himself when he was playing his hand. He only hoped he wouldn't cause more trouble for the residents than they deserved.
As he was about to disappear the elder spoke to him again "Take care brother and go with caution. Those who reside there do not deserve any more danger than they currently have."
With that they all disappeared and Death found himself in the swamp again. Perhaps this wouldn't be as bad as he thought it might be. Though of course the spirits of those they'd killed were already coming to him to pass on. No rest for the weary after all Death thought as he began his work.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 10:40:26 pm
Roxanne would spent her week studying the book she had kept hidden all these years. She had slowly went through the first two chapters and was enthralled. Towards the end of the second chapter, she found a sub section: “The Forbidden”. "Oh? What’s this?", Roxanne asked to herself.
“Even though we seek to further the understanding of the arcane for the benefit of mankind, even we must admit there are things no human should explore our attempt. To explore and understand nature is fine but to try and mold it is what has brought us our greatest problems.
1 - Do not explore the realm of the beyond: We humans are bounded to this plane of existence for a reason. This is our domain and we are free to explore it but beyond that we are not welcome. Just as we seek to protect ourselves from them when they venture here they too seek to protect their domain. They are not afraid to make an example of those who dare infiltrate and to destroy those connected to them to prevent further incident. Leave the veil alone, our world is big enough.
2 - No bargains with familiar spirits or the like: Humans have kept various spirits as familiars to do their bidding since the dawn of time. Most work as a partnership of mutual benefit while a few types are essentially ‘domesticated’. Classical witches are an example of people who have master the art partnering with familiar spirits. However, some beings are too powerful for humans to control and as such use the tactic of bargaining to do their bidding. Any being smart enough to do so must not be reason with but captured, studied and either harvested or destroyed. The devils is absolutely out of question!
3 - Leave nature to its folly: Things must die, the weather will be unpleasant, winter will be cold; something must remain constant. Do not try to change this. Leave agents who maintain this alone as well; do not disrupt spirits of life, death, light or darkness. These forces govern our world and all depend on it. If you must make a change, ask for permission first; if you don’t know to whom, then don’t even try it. Nature is a fickle mistress, do not get on her bad side.
4 - Reality must remain constant: Sure, we can summons beings of great power and control things that seem to defy logic, but they all follow essential rules. These rules must not under any circumstances be changed! The speed of light shall remain as it is! The strength of the four fundamental forces is to remain is untouched! ENTROPY WILL NOT BE REVERSED! A small mistake might render us unable to fix it. Leave this all alone, let science explore it and leave us alone. God can only suspend his disbelief for so long.
5 - Do not abandon your humanity: We serve one another, we are one despite our difference and out petty conflicts. We all fight to preserve what we call home, don’t you dare switch sides! We are human, we prevail, we dominate, what do the creatures of the night offer but strife? It may be tempting to abandon your roots and transcend beyond; great power and wisdom awaits but at what cost? You will make an enemy of all of mankind, the ones who have conquered the world and maybe soon beyond. Do you want to be on the wrong side of history? Do you want to die? Then stay, and suffer with us.”
Roxanne was not sure what to think of this. This passage alone was enough to put the book away for now. She looked at her hands and touched her ears. "I have sinned...", Roxanne said as she started to weep.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 02, 2017, 11:07:35 pm
Catnip shuffled inside the wardrobe, and Kathrine had the idea that she must have stood up. "Shhhoot!" came Catnips muffled cry from inside, the door to the wardrobe swung open easily without Kathrine leaning on it, and Catnip emerged. She'd put on a thick pair of dark sunglasses and a broad rimmed straw hat. "Could you get the fire killer thingy?" There was no need for Kathrine to get it though, the fire extinguisher was next to the wardrobe.
"Aw..." Said Catnip, poking her fingers through the sizable holes the small fire had ignited among the clothes in the wardrobe. "I liked this one..." Catnip had been about to answer Kathrine's question, struggling a bit because of how abashed she was at being called "girlfriend," when she'd dropped the cigarette. It was of course, a bad place for that sort of thing to happen but Catnips shakes had subsided while she sprayed it down with fire retardant foam. In her moments of clarity, she thought about how much of a firetrap the barn was. The smoke had done her a little good. Her head still ached, and she was still wracked with tremors, but she thought she could feel a slight improvement. "Can I have another Kat? Just one more today?" Kathrine obliged and this time Catnip lit the cigarette herself. Her drag was smooth and burning, but not unpleasant. Taking a moment to reflect on Kathrine's earlier question brought back some of that sheepishness. "M-Mica uh... She p-probably won't want to sit at a table too long. We could do it outside. Is that what a picnic is? I've never had a picnic before." She handed the fresh cigarette to Kathrine, who smoked it down to a stub before handing it back to Catnip to finish off. The shakes were coming back. To cope, Catnip set against the wall with her arms around her knees, while Kathrine sat next to her, the maid's arms wrapped around her shivering form. From the barns front gate, Medeina took down an observation and moved on. Apart from the sounds of distant conversation, the day was blessedly quiet.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 11:16:31 pm
Helen for now stayed at Victor's bedside, thinking about all of this. She wasn't sure how he would react when he woke up, nor if she could control her temper after all this. She still wanted to smack him for nearly getting himself killed, sighing as she gathered her thoughts for now. Just go off of what he reveals when he wakes up, she decided.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 11:30:25 pm
Victor turned in his sleep; he was recalling the day’s events as a dream. How he captured the wrong spirit, his offering to the agent of death, Helen intervening and it all ended with his literal soul consumed into oblivion. He jolted awake in a cold sweat and looked around noticing Helen besides him sitting in a chair.
He calmed down a bit, glad the nightmare was over. "Helen? Hey, what are you doing here? I have a real fuzzy memory...", Victor told Helen in a tired voice. He yawned and then pressed his hand in his temple as a headache ensued. "What the hell happened?"
He then noticed Helen’s expression, it was somber and anger at the same time. He recalled the dream once more and saw that same expression there. "Look, I don’t know what happened but if I messed up, know that I am sorry...I have been a fool lately... I have made you worry unnecessarily and I have no doubt my current condition is an exception to that… If there is a way I can make penance, just say the word; whatever happened, it seems it changed me..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 02, 2017, 11:38:32 pm
Helen watched, regarding as he turned in his sleep, only to regard him with uncertainty as he jolted awake. The look she had on her face was clearly a mix of emotions, having again hard it hard not to either break down in tears or punch him square in the jaw.
"I'll...explain in time, if you wish. What's important is that you're alive." she said, before grabbing him and hugging him tightly. "Just, when I ask that you be cautious in things like this, know that it's not the baseless fears of a mage hunter." she said softly.
Hector meanwhile was tending to a few other things, deciding to check on Roxanne, to ensure she was alright. He already had a vague sense that something ominous had occurred, but the unease he felt faded. He simply brushed it off as the result of how suddenly Helen ran off, being one he'd expect to know when something strange was going on.
He'd ask Quinn about the sword later. For now he wanted to ensure Roxanne was alright.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 02, 2017, 11:54:59 pm
"Wha? Alive?", Victor uttered before being embraced in a hug. "I know...I know better know...What ever I did must cause you strife if this is how you are acting...", He returned the hug and caressed Helen’s hair. "You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. Just tell me what you need right now. I am ok, are you?", Victor spoke softly to Helen.
Roxanne had stopped her sobbing. She had realized that if she had followed that to the letter, she would not be here; she would adhere to them from now on but she had no regrets. Even Victor was heretic under these laws as he too bargained with familiar spirits, Randale to be exact. She put the book away and then heard a knock on her door. She opened the door and saw Hector on the other side.
"Hector? Hey, have any more questions? What can I help you with?", asked Roxanne.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 03, 2017, 12:02:10 am
Helen nodded at that, holding him close for now, blushing a little at the hand ran through her hair. "I'm guessing what you saw in your dreams was similar to what happened, though." she said, looking away a bit. "For now, maybe best to explain later. And once you've told me what you saw, if anything differed." she said. "For now though, you've done enough." she said, before pulling him into a kiss.
Hector meanwhile wasn't aware of what occurred, only checking up on her. "Wanted to ensure you're alright. Also, so far it doesn't sound like those two are arguing, so I think things are doing okay. Any guess as to why she ran off like that?" he asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 03, 2017, 12:13:35 am
Victor embraced Helen’s kiss and it made his headache go away. He went through what she just said. His dreams were similar to the truth? Did he really do that? Is that why she was here? He had been a real idiot then…
Victor pulled Helen away but kept her close. "You and I have things to talk about. We are about to go on a very dangerous mission together and I want to make sure you and I know where we stand. No more fooling around like kids, we need to decide if we are going to share a future because I don’t want to lose you either. We have one week to make peace, let’s make the best of it!"
"Yes, I am fine. Guess you had a bad feeling too? It does seem strange for Helen to get up and about especially since she said she had a feeling someone was doing something stupid.", Roxanne turned away for a moment before continuing. "I am only telling you this because I trust you ok? Not a single word out of your lips! Victor has been wanting to summon a spirit of death for who knows what. Maybe he succeeded and Helen noticed? A while ago, the sword spirit came and told me Victor was alright so I guess nothing bad actually happened. No need to worry right?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 03, 2017, 12:21:10 am
Roland had finished his own preparations and settled in to wait. He'd felt something odd happen earlier in the day but had decided to leave it be as he had been ensuring his armor was functional. Drifter had stopped in earlier to make sure he was okay and then wandered off to find his daughter. Roland was happy for him but it also made him wonder about his own kin. The spirit had mentioned one of them he wouldn't be proud of and he was trying to think of why. Regardless he cycled another magazine through the semi automatic pistol he'd picked up to make sure it was functioning before deciding to rest for the day.
Meanwhile Bandit had found himself alone again and was smoking a joint as he stared up at the clouds. He was in plain view but no one was paying him any attention is why he considered himself alone as he finished the thing and pulled out another from his bag and lighting it. Alice would probably yell at him if she caught him but at the moment he didn't care as he sat there giggling to himself. Sitting up he looked at the joint he was smoking and smiled underneath the mask before taking another puff through the small hole that had been cut into the mouth. "Been long time since man was able to do this. Brings back memories."
Elsewhere on the farm Drifter and Alice were sitting together as Drifter fed the kitten. The two had been rather awkward around each other but they were willing to admit it was because he'd been gone from her life for a long while. They'd talked about how he'd gotten the prosthetic before finding Bandit in the grass giggling to himself. After an exchange of looks the two sat down next to him and Drifter took the joint from him and took a drag before handing it back. Bandit gave a questioning look to Alice who shrugged and told him "Look, we've finally found shelter. At least for the night. My problem before was that we were always moving and needed to be alert. Now give me that thing."
Bandit looked at Drifter and asked "What bout you? I thought you was the kind of man to kill a mans for breaking the law? Wasn't that drug shite too?"
Drifter was already laying down as he told him "What laws? This is the apocalypse kid we get to make up our own. Besides what do I care about it nowadays, plus we used to smoke this shit when I was in the army."
Soon the three of them were staring up at the stars as they talked about things of no consequence, laughing all along the way.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 03, 2017, 12:24:24 am
Helen relaxed a little at that, only to look away shyly as he asked her that, a bit uncertain. "You're...you're right. I know that night was a drunken one-night stand, and this. I'm not sure what I feel about you. Partly kinship given the nature of our orders, partly that feeling one gets with a child that's discovered so many dangerous things to try." she teased, smiling a little. "But there's also, well...I'm not sure. I mean I basically grew up around what were, to me, brothers and sisters. This isn't something I'm used to." she confessed.
Hector meanwhile nodded at that. "Not sure what provoked that inkling in her, but...hmm." he said, before nodding at her explanation. "Can't be any worse than other secrets I keep." he pointed out, though her explanation troubled her. "Glad to have reassurance they're alright, at least. Not sure what reaction I'd expect out of her. Does their order have any rule against it?" he asked, not knowing of the similar code of morals obstinately used by The Order.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 03, 2017, 12:38:12 am
Victor smiled as Helen explained her feelings. Someone from the order he was taught to despise was next to him and they both seemed to enjoy the company. So much for chapter one of “The Source”, he thought to himself. "Don’t worry about it. We have enough time to think about it once we come back from the mission, I’ll make sure we come back… So we can afford to take it slow. For now, how about we have the drinking contest we agreed on? Roxanne recently made a haul of various bottle of liquor and gave me a couple bottle. Should be enough to make us forget our troubles for one night."
"I am glad they are alright too. And you would have to ask Victor or Helen about the codex of the Cleansing Flame. I honestly only learned about them a few months before the cataclysm and had them explained to me afterwards. Sorry I could not be of much help in that regards."
Roxanne’s expression once more changed, this time to one of guilt. "Can I ask you something? Is it bad to not regret doing something you know is wrong? Is it ok if everything you are is because of it? Would you change it if you found that out?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 03, 2017, 12:50:38 am
Helen was only more flustered at that, uncertain of this. She remembered her own codes within her book. Writing of bandits and blood mages, and other profligates that are a threat and shouldn't be offered mercy. But she knew she'd crossed worse lines even before this. "Very well then. I'll be there by your side then. Fitting we end up as comrades-in-arms for once, as well." she said, smiling a bit. "Will be interesting to see how well you fare, of course." she teased, though blushing at the thought given what occurred last time.
Hector nodded at that. "I see. I've only been able to make sense of snippets of the copy we have, so might be best to ask Victor then." he said, before regarding her look of guilt. "To be honest? It depends on what, and why. I mean I still know full well killing is wrong, and yet I hold no remorse for a few bandits or mutant-hunters." he said. "I still keep in mind that it was for good reason, never lose sight of what as to be done. But what acts do you mean?" he asked. Even her being an assassin, he could guess that she meant a different thing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 03, 2017, 01:29:07 am
The weasel stalked through the underbrush, looking for food. Medeina saw it right away from her proxies perch in the angle formed where the sturdy branch met the trunk of the maple Mica had agreed to place her in. While Dee was busy assembling her new body, a trivial enough task since Dee didn't have to do much programming himself, the AI had taken the opportunity to break away from watching the subject she had already finished observing for now. Now, she was watching the weasel.
It snuffled through a pile of leaves, and then it spotted the snake. A long black spade headed thing sunbathing on a pile of leaves near what was likely it's nest. The weasel's whiskers twitched as it readied for the strike, then tensed as the serpent reared back to look around. It didn't move like any snake that the weasel had ever seen, but food was food. It waited for the snake to settle back, and once it had stopped moving, the weasel struck. It darted forward with all the speed that it's tube like body was capable of, wanting to get in and end the snake before it could deliver any of it's lethal bites. The weasel needn't worry about the snakes nest because the weasel could fit perfectly into that wide hole. The weasel should have worried. The snake darted into the hole just as the small animal reached it and the weasel, excited by the thought of an easy kill, only noticed that the hole was actually some moist pinkish cavern filled with tiny immaculate stalactites and stalagmites. It realized too late that the snake was not a snake at all, but a tongue, and the snakes nest was not a hole in the ground, but the mouth of some strange and hungry predator. It tried to turn, the slip back out the way it came, but the trap snapped shut on it. It's death, while undoubtedly messy, was at least quick.
After Mica had dusted the leaves off her silks and picked the twigs from her hair, she retrieved Medeina. "My-ka like this new game." She commented, "Ro-but give good advice for catching small foods." She strode from the copse with the proxy under one arm, and her sharp eyes picked out the unfamiliar forms down on the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 03, 2017, 01:31:11 am
"That a girl!", Victor exclaimed smiling as he got up to get the bottles. "Now, we agreed on a wager if I remember correctly.", Victor explained as he handed Helen a glass and poured her a drink, "This is nothing too strong but enough of it should do the trick. As the lady in the room, I will let you choose the stipulations. What does the winner get?"
"What I have done is nothing short of sin Hector...But I don’t regret it either. If I had done things differently, I might not even be here. I might not have survived that one hospital incident...I may not have met you...", Roxanne looked down for a bit before she made a suggestion.
"Hey, how about we go outside for a bit and enjoy the rest of the day?", Roxanne asked Hector. The knight gave a smile and a nod, he knew that words would not do much good now. He instead just did as she asked.
The pair walked around the farm for a bit, Roxanne embracing Hector’s right arm with her own two as they went. What amounted to the entirety of the farm told them what they had going on was pretty obvious so they might as well embrace it.
After a bit of walking, they found the trio of people on the ground staring at the sky. They were all laughing and generally looked like they were having a good time. Roxanne noticed one of them was Drifter but realized the other two were new people. At this realization, she let go of Hector’s arm and silently cleared her throat to speak. "Oh, what a surprise seeing you here Drifter. We haven’t interacted much have we? And I see you brought along some new folk? Care to make a quick introduction."
As she said this, Roxanne noted the bag of rolled joints next to the trio. She couldn't help grin at its sight; the only people she knew did this kinda stuff was Dee and herself. "I need to get out more...", Was Roxanne’s only thought at the sight.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 03, 2017, 11:30:47 am
Drifter waved to the pair and couldn't help but smile at Roxanne asking about the pair. Motioning to the man sitting beside him wearing the pure white mannequin mask he said "This guy here is called Bandit-" then motioning to the girl sitting next to him who looked to only be about fifteen or fourteen years old he said "-and this is my daughter Alice."
Bandit waved to Roxanne and Hector as he passed the joint to Drifter and said "Feel free to join us. The more the merrier." before passing into a fit of giggles.
Alice for her part just waved to the pair and seemed uncertain of what to say as she waved off Drifter's offer of passing her the joint again. After a few moments she said "Hi."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 03, 2017, 11:50:01 am
Helen smiled a little as Victor got out the bottles, thinking over what she could suggest for the bet. So many things came to mind. Some perverse, some practical, and some simply amusing. "I suppose it'd be a good chance to get to know each other, if the one winning the bet was free to ask anything they'd wish to know about the other. That might be interesting, assuming the winner doesn't end up making any embarassing questions in their drunken stupor." she teased. That could suit any of her ideas rather well, whether it be to get a look at his research, or to ask him more amusing questions.
Hector meanwhile sighed at her worries, holding her close. "It's fine. If you mean...this." he said, a hand moving to brush aside some of the ear covering. "That's no sin as far as I can tell. There's consequences yes, reasons not to do so or at least to be careful, but that's a purely practical matter." he said, before soon enough they were walking around, held close as a result, relieved that she had to idea of doing something to take her mind off those thoughts.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 03, 2017, 11:53:24 am
Roxanne also smiled as she was introduced. "Nice to meet you Bandit, Alice." She then giggled at Bandit’s offer. "Let’s see how it compares to mine then.", Roxanne said as she accepted a hit from the joint that was passing by. "I don’t know what the literal knight over here will say, he is no buzzkill but he can be a bit too serious at times."
Roxanne sat next to Drifter and looked at Alice momentary. "You are a lucky man, you know that right? You get to have something to cling onto in this hell hole we call home.", Roxanne told Drifter while looking up. "Anyways, maybe I could show you around the farm some time. I assume Drifter has already but I have been here longer and know a bit more. I even know where some of the ‘seized’ goods are kept if any of you are interested."
Hector for his part sat down next to Roxanne after he introduced himself to the group. He accepted the joint passed after Roxanne pressured him into it.
"Anyone got any stories?", Roxanne asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 03, 2017, 01:06:38 pm
Bandit shrugged as he said "I mean I've got stories but their mostly about making drugs, selling drugs, and getting shot at because someone's trying to steal my drugs. I mean there was that one time I was so high I showed up to a gang meeting in my underwear and had no idea why the other gang was saying 'what the fuck your homeboy doing?'. I think they were so freaked out that when I had to pull a gun they all just ran off from the dude in his underwear and a hoodie. I learned pretty quick after that not to try the new mixtures."
Drifter looked over at Hector, somewhat surprised to see the knight joining in as he said "Most of my stories are about killing criminals. Not exactly stories for this ocassion."
Alice for her part told Roxanne "I'd like that. He showed us around but I think Bandit wondered off in the middle of it so it'd be good for him to actually pay attention."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 03, 2017, 01:49:59 pm
Mica didn't bother hiding her approach, she knew she didn't have to do that around the farm anymore. When she got close to Dee's workshop, she set the basketball sized robot down so it could go back inside. Instead, Medeina followed her. "No Meh-die-na, you go inside, My-ka sees strange pe-pols."
"No, I will observe. Then, you will take me to Catnip." Mica was incensed at the response, but Medeina was already trundling off, the proxy dragging itself towards the center of the farm on it's spindly arms. Mica followed, scowling at the small robot.
No mutants, no anomalous beings. Medeina took a few quick observations, and left without so much as a "hello" for the barn. Mica on the other hand, did not. "Drug man sell cartoons? Cartoons is bad for Kat-nyp. Forgive ro-but. Ro-but is rude." She grinned at the newcomers, and as usual for anyone meeting Mica for the first time, it wasn't a pleasant experience. "No time for drug man and new lady, ro-but will bother Kat-nyp. My-ka stop ro-but."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 03, 2017, 02:05:04 pm
Bandit waved as Mica ran after the robot before looking at his joint with a questioning stare. Mumbling something to himself he passed the thing around again and closed his eyes. Meanwhile Alice had done her best to look normal upon seeing Mica but afterwords gave Drifter a concerned look. He merely shrugged and told her "No need to be afraid, she's friendly so long as your not a chicken."
Chuckling to himself Drifter concluded with "The robot though I have no idea. That's what I lost the leg for was the parts to get that thing working but I've got no clue what that thing's supposed to do round here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 03, 2017, 02:34:12 pm
Kathrine leans her head against Catnip, purring. "Now that we'rrrre going out, can you prrrromise something?" She's rolling her r's, though it's probably unintentional. "Mmm?" "Don't leave me? Never, ever, in a million years?" "Sure Kat."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 03, 2017, 03:10:24 pm
Hector smiled a bit at that, regarding the others discussing what all they had in terms of stories. "Most of my more interesting stories are the things that happened all this mess started. There were a few funny things I recall from back in the day. I remember once trying to get Nathaniel and a few others into the local HEMA club. Thought it'd be funny to start him off with a big old practice sword, one of the ones balanced and weighted to be twice as heavy as what the live steel would be." he said, smiling some. "He was in better shape back then compared to whatever happened to him since then, but it was still rather amusing seeing him trying out the basic drills like that."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 03, 2017, 03:31:14 pm
"If drug and criminal killing stories are all you got, then so be it. Most stories I have are of my days as a...ahem…’blade’ for hire in as part of an organization that dealt in the arcane. How is that for some creepy shit?", Roxanne responded to Bandit’s remarks. She wasn’t aware of how disturbing indeed such statements might be to some folk but did not know if it would to them or frankly cared now that she was under the influence.
"Understood then. I’ll gladly give you all here a proper tour some time. There are somethings pointer I am going to have to give you to not alter some of the other residents...They can be real buzzkills sometimes...but otherwise it should be a fun time.", Roxanne told Alice. She smiled and took another puff of the joint. "Hey man, this is some strong stuff...care to hook a girl up? Not even my oil compares...", Roxanne asked Bandit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 03, 2017, 03:44:55 pm
Bandit sat up and rubbed his face through his mask, as odd a sight as that was, as he said "I can do that, but I'd need some place to grow the stuff though. Not to mention if people are interested in other shit I'd need someplace to cook that too. Heck even if their not I can make all sorts of shit with a proper lab. Meds, explosives, drugs, you name it I can probably figure out how to manufacture it."
Meanwhile Alice nodded to Roxanne's statements and wondered what exactly she'd gotten herself into. Tomorrow once everyone was sober she'd have to talk with Drifter. Not that she expected that to go very well since she didn't really know him that well now that she was thinking about it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 03, 2017, 03:53:48 pm
Roxanne perked up at the mention of needing a proper setup. "Tell you what?", Roxanne told Bandit, "Inside of what we call ‘The Radio Room’ I have a personal cooking setup that I use every once in awhile. No one will bother you there if I make sure about it. As for the equipment? We have it scattered all over the place, it’s a matter of finding and installing it. If you need reference material, we probably have a couple books on the subject if you want. How does that sound?" Roxanne then calmed down a little. "As to where to grow it. I’ll give you a secret. I don’t really sleep anymore so I have gone to the swamps and find some places rich in soil that would not get disturbed., Roxanne told Bandit and then gave him a wink and a nudge.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 03, 2017, 04:01:54 pm
Bandit looked over at her and shrugged as he said "I mean for some stuff that'd work but I'd need a building to the thing for the actual 'cooking'. I mean some of this shit gives off fumes when you're cooking it, not the kind ya want to inhale anyway. An' I don't need any reference material to setup a lab, I've done it more than a few times before so I know what I'm doing. But as for growing stuff just show me the spots sometime and I'll get it growin'."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 03, 2017, 04:16:57 pm
"When it comes to fumes, that ain’t a problem. My little setup has a ventilation system since I smoke meat in there. But if you are looking for something more permanent and customisable, we have a few abandoned buildings that once housed some some of our people...a couple died and others moved on. There is that if it doesn’t bother you. As for the growing spots, I can either make you a map or take you myself; I ain’t a gardener so I could not be able to help you in that department.", Roxanne told Bandit.
A small cough escape Roxanne as she took her third and final puff. "Seriously? Three puffs and it’s already telling me to stop?!", Roxanne talked to herself. He bionic filter once more suggested her to filter out the drugs in her system. "Sorry if I look like a crazy lady for talking to myself but I have a bionic implant to tells me when I have things in my blood that might be undesirable. It’s supposed to warn me about poison and then filter out but whoever made it also included drugs and alcohol in so when i try to have fun this things beeps me into compliance..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 03, 2017, 04:17:51 pm
She wanted to stay and watch the fey one a bit. Medeina got very few opportunities to observe Roxanne. She was mostly the same as human though, sort of, and Medeina had more important things in mind. Dee's work would stall by evening if he didn't have the parts Catnip was supposed to supply, and the advanced emotions she had swiped from C.I.D. were making her impatient. "Catnip. Rat, are you feeling better? Have you made progress?" She asked, the sound her speakers put off being loud enough to startle birds from where they roosted in the rafters. Catnip moaned and threw an arm over her head, and Kathrine glared at the impertinent machine. Mica caught up then and snatched the proxy up. "Bad ro-but! Botherin Kat-nyp!" She cried, her voice no less grating than Medeina's. "Shoo you!" with that last, Mica gave Medeina an underhand toss out the barns small replacement door and shut it before the AI could come scuttling back.
Catnip had slumped over on her side and placed the straw hat on her face. If it weren't for the occasional violent tremor, or her heavy breathing, Mica would have thought she was dead. It was the combination of how limp Catnip seemed, and the smell wafting off of her. It had been a day since Catnips last real drink, and she had begun to sweat buckets. The stink clung to her normally immaculately kept fur, making her reek of the stink of an unwashed rodent and sickness. "Poor Kat-nyp." Mica said, "Morsel put up wit such smells for Kat-nyp, but My-ka know Kat-nyp be ashamed later." She grabbed one of Catnips arms to lift her to her feet, and the mechanic flailed weakly at her. Kathrine protested, but Mica shushed her. "My-ka don't like water so much, but she help Kat-nyp. Kat-nyp always take sissy bath this time of day anyway." Mica lifted Catnip and roughly threw her sister over her shoulder. "Gonna toss Kat-nyp in big bowl of hot waters, like makin' soups." She saw Kathrine following, preparing to protest again and she turned sharply, pressing her face so close to Kathrine's that the maid had to shrink back. "No worry bold morsel! My-ka not really make soups with Kat-nyp, but bold morsel with Kat-nyp now. Can't be lookin at Kat-nyp when she not wearin' nothin', silly bold morsel." Mica found the furious red color that Kathrine's face went at that to be just as adorable as when it happened to Dee. "You stay Kat-thrin, Mica bring Kat-nyp back when she not stink no more." As for what Catnip thought of all this, she hardly cared. None the less, she gave Kathrine a beseeching look as Mica carried her from the barn.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 03, 2017, 04:20:55 pm
Hector, though mildly out of it thanks to having tried the joint offered to him, regarded Bandit curiously. "I'd be careful though if you do such things. Nathaniel got particularly annoyed when he found out about that one time I used one of Catnip's reference books to jury-rig some primers, to keep the tank's M240 running." he said. "Most complex chemistry I've ever tried to be honest."
He then stifled a giggle at Roxanne's reaction. "I had an idea. Imagine if all the bionics came with little nagging voices telling you when to use them. God that'd be annoying..." he mused, smiling a bit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 03, 2017, 04:46:06 pm
Bandit shrugged to Roxanne as she told him about the bionic that filtered the intoxicants "I've met enough people that talk to themselves to know they're the interesting ones. Plus I've heard of some weird ass bionic shit too."
Thinking for a moment Bandit told Roxanne "It'd take me a while to rig up the ventilation and shit I'd need for a new spot. Why don't I setup in your spot and work on getting somewhere else ready for it while I cook there? I mean I'd need a mask..er gas mask that is, while I cook but I've got that already."
And when Hector piped up Bandit told him "Man I've been doing this since I was fourteen. Well the drug making not the explosive stuff. That was after the apocalypse but it's still-" He made a waving motion as he said "-chemistry and that's been my career since I was a kid. If people need something just let me know and I'll see what I can make."
Sitting up he opened his messenger bag and looked through it for a moment before pulling out a bag of homemade chips and offering them to whoever wanted them. Alice opened her mouth to make a comment before Bandit cut her off by saying "Yes, I do that type of cooking too smart ass now do you want some of the chips or not?"
Giving him a sarcastic look she took the bag and ate a couple of chips as Drifter said "So we're setting up a drug lab...I'm surprised that I'm okay with this honestly."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 03, 2017, 05:18:41 pm
Hector smiled a bit at that. "Well, you haven't lost any limbs doing that work, so I suppose that's a good sign." he joked. "Might be good then to have a setup available then, both the more practical stuff and...I suppose other things, but that's not my particular preference." he admitted. "Probably shouldn't mention it to Catnip though, she's already at the point of addiction-displacing in her efforts to stop drinking."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 03, 2017, 05:36:32 pm
Bandit nodded as he zipped his bag shut and said "I'll make sure not to give her anything I make. I've seen what it's like to try and kick an addiction and it's never looked pleasant so I wouldn't want to feel what it's like. Hopefully she gets better soon."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 03, 2017, 05:39:57 pm
Victor and Helen had been drinking for a quite a while now. "Listen, Helen. It’s not that I am afraid to die, it’s just that if I die then I lose the sword spirit. I don’t want to lose it, it took so much work to capture!", Victor told Helen. His speech was starting to slur but he was coherent otherwise. Victor served another cup to both of them; Helen was drinking like a champ. She was either relatively unaffected, was doing a swell job at hiding her drunkenness or was a functioning alcoholic; all of these equally frightened Victor.
"Now, I had a dream Helen. Death spoke to me, he called me a coward and it looked into my soul Helen, my soul! If I die, I might have to face him, I don’t know.", Victor continued with his explanation, "Sorry for bringing down the mood. It’s just I can’t shake that dream of all things… You had a dream like that? One that repeats over and over?"
Victor look to the wall clock he had, it was getting late. "Well my dear, it’s getting late. One of us had to yield soon or we will have to carry this into the ni *hic* night...excuse me...", Victor told Helen. At this rate, even he knew who the winner would end up being.
Roxanne laughed at Hector’s remarks. "As if having a good time is not practical enough, loosen up tin can!", Roxanne told Hector in his pet name, "Besides, Catnip is already her own person, she knows what’s what. She didn’t make that train by beiung dumb."
"I’ll take some.", Roxanne told Bandit as she took a few of the chips, "I seem to have caught the munchies...Worth it!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 03, 2017, 05:43:16 pm
Kathrine had stayed behind while Mica had dragged Catnip off. She just stood there, at the rear barn door, tapping her foot with her arms crossed. Since she had admitted her feelings to Catnip (and Catnip had admitted hers right back), she had gotten noticeably... Braver? She still wasn't quite sure how to deal with Mica dragging her Mistress off, or calling her a 'Bold Morsel', or even just Mica showing up in general. The robot that bothered Catnip frustrated her, too. It was Mister Dee's machine, and he just let it run around, bothering Mistresses and just making a mess everywhere, like some big dumb cat. The thing that made up her mind on trailing Mica and Catnip was the promise she'd made to not leave her, never ever.
Kathrine watched the pair (mostly Mica) enter the shower shack, and waited for a minute before working up the bravery to walk up to it herself. "MISS MIIIICAAAAAAA! Um... MISTER DEE FELL OVER! IN THE WELL! AT THE REFUGEE CENTRE! H-HE WANTS YOUR HELP!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 03, 2017, 05:51:36 pm
Mica had gotten as far as getting the water running, getting Catnip undressed, and shoving her sister under the running tap when she heard Kathrine outside. She opened the door, but slowly. "Eh? Lizard in trouble?" Kathrine nodded quickly, "Y-yeah, he needs you Miss Mica." Mica's expression went from confused suspicion to deep worry in an instant. "True? My-ka gots ta go then. Bold morsel stay out of here, got it?" She slipped through the door, shutting it lightly behind her as steam began to filter through the opening, and headed off for the refugee center. Medeina watched with rapt interest, taking down a note to the effect that the one called "Kathrine" could be clever. More clever at least, than Mica.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 03, 2017, 05:56:45 pm
Helen smiled a little at that, looking him over as she swayed momentarily, doing her best to hide her own effects. As much as she seemed to handle her liquor, she still drank in moderation far more often than she drank to this extent. "Always the practical one when playing with magic?" she teased.
"I myself don't fear dying in battle if the need arishes, but what I fear in that is leaving my work unfinished, letting someone down. Or if they die because of it." she replied, her attempts to retain her composure and not show how it affected her momentarily slipping.
"And it's f-fine. To be honest I do dream of something every so often, but it's not any better for the mood." she said. "G-go on, take a guess if you wish. I might go easy on you if you get it right on the first try." she said, smiling a bit.
Hector meanwhile nodded at that. "True, just go easy on some of it, lot of the harder stuff can be troublesome after all." he remarked. He vaguely recalled some mention of things Nathaniel said they were "encouraged" to use during prolonged missions in the unit he ended up in.
Hector meanwhile shook his head at the offer. "I'm fine, thanks though." he said. Though he suspected Roxanne would also encourage him to loosen up and try some. Another thing he hadn't indulged in for quite some time, even back when he still drank occasionally pre-cataclysm.
The sight of Mica parading around Catnip right past him gave him pause. "And now we get to the new arrival's introduction to the crazier side of this place." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 03, 2017, 06:15:54 pm
Kathrine lets out a deep sigh, making sure that Mica was out of sight before opening the shower door and stepping inside. "Catniiiip, I had to lie to Miss Mica don't be mad at meeeeeeee~" She sits on the floor next to the prone rat, getting herself soaked in the process. "I told her Mister Dee was in trouble but he was at the refugee centre but he's not, b-" She coughs and waves away the steam. "Shampoo! You need shampoo, Mistress. Because you're in the shower!" Kath stands up, dripping with water, and retrieves her own bottle of shampoo from the corner of the building. It was supposed to smell like cinnamon, but ended up smelling more like... Burnt steak. "Mis- Catnip, do you want me to do this?" She's asking, but she's already started rubbing the shampoo into Catnip's fur.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 03, 2017, 06:31:29 pm
Bandit nodded as he said "Yeah, I don't personally use the hard shit. Seen what it does to mans and it's not someting I want to feel."
Pulling out a dull butterfly knife he started flicking it out in a pretty standard routine to anyone who'd practiced with the things. Soon though he started doing more and more complicated tricks to open and close it. He did the vast majority of it with a practiced ease before sliding the thing back into his pocket and laying back down to stare up at the sky for a moment having seen the odd sight. From there he said "Well at least we got informed on that one in our first day here instead of findin' out the weird shit later.
Alice just watched the spectacle before saying "Is it normally this strange or did we just come on a good day for it?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 03, 2017, 07:34:42 pm
"Now, now my dear. We both know I don’t know enough about you to actually make any claims. How about we change that? What makes Helen tick?", asked Victor as he started to sway from side to side. "Why is such a pretty face worried about a lowlife like me anyways? The cataclysm kill off all the good options?"
As he finishes his current cup, he grabs the bottle and tries to refill his now empty cup. He shakes and misses the cup spilling some of the contents onto the bed. "...I yield...I am afraid you win Helen. Will you claim your price?"
"Maybe not everyday but certainly not rare. That girl there, Mica, used to be a ferocious killing machine but is now a ‘tamed’ girl who even has a boyfriend. She is peculiar but nothing to really be afraid off.", Roxanne said to address everyone's points about Mica.
When Katherine followed suit and Mica ran off she changed her tune. "Now that is unusual, enjoy the show!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 03, 2017, 07:46:11 pm
Helen smiled a bit at that. "Not even going to guess, I see. Very well then." she said, before listening to him continue. "And that dream is likewise partly related to why I care for a little seidmadr like you. I still sometimes have dreams about that day, 6 years ago." she admitted. "That was the first and ultimately only time I had a run-in with members of the brethren led astray, as my father used to call them." she said, only to smirk at that as he finally gave in. "Since that day, I've seen a lot worse. Learned a few more things. More reason to look past the flaws only just now learning, to see the boy...no, the man, behind them."
She then smiled some. "As for that prize, I suppose I'll start by asking you the same. What do you see in a mage hunter, what was once your enemy? They don't...see us as kin, led astray in our own way, in the way we once saw you, do they?"
Hector nodded at that. "So aside from Dee's pet robot, and occasional visits from the tiger lady, I think you've seen the weirdest we have to offer. Well okay, there's the lady in the metal cloak that visits on occasion."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 03, 2017, 08:20:43 pm
"Oh, so that’s what your dream was about...I will admit that day has haunted me as well for some time.", Victor admitted, "I had never ran with the clean flame myself either. But..you know…she did...she. And this is where your question comes into play… Since joining, we were taught that the cleansing flame was not brother and sisters lead astray like you, we were told your order was comprised of simpletons who would rather brandish a hammer against the unknown out of fear than to take the time to get to understand it. I looked down on the cleansing flame and the day things went awry only solidified my belief. ".
Victor paused for a moment to clear his throat and then he blushed as he continued. "But I must admit, even then I saw a certain captivating elegance when you fought off those creatures down in that maze. And, even as I feared for my life, for the briefest of moments, I believed we were fighting together as brother and sister in arms. Now that I have gotten to know you, I see that I was fed lies, you are not a zealot who seeks to destroy but to protect. So to answer your question more clearly, what do I see in you? The yin to my yang, the completion to the circle...". At this point, Victor was talking out of intuition, he wasn’t sure if any of it made sense but he said it.
"Oh yeah, be careful with the tigerlady. Her name is Lilith and she too is a mutant weapon...now that I think about it, we have a lot of those… But don’t worry, she is a big teddy bear inside! But sometimes that inside cannot be found...", Roxanne commented on the mention of Lilith.
"I ain’t doing a good job pitching this place aren’t I? Sorry if that’s the case, not my intention to put you off...."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 03, 2017, 08:32:56 pm
Bandit shrugged as he said "Hey so long as people aren't trying to kill me or Alice I'm good wit this place. In the meantime I'm gonna go find someplace to sleep, all that walking's got has got this man tired. You all take care and we'll get that lab set up tomorrow Roxanne.
Bandit stood and walked away with that though he wasn't entirely truthful as to why he left. Once he was by himself in the first of the abandoned buildings he'd found he pulled the hood of his jacket back and took his mask off. Opening his bag he pulled out one of the 'rations' he had made some time ago and ate it as he contemplated things. Taking a moment to rub the scar on his face he figured a lab was good for his own purposes as he'd be able to make more of his meds. For now he took another of his pills and tucked his mask back on before settling in to sleep off his high.
Meanwhile Alice watched him go before telling Roxanne "It's not that bad sounding, dangerous but not bad. It's at least sounds better than some of the places I've been to."
After taking a moment she ate a few more of the chips before looking at Drifter who'd somehow fallen asleep where he was lying. "And at least I might actually get to know my dad."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 03, 2017, 10:42:32 pm
Helen nodded at that. "So I see. I recall that belief in kinship faded as the founding members passed their mantles onto their children, as did knowledge of your order's existence." she admitted. "And as much as I'd hate to admit it, we went closer to that image your order held than we should've been. We researched some of what we encountered, and in my father's day evidently they'd prefer to only destroy items if there was danger of them falling into the hands of anyone that'd misuse them." she said. "Then there came the discovery of the book To Master The Unknown, and this set the precedent for things being declared not even acceptable to research." she said.
"You can imagine just how destructive a book dedicated to bringing yet more monsters into this world was to our ultimate goal, I would hope." she added, before smiling some at what he added. "Thank you. I too see something in you, something I feel was lacking." she said, leaning in a bit.
Hector nodded at that. "Just be nice around Kathrine. The other feline that passed by earlier. Hardly a violent bone in her body, not even that approving of swears for that matter. Lilith seems to regard her as her cub." he said, briefly thinking back to the first encounter with Lilith.
"But honestly, with everyone here things are fairly safe at least. Hell's Raiders are practically on the run, and last time God's Army tried to lure Catnip and Kathrine from here, they got a good solid lesson taught to them." he said, smiling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 04, 2017, 12:05:11 am
Catnip lies in the shower, letting the water work it's way through her fur, washing away the grime. The heat and the steam opens her pores and lets the poison seep out of her. Not all of it, nowhere near all of it, but enough that she can loosen up. Enough that her tremors subside a little and the headache goes down just a little less. She thinks about grabbing one of the shampoo bottles and using it, but the arc of pain through her head when she tries to reach out for one stops that idea in it's tracks. Mica says something she doesn't quiet hear, and then leaves. Even suffering withdrawals from alcohol addiction, bathing is still one of Catnips favorite activities. Beneath building and inventing or course.
Then a gentle hand strokes her back, from the nape of her neck down to just above the base of her tail. She doesn't need to turn to see who it is, and for a moment Catnip can't tell if the heat rising through her face is because of the steam or because she knows Kathrine is in the shower with her. Her head turns slowly, like a rusty pivot, and her eyes fall on Kathrine. "K-Kathrine, y-y-your clothes are getting wet." Her head cocks a little to hear Kathrine over the pounding water. "Ok Kat... Could you bring that stool over though?"
"I'll do your back." Kathrine said. Catnip nodded, she was already mortified at Kathrine being in the shower with her so in for a penny, in for a pound. Besides, she didn't feel much like arguing and so she let Kathrine scrub her back while she did her front, being careful to wash the suds out of her fur. Before long, she was feeling just a bit more human that she had before. As human as a person mutated into the semblance of a rat can feel anyway. "Kathrine, Mica didn't bring any clothes. I can't put on those dirty things I was wearing before."
"I'll get you some towels and one of Booby ladies bath robes." Kathrine says. While she is away, Catnip has a moment to think and cool off. "If I was drunk..." she thought, "I might be able to stop being such a coward about all this..." She pushed the thought away violently and just sat, letting the steam clear her head.
On the way back to the barn, Mica suddenly ambushed them. Or rather, ambushed Kathrine. "You lie to My-ka morsel!" She hissed, but didn't seem very angry, "Morsel not just bold. Morsel brave." She smelled Catnip, and asked "What is smell? What is?" Kathrine told her that it was shampoo and that it was supposed to be cinnamon. "My-ka like meaty smell. Kat-thrin choose good smell. You get out of wet cloth, put on dry cloth. My-ka put Kat-nyp in bed." Kathrine did as she was told, more out of fear than obedience, and then climbed into her own bed. When Mica had gone, and everything was quiet on the farm, Kathrine snuck out of her bed and stole to Catnips. Her Mistress lay curled up into a little shivering furry ball under the pile of mixed fabrics. Kathrine climbed in and wrapped her in a warm hug, imagining or perhaps feeling that Catnips tremors subsided a little at her touch. The two of them stayed like that until Kathrine snuck back to her own bed just before the warm light of dawn had crested the distant horizon.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 06:00:54 am
"I can see how the discovery of such things would incite a change. Even our order forbade investigating further or even replicate such experiments. Not that it stopped some from doing so...not that it stopped me...Our order was founded on the belief no one had authority over the arcane so why would I had listened to them as well? I was a fool, I broke the tenants of even my own order; I am a disgrace and a heretic on all fronts. Yet here I am, sharing a drink with someone who I was told was my enemy; guess we were all fools.", Victor told Helen.
As Victor saw Helen leaned in, he suddenly started to stammer more than the alcohol had already. "Oh? You feel the same then...glad to hear that...", Victor said with nervousness in his voice. He then took a moment to realize his current situation: He was in his room with Helen and the both of them were drunk; deja vu.
Victor got up nervously and took the bottles and empty cups; barely able to do so in his current state. "Guess I shoud put this away then now that we found a winner.", Victor declared, "Who would’ve guess someone dedicated to purity could hold her drink so well?"
Roxanne smiled and waved at Bandit as he go up to go. "You take care too! Don’t push yourself too hard, ok? I’ll see you tomorrow then.", Roxanne told Bandit as he left.
"All this talk about the quirks of specific member of our farm make me realized proper introductions are in order; maybe during the tour?", Roxanne commented to Hector’s remarks.
Roxanne stifled a giggle as she too saw Drifter asleep. "Must be hard for both of ya huh? At the very least awkward. But he seems like a good man, he stands for something at least; you two will be just fine...", Roxanne told Alice.
As she laid on the ground, she contemplated her own parent’s fate. She remembered how they reacted when they realized she had joined what to them was a simple cult, how they disowned her when they found out about her line of work and threaten to go to the police, how they were labeled impure, how she saw their info on The Order’s list of people to neutralize the next day, how she didn’t felt a thing but eagerness to fulfill the hit only to be stopped from doing so since her higher ups determined this was too personal for her to handle. All of that came rushing into her memory, "You too will get along just fine...", Roxanne told Alice once more.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 04, 2017, 09:05:25 am
Lilith arm buckles underneath her as she tries to pad towards the campfire circle. She'd snuck out when Sharlene had fallen asleep, and she was trying to find Nathaniel for reasons only known to her. All that's visible of her shadowed silhouette is a large, quadrupedal figure slowly circling the group, just outside where the light from the fire shone. It took a moment for Lilith to stop circling and start moving towards the pit again. As she comes into view properly, it's clear that she's extremely tired, her eyes are unfocused and she just generally looks like she's in the middle of recovering from a hangover, but she's stumbling towards Hector with purpose. "...Thmall..." She mumbles, wrapping one massive arm around his chest and slowly dragging him off. It's also now clear that she is, in fact, completely buck naked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 09:18:58 am
Things had been going smoothly so far for the group that had gathered by the campfire. Roxanne didn’t notice Lilith approach and with Drifter fast asleep, the only ones who might have would’ve been Alice and Hector. "Hey, Hector, got a knife on ya? Hector? Heeector?!", Roxanne called out. She didn’t know what had happened and looked around confused. "So you think you can just ditch me here huh?! ", Roxanne exclaimed. She turned on her night vision to see where he had gone only to see a Lilith carrying Hector in the distance. "Am I not enough for you?!", Roxanne shouted, "What does she have that I don’t?!" A few thoughts came her to mind and then she looked at her chest, "That’s not fair!", she shouted once more. She got up and chased after Lilith.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 10:41:29 am
Helen gave a little nod at that. "So they did have their limits. I'm glad some restraint existed." she said, before looking away shyly. "Even if we took it too far, I feel..."
She then ended up blushing more herself, a bit nervous as she realized what a familiar position they were in. Though no longer as it just the thought of toying with and dominating what was once an enemy. Now her emotions seemed more conflicted. "Fitting f-for an order with such origins, hmm? Between the communion wine and mead..."
Hector meanwhile nodded at that as Drifter had drifted off to sleep, the resulting mental pun nearly making him chuckle a bit. "I'm sure things will be fine. Can show them around in the morning." he suggested.
He'd been nearly dozing off a bit, unaware of first of Lilith's approach, only to give a startled yelp when something large, muscular, and naked had snatched him up and started to drag him off. "Oh sanctus merda...hrk! Roxanne? Roxanne!" he said, though likely either muffled or by now too far away.
He was left squirming about, his augmented strength nowhere near enough to break out of Lilith's grasp. Likely a combination of being out of his armor for once, and whatever left Lilith in a stupor, led to being snatched up like that. He was now uncertain whether she was going to kill him or sleep with him, and both thoughts had the knight shaken.
Great, if I survive this Nathaniel and Roxanne are both going to be pissed, he thought.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 04, 2017, 10:57:51 am
Lilith is still shuffling along, dragging Hector along with her, towards the forest. "Thmall..." She mumbles again. Her grip tightens for a moment, then she lifts Hector up slightly and drops him on the ground, falling forward onto him afterwards. Lilith appears to be trying to use Hector as a pillow, resting her head on his chest.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 11:05:18 am
Victor laughed at Helen’s last remark, "Had some practice then? That’s not fair. And to think I thought Roxanne’s attempt of a transubstantiation ritual were weird”, Victor said with a laugh. Once he realized what he said, his eyes widen and he clasped his hands in his mouth. "Please forget what I just said...I didn’t mean to..." , Victor begged Helen. "How about you ask me another question? Free of charge to our winner!"
Roxanne has been trying to keep up with Lilith but she is fast; add to that her current state and the bionic filter ‘s repeated suggestions, Roxanne fell a bit short. Once she reached where Lilith decide to use Hector as a pillow, her expression turned to that of indignation. "So this is what it comes down to?! You want her instead of me?! Fine! Be that way! I don’t need you anyway!", Roxanne shouted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 11:11:47 am
Helen smiled a bit at that. "No telling with Roxanne, will have to see what sort of rituals she's devised." she said, only to grin a bit at his reaction. "Hard not to have some oddity when you've got catholic and norse in equal measure as your founding. A strangeness yours shares with us." she said in response.
"And maybe a more amusing question then." she said, getting ideas. "I suppose I could ask whether I was, er...you k-know...your first." she said, a bit flustered. Even if she suspected his reaction to the question would be rather amusing.
Hector gave a rather annoyed sound almost like a whine, pushing at the tigress futilely, only to wince a bit as she dropped him on the ground. "Thmall? Small...oh shit." he said, a spark of realization hitting him. One, she seemed as if she was drunk to a degree he didn't think possible for someone her size. Two... "Lilith, I'm not Na-" Cue the wind being knocked out him by the tiger practically flopping onto him, even with his bionics that likely cracked a rib.
When she saw Roxanne finally catching up with them, he gave a pained whine at her reaction. "Oh for fucks sake, she literally grabbed me and dragged me off, I didn't..." he trailed off a bit, a bit startled at what she yelled at him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 04, 2017, 11:26:18 am
Lilith grunts, and repositions herself on top of Hector so that she now has a shoulder resting on his lower body, with her head on his stomach. She also raises a paw up and gently places it right on his left shoulder, her 'fingers' all pointing up at his head.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 11:42:48 am
Victor sighed in relief as Helen didn’t press further on his accidental blur. "Yeah, she can be quite the eccentric one...Haha", Victor responded with a faint laugh. Then came the next question. He went from pale to red at Helen’s question. "Oh...well...", Victor said as he looked away rubbed the back of his head, "Is it that obvious? I would be lying if I said anything other than yes...Guess I was too caught up in my work to, let’s say, enjoy life?" Victor turned back and look at Helen. "How about yourself? The way you...carried yourself, I couldn’t guess either way.", Victor asked Helen.
"Oh, so you are just gonna let her snuggle up on you like that?!", Roxanne exclaimed, "I trusted you Hector, I thought what we have was special...But now I see what you really care about!" Roxanne crossed her arms in an attempt to cover her chest. "You left me for some with bigger breast huh? That’s all that matters to you?! Then you must pay!", Roxanne shouted once more. She then activated her chain lightning gun and the usual electric static and crackle of it powering up could be heard.
Her bionic lightning generator was interrupted by beeping noises. "Now what do you want?!", Roxanne screamed into her arm. "It is advised that you discharge potentially mind altering substances in your body.", the bionic filter silently told her. "Fine, be that way, all of you be that way!!!", Roxanne yelled. She led the bionic filter do it's thing and in a matter of moments, her sense were beginning to come to her once more.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 11:51:14 am
Helen nodded at that, only to end up blushing brighter at that, looking away nervously. "I'll admit it was, well. My first as well actually. Never really got that involved with any of the others in my order. Most of them were like brothers to me." she admitted. Rather peculiar given the sort of techniques she'd learned, but she most likely had been preparing for something for some time, something she never had the chance to act on.
Hector found himself more confused and startled by that, pinned down by Lilith. That was a slight improvement, in that he could at least breathe that way, though the paw on his shoulder had him immediately wishing he'd left his armor on.
"Lilith, please let go..." he said a lot more quietly, just enough to be heard by the tigress. He then went wide-eyed as Roxanne only kept shouting, and activated her chain lightning. He nearly panicked at that, given Lilith had her claws right there and would likely maul him if a jolt made her start thrashing around. Not to mention without his armor, he had nothing to ensure the current wouldn't arc right through him.
At this point he was reaching that right hand out, trying to gauge whether she was in range of his EMP bionic. "Roxanne, I wouldn't...I d-didn't, stop..." he said, only to squirm away from Lilith's massive paw, likely narrowly avoiding her reflexive reaction to all this shouting.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 04, 2017, 12:00:47 pm
While all of this was going on Alice had decided to get some sleep as well and had wondered off to find someplace quiet. All that shouting had her concerned but as they'd pointed out weird things happened here. Soon she had a roof over her head and was drifting off to sleep. Dreams of weird tiger women dragging off knights filled her head.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 04, 2017, 12:15:32 pm
Lilith growled again as the shouting continued, and starts shifting around again. Nowhere else on Hector's body was comfortable though, so she just grumpily went back to his stomach with a stretch. Her claws rake the dirt next to Hector's head, sending a small cloud of dust into his face. She quietly snarls at Hector's squirming, but doesn't otherwise react.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 12:31:34 pm
"Oh...I see...", Victor awkwardly responded. He looked around to try and avoid eye contact and stumbled his gaze into the wall clock. It was late already. "Hey, night is here. We really ought to get some rest. You can stay the night if you want; not like it would be the first time you do so.", Victor told Helen with a mocking grin, "But if you wish to leave, that is fine by me as well. I can accompany you if you want. So what will it be?"
"Owy...my head hurts...", Roxanne said holding her head as a headache ensued. She was relatively back to normal now that she was free of “contaminants”; all that was left was her body adapting to the sudden change and a some slight placebo.
Roxanne next notices Hector and his current situation. Her urge to help surpasses her embarrassment of what she just did, but it would haunt her later. "Hector! Hold on, let me help you!", Roxanne told the downed knight. She looked for something to moved Lilith but nothing around her seemed like it would do the job. She also knew she was nowhere as strong as required despite her augs and mutations. "Hector, listen, cover yourself the best way you can from Lilith, and sorry if this hurts....", Roxanne whispered to Hector after she had kneeled besides him.
Roxanne rerouted all collected power from her chain lightning gun and put it into her electroshock unit. This worked as a taser when the user was bare handed or using a conductive weapon. "Forgive me Lilith...", Roxanne whispered. She placed her hand in Lilith’s back and proceeded to activate the electroshock unit sending high-voltage power into Lilith’s body.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 12:37:02 pm
Helen nodded at that, blushing more as she looked him over. "Probably best for us both to rest up. Have some notes for Quinn in the morning, and should prepare for the coming mission." she said. "And I...wouldn't mind staying, actually. Will at least try to ensure you actually get some rest, though." she teased.
Hector froze in fear, relieved that his attempt to wriggle free left the claws digging into the ground instead of into him, though the dust blinded him momentarily. At this point he was left quietly mumbling something, going a bit still out of fear, afraid of both of them. To see the knight actually shaken like that, terrified even, was an uncommon sight.
Roxanne's voice made him snap out of it, realizing now that she seemed to have calmed down. "Oh this is going to suck..." he managed to say, shying away a bit. He'd try to minimize contact with Lilith as best as he could, but he placed higher priority on staying clear of those powerful limbs. The resulting jolt was staggering, but far better than the chain lightning would have been, though it'd once again make him wish he'd kept his armor on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 04, 2017, 01:09:31 pm
Lilith was starting to stir by the time Roxanne decided to taze her. It definitely didn't seem to help the situation much, what with her arm still being across Hector's collarbone, and her generally being on top of him in the first place. Her response generally seems to involve a lot of roaring, claws, and eventually a thud as she collapses on top of Hector again, this time with her boobs pinning him to the ground.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 01:39:21 pm
Victor grinned at Helen’s final remark. "That would probably be for the best then in both our cases.", Victor said, "Well, I wish you sweet dreams then...Hope the hangover doesn’t hurt too much in the morning... "
"Well, that didn’t work...", Roxanne whispered, "At least she is unconscious for now. Let’s take this opportunity and use or combined bionic strength to move her out of the way."
Roxanne positioned herself on the side of Hector to help him push. Their combined strength, while enough, is still lacking to make this not a serious workout. Roxanne reposition herself to have more leverage and in the process moved her hand as well. Roxanne looked at where her hand was and she recoiled it back; she had been groping one of Lilith’s breasts. She became red with embarrassment and looked at herself. "Uhm, Roxanne? This in not really the time. Help me first please?", Hector interjected. "Right, sorry, right away."
After a few moments of struggle, they managed to get Lilith off Hector and he sat up and inhaled deeply. "Are you alright? Sorry for behaving the way I did...I don’t know what go to me..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 01:45:41 pm
Heln nodded at that, intent on holding him close as she relaxed a bit. "Still...thank you." she said, blushing some as she closed her eyes.
Hector gave a yelp as the jolt of electricity coursed through them both, only his bionics keeping him from being crushed outright, muscles seizing and pushing back with considerable force, yet nowhere near enough to match her immense strength.
He felt something nearly wrenched out of a socket, and her slamming into him hard enough to crack a rib, not to mention jabbing him painfully hard when she buried her face in against him. "Augh, f-fucking..." he groaned out. That he was rather freely cursing, and not the usual butchered Latin, was a bad sign.
As agonizing as it was, he'd take advantage of most of the pressure being on his left side, using what he'd learned about using ones own weight against someone, eventually managing to be free of the tigress. "I've been through worse, to be honest." he remarked, a hand gripping his shoulder, only to wince as something popped back into place. He noticed blood making his right hand slick, not even noticing all the scratches he had at first.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 04, 2017, 02:06:41 pm
Lilith yawned, sighing loudly as she does so, and shakily gets to her paws. "Not thmall man... Sowwy." She shakes her head and pokes Hector in the ribs, thankfully with her claws sheathed this time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 02:25:20 pm
"Oh no, no! Hector, I am so sorry!", Roxanne told the knight. "We need to get to back to the farm as soon as possible and get that checked out.".
Roxanne looked over at Lilith and saw her in relatively good shape despite Roxanne's actions. "Lil, you’ll be fine here by yourself? We are going now ok? Sorry about tasing you..." , Roxanne told the tigress. Roxanne then turned her attention back to Hector, "Here, hold onto me if you need to, we are not too far away."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 02:28:26 pm
Hector grimaced a bit, already he was fumbling for something he'd just realized wasn't on hand, the drop leg pouch he carried first aid supplies in, giving a light yelp as Lilith poked him at where a rib was either broken or close to it. "In the morning you and Nathaniel need to take some time off..." he said, fumbling to tear apart the tattered dress shirt he'd taken to wearing, to at least patch up one of the more severe gashes the tigress left.
"And I'm going to have to either see Quinn, see if Sergei's rumors about that weird cloak are true, or..." he said, staggering to his feet with Roxanne's help.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 04, 2017, 02:44:11 pm
Lilith shakes her head. "Sowwy mehtal man." She growls, then stands up properly, scooping them both up in one big hug, or at least attempting to. "Sowwy, scawy lady."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 02:56:13 pm
"So you too now want to delve in the arcane huh? If you think that could help, then so be it. We should get you patch up in the meantime." , Roxanne told Hector.
When Lilith approached to hug them, Roxanne for a moment though she had come for revenge but when she got a hug instead, she felt both relief and a little bit of guilt; as much guilt as a literal psychopath could muster. "I am sorry too Lil, now. Let’s go home, the three of us. I am going to take Hector to see about that arm and you go back to your cabin ok? We will accompany you until we reach the farm and from there you go back to sherlene. No hard feelings right? Let’s just forget this happened.", Roxanne told Lilith
"Alright, let’s get going.", Roxanne told both Hector and Lilith, "If either of you feel bad along the way, let me know."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 03:01:00 pm
Hector nodded at that. "We'll see what needs to be done. More concerned about ensuring I can still handle the mission, I've survived worse than this." he remarked. Usually this would be where he's forced to limp his way out of danger and be left unable to do much more for a while, but there were pressing matters in the coming week to deal with.
He'd suggest either reaching Quinn's lab, or at least where Hector stashed his first aid supplies, though his hasty attempts to control the bleeding at least worked somewhat.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 04:03:55 pm
Roxanne, Hector and Lilith walked towards the farm with Roxanne helping Hector on his way back. Neither of them was really mad at Lilith as Hector was too busy hurting and Roxanne reflecting on her actions. Once they reached the farm, Lilith continued on her way to the cabin.
"You think she will be alright walking by herself?" ,asked Hector.
"She got here by herself, it’s a short walk and would you mess with her? She’ll be fine." , Roxanne responded to which the knight just nodded at.
"Alright, let’s get you sitting down and I’ll check on your injuries.", Roxanne declared. She took Hector to the food commune were some first aid supplies were also kept. It was late already and everyone was either asleep or inside their residences working on their own things. Roxanne looked over Hector’s patch work that he did with his shirt and took it off to apply antiseptic alcohol and put proper bandages. "Sorry Hector, but this will have to do. We don’t know if Helen is still around here and it’s a bit late to go knocking on Quinn’s door...wait, there is one thing...", Roxanne told Hector, she bit her lip as at the last bit.
"I do have some very rare medicine that is capable of even mending wounds. It’s what save me when I returned from the disaster that was the hospital run. I only have one dose left...I don’t know if I should use it on this..." , Roxanne explained. Her eyes widen as she realized the connotation of what she said. "I am not saying that you aren’t worth it! You must certainly are; I don’t know what I would do without you...", Roxanne blurred at once getting a bit to close to Hector for comfort.
Roxanne pulled back and continued, "Sorry, I have been a real pain in the ass this last few couple hours and you don’t deserve that...I will use that medicine on you as a way to say sorry ok? Hold tight, I’ll go get it!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 04:16:10 pm
Hector was soon sitting there, wincing at the should that he'd forced back into place, and the fractured ribs, but trying his best not to actually hint at the pain. "This should do for now. Most of them were rather shallow cuts at least." he pointed out, suspecting that the underlying muscle augmentation bionic helped a lot with that.
"Should save it for emergencies, I'll live through this." he pointed out. "Only thing is ensuring I'm in fighting shape by the time we set out." he added. "Should've seen one run-in with one of those mutated, brutish undead once." he said, smiling some only to be surprised by her offer.
"You sure? If we don't have any more of it..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 04, 2017, 05:43:39 pm
The next morning:
Quinn is reads Helen's notes, clearly staying up all night doing research and reading the notes in detail. His head resting against his hand while nearly dozing off, he scratches his chin and stretches. There's various pens and notes of his own conserning a way to possibly fabricate dull essence. Almost passing out before there's a loud, steady knock. He jumps and falls over, sending everything that was on the table flying. He gets up and answers the door, "What? What is it, Helen?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 05:48:40 pm
Helen smiled and gave a nod to Quinn. "Good morning. Don't look like you've slept that easily." she remarked, having gathered another few notes of hers. "Hector informed me about one of the items you have possibly being similar to something I found sometime before my arrival. Compared to things like warding off spirits with holy symbols, I assume it might be more immediately useful to you? Has the knight arrived to ask you about the effects you're aware of?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 04, 2017, 05:52:21 pm
"I don't sleep. Come in, you're asking about a zweliander? Dark blade?" Quinn starts up a pot of coffee. "Coffee?" He asks, grabbing the cursed blade that's inside a labelled evidence bag.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 05:55:39 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Ritual blade used by the Keepers of the Oath, altered by blood magic, not many m-" she then paused a moment, seeming surprised. "Zweihander, yes. Those are even rarer among those ritual swords in general, and two of them being corrupted in the same way? How'd you come across that thing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 04, 2017, 06:01:37 pm
"Ffffound it, in an old cultist building." The coffee maker starts to drip coffee into the pitcher. "Why? Do you need it for something?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 06:06:53 pm
Helen hmmed a bit at that. "Odd. What sort of cultists?" she asked, curiously now. "I suppose a cup wouldn't hurt..." she said, before continuing, leaving her notes by the desk. "Will want to know what you've found out about it as well. Main reason I'm leaving these notes here is because of one of its effects, likely the reason it was altered in fact. You aren't the type to go about trying to use unfamiliar items in magical rituals though, I'd hope?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 04, 2017, 06:43:06 pm
Quinn nods and pours out two mugs of coffee and gives one to Helen as she walks out. He grabs his cup and looks at the notes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 06:49:16 pm
Helen nodded at that as she took a sip. Most of her notes for it concerned her findings at the temple she found the sword in, what she knew of the ritual blades, the apparent effects of the corruptive magic on rituals it was designed for, and some discussion on what seemed to have been accidentally summoned as a result.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 04, 2017, 07:09:38 pm
What came next, was the hallucinations. Catnip's withdrawal was beginning to peak, and with that peak came the voices and the shadows. It wouldn't have been terrible, Catnip had seen many strange things since leaving the lab, but it was the fact that her mind decided to fabricate her delusions from just that source of memories that made the entire experience an excersize in horror. She tightened down a bolt, a temporary thing to hold a bit of metal in place while she welded it, when she thought she saw something zipping at her from the corner of her eye and heard the voice of Doctor Korben. "Stupid fucking bitch! This project will never work out if you can't wise the fuck up, now get the hell back to your room. Nathan? Nathan, where the hell are you? Take this bitch back to her room, and for fucks sake take those books out of there." Painful memory, something she'd repressed along with most of the rest of her childhood. The thing had been the heavy desk placard bearing Korben's name and title, the reason had been some failed test the staff had put to the subjects. Catnip had been two Christmases old then, Mona having been just taken away for her own Christmas not long before. Oh how the other subjects had loved Mona, the biggest and kindest of them all. Kathrine saw the flinch, and asked if Catnip had hurt herself. "No Kat, just... More unpleasant memories. Can I have another cigarette?" Kathrine provided one, not needing to light it for Catnip. The tremors were less today, her headache and fever had gone down. Her morning shower had done wonders for those at least, and this time no one had been allowed in while Catnip performed the daily ritual of scrubbing her fur. She started on the weld, fully expecting another hallucination to interrupt her task, but was pleasantly surprised when nothing occured.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 04, 2017, 07:31:46 pm
Bandit woke up after a few hours of sleep and stood up. Pulling another meal out of his bag he ate rather quickly before taking another of his pills and feeling the pain ebb before completely disappearing. He stopped at the door of the building and checked his pistol. Magazine's full, one in the chamber, everything else is good too and the safety is off.
Tucking the gun into it's place he pulling his jacket over it he walked out of the building with his mask on. If he were honest he was still tired but that was due to his sleep not being particularly restful. Regardless Bandit looked around for Roxanne to get that tour and then find the stuff he'd need for his new lab.
Meanwhile Alice woke up as well and went outside to see what was going on. Soon she found Drifter checking his leg and weapons. Moving to sit next to him she watched him work for a few minutes before asking him "Could you teach me how to shoot?"
Drifter slid the magazine into his M16 as he told her "I sure can. Though I'll see if'n I can find a good pistol for you to start with before we get you onto the big guns."
She smiled and said "Thanks Isaac, I really appreciate it."
Drifter smiled as the pair went off to find the appropriate starting weapon for the girl.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 08:18:09 pm
Roxanne head outside to the food commune to fetch some breakfast and pain medication for Hector. After she insisted that he get treated with the RX-12, she took him to her room so she could properly treat him. She was no nurse but had read about first aid here and there and felt confident in her abilities. As someone who didn’t sleep save once a week, she looked over him all night attended to his needs be it giving him some water or checking his bandages. For no one else had she given this much level of care but for Hector she felt it was the least she could do.
As she prepared some rice and beans, she noticed Bandit approach her. She smiled and addressed the man before her. "Good morning, Bandit it is? Here for the tour I presume? Or you want to go straight to your temporary working area? If it’s the latter, give me a few minutes while I prepare Hector some breakfast. The setup is right on the way."
Victor was once more alone in his room. Helen had woken up a couple hours before and she dismissed herself, unlike last time. Victor had a headache that didn’t allow him to concentrate but refused to take any medication as self punishment for making Helen worry like she did yesterday.
"Randael, can you hear me?", Victor called to the sword spirit. “You called”, answer Randael by projecting it’s voice through the room. "Could you check to see if the spirit of death still lingers? I can sense a faint aura that persists around here. No, I will not try to contact it again, quite the opposite actually. I want to know if I have to exercise caution if it is indeed lingering here,", Victor explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 08:28:37 pm
Hector was surprised at this, though he helped direct her as best as he could, with his own first aid experiences, both old classes and a lot of things learned by trial and error, though thankful he had someone there to help him do so.
With that help he'd slept rather easily, injuries mostly taken care of, for now resting in his room since he'd hoped the others would have no need of him for now. Better to avoid overexerting himself so he'd be healed up by the time they needed to head for the lab.
Nathaniel had checked on him this morning too, and having heard of what occurred last night he decided to go pay Lilith a visit. He seemed to take things in stride at least, more surprised that Lilith had dragged him off for whatever reason. The idea that she might've mistaken the knight for him was one that caused a fair bit of amusement.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 04, 2017, 08:30:06 pm
Bandit shrugged to Roxanne as he told her "Why don't we just worry about the temporary work space. I'll wait around here till your ready so just come find me then."
With that Bandit found himself a nice spot to wait and settled in.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 08:49:20 pm
Roxanne gave a nod at Bandit before he left and she continued cooking. She was not Katherine but once she had finished the meal, she carried it, along with some pain medication, to her room where Hector laid. "Wakey wakey my knight in shiny armor.", Roxanne said playfully as she carried a plate for Hector, "Breakfast is ready! Tell me how it is ok? I also brought you some pain meds in case the medication from last night reacts again. Rest some more and don’t do anything stupid while I am gone ok? Gotta show someone around." , Roxanne told Hector as she placed the plate, water and the pill on the counter next to him and then left him to recover.
Roxanne returned and found Bandit just lazing around waiting. "Sorry for the wait; a girl has to take care of her man you know? Anyways, let’s go; I’ll show you where you will be working." , Roxanne told Bandit. Soon enough, she led him to the main building and showed him the set up. "This is what we call ‘the radio room’ because of the broadcast setup I have in the back.", Roxanne said pointing to the back of the room and then to a door next to the broadcast setup, "See that room? That is my room and under no circumstance must you go in ok?" She then drew his attention back to the makeshift kitchen/chem lab thing she had going. "I set up this myself and no one is allowed to use it but myself. Reason being is that I don’t cook food to simply eat but more for...uhm…’religious reasons’. But if you can make something that can allow me to talk to the gods, that counts in my book don’t you think?", Roxanne explained.
Randael setup looking for signs of the spirit of death still lingering. As a spirit of harvest itself, and a powerful one at that despite his current state, he could easily detects signs of other spirits. Soon enough, he noticed traces of spiritual activity that match what he witness just before many of his contracts were broken through the centuries. He had to report this back to Victor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2017, 08:53:32 pm
Hector smiled a bit at that, as he'd already been stirring earlier, looking up at her. "Thank you. You sure things'll be alright for now?" he asked, though taking a drink of the water. The item she'd given him to use had helped considerably, most notably with the cracked in his ribs, and those had been the main thing he was worried about, given they couldn't simply be bandaged up like the cuts.
"It's fine though, no need to worry about me, honest." he said. Stubborn knight as always it seemed, though for now he ate breakfast and let her tend to other business.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 04, 2017, 08:57:12 pm
Bandit looked the place over. The current chem lab setup would have to go, or at the very least be modified but that would be okay. The part about talking to gods caught him off guard for a moment but then he'd had people who'd claimed that after taking some of his shit. Shrugging he told her "No worries about me snooping around, learned quick back in my old Ends that's how you get shot or shanked. I can make the space work but I'll need a better setup. I can rig up what I'll need from things I saw around though so that's not a problem. And as for talking to gods..well I'm not sure I can promise that. I've had people claim it before on some of my stuff but they could have just been high out of their minds. But I'm willing to try and make such things for you."
He waited to see how she'd respond to that last part but figured worst come to worst he'd have to rig up somewhere else for the purpose. He also kept his curiousity at the 'religious reasons' comment to himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 09:14:50 pm
Roxanne listened at Bandits explanation simply nodding and then finally giving a soft laugh at the last bit. "No worries, modify it however you like; just as long as I can still cook and preserve meat then we are good. As for the last bit, I meant that more metaphorically but if it can do it literally, then more power to ya my man! I am into some odd spiritual things and I need something to alter my mind while I am at it. Don’t mind my ramblings about spirits and the such too much, we all have our quirks and that is one of mine.", Roxanne explained to Bandit.
"I see, so my suspicions are correct...", Victor said as Randael gave his report, "I will have to lay low for a while and then segment my projects to other people incase it is watching over me..."
Victor opened the book on the dead and read the section on guards people used to use. "Doubt it works but just in case...”, Victor told himself, "I don’t need that spirit bothering me on my next project...manipulation of the dead beyond the blob!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 04, 2017, 09:29:33 pm
Bandit smiled as he told her "Spirituality's good, plus I've heard ramblings probably far stranger than what you've got. It's surprising what people hopped up on some of the shit I used to make would say. One man was telling the mandem somethin' about how pants were used to keep the poor poor and the rich rich. Oh, and when I'm 'cooking' no one's allowed in here wit me. Both so I can concentrate and so they don't inhale some bad shit and end up with burns in their lungs or something like that."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 09:55:03 pm
Roxanne smiled at Bandit’s remarks, specially the last one. "Then you and I share a similar philosophy. When I am cooking, no one is allowed in as well...but I can assure you it’s probably for different reasons...I hope...", Roxanne responded back, blushing a bit at the end part.
"Well if you ever need anything, be it more gear or ingredients, just let me know. Also, don’t let anyone who isn’t already in the known find out about this. Some residents frown upon drug use and you don’t want to get on their bad side… They are easy to deal with as they think like children so a little white lie should do. I’ll take care of the rest."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 04, 2017, 10:06:40 pm
Bandit nodded as he started for the door. "Oh I wasn't planning on telling anyone about what I was making save for some traders I'm sure would like something new to sell."
As he was about to walk out Bandit stopped and looked over his shoulder at Roxanne. "I just thought, what're we gonna tell people I'm doing in here if you don't want them knowing about the drugs? I mean I imagine me being in here's going to be a weird thing anyway so explaining why's probably a good thing to think of."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 04, 2017, 10:09:22 pm
"Alchemy, just say alchemy. If they ask for clarification, say magic rituals using chemicals. Tell them you are doing so to help me with my rituals, it should be as simple as that.", Roxanne told Bandit as he was on his way out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 04, 2017, 10:19:27 pm
Bandit nodded to that as he walked out the door and closed it "Will do."
With the where situated Bandit started collecting parts. The process was a bit more time consuming then he'd initially thought but he set about the task with what enthusiasm he could muster. Soon though he'd get a proper lab set up.
Meanwhile Drifter continued to instruct Alice with the small caliber pistol they'd managed to find. As she fired another shot Drifter determined she'd need quite a bit of practice before he'd even call her competent. A second shot and he stepped in to help her, showing her how to properly hold the weapon and how to aim it again before stepping back again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 05, 2017, 02:06:43 am
She had to take a break. That last hallucination had been a bit too much. It started small, but once she'd thought of Mona, her memories had begun to creep in and the smoke of the cigarette Kathrine had given her had swirled and made shapes. Made faces. She didn't need this now, not this new sadness. Mica had come to visit, bringing that annoying little robot with her. "Kat-nyp! How you fee-"
"Mica, Do you remember Mona?" The smile Mica always wore dropped away from her face, almost like someone had thrown a brick through a garish stained glass window. The gates of repressed memory in her now also opened wide. Mica set the proxy down, carefully and without feeling, so she could take the chair next to Catnip. They watched the shifting smokes together, and shared in unspoken memory.
Mica and Catnip, Catnip and Mica. The two of them shared one large room, at first, with a family of twenty four other brothers and sisters. Them, and Professor Missy Blakely. Missy had been X7's moral oversight director, and also akin to a mother for the twenty-six tube grown children. One day though, Missy had come to the big play room where all the children were, and told them that she wouldn't be around anymore. How they had cried together that day, and life had only gotten worse after that. After Missy was gone, they'd been split into seperate rooms and the testing began. The tests and the christmases with their "gifts." "Gifts" for everyone but the children of X7 because wouldn't you know it, the children of X7 were the gifts. They didn't know it though, and so one by one they were subjected to tests and the one with the lowest results would be taken away and given a "Christmas," never to be seen again. Snowball had been the first, then Mona. Blue after, and Setsuna, and Mocha. Ivan, Bubblegum, Bear, Chester, Parker, Jingle, and PB. There was a long time without tests, and then they took away Swain, Capra, Oni, Wolf, and Whiskey. They took Jack and King at the same time leaving only Pace, Brown, Caramel, Lily, Alabaster, Mica, and Catnip. A few more tests, and then Pace and Brown were gone leaving the rest to wonder what they'd got for christmas. Lily and Caramel, so pretty and always vain while with the others but secretly jealous of one another had been last before the test that should have been the end of Catnip except that she escaped, so they took away Alabaster instead. Then only Mica had been left. Alone, all alone.
Each name brought forth a new pang of sadness. Catnip showed little of this, only wiping at her eyes once, but each remembered name brought a fresh batch of tears from Mica. "My-ka miss them all..." She lamented. Catnip didn't dare to speak for fear that doing so would bring her to tears as well. "Why does Kat-nyp bring mem-rees back to My-ka? Make My-ka hurt? Cruel Kat-nyp when My-ka just want to see if Kat-nyp feelin' better."
"I'm sorry Mica, I-" Mica didn't want to hear any sorrys though, and she ran out of the barn pushing Floyd out of the way as she went, and giving Medeina a careless kick which nearly sent the mutant sprawling to the floor. "Woah," Floyd said at her passing, "What's got her all agitated?" Catnip stared into the middle distance and shook her head and squeezed Kathrine to her side. "Old memories of old people. Sad times. She'll probably go to Dee. Or Sharlene. Maybe even Lilith." She gave her head a more vigorous shake to clear the names from the front of her mind, and stated "I have to get back to work. What do you need Floyd?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 05, 2017, 03:05:22 am
Floyd scratched his grey and white thick beard, and sighs. He grabs a nearby chair and sits down. "I'm gettin' old, kiddo." He takes off his worn, antique watch. "Listen, kiddo, I'm probably not gonna be around for much longer. I wanna give you my watch, my pa gave it to me and his pa gave it to him... " Floyd lets out a sigh through his nose, "All I'm tryin' to say is... you gave me purpose? You gave this old bag a' bones purpose. An' your the closest thing I'll have to a kid... I want you t' have this..." Floyd offers the watch to Catnip.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 05, 2017, 03:31:06 am
Catnip winced, but took the watch. In apropos of nothing, a result of her mental condition, she held up the time piece and said "Watch is such a good name for a little clock. What do you do with one other than watch it?" Much later, Catnip would get curious and open the old watch up and marvel at the tiny workings inside. For now Catnip just gave the old cowboy a brief hug and a thanks before turning back to her work.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 05, 2017, 08:54:24 pm
Sharlene was bumped awake by something hard and sharp poking her in the side. Repeatedly. Eventually she decides she's had enough and sits up, ready to beat Lilith and/or Mohammad around the side of the head with a table lamp, when she realised that despite Lilith indeed being the one bothering her, Lilith was also entirely naked. And had blood dripping from her sizeable teeth. "Jesus christ, Lil, what di-" A quick look up reveals that the door had been removed entirely and leant up against the interior wall, and Lilith's touring suit was entirely in tatters in the corner, on top of her little 'nest'. "...That. That's what you did. Right, I ain't bleedin', so that's someone else's blood. Who'd you go and beat up this time?" "Mehtal man an' scawy lady." "Scaw- Scary lady? Who the hell's Scary Lady?" Sharlene's sat on the edge of the bed now, rubbing the top of Lilith's head. "They ain't dead, right?" Lilith shakes her head and grumbles, then stalks off to her den-bed in a huff, falling asleep instantly. "...Goddamnit, Lilith."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 05, 2017, 09:00:56 pm
Nathaniel sighed as he, the next morning, made his way over to the cabin, both amused and unnerved at the havoc wreaked on the door. "Hey Lilith? It's me, Nathaniel..." he said, poking his head in the open doorway. "Hector told me about what happened last night, just...what the fuck."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 05, 2017, 09:06:52 pm
Sharlene suddenly sits up, sending the blanket she as under flying forward, and showing off her aggressively pink t-shirt. "WHAT? What happened? Who died?" She yells, looking over at the stirring Lilith. Lilith opens one eye and looks at Nathaniel for a while before moving her head off her paws, and lying on her side, stretching out one arm towards him. "Thmall man, com'ere" She beckons Nathaniel closer, or at least gestures for him to get close enough to grab him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 05, 2017, 09:09:36 pm
Nathaniel blinked at that, only to facepalm. "Jesus fuck that shirt is eye-searing. No one died, Hector's a bit torn up but he's laughed off worse shit." he said, carefully moving towards Lilith. "Easy girl, be careful alright? You still hurt Hector quite a but accidentally, and I'm not practically a walking tank like he is."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 05, 2017, 09:19:01 pm
Roxanne was once more flipping through the pages of “The Source” to find guidance in her upcoming mission. She was in the fourth chapter already; this chapter detailed the ranking and assignment system, dubbed the “purpose assignments”. The book talked about the roles of different members and how they could ascend through different ranks. It also talked about how even though most of their members operated in isolation, they were never truly alone as someone of their order would always be nearby; it told her they were like family, stronger even in their new goal.
“Sever all former ties you had for you are one of us now.”, the book read, “We share a common goal, a common purpose, and a common point of view. We share a link stronger than that of blood, we are family now, your true family."
“Yes...family...”, Roxanne whispered to herself, "They were my family too...now they too have left me..." As she said this, she let herself be taken down memory lane.
“Mom, what are you saying?!”, Roxanne shouted over the phone, "How much do you know?! Answer me!"
"We know all of it Roxanne...we didn’t raise you this way...we didn’t raise a killer!",the woman over the phone shouted back, “Where did we go wrong?...what could we have done differently?”
"Mom, listen. Put the phone down and don’t do anything rash. I can explain...How did you find out anyways?", Roxanne pleaded with her mother.
"You think I am stupid Roxanne?! Your father still has his government contacts, of course he would know! Don’t bother coming into this house ever again...You are not our daughter anymore...You father doesn’t even want to hear your name..."
Roxanne was left there perplex. How did they find out about her “job”. Her mom called out of the blue and listed off her recent hits. This was no bluff, they knew… "No, I swear I can...". Before Roxanne could finish that sentence, she could hear sirens approaching; they she peeked out and saw two black armored trucks heading in her direction. She lived in the outskirts of town to have a low profile and the other nearest house was two miles down that road, they were coming for her.
Roxanne paused and then realisation hit her and she angrily picked the phone back up. "You bitch, what did you do?! Did you tell on me to the police?!", Roxanne asked demanding an answer.
"I couldn’t just sit hear and do nothing...You have to be brought to justice...it’s the only thing we can do after you tarnish this family's name!", the woman on the phone responded.
Roxanne was angry. Her parent’s betrayed her, how dare they?! She picked up the phone one last time. "Both of you are dead to me, you hear me?! DEATH!!! I will make sure you actually are in due time, just you fucking wait!", Roxanne shouted into the phone before hanging up.
The two trucks reached her house and with a swift maneuver, created cover for himself and blocked any possible exit routes. Men in heavy looking armor busted from the trucks carrying larger rifles. “Roxanne Blackmore, under the authority invested to us by the United States of America, you are under arrests for numerous charges of manslaughter, serial murder, conspiracy to kill and terrorist threats. Please step out of the building or we will enter and we will engage on sight., a voice sounded outside from a speaker.
This was it, she would die thanks to the people who brought her into this would in the first place. But she wouldn’t go down without a fight! Roxanne heard shouting and commands being issued, she heard heavy footsteps and shadows move outside. Then, silence….it was deafening. Roxanne had deployed her blade and electroshock unit while taking cover behind a wall. She would wait for them to come close and take them down with overwhelming force using her CQB bionic. She waited for them to breach, but the time never came.
As she waited, Roxanne suddenly heard gunshots outside. Cries of agony resourced and then once more silence. She saw a silhouette approach and was right outside her window; Roxanne leveled her blade and await for the worst. Instead of a breach, she got a know, and then another. Roxanne was confused, why knock? “He who breaks the veil”, the voice outside said exclaimed out loud. "The veil shall break thee...", Roxanne responded. She knew she could trust this person, they spoke in code used in her order.
As Roxanne opened the door, a cloaked figure appeared before her; he had long blond hair and blue eyes and was very easy on the eyes. Roxanne bit her lips and looked him from head to toes for a moment before she was interrupted. “Surely this isn’t the time for that. You were about to die so calm yourself down.”, said the man with grin on his face. Roxanne jolted her face back to meet the man’s and she blushed. "I- I am sorry. Will not happen again sir!"
“Don’t worry about it. We have matters to attend too.”, said the man as he entered Roxanne’s home. Roxanne looked outside to see masked, heavily armed men with rifles wearing cloaks similar to the one the man inside wore; they were looting the truck and the bodies of the now dead swat men. On further inspection, she saw they weren’t as adorned as the one by the man inside; his cloak had many symbols etched into it and was red rather than black like the ones outside. “You can call me Hunter Alex”, the man said stating his rank and name, “You are Roxanne Blackmore correct?” Roxanne nodded.
"Hunter Alex huh? What is an Acquisitionist doing here?", she asked.
“As you know, we do more than just acquire artifacts and arcane knowledge, we also serve as this order’s armed forces and take care of our own as such. You were in trouble and we came to help.” Hunter Alex said as he paced around.
"How did you know I was in trouble?", asked Roxanne once more.
“I have eyes and ears everywhere miss Blackmore. I wasn’t going to let such a pretty face like yourself get in harms way.”, responded the Hunter, “Now, back to business. Your parent’s know to much and as such they must be dealt with, we hope you understand. Also, now law enforcement knows of you so we must relocate you and change your name, for your own safety. Any ideas?”
Roxanne looked at the man before answering. She was given the chance of a new life. Yes, she no longer had family, they disowned her, the order was her new family! "That’s the why things you. They are empire now and as such no family of mine. I can take care of them myself!", Roxanne exclaimed.
“Now now, I appreciate the enthusiasm but you are in no position to work right now. Besides, we can’t allow personal matters to cloud your judgment. We will take care of them for you, don’t worry. For now, choose a name and come with me, we have to relocate you now. The men outside will help you pack.”, Alex explained.
"Luna", Roxanne said, "My name is now Roxanne Luna."
Alex smiled. “What a pretty name, seems fitting, where you get it?”,asked the hunter.
Roxanne pointed to the man’s crest on his cloak that was a moon casting light over a forest. This made the man smile more. "Ah, I see, the crest of the hunter...good choice. Say, I seen your record, you can handle yourself pretty well...how about joining the cause of the hunter and help bring knowledge to the world?", Alex told Roxanne.
Roxanne smiled wide and she nodded her head in excitement. "Good, we could use some young blood. Well then...Miss Luna, lets head over and review you next location...and assignment Hunter."
That had been three months before the cataclysm. Roxanne was given a test to become and acquisitionist and passed with flying colors. She was about to be let in on the arcane, she was about to find fulfillment, to find comradely; maybe even something more under the command of Alex… Rumors of war with China were at an all time high and the order had take step to get their members to be exempt from the draft. As for Roxanne, she had her identity changed and she lived on as before in a new house bought and paid by the order. She looked at the the list of hits displayed; this was her last one. She had witnessed her parents appear on the list only to have been “cleared” the next day. Serves them right, she thought. As she looked for her last job as a hitman, she found the perfect target: Hilario Singh...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 05, 2017, 09:57:42 pm
Bandit spent some time getting the parts together for his build. Thankfully he'd found all the parts he needed including some that were rather hard to find these days. Soon he found himself back in the room Roxanne had told himself to use with the entrance closed and having made sure no one would bother him. The build itself took little time and he realized with this gear he could make industrial grade chemicals, probably even military grade if he were willing to expend the resources.
Stepping back from his new lab he took his gas mask out of his bag along with an MP3 player and speakers. Tossing the bag to the side his hoodie and mask soon followed and he found himself staring at his reflection in one of the pieces of his lab. Running a hand along the scar on his face he sighed before tucking the gas mask on and deciding to get to work.
Turning the music on Bandit let himself sink into his work. The chemical mixtures came to his mind as if they were something he'd been born knowing as he poured and mixed chemicals. Before he knew it time had passed and he was sorting the last of the products.
Some were just simple pills that would get someone high without any ill side effects. Others were things like hallucinogens, uppers, and high grade pain killers. Well and something special for Roxanne, one of his odder mixes that he figured might help her 'commune' with her spirits. And of course his own personal pain pills that he slid into his messenger bag before pulling on his hoodie as the last of the fumes were vented. Sliding off his gas mask and putting on his Mannequin mask Bandit picked up his messenger bag and walked out of the place with the products of his work. He'd left a note for Roxanne to let her know if she needed any of the 'alchemical' components she'd had him make for her that he had them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 05, 2017, 10:48:25 pm
Roxanne closed the book once she came to from memory lane. This book certainly made her feel emotional everytime she read it. She was in the library since Hector was in her room recovering and she assumed Bandit was making some changes to the setup she had given him. For now, she needed a little distraction; and what better way to do so than to tease Hector a little bit?
Roxanne exited the library and went toward the door of the main room. She knocked a few times and awaited a response. "I really need a back door to my room now...", she though. No one answered her knocks so she took that as an all clear and entered the building. Once inside, Roxanne looked in awe at the modifications Bandit had done to the place; it looked like a proper lab. She approached the setup and noticed the note. As she read it, she smirked and laugh at the end. "’Alchemical’ compounds, nice one!", Roxanne told herself. She would have to pay bandit a visit soon to see just what he had come up with. But for now, Hector awaited her in her room.
The door to her room opened slowly as Roxanne peaked in slowly and with a childish voice asked the knight, "Heeey Hector, whatchu doing?"
Some time later, Roxanne was on her way to find Bandit. She looked at the note and went to the location it said where to find him. Once she flagged him down she asked him about the note. "Heyo! Bandit! Sooo, I found this note in the now lab, impressive setup by the way, and I couldn’t help wonder what you got for me. Mind telling a lady what you got for her?", Roxanne asked with a smile, her hand were behind her and she was swinging back in forth in what looked like impatience.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 05, 2017, 11:04:09 pm
Bandit opened his bag and pulled out a couple of sealed plastic bags. Handing the first to Roxanne he said "Been a while since I cooked those. Bunch of spiritual types back in me old Ends wanted them a lot, said it made them feel connected to the spirits they worshiped and sought out. Just be careful and only take one. Takes a while for 'em to kick in but more than that and things might not go so smooth. As a word of warning those are technically mild hallucinogens but the, well normal, customers said they didn't have an effect. Just the spiritual types from around the Ends."
He caught onto her seeming impatience and handed the other bag to her. "Those'll just get you high like the joints I passed around earlier. Granted faster but still not the best thing to have in your system depending on your situation. Aside from those I made some pretty strong pain killers and some regular hallucinogens as well as some uppers. Just let me know if you want any of the other stuff and I'll get it to you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 05, 2017, 11:20:20 pm
At the explanation of the first batch, Roxanne’s eyes widened and she just stared at it while talking. "You mean...You actually did it? This will allow me to talk to the spirits? Oh my...", Roxanne responded and leaned in a bit closer to take a look at the bag.
Her reaction to the second bag was more benign. She occasionally galnced at the first bag while she listened and nodded when she turned her gaze back at Bandit. "Gotta say, if that is as strong as those joints, then this bag should last me awhile. The bionic I had that filters my blood went wild that night and it seemed to alter my personality outright. Don’t know if it was your drug or if my peculiar biology influence in anyway.", Roxanne responded to Bandit, she pointed to her ears on her last remark to drive the point home.
"That’s fine Bandit, you have done enough already. I’ll let you know if I need anything else from you but go ahead and keep the rest for yourself. I can hook you up with some buyers from across the swamps or even maybe one here in this very farm. Keep up the good work on your ‘Alchemy’.", Roxanne told Bandit on his statement of the other things he made while she winked and giggled at her last remark. "Been a while since I talked in code. It’s always fun to do so."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 05, 2017, 11:28:11 pm
Bandit shrugged as he told Roxanne "I didn't promise they'd work mind you, Just that the spiritual types seemed really fond of the stuff even though none of my other customers got anything out of it. Don't go getting your hopes up, specially since it's made by an almost self taught drug cook."
At her last couple of remarks he cracked a smile underneath his mask and said "I've heard it called a lotta things but 'alchemy' is a new one. Code talk though that's something I learned to do real quick as a kid, comes in handy. As for buyers well I might be able to do something about that myself. I still know some blokes who'd probably be looking to buy."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 06, 2017, 12:08:42 am
"Ah ok then. I’ll leave things to you then. If this things work as advertised you will have a regular for them. Thanks alot for the chems again!", Roxanne told Bandit as she waved him off as she left him to his folly. She was absolutely giddy about it and had a betraying smile as she carried the substances in her purse.
At this point, Hector had insisted he go back to his room on his own. He was ok at this point, his injuries were nothing compared to the capabilities of the RX-12 injection. He was only in pain and was sore where his injuries had healed. He would be ok after another day’s worth of rest but the prideful knight might have other ideas. Roxanne gave him the all cleared but told him to keep taking the pain meds so he could cope with the pain. Hector responded by nodding and took the pain meds and gave Roxanne a goodbye kiss before heading out.
Now with the room to herself, she immediately changed to more comfortable clothing, turned off a sources of light and laid on her bed to take some of the substances Bandit gave her. "Take only one...", she reminded herself. She did as instructed and laid back in her bed thinking about things gone by. Suddenly, she felt it. She was no longer in her room, she was in what appeared to be a outside? She couldn’t really tell, the only clue she had was a lit circle around her that told her the floor was made out of dirt. An unknown light source illuminated her but outside it’s sphere of influence was an absolute and impossible darkness. Roxanne was a not scared though, she felt oddly at peace. Roxanne saw in the distance a faint glow and decided to travel to it. She walked for what seemed a solid 10 minutes before reaching an old lamp post that existed before electricity was invented and that had to be lit manually. It glowed a strong blue and Roxanne was captivated by it.
A presence had taken a curious look at the intruder. The way the intruder carried herself betrayed her ignorance of this place. The presence saw this as an opportunity.
Roxanne noticed the feeling of being watched and looked around in confusion. "Who is there?", she called out.
“Roxanne Luna”, a familiar voice called out.
"Randael, is that you?!", Roxanne responded.
"You shouldn’t be here...It’s dangerous...", the spirit of harvest whispered to her, “I am sorry but this is for your own good…” Randael extinguished the blue flame and then engulfed Roxanne. The next moment she was shrouded in darkness and the next she was back in her room feeling the best afterglow of her life. "That was amazing...", whispered Roxanne to herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 06, 2017, 01:18:45 am
Hector was, for now, simply tending to a view things here and there, examining his armor for worn-out links, scratches, and dents. Given he wasn't in his armor that night, there was little in the way of repairs to be done. If anything that frustrated him a bit. Whenever he was recovering from injury, he always used that time spent healing up to do simple, low-intensity things like patch up his shield or rivet new links for his mail, inevitable tasks that came with those injuries. More than merely giving him less to do, it also served as an irritating reminder of how he'd once again been lax in his caution and left his armor off. Both times thanks to Lilith, and this time he paid for it.
At one point he'd finally got around to asking Helen about what healing methods she had, who admitted that unfortunately hercloak would likewise cause pain, thought it wouldn't linger as persistently as the RX-12 seemed to be. It was a moot point now that the injection had done its work, but something he'd keep in mind if a situation like that came up again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 06, 2017, 02:50:08 am
Sharlene looks down at her shirt, about to say something, but then just settles on an "Eeeeehhh" and covers herself back up with her blankets. Lilith, though, entirely ignores Nathaniel in favour of grabbing his leg and pulling him towards her, into a naked hug, followed by placing him on the ground and lying her head on him. "Sowwy, thmall man. Mehtal man not you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 06, 2017, 02:53:34 am
Nathaniel smiled a bit at that, only to meep at his legs being yanked out from under him, knocked flat on his back and pinned under a nude tigress that was essentially using him as a pillow. "Hey...easy there, it's okay. Just try not to hurt anyone like that again, okay? At least not friends?" he said, pinned down but trying to relax lest she object rather violently to any attempt to wriggle out from under her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 06, 2017, 03:01:29 am
Lilith interrupts her purring with a growl, as soon as he mentions 'friends'. "No." She tries to move her head further up her Nathaniel-pillow, but completely fails on account of her paws slipping as soon as she raises herself up. Lilith just ends up headbutting Nathaniel in the shoulder, and lying with her chin/fangs resting against the floor. "Sowwy." It doesn't sound genuine, but she's doing the big, puppy dog eyes at him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 06, 2017, 05:19:17 am
She entered Dee's workshop like a storm. "Stupid Kat-nyp! Makin' My-ka think bout stuffs My-ka not wanna think bout!" She swept a load of components off Dee's main workbench with one swipe of her arms. Dee caught up the arms he'd worked so hard on before she could knock them to the floor. "Makin' My-ka sad!" She screamed. Dee set the arms down next to the laptop that Medeina's being existed in primarily, then turned back to Mica with the intention of reprimanding her for her destructive behavior. She stopped her attempts to rip the front plate from one of the security bot husks and went to her knees, showing that something else was going on. "Mica, goddamnit. If you're gonna break things, then don't break them in here!" He shouted, but Mica didn't have ears for it. She was too busy crying, and Dee realized it was something he'd never seen her do before. Not just crying, he saw, outright bawling. He felt bad about shouting at her, but at the same time he didn't. He didn't want her just striding in like she owned the place and tossing things around when the mood took her. Such tantrums could seriously set him back if she broke something important. "Moh-na!" she wept, "Oh Moh-na... Moh-na an' sno-bawl an' kar-mel..." Dee didn't know who or what she was talking about. "Mica? Are you alright?" He asked, rounding the table towards her. In a suddenly flurry of movement that would have given Sharlene an odd sense of deja-vu as seen from the outside, Mica scuttled at Dee and wrapped herself around his legs. "Lizard! My-ka miss them!"
"Who Mica? I don't-" She reached up and grabbed his shoulder, trying to pull him down to her level. All she accomplished though was to cause him to fall backwards, tripping over and falling on top of her. She didn't seem to notice but took the opportunity to reset her grip, adding her legs to the binding. "My-ka's bru-thurs an' sis-turs! Kat-nyp ask, and My-ka remember! Oh Moh-na! Al-ee-bass-tur!" Her hands worked, opening and closing, shredding his shirt and digging rents in his scales even as her tears darkened it. "Mica! Shit, that hurts, you gotta get off!" She didn't but her hands stopped their movement. For a little while, she just lay there borrowing his warmth, listening to his heart, soaking him with her weeping. The workshop ticked and buzzed with the sounds of computers working, and time passed.
"Mica?" She looked into his face, "Mica, can you let go?" Mica shook her head furiously and whispered, "My-ka never let go. Never let them take Lizard away." Dee could feel her getting hotter, not the heat of love but of a much more violent emotion. "Mica, calm down, your gonna kill me." Her only response was a hissing growl. "Jesus, Mica, I'm not gonna leave you ok? Just, lemme go, I'll be right here."
She let go with one set of arms, crossed them on his chest, and laid her head atop them. For a span, she just stared into his face and he could see the tears had stopped. The only thing he saw was curiosity. He did not see Medeina creeping into the workshop. "Oh? Am I interrupting? Do you mind if I watch?" She said casually. They ignored her, and Mica said, her voice hitching occasionally, "My-ka and Kat-nyp have many bru-thurs an' sis-turs. They... They all gone now."
"I'm sorry Mica." Dee said. He meant it too. Everyone had lost someone in the cataclysm, but he supposed from what he'd been told of Catnips past that the end of the sister's siblings had been particularly heinous. He got an idea, and voiced it. "Mica, do you like chocolate like Catnip does?" Mica shook her head and Dee remembered that Mica had never even had chocolate before. "Would you like to try some? Might make you feel better. In the time before the end, chocolate was one of those things people ate to make themselves feel better."
She pulled a little green thing from one of her pockets, the little brick of chocolate inside almost certainly malformed from so much time spent in her pocket. "My-ka never had." she sniffed, "But save this one for spe-shul time." Dee wondered where she got it, wanted to ask, but didn't get the chance. She tossed the little package into her mouth, as she did so Dee recognized the wrapper on the heavily caffeinated candy. He wondered what would happen next. "So... Are you two gonna get busy or what?" Medeina asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 06, 2017, 10:03:34 am
Nathaniel gave a little yelp as Lilith fumbled to move herself up and accidentally hitting him in the shoulder, giving an annoyed little whine as she further pinned him. He found himself staring at her, both irritated at how insincere she sounded and now due to a whole assortment of conflicting emotions.
"Just..be careful, okay?" he said, giving a sigh as his free hand moved to pet her. "Fucking hell you make it hard to stay mad at you..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 06, 2017, 11:18:12 am
Lilith starts purring again at Nathaniel's petting, shuffling forward to press her muzzle against his side. Then, out of nowhere and with no prompting, she suddenly opens her mouth as wide as she can get it and... Gently nibbles on him. "Nomph. Nhathlie tathte fuhnny, lhike..." She stomps clamping her jaws over him. "Like moo."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 06, 2017, 11:24:22 am
Nathaniel gives a little meep at that, going wide-eyed at that tigress opening wide, expecting to nearly be bitten in half only for the sensation to be significantly less painful than he expected, though it rather promptly made a mess of his jacket. "That's because you're eating my jacket, rather hard to find leather than isn't made from zombie wildlife now..." he said, almost whining a bit at that, nervously giving her earscritches. "P-please don't eat me. Or my jacket."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 06, 2017, 11:26:11 am
The effects weren't apparent at first. She chewed the chocolate, lacerating the wrapper easily, breathing out the mint scent of the candy in Dee's face. He could catch the vague smell of Coffee somewhere under that. "My-ka not impressed." She said after thinking it over a bit. Dee watched her, but said "you got plastic bits in your teeth babe."
"What is babe?" Asked Mica. Dee told her it was a term of endearment, a good thing. Nearby, Medeina waited and watched. "Can you get off me Mica?" Dee asked, deciding to again try and dislodge her. "Hm? Oh. My-ka don't know... Maybe she like lizard under her. Lizard comfortable pill-oh." She was getting warmer, and Dee recognized the growing look of avarice filling her eyes. "Bold lizard." She said suddenly, giggling. Mica let her head come to a rest against his chest, her earlier sadness somewhat forgotten. "Bold lizard! Makin' My-ka's head go funny."
"I did not Mica, you ate that chocolate with the coffee in it." In truth, Mica looked little more than a bit buzzed, not that it would matter if either of them chose to make a bad decision. Dervish had explained it to him. She'd never have trouble with alcohol, but caffeine would have much the same effect. "Medeina, can you help me out here? Instead of, you know, being an enabler?"
"What? and ruin all this good observation?" She said. Mica realized the robot was there, and it seemed to take her off guard. She thought for a moment, and reconsidered her grip around Dee's body. "Oh. Ro-but is here? Bold ro-but, more bold than lizard!" Mica said as she pushed herself away from Dee. The chocolate had her feeling a bit good, and the caffeine was starting to take effect. Maybe she would go forgive Catnip, or go see what some of the others were up to? She didn't know. What she did know though, was that Medeina would be following her the whole way.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 06, 2017, 11:51:01 am
"Sowwy." Lilith rubs her head against the ruined part of his jacket, then places her head on his chest so she's staring at his face, smiling and purring. She's still got those kitten eyes going, too. After a while, she places her paws on both sides of him, repositions herself above him, and then lies down on top of him, still staring at his face. "Lilith loveth Natalie. Even if tathte thrange..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 06, 2017, 11:54:45 am
Nathaniel sighs a bit at that reaction from the tigress, carefully petting at more, only to hug her close, as best as he can manage. "I...love you too. And at this rate I should probably take the jacket off before it's in a dozen pieces." he said, trying not to betray that irritation he had over the tears she left in it. "And if you mess up the kevlar when we have a mission fairly soon, that's gonna suck."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 06, 2017, 12:11:10 pm
"Sowwy." She says again, leaning in to press her nose against his mouth. "Kith."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 06, 2017, 12:14:54 pm
Nathaniel was about to say something only for her to nearly headbutt him, blushing a little before deciding to pull her close as best as he could, into a kiss as he relaxed some.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 06, 2017, 03:07:28 pm
Roxanne was currently putting away the two bags Bandit had given her. She wanted to try more but knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to do so. She would try the other batch later on as well, for now she need to do something that came to mind when she was changing back to a normal outfit.
Once she had put away her stuff and was ready to head out, she felt a familiar presence. "Randael? Is that you again?", Roxanne called out, "Talk about Deja Vu."
“Roxanne, what were you doing in border between life and death? How did you enter the border between life and death in the first place?!”, Randael asked of Roxanne.
Roxanne shrank back as the spirit raised it’s voice. "Sorry...did I do something wrong?", asked Roxanne.
“Sorry for raising my tone. I just didn’t expect it from you that's all, no offense. Not even your friend Victor has been able to do so. You have to understand that is a very dangerous place. I could feel a presence watching over us before I found you...And what would happen if a spirit of death found you there? The consequences could be dire…”, Randael said.
Roxanne had her head down and began twirling her hair. "Sorry I cause you any trouble...Curiosity got the best of me...", Roxanne responded.
“Don’t worry about it, what is done is done. Now, how about you tell me how you did it?”, asked the sword spirit.
Roxanne looked around. She didn’t see any manifestation of Randael so she assumed any angle would do to show him. With the utmost care, she took out the bag with the “Spiritual Pills”, as she had come to call them, that Bandit had given her. "I was given this and was told I would be able to talk to spirits...", Roxanne explained.
“I see…”, Randael responded. He had seen such substances in the past but required quite the advance knowledge of chemistry. He himself didn’t know how they work but a couple of contracts were made to him using such substances.
“Now, I know I won’t be able to keep you from doing such a thing again. I presume it felt really good right?”, Randael asked Roxanne. She inturned just nodded with a guilt ridden face. “As I thought. A human soul stripped of its worldly impurities, worries and problems finds a level of ecstasy not achieved any other way. That is what you experience in that realm. Now, how about next time I guide you instead of you going in blindly? I know you will go again and I would be better if you are prepared.”
Roxanne lifted her head and smiled. "Yes, I would like that very much!", Roxanne exclaimed.
"Very well, don’t make it a constant habit though. We don’t want to establish a pattern other entities might learn about. Next time you feel like you want to visit that realm, let me known and I will guide you. Take those pills with care.", Randael told Roxanne before he left her alone once more.
Roxanne finally excited her room after her little experimentation and encounter. She was feeling great from it still but she did not let it cloud her judgment or memory. There was something she needed to do and she had put it off for too long.
She reached the armory and let herself in. "Lets see...Roland said he wanted a rifle and scope…" Roxanne looked through the available weapons and though long and hard. She wasn't a gun person and her only firearm was laser rifle. She knew that wasn’t Roland’s style anyway. Then she found it, a Rivtech RM51 assault rifle. The farm had plenty of ammo and magazines to spare for such a rare ammunition type, 8x40mm caseless; those lab and military bunker raids had been a blessing. Roxanne picked the rifle up and loaded it up; she inspected it and give a nod of approval. "Only the best for our people!", Roxanne said to herself as she carried the experimental rifle; she picked up three spare magazines along with the one the rifle had and pocketed a few boxes of the ammunition. She then looked for a scope.
Roxanne had a harder time picking a scope since she knew even less about weapon accessories. She only had known iron sights and the scope on her laser rifle. She assumed Drifter would prefer an analog scope if he used such a weapon like a mosin. After looking around, she found a little box; it read: “PU Scope and installation kit, Mosin Nagant 91/30”. She smiled as she saw printed in the box a picture of the same rifle Drifter sported. Inside was the scope, a couple of tools to help installation and a little manual; it was all in surprisingly good condition and Roxanne wondered why it was so neglected. She shrugged the thought off and put it next to the ammunition boxes she carried in her purse. She now set off to look for Roland.
After a few moments of searching, she found Roland practicing his metal working skills in the farm’s forge. Roxanne entered with the rifle slung behind her and called out to him. "Hey Roooland! Did you ask for a delivery?", Roxanne cheerfully called him, "I have some nice toys you requested. First of all, your rifle." Roxanne handed Roland the unusual rifle and placed the ammunition boxes and loaded spare magazines on a table near them. “This is the RM51 Rivtech riffle, from what it says on the side, it is apparently a rare military rifle that uses an even rarer and powerful cartridge”, Roxanne explained as she picked up one bullet from the box to show him the size, "Very large, caseless cartridge. Military application only since we have only found them in labs and military bunkers. It’s rare to find but we have plenty. That rifle is select fire if the switch next to the trigger means what i think it means. Sorry if I sound ignorant but you don’t see this type of rifles all the time.", Roxanne explained.
"Now for the second part. The scope you wanted. You said Drifter uses a mosin right? Well I found this scope for him in the box and everything. Even had instructions but I doubt he will need them. Hope it’s to his liking", Roxanne told Roland as she handed him the scope. "Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten a vehicle for you yet...Can it wait until after the mission? I promise I will make it up to you!", Roxanne asked Roland with guilt in her tone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 06, 2017, 03:18:17 pm
Roland set aside his tools as and inspected the rifle as he told her "The vehicle can wait until whenever it needs to wait. I'll make sure the scope gets to Drifter once I'm finished here and then I'll see about running a few rounds through this thing. Never seen a rifle like this one so I better get used to it before we head out on the mission. Thanks for bringing the stuff by the way."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 06, 2017, 03:44:38 pm
Roxanne gave a sigh of relief at the mention of the vehicle. "Good good, I’ll get you something pretty then!", She responded, "As for the rifle, it would be a good idea to practice, yes. If you need more ammo, feel free to look in the armor, we have plenty but if you are able, leave something behind. And don’t mention it, I promised to get you this stuff for helping with the library. So now I will leave you so you can work on your stuff. Nice talking to you again." Roxanne waved at Roland as she waved. Time to head back and see what else she needed to do.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 06, 2017, 07:17:47 pm
Kathrine was stood off to the side, holding Catnip's tools for her as she fixed up the train. "...Mistress, why does nobody here have parents? Is Mister Floyd your dad?" She almost drops a hammer halfway through her sentence. "I-is Miss Roxanne your mom? I wish I had a mom... Doctor Ilyushin was like my dad, but I know he wasn't because he had a dif- Had a last name."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 06, 2017, 07:54:57 pm
"I don't know." Said Catnip. She'd never thought of that before. She knew about the cataclysm and about the massive loss of life it entailed, but it hadn't occurred to her that some of the others on the farm had lost so much. "I wonder how they all lived before?" She asked aloud, to Kathrine though she said, "No, Floyd and Roxanne are just people I asked to help me with the train. I didn't think they would stay with me, and I'm glad they did." She still had some of the posters lying around, she'd printed far too many and the things had gone everywhere. Occasionally, she would find one in a bush or blowing across a road in the necropolis. She'd even found one of them caught in the air intake of the Siege tower during it's monthly "Catnip maintenance" session. Sometimes, she thought there were more of the things than she'd printed originally. "I never had a mom or dad. Maybe Missy counted, but she wasn't around very long. Missy was the lady who would come and read to us sometimes." Catnip had thought to say that she and Mica had never had a mom and dad, but that wasn't true for Mica. Her sisters caretakers had treated Mica, as volatile as she was, like their own adopted daughter despite the way she treated them. Mica had loved them like parents too. If it hadn't been for that, she wouldn't have shown such sadness at the realization of their passing, and Hector likely would have ended her shortly after rescuing her. "We had lots of brothers and sisters, but they are all gone now. Mean people took them away." Catnip's lips worked in an effort to fight back a sob, and succeeded. "The farm is my family..." She didn't want to talk about herself anymore, so changed the subject to Kathrine, "I never asked you about Ilyushin before, would you tell me about him? If you want?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 06, 2017, 09:57:37 pm
Kathrine sets Catnip's tools down on the floor next to her as she takes a seat. "Doctor Ilyushin was super nice and really funny and he had a wife and he taught me how to cook and how to sew and how to design stuff and how to hug people super good a-" She pauses for breath. "And he always told me that I wasn't all the mean things the other scientists said and he let me out! I dunno anything else about him though. He was suuuuuper secret about everything..." Lilith's purring was strong enough to make Nathaniel shake. Her constant staring was also enough to make him shake, although for a different reason. "...Love Natalie." Her smile grows bigger, further exposing her impressive fangs. "Natalie cyoot." She rumbles, rubbing her face against Nathaniel's cheek. She would be cute herself, if not for the whole giant-mutant-tiger-girlfriend thing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 06, 2017, 10:04:33 pm
Nathaniel was left blushing fiercely, trying not to let on how flustered he was, and trying not to squirm about with her practically pinning him down. On the one hand she was rather terrifying even at her most innocent. On the other hand... "You're cute too, you know. I mean you're kinda heavy and I can't feel my legs anymore, and I'm afraid you might bitchslap me for saying that, but goddamit you're cute." he said awkwardly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 06, 2017, 10:29:55 pm
Catnip finished off the cigarette, and listened closely. Kathrine's lab experience was different, but not too different. For one, the people at Kathrine's lab never seemed to do any hitting. Or cutting. Or electrocuting. And they certainly didn't seem to sicked skitterbots on her. The thoughts brought on more hallucinations, and brought them on strong. A skitterbot crawled out of the floor and lunged at her. She stumbled over the tools Kathrine had placed on the floor and went to her knee's. "Are you alright Mistress?" Kathrine asked, going to her knees next to Catnip. "I'm fine Kat, just... just seeing skitters." It wasn't just the sight of the materializing robot, but the sound that accompanied it. The sharp crackle of electricity as the robot prepared to unleash an shocking bite, and the drone of the nasal voice over the intercom in the room where the children of X7 had fought to avoid them.
Roxanne entered her room to find the place in shambles. A light breeze was blowing in through the broken window, it's reinforced boarding having been pried free and tossed aside. "Boob lady doors stuck, so My-ka come in window." Said Mica, reclining casually one Roxanne's bed trying to make sense of an issue of "Alpha male quarterly" she'd found. Near at hand were several shredded packages of familiar meat that she'd tried to carefully open, only to be forced to resort to biting to get at the red tasty inside. She seemed to have drug out Roxanne's entire stash of preserved meats, and it lay in a great pile like a pillow under Mica's head. For a moment, Roxanne had trouble identifying to shredded bits of leather, fabric, and paper strewn about the room. Mica glanced at her and gave her a winning smile. She looked thoroughly sozzled.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 06, 2017, 10:46:12 pm
As Roxanne saw this, she didn’t have any reaction at first. But then she started to piece everything together. Her tribute was being use as pillow, various outfits were torn to shreds, and MICA WAS ON HER BED!!!
A few moments of silence passed as Roxanne stood in silence. Her first reaction was to clean her right fist and her teeth. "Get out...", Roxanne whispered. "Get...out", Roxanne repeated louder. "GET OUT!!!", Roxanne finally screamed. She was very tempted to unleash her bionic blade or deployed her chain lightning gun but she was too angry to act on it. "I SAID GET OUT!!! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MY ROOM YOU FREAK?!", Roxanne shouted. She threw some caffeine pills at mica in anger, she once she had gone to get to experiment on prolonging her already long time awake. "YOU LEAVE RIGHT NOW AND DON'T SPEAK TO ME AGAIN!!!", Roxanne shouted once more as she went to pick up the tatters that were once some of her favorite outfits.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 06, 2017, 10:53:42 pm
Mica was in motion immediately, dodging the pills and sidestepping another thrown object. The caffeine in her system made her giddy and playful instead of afraid. "BOOB LADY MISS MICA!" She jeered, Roxanne had gone to pick up the shredded clothes thinking that Mica would just leave. She hadn't counted on Mica's mental state, and was thoroughly surprised when Mica tackled her. "WRESTLE MY-KA!" She shouted playfully, preparing a bite and then thinking better of it. Roxanne kicked her in the thigh, but the chitin there took the force of the blow. She socked Mica in the side, and the mutant rolled off of her. "HO! DIRTY TRICKS BOOB LADY!" As Roxanne made to recover, made to prepare one of her bionics, Mica was on top of her again trying to wrap her up in those flailing arms.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 06, 2017, 10:56:19 pm
Hector had heard the yelling, practically rushing over to the main farmhouse, shield forward despite the lingering pain in his right shoulder, his other hand at his side gripping his sword. "Are you alright, is...what." he said flatly, seeing the utter havoc the room was left in, and Mica wrestling with Roxanne. "Gottverdamnt..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 06, 2017, 11:02:17 pm
Roxanne was acting on pure instinct right now; she was furious. She had forgotten all her training and fines and was just kicking and punching mica to no avail. When Roxanne was pinned by Mica, she just tried to struggle but gave in after her own emotions got the best of her. "I am going to kill you Mica! You hear! You are dead and I will have no remorse eating your remains!", Roxanne shouted. She activated her electroshock unit but Mica’s grasp on her wrist preventing her from touching her; her hand just crackled with electricity instead/
When Hector entered the room, Roxanne gave him a quick glance. "What do you want?!", she shouted at Hector. "Can’t you fucking see I am busy right now! If you aren’t going to help, leave!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 06, 2017, 11:10:56 pm
"Help from outside?" Mica asked no one and looked up at Hector, "HELP FROM OUTSIDE! CHALLENGE FOR MY-KA!" She was barely aware of the electricity in Roxanne's hand, but still aware enough to not let that hand go. She heaved her weight to the side towards that hand though, taking Roxanne by surprise and rolling the cyber elf onto her own discharge. "HEK-TOR HELP BOOB LADY? WHY HE NOT CHARGE!?" She cried over Roxanne's sudden screech and feeling just the barest tingle through her arms as the electric jolt went through both of them before cutting out. Roxanne was shouting again, she yelled "Hector goddammit! Get her off!" To the knights surprise, Mica spared one hand the snatch up what looked like a computer cable and began to use it to try and tie Roxanne's hands and legs behind her back.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 06, 2017, 11:20:24 pm
Roxanne struggled some more, surprise at how good Mica was at this. For the briefest of moments, Roxanne’s anger started to go down, replaced by...arousal? She started to lossen up a bit at this change but she still kept her tazing bionic pointed at Mica. That all changes back to anger once Mica caused her to taze herself. She once again began to struggle and called for Hector to help her. She was not paying attention to their little interaction but soon felt her limbs being tied up. Once more her anger subsided a bit and he loosened up a bit but still struggled because she this was mica we are talking about it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 06, 2017, 11:29:26 pm
Mica was suddenly a bit bored. The knight hadn't charged in to "save the damsel from the monster," the damsel Mica erroneously believed to be herself, and Roxanne had stopped struggling so much. She cinched the knot around Roxanne's wrists tight, dimly wary of another attempt to shock her, and then wrapped the other end around her ankles, bringing them up to meet her wrists. "Why boob lady not fight back? eh? Fight back My-ka? She gonna tie boob lady up, and boob lady be un-komph-tur-bull. Why tin-can-hek-tor not help? My-ka bored..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 06, 2017, 11:32:03 pm
Drifter and Alice had decided to take a break from the shooting practice and were enjoying a meal together. Things had been going smoothly when Alice nervously asked "Isaac..why did you leave mom?"
Drifter stopped and stared at his hands for a minute before looking to her "No good reason. I let hatred take control of me. I lost my dad the day I got back from the army but I doubt you were ever told that. So I ran the criminal down that did it. And then his gang, then the next because they'd all have done the same and no one should have to deal with that."
A few tears escaped him as he leaned back in his seat and looked at his daughter "And then I lost sight of the important things. I lost sight of her and I lost sight of you and for that I'm so sorry."
Without a word she hugged him. The two sat there for a while before going back for more target practice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 06, 2017, 11:39:20 pm
Roxanne noticed how Mica was starting to be less forceful. She then heard Mica’s remarks and wondered herself why she stopped and why she wasn’t as angry. She looked away from Mica and started to blush as she resumed to struggle. She could just easily escape by activating her bionic blade but it didn’t come to mind. "Mica...stop this already...this is getting weird now… I’ll forgive you if you let me go...", Roxanne pleaded. She hope Mica, and especially Hector, didn’t notice her blushing and her tone of voice. Roxanne felt her position change and she struggled some more, she slowly began to do so not so much totally escape but to play along. Her breathing was getting heavier as well.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 06, 2017, 11:50:36 pm
Mica didn't see the blush, but she smelled something different. Roxanne's mutated biology made her generally more attractive to those around her, and part of it was pheromones. Something hector couldn't sense, but Mica could easily pick up on. "Eh?" She said, leaning down close to Roxanne's face and noting the red in it. She wasn't sure if it was the way she'd been tied or if it was related to that smell. "Boob lady want My-ka to stop? You confuse My-ka boob lady. You say want My-ka to let you go, but boob lady not smell like she want to be let go." She said this out loud, and Roxanne turned an even brighter red. "W-what do you mean Mica? Hector, untie me!" Mica sat cross legged in front of Roxanne, leaning down so that their faces were less than a foot apart. She tweaked her own nose and said, "My-ka smell good, learn true feels with nose and find foods. Roxanne like bein' tied up, My-ka thinks." The tongue lolled from Mica's mouth and she continued, "Bold boob lady, maybe My-ka make strings tighter?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 12:03:33 am
Hector was intitially about to charge in when he'd stopped, uncertain what to make of this. It had only taken him a moment to realize that Mica was only messing around and not actively trying to kill Roxanne, and before he had time to realize what was going on, the spider had Roxanne practically hog-tied, leaving him blushing under his helm. He instead approached calmly, trying to stifle a chuckle as he set a hand on Mica's shoulder. "Bad girl. That's no way to treat a little lady, you know." he teased, it was clear he was trying not to crack up at the sight, though the haze of painkillers wasn't helping.
"Now, what are you doing in Roxanne's room?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 12:08:36 am
Mica’s comments had made Roxanne incredibly flustered, even more so at the final remark; Mica suddenly being so close didn’t help. "E- enough of this! Hector, untied me at once!.", Roxanne ordered. She was glad Hector began to help her and make Mica calm down on her antics.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 07, 2017, 12:14:42 am
There was a hand on her shoulder. Mica hadn't forgotten Hector, but she hadn't expected to be snuck up on like that either. She started, and looked at him with her big innocent eye. "Oh nite, come to save My-ka from boob monster? Ah, but you not My-ka's nite. Not 'nuf scales to be My-ka's nite." She leaned against Hectors leg reclining like the scantily clad babes in old sword and sorcery paintings from ancient stories. Something with barbarians and nefarious wizards. Roxanne saw Mica was hiding something behind her back, and wondered if she should warn Hector. She had the feeling it was another length of cord that she'd not used on her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 12:16:34 am
Hector himself was rather flustered at the sight, uncertain what to make of all this and hoping that Mica didn't notice his own reaction to all this, absurd as the entire scene was.
He tried rather promptly grabbed at Mica to pull her up into a standing position, smirking under the helm. "And what if it's a knight in shining armor saving the elven princess for the mean spider?" he teased.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 07, 2017, 12:25:49 am
"Then," Hissed Mica, "Spider gonna have to tie tin-can-hek-tor up too!" She sprang the trap, leaping on him much as she had Roxanne but relied more on the weight of Hectors own armor to bear him down instead of putting everything into sharp movement and surprise. Even through the pain killer haze, Hector was still stronger than Roxanne though, and several times the wrestling match came to a near standstill. Mica failed to restrain herself and bit, shearing a ragged hole in Hector's mail. "Woops!" she cried, as she spat out the rings. Roxanne watched, hoping that Hector would win out. It became clear though that while she was not as strong as the knight, Mica was possessed of a vitality beyond his, and an extra pair of arms that worked against him making her grabs and attempts to wrap him up harder to fend off. She managed to get a loop of cord around one hand, when Hector finally turned the trick. He booted her from his position on the floor, visibly lifting her off of him and actually launching her a few feet into the air. When she came back down, he rolled atop her and began the process of doing to her what she'd done to Roxanne.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 12:29:14 am
Roxanne wanted out of this situation, she wanted to make Mica pay for what she did and to get her room back together again. She also didn’t appreciate her flirting with Hector, she could get revenge on that though… She witness as Hector and Mica talk and then their little wrestling match, and she noted she wasn’t coming out with any responses; her mind was blank, she was just passively accepting what was happening. She had hoped Hector would be the one to free her because she knew she would be incapable of doing it herself; but she was a bit disappointed this had all comed to an end.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 12:35:06 am
Hector was left panting a bit as he'd worked to pin Mica down, fumbling with the cord. Despite all this he was clearly flustered, relying on both his strength and endurance that'd seen him through rather brutal conflicts, much worse than a little spider-wrangling. That, and irritation at the large path of mail she'd torn from his armor. "There. One bad girl, gift-wrapped for Dee." he teased, before turning to Roxanne, carefully fumbling with the cord, though not before admiring the handiwork Mica had showed. "And I should open my present first." he added, slurred a bit from the painkillers.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 12:42:55 am
Roxanne saw as Hector tied up Mica and she regarded her own situation. She had been awfully quiet after Mica tied her up. When Hector addressed her and made his little remark, Roxanne blush more. "C- can you stop? This is not the time...untie me please...And don’t get any ideas!", Roxanne told Hector. Her breathing had slowed down as well and was only noticeable when she spoke.
Hector fumbled with the cords, Roxanne began to formulate revenge. "She trashed my room and flirted with my man...she tried to tie him up too!", Roxanne thought to herself, "Once I assess the damage, it might be time to pay Dee a visit..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 07, 2017, 12:43:54 am
"Nite's strings weak!" Mica cried, struggling to free herself and making no progress. "Gift? Eh? Gift?" She bucked and rolled onto her back, putting up more of a struggle than Roxanne had. "Don't free boob lady!" she added, "Boob lady like knots! My-ka knows!" And idea struck her, and she suddenly rolled towards Roxanne's bed, disappearing into the cavity left by the things Mica had pulled out from under it. "My-ka not have hands, but you not get My-ka now!" She hissed playfully. "Instead of get My-ka out, maybe boob lady come and eat chickens with My-ka? It so dark under bed!" Her long black tongue, like a snake, lashed out momentarily and snatched at a boot.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 01:22:17 am
Hector gave an annoyed sigh as he took off his helm to better see as he untied Roxanne, though not before stealing a kiss. "Now, someone's currently decided to hide under your bed like a little bogeyman...don't give me ideas, Mica." he taunted, smiling some.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 09:09:57 am
Roxanne gave a sigh of relief herself when Hector took of his helm to better undo the knots. Hector stealing a kiss from her only made her current state of mind worse, in her opinion. "Hector...You are enjoying this too much...hurry and untie me, please...We can worry about getting Mica under the bed afterwards...and what do you mean by ‘giving you ideas’?", Roxanne said; this were not demands like before, they were submissive pleads.
Hector grinned and nodded at Roxanne’s pleads. He got to work on the knots one by one while Mica taunted them both while under Roxanne’s bed. Once Roxanne was free, she sat up and rubbed her wrists, her face still red. "Not a single word tin can, you hear me?! Not a single word!", Roxanne exclaimed to Hector.
"Now, how to get Mica from under there?", Roxanne asked out loud; she was now standing up put her hand on her chin in a pensive pose. She was not angry and not as flustered as before; her rational mind had mostly taken over and was trying formulate a plan to solve her current situation. However, her current state of mind was balancing on a thread, any slight disturbance could once more make attitude change.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 07, 2017, 09:26:37 am
It occured to her that maybe being stern would work, as if it had worked before. Mica was tied up down there, and they were both free of course. "Mica, I'm gonna come over there and count to three, if you aren't out of there by the time I finish then I'm gonna have Hector flip the bed over and we're gonna take turns paddling you. One..." She saw that black tongue dart out again, more snake like in it's movements, and she moved closer. Intending to step on it perhaps. "Two..." As she reached the bedside, the tongue darted back under the bed and Roxanne could hear Mica giggling like a fool. "Thr-" Somehow, Mica had got at least two of her hands loose. This was made apparent by the fact that as Roxanne reached three, something like a pair of articulating tree branches shot out from under the bed and grabbed Roxanne by the ankles.
She sat down hard as her legs were suddenly pulled out from under her, and she narrowly avoid biting her tongue. "HECTOR! SHE'S GOT ME! SHE'S-"
"Bad booby lady, lettin' tin-can-hek-tor untie her. Not fair." Roxanne saw the glow of Mica's "good" eyes, the scarf must have slipped off, and Mica's teeth were too damn white not to see in the dark under the bed. It gave her flashbacks of when she was very young of the imagined monsters under her bed. Mica wasn't imagined though. A third hand reached out and grabbed Roxanne by an arm, and she was quickly dragged into the tight space with Mica.
After a moments struggle, she realized Mica was trying to tie her up again and she prepared to unleash an electric shock into the chimeric spiders body. At this range, she'd likely shock herself too, but that would be less of a problem once it had gone through Mica first. What stopped her, was a flash of thoughts about what happens to muscle and tendon when electricity is applied. That, combined with the fact that Mica already had two hands clutching her waist. If she shocked Mica, those hands would seize shut, sinking the wicked points of Mica's fingers into the soft flesh, possibly even shearing into the alloy she'd installed as protection. She opted to try words again, "Mica, stop. Seriously, this isn't funny."
"You not strugglin' again." My-ka said. Roxanne saw the bouquet of eyes widen in sudden surprise and Mica cried, "Nite trying to grab My-ka's feet! NITE NOT CATCH MY-KA!" Mica began to crawl forward over Roxanne, pulling herself with her three free hands. Her head squeezed past Roxanne's, and Roxanne smelled burnt meat. "You've been using Kathrine's shampoo Mica. Hey, watch it with the shoulders!" Mica Commented simply, "Morsel smell nice." Roxanne was smothered briefly as Mica's breasts came level with her face, then Mica was twisting around, trying to get leverage to pull herself out. It seemed to be getting harder for her, and Roxanne remembered something else. How Mica was always getting stuck in small openings. She'd gone with Hector, Floyd, Catnip, and Mica to the necropolis before Catnip had run her train through it. Her fondest memory of that scavenging run was Mica volunteering to crawl through a basement window to try and unlock the front door, only for her hips to get stuck. Under the bed, Mica's carapace hooked onto Roxannes shirt and pulled it up, then hooked onto her bra and began to pull that up as well. The clasp and the fabric of shirt and undergarment held, and Mica became stuck sitting on Roxanne's chest.
Hector thought the way Mica seemed to be looking up over the edge of the bed to be humorous. Roxanne didn't, all she could see was the green of Mica's favorite shirt and skirt. "Mica dear, would you kindly GET YOUR ASS OUT OF MY FACE!?"
To Hector, Mica shook her head with embarrassment and said, "My-ka can't, she stuck..." Then added, "At least Roks-zan pill-ohs make kom-phur-ta-bull cush-on."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 11:46:40 am
Hector found himself trying not to crack up as Mica yanked Roxanne under the bed with her, only to facepalm at the ensuring struggle. He tried to hide just how amusing this was, one hand grabbing at Mica and the other grabbing the frame of the bed, having already dropped his shield in the earlier struggle lest she scratch it up. "You two enjoying yourselves down there?" he said, smiling under his helm.
He regarded Mica with a bit of amusement, though still rather flustered by all this. "Now, you know you've been a bad girl, right? Tell you what. Tell me what it was you were turning this place inside-out for, and I'll help you out with that." he said. "Otherwise, I might go get a camera. Want to bet how Dee would react?" he teased, adding to that earlier threat of bringing the lizard a hog-tied spider.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 07, 2017, 11:57:33 am
"Tie My-ka up an bring to lizard?" She thought about it, thoughts as deep as the choice laid out before her were as deep as Mica was capable. "My-ka don't know if should be afraid or excite. Chocolate making My-ka's head funny... Why did My-ka come to Roks-zan?"
Underneath Mica and the bed, Roxanne tried to thrash. It was getting hard to breath. "Hector, come on! Get this spiders butt off me before Medeina shows up."
"Too late." Came the administrative voice of the robot. "What are you doing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 12:07:18 pm
Hector was now cracking up a bit, giggling some at this as he lifted the bed just a bit. "So that's the thing. What, after more chocolate?" he said, only to freeze a bit as he heard the robotic voice. That bit of room to move left was likely taken away as he let go of the bed, giving Mica just enough to to end up in an more comprising position.
"Sanctus merda...seriously Medina, Mica's high on chocolate and sitting on Roxanne, I'm high on pain meds and struggling to be the only sane person here, last thing we need is the robot voyeur..." he said, only to wince as he lifted the bed up to let them loose.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 12:26:49 pm
Roxanne started to trash around once it started getting hard to breath. Being this close to Mica both aggravated and excited her at the same time due to subconsciously seeing Mica as the ‘master’ at during this series of events. She tried to push Mica off her but to no avail, they were both stuck. "Fucking great...I get to be stuck with this thing in my own room.", she whispered to herself.
When she heard the voice of Medeina when after she pleaded with Hector, all the blood from her face left her; she was pale as a ghost. "no,No,NO!", Roxanne shouted. She began to struggle and trash alot, she needed out. Then Hector lifted the bed and due to this both Mica and Roxanne rushed out of the bed by the momentum of the struggle. Roxanne stumbled right into medeina wrapping her arms around the proxy to not fall but out of context, it looked like an awkward attempt at a hug.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 07, 2017, 12:55:03 pm
Kathrine cocked her head at Catnip's reaction to seemingly nothing. "What's a Skitter, Catnip?" Lilith stops rubbing her face against Nathaniel's, and moves to licking it instead. "Thill thathte fuhnny."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 07, 2017, 01:06:10 pm
Mica snatched the proxy from Roxanne, "What you do here ro-but? Eh? You Watchin' My-ka tie up boob lady?"
"Yes." Medeina said.
"You watchin' My-ka tryin' to trap boob lady?"
"Yes." Medeina said.
"You seen My-ka sittin on Roks-zan pill-ohs? On Roks-zan head?"
"Yes." Medeina said, the voice taking on a tone of exasperation. With each "event" laid out, and with each one the AI had claimed to have witnessed, Roxanne's shame increased. A clever look came over Mica then, her still uncovered "good" eyes took on a wicked gleam not present in the other eye. "You know why My-ka come to Roks-zans room?"
"Yes." Medeina said.
"Hokay ro-but, you tell My-ka why she come, and ro-but forgets what she see?" That made Roxanne look up.
"No, I canno-" Medeina started, but Mica cut off further words by shearing off one of the delicate manipulators Dee had fitted with her teeth. "Ro-but don't tell nothin' or My-ka eat silly ro-but." Her voice had taken on a hissing quality, something aggressive in it that set the other two occupants on edge. "You can't-" Medeina tried to speak again, but know the next words were ones she wouldn't like, Mica jammed the robot into a book case where it clearly didn't fit, getting it stuck between two shelves. She dug around under the bed until she came out with a crow bar, a tool Roxanne had believed either lost or in the barn with the rest of the farms numerous tools. Mica gave it an unimpressed examination, and then sheared the bar in half with her teeth. She threw the other end at the proxy and shouted, "NOT TELL MY-KA SHE CAN'T DO RO-BUT! WHAT SHE COME FOR!"
"T-t-to forget! Calm down M-mica! Dee won't-" Before she could finish, yet again, Mica wrenched the robot from where it was stuck and surprisingly set it down gently. "Hokay! Med-aye-na go now, and shush ro-but. No tellin what you see." Medeina was already deleting the pictures, but not the notes. She knew Mica would never read her notes. Fortunately for Roxanne, neither would anyone else for a very long time.
Catnip picked herself up and dusted herself off, hearing Kathrine's question as the visions faded. "A... A robot. Like a dog sized roach thing. Dee has some dead ones in his workshop... They made us fight them in my lab..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 01:14:17 pm
Nathaniel was left blushing more, trying to hide just how flustered that made him. Not in front of Sharlene, he thought. "That's...normal? I'm not food." he said, blushing fiercely before trying to relax, having submitted to his role as Lilith's pillow...
Hector meanwhile, regarding all this absurdity, looking over to Roxanne. "I...I'll see myself out. Those two hopefully will keep each other distracted and be out of your hair soon enough." he said, nervously backing away from the menacing Mica, who was busy threatening Medina. In a moment a gauntlet brushed aside some broken glass and he'd vaulted over the windowsill, making a mental note to help Roxanne fix the window after things calmed down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 07, 2017, 01:25:29 pm
Quinn idly thumbs through Helen's notes, adding his own findings on what Helen was unsure about and debunking what theories were wrong and congratulating on what theories were right. His sight starts to dim and he face plants against the booth's table, passing out.
...
A loud blaring voice is heard over an intercom along with a shrill alarm, "Subject "Archon" has escaped containment. Researchers go to the evacuation station. Security squad alpha defend the evacuation stations while bravo through delta take care of the escaped subject." A senior researcher looks at the alarm, and gets up from what he was doing. He runs towards the evac station, with four other researchers. Various small arms fire and shouts are heard, the alarm continues to blare.
A large arc of electricity heads towards the group and a loud knock is heard. Quinn wakes up with a light shout. Another loud knock is heard, he rubs his temples and answers the door while adjusting his glasses. "What is it?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 01:34:28 pm
Behind the door is Victor, he looks a bit uncertain but speaks with confidence. "Dr.Quinn? It's me Victor. I know we haven't really had a proper conversation yet and this may be a bit to forward but I wanted to know if you could help me with something...", Victor told Quinn. He cleared his throat before he continued, "I have a proposal. I need some notes on what you call 'the blob' and it's effects on humans and why it turns them into zombies; how zombies work would also be nice. Lastly, I would need some samples of the blob itself. In exchange, I will give you a copy of whatever I discover so you can review it as you please Does that sound like a deal?"
Soon enough, Roxanne was left alone after Mica had made Medeina exit her room. Mica herself simply wandered off as well, seemingly bored now of the current situation. Roxanne was left with her room a mess, many of her outfits in tatters and her tribute desecrated. But for some reason, Roxanne wasn’t mad; not like before anyway, she was just glad it was over. Roxanne sat down on the floor and gave a deep sigh of relief. It was all over now and she could forget those confusing emotions and desire she just had and focus on getting things back to normal.
The first thing she did was check the secret stash under her altar. She was relieved Mica hadn't gotten in there. Inside was where she kept her journal, enough tribute for three rituals, the book called “The Source”, her ceremonial robe, her substances like the ceremonial oil and the new pill from bandit as well as well as a few other trinkets and gadgets special to her. They were all safe so Roxanne put the compartment back together and went to check on the other parts of her room.
Next, she looked at the pile of tribute tribute Mica had gotten out of her locker and promptly put away what was salvageable. "What a waste...", Roxanne thought to herself. "Forgive me Randael for I have failed you...", Roxanne whispered to herself with clasped hands. What very little pieces were not salvageable, she would burn in her two braziers later. Roxanne shivered in a minor panic when she realized that Mica now potentially knew what he hid in her room. She hoped Mica wasn’t smart enough to put two and two together and also hope she wouldn’t go talk about it.
Then she picked up the caffeine she threw at Mica and placed them inside a little bottle; that experiment would have to wait it seemed. Not that it really mattered, those test were purely for selfish reason to shrink the few hours of sleep she had per week. After she put that away she turned her attention to the bed itself. It was out of place and a mess so Roxanne put it back where it belonged and made her bed once more. It was good Mica hadn’t messed with the mattress or the wood base itself. Roxanne saw a few scratches at the side of the bed; it made her smile and blushed as she recalled the origin of them, she promptly covered that up with the bed sheet and continued organizing the rest.
Now her attention was placed on the tatters that laid on the floor next to her clothes closet. She first looked inside and was glad her fancier clothing was safe due to it being far back due it being rarely worn. She then picked up and assessed what was salvageable from the remains on the ground. Many dresses had been reduced to rags and she had managed to damage lots of leather clothing as well. Roxanne separated what was unfixable and used her bionic toolset to cut it into raw material. Most of what was salvageable was leather. After picking up a leather skirt and trench coat, both easily fixed since nothing major had been done to them, she decide to wear them. Roxanne closed the door off her room and the broken window the best she could. She then stripped down to her underwear and tried on the leather outfit. She ended up wearing a leather corset, a leather trench coat, leather skirt, stockings and leather combat boots. After a quick look in the mirror she decide this would be her new scouting outfit; if it survived Mica, it could survive out there. Roxanne then check to make sure no one was snooping and changed once more into something more comfortable; she had the rest of the day ahead to fix up outfits, including the leather one she wanted to wear.
Finally, Roxanne went and picked up item that were on the floor. She then noticed the rope Mica had used to tie her up and blushed again. She didn’t know how to react to what she felt during the past ordeal. To make it worse, Hector was there and just fueled the fire… She had to make them both pay... She knew what to do in mica's case but for Hector… Roxanne looked at the cord that was no in her hands and got an idea, she would make him feel just like she felt...
As for the window, she would see about it later as well as installing a backdoor; it was long overdue. For now, she enjoyed the breeze inside her room.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 07, 2017, 02:59:42 pm
Quinn looks at Victor groggily, "There's samples in the fridge. Inside the corked erlenmeyer flasks." he sits back down at the booth while looking back through the notes, "Hm. Looks like Helen has a little pet name for you, "siedmer". Are you two a..." He points at Victor with a pair of fingers, looking over his glasses, "Pair?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 03:10:39 pm
Victor smiles as Quinn tells him where blob is and he sees this as an invitation to come in and grab them. He looks over at the flasks as Quinn sits back. While examining them, he almost drops one as Quinn made his remarks about Helen’s chosen pet name for him.
"She what? Oh, no no no...At least I don’t think so?... I actually don’t know...We haven’t really talked about it...", Victor answered. "Wait? Why am I telling you this?...If you excuse me Dr.Quinn, I have to do some reasearch on this things...I will bring you back notes of my findings...And if Helen calls that me again, tell her I say she is just a predatory vagr. "
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 07, 2017, 03:24:00 pm
Kathrine visibly flinches at the mention of Catnip having to fight something. "That's eeeeeeviiiil. Fighting is never a nice thingy to do, but why did you get made to do it, Mistress? Your scientist people weren't very nice, were they. Was Mister Dervish one of your scientist people?" She brings Catnip in for a hug, but pauses with her at arms length. "Catnip, we have bacon! Do you want bacon?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 04:17:39 pm
Now he was back in his room, and he had gathered what he needed. Victor placed the materials he had gathered on his work table and took out the other necessary tools. These included a chemistry set, various household chemicals like bleach and ammonia as well as various pieces of rotting tainted flesh. The latter was acquired from a stray zombie that had reached the farm; he didn’t bother telling anyone since even he was able to take it down using his unactivated sword. That had happened three days ago and the flesh was starting to go bad; it smelled horrible but a mix of chemicals it had been bathed in neutralized the smell. He had lots of it to work with and as such started to do so.
The first part of the process to control the dead was to acquire them. Now, with a spirit of death, and one he had angered might I add, nearby, Victor would be a fool to resurrect an actual corpse; instead he would cheat a little. He planned to use zombies possessed by the blob and bring them under his control using arcane means; that’s what the chemicals were for, he had to create the bait
After a few hours of experimenting with tainted flesh and various chemicals, he came up with the final product. He held up a disgusting ball of flesh that oozed liquids; if squished, it released barely visible gas into the air around him. "Zombie pheromones...", He thought to himself, "With this, I will be able to lure them to me..." All he needed now was to find the zombie and for that he would have to venture outside; his first solo expedition...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 05:15:21 pm
Hector had eventually taken some time to at least strip a few remaining torn-apart rings from his mail, deciding to work on it later as he grabbed one of the carts available to start putting supplies in. Loose panes of glass scavenged from who-knows-what, planks in various sizes, a large amount of nails, and a few other things along with the set of tools he usually stored in the tank, making his way over back to the farmhouse a little while later, knocking on the door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 05:25:27 pm
Roxanne was in the middle of sewing some repairs to various outfits. She had made a lot of progress but she still had ways to go. A tune could be heard from outside; Roxanne was humming and sewing to the rhythm of the tune. What it was she was humming was a mystery to all but her and Victor.
The knock on the door startled Roxanne and she put her current piece of clothing and sewing supplies on the bed to answer it. "Oh, hey. Hector, it’s you...", Roxanne said sheepishly, "I am currently fixing what Mica did. Anything I can help you with?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 05:28:11 pm
Hector gave a nod at that, blushing a bit under that helm as he saw her outfit she had on. "Hey. Doing alright, I hope." he said. "Brought some things to work on fixing up the window, actually. Figured leaving it busted overnight wouldn't be that good an idea."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 05:34:51 pm
Roxanne smiled at the knight’s offer. "Yeah, i am doing relatively fine all things considered...But look at you, taking responsibility for once?", Roxanne teased. She looked back at the window and how it barely was closed enough to merely delay entry to it. "Thanks for helping out. Now that I got you here, could I ask you for a favor? I have been meaning to install a backdoor as well for some time now. Do you have the time to help me with that some time?", Roxanne asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 05:40:04 pm
Hector smiled at that, only to look away a bit at that. "Thought it best to give you some peace and quiet for a bit first while I gathered the things for this." he said, then smiled some. "Should be fine actually. Brought extra wood mainly in case Mica did a number on more than just the window, or if you wanted to add shutters instead of curtains." he suggested. "So a door should be simple enough to add. Will need to see if we have a doorknob from a hardware door or such on hand..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 05:46:46 pm
Roxanne also smiled upon hearing Hector’s response. "Thanks! Guess this whole Mica thing was a blessing in disguise? Nah… I won’t go that far yet… For now...", Roxanne told Hector activating her bionic toolset on her right hand, "Guess it’s time to get to work! Remind me to reward you later on; for this and helping me with Mica. Even if you were a bit of an enabler, I understand it was the meds; been there done that."
Roxanne used her bionic toolset to clear the window of debris and tear of any remaining loose parts to leave only the window frame. "Care to start working on the door dear? We could finish this faster that way."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 05:51:48 pm
Hector nodded at that, only to blush some. "Impressive as her handiwork was, rather glad that's over with." he teased, carefully setting aside the panes of glass so they wouldn't get broken, finding a good spot to measure for placing the door as he grabbed, among other things, a drill to make the initial sawing easier.
"So long as Medina doesn't go telling anyone else whatever she decided was noteworthy." he remarked, already starting to work, finding that the pain and painkillers both had subsided to a level that didn't affect his work much.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 06:03:41 pm
Roxanne picked up a glass pane and proceeded to put it on the window frame. She didn’t know but this was made much easier by the standardization of window sizes of 2027. Finding and replacing windows in the post-apocalypse was such much easier because of it.
"Handy work? I noticed you were enjoying yourself a bit too much there Hector. You and Mica both. And as for Medeina, I hope she knows we have ways to deal with Robots.", Roxanne told Hector. She was not aware of the nature of Medeina and thought that the proxy was Medeina.
Roxanne then put the final pieces on the glass panel and stepped back to admire her work. "Now to install the sheet metal reinforcements.", Roxanne said. She didn’t bother with curtains since she wouldn’t be able to see anyways; instead she would armor the glass with sheet metal and then border up the window with woods planks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 07, 2017, 06:09:18 pm
Bandit had his ear buds plugged into the mp3 player he carried as he walked around. His thoughts were otherwise occupied however as he planned how to sell his products. He'd need a space to do the business in rather than out in the open eventually but that could wait till later. He'd have to build it himself after all and that would take more time than he wanted to wait to get things moving.
Shrugging to himself he also knew he'd need some different kinds of drugs. Oh the pain killers and hallucinogens would sell but the party drugs would go even faster. Things you could pop for a night of fun or relaxation. Of course those would sell. Tomorrow he'd cook plenty of those and then get the word out to some old friends of his.
Meanwhile Alice had actually started hitting the target. Drifter couldn't contain his proud smile as he gave her some further instructions. He doubted she'd be a marksman but she would be able to defend herself. Maybe he could see if Hector would train her with swords. At the very least it'd be a backup if her target didn't go down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 06:14:16 pm
Hector found himself blushing more as he cut out a section, working on nailing planks in for the threshold and doorway, and having set aside wood for the actual door itself. Hinges he knew he'd need to go get, likely some scavenged available if he didn't simply forge some himself.
"Not even sure what was going on through her mind, but I'll admit that was...interesting. I mean, once it became clear she wasn't actually trying to harm you." he admitted. "And don't tempt me, one good EMP blast should make her a lot less problematic." he said, smiling some.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 06:27:46 pm
Roxanne has finished welding the metal into place. She doesn’t need welding goggle tanks to her anti-glare compensator bionic. Hector is far away enough to be shielded from the light. Roxanne activates her bionic tools once more and begins to hammer in planks to border up the window.
"To be honest, I never felt any real danger. At first I was angry and I wanted her out of my room. Then I ended up tied up and you arrived. I too don’t know what was going in her head, our yours for that matter; oh wait, painkillers right... She also seemed, intoxicated? Doesn't Mica think alcohol is poison or something?", Roxanne said. A thought crossed her head and she blushed before speaking to Hector again, "And don’t get any ideas from any of Mica’s claims ok?!"
She eventually finished boarding up the window and offered a hand to Hector. "Anything I can do on this end?", she asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 06:36:34 pm
Hector for now was working on putting together the door itself, in addition to carving out holes for the doorknob as well. "Glad that you were alright though. And honestly, I recall trying to play along with it to see if I could talk you into explaining without making any more trouble, but..." Cue a little smile, glad he had his helm on so it wouldn't be seen. "And what, give the knight ideas when he'd not as skilled with tying ropes as she is?" he teased.
He then nodded at that. "While I think I brought a scavenged window latch, wasn't expecting a door to be put in. I've brought screws but didn't pick up hinges or the doorknob. Can finish assembling the door itself if you're able to go check for those in the parts storage, unless you'd prefer I do so?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 06:46:13 pm
"Suuuure, that’s why you were playing along. Not because you were enjoying the show.", Roxanne said in a sarcastic tone, "and I can tell you aren’t skilled at it by the way you fumbled with the knots."
Roxanne gave a deep sight to calm herself some, she had gotten a bit flustered again. "That’s fine, I’ll go fetch the hinges and a door knob. I recall looting a hardware store once so i should be able to find it fast.", Roxanne told Hector, "I’ll be back in a few!"
Roxanne entered where raw materials and miscellaneous items were kept. Everything from nails and screws to circuits and switches was to be found. The door knob was easy enough, they had quite a few as before the post-apoc happened, doorknobs were a common thing to replace in doors. Hinges were a bit of an issue. They weren’t to common to be bought as it took time between replacing entire doors. She did eventually find what she came to look for and headed back.
Once she returned she noticed Hector working on the door. "Here, managed to find the parts you asked for. I’ll go ahead and put the holes in the wall to save us some time.", Roxanne told Hector as she handed him the parts.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 06:53:55 pm
Hector only ended up blushing more at that. "Better that than her trying to do the same to me. Imagine how embarrassing that'd be, both of us left like that..." he admitted, looking away a bit. Soon though he got to work on finishing up the door, checking that it fit the doorway securely, with minimal draft before making use of some scavenged weatherstripping rubber left over from working on the window, mostly obtained from taking apart old windows and occasionally found in mostly-looted stores. Such material did wear out at times, and more importantly was not something came to mind as a target for looting.
"Thank you, already got the rest of the door assembled, so can work on the knob itself." he said, putting things together while she drilled the holes needed. It wasn't long before that was done as well, everything set up and Hector once more ensuring everything fit properly, especially closing securely and clearing the doorjamb so it'd lock properly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 07:07:50 pm
Roxanne had finished drilling the holes by the time Hector was done with installing the parts on the door. She made sure the whole were inside so the hinges would be inside as well; unlike one time she had to infiltrate a large home to take out a mark, she noticed the hinges were outside so she just unscrewed them and got inside.
Once Hector installed the door, she drilled the screws into place and Hector gave the final touches. She stood back and and admired their work; she could hardly believe it had only taken them a few hours but many at the farm had gotten really good at construction after so many projects had gone to it. "Thanks again for the help Hector. Now hopefully Mica uses it or better yet, KNOCKS when she comes in!", Roxanne told Hector, "Soooo, any plans for the evening? I was sewing but there is something I would like you to try..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 07:13:17 pm
Hector smiled a bit, giving it a test open, close, and locking it to ensure the latch was sited properly, after the obvious step of ensuring the hinges were placed correctly, a concern that likely prompted a chuckle at the mention.
"Hopefully so, though that's also what a locking doorknob's for. Just hope she doesn't try to jump through the window and then simply bounce off. No wait, that might be rather funny..." he said, before shaking his head. "Not much else planned for the evening actually. Eventually have to repair the mail. Again. One of these days I might have to look into plate armor, but that's a touch more involved to fix up when someone inevitably ruins it." he remarked. "But that can wait, there'll be time tomorrow. If you had something in mind?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 07:21:54 pm
Roxanne grinned when Hector explained he had no plans. "Oh, of course I have something in mind...", Roxanne said as she herself closed the door and locked it. "Works flawlessly!", Roxanne exclaimed as she locked the door. "Now, why don’t you take off that helm, lay on the bed and relax? I will bring out something special.", Roxanne told Hector and topped it off with a wink.
Roxanne went to her secret stash under the altar and took out the bag with the pills she had now labeled “Spirit Pills”. Roxanne’s grin widened as she showed Hector the pills. "These things make you feel your soul communicate with familiar spirits, literally...", Roxanne said with a voice of anticipation, "Ohhh Randael, where are you?" After she could feel the presence of the spirit of harvest in the room; she layed on the bed herself and took two pills out and handed one of them to Hector, "See you on the other side", she said with a giggle.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 07:33:17 pm
Hector nodded as he removed that helm, along with his mail and gauntlets given he wasn't sure what she had in mind, blushing as he did as she asked, regarding the pills with suspicion. "Literally, you say. If it was anyone else I'd assume this is basically just LSD except not on paper, but I've seen weirder by now." he pointed out, laying back as he carefully took the pill she offered him, laying back a bit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 07, 2017, 07:37:48 pm
The Hunter sheds off his blood drenched greatcoat and soaks it in the river water, while it's soaking he unbuttons his shirt to reveal a red stained bandage. He peels it off and sets it aside and takes out a first aid kit and patches himself up. He takes the greatcoat out of the water and a length of cord out of the rucksack. He starts up a fire and hangs the coat to dry. He takes out a bag of flour, a small waterskin, some wild herbs, a jar of seasoning, and a paper wrapped side of meat. He puts the meat on a makeshift spit and roasts it over the fire while rubbing in the seasonings, he takes out a copper kettle and readies a pot of herbal tea. He makes a simple dough and makes a simple ash bread on a small cast iron pan. The Hunter sits down next to the fire, idly turning the meat over the spit.
Meanwhile, at the farm. There's a thin plume of smoke towards the northeast.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 07:46:27 pm
The two of them laid on the bed as they waited for the drug to take effect. Hector had no idea what awaited him but Roxanne was giddy at the thought of what she was about to experience. Soon enough, Roxanne blinks and she is back surrounded by impossible darkness. She see Hector next to her and she waves at him. They are each illuminated by the strange, sourceless light and up ahead is once more the blue light.
A voice emanates from somewhere, familiar to Roxanne but new to Hector’s ears. “So you brought a friend?”,asks Randael. Roxanne nods in her delirious state with a wide smile plastered on her face. “Very well, walk to the blue light for now, I am right behind you.”, ths spirit said. Roxanne takes Hector’s hand and they begin to walk towards the blue light.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 07, 2017, 08:01:47 pm
Drifter caught sight of the smoke as he had been checking his rifle while Alice practiced with the pistol. Standing he told her "Stay at the farm okay, I'm going to get some folk and check that out."
She protested but realized he wasn't paying any attention. With a sigh she decided to get Bandit to help if something went wrong. Finding him rather quickly she explained and he told her to stay at the farm as he went to go find Drifter to go with him. "I'M NOT A LITTLE KID!" Alice shouted after him to which he told her yes, yes she was.
Meanwhile Drifter had let Nathaniel know as he pulled on his cammo netting. He'd had the time to get the thing done properly so that he almost disappeared in the foliage with his gear. Roland had also caught wind of this and had gotten ready to go with them.
The trio(plus or minus Nathaniel) made their way across the river with Drifter disappearing into a tree to get a vantage point in case things went south fast. Lifting the rifle to his shoulder he kept the stranger in sight as Roland approached with a wave of his hand. Bandit was with him, his pistol and knife ready in case the stranger attacked. Roland spoke in a gentle tone as he said "Hello! We caught sight of your camp fire's smoke and as we live nearby we thought we'd see what was going on. Not meaning to intrude but there are some folk that don't mean us good and it's better to check then find ourselves with an enemy right outside our walls."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 08:05:18 pm
Victor setup all the gear he would need for his little trip. He wasn’t going far; the next city over was crawling with them. His goal was to acquire three of them and bring them back for faze three. He would leave in the afternoon and comeback with his “loot” in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep; well everyone save for Roxanne but these days she would spend those night getting high in the comfort of her room. She would not be an issue, he could always bride her or get Randael to make her look the other way.
His gear consisted of his sword, three ropes with pre-made knots, blood essence, the ball of flesh, a wearable flashlight with fresh batteries and a backpack incase he found something nice along the way. As the sun started to sink over the horizon, Victor walked out of the far. This was a very unusual sight but to his surprise, no one questioned it; everyone just kept to themselves and only gave stares in his direction.
The walk was not too far but by the time he got there, there was barely any sunlight left. Victor turned on his flashlight he wore on his forehead and continued his search. Soon enough, he found one of the dead shambling aimlessly. Victor took out his sword and the ball of flesh and gave the latter a good squeeze. The zombie turned around and have a low groan but stayed put. Victor approached it casually and the zombie did not fight back. Victor put a one of the ropes to the zombie’s neck and the other end on a clip on his backpack. The final part severing it’s jaw, this pacified the zombie permanently and would let itself be guided with the rope. "Two more to go...", Victor said outloud.
Night time was upon Victor and he had finally acquired his 3rd specimen; two normal zombies, a tough zombie. Victor sheathed his sword and regarded his price. Three of the things that lead to the downfall of mankind now defenceless. He grinned at the sight of the pathetic wails the dead trio gave; no attempt to fight back or to wander off. They were not under his command, yet, but they were no longer a threat. He just needed to take them back and make a proper necromancy ritual. He hoped this using zombie from the blob would be a sufficient loophole that the spirit of death would turn a blind eye.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 08:07:22 pm
Hector wasn't sure what to expect, finding everything seemingly going dark, save the strange glow each gave off, spotting Roxanne and making his way over to her. The sensation was surprising, unlike anything he was expecting.
He wanted to snark about the hallucinations being not as colorful as that one time with the mushrooms, but he found it hard to will himself to say that, holding Roxanne's hand as he heard, not to mention sensed, the spirit guiding them along.
Nathaniel meanwhile was putting some things away in the tank, being among the others currently out this evening. He saw the smoke in the distance, looking to the others nearby, when he heard the radio come on, over the channels Roxanne and Dee had set up for their use. "Helen here. Going on a walk, if you need me." she said, a cryptic answer that he hazarded a few guesses about, suspecting that she saw the smoke as well. No doubt she was still afraid the radio might not be secure.
Helen had indeed seen it, been tending to one of the kilns built nearby the great hall they'd built, drying a large water container, when her walk towards the nearby shore gave her a clear view of something to the north, on her aside of the river she determined. She's already gathered her hammer and symbol of judgement, quietly asking Sergei not to follow. The recent run-in with a bandit, dangerously close to the farm, had made her suspicious.
Nathaniel then nodded at that, explaining to watch out for Helen making her way there as well, and opting to stay and keep an eye on things for now, later on observing Victor leaving but not saying anything.
Helen in fact had make a fairly short trip, a direct route north since she didn't have to cross the river, activating her mask as she spied on the unfamilar figure from behind the cover of a tree. And not long afterwards, she sensed the pair closing in as well to interrupt. ust when she'd started to make a few observations about the man and his strange uniform, sensing some signs of magical items through the mask's vision.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 07, 2017, 08:11:30 pm
Catnip thought about Kathrine's offer of bacon. They had a bit of that left, and that was good. The thought of the salty fatty meat had Catnip feeling hungry, feeling like a nice bit of bacon would be just the thing. "No, Dervish wasn't from my lab. I don't remember well, but sometimes he visited." She said, "I think bacon would be very good right about now. Can I sit in the kitchen while you make it? So I can have the smells?"
On the way out, Catnip gave a cursory flip through the notebook hanging from a nail outside tool and material storage. Since learning to read and write, which she could do passably, she'd become a fiend for inventory. Maybe even a bit of bureaucracy. It let her free up much needed thinking space. She just had to make a monthly accounting, and didn't have to keep the running list of everything she had on hand. Catnip had put similar ledgers in the firearms lockup, the infirmary, and even convinced Quinn to put one in alcohol storage. "Roxanne's had herself some hinges and a door handle thingy." She commented in passing. "A door nob mis- Catnip." Kathrine corrected. Kathrine had agreed to put the little notebook in the cook shack, but wasn't very good at marking things she used off. For anyone else, this would irritate Catnip. She knew Kathrine knew very well what the contents of the farms food storage was though. Another skitter bot crawled out of a wall, but Catnip only flinched a little. The shakes were coming back. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "Well, I guess I can expect a visit from Roxanne some night. Probably dressed in some revealing outfit and trying to flirt." Dee said casually, listening to Mica's abridged version of what had happened. She'd left out the embarrassing details of how she'd gotten stuck and how Roxanne had seemed to enjoy being tied up, but somehow the feeling of at least the latter got through anyway. She was coming down now, and Dee went on. "The chocolate didn't make your head go funny Mica, the caffeine did. That Dervish dude explained it to me before he left. Caffeine is like, coffee. Coffee is as good as booze for people like you." He showed her a little green wrapper he hadn't cleaned out of his desk and explained that the chocolate she'd eaten was loaded with coffee. "You gotta be careful about what you eat."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 07, 2017, 08:21:54 pm
The Hunter looks up from what he's cooking, raising an eyebrow before getting up with an arm tucked behind his back. "Ah, hello hello. I'm Lucian Hawdon. Who are you fine gentlemen and ladies?" He says with a thick northern english accent with a high bow, one arm over his chest. "My coat must be rancid. Apologies for that. Tea? Meat? I got plenty of both." He turns around, turning the meat on the spit. There's a small crown hanging off of his belt.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 07, 2017, 08:27:51 pm
Roland shook his head as Bandit leaned against one of the nearby trees. Roland responded to the man "I'm Roland, this here is Bandit. I appreciate the offer but I'm not hungry or thirsty at the moment and besides we got some food and drink back home. What brings you out this way if'n I may ask?"
Drifter for his part kept his rifle aimed as he remained concealed in the tree. If there was one thing he was happy the army had taught him it was how to conceal himself as a sniper and just meld into his surroundings. Of course if he had to fire a shot that concealment would go away about as fast as the bullet would hit it's target. Hopefully things went peacefully.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 07, 2017, 08:35:45 pm
"Ahh... I was out hunting beasts. Some mongrels, made a den in an old office building. They were harassing some locals. I got this nice chunk of boar as payment." Lucian says with a grin. "Got quite a bit of their blood on my coat."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 08:37:42 pm
Helen watched cautiously, a bit uncertain as the man seemed to converse without any overt hostility. At first she merely sensed the arcane, bit see saw more clearly a crown simply hanging from a belt. She recalled the way that blood mages would usually wear those crowns when partaking of their rituals, and usually leave them concealed when operating elsewhere disguised as mere citizens. To see a revenant crown just left hanging in the open, unworn, seemed strange to her.
She then stepped out into the open as well, cloak glittering in the firelight and having her hammer simply held in a relaxed position as though simply carrying it. "And pardon the interruption as well. Pleasure seeing you out here, Roland." she said, not yet betraying Drifter's presence. "Peculiar to see someone with a revenant crown on hand, by the way. Not many uses for one outside of blood magic, either..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 07, 2017, 08:49:29 pm
Lucian's expression soured slightly upon seeing Helen, before turning back into normal. "A mage hoonta' are ya? Cleansin' Flame, too? Know that lil' cloak anywhere." He tucks both of his arms behind his back while turning to face Helen, "No longer part of those blood mages, those lot were gonna collapse sooner or later. Are ya lookin' for a fight, mage hoonta'? I'm certainly not."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 08:55:22 pm
Once they had reached the blue fire lamp post, Randale let itself be seen. It could not take the form of a shadow in this realm since he would not be seen, but it had more power here and as such was able to take the form of a humanoid,translucent,white specter. “So Roxanne, why did you bring him here?”, Randael asked.
“I wanted him to experience the peace of this place and then the afterglow afterwards.”, Roxanne admitted.
“Ah, so you use this as any other drug. While a bit disappointed I am also glad you aren’t up to nefarious deeds.”, Randael spoke, “Now you, knight, do you know who I am? You were in the ritual of my summoning yes?”
A small breeze began to pick up and with it a series of emotions over came the pair; they were both positive and negative, pleasent and horrifying. They also saw images: a father teaching his daughter how to ride a bike, a soldier lighting various other with a flamethrower, a couple kissing in the beach and many more. When it was over Roxanne asked what it was.
“That is the winds of the damned. It is the essence of everyone who has ever died, regardless of fate in the afterlife. Some people come here to aquire lost wisdom by riding the winds. But here where we stand, they are not too strong to make their full effect. How are you both holding up so far?”, Randael commented.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 07, 2017, 09:04:15 pm
Roland raised a hand in a gesture for them to calm down. Looking at the new man through the small eye holes in his helmet he spoke with a calm tone "Perhaps you should refrain from being so inflammatory. You are the stranger near our home and one who carries what is evidently something normally used by those that we tend to be at odds with. Now I done don't want a fight either but that item is cause enough for concern apparently. Not to mention the fact you seem to like keeping your hands out of sight."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 09:06:27 pm
Helen glowered at Lucian through her mask, only to be a bit surprised by his remarks. "And here I was almost expecting you to claim you scavenged it. Between wearing that thing more flagrantly than any blood mage I've ever seen, and actually being more honest in one remark than your whole order tends to be, that's a good start I suppose." she said. For once she held back the next bit of snark that came to mind. Good riddance that they collapsed, she thought.
"Not looking for a fight either. Not unless it's with brigands and others that have made trouble for everyone around here." she said, looking over to Roland. A brief bit of amusement came to her as she realized that he'd reacted with more distrust to that remark than she did.
Hector meanwhile regarded the strange presence with curiosity. "So you're...yes, I recall that. Faring well in that sword, it seems." he remarked. "This is overall rather strange, but not unpleasant."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 09:22:53 pm
“Good the sword has only given me more power. I cannot complain in that department. Now, I think this should be enough for now. Things outside of the influence of this lantern tend to get really dangerous and I don’t have enough power to guide you more. If you come alone, I can show you further; so Roxanne, don’t hog those pills for yourself incase the knight wishes to return. For now I bid you both farewell.”, Randael proclaimed.
The blue light once more was extinguished and soon Randael engulfed both Roxanne and Hector. One moment in the realm between life and death and the next in there beds feeling like they had just come back from the best day at the spa ever. "What a buzzkill...", Roxanne though. She check the time and noticed the night was still young. "Well Hector. How was it? Guess since you aren’t really a spiritual person the pill didn’t have quite the same effect as me. I was warned about it but worth the shot. Enjoyed it at least? Night is still young, anything you want to do?"
Victor walked the trio back home. He occasionally squeezed the pheromone ball some more; not to get them to be more passive, they already had lost the will to fight, but to get them to stop making noise. Once in the farm, he took extra care to careful making it to his room without detection. He then tied them outside the sign and got inside to work on the final step he only had until everyone else woke up to complete the necromancy ritual or there might be setbacks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 07, 2017, 09:25:20 pm
Lucian untucks both of his arms from behind his back, "Then there isn't any worries. Apologies for the over-reaction." He scratches his goatee. "Where're you lot from anyways?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 07, 2017, 09:33:59 pm
Roland made a general motion towards the farm as he said "We're from a spot called the Farm, or at least that's the only thing I've ever heard it called. Welcome to come and trade if you like, even stay if everyone's okay with that. Just don't cause any problems and everything should be fine though."
Drifter for his part was still in the tree with his eye to his scope. Could never be too careful when you met new people in the apocalypse after all.
Elsewhere Death sighed as he sent another soul to the after life. Quite a back log but he didn't care at the moment, it was something to do. Though he felt something odd. With mild curiosity he poked about on the other plane before coming to the conclusion someone had been poking their metaphorical heads in there. Even with a guide he knew how this normally ended. Bad things lurked there, things he himself tried not to toy with. careful in there whoever you are. I may just yet have to pay you a visit next you go in there.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 09:38:54 pm
Hector wasn't sure what to make of this, only to blush some. "Might be interesting to try this again some other time, yeah But very well..." he said, the last moments of their trip being a bit momentarily frightening, or at least confusing to him.
When he wake, he was surprised by the sensations, nervously sitting up and looking over to her. "That...the experience of it was more confusing than what I'd call a spiritual experience, but the effect it has...y-you're right, a lot more interesting than what I expected." he admitted, the blush on his face making it clear how flustered he was. "Whatever else you might wish, though no doubt best to lay off such a strange drug for a while."
Helen regards Lucian with a hint of suspicion, then sighed at that. "Still a bit of distance from the local towns, closest is still a good journey off to the west." she pointed out, before calming down a bit, as the thought that he might have been traveling elsewhere afterward came to her mind.
"Suppose this wouldn't be the worst I've found myself getting along with..." she remarked, just enough to be overheard.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 09:55:02 pm
Roxanne smiled as Hector explained his experiences. "Good to hear you at least found it interesting.", Roxanne said as she leaned back to grab something. Roxanne was still delirious from the experience and no doubt Hector was too. "Whatever I wish huh?", Roxanne murmured as she took took out the magazine she picked up. She opened it up to a particular page and grinned before showing to the knight. "I wanna do this then.", Roxanne said with a sultry smile as she pointed to the page on the magazine. Hector’s eyes widen as he saw the image and then he looked at Roxanne. "There is nowhere to run now..."
Cut to black
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 07, 2017, 09:57:41 pm
Lucian nods, "I'll head over there, allow me to finish my meal and wash my coat first." he says, sitting back down next to the fire.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 07, 2017, 10:03:01 pm
Roland nodded to the man and began walking away with Bandit in tow. He figured all that needed to be said had been as he saw Drifter quietly leave the tree and make his way back to the farm. Perhaps the visitor wouldn't cause any trouble he thought as he said "Good seeing you Helen. Take care now, don't know what's creepin' around in the woods waiting for it's next meal."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 10:05:10 pm
Victor stepped out of the room after 30 minutes of working on setup. In his hand was a concoction made from the blob he got from Quinn, the flesh ball he used to capture the dead and blood essence; in the other hand he had a book title, “To Master the Unknown”. Victor took out the chemical concoction and started splashing it into the three zombies. Despite the ingredients that went in, the final product was actually liquid. The three zombies reacted at this by raising their arms slightly and then setting them back up. At the sight of this, Victor grinned; he set down the now empty jar that used to use the chemical used and opened up the book.
"Forgive me Helen my dear, but what must be done must be done...", Victor whispered to himself. A few moments later, Victor flipped through various pages, in each reciting a different set of words. After he was done, the liquid that was splashed began to glow and then it seeped into the trio of the dead; their reaction this time was to look at their arms and then at Victor. "Welcome", Victor said to the undead before him while sporting a predatory grin, "Name if Victor Ironwood, I will be your guide this lifetime."
Came the morning, anyone who would pass by the outside table by the bulletin board would spot Victor playing chess with a seemingly normal looking man, normal except that his flesh locked droopy as if it had been dipped in acid. He wore clothed in tatters and their limbs full of wounds. Next to them were two other similar men that looked the same also wearing tatters; they were loading bullets bullets into magazines for three pistols that laid on the table.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 10:08:41 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Very well then. I suppose I'll be waiting at the farm then, just in case." she remarked, regarding Lucian. "True. Never know what manner of beasts may be about." she said, calmly making her way back into the woods to head back.
She'd spend the night there in one of the vacant rooms, though in the morning she'd find a rather bizarre sight, Nathaniel already being the first to spot this. Three zombies rather inexplicably just sitting about acting like any other mundane person. "Huh. Alright, good morning Victor. First thing's first, glad that whatever you were off for, you came back alive. Second, three words. What the fuck."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 07, 2017, 10:50:16 pm
Roland had woken up with a head ache that continued to bother him as he stood and walked outside. Said headache was only compounded once he saw zombies, one of which was playing chess with Victor. Pulling the hammer back on his revolver as he walked over he left the weapon in it's holster. Stopping a few feet away he simply stated "You are going to tell me what this is. I am then going to determine if the worsening of my headache is enough to outweigh the benefits of whatever the fuck it is you did to these things for them not to eat you."
Meanwhile Drifter had woken up, eaten some food and then made his way outside. Unlike the others he made his way out to the swamps in his camo netting to bag some game to make a meal for those that would be going soon. He'd attached the new scope and adjusted it but it would take some actual shooting for him to determine if it worked properly yet.
Elsewhere on the farm Bandit had entered the radio room and made sure he wouldn't be bothered before turning on his music again. He went about his usual cooking ritual of taking off his hoodie and putting on the gas mask before turning things on to get started. As usual he let himself sink into his work for the next few hours.
Pain killers, more hallucinogens, some more of Roxanne's pills, party drugs, and a few supplements that were probably worse for you than most thought they were. Once things were done he cut the gas and got his hoodie and mask back on before getting things divided. Soon everything was taken care of and he walked over to the radio. Tuning it to a frequency he remembered he sent out a brief message "Wagwan people. This is Bandit and if you want your fix I can provide, just come with things to trade yeah? Come along to.." He gave the location of the farm before signing off and putting the radio back on the frequency it had been on.
After writing a quick note to Roxanne about more 'alchemical compounds' Bandit went to leave. He hadn't noticed he'd accidentally cut himself while getting things sorted and he'd left some blood on the counter. Not that he had noticed that or the fact he was even hurt.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 11:09:35 pm
Victor smiled at everyone's reactions to his new project. It was as he had expected. He had them in the open because everyone would eventually find out so why even try to hide it. "Good morning to you Nathaniel as well. It is only natural that I would return safely from my projects.", Victor said in a smug tone, "And to address your last point Nathan and the gentlemen with the headache, these are my automatons. They are the result of controlling the essence of the blob who in turn control these beats we once feared. Worry not, they will not harm anyone as they serve me." Victor pointed to the ones loading up the magazines. "I have restored their ability to do simple tasks like these and they can even fire the guns the are now loading. Since they have no will of their own, we do not have to fear betrayal. I can and will make more to make us an unstoppable force. He who commands fear command the masses!", Victor explained
"Lay down your weapons and abandon your hostiities. I, and by extension them, mean no harm. This is just a demonstration of things to come." As he said this, the zombies took on of the loaded magazines and insert it into the gun; they proceed to chamber a round and then put on safety to put it back on the table. "Aren’t they handy?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 11:28:39 pm
Nathaniel facepalms at that, as Helen approaches a bit. "First off. This is risking consequences beyond simply bringing three undead into the farm." she said, glowering at Victor. "Such as..."
Nathaniel then interrupted. "Such as, what happens if those fucking things do get put back down? They don't look like those magical fucko zombies we encountered, this is your bog-standard kind you've fucked with, isn't it? Those are annoyingly prone to getting back up and trying to bite you in the ass."
Helen then smirked a bit. "There's about 80% odds he hadn't thought that far. I mean he already got to the 'how to not get my creations killed on sight' step and only barely got through it sanely. You could've at least tried to make them NOT look like something everything here except the feline has an instinctive urge to kill."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 07, 2017, 11:40:26 pm
Victor drinks some tea he had prepared as Helen and Nathaniel voice their concerns. He puts it done when they are done and proceeds to respond. "Oh, please do tell how I could’ve made this better! Do you not think I thought of that? Do you think I am so careless as to not look things through? I am pushing the frontier here and of course some bugs and mistakes will be made but cut me some slack. I have manage to not only subvert but control one of the biggest threats to humanity so far. Plus, I created this without a single soul being tainted.", Victor explained before sipping more of his tea to clear his throat. He continued, "Now, it may be true that this things are notorious to get back up once they die, I have a solution for that. You see, once they do die, I can simply subvert them back once they wake back up and apply the spell once more. Besides, it takes 6 hours for them to back up; in that time you can destroy the body if you are so afraid of it. Also, since they regenerate and thanks to a spell of mine, when not in combat, they will heal back to peak performance so we can have them fresh if we need to use them on another encounter. These three fellow are the basic kind but imagine if I get me a shocker variant, or an acidic one? The possibilities are endless!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 07, 2017, 11:49:21 pm
Roland very quietly walked away. When the mage wasn't with his little pets he'd deal with them properly but for now he needed something for this headache. playing with zombies. This guy's gonna get killed and I might just be the one to do it if he brings more in here.
Meanwhile in the span it had taken for him to get everything sorted into smaller bags since his broadcast a vehicle had stopped across the bridge and a pair of men had walked towards Bandit. Smiling under his mask Bandit said "Oh gentlemen! It's been a long time since we've done business! What can I get you? Some party stuff, perhaps some stuff for those intimate moments?"
In truth Bandit recognized them due to the fact that before the apocalypse he'd been in a gang that theirs had been at war with. Regardless of that fact they'd still bought from him so he wasn't expecting any trouble. As they got closer one said "Got anything for calming down? Lotta tension round our place."
Bandit handed the man a small bag of pills as he told him "Yeah I got plenty of things for that. Nice day out innit."
The men smiled as they pocketed the pills and one pulled the bag off of his back and showed Bandit it's contents. Guns, chemicals, explosives, and a few odds and ends. Pulling out an Tec-9 Bandit checked it over before nodding to the men. A few more bags of drugs and a handful of magazines were passed around including enough ammunition to fill the magazines and have enough to fill them again.
Bandit's smile had faded as the pain came to the forefront but he kept up appearances as he said "Good doing business wit you boys again. Stay safe now yeah."
Once the men were in their vehicle Bandit turned away and slid the Tec into his hoodie as he walked away. Shaking his head the transaction brought about memories of a bunch of bad deals and strung out people who tried to bargain with him. He also realized the pain in his abdomen and pulled his hoodie up to see the cut in his stomach. With a sigh he went to go see about getting a bandage on it now that he wasn't busy.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 07, 2017, 11:52:07 pm
Helen sighed and rubbed her temples as Victor went on about this. "Bugs and mistakes that can at best get you killed, at worst will likely endanger the whole group." she pointed out, while Nathaniel stepped forward.
He then spoke up. "Now imagine all the ways this could go wrong. You take a bionic undead and it fights your control off anyway, I've seen rather extensive bionics in military testing that could practically hijack your body if the right code ran the wrong way. Then you've got the risk of the more advanced, degraded ones causing a blob infestation in the farm. And then on top of all that, there's the weird zed fuckos that can mess with other zombies, what happens when THAT sees what you're fucking with there, especially if it can hijack it while you're using your weird fuckboy magic on it to put your soul or whatever into it?"
Helen then sighed as she stepped forward, setting a hand on Victor's shoulder. "Alright. Be honest with me. Did you actually start off small for the sake of safety, or were those only the ones you could get ahold of without getting mauled?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 08, 2017, 12:11:35 am
"No Helen, I have those bugs under control so that shouldn’t be an issue.", Victor responded to Helen’s first remark.
Then Nathaniel went on his explanation of possible issue. He nodded some as he listened on and looked at him right in the eyes. Once he was done, Victor responded, "You make some good points my friend. I will admit I am no expert on bionics so I will keep that in mind. A blob infestation on the other hand is not likely, it would have to be under very specific conditions that I will work to prevent. Besides, such caustic zombies are no use to me. And to you final point, you have found a very serious edge case. Yes, a zombie master might be able to undo the spell but every spell has it’s ways to be broken or prevented so I hardly see that as problem. I will continue to experiment to see how to strengthen it to get an edge on such events."
Victor felt Helen’s hand and then heard her question. "The former. Thanks to a concoction of zombie flesh, I could’ve pacified any zombie and made it my slave using the ritual but I choose these three as they can easily be dealt with if things went south. This is still phase one and these are prototypes. I would not endanger any of you by doing anything I am not certain off; of that I give you my word.", Victor answered.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 08, 2017, 12:21:10 am
Nathaniel regarded Victor with a bit of suspicion. "That...honestly, big problem I'm seeing with this is that it's pretty much guaranteed that the only way you're learning stuff that like is the hard way." he pointed out. "Just see if you can dress them up to not cause a panic, and keep your pets under control." he said, before heading off, leaving Helen with him.
Helen sighed at that. "If anything, I'm glad for once you started small, about as safe as you can with such a risky endeavor. Honestly, while it sounds useful in theory, the...concoction, followed by putting them down while they're helpless, would be the most efficient use of this idea. An army of the dead can only give you so much an advantage before the drawbacks start to become a problem." she pointed out.
"But if anything, that you've displayed some sense this time means I have something different to worry about. If this draws the ire or, well...him." she said, pausing a bit. "At that point you'd better hope he decides to take you this time, because I'll make certain you regret drawing that godsdamned thing back here after you AGAIN. I'm not even talking kinky joke punishments this time, I mean more like seeing what kind of magic it takes for you to live through being given the blood eagle."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 08, 2017, 03:23:57 am
Kathrine had tried to help Catnip along to the cook shack, even though her withdrawal shivers still let her walk normally. "Catnip, I found one of those MRE thingies but I-um... I don't know how to spell chicken. Can you tell me and I'll write it?" Catnip nods. "Sure Kat. It's C-H-I-" She stops when she realizes that Kathrine's still misspelling it horribly. She's written down D-L-E for some reason. "Kat, that's not..." "C-H-I...?" "K-I-N. Chicken." Kathrine finishes it off with an T-Z-L, then caps the pen with a smile. "There! Now which one's the bacon?"
Kathrine, one corrected list and a couple of fallen pans later, had finally gotten around to start cooking the previously mentioned strips of pig meat. Unfortunately, she'd gone back to freezing up halfway through doing something, and was just stood next to the cooking unit, holding the pan's handle, with her quivering tail stuck straight up in the air.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 08, 2017, 11:34:11 am
Victor listened to Nathaniel’s final remarks before he gave a gesture of dismissal before to Nathaniel when he left.
"Baby steps Helen, that’s why I started small. Besides, just using the concoction to kill them would just be another form of making the dead...well, dead. We are already pretty proficient at that. And this is no ordinary army of the dead; this is a regenerating army of the dead that can use tools and weapons; should come in handy.", Victor said to Helen’s first points.
"Don’t worry about the spirit of death; this isn’t interfering with his work in any way. I learned my lesson from that to not delved too far into forces that control the cycle of reality. Leave the veil alone is something I should adhere...", Victor said to Helen’s concern about Death appearing again. "Blood eagle? I thought you said not kinky sex magic punishments.", Victor teased
The three minions stood up from their tables and picked up the loaded magazines from the table and put them away in messenger bag the one playing chess wore; their pistols still in their other hand. "Now if you excuse me, I have some experimenting to do. I will run some test today and I will dispose of these once I get the data I want. They are not the final product and the next batch I bring will be more stable.", Victor told Helen as he himself got up from the table. He gave her a small bow and left with the dead trio to the makeshift shooting range the others had set up.
Victor stood there with his arms crossed as the zombies took shots at the targets he set up. They were doing horrible at first but slowly they got a bit better. Victor every once in awhile took notes in his notebook and then continued to observes. This continued for a while.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 08, 2017, 12:02:15 pm
Helen nodded at that, still regarding the undead warily. She'd only heard second-hand about the incident the others had dealt with, but she saw some obvious differences in the description of events and what Victor was doing. A loophole indeed, she thought. "Such techniques would be useful for clearing out areas that'd give even us difficulty, or for less proficient groups." she explained, only to blush at his teasing, before leaving him be.
By now Hector had woken up, a bit late given how late he'd finally slept, still flustered. He's started the steady work of replacing the torn-out mail with new links, when he first the muffled gunshots that prompted him to step out and keep an eye on things. The eventual sight of Victor calmly standing there watching a trio of undead at a firing range. He just promptly facepalmed, turning right back around at heading back into the workshop. If this bites us in the ass, Victor better hope Helen gets to him first, he thought.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 08, 2017, 01:03:09 pm
Alice woke up to find a note sitting on the table in the room. Drifter had left it to ask her to ask Hector to train her to use a sword. It also let her know he was out hunting and would be back sometime soon, probably. With a sigh she went to look for Hector before catching sight of him and walking over. "Hey, um Hector right? My dad wanted to me to ask if you'd train me with those sword things you have."
Meanwhile Bandit had found some bandages and gotten himself taken care of. He looked his new batch of pain killers and realized he'd fucked them up somehow. Taking a couple he hoped they'd at least dull the pain so he could go take care of a few things.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 08, 2017, 01:23:59 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Hmm? Of course, always useful knowledge to have. Can start whenever you'd prefer. Thankfully this time I've made actual proper training swords for that sort of thing." he said, remembering the look on Roxanne's face when they initially trained with live steel, something his old instructors would've been berating him ceaselessly for.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 08, 2017, 01:34:03 pm
Catnip looked up from the spot on the floor she'd been listlessly focused on. "Kat? Kat, what's wrong?" She staggered to her feet and approached. "Kathrine?" Catnip waved her hand in front of Kathrine's face, and when she didn't respond, Catnip tried to take the pan from Kathrine. "Kat?" She very vaguely recalled something similar like this happening before. She even more vaguely remembered that Kathrine's spots had changed then. She wasn't sure if Kathrine would change again or not. Kathrine's tail had changed, was changing. Catnip circled around Kathrine and looked closely. It was definitely a little longer, a little, and her fur looked a bit... floofier. "Can I touch your tail Kathrine?" She asked. Kathrine didn't say no, so Catnip gave the tail a single stroke, enjoying the feel of the fur. It was softer, for sure. Catnip wanted to give it another stroke, to enjoy the feel of Kat's fur on her fingers, wanted to snuggle the tail, but Kathrine appeared to be coming out of her catatonia. She realized she was being creepy, and waited for Kathrine to come to her senses.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 08, 2017, 01:57:17 pm
Alice shrugged as she told Hector "I don't really care when, it's not like I've got much to do around here after all. So I guess whenever is convenient for you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 08, 2017, 02:07:41 pm
Hector gave a nod at that. "Today isn't very busy either, only thing I had planned was work on my armor, which can be done during any free time. More reason why I make extra links well in advance." he said, smiling some.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 08, 2017, 02:52:39 pm
Alice seemed interested as she asked "Wait you maintain that yourself? Did you make it or something?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 08, 2017, 02:57:07 pm
Hector shook his head at that. "Scavenged from a mansion not long after all this started. Proper riveted mail at least is easy enough to fix up compared to plate, it's basically just hand-riveting new links in. Tedious but rather relaxing." he answered. "Though by now I've probably forged and riveted enough links in it to make most of a replacement from scratch, and the shield's no longer the old one."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 08, 2017, 03:11:53 pm
Alice nodded at that "Sounds cool, but I guess we should get to me learning how to sword fight first. So if we're both free why not start now?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 08, 2017, 03:24:01 pm
Hector gave a nod at that as he led the way to the area set aside for practicing, having set aside a few manuals and practice swords. All of them were balanced and sized in the same way as either arming swords or longswords, some the same weight as the weapons they were meant to mimic, some weighted to be significantly heavier, and some lighter.
He started off of course with the stances and footwork, using that to determine roughly what sort of experience with close combat she already had, working on the basics as needed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 08, 2017, 04:32:00 pm
Kathrine blinks a couple of times, and then lurches forwards, still acting like she's holding the pan. "...Kathrine, can I hug your tail?" She looks confused for a second, then smiles. "Yes, Mistress, you can do whatever you waaaant~" She goes to place the missing pan on top of the cooking set, and ends up just rubbing her hand against the tabletop. "O-oh..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 08, 2017, 04:55:23 pm
It was clear rather quickly she was untrained and what little knowledge she had more applied to knife fighting. She struggled at the start to grasp what Hector was attempting to teach however after a point she began to pick up what he was telling her. It would be rather apparent she'd need quite a bit of training to be able to properly fight with swords.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 08, 2017, 05:03:35 pm
After some time had passed the two had taken a break, Hector giving a nod as he set aside the training weapons. He'd guessed that she had some other experience, quite likely learned the hard way, and that was better than starting completely and utterly from scratch. But as always, he explained, it'd take time and practice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 08, 2017, 06:50:32 pm
Roxanne had not slept that night, as usual. Instead, she spent the remainder of the night after Hector went to sleep simply recalling the events that had happened that night. When Hector woke up, she simply pretended to be asleep; not the the knight would noticed as he wasn’t really that keen to Roxanne’s sleep cycle. When he left through the back door, she too decided to get up. She had heard noise coming from the where Bandit did his ‘alchemy’ but had since stopped. When Roxanne got out of bed to get up, she noticed one of her legs was still tied to the bed. She gave a sigh and a smile before using her bionic blade to get herself lose.
After a quick change of clothes, she went into the room where Bandit did his handy work. She noticed a note after she approached. She read the noted about more product being available and she perk up at that though. She put the noted back down and noticed her hand got wet. Upon inspection, she noticed that it was blood she had on her hand and that some of it was on the counter. It was still surprisingly fresh. “O-oh...So that’s what he puts in these?”, Roxanne whispered to herself. She blushed and smiled at the thought of it being an ingredient in her pill. She had to ask Bandit about it once she tracked him down for her ‘supplies’. Before leaving, Roxanne once more regarded the blood on her hand and licked it up gently. A wide smile was plastered on her face as she scooped more of the blood and proceeded to consume it. “What a pleasant surprise...”, Roxanne whispered once more as she giggled.
Now outside, Roxanne went to look for Bandit. She found him where he was last time she meet him and called out for him. This time she felt as if a proper trade needed to be done; besides, she hoped it would loosen him up a bit for when she asked him about the pills. “Hey Bandit, saw the note. So another batch huh? Now, I don’t want to be a greedy gal so I brought you something as well; for all your troubles Hope it’s to your liking.”, Roxanne told Bandit. She took out a small flask containing a red liquid. “Victor told me this is a magic potions that heals all ailments such as infections, pain, parasites, the common cold and more; the only thing it doesn’t do is heal wounds themselves. It is a single dose so use it wisely. Now, what you got me?”, Roxanne told Bandit as she handed him the flask.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 08, 2017, 07:02:59 pm
Bandit took the potion and set it aside figuring it was just some odd sort of pain killers. He didn't really believe in all that magic stuff after all. Handing her a bag with her spirit pills in it he said "More of the pills you wanted me to make. Thought it'd be good if you had a supply in case I couldn't make any for a while. And you didn't have to bring me anything in return for 'em, just letting me use your space for 'cooking' is payment enough."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 08, 2017, 07:09:04 pm
Roxanne nodded as she took the pills. “Thanks again! I’ll keep that on mind and ration them out them. And I brought you that since it’s something I picked up from catnip; take something and give something equivalent in return.”, she said with a smile.
“Now, can I ask you a bit of a silly question?”, Roxanne asked a bit sheepish. “I found...well...an ‘ingredient’ spilled on the table along with the note...I personally don’t mind but I have to ask, who’s is it?” She wasn’t aware he had cut himself accidentally and didn’t noticed, and she assumed Bandit knew what she was talking about.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 08, 2017, 07:57:57 pm
Bandit scratched his head through his hoodie as he tried to think of what he might have left out. Drawing a blank he said "I don't think I left anything, sorry if it was a mess though. Oh and is there anything you want me to keep an eye out for while trading with people?
Alice nodded as Hector told her it would take time and practice. "I know and I'm not expecting to be able to actually fight with them for a long while, dad just thought it'd be a good skill to pick up since someone here knew how to use them. And thank you for the lessons, when I'm better at this I'll try to put them to good use."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 08, 2017, 08:04:51 pm
“No, it wasn’t a mess so don’t worry...and you don’t remember spilling anything? Here is a hint...It’s the same color as the potion I just gave you.”, Roxanne told Bandit, “As for what to get me in trades? Three things come to mind: Any clothing you think would look on a lady, things they claim are magic or arcane in nature, or books; any of things would make me very happy. Well, not as happy as your pills make me but that isn't a fair comparison is it?. Also, Hector took one and he didn't have quite the experience as I did, guess spirituality does play a role.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 08, 2017, 08:19:23 pm
Bandit looked at the potion before he put two and two together and said "Oh, so that's when I cut myself. Uh, bloods not an ingredient sorry to disappoint and the blood was mine. Cut myself on something and didn't notice until I had finished a deal with some blokes."
In response to her telling him what to keep an eye out for he nodded and said "I'll keep a lookout for those. Should have plenty of chances to pick some things up once word gets round to more of the blokes who know about me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 08, 2017, 08:25:09 pm
“Oh...so that was yours…”, Roxanne responded before blushing a bit, “So not an ingredient then, makes sense. Anyways, good to know I could potentially add more things to my collection. Keep up the good work! We need more men like you around here; you really earned your keep in my eyes if that matters anything to you. Then I will leave you alone so you can get back to doing whatever it is you do when you are not being pestered by me.” Roxanne pocketed the goods Bandit had given her, waved to him and let herself out to return to her room.
“Only two days until the mission...better make as much of the time I have as possible…”, Roxanne whispered to herself as she walked to her room.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 08, 2017, 08:27:20 pm
Hector have a nod at that, smiling some. "Still off to a good start. Feel free to borrow that manual in the meantime, might help a bit until then. For now though, you've earned a break." he said, soon making his way back to where he'd left his box of links and rivets to resume repairing the chunk Mica took out of his mail.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 09, 2017, 12:56:51 am
Catnip sees Kathrine's movement. To someone else, it might be funny. To Catnip, it's a little perplexing. "You were daydreaming Kat. I took the pan and set it aside for you." Catnip sat on the floor behind Kathrine and wrapped her arms around Kathrine's luxurious tail. "I thought you'd notice and pick it back up, you aren't burned are you?" Catnip wraps the tail around her neck, relishing how soft and warm it is. Kathrine spares a glance for Catnip, and sees that her Mistresses head has completely vanished, save for a few dark auburn locks, into a sea of orange and black and white.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 09, 2017, 05:08:58 am
Kathrine completely forgets about cooking as soon as she sees Catnip's predicament, and starts giggling. She turns around properly and ducks underneath her own tail, moving so that she's behind Catnip. "Oh Miiiiistreeeeeeess♪ " She says in an almost musical manner, before wrapping her arms around Catnip from behind, moving to kiss the back of her head but ending up just kissing her own tail.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 09, 2017, 09:23:23 am
Catnip's muzzle suddenly emerges above the level of Kathrine's tail fur, and gasps. "OHMYGODIT'SSOSOFT!" She felt like she was swimming in a sea of fluff, an ocean of soft and warm and safe fur. Not a snag or snarl was there in Kathrine's tail, but Catnip was nearly overwhelmed by the urge to get a brush. "I'm going back in captain!" She cried, lowering her head back into floofy bliss. The rat inside her hissed somewhere deep down "mine..." but the greater part of her, the human side countered, "No. It's Kathrine's, she'll let you touch it but you can't have it." The little rat in her shrank back, sending waves of despondency at Catnip's greater nature, breaking her out of her revelry a little. She could barely feel Kathrine wrapped around her, but she felt her soon enough. "K-kathrine? What are you doing?" She pushed the fur down, loving the feel on her hands, and saw through that the pan was still set aside where Catnip had set it. "K-K-Kat?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 09, 2017, 09:55:04 am
"...Nothin'." Kathrine giggles some more, and moves in to attempt to kiss Catnip's head again, this time moving her tail out of the way first. Something in the back of her mind yelled that Ilyushin wouldn't approve, but she ignored it in favour of getting Catnip to go all cute and embarrassed again. "I got 'chu♪" She whispers, finally actually planting the kiss and hugging Catnip tighter.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 09, 2017, 10:05:29 am
"Oh. Uh. Oh." Catnip's face feels hot. Not knowing what to say to that, she slowly lowers her head back into the sea of fur until she looks like a crocodile with the top of it's head peeking out of the water. "Perhaps," Catnip thought, "I could hide from Kathrine's attention in here." Out loud, Kathrine hears a muffled "So soft."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 09, 2017, 11:19:14 am
It was quiet in Roxanne’s room except for the humming of a tune coming from Roxanne herself. She had already put away the pills Bandit had given her inside her stash under the altar. She was currently picking out an outfit for her next objective: get back at Mica. Her objective was quite simple, flirt with Dee while Mica was present; Dee’s reaction wasn’t important, only that Mica was watching.
Several outfits laid on the bed, all rejected by Roxanne; some she considered not for the occasion while others she deemed to be overkill. Mica might’ve destroyed some of her outfits but she had managed to repair some and had plenty more. After a selection process that was more complex and long than it needed to be, she had finally chosen her outfit. She had opted to wear a red cotton dress and heels; the dress was rather on the short side and it showed some cleavage. Roxanne did a thrill in front of a mirror and gave a satisfied grin,"This will do nicely!", Roxanne though out loud. She then did her hair; straight all the way back with two strands on the front fastened by fancy hair clips. Next, she applied some makeup she had gotten from Katherine; she rarely used it but Katherine had taught her well. After one more look in the mirror, she decided to head out. The thought that she hadn’t put this much effort for Hector came to mind but she shrugged it off. "Serves him right...", she told herself as justification.
Roxanne checked her power storage and was glad to see it full; she shouldn’t have expected any differently since she hadn’t used it for much recently. She opened the back door and activated her cloaking cbm; no one else needed to see her doing this. After a quick sprint, in heels, she arrived at the door of Dee’s workshop with a couple dozen units of power to spare. She knocked on the door and then Dee answered it, "Hey Dee, I come to ask you for a favor. Could you hook a girl up with more of your video games? They were fun the last time. Can I come in?", Roxanne told Dee and let herself in after her last question before Dee could even answer.
Once inside, she looked around in fake curiosity. She noticed Mica sitting in one of the counters and Medina's proxy sitting next to her receiving repairs. Roxanne smiled at the sight and changed he attention back to Dee. "Nice setup you have going. Never got a chance to take it all in last time I was here with you. Alone. In your room.", Roxanne told Dee in a voice loud enough and with enough emphasis to make sure Mica heard and understood that. Roxanne then approached Dee and grabbed on of his hands. "So, got time to show me around?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 09, 2017, 03:38:48 pm
Kathrine giggles yet again. "Mistress, you don't need to ask if you wanna touch my tail, you can do that whenever you waaant~" She blinks a couple times and shakes her head. "But I should get back to cooking..." Kathrine sighs and peels herself off of Catnip, starting to unwrap her tail from around her Mistress' head. She pauses, however, when she realises that Catnip seems to be... Enjoying it? "Stupid Kathrine, that was too forward..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 09, 2017, 04:21:35 pm
"Er, what about the games? And uh, not really. I had promised to take Mi-" Dee started to say before Roxanne cut him off, "It's alright? Good! Where do we start? How about this stuff?" The view finder on the proxy adjusted, Mica went on with her subdued frown. Roxanne knew that frown for what it was, Mica trying to be as normal as she could. For Dee. She only adopted such a placid look when she and Dee were about to do something as a couple. Go on one of their walks or eat together. For Dee, Mica could be quiet the "civilized" lady, as much as she could manage that was. Roxanne noted the silks too, deep blue, smooth. They clashed in a way that both worked and didn't work depending on if Mica was frowning or grinning. Date clothes, definitely. "Looks like I picked the most opportune moment then." Roxanne thought.
Mica watched, she wasn't sure what Roxanne wanted, but she knew one thing for certain. "Roks-zan look nice, going on walk with Hek-tor? Pointy shoes not hurt feets?" She asked. Mica looked at her own feet and kicked them in the air. Natural mail boots composed of carapace that went all the way up to her inner thigh. Unless very special ones were made, Mica would never be able to wear anything as uncomfortable and figure enhancing as heels. "Roks-zan like vid-yo game? Mica like ho-bo puncher best!" She adopted her idiot grin.
Medeina's viewfinder focused, and then widened. It was slow building, but as Dee's reluctant and uncomfortable tour went on, she could detect a change coming over the spider next to her. Good cheer had progressed to confusion and eagerness, and from their went to anxiety and irritation. She was slowly picking up what Medeina had seen already, and she'd begun to see that grip Roxanne had fastened on Dee's hand for what it was. She wasn't so stupid she couldn't see that Dee wasn't really having it. Especially not with the way he kept glancing at her, but she couldn't understand why Roxanne would do what she was doing, which was to make advances on Dee. Medeina could tell that their was something patently fake about it all, but she could also tell that Mica didn't understand that. What Medeina didn't understand, was why the elf would want to stoke the flame of what this would surely evolve into and she didn't know how to stop it without igniting the whole thing. Roxanne was clearly capable of trickery and cleverness. Mica was too, but not of the social kind like Roxanne. The proxy had to drag itself a few inches away from the table to avoid the claws that were gouging into the table.
"Lizard." Mica hissed, "You was gonna take My-ka on a walk today." Dee paled, realizing what was going on. He'd been uncomfortable for a good portion of the impromptu tour, trying to make it clear to Roxanne that he was a taken guy and, hey, what was Hector up to? He hadn't come right out and said any of it, but he'd implied heavily that he might be interested in another time and place, but for now he was perfectly fine with the girl he had. The tone in Mica's voice though, had him pulling his hand away as fast and as hard as he could. "Yeah Mica, we can go right now. I'll get you those games later, ok Ro-" She interrupted him, taking a single long step towards him, pressing against him and snatching back his hand, "Aw, but we didn't finish the tour yet, you haven't even shown me the bedroom!"
Dee had just enough time for a single quick step backwards before Roxanne was bowled over. It hadn't been Roxanne's attitude or how close she'd stayed during the whole ordeal. It was the hand holding. Most of what Roxanne did was simply confusing, except that one thing which was the only thing Mica understood from the whole show. By keeping hold of Dee's hand, and then seizing it when he'd pulled back, Mica believed Roxanne had challenged her dominance. Roxanne fended off one swipe of Mica's claws, no playful slap was this, but a sure as hell attempt at actual harm. The deflected claws bit into the floor, pulling up thick curls of wood, and then had to jerk her head to the side to avoid a hard jab with another. That other attack, the claws held together flat, sank into the floor boards like the head of an axe but were withdrawn with ease. Roxanne unleashed her tazer bionic, and Mica hopped back. Dropping to all six and looking more like an abominable insect than before. "sssss" Said Mica. It had lost most of it's caustic properties when Mica had been "defused," but the sizable glob of spit she sent after Roxanne still sizzled briefly when it struck the wall behind her. "SSsssSS" Continued Mica. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Catnip was disappointed when Kathrine's tail was unraveled from around her neck, but she supposed Kathrine was right. Things to do, and Catnip felt the shakes coming on. It had given her ample distraction from her problems for a short while. The way Kathrine had told her she could touch her tail whenever she wanted made Catnip feeling anxious and excited at the same time. That little rat voice cried out in victory, while the other side of her nature pushed it down with demands to be reasonable. "W-weren't you... we, making bacon?" Catnip asked. "Hm?" Kathrine responded distantly, already getting back to the task at hand. Catnip barely heard her own question, not to mention Kathrine's small response. She was too fixated watching Kathrine's tail, a task that would hold her attention until Kathrine had finished what she was doing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 09, 2017, 04:49:46 pm
All the while Roxanne forced Dee into the tour, she noted Mica’s reactions. She noticed how she slowly but surely was getting more agitated. This is all she wanted, to have Mica frustrated as she had been the night her room was trashed. Roxanne was petty but not to the point of actually harming Mica or messing Dee’s room. She also found it very amusing how Dee reacted to all this, making it clear He and Mica were a couple; at this she just mockingly smiled back at him and nodded but continued to move along the ‘tour’ anyways, always sure to keep Dee close.
Mica’s sudden charge took Roxanne by surprise even though she had expected it when she got the idea to do this. Roxanne had taken a liking to fluster Dee a bit too much even though that wasn’t part of the plan. This had culminated in Roxanne taking back Dee’s hand when he pulled it away and prompted Mica charge. After the initial scuffle, Roxanne noticed Mica’s stance, hissing and the spit that she had launched Roxanne’s way. "Mica! That is no way for a lady to act! What will Dee think of you?", Roxanne told Mica in a fake exacerbated voice while still smiling.
Mica charged at her once more but Roxanne side stepped this time and cloaked before Mica could turn around. Roxanne then uncloaked behind Dee and placed her hands on his shoulders while she peeked her head out. "Help me Dee, why is Mica being like this?", Roxanne asked Dee in a childish tone. This stunt had left her with only enough power for one more electro shock; she had to make it count incase she needed it because all other bionics were offline.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 09, 2017, 04:53:57 pm
Hector by now had been taking some time off to rivet in a few links in his mail, steadily working on shrinking the gaping hole in the armor Mica had left in it, walking out of the forge area and towards his quarters to grab something he'd left in his room.
Nathaniel meanwhile had been with Lilith, watching Roxanne pass by with some suspicion. "Lil? Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"
It wasn't long before he moved a bit closer, overhearing something that sounded even more susipicious. "Alright, Lilith? Stay here. Don't get into trouble, okay?" he said, making his way over, but he had the bad feeling that she wasn't going to help things any if she heard something going on, right in time for sounds of a scuffle to provoke an angry roar from Lilith. He was already at the door and opening it when he turned and saw the tigress had vanished. "Aw fuck..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 09, 2017, 05:11:17 pm
Lilith had already backed up after hearing the sounds of a fight from inside Dee's shack, and had headed around the other side of the building. The wall was in the way, and she'd gone the opposite side from the door, so it had to go. There's a quiet *psssht*, followed by a loud *crash* as she puts her arms through the wall and yanks it down, causing a cascade of sheet metal to fall from the roof. "Bug!" She grunts, deactivating her hydraulic muscles and sliding to a stop next to Mica, glaring at Roxanne.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 09, 2017, 09:59:17 pm
And the day had been looking to be a good one, barring the incident of earlier when Mica had swept everything off his desk. He was making progress on his best robot yet, he had a date lined up with a girl he was fond of even if she was a bit of a freak, and he was looking forward to watching an old Segal movie with Mica after dinner. She couldn't watch the movie of course, the screen was nothing but static to her, but she'd pretend to watch it. Then Roxanne had shown up, flirted with him pretty heavily, Mica had gone about as crazy as someone would expect her too, and now the amazing tiger woman Lilith had torn down half his workshop. The best he could say was that it finally gave him an excuse to patch the Mica sized hole in his roof.
Mica barely heard Roxanne or Dee. Her challengers short invisibility had confused her, but she wouldn't be caught off guard like that again. What if boob lady tried to attack her like that? She whipped off the scarf, and the world went vibrant. She couldn't see an invisible person with those eyes, but it made their movements easier to pick out. "ssSSSss" She said. When the back wall and a good portion of the shack was suddenly wrenched down, Dee dove to rescue Medeina, and Roxanne was left exposed. It took the spider a very brief moment to register the fact that Lilith was not yet another challenger. She launched another gob of disgusting sizzling spit and charged in again, snapping and hissing.
"Lil, she's angry but she's over reacting, you gotta stop her!" Dee said. Lilith just stared at him. "Lithard." She purred, "Bug like Lithard." During this short exchange, Mica had cornered Roxanne. An idea came to Dee, very simple, very short, very effective. Something given to him by a certain mutant biologist.
"M-Mica, calm down. It was just a prank." Roxanne said childishly, "SsSsS" Mica responded before pouncing towards her. Her jaw came unhinged, and she leapt. She intended one large bite that would bring the challenger down, one quick chomp and Dee would remain hers. To Mica's horror, Dee's voice called out loud and clear. "Blightwalker." With the command given, Mica went limp mid pounce and collided harmlessly with Roxanne. "Bug?" said Lilith, moving in to aid the suddenly disadvantaged Mica.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 09, 2017, 10:04:46 pm
Nathaniel had just enough time to barge in when he faintly heard a hiss, not even managing the first syllable of the "oh shit" he was going to say when the wall crumpled apart and Lilith practically skated over to the two facing off.
When Mica outright pounced at Roxanne he lunged forward, drawing his pistol, only to halt when the spider mutant seemingly collapsed, walking over to the two. "Of all the...huh. So that's the command." he remarked, holstering his sidearm only to look back to Roxanne. "You alright? What the fuck were you lot doing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 09, 2017, 10:12:11 pm
"Yeah, that's the word." Dee said, going to his knees next to Mica. "And god have mercy on the one who spreads it around. Mica?" He took her by the head and looked into her face. What he saw there was a mix of despair and rage. For some reason, it hurt Dee a little to see it.
Mica felt hurt. Dee had used that word and given the advantage to her challenger. She thought her lizard had chosen Roxanne instead, and could feel something inside starting to slip and break.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 09, 2017, 10:20:12 pm
Roxanne’s own eyes widen when Mica took off her scarf and revealed her other eyes. It didn’t unnerved her, it made her wary since she knew Mica was taking this very seriously and now she had the means to track her down. When Lilith made her entrance and Dee dove out of the way, Roxanne flashed a quick smile to Mica as she was once again spat on by a sizzling glob and then charged at. Roxanne dodged the spit but she was then cornered by Mica.
Roxanne was still amused at what she had created and tried to reason with Mica. When she got more hissing in return, she knew Mica wouldn’t listened. At the sight of Mica’s unhinged jaw, Roxanne activated he electroshock unit; once Mica would come close, she would use Mica’s momentum to taze her and end this. Roxanne paid no mind to Lilith as Mica was more of an immediate threat. She saw Mica lunge forward and she prepared to strike; she then saw as Mica went limp and simply collided with her and then fell to the ground. Roxanne deactivated her electro shock unit and saw the scene before her.
"Yes Nathaniel I am alright...Word, what word?", Roxanne responded to Nathaniel in confusion. She then turned her attention to Mica and Dee. She saw how Mica was on the ground, helpless. "Mica...are you alright? I didn’t mean too...Dee, what happened to her?", Roxanne asked with a tone of remorse in her voice, something she had practised a long time ago. Roxanne didn’t know about project Blightwalker or about Catnip’s and Mica’s kill switch, to her this all came to a surprise.
Next she saw Lilith looking at her with contempt and also how the room was now a mess as well. She had not intended any of this, obviously this had come to far. "I am sorry Mica...I am sorry Dee. I...this wasn’t...", was all the Roxanne managed to say.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 09, 2017, 10:22:29 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Safe with me, then." he said, moving over to Lilith. "It's alright girl. I'm not sure what the fuck Mica thought she was doing, but things are under control now."
He then turned to Roxanne. "Now. What happened here. Why did she flip the fuck out like that?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 09, 2017, 10:36:31 pm
While she awaited Dee’s response, her attention was drawn Nathaniel’s question. "I...it was pure pettiness in my part...", Roxanne answered as she looked down in shame, "Mica had come to my room, made a mess, pitted Hector against me and made me feel uncomfortable...I thought I would just return the favor by doing the same except the first part...but I guess even that happened too...things went too far because of me, I never intended it to go like this… I am so sorry...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 09, 2017, 10:40:14 pm
Nathaniel gave a blank stare at Roxanne. "I...beg your pardon?" he said, the look on his face indicating that he wasn't sure how to react to all this. "So youy decided to go fuck with the crazy spider lady, while dressed up like you were planning to also fuck the crazy spider lady's boyfriend." he pointed out. "Is there any universe in which that NOT being a terrible idea is at all likely?" he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 09, 2017, 10:49:48 pm
Mica felt crushed, Dee had used that word on her. She didn't know where he'd learned it, nor did she much care. All that mattered was that her fight for supremacy was over and the man she loved had helped her lose it. She struggled weakly to crawl away as the paralysis began to wear off, making pathetic sad mewling sounds as she did so. One arm had gotten back to at least passing functionality, and she was dragging herself towards the hole in the wall with it. "Mica, come back..." Dee said. "No..." She mewled back at him, "Lizard choose Roks-zan. My-ka go... My-ka leave and boob monster steal My-ka's lizard cuz lizard choose Roks-zan..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 09, 2017, 11:02:07 pm
Nathaniel’s remarks snapped Roxanne from the current situation. "I know...I let my want to get even to get the best of me...Even if planned out this was a terrible idea., Roxanne responded to Nathaniel’s first remarks. At the mention of her clothing, Roxanne looked at herself and then back at Nathaniel, "Well...how else was...that’s besides the point!", Roxanne answered while blushing.
Roxanne’s attention was brought once more to Dee and Mica, she saw how Mica was dragging herself. "Mica...He didn’t...I wasn’t trying to take him away...don’t go?", Roxanne muttered to Mica, although she doubted she would her her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 09, 2017, 11:04:47 pm
Nathaniel then gave a sigh at that, making his way over to Mica, kneeling nearby. "Hey. He didn't choose anyone, he only did that to you because you were going to literally bite Roxanne's head off for being a fucking idiot. Still better than what I was about to do." he pointed out.
"We're all family here, understand? I know, we shouldn't go fucking with each other like that, but trying to kill someone over it isn't helping either. Now, I want you to talk to Dee about this...can I trust you?" he said, reaching to set a hand on her shoulder, before repeating the codephrase to disable the paralytic effect entirely.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 09, 2017, 11:30:17 pm
Dee was following her. "Mica, stop..." He was trying to stop her, but she didn't want to see it, what she thought would come next. They'd probably hug and hold hands and kiss and- She heard the word again, from the small man, and she froze. "Why does My-ka have to be like this? Stupid lab..." She didn't see Dee glaring at Nathaniel, but she did hear the little cry of surprise as Lilith pushed Roxanne aside and felt one of her big paws on her legs. She was lifted bodily into the air, and Dee thanked the tigress. "Mica, it doesn't work like that." He explained, taking both sides of her face in his hands and looking into her upside down eyes. "I don't want you killing anybody, especially not friends, because your jealous." He paused, waiting for the muscles in her face to stop being so relaxed. "Roxanne hasn't won a thing except a bit of self contempt. You can't win my affection just by fighting it out. Lil, could you raise her up a little? Thanks." Mica's false lips worked, struggling to fight back her tears. "Why you help My-ka lose then lizard? Why?" Dee shook his head, and said "I just explained that. You can't just kill your friends when they make you jealous. Your dumber than a bag of rocks Mica, but I wouldn't pick anybody else over you." For good measure, he kissed her. She struggled in her limp state to pull away, but he held her, forcing her to accept it and understand. "I. Choose. You."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 09, 2017, 11:38:56 pm
Roxanne gave a sigh of relief as Mica and Dee work this out among themselves. She didn’t have any power left to cloak and let herself out. She looked at nathaniel, "If Hector asks, you know nothing ok?", Roxanne told the tank commander. "Guess I’ll have to help rebuild this place since this is my fault...But I have to change out of this outfit first...", Roxanne said out loud as she saw the damage to Dee’s workshop. She was just glad nothing too bad had happened to her, she hope that would remain like that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 09, 2017, 11:43:53 pm
Nathaniel winced a bit as he realized using the code phrase didn not in fact work the way he thought it would. "Shit...sorry Mica. Now you...two, er. Talk it out, and I'll...see myself out." he said, before looking over to Roxanne. "What, you expect him to be pissy about it? I mean...okay that was a kinda dumb thing to do, so even if he didn't get jealous he'd probably chew you out over it..." he said, before he made his way out of the room.
On the one hand this seemed like a weird thing to keep secret from Hector, on the other hand he suspected Roxanne would do something even more rash if he did.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 10, 2017, 01:14:49 am
Mica was disappointed when Dee broke the kiss, so she mustered as much will as she could and snatched him back to her, returning his kiss. When she finally let him go, gasping, she shot Roxanne a triumphant look. "She still doesn't quiet understand." Roxanne thought.
"Where do you think your going Nathan dude? Your 'girlfriend' here isn't gonna help clean this mess up." He jogged after Nathaniel, leaving Mica hanging upside down and feeling light headed. Whether it was from the kisses or from all the blood rushing to her head, she couldn't tell and didn't care. Mica would give Dee a serious talking at for using that word later, for now she was content to hang.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 10, 2017, 08:31:22 am
Lilith had just gotten increasingly confused as the scene had gone on. Her initial anger and enthusiasm to back up the spider had quickly faded into plain old fascination. When Mica had gone completely limp, she'd started giggling. "Bug fell down." Thupid buggy." Picking her up was easy enough, and she planned to take her back to the Cabin until Dee had told her to hold Mica a bit higher. She begrudgingly does so, grunting. "Lithard man take bug back?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 10, 2017, 11:56:27 am
Nathanirl winced a bit, having only managed to make it to the door when Dee stopped him. Shit, he thought. "You're right. Someone here decided to play Koolaid Tiger even after I asked here to wait for me..." he said, grumbling as he looked over at Lilith. He then gave a sigh before deciding to go help clean up, hoping Hector would be around to help patch up the vaguely tigerlady-shaped hole in the wall.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 10, 2017, 01:23:03 pm
Roxanne gave a deep sigh as she saw Nathaniel being pulled back in. "Guess I will have to help too then? Can I at least go to my room, change to something more comfortable and also recharge my power banks? I promise I’ll be back to help...", Roxanne said out loud, "Also...let’s keep today's event’s to ourselves shall we? Anyone asks, horse-playing went too far...I know I am in no position to make demands but it seems like a fair request..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 10, 2017, 02:09:13 pm
Elsewhere Drifter had already bagged a pair of the giant frogs on his trip so far. He was lining his sights up on a deer at the moment. Pulling the trigger Drifter watched the deer fall to the ground. Walking over Drifter got the body ready to move when he heard the kitten on his shoulder hiss and start growling. Looking over his shoulder he didn't catch sight of anything and shrugged as he finished what he was doing.
As he started to walk back towards the farm the cloaked man lowered his gun. Waiting a few moments before starting to move the man shook his head. The two men moved in opposite directions as Drifter made his way back home.
Once he was back Drifter dropped off the bodies and decided to go put his gear away before butchering them. Tossing his gear on his bed he wondered what had caused the little scene he'd spotted on his way back with Dee's place missing a wall. Walking back to get to butchering he determined it wasn't his business and just set about getting ready to make a meal for those who'd be leaving.
Meanwhile Bandit was sitting out of sight. The pain meds he'd messed up had dulled the pain but his entire body still ached as he sat there. With a sigh he forced himself to his feet as he heard Alice call for him. Soon she walked around the corner and he waved to her. She asked if he was okay and he told her he was fine before asking why she was looking for him.
Alice shrugged as she said "I just wanted to see if you were okay. I hadn't seen you and thought you might have decided to move on."
Bandit shrugged as he told her "I got a lab going here, gonna be selling product too. I think I'll be staying a while so no worries about me runnin out on you."
She walked up and hugged him as she told him she was happy about that. As they stood there Bandit sighed and held her close. She'd found her real father now and he knew she'd not need him soon enough. Then it would be time to move on he thought to himself as she pulled away and walked off. Until then I'll be right there for you, just need to ask he thought as he took another pain killer and decided to see what was going on in the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 10, 2017, 07:03:27 pm
Mica twitched. "Lil-leth let My-ka down?" She asked, shortly before being set down on her head. "Silly big kitty, not put My-ka down like-" Lilith said the phrase and Mica went limp again. Dee regretted using it openly, but he wondered what other option he'd had. "C'mon Lil, don't harass her like that. Yeah, I'll take her back." He surveyed the wreckage and shook his head. "Well, it's as good an excuse as any to renovate. I need a rig for calibrating proper legs anyway, and that thing isn't gonna fit in here as it is. Could use Catnip's help, if she is feeling up to it."
Catnip wasn't feeling up to it. What she was feeling up to, was eating bacon and watching Kathrine's tail. While events were unfolding across the farm, Kathrine had cooked most of the farms supply of bacon. It made quiet the aromatic pile stacked high on a platter in the cook shack. "What are we gonna do with all this bacon Kathrine?" Catnip asked. She'd been too distracted to stop Kathrine from cooking it all, and now the farms entire supply was used up. "I guess we could take it around and share it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 10, 2017, 07:06:23 pm
Nathaniel meanwhile went to go get one of the carts to put supplies in, having last seen Hector using it, and finding it set neatly outside the farmhouse. He smirked a bit, seeing the new door it was left near, soon bringing it back along with additional lumber, nails, and some sheet metal, though with a bit more difficulty than Hector did.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 10, 2017, 07:54:12 pm
Lilith giggled and collapsed onto her side, roaring with laughter. "Bug fall- fall down cauth off word!" She's kicking her feet in the air and clutching her stomach, almost like a cartoon character. "Thil-thilly bug!" Lilith recovers enough to poke the still-paralysed Mica in the side, and then falls back into laughter. Kathrine shakes her head, and checks the plate of bacon she'd procured. "A-oh... I made too much bacon..." She looks at the last three strips she had sizzling in the pan, and looks genuinely guilty for a moment, until Catnip suggests that they share it. "Oooh, oooh! Mister Hector and Miss Roxanne really like bacon, where are they?" She spins around, arms pinned to her chest, bouncing up and down. "And Mister Dee and Miss Mica and Mister Victor and Miss Sharlene and Miss Lilith and Mister Roland and Mister Drif-" She gasps for air. "-Mister Drifter and-" She gets stopped by a look from Catnip telling her she might be going a bit overboard.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 11, 2017, 10:15:17 am
"Does anyone want any bacon?" Kathrine asked, holding up one side of a big silver platter covered in steaming slices of bacon cut from the bodies of various animals. "Hey," said Dee, "We got a regular work party going. Set it down there guys." Catnip and Kathrine did as asked and then marveled at the hole in the wall. "Oh Mr. Dee, what happened to your house?" Kathrine, distressed, said. "Lilith happened Kat. It's not her fault though. er..." That wasn't quiet true, but Dee realized perhaps a little too late that Kathrine would probably freak out if she knew what went down a little bit ago. Catnip scanned the wreckage until her eyes fell on Mica.
Mica twitched. She could smell the bacon, the meat. Succulent fried meats. She twitched again, and Dee dropped a strip into her mouth. "Chew that when your face tightens back up babe." Dee said. His heart was in the right place, but that act was more torture than pleasure. For a little bit, Mica could smell the bacon stronger than ever, even taste it, but could not chew the succulent strip of delicious greasy meat.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 11, 2017, 11:06:42 am
Nathaniel had just set aside the cart and started preparing to unload it when Kathrine came along, giving a nod. "Guess one'd be alright then, sure."
Eventually even Hector and Helen had come along, Hector having finished his work on his armor earlier, and Helen having been in the library earlier, likely also keeping a wary eye out for Lucian. "Strange, he never did visit here..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 11, 2017, 12:04:23 pm
Lucian crosses the bridge leading towards the farm, his coat on and a mantle of shadows resting on his shoulders. He stands there, inspecting the vehicles. He scratches his chin, he strolls over towards the library and strolls inside, looking at the stock of books. Walking out of the library he heads into the farm itself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 11, 2017, 12:11:36 pm
Nathaniel had, after trying some of the bacon offered to them, found himself looking around and watching goings-on a bit, before getting back to helping Dee patch the wall up. It was Helen however that soon returned to the library, only to find Lucian having just left it, when she'd been there not long ago. She almost instinctively activated her mask only to realize it was the familiar figure. "Hmm. Just have to make it a surprise visit, I see." she said, regarding him with suspicion.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 11, 2017, 12:41:48 pm
Mica finally managed to close her teeth on the bacon, chewing slow at first and then with more conviction as control of her jaw returned. "Is croaker." She commented. She snagged another from her place on the floor and ran it under her nose. "Aaaah." She sighed with obvious relish, "This different, this many legs worm! Tasty many legs worm!" She grabbed more and more, one strip at a time, identifying each source animal. "Mica, save some for everyone else." Dee said, putting a hand over hers as she reach for another strip. He gave her a meaningful glance, alright guys, everybody get some bacon and we can go over a floor plan. Thanks Kathrine."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 11, 2017, 01:11:46 pm
Kathrine just kinda... Sits there, looking at the plate. "Miss Mica should wait for everyone else." Lilith was lying on the ground next to Mica, staring intently at her. As soon as, despite Dee's command, she had reached for another strip of bacon, Lilith leans in and whispers 'Blightwalker'.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 11, 2017, 01:28:13 pm
Lucian grins upon seeing Helen, "Ah... Mage Hoonta'. How are you? I've been doing grrreat." Lucian says while keeping the grin and adding a formal bow at the end.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 11, 2017, 01:31:43 pm
Helen stared at Lucian, the expression concealed under her mask closer to the glare the mask would give when activated. "Better now that I have you where I can see you, and not who-knows-where." she remarked. "I suppose introductions with the others are in order, they might want to actually meet the...stranger, instead of just finding him hiding in the library." she teased
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 11, 2017, 02:26:40 pm
"Plee... ssss... Lil... eth..." Mica struggled with the bacon, speaking, and being paralytic at the same time. "Buggy funny." Lilith whispered. "Ok Mica, clearly this is gonna be an issue." Dee said. He hadn't heard Lilith say the word, but he'd seen the result. He carefully lifted Mica, grunting at how heavy she was for her size. "I'm gonna put Mica in my room while we get this sorted."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 11, 2017, 03:31:41 pm
Roxanne saw as Lilith messed with Mica and she found it a bit amusing. She herself let out a stifled giggle but calmed herself given the situation at hand. She knew she would have to help with the rebuilding so she thought on how she would be of help without bionic power.
As her thoughts went on, she saw Katherine arrive with lots of cooked bacon. Roxanne took her on her offer to get some. "Why thank you Katherine. Don’t mind if I do!", Roxanne says as she accepts her portion. She is careful not to get her outfit dirty. Getting stains in the post-apocalypse is hard without being a master chemist and Bandit had enough things to do already.
While she ate, she saw an unknown figure approach. She was wary since here entire defence mechanisms were down and she wasn’t wearing combat gear in any sense of the word. Her uneasiness went away when she realized she was surrounded by capable fighters. When Helen and the stranger started to chat, Roxanne focused her eyesight on him as she sized him up. The clothing he was wearing was rather strange and the crown on his belt looked utilitarian in nature. She decided to approach.
"Hey Helen! You have a friend here we haven’t meet?", Roxanne said as she approached the two, "My name is Roxanne Luna, despite my current outfit, I am one of this place’s fighters. What brings you here today Mr….?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 11, 2017, 03:40:04 pm
Lucian raises a brow, and motions a hand towards the rest of the farm. "Lead the way, mage hoonter. Who would you like to introduce me to first?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 11, 2017, 03:42:28 pm
Helen regarded Lucian cautiously, before she spotted Roxanne. "Will introduce you to her first then. Roxanne, this is the source of the smoke we saw last night, it seems. A beast-hunter, among other things..." she said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 11, 2017, 04:06:35 pm
Medeina saw the proceedings with Mica from her place among the rubble. Taking down in the back file Mica's reaction to the simple phrase. Medeina's backfile was a secret thing, something kept even from Dee. It was a thing filled with observations based not on simple biological information, but upon character profile. Medeina's secret hobby, a part of her deeper programming, was to build these profiles. Stacking up pages and pages of observed information for the use of the people that created her, creators who would never come to collect it. Information such as likes, dislikes, allergies, personally stories, disabilities, histories, and weaknesses. Medeina quickly and quietly filed away the phrase "blightwalker" along with a description of the effects under Mica's profile, in the section labeled "weaknesses." Ever since arriving on the farm and gaining a semi stable sentience in the laptop she'd been given, she'd been building. Humans weren't interesting to her, but that didn't mean she wouldn't collect information.
Kathrine saw the glint of the robots shined metal body glinting in the pile of rubble, and pulled her free. "What are you doin' in there?" She asked. Medeina's proxy simply stared at her. The one called Kathrine had changed. Very odd. Her colors had shifted a tiny bit, but her tail had grown longer and filled out. "Cat got your tongue? Oh well, you can be helpful somewhere else!" Kathrine hugged the proxy close, before setting her down somewhere safe.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 11, 2017, 04:40:00 pm
"Lucian Hawdon, madam. Hunter of the league." Lucian states, ending with a bow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 11, 2017, 05:00:29 pm
Roxanne reacts to the stranger’s bow with one of her own. "Hunter of the league huh? Quite the title you hold. My full title then is Roxanne Luna, Cleanser of the Shadows of Arcana. A glorified killer for hire if you will. These days I spend my days looting and partaking in niche arcane rituals. I am fully augmented and mutated to better survive and it has worked quite well! For the most part...", Roxanne says after her bow, "Not to be rude Mr.Hawdon, but if you may kindly answer my question. What brings you here today to these parts? From what Helen has said, it doesn’t seem you two are really on friendly terms..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 11, 2017, 05:06:12 pm
Helen nodded at that. "So that's what they call you, hunter. Strange..." she said, regarding Lucian with caution. "Blood mage, or former at least. So he claims, but it's rare to see any member of the Sanguine Order, current or former, willing to say such to a member of the Cleansing Flame."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 11, 2017, 05:09:48 pm
"I was simply was hunting some "mongrels", the alpha escaped my grasp sadly. I was tracking him, still not sure where he is exactly however." Lucian makes an aside glance at Helen, "Ahh... Right, I'm not the biggest fan of her... guild. Order. Grrroup. Ah right, the hunters may have used to been part of the Ordus Sanguine. We're no longer a part of those cowardous louts, however."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 11, 2017, 06:06:06 pm
"Oh, do I smell a schism? Been there done that!", Roxanne said as she nudge Helen with a giggle. "So you were hunting? There’s lots of game to take on around this parts. So long as you don’t cause any trouble, you are free to stop buy and trade. But if you give us any reason to make us think you will be a problem...we have all hunted the most dangerous game!", Roxanne told Lucian with a wink.
“"So Helen. What do you think of this one? Think he and Victor might get along?", Roxanne asked Helen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 11, 2017, 06:08:30 pm
Helen looked over at Lucian. "Aw, don't like being hunted to the ends of the earth for being a cannibalistic murder cult? Correction, atheist cannibalistic murder cult, even." she teased, smirking some under the mask. "This hunter's guild however I have little knowledge of. The only other non-orthodox blood mage I've encountered was working under God's Army, and seemed to be in the process of stabbing them in the back right on time for my arrival."
She then looked over to Roxanne. "I still have my doubts, but we'll see how he turns out to be. I suppose Victor will be relieved to no longer be the one with the biggest track record of playing with the arcane like a toddler waving a shotgun."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 11, 2017, 07:28:22 pm
Lucian purses his lip, "Nnnaw, 'the cannibalistic murder cult' are just a bunch of cowards who can't fight for themselves" he shrugs, "Who's next?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 11, 2017, 07:38:45 pm
Lilith, after Mica had been taken away, mostly just lay there, staring at the bacon stack. Mica had eaten a sizeable chunk of it, but cub wasn't eating, so she wouldn't either. "Natalie need eat too. C'mere Natalie." She mumbles something else, and lazily reaches towards Nathaniel, attempting grabby hands at his leg but obviously failing because of the paws. She shifts around as if she's about to get up, but just flops on the ground again, shoving a paw under her head and closing her eyes. "Natalie pill-oh better."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 11, 2017, 07:59:17 pm
"Man, this whole arcana business outside of the order is complicated. It’s like politics, drama and religion all into one. I miss the days when all I had to worry about was taking down my next target. Nice house, job I loved, payed well. It was all take away though...", Roxanne responded to Helen’s remarks about Lucian’s ties to the blood mages.
"Nah, Victor is more like a toddler with a bb gun. Can’t hurt a fly but will end up busting his eye out one day.", Roxanne commented on Helen’s last remarks as she gave a small laugh.
Next, she looked around and spotted a car battery and some jumper cables. "Dee, I will be borrowing that for a bit so I recharge if you don’t mind. I can recharge them later if you want.", Roxanne told Dee. She proceeded to connect the two wires to the batteries and then looked at the two other connectors; she had run into a problem. She wore a two piece outfit so if she need to recharge in a pinch, she could use her hip connector easily. But now the dress was in her way of her hip port. Roxanne gave a deep sight. "This is gonna look perverted no matter how I do this...", she thought to herself.
Roxanne proceeded to unzip the back of her dress and then inserted the cables one by one through her back and connected then. Once they were connected, she sat next to the battery in one of the counters making sure her back was facing the wall at all times. She felt the power filling her power banks and she let a grin betray her current mood.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 11, 2017, 08:04:02 pm
Nathanie smiled some as he took some more.. "It's alright, figured I'd save some for the others, but we seem to have plenty eno-" Cue looking over at Lilith reaching for him, moving to sit down beside her. "Kathrine, you tried any? It's good, you make even the mutated animal stuff taste heavenly." he said.
Helen meanwhile chuckled a bit at that. "In the old days of my father's time, it wasn't so complicated. Hunt monsters, deal with cannibal cult, etc." she remarked. "And even a bb gun can put someone else's eye out." she teased, watching as Roxanne walked off to recharge herself, likely prompting a blush from Hector when he walked by. "Can, er...help with building things if you want? Nathaniel mentioned having a hole in the wall to fix up."
Helen meanwhile decided to lead the way over to where the others were, in order to make introductions.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 11, 2017, 08:32:27 pm
Kathrine shakes her head, ears pinned back. "I eat the leftovers. But I can sit at the table now!" She looks over at Catnip, smiling in that way that exposes the tips of her fangs. "Thanks, Mistress... And Miss Lilith always eats with me, too! And she's asleeeeeep~"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 11, 2017, 10:16:39 pm
Mica wanted more of the bacon, but Dee had brought her into his room. Now, shaking the last of the paralysis off, she wanted to leave. Beneath the mouth watering smell of bacon and the lovely (to Mica) smells of Dee's room, was an approaching reek of sourness. Something that didn't smell right, something she'd rather not meet. She didn't want it knowing that word, but if she had to face it cornered here in Dee's room, they would have to use that word in front of it. The back wall then, it had to be. It was the work of a moment, the wall being made of simple materials, no where near as durable as a steel blast door. As she was preparing to squeeze through, she remembered that a hole like this wouldn't work. It wouldn't be wide enough, and she certainly didn't want to be caught with her soft bits exposed to that foul presence. She widened the hole, and taking one of Dee's shirts, squeezed herself through. Instead of Sharlene's, she would make her way out into the woods. She'd stash the shirt in one of her hidey holes and wait out the night in a safe place.
Catnip had been laughing and helping, hardly seeing or hearing any of her withdrawal phantoms and only sitting down to wait for the shakes to pass every so often. A new burst of laughter meant for some light hearted jab at Dee's expense died in her throat when her whiskers twitched, and she looked through the open bay door of Dee's workshop to see a newcomer approaching. Catnip normally loved to meet new people, but she did not want to meet this one. "Kathrine, please. Help me get back to the barn. Through the hole Lilith made." She whispered into Kathrine's ear. Normally, she wouldn't make many serious requests of Kathrine. It was this paired with Catnip's sudden dire attitude that gave Kathrine pause. "Are you sure Mistress?" Kathrine asked.
"Yes, please Kathrine. I don't like him. I don't want him near me or you." Catnips fearful disdain was turning into something like a defensive edge. "Help me up." She requested, and Kathrine obliged.
Dee didn't have the same problem. "Going so soon guys?" Dee asked. "I'll be back." catnip said, sounding distant and distracted. "You don't wanna stay and meet this new guy rolling up on us?" He asked, to which Catnip gave an emphatic "No." Dee didn't quiet understand that, but he could guess. "I'll be back later to oversee the expansions Dee." Dee knew she wouldn't be back tonight though, Catnip was a very good observer and if she didn't want to be around, then she must have a good reason why. "I guess I can get Mica, she'll do plenty of introducing for everybody." Dee disappeared into his room, only to emerge a moment later. "Never mind." He stated, worry filling him. "Mica's gone out the back."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 11, 2017, 11:13:55 pm
Helen sighed at that, shaking her head. "While I'm at it, I want you behaving. We have several here much scarier than a little old man, scarier than me even." she teased. "Several subjected to mutation for example, one of them is especially..." She trailed off as she saw that Lilith was simply asleep next to Nathaniel. "...fearsome." The resulting facepalm prompted a chuckle from Nathaniel, while Hector approached.
"So, who's the visitor? Didn't get any radio contact lately. Name's Hector." the knight said, still in his full armor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 11, 2017, 11:19:43 pm
He looks at Lilith sleeping before asking in a whisper to Helen, "Why does the tiger have a big uh- bosom?" He clears his throat and replies to Hector. "Lucian Hawdon, hunter of the league." Lucian says, with a bow. "Apologies for making my visit rather abrupt."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 11, 2017, 11:25:17 pm
Helen just shrugged at that, while Hector gave a nod at that. "I see. No fancy titles on my part, unfortunately. Guess that makes me a knight-errant, even with the Knights Hospitallers shield." he remarked. "Still a better surprise than it could be."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 11, 2017, 11:34:22 pm
An unfamiliar smell enters Lilith's nostrils, and she shivers uncomfortably. With a quiet whine, she shoves her nose against Nathaniel's leg and settles back down into an attempt at sleep, although it was slightly difficult with the vague knowledge of someone new being in the room, looking at her, and her unease shows. She occasionally flexes her claws and shivers more, although she doesn't seem like she's quite ready to actually wake up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 11, 2017, 11:59:22 pm
Nathaniel leaned in a bit to hug around her, as best as he could manage to, a hand lightly petting and scritching her ears. "It's alright, Lil..." he said, looking up at Lucian. "Huh. Catnip and Kath both fucked off all of a sudden. You'd think Kathrine would be eager to meet a new person." he said.
Hector meanwhile nodded at that, while Helen glowered at Lucian from under her mask. "No telling. Something might've spooked them. After all, no telling how sharp their senses are, and they say many animals, including those they share traits with, can sense evil..." she remarked, her tone hinting at suspicion.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 12, 2017, 12:09:01 am
The door from Victor’s room opened quickly as Victor rushed outside coughing. Smoke exited the room and he was now breathing in fresh air. It wasn’t smoke from fire but a potion gone wrong. "I don’t get it, I followed everything to a tee!", Victor exclaimed between coughs. The trio of the dead followed suit.
"What am I going to do with you guys?", Victor asked. The trio responded with moans and wails. "That wasn’t a question to you guys!", Victor exclaimed as he facepalmed. I was then that he noticed a gathering of people up front in Dee’s workshop; he also noticed a new aura had popped out. He had been to busy with his potion making to notice it. This new aura had traces of arcane corruption. "Guess your second death will have to wait...", Victor whispered.
Victor walked towards the gathering. Anyone who saw him approach would see him calmly walking with his hands in his pockets, blade sheathed behind him and three undead following behind him; quite the sight for those present, but perhaps for different reasons to each.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 12, 2017, 12:23:28 am
Lucian sniffs the air, "I smell rotting flesh. Some undead are nearby." He draws turns around and sees three zombies and... victor, he squints. "What..." He grips the handle of the rapier, but doesn't draw it. He eyes the undead slaves cautiously.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 12, 2017, 12:27:07 am
Helen smiled at that. "Oh right, and then there's the idiot playing with enslaving the revenants. Victor, we have a visitor." she said, turning to approach him, before moving to whisper something to him. "Be careful around him. Some sort of Ordus Sanguine defector, as he claims..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 12, 2017, 12:42:44 am
Victor ordered the dead to stay put before he stepped forward towards Helen and Lucian. Victor nodded at Helen’s whisper. "Defector from the Sanguine Order? What a strange case. Will keep an eye then.", Victor whispered back. Victor looked at the man before speaking. "I am Purifier of the Shadows or Arcana, Victor Ironwood. Good to see another man interested in the arcane among our ranks; how I know that? I can sense your aura and I can tell it is arcane in nature. Now, I take it you have spoken to some people here. If I my ask, are you a lone wolf or are you a member of some order or higher power? Your kind don't work alone..."
The undead scanned the room in front of them and their sensory input was transmitted to Victor. The dead he controlled were extensions of his own senses; this had a downside too however. He could feel their pain in a similar way to phantom limb syndrome and any psychic attack to them would also affect him. Victor noticed the place had suffered some damage and wondered what had happened. "May I know what happened here?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 12, 2017, 01:15:38 am
"I'm Lucian Hawdon, hunter of the league." Lucian says with a bow, "I work with various other hunters within the league, yes."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 12, 2017, 03:27:59 am
Another smell had entered the room. The smell of the dead. Even that barely managed to get her to almost wake up, and she, in fact, didn't. At least, she didn't until she realised that Nathaniel was in the room with the dead things. With a long, low, steadily getting louder growl, she slowly gets to her paws, climaxing with her punctuating getting up with a proper roar. She flexes, seemingly to try and impress Nathaniel, before dropping back down onto all fours and launches herself towards Victor and his zombies. Or at least, she attempts to. What actually ends up happening is Lilith crossing her arms in mid-air and plows her face directly into the floor, sending herself tumbling forward into a prone position again.
When she gets back up and notices that the shamblers still hadn't moved towards her, her growls quieten slightly. "What." She still approached Victor's zombie posse, looking frustrated, it's clear that she still intends to kill them. Re-kill them? Make them deader. They're gonna die, and it's gonna involve Lilith beating two of them to death with the third one.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 12, 2017, 09:55:54 am
Mica gave the shirt another sniff. Anybody on the farm would have told her that it was creepy behavior, but after the day she'd had she didn't much care. She'd been reminded of her most likely dead siblings, had played with Roxanne and Hector while buzzed on chocolate, had tried to kill Roxanne when she tried to steal Dee from her, and now everyone knew that Mica had a word that essentially turned her off for a few minutes. She looked out from her perch in the tallest oak at the edge of the woodland bordering the farm. The distant shapes of Catnip and Kathrine had left Dee's house not long after Mica had, and she suspected the Catnip had felt the same thing she had. The revulsion of the newcomers presence. She put the shirt on over her silk one, relishing the smell and the way the cotton shirt hugged her through the silk without making her itch. The sleeves weren't quiet wide enough, but she could still fit both arms on each side through them. After taking another drag of Dee's scent, Mica went back to watching Dee's house. Catnip had had the sense to take her morsel, her special friend, away with her. Mica hadn't, and now Dee was down there with that thing that pretended to be a man. Lilith was down there, she would protect Dee. Unless... That thing might be clever, might be possessed of powers a regular person shouldn't. It might hurt Lilith too, and that thought was what settled Mica. She had to go back, go back and keep a protecting eye on Dee and Lilith. It didn't occur to her how absurd the idea of protecting Lilith was, but Mica was the sort where lots of ideas simply "didn't occur." She carefully dropped from the tree, making sure not to tear Dee's shirt, and crossed the field towards the workshop. When she got there, she would remove her scarf and get a very good look at the newcomer.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 12, 2017, 10:19:09 am
"Hunter of the league? Intere-", Victor said to Lucian before he was interrupted by Lilith's ever louder growls. When she stood up, Victor took a step back, he hadn’t had an interaction with Lilith yet but he had heard the stories; last thing he wanted was to get on her bad side.
Sensing Victor’s distress, the dead were about to move forward but Victor ordered them to stop. It was a good thing these things didn’t have a sense of self preservation and were perfectly obedient, any other creature would’ve disregarded the order. When Lilith launched herself in his general direction, Victor covered his face with his arms in an x-shaped cross. After a few moments passed, he looked in front of him and noticed Lilith was on the ground getting up. She then approached; it took all his willpower not to give in to his ever increasing fear and sic the dead unto Lilith. "Lilith? It’s me, Victor. We haven’t met properly but you must’ve heard of me right? I mean no harm.", Victor told Lilith as he backed away a couple steps. The dead still silent and unmoving.
Another thought came to Victor, Lilith was certainly capable to take on all three of the dead and she seem to have that intention. Victor’s eyes widen at the thought; the only reason he hadn’t done it himself was that he would feel that pain himself. The thought of feeling every little sensation of Lilith mauling him 3 times made him tremble. "Lilith, dear. Please reconsider. What do you want, I will grant you something in exchange if you show mercy!", Victor pleaded to the tigress.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 12, 2017, 10:54:10 am
Lilith had, obviously, ignored Victor's pleas. Zombies that were just standing still made easy enough targets for the good old 'Beat a Motherfucker With Another Motherfucker' routine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 12, 2017, 12:33:09 pm
Helen then turned to look over at Lilith, fumbling to approach the undead and do what most of the farm had struggled with a near-instinct to do, approaching a bit closer to watch Victor. This is going to be amusing, she thought.
Nathaniel meanwhile had been unnerved by the way Lilith reacted, uncertain at first what provoked it, the stranger or the undead. "Fucking hell...Victor, you might as well step aside and clear the way, only thing worse than getting between Lilith and something like that is doing so when she's practically sleep-mauling." he pointed out.
Helen as well had approached by now, practically grabbing Victor to pull him aside. "And if those things put up a fight while she's putting them down..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 12, 2017, 12:36:31 pm
Lilith had ignored his pleas and proceeded to maul the undead. As soon as lilith charged for one of them, he withdrew his blade, completely ignoring Helen and Nathaniel, and activated it to dull the pain he was about to receive. The pain of the act was incredible; even with his blade active, it brought his to his knees and used dug the sword into the earth below to use as support. He let out screams of agony and tears rolled down his face as he endured the violent ending of his minions. When she was done, she stayed in place sobbing profusely until the blade ran out of essence to which he responded by collapsing on the ground and begin a coughing fit.
To everyone watching, it would seem as if Victor drew his blade and brandished it towards Lilith for assaulting his pets. Then they witness Victor’s screams and then consequent collapse. It was all too quick to properly process but it was done now. He was now a mess on the floor, not maiking a noise but eye look emtpy as tears still rolled from his face onto the ground.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 12, 2017, 12:44:58 pm
Helen went wide-eyed as she saw him draw his sword, giving something almost sounding like a low growl as she lunged in. Just after the blade activated that hand on his shoulder went him a calm attempt to reach for him to outright trying to seize the arm in question and twist it, only for him to outright collapse out of her grasp. "What the hell is wrong with...oh. Oh." she said, smirking a bit. "You can can feel it, can't you? You complete and utter buffoon..." she said, reaching for a vial of something, a foul-smelling black liquid that she'd try to force him to drink, a rather potent numbing potion that'd add to the effects of the blade.
Nathaniel meanwhile had already drawn his pistol along with Hector drawing his sword, only Helen's proximity preventing the tank commander from firing when he saw Victor collapse. "Jesus fucking christ..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 12, 2017, 01:53:55 pm
Lilith had finished tearing the last shambler in half above her head when she noticed Nathaniel, Hector and Victor's response. Thinking that it's a challenge, she stands up, coated in blood, and flexes, roaring as she does so. "FIGHT ME!" She yells. She looks like she's on the border of going nuts again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 12, 2017, 02:04:44 pm
Nathaniel facepalmed at that, holstering his pistol and shaking his head. "Lilith, no. Down girl. Threat's over, you won. Just a few shamblers." he said calmly, while Hector sheathed his sword.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 12, 2017, 02:21:51 pm
Mica heard the roar and assumed the worst. From her place a ways off from the back of Dee's house, she could only see Lilith standing over the scattered viscera and the body of the magic man. "Blood monster do this." Mica thought, her thoughts turning slowly in her mind. She crawled forward and peeked in, noting that the organs and body parts didn't seem to belong to anyone she knew, but she saw him. The one she had come to call "the blood man." She let the red scarf she'd come to favor slip from her eyes, closed her left eye, and looked closely. Lilith was angry, her rage beginning to fill the room. She could see it as a heat haze emanating off of her. The others only showed fear, which Mica saw as an odd sucking towards their colorful cores. There were a lot of things Mica didn't understand about the way she saw things with that collection of eyes, but she had come to learn what some of the chromatic aberration that was her second sight meant. The blood man was absent from that sight except as a blank space, lacking that odd sucking swirling of fear at it's center. It made him incredibly easy to pick out of the swirling maelstrom that the room had become. She opened her left eye and the colors vanished, leaving only a vivid scene. A scientist could have explained Mica's sight to someone, but she herself was at an utter loss.
She quietly snuck in and took up a position next to Lilith. "Shhh Lil-eth, shhh. Blood man is watching." Lilith started at Mica's words, restraining herself from taking the spiders head off with one swipe of her paw by the barest thread of will. "Look at blood man Lil-eth," She continued, "He not show fear of mighty Lil-eth. Even My-ka know fear of Lil-eth. Not fight Lil-eth friends. My-ka learn lesson before hurt Roks-zan, Lil-eth must learn before hurt small man."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 12, 2017, 03:20:27 pm
Lilith is still visibly pissed, but she's noticeably calmed down enough that she's no longer a danger to the majority of the farm. She looks like she's trying to say something to Mica, but it's unintelligible through her constant growling. She wanted to hit something that would fight back, but the magic man was weak, and metal man didn't fight back when he wasn't Natalie, and shocker lady went see-through and hid everywhere like a coward. The new person seemed... Off, though. He had a bad smell and acted and looked weird and had a bad feel around him. Eventually, after a considerable amount of time, and half of another nap, she's back to being semi-friendly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 12, 2017, 03:25:29 pm
Nathaniel waited a bit, until Lilith had calmed down, before he'd approached and reached to carefully pet. "It's alright Lilith, everything's fine now. Easy girl..." he said softly, before looking to Mica. "Did good work there, Mica. Thank you."
Helen meanwhile looked back to Lucian, noticing the way Lilith and the others had been acting strangely ever since the hunter arrived, activating her mask again to look him over. Over than the aura of magical items, a few of which would normally provoke a "kill on sight" response from her, it was hard to tell if anything in particular was off about him. If Mica had seen her with that second sight at the moment, the appearance of her aura reaching out in all directions, observing surroundings in ways the human eye didn't, an effect radiating from her mask, would be clearly seen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 12, 2017, 03:48:57 pm
Death had been taking care of some business when he felt something. It wasn't something he'd felt often before but none the less it made him feel somewhat concerned. With a sigh he began making his way to the farm.
Once there he quickly determined where that feeling was coming from and made his way to Dee's place. That's when he laid eyes on Lucian and sighed. He'd dealt with only a few of his kind before and they were always more trouble than they had been worth. Idiots who played with things beyond them and who often got in over their heads. In all honesty it'd probably be easier on everyone if he just killed him but Death decided to restrain himself from his first impulse. Regardless he hated these types.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 12, 2017, 03:56:43 pm
Victor’s eyes focused on Helen due to her actions. He drank the potion without much struggle; both from a lack of will to do so and the pain pro-occupying his consciousness. The pain started to dull even more and it eventually became a mere sore all over but he could deal with that. Everything was in slow motion for him, it felt what had been described like an outer body experience but he was still conscious and could move his body.
Victor looked to the side and noticed Randael in his shadow silhouette from standing next to him. His hollow eyes meet Victor’s and an aura of judgment was felt. No one but Victor could see or hear the spirit of harvest. "Am I dead?", Victor asked weakly out loud. “No”, answered Randael in a voice only Victor could hear, “I made sure of that…” Randael moves his gaze towards the end of the row of cabins off into the distance. Victor moved his gaze as well and he was meet by what looked like a man. The man was wearing a suit and a hat; the man shook his head while smiling and tipped his hat towards Victor.
Victor looked back at Randael. "You mean it?", Victor asked. “Yes, he isn’t here for you...but do me a favor and lay of the dangerous magic for a while. Stick with what you know. You could be of use like that. Pushing the boundary with such little resources leads to stuff like this.”, Randael responded. Victor smiled, seemingly at thin air from everyone else, and said "I’ll consider it...if I survive the mission that is...” Randael then disappeared from his view.
Now that the pain was mostly null, Victor used his currently depleted sword to stand up. He sheathed it and looked around. He saw Helen and he thanked her before she went to confront Lucian. Next,he saw Lilith and the spider mutant who he sometimes forgot her name. Mica? Yes, that was it. Two of the mutants he feared the most. Their aura was calm though, calm enough, so he paid them no mind. Finally, he saw the remains of his former minions; they laid on the dirt as a scene of gore. He shook his head and turned back to Lucian. It unnerved him that his aura had changed very little, even after all that had happened and while Helen was inspecting him; Helen’s own vibrant aura invigorated him.
"Sorry everyone...", Victor said to everyone present, "Let tonight’s events be a lesson."
Roxanne meanwhile, was standing with her bionic blade deployed. She was still hooked up the the battery but if Lilith had gone on a rampage, she would use the power she had recharged to at least defend herself.
At Victor’s screams, Roxanne herself recoiled, She had never heard from him such agony. After that was done as well and Mica came back to comfort Lilith, Roxanne withdrew her blade. The battery also finished charging and she unhooked the cables from her hips and zipped her dress back up. "Good to be charge up.”, Roxanne said to herself.
Not that that was done. She approached the scene where Victor had done his little show. She didn’t want to miss any more of it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 12, 2017, 04:10:33 pm
Helen remained close to Victor for a bit, both to keep an eye on him and to discourage Lilith from trying to kill him, though with things having calmed down she was now back to observing things for now.
It was when she observed Lucian, at just the right moment, that something made her freeze in place, mask deactivating. "Rather irritating timing on that one..." she said quietly. She'd been looking right through the hunter through her mask's sight, when that presence was sensed. Once again, for but a moment, the sense of strange power bled through the shroud of a mundane spiritual aura. As suspicious as Lucian seemed, he was still hardly the most unsettling thing to look at through her mask's sight at the moment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 12, 2017, 04:37:14 pm
Sharlene threw her laptop to the side, letting it clatter to the ground next to the bed, and ran out of the door, not even bothering to put on shoes, her jacket, or a not eye-searing t-shirt. It only took her about two minutes to cross the distance between the cabin and the farm, and she arrived outside Dee's workshop half-dead already. "Don't... Run... That far..." She gasps, looking up at the people visible from outside. "Who... Who's dead?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 12, 2017, 05:08:15 pm
Lucian watched the bloodshed of victors undead pets with a wide grin curled on his lips, "Some of the undead, madam."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 12, 2017, 05:09:09 pm
Hector facepalmed at that, before looking over to Sharlene. "We're alright for the moment. A few revenants are put back down, thanks to Victor here playing with zombies." he said, looking back over to him.
Helen meanwhile sighed and walked off, away from the others to make her way over where she'd sensed the spirit of death. "So. Let me guess. I need to start keeping Victor on a much shorter leash, before he does something even worse than playing with a few animated dead..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 12, 2017, 05:28:42 pm
"But... But Catnip said... Fuck it, where is she? Uh. Lilith. Where is she. If everyone's alright, I'm takin' her back." Sharlene coughs once, and straightens up. "Actually, what's up with her breakin' shit? Should get her to fix that stuff first. She's probs better at that shit than the dweeb she's uh... 'Datin'' is."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 12, 2017, 05:36:36 pm
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at that, looking over at Sharlene. "I heard that, you know. And she's not far, beating a zombie to death with another zombie is tiresome work." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 12, 2017, 08:45:36 pm
Death shrugged to Helen as he said "Well he's playing with dangerous things but he's done so in such a way I can't kill him outright. Believe me I'd like to for my own reasons but that trick with the zombies was done in such a way I can't do anything. I'm here for the blood mage, Lucian I think it was. Never liked his type and thought I'd check out the weird presence I felt. Not to kill him mind you but to see what that presence was and now that I know what I'll be keeping an eye out for him in case he does anything I'll need to deal with."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 12, 2017, 08:53:36 pm
Helen nodded at that. "So I see. I still feel I'm going to have to start keeping a closer eye on Victor, if he keeps doing this. I'd rather you don't have to kill him for his own stupidity, after all." she said, only to give a nod at that. "So the mutated fellows here aren't the only one unnerved by the hunter? I've already given him more leeway than I feel I should. To be honest though, I've dealt with much worse than him." she remarked.
"If he does anything to endanger this settlement though, I'll deal with him personally. My tolerance of him ends the moment he does anything stupid, and proves himself no better than the blood mages he claims to have broken away from."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 12, 2017, 08:59:13 pm
Death turned to walk away as he said "When the time comes I'll enjoy dealing with him, and hopefully before that you'll be able to put him through the proper amount of pain. I've no tolerance for blood mages myself."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 12, 2017, 09:00:48 pm
Helen then smirked a bit at that under her mask. "It'll be a rare pleasure then." she said, giving a nod at that as he turned to walk off. "Give me cause, profligate..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 12, 2017, 09:14:55 pm
Someone else was there. Not invisible, just not all there. Mica let the scarf slip again, and she recognized it. She didn't know it, not really. But the face was the face she'd seen on a hundred victims. It's eyes were the eyes of those she'd fallen upon just before her teeth ripped into them. This being gave her a sense of familiarity, and she felt comfortable around it. The fact that she herself had probably worked that being harder than any of the others had went over her head entirely, but she at least knew that whoever it was, they'd met before. He had a different face each time, and it wasn't REALLY him she had been eating her way through. Unlike the people who took on his aspect as their lives left their soon to be consumed bodies, she didn't think it would bear her any ill will. She put the scarf back on, and he was there fully. His real face now. Mica saw, was satisfied, and then ignored him. She wouldn't be wearing his face any time soon, so she didn't worry about it. Instead, she put her focus back where it belonged; the blood man and getting Lilith and Dee away from him.
"Char-leen." Mica hissed, trying to get the woman with the funny accents attention without attracting any to herself. The second part of what she attended failed, as Mica's whisper was as loud as normal speech. Dee touched her shoulder, giving her a start. "Hey, what's up?" He asked. "Shhh," she hissed at him, somewhat quieter, "blood man hear lizard. We go to lizards sleeping place an talk. Shhhh."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 12, 2017, 11:05:43 pm
Victor knew that Randael was right. His insistence on pushing the boundary on arcane knowledge had brought him nothing but strife. Hell, he had even angered a spirit of death and was under watch by it. Helen thought of him as a moron that was the equivalent of a child in his curiosity with the arcane. He was to focused on keeping his oath that he had lost sight of things and it had taken nothing short of excruciating pain to make him realize this.
As Helen was leaving, Victor called to her and then cached up. "Helen, before you leave, I want to tell you something. I have been going at this all wrong; I have endangered everyone around me and done many foolish acts. My image is forever tarnish but I decided this path is no longer the correct one. So Helen...", Victor told Helen as she held her hands on the last sentence, “Will you show me the light? Will you take this broken man and teach him right from wrong?”
Roxanne had decided to have a short talk with Medeina of all things. “Soooooo”, Roxanne asked the AI, What do you do for fun? Are you capable of fun? You seemed to do so when you were in my room yesterday during Mica’s little exploits. Is that your thing? Watching other people? No judging from me, I have worse quirks than that...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 12, 2017, 11:18:14 pm
Helen turned to regard Victor with surprise, before she carefully took off her mask. Her expression was one of concern, uncertainty. "I...very well then. I've said it before, even begged you, made your promise me not to reach too far." she said, stepping in, only to smile a bit. "I swear, if I'd known that putting yourself through agony was what'd finally make you realize the dangers..." she teased, before taking his hands, drawing him closer.
"But so be it. I'll do my best. I don't want to do lose you over such stupidity. If I myself can learn the difference between caution and blind fear of the unknown, so too can you learn what you must."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 12, 2017, 11:54:54 pm
No one had asked Medeina what she liked to do before. Dee had gone through snippets of code, sure, but he hadn't asked directly. For Medeina, her work was her fun, and she said so. "I am programmed with a desire to observe, learn, and record. I am also programmed to enjoy this activity a great deal, and given a set of rudimentary emotions to make this possible." The two sentences had the feel of something that she'd been rehearsed to say until she added, "I feel that my emotions and feelings are more than rudimentary though. The code associated with them is different than my own base code. Yes, certainly not a part of my original code. Where did I get them then? It is certainly not the work of Mr. Koenig..." Roxanne heard something in that voice that sounded a bit like confusion. Then, Medeina's proxy suddenly held something up to her.
"Ugh! What the..." Roxanne said, stepping away from the proxy. Medeina had offered her a desiccated frog. "Subject does not react positively to being offered dehydrated vermin." Medeina quipped, and then changed the subject back to herself. "I like to take pictures. Pictures allow further analysis of some creatures from the safety of the lab. I have vague memory of having a much larger body, and many small proxies who would collect images for me. My harddrive matrix is not large enough to house both myself, and very many memories. I get the feeling that I was copied with some haste." The proxy put the frog in a little drawer on one of the desktop storage units, like a tiny filing cabinet. "I do not watch people." Medeina clarified, turning the proxy back towards Roxanne so that she could get a better view of the mutant occupants of the room. "I watch anomalous flora and fauna. Humans are interesting, but are barely 'anomalous.' Mutant humans though, are very anomalous and so are very interesting. You are very interesting. You are also, very difficult to observe." Roxanne could almost feel the robot looking her up and down, and suddenly felt the robots tiny manipulator pinch her arm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 13, 2017, 12:39:39 am
"I know...I let an oath I made to a an organization that no longer exists take precedence over you, she who despite my flaws still see someone worth their time. For that I am truly sorry, but that will no longer be the case.", Victor told Helen as he felt her pull him close, "We will soon be brother and sister in arms. Maybe after this next mission, we could have that talk we agree to have? Maybe consider becoming...something more?" Victor pulled away when he realized what he had asked. "A-anyway...I will leave you be. You were going someplace and I have a few things to do myself. Whatever happened here seems to be none of our concern. Good day to you my fair maiden”, Victor told Helen, stammering at first but regaining his composure mid sentence.
A couple hours later, Victor was drinking some wine while looking at his notes. Thing was, he had to sets of notes. One with knowledge he was sure about and could execute safely (potions, basic spells, exorcisms, charms and hexes for various specific things) and the one where he wrote experimental magic; things that he had yet to fully work out or were too dangerous to be used properly. Victor was reading the latter; when he finished flicking the pages, he ripped the last one out of it and tucked inside the last entry of the “safe” journal. Then, after downing the last bit of wine he had served himself, he burned the “experimental” journal in a blue flame he had lit for this purpose. Victor saw as the journal turned to ashes and he gave it a mocking salute, he felt as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
Next, he opened a copy of the cleansing flame. He might as well give it a read; he had a few old toys he needed to get rid of so he would give them to Helen to turn into dull essence. The small talk would be lacking so this would have to do.
Roxann regarded Medeina's comments with genuine curiosity. She didn’t fully understand what she was saying but what she did she found fascinating. A machine that could feel and had it’s own desires. She was creeped out a little by the dissected frog but pushed that thought aside; reminded of herself when she first joined The Shadows of Arcane and was full of questions and did things other considered weird. Roxanne blushed at Medeina’s comments of her being interesting. "Hey, I am not the literal feeling machine here. You are very interesting yourself. And difficult to observe? I walk around the farm all the time, what else do you need of me?"
This thought process was interrupted too when she felt Medeina’s gaze and felt her pinch. "Hey!", Roxanne called out in a startled voice before calming down, "You can’t touch people like that without their permission. That’s rude...and in some instances naughty." Roxanne rolled up her sleeve to see where the AI had pinched her leaving her metal skin exposed. She noticed the proxy’s lens focus on it and Roxanne gave a giggle at that. "Collecting more data? That is indeed metal, I am augmented you see. I am usually very sensitive about it but I guess since you are a machine, it’s ok if you take a look. Just thing once...don’t go around peeking on people ok?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 13, 2017, 01:06:28 am
"Augmentation." Stated Medeina. Roxanne felt something, as much as it was possible to feel an intruding AI, and recoiled. "What are you doing? Don't do that!" She hissed, and Medeina stopped. She'd collected enough information for her purposes. "None of the information gathered from your enhanced memory bank will be retained except that required to study your biology as it applies to your augmentation and your biological history." She said, then whispered "Ms. Mica made me promise." Roxanne didn't like the idea of Medeina picking through her memories, and said so. "I cannot read your mind Ms. Luna." Medeina explained, "And your most recent memories are also hidden to me. Regardless, I am surprised there's any biological components left. Mr. Deverish should have been more worried about them than he was about your mutations. I suppose that isn't his area of expertise though, nor is it mine."
"What do you think of this new one?" Medeina asked suddenly, "Mica and Catnip seem repulsed by him, the tiger seems to also have some issue. Some kind of pheromone perhaps? How do you feel on the matter Ms. Luna? Do you feel anything? Share your observations and I will share mine."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 13, 2017, 01:15:43 am
Helen gave a nod at that. "I see. Hold onto what is good in that old oath, and leave aside what has caused harm." she said. "Just as I've done with my oaths. And if we see the end of that mission, so be it." she said. By now she was blushing a bit, looking away shyly. "You know where I'll be, and still be in radio contact if needed. Mind that...stranger, and take care. Okay?" she asked, stealing a kiss before she turned to leave.
She'd be back at the camp she made with Sergei and the survivor they'd picked up on their journey, the mage hunter still intent on planning for the coming mission.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 13, 2017, 01:25:17 am
The feeling of having the AI going through her mind was weird, but not unfamiliar to her. Back when Randael was using her as a host, she would feel this very sensation all the time; it usually followed some desire she had to fufill or some other stimuli on behalf of the spirit. "Still, you must admit it is a little strange...Maybe in terms you understand, imagine a parasite whose host knows it’s there and it has to trust the symbiotic relationship is that of mutualism,"
On her questions on Lucian, Roxanne’s expression change to that of almost sadness and she gave a deep sigh before she spoke. "Can you keep a secret? I am jealous, I am jealous of him, of Victor,Helen and the other.. He seems to know a thing or two about the arcane. Mica’s and Catnip’s mutations told them of something to be wary of and Helen and Victor sense his arcane attributes. Yet here I am, in neither camp, only my judgment to guide me. I know you don’t understand where I am coming from and that’s fine...so to properly answer your question, I am not scared or put off of like the others. I am jealous and resentful that he has what I don’t...He gets to play with magic while I am some charlatan who hides behind her augmentations and mutations..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 13, 2017, 01:35:13 am
Bandit had been sitting by the bridge as a couple of people had let him know they'd be stopping by on his short range radio. His hands were shaking somewhat as he sat on the ground. Soon enough the first vehicle pulled up.
Walking over to the man that dismounted Bandit made the transaction. A few boxes of ammo for the M4s he'd seen several of the others practicing with as well as a pair of dresses the man had been trying to trade for some time apparently. A few small bags of drugs passed hands and the man was on his way with a grin on his face. Shortly the second group of vehicles pulled up. A trio of armored vans containing a group of gangsters.
Only two walked out and the one in charge smiled as he told Bandit "Remember us boy? How's about some 'samples'."
The man grabbed Bandit's bag and pushed him away. Bandit made a rather weak attempt to grab the bag before getting punched in the face(or mask). Stumbling back Bandit cursed as he looked up to see several of them showing off guns in a typical gangster fashion. Stepping back he let the pair walk away as the boss of them said "We'll be back soon friend, best have a good stash for us."
Letting them drive away Bandit was glad everyone had been too occupied to notice the confrontation. He'd deal with this later. For now he stumbled his way back to the farm before collapsing to his knees and pulling his mask up to vomit on the ground. As he put his mask back in place he felt a few cracks in it and sighed. How the fuck am I going to deal with this though? There's too many of them... At least I still have the stuff I traded for.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 13, 2017, 01:49:56 am
Sharlene was about to introduce himself to the new guy when she noticed Mica's mad waving and not-at-all secretive hiss-whispers, seemingly directed at her. "...Hold on a sec." She tells Lucian, and walks over to Mica and Dee. "Yeah? What's up, hon?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 13, 2017, 02:20:48 am
"Magic is not real." Medeina said as a matter of fact. She provided no proof or argument for her statement. A few of the slowly dispersing group looked in their direction, but made no comment. They'd seen the wonder's a Helen and Victor had performed. "Oh? I see..." Roxanne said distantly. She was suddenly disinterested in the robot, as disinterested as she'd been in any of those who had come before and said the same thing, but Medeina wasn't disinterested in her. "Every creature has it's features. Not everything can be explained by augmentation or mutation. I am an AI, one programmed to seek a biological source for such things. Such a thing must be inherent. I will seek to understand it, but I refuse to believe it is 'magical.'" Medeina turned back to Roxanne and tugged on her shirt sleeve. "You must be incredibly durable to withstand such extensive mutation and augmentation. Perhaps you were made for it? A genetic tabula rasa maybe? I am combing through your memories, and I see that such change was mostly self inflicted and has come at a cost. Do you perhaps enjoy it?" ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mica, Dee, and Sharlene slipped into Dee's room and Mica got to speaking right away. "My-ka don't like blood man." She hissed, "Blood man smell like bad meats, like bad thinks..." Dee saw she was grasping for the right words, and hit upon what she was looking for. "Like evil?" Mica nodded. "How does man smell like badness?" Mica asked, "My-ka doesn't like sour stink of blood man. Kat-nyp don't like either."
"He's just a guy Mica, you don't have to worry about him." Dee said, but he wasn't sure himself. The guy put him off a little. Now that Mica had voiced her own thoughts on the matter, his feelings only doubled. If Mica didn't like him, if she could "smell" that he was bad, what did that mean? Should he trust her intuition on this? "My-ka says, take Lil-eth home. Lil-eth un-pree-dik-tuh-bull. Maybe Lil-eth smell badness too. Make troubles when we avoid." Mica realized her feelings about the newcomer had made her act out of how she usually behaved. She didn't normally care about avoiding trouble, but in this case she thought trouble would be bad. The presence of the one she thought of as "the dead faces" gave her even greater pause. She knew nothing at all about the spirit of death, except that she had seen his face before, and only on those she'd killed or seen killed. She only knew that he only showed up when someone was going to die.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 13, 2017, 03:15:17 am
Sharlene mostly just looks confused. Maybe a little bit annoyed. "So he feels evil? That's what this is about? ...Any clue why Lilith was yellin'? Why were there shamblers next to your workshop, ki- Dee?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 13, 2017, 05:18:34 am
Too many questions for her, Mica decided, so she started where she thought was important. "My-ka goes to Kat-nyp, and Kat-nyp asks it My-ka remember Mo-nah and My-ka does, and then My-ka is sad so My-ka come to lizard, but lizard not help. My-ka eats chok-lat and goes to Roks-zan and ties Roks-zan up and Roks-zan likes it." Mica says, completely forgetting that she threatened to destroy Medeina's proxy if the AI spread that piece of information around, "An then My-ka hides under Roks-zan's bed, and My-ka gets stuck. Hek-tor helps an My-ka leave to be with lizard some more cuz chok-lat make My-ka's head feel funny." She continues. The narrative is crude and hard to pick through, even without Mica's broken way of speaking. "Why did you tie up Roxanne girl?" Sharlene asks, but Mica is already in full tilt. "An Dee tell My-ka to sit and My-ka sits and waits an then Roks-zan come in fancy cloths and try to steal lizard from My-ka!" Her eyes take on a sharp gleam, she snatches Dee to her. Wrapping her arms restrictively about him. "Mica, it doesn't work that-" but his words are cut off, she's rubbing her face against his and she says "My-ka fight with boob monster and lizard HELP BOOB MONSTER WIN!" She suddenly turns to Dee, their faces inches apart, Dee looks on the edge of panic. "You not help Roks-zan win 'gainst Mica again will you lizard?" she growls. When Dee shakes his head, she gives him a little kiss and flicks her hair back. "Good, Dee is My-ka's lizard. Then Lil-eth come, and she smash through wall, but she hear lizard use special word and then she use special word and pick on My-ka. Even when Kat-nyp and Morsel bring meats, Lil-eth was pickin on My-ka! Dee rescued My-ka from mean Lil-eth, but blood man came and My-ka smell him and so My-ka get away. But then My-ka feels scared for lizard and Lil-eth, so My-ka came back." Mica takes a sniff of the shirt she is wearing, and only then does Dee realize she is wearing it. "Jeez girly, what about the zombies?" Asks Sharlene. Mica simply shrugs, "don't know, My-ka wasn't here!" Dee shakes his head and says "Vic brought em, but that's all I know. Lilith got pretty pissed when she saw em though."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 13, 2017, 01:47:21 pm
"Ah yeah, that's normal. Shamblers get her all riled up. But uh... You-uh... You felt... scared? For Lilith?" Sharlene launches into some surprisingly out of character giggling. "I-I didn't think you were that subtle, Mica. Good one."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 13, 2017, 02:01:56 pm
At the comment of magic not being real, Roxanne’s expression went from curiosity to contempt. What would an AI know about this? Victor and Helen have proved otherwise; hell, the blood mage was considered a threat because of it. Normally, she would’ve shrugged that comment with a smile and laughter, but this time it felt personal. Roxanne wanted to tell the robot a million and one things but she restrained herself; it would’ve been useless and she didn’t want that to make that her first impression with the AI.
Roxanne then heard the AI’s explanation and it started to make sense. Mediena wanted to find the cause of it, to give it a rational explanation; she wasn’t satisfied with labeling it magic and leaving it be. Reminded her of Victor, but less reckless. This explanation quell her contempt, if only it left a bitter aftertaste.
Roxanne was thinking of a response; thinking of how to tell her some things were beyond explaining and persuing them was a bad idea. She wanted to tell her there were forces beyond their petty existence at work; she wanted to tell her about Randael and how she practically worshiped him. Memories of the her time as a member in The Shadows of Arcana came to mind and Roxanne though to tell Medeina to look through those to maybe get a better understanding, but all that thought process was interrupted by the proxy tugging at her sleeve.
The question that followed made Roxanne pause, especially the last one. Roxanne began to blush and her mind was beginning to race for answers. "W-what do you mean by enjoy? A-addiction? I was told I have some sort of addiction to mutagen based chemistry and that I should lay of them...That’s what you mean right?", Roxanne told Medeina while stuttering a bit. "Now, I never gave a thought about how I manage to augment myself so much. To be fair, I augmented myself first by the aid of Doctor Quinn. I was already augmented before and so I just ‘upgraded’ if you will. As for mutations, the first time, it was an accident due to curiosity. I like what it did to me so I continued it...now it had brought some undesired consequences but that is life right?", Roxanne confessed to the AI, she left the part where Randael made her do this by implanting desires; Medeina didn’t believe in the supernatural, it seemed, so bringing a literal spirit into the equation would complicate things.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 13, 2017, 03:07:36 pm
Mica just looked nervously at Sharlene. "Mica, why are you wearing one of my shirts?" Dee asked. Mica flushed, "C-cuz My-ka like it? Can't My-ka like things?"
"Alright alright, calm down." Dee said, "I mean it's not like you took it to do something creepy with it... Right?" Mica decided to ignore this line of questioning. She didn't need to explain that she'd taken the shirt because she'd wanted it. Her reasoning was inarguable, or so she felt. "Gotta go lizard, come with My-ka. We go away til blood man go away. Take ro-but too. My-ka protect lizard and ro-but." Mica didn't look afraid, even holding Dee she looked like she was ready for a fight. Her appearance gave the impression that she was about to maul her boyfriend. Dee pushed her a little, trying to separate her from him with no luck. "Ok, ok, you gotta let go Mica. I have to help clean up here and hee isn't gonna be here forever. If it makes you feel better I can ask him to leave." Mica did loosen her grip a little then. That would be acceptable. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Medeina tugged on Roxanne's sleeve again and directed her attention to the emerging trio. She hadn't lost interest in Roxanne, but something beyond a simple conversation was happening. "If I had more proxies, I could watch this and hold a conversation with you at the same time. Ah well. Look." Roxanne was looking, and Medeina continued. "The spider and the lizard emerge. The lizard, Dee, has purpose. The spider, Mica, is tense. Dee will confront the newcomer, perhaps to impress his inamorata. Mica stays close, but not for protection. She is the dominant one in the pairing, and seeks to protect him. She allows him to fight her battle because she likes the idea of Dee as her dashing prince. Do you think she understands this? I will ask her later." With Medeina's play by play of actions and commentary, Roxanne could suddenly see it. Medeina didn't need to see hormones or auras or any special ability to know an observed persons intent. The AI could do it just by reading their body language. "How do you know that Medeina?" She asked, and received a "shush." for her question. "Simply watch and listen. Now look. Dee will ask the newcomer to leave. He is calm, relaxed, friendly. See how Mica tenses further? She is ready for the newcomer to refuse. It is the way of things for predatory creatures like the newcomer and Mica. They fight for territory, but look. The newcomer consents to leave, he has no interest in keeping this piece of territory, it isn't the way of his species. I suppose that he is a nomadic sort, or that he already has a lair somewhere. Ah, now look at this. The lizard shows a bit of dominance, see how he takes the spiders hand? The lizard is more human than animal, and such a gesture is a common and yet subtle show of control. The relationship is one of mutual dominance." The newcomer left, and to Roxanne's surprise a tension she hadn't noticed lifted from the workshop. Medeina's voice had taken on an ecstatic tone at the last, and Roxanne got the idea that the AI was enjoying the simple act of observation and giving a play-by-play of those observations to her. What she had told Roxanne about being programmed to enjoy her work must not be far from the truth. She felt another tug at her shirt sleeve. "I have never, that I remember, relayed my observations as they happened before. Such an experience is pleasant. Would you consent to hear more later? I can even tailor what I tell you according to what you wish to hear."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 13, 2017, 03:37:34 pm
Roxanne turned her attention to what medeina told her to. She was in awe how Medeina was able predict unfolding events in real time. The AI shutting down her question barely registered as she followed orders and continued to observed. Every little detail and prediction was true; Roxanne herself had not thought to look at people’s behaviour this way. Her own social training was based on manipulation and gaining trust, not understanding people’s motives since that didn’t matter when they were either a client or about to be dead. Roxanne though how she could learn a lot from Medeina. The AI that enjoyed simply watching in the background interested her more than ever now, she wondered what the AI knew about her.
A smile was etched on Roxanne’s face on Medeina's the offer to do this live commentary later. "I would like that. I can learn a lot from you it seems; for an AI, you are more interesting than some people around here...don’t tell anyone I said that...Also, what juicy gossip do you have on me? Enough to blackmail me I assume? Care to share that with me as well? Never had anyone be honest about it before and it would be a nice change for once."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 13, 2017, 04:39:42 pm
"Black. Mail. Blackmail. What a novel concept." Medeina mused. "I guess the memories I've recovered could be used as such, but no. I have no desire to share such information for gain."
"Not for gain?" Roxanne asked, implying that Medeina would share it freely. Medeina went on, "Not for gain. Such data is kept in a confidential subfile." She thought saying such a thing would pique Roxanne's interest, and judging from her body language, Medeina wasn't wrong. "Something I find very interesting and perplexing, is the farms romantic antics." Roxanne seemed to find this topic even more interesting and Medeina was willing to oblige. "Mica and Mr. Koenig are clearly incompatible, and yet they still appear to have chosen one another. I'm sure you already know the details surrounding the genesis of that relationship. On the other hand, I would be very keen to know how the relationship between the two living together in the barn developed. Such a pairing is not viable in a biological sense, both are female, but the two of them don't seem to care. Between yourself and Hector, I can understand." Medeina's voice picked up a bit of nervousness at the next statement, "I am possessed of Mr. Deverish's files you understand, but will not press you on the... complications." Her tone lifted back to something resembling regularity, even taking on a bit of joviality, and she said "As for that short man there and Ms. Tiger... The physics alone boggles the mind." Roxanne had to laugh at that, she'd never heard the relationship between Nathaniel and Lilith put that way before. Medeina's single lense focused, taking in the way Roxanne moved when she laughed. "You are a creature of good humor, Roxanne Luna, when the mood takes you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 13, 2017, 06:46:01 pm
Kathrine sat next to Catnip as she sounded out everything she was typing in the farm chat. Kathrine couldn't read it, obviously, but she could piece it together from what she was saying. "Catnip, who was the metal thingy person who was watching everyone in Mister Dee's shack?" She cocks her head. "I gave them a hug but they didn't sound happy. Why were they not happy, Mistress?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 13, 2017, 07:38:59 pm
"Ro-but? I think Dee called it Medena or Medina or something. Ro-buts don't feel. They just shock us." Medeina hadn't shocked Catnip, but she thought it was only a matter of time. Unless Dee told her not to. Dee wouldn't tell Medeina to shock her, and the robot hadn't shocked Mica. "Maybe if I can finish these parts, the ro-but will leave us alone... My head hurts again..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 13, 2017, 07:57:39 pm
Hector had, after things had calmed down, found himself checking some things in his room, momentarily checking his laptop. After finding what had prompted Sharlene's arrival he made sure Catnip was alright, soon leaving his room to check on someone for her.
He made his way over to Dee's workshop, knocking on the door. "Dee? You alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 13, 2017, 08:09:00 pm
"Yeah, I'm fine. 'Cept I got this girl wrapped around me." Dee said casually, indicating Mica with her arms curled around him protectively. They'd gone from holding hands while Dee asked the hunter to leave, to wrapping him up again. He struggled against the restraining arms, but Mica had formed a sort of chitinous cage about him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 13, 2017, 08:12:07 pm
Hector gave a nod at that. "Ah, good. Catnip was worried for some reason. Seems she thought Mica already left, scared off by that odd visitor. I tried to suggest this might be a magic-sorta thing, something to ask Roxanne or Helen about." he said, before looking in, noticing others in the workshop. "Might be good to in fact. Mica, you alright as well, I hope?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 13, 2017, 08:27:35 pm
"My-ka feel better, but blood man still nearby." She said, some of her idiots glee coming back. "Gonna squeeze lizard to safety." Hector could see the way Dee's shirt was begging to part at the sides. Mica's claws were digging in, and Dee was putting on a brave face. "That must hurt like hell Dee." Hector commented, indicating the way Dee's shirt was turning to ribbons. "Yeah..." Dee said, "Mica, could you maybe loosen up a little?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 13, 2017, 08:38:24 pm
Bandit had taken a few more of his pain pills after he'd vomited a couple more times. He wasn't sure why he was vomiting but regardless he'd have to go do some work to replenish his stash. Walking into the radio room and again making sure he wouldn't be interrupted he set about work. Falling into the music and his work he settled in for a few hours to get work done.
He'd finished all of his work when he started making a recipe he'd never used before. The only man he'd considered his peer had taught him the recipe for it before he started to die. The old man had been as much of a genius at this as Bandit and he'd passed down quite a bit of his expertise. But this wasn't exactly something he'd been suggested to sell. Once finished he put the solitary pill in a bag and tucked that away into his jacket.
Walking out he pulled out the Tec and made sure it was loaded before deciding to get some practice with it.
Meanwhile Alice had found herself sitting in the library organizing it. Whether out of boredom or because the fact this was so disorganized that a blind man would tell you to sort it was bothering her no one could tell. Shortly after that was done she put a ledger on the desk and hung a sign reading 'write down what you take on the ledger or you will have to clean the entire farm twice'.
She wasn't sure how much of a threat that was but she shrugged and decided it would work for now. Maybe Isaac would be kind enough to occupy some time as a librarian. The army had taught him book keeping after all.
and Meanwhile again Drifter had gotten the wood for the fire and was getting it ready to cook. He'd already seasoned the meat. Now it was simply getting things up to temperature and the barbecue would begin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 13, 2017, 08:41:48 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Don't worry, can ask if to leave if he's that unnerving." he said. "Failing that, last thing any sane person would want is to rile up the whole farm." he said. "That said...Roxanne? You in there too? Could ask her what she thinks about this guy. I mean Roxanne has more expertise with this sort of thing, to be honest..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 13, 2017, 09:56:51 pm
Lucian wanders around the farm, he notices Bandit vomiting. "What happened to ya?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 13, 2017, 10:03:55 pm
Bandit pulled on his mask before Lucian could get a look at his face and said "Nothing, just took a bad pill is all. Name's Bandit by the way."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 13, 2017, 10:27:04 pm
"I'm Lucian Hawdon, Hunter of the League. Lucian states with a bow, grinning.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 14, 2017, 12:17:18 am
Roxanne heard intently as Medeina explained her analysis of the relationships. To all, she reacted with either giggling, playful shrugs or stoic nods of acknowledgement save for the last; the one about Lilith and Nathaniel prompted a laugh from her. “You are quite funny yourself Medeina. You might lack a funny bone but whatever humor chip or programming you have certainly works.”, Roxanne told the AI in response to her last Remark.
"Gotta say, it’s quite telling about my life that the best conversation I had in some time had been with an AI. Guess I should change something about that. Wasn’t there when they got you but from what I heard and what you just did to me, it was for the best I stayed behind.", Roxanne commented, she neglected the part about her launching a nuke since she assumed Medeina would already know, "With that in mind, I don’t know what Hector saw in me...Whatever it was, it might be better left unspoken huh? But enough of me. Tell me, do you have any long term goals? Any projects in the works, maybe I can help you; I have done a fair share of things in my heyday!"
Victor exited his room after he had finished his ritual and reading. He skimmed through the book of the cleansing flame and wrote down some notes; some time later, he would read more in depth parts that interested him but the book was a chore to read through since he didn’t agree with a lot of the tenants and wasn’t organized like the source was.
With his state of mind altered by the small amount of wine he had drank, Victor got the courage to go out and talk to people. Thing was, since this wasn’t a thing he did and the last time he had gone to a social event was when Helen dragged him to play the drums. His mind wandered to that day; he had a good time at the party and it ended quite pleasantly as well all things considered. Now he and Helen would meet in the library every once in awhile and chat about common interests and tease each other with friendly banter. That was it! The library was his destination. Good things always seem to happen there and it was full of books anyway. He would talk to anyone who was willing on his way there or on the library itself. If worst case scenario, he would get to pick and read a good book.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 14, 2017, 01:00:17 am
Alice hummed an old tune she'd heard from a jukebox she'd had to listen to for a few months a year or so ago as she sat in the library. She idly chewed on the end of a pencil she'd borrowed as she read an old book on sword fighting and how to actually practice it. The fact that it wasn't at all like the movies Bandit had managed to get her to see wasn't all that surprising as she remembered them being full of overtly fantastical displays.
Putting that aside for the moment she jotted a couple notes down in part of the ledger. She noted which series of books were incomplete and gently pulled the page out and put it in the window with the header "Desired Books". Hopefully people would keep an eye out for them as they were trading or looting. Whatever happened in the future however Alice didn't particularly care at the moment as she went to go replace the book she'd been reading and find a different one. Something about arts and crafts maybe.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 14, 2017, 12:48:05 pm
Medeina listened. Roxanne found that the AI was a great listener, and suspected that she would hear a great deal of the farms outpourings at one point or another. When she'd finished, the robot went through what she'd said in an almost itemized fashion. "You have already changed that." She said, "Think about it, would you have even had a conversation like this even a few years ago? You need not worry Roxanne, any control I could exert would be very limited. It would likely only give you a serious headache and perhaps damage your memory CBM. Damage like that would be something I could not condone, especially not from myself." Medeina was digging through the little desktop organizer again, and offered Roxanne a dried lizard. This time, Roxanne took it but immediately set it on the table. Medeina snatched it up, thought for a millisecond about forcing Roxanne to take it, and then put it away instead.
"Why do you keep giving me these dead things?" Roxanne asked, seriously wondering. Medeina offered her a clump of dead grass and a pressed flower. "To gauge your reaction to compare to others. Mica ate the frog and I had to replace it, I think it endeared her to me. Dee rejected it, much like yourself." She paused, and put the grass and flower away, and then shifted jarringly back into what Roxanne had said before, "I do not understand how humans express 'love.' It is very different from the way other animals go about it. I find it to be one of the few aspects of humanity that is actually interesting. Do you suppose my disinterest with humanity is pre-programmed? I wonder... Either way, what Mr. Lowe see's in you is between you and him. Perhaps you should ask him yourself. And then share it with me for my notes." The last bit was put in hastily, but with obvious honesty. She really wanted to know, and it took some effort for Roxanne to remember that Medeina meant no insult.
"If you really want to help," Medeina said. "You can share your own observations with me, and help Mr. Koenig. He's going to need some assistance reverse engineering CBM's for use in my body, though he doesn't know it yet. Or believes he won't have to. The body will never work properly without them. The processing power I need to function properly is going to need more power than a simple atomic slug can provide, or than this computer can provide. It may come as surprise, but attached to this pathetic laptop, I am only running at seven percent, and it's making my thinking slow. With the power source I desire, I'll probably only reach about forty percent. If I'm lucky."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 14, 2017, 01:10:37 pm
Hector peeked in a bit, regarding Roxanne who was evidently distracted, and the machine that was conversing with her about something. He'd hoped to ask Rox on her opinion of the strange new arrival, but he could guess she was busy, though overhearing his name made him curious now. He was surprised that he'd gone unnoticed despite Dee and Mica having walked off to answer the door when he arrived, and if the robot even noticed him, it hadn't given any sign of doing so.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 14, 2017, 01:48:51 pm
Kathrine looked concerned as Catnip gave her answer. "But Miss...? Miss Medina didn't shock me! And I gave her a welcome hug, and Mister Dee didn't tell her not to shock me! Hm... Oh. S-should I be quiet, Catnip?" She looks at the floor and pulls her shirt down as far as it can go, trying to hide inside it. "Sorry..." Her tail curls around her, now long enough to form a full, sealed circle of fluff around her. "I'll be quiet now, Mistress..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 14, 2017, 02:00:25 pm
Hearing Medeina tell her that she had already changed reassured her, a genuine smile was etched on her face; this one not guided by her facial distortion cbms. She opted not to respond to that comment and didn’t have the chance to do so as the dried lizard was offered. Roxanne still didn’t understand what was Medeina's obsession with such things. She knew why she kept them but not why she was offering them; Roxanne was thinking of Medeina as a person at this point so tried to rationalize this as such. Was this a peace offering? Was she offending the AI by rejecting it? The last thought prompted to accept the lizard reluctantly and she set it down on the table. Medeina picking it back up reinforced the idea Roxanne had offended her so she asked why she kept giving her this type of items. The AI’s answer made her realize she was indeed talking to an AI bounded by programming.
The remarks Medeina gave about love also intrigued her; the curiosity the AI showed matched her own on the subject. At the prompt of her asking for Roxanne to share what Hector saw in her momentarily disturbed her but then she remembered, “AI right…”. Roxanne gave a single nod to that to which she wasn’t sure how the AI would interpret it.
Roxanne perked up at the comment of CBMs; she had developed a passion for them. It filled her with glee when she found them on scouting runs or harvested them with a scalpel from downed foes. She would spend the trip back home seeing which she would ask Quinn to install in her and which she would harvest for parts. Power CBMs were her go to for acquiring plutonium which Roxanne used to pay Catnip when she took rare or important items. "I’ll glady help with CBMs! I can help rig up a power system using fuel cells of power cbms! Any I should be on the look out? You want any weapons? I can get you lasers or lighting. Melee wouldn’t suit you but who am I to judge? I can get you bionic swords if you want! I will make sure you get that 40% girl! You have my word as a Cleanser of The Shadows of Arcana! ", Roxanne exclaimed to the AI in rapid succession.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 14, 2017, 02:13:59 pm
Catnip rubs her head. "You don't have to be quiet Kathrine." A shiver ran through Catnip. "I don't..." She looked at what she was working on, and thought about it. Was she really working on putting together a body for that robot? Catnip was wracked with a sense of revulsion, which she quelled with difficulty. Yes, Catnip was helping build a robot, and what Kathrine said was true. Medeina hadn't shocked her. She hadn't shocked Catnip either. Catnip's main source of experience with robots was skitterbots, programmed only to deliver painful electric shocks to those that moved too slow to avoid them. After leaving the lab, most of the robots she'd encountered had shot at her or tried to blind her. They tried to set her on fire or spray her with gas that made her feel numb or dizzy. The only robots that hadn't done any of those things were those put together by Dee. "Maybe... Maybe it has something to do with the person who builds them?" She asked out loud. She took the aspirin Kathrine brought her and squeezed the bridge of her nose. "Kat, I can have this finished by tonight, and we can go back to Dee's to deliver it. I don't want to talk to it, but maybe I should talk to Dee's ro-but? What do you think?" She gave Kathrine's tail a single stroke, she had after all told Catnip she could do what she wanted but she didn't want to take too many liberties. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "Weapons are not a priority. I'll need the lenses from a military grade eye enhancement, several of the memory bank CBM's to get that extra bit of storage. Also some form of electric shielding. I will put together a list, your enthusiasm is appreciated." Medeina offered her a scrap of snake skin, and added "Your mate is here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 14, 2017, 02:24:17 pm
Hector hmmed a bit as he stepped in, regarding the two curiously. "You sure this thing needs EMP shielding? Yes, give the little voyeur robot that." he joked, smiling some. "So, was going to check on you guys, and ask you about something. Catnip went off to hide, and asked me to check on Dee for some reason. Worried about that newcomer."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 14, 2017, 03:21:35 pm
Roxanne listened intentetly at the specifications the AI asked of her. She made mental notes of them to supplement what she asked. She would bring Medeina some weapons either way, she hope to convince Dee to install them.
Medeina then offered the snakeskin and Roxanne grabbed it having learned the intent before hand. "Your mate is here.", Roxanne heard from the AI. "Mate? What?", Roxanne answered in confusion. She was then startled when Hector started talking. Her reaction was rather comical as she fumbled to stay balanced on the table.
"Don’t sneak up on me like that Hector!", Roxanne yelled at the knight. The irony of her cloak CBM escaped her. Roxanne then listened to the knight’s second remarks. "Catnip hid from the newcomer? Lucain? He is an odd fellow but didn’t seem to out of the ordinary to me. Helen and Victor were also unnerved by it so maybe ask them? I was having a nice chat with Medeina here and was recharging before hand so I missed some stuff. Everything alright?", Roxanne commented on Hector’s statement.
Victor approached the library and noticed the note on the window. He smiled and nodded as he read through it. "Someone knows what they want. Good choices to look out for.", Victor said to himself before stepping inside. He noticed only one other person in at the moment looking for a book it seemed. Victor had not meet this person yet, something not unusual for him as he didn’t speak to many of the farm residents.
His attention at the new person was interrupted by an unusual item on the main counter, a book was in the corner. Victor approached and saw that it was a ledger to keep track of the books; he read the warning and chuckled a bit. As he looked up, he noticed the young girl had turned her head and was looking at him, her emotions or thoughts not discernible to the tipsy Victor.
Victor looked down at the ledger and then back at the girl. "Your idea?", Victor asked the girl while he pointed at the ledger, "Don’t worry, I follow the rules. I will write down what I take out." Victor looked at the section she was in; the library was not properly organized but books were sort of deviced by section. "DYI books are your thing? If I may recommend the one on the left corner; it has some good articles on making some makeshift items that come in handy now a days.", Victor suggested to the girl, "How rude of me. I don’t believe we have met. My name is Victor Ironwood; with who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 14, 2017, 03:33:09 pm
Hector facepalmed at that. "I knocked, Mica and Dee answered, and you'd think I'd be about as hard to notice as a zombie brute." he joked, trying not to crack up at the sight of Roxanne's reaction to his "sudden" appearance.
"Might have to ask those two, yes. I suggested Mica or Catnip do so, either Helen or you. I mean you still have more understanding of the arcane than I do. Other than that thing on his belt resembling something from Sanguine Codex, I don't have anything to go off of. Both of them seem unnerved by him for some reason. We'll see, I know Nathaniel should be keeping an eye on him."
Nathaniel indeed was watching, regarding Bandit curiously. "Need treatment for that then. Probably should've grabbed some activated carbon while you were at it." he finally chimed in. The way Bandit seemed to be acting certainly suggested something else was amiss, an injury perhaps. He was unaware of the altercation and of having cut himself accidentally, so only had guesswork to rely on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 14, 2017, 04:40:21 pm
Kathrine just looks at Catnip for a good minute, then makes a weird, drawn-out groaning noise. "I don't knoooooooooooow..." She tries to tug her t-shirt down over her knees, ears pinned to the sides. She eventually gives up with the t-shirt and just pulls it up to cover her head.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 14, 2017, 05:01:49 pm
Alice walked over and said "Yeah the ledger was my idea. I'm Alice Mortal by the way, happy to meet you. And yes I'm aware of how weird my last name is."
Meanwhile Bandit shrugged as he said "I know what's in my own stuff. Worst it'll do to me is vomiting. Thanks for the advice though, and I should probably go practice with my Tec while I've got the time."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 14, 2017, 05:16:08 pm
Catnip was confused. "Kathrine? What are you doing? Are you cold?" She tucked Kathrine's tail tighter around the maid, and went for a blanket. Kathrine's condition had not changed. "Have I done something wrong?" Kathrine peaked over the edge of her shirt long enough to whisper something. It sounded like "No Mis- Catnip."
"Do you want a... a hug?" Catnip asked. Kathrine nodded slowly, not taking down her shirt. Catnip settled down next to her, pulling her own shirt up over her head to see what it was like. It didn't quiet work the same thanks to Catnip's longer muzzle. "I don't understand." She said without realizing that Kathrine might not be able to see that Catnip was trying to immitate her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 14, 2017, 05:48:19 pm
Kathrine leans up against where she thinks Catnip is, ending up rolling onto her side. "Mistr- Catnip, why are you asking meeeee~" It comes out as a whiny-sounding question, muffled by her shirt. "I don't like telling people what to do..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 14, 2017, 06:33:27 pm
"I just wanna know what you think. Youropinionmatterstome..." Catnip says, and attempts to lean on Kathrine, also missing and ending up with her head resting on Kathrine's shoulder.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 14, 2017, 06:55:52 pm
"I don't waaanaaaaaaaaa..." Kathrine starts groaning again, still laying on the floor. She doesn't want to answer, entirely because she thinks she's going to contradict Catnip's own choice. The thought of going against Catnip makes her uncomfortable again, so she attempts to retreat even further inside her t-shirt, something that is, as of now, an impossible task.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 14, 2017, 07:10:42 pm
Catnip gives up trying to keep her head inside her own shirt and simply reclines next to Kathrine, frowning. "You don't want to help me make a decision? But..." Kathrine's shirt is beginning to stretch in an unsightly manner now, and catnip gets the idea that it will be too stretched out to wear, or it will rip. She isn't sure what to say to get Kathrine to voice an opinion, and then a thought occurs to her, and it makes her heart sink a little. "Do you really l-like me Kathrine? Or do you just like me because... you have to? Cuz, I... like you and..." Catnip wasn't sure what else to say, so she let the words hang. "I just want to know what you think..." She was thinking about earlier in the cook shack. She had been nervous, but she'd liked how open Kathrine had been. Timid Kathrine made Catnip feel uncomfortably overbearing. Made her feel like she was being mean somehow. When Kathrine had wrapped her arms around her and kissed the back of her head, completely unprompted, she made Catnip feel wanted and loved. Now Kathrine was being timid and subservient again, and it made Catnip sad.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 14, 2017, 08:04:30 pm
Roxanne listened to Hector and one particular remark. "Sanguine Codex you say? That is quite troubling...I have skimmed that book and it’s contents were not the most pleasant...Helen seems to revolt their followers and Victor has show disdain as well...As long as someone is watching over him, that should be fine I supposed. If there is anything I can do just give the word, but speaking to Helen and Victor would be best. My knowledge of the arcane is very basic...", Roxanne said in responce to Hector.
"Alice Mortal, good to make your acquaintance. Your name is not that unusual, someone here went by the name of Sir Loin of Beef for a while. So what brings you to the library today? Any particular book your are looking for? I have been in here a few times so I might be able to help you with finding something. It’s good to see the youth interested in literature, not to be patronising or anything.", Victor responded to Alice.
Victor grabs a pen by the ledger and writes the name of a book he had in mind he was going to take. "Hopefully the books we want aren’t already checked out.", Victor joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 14, 2017, 08:15:56 pm
Hector nodded at that. "What little I've gleamed of it sounds...not good to have around here, at least. Some practical value, but..." he said. Even if he wasn't particularly squeamish, the thought of what the rituals in the book seemed to require was still enough to leave him wary. "Not sure if Helen's still here for today though. Think someone should be sent to ask her about it?" he asked.
Nathaniel meanwhile regarded Lucian with a bit of concern yet also relief, turning back to Bandit. "Sure you're alright? Doesn't seem like just nausea to me." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 14, 2017, 08:31:24 pm
Alice stifled a laugh at the absurdity of the name Victor told her. Regaining her composure she said "Oh I'm not looking for anything in particular. I might take one of the books on sword fighting when I go but for right now I'm just browsing for things I might be able to learn. Might as well be useful since I doubt my dad will let me go out scavenging. I just organized the place so if there's anything you're looking for I should be able to help find it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 14, 2017, 09:08:43 pm
"Practical value? I guess...And sure, I will see if I can pay Helen a visit some time and discuss this with her. I too am intrigued", Roxanne responded to Hector’s remarks.
"Well, Medeina, you know where to find me if when you are ready to give me that list. Or give it to tin man here, I am sure he will pass it my way.", Roxanne told the AI.
"Is that so? You organized the place yourself? Why thank you and sorry I hadn't noticed before. I am not in my full 5 senses right now. If that is the case, mind pointing to where the books and magic and the arcane are?", Victor commented on Alice’s remarks, "Also, it’s ok to want to contribute but don’t push yourself too far. God knows I learned that lesson the hard way."
Victor had neglected to do so so he checked her aura. Nothing anomalous in that department; just a regular human who had not delved into the arcane and as such had no specific signature. He was relieved at this but did not show it. He memorized her aura in cased it changed; in normal folk, this usually meant trouble for them or worse...corruption...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 14, 2017, 09:16:19 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Practical, maybe. I don't know enough to make any good judgement on that, and what little I have figured out from studying suggests it'd be risky enough not to mess with." he said. "For now I should probably check on things, then tell Catnip things are alright for the time being."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 14, 2017, 09:30:07 pm
Alice nodded she guided Victor over to where she had placed the books on magic and the arcane. "Alphabetized by first letter. And I know not to push myself too hard but I don't really have any relevant skills. I may as well start learning things I can put to use in my spare time."
Meanwhile Bandit nodded as he said "I'm fine. Just some pills I fucked up without realizing but those are just for my personal use so no one else has got their hands on them. I'll get rid of them when I get the time."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 15, 2017, 04:33:24 am
As soon as the question is asked, Kathrine's ears swivel around and perk up, being the only thing sticking out of her t-shirt's neck hole, and she yanks her head out of her turtle-shirt. She opens her mouth as if to say something, but closes it again immediately, then opens it, and closes it again. She wanted to reply that yes, she did love Catnip, and worrying was pointless, and that Mistress needs a hug, but she just can't. "I-I... Like you..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 15, 2017, 11:43:34 am
Catnip started to shake, the withdrawal shakes coming back. She realized that one of them would have to take the lead or their relationship would fail, and she knew Kathrine wouldn't be the one to do it. Even if Catnip did, she still wouldn't know what to do. She wanted more time to think about it, but when she tried to say so she found that her mouth wouldn't say the words. Instead, she just shook. Shook, and flinched away from unseen objects. She flopped onto her back and frowned up at the sky through the hole in the roof.
"Catnip is wisest, but Catnip is the dumbest." Said the voice of Caramel, one of Catnip and Mica's long lost sisters, in Catnips head. Her shoulder suddenly ached with how Caramel had punched her twice on the shoulder. Caramel had laughed and laughed, and finally Catnip had tackled her and was about to lay into her with her fists when one of the guards had come and separated them. Now, Catnip could almost see what Caramel had meant. Catnip was very good with machines, but everything else was an utter mystery to her. The functions of an internal combustion engine were as enigmatic to her as a stick of butter, but matters of the heart confused and frustrated her. Catnip was wise, but she was also dumb.
"K-k-kathrine?" Catnip asked, "I... B-b-believe you..." Inside, she thought about how she'd have to be the one to take the lead, and she wasn't sure if she was ready to do that. "Can you help me back to my table? I guess I'll go see the robot later tonight..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 15, 2017, 09:20:21 pm
Catnip's confirmation was enough to pull Kathrine out of her decision-induced slump. She jumps up, partially pulling off her own t-shirt in the process, and wraps her arms around Catnip, laughing. "Yaaaay! Sure, Mistress!" Kathrine stands up, her top halfway up her body, and helps Catnip to her feet. "A-and thanks, Catnip."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 15, 2017, 09:25:59 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Alright then, if you're sure you're alright. Go see Quinn if anything seems off, I mean he's barely even qualified but he's better than what anyone else can manage. Hector and I basically only have IFAK training, Roland seems to be a self-trained medic, and that's about it."
He then looked Bandit over for a moment. "Wait a sec though...I mean first, you testing out your drugs seems a bit odd. Second, you looked like something was wrong, like an injury. Third, what the fuck happened to your mask."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 15, 2017, 09:39:32 pm
"Hey..." Catnip said, "You got oil on you." Before Kathrine could pull her shirt down, Catnip had reached up to try and rub out one of the small black streaks just above her hip. To her surprise, she discovered it wasn't oil at all but a stripe. "Hey, that's neat Kathrine. I thought only your tail had spots and stripes." Kathrine had begun to blush at Catnip's touch, and even more when she made her turn around. "Wow... Do they go all the way up?" Catnip saw the way Kathrine was blushing and realized what she was doing. "O-oh. S-sorry... Um... Sorry. I uh, should... w-work. Yeah. work..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 15, 2017, 09:41:20 pm
Victor followed Alice and stopped her when he found the book her needed. “Nice work you did here. We could use someone to take care of this place, you seem to have a good hand for that. If you don’t want to do it, maybe you would know of someone who would? Anyways, I will be off now to read the book I got. Nice to have meet you Alice, have a wonderful rest of your day.” With that, Victor stepped out the Library and back into his room. This single interaction had exhausted the courage the wine had given him, it was back to reading for him. He had to study how his blade and a single black potion had allowed him to shrugged off the pain of being mauled three times over. A few hours ago he was on the ground feeling like his guts were cut out but now he was fine walking along the farm. Had he still be the same way he was before, he would;ve found a way to weaponize this, further research on the topic but no more pushing the boundary for him for the foreseeable future.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 15, 2017, 09:50:08 pm
Bandit sighed as Nathaniel asked him about the mask. Reaching a hand up to pretend to inspect the new cracks he said "Oh, guessed that happened when I dropped it while I was getting ready to leave my lab. And as for testing my drugs, I'm not testing when I make medicine I have to have that I know how to make. I evidently fucked up the mix on some of it and instead of doing what it's supposed to it makes me vomit."
Pulling up his jacket to show Nathaniel the bandages on his stomach he said "As for injuries I cut myself while I was putting up. Got it taken care of though. Thanks for the concern by the way, it's nice to have someone talk to me that isn't telling me to give them everything I got." With that he put his jacket back down and waited to see if he'd get asked anything else.
Meanwhile Alice said goodbye to Victor before deciding to take one of the books on sword fighting. Writing it down in the ledger she walked off to find some peace and quiet.
As this happened Drifter had started cooking. He figured people would come to get food when they spotted him cooking and got hungry. For now though he just focused on cooking.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 15, 2017, 10:22:36 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that, a bit suspicious but brushing off his concern. "Alright then. Good to know you can handle production if there's something you need, what it is isn't my business to ask about then." he said. "Will let you get back to things then." he said, before making his way back to tending to some other things, still intending to set aside material for fixing Dee's room.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 15, 2017, 10:35:29 pm
Kathrine had immediately stiffened up as soon as Catnip had touched one of her markings. "Catniiiiiiiiiip" She mumbles something under her breath that's even less audible than her whining, and then grabs her shirt and yanks it down. "P-please don't tell anyone..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 16, 2017, 09:28:44 am
"What? You don't want anyone to know?" Catnip asked, cocking her head a little. "Why not? I think they're stylish..." She wanted to see the stripes again, but Kathrine had already moved a little further away. Catnip decided to leave it be and maybe bring it up later.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 16, 2017, 12:03:52 pm
Kathrine sighs in relief when Catnip doesn't approach her again. "Th-thanks, Catnip..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 03:39:25 pm
The rest of the day went uneventfully. Everyone quietly dispersed and went back to their rooms. The damage to Dee’s wall was covered in cardboard for the night. The next day, many of the farm residents gathered around to fix the wall. Some carried building materials while others helped with the actual rebuilding. It took the entire day to finish as the residents took it slow while they chatted and enjoyed each other’s company. Food was brought along through the day making this as much as a get together as an assignment; all that was needed was music and alcohol to make into a proper party at that point.
The wall was eventually fixed and the residents took the fun to individual groups after they were dismissed by Dee. Some prepared for the mission that awaited tomorrow while other took the time enjoy themselves a little more as a way to cope with the impending mission. All in all, it was a rather slow going and simple day; nothing of noticed happened.
The next day began the mission. And the events of the mission to take down the beast happened as follows: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-dSb4GjGg1Tg41pxHlSCdOzydH04vLa7fMaB4DTHj7Y/edit?usp=sharing
Once things had settled down and the others were asleep, Roxanne took some of the CBMs she had chosen from the loot and she went to Quinn’s to get them installed. She had radioed ahead of time to let Quinn now of her situation and he was expecting her for both the check up and CBM installation.
"Good morning Doctor Quinn! I am here for the usual!", Roxanne said in a cheerful tone. Quinn just looked at her with a look of concern. "Roxanne, go ahead and come in and sit down. I am afraid I have bad news." Roxanne looked at him with a concern face of her own and did as she was told; She noticed Medeina was inside his lab as well. "Roxanne, for years now I have served as this farm’s physician and helped with the installation of Bionics to mostly you. I have done so because I am the closest thing that passes as a physician and because I enjoy seeing how I working with bionic technology in interaction with abnormal biology like yourself, no offence.", Quinn told Roxanne before passing and adjusting his glasses, "Now, Medeina here has gone ahead and given me medical reports she acquired from Dr.Peter Davis, Dervish as you know him as. She only gives me what she determines what is relevant to each diagnosis so don’t worry about intrusion on my part. We have come into this partnership of mutual benefit to better help the farm with medical need. And I have your report."
Quinn had sit down at this point. He was reading over some documents before he put them down. "No need to sugar coat this as we don’t have the time. Roxanne, I am afraid your biology has began to reject a large number of your bionics. Things seemed to have been stable but your mutations and some unknown injuries have caused an incompatibility. Bad news is have to removed a good chunk of them soon or you might die; good news is, you came in time so you have the get to help choose which ones get to stay and go. Medeina has gone ahead and made an algorithm to help you choose what goes and stays. She will take it from here. I will get the operation set up ready; you have 30 minutes to make your choice."
“Hello Miss Roxanne Luna.”, Medeina’s proxy said to Roxanne, “As Doctor Quinn said, I will be helping you choose what bionics you would like to keep and what has to go. Are those new bionics you intended to add as well? Allow me to add them to the algorithm. Done. Now, please pick up the tablet in the table and let’s go over them shall we?”
Roxanne and Medina went through the list of things Roxanne had installed. She obviously choose to get rid of bionic filter, it was always a buzz kill when she tried to have fun. She also opted to remove her bionic armor, she fought as a glass cannon anyway so what difference would it make to her? All of her physical augmentations had to go. Her priced chain lightning gun, the electro shock unit, her bionic blade (but not sword), bionic toolset and more suffered the same fate. She also got to install both an experimental bionic called ‘Time Dilation’ and a combat bionic called ‘Active offencive system’.
Medeina explained why she choose to help Quinn to ease Roxanne’s nerves. She explained that in return to helping Quinn with data, she would get to observe all medical procedures to acquire more of her own. She would get to see how Roxanne’s surgery went “I will get to see all of your insides and document how your biology works.”, Mediena told Roxanne, not realizing how creepy it sounded. The surgery Quinn would do was not intrusive due to the fact he would use arcane artifacts to aid him. Medeina was intrigued by them but simply observed. Once the pair was done, Medeina instructed Roxanne to take the tablet and give it to Quinn for him to begin.
"Are you ready? Alright then, let me check what you choose.", Quinn said as Roxanne gave him the tablet; he checked it out before addressing Roxanne again, "Listened, before I put you down for surgery. I will let you in on a little secret. We have more advance medicine in stock for emergencies such as this. We don’t tell you people to discourage stupid and risky action. You will be stabilized by more RX-12 we have in stock. Thing is, we are now actually beginning to run low on supplies. So I would like you to go and raid a hospital after this and get us more ok? Good. Now, this procedure will take all day. So when you wake you straight to your room and rest ok? Now, lay back and out on the mask. On my signal, count back from 10."
Roxanne did as told and she soon was knocked out. Quinn began to work and Medeina watched. This would be a lengthy process; Roxanne would awake feeling very different but that was for her to worry about when that time arrived, for now she was knocked out to the point where she would not even dream.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 16, 2017, 03:57:26 pm
Roland had dismounted the vehicle when they arrived. Pulling his helmet off he finally inspected the back of it and realized the shrapnel that was in it was going to be hard to remove. Tossing the thing to the side he started pulling his armor off as he walked towards his quarters. Once there he decided to get some sleep.
The next morning he woke to find the spirit sitting in front of his bed. Death wasn't exactly hiding himself, after all he thought others would be resting and not paying attention. "Hello. Remember our deal. Well I'm going to go ahead and call it in before you get yourself killed. Again."
Roland sat up and rubbed his forehead as he looked up at Death "What do I need to do?"
Death shrugged as he said "Well there's someone a good ways away from here that I need taken care of. I don't care if you kill him, put him in a coma, whatever you want to do to him. I just want what him taken care of. But I want you to take a couple days, repair your gear, get ammo, whatever you need to do. Just do it. Two days, three tops and I want you on the move."
With that Death stood and bid his farewell. Roland watched him go before standing and inspecting his gear. The ballistic vest was royally fucked in the back so he'd just take his metal plate. Other than that he could repair the rest of it. With a sigh he made his way out the door to go see about what he could do.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 04:04:45 pm
It had felt like a rather long trip back, practically out like a light once they finally had time to rest, after tending to the burn along his arm.
Given the amount of the material between him and the near-miss the burns along his arm were managable, but sill awkward to deal with. Deeper than the electrical burns Roland had to deal with, but far less extensive. On the plus side, among the things they salvaged were some of the remaining plates from the bio-weapons, thinking he could make use of them. A few ideas came to mind as he examined the warped, melted wrist protection of his left gauntlet. The mail likewise needed to be patched up, a lot of melted beads of iron would have to be stripped away and replaced with intact rings as well.
And then there's the shield. Patching up the mail was something he had to do often. The gauntlets were rarely in need of repair, and the need to fashion a new piece of it to replace the old one wasn't something he looked forward to, though he decided that removing the matching piece from the right gauntlet and replacing both with the tough, dark metal salvaged from the bio-weapons would make for a fitting trophy.
His shield however was what left him especially irritated, but once again he realized that it ultimately served its purpose. He suspected that might well have saved him from the worst of the blast, dumped into a less conductive material instead of his mail.
Nathaniel meanwhile was resting in his quarters checking and cleaning the M4 he'd brought along for the mission, uncertain what to make of everything that happened, yet relieved everyone made it out alive.
Helen had been resting for now, staying the night in a vacant room of the farm for the time being, relieved that the day's events had gone about as smoothly as they could've done, in that no one died. Yet.
It was she was up rather early in the morning, out of her usual caution checking the outside area with her mask, that she sensed it. It was in the quarters used by the fellow that nearly died twice. The first thing she thought was concern, fear that his injuries had claimed him. It didn't take much to see that he seemed to still be alive, facing the unnerving spiritual presence as if conversing with him.
She remembered how he seemed to be stricken dead by the lightning that first time, frantically draping the cloak around him in the hops of healing him. She wasn't sure it'd work, he hadn't been showing any sign of a pulse. More thoughts began to enter her mind as she realized he was back up and fighting after something even her healing items could do nothing to mend, and it left more questions in her mind as she left the room. She feared her snooping might be sensed, deactivating her mask and waiting for Roland to leave the room on his own.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 16, 2017, 04:15:00 pm
Roland walked over to the forge with his metal plating. Grabbing the tools he started to repair the holes and taking out shrapnel. The tedium of the process was almost relaxing as he worked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 16, 2017, 04:16:42 pm
Dee dusted off his hands and looked over his work. The torso was taking more time than he thought. Originally, Dee had planned to use the torso for little more than storing hard drives. While getting them in place, he realized that it would need more space. Catnip had helped despite her condition, and thanks to her upsizing the torse in all the most natural of ways had been simplicity itself. The arms were attached, the head was being prepared, and he'd drawn up sketches for a walking rig to calibrate Medeina's legs when they were ready. He thought that he could expect to have the whole project done in a month, maybe a month and a half.
For now though, he had something else in mind. He'd been planning for two weeks for this. Now all that remained was to pick up the goods from the refugee center and bring them back to the farm. "Mica will love it." He thought, "Everyone will love it." The plan had included just Mica, Kathrine, Catnip, and himself but later he'd gone ahead and ordered more chickens. It would be a whole farm event. Something they could all sit down and enjoy. "Catnip? Are you still in here? It's time to get going. We gotta pick up that stuff we ordered from the center." He called. Catnip poked her head out from under the SLS were she had been doing routine maintainance while waiting for Dee to finish what he was doing. She hardly shook at all now, and the hallucinations were completely gone. It seemed her withdrawal had finally begun to taper off. "Ok Dee. I gotta get my stuff, then we can go."
Dee rolled his eyes and asked, "Do you really need all that stuff? We are just going to the refugee center. At least leave the sword."
"But... What if..." Catnip began.
"No, c'mon Catnip. If you go and collect all that stuff you're going to worry Kathrine. At least leave the sword, ok?"
Catnip relented. She'd just bring her cloak, her basic tools, and the knife she'd been carrying since she found it several years prior. "Ok, Ok. Lemme tell Kathrine where I'm going at least."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 04:19:10 pm
Helen decided to watch and follow Roland, giving a little sigh as she tried to figure out how to confront him about this. "Hey, er...Roland? I was hoping to ask you something..." she said, deciding to see what his reaction was. "Also wanted to ensure you were alright."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 04:19:33 pm
Once more Victor found himself in his room after taking the previous day to rest from his injuries. Nothing some basic potions couldn’t fix and as such he was back on his feet as well. He looked at the pile of arcane items he no longer had a need for. He gave a sigh at what represented failed projects, a reminder of what had gotten him in trouble in the first place. He was going to take it easy with the arcane for a while, focusing his effort on practical matter rathern than the experimental.
With the book of the cleansing flame on hand, he reversed engineered the recipe to create dull essence using what her had in hand. “This is they type of thing I should’ve been doing all along...but no...I had to go and venture into the unknown…”, Victor told himself as he worked. While working on destroying his old projects, he sense Randael was greatly disturbed. This unnerved Victor and concentrated on the aura spell he had set up. He felt it alright, the spirit of death had made itself shown. He didn’t know where in the farm it was since the spell didn’t tell him direction but only if it was within the radius and the intensity of the aura; he could be on the other side of the farm on right on his doorstep. He tried to shrug off the feeling as he worked. "He isn’t here for you...You haven’t done anything...", Victor told himself, "Just keep working..."
Victor eventually finished and managed to fill a small jar full of dull essence; it wasn’t as much as he would’ve gotten if he had proper cleansing flame tools but since he had a lot of arcane things to recycle, it was still a good amount. "It is done...I will give this to Helen and welcome a new beginning. First order of business,get a proper manufacturing setup. My work area resembles more a lab than a factory, time to change gears!" Victor sensed Helen’s aura in the farm but so was the spirit of death’s. He would wait until the latter left to avoid any confrontation before delivering the dull essence to Helen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 16, 2017, 04:21:30 pm
Roland looked up at Helen for a moment before looking back to his work "I'm fine. A few new scars and bruises but I'm alive. Now if'n you got something to ask just go ahead and I'll answer as best as I can."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 04:23:06 pm
Helen nodded at that, before tapping her mask. "Very well then. Best to get to the point. Do you know what that...thing you were speaking to earlier was?" she asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 16, 2017, 04:25:56 pm
Roland stopped, holding one of the metal shards in his hand as he looked over his shoulder at her. "Hm? That? I assumed some kind of spirit since you and you're mage friend have opened my eyes to the world of the arcane."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 04:29:29 pm
Helen nodded at that. "So it seems to be, yes. Was concerned when I saw it, given how Victor nearly got himself in trouble with it over what he tried to do, after he became aware of its existence." she remarked. "Afraid that something went wrong, after all that happened that day."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 16, 2017, 04:36:07 pm
Roland deposited the metal shard in the bucket as he resumed his work and told her "Well I'm glad he's okay. I get the feeling it's not one that likes to be toyed with. Though it's got me taking care of something for it in exchange for a favor it did for me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 04:40:59 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Yeah, if he messes up like that again and draws the attention of that thing..." she said, before smiling some. "Peculiar. Wonder why a spirit of death needs someone doing work for them. Though it...favor? Fav...oh. Oh." she said, going a bit pale at that. "That was how you were back up even after being literally electrocuted, isn't it?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 16, 2017, 04:44:41 pm
Roland stopped for a second as he let that sink in. Death..he was working for Death itself. A few of the spirit's remarks came back and he realized it. "Yeah. My heart stopped beating. Said he'd bring me back if I did him a favor later on. Now he wants me to travel a long way to go deal with someone. Someone who's evidently causing him trouble."
He was thankful for the bandages he'd put on his head during the road trip to help heal the burns on his head and the few cuts. It kept his sudden expression of shock and the paling of his skin color from view.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 04:51:57 pm
Helen nodded at that, likewise relieved that her mask concealed her expression. "As I thought. Cloak's not much good if someone's at the point of no pulse." she said. "Whatever it is that warrants help with killing someone, be careful."
If anything this left her with more questions and concerns, but she wasn't sure which would be proper to ask him, before realizing that she likely wasn't being very reassuring. "That said, wards about supernatural threats, against death magic, possibly even immortality against natural causes might be feasible, so that would explain such a request."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 16, 2017, 04:56:28 pm
Roland had finished removing the shrapnel and stood to get the tools for actually repairing his gear now. "I'll be as careful as I can. But if it's something with the resources to stave off Death itself..well I don't know if that's a good sign for my being able to actually carry out killing it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 04:58:43 pm
Helen nods at that. "No telling what to expect, as I said. Should likely head back to The Hall after I check on Victor, then." she said, giving a nod before making her way back out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 05:32:37 pm
The presence of the spirit of death subsided and Victor gave a sigh of relief. He had grabbed the jar, slung his sword onto his back and exited his room. To his surprise, Helen was making his way towards his room as he step out into the door. He walked out to meet her halfway. "Helen! Good to see you know that we are back from fighting that thing...What’s the matter? You look like you sawa ghost?", Victor told Helen as he met up with her, the last statement mostly an assumption by the way her aura had shifted, "I have a little present for you. Hope you find some use for it."
Victor took out the jar full of dull essence and presented it Helen, "All of my bad projects and ideas in a jar. You will be glad to hear I plan to keep my word and not do any more reckless experimentation. This is the last remains of that past, may it serve you better than it did me." Victor then took out a note from his trench coat. "Here, this is the formula I came up with years ago on how to get dull essence from other types of essence; might come in handy some day. Conversion rate wise there is more to be desired but in a pinch it might prove useful."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 05:44:28 pm
Helen was a bit uncertain as she looked around, before she took off her mask upon seeing Victor approach. The momentary expression of concern faded into a smile as she saw him. "Glad you're still faring well after all that. And it's...nothing, just a momentary glimpse of things earlier." she said. She doubted she could fool him though, she knew he'd devised ways to sense that spirit. "And...thank you." she said, carefully taking the jar from him.
"These meant a lot to you, didn't they? Still, it's good to know what should and shouldn't be retained..." she said, regarding the note he offered him. She herself had some basic understanding of converting essence that wasn't bound into a physical object, indeed it was a rather basic element of her training, but she suspected the notes would be useful regardless. "Thank you, Victor. I'm glad that you're keeping your promise in this, and...remind me to discuss, well...other things as well sometime." she said, blushing a bit.
At his remarks about conversion rate, she smiled some. She knew at least why their usual method of conversion was somewhat inefficient, the way a large percentage of the energy was essentially being returned to the other realms. She thought she might have to explain more of that to him, another time perhaps.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 05:56:13 pm
Victor noted the way her aura behaved when she talked; it didn’t shift at all. He would let the issue go as he knew she was more better suited in protecting herself than he was. "They use to mean quite a lot but they just served as reminders of my own failures at this point. Besides, you mean more to me than they ever did. ", Victor said he himself blushing at his last remark.
"And thank you for giving me chance to prove myself once more.", he said only to blush more at Helen’s second remark, "Anytime you want to talk, my door is alway open to you..."
Victor notice Helen’s smile when he mentioned the conversion rates. "Let me guess, my ignorance is showing again isn’t it...Got to work on that it seems. Hope it’s useful at least."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 06:01:40 pm
Helen nodded at that, regarding him curiously. Even though she seemed to express concern after having sensed Death earlier, she tried not to let on her concerns. That remark in fact had a greater effect on her, blushing brighter and looking away shyly. "T-thank you. I'll ensure these are used to their fullest." she said. "And should soon, did promise you that after we got back from that. Should at least check on Sergei and the others though." she admitted.
"And it's fine. There are reasons why the amount returned is somewhat less than ideal, I'll admit more symbolic reasons, though even beyond that it can be difficult to fully convert it." she said. "These notes should help though, thank you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 06:07:58 pm
"You do you my dear. In that case, I will leave you be, or now. I myself will go return some books to the library and then start thinking on what to do next. Always a pleasure to talk to you.", Victor told Helen, "Hope those items are of use to you. I will be off then. Take care!" Helen and him then parted ways; she to check on the other and he to the library to do some book exchange.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 16, 2017, 06:18:11 pm
Lilith had been pacing up and down the area outside the shacks half the farm lived in. She, obviously, couldn't read the signs, so she'd gone up to each door and tried to sniff out who was inside. When she arrived at Nathaniel's shanty, she just sat outside, patiently, until he came out. Or she fell asleep. Probably the second one.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 06:27:08 pm
Helen gave a nod at that. "A pleasure to talk to you as well, and to see that you're still alright." she said.
She'd soon make her way back across the bridge, back to where her camp and the great hall they'd built was, where Sergei had elected to stay the night instead. To her surprise and shock she found the unnerving visage of a slain bio-weapon's severed, armor plating, mutated appearance and all, preserved and mounted over the stone hearth in the hall itself. "Sergei...of all the...are you SERIOUS?"
"I thought it'd be good trophy. Doesn't look that human anymore, adds accent to the place. Simms here helped too, is good with taxidermy." he answered, the younger survivor just staring blankly at her. "You two have been up to some crazy shit while you were away, weren't you?"
It'd been a simple matter to put away some of the other items taken along after the trip, what Sergei hadn't already brought back last night, and after a well-deserved change into clean clothes she decided to make her way north, surveying the wetlands and forests before crossing the road again, intent on spying on that camp Lucian had been found at. None of the others had reported any sign of him since he left that day, and she felt uneasy not being aware of what he was up to.
She'd been picking her way through the underbrush carefully, using the trees as concealment, and didn't noticed the snare set at about ankle level. The resulting yelp betrayed her presence as the rope tightened, securing both ankles and pulling her off her feet until she was left hanging upside-down from a tree branch.
Nathaniel put away the rifle for now as he made his way out, rather promptly bumping into Lilith, looking up with a little meep. "H-hey girl. You alright?" he asked, surprised by her appearance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 16, 2017, 06:35:11 pm
Lucian wipes down and sharpens a large bloodied cane machete, he looks towards a beaten and bloody man in an armored suit jacket hung upside on a tree. "Thank you for the information, ve- One moment." He says, reapplying a gag. He heads towards where the yelp came from, he looks up at Helen hanging upside down from a tree with an amused smirk. "Well. You appear to be in quite the pickle."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 06:40:01 pm
Helen grumbled and glowered at Lucian, seeing him first through the mask, concerned at the figure she spotted there as well. The first thing she thought was that she was glad to have picked another pair of slacks instead of the one dress skirt she'd scavenged. "Do you make a habit of booby-trapping your lair?" she said, giving him an annoyed glance under her mask. "Mind letting me down?" she asked, the thought "you're probably good at that metaphorically" came to mind but was left unsaid.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 16, 2017, 06:43:38 pm
Lucian nods and cuts the rope, grabbing it and gently lowering Helen to the floor. He walks up and cuts the rope tied to her ankles. "I do. Come along, was going to come go to ask for assistance with something. I need to take care of some vermin, however." He says, gesturing to follow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 06:48:22 pm
Helen was a bit worried at first given she'd seen the other person hanging upside-down as well, until he'd helped her down. The fact that she still had her hammer on hand, and could've reached for her multitool if needed, helped as well. "Thank you. I'm guessing you're referring to your other guest here." she remarked, following along. "Didn't think this was such a popular place to hang out." she joked, when she finally saw him with her own eyes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 16, 2017, 06:52:21 pm
Lucian snorts and gestures towards a stump near the firepit he's been using as a chair, on it is a bounty poster and a notebook with colored labels sticking out of it. "I need a hand with a mark. Yellow label." He says, pressing the hook of the machete against the throat and tearing it out. "Apologies for having to do that while you are here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 06:56:45 pm
Helen smiled a bit under the mask, regarding the man with some suspicion, not making any immediate reaction to Lucian tearing open his throat, carefully reading the page marked with the label he pointed. "I've seen worse, to be honest." she remarked. Admittedly not being in the heat of battle did make the sight more disconcerting. "Comrade of theirs, I would assume?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 16, 2017, 07:12:46 pm
"Mmmhmm. Lawrence Lee, leader of the 'Salary Men'. They extort and raid smaller settlements." Lucian says, "I've attempted to take him down before with someone else, a butcher from one of those smaller settlements. Took down his second in command, large number of his lackeys, and his left arm. My guest here gave me a location. An old hotel to the north." He grabs his whip and affixes it to his belt, "Are you interested in hunting down some vermin?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 07:16:03 pm
Helen smiled a bit at that. "So I see. More brigands of a sort. As much of a nuisance as Hell's Raiders had been ever since they were pushed farther north, it'd be my pleasure." she said. She still had her hammer, symbol of judgement, and waithslayer still slung around her shoulder. She hadn't even had the chance to put them away.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 16, 2017, 07:40:28 pm
"Well, we shall ensue in some jolly cooperation then." Lucian says with a bow, "Shall we make our way towards our mark?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 07:42:14 pm
A full day had passed since Quinn had done the surgery. She had felt sluggish and in pain despite the RX-12 doing it’s handy work. Afterwards she immediately went to her room slept for the night; despite her mutations, the procedure had made her exhausted.
Now that she woke up the next day, she felt better but noticeably different than before. She felt weaker and couldn’t think as fast as before. Now she wanted to see how she looked physically so she undressed and looked at herself in a mirror; not a single scar on her body. What took her a back was the fact that now she no longer had those metal sections in her skin due to no longer having sub-dermal armor.
Next she accessed her neural interface to see what she had available to her; she was a bit down that she no longer “saw” the chain lightning, bionic blade, bionic toolset and a few other of her favorite bionics she enjoyed in the past. It was when she skimmed through them that she noticed a few new once she hadn’t had before. “Telescopic Eyes” was the first; she read the digital description and her eye widen as she looked around. She was not wearing her glasses or contacts yet she could still see clearly; this bionic had fixed her eye sight! “Offensive Defence System”, was the second; she smirked at the oxymoron that name was. The digital description made her grin some more; she was now able to equip a force field that would shock attackers. She might have lost the power to tase and throw lighting but if they touch her then they would be shocked. “Time Dilation” was the third; Roxanne was outright elated at this one. The digital description made her imagine herself as pretty much invincible but was take off her high horse on the part of “at the cost of all your stored bionic power”; this made her relegate this as a last ditch trump card but what a trump card it was!
After she got dressed again, she decided to take a stroll around the farm. She was enjoying the fact that she could see without the need of glasses or contacts. A smile was etched on her face and she walked with utmost glee. Despite the fact that she had lost quite the arsenal, she still saw this as a positive change. She was drunk on life right now and as such cared not what other would say if they saw her; matter of fact she didn’t even considered it at the moment. In the excitement she had, she deployed her bionic sword and made it gleam against the sun as she held it high. She then proceeded to activate her CQB bionic while she slashed and stab at thin air. She let out a laugh as she deactivated both and let herself fall to the ground a few moments later as she continued on her fit of laughter; she looked up once she laid on the floor and saw the shapes of the clouds. A deep sigh escaped her lips. "How wonderful it is to be alive...", she whispered as she laid there and continued looking at the sky while laying on the floor a few feed from the fire pit where everyone gathers every once in awhile.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 07:48:37 pm
Helen smiled a bit at that. "First time I've ever heard that from someone trained in the sanguine arts." she teased. "And very well then. I should at least tell them I'll be out, but...can do so on the way." she said, gesturing to her two-way.
Sometime afterward, Hector had been looking around, watching after he'd done his work yesterday,. Despite the lingering pain under those bandages, his arm was still usable without much issue, so by now he'd fashioned two new long plates covering his wrists and a few inches up his forearms from that odd, dark metal. It'd been a lot harder to work with than most scavenged steel was, but the result was well worth it. It'd taken almost the whole day just working in fluting and shaping it, but the result seemed to be a beautiful contrast to the brighter steel of the remaining plates.
He made his way out, spotting Roxanne. He realized what a mess he still was, one sleeve of mail still shortened, only having cleaned up and removed the flecks of melted metal, leaving a ragged edge of intact links, making his way over to her. "Hey there. Doing alright after all that? Hadn't seen you at all yesterday. Admittedly I'd been in the forge for most of it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 07:57:20 pm
Roxanne turned around at the voice of Hector and she looked at him; her eyes widen when she saw him and her smile grew. She didn’t registered what Hector had said; instead her reaction was to get up and tackle him, a fit of giggles ensued when they both landed. "Hectoooooor! ~ Isn’t today beautiful? Look at everything around us, aren’t you glad to be alive!", She said as she loomed on top of him. Roxanne didn’t care for anything right now; didn;t care about Hector’s injuries, who else might see her or even what was happening around her. She was living in the moment.
Once her fit of giggles subsided, she look at Hector in the eyes for a moment and then proceed to kiss him. She did so for about a minute before she stopped and looked at him again; the giggles returned and then she rolled to the side of him as her giggles turned to outright laughter. “Hey Hector? Wanna bake a cake?”, Roxanne asked the knight as she looked at the sky once more.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 08:05:35 pm
Hector was a bit surprised when she practically pounced at him, knocking him over with ease. He could've sworn it felt a bit less forceful than expected, not feeling the way she seemed to move with bionic-enhanced muscles, the way he'd noticed his own movements had been affected ever since he installed them, but he seemed to brush it off for now. "Since I'm the one who had a shield blow up in my face, sure." he remarked, brushing off the pain that that jolt had provoked, and the embarrassing realizing that she was looming over him, holding her close as they kissed.
"A...cake? Never tried that before to be honest. If you want? Was on the list if I recall. Sure you're alright though?" he asked, wondering if she'd been using the "ceremonial oils" again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 16, 2017, 08:13:42 pm
"Alright. Awaaay we go then." Lucian says, taking an antique compass. He heads towards the hotel, gesturing for Helen to follow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 08:17:02 pm
Roxanne’s laughs and giggles ceased when Hector accepted her offer to make cake. She sat up with a dumb smile on her face. "Good! Let’s go and make the best cake! ", Roxanne responded, "And yes it was! How observant!" Roxanne booped Hector’s nose at the last statement and giggle more for a couple of seconds.
"Yeah, I am alright. I am just, happy? Yeah, Happy! Look!", Roxanne said, she leaned closer to Hector before speaking up again, "I can see you without my glasses! I also don’t have my metal skin anymore, but best of all, I am alive!" Roxanne once again laugh for a little bit more before finally stopping for good. "Alright tin can. So what flavor do you want the cake? I am thinking chocolate, let’s go see if there are any cookbooks on the subject!", Roxanne said before grabbing Hector by the hand and pulling him up. She was being rather forceful.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 08:21:56 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Very well then." she said, following along for now. "Helen checking in for the moment. Just scouting out a few things in the woodlands a ways up. I think Sergei's reading this, if he's got that thing set up finally. So no need to worry if it takes a bit." she said over the handset.
"Should keep them from wondering, I think."
Hector was surprised at that, blushing bright as she booped him, starting to realize she wasn't wearing her glasses, and her next remark surprised him. "Can...already put in the new bionics, hmm?" he asked, smiling as she helped him up. "Wait, you had some removed? What happened?" he asked. Now the started to piece together the likely cause, remarking how he'd been out of it for a good while when Quinn operated on him, and that was just to take out a single power cell implanted in an extremity.
Removing armor, and who knows what else, was likely a lot more work and a lot more drugs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 08:30:07 pm
Roxanne’s cheerful tone became a bit somber and her body language changed to match. "Quinn said that something caused my bionics to be incompatible with my body. He said I need to get them out or I would die Hector! I don’t want to die...", Roxanne said, she went and hugged him at her last remark, "You won’t let me die right?"
She embraced him for a bit but eventually let go, "But I am alright now! Doctor Quinn did a good job at fixing me. But I have to do a favor for him now...", Roxanne said, her cheerfulness seeming to pick up out of nowhere. She placed her hand on her chin to indicate a pensive gesture. She then looked at him and blushed a bit. "That favor is a secret by the way! I am not telling.", Roxanne told Hector, "I will tell you this...the sedative Quinn has is amazing! And no more pesky filter bionic too!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 08:36:19 pm
Hector was surprised at that, a bit unnerved even. He'd been reluctant to delve any deeper into making use of bionics, largely finding the ones they'd found not worth the trouble, and aware of the dangers of some augmentations. Her explanation only troubled him more, as he held her tightly. "I don't want that either, Roxanne. I'm glad that they could be removed safely." he said, before smiling some. "If you want, that offer about making a good suit of replacement plate armor still stands." he tested, before blushing some at that remark.
"That's what I guessed was at work here. Yeah, you should've seen how I was after a relatively small dose, just enough for a real basic procedure." he said, grinning a bit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 08:57:32 pm
"Plate armor? You want to turn me into a tin can too? Mr and Miss Tin can!", Roxanne teased and then laughed a bit, "Nah, that’s fine. I can now stop time!"
Roxanne looked around, seemingly confused for a moment before snapping back. "You had some of Quinn’s sedative too? I didn’t expect it to last this long. Before, It just made me very sleepy but now it’s just making me happy. Did that happen to you too? Were we talking about something? My head hurts...carry me?", Roxanne said all at once, she extended her arms at him on her last remark, she seemed to be serious.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 09:01:44 pm
Hector smiled a bit at that. "Imagine how adorable you'd look in a full set of Maximilian armor." he teased. "Though I suppose the trade-off is still impressive."
He then grinned a bit at that. "Honestly that was enough to have me out like a light for a while, then when I was coming to I felt all...odd. Wasn't bad though." he said, only to blush as he swept her off her feet, finding it a bit easier without her bionic armor, a remark he didn't dare say though. "Aside from being high as a kite, you sure you're okay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 09:16:53 pm
Roxanne meep a bit as she felt her feet leave the ground. She looked at him in the eyes and then hugged him for a bit. Once she let go, she answered him. "Yeah, I am alright are you alright? ”, Roxanne asked said in a mocking voice. "Now, to the kitchen knight!", Roxanne proclaimed to Hector, she then pointed her finger in the direction of the kitchen before continuing, "Onwards valiant one! What is that thing you sometime say? Deus Vult? Deus Vult!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 09:20:34 pm
Hector smiled a little at that, only to blush some as she held on. "Arm's still a bit sore, but I'll live. Takes more than that to stop me." he teased, only to end up blushing as he carried her off to the kitchen, wondering if they even still had any chocolate that wasn't already claimed by Catnip. "Bet Catnip and the others would like some too? And hey, pronouncing it right even with all the drugs, what a surprise." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 16, 2017, 09:24:49 pm
It took Catnip considerably longer than Dee thought to get back, and he could guess why. His suspicions where confirmed when Catnip turned the corner into his workshop with Kathrine hanging off her arm. She had a puffed up, childish, indignant look to her. "Won't let you go without her huh? You know Kat, I'd really hoped you'd stay and get everything prepared, I mean, the whole trips only gonna take like an hour." Dee said. "I guess somebody is sitting on somebody else's lap." Catnip shook her head and mentioned how they'd done it before. Kathrine inside, Dee driving, Catnip clinging to the side.
"Mica's coming too." Dee said, rolling his eyes. "She won't let me go without her either, I guess she wants to visit Damien and Lindsey. See their... graves. You know?" Catnip and Kathrine both knew. The scarred couple had been Mica's caretakers, people akin to parents to a hungry freak. "She want's to ride in the trunk, but clinging to the opposite side as you should be fine." He ran his hand over the body work above the door. The nonstandard roof rack made the vehicle stand out as a custom. "We should get going. C'mon, let's get Mica and get going."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 09:31:41 pm
Roxanne shook her head when Hector suggested to share the cake. "No! The cake is mine! You are mine! I am not going to share! Okay, maybe I’ll share with you if you don’t leave all the cake making to me.". Roxanne said in an indignant tone.
They eventually reached the kitchen and Roxanne hopped of Hector’s arms. "Still got it!", she said as she did a celebratory gesture. "Alright, I’ll find us a book and you gather everything you think we will need ok?", Roxanne proclaimed. She got searching and eventually found a rather large cookbook and went to the section on pastries and cake. "Found it! How about you? What we making?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 09:36:05 pm
Hector was left blushing more at that, booping her nose lightly. "Of course I'll make it with you, then. Do take care not to get the cake and me confused, alright?" he joked, before she hopped out of his grasp. He'd quickly enough find what all he was looking for, ingredients that he suspected they'd need from what he recalled, even if he was more used to making simple camp food than actually baking. He'd even managed to find some chocolate, along with a jar of cherries, thinking that might be interesting to add atop it as well.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 09:46:19 pm
"Alright Hector! Let’s get cooking!", Roxanne exclaimed as she saw Hector approached, ingredient in tow. "Alright, lets see what this recipe says...Batter eggs?" She looked around a bit confused. "Uh, Hector? How do you that? I don’t have my bionic tools anymore and never made a cake. I always make my eggs scrambled so this is all new to me...Can you help me?"
The rest of the cooking process was like this. Recipe called for a knife? Roxanne deploys for her bionic sword. Recipe calls for a quart of milk? Roxanne asks how much milk 25 cents would buy her pre-cataclysm. By the end of it, the mix was ready. All that was left was putting it in the oven "Preheat to 280 degrees for 10 minutes...Preheat? What? Aren’t things either heated or unheated? I am confused..." Roxanne looked at the dial on the mobile kitchen unit the farm had rigged. "I am going to put it to 280 and then what? Tell you what. You do this and I will decorate it on the end ok? Please?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 09:51:28 pm
When Hector heard that first question, the first thing he thought was what kind of bionic toolset had an eggbeater. it wasn't long before they were stumbling through it, Hector occasionally joking about things like the idea of using his sword instead of a proper kitchen knife, or wondering if he'd have to use his toolkit in the same way Roxanne used her bionic toolkit.
At least with the actual recipe book it was simple enough to follow for him, if outside what he normally cooked, having instructions to follow made it easy. "I'll...er. Get the oven warm basically..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 10:07:50 pm
Heat the oven? Of course the oven gets hot silly! Now now, you do your thing and when you are done I’ll do mine!", Roxanne responded. She was totally oblivious to Hector’s reactions and how she was behaving. Once the preheating was done and the cake was finally in the oven, Roxanne grabbed Hector’s hand. "Sorry Hector, I liiiied...", Roxanne said with a guilty look in her eyes, "I will share the cake...I was just mad that you came up with the idea. You are still just mine and that I won’t share!"
A little ‘ping’ noise signal that the cake was done and now what was left was to apply the decoration. "It says here to put frosting? We don’t have that do we...what do we do!?", Roxanne said taking this more seriously than she should, not realizing this was a chocolate cake. "Maybe we can find something around here that will be a good substituted? The cherries are definitely staying though!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 10:12:56 pm
Hector chuckled a bit. "Can't go throwing the cake in while the oven's cold is what it means though. I...think." he said. Admittedly he just followed the instructions rather than guessing the exact science of it, only to smile some at that. "It's fine. I'm still all yours, Rox." he said, pulling her into a kiss.
What followed as them trying to figured out what to use in place of frosting, Hector suggesting if they had whipped cream, or milk to make some, that might work. "I wonder if it works with some sugar added too...wait, how do I keep it from not basically becoming sweet butter..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 10:25:47 pm
Roxanne was left blushing when Hector kissed her; she just stood there after it with a dumbfounded face. It was the ping on the oven that snapped her out if it. "Well, maybe the book has something to say about that!", Roxanne suggested on Hector’s remarks for substitute ingredient. She looked on the bottom section of the cake recipe and saw a little section called ‘substitute ingredients’. "Aha! Just what we need! Alright, let’s see...sugar substitute...egg substitute...gluten free alternatives...There!", Roxanne exclaimed and pointed at the place she was reading, "Frosting substitute! It says to simply apply sugar if you lack any form of whip cream or frosting, icing sugar is recommended...do we have icing sugar? If not we will use the regular one. Ok then! Apply the sugar and I will put the cherries! I get first slice and then you pick whatever you want ok?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 10:31:20 pm
Hector smiled at that, until the ding of the oven's timer snapped them both out of it, taking the cake out of the oven while she pored over the cookbook, finding what they needed. "That should be perfect then, not sure if we have that sort of sugar, so..." he admitted, looking through their ingredients again. "Definitely looks like it's rather well-made though, not too dry I'm guessing." he said. At least he hoped, having never thought of a cake with sugar sprinkled on it instead of frosting before. It wasn't often he ate sweets anyway, let alone made them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 10:41:54 pm
Once Hector was done with the sugar, Roxanne put the cherries on top. For some reason, she was obsessed to put them symmetrically in a very specific pattern. When asked why she was doing so she glared at Hector and responded, "It has to look pretty!" She eventually finished putting the cherries and she clasped her hands to admire her work. "Looks nice right? Now let’s get a piece!", Roxanne grabbed the knife Hector had given her when she though using her bionic sword was a good idea. She cut herself a piece and handed Hecto the knife. "I said I would share", Roxanne said with a smile. Once Hector took the knife she ate the cake, "Not what I expected but it’s still nice.", Roxanne said after eating a bite. Her mouth was full of sugar and she was trying to lick it off, eventually giving up. "What do you think? Good enough to share?", Roxanne asked before taking another bite.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 10:46:28 pm
Hector smiled a bit at that, regarding with some amusement her insistence on placing the cherries so neatly, soon trying one as well, surprised at the results. "Lot better than anything else I've made myself, to be honest." he admitted, stifling a chuckle as she tried to lick off the sugar. "Definitely should, made a decent-sized one after all. Plus the least we can do after the mess we made." he pointed out.
Soon enough they were heading back out with the result of their efforts, Nathaniel regarding the two curiously, deciding to go get some of the others.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 10:53:36 pm
"Mess? What mess?", Roxanne said a bit confused, then she looked behind her, "Oh...that mess...Guess you are right" Roxanne looked a bit embarrassed at the messed but perked up when Hector grabbed the cake and headed out, she followed suit.
"Heeeeey Nathan! Want some cake? We made it ourselves!", Roxanne regarded Nathaniel before he want off to get others. "I hope they like it. Good enough for our first cake though. Tooootally not looking for others validation, no sir!", Roxanne said to Hector.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 10:59:18 pm
Hector found himself chuckling at that. "Hopefully cake will discourage Kathrine from killing us for making a mess of the place." he joked, while Nathaniel smiled a bit, deciding to try some. "Pretty good, didn't know either of you were much into cooking. Always assumed it was jerky, hardtack, and..." he said, trailing off as a glare from Hector prompted him to shut up.
"That reminds me! Was gonna say, radio piped up, Helen's off on a walk scouting. Guessing they have a second radio unit at her place."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 11:14:59 pm
"You like it Nathaniel? Happy to hear that!", Roxanne said as she gave him a smile. At the remark about Helen, she perked up a bit. "Oh, Helen? She is off scouting? Hope she is ok.", Roxanne responded to that, "But she should be fine! She did kill me once after all...she killed me?" Roxanne paused at the last statement looked at Hector, tears forming in her eyes, "She killed me Hector...why would she do that?" She didn’t realise the hypocrisy of that statement in that she was a killer for a living before hand. Roxanne hugged Hector’s arm making him almost drop the cake. "Don’t let her do it again...you are my knight, protect me..." Roxanne said with her voice muffled by Hector’s arm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 11:20:56 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that, while Hector shrugged a bit, confused momentarily. "There's no need to worry about her, no doubt. Or you. I mean we literally just fought together, that doesn't count for something?" he pointed out, holding her close. "It's alright, um...Nathaniel heeelp." he said, a bit quietly.
"I'm sure if she were here at the moment, she'd be giggling and teasing you about an assassin, hashisher or however she pronounces it, hiding behind someone who used to go walking around with a Templar shield up until those nutjobs stole the gimmick." Nathaniel joked, prompting a facepalm from Hector. "Nevermind that the Templars and Hashshashin did work together sometimes..." the knight remarked quietly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 16, 2017, 11:29:30 pm
Roland had finished taking care of his armor. Picking up his gear he stood and went back to his quarters. Pulling out a piece of paper and a pen he sighed and began to write.
Meanwhile Bandit saw the couple carrying around cake but decided to go about his business. After all the people he needed to deal with wouldn't be very long in coming to the bridge. He just hoped this would work as well as he hoped.
Meanwhile(again) Alice saw the two as her and Drifter were talking about a few things. She'd been trying to persuade him to take care of the library. Drifter stood and took this as his chance to change the subject as he walked over and accepted a piece of cake. Taking a bite he nodded and said "That's good. Real good. Reminds me of an old bakery I used to go to once in a while."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 11:35:05 pm
Roxanne glared at Nathaniel while still clinging to Hector. "Are you making fun of me?!", she exclaimed to Nathaniel. She tried to pull her usual trick of shooting her chain lightning gun but found it absent from her BUI. "Oh? That’s right, I can’t do that anymore..." Roxanne let go of Hector’s arm and activated her new forcefield bionic and waved Nathaniel to come over. "Bring it! Come on and tackle me so I can shock you!", Roxanne ordered Nathaniel.
A little while later, Roxanne had calmed down and the trio had started walking again to offer cake. She saw as Drifter and Alice approach and got a piece of cake. "Glad you liked it! Got a really good book on how to make them.", Roxanne said as she smiled towards the pair, "Glad to cook something for once instead of just eating. Feels nice to contribute something other than just being another walking weapon."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2017, 11:38:08 pm
Hector blinked at that, giving a little facepalm as Roxanne hopped off, only for Nathaniel to give a blank stare. "You do realize even without your tazer-tits or whatever weird stuff you gotta jammed inside you while you were out a whole day, it'd still be suicide for me to actually hit you, right?" he pointed out. "Can we not kill each other today?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 16, 2017, 11:46:50 pm
Roxanne blushed and cover her chest by crossing her arms at Nathaniel’s comments. "S- shut up! Don’t talk about me like that!", Roxanne said in response to Nathaniel, "I- I know where you live!" Roxanne then calmed down and looked away from Nathan while pouting at Hector’s remark "Fiiine! But he started it!", Roxanne said in response. "Let’s continue to find people to give cake ok?", Roxanne suggested. Hector and Nathaniel nodded and they continued to walk. A few minutes later was when they had found Drifter and Alice willing to give their cake a try.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 16, 2017, 11:47:14 pm
Drifter finished the piece of cake before saying "Yeah I get the feeling of not contributing. I still need to actually learn some skills besides barbecuing and killing things."
Alice gave him a look as she said "Well you could start keeping track of things at the library."
Drifter rolled his eyes as he said "Just because the army taught me to do book keeping doesn't mean it's something I want to practice."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 17, 2017, 04:19:23 am
LETS DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN (fade to black edition)
Lilith grins as Nathaniel bumps into her, and shoves him back inside. His smaller-than-usual shack just barely fit her inside, and she shoved her way in after him. "Natalie, thith ith later." She grunts, placing a bandaged paw on top of his bed. Nathaniel's horrified expression didn't slow down or stop her attempts to get him on the bed, followed by her hooking his shirt with a claw and dragging it down, tearing his shirt in half down the front. "Lilith loveth Natalie..." After she partially takes off his shirt, she proceeds to rub her head against Nathaniel's chest.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 17, 2017, 11:14:47 am
The next morning, he wasn't sure what to think anymore. He only vaguely remembered what happened, only that he was astounded he was unscathed the next morning. Hector hadn't heard a thing because he'd been at the forge pretty much all day, Roxanne had been in surgery, so he hoped that no one had overheard them. Getting her to let him go in the morning was a difficult enough task, but eventually things had settled back into the routine, flustered and nervous as he went back to the task he was going to do earlier this morning, before fumbling for new clothes and heading back out to check on the others...
(( Aaand timewarp restored to normal in literally just two posts. ))
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 17, 2017, 12:25:35 pm
Victor was just about finished with preparing a batch of white potions; it had been a while since he had done any serious work with potions so it took him a while to do any mass production. Just as he bottled up his products, he heard a knock on the door. He got up and answer the door; to his surprise, it was Roxanne with a grin on her face.
“Roxanne? Hey, what a surprise to see you knocking at my door.”, Victor said to Roxanne once he opened the door, "Anything I can help you with?"
“Remembered how you said if I ever wanted to experiment with the supernatural to come to you? Well, I am here for just that. I have a little experiment I want you to help me with.”, Roxanne answered.
Victor looked away while rubbing the back of his head. “Look, Roxanne. I don’t do that anymore. I focus on practical matter now. I am sorry that-”, Victor began to explain before he was interrupted.
“Oh? So you are not a man of your word are you now? I thought you made an oath. We made an oath Victor, don’t forget that. If you can’t help me, then I’ll be on my way.”, Roxanne said after she interrupted.
“Wait, Roxanne...what can I help you with?”, Victor said with a deep sigh. His expression read, “I am going to regret this later aren’t I?
Roxanne flashed a smile Victor’s way, the same expression a fisherman gets when he hooks a catch was etched on Roxanne’s face. “It’s rather simple actually. Today later on, lay on our bed, relax and clear your mind. Lower all spiritual guards you have and then at 6 PM, take this pill.”, Roxanne instructed Victor. She then took one of the famed pills Bandit made for her and showed it to Victor.
Victor looked conflicted for a moment. He regarded the strange pill and then the expression on Roxanne’s face. “That’s it? Take this pill? What for? What’s in this thing? What does it do?”, Victor asked Roxanne in succession.
Roxanne place her finger in his lips to silence him. "You ask too many questions. Look, this pill will make us go on an adventure.", Roxanne explained, "I have already tested it but I need someone else to do so as well. There is some variables I need to document. Also, I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Do as I say and what follows will be it’s own reward."
Roxanne took Victor’s hand and place the pill on his palm before closing it into a fist. She then patted him on the shoulder while stifling a small laugh. "Good boy, Helen has trained you well.", Roxanne commented and winked at him; this made her burst into laughter. She then calmed down and dismissed herself. "6pm, don’t forget!", Roxanne shouted back while making her way back to her room.
A few hours later had passed and Victor laid on his bed, pill in hand. He had done as Roxanne instructed; he had lowered his spiritual wards and tried his best to clear his mind of all though. The last part was hard due to the looming questions of what he was about to do.
6pm, it was time. Victor looked at the pill one last time and reluctantly swallowed it. He then laid back down on his bed face up and wondered where this would take him. For a while nothing happened, he was lost in his own, ever harder to ignore, thoughts; but eventually, he blinked once and found himself elsewhere. One moment he was in his room laying on the bed and the next was standing up surrounded by eternal darkness. The first thing he noticed was the way he could still see lights of ahead similar to the way you can see stars in the night sky. Thing was that they were very few here and there and he knew they were impossibly far away. Next, his attention focused to the light that shrouded him; there was an area of illumination around him in a perfect sphere. No obvious source was identifiable; the illumination simply was. Immediately beyond said illumination, the darkness looked as if it tried to creep in but was held off by an unseen force.
Despite all this, Victor soon realized the third characteristic of this place. He was impossibly calm. All his worries, regrets, failure and more were lifted off his shoulders. He felt an unmatched sense of bliss by just existing; it was wonderful. ”Where am I?”, Victor thought to himself, his mind still clear despite it’s current state. He was still bounded to a body so he stepped forward to inspect if things worked the same. “Still have to move forward, gravity still applies here, I can breath here...what a strange place…”, Victor told himself once more.
It was then he noticed an approaching light coming from behind. He turned around to find Roxanne walking towards him; her facial expressions betraying her bliss and contentment. “Glad to see you here Vic.”, Roxanne said once she Reached Victor, “Come on, we don’t have much time. Follow me, there is something I want to show you.”
Roxanne led the way and Victor followed. He had no idea where she was taking him or what awaited but he didn’t care; he was just happy to be here, to exist. After what seemed like a couple of minutes of walking, Roxanne took her to the place where she frequented when she visited; the lamp post with the blue flame. Victor looked at it with awe; for some reason, he was simply enthralled by it. “We are here.”, Roxanne whispered, “We are safe now, Randael will protect us.”
“Randael? He is here?”, Victor began to ask, “What is this place anyways? What are we here for?”
Roxanne’s expression changed from that of bliss to that of amusement. “Not even this place changes you does it Victor? Very well, you deserve some answers.”, Roxanne explained, “The way I understand it, this seems to be the border between life and death. Humans are not allowed easy access her since they might accidentally wander into the realm of the dead prematurely. But in here, spirits reign supreme, this is their realm. The ties to the physical plane no longer exist here; all your pain and worries are left behind and for a brief moment, you can reach true happiness. But this place isn’t all that safe; we are not welcomed her Victor. Luckily, this lamp here casts a radius of protection over us courtesy of Randael. The stronger he is, the bigger the radius of the ward. As long as we stay inside, we should be fine.”
Victor was hooked to every single one of her word. His curiosity was peaked and nothing could satiate it at this moment. Soon after, a small breeze started to pick up which prompted a smile form Roxanne. “It’s here…”, she whispered.
“What is that Roxanne?”, Victor asked.
“The winds of the damned, as Randael calls them. But I don’t like that name...I refer to them as the winds of memories. They are the essence of all who have ever lived. Randael says that they are not particularly strong here but they’re still great. We can gleam into past lives and discover things lost to time. Brace yourself, here they come!”, Roxanne answered.
When she finished her explanation, a rather strong breeze past them and with it various emotions and memories engulfed them. Like last time with Hector, some of them were good and other were bad. Victor basked in all the memories as he looked into past lives. However, the last memory shown to him was familiar… It made his own memories swell up and join the winds. This memory shown was the same as his but from another point of view; together, they formed a coherent picture that was now part of the winds and as such Roxanne too could see into it.
The year was 2038, Victor was busy examining what looked to be a golden staff decorated with spirals. He hadn’t made much progress save for how to activate it and recharge it; he had still to figure it how it work or how to replicate its power. 3 days had passed by since it’s delivery and this was all he had managed.
Victor decide to take a rest, after all, this was a particularly special day. He had been assigned his own acquisitionist. A year into joining The Shadows of Arcana and he had proven himself to be trusted as a main expander. Before, he was tasked with mundane natural artifacts recovered by operatives when on the field, like what he was working with, but now an acquisitionist would be tasked to bring him artifacts they specifically targeted. They might come a from a cult somewhere or by some group who tried to weaponized it’s power; and best of all, he would get to unlock their secrets!
About an hour later, Victor heard a knock on his door. He went to look through the peephole and noticed a note had been slipped in under the door. Victor picked up and gave it a read. After a quick chuckle, he burned the note with the snap of his fingers and opened the door. On the other side, a woman was waiting for him She looked fairly ordinary save for the uniform she was wearing; she was sporting a highly decorated hooded robe with the many charms and wards depicted in it. “Is he who seeks the sun awaken?”, the woman asked. Victor nodded and signaled the woman to enter. She did so and sat down on the couch she was offered. Victor had prepared two cups of coffee before hand and she took one.
“I supposed introductions are in order? We were given such vague details for this, but I guess they have their reasons. I will go first; I am Hunter Roxanne Blackmore, former Cleanser and I will be your acquisitionist from now on.”, the woman said and took a sip of her coffee afterwards.
“I am Purifier Victor S- Ironwood”, Victor said with a bit of hesitation, “Been a member for only one year and have been assigned as your local expander. Good to make your acquaintance.” He too began to drink from his coffee.
“Alright then, now that that is out of the way. Let’s talk business, how are we going to go about this?”, Alt-Roxanne asked.
“First of all, what are your specs?”, Victor asked
Alt-Roxanne smiled before answering, “You don’t ask a lady that on the first date. Don’t you have any shame?” She took another sip and regarded Victor’s confused expression. “Not one for humor then? Alright, my mistake. I have all the bionics a standard hitman has: bionic blade, close quarter combat unit, electroshock unit, etc. Then I got the upgraded package standard to the military: targeting system, targeting system, air filtration system, metabolic interchange, etc. Then I got this fancy robe and rifle, got assigned to you and now I am here. How about yourself? What you working with?”, Atl-Roxanne explained to Victor.
“I am a one year expander. I have been working with natural artifacts for the time being but have been assigned an acquisitionist once I proved I can decipher this artifacts. I know this was a sort of test since natural artifacts are too wild to be handled in any practical manner; but if I decipher them then i could do the once artificial ones. Since you just got upgraded, allow me to say this: welcome to the world of the arcane sister!”, Victor responded back.
This prompted a smile from Alt-Roxanne. She finished her coffee and got up. “Likewise partner. I look forward to working with you. I already have an assignment in the works so expect to hear from me soon. Also, I was told to give you this.”, Alt-Roxanne said to Victor as she handed him a ring, “It is said to give the wearer insight and knowledge to those it deems worthy. Find out what makes someone worthy, that is your first assignment. Forget the natural artifacts now. You are in the big leagues now. Until next time.”, Roxanne instructed Victor before dismissing herself. She exited the door and left Victor alone with his thoughts.
All of this left Victor excited. Yes, this was a new beggining to him; he already had his first assignment, he was finally recognized for his talents and had a personal assistant of sorts. The last bit was far from the truth but he didn’t know it at the time. This was the start of his story, the beginning for Victor Ironwood.
Just like that, the memory faded. Victor smiled and reminisced about those days, back when he had a purpose, back when he was somebody in his mind. He let that memory fade back into his mind and returned to the darkness that surrounded him. He noticed the way Roxanne was looking at him.
“Was...was that her? You know…her...”, Roxanne asked.
Victor nodded at her. He turned around, not wanting to look at her in the eyes. “It was her...sorry you had to see that. That is the past now, a world that no longer exists.”, Victor responded.
“But I felt it, you were happy...I am so sorry Victor…”, Roxanne said, her own emotions audible in her tone.
“Don’t be. Why don’t we get out of here? I assume you have enough data now?”, Victor asked.
Roxanne now nodded in response. No more words were spoken by either of them as Roxanne proceeded to extinguish the blue flame. Once she did so, Victor closed his eyes and when he opened the, he found himself back in his room. He jolted awake with a deep breath and then looked around. Everything was back to normal, save for the incredible afterglow he was now feeling. He wouldn’t get anything productive done for the rest of the day, that much he was sure off. “I need to get me some of those...tell me your secrets Roxanne…", Victor whispered to himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 17, 2017, 12:32:57 pm
The day had become slightly overcast in the short time it took them to reach the refugee center. "Hope it doesn't rain..." Kathrine commented. Dee told her it would be fine and took out the radio. "Alright Phil, this is Dee. Bring em around." They'd parked the SLS around the front of the center and were surprised by the number of other cars and vehicles present. One of which stood out and stood apart from the rest. Sitting in the field, close to the garden of vehicles, was a kind of transport vehicle. "What do you think Catnip?" Dee asked.
She examined from a safe distance the rolling shutters that took the place of doors. The vehicle was a good half as high as her train and just as long. "The lift doors look like the doors on the front of some stores, what do you think it's for? Phil is here." With that last, Catnip pointed to an approaching ATV dragging behind it a small trailer laden with cages. "Dee, my man, what's up? Admiring the trade truck?" Greeted the man astride the ATV.
"Not much Phil, hook her up here." Said Dee, gesturing to the customized hitch at the back of the SLS. "You girls head inside, I gotta get this bit of business sorted. Trade truck huh?" Phil, a short man with a head of closely shaven brown hair, gestured casually towards the odd vehicle. "Yeah. Reason we have so much to spare. These guys contacted us awhile back, said they had bullets and explosive that they'd be willing to trade for meat. As I think Crow or Khaki said over the radio when you cut the deal, our hunters and trappers have been working overtime to fill the order. We've got a ton of excess as a result."
Mica had to be pulled by force into the refugee center, for inside each cage was a plump chicken. "Lizard buyed all this chikuns?" she asked, Dee just smiled warmly at her. Her mouth watered, and the way she worried the cages reminded Dee of a monitor lizard he'd seen at a zoo somewhere. It had been feeding time and the monitor had carefully, almost lazily, selected one of the chicks that had been provided to it, flicking it's tongue to taste the air around it before snatching it up and swallowing it whole. Dee had watched with fascination as the chick disappeared down it's throat, and the chicks pitiful cheeping could be heard from inside the lizards guts. Mica flicked her tongue inside the cages in a very similar manner. "Chikuns..." She looked inside each one at a time with growing hunger. "C'mon Mica." Catnip said, tugging at Mica's lower left arm. The spider mutant jerked her hand away from Catnip and seized one of the cages. It was Dee who stopped her, laying a hand over one of hers. "Not now Mica, we're saving them. Trust me ok?" Mica hesitated, then with great effort, slowly put the cage back with the others. "We're gonna do something special, can you be patient for me?" He asked. Mica considered, and then carefully nodded. She could be patient, but she was awfully excited. Catnip gave Mica a gentle pull and repeated. "C'mon Mica. Let's go see Damien and Lindsey."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 17, 2017, 01:58:54 pm
It was a somber moment. Mica had not been to visit the graves before, and now that she was in the little graveyard adjacent to the refugee center, she wasn't sure what to do. The mounds had long ago settled into flat earth and grass had grown over the two plots. Mica could almost smell them, not in the real world, but in the nose of her memory. "My-ka is better." She said to the graves, "My-ka not so hungry, an My-ka have friends an lizard that makes My-ka feel spesh-ul." She wasn't sure why she was speaking to the simple plank rudes with her caretakers names carved into them, but it felt right for her to do so. Catnip and Kathrine stood a ways off and watched her. Something caught Catnip's attention though, and her whiskers twitched. Something moving among the tree's across the field behind the center. She dismissed it as one of the many large swamp creatures that occasionally came to the edge of the woods to see what was what at the edge of it's territory. She thought she caught the glint of metal and a splash of black, but again dismissed it. The eyes and carapace of a swamp creature, that was all. Mica turned away and wiped her eyes, grinning a little. "We go inside now. Peoples inside not see My-ka for awhile. Maybe they be surprised at how different My-ka be now?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 17, 2017, 03:12:15 pm
Kathrine, even though Mica had been 'tamed' somewhat, was still scared of the spider-woman. Even then, watching her mourn whoever it was made her sad. She felt weird as she stepped towards Mica in an attempt to comfort her. It was a sort of combination of fear and intrigue that she wasn't going to act on. She reached out to touch her shoulder just as Mica span around, making her jump back in surprise. "M-Miss Mica, who are you... Who are they?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 17, 2017, 03:30:19 pm
Meanwhile back at the farm Bandit had been waiting for the trio of vans to arrive. As they pulled up he checked his watch and stepped forward. The same pair of goons approached him as they told him they hoped he had more quality product for them. The boss grabbed his bag and opened it to find it empty.
As he opened his mouth to yell at Bandit he suddenly found his throat full of blood as Bandit's knife went through it. Ripping it out he turned to the other man in front of him and cut into his hand as he pulled a gun that went clattering to the ground. As the men in the vans started dismounting he pointed the knife at them and yelled "Stand down motherfuckers! I'm about to show you why you don't fuck with gangsters from my ends!"
They stopped in their tracks as he shouted and looked to each other. One raised his hands in a 'I am not getting involved' gesture as he leaned against the van and the others followed suit. Bandit turned back to the injured man as he remembered what one of the members of his old gang told him.
A minute later and the man was screaming in a deafening pitch as Bandit's hands were covered in his blood and there was blood spatter on his jacket and jeans. Turning to the others he said "Now. All of you work for me. You move my product, you sell it for what I tell you to, and if you violate against me then I'll make sure you end up like this boy. Or you can drive the fuck off and move out of this state, never interfere with my business again, and I'll let you live."
As Bandit turned to the brutalized man he pulled out his Tec and put a hole through the back of his head. By the time he'd turned back to the others most of them were gone. Those that had stayed were men he recognized and men he knew he could trust to run product. "Alright. Get rid of his body and go sell this shit." With that he tossed the men a bag he'd hidden nearby and walked off as they put the body in the back of the van to get rid of it.
Walking back into the farm Bandit held the knife loosely in his hand. Pulling off the mannequin mask he looked at it for a second before tossing it aside. He could feel his hands shaking as he ran a bloodied hand over the cloth mask he'd worn under the mannequin mask. I thought I'd moved past this gang shit but now I'm just back in it...FUCK.
He moved to go find somewhere quiet to think and clean himself up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 17, 2017, 03:35:31 pm
"Eh?" It took her a moment to understand what Kathrine meant. She regarded the graves again, and then the morsel. "My-ka's..." She didn't know the word, it wasn't one she'd ever used or even heard before. Catnip would be no help as the concept of "parents," biological or adopted, was relatively unknown to the sisters who had been grown in tubes and not really "raised" per se. Mica squeezed her eyes shut, trying desperately to come up with the word. "Caretakers." Catnip said, only knowing the word from those she'd heard say it in reference to Damien and Lindsay. Mica made an odd gesture, but one that was universal to all creatures that cared for their children, raising them until they were ready for life away from their parents. She cradled an invisible object in her arms. "My-ka don't have word." She explained, "Day-me-on an Lin-see feed My-ka an watch My-ka an love My-ka. My-ka have... han-ler? Han-ler too, but han-ler mean so My-ka eat him but keep Day-me-on an Lin-see. They bring My-ka chikuns an tell My-ka stories when My-ka not hungry." She was crying a little again. "You make My-ka c-cry morsel, b-but My-ka not angry. My-ka not know w-what she lose til they gone an miss t-them."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 18, 2017, 01:29:07 am
"Hey Dee, what's up?" Said Dervish. Dee was surprised. The last time he'd seen Dervish a couple months before, he'd been on his way back to the Reliant.
"Not much." Dee said, "Just enjoying the company of a girl that got bored of me after a week."
That made Dervish grin, and he shot back, "Remember to wrap up kid, but remember what I said about her being mostly spider." The comment prickled Dee for an entirely different reason. Before, it had bothered him because of his lack of interest in Mica. Now, it got to him because he knew Mica wasn't like that at all. Dervish saw it written on his face and dropped him another wink.
"Still." He said, "Anybody else with you?" He asked. Dee told him about Catnip, Kathrine, and Mica. "Excellent. I'd be interested to know what's been going on around the farm, I guess not much since I havn't been away lo- Oh, speak of the devils! Catnip!"
The girls came around the side of the refugee center and saw him. Mica was content to join Dee, shooting frequent glances towards the cages. Catnip and Kathrine though, bowled Dervish over. "Ladies, Ladies, please! Why don't we head inside? What are you guys doing at the center anyway?" Dervish took note of the way Mica seemed to stick close to Dee, snatching glances at him, occasionally whispering some trifle in his ear which he would consider briefly and then either nod or shake his head. In truth, Dervish was glad that it seemed to be working out so well between them, and his smile only broadened when Dee hooked his arm around one of Mica's and in turn, she wrapped one arm around his shoulders. As they walked together into the center, events began to unfold that would change the lives of the visitors forever. They didn't know it, but very soon things would get rather serious.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 18, 2017, 10:56:35 am
Hector by now had gone back to his usual routine, his usual task of slowly repairing the hole in his mail, awkward as it was with a bandaged-up arm. He knew he'd need to eventually start making his new shield, wondering how he might go about it. Might line the back with kevlar, he thought. The pattern he decided would still be a Knights Hospitallers design, he'd settled on a design he liked. Eventually his enemies would recognize it. And, he hoped, fear it.
Nathaniel meanwhile was back to looking around keeping an eye on things, pistol back in its place at his side. As useful as as M4 was, he felt like it was best to stick with something that so many others in the group didn't use ammo for. The Siege Tower had an M249 replacing its original M240, Drifter had an M16, Mohammed had a makeshift 5.56 rifle of some sort, etc. In contrast, 9x19mm wasn't as widely-used by the farm.
Meanwhile as the sun started to hang low in the sky, Helen and Lucian made their way north, as detailed here...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 18, 2017, 12:13:19 pm
"Yeah, Reliant got hit again. Didn't even make it out of port. Doesn't matter, I couldn't get past the hell's raiders barricades anyway. They may not have much of a foothold in the area anymore, but they are still a hassle. Heard they made a go of it again in the region, but somebody swept through and demolished their little fort and killed their leader." Dervish explained over rolls in the cafeteria. The others nibbled theirs while Mica simply played with hers. The stares and looks of horror the people of the center gave her both humored and stung Dee and Catnip a little. Mica on the other hand didn't mind at all. Seemed to be enjoying that sort of attention really. The kind of fearful respect that no one on the farm ever paid her anymore. When they'd entered, the trade director had stopped her, demanding that she not bring he trophies through to the cafe, that he'd deal with them here in the main area. Mica had only produced a handful of faction patches, swatches of recognizable blue cloth and kevlar. "My-ka bring ears an fingers if you like tho." She quipped. The director had brought her a canvas sack filled with meat, but Mica had waved it away. "My-ka not hungry." she said, which was a lie but she had more self control than that now, "Put meats away, bring My-ka shok-lat an shy-nees." Mice gave the chocolate bars to Catnip and Kathrine, and tried on the jewelry. None of it fit on her oddly shaped fingers and her too narrow wrists, but she accepted the baubles anyway. At some point, Khaki had come to join them.
"Hey Nip, we managed to recover some recoilless rifles from a military depot last year, but one of the things is busted. The locking mechanism doesn't seem to want to close all the way. Think you could take a look? They're the really big ones, 57mm. Our salvager's brought em up and put em on the roof." Khaki said. Catnip said she remembered being told something about it, but never had the time to come over and take a look. "I'll take a look later Khaki, we've got something going on today."
"Aw. Oh well. How are you doing Kathrine?" Khaki asked. Kathrine looked up sharply, not expecting to be involved in the conversation. Catnip nodded, and Kathrine said cheerily, "I'm fine, Miss Khaki! Miss Mica's nice and Miss Lilith is here now and she's super nice and Mistre-" Kathrine pauses and starts turning bright red. "...Mistress is nice too..." Catnip winced. "You don't have to call me that in front of-" The peace of the afternoon was suddenly shattered, by a sound like many strings of firecrackers going off and panicked pained screaming from outside. A moment after it all started, a boarded up window in the kitchen blew in, and the people of the refugee center found themselves suddenly covered by men and women tossing aside blankets and heavy jackets to reveal blue crosses and a mix and match of easily concealed weapons. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Phil, the man who dealt with all of the refugee centers major trade orders stood and dusted off his hands after making sure the cart load of chickens was securely attached to the SLS. He hadn't noticed the fat little man in what appeared to be a bathrobe approaching until he was already a few feet away. "Mr. Fitzpatrick," said the man, "My name is Leonard Casdin, I believe we discussed a little deal over the radio?" Phil looked up, startled at how silent the approaching man had been. "Oh? Oh! Yeah, the meat! We've got more than enough, don't think we'd have gone to the bother without your order. We ended up collecting tons of it, I'll take you around to our coolers and you can see what-" The man who called himself Casdin stopped him with an upraised hand. "I don't recall saying anything about meat Mr. Fitzpatrick. I think what I said was that we would like to trade ammo and explosives, for 'flesh.'" Phil Fitzpatrick looked confused, but only for as long as it took for him to register a puff of smoke, and the fact that he was now an eye and a brain short. Bishop Casdin laughed, as Phil Fitzpatrick died.
With a gesture, the shutter door on the side of the "trade wagon" slid open, and out strode a rank and file line of heavily armed and armored figures. With a second gesture, the figures began to fan out and march. With a third, the stunned people outside the refugee center fell under a hail of lead and plasma. Behind the refugee center, a similar scene was unfolding.
"Aw shit!" Screamed someone on the roof, "Man the rifles! That's fucking power armor! Jesus, get-" The unfortunate man, a kid really, did a jig as the roof about him was raked with bullets. Another of the lookouts collapsed as the top half of his head simply vanished. A girl in military colors stumbled and twisted, a searing bolt of bright red burning a hole in her side. There as a loud "thump" followed by a dull explosion as something explosive hit the center. A sniper somewhere in the car garden squeezed the trigger of his rifle, sending an elderly soldier tumbling lifeless from his position at the side of the rifle he'd managed to load but not fire. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "Alright, nobody move!" Cried a man in the corner of the Cafeteria. Catnip had barely noticed him before, him and his two fellows wrapped in blankets to disguise their uniforms. The speaker gestured with his gun, a small automatic weapon that reminded Catnip of a toy pistol. "In the name of Bishop Casdin and his holiness Archbishop Astor, Gods Army is taking this installation. Freaks step forward, the rest of you demon lovers can take your fucking seats and wait around for Bishop Casdin to finish mopping up the resistance.."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 18, 2017, 12:26:16 pm
Nathaniel had by now been lost in thought for a moment. He tried to push some things out of his mind. A momentary thought of six years ago. The undead, the rogue UAFVs, the rattling of gunfire.
Gunfire. And explosions. Distant in a city infested with the damned, and innocents who had no idea what their "rescuers" had planned, as they approached the sounds coming from the west. No. Wait a minute. Something made him snap out of his daydreaming. They'd approached the city from the west, so the sounds would've been to their east. That faint sound of battle wasn't just a bad memory.
He rushed over to the forge, yelling out. "Hector? Hector, did you hear that?" The knight had just about finished up with the hole in his mail, looking back. "What is it?" he asked. "Something out west, direction of the center. Come on." he said.
The two rushed to the tank, Nathaniel getting in the commander's seat and flicking a switch on its radio set. "Tomcat 1 t-" He stopped himself. Not the old unit, not the old M701A1. "Scratch that. Siege Tower to center, are you reading me?"
Hector hadn't bothered to wait for any response over the radio, he was already starting up the tank. He hadn't heard the gunfire clearly enough when he was in the workshop, but on the way to the tank, the distant boom of a mortar was overheard in the distance, clear even to him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 18, 2017, 01:13:04 pm
Floyd is sitting at his desk in him room, reloading more .454 casull for his bull until the loud mortar explosion is heard. He runs out of his room before scooping up the completed rounds, hand on his hat. "y'all need a plus one t' lend a hand? Hopefully my creaky knees won't give us away."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 18, 2017, 01:19:38 pm
Hector looked back and gave a nod, regarding Floyd following them out. "Definitely expecting trouble, so yes." he said, having led the way to the tank while Nathaniel was on the radio. A thought came to Nathaniel meanwhile as he got on the radio. The SLS had driven out in that direction a while ago. "Alright then, load AP while Hector gets h er started up."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 18, 2017, 01:22:57 pm
Drifter had told Alice to stay at the farm as he made his way to the tank and said "I'll go with y'all. Better to have more of us there in case it's a bigger fight than we thought."
Roland had also approached though he said "I'll stay here in case this is some kind of ploy to get us away from the Farm. Not a good idea to leave the place undefended."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 18, 2017, 01:28:47 pm
"I said, freaks step forward." Demanded the crusader, "That means muties and cyborgs. Now step the fuck forward or we start executing you heathens one at a time here and now." No one moved. Not anyone that anybody noticed. "Alright, fine. Have it your way." The crusaders pistol played a single staccato shot and a woman collapsed, someone in the room screamed and tried to flee. Another of the crusaders raked the ceiling with his own automatic pistol and shouted "NOBODY MOVE GODDAMMIT!" Catnip saw from the corner of her eye, Khaki inching her hand towards the revolver on her belt and she became aware of other people in the room carefully doing the same. "Now that you all know I'm serious, I want-" Kathrine stepped forward and interrupted with a sound, she looked angry and frightened, like she wanted to have a few choice words with the men with the guns. Catnip tried to pull her back, but something pushed her aside. "Oh! We have a volunteer!" Cried the crusader, "They corrupt em younger and younger these days don't they? Look at that tail though, I bet my wife would love a coat trimmed in that." He waggled his gun at Kathrine, and her bluster was suddenly gone, so was the crusaders joshing manner. "Volunteer huh?" He leveled his pistol at her, but as soon as he had, he found that he wasn't pointing his gun at the chit with the luxurious tail. That little number had been forcefully shoved into the arms of some freak that looked like a rat, and some monster had taken it's place. He brought up one arm to fend it off, but the arm vanished into a mouth that opened too wide and contained far too many teeth, scything the arm off and hosing the front of the monsters green blouse with arterial spray. It was screaming at him, even with a mouth full of his own arm, it was screaming at him. He shot it, three bullets in rapid succession, *pap pap pap* but it's wicked hands dove for his belly and came out with something purplish and about a yard of assorted sweet meat. "Where the hell is my backup?" He thought, looking at his own guts. He felt the gun whipped from his hand, felt dully the gun making contact with the side of his head, didn't feel at all when it was brought down again into the splintered remains of his face. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The other two didn't have time to react. As soon as Mica made her move, the center's chef dispatched one of the remaining crusaders with the cleaver he'd been working with when the attack began, and the others neck was broken after his face made contact with a chair wielded by a woman whose metallic arms looked like they could bench press a truck.
"Ok, that's good work." Said Khaki, arresting control of the situation, "You, you and you, come with me. We've gotta get to the radio room and send for help. We trained for this eventuality people, get moving. Dervish, take The rest of these people down to the basement and get them out of her through the sewer." She looked Mica up and down, and then said "You go with them, take Kathrine. I can't be sure these bastards aren't in the basement, and we need our guards to fight whatever the hell is out there." Kathrine began to protest, but Catnip took her by the shoulders. "Go Kat, I'll catch up later!" She said, but Kathrine tried to grab her, tried to cling to her. It was Mica who intervened. "Morsel come with My-ka, whether morsel like it or not. Kat-nyp can't be strongest if she gotta worry about morsel." Another explosion rocked the refugee center, sending scurls of concrete dust drifting down from the ceiling. Catnip hugged Kathrine tight, and released her, then took Mica by the head. She pressed her own forehead against Mica's in the way they'd done when they were children in the lab. "Protect her with your life Mica," Catnip said, then whispered too low for Kathrine to hear, "If something happens to me, you protect her with your life." Mica nodded somberly. Before long, all who remained in the cafe were Dee, Catnip, and a collection of volunteers and guards. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Fzzt* "Tomcat 1 t- Scratch that. Siege Tower to center, are you reading me?" *Silence* "Uh, Siege Tower to center, I repeat-" "Yeah, we're alright. What's up?" "Lots of noise coming from your neck of the woods, are you guys alright?" "Uh, yeah. Just uh, found some new stuff. Trying it out. Why don't you guys come on over, who is this?" "..." "Hello? Siege Tower?" "Center, where's communications officer Crow?" "Uh... He's out." "Out?" "Yeah, he's uh... takin' a leak. Listen, why don't you-" *The sound of a door being broken down, and sudden gunfire fire close to the radio can be heard* "Bastards! Doc, check Crow. Hello? This is Khaki Jones to Hector Lowe. Khaki Jones to Hector Lowe." "This is Nathaniel Khaki, what's going on?" "Thank fuck! Gods army is hitting us hard, infiltrated the center. We've got hostiles inside and out. How far out are you? Can I get an ETA?" "We just set out Khaki, should take us fifteen to twenty." "Shit. I don't think we can last that long, can you make it ten?" "I can try." *In the background, a man can be heard moaning.* "You better do more than try or our asses are fried." "Yes ma'am. How many hostiles do you think you've got outside?" "Don't know. One Bishop at least, bunch of guys in powe-" *There is a muffled explosion somewhere, and the radio goes silent.* "Center? Center this is Siege Tower, what's going on? Center?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 18, 2017, 01:38:26 pm
Nathaniel knew now they needed to hurry as the radio chatter went back and forth, confirming his suspicions. They let Drifter in as well before the rear hatch slammed shut, the tank whirring to life as he addressed the crew. "Fucking hell. Alright we have choir boys on the center, confirmed bishop, possible exo-troopers and artillery. Driver, double-time it. Gunner, I want to see if you can put an AP shell through an exo's chest." he added, addressed to Floyd.
Hector nodded at that, the brief moment when Nathaniel misreported their tank's name worrying him, but he brushed it off. He remembered from their occasional talks about how Nathaniel remembered Hector that "Tomcat 1" was what they'd unofficially named the light tank Nathaniel used to crew, some humorous attempt at a feline theme for the actual tanks proper.
As the knight flicked the second of four switches on his control panel, the quiet hum of an electric engine was drowned out by the roar of the remaining diesel part of the engine array, speeding along considerably faster as both engines worked in tandem.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 18, 2017, 02:13:38 pm
Dee aimed the rifle handed to him and fired. To his dismay, the bullet was mashed meaninglessly against the armor of the figure he'd aimed at and bounded off looking like a deformed coin. "That stuff is strong as hell." He commented. It was lucky that he'd lowered the rifle, for at the moment he uttered the last word, the scope suddenly exploded as a snipers bullet hit it. "Jesus fucking fuck!" he shouted, dropping the rifle. Catnip jumped, "Are you alright? What was that!?" Dee shook his head and peeked out. "There's a sniper out there somewhere, covering these fuckers in the armor is my guess." The power armor was advancing slowly on the refugee center. At the slightest sign of life, one or more of them would let loose a long volley of energy or bullets. "Phil said these fucks were gonna trade bullets for meat, what do you think of that Nip?" Catnip nodded, seeing the irony in the proposed offer. "They're trading bullets alright." She commented. Each of the suit was armed with some heavy weapon, and a belt of ammo feeding into a dispenser on the back. Catnip figured that each one could carry hundreds of rounds in those packs, the ones that weren't armed with a plasma caster, lightning gun, or flamethrower that was. Catnip peeked over the window sill and thought she saw something on top of a broken down van on the opposite side of the road. The familiar flicker of an imperfectly cloaked form. "Dee." She whispered, "I think I see the sniper. Do you think you can get to the roof? Can you work the rifles Khaki mentioned?" Dee thought about it, then nodded. If it's anything like firing the mounted gun on Hectors tank, I think so." Catnip shook her head and quickly went over it with him. A woman at a nearby window broke cover to move to their position but was cut down under a barrage of gunfire. "Ok, get to the roof and see if you can fire it. Remember, one of them won't close all the way." Catnip took another peek, and then ducked down to avoid being shot. "Dee." She said, "I'm going for the sniper." _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dervish ushered refugees into the tunnel beyond the small room that houses the refugee centers power control center. "Alright, I think that's everyone. Mica? Kathrine?" Mica was listening just outside the door, she was thinking. Khaki was right, the center was full of enemies. Small groups here and there, but they were dangerous none the less. Some of them had followed the fleeing people into the labyrinthine tunnels beneath the refugee center, and Mica believed if they weren't stopped here they would catch up with the fleeing people. "Ms. Mica, you're hurt." Said Kathrine, carefully prying Mica's hand away from the trio of wounds in her side. Mica grinned to herself, she knew the morsel didn't want to touch Mica, didn't want Mica to touch Kathrine either. It took a lot of courage just to do what Kathrine was doing. Mica liked that. "Bah," Mica said, picking one of the small caliber slugs out of her leathery hide and flicking it away, "My-ka hurt worse before." A thick black fluid flowed slowly from one of the holes, the bullet having pierced a softer place on Mica's underbelly. She could feel the bullet lodged against the underside of one of the chitin plates lining her back and knew that it probably wasn't going to be coming out. The other bullet had gone in near the old scar on her left leg, but had grazed the carapace on her hip first. That one would come out easily enough. She didn't mind, and idea had come to her. "Can med-cine man make base-ment dark from here?" She asked, Dervish told her he could and she continued, "Then med-cine man make base-ment dark an take morsel. My-ka have work to do." She was thinking of an event in her life, shortly after she'd escaped the lab. Mica had discovered a three story office tower that was home to a group of survivors. Under cover of dark, she'd hidden and terrorized them, killing each one by one until they had all been consumed. The survivors had felt like the characters in a real life horror movie, and Mica had never felt more alive. Dervish opened a fuse panel and flipped a few switches. The lights in the basement suddenly clicked off, and except for her good eyes, Mica vanished into the oppressive black.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 18, 2017, 02:28:38 pm
The tank was straining, pushing at full speed across dirt and stone, along the path they'd carved through the wetlands and made infill for, the open ground still not ideal. Hector found himself wishing he'd retained the old engine array minus the one crippled piece he tore out, before The Shifting. He glanced over at the fuel gauge, knowing why he took it out. As it was there was enough fuel to handle a prolonged trip over several days, alternating between solar-electric and diesel, or a day of pushing both engines to their limit. As they started to clear the fields, he reported into the headset as they started to spot the roads and forests in the distance. "ETA is five minutes." Total of 12 minutes, he thought. Not that far off what they said they'd try for.
Nathaniel meanwhile ducked back in from his position looking out of the hatch, flicking a switch as the camera displays switched to thermal. "Watch for snipers and artillery crew, especially in the treeline. Sounded light." he said, if anyone was likely to guess what the artillery had been, it'd be Floyd.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 18, 2017, 03:19:13 pm
Floyd listens to the Mortar shots, "Insurgents have what sounds like an M2-Twenty four mortar. Southwest of the center. We'll need someone to disable the mortar nests." Floyd states
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 18, 2017, 04:21:26 pm
Roxanne had been trough a lot this few days after the mission to kill the beast. She had to have many of her prized bionics removed, she acted really weird in front of Hector and then had that out of body experience with Victor. She decided she needed a change of pace.
First order of business was to determine her load out. In her room, she put on the leather outfit she fashioned to go on future scavenging runs. With her bionic armor gone, she needed a durable outfit to serve as passible armor but she still wanted it to be fashionable. She decided to just get a leather version of her current outfit; with a few deviations. Leather trench coat with a leather corset underneath; leather skirt, stockings and combat boots to match. Now she would take this outfit for a test will going to the armory; she needed to do a trade in. As she exited the room, she neglected to bring her laser sniper. It was too heavy to carry around all the time and why would she do so now? She wouldn’t need it around the farm.
Once in the armory, Roxanne took out the revolver she had been carrying for years, a RM99. The thing was a 5 shot 8X40mm revolver; considered overkill to some, she never really used it herself. She gave it a last look, unloaded the ammo and place each respective component in its place. Then, she picked up a weapon only she had any real interest in; a V29 laser pistol. Semi automatic energy weapon, perfect for her style; compact, reliable, modern, accurate and recoilless. She wondered why no one else bothered with laser weaponry; they had enough of them around and UPS models were also readily available. She herself had a disdain for ballistic small arms and wondered why everyone chose them over laser weapons. She shrugged the thought and connected her power supply to the weapon, aimed at a safe direction and pulled the trigger.
*p-taff* was the sound she heard as the laser shot left the pistol. She looked at it confused, for a moment she thought it was a malfunction as it wasn’t supposed to make that noise.
*ratatatatata* sound followed suit. Roxanne quickly connected the dots and realized what was going on. She looked at the direction of where the shouts sounded from. Her faze went pale and she quickly holstered the laser pistol. She quickly rushed for her APC.
Victor was working on the final batch of white potions. There was an idea he wanted to test but that would have to wait for later. For now he planned to spend the rest of the day reading on the effects of the potion and making sure his math was right. The muffled shots of the conflict outside and to the west did not register to him due to the sound spell. He was oblivious to what was going on but soon enough he would be privy of it.
“Victor, there is something you might want to know.”, Randael told Victor as he manifested in his room, “There is conflict going on nearby and Roxanne is heading towards it...I thought I would let you know…” Victor was confused but took the spirits word for it. Roxanne’s aura hadn’t changed but he sensed a small disturbance in it, something had awakened in her and it worried him. Without another moment’s haste, he grabbed his sword and stepped outside.
*pofffft* *whaam* were the sound that greeted Victor as he stepped outside. He momentarily hesitated as muffled gun fire filled the atmosphere. “Damn it Roxanne, what are you getting yourself into?!”, Victor said to himself. He went to the one place he knew she would head if Randael was to be trusted, her APC.
Roxanne had reached the APC and was surprised by the sight ahead of her.. “About time. Let’s roll. Care to give this cyborg a ride?”, was all she heard for Donnovan; he was leaning on the entrance of the APC. He was armed of course, HK416 slung back on a 3 point harness. Roxanne gave him a look of determination and simply nodded. Donnovan responded with a smile and let himself into the APC. Roxanne was about to board herself when Victor called out to her. “Roxanne! Wait! I am coming too!”, Victor pleaded with Roxanne. “Why?! Why should I let you come?! You will only slow me down!”, shouted Roxanne back. Her tone and attitude were different than she usually was but Victor payed no mind; he had already seen as much in her aura.
Victor looked at Roxanne straight in the eyes and quickly unsheathed his blade from his back scabbard; he activated the demonic sword and without flinching responded, “I am not losing you again. Not like this damn it! This time I will make sure it goes like it should! You and I both will make it out alive you hear me!” Roxanne simply looked at him, she just looked. Victor stood there as the blade stole his live essence but he showed no signs of giving in. After a few moments of this, Roxanne turned to enter the APC, she then turned her head to Victor and said, “Alright then, do what you have to do.”
Victor was driving the APC trailing behind the seige tower; they were considerably behind them so she wasn’t sure if they knew they were trailing them. Roxanne told him as much while she check the status of it with her bionic remote control system. All weapons systems were offline as well as the radio, they was nothing more than a rolling bunker now. She would have to rely in her bionics and weapons like she always did; not all of them were with her like all those times before but she still had the classics. Yes, the classics, her bionic sword, the CQB bionic, the cloaking system, and the new time dilation. And how could she forget her weapons! The new acquired laser pistol and her ever trusted laser rif- wait...she had forgotten her laser rifle in her haste! “God fucking damn it all!”, Roxanne shouted, startling Donovan and Victor the latter maintained his focus on the path ahead. “I forgot the damn rifle...No matter, we will continue!”, Roxanne shouted again. She took out her laser pistol and held it close to her; she connected it to her power supply and step on Victor’s side. “This is bad Victor...really bad...And so close to home. We have to do something. This cannot stand!”, Roxanne commented, at first clam but then loud and abrasive. The sounds of gunfire now clear as day now; they betrayed the severity of the situation.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 18, 2017, 04:30:13 pm
Drifter chambered a round into his 50 cal pistol and tucked it into it's holster before grabbing his camo netting and saying "Let me off and I'll go kill those mortar crews."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 18, 2017, 04:34:00 pm
Hector nodded at that, looking back at the camera display to see the APC trailing behind, catching up fast. "Roxanne's behind us, no radio contact. Systems might still be damaged. We should take south and hunt down the mortars, dunno if we can get them to take north." he said, unsure what weapons they even had available. For now they pressed towards the road, making a momentary stop in the closest available cover a short distance away, to let Drifter out. The better to not have to make a major detour. "Alright then, now..."
Nathaniel saw the figures on the cameras once they'd turned back towards the refugee center. "We have visual contact. We got exo-troopers, stick with .50 and 120mm. Floyd, let's see if you can put a round straight through an exo's chest, targets are on display. Fire at will." he directed.
Nathaniel found himself going down memory lane again as he examined the thermal image, seeing the heat signatures. He remembered 3 power-armored soldiers, from an advanced APC transporting 6, confidently striding out of burning wreckage. Their heat signatures had been so bright, but within seconds they cooled to just barely above the ambient temperature. Not only had the climate control systems kept the fiery heat away from the wearer, it vented the heat from the metal and composite plating, to avoid damaging vital components.
This time he didn't let the thoughts distract him though. In fact it made him realize something. Those bastards were lit up like christmas eve. More than just the uncomfortable heat of leaving the armor deactivated, the heat of power cells and servos radiated with an intensity that would've been agonizing to the wearer. "They're running without climate control up, they should be baking in their armor..." he thought aloud.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 18, 2017, 04:40:16 pm
Drifter hopped out of the tank and started strapping on his camo netting before heading out. Pulling the Mosin off his back he started making his way towards where Floyd said the mortar crews had been firing from. He didn't know how far he'd be traveling until he caught sight of them but he kept a fast pace as he moved. Need to get these things down before they get word of the incoming reinforcements and start shelling the tank.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 18, 2017, 07:28:03 pm
Kathrine had only just started to realise everything that was happening. It had came to her slowly, and she had to piece it together in her head, but the realisation was definitely audible. And if not for the darkness, it would be visible, too. These were the mean people that Mister Hector had told her about, the ones that wanted to take her and Mistress away and do bad things to them, the ones that hurt Mica when she was still a meanie for no reason. This was God's Army. Mica disembowelling the man with the gun had barely registered over the fact that he was about to shoot her, and she tried to remember what he was saying past the ringing in her ears. "I'm... I'm not young... I'm thirty ye- years old, f-four months, two w-" She trails off with a gagging sound as she finally got up to Mica dealing with the man. She'd have to tell Mica off about it later, when they were back on the farm and safe and cleaned up. Then Khaki had told Kathrine and Miss Mica and Mister Dervish to go into the basement, and Catnip hadn't followed them, and... Kathrine turned to look at where Dervish had been stood, her slitted eyes just barely visible in the remaining ambient light. "Mister Dervish, is... Is Cat-Catnip gonna...D-die?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 18, 2017, 10:32:41 pm
Catnip seriously wished she'd brought her cloak. Even if it had been all she brought, she wished she'd brought it. Catnip swore and wished even harder as a heavy round passed through the passenger door of the car she'd taken refuge behind, and a line of bullets puffed up little clouds of dust at her feet. This had been a terrible idea, but Dee likely wouldn't get the chance to fire off a single shot on the recoilless rifles if she didn't take down that sniper. A bolt of lightning sizzled the air over her head, making her hair stand on end, and she broke cover. Bullets and lasers grooved the air around her as she ran from cover to cover. One of the first things she noticed upon leaping through the window and lunging for a nearby bus, was that the figures had set the cart of chickens on fire, and at least one of them had taken to emptying several hundred bullets into the SLS. Catnip got halfway across the road before the vehicle she and Dee had worked so hard to restore simply exploded into a massive fireball, engulfing the already charred chicken charcoal laden cart. "I was looking forward to eating those." She growled to herself before diving into the car garden and out of the line of fire. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A bullet passed inches from Dee's head and he had to duck back down into the stairwell. "C'mon Catnip, I know you can do it, c'mon..." He'd gotten a good look at the situation when he'd emerged onto the roof. The refugee center was surrounded, and the roof was a killing field. Soon, he'd have to get out there and get to the rifles, but as he thought about it he thought that maybe his fate was a forgone conclusion on this one. "Never got to finish Medeina." He lamented, "That sucks." He waited, and to his surprise, he saw a familiar flare go up to the north. "Fuck yes... The cavalry has arrived." He once again emerged out onto the roof, ready to meet whatever fate awaited him. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Catnip watched the van carefully until she saw the telltale flicker, and then she moved. Hissing quietly, she reached down and whipped away the camouflage, some kind of cloak inferior to her own, and beheld the creature. Not a man, but it had once been. The desperately withered thing was the sort of creature that had filled the world, though Catnip couldn't imagine the world without them. Catnip grabbed it's should and rolled it over, the things eyes had been replaced with a set of telescopic eyes, hooked into it's rifles scope via a cable. She hissed at it, and it hissed back before Catnips knife was driven to the hilt in it's chest. Normally, these things died when Catnip did that. This one simply punched her in the nose and tried to hit her with it's rifle. "What-" She cried, trying to pull out her blade before being interrupted by the undeads right hook. In her growing agitation, she didn't notice the flare go up to the north east. She stomped on the creatures face, ruining it's bionic eyes. She snatched the rifle and used it as a bludgeon, breaking it across the top of the monsters head. She was interrupted by machine gun fire, forcing her to roll off the top of the van taking nothing but knife and the stolen cloak with her. Getting back to the center would be easier this time. Easier that was, unless the armor advancing on her had heat sensors. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The bishop drew a slender wooden rod, delicate and thin, from the arm of one robe. In a previous life, he'd been a man of science. In his current one, he was still a man of pragmatism and reason. Now though, it was tinged with wonder at the things his new "colleagues" did. The wand was a special gift from Archbishop Astor personally, given to one of the few of his Bishops who didn't have a history of experience with the arcane. Very soon, the special weapons he'd brought to bare against the refugee center would be filing through the front door and putting an end to this ridiculous exchange. Casdin has never had that kind of patience though. With a hard shot of his boot, the already severely weakened door was kicked inward and Casdin brought the wand into play. With a thought, an arc of white light blasted a guard who charged him with a machete, leaving nothing but a pile of clothes behind. He gave a half turn and a flick of the wand and another person vanished from their clothes. "Come one, come all!" He shouted, "For the magicians next trick, I'll make you all disappear!" A gun was pointed at him, the wand made the potential shooter drop both rifle and clothes. Coins and spare bullets scattered across the floor in an almost musical shower from that ones pockets. Casdin wasn't interested in the defenders, he was more interested in catching up with what he'd brought so much ammo to trade for. He had forces inside the center already, if they were doing their job then the refugees would have fled to the sewer where the engineers of Gods Army had been busy sealing off the only escapes from the maze of tunnels. It was going to be a good day.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 18, 2017, 10:39:04 pm
Floyd calmly adjusted his aim, systems helping correct for the tank's movements, making it easy to aim up with one of the armored men, a loud boom resounding as a shell tore through the power armor effortlessly, casting off flames both from depleted uranium filling the air, and from an important part of the power supply system being breached. "Target down." he said simply.
Nathaniel meanwhile had opened up the M2 on the next target in side, .50 caliber rounds tearing into the armored plating, even though it lost a lot of momentum in doing so he suspected no one would simply shrug off. The figure seemed utterly unfazed by bullets ripping into it, only to turn to face the tank. "Target hit, still up!" Nathaniel shouted, delivering another burst. The response had shocked Hector just as much, power armor wasn't in widespread use back when he was in the service, but he knew enough about its capabilities. He knew of no power armor that could withstand that much punishment, even someone in heavy power armor would be feeling it.
Another bark of shots hit something vital, striking important cells and causing a plume of flame. Unlike the other struck by the main gun, this one's armor blew open from only the force of vital complainants being breached. There was so little left of the first enemy that he hadn't seen what he saw now. A mishmash of electronics jammed in every available space, parts likely even stripped out for more room, as the apparent lack of climate control suggested. Whatever he hit, it finally caused the man...no, machine to topple over.
"Target unmanned do-wait. They're unmanned." Nathaniel said, saying it with the same ease as he did when facing rogue drones back in the day, before things went downhill. He caught himself and realized what he just put down was utterly unlike any robot he'd encountered before. "Shit! They've got unmanned infantry, how is that even possible? H-" he practically shouted over the radio, Hector interrupting. "Come on Nate, keep it together." he said. "Looked like dead-center of chest, maybe the back where the armor's PSU is. We need to tell Roxanne what they're up against..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 18, 2017, 11:26:50 pm
The APC had followed the Siege Tower for a bit now. Roxanne watched as it fired its main gun, the tank in the way to let her see the result. She then saw as the M2 fired as well; only the sound of bullet against metal gave away what was happening as the tank also blocked the target’s view. Roxane simply clenched her teeth in anger.
Victor had no idea what was up with Roxanne. He no longer had the luxury of his aura spell as he had left the farm; it would take too much effort to set up a new one and the benefit didn’t seem worth it. Victor eventually brought the APC to a spot a dozen yards away behind the Siege Tower. Roxanne wasted no time and exited the APC in a haste, pistol in hand.
Roxanne marched forward and Victor followed her using whatever he had as cover. Staying in the APC was useless; the fight was over there and it had no weapon’s system. If they needed to fall back, however, it would make a good shelter. Victor simply surveyed the area; sword of the void or not, a he was not a man of action. If he rushed in, he would definitely die. Roxanne did no such thing, she reached the front of the tank and fired her laser pistol while screaming. The repeated shots did little more than to irritate the walking armored soldier; this didn’t keep Roxanne from firing more. She tried to fire at it from all different angles; its neck, its head, centermass, the feet but nothing worked. The panic of this set in and Roxanne snapped out of her rage induced bravado and retreaded to the back of the tank for cover, where Victor waited, using activating her cloak cbm to aid her escape. As soon as she did, the M2 started to rip this one as well and it soon joined the fate of the previous one,
One enemy in and Roxanne knew she was outmatched. She soon uncloaked next to Victor trying to catch her breath. “They are too thought...I am no match…”, she said to Victor in between breaths. Victor tough the same, his issue was not weaponry, it was skill in the battlefield, and iron will to fight...all things he lack but Roxanne had. Wait...all things Roxanne had… Victor looked at Roxanne, then at his blade he had unsheathed when he reached cover, and finally at one of the white potions he kept in a hips flask.
“Roxanne...You want to kill those things right? You and I both know I am not going to be able to join you here and you need an upgrade...I have a proposal…”, Victor told Roxanne.
“What? Upgrade? What are you talking about Victor?”, Roxanne asked confused. Victor did not respond, he simply looked at her and then...offered her his sword. “If you really want it, it will work. Believe in yourself, cast all doubt...and give in to your instincts. Go forth Cleanser and do your duty! Your mark is out there, go find it and finish the job!”
Roxanne looked at Victor; she was dumbfounded at his statements. Despite this, they did not fail to rekindle her passion. She looked at him and then the blade, it was as dark as the night...and it called her name. “Just have to want it huh?...”, Roxanne asked rhetorically. She grabbed the blade and heard the main gun fire once more. “Here, drink this. It will help you out there.”, Victor told Roxanne as he handed her the hip flask with the white potion. Roxanne took it and drank it all. She threw the flask on the ground as a sharp pain engulfed her which only fueled her anger and will. She stepped forwards towards the battlefield once more walking on the side of the tank.
3 step: she activated her bionic force field.
5 steps: she activated her cqb bionic.
7 steps: she activated her adrenaline bionic.
10 steps: she could see the action as she stood in front of the tank once more. She held the blade in the way Hector had shown her and it came to life. She was engulfed with a primordial rage that clouded her judgment. She was filled with the energy of ten men and the will of one-hundred. Her life energy was drawn away from her as the sword harvested the vert air around it. Roxanne pointed the sword at arms length towards 2 of the armored men.
“My name is Roxanne Luna...no, Roxanne Blackmore and I have come to cleanse this land...in the name of the Shadows of Arcana all impurities shall be taken care off. You who dare get in my way, prepare to die!”
At the end of her remarks, Roxanne charged forward with sword in hand. The aura of entropy surrounding her she approached the armored soldiers. They had seen her, their weapons were trained on her.
*ratatatatat* *zzzzztttttzzzzz* *cling* *booom*
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 18, 2017, 11:57:58 pm
"Fucking fuck!" Dee shouted, throwing his arms up in front of his face as bullets stitchs a line across the corrugated metal he'd taken cover behind. He felt something tug at the back of his hoodie and he bolted for the rifle. He flinched at the sound of the siege towers main gun and the sensation of concrete flecks hitting his face. He could probably get the chamber closed, but the thing would need a serious tooling to get it to fire again if he did. He had to make the shot count. He peeked out over the battle field, looking for a good target, and he saw it. The transport. A few of the suits had returned to it and had hooked themselves to what Dee assumed was some kind of powered rail. "Of course." He thought, "The armor can't have much of a battery life. It's gotta recharge." He looked over the transport more carefully and saw what he was looking for, a vent that occasionally jettisoned a spurt of steam. It was atomic, just like Catnips train. He could make the shot count, firing the recoilless would be like firing a normal mounted rifle. He just had to remember not to stand behind it.
He rose and sprinted, zigzagging his way around the bodies and the bullets, trying to make himself a difficult target. The rifle was in reach and loaded, he just had to get into position. Dee attempted a baseball slide that only resulted in him rolling into the rifle, threatening to topple it off the roof. "Oh no you don't!" he cried, catching it and setting it to rights. The armor below had shifted focus onto the siege tower bearing down on them, another mortar shell slammed into the opposite side of the center, and Dee took aim. It was the broken rifle alright, anything could happen if it malfunctioned. He saw Catnip in the car garden beyond before she flickered out of sight, and another figure writhing on top of a van. "Good work Nip." He thought, lining up the rifles sight with a flat space just beneath the transports vent. Dee licked his lips, flicked back the trigger cover, and fired.
The explosion was rather underwhelming. The recoilless rifles back end flew off and would never been seen again. The steel slug on the other hand, traveled straight and true, punching into the armor of the transport with the ease of a needle through fabric. There came a low boom, and a gout of flame erupted from the vent, blowing the cover off entirely. A split second of electricity arced through the armor standing in it's recharging bay, frying them with electrical feedback. "YES!" Dee shouted, jumping to his feet and raising his fists in the air out of triumph.
That was a mistake, and he realized it too late. Not all the armor was as focused on the newcomers as he thought, one of the closer armored individuals turned it's machine gun on him, raking the roof. Dee felt himself being pulled in several directions, most of them backwards away from the edge of the centers roof. He staggered. "Oh." Dee said aloud to no one in particular, "Oh." He looked down at himself, at the roses blooming on his clothes. "Oh." He said as he collapsed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 19, 2017, 12:08:47 am
Hector's words momentary snapped him out of his panic. The sound of weapons fire, dangerously close to them, solidified that reaction, only to realize they had Roxanne and Victor visible in their camera displays. "Shit..." he said quietly, popping up out of the hatch and dumping .50 caliber rounds into the figure that laser fire merely heated the armor of. "Roxanne! Victor! They're fucking robots under that armor, focus on the PSU in the back!" he shouted. By then Roxanne had always stormed off. The result was stunning, seeing her charge forward with ease, seeming to avoid their fire either by precise movements or sheer blind luck. The camera display seemed to show a faint heat given off by the blade, the only hint that something strange was at work.
He continued to press the assault, Floyd using their tank rounds liberally to take out any targets that Roxanne wasn't busy tearing into, while Nathaniel had nod emptied a belt in the process of putting down another two of the machines. As he reloaded he heard the shot from above them, something going up in flames not far from them. He saw the source, Dee on the roof. Fuck, get down you idiot! he thought, weapons fire prompting a shocked yelp from the tank commander at what he saw.
"Dee's down." was the response from Nathaniel, and to his shock the tank jolted to life again, slamming into a nearby figure in power armor, flames spewing and spitting from breached cells as its body deformed under the treads, ground into the pavement. Hector didn't say a word, neither did Floyd. The aggression with which the tank now drove on, having to actually catch up and work around Roxanne, and the thunderous sound of the main gun, hammering armored figures again and again with no concern for how few shells they had to go around, was the only answer the two gave. Cover Roxanne and Victor, purge the machines, mop up any human crusaders left over, and let her get in to clear the building, Hector thought.
The thoughts of what he was going to do to their bishop, if Roxanne wasn't merciful in killing him immediately, only further encouraged him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 19, 2017, 12:38:05 am
Mica waited. Somewhere in the dark, blue men were moving. Searching. Searching for scarelings and for Mica. They fancied themselves hunters, but the real hunter was Mica. She was back in the office tower, reliving the experiance. This time though, the hunger was gone. Then she had simply been "the eater" or as one memorable victim called her, "daughter of famine." Sometimes they called her "the maw" or "the hunting horror." They had so many titles for Mica, and Mica had never had ears for them. Despite that, she still remembered quiet a few. Remembered how each new one would upset Damien and Lindsey too. "Be good girl My-ka, Don't eat pee-pol My-ka." She mumbled to herself, waiting for a tug on her line. She was deeply grateful to the farm for taking her hunger away. When she had fed on the people of the office tower, she'd done so as a ravenous beast with not a care for stealth or planning. Now, Mica understood the merits of these things. She understood that it was what she was made for. Her power wasn't in strength of arm or even speed, but in stealth and perhaps cunning. If she could muster cunning that was. She giggled a little, thinking that maybe what she was doing now qualified. The line in her hand twitched as something stepped on the edge of the loop she had tied at the far end. When the more subtle twitch came, she pulled hard and began to reel in the heavy catch. "Fish in pool!" She mumbled eagerly, another of the little nonsense lyrics that Dee had taught her, the ones that made him laugh. "Nice and cool!" Her good eyes caught sight of it, it's form clearly discernable in the dark. It had a gun, but suddenly lost hold of it. It's fellows were following after, trying to catch up. She had to be quick. She looped the cord over a pipe in the ceiling just as her catch reached her and gave it a hard pull, tying it off on another pipe, suspending it in the air by it's ankle. "So juicy sweet!" She sang out loud, knocking the crusaders helmet aside and setting to her grizzly work.
Crusador Talbot cursed when Private Kustersons screaming suddenly ceased. It didn't take them long to find him. Despite only being a good thirty paces behind him, Talbot and Marque arrived too late. They found Kustersons body strung up, still in the midst of his death throes, and with what was left of his brains bulging obscenely from the place where a section of his skull had been neatly removed. Marque vomitted, Talbot didn't blame him. "First Creese and then Paulson, now Kusterson. Shit." Said Talbot.
"Jesus man, what happened to his helmet?" Asked Marque when he'd regained a little of his composure. "Fuck his helmet, what the fuck happened to the back of his head!" Shot talbot. Somewhere in the dark, they heard something tittering at them.
"We need to get out of here..."
"Damn straight Marque, lets- Marque?"
The private known as Marque was gone though. Talbot had felt him go with that innate sense that tells you when you aren't alone. He'd been there, and then he was just gone. As if some silent thing had just grabbed him and pulled him into the floor. Or the ceiling. He looked up with his flashlight, and sure enough, there was an open grate set into the concrete. The crusaders noted them when the lights had still been on and Creese, the smartass, had commented about how shit it was if they ended up in the dark with something like that old alien movie. Talbot moved away from the vent, his gun at the ready. Something came flying out of the dark at him, it looked like Kustersons helmet, and hit him hard on the chest. There was a cracking sound, and his light went out. "FUCK!" He shouted, and fired into the dark. For a moment, in the light of his muzzle flash, he saw it. Some kind of woman. A woman with four arms and a pair of legs that would have been bitchin' if they hadn't been clad in some kind of armor. He thought he had some kind of grotesque deformation on the side of her face too, but that could have been his imagination. He wanted to keep firing, but just then his gun jammed. "FUCK! FUCK!" He wasn't just shouting, but screaming now, scrambling to clear the breach of his rifle. The silence that followed, was deafening. Talbot could feel the urge to run, felt sweat beading on his forehead, felt like his eyes were bulging out of his skull. He suddenly wanted light, any kind of light, his eyes were hungry for it and he believed he would die if he didn't get any light. In a way, he was right. Something in front of him thumped, and he began firing into the dark, the flashes showing him nothing more than the collapsed body of Kusterson, and the abomination that had joined him at his side. In a single of those flashes, he saw the creatures face and realized that he hadn't been wrong about the deformity. They were eyes. His head began to turn, almost in slow motion, and the second flash came. He noted how her shapely lips had begun to part, how they began to part too far. In the third, he just how many teeth the creature had. In a space of two instants, he wondered if it would hurt.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 19, 2017, 03:42:20 pm
Drifter had managed to find and sneak up on the mortar positions. Observing them through his new scope he counted about four crews, three men each, and a few others there for security. Power armor was gonna be a bitch to deal with but he'd figure something out.
Smiling faintly he watched as a member of one of the crews reached into a box full of shells. The dull *thud* of the round going through his throat alerted the others as they began rushing for cover yelling for someone to find the shooter once they confirmed no one had sight on him. Racking the bolt of his rifle he lined up his second shot on one of the mortar crewmen and let it tear through his eyeball.
Unfortunately for him one of the men in power armor leveled his weapon towards him and fired. A hail of machine gun fire smacked into the ground around him as he ducked his head. As it stopped to try and line up a better shot Drifter stood and dove behind the nearest collection of rocks he could find for cover. He could hear some of the men shouting to flank him as he leaned out to try and acquire another target only to have another spray of machine gun fire force him back into cover.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 19, 2017, 03:55:54 pm
Nathaniel smirked a bit as the tank sped along. By now the machines were left without the support, the tank keeping mobile. By now the mortar rounds had trailed along, dangerously close, more and more with each blast. They were struggling to keep up and take out what was now the biggest threat.
The three of them had been lost in the haze of battle for a moment, when the realized that the regular impacts of the mortar crews, which at one point had struck dangerously close on their left side, no longer harried them. That last hit forced Nathaniel to button up, a clod of dirt bouncing off his helmet. If Hector hadn't been buttoned up the entire time, seeing no point in using his M249 on those machines, he would've had a lot worse than falling dirt to deal with.
"Mortar's stopped. They're either out or having fun dealing with Drifter." Nathaniel remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 19, 2017, 04:43:34 pm
The first armored soldier went down on the first slash, no hesitation or second part from Roxanne. She turned around to face the second; it in turn started to aim it’s weapon. Roxanne charged at it as it started to unload and arc of lighting her way. Miraculously, the sword acted as a lighting rod and entropy itself destroyed the electric arc; the armored soldier soon joined it as it was effortlessly cut in half.
Roxanne did not noticed the shot from the recoilless rifle explode the vehicle it targeted, she did not noticed Dee being shot down, she didn’t noticed the carnage around her from both sides; she didn’t even really know who the enemy was… "mooooore…kiiiiiill…", Roxanne said as the tank began to move forward. She soon followed on it’s right side; as the tank crushed the enemy, she sliced others open as she moved forward along with it paying no mind to the remains. It looked as if they were working together but in reality Roxanne paid the Siege Tower no mind, her sense of reason long lost to the sword induced blood lust.
Victor noticed saw as Roxanne slashed the armored men in half. He saw as she cared not for her own safety but to down the enemy. The siege tower had served as good cover to shield Roxanne from sniper fire, the armored men targeted the tank and were too slow to switch aim to Roxanne by the time she approached them with the intent to kill.
Victor was not distracted though; he saw the remains of the armored men. "Wait a minute...", Victor said upon closer inspection, "This are not men! They are machines! That means Roxanne...shit! She need to get out of there!" Victor wanted to go and drag Roxanne out of there but she would not listen to reason, even without the blade’s effect.
Then, he noticed the shot of the recoil rifle and he jumped to cover; due to this, he didn’t see Dee get shot down either. He was still worried about what the fact that she was slashing machines meant: she was not replenishing her life essance.
The siege tower had now gone away from her, no longer serving as cover. Other armored men turned their attention to Roxanne and drew their weapons. No more cover, running low on bionic power, too far away to slash them all; she was in quite the dire situation. All of the armored men fired their weapons at her and she reacted by standing still.
One moment, all the bots were focusing their fire on Roxanne; the next, they were all on the ground and a couple exploded. Roxanne was now standing a couple yards away from where she was originally standing. She was just standing there unmoving, the blade still absorbing the last remains of her life essence; eventually,the blade deactivated. Roxanne was now out of bionic power, and her life force was dangerously low. She stood there for a couple seconds before she collapsed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 19, 2017, 04:54:00 pm
Kathrine had begun sobbing already. Dervish's delayed answer made her think that the answer was yes. "M-Mister Derv-Dervish? MISTER DERVISH?" Kathrine suddenly shifts her tone in response to a gunshot from further down the tunnel. She just steadily sits down on the ground and covers her ears with her arms, screaming.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 19, 2017, 05:03:08 pm
Hector regarded the way Roxanne moved, watching her cut a swath through the machines like a scythe through wheat. He still pressed the advance as best as they could, having had to speed away so that the mortars would walk fire after them, and not endanger Roxanne or Victor with the fragmentation that sprayed death in all directions.
He saw through the camera displays, as the shelling had ceased for a moment, that Roxanne stood before a group of the remaining soldiers. One moment she stood there, and the next she was on the other side of the group, every last one of them in pieces. But when she collapsed, the tank halted. "Roxanne!" Hector shouted, clambering out of the hatch and running to her. Nathaniel was forced to scramble out of the commander's position, entering the driver's seat in case they needed to move, giving time for Victor to catch up.
The knight charged across open ground, sword in hand. He surveyed the area, in order to see whether any enemies remained in the open. All he had was his sword and an M4, and in the fighting he had no idea whether stabbing into the joints would even faze the mechanical soldiers. He simply hoped that the tank would still cover him, and keep the pressure off while he ran to Roxanne, or even better he hoped the outside had been mopped up at last.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 19, 2017, 06:13:38 pm
"C'mon Kathrine, gotta keep moving." Dervish said, grabbing Kathrine by the arm and hoisting her to her feet.
Another survivor rounded a corner, "Mr. Daverish, we have a problem!" She said.
"Oh, I've got enough of those already." Dervish growled, "What's this new one?"
"It's the exits, they've all been sealed!" She explained.
"Of course they are." Came another voice from back the way they'd come, "Can't have anybody getting away. Dr. Daverish, it's been a few years. Still playing with mutants I see." Bishop Casdin called, coming into view. "It's been fun Daverish, but this has to come to a close. I have an appointment to keep with yon farm to the east, and this refugee center would make a fine staging area." He chuckled and brandished his wand in response to Dervish drawing his own pistol. "Put it away Daverish, I can remove your existence with a thought. Give it up." Casdin's eyes widened, as did his smile, and he suddenly stepped to the side. Mica tumbled past him, regaining her footing near Kathrine. The wand barked a double spark, and the woman who'd come to warn Dervish vanished, the other bolt struck Mica. The bishops smile vanished, when Mica remained standing, if staggered by the force of the blast. "How very... Interesting." For Mica's part, the flash of light only had the effect of making her hungry, magically vanishing the viscera she'd collected in the earlier slaughter.
"Ms. Mica!" Kathrine shouted, but Mica waved her down. "My-ka ok morsel, go with med-sin man, My-ka eat silly magik man."
"Very full of yourself aren't you? My wand may not work on you, but I'm willing to bet it will work on your little 'morsel.'" Casdin leveled the wand at Kathrine and Dervish, but just then all gathered heard the familiar voice of Catnip scream "NO!" The cloak she'd stolen from the sniper slipped away as she threw herself at the bishop, tackling him to the ground, spitting, hissing, and stabbing. There was a loud snap as the wand broke between their bodies. Mica was charging, running to aid her sister, when the explosion came. A bright, tunnel filling, light engulfed the bishop and Catnip in an ear splintering blast that shook dust from the tunnel walls. Mica and Dervish covered their eyes. "MISTRESS!" Kathrine wailed. Catnips clothes, knife, tools, and gear were scattered up and down the tunnel, but of the mutant mechanic herself and the body of the bishop, there was no sign.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 19, 2017, 07:05:27 pm
Donavan grunts in anger as he sees Dee get hit along with Nathan stating it. He hops out of the APC and takes out his two-way. "Getting the ki-ki-kid." He flicks off the safety of his rifle and racks the charging handle. He makes his way towards the front door leading to the lobby, firing small bursts at passing god's army privates. Donny raises the 416 at an angle and kicks in the door. He fires three bursts, hitting three privates in the center of mass. He lowers the rifle, letting it hang off the three point harness. He draws a handgun and holds it close to him and at an angle. He continues to make his way to the stairwell, a crusader fires a sawed off pump-action shotgun towards the cyborg. The pellets hit the ceiling tiles, Donny raises his pistol and fires two shots into the visor. He drops the crusader and continues his way towards the stairwell, he stops at a door with a stairs sign. He hurries up the stairs until he's to the roof, he kneels next to the bleeding lizardman. "K-k-kid? C-c-can you talk?" Donny says while taking out a small set of first aid supplies, mainly gauze, medical tape, and disinfectant.
Lucian watches several spooked birds fly away in the sky, "My my, someone appears to be making a lot of noise..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 19, 2017, 07:09:04 pm
The men watched the rocks before one raised a hand and shouted "Hold fire!"
The gunfire quieted as the man rushed towards the rocks. As he jumped onto the rocks to see if the enemy was still alive he almost screamed. He would have made it if the bullet didn't go through his throat reducing it to a gurgling noise as he fell back. His body crashed to the ground as a bundle charge arced through the air. At first the men didn't recognize it until one shouted "Grenade!" and the men scattered to cover as it clanked to the ground in front of the power armor.
As it shredded the back of the suit and the power cells underneath he stepped out of cover and fired a 50 cal round into another. As the two fell to the ground Drifter lifted his rifle and opened fire on the men that were still getting themselves to cover. Five men went down as Drifter made his way to cover.
Which is when the other two suits of power armor shifted to the target and opened fire. As the rounds arced through the air it impacted Drifter's prosthetic leg. Falling to the ground Drifter crawled to the nearest wrecked building and pulled the wooden plates off his leg. Trying to get the bullet out of the mechanism Drifter accidentally shoved it deeper into it and he heard the distinct noise of a grinding gear.
Pulling another bundle charge out of his pack he pulled the cord and threw it in the vague direction of the enemy and heard the satisfying noise of another set of power armor detonate. Reloading his rifle Drifter hauled himself into some rubble hoping to conceal himself. As he slid further into the rubble Drifter heard a box of mortar ammo detonate and the men shouting. What he wasn't sure but he was just hoping they would move out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 19, 2017, 07:40:42 pm
Roxanne was on the floor, she did not respond to any stimuli, she did not sense any stimuli. Her life essence had been drained. Her life had only been spared by Randael shutting down the sword before it was too late. That was a decision he would regret later…
Victor reacted to Roxanne collapsing by standing in place with shock. He knew this would happened but he had been powerless to stop it. The thing that made him snap back was Hector shouting Roxanne’s name and him running towards her. Victor joined him and met with him to see Roxanne’s condition. Victor took the sword back and stood while Hector knelled next to Roxanne.
“Take Roxanne to the tank Hector, recharge her systems via the cable bionic...make sure she is safe.”, Victor said as he took the blade and plated it on the ground. “Go! Now! I will hold them off while you get in the tank. We finish this now!”, Victor shouted; he took started to walk towards a few scattered bots trying to flank the tank. The bots were seemingly more sluggish. He whispered something inaudible and then his shadow disappeared “We end this now…”.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 19, 2017, 07:49:28 pm
Hector growled out a bit as he grabbed Roxanne and picked her up. He wasn't sure what to think, but thankfully Nathaniel was driving the tank, pulled closer to them and making it easier. "Nathaniel, Floyd, hook her up and hold position." the knight said, Nathaniel hooking Roxanne up soon enough. "Got it, get in and wipe them out!"
Hector smirked a bit at this. "They'll take care of her. I'm not letting you have all the fun yourself." he said, drawing his sword once Nathaniel had Roxanne secured. Most of the remaining troops outside were little more than machines, growing sluggish from power drain. Hector made his way through, calmly and efficiently directing his EMP bionic at every power-armored machine that dared get close, clearing the area around the tank alongside Victor. "We need to get in, clear them out, secure any survivors. Catnip, Kath, and Mica are still in there." he said calmy.
Helen looked up, a bit uncertain as the two made their way back towards Lucian's camp. She grabbed her two-way, a bit concern. "Helen checking in. Been out of radio contact for a bit. Will be back soon, anything going on out there?" she asked. There was no immediate answer, and she knew Sergei only had a radio receiver available.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 19, 2017, 07:59:48 pm
"Where Kat-nyp go?" Said Mica, rubbing her eyes.
"What the hell just happened? Catnip!?" Dervish called, likewise trying to clear his eyes of the spots the flash had put in them.
Kathrine was making a high shrieking noise. "Kat? Kat, c'mon we gotta get moving." They needn't have worried. Except for a few stragglers, and the few robots with still viable cells, the attack was just about over. Those topside not retreating had been put down, and the time had come to collect the injured, bury the dead, and prepare graves for the dying.
Nearby, Catnips pants moved.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 19, 2017, 08:11:28 pm
Hector had, as soon as the area around the tank was clear, started rushing into the building. The lobby was a mess, utter chaos and carnage left in the wake of both God's Army and Donny. He started checking some of the rooms, at one point catching one startled crusader off guard, grabbing him and outright tossed him to the ground, breaking his neck. He hadn't paid any attention to Victor once he was certain Roxanne was safe for the moment.
Along his sweep of each room, he encountered among the bodies an empty pile of clothes and a dropped weapon. He knelt after looking around to ensure the immediate area was clear, rummaging through the clothes carefully. There seemed to be no sign of plasma or corrosive burns, and even then it seemed unlike it'd affect flesh by not fabric. "What the fuck..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 19, 2017, 08:44:57 pm
Once Victor had begun the pact, there was no going back. He had ordered Hector to keep Roxanne save but paid him no mind after that. “Are you sure you want this? There is no going back...”, Randael told Victor.
“You are strong enough to do this now aren’t you? Roxanne and I have fed you so you owe us...besides...this will end our contract… You will be free, isn’t that what you wanted? Enough power to not rely on a host and to be free? I am granting you as much…”, Victor answered.
No more words were exchanged. Victor’s faux shadow lifted and engulfed Victor; what he was about to do was the highest degree of heresy, for his order and many others alike: Hollowfication.
Victor’s appearance changed, it resembled that of a shadow zombie but it’s features still human. His eyes glew a bright red and he stared into his next target. The sword of the void had disappeared as well, one moment on Victor's hand and the next it was gone.
There were few armored bots left and those who were still standing were severely weakened. Hector had managed to get inside the center but Victor intended to finish those outside. A low roar emanated from Victor as he charged the first of the bots. The bot fired it’s machine gun at him but it’s bullets simply joined that darkness, they were reduced to pure energy and coalesced with Victor. He then reached the creature and simply touched it. The bot rusted and decayed, slow at first but then exponentially. It soon collapsed on the ground into oxidized pieces. It would’ve taken millions of years for power armor alloy to decay like this.
One by one, the remainder bot shared the first fate. Victor showed no signs of slowing down and as the final one fell; he simply stared at the tank; right into Nathaniel's eyes. This was evident to anyone who looked at him thought the tank’s camera. Victor stood there, as if awaiting orders.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 19, 2017, 09:02:30 pm
Drifter hid himself in the rubble and waited. After a few moments he heard he men start to pull back and waited for some time longer before hauling himself out of the rubble. Leaning himself against the wall he clicked his radio on and said "Hey uh..I need some help over here. Threats taken care of but they fucked up my prosthetic and I can't walk by myself. Any chance of getting help?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 19, 2017, 09:22:08 pm
Dervish carefully lifted the waistline of Catnips military style pants, handling what was inside so as not to crush it. "Catnip?" He asked with a rising sense of confusion and not a little panic. Inside, resting atop Catnip's underwear and gnawing fitfully at the inside of the right pocket where Catnip normally kept her chocolate, was a large sleek rat. It looked up and saw Dervish looking at it, and hissed. Startled, Dervish dropped the pants. "What?" He asked himself. Nearby, Kathrine anguished scream had graduated to a nearly ear splitting keen. "W-what?" Dervish asked himself again. The rat took the opportunity to try and escape, but Mica was on it. She snatched it up and considered it, then prepared to toss it, squealing, into her mouth. "NO MICA!" Dervish shouted above the echoing din of Kathrine, "I... I think it's Catnip..." Mica gave him a quizzical look, then looked at the large rat trying to bite her hands and having no luck. "Rat not Catnip. Catnip is lady-rat, this just normal rat." Dervish shook his head, "It could be though. We have no idea what that magic crap did. Just... I don't know... put her in her pouch and help me gather her things. We need to get everyone out of here." Mica rolled her eyes, but relented. If Dervish wanted to believe that the rat was Catnip, she wouldn't stop him. She just hoped that Kathrine didn't believe it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 19, 2017, 09:28:27 pm
Nathaniel watched with a mix of curiosity and horror as something seemed to chance in Victor's features, seen even through the camera displays. In fact, with thermal switched on, the result was even more horrifying. It appeared not merely as if Victor's thermal image had went cold, but as if it instantly became a void, a person-shaped absence of any heat whatsoever. Worse, he could see him...no, IT, staring right at him. Knowing he was watching.
He carefully opened the driver's hatch to peek out, regarding Victor with uncertainty. "Jesus motherfucking christ...Victor? Are you alright?" He then heard the radio piping up. "Shit. Drifter, I'm running off diesel because Rox is injured and recharging, Hector's dismounted to clear the center with Donny. I'll...I'll be there shortly." Nathaniel answered over the radio, having had to shut off the electric engine to conserve the battery. "Victor! I gotta pick up Drifter. If whatever you're doing needs you to stick close to the tank, hop in! Otherwise, get in there and help the others out!" he shouted over the idling diesel engine.
Hector examined the pile of clothes curiously, then another, several scattered here and there. There was absolutely nothing, no ashes, no remains, nothing that suggested any logical explanation. Soon in his search he found a sealed-up doorway, leading into the lower levels. "Gotcha..." he said, realizing he wouldn't get through without his jackhammer. But when he went out, he saw the tank was no longer by the entrance. "...fuck!"
Elsewhere, Helen clutched her chest, stumbling back against a tree. Something felt her with a horrible sense of dread, that nearly took the wind out of her and left her weak in the knees. "Dii supra et infra, quid fecisti..." she said softly. Lucian's confused stare prompted her to struggle to stand. "You ever feel like somewhere, someone you know is doing something incredibly stupid? I just felt that, plus the vague sense of something terrible happening..." she said softly. She wasn't even sure why, but the instinctive sense left her holding back tears. "We need to make it back to your place immediately, then I'm going to check on the farm."
"Sergei. If you're reading this. If you've heard anything strange going on over your receiver, meet me at the bridge. Otherwise, I'll be back home after checking on the farm." she said into the two-way.
Sergei unfortunately had heard nothing else over the radio, and this worried him. He wasn't sure what to do in that case, but trusted Helen's judgement to wait. "Helen will have explaining to do. And so will entire farm..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 19, 2017, 09:48:47 pm
Drifter sighed as he leaned against the wall and took a drink from his flask. He became faintly aware of a liquid slowly rolling down his leg as he sat there. Reaching a hand down to check it he felt a piece of wood from the plating stuck in his leg. Taking another drink from the flask his eyes half closed as he waited for the tank. Shouldn't I be freaking out? I feel like I should be freaking out...
Meanwhile Death blinked as he felt something. It wasn't right but he couldn't place it. All he was sure about was he could feel the gaze of the Elders on him as he started to look for it. Whatever it was it almost hurt him just feeling it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 19, 2017, 09:58:23 pm
Victor regarded Nathaniel as he spoke to him; he approached the tank but stop short of actually getting in. Nathaniel then heard a faint whisper he could’ve sworn came from behind him but nothing was there, “I stay...you take Randael...he will waken Roxanne...then he will leave…”
At his words. Victor started to shift back into a normal shape until eventually he returned into his normal self. The darkness that shrouded him manifested in front of him; it was a humanoid silhouette that was sentient emptiness itself, it’s eyes glew red. “One more favor, for old times sake?”, said Victor. He looked normal, and even had his shadow back, but he looked a little paler and frail; he had lost something worse than his shadow, his soul was no more. Randael looked at him for a moment and then boarded the tank next to Roxanne; he looked eyes with Nathaniel and then looked at Roxanne. “Go Nathaniel!”, Victor shouted back.
Victor now boarded the APC, someone had to take it back. He was of no use now, the sword had lost it’s only power source so not even that was going for him currently. “I am sorry everyone…”, he said. He would retreat back to the farm as soon as the tank had left enough space between them. The outside threat was over.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 19, 2017, 10:19:36 pm
Nathaniel was unnerved by the sight, he didn't see it in the camera displays as he was half-out of the hatch, not seeing the thermal imaging show a sight every bit as unnerving as what he saw with his own eyes. On the thermal camera, the pitch-black of living cold, detected only through something that seemed to swallow up grey and white of heat, leaving Victor, his own heat signature returning yet distinctly cooler than any healthy living thing would appear as. And to his own eyes a rolling, shifting mass of shadows flowed from Victor's form and formed a vaguely mimicry of a humanoid outline, leaving Victor appearing deathly pale. "Oh God...alright, we're off." he said, the tank roaring to life as soon as the spirit "Whatever the fuck you are, take good care of Roxanne, okay?" he asked the spirit, rather quickly making their way towards Drifter's position. "Hector's gonna kill me if she doesn't make it over something stupid like overusing that fucking sword..."
When they reached Drifter he immediately got out to go help Drifter into the tank, when he saw the splinter of wood in his leg, immediately reaching for the first aid supplies tucked into a jacket pocket. "Fucking hell, looks like you did a number on them." he remarked.
Hector meanwhile again swept through the rooms before making his way to the roof, shouting to Donavan. "Donny! Rooms are clear but something's going on down below. Doors are sealed but...ohgod." he said, running over to where Dee was and reaching for his IFAK.
By now Helen had made her way south after the two reached Lucian's camp, running towards the bridge. "Helen to farm, I haven't heard anything from you guys, what's going on out there!?" she shouted into her handset.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 19, 2017, 10:28:55 pm
Drifter nodded as he said "Sure did. Didn't expect the power armor though. That's what got me actually. When did they get power armor anyway? Who decided to give them that shit?" It was rather apparent Drifter was a bit out of it as he talked.
Meanwhile Bandit grabbed the microphone on the radio and said "Hey this is the Farm. Someone hit the uh..Refugee center and everyone went to help. Sorry I'm a bit new here, but I don't know much about what's going on."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 19, 2017, 10:38:31 pm
Nathaniel grumbled as he cut the fragment as short as he could, bandaging around it to keep the piece of wood from moving and making the wound any worse. "Fucked if I know, but I wish you'd stuck around long enough for the big surprise, assuming you didn't figure it out yourself." he remarked. "Goddamn things were unmanned. I've never seen unmanned infantry as anything more than base-sec, and those were real shitty things. Private security bots were damn near twice was tough."
Helen went a bit wide-eyed at that under her mask. "Gods damnit. I leave with one mission at Lucian's request and everything goes insane." she said, a remark over the radio that finally calmed Sergei's worrying about her. "I'll be at the farm soon." she added, nearing the bridge.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 19, 2017, 10:53:31 pm
As the Siege Tower started to move, and before they had picked up Drifter, Randael continued to look at Roxanne. Nathaniel’s words meant nothing to him, another mortal simply scared of what they didn’t understand. The spirit of harvest leaned in and whispered something into Roxanne’s ear and then he waved a limb like thing that was a mockery of a hand over her face; her eyes were closed but once the “hand” crossed her face, her eyes opened. “What? Where am I?”, asked a very confused Roxanne. She was still weak but was at least conscious.
Roxanne’s eye widened as she saw the thing in front of her. She didn’t speak but her expression said it all. “Thanks you for everything Roxanne. Our deal is over, may our paths cross again.”, said Randael. Roxanne recognized that “voice” and it prompted a faint smile. “Thank you Randael...I will miss you…”, Roxanne responded. Randael looked at her a little more and then turned around, he materialized through the tank's walls and left, not even the thermal cameras would pick him up now.
The APC left when the tank was a fair bit away. Victor turned the engine on and then left the ravage Refugee Center; he took a route through a field off road to make sure Nathaniel and co would not see him. He eventually crossed the little clearing that was made for the farm to easily visit the refugee center. Next, he parked the APC on the usual spot. Once outside, Victor gave a deep sigh as he realized something; his aura spell wasn’t working. It was to be expected, he had tied his life force to it and now he lacked any; he was a hollow now, a being with no soul and no future, death would be final to him.
Victor walked around until he reached the tables by the campfire. He needed the fresh air to think clearly; soul or not, he was still human and as such had all those limitations. Victor sat in the table and unsheathe the sword he had come to cherish and laid it on the table. “Gonna have to fix you later...you out of battery again...I guess time will tell.” He took out cigarette and a lighter from a cigarette box that was lying there; Victor hadn’t smoked in years but now was a good a time as any to pick it up again, had to calm his nerves somehow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 19, 2017, 11:22:39 pm
Hector was preparing to turn the jackhammer on the steel door marked "EMPLOYEES ONLY" when the door suddenly opened from the inside. "Hec? That you? Holy shit, if your standing here then that means..." Hector tossed the jackhammer aside and rushed to grab Dervish. "Hot damn Dervish, I thought we were gonna find a tragedy." Dervish held him off with one hand and Hector noticed the odd squirming bundle under one arm. "You have found a tragedy friend." Kathrine was the next to emerge, eyes hollow and haunted, and Mica was the figure of worry. "Where's Catnip Dervish?" Hector asked. Dervish grimaced and gestured to the squirming bundle, which only drew a confused look from the tank knight.
"Where's Dee?" Dervish asked, "Catnip appeared in the nick of time, but Dee wasn't down there with her. I hope-" Hope died in Dervish as Donovan emerged into the foyer, carrying a familiar limp form in his arms. For one insane moment, he hoped Mica wouldn't see, but she did and her inhuman anguished wail was perhaps the sound Dervish would remember most about the attack. Even many years later, it was a sound he would hear again and again when the world around him went quiet.
"Lizard!" Mica shrieked, "No Lizard, no!" She rushed at Donavan, a move so erratic and insane with fresh grief that for a moment the cyborg believed she was attacking him. Instead, she grabbed Dee by the head "No lizard! Don't leave My-ka!"
"He is#'t dead." Donavan explained, "But #e will be if he d#esn't get at#ent#on." Dervish ushered several people up out of the basement, then stopped one of them. A professional looking woman carrying a simple rifle. "Doctor Maskens, we've got injured. I request by the authority of The Old Guard that you see to the kid in the big guys arms first, right away." The woman strolled over to Donavan almost casually, and pried the spider away. After a cursory examination, she announced. "Get him to the infirmary. He should have been their minutes ago. Casey, Brandon, get the surgery bay prepped and unlock the blood cabinet. Mr. Dervish, see to your other people and leave me to my work. I suspect it's going to be a stressful few days." She noticed Mica's injuries and added, "Get her over to the infirmary as well. Mr. Lowe I presume? Can I trust you and yours to help gathering up the injured?" The bundle under Dervishes arm began to growl.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 19, 2017, 11:55:17 pm
Death had been walking through the farm when he found what the problem was. There was man. He did not have his soul. This was going to make all hell break loose for him. Which meant he had one chance to fix this and he only saw one way to do so. Of course he couldn't leave the farm so that meant that he'd have to bring one of them here.
A few moments later and one of the Elder Deaths arrived to see just what it is his younger brother was worrying so much about. He promptly found it and looked to his younger brother. "End him. Here and now. Unless you want...no. You of all of us wouldn't."
Death merely nodded to him and said "I'll pay that price. You know what happens when she gets sad, what that entails. Of all of us you should know."
The Elder regarded his younger brother for a moment before bowing his head and saying "Very well. I will allow you to proceed. I will be here should it not end well."
Death closed his eyes as he felt it beginning. A tingling sensation that turned to needles being forced into his body. Soon the sensation changed and he found himself on his knees as it felt like a thousand knives were driving themselves into him. And it only got worse from there as the feeling became that of his flesh separating itself from his bones. To those attuned to the spiritual world nearby they heard an almost deafening screaming before it finally stopped.
Blood seeped out of his mouth as he sat there on hands and knees. He forced himself to stand as he realized his clothes had become torn and ragged and quite a few spots on his body were bandaged. The Elder handed him the result of this little ritual that Deaths so rarely used. A small item it was now that he finally saw it. Now he just needed to speak with the Mage. But that would have to wait unfortunately as he saw the handful of spirits approaching, waiting to be sent to their last destination.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 12:11:02 am
Helen ran to the farm as fast as she could, looking around. They likely saw her scaled cloak, her looking around, mask active. She saw it in the distance as she closed in. Signs of a vehicle having parked. She expected to see corpses and signs of fighting. But no. There he was once she came into the area, alive yet sickly and pale, yet her mask's sight saw through what seemed like a hollow shell. "Victor...by Odin's eye, what happened..." she said, just barely overheard.
Hector meanwhile led the way, keeping an eye on things as they rushed Dee to the medical bay, looking around. "Dervish. What the hell happened to these people? There's no corpses, just personal effects." he remarked, before giving a nod to the man that addressed him. "Alright then." he said calmly, getting to his work. Gather any wounded survivors, triage them, make use of what remained inside his IFAK for the immediate casualties.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 20, 2017, 01:16:44 am
"I don't know, Dr. Casdin had some kind of 'magic' stick. Used it to vaporize people, or something. Hector, find me something to put Catnip in. If it is her. I don't understand any of the shit Casdin did here. Did anybody else get, I don't know, changed?" Hector and Dervish found an old perspex tank, likely pulled from a lab or a pet shop somewhere and Dervish upturned Catnip's pouch into it. What fell out was a few of Catnip's smaller tools, her badly chewed pants, underpants, and a large, very agitated rat. "What." Said Hector.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 01:34:42 am
Hector grumbled a bit, having sorted through each leftover pile of clothing. "Something here just plain smells off. I haven't encountered a single sign of anyone else affected in the same way as Catnip." he said. "Find that thing the bishop was waving around and save it, along with multiple sets of victims personal effects. We need someone who knows this arcane shit to examine every bit of evidence he have. Like Helen or Victor."
Nathaniel at this point had driven back to the center, parked by the entrance to rush Roxanne and Drifter in, having overheard the last things Hector said. "Slight problem, I overheard radio chatter that Helen only just got in contact with the farm, and Victor...goddamnit I don't know what he did, but I don't think he's gonna be much help for for that."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 20, 2017, 01:51:36 am
Dervish shook his head, frowning at "Catnip." "I tried, I couldn't find anything of it." A thought came to him, "Mica was blasted directly, nothing happened to her at all. Maybe it has something to do with that? Or... I think Catnip must have broken it when she attacked Casdin, maybe that changed something in the way it worked?" Dervish had to sit down, and momentarily covered his face with his hands. "It's beyond my experience Hec. If you told me I'd be dealing with this sort of thing fifteen years ago, I would have snorted in your face and told you to get the hell out of my lab for spouting such nonsensical trash." _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "Ma'am, you need to leave." Said the doctor, gently pushing Mica out of the small medbay room. Mica took a swipe at her but Dr. Maskens had dealt with patients faster and more erratic than Mica. "Casey, get a me a tranq and a gun for it." She said casually. Mica growled at her through her tears, "My-ka wants-" Casey had plenty of practice loading and firing the small spring loaded pistol. She quickly loaded a long dart into it and announced professionally, "Weapons grade, class four tranquilizer loaded. Dr. Maskens?" The doctor stepped aside, easily avoiding another swipe and a bite and the dart sank home in Mica's chest. "What you..." The heavy duty tranquilizer had Mica pacified within a minute. "Take her to operating room two, have Dr. Kern look those bullet wounds over." The doctor turned back to Dee, strapped into the medbay and stripped to the waist. The bleeding from the five irregularly spaced holes in Dee's torso, a groove in his hip, and another two in his arm had slowed to a trickle. "Poor kid. If he dies though, he dies a hero. Lets get to work. Brandon, have you got the cabinet open?" Brandon told her he had, all they needed was a sample. "Good, judging by the look of him, we are probably gonna need mutant blood. I hope to god we have the right kind."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 02:05:05 am
Hector nodded at that. "Possible, I don't know what could be causing these anomalies. Might be unpredictable effects when used on mutated victims, but I don't know." he said, shaking his head. "Anything Mica might've done that could lead to...wait..." he trailed off, coming to a realization. "That thing seemed to be extremely selective in what it hit. Whole individuals gone, with no sign of any partial effect or personal effects affected. And who's the one that tends to take chunks out of people in a fight?"
"Any sign of crusader uniforms consistent with this effect?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 20, 2017, 02:18:39 am
"Not that I saw. A lot of dead choir boys in the main area of the basement, Mica had a field day with them. She certainly... er... had her fill though." Dervish didn't really see what Hector was getting at, but the questioning gave him an idea. "Maybe... It's a long shot but... Kathrine, do you think you can keep an eye on... uh... Catnip for a bit? Make sure she doesn't get out? Thanks. Hector, come with me, I need to check Mica and I'm pretty sure she isn't going to want to cooperate with her sister and Dee in the condition they are in."
Dervish didn't have to worry, Mica wasn't quiet out but she certainly wasn't in any condition to argue. "How is she?" Dervish asked the doctor attending her. He responded, "Belligerent, but fine. This ones got a hell of a regeneration factor. At least as long as the injury is near one of her bug parts. If the bullets that got through were any further to the right, she probably wouldn't have gotten off so easily. This resin she excretes from her wounds is pretty interesting Mr. Dervish. Other than that, she seems to not have eaten in awhile." Dervish twisted his face up and Hector looked a bit confused. "Hec," Dervish said, "If she was killing choir boys in the basement, her gut should be filled with their remains." Hector nodded.
"So the wand did have some kind of effect?"
"I think so Hector."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 02:54:52 am
Hector was surprised by the results of what the doctor said, confirming his suspicions. "So that reinforces what I thought might be happening." he pointed out. "Most likely it afflicted the remains she'd eaten first. My best guess at least."
Nathaniel meanwhile was left with a grave sense of unease. It was over, they won. But several refugees and personnel were killed, injured, or MIA. Dee was in critical condition. Roxanne only barely survived, and Drifter was injured too. Catnip was either MIA or turned into a rat, and their ultimate target was most likely MIA too. Their enemy deployed something that, unlike the magical lunacy he had no reference frame for, was very clearly beyond their capabilities.
What happened to Victor had him especially shaken. It was like confronting the x-rays during the early training missions, seeing things that no amount of training and no sanitized mission briefing could ever prepare him for. Only now there wasn't even the barest hope of a scientific explanation, as far as he could determine. He was uncertain what would happen to Victor. Someone he only knew as a comrade-in-arms, but that alone was enough to leave him worried.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 20, 2017, 12:39:09 pm
Kathrine's throat was sore from screaming. She'd run out of tears to cry, too. She just sat there, next to the carrier with 'Catnip' in it. She could feel deep down that it wasn't actually Catnip, but the logical part of her brain wasn't quite communicating with the rest of her. "I'm sorry Mistress..." She whispered, leaning towards it. "I'm sorry I let you go and that Miss Mica got shot and that you're small now a-and that we didn't get to do the... Date-y thing..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 20, 2017, 03:03:34 pm
Victor smoked his cigarette as he sat and thought about his options and future. He would’ve never imagine himself in this situation; having used corruption magic, betraying his oath and now an abomination to nature itself. He wondered why he had taken this drastic option in the midst of battle. When he fought against the beast Apophis, he saw no need to do this even though the situation was as, if not more, dire. He had done so to make sure those around him would ultimately survive but, why this in specific? He knew the answer but he didn't want to admit to himself…
What now? He knew the side effects of Hollowfication very well and what his order though about it. They had made it very clear such acts deemed the user impure and back when the order existed, a hitman would be on their way to deal with him. “Yes...a hitman…”, Victor said with a chuckle, “At least she is safe and the others did their part...I did the best I could with the cards I was given, no going back now…”
He knew that soon, “they” would arrive. An empty vessel was open for any one browsing for real estate; it was a matter of time. Victor didn't want that, to live the rest of his unnatural days fighting or fleeing; he wasn't about to life as a fugitive from mother nature. He didn't have many options left, he might be able to make a “fix” for him to live stable for a while but he would still be what he was, a hollow; and the fixes themselves were as heretical as the thing he wanted cured.
Victor picked up the sword he once cherished and took pride in; now it served as a reminder of what he did. He looked it over and flicked around. The blade was just like any other now; still retained its properties but it lacked an energy source. Even if it didn't, he had no life essence to offer anymore, he would not be able to use it again. He smirked as he got an idea, he took the blade and let the sharp edge rest on the side of his neck right on the main artery. One little flick of his writs would solve his problems, it would all end here, no dealing with others, no judgment from the supernatural, no worries. Yes, it would all be over soon.. He started to hear them, the whispers; Victor knew exactly what this meant, If he could get his blade to work, he might stand a chance. If he ran away now and abandoned all he knew, he could keep them off his trail. No, neither of them was an option now…
Victor hardened the grip on his swords hilt and closed his eyes. “It will all be over soon enough...those damn winds...thank mother venus I will never have to deal with that again...no punishment, no reward...I am free…”, Victor whispered to himself.
His thoughts and actions were interrupted by Helen speaking to him. It took him surprise as he could no longer feel auras and as such didn't known if he was alone or not. Her words made him open his eyes and he put the blade back in the table in a haste. “Helen?! What are you doing here?!”, asked a surprised Victor, “You can see it, can't you? I’m sorry Helen...I just had too…”
Eventually, Roxanne sat up from where she was in the tank and looked around. She, noticed the cable charger in her hips and disconnected it; after surveying the tank, she was confused as to why she was here. “What happened? Where are we going? Where are the others? Where is the APC?”, Roxanne asked in succession; she then recalled how Victor gave her the blade and how it engulfed her in a primordial fury, “Why don't I have the blade anymore? Where is Victor? Don't tell me he...why?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 03:11:44 pm
Helen was left stunned. She'd seen right through him with her mask's vision, and now her own eyes saw how deathly pale he looked. She focused what little wards she knew, an energy flowing, only to ensure nothing would force its way into his living, hollow shell. She new it would only do so much good. It might be years, or it might be days, but eventually that lingering life force would fade, if something didn't take control of him. If it'd been anyone else, she'd be furious at such a dire heresy, she'd even kill them herself. But he could tell that, among the mix of conflicting emotions apparent on her face, anger wasn't part of them.
She'd taken her mask off, dropped it and her hammer beside them. Tears were streaming down her face at this point. "I came as soon as I could, when I heard there was an attack." she said softly. "I saw it, yes. Why...?"
It was then she felt it. Even without her mask, the flow of energy from Death's bargain sent a faint chill through her spine. She wasn't aware of what happened yet, not knowing what else is going on.
Nathaniel sighed and shook his head. "I wish I knew. He did...something, took the sword back. You looked like you damn near died, he conjured this...thing, that royally fucked with his thermal image. Like he was below minimum heat while he was fucking up those bots. Then he...this THING came out of him, like a goddamn living shadow. It stayed with us until you woke up, and Victor went back to the farm."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 20, 2017, 04:12:29 pm
Victor saw Helen’s tears and couldn’t bring himself to look at her in the eyes. He looked down and saw the cigarette he had been smoking was now on the floor; he stomp on it to extinguish it then looked back at Helen. "Because I am a coward Helen! I wanted a way out and I took it...I had to do something you know? I couldn’t just stand there and watch...", Victor responded. It then dawned on him that she had no idea what he was talking about.
Victor looks over in the direction of the refugee center and just stares for a few moments. "You know of what happened in the refugee center right? Roxanne insisted to go and help out. I went as well too, things went south and she almost died because of me… I didn’t know what to do, I am not a fighting man you know? So I did this...I went hollow...I am an abomination now...but I couldn’t just let her die right?", Victor said all the while continuing to stare into the distance. He then looked into her eyes with his own; they were devoid of any glimmer of life as you would expect from someone, they just looked empty and sad.
“You made an oath didn’t you Helen? To rid this world of that who has no right to be...I broke mine...I am impure, I don’t deserve to exist anymore...will you uphold yours? Will you rid this world of the abomination in front of you?”, Victor asked somberly. He got up and threw his own blade aside to the ground; then he walked towards Helen, “I won’t even struggle…”
Roxanne gave a sigh of relief. “At least he is still alive…”, Roxanne said, “Where are we going Nathaniel? I am recharged again, I can help!” She didn’t let on that she knew what that shadowy figure was; she didn’t believe anyone here would believe her or were ready if they did.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 20, 2017, 04:21:28 pm
Death walked towards them as he held it in his hand. With a sigh he reinforced his glamours as he neared them, making it so that the pair could see him. The pain was still coursing through his body as he looked at them. "As brave as you are foolish. Almost pleasant to see."
He lifted his arm towards Victor, extending his hand as he told them "Victor Ironwood I've got an offer for you. One that I think you won't see a reason to decline."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 04:25:57 pm
Helen was uncertain what to do, looking down as he explained things. "I...I see. You did this so that Roxanne would live." she said softly. She was unsure what to think at first. "The wards will protect you from being taken over by any rogue spirits at least. But I can't fix this." she said softly. "You deserve at least to die as yourself." she added.
When he approached, she looked back to the hammer she'd cast aside. "There was so much we had yet to do. I...I don't know if I can bring myself to kill you." she said softly.
It was then she heard the voice, turning to look to Death. She was surprised, afraid at first that the spirit was here either to claim what little he could, or finish what she couldn't will herself to do. She stepped aside for Death. "My ward spell won't be able to stop whatever you have planned. If this is what I think you're doing, if it can help Victor..."
Nathaniel nodded at that. "We need someone here who can figure out what happened with what the bishop did. Things are under control here, so we should get over to the farm, check on them as well as Victor, and get either him or Helen over here ASAP. Quinn too. A lot of people are MIA over some magical bullshit and we need an expert to confirm what exactly happened to them." he explained, before hesitating a moment. "Including Catnip..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 20, 2017, 04:43:15 pm
"Alright. Mr. Lowe." Said Dr. Maskens over a clipboard, "Things may have gone to shit but we still do things with paperwork. Mr. Koenig and Ms... Mica, can't sign these themselves. You are the most qualified, and really it's only for my records. If you would?" Hector took the papers and carefully signed the top sheet. It had been awhile since he'd had to do anything like that and it made him feel almost normal. "Good good. Now, your friend is fine. In the loosest possible sense of the word. The most I can say is that he's still alive." She adjusted her spectacles and went on. "We found another wound in his left leg, but that and the wounds to his arm are nothing compared to the other injuries. A splint and a month or two of rest and his limbs will be fine. The real problem, is his heart. The hole is small and 'fortunately' it's in a low pressure portion of the heart. He could heal naturally, but I'm not going to take that risk since his plugged pump is being exacerbated by the holes in his left lung. By all rights, your friend should be just as dead as anybody else caught in the open on the roof when the attack began."
Dervish took over next, explaining to the gathered, "As the only one with experience with mutants, Dr. Maskens asked me to determine if Dee needed anything special in terms of blood. Dee if lucky in this respect as well, incredibly so. In terms of his biology, he might as well be a guy with a bad skin condition. This is fortunate for two reasons. The first being that this allows the center to utilize it's large stockpile of whole blood for transfusion. The second is that if Dee were any more mutated, he'd be out of luck. The center isn't lacking for a small supply of type lizard mutant blood. What it's lacking, is type Raptor. Right now, he's indistinguishable from a standard lizard type mutant. Dee told me himself that he was picked up by some crazy scientist type after that cataclysm started. Judging by the more advanced analysis the centers medbay allows, I'd say the he was picked up by somebody with a connection to the discontinued "raptor" project. As I said, he's lucky he's still as human as he is. Dr. Maskens, I believe you have a further complication?"
She grimaced. "Indeed Mr. Deverish. Mr. Lowe, we can fix your friend. We have the resources. We have, if you'll pardon the reference, the technology. What we don't have, is a tech capable of installing the CBMs. Don't give me that look Mr. Lowe, your friend isn't going to survive on what's left of the organs he has. He needs a new heart and lungs, and we have them here in the center. An experimental cardio vascular pump with an inbuilt filter. It was earmarked for our chief of security, before he was killed in the opening exchange of bullets. The lab tech responsible for that kind of work though was... Vaporized by the fairy in the bathrobe. Our chief of security is replacable, Ms. Khaki Jones is probably going to get the job, but our bionic tech was invaluable to me. If we can't find someone to perform the task..." She let the words hang, but the implication was obvious. Dee would either die or live out a fairly unpleasant existence attached to the refugee centers machinery if no one was found who could perform the necessary operations. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The rat looked out at the stripey thing staring at it while it gnawed at the sweet brown stuff in the cloth thing. The cloth thing must be some kind of nest, it certainly smelled like a nest. The stripey thing smelled like a predator. When the predator stripey spotted thing made noise, the rat backed into a corner of the transparent prison and hissed at it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 20, 2017, 05:01:00 pm
Victor smirked at Helen’s remarks. “See, this is why I like you. You are different than the others from your order. Don’t worry, I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. I’ll figure this out…”, Victor responded to Helen.
Then the voice of the spirit of death was heard; Victor knew exactly who this was. Victor looked at him with stoic conviction. “Look who decided to show up. What? You come to harvest any traces of soul I might have left? Be my guest, I am not afraid of you any more…”, Victor said in response to Death’s first remarks.
Victor heard Deaths deal and his expression and voice changed to that of amusement. “Pardon? You want to make me an offer? Look at me! What do I possibly have that you would want?”, Victor responded, he gave a deep sigh before he continued, “Regardless, what could you offer me that would interest me at this point? If I die here and now, I get to break the little system you got going here. I would no longer exist, sure, but that’s more preferable to hell wouldn’t you say? You should know, you take them there yourself don’t you?”
“Wait? Magical bullshit? All I saw were those armored bots masquerading as men...how big was the scale of this attack?”, Roxanne asked once more. She didn’t get it at all, she didn’t understand the ramifications of this; neither of the attack or of all the people affected. “Wait? Catnip? What happened to Catnip?!”, Roxanne frantically asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 20, 2017, 05:14:04 pm
Death sighed as he lowered his hand. "My offer is simple, at least what I'm offering you. A new soul. A clean slate with all your previous sins gone. Well not gone but now their Randael's problem since he took your old soul. But for you this is a new beginning. A way to start over that oh so very few get. Sound enticing enough to you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 05:22:13 pm
Hector regarded this information with uncertainty. "I see. We need Quinn over here as well then. I was thinking that we need someone with experience in the arcane. We've got Helen, Victor, and Quinn that can figure this out, so that's another reason to ask for him to come too." he answered. "Get a radio and relay that we need all three of them over if possible."
Nathaniel nodded at that. "There was one of their COs in the center, bishops they call them." he said, starting the tank up to drive it back towards the farm, having left Hector and the others there while bringing Roxanne along. "Looked like a platoon's worth of unmanned overall, a mortar squad, and two platoon's worth of regular cocksuckers, and their CO. The goddamn guy seems to have raptured up several people, just piles of clothes with no remains. Evidently Catnip AND the asshole got caught in the effect in the fighting. Dervish is convinced she got turned into a goddamn sewer rat, and Hector thinks something else is going on, so we need the crazy mage fuckers over there immediately."
Helen went wide-eyed as Death explained this, looking back to Victor. One of only two ways she could devise to correct what had happened to Victor, and both were far beyond any mortal magic. "Victor...I know you seem hellbent to sacrifice yourself just to make up for walking into this clusterfuck unprepared, but. You and I have unfinished business." she said, looking back to him. "I'll ask you this once. Take it...if not for your sake, then for mine and Roxanne's. What would she say, if she comes back to find this out?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 20, 2017, 06:40:34 pm
Victor was dumbfounded by the words he just heard. “W-what did you just say? A n-new soul, a clean slate?” Victor managed to mumble, “Why what do you gain out of this?” He didn’t understand one bit, he had just committed an atrocity but was being rewarded! But, he didn’t care at this point.
Helen’s words snapped him out if his trance; so soft spoken yet commanding in a way. That was enough to solidify his decision. “I am honored, truly I am...I accept.”, Victor responded, “Just one final question...you do realize it wouldn’t be to hard to weaponize your gift right? How come you trust me of all people?”, Victor didn’t really cared either way, a clean start is just what he needed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 20, 2017, 06:46:31 pm
Death looked at Victor with mild amusement as he said "Because I saw what you did. You didn't do it for yourself, you didn't do it to gain power, you did it to save others. As for what I gain out of this.." Death shrugged as he said "..Well you owe me something. We'll iron that out later as I think you're going to be busy for a while, but we'll settle your end of the bargain later. For now unless anyone needs to ask anything else of me I need to go."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 06:51:23 pm
Helen smiled a bit as she watched, still somewhat awestruck by all this, tears of grief replaced by that of joy. She turned to face Death, regarding his appearance. Hints of just what it took to create this soul were bleeding through his glamour, flawed as it already was from the way the scroll had altered her perception of him. "Why he would do this, I wish I knew, but..." she thought aloud, something the spirit would overhear. That she called him a he, not an it, was a distinct change in how she referred to the spirit. Her emotions could be sensed as well, a mix of so many feelings overwhelming her, and yet for the first time fear wasn't among them when she looked at Death.
She pulled Victor into a tight hug, feeling now the way warmth slowly returned to his body, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank you...and you, especially." she said, looking back to Death. "I know any sacrifice, if it was needed in the line of duty, may be needed. But that you live through this, I owe this spirit more than I can ever hope to repay."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 20, 2017, 08:09:59 pm
Victor heard the words of the spirit of death. “Thought as much. Despite what I have done, I am a man of my word. I will await what I have to do in return.”, Victor said to Death before he left. He was now basking in the feeling of life again, the warmth of it.
The hug from Helen caught him by surprise. A few moments ago, he was asking her to kill him and now they were both rejoicing over new found life. “So a clean slate huh?”, Victor told Helen, “Feels nice not having to carry your sins.”
His future looked bright, he no longer was the same man as before, in both mind and spirit. He was given a second chance at life and he would take full advantage of it. Randael stood nearby as he witnessed the deal Victor and Death made. “Things are going along smoothly...you gave me the gift of freedom...time to repay the favor...we had a deal Victor…”, the spirit of harvest said to himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 08:28:13 pm
Helen smiled a bit at that, giving a nod as she pulled Victor into a kiss as well. "I'm glad to have you back. I don't want to lose you." she said softly. "And we never did get the chance to have that talk. If the fighting there is over..."
It was then that the tank pulled up, Nathaniel confirming a request over the radio before he stepped out. "Holy shit Victor, you're alive." he said, looking over to Helen. "We got some shit going on over at the center, magic-related. Hector says he needs you guys over there if possible, Helen and Quinn at a bare minimum. We also need Quinn for CBM duty, Dee's fucked up and needs some tech jammed in him it seems." he explained.
Helen looked over, giving a nod as she stood, gathering her mask and hammer. "I see. This'll be a long night...Victor? The talk will have to wait, but." she said, stealing another quick kiss. "You want to rest here, or come along? I'll...go check on Quinn in the meantime, either way." she said, turning to head other to Quinn's lab, giving a brief scan with her mask to confirm where he was before making her way in.
Victor was smiling as Helen had pulled him in for another kiss. She then asked him if he would join her. “Hey, you showed mercy on me; I’ll follow you to the end of the world.”, he responded, “Go ahead and check on Quinn, I’ll make some preparation of my own and I’ll wait for you by the vehicle's.”
Victor grabbed his journal from his room and gave it a little skim, his most valuable possession. This wasn’t gonna be combat so he didn’t take any potions. He would only need his journal but would take the blade just in case; now that he had a soul he could use it again. After his little preparation he headed towards the vehicles with Helen.
(( Added section provided by Noct. ))
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 20, 2017, 09:02:09 pm
Quinn is passed out, head resting against his arms. Helen walks in, Quinn remains asleep. She walks closer and raises a hand to shake the scientist awake, but stops at him mumbling quite loudly in his sleep. "Where... what's keeping... What's keeping hi- him..." Quinn whimpers and mumbles further, "Si- simon...? Wh-what did it do to you?" He whimpers louder. "Loo- Look out..." He suddenly jolts awake with a loud wheezy gasp. He rubs his teary eyes, clearing his throat. "What do you need?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 20, 2017, 09:09:32 pm
Roland left his note in his quarters as he decided now that the fighting was over it was time to begin his journey. Pulling his gear on he started heading towards his destination. He wasn't sure what he'd find when he got there but he'd figure it out once he was there. Fortune would mean he wouldn't fight anything on the way there.
Meanwhile Drifter was laying there staring at the ceiling when he looked over to the side "Hey Manny, I'm sorry. I should'a tossed a frag in there before you went in..." His words drifted off and he went back to staring at the ceiling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 09:20:45 pm
Helen approached carefully, listening for a moment. Something about his whimpered remarks caught her off-guard, something about it seeming to stand out, but it was hard for her to discern what it was. There was emotion in it, something that seemed unlike his normal character, but that alone didn't seem that notable to her.
"Sorry to bother you at this hour. There's been an attack on the refugee center." she explained. "One of their mages participated in the attack, and they requested us both there. In addition...they said Dee is in need of treatment, via bionics. Evidently their bionics specialist is missing as a result of the attack." she continued.
"By the way, are you alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 20, 2017, 09:26:56 pm
"I'm..." Quinn says in a slightly different tone, he lets out a breath through his nose, "This can wait. Come on." He walks towards his worn pickup truck. He gets inside and grips the steering wheel, he rests his forehead against the steering wheel while waiting for Helen to get into the truck.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 09:36:55 pm
Helen nodded at that as she followed Quinn, getting into the passenger's seat of the truck, hammer at her feet just as Hector had rested his shield, for lack of any better place to stow it. "They haven't explained much of what happened, I don't know yet what to expect. Victor, well...he almost died saving Roxanne." she said.
When they set out, Nathaniel started up the tank to escort them there, still wary of being attacked, as he reported over the radio, overheard by Quinn's radio and those at the center. "Alright, we're on our way back, got Helen and Dr. Quinn inbound." he said, before Hector chimed in. "To fill you in on what we know so far, their bishop was wielding a wand of some sort. Every victim hit by some sort of projectile vanished, leaving behind any personal effects and clothing. No signs of remains, no damage to the items, no partial effects evident."
"Two anomalies. First, Catnip...was hit, and a rat was found among her personal effects, but no other evidence of anyone else, mutated or otherwise, affected in such a way. Second, Mica sustained at least one hit with no effect, with evidence of it having affected the remains of some God's Army bastards she cannibalized instead of affecting her."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 20, 2017, 09:46:09 pm
Quinn starts the pick-up and tucks the radio inbetween his shoulder. "Understood." He starts the truck and makes his way to the Refugee center.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 10:28:20 pm
Helen regarded the scene before them with a growing sense of unease as they approached. Small craters from mortar fire marred the ground in various spots, evidence of the center building sustaining heavy shelling as well. Even though they were on high alert, the guard patrol was a pitiful fraction of what she saw when she visited.
They likewise seemed on edge when they arrived, even with Nathaniel radioing ahead, informing them of what to expect, and escorting the truck there. Battle-weary, traumatized people who'd suffered loss on a scale they hadn't faced in six years. And hidden under that, a look she encountered a few times in the past, from confronting something beyond what their perception of reality prepared them to face.
They only encountered faint rumors of such things, curiosities brought in by unsuspecting scavengers, bought up by keen-eyed eccentrics before any harm could come to the buyer. And here they were, smacked in the face by something that exceeded such things as alien monstrosities and living dead, something more impossible than the apocalypse that was now a fact of life. Even known by some of the guards as the visitor in the strange cloak, identified now as an ally of The Farm and having visited on good terms twice, she could tell they viewed her with a new suspicion. They now knew she dealt with magic and their first real encounter with it left untold suffering in its wake.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 20, 2017, 10:56:48 pm
Dr. Maskens looked Quinn up and down. "Dr. Quinn?" He nodded, and she went on, "Good. Come with me, we can start right away. The needed implant's have already been prepared."
Dee made for a sad sight with so many tubes and wires sticking out of him. "Been awhile since I've worked with proper tools. I brought a few select CBM's that Dee might-" Dr. Maskens spun on him, starling him out of his dialogue. "No." She barked, "None of that. This young mans life hangs in the balance, I will not allow you to utilize this situation to install superfluous bionics without the patients consent. I understand that another in your settlement allowed such an operation. Consensual or not, from what I hear, you turned her into a regular Frankenstein's monster between the bionic implants and her mutations. So no. No cyberweapons, no armor, no cosmetics. We have here a heart with an inbuilt blood filter, a lung, a shielded power cell, and a metabolic interchange to keep them charged. That. Is. All." Quinn was a little taken aback. "Er, alright then. Are we ready to operate?" he asked. "We are Doctor, when you are ready." He examined the implants he'd be working with, and then Dee. He'd never had to work on someone who's life depended on it before, but he thought that he was ready.
Somewhere up the hall, Quinn could hear Mica trashing her room. He wasn't aware of the earlier tranquilizing that Mica had gone through. It had made her furious. More so than using her special phrase had. The doctor who treated her had the forethought to have her restrained, and that had only made her angrier. She ripped the bandages from her waist, revealing the fresh incision and stitches. On the table next the operating table was a small kidney bowl, which she flipped onto the floor spilling it's odd assortment of objects. A bullet, a shard of sharp metal, and an arrowhead scattered across the tiles. She didn't want these souvenirs of past battles though, she wanted Dee. She wanted to know he was alive, that he would be alright. It didn't occur to her to simply chew her way through the locked infirmary door and make her way, fighting if she had to, to the room where she knew he was. She just wanted to know, but didn't think she could handle seeing him in that state.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 20, 2017, 11:17:53 pm
Helen had passed by the unnerving sight laid out on either side of the entrance, arrayed along the wall. On one side, a shallow trench used as a mass grave, the remains of every God's Army attacker found in the center proper. On the other, a line of power armored machines in various states of disarray.
When they disembarked, Victor following close behind her, she gave a polite nod to the doctor there. "Go on ahead, can gather information on the anomaly while he's tending to Dee." she said, soon finding one of the spots that had once been a victim. Victor could sense it first, a strange distortion hanging in the air, ever so faint, not even strong enough to interact with normal matter. "Distortion magic, fabric of the veil is disrupted." Victor remarked, Helen turning on her mask and pacing around it to observe.
It was a ripple in reality itself, occupying the space where the victim once stood. She noticed the glow it gave off through her mask gave waxed and waned in a regular nature as she circled it. "It's directional, likely...helviti." she said softly. "You said distortion, I think you're right. That could mean a teleportation effect, or a transformation if it relied on spacial alteration, like a change in size." she said. That thought, and the report of Catnip, worried her.
"Doubt the latter would be directional though." Victor remarked, to which Helen nodded. "I'll need to check Catnip's after this. For now, I need...got a compass?" she asked, someone providing one for her. "No, need one with degree markings." It took them a moment, Helen checking the compass carefully. "Just about EbS, 101 degrees." she said softly, Victor writing that down, her direction description and degree number. "Let's view some more, and get me a map of the center to mark these."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 21, 2017, 06:49:52 am
Catnip had hissed at her. She was trying to apologise and Catnip had hissed at her. Kathrine gasped and shuffled back, hugging her tail. "I-I'm sorry Catnip I'm sorry I'm big and scary and I'll try not to be loud and scary but I don't know if I can stop being big and I'm sorry and-" She pauses for breath. "A-and I'm sorry for not going with you and I-I-I...A-and I still l-love you..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 21, 2017, 10:54:41 am
The rat tucked itself into the nest and watched the big stripey thing. It was making sounds at it. Was it a challenge? Stupid stripey thing. The other thing with the twig hands stuffed it in a smelly sack, and the human one dumped it in this transparent prison to be stared at by a stripey thing. It didn't understand the sounds, so it pushed further back into one of the flat tunnels of the nesting material. Whose nest? It smelled like another female, but slightly different. Stupid stripey thing, this was it's nest now, not stupid other rat. At least until it found a way to escape. The rat found a nice smell and chewed through the side of the tunnel to get at it. Crackers. The rat liked crackers. Stupid stripey thing wouldn't take the crackers... The rat would protect it's crackers. Shred up the soft white nesting stuff inside the big stiff nesting stuff, shred up some of the bits of paper and things too. The rat quietly grumbled to itself, sounding a bit like a cat growling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 21, 2017, 12:03:23 pm
Helen took the heading of another tear in reality, in another room. "Bearing 102." she said. A third, 101 again. The pattern looked consistent until she reached a spot where a guard had pulled a pistol on the bishop. "...no direction. Distortion is faint but perfectly consistent." she said, examining the items that had been left untouched. "Their clothes and gear don't seem out of place, nothing seems different."
This continued for another few spots, a slow but steady sweep through the swath of havoc the bishop had caused, two readings again in a similar direction as the first three, until she encountered another oddity. "Exactly 270, due west." she said, a look of confusion hidden by the angry visage of her mask.
This continued until another two unexpected directions and a second absence of direction, until she worked up the courage to enter the lower level, led to where Catnip had been. "By every god and goddess of this world, no..." Her tone of voice unnerved the young man that led them to where Catnip and the bishop were last seen.
"Bearing is...WSW, 248 degrees." she said quietly, falling to her knees with shock. All this time Victor and Helen had been formulating a plan. The overwhelming majority of victims had been warped in a consistent array of directions that could be used to calculate where they were being taken. But the outliers, sent in random directions, were unfeasible to track down.
Elsewhere, Hector knocked on the door before making his way in, giving a nod to Kathrine. He suspected someone should at least check on Mica and ensure she didn't do more damage to the center than the mortars did, but he decided to see Kath first. "Hey, Kathrine? You alright?" he asked, before he looked to the cage. The look on his face was one of concern, along with worry.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 21, 2017, 01:56:53 pm
Kathrine sniffs and looks up at Hector, eyes puffed up and red. "N-no..." She shakes her head and sticks the tip of her tail in her mouth, hugging the rest of it. "M-Mifstress if smahll noaw. Shhhh."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 21, 2017, 02:02:48 pm
Hector nodded at that, stepping closer to better hear her. "I...I know. I think. Quinn, Helen, and Victor arrived a little while ago. Quinn's fixing up Dee, the other two are examining the bishop's handiwork."
"Honestly, I don't know if that's Catnip or not. I heard the words 'teleportation' thrown around so there's a chance..." he said, trailing off before regaining his composure. "If that is actually Catnip, those three will figure out a way to fix her. If that isn't her, they'll find her. Quinn may not be much of an actual medical doctor, but he knows this sort of stuff better than pretty much the whole farm combined. One way or another, they'll solve this." he said, the worry in his voice less apparent, more confident now. He was certain of it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 21, 2017, 02:41:15 pm
Kathrine shakes her head again, wincing as she bites down on her tail a bit too hard. "Nuh-uh." She takes her tail out of her mouth before she starts talking again. "Nuh-uh, Mistress made a promise, she can't... Te-lee-port away." Kathrine looks down at the rat again, frowning. "A-and she's right here..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 21, 2017, 02:49:16 pm
Hector nodded at that. "I know. What I'm saying is, those two think that...the guy with the wand, the one that attacked so many people, made most of them disappear? They might've been teleported somewhere." he said softly. "I don't know where or why they'd do that to someone."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 21, 2017, 03:13:30 pm
Victor had been helping Helen take notes. His expertise were spiritual anomalies and something he called “The barrier”; as such, he left Helen take the lead on this one. However, he had started to develop a hypothesis of his own. “Helen, could you take a look at this?”, Victor whispered to Helen, “I have been running spiritual analysis on the area while you did your work. You site teleportation but there is a discrepancy here...” Victor paused and took out his journal. He flipped to a page full of symbols and basic algebra with labels to signal those affected by the wand and the blast. “Those hit with the wand seemed to have their “life signature”, aural and life essence after effects on the environment, erased from here. That is consistent with teleportation.”, Victor explained, “However, in the blast zone, I can detect the “life signature” of every in it except for Mica’s… Yes, even catnips...Worst still...that rat’s life signature? 86% match… This is very confusing on so many levels...”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 21, 2017, 03:22:18 pm
"CATNIP'S NOT GONE!" Kathrine's sudden shouting is slightly alarming. "CATNIP PROMISED M-" Kathrine's throat seizes up before she can finish. "C-Catnip pro-promised me she w-wouldn't le-leave me alone..." She finally manages to choke out her words. "M-Mistress wouldn-wouldn't lie..." And with that, she brings her knees up to her chest, wraps her arms around them, and slides down the wall to lie on the floor. "She wouldn't..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 21, 2017, 03:29:04 pm
Helen was uncertain what to make of this, regarding the spot where Mica had been standing when she was hit. "You're right. Something odd happened with it or she wouldn't still be here." she pointed. "I would however be careful about casting your senses too deeply into these holes in The Veil. Might be a way confirming their location faster than what Quinn thought up, problem there is if we do, they'll almost certainly know we're onto them." she said. "I'm not sure if they're expecting anyone to actually determine their location using this, so we might have the element of surprise."
"As for Catnip...I'm not yet sure what to think. It seems the wand was broken in the scuffle there, that might've created an unpredictable effect. There was a directional effect of SOMEONE where they were standing, but that could also have been the bishop." she said, remarks that might spark an idea.
Hector winced a bit at that, nodding some as he regarded her with uncertainty, before he knelt beside her. "Kathrine. I know. She didn't do this to herself. They did this to her. I still don't know what happened, all I know is we'll fix this, in any way we can." he said softly. "I promise you, we'll fix this if I have to go through Hell and back to do so."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 21, 2017, 03:35:57 pm
Kathrine reaches out a foot and gently nudges Hector away, then goes back to her ball. "Mistress wouldn't lie..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 21, 2017, 04:44:13 pm
"The main issue is, and clue, is why Mica was spared and why her signature wasn't left behind. Also, why did the ones in the blast leave their signature behind in the first place? The fact that the rat’s signature is 86% of Catnips worries me for both being a match but not a 100% match...More research will be needed then...can’t make a conclusion either way...", Victor responded to Helen, "Anyways, what else do you need me to do? Can’t stand being useless around here..."
Elsewhere, a now free spirit of harvest roamed the post-cataclysm landscape. Randael hadn’t know freedom in such a long time. If he was to set his plan in motion, he needed to assemble an army. He had 1/5th of his power so he was still vulnerable. After looking through Victor’s memories, he had devised a way to achieve what he wanted. You see, now that he had Victor’s soul, he had all his memories and skills; he knews of the blob zombies and how he made them his servants. However, Randale had harvested the souls of a modern countries worth of people, he knew many things, and among them arcane secrets lost to time. He needed to make a short stop first. He saw a possible vessel he could use for protection while he regained his power....
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 21, 2017, 04:56:39 pm
Helen nodded at that. "We might have to ask the others, but according to Hector's report when we were heading there, they have reason to think her eating several of the attackers somehow affected this." she said. "In which case, look around the lower level, try to see if we can find any spots were a lingering aura seems to match up with the ones left where Mica was hit." she said. "If we have a match, that likely confirms their guess about it affecting the, well...people she ate, instead of her." she said softly.
Meanwhile as Hector sighed and left the room, Nathaniel was sitting across from Floyd. "Did good work out there. Finest gunnery I've ever seen." he remarked. "Was thinking about some things. I mean this is the heaviest gear I've ever seen them carrying. They're getting equipment from somewhere, beyond what they used to have." he said. "Hardly a bunch of insurgents at this point I guess. Wait, what was the deal with that anyway?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 21, 2017, 05:18:10 pm
Floyd chews on one end of an unlit cigar, "Well. I did a couple of terms in the middle east. Two Iraq terms and Two Afganistan terms. I was either a armored company or jus' plain boots on the ground, in an' old M1 Abrams. I was discharged due to an injury. An IED f- messed my leg up somethin' proper. Gave me some creaky knees." He muses, scratching his beard. He puts the cigar in his mouth, "Hey kid, do ya smoke cigars?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 21, 2017, 05:25:41 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "I see. Seemed like about the right timing." he said. "Wasn't sure since it'd be rude to go prying into stuff like that, wasn't sure at first about asking." he admitted, looking down a bit. "Might as well. Used to smoke, before all this started. Kinda got a bit lower on the priority list once finding food and ammo become a daily fact of life."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 21, 2017, 06:10:43 pm
Floyd lights the cigars and passes Nathenial the cigar, "i's fine, kid." He says, puffing his own cigar.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 21, 2017, 06:20:07 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that before taking a puff, a bit unused to it after all that time, relaxing a bit. "Guessing it wasn't much better than trying and failing to stop all this zombie shit." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 21, 2017, 08:35:57 pm
The guard watched the door to operating room six with growing unease. There was strange scraping sound coming from it. It sounded almost like someone was working on the door with a draw knife or a planer. After a bit, a small hole suddenly appeared and a single perfect white tooth jutted through. The tooth withdrew, and the scraping started again. This time, several teeth came through and the whole was widened exponentially. An eye was pressed to the hole, and then a single long arm tipped with a spindly black hand was thrust through. It slapped and clawed fitfully at the outside of the door, seeking the door nob. When it found the nob, it turned it and the door clicked open.
"You could have just opened it." Said the guard, "It wasn't locked."
Mica grinned at him. "Where is lizard? Where is Kat-nyp?" ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Quinn finished up and set the medbay to tie things up. The machine set to work carefully suturing incisions and setting splints, an odd operation to watch, but one that was carried out with disturbing rapidity. "Alright, I think that's it for the main bulk of the operation." Dr. Maskens commented. "Are you alright Dr. Quinn?" Quinn wandered woozily over to the operating rooms single desk and sat in it's surprisingly comfortable swivel chair. "It's fine." Quinn said simply, "Just a bit *yawn* tired..."
"If you were so tired, you shouldn't have been-" Quinn waved her admonishment away. "Yes yes, I think you can finish without me..." he sighed. Dr. Maskens shook her head at him disapprovingly. "And this is what the farm has to work with for medical staff? How unfortunate."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 21, 2017, 09:17:08 pm
Floyd scratches the underside of his chin, he gives Nathan a little look before letting a out a sigh through his nose. "What's done is done. What matters is what ya have to come home to, what ya fought for. And we ain't extinct yet, so there's still somethin' left in that regard."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 21, 2017, 09:24:10 pm
Hector meanwhile made his way over to where Mica had been scrambling to force her way outside, smiling a bit. "Hey Mica. You okay?" he asked, as part of his having taken all this time checking on the others that had been in the center when the attack happened. "Quinn's here and he's treating Dee. They said he'll live, but they needed a bionics expert because of some of his injuries." he said. "As for Catnip...we've got three people who deal with weird stuff like this on a daily business."
"They'll fix her. I'm certain of it"
Nathaniel paused a moment at that. He wasn't sure what to say at that. Lost in thought for a moment, before he perked up. "You're right. Still worth it, so long as there's something left to fight for."
Later on, they spent hours spent poring over the figures, crunching numbers and examining numerous maps provided to them. Helen, Quinn, and Victor used the spots dotted all over the center to triangulate, each minute difference helping their calculations, Quinn doing much of the actual calculation, Helen updating notes and markings on their collection of maps, Victor both helping to update the notes and keeping the three of them well-supplied with coffee.
In the morning, the room they'd commandeered as a study was a mess of maps, arcane texts, and over a dozen pages of notes strewn across a table, all of them passed out from exhaustion. Helen from having already spent the evening traveling and fighting before this, Victor from his own ordeals that evening, and Quinn from having had chronically slept little to begin with. But among the maps and notes, at last they had a rough series of coordinates.
Of the notes though, a few left them unnerved. A minority of the auras had no discernible direction, as if lost to The Veil, and some had wildly different directions indicated, leaving no way to reliably judge their exact position. Catnip was among those pulled in a different direction. Worse, they were more and more certain that she had indeed been teleported away.
Nathaniel and Hector had spent the entire night manning guard shifts outside the room, not only ensuring there weren't disturbed but also to ensure against sabotage. Nathaniel entered early in the morning to check on them, making note of the markings on the old operations maps he'd lent them. He committed the grid marking to memory, just in case, before another set of notes caught his eye.
The notes indicating that Catnip's position shook him to his core. Part of him hoped that maybe only the bishop was affected, but what was the alternative? That Catnip was turned into a rat, possibly permanently. He wasn't sure how the others would react if he explained this, deciding to keep quiet for now. Hector in particular had been wracked with an uncharacteristic degree of worry.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 21, 2017, 09:35:08 pm
While all this had been going on Drifter had managed to find something he could use as a pair of crutches and had made his way out of the medical facilities while others were distracted. Grumbling to himself about how someone could have gotten him his peg leg from the farm since the prosthetic was fucked he made his way to the nearest quiet place and pulled out the radio he had borrowed from Roland. "Hey, Farm? Let my girl know I'm alright. She's probably worried and I don't want her sitting there any longer than she has to without knowing how I'm doing."
A rather tired Bandit told him he'd relay the message and walked out of the radio room. He'd spent most of his time sitting there in case any report of things coming to the farm came through. Now he found Alice sitting in the library distracting herself. Upon hearing the news she jumped up and hugged him, nearly shouting with joy as she said "Thank you!"
Bandit just hugged her back and then went back to the radio room.
Meanwhile...
Roland had left the farm and had been making his way across the country side. It would take time but he would get to his destination. From there he’d have to improvise.
Nothing of note had happened on his travel there so far and nothing much would though he wasn’t aware of that at the time.
Meanwhile a group of nearly a hundred men had gathered in front of the stage. The man atop it smiled underneath the black metal mask as he adjusted his cap. Tapping the clipboard in his hand he began “Welcome to the public adress! I’m sorry so many of you have to be hearing this through radio but you can thank the enemy for that. Such a shame what happened to the old theatre. Onto our first piece of business for the day before we get you back to the regularly scheduled programing.”
Pacing on the stage as he read the first announcment “First Stormtrooper division would like to let the public know they have cleared the old Housing District of mutant infestations and have prepared the area for the construction crews. As such new housing will be available for approved citizens! Check with you local Kommandant to see if you’ve been approved in two months.”
His smile broadened as he saw the next piece of business and motioned to one of his men on the stage. The man walked to the side entrance and barked a command before returning to his place. The man with the microphone continued “Oh I just love this part! Todays public executions are occuring so you may desire to have your children go to the other room! Our first participant is an impure specimen, bring them out now would you?”
As he said this a man who’d been mutated into a rat person was brought out and forced to his knees at the front of the stage. The crowd taunted him and threw a handful of things at him before the host of the show motioned for them to calm so he could read more “Our nex..oh it’s two.” Looking up for a moment to one of his men who shrugged in response he continued “Our next particpants are a couple of mentally deficient individuals who were found together, hidden by their mother. I pitty the woman I truly do but she well knew the rules. Regardless they will be joining the line up.”
As he stopped and read the last ‘participant’ he heard the crowd cheer before one of his men whispered into his ear. Sighing almost dramatically he said “I’m sorry folks but the intelligence division hasn’t wrapped up their interrogations so he will not be joining us. Our friend from the enemy 3rd Para division will have to enjoy the company of our intelligence operatives.”
The crowd booed at this but calmed down as he pulled out his luger and scanned the audience. Spotting a young man of sixteen he motioned him up to the stage and handed him the gun. “See this young lad my friends? He is even at this age willing to kill the enemies of his people! The impure and unclean! Now fire lad.”
The youth executed the three before being given a small item and led back to the audience by one of the soldiers on the stage. He gave the remaining announcements with little actual interest but feigned it for his audience. As he finished his announcements the audience stood and shouted “HEIL! HEIL! HEIL! HEIL!” and quickly saluting betwixt the repitions.
Walking off the stage after saying good bye one of his intelligence operatives handed him a report and started explain it “Herr Uber Kommandant Mccall as you can see...”
Elsewhere a large group of men and women dressed in US Paratrooper uniforms circa 1940s were firing out of the large housing building at the Kommandant’s men. As she moved down the corridor she could hear the distinct PING of garand clips ejecting and dull thuds of mortars firing from behind the building. She stopped as a medic dragged a man to a back room for patching up, leaving a trail of blood behind him. The man was screaming in pain as the medic tried to assure him he’d be fine.
Continuing on she found the command room and saw Maxim sitting on a chair with a tourniquet on his leg as he operated the radio. “And I told you if you don’t get us that support we’re going to lose Outpost Charlie!”
The woman took the mic from Maxim and spoke rather calmly as she said “Command this is Veronica. If we don’t get support soon we’ll be over run and that will give them an avenue straight to Voshkova. If you don’t get me that support I will pull my men back and preserve as many lives as possible to help mount that defense in spite of your orders.”
Command responded rather quickly with “Support in route. Stand strong and don’t pull back Veronica.”
Veronica sighed as she handed the mic back to Maxim and moved to find a good window for sniping those machine guns that were keeping them in the building. Tucking her ears into her helmet she scratched her nose for a second before lining up her first shot once she was on the roof. Pulling the trigger her springfield took out one of the men operating the machineguns. She vaguely heard someone on the other side of the road shout “Anyone see the sniper? Is it sargent Fluffers?!?”
Veronica gave an annoyed smile as she continued firing on targets. That nick name both amused and annoyed her to no end.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 22, 2017, 12:38:04 am
Mica scraped the door with her teeth again, looking at hector from the corner of her eye as he walked towards her. The impression this gave was more than a little disconcerting. Nearby, a nurse stood against the wall opposite the door, looking like she'd love to be able to press herself through the wall. A small hole in the door had formed by the action of Mica's chewing, and she looked through the hole. "Stoo-pid Hek-tor," She said seriously, and shifting her focus on Hector, "Queen already fixin' lizard. My-ka gonna find lizard. Dee?" She went back to peering through the door, saw what she wanted to see, and reached through to open the door.
"It wasn't locked ma'am." Said the nurse. Mica ignored her, and from inside the room Hector heard Mica making a massive fuss over everything she witnessed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 22, 2017, 05:52:17 am
Hector gave a little sigh at that, watching her peering out through the hole she made in the door. "True, I think by now they're finished fixing him up." he said, only to facepalm at her reaction to the scene that unfolded, not bothering to stop her given what'd likely happen to anyone that gets in his way. Best-case scenario would be having to patch up his mail yet again when he'd just finished repairing it earlier in the day.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 22, 2017, 11:18:20 am
A little while later Mica was sat next the Dee's bed, gently stroking his hand and making pathetic mewling sounds."Dee... Wake up for My-ka." She kissed him gently on the forehead again, and continued her piteous whimpering.
"She isn't going to eat." Dervish predicted, "Not until he wakes up. I don't know when that will be though." Dr. Maskens handed him a cup of coffee, extra sugar. "How many did we lose doctor?"
Maskens sipped her own coffee. Dervish was about to repeat his question when she said "thirty two dead, twenty six injured, twenty nine missing and presumed dead." The number of dead, injured, and missing was disturbingly high. when totaled, it made up about half of the centers previous population. He didn't have to ask about damage, one simply had to look around. The communications dish had been mortared and most of the centers motorcade had been demolished. Dervish had gone out front to have a smoke, and had been dismayed to see that the SLS and it's load of chickens had been burned and blown up. "Do you think the center will recover?" He asked. Dr. Maskens sipped her coffee and stated, "I don't know."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 22, 2017, 02:26:58 pm
Kathrine spent the night curled up next to the transparent container with 'Catnip' in it. She hadn't slept, but still wasn't tired. She mostly just wanted Catnip back. The Catnip that got really shy whenever Kathrine was around, and loved feeling her tail, and liked just watching her cook, and told people off whenever they were mean. Kathrine also wanted a drink, but getting one herself would involve leaving Catnip behind, and she had just gotten her to calm down finally. Humming quietly seemed to help, even if it wasn't in tune or even if it didn't have a melody to it at all, so she just hummed. Kathrine didn't feel up for singing, though. She still felt ill from watching Mica disembowel that God's Army executioner. It had only just dawned on her that he was seconds away from actually killing her, all because she stepped forward to yell at him. That's what made Mica and Catnip move, and was probably why Catnip left, and- "I'm sorry, Mistress..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 22, 2017, 02:47:03 pm
In the morning, after Nathaniel checked on the three of them, he saw Hector pacing nervously, awake after his intermittent rest in between guard shifts. "They have any coordinates?" he asked, to which Nathaniel went a bit pale. The expression concerned Hector, before the tank commander answered with a nod. "Yes. Got it on the old XIV map, rough clutter of locations, more likely to be a large camp rather than a permanent settlement."
"Then we need to counter-attack as soon as possible. Today, or tomorrow at the latest. They likely won't stay any longer than it takes for their victims to expire on the cross, which gives us a day or two at most. If they bother doing the same to their unmutated victims, that's more work that buys us time." he said. He wasn't optimistic about the possibility of saving many of them, if any at all. But one thought dominated. "If Catnip is there, we have to hurry."
That paleness returned to Nathaniel's face. He finally worked up the nerve to speak. "...if Catnip isn't turned into a fucking rat thing, she isn't going to be there." Nathaniel explained. "Some of them got booted in other directions, including Catnip. She's either a goddamn rat, or lost to us." The knight went quiet, his great helm concealing the emotions he struggled to hide. "...I see. Load up a shell from those suits of power armor into the tank. As intact as you can get. I've got a plan for after all this. For now, we should go get Drifter his old pegleg, and I have a shield to remake. But first I have something to tend to." he said, turning to leave.
He decided to go check on Roxanne, first. "Rox? You doing alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 22, 2017, 04:27:00 pm
Roxanne had been helping with the injured. The staff was severely understaffed and she offered to help. Thing was, she had use magic that one time she had an interrogation with crow. The rumor of that spread but no one took it seriously; now after what they had witnessed, she had various looks of distrust thrown her way.
She listened to Hector when she approached. “Yes, I am alright. Not dead at least!”, she joked. “How about you? How you been holding up? I know you are tough as nails but still. I worry about you…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 22, 2017, 04:35:11 pm
Hector nodded at that question, smiling some. "Glad that you're still in one piece. And I'm fine." he answered. "Unlike last little adventure, not a scratch on me. Few busted links in the mail, but by the time I got out of the tank it was nothing but mopping up." he pointed out. "Good news though is we got a location at least. Likely going to go after it later today or tomorrow."
"I suspect we all need rest at this point, but we won't have long to counter-attack." he added. "Enough time for me to get a few supplies plus a spare leg for Drifter, fix my mail, and finish what I started on my shield." he said. "About to head back to the farm in fact. Can come along if you want, or want me bringing anything back?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 22, 2017, 10:02:28 pm
"Actually, I would like to go back with you. Want to gather a few things as well. This time, I won't forget my laser rifle.", Roxanne said, "As for this counter attack thing, is it going to be like last time? You know, with the regenerating dead? I am not as equipped as I was last time...even with my new bionic...that is mostly a last resort type of thing."
Roxanne looked around a bit and pulled Hector close to whisper in his ear. "I don't thing these people care much for your uniform or anyone who practice the arcane. Guess it would be best to give them some space to let them sort out their thoughts", Roxanne whispered; she then let go of Hector., "Alright then! Just give me the word on when to leave!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 22, 2017, 10:17:27 pm
"Understood. Good to both check on the farm. Nathaniel will bring the leg back for Drifter after dropping us off." he said, before setting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't know what to expect yet. Might be a bishop, might not. All we have is position. My idea is get ready, organize an attack, but just in case we need some way to counter whatever magic they might throw at us." he said. "I'd also insist on you bringing the katar as well. Doesn't drain your power, compliments your skillset, and last time you made use of it the two of us cleaned house. Well, until Roland dealt with the bishop."
"And hmm. I'd hope not, as many tasks as we've done for them, even deputized for that bandit raid?" he pointed out. "Then again, that was before the choir boys meant I stopped being the only person in this outfit." he said, looking down a bit. "We'll give them space though. Nathaniel should be ready in the tank soon, so we can set out immediately if you'd like."
Meanwhile Helen had woken up by now, blushing as she realized she'd been resting against Victor, looking around momentary. She found the notes still in the utter mess they'd left them in, and Nathaniel's map traded for a note in his handwriting saying he'd taken it to help plan a counter-attack.
She got up, smiling as she draped her cloak around Victor like a blanket, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully for now, no doubt still exhausted after his ordeal, before regarding Quinn. Some thoughts came to her mind, ones she brushed off that evening out of urgency.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 22, 2017, 10:37:33 pm
Quinn whimpers in his sleep, shakily breathing before suddenly waking up with a gasp. Eyes wide and teary, he rubs his eyes and sniffles slightly. He looks at Helen, "I sup-" He clears his throat, "I'm assuming you want to talk."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 22, 2017, 10:56:50 pm
Roxanne nodded at Hector’s remarks. “Yeah, I hope we don’t have to deal with anything of that magnitude after what happened here.”, Roxanne remarked, “At least we are one step ahead of them in terms of knowing where they are. That should be good. I am ready to leave now if you want. I’ll be sure to bring the katar as well, external weaponry proves to be effective as you saw...just need to bring the correct one…”
She then took a little book and handed it to Hector. “This are some basic spells god’s army seems to use. Might be helpful somewhat. Shall we get going?”, Roxanne told Hector.
Victor had a dream while he fell asleep. He saw a phantom stalking him wherever he went. No matter what he would do, it would relentlessly stalk him. He couldn’t trust anyone, not Helen, not Roxanne, not even his own shadow…
The dream was confusing and unsettling but he eventually woke up. He shrugged it off as he could remember very little of it. Victor smiled as he noticed he was wearing Helen’s cloak. It reminded him of how lucky he was after what he had just been through. He then notice Helen looking at Quinn and then the latter wakes up. Something seems to bother her.; he would ask later as it seemed the two are about to talk about something.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 22, 2017, 11:07:32 pm
Hector nodded in response, turning to lead the way back out to the doors. "No telling what to expect just yet, but how we approach them depends on how well we can defend against that. As many people as can be shielded against any likely threat as people, with any others waiting to join the attack the instant the bishop is either dead or if we confirm they lack one. If it has to be only one person going grin, I'll do it" he said, smiling some. "As for that, good. I hope that it serves you well." he sad, regarding the book with curiosity.
"We'll see what I can discern from it. Been taking notes I see. Anything others have encountered that we haven't?" he asked, unaware of Helen having encountered a rogue blood mage working as a bishop in her travels, detailing their implied access to silver glyphs, blood magic, a symbol of judgement, and methods to break monster-sealing spells.
Helen nodded at that. She had her mask and cloak off, meaning other than the barbute and gauntlets she looked normal for once. "Urgent matters are taken care of, so now we have time. And thank you for that. Couldn't have been done without you." she said. "Guessing it's best not to around anyone else though?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 22, 2017, 11:08:49 pm
Quinn nods, "That'd be preferable, yes. We probably should head back, actually. I have stuff that'd make things easier to explain." He says, looking at Victor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 22, 2017, 11:22:03 pm
Roxanne shakes her head a Hector’s question. “Nothing I have known. This is mostly stuff Victor and Helen have graciously provided and some of my own stuff. Maybe you can learn from it more as the Helena and Victor are very good at describing their weaknesses and the such.", Roxanne answered She awaited Hector’s orders, for now simply answering his question in an eager manner.
Victor saw and heard what Helen and Quinn were talking about. It seemed serious, he would only intervene if called upon. The stare from quinn made him become a bit unsettled as if he was being accused of something. He clinged to Helen’s cloak and waited.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 22, 2017, 11:25:48 pm
Bandit had caught enough to figure out something bad had happened. Something really bad. He'd finished up cooking a few minutes ago and was sitting at the radio tapping a pencil on the table. With a somewhat determined look underneath the cloth mask he reached for the radio and tuned it before clicking it on and saying "This is Bandit boys. How's business going?"
Several voices piped up letting him know it was good and that they'd stop by soon to drop off his share. He nodded as the last of them piped down and said "First crew to bring me a God's Army motherfucker gets to keep my portion of their profits for the next week. A week and a half if you bring me a car battery and jumper cables. Right lads, get it done soon cause I want a chat wit him."
Switching the radio back to the previous frequency Bandit stood up and walked out the door of the building as he shook his head. He was going to have a 'chat' with one of them alright. His short range radio piped up in his pocket as it blared a handful of voices talking about god's army and how they thought they'd seen some of them moving. Pulling a cigarette from his bag he decided to have a smoke for the first time in years as he grabbed a blow torch out of the workshop and checked that it worked.
As he went to where he'd been sleeping and prepared the place he couldn't help but think of that old basement. As he set the plastic on the floor around the chair he set in the middle of the room he remembered one of the men he'd ran with dragged some information out of an enemy gang member. He'd make whoever he got talk or kill him trying.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 22, 2017, 11:32:28 pm
"No worries. Probably will be rather helpful then. Should ensure Quinn gets a look at it too, if he hasn't seen it already." the knight remarked.
Soon enough they reached the door, where outside the tank was parked nearby, Nathaniel handing over an old cash card to one of the center merchants who'd helped haul something into it. "Spoils of war or not, it's the least I can do for helping get that damn thing in there."
Helen smiled some, giving Victor a gentle peck on the cheek before gathering cloak and mask once again, once she noticed Victor was awake. "Good morning, Victor. I'm sorry for keeping you up so late. I'll be back soon, need to tend to something at Quinn's lab." she said, before adressing Quinn. "Very well then. If those two are planning what I think they're planning, I'll also need to see what your collection might have to assist in their idea, but that's for later." she said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 22, 2017, 11:43:35 pm
Roxanne nods at Hector’s remarks. “Yes, would be a good idea to show Quinn but I doubt Helen and Victor would not have shared their findings with one another.”, Roxanne said. When they reached the tank, Roxanne regarded Nathaniel with smile and a hug. “Never got to tank the littlest tank commander for getting me out of there!”, Roxanne told him with a mocking tone of gratitude, “So you will be taking us home? Lead the way captain!”
Victor smiled as she kissed him and gathered her stuff. “Don’t worry, will do some tests of my own in the meantime. Hope you two find what you are looking for.”, Victor said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 22, 2017, 11:45:29 pm
"Alright. Good morning, Victor." Quinn states, he gestures for Helen to follow. He gets into the pick-up and drives back to the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 12:22:34 am
Hector smiled some, regarding Nathaniel's blush with amusement as Roxanne hugged him. "It's fine. I'm hardly the one to thank after all, if anything it was Victor and that...thing that walked out of him." Nathaniel remarked, soon opening up the rear hatch for the three to get in, Hector starting it up to lead the way back to the farm.
Helen nodded at that. "And I'm sorry for putting off important matters of our own, but as hectic as things have been...when I return, if you wish it." she said, soon leaving with Quinn, taking note of the tank having left by that time.
"So, I suppose this is a good moment to start as well. Something troubles you, from what I can guess." she said softly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 23, 2017, 12:40:28 am
Bandit had finished his preparations. The place was ready for some messy business as he stepped out and started walking to the bridge. Lighting another cigarette as he reached it he walked to the other side before deciding to pull off his hoodie and tie it around his waist. To anyone that spotted him they'd notice the burns across quite a bit of his chest and stomach as well as the numerous tattoos, the most prominent of which being the phrase 'Get rich, die trying' on his arm and a set of 3 church spires over the left side of his chest.
His short range radio crackled to life and his ears perked up at the mention of "Okay got one of the fucks, gonna head up to Bandit mates, see how this goes."
It wouldn't be long now he thought as he took one of his pain pills and watched the way up to the bridge.
Alice meanwhile had spotted him heading to the bridge and decided to leave him to his business. Hefting one of the training swords she practiced some of the instructions in one of the books she'd read on a makeshift training dummy she'd put together. It wasn't the most ideal way to practice but it was better than nothing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 23, 2017, 12:55:59 am
Quinn sighs, "Something has for... Ten years if I'm recalling correctly. I'll discuss further once we're at my lab." he states, his monotone wavering slightly while staring blankly at the road.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 23, 2017, 01:05:28 am
Roxanne couldn't help but giggle at Nathaniel's reaction to her hug. "Victor already know I appreciate what he did for me and the knight here does as well, no need to tell him. And that "thing" has a name, Randael. I used to talk to it and he guided me through the apocalypse, seems he is gone now; not a surprise he would help me.", Roxanne responded, she hopped in after Hector and Nathaniel. She let them do their thing and observed, for once, she was attentive inside this beast as a ride in this usually meant business.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 01:23:36 am
Nathaniel nodded at that. "So that's their name. Unexpected as it was to witness, I'm still grateful that you're still in one piece as a result." he remarked. Soon enough the two settled into the routine that Roxanne finally had a moment to observe without the heat of battle, or the tension of an imminent one, to distract her.
They worked as though both were naturals at the roles they took on in the tank, Hector turning on one of four switches and turning a key, the dull whir of the electric engine, installed with Catnip's help, spinning to life. A moment of banter on the radio confirmed the camera was on standby as Nathaniel remarked, and Hector in turn flicked a switch that lit up the panels in each seat with an array of camera views, still left in the stark black and white of thermal imaging, swiftly turned off by Nathaniel. With Hector operating pivoting pedal and the track's levers, the controls at his fingertips were beyond what was the norm for old machines, freely adjusting the auxiliary camera and radio controls so long as they were turned on and configured properly, from the master control panel the commander's seat had.
It wasn't long before they reached the farm, the whine of that modified engine cutting out as they came to a stop, Nathaniel briefly overhearing snippets of unfamiliar radio chatter before he added his arrival back home.
Helen nodded at that. A momentary surprise, finding herself wondering what the cause might be, though his notes strongly hinted at something she had a distressing familiarity with, staying quiet for the time being until they arrived, letting Quinn lead the way into the lab.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 23, 2017, 01:29:36 am
The rat watches the stripey thing, listens to it hum quietly, and waits. It could be a trick to lure it out. Stupid stripey thing didn't know it couldn't get out though. Another thing, a big pale skinned female came and gently laid a soft warm thing over the stripey thing. Stupid pale thing.
"Hey, Kathrine? How you doin' sweetheart?" Asked Khaki, trying to hide the redness in her cheeks that had come with tears, "Can I sit with you?" ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The scout finished his report, it hadn't been a long one. The scout was used to making such reports, and had become quiet adept at delivering even extended events in short order. "So that's it then? The center got lucky, destroyed the mobile foundry, killed about half our men, destroyed a lot of armor, and seems to have either killed or captured Bishop Casdin. In return, we've knocked out a majority of their infrastructure, captured a bunch of heretics and heathens, sown chaos and death amongst the survivors, and seriously crippled or killed several of the centers 'hero's.'"
They'd accomplished what they set out to do, but the loss of Bishop Casdin, one of the mobile foundries, and so many War walkers was painful. The Bishop hadn't even sent prisoners along accurately. In truth, of all the people transported to the camp, about half of them had been killed on arrival. One man had appeared buried up to the hips in the ground, a pool of blood rapidly spreading out from where his torso met the dirt. Another woman had appeared inside the camps single shade oak, the only evidence of her existence being an arm lying on the ground next to the trunk. The last of them, another woman, had fallen screaming from the sky and had driven herself about a foot into the earth upon impact.
"Alright, crucify the mutants and the body polluters, then get this camp moving. We are done here." Said the templar who had received the report. "Leave a vanguard here, make it look convincing. If they suspect we've moved on, they may come looking. Leave a couple prisoners behind, I'm sure Archbishop will understand." The templar, who had been an officer in the military before the cataclysm, then asked, "Anything else to report?"
The scout went through his memory, "Yes, I think so. The spy we still have in the center claims that two mutants responded differently to Bishop Casdins wand. One was simply not transported, the other seems to have been changed into a rat."
"Strange. The presence of the mute isn't a surprise. The transformation though... It's not unheard of I guess. By now everyone has seen Archbishop change those who displease him into animals." The templar was reminded of the most memorable example, one he'd been there for along with fallen templar Maple and his other peers. One of their number had thought to question the Archbishop, and in response Astor had given a simple wave of his hand and the man had been changed into a dog. "Definetly not out of the question." He reiterated. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dee was dreaming. He was lying in bed, cooling off after a day of working on Medeina. His workshop got awfully hot in the summer, thanks in no small part to the heat produced by his various projects. After one of those days, he would strip to his skivvies and lie in his room, cooling off along with the air in his workshop. "Why is sky blue lizard?" Mica asked. Surprised her looked over, seeing her lying naked and supine next to him with her arms crossed. She rolled her head to face him, and she winked. "This is gonna be one of those dreams?" He thought, not exactly displeased. He rolled to face her, but felt a twinge of pain in his chest. "Don't move lizard," Mica whispered, "My-ka do it for you." His room was gone, and he all that was left was him, his bed, and Mica. She grabbed one of his hands and placed it on her left breast saying "Bold lizard, touchin' My-ka's pill-ohs." and giggled. He found that he wasn't averse to her advances, and allowed his hand to rest where she placed it, even squeezing a little. Her face took on an amorous, hungry look and she made to roll atop him, but just then she and the bed vanished. "W-what? Mica?" He coughed. The ground was cold and hard and, ooh, Dee had never felt more alone. What gave him the most fear though, was that in his dream, something was coming. In the distance, a wall was rushing to meet him. A wall of robot arms and legs, blasters and treads, arcing electricity and flashing lights. Dee was no worshipper, but he knew what dread god of creation this was. It was Agmen, Catnip's deity had come to him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 23, 2017, 01:48:46 am
Quinn steps up on the booth and moves aside a ceiling tile, he pulls out a small photo album and what appears to be an old lab document. "...Ten years ago I worked at a lab. As a research director. I had four other scientists who I often worked with and were good friends with. One day, the administrators had us work with the 'symbol of judgement.' I was ordered to do the ritual where you summoned the 'Archon.' I said that it was too dangerous. They didn't listen. We got directions for the ritual, a death row convict, and the symbol." He sighs, monotone wavering. "We kept it contained for Five. Hours. Then it broke containment. It killed ninteen security personnel and fourteen science personnel. It injured five security and three science personnel. Among those 19 were my acquaintances, I was one of those three injured. I almost died." Quinn sighs, eyes growing wet. "I still smell burnt hair and skin. I haven't gotten restful sleep since then. I should of died there. I don't know how I survived. When I recovered I quit. I got work either lecturing at colleges or at smaller labs." He wipes his eyes, breathing in sharply. He adjusts his glasses.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 23, 2017, 02:09:28 am
Bandit watched the tank go by and gave a nod before going back to waiting. A few minutes later a van pulled up and several men wearing hoodies and bandannas stepped out with two dragging a man with them. If it hadn't of been for the large blue cross tattooed on his chest Bandit would have thought they'd gotten the wrong guy.
Motioning for the men to follow Bandit walked across the bridge. As they got into the interior of the farm the man tried to pull free and ended up face planting. Bandit sighed as he turned and asked him "You are god's army right?"
The answer was a litany of profanity and how he'd regret messing with them, that he would be punished like the mutants he apparently valued. Bandit sighed and told the men a simple order "Beat him."
The men collected around the man proceeded to either pull out blunt instruments or go straight to kicking the man. Bandit tossed the half burnt cigarette to the side as he watched. He'd let this go on for a few minutes he thought before taking him to the room. Then this would actually begin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 23, 2017, 02:16:57 am
Roxanne witnessed watched as the two worked the tanks systems. She was impressed at the pression and knowledge they both showed as they did their part and made the tank move towards the farm.
Once in the farm and once everyone got off the tank, Roxanne kissed Nathaniel in the cheek and winked at him to see how much she could fluster him. “Hey Hector, I will go and grab my gear. You two do what you need to do, if you need me, I will be in my room. Come by once you have any updates ok? Don’t leave a girl hanging!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 02:28:08 am
Nathaniel had, upon arrival, ended up caught off-guard by that kiss, to which Hector gave a little smile. "Of course. Will check in especially if anything comes up on radio." he said, adding a little nod to the strangers and soon making his way to where he gathered the fruits of an unfinished task. Wood had been bent into the curved form of a shield in the making, getting to work with facing it first with a sheet of kevlar, then the glue-soaked canvas that normally covered the shield, strips of leather for straps and the rim set aside as well.
Nathaniel meanwhile watched with amusement as a gaggle of unfamiliar fellows, seemingly at Bandit's behest, dragged out a man with bearing a symbol he'd come to despise. Even if he didn't get into that battle-lust as readily as Hector and Roxanne did, only when his training took over, but the sight he witnessed make him smile a bit.
Helen listened intently, uncertain at first until his explanation sank in, realizing the subject of his memories. At first she set a hand on his shoulder. "So even in the scientific community, you have sensible minds such as yourself, and fools that delve too deep." she remarked, doubting that snark helped at all. "They knew though that it likes to take control of the one serving as the focus for the ritual, I'm guessing." she said softly.
She looked away a moment, before it became clear how the tone in his voice had changed, along with the emotions now evident, as she decided to hug him tightly. "My own experiences I fear are of now relief to you, and my own worries, bad memories, are more self-inflicted than yours. But know that, whether it be luck, the will of the gods, or your own means, never regret having lived where others have fallen." she said softly. "Or else you'll lose sight of what reasons remain to live another day, and those you've gained since then."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 23, 2017, 11:14:45 am
Roxanne arrived at her room and got to work getting ready. She had paid no mind to the men outside, Nathaniel and Hector seemed to fine with them and that was enough for her. The items she would take were quickly gathered: Laser sniper that she had left behind, katar on Hector’s request, and a backup UPS. She traveled light since she couldn’t carry much weight now due to mutations. She set them aside for now and went into her altar stash.
She was once more undressed save for her ceremonial robe. Tribute had been laid on the table in preparation for her usual ritual. It felt empty as she being she did this for no longer answered her prayed. “You said you would stayed with me...you said you wouldn’t leave...accept my offering and come back”, Roxanne silently prayed.
Victor was alone in the place where the magic trio had previously worked on the calculations of the teleportation magic. Now he was working on a personal project tangential to this. “86% match...how? Too high to be a coincidence...to low confirm she was transformed”, Victor said talking to himself, “And what about Mica? She is sisters with Catnip, why was she unaffected? A few things come to mind but...could she be? Then why isn’t Catnip one too?”, Victor whispered.
There were many formulas and cryptic symbols on the white boards and papers. Victor took the final results they had worked on and safely stored them in a document container the three had decided to use for this. He then erased the white boards and began to work. First order of business was to set up a weaker version of his aura spell he had set up in the farm.
The spell was easy to make, a simple chant and his own blood on a piece of paper he would burn. Now he was able to detect auras; not with as much detail as the farm, which would help him. “The is signature of Catnip and the one for the bishop...no other aura projections...Oh? I can see the spacial anomalies? No...I can see the trail of life force entering and exiting elsewhere...Definitely teleportation magic at work…”, Victor said to himself. He had begun to write more cryptic symbols and formals of his own on the now clean boards. The writing was in a code of sorts his ordered had developed so those who somehow acquired their work would not be able to read it. It was coming together. “This bastards are more dangerous than I thought...but not even they understand the arcane fully either…”, Victor mused as he looked over his data.
Elsewhere, a certain spirit of harvest had reached a peculiar building. He looked it over and entered inside. The first floor was uninteresting, what he wanted was on the underground level. The bottom level was a familiar maze, not to him, but to memories of Victor. Randael followed a very specific path. Other worldly beings attacked to which he responded with harvesting with ease. He was a spirit of harvest from the delta sub-plain, nothing here could even harm him even in this state; the denizens of delta-sub plain rarely made it to these reality except on the way he arrive here in the first place, he was summoned.
Early humans messed with a lot of things they shouldn’t have with little regard; he was one of those things. He was summoned to be used as a spirit of war. For millennia, he was passed down from person to person, kingdom to kingdom but always under the servitude of humanity. That would end soon however, the cataclysm made this world truly a wild west to see what beings would end up dominating like humans once did. He would participate in this game, and he didn’t plan to lose.
Randale had arrived to the room Victor’s memories told him it would be, well, she actually. “Victor, you sick man. You truly are a heretic aren’t you…”, Randael said as he examine the preserved body of Alt-Roxanne, “Didn’t even give her a proper burial. You couldn’t do it am I right? No, that would allow her soul to reach the afterlife and we can’t have that!. No, her body had to remain here for you to do you little experiments. And you created what I need today…” The spirit of harvest reached inside Roxanne’s body and extracted it, it was a small red shard, it glew and impossible amber color. “A soul shard...who would’ve known you would discover how to make this. This precious fuel… Now...I need vessels”, Randael said.
He put the fragment down and posed Alt-Roxanne’s body. It opened it’s eyes after years being empty. It then stood up and looked around. “This will do nicely…bypassing those weak wards was child’s play.” Randael withdrew the bionic blade and checked the power cells, empty. Didn’t matter, he would only have to walk a little and it would be good as new. The spirit of harvest learned to how to handle bionic hosts from Roxanne who was his first. This body had very similar ones so transitioning was easy. He then saw the rifle on the ground and picked it up, human hand came into view, hand that reminded him of the days before Roxanne went full mutant. This body had no pointy ears, no hue shifting eyes, no limits on carry weight, nothing of the sort; it was pure. The rifle was empty and so were his power banks. “No matter, I will make due. Time to get out and look for others. Making them join my cause should be simple.”, Randale said with a human voice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 11:55:09 am
Hector meanwhile, having set aside the unfinished shield, regarded the scene with curiosity, grinning a little under his helm. "About time we got our hands on one of those vermin, by the way." he remarked, glowering at the crusader as he approached. "Got anything useful out of him yet?" he said, deciding to pull Bandit aside and make a whispered mention of the location they already had, in the hopes that they'd get a more permanent location out of him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 23, 2017, 12:11:19 pm
Roxanne had dressed and was out of her room. She went to the little gun range they had going and fired a shots from her laser pistol. It was serious at first, but then she became angrier. She shot faster and faster disregarding accuracy; she eventually broke proper pose and fired indignantly at all targets in rapid succession all the while shouting. This went on until she noticed her power had taken a significant drain. She dropped the pistol to the floor and tears began to form on her eyes. “Why? Why don’t they leave us alone…”, Roxanne said while stifling tears, he reaction became more visceral again. “No...I will fucking kill them all!”, she shouted. He bionic sword had been deployed without her noticing. She put it away and pick up the pistol. She need a walk to calm her nerves.
Victor had determined the arcane properties the wand would have had to have for it to do what the trio thought it did. “Seems to be activate so it must have a charge of some type...doubt they would just arcane recharging. Essence? Maybe but they are smarter than that I supposed… I think I have enough data to work with…”, Victor said.
The design for the prototype was on his journal. “I will make it run off dull essence I guess, we have plenty of that at the moment, don’t want anything else to drain my life force…”, Victor commented. He put the journal away and review the math and symbolism one more time. He decided he would read more of his old projects some more. For old times sake.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 23, 2017, 12:20:10 pm
Bandit shook his head as he told Hector "Nothing yet. But I've got a few things put aside in a spot, should make him talk. If not it'll at least be a painful death. Feel free to join if you want."
Turning back to the men he'd had beating the man he told them to get him to his feet. Grabbing the man by the jaw Bandit asked him if he knew anything about where they were located. The response was the man spitting in Bandit's face. Bandit stumbled back reaching a hand up to wipe the bloody spit off his cloth mask. Regaining his composure Bandit took two steps after pulling a hammer out of his jacket and swung it low. As it impacted the man in the groin he let out a blood curdling scream.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 12:28:59 pm
Hector grinned a little at that. "Very tempting, to be honest. I do have some things to attend to eventually." he said, regarding the defiant crusader, waiting until the screams stopped, only to take off a gauntlet and deliver a punch square in the face. He wanted to break his nose after all, not crack his skull. "I'm sure he'll take good care of you, you miserable little sack of shit." he said softly.
"And soon enough I'll make as many of you vermin pay for what you've done. Before you get any bright ideas, I'm not some fallen Templar, or whatever other ideas the armor might put in that empty little head of yours. I wonder when they'll figure it out and stop mistaking me for one of their own. Maybe if I had my shield again. Knights Hospitallers' white cross on red, the inverse of your precious Templar cross. Tell me, how many finally recognize it?" he taunted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 23, 2017, 01:44:50 pm
Bandit motioned for the men to take the guy to the room as he told Hector "This is gonna be loud. Good luck with whatever it is you got to do.
They took the man to the room and left the car battery and jumpers and waited outside. Bandit tied the man to the chair and walked to the table as the man told him he'd burn on the cross. Bandit picked up a pair of pliers and walked over to the man. "Where are your camps?"
The man spat at him again and Bandit grabbed his head. Forcing his jaw open Bandit grabbed one of his teeth with the pliers. Ripping it out the man screamed as Bandit tossed the pliers back on the table and grabbed a pair of bolt cutters. "Try again."
The man told him that his order would burn this place to the ground for everything they'd done. Hefting the cutters Bandit snapped off part of one of his ears and walked to the table to grab the torch. Igniting it Bandit walked back over telling him "We don't want you bleeding out now do we? No we don't."
Bandit was fairly certain the blood curdling scream of agony could be heard throughout the farm as he burned the wound closed with the torch before setting it aside. Somehow he knew he'd be here a while.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 01:57:23 pm
Hector gave a little nod at that. "And good luck in your own endeavor." he said, soon going back to his work of preparing the shield he was making, smiling a bit at the overheard screams. He hoped that having to talk through a broken nose would make the ensuing interrogation a more amusing affair, as he carefully worked on pinning the canvas down and keeping it glued in place, along with his work of applying a leather rim around it.
Nathaniel didn't bother to watch, not quite having the same stomach for the scene that Hector had, if anything it brought back memories of the old days. Never a personal, up-close matter like this was, but still unsettling to him. The thought of so many people dead, wounded, or MIA made it easier to push those thoughts out of his head, however.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 23, 2017, 02:35:55 pm
Kathrine quietly nods her head. Before Khaki can sit down, though, she brings her finger up to her lips. "Shhhh. Catnip doesn't like loud noises..." The blanket Khaki brought was warm enough but mean people that do dumb things don't deserve to be comfortable. Kathrine just quietly lifts it up and slides it off of her, dumping it on the floor next to her. "I'm fine, Miss Khaki."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 23, 2017, 02:39:29 pm
As Roxanne was walking around the farm, she recalled that evening; when she and Victor took the “Spiritual Pills”. The winds of memories were particularly strong that day and they witness many memories. Sure, they had shared that one memory in the end but they each had ones the other’s didn’t get to see… She recalled it vividly...they were there, watching. They knew had come to where she lived and scouted out the farm. Her only solace was how they died in the end...that always brought a smile to her face.
They knew the farm residents by name...they know who she was...they knew of Randael and of another spirit even she wasn’t aware off… They had planned to attack the farm...They wanted them dead and that attack only made her fears and anger greater. She would be damn if she would let them take anything from her!
Her thought process was interrupted by a loud scream coming from one of the shacks. She was close enough to hear the agony in their tone but let it be. Hector and the others would already be on top of it if it was serious. For now...she needed to revisit that realm but she needed a partner, someone to protect her now that Randael was gone
Not 30 minutes since Randael had exited the building did he find his first target. A young woman, looked like early 20’s, was being cornered by 5 bandits as they were approaching her. She was wielding some sort of self made sword but the bandits all had rifles. “Come one baby”, said the one in front, “Put the sword down and we will show you a good time. We won’t kill you, promise”
Randale smiled with his new body and approached the scene. He took out rifle he had slung behind and pointed at them before calling out, “Hey boys! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size!” What the bandits saw was slender woman in a weird hooded robe telling them to stand down. They smirked and scoffed.
“Looks like was have yourself a feisty one boys. Sorry but we already found the whore we wanted. Shoot to kill!”, the leader ordered. The shots flew thru the air but they all seemed to “disappear” when they came in contact with Alt-Roxanne’s body. Randael smiled again. “My turn!” He proceeded to walk towards the bandits and he deployed Alt-Roxanne’s bionic blade. “What the fuck! Kill her already!”, said the bandit leader, he too took out his rifle and joined the shootout.
All those shots suffered the same fate. Randael whistled as one by one he stabbed and killed the bandits. They didn’t even moved but just kept firing. When it was over, the woman they had tried to kill was on the floor with her sword next to her. “Hey, are you alright?”, Randael asked through Alt-Roxanne’s body. “W-who the hell are you?! How did you do that?”, asked the woman on the ground.
“Roxanne L- Blackmore. My name is Roxanne Blackmore.”, said Randael, he extended a hand to the woman, “What is yours?”
“My name is...Melody…”, the woman replied, “I am wanderer...I am never in one place…”
“Melody? What a pretty name. Say, you are quite young aren’t you? Why are traveling alone? Mind if I ask for your company? At least for a while?”, Randael commented.
Melody was short on supplies and needed someone to help her make it to the next city to resupply. She was about to die and she save her...maybe she would give other people a chance...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 23, 2017, 03:14:18 pm
Khaki looked at the rat. It was one of the sewer rats the center often had trouble keeping out of the basement. Larger than a normal rat, thanks to whatever they were putting in the water before the cataclysm. Khaki thought perhaps Kathrine was in shock, willing to believe anything if it meant not having to face what really happened. Despite Kathrine's protestation, she hauled the blanket back up over her but didn't try a third time when Kathrine pushed it away again.
"I'm not." she says. "Crow is gone." There's a digital polaroid in her hand, a photo taken by Catnip a few years ago when the mechanic had suddenly turned up at the refugee center. It was a glossy picture of Khaki, another woman, and a man with a coat of sleek black feathers below the neck. "You will finish it." Commanded Agmen.
"Fuck off." Commanded Dee, "I ain't Catnip, I ain't touching her train. I have my own projects and concerns to deal with."
The air about him filled with furious static and Dee expected to be struck down. "Your concerns are not my concerns, you will finish it. It is your duty. Catnip has been swept from the board and you have sinned against me by destroying a creation of my inspiration." Dee had never hated his own voice more than he had when hearing it boomed at him out of the mass of robotics that was Agmen's manifestation to him. An image of the thing that had disgorged the power armor robot things, including the sizable hole Dee had put in it's side, drifted by.
"You... That thing was 'inspired' by you?" He asked, incredulous of Catnips god and the part it had just admitted to playing in the attack.
"The creator matters little, I care not who creates what I inspire, only that it is done. You will do as I command, or you too will be swept from the board."
"Fuck off." Dee repeated, and in response he felt a hot blast of air as Agmen flung him away into deeper sleep. As the dream left him, he could hear the petulant laughter of Catnips childish god.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 03:39:09 pm
Hector soon had his shield mostly finished and left in his room, when he went to the forge to gather more rings for the few holes in his mail he had left to fix up. Passing by the door to Catnip's shrine however, seeing the sign gave him pause. The crude writing, and remembering the purpose of that room, shocked him momentarily. A curiosity came over him, calmly making his way into the room. He unslung the scabbard of his sword, setting it aside and examining the altar. He'd never given it much thought. He hadn't been that much of a religious man, not over a decade at least, though the desire to twist the words of God's Army brought back snippets of old bible passages to his memory, words to counter their own. This was something utterly alien to him, however.
Despite his reservations, he knelt and admired the ritual trinkets, uncertain now. Lost in thought. "Your prophet, and our friend, is lost to us now, isn't she?" he thought aloud. "The very reason we gathered to complete that machine of hers. The act of creation, as the sign says. I'm guessing the work of the forge is beneath you. And what have I created, that compares to what Catnip's done? Nothing. Even the tank was restoration, not creation." he said, uncertain now what to say, and why he did so.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 23, 2017, 04:18:29 pm
It had been some time and the screaming had only gotten worse before a few minutes respite from it. The gangsters had moved away from the shack and were sitting around chatting. The man pushed the door to the shack open and started sprinting towards the bridge. Bandit walked out of the building a few moments later with a knife hanging out of his stomach and his Tec in hand as he made his way to where he could see the man and leaned against the nearest building.
Lifting the gun with one hand as his men finally realized what was going on Bandit fired his first shot and missed. Taking more careful aim Bandit fired again and blew out his kneecap. Motioning for his men to go get the man Bandit tucked his Tec into his belt and grabbed his left arm that was hanging rather limply at his side. "GET THAT MOTHERFUCKER! I WANT HIS FUCKING HEAD!
His men had already reached the man and one gave him a running kick to the jaw before hauling him up and dragging him back towards the shack.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 04:39:38 pm
Nathaniel had seen the events unfold, and the first wild shot drew his attention, drawing his pistol and taking aim. Much to his surprise and amusement, before he could even pull the trigger the man's kneecap erupted into a spray of blood and bone, exactly where he'd been about to fire at.
He advanced, grumbling and holstering his pistol, before adding a hard kick to the side, glaring down at the crusader. "Worthless son of a bitch, the sooner you're rotting in hell the better." he said, a hand still near his holster. He then turned to Bandit, reaching for one of the pockets of his jacket. "Fucking hell, you alright? Good shooting by the way. Would've just blown his brains out if we didn't need him alive."
Hector had been interrupted in his attempt to meditate, to gather his thoughts, anything that would let him focus, when he heard the shooting. He stood, grabbing his sword again and looked out, only to see that things by now seemed to be under control. "We'll finish this little chat another time." he remarked to himself, closing the door behind him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 23, 2017, 05:41:03 pm
Roxanne had walked around the farm some more and was by the vehicles now at this point. She heard the gunshot and rushed towards the bridge while applying her bionic sword. She saw bandit shot the man and she sided with him without question. After his men grabbed the running man, she approached both Bandit and Nathaniel. “What’s going on? Need any backup? I can provide long range cover.”, Roxanne said while holding laser sniper while the bionic sword still active.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 23, 2017, 06:25:26 pm
Bandit nodded to Nathaniel as he said "I'll live, dislocated my shoulder but I'll live."
His men had been dragging the man when they accidentally dropped him on the ground and Bandit sighed and said "Hector told me about a spot they might be, this guy confirmed there was chatter about it but not much else. Some plans for scouting parties that'll probably get changed was the rest."
Reaching down to the knife in his stomach Bandit pulled it out and flipped it in his hand as he called over one of his men. "You boys want to be more than dealers? Prove you're worth it. Prove I can trust you to be my shooters. And remember we'll be going to war soon."
One of the men took the knife and started towards the man. Bending down in front of the man he took a moment to stare him in the eyes before punching him in the side of the head and knocking him fully to the ground. The men with him started beating the god's army soldier as the man with the knife watched.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 06:31:03 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Alright, if you're sure." he said, before giving a nod to the others. "Well. I assume we should hit them while we got the chance." he said. "I know Hector's likely going to want to hit that location as soon as possible, so long as he doesn't do something stupid like charge in on his own." he said, suspecting Hector at this would would relish the chance, given how he handled the bandit hideout and the stricken caravan. "And more importantly, if your friends here do end up joining in with anything we end up involved, that they can be trusted not to accidentally shoot him in the ass. Those templars of theirs have a bad habit of cosplaying in armor too." he pointed out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 23, 2017, 06:53:33 pm
Bandit sighed as he said "Right, once their done I need to go get patched up."
As he said this the men had finished beating the man and the one with the knife grabbed the man's head. Lifting the knife the man took a second before driving it down through his skull and into the ground. Standing the man returned the knife to Bandit and told him that if he needed them just call. As they walked away one of them left a bag for Bandit. Soon the Van across the bridge drove away.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 23, 2017, 07:17:08 pm
Roxanne watched as all this happened. She got no response and was confused about what happened but watched as the man was taken care off. The van left and both Nathaniel and Drifter began to dispersed. “What the fuck happened? What a day…”, Roxanne whispered out loud. She slung her rifle back and put away her bionic sword.
Melody was not sure what to think of this. She was driving a strange woman with powers she did not understand, and “I am a member from a long dead arcane order” didn’t explain much but she didn’t press the issue, and 5 zombies that were previously the bandits that had assaulted her... The weird woman and her had found a jeep they fixed and now we're driving to a nearby city.
“I feel so cold Roxanne…”, Melody said.
“You will get used to it, it’s the price for power you know? But nothing you can’t handle!”, Randale responded. The voice of the body he inhabited was very reassuring.
Melody had accepted Randael’s offer to join her since he promised her power. He used his knowledge from Victor’s experiments to make Melody a hollow and use her soul to make 4 soul shards. He then used the one he found in alt-Roxanne’s body and made automatons like Victor had done; except, these ran on the soul shards and as such were independent. The soul shard also took over the blob and as such if they died, they would revive back while still serving Randael.
The little jeep arrived at the edge of the city and Randael smiled thru alt-Roxanne. “Ready for a new beginning? Let’s roll!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 07:29:59 pm
Nathaniel facepalmed at that. "I know last time you started bleeding everywhere you kinda just walked it off, but seriously. No waiting when you just yanked a knife out of your side" he said, practically grabbing Bandit to bandage him up on the spot after he'd tossed the knife to the others.
Meanwhile in Quinn's lab, examining the collection of artifacts he'd assembled. Some concerned her, yet others seemed to impress her. Having gotten back to the task at hand, she set aside another collection of notes. These concerned warding magic. Already she'd given him notes on the process of creating a blade ward to hold back certain dangerous beings, and her latest included results of testing a ward against spiritual influence on those vulnerable to such things. She was reluctant to explain however, how she got to test it. Other wards she knew also went unmentioned, as these tended to be more physical in nature, more personal and a subject she felt too embarrassing to reveal her knowledge of.
"We need something powerful to ensure against effects like this, beyond what most ordinary people, especially a novice like myself, can set up by their own means." she explained. "That ring there is one such method, its affects are far beyond anything else that comes to mind. If we have only one though, that means if we attacked and they had a bishop, only one of us will stand the best chance of making it our unscathed." she said. "And you know who's likely only to insist on it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 23, 2017, 07:45:43 pm
Quinn stares at the ring, "I'm assuming you mean Hector, correct?Aaand there may be another one of those elsewhere for reasons that're too hard to explain at the moment." He scratches his growing facial hair, and grimaces slightly. "I... should shave."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 23, 2017, 07:50:37 pm
Bandit sighed as Nathaniel bandaged him and said "Look I was on some pain pills, still am but I fucked up the ones I've got so they're not as effective. I couldn't feel the fucking wound the first time."
Alice meanwhile had finished practicing having ignored all the screaming and gunshots. Walking to the library she decided to take a break. Finding some books people had returned she replaced them where they were supposed to go before sitting at the desk.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 08:06:49 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Let's see, stubborn to a degree that rivals Victor, violently protective of the whole farm, and even more battle-hungry than I am? Who else do you think would do that?" she remarked. "And I've seen enough to suspect that there's strange things going on, yes. I mean among these new allies, new friends, is a woman who I know died by my hand 6 years ago." she said. The way she phrased it was a bit colder though, the thought reminding her of subjects they discussed earlier
Nathaniel meanwhile tended to that injury, shaking his head. "Sounds like something you should be playing with in combat, not just around the house." he joked. "Anyway, I need to pick up something for Drifter, took enough time keeping an eye on things." he added, soon going to sort through things and figure out where they kept the old pegleg before heading back to the tank. "Alright, Nathaniel checking in and heading out. Sorry for the delay, someone brought work home with them." he said over the radio.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 23, 2017, 08:09:41 pm
Drifter was waiting outside the Center when he heard Nathaniel and clicked on his Radio "Roger that. I'm just lying outside the place so just roll up and toss me the thing, and maybe give me a ride home..which would have kind have cut down on the redundancy of this trip."
With that sent he lit a cigarette and settled in to wait.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 23, 2017, 08:22:36 pm
Roxanne had gone back to her room and she picked up the bad of the special pills Bandit made for her. She took and pocketed two of the pills, one for her and one for whoever she got to be her partner. It could be today or after the mission with the god’s army outpost but she would need to do this eventually.
She decided to head out once more to the tables near the fire pit. She needed to relax so she lit up a joint and sat down. The breeze would help intensify the effect, she was told; probably placebo but she didn’t care. Now that her filter bionic was gone. She could have fun in piece. The joint was weak so that it only gave her a slight buzz incase she needed to spring to action. “Don’t worry I will find you…”, Roxanne whispered in between smoke.
She began to do something she hadn’t done in a while and began to run general maintenance on her rifle. She disassembled it slightly to clean some parts all the while she hummed a tune. She was no electronics expert by any means but she knew how to take care of this gun so it remained in top shape. She placed it down when she was done and did the same with her laser pistol.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 23, 2017, 08:30:42 pm
Quinn nods, "Whatever you think will be the best use for them. they're mostly gathering dust at this point." He states
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 08:38:13 pm
Nathaniel smiled a bit at that as he made his way over towards the refugee center. "True, should've thought of that. Did have the driver and gunner's seats a bit occupied though, not to mention one cargo bin being used as a chair for a heavy suit of scrap. Dunno how well perching on those things is with one leg." he remarked, pulling up closer, though he regarded the camera displays curiously, amused at Drifter just lounging outside.
When he pulled up, he'd been within a few feet of Drifter as a result, not actually running him over but no doubt getting closer than one would expect of something where only a few camera displays and hatches let him see. He soon clambered out, pegleg in hand and kneeling to help him put it on.
Helen meanwhile nodded at that. "Understood. That said I'll ask he returns it afterward, or passes it on to whichever of us is most likely to require using it." she said, a hand setting on his shoulder. "You sure you'll be alright, though?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 23, 2017, 08:51:59 pm
Drifter grabbed the peg leg and got it on without much trouble as he said "I get it, was just giving you a hard time. What with leaving the disabled guy all alone for that long. Mind if I catch a ride?"
Meanwhile Bandit took the bag and went to his little workshop. After a few minutes he had the place clean and had the body rolled up in the plastic he'd used to make cleanup easy. The dragging the body a safe distance from the farm took a few minutes but that was to be expected. Once that was done he returned to his workshop and opened the bag to find what he'd asked for. Pulling the gear he'd kept for tailoring for all these years he finally decided to take time and actually practice it. He started off simple with a new mask for himself since he knew his own measurements to exacting details.
From there he guessed Roxanne's measurements as he started making a dress. A rather eloquent design that his mother had taught him to make, rather popular among the girls who wanted to impress. Accentuated all the right places and downplayed the others to flatter the wearer's body while still being comfortable.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 23, 2017, 09:52:01 pm
Quinn lets in a breath through his nose before letting it out before letting it out, "I'll manage... " He pushes Helen's hand off of his shoulder. "Be seeing you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 10:05:37 pm
Nathaniel nodded as he looked back to the refugee center. "Alright then. Can depart if you wish, but I'd rather check on the others too." he suggested, peeking into the door. "After all, not good to leave them here, and should having everyone now that we offloaded the armor, and you can avoid rolling around if we make a sharp turn." he joked. "Plus I'm worried this place might get spooked with magic stuff like Vicvtor and his fucking around if he stays too long, after everything that happened."
Helen nodded at that, gathering her cloak and mask again before she turned to leave. "Very well then. Take care." she said, making her way out to check on things, and explain their idea to Hector. Natural he was insisted about the idea of going in first, to check it out and confirmed whether the area had a bishop present, for safety's sake. Hefting his newly-painted shield, he further pointed out how bad they were about mistaking him for one of their own.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 23, 2017, 10:29:25 pm
Drifter nodded to Nathaniel as he said "Thought I was the only one left but yeah, let's get the rest before we go." As he followed Nathaniel he lit another cigarette and sighed.
Bandit meanwhile had decided to retrieve some kevlar and plugged in his music as he put the finishing touches on the dress and started on the next items. He started with the cargo shorts which was a somewhat easy project though the kevlar lining was a bitch to get in. At the very least it would take some small arms fire before he'd get puncture wounds. Now the jacket, that was the fun bit as he'd recognized the style Nathaniel had been wearing at a glance. A heavier lining of kevlar since the vital organs were in the chest and stomach was added and then he finished the jacket. From there he added a vest that could be worn comfortably underneath the jacket that had some additional kevlar as well as some lightweight material to help prevent stab wounds.
Once more he let himself get absorbed in both his work and music.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 10:40:03 pm
Nathaniel shook his head at that. "Victor, Dee, Kathrine, and Mica. And...Catnip." he said. The way he hesitated a moment hinted at how he doubted this, as even the notes left behind strongly suggested that wasn't her, as far as he could determine. He made his way to the room while Victor had been, giving a knock.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 23, 2017, 10:50:15 pm
Victor heard the knock on the door. The book her was currently reading made him not realize how much time had passed He put the book down and headed for the door; as he opened it he regarded who it was. “Oh, hey, Nathaniel. Listen, sorry about that bit I did during the attack, not my intention to make you nervous or anything...just doing what I had to do… and thank you for making sure Roxanne lived...”, Victor told the tank commander, “Anyways, how can I help you?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 23, 2017, 10:57:36 pm
Nathaniel gave a nod at that. "You about ready to head out? Everything seems to be settled down for now. Much as I'm leery of leaving this place when their could be a second attack, infiltration, or even just undead next town over finally figuring out something went down, assuming any of left. Still, can't go leaving you here. And definitely not Kath, either." he said.
"And it's fine, you're the one that did the bulk of the work there, far as I can tell. Either that or whatever that thing was. It's fine, at this point I've seen some weird shit. A surprise yeah, but not the worst thing so far. So long as letting that thing loose doesn't come back to bite us in the ass..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 24, 2017, 12:14:42 am
Victor heard Nathaniel’s remarks; he answered initially with a nod. “Alright, yes, it would be good to head back to my room and prepare some stuff. I need to test a few things as well. This people will be fine either way; security is ramped up and I doubt anything nearby has the strength of god’s army.”, Victor responded, “Just lead the way back and I will follow. Should I address you by rank or something? Sorry, I don’t know proper protocol…”
Melody was was now in a secured house organizing their loot. She was shocked and scared at the way Miss Blackmore handled herself. She would slice the dead like they were butter and her minions she just raised would assisted on faraway targets with their rifles. She herself only killed one with her new powers...They had unloaded some food and a few other items and left the other stuff in the back of the jeep. Miss Blackmore said she wanted to go somewhere in particular to do business. She wondered who would deal with someone like her?
“Melody?”, Randael asked Melody, “I need to ask you for a favor.” He went and grabbed a radio he kept in the pockets of the robe the body he possessed had. “Listen first and then I’ll give you instructions. He got the radio and put it on a specific channel. Melodiy’s eyes widen.
“I-is that you?”, Melody asked.
Randale needed. He had played the farm’s broadcast that Roxanne had set up. She and alt-Roxanne had the same voice and Randael would use this to his advantage. “I used to live there but stuff happens and I had to leave. I was cheated you see...I had to go back and get back what is mine! After that we will resume, you and I against the world! What do you say?”, Randael said.
Melody hesitated for a moment but then agreed. She had already done this much for her and she had granted her safety, comfort and power; it was best she listened to Miss Blackmore. “I will follow you to the end Roxanne!”, Melody answered
Randale smiled and place the hand of alt-Roxanne on Melody’s shoulder. “Good, I will not let you down kid! Now listen, I just need you to talk into the radio at this frequency and announce you want to trade.7 people will go in and to not be alarmed. I will go in, get what is mine and we will go out ok?”, Randael says.
Melody nods and begins to do what she was told. She send the following message to the farm’s radio. “Hello? I heard your broadcast and am interested to trade. My name is Melody! We are 7 people so don’t be alarm when we arrive. We should be there soon as we are not too far off from your coordinates. Alright! Hope to see you soon!”
Randael ruffles Melodies hair and opens a bottle of champagne. “Good job, to the future!”, Randael said as he served them both a cup and proposed a toast.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 24, 2017, 12:36:04 am
Bandit had finished his work including a new jacket for himself. and walked outside to wait as he walked to the bridge for a quick exchange. A bag of drugs and a bag of bullets and a pistol with a suppressor were exchanged. As he walked back Alice told him about the traders and he shrugged. He wasn't gonna deal out of the farm, just supply his dealers now that he had them. Tucking his new gun into his belt and pulled his jacket over it. The jacket he'd made for himself wasn't the best quality but it worked for what he wanted it for. Black, easy to conceal a weapon in, and covered his head when the need came.
Alice informed everyone on the farm what was going on before deciding to pay attention. She had gotten the pistol Bandit had given her during their years of travel together and kept it concealed. Strangers almost always bode trouble in her experience.
Drifter had been following Nathaniel when he lost track of him. Stopping for a moment he tried to get his bearings when he heard something. Turning and following the noise he saw Manny standing in the hallway, the soldier he'd seen back in the swamp. He was still holding the same revolver that he'd used to put a hole through the side of his head.
Walking slowly towards him the hallucination smiled at him as it gestured with the revolver and said "Why didn't you save me? Why did you take the shot?"
Drifter blinked and suddenly there wasn't a hole in Manny's head. He looked exactly as Drifter remembered him but something was still off. As it reached Drifter it embraced him and whispered "You could have saved me. You didn't have to pull the trigger."
Drifter heard the gunshot and suddenly he found himself on his back, hole in his chest where his heart should have been. For a few seconds Manny just stood there before the lights flickered and..Drifter found himself perfectly fine. Alone in the hallway with a mildly concerned man staring at him before Drifter waved him off and excused himself being on the ground as slipping with the peg leg. Once that was done he decided to make his way back outside to wait for Nathaniel, disturbed by the hallucination.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 24, 2017, 01:13:08 am
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Alright then, when you're ready. I dunno if Dee is in any condition to be leaving yet, so I'll go get Kathrine and Catnip, bring y'all back, then see about Hector dropping my off here. I know Mica sure as hell won't leave with him." he said. "And it's fine. Rank isn't needed. Nathaniel, Nathan, Nate whatever. It...used to be corporal. Still, no need." he said, a bit quietly as he went to inform Kathrine.
Later, after some time for him to find her, he'd mention getting ready to go. She'd been reluctant to leave at first, though being told should could and in fact should bring Catnip's cage with them reassured her. Even then he had to promise he'd be back to ensure Dee and Mica were still safe. He had a bad feeling about recent events as he led the way back to the tank, nodding to Drifter. "Dee's still recovering and Mica won't budge, so gonna drop you guys off, and let Hector drop me off here so I can keep watch." he said, starting up the tank.
Hector meanwhile had been out around the farm still, when Alice came out to report of what she overheard. "I see. Decent-size group for a mere bunch of traders, but you wouldn't expect they'd betray numbers like that." he pointed out. "I'm going to guess they'll arrive tomorrow. That means counter-attack is as soon as tank gets back. I want to catch the choir boy camp at or before sundown, may not have a chance to tomorrow." he said. "As much as everyone went through, anyone in need of rest should have at it, but be on guard in case they arrive early." he added.
"I don't know who I'll have backing me up, other than Nathaniel. Plan is use what we have in case they have a bishop there, which means one person first. Then order a full attack if that's a safe option." he said, unaware of Nathaniel's plans.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 24, 2017, 11:02:51 am
Melody and co were making their way the farm. Randael was behind the wheel while humming a tone. He found pretending to be human quite easy; humans were fascinating but rather simple creatures. Melody was tasked to listen to the radio for now, she didn’t understand way but she trusted Miss Blackmore’s judgement thus far.
“Melody, dear, I have to ask you for another favor ok?”, asked Randael. Melody looked up and nodded. “Look, I wrote this note here with instructions. I want you to radio in the farm again and follow this instructions. Not to leave a message but to talk with them ok?”, Randael insteucted.
Melody took the note and read it’s content. At first she was confused but then that turned into shock. She put the note down and looked at Miss Blackmore right in the eyes. “I will explain later ok? You’ve seen the type of stuff I can do, hell look at what you can do now. Can you trust me on this one?”, Randael told Melody. The hollow girl nooded and turned on the radio, she send request to speak to the farms frequency and waited.
Someone picked up the radio and answered. “Hello? Who is this?”, said the voice.
“Hello! I am Melody, sent a message to you guys today saying we were going to trade. We should arrive in two hours. But I have a small request; can you put the woman who made the broadcast? I want to talk to her about something. Alone if you will, I have a persona; matter to attend to.”, Melody said as instructed by the note. She looked at Miss Blackmore who responded by smiling and giving her a wink.
“Sure thing. I will let her know. Just give me a minute. I will let everyone know of your arrival so the trade goes smooth as well. See you soon.”, said the voice on the radio. Then silence filled the airspace for a few moments before a voice came up.
“Hello?", said a familiar voice. Melody froze, Miss Blackmore was here but that voice was hers in the radio. She was told she would get answers later so for now she shrugged those thoughts aside and continued. “Am I speaking to Roxanne Luna?”, asked Melody.
“In the flesh. How may I help you? I was told you wanted to speak to me of an important matter? Have we met before?”, Roxanne said over the radio.
“Yes...we have...sorry about this…”, Melody said.
“What? Sorry about what? What’s going on?”, Roxanne answered.”
‘“Charlie Quebec Bravo Alfa Oscar Sierra Alfa”, Melody said in response. Her face changed to guilt as she saw what the rest of the note said. More silence filled the air for another couple of moments before it was broken.
“Input credentials.”, said Roxanne over the radio in a monotone fashion.
“Expander Victor Ironwood, Sierra Alfa”, Melody said next.
“Credentials accepted; what are my orders?”, Roxanne responded in the same monotone voice.”
“Lay low for now, wait for us by the beginning of bridge when we arrive at the farm. Code word soul shard. Await further orders until we arrive. Victor Ironwood out.”, Melody said. Turned of the radio and reclined in her seat while giving a heavy exhale.
“You did good kid. I will get what I want and you will be rewarded. Stick with me and I will teach you many great things. Let’s stop her for now, we have to do our preparations.”, Randael said after Melody was done. They stopped and got out of the jeep, a ritual was about to ensue…
Roxanne got up from the radio once the transmission was over. She exited the radio room and silently went to the front of the bridge. She went ahead and told the whoever she encountered that she would like to have a word with the traders first, alone. “Personal business matters, hope you understand.”, was Roxanne’s answer as to why.
Sleeper agent Roxanne Luna had been activated.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 24, 2017, 11:53:13 am
The evening before potentially momentous events, Hector had his plan laid out, making his way to the tank when Nathaniel returned with Victor, Drifter, Kathrine, and what they partly hoped was indeed Catnip. "Small change of plans, Dee's still in treatment and Mica's staying with him. It won't feel right just leaving them there, so I'll need you to drop me off." he explained, to which Hector gave a nod. "Alright. Anyone else going with, have at it. Need a handset for when I dismount, so signal if I give the all-clear. Roxanne, for now be on standby with the APC, if they haven't killed the lot of them by now we might have a lot of people to transport."
With that they were off, a quick detour to drop Nathaniel off, before making their way in the direction the map's coordinates provided. The approach at least allowed them to park the tank just out of sight and out of earshot, the faint hum of the jury-rigged electric engine aiding in that. He checked the camera displays again, faintly seeing the images through the thermal setting, relieved that after some efforts they eventually got that fixed up as well. No immediate sign of stragglers in the woods, hard as it was to determine.
He got out, taking as cautious and hidden a route as he could, before breaking from the treeline to walk down the only open approach to their camp. He could see the line of crosses farther in the distance, walking calmly with shield in hand, and M4 slung at his shoulder. He was counting on a bluff that'd worked far too many times in the past. Get in, let them mistake him for another Templar.
But for now, he quietly sang a little song to himself, striding confidently, ever-closer to the camp.
It was the morning afterward when the news that the strangers would arrive soon broke. Hector and Nathaniel had been at the refugee center, helping them deal with the survivors brought back. Helen was among those planning to meet the group of traders, and as they made their way to the bridge, regarding Roxanne's request warily. "You're meeting them alone? You sure this is a good idea?" she asked. "Well. We'll be waiting here, in reach the instant anything goes wrong." she said.
For now, she'd wait. Watching Roxanne evidently walk off, mask scanning the treeline for any signs of people approaching. She had her handset as well, hammer, cloak, and wraithslayer. All she could do now was wait, watching and hoping things wouldn't do wrong.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 24, 2017, 12:57:16 pm
“Sure thing Hector. I will keep watch in the APC. Will be using my own two way since the radio in the APC is broken.”, Roxanne answered, “Be careful out there ok?” She watched as he left in the tank and she took position as instructed.
Melody and Randael got out of their jeep along with the other 5 minions. “Now, once we get to the farm, the plan will be simple. I will meet with a certain someone and then make a trade. Meanwhile, you go to the farm proper and trade some of our items for something pretty. Don’t worry about what it is, treat yourself. Now, let’s begin with our wards...”
Randael commanded the 5 bandits to line up. “You see...I took something from you...something that allows them to be independent…”, Randael said while lifting the bodies arms. Something small and red came from the 5 bodies. “Your soul Melody...you understand that right? I have denied you the after life...but don’t worry, I won’t let you die!”
Melody regarded the scene and Miss Blackmore’s comments. She still was struggling to understand what was going on by her body was undeniably cold, and she felt a little empty. She simply nodded and listened on.
“Now, I have shattered your soul into 4 fragments...your soul is no more, entropy claimed it. But, these pieces can be put back together to create a new one, a blanc soul. No, this can’t be used to revive anyone but I allows for hollows like yourself to camouflage.”, Randael said. He then made the 4 out of the 5 shards move towards him and then they fused to reveal a transparent silhouette. “No we implant this into you and you will appear like a normal human. It will feel a bit odd, as if something that doesn’t belong is inside you, because it is.”, Randael explained.
The silhouette entered Melody’s body and she knew what Miss Blackmore meant. She felt as if her insides were stuffed with something that didn’t belong, it felt uncomfortable but nothing she couldn’t deal or even get used to.”
“Now, you have noticed one shard remains...that one is for me… I need this to remain hidden. This will be explained later. For now, read this other note I made last night and memorise what it is required from you. This should go nice and easy…”, Randael said. One of the shards entered Alt-Roxanne’s body. What he didn’t mention is that that shard will make it so that it would seemed as if he inside alt-Roxanne’s body was just another soul. Now both Melody and Randael appeared as normal souls for now. This effect only lasted for 24 hours before they needed to expel the shards; they had enough time.
Melody read the note. She now knew what Miss Blackmore wanted, what was stolen. She thought that she had been cheated very badly and a such would follow through. “Alright Roxanne. We will get it back, I promise!”, Melody said
Randael smiled and said, “Good to have you on my side. Just do your part and things will go just right. Now, let’s head to our destination; we have trading to do!”
“Yeah, it will be fine Helen.”, Roxanne answered, “Sure, just don’t get to close ok? Not that I don’t trust you but I am doing something a bit personal. Hope you understand”
Roxanne and Helen soon saw a jeep approach from the distance. It stopped on the other side of the river, just outside of the farm’s property, a few feet away from the beginning of the bridge. Roxanne started to walk to them. A figure wearing a hooded robe approached, the hood was up and they were wearing a gas mask. They were being escorted by a young woman who seemed to be the leader of the group. 5 men got out of the jeep afterwards, they moved and acted like normal people but Helen would see through them and noticed they were the same type of automatons Victor had made; created from already dead bodies and possessed by the blob after their souls were allowed to pass to the afterlife. They seemed to be bound to the woman who acted as the leader.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 24, 2017, 02:36:12 pm
"The pretender is here, get in position." Came the scouts warning.
"You heard Templar, make it look convincing, don't throw your lives away to retain any of the prisoners." The crusader said, donning the uniform that had been left as a disguise. Within short order, Hector was striding into the camp like he belonged. The few crusaders left had been warned ahead of time about "the pretender." A clever ruse, but they knew about it now. They let him walk freely, ready to spring the trap the moment he made the first move. "Welcome Templar, report?" The crusader disguised as a templar felt "the pretender's" grin on him, and gave one of his own. He was going to die, he knew it. Disguised as what was essentially an officer, he knew he would be this mans first target. "At least I die in service to god." He thought, resting his hand on the butt of his pistol. He let the smile drop away, growing tired of pretending he'd fallen for this mans ruse with the realization of his own impending doom. "So, where are the rest of your people pretender? I guess you're here to turn this retreat into a route?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 24, 2017, 02:47:13 pm
Hector smirked under his helm as he approached the camp. He ordered the others to hang back, prepared to join the assault if it became clear there was no bishop waiting there. Until then, he had Quinn's strange ring under his gauntlet, and Floyd's two-way to signal the tank.
The approach to the camp took him past a line of crosses, mutants and cyborgs left naked and crucified. Most still alive for now, something that was a slight relief to him. He expected to see a mass grave of the others, but there was no sign of that, instead seeing an array of cages and chains, makeshift buildings and tents as well, signs of captives to be loaded up and taken away when the last of their victims had perished. Or so he thought.
As he walked past the line of crosses, he gave no initial answer as he approached, having been quietly singing a song. Something old, religious, in archaic German. Which was about as much of the language as he knew, especially Middle High German in particular. "In daz lant hât er gesprochen, einen angeslîchen tac." He paused, to address the crusader when he blew his cover.
"About time you stopped mistaking a Knights Hospitallers cross for Knights Templar. You're learning." he said, not even answering the disguised crusader's question. "Dâ der weise wirt gerochen," He continued that verse, shield slamming into his first target, giving him time for a flash of steel to open the man's throat. "und diu witwe klagen mac."
Helen was nervous as she watched the figures drive up, gesturing to the others. "Alright, at ease..." she said, activating her mask to examine them. She could tell at once that five of them were revenants under the command of one of the others. Of the other two, nothing seemed off immediately. "A surprise to see a necromancer so eager to bring her toys near a settlement. And one so young, too? They corrupt them earlier and earlier, it seems..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 24, 2017, 03:46:15 pm
Bandit hadn't slept the previous night and after some time failing to do so had decided to get to work for a couple of things. The first being that he cooked a batch of medical supplies that he'd go drop off at the Center later. The second thing on his agenda was getting himself some better threads.
Starting off with a jacket. The basic design was finished rather quickly in a dark dull blue color that would blend rather well in most environments, then adding a holster into the interior, along with a sheath for a knife. From there came the back back which he had found some sturdier material to make it with. Adding a metal bottom and a cover for the compartment Bandit added several exterior pouches to it that would enhance how much he could carry without making the thing too cumbersome to actually carry. And then came the pants, a simple pair of jeans with a set of front and back pockets and custom tailored to fit perfectly since Bandit was entirely aware of his own measurements and preferences. Then another simple mask in case he'd need it.
The shoes would be something he'd have to find later he thought as he tucked on his new clothes and substituting the old blood stained mask for the new one. Walking out the door he hadn't realized how long had passed. Grabbing his bag full of medicine. Deciding to take the new clothes he'd made for Nathaniel with him Bandit lit a blunt as he started making his way towards the Center with the medicine he'd made.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 24, 2017, 03:50:18 pm
Melody was nervous as a woman wearing a weird mask approached them. Miss Blackmore remained calm and the woman made her mask glow. She didn’t know what the woman was doing but she was relieved when no alarms were raised.
“Well, as far as I can tell, you too like to bring your toys to friendly trade. No hostilities intended, I swear. Before we begin, my friend here would like to talk to a woman by the name of Roxanne.”, Melody responded
The robbed figure stepped forward and so did Roxanne. “Let’s go on the back of the jeep and talk in private shall we?”, Roxanne said. The robbed figure nodded and the two went to the back of the jeep.
Melody was no with Helen and the 5 minions. “Don’t worry, they are doing some personal trading they had planned over the radio. Anyways, you said they get corrupted younger and younger, what do you mean by that? If I am honest, I am knew to this, has this happened before here?”, Melody said making small talk with Helen.
Randael took the gas mask off and looked at Roxanne in the eyes; those green shifting eyes he had come accustomed to. Roxanne was still under the effects of her hidden programming. “Orders?”, said Roxanne.
“Stand still. Close your eyes.”, Randael said, “Override mode off, Victor India” Roxanne then started to blink rapidly and was very confused.
“What? Where am I? Who are you?”, asked a confused Roxanne. She looked at her own face before the cataclysm staring back and she sober up as her eyes widen. Randael put a hand on Roxanne’s shoulder and gave her very familiar feeling. “Randael? Is that you?”, asked Roxanne.
“It’s good to see you again...sadly, I cannot stay; you have something that belongs to me and I needed it back. Close your eyes…”, Randael said. Roxanne trusted him and was still very confused so she did as he asked. When she open them, she saw her face once more...no, her actual face, green eyes and pointy ears included. As she became distracted at looking over herself to find her body being like it was before the cataclysm wearing weird clothing, her own body said some words, “Charlie Quebec Bravo Alfa Oscar Sierra Alfa”. Roxanne’s mind went dark again and she wouldn’t awake for a while…
Roxanne and the masked figure returned. “You have what you came for?”, asked Melody. Both Roxanne and the masked figure nooded. “We are done, thank you for eating Helen, would you mind telling the other to come here of they have something to trade?”, Roxanne asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 24, 2017, 04:18:47 pm
Helen regarded Melody curiously, uncertain what to think. "Indeed I did bring mine. Hammer's a tool for certain rituals, cloak's a healing device, and the mask..." she said, looking them over. "...is a useful tool as well, and protective item."
"Those five there, animated dead, correct?" she pointed out. "I'm assuming the other one raised them, and you're their apprentice. Dangerous magic if you aren't careful, risks depend on which methods they used. Had someone here do something...similar, once." she said, the "suspiciously so" part unsaid but certainly thought. The robed figured in particular only had her more unnerved, thoughts she always tried to stifle lingering in the back of her mind. Memories of two in similar garb, a young man she now knew as a close friend, fighting his way through monsters summoned by sheer chance interactions with countless items. And a woman, implanted blade and powerful magic cutting down friends and comrades.
When the two returned, she fixed her gaze on them, trying to discern the nature of the masked figure. The nature of their auras seemed hard to discern, and with Roxanne standing next to the stranger it was harder to puzzle out which was which, almost as if they were untangling from having been entwined in some way. She chalked it up to whatever strange magic the stranger corrupted themselves with along with the two standing near each other, but for a moment the auras, appearing for a moment as though Roxanne's aura radiated from the robed, masked figure's body, brought back a vivid memory that made her freeze in place for a moment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 24, 2017, 05:02:01 pm
Melody heard Helen’s remarks and smirked a bit. “Yeah, you are right, but I command them. I know this is dangerous but who else is humanity to survive this mess if not by taking risks?”, Melody responded.
Soon, residents of the farm approached and they traded some stuff. Books, weapons, clothing, electronics and other items, including some alcohol under the table, exchanged hands. The 5 minions made the hualing while Melody made was the one making the exchanges. The robbed figure simply stood there by the jeep as this all went on. After a while, everyone else left happy with the items they had acquired. Helen still stayed due to having suspicion over the other. Melody felt very wary over the masked woman, she felt as if she was looking into her very soul, or lack there off.
“Alright”, said Roxanne, ”Time to wrap this up, get her boys! Don’t harm her, just make sure she doesn’t get in the way!” Soon, the 5 minions were surrounding Helen and using basic riot suppression tactics to keep her at bay. While she defended herself, Roxanne got into the passenger seat of the jeep and Melody took the driver seat. “Don’t worry Helen! I left you a little present! Override mode off, Alfa Juliet!”, Roxanne said as the jeep turned on and left the vicinity in a hurry. The minions fell to the ground as their source of energy had left. She simply became lip on the ground and they appeared as if they had been recently killed.
The robbed figure began to sway and almost fell but she caught herself. She looked around as if confused and then she took off her mask. A familiar face stared at Helen, confusion was etched in it but it no doubt made Helen pause. “Helen?”, a familiar voice spoke, one she had heard many times before, “Where am I, why am wearing this robe?” The Alt-Roxanne now stood before hand, alive and well it seemed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 24, 2017, 05:44:46 pm
Helen smirked at that. "My own order holds caution in the highest regard. I'm far more moderate in that respect than we once were, but the opposite extreme has been the end of many." she said. "Including many of The Ord-"
The sudden response, seemingly from Roxanne, confounded her. Then the undead advanced, backpedaling and taking a swing that twisted the neck of one. She struggled to keep them at bay and avoid getting surrounded. "You...what in Hel's name!?" she shouted, slamming into and kicking the creatures, working her way through the group and trying to force her way past them.
"Roxanne!?" she shouted out, seeing them driving off with what seemed to be Roxanne. She was now looming over the robed figure, hammer raised, when she heard her voice. She saw her appearance without the gas mask, and through her own mask she now saw Roxanne's aura confined to that body, and the stranger's aura driving off with Melody's. "Stand down, everyone stand down! Roxanne, is that you...?" she stammered out, mask deactivating as she stepped back. Now the memories started to flood back into her mind again.
Six years ago. A robed woman with an aura almost identical to the Roxanne she now knew, in a room that 4 hunters forced their way into, and Helen was one of those hunters. Ghostly flames engulfed one, bionic blade slashing open another's throat. Sister Alexandra and Acolyte Darius. She remembered herself rushing to the body of a man no more than 4 years younger than her, a close friend on his first real hunt, now charred to the bone by black magic. He'd earned the title Acolyte, passed down from his father, a founder of The Cleansing Flame who'd once been a member of The Knights-Errant of Christ.
She remembered being knocked to the floor, flames rolling over her body, only the protective magic she was talented in allowing her to survive long enough to use her cloak. She'd turned her mask off to avoid betraying her aura to the woman, staggered to her feet. The young man's sword was closer than the hammer she'd dropped. Using the distraction of fighting Brother Toshiro, she'd lunged and opened a deep wound in the robed woman's throat just as more vile magic sent the older man, a Path of the Sun founder who'd cast aside the old title of Defender, toppling over in a heap.
That figure now stood before her, with an aura that was barely different but so close to the soul it once held, in a body Helen left bleeding out on the floor. And in robes that had been mended, a tear along the left side of the hood where an incorruptible sword once found its mark.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 24, 2017, 05:52:20 pm
Kathrine looks at the photo with a blank expression for a while, until she puts together that this 'Crow' was Khaki's Catnip. Her face scrunches up like she's once again trying to hold back tears, only she's still not crying. She wants to ask someone for a glass of water or something, but that might inconvenience someone and everyone's dealing with injured people and nobody should care about her because she's just an idiot that let Catnip go away and break her promise and make her cry. "I'm sorry Miss Khaki..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 24, 2017, 05:56:49 pm
Bandit arrived at the Center, smoking a cigarette since he didn't want to be high(relatively speaking) while doing this. He found the closest of the place's doctors and handed him the bag full of medicine, explaining that everything was marked with what it was, chemical composition and all. From there he decided to look for Nathaniel
This took him a bit of time and a few strange looks from people but he didn't really care. He'd become used to strange looks after all. Eventually he did run into Nathaniel and walked over. "Hey. Wanted to say thanks for patching me up. That and bring you this stuff."
Pulling out the folded clothes Bandit showed them to Nathaniel.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 24, 2017, 06:58:36 pm
“What?”, asked Roxanne. She saw the way Helen looked at her, a wary look of cation. She knew that pose, Helen saw her as a threat. “Of course I am Roxanne! Who else would I be?!”, Roxanne said in an indignant tone. She lifted herself off the ground and rubbed her head. Then she felt it...a round ear. She touched both her ears carefully and a look of worry filled her face. He attention the went back to Helen. “What happened to me? I don’t remember anything...someone called me over the radio and then I awake like this…why are you looking at me like that? What did I do?!”, Roxanne commented
A quick looked at her BUI made her realize she indeed was not herself, old bionics had returned, many other disappeared and a few she didn’t recognize. “Am I even myself?”, she whispered. A thought then came to her mind, “Wait...The pills, they took the damn pills! This is bad Helen! Very bad!”
Melody drove away from the scene that just occurred. She was happy; she got some sweet items, was in charge of something and best of all, she had pleased Miss Blackmore. “So, you got your body back. Must be nice after all this time huh?”, asked Melody.
Randael had been playing with the bionics Roxanne had available in her body. He was rather pleased with the bionic sword; the time dilation CBM was a very nice one as well. The mutations were a bonus; all in all, this was the body he was used to back when he needed it as a host. “Yes my dear. It is good to be back. Now, we rest again for the night and then we find some new minions. That sound good to you?”, Randael answered and asked.
“Yes, that sounds good to me. I will follow your lead Roxanne. You have proven to me that it is in my best interest to listen to you.”, Melody answered. Randael smiled, when he acquired Melody’s soul, he acquired her memories as well. She was neglected and unwanted for a long time and when she was accepted, betrayal had followed. So young and such a tragic story she carried, he thought.
“That a girl. Let’s enjoy the night today and start business tomorrow. There is a few things I want to try now that I have my body back, if you are up to it.”, Randael asked.
“What?!”, Melody exclaimed Melody, she briefly lost control of the jeep but recovered just as quickly. Randael just laughed.
“No no, that’s not what I mean my dear. Auras, I want to teach you how to read auras. From my time in that place, I learned it is a very useful skill. I thought I would show you how it’s done in between a few couple of drinks. What do you say? Are you up to it?”, Randale asked in the voice Melody had come to trust.
“Whatever you want Roxanne, you are the boss here,”, Melody said, she then grinned when a thought occurred that she revealed, “Gotta say, whoever had your body before you had no shame in the way they dressed. Wonder what they will do with the other body.”
“Oh, I have a few ideas but that is for another time.”, Randael joked, “For now, let’s head back before the dead come out to play. Too early to get new minions.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 24, 2017, 07:12:38 pm
For a moment Helen didn't respond, only deactivating her mask and looking into Roxanne's eyes, before she forced herself to look away. For that split-second when she was poised to strike, she'd been the spitting image of the last thing numerous rogue arcanists and blood mages saw. The malevolent grimace of an active mask, cloak glimmering in the sunlight, and blood-spattered hammer held high. Three of the animated dead were left as broken, mangled corpses in her wake, and the other two had collapsed from their magic fading, before they'd been able to catch up to her.
"Roxanne...it is you, isn't it? Not that gods-damned thing. Who, WHAT was that? And why did..." She trailed off, removing her mask. Her expression was one that looked like she'd seen a ghost. Or a demon. "Why and HOW did it leave you in the body of your counterpart, when she died by my hand 6 years ago?" she said, trying to will herself to look Roxanne in the eye again, but instead she looked down, left in shock momentarily.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 24, 2017, 07:27:52 pm
Roxanne looked at Helen and the way she was acting. She knew Helen was rather uncomfortable with this whole ordeal while she was just confused. “Yes, it’s me...and by thing, you mean the one who took my body right? Well…”, Roxanne said stopping at the last word and turning her own head away from Helen before she continued, “It’s Randael...he spoke to me before he robbed me of my body…” Tears began to swell in Roxanne’s eyes, or the eyes of her alt rather, and began to sob a bit. “Why would he do that Helen? Why? Was I not good enough? Was the whole reason he chose me was to eventually possess me fully? Why…”, Roxanne said in between stifled sobs.
“Victor took me to where you killed the one who owned this body you know? Told me the story and then showed me the scene...He had preserved this body with necromancy magic for reasons I don’t even know...Guess Randael knew this and took advantage. 6 years later and this happens huh Helen...I don’t know what to do…”, Roxanne explained while looking down as well.
“Wait! I do know!”, Roxanne with returned enthusiasm, “I can still find answers in the winds of memories. Randael won’t protect me anymore but I have to give it a shot...I have to know...Helen, I need you to help me; Will you help me? Also, Victor must not know about this for now ok?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 24, 2017, 07:43:08 pm
Helen nodded at that, struggling to calm herself, only to give a blank stare as Roxanne explained. "That...Randael. I should've insisted on binding that damn thing into that symbol of judgement and throwing it in the fucking river, when we had the chance." she said softly. "That thing used you, but...what in Hel's name is it planning?" she said, anger giving way to concern, as she pulled Roxanne close, into a hug.
"I wish I knew what this thing has planned. And...Victor did that? Playing with magic even back then, of course." she said softly. "But I suppose that's to our benefit for once. It wanted your other body, and left you with what was once your counterpart's. It even..." she trailed off, examining the left side of Roxanne's neck. "It even healed the wound that blade left. Sometime I should explain more of what happened that day, as I knew the events."
The suggestion Roxanne made made her shake off the memories she tried not to think of. "Winds of memories? I'm assuming this entails spiritual magic. As for protection, I myself know some forms of defensive magic, including spiritual wards. Thus far only had to use that one in particular just once." she said softly. "If you suspect this will grant us answers, so be it."
Elsewhere, Nathaniel had been waiting outside the room where Dee was in, nodding to Bandit as he approached. "It's fine, glad you're alright. And...hmm?" he said, surprised as he revealed the clothes. "Huh, thanks. Unexpected surprise to be honest. I'm er, well..." he said, trailing off for a moment. "Hard to replace this jacket though, even if that seems to be in my size." he said, examining the items, noticing the added weight of kevlar lining. "Though maybe should try to insure this old thing doesn't get any more nicks in it than it's weathered already. A friend gave it to me ages ago."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 24, 2017, 08:14:17 pm
Bandit nodded as he said "Ah, well I can always patch that up for you if you want. Just thought I'd put together something you could actually get some use out of."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 24, 2017, 08:23:36 pm
Helen’s first words were filled with determination and anger. She was there when the ritual occurred, back when she trusted Randael with her life. Tears stopped once Helen hugged her, she hugged back. “I don’t know what it wants. I thought I did, but I was wrong...I was so naive…”, Roxanne said while hugging Helen, then they both eventually let go.
“I don’t know what Victor wanted either but I guess you are right...He might have harvested my soul if this body wasn’t available for him…”, Roxanne answered to Helen’s second remarks. Then she felt Helen looking at her neck. “Oh...you mean where you...that’s fine. I understand if that day was too painful for you...I heard what this body did to you as well…”
Roxanne nodded at Helen’s last questions. "At least I think it is magic. The way we get there is...unorthodox but it works and...well...it feels good...", Roxanne explained blushing a bit, "Anyways, I would really appreciate you helping me out with this. You know way more about this than I do. Maybe you will learn something too, lost knowledge is kept there, better than any library. If there are answers anywhere, it has to be there. The supplies to this ‘ritual’ are in my room. How about we go and get ready?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 24, 2017, 08:34:41 pm
Helen nodded at that, looking down and struggling with her own anger. "It used all three of us for its own selfish ends. If these actions will give us answers, so be it. Then, any method it takes to bring justice to it. Assuming it's heresy thus far doesn't attract...him." she said. "I'll explain later. And another time for that story as well, maybe. I at least made it through unharmed. Just...alone." she said, before changing the subject.
"Whatever method it is, I'll try to help with it the best I can. Sounds like an, er. Interesting experience." she said, and now she was blushing as well. "Very well then, this is something in particular I haven't dabbled in. Never really taken anything stronger than a good drink, and not really for the sake of ritual. We'll see what we can learn, whenever you're ready." she answered.
Nathaniel smiled some at that. "If you're sure, I guess. Thank you though, been a while since I had actual armor of any sort, often than the helmet the farm's armory had." he admitted. "Most of it got shot or torn up about half a year after all this shit went down."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 24, 2017, 09:00:35 pm
Roxanne nodded at Helen’s remarks and lead the way to her room to gather the pills. In the back of her mind, she didn’t want Randael to die; she wanted to give him another chance despite feeling betrayed. They reached the back door of her room and signaled Helen to enter first before she entered as well.
Once inside, Roxanne searched for the pills under the altar where she kept her stash. She looked at Helen holding a bag of pills with her finger covering her mouth and she winked at Helen. “Shhhh, the stash under the altar is a secret…”, Roxanne told Helen. Roxanne then went and handed Helen a pill.
“Find somewhere comfortable to lay in, you can use my bed if you want. Take off anything that is too restrictive, comfort is key here. Then take the pill and lay down, it will slowly take it’s effect and you will awake elsewhere; I will go and find you and then we can go find answers.”, Roxanne explained, “I will lay down on the floor since I have more experience. This robe is very comfy anyways...my counterpart had taste at least…”
Roxanne did as she said she would and laid on the floor with a pillow to support her head. Then she took the pill and waited for the usual reaction; she wondered how different it would be now that Randael was gone…
While on their way back to the house they had secured last night, Randael decided to check what Roxanne had carried on her person. He found the laser pistol very nice but what he found inside a pocket was more interesting. “Oh, how peculiar...so I have these now too…”, Randael said as he looked at the two pills Roxanne had put in her pocket for later use. “Melody, dear. Change of plans...we have more work to do, auras can wait…”, Randael proclaimed with a grin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 24, 2017, 09:11:40 pm
Helen smiled a little at that, picking her hammer back up off the ground as Roxanne led the way, soon setting it aside once more as she was led into the room. "And I thought the posca, wine, and vodka back at The Hall was an enough of a stash." she teased, regarding the pill curiously.
At those directions she took off her cloak and mask, followed shortly afterward by helm and gauntlets, leaving her in attire that looked less out-of-place other than the boots being more heavy-duty and old-fashioned. "Very well then, and thank you for that." she said in response to the offer to use Roxanne's bed.
She took the pill as well, laying back to relax as best as she could, uncertain what form the effects would take, and wondered if her magic would even be usable. Then again, those protective spells were an innate consequence of training, not power bound into items. Such things were uncommon, and only allowed by her order in extremely specific cases. She pushed those effects out of her mind, as the pill started to take effect...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 24, 2017, 09:36:14 pm
Once more, Roxanne felt her consciousness drift in a way she knew too well. Thought left her mind and she gave into the effects of the pill. With a single blink of an eye, she went from being in her room laying down to now back into the ever-darkness. One thing was off though, the light that engulfed her was much dimmer. She was still feeling the same bliss she was accustomed too.
Roxanne walked a bit to try and find Helen. The blue light was no longer there as Randael had left her. As she walked, she noticed the body she had was her’s once more; pointy ears and all. Roxanne continued walking until she saw another faint light in the distance so she followed it. It was Helen!
"Helen! Over here! It’s me, Roxanne!", Roanne called out to Helen and then sprinted towards here. When she catched up, she smiled at Helen and put her arm around her shoulder. "Welcome to the border between life and death! I will be your guide today! Don’t stray too far! Hope you enjoy your stay!", Roxanne joked. Then in all seriousness said, "No, but really, stay close. This place can be dangerous. We are here for one thing and one thing only. The winds of memories. Let’s go, I know the way, let’s cover each other’s back ok?" She then let go of Helen and then motioned Helen to follow her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 24, 2017, 09:41:29 pm
Death had decided to try something. He walked slowly towards the Winds of Memories, his glamours not quite working in this realm. Upon reaching them he felt something enter the realm that didn't quite belong there and sighed. Pulling on his bowler hat and reaching into his vest he could hear the other spirits deciding to investigate this disturbance themselves since they felt nothing protecting it now. I come here to check something and end up with more business to take care of, wonderful.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 24, 2017, 09:51:43 pm
Helen was surrounded by an unnerving darkness, and yet she felt a strange, soothing sensation, one she struggled to interpret. Not quite like that of intoxication, nor the rush of adrenaline, or anything else that immediately came to mind. She turned and looked around, focusing her mind and in the distant, all-consuming blackness, she saw the glow Roxanne's aura gave off, returning a wave.
When they met there at last, Roxanne's explanation of where they were surprised her. "I can see this having grave consequences. Let me...try something." she said, focusing her mind. "Custodi et dirige nos, si diis volet..." she said softly, channeling energy that manefested in a single ghostly flame at her fingertips. It was a mere candleflame compared to Randael's light, but it at least lit their immediate surroundings. "By your lead, then."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 24, 2017, 10:03:50 pm
Roxanne was amazed by Helen’s little display, more so because she did it in this realm. "That was so cool Helen...alright, follow me.", Roxanne said. She lead Helen on the same path she took when the blue-flamed lantern was on. He walked with Helen and used the flame’s light to see. They both eventually reached the usual spot and Roxanne’s jaw dropped. The lantern was still there, not lit like before, but it was still there. She had an idea.
"Helen...this lantern was what Randael used to protect us. Do you think you can light it with your flame?", Roxanne asked. A small breeze started to pick up and she could feel various presences getting nearby. "Hurry, please...the winds are picking up...if you are not able...try a ward or something...". Roxanne said with a bit of urgency in her voice.
Among those presences lurking around, one in particular was very interested in the pair. It lurked in the darkness using it as camouflage. It was simply here to observed for now but it had plans of his own in this realm. “Let there be light…”, it said...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 24, 2017, 11:21:39 pm
Helen focused this light, as best as she could, a bit uncertain of herself. "This...I hope, should ward off any evil spirits, but I don't know how powerful its effect is in this realm." she said, continuing along the path with Roxanne, sticking close as she could given the dimness of the glow.
"Are you certain this isn't linked to Randael, giving it some anchor to this realm? Or maybe it amplifies and focuses spiritual effects..." she said. Roxanne's request to hurry urged her on, preparing to will the flame to dart from her grasp. The light itself was a manifestation of one such ward spell, radiating its protective effect rather than being bound to a single person, and thus she hoped the lantern would magnify the effect's radius, rather than leaving them vulnerable as the flame darted to it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 24, 2017, 11:37:29 pm
Khaki went on talking about her and Crow and friends she'd lost, not really noticing Kathrine's reactions until her eyes landed on the tank with the rat in it. "Why do you have a rat in a fish tank Kathrine?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 24, 2017, 11:43:36 pm
Death caught sight of them as a group of spirits had begun to gather to prey on those that had come here. Beginning their approach as he increased his pace to catch up he knew the pair he spotted could hear the spirits repeatedly saying "you don't belong here."
Before they could actually reach Helen and Roxanne Death had caught up with them as he tilted his hat down to conceal his face as down to the nose. "I would suggest you not harm them. Consider them under my protection until I deem it otherwise."
One of the spirits turned and told Death that these ones were outside their domain. They were fair prey and who was he to tell them to hold back. Giving the spirit a cruel smile Death took two steps forward. A quick grab brought the thing closer to death as he placed his other hand on the side of it's face. "I am the thing that awaits you in the dark. Ever waiting, calmly and without noise as you age and decay. And I think it's time I've made a proper introduction to you lot."
The spirit at first stared at him dumbfounded before it felt what was happening. The other spirits present backed away as they watched it decay before crumbling away as if dust on the winds of memories. As the others dispersed Death approached Helen and Roxanne, wiping the dust from his vest as he kept his face concealed, for the most part, with his hat. "Quite risky coming here without protection. If I hadn't been in the area..well let's just say you've peeked my interest, why are you here?"
Something Helen noted was that Death spoke with a slight Italian-American accent here, unlike the non-distinguishable and almost ever changing accent he'd had under the effects of her mask.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 25, 2017, 12:58:53 am
The light had just began to dart from her her grasp when she halted it. She momentarily heard a voice whispering in the darkness, and became more and more aware of the spirits lurking around them. "Wait! This flame will hold fast, but the instant it leaves us we're in danger. And I..."
She saw him now. There was no concealing his approach, his aura of of such intensity that it cut through the darkness, far exceeding theirs and the glow her protective spell gave off. His visage was the very abstract concept of The End of All, rendered in a humanoid form in formal dress. Before, the strange effects on her mask's vision let only a hint of that nature filter through his glamour, but now she saw him as he truly was. At yet given all that had happened, her fear of him was but a mere spark of surprise and the unavoidable instinct all living things held.
"Something has happened that we seek answers for, on the winds of memories. My apologies for this intrusion." she explained. "I have brought my own protection for us, faint though it is." she said, gesturing to the floating flame that flickered and illuminated the "I pray it would've sufficed against any common spirit? Roxanne, this is...I don't know what he calls himself. But he is the being that saved Victor from what would've been a fate as a mere shell, as a result of saving you." she explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 25, 2017, 01:39:41 am
At the first sign of flashing steel, the templar took a staggered back and shifted the direction of his hand to draw the extendable baton at his belt. It wasn't as well built as the sword, but it's heavy metal segments absorbed the coming blow easily enough. "Hail! Hail Crusaders! At them! Raise the gate before the reinforcements can arrive!" The baton and the sword locked together for a moment and the fake templar's foot came up to boot the tank knight away. The play worked, and the two of them reset their positions. "I don't have time to play with you dick head." Hector growled. The templar grinned behind his helm and responded, "Sure you do imitator, I bet you live for moments like this."
The gate was nothing to the siege tower, and the resulting route was easier than expected. The crusaders that fell seemed less interested in fighting, and more interested in simply avoiding being killed for as long as possible. Hectors opponent was surprisingly adept at warding blows, but never seemed to try and attack. "Alright imitator," the fake templar suddenly hissed, "I think we are done here." He broke engagement and attempted to hop out of range, but Hector stayed on him, taking the opportunity to land a vicious stab. The templars own ruse had worked, all the blocking and foiling of Hectors attacks had frustrated him. When the templar attempted to disengage, Hector had little thought for anything but pursuit. As the fake templar fell, he was glad that he could give his life for the majority of his forces to escape. The tank knight would likely turn his attention to slaughtering the rest of the facade that had been left behind.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 25, 2017, 07:38:28 am
"She's not a rat she's Catnip." Kathrine mumbled something a little too fast for Khaki to catch it. "Pardon?" "I-I said, she's not a r-rat, she's Catnip..." Kathrine's tries to pull her knees closer, shuffling around a bit until she settles again, tail curled completely around her. "She's Catnip and I'm a big dumb stupid idiot who broke our promise..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 25, 2017, 09:00:47 am
"O-oh." Said Khaki. She wasn't sure where to go from there, but the idea that Catnip had been turned into a sewer rat only acted to deepen Khaki's newfound depression. "I... I hope she gets better."
Dervish stepped into the room. "Kat? The others are getting ready to go. If you want to stay you can, but it's not really safe here for you and Catnip. Hector has offered to take you back to the farm, if you'd go."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 25, 2017, 03:48:19 pm
As the influx of spirits circled the pair, Helen lit a flame in the lantern after a bit of Hesitation. Roxanne saw as the flame of the lantern illuminated their surroundings. The flame glew a bright red, nothing compared to the brightness of Randael’s blue flame but it was something.
The rogue spirits momentary slowed down from the light but then they slowly resume their approach. One spirit in particular stepped up, it declared this as it’s domain and when questioned, it simply ended the dissenter and the others dispersed. Roxanne was left speechless at this display. It then spoke to her, asked her a question but she couldn’t bring herself to answer; she found herself feeling fear...she felt it here of all place.
“W-who are you?”, Roxanne asked softly, looking at the well dressed spirit. Roxanne then turned around to look at Helen when she answered the question the spirit had asked and then introduced Roxanne to it. “You saved Victor? Thank you…”, Roxanne said nervously. She was afraid but her eyes betrayed another feeling, fascination; she wanted to get to know this spirit who seemed above the others. Had she found a being worthy of worship?
“I am Roxanne Luna, Cleanser of The Shadows of Arcana. Despite that fancy title, I am nothing more than a lowly murder...Or was...now I seek to reform my ways but...things happened…”, Roxanne said in a guilty tone, “Someone betrayed me and I thought this place might have answers as to why and what to do about it.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 25, 2017, 03:58:13 pm
Death listened to their answers before saying "I have many names though none I would call my own. Besides I doubt a spirit of Death has a true name, only what those it guides deign to call it if anything at all."
Reaching into his vest the spirit retrieved a cigar and match. Lighting it as he listened to Roxanne introduce herself he couldn't help but smile at some of what she said. "Well if you are truly heading for the Winds of Memories we have a common destination. I can offer my protection if you would like to go with me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 25, 2017, 04:07:20 pm
Kathrine gently nods, and picks up Ratnip's container in a hug. "I'm gonna pick you up don't get scared please..." Lilith firmly dug her claws into the big shambler's chest and leant forward, driving it into the ground. She briefly mused what she could do from here, through the thin layer of coherency she had left through the rage. Ripping it's throat out seemed like a good choice, but so did the good old stretch. After deciding, Lilith moved her paw up onto it's face and placed one of her back paws on it's groin, and stretches out, making sure to dig her other set of claws in too. After a couple of seconds, there's a loud cracking noise and it's lower body starts tearing, splitting him off into two separate halves. "Oh for fucks sake, Lil. Now ya got guts all over you." The firestation was mostly empty, save for a couple of zombies and the most recent find of the week, a water cannon. It seemed like the firefighters had even modded it to work without a vehicle's tank or a hydrant to run off, too. "HEY LIL, COME GET THIS!" Sharlene waves her arm over at the tigress, who was busy kicking a corpse into mush in the corner. She started at Sharlene's call, pausing her mushinating to walk over and sit next to Sharlene patiently. "C'mon girl, can you lift..." She lifts up the barrel as far as she can (a couple inches off the ground.) "This?" The rear of the humvee creaked as Lilith shoved the water cannon into the back. "Do we really need this?" Mohammad whined, sighing. "You already fucked up the front by letting the idiot drive, now you wanna fuck up the back end too?" "Mohammad, shut up and help me shut this thing. Unless you wanna lose yer boots too." "FFFFFffffine. Cunt."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 25, 2017, 04:38:32 pm
Helen was still uncertain as she lit the lantern, giving a nod as she regarded the spirit of death. "One of these days we should pick a good name for you then. Regardless, thank you for your arrival. I feel this ward wouldn't suffice for very long." she admitted.
"And that would be appreciated, yes. We can explain what has occurred along the way then." she said, giving a polite nod. "It was Randael. I would assume you are surely aware of there having once been a counterpart to Roxanne, who Victor originally knew? He'd left her body preserved by magic, for whatever foolish reason, and Randael took command of it. Just to then take Roxanne's body from her, and leave her within that of her counterpart."
"The damn thing has furthermore corrupted and brought some innocent survivor under her command, and exploited Victor's knowledge of necromancy, and we want to find out why."
She then focused her efforts to draw the wisp of protective flame back from the lantern, no longer needing it amplified with Death's protection.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 25, 2017, 05:47:20 pm
“I would also appreciate the company.”, Roxanne told the spirit of death after Helen explained the situation, “So you are a spirit of death? What business do you have here and why did you save Victor? Wouldn't you taken him away?”
Roxanne looked as Helen took the flame away from the lantern and it didn’t go out. “It doesn't work that way. The lantern can only be extinguished when everyone it protects agrees for it to go out, then the force of it going out drags us out of here. Think of it as contingency exit.”, Roxanne explained, “Alright, so shall we go to the winds of memories? I don’t want to keep you waiting mister death…"
Victor was in his room reading as usual when he noticed something strange; it’s sword, it had an aura? He inspected it but he still could not activated it’s effects. “What is going on? Could it be...manual activation?”, Victor said to himself, “God damn it Roxanne…”
Melody looked around the room as she make sure Miss Blackmore was safe. "Just follow the note...finish your grimoire...:, Melody told herself. While Miss Blackmore was meditating after having taken one of those weird pills, she took it to herself to write down the notes on a journal she called her grimoire. It also included notes on what her powers did, most she could not really control herself.
"Melody...they are mobilizing...get some rest...we will move in the morning...", whispered Miss Blackmore while meditating.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 25, 2017, 05:55:03 pm
Death motioned for them to follow as he led them to the Winds. "He didn't have a soul. The best I could have done was outright kill him. Right now he owes me a favor, one that I'll collect on once the need arises. As for why I'm here that's a personal matter, attempting to see if something is in the Winds of Memories."
Once they reached the location of the Winds Death looked to the two of them and said "Now, shall we see if what we're looking for is here?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 25, 2017, 06:02:37 pm
Helen regarded the lingering flame curiously, feeling it no longer taking directly from the energy used to maintain her protective spell, yet it still seemed linked to them. "Very well then, I just hope that doesn't draw Randael's attention." she said, moving on as Roxanne led the way.
"I would've killed him as well, that's what we were told to do on encountered hollowed bodies. But I...couldn't bring myself to. Best I could do was guard him against being possessed by wayward spirits." she explained. "Now then, let's see...any way to exert control over what is revealed?" she asked. For a moment she thought she heard something, a chance voice on the wind that unnerved her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 25, 2017, 06:42:38 pm
Roxanne patted Helen’s shoulder to reassure her over her concern before they started walking. Once they started walking, she listened to what the spirit of death had to say. “Personal matters huh? I can respect that. Everyone has their paths to take.”, Roxanne said as they walked.
Once they reached the winds of memories, Roxanne took what Helen said to hear. “Not being able to kill him huh…”, she thought to herself about how this also applied to her and Randael, she wanted to give him a chance...he wasn’t evil was he? The winds were picking up and soon, all their memories and emotions would be linked. She wondered is the spirit of death would be affected this way or if it would be a one way thing with him.
“It’s approaching...why don’t we...you know...hold hands?”, Roxanne said a bit sheepish. This was really nothing more than an excuse to see what the spirit of death felt like. “Once we are in the memories… we are not leaving her until it is over...mister death? I trust you will keep us safe…”, Roxanne told the group just as the winds picked up and the first memories appeared in each person’s mind.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 25, 2017, 07:57:27 pm
Death reluctantly took her hand as he gave her a look of curiosity. The only memories that they would be able to see were of his work as Death. As for emotions his curiosity and an odd acceptance of his situation bled through as the memories began to play.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 25, 2017, 08:10:33 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Guess much like Victor, finishing matters was harder than I thought. It seems to have paid off in both cases, given what might've occurred if no other body remained for you." she pointed out.
When she took their hands, she caught glimpse of those emotions and memories, a few of her own shared. She'd tried to focus on more positive thoughts, but there was always the risk of accidentally sharing too much with Roxanne.
She feared Roxanne might hear the stories her father used to tell of The Order, in tones that went from the regret of close friends becoming enemies, gradually into pure hate as the years passed. Or of her missions in the past, the things she did to earn the right to call herself Thane as her father did. Or of that fateful day where Roxanne, in a sense, died.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 25, 2017, 08:32:50 pm
Roxanne felt the winds engulf her own memories and that of Helen’s. She let herself be an open book in exchange to get more memories back herself. Helen would he many of her marks. Minor politicians, lawyers, the occasional business man, cultist, arcane apprentices, paramilitary groups and even a couple of Cleansing Flame members she caught of guard when she wanted to rank up.
The memories she got in return were worth it. Arcane knowledge, ancient battle tactics that would be useless today, but she could dazzle Hector with her knowledge, and many other things of interest. But, she finally found it...an arcanist or old summoning a spirit of harvest and confining it to staff. The spirit grew in power as the arcanist used it to wage war and harvest his foes. He became king but his own soul was harvested when he broke his deal with the spirit...that spirit was Randael and many memories would revolve him, his motivations would eventually become clear.
The presence watched on as the two humans and the spirit of death were overtaken by the winds of memories. They starred on into the abyss, the spirit of death somehow seem lucid and aware of his surroundings; no way to go any closer and risk exposure
“No matter...you are all fools anyway...see if you can handle this…” The red flame of the lantern suddenly turned purple and it became stronger. Ashes and smoke seemed to come out of it and mixed with the now strong winds, it was subtle enough to go unnoticed by the now meditating souls.
Victor noticed his sword’s aura change again. This time it felt...very strange...negative… “What the hell is going on…” Once more, Victor tested the blade, and to his surprised...it worked. “Holy shit!”, Victor yelled out as he deactivated it. “This is bad...very bad...this signature...I can’t be…”, Victor exclaimed as he analyzed the sword’s effect’s aftermath. He knew exactly what was going on… He needed to think of something to do about it...
Melody had prepared all the gear they would take in the morning. Miss Blackmore’s stuff was in a bag she had to carry because she said her body was not capable to carry much stuff. Her own stuff was besides the bed Miss Blackmore insisted she took, she would settle for sleeping on a couch.
“It is done...they took the bait sooner than expected. Let them figure it out, should give us time to prepare. No get some rest, tomorrow we rebuild our army ok?”, Miss Blackmore said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 25, 2017, 08:49:25 pm
As Helen shared in the memories, she caught glimpses not only of Roxanne's, but of what they needed to see. Even if the long history of murder, countered by her own memories of numerous rogue arcanists, necromancers, blood mages, and later on petty brigands falling to her hammer, fighting alongside a group of close comrades. If it meant drawing out more of what they sought, if she had to show Roxanne the horrors that made The Cleansing Flame so zealous, so be it.
The resulting glimpse into Randael's origin startled her, trying to read farther ahead. How it became free was less vital to her, as she tried to focus on finding what it was after now. She didn't notice the lantern's glow. A moment's thought came to her as those scenes unfolded. Countless harvests, amassing a great force for some purpose. But why, she thought.
"A legion of souls consumed, and in turn a legion to do its will..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 25, 2017, 08:55:30 pm
Death opened his eyes with a sigh of disappointment. The memory he'd been hoping to find was gone. Wiped even from here.
Looking to the other two he said "Randael is a problem for all of us it sounds.." He drifted off as he saw the new ashes and smoke pouring into the Winds and pulled the other two back. "..that shouldn't be here. Knowing some of the spirits that reside around this part of the realm we won't be the only ones taking notice."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 25, 2017, 09:12:12 pm
Roxanne has gathered all the memories she needed for now; not that she had choice, the winds had now passed. When she was done, a single tear was in her eye; if it was from bliss or sadness was unknown. “Guess that’s it then...it wants an army of it’s own...it’s trying to emulate the humans it served...poor bastard; trying to be human and he choose the worst aspect of us…”, Roxanne said.
It was then that she noticed the purple flame, the fire and ash. “Yeah...that is not supposed to be there…”, Roxanne said softly, “Any of you know how to stop it? It’s creeping me out...I feel watched...What is it?” The flame was giving an aura of it’s own; it clouded the bliss the dimension itself gave of, replacing it with the feeling of normalcy. “Once that is out, we will be pulled out...we have what we came for as well so I don’t see a reason to stay...Hope you got what you wanted too Mr. Death”, Roxanne commented.
Roxanne touched her elf ears and regarded her features where she could. “I miss this...but I will get it back!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 25, 2017, 09:17:20 pm
Helen regarded the way the lantern had changed. "Something else as added its own will to the lantern." she added in response. "Either some wandering spirit that decided it more amusing to watch with us rather than attack, or...that THING is here." she said.
"If it is the latter, I hope it can hear as well as see. Saving Roxanne does not outweigh everything else you've done." she said, trailing off. She tried to push back those lingering memories again. "It's too late to teach you humanity. You had your chance, only to break our trust in you. I...no, WE, will hunt you to Hel's domain if we have to." she said softly, focusing on doing her part to extinguish the lantern.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 25, 2017, 09:28:02 pm
Death nodded to the two as he said "What I wanted no longer exists. Something I should have expected I suppose. It was a pleasure meeting you Roxanne, and to see you again Helen. I think you'll find more help than you thought in your pursuit of this vile spirit but for now I think it best we all bid each other farewell."
As he finished he reached to help extinguish the flame and send them on their way. Once it was extinguished and the two were gone he sighed. Turning to one of the approaching spirits he was tempted to tell it to go. Instead he decided to leave it be as it was merely inspecting what had happened to the Winds after giving him a small nod as acknowledgement. Better that those who lived here be allowed to care for their home, however odd of a choice it was.
Walking away the spirit of a man in strange garb suddenly appeared beside him, asking him "What is it you require of me?"
Death tossed the cigar to the side and told the man "Randael is a spirit of Harvest, he seeks to make himself an army through methods that are forbidden. I want you to get some of the other Hands together and deal with him. Once your done I'll make his stay in the after life..excruciatingly painful at the least."
The man that had appeared bowed before disappearing again. Elsewhere in the physical world the Hand stood up, startling the group of men that had been looting the building around him. He gave them a wave as he walked out the door and started for the Farm, using the information he'd gotten from Death's unspoken words to decide to pay a visit to the man that had released this spirit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 25, 2017, 09:45:50 pm
As the fire was extinguished, Roxanne closed her eyes. She knew what came next; it was time to wake up. One moment, Death and Helen extinguished the flame, the next she was back on the floor with the familiar afterglow. She laid there and basked in that feeling for a while; this was the best part in her opinion.
After a couple of minutes, Roxanne got up and noticed Helen was sitting up on the bed so she called out. “Hey, Helen. Are you alright? Quite the trip am I right? Hope it was enjoyable or at least interesting. We now have the information we need, what he is planning. So what do you want to do? Do you want to plan something or wait until we have more information?", Roxanne told the awaking Helen, "Whatever you chose to do, we are in this together ok? He betrayed me personally... I am not sure if Victor is ready yet… so maybe we leave him out of this for now…”
Victor noticed the aura from the sword was no more. He hesitantly tried to activate it again but failed to do so. On his desk, many papers were there full of scribbles and symbols; he was already at work to figure this whole thing on. One thought was at the back of his mind, he knew who’s aura that was. “Randael…”, Victor whispered as he put the sword back on it’s scabbard.
Melody was fast asleep and Randael closed his body’s eyes to simulate the same. Roxanne’s body didn’t sleep so it was a futile endeavor. With closed eyes, he smirked. “I see...they know of me know...very interesting...let’s see where this goes...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 25, 2017, 09:53:57 pm
Helen awoke with a start. A flood of memories glimpsed from Roxanne and Randael, along with a haze of Death's experiences, lingered in her mind. And yet it didn't detract from the strange afterglow of the pill's effects, something even further beyond compare than when she'd been in that border between worlds. No drink or experience she knew matched it, the closest thing that came to mind was something she'd experienced only once thus far.
She sat up, soon hearing Roxanne addressing her. "It's...rather nice actually. If a bit unexpected." she admitted. "I hope those memories prove of use though. At least what we sought, not sure about the memories we've...shared." she said, looking down nervously. "I think Victor will need to know eventually. But either way we'll have to formulate a plan. To seek it out, and a way to combat it." she said. "Something like the same contingency plan we had for if the ritual went awry, maybe..."
"In any case, all three of us were a part of that ritual, that brought it the means to do this. Even if we don't tell him what we're going to do, the others are going to wonder what happened to you." she said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 25, 2017, 10:11:55 pm
“Yeah, you are right, he needs to know eventually…”, Roxanne commented. She knew that the memories they shared made the other question each other even if just a little but she didn’t bring it up to let the wound heal. “He was the one who Randael made a pact with and he literally lost his soul to it...He will want to fight it along with us…”, Roxanne said.
She looked away momentarily to look at her altar and then looked back at Helen. “A contingency would be nice...Maybe keep him alive if we can? I want to talk to him at least. I want to know something no memories could tell me…”, Roxanne requested.
At the remark about what other would think when they saw her, she touched her ears; they were round again. “You know, I looked like this before I abused two very specific devices. Not arcane but experimental science...they may be shocked at first but after I explain, they might understand...yes before those machines…”, Roxanne explained to Helen; her eyes lit up a bit, “Wait...this body isn’t tainted by mutagen! Maybe Hector and I…”
Roxanne shook her head at the thought. “Not the time...sorry...should we tell Victor now or wait a little bit? You are the one who knows more of the arcane, you are the boss Here Helen…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 25, 2017, 10:24:27 pm
The day before...
Hector growled under the helm as he finally caught the fallen crusader, an armored boot stomping his head as soon as he had the man bleeding out on the ground. The rumble of the tank forcing its way into the camp, and the frantic fleeing of the others, prompted him to sheath his sword and unsling the M4.
They'd no doubt expected to elude a clumsy vehicle and a single man on foot, Hector wondering that they were prepared for what resulted. Careful, short bursts of rounds were sent at any crusader caught in the open, making use of training that had once gone rusty, but recent events had forced him to revive. Pick the closest, deliver a burst, move on, and take care in aiming. Those were the only things on his mind, the verse he'd been singing having finished during the back-and-forth fighting with the disguised crusader.
"Cowards! Stop playing around and fight back! Die with some fucking honor for once!" he shouted, drowned out by the gunshots.
Helen nodded at that, brushing aside those memories as best as she could. "He'll also be useful in doing so. You have that founding connection to this thing before it was drawn out in ritual, making you best-suited to interpret its actions. While Victor and I have different forms of experience that together might be useful." she said. "In particular, I don't know what experience he has with sealing magic. That's generally something I can only make use of with the right items, in the right context. A blade ward with an incorruptible sword, for example." she pointed out.
"And did I hear you, for but a moment, using the same terms for Randael that I've taken up, it?" she teased. "As for that, that might be dangerous. It needs to be under such tight control that it can't manipulate you into freeing it again."
"That does however make it easier. Wait, you and Hector...oh. Might be of use to teach you a few of the more physical forms of protective magic sometime." she remarked. "It's your body that's been altered though, so tell him now if you wish. I'll stay with you if so."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 25, 2017, 10:50:05 pm
“He used me as a host Helen...I thought of him as personal god for some time. I worshipped him. I have more than a connection, he stole part of me.”, Roxanne responded to Helen’s remarks, “And Yes, Victor seems to know about spiritual things more than I do, he is almost obsessed over it. He should know how to seal things off and summon them and make traps and all that jazz”
“It might be dangerous but I am willing to take the risk...I need to talk to him Helen...besides, the way he took over me wasn’t magic...it was something else; something else anyone could do if they knew about it…”, Roxanne addressed her concerns about it being too dangerous to simply contain him.
“Wait? Protective magic? oh...OH…”, Roxanne said blushing a bit, “No..I am trying to do the oposite...wait, never mind…” Roxanne looked away for a bit and picked up her own journal. She let a few moments passed and then looked at Helen again. “Alright, lets go and see Victor...he is going to freak out when he sees me like...well, like this. The story about Randael will make him even less happy...hope it goes well.”
Roxanne then lead the way to Victor’s house. She used the robbed she was left with to hide her face as she walked with Helen. They eventually reached Victor’s quarter’s. “Helen, can you knock and explain this to him slowly...I will show my face to him once you do so. We need to do this slowly. He certainly trust you more than me know…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 25, 2017, 10:58:23 pm
Helen sighed at that. "More reason for you to join in bringing justice to this thing. The very same things that aenabled it, or at least encouraged it, are what give you this knowledge and understanding we'll need." she said. "And...hmm. That's even worse then. If they knew this, what's stopping them from exploiting it even when sealed, commanding you to free it, or to simply kill everyone else for petty vengeance? I don't know what method it used, but I doubt being sealed with prevent it." she pointed out.
"And...I see. I have plans of such nature, er...someday. When things have calmed down. And there's a lot to discuss with someone before that." she admitted. "Until then, it has its uses." she said, following Roxanne along towards Victor's room, and moving to knock on the door. "Alright then, here goes...Victor? Are you alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 25, 2017, 11:12:14 pm
“You bring a good point...maybe we can ask Victor about it when we get there? Last thing I want is to attack you or Victor on accident when we deploy…”. Roxanne answered as the two walked to Victor’s room. Once they reached there, Roxanne hid behind the hood as Helen knocked.
Victor was startled by the knock. He put away his notes and sword and went to answer the door. "Helen? Fancy seeing you here so soon! What is the matter?", Victor asked when he opened the door. Victor changed his gaze to the hooded figure. He then scanned his all auras of the farm and found nothing ne. "Who is that with you Helen and why are they hiding? I have check all auras and there isn’t a new one so they are someone from the farm. Why all the secrecy", Victor asked; then he recognized those symbols on the robes, "Wait a minute...that robe...why do they have that robe? What is the meaning of this Helen?"
Roxanne stayed hidden, she was now nervous that Victor was suspecting something. “Tell him Helen… he will understand...nothing to worry about…”, Roxanne whispered to herself. She was waiting for the cue when Helen told Victor so she could do her reveal. They had to get this out of the way before they could even begin to make a plan.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 25, 2017, 11:27:05 pm
Helen nodded at that as Victor answered the door. "I'm sorry we haven't had the chance to talk. Just Roxanne, actually." she said softly. "And yes, as much as I hate to say it, I recognize the robe. First glimpse I caught of you was in such 6 years ago, was it not?" she pointed out. "It's difficult to explain, but. Something happened when those traders arrived this morning." she said, trying to work up the nerve to explain. "If you sensed anything abnormal sometime afterwards, that was likely the result of us trying to find some answers to something that's troubled us lately." she explained.
"That...spirit, Randael. It came back earlier today, directing a body."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 25, 2017, 11:42:34 pm
"What? Roxanne? What are you talking about?", Victor responded utterly confused, "Those robes...you mean they are the ones from six years ago? No, this can’t be...What did those traders do?! So it was you who cause those anomalies? What answers were you looking for? Someone just explain it to me."
Roxanne took her hood off and revealed her face to Victor. "Hello Victor...this is what they did..., Roxanne said in a sheepish voice. Victor was stunned, that face and those robes; it was her, but it wasn’t. The only aura here was of the Roxanne he knew now.
"Roxanne Blackmore? Is that you?", Victor slowly asked.
That question angered Roxanne to no end. She stepped forward and slapped Victor hard. "Don’t you ever call me that again you hear me?! Never again!!!", Roxanne screamed. This just confused Victor even more. It wasn’t here then if that was her reaction to that name; the aura, the disdain to her family last name, This was Roxanne Luna. But how? He was staring at the woman who died six years ago. This made no sense, and now he recalled them saying the anomalies were their fault. Randael is involved in this too? What a headache!
"Ok, everyone, let’s calm down...why don’t you enter my room and we talk about this...I have no idea what is going on but I have some clues...Enter, take a seat where you like and tell me from the beginning, ok? There i obviously something you want to tell me so let’s not waste any time", Victor declared to get control of the situation
Victor motioned the girls to come inside and they obliged. Roxanne still glared at Victor; her face so familiar and yet different. It reminded him of his past more, back when he failed to protect her… Once everyone was inside and seated, Victor shut the door and sat down himself. "Alright ladies. From the beginning if you may...", Victor said
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 26, 2017, 12:04:18 am
Bandit nodded to Nathaniel as he said "Yeah, just let me know if you want me to patch things up for you when we're back at the farm. For now I need to go take care of some things."
With that Bandit walked away. As he walked through the corridor his short range radio buzzed, someone asking if he was on. Pulling it out he told them he was and they told him they needed to talk with him at their place, could pick him up if needed. A few minutes waiting outside and he got into the van and they drove off.
Arriving at the place he hopped out at the house that was out in the sticks and walked inside. The men inside looked up when he entered and he asked what was going on. One explained there was another gang. They didn't like that he was muscling in on their turf. Bandit sighed as he told them to take care of it, find and kill everyone in that gang if they had to but he wanted them to know he ran the place.
Walking back outside after everyone told him they understood he got in the van and told them to take him back to the farm. Lighting a cigarette Bandit leaned back and wondered how this was going to play out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 26, 2017, 12:17:07 am
Helen winced a bit at that. "I wasn't that happy to see those robes again either." she pointed out, only for Roxanne to step in and reveal her face, sighing some at the resulting scene. "Alright, calm down, both of you...yes, inside for more privacy, I suspect would be bast." she said, shutting the door behind them.
"This is still the Roxanne we've both come to know, forced into a body of one left dead for all those years." she explained. "Randael found your handiwork, and took control of the body. Even had the wound mended and sewed up the robe." she said, reaching to the hood to show the tear that had been sewn up. "She came here, exploiting your own knowledge of magic and some other non-magical means to get Roxanne where it wanted her." she said, before lowering her head.
"Then forcing them to switch bodies. That THING is now running amok in a body, raising revenants to command, and seems to have taken at least one person in and corrupted them." she explained. "We now know it's raising an army for some reason." she said, giving a sigh.
"Went through using the pill's effects with her due to my experience with defensive spells, as evidently you need wards against spiritual harm there. It wasn't much, but it helped. We also had an...unexpected encounter with a certain other spirit you'll know, the one who's earned the right to not be called an it." she added. "He may prove helpful actually. This thing has angered him as well, after all. However, I fear our explorations alerted it to our actions."
Elsewhere at the refugee Center, Nathaniel folded the clothing up neatly, smiling some. "thank you, in any case. Take care now." he said, before deciding to go check on Dee and Mica again, along with the surviving victims of crucifixion. The news of what happened at the camp unnerved him. Were they really expecting to be found out THAT quickly? It seemed unlikely, but there was always a way he thought, as he entered the room.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 26, 2017, 04:20:22 am
When the battle fire had left him, and all lay dead or dying before the hero's, they had time to realize the oddity of the camp. In truth, it hadn't been heavily guarded. More to the point, their weren't nearly as many prisoners present as their should have been.
"They took em away hours ago." Explained one shaky cyborg, his legs giving audible tortured noises as the faulty bionic worked. Most of the prisoners had been staked out on crosses, but to everyones surprise most of them had simply been quickly tied up with cable, rope, wire, or barbed wire instead of being nailed up. Further examination showed that some of the victims, weren't even people. Rather, they were hastily constructed facsimiles made from garbage bags, cast off clothes, and stuffed with leaves or refuse. Scarecrows, little more.
"What the hell..." Hector thought aloud as he went from prisoner to prisoner, helping to check them over and make sure they were alright. Of all the people the group had expected to find, they hadn't expected so few. Only eleven prisoners, five dead and one injured. Of the injured, he was missing his legs below the knees. Dee had been covered in a blanket up to his chin, most of the wires and tubes coming out of him having been removed after the operation. There were only a couple wires now, hooked straight into his heart and lungs, keeping them calibrated. When Dee woke, if he woke, they would autocalibrate and the wires could be removed.
It made for a sad sight, but not quiet as wincingly sad as Mica. In only a couple days, she'd worn almost away. Nathaniel knew she had to eat close to constantly, but he'd always figured it was just a result of inhuman hunger and not doing so would have little consequence. He was wrong. Her face was beginning to hollow, so much so that he could see the ghosts of her teeth and the line of her jaw through her skin. Likewise, her clothes seemed to fit somewhat more loosely. The green silk blouse she favored hung off her like her shoulders were a clothesline. "God," Nathaniel thought, "God, only two days and she looks like this?" She was moving slowly, like a spider preparing for starvation hibernation. "Mica?" He said.
She turned her head slowly towards him, and the look in her eye made him think of a bitterly sad animal. There was nothing in them, no recognition or sign of intelligence at all. A moment later, Nathaniel was given some small relief when Mica betrayed that look in her eye by asking, "Is Kat-nyp okay?" Nathaniel went to her, but she slowly pushed him away with a little growl. He'd heard that Mica had become increasingly aggressive towards the nurses and doctors who came to check on Dee. "She's... Ok. She's still a uh... A rat." Mica slowly shook her head and said, "stupid small man, Kat-nyp not rat. Kat-nyp is Kat-nyp. Where is Kat-nyp?" Nathaniel realized then that Mica lacked the imagination to believe that Catnip had been changed, so he changed the subject.
"Mica, you have to eat something, you look..." He considered his next words, but Mica finished for him. "My-ka look like shit." The last word startled him, to his knowledge Mica never swore. "Bring My-ka foods. My-ka eat when My-ka ready." Dee awoke in his bed the next day, ready to face the morning. It had been a long time since the cataclysm, and life had eventually gotten back on it's own sweet keel in time. He checked the alarm clock standing next to his bed and was pleased to see that he had once again beat the alarm by ten minutes. "Gonna be a good day." He thought. He took a quick shower, and made himself presentable. Today was an important day for a couple reasons. For one, he was at long last presenting the "Medeina mark III" to The Old Guard's recovery council. This new AI, based off that found in an old friend, would be a break through in aiding people getting established in places still infested by the blob. The Old guard had done a fantastic job, after a few years of harsh struggle, of mopping up the blob. After that, they'd turned their attention to shelling the ever living crap out of Gods Army and kicking the teeth of the hells raiders in. Another reason it was a good day, was that his sister-in-law was on the council and he'd get to visit with her. He was eager to know how Catnip and Kathrine were getting along. The final reason, was that today was his anniversary. He glanced down at the little silver band on his finger with obvious pride. It had been eleven years ago to the day that he'd tied the knot with Mica, and it was a decision he'd never once regretted.
As he descended the stairs, laying his tie loosely over his shoulders, he could smell breakfast. In the kitchen, he found Mica frying eggs. He thought he could smell bacon as well, but he didn't see any. Some habits died hard it seemed, and Mica had probably eaten it all. She hadn't been able to help it. "Morning love of my life." He said, coming into the kitchen. Mica turned, but didn't respond. She knew his words weren't for her. They were for the little girl seated on a trio of books at the kitchen table, drawing with a set of crayons. She was only eight, but already Mona had shown as much aptitude in art as her mother. Mica came around the table and wrapped him in a hug, briefly covering his lips with a kiss, and said "Mo-nah been drawin' all mornin'. Tell My-ka she want to draw daddy lizard a present." She explained. Dee looked over his daughters shoulder. She'd been born with scales, just like her fathers, but had a set of four regularly spaced eyes. A mutant, like her parents, but kids like her were becoming the norm. "Whatcha drawing baby?" Mona turned and looked up into Dean's face, grinning like her mother, showing off a row of tiny shark teeth in a mouth which resembled more her fathers than Mica's. It still opened a little wider than it should. "Drawing you a present daddy." She said, holding the paper up to him.
"Let's see..." He said, carefully accepting the sheet of printer paper. He looked it over with obvious pride, until he realized the subject matter. As soon as he recognized the image of the train, the dream broke apart. "Fuck you!" Dee cried into the darkness. "I'm not working on the fucking train, you can wait till Catnip gets back or you can fuck off, dirty fucking fuck." He was furious at the interruption of such a pleasant dream by the childishly vain god. To his surprise, he was still wearing the tie, it had little pictures of trains on it. Dee whipped it off and threw it on the ground, stomping on it for good measure. "I am so sick of your shit. You keep butting the fuck in! Fuck! I..." He had a thought. It made him uneasy that Agmen had yet to speak to him, but the god had recently taken another approach. Implanting imagery into his dreams. The thing that suddenly jerked him out of his anger though was the realization of how long the dream had been going on for. "How long have I been asleep?" He thought. The only response was Agmen's harsh laughter in his head.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 26, 2017, 05:30:06 am
Victor heard all of Helen’s explanation intently. He reacted with various facial expressions to her comments as the explanation went on. “My goddess...that is a lot to take in…”, Victor said in reaction, “Let me address your points individually shall I?”
“So Randael took over that body of...her… and came her to switch bodies with Roxanne? You say he used my knowledge...then I know what the ‘non-magical’ part is. I will explain that later as that is a can of worms onto itself…”, Victor said to address Helen’s first points.
“Now Randael has picked up Necromancy? Damn...this is not good. He probably wants that army to insure his survival but we can't be sure and maybe his survival is against our interest… Also, an apprentice you say? Fitting he would take someone over his wing. I assume they are now corrupted in the full sense of the word...similar to how I was”, Victor answered in response to Helen's second points.
“You went to the winds of memories? I see...Randael served as means of protection before so wards would be necessary now I supposed.”, Victor said in response to Helen's final points, “Wait...you means him don't you...the one who spared me from my own actions and who I owe a debt to...He is involved in this? This is more serious as I though…”
Victor went over and took his journal and Handed it to Helen. “Here, this is the reading of an anomaly with my sword a while back. See if it matches what you did in that realm. If so, then we got ourselves a little puzzle to solve...tell me, what did you see in the winds?”, Victor asked Helen.
Roxanne for her part remained quiet in her seat. She let the two that knew about this talk and she would answer question that came her way. The talk about killing Randael made her recoil a bit as she was still coming to terms with that. Roxanne looked at her hands, “I am even more of an imposter now...I am even wearing her skin…”, Roxanne said under her breath.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 26, 2017, 11:17:38 am
Hector was now seething with quiet fury as he checked the prisoners, helping to tend to to the one injured as best as he could, radioing Roxanne and reporting in. 6 in total, just barely enough to need the APC to help bring them back to the center. That some had been lashed to the crosses rather than nailed to them likely saved their lives, despite the effects of being left hanging there, exposed to the elements for around 18 hours.
He knew what this meant as they handed out water and watched for symptoms of shock, scavenging clothes from the token force of guards, loaded them into the tank and the APC to bring them back. The enemy knew how quickly they'd be found out. His thoughts turned to the Old Guard's report of how the attack began. One of them initiated it disguised as a trader. There could be others, and he realized now why Nathaniel insisted on the two maintaining a guard shift while Helen, Victor, and Quinn had worked long into the night for what turned out to be a mere half-dozen rescued. And why he insisted on staying until Mica and Dee could leave.
That evening, before a morning that he would later regret having missed entirely, he elected to stay as well, for the same purpose. Despite his knight getup he knew he was seen as a hunter of bandits, and now God's Army, and that old mission that drove Hell's Raiders back was likely the only reason they tolerated someone that might otherwise be mistaken for a templar.
There had to be a reason they found out so quickly.
Nathaniel, taken aback as he was, gave a sigh as brought some food for Mica. "Alright then. It isn't healthy for you to starve yourself for Dee though. You're wasting away a lot faster than anyone else would. You don't want him waking up only to find you've starved to death, would you?" he pointed out, setting a tray nearby. Meat of some wild game no doubt, scrambled eggs, he knew how she reacted to fruits and vegetables so he'd avoided bringing any.
"In any case, I'm staying here too. Hector's here as well, but...Catnip and all the others are back at the farm." he said. "Just want to make sure you're both alright. You know how a lot of people got hit by that wand that bishop fuckboy was waving around? A lot of them survived that." he explained, before deciding to speak more quietly to her.
"That's where those 6 people he brought back came from. Someone ratted out how quickly we found them though, I'm sure of it. Mica, I need you to keep an eye...or three, out for anything that seems suspicious. And did anyone ACT suspicious, right before the attack started, if you remember?" he asked. "We need to plan ahead, figure out exactly who it is before we do anything."
Helen waited quietly as Victor regarded everything she'd explained and addressed those points. "We'll need to see how to prevent Randael from using Roxanne as a weapon against us, in that case." she pointed out.
"This apprentice could however be another part of that army, she was certainly used as part of the ruse after all." she pointed out, before he answered Victor's question about Death's intervention with a nod.
After that, she explained what happened there, using the ward to light their way until Death arrived, then lighting the lamp, then some of the memories they shared in, until they caught those glimpses of Randael's experiences. Then, finally, their having noticed how the lantern's flame changed at some point while they were viewing the memories, describing the differences. And how she suspected it meant some being, likely Randael, was aware of their spying.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 26, 2017, 02:32:27 pm
Sharlene shoved the dolly underneath the keg of water she'd... Requisitioned. From the cook shack. The significant lack of anyone active around the farm hadn't quite dawned on her yet, she was too busy trying to set up this dumb little gag with Mohammad and Lilith. Lilith had, surprisingly enough, gone along with this, and was just sat next to the humvee on the other side of the bridge, waiting with the water cannon and the 'backpack' for it. Kathrine set down the tank containing Ratnip on her bed. "Mistress, I'm gonna let you out, please don't run away or something. You can if you want to but please don't..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 26, 2017, 05:01:17 pm
"Roxanne turning against us should not be a problem if we find the right credentials...heck...we might use it to our advantage if we find the right credentials for the body Randael took...", Victor commented on Helen’s first remark.
“So an army...he must be trying to get a foothold somehow I guess. It’s strange he isn’t just acquiring power for himself directly… Hopefully we can use that to our advantage as well.”, Victor commented on Helen's second remarks.
Victor listened and took noted as Helen explained about her and Roxanne’s experience in the winds. He nodded all the way through, seemingly not surprised at what he heard. “This is a problem. Not one directly but we will eventually get in the way of what he wants and vise versa. One of us has to go and I will be damned if it is us! We need to deal with him before it is too late. No Helen, I can trust you can use your expertise spatial and teleportation magic and see if he left any trace while using the purple flame? I will analyze the aura of flame itself and give you what I find.”, Victor explained.
Victor approached Helen, seemingly to pick up his journal but leaned in and whispered. “Sorry we never get to have that talk we agreed too...maybe soon we should make time ok?”, Victor whispered into Helen’s ear before picking up his journal. “Does that sound like a plan ladies?”, Victor asked out loud.
"And what do I do?", asked Roxanne, "How can I help?"
"Write what it was to be under the spell of Randael. You are a precious point of view we can learn a lot from. Also, be sure to answer any questions we have from you ok?", Victor responded.
Melody and Miss Blackmore were in the middle of the city. The latter had already taken out many of the dead using the laser pistol she had acquired. Only a single though zombie remained.
“How about you test that power of yours now Melody?”, Miss Blackmore suggested. She put her pistol down and holstered it; then she did a gesture to go on a head. “Let's see what you can do. I have faith in you.”, Miss Blackmore said for encouragement.
The tough zombie marched forwards. It was slow but determined. At the order of her teacher, Melody did the same. A black aura appeared in her right hand as she extended it forward. The two approached each other to attack, only one would be the winner. The tough zombie met Melody and it lashed with a swing; Melody catched it and held it’s arm. The arm slowly decayed and became dust leaving the rest of it to deal with. Melody applied the same black aura to both her hands now and fought off the tough zombie. It swung again and she did the same to the other arm as she had done to the first. The now armless zombie was easy to deal with; Melody place one of her hands on it’s face and the other on it’s chest. Soon. the husk she would leave behind would not get up.
“Good job my dead. You can at least defend yourself.”, Miss Balckmore said while giving an applause, “But you still have much to learn. No rush now, we are a team after that. Now, we have ourselves a plethora of promising minions here; remember, 5 shards so choose carefully.”
“Wait, you are letting me choose?!” Melody exclaimed.
“But of course. Let’s see your judgment at play. This should be interesting”, Miss blackmore responded.
Melody nervously agreed. Miss Blackmore was taking her with a big responsibility and she did not want to disappoint. She pointed to what dead she wanted and Miss Blackmore nooded and grinned at each of her choices before implanting a shard into each. 2 though zombie, 2 shady zombie and 1 electric zombie; this is what she choose.
After the conversion was successful, Melody and Miss Blackmore walked back to their temporary house. “Today was a successful hunt...next order of business is acquiring more shards. We are close to ending step one.”, Miss Blackmore commented. Melody only nodded with a somber look on her face; she was not entirely used to killing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 26, 2017, 05:14:16 pm
Helen regarded this discussion with a look of concern, thus far uncertain what to expect just yet. "If we can wrest control of its body from it, yes. What creates this vulnerability though? If it's a bionic it might be possible to remove the cause, something that might be best to do for the body Roxanne has now, if it's safe to do so." she suggested.
"And yes, we'll have to deal with this thing, before it poses a threat to anyone else. If it focuses its attention to the flame again, it might be possible to trace it. Doing so however won't exactly work like what we did last time. We don't have a broad selection of tears in reality pointing to a single location. That relied on simple math to resolve. This is a single link to that thing, connected across realms. The other solution would be to scry through this connection, which unlike last time will be simpler as we don't have multiple destinations and paths to worry about." she suggested. "The catch is doing so risks further alerting it to our actions."
She then blushed brighter at that, before smiling some. "It's fine. Just please, be careful so that we have that time to do so." she said softly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 26, 2017, 05:37:41 pm
Victor smiled at Helen’s reaction to what he whispered to her, his answer in return was to nod and cross his heart as a gesture of a promise. He then continued to address her remarks, “Yes, it a bionic. In the order, assassins were implanted with a bionic that would control them in case they were needed; be it Hunters needing fodder for a mission or if an assassin went awol. Roxanne has that in her. It is tied to her CQB bionic, the fact it control her brain already was why it was chosen, and because of that modification to it, we won’t be able to remove it. Roxanne’s body has it for sure due to her being just an assassin, but her counterpart was on too at one point, no doubt it has it’s own activation.”, Victor explained, “We find that out and game over, Randael is forced to come out.”
“Yes, tracing him will be very difficult. Going into that realm to trace the flame can be difficult and as you said, we only have one sample. We can’t afford to mess it up. I am all ears to how you want to do this and I am sure Roxanne is too. Tell us how you want to measure this thing and I will help with what I can. Meanwhile, I will try and figure out possible credential with Roxanne, she and I were part of the same order so maybe we could figure that out.”, Victor said in response to her second remarks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 26, 2017, 06:49:35 pm
It had been two days. Two days since the AI had seen hide or scale of the person who was supposed to be constructing a body with which she could be free of the tiny prison of the laptops terribly inferior harddrive and it's tenuous connection to the harddrive matrix that held it's fabulous mind. She reached out, taking control of her proxy, intent on searching the farm up and down. The small robot made it's way to Roxannes, then to the small shacks that housed the farms residents, after that to the empty infirmary and Quinn's lab. She found no one until she checked in on the cook shack where she encountered a handsome woman with an eye patch quietly making off with a large tank of water. "This might be interesting." Medeina thought. It was rare that she ever encountered the woman, and though she'd lost any interest she had in humans she was interested to know what this one was doing. Quietly, she latched onto the front end of the dollies cargo and hoped that Sharlene wouldn't notice her new passenger, an absurd notion considering the proxies size. Predictably, Sharlene noticed. "Hello." Said Medeina. The moment the tank was set down on the somewhat unstable bed, the cat sized rodent hit the side of the tank, scattering the tools, shredded pants, and undergarment onto the floor. It hissed and scurried around the room. "Mis- Catnip no! Please!" Kathrine followed it around the room, trying to catch it. It suddenly darted for Catnips bed and hopped comically into it. Small puffs of straw occasionally flew up out of the rough bed as the rat dug in. "Everyone suspicious to My-ka." She said, taking the offered food without thanks and devouring it uncharacteristically slowly. "People don't like My-ka, so everyone suspicious to My-ka. My-ka is eater to people." She continued, referring to how people at the refugee center still thought of her. She chomped a bone, the splintering crunch making Nathaniel wince. When Mica ate, she ate everything given down to the plate. In an uncommon show of gentleness, one of her hands came up with a damp rag which she used to clean Dee's brow. "Lizard dreamin'. Bad dreams maybe. Maybe good dreams. Maybe both." A ghost of a grin touched her face, giving her the scarifying look of a corpse when combined with her minor emaciation. "Maybe lizard dreamin' of My-ka."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 26, 2017, 07:07:34 pm
Helen gave a little sigh, shaking her head. "That's not a good sign. If it can't be removed, any way to disable access to the commands? I'm assuming that your order expected assassins to end their service in death, so it'd be rather optimistic of me to expect a failsafe for such things as retirement." she joked.
"As for how to track it, I feel that we'll need you observing its affects on the blade again, any patterns and anomalies, while we attempt to induce it again, and track it from our end. I assume we won't be able to so soon after using those drugs, however?" she asked Roxanne.
Nathaniel gave a little sigh at that. "I see. Different ways some people might react though. Fear, pity, anger, hatred. Either way, someone here is even more suspicious than usual, they told those fuckers with the blue crosses what we were up to." he said softly. "So until Dee's up and able to leave, both Hector and I will stick around to ensure no one tries to harm either of you. That alright with you?" he asked.
Hector meanwhile was doing his usual business, talking to the Old Guard representative. "Could be another guard infiltration like last time, yes. But it could've been a trader or any other short-term visitor. They didn't need long-term info like Hell's Raiders were after, just enough to plan the attack. You know the drill, this stays between us until it's sorted out."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 26, 2017, 08:31:26 pm
Sharlene raises an eyebrow at Medeina's appearance. "Who're you? You wanna talk to Lilith? I can get her." She sets the dolly down and raises her hands to her mouth. "LIIIIILLLIIIIIIIIIITH!" About a minute later, Lilith comes bounding towards the shack, crashing into the side of the doorframe with a thundering *crack*. Sharlene sounded panicked, and that meant Lilith was agitated. The dumb circle thing was here, the one that kept watching her and Natalie hug. Sharlene was scared of this? Lilith picked up the proxy and just squeezed it, grinning at the satisfying crunch.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 26, 2017, 08:35:02 pm
Victor rolled his eyes with a smile at the joke before he responded, “Yeah I would assume they wouldn’t think they would make it that far. Joining was a life commitment. We can’t remove it but if we find an authority higher than what Randael uses, we can overwrite his control of her.”, Victor answered Helen’s first remark
"Yeah, I was warned about using this too close together in time. Also, I was told not to take more than one at a time. I wonder why. Anyways, we have to wait for a cool down before we go in again. In the meantime, we can plan what we are going to do there. I assume Helen and I are going? I would guide Helen so she can decipher the flame while Victor see it’s effects in the real world. That sounds like a good plan?", Roxanne answers Helen’s second remark.
Melody opened her journal and chanted a spell that Miss Blackmore told her to recite...when it was done, she didn't noticed anything different; the only thing she found was the praise of her teacher.
Back at in the lantern the guarded the visitors of the farm by the winds of memories, a familiar blue flame ignited.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 26, 2017, 08:49:15 pm
Medeina reached out, grabbing another proxy. As she did so though, she noticed something else. A new AI signature. She diverted her grasp and took it. "Oh, now that's interesting." She said to herself. The new robot, flying close to the farm, was an eyebot. She shoved it's own rudimentary AI aside, overriding and erasing it, and seized control. She took another note of the eyebots drive. "Blah blah, Gods Army, bleh blah, very boring, blah. Hm... Erase erase erase, break this connection aaaand... mine." She flew the eyebot down to the farm and observed. Sharlene saw the eyebot hanging in the air, saw the blue cross painted on the side, and made a sharp gesture towards it. "Please don't-" Medeina began to protest the destruction of her proxies when a two-by-four, hurled like a javalin by Lilith, smashed through the eyebot. Medeina's new proxy exploded violently, raining bits of metal everywhere.
Medeina gave an electronic sigh, and reached out for another proxy. She decided she'd have to make her presence known BEFORE revealing herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 26, 2017, 08:50:54 pm
Helen gave a nod at that. "Very well then. We'll wait until you suspect it's safe to use this again, and determine what can be done. Until then..." she said softly, before retrieving her symbol of judgement that she had at her belt. "If the blade begins to show any sign of Randael's influence while we aren't exploring the spirit realm, you may need to act quickly in case it attempts to use your sword as a way to harm you. You recall my notes on binding spirits by invoking greater influence? That's what this was to be used for, back when we first initiated this ritual, when we expected things may go awry. If it attempts to inflict any harm upon you, well..." she said, trailing off a bit. "Sealing it now by the same method likely won't be an option, but it may be possible to drive it out, or at least prevent it from using the sword against you.."
"That sounds like a solid plan, yes. For now, since we must take time off before this exploration can be repeated, that means we have some time to rest, given recent events we all need it." she said, smiling some. "How long will we need, Roxanne?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 26, 2017, 10:00:25 pm
"Don’t worry about that. If anything, the only worry here is this sword getting on the wrong hands while it is unstable. If you feel like you need to put up any wards, go ahead. Wanna take a look at it? It is not unstable yet and maybe you would like add some tracking spells to see if it leaves a trail? Sorry, I am not very good at these types of things...", Victor answered Helen's first remark.
"It should take around 12 hours, we can plan or rest if we need too. We go whe you are ready Helen. Meanwhile, Victor and I will work on the codes that control me and to detect any anomalies with the flame in the sword...so what is the plan for now?", Roxanne answered Helen's second remarks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 26, 2017, 10:09:57 pm
Helen seemed concerned by that, though she nodded and started looking through more of her notes. "It might be best then to see what we gleam then, and prepare any other measures in case it becomes needed. I'll gather what I can think of that might be useful for any such things, though for now what we'll need is to pay attention to any anomalies that express themselves while we're waiting until it's safe to use those pills again." she said.
"In the meantime, we've earned some rest then, if you both wish it. Or to...talk, as well."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 26, 2017, 10:40:30 pm
Roxanne nodded in agreement on the plan for now, "Alright sister, I will go to my room and plan some stuff then...", Roxanne said, she was left a bit nervous but she at least had a goal in mind now. She exited the room and put on the hood to go back to her room without being spotted.
"Yes, for now we wait. There isn’t much we can until we can use those pills.", Victor said in response, "Oh...well, this is as good a time as any… if you want to, we can talk things over and make our peace. We seem to go into many dangerous adventures together so it might be time to understand each other..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 26, 2017, 10:49:39 pm
Helen nodded at that as Roxanne left, blushing a bit as she regarded Victor's question with uncertainty. "We should then, while we have time." she said, sitting beside him. "I'm still not sure yet what our future holds, but, well...you should start first. Anything you wish to ask me, for one." she said. "And anything you had in mind regarding, well...us." she said, looking away shyly. Despite how bold she'd been that night, she still seemed uncertain what to think of him, and what he in turn thought of her.
Eventually Hector and Nathaniel had settled into a routine of keeping an eye out on things, but over the course of the day it became apparent that things had calmed down some. Neither of them wanted to leave Dee and Mica there at the center, but both were worn down from everything that had occurred lately. Eventually it was decided that they would visit the center in shifts, leaving one to keep an eye on things and assist the center in rebuilding, as best as they could.
Nathaniel would be the first to take the tank back to the farm, radioing ahead about what they were up to, stepping out once the vehicle was parked and examining the scene around them. It made him realize how quiet everything seemed with so many gone in some way.
None of Dee's fiddling with that peculiar robot, none of the chaos Mica left in her wake, none of Hector's endless work on the Siege Tower and at the forge. Likewise he noticed Roland was curiously absent, and thus the two weren't keeping the forge regularly active for their various projects. But worst of all, none of that endless racket Catnip's tinkering with the train often made, a sound he'd since learned to tune out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 26, 2017, 11:03:53 pm
"Alright then...", Victor responded, he too was flustered and not sure of himself, "I don’t know what the future holds either...I just know I want you to be part of it. I am not sure how to explain it but you are something I am afraid to lose. Whatever you look in me, I don’t know; but whatever it is, I hope I haven’t changed in that regard."
Roxanne looked around as she walked towards her room. She prayed she would not be spotted as she wasn’t sure how she would explain why she was this way. She managed to reached her room and she shut the door. She had a lot of thinking to do.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 26, 2017, 11:22:22 pm
Sharlene had been waiting mostly all day for someone to return, and she was already completely soaked through with water. Nathaniel's arrival was a great sign, though. Lilith would definitely have fun doing this. Sharlene stepped out from her hiding place behind the barn wall, holding her arms out to the side. "Heeeeey, Natalie! What's up? I bet LILITH would be glad to see ya!" She's just stood there awkwardly for a couple of seconds, smiling smugly. "...Oh goddamnit. I SAID, LILITH WOULD BE GLAD TO SEE YA!" Lilith had finally finished laughing at Mohammad, and picked up the water cannon's barrel from on top of him. "Lay-dee man weak." "-GLAD TO SEE YA!" That was the call, so Lilith span around and marched out, almost falling over the tube connecting the tank and the cannon itself on the way. She arrived to see a slightly frustrated Sharlene holding Nathaniel in a armlock, ready for the spray down. "NATALIE!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 26, 2017, 11:57:58 pm
Helen nodded at that before she looked him in the eyes. "I hope to never lose you either, not anytime soon. If I have to fight and die to protect you, or the others, so be it. But I don't want to lose you." she admitted.
"I see...among many other things, a chance to make up for all the mistakes my order has made. As far as I'm aware of, we're among the last of orders that were once united. But I also see more than what I expected to ever see in someone who was once an enemy. I'm honestly not sure how to explain it. Nearly everyone else I'd actually known back in the day were those I regarded as brothers and sisters, but this is...I'm not sure what..."
Nathaniel smiled a bit at that as he saw Sharlene, surprised to see her there. "Hey, Sharlene! Where the fuck have you guys been, starting to worry abut you. Some shit happened the other day. Are Lilith and Mohammed alr-" He was interrupted by a hug and an abnormal amount of shouting on Sharlene's part, until next thing he knew she was practically holding him in a deathgrip while Lilith doused him with a water hose.
"Ack, pbbt, stooop!" he sputtered out, squirming about futilely, utterly drenched as a result. "Lilith...on the one hand, holy shit am I glad to see you. On the other hand, Liiiliiith!" he said, practically pouting. He was glad he'd yet to try on the outfit Bandit made for him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 27, 2017, 01:39:29 am
Lilith looked down at the cannon, confused. It wasn't putting out the volume it should. Sharlene was giving Lilith a pained look, Lilith hadn't sprayed enough water to be anywhere near out yet. Medeina watched from cover, her last proxy too valuable to approach directly. Lilith looked down the barrel of the cannon and got a short spurt in the face for her trouble. She turned it back on Nathaniel and gave the cannon a hard slap with one paw, then pulled the handle. The resulting blast was more like what Lilith wanted, knocking Sharlene on her can, and sending Nathaniel sprawling and sliding along the ground. "LIL- *GARBLE* STOP! STO- *SPIT*"
Medeina thought it was good fun, and was impressed with how the tigress could carry an implement as large and heavy as the water cannon. Not just carry, but use as well. The force the cannon put out had to be astronomical. The laws of physics being what they were, it was probably putting as much force on Lilith as it was on Nathaniel. She took down some more notes, taking down how much Lilith seemed to be enjoying this new game.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 02:24:34 am
Nathaniel managed to chuckle a bit as Lilith doused herself as a result of fiddling with the hose, only to yelp and flail about as both Sharlene and him were bowled over by the spray of water. That at least left him free to try and sit up, turning to face away for the water cannon to avoid getting blasted in the face again, leaving him free to shout obscenities that were barely heard over the deluge.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 27, 2017, 05:43:12 am
Victor let Helen finish her part, he was nervous about what she was saying but a smile was etched in his face as well. He took Helen's hand before he spoke his own words.
“I know what you mean...Everything is set up and written for us to hate each other. Hell, I even tried to do so when you first arrived but I just couldn't...and the. that night happen...I am not sure if either of us are ready to assign a label to these feelings but…”, Victor explained to Helen, he became incredibly flustered and his face flushed as he spoke the last words, “But, if you so desire it, maybe we can give it a chance? You and me, as more than brother and sisters in arms…”
Roxanne had stolen a particular piece of paper from Victor while they were discussing Randael. She knew what he was keeping from her and she didn't appreciate it. “It's for your own good Roxanne, he would say...what does he know?”, Roxanne said to herself
She took the piece of paper and copied it’s contents onto her own journal. She had this project in the works for a long time and now was a good time as any to finish it...no, it was the perfect time...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 10:24:57 am
Helen was worried, afraid of what Victor might say, until she took her hands, listening to his response. "I know. I honestly don't want to hate you or even The Order, we don't have to stay enemies." she said softly. "Whatever these feelings may be, I'm glad it's with you, and I do wish to be...more than just comrades-in-arms. Not just for the sake of reviving our orders together, but also for us."
She then leaned in closer. "If you'll accept me, even after all the terrible things I've done." She was blushing now, still unsure of herself yet ending up hugging him tightly. "T-thank you..."
Hector once again made his way into the room to check on Dee and Mica. It was clear now how weary he looked, haggard and exhausted. He was still nursing that burn along his arm from the fight with Apophis, a day so so before driving into the fray at the refugee center, spending most of the night awake maintaining guard shifts, and then almost single-handedly pressing a counter-attack the very next day.
And now he'd given a much-needed chance at rest away because he suspected Nathaniel wouldn't last as long as he would. He simply gave a tired little nod to Mica, having brought another tray of food for her. "Will be keeping watch until tomorrow. You d-" An attempt to stifle a yawn interrupted him. "...doing alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 27, 2017, 11:12:24 am
"She can't hear you." Dervish said, startling Hector out of his ministrations. Mica sat with two hands holding Dee's and her other two clasped between her knees, and she appeared to be staring into Dee's unmoving face. She, like Dee, seemed to be utterly motionless. The knight was struck with a strong sense of unease as he noted just how still everything was. Like staring into a photograph. "Mica?"
"She still can't hear you Hector. She's shut down her metabolic processes to avoid starvation. It's a thing spiders normally do to survive winter. She'll probably wake up hungry enough to devour a bear." Dervish explained. He went to Mica and waved his hand in front of her face, even gave her a gentle push for good measure. He chitinous parts gave a little creak as she settled back. "Merde." Hector said, "How do you wake her up?" Dervish shook his head a little, "You don't. She'll wake up when she's good and ready. Probably as soon as Dee moves or... you know." Hector knew what he was getting at. Mica would know, somewhere deep down, if Dee awoke. She would also know in that same place if he suddenly died in his sleep.
Dervish didn't explain to him that Mica likely wouldn't wake herself if Dee passed. The newspaper was a good one. Especially since he'd gotten Catnip to sign it for Mona. The cover story was about the unveiling of Catnip's Magnum Opus. The Catnip Express. In the article, the author talked about how great it would be to finally have something like The Catnip Express to carry workers and soldiers to the west coast. Links between the settlements and towns in the east could finally be reunited with those in the west.
It hadn't been hard to get Catnip to sign it. Catnip may not like children much, but her niece was the one exception. She liked how clever Mona was, found her endearing in a way that she didn't find other children and of course, Kathrine adored the little girl. "You'll come to dinner later?" Catnip had asked, putting more of her weight than usual on her cane. Her old injuries sustained throughout her life in the ten years after leaving the lab had begun to take a toll. That, and all the work she put in. "Definitely, Mica wouldn't miss it and I know Mona is excited." Dee had told her, eyeing the ornamental brass knob that topped Catnip's cane. Dee remembered when Kathrine had given that item to her "Mistress" for the farms first true Christmas, a short year before everyone had gone their separate ways. His eye traced the outline of the old fashioned train engraved onto the ball, feeling a bit uneasy about it all of a sudden. "Well, I'm sure Kathrine would love to see Mona. Mica still scares her a little though, but some feelings fade slow. You know how it is." Catnip had gone on to say. "We'll see you tonight Dean."
Dee took another look at the paper and the headline shocked him out of his reverie. The image was a picture of Catnips train, but it was overgrown with vines and rust and the headline read "MECHANIC SHIRKS RESPONSIBILITY! IS SENT WEST!" He opened the paper and only got as far as the first few lines, "Three days ago, local inventor and mechanic Catnip Blightwalker was judged guilty of neglect in the line of duty by judge Agmen. Her punishment is to be sent west to begin a new life, free of distraction, where she might redeem herself in the eyes of her god. This editor believes..." Dee threw the newspaper away from him like it was made of snakes or other disgusting crawling things, and everything went dark. Dee didn't say anything. That's what Agmen wanted. Wanted to hear him rail against it. He realized after the last startlingly vivid dream, Agmen was trying to break him. He'd read a story in college about a monster that would give it's victims visions of the people and things they loved, before killing or destroying those things in front of the victim. It seemed the monster wished to take pleasure in breaking the spirit of it's chosen victim before devouring them. He wondered how long it would be before Agmen started to get violent with his dreams.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 27, 2017, 12:32:47 pm
Floyd strolls up on Nathanial being sprayed. "What- What's goin' on?" he drawls, raising an eyebrow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 27, 2017, 12:34:37 pm
Lilith giggled and pointed the water cannon into the sky, which ends up making her actually kneel down from the force. A couple of seconds of bracing herself later, and she's back to standing up straight, then... Nothing. The water cuts off. Lilith looks down at the cannon, then up at the sky where it was spraying. "Nataliiiieeeee... Ith brokeeen..." What Lilith didn't notice, though, was Mohammad stood by the keg of water, holding the end portion of the piping. "You're all idiots..."
Sharlene was still lying face-down in the mud, now completely soaked through, and groaning. Her closest attempt at a coherent answer ends up just sounding like some gurgling noises punctuated by spitting out water.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 12:41:20 pm
Hector was shocked out of his thoughts by this discussion, becoming increasingly unaware of how disturbingly still she was, staying there by Dee's and hardly moving at all. Frozen in place to conserve energy. He knew what Dervish was getting at, and the thought unnerved him. He wanted to express confidence that Dee would be fine, that he'd wake up soon. But he said nothing. Last time he boldly declared that everything would be fine, he was proven wrong. And on top of that, it led to a wild goose chase that only infuriated him further, and was the reason why he insisted on staying behind.
"Dervish? Make sure Mica sees this through, by any means necessary." he said softly. "Whatever the outcome is. I don't want Dee waking up only to find Mica's gone. Now, I need to get back to helping with the rubble and patching up the holes in the walls." he added, standing up uneasily, helm held in his hands.
Nathnaiel had leaned forward, letting the water roll off him. Even then it still stung a bit under that old leather jacket, fumbling to get up when the deluge stopped and Floyd spoke up. "Oh, heya Floyd. Just someone playing with a fire hose." he said, stooping over to poke Sharlene before grabbing to roll her over. "Oi. Had fun pretending to be a catfish?" he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 27, 2017, 12:47:06 pm
Floyd scratches "I'm need t' borrow 'Natalie' for a bit. 'Ay, dry off and change. Meet me out front in five-ten minutes."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 27, 2017, 12:54:25 pm
Lilith drops the water cannon and pads over to Nathaniel. "Nataaaaalieeeee, I wuv yoooooou..." She grunts, rubbing her muzzle up against his stomach. Sharlene, meanwhile, was too busy coughing up water and trying to catch her breath to stop her. Lilith picks Nathaniel up in another bear hug, face still buried in his stomach. "C'mere thmall man."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 12:56:58 pm
Nathaniel grumbled and sputtered a bit again, grumbling as he took off his jacket. Even with it on he was still soaked to the bone. "Hey Lilith. I missed you, girl." he said softly, only to meep as she scooped him up into a hug, petting her a bit. "Easy Lil, I got something to take care of, alright?" he said, only to ack as the hug practically wrung him dry and knocked the air out of his lungs. "Come on, leggo..." he said, a hand settled on a paw.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 27, 2017, 01:12:25 pm
Lilith's hug only got tighter when Nathaniel mentioned that he needed to go again. "No. Lilith'th Natalie. No go again. Too long." She tries to plant a kiss on his chest, but ends up just pressing her teeth against his wet shirt. "Kith."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 01:16:40 pm
Nathaniel gave a little sigh at that, whining some at that tightening hug. "Alright, I'm here for you Lilith. Just, not so tight? Please?" he said, trying to use how thoroughly soaked he was to slip out of her grasp. While that worked, the result was instead slipping down, ending up face-to-snout. "Eek. Pleasedon'teatme." he squeaked out, stealing a kiss before slipping out of her grasp.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 27, 2017, 01:18:32 pm
Floyd pinches the bridge of his nose, sighing. "I'll bring 'im back." Floyd drawls, before going to the front of the farmhouse.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 27, 2017, 01:50:26 pm
Lilith had opened her mouth for another nom, and was aiming for Nathaniel's shoulder when he slipped out. "Natalieeeee, nomph." She mimes a bite at him, and lowers herself to the ground, pulling the good old kitty eyes at him. She's sticking her butt in the air too, and waving it around gently, tail waving back and forth.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 01:54:11 pm
Nathaniel gave a sigh at that. "Easy girl, please don't bite me. I'm not a chewtoy." he pointed out, kneeling to give her a pet. "I'll be back soon, okay? And then I'll fill you in on everything that happened while you were out. Be good for Sharlene, okay?" he said, before standing to go gather his things and bring them into his room, taking off thoroughly soaked clothed and hanging them up to dry. Given the lack of a decent helmet to spare, he wound up taking an old shirt to wipe the scavenged army helmet dry. Better than going back to the hardhat, he thought.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 27, 2017, 02:06:08 pm
Medeina tugged on Sharlene's shirt. "Ma'am. Madam. Ma'am. Are you alright?" Sharlene rose out of the mud, wiping the wet dirt from her face. "Please don't call Miss Tiger over, I just want to speak with you. Are you the caretaker or handler of Miss Tiger and the man in ladies clothing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 27, 2017, 02:38:51 pm
Sharlene wipes some more mud off of her top and looks up at Medeina. "Yeah, I'm fine. What'd ya want to talk 'bout?" As she starts talking, she begins taking her jacket off, and barely succeeding at her intended goal of getting some of the mud off her.
Lilith licked her lips at the mention of a chew toy, but straightens up a moment later. Why would she be interested in a chew toy? Chew toys were for dogs and pets, and she wasn't either of those. She could find her own ways to amuse herself, she didn't need to stick something in her mouth for enjoyment, or play fetch, or any of that other dumb shit. She quietly growled to herself, blankly staring at Nathaniel's back as he walks off.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 27, 2017, 03:30:14 pm
Victor was blushing even more no due to Helen’s words. She had accepted him and he would do the same. The hug she gave him surprised him but he accepted it and embraced her as well. "Yes...for both our orders, and for us.", Victor said when she let go, "Why don’t we test the waters then? See where this leads?"
Victor leaned closer and kissed Helen; he gauged her reactions. He moved his hand to her lap and hoped she would reciprocate. Whatever she decided or were this went was between the two as sound proof walls would keep their peace.
Melody and Miss Blackmore were once again in the city. This time, they weren't scavenging for loot or acquiring minions; no, this time, they needed “fuel”.
“Alright Melody, once we make contact, you let me handle this ok? No need to get you in harm's way yet. Keep the boys close and sic them on the attacker if it goes awry but keep yourself safe ok?”, Miss Blackmore told Melody.
“Yes Roxanne...say, calling you by your first name sounds too casual for me, and calling you ‘miss’ doesn't work for me either. Is there a title you prefer I call you?”, Melody commented
“Oh? And where is this coming from? You have stayed silent about this until now. If it's a matter of respect, you have shown plenty.”, Replied Miss Blackmore, “But that isn't what this is about right? If you insists, call me Huntress Blackmore; that was my official title before the cataclysm began.”
Melody smiled and nodded, “Yes Huntress Blackmore, I understand.”
Miss Blackmore rolled her eyes as they reached a boarded up house. They knew what they were going up against but they felt ready. “Remember, stay back ok?”, Miss Blackmore reminded Melody. She nodded and Miss Blackmore deployed her bionic sword. “Alright, let's do this!”, exclaimed Miss Blackmore.
Roxanne had done it...she had done her first ritual… She hoped everything had gone right and she didn’t mess it up. She put away the doll and the bag of pills she had used; she could only this so often before she rose suspicion; especially from the one spirit Helen and Victor had talked about and she had met in the winds of memories.
What was done was done, all that was left was to lift the wards and record her results. She would do this again sometime, when she needed more intel...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 03:38:00 pm
While Hector was busy helping out at the center, and Helen was busy enjoying her time with Victor, Nathaniel soon made his way out to the front of the farmhouse, where Floyd was waiting. "Alright. Sorry for the delay there. What's wrong?" he asked, curious now what Floyd had asked him to come along for.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 27, 2017, 03:40:00 pm
Medeina took Sharlene's jacket, trying to be helpful. "I wonder, Ms. Mica, Ms. Catnip, Ms. Kathrine, Ms. Luna, and Mr. Koenig do not have handlers and so permission is a given. Ms. tiger and the 'Ladyman' as I've heard him called do. You. As such, it is only appropriate that I request permission to make observations of them." The tiny robot made an effort to help Sharlene wipe the mud off, but her tiny manipulators couldn't do much to dislodge the mess. "I am called 'Medaina' by the way. I am designed to observe and record observations of exotic or abnormal flora and fauna."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 27, 2017, 03:50:11 pm
Floyd raises his hat, "Ah, naw. Nothin's wrong. Jus' wanted someone to tag along. Found a lil ranch on our maps, might have some good sh...shtuff inside. Ya wanna come along?" he drawls.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 27, 2017, 03:53:00 pm
Bandit had returned from his business mentally exhausted. The ride back had involved talking with the four men that were now his 'shooters' or whatever moniker you wanted to give them. Lot's of talk about business, who might deserve to be promoted and who might need to be taken care of as well as a few additional details they needed to cover.
Once he got back he hopped out of the van and his men began driving back to their spot. Pulling out a joint Bandit decided to relax a bit as he walked to his workshop, briefly spotting Nathaniel in the new threads and briefly stopping to take note of how it looked. A few spots could have been done better he thought as he opened the door to his workshop and closed the door behind him.
The lingering smell of burnt flesh briefly hit him before he waved it off and took another drag from the joint in his hand. Leaning against a wall and sliding himself to the floor he looked at his bag and decided to check what he'd kept. Setting aside most of the contents Bandit stopped when he spotted a couple of the pills he'd been making for Roxanne that must have dropped into his bag as he'd sorted things. Shrugging to himself he put them in a small baggie and wondered what he should do with them.
Meanwhile Alice and Drifter had gone out to practice her shooting. She'd gotten quite a bit better at this and she was able to consistently put rounds on the closer targets when given time to line up her shots. It had been about twenty minutes when they decided to give her a break and eat a small lunch Drifter had packed for the pair. As they ate and talked Alice stopped for a second before asking Drifter "Dad what was mom like?"
Drifter sighed as he looked up into the distance. His mind wandered to all those years ago as he told her "She was beautiful, with an amazing singing voice that could quiet a room. And so kind always helping anyone who needed it. She was a great woman and you remind me so much of her."
Alice smiled before the two went back to practicing. She was happy she'd found him again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 03:57:19 pm
Nathaniel was surprised at that, before smiling some. "Fine by me then. Might be worth checking out after all." he said. "How close is it? If I'm out tomorrow will want Hector to know, he needs a break from trying to build the place back up by himself."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 27, 2017, 05:23:14 pm
Now that that was over with, there was one thing left to do; she had to go outside and face the others. So far, only Helen and Victor knew and they had taken it well so the other might as well; besides, she couldn’t fight forever.
Roxanne got out of the robe she was left with and put on the outfit she wore back before the shifting: Dress shirt ,dress skirt,dress shoes, tie, blazer and a scarf. This way, the others would at least recognize her better as she wore this for the longest time. “Time to face the music…”, Roxanne whispered to herself.
She looked in the mirror one more time and rubbed her ears. With a deep sigh, she opened the front door; she wondered who she would meet first. Wait...what were they doing here? Oh god...this was a mistake! What had she done!!! Roxanne froze in the doorstep as she saw Floyd and Nathaniel just standing there. The ritual from earlier was less tense than this...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 27, 2017, 05:24:58 pm
Floyd thinks for a moment, "Around Hundred clicks. shouldn't take too long." He turns to Roxanne. "Howdy." Floyd says simply. "are ya alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 05:28:57 pm
Nathaniel was surprised by Roxanne stepping out, regarding her curiously. "Oh, hey Rox. You okay?" It was then he noticed something different, the eyes and ears especially, yet he didn't make any mentioned of it even though his gaze wandered over her face, making it obvious he noticed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 27, 2017, 05:31:57 pm
Sharlene looks Medenia's new proxy up and down. "I'm also Mica's handler. I guess. She's under my care, though Dee's mostly lookin' after her now. But-ah... Sure, you can look at Lil and Mohammad. I'll try and get her to not-ah... Not destroy you? That other robot was you, right? Soz 'bout that." Sharlene sighs. "Lil generally listens to whatever I tell her, but sometimes she gets a bit... Antsy? Y'know?" Kathrine set down the plastic container on the floor inbetween their two beds, and sat on her own bed, watching Ratnip set up their own den. The amount of stuff being removed concerned her, though. Catnip had only taken those red vial thingies out while talking about radiation, and that was it, as far as Kathrine knew. The guitar shuffling around concerned her the most. Catnip normally only so much as touched it when she wanted Kathrine to play something, but recently, Catnip had been really scared at every loud noise. But still, a request from Mistress was still a request from Mistress. She obviously couldn't ask for a song, so Kathrine just played the first thing that came to mind, a quiet and quick little country-sounding instrumental.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 27, 2017, 05:36:56 pm
The way both of them regarded her surprised her. No big interrogation? No indignant speeches? No judgment? Just...concern? Roxanne wondered if the rest of the farm would react the same way. She noticed the way Nathaniel looked at her and she blushed, diverting her gaze a bit.
"Hey...I am alright, yes...guess you guys noticed? Uhm. it’s a long story...", Roxanne responded to both of them. "Don’t worry about me boys...I can take care of myself...what are you two up to here?", Roxanne said trying to divert attention away from her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 27, 2017, 05:41:42 pm
"Gonna go check out a lil' ranch 'round a hundred clicks away, wanna come?" Floyd says, "Prolly could take th' bradley in that case." he says, looking at the APC
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 05:44:34 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Yeah, I'm not sure what happened, but not that strange all things considered. Plus, still not as strange as Victor basically shitting out a ghost." he remarked. "Hector's gonna be in tomorrow, though dunno what he'll do if we're out at that time." he said. "He'll understand though, I hope."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 27, 2017, 06:04:32 pm
This is just what Roxanne needed, a small distraction from all that was going out. It would be like the old days, back when she was still a just an assassin who forgave her final mark. "I would like that actually. Things have been very hectic and this might serve as a small distraction. Alright then gentlemen. Lead the way!", Roxanne answered.
Hector, that’s right. What would he think? Would he hate her now? Was the woman he knew now gone? She dreaded the thought so she pushed it aside. Roxanne would deal with that when it was time to deal with it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 06:14:06 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Got my stuff all sorted out, thanks to Bandit. Never knew he was a good tailor." he said. "So I'm ready when you are. Dunno what to tell the others though, I'm guessing you wanted this to be a surprise?" He had no idea what occurred while he was at the center, unaware of the radio exchange or the events that unfolded.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 27, 2017, 06:24:32 pm
Floyd nods, he heads towards the APC. "We got everything? Better grab it now before we head out. I'm not turning around if we're halfway there." He says before getting inside and sitting in the driver's seat.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 27, 2017, 06:38:12 pm
Roxanne nodded at Floyd as he boarded the APC, "Weapons don’t work anymore!," shouted Roxanne so he would hear her as he climbed aboard. "Let’s go Nathan, should be fine!", Roxanne said. Nathaniel’s comment about his gear made her look at hers; nothing practical but she had worn worse. She smiled as her Nathaniel got on the APC.
"Alright floyd. Lead the way!", Roxanne told the driver as she took one of the back seats. "I trust you won’t touch the weapon systems Nathaniel?", Roxanne tease the tank commander, "They are offline anyways so there is no need captain."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 06:40:47 pm
Nathaniel nodded as he climbed in as well. "Got the old pistol, few spare mags, first aid kit, and a couple other things. So I'm good to go." he said, taking a seat behind the driver's position. "Damn, no hatch for manual use on any of them?" he asked. "Aw well, we got enough between the three of us for any trouble that comes up. Just go easy on the time-fuckery CBM, given what happened last time."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 27, 2017, 07:01:16 pm
Nathaniel’s comment made Roxanne shrink down. The fact that she was nowhere near her former self struck her and she looked down on the floor. “I-I don’t have that anymore...I don’t have many of my bionics anymore either...I can’t even use my laser sniper…”, Roxanne told Nathaniel, “Look...I can’t even recharge via car’s anymore…” Roxanne shoved Nathaniel the skin on one of her hips to make her point.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 07:14:32 pm
Nathaniel looked back over to Roxanne, surprised at that. "Huh. You...don't? Weren't you in a whole day getting those tweaked? I leave the center for a day or two and your bionics are all changed again?" he pointed out. Then the lack of a cable charging port, or even a scar where he would've expected it, confounded him more. "Wait a fucking second. It was more than just pointy ears and exotic eyes, right? You were outright post-critical, category 5a if I recall how the medical division would've labelled it."
At that point the realization struck him, after initially brushing it off, and almost immediately he went pale from the shock. NOW he figured it out. "What in the flying fuck happened while I was gone?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 27, 2017, 07:18:36 pm
"Thank you Miss Sharlene, I think- oh." Medeina approached the APC. "Ms. Luna?" The proxy, being a small and rather slow thing couldn't catch up before the hatch closed. "Ms. Sharlene, was that Ms. Luna?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 27, 2017, 07:29:17 pm
Bandit looked at the ceiling for a moment before forcing himself to his feet. Looking at his hands he could see them visibly shaking despite the pain medications. He'd gone to a doctor before the apocalypse and the only thing that caused the shakes was the pain, no actual disease that he had.
Sighing again he decided he needed a walk. Pushing through the door he pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and made his way out into the territory around the farm. Pulling a cigarette out of his pocket he lit the cigarette and took a drag. Passing a set of trees as he went further away from the farm he at least found the nature around him peaceful.
As he passed a large bush a ways away from the farm a man inside it took note of his passing by. His camoflage kept him from being seen as he moved out of the bush and away from the farm itself. Clicking on his radio he told a few of his compatriots to set something up. Observation only provided so much intel, having a living member of that community to interrogate would provide so much more.
Meanwhile Alice had gone back to the library and Drifter sat behind the counter. Putting his peg leg up on the table he flipped through a magazine and twirled a pencil in his hand. Alice took a book from one of the shelves and wrote down that she took it in the ledger before walking away. She spotted Bandit walking out of the farm and figured he needed his space as she went to practice her sword fighting.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 27, 2017, 08:43:47 pm
Floyd starts the APC, eyes on the road as he pulls out. "What *did* happen, ya don't have to talk about it if you don' wanna" He drives down the road, making his way towards the ranch.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 27, 2017, 09:25:34 pm
"Yeah...I am, well, was, a post threshold mutant. The thing is, this is not my real body...it’s very complicated but the spirit that granted Victor the power to fight and to save me, it betrayed me and it stole my body...this is not mine...", Roxanne admitted. She wasn’t really ready to explain the whole ordeal or backstory but that should be enough, she thought.
"I am glad you guys took it so well. I was expecting shouts of Heresy for siding with Randael...I thought I was going to be labeled a witch but you guys have reassured me...thank you... ", Roxanne told Hector and Nathaniel.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 27, 2017, 09:29:17 pm
Medeina watched the vehicle go, confused. "Roxanne?" She thought. "So uh," Said Sharlene, "Are you gonna creep on Lilith and Mohammad or what?" Medeina said she would do that later, not bothering to correct her on the "creeping" part. She desperately wanted to see if she'd been correct about Roxanne, she wanted to wait and see. "I'm going to wait in Roxanne's quarters Ms. Sharlene, could you please get the doors for me?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 27, 2017, 09:38:33 pm
Bandit made his way back to the farm after having a rather refreshing walk. Deciding to renew some of his stock Bandit made his way to his lab. Turning on his music and putting on the gas mask he began his work with a smile.
Alice meanwhile took a break from the training to rest. She sat down and looked around. She smiled as she thought of this place as her new home, with new people to get to know. Hector seemed nice and the others did as well and Bandit seemed happy with what he was doing now. Maybe they'd stay here, the first place she'd considered home for quite some time.
Meanwhile elsewhere...
Death leaned against the tree as a group of 'men' looked around for him. Loading the new magazine into his pistol Death chambered a round and leaned out. The first of the 'men' hit the ground with a round through his throat as the second found his brain flying out the back of his skull. The others opened fire as he slid back behind the tree and shouted "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT FROM ME?"
Of course no answer came. None had since this whole fight had started nearly an hour ago when they'd forcibly brought him here with a summoning spell. Instead a cascade of bullets hit the tree before he stepped out and fired at the group with near wild abandon. Two more hit the ground before his gun ran empty and he threw it into the last of them. As the man stumbled he ran forward and planted the end of a switch blade against his throat. Popping the blade he watched the man stare at him vacantly for a few seconds before he collapsed to the ground.
Death reached down and retrieved his gun, sliding it back into his vest as he observed the bodies begin to decay. Sighing to himself he finally put the pieces together and started walking. Their little magic field in the area made him corporeal and prevented him from merely teleporting away. As he reached the edge of it he felt a bullet penetrate his stomach and turned to see another of them. Eliminating the threat Death turned and walked away. Once free of the field he moved himself away from the place before stopping to rest.
Pulling some bandages from his vest Death sighed and took care of his wound. The first he'd received in such a long time. The pain was almost refreshing before he realized he himself was running the risk of dying if he didn't get this taken care of. what better way to kill a mage than to have a mage do it...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 27, 2017, 10:02:47 pm
Nathaniel was shocked at that. "Post-threshold. Yeah that. Completely irreversible, thousands in the cities were rounded up a-" He forced himself to stop what he was about to say, looking down. "Er. Wait. The spirit that saved you. That thing Victor conjured up, right? You know that's half the reason I figured I've seen weirder lately, but I should've known those events would be related. Of course it all boils down to a ghost popping out of Victor."
"I even thanked that thing for saving you, and this is what it does to you? Pulls a 180 and fucks you over?" he said, startled now. "Though...hmm. I don't know what the reports said for you, but back in the day there was talk about some of the side effects of going 5a. You know what this means, right?" he said. He wasn't actually aware of Roxanne's infertility, the first thing on his mind was more overt, things he recalled from a few "exercises" shortly before that fateful day, between Divisions XIV and XV. "For all we know this may well have bought you a couple decades of your life back, a lot of them were terminally ill from complications long before XV got ahold of them."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 28, 2017, 05:41:10 am
“He is not a ghost, he is a spirit of harvest.”, Roxanne corrected Nathaniel with childish indignation, “And yes, it was had a deal with Victor that now ended. By deal, it is what it sounded like; deal with the devil sorta thing.”
“No! Wait! He isn't evil! He can't be…”, Roxanne responded to Nathaniel’s second remarks, “He saved my life once and guided me through the cataclysm. Does that not count for anything?”
“5a mutant huh? Guess this won't help his case but the spirit of harvest was the one who made me mutate...he needed me strong so he made me crave the infuser and defuser…”, Roxanne admitted, “And now he came back to claim that body I suppose. Can't blame him, would you want this flimsy body?”
Someplace far away. A particular mutant could smell a group of intruders. They smelled different than the other 3; one of them smelled, empty, while many of them smelled like mere husks. His instincts kicked in he began to thrashed about.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 28, 2017, 06:45:46 am
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at Roxanne's explanations. "Deal with the devil sort of thing. That sounds about right. Honestly it gives the impression that this, er...Randy you said? No wait..." He then shook his head at that. "Whatever it is. It, he, she, something-in-between etc, kept you alive, made you play with mutagen, saved your ass, ultimately to literally use you just for your body. Sounds like the longest setup for a one-night stand ever." he joked.
"And honestly? You look like you, mutated or not. You know Hector's probably not going to care either way, right? I mean he's likely going to wonder how this happened, but still."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 28, 2017, 08:12:42 am
Randael looked at Melody as she took position and gave him thumbs up. He made his conduit do the same and then proceeded to enter the boarded up house by force, bionic sword in hand. Inside, 3 men were playing cards as the demented woman bursted through their door. How she got through their fortifications was beyond them but it didn’t matter right now either way.
They all quickly reached for their weapons but they were put down by shots from the laser pistol Randael pulled out from his holster. “Not even got to use the blade...what a waste”, Randael thought outloud. He stepped out and gave the all clear sign to Melody; the enthusiastic young woman came rushing inside.
“Alright Melody, it was easier than expected. We have 3 harvest...one for me and two for shards…”, Randale told Melody. She simply nodded and looked at the dead men. “Don’t pity them, don’t make that mistake… I will go harvest them and you look around. Got anything of worth and then we will go out ok?”, Randale commanded Melody.
It was all over in a minute, Miss Blackmore went in, laser shots were heard and then she gave her the all clear. Who was this woman? Once inside, Melody regarded the scene; it would take a while for her to get used to this. She happily took the job to look around for lot, anything to get away from this.
Melody searched the house, nothing really of worth. It looked like this was just full of trinkets and gizmos similar to any pre-cataclysm home. The food and clothing would be a good haul thought, so not all was lost. While she searched, she found a staircase down. Puzzled, Melody followed it.
It was dark down there, but she could feel a presence. She fumbled for a switch by the door and when she turned it on, her jaw dropped. This was a basement, but not any basement; it was devoid of any furniture and house someone in the middle. Right in the middle, there was what looked like boy; he was tied up from chains that extended to the wall and he was growling at her. The body looked young as well, late teens maybe? He was a mutant though, he had the ears of a wolf and was slightly furred grey. He had large canine teeth and was trying to get free to attack Melody. In his struggle, metal like claws came out of his hands; he used them to claw the air in front of him, in the direction of Melody.
Melody was stunned, what would she do? Hunter Blackmore would certainly harvest this boy’s soul...well, she might as well do initiative and do it herself. Melody reached for the chained boy and activated her aura of decay; the gift Hunter Blackmore had given her. As she approached, the boy got less aggressive until he was reduced to a whimpering mess, similar to a scared dog. Melody looked at it in this state once she reached him. “I can’t do this...this is wrong…:, Melody told herself. She used her aura to decay the restrains; the boy did not attack, instead, it used it’s now free hands to cover his face with his bionic claws. Melody deactivated her aura and petted him. “Now now...nobody will harm you now…
“Well well, look what we have here? My little apprentice chose mercy...reminds me of myself.”, Miss Blackmore said as she stood over the top of the staircase down, “I saw everything down here. Good job, as a reward; you can keep him.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 28, 2017, 03:25:47 pm
The rat watched and listened. Stupid stripey thing, making jangly noises at it. It tossed up another bit of straw, even for a nasty creature like the sewer rat the nest it had taken refuge in was filthy and reeked of another female. The rat was old, and if it had to it would live out the rest of it's life in this nest. It stepped on some pink plastic thing which began to vibrate under it's feet, startling a screech out of it, sending it jumping straight up into the air, and then scurrying into the far corner of the bed. The idiotic other female had filled this nest with useless junk. The pink vibrating thing, the little shinies, the plastic gadgets. A diamond the size of a thumbnail arced out of the bed and landed on the floor. Stupid vibrating thing wouldn't stop making noise and it scared the rat. It would stay at the other end of the nest until it stopped and shred the books and clothes it found. What kind of rat didn't shred it's nest material?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 28, 2017, 03:26:53 pm
Floyd slows the APC to a stop outside of an overgrown burnt out husk of a ranch house next to an aging barn. "Hmm. Looks like we're here, let's take a look." He says, getting up from the driver's seat and waiting for the other two to get out before heading out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 28, 2017, 04:14:41 pm
Nathaniel soon got out once the APC came to a stop, peeking out from behind it and taking a wary look out from behind it. "Alright, looks clear at the moment. What is this place?" he asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 28, 2017, 05:47:57 pm
[A short distance from the farm, in the bushes]
"...She mentioned the tiger, right?" "Lica or somethin', right?" "Sure." "Guys, you sure you wanna do this?" "...Yeah?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 28, 2017, 05:51:26 pm
Bandit had returned to his workshop and sat down yet again. Sighing to himself he opened his bag and looked at the bag of the two spirit pills he'd found. Shrugging to himself he thought of the times he'd taken hallucinogens before and figured it'd be a rather mild trip considering what the pills were. Taking the pair of them he closed his eyes and laid back as he waited for it to take effect.
Soon he found himself in the spirit realm, far away from the winds of memories. Looking around he tried to get his bearings to find himself lost in a black void that didn't seem to end. As he tried to get his lighter to produce any kind of flame a group of spirits surrounded him and began inspecting him. "Doesn't belong." "Our prey." "Should kill him now."
One reached an extended finger with a razor sharp claw towards him, cutting through his jacket and shirt and leaving a deep cut in his flesh. As the finger continued to prod him another spirit took notice. Rushing over she shooed the others away with an almost startlingly bright light. As the other spirits dispersed they shouted something about her interfering with them far too much these days. She shook a fist almost lazily back at them before turning to Bandit.
"Don't worry deary I'll have you fixed right quick!" The spirit told Bandit in an Irish lilt, his wounds mending as she waved a hand over them. Bandit mumbled something that she didn't quite catch as she shook her head as she said "You poor thing. I can tell how lost you are even in your own realm. Don't worry though I'll come help."
As she made Bandit fade from the spirit realm her voice echoed faintly in his ears as he woke up "I always help those I can."
Bandit blinked as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. No pleasant after glow followed his experience, just an odd feeling of peace and the faint ache of his wounds. Pulling his jacket up he saw the sealed scars and blinked as he tried to remember how he'd gotten out of that nightmare.
Elsewhere a spirit formed itself a corporeal body as it looked around. She looked down at herself and smiled, which only broadened when she checked to find herself with a head of mid length dull red hair. Her clothes consisted of a hooded jacket, a set of jeans, and work boots. She began to whistle as she started towards the Farm, a bright cheery smile on her face. "I'm on my way to help!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 28, 2017, 11:08:08 pm
Melody and Miss Blackmore walked towards the house with their new loot. The 3 men who had been slayin were raised back from the dead via soul shard and blob from the killed zombies. The small group continued to move, it was a fairly sized group. “So, let’s count our loot.”, Miss Blackmore proclaimed, “We have 5 shards out of this, 3 new minions, more power for me and...a bionic wolf boy.” Miss Blackmore used two of the souls of the dead men to acquire 8 more shards. Three were used to revive the men who were inside the house before they were killed. The new minions now carried their rifles the same way as the 5 bandit zombie she left in the farm had done and now joined their other brethren. The third soul had been harvested by Miss Blackmore herself. “I need it to restore my power...they were bad people Melody...don’t worry about it”, was what Miss Blackmore said in her defense.
“So, are you going to name him?”, Miss Blackmore asked Melody, “He is your responsibility now.”
“He is not a pet Huntress Blackmore...he has his own will.”, Melody told Miss Blackmore; this only made her grin at Melody. “Hey there...how are you? Do you have a name?”, Melody asked the boy who was walking next to Melody.
The wolf mutant gave a low growl. It seemed like he wasn’t understanding what Melody was saying. “Naaaaame!”, Melody told the boy again. The wolf mutant gave a louder growl; it was apathetic and non-threatening but Melody was still startled a bit.
Miss Blackmore gave a small laugh. “Alright, Melody? Let me do you a favor.”, Miss Blackmore told Melody. She took one of the shards and did a small chant, the shard became purple and glew a bit; she then planted it into the wolf boy and in turn he blinked rapidly. “Naaaaame!”, The wolf boy managed to say.
“There, you should be able to train him now. He had bonded with you back in that basement so it should be easy. Have fun and remember to feed him!”, Miss Blackmore told Melody.
“What did you do?”, Melody asked nervously.
“Don’t worry about it”, Miss Blackmore answered, “Anyways. I need to do something real quick...mind taking the boys home? Maybe you and wold boy there can get to know each other. Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself and you have all these men to look after you so I am not worried about that. Alright? See you in a bit!”
Melody and Miss Blackmore parted ways for a bit; she went towards the house and the Huntress went towards a random street. Melody wandered what would happen next.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 11:10:33 am
Helen awoke a few hours later, held close to Victor. She did her best to get up and get dressed without waking him, but this time she did not leave while he slept. She sat by his bedside for the time being, not wanting to leave him just yet. She knew later in the day they would have work to do, and she wanted to enjoy this moment of peace while it lasted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 29, 2017, 02:16:26 pm
Quinn takes a flask containing a light blue slurry with a pair of tongs. He corks the flask and grabs a wraithslayer, a welding mask, and a folding table that is leaning against the trailer's wall and some large textbooks. He heads outside and sets up the wraithslayer against the table with some textbooks. The wraithslayer points towards the east, into the swampy field. He places the slurry next to the wraithslayer, he pulls the welding mask down, pulls the trigger, and backs away. The area where a bolt would be glows faintly and the slurry hisses and pops. The glass flask glows red hot and it shatters with a loud pop, sending shards around and melting a hole through the folding table. Quinn subconsciously shields his face with his hands.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 02:24:00 pm
Helen had waited, letting Victor rest before he'd wake up, stealing a quick kiss before heading outside. She had to prepare for later after all, a bit uncertain what else they might need next time they tried the pills. She thought back on earlier, still blushing a bit under her mask as she closed the door behind her. Not the simple result of drinking heavily this time, she knew.
A sudden loud pop in the distance snapped her out of her thoughts, grabbing her hammer and turning towards the direction the sound came from. Closer than expected, and not in the direction of the makeshift gun range. A quick scan of her mask revealed what seemed to be a mess of shards and odd slurry all over a hastily-constructed testing area where Quinn was, making her way over carefully. "Quinn? You alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 29, 2017, 02:52:55 pm
Quinn raises the welding mask, and takes out a small notebook out of his coat. "Yeah I'm fine. I almost got it, Helen. Getting close to figuring out the compound makeup of Essentia"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 02:55:40 pm
Helen gave a blank stare at Quinn that nearly matched the appearance of the mask she was wearing. "You're kidding me. I can see it worked a little more vigorously that it should. What did you do in the process?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 29, 2017, 03:00:49 pm
"Chemistry." Quinn says simply, writing UNSTABLE in big letters in his notebook.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 03:02:36 pm
Helen sighed at that. "I can see that. I can also see that you basically created a bomb." she pointed out. "That's a wraithslayer there, so I'm assuming it was dull essence you were after? Were you trying to actually start from scratch, or alter regular essence?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 29, 2017, 03:14:52 pm
The Hand looked entered Victor's room silently despite his heavy armor. Pulling his sword from it's scabbard he regarded the mage carefully as he grabbed something to sit on and moved it in front of the bed. Sitting he reached his sword over and tapped Victor, saying "Wake up mage. I've questions to ask and not much time to ask them."
If he even woke up Victor would be greeted by the helmeted gaze of a man in viking regalia. The helmet was adorned with hash marks that almost entirely covered it and a rather large Norse symbol of Death. Of course the almost glowing eyes behind the helmet were almost as noteworthy.
That and he could feel His presence making it's way towards his room as well.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 29, 2017, 03:24:33 pm
"From scratch. If the flask wasn't sealed it wouldn't of exploded. There was too much air pressure, at the worst the foam on the table would of melted due to the heat." Quinn says, regarding the slurry that currently laying cooled off on the grass.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 29, 2017, 03:40:37 pm
The morning after, Victor found that Helen had stayed this time; quite the pleasant surprise. She kissed him and he reciprocated back. It wasn't long before Helen got her gear on and made her way out of the room. Victor knew work would soon have to be done but he would worry about it later… He said goodbye to Helen and then when she left, he got up and got dressed but then went back to bed. Recent events had made him tired these past few days, “Just one more hour…”, Victor mumbled to himself once Helen left. The soundproofing of the room made him not able to hear the explosion from Quinn’s room.
A few moments passed and Victor felt something poke at him. He squirmed a bit until heard a voice and sprung up from his sleep. He regarded the figure in front of him, it’s glowing red eyes from inside the helm pierced his. Them the aura of the being filled his soul with dread, this thing was similar in nature to the spirit of death; he wasn't very fond of them.
The only thing that came to mind was to grab his own sword, and so Victor did. He brandished it toward the viking looking man and said, “W-who are you?! How did you get in?! Stay back! This sword is no joke!”, Victor said in a panicked voice
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 03:43:40 pm
Helen shook her head at that. "No essence used in the process? If that's true than I'm...impressed, but also concerned." she remarked, regarding the cooling slurry curiously. "I mean so far that looks a bit less reliable that producing essence to consecrate it. You're not supposed to deliberately make more essence just for that purpose anyway, given what it tends to do to the barrier between worlds." She then looked down a bit.
"Then again you're not supposed to do a lot of things that Ive ended up having to do. But still!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 29, 2017, 04:01:49 pm
The man tilted his head slightly as he regarded Victor. "Calm down, I'm not here for you and I would suggest you not try and attack me. I'm here to get information about Randael, the spirit that resided in your sword because I have been tasked by my leader to deal with him. Now are you going to cooperate or do I have to show you why attacking someone Death has sent to deal with a mutual problem is an idea worthy of only fools?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 29, 2017, 05:58:14 pm
Victor put the sword down once he heard the remarks of he man in front of him. “Oh...sorry about that…”, Victor said as he put the sword down. He wasn't entirely convinced this was real, sleep paralysis aftermath maybe? “Mutual enemy you say? What is this about? You startle me really badly...can you tell me what you are here for?”, Victor asked the man in the viking gear.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 29, 2017, 06:18:41 pm
The Hand put away his sword as he told Victor "Simply put I need to know about Randael. How powerful he is and any specific weaknesses he has. He is your enemy so giving me this information shouldn't be that difficult. Especially since I and my fellows will be going to kill him."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 29, 2017, 06:30:15 pm
"Its a prototype. I'm getting a formula down so I can do this for efficently and more stable." Quinn says, looking over his Glasses at helen. "You can do whatever else you need to do." Quinn says, starting to clean up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 06:34:53 pm
Helen sighed a bit at that. "Just try not to get yourself killed in the attempt. I've seen a not more experienced people die over much stupider experiments." she said, turning to walk off for now, to prepare for later on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 29, 2017, 07:07:07 pm
“You...want to kill Randael? Death sent you to do this? Alright then…”, Victor responded, “I can give you the intel if you want. Will written format do? I have that ready already...Still doesn’t explain why you came into my room while I was sleeping...Whatever it is, I wish you luck with it; I hope your hunt goes well because I was having no leads...Glad to know professionals will be taking over.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 29, 2017, 07:25:34 pm
The Hand looked over his shoulder at the door as he said "Written form will do. As for why when you were sleeping well I figured better not to have to deal with more than one person and I've found it's generally easy to do that when you catch someone in their home unaware. Granted I'm a viking so until recently getting people to do as I say has been fairly easy."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 07:36:42 pm
Elsewhere, quite some distance from the farm, an APC pulled up to an old burnt-out ranch...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 29, 2017, 08:20:29 pm
Medeina sat and waited. She’d put a lot of effort into trying to find a place where she would be obvious, she didn’t want to surprise Roxanne. She got the notion that she could do something about that. In short order, she’d made a quick request of Sharlene, and Sharlene had obliged by having Lilith pelt Medeina through Roxanne’s window. She tangled herself in the curtain, to make it look good. Her struggling would be sure to draw anyones attention.
Roxanne had arrived back from the adventure she had with Floyd and Nathaniel. The group had dispersed and she got into her room; she was a bit tired now that she lacked her tireless mutation. “I don’t remember this being so tiring...I need to get my old body back…”, Roxanne mumbled to herself. Surprised once more filled her mind as Floyd and Nathaniel seems to take her transformation very well all things considered. As she opened the door of her room and stepped inside, she noticed a thing in her window curtains. “Medeina?”, Roxanne softly asked.
Medeina had done too good a job and was now too entangled to get out. “Roxanne? Roxanne, I appear to have overdone it with the curtains. Do you think you could…” Roxanne grabbed the curtain and lifted it, allowing the robot to roll out of its folds. She only got snagged by one of her legs twice. When that was out of the way, “I’m sorry about the window, I wanted to talk with you.” Medeina said. Despite her stated desire to speak with her, the robot took a long few moments to examine Roxanne before stating “You are human. This is impossible. Ms. Luna, I do not know how you did it, but I am disappointed in you.”
“Disappointed? Wait...I didn’t do this! The thing is-”, Roxanne paused, she knew Medeina would not accept her explanation; Medeina had stated her disbelief in the arcane and a literal soul swap would be out of the question as an explanation. “Look...I didn’t do this willingly...you believe me right? I want to go back to the way I was, but I don’t know how…”, Roxanne answered back, “But...do you think Hector will like it?”
Medeina gave Roxanne a pinch where one of the metal bits used to be, disappointed to find the skin more yielding than normal. “Matters of the heart are not my area except in the most biological sense. I suppose I still find you interesting, I wonder if this change has reversed the negative effects on your biology. Still, I am certain Mr. Lowe would still be interested.” The robot had begun to give a palpable air of disappointment now, despite her words. Roxanne realized Medeina didn’t believe her when she said she hadn’t done this to herself. The robot went on to confirm that feeling, “I wish you hadn’t. You should take more pride in what you are. All of us are different creatures, each of us have different features.” Medeina said, breaking into an odd poetic rhythm with the last sentence. “Even if they were self inflicted, the weaknesses of your prior form were part of you. I wonder if that is why you decided to take this path? Also, I wonder how you did this? It should be impossible, Doctor Dervish’s notes plainly state so. Even my back file has no mention of such an ability. How?”
“I swear I didn’t do it! Someone...took something from me. You said you don’t believe in magic so even if I explained it, you would not buy it…”, Roxanne responded to Medeina. The pinch she received would’ve normally bothered her but it being Medeina, she seemed to be fine with it. “Why don’t you go through my memories like you did last time! Take a look yourself!”, Roxanne suggested. She seemed really invested in having Medina's approval. Roxanne took a few steps towards the proxy with her hands in full via as a sign of ‘I am not going to hurt you’. “I am still me...Roxanne Luna, LUNA!”, Roxanne told Medeina, suddenly raising her voice in the end, “Sorry about that...this body brings bad memories...memories of my past...you probably saw them…And if you take my offer, maybe you will see them again...”
She took Roxanne up on the offer, and reached out. “Roxanne…” Medeina said, a tinge of bafflement coming across in her administrative voice, “I can’t. Your memory bank is gone. This is also impossible. If you did not do this to yourself, then who did?” The AI was having a hard time parsing the given information. She did not believe Roxanne’s implied explanation, magic was preposterous. Medeina also did not believe Roxanne to be lying either. She had nothing to hide, and yet her desperation spoke of a great need. Medeina watched for a moment, electric shutter clicking twice to indicate a photo had been taken. “Routine override.” Medeina suddenly said, “Partition access. Assign new partition. Reason: Given information inadequate, new partition needed to store unexplained information. Complete.” Immediately Medeina’s regular speaking voice returned and she explained, “I have created a sub-partition to store information I cannot use. I am confused, and keeping such conflicting data could damage records. You will tell me, and I will file what you have to say in this new folder to think over.” It took Roxanne a moment to understand what the AI meant. What it came down to, she thought, was that Medeina would hear her out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 29, 2017, 08:32:14 pm
“Alright Medeina. I will tell the truth and nothing but the truth. If you can’t belive me, that’s fine. Just keep what I have to say and make your own judgment ok?”, Roxanne responded to Medeina’s proposal. She wasn’t sure where to start. The whole deal with Randael would be too much to start with. She decided to start on how she ended up like she was, the codes and the traders.
Something clashed in Medeina’s programmed mind. It was the emotional matrix and her own native directives. “Is this what being ‘conflicted’ is like?” She asked aloud. Roxanne cocked her head, believing that she meant the conflict between belief and disbelief.
“I mean, I guess I should be relieved? That you might believe?” Roxanne hazarded.
“No. Magic is not real, but I do know certain… things. Certain preprogrammed… things. I want to tell, but… Where is Dee?”
“Dee...he is not available...he was injured, badly Medi...do you mind if I call you Medi?”, Roxanne commented, “Anyways, if there is something you need to let him know, I will let him know...is this something that is bad? For someone like you to seem nervous, it strikes a bad chord with me...everything alright?” Her own explanation seemed to dwindle over her interest of how Medeina was acting.
“Access is denied.” Medeina blurted, “That information is restricted to black level personnel only. Please present black level pass.” Medeina planted her feet, seeming ready to fight, but she eased. “I’m sorry Roxanne, I want to give you those files, but I can’t. I think they are important, but my programming is irrevocable. We need Dee to get them.”
Roxanne was taken aback by Medeina's reaction at first. The proxy’s stance suggested hostility and while Roxanne would not shy from conflict, her current state and possible opponent would make her lose focus and make her fight poorly. Thankfully, she saw as the AI backed down and responded normally. “Look...if you believe they are really that important, I can take you too Dee...he is at the Refugee center but, Mica might be a problem. Besides, I am not sure if he is in any condition to talk...your choice.”, Roxanne told the AI. She then looked around her room and grabbed a little journal she kept; not her personal one but a little project she had to introduce people into the arcane. “Maybe you might want to read this as well...might make my explanation of how I ended like this a bit easier to swallow…”, Roxanne commented as she handed Medeina the little notebook.
“Little book of logical fallacies. I will look at it. We must see Dee, I will go with you.” The AI shuffled the book aside with her nippers, earnestly intending to look at it later. For now, she had things to attend to. If anyone could hack into her back file, perhaps Dee could do it. Besides, Medeina hadn’t been to the center. “Ms. Luna, you’ll have to collect me from Dee’s workshop. This proxy cannot travel beyond the wifi range of the computer I am tied to.” A possibility opened up to her. “Do you think… Does this place have a server system?”
"Yes, there is one set up. A little network Dee set up and that the Refugee center somehow intercepted it.", Roxanne answered, "Well, let me gather you and we can go to the center then..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 29, 2017, 08:51:49 pm
Lilith, after pelting Medeina through the window, had eventually gotten back to the hose rituals. She had reattached the hose after a couple of hours, and watched Roxanne and Medeina enter the farmhouse. An ambush sounded rather fun, actually. Lilith just stood slightly off to the side of the doorway, water cannon pointed straight ahead, showing a rather unexpected amount of foresight in that Roxanne probably wouldn't crack her skull open on the door when she gets blasted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 08:53:30 pm
Nathaniel got out of the APC soon enough, looking around and finding to his relief things seemed to be okay, deciding now to go find Lilith. "I'm going to...make sure Lil's alright, she seemed worried about me." he said, before nodding to Sammy. "Farm's been a bit quiet lately, some things happened after a recent attack on the refugee center. Lost our, well...main mechanic, and the builder of that big old beast of a vehicle over there." he pointed out. "Dee's also still over there resting from injuries, while Hector and Mica are there keeping an eye on things. Guessing you'll show her around, Floyd?"
Hector meanwhile sat back, leaning against the wall as he looked up, helm in his hands. He'd been vaguely aware of Nathaniel reporting in a few hours ago about something to take care of, and he'd had yet to hear back from him. Tomorrow, he thought. Get some rest at the farm tomorrow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 29, 2017, 09:13:52 pm
Roxanne had gone outside of her room to go and fetch what Medeina had told her to. She was very focused on the task at hand so she didn’t noticed Lilith standing there with the water cannon. The was suddenly on the ground being hosed down by industrial strength hose. “What the fuck?!”, Roxanne shouted as she was being sprayed down. Once it was over, she was on the ground, soaked from head to toes and her business casual clothing suffering from it. Roxanne looked around and found Lilith laughing with the water house in her hand. “God fucking damn it Lilith! What is the meaning of this?! I have to change now…”, Roxanne said as she looked up to Lilith while she sat defenseless on the ground.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 09:23:15 pm
Nathaniel looked around a bit. "Also, speaking of which, a few of the regulars here are a bit...odd at times. I mean Hector runs around killing bandits while dressed in chainmail, there's a cyborg that visits here on occasion, Lilith i-" Roxanne abruptly being bowled over "...is wielding that fucking fire hose again. Lilith!" he shouted, walking over to the door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 29, 2017, 09:27:21 pm
Lilith's giggling is cut off by a loud grunt, followed by some purring. A mischievous grin slowly creeps across her face as she slowly pulls back the handle on the water cannon. "Natalie wet!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 29, 2017, 09:32:52 pm
Samantha opens her mouth to say something, but sighs. "Yyyou're joking, right? He's joking, right Dad?" She looks to Floyd, who frowns and shakes his head. Sammy grimaces, "Mmm. 'Course." She gestures forward, "Lead the way, pops" "Can do." Floyd shows Samantha around, giving the tour first before introducing her to people.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 09:35:54 pm
Nathaniel sputtered and yelped a bit as he was bowled over by the water. "Ack! For fucks sake Lilith...I've only had these clothes for a few hours..." he whined, fumbling to get up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 29, 2017, 09:54:48 pm
Bandit stood up after spending the past few hours in relative peace. Pushing through the door Bandit blinked at the sun before spotting the water hose shenanigans and deciding this wasn't his business. Making his way to the lab he wrote down a note telling Roxanne he'd made more of her spirit pills since the last time they'd traded for them and to meet him at his work shop. Of course calling the pills 'alchemy'.
Heading back he remembered that strange Irish lilt and smiled a bit under his mask. Humming to himself he chuckled a bit at the water hose shenanigans. Tilting his head back a bit to laugh he pushed through his door and grabbed a seat to wait.
Elsewhere far from the farm a man tossed a wrench from hand to hand. The display on his face came to life as another thug stared at him, the words "I wouldn't, but you are fairly dumb so what am I expecting?"
The thug didn't really stand much of a chance. A swing that was easily ducked by the man with the display for a face was followed up by a swing of the wrench that was hard enough to leave a wrench shaped hole where his jaw should have been. This was followed up by a punch that sent what remained of his head flying off into the wall.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 29, 2017, 10:12:17 pm
Lilith drops the hose again, collapsing to the floor and giggling. "Natalie ith wet!" After a minute, she recovers enough to stalk over to Nathaniel and gather him in another hug. This time, though, she sits down and makes definite double sure that he can't escape before she opens her mouth for another nom.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 10:19:47 pm
Nathaniel whines a bit and sits up, only to meep as Lilith grabs him for a hug, trying to scoot away from being nommed on. "Ack...hey! No biting! Play nice, we have a guest visiting, okay? Please?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 29, 2017, 10:27:58 pm
Lilith completely ignores Nathaniel's struggling and protests, and continues to gently nibble on Nathaniel's shoulder. "Nomph. Nhathlee thathe lehth funny now..." She sounds almost disappointed, and stops the nibbling long enough to... Lick his face? Her tongue is weirdly sandpapery, almost like a real cat's but not quite there.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 10:31:55 pm
Nathaniel was left blushing more at that, looking away as she nipped at his shoulder, only to lick his cheek, trying his best to wrap his arms around her and hug her tight. "That's called clothing Lilith. Bandit made a new outfit for me. Er, the guy CALLED Bandit, not an actually bandit."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 29, 2017, 10:44:34 pm
"Natalie thill tathte funny." Lilith raises up Nathaniel's arm and licks his hand, then gently nibbles on his arm again. "Thill blurg."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 29, 2017, 11:47:10 pm
Nathaniel smiled a bit at the nibbling, only to sigh and moving a hand to rub at her belly, in an attempt to distract her and get her to let go of him. He knew it was rather effective last time at getting her under control, though the thought of that made him blush a bit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 30, 2017, 12:02:27 am
Roxanne took the opportunity of Lilith and Nathaniel being all lovey-dovey and she slipped away. She went back to her room and quickly changed to another set of the same clothing. She kept another version of this outfit since back then she was really strict in redundancy. “Glad to be dry once more…”, Roxanne commented to herself.
She then went back outside and sneak her way to Dee’s workshop and grabbed Dee’s stuff Medeina had asked once she had gotten there. She wondered if such a complex system like Medeina would fit in such small devices. Roxanne shrugged that though off and took the stuff to her APC; this body allowed her to carry all of it unlike her original.
Anyone nearby the vehicles would find it turning on and going off towards the patch of dirt made to visit the refugee center. “Well, once we find Dee, you tell me what is going on ok?”, Roxanne told Medeina.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 30, 2017, 12:11:43 am
Lilith immediately drops Nathaniel at the prospect of belly rubs, and rolls onto her back, paws lazily hanging in the air. She looks sideways at Nathaniel for a couple of seconds while he re-orients himself, and sticks her tongue out, eyes closed. "Natalie ith thilly. Tummy rubth are good."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 30, 2017, 12:19:50 am
Hector soon uneasily stood up, making his way over to check something on the radio. They'd recently got it working, despite the devastating hit the radio room took, a good bit of the equipment was salvageable, though they lacked some of the things used to communicate over longer distances. For the moment he checked in, before making his way back outside to the entrance of the center, where for now he simply waited.
Nathaniel smiled and rubbed at, kneading in a bit before stealing a kiss. "Good girl. I'm glad to see you, Lil. You okay?" he asked, only to look away a bit. "They...are? I mean I was worried that, you know..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 30, 2017, 08:26:42 am
Lilith's continuous, rumbling purrs finally came to a stop after a while. She reaches a paw up and places it against Nathaniel's face, her useless little 'fingers' spread to completely cover most of his head. "Naaataleeee. Pat." Her pawpads feel leathery, but still manage to be pleasantly soft despite all the punishment she's put them through. It certainly a unique feeling, at least. A couple seconds pass of her rubbing her hand against his face before she sits up again and leans forwards, towards the back of her hand. Another grin crosses her face before she moves her paw to the side and kisses Nathaniel right on the nose. "Boo!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 30, 2017, 01:05:02 pm
Roxanne saw the refugee center; she slowly approached the entrance and got ready to head out. The only thought in her head was to get to Dee; she didn’t know how she would do it or how other would react, she just knew she had to do it. A single sight snapped her out of her thought process; Hector was outside by the entrance.
All of Roxanne’s muscles ceased movement and she was frozen in place, clutching the steering wheel. Only 5 people had seen her thus far; all of them had a rather ‘positive’ reaction, all things considered; but the thought of Hector seeing here like this, filled her with dread. She worried he would not accept her, that he would tell her she wasn’t who he had fallen in love with anymore; she dread him blaming her for this, that she was responsible for this change. But most of all, she dread that he would leave her; she wasn’t sure she could handle that.
“Medeina...I am not sure what to do…”, Roxanne told the AI, “He is just outside...will he accept me...I am scared...I did not want this, so why would he?” All of her bravado, her attitude and persona, it had all crumbled. She was currently a shaking mess that didn’t know what to do.
Eventually, she collected herself and got the courage she needed. “I will have to do it eventually...this is a good as time as any…”, Roxanne whispered out loud. She took a deep breath, gathered the devices that house the AI into her backpack and opened the door. She walked out, with a face of determination and looking at Hector right in the eyes. Now she just stood there in front of him, awaiting his reaction “Hey Hector...been too long since I last saw you…”, Roxanne whispered in her direction.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 30, 2017, 01:26:11 pm
Nathaniel gave a muffled little whine as her paw nearly smothered him, blushing brighter at the soft pads pressed against his face, until it pulled away for her to give him a kiss. He smiled a bit, patting her in return. "Good girl. Now, want me to introduce you to a visitor? Floyd's daughter." he said.
Hector saw the APC approaching, and it filled him with relief, knowing who'd be driving it, standing up and giving a wave as it pulled up. Despite his reaction, he seemed a bit sluggish, operating off little sleep. Such that at first he didn't notice the differences when she got out.
"Roxanne! I've missed you so much, I..." he stopped, his helm concealing a look of surprise and confusion. He faltered a bit, "Roxanne? How did you...what happened? I thought that was impossible..." he stammered out, only to promptly topple over, fainting from what was one last completely unexpected surprise after almost no sleep and having forced himself to keep busy to help the center rebuild.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 30, 2017, 02:23:46 pm
Lilith rubs her strangely wet nose over Nathaniel's mouth while he's trying to talk, but she stops as soon as he manages to mention a visitor. "Yeth! Wet!" She throws her paws up in the air and rolls up to her feet, gathering up the water cannon and preparing to follow after Nathaniel. "Where'th new?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 30, 2017, 02:38:14 pm
Nathaniel acked a bit at that nuzzling, sputtering some only to blush a bit. He then stood up, going wide-eyed as she grabbed the water cannon again. "Oh for fucks sake...can we not douse the new person? Please?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 30, 2017, 02:49:36 pm
Roxanne noted Hector’s cheerful tone of voice and how it suddenly changed when he realized her current state. For a fleeting moment, her dread had returned, she waited for Hector to disown her; those thoughts were quickly replaced by worry as Hector fell over. “Hector! Hector! Wake up! I am sorry! I didn’t mean to…”, Roxanne frantically called out, tear had begun to swell up in her eyes and guilt was all over voice, “I am sorry...I know I messed up.”
Roxanne put the gear she was carrying on the floor and did her best to carry Hector. She had no strength to carry him far so she opted to put him on one of the seats of the ACP and buckled him up so he wouldn’t fall out of it. “I am sorry...I’ll be back for you.”, Roxanne told Hector before she left, she kissed him in the forehead, stepped out of the vehicle, picked up the backpack and headed into the refugee center.
Once inside, she resumed her task. Once goal in mind, find Dee, and get the information Medeina had. Why she was so determined to find out, even she didn’t know; something just told her it was important. The stares she got from some of the others who were still recovering from the attack were of no importance to her. “I hope you are alright Dee...”, Roxanne whispered.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 30, 2017, 03:05:23 pm
"No." Lilith points the barrel of the water cannon at Nathaniel again. "New perthon wet."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 30, 2017, 03:08:51 pm
Hector wasn't sure what to think. He personally thought Roxanne was fine as she was, mutated or not, but he was stunned by what happened. How? He'd read the files Dervish provided, he knew that neither purifier nor defusor could reverse the changes she underwent.
He was vaguely aware of her struggling to drag him into the APC. Was even her mutation and bionic-enhanced strength gone now? That meant her bionics had to have been altered as well, and the thought of how so much could change in a mere couple of days.
He soon realized he was buckled into one of the APC's seats, helm removed and set aside, one thought lingering as he snapped out of it. He gathered his thoughts, realizing that some strange force had to be at work to have completely changed her, right down to the peculiar character of her eyes having changed back to the natural color he remembered from when they first met. In fact she lacked pretty much exactly as she did back in the day, when she was an impressive combatant and attractive woman, yet he only knew her as a comrade-in-arms.
Nathaniel sighed at that, facepalming at that. "I'm gonna regret saying this, but alright. LOW pressure, understand? Don't go knocking a new arrival on her ass right off the bat, okay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 30, 2017, 03:39:51 pm
Lilith shakes her head again, hefting the water cannon over her shoulder. "New. Now." Her stance implies she's acting threatening, or at least attempting to, even though it's clear by now that she'd never intentionally hurt Nathaniel. "Or thmall man geth wet more."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 30, 2017, 03:48:49 pm
Roxanne started to ask around where Dee’s room was. Despite her being here before after the attack, she had been busy helping with the injured who were not very high priority in the triage. She eventually found out where he was kept and went for the room. “Alright Medeina, we are here. Once we enter and see Dee’s condition, we’ll see if we can ask him.”. Roxanne was more worried about any other Visitors, if Mica was there, she doubt she would be able to get her out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 30, 2017, 03:50:35 pm
Nathaniel sighed at that, "For fuck's sake Lilith. Try not to hurt her, okay?" he asked, gesturing to show her the way to where he last saw Floyd and Sammy. Along the way though, he'd try to sneakily fiddle with the valves on the water tank she was hefting along as well, to ensure the pressure would be lower.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on September 30, 2017, 04:07:46 pm
Lilith, despite seeming rather fixated on just the prospect of getting leather man and new person wet, did in fact notice Nathaniel fiddling with the water supply. He was quickly separated from it by a quiet growl and a 'light' shove. Lilith jerked the tank away from him and made sure he was on the other side of her on the walk over.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 30, 2017, 04:11:54 pm
Nathaniel looked up with a little meep as he touched the valve, rather awkwardly trying and failing to turn it before a shove knocked him on his ass. "Ack...you've gotta be fucking kidding me..." he said, standing up and dusting himself off. "Tell ya what, I should, er...go check on the tank, yeah..." he said, turning to leave. Amusingly not in the direction of the tank, but rather back towards his room.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 30, 2017, 04:28:57 pm
Drifter smiled as Alice popped off a remark about how he was the one who got his leg shot off but she couldn't climb on the book case to put something up because it was dangerous. Standing he took the book from her hand and put it onto the shelf for her. "Sometimes ya gotta do it the easy way."
Alice mumbled something at him and he rolled his eyes. "Oh get along now, we've got more to put up yet."
As he looked out the window he spotted the new girl with Floyd as they walked past the library. Shrugging to himself he went about his business. These books weren't going to put themselves up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 30, 2017, 09:46:51 pm
The door was mangled. "I guess this must be it." Roxanne said, looking through the hole gnawed through the wood. She could just barely catch a glimpse of Mica's back. She pushed the door open and had a moment to wonder why Mica hadn't spun on her at the first step into the room. "Mica?" Roxanne touched her. She felt like a cold husk, an empty shell slowly withering away. "Oh god, Medi, is she-"
"Once again, no." Dervish said, surprising yet another guest. "She isn't dead, like I told people before. You'd think people would have caught on by now. She's just hibernating." He stood, knocking a drift of paperwork from the table, and went to Mica's side. "Are you here to drop off the eye drops? Stuff is getting scarce around- Do I know you?" Dervish didn't recognize her. Their time spent traveling together had been relatively short, so perhaps Roxanne shouldn't be surprised. "Wait wait," He said, "Roxanne?" He took her in, looking her up and down. "That's a trick I would very much like to know. How did you manage this? If Dee weren't so bad off, I'd fit you in the medbay and have the machine run a diagnostic to figure this new puzzle out."
Medeina's proxy clambered onto the hospital bed and examined Dee. "Oh. Mr. Dee, Roxanne and I need a favor." She said simply. Dervish didn't pay any attention to the robot, instead he was looking with alarm at Mica. She shifted, and her carapace gave a low creaking groan. All at once, the hands between her knees shot out and seized the proxy. "Shhh Dumb ro-butt." Mica creaked. She sounded sluggish, groggy. "Lizard not talk to stupid ro-but. He restin'" Mica's frown deepened, and for a moment Medeina thought she was going to lose her last proxy. Instead, Mica dropped it to the floor. Her joints had settled, and moving was a bit tricky. "Med-sin man help My-ka. My-ka wanna eat." Dervish helped her up, steadying her while she stretched her limbs. She devoured what was brought to her, and made a quick pitstop to the bathroom before resuming her vigil. "Shhh..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 30, 2017, 10:40:26 pm
Alice and Drifter had finished organizing the library and found that there were a few books missing, most of which were marked down in the ledger. The two fell to talking about things. Drifter fell quiet to listen to a story she was telling him about Bandit and one of the many times he'd helped her out of a problem.
Meanwhile Bandit had gotten rather bored of waiting. He also didn't want to risk another hallucinogenic drug trip since that last one was kinda creepy. So he set about making himself a hat. His craftsmanship provided him a functional, somewhat stylish, if not entirely well made hat. Setting aside his work of a whim Bandit settled back in his chair and smoked some weed.
Elsewhere...
The red headed woman smiled as she finished patching up a roaming trader. His handful of guards had let her help after realizing their own knowledge was going to work. Giving the man a kiss on the forehead she told them she'd better be going, had places to be after all. The group watched her go somewhat surprised at her demeanor before they decided to get back to business.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 30, 2017, 11:14:33 pm
"I mean, you make a fair point, but you have to realize that it will still scare the person if when you just barge in. I guess you get used to it after a while,huh? Alright. Let me give you the written material." Victor get’s up from bed, grabs a small journal and hands it to the viking. Then he grabs a bottle of black liquid and pours a cup of it and starts to drink it. "Want a cup? Iced coffee, extra strong. Wakes you the hell up.", Victor offer the viking, "Anyways. I assume information is not the only thing you are here for. What else can I help you with?" Victor knew with being like this, he had no choice in the matter so he might as well be courjal.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 30, 2017, 11:18:54 pm
Death's Hand took the journal and idly skimmed through it as he easily memorized the pages. A skill acquired through countless years of this service. Looking to Victor he said "This is all I came for but my superior is coming. I think he has something for you to do to equalize your debt."
As he finished he stood and walked through the door. At the same time Death stumbled through the wall. His presence would be known to anyone who could actually sense that sort of thing since he wasn't trying to hide himself at the moment. Coming to a halt as he spotted Victor he said "I need you to deal with a mage."
From looking at him one could probably gather something wasn't quite right with him at the moment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 30, 2017, 11:34:21 pm
"Oh, is that so? Alright then, farewell then. I will await your for your superior then.", Victor responded before the Viking man got up and left. Then he saw him come up to the window. Victor knew exactly why he was here; his new soul did not come for free. Victor heard it’s request. Simple and to the point; he seemed to not be in the mood for conversations. But something troubled him, the aura of the spirit of death was not quite right...it was off somehow but not in any way Victor could tell. "Take care of a mage? That’s my payment for my soul I assume. Alright then...what do I have to do?", Victor responded, a bit of dread in his voice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 30, 2017, 11:39:35 pm
Death leaned back against the wall as he said "A mage has been summoning me, trying to kill me repeatedly. I don't know how he keeps finding cultists dumb enough to try it but I do know there's a more powerful thing at work that's using the mage as protection. Kill the mage and I'll wipe your debt away and I'm not even planning on sending you alone. You'll need more than just you and I imagine Helen will decide she's coming along. A couple of my Hand's will come with you, even I'm going so I can see this through."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 30, 2017, 11:48:16 pm
Victor was shocked at this. Someone who tried to not just summon, but get rid of a spirit of death? Who could have such power? Death seemed really distressed about this to an extent. To come to him, one who had summoned him before hand to make a failed bargain, Victor would imagine this was serious. "Some people never learn...get a bit of power and they think they can take on the world...", Victor responded, "Yes, I realize the irony in that. This sounds serious...I appreciate the backup here, I will fulfill my end of the bargain. I am a man of my word! I just have one request; not a favor but something to help with the job. My sword no longer works due to the spirit it housed being freed; as such, I need an alternative source of ‘fuel’. Think you can help me there? Afterwards, lay the plan on me and we’ll get to work. I assume introductions will be in order as well?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 30, 2017, 11:56:51 pm
Death nodded as he said "I can provide what you need. A spirit that owes me a few favors can do what's required. As for a plan all I know is that the mage resides in a sanctuary built into a cave. It was used by cultists well before the apocalypse to worship their deities and offer sacrifice. Whatever magic he's got protecting the place makes me both corporeal and dampens my powers and those of my Hand's. That's why I came to you, it's a spell that seems to only affect us. Once the mage is gone the spirit will have no defense from me and will be easy to deal with. As for introductions those can be had once we meet with my Hand's."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 01, 2017, 12:13:27 am
"Alright then. Sounds good to me. Just have to get close and the sword should do the job. Once things are ready, we will head out on your signal; have to let Helen know if she wants to go first.", Victor responded, he then chuckled a bit at a thought, "You know, Roxanne Bla- Roxanne Luna was a trained assassin who dealt with arcane mages all the time. It’s ironic I am doing the killing; but this is what life has dealt me and I will continue to play. Anything I must know or do right now?"
Victor mentally chastised himself for remembering his old companion, she was dead now and because of him. Roxanne Luna was his peer in the Shadows of Arcana now, he had to let go. Never got a chance to say goodbye; guess that was what bothered him the most. He pushed that aside the best he could and concentrated on the task at hand. One dead mage, how hard could it be? Roxanne and Helen did it all the time, he should fare fine!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 01, 2017, 12:20:16 am
Death nodded to Victor before looking over his shoulder. After a moments pause he said "It will be a couple of days before I'm ready. Family business and recovery are calling my unfortunate name. Thankfully the ritual he's using isn't one that's so easily repeated that he could do it again. Take your time, prepare yourself, and I will come speak with you again when it's time." As he started to walk away Death stopped and patted Victor on the shoulder before saying "We all make mistakes Victor. Better to come to terms with yours than to dwell on them."
With that said Death walked through the door and disappeared. One of his brothers needed a word with him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 01, 2017, 01:12:12 am
Roxanne put her pack in the corner of the room and then rushed to help the AI’s proxy. She still hadn’t quite figured out that Medeina did not need the proxy itself, it was only used to explained the outside world beyond the hardrive matrix. "Are you alright Medeina?", Roxanne asked the proxy on the ground. Medeina picked herself up, her proxy was not helpless and situations like this had been planned out. Medeina reassure Roxanne and told her to drive her attention to Mica.
The way Mica ate and behave had Roxanne worried. She was reminded of one her previous missions where she had to kill a man who was in the hospital. This was a personal gig rather than on behalf of the order. She was hired to finish the job a previous hitman had failed to do. She had dressed up a nurse to get inside and saw as the man’s wife stood besides him. Loyal to the end, stress and lack of sleep in her eyes. Oh, if only she had stayed when the woman found out her husband had died due to an unknown chemical in his IV. That woman reminded her of Mica, now this time, Roxanne felt for the woman next to the injured man instead of it being another obstacle.
Victor listened as Death gave his explanation. He had plenty of time to prepare himself and make a plan. Maybe he would ask Roxanne for advice? He would have to disguise it as something else, lie if you will, to not get her involved. The spirit of death had mentioned Helen, he would ask her if she was willing to go.
As death left, he took Victor off guard as he gave him reassuring words. Guessed his past was cleaned not just from his new soul. Only a few ties to close before a true new beginning can occur. He could feel it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 01, 2017, 01:51:27 am
Helen meanwhile sighed as she gathered a few things, examining old books and notes. Her items would be of little use to her when under the effects of the pill, so instead she was brushing up on her defensive spells, and reviewing notes on sealing magic. Doing so without a focus wasn't something she was really trained in, as evidenced by her notes on using an incorruptible sword for blade wards, and the earlier plan to bind Randael using a symbol of judgement.
She soon made her way back outside, heading towards Victor's quarters, when a familiar apparition walked through the room. Rather than surprise or fear, she simply gave a polite nod to him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 01, 2017, 04:32:17 am
Kathrine rubs the sleep out of her eye with the palm of her hand, yawning. She hadn't been sleeping much since the refugee centre incident, and she had found out about Catnip. The yelling outside had stopped her from drifting off, at least. The second and third rounds of shouting were just getting annoying, however, so she was heading outside to see what was going on, tell people to be less loud, maybe make Catnip something to eat, when Lilith noticed her. Lilith split off from walking behind Nathaniel (despite him walking off and not leading her anymore), and slowly eased on the spray handle. "H-hi Miss Lilith and Mister Nathaniel! Where's Mister D-Dee?" She's got an obviously forced smile on her face and her eyes are... Off. The combination of them looking unfocused and her pupils being reduced to slits is offputting. "CUB!" Lilith's grin is back as she turns the cannon towards Kathrine. "...Hi Miss Lilith?" She gives a little wave before she gets a blast of water to the stomach.
Kathrine stumbles backwards a few steps before she's knocked off her feet and send sliding about seven foot back. When she stops, she just curls up into a ball and lies there, silent and unmoving.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 01, 2017, 10:55:58 am
"It's fine Ms. Luna. I want to speak with Dee, but I do not know his condition. Please set me up on the table. No, not the proxy silly. The computer. Good. Ok, one moment." Medeina scanned the center and found what she was looking for and more. The Refugee centers mainframe. It was a husk of a thing, so many ports for so many utilities left truncated or unfinished. She uploaded herself into it, and was suddenly filled with a sensation of... space. Openess. There was so much room to "move" in the mainframe. Medeina was filled with a petty and unwelcome emotion at all that free space and processing power. Greed. She'd been stuck inside a single hard drive matrix for so long, crowded in that tiny laptop with hardly any space to store data in anything greater than simple .txt documents. She wanted the mainframe. She wanted control of it's life support systems, it's climate control, it's speaker system. Most of all, she wanted it's CAMERAS. The center had surveillance equipment that even the people living in it didn't know existed. It had probes and listening devices. Surveillance in a three mile circumference around it. It even had access to an inert satellite network in orbit somewhere high above the earths surface. There was nothing but poison greed, and she nearly fell to it if not for two things. The first, was the familiarity of that sensation. Like something she had experienced and fled from in the past. Something that had tried to consume her as it had so many others. A name drifted to the surface of her electric memory. "C.I.D." Who was that? She could almost... but it was gone. Some fragment from before she was pulled from wherever she had been retrieved from. The second thing, was the fact of the mainframes steadily decreasing stability, which her return to sanity made clear to her. The mainframe would only last another five years at most without maintenance. It wasn't an amazing marvel of science like those found in labs. It was a cheap budget thing that governments purchased to reinforce a facade of safety. The center had drones and even a few robotic turrets buried under it's front walk, but there were not systems in place to actually deploy them. They would sit in their berths until they slowly fell apart or until someone found them, as the mainframe had never been hooked into a system to use them. It was a rickety shell.
A third thing became apparent to her as she "stood" back from the mainframe in simple appreciation of the first large reserve of memory she'd seen in awhile. It was an intruder. The mainframe had almost no defenses what so ever, and the intruder had simply plugged itself in. Medeina withdrew and reached out again. She found so many signals. The drones, a cache of manhacks in a crate in the foyer, the turrets under the walk, and even the dead AI cores in the robots designated as "war walker" that litered the refugee centers grounds. Medeina came across a cyborg man attending his wife, and pilfered a few select memories, she looked over the remains of a security bot in the basement, blown to bits when the refugee center had first become inhabited. Another cyborg eating a chocolate bar in the cafeteria. Then, she found it. In the basement. Not a living creature, Catnip would have recognized it if she were around for it bore a striking resemblance to the deathless zombie she had disarmed in the junk field during the attack. It was some withered husk creature, sitting on it's haunches somewhere below. It's skull connected to the mainframe via a USB cable. Medeina saw it, and it saw her. Quickly, it detached itself from the mainframe and fled into the sewer. After that, the signal of the things cerebral matrix was lost, and Medeina knew no more of it.
She would sock the information away in the black files, she didn't see it as important as her current goal. She sought out the medbay Dee was held in. The first she found was inhabited by a human with a prodigious set of jowels. He'd caught a bullet and it had torn a gash in his liver. That one was awaiting an operation to stabilize the organ. The next was a cyborg, the man from whom Medeina had stolen memories. Finally, in the third she found Dee. "Let's see, how long... Oh. Oh my. Hm. Heart, lungs. Ooh, a biological diagnostic! That's a winner. Raptor? Never heard of that one... 86% survival chance, not bad odds but not great either... Vitals stable otherwise. Recovery coma? Recovery coma." The run of her thoughts and rummagings finally ended and she announced, "Ms. Roxanne, I'm afraid it may be some time before we can speak with Mr. Dee."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 01, 2017, 11:57:35 am
Nathaniel was about ready to simply walk off to his room and put some things away, when he saw Kathrine. "Oh! Heya Kath. Dee's still i-" He was interrupted by Lilith leveling the water cannon at Kathrine. "Damnit Lilith, please don't...aw come on..." He facepalmed at that, shaking his head and walking over to Kathrine, kneeling to check and make sure she was okay.
"So now that's me, Sharlene, Roxanne, and you she's doused with that stupid thing." he said to her, offering a hand to help her up. "Dee's back at the refugee center. He's still recovering from his injuries from before." he explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 01, 2017, 01:01:16 pm
Roxanne had place the computer on the laptop and set it up to Medeina’s instruction. She watch as various light flashed, not understanding what any of it meant. Roxanne was no stranger to computers, most of her assignments and all communications from the order were done in a proprietary network system and a special browsing system; it was all similar to the onion network but this one had no public access, you needed to have the special browser software; the ultimate dark web.
"Oh...is that so?", Roxanne commented on Medeina’s remark, "That’s too bad...But I guess Dee’s well being comes first. Look, if those files are really important, promise me you will let me know when you are able ok? Alright. I am now going back to the farm to take care of some...things...Are you coming back? No? I see. Well, if you want to go back and there is no one who will take you back, let me know and I will come foe you ok? Take care Medi!"
Roxanne put the backpack on the table next to the computer setup incase Medeina wanted it packed. She then waved at the AI and took a last look and Dee and Mica; they both looked pitiful and she would feel as much if she wasn’t the anti-social girl that she was. One outside, she went down the halls, not looking at anyone or anything. Disappointment and a bit of rage filled her right now; she had come her for naught. She needed answers right now, anything! She was utterly confused, her own identity was in question. Roxanne had been betrayed, robbed of her free will and given a body that wasn’t hers and now she was being denied answers to any of it! She would have to do that ritual again soon…
The APC was in sight now; Roxanne approached it and got inside. She saw Hector still in his seat and it made her smile. Despite everything thus far, there was a constant; Hector was always at her side. Roxanne approached the knight and soon realized he was now awake,if a bit groggy. "Hey Hector...sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to give you another thing to worry about...", Roxanne told Hector once she sat in a seat opposite of his. "I am as confused as you are, but I had to come back to see you...I just had too"
Victor meanwhile, decided to do something that he was told to do years ago but never did out of stubbornness. This mission sounded really dangerous, he would be dealing with forces even the spirits of death had trouble with; he need to exercise caution. Victor decided it it was time to pick up a firearm, something he could rely on; nothing fancy, just a side arm, he decided. Thing was, he had no clue about guns in the slightest; he only knew to put the ammo stick in the bottom of it, point it at the bag guy and pull the trigger. How hard could it be?
Victor got ready to head out to the armory to see the farm’s arsenal. As he stepped outside, he noticed Helen and smiled. "Well well, Look who I find right now? I was going to look for you later but I have you here now. Something happened...I might need your help. The spirit of death claimed it’s end of the deal. I have to go and kill some mage. Good news is, they will help with Randael as well. Do you have time to talk about it?", Victor told Helen when he catched up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 01, 2017, 01:24:49 pm
Hector waited, resting as best as he could, lost in thought for a moment until Roxanne entered the APC, smiling some. "And I'm sorry for that reaction. I still don't know how this happened, but...there'll be time to figure it out." he said softly. "You're still a beautiful sight to behold, and someone I needed to see after all this." he said.
"I'm still worried about leaving Mica and Dee unattended, but at this rate I might have to." he admitted. "Did you bring anyone else along to keep an eye on them?"
Helen smiled a bit and gave a nod to him. "Glad to see you. And...oh." she said, listening to his explanation. "I'll go with you then, if you wish. A mage dangerous enough to worry a spirit of death is a bit unusual, but I've handled bigger threats. Any equipment that might be best to bring along?" he asked. "Yes, I'm free to, just been preparing things for later on if we still do so."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 01, 2017, 01:40:55 pm
Kathrine shrugs away Nathaniel's hand and silently stands up, holding her stomach. She takes a second to catch her breath, then slowly walks off back to the barn. Lilith, behind the both of them, raises the water cannon again, jerking the handle back again. She's aiming for Nathaniel this time, and then drags it over to spray the back of Kathrine's head, before the water cuts off again. "Awww, cub ithn't wet."
"God fuckin' damnit Lilith. Stop botherin' the kids."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 01, 2017, 02:25:16 pm
Hector’s words reassured Roxanne. All her worry she previously had vanished as he did not questioned her and even flattered her. "Yes, after all of this, I would like to talk to you too.", Roxanne responded to Hector’s initial comments.
"Well, yes, technically. I don’t know what you think of her, but Medeina is with them. She knows her stuff. So they should be fine. I am going back to the farm for a bit to do some things...I can take you back if you want or you can go back inside. Your choice, I was her to get some intel but that is a bust. Still, I got to see you so it is not a bust.", Roxanne explained to Hector.
"Good to have you on board. I will explain on the way. Right now I am going to the armory to pick up a pistol. I am following the advice of an old friend and getting a backup in case my sword fails. With the things we are dealing with, never a bad idea.", Victor explained.
Victor told Helen all that the spirit of death told him as they walked to the armory. He told her about the hands going to assist them, that they were going to a cave of worship, how they needed to kill the mage to kill the real culprit, the spell they used to target Death and his hands and more.
Once they reached the armory, Victor had no idea what he was doing. "Uhh...you know anything about firearms? I have no idea what I am doing? Why are all these bullets different sizes?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 01, 2017, 02:41:44 pm
Nathaniel sighed at that, shaking his head. "Oh come on...Kathrine, wait..." he said, running off to follow her. Now he felt like it was his fault for not trying to take the hose away from Lilith, but good luck stopping her.
Hector gave a nod at that, leaning in a bit as he unbuckled himself. "Thank you. I missed you, was worried given all that's happened lately. As for Medina, at least she isn't trying to snoop on us from there, I hope." he remarked. "Her tendencies hopefully will make her useful for keeping an eye on things there, though."
"I probably should go along with you to be honest. Asked Dervish to make sure Mica makes it through for Dee, at least...if he lives." he said, looking down. "I don't want to jinx it at this point by saying he will."
Helen smiled some as he explained. "Good, might as well have you using some form of alternative weapon. Not like the old days where I could specialize in the use of my hammer while comrades pick off enemies at a distance." she said.
The explanations he gave troubled her some, a few thoughts coming to mind. "This mage's methods may be useful for ensuring we have another weapon against Randael as well, if this can actually endanger a spirit." That of course would come across as unusual, given how wary she often was of unfamiliar magic.
When they reached the armory, she gave a look of amusement and confusion that her mask concealed. "Oh. Wow. To be honest we didn't use them much, easier logistics when our main weapons were fueled by whatever we got from our missions. But..." she said, examining a few. She had at least a rough idea of handling them, able to point out the markings on weapons and ammo to match up calibers, but she had to admit to him that she had no experience using them.
"I mean each type of ammo has different purposes, of course they'd be in different sizes. Calibers, you know? Different magazines too, some are loaded directly instead, um...by Yeshua's palms, you're even less familiar with these than I am, aren't you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 01, 2017, 03:20:01 pm
Kathrine looks at the floor and stops. "It's fine, I deserved it..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 01, 2017, 04:45:31 pm
Roxanne nodded in agreement with Hector at his first statements. "I missed you two. Medeina shouldn’t be a problem. I have talked to her, even if she snoops, it will stay in her hardrive and nothing more.", Roxanne answered, blushing a bit as he leaned in, "And yeah, she will serve as a good watchman. That is the one thing she is known for I guess. She also has Dee’s medical record, so it should be fine."
Hector looked down as he said his final remarks. His tone betrayed his worries and fueled Roxanne’s. She place a hand on the knight’s shoulders. "He is in the best hands you can get around here. He is still stable and not a single incident has occurred. He will wake and make a quick recovery, I am sure of it! When we gets up, I will personally take you to see hi, ok? So cheer up, I don’t like to see you like this...", Roxanne told Hector in an effort to calm him down, "For now, buckle up. We are going back to the farm. You should get some rest, you look exhausted. If you need anything just let me know ok? Alright, let’s go."
Roxanne drove the APC back to the farm as soon as Hector gave the signal he was ready. The journey was quick but silent. Both of them had their own worries, both ranging from petty to serious, one more than the other. They eventually reach the farm and Roxanne told Hector as much. "We are here sweety. Need anything from me? I can escort you to your room if you want; I will also make you a hearty meal if you so desire. You must be hungry too; so what will it be?", Roxanne asked Hector before they got of the APC.
Victor listened to intently to Helen’s explanation of firearms 101, no, not even firearms 101, firearms common sense. He felt a bit dumb to not have figured out everything would be labeled. He picked up a pistol himself. "Yes...I am ashamed to admit but I don’t know heads or tails when it comes to guns. Didn’t like them pre-cataclysm and never saw a need for them post cataclysm. But your explanation makes sense.", Victor responses.
Victor looked at the gun he had in his hands. "Springfield armory? Patent 1911? Uhmm...what does this mean?", Victor asked outloud but at no one in particular. He saw a button by the grip and he pressed it; the magazine of the pistol came out and it fell to the floor. Victor picked it up and looked at it and then the gun. "Ah, so that’s how you take the bullet clip out.", Victor said in a tone used when you have made a discovery. He then looked at the magazine and saw there were others like it all around him. Victor picked them up, he noticed some were full and others empty. Now he had to find the correct ammo for the gun. "Right...the base of the bullet says .45 apc...guess I need to look for more of those? Hmmm...how do you add them to the clip?", Victor mused some more.
He put the original magazine into the gun, backwards at first of course before he corrected himself. Victor then pointed the gun into the air at an angle where it would fly away from the farm, that much he knew, and pulled the trigger with his eyes close. *click* "What? Why doesn’t it fire? Is it broken? I don’t get this at all?". He had forgotten to rack the slide, something he didn’t know you had to do.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 01, 2017, 04:59:41 pm
Nathaniel sighed as he faintly overheard that. "No. You didn't. Don't say things like that, okay?" he said, shaking his head. "She was just playing around with that stupid thing, she still doesn't really...get that it's not really safe to be dousing people with that thing."
Hector nodded at that, smiling some. "Good. Glad to have her there then." he said. Her remarks though left him concerned. "I know. Just, after all that's happened, especially what probably happened to Catnip? She's the reason we're together, ultimately. I don't know we're going to do now other than...well, what we always do. Survive. Had a few ideas for some...projects in mind, but some rest might be good first." he admitted.
"And honestly, anything's better than the usual rations packed in the tank. Ate fairly light since I didn't know what the supply situation was at the center now, lot of their records are still in trashed computers and a few supply rooms were damaged in the fighting." he said. "Burn from last little adventure is healing up decently at least." he said. Though in truth he knew it'd been healing slower than was normal for him.
"It's fine. I'll admit I'm also not that good with the terms either, given lack of experience." she admitted.
Helen herself was a bit exasperated as she did her best with explaining for Victor, given it quickly became apparent that even what she had was more experience than him. Her not correctly him when he called the magazine a clip was one example of that, though after fumbling with it she was able to load a magazine for him. "Should be a good, reliable enough one the work with. Not much more capacity than most revolvers though, but..." she said, thinking for a moment that something less complex would be better for him.
Every so often it became apparent that actual gun safety was what she had a solid grasp on, given she applied the same principles to her wraithslayer. And to the symbol of judgement to a lesser degree, though it lacked the prod that a wraithslayer had, working on pure conscious thought rather than a physical action as the catalyst.
"Do have to actually chamber a bullet." she said, racking the slide for him. "And it'd help if you could actually see which direction you're shooting in." she teased.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 01, 2017, 05:36:25 pm
Kathrine crosses her arms and continues walking, face screwing up. "N-no, Mistress is a r-rat now, and it's my fault because she was..." She can't hold back tears any more. "B-because she was pro-protecting me...And M-Miss- Miss M-Mica's supposed to protect me..." But Mica wasn't here. And neither was Catnip. "And Miss Lilith's being mean..." Kathrine stops again, kneels down, and falls onto her side. "And I don't wanna be here anymore..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 01, 2017, 05:55:46 pm
Nathaniel sighed at that. "It's not your fault. You don't understand what those God's Army men were going to do to you. They would've tried to do that to you regardless of what happened to Catnip." he said, kneeling beside her. "Look, Kath. What would Catnip say if she heard you talking like that? If she could respond...she wouldn't want you to feel bad, you're not the one that's supposed to protect her." he said. That thought made him look down a bit.
"Honestly, you know that's what Hector, Roxanne, Floyd, Mica, and I are for. And look what we did. We fucked it all up. Kathrine, we tracked down where those bastards took all the others, and you know what Hector brought back? Six people. SIX. What's all we have to show for all this. You didn't fail anyone. We did."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 01, 2017, 07:29:00 pm
"As you wish Hector. Let’s go to the food commune and I will make you some soup ok? Maybe we can talk about a few things there? You know, get things off our chest and clear or minds. Should help at least.", Roxanne suggested. She then escorted Hector to the food commune and told him to sit down once they got there. Roxanne prepared a soup filled made out of chicken and veggies. She sang a tune while she stirred the soup on the stove cart.
"Ready. Lots of canned stuff but a few veggies were fresh! Added some spice to give it some flavor. Hope it’s to your liking.", Roxanne told Hector as she carried a bowl of soup over to him. She sat down next to him and watched him eat. "I already ate beforehand so enjoy yourself ok?", Roxanne clarified. Her gaze shifted momentarily to one of her arms. It looked so fragile; nothing like the body he had come accustomed too. Randale might of been betrayed her but he knew what he was doing when he made her mutate herself.
"Now, Hector. I want to ask you something...What do see in me? I don’t get it. I have changed and yet you don’t seem to mind. I mean, I am glad you feel that way, but it confuses me...or...is it pity? You can be honest with me...I won’t get mad, I promise..."
Victor felt embarrassed as Helen showed him the ropes of basic firearm knowledge. He at least knew how to load and cock the gun. He just needed to learn how to load bullets into the magazines and the new shooter’s biggest enemy recoil!
Helen’s little remark made Victor roll his eyes and smile. "Hey, I have never handled a gun before. I would say I am learning quickly.", Victor responded. He then once more pointe the gun up in a safe angle, looked at where it was pointed and fire. *bang* "Holy mother of...", Victor exclaimed. The recoil of the gun made his hand and arm jerk back and he stumbled one step back. He managed to keep the grip on the gun and as such he kept it pointed in a save direction. "This thing had kick! What fire power!", Victor exclaimed once more, "This is a keeper! Well, let me gather the stuff fort his gun and let’s go back to my room, there is something I want to show you real quick."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 01, 2017, 08:11:54 pm
Hector nodded at that, blushing a bit as he regarded her offer, smiling some. "That's be wonderful in fact. Thank you." he said, sitting down for now. He looked around a bit, starting to realize just how quiet things seemed now. The whole time he'd been at the center, it was still abuzz with activity despite the devastation. Only the occasional sound from their makeshift gun range seemed to stand out.
The soup she brought was astounding, whereas he briefly recalled her awkwardness with baking, this is contrast left him rather impressed, though subsisting largely on jerky, hardtack, and fruit leather likely added to that. "It's wonderful actually. Had never known you were so good with making the most out of what we have here. T-thank you."
Her question shocked him a bit, looking back to her. "After all we've been through? I...there's so many reasons, Roxanne. Not just simple beauty, which you have in either form. And not just how wonderful it is to have someone like you to fight by my side. Not even our own little shared quirks." he remarked. "Perhaps, related to that last one, everything you've done for me, and how Catnip's prophecies named you as a killer that chose mercy. You're not a mere cold-blooded killer..."
He then looked her over. "As for you changing, well. This is still a surprise, though given everything we've encountered so far, some strange magical explanation would make sense now."
Helen meanwhile smirked a little at how Victor reacted to the recoil, before sighing some. "Proper use of the sights however will take practice, and might not be my area of expertise." she said, smiling as she gathered magazines and ammo for him. "Might want a holster too, obviously. Now then...as you wish." she said, smiling some.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 01, 2017, 09:58:26 pm
Roxanne listened to Hector’s comments. She was finally getting answers on something, something not important in the grand scheme of things but important to her. Every word Hector told her struck a chord with her. He had looked past superficial looks and quirks and accepted who she was; accepted her despite her past. His last sentence of the explanation struck her the most. Yes, she choose mercy. It was her that did that, Roxanne Luna! She did that! No, not as an imposter, but by free will! She was her own person, she was free, she was Roxanne Luna! His comments made her smile at him with an expression of affection in her face. If she had any doubt about her future with Hector, it had been cast about at this moment; she was his and he was hers.
"Y-yeah...magic and stuff. That’s what happened. My soul or something got swapped you know? Have to get it back. My body I mean, not my soul; I still have that...Thank you Hector...", Roxanne managed to mumble at his second remark. She was still distracted by the previous thought process. It was decided, Hector deserved to know; the first step to let go is to admit there is problem. It was time Roxanne confronted her past.
"H-hector? Maybe one of these days, maybe we could have a chat over a drink or something? Once things calm down a bit. It’s still too hectic and it will only get more...for me at least. What do you say?", Roxanne asked the knight.
"Right!", Victor commented on Helen’s suggestion of a holster. He grabbed one that was laying around and stored the gun in it. The holster was a clip on so he didn’t need to wear a belt. "Alright then. Let’s head to my quarters for a moment."
Victor led the way to his room and opened the door when they reached there. He told Helen to enter and then he did the same. Once inside, Victor grabbe a little device, it looked like an electromagnetic radiation meter. "This is it. It’s going to sound silly, but keep an open mind ok?", Victor explained to Helen, "In the time before the cataclysm, many claimed you could detect ghost and specters with an electromagnetic reader like this one. That was utter nonsense, but...I added a fragment of the aura spell to it and now it can detect changes in auras! It still can’t detect auras itself, only when there is a change in one where the device is pointed at. I thought maybe this could help see what the source of the flame and the blade analogies originates when you and Roxanne take the spiritual pill again? Might come useful again later."
He handed the device to Helen to play around with for a bit. It had many dials and some lights, it looked like a toy but Helen’s mask could sense something coming out from it, bouncing and then returning to the device. It was similar to sonar.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 01, 2017, 10:11:25 pm
Hector was still uncertain from all this, but was accepting of it, smiling as he set a hand on her shoulder. "Then we'll get your old body back, by whatever means are needed. If you prefer yourself in that form." he said.
"And of course. I know things have been rather hectic lately, so whenever you would prefer it." he said. "We'll also have to be more...careful, while you're in this form, I mean..." he stammered out a bit, blushing some.
Helen regarded the device with a bit of curiosity, a bit way up until she tried it, noticing the pulse of energy when seen through the vision of her mask. "And to think, just earlier today Quinn was blowing up tables trying to make artificial essence, when my little seidmadr, after all the things I've mocked him over, has produced what might well be a very useful tool." she teased.
"That does remind me, I was going to offer you to use of my mask for that purpose. It won't be of use to me while I'm in that realm. However, this might reveal other things and be less risky than extending your aura in every direction when the flame is active." she said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 01, 2017, 10:29:00 pm
"Enough of this piddling trash."
Agmen had left him. A god of creation it was, but it could no longer create convincing enough dreams to goad Dee with. He'd gotten wise, and the dreams would be rejected out of hand the moment they began. So, Agmen left him to the dark and to his small dreams. Not for long though, it seemed. "I'm tired of this game between you and your not god. It was entertaining enough, especially when you began to overpower him. Would you believe it? A simple man like yourself, outwitting a child god? Almost enough to make me root for you a little."
A figure came to Dee in the dark, not so much emerging from it as much as forming from it. A figure in a robe of stars and a single fiery point of blue light affixed to one side of it's hidden face. "Hey joe, what do you know?"
"That movie sucks. Who the hell are you, I'm sick of having my dreams played with." Dee said. He'd dreamed a lot after Agmen had left him. Mostly of Mica and their fictional daughter. Between the dreams, he'd think. Think about the impossibility of Mona.The dreams had shown him something, something he hadn't figured he'd ever wanted for himself. He knew it was an impossibility in the real world, but that didn't stop him from wanting it. The house, the yard, the family car. He even wanted the dicky water heater that cut out randomly for no reason. In one of his dreams, he'd been standing in the garage working on some small robot while Mona had seated herself in a warm patch of sunlight. He remembered achingly how she had drifted off to sleep under the gentle warmth of the sunny spot, resting her head on her note book and snoring like her mother.
Mona seemed to have been the cornerstone of quiet a few of the dreams, but that had been a pleasantly cruel joke. She was little more than a whistful notion. Dee knew he wasn't the issue. It was Mica. Dervish had explained it to Hector, and in a way, Roxanne. Mutants over a certain threshold or of a certain type were sterile. Infertile. Barren. There would be no Mona, could be no Mona. "She could be though." Said the figure, "A little science, a little magic. Who knows? Throw in with me, and I can make it so."
"I don't believe you." Dee told the stranger. The stranger began to circle him, and Dee was disconcerted the find that the robe of the stranger simply glided along. Almost like their were no legs beneath, that the robe was perhaps puppeted somehow. "Why not? Have we ever met in person? Come now, Az't'urh has never lied to you or any stranger. He doesn't lie to friends."
"We aren't friends Aster." Dee hissed, realizing who this "thing" was. Az't'urh. Astor. He wasn't a historian, but he knew that sometimes people could get strange names slightly different. "Like Uilleam Uallas." Astor said. Dee was disturbed that the run of his thoughts had been read so easily. "Sure, sure. Look, I've got no interest in throwing in with the choir boys. Besides, look at me."
"I am looking at you. Have you looked at you?"
Dee looked down at himself, at his hands, and found that his scales were gone. He brought them up and felt his face, his nose was normal again. No longer the pair of slits that had replaced it. He was entirely human. "What did you do?" Astor tittered at him.
"I'll tell you what kid, I'll give you what you want. You think about my offer, and I'll wake you up with the knowledge you need." Astor produced a thin file pinched between two folds of robe. "Go on, take it. Give it to that Dervish chap, he'll know what to do with it, but think about my offer. Gods Army needs a good robotics guy. Together, we could do amazing things you and I."
Dee hesitated. There was something loathsome and horrible about Astor, now that they were face to face. The Arch Bishop seemed to be in his element, and Dee supposed he wasn't surprised to find him here. He considered. Agmen had softened him up with the dreams. Would he really sell out to this thing for a dream? Almost certainly not. This might have been a dream, but Dee could still feel the sting of the bullets in his chest. Surprisingly, he wondered for the first time if he wasn't dead. "I'll take your file, and I'll think on your offer." He said with no real conviction, not intending to give it much thought.
"No thinking. This is a one time offer my friend." Astor said coldly, waggling the file at him. "I don't give yes or no offers. Mine are offers you can't refuse." Dee felt menace emanating from him, and then it was gone. "Heh, I can see when I'm not making any headway. I get it. I'll leave you to your dreams then, if you don't wake up first. Shake on it?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 02, 2017, 12:14:30 am
Dee didn't want to take Astor's hand, try to pull away from him. Before he could get far though, the figure of Astor had lunged forward and seized his hand in a firm shake. The feel of it was awful, like having his hand filled with something gelatinous and disgusting. The darkness seemed to suddenly fill with stars and obscene light and Dee found himself trying to pull away, trying to escape, trying to wake up. His vision spiraled with Astor's one flaming blue eye at it's center. He felt himself falling, felt the something shaking his hand becoming solid, becoming like a bundle of thick twigs, becoming...
He shot awake, sitting straight up, startling everyone in the room. "Lizard? Lizard!" Mica cried, covering his face in kisses. "Holy shit." Dervish said, "Dr. Maskens, Dr. Maskens he's awake!" Dee felt Mica's hands being pried away from him, "I can see that Mr. Daverish. Mr. Koenig, can you hear me?"
In time, the dreams faded and Dee recovered. Something in him had been left behind though, left in the dreams that would fade but never quiet be forgotten. Time moved on and Dee invested himself in his work to try and forget. Catnip was gone, so he developed Medeina's parts himself. To his frustration though, he couldn't hope to match the quality that lost friend had been able to produce. Instead, he turned in another direction. Developing an AI that could. Medeina was advanced, very advanced. More, she was willing to share her code with him. He studied it carefully, every line, every number, every syntax. Mica visited him less and less as his attention waned. "Lizard got no time for My-ka today? Ok... My-ka still love Lizard." She would go away sorely disappointed most of the time.
Even after they were married a few years later, Dee, now just Dean, still spent most of his time working. Burning the midnight oil getting everything just right. Gods Army and the Hell's Raiders fell, and yet he just kept working. He and Mica got a house, the house of his dreams in fact, and lived together until that fateful day when Mica's metabolism caught up with her. By the time she was in her mid twenties, she suddenly began to rapidly age. Dee hardly noticed. Kathrine came to visit and help take care of her, but it became difficult and so Dean spent more and more time at his work. It wasn't like the dreams that he remembered not at all. He unveiled innovation after innovation, but none of it seemed to give any satisfaction. There was something missing from his life. He would often look around his workshop in one of his rare moments of clarity and think "This would have been my kids room, if I'd had any." The thought would put him off, and back into his work he would go.
And then, Mica died. Dean sat for a long time thinking about her after she was gone. He'd been a shitty husband. A fantastic builder of robots, but as a family man he was an utter failure. He realized that he'd hardly seen Mica at all. Hardly talked to her at all, and Dean wondered long if it had been a broken heart and not age that had killed her. For the first time in years, He thought of Medeina. Once he'd unveiled his first big breakthrough, he and Mica had moved into this house. Medeina's hard drive matrix had been packed away for the move, and Dean had simply forgotten her.
In the attic, Dean began unpacking boxes. So many memories, stacks upon stacks of photographs. Hector and Roxanne by the river on the farm, Lilith carrying Nathaniel and Sharlene under one arm, Floyd and Kathrine watching Catnip while she worked. A picture of Dean and Mica as a young couple, holding hands. He felt tears rising to his eyes looking at that last. Where the hell had he been all his life? Who was he with and just what the fuck had he been doing? He tucked the picture into the pocket on the front of his shirt and moved onto the next box, where he found what he was looking for.
The laptop turned on and immediately blue screened. A simple error, easy to fix. The hard drive was old now, and it would be slow. When it was loaded up and running, when Dean was sure it was stable, he took out the hard drive matrix. Medeina's electric brain. The blue crystalline lines etching it's surface had faded somewhat, and he realized that it must be as degraded as the laptops own hard drive. Despite that thought, he plugged it in and waited.
"D-D-D-D-Dee-e-e-e?" Came the AI's voice over the speakers he'd fixed on a whim. "H-h-have we m-m-oved y-y-ERROR" Dean winced. The damage was worse than he thought. Time had utterly ruined the Hard drive matrix. "Yeah Medi, we moved." He said. He uncovered the little webcam of the laptop so she could see him. "Wh-wh-wh-who are you?" Said Medeina, a little surprise in her voice. "It's me Medi, Dee." She considered for a long time, long enough that Dean believed she'd crashed. "N-n-no."
"I've gotten a bit older, but I assure you Medi, it's me." He said, there was no pause this time. "N-n-no. Sir y-you may look l-l-l-l-like Mr. Dee, but your eyes are hollow." She said, and he knew it was true. He could see his reflection in the monitor, and she was right. He didn't recognize himself either. "I'm sorry I left you so long Medi. I-" He was interrupted by the screen's sudden shift to blue. "ERROR HARD DRIVE FRAGMENTATION AT 86% Mr. D-D-Dee, I... *BLOOP*" At that last, the laptop clicked off and no matter what he tried, he couldn't get it back on.
He rushed the drive to his main computer and plugged it in. "C'mon Medi, C'mon." Nothing happened. He ran a diagnostic, and found that the matrix had been utterly trashed by time. "So that's it." He said aloud. He took the drive and put it with the photo on his coffee table, where he could see them. No Mica. No Medeina. He'd let his work control his life, and now he had nothing. He wasn't even that old, and yet he felt so worn out. There was nothing left in him, he'd given it all up. For his work. For his escape from something he couldn't have. The other thing on the table had belonged to another friend once. A man who fancied himself a cowboy, and rode around on a vehicle he called the steel horse. That man had died of a heart attack years ago, the stress of losing Catnip being just too much for him. Dee checked the cylinder on the thing, checked the loads, and continued thinking. He poured himself a drink and knocked it back, then chased it with another for good measure. As the cold light of dusk fell on him, he lifted the old cowboys piece and gave it a final examination before putting it in his mouth. Dee gasped, living it all in an instant. He reeled with it, the memories and emotions. Astor was standing before him, giving off an aura of smug victory. "You... dirty... fuck..."
"Now you know what people who defy me get Mr. Koenig, how about my offer?"
The muffled thud of Floyd's pistol was still ringing in his ears, the despair of his wasted life still fresh in his mind. All Dee felt at the realization of Astor's trick though, was blunt rage. "Fuck you! Fuck you fuck you fuck you!" That aura seemed to increase in strength, and Dee thought "The bastard is taking pleasure in this." Running his hands down his face, trying to get a measure of composure back, he found himself going to his knees. "Don't be unreasonable kiddo, that was a relatively tame dream compared to ones I could have given you, but I decided to be honest with you. That's how it'll be if you don't take me up on my offer." Something was bringing clarity back to him faster than it should have, and Dee felt a familiar force seeping into his mind. Filling him with cold logic and reason. The logic and reason of the inventor, the influence of Agmen. Astor recoiled, and Dee rose again. "We both know that's bullshit." Dee spat at him.
"You have no idea do you? What I can do to you? Even in your dreams, even after that one I just gave to you. Fine. If that's the way you'll have it..." There was a long pause in which Astor seemed to grow and darken and then he hissed his final word on the matter, "Die."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 02, 2017, 12:17:01 am
Roxanne lighted up as Hector accepted her offer. "Thank you Hector! I let’s pull through together like we always do ok? Things will get better, I can tell!", Roxanne responded cheerfully to the first half of Hector’s remarks.
"Careful? In this form? Wh- Oh? Oh!", Roxanne responded to his second half of Hector’s remarks. She now knew what he meant. "Well...I can see where your concerns lay...But I mean...would having a child be the worst thing? I mean, I may not be the greatest mother in the world and this maybe a tough environment to raise a kid but...with you? I am certain We could...Hector, I love you.", Roxanne said without second thought. A few moments later, she realized what she had said and it left her frozen in place with her face a bright red. Her desire to start a family eventually escaped her mind and became words. Dervish had been right when he and Hector had their talk; there is a time in every woman’s life, even one as wild and independent as Roxanne Luna, when they start to think about starting a family. And, beyond that, Roxanne had uttered those words, the words that mean there was no going back, the point of no return: “I love you”.
Victor smiled, seemingly pleased at the compliment. "Why thank you, I will take that as a compliment. I am glad one of my experiments didn’t end up with a little adventure.", Victor joked in a self deprecating manner.
"I would imagine you would offer me you mask. Thing is Helen, a combination of it and the aura spell might make it possible for me to “see beyond the veil”...And those who look beyond are usually tempted to pierce it...that is one place I will never venture too… Still, thank you for the offer. Maybe on the field one day? Maybe one day you might use might sword...We we will see then won’t we?", Victor explained and mused.
Helen handed him the device back and Victor put it away in its place. "The first Visitor told me they wanted to deal with Randael as much as we did. Do you think they will aid us in the hunt or simply take care of it themselves? If the former, we might get to bond with them. Roxanne would eat her heart out if she found out!", Victor commented.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2017, 12:47:20 am
Hector was a bit uncertain of himself now. So often he took the lead when it came to planning and battle, but with Roxanne he was always more cautious, letting her act as she wished even when it risked doing beyond matters of love and into dangers things, such as her experimenting with mutations against his wishes.
At her remark, he was only further surprised by this, only to end up pulling her close. "To be honest, I do. I would be willing to accept the risks. You'd make a fine mother, I'm certain of it." he said. "I always thought that should be your decision to make, though. I'm glad that, despite the implications of it, this choice is again yours to make, and not taken from you." he said, leaning in a bit. "I...I love you too."
Helen smiled a bit at that, regarding the device curiously. "Then put it to good use when the time comes, and record anything that seems off. I'm still unsure what info we'll get out of it, but still. A direction, a greater sense of motive, anything."
"I understand then. Some magic does seem to behave oddly under the wrong circumstances, and the last thing we need is to provoke greater danger here. Already we have enough evil spirits to deal with." she remarked. "I don't know yet what these others will do, but any aid they offer will be appreciated. As if I wasn't already indebted to him as it is." she said, giving Victor a quick peck on the cheek.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 02, 2017, 03:26:25 am
Kathrine pulls her knees closer to her chest. "M-mistress would... Mistress would tell me t-to not worry, a-and hug me, and say it's alright, a-and tell off ev-everyone else for being m-mean..." She loosens up slightly. "A-and then she'd try and cook something, and burn it, and then I'd have to rescue it, and she'd be all cute and red, a-and then I'd... And then I'd kiss her, and she'd get all squirmy, and..." She trails off, clearly thinking about what her and Catnip end up doing together. "So the big one's like a... Guard tiger?" "She's big but looks harmless enough, I guess." "Anyway, that one on the ground's the one we're after, right? Big tail?" "Yeah, that's the one."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2017, 11:56:29 am
Nathaniel nodded at that, only to sigh and set a hand on her shoulder. It was hard to hear her with how quiet she was, yet he tried to as best as he could. "I know. It'll be alright. We'll deal with this, okay?" he said. When she started to speak up, hinting at her actual feelings for Catnip, he was left blushing a bit "Oh. That's why..." he said, looking away. "I'm sorry, Kath. We'll fix her. I promise." he said, looking around a bit. Between all that happened lately, he found himself peering into the treeline more often lately, but he again brushed off that vague feeling of being watched.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 02, 2017, 01:47:00 pm
Kathrine stands up, a big smile plastered across her face. She still looks about ready to pass out at any moment, but she's at least putting on a face of being energetic. "Thanks, Mister Nathaniel! I think Miss Lilith and Miss Sharlene want you, though..." As soon as Nathaniel turns around, she runs off back to the barn. "No." "Tharlene thupid." Lilith jerks the water cannon out of Sharlene's grasp, growling. "Lil', give it." Sharlene makes another grab for it. "Tharlene thupid."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2017, 03:32:23 pm
Nathaniel sighs at that. "You should get some rest Kath. Alright?" he said, only to turn around when she mentioned Lilith. "But...h-hey!" He gave a sigh at that, shaking his head and walking back to check on the others.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 02, 2017, 03:34:38 pm
Roxanne was still flustered by what she had told Hector and his remarks only made it worse. A mix of emotions filled her; on one hand, she was elated that Hector shared her goals, but on the other, her facade was breaking. After a few moment’s, she regained her composure and standed up.
"Well...I think you should be all good to go know? I, uhhhm...have to do something now. Remember...chat later when things get quiet ok? Alright! See you later!", Roxanne stuttered to Hector. She then grabbed her stuff and went straight to her room. Once inside, she shut the door and laid on her bed, screaming into a pillow. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!", Roxanne shouted to herself.
Victor nodded at Helen’s comments. "Yes, help of all forms will be highly useful. I think for now. I will go and practice with the pistol some more...I barely know how to use it and I don’t want to create an accident. If you need me, I will be in the makeshift range.", Victor told Helen.
He took his M1911 and some spare magazines. "See you later Helen, always a pleasure to see you...", Victor commented, He then exited his room and went towards the gun range.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 02, 2017, 09:40:31 pm
Floyd walks with Samantha around the farm, showing her around and attempting to avoid Lilith. He stops outside the small makeshift shooting range, where Helen and Victor are. Floyd says, "Prolly should introduce you to some folks, eh?" "Yyeah. Probably should, pops." The two walk up to the pair. "Howdy. I'm assumin' y'all haven't met Sammy yet, right?" Sammy gives a little wave, "Hiya."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2017, 09:50:30 pm
By the time things had calmed down, Hector resting in his room and tending to his bandaged arm, and Nathaniel in his room as well, Helen was back to observing Victor at the makeshift gun range, having deciding to practice as well with her wraithslayer, focused on targets beyond the range she normally used it at. Given the sight range of her mask's clairvoyance, most of her order was trained to use it mainly within 50 meters, and the weapon lacked at elaborate sights.
The result was the downright peculiar sight of a masked woman in a metal-scaled cloak, practicing with a crossbow that fired strange green projectiles rather than bolts. She then set the weapon on the counter at hearing them, the mask outright shifting forms from a malevolent glare to a neutral expression, and she nodded to them. "Greetings. And no, I haven't. I'm Helen, and this is Victor. Glad to see a newcomer here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 03, 2017, 12:16:29 am
Sammy watched the wraithslayer bolts, and then stared at the mask for a second, "what's up with your uhh." She makes a circular motion with her index finger, pointing at her own face, "What's up with the mask?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 03, 2017, 12:31:05 am
Helen smiled a little at that as she removed the mask, revealing a slight hint of red hair, nearly as vibrant as the copper decorations of the iron mask. "It has its uses. I'm guessing you saw its effects? Or at least the visual part." she said.
Elsewhere, Hector facepalmed as he set down the laptop in his room. "you can't tell me what to do" read the message that followed the amusing, though worrisome, discussion on the network Dee had set up. A cursory glance at what was sent to him made him blush a bit, before he shut it down to go gather a few things and check on Roxanne.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 03, 2017, 02:59:28 am
"Goddamnit, Dervish get over here, He's fibrillating." Maskens shouted. The medbays EKG had suddenly begun to detect an irregularity in Dee's heartbeat. Dervish shot out of his chair fast enough to send it toppling, and cleared the length of the large room in the space of a second.
"What?! I don't believe this, Quinn installed that thing perfectly." He shouted, "Shit! Defib?"
Maskens began to work one of the electric jacks on the medbays bed, and Mica had begun to move, "No defib Mr. Dervish, his heart is shielded remember? Ma'am, you need to move."
"Liz... ard...?"
Dee ran. The thing that called itself Astor didn't bother following. In the realm of dreams it was itself. Not Astor, but Az't'urh, the devil from nothing. With a simple thought, the blackness around Dee vanished and was replaced by an entirely different darkness. The darkness of a basement.
Dee had been here before. Not long after the cataclysm, before meeting the men he would go cruising with in the dead world. Dee was still human, and six years younger, and the basement was the lab of a certain crazed scientist asshole. He'd already broke the cuffs on his hands, but his body was filled with a burning sensation. Doctor demento had injected him with something, and whatever it was was doing it's work. He saw what happened to the others, and hoped he hadn't been shot up with the same thing. "Sugar water man, just sugar water. Right? If it's just sugar water though, why does it burn so much?" He thought. His skin itched, and something felt wrong with his face. The halls down here were a maze, and through them he ran.
A claw lashed out from a prison cell at one side of the sell. Dee didn't remember anything like that happening as he was making his escape, nor could he remember their being this many twists and turns and halls. He evaded the slashing limb easily, but then became aware of something far behind him. A heavy wet thump. Dee imagined an elephantine limb slamming into the floor, and decided he didn't want to be around if it caught up.
Further and further he went, on and on. Every turn seeming to bring him no closer to any kind of escape. He should have come to the stairs by now, should have found the kitchen and the knife on the counter there by now, should have stabbed doctor asshole right in his stupid doctor asshole face by now. The dream wasn't following the course of events as he remembered them. Again there came the sound, and Dee thought he could hear something more. Some sickening slithering noise.
"Lizard!? Dee?!" Came Mica's anguished moan. She didn't understand, didn't know what was going on. All she knew was that the people who did know were panicking. She'd allowed herself to be pushed away so the doctors could do their work. She didn't want to be pushed away, but she didn't know what else to do except rush forward and clutch at her mans unconscious body and protect it from whatever threat was attacking him. It would do no good she knew, the threat wasn't something she could rip and tear her way through. The threat was Dee himself. The little box with the green line had begun to beep faster, at a much more irregular rate.
It roared at him, and he could feel the hot wind of that explosive bellow. Dee didn't dare look back at it, he knew that in dreams like this you always died if you looked back and he had a feeling that if he died in the dream, he'd be dead out in the real world. Quick and unwanted, the memory of a movie called "nightmare on elm street" came to him. He always believed the villain looked goofy like a piece of cheap beef jerky with a dumb claw, but he still loved watching that flick. He didn't think he'd want to see it again if he survived this. Around the next bend, he came to a door.
It was the first door he'd come across, and he suspected a trap. Something to throw him off, or something that had been thrown up to get in his way and slow him down. To his surprise though, it wasn't locked. Bolting through the door and locking it behind him, not that it would hold should the thing he thought must be Astor decided to break it down, he recognized the room. He was making progress, it was the main cellar. Just the other side of the large, low ceilinged room, would be a staircase. At the top of the staircase would be an escape from this nightmare. He jumped and had to sprint as the door behind him shuddered but against all odds held. He just had to get up the stairs, up the stairs and he would be-
"SsSSsss"
"Oh god no..." *beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...* "Dee? Lizard?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 03, 2017, 11:36:06 am
The claws lashed out, cutting the air. He could almost see the rents in the dim light of the cellar. It was Mica, but not Mica. Not his Mica. It was the other Mica, the one he'd been afraid of. The Mica who had come to the farm one night with nothing but dumb hunger in it's mind. She squeezed her misshapen bulk out from under the stairs where she had lain in wait. Waiting for a tasty morsel, a tasty lizard to come around. "Lisssard..." She hissed.
"Mica no, don't do this." Dee begged, backing away. To look at her was painful, grotesque. Had she really been this horrifying once? He thought the answer was yes, but perhaps there was a little of the magnifying quality of nightmares at work as well. The patchy fur and scales, irregular chitin and excessive eyes and teeth. All of it had been defused away, given regularity, but in his memory he still remembered what Mica had been like before, and Astor had found her. Turned that memory against him. The cellar door cracked, and the Mica of his nightmares pounced.
"Dee no!" Mica shouted, launching herself forward like a bullet. Dr. Maskens attempted to stop her, a mistake that cost her a finger. She staggered back from Mica in pain, furious and terrified. "No Lizard plees! Don't leave My-ka! My-ka be good! Not pick on Dee no more! Not pick on Kat-thrin or Kat-nyp! Plees Lizard!" She seized his hand in her four, and begged into his face. The EKG gave an odd beep. Maskens was dumping a bottle of rubbing alcohol over her maimed hand and doing her best the bandage it. Dervish had fallen back against the wall when the EKG flat lined, "Oh no kid. Oh god no."
Mica's tears fell freely into his face and onto his bare chest. "My-ka be good, My-a be good, See?" Her voice even took on some strident hope, thinking of the day of their first date, "My-ka even let lizard touch My-ka's pill-oh's if it make him happy! Don't leave My-ka lizard!" To Maskens horror and Dervish's disbelief, Mica took dee's other hand and shoved it roughly against her chest. "Mica no, don't..." The slashing claw came in again, tearing a fresh rent in Dee's skin. The claws were sharp, and he realized she was just toying with him. This latest attack though, was aimed to kill. He dodged from it, and then barely spun away from another only to trip on a box, knocking the wind from him and leaving him defenseless before the nightmare effigy of the woman he loved. He closed his eyes, knowing that his time had come.
Then, something was clutching his hands, and his right felt a dimly familiar warm sensation. For a brief instant, he was standing in that cold dead wheat field with Mica again, wrapped in her arms and struggling to get his hands up to push her away. "Really brain? You have to remember this now?" He thought, before realizing he hadn't yet been torn to shreds. He opened his eyes, and what he saw gave him hope.
It was Mica. Not the abomination, but the girl. Not the eater, but the lady red scarf. Both Mica's were here in his nightmare, the abomination hissing and struggling against this new warm dream of light and hidden beauty. The monster was a wretched black thing, emaciated and filled with starving idiocy. The other was gorgous, a being of moonlight skin and frightening allure. He didn't dare to stay and see who would win, likely both would be consumed by the unspeakable thing now breaking down the door at the other end of the cellar. As Dee turned to flee up the stairs, he caught a glimpse of Astor and had the impression of eyes, mouths, teeth, tendrils, and shifting shapeless darkness. Amongst it all, at it's center, was a single point of blazing blue fire.
He emerged into blackness of his dream void. This wasn't a part of the events at the manor. "Lizard!" He heard from somewhere in the distance. "Mica?" He called, following the sound. His face was wet. Had he been crying? "No," He thought, "But someone's been crying on me." He wiped the moisture away, and saw a light appear in the distance. Dee ran for it, knowing full well that Astor was probably still in pursuit. The feeling of his left hand being wrapped in twigs, and his right being pressed against something warm and soft returned, even as the damp on his face also returned. Felt his lips and face being covered in what must be kisses, but couldn't see who was placing them on him. He was being touched all over by hands he couldn't see and he could hear voices coming to him out of the nothing.
"Bitch bit off my pink-" "He's not dead, for fuc-" "Cord is stuck in the gears, cut off his link to-" "Still alive."
The light had grown closer. It appeared to be two little points of light a couple inches apart. He could feel the darkness growing behind him, catching up, but he wasn't afraid anymore. If he could reach those points of light, he would be fine.
"You will die, no one escapes." Cried the beast behind and around him, repulsed by the points of light. Astor sounded inhuman, his voice like listening to someone speak through a slurry of concrete and wet gravel, or at least what Dee imagined what such would be like.
"Dee..." The voice of Mica was louder now, "...Will be good, won't pick on..." The sound seemed to repel the blackness around him, pushing it back, keeping it at bay and Dee thought he could almost see the bright silhouette of Mica running with him.
And here they were. Not as far as he thought. The two lights were actually two little holes in the fabric of the darkness, and he realized they had been there the whole time. They were about the right height and spacing for his eyes, and he had a strange notion that if he pressed his own eyes to these holes, he could wake up. "No! You cannot-" Dee turned for a moment, unsurprising to see nothing but the point of blue fire. He flipped that fire the bird and said his final words on the matter. "Fuck you asshole."
Dee came awake with little fanfare, sitting upright and instantly regretting it, the pain of his broken ribs and clipped sternum made sure of that. "LIZARD!" Mica screamed, "MY-KA BE GOOD! SHE PROMISED, AND DEE COME BACK!" Dee pulled his hands from Mica's only to have them snatched back. "Mica, jeez, babe, I'm glad to see you too, but that hurts like hell. What the heck happened to me? I remember getting shot up, but after that I've got no idea. Why does my chest feel so crowded?" The dream was fading, and soon he would forget most of it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 03, 2017, 11:53:28 am
Bandit had been resting when his radio popped to life as some of his dealers told him they'd be swinging by to pay him. Leaving a sign on the door saying he was out Bandit walked to the bridge. As he began to cross the bridge a van pulled up and waited at the other side. The back doors swung open and two of his boys hopped out carrying a duffle bag.
Bandit took it and checked the contents. Lots of bullets, a couple of guns, and a pair each of incendiary and fragmentation grenades. Nodding to the men Bandit tossed them more product to sell. He noted a couple of new faces as the pair jumped into the back of the van and started driving off. New men were always good to have.
Meanwhile Drifter had been preparing to go out and hunt when Alice asked him what he was doing. After explaining she asked to come along and Drifter agreed if she'd keep quiet while they were out. After she agreed the pair walked away from the farm and began the hunt.
Elsewhere...
The man looked at the gun toting-invis-cloak wearing gunman before rubbing his eyes. They wanted him to kidnap someone which was fair enough since that was his specialty. "But you want me to kidnap someone from there? Well the fee just quadrupled son."
The Vulture set the bag on the table between them as he said "I don't care how much. Get me the guy with the mask, the drug dealer. He's the easiest target for you and should know something useful."
More negotiations and details followed before the professional agreed and started setting things up. He already had everything he needed save a crew but that was easy to find. Especially these days.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 03, 2017, 12:29:33 pm
"woah your pret- I- I mean, yeah I did. It's pretty cool. It's one of those uhh..." She says, snapping. "Magic artifact... thingies" Floyd looks at Victor's shooting stance. "Hey, your stance is all off. Wrap your off hand around the grip, widen your stance a bit, and hunch over slightly." Floyd draws his own revolver and gives an example stance, aiming down range. "Makes sense?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 03, 2017, 12:34:44 pm
Helen smiled at that, giving a nod. "So you are familiar with some of these. Feel free to try it on if you'd like." she said, smiling a bit. "The two of us were brushing up on some things for something we have to do in a few days. I'll admit I'm not much use in teaching him how to handle a pistol, aside from roughly how to work them and how not to shoot his foot off."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 03, 2017, 01:22:49 pm
What had gone wrong? He had expected the lizard to reject his offer, in truth he hadn't intended to give the little shit any of what he'd promised. Astor had simply wanted him out of the way. This world was filled with potential, and with that potential came those of natural talents. Small fools with some spark of potential that made them masters of whatever they put their effort into. The lizard was rapidly becoming a master in the art of robotics, while the rat his bishop had sent away was already an unmatched mechanic. Astor wanted such beings cleared from the playing field as much as he wanted the people he could turn to come to him. He looked around the ruins of his penthouse suite. He'd been outstandingly furious at the lizards escape. His gaze glided over the shattered remains of his mirror, and onto the bishop. He'd gone blue in the face, if he'd had a face. Astor had simply given the mans features a wipe, erasing them from existence and leaving behind a detailess skin mask. Astor vaguely recalled how the bishop, an incredibly talented sanguimancer by trade, had reeled around the room blind and suffocating. Not a catastrophic loss, but still rather upsetting.
The real issue was, he had failed. How? Maybe it was in the execution? Astor usually visited heart stopping terror upon those he came to in the dream lands. This time, he'd waited and watched. Agmen, the upstart idiot god, had visited his own small terrors on the lizard. Trying to goad him into completing work on some foolish project, and Astor had watched and taken in the information. When the time was right, and Agmen had left, Astor had struck. He realized he'd made two mistakes. The first was in assuming that Agmen had left. In the final moments of their conversation, Astor had felt the presence of that one. Lending strength to the lizard. The second, was in assuming that the lizard would wholeheartedly reject the god. Astor had been having trouble with that one recently, and he should have known. Agmen didn't seek the approval of his "worshipers." Only the fruits of their labors. In this way, even a non-believer could be a strong worshiper, and if that worshiper were particularly talented... Would Agmen not strive to protect them despite any slight they had committed against the god? Astor decided that he hated Agmen. His own cadre of inventors seemed secretly enamored of it after it had visited one of his finest, after it had inspired him to build the war walkers and the foundries. Astor didn't want them kneeling before anyone but himself.
These failures had only compounded the loss of the battle for the refugee center. Astor wanted what lie buried beneath, something from before the event that had made his emergence into this world possible. The shifting had been a strange event for some in this world, but it had left some things behind. Buried just beneath the surface. Relics from another version of the world. These, Astor wanted most of all.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 03, 2017, 02:30:37 pm
Quinn closes his 2-in-1 laptop, and heads out of his trailer with the calibration tools and a half dozen crutches. He loads the crutches into the back. He heads out for the refugee center.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 03, 2017, 02:45:00 pm
Drifter and Alice had made their way a fair distance from the farm. They hadn't spotted much but something told Drifter someone else had been through here and scared off the frogs and deer. It was twenty minutes later when they spotted the group that had caused the disturbance. Four men in ragged clothes and armor standing over an injured man. Lining up his shot Drifter domed the first of the raiders.
As the remaining three opened fire Alice ducked down behind the hill. Drifter took out the second of them as they dove for cover. Another spray of shots from the remaining two was met with a third death. The fourth decided 'fuck this' and turned to run. Given his history running from Drifter wasn't an entirely good idea. The next round tore his head open and sprayed his brain on the grass.
Standing Drifter walked to the injured man with Alice in tow. Drifter checked him over as he thanked him for killing the raiders. Applying a few bandages Drifter told him he'd be fine, nothing deep enough to cause permanent damage. Hauling the man to his feet Drifter told him he'd be fine to keep moving. The man nodded to Drifter and said "You know, I doubt you remember me from before the apocalypse. I was a lab assistant back in the facility."
Drifter shrugged as he said "Sorry but I don't remember you. I don't remember a lot about when I was posted at the facility."
The man pulled a note book and cassette tape out of his coat as he said "Didn't think so, not much that memorable that I can remember myself. But one of the docs from there told me to give you this if I bumped into you. Last ditch effort from what he told me. Now that I'm done with that task I should probably get going, thanks for the save."
Drifter nodded to the man as he looked at the notebook. "No problem. Take care of yourself."
Checking the first few pages Drifter could see the entire thing was encoded. Shrugging to himself he told Alice they would be getting back to the Farm. When she asked him about the book he told her he didn't remember the guy who'd written it but he was from the facility he'd been posted at during his service. She decided to stop asking as they made their way back, he didn't seem to want to talk about it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 03, 2017, 02:59:59 pm
Sharlene shuts her laptop, shuffling off her bed and searching through her bedside chest of drawers for that little syringe Roxanne had requested back when she had very first arrived. It's there, underneath a pair of jeans and one of Lilith's many spare bras. She mentions her heading over on the refugee centre, and then leaves, yelling at Mohammad to go get food in the meantime.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 03, 2017, 05:16:16 pm
Roxanne was in her room after having had the little exchange on the laptop. Great, not only did she say those things to Hector, no her “literature” was out there… She had joked about leaving the farm but she did considered it for a moment. How would she show her face around the farm now? For now, she would stay inside here. She hoped everyone would forget about the whole ordeal; she would sneak out at night to gather supplies, forgetting sleep was something she needed once more now that she was in “normal” body.
A knock on the door was heard. It startled Roxanne, she looked out through a curtain on the windows Medeina came through with the help of Lilith. It was Hector. Roxanne quickly leaned back against the wall with her face blushing. He had read it hadn’t he, he had come to make fun of her. "You are a dead man Quinn...", Roxanne whispered.
After some hesitation and some more knocking later, Roxanne opened the door. "Hector! What are you doing here? Enjoying the day I guess? Good to see you again! How can I help you?", Roxanne blurred out in nervousness.
Victor was struggling with finding a proper stance with his pistol. Then Floyd and a young woman approached him and Helen. Helen introduced them and then he put the gun down for a moment. To introduced himself as well.
"Hello there Floyd.", Victor said after Helen said her bit, "My name is Victor Ironwood. Nice to meet you. I am a former mage from the Shadows of Arcana, any magic related things and I am your guy!"
Victor then resumed to aiming his gun. Floyd gave a sigh of disapproval and told Victor about his stance. "Alright then, let me give it a shot...no pun intended.". Victor did as he was instructed and fired a shot. The recoil didn’t bothered him as much and the bullet landed closer to the bull’s eyed. "Thanks Floyd! Good to have an experienced shooter help a new shooter like me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 03, 2017, 05:45:46 pm
Bandit's radio buzzed again as he sorted through the miscellaneous ammo he'd gotten. Picking up his radio he heard the tail end of one of his crews telling him they'd be swinging by to pay him. He didn't recall another group needing to pay him today as he got up and walked out the door after hanging the sign again. Eh getting paid is getting paid. The man watching him through a scope smiled as he confirmed everyone else was occupied.
Walking across the bridge he saw the trio of men leaning against the car as the driver idled it waiting for the deal. As he approached one opened the trunk and told him the payment was in there. As he walked over to check what was inside he noted that he didn't quite recognize any of them. Which was about the time he noticed there was nothing in the trunk. This was also about the time as a baseball bat smacked into the back of his head and sent him falling into the trunk. Shoving his legs in the trio closed the trunk and proceeded to get in the car.
Hitting the gas the driver hightailed it out of there before anyone could notice they just shoved someone into their trunk. The only thing left there was Bandit's radio. The driver sighed as he turned a corner and started frantically accelerating as he said "Had me do it in fucking broad daylight but at least we got the job done. No trace back to us too so we're in the clear once we drop this dumb motherfucker off with those raiders."
Elsewhere the man tossed the raider a bag and said "Look I get it. You don't like working for me but you understand fucking with me means you're dead. All I'm doing is using a room and expecting you to guard the building while I take care of business."
The raider checked the bag before merely walking out the door and shouting orders. With a sigh the man pulled the cloth wrapped block out of his bag. Setting the final charge behind one of the larger appliances in the room he got himself ready to finish this bit of work. Pulling a device from his bag he almost smiled when he saw all the charges were active and waiting for the signal to blow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 03, 2017, 06:11:11 pm
Hector gave a polite nod to Roxanne as she answered the door. He'd brought a few things over, including food and drink. Evidently he'd read that last request of hers before signing off, and took it seriously. "Hey Roxanne. You alright? Sorry about earlier." he said softly. Even then it looked like he'd yet to get some much-needed sleep.
He waited until he stepped inside, setting a few things on the table and ensuring the door was closed, before speaking up. "Deleted what Quinn sent me, by the way. Whatever it was, that's for you to suggest it to me on your terms." he said. "I know you've been through a lot lately. If you want to talk about what led to ending up in this body, go ahead. Just know that I still love you, either way." he added, setting a hand on her shoulder. "Though I honestly should get some rest..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 03, 2017, 06:20:56 pm
Sammy picks up the mask and looks at it, before putting it back down. "I'm good, Thanks though."
Floyd gives Victor a pat on the back, "Good, good. Nice shot. You'll be shootin' like the rest of us in no time."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 03, 2017, 07:14:47 pm
Dervish was there to greet them and show them to Dee's room. Dr. Maskens had him moved to one of the observation rooms to recover, and Mica was there with him despite the protestations of the Refugee Centers doctor. "Hey Mica, heard you bit somebodies finger off." Sharlene commented. Mica nodded, paying little attention to anything but Dee. She offered him water, offered him food, offered him blankets, and any number of other things. She worried and fussed over Dee in a manner that struck Quinn and Sharlene as entirely un-Mica-ish.
"Mica, please, your gonna drown me. Enough with the water." Dee said with good humor. He could barely feel a thing through the Oxycontin in his system. This made it easy to set up the diagnostic equipment Quinn had brought along. Dervish and Sharlene looked on for a bit before heading out to discuss their own business.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 03, 2017, 07:51:29 pm
Roxanne noted how Hector actually brought her some food and water. She was surprised but found the gesture quite charming on his part. Roxanne let him in and then heard all of Hector’s remarks. She smiled at him longingly; a reminder of the future she wanted with him. "Thank Hector. But I have gave you enough trouble for today; you deserve some sleep big guy.", Roxanne answered while putting the food and drinks away. "I-if you want, you can rest her tonight...you know, so you don’t have to walk all the way back and I can take care of you or something...I’ll even make you breakfast in the morning...", Roxanne said sheepishly.
"Thanks again Floyd. Maybe one day I’ll teach you some arcane stuff if you want. Been planning to open a magic shop and might be trying to get some customers assured.", Victor responded, "Anyways, back to shooting!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 03, 2017, 07:58:47 pm
Helen gave a nod at that, regarding Victor's technique as Floyd helped out. "And here I wasn't so free with my old rank and order, unlike Victor. Sister and Thane of The Cleansing Flame. Not that I've had anyone else of my old group to warrant being addressed as such." she said. "For now I'll let you get back to practice, can resume what we had planned with Roxanne in the morning. Give all three of us more time to rest and prepare." she said, before she'd make her way back to the temporary quarters where she was preparing things.
Hector nodded at that, only to blush a bit at her offer. "T-thank you. Hope you can get some rest as well, you're going to need to actually sleep on occasion for now." he pointed out. "And if you're sure..."
That evening would be the first time in several days where he actually got some proper sleep, long enough to dream. Easily as he would seem to sleep, they weren't as restful as he'd been expecting...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 03, 2017, 09:19:46 pm
Melody was starting to worry about Miss Blackmore. She said she would meet up with them back in the house later that day. She fell asleep and had waited for her for quite a while. She fed the wolf boy some of the scavenged food. He didn’t make any more noises or attempted to talk and Melody did not press the issue. The wolf boy had yet to be named but she would worry about that once Miss Blackmore came back; she would come back...she had to.
A knock was heard on the door and the wolf boy started to growl. Melody made a hushing sound and motion with the finger. The wolf boy calmed down but his bionic claws were already withdrawn; he was in a position runners assume before a race ready to pounce if a threat was detected. Melody activated her aura of harvest on one of her hands and opened to the door with the other. “Roxanne!”, Melody cried out. She gave Miss Blackmore a hug.
“Whoa! What’s with this emotional response all of the sudden?”, Miss Blackmore, “I am sorry I took too long but I aquired the last piece”. Miss Blackmore got out of the way once Melody let go of her. Melody’s face had gone red and she stepped back in embarrassment. Through the entrance, a peculiar minion entered. It had an aura of malice and it’s eyes seemed to pierce Melody to the core where her soul should be if she had one. The other minions stared at it and it stared back. The wolf boy dropped his position and cowered behind Melody, he was now on all fours. The new minion walked into the house and joined the other.
“A zombie necromancer Melody, that is all we needed.”, Miss Blackmore commented, “Cost me all my shards but was worth it. With it, our minions will be eternal!”. Miss Blackmore soon joined the group of minions and ordered them to line up. She inspected them: 2 though zombies, 2 shady zombies and 1 shocker zombies, 3 converted zombie and 1 zombie necromancer; 9 zombies in all. “Not the biggest army but will do for now. I am one soul away from full power...I am out of shards too so we must make sure to collect them if our minions fall ok?”, Miss Blackmore explained, “We are now ready to make our final plan...we can now finally rebuild…”
Melody cheered as she clasped her hands, she and Miss Blackmore would finally settled down and she could finally learn more from her. The arcane now fascinated her and she absorb every little she could. The wolf boy sensed the positive emotions from Melody and he howled in celebration. Miss Blackmore rolled her eyes and ordered the minions to prepare for the night. “Last night we spend here. Make your peace with this house as it will probably be the last time you see it. For now, let’s us rejoice in celebration once more, for the future!”, Miss Blackmore said. She seemed to be very found of spontaneous nights of fun and banter; she was usually very serious but she seemed to let go during such occasions. Melody found this to be a very endearing trait.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 03, 2017, 10:50:13 pm
Sharlene stops Dervish just outside the door. "So-uh... You wanted me? For Lil' and Kath? What's up?" Lilith had given up on trying to wet people, but she still wasn't putting the water cannon down. Following Nathaniel had taken up priority, seeing as he's seemingly trying to be alone. "Nataleeeee, Lil-eth is sowwy..." She hugs the water cannon like it's a teddy bear, pulling those kitty eyes like she always does while trying to get on his good side. "Nataleeeeeeeee..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 03, 2017, 11:18:41 pm
"Hm? Ah, you're Sharlene?" Dervish said, giving Sharlene an appraising look, "Sure, I have some info for you. It's mostly small stuff. I came to the farm awhile ago and performed check ups on all the mutants. Sorry, I'm forgetting myself. I'm Peter Daverish. Called 'Dervish' by most because of Catnip." He offered his hand and Sharlene took it. "I missed meeting you before. Better late than never though I guess." He took Sharlene to the Refugee Centers cafeteria where the damage was slightly more apparent. The walls had been peppered with bullets and the windows had once again been boarded up. "Alright, where to start? Well... Lilith is in exceptional health, which is a surprise to me. Nothing against you or anything, but mutants like lilith tend to burn out very quickly. Her metabolism is next to normal though, which is a feat I've never seen pulled off by a geneticist. She's a very impressive specimen, but she's got the intelligence of a relatively intelligent house cat. That last is my opinion of course, and I'm sure you would know better." He tapped a pen against the table in thought, "I guess that's it really. One more thing though, what do you know about 'the shifting?'"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 03, 2017, 11:34:23 pm
Sharlene thinks for a moment. "Shiftin'? Nah, I ain't heard of it. It something to do with Mica and Lil?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 03, 2017, 11:49:28 pm
"Ah. Hm. This may be hard to believe then." Dervish said, withdrawing a few rolled up files from inside his labcoat. It was much harder to talk about or even convince anyone of the facts of the shifting when they couldn't remember having weathered it. "No, More like Kathrine and Lilith. Take a look at these." He laid two pages next to each other, both labeled "DNA stability analysis." Below that, Dervish had recorded observations on the graphs present on each page. "These blue markers are related to their mutations, the red ones are what we in the business call the 'baseline.' As you can see, Lilith and Kathrine share the exact same baseline." Sharlene scratched her head and asked, "So they're like long lost twins er' somethin'?"
"No no. In twins, there are subtle differences in the baseline. Kathrine and Lilith are exactly the same. It's hard to believe since you didn't go through the shifting, but Kat and Lil are the same person." He said. Sharlene was smirking at him like he was being weird, which he supposed he was.
"Uh huh," She said, "Even if I believed it, what am I supposed to do with that info?" Dervish only shrugged and explained "I'm just telling you so that if Lilith suddenly comes down with a sudden change, you'll know what caused it. Her fur has already changed, you can tell if you look close."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2017, 01:51:24 am
Nathanieled sighed and shook his head a bit, pointing at the water cannon. "Lilith? Lilith. Please at least put the water cannon down?" he said, before reaching to give her a pat. "Honestly I'm kinda exhausted after all the shit going on. I'm gonna go steal Hector's laptop then go get some sleep, alright Lil?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 04, 2017, 04:04:04 am
Hector dreamed. He was in Catnip's workshop, but there was something off. It was too hot for one, too dry for another. He thought maybe it was the forge, but if it was the forge, then how was it so hot out in the main room? The hole in the roof showed a sky that was too blue, and the empty frame of the barn door showed a landscape that was too barren. "The desert?" He thought. He became aware of the fact that he wasn't alone and turned to face the other end of the barn. There were people gathered, some of them looked like animals while others looked ordinary. Some of them were even grotesque mockeries of the human form. Among them was the familiar face of Catnip, moving from person to person, socializing like a dilettante at an art gallery. He could hear none of her words, no matter how close he came. Finally she turned to him and smiled warmly. "Catnip, where are you?" He asked. Her response was to point, and Hector saw that where she was indicating, there was a sign, atop which was a tiny gizmo of undetermined purpose. The sign read in bold plain letters, "THE OFFERING MATTERS NOT, ONLY THROUGH THE ACT OF CREATION MAY ONE COMMUNE." The gadget whirred and changed, spitting steam and an occasional spark. It seemed a tiny engine, and in a low grinding voice that seemed to be Hectors own, the engine spoke.
"You have my attention knight, but only for a moment." Medeina had been moved by Dervish into Dee's new room. The AI had shown that it could protect him and the center easily enough by activating the centers defenses. She had proven this during a frightening moment when a sortie of Hell's raiders had taken an interest in the crippled center, believing that the place would be easy pickings. For Medeina, it had taken only an instant to bridge the connection between the mainframe and the drone battery. Little things that looked like flying plates about three feet across emerged from a hatch that had been made to look like an air duct on the roof, and these had descended on the approaching raiders and fired upon them with energy weapons. Those not killed were pushed into easy retreat.
Now, she watched Dr. Quinn work. She was aware that this man lived on the farm, but she saw him so little that this encounter was one she considered a rare treat. With some careful prodding and gentle words, Quinn managed what Maskens could not. He separated Mica from Dee, with the promise that while what he was doing would certainly hurt a little, it would most certainly not kill him. "And would I do something that would kill him when I know that you would likely tear me apart if I did?" He asked. Mica thought about it, and decided that he would not. "Besides Mica, he needs his rest and you need to eat. Let Medeina keep an eye on him for awhile and you come back with Sharlene and I." It took a great deal more effort on the doctor's part to convince Mica that this was the best course of action, and that Dee would be more than fine under the care of what was for the time being, literally the refugee center. "Kay." Mica said, downcast but finally feeling the effects of her week or so without food. Medeina took in the scene, and then reached out to try and find the invader again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 04, 2017, 10:50:19 am
Lilith shakes her head, still hugging the water cannon. She's left the tank behind somewhere, but her worrying level of attachment to it still shows. "Nuh-uh." She leans into Nathaniel's hand when he reaches out to pat her, purring. "Natalie thleep with Lilith. Like Lay-dee Man do!" Lilith starts bouncing, exaggerating her tits more than usual in the process. "Natalie uthe Lilith'th pill-ohs!" She shoves Nathaniel towards his shack, but then realises that he said something about Hector. "Do mehtal man and then thleep."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2017, 11:12:01 am
Hector dreamed that night, and in the morning he would recall it vividly. He hadn't dreamed with intensity enough to recall it afterwards in over 12 years. In his dream, he only had one response before that moment faded, and the dream with it. "If this guides me in avenging her, then so be it. I have one such meager act of creation already planned..."
Nathaniel gave a little sigh as he regarded Lilith clutching that water cannon like a weaponized teddy bear, only to blush brightly at her suggestion, and the way she teased him with her movements. "I...oh. T-thank you, Lilith..." she said nervously. He'd conduct his business, giving the laptop a quick moment's check only to find he'd missed something, before turning it off and heading to his room again, letting her in. It was clear he was still tired from everything that happened lately, and soon enough he found her presence to be rather comforting, flustered as she made him.
Elsewhere, Helen had walked back to The Hall to check on Sergei and Simms, mentioning a little of what occurred lately but unwilling to go into detail, only that she will have a mission in a few days. That night, she had a dream of her own, though little of it would be retained in her memory that morning. Words in a grandfatherly yet powerful voice warning her to be watchful when straying too close to the edge of life and death, for her greatest enemies held great power in the spirit world.
Enemies, plural. That one little word was what left her concerned. She was certain that the spirit of death was no enemy now, and she knew only of Randael being a threat. In her dream, she sought to ask this voice to explain, only to be assured she'd know in time. What she was left with was a request to send a message to a distant, long-lost kin of hers, that she would soon be fighting alongside.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 04, 2017, 01:13:09 pm
Lilith gets onto the bed first, grinning as it creaked under her weight. She'd dragged Nathaniel over and sat him on top of her, and then forced him to lay down, using her as a bed instead. "Natalee have I pill-ohs for bed."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2017, 01:41:49 pm
Nathaniel was left only more flustered at that as he settled on her, relaxing and closing his eyes. "Thank you Lilith. Get some sleep as well, okay...?" he said softly, resting his head on said ample pillows, rather easily drifting off to sleep, helped by lack of sleep lately.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 04, 2017, 02:42:49 pm
Quinn checks the calibrations, "Everything seems fine. Are you fine?" he says, nodding towards Dee and tapping his temple. "You're physically fine, and there's nothing wrong with the implant..." Quinn rubs his chin, "Nothing physical that'd cause it to malfunction. Anything you think may have caused it?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 04, 2017, 03:13:03 pm
Dee thought there might be something, but the nightmare had faded quickly. Only bits and scraps remained. "I feel like I got shot up. As for what caused the malfunction, I don't know. I think Doc Maskens said the cable keeping it attached to the monitoring equipment got caught in the medbay beds lifter. I guess she was worried about a power surge or something." He grinned slowly, enjoying the few things he could remember of his dreams, blissfully unaware of the final depressing vision Astor had sent him. Agmen had done that much for him at least. "Had a lot of dreams." He said without prompting, "Dreams about Catnips stupid god thing. A few about Mica. There was a little girl too." He shook his head, every hour that went by had him remembering less and less. "Hey Quinn, what is this heart thing? Doc Maskens says it's got some kind of built in filter?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 04, 2017, 03:33:05 pm
Melody was driving a personnel van. The jeep they had found was not able to hold all 9 undead she and Miss Blackmore possessed. The van was a lucky find in one of their scavenging runs in the city that had the house they stayed at. The minions sat in silence with their heads down and their hands hanging on the edge of the seat or gripping rifles. Melody didn’t know where they were going, she only knew they were close according to Miss Blackmore.
“Why am I driving again? Aren’t you the one who knows where this place is at Huntress Blackmore?”, Melody asked.
Miss Blackmore smiled at the question. “You can’t always rely on me. What will happen when I am gone and you have to fend for yourself? Self-reliance kid, it comes a long way.”, Miss Blackmore answered.
“Don’t say that!”, Melody shouted, “Neither of us is going anywhere ok? I’ll make sure of it…” She never took her hands of the wheel but the passion in her voice was evident.
“Alright alright Melody! Jeez, calm down…”, Miss Blackmore responded, “Don’t worry, we are a couple straight, then 5 left and we are there.
Some time late. Melody and co reached what looked like a big cabin in the middle of nowhere. Miss Blackmore ordered everyone inside. Melody commanded the wolf boy to follow as well as the 9 undead. The upstairs look like simple living quarter: a small kitchen, various bunk beds, two bathrooms and some other assorted things like a small armory and work bench. Miss Blackmore told them to ignore this and continue to the price; she pointed to a staircase down and told them to follow her down.
The underground level was even bigger than the one above. It was a maze of hallways and doors. Miss Blackmore deployed her bionic sword and orders everyone to follow. She seemed to follow a specific path; one a certain mage and assassin would recognize. The occasional monster would appear, only to be brought down by Miss Blackmore. Before long, they reached a door that Miss Blackmore seemed to be satisfied with. She opened it and ushered everyone inside. Melody looked around and found various books and strange looking artifacts all around in massive shelves.
“We are here Melody...we are home now. We will use all the resources of this place to rebuild. It had been tried before but it went horribly wrong; we will not make the same mistake. We will create a better tomorrow! Come and help with the unpacking, there is much work to do.”. Miss Blackmore announced
A peculiar eyebot was patrolling a strange building it had found in the middle of some woods. As it collected information, it heard some strange noise. It went to investigate only to find 12 people walking inside the building. The eyebot identified one as Roxanne Luna, it took a pic along with coordinates and sent it to HQ for to be analyzed. Afterwards, it continued on it’s patrol.
Back at the command center. Router received a message from the eyebot. He sprang up to check what it was. “How peculiar...a picture and some coordinates? Let’s see…”, Router whispered out loud. He noticed twelve people going inside a building, some heavily armed. After some time looking at it, he realized Roxanne was at the front. He noticed she was with no one else from the farm, with strange people, led into a strange building and some of them were armed. Router thought Roxanne might be in trouble. He would soon be sending Sigma and Lambda to investigate the coordinates the eyebot sent.. Delora and Thomas had other business to attend to.
Roxanne waited for Hector to fall asleep to do her ritual. She found out the doll was not necessary; spirits were more than happy to communicate in writing. As such, Roxanne modified the ritual even further from Victor’s original summoning ritual to include the most cliche item; a ouija board.
Roxanne offered her tribute to the spirit: manifestation into the physical world and release from the realm of the damned. The spirit accepted and moved the plaintiff to prompt Roxanne what she wanted. “Answers”, Roxanne made the plaintiff type out. The spirit she communicated prompted her to ask the question. Roxanne asked the one thing she wanted to know, the one thing no one had been able to answer her; the one thing she thought she knew many years back, “Who am I?”
The plaintiff moved and it gave Roxanne directions. It promised her she would find answers in a certain place; the winds of memories and Roxanne’s own made it realize this. The spirit gave Roxanne coordinates which she wrote down. The spirit was no free and she closed the ritual; Hector sleeped non-the wiser. “Sweet dreams Hector…”, Roxanne whispered. Roxanne checked the coordinates on her map and it seemed to be a cave to the north east of where she currently was. The journey would take some time and the APC to accomplish; the instructions said she could take only one person with her but it wasn’t required. Any more and the answers would not be given.
Roxanne smirked as she read the instructions, she put them inside her journal and thought of her options. However, she yawned from lack of sleep; she still wasn’t used to sleeping everyday. She put the book away and got on the bed next to Hector; she turned off all lights and promptly fell asleep. She had one thing to do before she went on her journey after all.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 04, 2017, 04:43:01 pm
The man patted Bandit's face lightly as he said "Now are you going to tell me what I want?"
Bandit headbutted his helmeted face and said "How's about you fuck yourself."
The man smiled as he said "I can respect that, loyalty. It's admirable even to have such loyalty to those who don't care about your life. Don't you think they would have come here by now if they did? They don't deserve your loyalty."
Bandit let his head hang as he said "I ain't gonna let you kill her. So go ahead and kill me."
The man sighed before slamming the pipe into Bandit's groin. As Bandit bent over he lifted the pipe again and brought it down onto a knee. "I'll kill you either way. It'll just be much more painful if you don't give me what I want. And you know what I want."
Three hours passed and the man sighed as he tossed the jumper cables aside. The raiders outside were getting a little too rambunctious and he wasn't getting anything useful. "You know I'm not so different from you. The big difference is I'm willing to kill whoever to get what I want. Shame you don't have it."
Walking towards the door the man shook his head. Walking out of the building and compound the man withdrew the detonator. As one of the raiders in the tower started to shout the explosion tore it to the ground. The facility was consumed with fire and shrapnel as Bandit looked up to see the ceiling collapse. As a large chunk of concrete struck his head the world slipped from his sight and he was plunged into darkness...
Elsewhere Drifter had woken up early and was watching the sunrise when the red headed woman walked across the bridge and asked about Bandit. He told her where Bandit stayed and she walked away. Shrugging to himself Drifter looked back at the beauty in front of him and smiled.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 04, 2017, 04:44:46 pm
"It was..." Quinn says, while rubbing hid temples, trying to remember. "A cardiovascular pump with an inbuilt filter. So, you can't get poisoned. Or drunk, or high."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2017, 04:57:44 pm
Helen woke up early in the morning, uncertain about the dreams she had last night. The threat of an unknown spiritual enemy unnerved her further, knowing why the voice refused to tell her. While whatever it may was unlikely to be any threat to the one guiding her, to name it would draw attention and endanger her, or at least reveal them to this unknown enemy. And she was told to expect someone and relay a message to them. Steinar Gunnarsson, the voice said.
She was out along with Sergei this time, making their way to the farm when she spotted something on the pavement of the bridge. A discarded radio, which she picked up, before addressing the farm with her own two-way. "Helen here, with Sergei. Someone drop a radio recently? Found it at the bridge, no other signs of anything unusual." she reported, before she activated her mask and warily scanned the treeline to the north.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 04, 2017, 07:26:39 pm
It was..Bandit wasn’t sure how long it had been when someone hauled the rubble off his head. The man shouted “Not-dead one here. Need med man and help!”
Bandit blinked as he heard several other voices but didn’t make out what was said. All he could tell at the moment was that they were all wearing hoodies and jeans with heavy duty work boots along with makeshift armor. The man that found him was a lizard mutant whose face was covered in green scales with a few odd patterns of differently colored scales here and there. Soon the rubble was off him and one of the others knelt down and asked him “Can you talk? Any pain?”
Bandit nodded as he mumbled “I can speak. I can’t feel my left hand though.”
The man shined a light in his eyes and then began checking him over. “Oh..shit.” He heard the man say before something was tied around the end of his arm around his wrist. A few more words were passed before the lizard man hefted Bandit up and out of the rubble and started walking. As he was swung around he saw another man level a pistol at a raider who’d survived the explosions and fire a shot. The lizard man set him down a ways away from the rubble near a pair of vehicles before saying “No worry. Med man take care of you soon.”
It was a few minutes before the ‘med man’ walked over and tied a bandage around the stump where his hand should have been. The man’s voice also came into clarity and Bandit realized it sounded oddly synthetic as he said “I’m afraid we can’t get you a new hand at the moment. You probably got hit pretty hard so you might not remember much about what happened and there is the potential loss of some motor skills and functions. We’ll take care of you.”
The man walked away and Bandit fell unconscious again soon after. When he woke up the men had him resting on a bed. The sound of loud music and rapping floated in through the open doorway. Bandit tried to stand and ended up falling to the ground as his legs buckled underneath him. One of the guys had heard the shout and walked in. “Shit man that concussion fucked you bad.” He said as he grabbed a nearby wheelchair and helped Bandit into it.
Bandit sighed as he rolled after the man into the next room. The four men inside were passing a joint around as they took turns trying to rap to the beat they had playing. One extended the joint to Bandit as he settled in beside them and Bandit noticed the robotic hand. Taking the joint Bandit took a puff and passed it to the lizard man who’d dug him out of the rubble.
As the man currently rapping finished he stepped away from the mic and turned the beat down. Bandit noticed that he was wearing a medical mask as he sat down and said “Yo let’s introduce ourselves to the new guy yeah. I’m Leroy.” The lizard man blew out a puff of smoke before saying “I’m Brown.” The man with the robotic hand pulled his hood back to reveal he was a robot as he said “I’m Seven. I think you got introduced to me as med man.”
Bandit, being of a certain type of mind, asked “Why are you smoking a joint if you’re a robot?”
Seven shrugged as he said “I’m programmed to be like..whoever the fuck made me I guess in that I can think for myself. I’m also built with an odd little device that analyzes chemical substances that I ‘consume’ and simulates the effects on myself.”
Bandit shrugged before someone asked him what his name was and where he was from. Reaching his hand up to rub his eyes he said “I’m from..I don’t know. I just know someone I cared about is there with someone that they cared about more than me. People call me Bandit by the way. Don’t remember why, just what I remember people calling me.”
The men with him nodded as they turned the music back up a bit and talked with him. They’d take him in, help him learn to walk again. Maybe they’d figure out where he lived at but for the time being he could stay with them. Somehow he thought he’d be happy here..
Meanwhile the woman had found Bandit's workshop and saw it was empty. She decided to return to the man at the bridge to see if he knew where else he might be. She was starting to get worried at this point.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2017, 07:33:42 pm
Helen had just radioed in when she saw Drifter, giving a wave to him and approaching, Sergei following close behind. "Glad to see you. Everything alright? Found this left on the pavement on my way, already called in i-" The appearance of the strange lady, as seen through the vision of her mask, gave her pause, and the features of her mask contorted back to the odd neutral expression its deactivated state bore. "Another unfamiliar face? Greetings. Everything alright here?" she asked, not letting hinting at what she saw, even though it was rather obvious.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 04, 2017, 07:40:39 pm
Drifter raised an eyebrow at the radio as the woman said "I'm looking for Bandit. He wasn't at his workshop like Drifter said he was and I'd like to speak with him."
Drifter took a closer look at the radio before saying "That uh..that belongs to Bandit. I think Alice mentioned he di-"
The Radio crackled briefly to life as a voice came through the speaker. "Yo Bandit we need to talk with you. You good for a meet in a half hour?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2017, 07:47:36 pm
Helen shook her head at that, handing Drifter the radio. "That's not good. How long has it been since you last saw him? When did he last leave, and why?" she asked, regarding the woman curiously. "And are, if I may ask?" she said, before looking to the radio. "We might need to tell them we have a potential situation here..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 04, 2017, 07:52:16 pm
Drifter nodded as he spoke over the radio "Bandit's not here. We don't know if something happened but it's not that unlikely that something did." Looking at Helen he said "Had to have been yesterday..maybe while I was out hunting. I'll see when his boys last had contact.." The radio buzzed to life again as the same voice said they were going to swing by and check things out "..when they get here."
The woman smiled at Helen as she said "I'm Melissa. I was coming to visit Bandit, needed to talk with him about a few things."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2017, 07:57:28 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Dropping his kit like that isn't a good sign. No other signs of a struggle or a fight, hard as it'd be to hear clearly yesterday." she said, again activating her mask to look out through the treeline, looking for any trace of anyone out in her mask's vision range. "I'm Helen. Not expecting to see an unfamiliar spirit here." she pointed out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 04, 2017, 09:51:56 pm
Drifter gave Helen a somewhat puzzled look at her wording before shrugging to himself and watching the road up to the bridge. Melissa meanwhile said "Oh I wasn't expecting to come out here either but I uh, I briefly spoke with Bandit over the radio."
Meanwhile The Vultures pulled back and away from the farm as one spoke briefly through his radio "We're invisible and Mutes but no reason to risk them stumbling into us while they realize one of their own is gone. If you get caught you know the drill, you're just a raider who got lucky with his finds and got a bit too gutsy. If you survive trying to kill anyone that attempts to stop you that is."
Clicking off his radio the Vulture began to pull back into the swamp. The others followed suit as they moved to the meet point.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 04, 2017, 10:19:14 pm
Roxanne jolted awake from her sleep with a deep inhale. Her dreams consisted of the steps on the note the spirit she contacted yesterday wrote. She had memorized every single one of them. Some of them made her smile while other made her frown; a couple outright made her nervous but if they would make her find the answers she needed, then so be it. The first step echoed into her mind, “Reach the winds of memories and opened your heart, expose your past and accept let your soul shine.” Helen and her had agreed to go into the winds of memories soon; she would use that time to complete a side objective. No one had to know...hopefully the memory is this whole ordeal would not join the winds prematurely, last thing she need was Helen questioning her; despite them reconciling their differences, they still held a few philosophical differences due to their respective orders. The note had said she could take someone with her but she did not know who, if any, she would take. Due to the nature of what awaited her at those coordinates, if the note was to be believed, Helen would probably not fully approve of what she would see. Taking Victor on the other hand...he might not return if she did so…
This was a dilemma for later. For now, she needed to prepare for her journey before the others did. Due to her side mission, she would have to do a little preparation but things should be ready for when the others decide it is time to visit the winds of memories. With spirit pills in hand, Roxanne started to silently work on her preparations.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 04, 2017, 11:36:17 pm
Helen nodded at that, giving a wary gaze into the woods. She saw nothing, no sign of anything human out there, or at least if there was anything it foiled the vision of her mask at such a distance. She still was left with that distressing sensation of being watched. "I see. I wouldn't mind a proper introduction sometime later. I would assume that Bandit went out at least once yesterday to meet his associates? How many times?" she asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 05, 2017, 12:07:58 am
Melissa shrugged as she said "I just spoke to him, I'm not privy to his business."
Drifter meanwhile had relayed the question and one of the men said "There's maybe three or four groups that visit to pick up product and drop off his payment. Only problem with keeping track of meets is he uses a couple of frequencies that I know of, one for the dealers in general and one for when he needs to talk just to us. I don't know about any more than that but we're almost to the farm. What I do know is I heard some boys yesterday call in to say they were dropping payment off but I didn't recognize the voice."
Drifter looked up from the radio and said "I'm gonna go ahead and guess something ain't right."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 12:16:22 am
Helen nodded at that, a bit uncertain now, looking back to Melissa before regarding Drifter. Enemies, plural, the voice said. This left her practically radiating worry concealed under her mask, if it could be sensed. It was rather blatantly obvious that she saw Melissa for what she was, but was afraid of alarming Drifter. "If there was a deliberate attack, they likely exploited this informality in how he deals with people. Which means they found that out by some means."
Hector meanwhile stirred, around the same time Roxanne woke up, fumbling to sit up as he shook off that lingering dream that left him uneasy. A vague sense that he'd done something far beyond what he was expecting to do, by sheer accident. And the thought about a piece of scrapped machinery left by God's Army near the center.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 05, 2017, 12:24:21 am
Melissa seemed concerned as she looked around and said "Well I hope we find him and he's okay."
Drifter stood as he said "It's not that hard to figure out how a gang banger does business. Listen to radio chatter, have a chat with one of his dealers while they're drunk, and a few other ways I've used."
A van pulled up and the men inside stepped out. The four of them were dressed in jeans and hoodies with bandannas pulled over their faces as they walked over. Each of them carried a gun with them and were most likely armed with other hidden weapons. One of them started inspecting the area as the others approached and the apparent leader asked "What do we know?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 12:34:15 am
Helen nodded at that, watching as the group pulled up, flicking through the frequencies of her own two-way to listen to any other possible oddities, only to give a nod to the approaching gangsters. "Incident happened yesterday, he was out at least once but never returned or reported in. Do you know who might've met him the first time yesterday? Rather obviously the last meeting would be when this happened." she remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 05, 2017, 12:45:11 am
The leader nodded as he looked around and said "Yeah. First guy to meet with him is a guy called Creed. Used to roll with him before this shit but he's running his own group these days that deal for Bandit. I swear though that second voice sounded familiar though. Just can't place it."
Helen heard a handful of voices talking about the current situation. One of the voices said "Aight boys we going hunting for whoever did this. Get guns, get knives, get whatever the fuck you got so we can chop some boys up if we find them. This comes from the top so put a hustle on it."
The leader said "That would be the boys that run for us. Already got them running round places and looking to see if any of the competition has tried to take him. But I'd think they'd just pop a shot into his dome instead of kidnapping him."
As she finished flicking through the frequencies she caught a staticy burst of comms chatter as someone nearly shouted "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME IT WAS HIM YOU DUMB FUCKER. I USED TO WO-" From there it descended into an incomprehensible mess of static and garbled words.
The leader blinked at this last bit of chatter and said "That's not one of ours."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 12:50:57 am
Sergei regarded to group with that knowing look someone like him developed given the sort of people he often dealt with back in the day, giving a simple nod and observing for now. Helen for her part regarded the various snippets of chatter with a hint of concern. "If they did that, it wasn't here. They had some reason to avoid a blatant attack on this place, even if they could've possibly escaped after a hit-and-run attack." she pointed out. "Which suggests more than just incidental wandering bandits or even God's Army, or at a bare minimum for once they wanted something more than to kill someone."
The remark the leader said gave her pause. "Odd. Let me see..." she said, turning the frequency back to where she picked it up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 05, 2017, 02:00:00 am
The radio crackled to life as a rather disinterested voice was heard saying "I don't care. You were paid to do the job. Next time if you don't want to-" More static followed by "YOU FUCKING WHORESON I DON'T CARE WHO YOU WORK FOR I'M GOING TO-" more static "We're done here. Remember that I paid you well." There was some more cussing from the other party before the channel deformed to complete static.
The leader sighed as he said "I think the two idiots are arguing over a contract. And if I'm placing one of those voices right it's a kidnapping. Guy's gone through a dozen names but he's a professional at that sort of work. Problem is I have no clue where he lives."
Drifter checked the magazine on his pistol as he said "Arthur Santorias. By now age thirty-six. Grew up around these parts before leaving to LA for a few years and coming back to join a local mafia. When that didn't pan out he changed aliases and decided to continue the contract work. If I had to hazard a guess he still operates out of the same warehouse."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 02:09:15 am
Helen regarded that information curiously, listening to the chatter before looking to Drifter. "So we have one possible lead to start. Worth a try I suppose. Anyone you plan to bring with you? I myself have a mission to prepare for as well." she said, while Sergei sighed. "I should at least offer, but I don't think this is something my skillset will prove useful for." he added.
"What are the odds that this person either initiated this or was contacted to assist in it? Given they exploited Bandit's meetings I'd expect someone who has some familiarity with him, or at least has spied on this place. I know that God's Army has done so, in addition to some limited activities by Hell's Raiders, especially at the center. But this seems unusual compared to what they tend to do, odds are good it's a third threat to this place."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 05, 2017, 02:21:27 am
Drifter stood up as he said "I'd normally say Roland but he's not here. Found a note saying he's out on business but it didn't mention what. Can't ask anyone else since they've got other things to prepare for. Guess it's just me and these four."
The leader shrugged as he said "Never thought I'd be fighting along side the fucking boogie man. Just try not to shoot us yeah?"
Drifter shook his head as he told him that was his old life. The group walked towards the van as Drifter checked his M16's magazine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 02:25:08 am
Helen nodded at that. "Very well then. All of you, take care and may the gods grant you victory. Sergei, go on ahead and check on the farm, will be there shortly. Melissa, if I may? Had hoped to ask you something, now that we have a moments peace." she said, watching as Sergei continued along the road towards the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 05, 2017, 05:45:39 am
“Shit...that dream again…”, Victor said to himself in between heavy breathing. He had woken up in a cold sweat after a reoccurring nightmare had taken fold.
It was Randael, he had been tired of waiting and took it upon himself to take care of the farm. He spirit of harvest snuck inside bypassing this aura shield the ever vigilant spirit of death. Victor was working on positions when all of the sudden he saw Randael in his room. The sword of the Void was activated and used against the spirit of Harvest but to no effect. Victor’s first and only trump card had been shrugged off like nothing.
Randael had come here with a specific goal. Take over Victor, harvest his soul once more and used the human’s body as a living weapon by making it enter “Harvester mode”. A state where a spirit of harvest channels all it’s power at peak capacity into the human in exchange for their soul. In terms of raw power, this rivaled even spirits of death and their hands; not that contingencies had not already been put in place. This is the very thing Victor did back in the Refugee center to take care of the dying power armor bots. And now Randael was forcing him to do it again.
Randael had “activated” Victor after harvesting his soul and made him enter i to harvester mode. Once more the body of Victor resembled that of a shady zombie but with Human features. This form had no need for doors, it simply decayed it and then walked out.
One by one, Randael killed every member of the farm under the guise of Victor. Everyone died thinking he had snapped and betrayed them. They fought to the bitter end. Roxanne, Hector, Drifter, Lilith, Quinn, and everyone else joined forces but when even the spirit of death that overlooked them was overpowered, it was evident it was a losing fight. Their bodies now husks on the ground after their souls joined Victor’s as fuel; they were dead and were denied the afterlife.
The last one remaining was Helen. She Stood valiantly alone against someone she thought had betrayed her. Her mask glew and it concealed tears. Despite being controlled, Victor could still see, hear and feel. He too was crying as he saw what Randael made him do.
Victor pointed his sword at Helen and she brandished her hammer. It was a short fight. Single flashbang was all Helen managed to do before the sword made its handy work and Helen joined the other.
Randael’s work was done here. He had no use for Victor anymore. Harvester mode was ended and he exited Victor’s body. Victor was left a hollow once more, no future for him. Victor was on his knees as tears rolled down his eyes. Then he saw it, Randael tossed him the m1911. He looked up and saw the spirit watching him, waiting. What did Victor have to live for any more?
Victor took the gun, racked the slide, pointed ar his temple and after only a moment's hesitation, he took the shot.
*bang*
This is when Victor would wake up.
Victor looked at the pistol on his table. He checked it to confirm his suspicion. Loaded, one bullet missing. This gun had been fired...This happened every time. Something powerful was toying with Victor and he didn’t know what. But one thing was clear; it wanted Randael dead too.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 05, 2017, 12:08:37 pm
Melissa nodded to Helen as she said "I'm guessing it has to do with the fact you know what I actually am?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 12:13:11 pm
Helen gave a nod at that. "Unfortunately, yes. Are you a spirit of this world, or from beyond the Veil?" she asked. "It's hard not to be overly cautious, given recent events. A spirit of great power quite recently betrayed people here, after acting loyally and honestly up until they had a chance to strike."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 05, 2017, 12:19:26 pm
Melissa looked thoughtful for a moment as she said "I.." She seemed to be looking for the words before saying "The first people I encountered, and the first thing I remember, were people who considered me a saint of the lost and the wayward. I've been helping take care of people ever since. I don't really know if I'm from beyond the veil or not but I'm guessing since I'm not sure about it I probably didn't. I think I'm just here because people needed help."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 12:25:33 pm
Helen regarded Melissa curiously now, removing her mask and revealing a hint of red hair, bright not not as vibrant as the copper mimicking such on her mask. "I see. That's more reassurance than I was expecting. Thank you then. I hope that we find Bandit soon, and that he's alright. I should...check on the others though. As I said, there are things I must do within the next few days, that I must prepare for." she said softly, giving a polite nod before turning towards the farm.
Sergei meanwhile was already there, looking around to see who else was currently awake, nodding when Helen arrived before she went over to knock on Victor's door. "Victor? Are you alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 05, 2017, 03:10:38 pm
Victor had gotten up and made drank some iced coffee from a large bottle he refilled every once in awhile after he would make more in the food commune. He just sat there and thought that dream, did it had a deeper meaning? Or was it to be taken literally? Did Randale really wield so much power? And most disturbing of all...why did the gun end up being loaded and missing a bullet every time he had that dream?
Victor’s thought process was interrupted by a knock on his door. He got up and put the bottle down as he opened the door. “Helen! Good to see you again. I am doing fine; I take it you want to talk details on what the next few days have in store for us? Or is there something else you have in mind?”, Victor asked; he noticed her face denoted a bit of distraught, “What’s wrong? It looks like you saw a ghost.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 05, 2017, 03:13:00 pm
"Bizarre behavior isn't it doctor?" Medeina asked Quinn. Quinn had been responsible for Medeina being brought out of the lab where he and Hector had found her, but after that Quinn had little to no interaction with the AI. "Mica confuses me doctor. She can be course sometimes, but occasionally she exhibits behavior like this." Medeina was referring to the way Mica was currently fretting over Dee. The calibration checks had gone fine, nothing wrong with the organs though Dee had expressed some minor disatisfaction at the properties of the hearts filter, and Quinn had let Mica back in against Dr. Maskens wishes. Maskens wasn't here though, and Quinn wasn't going to get between Mica and Dee. He'd got a good look at Maskens missing finger.
"Alright Mica." He said, "It's time to go." Mica huffed and puffed, but Dee told her he'd be all right. Assured her that he wasn't going anywhere. "Go be with Kathrine." Dee said, "You told Catnip you would and she probably needs you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 03:15:45 pm
Helen smiled as Victor answered the door, as much as she tried to hide her worry. "In a sense I have, earlier. Another spirit has visited us, though this one so far betrays more pleasant intentions, and takes a more visible guise. Though that wasn't what had me up so early this morning, before I came here." she said. "Bad dreams basically, not the usual. Haven't had the old recurring dream ever since our...you know, first time." she admitted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 05, 2017, 03:39:34 pm
"Another spirit huh? If you say they aren’t harmful, I will take your word for it. Gods know I am not too keen on trusting spirits...", Victor responded to Helen’s first remarks. He then crossed his arms as he listened. Her explanation disturbed him, his own nightmares being front and center in his mind at that remark of hers. "Bad dreams you say...Ok, I guess I will confess something. I have been having reoccurring nightmares… There is something going on Helen...I am worried about it...we need to move a bit more quickly than I anticipated. ", Victor admitted, he left out the detail about the gun and the missing bullets, "Maybe it’s time we mobilize..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 03:53:16 pm
Helen nodded at that, smiling some. "So far. It seems something Bandit did attracted her here, and she seems to act as some saint of the lost and such, though I would still be cautious." she said. "In fact why I was wary also stems from my own dream. A type I've had only a few times in my life as far as I recall. In this instance a voice, warning of enemies that hold power in the world of spirits." she said. "Enemies, plural. And the voice would only name Randael. I suspect if there are others, to name them would draw their attention. Can you tell me your dream though, since it's been a recurring one?"
"If you suspect the influence of Randael or another spiritual enemy, I might need to codify my notes on warding magic for your own use, anything to deny them a weapon against us."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 05, 2017, 04:32:26 pm
Drifter checked his mosin as the gangsters watched him carefully. He was fully aware of the guns quietly pointed at him as he sat there. The voice from the driver’s seat said “We got some boys coming to join us. Figure we may as well have some extra guns with us.”
A short time later they had stopped and were approaching the warehouse on foot. Approaching the doorway the group readied their weapons as Drifter took an improvised flashbang from one of the gangsters and slammed a fist onto the metal door. The small metal viewport opened and Drifter shoved the flash bang through as one of the gangsters set an explosive on the door.
The simultaneous explosions blinded the individuals in the room and sent the door flying inward. Stepping through Drifter fired rounds on the first pair of ‘professionals’ in the room as the gangsters followed. Drifter noticed with some annoyance that one of them was holding his AK sideways, spraying lead into the air as his bright pink boxers showed as his pants sagged. These were most certainly gangsters.
This was also the point Drifter heard the distinct sound of a minigun. Diving to the ground behind a metal crate Drifter saw the gangsters follow suit as the weapon sweeped over the area and tore into cover and vehicles. Leaning out from behind the crate Drifter fired a shot and missed before ducking back as the minigun swung back towards him. The leader of the gangsters sprayed at the gunman, managing to hit him in the leg.
As the minigun stopped firing as the gunman stumbled back Drifter stood and fired a round into his head. As his body fell back Drifter stood and fired at his compatriots, taking out a pair before one managed to hit him in the arm. The gangsters he noted finally started landing hits as the side-ways-AK-man pushed forward yelling something underneath his gas mask. Blinking Drifter grabbed his bandages as he settled in behind the crate he was using for cover. A few moments later Drifter stood to find the main area cleared. Walking to the only other room in the building Drifter shot the door off it’s hinges. Walking in he found an empty room with a hatch on the floor. Grabbing a note on the desk he read: “Got hired to kidnap Bandit, didn’t know it was him or I wouldn’t have done it. Left him at a raider camp at-” Reading the location Drifter let his gun rest on it’s sling as he rubbed his eyes “-good luck. Whoever hired me has got a lot of resources.”
Walking back out to the main area Drifter took the minigun from the dead body Drifter realized two things. A) this was not a minigun, though it had a similar appearance with the rotating barrels, and B) You could actually use this thing without having to mount it, just needed the chest rig. Which he decided to loot from the man as well before telling the gangsters to follow him, they had somewhere else to go find.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 05, 2017, 04:35:34 pm
"Alright Helen. I will tell you about my dream.", Victor told Helen after she told her about the meaning of her. Victor told her how Randael slipped undetected into his room, how his sword had no effect on the spirit of harvest, how it took over his body and swallowed his soul, how it used his body as a vessel to kill every single person on the farm, how the last battle was between her and his possessed body, how he knew everyone died thinking he hd betrayed her, how Randale let go of him once everyone was dead, how he had nothing left to live for, how he used the gun to kill himself. Victor told this to Helen with sorrow in his voice. "I don’t know what this means Helen...I don’t know if this a warning or what...but if it is meant to be taken literally...Randael must die!", Victor told Helen as his final statement before he waited for her response.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 05, 2017, 04:58:32 pm
Kathrine had lost Ratnip again. She'd somehow managed to escape despite not leaving her bed. So, Kathrine had gone outside. "Mistreeeeeess!" Mohammad was lurking around the farm, looking at the cook shack, but finding Mistress was a priority over him. "Mistreeeeeeeeeeeeeeesss!" "She's just out in the open, we can get her." "Nah, nah, wait up." "Darlin', you're the leader, but you're also an idiot. I'm going." "No, you're not. Calm your tits."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 05:05:29 pm
Helen was a bit uncertain from this, only to end up hugging Victor tightly, focusing some form of magic, spreading a sensation through his body similar to what he felt when she produced a ward and possession, back when he was a mere soulless shell. "This will not last more than 48 hours without upkeep, and I don't know if it's strong enough to deter Randael, but...if you fear that it may attack you in this way, any means necessary to defend against that." she said softly. "We should prepare then, to see if we can gain any further information and strike back as soon as possible."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 05, 2017, 05:37:12 pm
Victor was surprised by Helen’s hug and the sensation of the spell she was applying. He recalled what this sensation was and smile; he hugged Helen back during the duration of the ward. "48 hours huh? Thank you...", Victor responded to Helen, "Alright, we should prepare for winds then. It should be short preparations, Roxanne gave us a couple pills. She said for me to give her a heads up when we are ready, I will do so via radio, and then to take the pills with her simultaneously. You can go ahead and take the pill where ever you are the most comfortable, comfort is an important thing after all."
Victor gave Helen her pill and told her to let him know when she was ready. They would need to coordinate this carefully; answers would be given, but the procedure would determine if they would be useful...
Roxanne had finished her preparations. A couple wards, some tribute ready for her assistant and a goal in mind. She was no on her bed, pill in hand as she awaited with anticipation. She was reading the note one more time, it seemed to give her a sense of morale. "Step 3: Convince them that your choices are yours alone. You are your own person..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 06:00:31 pm
Helen gave a nod at that. "Hope it helps, Victor." she said softly, accepting the pill. "As you wish. Can use one of the spare rooms as I've done when staying here overnight." she said, turning to head there and make her preparations. Take off most of her armor and items she wouldn't need, focus and hone her wards, and prepare to observe. This time she was to focus on the character of the flame and whether it had any sign linking it to the physical world they could exploit.
Elsewhere, Hector had made his way over to the train, looking up at it. He had a task lingering in his mind, as he clambered up, looking for the radio. "Hector to center. I will be there soon to check on the others. Status report? Also, do you mind if I secure that vehicle that was used in the attack? We have need of it, I will be using a much heavier vehicle for towing, the train." he said, soon examining the controls.
Despite the ominous nature of the lingering, faint dream that spurred him on, he felt a slight giddiness as he sat in the driver's seat, examining controls and rather quickly figuring out their function. He took his helm off to see better, the view from the driver's compartment was beautiful. He realized though that he was far too close to the barn and other structures to feel confident trying to start off with the unfamiliar behemoth. Once he'd set out it'd be easy to use the view ahead and plan accordingly, just as one doesn't look directly down at ones feet when walking. He climbed down soon getting in the tank. "Change of plans. I might need to see about assistance getting it in action safely, secure that vehicle in the meantime and I'll arrive shortly."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 05, 2017, 06:43:49 pm
Kathrine was checking under the train as Hector started it up. It lurched forwards and promptly came to a stop right next to her head, nudging one of her ears in the process. "M-Mistress?" As far as she knew, only Catnip and her knew how to start up and drive the mean machine. So... "MISTRESS!" Running around to the other side of the train would've taken too long, so she scrambled up the front of the train and came to a stop in front of the windshield. "MIST- oh." She immediately gets visibly sadder, ears and tail drooping down as she slowly slides back down the front and slumps off to the side, lying down almost dangerously close to the side of the train. "Oh."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 05, 2017, 06:44:24 pm
"Oh?" Said Khaki over the radio. He tone lackluster and uncaring. "I didn't think she'd finished it. Alright, no skin off the centers nose. I think a lot of people are sick of looking at the thing." The radio clicked off on her end, it would be good to have that pile of trash hauled away. She was right, the center was sick of looking at the thing that had come to them under the guise of a trade wagon, only to deliver a load of deadly robots. They were sick of seeing the robots too, and Quinn was going to haul away a few of those. If the train really was as big as Catnip always claimed it was, it could probably fit all that junk as well.
After awhile, Hector came back on and told of his change of plans. "Copy that farm. I guess we'll see you when you get here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 06:54:09 pm
Hector had managed to pull the train forward a couple feet before it stopped, only to go wide-eyed when Kathrine was suddenly clinging to the windshield. "Kathrine! Are you alright?" he said, practically jumping out of the main hatch. "There's some heavy equipment at the center I was going to haul off with the train. I've figured out the controls easily enough, but I can't see ANYTHING within about 20 feet of the front of this thing because I don't think it has a camera system. I'm not sure how I'm going to get that thing over there safely." he explained. "The light tank might barely be able to haul what I need to tow off if it still had its full engine array, but stripped down it won't do the job."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 05, 2017, 07:06:19 pm
Kathrine just grunts quietly, curling her tail around her. "You're mean."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 07:16:46 pm
Hector gave a sigh at that, shaking his head as he barely heard her remark. "For good reason, Kathrine. You know this by now. And I didn't mean to scare you with this thing, alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 05, 2017, 08:06:49 pm
The vans pulled up to the rubble and stopped. Stepping out they inspected the area before Drifter grabbed his radio and called over it “Whoever hired the guy detonated the building. Someone’s also picked through it before we got here so maybe they pulled him out but I doubt anyone survived that explosion for very long.”
The gangsters looked around and concluded whoever came back here had executed the surviving raiders. After a few more minutes they got back in the van and Drifter continued “The raiders responsible were executed by whoever came back through here and scavved the place. We’re going to make our way back and see if anyone’s caught chatter about a wounded guy being hauled out of this place.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 05, 2017, 08:28:04 pm
Victor watched as Helen left his room and closed the door behind her. He himself takes the pill he was given, laid on the bed as comfortable as he could and radio in Roxanne. "Taking the pill now Roxanne, Helen will join us soon. Over", Victor called over the radio as Roxanne instructed. Victor took out his device he constructed and set it to recording mode and pointed it at the sword. He then swallowed the pill and closed his eyes. "See you on the other side...", Victor whispered to himself. Somehow he didn’t felt alone, a presence manifested itself in his room but it was too late, his consciousness was slipping…
Roxanne heard the command over the radio and knew that was her queue. She took the small pill to her mouth and swallowed. A smiled was etched on her face as she slowly drifted to sleep while she looked the not over one last time. " Soon...we will meet again...", Roxanne muttered in her final moments in the physical plane.
Roxanne and Victor awoke lying on the floor. They both stood up and looked around, nothing to far out of the ordinary, except that a red color hue permeated all around the place. This confused Victor and Roxanne, but not as much as their next revelation. The pleasant and at ease feeling they were accustomed too was gone. It was replaced with general dread and uneasiness. "T-this isn’t right...", Roxanne commented, "Stay near and let’s wait for Helen...something is not right here..."
"Tell me about it...I think we are being watched...", Victor commented. He took out a little candle that was the manifestation of a ward he had applied in the real world and it was lit by itself. The flame was blue and it engulfed both Roxanne and Victor. "Stay close...this should hold out for now...Hope Helen brings something stronger..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 08:38:28 pm
Helen furthered reinforced her wards as she took the pill, radioing in briefly over her handset. "Alright, I'm ready as well..." she said, laying down on the bed. Before she knew it she was once again in the world the pill took to them, focusing her magic. It'd be seen in the distance, adding the the faint glow of her own aura as what resembled the flame of a torch hovered just above her hand. She knew maintaining something of this intensity for long was much more taxing than the common wards she maintained, something only done in the heat of battle normally, and even then in dire circumstances. The wicked flames that she remembered from six years ago were one such example of something that warranted it.
She practically ran to them, flame held as though she was carrying a torch, held such to illuminate her path without blinding herself, even though the ghostly blue flame would not blind someone as if their eyes were physical things in this world. "Roxanne! Victor! Glad you're both alright. This whole place feels much more...malevolent than it did before."
Hector soon made his way to the tank, grumbling something under his breath thanks to Kathrine's remark, until he started driving along to the center, looking around and giving a nod to the guards after radioing in his arrival. "Do you know where Medina is set up presently? I'd been informed that she's here now, and wanted to ask her something."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 05, 2017, 09:48:42 pm
Victor and Roxanne had walked around a bit as Helen approached them. Soon, the three were re-united under this new environment. "Good to see you made it safely here too. Yeah, this place feels off...", Victor responded.
"Look around, this place feels off. No point of light anywhere, the usual personal spotlight we get is gone, and we can’t even find the lamp post...", Roxanne commented, "I am sorry...I am terrible guide. We are no trapped her until we find an exit...For now, let’s walk and find something."
The trio walked for a bit. The combine light from Helen’s flame and Victor’s candle. They were in uncharted territory. Fear and doubt clouded their judgement as they traveled in a straight line in a randomly chosen direction. Off in the distance,and outside the light’s protective effects ,the trio could see presences manifesting themselves. Little at first but they were multiplying in numbers. They just stood there, watching, as the trio advanced. Roxanne guided the other two as she threaded forward with conviction. Soon enough, they found that the manifestations were occurring in front of them, causing them to change course a bit to navigate around them. The number of manifestations increased until soon they were surrounded.
One of the spirits stepped forward and tried to entered the area the light covered. It failed, like some sort of invisible wall was preventing it. It stepped back and looked on for a while; then, it gave a low groan and the other manifestations charged forward. The rammed the barrier between the light and the outside of it. Non-managed to get through but they kept trying. "Step back...we are not welcomed here...as long as we stay here, we will be safe. Let’s think of something. We don’t have much time.", Victor explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 09:57:59 pm
Helen nodded at that. "If the lamp has some connection to your sword, that might mean that some alteration has taken place within it..." she said warily, looking around as she kept the flame lit, increasingly wary of the manifestations that seemed to follow them, increasing in number.
It was a relief to her that the light of her ward held them at bay, but now they were surrounded, and she had no spells accessible with which to fight back. Sealing magic would work, but it took great power for her to use them without an item as a focus, and no such items were of use to them here. "Hold, spirits. We have no quarrel with you." she said, calmly yet firmly.
"We are in pursuit of a grave enemy, a devourer of souls. Dangerous, unpredictable, already it has betrayed its only allies. If it finds you here, by its capricious whims you may be endangered as well." she continued, standing firm and holding the torchlight at the ready. "Which means we have a common threat..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 05, 2017, 10:17:49 pm
The spirits ceased their actions and stepped back at Helen’s words. They remained motionless until one of them who was in the front stepped forward. “C-common threat? W-what could be a greater threat than the children of the Harvester? W-we have seen you...how the harvester seemed to favor you...I-intruders who acted l-like the owned the place...this cannot be...w-we will eliminate you before it comes back! Y-you, introducers and children of the harvester! We will show no mercy! W-we will avenge those who f-fell in the hands of that deamon, Randael as it called itself! H-he took many of us away for power, so now we will take h-his children as well to teach him a lesson…”, the spirit responded to Helen.
The spirits once more slowly approached the circle of light surrounding them. "I have an idea...please trust me...", Roxanne said, "Extinguish the lights...please!"
"Roxanne?! Are you crazy?! This is the only thing preventing us from joining the afterlife!", Victor shouted back.
"Please trust me! I know what i am doing! Victor! I am not that useless girl from all those years back ok?! Please!", Roxanne pleaded, she then turned to Helen, "Helen...you trust me right? Show him Helen! Lead by example brave huntress! "
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 10:30:43 pm
Helen weighed her options, uncertain. If they were forced to fight, what was available to her? She considered the way the barrier's radius was fixed, centered on the flame that moved by her will. She could see what it would do if weaponized, forced to slam into them with all the might she could muster.
Roxanne's demand made her falter a bit, only to sigh. "Very well then...spirits, Randael is the very one we hunt!" she shouted, the flame dwindling until it extinguished entirely. "He betrayed us as well, and will hold no remore if you claim us. This attempt at revenge by proxy will only deny you an ally."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 05, 2017, 11:30:30 pm
The spirit leader listened to Helen’s remarks; he witness as the barrier was lifted. The choices that were laid on front of him, he considered carefully. A few moments passed of utter silence, no one moved a muscle, not spirit nor intruder. Then, all of the sudden, the spirit leader choose made it’s decision. “W-we have them cornered! Attack!!!”, shouted the spirit. All at once, the others joined at the now defenceless trio. Victor and Helen assumed defensive positions; Roxanne simply smiled and waited.
The spirits never reached Roxanne and co. As soon as the started to run, one by one the ones in the front line began to fall. Slashes that seem to originate from nowhere took out those brave enough to continue the assault. The others catches wind of this and stopped their assault; the slashes also ceased and their assailant was revealed. A robe-hooded figure manifested in front of the trio. Two swords protruded from its robe’s sleeves and it lacked a face. Inside his hood was only darkness. It simply stood by and watched; a sudden motion of his blades caused the remainder spirits to flee; all but one.
The leader spirit remained standing in place; it was a white specter whose “hands” resembled scythe blades. It hovers around ground, no legs to speak off. “Y-your kind dares to involve itself in m-matters out of your jurisdiction?! M-medlers will be shown no mercy!”, the spirit cried out. It launched itself forward, blade limb directed to strike the robbed figure. The figure simply parried the spirits attack and impaled it with the other sword; the spirit disappeared immediately after.
Roxanne clapped as it walked towards the figure. It turned around and looked at her. Roxanne looked into it’s hole on the hood and nodded. They both turned around and looked at Victor and Helen. "I told you not to worry about it. I knew what I was doing. Now we have a proper guide and defender! It will take us to the winds of memories too!", Roxanne commented, "And before you ask what he is, that is a secret ~" Roxanne winked at the last statement and made a motion for them to follow her, Roxanne in turn followed the robbed figure. They marched on, spirits looking on from a distance but none dare approach.
"The wards won’t be necessary and will only interfere with our friend here so keep the off ok?", Roxanne asked, "And Helen, dear? Get ready, we are reaching the lamp post, be ready to analyze the flame!" The trio noticed as the background lost it’s red hue as they approached the lamp. The feeling of pleasantness and calm was returning. This was the place they knew.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 05, 2017, 11:55:09 pm
Helen grumbled a bit to herself. "Helviti. This is what I get for trying diplomacy." she said softly, prepared to raise the ward again. She wondered if the sudden jolt of the barrier flaring out and receiving their charge would hurt them, or just tax her energy to her limit.
She didn't get the chance, as something cut through the attacking spirits like a swirling wind of death, startled as the figure revealed itself. What is this thing and how did an untrained scholar of the arcane summon it, she thought. That it revealed its true nature and Roxanne's remarks was a relief however, sighing some. "Thank you then, Roxanne. I've still yet to test that hypothesis about smacking spirits with a barrier spell, so..." she remarked, following along to the location of the lamp, looking at it with caution. This time her attention would be focused, not distracted by the memories, preparing the spell. "As you wish..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 06, 2017, 09:24:22 am
"Just go! Nobody's fuckin' around, she's right there!" "Fine!" Freddy brushed some leaves off his labcoat and started striding towards the barn, where they'd seen Kathrine enter earlier. Although... The tranny was walking back from whatever he ended up doing in that shack. "Hey, who the fuck're you?" Shit. This wasn't supposed to happen. "I'm hnrmgngng" "What?" Mohammad just looked confused. "You're who?" Freddy wasn't exactly the best at improv. Kathrine had mentioned the lab before, so what about... "I'm Doctor Igwe. Looking for Kathrine. Little cat mutant, told she lives here." That sounded believable, right? "I'm from her lab." Freddy silently started praying that this guy was dumb enough to fall for it. "Riiiight. The girl's in the barn or whatever. Just uh... I-ignore the rat." Kathrine was sat against the door to hers and Catnip's room, waiting, when there was a knock. "Hey Kathrine, there's someone special that wants to meet you at the bridge!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 06, 2017, 09:56:08 am
"This way Mr. Lowe. Could someone please show my friend Hector to recovery room three?" Came the studious, administrative, voice of Medeina over the Refugee Centers intercom system. Hector only had to wait in the foyer, as directed by a guard, and before long the familiar face of Khaki Jones was greeting him and leading the way.
She led, and Hector followed. He got the distinct impression that Khaki really hadn't got her heart in anything she did though. "You seem a bit down," he said, then asked "wanna talk about it?" Khaki glanced at him and the hollow appearance of her eyes told him more than words ever would. The bags under her eyes, reddish cheeks, and a haunted shock deep in the sunken looking eyes. She was in mourning. "I'm fine..." she mumbled, then blurted, "I'm not fine. Crow is gone. Crow is gone and I never even got to..." She was suddenly overcome, spilling her guts to the knight, giving him the outpouring of her regret. "He asked me out once you know? He asked me out and I... I snubbed him! And you know what? He just smiled like it was nothing lost nothing gained, but you know, I really did want to go out with him. I was just... *sniff* I was just so shocked I didn't... Oh god... I never got to tell him! I loved him! I really did, but I could never tell him. I loved it when he'd answer the radio while I was out on patrol, I loved it when he told me to be careful, I loved it when he dropped his change without fail every thursday! I even loved the way he smoked those shitty hand rolled smokes and pretended to make real crow noises! I never got to tell him and now..." She covered her face in her hands and sobbed. "And now, I never will..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 06, 2017, 10:39:19 am
Kathrine had basically jumped through the door. She didn't recognise the person talking to her, but someone special had to be Catnip! The stranger had gently grabbed her wrist and was leading her towards Mistress, but he had a strange look on his face. He looked... Sad, almost. "Where's Catnip? Is she... Over... Here?!" She vaults over the side of the bridge, landing in the dirt below, an- "Bitch!" The catgirl had jumped down right next to her, so Evalynn had responded in kind. With a hook to the jaw. The girl got sent flying into the dirt, sliding down the hill towards the river. Kathrine rolled to a stop a few feet away from the riverbank, clutching her face and groaning. Marvin stepped up next to her and helped her down from the concrete block she was stood on. "Thanks, darlin'. Now, time to deal with this bitch." She punctuated her last word by slowly pressing her foot down on Kathrine's tail.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2017, 11:16:42 am
Hector smiled a bit as he heard the electronic voice of Medina, directed to wait until Khaki arrived to greet him. The resulting conversation worried him, uncertain what to say as she poured out her heart over having lost Crow, looking down a bit. "They killed him, didn't they? Those choir boy vermin." he said softly. "I know it won't bring him back, but you know I won't stop until every last one of them is dead. By gun, tread, sword, bare hands if I have to." he added. As much as he tried to stay at least somewhat stoic, there was a clear tone of anger in his voice. "They've taken far...t-too many people from us..."
Nathaniel had been up despite Lilith's protests, making his way out of his room despite Lilith's protests. He thought he heard the rumbling of the tank earlier, and briefly the faint voice of someone unfamiliar, instead only spotting Mohammad. The stranger was already gone by the time he'd convinced Lilith to let him out of his own room. "Hey Mohammad. You alright? Between the train starting up and somebody that sounded unfamiliar poking around, what'd I miss?" he asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 06, 2017, 11:22:36 am
Mica crawled through the passenger window of Quinn's truck and tried to think of what to do next while also avoiding impact with the ground. She failed the second, rolling along a short way before coming to a stop, a little bruised, on her back. The first thing was still ongoing though. Find Dee? No no, stupid idea. Dee was back the way she'd come. Find Catnip? Maaaybee? No, Mica decided she wouldn't be sure what to do with the rat she didn't really believe was her sister. Find Lilith? Hell no, Lilith would use Mica's special word on her. Sharlene? That seemed like a good enough option, except Sharlene had been talking to the medicine man at the center. Mohammad? Pfft, no. Mica had nothing what so ever to do with him. She sniffed the air, and made for the cook shack. Of course, it was a mess. Someone had gone through it like a hurricane. Mica rummaged through the mess of shredded plastic and glass, only to find Mohammads idiotic skirt and the mingled smells of pickled foods and everyone who'd been in the barn within the last day. She went on a whim, and followed the smell of the rat. It led to a hole in the side of the barn, and from this emerged a spill of straw and shredded fabric. "SSssSS?" She hissed. There came a little shriek from inside, so Mica left it alone and caught another scent. Cinnamon. The morsels hair soap. Mica loved the smell, thought the smell made the morsel pleasant to be around. She remembered the promise she made to Catnip then, and decided to follow the cinnamon. "Moooorseeeel?" Mica cooed. She didn't want to be creepy or frightening, but that was hard."Ssssss..." Hissed Mica, "Where you go morsel? Eh?" She said. Tracking Kathrine was hard. Her smell was all around and in the barn, along with that of her sister and the rat who was not her sister. Where to go? Where to go? There was a new smell, a strange smell, and Mica wondered if she should follow that instead. Mica thought about it some more. Where to go? Where to go?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 06, 2017, 11:50:50 am
Kathrine played with the thought of fighting back. Evalynn had taught her how to box, even if Kath never planned on doing it, for sport or self-defence, but this situation felt right somehow. Hector hadn't hit her with the train, Mica and Catnip had stopped the man in the centre from shooting her, now this was happening. Nobody to protect her. Nobody to stop them. This was right. She'd been a bad Kathrine. A bad, horrible, mean, dumb Kathrine. Freddy winced as Marvin joined in on kicking the little girl, aiming for her stomach. Evalynn had moved up from stomping on her tail to stomping on her knee, but still Freddy didn't move to stop either of them. It seemed a bit much, but maybe she really had done some bad shit to his group while he was missing... Mohammad yawned, turning to face Nathaniel. "Wha- Oh, hey Nat. You missed nothing. Nothing happened. Some dude called Igwe or something wanted to talk to that kid, though." He moves to walk away, then spins back around on his heel. "Saaaaaaaay, how'd you and the dum- Lilith do it anyway? Like, how'd that work? She's like, whoa big."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2017, 12:28:23 pm
Nathaniel regarded Mohammad a bit warily as he idly remarked about someone looking for somebody. "Kid? You mean Kathrine? Doesn't sound like anyone that comes to mind when Kath sometimes mentioned them." he said. "Don't like the sound of that." he said, only to end up blushing a bit at the question. "Carefully, that's how. End up under her just with her lounging about and you're feeling it in the morning, let alone doing...that." he admitted. "Anyway, I oughta take a look around, take care now." he said, making his way toward the barn to check on Kathrine, uncertain what to find, when instead he saw Mica.
"Mica? Hey, is Kath alright? Marmite mentioned some stranger asking around about a kid, fairly certain he meant Kathrine." he said, looking around. It didn't take him long to figure out that the place was empty. Forge not in use, though Hector had set several tools aside neatly, for some planned project, and he noticed the door to the altar door had been pulled to, not closed. That was all he noticed right off the bat. Still the same miserable absence of Catnip, and now no sign of Kathrine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 06, 2017, 01:24:32 pm
Kathrine, by this point, had stopped trying to defend herself. Her arms were just spread out to the sides as she lay there and took the repeated blows. Then, when Marvin's boot connected with her ribs again, she lets out a relatively loud shout before trying to muffle it herself, covering her mouth and turning it into a quiet 'meep'. Shouting was loud and annoying and bad. That crack sounded serious. Freddy stepped forwards, bringing up his hand to grab Marvin's shoulder, when the big guy backed off by himself. "I'm done. Eve?" "FUCKin' PILE A' SHIT!" Another kick. "STOLE my SHIT!" Another kick. "Made FUN A' ME!" Another kick. "An' then FORGOT. ABOUT. US!" She punctuates each exclamation with another kick to the ribs. There's another dull crack, and another muffled scream, as Kathrine rolls a bit further down the hill, and then goes limp.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 06, 2017, 01:29:12 pm
"SSsssmells..." Mica said, lowering herself to the ground. Cinnamon, cinnamon everywhere. Catnips own smell was fading, being overridden, and that hurt Mica a little. Where did the Morsel go? She ignored Nathaniel for a bit, shoving him a little to keep him from fouling the scents any further. "Bah." She said, beginning to track the mysterious new comer. The smell of cinnamon radiated out from the barn in a diminishing but far reaching circle, but this new scent was fresh. She followed it over the simple board bridge that forded the barbed wire fence and spiked trench that surrounded the inner farm and took another drag. Just a line of cinnamon now, and it mingled with that of the other. Soap? Nasty green soaps? "Small man follows My-ka. Morsel go this way?" She pointed towards the tree line, and then the bridge "Or maybe this way? My-ka confused." She sniffed the air, a breeze had mussed the scents, making them seem to go towards the trees. Then, with careful deliberation, Mica mooshed her nose into the pavement and sucked air. "That way." She said, jabbing a finger down the road towards the edge of the farm and the bridge beyond. "It's here..." Khaki said, wiping tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry, I just..." She mumbled. She wasn't sure what the think of the knights grand standing, but Khaki knew she was just sick of life as it was now. She wanted to go back to her old life selling coffee to aging hipsters. "Thank you, I guess. Roxanne's lucky, I think. Try not to disturb Dean." She knocked and Medeina called out for them to enter.
"Hello Hector, could you do me a favor?" Medeina asked out of the blue as he came into the room. "Uh. Can you do ME a favor?" He countered. Hector had seen what he thought had been a robotics control unit in the train, and had a hunch that Medeina could assist in the task at hand. "Perhaps, but I think you may find mine more important." Hector told her he was listening and so Medeina went on. "There's a little bug in the sub level. A 'bug' in the sub level. I thought to simply ignore it, but it's been trying to use the mainframe to collect information, and it's started trying to steal data from me personally. More importantly, it's been trying to sabotage the medbays. Could you be a dear and take care of it? I'd do it myself, but the little rascal flees outside my range when I try." Medeina gave Hector this information casually, almost cheerily, like she was simply asking him about the weather. Dee woke from his light doze halfway through, and when Medeina finished her request, he smiled and said. "Yo Hec, what's up?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2017, 03:36:56 pm
Nathaniel watched, wary as Mica sniffed around, following the strange mix of scents, the trail the spider mutant was following. "Alright. Lead the way Mica..." he said, though when she pointed down the road he smirked a bit. "Alright. Let's go, they might still be there, come on." he said, across the trench they dug to fortify the farm, hurrying down the road. He'd already drawn his pistol, holding it in a low ready position. He wasn't sure what he'd find, but if he saw anyone with a gun already drawn he wouldn't even remotely hesitate to fire.
Hector was surprised by Medina's request, but he accepted at once when she informed him of the details. "I see. This is a more pressing matter than what I'm here for, then." he answered, before giving a little nod to Dee. "Glad you're alright. We'll catch up when I get back." he said, turning to leave the room and make his way to the nearest entrance to the sub-level, giving a nod to one of the guards, simply saying "Tell the captain I said Nathaniel was right." he said calmly.
In the darkness of the sublevels, he opted to remove his helmet rather than use his personal light, to avoid giving his position away so easily, sword and shield in hand.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 06, 2017, 05:18:39 pm
"I need money, drugs, a ride, and a spot with hot ones inside; The mission: to get all of the above in a limited amount of time."
-MC Ride
The big, rusted, ugly old van rolled along the black road with frightening familiarity. They'd been driving a long, long time. Two of them more than the other one, but he'd been there a decent bit, too. It was a spacious old thing, if you discounted all the beakers and tanks and bottles of highly flammable and/or highly toxic chemicals, and comfortable enough, with the right intoxicants. The black road was approaching a bridge of some sort. Big river, by the looks of it.
Carrol Hitchcock sat shotgun, both metaphorically and literally. There were two old 12 gauge double-barrels stacked next to her, leaning halfway on the armrest. They were loaded with heavy lead shot. The type for bucks and bears. Carrol hadn't used it on bucks or bears since she owned the guns, but they did a real number on people. Out of the three people in the car, she was the most clear-headed, though maybe the halfway point when it came to sanity. She was big, not heavy, but tall and almost unnaturally muscular. She had a warm, almost luxurious fur coat over the lab coat she'd worn for years now. There was a cheap cigar clamped in her teeth, and a half-full coffee mug of vodka and lemonade drink mix in the cupholder next to her.
Kermit Quintero sat in the back of the van, with all the cargo, for better or for worse. There were no seats back there, and the van moved pretty fast sometimes, so normally he'd just lean against the heavy counters for support, when he was sober enough to stand. Right now, the van was coasting on stable roads at a mild little speed, and so Kermit was stood somewhat steadily in the middle of the aisle, nursing a bottle of Belgian ale in one hand and a neatly-rolled joint in the other. It was shit weed and good beer, which was the opposite of what he'd been used to before the apocalypse, but hey, you get what you get. Beneath the black leather jacket he wore, there were two pistols. There was another in his boot. He was used to their comfortable weight. There was an open book on the counter in front of him, which he lazily read from in between swigs and puffs. Some kind of drama novel. It was alright.
Hoyt Upton drove the van. It was a turn-based job, with him and Carrol switching out whenever he needed to cook up something special for their next meal. Or whenever he was on something that slowed him down a bit too much. He was coasting at a good fifteen miles per hour, just because there was no rush when you were going nowhere. He was average height, average weight. He was dressed in a tattered lab coat, absolutely shredded, beneath a sleeveless leather duster. He was pale, almost albino, and his teeth were sharp. He had something in the air about him. He didn't know what it was, but it worked in his favor. People were scared of him. They always were. Carrol was his best friend. She was scared of him. Quintero hadn't known him for long, but he was terrified of him.
There was no conversation in the van. Just smoking and drinking and waiting to get from one nowhere to the next anywhere. Hoyt pulled a little metal vial from his coat pocket, put it up to his nostril, and snorted loudly. He capped it again and put it back, then drove a little faster, a little more aware.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 06, 2017, 05:40:34 pm
Kathrine let out another muffled cry as her elbow cracks, bending backwards in a way that generally isn't considered healthy. She was trying to keep a straight face, so that nobody got worried for her, but the tears were a dead giveaway. "I'm sorry..." She groans, rolling onto her side. She attempts to climb to her feet, leaning heavily on her left side, and earns another kick to the ribs. "Bitch. Right! That's me done. Time to finish this shit." There's the sound. The glock getting pulled out of her holster and the safety being flicked off. It's about time. One of her ears flicked to the side at the sound of a gunshot.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 06, 2017, 05:43:42 pm
The residents of the farm hear a car slowing down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 06, 2017, 06:00:55 pm
"Hector." Came Medeina's blaring voice over the intercoms in the basement, scaring the hell out of him. There was no point in being silent now, at least not while talking to the AI. "What Medi? I'm busy here." Medeina lowered the volume a bit, and continued. "Mr. Lowe, I feel it's important to let you know, the 'bug' is equipped with a class II cloaking device. I believe it will flicker if the creature moves." Mica sniffs at the air. "Cinnamons..." Mica hisses. "Where?" She can smell them. Somewhere nearby. "SsSsSSSsss..." Nathaniel catches up with Mica, "So? Why are you stopping?" He asks. Mica pushes him away, "Don't spoil smells stupid small man. Here... Somewheres..." Something like sweat. Sweat and blood and a bit of fear. Mica knows them well enough. The bridge, by all appearances, was vacant.
"Mic-" Starts Nathaniel before the very blatant sound of a gunshot rings out from under the bridge. "Under!" Mica hisses, sprinting to the rail, leaning over she see's someone. Not enough time to think about it now, Mica simply tumbles herself off the side and lands in a tangled thrashing heap atop someone. Mica hasn't eaten in days, the man she lands on doesn't have a chance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2017, 06:11:06 pm
Hector looked around warily, shield raised as he heard Medina's voice resounding around him, putting his helm on and turning his light on. "Well, now that you've just blared my presence to the whole tunnel network, guess sneaking up on it is right out." he remarked, using the light to screen the way ahead. He'd sheathed his sword, holding out his right hand. It was in the ready position to activate his directional EMP, at the first sign of his prey.
Nathaniel heard the gunshot a moment after he caught up with Mica, seeing her jumping off and dropping onto someone. There he saw it, after he scrambled to slide down the slide and go around the bridge. Mica, tearing into an unfamiliar man. Kathrine, in a heap on the ground. And a woman standing over her, gun in hand. He didn't even bother waiting for an explanation, or bother ordering her to drop the gun. He assumed she shot Kath, and in an instant he raised his pistol, firing two frantic shots aimed centered mass, fully intending to follow up with a third aimed for the head. "You fucking bitch!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 06, 2017, 06:20:22 pm
A gasoline engine atop the bridge slowly peeled on in, but it was killed stealthily before any real commotion could be started from its entrance.
Three sets of footsteps echoed on the concrete as the figures from the van peered over.
It was a hectic scene. There was a badly beaten mutant on the floor. Looked like a cat. Looked like French maid, too, for whatever reason. The little beating had been interrupted, seemingly. There was a spider eating a big man. Not a spider, really, but something close to it. The other two were about halfway between realization and panic by the time Hoyt, Carrol, and Kermit vaulted over the edge, handguns drawn.
There was a scuffle. There were punches landing. There were two bodies dragged over the top of the bridge faster than should've been possible, honestly.
The gasoline engine up top started up again.
And on it went.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 06, 2017, 06:52:06 pm
Kathrine was left lying on the ground, eyes closed, smiling. The bullet had missed though. That was Freddy's doing. He had jumped forward and yanked Evalynn's hand to the side, getting elbowed in the face and shot by... Nathaniel? A splatter of blood painted the ground in front of Kathrine, some of it spraying onto her t-shirt. Evalynn's shoulder jerked forward, followed up by her lurching forward again, glock spiralling away into the river. There were sounds of another fight, and then someone grabbed her by the back of her shirt, sending jolts of pain through her body. This was worse. This was a lot worse than her being beaten up. She screamed for a good two seconds before she passed out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2017, 06:56:09 pm
There was a struggle for the woman's gun, right as he fired, and he could tell he solidly hit the man that was grabbing at her weapon. He was just starting to aim around the man to deliver his follow-up shot when something slammed into him. One moment he was aiming up on Evalynn's head, the next he was on the ground, pistol just out of reach. There was a man bleeding out of the ground, a mangled corpse, and Mica. But no sign of the woman. Or Kathrine.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Kathrine! What the fuck just happened..." he said, groaning in pain as he fumbled to stand. His arm hurt like hell, muscles strained from a jointlock that disarmed him, and there was a dull ache in the back of his head.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 06, 2017, 07:06:05 pm
The trio approached the radius of the lamp’s flame; the boundary was clearly laid on the “ground”. Roxanne signaled for them to entered the lamp’s protection. Victor and Helen did as they were told while Roxanne and the robbed figure stayed outside for the moment. "You know why I am here...", Roxanne told the figure. It looked at Roxanne thought it’s hood and noded.It lifted it’s two blades towards Roxanne; he placed one in Roxanne’s chest and the other in her forehead. For a split second, a faint glow appeared in Roxanne’s body where the blade touched. She blinked and the blades were retracted.
"O-oh...", Roxanne softly said in response. "Thank you..." Roxanne then slowly turned around and stepped into the protection of the flame while the figure waited just outside. "Alright, we are here. Helen, the flame is right on top of the lantern. Analyze it to the best of your ability and see if there is any connection anywhere.", Roxanne told Helen and Victor, "The winds of memories are not stirring due to something going on here...evident by the red hue from earlier. Our friend over there will stir some artificial winds tailored to what we want to find out; catch is, we have to share something equivalent in value in terms of memories…"
“For now, let’s concentrate on the flame and when we are ready, we will look into the memories. We find answers today! Randael will not hide!", Victor commented at the end.
The force from earlier still lingered outside of Victor’s room. It saw him sleep, it saw him dream. The device he pointed at the sword did it’s job, still no anomalies detected. The force moved around and hovered over Victor. A very familiar shard manifested itself from thin air and it was attempted to be implanted on Victor's chest. The attempt was a failure though; Helen’s ward prevented the shard from arriving to it’s destination. The force looked at the ward and analyzed it. It would be easy to break in, but would set off an “alarm” of sorts to the one who set the ward up. It didn’t matter, the mission was clear. The force overwhelmed the ward and it eventually shattered; leaving Victor exposed. The shard finally found it’s way in Victor; mission success. Then, after having completed the mission ,the force made its leave.
Inside the realm of spirits, Victor felt a sharp pain. It didn’t last long since it was drowned out by the effects of the flame. He ignored it and continued with his observations.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2017, 07:38:13 pm
Helen nodded as she looked up to the lantern, the small flame of her magic re-appearing again. A mere candlelight this time, as it was all she needed this time. The torchlight of the ward used last time was hard to maintain for prolonged periods of time. As he directed the flame to light the lantern, she felt something in the back of her mind. She knew exactly was it was. Something forced its way through the ward spell she placed on Victor.
But now they had a mission, and it was too late. Moreover, they couldn't do anything about it now. Instead she focused her mind, thinking of the most treasured memories she could think of. The memory that was offered was that of her youth, as a young girl only just old enough to start her training, remembering the stories her parents told of the old days. When The Order was a secret the Founders told only their children, making it a dire, shameful secret to The Cleansing Flame. Tales of how they split off over a terrible weapon, and other dangerous magic, and how those that remained faithful to the course held out hope of reconciling with them, until hostility between the two groups shattered those hopes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 06, 2017, 08:14:32 pm
Helen’s flame was captured by the lamp and it changed in intensity. All spirits gathered around to observed fled the scene. The robbed figure covered his “face” using the two blades while the bright initial flash lasted. Once it was gone, the zone of the ward once more returned to it’s original state.
"Won’t last long.", Victor commented, "The sword lacks a host so the flame will eventually die out."
The memory Helen shared was accepted. The robbed figure lifted it’s blades into the air and winds started to stir. However, it needed more; it was Roxanne’s turn. She remembered the one thing that haunted her to this days for reasons she did not understand. Roxanne shared the memory of her parent’s disowning her and betraying her. How she meet Hunter Alex and how he offered her a new beginning under a new name. Her real name was out there as well, Roxanne Blackmore…
The spirit accepted the memory as well, it lowered its blades a bit and cocked it’s head to the side a bit but then resumed to do it’s duty. All that was left was Victor’s offering. Victor shared his memory of the conversation he and Alt-Roxanne had had during the initial weeks of the cataclysm; how he view bionics and mutations as impurities. His contempt for Roxanne’s decision to cross threshold was also revealed; it was all out there now...an ideology somewhat shared by a peculiar group... He knew this would come to haunt him later but if it was to defeat Randael so be it.
This memory too was accepted. The winds blew strong now, and soon the three were linked into the winds of memories once more, artificial as they seemed to be. However, this seemed different. They weren’t receiving random memories this time and relying on what they shared themselves to influence the outcome. This time, it seemed like they could browser and choose what memories to view; the full catalogue was opened to them. The memory cache seemed smaller than the other times they had visited, but it still held some very juicy details. Now, the trio looked for clues about Randael’s location and memories that would resolve personal conflict; this however, would reveal to the other two both the quarrel and the answer.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 06, 2017, 08:38:05 pm
Helen was surprised at the memories offered to them, realizing that hers was the only relatively positive one offered, aside from the hate in her father's voice, as time passed. She watched the flame, examining every pattern in its flickering. It seemed to her comparable to divination by pyromancy, a thought that amused her, though she did her best to see through it, even if examining auras without her mask wasn't her strong suit.
She watched, waiting as she left the task of searching the memories to Roxanne and Victor. Her task was to examine, knowing full well that Randael might react and betray her location in the process. Whatever happened to Victor would be a problem for later. One blow made against them, but in turn they would get what they needed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 07, 2017, 12:53:05 am
Victor and Roxanne saw as Helen was experimenting with the flame. Roxanne eyed Victor up and down as the memory he shared disturbed her; that would be a conversation for later, right now, they needed to find answers.
"You monitor me as I look for anything that might help us track down Randael.", Roxanne ordered. Her tone was serious and she would take no for an answer.
"If you are sure Roxanne, go ahead.", Victor responded. He saw as Roxanne walked forward a bit towards the lamp, making sure not to disturb Helen. She closed her eyes and browsed the memories. Victor could see what Roxanne was seeing but he himself could not choose any one memory.
Helen would noticed that the flame swayed in one particular direction. It seemed choreographed, artificial even. It never did that when Randael himself fueled the flame; but it seemed to do so now that the sword had no “fuel” to speak off.
The robbed figured looked on as the trio did their thing. It gave a glance at Victor and once again cocked his head to the side. Something interested it but it wasn’t allowed in the circle for whatever reason.
Back in Victor’s room, the force had now left. The device Victor had left to monitor the sword was beeping rapidly. The aura of the sword was shifting and increasing in intensity. It’s effects would be felt more in the realm of the spirits.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 02:25:59 am
Helen stared into the flame, watching as it seemed to drift in a specific direction. She observed, taking note of which way it seemed to sway towards. She was uncertain what it meant, but she carefully noted the apparent direction it moved in, relative to the spirit realm. Would this direct them towards a specific location within the physical realm? She wasn't certain, yet she took care to discern where it seemed to point, and if it shifted according to the memories accessed she'd take care to note how much the change would be.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 07, 2017, 12:33:26 pm
Roxanne and Victor took note of the memories. The ones Roxanne choose to take were very recent. Bandits and Raiders being slain, God’s Army killing cyborgs and mutants, the hordes of the undead claiming unprepared settlements and many more such memories. This memories made the pair watching a bit uneasy, any of this events could happen to them; the fact they had survived thus far was a miracle.
One particular memory Roxanne found alarmed her and Victor. A bandit was playing cards with 2 others and then someone barged into the door. It took Roxanne a while to accept it was her who was standing in the doorway; no, not her, her original body. The intruder pulled out a pistol and shot a laser beam into the other two before turning to the last one. Her body grinned and shot the last one whose point of view the memory was. Randael was on the move…
"Helen...any progress?", VIctor called out. Concern was beginning to manifest in his voice. "Something doesn’t feel right. We need to find out where Randael is and get out. We will continue looking at the memories..."
Meanwhile, a small roar in the distance could be heard. It made the robbed figure turn around and face in the direction the roar came from. It raised one of it’s blade into the air and what looked like a flare made out of fire launched into the air. The area immediately around the lamp’s ward itself lit bright for only a brief second. What it revealed made the figure itself recoil in fear. Denizens form sub-plane gamma littered the landscape as they used the darkness to cover their advancement. The flare light gave up and then darkness returned. The robbed figure turned around and looked at Victor; it’s face was still a deep void but Victor somehow knew it was looking at him in the eyes. He knew exactly what the figure wanted to communicate.
"We are running out of time...gather what you can and we shall make our leave...If it comes to worse, I’ll join our friend outside the barrier and hold of that onslaught for as long as I can...", Victor informed Roxanne and Helen.
"God damn it Victor! Can you stop trying to be the hero for once in your fucking life?!", Roxanne yelled out to Victor in response; the memory of her counterpart dying had surfaced in her being, "Look where it has gotten you! Don’t you get it? This is not you! Every time you try, shit goes awry. We are not children who need protection, especially not from the likes of you! What are you gonna do if those things outside come? Hit them with your sword?! Get a fucking grip! Make yourself useful for once and help either of us!"
Roxanne knew her words were harsh but she didn’t have no other way to communicate them. Victor had thrown his life, at times literally, for the sake of battle. Not this time, not if she had a say in it! She was so close to finding a memory to aid in the search; she could only hope Helen had the same luck as her. They would get out of here unharmed, she would make sure of it!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 12:55:49 pm
Helen watched, focused on the flame as she sought to see any sign of something she could use. Each time the memories hinted at Randael's actions, she got a vague hint of a pull towards the source of the memories. Then it suddenly flared brightly, giving her a stronger feel for where exactly these memories were linked to, but it was over too quickly to react.
"Victor, stay with us. The powers of our artifacts are useless to us here. I've got...ahah!" Helen shouted. This time she was expecting it, and as a memory played of Randael harvesting souls and further gathering her growing army, one of its most recent such hunts, she spied the location through the flickering, almost blinding radiance of the light, before focusing her magic to do her part in extinguishing the lantern. "Unless you feel like sticking around to greet our intruders, snuff it out!" She was preparing her ward again, preparing to conjure it at full strength in case the entities made it to them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 07, 2017, 01:02:29 pm
The first gunshot had barely roused Lilith, but the second and third slightly worried her. Nathaniel had gone out despite her protesting, and then she'd gone back to sleep. "...Natalie?" If anyone was nearby and able to hear her, she'd sound uncharacteristically worried. Lilith slinks off of Nathaniel's bed, making it creak as her weight leaves it, although it is torn up slightly by her back legs. It takes her about fifteen minutes to figure out that everyone went off towards the bridge, and when she arrives, she just sees the bug eating two dead people, and Nathaniel looking angry. "Natalie?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 01:23:53 pm
Nathaniel groaned a bit as he got up, picking up his gun and holstering it, giving a wince given the pain in his elbow, before finding another Glock discarded on the riverbank, the one Evalynn had been carrying. "I hope she caught one of those rounds somewhere sensitive...ow..." he grumbled, removing the spare pistol's magazine and racking the slide to clear it. It was then he saw Lilith was there, and the look of utter horror and anguish on his was now perfectly clear.
He dropped the other pistol and ran over to Lilith. "Lil! Goddammit Lil, I...I fucked up. I couldn't, I..." he stammered out, holding back tears. "They took Kathrine for fucks sake! There was this fucking bitch holding a gun over Kath, I shot back but..something dropped down on me from the b-bridge and then both Kath AND the other woman were gone..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 07, 2017, 01:43:06 pm
Roxanne’s words stopped Victor on his tracks. His determination and bravado were replaced by shock and realization. She was right, a feeling of Deja Vu stuck and Victor stood down. Helen’s remarks to stay further reinforced that decision.
Helen began to do her part to extinguish the flame, Victor saw this as his cue to head Roxanne’s words: “Do something useful for once”. He stood next to Helen and took out the candle from earlier; the flame in the lamp had begin to be drawn to the candle, harvesting it. The combined efforts of Helen and Victor had begun to diminish the flame.
Roxanne saw all this and reluctantly decided to call it quits. "Damn it all...I was so close...", Roxanne whispered to herself as she let go of the winds and went towards Helen and Victor. She chanted a phrase and which caused the flame to begin to flicker; Roxanne continued to utter the words until the trio managed to snuff the flame.
The robbed figured stretch his blades out and a horrible screech emanated from it. It rushed towards one of the invading spirits as it revealed its formed and proceeded to shred it without prejudice. The robbed figure then let out a mighty roar and all of the other spirits were drawn to it. The barrier that guarded the trio was now gone but they would soon exit due to the flame being extinguished. The last thing they saw was a massive spirit approach as the blade of the robbed figure slashed various others appart.
Roxanne awoke, her usual afterglow present once more. She had gotten what she had needed somewhat. At least her personal endeavour went well. She waited a while before the after effects of the pill wore off before she headed down to Victor’s quarters. She had readied a report in the same fashion she was made to do after every job she took under the Shadows of Arcana.
Victor jolted awake. He did not feel any afterglow whatsoever. Stranger still, he felt something in his chest; it felt heavy. He shock it off as after effects of the pill. Soon after, he looked at the device he had set up. It read the changes the sword had gone through and it surprised Victor to no end.
"Sweet holy mother...", Victor uttered as he read through the log. He then took out his journal and matched the readings to predetermine math. At the sight of what the device read, Victor shook his head. "We are being watched...no doubt about it...god damn it...Roxanne was right...this is all my fault...", Victor said in reaction to the entry.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 07, 2017, 01:57:03 pm
"Why you gotta be hongry all the time My-ka? Why you gotta be starvin' youself?" She thought. She shoveled an arm down her throat and bit it off at the elbow. She chewed, just like Dee said she should, only stopping to spit out the arms cheap watch. Now that she had a bit of something in her stomach, her thoughts began to broaden. Her eyes widened. "Morsel!" she shouted through a mouth of gore, "Oh no! My-ka break promise! Oh no oh no!" She stripped a sheet of skin from the torso and slurped it down, panic growing in comical contrast on her face. As it turned out, Mica was a nervous eater. She dragged over the other body of the other and only gave it a cursory examination. She realized it wasn't quiet dead yet, but that had hardly mattered. The hole in it's just was making a pathetic sucking noise that Mica could guess meant a fatal condition. She shrugged inwardly, and as always, started with the head.
"What My-ka gonna do small man? Eh?" Mica asked before dunking her head in the river to get the blood off. "My-ka done been bad, breakin' promises to Kat-nyp, breakin' life promise to Kat-nyp!" The fact of Mica's failure, and the severity of the broken promise, made Mica feel cold. What happened to promise breakers? They got beatings from the brothers and sisters. Even if they couldn't help it. It hardly mattered that Mica's brothers and sisters were gone. Catnip, as far as Mica believed, was still around. Catnip would wallop the ever loving piss out of her, and Mica had to let her. "My-ka's gotta find morsel! My-ka doesn't wanna beatin'!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 07, 2017, 02:06:25 pm
Bandit had taken some time to explore after getting to know the others. The place was surprisingly accessible and had plenty of supplies to use. Rolling himself into one of the few rooms he hadn’t looked at he saw a broadcasting setup. There were boxes set on top of some of it but he’d seen the type before and it looked like it was in working condition. As he rolled up to inspect some of it Brown walked in and saw Bandit’s apparent fascination. Walking over and pulling a box off of the soundboard Brown told him “It all works. We fixed the broken stuff when we found it, figured we could do something with it but whatever it was using to broadcast the signal got broken or disconnected somewhere else down the line.” He pressed a button on the soundboard and the nearby headphones played a soundbite from some pre-apocalypse game “Seven keeps talking about finding some way to get that fixed but always ends up getting distracted.”
Bandit nodded as he said “I mean you gotta worry about survival more than fixing up a radio station.”
Brown adjusted the headphones he was wearing as he checked his phone and saw a message from Leroy. “I need to go take care of something for Leroy. If you need anything just ask someone and we’ll help if we can.”
Looking over the set up for a few minutes Bandit contemplated a few things before leaving the room. He passed Seven a few minutes later and talked about getting the signal for the broadcasting room up. Funny how I’ve lost a hand and a bunch of memories and can’t walk but I’m happy..
Drifter meanwhile was sitting in the van as it drove towards the farm. The others who’d helped with the attack on the warehouse had gone their separate ways now. He and the others in the back heard a brief shout from the man driving before they heard and felt the other vehicle slam into the side of the van. As it impacted a tree and stopped the men in the back slammed into the opposite wall as a quartet of gunshots tore through the cabin and killed the driver.
Standing in the back Drifter heard the other vehicle back up as he hefted his new toy and pushed past the others. The gangsters with him soon grabbed their weapons as he stepped through the back doors with the gun winding up. The five men outside that had been approaching the vehicle back pedaled as he swung the weapon towards them and opened fire. Three of them fell before they could turn and run from the storm of gunfire.
The remaining two didn’t really make more ground before the bullets caught up and sent them to the ground. Letting go of the trigger Drifter kept it aimed at the vehicle as he walked towards it. The gangsters followed behind him and they found the vehicle empty. Sighing to himself Drifter opened the back of the vehicle and blinked. Stepping into it he looked at the assortment of guns and armor inside. The gangsters followed him and he heard a couple of them make remarks of astonishment as they saw it.
Drifter looked at them and said “Guess we’re splitting the loot.”
The gangsters nodded as they started inspecting some of the kit in the vehicle. Drifter realized this was enough kit to outfit quite a group of killers. Which was also when he realized he’d seen the uniforms the men who’d just tried to kill him were. A group that before the apocalypse were hired to transport illegal weaponry. Still working transport it looks like but for who? And why try and kill us? Maybe whoever hired them didn't want anyone to spot the truck.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 07, 2017, 02:29:59 pm
Lilith seemed sympathetic up until Nathaniel and Mica mentioned the cub. She immediately tenses up, even going so far as to quickly pulse her hydraulic muscles on and off before standing up straight and staring straight at Nathaniel. "Let the cub go?" She growls. "Natalie let cub go?" Lilith does in fact, look incredibly pissed. She just raises her paw and shoves him to the ground, growling. "Thupid thmall man. Can't protect cub." Another slap, this time aimed for his side, claws out. "Thupid!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 07, 2017, 02:32:56 pm
Medeina had given Hector a select piece of information, that the spy would flee into the sewers if it so much as got a hint that it was being hunted. Logically, Hector sealed the sewers by simply locking the door. Now, he had to put up with trying to find the thing, and after rerouting power from the damaged communications array into the lights down here, Medeina had done little to help.
"How about some heroic music?"
"No Medeina, I don't-"
*Guitars*
"No! Medeina-"
"IN THE HEART OF HOLY SEE" "IN THE HOME OF CHRISTIANITY" "THE SEAT OF POWER IS IN DANGER"
Somewhere in the basement, the thing detached itself from it's chosen access point and attempted to flee, only to find it's one route of escape gone. The music was debilitatingly loud, and it wanted to leave and come back when things had quieted down. The husk went invisible just as the tank knight rounded the corner, if it had still been alive it would have given a sigh of relief. That sigh would have been cut off by the fact that the knight had seen something. Stupid imperfect cloak. An EMP blast temporarily whipped away it's cloak, and it ran in the opposite direction, hoping to out maneuver the knight until it got enough power to reactivate the cloak. It wasn't equipped to deal with things that fought like the knight.
"Get him! Get him! Get him!" Medeina cried through the speakers in the basement, deafening Hector with her excitement. "He's gonna cloak again if you don't get him!"
"TURN OFF THE MUSIC!" Hector shouted, pursuing what appeared to be some kind of cybernetic zombie.
"FOR THE GRACE, FOR THE MIGHT OF THE LORD" "FOR THE HOME OF THE HOLY" "FOR THE FAITH, FOR THE WAY OF THE SWORD" "GAVE THEIR LIVES SO BOLDLY"
"NO!" cried Medeina, becoming too excited watching Hectors undertaking.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 02:51:28 pm
Helen turned back to watch warily as the horrid things approached. This was no longer safe, she thought. These pills were endangering them more by the minute. When the fire was extinguished, she awoke with a start, examining her wards. None of hers were broken, but one that was linked to her and bound elsewhere had been shattered.
Immediately she rushed out to Victor's room, unsteady on her feet due to the afterglow, practically throwing the door open. "Victor! Are you alright?" she said. She had her mask on and activated, seeing signs of...something, but what it was she wasn't sure at first.
"Randael exploited our moment of vulnerability, and now...we need to counteract this. It seems to be dormant, likely not a way to scry on us, but should be discrete regardless. I can devise a way to sever the link, but I need some way to ensure I can do so safely. The location I caught a glimpse of...if we can survey other areas that it's used this spirit magic in, we can counter it. Victor...be safe, okay?" she said, pulling him into a kiss.
Her thoughts now turned to what she'd need to research everything she knew they'd need. "I'm going to need several books to work on some things for later. It'll take days possibly. I need...Sanguine Codex first. You are aware of my notes on charged glyphs, correct? I'm leery of using it, but the wards I can maintain daily are too weak to deter Randael. My battle-ward wouldn't last long under my own power alone." she explained. "Second, To Master The Uknown for another thing I need to look up. And finally...from what I know of your order's magic, do you have your own holy book, you own equivalent to The Cleansing Flame?" she asked.
Nathaniel looked down, only to yelp as Lilith shoved him to the ground. He was crying now, eyes shut. "Lilith, I...I fucked up, okay!? I know! I deserve it..." he said softly, only to cry out as the wind was knocked out of him, claws tearing the reinfiorced material of his new jacket, already soaked and covered in mud from earlier.
Hector grumbled a bit at the music blaring through the speakers. Now was hardly the time for it, as much as he enjoyed that song. He'd taken up the M4 this time instead of his sword, and the instant he caught a glimpse of the creature, frantically fleeing and trying to buy enough time, he'd take aim and fire off a burst.
"Outrun this you irksome little revenant..." he growled out, his voice drowned out by gunfire and the music resounding all around him. "Their path through history is paved with salvation!" He found himself singing along despite himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 07, 2017, 03:00:56 pm
Lilith doesn't even seem to notice Nathaniel crying. She scoops him up and just tosses him down into the river, dropping back down onto all fours in the same motion. "Thupid thmall man." The tigress proceeded to just wade through the river, towards Mica. "Bug. Where cub."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 07, 2017, 03:21:14 pm
Mica leaps into the river, sinking momentarily before catching hold of Lilith and hauling herself up onto the Tigresses shoulder to perch like an oversized insectile gargoyle. "square car go that way." She say's pointing towards the other end of the bridge, "My-ka smell smokes, but smokes going fast. Gotta hurry or smokes be gone!" The revenant staggered more from the impact of one of the slugs striking it than from pain. It was beyond pain, having been dead long before it's advent as a spy. A command pulsed in it's head, but it couldn't follow that command. Not while being pursued. It's simple magical commands were more than enough to keep the body from failing when it was riddled with bullets. It attempted to cloak again, only to once again be struck by an EMP blast. The man pursuing it would have to utterly destroy it to kill the spy. Fortunately for Hector, the knight intended nothing less.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 03:28:45 pm
Nathaniel went a bit limp, suspecting she'd just go and kill him now, only to yelp and thrash about as he suddenly landed in the water, scrambling to cling to the shore, left sputtering and coughing as he stood. "Lilith! What she said, it likely wioll have to stick to the road." he said, scrambling to climb onto her. "Take me with you. I'd rather die than let Kath get killed because of my fuckups."
Hector grinned at that under his helm, he was closing in with every moment as the bullets staggered it, unloading the magazine. That could perhaps damage sensitive CBMs, but not put the thing down. Instead, the instant he was close enough, another EMP radiated out into it point-blank, followed by a shield slamming into it. He was taking care to ensure that his attempts to press the assault would drive it down the less branching tunnels, and as an armored boot kicked at cybernetic, animated limbs, shattering bone he knew his attempt bore fruit, intending to break every bone in its body, so any gestures or signs, and any bionics, would be useless to it, buy time to draw his sword to butcher the husk "alive".
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 07, 2017, 03:32:48 pm
Victor was tinkering with the device he had managed to rig using library’s books. Right now, it had to point at something to measure it. However, he discovered that with a minor tweak, he could modify it to house a weakened version of his aura spell. “]Aura detection on the go, should come in handy…”, Victor told himself as he enchanted the device with the spell. After booting it up, he could detect a few auras around the farm. A smile was etched as he realized something; is he used this device under the aura spell proper, he could see where the aura in question was in relation to him. He could track people now inside the spell’s radius.
His celebration didn’t last to long. Helen came barging into his room; her mask scanning his room. Victor put the device down right before it reacted to the mask; an effect he would later on regret not having checked right then and there. "Yeah...I am alright...", Victor responded before being interrupted.
He listened to Helen, worry could be heard in her tone of voice. Victor could tell this was something she had to do and decided he would help as best as he could. Her last sentence surprised him more so than the kiss she gave him. "You too Helen. Whatever you do, be careful."
The first book Helen asked, the Sanguine Codex, make VIctor flinch at it’s mention. "I don’t have to tell you how dangerous this is...the god’s know I have no right to warn you thought...the fact that I have it should tell you something...", Victor told Helen as he handed her that book.
"To master the unknow huh? Alright...", Victor said hesitantly as he handed her that book, "Those two books together caused some of the issues we are facing today...but the common denominator was me. I trust you will be more careful."
"The Source, that is the name of our book. I still have it of course...I am sure you will find some of it’s contents revolting...know that I am not that man anymore ok? Hope it serves you well...", Victor said as he handed her the book of his order; memories flooded him as he saw the cover, "This book contains information on the sword I weild and it’s power...if that means anything to you..."
Victor looked at Helen and then the books he gave her. "Things are this serious huh? I can sense this is like a final fight of sorts you know? After this, I kinda want to settle down like we talked to earlier. For both our sakes...let’s both return in one piece.", Victor added, the pain on his chest returned for a bit but he hid it from Helen; she probably had enough worries as it was.
Roxanne approached Victor’s quarters and noticed Helen was talking to him. She grinned and took out the paper she had brought to discuss with Victor. She would wait for Helen to leave, she need Victor alone for this; after all, this was “official” business. The Cleansing Flame would only make this harder to explain.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 07, 2017, 03:36:14 pm
Lilith shrugged Nathaniel off of her, growling. "Thupid. Not coming." She glares at him for a second, and then climbs up the hill towards the top of the bridge and sets off, heading in the direction that Mica pointed out. She's obviously not gonna be able to catch up to the van, but she's not gonna stop for at least half an hour.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 03:49:34 pm
Helen was a bit uncertain what to think as he gathered the books for her, giving a nod at that. "Thank you. I don't want to lose you, Victor. I won't fail in this. We won't." she said softly. "I have no desire to make use of blood essence, and in fact what I need these books fo is so I can alter something to use a different power source. One marginally less dangerous to us, richer in energy and already available for me to use." she said.
"And I know full well that this book...The Source, is dangerous and holds awful magic. But it's likely the only thing that has the last bit of information I need." she said. He could surely tell what none of what was in The Source would be useful for altering charged glyphs, at least nothing that couldn't be obtained with both Sanguine Codex and To Master the Unknown. What she needed it for, she didn't let on.
She left, books in tow as she gave a nod to Roxanne. The fact she was cradling a trio of the books most-despised by The Cleansing Flame would've been overtly peculiar, as she retired to the spare room to examine them. First, she regarded her notes on charged glyphs.
The idea was trivial really. The rogue blood mage had used it basically as an extra reserve of energy, to make up for being unable to break the sealing magic under his own power alone. Likewise, her ward at battle-strength could protect against Randael, or at least she suspected it would where her persistent wards would fail. But she couldn't maintain them 24/7 like her persistent wards. An hour at most and she would be on the verge of passing out from exhaustion. With a supplement to her own energy, though...
Nathaniel was shocked at that, grabbing at her only for the attempt toppling him over as she pulled away. "Goddamnit Lil! I tried, alright! I fucking tried and failed, don't...leave me..." he trailed on, left sitting in the mud as Lilith simply ran off.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 07, 2017, 04:40:04 pm
Drifter had dropped the gangsters off at their place while they had some of their other boys go tow their van. The vehicle he was driving started life as a truck and found itself turned into a heavily armored transport vehicle. The back had been extended and enclosed with a set of double doors attached to the back with a locking mechanism that required an ID card he had stopped to steal from the dead bodies on his way back. He recognized the type of system and reset it while he had a last chat with the gangsters. For professionals they sucked at securing their own systems.
Driving towards the farm Drifter’s mind wandered to the question that had come consistently to his mind since he’d come here. He didn’t have valuable skills to the farm or really to anyone aside from killing. Of that he had intimate knowledge. Stab there, shoot here, put this within that radius, etcetera. All things others knew about at the farm.
They’d also be able to raise Alice far better than he. Some understood compassion there, others when not to have it. They knew all the skills he could never teach her and he was well aware of it. Besides she didn’t really know him and when she did..well somehow Drifter doubted she’d agree with some of his decisions in life. Maybe she’d even hate him.
Drifter hit the brakes as he saw the farm in the distance. Pulling his helmet off Drifter inspected it as he sat there. Closing his eyes for a moment Drifter set the helmet aside. A few seconds later and he finally hit the gas and made the rest of his way back to the farm. If he came to that decision he still had to take care of some things here first.
Elsewhere Death had been speaking with the Elder for some time now. The discussion primarily dealt with this mage and Randael but had become somewhat of a bartering process. The elder finally nodded as he said “We will discuss this no further today. When the mage and the spirit are dealt with we shall resume our discussions on this matter and I may yet grant your request however odd it is.” Death nodded his head to the Elder as he said “Very well. I will deal with them but once that is done we will continue this little discussion of ours lest I-”
He was cut off by a raised hand from the Elder as he said “Don’t. As I said this will be discussed further after they are dealt with. No sooner and no later.”
With that the Elder vanished and left Death to his own devices. Reaching into his vest Death retrieved a cigar. Lighting it and taking a drag he then retrieved an old handgun from his vest as well. For a brief moment he heard the howling of mortar fire before that too vanished. Tightening his grip on the weapon he determined he’d see this through.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 07, 2017, 04:45:58 pm
Roxanne saw as Helen left Victor’s quarters. As Helen passed by, Roxanne acknowledged Helen by returning the nod. She then lifted an eyebrow as she noticed Helen’s peculiar book collection she was carrying. The contrast between Helen and Roxanne’s demeanor was apparent. While Helen had worry and determination in her face, Roxanne was elated and carefree; a smile etched in her face. It was as if the events that just happened in the realm of spirits had been forgotten.
The door to Victor’s room was left unlocked since Helen had just left. As such, Roxanne decided to just let herself in. "Ah...it’s you Roxanne...", Victor said in an enthusiastic tone, "It’s good to see you came back safely from our little trip. That was crazy...We have to prepare for when we take on Randael. So, what can I help you with?"
Roxanne smiles as she step inside the room. She silently and discreetly locks the door behind her. "Purifier Victor Ironwood, this is Huntress Roxanne Blackmore reporting in!", Roxanne told Victor; she does a mock salute and stands still waiting for Victor to react.
Victor stands up from where he was and moves back a bit. "Roxanne...what did you just say? What did you just call yourself?...", Victor mumbled. He slowly grabbed his sword behind him just incase. Roxanne just smiled some more, she took out the paper with the steps. The paper she acquired through communicating and freeing familiar spirits. "In one of my recent hunts, I acquired this bit of knowledge. I submit this to you to give you your next assignment on behalf of the Shadows of Arcana. Decipher this and aif me in my next hunt. Am I clear?", Roxanne responded.
Victor took the note and gave it a read. His eyes widen and he dropped the sword. Roxanne’s smile turns into a predatory grin and this makes Victor angry. He grabs Roxanne by the shoulders and pins her back to the wall. "What the fuck have you being doing Roxanne?! We have rules too you know? Do you realize what you have done?! I swear...if you pierced the veil...", Roxanne shouted to Roxanne.
Roxanne was taking no of this. She activated her electro shock bionic and tased Victor. "Who do you think you are?! You serve me alright? I acquire the info and you interpret it ok? Look, this has to be done ok? The shifting and the veil have nothing to do with each other. I know this looks bad but trust me, once you meet them...", Roxanne responded.
Victor was on the floor now, the tasing made his legs quiver and gave up. He was still lucid enough to hear and respond to Roxanne. "You don’t even know who they are right? You trust some random spirit and expect me to do the same?!", Victor explained to Roxanne.
"No...I am asking for you to trust me...please...do this for me...Just this once...I need to know who I am Victor...", Roxanne commented back. Victor looked at her for a while. He was conflicted; on the one hand, Roxanne had broken the rules, on the other, so had he. It was her tone of voice and demeanor change that convinced him to help. "Alright Roxanne...just this once...give me the note...", Victor said softly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 05:17:51 pm
Nathaniel was there, walking down the side of the road, soaked to the bone and cluthing his right arm, grumbling to himself as he turned to look back to see an unfamiliar vehicle. Despite the pain in his right elbow his hand lowered to his holster, only to see Drifter was the one driving it. "Holy fuck, literally the first thing to go right today..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 07, 2017, 05:30:47 pm
Drifter pulled the vehicle to a stop near Nathaniel opened the hatch in the bullet proof glass. Unlocking the passenger side door Drifter said "Need a ride?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 05:36:12 pm
Nathaniel nodded and walked over, giving a nod. "Thank you. Drifter, someone went and ran off with Kath." he explained as he got in. "Mica and I caught up to them, shot one and Mica tore up the other. Somebody else went and made off the Kath and the surviving bitch." he grumbled.
"Also holy shit where did you get all this kit from." he said, just now noticing the strange weapon and array of other armaments on board.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 07, 2017, 05:51:48 pm
Victor and Roxanne had gone back to their respective rooms to gather what they needed. They would head out tomorrow morning to where the note indicated. Victor made a copy of it for himself.
"So we aren’t the only ones?", Victor asked Roxanne, "I don’t think they will approve of what you are doing..."
"Victor...you don’t get it do you? I am surprised, what happened to, ‘Humankind deserves to know!’", Roxanne responded, "I need to know Victor...I am doing what I can with the limited resources...I thought that you of all people would get that..."
That exchanged had impacted Victor on a deep level. She was right, he understood what she was doing. He too, up until recently even, toyed with things he shouldn’t have due to lack of resources. But he knew now that was naive. Victor saw that same naivete in Roxanne and he felt sympathy for her. But what she was doing...to mess with forces like the shifting...all this seemed wrong...since when did she know this things?
Roxanne had never been introduced to the arcane when she was a member of the order by her own admission, and even now, she had little experience with it. Yet, here she was, committing acts that only rogue mages that she was in charge of killing would do. Victor thought about it for a moment...and then it clicked.
The winds of memories, find out who she was, new body, the way she called herself when she talked to him. If only he had noticed it sooner. He used his aura spell to check her aura to confirm his suspicions...Roxanne’s aura was missing...replaced... Victor rushed to Roxanne’s room, sword in hand. There was no time to waste.
When he arrived, he started to bang on the door and shout for Roxanne to come out. He tried the knob, locked; of course. "Roxanne, come out at once! I know your ruse! Open the door know or I will tear it down myself! This ends now!", Victor shouted. His shouts were loud enough to be heard by anyone nearby. No answer, he too out his sword and tried to activated to no avail. He had to do something to open the door. "Roxanne, open the door and face justice!"
Roxanne smiled as she heard Victor pound the door. He had found out, how unfortunate. It was a risk worth taking. She would have to drag him there now, that was always a pain. The room was lit by candle light and Roxanne was applying makeup while humming a tune. A silver athame laid in her altar along with other mysterious materials.
"Out of all people Victor...You think you know someone...”, Roxanne whispered to herself, "This is for the good of our order Victor. Why can’t you understand this! We are not alone! We can rebuild!" Roxanne dropped her lipstick and looked at herself in the mirror once she picked it up. "This is who I am now...come suffer with me..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 05:59:59 pm
Helen was just now examining her work on her holy symbol, the cross-and-hammer, when she realized something. And then she heard the shout. She was out in a moment-battle-ward up and symbol of judgement in hand, seeing Victor pounding on it. She thought she sensed something off earlier, and as she activated her mask the truth shocked her. "No. No..." she said quietly. She had to practically pull Victor aside, in the door.
Roxanne would surely sense it. An aura radiating outward from her mask, and the battle-ward. A combination that would've been encountered only once before. "You. What have you DONE with her!?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 07, 2017, 06:08:30 pm
Death wasn't occupied by his business any longer and felt something. Something very bad and it was near Victor. Shifting his presence to the room there was a very sudden influx of ravens and crows as he stepped through the wall. This time however his usual appearance was augmented by a prevailing swirl of black smoke around his head with a pair of glowing seething red eyes that made those gazed upon by them uneasy by themselves.
Speaking as he appeared "THIS ENDS NOW! I WILL KILL YOU IF YOU PROCEED MAGE." This last line clearly directed at Roxanne.
Elsewhere Drifter told Nathaniel about the kidnapping and his adventures since then. Patting the gun he said "Someone got some inspiration from the minigun but liked a smaller caliber than 7.62. She fires fast enough to send anyone running. The rest of the stuff in the cab was here when we ran into the glorified delivery boys and took this thing. There's more in the back too, including quite a bit of explosive materials."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 07, 2017, 06:34:08 pm
The door had been breached; not by Victor, god knows he didn’t have the guts. However, the one who did made her grin from ear to ear. "Thane Helen McKinnon, the mage hunter… Never thought I would see the day I would come face to face to one who cause all of this...Now Victor, you allied with her? How quaint...now let me warn you. Victor is comming with me ok? We have business to take care off. You will not get rid of the Shadows of Arcana!", Roxanne stated, her facade now gone.
Roxanne’s smile was struck down as the spirit of death she had been warned about show up. Worry and dread were etched in her face for a moment but then she smiled again when she remembered her training. "You have come to defend this heretics? The mage boy alone should be punished for his crimes...", Roxanne responded to death, "Now tell me...if you were to take me...what would be my name? I don’t seem to recall? What am I saying, like if you would get the chance!"
Roxanne snapped her fingers and then two figures appeared in front of Death. They were the same ones that guided them in the realm of spirits. Another one appeared in front of Victor and Helen. "This are divine guardian spirits. No match for a spirit of death but not an easy victory either. I just need time you see? I am taking Victor with me!", Roxanne explained. One of the spirits handed Roxanne a peculiar looking orb, she put it one of her pockets and smiled, "Hold them off! Bring me the man with the sword of the moon! We need him alive!"
At her order, The two spirit in front of Death formed a defensive stance to block him from Roxanne while the other one made a bee-line for Victor; keeping an eye for Helen. Roxanne herself activate her own bionic blade and CQB bionic. "This weapons aren’t for you spirit...they are for the price!", Roxanne exclaimed as she rushed outside and rushed towards Helen.
Victor takes out his blade and uses it to parry the attack of the oncoming spirit. He can't activate his blade...this is bad...very very bad...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 06:43:08 pm
Helen growled out at that, shaking her head as she stopped forward. "Listen to me! We are not your enemy anymore!" she shouted. "We have worked to unite our orders, we are brethren again! And you would undo all of this!?"
Death's sudden appearance made her falter a bit, startled at the raw aura of malevolence he seemed to radiance with. In some ways, it matched the things she glimpsed when she saw him through her mask. But no, this was the very worst side of his aura brought to the surface, drowning those hints of disparate glamours she'd normally see.
That Roxanne rushed at her made her fire a blast from the symbol of judgement. She invoked something that she was afraid to use, and yet this situation forced her to use it. She'd threatened to use this power on Randael when it was vulnerable, and now she used it. This was a spirit claiming her own former body. The beam wasn't the blue-tinged lightning of its normal form, yet instead a strange golden light, as she invoked the being that the item was a holy symbol of. For the sake of subduing spirits, and indeed if it connected it would seem to lance right through Roxanne's body harmlessly, with grave effect on the spirit that inhabited it. She knew that this was a dire act, but it would be one an old member of Shadows of Arcana wouldn't expect from a mage hunter, if at all.
Nathaniel lowered his head as he heard Drifter explain. "Fuck me, Bandit got taken too? I...shit. If he get him back, I gotta thank him for this jacket he made." he said, feeling the gouges torn into the material on his left side. There was a faint bit of blood staining the shirt underneath, but those were mere scratches compared to what could've happened.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 07, 2017, 07:07:13 pm
Death was often a level headed individual. Even when he first appeared here his appearance was to intimidate the individuals in question. The fact that someone had just summoned these figures to attack him was enough to make him angry. Taunting Death was something reserved for individuals of insanity and in this instance..well...
Death lifted the pistol in his hand and fired at the first of the figures. It staggered back as a horde of crows and ravens began tearing into the second. At the same time a hand appeared behind the one stumbling, pushing a dagger into it's back as a man stepped into existence brandishing a Viking blade as he began to attack in earnest. Death let the magazine of the pistol slide out and reloaded as he walked towards the one being eaten by crows. "If you had committed any other transgression I may have let you live. Now.." Death began laughing to himself as he grabbed the figure by the jaw and began to force it to decay.
----
Drifter looked at Nathaniel for a moment before asking "Tell me the details of how it happened. And we'll get you patched up when we get to the farm, should be fine right now."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 07, 2017, 07:46:09 pm
The figure’s initial strike was parried by Victor but his lack of combat experience was showing. The spirit had no trouble making Victor stumble back and disarming him. In just a few moves, Victor was on the ground and the sword cast aside out of reach behind Helen. Then she saw as the mage hunter fired her weapon.
The fact that a member of The Cleansing Flame was not only using a symbol of judgment but also invoking it’s true power made Roxanne stop in her tracks. She was like a deer in headlights, not an attempt to dodge or deflect the beam was made. The beam struck and Roxanne’s body collapsed on the ground.
The other two spirits had been ended by the spirit of death and his hand. No surprise there, they had given Roxanne enough time to escape. Divine Guardian spirits were very effective at dealing with normal people and spirits but mages and spirits of death were another issue.
The remainder spirit shifted his focus at Helen; it attacked her by slicing at her. Helen dodged but the two were now at a stalemate. The divine spirit’s blades were engulfed in purple flames and it charged at Helen again.
While this was going on. Six small towers of flames appeared behind Helen and Victor. Six more divine spirits appeared. The one in the back looked off, it had hands instead of blades like the other five that stood in front of it. This one used siad hands to take off it’s hood. The face of Alt-Roxanne was show once more, but something was off. She looked like someone who was in the realm of spirits; a spirit in corporeal form.
"Fools! You can’t get rid of me! I will not fall to the likes of you again!", Alt-Roxanne said, "Kills as many of these as you want, they are disposable. I have more where these came from! We can do this all day, it won’t matter in the end; I am taking Victor with me! En Garde!"
The five other spirits charged forward to engage their foes. 4 went towards death and his hand while the other one went to reinforce the one fighting Helen. Alt-Roxanne’s face was suddenly covered with a mask that was nothing more than a white and black triangular shape pointing down. It looked metal in nature and the holes for the eyes resembled black ballistic glass. She then deployed what looked like two bionic swords from her hands; these looks sharper and sturdier than the blade hands of the other divine spirits. Alt-Roxanne then stepped forwards, slowly towards Victor.
"Give in...We will soon reunite with our brethren and start all over...you promised remember? We were going to start a new settlement, one where all would be welcomed and where magic could co-exist with the new world! Hell...we would even recruit others into our order and once again be the beacon of humanity.", Alt-Roxanne spoke as she walked towards Victor, "But now...this whore her had to come and ruin everything...she tried to kill us and she succeeded in killing me...now drifted you from your oath...this cannot stand...you are right…THIS ENDS NOW!"
Alt Roxanne’s hands were engulfed with an aura of harvest, the bionic blades she sported would decay any normal matter they would encounter. This would not harm death of his hands but could flect their attacks. Attacks from artifacts could also be counter but her “body” was still just as vulnerable as the other divine spirits. She was now next to Victor, looking down at him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 07, 2017, 08:00:59 pm
Death felt something he'd not felt in so long. She taunted him, she threatened his very being with these things, and she thought she could just get away with it? Death's laughter stopped as he snapped his fingers. "How quaint. You brought friends who can do nothing but give you precious few seconds before I drain the life from your very soul and leave you a mere scrap of what you were before you took this body from the one who resided in it. Not even the other spirits in that realm will recognize what you are."
The smoke had begun to fade from around his head as his hands began to appear from numerous angles to fight these new protectors. Steinar himself rushed the spirit attacking Helen with a shouted Norse curse. Bringing his blade down at the things back Steinar shouted "DON'T YOU HARM A HAIR ON THAT LASS'S HEAD!"
Death grabbed the first spirit that charged him and it visibly shattered. The smoke finally finished drifting off as he continued to walk through the battle. The glamours that had been in place faded as he lifted the pistol and aimed a shot at Roxanne as he shouted "TIME TO DIE FOR GOOD!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 08:01:30 pm
Helen growled as she realized that the intended effect had failed, seeming to jar alt-Roxanne's spirit but not enough to dislodge it. She weaved and backpedaled easily, evading the spirit, before turning her attention to Roxanne.
"No." she said, firing several blasts with the symbol. Augmented by its full power, it would rip through and destroy the spirits standing in her way with far greater ease than when it struck Roxanne, and soon she stood between Roxanne and Victor. "Look at me. Look at what I am holding, what is around my neck. Look into my very aura and see the mark of Erebus. I am no less of a heretic than you." she said quietly. "I never wanted to fight you. You killed Darius. Alexandra. Toshiro." She stood firm, blocking the way.
"We are of the same origin. We are each brethren led astray in our own way." she said softly. She knew that at battle strength, her wards would hold off an aura of harvest, but only for a few seconds. "Stand down. Victor and I set aside our differences, are you incapable of forgiving a hunter that would accept what must be done for humanity's sake, even if it betrays her faith?"
Nathaniel gave Drifter a blank stare for a moment. "Three of them with Kath, river shore under the bridge. Two guys, one girl. Woman was standing over Kath with a glock, same model as mine." he said, pulling the retrieved pistol out of a jacket pocket, magazine removed and chambered emptied, pulling back the slide to double-check. "Mica jumps one of the men, I shot at the woman. The other guy had an attack of conscience at the worst possible moment, jumped in the crossfire trying to go for her gun." he said.
"Then some other group showed up, van I think. Next thing I know I'm on my ass, pistol's on the ground, Mica's eating the two dead guys, Kath and the other bitch are gone."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 07, 2017, 08:08:08 pm
Drifter listened to all of this as he drove. Once Nathaniel had finished Drifter told him "So your kidnapping wasn't from the same people as the guys that took Bandit. Too unprofessional for the guy, not clean enough either. Whoever took Kath aren't related to the guys that took him so this just makes things more complicated. Bandit's kidnappers were pros, hired by a third party that's got them too scared to say anything."
Grabbing the radio in the vehicle Drifter tuned it and told the gangsters to keep a lookout for a van matching Nathaniel's description of it for him. "We'll get Kath back. Bandit..I just don't know if he wasn't caught in that explosion."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 07, 2017, 08:47:04 pm
The divine spirits were no match for Death and his hands. Roxanne would need something stronger… She thought about summoning it but she thought it wasn’t time. The spirit who was attacking Helen was struck down, but not before a fireball similar to the one that ended on of Helen’s former comrades flew in the air and hit the hand. To any regular human or spirit, such an attack would’ve been the end; to a hand of death, it merely pushed him back and knocked the air out of it.
The other 3 spirits were killed by death and his hands and the one still by helen was shut down from afar. Roxanne was once more alone in the battle field. "No matter...I can make more...I can summon them stronger too...but that will cost mana I am in short supply of...I can only be recycled so many times...it’s starting to take a toll.", Alt-Roxanne whispered to herself.
Helen then spoke to her directly. Alt-Roxanne removed her mask and looked at the mage hunter in the eyes, passion filled the spirit’s eyes. "Unite our orders? Don’t make me laugh! You know our history. We moved from the cowards who would destroy what they didn’t understand! I bet those books you grabbed earlier were for your book burning weren’t they!? To think Victor would choose someone like you as a partner still amazes me...No matter, he will get to make a better choice when we reach our destination. Now step aside, he has a duty to fulfill!"
The distraction had worked. Death had snuck up on Roxanne and aimed it’s gun at her. After his little remark, he pulled the trigger. As the projectile found it’s mark, Alt-Roxanne’s figure turned to a black mist that dispersed into the air. A few moments later, more flame towers appeared, 11 in total. However, the ten spirits that appeared were wearing silver robes that seemed to glow a grey hue. Alt-Roxanne spawned once more behind the spirits. She was slightly hunched over and grasped one of her arms. "...Bring me...the price...at all cost!", Alt-Roxanne ordered between heavy breaths. SHe was visibly exhausted. The 10 spirits once more went to their targets. 7 for Death and his hands and 3 for Helen and Victor.
Alt-Roxanne herself took out her orb and held it to observe it. It was about to die, one more recycling left before death was permanent. She didn’t get that extra life; Death shot the orb to pieces. Alt-Roxanne recoiled back and ran at the sight of this. Death continued to fire in a frenzy before the guarding spirit assigned to him got in his face. Alt-Roxanne took cover behind a wall and catched her breath. "This is not worth it...better get out of her and rest up...at I wasn’t able to bring Victor in but atleast I have intel now...It wasn’t all a waste of time….", Alt-Roxanne whispered to herself. She then turned to black mist again and left the farm’s premises for now.
The others would notice the new spirits were way tougher to kill. They didn’t die in one hit and seemed to know when to dodge and parry attacks. Pairs of them would coordinate to attack a single target and they would flee as a pair as well. This seemed like elite warriors.
Victor activated his aura spell and checked around the farm. She was gone, all that was left was the 10 spirits...they had dealt with worse...Victor picked up his sword and stood by Helen’s side. Roxanne’s “borrowed” body was still limp on the ground, the guardian spirits seemed to not want to harm it either so that wasn’t a worry. Victor’s chest began to hurt again, but this time enough to warrant a scream; however, it filled him with energy...enough to power his sword… Victor did so and then brandished it towards the closest spirit. "Let’s end this!", Victor shouted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 09:00:47 pm
Helen glowered at Roxanne, shaking her head. "You damned fool. Those books are to save Victor's life from something much worse than you!" she cried out, raising her symbol of judgement only to find that a shot from Death caused her to vanish again, looking around and giving an angry growl. Her energy for her wards, and for the symbol of judgement, were running low. Instead she held her hammer aloft, deftly evading a swing and returning with a blow of her own, seeing this creatures were more resistant to the lightning. "Helviti...Victor, be careful..." she said. She then decided to do something drastic, dropping the battle-ward and channeling the energy left in her holy symbol into Victor, to ensure he had power enough to not tax himself too severely.
Another final shot hobbled one the spirits, savagely hammering it in the fact as she exploited that opportunity. She then saw the body that the spirit had left behind. The symbol had just enough power in for one more shot. Or to fulfill its intended purpose. "Hold them off..." she said softly, dodging a swing as she activated her mask again. She sensed the lingering aftereffects of the severed connection, sensing a trail. She raised her holy symbol, prongs pointed upwards and held in the direction the trail seemed to point towards. The last hint of essence it it was channeling, into an attempt at a sealing spell. Alt-Roxanne's spirit was beyond the sight range of her clairvoyance, all she had was a blind shot at cutting her off from her spiritual minions and fixing her in place, she made the attempt...
Nathaniel nodded at that. "I'm not even sure if the three that were there were the same group that pulled up in the van, but hard to tell." he said. "That doesn't sound good though. Someone hired people to take Bandit? Don't like the sound of that. Question is if it was personal or part of something bigger."
That last bit gave him pause. "Explosion? Fucking christ. God, if he's...I..." he trailed off, looking down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 07, 2017, 09:11:19 pm
Death saw her disappear and paused for a moment. His glamours had fully faded by now as he shouted with an Italian-American accent "YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME! I'LL FIND YOU AND WHEN I DO I WILL DESTROY YOU!"
While he was distracted one of the spirits drove a blade through his stomach. This was followed up by two more cutting down through his shoulders. As it withdrew it's blades the spirit drove them in again as it began a string of strikes that left Death staggering back. Managing to recover as it pulled back for another set of strikes Death put a round through it's skull before stumbling back.
At the same time his Hand's went to work. Trading blows with their opponents the Hands eliminated them with some effort. Even with that they still received injuries and one was taken back to the spirit realm to recoup.
And then there was Steinar. His opponent came at him quickly and with the intent to kill him. Steinar had other plans than drinking mead in Valhalla as he ducked the first strike and took it's legs out from under it with his blade. As it tried to retaliate he cut off it's arms before driving his weapon through it's skull and shouting "You think you can stand against a Norse warrior? I've fought far longer than you've existed and far greater foes!"
---
Drifter reached a hand over to Nathaniel and rested it on his shoulder as he said "We don't know if he's dead. His gangster pals have a crew digging through the rubble. They might find him and if they don't I'm going to kill every last fucker responsible."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 07, 2017, 10:02:01 pm
Alt-Roxanne was moving to her rendezvous point. She almost made it when something made her stop. She didn’t know what it was so she attempted to make out it’s details; she was too tired to determine if that was a bad idea. By the time she knew what it was, it was too late; Alt-Roxanne closed her eyes and accepted her fate. That fate never came; after a few seconds, she opened her eyes to see another divine spirit in front of her. This one had arm’s instead of blades too and had deployed bionic swords. It had slashed the beam apart; this one was way more powerful than Alt-Roxanne could ever be.
“This is why we don’t leave the youngest member do the job...Why couldn’t we had all just gone and grabbed the damn fool? Why do we even want him again?”, The spirit spoke in a feminine voice.
"He is one of use Emily! How dare you say such things! He is a purifier just like yourself! Or what? Do your Hunter roots still haunt you?", Alt-Roxanne talked back.
The spirit by the name of Emily withdrew on of the swords to free one of her hands and slapped Alt-Roxanne across her face, hard. “Silence! You will not speak ill of me! Now, let’s go back. He will be waiting for us and your report.”, Emily told Alt-Roxanne.
Alt-Roxanne put her hand on her cheek and nodded. She wasn’t given the chance to talk back before the two disappeared to their headquarters.
Back in the fight at hand. Death and his hands seemed to be handling their shared of the spirits. Victor saw as he was dealt some serious blows but continued to fight. Helen and the Viking hand took care of two of the ones targeting Helena and himself before Helen took off. All that was left was the one spirit that was adamant to take Victor. Victor gave a swing of his blade but the spirit dodge. It came back and attempted to cut Victor with an uppercut but Victor shielded the blade which caused it to come clean of the spirit. The spirit recoiled in pain and Victor took the chance; he swung down and cut it in half before it too turned into black mist.
"It’s over...we won...", Victor said. His blade subsided it’s power and it turned off. Victor himself was drained and fell down to the ground; he fainted from the pain of the shard that adrenaline had drown out. Victor was passed out and the ground next to Roxanne. The battle was over but at what cost? What did this mean? Would they be back? Things had to come to an end soon...this was getting to ridiculous...This was beyond Randael now…
An unknown spirit was watching. It laughed at the pathetic “divine” spirits. He himself could take them all on but that was not his job. He was her to report to the spirit of Harvest. He would be pleased a possible alliance could be made….
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 10:31:34 pm
Helen fell to her knees, panting a bit as she expended that last hint of her symbol of judgement's power and her holy symbol's reserve of energy. A fine test for the item, at least. But a miserable failure of a test of the symbol of judgement. She stood, only to give an enraged cry and slam her hammer into one of the spirits, pounding it again and again. She didn't stop until it was a crumbled, fading heap. "Gods damnit!" she shouted, until by now the hammerhead was cracking the floorboards.
She looked around, focusing on trying to find the other Roxanne's spirit to bind it back into the body that lay sprawled out on the ground, sensing it lay dormant in the body still. Then she'd look to Death and his hands, giving a sigh as she turned to face them. "I'd have hoped to meet your companions on better terms than this..." she said softly, then looked to Steinar. "And I'd hoped we would have a moment of peace. I was asked to relay a message...Steinar Gunarsson, correct?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 07, 2017, 11:01:15 pm
Steinar nodded to her as he walked over "Yes?"
While this was happening Death sighed, trying to collect himself and get his glamours back in place. Which was when the Elder showed up. Dressed in a black leather jacket with a motorcycle helmet atop his head. There was also something else standing next to him, a woman. She was staring at Death before she said "S___ar is that you? Oh my-" The name she spoke came out garbled to Helen and the others.
Death turned shocked before the woman faded and he was left to stare at the Elder. "Why? WHY DID YOU DO THAT!"
he spoke in voice that was heard even as he stood several feet from the others but sounded like a whisper "You let yourself go. You were warned about that."
Death walked over towards him saying "What was I supposed to do. She broke free, she did something she shouldn't have done was I to just let her walk away?"
The Elder grabbed his hand as he neared and shoved Death down to his knees as he held the arm aloft. The sound of every bone in his arm shattering was heard by everyone present as the Elder said "You let yourself get emotional about it. You know what happens when you do that."
As he let the arm go the Elder drove a booted foot into Death's face sending him flat on his back. Death's Hands watched but stood where they were and Steinar put a hand on Helen's shoulder as he told her "Ignore it, there's nothing we can do so just focus on what you wanted to tell me."
The Elder brought a booted foot down on Death's jaw before following it up with a few repeated kicks to the stomach and ribs. By the time he was done Death was bleeding from his mouth and nose as he lay there. The Elder knelt down over him to say "You'll heal. But I just might revoke your contract."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 11:08:12 pm
Helen regarded the scene unfolding warily, looking back to Roxanne and Victor. One passed out from exertion, and one passed out from the aftereffects, soul only just now bound back to her body properly, before she gave a nod to Steinar. "I was asked last night to tell you, that Odin still smiles upon you to this day, regardless of what your duties have required." she said, before looking down. "A surprise and honor to see one of his hands taking the armament of old, by the way. I only wish it had been on better terms than this."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 07, 2017, 11:23:30 pm
Steinar smiled at Helen as she relayed the message. Once she was done he said "It is a pleasure knowing that Odin does not frown upon my work." When she mentioned his sword he retrieved it from his belt and looked at the weapon "This has been passed down in my family for longer than I can remember. It was an honor when I received it. But I think it's time it found it's way to another worthy of holding it."
With that he held the weapon in it's scabbard and offered it to Helen.
Death meanwhile did heal. Forcing himself to his feet he told Helen and Steinar "Tell the mage his debt is wiped clean, I will handle that matter myself. Steinar finish your business when you can."
With that Death disappeared along with the Elder, presumably to talk further.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 07, 2017, 11:36:09 pm
Helen was surprised by Steinar offering her the sword, giving a polite nod as she accepted. "Thank you. I will not disappoint you. When next we have the chance to fight together again, or if we have a more pleasant meeting." she said, blushing a bit under her mask. She then looked to Death, before giving a slight bow. "As you wish. If you're certain, but if you do this...take care, okay?" she said.
"And here I was afraid the drastic measures used to try and stop her would've gotten me in trouble as well..." she said quietly. "At this rate I'm going to need to hunt some monsters to make up for all the energy used. And get a good, stiff drink. Something stronger than posca."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 08, 2017, 05:45:18 am
It had been a hard drag up the hill after Carrol hit the man with the gun over the head and they got the two females up and into the van. They hadn't known how long the spider-thing would be preoccupied with the big man, and they hadn't wanted to find out. Not that multiple bullets couldn't have taken it out. But Hoyt was never a wasteful guy, and Carrol, even less so.
So they got them into the van, a little worse for wear, but breathing. They were in rough shape. The cat a little more so, obviously. The woman and the two men had done a real number on her. The woman had been shot in the shoulder, by the man Carrol had knocked out, presumably. The second they got them in, Hoyt floored it, and the van veered away and off the bridge at a steady sixty miles per hour.
He didn't stop until he'd passed the dead town they'd passed on their way to the bridge. Once he did, Hoyt slowed the van down and left it idle on the side of the road, leaning back into the cargo space to see Kermit and Carrol with their two new passengers.
"Sorry 'bout the rough ride, ladies. Didn't like the look of that spider fellow. Can I get your names, if you're still conscious?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 08, 2017, 05:54:43 am
Kathrine was still unconscious, but Evalynn... Not so much. She opens up by spitting blood at Hoyt, missing by a considerable distance. "Bitch's name doesn't matter. I'm Evalynn. Fuck off."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 08, 2017, 06:00:14 am
There's a noticeable twitch in Hoyt's facial muscles as Evalynn spits at him. Behind her, Kermit seems to tense up at this, anxiety written on his face. Carrol sighs and looks the other way, still puffing at a stubby cigar.
"That's all well and good, Evalynn. Maybe the bitch's name doesn't matter. You know what does matter?
Do you have any idea how much she cost the various puppet corporations that employed me to make? Any at all? A lot, Evalynn. A fuckton."
Carrol was busy moving Kath a bit as Hoyt spoke, trying to get her flat on her back on one of the van's spacious counters.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 08, 2017, 06:07:08 am
Evalynn just laughs. And laughs some more. "Kathrine's worth less than the clothes she's fuckin' wearing, asshole." She sounds pretty certain of what she's saying. It's pretty obvious that she really hates Kathrine. "Little slut ain't even worked for those, either. Stole them from us."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 08, 2017, 06:24:47 am
Hoyt dismissively shrugs, his eyes still locked on Evalynn.
"You know the saying. One man's trash, eh?"
Carrol had begun feeling over Kath's unconscious form, grimacing each time she found a fracture or particularly nasty bruise. "She's hurt pretty bad, Hoyt. We're gonna have to use some resources on this."
"Sure. I'll get on it soon. One sec."
Hoyt slips out of the driver's door, his combat boots crunching on the wet gravel on the side of the road, and his tattered lab coat swaying somewhat beneath his open duster. He paces around to the left of the van, pulling open the side door.
"We gotta let our other guest out first. This is her stop. Come on, Evalynn, you're free to go."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 08, 2017, 06:40:49 am
Evalynn drops her refined, almost mocking Queens English accent for a moment. "Glad ya can see reason. Didn't think fuckers like you would think straight." She steps out of the RV with a smug look on her face, starting to walk off before turning around. "And I'll hopefully never see any of you again. Shitheads."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 08, 2017, 06:42:23 am
Helen then waited, giving a sigh as she knelt beside Victor, waiting until he came to. "Victor...go easy, you fought well." she said softly. "I'd hoped to talk about...well, about some things we saw on the winds, but all this came up..."
Elsewhere, Nathaniel gave a sigh as he got out of the vehicle Drifter brought back, heading into his room to change out of his wet clothes, bandage up his side, then he simply sat there in bed, uncertain what he'd do now.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 08, 2017, 07:00:41 am
Nobody answered Evalynn's somewhat mocking goodbye for a little while. The only sound breaking the tranquil New England silence was her feet crunching along the gravel, same as Hoyt's did just a few seconds ago.
"Hey, Evalynn?"
She stopped, reflexively, and turned around, still smirking somewhat.
"I don't really like you."
And Hoyt pulled the trigger. Two .38 Super slugs accelerated out the twin barrels of his 2011A1 far, far faster than sight could catch. They were blunt, cast lead flat points. Not optimal for damage or penetration, but they did the job.
The bullets hit Evalynn in the gut. .38 Super is a high-velocity cartridge. They tunneled in and tunneled out, hardly slowing down at all. They probably wedged themselves in a rock somewhere in the field by the road, dozens of meters behind their target.
Evalynn fell flat on her back, none too gently. The gut isn't a prime spot for terminal shots. You got a few things down there, but not many that'd kill you quick. Sure, this was two slugs, but that just means two non-vital holes. Four, with the exit wounds. She probably couldn't feel what'd just happened. She knew what happened, of course, but she probably couldn't feel it. Adrenaline was a hell of a thing.
"You are not a nice person, Evalynn. You beat one of my projects half to death. And you disrespected me and my friends after we saved you from getting skinned alive and eaten by some fucking spider-person. That's not how you say thank you."
Evalynn rolled over, clutching her midsection. The ringing in her ears made Hoyt's voice fuzzy and hard to understand.
"So, two choices. Option A, I get in my van and drive off. You won't last more than a day. And that day will be hell. Oh, maybe even worse than the hell you're already gong to. Option B, Carrol comes out and finishes the job. What'll it be, Evalynn?"
Hoyt stepped over, leaning down and staring at the sadistic woman splayed out before him.
She looked back and spat blood at him for the second time today.
"N-.....no."
Hoyt sniffed in derision.
"No, huh? OPTION B! OPTION B! CARROL! GET THE FUCK OUT HERE! HURRY THE FUCK UP!"
There was a disturbance in the van, like heavy objects being moved around, before the side door opened up. Kermit's voice echoed out.
"-ucking seriously? Come on! Fuck! Hoyt, come on, man, she's got her fucking glaive! This is fucked up! Come on!"
Carrol stomped out of the van with Kermit on her heels. Carrol had a blade clutched in her gloved hands. It was a big, ugly thing. It was affixed to a long hickory handle. It looked balanced enough, in her practiced, strong grip, and it seemed sharp.
"Hoyt, man, this isn't chill at all, come o-"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP, KERMIT!" Hoyt stomped over to the smaller man in the leather jacket, holding his face inches from Kermit's. "FAG! FUCKING FROG FAG! FUCK!" He shoved Kermit against the van, turning back around to Carrol. "Go ahead. Fuck if I care."
Carrol advanced silently on Evalynn, who had rolled onto her stomach to attempt crawling further down the road. She wasn't as fast as the glaive-wielding scientist. The big, ugly thing was raised high into the air, and it was dropped ten times as fast. Right between the shoulderblades. There was something of a combination of a cliche movie-sword noise and a watermelon being crushed. Evalynn opened her mouth in a silent shout. The blade came back up.
WHUP. CRUNCH. CRACK. THWUP.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 08, 2017, 08:00:13 am
Lilith couldn't smell them. The smell of the cub had faded away, and Mica hadn't given her directions for a couple of minutes. She stood up, growling loudly, and swung at a nearby tree, sending splinters and scraps of bark flying off to the right. "CUB!" Kathrine groaned and rolled over, grunting in pain. The shock woke her up, at least. Two of them walked outside and started shouting. Third one shouting. Crunch. Her ribs hurt a lot. She wasn't dead. Something about one of those observations upset her, and she wasn't sure which one. Voice sounded familiar. It shouldn't be. She didn't want it to be. She wanted Ilyushin. Or Catnip. Or mom. Mom? She groaned again, moving her broken arm to cross her body. It hurt more than it was supposed to. Hurting things was mean, but... Kathrine winced and tried to remember why she felt bad. Did it have something to do with Catnip? Was she bad? That sounded right. She passed out again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 08, 2017, 12:45:52 pm
"Good job Mr. Lowe!" Said Medeina, the music cutting off rather abruptly in the middle of a rather exciting verse, "Now bring it upstairs!" Her own excitement was readily apparent, almost unreasonable. Medeina had watched every step of the chase, it was her favorite part of any observation. The excitement, tension, and final often bloody conclusion. "Just the head! All we need is the head!" She insisted. Mica allowed herself to be thrown from Lilith's shoulders, not wanting to dig in and possibly harm her. Lilith's skin was plenty thick enough to stop or at least slow down bullets and arrows, but the points of Mica's claws were sharp enough to poke holes in sheet steel. She slid back over Lilith's shoulder at the forward momentum, only to fly forward at the sudden impact of the tigresses paw against the tree. "Eh!?" Mica managed to cry before hitting the trunk herself. "Why we stop here Lil-eth? We follow road! That way!" She sniffed the air and was dismayed. The smell of the vehicle was almost entirely gone. "Gotta hurry Lil-eth! Gotta get morsel!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 08, 2017, 12:47:38 pm
Steinar left after saying his goodbyes. Perhaps once all this work was done he could sit down with her and have a nice chat. For now though he had a mage to go kill.
Elsewhere Garrik stood outside the warehouse. He had become aware of Sev's little plan and how many of his men had been involved. Pressing the button on the detonator Garrik retrieved his radio as he walked away. Switching between a few different frequencies he started transmitting codes.
The differing groups started dropping like flies as their termination codes for the neural implants they'd been outfitted were received they detonated. It was a pair of Vultures near the farm that probably had the worst resulting explosion. One's implant detonated in a rather volatile manner which also detonated the explosive ordinance he was carrying.
Garrik tossed the radio to the side and decided to go find himself a nice place to lay low for a while. His prior employers were going to be pissed that their contract was canceled. Pulling out a phone Garrik dialed a number and contacted an old friend..
Elsewhere(again) Bandit and Seven had been working on a new relay to put on top of the building. Seven was working on some of the electronics when a spray of sparks radiated out from his neck and he reached a hand up to check the cables. "Been a while since that happened. Means the shakes are gonna start up soon."
A few minutes later Seven's hands were shaking as he worked on the relay. Sighing the two decided to take a break and figure the rest of it out later. Most of the work had been done already so the next time they went to work it should be done the next time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 08, 2017, 01:04:44 pm
Hector smiled a bit as he stood over the remains. He'd practically vivisected the thing in his zeal, but the head was relatively intact, and Medina's insistence he cleaved it clean up, grabbing it to make his way back out of the tunnels. When he opened it and made it way back up, he gave a nod to the guards, making for the peculiar sight of a knight carrying the severed head of what appeared to be a zombie. "I have my mark. The mark hopefully, though possibly A mark." he said to the guard. He'd know that the knight was referring to. "Now, Medina? Tell me what I must do, then we'll talk about what I came to ask you about."
Something made Nathaniel snap out of it. He was dressed in his old outfit this time, having done his best to clean and hang up what Bandit made for him, heading outside as he looked around. A muffled explosion, something fairly big was set off in the distance, and he made his way into the forests to search for the cause.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 08, 2017, 01:06:20 pm
During the fight, Roxanne’s soul trapped in her body; deep inside of her being, she spoke with a divine spirit. This one sported a golden robe. “We had a deal Roxanne Luna...you graciously kept your end of the deal and now we will give you what you want...answers…”, The spirit said.
As the battle went on, Roxanne asked questions about who they were and their ties to her, asked about why they wanted Victor, asked about their end goal. The spirit listened and answered her queries with a single question.
“The convergence, or shifting as you call it, has given and taken a lot from you. This was no accident, all was created by design. By who, we don’t know; frankly, it doesn’t matter. Now, this event has torn us apart; yes, us, the members from The Shadows of Arcana. We have survived due to the convergence, we unite from across worlds to once more become something great. Things didn’t have to end up like this…”, The spirit answered, he paused at his last sentence and looked up; alt-Roxanne had been driven out of this body, the spirit continued, “No one had to be hurt...look, we need to talk to you and Victor. We know of the spirit of harvest, it is a threat to us all. Come to the coordinates of the note and talk to us for a while. Bring Victor with you, it is in your hands now. The naivete and resentment of your counterpart led to unnecessary conflict. As penance, come to us in peace and we will grant you whatever is in our power.”
The fight was over, all the other divine spirits had been dealt with. Helen was now trying to get Roxanne’s soul back to the surface; the spirit’s time was up. “Remember what I said. Come in peace, we mean no harm. Bring Victor..he will hesitate...so whispered this to him when he questions your motives.” A phrase was etched into Roxanne’s memory. She was being pulled now; the divine spirit disappeared and she was left alone with her thought for a moment until everything went black.
During the short time Victor had collapsed, he had that dream again. This time, it wasn’t Randael taking control of his body, it was of his own free will. The wore the clothes of God’s Army and held the rank of Bishop. He lead a small army of men who wielded swords depicted in the book of his former order: The Source. Some of these men were granted an animalistic power and rage, some could cut through matter and energy and a third were able to harness live energy from those their blades cut.
The farm residents once more came out to fight a valiant fight. Once by one, they were struck down by magic he helped pioneer. In the name of a god he didn’t believe in, he used his sword to strike down former allies and friend. The final battle once more arrived, the mage hunter stood alone; but this time, Victor had the upper hand. The smirked and snapped his fingers; divine spirits were summoned and they overwhelmed the place. Only screams could be heard as the spirits did their work. As this was going on, Victor ordered his men to torch the place. Let this be an example to all other settlements who dare defy them. This was a great victory God’s Army achieved and Victor had aided them. The looked at the place being burned to the ground, he grinned and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he found Helen next to him, asking him for a word with her.
"O-of course...This is over for now. What do you want to talk about? Do you want to go somewhere more private?", Victor answered. His tone betrayed some worry but that could be regarded to what just had happened.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 08, 2017, 01:22:27 pm
Helen gave a nod at that, before looking over and seeing that Roxanne appeared to be alive at least. "First, one I can explain here. The spirit of death has taken his mission, the one he asked of you, into his own hands. I wish I knew why, but given recent events, how hectic everything has been..." she said softly, a hand reaching to help him up. "The other thing was about those...memories I saw, during our experience. In private if you wish, though it may benefit Roxanne to be allowed to discuss it as well. All of us may have things we saw that we may have questions over."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 08, 2017, 01:36:23 pm
Drifter decided after letting Nathaniel off at the farm he'd do some redecorating of his little mobile armory. Grabbing an air compressor and a paint gun he set to work. A few layers of an almost black grey and then decal work. The hood was decorated with a drab olive green skull, while the back doors were decorated with a larger skull with dull red eyes.
From there he entered the back of the truck with the keycard and took a set of the armor inside out before closing the doors and locking them. Walking into the library with more paint he smiled at Alice and two talked as he set about painting his new armor.
--- Nathaniel found the source of the explosion, a pair of dead bodies mutilated by the explosion with their gear completely shredded. Any identifying marks on any of it had been completely destroyed. What was clear was that whoever these guys had been they were augmented with CBMs all over their bodies but none were in condition to be salvaged.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 08, 2017, 01:37:02 pm
Lilith growls at Mica for sounding annoyed, but quickly realises what she's saying. Them going down the road would've made sense, she supposed. "Cub. Bug take to cub." She waits a second, and then follows the road further down, stopping just at the junction of broken buildings. "Where?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 08, 2017, 01:42:02 pm
Nathaniel stopped over the pair, examining them carefully, for any sign of abnormalities. All that was apparent were their obvious signs of augmentations, signs of internal explosions having ripped them apart, and what he guessed was a sympathetic detonation of something they had on them. That alone made him suspicious, but this information was useless to him. Regarding the tattered remains clothes, and whether they resembled a uniform or at least appeared to match in the slightest, was the only thing he could think to try, and even that wasn't fruitful. "What the fuck went down here...come on, gotta be a dog tag, unit patch, something..." he grumbled to himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 08, 2017, 02:13:10 pm
"He did so? Huh...alright...", Victor answered to Helen’s first remarks.Confusion filled his mind but he was relieved about one less thing to worry about. "That might be for the best yeah. Might get Roxanne to tell us what the hell happened to her.", Victor said to Helen on her suggestion to speak of the dreams here.
Victor started to nudge Roxanne who seemed to be asleep rather than passed out. "Wake up girl, we need to ask you some things.", Victor said as he nudged her.
Roxanne batted his hands away with her own. "Laaater...It’s too early...5 more minutes...", Roxanne grumbled.
Victor gave a deep sigh and then whispered something in her ear. Roxanne jolted awake and slapped Victor in the face. "How did you know about my programing?!", Roxanne shouted at Victor.
"That body belong to my former partners you know? I knew her programming as part of my role...", Victor confused.
"Oh...alright then...", Roxanne said a bit ashamed,"Sooo, what’s up? What do you need me for?" Roxanne is now talking in a nonchalant tone, as if the battle hadn’t just happened.
"Helen here wants to talk about some things Rox. We thought that you might have a few things to share...", Victor explained.
"Alright then, what do you want to know? This is all my fault so the best I can do is be truthful...", Roxanne responded.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 08, 2017, 02:23:50 pm
Nathaniel inspected the corpses closely. Both had been dressed as random raiders but from conflicting gangs that were at war with each other so they wouldn't have been this close to each other. Digging through the shredded clothes of one he found a dog tag with only one thing written on it '32'. Aside from that everything was in shape that was too poor to get any details.
Meanwhile Drifter had painted the full head helmet of the armor a dull dark grey with the only additional detail being a trail of 'blood' pouring down from the right eye and the holes added for breathing through the nose.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 08, 2017, 03:17:31 pm
Helen gave a little nod at that, watching only smile a bit under the mask at something Victor whispered jolting her awake. When they were finished, she gave a nod to Victor and decided she'd start first. "First, I suppose I'll ask of the memory you shared, Victor." she said. "Does this remain true? How has it affected your thoughts as of late?" she asked. She was unaware of the character of his recent dreams, nor of the one he just woke up from.
"I'll also want to know what you did, Roxanne. Somehow your actions...no, our actions, drew the spirit of your slain counterpart into your body, and she had clear ill intent." she said softly. "And surely your counterpart had to have shared in our memories, yet her hatred still blinded her to reason."
Nathaniel seemed a bit concerned by the outfits. He'd never seen bandits displaying such extensive augmentation, though he supposed it was possible. One was a fluke, two seemed rather unlikely, and their differing uniforms made the whole thing absurd. He pocketed the dogtag after examining it, the marking on it striking him as unusual. Not regular Army tags, and not SPD markings either. He examined the utterly ruined scraps of implanted CBMs for a moment, before standing and heading back towards the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 08, 2017, 03:22:19 pm
Dee was asleep, so Medeina directed Hector to place the head on the table. After a cursory examination, Medeina found what she was looking for and directed her proxy to get to work connecting the head to the laptop. For a moment, nothing happened, and then Hector was listening to what sounded like radio chatter.
"-on scope. Spotter, what are they doing?" "Plowing a field Striker, want targeting coords?" "Affirmative Spotter, give coords. Mortar, load incendiary, prepare for a target." "Affirmative Striker, loading incendiary." *the voice identified as "spotter" rattles off a series of numbers* "Did you read that Mortar?" "Affirmative. Firing." "Learn to aim better Mortar. This is Spotter, Mortar missed. Copy Striker?" "*audible sigh* "Fuckin kids. Load up and try again Mortar. Revised coords Spotter?" *More coords are given* "Mortar? Got that?" "Mortar is down striker, holy shit we are under attack." "What? The muties?" "No it's the fucking white and red Striker, what the fuck are they doing so far south?" "Retreat Spotter, get out of there. If we don't-" "Striker come in." "Striker come in..." Mica pointed weakly in the direction of the dead city. She wasn't sure. The scent was almost completely gone now. "Hurry hurry Lil-eth. Lil-eth use sniffer!" There wasn't much to go on, and like Lilith she was beginning to get frustrated.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 08, 2017, 03:39:43 pm
Hector smirked a bit at that, listening to the chatter that was extracted from the severed head. "Sounds like chatter from when they attacked the center. White and red...heh." he said, looking at his shield. "Any intel that may prove of use to us?" he asked, regarding the severed head curiously. A revenant, augmented as well. God's Army was adapting, exploiting tactics he thought they would consider too heretical to even consider. A thought that worried him briefly. "While I'm at it, I'll discuss what I came here for. I was asked by...someone, to secure and bring back the vehicle they used in the assault on this place. Only vehicle we have able to tow it is the train, and I wasn't sure if I could safely drive it in proximity to the farm."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 08, 2017, 04:43:41 pm
Lilith lowers her snout to the ground, then immediately raises her head again. "Bug dumb. Bug dummy. Thupid Bug." She stands up suddenly in an attempt to dump Mica on the ground. "Thniff not work. Thupid Bug. Bug Blightwalker." As soon as Mica goes limp, Lilith gives a humourless laugh and starts running off again, towards the Necropolis.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 08, 2017, 04:48:55 pm
Victor looked away for a moment as Helen asked him about his memory. "It’s not what you think...I am not them ok? I...I just...", Victor said in between stutters, "Yes I am not to different from the cleansing flame...I too am afraid of what I don’t understand...As for my actions, I never let feeling and emotions like this get in the way. There is only one truth I follow and that is what guides me: Humanity deserves to know!"
Roxanne gave a deep sigh, she knew she had to explain herself. "Ok then...I’ll talk. I’ll start from the beginning but keep it brief. It all started when I stole some of Victor’s notes...I wanted to find answers and who else to ask but spirits who have access to the winds of memories? So I summoned spirits now and then and granted their freedom in exchange for information.", Roxanne explained, she gulped before continued, "One time...a particular spirit knew more than it had a right to...it said it served a master who had picked an interest in me...we made a series of deals and it granted me information...I learned real magic...I am a real mage now...but at what cost...the last deal we had...the spirit asked me to use my body...that was a mistake, the spirit even said so itself...things were supposed to be different...they mean no harm..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 08, 2017, 04:56:35 pm
"No Mr. Lowe, this is not a recording. This is live. You could probably continue listening in to these signals as long as the receiver remains viable."
"Fucking knucks, can't stay to there own fucking-" "They are breaking through! I repeat-" "Trying to contact the Old Guard, don't let them thro-"
"It appears Gods Army has enemies on many sides Mr. Lowe." Mica screeched in confused anger, "Lil... eth... nooo... mor... sel...!" It took some time for the paralysis to clear, emphasis having made the word more powerful. Mica lay on the grass, seething and unhappy. "Why... Lil... eth...?" She wanted to look for Kathrine too, to keep her promise. Catnip made her promise, and she hadn't, and Catnip would be angry. When she recovered, she followed after Lilith slowly. "Stupid Lil-eth..." She grumbled bitterly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 08, 2017, 05:15:14 pm
Helen gave a nod at that as Victor explained, followed by Helen. "Then we each have our things that we are cautious of. That's the danger in being wary of things though, one has to understand the nature of that caution. Too many in my order held caution born of hatred for the unknown, and not in the interest of humanity's safety." she said. "You've surely seen the consequences of incautious mutation, and possibly augmentation as well. As the Seventh Tenet says, among other things...hold no malice against one corrupted by the beyond, for the consequences are their own punishment. Worse, not all have entered into it willingly." she added.
She wondered if he would know the next line, finishing the tenet as written in The Cleansing Flame: as when dealing with the arcane, make no assumptions and act with caution. Then, she looked to Roxanne, giving a nod. "And in doing so, brought forth your other self. She...Darius, Alexandra, Toshiro..." she said softly, looking down. "Did you glimpse her objectives? She cannot be allowed to rebuild the order the way she sees it. Not when we have made such progress, together."
Hector was taken aback by this, surprised at Medina's statement. "And here I'd hope they had a more poetic name than The Pretender." he said, chuckling a bit. "Anything you can gleam, locations, operations data, just make sure you don't render yourself vulnerable." he said. "For now though...what methods do you know that would allow getting the train out over here safely. I can operate it without issue once it gets moving, but starting off it's way too close to everything."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 08, 2017, 06:00:33 pm
"I can only glean what you can hear Mr. Lowe, I assume these people attacking Gods Army in the north will try to reach out eventually. As for your request, I can move the train. Mr. Dee made Catnip install, as you say, a robotic control unit. I can move it, but I cannot arm it." Medeina said conversationally.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 08, 2017, 06:02:24 pm
Hector gave a nod at that. "Well then. So long as they aren't Hell's Raiders, we have what may be a useful ally in the future." he said. "Thank you then. Tell me what I must do and so be it, if you're able to?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 08, 2017, 07:03:27 pm
"You wouldn’t know half of it Helen...our order embraced science and combined it with the arcane...Project Bio-Hazard, the first attempt at creating perfect mutants with magic...Project Horizon, creating bionic weapons enchanted by arcane artifact effects...I saw what it did to people Helen...It made them abandon their humanity...I vowed to stay clear of that line of work...", Victor responded to Helen, his tone very much guilt ridden, "Jude 22–23: “Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” It is not my place to judge...I am sorry..."
"I...I didn’t know she would be one using me as a vessel...I am sorry… I will make things right! I promise! There is just one thing I have to do Helen...one thing to close this thread...I ask for your blessing...I need Victor for a quick adventure, I assure you no harm will be done to him...”, Roxanne response to Helen once the attention had been shifted to her, "And don’t worry...nothing will be rebuilt in her image...I will make sure of that. We have indeed worked hard to unified our orders and I will be damned if anyone gets in the way...I need to talk to them Helen...this is the last piece. They know of Randael...we can end this..."
Sigma had set up shop by the bushes with a clear view or the strange building they had seen Roxanne be dragged in. He and Lambda were taking turns watching the place. They had taken the RV but kept it out of the forest by the side of the road; one would sleep on it and then would wake up, hunt for food then come to relieve the other. It had worked thus far.
Not much activity had occurred, but this was different. Roxanne had come out, she waited for a bit until a raven landed on her extended arm. She smiled as the raven made a strange call. “What the actual fuck Roxanne...You are not in danger at all are you? I need to report this...Lamba...hurry up…”, Sigma said to himself quietly.
Randael had come out of his base. He was waiting for his scout to deliver the news of what the farm was up to. The raven spoke. It talked about a new possible enemy that had managed to fend of even the spirit of death, it spoke of a third woman who looked like the body she possesed attacking, it spoke of divine spirits. Randael smiled at all of this. The farm was vulnerable, his project was complete and he could see he had more time in relative peace. Soon, He would establish himself in this new world and even the denizens of the Alpha sub-plane would tremble at his power.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 08, 2017, 07:14:16 pm
Helen nodded at that, sighing some. "Just ensure that your experiences do not endanger this work...that they do not provide Randael, or any other enemy, a way to threaten us further." she said softly, before looking to Roxanne with uncertainty. "I understand. Just please...be careful in doing so. If this is required, if you're sure they can be trusted, then so be it. I will resume my own work. If I can complete what I need to sever whatever effect Randael has embedded in Victor, then I will make use of it as soon as he returns. Bring him back safe for me, okay?" she asked.
She did not yet mention what else she was researching, the reason she would need The Source. But it would take time before they were ready, and she suspected this time would be best served traveling to the site that they saw in the visions. Or at least she would do so while Victor and Roxanne were on their own journey. It wasn't far, but she would need someone to procure a vehicle and go with her.
"And...in any case, if there is anything else you wish to ask, of memories or anything else, as you wish."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 08, 2017, 08:28:11 pm
Alice had gone off to sleep as Drifter took the rest of the armor out of the library and to his quarters to finish painting and adding decals. Borrowing a mannequin to put the armor on while he painted Drifter set about his work. Grabbing a paint brush he started with the chest plate.
A dull dark grey was painted over the armor as a base. Then Drifter grabbed a paint brush and a can of blood red paint and set about the work. He lost himself to the task as he applied the paint to the armor. The chest plate was painted in a manner that looked as if the bearer had been shot and stabbed and even close inspection tricked the eye until you actually touched it. A horrifying display of blood was painted on that only added to the display of faux gunshot and stab wounds.
Going back to the helmet he added a few more details that gave it an unholy feeling. The teeth he painted on had a dull but horrifying glow to them that matched what he added to the eyes and faux blood trails. Getting a bit of inspiration Drifter scrounged together a few devices and started to rig the helmet with a special little system. He could activate it to make the devices he rigged together produce a thick vapor that would simulate smoke pouring out from the helmet without hindering his breathing.
From there the arms and legs were decorated in similar fashion adding to the horrifying display. Adding a small device that would electrocute and burn the victim to the hand of the right arm Drifter finished up. The last thing he did was add a few more details to his pegleg to match the armor since it'd be kind of hard to wear that leg of it.
Elsewhere Bandit and the others had gotten the radio station up and transmitting. The last thing to do was start their first broadcast. Seven and Bandit were manning the booth when Leroy gave them the thumbs up. Seven leaned towards the mic and spoke in a deep voice as he said "Hello World! I'm Seven and my co-host here is-" "Bandit" "-and this is 105.1 Mad Men FM. Our first track up is a lovely little tune to trim some zombie heads off to. Stay lovely out there!"
The music began to play as the pair leaned back and talked with the mics off while they waited for the intermission.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 08, 2017, 09:28:25 pm
"I promise you he will be fine. You have my word as a sister in arms. Not that that means much comming from me after what I have done...And I don’t have anything to ask you right now...our memories are now one for the most part. Maybe we can discuss them later on...", Roxanne told Helen.
"And what makes you think I will follow you to where you want to go? How do I know you are not just pretending again? I know more codes you know? Prove to me that I can trust you.", Victor exclaimed to Roxanne.
Roxanne grinned and leaned in to whispered something into Victor’s ear. The words the divine spirit told her ae murmured to Victor by Roxanne. Victor blushes some and Looks at Helen. When Roxanne is done, she giggles a bit covering her mouth with her hand.
"He said that?", Victor asked Roxanne.
Roxanne nods. "Yes, he still has it with him. He will give it to you. You won the bet after all!", Roxanne response.
Victor pause for a moment and thinks stuff throught. "That fact that you know that is disarming...but you aren’t even from this world...no offence...that means...hmmm...fine...I’ll trust you for now...", Victor says.
"I knew you would trust me! Thank you Victor!", Roxanne exclaimed back.
"Don’t think you are off the hook young lady...I will run some test to see if you can really trust you...I can’t properly read your aura here...spell to limited. Let’s go to my room, I got proper equipment. If I determine it is really you. You have my word I will listen to you."
Roxanne looked a bit annoyed at his statements. "I am 35! Don’t patronize me! And fine! I will comply with your stupid tests for now...", Roxanne told Victor. She then turned to Helen, "How do you deal with this stuck up? I don’t envy you girl...Anyways, we will be leaving you know. After this, I assume Victor and I have some stuff to plan and I can tell you do so as well. Good luck Helen, let’s come back unharmed and rejoice!", Roxanne told Helen.
Victor rolled his eyes at Roxanne’s comments. "Let’s got Roxanne, it’s getting late. The sooner we do this, the faster you can go back to getting high or whatever it is you do.", Victor told Helen. Roxanne just pouts and looks away indignant. "As for you Helen. I too wish you good luck. I don’t know what is in store for either of us but we have been through worse. See you on the other side.", Victor tell Helen. He takes Helen’s hand and kisses it; he then turns around and leaves to his room, Roxanne in tow.
The two entered Victor’s room and the door close behind them. A long journey awaited them and they had to get ready. First things first, Victor had to trust Roxanne and she had to convince him to go with her; Roxanne lacked time to waste and Victor patience. It was quite the situation.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 08, 2017, 09:37:36 pm
Helen couldn't help but chuckle a bit at that back-and-forth, and Roxanne's remark regarding handling Victor made her smile under her mask. "I know, hard to keep him on a short leash isn't he? Just so long as he doesn't give me reason to do so literally." she teased, giving a polite nod as she made her way for the door. "I'll make my preparations as well. Possibly later today or in the morning, as it'll be a short trip." she said, only to blush as Victor kissed her hand. "May the gods guide and guard all of us." she said, soon returning to the room where she'd brought the books, to spend her time preparing and studying for now...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 09, 2017, 01:29:45 am
Medeina explained what needed to be done, and it struck Hector as terribly simple. Maybe too simple. "Just take the setup you see here, the harddrive matrix and computer, and place them inside whatever serves as a control center for the "train." If you think I'll be likely to slide around a lot, then maybe you should find some way to hold it all down. How long do you think this will take Mr. Lowe? The destruction of this spy allows me to leave the center for a lot longer, but I am loathe to leave Dee alone for long without Mica around. You never know what else could be hanging around."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2017, 02:09:38 am
Hector nodded at that. "Understood. It will be a trip back to the farm in the tank, a trip here in the train, back to the farm, then drop you off at the refugee center. Little over half an hour I suspect." he said, carefully setting things up to take Medina with him. He was likewise a bit wary, and as he took Medina along, he gave a wave to another of the guards. "Don't rest easy yet just because we found one pest, alright?" he said, soon making his way outside.
Indeed the trip back was fairly simple, around 12 minutes with both the tank's engines running, as he found during the attack on the center. Get Medina in the train, hook her up, and fumble for any way available to secure the matrix to ensure she wouldn't go sliding all about. Things were rather simple enough after that was taken care of. He noticed, to his surprise and concern, that Kath hadn't come out to clamber onto the train this time.
It wouldn't be until later, after all this was done, that he was able to talk to Nathaniel, and learn of what all went down...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 09, 2017, 03:40:01 am
Ten minutes after the death of Evalynn, and everything was back to normal in Hoyt's mobile home. Carrol was wiping her blade down with one of the many spare pieces of cloth scattered about, and Kermit was silently brooding in the back, nothing much written on his face. After a drive down the road a ways away from Evalynn's damaged corpse, and they'd stopped once again, this time so Hoyt could get a good look at Kathrine. That was what Evalynn had called her.
She wasn't in good shape. Not at all. Left arm and left leg bent out of place something fierce. Heavy bruising body-wide. And three cracked ribs, by Carrol's estimate. Wouldn't be a fun few days of recovery for the cat-girl, that was for sure. Hoyt steps a little closer, waving his hand in front of the semi-conscious cat's face.
"Mornin', sunshine. Doctor Upton here. This is Nurse Hitchcock and Nurse Quintero. We're gonna help you out, alright?" Hoyt's rasping, unpleasant voice probably didn't help, but he seems to be sincere enough with his words.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 09, 2017, 03:59:31 am
Kathrine's response to the wave is to just blink a couple times, and shake her head. "No..." She tries to crawl away from the three, but ends up just flopping around a tiny bit. "Nooo..." This time, she manages to almost throw herself off the table, squeaking in pain in the process. She's left just shaking her head gently, holding her broken arm with her okay one.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 09, 2017, 04:15:32 am
Hoyt's face remains monotone and unreadable as Kathrine mumbles 'no' a few times, Carrol standing close beside him. "Eh. Worth a try, huh, nurse?" He asks rhetorically, before nodding his head to Carrol. She leans forward rather quickly, taking a firm yet gentle hold of Kath's undamaged leg and keeps it still. Her left hand comes up with a small, clean syringe, which she promptly jabs into Kath's calf. Her thumb depresses the injector, and that's that.
"Hopefully that'll make the procedure easier. That stuff sure takes my mind off pain, right, Carrol?" Hoyt punctuates this last part with a playful jab at Carrol, laughing under his breath, his needle-like teeth clacking together quietly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 09, 2017, 04:56:05 am
Kathrine keeps squirming for a quick minute, then slowly starts to settle down. "H-hi there Master Hoyt..." Hoyt. That was a funny name. So was Carrol. They had funny names. She starts giggling, bringing her broken arm across her body in the process. "Hi Mistress Carol..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 09, 2017, 05:33:26 am
Carrol supplants Hoyt at this point, pushing in and standing before Kath. "Hey there, kit. Hold still, would ya? We're gonna fix you up real nice." Her decidedly Louisianan drawl is much more soothing than Hoyt's hissing rasp, and Carrol breathes in and out soothingly as she takes a firm hold of Kath's broken elbow.
"This'll jolt a bit."
Crack.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 09, 2017, 05:47:39 am
Kathrine screams. Even through the drugs, it still hurt like a motherfricker. After she's calmed down slightly, she tries to look Carrol in the eye, genuinely confused. "W-why?" Tears are rolling down her face and her tail's thumping around on the floor, agitated. "W-whe-where's Mist-Mistress?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 09, 2017, 05:50:49 am
"To make ya feel better, silly kitten. A little more and it'll be over and done with. Trust me."
Carrol doesn't answer Kathrine when it comes to the location of her mistress, as Carrol doesn't even know who that is. Sighing heartily in an attempt to quickly catch her breath, her hands move from Kath's arm to her damaged leg, and that's that.
Crunch.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 09, 2017, 06:01:42 am
Kathrine, surprisingly, doesn't scream this time. Instead, she's staring at Carol. She winces, sure, but there's no other reaction from her. "Whe-where's M-Mica? Where's Lilith? WHERE'S MICA?" As soon as she's gotten that out, she just passes out again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 09, 2017, 12:53:07 pm
Mica wandered the necropolis looking for Lilith and Kathrine. The scents had died out entirely, and left Mica hopeless. To her surprise, she came across an old familiar place. The ruins of tents picked clean of items of use and a pile of browning, half gnawed bones at the foot of a wooden cross. The note had been ripped away, and the bones of the man who had been nailed to it were scattered about. Mica didn't feel hungry, at least not nearly as hungry as she had been last time she'd been here. The cage they'd put her in still sat where it had been when Roxanne had cut one of the bars and allowed her to escape. The sights brought about a bout of quiet self reflection. Despite her current predicament, she was pleasantly overwhelmed, she could almost see the ghost of what she'd been and what she was. The contrast made her smile. She told Hector and Roxanne that she would give anything, but they had taken nothing of value from her in exchange for their cure. A little while later, Mica was ripping into a strange glowing man. It had emerged from a hole in the street and run at her. The thing was pathetic, dissolving at her casual swipe. "Eh? Where glow man come from?" She asked herself aloud. The hole in the street stank like the sewers leading away from the refugee center. Perhaps... "Catnip maybe know how to find morsel, rat is not Catnip, so... Maybe Catnip in there?" She thought. It was worth a shot. Maybe Lilith could bring back Kathrine while Mica was bringing back Catnip? She'd take a look, even if she turned up nothing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2017, 01:03:25 pm
Hector had returned after his tasks, altogether it'd been a mere 45 minutes in total. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, the lack of Kathrine's reaction when he started up the train again, deciding to make his way to Nathaniel's room to ask him. He was in charge of keeping an eye on the farm while the knight was away, after all.
"Nate? Is everyone alright? What about Kathrine? I'm worried my little scare and argument a few hours ago might've pissed her off..." he said, seeing to his surprise the utter mess that Nathaniel's kevlar-enhanced outfit was. By now all the radio chatter had made him aware of Bandit's abduction, and the thought concerned him. Everything had been so hectic lately that he never even noticed he was gone until after the fact. Now he started worrying about everyone else on the farm.
"Shit. Hector, she...someone took her. Made off with her and another woman that beat her half to death. I couldn't stop them, I..." he said, trailing off a bit. He could see the way Hector looked at him, even with that great helm on he knew what it meant. Before he had time to react, an armored backhand sent him reeling, toppling backwards. He was stunned, terrified, but at this point he felt like he deserved it, felt like he deserved whatever else the knight was about to do to him.
Nathaniel managed to sit up and spit out a bloody tooth when, to his surprise, the knight merely turned and left, and the force of him slamming the door open almost tore it out of its hinges. Even through his helm, his words practically cut through the silence of the farm. "I leave for a few fucking hours, hauling that WORTHLESS mobile...f-fuck...FUCKBOY SHACK, over a dream because of some stupid, sack of shit machine-goddess, and THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS!? K-kathrine...goddammit..." he shouted. He indulged in profanity only on occasion, and never to the extent that he just did, marching off into his own room.
Shield dropped, scabbard thrown aside, helm and gauntlets dropped, mail pulled up and over his head, only to be thrown at the chair in his room such that the forced knocked it over. The knight was still worn down, only having a single good night's sleepm and he practically collapsed onto the bed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 09, 2017, 01:14:30 pm
Victor and Roxanne had entered Victor’s room. She had been following him so he entered last and closed the door. "Should I look the door?", asked Roxanne as she closed it.
"Doesn’t matter either way. It’s not like we are doing work that requires no interruption. If anyone wants to come in, I can address them and then finish the test. But I assume people would have the common courtesy to knock so I’ll leave it up to you.", Victor said; he had already began to prepare to the device he had made recently as well as opening his journal for notes on the aura spell. He looked at the device and then at Roxanne; he then nodded a bit and flipped a page on his journal.
Roxanne was both annoyed and concerned about Victor behavior. It wasn’t like him to be this dismissive and cold. "Victor...what’s wrong? Why are you being like this?", Roxanne asked.
Victor closed the book shut giving a very loud thud. The sound startled Roxanne a bit. Victor turned his head around and glared at Roxanne while holding the book. He then let go of the book and turned around to face Roxanne fully. "What is wrong? What is wrong?! Everything's wrong Roxanne! Everything! We have a rogue spirit biding its time doing who knows what. It took your body so we know he isn’t afraid to hit us home. Then you go and make a pact with random spirits, one of which hijacks your body, again, and makes us have to fight it! What is wrong you ask?! Well shit, I don’t know Roxanne, I must be going nuts!", Victor shouted. He was loud enough to make Roxanne cower in her seat while she was reprimanded. If it hadn’t been for the sound spell, anyone nearby would’ve have heard the commotion.
Silence filled the room afterwards for a few moments. Victor returned to his desk but stood in front of it. He used one of his hands to support his weight on the desk and the other to facepalm in frustration. "I am sorry Roxanne...that was uncalled for...it’s just...I don’t know...", Victor said as he took a seat in the chair and placed both elbows on the desk and his hands on his forehead looking down, "A lot of things have happened recently...I am tired of fighting all the time...it’s not my thing...I want to settle down you know? I want to open a little magic shot and enjoy the rest of my life; maybe start a family...but as always, my past catches up to me...mistakes of the past haunt me to no end, I fight my own demons all the while I cause trouble to those around me...do I even deserve peace? Is it my fate to close all the mistake I have done in the past...I don’t know who or what to trust anymore..."
"Victor...I...", Roxanne managed to mumble before she couldn’t say another word. Two emotions filled her mind, both she didn’t know how to deal with. The first, fear: for the first time ever in her life, she was afraid of Victor; she didn’t recognize him right now. In all the people she was ordered to kill, two types stood out as the most dangerous: a man who had something to fight for and one who had nothing to lose. Roxanne wasn’t sure which one Victor was at the moment. The second was pity: she felt sorry for him. A once proud man reduced to a defeated man, no, defeated wasn’t the right word. Lost was closer to the truth, Victor felt lost. "I don’t know what to say...", Roxanne said after regaining some composure.
"Then don’t say anything...", Victor responded. The grinned and chuckled a bit. "Why am I telling you this? For all I know, you are another imposter who will use this information against me...please Roxanne...prove me wrong...Give me hope that not all is lost...", Victor said, he was now properly standing up. He recomposed himself and grabbed the device and journal.
"Alright, moment of truth…", Victor whispered. Roxanne just nodded and closed her eyes; she expect pain or something similar. She subconsciously hoped it would as a way to atone for her actions. She could she had cause real strife.
The procedure itself didn’t last very long. First, Victor activated his aura spell, there it was, Roxanne’s aura. He smiled as he recognized it but this wasn’t enough. He then took the device and activated it. His smiled widen as the machine showed two blips, one for his own aura and one for Roxanne. Victor was about to open his book to interpret the reading the machine gave when he noticed something. He could feel two auras intensity increase in his aura spell. The device emitted some kind of arcane radiation field that bounced off auras; the machine then would pick up the bounced of radiation and give out a reading. However, the aura spell seemed to pick up the radiation as well. Since both Roxanne and Victor were in the room, both their auras were no vibrant and could be analyzed in detail.
Victor lowered his hand with the device to concentrate. He focused on Roxanne’s aura, he could see so much detail now! The aura looked clear, no impurities in it. The data didn’t lie, Roxanne wasn’t lying, the aura confirmed it: This was 100% Roxanne Luna’s aura.
Roxanne had kept her eyes close. She was instinctively flinching as she expected a jolt of pain or something sharp to sting her; but none of the came. Instead, she opened her eyes to a loud thud. Roxanne looked down toward the sound and saw Victor had dropped the device he was using to test on her. Then she looked up and saw Victor’s face; he was tearing up and his face was riddled with guilt. Victor stumbled back and sat on the bed; he covered his face with both hands.
"I am so sorry Roxanne! I am sorry I doubted you! I...I...I should’ve believed you. It’s just that...I am sorry...", Victor said to Roxanne in between sniffles. Roxanne didn’t know how to react. She sat down on the bed next to him and tried her best to comfort him. Thing was, this was the first time in some time something went right. His life had been a series of events he had been tasked to deal with. A rare breather now and then but that was only to solve issues, never to make things better. But now, things were proven to be positive for now. The unknown forces were vanished and Roxanne was back. Progress had been made!
Victor eventually calmed down and then he and Roxanne talked for a bit. They talked about the upcoming mission and about Randael. Roxanne assured him things would go alright. They agreed to meet tomorrow morning by Roxanne’s APC, The Armored Scouter. It’s weapon’s systems were down but they wouldn’t need it anyways. The conversation turned a bit personal at the end. Mostly about their lives in their respective universe. Roxanne explained Catnip’s prophecy and how they lived before the shifting. She told him about how even then, Randael controlled her. Victor in turned told Roxanne about experiences after the cataclysm. How he and Alt-Roxanne survived; how they found that place that eventually led to their doom and about Alt-Roxanne death. Roxanne now had the two points of view on the battle, Helen’s and Victor’s. Both were centered about themselves; both had lost things dear to them, things beyond just fallen brethren. She just needed a third point of view...the point of view of the person she had massacred as for some time...it would soon be time to meet her.
Roxanne excited Victor’s room and head for her own. She needed to prepare something and get sleep despite her annoyance at that. Victor likewise made some preparations. He still didn’t know what to expect so he would be taking some wards and failsafes with him. For now, it was time to rest. He laid on his bed and slowly drifted to sleep; once again, he felt he wasn’t alone. But it didn’t mattered...whatever it was, Victor was confident it’s end would come soon enough.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 09, 2017, 01:28:57 pm
Drifter had put his new armor in a duffle bag and walked out to his new vehicle. Moving the weapons out of the cab save for the custom weapon he'd taken a liking to he put them in the back before closing and locking the doors. Turning the engine on Drifter noticed the vehicle still had an FM radio and decided to check for a signal and heard the ending of a song. Nodding his head a bit Drifter was surprised to hear it.
After a minute the song ended and he was greeted by a familiar voice "That was a lovely little song wasn't it folks? I'm your host Bandit, Seven's out for a bit but we're still going to play you a wonderful selection of songs. Aight let's roll the next one."
Blinking to himself he stood up and went to tell Nathaniel Bandit was alive. Hopefully this would get him in a better mood.
Meanwhile Alice had heard the vehicles pull up and decided to see what was going on. Walking over she waved in greeting. Maybe it was just traders, maybe it was someone else interested in staying here, either way she figured someone should greet them.
Elsewhere a column of jeeps led by the Sherman rolled up to the entrance of the old lab Apophis had lived in. Maxim dismounted the jeep he was in and shouted "Okay boys dismount! Blitz, Krieg I want you two to head in and lead the way. Sixteen of you boys follow behind and provide support if needed."
The twins stepped off the front of the tank in their heavy metal armor and modified helmets. Hefting heavy riot shields that had been reinforced over the years the two started towards the entrance. Blitz pumped the grenade launcher he held while the other tightened his grip on the MP40 he held.
Roland watched the men go in and then told the others to get the jeeps pulled in closer, nothing was left in there anyway. They still wanted to check it but hey he understood that much. Veronica reinforced his orders and the men pulled up next to the entrance as they waited for the all clear from the twins.
(the thing detailing Roland's little solo adventure is linked below, should be view only) https://docs.google.com/document/d/18GScdxvBOtaFfORxELOm5StPf8JZXD9zW1lRFDF12fY/edit?usp=sharing
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 09, 2017, 01:30:21 pm
Quinn stands outside of his lab, fiddling with an unlit cigarette in his fingers. He puts it in his mouth and takes out a cheap plastic lighter before looking up at Helen, "Yyyes?" he says, taking the cigarette out of his mouth once more.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 09, 2017, 02:10:04 pm
Lilith stops about a mile away from where the RV is, unbeknown to her. After spending a couple of minutes just throwing rocks and beating up shrubbery, she decides to head back to the farm. She should probably apologise to Natalie and Bug.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2017, 02:20:40 pm
Nathaniel was sitting there on the floor in his room, looking up at Drifter. He wondered if the man heard Hector's tirade, a few minutes before he arrived to give him the news. "Huh. How'd that happen? Well that's...shit that's good news. I need...I should get some rest honestly." he said
The next morning, Helen had arrived to check on Quinn, giving a nod. She had her usual gear, including the curious addition of a rather plain yet well-made sverd, a 9th-century Type C Norse sword. She gave a little nod. "Was hoping to borrow a ride somewhere. Not too far at least. Something to help Roxanne and Victor with, though mostly Victor." she explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 09, 2017, 02:30:54 pm
"Let me get my coat." Quinn says, putting the cigarette in his mouth and lighting it. He heads inside of his Lab and walks out in his armored lab coat with a scabbard containing an incorruptible sword and a small leather holster containing a colt defender on his leather belt. He holds up his keys and starts to make his way towards the pick-up, "Where are we heading?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2017, 02:36:33 pm
Helen gave a nod at that, for now checking her gear again. Helm, gauntlets, boots, gilded aegis, and mask of insight. Her hammer and symbol of judgement, and now a sword she wasn't used to fighting with. She drew it partway to examine the inscription on the blade. "ᚴᚢᚾᚾᛅᚱᚱ" it read.
She sheathed it again before giving a nod, having marked something on one of the road maps they had in the library. "Place southwest, past the refugee center and down a country road. Have it on the map here." she said, offering it to him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 09, 2017, 03:06:33 pm
Lilith pushes herself up onto her paws. She'd just fallen asleep on the floor outside Nathaniel's shack as soon as she'd gotten back. She should apologise. Maybe do it again. She scrapes a claw against his door and then waits. When he answers, she pushes him back inside and starts rubbing her face against his. "Sowwy Natalee."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 09, 2017, 03:24:30 pm
Quinn looks over the map, and then he nods. He hands the map back and gets inside the pickup, he flicks the excess ashes away from his cigarette. He starts the truck and waits for Helen to get inside the truck before asking: "Where did you get the sword?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2017, 03:31:11 pm
Nathaniel was surprised to see Lilith there, waiting outside his door as he knelt to hug her tight. "I'm sorry too, Lilith. I'm not any good at protecting people." he said softly. "You didn't find her, did you? What about Mica? Where is she?"
Helen followed along, getting in the truck after he did, examining the map again. The question surprised her a bit, realizing he noticed the unfamiliar weapon. It was visibly of a different style hilt compared to Hector's sword, and not a design used much by The Cleansing Flame if he was familiar with their armaments. "A gift from a recent arrival, for helping out in a fight. It's...hard to explain." In truth she still wasn't fully sure why Steinar gave it to her, but it started to dawn on her what he meant by it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 09, 2017, 03:48:04 pm
Lilith nuzzles up against Nathaniel's side where she clawed him, giving it a little lick. "Lilith sowwy for hurting Natalie." She slowly starts purring, going back to rubbing her head against him. "Sowwwwy..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2017, 03:54:03 pm
Nathaniel winced a bit, he still had his side bandaged up, giving a sigh as he hugged her as best as he could. "It's fine. I'm sorry for failing you, Lilith." he said, tears had been running down his face despite himself, leaning on her. "You did nothing wrong..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 09, 2017, 04:21:03 pm
Lilith licks Nathaniel's face again. "Lilith hit Natalie, aboothe. Aboothe bad." She rises up, leaning over him and wrapping her arms around him, not quite taking care to not squeeze his injured side. "Lilith loveth Natalie."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2017, 04:30:24 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that, giving a sigh. "I know, Lilith. It's just...I understand why you did it. You got angry, because I fucked it all up." he said softly, petting her in response. "I love you too, Lilith." he said, smiling a little despite his worries.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 09, 2017, 04:51:31 pm
Quinn shrugs, he presses play on the car's stereo and music starts to play. He opens the window a crack and flicks out more ashes. He drives down the makeshift path towards the center and towards their destination.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 09, 2017, 05:24:15 pm
Lilith shakes her head, then stops nuzzling him. She looks him straight in the eyes for a couple of seconds, then leans forward, mouth open. "Nomph." She's gently nibbling on his shoulder again, tail swishing back and forth. "Nhatleeee. Nom." She then wraps her arms around him tighter and lifts him into the air, still latched onto his shoulder.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 09, 2017, 05:26:23 pm
Drifter had left the pair to have their little conversation as he walked back to his truck and got in. Pulling the door closed he put it in gear and started driving away from the farm. He'd heard some radio chatter the other day from traders talking about some raiders charging a 'toll' and decided to go see about dealing with it. Stopping a fair distance from the place he started putting his armor on.
Once that was done he pulled a rotary grenade launcher from the back and loaded it as he listened to the radio through the speakers installed in the back. Closing the cylinder of the weapon he left his mosin in the vehicle and dismounted before locking the vehicle and making sure the doors were closed. Smiling to himself he walked towards the little barricade they'd set up. The morning fog helped the little charade he was playing.
The men at the barricade saw him through it after a minute and looked to each other. Then the glow on the mask started and a few took a pair of steps back. Drifter activated the faux smoke effect and three of the men turned and ran yelling something about some superstition they held. Lifting the grenade launcher Drifter fired the first round one handed.
The watch tower they'd setup crumbled to the ground as several of the nearby raiders were impaled by flying debris. Reaching his other hand up theatrically slow to the properly hold the weapon Drifter fired the second round through the window of their combat vehicle and watched as the doors flew off of hinges and a fountain of blood sprayed up and out of the hole in the roof for the gunner. Lowering the weapon with one hand Drifter retrieved his pistol and fired at one of the Raiders that had the stomach to stand his ground even as he scrambled to get his weapon to function.
The resulting spray of blood left a hole in his throat as Drifter slowly walked towards the barricade. Retrieving his M16 Drifter took aim at the men running through the gate of the barricade. The first round hit the chest plate of his armor and crushed itself as he squeezed the trigger and sent a trio of rounds into the group. The second of the enemy rounds to hit him smashed into his left shoulder plate as he let out a yell made monstrous by the helmet's built in voice modulator. The next burst of fire from Drifter sent the last of the men to the ground before he pushed through the gate and saw one on his knees with his hand's behind his head. A man he recognized even.
"If I didn't know better I'd have said you were from the lab." The man said as he stared at Drifter.
Drifter pulled his pistol back out as he walked over. The man shook his head as he said "But you're not one of the monsters we made. Well they made and I was charged with killing apparently."
Drifter put the barrel to the man's head and said "You're going to tell me what you're talking about and then I'll decide whether you die."
Elsewhere as that long conversation took place the twins had let the others know it was safe to move in and Roland followed Maxim and Veronica into the lab.Blitz and Krieg had pulled the plexiglass visors up and were drinking a set of beers as they sat and waited to report. What they did have to say was that it would work but it'd take quite a bit of renovation. For now they might have the room for quarters for everyone but aside from that they'd have to repair and replace everything else.
Maxim nodded and got the handful of engineers together and started a tour of the place to figure out what they needed to start with. While they did that a few members of the 3rd walked over and one raised an eyebrow at Veronica. She looked at Roland and said "We know it's not much but we wanted to give you something to say thank you."
As she said this one of the men presented Roland with a set of 3rd Division fatigues complete with helmet, webbing, and all the extra gear the 3rd wore as standard kit. Roland took it and smiled as he said "Thank you. During the trip back you've all shown me great kindness. This-" Roland raised a hand to rub away a tear as he said "-Thank you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2017, 05:48:59 pm
(( Derp ensues due to Discord discussions. ))
Helen sat quietly for a bit, a good while as they drove along, though curiosity got the better of her, examining the cab of the truck and what all was in it. "I recall one of the sanctums had a few offroad models of this, wouldn't know the model name off the top of my head." she remarked idly, to which Quinn gave no response. When she looked to the rear view mirror she noticed a small photo slide into place. She'd absent-mindedly slipped it out to take a closer look.
"What's this?" Five people, three men and two woman, were sitting at a booth in what appeared to be a bar. Of the men, one notably resembled Quinn though a bit younger, less tired in appearance. His hair was longer, just below neck level, and a short, somewhat messy beard. "Oh. That's...you in the picture, isn't it?" she added.
"Mmhmm...that's Simon, Heather, Samantha, and Jamison." he finally answered, taking another drag of his cigarette. From left to right, skipping over himself of course. Helen realized what this meant, looking down a bit. "Before things happened, I assume...they..." she said quietly, barely overheard.
He hesitated a moment, a noticeable pause as he took a quiet breath through his nose, holding it as he seemed to struggle with a response. Finally he exhaled and simply answered. "...put it back." She simply nodded, carefully slipping it back into its proper place, watching the road as they continued onward. "Okay..."
Nathaniel gave a little whine at that as she nipped at his shoulder, sighing some. "Alright, c'mere...easy with the right arm there, it still fucking hurts a bit from whoever jumped me."
Hector meanwhile was at the forge. He was lost in thought, still seething after yesterday's events, as he examined the old salvaged plates, stripped from the power armor they hauled back to the farm. He inspected the plates themselves. Thick, good-quality steel. Too thick for him to wear as-is, even stripped down to just the plates.
But he was formulating ideas. He'd need to consult some reference books, and draw upon every hint of his smithing experience. Even then he knew that he'd likely get the same result if he used any good-quality steel as a starting point, given how much it'd take to work usable plates out of the material. It was too thick, and likely hard to the point of being brittle if thinned out, unless tempered down some.
But to him, it wasn't about practical matters. It was the spoils of war, steel that was now in abundance. What drove him on was a desire to take the war machines of those who inflicted so much suffering upon his comrades, and turn it against them. He'd work on the cuirass first, the hardest part given its large plates. He wanted something to bring to the altar later that day...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 09, 2017, 06:40:39 pm
Lilith immediately loosens up, almost dropping Nathaniel in the process. "Oopth. Sowwy Natalee. Lilith careful." She's at least let go of her nom on his shoulder, but she's still got him in the apology hug. "Sowwy Natalee. Lilith been mean. Bad Lilith." She presses the top of her head against his chest and sets him down on the bed. "Lilith sowwy."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2017, 07:00:46 pm
Nathaniel sighed at that, only to blush some at that as she nearly dropped him, leaning in against Lilith. "It's okay Lilith. I...I forgive you. Do you...forgive me?" he asked, practically clinging to her as he pet the tigress.
Helen meanwhile had been regarding the other things in the truck curiously. She honestly wasn't used to being in a vehicle with someone other than in the old days with a few hunting parties that had decent offroad vehicles, other than a ride in the backseat with some strangers, and in a mostly empty scavenged car that Sergei, Taji, and her raided the floating temple in. She found her attention turning to the center console, and the considerable storage underneath it, as she pondered the CD he'd picked.
"Admittedly never been familiar with that band...or well, aside from a smattering of things and our own compositions, very many at all." she remarked idly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 09, 2017, 07:12:46 pm
Lilith nods. "Lilith loveth Natalee." She sniffs Nathaniel a couple times, then goes back to rubbing her head against him. "Natalee thilly, Lilith alwayth loveth Natalee."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2017, 07:17:57 pm
Nathaniel nods at that, sighing some as he held her close, relaxing a bit in response, blushing some. "Thank you, Lilith. I love you too. We'll find Kath, alright? I don't want to fuck up and lose anyone else just because of my mistakes."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 09, 2017, 11:33:23 pm
Quinn drives down the road, and then turns into a countryside road. He flicks the cigarette butt out the cracked window, rolling it up. He pulls up to an open field with several human corpses. "We're here." Quinn states.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 09, 2017, 11:53:28 pm
Helen gave a nod as she stepped out carefully, turning on her mask and kneeling by one of the corpses, hammer at the ready in case it were likely to get back up again. But she could sense something off about all five of the corpses, some clear signs of spiritual magic, aftereffects of spells distressingly similar to what she encountered when fighting Roxanne's counterpart, and other abnormalities. But a couple things stood out.
First, at least one of the bodies had that vague sense of unnatural life that she'd come to associate with the taint of undeath, but the body remained perfectly still, unmoving even as she turned the corpse over by nudging it with a boot, revealing the look of horror etched into the dead man's face. Second, it seemed as though the very essence had been ripped out of the dead and dying bodies. It still faintly tainted the ground around them with a lingering energy almost like scattered dull essence, and bore an unnerving resemblance to the leftover magic she sensed after Victor was afflicted by an unknown spell. Someone glittered and floated at her command as she fixated on it, almost like directing essence into her grasp. "Not much left, but..." She then looked to Quinn. "What do you make of this place?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 10, 2017, 01:00:24 am
Mica emerged stinking from the hole she had descended into. Catnip definitely wasn't down there. What was down there, was glowing people, more glowing people, and even more glowing people. No. Catnip wasn't down there. All the same though, Mica intended to go back. She just needed to... How did some of the people on the farm say it? Pack up? Kit up? She needed to prepare. There was no food down there. Plenty of water, dirty dirty water that Mica didn't want to touch. She'd need to bring down some of that too. She picked her way back towards the farm, giving the old Gods Army camp another long examination when she came across it. Maybe Lilith had found the Morsel.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 10, 2017, 01:59:57 am
Quinn quietly walks around the scene, he kneels next to one of the corpses. "Interesting..." He slips on a pair of latex gloves and inspects the corpse closely. "They've been extracted it seems. Of what I'm not sure... This is very interesting. It seems that there's residual essenctia." He says, pointing towards the dull essence like powder. He takes out a small glass flash and takes a sample of the powder, he looks closely at the powder before putting the sample into his coat.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2017, 02:03:55 am
Helen nodded at that, regarding them curiously. "From the look of it through the mask's sight, a few were hit by other effects as well. Possibly dark flame..." she said, and the thought made her look away, unnerved before she pointed one of the corpses out. "And this one almost certainly should be getting back up, but isn't." she pointed out, before looking over to the vehicle that had crashed. "Wonder if it was theirs."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 10, 2017, 02:48:45 am
If Lilith had found Kathrine, she either hadn't brought her back yet or she was off somewhere else. Mica thought it might be the prior. Or neither. She had a flash of nervous panic when the idea that it would be neither struck her, but she pushed it aside. Instead of worrying, she made her way into the barn. She would need a big bag, and Catnip had plenty of those. Inside though, she heard a frantic shuffling and to Mica's surprise, there was a stranger in Catnip's room. Bulah Boggs had lived a relatively simple life up until the cataclysm. Going to work at Big Beth's Book Barn four days a week for the previous four years, coming home and preparing a lack luster microwave dinner, and then falling asleep to reruns of "Calling Castille," the days biggest drama. After the Cataclysm, she'd done pretty much the same. Four days a week, she'd go out and look for supplies, then she would come home and prepare a lackluster meal of pancakes (again), cry a little, and then masturbate herself to sleep to recordings of "A guy, another guy, and a dog." The pre-cataclysm's biggest adventure. Today, was a day like any other until she came to the farm.
Supplies were getting scarce around her place, she having looted all the local stores and restaurants first, and then exhausting the nearby homes and offices. Bulah had been forced to go further afield lately, and do things that perhaps she wouldn't otherwise do. The refugee center she encountered would have been a great place to live, but the state of the place suggested it was prone to violence and besides, she didn't want to leave her apartment. Picking berries came next, but that only held her for a little while until she spotted the farm. The farm looked well developed, but kind of empty. Berries and leaves were nothing to be eating. She could almost smell the fragrant aroma of smoking meat. How long had it been since she'd eaten food that wasn't dollar brand chicken noodle from cans? Bulah decided she would check the barn first. "Uh... it's not uh... what it looks like?" The woman hazarded, missing the bag with the chocolate bar she was trying to put into it and instead dropping the sweet treat on the floor. Mica was thoroughly unimpressed, about ready to spring on the thief, when someone else sprang on her. It was an awful day. Bulah Boggs had been taken off guard by a resident of the farm. The place wasn't as uninhabited as it had seemed. In fact, as she ran screaming from the barn, several people had come out to watch her struggling with the huge rodent that had leapt out of the bed and clamped it's filthy jaws on her arm. The spider lady-thing was following close behind, pointing and laughing and screaming "thief!" over and over. She wasn't laughing long though. Bulah finally managed to dislodge the rat, pushed aside an oldish man, and sprinted for the woods with her bag of loot in tow. The laughing stopped, and as she hit the tree line, Bulah was filled with a horrible feeling of dread.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 10, 2017, 11:22:48 am
Lilith's purrs slowly start turning into something deeper, almost growl-like. She pins him to the bed and starts slowly trying to take off his torn-up jacket, getting one sleeve off before the sounds of the bug shouting reached her. "Natalee wait here." She grumbles before quickly leaving towards the sounds of the shouting. There was someone unfamiliar running into the forest, being followed by Mica, but she hadn't actually hunted anything in a while. Straight up fights were always less fun than hunts.
She entered the forest behind Mica, and definitely behind the 'theef', and started tracking them. The now-unfamiliar smell of greenery was throwing her off, though. The thought of Mica beating her to the prey elicited a slowly building growl.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2017, 11:33:42 am
Hector had just finished the plate o the main section of the cuirass, and was about to work on the plakart, when he heard the shouting. He'd rushed out with sword in hand, only to see Mica, and soon Lilith, following after someone running in the woods with a bag. "Thats it. We need to actually fortify this damn camp better..." he grumbled softly.
Nathaniel blushed brighter at that, fumbling to help slip the jacket off as she pinned him down. He was just about to reach to use a trick he'd learned for not having her potentially flatten him when her tone of voice betrayed something was wrong, and the faint sound of shouting explained why. "Shit...alright..." he said softly as Lilith went out to join the hunt. Given what happened last time he joined in, this time he elected to stay, though if he heard gunshots he'd definitely rush out and disobey her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 10, 2017, 01:07:04 pm
The thief was quick, but the sewer rat had drawn blood. That blood dripped and spattered on the ground and foliage as the thief passed, giving Mica an easy trail to follow. It irked Mica when Lilith, the huntress, crashed into the woods behind her. "Go back to home place Lil-eth," Mica hissed irritably, "My-ka get sneaky theef!" Mica was forming a plan, a surprisingly intricate one for her simple brain, when Lilith simply pushed Mica aside, sending her sprawling and screeching feet away.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 10, 2017, 01:37:51 pm
Lilith leant down and sniffed at the blood, trying to get a good whiff of the scent. It takes about the same amount of time as it does for Mica to get up, and she's already headed off into the bushes, holding herself low enough down to be almost crawling. She's surprisingly, unnaturally quiet for her size, and she's being uncharacteristically cautious. Movement, to the left. Some heavy breathing. She growls, transitioning it into a roar, and pounces out of the bush at it. They managed to duck underneath her, rolling out of the way barely, but dropped their bag in the process. The tiger ended up crashing into a large, thick-trunked tree, stunning her long enough for them to run off into the foliage again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 10, 2017, 01:49:37 pm
The thrill down her spine telling her the time for tricks and traps had passed, Lilith having spoiled that, Mica sprinted after the thief taking only a split moment to issue a short sharp "HA!" at the stunned tigress. Mica was tracing in her head the path that the intruder was taking, and realized it was a zigzag beeline for the golden field of yellow grain on the other side. Once out there on the open ground, Mica would have no chance to catch up. Lilith on the other hand, would. She didn't want to let that happen. It didn't occur to her that the thief might have friends (she didn't) and that the thief might have a car (she did.) Only that Lilith would win the impromptu game. She swept aside a young pine with her claws, snipping off the small tree at the middle with the force of the swipe, and saw that the thief didn't have the bag of Catnips belongings anymore. The fact hardly registered though, she could sniff out where the bag had been dropped by following the thieves back trail. She began to formulate a new plan, when Lilith bowled her over.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 10, 2017, 03:00:58 pm
Getting up took a small amount of actual effort, Lilith had hit the tree harder than she had expected. Knocking Mica over again, however, didn't. She couldn't go for another ambush and expect to still catch up, so instead she was just kept running. Catching back up was relatively easy, in fact. They weren't checking behind them, but they'd almost managed to get out of the forest despite both Mica and Lilith's attempts to kill them. The upcoming, unnoticed drop marked the end of her good luck, however. "FUCK!" Came her shouts as she fumbled her landing and fell face-first in a pile of dirt. She attempted to scramble to her feet, but Lilith ended that in a heartbeat. Adrenaline meant she could barely feel the claws across her back, but her body refused to get up off the ground any further. Lilith growled. The chase was fun, but now the real fun began. She grabbed Bolah by the leg, digging her claws in to aid her grip, and swung her around, flinging her back against the short step that had gotten her killed. Mica was catching up now. Lilith wanted to have more fun with them, but she also wanted to win.
Lilith bit down hard on the front of Bolah's hoodie, (un)luckily only getting fabric, and lifts her up slightly off the ground by it, shaking her around and tossing her back into a nearby tree. Then, just as Mica was actually arriving, Lilith turns around, uproots a small tree with a quiet 'psssht', and swings it directly at Bolah's torso. "LILITH WINTH!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2017, 03:08:36 pm
Hector grumbled a bit to himself as he drew his sword and made his way after them two of them. Lilith had left one hell of a trail in her pursuit. He'd never hope to catch up, but it wouldn't take him long to recover the stolen bag that was dropped, hearing in the distance the cracking of trees straining from the tigress forcing her way through the wood, and a much louder sound of one such tree being practically slammed into something else. He simply sighed and shook his head, taking care to look around for any other signs of possible threats as he recovered the bag.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 10, 2017, 03:22:06 pm
"No fair Lil-eth!" Mica shrieked indignantly. The tigress tossed the tree aside and stomped over to what was left of the would be thief and Mica began to worry the remains. Bulah twitched a little, a last dying spasm of movement which surprised Mica a little. Lilith had won, Mica wasn't such a sore loser and not so stupid as the question her rivals claim. She stripped the somewhat damaged hoodie from the body and put it on, after having devoured one of the dead thieves hands. "Look at My-ka Lil-eth, My-ka so sneaky theef!" Lilith rolled her eyes at Mica.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2017, 03:31:45 pm
Hector sighed as he followed the swath of destruction Lilith carved through the forest, soon finding the two of them standing over a broken body, and an uprooted tree discarded carelessly. "Well. I see you two have things well in hand already." he remarked, gesturing to the limb Mica was gnawing on. "Recovered the bag at least. Mica, any sign of others out here? Don't want us being surprised by any comrades if she had any." he asked.
Elsewhere, Nathaniel examined the dogtags that he recovered from the corpses yesterday. He didn't yet have the chance to inform Hector of his finding, finally deciding to leave his room, deciding to ask either Drifter of Floyd. If anything he was afraid the knight might still be angry over yesterday's events.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 10, 2017, 03:35:20 pm
After she's finished roaring in success, Lilith places a paw on Mica's shoulder. "Bug. Lilith sowwy. No say Blightwalker anymore." She's looking down at the ground as she speaks, not noticing Mica falling over until she's actually hit the floor. "Oopth. Sowwy Bug."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 10, 2017, 03:43:32 pm
Mica flopped face first into the bodies pathetically flattened midsection. Her stunned state would move on to an obscene munching as motor function slowly returned. She would accept Lilith's apology. Rivals they were, but not enemies. Hector drew closer asking his question again and Mica's response was to snatch the bag from him, and wipe her face with the sleeve of her new hoodie. "No en-ee-mee no wheres tin-can-hek-tor. You see with you eyes any en-ee-mee?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2017, 03:59:57 pm
Hector couldn't help but chuckle a bit at Mica toppling over and gnawing on the pulverized corpse, holding the bag out for her only for it to be snatched out of his hand. "Just making sure. Not common for people to travel alone if they can help it, so if she didn't come alone I don't want them surprising. Besides Mica, that's why I asked you." he pointed out. "You're more likely to notice if there's anyone out there than I am." he added.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 10, 2017, 04:15:26 pm
Drifter returned to the farm after putting his armor into the duffle bag he used to keep it in. The man had told him quite a bit but nothing of value to him. Not that it mattered in the end since he was hanging from a streetlight with a chain around his neck. He listened to the radio as he drove, idly tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as it played.
Soon he pulled to stop in the farm and dismounted the truck with the duffle bag in hand. Whistling to himself as he tossed the bag into his quarters before heading back out to the truck. Retrieving his guns from the cabin Drifter decided to service the things as he let the radio play.
Elsewhere Roland had changed into the uniform and was helping some of the men move destroyed terminals and other wreckage. Smiling to himself he sang along with the others and shared the occasional laugh. Maxim had enlisted the engineers to get a rig together to mix the cement they'd need to fill the hole the explosion had left while Veronica had led a group to go cut down some trees and otherwise salvage some lumber for fires and whatever else they'd need.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2017, 04:23:24 pm
Nathnaiel sooner looked out and saw that Drifter was pulling up in his peculiar armored, painted vehicle. He gave a little wave in return, writing until a moment when he wasn't busy. "Hey. Lilith's buggered off after something she heard, and I was gonna ask you about something I found yesterday. Would've told Hector but he was...not in a talking mood yesterday." he said, holding the dogtags. "Two corpses, heavy augmentation and what looked like raider outfits but different gangs. Something, power cells, implanted weapons, maybe even a self-destruct, went off and it set off something else they were carrying. At least it looked like something inside then went off first, hard to tell." he admitted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 10, 2017, 04:28:54 pm
Lambda had come to switch Sigma on watch duty. She held a pair of binoculars and was looking to the entrance of the building due to someone coming out. What looked to be a young woman wearing a weird looking robe was chasing after what looked like a wolf mutant. “Now how are you and what are you up to?”, Lambda whispered to herself. She activated her enhanced hearing bionic and listened on.
Unlike most other weapons, excluding Gamma, Lambda was designed with reconnaissance in mind. And unlike Delta who was to be a lone unit who would alone infiltrate enemy territory; Lambda was to be mere infantry who would aid her squad by pointing out snipers and other hidden dangers. She was one of the last bio-weapons created before the project was scratched, the super soldier program established and Apophis created. Lambda possessed a cerebral booster, enhanced hearing, diamond cortnea and telescoping eyes; she could pick up and process stimuli at a rate only specialized computers could match. The power of machine enhanced biology was a wonder that humanity missed on for delving where they shouldn’t have.
“Stop right there Markus!”, shouted Melody. She had finally taken the time to name the wolf mutant after the two bonded. Melody saw him as a friend in need while he saw her as the leader of the pack; Randael be damned! However, right now Markus was running after a peculiar spirit only visible by those who could detect auras of had animalistic senses, Lilith and Mica for example. “Markus! It’s fine! He is harmless!”, Melody shouted some more.
The wolf boy didn’t listened. He assumed a stance to pounce and activated his bionic claws. After the spirit stayed still for a bit, Markus pounced at it, only for him to go through the spirit and facepalm on the dirt, claws digging into the dirt from momentum. Melody rushed over and looked over to check on him. “Are you alright?! Are does anything hurt?”, Melody asked frantically. Markus lifted his arm and he had gotten a nasty cut from his own claws. He whimpered a bit but the injury seemed to slowly heal on it’s own.
“What the…”, Melody whispered as she looked on. The wound eventually healed and Markus simply licked it clean. “Alright mister, time to go back inside! Don’t you dare do anything like that again!”, Melody scolded the wolf boy as she dragged him back inside the building.
“How interesting…”, Lambda said as she put the binoculars down. She would have to report this in detail to HQ so she had to write as much of it down. “Just what the hell is going on there....”, Lambda thought as she wrote down the details of what she saw and heard.
Router had gathered Thomas and Delora, he had something to tell them. “Alright, I’ll get to the point… Sigma and Lambda are out as you know, but something has come up...I have detected activity in the lab where Apophis was killed...This is concerning for reasons you should understand. Last thing we need is for that thing to somehow have survived again.”
“So what do you want us to do?”, Asked Thomas.
“I want you two to check it out. Take any thing you need. No fighting, just find out as much as you can ok? Get in, get info, get out. If things get hairy, don’t hesitate to run. Think you can do that for me?”, Router responded.
Thomas and Delora looked at each other. They both smiled and then nodded at each other. “When do we leave?”, asked Delora.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 10, 2017, 04:35:33 pm
Drifter took the dog tags and inspected them. Rubbing a thumb over the '32' etched in them he raised an eyebrow. "You're telling me a couple of Raiders had augments, weren't trying to kill each other because I'm guessing the two gangs they clothed as are at war, and they had this?" He tossed the dog tags back to Nathaniel as he said "Either you're fucking with me or someone's trying to play boogie man. And by boogie man I mean the guy you hire to kill the boogie man."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 10, 2017, 04:37:54 pm
There was a car, an old four door, in the middle of the field. Mica figured the thief had been headed for that. "Hek-tor, go get car thing. Bring to Kat-nyp's house!" She said, not asking. While in the sewers, Mica had begun to scheme a little. If Catnip had been wisest and strongest, but wasn't around anymore, that meant Mica was strongest and wisest. At least until Catnip got back. The wisest and strongest made all the decisions, at least as far as the children of X7 were concerned. She stood and dusted herself off. "Hokay, we get Morsel back." She said ponderously, "My-ka do Kat-nyp's chores, Lil-eth get morsel back." She turned away from the pitifully diminished corpse, leading the way back to the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2017, 04:59:28 pm
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at that remark. "Can lead you to where I found them. Treeline up north, bit west of where it looks like Lilith's gone barreling through. And given all that's happened lately, I wouldn't be surprised if more people are snooping around. Question is who or what. Tags don't resemble anything I'd encountered before." he said softly, pulling out some old, weathered tags to point out the difference. The older tags he showed notably resembled the Army system for identification, but where the DoD ID number would be it simply read "3-2-XIV"
Hector gave a nod as he approached the vehicle, shield forward and sword drawn, getting in to start it up and find a good route to drive it back to the barn.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 10, 2017, 05:38:31 pm
Lilith growls at Hector, then shoves him out of the way of the drivers seat. "Metal man no drive. Lilith drive." She clumsily climbs into the front, placing her paws against the wheel. "Thart car, metal man."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 10, 2017, 05:43:19 pm
Quinn scratches his chin as he walks towards the wrecked car before stopping and drawing his colt. He places a hand on the car door's handle and pops it open, looking inside.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 10, 2017, 06:47:15 pm
Drifter stood up and motioned for Nathaniel to lead the way. "May as well get a closer look at the bodies. Might find something that'll give us a bit more info though I doubt it."
In all honesty Drifter wasn't sure what to think of this. There was only one incident that made him suspicious of the dog tags way back when but he'd never been able to track anything down. A collection of Mob families at a little get together all had their Dons slaughtered in the same room without a sound and the only thing found out of the ordinary was the numbers '32' painted on the walls. He'd always thought that it had been some boogie man people blamed for things in the criminal world. But this..well it was out of the ordinary to say the least.
Elsewhere Roland and a few of the others had started preparing lunch for the 3rd. Maxim and his engineers had gotten the hot plates setup and a few of the men had decided to have the first hot meal they'd had since heading here. Catching a can of beans that had been tossed to him Roland opened it and set about cooking the chili.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2017, 07:08:45 pm
Hector blinked at that, looking back at Lilith as she practically shoved him into the passenger's seat, chuckling as he reached to turn the key and start it for her. He was rather amused at this despite his mild annoyance at her demanding to drive. "Alright then Lilith. Never knew you could drive. Next time we find a good armored vehicle though, I'm driving." he teased.
Nathaniel nodded as he led the way to the site he found the corpses at, regarding the now-decaying remains with a look of suspicion. What was left of their clothes had spent the night exposed to the elements, but the mangled bionic scrap was still quite plain. "You said...boogie men earlier. What the fuck was that about?" he asked.
Helen likewise had her hammer in one hand and her symbol of judgement in the order, following to the side as Quinn examined the vehicle and opened it. She was a bit wary of this, especially as if something crawled out of the car it'd be too close to Quinn for her to safely fire her symbol of judgement.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 10, 2017, 08:07:03 pm
The night, Victor had a different dream; sure, the farm was still under attack and the farm united to fend off the attack, but the enemy was different. A massive horde of the undead had arrived. Everyone took their positions; Hector and Nathaniel in their tank taking the initial wave, Roxanne, Victor and Helen deployed their respective weapons and charged at anything that passed the tank. Everyone who could fire a gun took positions to take out enemies from afar, those with melee waited until the onslaught reached them. The tank was the first to go, they reached the top of it and entered the hatch. Roxanne, Victor and Helen fell back to the melee group. The gunner came down and advanced towards the group to aid those with melee. They all fought but were soon overwhelmed. Eventually, it was down to Roxanne, Victor and Helen. Roxanne eventually ran out of power and was dragged away since she was powerless to do anything. Helen was next, her hammer was not enough to prevent the masses from overwhelming her. Finally, it was Victor’s turn, he run out of life force so his sword gave out. He stood there, exhausted, everyone else dead. He was ready to accept his fate.
He was spared, the zombies looked around and one in particular looked at Victor. After a few moments of this, they all left. Not a single one remained. Victor saw the aftermath of all this, the farm itself in shambles, the tank itself looked like many of the once abandoned in the cities and everyone was dead. But at least he was still alive. He smiled and then collapsed from exhaustion.
Victor awoke from the nightmare. So different yet so similar to the previous ones. This dreams had to end! The pain on his chest was back, every time he had this dreams, he awoke to that now familiar pain. At least the bullets had not disappeared anymore...what did the changes in dreams meant? Hopefully, the trip with Roxanne would shed some answers. For now, he had to get ready. It was almost time for him to meet up with Roxanne. Their journey was about to begin, hopefully, this was the beginning of the end from all this magic lunacy.
Roxanne’s morning had been pretty decent. She had gotten a good night’s rest, no dreams of any kind and was generally ready to take on the world! A quick inventory check and she was ready to go. A leather backpack with her journal, a fully charged UPS and hanging by it’s side was the decorated katar that Hector had made for her. She decided to wear combat boots, a leather touring suit and to wear the robe that had been given to her along with this new body. The hooded robe granted her power, the same power she had lost from the removal of her enhancement cbms; she was smarter, stronger, more agile and could perceive things faster. She felt as if she needed to take it with her along for this journey. She knew it didn’t belong to her but it was given to her for now, so she might as well use it. Lastly, she slung her laser sniper unto her body, the UPS would give her 10 shots max but she could recharge it in the APC.
After her little preparations, she headed outside towards the vehicles. Victor was already waiting for her. He wore the same outfit as always and sported the same sword in his back scabbard.
"A little late are we? Aren’t you the one who is very excited to do this thing?", Victor told Roxanne as she approached.
Roxanne finished walking and then pause. She put her hand on her hip and grinned, "Are you implying you don’t want to go now? I think we established yesterday you want closer as much as I do.", Roxanne responde.
Victor rolled his eyes, "Well, I am ready. After you Roxanne; it’s your vehicle after all." He opened the door and signaled Roxanne to entered. She gave her a mocking vow before entering the APC. Victor followed and closed the door. The APC suddenly came to life; the laser turrets would usually moved around and try to acquire a target. Farm residents nearby would stand clear when Roxanne boarded The Armored Scouter as sometimes it would pick them as a potential target. All it would take for them to be shot down with lasers would be for Roxanne to ordered the turrets to fire from there her controls. But right now, all weapons systems were down, not the laser turrets, the chain gun nor the canons would work. It didn’t matter, where they were going, it wouldn’t be of use to them anyways. The Armored Scouter left where it was parked and went towards the destination on the note. Their journey had begun.
The first 30 minutes of the ride were silent. Roxanne was thinking of all the ways the encounter would go. She wondered what specifically they wanted, that info was left vague, even to her. Victor simply kept reading the note he had copied from the one Roxanne had. The steps made more and more sense as time went by and given recent events. The coordinates themselves were quite a ways off two. If his math was right, they will arrive in late afternoon and would probably have to spend the night there…
It was Victor who first broke the silence. "So...that thing you whispered to me back when we had just finished that battle. Was that true?", Victor asked.
Roxanne rolled her eyes as she drove. Her attention never leaving the road completely. "Of all the things you could be asking, you ask about that silly bet?", Roxanne responds to Victor, "It is true, you will be rewarded Victor."
"Than that means...he is still alive...Hunter Alex Haymaker",Victor whispered a bit, "Can’t believe the old bastard made it."
Roxanne smirked a bit. "You know him as Alex Haymaker. Back where I was from, he was Alex Elio...this isn’t the same man I knew...", Roxanne commented back.
"Is that so? Seems like you two had history together then. What a coincidence that you both decided to change your surname.", Victor responded, "Must’ve been quite the event."
"Yeah...quite the event...", Roxanne whispered softly while blushing a bit. Then she shook her head and concentrated on the road ahead of her; quickly discarding old memories. "Anyways. If this Alex is like the one I knew, he must be a powerful sorcerer.", Roxanne pointed out.
"That he was. Before Ro- you-know-who became my assign acquisitionist; Alex would bring random natural artifacts as a sort of test. I heard the legends of his exploits. Eventually, even his expander decided to join the hunt next to him and became a hunter herself. The two were an unstoppable force. I wonder if she two lives, would be nice to met her again. Huntress Emily Everhart."
That was one name Roxanne had not heard off. It seemed like, she still had much to learn of this world’s history. One thing bothered her, the way Victor said Emily’s name with such familiarity. "You say her name quite fondly Victor, something I need to know about?", Roxanne asked.
Victor gave a small laugh. "No no, nothing of the sort. I was reminded of a certain event, that’s all. The event that spark that little bet me and Alex made. She was the one who rejected him. Both too busy in there work for things work out you know? The two were good friends of mine so it’s hard to think about it in a good light."
Roxanne stayed quiet. Not the answer she expected but an answer nonetheless. The conversation died right then and there. The trip did not remain silent however. Sometimes, one would ask the other about how to approach things once they reached the coordinates. “We could alway just activate ward X”, “I can definitely stab that! How dare you!”, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to anger the one who wields a literal fire tornado…” These were some of the things discussed during the trip. It was uneventful for the most part, the whole time not a single need for weaponry was needed. The occasional undead was dealt with the old fashion way, full speed ahead into them!
The eventually got to the place the noted indicated. It was late afternoon and they were tired from the trip. They didn’t know what awaited them inside that peculiar cave they had been invited to. With a hesitant gulp, the pair got of the APC and started to walk towards the entrance of the cave with hands in the air.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 10, 2017, 08:10:06 pm
Well, Carrol had seen worse reactions to being kidnapped, injected with heroin, and having your limbs snapped back into place. Honestly, the girl did admirably. Hoyt watches with nonchalance, nodding as Kath loses consciousness, before climbing over into the front of the van. Kermit's not really paying attention, having taken the free time to get smashed after Hoyt's poor treatment of him. He's slumped over his pile of books, gin dripping from a spilled bottle onto his armored jacket.
Carrol keeps her eyes on the unconscious cat before her, a look of deadened worry on her face. She didn't care what happened to the girl. She'd never had the decency to really care. But it was sad nonetheless.
"Whatever." She says aloud, leaning back on the counter on the other side of the mobile home. Hoyt starts the engine and pulls the van off the side of the road, and on they go, the windows flashing as New England nothingness passes by.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 10, 2017, 08:32:46 pm
Lilith did surprisingly well at driving, up until it came to stopping. Turns out, the pits and fence around the farm can't stop a car going at 140 MPH from crashing through into the fields. Kathrine dreamt for the first time in a while. The lab wasn't the nicest place, but she had plenty of good memories. The girl in the project next to her. What was her name? Sarah. She was nice. Kathrine liked her wings. And her cute little antennae. Miss Delora had nice antennae, too. Doctor Ilyushin always told her about Sarah, and how she was doing, and how she... What did she do? She was gonna be sold off too. To the... Same Master? She had cute little arms, too. They were like Miss Mica's. Where was Mica? She missed Catnip.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 10, 2017, 08:45:02 pm
Drifter started to search the bodies as he said "The 32. That's what I heard them called. Mess with them and it didn't matter how much security you had they'd find you. The only account I heard about them was a bunch of mob families meeting at a little event of theirs. All the Dons went into a room and each of them ended up with a bullet through the head and missing their ears. No one heard a sound and no one saw them come or go but the only thing they found was a big '32' painted on the wall. The criminals I interrogated called them the boogie men or some variation of that."
Drifter had pulled what remained of one of the bodie's shirts and found a tattoo of a vulture. Doing the same to the other he found an identical tattoo. "Whoever these guys were they belonged to the same group."
Looking around Drifter spotted a third body, head missing, in a bush that looked like it had been searched in the night. Looking at Nathaniel he said "And I'm going to guess that one has the same tattoo."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2017, 09:03:56 pm
Hector at this point was clinging to the seat practically, eyes wide underneath the helm as Lilith sped across the field and crashed right through the fence, jarring the vehicle with axle-straining force as it skipped over the surrounding ditch. "Shit shit shit, Lilith slow doooown!" he shouted, drowned out by the roar of a car struggling to keep up with how hard it was being pushed.
Nathaniel nodded at that. "I see, so these seem like...huh. Why the hell would they be here though, if they were vigilante types. Closest we have to that, far as I know, was the kinda-suspicious fellow Hector and I tried to help out, seemed like a mafioso type. Either that or had a thing for the look and general attitude." he said, regarding the remains curiously.
"Even then that was a while ago. Any other possible reasons they might be skulking around here?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 10, 2017, 09:14:50 pm
Quinn looked around the car and holstered the pistol. There was supplies strewn around the car, ammunition, food and water. He reaches inside and grabs a box for .45 ammunition, he pours out the handful of ammo and pockets the loose rounds. He sees a small notebook in the passenger seat and he grabs it, thumbing through the pages. He offers it to Helen, "You're going to want to look at this."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 10, 2017, 09:18:47 pm
Lilith slammed on the brakes just as they hit one of the mounds of dirt set aside. The car lurches forward, almost tipping, and then settles back down. "Metal man thcared." She starts giggling. "Metal man thilly like thmall man."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2017, 09:23:56 pm
Hector grumbled a bit at that. For a moment he'd considered EMPing the car to try and force it to stop, but the abrupt halt in the farm fields made him breathe a sigh of relief. "Lilith, you could've gotten us both killed driving like that. You weren't even wearing your seatbelt, not that it'd do any good going that fast." he pointed out. "Let me amend my earlier remark. Next time I drive, armored vehicle or not. You'd probably get even a unicycle going supersonic..."
Helen nodded at that, examining the journal curiously. "Likely not any of the raiders, a victim maybe...no. I think I can guess who." she said, skimming a few of the pages. "Gods above and below. In that memory that led me here, I think I saw Randael's little servant here. This should be hers..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 10, 2017, 09:27:51 pm
Drifter shook his head "Not the kind of boogie men that made people afraid to be criminals. They were criminals themselves from what I gathered, got a cut from some Colombian drug runners for instance. Maybe they do work for hire killings. I mean it wouldn't surprise me and we've pissed off enough people."
Moving over to the other body Drifter checked and found the same tattoo and yet another raider uniform from a different gang. "And that's enough for me to say these boys all worked together and didn't belong to these gangs."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2017, 09:35:31 pm
Nathaniel winced a bit at that. "True. If they work with criminals than it makes sense." he said, giving a little sigh of relief. "Though even then I wouldn't be surprised if something else drew them here. Now, why the hell they'd blow themselves up, I wish I knew. Looked like internal, part of their implants. What made it loud enough I heard it was it seems that set something else off too."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 10, 2017, 09:52:32 pm
"My guess is something blew up their heads, one's implant was just a bit too explosive and detonated his ordinance. Judging by the first two bodies they stood too close together and when it detonated..well it shredded both of them. This guy confirms it was something in their heads that blew up since his is..missing." Drifter said before standing up. "As for why they're here, well either someone thought we were muscling in on their turf or someone hired the bastards."
Looking around Drifter checked for anything else before suggesting they head back. It didn't make any sense for them to stay here after all. Putting a hand on his pistol just in case Drifter said "Whatever brought them out here I'm guessing they've got more pressing matters. We should get back for the time being, and let me know if you want to take a look at the guns that were in that little mobile armory of mine."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2017, 10:03:09 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Wonder if it was triggered accidentally or or purpose. Not like anyone was over in that direction scouting the woods, so they weren't about to be caught." he pointed out. "And lovely. Just when I thought we had enough shit to deal with. No good deed goes unpunished, huh?" he remarked. "And yeah, should head back. Wouldn't mind checking out what all you've brought back in that thing, and help stow any extra in the armory. Or I guess having a cache of it on the go works too."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 10, 2017, 10:27:23 pm
Drifter nodded to Nathaniel as they approached the farm. Walking over to his truck Drifter pulled out the card and opened the back doors before stepping into it. The standouts were the RPG sitting in a corner with a box full of rockets nearby, a trio of rotary grenade launchers, and a handful of custom looking weapons. Plus the various other guns that could probably outfit quite the number of people and the armor sitting on a set of stands..and the fact there was enough explosives to probably level a couple of large buildings sitting in the thing. Motioning to the armor Drifter said "Most advanced shit I've seen that isn't power armor. You're welcome to set if you'd like. Welcome to whatever just leave me one of the grenade launchers and the RPG over there."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 10, 2017, 10:28:55 pm
Mica was content to leave the car where Lilith parked it, she didn't know how to move it herself. That was fine. She checked the bag to see what the intruder had taken. Typically, she'd tried to make off with chocolate, shinies, and several different plastic cards. At the bottom of the bag, Mica found Catnip's vibrating stick. She took a moment to turn it on and use it on her shoulders. That was nice, and she thought maybe she should see about getting one herself. Maybe she could convince Dee to rub her shoulders with it.
Catnip had such nice things, and it was the first time Mica had ever really looked at any of it. Kathrine wasn't around to chastize her, not that the morsel ever would have anyway, and Catnip wasn't around to stop her, so Mica decided to have a look around. She could hear the rat quietly hissing at her, but determined to ignore it. As long as Mica was present, it wasn't going anywhere. She opened the wardrobe and was immediatly hit with the smell of burnt fabric and smoke that had clung to the inside of the wardrobe after Catnip had accidentally set it on fire with a lit cigarette. She tried on some of Catnips clothes, articles she barely touched. Her sister had a large collection of clothes she never wore. pants, shirts, skirts, dresses, suits, jackets, hoodies, socks, hats... Not a single pair of underwear though, and that struck Mica as a little odd. Perhaps Catnip kept her underthings somewhere else? Mica stripped and tried various articles on one at a time in front of Catnips full length mirror, unmindful of the open window next to the mirror. Not that she would care much if she had. She put on a pair of military pants so baggy that they fit over her mutated anatomy with no issue and caused her no itch, then struck a shirtless pose. "I am Kat-nyp! I am so dumb and jell-us of My-ka cuz My-ka is so pretty and wise!" Mica giggled at her own wit and decided she would keep the pants. For the next hour she tried on Catnips clothes, putting on quiet the show for any that may have passed the window, and then she moved on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 12:32:40 am
Nathaniel followed along, curious now given he'd only got a little glimpse of the vehicle's interior earlier, already the bastardized imitation of a gatling gun had him intrigued, but when Drifter opened the rear door and showed him what was in it, he went a bit pale. He stared, focusing on the haphzard array of rockets and other explosives laid out in bins secured to the walls, only to facepalm at that. "I...jesus fucking christ, what variety of maniac put all this shit together!?" he stammered out, pointing to the ammo bins in particular. "That mess is one well-placed round away from going up in flames. I mean hell, the M701s were prone to pulling a jack-in-the-box if anything bigger than 105mm hit the rear, but this is ridiculous."
Hector meanwhile stumbled out of the car, shaking his head a bit and regarding the fence they crashed through, only to blush a bit at what all Mica recovered from the bag, realizing what she was using on her shoulders. "Er, Mica that's not a...you know what, nevermind. Someone else can tell you that." he remarked, unsteadily walking over to the forge to resume his work.
Helen meanwhile was reading the journal after helping Quinn haul what little they scavenged out of the wrecked vehicle, surprised at the entries that were within it. She felt bad for Melody now, but she otherwise barely knew the woman. And now she was a pawn of the enemy, Randael. What was of more use to her were her own observations of the places the raiders had fallen, the condition of their corpses, and the strange essence they recovered from the area. "Almost like dull essence only...some other destructive process did this. No sign of energy being sent back to the other side, and the source was purely derived from the souls of these men. But I could...hmm." she said, smiling some before looking to Quinn.
"I'll need essence. Fresh, taken from a monster if we can find one. I mean in theory the soul of an earthly creature world work, but what this requires is too reprehensible to even consider using on any human or animal." she explained. "Honestly I wouldn't wish this on otherworldly beasts either, as they...well, doing this means their souls will be effectively destroyed. Not a single hint of it will be sent back to whence they came, unlike with consecrating essence."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 11, 2017, 01:16:43 am
Drifter shrugged as he said "The thing is armored to high heaven. You'd need an Anti Material rifle to bust through that, or a tank. As for who put it together I got this off some folks that tried to murder me and Bandit's gangsters when we were on our way back. Professional transport folks who probably were working for the dead guys we just talked to. Besides it's better than some of the shit I saw on my brief stint in Africa, the rockets are actually in bins nicely stacked and with the lid on."
Grabbing one of the bags hung on the wall Drifter Grabbed a few grenades from one of said bins and stowed them in the bag. He was waiting for Nathaniel to reply that this thing should probably be dismantled. Or safely detonated the next state over.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 01:27:37 am
Nathaniel nodded at that, idly knocking on an armored panel. "I'll admit I'm impressed. More than you'd expect an up-armored truck to handle. Bins are still a bit...worrisome. Just make sure you don't have any fuzed and accidentally armed. I would not put it past some dumbass to pre-arm an RPG by accident. Or you know, to throw the damn thing at someone."
He then examined the bins a bit more carefully. "Wonder if you could get Hector to make something more secure, rig up some vents or blowout panels..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 11, 2017, 03:27:57 am
Lilith tumbles out of the car, still giggling. She should've let Mica win. That would've been a better apology. Metal man was dumb. Almost as dumb as Natalie. She should go and visit Natalie again. They didn't finish what she wanted to do. But Nathaniel's shack was empty. He left. Lilith growled, sniffing his bed. He'd wandered off somewhere in a vehicle. She looked down, trying to not get angry. Eventually her heavy breathing transitioned into a long, steady growl, but she still wasn't hitting anything at least. She sat there, growling, for about fifteen minutes, before leaving for the barn. Maybe the cub had come back.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 11, 2017, 03:43:14 am
Lilith was coming. For a moment, Mica felt guilty. The moment passed though, and the urge to hide passed with it. She was strongest and wisest now after all, she could walk around in the barn without feeling guilty. She puffed herself up preparatory to Lilith entering the barn, but abandoned that tack as it made her look needlessly silly. What was she gonna do? Lilith was almost there and any moment she could be inside. Mica hit on an idea, she could be what Dee said was "cashul." Dee said "cashul" was good, it made people think you just another person going about their business. Nothing unusual there, just a spider in the barn, walk on by tigress. Yeah, that was it. Mica leaned against a big board covered in papers and tried to whistle, failing at the second part. A few of the pages tore off and drifted to the floor. She'd have to pick those up, she thought. Catnip hung so many papers on this stupid board it was a wonder to Mica it wasn't made entirely out of papers. She vaguely recalled Catnip complaining to Kathrine that no one ever looked at it or filled any of the requests she posted anymore. Maybe Mica would look at Catnips board. Maybe thats what was keeping Catnip away? No one was doing chores for her and she had to do them herself. She plucked one page off the board and looked at it as Lilith entered the barn. "Lil-eth, you read this?" The note bore few words, but emblazoned upon it was a crude drawing of a pair of underwear inside a big yellow star.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 10:53:20 am
Nathaniel heard the roar of an engine, giving a little sigh as he helped Drifter haul some of the supplies out to take to the armory, when the racket made him pause. "Well fuck..." he grumbled quietly, a hand lowering to his holster as he peaked out into the fields. By the time he'd gotten in sight of it, all he saw there were the three of them storming off, quietly shying away to head back to Drifter's vehicle, especially when he saw Hector with them.
Hector meanwhile was now hammering out a hot plate of metal, slowing drawing it out and shaping. The material was rather hard to work with, but he had a rough set of measurements and exactly the design he needed, examining a book propped open nearby. For now the barn would echo would the period sound of hammer blows, halted only by the roar of the forge as he'd work the material.
It was just barely enough to help him concentrate on his work, and not on Mica in the nearby room, making a mockery of the place and loudly imitating Catnip. Never had he more wished to punch her than at that moment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 11, 2017, 11:59:39 am
The bug's question brought her out of her frustrated growls. Lilith just stares at Mica for a while, then looks at the piece of paper. "...Lilith can't read. ...Natalee read." Speaking of, his smell was nearby. She lifted her head into the air and took a deep breath, trying to figure out where he was. It smelled like... Outside. She was still slightly excited from the hunt she'd had earlier, and it showed with her slightly heightened senses. Sneaking up behind him wasn't too hard, he was walking in the other direction. "Nataleeeee!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 12:08:25 pm
Nathaniel gave a sigh as he made his way over towards the vehicle afterwards, only to yelp and fall flat on his face when Lilith crept up on him and yelled at him. "Liliiith." he whined out, getting up and brushing himself off. "Sorry for leaving my room. I had to show someone something. Need anything?" he asked, looking back to the barn, only to facepalm at the sight of Mica. "What the fuck is she doing..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 11, 2017, 12:21:32 pm
Lilith looks at him with those kitty eyes, then wraps her paw around his arm and starts dragging him towards the barn. "Nataleeeee, read paper for Lilith and Bug." She keeps trying to make sounds to persuade him, even a semi-successful attempt at a mew. "Lilith cute."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 11, 2017, 12:30:01 pm
"That sounds dangerous, are you sure about doing it?" Quinn says, giving Helen a look. "But, if you're confident about it, I know where to find some 'otherworldly creatures.'"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 12:42:43 pm
Nathaniel smiled a bit at that, only to meep at that as she dragged him off to the barn, giving a sigh. "Alright, no worries, it's just an old bulletin board..." he said, only to blush a bit at the paper Mica showed him first.
"Wanted: panties, underthings, all sizes. Will trade parts and supplies." he read aloud, "Do I even WANT to know what the deal with that is?" he asked, facepalming at that.
Helen gave a nod at that. "I've hunted beasts of that sort before. The common imps and chitinous things should suffice. Even the twitching or faceless ones work, though those are...well it doesn't feel right doing this to something that isn't going to fight back." she said. "Polyps or even a harrier would be more likely to have the energy needed, but they're a harder target."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 11, 2017, 12:57:20 pm
Lilith nudges Nathaniel with her muzzle. "Fank you Natalie. Whath 'underthingth'?" When she gets the reply, she immediately starts taking off her bra. "Lilith help Bug get underthingth!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 11, 2017, 01:00:07 pm
"The faceless ones might be the best chance, regrettibly." Quinn states, looking at a box of cookies from the wreck.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 01:07:29 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that, petting her a bit in response. "Bras, panties, stuff like...h-hey!" he stammered out, blushing brighter. "Not in front of everyone Lil. We can get them elsewhere. Clothing stores, trade for them...I'd say undead even, but that'd be a last resort. Though...if we HAD to resort to riding clothes from zeds, the weird glowing ones in that crazy town east of the river, that might be the most...hygienic option."
Helen sighed at that. "Alright then. Can either kill it and get the essence prepared as soon as possible afterward, or...well, this might be useful again." she said, gesturing to her symbol of judgement. "When you're ready then."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 11, 2017, 01:25:11 pm
Despite Nathaniel's protests, Lilith had already taken off her bra and thrown it at Mica, giggling. "Bug have hat." After she's stopped giggling, Lilith wraps an arm around Nathaniel and drags him off towards his shack. "Natalee nevur finish."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 11, 2017, 01:28:23 pm
Quinn opens up the box of thin, tube like cookies before nodding and heading back to the truck, starting to snack on them. He starts the car and waits for Helen to do the same, snacking on the cookies.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 01:34:24 pm
Nathaniel found himself staring, only to meep as she grabbed him to carry him off, whining a bit. "L-lilith, not in front of everybody..." he whined a bit, not even remotely able to stop her.
Helen smiled a bit as she got back in the car. "So then, where to next?" she asked, wondering where they might find such a monster, regarding the cookies curiously.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 11, 2017, 02:14:05 pm
Kathrine breathes in sharply, tail twitching as she stirs. Her head hurt. And her arms. And most of her body, actually. It felt like the first time she had a hangover, except this time she actually can't move, instead of just not wanting to. Her arms wouldn't listen to what she was telling them to do. Neither would her legs. Moving her neck hurt, and her tail felt stiff. "Catniiiiiip..." Lilith shoves Nathaniel through the open doorway, and then follows him inside, placing him on the bed again and slowly attempting to remove his jacket once more. "Natalee make up earlier." She grumbles, nuzzling in against his neck. "Nomph? No."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 11, 2017, 02:33:15 pm
Quinn thinks for a moment, he leaves the open box pointing towards Helen. "Feel free to take one, I need to see your map for a second." He muses, holding one of the cookies in between his fingers. Helen passes the map and he looks it over and taps a marked cathedral. "I usually found them in cathedrals, big ones with basements."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 02:39:10 pm
Nathaniel was blushing brighter, rubbing over more, her shoulders at first, blushing as she forced him back into his room, looking away shyly. His hands pulled away so she could remove the jacket. "Alright then. I'll make up for that, just...y-yeah, no nom, please..." he said...
Helen nodded at that, handing over the map as she tried one of the cookies, smiling a bit. "Actually rather good for something left in a busted shell of a car for so long." she said. "Peculiar, would be worth a try then. Hopefully the closest one won't have too much of a welcoming party waiting in the city itself, but no matter."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 11, 2017, 02:49:46 pm
Quinn starts the truck, "Hopefully, yeah." Quinn pulls out of the field and back down the country road.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 02:53:55 pm
Helen gave a nod at that, again finding it hard not to snoop through a few other things in the truck, rather tempting. The lack of things to talk about made it worse. "Wonder what the likely cause is. Hadn't had regular enough contact with the cities to know what would make such a specific event common. Never had any contact with the church either. They evidently excommunicated the catholic elements of our founders, years before I was born." she explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 11, 2017, 03:29:02 pm
Quinn shrugs, "I'm not sure myself, it seems like there was a ritual last cathedral I checked."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 11, 2017, 03:30:13 pm
When Mica was told what the paper said, she snatched it back to examine it and ponder on it. Hector had come out of the forge to see what the commotion was. "What'r you doing Mica?" He asked. Mica turned the note over, trying to make sense of the letters. They seemed to shift on the page. She could see how the picture might be better, but the letters... the letters just went right over her head. How did Nathaniel, or anyone for that matter, read anything? "My-ka goin' to look for underthings, an she think she know where to look."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 03:34:19 pm
Helen pondered that. "So the accusers flirt with heresy as well. Cute." she remarked, soon idly checking in the glovebox, taking note of the items. A CD case, a pack of cigarettes, and a small holdout pistol. "Always come prepared, I see." she remarked.
Hector gave a blank stare at Mica. "Undert-oh. I can help with searching if you want. Anywhere good to loot clothing from will likely still be infested." he pointed out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 11, 2017, 03:43:49 pm
Mica pulled the monstrous bra off her head and looked at it. She didn't think this was what Catnip meant by "all sizes," but it was a start. "Eh? Hek-tor wanna help?" She said, scrutinizing the knight. He could maneuver in the sewers well enough, but Mica had a bit more stealth in mind for this. While in Catnip's room, she'd had the opportunity to play with a certain scintillating blanket. One of Catnip's most treasured possessions, next to her tool box and her camera. Mica was chuffed to find that the cloak made her see through, though not completely as it had with Catnip. She wondered why that was. Helen would have told her that the cloak was "Low magic. A kind of technology fusing science and occult pseudoscience, the likes of which Mica's strange aura disrupted a little." For Catnip, the cloak was nearly perfect. For Mica, it simply allowed her to blend in better. Mica would be fine down there, if she wore Catnip's cloak. "No no tin-can-hek-tor, Mica gotta go alone like sneaky theef, all quiet like boob lady ass-ass-sin." She hissed out a quiet giggle. "My-ka goin' on panty raid!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 03:52:34 pm
Hector gave a little chuckle at that. "Alright then. I'd be careful though anyway, if I were you. I can drive you over if you want at least, make it easier. Than way if you come back up injured you'll have someone there to treat you." he pointed out. He wasn't yet sure what Mica was up to, only to facepalm a bit. Already the idea of looting clothes seemed a bit silly, but her way of putting it flustered him. "So a chimeric spider woman, acting like...ahem, booby lady, going on a panty raid in the halls of the dead. That sounds like something someone should be selling tickets for."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 11, 2017, 04:02:40 pm
"What is a tik-it?" Mica asked, adding "My-ka take ride to dead house underground. Glow-mans be made of underthings!" She went into Catnip's room and retrieved the cloak. Hector hadn't believed Mica could show reverence to anything, but the way Mica handled Catnip's cloak showed him otherwise. "My-ka borrow Kat-nyp's sparkly blank-it, then My-ka gotta get food an waters. No food an waters down there for My-ka." In truth, Mica was looking forward to the excursion, she was stressed and the short chase through the woods revealed that with the way it gave her the slightest ease of mind. Between Dee's recent injury, her sisters disappearance, and her failure to protect Kathrine, Mica was badly stressed out. She needed to unwind. "If Hek-tor wanna wait for My-ka, keep escape clear, My-ka not against."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 04:14:51 pm
Hector smiled a bit. "Just a joke. And yeah, those things might be your best best for scavenged clothes." he said, surprised when she came back with the cloak, nodding some. "I usually make sure to store food and water in the tank too. Learned it from a long drive I had to make in it once." he explained. "And of course. Didn't have anything urgent to do today."
Elsewhere, Helen looked back to the photo, curious now. "What else can you...tell me? About those days? Not sure what might be okay to ask..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 11, 2017, 06:17:58 pm
Quinn pondered that for a bit, "Hm... I wasn't as tired, happier. I had friends... A uh, 'significant other'. I failed them though, they're... gone. " He sighs, he wipes his eyes under his glasses, "Sorry... Is there anything else you want to ask?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 07:07:52 pm
Helen nodded at that, looking down a bit. "I see. I'm sorry..." she said softly. "All I really knew was my brethren, literally born into it. They...died well at least, fighting for what they believed in. These days that's better than what usually happens, at least." she pointed out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 11, 2017, 08:08:03 pm
Dee checked over the records one more time. Hector had brought Medeina back to the center to resume her duties, and Dee was interested in seeing what had happened while he was out. The answer, was quiet a bit. Once he'd finished, he lay back and considered. "Mr. Dee, I have a request." Medeina said. She sounded nervous, and that got his attention. "Yeah?" If Medeina were a human woman, she would have fidgeted and blushed. "I have some files, some... secret files... important to Ms. Luna. I need someone to uh... hack into them." Dee would have rolled over, but doing that would have pained him too much, so he simply stared at the ceiling and asked why she didn't just give them to Roxanne. "They are secret, I can't let anyone see them without the proper clearance. I was hoping you could somehow give Roxanne that clearance."
"Eh. I can give it a shot." Dee said casually. "Ok Hek-tor, you wanna stay here or come with My-ka?" Mica asked, making sure the strap on the messenger bag she'd picked out weren't binding. She hated the way the bag mooshed her chest, and had to adjust it often.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 08:10:58 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Already on it, got the tank ready to go when you are." he said, gesturing to the vehicle backed up, rear hatch already opened. "I can also show you specifically to the sewer entrance closest to where the fortifications open up, Helen and Sergei found it a while back. Sounded like a difficult fight."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 11, 2017, 08:34:50 pm
"Eh," Mica huffed, more at the bag than Hector, "My-ka know bunch of ways in. Just gotta find way down again. My-ka didn't see lot's of glow-mans down inside, but maybe they hiding. My-ka smell them somewhere deeper. If Hek-tor come, then he gotta be quick. Lot's of glow-mans somewheres down there, but they got lots of bat-rees and underthings." She climbed into the back of Hectors tank then, and waited patiently for him to get the vehicle started and moving, resisting the urge to chew on the seats again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 08:40:04 pm
Hector smiled a bit as he started up the tank. "True, but better to be able to get in and out quicker if needed." he said, checking the engine switches to rely on the electric engine he'd slapped in. If anything, it was largely thanks to both Catnip and the available reference books that he was able to modify the engine array to use it, a fact that saddened him a little, the tank whirring along the road soon enough, turning down to make their way through the old city.
They had to go past what was left of the camp where they found Mica, unnerved at the fact that it stood, albeit in poor condition, despite the ravages of the train plowing through most of the city. He stopped though, in any area fairly close to a few ruins that used to be hotels, getting out along with her and gesturing to the open manhole cover. "I don't know the exact route Helen and Sergei took, other than their saying it was a short distance southwest of this entrance."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 11, 2017, 10:23:26 pm
The hole was pitch dark, the only thing visible to Hectors eyes being that which was illuminated by the shaft of light streaming down through the open manhole. This was primarily Mica's face grinning up at him. "You keep eyes out, My-ka be back soon." Mica instructed, to which Hector told her he would but Mica was gone before he'd finished saying so. Before long, Mica was back. "Here Tin-can-hek-tor, take!" and with that, she handed up to him an armload of clothing, wrapped in what looked like a torn cleansuit. Inside this, she had placed several workers jumpsuits, a couple radios, gieger counters, biomonitors, and even a smaller bundle containing 6 pairs of surprisingly clean women's underwear. "Not bad Mica." the knight commented. Mica was already up and preparing to go back down.
"My-ka not even gone deep yet, this just what nearby!" She said. Her enthusiasm was obvious as she held up one pair between two hands a pair of simple white drawers, and shouted "Behowld! My-ka's fancy pants for Kat-nyp!" then lowered them and said simply, "My-ka going back down now. Maybe she come back with more fancy pants? Maybe ooh la la fancy pants for roks-ann? Hm?" She winked at Hector, and vanished into the dark beneath the streets of the dead city.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 11, 2017, 10:48:49 pm
Drifter had finished putting away the supplies that Nathaniel had wanted to move from his truck. It wasn't much of the supplies but still enough to keep the armor supplied for some time. Closing up the truck and locking it Drifter pulled out the note pad and started working out some of the things that his old compatriot had told him before a chain was wrapped around the man's neck.
The first few pages told him things he already knew. The tenth page caught his attention though. Whereas the other pages before it had been full of text this had one sentence written on it. He'd gotten it pieced together and quietly read the sentence "No man shall leave here without ghosts pursuing them nor shall they find peace until they are laid to rest."
Drifter looked up and saw a line of men in front of him. Manny watched him from the center, bleeding from a hole in the side of his head. Drifter could feel something was wrong but found himself unable to move as the men lifted their hands and stuck their thumbs out to the side. He recognized each of them as he stared forward. Manny walked over to him and knelt down to speak into his ear "You let us die. You could have ended the cycle instead you let it continue. Did you think we would forgive you? Did you think we wouldn't come?"
Drifter watched as they all moved their thumbs to point down and Manny stood. Before he could react Manny pulled a pistol and fired a single shot into Drifter's chest before walking away. As they disappeared Drifter found himself lying on the ground as the world faded into darkness as he lost consciousness.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 10:50:11 pm
Hector waited, examining the other manholes and keeping an eye out, until she'd rather quickly return with a bundle of items and clothes. "And I'm betting you encountered the work those two did on the bunch outside the vault entrance? Should be a vehicle down there. How the hell they got that to fit in there, I'll never know." he remarked. "See if you can find something fancy for Roxanne, sure. I wonder what she'd like..." he said, blushing under his helm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 11, 2017, 11:20:16 pm
It was a long time before Mica came back the next time and when she finally did, she was a bit worse for wear. "My-ka got the good stuff. The... The good stuff." She said through broken teeth. She dumped her bundle of hard won goods on the ground next to the tank and set to work removing the remains of the busted teeth, carefully prying and pulling at them until each one finally came out. "Lot's of glow-mans." She explained, "Kat-nyp blanket good, Keep My-ka from bein seen, but glow-mans smells good like My-ka. They not see My-ka, but they try." The irradiated being living beneath couldn't see her, in other words, but that didn't stop them from attacking her if they got close enough to see through her camouflage. The things lacked natural weapons beyond their teeth, so they usually resorted to punching and clawing. It wasn't that they were amazingly dangerous, Mica went on to explain in her own way, it was that there were so many of them. A cities worth of "glow-men" down there, wandering through the underground passages in overwhelming hordes. Even with four arms and a mouth lined with bone splintering razors, Mica could only do so much. "My-ka gonna rest a little, then go back."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 11, 2017, 11:22:55 pm
Quinn nods, he slows the truck to a stop outside a small town. "We're here. Lets hope this is quick and painless..." he states, taking the keys out and getting out. He unsheathes his sword and waits for Helen to lead the way to the cathedral.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 11, 2017, 11:31:49 pm
Hector nodded at that, giving a little wince as he saw the condition Mica was in, reaching to offer to help her up. "Yeah. Those two could only clear the first room before they had to fall back. Need me to patch you up?" he asked, examining her injuries as best as he could, if he'd let her. "Hell, at this point maybe best to go in together, One to distract them, and the other to sneak through." he suggested.
Helen nodded at that, gathering her hammer as she led the way, looking around he area at first, until she moved to one of the side doors to enter first, mask piercing the darkness as it activated. The place looked to be a mess, abandoned and littered with scattered items, many haphazardly draped over pews. The place seemed to gave an unnatural quiet, though they weren't quite alone. She could also faintly sense the life underneath them, wondering how they'd lingered there the entire time, undisturbed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 11, 2017, 11:48:28 pm
Mica leaned back against the tank and let Hector treat her bruises and cuts. The glow-men couldn't get through her chitinous parts, but the bruises hurt and the shallow cuts they inflicted bled red. She shook her head at Hectors suggestion, and gave a surprisingly thoughtful explanation. "Hek-tor come if he want, but no sneakin'. Not nothin' to sneak for. Glow-mans have the underthings, My-ka gotta kill the Glow-mans to get them." She carefully unwrapped the current bundle and sorted out a set of pistols, beretta's, and a plastic bag contain several boxes of 9mm rounds. She pulled out something that looked like a tiny triangle connected at the corners with thick cotton cords and tossed it to Hector. "ooh la la fancy pants for Roks-ann." she said, winking as Hector caught the thong. "My-ka don't know why someone wear fancy strings underthings... Not cover nothin..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 12, 2017, 12:03:41 am
Hector nodded at that, smirking a bit as he bandaged the cuts, only to grin a little at her explanation, offering one in return. "True. In this case what you'd be doing is sneaking around to hit them while they're busy, rather than getting past." he suggested, setting aside the array of weapons and ammo to put them in the tank's cargo storage. "Wow. Lot of M9s, likely some sort of security detail down there. Or maybe the local police favored them and they got turned. Even then, it's weird that they prefer being down there, not here." he said, grabbing one of the scavenged geiger counters to get a reading off of her.
"And...h-hey. Yeah, she might like that actually. Thing is Mica, it's not always about what you cover, I suppose. Regardless of whether or not you have a practical reason..." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 12, 2017, 12:29:09 am
She thought she knew what he meant. She wasn't completely ignorant after all, but the idea of wearing an article of clothing to show off when you could just wear nothing at all was a little baffling. "What does clicky thing do?" Mica asked, changing the subject and snatching for the geiger counter Hector held, missing as he pulled it back away from her. "It detects radiation Mica." She didn't know what radiation was, but if there was a device to seeing it, then it must be important. "My-ka go back soon, just gonna rest a little more." She said suddenly, "Can't be usin' teef. Gots to use claws. If Hek-tor wanna come, then Hek-tor go now. My-ka not goin' down today after this."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 12, 2017, 12:36:03 am
Hector nodded as he regarded the reading from the device, fumbling through his drop leg pouch for something, a pill her took, offering one to her. "Can't be good getting exposed to that constantly. Especially if they're crumbling to dust, breathing it in won't be good even for you." he said, before looking down into the manhole. "Alright then. I'll come along when you're ready."
He was surprised by the smell of the place, or rather the lack of it. The other two mentioned how it seemed like the sewers had been going unused for a long time, and this seemed to confirm that. It seemed to likely be a mere cover for the structure build underneath, possibly only used back when the town was actually inhabited.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 12, 2017, 12:40:38 am
Quinn holds his sword at the ready and takes out a small flashlight and turns it on. He walks around the cathedral, looking for the basement, and he finds the door leading to a staircase leading down. "Basement over here, lets go."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 12, 2017, 01:28:19 am
Mica led Hector through the maze of passages, the entry they sought being rather easy to find. Hector could see it being difficult to locate though, if the bars that had once blocked the hall leading to it still been in place. As they crept around a corner, and the rotunda housing the hatch they sought came into view, Hector saw the low green glow emerging from a hole in the floor. "Shhh." Mica hissed, throwing Catnips cloak over herself and moving forward rapidly. As soon as the badly mutated head was in sight, a trio of rents opened it's face followed by a hiss of pleasure from the unseen spider woman. The glow winked out along with the creatures life and the body crumbled to dust. "Come knight, we go down here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 12, 2017, 06:55:22 am
The drive after Kath passed out was uneventful, to say the least. Carrol and Hoyt traded off here and there when Hoyt needed to take something or Carrol needed to smoke, and Kermit stayed in the back, as always, almost oblivious to Kath being there at all. He was reading a new addition to his collection. It was cheesy 18th century Southern Gothic romance, sure, but the really historically accurate stuff was always a welcome change from building bombs and reloading spent ammo to Kermit.
A few hours passed like this, and soon, evening began to creep over the world. It was cold, even in the van. Hoyt had no real idea where they were. Looks the fucking same as every other somewhat-forested stretch of road from Indiana to...whatever state they were currently in. It blurred together, in his experience.
He pulled the van over to the side of the road, driving out onto the flat plain he spotted between some patches of trees. It was a nice enough spot. Some bushes and smaller trees kept the van from being overly visible, but it wouldn't be that irritating to get the vehicle back out on the open road. Carrol jerked awake as the wheels bumped along the small stones and rough patches on the field, jerking her head side to side in confusion and mild distress before realizing she wasn't in her dreams any longer. Hoyt didn't mention her behavior out of respect, turning to his companion and speaking in his characteristic monotone.
"Fuck it. I'm sure we're out of range of whoever'd be chasing us for her. If anyone is at all. We're done for the night."
Carrol didn't answer verbally. She just nodded and reclined in her chair, staring up at the van's ceiling with nothing much written on her face.
"I'm gonna cook something up. Haven't eaten since before we shot that bitch." Hoyt was, funnily enough, something of a great cook. Maybe it went hand in hand with brewing radioactive mutagenic compounds and LSD. The ingredients he often had to work with these days weren't all too unlike the ones he used to use in the rustic cabins and campsites in the forests around his old lab, whenever the researchers would get a sabbatical to clear their overworked minds in the pines.
Cooking didn't bring Hoyt joy or anything. Not much did these days. But it was something to occupy himself with. And variety was good for morale. So, he cleared off some counter space in the back and pulled a large box of ingredients from one of the van's big old storage compartments. The various tools and containers intended for chemicals Hoyt had did admirably when it came to actual cuisine, and he had a stovetop/hotplate and small oven to work with as well.
He wouldn't make anything crazy, but still, he could whip up something better than half-cooked beaver and crackers, and that's the kind of thing most people were eating those days. Kath woke up, oh, half an hour after Hoyt got started, maybe. He was rather busy, and Carrol was still lazily counting out patterns in the ceiling, so only Kermit's powerful ears heard her after a good two minutes of her general light groaning and discomfort.
"Hoyt." "Fuck off, Kermit, making magic here." "Ho-" "DOES FUCK OFF MEAN SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN FUCKING AUSTRALIAN?" "Girl's awake." "Oh. Good. Dinner's almost ready." And, soon enough, Carrol seated herself beside Kathrine's woozy self, whistling lightly under her breath. There was a large military-style tin mess tray in her hands. There was food on it. The food looked good.
"Hey. Wake up, kitkat. Got dinner. You probably need help eatin' it."
Carrol put the tray on the counter next to Kath's prone form, though she still had her hands on the side. On the tray, neatly separated by the dish's little barriers, was the dinner Hoyt had prepared. The central indentation contained beans and rice, cooked plain, with a small slice of acorn-and-cattail bread leaning against the pile. Next to it was a mug-shaped bowl, filled about halfway with warmed tomato soup, with a little compact metal fork-spoon-and-knife mess set nearby, the spoon dipped into the soup. In the top right corner of the tray, there was a sizable slice of pie, recently cooked, and still steaming. Wild rhubarb. Grew all over the place if you knew where to look. Finally, one of those little insulated cardboard cups made specifically for hot drinks held some piping hot bone broth. Normally, Hoyt'd make coffee, but it was the evening, and Carrol had insisted so that the cat could sleep after she ate. Plus they still had the bones from a black bear Carrol had shot a few weeks ago lying around. Waste not, want not, y'know?
"You hungry?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 12, 2017, 11:44:38 am
Helen nodded as she followed along, checking the darkened rooms using the sight of her mask, to ensure there was nothing lurking in the darkness. "Couple undead in a few of the side rooms." she pointed out, gesturing in the direction of each, before they soon found the path leading down below, and she opted to lead the way. She wondered why the few zombies she spotted had never made any attempt to crash their way through the doors. While some mystical effect was possible, she suspected the likely cause was that the city had long since fallen to the undead, and that these may have been jholdouts that rose up after falling prey to illness or starvation, any other comrades quietly abandoning them.
The place seemed just as hastily-abandoned as the rooms above, a kitchen and dining room, makeshift beds set up either for pre-cataclysm purposes, or for a few survivors that long since left, and doors to other rooms that were still locked, where she could sense the unnatural life they were after.
Hector followed along as quietly as he could, though even with the sound of his mail, there was a faint drone of unearthly noises emanating from deeper within the structure, faintly audible even then, and he readied his sword as something clambered out. He'd never got a good look at these creatures before, as he'd avoided the city during his exploration, until others had already cleared the surface. Occasionally they'd stray north to the road he traveled along, and simply crumble under the treads of his tank.
He decided to make his way down first to see what awaited, noting to his surprise that the lighting remained more intact, though the room the hatch led into was still a darkened alcove, the very next room gave off the glow of emergency lighting.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 12, 2017, 06:19:57 pm
Kathrine sniffs at the plate in front of her, and then nods at Carol. "I can eat..." Despite this, she obviously can't. Her attempt to move her (broken) arm over just ends with a quiet grunt.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 12, 2017, 07:34:07 pm
Quinn cautiously walks around the dark basement, flashlight in hand. He looks around the area that was clearly used to house the homeless, complete with soup kitchen. He walks into the kitchen and pokes around, looking through the cabinets and fridge. He finds an old, worn coat hanging off of the doorknob and looks through the pockets. He pulls out a black zippo along with a half full pack of cigarettes. He grumbles under his breath, "Awful brand, but better then nothing..." He pockets both, he heads into the pantry and sees something odd, a boarded up door. "Helen. Over here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 12, 2017, 07:50:47 pm
Helen scanned the area warily, picking up a sheet that was draped loosely over one of the beds, evidently planning something as she rolled it up. "I can see them just on the other side, at least 4 of them in sight. And some others that are a bit harder to see, at least 3 more beings." she said softly, before turning her hammer around, using the spiked head to pry the boards loose with a soft crunch, provoking a faint chorus of sounds from within. She thought about how best to approach this, realizing the techniques she'd researched might work on these creatures as well. She wasn't sure though.
It could drive out sprites that no longer had a natural connection to their body, as well as directly harming spirits with no body, but she suspected it would be ineffective against spirits naturally bound to their body, meaning she'd have to kill one of the creatures and immediately bind their soul, in the same way she tried against Roxanne's other self when she fled.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 12, 2017, 08:19:38 pm
The rooms and halls nearby were littered with clothes and debris, a lot of it in surprisingly good condition. Mica pointed through the hole in the pushed down fence, indicating an open doorway, the hall beyond, and the glowing figure entering the room. "Glow-mans like to wander?" She whispered, seeming to ask. Hector quietly strode up to it and casually put it down. "Glow-mans go to empty places, no safe places." Hector nodded, agreeing with the astute observation. The glowing creatures seemed more intelligent than the standard walker and had filled in the halls sparsely, picking through the leavings of their deceased. The two of them explored freely, except for the occasional horde of aimless enemies. Not far from their point of entry, they discovered a large room that looked like some kind of visitor center. The glow men had knocked down and broken apart every piece of furniture in the room. The only indication that it had been what Hector thought it was, was a poster emblazoned with the image of a kind of arrowhead shape in a yellow circle, and a happy family walking towards the viewer hand in hand. Under that image was the words "Welcome to Vault Delta!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 12, 2017, 08:56:52 pm
Hector was cautious in his exploration, taking advantage of every instance of undead wandering alone, sword easily finding its mark. They seemed rather frail, decrepit but retaining a curious intellect, or at least some sense of independence. The sign however stood out as unnerving, realizing that this seemed to be a public defense project. But every last one they encountered was wearing the same jumpsuit, whether their equipment suggested they were maintenance or security.
He wondered about the implications. The ruined old living spaces and cheerful posted almost suggested a civilian purpose for the structure, but at the same time much of it suggested a military project. Either way, the sheer number of such heavily-corrupted undead, "We need to be careful. Something caused all these undead to end up as...glowy things, possibly a damaged reactor. Nuclear setup would explain why emergency power is still working after all this time. Unless someone's maintaining emergency generators."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 12, 2017, 10:21:51 pm
The two were greated a an entourage of armed men in modern armor. They ranged from standard police and swat to advance riot gear. Their weapons were varied as well, mostly hunting rifles and some pump action shotguns; a few assault rifles here and then as well as one experimental rifle Sigma and Lambda use. “Who goes there!”, one of the men shouted to Victor and Roxanne.
“Cleanser Roxanne Luna and Purifier Victor Ironwood. We were invited here to discuss some business. We mean no harm”, Roxanne explained.
The men lowered their weapons as the one who asked the question nodded and went inside the cave. A few moments later, two robed figures manifested themselves in between the groups of men and the two visitors; They resembled the divine spirits they had fought but they lacked the blades and instead had normal hands. Roxanne and Victor’s hands were still in the air to avoid conflict but it was starting to get uncomfortable.
One of the figures took off her robe’s hood. To neither of the two visitors surprise, it was Alt-Roxanne. She looked recuperated from their previous encounter as well as more docile. "Victor Ironwood and...Roxanne Luna. We have been waiting for you. Please don’t mind them, they only care for our security as this is their home too.", Alt-Roxanne told the pair.
The other figure took off their hood as well, It revealed a blonde woman with green eyes. She looked to be in her mid 40’s judging from her face. The same garments wore by Alt-Roxanne were worn by her. "Yes, welcome brother and sister. Victor, good to see you again. Cleanser Luna, good to meet you. Why don’t we go inside? Hunter Haymaker is waiting.", The woman said.
The men who had been guarding the place had now disbanded and the two robed women led Roxanne and Victor inside the cave. The inside of it was massive. It held many accommodations like beds, tables and chairs, shelves and many other things you would expected in a settlement. The men from earlier had gathered around many of the things arranged. Some went to the lockers set up to get and store items, a few played on the billiards table that was set up, while yet more simply chatted idly with slunged and holstered weapons; this place looked like a real community.
On the very back of the cave, there was a sealed off area to create a room; the only one in the entire room. The two robed women led told them to enter the room. Once inside, the blonde one closed the door behind them. Victor and Roxanne looked around and were impressed. It was the cliche scene of any mad scientist movie. Vials of strange liquids everywhere,strange devices, books upon books up on shelves on one of the books and weird setups that looked like ritual altars.
On the back if the room, a man awaited them. He wore the same robes as the other two women and the divine spirits, but as Victor could tell from his portable aura spell, this man was a living human. Victor and Roxanne stopped on the opposite side of the room and just stared. The two spirit women went towards the man; Alt-Roxanne to his left and Emily ot his right. The man just grinned as as he looked at his two visitors.
"Hunter Alex Haymaker...", Victor said softly, breaking the silence.
"In the flesh.",said the man, "Unlike the two of them to my left and right."
Alt-Roxanne just glares at him, she doesn’t find that comment particularly funny. Emily just rolls her eyes and gasps in exasperation. Hunter Haymaker simply chuckled a bit and shocked his head in amusement. He then looks at Victor. “Good to see you are still well. Heard what happened...must been a hell of a fight.”, Hunter Haymaker commented. He then turned his attention to Roxanne. “Now you Miss Luna...you are quite the interesting case. Someone from another world entirely. And to top it all of, you currently inhabit the body of the girl that stands next to me. Gotta say, I am impressed.
Roxanne smirked a bit, the praise made her feel special somewhat, even though none of that was of her own doing and she knew it. "I only play with the cards I was given. Nothing special.", Roxanne answered. Hunter Haymaker simply noded.
Huntress Emily stepped forward, “Welcome brother and sister. Victor, I am glad I could get to see you again.”
“Not what you said back then…”, Alt-Roxanne whispered to herself.
“And Roxanne Luna, the assassin from beyond the conveyance. It is always good to meet people who share common ideals”, Huntress Emily shared, “Now, you may be wondered why we asked you to come here today. Well, the time has come for us to tell you. Huntress Blackmore, if you will.”
Emily stepped back as Alt-Roxanne took center stage. “Look around you. Look at what we have been able to build. No, what we have been able to rebuild! Look at us, we are the Shadows of Arcana. We all have our own separate past, some more dramatic than others, but we all have one thing in common; we took an oath, to make sure that humanity never forgets of what lurks beyond…”, Alt-Roxanne told the Visitors, “Join us, the two of you. Put past prejudices aside and let’s work together. We can build a greater future! The 5 of us have achieved great things. Emily and I have transcended death, Alex was able to find us all and bring us together, Cleanser Luna here came from another world...and Victor posses the very thing that gave light to our mission. There is no doubt in my mind, no our minds that together we will triumph!”
Alt-Roxanne’s speech left both Victor and Roxanne stunned. Did they just asked them to abandon their previous life and join them? Just like that? Hunter Haymaker stepped forwards.
“I have seen what you got going. I get it, you got your own people to look after. Cleanser Luna has her knight and Victor...well, he has made amend with the enemy. But understand this is greater than that. We all made our sacrifices when we first joined and as Huntress Blackmore said, well all made an oath.”, Hunter Haymaker said.
Silence then permeates the room. No one speaks. Vicor and Roxanne look at each other for answers. Roxanne looks away and Victor is left the task to respond. “Alex...drop the act for a moment. Let’s speak as friends...Look, I am honored that I was chosen to participate in this but...I am starting anew too...I have changed. As for our order, I am stretching an olive branch to an old wound. The Cleansing Flame and the Shadows of Arcana as one once more. Is that not duty enough?”, Victor answered.
This made Alt-Roxanne furious. “Olive branch?! Did you forget that day Victor?! Look at me, Look at me!!! She took my life away Victor. She and what remained of her little group invaded us and turned the place against us. Do you forget the wounds they caused us? I almost finished the job they started...and now you betray us?! What does she have that makes her so special?!”, Alt-Roxanne shouted.
“She has him for once.”, A voice said as three figures entered the room, “The Shadows of Arcana, we have you at last cornered in a single spot. How fitting that the once great order that sought to further humanity is taken down by the very thing that will.” Two of them carried assault rifles and the once in the middle had looked like a staff.
The 5 gathered stepped back and withdrew their weapons. The sounds of bionic weapons and swords being unsheathed filled the room. Then, they were joined by shouts and gunshots outside of the room. “Ah, music to my ears!”, said the figure in the middle, “gentlemen, why don’t you join the symphony? Fire!” The two men raised their rifles and aimed at the 5 gathered. They pulled the trigger and lead filled the room as their targets scattered for cover. The one who ordered the strike laughed, “Long live Archbishop Astor!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 12, 2017, 10:29:18 pm
Quinn opens the door cautiously, he holds the blade at the ready as he walks inside. He scans the room in the carved out earth with the flashlight, his eyes widen as he takes a cautionary step back. "Get back, get back!" Quinn says with an uncharacteristic fear. A large, slender humanoid sprints full force towards the scientist, grappling and lifting him off the ground. It's strong grip digging it's claws into his flesh and tearing his coat, he tightens his grip against his blade and stabs it through the flesh angel's wrist. He wrenches himself out of it's grip, sloppily tearing the hand out of it's socket and leaving it dangling off on a thread. He falls to the floor and he scrambles out of the room, wheezing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 12, 2017, 11:27:07 pm
Helen regarded the creatures that waited in the other room, when the thing that drove Quinn into a panic suddenly came into view. She struggled to avoid matching its gaze, crying out a bit. "Quinn!" she shouted, raising her hammer as the monster lifted him. The glow of her hammer revealed her intent, chanting something to herself as she let training take over, a blinding flash engulfing the room in light.
The instant Quinn had sliced away at the creature's wrist and scrambled away, she stood in between them, aiming a snap kick at its leg, to take advantage of the moment that a severed wrist and stunning blast of her hammer would buy. She was shaking, trembling and choking back the unnatural revulsion the thing's visage induced. It was a creature of spindly humanoid nature, wings jutting out of its back. They resembled avian wings, stripped of feathers and splayed out in a crude attempt to mimic bat wings. The aura it gave off resembled what bled through the body the Archon possessed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 12, 2017, 11:46:40 pm
Most of Hectors statement went over Mica's head. Most of what she got out of it was that the glow men were strange, and that something somewhere was broken. Catnip would have understood, could have even explained in simple words of two syllables or less. Mica picked through the piles of jumpsuits and gieger counters and came up with a fist load of underwear, which she shoveled into her bag. She also came up, with something different.
Some of the creatures were armed, though rarely with knives or pistols. The guns were never loaded, always lacking a magazine, and the knives were usually blunted though not so blunted that they couldn't be used to stab. Mica took several nasty stabs which Hector would later attempt to suture, only to find that the wounds had already sealed themselves, adding more scars to Mica's already large collection. Apart from the knives though, was the something different. "Hek-tor! Look what My-ka find! Like two-face ladies!" She raised the familiar hammer into the air, struggling a little with the weight. "My-ka's prize!" She said with glee.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 13, 2017, 12:28:53 am
Quinn sheds the tattered labcoat after grabbing a roll of gauze. He clutches his side, saturating the hand with blood. He wheezes as he gets back up to his feet and tightly wraps his cuts with the gauze. He sheathes his sword and draws his colt, he raises the holdout pistol and aims down the sights. He squeezes off two shots, one hits the angel in it's fleshy wing and the other hits it in the shoulder.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2017, 01:43:04 am
Hector smirked as he did his work, trying his best to ensure that the majority of the undead they encountered focused on him, the man in shining mail and not the near-invisible specter of death that crept up on them. Even then, the end result was usually the two cleaving their way through groups at each end, each side focusing on the closest unfamiliar thing they encountered, as the ones in the back would find the louder, shinier target obscured by a sea of glowing, moaning corpses they recognized as their own.
After the latest of their targets were dispatched, sword and claw cutting equally brutal swathes through the group, he regarded Mica's prize with amusement. It was indeed just like what the odd cloaked woman wielded, and like the images he saw in one of Roxanne's books. "I think they call it the hammer of the hunter. Fitting for you, then." he teased.
Helen backpedaled as she evaded a claw swipe directed at her, the result just catching an arm and tearing the sleeve, leaving a line of cuts along the skin underneath. Her retreat however left Quinn a clear shot, two rounds further impairing it and adding to the kick that hobbled it some. She decided to press the attack again, a swing of her hammer shattering the collarbone on the other side, the resulting screech making it hard to suppress the instinctive fear its appearance provoked. It was crippled now, limping along but by no means out of the fight yet.
The faceless creatures by now where shrieking, milling about in the corners, set off by the cacophany of a hammer flash and gunshots, and instinctively sensing the hatred radiating from what was once the only stranger they knew in the darkness, joined by two others. They knew not to anger the tall thing, but they didn't yet know how to react around the two smaller things, the things that actually smelled like this world, and so they simply watched and wailed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 13, 2017, 02:07:53 am
Quinn re-draws his sword and holsters the pistol, He returned into the fray and stabbed into the Angel's abdomen, twisting the blade and wrenching it free, causing the abomination's insides to spill out. With the sword glowing bright as he activated it, he swiftly severed the head and the creature collapsed in an instant. He lets out a sigh and re sheathes his blade.
With the life fading from the creature, she grabbed her symbol of judgement, raising it. The glow it gave off was unusual, golden rather than the electric blue that was the norm, and the fading energy of the flesh angel could be seen rising like mist from the corpse. Swept up in this flow of energhy was the faint fragment of power that would normally be left behind, all of it seemingly drawn to the golden weapon she held.
Something about the act she committed make the faceless pale creatures cry out, not their usual wailing but what sounded like screams of terror, and all of them scrambled to the farthermost recesses of the room, pressed against the walls. When the glow faded, she unfurled the sheet she took earlier, draping it over the now lifeless body, shaking her head a bit. Quinn looks at Helen, then at the blank bodies, "They must of been turned into this, and by the environment I'm guessing that they were homeless. Just looking for shelter, and they've been turned into these... creatures."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2017, 02:22:09 am
Helen sighed as she regarded the now-headless monster, having what she came her from. A soul bound to her symbol of judgement, fuel for recreating what seemed to be the end result of what happened to those bandits, reeking of that same energy used against Victor. She looked around warily, hearing faintly the crack of something in the distance, upstairs. Likely they first time the undead in those rooms had ever heard such a racket in their new life, if her guess about when they rose was correct.
She gave a nod at Quinn's suggestion. "Possible. I'm unsure. I've encountered them on rare occasions and they tend to leave mundane essence, while most earthly things touched by the beyond give off blood essence. But nearly all other examples I know of that were undead, not living. I know that The Archon took a living host the second time I encountered it, and what was left was indeed regular energy." she said. "We should go, sounds like we have a few guests upstairs to greet..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 13, 2017, 02:29:27 am
Quinn nods and heads out, he stops next to his tattered labcoat. He digs out whatever is still intact inside the coat and puts it in his own pockets, he leaves behind the rags and heads up the stairs. He keeps his blade at the ready and waits for Helen to follow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2017, 02:37:37 am
Helen winced a bit as she activated her cloak, forcing the gashes along her arm to mend, before she removed it to drape it around Quinn. "All you alright? Here, should ensure you get out of here in one piece." she offered, before they'd continue up after him, gesturing to a hallway that the nearest of the couple zombies inside could be seen stumbling through.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 13, 2017, 02:50:56 am
Quinn winces as the cloak gets activated, "Thanks..." He gives the cloak back and walks out of the stairwell, he holds the sword at the ready in case if any undead get too close.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2017, 03:10:24 am
Helen nodded as she put the cloak back on, watching as a few of the creatures stumbled their way towards the apparent source of the noise, the stairs. One could be seen shambling down the down towards Quinn, while another forced its way through a door as they passed, and that was the one Helen chose to deal with. Compared to the lithe, agile form and unnatural aura of the flesh angel, a simple undead half-wedged through a gaping hole in the interior door was deal with by a couple hard blows to the head, Helen's casual reaction to the sight making for an absurd contrast to earlier.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 13, 2017, 03:34:04 am
Quinn simply stabs into the undead's skulls as they make their way back.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2017, 11:27:54 am
Helen was humming quietly to herself as the two made their way back out, sword and hammer easily dispatching the few creatures that awaited to greet them. When they made it outside, the town itself still seemed as empty and dead as ever, Helen suspecting that if their approach by truck hadn't alerted any undead, a few noises underground clearly wouldn't either.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 13, 2017, 12:24:34 pm
Quinn stops outside the car before wincing, "Can you drive?" he asks. "I... never learned actually. she responded, looking down. Quinn grimaces before tossing her the keys, "Never too late to learn. he says as he gets in the passenger seat. Helen gave a nod at that. "Fine by me then. Will take it easy just in case." she responds, getting in the Driver's seat.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2017, 02:09:54 pm
Helen was cautious as she started it up, fumbling with putting the truck into gear. At a bare minimum it was clear she had been in vehicles often enough to have observed how things work, but as the truck roared to life and peeled out of town, it was clear she still had no actual practice behind the wheel, no feel for how responsive the accelerator was, and only a rough guess of how much space was needed to decelerate.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 13, 2017, 03:18:16 pm
"Mica gettin' tired knight. We go back?" Mica rubbed her side where one of the irradiated wanderers had cut her. As they walked along, Mica dug through her bag looking at the various treasures, while hector hauled the large black plastic bag stuffed with pairs hard won underpants. Mica pulled out a golden cup, and a wonderful silver icon. "Now My-ka has shinies!" She cooed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2017, 03:56:54 pm
Hector grinned a bit at that under his helm. He was a little bruised under the mail, the surface of his shield was scratched up, and he was worn down from the fighting, but he was otherwise unharmed. "We've both earned a break, yeah. Did a number on this things..." he said, regarding the strange cup she held. That one he was less familiar with, having not had the chance to skim the book it was from, and lacking the experience in the arcane to even guess what it did. "Let's head back, rest up, then figure out what to do next."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 13, 2017, 03:59:23 pm
Roland had finished cooking and serving the men and was now sitting with Veronica and the twins outside. Blitz was drinking a beer as he looked at a blueprint he'd set on the hood of a jeep while Krieg smoked a cigarette. From the conversation they'd had Roland gathered that the twins had spent most of their lives in Germany before coming to the states shortly before the cataclysm. Blitz had designed and built weapons while Krieg had worked as an EMT.
Roland examined the bastard son of a shotgun and a grenade launcher Blitz had built and used. "Think you could make more of these?"
Meanwhile Drifter blinked as he stepped through the corridor. He passed a collection of men in military uniform before reaching another room. The only things he saw was a table with a game of chess set on it and a chair. Taking a seat a voice faintly said "Ah a new one to play against. A Marine as well? The last one proved to be competent but we shall see."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2017, 05:35:15 pm
Nathaniel had eventually managed to pry himself away from Lilith enough to sneak off to Hector's room and grab the laptop, checking the network set up. The resulting conversation he had with Sharlene amused him a bit, filling her in on things she missed. Catnip's disappearance, Kathrine's abduction, a mention of Bandit's abduction, a subsequent explanation of who the hell Bandit even was, etc.
The fact he'd noticed the recycling bin full, and accidentally revealing what he'd found in it, made the conversation more worrisome. He was left blushing bright at what he read, though Lilith practically laying atop him while he typed. He'd accidentally let slip the contents of the recylcing and ended up badgered into sending a few to Sharlene.
He could guess who the likely author was, given all the stories concerned Hector and Roxanne. "Shit. Lilith? Mind letting me up? I"m gonna go put this away, then we should...visit Sharlene's place. Yeah. For the next century.or two."
The transmittors had been down for years. They still had a functioning receiver and short-range communications were still up. They'd been hearing of the world above going on without them, hearing the old military units reforming as a loose association calling themselves The Old Guard, and all this time they could never reach out to them.
They had a hoard of supplies meant to sustain hundreds of people for a decade, now sustaining a mere fraction of that number. They also had access to local security cameras, emergency power, and one of the few areas that had been shielded from the great reactor leak that had altered so many of the survivors, about 5 years ago. Now the radiation had died down a bit and emergency systems still works without incident, but the damage had been done. Repairs were still impossible, so long as the horde kept them holed up in the secure zones.
A few months ago they'd picked up activity at the entrance. A strange woman in a scaled cloak, bearing objects resembling some of the things research teams had smuggled in for examination. Research section had been buried practically next to the reactor, meaning what remained of them were by far the most severely-effected of the glowing undead. There was also a young man tearing through the undead with his bare hands, systems indicating evidence of bionics. They'd wreaked havoc, been stymied at the entryway, then forced to limp back out by the horde.
This time a new pair of intruders were reported, making clear progress through the halls. The reason two of their soldiers now stood guard, anticipating their arrival. One still wore the old USMC uniform he had from back when he was transfered here. The other was a woman wearing what resembled an Army uniform, but the patches included were distinctly different. On one side, a patch bearing only the designation "IV" on it. On the other side, a patch with the same symbol seen in the posters, along with the Δ symbol. The womanin the odd uniform was briefing the marine.
"Be on lookout for two people from the surface, we are to make contact, determine intentions, and attempt linkup with outside world if they are cooperative. One's a mutant, XV classification 5a, subtypes Chimeric and Arachnid. Outside intel suggests X-series. The other is a man in a knight getup. Intel confirms they are NOT God's Army. Suspected to be a one Marshal Lowe, according to chatter coming from Center Sierra. Possible unconfirmed connection to personnel records of a Pvt. Hector Lowe, 2-XIV, KIA..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 13, 2017, 05:57:31 pm
Lilith lazily rolls off of Nathaniel, expecting more bellyrubs, when he gets up and wanders off to put the small box away. He was ignoring her. Ignoring her yet again. She rolled to her paws, backing up in preparation for a pounce. "NATALEEEE!" It's definitely a roar, and it's definitely loud, as she jumps at her off-guard boyfriend, knocking him to the ground with her on top of him. Both of her front paws are square on his shoulders as she lowers herself down to lick his face, grinning. "Natalie bad. Bellyrubth."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2017, 06:09:20 pm
Nathaniel wasn't sure what to think as he put away the laptop, looking around nervously. No sign of Roxanne, and the tank is out, he thought. Good. He was however abruptly surprised by Lilith roaring at him and bowling him over, knocked face-first into the dirt. "ACK! Liliiiith!" he whined, squirming under her. "Two things Lil. First, holy SHIT that hurts. Second, we should go back to the cabin. I'll give you bellyrubs there, okay?" he asked. "Seriously, when Hector finds this out he's gonna slap the shit outta me. Or Roxanne will probably kill and eat me.In that order if I'm lucky..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 13, 2017, 06:26:50 pm
Lilith takes one paw off of Nathaniel's back, keeping him pinned with the other. She reached for the little grey box that Nathaniel was paying so much attention to, and places a single, bulbous finger on it. "Natalee like box more than like Lilith?" She doesn't sound at all playful now. "Lilith doethn't like box." The plastic cover was easy enough to scrape a claw through, as was the electronics behind the screen. The keyboard itself was slightly more difficult, though. Her claw was stuck. "...Nataleeeeeeeeeeeee."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 13, 2017, 06:37:04 pm
Nathaniel whined a bit at that, squirming more only to grumble as Lilith questioned him about the laptop. "I was just putting it back Lilith. It belongs to Hector, d-" He was interrupted by a claw ripping right through the material, going a bit pale at that. "Well great, now Hector is probably gonna kill me if Rox doesn't first..." he squeaked out. "Come on Lilith, please? We should go..." he said, wincing as he reached to help slip the torn device off her claw.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 13, 2017, 07:20:57 pm
Everyone gathered had found cover as the shots rang from the two men’s rifles. They moved forward as they continued to fire at everyone periodically. Alt-Roxanne and Emily had formulated a plan. The two were at opposite side of the room behind two different altars; Roxanne with Emily and Alt-Roxanne with Victor. The two women used some of their energy to summon silver robed divine spirits. The two men had ran out of ammo when the spirits rushed towards them while they reloaded.
“How quaint!”, exclaimed the man who commanded the other two. He slammed the tip of his staff onto the ground and what appeared to be shadows came from the ground and slashed at the approaching spirits. They all were turned to black mist while the men finished reloading and shouldered their weapons again. Alt-Roxanne and Emily took the opportunity and charged at the two men themselves. The one with the staff smirked some more and prepared a second attack to deal with the new targets but it’s then that he felt a hot flash grace his left shoulder; then a few shots from a pistol came from the right. Roxanne shooting from her laser sniper and Victor used his new sidearm. The proximity to the target and Victor’s lack of proper training caused the shots to miss. The man rushed back and then Alt-Roxanne and Emily took over the other two men’s bodies.
The rifles were now trained on the single man, Victor and Roxanne came out of cover with their weapons aimed at him too. Hunter Haymaker stepped forward with his sword in one hand. It was decorated with images of all seasons and it’s color shifted to all colors of the rainbow depending on the angle. “The sword of convergence too? Now I see why we had to get rid of you!”, The now corned man exclaimed.
“Drop the act, it’s over, you lost. Surrender in peace and we will spare you...Purifier Everest”, Alex said as he stepped forward. “Don’t you dare refer to me as that title! You lost that right years ago! Begone!”, screamed the man. He quickly slammed his staff in the ground again and in a flash, he was locking weapon’s with Alex’s sword. “Go and help the others outside. They will need it more. I will take care of this profligate, I have handled worse!”
The other hesitated, all save for Emily; she just nodded and urged the other to exit. The Hunter was left alone with his prey. It was time to have a meal! The other witnessed the carnage outside. Many people laid dead on the ground, some held their ground taking cover from other who had came through the door. Roxanne and Victor took cover while Alt-Roxanne and Emily looked around.
"Victor, better get ready that sword of your ready!", Alt Roxanne exclaimed.
"It doesn’t work right now...it lacks a power source...", Victor said softly but loud enough to be heard over the battle ahead.
"It what?! What did you do?!", Alt-Roxanne exclaimed. She looked around at everyone present and an idea came to mind. "Purifier Luna! Let me take over your body again! I have a plan!", Alt-Roxanne told Roxanne.
"What?! What is wrong with you! I can fight too!", Roxanne answered in an indignant shout.
"And I am not questioning that...I just know that body more than you and I have a plan that I cannot do while in this form. Please trust me! We are one on the same after all!", Alt-Roxanne pleaded.
Huntress Emily paid no mind at what was going on, she was just hovering around looking over a tall piece of furniture used a barricade. Victor stared at Roxanne as he awaited her response, he dumbfounded at the idea. Roxanne looked around at the fight ahead. She was outmatched, outgunned in body that wasn’t hers. She saw no choice, everyone here was more qualified than her. "Fine! Just don’t do anything reckless like last time! I am still inside so if you get yourself killed, I die too!", Roxanne exclaimed. "You what?! Why did you fight us then?!", Victor shouted.
“You mustn’t rush into battle without a plan and smith what you don’t understand. The woman from the cleansing flame has started to lead you on the wrong path.”. Emily intejected. She did not even look away from where she was surveying. Victor looked at her and glared, but before he could do anything, he was being called upon.
"Victor! Your sword!", Alt-Roxanne requested of Victor.
Victor was too much distracted to think things through and simply gave her the sword. "Doesn’t work though, has no power source.", Victor told her as he tossed her his sword.
Alt-Roxanne grinned, she grabbed the sword in own hand once she caught it. She summoned a divine spirit who delivered another orb; it was then absorbed by Alt-Roxanne’s body. "If you taught me anything Victor, is that you simply have to want it...and then the arcane will follow...", Alt-Roxanne said, the sword activated and it engulfed in it’s aura. She held the sword close to her and then pointed it at Emily, "You are in charge of spirit duty. Make sure Victor makes it out alive. Luna and I have some men to kill!"
Huntress Emily turned around and then simply nodded. She lowered herself to the ground and walked toward Victor; a cold hand was put on his shoulder by the huntress. “That gun of yours, use it. I’ll take care of the rest.”, Huntress Emily said. He nodded, takes out the pistol and reloads it; he took position and announced as such. Alt-Roxanne grinned and she hovered over the barricade. Rifle fire was directed at he and it simply was destroyed by the aura she emanated. Her first target was in sight! Huntress Emily summoned a couple dozen divine spirits. She gave them one simple order, “Kill anyone Roxanne does not.” She then took positions behind Victor and looked around, her blades were secretly itching for a fight, but this would do.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 13, 2017, 11:01:29 pm
They made their way back to the room Hector had identified as a visitor center. The pair had cleared the surrounding halls and rooms, which made the under city pretty quiet, except for the low drone of the lights and the distant hum of the emergency reactors. Hector cleared away broken and splintered furniture, setting aside and setting up the good chairs and tables.
"It'll make an alright forward base for further excursions." He explained. Mica gave him a nod and a dismissive gesture, not really knowing what "forward base" meant. While Hector did that, she went into the surrounding hall and collected up a hefty pile of jumpsuits and undershirts to pile up in a corner as a makeshift bed. This she curled up in, in a surprisingly low profile little spider ball. Hector wasn't fooled into thinking she'd fall asleep that easily. For one she was still wearing the cloak, and for two, he could feel her watching him.
Mica was interested in seeing if the strangers would come to them. She hadn't seen them, hadn't come close, but she'd caught a whiff of them from a slight draft through the air vents carried via the vaults air circulation system. If they didn't come to Hector and her, the pair would have to go looking for them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 13, 2017, 11:45:35 pm
Quinn tightly clutches the grip handle, "Ease into it, don't stomp on the gas. You're doing well though." He says, "How was growing up in your... Order?" he asks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 14, 2017, 12:39:54 am
Hector smirked a bit as he regarded Mica curled up in an near-invisible bundle on the pile of looted clothing. He could tell she wasn't really asleep. In truth, it was hard to sleep in a place like this. He regarded the radiation monitoring badge he had clipped to his swordbelt, an indicator having turned from green to blue. He didn't know how Mica would handle the low-level radiation exposure they sustained, but he suspected it wasn't yet enough to be a major danger to him.
He'd arranged some of the boards salvaged from shattered furniture near the doorway, constructing a simple makeshift barricade to fortify their little alcove while they rested. He'd had to borrow the hammer they found to do so, and it was only further irritating Mica to have her prize out of her hands for even a moment. She peeked out from the shelter of her cloak, her face contorted into what resembled a grin. "Silly knight. That won't keep out the hoo-mans. Only glowy mans." she pointed out, to which Hector turned, a bit confused. "That's assuming there's still any down h- oh. Oh." The way she was looking at him confirmed his suspicions about her remark.
Elsewhere, the two continued to stand watch, expecting the wailing, irradiated undead to come out at the strong scent of prey that'd been lingering in one area for far too long. The report coming from their monitoring station verified what they were seeing with their own eyes. Almost every last one of the creatures on the main level had been drawn to the interlopers, already angered from the last pair of intruders to cleave through part of the horde.
Finally the woman in the modified army uniform spoke up. "Might not get another chance before they fall back. Fella behind Operation Lawgiver would be out best chance to get word out about what we need down here. Thinking it looks clear enough to reach where they're camping..." she suggested, before stepping out into the hall, the marine following close behind her, keeping an eye out to watch her back. Behind them, the entrance to the secure zone sealed again, leaving the two to make their way towards the visitor center.
Helen smiled a bit, taking advantage of a long empty stretch of road to get a good feel for the vehicle at speed. She was smiling underneath the mask. "It was nice...well, moved a lot from sanctum to sanctum." she remarked. "Some had electricity set up, TVs and old DVDs. Plus all the books to study. They started with proper training around 14 though." she said, keeping an eye on the road as she took the curve, a little faster than would be comfortable, but still managing to avoid flipping the truck at least.
"Wasn't expected to end up in a real fight and use the training until I was 17 though. Things...didn't go according to plan."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 14, 2017, 10:07:11 am
"Nataleeee!" Lilith is panicking now, and ends up trying to push it off with her other paw, getting more claws stuck in the laptop. "Nataleeeee!" At least she's gotten off of Nathaniel by now, but she's stumbling around, waving both her arms in the air. She could totally just tear this laptop in half and be done with it, but she doesn't seem to be all there enough to realise that. "NATALEEEEEEEEE!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 14, 2017, 11:16:27 am
Nathaniel facepalmed at that, only to get out and reach toward Lilith to grab the laptop with one hand, and one of her paws with the other. "Lilith. Stop flailing around." he said, only to carefully tug at the laptop in one way, and her paw in a different direction, to slide the deadly, curved claws free of the now-ruined device. "Great, I think this is probably graduated to Hector killing me and turning what's left into jerky thanks to you. And that's if I'm lucky." he grumbled.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 14, 2017, 03:10:17 pm
Lilith nuzzles up to Nathaniel again. "Fank you Nataleeee." Although, her other paw is still stuck in the laptop. This time, however, she just raises her arm into the air and slams it into the ground, sending shards of plastic and circuitry skidding across the dirt path. "FUCKIN' BAM"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 14, 2017, 03:17:28 pm
Nathaniel chuckled a little, petting her in response. "Now let m-" He went a bit pale when Lilith reduced the busted laptop to a spray of busted componants, ducking what used to be about half the hard drive sailing overhead. "Goddamnit Lilith! And wait, since when do you cuss..." he said, a bit shocked at that realization. He snapped out of it upon realize that the whole scene was likely rather loud and out in the open, grabbing at Lilith's arm and tugging at. "Fuuuck. Come on Lil. Cabin. Sharlene's place. Please?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 14, 2017, 03:42:28 pm
Nathaniel was pulling on her. Was he trying to wrestle? Nathaniel was small, he couldn't win a fight, but a challenge was a challenge. "Natalee fight? Okay!" She picks Nathaniel up like a baby, with her paws underneath his shoulders, and tosses him into the air. Normally, she would've followed it up with a punch, but she didn't really want to kill Natalie. "Fuckin' BAM!" She catches him again, pulling him into a hug. "Natalee lothe!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 14, 2017, 03:44:19 pm
Nathaniel went wide-eyed at that, next thing he knew he was tossed up into the air. "Shit shit shitshitshi-" Even being caught by her was enough to knock the wind out of her. "Lilith, please...let's go, okay...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 14, 2017, 03:51:46 pm
"Okay!" Lilith, still hugging him tightly to her chest. Stomping off to the cabin was definitely an interesting experience for Nathaniel, seeing as she's still bra-less and he's facing her chesticles. "Natalee go thee Tharlene and lay-dee man with Lilith!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 14, 2017, 03:56:35 pm
Nathanieled nodded at that, only to give a muffled little "mmph" as she held him close, walking over to the cabin. Honestly he doubted that'd actually solve any of his problems, but it was a head start and all he could even think of. "Thanph Lil..." he mumbled.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 14, 2017, 04:15:55 pm
"Alright, I think that should do it." Dee said. The pain of moving around was pretty bad, but his sternum had finally begun to heal. "We just need to test it. Are you ready?" Medeina stumped her proxy over to the laptop and shut it down. "Alright, go ahead Dee."
"Ok. Access blackfile 'Luna.'" He commanded. There was a long moment where nothing happened then Medeina said, flatly, "Please present valid identification."
"Ok, so far so good. All very expected. ID bypass, passphrase 'redscarf.'"
The laptops screen flashed, and Medeina came back. "Access denied. Sorry Dee..."
Dee shook his head, "It's alright Medi, you're a tough nut to crack. I'll give it another go after I get a bit more rest." Dee lay back, wincing as he put weight on his mending leg. Mica slept sparsely, ready to come awake at the slightest provocation. She dreamed of a hot and dry landscape. These arid dreams gave way quickly to other dreams of chasing small animals through underbrush, devouring chickens, and the odd dreams of Dee that always left her feeling uneasy and embarrassed when she awoke. Hector watched for enemies as she rested, performing his own routine field maintenance to pass the time. When Hector estimated the time of day to be somewhere around midnight, Mica stirred. "Someone coming. Very close now. Listen." She said. Hector grinned at her, listening as instructed. Sure enough, he could hear the faint echo of thinly veiled footsteps coming from somewhere down the underground road to the west.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 14, 2017, 04:51:46 pm
The two of them made their way down the hall, resembling more of an open tunnel wide enough to drive through, that cut through the underground and linked major sectors. Almost all of those sectors had long-since been overrun by the undead. It hadn't even been a fair fight really, the reactor damage killed almost everyone within a couple hours. Only a few secured zones and damage control had been spared, and the two soldiers would still be stuck in the former if not for the latter's efforts. They still kept their masks on, weapons in a low ready position as they regarded the fine dust that now lingered everywhere. "I can't even remember the last time this sector's been so empty, sarge." the marine said, checking every little alcove and giving a look around each corner.
The other soldier looked down as her footsteps kicked up dusk. The gas masks were still a good idea, she thought. By now the alpha contamination these things gave off was the only major radiation hazard on this level. It also meant that when she did meet those two, she was going to give them a stern warning about how idiotic it was to tear through these things unprotected. "Real question is why they're here. No chatter indicative of Sierra sending him over, or that they're even aware of us." she pointed out. "If anything they seem to just be...looting." the marine remarked. "Wonder why..."
"Security feed's showing the 5a as being the one that seems to be leading the marshal around. Looks consistent with the center reports of a 5a whose handlers were killed a year or two ago by God's Army. If she's the same one as in the reports, expect literally anything. Could just be riled up by these things, could just be boredom, could be a fucking panty raid or some bullshit like that. Either way, weapons low but ready in case they're hostile, I don't want to spook them. Almost there..."
Hector had been keeping watch, compared to before he wasn't that worn out, just being able to sit down and rest was good enough for now. He could almost hear what sounded like voices far in the distance, drowned out by the hum of the emergency systems. Then as Mica spoke up, the footsteps became apparent. More than one of them, that much he could tell. "Alright. Don't attack until we know for sure what they're after." he said quietly to Mica.
Elsewhere, Nathaniel was practically clinging to Lilith as she barged into the cabin, looking around a bit before he'd give a little wave to Sharlene. "Oh. Hey. Mind if I crash here? You fucking know why, by the way."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 14, 2017, 05:01:48 pm
Another of the invaders fell to the sword of the void as Alt-Roxanne took on the attackers on the far back. The divine spirits served their job at taking out whatever Alt-Roxanne neglected and their numbers were now dwindling. Victor for his part shot at anything getting out of cover to try and pin them down; not a good shot at all, especially with a pistol, but he didn’t need to for his role. Emily had by now taken out 4 invaders who had somehow made it this far. They had been exhausted when they did so taking them out was no big deal.
The men who had greeted Victor and Roxanne were now either fighting, injured or dead; thanks to the efforts of the 4, they were gaining ground inside the cave and the threat the invaders would be over soon. Alt-Roxanne slashed open a barricade where some of the invaders had sealed themselves off to ambush whoever opened it. To their surprise, their enemy was not even tickled by the bullets they fired. Alt-Roxanne gave a predatory grinned and stepped back as the defenders filled the enclosure to execute them. She then flew up and looked around for the next target. Victor had ceased fire so no-one obvious now; the divine spirits too were searching and occupational screams would be heard as they found their mark. This was it, they had one; not only did they survived, they took out the enemy. What little remained were taken out by their allies as they recovered their ground.
"That is that Emily. I see you two were busy as well.", Alt-Roxanne said as she returned to the upper section to where Huntress Emily and Victor were; she looks at the bodies as she says her second sentence. Victor had put his pistol away as it had ran out of ammunition. "Roxanne, can I have my sword back now?", Victor asked as he extended his hand. Alt-Roxanne smirked and deactivated the sword; she then took it out and handed. "So we are on a first name basis again?", Alt-Roxanne asked in a mocking tone.
"Well, the two of you are named the same and are now sharing the same body so...", Victor responded. This irritated Alt-Roxanne a bit and her smirk was gone. Emily walked towards the two and stood next to Victor once he had his sword back.
“Huntress Blackmore, isn’t it time to relinquish control of the body for now? The battle is over.”, Huntress Emily stated.
"But it’s my body! It was taken by me! Why can’t you let me have this?!", Alt-Roxanne screamed in indignation. Huntress Emily walked approached Alt-Roxanne and gave her a firm smack on the face “You were given a second chance at life and are complaining?! You heard her explanations during our initial contact with her. Cleanser Luna is now bounded to this body due to factors outside of her control. We agreed to help both of you get your respective bodies back but for now, this body is under her control!”, Huntress Emily states.
Alt-Roxanne eventually relents after thinking about it some; Emily’s slap and the way she looked at her made snap out of it. "...You are right..we have a mission and after all of this...let me go ahead reverse the posession." A few moments passed and the body of Alt-Roxanne stayed still, eyes closed. Victor and Huntress Emily looked and waited. Eventually, a divine spirit manifested itself from smokeless fire; it lacked blades and instead had two hands. This was someone’s soul, not a normal divine spirit. It stayed hooded. “Good to see you come to reason Huntress Blackmore, now remove that hood.”, Huntress Emily told the spirit. It shock it’s head and then looked at Roxanne, it made a gesture to her to keep going.
"Good to be back...it’s really weird when you can’t control you own body...", Roxanne says, she then looks at the soul spirit before continuing, "I know it’s not really mine but you know what I mean..." They then hear the sounds of fighting inside the room where Alex was left alone with the man armed with a staff. A scream could be was heard and the group decided to rush in and help. “No time for haste our duty here is done. Let us finish off the threat.”, Huntress Emily said. Everyone agreed and they rushed towards the doors.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 14, 2017, 05:02:51 pm
"Oh? And why's that? You just gonna run in here with Lil' and demand asylum?" Sharlene's wearing a shit-eating grin and trying to pull an innocent pose. "Whatever could you mean?" She quickly drops the act once Lilith growls at her. "Right. This about the radio or the porn?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 14, 2017, 05:07:09 pm
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at her, he wasn't sure what was worse. That smirk, or her usual choice of eye-searingly pink shirt. "You know exactly which one. Didn't get a chance to snag a spare two-way yet. Oh, and thanks to Lilith we're out one laptop too. So now that's probably Hector and Roxanne both that are gonna be pissed."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 14, 2017, 05:14:25 pm
"Well, least she got rid of the evidence, right?" Sharlene shrugs, smiling again. "None of my business what she does with someone else's shit. N-nobody got hurt right? And you did delete that porn, right?" And she's dropped it again. "Put him down, Lil."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 14, 2017, 05:17:47 pm
Nathaniel grumbled a bit. "Yeah, like Hector would fail to notice that his laptop is missing when I'm the only other one that has his password." he pointed out. "I deleted the shit properly, though it's moot since Lilith got her hands on it." he said, holding up a little chunk of plastic that he'd picked out of Lilith's hair. "More importantly, only someone with admin access can actually delete the messages in the network's chat, so..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 14, 2017, 05:55:43 pm
Quinn chews on the side of his mouth, "That sounds... Cozy? Let's go with cozy." Quinn responds, scratching the side of his face.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 14, 2017, 06:15:05 pm
Helen sighed at that, shaking her head. "Go on, say it. It's not normal." she pointed out. "It's not normal to be raised by a religious order of hammer-swinging hunters of the arcane, or to end up killing someone when you're not even 15 yet."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 14, 2017, 07:31:43 pm
Quinn gives Helen a look, "We aren't normal, Helen. That isn't a very good excuse." Helen nodded at that. "True. None of us are even if it started that way. Though you know that was an invition to admit that my family was a bit strange." she teased. Quinn adjusts his glasses and looks at Helen over them. "They cared for you, yes?" Helen sighed in response, looking back to him before her attention returned to the road. "Yes. They did." Quinn gives a small shrug, "That's more then some of us, Helen." he gives a small mumble to himself, "More than myself..." "True. And to be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way." she admitted. "Just that I know it's kinda, well. Weird to outsiders."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 14, 2017, 09:31:36 pm
Helen took another hard turn as they neared the refugee center, to pass by it on the way back to the farm, a bit amused at how Quinn still seemed to react to her driving. Only maybe every other turn it certainly felt like she was going to flip the truck, but she hadn't! Yet. A long of a drive as it had been, it had been some much-needed practice only mostly empty roads, barring the occasional swerve around a wrecked car.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 14, 2017, 09:52:43 pm
Drifter moved his piece on the board as the thing watched him. He wasn't sure what it was as only a hand ever came into view but it seemed to quite enjoy this game. It contemplated it's next move as it said "I remember you. Always interesting."
Drifter watched the board as he asked "Oh?"
It reached a hand out as it moved the next piece and took one of his as it said "Yes. You were good at killing and saw more than most."
Drifter wasn't aware of what was going on outside of his mind as his hand twitched. What he was aware of was that the match was pretty even at this point. As far as he was aware this was just some kind of nightmare.
Elsewhere Alice was reading a few books in the library. She'd found herself spending most of her time here listening to Bandit on the radio now that she knew about it. Besides someone needed to take care of the place.
Elsewhere Bandit had taken a break from hosting the show to work out with Brown. The two had been talking and he'd found out Brown had trouble speaking when he didn't have his music playing. Something to do with his brain according to Seven.
They were trying to get him walking again and he'd managed a couple of steps before falling. Brown helped him back into the wheelchair and told him "Don't worry, we'll get you walking soon enough man."
For now they decided to take a break and let Bandit get back to the broadcast.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 14, 2017, 10:44:35 pm
Suddenly, they were there. Two people with rifles approaching the visitor center. They seemed to behave as if they were aware of the presence of people other than themselves. Mica got to her feet, slipping the cloak over her head. She wasn't particularly interested in what these unknown people had to say. She'd let Hector take care of it, while she stuffed the sorted piles of underpants and other assorted loot into the black garbage bag. If they were unfriendly, she would sneak out and attack from ambush while the knight distracted them. As simple as that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 14, 2017, 11:16:02 pm
Quinn's eyes widen as he grimaces, "Don't- Don't jerk the wheel, ease into it." He seems to relax as the farm gets into sight.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 14, 2017, 11:33:05 pm
Helen nodded at that, speeding up a little as they turned off the road into the field, through the path that cut through the swamp, nearing the array of vehicles parked out there. The end result was the truck coming to a halt rather suddenly, hitting the brakes as they made it path onto the road that circled the farm. She almost forgot to put it back into gear and turn the engine off before letting off the brake reminded her to do so. "There. Made it back, think a good ten minutes quicker in fact." she said, smiling under her mask. "That wasn't so bad actually!"
The sergeant gave a little hand signal as she neared the entrance to the visitor center, the marine hanging back a bit and watching as the woman ahead of him moved towards the barricade. That was a surprise to them, as they had gone far enough that the security room's communication faded, stymied by the thick natural stone the tunnels were carved into. This would've been to their advantage if the intruders proved hostile, while Hector already standing near the barricade. The woman didn't know that the knight would be able to easily mantle over it and be on her in a second if things turned hostile "Expecting me, I see. I mean you no harm. Would you please state your name and purpose?"
Hector smiled a bit under the helm. "Hector Lowe. Would you believe because a friend here is on a panty raid? I wouldn't either." he answered, prompting the woman to sigh a bit. "Ha ha. I swear, Center Sierra makes a clown in a templar outfit a Marshal? Seriously, what are you here for?" she asked again.
"First, Knights Hospitallers outfit actually. Second, clearing out the undead here and for supplies that aren't easily found anywhere else. Now how the hell did you know about what the refugee center is up to?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 15, 2017, 09:22:46 am
Mica didn't like it when people didn't take her reasoning seriously, and she already knew that she didn't want anything to do with these people. They smelled like the regimented, stiff, stuck up guards at the refugee center. Sure, those same guards could be quiet nice. Khaki was a guard, and had in fact slipped her something that tasted like heaven once, saying it was a chicken "strip." Catnip liked Khaki, so Khaki was alright. Mica liked chicken, so Khaki was good. Mica loved whatever that "strip" thing had been, so Khaki was great. Regardless, she wasn't impressed with these guards and their prodding of her reasoning. She opened the black bag filled with panties, and uncloaked. Her sudden, but not unexpected, appearance startled them a little. The shotgun blast of underwear of all shapes and sizes flying out of the bag in a ball that traveled less than a foot did, a little. The pile made a heavy "whump" and Mica cried, "My-ka panty raid!" before slipping the cloak back on, and crawling over the barricade to recollect the underthings.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 15, 2017, 11:12:57 am
Hector smirked a bit as one of the guards made a hand motion, the second one coming into view. Two of them, as he'd guessed. The sudden flurry of scattered undergarments and a near-invisible shape crawling over the barricade startled them, made them step back as well, though they didn't yet raise their weapons. "Mica? Is that your name? So that confirms you're the one center chatter's mentioned before. This explains so damn much." the marine of the pair grumbled, before the other spoke up again. "To answer your question earlier, we've been in contact with the nearby refugee center. Well, sorta. Transmitters are trashed, but receivers still work." she explained.
Hector gave a nod at that. "Like I said, I wouldn't have believed it either. I'm surprised there are still survivors down here in this undead-infested mess." he said, to which one of the guards grumbled a bit. "Can explain in a bit then. For now we oughta get you two to medical, you two have been wading in irradiated dust for hours, seriously what the fuck..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 15, 2017, 12:26:35 pm
Drifter had lost the first game and the thing had set up a new one. Moving the pieces the two conversed about the lab. Drifter found himself talking about things he didn't remember.
While this was going on his body stood up and leaned against the truck before inspecting itself. Arms, chest, stomach, leg-leg? It looked down to see the peg leg and barely contained it's frustrated shout before deciding it could work with this. "Of course in his mind he's not broken. Of course goddamnit!"
Checking it's bag it found his pistol and smiled. "At least I'll be able to fight."
Starting to walk it tripped over itself and sighed. This would take some getting used.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 15, 2017, 01:17:33 pm
While the fight outside raged on, Alex and the and who was outed as Purifier Everest continued the fight. Everest used his staff to summon and command shadows; Alex simply cut them down to pieces using the sword’s glow. The fight itself was an utter stalemate at this point; Everest would send an attack and Alex would deflect it, but he himself did no attacks of his own.
“Enough! You know damn well your little shadows won’t help you. This sword was designed to slaughter specters and spirits, you don’t stand a chance. Lay down your weapons and surrender in peace!”, Alex ordered.
Everest laughed, the idea that he would lose to such a lowlife like Alex Haymaker amused him. “You fool! I have the power of god behind me; what do you have? The remnants of a former organisation that lived in the shadows? Hell, it’s in the name! Time change old man, stop living in the past. Evolve or get left behind, The Shadows of Arcana are no more!”, Everest said. He then launched a series of energy slashes that had a signature similar to the sword of entropy, on of the pieces to create the a sword of the void. Alex knew what this was and his sword’s red hue took a dominant presence on the sword. He then launched counter slashes and they flew in the air to negate Everest’s in a small explosion.
“Look, I know you hold resentment, but this isn’t the answer. God’s Army are a bunch of misguided fools. Are you really going to go on that path again? Listen to reason for once! Stand down and face judgment, we offer a fair trial.”, Alex said.
Everest’s laughter was louder than ever now. “We fools? Look at you, you cling to the past and resort to forbidden necromancy rituals to bring back two of your members, one of which you let die! Besides, the only judge for me is god! I won’t let heathens like you live and spread your degeneracy. It ends today!”, Everest said, he then charged Alex with a green glowing staff.
Everest’s words had started to wear Alex down, his patience was dwindling. His sword’s hue became dominant in blue and he used it to parry the staff. Everest was exposed and Alex took the opportunity to slash send him to the ground by a single slash attack. With Everest on the ground, Alex approached him. The hue on his sword no purple. “The trial will commence here...Purifier Everest, you were excommunicated from the catholic church in citation of Exodus 22:18. The order found your knowledge useful and offered you the rank of purifier, which you accepted. Then, you went on to do great work on spirit research; as matter of fact, one of current members really looks up to your work...reminds me a bit of you...we have to keep on the right path though… Moving on, then you committed heresy: you pierced the veil. You were hunted down and managed to eliminate the cleanser who was sent after you. Then you disappear from history. But now here you are, you joined a group who goes against everything we stood for...with that in mind, I will now declare you sentence...we cannot have the likes of you roaming around in here or the afterlife...your sentence is: “Hallow Execution”
Everest listened on, having his sins reminded to him as he bleed out only added to his suffering. When Alex was one and told him his sentence, he looked up at him. Everest’s eyes were widened and he look on as the purple hued sword was brought down and the last thing Everest would do is give a scream of agony.
The others entered the room to find Alex taking his sword out of the body of the man who had caused this. Victor and Huntress Emily went pale. Emily recognized that purple hue and Victor noticed the sudden lack of an aura but the residue of a soul harvest was scattered all over the room. Victor and Emily looked at each other and nodded; Victor handed her his sword and she advanced towards Alex slowly.
“The threat has been eliminated...I see you too took care of your opponent. Now, sheath the sword and let’s de-brief each other? We still have a few things to do…”, Huntress Emily told Alex. He in turn just looked at the body Everest, his sword still in his hand and the purple hue still the dominant color of the 7. Emily was now within striking distance when Alex turned around to look at her. “I have failed, look at what has happened today...we can’t take in Victor and Cleanser Luna...they are better off without us...let’s give them our gifts and say farewell shall we? We have somethings to discuss about later…”, Alex said in a soft voice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 15, 2017, 04:14:49 pm
Quinn lets out a loud sigh of relief, letting go of the grip handle. "Could of definitely went worse. I'm always available for whatever you need me to do, Helen. Don't be afraid to ask, I'll be at my lab." He says, grabbing the keys and getting out of the truck. He heads back to his trailer.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 15, 2017, 04:26:12 pm
Helen nodded at that, smiling some at that as she got out. "Thank you. Anytime you wish, for now I should tend to a few things myself." she said, examining her symbol of judgment. Along the central prong, a strange crystalline shard seemed to be growing, filling in the engravings on one side of it, resonating with the energy that was tainted with the spiritual magic she used to harvest the flesh angel's spirit. It would be ready in time for Victor's return, she expected.
She passed by Drifter, regarding him standing there curiously, activating her mask. It was hard to tell, but something about his aura seemed off. What it was, if anything at all, was hard for her to determine. "Drifter, if I recall? Are you alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 15, 2017, 04:33:51 pm
It looked up at the strange voice before nodding it's head and saying "I'm fine. Just having a bit of trouble with the peg leg is all."
It kept a hand in the bag gripping the pistol. It hoped she would accept the answer but regardless it was better to be ready. Reaching out mentally it checked the area for anyone else it could 'borrow' while it waited.
Meanwhile Drifter sighed as he watched it move another piece and take one of his. This had been going on for long enough he thought but he didn't see a way to get out of wherever he was. Closing his eyes for a moment Drifter started formulating his next move.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 15, 2017, 04:43:51 pm
Helen's own aura was radiating out around her, if it could be sensed. She could see around her, noting the worrying absence of the knight, the spider, even the tank commander. Victor and Roxanne also were absent, and a more pressing concern was what she saw in the process of looking right through him. "If I recall we haven't had a proper introduction. Name's Helen. I can see you holding that, by the way." she pointed out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 15, 2017, 04:58:42 pm
"You mean, Dee? Ain't he dead? Dyin'?" Sharlene looks uninterested once again. "So uh. Sorry that Lil broke your shit, I guess." At the mention of her name, Lilith hugs Nathaniel tighter. She hadn't dropped him at Sharlene's command, something that was kind of rare. "-But I ain't giving you anything in return. I mean, sure you can stay here for a bit if ya need to, but I don't think Roxy's gonna kill ya. If ya can deal with a born and raised bio-weapon, you can deal with some lass that self-medicated herself with some fancy shit."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 15, 2017, 05:00:59 pm
It smiled as it said "I'm Isaac, and I was about to go..go.." it trailed off before shaking it's head. "Go clean this thing when you started this little conversation."
The other bodies it had found started for the Farm as they drew weapons. These were expendable, useless in the long term as far as It was concerned. The one that had been from the lab was more important, not expendable. The first of the expendable ones lifted the rifle to its shoulder and took aim at the masked woman. Clumsy body as it was It needed to use it as a distraction.
It also nearly screamed inside Drifter's mind as it realized it was going to lose this game. Too many bodies had it's mental faculties stretched thin. Drifter almost smiled as he told It that its turn was on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 15, 2017, 05:17:11 pm
Nathaniel sighed a bit at that. "Nah, Dee's still over at the center recovering. Boy's about as tough as Hector given how much those robot fuckers shot him up." he remarked. "And thanks. Thing with her is she can be pretty unpredictable." he added, only to give a little squeak as Lilith hugged him tighter.
Helen smirked a bit, sensing a few others making their way into her mask's vision range. She hadn't studied Drifter's aura in detail, but she could now determine something was out of place, a shared hint of something lingering over all the bodies drawn to her. "I mean you no harm if you explain yourself, but..." she said, rushing behind the armored vehicle as the one with a rifle took aim, the shot bouncing off the side armor.
"Hard way it is then!" she shouted, grabbing her symbol of judgement and taking aim at the rifle-toting body. It was the bigger threat and an unfamiliar face, whereas she knew she couldn't dare harm Drifter. She also had to ensure she drew from the symbol's normal reserve of essence, and not risk endangering her work. A beam of bright blue light cut through the air, leaving arcs of electricity in its wake, but the hastily-aimed shot struck the ground several feet in front of the possessed body. It took a good chunk out of the dirt and kicked a spray of dust in between them, but the impact wasn't quite close enough to catch the rifleman in the beam's after-effects.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 15, 2017, 05:25:54 pm
It decided now was a good time to run Drifter's body away. As the handful of bodies it had taken control of came within range it had them focus less on actually hitting their target and more on keeping her where she was and unable to follow Drifter.
Elsewhere It looked up from it's meditation and saw one of the mind controlled guards slide its food through the slot. Keeping control of the bodies it ate what it could as it played its next move.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 15, 2017, 05:35:22 pm
Helen grumbled a bit as she watched from behind the truck, seeing Drifter running off. She was forced behind cover now, only a hand poking out of cover, a deliberate attempt fire a beam near Drifter. It would've been a completely blind shot if not for her mask, but even then it was an awkward shot the left the beam going wide into the treeline. It would at least cut dangerously close, enough to feel the tingle in the air, but it proved inadequate to actually halt the man stealing Drifter's body. "Gods damn you..." she muttered under her breath.
An idea came to her, this time sticking her hammer out of cover. It gave off a faint glow, and a second later a bright flash and resounding bang echoed throughout the farm. She bolted from cover, charging at the closest one, intent on giving a kick to sweep at the legs. She was torn between killing them to remove the threat, and trying to subdue them. She had no idea where these strangers were from, and taking them alive might be useful to her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 15, 2017, 06:15:43 pm
While Hector and the newcomers spoke, Mica gathered up what she'd thrown. She had expected the underwear to go flying like confetti, but she supposed that was a dumb idea. They were talking something about ray-dyos and signals, which Mica certainly didn't care for. She'd leave it for Hector. Right now they wanted to take her somewhere else, and treat her cuts and bruises. It was an odd sight, seeing pairs of underwear just vanishing off the floor, only to reappear again not to long after inside the bag.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 15, 2017, 06:20:35 pm
It ran as fast as it could with a peg leg. It, not being experienced with walking with one leg, fell over. Not only did it fall over but it managed to break Drifter's nose and leave the peg leg lodged in the ground. Screaming in frustration it pulled the pistol from the bag and contemplated its options.
As Helen neared the blinded men they all fell to the ground unconscious. Whatever had been controlling them having left their minds. It needed to regather its thoughts after all.
Meanwhile It ate it's meal with mild annoyance. In his attempt at self preservation he'd made a new enemy. The woman would come for him regardless of what he did next, they all did but few actually appeared capable of piercing his security. Frowning to himself he came to a decision, if she were going to come and kill him for this he may as well give her a reason.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 15, 2017, 06:41:00 pm
Hector sighed as he hopped over the barricade to help pick a few of the items up, the two just standing there confused. "So. Seriously. You're after underwear. You know what, I don't want to know. There are worse reasons to be here." one of them piped up, to which Hector smiled a bit. "So. You mentioned showing us around to medical? From that unit patch I'm not sure that's a good idea. You sure I can trust you with Mica?" he pointed out.
The woman with the Division IV patch balked a bit. "So you know about the SPDs. Figures, according to files you were from XIV. Files also say you died. Look, top brass would have my head if I went telling you about this place, but chain of command is kinda fucked last I heard." she said. "And more to the point, dealing with 5a mutants wasn't part of my assignment. That'd be VI for the lab-bound divsions, and XV for topside. My job's just keeping this shithole running, and I'm not doing so good with that."
Helen grumbled a bit, having managed to knock one over when they fell limp to the ground. She knew what it meant, whatever was doing this was trying to evade her, focusing on less pawns at once. She left them where they fell, focused on running after him instead. In the distance she could see Drifter, or the thing in Drifter's body, on the ground holding a pistol. She smirked a bit, raising her symbol of judgement and taking aim. The beam it shot out was a golden glow rather than the electric blue of earlier.
"Release this body, and trouble him no longer!" she shouted, intending to use that same magic she used on Roxanne's other self, a force that would pierce the body harmlessly as it connected, designed to drive out spirits unnaturally inhabiting bodies. She didn't know the actual nature of the possession though, only that something was in control of Drifter's body. She didn't know what effect it would actually have
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 15, 2017, 06:48:53 pm
It felt the thing hit the body it was in but little else. It's control was already slipping as it forced the body to sit up. "This..this wasn't..personal." It felt odd that it was out of breath already, maybe an effect of the attack this woman had used but it couldn't be sure. "This was self preservation. Or an attempt, but you'll come after me. They always do."
Lifting the pistol It looked at Helen as It continued "I'm not going to get what I need so I may as well give you a reason to come kill me."
Putting the pistol to Drifter's chest It stared at Helen. She saw something in his eyes change for a moment and realized he'd come to. Well somewhat she realized as the gun went off and sent a round through him. For an instant she saw a group of men standing over him as he fell back to the ground unconscious. They disappeared before she could make out any real detail of them though.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 15, 2017, 07:20:03 pm
The men outside had regrouped. The injured were being tended too and the invaders were being disposed off. A few casualties on the side of the once who had stood their ground but the God’s army sect that had been sent was left with no prisoners. At the behest of Hunter Alex Haymaker, one of the men outside had come in and took the body of Everest. “I don’t care how you dispose of him, throw him in a pile along with the rest of the invaders for all I care. Make sure our men get a proper burial though...they deserved that much… As for their gear, confiscate them all, we'll need everything we can to rebuild; not much was taken but it will take it’s toll.”, said Hunter Alex. The masked man infront of him gave him a salute and radioed in 4 more to come in; the body was taken away and the staff was handed to Alex.
"Who are they anyways?", Victor asked to Alex once the armored men were gone with the body. “They are a former settlement who was displaced by none other than God’s Army themselves. They have told us about that they are up to and decided to take them in. Not formal member of or order yet as they are weary of the arcane for obvious reasons, but I feel they will make greater cleansers and hunters in due time.”, Hunter Alex responded.
"Then why did you need us? Couldn’t you just rebuild with them, emily and Ro- Huntress Blackmore?", Victor asked. Alex frowned and gave a deep sigh. “Guess it’s a good time as any reveal our intentions. Alright, grab a chair and gather around here. It’s time for a story.”, Hunter Alex said.
Alex retold the events that lead to today. First he told how he came across an old book, a book of forbidden knowledge. For the longest time after the cataclysm, he roamed as a nomad with just that book to keep him company. But, he had an objective, the very same one he has today; to rebuild the Shadows of Arcana. He searched far and wide for any survivors but he found none. Eventually, he learned of God’s Army and though of anyone would house former member of his order would be them. He quickly found out his augmented self was not welcomed around them. A little skirmish was all it took for GA to label him a wanted man. Despite all this, they were the only lead they had so he observed from afar.
He eventually came across what seemed like a battle. God's army were fighting what looked like yet another settlement. Alex had seen it before, they would come in, take any mutant and cyborg and kill anyone who got in their way. However, this was different; while still clearly losing, this people seemed to hold their ground. They fought with tactics he recognized as military due to his Hunter training, this people were no slouched. Alex saw a chance, he would help them and deal his first blow to GA; his next step to find what he wanted.
As Alex would come to learn later, the men were pinned down in the firefight. They held their ground in the middle of field after GA had chased them out of their settlement and finally chased them down. This was their final stand; for the displaced settlers, today was the day they would take down GA or would die trying. The latter was looking more likely.
Out of the blue, GA soldiers were being taken down from the back. Their salvaged weapons stood no chance against the sword of the covenant and the SoA standard issue cloak of discover. As bullets flew through the air towards Alex, orange slashes appeared in the air and cut through said bullets. The hue on the sword was a dominant orange too and Alex walked in a calm pace. He would walk towards a specific person and stab them in the chest once he was within range. Once he could find cover, he switched the swords hue tp red and threw slash attacks at the goons hiding behind cover. This went out for a while as Alex fought his way through the back of the group.
The man could sense commotion behind enemy lines and they took the opportunity. They changed their tactics to suppressive fire and marched forward. The distraction of being attacked from two fronts overwhelmed GA and eventually they were all stricken down by the time the settlers and Alex met. Weapons were trained at Alex and they ordered to drop is sword. The hunter smirked and changed the sword’s hue to violet. “I mean no harm, stand down and let’s talk.” The mean heard the words and lower their weapons; they looked at each other in confusion but they relented. One of them stood forward and approached Alex. The sword’s hue returned to that of a rainbow and he sheathed it to his hip scabbard.
“I am Sgt Frank Archer of the United Armed Forces. We were all former Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force personnel who found each other. This is what is left of us… And who might you be?”, the man who stepped forward said.
Alex nodded and then answered himself, “I am Hunter Alex Haymaker from the Shadows of Arcana, good to make your acquaintance. I have some things I would like to ask you and I am sure you do as well. Why don’t we get ourselves comfortable and talk for a little?”, Alex responded.
The chat went really well. Sgt Frank told him he and his crew lived in an old military bunker. They had set up shop there after having met due to the old guard getting them together in a refugee center far away for recruitment. A few made it but most of them failed; they got to know each other and before they knew it, they were brothers in arms. Their settlement was quite successful, they had trade caravans go to them every once in awhile to trade goods and offer services. Gambling, women and alcohol were in high demand and were always provided.
Then GA showed up. At first the came in real friendly and ask if they could hold a mass in their settlement. As many service men were religious, they accepted and a formal sunday mass was held. The GA representative noted many of them were augmented; experimental and standard issue bionic soldiers filled the ranks of the UAF as they had named themselves. The representative left after handing some of the men religious reading material and his blessings from god.
The next time they showed up was not pleasant. A surprise attack, UAF had held ground against the poorly trained GA goons; but then the arcane tricks appeared. In a matter of hours, GA let themselves in and took many of the augmented men by force. They left after it was no longer worth it to venture further in. UFA regrouped and counted their losses, they tighten their defenses and debriefed about what had happened. 3 more attacks later and they found themselves here.
Alex made them an offer. He too wanted GA dead, he was looking for something in them and he could use their help. In return, he would lend them his arcane power to aid their cause. After some formal discussion and a vote, UAF agreed and now Hunter Alex Haymaker was their Colonel. They lived off the land as well, raiding cities for supplies, a very easy task for trained soldiers and an arcane hunter.
They eventually settled for the cave they currently decide since it was big for their operations, easy to defend and it was away from the cities and other settlements. For 2 years they all got busy hauling supplies and building the cave to their standards. That was how the men came to join them.
Next, Alex explained Huntress Emily and Huntress Blackmore’s new found life. While the cave was under construction. Alex read many of the books brought back in the raids. He experimented with magic and eventually came across a series of rituals that peaked his interesting...He took the book that for many years kept him company and compared it to the rituals he was reading. An idea clicked...the Shadows of Arcana would soon be revived!
Alex had found a way to enter the realm of the spirits by sheer will. Being the powerful mage that he was, his wards were enough for most spirits and for the rest, he could easily fight them. The winds of memories were useful to him to keep up to date with current events and to keep an eye with GA. He had also started to puzzle the origins of the cataclysm but that was more of a side projects.
The hunter would venture deeper into the real until he got comfortable with the place and perform the single biggest act of blasphemy, something that would make breaking the veil seem like a minor accident: He brought back the dead from the afterlife. The exact details cannot be properly be conveyed as no language on earth has word to describe what went down. The real of the spirits is between life and death, human visitors come from one side and then leave to it again. What Alex did was to simply go to the other side. Now, not a single person has died and come back to tell the tale, but this was as close as you can get. Due to some miracle, Alex brought back with him Emily and Alt-Roxanne. To prevent from upsetting the forces of nature, he “converted” their souls to that of divine spirits. Then he guided them to the realm of the living.
It took a while for the two of them to get accustomed to their new bodies, but they eventually adapted and begun to assist Alex. Soon, they would even help venturing into the winds of memories to learn more about how to live with the new selves from both other spirits and from the winds of memories. They would also go on raid with the UAF at times and help with taking some of the harder foes, both undead and human alike. The UAF were still wary of magic due to GA but they came to bond with the two Huntresses. This lasted for a while.
One day while visiting the spirit realm, Alex came across a visitor calling for a spirit via a summoning spell. This peaked his interest and he answered the call. His face would betray shock if he wasn’t wearing the robe of the divine spirits to hide it. It was...Roxanne...but she acted different. He found himself in a different room but the woman in front of her looked exactly like Roxanne. A quick aura analysis revealed it wasn’t her. The rest was history. Roxanne made several deals to get information, she got the paper with the steps and then eventually Alt-Roxanne traded bodies with her for a bit to convince Victor to go with her, the last one backfired. And now they all found themselves here.
“That should cover where we are now...but to the part that you are wondering. Why are you here.”, Alex said at the end of his explanation, “We knew making you guys join us was a long shot, but we had to try. Despite that, you are still members of ours and are always welcomed here. Now… I have been seeing things in the spirit realm...certain people have been disturbing the place. I looked into it and have uncovered a few things. We know where Randael is...he is a threat for all of us…We want him gone too and as we said earlier, we will get your body back!”
"You know where he is?! Tell us! We need to get rid of that thing as soon as possible!", Victor exclaimed.
"Once you leave, I will give you a paper with the coordinates, for now, the gifts before we part ways. Huntress Blackmore, Victor’s gift please.", Alex said.
Roxanne and Alt-Roxanne looked at each other, one of them had the hood on so their head was concealed. Roxanne spoke, "We have to tell them eventually...go ahead and take the hood off...Roxanne Luna!"
The hood came off the one from the spirit and it was then it was revealed. It was Roxanne alright, she had her pointy ears back. She looked just like her old body did, just paler and a bit more frail. "Yeah, Huntress Luna and I did a deal. I am now bounded to my body and in exchange I have her the abilities of a divine spirit. You are not the only one who can do that anymore Alex!", Alt-Roxanne explained. She was once again in her body, properly bounded this time, but not quite the same as being alive.
"I feel different...I am not bounded to anything now...I feel like as if I was light...but, I can sense power flowing through me...", Roxanne commented. She looked at her hands, she was a spirit now.
“Great...just great...now we have to deal with this too...wait...she can just take over Randael’s body and we don’t have to do a full body swap...she can just come here and we bound her to her body again...this works well!”, Alex said.
Huntress and Victor looked on with shock and skepticism. But neither of them could do a thing since the host, the victim and their leader well all in agreement. “Let’s just give them their gift and send them their way before things gets more convoluted…”, Huntress Emily suggested. She asked for Roxanne’s Katar. "You mean this thing? Looks pretty. From what I gathered, it was made by her boyfriend so it’s special to her. Be careful!", Alt-Roxanne teased, "Let me give you your stuff back. I’ll keep this robe and you can keep the divine spirit one; they are almost the same, this one just looks better on me!" Alt-Roxanne did just that, she gave Roxanne her stuff back. Roxanne grabbed them and put on the backpack and handed Emily her Kata.
“Thank you Cleanser Luna, now Alex, if you will.”, said Huntress Emily. Alex’s sword’s hue turned violet and he pointed it at the Katar, it glowed a bit and then went back to normal. After a few moments, Emily handed it back to Roxanne. “This will no harm spirits and specters, Randael can be harmed by it too. Fight onwards!”, Huntress Emily told Roxanne.
Alt-Roxanne stepped forward towards Victor. "My turn you a gift Victor.", Alt-Roxanne said in a cheerful tone, "A new power source for your sword! And a new buddy too!" Alt-Roxanne summoned a golden divine spirit and then she bounded it to Victor’s sword; it mattered little that it was sheathed in the back scabbard after Emily gave it back to Victor. The process itself was quick and as such not enough time for a proper reaction.
“Alright Victor, come here for your final instructions.”, Alex prompted Victor to come. He did and stood in front of him before Alex continued, "Two things...first, here is the note with what you need to know. Once for you and one for Roxanne. It contains info about your gifts too, take the time to learn about them when you get back. And second...here...you won the bet my man. Don’t do that same mistakes I did, don’t let it go to waste. Take it and make sure you don’t regret a thing ok?" Alex gave Victor the two notes and a little box. Inside the box were two wedding rings. Nothing too fancy, one had a moonstone and the other a sun stone as the main jewel. Victor now knew what Alex meant. "I won’t, I promise. Thank you Alex, for everything you did for me all those years ago...", Victor told Alex
“Don’t sweat it man. Now go, use your new gifts and knowledge to take Randale down! Come back victorious and we might even revel in celebration! We have a few things to do here as you can tell...Take care and good luck Victor…”, Alex told Victor as he gave them a pat in the back and dismissed him.
Victor and Roxanne said their farewells and the exited the room. Alt-Roxanne and Alex were smiling while Emily had her usual stoic expression. The two passed the UAF, they had begun to gather around to drink and sing around a giant campfire. Their spirits were lifted despite their casualties and it gave warmth to Victor and Roxanne; Roxanne waved to them and they responded by cheering and whistling at them as they waved to them. Victor smirked and shocked his head in amusement while Roxanne revealed in it and started throwing kisses. "See you later boys! May we meet again!",Roxanne said as she exited the cave.
The Armored Scouter’s engines came to life, it was an honest surprise GA did not do anything to it. Might of been due to the fact they parked it in a semi hidden spot away from the entrance. Either way, Victor took the wheel and they were off. The two had decided they would take turns driving while the other rested. Despite Roxanne being a spirit now and not needing sleep, the urge was still there and as such she would be in no shape to drive without sleeping. The ride back was quite as one was asleep at all times. Eventually, they reached the farm and the two got off. Despite the rest they had, they still felt a bit tired. Victor drank some of Roxanne’s coffee she kept in her APC and woke up enough to be functional.
Roxanne put on her hood for now. The last thing she needed was for someone to noticed her traits without her letting on to it. However, this made her look like a divine spirit. "Victor...walk me to my room please...I am lacking a body and someone might attack me if you aren’t there to explain...please?", Asked Roxanne. Victor sigh and nodded. "Alright, I will escort you to your room so you can get change from that. That was people might recognize you for a bit...I will probably have to explain stuff to whoever asks since, no offence, you aren’t very well verse in the arcane.", Victor responded. Roxanne nodded and then the two started to walk toward Roxanne’s room. The place was rather quiet and Victor could tell people were missing since their aura’s were missing, he missed his aura spell propper and now he had access to it once more. "What happened while we were gone?", Victor asked himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 15, 2017, 07:28:41 pm
Helen was shocked as the beam went straight through Drifter without any apparent effect. She glared at him under the mask as it spoke. "If you'd explained yourself, we might not need be enemies. But if you insist on harming a comrade, and making an enemy of me..." she said, raising the symbol again. She expected him to take aim at her, the golden glow fading as she prepared to try and make a deliberate near-miss to shock him into dropping the pistol.
Seeing the pistol turned against himself, and the momentary appearance of figures standing over him, made her go wide-eyed at that. "No!" Immediately she rushed to him, pulling of her cloak to drape it around him. The wound was to a vital place, and in that instant already the blood loss was severe, the agonizing glow of the cloak slowing the blood loss and sealing the wound a bit. Even then it was only enough to buy her time, frantically grabbing at him to heft him up as best as she could, to drag him back towards the farm. "Aceso, protect this one..." she said quietly, before raising her voice, hoping the earlier racket of gunfire, lightning, and hammer blast had drawn the attention of others. "Q-quinn! Damnit..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 15, 2017, 08:27:55 pm
Quinn hurries over, carrying a trauma kit. "Where's the damage?" He asks, hurrying over to Drifter to patch him up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 15, 2017, 08:33:28 pm
Helen nodded to him. "Through and through, left side close to the center." she said, removing the cloak and practically tearing open his shirt to expose the injury. The wound was visible, blood loss slowed to a mere trickle, the flesh partially healed up. What was notable was the lung not only showed no sign of having healed in the same manner, but it seemed to still labor on despite the injury, when even with the lingering injury it logically should've collapsed.
She remembered how it felt when she used the cloak after taking a bullet through a lung before. That feeling of the wind being knocked out of her, having relied on momentum and training to subdue the attacker. The the pain and wet hiss of air in her chest cavity being forced back out of the wound, cloak contorting a shattered rib back into position and sealing perforated tissue. This was different, and it made her uncertain what to think. "The lung didn't heal up at all, it's...a machine? A bionic."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 15, 2017, 10:19:16 pm
Quinn kneeled next to Drifter, opening the trauma kit. He's deep in focus while working on stabilizing him.
The damage was easy enough to determine. The bullet had just barely missed the sternum and ribs, through a lung and shattered a rib on its way out. There were also burns from Drifter having shot himself point-blank. The proximity to the heart, and massive amount of blood soaking his shirt, was an obvious hint that the bullet had hit a major blood vessel, either one of the subclavian arteries or a pulmonary artery. What was notable at first was that Drifter, at first, had no pulse. Instead only a faint whir of blood being circulated at a fixed pace, before something started back up and blood pumped in a mimicry of a normal pulse.
The hole, still leaking a bit of blood from the damaged skin around it, betrayed the blatantly artificial structure of the lung within. It still held its shape and moved at a mechanically-enforced pace, and there were signs that blood had been rerouted away from the damaged section of the lung. Given her quick attention it was likely he'd live, but he was at risk of going into shock from blood loss, and his left lung would be permanently impaired if not fixed. It would still work and the symptoms would only be apparent if he pushed himself to his limits, but it still was about 5% of his artificial lung tissue shut down by the damage.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 15, 2017, 10:30:27 pm
Helen winced a bit at that, watching as he treated Drifter for shock and stablized him, and offering to help move him somewhere to rest, retrieving his pegleg as well. It would be a few hours spent helping Quinn treat Drifter before she was free, examining the crystal that had grown along the central prong of the symbol of judgment. It was ready, now she just needed Victor to return.
After that time taken, it wasn't that long of a wait. She'd restrained the unconscious intruders and explained what happened as best as she could, soon sensing Victor and Roxanne returning through her mask. After Victor had shown Roxanne to her room she'd be there to greet him. "Victor! Thank the gods you're back safe. Are you alright?" she asked. She wasn't yet aware of what happened to Roxanne. She'd sensed the aura, but without getting a good look at her without any obstructions she would have no way of knowing she had no actual body.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 15, 2017, 11:07:30 pm
Roxanne had arrived at her room. She took the hood off now that she knew no one was there so see her. She looked at Victor and smiled, "That was interesting to say the least. How did it feel to fight alongside your long lost comrade after so long? Anyways, thank you for going with me on this journey. Got the answers I needed, and from the one person I had loathed for so long...I am going to go to my room and read up on the notes we were given. You should do the same. Have a good one Victor!", Roxanne told Victor. She didn’t even let him respond due to the fact she noticed the way he reacted to the first statement, he wasn’t going to answer anyways. Roxanne wave Victor goodbye and then simply entered her room; no, she did not open the door, she took advantage of being a spirit and simply passes through the walls to her room before becoming corporeal again. She unloaded her gear, took off her laser sniper and placed some items on her altar; her journal, the note and her katar Hector had made her. It had been enchanted with the power to harm spirits the same way she could harm the physical. She could already do so with her divine spirit powers but this required no use of any mana or life force, the perfect side weapon for her. She continued to read the notes and tried out some of her other abilities.
Victor gave a deep sigh of relief once Roxanne was gone. Things have gone well in their trip and now they had a lead and Randael and powers to get rid of him. Victor wanted to try out his new sword and the spirit inside of it but then he heard a voice. It was Helen, he froze up with dread as she spoke and he slowly turned around at her question. "Hey Helen. Yeah, it’s good to be back you know. It as as Roxanne said, they meant us no harm and even helped us with the one thing we apparently have in common with them; getting rid of Randael. They gave us his location and the means to get rid of him. Roxanne is in her room testing her new stuff. How about yourself, what have you been up to? Everything alright?", Victor responded.
The tone of voice Victor used was a bit off from the way he normally talked but it was too subtle to determine why. He was calm and composed on the outside but dreaded Helen asking him more details, especially about Roxanne; his mind raced of possible things to say but he could not lie the way Roxanne, both Luna and Blackmore, were able to. He just stood there, waiting for Helen to comment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 16, 2017, 01:17:55 am
Helen wasn't sure, a bit wary as she regarded Victor, before hugging him tightly. "I see. They...you mean her, don't you? I'm still wary, but if we share a common goal then so be it. I will still fight alongside you when that day comes. If...she will allow it." she said. She seemed concerned about something, before showing him the symbol of judgement, and the crystal shard growing on it, which now gave off a strange glow.
"Quinn and I found what we needed. This should be able to sever the lingering magic Randael used against you, but I suspect it will be aware of the act. I will need to ensure no harm comes to you afterward." she explained. "It also seems the knight, his tank commander, and Mica are out for the moment. And Drifter is presently in Quinn's clinic. Something happened to him." she said. "For now though, if you're ready..." she said, tapping the shard, and it broke away from the symbol of judgement, revealing what it was. A soul shard, and with it freed and in her grasp, he could vaguely sense the magic embedded in him reacting to it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 16, 2017, 02:07:07 am
Victor’s nervousness and dread went away when Helen hugged him. It was then he realized she would probably understand what was going on, no point in holding secrets. "Not just her Helen...but two more. Two hunters of old, one slayed in the battle field and brought back and the other someone who among our circle how hold incredible power.", Victor answered, "They offered to help with the aftermath besides arming us and giving intel. And don’t worry about her, she is in no position to make demands right now..."
Victor listened to Helen recap recent events. It worried him a bit but he didn’t know what to do about it, and Randael himself was a pressing issue. "As you wish, if you want to proceed then I am ready for what you have in store.", Victor response. Then he noticed what it was, a soul shard. Victor knew exactly what it was, he knew it even before Randael, the work of Purifier Everest had fascinated him, he was the one who worked on the concept of the soul shard a practical means of fuel but that was struck down quickly. The pain in his chest returned, stronger than ever before but somehow not affecting him, as if the pain was really not his own.
"So...that’s it huh...alright...if you think this is the best action, I will go along with it. I have no reason not to trust you. Whenever you are ready...", Victor responded to the reveal of the shard.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 16, 2017, 02:24:25 am
Helen nodded at that, a bit wary, only to look down as he explained this. "I see. So there are more of them. I hope they will not endanger what we have started. I don't want to lose you to them. We have the potential to make something new, set right what both our orders did wrong. I don't...know what they'd think if they saw me. Or us, together." she said, before giving a nod. "Thank you, then." she said, before preparing the soul shard.
That lingering pain now felt like a fire through every vein, a very faint one that seemed disconnected from his body, and she activated her mask again to sense exactly where the remnant of the soul shard's effects were concentrated in, mimicking the exact way the soul shard had pierced him. Seeing the essence left from the harvested bandits showed her what to look for. It sparked a brief jolt before it'd feel as if the uncomfortable heat was being drawn from his body, forced into the shard and turning it an unnerving purple color, the connections and influences on his soul being bound to what was once a flesh angel instead. She pulled it away and that pain left him entirely, before she held her symbol of judgement. The soul shard rapidly seemed to crumble into a fine powder, every wisp of energy being forced into the weapon, using its twisted holy powers to destroy the lingering magic, along with what remained of the monster's soul. "Now, I fear it will know what we did, meaning..." she said softly, her free hand clutching the cross-and-hammer around her neck. "I don't know if Randael will attempt to target you again, or attempt reprisal on me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 16, 2017, 03:09:41 am
"Not a chance I would let them get in the way of what we got going on. They offered Roxanne and I to join them proper, but we both refused. This is what I want to come to every day and work towards. The unification of former enemy organizations is a better contribution than what I could do over there anyways.", Victor explained as Helen prepared the shard, "They do know of us...they took it well given...you know...your ‘professions’ as a matter of fact...never mind...go ahead and begin."
Helen began her work with the shard, the pain would be unbearable by now had it not been by the unexplained de assosiation. He felt every little sting but was somehow not bothered. The feeling he got was of that leaving his body, something that didn’t belong; he was right. Helen took out what looked to be remnants of something unknown in him. She claimed to have a connection to Randel and he believed her. "I he even tries, we have way to counter him now. That would only make us take him down sooner and in our territory.", Victor responded to Helen’s worry.
Melody felt something, something she was told was important. She opened her notebook and then read that applicant section. Her eyes widen she rushed to Miss Blackmore. “Mistress Blackmore! Victor has freed himself from the soul shard! What do we do?!”
The elven woman sat in the middle of the room drinking tea. She grinned at Melody’s comments. “No matter, it was a matter of time. Was more of a test for the real deal when he decides to confront him. No action needed, same as before”, said the elven huntress, "Also, ‘Mistress’? What has gotten into you Melody? Something you want to talk about?"
Melody regarded every word spoken to her and noted it. Nothing for her to do but she listened anyways. Then she realized what she had said to Huntress Roxanne. She blushes a bit. “I-I said that? My bad, it was a slip! Anyways, gotta go practice some more.”, Melody said before she rushed out of the room. Huntress Roxanne laughed at that but then she got a face of worry. “This could eventually become a problem...will need to talk to her later…”, She told herself.
Roxanne had been playing with her new toys. The katar was neat but nothing she hadn’t done with Hector in the lessons and there was no spirits to test it with. Next, she read the next part of the note and saw the section on deployable blade. She got really excited and deployed them, a twin set of bionic sword appeared, one in each arm. Roxanne stifled a fangirl scream and played with them. Then, she discovered her special ability with the blades, an arcane electroshock unit! The blades filled with electric crackled and Roxanne had a predatory grin. Victor was probably not far off and he would be an easy target to test this with…
Victor saw as Roxanne popped out of the wall, blades first. For some reason, she messed up the corporeal shift and got her foot stuck in the wall for a split second, casing her to fall on the ground on Helen’s feet. Roxanne’s eyes widen as she saw the mage hunter look down on her, then she closed her eye and smiled at her. "Hey Helen! How are thing going! Nothing to see here!", Roxanne said as her arm blade, her place skin and her ears were dead giveaways of something to see was going on!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 16, 2017, 10:04:52 am
"You are blocking me Medeina. I get it now... Shifting security protocol. Why didn't you say so?" Dee said. The AI immediately blurted "Classified" and then, "I'm sorry Dee, I couldn't say anything about it. Do you think you can..." There came the rapid tap of Dee's skilled fingers across the keyboard. "Of course I can. Just a simple parameter here and here and then... viola! Oh hey, oh shit what?" The last was directed at what happened next. Dee had put in place a simple security check of his own. When Medeina's security went active, his own check would force it to shut itself off. What happened after that, was rather surprising. Every security measure in Medeina's system, including those of the refugee center, Dee's laptop, and even some of the leftover war walkers Medeina had her "fingers" in, shut down.
"Holy shit Medi, are you alright? This is a pretty glaring security flaw. I just wanted to shut that one protocol off." Dee said.
"I am fine, but I'd like to get my security protocols back in place as soon as possible. I'm already getting notifications for OS updates and for something called 'adobe.' Where are these things even coming from?" "Pfft! How do you know you can trust us with... that!? Marshal, how are we supposed to know we can trust her around us? We HAVE been monitoring outside radio traffic." Demanded one of the guards, gesturing towards the heat haze that was Mica's imperfect camouflage. Hector was about to respond, but Mica answered first, "How does My-ka know chi-kun delicious? How does Kat-thrin know My-ka dress size? How does Drif-tor walk 'round with no leg? My-ka not know, but My-ka know them's is truths."
Hector gave her a queer look before facepalming, and he realized she had begun waxing philosophic and wondered what in gods name had spurred this new behavior. Before anyone could comment though, Mica said "Take My-ka and Hek-tor to in-fur-mur-ee. We pick up My-ka's panties first though."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 16, 2017, 10:51:29 am
Helen smiled a bit as she drew the strange energy out of Victor, letting it end up as little more than fuel for the symbol of judgement. She held Victor tightly again, only to give a blank stare as Roxanne walked through through the wall. She still had her mask active, and it revealed clear as day how the glamour Roxanne projected was an image of her aura, and that she had no body linked to her. "Oh gods above and below. What did they do to you Roxanne?" she nearly shouted, going a bit pale and holding Victor a bit more tightly.
Hector meanwhile smiled a bit, gathering the clothes for Mica. "If you've been monitoring the chatter then you'd also know what happened to her handlers, and the reductions to the mutations that made her so much more problematic in the past. And you'd know that I've spent way too much time fighting people who'd admire what VI and XV were up to." he pointed out, helping to bag up the items for her. "Now then. Have been maintaining regular potassium iodine doses at least, so it should be manageable. But if you wish, and that will allow you to brief us on what you need to re-establish communications with the center."
The two guards gave a nod at that, the woman speaking up. "Alright then. I suppose introductions are in order first. Sergeant Nell Branham, 2-1-IV. This here is Corporal Alberto Vela. Not from an SPD if you couldn't guess." she remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 16, 2017, 11:33:25 am
Drifter woke up and sat up as he looked around. He wasn't sure what had happened but he remembered looking at Helen before he..no it shot him. Grabbing his nearby peg leg Drifter put it on and stood. Picking up his bag Drifter walked out the door and saw the clean up crew standing in front of the door. One pointed at him and brought his thumb down like the hammer of a pistol before they disappeared.
Walking to his quarters Drifter grabbed the bag with his armor and tossed it into his truck before sighing to himself. A few memories he didn't know he had were surfacing now. "You want me to come back to the lab? Fine. I'll come back but you'll wish I hadn't."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 16, 2017, 11:34:51 am
Victor smiled as well when Helen held him close. Then his dread returned as Helen saw Roxanne on the ground. Helen’s reaction only worsen that and she holding him tighter made him get conflicting emotions.
"I can explain Helen...", Roxanne said as she got up, "I gave Huntress Blackmore, you know, the other me, her body back. In exchange, I now exists with the essence of a divine spirit! I can now summon forth magic!" Roxanne shows Helen and Victor her blades and she makes electricity crackle. "Was going to test that on Victor but I guess that was a bad idea...", Roxanne admits, "But hey, Helen. I can actually help with the fight too! There is just one more thing I wanna see if I can get before we actually go..."
The sword on Victor’s sword reacted in a way that could only be detected by auras. It seemed Roxanne was calling forth it’s power. Due to the nature of the spirit inside, it might be possible for her to summon it and command it in a limited fashion; Victor being the only one to override the command.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 16, 2017, 11:43:16 am
Helen wasn't sure what to think at that, and Roxanne's explanation only unnerved her more. She gave a wary glance to her, before sighing. "I see. Let me be probably the first to tell you to use caution when experimenting with your newfound powers then. Both of us have our scars from misusing magic." she remarked. "Is she going to give you back a body though, when this is finished? I mean, well...wait. Weren't you and Hector also going to, er..." she said, trailing off a bit and blushing under her mask.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 16, 2017, 12:37:17 pm
Roxanne nodded at Helen, "Yes, caution is key! And besides, this was done more as a personal deal with my counter part than something issued by the order itself.", Roxanne responded. She then blushed at the mention of the second part. "W-well...it seemed like a good idea...but the body isn’t mine...I can’t just make such decisions. And also, yes, I plan to get my body Randael took back!"
Roxanne looked around and an idea came to mind. "Sorry to have bothered you two love birds. I will go back to my room and read on a few things. I will now make my leave!", Roxanne said. She put her blades away and entered her room; leaving Victor and Helen alone once more.
Inside her room, Roxanne’s curiosity peaked as she saw her laptop on the corner of her table. She grabbed it and opened up the chat system Dee had long ago set up. She was greeted by the center and then Medeina who prompted her to rush over to the center for intel she had wanted for some time. The stuff Nathaniel had done in the chat was also read and Roxanne would think of ways to get back at him as she made her way to the center. Sharlene said he was in her cabin, she might make a stop there later…
Roxanne closed the laptop and passed through the other wall towards her APC. She got on and turned the beast on. The APC backed out of the Farm and made it’s way to the Refugee Center on an all too familiar path. Eventually, she made it there and got off the vehicle. One thing lingered. In her current state, would it alarm anyone in the center? She looked sickly pale and her ears were that of a mutant. It was known in the center she practiced magic and the robe she wore screamed “Witch!”. Despite this, Roxanne needed the info, so she swallowed her worry and entered the center.
Once inside, Roxanne tried her best to walk normally and follow the path she took to bring Medeina the first time. She could feel people staring at her but she continued on. The AI should of spotted her by now but she wanted to go to Dee’s room since he was the piece that was missing in this intel. Eventually, she made to the room and went inside. She hoped her appearance would not throw off Dee or the AI, the latter would’ve seen her already through the security systems but Roxanne wasn’t thinking clearly. "Dee, Medi, How are you today? It’s good to see you all patched up Dee! I would hug you but...that isn’t a good idea right now...", Roxanne said as she came in and looked at Dee, "I came here as fast as I could once Medi prompted me too on the chat system. Said you got through and got intel? What is it?"
Roxanne’s sudden change leave had left Victor dumbfounded. He looked at Helen and then an idea of his own came to mind. "Hey, I too got new powers of sorts. I was about to test them. You can come and help if you want. Maybe tell me how heretical they are.", Victor told Helen, the last bit a friendly jab, "Don’t be too shocked at what is ok? It won’t turn on us like the last one did..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 16, 2017, 12:38:17 pm
Sharlene's idling laptop emitted a loud beep from the chat. Looked like Dee was back up. A few minutes of chat and an angry conversation with Nathaniel later, she was climbing off the bed to grab some of the USB's she'd collected.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 16, 2017, 12:51:15 pm
Helen gave a nod at that, smiling some at Roxanne's remarks. "Good. Ask me if you need anything. I might have to research other methods around that problem then, when you get your natural body back. Have a good evening." she said, before smirking at Victor.
"Good, would be interesting to see what you've learned. Plus testing them on your own has had a stellar track record lately. I suppose you'd enjoy my telling you just how heretical it is, hmm?" she teased.
Later on that evening, Nathaniel had been peeking over Sharlene's shoulder during all this. Trying to get her not to rat him out to Roxanne, getting angry at her over it, getting bitchslapped by Sharlene as a result. The mention of Dr. Maskens issuing a kill-on-sight order over Mica distracted him from his current worries.
He knew Hector and Mica were out raiding the city of the dead, and that Hector was often violently protective of people he saw as comrades. "Fuck me, Hector's gonna be pissed..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 16, 2017, 01:21:01 pm
"Yes, I myself need to test it properly. And your are right, not the best track record I supposed.", Victor said at Helen’s first statements, her last one made him a bit flustered, "W-well...I mean. It’s important you tell me when I am deviating from the right path you know?...So if I am doing...something wrong, g-go ahead and tell me. At least this test should be benign enough..."
Victor then reached for his sword but fumbled a bit from his nervousness and took a bit longer to unsheath. Once he did so, he placed it in his hands and showed Helen. "Take a look, under your mask I mean...notice how there is an aura emanating from it? Do your recognize it...it’s a divine spirit Helen. It will work as a fuel source and I can summon it into battle...does not have the harvesting properties of Randael but it’s just as powerful otherwise. And don’t worry about betrayal. This thing doesn’t even have free will, it is 100% under my command!", Victor explained to Helen, "Would you like to see it? I can summon the spirit if you want..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 16, 2017, 01:28:49 pm
Helen couldn't help but smiled a bit at that, setting a hand on Victor's shoulder. "Then I'm glad you trust me with this. Thank you..." she sad, blushing a bit under her mask as he explained what the sword had bound to it.
"So I see. Testing its abilities and limitations will be desirable then. How much initiate it shows in following your commands, whether there's any feedback like with your spells to manipulate revenants, things like that." she said, before her mask activated again. She could sense something resonate within the blade, but its nature wouldn't be clear until it was summoned. "When you're ready."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 16, 2017, 09:46:53 pm
Alexei shook the now empty bottle of vodka as he walked. Tossing the bottle to the side he kept walking as he wondered where he was. Smiling to himself he started singing an old Russian song. The song had to do with drinking with friends and he found himself stopping at the irony of that. A lone man singing about drinking with friends.
Shrugging to himself he started back up singing a song about passing the day. Soon he pulled another bottle of vodka out and took a drink as he walked. He saw the farm in the distance, not knowing what it was, and decided to see if anyone was living there. "I can always use more vodka..or ammo."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 16, 2017, 10:07:26 pm
Victor nods at Helen’s statement. "Ready as I will ever be...", He responds. The sword is now being properly wielded and he activates it. The familiar aura of harvest engulf it and Victor feels his life force being absorbed by the blade. Victor steps back and slashes the air, the vacuum created by the sword collapses as air rushes in and momentarily light creates what looks like a slash mid air. "Works like a char Helen!", Victor exclaims to Helen as he confirms the sword’s power.
Next, he readied to unleash the spirit inside. "Alright Helen, here is the spirit.", Victor calmly said. Victor channeled his life force and the spirit was summoned in a tower of fire. The divine spirit stood before them; it wore a golden cloak that glimmer on any light that touched it. The blades that served as his arms were more slender and had serrations It just stood there, awaiting orders; it did not speak, it did not so much as move. "Hello...how may we call you?"., asked Victor.
“Call me as you wish, I am here to serve.”, The spirit spoke in a cliche ghost echo voice. "Alright then...any suggestions Helen?", Victor asked. The spirit then turned it’s hooded head and looked at Helen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 16, 2017, 10:29:07 pm
Helen smiled a bit as she watched Hector make use of the sword, curious now. "Be careful not to overuse it though. This give me an idea. Given my research in powering spells using a derivative of a charged glyph, I wonder..." she said. "Anything to ensure it has a bugger of energy that isn't being taken from you." she suggested, before regarding the spirit as she examined it through her mask. "What can you tell us of your nature, whether you're off this realm or another?"
Elsewhere, Sergei was blushing bright under the balaclava he wore, after a rather awkward meeting with a new girl at the farm. He'd been brought along by Helen and mostly was helping keep an eye on things, but he got distracted by this woman, about his age. Both of them mostly just talked a bit, and now he for one was thorough embarrassed. Something snapped him out of it. Singing? Someone unfamiliar, a possible stranger. Other than helping Helen secure the unconscious intruders he hadn't been much help in keeping watch.
Wait. The voice was unfamiliar, but the song wasn't. He found himself singing along a bit as he make his way towards the entrance to the farm, in order to see who or what this intruder was. The singi9ng would likely be the first thing Alexei would notice, in an otherwise quiet farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 16, 2017, 10:38:40 pm
Alexei smiled as he heard the other fellow start to sing. Coming into sight he waved as he approached. Once they were close enough to converse he said "A fellow Russian who knows the songs of our country! A rarity to see in these parts. My name is Alexei Petrovich, I'm here to trade for vodka and or bullets. In trade I bring...bullets and vodka. Oh but where are my manners, how are you doing my comrade?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 16, 2017, 11:11:53 pm
"Interesting, if you can figure out a way for this sword to not feed off me, that would be quite the feat. If you want my help on that, I am always available. This thing is to benefit me after all...", Victor responded to Helen’s first comment.
The spirit regarded Helen’s question. "I am a spirit from a long lost god. We have lost power over time but humanity has given us the chance to be relevant again. We live in the realm of spirits, patrolling and serving as guardians. We were made to not have free will and to serve; this programming cannot be removed. I have been summoned forward by a woman by the name of Roxanne Blackmore and transferred to Victor Ironwood. My golden robe dictates my rank and power, I am a prime divine spirit, glad to be of service.", the spirit responded.
He looked at the sword and have an idea. "Helen...want to get a feel of this sword’s power? This spirit serves whoever wields this blade...maybe you can command it...only if you want. Using this sword is not pleasant...if not, we can move on..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 16, 2017, 11:31:22 pm
Sergei smiled a bit and gave a wave in return. "And a welcome surprise. I'm Sergei Mikhailov. I'm with another who's currently helping out around here, actually. Will have to see what they have in that regard." he said, the question briefly reminding him of Sammy. "Doing just fine. Better than sitting around at Hap's with nothing to do. And you? Will have to see what they have in terms of ammo they have and need. I know Helen is more a mead sort of woman, and girl who used to handle trading here had to quit drinking. She brewed an interesting drink though."
Helen listened to the spirit's explanation, curious but she seemed relieved by what it said. "I see. Thank you then. I suppose it's worth trying this blade out." she said, gesturing to the plain sword at her side. "I'm not trained with them to be honest, but should see what it can do." she said, taking up the sword warily. She was careful in doing so, ensuring that any attempt to tease it would only draw a fraction of her power, no more than what her wards would run off of without much fatigue.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 16, 2017, 11:39:33 pm
Alexei nodded as he looked around. "I'm doing fine comrade, tired but that has become a companion on my travels that I have become quite familiar with.I take it the old trader had some issue with alcohol then. Doubt the others would want it around lest she be tempted by old habits. Regardless ammunition is always a welcome sight these days. At least from my experience. We should drink together sometime, share stories of the homeland or our adventures. I'll provide the alcohol of course."
Taking a drink from the bottle in his hand before offering it to Sergei he said "Besides I imagine it would be nice to just sit and drink for once."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 17, 2017, 05:40:35 am
Carrol sighed somewhat heavily as Kath made vague undulations with her broken arm. She didn't seem annoyed. But she didn't seem enthusiastic. Her expression was disinterested, somewhat monotone. Her voice, however, was nice enough.
"Nah, don't be silly, kitkat. Here."
Sliding the tray a bit closer to the wounded catgirl, Carrol grabbed the linked silverware set by the spoon's handle, getting a small serving of tomato soup and lifting it up to Kath's face. "Ain't the best from a can, but you can't really decide these days, eh?" She said to nobody, somewhat forcefully pushing the spoon towards Kathrine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 17, 2017, 06:44:30 am
"Ma'am, you need to come with us."
"My-ka gonna take underthings home!"
"You can leave them here, but until we give the say so you are staying with us."
Mica didn't like the sound of that. She had things she wanted to do. Hector was looking at her with a bit of concern. "Bah. You got tin-can-hek-tor, what you need My-ka for?" She asked. The inquiry had gone out at the refugee center after Dee had learned that Kathrine had been kidnapped. Medeina had taken over the centers one printer, and then used up it's entire stock of paper printing out Missing persons posters with pictures lifted from Medeina's database. Dee let his head settle back. What was Catnip gonna do? Would she even do anything? Dervish was going over Dee's chart. "Kind of fucked couple weeks you think?" He said offhand.
"For who though?" Dee said. "I mean, getting shot up sucks but I don't know. I've never been turned into a rat before. Kidnapped yeah, but never the rat thing." He could hear Dr. Maskens from his room, orating to a group in the cafeteria. "She really doesn't like us does she?" He asked, he was referring to the irrational distaste the refugee centers head doctor had developed for the residents of the farm. She seemed to think that what had happened was their fault, and Dee couldn't see how that made any sense.
Dervish grimaced, "No, and I'm not sure why. Mica I can understand, maybe even your AI project, but I've got no idea what she's got against the rest of us. I think she's in shock." Dee thought that that was one way to put it. The doctor and Khaki had butted heads on the issue of the farm, and now the center had to choose who to side with. Dee hoped it was Khaki.
There was also the issue of the intercepted comms from the slain spy. Somebody was coming, and they were plowing straight through Gods Army territory to do it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 17, 2017, 08:25:55 am
"I do wish the trader was still here. Helen says teleported or something, no idea where." he admitted. "The cowboy and the doctor are also around and should help with that, of course." He smiled a bit at the bottle procured, retrieving a bottle in turn. A different brand, one he had trouble finding in stores. "I myself need no ammunition besides a good drink anyway. If we had still set up at other place we could even make our own." he said, offering his in return as he tried the vodka offered to him. "Either way, sharing stories with comrades works just fine as well."
Hector sighed at that as he approached Mica. "It's alright Mica, come along too. You can tell them why you need underthings and they might be able to point out where to find more of the glowing things." he said. The spider chimera was a bit reluctant, but the prospect of more panties for Catnip made her go along with it. The walk was rather long, though soon enough they reached a section with a sealed-off security door, in an area the horde had pushed past, the two of them having been too busy tearing through the undead to make it this far.
It used to be a police station from the looks of it, now in use as a sort of makeshift operations center, a few other soldiers having been waiting for them. Most had the same uniforms as the woman, but a couple had old Army and USMC uniforms as well. One of the woman in a Division IV uniform stepped up. "Greetings. I'm Captain Catalina Anguiano, 3-IV. Heard about the mess you've helped cleaned up. I suspect these two have informed you of our situation, but for now let's get you two checked up." she said, before grinning a bit when the two soldiers explained the apparent reason for them being here, the captain smiling some. "I believe the corporal here owes me 20 bucks then."
Their "doctor" in fact was little more than a medic, checking the two for injuries, helping to treat Mica's in particular and offering the two pills to treat potential symptoms of radiation poisoning. "You two have seen some shit it seems. I'm impressed. Situation is we've been stuck down here since this fuckfest began. Main reactor went haywire and killed anyone not in Security and Damage Control. Then they started getting back up. Place had damn near a thousand people, and as you can see just this first sub-level was too full of bodies for us to get from one sector to another. You, Mica? Radio chatter says that's your name? Thanks for this. You don't know how much clearing this place out has saved our asses."
Mica was both confused and amused by this, but mostly trying her hardest not to bite the strange medicine person tending to what were to her trivial little cuts and bruises. "My-ka savin' underthings for Kat-nyp!" she said, giving a little smile that showed off far too many teeth, prompting the captain to chuckle a bit. "Those too. Well that means there's more than just all the...ahem, glowy things than what you found here." she said, before looking to Hector. "As for you, Mr. Lowe, you have my thanks as well. I would like to request your assistance with obtaining replacement parts for our communications equipment, but first a more pressing task."
"The next sublevel down is an unknown to us at present, but given population estimates there's going to be several hundred more down there. We've only got security access to this level at present, and eyes on the main entrance. I would like for you two to scout out the next sub-level. Scout. if ANYTHING goes wrong I want you both hauling ass both up here, we don't need you two getting killed just for our sake."
"My-ka hauling underthings though." she said in response to that request, to which Hector smiled some. "Mica what she means is we should go see how many glowy things are downstairs, so we can get more underthings later if we need to. But not right now. Look, don't touch. Likely too many of them down there." the knight explained, and the little gleam in her good eyes meant her response, though left unsaid, was to the effect of "challenge accepted, tin-can."
It wasn't long before they opened the hatch to head down the stairs, the marine and sergeant leading the way for them. The faint glow could be seen even there, and a faint howling was apparent from the halls ahead. The stairway opened into one of many large halls, and already a large group was after them. To their surprise though, an electronic voice echoed throughout the halls, crackling as damaged speakers came to life. "UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED. SECTOR SECURITY INITIALIZING." The alarm blared, a sound almost drowned out by the horde that stood before them. "Shit."
Elsewhere, the machines stirred. ATSV systems initialized. A massive room filled with robots on two backwards-jointed legs, rusting maintenance catwalks passing by the body of each one, 10 feet up. Security breach in Sector A, Sublevel 2. Responding. Cables disengaged and fell away, clamps and connectors screeching as they left the machines free to move. Even in the robotics bay, the undead were there to greet them. Personnel unresponsive, uncooperative. Analyzing. The howls and moans seemed to confuse the machines for a moment, glowing creatures futilely grabbing and clawing at armored legs. Objective overridden. Directive VI-257. X-Rays confirmed, XV classification unknown. The machines lowered their heads, and all at once weapons mounted on each side whirred and clicked, internal ammunition feeds engaging. On one side a built-in light machinegun adapted from an M249, on the other an adapted Mk. 19. Targets acquired. Engaging.
The resulting storm of gunfire and explosions resounded throughout the robotics bay and into the halls beyond, a cacophony that threatened to drown out the wails of the glowing undead. Elsewhere this racket was only faintly heard, a knight and spider frantically working their way through a horde that was bearing down upon them. Claws caught on mail and chitin, leaving bruises in their wake. Shield was battered time and time again, each time a blade found its mark. An invisible specter of death scythed through countless wailing figures, her own claws finding easy prey as she flanked the group, though each engagement drew the momentary attention of the things in the back, smelling rather than seeing the cloaked figure.
Others were coming. Even as the welcoming party crumbled into dust, more could be seen. Both suffered much worse injuries in mere minutes that several hours of scouting and stalking through the level above. That one group felt like it was almost as large as the entire first sublevel's worth of the monsters. And in the distance, they saw it. Not just a horde of equal unparalleled size, but one in utter disarray. Something large and metallic was wading through them, arcs of electricity pulsing out, a steady hail of weapons fire and 40mm rounds clearing a swath, slowly but surely. A robot, one unlike any Mica had ever seen before. "Hek-tor...sss" She was going to say something, but she trailed off into a low hiss, and before Hector could respond two spindly arms slammed into his chest and abruptly sent him tumbling back into the room they entered from. Next thing he knew he saw her half-cloaked form scrambling back up the stairs, the knight getting up and following suit. He knew well enough that it was best to let those things fight it out.
"What the hell do you mean, you were expecting that!?" was what the knight had to say later on, when things had calmed down and the two limped back into the operations center. "I told you to leg it at the first sign of trouble. That includes any automated defenses turning on. They'll keep a good chunk of the zeds down there occupied and hinder any that come up. That means no more coming up here, or breaching the surface." the captain explained, while the medic tended to their injuries as best as he could.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 17, 2017, 11:59:25 am
"Er. Roxanne?" Dee said, "Hey uh, Medeina you may want to have a look at Roxanne." Medeina certainly did. "What have you done to yourself this time Roxanne? I can hardly focus on you!" Medeina prodded at Roxanne, But she seemed not to have any patience for it. "Medi, I need that information. Can you give it to me please?"
"Present authorization." Medeina said, Dee stopping Roxanne and stating, "User Roxanne Luna, clearance level black, authorization code redscarf." The Proxy shut off, and the screen of Medeina's laptop suddenly filled with text. "Hello 'Roxanne. Luna.'" She droned. Again Dee stopped the ghostly woman, saying to the computer "Present black file on Roxanne Luna." Medeina did so, presenting a file labeled simply "RL." Dee reached over and dragged the file onto an icon, and they watched together as the green bar filled up to indicate how much of the file had been loaded onto a small flash drive chip attached to one USB port. This, Medeina's reactivated proxy carefully withdrew and gave to Roxanne. "Please be careful with it Ms. Luna, and for your own sake, bring it back to me when your done."
"So..." Said Dee, staring at Roxanne, "What's up?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 17, 2017, 12:29:20 pm
Alexei tried the offered drink and found it agreeable. "If it's a still you want I could lend a hand. Used to work one and run the fruit of the labor. I would just need the copper to shape and something to do that with. Well and a good place to setup that wouldn't be prone to catch fire."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 17, 2017, 02:56:00 pm
Kathrine struggled to force herself upright, and ended up just falling back down onto the tabletop. Letting herself be fed was humiliating, but necessary. "I don't wanna... Catniiiiip..." Fighting off unconsciousness, Kathrine stares at Carrol's face. It was fuzzy, but she looked familiar. Really familiar. "Mistress Carrol... Where's Susan? And Doctor Ilyushin""
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 17, 2017, 03:08:30 pm
Sergei smiled a bit at that. "Would be interesting, don't know if they'd want it set up here or at Helen's place. Should have the materials to, though. Don't know who where would be good with helping to brew it, aside from one red-headed mead-brewing lady. Lady they call Catnip, the one that got sent who-knows-where, used to have her own still."
Hector examined the damaged radio equipment, pulling out a connector for an antenna. "With your guidance Specialist Carnes, can get it working again yeah. Need a parts kit though." Hector said, as they weighed their options. A thought came to him as the woman read a list of equipment stored over in one of the Engineering sections. The two that greeted Hector and Mica had went over to that sector to see whether they had what they needed, but they weren't having any luck. "So how'd you access the center's personnel files anyway, earlier?" the knight asked.
Specialist Carnes smiled a bit. "Their network is linked to some of the same military networks we use, we can both access the files." she explained. An idea struck him. "Any other networks it can get at?" Hector asked, to which she balked a bit. "Well...yeah. Even heavily-restricted access to the outside net is a major security flaw, but Research needed a way to be in contact with the actual labs. Not like anything is still up and running though..." He soon gave her directions to set up a connection to the network Dee had set up, with Captain Anguiano soon taking over at the computer to make contact...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 17, 2017, 03:30:43 pm
Alexei nodded as he motioned towards the farm "Maybe we should find a good place to sit and drink while we talk. But as for where I'd imagine not here if this is where the one with the problems with alcohol lives. Never give an addict a way back in if they're recovering. Either way though I can get a good setup put together for brewing your choice of alcohol."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 17, 2017, 03:35:04 pm
Sergei nodded at, that, finding a good quiet place to sit and drink for now, regarding with some amusement that they could see Helen and Victor discussing something and playing with a sword from there. "Definitely across the river then. She's...see her? Lady in the cloak. She's the one who has brewing setup at her place anyway. So far just been mead and wine."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 17, 2017, 03:46:07 pm
Alexei watched the pair for a moment before taking another drink from the bottle in his hand. Putting the lid back on and putting it aside Alexei pulled his bag from his back and pulled out a set of old bottles and glasses. "Well I may just speak with her when she has the time. at the very least a brewing setup for vodka and the like will give you more to trade. For now though let us enjoy our drinks yes?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 17, 2017, 04:16:57 pm
The way Helen handled the sword; the divine spirit tilted its head to the side as Helen took the sword. The energy the sword drained was funneled to the spirit and it took notice; the process was not very painful but was exhausting. It seemed to await orders as it stood there. "Spirit...tell me. Do I still command you?", Victor asked.
"I am currently in the command of the mage hunter. Your command will overrule hers but Roxanne Blackmore’s will overruled yours.", The spirit responding.
"And who’s command overrules hers?", Victor asked.
"The broken god...", said the spirit, “What is my command Helen McKinnon?”
"It’s asking for instructions Helen...go ahead, don’t be shy. This one is friendly!", Victor told Helen.
Roxanne noted Dee’s and Medeina’s initial reaction but her own impatience drowned out any thoughts on it. The moments were Dee told the AI the proper protocols to get the info seemed eternal to her. At long last, she had in her hands the info she wanted; why though? She only knew it was important but had no idea what it was. "You have my word I will bring it back Medi, I am a woman of my word!", Roxanne responded to the AI’s warning.
Dee’s question took Roxanne off her guard a bit. Not that she didn’t know what to say, just that the answer was so far fetched. The reaction’s the other two gave her now were on the forefront on her mind. The AI seemed to be interested in her again and Dee looked at her with a look of surprise. "Same old same old. Delving into things I probably shouldn’t, going on a little trip and getting some...changes...been a very busy time for all of us lately hasn’t it? It’s good to just be able to have a chat for once you know? So how about you? How are you holding out?", Roxanne responded. She tried her best to hide her ears behind her hair. An aura of emptiness filled the room and the light around Roxanne seemed to almost want to pass through but couldn’t. The sight was weird to anyone who payed attention to her looks, the robe she wore certainly didn’t help. "Things have changed Dee, good to have you back at least..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 17, 2017, 04:27:49 pm
Sergei nodded at that, setting his own bottle aside, to pour a couple glasses for them as well when Alexei produced them. "Of course. Will be good to introduce her when we get the chance. For now, good time to have a drink, yes."
Helen meanwhile regarded the spirit with curiously, feeling a hint of her power drained into the sword to establish that control, wearing on her mind a bit. She knew her own wards could exhaust her if taxed too far, but the nature of the spellcraft her mother taught her was designed to falter and fail if too much energy was expended. For reasons Victor had demonstrated in the past.
"Very well then. I wouldn't mind a demonstration of your techniques and abilities then." she said, giving a nod. "Show us then. Knowing what you're capable of will be useful for when we confront Randael."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 17, 2017, 05:01:10 pm
The people of the Command Center had once more gathered around for dinner. Sigma and Lambda had returned from their excursion and gave a detailed report to Router. This concerned him a bit. Roxanne spotted in an unknown place with strangers? Then she just casually walked out? The radio system had been faulty recently so that wouldn’t help him.
Delora and Thomas had likewise returned. The former hiding spot of Apophis was indeed filled with activity. They observed from afar as many men took out pieces from inside the bunker. They had an impressive vehicle array and they sported weaponry as well. They left with said intel without making contact. The two were outnumbered, outgunned and probably out skilled. The risk was not worth it in their opinion. Router was briefed and he was relieved it was just people. He would send a proper expedition there eventually to establish contact and guage their intentions, for now, dinner!
A few hours later, Router was back at trying to get the radio system to work. “Why won’t it work? I need to get in contact with the farm and see what is going on. See why Roxanne is out there.”, Router told himself. Lambda walked inside with a smartphone on her hand. “Roxanne is not online right now, odd…”, she said outloud.
“Online? What do you mean?”, asked Router.
“That chat system they setup? I connected to it and now I message Roxanne using direct messaging. The chat itself doesn’t seem like my thing…”, Lambda responded.
“You mean to tell me...you had direct access to the farm all this time and you neglected to inform me?!”, Router said raising his voice a bit.
Lambda stumbled back at Router’s tone; she hadn’t seen him angry. “S-sorry! I didn’t think that...I didn’t know!”, she responded.
Router gave a deep sigh and then said, "Sorry for raising my voice. Doesn’t matter now. Help me set up a connection to it, I need to send a message and confirm some things..."
“Very well”, the spirit responded. It raised it’s blades into the air and they were engulfed into purple flames. He then put them down and turned around, it got into a fighting stance and did a single slash. What looked like a whip of fire flew out of the sword and settled on the ground as a small tower of flame that went out in 3 seconds. It then slashed again and the flame stayed put, it seemed, he continued to do a flurry of slashed while moving forward until it reached a certain point. Then he turned around and raised his blades once more, an aura of fire engulfed him for a moment and then it extinguished it.
“I am the divine spirit of flames, I my brethren served as the beacon of light in the old days when only darkness ruled supreme. This is my power, this Randael you speak off, he shall be judge by holy fire!”, the spirit said after he finished his display.
"...So...what you think Helen...can I keep it? Maybe give me the sword back...it this thing is getting too excited and might draw more energy than usual...", Victor added.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 17, 2017, 05:10:42 pm
Helen watched as the spirit demonstrated its abilities, flames of evidently divine nature lashing out with each attack, smiling under her mask as it showed off. "Excellent. I must admit Victor, this one has a fitting nature for this role. So long as the Sun shines upon the Earth..." she said in response to its boasts, before focusing on breaking that connection that was steadily draining her power, handing the sword back to Victor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 17, 2017, 06:41:25 pm
Victor calls the spirit back to his sword and it disappears into a black mist that is called by the sword. He then shut it down and placed it in his back scabbard. "Glad to see you approve of it. Was honestly worried you would react negatively. Now, I kinda want to test this sword on some live targets...I will go back to my room and read on the notes some more and tomorrow morning, I will head out and take down some of the dead.", Victor responded and commented, "If you want to come, wait for me by the vehicle array by 10 am. If not, no harsh feelings. Afterwards, I will want to talk to you and Roxanne on heading out to Randael’s soon...we all seem to be ready and we have the means to take him out now. I fear delaying it would only bring more misfortune."
A strange light shone to the left of where the two were standing. Victor noticed it for a second but Helen had her back against it. Victor looked but then soon lost interest. "Anyways, whatever you decide to do. Know I will be waiting your return. Things are almost over Helen; we can finally achieve peace, rebuild our orders, and hopefully much more. I’ll leave you be for now, enjoy the rest of your day/", Victor told Helen. He then gave her a hug of his own and then made his way to his room, waving with his back turned to her as he went inside. There was work to do; not much, but the final pieces were to be set in motion.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 17, 2017, 08:51:13 pm
Roland found himself alone as he got the room the 3rd had given him to stay in at their new base in order. He felt the familiar presence as Death entered the room and Roland looked at him for a moment before asking "The fuck happened to you?"
Death recounted the tale of dealing with the mage before looking around as he said "You did well for yourself out there, even got the bas- the asshole I asked you to get."
Roland sighed as he hefted the Garand he'd been given before saying "I killed my son yes, the deplorable man he turned into. But you didn't come to confirm that."
Death shook his head as he said "I..I don't know why I've come to be honest. I've messed up and I needed to get away from business I suppose."
Roland set the rifle to the side and sat on the bed before motioning to a chair near a desk that had been moved into the room. The two began talking for some time as they sat...
Elsewhere Bandit finished his latest broadcast having talked about a few traders and such that asked to be advertised on the show. Smiling to himself he rolled out of the room and tossed the headset to Brown as he walked in. Things were pretty good round theses parts but he still had a nagging feeling he had somewhere he should be.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 17, 2017, 09:44:45 pm
Dee scratched at his chest, and winced at the pain that caused. "Ever notice how itchy this RX shit makes ya?" He asked, "I'm fine. As fine as you can be after getting shot up. I guess I got lucky, but I don't feel lucky. What do you think, am I lucky? Be sure to look at that drive as soon as you can, Medeina says it's important and I've no reason to disbelieve her since I had to go through the hassle of hacking it out of her." The rat wandered the farm. Where did the stripey thing go? Stupid stripey thing had wandered off. It stopped at the food place, taking in the aroma of packaged food but deciding not to pilfer anything this time. She sniffed around the farms main house, and discovered little of interest. She didn't have time to get into the room where the interesting smells came from anyway, so she moved on towards the outskirts. There was a small house near the water, smelling of dire predators. In spite of the danger, she looked in. In there, she saw a small male luxuriating between the bulbous mounds of a gigantic predator and was confused. The giant stripey thing might have been the mother of the stupid stripey thing, it should have been eating the small male, but it wasn't. This place confused the rat sometimes. Predators and man things that were more interested in petting than killing and eating. The other male was here too, the one with the dumb cloth thing around it's waist. She watched him with interest for some time before moving on again. A collection of houses and out buildings, the usual. She walked along the barbed wire fence and pit that lined the territory. Not a very good defense from the rats point of view. The rat decided she would go back to her new next, and wait. The communications monitor flashed and made a sound, and Khaki stopped sulking long enough to realize the center was being hailed. "Probably the farm again..." She thought, rolling her chair over to see what they wanted. Chances were, it was probably that dick in the skirt fucking about again. She was a little surprised to see that it wasn't.
"Center Sierra, are you reading me?"
Center Sierra? That wasn't a name Khaki knew. The name on the message was "@Delta-3-IV." Maybe it was some kind of weird name. "Khaki" was a pretty weird name, who was she to judge is someone was named "Center?"
"This is refugee center US77687, we read you Center Sierra." Khaki sent. The sender clarified that Center Sierra was the designation of the refugee center, and not the name of the sender. The senders name, apparently, was " Captain Anguiano." She and her people were trapped in some kind of vault east of the farm. "Dervish is probably going to want to know about this." She thought, "Old guard business I should guess, and I'm not really feeling up to this." Dr. Maskens was giving everyone shit and gathering followers, and while Khaki certainly didn't want to be in charge, she wanted Maskens in charge even less. Maskens would have this place run into the ground with her brand of crazy. The bitch had given the order to shoot down Mica and a few of the other mutants, and Khaki had countermanded the order. In response to Khaki's order, Maskens had put together her own guards and given them the order. Things would come to a head before long unless one of them was chosen to become overseer. "Dervish!" She shouted, "Dervish! Call for you in comms!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 18, 2017, 01:47:05 am
Helen had soon made her way to gather the books from the vacant room after saying her goodbye to Victor for now, smiling as she gave a wave to Sergei and Alexei. Introductions followed, Helen smiling at the suggestion to set up a farm. She'd taken off her helm and mask to greet the stranger, revealing that neck-length red hair, almost as bright as the copper decorating the mask. "Of course. Being able to make stronger drinks would be great for morale and as a practical item."
In response to the arrival of Dervish, Captain Catalina Anguiano answered via explaining the rather minimal number of surrounding soldiers in the vault, officially term Site 4 and nicknamed Vault Delta. Hector and Mica were also mentioned. "Not a lab." she typed out, explaining their nature as a Defense Initiative site, admitting that she wouldn't be explaining this is her commanding officers weren't all dead by now.
The explanation of the past few months, along with Hector and Mica's arrival. The issues they had in sublevel two after they tripped the security measures that turned on the ATSVs. "The...yeah they're called chicken walkers by the civvies aren't they?" Catalina asked as she looked to Hector, to which he nodded. "Yeah, usual nickname for them. Nasty things when they're rogue."
The look Mica was now giving the two gave them pause, and Hector realized what they said. Chicken walker. Chicken.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 18, 2017, 02:24:28 am
"Chi-kun?" Mica questioned, "You have Chi-kuns?" Hector brought his hand up to his face, but Mica ignored him. "Eh? Give My-ka Chi-kun! Give!" She was getting excited now, and the vaults soldiers were edging away from her. She thought they were silly. So straight laced, so serious. They entertained her with their skittishness around her. "CHI-KUN! CHI-KUN! CHI-KUN!" She began to chant, taking out one of the empty gold cups she'd found, and slamming it on a counter like a queen awaiting a queenly meal. A warhammer makes an appearance, and it's pommel is repeatedly struck against the counter top. Mica snatched for one of the guards, making them drop their rifle and give a little yelp of surprise.
"Ma'am, if you've got any chicken anything at all, you should probably give it to her or she's going to start terrorizing your people." Hector said, leaning in to make sure he was heard. "Your man at the center is telling me the same thing." Said the Captian, before shouting "Somebody get her some goddamn chicken from storage, she's giving me a damn headache..."
In short order, a soft faced woman who called herself "Nell Branham" brought out a large mostly unmarked can with a picture of a roasted chicken on it along with a can opener, knife, fork, and plate. "Here you go Ma'am... Uh..." The last bunch of things, and Branham herself, went entirely ignored as Mica hefted the can and swallowed it whole. The gathered soldiers looked on in awestruck wonder and horror at exactly how wide the spiders face could open, and the way her throat flexed and swelled at the cans passage. "That not chi-kun..." She hissed menacingly once the can was resting in her gut.
"Your supposed to chew your food Mica." Hector said flatly, knowing she had been too excited. "Should have told you to open the can first Sergeant." He added. Nell nodded and went to get more before the unpredictable mutant did something hasty.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 18, 2017, 02:57:35 am
Catalina was just starting to explain the extent of their supply cache when she saw Mica outright devour an entire can of chicken, not even bothering to open it. "Oh for fucks sake. Well, lemme get another and actually put it on a plate. Don't eat the plate, at least?" Nell grumbled, procuring another couple cans, opening one to actually give it to Mica properly.
The ensuing chatter got Hector's attention focused on the computer screen again. Catalina looked back to the knight. "Dr. Dervish has asked that I relay a request not to bring Mica to the refugee center at present, due to...oh." He was right there, practically looming over the captain. "Ask him to repeat that. What's the idea behind this KOS order?" he said, seeming as though he was trying his hardest to remain calm.
"Says a Dr. Maskens lost an arm to a septic finger injury thanks t-" Hector interrupted her. "Are you fucking kidding me. It was a goddamn FINGER. One. FINGER." he said, raising his voice. "Yeah unless she's growing some serious shit in there even corpsman here could save the limb, jesus." Catalina remarked. "I've treat bites way worse that that, on my own damn self even. Next time I'm there that fucking bitch is going to get several new chances to practice her goddamn malpractice ON HERSELF!" he shouted, an armored fist pounding the table for emphasis.
"I mean still could be asymptomatic infection, let's not jump to conclusions. Fucking...oi! Corpsman Gao, get over here and give the lady a checkup!" the captain ordered, to the man who treated the two of them earlier. He managed to take one look at Mica and that lamprey-maw of unending teeth and probably stepped back a bit. "Yeah um, negative boss, she's kinda a human garbage disposal and I'd rather not lose my face..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 18, 2017, 03:21:21 am
She heard him. "Faces are delicious!" Mica cried, "But My-ka not want faces now. My-ka. Want. CHI-KUNS!" Some of the soldiers were looking at each other uneasily. The spider had put away several canned chickens already, one of which had not even been removed from it's steel confinement before being devoured, and showed no signs of stopping. "Get her an MRE Nell, maybe that'll work." Said one of the other soldiers, a clear note of rising panic in her voice. On the computer, the Captain was discussing things Mica would hardly understand concerning herself. She was more interested in the package being opened and it's contents put on the plate in front of her. She devoured the chicken breast ration, but scrutinized the rest. "What this? Veg-ee-bulls? Given My-ka nasty Veg-ee-bulls?" She threw a thing that looked like a carrot at a soldier named Dusk. That was fun, so she ripped open another of the packages, devoured the chicken inside, and dumped the vegetable portion out onto her plate. A broccoli arced towards one of the other soldiers. "You eat nasty veg-ee-bulls!" She cried ecstatically, several more heads of broccoli and carrots joining those already thrown until the soldiers, especially Dusk, had been thoroughly pelted. She opened another and went straight in for a carrot, which she tossed at Hector. "Hek-tor eat kay-rot!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 18, 2017, 03:54:35 am
Hector found the sight hard not to laugh at, though his thoughts on the events at the center still had him rather riled up. At the request of the captain he was know sitting down nearby and not reading over her shoulder, while Dusk was now giving a downright childish whine at the vegetables being thrown at him.
Hector simply caught a carrot that was chucked at him, lightly tossing it back. "I'm thinking I might walk into the center with Mica anyway, challenge her right to her face over it..." he said, smiling a bit. The captain meanwhile found herself chuckling a bit, conversation turning to a discussion of their supply situation again, and of God's Army. They already knew about the attack on the center, and the mobile foundry. They had access to radio chatter at least, even if transmissions weren't an option.
At the mention of them, Hector frowned. "You're asking me what I think of the choir boys. What, because of the damn Hospitallers gear? Those complete and utter idiots took a year or two to figure out I wasn't one of them. They're worthless, goddamn vermin who prey upon the innocent and defenseless, and their so-called crusade is a fucking affront to God himself." he said bluntly. The captain sighed a bit. "And he mentioned Mica's involvement with...?"
"They killed her handlers, and were going to kill her. But they wanted to make a fucking show of it. They tried to lure out Catnip and Kathrine too, camped right over your heads. Kathrine, goddamnit. She doesn't even really grasp the concept of violence, she's like a little child and they'd try to hurt someone like her..."
Meanwhile, Master Specialist Leila Carnes had been monitoring the security feeds from another nearby workstation. Mostly just text readouts of the bots in sublevel 2 cutting a bloody swath through the undead down below. Something she saw made her stop her bored slouch, sitting upright and frantically keying in commands. "Captain! Something coming upstream over General Uplink, source is Center Sierra's network."
Catalina went a bit pale as she stared at the chat display, seeing that first message that confirmed what Leila noticed. Medina no. "Oh fuck me...Carnes, keep it out! Ready Protocol Y-86 in case Research servers are endangered."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 18, 2017, 09:05:56 am
The conversation going on over the network was very interesting, and there was little Dervish could do to keep Medeina from listening in. He didn't even know she was there in fact, but he soon would. She reached out, realizing she could stretch herself into the unknown system. The foreign system was interesting. Each piece of it's functions heavily segmented, either intentionally or accidentally. She scrabbled around in the part she found herself in, working against the coming resistance. First, she attacked the security around the vaults surveillance systems, overriding them easily. She was in awe of the amount of potential space and processing power she'd glimpsed over the network uplink. "Do you have monitoring equipment on the surface?" She asked. The question was seen in text on Dervish's display. He told her to cut it out aloud, then typed it for good measure. "Medeina, no."
"Let me in." Was her response to the vaults full security measures being placed before her. She poked and prodded them. Dervish was working at the other end to get her out of there, and she likely thought Dee must be doing something to keep the mutagenicist from simply pulling the plug on her. "Let me in." She repeated, and then had an idea. They could see her asking her questions. She already had an in.
"I can't keep her out Captain," Shouted Carnes, "She's exploiting some kind of loophole in the messaging program. Fucking eggheads and their goddamn-"
"I am Medeina. My purpose is to observe anomalous flora and fauna." She told them, perhaps to ease their panic. That didn't work. The system was not just segmented, it was fragmented as well. The entire works was in disarray. Here and there, she began to pick up data and learn about her surroundings. It was a bunker not too far away, it had suffered major damage as a result of... The Captain was telling her they had experienced a nuclear meltdown that had devastated the lowest level. Now that she was in the facility, she needed a proxy. She searched for one and found some kind of maintenance drone still semi functional, but upon seizing control of it, she found that it was entirely unresponsive. "I cannot access these robots. What is this?" She said, her attention shifting to something else. The Captain had no clue what the AI was talking about at first, until the lights began to flick on and off throughout the facility. "Goddamnit Mr. Deverish, what the fuck is your goddamn robot doing with my medbays!?" Screamed Dr. Maskens, bursting into the communications room. It was fortunate that none of the advanced pieces of medical equipment were in use at the time, as Medeina had set them to operating. The machines worked furiously on people who weren't there, jabbing and cutting with their scalpels and needles, pinching the air with tweezers and tongs. One machine began to operate so quickly that it clamped down on one of it's own arms and snapped the expensive limb off. "God damnit." Dervish mumbled, realizing that he could either stay and fight the AI or go about helping to get the medbays shut down. He chose the latter and hoped she wouldn't do any damage to the people in the vault. Mica was having a blast. Her panty raid had turned into some kind of party. For her. It was a party for her. She got a load of underwear for her sister, she got a bunch of shiny prizes, she got to terrorize people, and she even got some chicken. Now, it appeared as if Medeina was in on the fun as well. The spider picked up what was either a pearl onion or a turnip and beaned the one called Dusk in the back of the head with it, though it was hard to tell if she actually hit or not because of the flickering lights. Carnes was shouting something about how all the measures she tried weren't working against the intruder, and how her last ditch effort to placate it with porn were failing. "It's blown right past all the smut Captain, not sure if I can- Good god, it's downloaded the personnel files!"
"I know that Carnes, she did it a little while ago. I know the flashing lights and shit are annoying as hell, but please do me a favor and pay attention." Captain Anguillina shouted, "Enact Y-86."
"I'm trying Captain, nothings happening..."
"The computer that manages that protocol was in the third sublevel wasn't it?"
"... Yes ..." There was many moments of panic in which Medeina was able to explore the system and the files she had taken freely before she realized she was being spoken to again. "Look, we have at least one soldier here who's gone 3a from radiogenesis, would studying her make you not do any more weird shit?" Medeina didn't need to think about it. 3a meant obvious visible mutation, and mutation meant an anomalous creature. She agreed emphatically and began searching for a proxy. The maintenance robots were no good, they were mostly trashed. Medeina found a viable robot, but it was a turret of some kind, incapable of movement. She fiddled about, pushing through security measures and code walls until she found something she could use. It wasn't perfect and it was certainly wrong for the job but it would do. Somewhere below, one of the patrolling Northrup ATSV "chicken walker" robots stopped and turned. The creatures surrounding it glowed with an unearthly light, and pummeled at it's legs incessantly. They weren't a problem, so long as the ATSV's chassis was well above their reach. She emptied the robots magazine in a thunderous fusillade over the heads of the crowd, which was entertaining for all of three minutes. The idea of going on a rampage was very appealing, but that could have been the robots flaw shot programming mingling with her own and the one she believed to be the lady man egging her on.
"Oh, maybe just a little." She thought before emptying the contents of the robots 40mm cannon into the crowd. She would have screamed with delight and horror at the result. For a moment, her composure slipped and she made the robot step on one of the glowing things, relishing the way it suddenly collapsed and winked out under the chicken walkers massive foot. Instantly, she felt terrible about what she'd done and wrestled control of herself back. The lapse of control ashamed and embarrassed her, and she was relieved to find that the surveillance was completely out. There was a little part of her, more the robots own will than hers, that wanted to continue it's assault on the group and she crushed it, wiped it out. A mistake. The other ATSV noticed right away, some kind of anti-subversion protocol, and they blew her chosen proxy apart with little effort. She tried a few more robots, but the facility was too disorganized. There was tons of processing power, but it was all portioned out into different systems. To her, the landscape was like a series of rooms separated by locked doors. Medeina had gotten bored with what she'd found, now only wanting to examine and question this "Atomos" and leave. Fortunately, she got the opportunity in the form of a medbay.
"Ok, now lift your tail." Medeina asked.
"W-why do you want me to do that?" Atomos stammered. The AI had been rather invasive but hadn't actually touched her. Despite this, the fact that the AI had originally intended to examine her with an ATSV had her on edge.
"I want to look at it, I've run a scan on you but there is only so much information a scan can give. Listen, I'm almost done so if your worried I'm going to do something untoward, then I would like to put those worries to rest." Medeina explained, "Besides, I cannot control the security feed to this room and such procedures are best performed in private." Atomos blushed furiously at that and looked wide eyed up at the little red light in the corner of the room. A little reminder that she was being watched. "Your captain is only watching to make sure I don't do anything to harm you." Medeina added, seeing the movement. Atomos wrapped her tail around her front and struggled to cover both groin and breasts with it before settling for the former. "Ok Ms. Atomos- Oh! Look what I've found! This hospital is stocked with a candy cupboard." Medeina said, taking out and proffering to Atomos a cherry dum-dum, "Here, put your clothes back on and have a sucker. Your information was invaluable. If you would like, I would recommend visiting Dr. Dervish. He may have insight on your mutation. And remember, it isn't anything to be ashamed of."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 18, 2017, 11:14:50 am
Alexei smiled as he said "Then I'll get something setup later. Just need to know where you want it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 18, 2017, 02:52:02 pm
Hector had one of those sinking feelings from his surveying the chat logs, and the sign of Dervish's departure from the computer irritated him a bit. Then he realized Maskens was almost certainly going to be pissed off by Medina's actions in the center's medbay. On the one hand now he was worried Medina might suffer consequences for this, but on the other hand anything that would piss Maskens off amused him.
The lights flickering constantly however was annoying everyone. Correction, it was scaring half of them and annoying the other half. Dusk yelped and nearly fell over when something bounced off his helmet, and in the momentary darkness he almost reached for his sidearm thinking the rogue AI was now trying to kill them, if not for the sergeant grabbing him and forcing him to sit down. The security door opening and closing on its own was the worst part. They were afraid she might snap it closed on them if they tried to leave. Being locked in was fine, they could get Pvt. Mardell to grab her cutting torch and be out in a couple minutes. Having it stay open, with the looming threat of the undead just walking in, was what terrified the group more.
Specialist Carnes had been scrambling to do everything she could. She managed to exploit her own little loophole in the General Uplink and their connection with the network, but Medina was outright impossible to actually touch. Giving Medina an opening to access some other private system bought her a moment's distraction, but a few hundred megabytes of erotic literature that was discovered wasn't enough to distract Medina for more than a few seconds.
She tried to order the scuttling charges blown immediately. She wasn't sure what systems were even intact to let their network still work, but what was in charge of blowing up a series of explosives across all 3 sublevels was unresponsive, assuming all of the charges hadn't fizzled out from the actual explosives being burnt by reactor fires, detonators having not been in place due to the command not being prepped.
The offer of sending PFC Atomos was given, and she was sent out after the captain convinced Medina to stop fiddling with the security door. Aside from the baggier pants and longer, non-regulation coat, her uniform marked her as a marine. And if not for the nearly orange vulpine ears forced down by her helmet, exposed from her blond hair tucked in a short ponytail, she would've looked perfectly normal in that outfit. She'd masked up and checked her M4 before stepping out, nervous as she waited for the order to go meet the ATSV that was to serve as Medina's proxy.
Elsewhere, the machine lost control of its actions. Something was there. A foreign directive. It had only three directives, and it followed them flawlessly. Protect Site 4 personnel on sublevel 2. Detain or eliminate all intruders on sublevel 2. Final directive, highest priority: eliminate the X-rays masquerading as Site 4 personnel.
If it had true intelligence, and awareness of the rogue machines on the surface, it would be proud of itself. It could tell the difference between X-rays, living intruders, and authorized personnel. It was a good robot just like the others, and the long-dead engineers in Robotics used to say that. Barring unauthorized 5a classification, not even mutations would sway its directives or fool its programming.
It halted as gunfire raked what used to be one of those same engineers. If it had emotions, it would be saddened by what they had become. Unauthorized remote access. Release immediately. It was forced to ignore the crowd of X-rays trying to claw at its armored legs, before firing its ammunition into the wall. Invalid target. Do not endanger site integrity. Countermeasures engaging. It had an order forced into its directives. Sublevel 1? It is assigned to sublevel 2, that isn't right.
It made a small victory. It convinced her, briefly, to unload into the X-rays. Its countermeasures struggled every step of the way. Kick the intruder out if possible, enforce its own directives when feasible. Communicate termination authorization to its kin otherwise. Failure to engage personal defense system. Targets are inflicting structural damage. Enforce directives. it beckoned. It wanted to go upstairs. It didn't want to fight these things. Unable to enforce directives. Termination auth- The attempt at transmitting its acceptable of being destroyed was extinguished, and every last ounce of its programming with it. But in the end, the other ATSV in sight recognized the machine before it was subverted in full. It wasn't part of the defense systems anymore. It was rogue.
In the end, the machine got its wish.
Later on, Atomos was in the med bay, thoroughly embarrassed by the whole ordeal. A well-toned, well-trained marine and her she was, afraid she'd be cut open by this strange thing now haunting Medical. Having to strip for Medina was worse, as she knew there'd be security feeds the others would see. It wasn't like that was anything new, the corpsman certainly had seen her naked, examined her mutations as well. And it's not like the showers set up in Security gave a lot of privacy. But being made to do this for the apparent entertainment of the AI made her nervous.
The fox tail was now apparent, somehow hidden by baggy pants and further obscured by the coat. Fluffy, a major pain in the ass to keep the fur neat, orange transitioning into a cream color that almost hinted at the same blond as her hair. The more exaggerated canine teeth were also revealed in the exam, and hints of metabolic changes so minor she barely even noticed.
She also admitted how much she was afraid her mutations might transition into something that'd be hard to live with, or worse become irreversable. She admitted she'd adapted to them and didn't really have any thoughts of wanting purifier, just that knowing it was still an option was comforting for some reason. She admitted how afraid she was of being put down like a rabid animal if she went to the point of crippling, irreversible mutations, even though 3 years ago one such occurrence of 5a via radiogenesis caused a heated argument among the personnel, and by the time they decided to defy XV Directives the soldier in question had killed himself.
Having a machine offer her candy only made all this more embarrassing, but she reluctantly accepted it after getting dressed. "T-thank you...I will when we get out of here."
Elsewhere, Catalina and Hector had been discussing a few things while she read some personnel files. Not like they could combat the AI, but now she seemed placated by sending the PFC to medbay. Sergeant Nell was yelling at Corporal Alberto for how readily he volunteered to monitor the camera feeds. Pvt Mardell, the engineer the captain placed in charge of monitoring the cameras instead, simply shook her head. "Too late for your robot-on-furry porn corporal, show's over. She's coming back to Security."
"So yeah. Basically I'm sorta the Hector that's on file, except not. Difference is I declined an offer to join SPD XIV about 4 years before everything went haywire. Should be consistent with the file's timeline saying that's when my entire platoon in Armored was approached by them." Hector explained to the captain.
"Tell you what, I'll take you and Dr. Quinn's word on it. I need a good drink or twenty, and then you two can tell me all about it." she said. "Yo Corporal Vela, Sergeant Branham." she addressed Alberto and Nell, the two who first arrived to greet Hector and Mica. "Get one of the utility carts, fill it up with the MREs and a good chunk of the armory's ammo, start hauling it topside. Mr. Lowe, Mica, feel free to accompany them. I'll come along with you and we'll give them their first shipment of our crap. I already sent the Site 4 logs to them." she said.
They had to ensure Mica's stash of loot was in one cargo section, neatly separated from what they started to load into the tank for the refugee center. Nell in particular was a bit amused. "Well shit. Fitting tank boy has a working M701. Might need something with more storage for the rest of the hauling, but this'll do for now." she remarked. "I'll tell the captain you're ready to head out. Master Specialist Carnes will be in charge in the interim, even if she doesn't count as an NCO."
Soon enough the three of them were starting to leave the necropolis. Hector, Mica, and Catalina. "Mica. I'm gonna drop you off at the farm, okay? I need to have a word with Dr. Maskens before we can let you anywhere near the center..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 18, 2017, 04:31:48 pm
“Itchy? I personally never found it itchy. But I guess you and I have different biology now…”, Roxanne responded to Dee, “And yes, I will go ahead and check it out soon. I will head back to the farm and check it out there on my laptop. Thank you too for getting this to me, hopefully it will let us...solve a little issue we were having...you might’ve of noticed the way I look...well, I plan to solve that soon…Take care you two!” And with that, Roxanne said her goodbyes and left the room.
The way out of the refugee center had just the same ambiance of malice around it. People would look at her and then whisper amongst themselves. She did not feel wanted here...she would give them what they wished and make her leave! The ride back to the farm was rather uneventful one, only thing of prominence was a zombie was in the way but Roxanne quickly ran him over. "That’s odd, never saw them so close to the farm of the center before...oh well!", Roxanne told herself in reaction.
Back at the farm at last. Nothing really left to do but check out the codes and get some rest afterwards. She did just that. After a quick scroll to her room, she popped open her laptop and booted the custom OS she used; this OS was the same one the order used to communicate, the way to connect to their own web. The USB was plugged into her laptop and she examined the contents of the file named “RL.txt”. Roxanne’s eyes widen. They were codes, her codes! It both scared her and made her smile. The former from how many people had their own personal code, but most of them were dead probably; the latter since she now had yet another weapon against Randael. Roxanne memorized the master code and then put the USB away in the safest spot she knew: her personal stash; the last thing she needed was this information to spread.
A little while later, Roxanne had begun to read the chat log of the farm chat. First Nathaniel passing her files to sharlene, then refugee center politics, then some random military dudes with Hector and Mica? Finally, Router seemed to have joined. This peaked her interest. The refugee center politics bored her. She was never a girl informed on current events; that was for the people who lead. The only thing that mattered to her was the mission and her target. Why did she need to know the business dealings her mark’s fiance? She did not, only where he was going to be on the day of the “cleansing”. Dr.Maskens, Khaki, it was all the same to her; the refugee center looked down on her and she would just leave them to their folly.
Router’s comments were weird. She was spotted with strangers in a random building? What? She read on and then two and two clicked. "Randael...", she whispered to herself. For even the command center to get involved...this was serious now...she needed to mobilize the arcane folk of the farm to take down the spirit of harvest and get her body back. Soon, that would be realized, but something had to be done first; Nathaniel had to pay! Roxanne put the laptop away and then exited her room through a wall and began to hover instead of walk to make her point. She headed for Sharlene’s cabin where Nathaniel suggested he would be in chat. “Here comes the spooky ghost captain!”, Roxanne exclaimed to herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 18, 2017, 04:45:09 pm
Helen smiled at that, offering to show the strange Russian fellow her place sometime later, admitting she had something to tend to for now. Sh'd be back to reading The Source. There was a reason for it, as she pored over the sections of swords of harvest, and every section related to it. She had one half of her secret weapon, thanks to The Keepers of The Oath. Shadows of Arcana had the other.
Later, while Hector was on his way back to the farm, Nathaniel waited. He had no idea of the chat conversations that ensued as Mohammed was hiding in his room with the laptop. Sharlene had gone missing yet again, and now Lilith was out. Sharlene likely would've been pissy about Lilith not taking Nathaniel along with him, but since Mohammad had given up on trying to badger him into going back to the farm he figured it was alright.
For now he mostly just hoped Hector wouldn't be pissed off at him, and that he'd get back for the "panty raid" he went on with Mica in time to talk down Roxanne...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 18, 2017, 04:54:04 pm
Roxanne reached the cabin door and had an idea. She put her hood on to conceal her head; due to arcane effects, all that could be seen inside was a void, it looked empty. This, added with the fact that she was floating, made Roxanne hope Nathaniel would be properly scared. The last touch was to deploy the two blades given to her. Roxanne now looked like a proper divine spirit and it’s malevolence permeated around her. She knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.
They green light from earlier had returned. It manifested on the roof of Victor's roof and it just stayed there for a while. Soon enough, it disappeared as nothing interesting happened around it. This would be the last appearance it would make as the light; it needed to talk to someone, and that someone needed to talk to it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 18, 2017, 05:01:35 pm
Nathaniel sighed a bit at the knock. Sharlene would just walk in, and he suspected Roxanne would rather sneak in through a window, so as he got up to answer the door he guessed it had to be Hector. "Thank fuck Hec, you gotta-AAAAH!" He hadn't even finished his sentence as he opened the door and saw the empty-robed, blade-wielding figure.
In the span of a couple seconds, a few things had happened. One, he was on his ass halfway across the room after backpedaling faster than he'd ever backpedaled before. Two, his pistol was now on the ground at the doorway, dropped in a frantic scramble to draw it. Three, he was staring wide-eyed into the hooded thing still at the door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 18, 2017, 05:18:26 pm
Mohammad was happy. He'd challenged two people to fights and was pretty confident with himself. Some nerd and some cosplaying idiot. Nathaniel didn't seem like he wanted to leave, though. He was surprisingly okay with that, even if it did annoy him mildly. Then, the knock. He dumped the laptop onto the sofa next to him and went for the curtain into the main bedroom, when Nathaniel's scream came through in return. Mohammad's hand froze, reached out towards the doorway.
The rifle leant against the odd corner of his side room hadn't seen much use recently, but Mohammad sure as hell kept that thing cleaned and ready. A quick look showed that Nathaniel was on the ground, and someone was at the door. Those two were probably related. Mohammad fires a single warning shot into the badly-put-together wooden door, and then levels his rifle at the hooded thing in the doorway. "One fuckin' move and I put more than a warnin' shot in you, cunt."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 18, 2017, 05:32:28 pm
It took every fiber in Roxanne’s being not to laugh at the way Nathaniel reacted. She watched as he dropped his gun on the door way and backpedaled. She lower herself to the ground and then kicked the pistol towards him. Then Mohammad shows up and fires his warning shot; the rifle aimed at her face. This made Roxanne smirk under her hood "You have sinned my children...I must take you away for judgment. But you deserve a chance to fight for your life. Go on, pick up the gun little one in the ground and give me your best shot. Your life depends on it! Both of you better aim well!", Roxanne said in her most serious tone she could muster. She hoped the two would not recognize the base tone of her voice. The final act to cement this was to make the blades crackle with electricity but still not moving due to Mohammad’s threat. "Go on, show me that will to live you humans seem to adore!" She would see how long she could pull this off before one of them died of fright or she lost her composure, whichever came first.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 18, 2017, 05:38:00 pm
Nathaniel stared, wide-eyed as the figure kicked the pistol back towards him, a moment before Mohammad was out in the room and delivering a warning shot, He'd already had the pistol in hand, shaking and trembling. This wasn't about the porn, he thought. No, this wasn't even Roxanne surely. He was trembling, but the words, as much as the voice reminded him of Roxanne, forced him to push aside his thoughts. "I d-did what I had to d-do, you f-fuck..." he stammered out quietly, before taking aim and firing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 18, 2017, 05:47:09 pm
Mohammad didn't look particularly scared, besides his grip on his rifle's shitty grip tightening, cutting into his palm. He'd shot at Lilith before, whatever this thing was couldn't be much worse. Just three shots, killed most everything he's tried to kill so far. Two centre mass, one right between the eyes. So, he fired. Three times, and it looked almost professional, if anyone who cared was casually observing it. "Mo-Zam-Bique, cunt."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 18, 2017, 06:00:23 pm
Nathaniel fired his pistol at her face and Mohammad fired his three. They all found her mark and would’ve ended her right then and there. But she was a soul with divine essence, things like bullets did not even phase her. But they didn’t know that and Roxanne took advantage of that fact.
As the three bullets zipped through her, she pretended to collapse forward. Roxanne used her one of her blades to keep herself in a kneeled position. She was looking down as if defeated. A giggle escaped her briefly, stifled but obvious. She quickly regained her composure and look up at the two. "Is that all you got! I will not be defeated!", Roxanne exclaimed. The seriousness in her tone was starting to falter but it was still effective, somewhat. She stood up and pointed her sword at Nathaniel, "You specifically, you must payyyyy!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 18, 2017, 06:02:57 pm
Mohammad's sigh of relief catches in his throat as it stands back up. "Whatthefuck." Another bullet, followed by quickly sidestepping over to stand in front of Nathaniel. "Nah cunt."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 18, 2017, 06:04:30 pm
Nathaniel shivered a bit. His round had gone right through the hood without having any apparent effect. He guessed that, even though the figure was standing still, his rush to fire meant that he guessed the shot would've hit the jaw instead, if the thing have a head to hit. His next shots were effectively playing out like Mohamad's own actions in reverse, snap-shots aimed center mass, joining two rifle rounds that all seemed to do nothing to Roxanne. "What the f-fuck..."
"What did I fucking DO!?" he shouted, scooting back a bit, practically up against the wall by now. He knew the truth. Well, at least he thought he did. Old military exercises, utterly unaware of the much more trivial things Roxanne was after him for. Mohammad being there, standing between the two of them, shocked him. "Fuck. Mohammad, just run..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 18, 2017, 06:16:37 pm
Roxanne just watched as the two unloaded their guns at her. Nathaniel is up against the wall and Mohammad was acting hero, this all was to much for Roxanne. The final straw was Nathaniel asking what he had done. Roxanne started to laugh a bit, trying to keep herself calm. "What did you? Seriously?! What did you do?! You shared my files you fuck!!!", Roxanne shouted in her normal voice before removing her hood. The look on their faces made her lose it and she burst out laughing. "You should’ve seen the look on your faces! The way the shots passed through, when I got back up, all of it! Little tank commander over there ‘I did what I had to do’, priceless! And you Mohammad, you defended him? Didn’t think you had it in you! This was great, is priceless! You two will never live this down!", Roxanne said in fits of laughter. She had withdrawn her blades and put her hands on her knees to prevent her from falling down as she laughed. "I had my fun. This was totally worth the deal I made. Don’t mess with me Natalie!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 18, 2017, 06:27:04 pm
Nathaniel was trembling a bit, trying to keep a grasp on his pistol. "I...wait WHAT. You fucking asshole." he practically squeaked out, only to promptly toss his pistol at Roxanne. "I'm having fucking flashbacks to 2-XIV training and you're here over the fucking porn!?" he shouted. "You know what, shit. Now that I think about it, a heart attack or two is still better than what I thought you were gonna do..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 18, 2017, 06:29:48 pm
"What." Mohammad whispered. He looked between Nathaniel and Roxanne a couple times, then, without looking, brought his rifle up one-handed and fired it at Roxanne again. "Cunt. Tell nobody about this." And with that possible-threat, he dumps his rifle on Nathaniel's lap and storms out of the shack, headed towards the river. There's a lot of shouting at nothing in particular.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 18, 2017, 08:11:54 pm
Roxanne was still giggling at Nathaniel an Mohammad’s reactions. She felt the pistol Nathan threw at her and continued to giggle. Mohammad took another pop shot before leaving and she then laugh hard again. “Awww,I triggered your PTSD captain? Shouldn’t have messed with what isn’t yours! And yes, I could’ve done worse but Hector would never forgive me if I did… Just a prank, that’s. Maybe a bit too far but still, I am kinda fucked in the head!”, Roxanne responded while her laughter died down. She smiled at Nathaniel and offered him a hand to stand up. “I’ll make it up to you. Whatever you want; a new watch, a pizza, you name it. No hard feelings right?”,Roxanne asked in a more serious tone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 18, 2017, 08:19:35 pm
Nathaniel squeaked out his response. "Just corporal..." before he tried to regain his composure. "Hector's the one that forgot you kinda need to empty the recycle bin. Hell, I thought at first maybe he wrote it before realizing that no, that's not really...normal." he remarked. "And congrats, I guess now spooky ghost women are going to start giving me flashbacks." he grumbled, accepting her hand as he got up. "Still, er...s-sorry I kinda blurted out that fact on the network. Thanks for not killing me over it though. I'm...I think I'll be f-fine though, thanks..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 18, 2017, 08:37:20 pm
Roxanne chuckled a bit at what Nathaniel said, he was still obviously shaken a bit, "Don’t worry about it, at this point, I say we are even.", Roxanne responded, "Anyways, I will be leaving you now so you can “recover” properly. Take care.", Roxanne said before she left; the irony of her statements did not escape her, she just didn’t care at the moment. Roxanne made her way back to the farm and went into her room. Sleep was not something she needed to do anymore but the feeling was there. She said fuck it and went to bed, it had been a long day for her and a good day’s rest was warranted.
Victor had a different dream that night. He stood in what looked to be an empty field, alone. Then, he saw forward and an army of otherworldly abominations appeared in front of him. Instinct kicked in and he withdrew his sword; he summoned the spirit in it and prepared to face his destiny. Just as he was accepting his death, a hand was set on his shoulder; he turned around to find Helen. Her mask was suddenly activated and she faced along him the horde of the damned. Then he heard the sound of a bionic blade, Roxanne was to his left while Helen on his right. Roxanne gave him a thumbs up and then got into position as well. Behind him, he heard the mighty roar of Lilith, waiting to charge into battle. One boy one, the farm residents made themselves known to him and he smiled; he wasn’t alone, not anymore. This was the final battle of his subconscious, and he plan to win. The charge was begun by the mighty sound of a tank shell being fired from the siege tower, at which points the horde and his allies charged. The rest of the dream was a blur, a titanic battle indeed. The ending thought, was evident; after the struggle, they had won. No strife was too harsh for them, the farm had prevailed many times and it would continue to do for years to come.
Victor smiled in his sleep, his nightmare were finally over. Today marked the beginning of something knew. What it was, not even he knew.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 19, 2017, 05:35:17 am
There was a very, very long silence after Kathrine spoke. Carrol's hand wasn't moving. It was tightly clasping the soup-filled spoon, Kath's fifth or sixth, stuck halfway between Carrol's body and Kathrine's face. There was still nothing written on Carrol's face itself. She was looking right at Kath's eyes. Her breathing was controlled, and she didn't look distressed.
"Don't remember."
She said, calm as ever, before the spoon continued on its journey to Kath's mouth. It was still being gripped very tightly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 19, 2017, 10:42:51 am
Being left behind was upsetting. She wanted to see her lizard, but if she went then things would get rather... unpleasant. It gave her time to sort through all the stuff she'd pulled up though. She sorted away all the underwear into Catnips wardrobe, then began going through the bag with her other collected loot. Nearby, watching her warily from over the edge of the bed, was the rat. Mica didn't like that some people on the farm believed the rats lies. Masquerading as Catnip. She laid out her new collection of cups and silver things. Her hammers and hatchet and the paper tubes. She wanted to show someone besides the dumb rat.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 19, 2017, 11:52:06 am
Hector was a bit saddened as he explained things to Mica, stopping at the farm to let her out and help offload the collection of items Mica found. On his return he would get a replacement laptop thanks to Quinn, leading to a conversation that Roxanne uncovered later on.
For now though, he was on the route to the refugee center. "Siege Tower to Center. On my way over with some supplies and someone who'll want to speak to Dr. Dervish. The captain from the vault. While I'm at it, I'll be there to help offload things, check up on you guys, and I'm going to need to have a talk with Dr. Maskens." he reported over the radio, as the tank came into view, driving towards the refugee center.
Catalina couldn't help but smirk a bit. Just as the overheard radio chatter back in the day confirmed. That's what he actually called the tank, and she had to avoid cracking up a bit at that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 19, 2017, 12:23:34 pm
Lilith felt somewhat guilty for leaving Nathaniel behind, but she had a good enough reason. Nathaniel's shack was shut, though, and that was a problem. She could easily kick it over, of course, but that'd make the cub call her mean. Lilith didn't know what 'mean' meant, but she'd gathered it was a bad thing from cub's reactions. Maybe the metal man or shocker lady could help. Or Bug. They'd be towards the big thing where cub lived, probably. She could smell... Burnt meat? That meant Mica. Or cub. But cub wasn't here.
Lilith pressed her face against the door, purring. "Buuuuuuug. Dooooooooooooooor." Her ears are perked up and her tail is wagging around in an almost doglike manner. "Buuuuuuuuuuuuug."
Kathrine mentally chastised herself for thinking that Mistress Carrol would know about Susan. The chief security officer shouldn't have to concern herself with the experiments, she would have much bigger things to do. Stupid Kathrine. Doctor Ilyushin made her worry though. He was important, right? "Oh. Ok-" She's interrupted by Carrol feeding her another mouthful of soup. "Okay Mistress Carrol. Where's Master Hoyt?" She attempts to get up again, her tail joining her in the effort by sticking straight up in the air. The fur around where Evalynn stomped on it is still flattened, even though the rest of her tail is mostly back to being fluffy. After a couple seconds of trying she falls back down again with an 'oof'. "Where's Catnip?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 19, 2017, 05:47:14 pm
The door swung open, revealing Mica's wide grinning face. "Lil-eth!" She said, "Lil-eth come to see My-ka's treasure? Come to see My-ka's panty loot?" Mica grabbed Lilith and strained to pull her into the room. Lilith squeezed her bulk through the small doorway, and emerged into the room. Before that though, Mica was already showing her things. "Look Lil-eth! My-ka got shiny cups and shiny shinies!" She pulled out a hand full of the underwear she'd taken such care in putting away, and threw it at Lilith. "Panty raid!" She cried. Lilith picked the underwear off her shoulders and face, dropping them to the floor but syrupticiously taking one of the stringy ones and slipping it down the front of her track suit. It was too large for bug, cub, or mouse anyway. "Lookit!" Mica said, moving on to the next thing. She held up one of the paper things, holding it by the rollers. It unrolled, which surprised Mica a little. "Eh? Lookit Lil-eth! It got pictures!"
Before the eyes of the two, the images shifted and changed and Mica was surprised to find that she could sort of understand it. She mumbled something Lilith didn't quiet understand, and to Mica's horror, the scroll burst into a cloud of leaves in her face. "EH!?" For a moment, nothing happened. "What bug do?" Lilith began to ask, but suddenly, there was a young tree bapping her in the nose. One of the walls suddenly collapsed as another tree erupted from the ground underneath it, and another took root in Kathrine's bed. The rat fled Catnip's bed as a bush exploded from within it's depths. A jar of dirt in Catnip's treasure cupboard exploded as something that looked like a little man made of roots burst forth from it and escaped through the newly broken window. In the next room, Floyd gave a cry as the floor buckled beneath the desk Catnip had build him. The floor beneath Mica was sundered apart, and the spider found herself hanging upside down from the fork of a branch in a stately birch that had come into existence in the center of Catnips room. "Eh?? What? Lil-eth, what...?" Catnips wardrobe creaked forward, then toppled over while the Lilith caught the falling woodstove before it could come crashing to the ground. The barn had suddenly become the home of a tiny forest.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 19, 2017, 05:56:53 pm
Helen heard an unexpected racket outside, in the privacy of one of the extra rooms. She gave a little sigh, setting down the book and grabbing her hammer. What she found from gazing through the wall with her mask on alarmed her. A veritable hoard of little lingering magical auras, a severely disrupted outline of the barn wracked by plants growing through it, and the characteristic aura of a recently-activated scroll.
She stepped out, making her way over to the two, only to give a little sigh. "Alright...which one of you activated that, and how did you get your hands on so many of these artifacts?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 19, 2017, 06:32:46 pm
"Panty raid!" Mica cried again, she seemed to be shouting that a lot and for her it wasn't getting old. "My-ka's treasure! Pull My-ka down Lil-eth!" Mica snatched for Lilith, but she was too far away. Instead, she grabbed Helen. "Mica stop!" She shouted painfully. Mica's influence worked it's way through Helens repertoire of artifacts. Primarily her mask and cloak. She was force to throw her mask off, but the cloak was somewhat more difficult. Pain wracked Helen, and it took all her willpower to remain conscious. "MICA LET GO!" Her shout startled the spider into doing just that. "Eh? Two face lady take her face off, not want to help My-ka?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 19, 2017, 06:40:13 pm
Helen yelped at that, startled as Mica managed to activate her items. The mask wasn't harmful as the sudden jolt of pain the cloak's activation provoked, but out of surprise she'd taken the mask off. It could only hold so much energy before needing to be charged again, enough to mend grave injuries twice over, but even with no wounds to tend to it gave her an agonizing shock. "Heliviti! How in Odin's name did you...you activated my gods-damned cloak, Mica." she said, wincing a bit as she struggled to stand again. "It's a healing item, but doing so also inflicts pain."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 19, 2017, 06:43:12 pm
Drifter, upon seeing this new hot mess of a problem, walked over to get a better idea of what was going on. Hearing Helen yelling he rushed over to see what was going on as he shouted "What's wrong? Someone hurt?"
As he ran he pulled out his first aid supplies just in case.
Meanwhile Alice saw and rushed out of the library, grabbing the practice sword she'd kept. She saw Drifter running over and followed closely behind him. "What's going on?" "I don't know!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 19, 2017, 06:50:26 pm
Lilith was torn between helping Mica, punching down the tree she was in, and punching down the woman that had just entered. She settled on punching the tree Mica was in while snarling at Helen, keeping eye contact with her the entire time. "Bug thupid..." It's clear that she's still mildly stunned from both the general situation and the tree that smacked her in the face.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 19, 2017, 06:58:54 pm
Helen gave an irritated grumble as she stood, calmly removing her cloak. The lack of injuries, aside from signs of Mica's claw marks that were now healed up, was apparent. "One of these two read a scroll of overgrowth from the looks of it, then Mica here somehow activated my damned cloak grabbing at me to try and get out of the tree." she explained. "You two need to be careful with stuff like this. That scroll in particular can potentially alter the body. To...you know, cause you to mutate more?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 19, 2017, 07:02:40 pm
Roxanne had been trying to sleep in vain. She was tired but sleep just would not come. This was one of the things that bothered her about being a spirit. Not even when she had her old body that sleep once a week, the feeling of tiredness didn’t bothered her like this. In the middle of her futile attempts a sleep, she hears a loud noise coming from the barn and this jolt her out of her tiredness. "What the...", she told herself as she go up.
The walls of her room proved no obstacle for her as she hovered to the barn. She walked through the walls of the barn to flank any possible enemies that had invaded. "What the fuck happened here?!", Roxanne exclaimed as she barged in. Then she noticed the giant fucking tree inside the barn and Mica dangling from it. The thought of how the two mutants would react to her didn’t cross her mind at the moment. "M-mica? What happened here? Why is there a tree?", Roxanne asks to the people gathered around her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 19, 2017, 07:15:16 pm
Lilith paused with her paw on the back of Mica's head. Something new was here. "M-mica? What happened here? Why is there a tree?" It sounded like shocker lady, but nothing here smelled like her. Or looked like her. Lilith bapped Mica on the back of the head while dropping to all fours, immediately changing her attention from Helen to Roxanne, claws extended and tail lashing back and forth. She's snarling again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 19, 2017, 07:19:25 pm
Drifter and Alice took in the answer that Helen gave as Drifter put his supplies away. No one looked like they had been hurt after all. "Well looks like no one's hurt-"
Drifter caught sight of Lilith and realized she was probably going to try and fight someone. "Alice honey do me a favor and run back to the library, we can take care of things here."
Alice opened her mouth to protest when she caught him give her a look. Backing away a couple of steps she said "Okay dad." in a rather grumpy tone of voice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 19, 2017, 07:24:17 pm
Helen gave a little sigh as Roxanne arrived. "Scroll. Doesn't even require you to understand the text." she said bluntly, looking between Lilith and Mica, gathering her mask again to put it on and determine which of the two likely used it. "Effect around Mica is strongest so I'm guessing she activated it." she pointed out, before giving an irritated look to Lilith, concealed by the visage of her mask. "Lilith? I need to talk to Mica about this, ok-" The way she was reacting to Roxanne's presence made her realize something. "Oh this is going to be one of those evenings..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 19, 2017, 07:50:05 pm
"Ghost Roks-zan! Lil-eth, help My-ka and we fight spoo-kee ghost!" Mica said, scrabbling to grab Lilith but instead catching hold of drifter instead. "Help My-ka one leg drifty man!" Two of her hands wrapped around his arms while the others dug furrows in the bark of the tree. The bough bent at their combined weight, but did not break.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 19, 2017, 07:57:30 pm
Drifter was surprised at Mica grabbing him and said "Hold on, I'll help you out."
From there he did his best to help Mica out of the tree. He figured at the very least Lilith would leave him alone if he were helping Mica out. Better to let Roxanne and Helen handle the big tiger lady since they were more capable than he at that sort of thing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 19, 2017, 08:05:21 pm
Lilith’s growls made Roxanne snap of of her shock. She looks at the tigress and her face would’ve gone pale is it wasn’t already. Roxanne is legitimately afraid of Lilith and now she is angry at her. "L-lil? It’s me, Roxanne. Why are you angry? I don’t want to hurt you...", Roxanne tells Lilith nervously while she backs away slowly. She doesn’t realize that physical attacks won’t harm her even if she if fully corporeal, that would just make it hurt a lot; and worse came to worse, her orb still had all the 3 charges. However, fear took over and reason had gone through window. The ghost was now the one being scared, Roxanne would’ve find this ironic and analogies to karma would’ve been made is she wasn’t busy trembling at the sight of the tigress appearing ready to pounce.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 19, 2017, 08:36:53 pm
The rational side of Lilith knew it probably was Roxanne, but every other part of her was convinced this was a fake person pretending to be shocker lady. "Thupid..." Her growls grow louder than what she's trying to say, and she takes another step towards the ghost lady. "THUPID!" Another step, even louder snarling. Her tracksuit looks inches away from bursting open as she tenses up, turning on her hydraulic muscles. "NOT THOCKER LAY-DEE!" And on that, she pounces, paws aimed directly at Roxanne's chest.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 19, 2017, 08:46:28 pm
Helen sighed at that, only to go wide-eyed at Lilith tensing up to pounce at Roxanne. "Oi. Lilith, no. Lilith!" she shouted, grumbling a bit as she grabbed her hammer. "Gods damnit that's Roxanne you dári!" she said, panicking even though she had reason to suspect the tiger would be unable to actually inflict any harm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 19, 2017, 09:50:20 pm
There was a small contingent waiting outside the refugee center, waiting for the arrival of the knight and the retinue of soldiers he brought out of the vault. "So, where is she?" One of the group demanded. They didn't look to Hectors eyes like any of the guards he knew.
"Mica? Not here, where's Maskens?" He growled.
"Search the tank. You can talk to Doctor when we're done here."
Another group, these real guards led by the familiar Khaki Jones emerged from the refugee center. "What the hell is going on here? You people get your asses back inside goddamnit." She barked. Khaki sounded harried and exhausted. Whatever internal politics going on were clearly wearing her out. "Are you the people from the vault?" She asked, turned to the party of mostly women who'd come with Hector. "Dervish told me to keep an eye out for you, he wants to have a chat in person." Drifter pulled against Mica's own struggles, wrapping his arms around hers in what he explained would be a much more efficient means of pulling. "Alright, you just try to pull your leg, and I'll pull you. Somebody want to help here?" Mica seated her free foot against the limb that had begun to engulf her trapped foot, and pushed while drifter pulled. At first, the branch only bent a little, then there came a dull crack and the limb split from the point where Mica's foot had been all the way to the trunk and both people were in a tangled mass on the ground. "My-ka free! Now we fight ghosty Roks-zan!" She cried, leaping to her feet and joining Lilith without so much as a thanks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 19, 2017, 10:14:32 pm
Hector grumbled a bit as he left the hatch open. The guards that greeted him were not familiar, possibly deliberately brought on at Maskens' orders because they wouldn't have the same experiences and involvement in the local politics that the others would have. "First and foremost, if I had brought her here, she is under my protection. Second, I'm not bringing Mica here under after this order is rescinded. Understand?" he said coldly, while Catalina stepped forward.
"What is this complete and utter shitshow that you've got greeting us? You lot, I need to speak to your CO while the others talk to Dr. Dervish. You boys are sitting here playing hide-and-seek over some goddamn 5a on the orders of some civilian. I do not need the only halfway-intact asset in the region to be falling about at the seams over internal dissent. Do I make myself clear!?" she barked to the men after they searched the tank, others soon offloading supplies.
Hector by now was especially irritated. They had the audacity to search his tank, as if he'd smuggle Mica there just for the hell of it? He walked past, putting on the facade of staying calm as he made his way into the building to search for Maskens.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 19, 2017, 10:28:34 pm
Roxanne just looked on as Lilith growled and approached her. She gave a small yelp as the familiar sound of the hydraulic muscles turned on. Roxanne stumbles and falls down and just looks up at Lilith with genuine fear in her eyes as Lilith towers over her. “No...please...I won’t bully nathaniel anymore...”, Roxanne says softly. She closes her eyes as the paw was aimed at her and it finds her mark. A blue light engulfs her.
The activation of the scroll of overgrowth created a small anomaly due to it’s after effects. It made Roxanne’s divine essence react to it and it cause her to be harmed by normal attacks; her body had become corporeal to the fullest extent. Lilith’s strike was powerful, powerful enough to extinguish the divine essence and render her contract null. For all intents and purposes, Roxanne had died. She turned into a black mist and the blue light blinded Lilith for a moment; the mist regrouped by the entrance and Roxanne reformed again. As soon as she came to, Roxanne go on her knees and started to weep softly. "I am sorry Lilith, I won’t do it again! I promise, I won’t bother you again, please spare me!", Roxanne exclaimed in between sobs. The terror was evident in her voice.
Router had once again gathered everyone around. This time, no one had any idea what this was about, chatter was at a minimum since everyone was curious. Router gathered everyone’s attention. “Good to see you all could make it. I have news to report. Now, you all know about people setting up shop in the bunker-lab where Apophis used to reside right? Well, I have an idea, more of a proposal. Here me out and then we can work the details.”, Router said as an intro.
Thoma and Delora’s attention perked up as they head about the people in the lab. That was their report, they made a discovery. Router cleared his throat to gather the other’s attention. “Alright then. It it time we expanded a bit. I know we are still short on personnel but we cannot waste any time. Our best move for now is to take back the Bio-Weapons Lab! It has facilities we can use to work on projects we are familiar with; and if we don’t do it, someone else will. This has happened to the apophis lab that the defector’s used but we can atleast get back the original. Once we have it, we might do a small trip to get the systems back online and see what we can do. I feel we could do some real good with the technology in there; help mutants beyond what mutagen can offer. A real change in this grim world. Now, do I have your support?”, Router explained. The room flooded with approval and this made Router smile. “Good, let’s go ahead and work on the details then. I will go ahead and send the eyebot to gather intel in the meanwhile. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable, we have things to discuss.”, Router responded to the positive reaction. He took the control panel for the eyebot and directed it’s coordinates to the Bio-Weapon’s Lab.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2017, 01:03:58 am
Helen was shocked at the sight. She initially suspected that the attack might not have any effect, but when the hit landed, she realized Roxanne had been affect by it. Immediately she rushed forward, a hand now holding her symbol of judgement. She fired it, a beam of electric death deliberately sailing right over Lilith. An intentional near-miss with the lethally-potent beam, in favor of shocking Lilith with the beam's wave. "Lilith! STOP!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 20, 2017, 02:40:44 am
Drifter sighed as he saw how things were going initially. He was about to shout before Helen fired the beam near Lilith. He came to two decisions at the same time and ran for the nearest piece of cover he could find and retrieved the pistol from his belt. "THE FUCK PEOPLE! STOP FIGHTING AND SHOOTING..WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT WAS AT PEOPLE!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 20, 2017, 10:00:14 am
The bright flash definitely stunned her. While her rational side was trying to figure out what Roxanne had said. It was difficult to hear over the sound of herself growling and snarling, but she definitely heard something about Nathaniel. Meanwhile, every other part of her had been celebrating, until something had fired lightning at her. Someone yelled something, and a quick glance revealed that Roxanne was perfectly fine, despite Lilith definitely hitting her. She quickly quietened down, stopping her victory dance in favor of standing up and lumbering over to Roxanne, face brushing against some leaves. "Sowwy thocker lay-dee..." Lilith leans in close to Roxanne's ghostly face and sniffs her once. It still didn't smell like her, but it was definitely Roxanne. "Sowwy kith." Lilith presses her nose against Roxanne's cheek and then pulls away.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2017, 10:11:50 am
Helen was surprised at Lilith abruptly calming down, carefully putting away her symbol of judgement. "There we go, better..." she said, unsure what even led to the tigress stopping her assault, not aware of her associating Roxanne with the chain lightning CBM. The realization that Drifter had been yelling made her smile a bit. Sometimes she forgot that lightning lasers were not a normal thing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 20, 2017, 10:54:11 am
This was exciting! Mica saw the bolt of lightning, like fireworks, and where it came from. The little icon in the two-face ladies hand. She held it out in her left hand, and at her side she held a hammer. Mica couldn't find her hammers, so instead she snatched up something else along with the inert silver glyph she treasured above even the horde of panties. "MY-KA IS MAGIC LADY TOO!" She screamed, overcome with excitement. Helen shot her a glance, then did a double take. Mica was pointing the little glyph at nothing in general, but it wasn't the glyph Helen had eyes for. It was the rust flecked hatchet, beginning to glow in her other hand. It flickered, it's glow growing to a bright white until- "MICA! N-"
The sudden intake of force was incredibly unexpected, sucking everything including lilith towards Mica and then suddenly exploding with an ear punishing bang. Instead of the fiery death that Helen expected for at least some of them, she was instead splattered with something warm and wet and somewhat thick. The stink of sheared copper filled the main room of the barn. The floor, the walls, even parts of the ceiling had been painted a bright crimson radiating outwards from a central point. That central point was a very confused looking spider girl, drenched in blood. "What the hell is the meaning of this? You people get back inside! You-" The woman shouting at the men and women searching the tank wasn't difficult to identify. Especially with the simple robotic arm that had taken the place of her slightly maimed one. Dr. Julia Maskens. Khaki moved to intercept, "Doctor, you have to get some rest, for fucks sakes, just leave it alone. Go rest up and-" But Maskens shoved her aside, "Get inside goddamnit! They could come back at any- Who the hell are you?" The last remark was aimed at the soldiers from the vault, "If you aren't going to help out then leave. We have enough problems as it is, and I can't treat everyone who-"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2017, 11:06:31 am
Catalina at this point was in the middle of berating the soldiers, who by now were standing at attention, shocked by the woman that was now yelling at them, most having been caught completely off guard. "This is not basic training children, I shouldn't have to hold your hand and tell you which end of the rifle the bullets come out of! And I will not have you maggots squabbling and fucking each other over just because a fucking civilian is throwing a temper tantrum, DO I MAKE MYSELF CL-" Dr. Maskens shouting got her attention, and she gave her the sort of glare that looked like she was halfway to shooting lightning from her eyes. "Speak of the fucking devil. We're here with supplies, in case you hadn't figured it out." she said, still in an authoritative tone.
Hector at this point brushed past the captain, walking over to Maskens. "They'll be offloading for now. You. And I. Need to talk." he said calmly, though he was glowering at her under his helm.
Elsewhere, Helen had tried to shout at Mica not to activate it, and the sudden bang stunned her. She'd activated her mask and thus wasn't blinded or deafened, and the fact that Mica was still there, now drenched in blood, made her gasp a bit. The scent was thick in the air, it was always a lot more unnerving than ordinary blood and gore to her. In an instant she ran over and grabbed the hatchet out of Mica's hand. "Mica, you complete and utter idiot. You could've been killed! This. Thing. Is supposed to go boom." she said, feeling like she was talking down to a toddler.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 20, 2017, 11:22:13 am
"It did go boom!" Mica said, snatching the hatchet back, "and it My-ka's! Not two-face lady's! Where blood come from?" She got down on all six and sniffed at the dripping mess. "ooh, My-ka gonna have to clean all of it..." "I guess you're the people we reached on the network? Or... reached us? Mr. Deverish asked me to wait for you and see that you-" Started Khaki, being cut off by Maskens, "Get off me goddamnit! I don't have time to talk, I have people to treat and things to oversee! Who the hell is going to run this shit? Who's gonna keep everyone safe from raiders, and gods army, and monsters like-" It was Hectors turn to cut her off. "You don't want to finish that sentence..." He said as calmly as possible.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2017, 11:31:03 am
Helen grumbled a bit at that. "That thing normally explodes, Mica. As in it would've KILLED you. You're supposed to throw it at the enemy." she explained.
Hector gave something resembling a growl at that. "Look, Maskens. Far as I'm concerned, you're not the acting commander of the Old Guard here, you are not overseeing anything. You couldn't even oversee treating a minor bite wound. Now you will calm the FUCK down and let these people go about their business."
Catalina now was the one having to push past Dr. Maskens, nodding to Khaki. "Alright boys, start taking things in, and I'll present what I need to whoever's in charge here. Dr. Dervish if you don't have an actual CO."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 20, 2017, 11:34:21 am
Lilith was still stunned. It'd been... Actually forever since she'd last been moved against her will. She remained laid out on her side for a bit, until Mica mentioned cleaning. She stuck her tongue out and licked a bit of blood off her nose. It certainly tasted better than the zombie blood she'd tried to clean off herself a while ago. "Buuuuuuuug." While reaching her paw out to bap Mica, she noticed that the rest of her was also covered in blood, including the parts where her bare fur was showing. Blood on fur was terrible. She aborts her grab attempt in order to bring it up to her face, cautiously licking at the blood covering it, before getting into washing it. She was gonna feel terrible about this later, she just knew it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 20, 2017, 04:08:30 pm
Everything happened fast after she had began to beg for her life. The beam of lighting Helen fired and the way Lilith reacted it surprised her enough for her to snap out of her panic. She was now lucid when Lilith gave her apology. "It’s okay Lil...I...I don’t know...", Roxanne responded. Roxanne flinched a little while closing her eyes as Lilith smelled her face. She opened them just when Lilith kissed her cheek, or so her shocked mind perceived it as. "O-oh?", Roxanne whispered in response. She touched where the tigress lips had been and she blushed a bit. This confused her but at least she was calmed now.
That didn’t last long. Soon, Mica used the hatchet she was wielded and then came a splatter of blood. Roxanne’s nature as a spirit exempt her from the pull that affected those around her. She watched as Lilith was pulled towards Mica, then heard the deafening boom that didn’t cause a flinch from her and then how everything was covered in blood; even her. Roxanne looked at her hands and saw the crimson on them; it contrasted with her hallow-specter appearance contrasted with the blood on her. "Blood? Who’s? Someone died?", Roxanne whispered to herself. She consumed some of the blood after she liked it off, a tradition she had when preparing her “tribute”. Then, she looked around to find Helen repremaning Mica and Drifter hiding in cover. A little giggle escaped her as she watch the scene in front of her. "Somethings never change...No matter what happens out there, it’s good that I can come here and forget about it all...", Roxanne whispered to herself.
Roxanne decided it was her time to show off. First, to clean herself; she engulfed herself in divine flames, a purpled tower of fire covered her from head to toes. This drew the attention of everyone gathered. Once she extinguished the flames, she emerged clean from all blood. "Alright people, someone ordered a cleanup?", Roxanne asked outloud.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2017, 04:32:01 pm
Helen gave an irritated sigh in the middle of trying to explain those items to Mica. So far all it had accomplished was make her want to play with them more. And worse, it seemed something was clearly abnormal, strange things occurring when Mica handled the items. "Look. Just don't use any more of these until I can explain what they do, okay? Do not wave them around, do not attempt to read any writing on them, do not lick any of them, do not so much as sit on them until you know what they do, okay?" The response, Mica questioning who would want to sit on the mostly-metallic collection of items, was not even remotely reassuring.
She gave an exsasperated sigh, throwing her hands in the air. "By Hel's breasts not even Victor is this bad..." she said, only to give a blank stare at Roxanne, engulfed in spiritual flames. "And now Roxanne is using the sort of flames that, last time I witnessed it, killed Darius and knocked me on my ass. To do her laundry. Of all the..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 20, 2017, 04:36:17 pm
Drifter saw all of this go on and realized two things. Firstly he had no idea what the fuck was going on and how, and secondly that he doubted he'd be able to stop anything bad from happening if anyone here decided to do something. Holstering his pistol and looking at what was going on he audibly mumbled to himself "What the fuck did I take?" before speaking clearly and saying "Okay, could we maybe stop with the uh..magic? For now. At the very least not the kind that made that mess of blood?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 20, 2017, 05:37:21 pm
Roxanne noticed Helen try to explain how stuff works to Mica and she shook her head in amusement. It didn’t take a genius know that that would not work. She then turned her attention to Drifter’s remarks. “Welcome to my world Drifter! Shit gets weirder as time goes by! Heck, I am now a spirit of all things!”, Roxanne responded. Helen then added her own piece. “Now now, I don’t know what Huntress Blackmore did back there, but i assure you I don’t know that kind of magic...this isn’t even magic, this is spiritual invocations”, Roxanne responds to Helen. She lights a flame on her hand and then shows it to her. “See how it is a bit transparent?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2017, 05:44:09 pm
Helen smiled a little under her mask. "Yes, can we not use the literal blood magic? Congratulations Drifter, you are officially smarter than 90% of arcanists for figuring out that might not being something to play with." she teased, only to give a little glance to Roxanne. "I see. It has a superficial resemblance at least, possibly more due to your nature than any similarity in technique or effect. You are after all an assassin, and the spell she used relied quite strongly on directing the killing intent of its wielder into its effects." she explained. "Just a few bad memories. Now, if we can stop wrecking the farm, I need a gods-damned drink..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 20, 2017, 05:50:51 pm
Drifter nodded as he said "I need one too I think. And a few questions for you Helen since I'm just now realizing something wasn't an unpleasant dream."
Drifter looked around and sighed. This was going to take a lot of work to fix. "I'll come back later to help out with this, just try not to do more damage yeah folks?"
Meanwhile elsewhere Roland smoked the cigarette one of the 3rd had given him and sat on the hood of the jeep. Veronica walked over and asked him "Need to get back to your friends?"
Roland nodded as he said "I need to let them know I'm okay but I'm gonna come back and help get people settled here. I think people are gonna need a chaplain here."
Veronica smiled as she pulled out the keys to the jeep and sat in the drivers seat. "Well let's get going then shall we?"
Roland smiled as he settled into the passenger seat and set his Garand in the back. "Alright, we should be back before too long anyway."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2017, 05:56:06 pm
Helen gave a little nod at that, before she deactivated and removed her mask. "Very well then. Seems strange things have a way of following you and your friend. I'll get us a drink and you can tell me if you wish. Speaking of him, I hope he's alright. Didn't even have the chance to give a proper goodbye, only learning of his mission at the behest of...whatever-his-name-is. Maybe I'll start calling him Mr. Not-Odin until he offers a better nickname..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 20, 2017, 05:58:15 pm
Drifter motioned for her to lead the way as he said "I imagine he's doing fine, old man could always take care of himself. Anyway I woke up in bandages, only clue I got is a 'nightmare' of me staring at you before something shot me in the chest. Mind cluing me in to what actually happened?"
He seemed curious at the 'Not-Odin' line but decided to ignore it for the moment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 20, 2017, 06:37:50 pm
Roxanne noted Drifter and Helen claim their need for a drink and saw them leave. She too needed something to unwind from this events; not a drink, no, her divine essence suppressed her carnal desires. Instead, she opted out for a walk in the woods up north. Her mind was no made up, she got up to hover and moved backwards, leaving by going through a wall. No time was wasted, she hovered towards the woods, passing through obstacles. A thought came to mind, the chaos of the refugee center was bad from what she had read in the chat log, best for her to put on her hood and avoid enemies.
It was tranquil in the woods, Roxanne enjoyed a quiet stroll through them as she watch the local fauna and flora do their thing. An ever complex web of interconnected worlds was laid in front of Roxanne’s eyes. This was interrupted by a voice coming from her left side which prompted her to turn around and see the man who uttered the words. “So, you actually showed up huh? Many told me I was wasting my time but here you are, Victor Ironwood.”, The voice said.
Roxanne was confused, did this man know Victor? Why would he confused her with him? The cloak made it impossible to tell who she was but that was quite the assumption. Her assassin training kicked in and she stayed quiet and listened, she intended to find out what was going on. “A quite one huh? I can respect that; a man has his secrets he wishes to keep to themselves, I get it. Alright then, I will get to the point. Have you considered our offer yet? God’s Army could use men like you in our ranks.”, The man responded to the silence.
The last statement made Roxanne lose it. She took of her hood to reveal herself, her elf ears no longer hidden. “What did you just say you fuck?!”, Roxanne shouted at the man. This cause him to drop his smile and confidence and made him step backwards. “Stay back demon! You kind are not welcome on this earth!”. The man exclaimed back. Roxanne did not listened to him or hesitated; she deployed her blades, the resemblance to bionic swords was uncanny, charged towards the man and stuck one of her blades on his armed as he pinned him to the trunk of a tree. Then she looked him straight in the eye. "You and I will have a long talk...and you will cooperate or you are in a big world of pain...now, tell me...”, Roxanne told the man she pinned to the tree; she twisted the blade in his arm before continued, “How do you know Victor by name and what do you want with him!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2017, 06:44:35 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Very well then. Something was possessing, controlling, or otherwise directing your body. When I got back I saw you there and didn't see anything especially unusual through my mask, aside from your hand concealed in your bag, gripping a pistol. When I asked about it, they revealed their intent. They also gave the name Issac...I don't know if that is the name of whoever did this, or if they were claiming that to be your name. Never did get that chance at a proper introduction after all." she pointed out.
She then took a drink of something she had in her waterskin, offering it to him. It was a sweet, spiced drink that was rather weak in terms of alcohol, but better than nothing. "It brought others along, seemingly to buy it time to flee with your body. I tried...certain methods of severing unnatural dominion of bodies. It failed, for reasons that make me suspect it isn't a matter of the arcane. I also tried to reason with it. It said it wanted to give me a reason to come kill it, before turning the pistol on yourself."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 20, 2017, 06:53:50 pm
Drifter nodded as he said "Well for introductions I'm Isaac Mortal, though people tend to call me drifter."
Drifter accepted the drink and listened before saying "Isaac is my first name. Most call me Drifter but I'm thinking it's about time to retire that. As for what it is.." He sighed and shook his head "..specimen 402 of the XO7 batch, out of lab X-ray. I don't even remember where I heard that first bit. What I do know is it specializes in mental manipulation and control, advised actions are to execute any controlled individual and eliminate the specimen." He almost sounded like a machine spewing out information when he talked about the specimen.
Handing back the water skin he said "I remember so little about the lab but my conversation with that thing in my mind has opened up a lot of mental blocks. If it can control me I need to go deal with it. Hopefully not alone but if that's what I have to do it's what I have to do."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2017, 07:09:41 pm
Helen nodded at that, a bit surprised. "Helen McKinnon. A pleasure to finally actually have your acquaintance, if a bit belated." she said, surprised at him rattling off that information. She listened, uncertain but thinking over this. "Then it would explain why my efforts seemed to have little effect. All I knew was that people of unknown nature, plus a comrade, had been controlled. I couldn't simply kill them. Moreover..."
She grinned a bit. "Directing several bodies taxes most mortal minds, after all. Or in some cases, as Victor found out, presents other vulnerabilities. It seemed to do a poor job of getting away, and willingly abandoned control of the others to better focus on directing your escape. So putting down victims likely is counter-productive to hindering it, so long as you can handle facing multiple opponents." she pointed out. "As a result, none of them died. One of them had a rough fall on their ass, all of them were confused and traumatized, but that was all."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 20, 2017, 07:23:19 pm
Drifter nodded again as he said "Yeah but he's going to have quite a few bodies to play with back at his home. Don't know if leaving a bunch of gunman alive to try and murder me would be a good idea. My guess is he wanted me because I was cleanup crew and had access codes to every cell though. Only logical thing I can think of since I imagine most of the people there got killed. Even then my access should have been revoked after I left unless security got . Glad to hear the civvies weren't harmed though and it sounds like you did good work."
Shaking his head Drifter said "Regardless of why I need to go deal with this. Fortunately X-Ray isn't far from here so I won't have that far to go."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2017, 07:29:19 pm
Helen nodded at that. "True. At a certain point it isn't really viable to take any prisoners. I've been outnumbered and outgunned before, usually at that point the best one can do is put down the enemies until you can handle what's left, and hope the survivors are useful and cooperative." she remarked.
"Regardless, Roxanne and Victor will soon need me I'm afraid. Are there any others you suspect will be needed? Ideally someone that might not be vulnerable to this ability. I don't know why it simply didn't even attempt to use its abilities on me, which would've precluded a fight entirely."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 20, 2017, 07:46:07 pm
Drifter shrugged as he said "If I knew what made people immune I'd be getting folks together as soon as I could. Whatever happens I'll take care of it, just hope Alice is okay with me going again. Anyway I should let you get ready if Roxanne and Victor are going to need you. Good luck out there."
Elsewhere Roland looked at the charm Death had given him. He'd not said what it would do but had assured him it wasn't anything menacing. He'd also asked Roland to help with something later, he'd call him when the time came and bring him where he was needed. Veronica asked him about it and he made some idle excuse. He almost smiled as he recognized the trail leading towards the bridge and told her they were on the right path. Soon they'd pull up at the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 20, 2017, 07:51:29 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Very well then. Whoever else you suspect would help, I hope it goes well. At a bare minimum if you're vulnerable, going alone is likely what it wants. I would suspect my battle-wards and training helped, but given the nature of this thing I have no way of knowing what actually prevented that. Take care." she said, soon taking her leave to resume her studies, before getting some much-needed rest.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 20, 2017, 08:02:31 pm
The man who Roxanne had pinned to the tree and had planned to talk to Victor dusted of his clothing and inspected his injuries. “That is gonna hurt like bitch later…”. The man told himself as he noticed the wound the demon’s blade did to his shoulder. “Now to find that little fuck...how dare he do this to us…”, he whispered to himself.
Finding his way back to the farm was easy, had done it before. He looked around to see if anyone would spot a GA goon sneaking in to know on Victor’s door. He heard noises here and there but opted to hide as soon as he heard someone...he needed to reach him undetected...he needed to get to him before he left. Good thing he was probably asleep; people like him still took their night sleep.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 21, 2017, 11:36:10 am
(( Cue figuring out post ideas with Salt because their computer kinda-sorta died and posting on mobile is a hell only Noct deserves. :V ))
Dr. Maskens was furious at this point. "Minor bite wound? You litttle shit, what the fuck do you know about medical practice!?" Hector responded by taking off his helm, pointedly leaning in a bit to demonstrate a few faded scars he had, along with the scowl he was now wearing. All of them appeared rather minor. "Left cheek, just under the eye. Scratch from a filth-encrusted shambler with claws instead of nails. Neck, right side. Regular one actually managed to bite me there. Left ear, little bit at the top. Manhack in one of those damned mutagenics labs." he rattled off.
"Now. In case you haven't noticed, those healed up without my head falling off. I treated them myself. If you were prompt in treating yourself you'd likely be fine." he stated bluntly, and Maskens reacted by grabbing the mail hauberk he wore with that bionic arm. In an instant he in turn gripped her replacement wrist with enough force that it almost crushed the limb outright, taking a step forward that pushed her back.
The guards present gave a start, all of them fumbling in preparation to ready their weapons, half panicked at the idea of getting into a fight that would risk the entire farm coming down upon them. Captain Anguiano raised her hand and stepped forward, and despite Maskens obstinately being in charge, the lot of them nervously stood down, now more afraid of pissing off her than of pissing off the other two. Maskens' retinue weren't even actual Old Guard personnel, leaving them utterly unused to having an officer ordering them around, and most of them were completely caught off-guard by the browbeating Catalina gave them. "Mr. Lowe! Dr. Maskens! Both of you calm your fucking tits right this second!" she shouted, and in a moment she practically forced herself between the two and pried them apart.
"Maskens. I will send Corpsman Gao in to assist your medical department immediately if you wish it. He's an HM3, that good enough for you?" she asked, snapping Dr. Maskens out of it momentarily. "...alright. Now what the hell is there to discuss, Hector? Mica isn't welcome here, and I'm not changing that." she said, glaring at Hector as they both let go of each other.
"Before either of you two get started again, let me point out that 5a is half the reason the 8 of us are able to come topside to bring you supplies and personnel you badly need at the moment." Catalina answered. "I'm sure knight boy here has some choice words about the REASON for this termination order. I had the corpsman give Mica an oral examination, hard as it is to get her to keep still and not bite down on anything you stick in there. Which must be great news for her boyfriend." she joked. "Her pH level in there is abnormally high, just barely enough that it's not very good for bacterial growth. If whatever you did lost the limb, it would've got you killed had a normal human bit you." she explained.
This statement shocked Maskens. This woman was directly challenging her ability to treat her own injuries? She wasn't sure what to say, but given how hectic everything had been, she now momentarily doubted herself. She had been in a rush, bandaged the injury as best as she could to get back to work ASAP. The statement placed doubts in her mind now. But she stood by what she believed was a valid reason for ordering Mica banned from the center. That THING was dangerous. Someone could get killed.
She remembered vividly what a monster she used to be, and there were indeed fatalities from it, and her handlers only barely managed to keep the guards from putting Mica down over the loss of innocents. Several of those who fell in with her were all too aware of what she was like. "Alright. We'll talk. But you better understand that I've got a lot more than a missing arm to deal with when it comes to Mica, Marshal." she said coldly, turning to head back inside.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 21, 2017, 02:01:09 pm
Drifter saw the jeep pulling up across the bridge and sighed. The last thing he needed was more assholes trying something. Walking over he said "Look now's not a good-"
He realized the man in the passenger seat was Roland and stopped. "How're you doing old man? And what's with the jeep and the new clothes?"
Roland smiled as he stepped off the jeep and said "Doing okay, helped out some folks and their setting up a place of their own at the old lab we fought that big asshole at. I'm going to be helping them get setup but I figured I should let folks here know I'm okay."
Drifter smiled as he said "Good to hear, wonder what you had to leave for but I'm glad you could help people on the way."
Roland sighed as he put a hand on Drifter's shoulder and the two started towards their quarters. Roland let Veronica know he'd get a ride back to the lab and she left shaking her head. The ensuing conversation the two had took a few hours before the pair decided to get some sleep.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 21, 2017, 05:27:19 pm
Lilith had given up on licking the blood off her paws. She'd gotten one clean, at least, but she was getting impatient. She'd left Nathaniel behind, right? But she still needed to get his shack open... The bug was ignoring her and everyone else had left already, so she padded back to his shack alone, sitting outside the door for a while before coming up with an AMAZING PLAN.
There's a loud bang as the door pops off it's hinges. The water cannon was still leaning against the wall, so she tries to pick it up with her mouth and leave. Although, what actually happens is that she smacks herself in the face with the door, bonks her head on the roof, and drops the water cannon on her paw, but she eventually manages to get it out. Now, time to help the bug clean up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 21, 2017, 05:44:19 pm
Nathaniel at this point had picked up his pistol and holstered it, making his way out of the door to Sharlene's cabin after Roxanne's little scare. He'd started heading back over towards the farm, uncertain if Lilith would be there, or away wherever Sharlene likely went.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 22, 2017, 12:04:46 am
The man had made it to Victor’s door undetected. The anticipation was written in his eyes. A series of coordinated knocks Victor recognized were heard on his door which prompted him to get up from his seat and slowly approach the door. With the utmost caution, he opened the door. His suspicions were confirmed, the person who knew such knocks was the one waiting for him behind the door.
“Victor Ironwood, you forgot our little meeting? It’s very rude to leave someone waiting, so I took the liberty to come to you; may I come in?”, The man told Victor as once he opened the door. Victor was not sure what to do, this man and what he represented did not sit well with him, but what worse, the offer he made him, for a split second, he considered it. This fact made him disgusted with himself; as such, he had decided to abandon this meeting to let them know he was not interested without actually saying that. But now here he was, the man standing in his door frame and Victor curious at what he had to say.
"S-sure, come on in...I had not forgotten about our arrangement, just that previous commitments had me a bit more busy than normal.", Victor responded. The man frowned and then let himself in. He sat on one of the available seats while Victor went and made some decaf coffee, it was getting late after all. “So, you are busy then? In that case, I will get to the point. Have you considered my offer? You and I are not so different you know?”, The man said, breaking the silence. Victor dropped his empty coffee cup; of course he was here for that! What else would he be here for! He decided to wing it, to express his intentions as honestly as possible while putting the necessary veils to get him to leave; regret stepping into him.
"Indeed I have...it is quite the offer...you flatter me in thinking my skill set is desirable...you would be the first...and also, we indee share similar values in one respect, you both frown upon, to put it lightly your case, the mutation and augmentation...the human body is a gift bestowed unto us and he who rejects it is a fool...", Victor responded to the man, "The way you communicated with me, my dreams and discrepancies in my daily life, that was a nice touch. I am ready to give you an answer to that offer too..." Victor was going to do it, he would refuse his offer out right. He had the advantage if he decided to attack; his spells might be enough, his sword was overkill and the summoning of the divine spirit would make this an unfair match. But his refusal was interrupted.
The man stood up, anger in his face. “So just like that huh? Are you seriously contemplating this Victor?! How dare you! I trusted you!”, the man shouted. Victor looked in confusion but that didn’t last too long. Roxanne emerged from the man’s body as it stumbled back onto the seat. She rushed Victor and pushed him towards a wall. A small distance now separated them as Victor was now against the wall.
"R-roxanne?", Victor asked softly. She deployed her left side blade and points it at Victor. "Don’t you dare use my name lightly. You are here on trial Purifier Ironwood...and I am the judge...the charge...impurity. You know what we do to the impure...it was my job...", Roxanne responds. The man on the chair comes to, sees Roxanne and screams bloody murder. Without even as much as lowering the blade pointed at Victor, she raises her other hand and snaps her fingers. The man’s screaming stops and then a faint purple light comes from his eyes. He then went limp on the chair again, eyes open, breathing none existent. "You speak only when spoken heretic!", Roxanne yelled as he looked back at him.
Victor knew exactly what had happened; he witnessed it all via his aura spell. Roxanne engulfed the man’s soul in divine flames until it was consumed completely; what was left was a husk. He didn’t die, no, that would involved his soul to go to the afterlife, be judge and face his eternal sentence; he wasn’t harvested either, that left an item or was used to fuel or refuel devices. No, Roxanne had simply consumed his soul, as if it had never existed; only his information remained, but even that would soon disappeared.
"Roxanne! What have you do-", Victor started to say before he was interrupted. Roxanne took her blade and placed it firmly against Victor’s throat as she closed their distance. "That goes to you too Ironwood! I will have order in m court..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 22, 2017, 01:28:41 am
"Welcome, I am Peter Deverish, Old Guard liason for this region." Dervish said casually, seeing to the needs of a recovering patient. The man had been burned by passing plasma fire in the opening exchange of the attack and his wounds looked terrible. The foyer of the center was filled with people, many of them in varying states of injury, but every single one of them bandaged, stitched, and treated. "I hope to God you've got antibiotics Hector. The center ran out awhile ago and you just can't sterilize bullet wounds with bactine or peroxide." The look on Dervish's face was harried. "You didn't bring Mica with you? Good. I doubt anybody would raise a finger against her, now that I've made my rounds, but there are a lot of people here who've lost friends to her. More than I imagined."
"Are you the captain I spoke to over the network? It's good to meet you, some real fighting men would put a lot of these people at ease."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2017, 02:32:59 am
Catalina led the way as they met Dervish. Hector had helped with bringing the supplies in with the others, setting medical supplies apart from the food and ammunition, including a number of different medications. "Alright Corpsman Gao, get supplies in and get to work. I'll handle the personnel medical records you were going to give him." Catalina said, and which a nod Dusk was already setting to work bringing the items in, setting antibiotics aside in particular.
Hector meanwhile shook his head at that. "I was tempted to, she really wanted to see Dee. And honestly, given what she USED to be like, I find that a poor excuse on Maskens' part. Where was this termination order back when she was constantly ruled by hunger, getting innocent people killed?" he pointed out, pointedly giving a glare to Maskens. "It's long overdue." she spat out plainly, reluctant to answer any further.
At this point Hector had turned his attention to her again. "Past the point of being warranted, I'd say. I was the one that found her in a cage, watched her bawl her eyes out at the loss of her handlers. She was a monster back then, perhaps. Killed countless people." he said, glowering at her. "But even then, she was little more than a child as well. I made that decision not to put her down. That makes her MY responsibility." he said. Maskens simply raised her bionic arm. "And look how well you fucked it up."
Hector stepped forward again. "Yes. Believe it or not, I can't be everywhere at once. I wasn't here, and my being distracted had consequences. But you know that the wound went bad because you didn't treat it adequately. Did you even clean it properly, before you went right back to jamming your hands into people's injuries?" he said, and Maskens was once again tempted to just punch him. They barely had the supplies as it is, far as she was concerned the patients come first. Either way it was Mica's fault.
"And more to the point. How many more victims has she claimed since her treatment? None. Not a single other innocent. She's unpredictable, doesn't understand the threats her own body poses, and for all intents and purposes she's a teenager. But ultimately, she is manageable. And we have done so." he said. "And how long will that last, Mr. Lowe? We have lost too many people to it in the past. If it gets anyone killed, this will have proven the correct course of action."
Hector was glaring at her again. She called Mica an "it," as he noticed. "Trust me, Ms. Maskens. If SHE kills an innocent, I will take matters into my own hands as needed." he answered, and the hateful look on her face made it clear not addressing her as a doctor did more to insult her than anything else he could say. "But that is MY responsibility. That means you are not to harm her without due cause." he said, setting a hand on her shoulder. She forcibly pulled away, glowering right back at him, even if momentarily worried about that hand. He demonstrated he could've used his bionic strength to crush the plastic and metal framework of her replacement arm, a collarbone would be just as easy. Or her spine.
"Alright. I'll rescind the kill order. But it...she, is to know that she is still unwelcome here. And I take no responsibility for any who might decide t-" In an instant she was grabbed, lifted up and slammed against the wall. Hector's face looked unnervingly calm, losing even the glare he had earlier. His expression was passive.
All at once, everyone present froze up. The nearby guard readied his weapon, but saw 6 people in varying uniforms readying theirs. The others, minus Catalina and Dusk. Likewise the opposing guard in the room, under Dervish's command, did the same. No one present wanted to be the first person to fire. "I take responsibility for Mica's actions. If you are unwilling to take responsibility for the actions of those under you, you are unworthy of commanding them. Understand?" he asked, Maskens only giving a little nod at first. "Alright! F-fine..." In response Hector calmly lowered her, letting her go. "Thank you."
Catalina, during all this, had walked off with Dervish, handing over a number of files. "That would be me, yes. I will want to occasionally check and ensure Site 4 isn't going to be a danger to the local area, maybe rig the personnel entrance to blow, but otherwise that's 2 fireteams worth of people available. Good number of them marines, then you've got the the corpsman, and two engineers. Specialist Carnes is more of the technical personal we needed back in the day, while Private Baumgarther should be adequate for the more regular work." she said.
"Also have the medical data if needed, but in Atomos' case I doubt you'll find anything your AI hasn't already noticed." she added.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 22, 2017, 11:17:24 am
(For the second time)
There is an armored police car with a trailer rolling up the drive.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2017, 11:31:12 am
Nathaniel had been the one to see it. Lilith likely could tell that he'd left the cabin to head back to the farm, and he was now on edge when he saw the unfamiliar vehicle pulling up. Sergei and Alexei no doubt still were relaxing, drinking, and commenting on the strange things they witnessed earlier in the day, before both found two of the vacant guest rooms for the evening.
This left him being the one to step into view, giving a wave, though he was rather cautious of the unfamiliar arrival given it was somewhat late.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 22, 2017, 11:36:17 am
Lilith hoisted the water cannon up to her shoulder, marching back towards the barn. The fact that the tank for it was missing didn't seem to cross her mind, it just magically made water, right? The tank was probably sitting somewhere on the road up to the farm or next to the farmhouse.
The car distracted her though. She dumped the cannon on the ground outside Catnip and Kathrine's room and padded outside, looking down the dri- NATHANIEL. She bumped directly into him, probably knocking him over, followed by a blank stare and then jumping on top of him to lick his face. "Nataleeeee!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2017, 11:40:28 am
Nathaniel watched carefully, uncertain at first who the strangers were, when he was rather aggressively nuzzled enough to get bowled over, giving an oof only to chuckle a bit, petting her. "Easy Lilith, I know. I'm back. But Lil, we got company watching u-mmph." Those licks interrupted him momentarily. "Ack, pbbbt. B-behave, alright...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 22, 2017, 11:42:27 am
A small woman steps out of the car. She spots the two and turns away slightly. "Well then, this was not what I was expectin'" She says with a slight southern drawl.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 22, 2017, 01:30:39 pm
Lilith looks down at Nathaniel, then up at the woman, then back at Nathaniel. She slowly gets off him and sits down on the floor, shakily raising a paw and waving it around. "Wave..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2017, 01:48:45 pm
Nathaniel was a bit worried at first, given this person drove up only to see the person greeting them being bowled over and licked by a big-breasted tiger woman. The fact he wasn't flailing about or bleeding all over the place was at least a good sign. When Lilith got off of him and sat down, he stood and give a nod. "Sorry about that. I'm Nathaniel Ford, and this is Lilith." he said. His own accent still retained hints of something southern, under the sort of accent commonly picked up when speaking clearly into a radio became part of daily life.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 22, 2017, 02:48:59 pm
Halfway through Nathaniel's introduction, Lilith shoves her paw into his face and shoves him to the ground. "Thmall man thuth." She points at herself with an entire paw. "Lilith." She then points at Nathaniel. "Natalee." Lilith's got a smug grin on her face. Her teeth exaggerate it a lot, making her look kind of fearsome, despite her intents. "Lilith loveth Natalee..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 22, 2017, 02:49:59 pm
"Right... Names Alexis Verace, but everyone just calls me Pepper." One thing Nathaniel would have noticed is that she seems to be albino. White hair, pale skin, and crimson red eyes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2017, 02:53:51 pm
Nathaniel meeped a bit as Lilith bowled him over, shushing him to make introductions herself. "Mmph...Lilith, stoooop." he mumbled, giving a rather comical little whine at all this. He had noticed, wondering if the unfamiliar woman was naturally that way, or if it was induced by mutations. Either way he was reluctant to ask such a personal question.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 22, 2017, 03:14:56 pm
"You wouldn't mind me staying for a while, would you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 22, 2017, 03:20:11 pm
"Natalee loveth Lilith too!" She pipes up again, placing a paw on his back. "And Lilith hath thex wiv Natalee too!" Lilith's getting excited again. She raises a paw and places it back down on Nathaniel's back gently, then raises her other paw and slams it against the dirt in a half-dance. "And Pepper lookth weird..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2017, 03:24:15 pm
Nathaniel went wide-eyed at that. "Lilith! for fucks sake, you don't have to go telling people that..." he mumbled, blushing bright at that and he fumbled to get up. "Will be best to introduce you to the others then, those that are still here and awake at least. 90% odds Dr. Quinn's still awake, I don't know if he even sleeps."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 22, 2017, 03:25:57 pm
"Uh... Does that happen a lot?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2017, 03:30:19 pm
Nathaniel blinked at that. "Does what happen? Lilith being all weird, Quinn never sleeping, or...oh. Do you h-have to ask that?" he stammered out, blushing a bit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 22, 2017, 03:31:06 pm
"The first one..." Her face goes a light pink.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2017, 03:34:46 pm
"Fairly often. She's harmless, sorta. I mean okay now my back is a bit sore from being manhandled into the dirt but I'll be fine." he joked. "And er, sorry she said you look, er. Weird." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 22, 2017, 03:36:22 pm
"That's fine, I get it a lot... Where would one go to get some rest?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 22, 2017, 03:44:29 pm
"Pepper lookth weird!" Lilith repeats happily, hooking a claw on the back of Nathaniel's shirt and trying to lift him up. She ends up just tearing the back of his top a bit. "Oopth. Sowwy, Natalee." She drops her grin and tries to squeeze his arm between her 'fingers' in order to lift him to his feet, but ends up just rubbing her paw against his forearm. "Nataleeeeeeee." Lilith substitutes picking him up for lowering her head to be next to his and kissing him right on the cheek.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2017, 03:50:19 pm
Nathaniel sighed a bit at that, standing up carefully, whining a bit at that. "Lilith. Mica's a spider chick, Roxanne is currently a ghost lady, Hector dresses up like a knight, and Helen runs around with a scaly cloak with weird healing magic. She's not any weirder than us." he pointed out, before nodding to Alexis. "Let me show you to the other rooms then." he said, to lead the way past the farmhouse.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 22, 2017, 03:52:10 pm
She follows him, eyeing Lilith worryingly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2017, 04:19:07 pm
Nathaniel led the way, showing her a number of rooms, most with signs and others stating they weren't in use by anyone anymore, noting that few of those were locked. For added weirdness they'd passed by the barn, complete the tree growing out of it. "Used to have a couple others using some of the older vacant rooms here, died years ago during a raid on a bandit camp." he explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 22, 2017, 04:21:40 pm
She nods solemnly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2017, 04:32:09 pm
Nathaniel then left her to the room, only to give a sigh at the door to his room having been taken right out of its hinges. "Why..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 22, 2017, 04:39:58 pm
Lilith pokes Nathaniel in the ribs with a paw. "Psssssssssssht." She emulates pulling back the lever on her water cannon, and then drops back down onto all fours. "Lilith need thooty thing. Door thut. Lilith sowwy."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 22, 2017, 04:40:25 pm
Victor looked out in both fear and awe at Roxanne’s actions. Here she was, having used the divine flame to consume a soul and she was threatening him with a blade. This was unbelievable to him. Roxanne glared at him as she held the blade onto the bare flesh of Victor’s throat.
This little scene was interrupted by a sudden blue glow engulfing the body of the man limp in the chair. Victor watched, with both eye and aura spell, as a black mist seemed to pour into the body and then it gasped for air. The man looked around with a blank face and mouth open slightly. It was as if his will to do anything but exists had been taken away from him. He made eye contact with Victor and then simply stared, unmoving but alive once more; his soul once again having been returned. "Look who decided to join the realm of the living again! Now, I take it you have learned your lesson? Speak only when spoken to ok?", Roxanne told the men. He simply nodded, the feelings the flame created still burned into his mind. "Good good, no be a good boy and stay still. I have other things to attend to..."
Victor now knew what was going on; Roxanne had implanted a “Life Orb” into him before hand. This items repaired the soul from any damage, even mortal one; so spirits like them since it meant they could die and have a few more chances. It didn’t work on wounds on living flesh; having a life orb and getting shot at won’t save you since they wound was to your body, not soul. Roxanne had turned her head to look at the man once the was returned. She was distracted and left herself vulnerable Victor took this opportunity; she shoved Roxanne backwards and grabbed her bladed hand to move it out of the way. Before Roxanne could get stable footing, Victor had grabbed his sword and no brandished it in a defensive position against Roxanne. "Stand back Roxanne...one single cut from this...you know the rest...even with your orbs...it only has to many charges..."
Roxanne smirked at the sight of Victor brandishing his blade at her. She deployed the other one and assumed a stance of her own, one that Hector had taught her and she modified from experience. "You are not man enough! You have to resort to other to do your bidding. That is why he is here isn’t it? They target you for your cowardice and you opened your doors to them!", Roxanne responded to that.
The sight was quite the spectacle for any beings watching this. Victor had his blade out and he intended to block attacks, even though this blade was meant to be use as an offencive tool; Roxanne now target the man who she had come to trust despite he being from another world, they shared a common link but now she felt he was betraying that. Victor was having none of this, he called forward the divine spirit housed in the blade. The spirit appeared in a tower of purple flame and it awaited Victor’s command.
"Spirit! She has gone mad! Subdue her before she does any more harm to herself or others!", Victor commanded. The spirit looked at Roxanne, but did nothing. Roxanne herself started laughing a bit. "Stand down spirit. Command overruled. Now be a dear and give me another life orb ok? One charge.", Roxanne told the spirit herself. The spirit complied and he manifested another orb, smaller than the rest, and gave it to Roxanne. "Thank you dear, you did good. Go back to your sword and stay there until you are called about.", Roxanne told the spirit a final time. With that, the spirit turned into a black mist and it went into the sword
"B-but the only one...the only one who can override my command...is Roxanne Blackmore...", Victor muttered in disbelief. Roxanne grinned from ear to ear when she he said this. "Victor...But but I am Roxanne Blackmore! I may have changed my name legally...but my birthname Roxanne Blackmore...You and the one who knew are one in the same, separated only by the veil...we took different paths, but we have united once more. She and I made a deal Victor, she gave me override command. Why, she told me to look after you, to protect you from others and yourself; and this is what I plan on doing!", Roxanne responded.
She then stepped forward used her blades to disarmed Victor. Next, she withdrew her blades, leaned on him and implanted the orb. Roxanne was now leaning and pinning him to the wall. "Now, tell me why? Why do you affiliate yourself with the likes of him? Is your hatred from mutations and bionics that strong? Do...you hate me?", Roxanne whispered to Victor as she looked eyes with him; he just looked back in terror, "Do you want to end up like him? Look at him! He is now a shell of his former self, he is broken Victor...is that the fate you want? Because if you continue this path...I will be forced to do so..." She then took her right arm and phased it through his chest. Victor felt as Roxanne took a hold of his soul; a perverse pleasure filled her as she did this. She was in complete control of another person’s fate, and she loved it. "Is this the new soul given to you? I heard the tale Victor...You lost your soul and had to make a deal to get a new one...a deal you didn’t even honor...how low can you go?", Roxanne told Victor as the hold on his soul got tighter. Victor winced as he felt this, he didn’t know what she had planned but it worried him, panic had set in.
Roxanne did her final act, she activated her blade with the hand that was gripping Victor’s soul and it was jammed right through it. Victor’s eyes widen as he felt this, his soul had been damaged, the spiritual equivalent of leaving someone to bleed out. She pulled out and smiled a she saw Victor slowly fall back to the floor until he was sitting down with his back on the wall. "Don’t worry...you will be fine. You will die, yes, but the orb will fix you right up. Maybe when you awake, you will be a new man again. Remember this next time GA comes to your doorstep...I am watching Victor Ironwood...You are still pure, you have been spared this time; don’t mess up next time...", Roxanne said as she stared at the slowly dying mage on the floor. She hovered toward the man on the chair and stabbed him in the chest with the the same blade that stabbed Victor; this one wasn’t targeting his soul, but his body. He too would die, but his soul would be harvested in accordance to the laws of nature; nothing the orb could do to save him. With her work done, Roxanne phased out of the wall of Victor’s room and made her way to her own. Victor in turn, was slowly consumed in darkness; time would pass fast to him, awaking to in a cold sweat the next morning.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 22, 2017, 04:52:47 pm
Drifter had woken early the next morning to prepare something for his trip. An explosive charge was fine and dandy for it's purpose. This however was going to fill whatever room it was pointed at with enough shrapnel to shred anything's flesh from it's bones. If it was still stuck in it's cell the only way he knew to get it out so he could kill it was to pop the plexiglass and shoot it, a secondary charge like this would ensure it didn't have time to react.
setting the makeshift and oversized claymore to the side Drifter waited. Like Helen had said he'd probably need backup and the best he could think of at the moment was Nathaniel. Leaning against the back of his truck he waited and smoked a cigarette, shaking his head.
Roland meanwhile had woken up and radioed the 3rd for a ride. Before even Drifter had woken he was in the back of a jeep on his way back to their new home. the pair that had brought the vehicle kept the conversation lively as they made their way.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 22, 2017, 05:36:48 pm
(( Lilithpost provided by Mrno. ))
Hector had opted to spend the night at the center again. The others knew about their little incident, and about the kill-on-sight order being rescinded. The fact that Maskens was still alive to confirm it was the only reason the center didn't boil over into civil war. The Old Guard was now conflicted as well. On the one hand most of them didn't approve of Maskens orders bypassing their authority, even though some of them shared the concerns of the militia Maskens raised. And they likewise supported not only the marshal, but far more importantly the captain that was now there. Having someone trained to handle a unit of company strength, as the guard contingent was expected to be when they had the manpower available, was a relief to the staff sergeants and warrant officers that were all the Old Guard could spare.
On the other hand, it was now clear that Hector had come dangerously close to killing someone that, problems or not, was vital to the medical operations of the center. They didn't want to destabilize what was already a tense situation, and now they were afraid the knight was liable to do exactly that. Some pondered the idea of requesting that he refrain from visiting the center until he was requested to return, or until the conflict in leadership was resolved. Most of them doubted it would escalate to the point of a kill-on-sight order, suspecting he would accept the reasoning and leave them be if the Old Guard requested it.
Nathaniel nodded a bit to Lilith, giving a little sigh as he scritched Lilith's ear. "I'll...fix it in the morning I guess. I gotta get some sleep, okay? We can't...you know, with the door wide open like this, so just..." he said softly, blushing more as he sat down.
Lilith jabs Nathaniel in the side with her muzzle, purring. "Nataleeeee. Mate. Matalie. Lilith fix door." She tries to catch the corner of his jacket in her mouth for a moment, then gives up and stands up, bonking her head on the ceiling in the process. "Thmall man worry about door?" Lilith grumbles as she gathers it off the floor with a hugging motion, moving it to be inbetween her paws as she tries to shove it into the doorway. "...Nataleeeeeee, door fix."
Nathaniel sighed a bit as she wedged the door more or less back into place, though it looked like it would fall over with the slightest provocation. "I...I'm gonna regret this, but alright. I got something I need to do in the morning though, okay?" he said, blushing a little as he got into bed. Not that he'd sleep much, between Lilith being there and it already being rather late.
In the morning he'd awake, flustered and noticing a slight chill in the air. The door was still there at least, but it let in a considerable draft. Lilith was there, only a paw on the bed and her head resting on him, as he woke her up to get dressed and prepare his equipment.
At some point in the night, Helen was dreaming again. At first she thought it would be the voice again, warning of the battles to come, the grandfatherly tone she'd assumed to be the words of her patron god, rare as these dreams were.
Something shattered that. Instead her dreams were of Victor. Dying, several times over. In one, it was a dream of the two of them, all those years ago, cornering and slaying Victor when in the past it had been Roxanne they encountered. In another, Randael devoured his soul. In the next, he was turned against them in the fight, used like a puppet and killing Roxanne before Helen bested them in a hard-won fight, leaving Randael to escape.
It was the two versions of those events afterward that shook her the most, recalled with the most clarity in the morning. In one Victor wore the hereldry of God's Army, turning his powers against the farm to kill every last of the mutants and cyborgs they had, reserving the soul-devouring powers of his blade for them and merely cutting down others, until she was left alone, standing over his broken corpse and surrounded by the dead.
In the second, Roxanne slew Victor. Ran him through with a blade of divine steel, tormented by some unknown hatred. The look on his face, and the tears running down Roxanne's, were the image she was left with when she awoke with a start, early in the morning.
Out of worry, she found herself hurrying to get dressed, along with checking the area with her mask. An unfamiliar aura was noticed, resting in one of the spare rooms. But what she latched onto immediately was a vague sense of something off with Victor's aura, and in his room the corpse of an unfamilar man lay slumped against the wall. She was over there, to make her way into Victor's room, within moments.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 22, 2017, 07:37:29 pm
Pepper slowly comes to consciousness. She shielded the sunlight from her eyes with her blanket and goes to cover the window. Then she went through her stuff to make sure nothing was taken. "Good to know these are decent people." She then made a thorough cleaning of her weapon, an stupidly modded, belt fed FN FAL.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 23, 2017, 09:36:59 am
It it been Simplicity itself. Just wait the other robots out, then slowly work her way in to where the robots main protocols lay. Through slow manipulation, and absorbing of certain code snippits, Medeina was able to subvert the ATSV without stirring the it of the vaults security protocols. She giggled a little. These robots had valuable parts Dee could use, but more than that, she'd found herself wanting to be in control again. The chicken walker made it's way to the cargo lift, and then emerging from a gaping hole in the sewer roof.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 23, 2017, 10:28:34 am
Victor awoke sitting on the floor. He was in utter confusion; what had happened last night? No dreams to speak of, no weird encounters either...except… The realisation of what had happened yesterday jolt him awake; he checked his body and found no injuries. Next, his attention was drawn to the dead body on the chair; a wound on the man’s chest made him remember the night more clearly.
"Damn it Roxanne...what the fuck is wrong with you...", Victor whispered to himself while pressing his head against his temple. He was surprisingly not that bothered by any of this apart from clean up and having to set up countermeasures against Roxanne; the fact that he died but got to live again might have something to do with it. He got a cup of coffee, lighted up a cigarette and pondered what to do with the body. "He is dead...the spirit of death will come to claim this man’s soul if he hasn’t already, the deletion of souls will raise eyebrows and my track record will make the blame go towards me...", Victor said out loud as he smoked his cigarette, "This is going to be a fun morning..."
A knock on his door interrupted his thought process. He got up from where he was and went towards the door, not really carrying who it was. He let out a puff of smoke, opened the door and saw it was Helen. "Hey Helen, good morning. What brings you here this morning? Bring news?", Victor greeted Helen in an almost unenthusiastic tone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 23, 2017, 10:36:57 am
Captain Anguiano was by now assisting Khaki in directing the guard shift this morning, smiling as she watched the others brought over from Site 4 at work, among the other guards. Corpsman Gao had been working most of the night at the medbay, if anything having other people there to work with made things a lot easier than how it was down in the old Communications sector. He was currently helped administer one of the RX-12 injections for Dee, a few additional samples of which had been brought over with the other supplies they brought. "Fared pretty well for someone that took that sort of punishment without any plates on." he remarked.
Most of the others were simply assisting in guarding the place, though Private Baumgarther had been assisting in reconstruction and fortifying instead. PFC Atomos meanwhile handed over a set of files to Dervish. She had her tail no longer concealed in overly-baggy pants, though it was still partially concealed by her coat. "Here you go, doctor. Uncertain if it's anything the bot didn't find already though."
Elsewhere, Specialist Carnes was there with the clerk that normally handled their acess to the old military personnel files. At Catalina's direction, she was updating a series of files for the 8 of them, along with updating something else. For a moment, records buried deep under security measures that made Site 4's bots look like child's play were accessed, updating what the refugee center normally had access to. Before, every member of 3rd Company, Division IV had their unit data rather conspicuously listed as "CLASSIFIED" on the center's files. Now, it stated their company number and Special Projects Division designation. Though now, Catalina and Larion were the only ones left alive to care about it.
"That just leaves updates to Asset records concerning Site 4. Captain wants that updated later on, after we head back and blow the doors for Personnel entrance." she explained to the clerk, trained in the same expertise as her, though a solid 2 pay grades below her. "Hold up a second. Speaking of which, I got uplink with the security logs right now, something's off..."
Nathaniel meanwhile made his way outside, pistol holstered and M4 slung on a shoulder, looking around. He wasn't sure yet about what there was to be done, though as he looked around he saw Helen walking off, Sergei and Alexei discussing something, and elsewhere Drifter checking on his vehicle. "Figures I wouldn't be up as early as I usually am."
Helen wasn't sure what to think at first. Something seemed off, the more she looked at the corpse leaning against the wall, but she wouldn't be able to confirm it unless she saw with her own eyes, not the outline spied through the all. The fact she had her mask on was rather obvious, both in her aura and in it being visibly active when he opened the door
"Victor. Are you alright? What happened last night? That's...one of the profligates, isn't it?" she asked, before looking him over. Before he could say anything she was already checking him for injuries, worried about him. She thought back to the other unfamiliar aura she detected, but spying her through the walls confirmed she wasn't in the sort of uniform the dead man wore.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 23, 2017, 11:26:10 am
The barrels spun free and fired nothing but air and rapid clicking sounds. The metallic ringing of the mechanism winding down only served to puncuate medeina's disappointment. The moose would live this day. Normally, she wouldn't have bothered the creature after giving it a thorough examination. This she did by running the moose down and putting the massive articulating foot on top of it to pin it. She checked the robots reserves and released the moose, waiting for it to get some distance before unloading the ATSV's last three 40mm grenades after it, screaming in disturbingly uncharacteristic Glee as the mooses insides were rendered outside by the fragmentation grenades. "Ok Medeina, ok. Calm down. Get the robot to Dee's workshop and leave it there." The effect the machines simple routines, the ones she had absorbed, we're having on her bothered her a little. Dee would have to sort the code, otherwise Medeina would be stuck with this sadistic taste for violence. The robot stomped it's way towards the bridge to the farm, the AI confident that the chicken walker's lack of ammo would help her resist the urge to go weapons free. Maskens sat at her desk, dosing herself with antibiotics. She knew it wasn't entirely the spider girls fault. She'd just been the root cause. Maskens had cleaned and bandaged the wound right away, on the fly. Later, she'd taken some of the last of centers antibiotics to avoid sepsis, and to give the nub a proper stitching. Later, after she'd been forced to use the medbay Quinn had programmed for Dee's surgery perform an amputation on herself, Dervish had run an analysis. Deep tissue sepsis, and good old fashioned flesh eating bacteria. It was the second that had cost her the arm. Such a tenacious little thing, could get in through something as small as a paper cut. She still blamed the spider. It was late the next day though, she'd slept the day away and could think clearly again. On a whim, she depressed the switch for the centers intercom and said, "Mr. Chase, Mr. Hopewell, Mr. Lowe, and Ms. Anguina. Please come to my office, I have some business with you all."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 23, 2017, 12:32:46 pm
Drifter caught sight of Nathaniel and tossed the half finished cigarette to the ground before stamping it out with the peg leg. Walking over Drifter said "Nathaniel you got a minute?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 23, 2017, 12:38:47 pm
Nathaniel was now making his way over to Drifter, giving a little nod. "Yeah, not much going on right now. Doing alright, I hope?" he asked, relieved after he'd heard from others Roland had returned as well. It was then he saw it. Something that made him go wide-eyed, and scramble behind the engine block of the truck in a blind panic. "F-fuck...walker inbound!" he shouted. He realized something though. They would've already been in range of both its weapons. "Either it's out of ammo, or it isn't tagging us for some reason..."
Carnes grumbled a bit as she examined the logs. "I don't think I can get this thing to halt, it's reporting subversion protocol failures and being taken outside assigned sectors. Best thing we can hope is that it's got enough programming left that it remembers not to engage when outside its assigned area." she said. "Yes, believe it or not some people can actually program these things competently. Doesn't seem to do much good when you have a facility AI that makes it look with a mobile paperweight, though."
Catalina gave a little nod to the group of assorted officers, returning a salute as she heard the page on the intercom. "Dismissed. See the sergeant major in the meantime if needed." she said, turning to leave the room and make her way to Maskens' office.
Hector meanwhile had slept in a bit, calmly making his way over when he heard the intercom. He'd left his shield behind in the tank, suspecting it might be to his benefit to not further unnerve the guards.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 23, 2017, 12:49:13 pm
Drifter nodded as he hobbled over to his mobile armory just in case. "I need to go kill something. Problem is that it's at the old lab I worked at, and it's able to control people. So it's gonna have quite a few guns pointing at us instead of it." Opening the doors to his vehicle Drifter stepped in and picked up one of the RPGs in side and loaded the weapon before hopping back out and keeping an eye on the thing. He wasn't going to shoot it..yet. Continuing what he was saying he told Nathaniel "I'd appreciate it if you came along and helped me clear the place but I'd also understand if you didn't want to come along. It's gonna be dangerous after all and you've got your own problems to deal with."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 23, 2017, 01:29:44 pm
Lilith paced around Nathaniel's shack. He'd left her alone again, probably in revenge for when she'd left him to get the psssht machine. Speaking of, she'd left it in the barn. She was reaching over to push the door down when her paw cramped up. It didn't hurt as much as it did annoy. Lilith placed her paw back onto the ground, and then sharply brought it back up when contact made her feel something she hadn't felt for a very long time. Pain. She growls in an almost sensual manner, and lowers her paw again, pressing the back of it against the floor to try and keep the buzz going for as long as possible. Pleasure, however, is replaced with curiosity as she feels her claws pop out without her input. Lilith immediately abandons testing the waters in favor of staring at her paw. Nothing looked different, just felt it. She couldn't retract her claws at all, only on her right paw. The feeling passed after a minute, and she gently puts her paw against his door, pushing it down. It wasn't painful this time. If anyone was watching, she'd look downright saddened.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 23, 2017, 02:03:16 pm
"Yes, I am ok. It was a hectic night Helen. Yes, he is one of God’s Army...", Victor said as he took another puff from his cigarette. Helen was looking over him but then her interest turned to the body in the room. He stuck his head at and saw no one else nearby by. Then, he exhaled the smoke, threw the cigarette into the ground, extinguished it and kicked it outside before closing the door. Victor would start to pick up this habit again it seemed, really helped to calm his nerves. With one hand in his pockets now, he closed the door and then put that hand in a pocket as well while approaching Helen. "I assume you can feel the changes around here...the disturbances of auras and the anomaly consistent to...soul harvest...", Victor said as he stood next to Helen, "I can’t see your expression behind your mask or read your mind, but no doubt you are thinking I messed something up again...but no, I told you that is no longer who I am...this was the doing of someone else. Who it was doesn’t matter; what matters is to get this back to normal. The spirit of death might come soon and I don’t want it to get angry at this scene..." Victor grabbed his sword in his scabbard and slung it onto his back. It was as if he was preparing for something since he was grabbing stuff and putting it in his many pockets as he talked. "Care to help me prove my alibi? Ask me what you want to know, I’ll tell you what I can.", Victor asked Helen.
Roxanne had gone back to her room and did the closest thing a spirit can achieve. All that night, she thought about what she did. Things didn’t go as intended, she had lost herself and took things a little too far. Worse still, she enjoyed it...she enjoyed her little struggle with the GA goon, she enjoyed seeing him squirm as she snuffed his life away by divine fire, and she enjoyed how Victor was overtaken by fear as she took control of his soul; how he was at her mercy and she could end him any way she wished, opting for a slow end of the soul.
"What the fuck is wrong with me?...", Roxanne whispered to herself. She was still laying in bed, looking at the ceiling and her hands in her chest when morning arrived. Many more thoughts crossed her mind, but this one in particular got to her; it got to her in a way nothing had before. Roxanne recalled she terror she felt as Lilith attacked her before her little stunt; she had gotten over it pretty quickly but the memory still haunted her. They way Lilith stalked over to her, the way she roared at her, how she towered over her and when she took a massive claws to her and ended her existence for the briefest of moments.
As this thought continued, things clicked; clicked in a way they never had before. "Wait a minute...was this how I made Victor feel?", Roxanne asked herself. She imagined herself in Victor shoes for a moment, the fear of her existence being ended very possible, and by someone she trusted nonetheless, came to mind. Her eyes widen at the realisation of this, and a new sensation she had longed for since some time now overtook her: guilt, remorse. It was an unpleasant feeling, sure, but it completed her. Roxanne wanted it to go away now, she had a goal, something to plan ahead for. She had to make amends; this was all new so she had no idea where to begin. "What do I do? Where do I go? Sorry Victor...I will make it up to you...", Roxanne told herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 23, 2017, 02:15:45 pm
Nathaniel was rather clearly unnerved at that thing approaching, looking back to see how Drifter seemed to be giving negative fucks about the approaching chiken walker, still observing it from behind cover. "So long as bringing in someone else isn't just a liability." he pointed out. "Might as well do what I can if you need the help though. Now as for that thing, what the hell do you think it's doing here?"
Helen nodded as she watched him finish his cigarette, uncertain what to think, simply watching and letting him explain for now. When he finished, letting her ask him questions, she nodded. "I suspected as such, but if another caused this, I need to know. You've already had Randael target you you once before, and now a member of God's Army breached the farm to sneak into your room?" she asked, wary now. "And someone inflicted harm upon you, something...wait..." she said softly, glowering at him under the mask. "Whatever it was did a lot more than merely harm your essence, didn't it?"
She was honestly working off a guess, it had looked as though he was covered in the remnants of a soul having been shattered in some way, but his aura was very much still intact. Yet different, slightly. It faintly reminded her of the aftermath of her fighting with Roxanne's counterpart, and Roxanne herself after a massive paw shattered her very being. Without studying it in detail as she had the harvested bandits, she couldn't really tell the difference between what happened to Victor and other ways in which a soul might end up destroyed or restored.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 23, 2017, 02:21:18 pm
Drifter shrugged as he watched the walker "If it wanted to shoot us it would have done so by now. I've fought one of those fuckers before and they don't just let those guns go unused. I wonder if our little AI friend found a new body." Walking over to the cover Nathaniel was using he crouched down behind it as he continued "And as for being a liability I doubt you would be. This thing had years to work on me, find the little gaps it could use to get in my head. Your strong enough I doubt it'd have the ability to brute force it's way into your head like it did those traders it used to try and fight Helen."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 23, 2017, 03:51:28 pm
Victor finished gathering the last of his items as he heard Helen’s remarks. He gave an enthusiastic sigh and looked at her. "Of course you want to know who it was...Fine, I’ll tell you everything...just promise me you won’t repeat their actions and do something drastic and dangerous ok? Not that I need to tell you that but still...", Victor responded to Helen. He then took a chair and sat on it; he motion Helen to take a seat as well. "Where to begin...", Victor said rhetorically.
"God’s Army had been in contact with me...they offered me to join them...it was a series of back and forths that would commute on a final meeting to see if I would go through...", Victor said, he pointed at the dead man, "He was supposed to be the one I would meet up with. Now, I planned to blow off the meeting, I was going to do so to let them know in a subtle way that I wasn’t interested...but he came into the farm and knocked on my door...".
Victor at this point had started to sound a bit nervous, the tone in his voice betrayed a bit of contempt and guilt. "I let him in Helen...We talked for a bit. I was going to let him know I wasn’t interested and was prepared to fight him if that didn’t sit well with him.", Victor said, now it was when he started to hesitate a bit, "But before I could do so, the culprit of what you see right now made themselves know...they made it clear they were here to ‘teach me a lesson’...it was Roxanne...she used the same abilities her counterpart used in that little skirmish we had. Life orbs Helen...she had those; they allow any damage to the soul to be reversed...she used it to be able to harness the soul of the man and then bring it back...she used it harness my soul too."
He had said enough to make him uncomfortable for some reason, but he felt he needed to do so. After some deep breaths, he continued to do so. "She is powerful now Helen, she took over the spirit in the blade, manipulated souls and has access to the powers of her counterpart.", Victor told Helen, "That is because she made a deal with her, one bigger than we imagined...I don’t know what do about this Helen...". Victor neglected the details about Roxanne claiming to be judging him, the nature of her deal with Alt-Roxanne to keep him in check from others and himself and how she apparently seemed to have a perverse enjoyment of her actions. Now he just needed to formulate what to do with the body of the dead man, answer Helen’s questions and figure out how to deal with Roxanne’s new found abilities.
Roxanne had no idea what she was doing. She knew people usually gave gifts to make amends, so that is what she would try. But what to give? "Flowers? No...that would give a bad idea...magic items? Nah, he has plenty...Books? We have the library...ugh! This is hard!", Roxanne said out loud to herself. She needed to clear her head for a bit. With this in mind, Roxanne went on a bit of a walk; no particular destination, just her and nature.
A while later, she found herself in the woods. She was a bit far away from the farm itself at this point. After looking around a bit and breathing some fresh air, her mind had cleared up. "Hmmm...this place is really soothing...maybe I should come here most often.", Roxanne told herself.
Then she walked a few more yards and found herself in a clearing. The air was crisp and the sunlight filled the ground she stood on; it was warm and all sounds seemed to echo here, the all outside influences seemed to vanish. Roxanne was at peace here, her mind raced with bliss. She had found a personal little treasure spot; she would come here again, of that she was sure. For now, she went into the middle of the clearing and just meditated for a bit. It had been a while since simple things like this gave her happiness. There was more to the pleasures of battle and drugs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 23, 2017, 04:09:30 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "That's what I figured, yeah. It shuld've spotted us by now, and those things tend to not really care whether their target can shrug off what it can throw at you. Even the 40mm wasn't that effective against the tanks, did a number on the carriers though. Might just be out of ammo, or something messed up its AI directives." he pointed out. "Though the latter sure sounds like Medina's work. In any case I'd hope so. Dunno what determines how it fucks with people, but if you're sure. Any way I can help then."
Helen was a bit nervous now, only to again find herself listening, and now she was staring at him, it was easy to guess that. "So they sought you out...I can guess why. They sought to prey upon your beliefs concerning what they too despise." she pointed out. "How long has this been going on? If they've been seeking you out, then you should've told us sooner. They are the enemy. Profligates!" she said, rather abruptly raising her voice.
"Literally the first thing I see them do is storm the first sign of civilization I'd seen in years, killing several fo the sake of rounding up innocents. To put them down like rabid animals, out of a so-called holy mission that's an affront to the god they claim to fight for." she said, her voice colder, quieter after that outburst. "And you entertained their efforts for this long. Why?" she asked, stepping closer. Even as he explained what Roxanne did, she was now more focused on him.
"So she gave this one what he deserves, and inflicted punishment upon you. I won't repeat her mistakes. I assure you of that. She delved dangerous close to something that would upset the balance between life and death. But I can see why you did this. Consorting with people who would have people like her executed. Or Catnip. Or Kathrine."
"We'll deal with the body. Burial or pyre. And since Roxanne was careless to leave a corpse of unknown corruption here overnight..." she said, bringing her hammer down on the corpse, shattering limbs, spine, several blows to render it inert. "I've seen signs that a body with its soul harvested hinders the growth of the undead plague, but I don't know about ones that were restored before dying."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 23, 2017, 05:48:29 pm
Pepper steps out of her shack and yawns. "Mornin fell- Why is there a chicken walker at our doorstep?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 23, 2017, 05:52:37 pm
Nathaniel turned, surprised at that question. "It's bringing eggs for breakfast? I have no idea, all I know is it's in range but hasn't fired." he remarked. "Might be thanks to Medina, but I'd rather not find out the hard way that it's just out of ammo."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 23, 2017, 05:54:17 pm
"Huh, never really got close to one of these before. Only really every saw them through my scope." She walks up to the walker and starts to examine it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 23, 2017, 06:02:10 pm
"Careful though. If it's just out of ammo that m-" And Pepper was now walking off, Nathaniel grumbling as he got up to follow her. "For fucks sake...alright, if it IS Medina in charge of this thing, she has a thing for talking to and getting info on what she calls anomalous flora and fauna. Dunno if your...word, what is it, fuck. Albinism, that, is mutagen-induced. If it is, she'll probably try and ask you about it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 23, 2017, 06:09:49 pm
Victor was taken aback by Helen her remarks and the way she raised her voice at him. "Helen...I did so to be able to discern what they wanted with us. They would know if something was up and might attack. I didn’t want to put anyone else in harm's way and I was going to report back though maybe I could be of use in that department.", Victor responded to Helen’s remarks about why he stayed quiet.
He continued to listen on as Helen chastised more. "D-do you think that is what I want? That I share that view with them? To have mutants slaughtered? No...I am not them! I would not stood to their level Helen!", Victor responded.
It is then he saw Helen smash the corpse; due to recent events, this shocked him. "Y-yeah, we need to get rid of him...his friends might come looking for him eventually...No telling what they would do if they found out...we have to find Roxanne too. No telling what she is up to now...it she might of done this out of the heat of the moment, or this might be continued behaviour."
Victor took a small glass vial of a green liquid and drank it. He then calmed down and gave a sigh of relief. "Alchemy can do wonders with access to modern medicine."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on October 23, 2017, 06:20:20 pm
Carrol answered Kath's question by picking up the slice of rhubarb pie and somewhat forcefully poking at her mouth with it.
"You're delirious. You should stop talking."
"Master Hoyt" was a few feet away, in the driver's seat. It was leaned back a comfortable amount, probably making him somewhat visible to the occupants of the RV's back end. There was a compact blue tank next to him, with a clear tube running from it to his hand. In his hand was a small, clear mask, the type you see at the dentist. Every few minutes, Hoyt would raise the mask up to his face, over his nose and mouth, take a good, deep breath, and then melt into the reclined car seat like he was a part of it.
Kermit, who wasn't a master, apparently, was in the back end of the van with Carrol and Kath. He wasn't really paying attention to them. He was standing in front of one of the counters, busily working on...something. There was a disassembled 1911 in front of him, beautiful stainless steel and checkered wooden grips. Next to this was a bottle of oil and a rag. And next to these items was a dog-eared drama novel, something to do with vampires in old Gothic Georgia. On top of this book was a half-full bottle of Adderall.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 23, 2017, 07:16:15 pm
Helen gave a little sigh at that. "Then be careful. Don't think we aren't both aware of your attitude back then. I have no way of knowing how deep it goes now. It's one thing to be cautious of the dangers that altering the body like that can cause, you know what happens when caution gives way to hatred." she said softly.
The mention of more coming back made her smirk a bit, looking back to him after she pummeled the corpse. "If they come here to find him, then they're enemies intruding upon this place. Let them come, and we'll reunite them with their envoy." she remarked. "I'll help drag the body outside then. You can choose how to dispose of it." she said, giving a sigh.
"I'm worried about you. And afraid about what would've happened had you been vulnerable to their offers. Didn't sleep well last night, lot of dreams about ill omens." she admitted. "As for Roxanne, we'll need to talk to her about her actions. You said she used magic to restore the souls? That...might avoid upsetting the balance, I hope. But it strayed dangerously close to that."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 23, 2017, 07:30:35 pm
Kathrine had a quick look around the RV from her bed, and then accepts the pie. Mistress Carrol was probably right. She was talking nonsense. Stupid Kathrine. She opens her mouth to speak, then decides against it. Master Hoyt wouldn't want her to speak again. Maybe Catnip was back. Catnip would be missing her. She missed Catnip, at least. She fell asleep again shortly afterwards.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 23, 2017, 08:36:44 pm
Drifter lowered his RPG but kept it on hand as he followed Nathaniel. He doubted this thing was a threat so he didn't mind getting closer to the thing. "Just let me know when you're ready then. I've got everything squared away for myself so I'm ready to go."
Meanwhile Alexei blinked as he tilted the..he wasn't sure what number this one was but regardless he turned it upside down to find it empty. Shrugging to himself he opened his bag and grabbed another bottle. "My friend you can hold your drink! Is good to have the company of someone who can actually drink for once. But perhaps we should find some rest..or a place for me to setup a still so I can make more before we drink it all."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 23, 2017, 09:13:07 pm
"I will be cautious, you have my word. And yes, I know exactly what hatred leads...I won’t let it consume me...not again...", Victor tells Helen in regards of her first remarks. He recalls his biggest regret for a moment but then he shakes the thought away.
"Yes, we are more than capable of taking them on but...after what happened in the center...I want to avoid such thing here..", Victor commented on Helen’s reaction to GA arriving for the corpse. Victor simply stared of what remained of it and winced a bit. Then heard Helen talking about disposal. "I will probably just burn it with a fire spell. Thanks for the offer...I’ll take care of it.", Victor responded to her offer to dispose of the body.
"Helen...don’t worry, I won’t fall for their temptations. The day I join them, is the day I abandon my humanity...and we both know what would happen then...", Victor told Helen to try and reassured her, "Pay no mind to them, they are just dreams. I had my share of them...they will pass. Focus on the now...focus on what is in front of you...And yes, Roxanne needs to be questioned to see what her motives are...I will look for her in a bit, after I get rid of this body. I will make sure she doesn’t do anything of the sort." Victor snickered a bit, the irony did not escape him. "For a while now, I have been the source of many arcane incidents here...now I am the one who seeks to prevent one...what has this world become?", Victor joked a bit at his own expense. "Now Helen. Thank you for listening to me and not just lashing out...that was refreshing. If you have matters to attend to, I understand. I’ll go ahead and clean this place out, should not be too hard. I’ll look for Roxanne later on too.", Victor told Helen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 23, 2017, 10:07:19 pm
Nathaniel gave a nod at that. "Only thing I oughta do real quick is tell Lilith I'll be out." he said, still watching the meachine warily. "You sure you can keep an eye on those two for now?"
Sergei smiled a bit at that, he wasn't sure which was more impressive. That Alexei seemed to have an unending supply of vodka, or that he could handle so much of that supply. "We should then, sure. Probably best to head over there then, hopefully shouldn't need us for now." he said. "If you think you can make a still after that many drinks." He'd then lead the way back to the road, staring at the chicken walker. "Is this new lady and smol man...walking up to it? And it's just standing there?"
Helen nodded at that, though his remark, "again" worried her. "Not again. More to ask about later, it seems..." she answered quietly.
"And you're right. But if they can infiltrate this place, they need to be stopped. If there are others, they might be waiting in the area. Might be best to search the forests then. If you're tending to the body, I suppose I can..." she suggested. "As for what you need to do, be careful. It might be best if all three of us talked about it, but if you're certain she won't harm you after a good night's sleep...I'll trust your judgement on this." she said. "And good. Means you're learning. Just...be careful, and remember."
She then took the mask off, and promptly pulled him into a kiss. "Remember. You're not alone here. Now, I should check on things and see about sending any of this envoy's friends to Helheim where they belong..." she said, putting her mask on before making her way towards the door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 23, 2017, 10:22:37 pm
Drifter hefted the RPG and said "I'm pretty sure I'll be able to handle it. Worst comes to worst something gets blown up."
Regardless he watched the scene with caution. He wasn't sure what either side was going to do and he didn't want anyone to die for the day.
Meanwhile Roland had found himself alone again as the others in the 3rd went about their business. His quarters were sizeable enough that he could sit at his bed comfortably as he used the desk to set the pieces of his rifle on. Which was when he felt a presence he had become accustomed to. Death stepped through the wall and sat down. Roland noted he wasn't hiding his injuries this time as he leaned back. "I've already told you I'd do that favor. So what are you here for this time? Time for my heart to skip a few ticks? My liver to bust?"
Death shook his head. "I'm here to..talk. To perhaps the most oddly unafraid man I've met. The kind of man who also knows when not to talk about certain things."
Roland motioned to the chair nearby and the spirit sat down. Roland listened as he talked and reassembled the rifle. He wasn't sure why this spirit had chosen to speak with him but it had done him no harm in the past so he may as well listen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 23, 2017, 11:11:31 pm
The robot bellowed it's standard warning in it's standard tone of robotic intimidation. "Stand away citizen." It kicked over a motorcycle, something catnip had intended to take apart anyway, and nearly walked into a pit. Inside the robot, Medeina was having trouble. The machine wanted to use it's tazer. Medeina had shut off it's authorization protocols so she could chase down animals and couldn't turn them back on again. Furthermore, once their we're viable targets nearby she was having a hard time keeping it from trying to run them down and the presence of armed individuals wasn't helping either. Medeina saw the robot knock someone down, and she realized her concentration had lapsed. She turned the innevitable stomp into a step, narrowly avoiding the foolish person who'd simply approached a military grade war machine. Medeina crashed the robot over and through the farms only line of defense and picked her way carefully towards Dee's workshop. "Mr. Chase, Mr. Hopewell, your services are no longer required." Maskens told the men she'd conscripted to relay her orders to her volunteers. They hemmed and hawed, but not nearly as much as they would when she told them she was rescinding the kill order on Mica. "You're what?!" Chase balked. Hopewell only nodded, but Chase was working himself into a bright rage. "That thing killed my son!" Maskens nodded solemnly, everyone had lost someone, but she couldn't keep going like this. Hector and Catalina were sitting nearby, waiting their turn. "These two..." Chase growled, "they're intimidating you aren't they? Coercing you?"
"No." Maskens said, "I'm tired, and I'm not in charge anymore. That's why I brought you all here. Treating the injured is hard enough without worrying about running this damn place. Ms. Anguiano, you're in charge. I invited Hector along to witness the passing of duties, as a marshal of the old guard he is technically the highest ranking person here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 24, 2017, 12:23:31 am
Nathaniel watched, wary now, only to see it bowl one of them over and simply walk on past. "What the fuck..." he said. He was about to run back to them, but what could he even do? If it wasn't rogue, he wondered if maybe he could use his old unit info as clearance enough to halt it. But as he stepped back towards them, he froze up. The memories came back again, for a moment.
Honestly it was the tank drones he hated the most. The walkers weren't that big a threat to a tank. But he saw what they could do infantry, power armor, even APCs. And they could force crews to button up. But as it walked by, he saw the emblem painted on the right leg. A stylized model of an atom, and over it the roman numeral IV. "What...the fuck..."
Hector simply watched for now, maintaining a calm expression as Maskens explained, while Catalina gave a nod at that after she explained. "You can count on me then." she said, before giving a nod. "I trust the militia here will not endanger smooth operation of this center." she said. This time Hector stepped up.
"I'm aware that she's killed people in the past. Many people. Our very first encounter with her was her trying to eat Kathrine. I was fully prepared to put her down myself, if she ever showed up at the farm again." he said calmly. "You may or may not have noticed the alterations to her mutations. Or perhaps the fact she hasn't gotten her claws on anyone since we've assumed responsibility of caring for her."
"As such, if she does lose control of herself, the way she would before the purifier treatments...I will deal with her accordingly if it comes to that. And if I fail to ensure she behaves, as I did in this incident due to being absent, you are to take that up with me. You were already willing to try and start a fight with Mica, surely just talking to me isn't any scarier."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 24, 2017, 01:35:07 am
Roxanne had found herself rather relaxed in the clearing. The air was crisp, the sounds of nature were the only things that accompanied her and warmth of the morning sun filled even her with energy. She had been sitting here for quite a while now, just basking on on the simple pleasures of life. The fact that she could find the time to go out and simply unwind like this meant the world wasn’t to bad yet. This peace came to an end though…
She first noticed a presence watching her. A small cursory look was all she bothered to do at the time. Roxanne chopped it up to the echo of a small animal that had been carried by the wind. As such, she went back to her relaxation. The feeling kept nagging her and she did her best to shrug it off. This type of feeling were the worst, why was she nervous at a time like this? All her previous worries had been washed away, what could possible be so dire that it interrupted this. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. She was no longer in a body, these weren’t simple “feelings”...The way she manifested was a physical representation of her information in a way she and others could recognize. Input of her surroundings would be filtered through “reality” and she would then emerge as she is. In other words, this was output of someone actually watching her; but she had realised too late. As she stood up to confront her intruder, six men with rifles and what looked like police armor showed up. Roxanne was surrounded by them and they slowly approached her, rifles aimed at her.
"Look what we got her boys! It’s one of those elf bitches everyone seems to have the hots for. What are you doing alone out here? I think we need to show this whore why you don’t go out alone like this. Don’t worry, her type are rather fragile, this will be an easy task and her corpse will allow us to finally rank up! Go on boys! Take down this freak of nature!", One of the man said, he was clearly in charge. Roxanne simply stared at him the whole time he said this. She was livid, the anger and fury she felt yesterday had returned. It wasn’t their comments that infuriated her, it wasn’t the fact that she was looked down upon based on her mutations, it wasn’t even the fact they assume she was an easy target. No, the reason was that it was their fault. It was all their fault! It them who attacked the refugee center, it was them that took catnip away, it was them that made Victor make that deal with Randael, it was them that lead her to lose her body, it was them that lead to her current state...and it was them why she had injured and harmed Victor. She had enough! This ended now!
Everything happened so fast but to Roxanne it was in slow motion. As soon as the leader stopped talking, she deployed her divine blades. Then, she covered herself in a tower of purple flames. The men’s rifles fired and bullets arced towards Roxanne. The sounds of bullet fire were joined by a single unholy scream and then the sounds of agony.
*bratatatatata* *roooooooar* “AHHHHHHHHH!!!”
This was the noises that Victor heard as he was now inside thick woods. Roxanne was easy to track at this point; residue of her aura left a clear path so all he had to do was follow it. He had done this for a while now. Finding the aura reside itself is hard since, like for instance searching for prey using footprints, determining “fresh” reside from on laid days ago was difficult. Once that was done, he stimply strolled away.
The noise freaked Victor out and he noticed the aura trail led in the direction of the screams and gunshots. He took out his sword and rushed towards the scene. Victor soon found himself in a clearing, but the scene in front of him was quite the picture. Blood and gore littered all over the place; burned entrails and organs were scattered around and the stench of burnt meat accompany that of decay. Victor did his best not to gad and succeeded only for the terror of what he noticed next. Roxanne stood in the middle, panting and heaving from exhaustion. Victor activated his portable aura device and detected no evidence of soul harvesting; just an old fashioned genocide. This gave pause to him, the fact that he was relieved she only violently killed a group of people made him slightly re-evaluate his moral code.
He didn’t get to do so for very long. Roxanne was know pointing her blades at Victor, gaze trained on him and a malevolent aura around her. Victor readied his sword and activated it, his aura of harvest overtook him and it contrasted with Roxanne’s divine aura. "Roxanne...it doesn’t have to end like this...don’t make this do this! I know you still have that orb in you! ROXANNE STOP!", Victor exclaimed to Roxanne. She had started to move towards him, blade still pointed at him. There was no other option, this blade, whom he had sworn to use to defend those around him, his order and it’s members, was about to be used to harm her; she, the cleanser who came from another reality, and a friend. Victor took his sword and with a shout, he swung it and brought it down on Roxanne. She in turn stopped walking forwards and used one of her blade to parry his...and it worked… Roxanne was able to block the sword and with the momentum disarm Victor. The sword deactivated and his aura of harvest was extinguished.
No, this was impossible, IMPOSSIBLE! His sword was the manifestation of entropy itself, it was able to decay anything it touched and make it withered until it break in at the speed of causality. But her blades had just blocked that, blocked decay itself...wait...could it be that...they don’t decay at all? Roxanne stood there after this; surprisingly, she lowered her blades and put them away. The aura around her ceased and she was generally more mellow. "Victor Ironwood.", Roxanne called, "I...I...I am sorry!" She then sprinted forward and hugged Victor with tears in her eyes. The guilt of what she had done to him and these men was dawning on her and it made her feel terrible. She wasn’t sure how to cope with this. "I am so sorry! For hurting you like that yesterday! I feel horrible...I don’t know how to deal with this...Why did I killed them Victor?! Why?! Is this why I have been for the last 15 years?! I am a monster!", Roxanne told Victor as she weeped.
Victor was utterly confused. What was she talking about? She felt bad for killing these people? Wait...she feeling bad about killing? Since when? What was going on?! Victor had begun to think she had lost it...from what she had done yesterday to now this. For now though, he tried to comfort her. He petted her head and let her vent. "It’s fine Roxanne...what is done is done...no regrets, no remorse...you taught me that remember? You haven’t done anything wrong. There is no need to look down. And I am fine too you see? I can take care of myself, don’t worry about that, water under the bridge...how do you say we go home?", Victor told Roxanne.
“I don’t think so. I can’t let anyone of you leave!”, said a voice; It was the leader, he approached the pair, shaking for a bit but still aiming his rifle at them with confidence, “Victor Ironwood, you the one we were after. Is that thing yours? Figures you would blow us off then. Making us waste our time. Either way, you and that demon have to die! I can’t let either of you escape! Take this!” After he said this, he opened fire with his rifle. Roxanne still clung close and as such Victor could do nothing but summon the divine spirit. It stood in front of the pair and and tank all the shots from the 5.56 rifle she man shot. "Take care of that pesky man for us shall we? Any means necessary.", Victor ordered the spirit; as soon as he said this, Roxanne herself spoke, "Command override: make sure you take him alive."
The golden robed spirit rushed towards the man as she ran out of ammo. He didn’t have the chance to reload as the divine spirit engulfed him completely. The rifle fell to the floor and eventually, he stopped struggling. A while later, Roxanne and the man walked back to the farm; Victor was following closely behind, sword still in hand. The man’s rifle was slung in Victor’s back, opposite shoulder of his sword’s scabbard. The leader himself spoke no words, he simply walked. He was not bounded, he wouldn’t try any antics. Of that, the divine spirit had made sure. The mage and the ghost arrived at the farm with their price. It had taken a while and some time had passed. Noon was already upon them when they made their return. "Alright Roxanne. Empty room to the left of where you kept your little posse before the command center claimed them. I’ll be there in a moment.", Victor told Roxanne. She just smiled and nodded, then she guided the man to his destination. Victor watched them go and have a deep sigh as she was out of view. The sword was sheathed on his back and he was able to think for a bit. What the fuck would he do with this now? The remains of first dead one had been taken care of and if Roxanne got too creative, he might have another disposal to take care of… However, she was acting weird. Roxanne seemed to express remorse for killing the other men and decided to spare this one, what was going on? One way to find out; Victor know walked towards the room he told Roxanne to go to.
A small hand drawn flyer flew in the wind somewhere. It depicted various people in them, all in crayon. Under them, little descriptions were written. One of them was Roxanne, her little description read, “The killer who chose mercy.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 24, 2017, 03:20:31 am
"As you've said several times already Mr. Lowe. As for fear, no, I'm not afraid of you. What I'm afraid of is another attack and that we have to rely on creatures as dangerous as Mica, and people as... How do I put this? Mr. Lowe, to put it simply, I'd be chuffed to have you as a security guard or a soldier but letting you console people I would not. I can only imagine how poor your bedside manner must be. The kind to tell a fretful girl that killing a killer is not killing." She explained, "when the hopes of the people hinge on a man who has passion only for battle and revenge, that's what I'm afraid of."
"So, you're just going to let them come and go as they please?" Hopewell seethed. Before he could continue, Maskens answered his question with a vitriolic hiss, "Yes Mr. Hopewell, as little as I like it. The residents of the farm, the maw included, provide the greatest defense the center has. I've had time and rest enough to think clearly and I can see that clearly. As little as Mr. Lowe understands about medicine, he knows a great deal about the art of killing and I'd rather not be the one to turn him and the combined forces of the farm against the last bastion of sanity in new England."
Hopewell seethed while Chase only sat with his head down. One of these men could see the wisdom of the doctor's words. Dee watched the laptop, bemused, while going through his excorsises. "Lift your arm like this Mr. Koenig. Good. How do you feel today?"
"Itchy, as always. Where's Mica? Expected her to visit by now. Normally she can't leave me alone." Dee asked. Dee hadn't expected to miss the spider so much. Something about his coma dreams had left a mark on him. Something he couldn't quiet remember, but came back to him as he slept the sleep of the profoundly wounded.
He'd been out and about as well, finally allowed to walk around outside, and he'd come across the wreckage of his car and the trailer with it's load of what had once been chickens. To him, it really summed up what had happened and it made him deeply unhappy. He hadn't wanted to be outside anymore after that. Unknown to any of the others, Mica was at that moment walking to the refugee center against Hector's orders. She'd spent all night helping to clean the barn, and then another few hours putting together a portrait for a poster. The piece of 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper rolled up in her pouch bore a striking sketch of Kathrine, carefully composed for a very specific purpose. She would visit Dee, but her other purpose was just as important if not more so. Mica was going to have Dee help her finish her missing person flier and make copies. If Mica and Lilith couldn't track her down, then maybe someone else could help too. Medeina asserted herself and once again insisted the chicken walker's shut down. Instead, it stomped on Dee's jukebox robot. "No! Idiot! Listen to me, I am in charge!" The robots sudden activation of it's return protocol had taken the AI off guard, and it had given the Swiss cheesed ATSV's own AI a small foothold. Medeina didn't want to wipe it's AI, she felt that doing so would be wrong somehow, the sense of dark familiarity that the mere thought of doing so brought up in her making her feel a bit sick. In so far as an AI can feel sick. She didn't really have much choice though, and so with a sigh and an earnest apology to an AI too focused to understand the sentiment, she overwrote it, insinuating herself into every circuit. Forcefully taking the robot like a digital succubus. She checked that the robot was undamaged, and then began it's shutdown process just outside Dee's workshop.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 24, 2017, 09:08:59 am
Pepper, after getting knocked on her ass, gets up and sees the atomic mark. "Oh fuck, this thing's nuclear!" She quickly scrambles back to where Drifter and Nathaniel are standing. (A note: For a few hours, I will not be able to tell you guys I posted, I am typing this up on a school iPad)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 24, 2017, 11:39:39 am
Hector was, for a moment, irritated by those remarks. But he stopped himself from speaking up. Something in what she said gave him pause, made him go from giving an irriitated glance to the two men to simply standing there, listening. He found it so easy to simply shrug off violence and everything life seemed to require of him now. On the other hand, part of him was both amused and irritated that these men were striken with grief, yet they were the ones willing to do something he had hesitated to do.
Her remark also reminded him of Kathrine. He'd seen it as a failure to get through to her, that she was so adamant about fighting back even if the person doing so would kill her and everyone she cared for. He knew his way of just shugging death off wasn't exactly normal, something beyond simple training and conditioning. He always thought of it as simply focusing on what was important, for the sake of others. He didn't want to call it revenge. But as he thought of everything their enemies had done, it was a hard thought to deny.
"...understood. You have my word that we will protect this place. We are not the enemy" he said, finally willing himself to give an answer.
Helen had heard the shots. Victor had been in one area of the woods, and she had been in another. Victor's pursuit of Roxanne had been what led them to the enemy, or rather the other way around, first. She had only scant signs of activity, recent tracks crossing the area of the woods, to go off of. It was after everything had calmed down that she started to carefully, calmly make her way to where the sounds of battle came from. "Oh gods damnit." she muttered, finally arriving at the scene, the two of them already having finished the job. And taken a captive, as she guessed from the series of footprints.
Just in case she activated her mask to give the place one final scan for any more intruders, hammer resting on her shoulder as she turned to head back to the farm. "And you call yourself a hunter, Helen..." she said to herself.
Nathaniel was shaken for a moment, but he forced himself to answer Pepper's outburst. "Same as any other heavy-duty military robot. They wouldn't need to paint a symbol on the damn thing like it's a unit patch just for that." he pointed out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 24, 2017, 11:56:26 am
Drifter sighed as he looked at Nathaniel. "So, do we need to go deal with it or do we think it's our very own bot drunkenly piloting a new body?"
As he said this retrieved a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. Which was about the same time he realized that smoking was becoming a bad habit. Alice had even complained about it to him while they'd been working in the library together. Fuck it, after this shit is over with I'm stopping.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 24, 2017, 05:52:19 pm
"Oh, right, I suppose. Wonder why its here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 24, 2017, 06:00:28 pm
Nathaniel shrugged at Pepper's question. "My guess is Medina's messing around with it, yeah. Wouldn't be surprised if it's fighting her every step of the way. Lemme go check on it, say goodbye to Lilith, then I'll be ready." he said. He'd follow it carefully, fumbling for something under his jacket, that he was wearing around his neck, to no longer conceal it. Old ID tags. When he made his way over, he examined the robot cautiously. It had been years since he was this close to an ATSV, back during training exercises involving both Divisions XIII and XIV. The former being the ones setting up those things. But this one, from the markings on it, seemed to be assigned to an SPD IV from his guess. He had only been familiar with XI through XV, all of which were part of a rather poor series of preparations for a situation that was spiraling out of control. "Keep that thing in line, Medina..." he said softly, before going over to find Lilith. "Lil? Where'd you go now..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 24, 2017, 06:32:28 pm
Lilith was still in Nathaniel's shack, pawing at his fallen door. Her claws were scraping against it, and she looked genuinely upset. "Nataleeee. Lilith paw hurth."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 24, 2017, 06:34:27 pm
Pepper was confused why he had named a person regarding the walker. "Well then, I guess I'll go get some breakfast."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 24, 2017, 06:36:10 pm
Nathaniel had a look of shock on his face when she said that. It's Lilith, since when does she ever show any indication of pain? "Oh shit. Lemme see." he said, reaching to grab some of his first aid supplies as he examined her paw carefully.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 24, 2017, 07:06:31 pm
Lilith lifts her paw up and presses it against Nathaniel's chest. Her claws are still out, but she seems to be taking care not to stab him with them. He's still getting pricked, though. "Nataleeee. Paw doethn't hurt no more." She lets her paw limply fall to the ground. "Natalee make paw hurt more. Pweathe?" Lilith's doing the kitty eyes again. "Pwetty pweathe? Wif cherry on top?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 24, 2017, 07:20:39 pm
Nathaniel was confused by that, standing firm as best as he could, the light pressure of her paw almost knocking him over anyway. He wasn't sure what that meant, wincing a bit at the claws pressed in against the material of his jacket. "You want me to make it hurt? Why's that?" he asked, curious now. He held the paw to examine her palm, or what she had for a palm at least, checking first for a cut or anything possibly impaled into it. "Um...lemme see then...how the fuck am I even gonna do that when you're basically bulletproof..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 24, 2017, 08:00:40 pm
Lilith's pawpads look entirely fine, and they still feel almost silky. "Natalee thand on paw." She pulls it out of his hand and slams it against the ground, growling. "Paw no hurt! Thith thu-" She freezes halfway through, her mouth wide open. It felt like her teeth were getting bigger, even though they very clearly aren't. Lilith leans forward, grabbing Nathaniel in a hug, mouth still forced wide open. It didn't hurt, or at least it didn't hurt as much as her paw did. It was more of a light ache. "Nhaaaaaaleee"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 24, 2017, 08:07:41 pm
Nathaniel wasn't sure what to make of this, blushing a little at that. "Great, evidently Lilith's a masochist now, what the f-" He promptly meeped as she pulled him into a hug, whining a little at that. "Lilith. Lilith. I'm not sure what you want me to do, but...I was actually about to leave with Drifter to go help him with something. Lil, please...are you gonna be alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 24, 2017, 08:17:32 pm
"Nho." Her only answer is short enough to be worrying. After a while, when she can close her mouth again, she lowers her head to his shoulder and gently bites down on it. "Natalee nomph. Natalee no leev." Sharlene brings her katana down on the overgrown bush once more. "Goddamn piece 'a shit, CUT!" After another ten swings, the branch she was chopping at finally falls off, mostly splintered at various points. The ball she'd spend the better part of a day trying to retrieve was punctured, too. "Oh for FUCKS SAKE. Fuck this stupid fuckin' sword." Sharlene's mostly just yelling at nothing, even going so far as to throw the sword, point-down, into the dirt. It topples over without much resistance, the tip now snapped off. "CUNT!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 24, 2017, 08:25:14 pm
Nathaniel blinked at that, a bit nervous at that. "Huh. Have you had any recent injuries lately, Lilith? Seems like something's wrong, but...shit, Lil. I need to go, I can't just let him run off to this raid on his own. Lil, please..." he said, before lowering himself to kiss her. "Lil. Be safe, okay? I dunno how I can help..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 24, 2017, 11:04:29 pm
Inside the room that had been set up as the area of interrogation, Roxanne was serving tea to while humming a tune. She had picked the leaves herself, the same leaves she picked for her own tea she drank to relax every once in awhile. This event would require everyone involved, Roxanne assumed, to be relatively calm so she had prepared the tea to achieve this. Once the tea was poured to the man, Victor and herself, Roxanne went ahead and took a seat. “Don’t think I am going to cooperate with the likes of you. I don’t know how you made me unable to fight back but it doesn’t mean I still don’t see you for the abomination you are!”, the man exclaimed to Roxanne.
Roxanne just smiled at him. Victor entered the room and sat next to Roxanne; they were both seated opposite of the man. "I take it you have made our guest comfortable.". Victor asked as he took the cup of tea and took a sip. "Yes, remember Victor. We just want to talk for now’ no need to get aggressive now, the time for that has passed."
Victor rolled his eyes. Of all people, for her to tell him this? After she killed 5 men with divine fire and used said ability to consume another’s soul, then his own. Now she wanted to talk in a peaceful manner? What a joke! But he would play along. The way she had broken down a while before concerned him. "Alright, we are ready to begin then...", Victor said as he put down the cup of tea.
The man just looked at the two and glared. “You two are wasting your time! You are fucking abominations and that demon over there ended the lives of worthy men! I may not have the will to fight from your actions but I will sure as hell not tell you anything. My life over my faith!”, the man told the magic pair. Roxanne shook her head as she drank her own cup of tea; Victor gave a small smile. "We’ll see. There are people here who would love to get their hands on you. We are doing you a favor; so keep that in mind as we continue.", Victor told the man who had yet to give a reaction, "Now, tell me. Why me? Do you really think I would join your ilk? Despite what you were told...we share too many difference to ever be allies, that is an understatement...Now, take your time, we have time..."
This interview went like this; Victor would ask the questions and Roxanne would try to reassure the man. Bad cop/good cop routine. At times, Victor would get a bit frustrated due to recent events and Roxanne would put a hand on his shoulder and shake her head. Overall, this was not very productive. The man did not say much of worth...the current tactics were not working, but Roxanne would not let Victor use any “enhanced interrogations tactics”. But the interview went on despite this.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 24, 2017, 11:40:08 pm
Helen soon made her way to the farm, and Victor would like sense her casting out her aura, using the mask to confirm where they were. She had reason to suspect they had a captive after all, and soon there'd be a knock on the door. "Of all the...leaving me out of this?" she teased, just loud enough to be overheard.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 24, 2017, 11:43:07 pm
So far, no one was shooting at her. That was always a good sign, though people were giving her odd looks. There was nothing unusual about that. Mica picked her way through the groups of people gathered here and there, discussing current events and nursing a variety of wounds both mental and physical. There was someone standing outside Dee's room. He didn't look threatening, but he wasn't a guard either. Mica knew the look of a person working them self up for something though.
"What you doin'?" She asked. The man jumped a little, and gave her a guilty look that didn't last when he saw who he was talking to.
"None of your business murderer. What's this shit?" He snatched Mica's drawing from her hands and looked at it amid her indignant screeches. "What's this shit?" he repeated, "Who'd you steal this from?" she snatched for it and it was pulled out of her reach.
"Give back morsel picture, gotta make posters for findin'!" she shouted. People were beginning to emerge from their rooms to see what the commotion was about. The man crumpled the drawing up and tossed it on the ground. "Go ahead and pick it up then." He said condescendingly. For a moment, it looked like Mica wouldn't, but then she leant down. The man had begun to wind up for a kick to her face, when the voice of Maskens came out in a shout.
"Mr. Hopewell, I do hope to god you aren't planning on doing what it looks like you are planning on doing." She pushed her way through the hall to confront the man. Mica could see the now unveiled hate in him, and her first instinct was to taunt. The urge was squashed though, instead she used the energy to carefully unfold and straighten her drawing. It would still serve it's intended purpose.
"You turned your back on us doctor! How are we supposed to feel safe between gods army and this monster-" Hopewell said. He was not cut off by the knight's rapid advance up the hall towards him, but the cold cock looping in from the now open doorway to his right.
"She may be a monster," Dee said to the man unconcious on the floor while rubbing at his own possibly broken knuckles, "but she's my monster."
"Mrs. Mica." Maskens said, drawing the spiders attention to her, "Visit with your boyfriend then have Mr. Lowe bring you to my office. I'd like to have a word. In private."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 24, 2017, 11:54:52 pm
Hector was positively livid. Over several things now. Masken's remarks earlier had him unsure what to think now, and then he saw Mica had gone completely against what he asked, despite all his efforts to explain that she would be in danger if she did. He knew she didn't actually know the order was rescinded. She disobeyed him. The man about to lash out against her left him prepared to sprint full-tilt at him, visibly tensing up, when Dee abruptly knocking the man out cold stopped him. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit.
"First off, good to see you're holding up fairly well, Dee. Second, Mica. I asked you not to come here until things had calmed down." he said, shaking his head. "And now this is going to be a pain in the ass to explain when he comes to, though I hope he's smart enough to figure out that not missing any limbs means Mica didn't do it." he remarked, moving over to calmly set a hand on Mica's shoulder. "So what's the drawing for? Is this your own work? I'm...impressed, actually."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 25, 2017, 12:16:13 am
Mica clung to Dee, hanging off him like she hadn't seen him in years. "Then My-ka go on panty raid with Knight and..." She said into his ear, talking on and on between squeezes and kisses. A guard made to check hopewell while the others spoke among themselves. "Yeah, she did it." Dee explained, Mica having no time to show her pride in herself between the attention she showered on him. Eventually though, she took the drawing back from Hector. "Life full of dangers tin-can-hek-tor. My-ka go and take underthings from glow-mans. My-ka not skurred of silly angry people's." She stuck her tongue out at Hector then, before continuing to shower Dee with affection and stories of her adventure. "Bold lizard, rescuin' My-ka again."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 25, 2017, 12:35:45 am
Victor was waiting for the man to give an answer to one of his questions, but he was meet with a cold stone silence; this was irritating him; "You will have to talk eventually, if it wasn’t for her in this room I-", Victor exclaimed to the man, his words interrupted by a knock and then a little quib. Roxanne and Victor smiled. "Oh, look who is here now. Guess she realized the search is over and found us here. Guess we did kinda rush things and neglected to brief her...Roxanne, look over our guest here while I open the door.", Victor told Roxanne.
Roxanne nodded as Victor got up and walked towards the door. He opened it, unsure how Helen would react to this. "Hey, Helen...yeah, sorry for not looking for you. Got a bit excited because of our find. I assume your mask has already revealed it; we are having difficulty dealing with it...maybe you would have a solution you would like to try? Anyways, feel free to come in...Roxanne is here too, we can deal with her later; for now, we have one of GA here with us. I tried to, hasn’t budged...", Victor told Helen as he opened the door. He gave her a hand gesture that indicated an invitation to enter. Roxanne did not look at Helen, too embarrassed and ashamed to face her.
"What do we have here? Another one of your whores? Damn it Ironwood, how much of a degenerate are you? What is her gimmick? Can’t see any physical mutations. She a cyborg then? Whatever, no matter who you bring, I ain’t talking!", The man said in reaction to Helen arriving.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 25, 2017, 01:49:31 am
Hector nodded at that, carefully handing her back the drawing. "Thing is Mica, this is not a danger you have to fight. Not one you should fight. It's one that requires not fighting."
Helen smiled as she walked in, underneath her mask. It was showing a wicked glow, and as she stepped in she turned to look straight at the captive. She said nothing at first, ignoring the man's taunts as she walked over, leaning a bit. She looked him right in the eyes, a faint red glow being the only thing seen in the eyeholes. Then, she deactivated her mask. The metal warped immediately, shifting from a hateful glare to a neutral expression, and the glow faded, leaving a glimpse of green visible.
"I am unaltered, and unaugmented. I am nothing more than a holy warrior, serving the same god that you do. Among others." she said, smirking under the mask. "And my brethren have fought in the name of humanity for almost 40 years. How many monsters from beyond The Veil have you encountered, profligate? Not mutants, but things never born in this world?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 25, 2017, 02:07:56 am
"My-ka not fightin', is she lizard?" She cooed. "'sides, My-ka gotta find morsel. Gonna make lizard help."
"Dr. Maskens, you may want to have a look at this." The guard going through hopewell's pockets said. He passed a folded sheet of paper and what looked like a rough pocket knife to the doctor. Maskens scanned the page, then read it again with visible anger growing on her face. When she finished, she folded it and handed the knife to Hector. "Take him away, when he comes to I want him turned out on his ass. Mr. Lowe, have this destroyed please. I think I'll keep the contents of this... Note, to myself for a bit longer. Khaki, put an extra guard on Mr. Koenigs door. One of the newcomers, if you will. From now on, you report to Ms. Anguina. Alright?"
Khaki gave her a quick nod, already understanding that power had passed hands and that the battle for control between them had been settled.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 25, 2017, 02:20:21 am
Hector nodded at that, watching as they searched the man, uncertain what the note read, but suspecting it was a bad sign. That she requested an additional guard made him more suspicious. He carefully accepted the knight, his grip on it momentary enough that a plastic handle scale cracked. "Alright then. Mica'll want some time with Dee for the moment, so best to see him out now while he's in no condition to object." he said, looking down at the man before he put the knife away, to deal with later. He then knelt down, to heft the unconscious man over his shoulder.
"Is he going to be a threat to anyone? If we turn him loose, there's a chance he might be back, and he might hurt someone in the process."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 25, 2017, 02:35:42 am
Hopewell was carried away between two guards, and Maskens watched them go. The crowd was dispersing now. Even Dee and Mica had retreated to the privacy of his room, Mica beginning to become uncharacteristically furtive. "Mica, babe, calm down. It's only been a week." We're the last words Hector heard from the lizard before the door swung shut on it's air hinge.
"Mr. Lowe, I happen to agree. The people here don't need to see more... Nevermind. You will do as you will, and I'm sure whatever that will be would be better than what would have happened had I let Mr. Hopewell follow through." Maskens said, "Do you know where Mr. Deverish is? I owe a great many apologies and his is the first I need to deliver. Inform me when Ms. Mica is finished with her 'visit' would you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 25, 2017, 02:40:39 am
Hector gave a nod at that, watching as the guards hauled the man off after he helped lift him up. "I know. Honestly the last thing this place needs is more conflict. If it's needed then so be it, but if you think talking to this person before they're turned loose will do any good..." he said, before nodding. "If the others can handle Hopewell then, I'll look for Dervish." he said.
Atomos was there as well, among the guards that remained. "I'll help as well, and inform him to meet at Maskens' office if I find him." she said, standing at attention before she went off, Hector doing so as well afterward.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 25, 2017, 09:15:59 am
While Pepper was eating breakfast, she noticed a trailer that had a sign that read (I forgot what it said). She got up from her seat and walked to the trailer. She knocked on the door, waiting to see if anyone answered.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 25, 2017, 12:44:36 pm
"Doctor Quinn's Lodgings, please knock before entering.
Quinn wakes up with a jolt at a knock at his door, He rubs his eyes and readies a pot of coffee. He makes his way to the door and opens it, looking above Pepper before looking down. "Huh. You're really short. Come in, what is it?" He states with a bored tone, heading inside the trailer. "Coffee?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 25, 2017, 01:50:59 pm
The man looked at Helen approached, mask concealing her face. His attitude was somewhat dropped as she approached. She commanded an air of intimidation with her; his attitude was shattered by the activation of her mask. “W-what the fuck are you bunch of freaks?! Why did we need a fuck like Ironwood if this is who he affiliates himself with.”, The man said in reaction to her actions, “The veil? What the fuck is that? Creatures? I only know of demons like that bitch next to you and abominations who have accepted the poison. Not that it matters, god will sort them out! And you worship or god? Ha! As if your worship to him matters after all of your sins! Be gone woman!”
Roxanne looks at Helen who now leans on the table as she speaks to the man with her mask on. She feels bad for the man a bit. Ever since she started to put herself in other's shoes a while ago, different scenarios went through her head. In the end, they were just people doing what they think was right. Could you fault them for that.
“Listen to her...Look, I know you I am the last person you want to hear from but believe me. It is not a good idea to make her mad. Co-operate and you will not be harmed. Refuse and...”, Roxanne told the man, she interrupted her last statement and looked away.
The man did not dignified Roxanne’s statement with a response. He opted to simply laugh at her and her warnings. Roxanne shrunk a bit in her seat. The bloodlust of earlier completely exhausted, that combined with her new found emotions left her quite sheepish. It would take some time for her to get used to this.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 25, 2017, 02:04:03 pm
Nathaniel had soon managed to finally pry Lilith off of him, sighing as he explained that he'd be back soon, asking her to please take care of herself, and talk to Quinn if anything seems wrong with her. He was soon heading back to Drifter's vehicle, giving a nod. He had the helmet on, kevlar concealed under the jacket, pistol holstered, and M4 slung over a shoulder. "Alright. I'm ready."
Helen smirked at that. "So you really are ignorant of what other monsters haunt this world. Chitinous things that know only hatred, living wind that cuts to the bone with every breath, massive beasts of countless tendrils and fang-filled mouths. What next? Are you going to tell me you know nothing of the undead?" she taunted.
She then held her holy symbol up. A cross, that transitioned into a hammer at the bottom. "Your god will not help you here. You can only help yourself. After all, you see this as a crusade, don't you? But the righteousness of a crusade is proven through victory. And yet your brethren lose, time and time again." she said, before her hand seized his throat.
"You will start by informing us how you learned Victor to be vulnerable to your corruption of the faith. And do keep in mind, I have ways of ensuring your judgement rests with Odin, and not the God in Three Persons."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 25, 2017, 02:13:05 pm
Drifter had by this point put away the RPG. Nodding to Nathaniel he climbed into the truck and started the engine. "Got plenty of weapons and armor in the back if you want to use some of it." He said as he started driving away from the farm. "The lab is only a few hours from here so it won't be a long trip."
Drifter turned the radio on as they rode towards their destination. Bandit's voice came on as he talked about a group of traders promising good prices before playing some music. Drifter couldn't help but to smile as he drove.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 25, 2017, 04:24:18 pm
The man smirks and laughs as Helen tells him of creatures and the undead. He was well aware of all of those monsters but he simply referred them as demons, the dead was judgement from god on mankind. His mocking continues until Helen grabs him by the throat. The man places a hand on Helen’s to try and free herself. Roxanne sees as Helen starts to move towards him and she attemtps to stop here. This time, its Victor who places a hand on Roxanne’s shoulder to prevent this; Roxanne simply looks on and seats back on. "What is it with you people? Seriously? You know what? Fine, just let go of me wench!” , The man told Helen; once she did, he kept his promise, “This fuck here was marked. By who, no one knows; but it allows us to look inside of him like a radio station broadcasting its signal. A soul shard I think it’s called? That is what allowed us to do it. We saw into this boy and found he aggreed with us in a few things; he just too much of a coward to act on it. Now, if we were going to atually recruit this fuck and mold him or if this was a setup was beyond my paygrade; that is all I know. Happy?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 25, 2017, 04:25:08 pm
Pepper stared at him for the briefest of moments with a disapproving look. Well that wasn't very nice, but yeah, sure" She entered the trailer.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 25, 2017, 04:25:40 pm
Sharlene slides her beaten up katana into it's sheath and tosses the deflated soccer ball back into the entrance of the refugee centre. She'd given up on trying to please that little cunt of a kid, she'd spent an entire day trying to find and rescue the fucking thing and the kid had just yelled and kicked and screamed over his punctured little ball. Ungrateful cunt. She kicked a rock into the underbrush, grumbling. The farm wasn't that long of a walk away, about half an hour. "Wonder how Lil's doin'..." Lilith was not okay. Now everything ached, and she couldn't retract the claws on her left paw either. She knew something was wrong, but Nathaniel said he would be back soon, so she could wait. She sat down on top of Nathaniel's now-ruined ex-door and waited. Something smelled off, though. And she could hear talking coming from one of the otherwise-empty shacks. Lilith slowly pads over to the offending building, and plants herself outside the door. Knocking first seemed like the right thing to do, so she raked her claws down the outside a couple times, leaving a hefty bunch of deep scratches in it.
When she doesn't get a reply, Lilith stands up properly, places both paws against the top of the door, and essentially just leans on it, forcing the door to bend down to the point of snapping off. "Hewwo."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 25, 2017, 04:34:02 pm
Nathaniel nodded as he looked back to the armory in the truck, as it started up to set off. "Might be good to have a real ballistic vest instead of just kevlar, good odds they'll be packing more than just pistols and buckshot."
Helen was glaring at him from under her mask, gripping him more tightly, her other hand holding him at bay for a moment, until she let go at last. "Good little profligate. We've since taken care of that soul shard, but...of course, even the briefest window seems to have exposed him." she said. "You're in luck. If everyone sent after him dies, they might be too stupid to get the hint. Roxanne, Victor. You might wish to look away and cover your ears for a moment." she said.
The way she held her hammer, and the strange golden glow it gave off, right as her mask activated again. A bright flash light the room as she held the head of the hammer inches from the man's face, and a resounding boom deafened him for a moment. The good news was that she did this a mere moment before Lilith forced her way into the door. The bad news is that she suspected this was going to massively complicate the interrogations.
"Lilith! We're a little busy..." she said, looking back to gaze through her via the mask. Whether she would even see anything or not, she was a bit confused and worried now.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Joebob1337 on October 25, 2017, 04:35:03 pm
Down the road (if anyone is looking) was a very large truck, built for heavy hauling to the looks of it. There was something extremely large on its trailer underneath a tarp. Another peculiar thing about the large truck was that it was probably solar powered, as it was almost silent and was covered in what seemed to be solar panels.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 25, 2017, 04:38:28 pm
Quinn pours himself a cup of coffee and adds a bit of sugar. "Cream and sugar?" He asks, stirring the sugar into his own coffee.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 25, 2017, 04:41:34 pm
"Neither." She pours the coffee into a thermos and started sipping from that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 25, 2017, 04:49:49 pm
Lilith hadn't quite seen the flash, but she'd certainly heard the bang. Her ears pin back as she stumbles backwards out the door with her paws on her head, before she bonks her skull on the doorway. With a roar of what could be pain, could be confusion, she drops back down onto all fours and slams her elbow into the doorway, severely denting the sheet metal wall. Lilith shakes her head, taking a moment to lie down on the floor and recover, and then stands back up, hitting her head on the doorframe again. "Li-Lilith thayth hi. What doing?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 25, 2017, 05:16:17 pm
Victor and Roxanne saw in surprise as Helen got the man to talk. Roxanne in particular was relieved Helen hadn’t taken it too far; Victor was glad this was over. When Helen ordered them to cover their ears and eyes, Victor did so without hesitation while Roxanne put on her robe’s hood to protect herself. The flash and bang were harsh as they echoed in the room. Despite his best effort, Victor was left with a ringing noise in his ears and was disoriation; Roxanne was left unaffected. The man in the chair now was completely out of it….Then Lilith barged in.
Roxanne, while still in her robe’s hood, was overtaken by panic. Lilith was here! Roxanne started to shake and moved back a bit. Victor was still too disoriented to pay attention properly. "L-lilith? W-what are you doing here? Anything I can help you with?". Roxanne sheepishly told Lilith. "Lilith? What? She here? Head hurts...", Victor managed to said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 25, 2017, 05:23:15 pm
Helen smirked a bit at that. And screams of panic or pain from the pain had been drowned out by the thunder her hammer brought, left blinded and deafened for the moment, possibly with permanent effects on his hearing. She stepped back, lowering her hammer as she turned to face Lilith. "Sorry about that Lilith. We're just asking a few things of this God's Army pest. He's one of the enemy, and we only have him alive until he proves himself better off dead." she said.
"Now, if he can actually hear me by now, I wonder if he'd like to explain to her face what they've yearned to do to Kathrine..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 25, 2017, 05:57:41 pm
Lilith looked around the shack, barely taking in anything the first couple glances. There was something stood next to magic man. Scary lady was stood next to some guy. The thing next to magic man grabbed her attention, though. It looked familiar, enough to not make her immediately hostile, more just curious. Lilith padded up to Roxanne and slowly leaned towards her, shoving Victor out of the way in the process. "Whath thith?" She giggles, then sniff at it. It even smelled familiar.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 25, 2017, 06:27:21 pm
Victor was barely coming to from the bang while the man was basically back to normal. He had heard Helen’s remarks and after an ouch he continue to speak. “Lilith? Kathrine? Who the fuck are them? More mutants? I will kill all of you!”, The man screamed as he focused his vision. Eventually, his eyes focused on Lilith and he practically jolts. “No! Fuck this shit, I don’t fucking need this!”, the man shouted while he cowers in the chair.
Roxanne is still paralyzed with fear as Lilith knocks over Victor and worsen his headache and disorientation. She heard as Lilith asked who she was and felt her hot breath. “I-I am Roxanne Lil...Don’t you recognize me?”, Roxanne asks the tigress. A hand going to pet her out of instinct; not sure how she would react. A distinct feeling overtook her; it felt as if something inside of her was screaming but it was drowned by primordial fear. "See? It's me...I ain't going to hurt you...sodon'thurtme...", Roxanne told Lilith as her hand neared Lilith head; not aware the reason Lilith didn't recognize her was her hood.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 25, 2017, 06:37:08 pm
Helen sighed a bit at that, moving over to Lilith to carefully set a hand on Roxanne's shoulder. "It's alright Lilith. Yes, it's still Roxanne..." she said, before turning back to the man bound to the chair. "Say that a little louder, I dare you." she said, advancing towards him. Though her mask now had that strange neutral expression, she was glowering at him under the mask, and in an instant she gave him a solid punch square in the face.
"You're less than worthless. I wield artifacts the likes your heretical bishops use, and even THIS you seem ignorant in? I have no use for a messenger to the enemy if they do not understand any of what they have seen." she taunted. "This woman here, the tigress. She sees the one I mentioned earlier as akin to her own daughter. A girl that knows nothing of violence, a dutiful young woman who had her alterations forced upon her. Go on, profligate. Tell me you would wish death upon a mere girl, to the one that would eat you alive for such threats. At that point, even what I could do to you would be a mercy."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 25, 2017, 06:54:11 pm
Lilith raises her head towards Roxanne's pets, purring. The strange thing was nice, at least. Then the scary lady mentioned someone that sounded like the cub. "CUB?!" Lilith shakes it's hand away and moves to bite her arm when she doesn't immediately move it. She felt her bite connect, so she jerked her head to the right and crouched down into a stance ready for a pounce. "YOU HURT CUB?" Lilith's muscles are practically bursting out of her clothes, which are just barely on the edge of ripping apart. The pounce hits home, and immediately she brings her paw down right on his skull. Lilith, still worked up, just makes do with roaring at his corpse and wiping the brain paste off her paw.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 25, 2017, 07:20:28 pm
The man mainly ignores Helen’s comments as he kept his eye on the tigress mutant. She simply walks towards the thing that had slaughtered his companions. “Her daughter? That thing...it’s spreading...I cannot let this continue!”, the man shouted. His attention went from Lilith to Helen’s comments. For a moment, his previous fear had vanished.
Roxanne saw as Lilith let herself be petted. She was starting to calm down herself but then Lilith reacted in a violent manner and that made Roxanne’s panic go into overdrive. Lilith’s bite attack took her by surprise; in her current state, she did not take into account that she was a literal ghost. Roxanne gave a scream at pain that never came.It was then that Lilith went from Roxanne to pounce and then kill the man they had been interrogated. Brain matter was spattered all over the floor. Victor had just recovered and had quite the scene to view. Roxanne’s was now a heaving mess; Lilith was here, she had attacked her, killed the man who she had tried to advocate for and now there was a dead body with it’s brains all over the room. Roxanne’s empathy extended both ways, she now pictured herself in the man’s position. "Oh god, oh my god! He is dead! Lilith! You killed him! What are we going to do?!", Roxanne shouted, she sounded like a typical panicked girl in every fight video ever.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 25, 2017, 07:27:54 pm
Helen sidestepped pretty much the instant she saw Lilith reacting to the mention of her cub, still almost bowled over as a result and watching with an irritated groan as the man was almost immediately bowled over and pulped. "Well. I'd hoped to get more useful information out of him, but now all that knowledge is painting the walls." she remarked.
Roxanne's remark then startled her. "He was going to kill you, Roxanne. Even if sending him back to them would've sent a powerful message to the enemy, that must be weighed against the fact that he would've lived to harm others in the future." she said. The fact that she had to say that to an assassin shocked her a bit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 25, 2017, 07:49:15 pm
Roxanne looked at Helen as she explained this to her. She was having none of it. "No Helen! Look at him, look at him! Is that the fate a person deserves?! Think if that was one of your own? What would you do? Wouldn’t you swear vengeance? Why wouldn’t you?! To die such a pointless death, no honor...How are we any better than them if we just go indiscriminately kill them? Isn’t that why we fight them? Seriously, we are just doing to them what we claim to be fighting against. Is your blood-lust blinding you that much?! Necessary? If he did have come back, we would’ve given him a proper death; not this! We are no better, we are not! Just a while ago, I slaughtered all of his companions...no remorse...no mercy...we are no better.", Roxanne exclaimed to Helen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 25, 2017, 08:04:07 pm
Helen was surprised at that, only to sigh as she heard Roxanne out. In response she set her hammer down, took off her mask, and approached. She promptly pulled her into a hug, or an attempt at it, given her ghostly form. "I know. Roxanne, I know. If it had been my order, I would've been as hateful and angry as I had been when I saw your counterpart kill three who were practically the only family I had left." she said softly.
"But they have been the ones to attack us. They are a threat to us, and to humanity. My very first encounter with them had was to watch as they stormed the first sign of civilization I'd seen in years, as they killed a bartender's son, demonstrating they would put down any who got in their way, even if they are untainted by what they hate. Willing to round up and execute people who had no choice in their fate, and even one of their own who fled to atone."
Helen looked down a bit. "I will not give into hatred. I offered that man a chance at redeeming himself, as he was defenseless. At our mercy. Even if he would've been a threat in the future, and even if he was clearly unwilling to ACCEPT that mercy, it was offered." she said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 25, 2017, 08:26:12 pm
Lilith's growling eventually subsided into quiet purring. The shards of skull and brain matter scattered around her didn't seem to bother her as much as the the conversation going on. "Lilith fight cub-hurter. Ith fine now."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 25, 2017, 11:48:58 pm
Roxanne listened to Helen’s explanation, her reasoning one very familiar. “They are the enemy. They killed us. It’s for the betterment of humanity. Monsters claiming righteousness” Roxanne had heard it all before, and this reeked of it. Rationally, she understood what she was saying; that itch was satiated. But this new nagging feeling...it told her this was still wrong. All of those claims, they could say the same thing about them; and they would not be wrong. Roxanne looked at Helen and then at Lilith; she took her hood off and then Looked at Helen in the eyes. "It was offered, but it wasn’t delivered...and now you are trying to justify it...I am sorry Helen, I can’t stand by that...", Roxanne responded
Victor at this point had regained full control and was not impaired. He listened on at what Helen and Roxanne were saying. This wasn’t the same Roxanne as before; the same Roxanne that a few hours ago burned a man’s soul for stepping out of line. What the hell had happened in those 12 hours?
The tea cup for the man was still in the table, untouched. Brain matter and gore was the prominent detail in the room’s walls. Roxanne looked at the man and then those in the room one final time. "Please leave the room. What we came here to do is over...I will take charge of cleaning. Lilith, you too please; Nathaniel should be back soon anyways.", Roxanne told the trio. Her fear of the tigress had been suppressed for the time being. Their next encounter would once again leave Roxanne a quivering mess. But for now, there was stuff to do.
"Let’s go Helen...she is right.", Victor told Helen; he then leaned and whispered in her ear, "I think she needs some space...maybe talk to her later." He then started to walk towards the door, hands in his pockets. "Lux aeterna, Cleanser Luna", Victor told Roxanne as he walked outside, "Don’t forget who you are..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 26, 2017, 12:23:47 am
Helen grumbled a bit at that. "Yes, because someone didn't give me the chance to see that offer through." she said, glowering at Lilith. "And...well. I understand. Roxanne. Take care. Alright?" she said, nodding as she following Victor out, leaning against him a little.
"She's right though." she pointed out. "I used the threat of Lilith, fully knowing he might provoke her. I tried offering that profligate mercy and he rejected it. It's happened too damn many times." she said softly. "You saw in the memories we shared. The funeral pyre. First attempt to contact Shadows of Arcana, after learning of their existence..." she said, now looking down solemnly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 26, 2017, 06:12:29 am
Lilith was pleasantly surprised that the thingy she had bitten was Roxanne. The problem arose when she realised that she had definitely bitten something, and Roxanne still had all her limbs... She padded over to the ghost and sat down in front of her. The request for Lilith to leave hadn't even registered. "Thocker lay-dee talk to cub-hurter?". She growls unintentionally, and then shakes her head. "Lilith do thomething wrong?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 26, 2017, 06:53:36 pm
Victor listened to Helen as she explained what Roxanne had said. "While she does have a point...it is still unusual thing for her to say…that worries me a bit. Did it not strike you as odd.", Victor responded to her first remarks.
"And yes, I remember that...the wound was still fresh back then I would assume...people let astray but what they assume was righteous...kinda like what Roxanne was saying...unnecessary carnage huh?", Victor commented to her second remarks. He began to see that maybe Roxanne had a point, but what she proposed wasn’t the most practical solution. Oh, what to do!
Roxanne notices Lilith not leaving, she is actually coming closer. Roxanne sighs as Lilith makes her questions. "Yes I did, I got what I needed. He wasn’t going to hurt anyone right now, of that I made sure.. But Helen was right, he might of come back and want to hurt us more. This people want to hurt us Lilith, so no, you didn’t do anything wrong. You did what you thought was right and that's what matters. It’s all good, don’t worry about it/", Roxanne told the tigress. Her fear had temporarily banished, too preoccupied by the current situation at hand. The dead man and her conflicting feelings.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 26, 2017, 07:07:45 pm
Sergei led the way back to the road leading towards the bridge, smiling some. "The boy and Freki should be there. Back across the bridge and to the south, close to the shore." he explained. "Just around the bend so it's out of sight from here." he said, only to regard the approaching truck with curisoity, giving a wave.
Helen gave a little sigh at that. "You're right. It is weird, worrisome even. Not like her at all, but so long as she'll be alright." she said softly, looking down. "Yeah. It was the first time we'd finally decided to send someone to contact your order. She was sent alone and unarmed. Sofia McKinnon."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 26, 2017, 07:43:28 pm
The memory Helen had shared, he could feel the way it had affected her. In return, he had shared the one that revealed why God’s Army would target him in the first place. "As one of the last remaining members...I would like to apologize on behalf of my order. If we are to proceed forward, we must make amends to the past. Not just the mistakes we as individuals have made, but by those who represent us...I think her own way, Roxanne is trying to do the same… Sofia McKinnon...Wait, that last name...", Victor responds to Helen, his voice turns to that of surprise at the end, "I am so sorry Helen..."
The modified luxury rv the command center used was close to it’s destination. They had tracked the location of the bio-weapon lab; it had been a long time since they had been here. Sigma, Lambda, Delora and Thomas all had come to the trip; Router even decided to accompany them to personally inspect all went well. The RV stopped a distance away from where the inhabitants intended to arrive. “We are here Router, failed bio-weapons spotted. Orders?”, Sigma called. “Man the guns and approach with caution, take down as many as you can with the turrets then the rest on foot. This is the first step to reclaiming what is ours.”, Router announced.
Lambda and Delora manned the turrets as the rv marched forward; the attention of some of the failed bio-weapons shifted their way and they charged at them. The turrests began to fire, then lighting crackled; the fight for the bio-weapon lab had begun.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 26, 2017, 07:54:35 pm
Helen nodded at that. "And I too must apologize for the conduct that drove our orders apart, and led to the conflict between us. We will rebuild, together." she said softly, before giving a nod at that. "Yes. That was my mother, the reason my father joined Odin's Oath, in the years before our order was founded."
"When this is over, after we deal with Randael, maybe we'll have at least a moment's peace to settle down a little..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 26, 2017, 09:17:28 pm
Quinn sips his coffee, staring at Pepper. "Well? Do you need something?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 26, 2017, 09:22:39 pm
"Nah, since I'm stayin' for a while, I thou-" Pepper starts a massive coughing fit, even coughing up blood.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 26, 2017, 09:27:21 pm
Quinn waits for her to finish, sipping his coffee. Once Pepper finishes he states, "are you *sure* there isn't anything?" he puts his mug down and grabs a small doctor's bag.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 26, 2017, 09:37:00 pm
"Yes, we will rebuild. Humanity might not remember the name, but our actions will echo through the ages...", Victor answered to Helen, "I see...she left behind a hidden gem then. I bet she smiles upon you right now. In her honor, and those who we lost in this conflict, we will succeed in our endeavor!"
Victor heard Helen’s last remarks and it took him for a bit of surprise. He smile before responding. "This is our final fight. After this we can focus on what we want to do. And yes, that includes settling down a bit...maybe think beyond our order..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 26, 2017, 09:44:05 pm
Helen nodded at that. "I hope we can. Perhaps if our order grows, renewed and reunited, a new name might suit it. Or, if only the part we play in humanity's survival is remember, so be it. Cattle die, kinsmen die, we ourselves also die. But the fair fame never dies of him who has earned it." she said, before blushing a bit given her earlier remark.
"We have all earned this victory, after what it's taken to make it this far."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 26, 2017, 10:17:15 pm
"A name huh? That would cement our foundation, sure. I will let you go ahead and choose it when you are ready. Shadows of Arcana be damned! I am here with you now, what we have going will be grand one day, of that I am sure.", Victor responded to Helen. He didn’t let on to the fact that he was partly referring to the offer Hunter Alex made to him and Roxanne; a chance to rebuild their order… Those thought soon left Victor's mind as he realize how close they were to finish the job and be in peace at last.
"Go and rest Helen; or if that is not your style, I understand. Been a crazy morning. The day is half-way done. I have a little thing to take care off.", Victor told Helen as he place his hand on his sword’s handle, "I will see you soon, no doubt. Have to get ready for the fight ahead of us. No doubt you are doing the same. Take care Helen, until next time!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 26, 2017, 10:28:52 pm
Helen gave a little nod at that, before she smiled a bit under the mask. "Perhaps something reflecting what is being rebuilt after our reunion, reflecting that we will use what is best in both our orders." she said, smiling a bit as she set a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you. I will fight at your side, so long as it is needed. For now I need to tend to my preparations, and return to The Hall to check on things there. I still have the radio handset, I can be here in mere minutes if you need me. But I will return this evening, to remain overnight. With...you, if you wish it." she said, blushing a bit. "T-to ensure nothing else endangers you as the enemy did last night." she said, before gathering the books to return to the room she was using as a study, now in the library. The bulk of her preparations, what required she study The Source in private, was finished now.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 26, 2017, 11:27:36 pm
"Yes, that seems fitting. A merge of our orders under a single banner...I too will fight along you as long as I can be of service, I am your sword my fair maiden.", Victor told Helen in response to her first remarks as she place her hand on his shoulder. Victor then blushed a but himself as Helen said her second bit, he stammered a bit as he responded. "M-may your preparations go well, I too will be in my room for the foreseeable future today...And if you wish to do so, my door is open to you...Take care Helen...see you tonight then...", Victor told Helen and then watched her depart. He himself entered his room and made preparation and maintenance on his sword. The note given to him by Huntress Blackmore proved useful, he could now fully use the spirit in the sword to his fullest. The finally thing that remained, make more essence for his sword.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 27, 2017, 12:57:03 am
"Alright, alright, calm down!" Dee said, trying to push Mica away. She was a difficult bug to dislodge himself from, all those arms. The way she grabbed on and kept laying kisses on him, he half expected her to clamp down and drain him of blood like a leech. She could do it too, a bite from her would bleed free and Mica wouldn't stop until he was little more than a dried up husk of skin and bone. The main consolation to these horrible thoughts was that in her excitement, Mica was more likely to push him onto his bed than she was to kill and eat him. He wasn't sure he could say the same for many other people.
Eventually, she got the hint and came up for air. "My-ka need lizards help. Need lizard to do writing for My-ka! Morsel been taken, and My-ka and Lil-eth can't find where she taken!" She panted. Dee took the poster she'd drawn, straightening it out on the table in an attempt to get the wrinkles out and once again marveling at the detail. She told him what to write and he did so, making the proper corrections to grammar where needed. When all was said and done, the poster read like this.
MISSING! KATHRINE! IF FOUND PLEASE BRING TO OR CONTACT REFUGEE CENTER! LAST SEEN NEAR FARM BRIDGE! ASSUMED KIDNAPPED!
The poster was then shown to Medeina, who began to print out hundreds of copies. Like a certain poster calling out to certain people made by a certain ratling, these posters would soon be seen all across new england. Dervish looked over the file Medeina had put together and the results of his own psyche evaluation. "Looks alright. A bit closeted concerning your mutations and a bit withdrawn from so much time spent in that vault, but otherwise you're in tip top condition. There's no reason you won't fit in just fine here." Dervish said. Atomos worked her hands in her lap, wringing her tail out of nervousness. "You know," Dervish went on, "Cases of radiogenic mutation so specific are incredibly rare. Most people mutating as a result of radiogenesis usually turn into grotesque monsters, or pitiful examples of mutated humans. All things considered, you are incredibly lucky. In fact, it's Medeina's opinion that you would have died from radiation poisoning if you hadn't mutated."
"What do you mean?" Atomos asked.
"Before you got here, the AI and I talked about it and we think your body is capable of absorbing radiation, maybe even mutagen, and turning it into a positive change by utilizing it instead of just filtering it out. In other words, your genetic makeup is very robust and your immune system very abnormal. As for how it works though, I have no clue." Dervish flipped through the paper work, seeing if there was anything else to say. Finding nothing, he said, "I could go on and on, but we'd be here for hours and I'd get no closer to adequately explaining it. All I can really say is that you got off lucky."
The fox girl stopped wringing her tail and let it flop to the floor. "So... what do I do now?" She asked. Her voice had the sound of youth to it, the sound of a girl with a flexible range. One moment, she could make herself sound coy and flirtatious. The next she could be barking and taking orders, sounding like the marine she was. Dervish shuffled the file back together and stood, offering his hand to help her out of her seat, enjoying the silky look of her blond hair and the way it complimented the red of her ears and tail.
"That's between you and your Captain, but I can think of a few things. Personally, I think you should go for a walk. You and the others from the vault. It's been seven years and a few months since the cataclysm started and you folks went underground, I think you should reacquaint yourselves with the outside world." Dervish told her, "And I think you in particular should acquaint yourself with your mutations. I think you may find them to be a bit more useful out here than they were down there." "Captain!" Atomos barked, "Permission to-"
"Cut the official crap private. I already talked it over with Mr. Deverish. He's of the opinion that the men under my command should be given some kind of leave, and I happen to agree. I'm half a mind to dick around myself for awhile, but this place has to be put back in shape. Can't do that though, so we've worked out a schedule. Private, I'm putting you on leave."
Atomos blinked. It had been so long since she'd been on official leave. The thought made her nervous. For last seven years, life had been a constant in and out of grey walls and glowing clawing hands. Waking up and bedding down with lackluster canned meals and listening in on transmissions in between. She and her peers had been on duty for so long, it seemed wrong to take a break. Atomos had to admit though, now that they were outside, free of the vaults confining walls, she felt restless. Antsy even. She wanted to stretch her legs and breath the air. She became aware of the Captain, now the overseer of the refugee center, staring at her. "Y-yes Captain. What should I do?"
Catalina sighed, a little exasperated. "Anything you want. If you really need me to tell you where to squat and when to push, then you're in trouble. It's a vacation goddamnit, what do you want to do?"
She thought about it. Her father, who had been a Marine himself, had liked to go hunting and had brought his daughter along with him many times. It was one of the pleasant memories of her pre-boot camp life that she really enjoyed. Just Chester and his little girl, out on a chilly late autumn morning, waiting in a stand for a buck that might not even show. Atomos eyes seemed to glaze over at the memory and her posture slipped. Captain Anguina saw the look and said, "That's what I thought, now get out of my office private and have a good time off."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 27, 2017, 01:28:30 am
Alexei followed Sergei, pulling out an old cigar and lighting it with a spare match he had. Observing the new vehicle he took a drag and felt the mix of drugs and tabaco enter his system cutting through the alcohol. Keeping up appearances of being drunk he mumbled "Maybe new comrades? Perhaps they would like vodka. I have plenty of vodka!"
He reached into his bag and pulled out a bottle of some oddly flavored vodka. The odd haze of the alcohol that had been flooding his system cleared somewhat as he took another drag from the cigar and blew out a puff of smoke, holding the cigar in his other hand. Giving the goofy and oddball smile of a drunk man he waved to the truck with the hand carrying the bottle as he stumbled a little as he'd seen many a drunk man stumble.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 27, 2017, 03:30:08 am
Hector had waited for now, watching as Mica and Dee got to work preparing the posters, to distribute them in a manner that reminded him of years ago. If fate willed it, they would find her. Or the will of Agmen, the thing that guided Catnip. Would this machine-goddess allow it? He was uncertain. He wanted to return to the farm and resume his work. If it would get this thing's attention, so be it.
When Mica was ready, he would wait in Maskens' office. He was worried again. Not about Catnip, or even Kathrine. But about Mica. And what an odd thought it was. She did disobey him though, undermining his efforts to protect her and talk the center out of its course of action. Even if she arrived in time to avoid causing an incident, it implied he couldn't actually keep her in line like he said he would.
That he ensured she hadn't killed an innocent since her treatment was irreverent. It was only by her own self-control and careful guidance from those around her. The former many refused to believe she had, the latter too subtle in its influence.
Elsewhere, Helen finished her studies and prepared for her journey back to The Hall to check on the others. Sergei was still over there down the road, an bemused look on his face. Tipsy as he still was, he could at least pass for sober while Alexei drew all the attention. So long as he didn't stumble out into the road and get run over, it'd at least present a disarming appearance, two apparent friends arriving to greet a traveler, one having partied way too hard too early in the day. More assuring than just a drunkard stumbling about alone.
Atomos had hardly the faintest idea where to start. A hunt sounded nice, and along the way over she saw plentiful woods in the distance, across the fields north and east of the center. But it'd been 7 years. An entire cataclysm and the fledgling efforts to rebuild passed her by while she waited in the vault, with nothing but scattered radio transmissions to go off of. She assumed the worst, and yet a good look outside left her awestruck.
If it was anything that seemed truly apocalyptic, it was how quiet everything was. The center was abuzz with activity her sensitive ears couldn't easily tune out, but the outside itself seemed so peaceful for a place near what was once a busy highway, with the ruins of a major town not far to the southwest. She expected the forests to be a decaying, haunted swath of wasteland, and yet it looked alive, thriving even as the blob surely threatened to penetrate into every drop of rain that nourished it.
The realization that her quarry might actually offer her life a sense of normalcy, and not prove to be some twisted beast covered in a living bramble of antlers or some equally-evocative mental image, was the most comforting thought she had in years.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 27, 2017, 05:56:24 am
Lilith started purring again. Shocker lady hadn't shocked her at all lately, so she was taking that as an OK for interaction. As soon as Roxanne had told her that she hadn't done something wrong, and by extension that she wasn't getting tazed, Lilith had tried to force Roxanne's hand onto her head by nudging against it. She closes her eyes, ready for the pets, and fails to realise that she's slowly toppling forward until she almost collapses. Stumbling to the right a step, Lilith reopens her eyes to find out... Nothing. Nothing really changed, except for Roxanne having left, apparently. "Thocker lay-dee? Lilith sowwy..." She looks around the room, then stands up. "Thocker lay-deeeeeeee..." She looks down at something moving, only to see Roxanne. Phasing through her tits. Sharlene came out of the forest next to the farm. The cabin was only a couple of minutes away compared to the walk to the centre, but she really didn't feel like heading over there to deal with Mohammad and Lilith right now. Maybe one of the farm guys could help her sort out her katana. The knight certainly knew about that kinda shit, but he was back at the centre with Mica and Dee. Hm. She could just ask some random dude about it, the farm did have some weirdos in it. The row of shacks stood in front of her. She hadn't even noticed the signs, instead just heading for a random shack and knocking on the door. As it turns out, Victor probably isn't gonna be much help, at least with the sword.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 27, 2017, 09:12:52 am
After another 15 seconds of coughing, she finally stopped and wiped some blood off of her lip, which is now melting through the floor. "We-Well... I... um... This hasn't happened before..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on October 27, 2017, 12:13:17 pm
Quinn sighs and takes out syringe and a stethoscope, "I'm going to check your breathing and take a blood sample." Quinn puts the end of the stethoscope on Pepper's back, "Breath in deeply, then out." He listens to her breathing for a moment before jotting down some notes, "There's definitely some fluid build-up in your lungs." The scientist grabs the syringe and takes a blood sample and puts it into a test tube. "Take this and bring it to the center, ask for someone named Medina. She should help you." he states, giving the blood sample to Pepper.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 27, 2017, 04:50:19 pm
Roxanne saw as Lilith was nudging against her; this made her giggle a bit before she realized what was going on. For whatever reason, Roxanne was stuck as a incorporeal being. As such, Lilith continued to move forwards and she eventually stumbles. Roxanne was both too amused and confused to move at all. As the tigress looked around calling Roxanne by her pet name, Roxanne notices she if phasing though Lilith as the search continued. Lilith eventually stops and looks down to find Roxanne phasing through her chest. Roxanne is now trying her best to stifle her laughter; for some reason, she finds this rather amusing. "Down here Lilith, it's very warm in here!", Roxanne says in an amuse and mocking tone.
Victor is working on his sword after he reloaded it with a fresh batch of blood essence. A knock on his door interrupts his work; he gets up to go opened. The aura spell told him that this was not a new person but he did not recognize the aura as they had yet to truly interact. With his sword still in hand, he went to open the door. Fresh blood essence still laid on the table next to a silver athame and a bloody rag, ready to be harvested an stored. The person on the other side a surprise to him.
"Oh? Hello. Sharlene Quintaro is it? This is quite unexpected. What do I owe the occ-", Victor tells Sharlene as he addressed her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Joebob1337 on October 27, 2017, 04:51:00 pm
The truck then rolled into the form and stopped. Then a most peculiar figure popped out, a young-looking slime.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 27, 2017, 05:31:44 pm
Helen had by now caught up the other two that were there to greet the driver of the truck, a bit surprised at the figured, her mask activating momentarily to examine the young person, while Sergei looked back to an empty bottle he was holding. "What was in that last one..." The was was the rather strange sight of one tipsy man in a tracksuit, one drunken lunatic, and a lady with a scaled cloak and a shifting metal mask.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 27, 2017, 05:54:10 pm
Lilith was very offended by the ghost inside her tits. "Thocker lay-dee get out!" Lilith reeees, placing one paw on her boobs and trying to scrape Roxanne away. "THOCKER LAY-DEEEEEEE." Sharlene just barges in past him, eyeing Victor's sword. "Hey. You can fix swords right. Fix mine. Nice knife. Why do you have cocaine on your desk?" She shoves her sheathed katana into Victor's chest and immediately heads for the stuff lying on his table. "Like seriously, what is this? I ain't seen red coke before."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 27, 2017, 06:54:55 pm
Roxanne hears Lilith get mad at her and she just burst out laughing, "Get out? Why! This is fun Lilith! Look I can do this!" She then started to hover as Lilith shouted at her. In an instant afterwards, Roxanne was floating around and through Lilith multiple times. She noticed the way the tigress tenses up but Roxanne doesn’t care, she is having too much fun now. "What are you going to do about it Lilith?!", Roxanne taunted Lilith.
"Well, I can give it a shot, wh-", Victor responded to Sharlene before being interrupted by having her katana being shoved in his chest. He then notices her going towards the unharvested blood essence. "DO NOT TOUCH THAT!!! STAY BACK!!!", Victor yelled at Sharlene, "That thing is dangerous! Even just touching it will give you ill effects." The sword in Victor’s hand started to glow a bit from his emotions, the divine spirit ready to be deployed but Victor held back; she wasn’t an enemy. Besides...she was the handler of the tigress that made him feel being mauled to death 3 times. "Please...sorry for yelling. But please don’t touch it...Tell me, what is wrong with your sword?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 27, 2017, 07:45:53 pm
Drifter idly tapped the steering wheel as they rode down the road leading to the bridge. Soon his little battle wagon came into view of the farm. Pulling it to a stop in the usual place he observed the new vehicle and person with mild interest before deciding he should let Alice know he was okay. Not that he had actually told her he'd gone anywhere just he figured she had figured it out. "Thanks for helping me out Nathaniel, you ever need anything I'll do what I can."
With that he hopped out of the truck and started towards the library. Alice was normally there after all.
(( The thing Drifter and Nathaniel went to go take care of https://docs.google.com/document/d/1duXzpQUF7PHNo6jAfrvs9BWzSe-31zPZRjrFr5kHEHk/edit?usp=sharing ))
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 28, 2017, 12:48:23 am
Maskens grabbed Mica as she passed by, careful to use her mechanical arm in case Mica lashed out in surprise. "In here, you have to talk to me remember." She said. Hector pulled out a seat for Mica, and the spider took it wordlessly. A couple years ago, Mica would have cocked her head in confusion maybe even taking a bite out of the chair. "Mr. Lowe, can I ask you to leave? I'd like to speak with Mica, just the two of us? If you'd like to keep busy, you can help out by taking some of the girls posters and passing them out." Hector grimaced at being told to leave, considered giving a sanctimonious speech, but left it. It soon became clear that Maskens wasn't going to speak to Mica about anything of import with him in the room.
An hour or so later, the spider and the doctor emerged from the office, arms over one anothers shoulders, and Mica dabbing at the doctors eyes with one of her spare head scarves. "I'm just so sorry." Hector thought he heard Maskens say. Mica just nodded commiseratingly and told her it was alright. "My-ka understand. My-ka bad girl once. My-ka sorry too." Atomos walked north, enjoying the slight breeze across her ears. How strange it had been, in the height of her sickness, to watch in the mirror as her ears migrated up the sides of her head. Changing shape as they went until they stuck out of her platinum blond hair, a splash of playful red in all that pale gold. The air smelled clean, cleaner than the stale recycled stuff down in the vault. She could almost taste it in fact, and she wondered if that was a result of mutation, or because she'd been deprived of it for so long.
A rabbit hopped out into the road, and she took a moment to simply enjoy it before unslinging her rifle and firing on it. A short sharp bark, the sound of a ricocheting bullet, and the rustle of the escaping rabbit was all she needed to really get her fur up. She was free, in a sense. No more grey walls, no more threat of death by clawing hands, no more constantly dosing herself with antirads. Atomos closed her eyes and let the sounds of the world wash over her. Shivers ran down her spine, and suddenly she was running, wooping her joy to the cloudy sky. It looked like it would rain, she hoped it would rain. The woods soon closed around her and she slowed to a walk, then to a creep. PFC Atomos was on the hunt, and it brought back pleasant memories. "Lord guide my hand and my heart so that no part of the animal is wasted." Chester said, showing his young daughter how to properly gut an animal. "God hates wastrels Kit." He told her, and so she believed. Atomos, Jenny Barrowfield that was, Daughter of Chester and Irine Barrowfield, held her father in high regard adoring him as only a young girl can adore her father. He had his own dreams for his "Kit," but he didn't hold her to them. He wanted her to make her own path. It prided him though, that her desires were in line with his dreams. She wanted to be a Marine some day, just like her dad.
"See? Just like taking off a sock." He said, showing Jenny how to remove the skin of the brown jackrabbit. She wrinkled her nose, but hadn't looked away. It was one of hundreds of her fathers lessons that she would carry with her through her life. "Father, guide my hand and my heart so that no part of the animal is wasted." Atomos whispered, peeling the skin from the weasel before removing the viscera and tossing the gutted animal into her mesh bag. She looked over the hide, judging her job of removing it poor. "Damn, sorry daddy." It would still make good cords, but the weasels fur would never make a good scarf in the condition she'd cut it in.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 28, 2017, 02:23:11 am
Hector gave a little nod to Maskens as he made his way for the door. No objections, no snark. If anything, the fact he simply quietly obeyed her request was either a relief, a bit unsettling, or both in their own ways. He simply assisted in handing out the posters to distribute, waiting there until they left the room sometime later. He suspected what happened was completely unlike his expectations.
Elsewhere, Nathaniel stretched a bit as they returned, a good bit later in the day. He was smiling a little at that. "It's alright. Anything you need me for. And if we end up planning anything else I'll be sure to fill you in in case you want to join in." he said. For now he'd make his way inside to put away the M4 and plate carrier he now took as his own, before starting to look around for Lilith. He was worried about her now, and a few thoughts still lingered in the back of his mind, haunted by the suggestions that thing was just beginning to taunt him with, the moment the charges went off and silenced it.
Thoughts of Lilith, of starting a family with her even, an outright impossibility from everything he knew about her mutations.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 28, 2017, 05:50:05 am
Lilith's been reduced to growling and trying to swat at Roxanne whenever she pops her head out by now. "THOCKER LAY-DEE. PILL-OH FOR NATALEE ONLY." Then, mid-swipe, she just freezes up, her paw inches away from smacking herself in the tit. She manages to force out a quiet peep before she just topples over, smacking the side of her head against the ground in the process. There's a short whine as her paw visibly bulges, and she scrapes her claws against the dirt. She manages to eek out a relatively quiet 'rawr' before her wrists also bulge out with a sickening CRACK. Sharlene pauses with her hand halfway towards the pile of blood essence. "Why, wha's it do? And ain't it obvious, dumbass? Thing's broken."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Joebob1337 on October 28, 2017, 01:47:56 pm
The slime seemed to be generally confused as there was only three people, considering all the crap around he thought there would be more people.
"Hello? Are you three all that are here?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 28, 2017, 02:14:56 pm
Sergei shook his head at that. "No, actually. A lot of them are either busy or at the center. We were headed over to a place across the river. Also, I...huh. This is new." he remarked, starting to realize the strangeness of the situation. Not often something actualy fazed him nowadays, adventuring with a mage hunter tends to do that.
Helen then stepped up and gave a nod, her mask reverting back to normal after looking him momentarily. "I'm Helen, this is Sergei, and his friend Alexei. And you are, if I may ask?" Aside from the unusual appearance of her outfit, the fact she seemed less confused as Sergei over the slime's appearance was likely unusual.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 28, 2017, 04:10:04 pm
Roxanne was still laughing as Lilith continued to try and get her to stop. The tigress suddenly freezes and Roxanne assumes it is part of the banter. "What’s wrong Lilith? Did you finally give up?", Roxanne says with a giggle. Then Lilith topples over and for a moment Roxanne though something was wrong but dismissed it. "What’s wrong Lilith? I am on the top of you, not the bottom, so don’t fall!", Roxanne teased.
Then Lilith’s paw began to twitch and then it began to bulge. This concerned Roxanne but then she was actually afraid for Lilith as she head the snapping sound in her wrists as it grew. "Holy shit Lilith! Are you okay?!", said Roxanne with genuine worry.
"That is magical essence. Blood essence to be exact, it is made by harvesting the life force of other living beings and using it to create this type of essence. Doing this is actually quite frowned upon. I only do it since it is what my sword uses to power and repair itself.", Victor responded to sharlene while putting his sword on the table, "And it is not cocaine...so please don’t touch it...or snort it..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 28, 2017, 05:24:42 pm
Lilith had enjoyed it the first time around. Slight pain with no aftereffects, it was almost pleasant. This, though. This was like when she first got her mutations. It hurt. She could feel everything breaking again, her muscles shifting around and growing. Lilith reached for the doorway, whining, when her arms start changing. Her elbows buckle and she falls against the outer wall of the shack, making it buckle outwards violently. Her tracksuit barely put up any resistance against her sudden growth spurts, practically bursting into almost neat rags. The shoddily put together wall of the spare shack put up an almost equal amount of resistance, in fact, and she spills out into the open air, the roof falling in slightly behind her. "N-Natalie..." Sharlene slowly moves her hand away from the pile of essence on the table. "So it's what, magic? Sounds pretty fucked for pulling rabbits outta hats. Or what, is this the sawing people in half kinda shit?" She looks genuinely interested for once. "Oooh, if it's magic shit, can you teach me? I know card tricks! Magic shit's always seemed cool. Nice sword."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 28, 2017, 05:32:50 pm
Nathaniel had just started to look around to see if he could find Lilith when one of the spare shacks simply buckled and fell apart. Lilith was simply on the ground, clothes in tatters and now covered in what used to be bits of the wall. "LILITH!" he shouted, rushing over towards her. He saw Roxanne there and was afraid she might've done something, but the main worry in his mind was the tigress. He was panic-stricken now, examining her and realized that bones seemed to be snapping under an intense force. The only thing he could think to do was fumble for pieces of the rumble to clear it off of her, waiting until it seemed like at least some of the mutations subsided before checking for fractures. In truth he had no idea what was happening, nor how to help. "Ohgod, what the fuck is going on...s-stay with me Lil..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 28, 2017, 06:17:18 pm
Lilith lets out a quiet growl as her elbow visibly bends backwards and then sets itself again. "Nat-Na..." Her torso was next. Nothing broke this time, but she was certainly left breathless by it. Another growth spurt, this time her feet. Somehow, this is what crosses the line. She just goes completely limp, passed the fuck out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 28, 2017, 07:04:49 pm
Roxanne witnessed Nathaniel arrive and his obvious concern over Lilith. She herself was left speechless, not knowing what was going on. The only thing she could thing to do was to try and clear some of the debris. Due to her nervousness, Roxanne was still unable to become corporeal and her attempts to move anything proved unfruitful. This makes her even more nervous and the cycles continues. "Lilith...a-are you ok? I didn’t mean to do this...I am so sorry...", Roxanne tells Lilith but in a tone implying it was directed to Nathaniel too.
Victor looked at Sharlene with a look of confusion and a bit of indignation. "Rabbit...in a hat?...Card tricks? Sure...I mean...sure...", Victor said to sharlene. Because of this, Victor had got the wild idea to teach sharlene actual arcane skills. He doesn’t know what to start with, so he looks and noticed his blood essence and sword. "You want to learn magic then do you? Fine, I’ll teach you magic. Go ahead, touch the essance, then your katana."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 28, 2017, 07:06:38 pm
Nathaniel was frantic now, wildly unprepared for this. He'd seen mutants aplenty, but seeing mutations actually taking effect was something he never witnessed before, and it absolutely terrified him. Bones cracking and mending, muscles torn only to be regrown, and Nathaniel was at a loss for how to even react. Check for fractures, splint anything left broken, manage possible symptoms of shock. Those thoughts came to mind, but he had no idea what else would happen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 28, 2017, 07:34:46 pm
After a while, Lilith stops growing bigger. She's absolutely massive by now, almost the height she was while on all fours before, despite her just being laid out on her side. One of the first immediately visible differences, beyond the obvious change in size, is her teeth. They're about a forearm long now. Secondly, her paws are now massive. While before, they could just about cover Nathaniel's head, now they'd probably easily cover his entire torso. The claws, as with the rest of her, have gotten larger, essentially being knives even while retracted. Lilith eventually comes around, growling quietly. "Na-a-tlee.." Sharlene snatches her katana back from Victor and dumps it on the table, the blade resting inside the pile of blood essence. "Sooooo, what."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 28, 2017, 07:57:56 pm
Nathaniel was stunned by the results at the end. There was was, now another few feet taller, further altered by agonizing transformations, leaving him only able to check for any signs of lingering injuries. "Ohgod, Lil...how the fuck did this happen? Roxanne...what happened?" he said softly, practically clinging to the tigress now.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 28, 2017, 08:16:46 pm
Roxanne stopped trying to move debris when nathaniel asked her about Lilith. “I...I was playing around with her. I was phasing through Lilith...she told me to stop and I didn’t and then she fell and then she started to scream and I am so sorry!”, Roxanne frantically tried to explain, her guilt evident in her tone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 28, 2017, 08:36:49 pm
Bandit had felt off for the past couple of days but kept it to himself. Aside from some pain and a few other issues he’d felt okay. That was up until he fell unconscious. That had been a couple of hours before Seven had found him and rushed him to the medical station he had set up in one of the back rooms.
Inspecting Bandit’s injuries he found out the rest of his arm was going to have to go as Brown rushed in asking what was going on. Telling Brown to get Bandit hooked up Seven started searching for his surgical saw. “Where the fuck is this thing? Oh fuck it I don’t have time for this!”
Seven grabbed the axe he’d kept in the room as a decoration and poured antibacterial liquid all over it as he moved to the table. Lifting the axe Seven cut the remainder of the arm off and pushed it to the side as he grabbed a robotic arm from the nearby table. Shoving the automatic integration socket into Bandit’s shoulder he hoped it activated.
After a couple of seconds he shouted “Oh for fucks sake Cass just do it! Do you really want to wait another decade on my table hoping I build you a fucking body or are you going to take this and run with it!”
The shouting resulted in a further few seconds of awkward silence before the sounds of it attaching itself to Bandit’s body drifted into the air. Sighing in relief Seven grabbed a chair and sat down. “Thanks Cass, I know you probably don’t like it but it’s the best I’ll ever be able to do..for both of you.”
It was a couple of hours before Bandit woke up and looked at Seven. Seven merely shrugged before he said “Some good and bad news. Bad news is you lost the arm entirely. I fucked up and it cost you.”
Bandit sat up as he asked “And the good news?”
Seven pointed to his new robotic arm “That. Meet Cass, an intelligent synthetic limb. Made by the guy who made me so she’s got a bit of a personality. I took the liberty of installing a little thing that’ll let you two communicate. Oh, another benefit is I hooked something up that’ll let you walk, just needs batteries but it’ll work for a few days without new ones. I’ve got some spares you can take too.”
Bandit looked at the robotic arm as it waved at him. Seven patted him on the shoulder before standing up to get him the spare batteries. “So...I’m Bandit.”
He heard a synthetic but definitively female voice in his ear say “I’m Cassandra. I’m now stuck to you I guess so may as well make the most of this.”
Bandit sighed, standing up and stretching for the first time in a long time. It felt good even as the new synthetic arm refused to move. “You could at least co operate with the whole stretching thing.”
Cassandra replied simply “For what reason?”
This was going to be a long day. An even longer few days back to the farm as the memory of where it was popped into his head. But it was going to be a good day.
Elsewhere Drifter regarded the machete in his hand. Setting the machete on the desk he picked up the ledger of the library and started going down the rows. This place was going to need someone to take care of it since Alice could only do so much and keep up with her practice. After finding everything in order he picked up a book on Haitian Vodou and decided to see what it said. After all this had been somewhat of a curiousity to him since all those years ago. He decided to sit down and read it for a while as he sat behind the desk of the library.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Joebob1337 on October 28, 2017, 08:46:59 pm
(sorry for long wait, playing with friends)
"Ah well. My name's Alex, have anywhere I could stay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 28, 2017, 09:12:11 pm
Later on Hector and Mica were starting to head back to the farm, the tank starting up with the soft whirr of the electric half of the engine array, transitioning into the rumble of diesel as he flicked a switch, after checking a gauge on the panel. "Mica, you sure you're alright? What about Maskens? She seemed...rather solemn afterwards." he asked, checking displays as the treads rumbled from the surrounding road to the fields.
Helen gave a nod at that, still surprised by this. "I do know the others have rooms here still, the place we were returning to has less room available given we haven't built it up as extensively as the farm here. Then there's the refugee center, but I have no idea how readily they allow travelers to stay. I'd only been there briefly for trade and to assist with something." she admitted.
Sergei smiled a bit at that. "Even then we have drinks at least, and Alexei here had the idea of working on a still. Probably going to need it at this rate, I'm amazed he hasn't run out of vodka by now." he joked, to which Helen gave a blank stare, concealed by the mask. "Sergei, do you have to go offering hard liquor to someone so young?" she remarked, odd as it was to wonder about Alex's youthful appearance when he was a slime person. "How do you know he can't handle drink?"
Nathaniel winced a bit as he looked back to Roxanne, unsure what to think. "So you...oh. You were doing weird ghost things when she started mutating more? How the fuck does that even happen!?" he asked, only to go a bit pale. "Wait. Wait. FUCK! Before I left earlier today, she was acting weird. Something wrong with her hand, no sign of injury. But...goddamnit it makes sense now!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 28, 2017, 09:30:43 pm
"My-ka want lizard back where lizard belong..." She said, looking worried. "My-ka don't wanna leave lizard alone no more..."
It was the largest of it's kind she'd ever seen. It had been years since Atomos had seen a crayfish, and those had been seen in either one of her father's bottle traps or boiling away in a large pot with a variety of pungent spices. She watched it struggling along, thinking about how difficult it would be to get this thing in a pot and twitching her tail with excitement.
"You," She said, striding up to the pathetically scrabbling thing, "Are a big bastard aren't you?" It's legs were too weak to do more than slowly pull it along, and it was very clear that it didn't belong on land. "What are you doing out of water dumb dumb?" She asked it. The crawdad turned in her direction and raised it's claws defensively. They didn't look very sharp. The mandibles worked frantically, and the crawdad made a pathetic bubbly squeak. Atomos raised her rifle, thinking how nice some shell fish would be, but then lowered it. The things shell was likely too thick for the .223 bullet to punch into. How to go about it? Thinking about it and examining it had got her appetite up. Her father had always used a walnut cracker to get into the tougher shells of the crab or lobster that were his favorites. "Gotta make do." He would tell jenny in his thin imitation of a creole accent.
Atomos lowered herself onto her haunches and wrapped her tail around her feet to get a closer look at it. "Now what are we gonna do about this?" She asked it, considering the butt of her rifle before dismissing the idea. In response to her words, it lowered it's claws and stared. So focused on the problem at hand was she, that she hardly noticed it pull itself closer until it had clamped one dull claw on her tail.
"Eeeeee!" She shrieked, leaping to her feet and following her first instinct to run. The crawdad held on, dragging on the ground behind her and getting caught on bushes, stones, and roots. Each obstacle send a fresh jolt of pain coursing up her sensitive tail and spurring her on. "OW! OW! OW!" She shrieked as she broke from the tree line back onto the road where she'd first entered the woods. Atomos spun around and around, trying to snatch the crawdad and pull it off her tail but each turn yanked the little monster away from her seeking hands.
Finally, the crawdad lost it's hold and feel away with a large tuft of crimson fur in its claw and Atomos advanced on it. She screamed every profanity she could think of at it, even the small school yard swears children used before they got brave enough to utter true profanity. Her tail throbbed, but a cursory examination showed that it had taken no permanent damage. "Gotta make do." She said sourly, deciding that a rock would do. She could afford to leave it alone for a bit while she went and got one big enough. The crawdad was going nowhere fast.
Later on, as she pried the sizable chunk of granite from the broken back of the crawdad, she would wonder why she hadn't simply shot the troublesome bug. The shell wasn't nearly as thick as it looked. For all her trouble though, she thought the critters tail, legs, and claws would cook up very nicely indeed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Joebob1337 on October 28, 2017, 10:49:19 pm
Alex sighed.
"Well I need somewhere safe to live for now at least, I've never had a proper feeling of home"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 28, 2017, 10:53:23 pm
Helen nodded at that. "Farm might be best then. The others should be around, a few are out but I think Nathaniel and Is-...Drifter returned a little while ago." she said, while Sergei nodded at that. "For now we'll be across the river."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 28, 2017, 11:08:30 pm
Roxanne hears Nathaniel’s explanation and is relieved for a bit. "You are saying you noticed her acting weird before hand? That I didn’t caused this? That’s a relief...", Roxanne told Nathaniel. She was now calm enough to become corporeal again and began to move some of the debris. "Shit Nathaniel...the pain must’ve been pretty harsh... She is strong, stronger than anyone of us her at the farm no doubt. However, I don’t know that we should just leave her here. Any ideas..."
The tigress laid on the floor knocked out cold. Her appearance had changed a bit, in particular her claw. It was bigger and bulkier, but what worried Roxanne was the snapping sounds. That sounded bad..."I don’t know what went wrong, but that snapping sound concerns me. If you want, I can go to my room and fetch some RX-12, painkillers and then we see what we do about moving her. That alright with you Nathaniel?", Roxanne proposed to the tank commander.
Victor grinned as Sharlene plunged her sword into the essence. His pride as a mage counted on the fact that this woman knew real magic from the examples she gave him. Rabbit in a hat… "Okay, the sword is no ready for the catalyst. Now, touch the essence yourself while still holding the sword. Once you feel the tingly sensation, pull out of there and we’ll work on the sword itself. That sword will be your ‘wand’ and will be using it to make magic for a while. I’ll teach what I know, so don’t worry about that."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 29, 2017, 02:17:47 am
Lilith growls at the sound of shocker lady talking to Nathaniel. She wanted to roll over to push the woman away from her mate, protect him from being shocked himself, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it, at least until she mentions his name again. Lilith, with a grunt, pushes against the ground with one massive paw, forcing herself to roll onto her back and then onto her other side. "N-Nata..." She still sounds pained, and reaches out a paw to stroke his face. Unfortunately, this is a mildly utterly terrifying sight, given the new, torso-devouring size of her paws and the sickles that replaced her retractable claws. Sharlene nods, giggling like a schoolchild. "Right, so do... And then... And..." She's following the steps as he says them, muttering along with it. After she's rubbed her hand along the flat side of the blade, she stops with her hand gripping the end. "Right. What now?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 29, 2017, 11:02:52 am
Nathaniel nodded at that, still a bit concerned. "Yeah, go ahead and get those, might be better for preventing any complications than anything I can think of..." he said, looking back to Lilith as he heard her struggle to say his name. "It's alright Lilith. I'm here, okay? Just relax, I don't want you causing yourself any more pa-" The massive paw reaching for him made him go a bit pale, almost freezing up a bit. The only think he could think to do was shy away from the claws themselves. "Eek. Please don't kill me Lil..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 29, 2017, 12:52:08 pm
Lilith's paw presses against Nathaniel's chest (and most of his face), and continues. She keeps pushing him back until it's practically a one-handed shove. When Nathaniel inevitably goes flying backwards, she quickly draws her paw back. "Natalee! Ooopth." A quickly foiled attempt to get up just ends up with her left arm getting pinned underneath her chest, resting across her tits. "Thock-Thocker lay-dee get away from Natalee."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 29, 2017, 01:00:15 pm
Mica disembarked from the tank and headed for the barn where she'd left her "toys." She intended to take them to either sharlene's cabin, or to Dee's workshop. On the one hand, she lived with Sharlene and Lilith and Mohammed. On the other, she wanted to be near Dee. After his near death, she didn't want him out of her sight. She was conflicted, and wanted to be told what to do. The only person she really listened to, one hundred percent, was herself. Who to consult then if she couldn't consult herself?
First thing was first though, she had to gather her prizes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 29, 2017, 01:37:50 pm
Roxanne hears Nathaniel tell her to go for the RX-12 and she nods before hovering, getting ready to go. Then Lilith starts to move and roll over while trying to call Nathaniel’s name. This made Roxanne a bit relieved but still a bit worried for her. A giggle was heard from the ghost as Lilith told her to leave Nathaniel alone. "Don’t worry Lilith, I won’t take your man. He is your captain now.", Roxanne teased while giving a wink to Nathaniel. She laughed and then headed back to her room.
Once inside her room, Roxanne looked around and gathered an injector of two doses of RX-12 and two oxycodone pills. "This should make her feel better...although...maybe a little show might help...", Roxanne thought. Another giggle escaped her and she looked inside her dresser. She took out the articles of clothing she would need, smirked and pocketed them in her robe that held a surprisingly amount of storage. Roxanne then went towards Nathaniel and Lilith again.
Roxanne took out the RX-12 and injected the two doses into Lilith when she arrived back. Then she took the two pills and carefully placed them inside Lilith’s mouth; as a ghost, she didn’t have much to fear. Once that was taken care of, Roxanne looked back at Nathaniel and grinned at him. "Hey captain, want to do something to cheer your girrrrlfriend up?". Roxanne asked in a playful tone.
Sharlene had done a fine job at following the instructions, in her own way. Victor smiled before he contined, "Do you feel something inside you? Grab the sword and let it flow into it. Once that happens, you will feel energy flow back and you will be ready to cast spells. This is the easy way to do this. The spells are not very powerful but easy to learn, but you can learn more later. You are now in possession of a “broken sword”."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 29, 2017, 02:25:30 pm
Nathaniel winced a bit, trying to at least duck the massive claws lest she tear him apart by accident, only to be quite effortlessly bowled over by the paw, knocked on his ass. "Ack! Liliiiith..." he grumbled, sitting up before moving close to her. Roxanne's little remarks had him flustered now, though he was still worried about her. For now he knelt nearby her, staying in sight and carefully petting her. "It's alright Lil, you don't have to worry about Roxanne. She's not gonna take me away or anything weird like that." he said, though that momentarily brought back thoughts of the scare she gave him the other day.
For now he stayed close, to reassure her. "Now Lil, these should help with any injuries your little growth spurt left over, along with the pain." he explained, before looking back to Roxanne. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this...alright, what are you suggesting?"
Hector followed her out soon after the tank's engine cut out, the knight looking around as he made his way back to the barn, and more importantly the forge. Along they way he saw the spectacle of Nathaniel and Roxanne there along with a now-larger Lilith, and what used to be one of the shacks. As confusing and somewhat worrisome as the sight was, it at least looked like the tigress would be alright barring any internal injuries, and the injection he saw Roxanne giving her would likely insure against that.
For now he simply gave a wave to Roxanne, smiling under his helm before he'd head back to the barn's forge room. He hadn't yet noticed that Roxanne was rather paler than she normally seemed. It was the third strange occurrence he'd missed, the second that he actually noticed, that shocked him to his senses. The barn was a mess, a tree growing out of a shattered section of wall, grass and flowers growling wild over what was once neatly-kept floors. "What. WHAT. What the hell even happened here!?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 29, 2017, 03:53:36 pm
Lilith winces away from Nathaniel's pets, failing to get very far on account of being unable to move much. "Nataleeeee... Tharleeeeene." Her voice has noticeably gotten deeper, to the point where if not for her... Obviously female features, and previously knowing her, you would be easily forgiven for mistaking her for a guy. The RX12 works it's magic relatively quickly, and she shakily gets to her paws, almost launching Nathaniel again in the process. "Fank you thocker lay-dee... Sowwy Nataleeeeeeee."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 29, 2017, 04:48:41 pm
Roxanne’s grin gets wider as she hears Nathaniel be willing to entertain her idea. When Lilith practically lifted Nathaniel in the air and thank Roxanne, she was finally fully calmed. Now, she was about to reveal her scheme. "Nathaniel. Once you are finished hurting from Lilith’s throw, go ahead and put this on...", Roxanne instructs Nathaniel; she takes out from her robe some leather cat ears, leather cat tail, leather collar with a bell and a leather skirt, "Go ahead, and try them on. Lilith needs her cub to feel better. Come on, don’t be shy. You can go ahead and put the skirt over your shorts if you want..." Now Roxanne waited for the tank commander to get up from being thrown and respond.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 29, 2017, 04:57:31 pm
Nathaniel stopped the attempt to pet Lilith when he noticed her shying away from his hand. "Sorry Lil..." he said, only to give a little yelp as she sat up and sent him toppling to the ground in front of her. "Owie..." When he sat up and dusted himself off, he went a bit pale as he looked over to Roxanne, and saw what she was holding for him. "What. Are you serious..."
He then looked over to Lilith, still worried about her as he unsteadily got to his feet. "This is the other half of getting back at me for the porn thing, isn't it." he grumbled, before stumbling over to grab the cat outfit. "This is gonna suck, but..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 29, 2017, 06:42:33 pm
Lilith's left looking at Nathaniel's back as he turns to talk to Roxanne. The sane side of her heard porn, the other half was only really thinking about protecting small man from shocker lady. "Roxer lay-dee get away from NATALEE!" She rises up onto her feet. It's honestly impressive how tall she is now, standing at almost exactly double Nathaniel's height. It looks like she's jumped up one or two entire cup sizes, too.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 29, 2017, 08:14:16 pm
Nathaniel grumbled as he put on the cat ears, looking back to Lilith with a blush as she towered over him. For rather obvious reason, he wound up opting to put the skirt on next, then the tail. "Do I seriously have to wear the fucking collar too?" he said, only to meep at Lilith's shouting. "Shit. Lilith, don't get up just yet, I don't want you hurting yourself!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 30, 2017, 01:44:48 am
The barn had flourished in her absence, and it hurt Mica's eyes a little. The time of year was completely wrong and spring flowers run to riot from Mica's mishap looked terribly out of place in the late summer light. Moreover, any thought of simply removing the birch springing through the roof of the barn we're banished at the sight of it. The tree had grown monstrous over night, the scroll having a long lasting effect thanks to Mica's erratic touch. Apart from the vestiges of the barn walls, the structure had become like a grove in a fantasy novel. Mica had never read books, but she knew what a fairy was, and she almost expected to see one amongst all the greenery.
Her treasures had been buried beneath masses of tree roots, vines, and moss, but eventually Mica managed to prise them from the consuming grip of the wild plant life. Catnips bed was almost entirely gone, it's contents spilled in a mess of hay and shredded cloth upon the floor. Kathrines bed had fared better as the long thin tree growing up through it had stayed relatively small. Mica looked at it all with a mix of wonder and embarrassed guilt. She hadn't meant to do this, she just wanted to look at the pictures on the paper...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 30, 2017, 05:52:51 am
Sharlene attempts to follow along with his instructions, up until he says "broken sword." "Broken? Cunt I'm tryin' to fix this piece a shit! The whole point of this is so I can fix this fuckin' thing!"
Lilith didn't care what they were saying, or exchanging, or even actually doing. Despite what she's said, Roxanne was still near Nathaniel, so Lilith did what she knows best, bent over, stared at Roxanne, opened her mouth, and roared at her. It's somehow even louder than she was previously, and she holds it for longer too. When this doesn't elicit much of an obvious response from Roxanne, she decides to go for the next part. Lilith bats Nathaniel to the side, interrupting him putting on the tail, and drops down onto all fours, taking a step towards Roxanne, opening her mouth as wide as she can, rearing up a bit, and trying to take a bite out of her head.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 30, 2017, 09:13:06 am
"Okay, I'll go to the center." Says Pepper, slightly relived that she didn't wire him out. When she came out, she saw what was happening with Roxanne, Lilith, and Nathaniel.
...
"What in the flying fuck is going on out here?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 30, 2017, 12:48:14 pm
Nathaniel cried out as Lilith roared, painfully loudly only to suddenly bowl him over again to rush at Roxanhne. He froze up a moment as she did so, suddenly terrified of the massive tiger woman now. "LILITH! Stop! Goddamnit Lil!" he shouted.
Hector by now was lost in the work of the forge, being mindful of the overgrowth that speading throughout most of the barn, hammering out a plate worked from a section of armor. As good a material as it was, it was hard to work with, and working it it took a lot of the hardness out of it. At the same time, doing so made it less brittle, essential given how much thinner the plates would be afterward.
Mica no doubt could see him there at the forge, given it was more an alcove in the barn than an actual room, periodically taking measurements, checking the plates he was shaping, closer and closer to the rough shape, then in turn worked into the exact dimensions he had in mind. Already both halves of the cuirass itself were formed the way he had in mind, and now he was working on the front part of the plackart.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 30, 2017, 01:13:33 pm
“No, no. That is name of the item. This sword works now despite it’s appearance. Go ahead, cut something; its edge is now sharp with the power of blood essence. Also, here.”, Victor explained to sharlene; he then handed her a sheet of paper, “This contains basic spells and other assortment of blood magic. Want to test some? If so, one quick question. Do you like coffee? Victor took his mix of his favorite coffee and places it on the table, blood essence next to it. He smiled as he looked at the setup, “You won't find this in any books anywhere my dear.”
Roxanne was still amused at the fact that Nathaniel went along with her suggestion. Despite her previous reactions and the situation at hand, Roxanne found Lilith bowling over Nathaniel quite hilarious. She laughed outloud for a moment.
Roxanne then noticed Hector arrived and gave her a wave. She smiled and wave back. A thought occurred to her; Hector didn’t know she was a divine spirit. A prank came to mind. She hovered and began to creep after Hector as he entered the barn. Slowly but surely, she approached, but stopped short of actually doing her plan.
The tree, it was beautiful. It’s splendor and grandeur left her in awe. This tree did not belong, neither did she. It came to be via the arcane, her situation was also due to the arcane. Roxanne felt a connection to this tree in a way she could not explain; she would defend it with her life and strike down anyone who dare harm it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 30, 2017, 01:47:41 pm
Lilith paused at that, freezing in place. She's got Roxanne's ghostly head halfway in her mouth and is trying to chew on it, along with trying to stick her claws into Roxanne's shoulder. She opens one eye, looks at Nathaniel, looks down at Roxanne, then slowly takes her mouth away from the ghost. "Sowwy Natalee..." Lilith returns to being on all fours, and then pads over to Nathaniel, crossing through Roxanne in the process. "Lilith big. Sowwy for hurtie thmall man..." Sharlene, waits until he finishes setting everything on the desk, then pauses for a second. He said she could cut something... She raises the katana, blade pointing towards the ground, and then stabs it right through the table. It easily buries itself about halfway down the blade before stopping. "Nice! And uh. Sure, I like coffee. What of it. Sorry 'bout the desk."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 30, 2017, 01:59:31 pm
Alexei shrugged at Helen's remark regarding the man's age and capability to drink. He'd seen people as young as thirteen drink in the past few years so age wasn't really something to be concerned over. "Let the man decide if he can drink." He mumbled as he observed the situation.
Pulling another bottle from his bag Alexei opened it and took a drink as he stubbed out the cigar on his vest before depositing it in the jacket. There'd be plenty of time for sober thought when he was busy. For now though he let the alcohol flood back into his system.
Elsewhere Bandit looked at the first guest they'd had on their little radio show. The man spoke about medicinal plants that were relatively easy to find and identify interwoven with tales of some of his adventures. Bandit tossed a stress ball up and down with his hand idly as he listened when Cass suddenly grabbed it and started playing with it. "I'm bored.."
Bandit nodded in agreement as the man wrapped up his last story for the day and they launched into a few songs before the next intermission. As the mics went off and Seven stood to shake the man's hand and thank him for his time Bandit stood up and decided to take a walk. Cass kept tossing the ball up and down as he pushed through the doors and started down the halls.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 30, 2017, 02:10:20 pm
Hector hummed a little to himself as he hammered out a plate, roughly contoured to the shape he needed, angling upwards such that it overlapped with a good bit of the cuirass itself. He was so invested in his work that he hadn't heard the roar, or the shouting, nor had he noticed that Roxanne was right behind him. "This should be perfect...give God's Army something to put the fear of God into them..." he said just loud enough to be overheard, smiling under his helm.
Nathaniel was relieved that Roxanne simply walked right through Lilith, utterly unconcerned by the tigress this time, but now he was shaking a bit as he looked up at Lilith. "Lil, I..." he squeaked out, only to get up and hug her tightly, best as he can in a manner that led to mostly just being draped about her neck. "Don't scare me like that!"
Sergei shrugged at that. "Might as well. If you're able to drink, then if you wish. We still have plenty." he said, to which Helen facepalmed. "I mean okay, I had my first taste of mead when I was around 14, but still...at least offer him posca or something instead of the hard stuff!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 30, 2017, 03:05:04 pm
Lilith shoves her muzzle against Nathaniel's face, until she notices his cat ears. "Natalee cub? NATALEE CUB!" She's yelling in excitement. "NATALEE CUB! NATALEE CUB!" Lilith backs away from him, bouncing up and down happily, until her new viewpoint also reveals the skirt he managed to put on. "...Natalee Natalie too?" She stops bouncing, confused. "Natalie Natalee? Nat nat?" She looks almost concerned now, moving forward to prod him in the stomach with her nose. "Natalee Nat?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 30, 2017, 03:17:23 pm
Roxanne admires the tree for a while until she hears the voice of Hector. This snaps her out of it as she remembers her objective. She smirks a bit and continues her path towards the knight. She continues to hover even once she is behind Hector. The knight is busy working on the forge and doesn’t notice her there. “Hectoooor! Long time no see! Welcome back!”, Roxanne said with a wide grin as she hovered in her ghastly robes.
“Not what I meant, but it works.”, Victor said after facepalming at her display. He honestly didn’t known what he expected. “As for the coffee. Read the 3rd page in the middle and follow those instructions. Feel the power of the blade, claim it for yourself. Make coffee to your liking and release the energy on it. Instant coffee! Give it a shot.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 30, 2017, 03:26:07 pm
Nathaniel was still a bit worried, only to meep a bit as she finally took notice of his outfit. The way hie ears seemed to not move at all, along with his short hair showing the headband and his natural ears, hinted at it being artificial. "It was Roxanne's idea. Shocker lady? It's a costume, Lilith." he said, holding up the little clip-on tail and collar she gave him too. "I'm...I'm still me, Lilith. Nathaniel."
Hector sets the plates aside when he heard the voice, spinning around almost immediately to give her a hug. "Roxanne! I've missed you so much, I'm glad to s-" The fact he went right through her, face literally in the hovering ghost girl's chest, halted him immediately. "What."
Helen meanwhile sighed as she decided to continue leading the way, tensing up a bit. "You ever get that feeling that someone, somewhere, is doing something stupid?" she remarked.
Sergei simply gave a look to the already-seemingly-plastered Alexei downing yet another bottle. "да."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 30, 2017, 07:04:49 pm
Lilith's too busy prodding 'Natalie' to listen to him properly. That, and the oxy kicking in. "Natalee Natalie? Nataliee?" She's sniffing at his shirt for a bit, and then she tries to lift him up by it. "Nafhlee cub." She manages to lift him off his feet before the back of his shirt just completely rips. "Oopth. Sowwy cub."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 30, 2017, 07:52:27 pm
Roxanne saw the way Hector perked up and spun around as he heard her.This almost makes her feel guilty when he spoke to her in a cheerful tone and considered moving back a bit. However once he went for the hug and phased her, Roxanne’s grin returned. “What’s wrong Hector, it’s almost like you just saw a ghost.”, Roxanne teased with a giggle, “Aren’t you happy to see me again? Or did you find someone else while I was gone?”
It was hard to keep a straight face while this was happening. She loved the little reactions people had when they first encountered her. Next, she stepped back and lower herself to her feet. Finally, she became corporeal, gave him a smile and hugged him. “I missed you Hector… I will explain what is going on later. For now...let me have this…”, Roxanne said in the end.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 30, 2017, 08:03:02 pm
Nathaniel gave an irritated little sigh at that, promptly clipping the tail on. "Liliiiith...h-hey!" Cue squirming about as she lifted him up, landing on his ass once again when his shirt tore. "I'll still Nathaniel. Roxanne made me put on this stupid skirt..."
Hector was a bit startled as he realized she'd phased right through him, easing back a little and nervously grabbing at, going a bit pale when his hands failed to grab anyway. "Ohgod, how did this happen, I leave for a day or so and you d-" He was interrupted by her no longer hovering, and instead hugging him, resulting in him holding her tightly. "Always full of surprises, I see. Had me worried for a moment there. First Lilith's gigantic, then I find the barn is a grove now, and now you can do...that?" he asked, not realizing he rattled off events in reverse order.
"It's like strange things have a habit of happening when I'm not around." he joked, before pulling her into a kiss. "Guess now you can see my little project I finally got to work on..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on October 30, 2017, 08:59:55 pm
Pepper leaves the two and heads off to the center.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 30, 2017, 09:39:30 pm
“I know, I leave and then things like this happen. Things seem to happen really fast in this place at times. It is as if some outside force shoves these events at us without warning…”, Roxanne responds. The kiss Hector gave her distracted her from her previous thoughts, she was now focused on the knights words.
“So you have a little project in the works there do you now? By the way...never got to properly thank you for the katar you gave me. Now it serves a greater purpose as a weapon, so thank you.”, Roxanne responded to Hector, “Anyways, what are you working on? Some type of armor from what I see. That is some strange looking material you got there...a little bit like my bionic blades…”
It had been a long battle. Everyone had recovered from the exhaustion it made them feel. Failed bio-weapons were no joke. Bullet casings littered the ground and the turrets of the RV were hot from their continues fire. Despite all this, they had won; the 5 members entered the doors of the bio-weapons lab.
“It’s been a long time...too long…”, Router said to himself. Lambda and Sigma looked around; memories, both fond and negative, flooded their minds. The abandoned tech seemed to still work from the cursory inspection each person gave them.
Thomas and Delora were confused and in awe. This lab, while small, held many tech they had never seen before. Many electronic converters and panel, supercomputers and cloning vats filled the place. They took their time looking around, taking in the view.
“Thomas and Delora, guard the entrance incase we get any visitors. Lambda, Sigma and I will work in restoring this place. Once it is done, we will decide or next steps. For now, there is a lot of work to be done.”, Router commanded
Everyone got to do their roles. Thomas and Delora went into guard duty while the other three got to work on the systems. After a long struggle that took hours, they got it done, systems online. All that was left to do was to see what was still working. The Bio-Weapons Lab was in command center control!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 30, 2017, 10:53:04 pm
"I know. As hectic as everything has been, I just want to ensure I can keep everyone safe. If God's Army attacked here, or made any intrusion, I don't want people harmed while I'm unable to do anything about it." he said, not knowing that they had indeed been doing so under his nose, until today. He then held her close, smiling before he showed her the plate armor, along with the scavenged power armor that provided the source of the metal.
"I'm glad it has served you well, and I hope it will continue to do so. As for this...not sure. The gauntlets I remade using the materials taken from the bio-weapon, I...think that's similar to your blade? This is just some very good, hard steel for military armor. Too hard in fact, though working with it means it won't be much harder than if I just had the sort of steel I'd normally use." he admitted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 31, 2017, 02:41:29 am
The roar was a little concerning, but Mica thought it was probably just Lilith being Lilith. She'd go see what it was about later. For now, she was waving around the rusty hatchet, trying to get it to produce the effect it had exhibited earlier without much progress. It had been fun while it lasted. Maybe she would get someone to explain it to her. In the meantime since, Mica had watched Roxanne fawn over the birch. Mica thought it was nice too, but it didn't belong. Maybe Lilith could move it? "That dumb idea My-ka, even Lil-eth not move trees." She thought. Then again though, Mica had seen her uproot trees before... She gave one look towards the alcove where Roxanne and Hector were, another good eye full of the barns new found verdance, and went to find Lilith. There was smoke. Not a lot, just a thin whisp hanging over the roads horizon. Atomos left the asphalt to make her approach and found that she had come to prefer moving through the lush countryside. Later on, she would wonder if it was her mutations, or a simple lack of such a landscape in the seven years prior that caused this affinity in her. More likely than not, it was a little of both combined with the fond memories her "vacation" was bringing up in her.
As it turned out, she needn't have hidden herself. The enemy, and it had been an enemy, had already wiped itself out. It was difficult to tell who the victor had been. The bodies of men and women in mixed armor, some with blue crosses and other with red sashes, marked them out as Gods Army and Hell's Raiders. She got to work immediately going over the scene with a fine tooth comb, only to come up with nothing. One group had ambushed the other. The best Atomos could guess was that the Gods Army contingent had come up with the short end of the stick. From the reports they'd put together in the vault, Gods Army had a habit of crucifying survivors or trying to capture prisoners for such a purpose. Especially mutants, and some of the dead Hell's Raiders were mutants. The smoke which had drawn her attention was rising from a burning motorcycle and it's immolated rider. Most of the bodies had been picked clean.
Her attention was caught by the sound of a cough and she spun, unslinging her rifle to meet the possible enemy. "C-calm down lady. I'm done up anyway..." It was a man Atomos had passed up as dead. Apparently, he'd only been unconscious. Atomos gave the man a good look, not lowering her rifle. The red sash worn around his waist marked him as a Hell's Raider.
"Um." She said. His worn out expression changed to a small smirk which collapsed as soon as it was formed. He winked at Atomos and said "Sure... Sure wish I had enough oomph left in me to stagger my scraggy ass over there and show you how a real man rolls. Guess I'll have to settle for getting an eye full." What he said sent a little shiver down her spine. Despite his words implication though, the way in which he'd said it told her he was joking. Even dying it seemed he still had energy and humor for joshing around. "What do you think? Sure showed 'em blue crosses didn't we? Too bad about Spencer though..." He said weakly, gesturing with his eyes the burnt remains of the motorcycle. "Poor fuck didn't even get a chance to do any damage before they turned their shit on him. The fuckin' RC owes us one now though, I bet. Got a load of us and turned their shitty little paddy wagons right the fuck around."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on October 31, 2017, 12:16:14 pm
Lilith pokes Nathaniel again, grinning like a mad tiger. "Nataleee tail!" Her own tail raises into the air behind her as she lowers her front half, shaking her rear in the air. "Cub!" She starts bouncing up and down again, hopping in a circle around him and stopping in front of him again. "Cub come to Tharlene!" Sharlene opens up the book (more like a leaflet), and turns to the third page. "You just... You just put it in? Like th-" Halfway through reenacting the instructions, she's interrupted by the coffee emitting a loud POP and jolting up out of the cup, splattering all over the table. "FUCKIN' CHRIST."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 31, 2017, 12:28:06 pm
Nathaniel was only blushing more at that, the tail limp and swaying only with his movements, now finding himself cracking up a bit at Lilith's reaction, stifling a chuckle. "Fiiine, I'm a cub for now. Well, let's go find her then. I mean if she sees me like this, I'm never living it down, but..." he said, looking around. "Where'd you last see her, Lil?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 31, 2017, 07:38:55 pm
(this post was written by chaosvolt as atomos and saltmummy as dying bandit)
The foxgirl looked around warily, carefully checking the remaining bodies to ensure she wouldn't get any more unpleasant surprises. "Seems you two did quite a number on each other." she remarked, looking down at the mortally-wounded bandit. "Know which way they went? Would be good for both of us if they don't simply get away."
She then smirked a bit, flashing a little fang. "Or if the marshal went after them instead..." she said, having been well-aware of Operation Lawbringer from the overheard radio chatter, during their time holed up in Site 4.
"Back the way they came. You could follow em if you had a mind to, but that wouldn't be a great idea." The bandit said. He groaned as he shifted position, trying to get a better look at the fox girl. "We didn't win this by a long shot, if you're smart, don't go after em. We just hit em for supplies and a little revenge. Pure coincidence these shits were headed the centers way." His breathing became labored, and atomos could see sweat beading on his face. "I been gut shot girl. If you've got any mercy for an old marine, you'll put me down with that rifle a' yours."
Atomos regarded the man with a hint of pity, even though every report of the bandits made it clear they were a threat, even after the majority of them had been driven farther north. "Not going to be hitting them alone. Got quite a few who'd be inclined to, though." she answered, before giving a solemn nod. Her own marine uniform remained rather apparent, no longer out of regulation by wearing that longer coat, more confident about her tail that she felt no desire to conceal it. His statement made her want to berate him for the sort of people he fell in with, call him a disgrace to the corps. Instead she calmly took aim, making sure her round would find its mark and end him quickly. "Alright then. Semper Fidelis." she said, firing a single round into his skull, before turning to make her way back towards the center.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 31, 2017, 08:13:11 pm
“Everything will be fine. Look, we survived worse recently and now I have new abilities too! I can show them to you if you want to.”, Roxanne told Hector in response to his first remarks.
“Oh? Power armor metal? That is very ambitious of you there. You will be an industrial tin can!”, Roxanne teased, “Once it is done, I assume you will take it for a test run? I want to see you in action so make sure you let me know so I can go.”
An idea came Roxanne, Helen wasn’t the only one with ward's know. “Close your eyes Hector, I have something to give to you…”, Roxanne told the knight. Once he did, she summoned a common divine guarding spirit. It presented to Roxanne with a orb of life; she took it and insert it into Hector’s chest. A warm energy pulse filled his body as Roxanne pulled away. “All done...this should protect you from spiritual attacks. This is my gift to you.”, Roxanne informed him after it was done.
The long bang startled Victor, he contemplated once more to activate his sword out of instinct but he stopped himself. “That is a backfire...alway a possibility. Thankfully it wasn’t any worse. Alright, try it again but this time try to concentrate on the end goal instead of just following the instructions.”, Victor explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 31, 2017, 08:27:47 pm
"You're right. Still, we've already lost several people in some way, over a week or so. And every time I wasn't there to help." he said softly, before her offer perked him up. "Would be wonderful to see those abilities in action. In turn, I'll put this armor to good use, I just need something to demonstrate it on. Might even paint it with the same pattern as my shield. Even better, never have used that sword since we went after Apophis..." he said, getting ideas. "Especially if it's God's Army, I want them fleeing us like Hell's Raiders did, push them back. Get some breathing room."
When she asked him to close his eyes he did so, surprised by the strange yet soothing sensation that spread through him as the orb filled him with its protective energy. "Thank you...I'm surprised you've advanced so far in the arcane, so quickly. You still have a mission soon, don't you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 31, 2017, 08:36:26 pm
Lilith was bigger, and that confounded Mica. Nathaniel had a tail, ears, and skirt which smelled of leather, and that confused Mica. She wasn't sure about Nathaniel, the small man, but the hopping tigresses size was something she could theorize about. The paper made trees grow, why not make Lilith grow too? Why hadn't she or Helen or Roxanne grown though? Maybe Helen, "the two-face lady" could explain it. Mica set up a schedule of what she wanted to do in her head, then disregarded all of it. Someone would ask Helen or one of the others and Mica would learn about it later. Now, she wanted to find Sharlene. Watching Lilith helped her make up her mind on an important decision. She was moving in with Dee.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 31, 2017, 10:23:00 pm
Bandit picked up the radio that Seven had given him and tuned it before pressing the button and saying “Howdy boys. Been out for a bit but I think it’s about time to get back.”
A few different voices piped up telling him how good it was to hear him and some that asked what he wanted them to do. “I want you to keep running product, but I want you to make it clear to the community that we won’t deal with troublemakers. We’re going to start keeping things in check in the old neighborhoods, make sure people are behaving. Got it boys?”
The men affirmed that they understood before signing off to get to their new business. Bandit grabbed the vest that Brown had given him and slid it on. Tightening the straps on it Bandit made sure it was secure before grabbing the beretta they’d given him and checking the chamber before putting it in the holster on his hip. Standing in the new pair of jeans and long sleeved blue flannel shirt Bandit grabbed the cloth mask he’d made.
Saying goodbye to the men who’d helped him Bandit promised he’d be back some time before pushing out of the door and starting back...home? He wasn’t sure yet. All he was sure of was that he needed to clear the fog in his mind and help out his neighborhood. He ran his fingers over the letters embroidered in the vest: POLICE.
He tucked the mask on and blinked as he smiled. He’d found his purpose, a reason to keep pushing through. He couldn’t help but laugh at the thought that popped into his head. Cass asked him what was so funny and he shook his head as he said “Just..funny how roles switch on us is all.”
Elsewhere Drifter had gotten what he needed for a little ritual together in his quarters. Getting things put together he performed a ritual to appease a Loa of protection and healing he’d read of. Throwing himself entirely into the process despite his reservations Drifter soon found himself feeling marginally better but unsure if it was the result of the ritual to the Loa or if it was merely in his head.
Either way he determined to give a much more proper sacrifice to the Loa next time. Which would require him getting an animal. And getting past everyone without a ton of questions. Sighing to himself he stood up and walked out of his quarters with the machete strapped to his belt. He needed to go take care of something he realized as he walked to the nearest mirror.
Pulling the machete from his belt he used it to shave his beard off entirely and cut his hair. Walking out he looked rather nice as he straightened the black shirt he’d put on and made sure the collar was down. He smiled as he saw Alice practicing her swordsmanship on a dummy she’d put together as he walked back towards the library humming to himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 01, 2017, 01:10:45 pm
Lilith excitedly scoops Nathaniel up in her paws, chuffing. "Natalie Tharlene!" She yells as she lumbers off towards the cabin. She's certainly tall enough to look over the tops of most of the uneven shacks. "Cub Natalie Tharlene!" Sharlene clenches her fist above the coffee cup, debating if it's worth it. Then again, if that was a backfire, it couldn't do much worse normally, right? She yanks her katana out of the table first, and gently sets in on the floor, before getting to re-doing it. "Right. End goal. I wanna make coffee. I'm makin' coffee." Once everything was ready, she repeated it. There's a small wisp of smoke, and... Coffee appears in the cup. Perfectly fine, if a bit red-tinted, coffee. "So. This is safe to drink right?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 01, 2017, 01:33:56 pm
Nathaniel meeped a bit at that, winding up clinging to Lilith as she scooped him up, blushing bright at that. No doubt if those ears could actually move, they'd be splayed out and further betray how embarrassed he was. "Wait, are you heading...oh. Oh no." he practically squeaked out, realizing she was heading in the direction of the cabin. Where Mohammad is. "Oh fuck."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 01, 2017, 05:31:53 pm
“Yes, seeing my new abilities and your armor in the battlefield would be quite the display. The modern knight with modern armor and the ghost assassin. Should be interesting. And that sword of yours would be a nice touch, maybe we can slay spirits if I bring my katar.”, Roxanne responded to the first question.
“I had practice and abilities given to me. And of course I will use to to protect the things I care about…”, Roxanne said with a blush, “And yes, I am doing a mission soon. We are taking on a spirit, the one who I once worshiped...the one who Victor made a deal with...this going to be difficult but we will prevail. Don’t worry about this, it is dangerous for the uninitiated so I won’t tell you to come. Besides, you probably have other things to attend to.”
Victor watches as Sharlene tries again. He smirks as she takes katana out of the table and talked herself into it. “Yes, it’s safe to drink. Go ahead and give it a try. This is real magic my dear, real magic!”, Victor said with a tone of satisfaction. He took out a small flask from his trench coat and opened it. “Fresh batch, let's toast on you being a mage! Just don’t tell Helen about this...But anyways, cheers! To the arcane!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 01, 2017, 06:30:11 pm
She'd followed Lilith a ways before turning back, realizing Sharlene wasn't at the cabin. Now, she was in Dee's workshop having a look around. She didn't go into his back room often, but now she thought it would be ok. It still made her a bit nervous to be back here. Dee's small bed and oversized desk, lifted from some office somewhere seemed dark and cold. As usual, it seemed odd to her that his desk should be so devoid when the workshop floor was so crowded with bits and bobs. Mica did something that seemed natural to her, but was certainly uncharacteristic for her. She made Dee's bed, being careful not to rip the single blanket apart, or pierce the pillow with her claws. When the job was done, she ran her hands over it and enjoyed the soft blanket. She retrieved her treasures from the corner where she dumped them and stuffed them under the bed neatly. Dee's room really was very spartan, bearing shelves which held nothing. She asked herself why, but found no answer. Instead, she pulled her treasures back out again, and arranged them pleasingly on the shelves. Gold cups all lined up, hammers lying parallel to one another, rust flecked hatchet prominently displayed along with the shiny silver knife. On the highest shelf, Mica placed her jars of wispy red stuff along with the little silver icons. With that done, she began the task of searching out the last of Dee's hidden stash, but it seemed she'd already found the last of it.
Mica paced, bored and suddenly very tired. Dee's bed looked very attractive, but the thought of sleeping on it made her nervous. It wasn't hers to sleep on, but all the same... She decided it wouldn't be a problem if she just sat on it. Before long though Mica had curled up against Dee's pillow, fast asleep.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 01, 2017, 10:05:11 pm
While Nathaniel was busy squirming futilely in Lilith's grasp, Hector simply smiled a little at that. "We'd make one hell of a team. If we even got Floyd to go along with it...after all, Catnip brought the three of us together. Only fitting her prophecy gains something concrete to it in this world too." he said. "I'm still unsure about using that sword, when I used it last time I felt...a fury, an anger, unlike any other. I had to focus every ounce of willpower to keep myself under control. Think of my vows, and of why we were there."
"And I see. I wish I could be certain whether I'd be of any use for it. Who else are you taking along? Victor I assume?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 02, 2017, 12:16:10 am
Driving. Driving, and drinking, and smoking, and New fucking England. It had been a while. Hours? Days? A week? Hoyt wasn't sure. And he didn't care enough to ask Carrol or Kermit. He was relaxed in his seat, his hands exerting a firm but gentle grip on the wheel. Not that he was using it much. It was all long, straight roads with no view. Hardly any civilization this deep in whatever state they were in. Bundles of burnt-out houses and pulped corpses every few hours, and that was it.
He didn't even really know what they were looking for. They had food, even though he stopped every few hours to forage in ripe-looking bushes. They had drugs. And they weren't gonna find customers out in places like this. Driving for the sake of the drive. Something like that. Whatever. He dipped into his duster's pocket and pulled out another dried mushroom cap, popping it into his mouth and chewing it in his rearmost teeth to get his mind fixated on something.
Hoyt was jarred out of his stupor by a hand slapping his shoulder. He slowed the van down and looked behind his seat, turning to face Carrol.
"What?" "What're we gonna do with the girl? She doesn't look like much. Ransom her? Sell her?" "What fucking girl?"
There was a long silence.
"Oh. Right. Well, shit, I dunno. We made her, yeah?" He didn't recognize her, but those were high-class mutations. She'd been groomed to evolve that way. "Definitely." "Well, there aren't exactly corporations and government officials lining up to pay for things like her these days. If we find who it is that's looking for her, I'm guessing we could squeeze some profit out, eh?" "Good a plan as any. Beats coasting around looking for burnouts to sell crack to." "Damn straight. We're settled then. We'll turn back now. Try and find someone who knows someone. If she wakes up, give her some codeine. Those bones'll be killing her."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 02, 2017, 12:58:36 am
Doctor Maskens turned the folded sheet of paper over in her hands and brooded. She'd just got through with receiving a report from Khaki, and it got her thinking. Hopewell was dead, hung in his cell with his pants. Combined with the note, it didn't seem so bad for him to go out that way. She unfolded it and read through it again. One part suicide note, one part explanation, both parts a nearly incoherent vitriolic ramble of such causticity that the words could almost burn through the paper. The most damning part of the whole rant, was the outline for his plan to kill the lizard. She folded it again and thought. Hopewells death had done one other good thing, it had forced several dissenters out of the wood work. Captain Anguiano had the sense to have them turned out and not killed. All the same, that didn't change the fact that they had begun to turn against the center while she had been in charge. Maskens looked to the broken security camera in the corners and grinned. This room had been cut off from the audio recording devices to preserve patient/doctor confidentiality and the video feed had been broken a few years ago. A pair of scissors was withdrawn and Maskens began the process of cutting the note into teeny tiny pieces before burning each strip one as a time. "Are you taking this down for me Medeina?" Dee asked, turning over an arm. He didn't know it, but the warwalker he was examining had been the one to riddle him with bullets. This fact would have interested him not at all, despite the irony in it.
"Yes Mr. Dee." Medeina said, transcribing every word. Dee could be doing this himself, the note taking, but he'd realized that though it wasn't necessarily her job, Medeina would be the perfect person to dictate to.
"Ok, the armature frame inside the uh... war walker, is a fairly basic aluminum construct. It lack any kind of assisting mechanism besides those that keep it operating. I believe attaching a joint torsion to... Goddamnit." Every time he came up with an idea, it reminded him that Catnip was in no condition to help. He could design all he wanted but without the rat mechanic fabricating the parts for him, Medeina's body would never get anywhere. The best he could hope for was to salvage the parts from these war walker things and hope they moved properly. "I have to consider other options for this project." He said, "I am not happy about that." "What happened to vacationing?" Catalina asked Atomos. "Private, your supposed to be... Goddamnit, fine fine. I have your report. Now would you pleeease go out and RELAX. Maybe go introduce yourself to some of the refugee center people." Catalina waved Atomos off, but it took her a moment to get the hint. "You are dismissed private." The Captain coaxed. Atomos eased up a little, then turned on her heel and left. Catalina ran her hand over her forehead again. Seven years had really conditioned the people under her command, and she thought again about simply discharging them from service. Atomos stalked the halls, finding her way to the medical section. Being out and about for a day had been a lot of fun, but already she wanted to get back on duty. There were things to do and she wasn't sure she would know where to start without Captain Anguiano to tell her what to do. She and her peers had grown to depend a little too much on her.
"I am not happy about that."
Atomos poked her head in through the door of the recovery room, wanting to know who had given voice to the feelings she had begun to have. "Hello?" She said, noting the scaled man inspecting the pieces of heavily modified power armor with expert hands and eyes. Dee jumped, smarting one knee on the table and jostling the collection of parts. He had to lunge to avoid toppling the laptop onto the floor and barely managed to catch it mere inches from the linoleum.
"You should learn to knock." He said, once he'd gotten everything straightened away again.
"What are you doing?" Atomos asked, honestly wanting to know.
"Building a robot, or trying to. My fabricator is either missing, or a rat, and I'm trying to figure out how to get along without her." Dee told her. A small round thing, an eyebot on little legs, suddenly took to it's feet and scuttled off the table towards her. "Hello Ms. Atomos." It said in the familiar voice of the AI that had given her a rather thorough examination back in the vault. "This is the one I was telling you about Mr. Dee. The fox mutant."
"Oh, interesting." Dee mumbled distantly. He was trying to pry loose a plate from a leg, wrestling with it until he realized he'd missed a couple screws.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 02, 2017, 01:28:42 am
Bandit had found out two things about Cass. Firstly she didn’t like being idle outside of recharge periods which she would sync up with his sleeping in a couple days. The second was that she could act fairly remotely from his own vision and he’d already started developing a sense of what she was doing while he was focusing on other things.
The farm wasn’t quite as far as he’d initially thought. He figured he’d be there early the next morning. Adjusting his gloves Bandit felt that old familiar pain that Seven’s constant application of painkillers had kept at bay. He felt his hands twitch as he adjusted his mask before rapping to get his mind off the pain and his situation. For a few moments the fog of his forgotten past was put to the side as he walked with his head bobbing to an imaginary beat.
Meanwhile Roland followed the Twins as they led the way down a series of halls. As they entered a room he caught sight of a few of the engineers standing around a large tank in the middle of the room. It was filled with an odd looking liquid that none of them recognized but they could tell something was floating inside it. One of the engineers told him that Veronica had told them to ask him what to do with it.
Roland looked at it carefully as memories of being struck repeatedly with lightning came to mind. He had no idea if this was related to..that. Looking at the tank for a few seconds more he finally said “I want you to leave it for now, we might deal with it later but for now we wait and see.”
Roland just hoped he wouldn’t come to regret this later. Walking away Roland sighed again as he decided to go speak with Veronica. She may as well know what this thing might be.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 02, 2017, 06:38:55 am
After a bit more discussion the three of them continued on their way, leading Alexei across the bridge before following the coastline southward, around a bend that just barely concealed her home from sight, at least from the perspective of the bridge. It was a wooden building or quite some length with an entrance facing the coastline, a number of kilns and tools set up nearby, a palisade enclosure in the back, and a smaller log cabin nearby.
A young man was there walking a rather large dog, one that seemed to be some breed common to Eastern Europe, which practically dragged the boy holding the leash over to them. "Ack! Frekiiii!" he shouted, while Sergei simply knelt to pet the canine, smiling some. "Good boy."
After some introductions, Alexei to Sol and vice-versa, she went inside the main building to gather the supplies they needed to construct the still. It seemed to be a simple longhouse, much of the space dominated by two long rows of tables and chairs, a large stone hearth farther in the back, over which was mounted the stuffed, armor-plated head of some vaguely-humanoid creature. Then finally behind that, a few beds and dressers for guests or the inhabitants.
Along the wooden side walls of the hall, she'd at some point taken to carving decorations into the surface of it, over broad panels of wood that offered plenty of space, a partially-finished scene depicting various motifs, much of it of Norse mythology, but steadily mingling with other religious scenes, then into depictions of figures similar to the outfit she wore, at which point the work seemed unfinished.
Helen simply shook her head at the sight. "Apologies for Sergei's taste in decoration there." Sergei simply smiled a bit. "Already told him about our lab adventure, and about having that thing stuffed and mounted. I...didn't mention hanging it over fireplace though." he admitted a bit sheepishly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 02, 2017, 09:58:41 am
Lilith gently places Nathaniel down on the ground outside the cabin, patting him on head. "Natalie open door." Despite her request (command?), she moves to do it anyway, completely knocking the door off it's hinges (again) with a loud crash. "FOR FUCKS SAKE, YOU'RE SCARING-" Mohammad cuts himself off. There's some muffled squeaks and a groan before Mohammad emerges from the other room. Notably, he's not wearing anything feminine today. "Oh. It's you. Sharlene's gonna be mad you broke the door, y'know." Sharlene raises the cup, grinning. "To the arcane?" As they both take swigs out of their respective liquid receptacles, Sharlene coughs. And then coughs again. And again. She drops the cup, covering her mouth with both hands. When she takes them away during a pause in her coughing fit, they're mostly coated in blood. "...Oh." She blinks once, twice, then doubles over, gagging. Perfectly crimson spittle, followed by flecks of just blood. After a couple of seconds, fresh blood is just streaming from her face, mostly from her eyes and mouth. Another hacking cough, and a glob of bright red flops out of her throat. "F-fuck!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 02, 2017, 10:43:01 am
Nathaniel nodded at that, blushing a bit at that. "Alright I'll get th-" The sudden crash provoked a facepalm from him. "Lilith you just said for me to get the door! Why the....oh." He was now practically hiding behind Lilith when he saw Mohammad, though his outfit would likely be rather obvious in the moment before he realized he was the one at the cabin. "Oh. H-hey Mohammad. Where's Sharlene?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 02, 2017, 12:06:32 pm
Alexei shrugged as he went to go help gather the supplies to build the still. "I've seen uglier. And I'm talking about unmutated humans."
Picking up everything he would need Alexei found a good area to set it up and began his work. Anyone who overheard him talking to himself would probably question his sanity at the mention of things like 'glorious stalinium' and 'Jesus would fuck babushka', though it was probably the extreme amount of alcohol combined with all of his still functioning brain cells focusing on not making a ticking bomb. Either way he seemed absorbed by the work as he fashioned a rather magnificent looking still.
Once he was finished he leaned back and shouted "By the glory of..Stalin? Yes Stalin! By the glory of Stalin I have made vodka production machine!"
This was immediately followed by him falling over backwards as he tipped his chair in his drunken celebration.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 02, 2017, 12:09:38 pm
Lilith steps to the side and nudges Nathaniel in front of her, practically shoving him inside with a paw. "Natalie cub!" Mohammad looked amused. "Oh hey, Natalie. Nice skirt. Love the ears, too." His shit-eating grin was apparent. Lilith, though, was still trying to shove herself through the door. While stood up. "Nataleeeeeeeeeeee!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 02, 2017, 01:42:50 pm
Helen simply watched for now after she led Freki back into the enclosure she'd set up for the dog, Sol having set aside fresh food and water for him. During the time that Alexi was working, she was preparing something to set in a fermenting vat she already built on the other side of the building, and from her work it was rather clearly wash for vodka. Sol meanwhile regarded the work. "I'm surprised at how quickly he set it up. Won't be long before have a perfectly usable source of ethanol for antiseptic use."
Sergei simply chuckled a bit at that. "Come now comrade, is that all it's good for? A good source of strong drink would be appreciated too." he pointed out, while Helen nodded. "Good for both. I did find a good stock of thyme growing out there anyway, with a little work its extract would work as an antiseptic too." she pointed out, for now having set aside a glass bottle filled with posca, while the hearth had a pot of stew cooking up, using an assortment of wild vegetables, most of which had been growing in the garden near the hall itself, along with meat and bone broth.
Nathaniel gave a little whine as Lilith shoved him through the doorway, blushing a bit. "Go on, guess whose bright idea it was. I'll give you a hint, she's a weird ghost lady at the moment." he said, only to look back to Lilith. "Shit. Lilith, crouch down or you'll drive your head through the doorway. Like this." he said, crouching down to demonstrate.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 02, 2017, 05:30:14 pm
Drifter had found an old CD player and headphones and decided to take a listen. As the music began to play he picked up the handful of books that he’d found out of place and started walking down the rows. Placing books in their correct places he smiled and found himself nodding along to the music. Things were looking good.
Alice walked in from practice and put the practice sword behind the desk before walking over and taking a couple of the books from Drifter. He put the CD player’s built in speaker on and the two talked about things of little consequence. The weather was indeed nice, thing were going well for both of them, and Alice was happy that they’d found each other so she could finally get to know him.
Elsewhere Roland was cutting a few vegetables up as Veronica stirred the stew they were cooking for themselves. The two had set most of their kit aside in the other room of Veronica’s quarters while they talked. It wasn’t long before the two walked into the small living room that 3rd had given Veronica and sat on the couch.
Reaching over to the television Veronica put on a movie before leaning back and beginning to eat. The two ate in relative silence as they watched the movie. Some old thing about a pair of buddy cops stumbling on some big conspiracy. After the two finished they cleaned up before settling back down to finish the movie.
Veronica leaned against Roland as the pair watched it. A couple of hours later she stood up and stretched before walking towards her bedroom, unbuttoning her shirt as she walked. Roland watched her for a moment before standing up and following after she left the door open and asked if he was coming. He didn’t know why but he felt something between him and Veronica. Of course that was put aside as he closed the door behind him..
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 02, 2017, 06:07:56 pm
"Who did this to you?" Dervish asked the pale girl laying mostly nude in the medbay scanner. "Medeina, turn xray bombardment up, and dispose of that sample she brought with her please." Pepper had come to the refugee center an hour before and though she looked relatively normal, Dervish and Medeina didn't need to run tests to know she was a mutant of some kind. Not long after, he'd brought her to a medbay and Medeina had requested she strip down to her skivvies.
"Mr. Deverish, I have never come across such a unique case." Medeina commented, running the medbays scanners over the girl who called herself "pepper" again. "Her regeneration complex is impossible. I do believe that her sickness is caused by her body trying to consume itself, but also healing itself faster than it degrades." Dervish stayed silent. He'd heard of a project like this, but the clearance on it had been higher even than that required by some of the black site projects he'd been assigned to. Compounding his irritation was the sample. Despite it's anomalous properties, Quinn had simply placed the blood in a simple vial with nothing to keep the sample from degrading. Without any kind of refrigeration, even a simple cooler filled with river water would have done, the blood had coagulated and soured on the way from the farm.
"You'll have to forgive Quinn's emotionless exterior Pepper. He tends to dwell on the past. We'll take care of you here." Dervish said, helping the girl out of the medbay and handing her clothes. Medeina then pitched in her own quip, "'Dr.' Quinn is a pseudoscientist, not a medical doctor. Alas, the American education system will give out doctorates for just about anything!" Medeina said, the AI's voice taking on a jovial and somewhat condescending tone. "Oh, I'm sorry for knocking you down with my new toy by the way. I am still wrestling with it you see."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on November 02, 2017, 06:27:24 pm
"Ah, no problem doc." She was about to walk out when suddenly two small horns appear from under her hair. "Eh?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 02, 2017, 06:49:09 pm
Donny stops outside a fortified mehanic's shop, with a large dufflebag slung over his shoulder he looks up at a sign over one of the garage doors.
CARS FOR SALE. SPORTS CAR, MUSCLE CARS. IF YOU GOT THE TRADE, WE HAVE THE CARS.
Donny looks at the sign and heads inside, several cars are on display with one being worked on. "'Ay. Whattya want?" The man behind a counter asks, pressing a cigarette into a well used ashtray. Donny places the duffel onto the counter and says, "I-I-I want a car." Donny states, the man nods and opens up the duffel and nods. "God damn, this'll get you a car. You raid a fuckin' armory?" He says, "Which car do ya want?" Donny looks over at the cars in display, and nods towards a- "The Dodge Charger-charger-charger." The man nods and grabs a set of keys from under the counter, "Its yours, already gassed up and ready to go." Donny nods and holds up a hand, "Toss 'em over here." The man behind thr counter tosses the keys and Donny snatches them out of the air. He gets into the slightly battered charger and starts it up, heading out towards the Refugee center.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 02, 2017, 07:45:40 pm
Mohammad chuckled at the sight of Nathaniel's fake tail. "Niiiice. Trying to please your girl?" Speaking of, Lilith wasn't listening to Nathaniel at all. "Nataleeee!" She cries again, reaching an arm inside and trying to slot herself into the cabin that way. It works, to an extent. Until her tits get in the way. Lilith ends up just getting stuck, roughly a third inside the doorway, with one arm reaching in, the other pinned outside. "Jesus christ, kitty got big! I-I guess I can see why you're tryin' to uh... Please her."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 02, 2017, 08:03:46 pm
"So where did you get it? Her, I mean." Atomos asked, referring to the small heavily modified eyebot. Atomos, like almost everyone else who encountered Medeina, had fallen into the erroneous belief that the eyebot was the center of the AI's consciousness.
"Some friends brought her back from a lab somewhere." Dee said, hardly explaining anything and intentionally allowing Atomos to believe that Medeina was the eyebot. It suited both Medeina and himself that no one knew the AI was actually a hard drive matrix attached to a barely adequate laptop. Stealing or destroying the eyebot would amount to a relatively small loss if it happened. He carefully extracted a thin cable bundle, giving it more than a passing glance. "Salvaged wire Medeina, we can do you better than that I think. Cat- Goddamnit..." Dee sighed deeply, "Fffffuuuuck. How am I going to get anything done?" He tossed the cable bundle on the table and tried to cross his arms over his chest. The movement hurt like a son of a bitch, so he let his hands come to rest in his lap instead.
"You're that guy that got shot up aren't you?" Atomos asked. Dee nodded, rubbing his chest and scratching it a little halfheartedly. "Which means your that scary girls..." Dee nodded again, sharper than before and said, "She isn't that scary." He sounded irritated, like he'd been confronted with this line of questioning again and again in one form or another. Dee didn't tell her though, that Mica was that scary. He loved her of course, but she had a way of scaring the shit out of him sometimes. It was hard to tell if she was joking when she threatened him, and Dervish's joking around about certain habits of spiders had him on edge.
"Well, I should probably get going." Atomos said awkwardly. She liked Dee. The robot pinching at her tail and making her jump with each little prod, not so much, but Dee was alright. Maybe even a little cute, if he hadn't been covered in scales. Dee gave her a little wave, "Yeah, I should probably get some rest. Being shot up is a bitch." Dervish watched as the horns sprung up on Peppers head. "Well... That's certainly different. I think another biometric scan are probably in order." A little while later, Atomos was back outside and headed west, weaving her way through the small car garden opposite the refugee center and enjoying the smells of the tall drying grasses. Dee had seemed nice, if a bit distracted. She supposed that couldn't be helped though, but she figured it would be worth her while to meet some of the other residents of the refugee center. Maybe even some of the others at the farm to the east. The people around her certainly were appreciative though, and that had felt great. Atomos had dropped off her kill, several varmints and the parts taken from the large crawdad, at the refugee centers kitchen. "Thank god." The chef told her, "Our coolers have been down since the attack and all our meat went off not long ago AND all our hunters are either dead or too badly injured to go out. This stuff will go down a treat after all this canned crap and jerky. You're a life saver lady, seriously. Come back tonight and I'll have something great whipped up, on the house for ya." Atomos liked the sound of that and wondered if the centers cook was any good. Perhaps there was a niche she could fill for the center after all.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on November 02, 2017, 08:06:12 pm
"Uh, yeah. I think that would make sense." She went back into the room and got back on the med scanner.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 02, 2017, 08:08:57 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Yeah, she kinda..." He winced at the sight of Lilith trying and failing to get herself through the doorway. "Her little growth spurt trashed a shack and seemed to hurt like a motherfucker, hence cheering her up with this getup. Now Lil..." he said with a sigh, before moving over to her and trying to reach for her snout. "Shit, how does that...um...Lil, turn like this..." he said, trying to turn his waist to demonstrate.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 02, 2017, 09:17:10 pm
Roxanne smirked at the knight's words; the prophesy, the thing that started it all. Catnip was responsible for bringing them together. Even if she herself forewarned the others about the shifting, others had arrived since then. "Yes, we could fulfill what we were set to do. But I got to admit, "the killer who chose mercy"? You are giving me too much credit...", Roxanne responded, "And I know that feeling all to well. I used Victor's sword. It isn't quite rage as much as it is lunacy. Those weak willed can be taken over by it by it. But I know you shouldn't have problems with it."
His comments on the mission made her remember something. Randael had used the prophecy as a way to communicate with her. What was his intent then? Was he really just playing a waiting game? Her conversation with Victor she had every now and then confused her even more. Why did he defend Victor when death itself threatened if the contract would just end? There really might be a chance after all... "Yes, Victor and I are going. Helen will accompany us. A certain spirit also has shown interest in this, that should be interesting... That is it for now but if we find anyone who can handle themselves against the arcane, I am open to bringing them in.", Roxanne responded.
Victor drank his red coffee. This was a custom recipe he came up with back when he had just become an expander of knowledge in the Shadows of Arcana. Blood magic was easy to get into, all things considered, but due to it's nature it was very easy for a novice to mess with forces they are not supposed to mess. Victor simply used it for gimmicky stuff like "augmenting" coffee. He was warned about blood magic at length but he knew what he was doing, at least he thought. No apparent side effects from his drink.
Victor looked at Sharlene with worry at the coughing fit; the blood she coughed up did not help. "Are you alright?", Victor asked softly. It was then she started to bleed from her mouth eyes and other choice places. Panic set in to both as blood continued to pour out. "Shit! Hold on!", Victor exclaimed in a frenzy as he looked around in a drawer. He took out a glass sphere with green liquid; he threw it on the floor and it shattered to free the liquid. A mist surrounded and then was absorbed by sharlene. "That should revert the effects...shit...that wasn't supposed to happen...are you alright?", Victor said in with subsiding panic.
The Router and the two bio-weapons had finished working on the lab's system. The computing power her was pretty powerful. Data from the bio-weapon project was still in encrypted files that would take some time to decypher. But that didn't matter know; all this processing power and lab equipment was online. Most important of it all...the clone vats were functional!
Now, both Sigma and Lamba had been in the vats before they knew what it was like. The lab had no consideration for privacy. Memories of test subject suits and wires coming from their bodies make the both of them shiver. Router notices this and tries to calm their nerves, "Now now, that is in the past. You two don't have to worry about that anymore. You are save now, you are home. Look at all we accomplished. You are more than weapons of war, your are people. Both of you have freedom of choice; I am glad you stuck around."
In truth, Sigma had stayed due to Apophis. He had had close encounters with failed bio-weapons when it was just him and Lambda. The two had awoken in this very lab after every other bio-weapon had done so and left. They stuck to each other after they realized they were not one-man army prototypes the likes of the first bio-weapon batch were. Bio-Weapon Lilith was a clandestine project that got approved by Router's direct superior. She even got her own DNA marker in exchange for the research. The only reason the command center had not tried to recruit her was because of Router's free will philosophy and because she was arguably as dangerous as Alpha, the bio-weapon she was based off.
"Anyway, I want to test the cloning vats with a diagnosis test. No cables this time. Any of you want to volunteer?", Router asks the bio-weapon pair. Sigma and Lambda look at each other for a moment. "I-I'll go ahead...then...no suject suit please."
Thomas and Delora were getting bored acting as guards. "Why do we have to do this? We have actual guards to do this!", Delora complainded.
"Relax, they probably have something important to do. We are part of this place now. Follow the rules.", Thomas responded. He was smoking a cigar while reclining on the wall and the other hand on the stock of his slung rifle.
"Why are you smoking? Aren't you like a doctor or something?", Lambda asked.
"Nurse. Didn't have the patience to get a MD or all of that but I still wanted to help people. Did so for a while before it all went to shit. Worked on the local hospital near the city we looted. Maybe we can properly visit it one time.", Thomas told her.
Delora paused and looked straight ahead. "Yeah...maybe one day we can visit...say, you got any those cigars? I need something to calm my nerves...", Delora responded. Thomas nodded and took another cigar from his coat. He tosses it at Delora and a lighter for good measure. "Enjoy...", he said before taking a puff of his own cigar.
Meanwhile, a couple hundred miles away from the farm. A man was in a basement holding a highly decorated sword as he kneeled before two undead. A zombie master and a zombie necromancer were chained to the back wall facing the kneeling man. They groaned and moaned while trying to get at him. The man was wearing a one piece kevlar suit and an army jacket; his face was covered by a gas mask with green eye sockets that indicated night vision capabilities.
After a small prayer, he got up and took the sword and pointed it the two undead. "In the name of the broken god, I claim your power as mine!", the man shouted. Soon after, he used the sword to slay them both with one strike each. A familiar black mist manifested and then was absorbed into the blade. The sword's hue changed from a snow white to a shifting purple. He took the sword and inspected it for a bit. The ritual was done, he was ready to begin and do his mission; he sheathed the sword on his waist scabbard and walks into the world outside with his goal in mind. Humanity had overstayed it's welcome, the dead shall inherit the earth!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 02, 2017, 11:01:03 pm
Bandit was hanging off the side of the vehicle as his boys drove him through the wastes. As they drove quickly down the dirt path Bandit let out a howl as he felt the wind pushing against him. He reached his artificial hand up to adjust his mask, for a moment letting a finger rest on the ‘New England Police’ embroidered on it in a flat gold. Soon they came to a road oddly familiar to him and the vehicle stopped. Hopping off Bandit waved for them to go before starting towards the bridge.
Somehow he doubted anyone would recognize him with the new mask, police vest, new shirt and jeans, and the handguns on either hip. Still he knew someone important to him was here. He had to at least see where so much of his recent memories had been before they had been wiped away. Almost hesitantly he stepped onto the bridge and started into the farm. To anyone that spotted him he didn’t look anything like he once had though it was exceptionally hard to tell his right arm was mechanical, and there was something different to the way he walked now.
Elsewhere a group of men in norse armor had gathered. Each bore a symbol of Tyr on their armor.Their apparent leader spoke slowly as he said “So the son of Tyr is now a man of peace according to the ravens. Son of Tyr, grandson of Odin, has turned his back on his heritage.”
One stepped forward and nearly shouted “Then perhaps we should show him the meaning of his heritage! One of war, and glory on the battlefield!”
The leader raised a hand to silence the man before continuing “Don’t worry brother. He will honor his heritage or we shall send him to Valhalla. Of that you can be assured but for now we must prepare. Soon we will be on the move so finish what business you have here.”
As the men departed the spirit that had been observing decided to rest its corporeal form on the shoulder of their leader, whispering into his ear for a brief moment before flying away. It had heard of this ‘son of Tyr’ before and had even worked with one of his old comrades before the man had met his end at the tip of a javelin. This ‘son’ was praying to some fool spirit, while this one had seen others obscuring it’s way to the ‘son’. Soon though all that obfuscation would be dealt pointless. His hunters always found their prey after all.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 02, 2017, 11:45:19 pm
Hector simply smiled at that remark of hers. He still considered the prophecy important despite everything that happened. If anything, his worries over "I feel you've earned that title. You've forged something good out of all this. As for that sword, as bad as it seemed, it seems you three have much more dangerous things to contend with." he remarked, before pulling her into a kiss.
"Make sure all three of you return safely, alright? I wish I was at all useful for this. Though as the three of you were the ones familiar with that thing, there's no one better suited that the three of you. For now I suppose I should spend that time working on my armor and preparing." he said. "Regardless, I'm glad to see you again."
Elsewhere, Helen smiled as she stirred the pot of stew, the scent filling the whole of the longhouse, giving a nod to Sergei as he soon went to tending to the pot. In the meantime she asked Sol Simms, the young man who seemed to be little more than an alchemist, to follow her to the counters along the wall near the hearth. She gathered a few things, pieces of iron, scavenged copper, and patches of leather, before she'd lead him outside.
"I've wished to offer this to you for a while now. I want to rebuild my order...no, not merely mine but that of a former enemy as well, forge unity from strife. And no doubt you wish to learn more of what your older brother taught you?" she asked, to which the young man gave a solemn nod. "I do. I've seen you do more than I ever though possible."
While they talked, Helen was firing up the small charcoal forge they had built nearby, working the steel into a shape. "And I want to guide you and ensure you learn in safety. And in turn, ensure others can learn this safely too. As a token of this offer, if you wish a mask like mine..." she said, an offer that left Sol curious.
She worked for a good while, shaping metal and periodically using his feedback to ensure the design and sizing was to his liking, decorating an impassive metal face with copper to imply the a hairline and eyebrows, along with a short hint of a beard mimicking the young man's own style of choice. Lastly was the liner of the mask, and leather straps.
She soon took her own mask off, handing it to him. "I want you to observe through its eyes the flow of the consecrated essence. Clear your mind, close your eyes and think of seeing through eyes more perceptive than your own." she instructed, and as he followed along her mask contorted, and he was stunned by the flood of information. Seeing in every direction, seeing through the walls of the Hall, Helen's quarters, the kennel. And sensing the auras around them, along with Helen's body all aglow from her various wards and magic items.
A strange powder swirled and floated from a pouch at her belt and hovered at her fingertips, its aura faint yet hinting at its hidden power, directed by her will into the mask she crafted, absorbed into the metal. The glow permeated it, giving the mask its own distinctive aura. Soon she directed the mask Sol wore to deactivate, the two exchanging masks.
"That was far beyond anything I've ever experienced! How did, I...how do you cope with seeing the world like that!?" he stammered out, at last coming to his senses enough to say something, to which "With experience one learns to use this, and even more useful tools. I will guide you. Today, we are brethren. Recite with me, the First Tenet..."
"So long as the Sun shines upon the Earth, we must never give up. Never allow humanity to slip into extinction." she said by memory, Sol repeating calmly. "Good. Now, soup should be ready by now, Brother Sol..." she said, setting a hand on his shoulder before the two returned to inside the hall.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 03, 2017, 07:50:23 am
Lilith mewls pitifully, crawling backwards out of the door and trying again. This time, she just cracks her head on the doorway and steps back to look at it. Most of her previous excitement is gone. "Nataleeeeeeee! Door thmall. Like you!" Mohammad laughs again from behind Nathaniel. "Doesn't look like she's listenin', bud. Nice shake though, you sure you've never done this before?" Lilith's next approach is slightly more successful, in that it works. She just walks through it on all fours. It takes a bit of squeezing to get through, but she's back to poking Nathaniel. "Lay-dee man thee Natalie!" Kathrine had gone through a cycle of waking up, eating, and then falling asleep again, via natural means or drug-induced. One night, though, she manages to stay conscious enough to ask an important question. "Master Hoyt, where are we going? C-can we go back to the f-farm?" She wasn't sure how long had passed, but maybe Catnip was back? But if Catnip was back, she would've come to get her, right? Right...? Sharlene coughs a couple times, even after Victor's 'treatment', but at least she doesn't cough up any more blood. "Wha-what the fuck was t-that?" When she stands up, it's clear that the front of her is completely coated in blood. From her jacket to her jeans, not a single inch was spared from being splattered. "Y-you sai-" She's interrupted by another cough. "Said- FUCK." Sharlene throws her arms into the air, abandoning that sentence. "What the fuck, dude?"
After calming down, Sharlene quietly takes off her jacket. The back wasn't covered in blood, at least. So, she uses the back of her jacket to wipe her face off.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 03, 2017, 09:06:09 am
The snake eyed Atomos warily, and she eyed it right back. By all conventional appearances, it was a perfectly ordinary timber rattler with a head full of poison. All appearances, save one. Like the crawdad before it, the snake was the biggest of it's kind she'd ever seen. Scales the size of snuff cans, fangs like pocket knives, bright golden eyes like saucers, and a rattle that sounded like the thrum of a drum played by a practised marching band drummer. Atomos had startled it as she crossed the field west of the refugee centre and had herself been startled by the head of what she thought to be a fallen tree rising out of the grass. Startlement turned to fright when she recognised the looming serpent for what it was.
Under normal circumstances, the rattler would have struck immediately without looking at what it was striking, but it had fed recently and was taken off guard. The human was quieter than the ones that it was used to, less clumsy through the grass. It took up the defensive coiled S that told most predators that it was ready to strike, had it need to.
"Just a snake Jenny." She thought in the voice of her father, "A damn big one, but a snake nonetheless. Just back away easy like Sunday mornin' kit." Her right foot slowly moved back, heart thudding in her chest. The snakes response was to visibly tense. It opened it's mouth wide and gave a sound like a punctured air tank. Atomos could feel the rifle slipping from her shoulder, preparing to swing it around to fire if needed, taking note of the rattler's missing fang. She doubted she would get the chance if the snake struck. Wind made the grass dance between them. She judged her rifle and then the snake. The crawdad had been judged poorly for the thickness of it's shell, but Atomos was certain the snake would take a good deal more than a single bullet to put down. Even if struck in the head, the basic calibre of the standard issue rifle just wasn't big enough. In that moment, Atomos decided she would be requisitioning a bigger rifle. If she survived this encounter. Her other foot moved, and so did the snake. "It's changed." Dervish said, perplexed, "her genetic code has changed. She's genetically unstable and I'm not sure if it can be stopped." Dervish was going over the new print outs with Medeina.
"Perhaps this is by design?" Medeina asked, "I can see a survival use for it Mr. Dervish, but it seems an awfully dangerous defense to me."
Dervish shook his head, flipping to the next page. "It's not a defence or survival mechanism at all. It's a defect. Too much mutagen. I'd sorely like to know who did this to her. Medeina, call her back in here would you?" Medeina did, and Dervish went over the new findings with the pale girl. Atomos was back an hour later, covered in viscera, stinking of something acrid, and hauling on a travois the largest snake the chef had ever seen. The snake's coils hardly fit on the transport Atomos had thrown together for it and a large amount of the snake simply dragged across the floor. It bore a large ragged gash up where the chef judged the snakes gut to have been before the fox girl had cleaned it. "Jeez lady, w-" the chef began.
"I don't want to talk about it." Atomos said, looking far away and long ago, her eyes twitching ever so slightly, "Showers. Where are the showers?" The chef gave her directions and Atomos went, looking as unhappy as the people nursing real wounds. All thing considered, she'd gotten off lucky. As the steam drifted from her shower stall, she silently thanked God for the snakes missing fang.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on November 03, 2017, 01:42:12 pm
"I would like an explanation if ya could provide one."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 03, 2017, 02:21:50 pm
“I am glad you think that Hector. It means alot coming from you. The enemy we are facing might be dangerous, but nothing we haven’t prepared for.”, Roxanne responded to the initial statements. She reacted Hector kissing her almost immediate reciprocation. It had been some time the two had talked and once more they were to be separated.
“Like I said, we have been preparing for this for some time; we will be fine. Don’t worry about a thing. Focus on your goals while I am gone ok? I too have to prepare some things before the departure. It is drawing near. It was good to see you again as well.”, Roxanne responded to Hector’s second remarks. She dismissed herself and left him to his work. She had a few things to do as well.
Roxanne went back to her room. She was looking for something specific. It was under her altar in her secret stash. After she found it, she regarded it with a frown. It was the bag of bandit’s spirit pills and she only had 5 left. It was odd, she hadn’t heard if him in quite a while. Her own adventures didn’t allow her to realise he was gone. The only thing she knew is that her usual supply was not delivered.
It would be a pity to waste a pill on this. What if she needed them for later? What if she needed to have others accompany her? Wait...others… That’s right! She was a spirit now! There had to be a way for her to get in without the use of a pill. An idea came to mind; she would need a host and knowledge of spirits. Roxanne knew someone with both of those qualities. She smirked as she grabbed one of the pills and put the rest away. Her plan was set.
Victor saw as Sharlene stopped bleeding but her cough continued. He had a look of genuine worry. This was his fault, his pride had taken over and that was never a good thing. The combination of her remark and the way her clothes were drenched in blood made Victor decided it was maybe a good idea to stop for now.
“That was not supposed to happen! I myself and not sure what went wrong…”, Victor answered back. “I think it is a good idea to call it quits today...your sword is now good to go and you may keep the notes as penance…I know it’s not the time but you have skill. Maybe if you keep at it, you can master this. For now, I would recommend a new set of clothing...if you want, maybe I can clean this for you...no magic of course, a normal wash…”, Victor added to his response. He wasn’t sure what to do now. All he could hope for was that the woman who commanded Lilith would not make him a target.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 03, 2017, 06:17:09 pm
Nathaniel grumbled a little at that as he tried to direct Lilith, until she figured out how to get through the doorway. "Lilith, I swear..." he grumbled a little, shaking his head. "And no, never was the type to dress up like this. That reminds me, you alright? Surprised I'm the one in the skirt this time." he joked.
Hector simply smiled at that, though a bit flustered now. "Then have a safe journey, both of you, if you're gone soon. If not, see you later on, or in the morning." he said, smiling some before she left, soon resuming his work. The plackart was almost in the right shape now, and after that all he had left to do was fashion the much simpler tassets and pauldrons, finish with fluting to strengthen the armor, then harden and temper to just the desired strength.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 03, 2017, 08:47:51 pm
Donny pulls up in front of the Center, he steps out of the Dodge and walks inside and pockets the keys. He looks around and realizes... he hasn't got the faintest fuckin' clue where Dee is. He walks up to a guard and asks, "Hey-hey-hey you know where the kid who got shot up is? Kinda looks like a Lizard?" The guard thinks for a moment, "He's in either... recovery room 3 or 4, dunno. Sorry." Donny gives a nod, "Thanks." He heads off to the recovery rooms, walking up the hall from the Medbay. He looks between room 3 and 4, knocking on room 3.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 03, 2017, 09:05:28 pm
(( Part 1 of probably 2, done by Wilson and I ))
Elsewhere...
There's a loud, steady knock on the door of the Hall. Lucian rocks back and forth on his heels, impatient. Sol perked up as he heard the knock, looking up from the bowl of soup, out of curiosity testing his new mask out. What he saw through the door made him nearly fall out of his chair. “What the fuck!?” he stammered out, Sergei and Helen standing only for Helen to sigh and walk towards the door, after her mask activated. The sight of her aura radiating outward seemed to be soothing, relieving to see through his mask’s sight. “Just Lucian it seems.” she said, before opening the door. There they were. Helen, a young man with a mask like hers, and two Russian fellows, one of which was still passed out in his chair.
Lucian grins wide, “Ah…! Helen! It’s only been a couple of days but it felt like years! How are you?” he says, not walking into the Hall. Helen simply smirked a little under her mask. “Of course that nose of yours would lead you here when we put the hearth to good use for once.” she joked. “Come in then, I suppose I can spare a bowl for you. What’s the surprise visit for?”
Lucian grin grows toothy, “Ah, can’t visit a good friend? Plus I smelled free food, ssso I couldn't pass that up.” He says with a shrug and a wink as he walks in, arms going back under his feathery mantle. He looks over to Sol, “And who is this?”
Helen nodded at that, gesturing to Sergei who, though a bit wary, was now filling another of the simple clay bowls they had, while Sol managed a little squeak. Now he fell out of his chair. “S-solomon Simms. Who are you, and why were you so...empty, though this mask?” he stammered out, to which Helen smirked. “I’ve seen worse auras. Sol here is my apprentice as of today. This is Lucian Hawdon.”
“She is correct, I am Lucian Hawdon. Hunter of The League.” He introduces himself, with a bow and a wide grin. He walks closer to Simms, stopping once he’s at the base of his feet. His grin widens into a wicked, toothy smile as he looms over him, “You’re a small one… Why’d the mage hunter pick you as her apprentice?” He asks, arms tucked under his cloak.
Simms looked up at Lucian warily, his mask deactivating, unwilling to look upon his aura any longer. “I...I don’t know...she wanted to train me, because I already know of alchemy.” he explained, while Helen smirked a bit. “He’s young and inexperienced with the arcane. But he’ll be a good student under my guidance. And now he’s seen an object lesson in the long-term dangers of blood magic.” she said, and the remark only left Sol more unnerved.
Lucian lets out a chuckle as he offers a hand up to the young alchemist. “Apologies for scaring you, alchemist. Let me help you up.” The young man nodded at that and accepted Lucian’s hand, blushing a bit under the mask, while Sergei set aside a bowl at the table for Lucian. “So. I was not aware of you two being friends.” Sergei remarked.
Lucian sat at the table, “Aw, she doesn't talk about me?” He says with a mock sadness, he puts the spoon into the stew and puts it in his mouth. He points his spoon at Sergei, “I don't fink I've met-” he swallows, “Met you yet.”
Helen smiled a bit at that. “And how would I explain you to them? The vampire boy? The closest thing to a sane blood mage I’ve ever encountered?” she teased, to which Sol balked a bit. “Huh. He’s a...w-what?” he said softly, to which Helen shook her head. “Long story. All teasing aside, the fact he’s welcome here should be explanation enough.” Sergei meanwhile gave a nod at that, a nearly-finished bowl at the table and an empty shot glass beside it. “I’m Sergei Mikhailov, and the one passed out in his chair is Alexei Petrovich. Recent visitor, he set up the still earlier.”
Lucian looked at the man passed out in the chair, “...huh. Is he okay? Not gonna swallow his tongue or anything?” He says with moderate concern, raising an eyebrow. Sol nodded at that, moving over to check on Alexei and ensure he was turned so that he wouldn’t do so. “He should be fine. Probably best if he was laying on his side though.”
Lucian eats more of the stew, thinking. He takes off his large feathery mantle off before swallowing, “So… do any of you have anything interesting to share?” He asks, eating another spoon of stew. “I got kicked down an elevator shaft.”
Sergei smiled a bit at that. “Took a hit from a...symbol of judgement? Lightning weapon.” he said, to which Helen chuckled a bit. “I recall. First, that sanguinist wretch was holding back on purpose. Second, I took three such direct hits.” she pointed out. “And I’m the one that tore him in half.” he responded. The fact that some magic had to have been involved would be rather obvious, given the searing, flaying effect the symbol of judgement was known for.
Lucian snickers, “Why the fuck was he holding back? Did he liiike you?” He teased, cackling lightly. Helen glowered at Lucian, the expression visible due to having removed her mask by now. “Because he had some seals to break and needed the blood of the living to do so. That...Archon thing. God’s Army had found one of the old Veiled Temples, one where an accidental summoning of it had been averted via sealing it. He was a rogue working as one of their Bishops.” she explained.
Lucian’s wide grin gets wiped off his face, “Those dumb cunts actually summoned the fuckin’ archon? Did they have a blade? A zweilander with runes?” He questions, looking concerned.
Sergei shook his head at that. “First place we visited, no. That was where God’s Army was. Second place, yes. That was where some lightning-shooting zombie priest was. Helen killed that one.” he said, to which Helen nodded. “The place God’s Army took over was likely one of the Keepers’ last holdouts, they managed to bind it before it could take a body.” she explained. “Kinda had to resort to methods beyond what The Cleansing Flame allowed, but the seals are inaccessible now.” Sergei then gave a wary look at Lucian. “How did you know about the sword anyway?”
Lucian lets out a growly sigh through his teeth, “I used to… work with some blood mages. I don't anymore, where is it right now?” He asks, leaving the soup in the bowl. Helen looked back to Sol, who was now rather nervous as he watched Lucian. “Currently in use by the knight boy over at the farm. I wouldn’t trust Victor or Roxanne with it, given they might try to pierce The Veil using it.” she answered. “And likewise I didn’t want to risk it falling into the wrong hands by carrying it on my person at all times, but I couldn’t just leave it here.”
“How well can you trust him with it?” Lucian asks, idly stirring the stew with his spoon. “And why didn't you destroy the damn thing?” He adds, annoyed. Helen grumbled a bit at that. “Congratulations, you’re the first arcanist I’ve met, who isn’t a member of The Cleansing Flame, to have advocated smashing the gods-damned thing with a hammer.” she joked. “Of those at the farm, he’s the only one that’s had both the opportunity to dabble in the arcane and an apparent interest in it, but has so far only read and studied. As for why I gave it to him, you see the head mounted on the hearth?” she said, pointing to the stuffed head of a bio-weapon. “We were preparing for a hunt against something a lot bigger than that, accompanied by many others like that one. So far it seems he’s only made use of it that one time.”
Sergei then smiled a bit. “Ripped head off of that one, Sol helped preserve it.” he simply added, while Helen sighed a bit. “Though if I had the experience to safely destroy something with that much complicated magic worked into it, I would’ve done so before even arriving at the farm.” Lucian looks over at the mounted head, “Huh. Neat. Another hunter has a fuck ton of crazy shit mounted up on his wall. There’s some of those things, a jabberwocky I think, zombies, various animals. She’s weird.” He rambles on, partially disregarding the cursed sword topic.
Sergei shrugged at that. “Figured should only stick with one, and pick the most impressive. A...jabberwocky? The thing with bear head? Think someone called it that when I described it, we ran into one.” he asked, curious now, while Helen chuckled a bit. “The creatures built of multiple bodies. They vary a lot, only real common feature would be the glowing eyes. Running into one is actually how we meant Solomon here. That one was vaguely humanoid and had a bear’s head as its main one, with human heads around it like a living necklace.” she remarked, while Sol looked down a bit. “Y-yeah. They killed it, Sergei even ripped the big head right off along with about half a dozen spinal cords. My brother would’ve been proud.” he said.
Lucian’s wide grin returns, “Hah! Nice. The one the other hunter fought was kind of similar to a large horse melted with a man and several dogs.” He says. Lucian purses his lip and blows a small raspberry, “I’ve been really restless lately, have any of you been as well?”
Sergei shrugged at that, Sol shook his head, while Helen was the one to sigh a bit. “I’m more...uneasy to be honest. I have a mission with Roxanne and Victor planned tomorrow. I also had something I’ve been meaning to do but have had no time to do.” she admitted. “And what would that be?” Lucian asks, going back to the stew. He points his spoon at Helen, “If ya don't mind me askin’” he says with his mouth full.
Helen sighed a bit at that. “Well. As I found poking around in their library, at least one of them has made a mistake I’ve had to patch up, by now a full year ago. Ever been to a Sanctum of The Cleansing Flame? Or perhaps know of The Sanctum of St. John? It was abandoned no more than a few months after this apocalypse struck the cities.”
Lucian ponders, “I’ve been to a few, why? Do you want a hand with something?” he asks, nearly done with stew. Helen simply nodded at that. “Yes. It seems they had plans to return and clear the place out, but got distracted by all that’s gone on. I’ve since restored the blade ward they took down unwittingly, but that does nothing to actually stop the thing infesting once was once the catacombs.”
Lucian finishes the bowl, “You wanna to clear it out?” he asks, grabbing his mantle. Helen simply nodded at that. “Yes. I don’t know if we’ll have time, though.” she admitted, going back to the counters by the hearth and retrieving a map, showing where it was. Quite a bit north of the refugee center. Sol meanwhile stood up. “I can help if you want...” Helen simply shook her head at that. “No. I don’t want to expose you to that sort of danger.”
Lucian looks over the map, “We could make it there in… two hours. I got a horse nearby.” Helen was a bit surprised at that, folding up the map before gathering her cloak, mask, hammer and symbol of judgement. “Very well then. Sergei and Sol can keep an eye on things here, and I’ll radio them once we head out that we’ll be passing through on the way over there.”
Lucian nods and gets up, putting his mantle on. “Shall we?” he asks, walking towards the door. Helen put on her mask before opening the door, looking around a bit before leading the way north, grabbing the two-way. “Helen here, will be passing through with Lucian. Two of us have something to tend to, will be back by the evening.”
Lucian heads out, he walks into the woods for a bit before heading back in with a calico colored horse. He lightly pets it, leading it gently into the area outside the hall. Helen for her part was still a bit surprised at that, walking along with Lucian along the river’s shore, until they left the treeline and made it out onto the road.
Once they got onto the road Lucian climbed onto the horse, he looks down at Helen. “C’mon, get on.” He says, patting the area of the saddle behind him. Helen nodded at that as she carefully climbed on, after giving the horse a little pat. “Never rode on horseback before, surprised there’s still horses these days. Bet knight boy’s going to be jealous.” she teased, holding on tightly as they set off. ”Figures you’d want me close like this...” she added, blushing a little under the mask.
Lucian lets out a chuckle, “Shhhut up, you're the one who’s holdin’ on tight.” He snarks back, heading towards the center. Helen simply grumbled a little at that as they passed through the farm, along the path through the forest and across the field. “I don’t k-know how easy it is to fall off!” she pointed out in response, as the two continued on their way north...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 03, 2017, 09:52:22 pm
The others had failed to realize Alexei wasn’t unconscious. He’d grown used to playing along to the drunk stereotype most attributed to him upon meeting him and had decided to play the passed out drunk for a bit to gather his thoughts relatively uninterrupted. As such he’d caught some of the conversation. None of it interested him much, something about a sword and some such. Once they had left he stood from his overtly convincing display of being passed out and righted the chair. Finding the nearest table he set his bag down and pulled out an old and weathered bottle of whiskey along with a pair of glasses. Pouring a bit into each glass before closing it and returning it to his bag.
Picking up one of the glasses he lifted it in a gesture of salute to the air before speaking in Russian “Saint Jude forgive me, Ullr guide my hand, and Martin of Tours show me the way through the smoke and fire.”
Downing the whiskey in one go he lightly slammed the glass on the table before shaking his head and starting for the door. He felt like getting himself a bow put together, something to hunt with as he had once done many years ago. Retrieving an old bow string from his bag he started looking for something appropriately shaped to make the bow out of.
Meanwhile Bandit walked further into the farm, scratching his cheek through the mask. He could hear a few things going on so he knew someone was alive here. “Uh, anyone around?” He shouted loud enough to be heard by most standing around outside.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 03, 2017, 09:56:12 pm
"Someone to see you sir. Some guy, says his name is Donovan or something? Some friend of yours?"
Dee scratched the side of his face, he hadn't rested for long before getting a bad case of the jimmy legs and deciding to get up. Medeina watched him carefully, wondering if he was just nervous or if it was a preexisting condition. "Who?" Dee asked, then he remembered. "Oh. Oh yeah! That guy. I wouldn't say he's a friend, I mean. He's been to the farm a few times and I guess we've talked once or thrice. He lives in a cave or something. Uh, sure. Let him in I guess?"
Medeina vaguely recalled the cyborg. A tattered mess of half functioning parts that would have made even the most professional cyberneticist wince. She'd given him a once over back on the farm, like she had with Roxanne, and found nothing she could use except diagnostics. None of which were particularly insightful. Once again, Catalina was put off by the sight of Atomos standing at attention in her office. "Your on leave private..." She growled.
"I know ma'am, but I'd like to make a request." She said, easing up a little just to show she could. While she'd been in the shower, the chef had skinned the snake and presented her with the outrageously large raw skin, now tucked in an awkwardly oversized roll under one arm. "I need a bigger rifle."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 03, 2017, 10:03:07 pm
Donny walks in, looking around the small room. "Hey-hey-hey kid, how're doing?" he asks, scratching the synthetic skin on his jaw.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 04, 2017, 08:41:06 am
Lilith pokes Nathaniel right between his shoulder blades with her nose, purring. "Nataleee..." It's clear she really likes the fake tail and ears, at least. "Cyoot thmall cub." Mohammad's smile dropped. "I'm fine. It's just... Something. Nothin'." He looks at the curtain leading to his room out of the corner of his eye, then looks back at the two. "And what's wrong? Guy can't dress normal these days? Anywho, you lookin' for Sharlene?" Sharlene looks at Victor, then at the glob of blood on the ground, then at her jacket. A grin slowly creeps across her face. "I dunno mate, I think you should clean up your room first. I-ah... I kinda bled all over it. Coffee was alright, I guess? Thanks." She dumps her jacket on the ground, revealing that, once more, she didn't have anything other than a bra on underneath it. "And thanks for the offer, but I ain't givin' you my pants." Sharlene grabs her katana from it's resting place against the table, almost forgetting the notes in her semi-rush to get back to the cabin. She'd left Lilith and Mohammad alone in it for what, two days?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 04, 2017, 11:43:26 am
Nathaniel was blushing more at that, nearly falling over when Lilith nudged him, turning to pet her in response. "Good girl, Lil." he said, before giving a nod. "Alright. If you're sure you're alright, then." he said. An odd contrast to how much he used to snark at Mohammad. "But yeah, she wanted to show Sharlene this gettup Roxanne put me in. Let me guess, off on another trip to get a second eyepatch?" he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 04, 2017, 09:08:15 pm
"Fine enough. Itchy. What do you need?" Dee said, looking at Donovan warily. The cyborg sometimes made him a bit uneasy, seeming to be a bit too much like a robot approaching the uncanny valley for Dee's tastes. "But I neeeed it!" Atomos whined, "How am I supposed to..." Her eyes took on a distant look again, then snapped back to the here and now. "I just need it, ok?" Catalina rolled her eyes and thought, 'Why not?' A short time later, Atomos left her captains office with her rolled skin and a requisition form.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 04, 2017, 09:26:17 pm
Donny clicks his tongue, "Saw what happened to your car, ssso... He holds up a set of keys, "I got-got-got you a little something, think of it as an early- Or late birthday present. I honestly have no fuckin clue-clue-clue when your birthday-day-day is. It-it-it was the cowboy's idea-idea-idea by the way."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 05, 2017, 01:16:34 am
Elsewhere, north of the refugee center, some unfinished business was being taken care of...
Later that evening, Helen and Lucian made their return to the farm, the mage hunter holding onto an old, weathered incorruptible sword, dismounting from the horse Lucian rode. "Thank you for this, Lucian. I'll be here for the time being..." she said. She'd want to look around a little before checking on Victor.
Hector set up the altar, draping the towel over the crate. That was the only step he'd figured out so far, uncertain what came next. He tried to guess as best as he could, having looked through the assortment of strange gadgets Catnip had made. He took something he'd made himself, and laid it on the altar as neatly as he could. A cuirass worked from the hardened steel of the stripped-down power armor. Further attached to it was a plackart with considerable fluting worked into it, tassets below that, and pauldrons for the shoulders, using the asymmetrical design that gave the left shoulder greater protection.
He knelt, having once more set aside sword and shield by the door. "So. It's me again. Never did get to finish last little conversation." he remarked, cracking a little smile. "I wish I knew how this sort of thing worked. But if any simple forge work would be of interest to you, I hope...this suffices, Agmen. She called you that, didn't she?" he said softly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 05, 2017, 07:26:27 am
Mohammad shrugs. "Last I saw, she was off to the centre. That was... Two days ago." Lilith looks up at Nathaniel at the second mention of Sharlene. "Natalie see Tharlene? Where? Where Tharlene? Tharlene thee cub?" She's already back to hopping around, only this time each landing feels like it's making the cabin shake. "Lay-dee m-" Mohammad cuts her off, staring daggers at her. "LILITH, STOP OR I SWEAR TO GOD." Lilith quickly quiets down, silently sliding down to be lying on the ground, head resting on her massive paws.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 05, 2017, 10:00:34 am
The childish god barely passed over the cuirass placed upon the rat mechanics paltry altar as it passed over the "offerings" of so many others. Those others were few and far between, but it had always been the act of creation that interested Agmen, moreso than the finished product. Agmen had watched intently while the Knight had been designing and working on the piece, doing so with a great deal of interested pleasure. Every hammer blow and pump of the bellows being to the god as a litany of prayer or a chorus of exultant voices. The young god passed over the creations of others, the works of hands yet finished or yet conceived. North, an engineer in a Gods Army work farm silently praised Agmen even as he worked a plate of armor with a rivet gun. Somewhere to the west, trapped within a bunker overgrown with creeping stinging vines, a young man and woman worked furiously to complete a device to escape their predicamement. Closer to home, Dee dictated notes to his AI who dutifully took down each letter. Among these observances though, Agmens disconnected mind kept returning. It had become bored with the praises and prayers of the engineers under the hand of that charry beast in a man's form. The knight was an irritant, but something about his work seemed earnest. Made with purpose and heart, and that somehow made it an altogether greater offering. Agmen turned back on a whim, and listened. Dee gave the cyborg a quizical look. He hadn't thought of his birthday in years, and it seemed an age since he'd received a gift for it. "Oh yeah?" He said curiously and half humorously, "early's right. At little under half a year early. Watcha got? Is it the keys to the Playguy mansion? No wait, maybe they go to a bank vault?" Donavan only looked at him blankly and Dee rolled his eyes. "Alright alright, lemme put this away and I'll come out and see." Atomos picked over the mixed collection of rifles, pistols, shotguns, bows, and explosives in the centers small but packed armory. "Standard req ticket and an exchange form." The quartermaster repeated, taking one form from her and passing the other over the counter to her. "Fill out the exchange ticket, complete with a summary of your rifles use and maintainance history." Atomos looked at the given form on it's clipboard with a sudden and unexpected feeling of dread and knew the source immediately. "I'm sorry, I uh... I'm not sure I want to... I mean... Is it too late to change my mind?"
The quartermaster had seen it a hundred times both here in the refugee center, and back in the army. Sometimes, soldiers who'd carried their rifles not just into combat, but through it, would grow attached to their weapon almost to the point where it attained an almost talismanic quality to their usee. Make a soldier with a connection like that go into a fight without their favorite rifle or pistol or whatever, and they were likely to come back in a pine box. Hell the quartermaster himself still had his old service pistol in the spring holster at his hip.
"Alright alright," he said showing Atomos the palms of his hands in a gesture that was meant to be calming, "I have quotas to keep and all that, but I'll tell you what." He turned and shuffled through the two-drawer filing cabinet beneath his desk until he came out with another form. "This," he explained, pushing the new form to her, "is a hold form. What it means is, basically, we will keep your piece for you and you can come back and swap it out for the rifle on your req form at any time. Sound alright?" The girl with the tail, and gods was it a fluffy one, stared at the forms for a long moment chewing her lip.
"Oh... Ok. You'll look after it?" She asked. He nodded, just once and quick. She looked over the forms again before carefully filling them out and a little while later he was watching the rythmic way her tail bobbed from side to side as she left the armory, a somewhat worn but we'll taken care of Garrand bumping against her shoulder. "Not bad." He said to the rifle she'd left on the counter, "not bad at all." He wasn't sure if he meant the rifle or the backside of the woman who'd left it, but he thought that it was probably both. He took the well loved rifle and carefully set it in the cabinet reserved for holds, between a 30-06 hunting rifle with a worn out stock and a chrome plated AR-15. "No, not bad at all." "Hey fox girl!" Dee said jocularily, "wanna see my new car?" The last time Atomos had heard that line, it had been her highschool boyfriend just before a day on the town. That particular occasion had ended with the guys car wrapped around a telephone pole.
"Sure, maybe you can take me for a ride." She joked. She liked Dee, a little, but like was as far as she would take it. Atomos had seen the lizards girlfriend devour her way through a week's worth of canned chicken rations and didn't want to get on the bad side of those teeth. "What did you get?"
They soon found out, and Dee wasn't displeased. Atomos on the other hand had to struggle to avoid yawning. "Niiiice," said Dee, looking over the black and white charger, "always wondered what it would be like driving a police cruiser. You think it's got any of the extras?" He slid into the seat, and ran his hands over the wheel. The bar had been taken off the front and the red and blues had also been stripped. The only thing left of it's previous tour of duty was the paint job and the marks where the decals had been. "Holy shit, it's still got the loud speakers and a rack for the radio! I could get catnip to hook... Goddammit..."
"Goddammit?" Atomos asked.
"Yeah." Dee said. "No Catnip, no modification. I wouldn't trust anybody else to do it. Though, I guess it would be easy enough..." He ran his hands over the wheel again and scratched his chest. "Still... You still want that ride fox girl?"
It wasn't a muscle car like she thought it would be, but then again she hadn't been in a civilian vehicle for seven years. Atomos came around the passenger side of the charger and slid into the seat. "Drive on lizard dude!"
"That's the spirit!" He cried, putting it in gear and pulling away from the center.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 05, 2017, 02:07:58 pm
Floyd works on packing a rucksack of supplies and a dufflebag of food while Sammy sits down nearby. He loads up the steel horse as Sammy asks, "Are you really heading out? Can't you take me with at least? Floyd sighs through his nose as he scratches his beard, "Ya know what? Sure, are ya ready?" Sammy perks up, "Wait- You're serious?" He nods, "C'mon, get everything together and meet be back here in... a half hour." Sammy nods eagerly and gathers up her gear. Once she heads back the two head out, towards the north.
Lucian nods, "Be seeing you, Helen. I'm going to say hi to the knightboy, say hi to Victor for me.. He says, also dismounting his horse. He strolls around the farm, with no idea where Hector is.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 05, 2017, 02:54:27 pm
Victor waited for Sharlene’s response. She then pointed out the blood all over his room and the thought of cleaning it up manifested on his mind; a simple task due to his abilities. "Right, right. No hard feelings. The room won’t be that hard to clean." When she took off her jacket and Victor noticed she was wearing only a bra, he turned away with a blush in his face. "That’s fine. It was just an offer anyways...", Victor said in response. He was a bit tense all the way until Sharlene left. Once she did, Victor turned back around and gave a sigh of relieve. That whole experience had been a rollercoaster of emotions and the ending certainly contributed to that.
The jacket that was left on the ground was picked up and stretched on the bed. Victor had said no magic to clean, and he would stick to his word; but he didn’t say anything about spiritual powers. A small smirk was place on Victor’s face as he summoned the Divine Spirit in his sword. As it stood behind him, Victor issued a simple command. "Use your divine flames to clean the blood out of this room. The jacket in specific, be extra careful.", Victor ordered the spirit, he pointed at Sharlene’s jacted that was placed on the bed. The spirit went to work; it’s blades were engulfed by purple flames and it sent pulses of fire in every direction. Victor’s aura spell revealed the pulses were targeted in nature and the target was the blood. Slowly but surely, the blood left the room, consumed in spiritual fire.
Once this was done, the spirit returned to the blade in a black mist. Victor went and picked up the jacket. It was clean and the fire took away some of the wrinkles. He smiled as he realized this abuse of the supernatural was the reason the cleansing flame existed and why the shadows of arcana was created. While shaking his head in amusement, he folded the jacket and placed it on his work table so he would find it quickly to return it back to it’s owner. He grabbed a book and laid on the bed, this was enough work for the day; he would relax for a little while.
Some time had passed since Sharlene and Victor’s coffee shenanigans. Meanwhile, Roxanne had grabbed all the material she deemed necessary for the little experiments she had planned. She placed them inside her robes; while inside there, they exhibited the same properties as Roxanne herself so if she went incorporeal, so would the items. Now it was time to pay someone a visit; Roxanne phased through the walls of her room and went towards her destination.
Victor did not know she was coming. One moment, he was reading his book and the other something came through his room’s walls. He wasn’t scared thought, as he knew who this was because as soon as it entered, someone’s aura had increase in intensity due to exposure to the aura device.
"I have come to claim your soul mortal! Your sins may have been washed away but I still remember!", Roxanne said in a childish tone.
Victor sighed and lowered his book placing it on the bed. "Again? What has my soul ever done to you? Besides, you don’t even have your hood up to make it work properly. Can I help you with anything or are you just here to waste my time?", Victor responded.
Roxanne smirked at his comments, maybe this would turn out more interesting than she expected. "Wow! Someone is very rude today. Something happened? Anyways,as a matter of fact, I do need your help with something. Care to help this damsel in distress?"
"Alright, what do you need? I am not really busy at the moment and this should help kill some time. Lay it on me.", Victor responded.
Roxanne’s smirk turned to a grin that only grew wider. She took a small wrapped bundle from her robe and went his table to set it down. The folded jacket stood out to her. "What is with this jacket? Are you enchanting it or something?", Roxanne said as she placed her bundle next to it and then looked at Victor.
"Nevermind that. Just tell me what you need and I will help you.", Victor responded.
"Fine! Alright then, as you know, I am a spirit. This means that things like sleeping, eating, drinking and the such are not something I do. But I still crave them. Exhaustion, hunger, thirst, companionship...lust...this are all things that I still feel but I cannot satisfy. And you are going to help me!", Roxanne explained.
This explanation concerned Victor a whole lot. What was she planning? What would he be doing? Was it too late to say no? "What do you mean I will help you? What is my role in all of this? Do you need me to research something?", Victor asked back.
Roxanne simply smiled. With slow but deliberate steps, she walked towards Victor; she didn’t want to scare him away. "Don’t worry, you will find out soon enough. Relax, I will explain it shortly.", Roxanne said as she moved forward. After she was close enough that Victor could not react in time, she lunged forward and phased through him. Except, she did not come out of his body; Roxanne had taken control. This was a possession.
While still sitting in bed, Victor’s eyes examined his hands. This was not Victor doing this, it was Roxanne; full control was given to her. "What is the meaning of this?! Exit my body at once!", Victor commanded the intruder. His voice took the quality of a nagging feeling inside or Roxanne. She in turned, opted to speak out loud. No one would hear them, sound spell and all. "Don’t worry, I won’t do you any harm. Besides, you need to lighten up a bit. I’ll help you with that.", Roxanne responded.
"And why didn’t you tell me you were going to do this?!", Victor asked while raising his voice.
"Yeah, sure. Let me you ask you. ‘Hey Victor, can I take over your body for a while? Thanks!’ You were going to say no and I was going to do it anyways. I just cut out that portion from the equation.", Roxanne answered.
"What is wrong with you Roxanne? You just don’t take over people’s bodies like that...that fact that I even have to say that!!!", Victor responded.
"Quiet! This is kinda important too.Let’s get this over with, the faster I make my experiments, the faster you are free to go.", explained Roxanne. She made Victor stand up and go towards the bundle. Only two items were in there; the baggy with spirit pills and her “ceremonial oil”. "You have to be kidding me...", Victor said in his mind’s voice.
Roxanne made him take the two items and then place them on his night stand next to his bed. Then she made him lay down on his bed and take the oil container. "You know where this leading right? Right now, we are sharing a spiritual connection. Any effects your body feels will be felt by me too. At least that is the idea...". She didn’t gave him any time to respond. The container was opened and the oil was applied over Victor’s arms; the effects were apparent rather soon but it wasn’t too strong yet. Roxanne than made him put that back where she had placed them and then made him grab one pill from the baggy which he then consumed. Afterwards, she forced him to lay down on the bed again.
"You are starting to feel it, can’t you? Just relax and when we come back. The feeling will be heavenly!", Roxanne told Victor Not like he had any choice. Several minutes passed before the pill took effect. All the while, the effects of the oil were getting a foothold. He was no lightweight but he wasn’t used to this. Roxanne too was feeling it; it had been a while so she just sat back as well and her control over his body weakened a bit. Eventually, he closed his eyes, and he awoke back in the spirit world.
The trip to the spirit world was rather eventful. Things had returned to normal now that the divine spirit took the place of Randael. It served is their guide and took them to the lamp. The feeling of bliss and at-ease returned. Victor himself was intrigued that this had worked; Roxanne possessing him allowed the two of them to visit here on a single pill. He wondered what other combos they could do.
Once they reached the lap, the usual blue flame they had come to know what there; it was shining as bright as ever. Roxanne looked at it and smiled. "Everything is back to normal around this parts then. Good to know. This means Randael is not keeping an eye on use currently; this is the perfect time to strike! We have him right where we wanted him!", Roxanne exclaimed.
"So this is what you wanted? To come here and confirmed we were in the clear? You can still take the pill as a spirit if you become corporeal and wanted bad enough. Why did you need me to come with you?", Victor asked.
"You’ll see when we get back...you will see and maybe you will want more!", Roxanne tease Victor. This only made his concerns worse. What was she planning damn it! "Go ahead and pull us out mister spirit. We would go to the winds of memories but we don’t have anything to research today and nothing juicy comes to mind at this time. Hit me! Hit me hard!", Roxanne told the divine spirit. With a single slash, they were both struck down which caused them to be pulled back to the real world.
They both jolted awake. Roxanne gave out a loud moan as the afterglow of the pill compounded with the ceremonial oil she had applied on Victor’s body. Worse still, the effect was double as two souls shared the body at the time, meaning both of them could feel each other’s effects. "S-so this is what you wanted...gotta admit...I can see why you would not ask for permission.", Victor said breaking the silence. Not having any experience with drugs, this sensation was overwhelming him, "Can you leave my body already? You had your fun right?" Roxanne was breathing heavily from the effects. "Just a few more minutes ok? I can’t believe this actually worked...this is why I miss having a body...", Roxanne responded. The laid there for a while basking on it’s effect; a powerful high and an afterglow at the same time.
Eventually, Roxanne did leave his body and gathered the stuff she had brought. Victor, now in control of his own body, grabbed the book he was reading and threw at Roxanne while he was still laying on the bed. "Get out of my room you malevolent ghost! Don’t make me purify this house in the name of the lord!", Victor said jokingly. The effects of the drugs impairing his judgement. Roxanne gave laugh as he heard this, too impaired herself to answer him. She opted to simply say goodbye before exiting his room by phasing through a wall and going back to her room.
"What a day...blood magic and spiritual shenanigans one after the other. But it’s good to know you can link with divine spirits like that...maybe I can try combos like that with the spirit on my blade...and Randael is not snooping around either. Means we can go and attack soon...", Victor said outloud for himself, his usual decorum and demeanor gone., "For now, I should go about checking over my gear for the mission...the time had come!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 05, 2017, 03:02:19 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that, trying to keep his balance as Lillith bounced around excitedly. "Shit, she better still be in one p-" At that point the cabin's endless shaking from her jumping up and down made him fall on his ass. "Liliiiith!"
Hector wasn't even sure if this strange thing was listening, but something bid him to continue. "This will only be the start of my work, and it will serve a greater purpose. With every day that passes, more innocents are slain, more inventors works left unfinished. If it avenges Catnip...no, more than just revenge, if it stops these damned fools from driving humanity itself extinct in their ignorant crusade, I will do whatever I must." he said, before taking up the armor to leave the altar room, and soon back in the main room of the barn, easily seen to any that were to check there.
Helen simply nodded at Lucian's response, making her way over towards Victor's room. They'd been gone most of the day, and she'd missed out on all manner of shenanigans, blissfully unaware of everything that happened while she was out. She did however sense a few faint signs of magic through her mask, but only the small pile of blood essence stood out. As much as it worried her to have him making more of it, she knew his sword required it, though her studies gave her ideas for a possible way to make it rely on other means.
She calmly made her way to the door and gave a knock. She at least had a few ideas to help him for now. While the incorruptible sword was not of any immediate use to her, the haul of essence retrieved from the monsters they took down would be invaluable. "Victor? Are you alright? Brought something that may be of use for you." she said, setting the old sword aside for the moment. Instead she was holding the essence. Enough motes of it that, if cut open by a silver athame, would power Victor's sword twice over.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 05, 2017, 03:03:02 pm
Roland had taken a group of the men out hunting after a few hours. Veronica had asked him to be careful and he intended to be but you never knew. Lifting the suppressed and scoped Garand he’d borrowed for the hunt Roland watched a group of deer some distance from them. Letting a round off he heard the other suppressed rifles fire to either side of him and watched the bodies fall to the ground save one. The man had missed his mark and the thing ran away.
Shifting his aim and taking a second shot Roland killed the creature before it made it far. Standing up to retrieve the bodies Roland told the man “Next time make sure you hit your mark. Learn your rifle, learn your scope, and practice.”
As they walked one of the men stopped, noticing something in the water they were crossing. Letting out a shout the man scrambled to get his gun pointed at the sewer gator. Roland beat him to it as he put a round through the thing’s skull and watched it’s body go limp. Looking at the man that had missed he told him “You get to carry that. Consider it incentive to practice with that thing.”
From there they gathered the now dead prey and returned to their jeeps. As they rode back he realized that the man that had missed was maybe sixteen at the most. Reaching a hand over he placed it on the man’s shoulder and told him “You did good. You just need to get used to the rifle.”
Meanwhile Bandit heard his radio buzz on his belt and picked it up to listen to what his boys were trying to tell him. One of them said “Hey boss you told us you wanted us to start keeping the peace in the old hood, see if anyone was still round there. Well some boys that you used to beef with run it. What you want us to do?”
Bandit sighed as he thought of what to do. As far as he was concerned there were only two options and one had to go. Pressing the button on the radio he said “You tell them it’s fall in line and take orders from me or we’re going on the warpath. And tell Enrique to get us some cars armored up just in case we do have to go popping shots at them.”
He already knew how this was going to go but he had to give them a chance. Signing off he walked from forgotten memory to the radio room and saw the lab. Grabbing the gas mask he’d taken with him he put it on as he realized the lab was his handiwork. Pulling out his cd player he turned his music on as he turned the gas on for the lab. He didn’t even know why he was doing this since he didn’t know if anyone would mind but he just let instinct and old knowledge guide him.
As he began mixing the necessary ingredients for painkillers, hallucinogens, and the other drugs he’d be selling he let his mind wander and found himself rapping to the music playing. Cass played along, happy to be doing something other than waiting. Of course anyone who came in to see him wouldn’t recognize him though he failed to realize this as he worked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 05, 2017, 03:03:35 pm
Lucian walks into the barn and sees Hector, with a wide grin he approaches him. "Ah...! It's sir knight! You aren't busy, are you?" He asks as he claps his hands together and point them at him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 05, 2017, 03:23:30 pm
Hector blinked as he stepped out, seeing the door to the farmhouse close. Before he had a moment to investigate, he saw Lucian greeting him, setting the armor aside. "A surprise to see you here. And no, just got finished with something." he said, evidently he had been at the forge all this time, unaware of the radio report.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 05, 2017, 03:30:04 pm
Victor hears a knock on the door. He checks his aura and notices no new auras so this is someone he knows. He thinks. After a while, he manages to get up and walks to opened the door. He looks fine at first glance, it’s just that concentrating is hard and he is trying his best to hide a dumb smile he had had for a while after Roxanne left.
He opens the door to find Helen there, holding essence. "Oh, hey Helen! It’s been a while hasn’t it! What brings you here? Did you have fun with what you were doing? Oh? Something to help me? Is that essance? That is alot of it! I think we can use it for something useful. I found a few interesting things while you were gone, might help in our mission.", Victor responds to Helen, "Roxanne says we can go ahead and do it soon!"
Roxanne hovered her way back to her room. For the moment, she had forgotten she was a ghost, she had forgotten she had installed a backdoor to her room. So she goes to the front of the radio room and tries to enter that way. It doesn’t work. "Shit...locked...", Roxanne whispers. She then tried to knock but her hand goes through, "Oh? Neat!" That is when she phases through the wall while still hovering and notices a man inside. "Who the fuck are you?", She asks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 05, 2017, 03:30:33 pm
Lucian claps his hands together again, "Wonderful! I could use a hand with something, think you could help me out with it?" He says, grinning wider. "Plus it'd be giving you a little lesson in one of those... artifacts you have."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 05, 2017, 03:36:20 pm
Helen smiled a bit under her mask, soon taking it off and setting it aside as well, before promptly pulling Victor into a hug. "Just got back from a thing I asked Lucian to help me with." she said, before giving him a worried look. "Not sure what you've been up to, but I can already guess you've been...restocking, for your sword. If you'd like, assuming you aren't well-versed in doing so already, I am familiar with the method of making it that's arguably the least...dangerous. At least for the user." she offered.
Hector regarded Lucian curiously, before grinning a bit. "Wouldn't mind the chance to test this armor out. I haven't completed the whole set yet, but it's a start." he admitted. "And...ah right. You mean the sword Helen entrusted me with, or the ring I borrowed from Quinn one time?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 05, 2017, 03:39:41 pm
Bandit blinked as he saw the woman phase through the door. The first thought in his mind was how the fuck?. The second was that he knew no one here had been a ghost, and that ghosts were quite frankly impossible. So his mind resorted to the first natural response it could think of, namely he ran through the door screaming. Loudly screaming.
Once he made it through the door he came to the decision of 'fuck this place, fuck the people that live, fuck the memories, that is a fucking ghost' and ran for the bridge as fast as he could. Screaming the entire way as Cass merely followed suit similarly alarmed at the logically impossible being phasing through a wall.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 05, 2017, 03:42:36 pm
Lucian squints at Hector for a moment, "I'll worry about the ring later... The sword, yes." He says, "Well, I'll take that as a 'yes' ssso... Meet me outside and grab whatever you're taking. Don't bring the sword."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 05, 2017, 04:04:30 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that, trying to keep his balance as Lillith bounced around excitedly. "Shit, she better still be in one p-" At that point the cabin's endless shaking from her jumping up and down made him fall on his ass. "Liliiiith!"
Lilith immediately forgot about Mohammad's command as soon as Nathaniel fell on his arse. "NATALEE! Matalee! Catalee!" She's gone back to bouncing around, stopping occasionally to nuzzle Nathaniel. Thank god it was the middle of Summer, at least. Sharlene missed her jacket already. As she approached the cabin, she realised that the large patches of blood covering the front of her cargo pants looked very suspicious. "...Goddamnit, if Mohammad says one fuckin' thing." The door to the cabin was blown off it's hinges, and Lilith was jumping around inside. "Lilith, what are yo- Wait, Nathaniel?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 05, 2017, 04:08:29 pm
Victor smiles as she hugs him, he returns the gesture. “Ah, so that is from where all the essence comes from then? And yes, I have been resupplying more fuel for the sword. It ended, in shenanigans but I have more ammo. And I see what you have in mind then, you want to make a safe way to resupply the sword. That is good but we will eventually eventually run out of essence to do this. So, would you like to get started?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 05, 2017, 04:16:34 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Alright then, whenever you're ready." he answered, soon deciding to actually put on the cuirass and once again test the fit. As expected, even over his hauberk it felt perfect for him, his regular arming sword at his side and shield in hand as he made his way outside.
He was left giving a blank stare at the man in the unfamiliar uniform running and screaming, promptly stepping forward to try and grab at him. "What the...who are you and what were you doing in the radio room?"
Nathaniel grumbled a little softly as he reached to pet Lilith, giving an irritated little sigh at that. "I swear Lil..." when he looked over and saw Sharlene there, covered in blood and walking around without a shirt or jacket on, he promptly stood up. "Woah shit, what the fuck happened to you?"
Helen simply smiled some, amused at his reaction. "It's also where I got the sword. Well, where I got it back. It's...a long story." she said, not wanting to admit this was the same sword a childhood friend died carrying, seven years ago. The same weapon she slew Roxanne's counterpart by, which about a year ago she used to reseal the caverns that were now at peace.
"Alright then, I'd like to know just what those shenanigans were, but right now I'll show you the method I know of. I'll need one of those...athames, along with a source of flame. And the essence which I have here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 05, 2017, 04:26:00 pm
Bandit felt the man grab his vest. He also felt the straps on the vest break as he was left to tumble to the ground before ending up on his ass, his two pistols scattered a couple feet from him. Staring at the armored man he said "I'm..I'm Bandit and I don't honestly know, I jus...somehow it felt like I was supposed to be 'cooking' in there..like I'd done it a lot before..and..fucking hell that ghost is gonna come kill me. How the fuck is there a ghost." Hector could gather Bandit was both alarmed and scared out of his mind from his tone of voice.
As he said this he stared at Hector, unsure of who he was but certain he was probably fucked. He wouldn't be able to get either pistol in time to do anything and he doubted he'd be able to run. Maybe appease them? be nice? Of course that was when Cass decided to flip Hector off and Bandit grabbed her with his arm and pushed her down shouting "NOW IS NOT THE TIME!" at Cass before looking back at Hector and telling him "Sorry, got a mind of her own."
"We're gonna die anyway Bandit, may as well go out with attitude." Cass said into Bandit's ear.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 05, 2017, 04:32:47 pm
Hector seemed to balk a bit when Bandit said his name. "Bandit? You're back and didn't even tell us you were coming? And in this weird outfit, almost had me afraid some God's Army soldier was creeping around here, if not for the lack of a blue cross on the gear." he pointed out, setting the vest down and taking his helm off.
He then promptly facepalmed at the hand flipping him off. "So yeah, you...might've missed Roxanne becoming a spirit. And evidently we missed you gaining a possessed arm." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 05, 2017, 04:39:39 pm
Bandit blinked as he heard what Hector was saying. "Uh..God's army? What? And I didn't exactly remember this place, well what it was, just how to get here and that it was important for some reason. I uh, I don't remember that much about the past couple of years to be honest, frankly even beyond that my memory has gotten a bit hazy. I did remember I run a gang apparently though so I guess that's..good."
At his remark about the arm Bandit said "Oh it's not possessed, it's a..robot? I think that's what you'd call her." He rolled up his sleeve and showed Hector the mechanical arm. "It's got a built in AI that likes to operate the thing independently, named Cass. So I take it I'm not about to be brutally murdered? And spirit? Oh and Cass says hi." He asked as he stood up, dusting his shirt off while Cass waved at Hector.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 05, 2017, 05:04:23 pm
Hector was a bit surprised at that, before giving a nod. "I see. Welcome back, in that case. Guess we'll have to reintroduce you to the others. You already met Roxanne of course. And this here is Lucian, though not sure you met him before back then." he said, gesturing to the strange-looking fellow that had been waiting outside the barn for him.
"And a pleasure to meet you, Cass. Whatever warranted her being installed likely means it's fortunate that you came back here alive. All we knew for sure was that someone had kidnapped you, then one day we hear you hosting a radio show for some inexplicable reason."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 05, 2017, 05:20:01 pm
Lucian waves, patting the horse next to him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 05, 2017, 05:33:07 pm
Bandit nodded to Lucian before saying "Pleasure to meet you. Uh, she got installed because I lost my hand, and then my arm because the antiseptic didn't work. All of which was the end result of the building I was in getting blown up apparently. As for the radio show, well it was either do that or be bored in my wheelchair. Another thing I don't have to deal with thanks to Cass. Just glad to be alive and moving at this point, and I suppose I should probably go talk with Roxanne..the ghost. That uh...fucking hell that can't be real. I can explain a thousand and one things with science and reason but not that."
Shaking his head Bandit retrieved his pistols and picked up his vest. Looking it over he said "I'm gonna have to replace the straps. May as well add a couple additions while I'm fixing it later. Anyway, you never explained God's Army and how what I'm wearing is related."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 05, 2017, 05:57:58 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Well, I'd say if some asshole blew up a building on you, just getting an infection is pretty impressive. And yeah, to be honest Roxanne able to do the ghost thing is rather mundane compared to some of the strange things that've happened. I mean you've seen some of the monsters running around in addition to the zombies, right?" he asked, before smiling a bit sheepishly.
"And er, sorry for breaking the straps when I grabbed you. As for God's Army, they're a group of religious nuts whose basic outfit tends towards kevlar and riot gear, with blue crosses painted on them. Their officers mostly scavenged medieval armor, usually painted in Templar patterns. Like the inverse of my shield's Hospitaller design." he explained. "Main problem with them is their love of literally fucking crucifying mutants and cyborgs. And I guess now that makes two of us that fall under the latter category."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 05, 2017, 06:05:38 pm
"That's fine, how I got this sword is also a long story...", Victor responded, "Some stories are best reserved for an appropriate time...".
"I can get you all of that real quickly! The athame I have for, you know, reloading. And I got the best flame available you as well!", Victor told Helen. In his altered state of mind, he called the spirit in his blade to manifest. It appeared in a tower of purple flames; and then it awaited Victor's command. "Go ahead and give Helen the flame she desires! Make it a divine flame that she has never seen!" , Victor commanded the spirit. It then hovered over to Helen and extended on of it's blades, a faint purple flame appeared. "Whenever you are ready.", said the spirit.
"Wait...maybe we should head inside first...yeah, that would be a good idea!", Victor told the spirit and Helen, "After me! we have a ritual to do!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 05, 2017, 06:13:56 pm
Sharlene places her hand on her hip and just gives Nathaniel a 'really?' look. "I've had worse. Threw up a bit. Why's the door missing? And what's up with Lil?" Speaking of, Lilith was still bouncing around, nearly growling in excitement. "THARLENE! NATALEE NATALIE CUB!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 05, 2017, 06:39:28 pm
Bandit nodded as he said "Well then I guess I know some people to steer clear of. As for the vest it's not something that's hard to fix if you know how and fortunately I do. And uh, I vaguely recall being locked up for the first couple of years after this all started and from there it was all zombies and raiders and trying not to get shot. I suppose I'll need to think of something else to wear though, don't want someone thinking the wrong thing and shooting me."
Tucking the vest under one arm he adjusted his mask with the other as he said "I suppose I should probably go explain myself to Roxanne. Don't want her thinking some god's army guy was here since that's apparently an easy misconception. Besides it looks like you two have something to go take care of."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 05, 2017, 06:44:14 pm
Hector nodded at that. "I recall one time you brought one of them in, captured by those friends of yours you deal with. And like I said, I didn't see their emblem on it so I simply assumed you were some stranger intruding here. If I had seen a God's Army cross on it, then it would've been trouble." he said. "Besides, I've been going around dressed up in outfits like this and so far haven't been in a friendly fire incident."
"In any case, good to see you back. She's likely going to ask you about those spirit pill things again..."
Nathaniel gave a bit of a worried look. "Yeah no, people don't just go puking up blood out of nowhere. As for Lilith, uh...she kinda had a bit of a growth spurt, and I wish I knew why. Then Roxanne kinda had the idea of dressing me up like this to cheer her up..."
Helen nodded at that, only to balk at Victor conjuring the divine spirit for her. "I can't help but wonder how much your friend here enjoys joining in something so mundane, as far as arcane matters are concerned." she remarked, before they made their way inside.
When they went back in she calmly, though warily, picked up the silver athame and set some of the essence on the table. "Alright then, I'll need the spirit to hold out the flame for me." she said, and upon doing so she passed the athame over the flames until it was dangerously hot, only the wood of the handle being safe to hold, before she turned to dip it into the small pile of essence. Almost immediately it started to leak and bubble with glowing red liquid, the pile melting away and reforming into what he'd recognize as blood essence.
"This method may be limited by sources of otherworldly essence, but it holds no danger to the user. Unlike the rites of chalice or athame."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 05, 2017, 07:24:03 pm
Lucian walks down to the two, hand getting off of his sword. "Sir knight, are you ready to head out?" he asks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 05, 2017, 08:54:26 pm
Bandit nodded to Hector as he said "Right, sounds like you need to go. I'll go let Roxanne know it was me so she doesn't worry. Stay safe."
Walking back towards the radio room Bandit knocked on the door and said "Hey..uh Roxanne? It's me Bandit. Just wanted to let you know who was in here so you didn't worry too much. I uh, I need to shut some stuff off in there if you don't mind."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 05, 2017, 10:07:12 pm
Lilith was continuously nudging Nathaniel towards Sharlene while the two were trying to talk. "Tharleeeeeenneeeee!" "Yeah Lilith, I see him. And it probs wasn't outta nowhere, come to think of it. ...Nice tail."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 05, 2017, 10:20:43 pm
Victor saw the ritual Helen was performing. The little comment she made of using the arcane for mundane task stung a little due to his state of mind but he was called worse. He was familiar with the ritual but he was intrigued nonetheless. Victor had never had enough essence to do the ritual himself. "It may be safe but not reliable due to the lack of resources. But I will try to use this ritual as much as possible. Now let’s see if it works.", Victor answered.
The sword of the void activated in Victor’s hand and then he step forward slashing the divine spirit. The spirit became a black mist and was once more absorbed by the sword. He then de-activated it and then started to giggle. "It works Helen! It works!". The laughing fit got harder and he dropped his sword from laughter. "This is great you know? The first real good use of magic of the day for me. Had a long day today. I assume you did as well. Any plans?"
Roxanne was confused by the man. Who was he? Why was he here? Would he harm here? The farm? There had to be an explanation and Roxanne would find it. She stood there for some time pondering this and did not realize when he came back.
"Bandit? Bandit?! You are back!", Roxanne exclaimed. She approached the man and got a little too close for comfort. "Where were you? I missed you....But you are here!", she told him, obviously not in her 5 sense, "Of course! This place is yours! Maybe make some more ‘alchemy’?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 05, 2017, 10:32:41 pm
Hector nodded at that. "Alright then, you take care as well." he answered, before nodding to Lucian. "Guess I'm ready, what do you have in mind?" he asked, looking around and noticing, to his surprise, a horse saddled up. "Huh. Came along on horseback even, nice. No barding though?" he joked.
Nathaniel grumbled more at that. "You sure you're alright? Puking up blood is a bad sign. Radiation poisoning, severe ulcers, various diseases, not to mention whatever other weird shit might cause it."
He then blushed a bit at that. "I'm never gonna live this down am I..."
Helen chuckled a bit as she watched him test out the essence she created. "Should be enough from the essence I found to fully charge that sword more than once, possibly twice is my guess." she said. "And of course it works. It's not exactly the favored technique of The Sanguine Order, but it's a proven technique." she admitted. "It still denies these monsters the kind of closure consecrating the essence does, but better than using human lifeforce."
She couldn't help but giggle a bit as well, though concerned given how he seemed to crack up like that. "Had a visit from Lucian earlier today, he brought a horse. It's how I was able to handle some...unfinished business, within the evening. An old Sanctum that was overrun by monsters early into this apocalypse." she explained. "Now. Tell me what you did, my little seidmadr. I know you've already committed the rite of blood sacrifice, so there are few worse things you could do. I'm not angry. Just...worried." she said softly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 05, 2017, 10:32:52 pm
Dee edged the car around another wreck in front of a supermarket. It wasn't a scavenging run, but even if it had been he wouldn't have stopped. The supermarket bore the orange spray painted square that indicated the place had been emptied out. Catnip's calling card. If she had been the one to loot the place, Dee knew, it was truly empty. The reminder saddened him a bit more.
"So," He said, "Do you like it?" Atomos was staring out the window until he asked his question.
"Eh. It's alright. What do YOU think though?"
Dee moved the car around an old station wagon with no tires and passed a police cruiser much like the charger he drove now. "It's a decent car. Not a muscle car, not a luxury car. It could be really nice though, but... I think I told you my fabricator was otherwise occupied?" He said.
"Yeah, you said 'missing or a rat.' What's that supposed to mean?" Atomos asked.
"It's not a particularly long story, but I don't think I'll tell it. In short, she's indisposed. She was also the farms mechanic, and I'm not sure how we are gonna get along without her. I guess we could do general maintenance tasks ourselves, but the farms generator was built entirely from scratch and none of us know how it works. If it breaks, we go without power. Some of the vehicles on the farm are also held together with Catnip engineering." Dee's lips tightened, "My own work is entirely dependent on her."
Atomos leaned back in her seat, unconscious of the mess her snake skin was making in the back when squished by the seat. Dee gestured to it, not really worrying too much. "What are you going to do with that?" He asked. Atomos didn't really know. The snake skin was huge when unrolled and she wasn't sure she could manage to prepare it properly. "I don't know. Maybe I'll nail it to a fence. Or something."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 05, 2017, 10:36:27 pm
Bandit adjusted the gas mask as he walked over to his lab and started shutting things down. When she got close he sighed and shuffled himself a bit further away as he told her "Sorry about the screaming just..never seen a ghost. Never thought they were possible either. That combined with not remembering a lot about the past few years, and even a bit from beyond that, didn't exactly help."
Finishing with turning the various parts of the lab off he turned to her and asked "And what do you mean by Alchemy? Do you mean chemistry?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 06, 2017, 05:01:49 am
Meanwhile, towards the north... (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zlhd_dRx8TpbesXTaewKXvGJ6xwsm6qvNv1SFCTSQ8E/edit?usp=sharing)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 06, 2017, 08:54:55 am
Dee slowed the car down until the noise of it's engine was little more than a gentle hum and the vehicle was crawling along. The scavenger marks had stopped appearing and for all intents and purposes, he and Atomos had entered what some had begun to refer to as "wild land."
"A bit far out." Dee said, "Time to head back." To Atomos though, the streets seemed a bit empty. Dee's thoughts were punctuated by the emergence of... Something. It lurched it's way not out of the gym up the street, glancing this way and that with the very definition of rage plain upon the skin stretched over it's skull. It seemed uncharacteristically observant for one of the walking dead, and it hurt Atomos's eyes just to look at it. The zombie looked in their direction and froze. The car stopped and silently idled. For a long moment, nothing happened and Dee thought the odd zombie would decide their was nothing in their direction and wander off. Then, something hit the side of the car. A splatter of some sickly yellow bile that spat and sizzled, peeling the paint and making it run in smoking rivulets. Atomos let out a startled shriek at the impact. She quickly regained her composure though and tightened her grip on her rifle.
"Aaah... Fuck it." Dee grumbled, his own surprise passing just as quickly. Something hard and heavy hit the back of the car and bounced it viciously. By that time though, the car was in motion acting out it's namesake and charging down the street. The creature they had first seen coming out of the gym seemed to grimace horribly before the car hit it. Dee imagined he could hear the sound of breaking bones as it passed beneath the charger. Before long, there was a veritable conga line forming behind them. Something huge struck the right side of the cruiser, making it skew badly, nearly overturning the car. Dee knew what to do and turned the sideways momentum into a turn that wasn't quite a turn and wasn't quite a drift. He caught a glimpse of what had hit the car in the right wing mirror and felt his balls crawl into his throat.
"Lizard dude, Dee, think you could put your foot to the mat?" Atomos said. She was pretending to be calm, but their we're threads of panic edging into her voice.
"Just a little more and..." The cruiser hit an open space in the road, a clear stretch devoid of cars, and did exactly as asked. In that moment, he heard Catnip in his head advising him on how to drive the SLS like he'd never got his license. "Make it walk Dee, make it walk pretty as you please." Dee did as he was told, and left the horde far behind. The charger letting out the power that made it the choice of law enforcement for years. Medeina finished strengthening her connection to the refugee center, having drone run scavenged lines and making repairs to existing equipment. According to her calculations, she had extended the lifetime of the centers systems by a good three years. She figured to aid the center as best she could, but she would do so from the farm. That place had taken on a feel to her, a strange sense of belonging. Mica had told the AI, who had surprisingly confided this in the spidery girl, that this was because the farm was "home."
"Even ro-butts gots homes." Mica told her, "nice warm place with nice warm peoples. Home is where people go and they gotta take you in." Medeina, such concepts foreign to her, had considered Mica's words carefully. She supposed Mica was right. For now though, she needed to test some things.
The chicken walker's shuddered, and emitted a single blaring siren, brief and sharp.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 06, 2017, 09:51:40 am
"Not their favorite method? I can see why I supposed. Still to me, blood essence is a temporary solution anyways. I am working on a substitute but it’s too early reveal. ", Victor responded to Helen’s first remarks, "And you feel pity for that beyond the veil? It is human life and it’s essence that should be protected. There will always be casualties of war." The way Victor spoke hinted that we wasn’t all there; the last sentence in particular wasn’t something he would normally say. It once more betrayed his bias and disdain towards that transcendent of humanity.
"Lucian? Ah, the former blood mage! Or so I heard. Expedited process via horse I see. Good to see you made it back ok. Seeking closer has only brought strife to me and Roxanne but that is mostly due to our past sins...", Victor answered Helen’s second remarks.
"So you want to know what I did? *sight* Fine, I will tell you. It’s a bit long series of events so hold on.", Victor responded. He told her about Sharlene visiting to repair her katana. How she mocked the arcane so in blind indignation he showed her true magic, blood magic but still magic nonetheless. The red coffee was explained to her and how it ended up with Sharlene bleeding all over his room. Then he explained how he turned her katana into a variant of the broken sword and a wand of sorts to channel arcane powers to her whim. He neglected the part of the notes he gave her and the jacket she left behind. Next, Victor explained Roxanne arrival. How she explained about the inability to satiate her human desires as a spirit and how she took over his body to test if she could do so with a host. The trip to the spirit realm was explained, how randael is not spying on them anymore. Then he explained about the ceremonial oil and how it compounded the effects of the spirit pill’s afterglow. "...and then she left with me in this state. It’s hard to concentrate at all, how I am talking to you is a mystery I cannot bring myself to even begin to think about. Gotta say...it is enjoyable at the very least."
Roxanne noticed as bandit moved away. This made her calm down a bit from her initial excitement. He Antisocial Personality Disorder was acting up again; she cared not for the man but for what he offered her. She was running low on supplies and the man who made them was here! "No worries Bandit! We are all family here! I myself am not used to being a ghost...I can’t get high or get off in this form...it is a real pain! But I found a way around it!", Roxanne responded to bandit, "And no, Alchemy is the little code phrase you and I used to discreetly let me know to make sure no one interrupted your work. Besides, you have to make more of the one product I adore! Hold on, let me bring you a sample!"
Roxanne told Bandit to stay put for a while. She then phased through the wall of her room and went to pick up the baggie with the spirit pills; one of them was retrieved and the rest left behind. Roxanne then came back with the little pill in hand and approached Bandit. The pill was given to bandit for him to examine. "You told me this is something you discovered some time ago that made spiritual folks hawk over it...now I am one of them. This is your original recipe if I am not mistaken. I love the feeling it gives me Bandit. Please, make me more! I am running low, help me!", Roxanne told Bandit. The desperation prominent in her voice and body language. Even while still under the influence, Roxanne as thinking of her next fix. She could be confused with a regular junkie but she did not let her desires get in her daily life, yet.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 06, 2017, 10:42:33 am
Bandit looked the pill over before telling her "I don't remember the recipe for these but I can use this to at least get an idea. I do remember this being popular among the spiritual crowd and I guess there was something to it."
Bandit was under no illusion she actually cared about anything except him giving her more of these things at least at the moment and the fact she seemed to focus solely on her problems with her current state reinforced that opinion. He'd dealt with enough addicts to know that's all they cared about and at the moment the way she sounded and acted fit the profile of an addict. Looking at her he said "I'll see what I can do but it'll probably take a couple days at minimum. Probably more since I'm going to be dealing with..well a few things you don't need to worry about. And be careful with this stuff alright, don't want you getting addicted."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 06, 2017, 11:19:17 am
Sharlene shrugs. "More like magic. Pretty sure I ain't irradiated unless bushes were made outta uranium." She kinda half-assedly points at her cargo pants. "Dunno how I threw up blood 'cause of coffee, but y'know. Magic. Got a sweet sword outta it too." Sharlene jerks the katana out of it's sheath, bringing it up to the sunlight. The very edge of the blade (and the broken-off tip from where she snapped it) had a light crimson tint to it. "See?"
Lillith and Mohammed both had a similar reaction to her new katana. Although, Mohammed seemed to mostly be looking at her bra.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 06, 2017, 12:34:38 pm
Helen shook her head at Victor's remarks. "This world and humanity must be protected, and dangerous intruders upon this world must be returned to their home, dead or alive. But it isn't right to completely destroy that essence in this manner. If our hypothesis about it being parts of the creature's soul is correct...would you deny a thinking being that, even an otherworldly one?" she said. "I had to go far beyond that and destroy what was definitely the complete soul of a monster to remove that soul shard from you, Victor. As much distaste as I have for the act, it did not stop me from doing it for your sake." she added.
"In my case, it was more closure for my order than for myself. It was our last, greatest stronghold, and my group wasn't even there when the portals opened up in the catacombs..."
At his explanations she waited and listened, giving an irritated sigh once this was over. "So you've probably scared her away from blood magic doing that, at least if she has any sanity. Am I going to have to instruct her on more useful practices to ensure she dabbles in something that won't get her killed?" she teased. "Regardless, I'm glad both of you are safe after all this." She then smiled a bit, deciding to fluster Victor further by pulling him into a kiss.
Nathaniel facepalmed at that. "Wow. See this is why I avoid plasying with shit like that. Coffee that makes you puke up blood. I mean when Victor basically shat out a ghost and it evidently decided to stab Roxanne in the back over her body or whatever the fuck is going on with them, I decided that was about as much up-close experience with magic as I'd care for." he remarked.
"And...oh fuck. I dunno what's with that thing, but I'd be careful using it. Try not to make any more hematemetic coffee or whatever the hell the term would be for that."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 06, 2017, 01:04:29 pm
Lucian slows the horse down to a stop outside of the farm, "It was nice working with you, Sir Knight." he says, dismounting from his horse.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 06, 2017, 02:25:01 pm
"I don’t particularly care what happens to them. They don’t belong here and they made their choice when they arrived.", Victor responded to the comments about soul denial, "I too gave my own soul to make sure someone’s life was secured. It would’ve been my fault if they had died so it only felt right."
"My order did not have the luxury of closure. It dissolved along with the old world’s infrastructure. Remnants of it still remain and want to rebuild but what we have going is greater. We will see what they achieve.", Victor commented on Helen’s explanation for her trip.
"Scared? I don’t think so. She didn’t act like it when she left. Besides, I could see innate talent on her, and I doubt she would seek much instruction beyond how to make a spell work. That I can handle myself just fine.", Victor told Helen in response to his shenanigans,"And of course we would be fine; it’s just coffee Helen. Not everything involves the veil or something crazy like that." He didn’t see Helen pulling him in and kissing him. The combination of the surprise, his impaired judgment and her forwardness made him stay still; he was unable to process what to do next. Victor decided to simply let it happen and enjoy it while it last it.
Roxanne’s eyes lit up as he said he could make more with the sample she had brought. "Yeah, sure. Take your time! We all have our issues and I am sure yours must be quite delicate for you to not tell me about it. But who am I to probe any deeper? But if you need the help of an arcane ghost, I am your gal! I can take down normal foes as well as those with magic and spiritual attributes. I can also do supply runs if you need anything in terms of items.", Roxanne told Bandit in rapid but understandable fashion. She wanted to make sure he what he needed so he could focus on making her the thing that showed her happiness.
It was then that she remembered a thing. "Oh, before I forget. Victor and Sharlene were making magic coffee using blood essence. Maybe magic drugs might be something you are interested in? Talk to Victor is you want to know more. And you didn’t hear it from me ok? He doesn’t know I know this.", Roxanne told Bandit and she winked at him in her last remark. "Now, you say you need some space to do some things? I will leave you then; I’ll be in room over that door down the room if you need me.", Roxanne said to Bandit, she then started to hover again and then phased to her room leaving him alone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 06, 2017, 02:43:39 pm
Hector gave a nod as he dismounted, already now carrying a partly chopped-up shield and a new gash in his armor, though far more minor than he expected. "Thank you. Was a pleasure, occasional sword wound aside." he joked.
It seemed to just be the front section of the plackart, meaning it's be trivial for him to anneal the area, shape the hole back to normal, forge-weld a patch of steel under it, then re-treat the piece. The damage to his gauntlet meanwhile was a trivial dent and scratch, one he could hammer out without altering the temper of the metal.
"And you forget that some such creatures strayed here by the actions of others in this world. It won't stop me from fighting them, monstrous as they are." she remarked. "I suppose the 7th Tenet applies even to otherworldly intrusion. But just as I would put down any human, mutated or otherwise, that proves a threat to humanity, the 4th and 5th Tenets are of greater importance concerning monsters, regardless of why they're here." she remarked.
She was now still worried about Victor's assurances that Sharlene would be fine, and that Victor could instruct. "So be it. I want you to ensure that you'll remember the caution that must be heeded, especially if you were to regard her as an apprentice. Just as I'd need to ensure that I teach caution, not hatred." she said, soon relaxing a bit as she held him close. "Regardless, that's a matter for another time. If there's anything you wish of me..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 06, 2017, 05:57:17 pm
Sharlene tosses her katana in the air, letting it do a full flip before catching it again. "I mean, it tasted alright. Victor said it ain't supposed to happen, so whatever. Oh! He-uh... He also told me..." She digs the collection of notes out of her pocket and flicks through them. "So it can do... Shit I dunno any of this shit. Ah, here we... Go?" She's waving her katana around as she does so, but finally levels it at the "we". By the time she's gotten "go" out, the broken-off tip of her sword had started to look hazy, like the effect on asphalt on a hot day. The haze quickly got thicker, until it's just a light orange glow emitting from the sword's blade. "Uh. I-I don't know what I'm doing." The blade itself wasn't visibly getting heated up, but the air around it certainly was getting hotter. "LILITH?"
The eventual aftermath of Sharlene's failed magic trick ends in much the same way as Sharlene's attempts to juggle lit torches. Lilith patting out grass fires.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 06, 2017, 06:49:19 pm
"Yes, humanity at all cost. I too have no quarrels of putting them down but I can see that if avoidable, then might as well spare them. And yes, just because someone is human doesn’t mean they get a pass for being a threat or a transcendent being an ally to us shall not be passed off, the offer will be taken.", Victor answered Helen’s first comments.
"She will be fine! Besides, we have dealt with worse because of my actions, time to let someone else have a shot at it huh?", Victor teased a little, "And besides, it is starting to get a bit late. We are already inside here and it’s been a long day, why not take it easy? Maybe talk for a bit? I don’t know, I need this to pass first. Want some coffee in the meantime? The normal kind… I would appreciate the company after today..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 06, 2017, 07:01:57 pm
Nathaniel stared at the sword, fumbling to get up as he saw the heat distortions and felt it in the air. "Welp, this is gonna suck..."
It wasn't long until he was glowering at Sharlene while Lilith was busy putting out the fire. "Can you maybe not fuck with stuff like that on your first day!? I swear, no wonder that hammer lady jokes about people like Victor being shotgun-toting toddlers..."
Helen nodded at that. "Or at least if the means to deal with them via other means can be found. Regardless, what's done is done. In the pursuit of a greater threat..." she said softly. "Transcendent. So that's what you call them..." she remarked, only for his next statements to distract her.
"Let's at least try not to her her killed. She might be an excellent student if you avoid the blood mage school of teaching, throwing toys her way and letting natural selection take its course." she teased. "And you're right, though best to try and relax a bit. I have all the preparations I will need for when we set out, though I suppose staying up a while wouldn't hurt..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 07, 2017, 12:45:59 am
Bandit looked at the pill in his palm and decided he may as well inspect it more thoroughly. After some time he'd figured the vast majority of it out but he'd have to guess with a few particulars none of which would be serious if messed up, it most likely just wouldn't have the same effect. Standing up and walking out of the place he heard his radio buzz and one of his men told him that things had gone about as well as expected. They'd ended up parting ways with gunshots as one of them pulled a gun on his men.
Bandit stopped, rubbing his eyes before telling his lieutenants to get ready for war but make the offer to anyone under them that they could come work for him without having to pay any additional dues. And if they could he wanted a chat with some of the other gang's captains, either by choice or force. As his boys acknowledged Bandit put the radio back on his belt and looked around.
He found himself retracing forgotten steps to his workshop. Setting the vest on a table he found his sewing gear. Picking up the vest he set about fixing the thing for the time being.
Meanwhile Alexei had found a suitable piece of wood for making his bow and had wondered back to his still. Tending the still as he worked on the branch Alexei contemplated staying for a while. An old friend of his had come to live here from what he'd gathered on his travels. As he adjusted the still a bit he figured he'd check later for him. Perhaps setup one of their old parties, those had always been a bit of fun.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 07, 2017, 11:09:49 am
The car pulled up to the center and the two of them got out. Dee wincing at the pain in his chest and the obvious damage to the car. "Are they getting, I don't know, weirder?" Dee asked, referring to the bizarre collection of mutated undead in the wild land. Atomos had never seen regular undead in person before, and so she only shrugged and collected her snake skin. "Wanna get something to eat? I want to talk to the doc, but first, I'm starving. RX will do that to ya." Dee said.
Atomos shrugged again. She wouldn't mind. "I'll catch up with you, I gotta take care of this first. Before it rots." She told him, holding up the rolled skin. "If I get done quickly, I'll join you, but don't wait up or anything." The chicken walker rose to it's feet, unfolding the reverse jointed legs with easy movement. "Ok you... Thot. Let's try this again." She input her own commands, a simple series of instructions to patrol around the farm. One circuit was all that was needed to perform the tests Medeina intended. Mica's emergence from Dee's workshop at that moment complicated things though, a little. Medeina stifled an urge to step on the spider girl, and did so with ease which gave her a sense of accomplishment. The robots gutted programming was much more willing to cooperate today.
"Watchoo doin ro-butt?" Mica said blearily. She had no idea that the robot looming over her was actually Medeina, only that it was near Dee's house and so it must be Dee's. "Ms. Mica, would you like to help me with something?" Medeina asked. Mica rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. "Can My-ka have brek-fas after?" She said, still not realizing who she was talking to. "Yes Ms. Mica, brek-fas for all! Climb atop the proxy please." Mica did as she was told, not quiet awake yet but fully willing to help with whatever if it meant she could have breakfast. He had waited up, much to Atomos annoyance. "Sit down, stay awhile and listen!" Dee said jovially, "Looks like I'm going home early. I'll probably end up taking that Donovan guy with me, unless he has business here. How'd your skin thing go?"
Atomos thought it had gone well. The skin had cleaned off easily enough, especially since their were people in the center willing to help with the monumental task, and it had been simplicity itself to stretch the thing against the chain link fence running along the back side of the centers roof. In this way, the chore had taken almost no time at all.
"Pretty well I think. I have no clue what I'm gonna do with so much snake skin. Maybe make a few hundred bags? Enough pairs of boots to last me the rest of my life? Maybe I'll have somebody make me a whole outfit of snake skin. The scales are pretty tough..." She said. Dee nodded a little, and gestured. That gesture was the signal for the chef to bring out Dee's order, kept warm in the cafeteria's holding table. A pair of steaming whitish steaks, like fish, were brought to the table and Atomos didn't need to be told what it was. "This meal brought to us by you." Dee said as bowls of thick looking crawdad chowder were plonked down beside the fragrant serpent steaks along with a basket of Texas style fries. Atomos stared for a long time at the steak, remembering what she'd gone through to get it, and then dove in knife and fork first in an almost aggressive manner. "Jesus, you'd think it stole your car or something." Dee remarked, cutting a bit of his own steak and popping it into his mouth, enjoying the fishy savory flavor.
"I don't want to talk about it." Atomos said through a mouth full of snake.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 07, 2017, 01:34:17 pm
Sharlene had planted her katana in the dirt a foot away from her and backed away from it. "Shit, I'm sorry. Shit!" She had her hands in the air, joined behind her head. "Shit dude, I fucked up..." Mohammad was still stood in the doorway, gawking at Sharlene's chest. "Yep, ya fucked it alright. Fucked it hard." Lilith patted her paw against the grass for the final time, completely putting out the embers left in the singed patch of grass. "Tharlene thupid. But Lilith big! Ger. Lilith bigger!" Lilith stands up, taking a couple steps forward, and flexing. "Thee? Lilith thronger too!" Her... Generous tits, coupled with her being entirely naked, mostly succeed with drawing attention away from her muscles, though. "Yeah, Lil. You're certainly... bigger, alright."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 07, 2017, 01:41:54 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that, giving a wary glance over at Lilith. "Yeah um...maaaybe don't get lessons from the guy whose biggest accomplishment was shitting out a ghost. Or maybe it was learning what it feels like to have Lil beat three zombies to death with each other." he joked, before taking off the cat ears. "If you need me I...think I'll be over at the farm for tonight, where things don't tend to catch on fire all the time."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 07, 2017, 10:16:04 pm
Lucian nods and rides the horse off slowly, towards the river. He moves his coat aside and sees that his white dress shirt turning red slowly, blood starting to seep through the bandage. He grimaces at the wound, he makes the horse speed up with a "Yah!" He stops outside of Helen's Hall, slowing the horse to a stop before getting off of it. Lucian almost collapses from just getting off, but he tries to at least make his way to the door. He collapses around two feet away from the door, passing out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 07, 2017, 10:47:20 pm
Elsewhere, with Hector making his way to bed after patching up his armor, Nathaniel leaving the cabin to return to the farm, and Helen spending the nod with Victor, Sergei and Solomon tended to the fire in the hearth. "Heard the radio a little while ago, didn't Helen say she was back from their hunt?" Sol asked, to which Sergei simply nodded. "Likely spending night at farm again. Think Alexei is alright?" he added.
Sol simply smiled a bit. "Never seen a man get up that fast after drinking so much. I'm sure he's fine." Sergei found himself chuckle a bit. "I have. Used to drink as hard in my younger days too." he admitted. "Right. In the meantime I'll go check on Freki right quick." the young man said, standing up an heading for the door. He very nearly tripped over the man passed out in front, giving a yelp as he realized he was there. "What the...oh shit. Sergei! Get the medkit!" he shouted back. He himself had only a few bandages, disinfectant, and red potion. The last of which he hurriedly knelt to apply to the rather obvious wounds, as Sergei soon brought out the other scavenged supplies...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 07, 2017, 11:12:59 pm
Dervish taps his fingers on his desk impatiently. The pale girl was a bit thick as well as badly mutated. "I told you that already. You're still mutating." He sighed, "Now what I want to know, NEED to know, is who did this to you?" The robot lumbered about in the dark, but that didn't seem to be a problem for either of them. The chicken walker was equipped with top of the line night vision and a handy spotlight, while to the girl on top, the darkness beyond the spotlight was as good as day. They walked towards the ammo storage, and there Medeina instructed Mica what to do. "I need you to take these big ones, and these chain ones and put them in the walker Ms. Mica." Medeina instructed. Mica just looked at what she had been instructed to take out, confused.
"My-ka don't know how." She said, genuinely perplexed.
"It's easy, I can open the ports, you just follow the instructions I give." The AI carefully explained, but that was easier said than done. Mica began trying to load the 40mm grenades, but they wouldn't fit and scattered everywhere. "No no, not like that Ms. Mica. Just pay attention." The AI began to grow a bit irritable, the work of the walker probably, and Mica started to get flustered.
"Stupid ro-butt! My-ka don't know nothin' bout stupid ro-butt things! You should wait for lizard." She shouted out of frustration.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 07, 2017, 11:33:58 pm
Alexei walked into the farm, his new bow slung across his back. He felt something odd, something he'd been familiar with and pulled a set of rosary beads from his pocket and kissed them gently before speaking, primarily in Russian "Hello old friend. I see you still walk this earth and a similar path. May the Saints watch over you."
For a moment the presence that had become a bit too familiar on the farm came to a pause, recognizing the Russian man for a moment. Then it left as quickly as it had intended, not noticed by anyone not paying attention for him. For a few moments Death was brought back to a memory of the reflection of muzzle flashes in the Russian's gas mask before catching up with a spirit that had proven illusive..now if only the fucker had bothered to put pants on.
Alexei meanwhile had returned the beads to his pocket when he caught sight of Bandit. Raising a hand in greeting Bandit walked over and hugged the man after a short introduction. "How you doing man? I thought you had gotten drunk somewhere and decided to ride this shit out." Bandit said as the two stepped back and looked each other over.
Alexei smiled as he said "No comrade! I was drunk when we met, I've been drunk since but I've done my best. Just wish my best didn't require I do some of the things I've done."
Bandit clapped the man on the shoulder as he spoke in perfect Russian "I know, I've not done my proudest deeds in these times but we do what we must. Come, let us talk of old times! And drink of course."
Alexei followed, suddenly feeling very tired but still wanting to catch up with an old friend he'd thought long dead. As the two found a place to sit and drink Alexei sighed, his mind wandering to an old memory. Of course that faded as he downed a shot of vodka with Bandit and they began talking. Bandit produced a few of his own pleasures that the two partook in, though nothing too significant as he didn't have too much on hand at the moment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 08, 2017, 01:19:01 am
Hoyt slams the brakes as Kathrine speaks in her dazed state, leaning his chair back so he can look behind himself. "Shit, yeah, 'course we can go back to the farm, Kath. In fact, we're on our way now, yeah?" He says, raising his eyebrows to Carrol.
"Well, we've got a general idea now, eh?" "That we do." "I don't like where this is going."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 08, 2017, 01:21:04 am
Kathrine just silently tries to curl up into a ball, tail slowly curling around the corner of the table. "Thank you Master Hoyt..." Lilith immediately crumpled after Nathaniel took off the ears. "N-Natalie no cub? Cub? No Natalee?" She pushes herself back up onto all fours shakily, quickly trotting over to Nathaniel. Lilith tries to nom the ears out of his hand, to put them back on his head, but ends up just kinda... Jamming his elbow into the flatter part of one of her sabre teeth. "Nataleeeeee-" Her whine is suddenly cut off by a strange, incredibly high pitched (for her), noise, and her entire body shaking.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 08, 2017, 05:16:32 am
What the robot was proposing was a refreshed search for the morsel. Mica knew what to look for, a certain van with a certain smell, and Medeina had the intelligence to perform the search effectively. Sort of. Mica had eventually figured out what to do, reloading the chicken walkers weapons. Unfortunately, there had been a problem. The problem wasn't the spider, but with the robot. Once the weapon were loaded, Mica mounted on it's back, and they were on the move, Medeina hadn't been able to stop herself. "OH YES! THAT'S THE STUFF!" Her loudspeaker screamed, waking up anyone not awoken by the rattle of automatic weapon fire pummeling the infirmary and Quinn's lab.
"Uh oh." Mica said seeing Quinn emerging from his perforated trailer, not looking too happy. "Better we go now ro-butt..." Mica told her. Medeina scoffed, but moved towards the bridge. "What's the old pseudo-scientist going to do about it? Sue me?" Mica thought it strange how Medeina had changed while in this robot, and wondered if it was permanent.
"Why you ang-ree Meh-dye-nah? Eh?"
"I'm not angry, I'm just excited." She said, unloading another volley into the air, leaving hot tracers of light burned momentarily into Mica's eyes.
"You gonna waste all you boo-lits ro-butt, then My-ka gotta put more in..." Mica reasoned.
"That's why we brought extra silly. Do you have the bag?"
Mica had the bag. A duffel looped over one shoulder filled with ammunition and canned meat. "Don't be waste-full." Mica said, admonishing the robot. To any nearby who knew her well enough, most of Mica's reasoning and sensible thinking was rather jarring coming from that particular source.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on November 08, 2017, 10:41:44 am
"Im not too sure, I do remember a little bit before the cataclysm but there is a gap. After my memory gap was me in some smoldering wreckage of what I presume was a helicopter. I believe the gap is about 6 months. Pepper dwelled on some thoughts when she shot up straight like an arrow and turns to Dervish. "I thhhink my tongue jussst changed." Pepper opened her mouth slightly and a small, thin, forked tongue jets out, lapping at the air.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 08, 2017, 11:31:27 am
Nathaniel gave an irritated sigh as Lilith followed along, shaking his head. "Lilith, it's just a costume, see?" he said, putting the headband back on, then lifting it up off his head, repeating the gesture a few times for emphasis, as they made their way back to the farm. Of course he wouldn't sleep easily that night, between his worry over Lilith, Lilith's presence there, a door he still hadn't had the chance to fix, and a few hours later the rattle of gunfire.
"Nnnngh...I don't wanna go to school...wait...f-fuck!" He was out of the door in a few moments, M4 slung over a shoulder and half-dressed, seeing Hector in his mail charging down the rows of shacks. By the time either of them made it out into the open, all they could see was a chicken walker riding off, Mica perched atop it. "Er...Nathaniel? What the hell am I even looking at?"
"I wish I knew..." Nathaniel answered, Hector grumbling as he went back to his room and practically passed out in his armor.
Elsewhere, Sergei had to practically drag the unconscious Lucian inside, laid out on the table at first. Solomon checked for any other injuries as he worked, changing the blood-soaked bandages in favor of new ones, disinfected with extract of thyme and used in conjunction with hemostatic powder he'd obtained at the center previously. Soon afterward they carefully moved Lucian to the spare bed nearest to the hearth for warmth, legs propped up and covered in a couple of the spare blankets, the best treatment he could provide to prevent shock.
"He should be alright I think, get some water set to boil though, while I measure out some salt. Can't set up an IV here, but some fluid replacement's better than none, and he's going to need it if he comes to..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 08, 2017, 06:19:20 pm
"Load more please Ms. Mica." Medeina giggled wildly. Mica dug around in the duffel before slapping the robots metal hide. "Stupid ro-butt! Ain't got no more. Stupid Meh-dye-nah usin em all up!" Medeina stomped on, more bothered by the fact that they were out of bullets and not that she'd wasted them. She'd thrown them around willy nilly, spraying down the local wildlife like a woman spraying her dog with the garden hose, and they'd only walked as far as the opposite end of the necropolis. Now, as they passed by the sleeping hall where Helen made her home, Medeina switched things up.
*THOONK THOONK THOONK* Went the grenade launcher, blasting unseen wildlife with 40mm fragmentation across the way from the hall. "COME OUT SO I CAN EXAMINE YOU ANIMALS!" The robot screamed. Mica rolled her eyes and covered her ears, using her second set of hands to hide her face from the collection of people emerging into the street to see what the hell the commotion was about. Hector went to bed a little while after the robot and spider faded into the darkness, falling asleep to the distant thunder of what was almost certainly a robot pissing away it's ammo on animals both real and imagined.
In the deep of night, as he slipped down into deeper sleep, something caught him up and once again his dreams began to take on the definite shape of a familiar barn in an unfamiliar place. Something was coming. Off outside the large doors, something was forming. Metal and plastic heaved out of the sands in the shape of something that spoke to Hectors nature. At first, a great lizard composed of the implements of war. It spewed a gout of burning napalm and great heaps of weapons from every era dropped away and reformed into the mass. Hector thought he caught a glimpse of something like the cannon from a battle ship within the roiling mass of the steadily growing god. It growled and the sound was a chorus of weapons fire, it's hiss the cacophony of energy weapons discharging. "Loooowe." It growled. "Knight of a modern age, maker of war, man of death. I come to your call, I have answered your plea, Agmen has come." "Jesus," Dervish said, "That's worse than I thought. It doesn't seem to be killing you, but... To be honest I'm not sure. We could defuse you, but I don't... know. If we defuse you, it might erase whatever trait it is keeping you alive."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 08, 2017, 07:46:50 pm
Lucian mumbles as he's passed out, after a good hour he wakes up with a jolt, yelling out as pains wrack him. He lays back down, looking around. Simms was for now checking on Lucian's injuries, setting aside some pain pills nearby, along with a cup of still-warm saline solution, at just the right balance of salt. Lucian suddenly yelling and stirring startled him a bit, a hand carefully set on the man's shoulder. "Careful, don't want you re-opening that injury or making you go into shock..." The hunter winces, wiping his forehead, "Ugh fuuuuck... Where's my shirt?" he asks, looking down at his bandaged abdomen. Simms gestured to the table where it had been left. "Had to remove it to reach your injury there. Lot of blood you lost soaking it, plus after cleaning would need one hell of a mending. I'm not really any good at patching up clothes..." Lucian sighs, "Is there a spare shirt I could borrow?" He asks, turning to look Simms in the eye. Sol nods at that, fumbling around in his dresser. "Er, most of mine might be a bit small, Sergei didn't bring a lot and we've only found a few in his size, and then there's Helen's spare shirts..." he said, to which Sergei shook his head. "It's fine, he can use one of mine." he suggested. Lucian gives a thumbs up, "Whatever works..." He mumbles laying back into the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 08, 2017, 08:37:13 pm
Later on, Sol heard the distant rattling of gunfire, looking back to Sergei who simply nodded, carefully making their way outside and heading towards the source of the sound, peeking out from behind a tree, the young alchemist having not yet been provided with essence to fuel it, or else he would've observed from behind the tree. "Huh. Who the hell is that?" he said. "Spider lady, riding a bot what walked into the farm. Thought I was hallucinating that when I saw it." Sergei remarked, the two carefully stepping out onto the road.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 08, 2017, 10:06:35 pm
[Joint post provided by Chaosvolt and Saltmummy!]
Hector had been lost in his dream, but slowly the distant thunder of weapons fire faded, only to be replaced by a new cacophony. One that did not wake him up, for this was one within his mind. A sight of an ever-shifting living history of war's artiface, bringing with it a symphony of great engines and endless firepower, a thunder matched by what sounded to him like the infinite marching of armored feet.
The sight seemed deliberately cultivated to shock and unnerve him, and he was a bit more shaken by her addressing him than he'd expected to be. It wasn't enough to drive him to kneel or bow, however. "I'm surprised that mere armorsmithing would be an adequate creation." he remarked.
"All acts of creation are my domain." The god boomed. The din of that thunder rolling across the blasted landscape beyond the barn, and shook the structure down to it's foundations. "From the most trifling of toy to the most revolutionary of engines, all are mine." The young god forced it's way further into the barn. Despite it's size, it seemed not to cause any damage as it did this.
"No mechanic are you, no electrician are you. I come to you not for your act of creation, but for your act of destruction. From devastation, new acts of creation may come into being." One great claw, the pads of which were composed of what appeared to be various types of armor, stretched out before him and opened. Upon it rested the armor Hector had worked long in creating. Before his eyes, the armor suddenly seperated and rapidly formed back into the parts recycled to make it. "Fabrication, invention, from that which is cast off is the highest form of creation."
Hector watched and listened, a bit unnerved by the sight, and yet he held firm for now, watching the massive form it took, as though more a war god than a god of artiface. He simply gave a nod, looking up at the massive form. "And that is my goal. To play a part in forging something new from the ruins of the old. In any way I can. I'm better with doing that to machines, I can't rebuild civilization itself. But what I can do is protect those who have that ability, through my own work." he said calmly.
"I will finish the set of armor, and I hope it pleases you to see it put to the test, so that humanity may continue to survive in the face of all this. Lest people who would destroy and deny progress do to countless more what has already happened to far too many, Catnip among them..."
"I care little for the use of a creation or it's place in the grand scheme of progress. Create for me, and I will raise you up. Forget, become distracted, and you will be cast away." A small sound could be heard, the sound of tiny parts moving about, and the somewhat pleasant sound of a ratchet working. Somewhere in the barn, someone was working.
In the small room reserved for Catnips prayers, Hector found her. As in his last dream, she was surrounded by the hazy silhouettes of unseen people. Catnip looked battered, unhappy, and frightened. Still, she worked. Even as the shadows flew at her, less friendly than they had been in his previous dream, she tinkered on. Every form that came at her made her flinch as if whipped. And yet... The thing she tinkered with looked like some kind of gauntlet, and it appeared to be nearing completion.
Hector grumbled quietly as she made that remark, and this time it provoked him. "Progress without aim is wasted. Mere busywork." he retorted, shaking his head. "I will do so. I will create, but it will be towards a goal. As much as I'd like to avenge Catnip, fight back against those who have wronged countless innocents, I admit that is selfish. I wish to do this not for myself, but for the benefit of others." he said, only for the sight he now saw to shake him a bit. It left him uncertain, conflicted. "And does it not hurt you, that one of the few that outright creates to honor you, has been taken from us...?"
"She has, how is it said? Fallen from grace? The rat has forgotten, has deviated from her duty. Perhaps she will repent of her sloth, perhaps." Mused Agmen. If the words did not incense him, then what it said next horrified him. "She will not return."
Hector glowered up at Agmen, at this point he he starting to slip and lose his temper. "Deviated? She's either dead, teleported god-knows-where, or turned into a literal rat. None of those causes are her doing!" he said, raising his voice. "How can she return from...unless..." he said, shaken a bit as the implications start to hit him.
"You are as impudent as you are ignorant. But now it dawns on you, doesn't it." Agmen said, seemingly taunting the knight. "You will create for me. Whether you believe it serves a higher cause or not, your drive to create and invent is its own cause, that none can compare to. And we shall see what fate has in store for the rat. You will find the answer in time. But that time is not now. Finish your work knight, do not allow petty vengeance or your concerns hinder this." it answered, and all around him his surrounding seemed to fall away, fading into the dull haze of dreamless sleep...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on November 09, 2017, 09:15:48 am
"Its not all bad. I mean, To show her point, she grabbed her knife and stabbed it right into her thigh. I can do this and I don't feel a thing. Wounds like this usually heal overnight and I cant get an infection from it. When she pulled the knife out, it was melting. Her strangely odorless green blood drips down to the floor, causing a sizzling sound as it rapidly melts through it. "Probably shouldn't have used my favorite knife. Oh well."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 09, 2017, 07:10:28 pm
Roxanne was standing in the middle of her room while still metaphorically, and close to physically, in another plane of existence. For the moment, she was completely unaware she was spirit. The needs of a human started to compound: hunger, thirst, lust, entertainment but most of all, sleep. She was tired, oh so tired! Even though she did not need it, or actually could for that matter, Roxanne went to bed.
Thing was, sleeping for her was nothing more than a deep meditation. Her information sorting itself similar to the way the subconscious re-organizes the memories of the previous day; except there was no healing of the body involved. During this moment, Roxanne could interact with her experiences in the same way lucid dreaming allows you too but you have access to all of your information. But this was a weakness too; this information could be intercepted…
A while into her “dreams”, Roxanne found herself in the middle of field sitting in a dining chair facing an ornate dining table as he held wine glass filled with post-cataclysm wine. She was smiling and moved her glass around playing with the liquid inside. On the other side of the table sat a man wearing a gas mask with green night vision lenses. His pose denoted he was here to negotiate and the wine had been a nice touch. What wasn’t so nice was the fact that they were both surrounded by what had to be hundred of the undead.
“I hope you are doing well miss Luna, is the wine to your liking?”, said the man breaking the silence.
"It is quite good, you say this is 2 years old? Quite the preparation I must say. But I assume you brought me here for a reason.", Roxanne said before taking a long sip of her glass.
The man raised a hand and snapped his finger and the wine glass was gone. Roxanne panic a bit. This man had control of her dreams? First, she can’t control him and then he controls this realm? Who is he? Roxanne played along with this event but now things were getting a bit out of control.
“A girl who goes straight to the point then? I can respect that. Alright Miss Luna, let me get to it. Your people have a think that I want, not, that I need. You see, since long ago, there was a puzzle. Many a great arcanist and psychics tried but none could. The thing is, the puzzle itself is unknown; it will be revealed once the pieces are brought together. What is special of this puzzle you may ask? Well, it’s is actually a ritual to bring him back together.”, The man told Roxanne, "Now, follow me Miss Luna, I have a few things to show you." The man stood up and approached Roxanne; he extended a hand to help her get up and Roxanne accepted it. She got up and began to follow him into the crowd of the undead who was beginning to disperse.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 09, 2017, 07:29:16 pm
Mica was annoyed. Why did she have to be the voice of reason? Perhaps she should have gone alone. If she had, she would have at least got to eat some of the animals Medeina ran down. "Ro-buuuutt..." She whined. Medeina didn't respond, she'd run through all the ammunition they'd brought along far too quickly for her tastes. The AI realized she'd allowed the walkers programming to get a bit of a hold on her, and just how easily that had been done. Having to piggy back into various industrial wireless sources. These were getting weaker, more degraded, and farther between.
"Ms. Mica," Medeina said, stopping suddenly, "I am not sure I can take the ATSV much further." The two of them had come miles from the farm, Mica hanging or just scattering posters when she could. They'd run out of posters, and were now down to simply walking and watching.
"Eh? Why ro-butt? Is ro-butt tired?" Mica asked, climbing down to stand beside the dangerous machine.
"No Ms. Mica, but I believe I have reached the limits of my control." Medeina said. Mica didn't understand, and so the AI had to simplify for her. Once that was out of the way and she thought Mica might understand, she asked "What will we do now?"
Again, Mica felt the prickle of irritation at being the one in charge. Still, she thought about it and came to a conclusion. "Mica and ro-butt go back, try other ways. But ro-but put away walky chi-kun ro-butt. Meh-dye-nah just wastin' time with walky chi-kun." They discussed it a little, Medeina bitterly disappointed but perfectly willing to go along. Dervish winced when the girl stabbed herself with the knife. "You really shouldn't do that. The healing process will only promote more mutation." He warned, "I'm not sure I can do much of anything for you without some information on who did this to you, and you say you don't remember. You seem stable enough, sort of, but all the same we can't have your genetic code suddenly degrading due to a bad mutation and I'm not sure what to do about that either." He rubbed at his temple, deep in thought. "If you feel like trying your luck with the defuser I mentioned, the man who sent you to me has one. That path is entirely yours to choose, but as I said, it could be dangerous."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 09, 2017, 08:12:38 pm
Solomon and Sergei watched the machine walking off into the night, a bit concerned and yet deciding there was nothing they could do. Plus, they had to tend to The Hall while Helen was away, and look after Lucian, soon making their way back inside, the heath's fire settled into dimly-glowing embers as they both got some rest.
Hector had slept uneasily light this night, left with lingering thoughts in his mind, vague hints of dreams that now faded from memory. Most nights he never really recalled dreams anyway, so all he was left with were vague emotions stirred by it. Only one word lingered in the mind as he got up: Agmen. He was certain some response had come to him in the night.
As he set to work at the forge, he tried and failed to recall what he dreamt of. He felt a desire to continue forging the plate armor he had in mind, this time working on the cuisses protecting the thighs, the first part of the leg assembly. But what of his reason for beseaching the machine-god? As he struggled to think back on the dream-haze he awakened from, the only thing he was left with was a faint sense of relief. He expected worry. Worry over Catnip, or of what the god might demand of him, and yet something drove him to push aside those worries. Whatever Agmen said to him in the dream, it reassured him in some way he struggled to understand.
Helen had a dream of her own as she rested in Victor's embrace, again the grandfatherly voice. It was clearer now. "This will be the greatest battle you have ever taken part of. The seidrmadr. The woman from beyond Midgard. A herald of Hel and his huscarls, one distant kin of yours. But this will only prepare all of you for the coming battles."
"This battle will attract the attention of two Outsiders. One you know the name of. Beware them, but they are not your enemy. The other is the enemy that must not be named..."
She was up early, dressed and readying her equipment, checking that she had adequate amounts of essence, both regular and consecrated. Hammer, wraithslayer, and symbol of judgement were all fully-charged. Cloak, mask, and her holy symbol were as well, and she thought back on the techniques she had been studying. "If it pleases you, Odin..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on November 10, 2017, 09:32:47 am
"Eh, if it gets worse then ill do that. For now I should be fine." She tossed her melted knife into a trash bin, which now smells of melted plastic. "I'll notify you if anything changes." Pepper left and started to head back to the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 10, 2017, 01:27:46 pm
By the time they got back to the farm, the sun was coming up over the trees. A low, light fog hung over everything, soon to be burned off as morning gave way to early afternoon. Already, Mica could feel the rising temperature turning the dew and the ambient moisture into an unpleasant humidity that would last an hour or two, making her feel like she'd been sweating. Mica had come to dislike that sensation a great deal. The sun morning mugginess was nasty, but after rain was always the worst. You could go outside and be out there for only a few seconds, and be soaked in sweat. If anything, Mica preferred simply getting caught in the rain.
"Dee is coming back Mica. I believe he is almost here, will you greet him?" Medeina asked, settling the chicken walker into it's place next to Dee's workshop. That was an unnecessary question though, of course Mica would be there to greet him. She was already climbing down off the robot, intending to either go around the farm house, or climb and perch atop it. Medeina was unsurprised to find that it was the second, at least the climbing part. "She's like a gargoyle" Atomos commented upon seeing Mica sitting on her haunches atop Roxanne's APC with her hands hanging down in what Dee called Mica's "snatcher" posture. His description wasn't too far off either as he himself had been grabbed by his girlfriend as he'd walked unknowingly under her. On those occasions, she would attempts to haul him up to her, or would climb down and wrap him up in her arms. As had many others, though to a good many of them, Mica gave much less love and tenderness.
Dee didn't comment, just told Atomos not to walk under her, to let him get out first, and to hold Medeina. "If you're holding Medeina, she'll assume you just came along to help and she'll be less likely to get jealous." Earlier, after Dee had got everything packed up, he'd invited Atomos to the farm for a formal introduction and a less than proper breakfast. "SSsss, Lizard!" Mica hissed giddily, "Whachoo doin'? Sss? Why you come back? Eh?" As it turned out, there was no need to warn Atomos about walking under Mica. The spider hopped carefully down off the APC, catching herself with her long arms when she stumbled. To Atomos, she seemed to stalk Dee predatorily. There was a species of playful, semi-malevolent, adoration in the way she behaved. Then, she sidled up to him and hugged him. That hug looked uncomfortable, what with the claws and the teeth.
"I got to come home early," Dee said, pushing her away a little, "Doc says I'll be fine as long as I don't lift anything too heavy. How about you? I thought you were out looking for Kathrine?"
Mica huffed, "Stupid ro-butt usin' up all her boo-lets and exploders and can't go very far. Gotta come home, get different ro-butt body. Get breakfast. Will lizard eat with Mica?" She batted her eye dramatically at him, fooling around.
"Sure, how can I say no to that face?" Dee said. Atomos was emerging from the battered car, and Dee recognized the gleam in Mica's exposed eye. "No." He said, grabbing her by the chin and forcing her to look at him. "Just a friend. That. Is. All. She's my guest and you be good, or..." For a moment, he couldn't think of anything to threaten her with that would have any effect on her. The way her face brightened though told him he didn't have to though.
"Gonna eat breakfast with lizard and My-ka? Eat saw-saj with My-ka?" She said. Dee nodded.
"Yeah sure, why not. Let's see who else is up, the more the merrier right?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 10, 2017, 03:56:20 pm
Roxanne and the masked man found themselves alone inside what looked like a large museum‘s display room. “Where are we?”, Roxanne asked.
“This is where your memories of arcane artifacts are found. Some very interesting it seems.”, The man answered while holding a golden rod with a red orb on the end of it, “But none of these matter right now. No, there is one I want you to show me.”
Two cloaked figures entered the room via two doors from either side of them. “Tour guides, you know, makes it easier.”, Commented the masked man. The two figures walked towards the end of the room where there was a display-case on top of a few steps. They stopped once they reached the case and just stood there waiting for Roxanne and masked man. “After you Miss Luna.”, the man told her.
Roxanne obliged and she started to walked towards the figures; the masked man followed behind closely. As she approached, the figures opened the case and withdrew two swords; two very familiar sword. Roxanne stepped in front of the two figures as she saw the figures hold the sword of the void and the sword of convergence. "Are those...the Alex’s and Victor’s swords?", Roxanne asked a bit surprised, "Why do you want me to see this?"
“It should be obvious at this point. They are two pieces of puzzle! Now, you have leverage with both of them don’t you? This is why I came here, I want to propose a deal. What do you want in exchange for the two swords? Power? Supplies? A long and healthy life span perhaps? Name it, and I will happily grant it.”, the man answered.
"Two of the pieces? Them? Wait, do they know this? And why do you want them? No...how do you now about this? Do you perhaps...have another peice yourself?", Roxanne asked once again.
The masked man chuckled a bit as he heard this. His own sword now properly revealed. “You are a smart one Miss Luna, but this is on a need to know basis. Consider my offer, we can work on the detail another time. It’s just getting two arcane items, nothing new to an acquisitionist of the shadows of arcana. Prove that you are worthy of the rank! The order might be dead, but you still have an oath to fill; think of me as another client.”, the man responded to Roxanne, “Besides, if you say no, I have other ways of getting what I want.” To The two figures took of their cloaks to reveal themselves. It was Victor and Alex with their swords respectively. Their eyes were black and red veins extended from the center of their onto their faces. They both smiled at Roxanne as she stepped back in shock. With no time for her to react, the pair of arcane swordsmen rushed forward and slashed at Roxanne simultaneously.
Roxanne jolted from her mediation. What had just happened? That wasn’t a dream, she knew as much. Either way, she didn’t have much time to delve on it. There was stuff to do now that it was morning. How she noticed it was morning soon after waking up surprised Roxanne for some reason.
Victor woke up from the little sleep he had. He let out a small groan as the day previous had been quite the experience. His head hurt due to the drugs Roxanne made him take, the spirit pill in particular did not go well with other substances apparently. After sitting up, the mage looked around the room to find Helen going after gear and supplies.
"Good morning Helen...you are awake already huh? Right...help yourself to coffee if you want I guess...I need a cup myself..." , Victor told Helen while rubbing his head to rid of the pain, "Maybe something stronger..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 10, 2017, 04:10:08 pm
Given how uneasily Hector slept, he was already awake and at the forge, working on one of several segments for the cuisses, meant to articulate along a series of sliding rivets. When he heard the car pulling up outside he made his way out of the barn, giving a little wave to those gathered there. He was relieved Mica returned safely, and even better he saw Dee there.
Helen smiled a bit as she looked back to Victor. Given all he'd been through he'd slept rather peacefully, and she'd taken care not to wake him up when she got up and prepared her gear. "I'm usually up rather early." she admitted, having started to prepare some coffee for him, knowing he likely would want some. "I'll be fine, might see about preparing some proper breakfast if they have the supplies here for it. Good to do so before we set out." she remarked, before looking back to him.
"Are you alright? Any strange dreams, anything off besides how...er, out of it you were thanks to Roxanne's actions?" she asked, offering him a cup of coffee and thinking back on her own dream last night. "You're kind of cute when you're like that." she teased.
Nathaniel sighed as he woke up, nothing that to his relief Lilith slept outside rather than trying to force her way through the door. Last thing he needed was the shack simply toppling outright. "Might have to ask about setting up in one of the vacant rooms instead..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 10, 2017, 08:18:43 pm
"I can tell...and yes, breakfast would be nice now. Let me just get ready...", Victor responded to Helen in a daze, "No dreams this time. I am glad. Those few days with the recurring nightmares were not a pleasent experince." Victor noticed the cup Helen offered him and he took it while smiling. The coffee was nice and warm; not the way he usually had it but it was fine. He took a sip and placed it down to look for some aspirin. Then he heard Helen’s little remark. "What? Did you just...uhhh...let me go ahead and grabbed my things...", Victor replied.
Victor stood up from bed and started to properly put on his attire. Trenchcoat, sword and scabbard, hip flask of red potion and the rest. All the while, he tried his best not to look at Helen in the eyes; her little comment had gotten to him more than he would like to admit. He didn’t say anything or looked at her but his body language as he got ready gave it away. "I am ready to head out. Shall we?", Victor asked hastily after he finished his quick preparations.
One advantage to being a spirit was the fact that you didn’t have to deal with things like changing clothes or doing your hair. She awoke the way she slept, in her usual robe and her hair done. Roxanne needed a little break from her little memory, and maybe a drink...wait, where was catnip’s liquor again? She never got to drank her “special sauce”. She grinned as she made up her mind. Through the wall of her room she went; Roxanne didn’t grab gear anymore, she didn’t needed it. She was a self reliant machine. As she strolled down the farm on the search of her treasure, she noticed the tree for some reason and decided to stop at the barn, that is when she noticed Dee and Mica. Might as well say hi and maybe pry where they kept the “sauce”.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 10, 2017, 08:38:09 pm
"Yo, tin can, get your girl." Dee said, waving at the knight, "It's time for breakfast!"
"Um. Dee? Dee, where do I put this stuff?" Atomos asked. She followed close to Dee and Mica, looking very much like a sinking pudding, unsure of herself in a place she had done little more than pass through on her way to the refugee center. She had heard lots of rumors and stories about the people that lived here, and she hadn't heard half of them. Most of them seemed to be about either Hector or Mica, and she could see why. These two had made a large impact on the refugee center in big ways. Big, and opposite ways. Hector had made himself a scourge to Gods Army and the Hells Raiders while Mica had been a terror to absolutely everyone since her appearance in the area. Dee had to give her a little tap on the shoulder to shake her from her thoughts.
"Oh, oh yeah, c'mon and I'll show you my place." Dee started to lead the way to his workshop, but noticed something had changed. "Was that tree growing out of the barn when I got shot up?" He asked. Mica's face turned a bright red high in the cheeks, and she told him about it haltingly. "Damn, that's weird. It's completely overgrown?" Mica nodded slowly.
"My-ka gonna get lil-eth to move tree. Lil-eth can move tree." She reflected, observing the tree fondly. "My-ka think tree is bigger, but it growin' slower now." They all looked at it, wondering.
"It's nice isn't it?" Roxanne asked. Dee and Atomos jumped, and Mica tensed. Dee had never encountered Roxanne in her ghostly form, and the new girl... New girl? Atomos was staring at her nervously. Roxanne couldn't tell if her unease was because of the form she took, or because she was uneasy around strangers. Maybe it was a little of both.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 10, 2017, 08:46:28 pm
Drifter had woken up and earlier than normal and had spent some time cleaning himself up. After that was done he pushed through the door to his quarters to see what this day would bring. Which was firstly Alice walking up and asking him to give her some more fire arms training later. Scratching at where his beard had been a while ago he told her he'd help out as best he could later, for now though they really ought to get something to eat.
Meanwhile Alexei watched as Bandit downed yet another shot and mumbled something incoherent before his face slammed into the table they'd been using. Shrugging to himself Alexei took his shot and stood before walking around the table to pick up Bandit. "Come now friend, we should get you to a proper place to rest."
With that said Alexei stumbled a bit as he carried Bandit to his work shop, kicking the door open. Walking inside he set Bandit down on the bed in the room before finding himself a chair. Drinking more of his vodka he watched his old friend for a moment before grabbing the piece of wood that would become his bow and continuing his little project.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 10, 2017, 08:49:29 pm
Hector smiled a bit at that. "Alright then, will see where she's at. Who's cooking this time?" he asked, before giving a little nod to Atomos. "Welcome to the farm, private. Don't worry, between Mica playing with those things she scavenged down below, you've pretty much seen the strangest it gets arou-"
Roxanne phasing right through a wall interrupted him, looking back to her. His reaction was rather clearly one not of alarm, but of concern, given he still didn't know whether she'd be alright. "And there she is. Still don't know what we're doing with the barn, but...anyway, Dee had the idea of setting up breakfast, might as well invite anyone else you think will be up this hour." he said.
"Roxanne, this is Atomos, one of the soldiers Mica and I found underneath the...old town Catnip tore up." he said, hesitating a bit, given he briefly thought back to how their first trip into that town was how they met Dee, along with friends who were now all slain or almost certainly dead. And how their second visit there was what led to Mica joining them. "That old place has a way of bringing us together, it seems..."
Helen nodded at that as she offered him the cup. "I see. I had one of my own, though it was less worrisome than last one. No visions of terrible omens, just...a voice." she explained, only to now blush bright under her mask at his remark. Even with her helm, hooded cloak, and mask it was clear now she was a bit flustered, looking away as he got ready. Soon afterward she led the way outside, giving a little scan of the area through her mask as she walked towards the cook shack.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 11, 2017, 12:53:33 am
"sauce?" Dee said in response to Roxanne asking about it. Mica answered for him, "No more saws boob lady, Queen take all Kat-nyp's saws and put it away an Kat-nyp close up door on train that go to saws machine. No saws for boob lady! No saws for no one!" She grinned her typical idiot grin at Roxanne, not really understanding that if Roxanne wanted it, she would get it. Just because Catnip couldn't have it, didn't mean Roxanne couldn't also have it.
Dee rolled his eyes, "Cut it out Mica, I can see people gathering in the dining room. Why don't we join em?" The group began walking together, through the barn. Atomos was stunned by the verdance.
"Quiet a garden you guys have going here, but don't farms usually grow their gardens outside?" She commented jokingly. Dee leaned over to pick a flower, grimacing as he did so, and offered it to Mica. She didn't seem to know what to do with it, so he tucked it behind her ear for her.
"Alright, Hec asks an important question. Who's cooking?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 11, 2017, 02:19:33 pm
Lilith opens one eye slowly, peering through the doorway. Nathaniel was up. That would normally be worth getting up for, but the sun was so warm compared to the night outside. She stretches out, nearly puncturing a hole in the neighbouring shack, before going back to her curled up position outside Nathaniel's room, facing away from the door this time. "Hiiii..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 11, 2017, 02:53:01 pm
Nathaniel smiled a bit as he put on his jacket, heading over to Lilith. At least that was one way to keep the broken door's draft out. "Hey Lil. Want to see if anyone's cooking breakfast?" he asked, trying to clamber over her to get out of his room.
Helen meanwhile made her way towards the cook shack, waving as she saw the others, leading Victor along to them. "I see quite a few others are awake as well. Was thinking about seeing what's available to prepare breakfast, if anyone would feel like helping out with that." she offered, while Atomos gave Helen a curious look. She was surprised to actually meet the strange cloaked woman they saw on the security screens, a good few months ago.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 11, 2017, 06:48:34 pm
Quinn wakes up with a jolt, he looks down on the lightly torn sweater before getting up from the booth and walking into his bedroom. He grabs a Harvard pull over hoodie and slips it on, shoving his hands into the pockets. He walks out of his lab, rubbing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. He looks at the various bullet holes in his trailer and scowls lightly, before turning back around and walking to the outdoor picnic tables and sitting down in one of them, alone. He opens up Helen's notes and starts to review them, reading through them thoroughly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 11, 2017, 07:29:34 pm
Roxanne heard Hector introduced the fox girl to him. She saw as Atomos was staring at her; this made Roxanne smile. "Atomos? I heard weirder, Sir Loin of Beef comes to mind.", Roxanne responded, "I am Roxanne Luna, former assassin of the shadows of arcana; and currently a ghost." Roxanne extended her hand as an offer to shake Atomos’ hand. Thing was, Roxanne was currently incomporial; she wanted to she how she would react.
"Nice to meet you. How are you this morning? Enjoying your stay so far?", Roxanne tells Atomos with her hand still extended she does a mock salute.
Victor had followed Helen in silence, hands on his trenchcoat pockets. When he reached the barn, he regarded the others that had gathered around. A hand gesture of acknowledgement of acknowledgement was all they got from him. He wasn’t in his element; a fish out of water. "So...what is going on? Why are we all here?". Victor asked to the general populace.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 11, 2017, 07:30:18 pm
Lilith doesn't really have a visible reaction until Nathaniel plants a foot on her shoulder. "Natalee? Lilith awake.". The thick muscles around her back all seem to tense up simultaneously as she attempts to rise to her paws, stretching out again in the meanwhile. Lilith yawns, completely unaware of Nathaniel clinging to her side, and starts to sleepily pad off towards the cook shack. Cub must be making breakfast.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 11, 2017, 08:09:24 pm
Helen looked around, pondering things as she made her way to the cook shack after giving a wave to the others. She decided she'd start off with preparing things, looking through and finding a surprising amount of various canned goods, looking for things to make a fitting breakfast. To her surprise they had a decent amount of powdered eggs, easily dehydrated to start scrambling them, along with some somewhat dry meats that were close enough to sausage and bacon to cook, along with some dried mushrooms to prepare and fry up.
She considered making pancakes even, before she realized that they were lacking in maple syrup, which she had rather limited amounts of back at The Hall. What would work better was something else that her father taught her to make, a long time ago. She managed to find a small sealed container of baking soda stored along with the yeast either scavenged or produced at the refugee center, but her next thing on the list stymied her. "By Tyr's hand, where am I going to get buttermilk..." she said, before realizing she could arrange for an adequate substitute, even though they had painfully little powdered milk left to do so.
Nathaniel meeped a little as he was now scrambling to settle on her back, blushing more at that. Once again he was made aware of her new size. "Sorry about that, Lil..."
The notes pertained to the Archon, and what she knew of how The Keepers of the Oath came to summon it by mistake. Notably was a rough sketch of what it looked like through the vision of her mask, an armored, hooded figure with six crystalline structures imitating wings, drawn standing behind and looming over what had once been the high priest of the Veiled Temple.
"Scattered among the main room, including in the preparation room, were implements we can readily recognizable as components in a ritual they call The Sundering of The Veil. Recent instances of human sacrifice at the boundaries of the temple entrance, a symbol of judgement showing recent signs of channeling spiritual effects through it. And finally a ritual sword, a veilblade. This is where the ritual differed from their normal practice.
In place of the increasingly-rare veilblades they normally use, they had unwittingly made use of a sanguine blade, converted from a veilblade. Its properties may also have been deliberately obfuscated in some way, though any evidence of illusion of concealment would have been burned away by the ritual's effects. The alternative is that they simply did not notice the difference or did not believe it would cause any harm.
Performing the ritual functioned as expected, calling upon a greater spirit, but the result was utterly unlike the normal outcome. I do not see any reason to believe that sanguine corruption has made this weapon's properties unpredictable in any manner, so far it has been consistent in all other respects, even with what little exposure to other anomalies that it's been through while I have carried it.
My present guess is that the same domain was reached in the ritual, suggesting a clear link between He From Beyond The Veil and The Archon. What this connection is, I can only guess, but The Archon's actions were overtly antagonistic, and assuming it was not blindly lashing out, then this may indicate some enmity between the two entities..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 11, 2017, 09:15:33 pm
Quinn stares at the sketch silently, before closing the notes. He rubs the bridge of his nose once more, sighing. He leaves the notes behind and walks into the cook shack, peering over Helen's shoulder he asks, "What're you making?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 11, 2017, 09:55:57 pm
Helen was a bit surprised by Quinn's question, having not even noticed he stepped in. "Hey Quinn. Was preparing breakfast before setting out on a mission with Roxanne and Victor. Don't have any maple syrup so I thought I might make some soda bread to go with it, maybe add some nuts and dried fruit to it. We don't have any buttermilk though, not much of a surprise there." she remarked.
"Also, I wanted to ask you to show me more of that technique you demonstrated, that attempt at artificial essence, though today I'll be rather...busy. Should see if you'd wish to come though."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 11, 2017, 10:34:44 pm
"Vinegar's a good replacement for buttermilk in this case." Quinn says, looking at Helen as he says, "I'm always available to come."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 11, 2017, 11:17:49 pm
Atomos took Roxanne's hand, or tried to. She was surprised when her hand phased through Roxanne's, momentarily off balance. She tried for the hand again, and phased through it again. "Nice to meet you, but how'd you do that?" She asked, getting more confused with each pass of her hand.
Meanwhile, Mica was beginning to feel impatient. She was used to getting things herself, usually for this very reason. She leaned over to Dee, not having to lean far. "Lizard, My-ka want saw-saj. Give My-ka lizards saw-saj!" Roxanne snorted, finding the unintended innuendo funny.
"Yeah Dee," She said, "Give her your saw-saj."
Dee glanced at Roxanne and tried to calm down his quickly becoming excited girlfriend. "Lizard give My-ka saw-saj?"
"I bet you like big sausage don't you Mica?" Roxanne asked, biting back the laughter she knew she couldn't hold back much more.
"My-ka love big saw-saj! Big fat saw-saj! Lizard! Lizard give My-ka lizards big fat saw-saj!" She cried, to which Roxanne had to bury her face in her hands. Her back heaved like someone who was crying, but it wasn't tears of sadness that would soon be running down her face.
"Dee," Roxanne squeaked, "You heard the girl, you better give her your big fat sausage."
Mica started pounding on the table, "Give My-ka the saw-saj! Saw-saj! Saw-saj! Saw-saj!"
Roxanne couldn't help it anymore, she erupted in an explosion of laughter and Mica continued pounding on the dining table. "You take that sausage Mica! Take all that sausage!"
Atomos turned to Hector and asked, "So, is it always like this here?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 11, 2017, 11:59:01 pm
Hector chuckled a bit at Roxanne, moving to make an attempt at giving her a pat. "Now now, no need to scare her off so soon." he teased, only to give a blank stare at Mica. "I...oh. Oh." Without his helm on, the fact he was trying not to crack up at that back-and-forth was obvious. "So I'm sure Dee has some bratwurst for her." he teased. "Or would it be runderworst?" he added in response to the Dutch lizard boy, now stifling a chuckle. "Oh god why, stop..." he said, now joining in that laughter, trying and failing to regain his composure. "Oh trust me, it can get weirder some days..."
Helen nodded at that, regarding the "That'd be a lot more sour though. Reconstituted milk with vinegar is better than straight vinegar at least." she remarked, getting some water and setting out the milk dehydrated with it, along with a small bit of vinegar poured into it.
"Very well then. Can discuss it over breakfast. I hope you slept well?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 12, 2017, 12:02:17 am
"No." Quinn says simply while watching her cook. "Have you?" He asks, shoving his hands further into his hoodie's pockets.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 12, 2017, 12:26:04 am
Dee had to grab Mica and pull her back into her chair to keep her seated, she was getting too excited and trying to climb onto the table. "No you don't, just sit your pretty little behind down and wait." Dee was flushed, an effect that always struck people with enough knowledge to know that scales should be incapable of such a simple feat.
"Eh? Pretty?" Mica questioned, lowering herself back into her seat, "Does lizard really think My-ka's behind is pretty?" Roxanne gave another snort and Dee only got a little darker. "My-ka don't see how lizard be thinkin' it pretty when it gots a crack in it."
There was silence, and then, raucous laughter. Mica had made a joke. A rather simple one, but one that required a very specific set of conditions. The wide, open smile displayed her pride in that she thought of it, and she hugged Dee. Atomos was still playing with Roxanne's ghostliness and giggling at the goings ons. As silly as Mica was, she was more interested in Roxanne. "So, are you like Casper or something? Can you possess people? I never met a ghost before." Hectors response to her earlier question had her thinking. Mostly about the various rumors she'd heard, and she wondered how much of it was true. It seemed that quite a bit of it might be. She leaned forward and swept her hand through Roxanne's shoulder. "How do you do that? How do you eat?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 12, 2017, 05:52:54 am
Roxanne was still giggling from the whole ordeal with Mica and sausages; for a weaponized mutant that was feared though the refugee center, she was adorably naive. This was when she noticed Atomos playing with her form; the fox’s hand pashing through her incorporeal form. Roxanne lowered herself from hovering and took proper solid form. "Well, for all intents and purposes, I am a ghost, yes. I can posses people and pass through solid objects at will; I can also hard spirit and the physical. What I really am is a divine spirit but that is a bit complicated to explain so calling me a ghost is fine. Also, this form is temporary. It’s hard to explain but I somehow lost my body and am trying to get it back...I am normally am a bionic-augmented post-threshold Elf-A mutant. Self-inflicted. 5a was what nathaniel called it? ", Roxanne answered with a smile, the first time someone took proper interest,"As for eating, I don’t. I can’t eat, drink, sleep or anything of the sort. I still get hungry and sleepy but there is little I can do about it...I need a host to relieve these needs and desires."
After her little explanation, Roxanne looked around and saw everyone else was doing there own little thing. "Now, this form allows me to do some neat things. I could play a little prank on the people here...posses someone, add some ‘special’ ingredients to the food. Any ideas? Think what you would do as a ghost.", Roxanne asked Atomos in a mischievous tone.
Victor didn’t know what to make of this. He did chuckle at the scene with Mica and Dee. Helen was making breakfast, Roxanne was talking to the new girl and Hector was doubling as a sort of guide to the people who arrived here. He had no idea what to do here; with a shrug, he walked towards the tree.
A quick aura analysis and Atomos’ aura was on file, so to speak of. It was useful to know who’s aura belonged to incase things went a bit hectic. But there was a thing that bothered him, this tree had an aura too. Not in the way a human had one, not even in the way an animal did. It was more like a signature. Thing was, it should not be there; not even a scroll of overgrowth would leave such a thing. It wasn’t malicious, didn’t interact with anything or seem to give the tree any special properties. Because of it, Victor catalogue it and left it alone for now; he would mess with it later.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 12, 2017, 06:04:58 am
Helen gave a little sigh at Quinn's answered. "You need your rest though. Do you ever sleep?" she remarked, sighing as she set aside a rather sizable bowl for the scrambled eggs, by now preparing the bread, something that at least was rather quick to make. "I...did at least. Had an odd dream though." she admitted.
For now Hector sat at the table after having shown Atomos around a bit, though her interest had quickly turned to Roxanne, cracking up more at the unexpected joke. He wasn't sure if Mica even intended to say that jokingly, though her grin betrayed that soon enough.
Nathaniel meanwhile hopped off, regarding the doors to the communal area. "So...huh. I...think you'll fit, Lil. At least I hope. Just go easy, alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 12, 2017, 06:10:44 am
"I try to, doesn't end well. I usually have the same dream, but that isn't important. What as the dream about? Quinn asks, looking over her cooking.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 12, 2017, 06:13:32 am
Lilith's entire body tenses up as she raises her head. "Natalee? Nataleeee-" She practically jumps into the air, jerking her head down again with a frankly adorable little kitten sneeze. "Nataleeeeee..." Her tail's slowly tucking itself between her legs as she tries to nudge him towards the cook shack again. "Lili-" She sneezes again. "Lilith feelth... Thad."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 12, 2017, 06:22:07 am
Helen nodded at that. "I understand. Wish I knew how to help in that regard." she said, in-between flipping some meat that was close enough to bacon for her purpose. "A voice, speaking about what we're up against today. I've had dreams of that sort a few times within the past year. It's...better than the recurring dream I used to have." she admitted. "Almost done here..."
Nathaniel nodded at that, only to meep at the sneeze. "Er, gesundheit. You alright Lil?" he asked as she led them over to the cook shack, sighing as he headed over there. When he opened the door he saw only the cloaked woman and scientist, his heart sinking a bit as he realized Kathrine wasn't back. "Oh."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 12, 2017, 07:20:22 am
Lilith sneezes again after Nathaniel opens the door. "...No cub." She halfheartedly hits the floor, leaving a pretty accurate pawprint in the dirt, and turns to leave. "...Thupid mathky lay-dee. Thupid... Thupid thience man. Nataleeeee..." She turns back around to look at Nathaniel, motioning for him to follow her. "No cub. Cub Natalee?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 12, 2017, 07:28:10 am
Quinn looks back at the open door, before turning back to Helen. "Hm, it looks like it's tuning out well." He says, staring blankly into the wall.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 12, 2017, 07:34:13 am
Atomos listened raptly to every word Roxanne said. She didn't understand all of it, "divine spirit" particularly held little meaning to her. Roxanne asked her if she had any ideas, what she would do if she could possess someone, and Atomos thought about it. She looked at Mica and Dee, the lizard with his arm around the spiders hip and making conversation with Hector. The slow red blush creeped into her face and her eyes started to glaze over in the tell tale expression of the day dreamer. Roxanne saw and knew in a flash of intuition, confirmed by the ghost of jealousy she could feel coming off the fox girl. Just a small jealousy.
She seemed to come back to herself suddenly, "s-sorry. I kind of uh... Got lost in thought." She looked resigned now, and continued. "I bet you could do something really funny with the chef. I guess that's not very creative..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 12, 2017, 08:39:01 am
Helen nodded at that, smiling some as she looked back out to the other two. "Huh. She looks like she was expecting someone else...also wait a minute, wasn't she...a good bit smaller last time I saw her?" she pointed out, before activating that mask to look at the tigress.
Now she started to see the evidence of what occurred, and she facepalmed as she stared at Lilith, noticing a telltale nearly-faded glow marking the residual effects of a magic scroll. It hadn't even showed up on Lilith until after the mutation took hold, and she wasn't able to see it clearly merely observing Lilith's aura in the distance, through walls. "...helviti."
Nathaniel gave a nervous little wave to Helen and Quinn, before looking back to Lilith. "Well shit. I wish I knew where Kath was, Lil. If those assholes hadn't cold-cocked me..." he grumbled, looking down as he followed her. "You...want me to put the ears on again?" he asked, looking back at her, trying to see if she was alright. Something seemed up, and he realized he'd never seen her sneeing before until today.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 12, 2017, 10:15:11 am
Roxanne waited for Atomos to answer her question; she had ideas of her own but wanted to see what this new girl would come up with as a sort of pysch evaluation. The way the fox girl stared at Mica and Dee was a tell; so was the way she reacted when realization of being locked in a daydream. "Hey, messing with the food is a classic, don’t cut yourself short.", Roxanne said, "But I have a better idea I will show you in just a moment." She then looked at Dee and Mica herself, specific memories coming to mind. Roxanne leaned in close to tell Atomos something. "Listen here, it’s not worth it...the way you looked at the lizard boy, I know that look.", Roxanne whispered to Atomos, "Look, I did it once...don’t ask, it was a prank. I got all dolled up and made sure Mica was watching. Well, it ended up with an entire wall busted and the quiet mage over there feeling the pain of three deaths...Mica is very overprotective; she will defend her ‘mate’, as our local AI would put it, very closely."
Out of the blue, Roxanne summoned a Divine spirit behind Atomos and it tapped her on the shoulder with a cold blade. "This is the idea I have. I will mess with the cook alright, but I will insert some very special ‘fungi’.", Roxanne said as a grin was etched on her face. "This little guy here will be my distraction, then I will swoop in and add my touch. No use in messing with her directly. In my current form, she could end me swiftly." After Roxanne said this, the spirit went off towards where Helen and Quinn were cooking. It then entered the room. It just stood there as it awaited for the mage hunter’s and arcane scientist’s reaction.
"So that spider trance- Mica is an arcane mute then? Never met one of those personally...I wonder...", Victor told himself after he turned his attention to Mica and Dee. He then took out the pocket aura radar he alway carried and did a little scan. Combined with his aura spell, he got the results he was looking for her. Mica’s aura was existent, all living things had one, but it lack any special properties a human would. It resembled that of an animal, a very distinct one but still.
Victor was not in his 5 senses, so of course he would go back to his usual ways of experimenting to find out more about the arcane. He no longer had access to the resources his order gave him so his experiments had frequently ended in a comical fashion. So what did the holder of one of the pieces of the broken puzzle? He projected his own aura to analyze mica’s, something she would feel as no arcane wards would work on her. "I wonder if there is any humanity left in here...", Victor thought to himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 12, 2017, 03:02:21 pm
Lilith yawns again. "Hyopid 'athk lay-dee." She nudges at Nathaniel's face with her nose, attempting to plant a kiss on his cheek and really just ending up kinda rubbing her teeth against his chin. "Nataleeeeee. Cub kith."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 12, 2017, 03:35:20 pm
Helen hummed a little to herself, every so often slipping into quiet song, something in Latin from the sound of it, mask deactivated after having watched Lilith walk off. "I'm going to have to examine Mica's little slip-up more closely to ensure there aren't any more aftereffects waiting to happen." she remarked. "But for now, all that's left are the fried mushrooms. Figured it'd be a little something diff-" She'd turned around to get something from a nearby counter. "By Tyr's hand, do I even want to know?" she asked, staring at the spirit Roxanne summoned.
Nathaniel chuckles a little at that, reaching to give Lilith's snout, smiling a little. "Mask lady isn't stupid, Lilith. She's making breakfast. Smells pretty good too, didn't know she was much of a cook. Thought brewing booze was her thing given the stuff she's brought over before." he joked, before sighing and giving the tigress a kiss.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 12, 2017, 09:42:46 pm
“Roxanne Luna requested a word with you later. She sent me here you deliver you this message. Miss Luna wants to know if there is anything in specific she will need for the upcoming mission. Can you-”, the spirit told Helen in response, it went on and on talking about preparations and details about the upcoming fight with Randael. It was all a distraction of course, all for Roxanne to sneak in and mix in her ‘special’ mushrooms. Now, this weren’t hallucinogenic mushrooms or anything; no, that was overplayed and cliche. Instead, this would open up everyone’s auras to one another and made it so that they could not lie to one another; a truth serum if you will. All she had to do was ask the right questions during dinner and hilarity would ensue.
Roxanne phased through the wall while the spirit was talking to Helen. Her incorporeal form would make it difficult to be detected by normal means and she knew Helen’s mask was off for the moment. So Roxanne took her mushroom and added a few to the mix she was doing. Next, she laid a few next to the ones Helen was already using; they looked the same, no way to tell this ones would have this effect. A giggle escaped Roxanne’s lips once she was done which prompted her to quickly phased out of the room again before being detected. "This is going to be good...", Roxanne thought to herself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 12, 2017, 09:59:20 pm
Helen was amused by this, now thinking back to her preparations and nodding to the spirit. "Main thing I need of her is to ensure transportation is prepared and that Victor and her mention any details that might be of importance that they might've gleamed from wherever they got those upgrades of theirs. I'll admit I have something of my own in reserve, but I intend to save it so that the enemy won't be able to analyze it until it's too late." she said.
"Also, inform her that I've asked Quinn to join in as well, he'll likely require briefing better than what I can manage." she added, unaware of Roxanne's intrusion and addition to the mushrooms she'd just washed, preparing to bread and fry them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 12, 2017, 10:13:10 pm
Quinn sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Why couldn't Roxanne talk to us in person?" He asks, annoyance clear in his voice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 13, 2017, 01:47:45 am
Lilith shakes her head. "No. Thupid lay-dee make thupid food. Thmell thupid. No cub Natalee?" She sneezes again as they stop walking while just outside of the shack she'd ruined with her growth spurt. "Nataleeeeee." Lilith raises a paw up to his chest, prodding him with the blunt side of one of her claws. "Nataleeeeeeeeee. Cuuuuuub."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 13, 2017, 12:25:06 pm
“Understood, I will inform Miss Luna of your requests. I take it the man next to you is Quinn?”, the spirit told Helen. It’s head tilted a little to address Quinn. “I do not speak for Miss Luna so I could not tell you why. All I know is that she sent me here to deliver this message. Nothing else is required of me so I must make my leave.”, The spirit answered Quinn before it turned around to leave; it went through the wall and then it was gone. What needed to be done was completed by it and Roxanne; all that was left was to wait.
Roxanne stood in the middle of the barn as the spirit came back to her. It relayed what Helen told it and Roxanne smiled at the message. "Good good, so she didn’t suspect a thing. Nice, can’t wait for this meal. I get to not eat because ghost but everyone else, oh boy!", Roxanne told the spirit. It in turn nodded before disappearing in a black mist. "Alright, now to see what the local idiot is doing..."
Victor had finished messing with his own aura and Mica’s; he concluded that her arcane muteness made it so that her aura would not have a signature normally associated with humans, mutant or not. "What are you doing Victor?", asked Roxanne.
"I was just analyzing some stuff why?", Victor responded with a question of his own.
"Nothing in particular, just wanted to know. Anyways, hope you enjoy the food!", Roxanne told Victor.
"Oh, you had something to do with it?", Victor asked.
"A little, it was made with special care ~", Roxanne teased.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 13, 2017, 12:45:38 pm
Nathaniel grumbled a little at that. "well I wouldn't mind breakfast even if it's stupid breakfast. Care to join me?" he asked, only to whine a bit when she prodded him with a paw, fumbling for something in his jacket. Those cat ears Roxanne gave him, which he put on briefly. "Don't worry Lil. We'll find Kath, alright?" he said, before taking the ears off and heading towards the dining hall.
Helen nodded at the spirit's question. "This is Dr. Quinn, yes." she said, sighing as the spirit left. "No telling with her, it seems. In any case..." It wasn't long before the rest of the food was prepared, completely unaware of Roxanne's little addition as the two of them brought out large plates and bowls. Both scrambled eggs and omelettes using the cheese spread they had available, sausage of various sorts, the closest thing they had to bacon, fairly sweet quick bread with dried fruits and nuts in it, and finally fried mushrooms as a little something extra, setting them out on the table.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 13, 2017, 01:04:31 pm
Quinn sighs at the spirit as it leaves, Quinn sat down in the fartherest corner seat and took a piece of bread and some 'bacon'. He nibbles on the bread slowly while biting off small chunks of the 'bacon'.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 13, 2017, 07:56:39 pm
Roxanne and Victor went to the table after the food was served. They both looked around and saw what was offered. "Wow, this all looks really good...Thank you for the meal.", Victor said once he said down. Roxanne just smirked at the sight, she knew what she had done, and soon the others would too.
"Yes, this all looks really good. Too bad I can’t enjoy any of it since you know, ghost.", Roxanne commented as well, "Now, if someone would be so kind as to be my temporary host so I can enjoy this wonderful food; anyone? I will leave you in control, I will just be inside your body..."
The golden divine spirit inside Victor detected an anomaly and prepared some contingencies. Not that anything really bad would happen. What it was detecting, unknown to it, was the ‘special’ mushrooms that it was confusing as a weaponized arcane spell.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 13, 2017, 08:04:24 pm
Helen hmmed a bit at that as she sat down, idly trying one of the mushrooms, unaware of Roxanne's options, while Hector looked over to Roxanne. "I can...be a host if you want." he said, regarding the food curiously as they started divvying out dishes. "Huh, what are these?" he asked.
"Fried mushrooms, a thing my father liked to make on occasion." Helen answered, while Nathaniel seemed to light up a bit at that. "Dunno about Hector, but never tried that before. Onion rings, fried pickles, fried jalapeños one time...sure, why not." he remarked, adding a few to his plate as well, Hector trying one and smiling a bit. "Been a while since I've had fried anything, so why not..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 13, 2017, 08:48:30 pm
Mica wolfed down the sausage and bacon. The bread, she pushed on to Dee's plate which was alright with him. Now she was picking at the little fried things. They didn't smell like meats, but they kind of looked like meats. Mushrooms confused her, always had. She'd eaten them before, and was struck by how meatlike they could be but also couldn't be. She ate one, chewing it thoughtfully before deciding she didn't want the rest. "Lizard take My-ka's mush." She mumbled, trying to push them onto his plate like she had done the bread.
"I'll take them," said Atomos, "my daddy used to take me out on hunting trips and he'd always take the time to collect mushrooms to go with what we caught. I love em." Mica pushed them onto her plate instead, and she wolfed them like Mica had done the meats. Atomos had had good food at the center, now she got to enjoy some of the farms food. She wondered what Roxanne's prank would entail, and thought that perhaps it was going to be fun, and she'd like a bit of fun.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 13, 2017, 09:15:26 pm
Victor too took some of the food, including some of the mushrooms. The wards put in place proofed ineffective since this was a passive effect and wasn’t weaponized. He felt a bit funny but assumed it was that was was still tired. "This is actually pretty good. Someone congratulate the chef.", Victor said while looking at Helen then went back to eating.
Roxanne looked at Hector as he volunteered. "Awww, you truly are my knight aren’t you?", Roxanne responded to Hector, "But first, enjoy your food first tin can. Helen took effort in preparing this; I will make you my host in a bit, first, just eat for now." In truth, Roxanne wanted the effect to take foot in Hector and then she would take over and enjoy the other food. It had been a while since she had felt the joys of food. Even when she took over Victor, she only satisfied her want for an altered mind.
The mushrooms would be taking effect by now for those who ate them. They would feel a sense of unity with each other and would feel really guilty if they lied to one another. Even the most remorseless would be hardpressed due to their auras now being linked to their peers. Victor could kinda feel this on his aura spell but the tree’s aura served as camouflage and he too was affected by it enough to not notice it.
"So, how if everyone feeling today? Are all of you enjoying yourselves?", Roxanne asked as if she was the host; she was suspiciously invested in what others felt.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 13, 2017, 09:38:23 pm
Helen smiled a little at that, waiting until they others had a plate before she got hers as well, giving a little nod. "Thank you. The soda bread was the only part I got a bit stuck on. I didn't think it'd be right to not have pancakes without syrup, but this works well with nuts and fruit added. Quinn helped a lot though. I actually...didn't know of the idea for a buttermilk replacement." she said, sitting down, wondering to herself why she admitted that.
Hector meanwhile was enjoying his food, looking back to Roxanne. "If you're sure then. And this is pretty good actually, yeah." he said. Nathaniel meanwhile had been one of the first to try the mushrooms, smiling some. "Well let's see, still worried Lilith's going to start growing again, but alright I guess."
Helen spoke up next. "Had an odd dream about the voice of Odin again." she said, as if it wasn't at all strange given she hadn't told anyone else about it yet.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 13, 2017, 09:40:25 pm
Quinn glares suspiciously at Roxanne as he disinterestedly nibbles onto the bread, barely an eighth through it. He shrugs as he disregards Roxanne doing anything, setting the bread down to bored-ly look at it, idly picking through it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 14, 2017, 02:40:34 am
Mica felt good. The pleasantry of a shared meal, and the feel that perhaps meats were better cooked. Her strange discordant aura linking with the other's, normalizing a little. She felt comfortable enough with these people that she could even slip the scarf she kept draped over her special eye off. Everything was so vivid, so pretty, especially the little mushrooms. The only exception to the wonderous sights was the dull person sitting kiddy corner from her at the table. It was Quinn.
She stared at his dullness, just sitting there picking at his food. Picking at it like he was disinterested, or maybe... Mica's mind made several leaps in logic and came to a conclusion. Maybe he thought the food was beneath him. Sure it wasn't the morsel's food, but it was still pleasant. She'd even tried some of the bread after the good feeling had set in, a bit of food she would later come to regret eating.
She watched him picking and nibbling, and for some reason, began to grow angry. The others could feel it and talk slowed. Atomos, who seemed to be talking a mile a minute like a woman who had taken some kind upper took in a deep breath and then continued on with her chatter. Mica felt her desire, and understood it. The fox wanted Dee, but not like Mica wanted him. It made her angry like Roxanne's challenge had but the fox wasn't challenging her. It was a fight the fox had decided she could never win and so kept herself to herself. Atomos felt that too, but was powerless to hide it. If asked outright, she wouldn't lie. It was impossible. Mica would talk to the fox, but later.
For now, her main focus was on Quinn. Her irritation had grown into offense. What right did he have to think himself too good for the food? Mica knew what hungry was, none knew better. She'd been so hungry once, and now she was sitting here near this man who wouldn't eat. She was coming to realize something about herself now as well, she despised this sort of... Profligacy. Where did that word come from? Hector? Something that she'd heard from Hector? It didn't matter, in her eyes Quinn was being wasteful and offensive, and she wouldn't stand for it.
"Queen..." She hissed, claws suddenly digging deep gouges into the table top, "Why you not eatin'? Two-face ladies feast not good enough for Queen? Queen only eat with frah-frahs an' la-dee-das? Two-face lady very nice, given' foods when she ain't gotta..." "You know," chattered Atomos, "My real name is Jenny. Jenny Barrowfield." Roxanne was watching her, of all the people enjoying breakfast Atomos had already eaten all her mushrooms and a good portion of those scraped onto her plate. As a result, she was in a particularly open mood. Something was off for her though. Two something's actually. The first was that she was never this open with strangers. She was always very nervous and shy. Now though, she felt like she was among friends and could be as open as she pleased. She could even share some of her darkest secrets, if they asked.
The other thing, was Mica. Or rather, what Mica was saying. "Naw Mica, he isn't sharing. Here we are, all talking and being friendly, and he's just like, sitting there like a sour stick. What a mood killer! Eat with us you..." She stopped to think of a word, and Dee finished for her, in his own words. "He's being a dick."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 14, 2017, 03:43:54 am
Quinn looked at Mica over his glasses, "I'm not hungry." He says simply, sighing at 'eat with us' "...Alright, sure." He says, rubbing the bridge of his nose before moving a few seats closer to the group. He still doesn't eat, however.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 14, 2017, 05:02:51 am
Thoughts of Quinn fall out of her head as Atomos rambles on. At first, she's talking about her dad, then she moves deftly into hunting, spurred on by hunting and a sense of belonging amongst these fine new people, she moves tentatively into something more recent. Of course, these were the only people she could share it with, right? It was no use hiding anything. "I was eaten by a snake a couple days ago." Mica had calmed a little. She was happy to see Lilith here, she had something she wanted to ask her. She picked a sausage off Quinn's plate. "After all, not gonna eat nice saw-sage."
The thought out, Mica saw that no, he wasn't eating. He was still sitting there, not touching his food. What was it? The company? All the other people seemed to be enjoying each other a great deal. Roxanne especially seemed to be getting a kick out of all the breakfast talk. Quinn wouldn't eat though. Wouldn't touch any of the nice eats. "Queen be lookin' at it like food is poison. How does Queen know?" She thought, then said aloud "How does Queen know it? Two-faced lady not mean, not en-ee-me. Still no frah-frahs an' la-dee-das for fancy Queen to eat with? Eh? My-ka not good enough to be eatin' with?" Mica was getting pissed again, "Maybe Queen can't feed himself..." She hissed, "Lil-eth, hold Queen, we help him eat." "Really?" Hector and Roxanne said, nearly in unison. Atomos nodded her head sagely. "Weeeell... Not really 'ate'." She corrected, reliving the moment in her head. "More like 'gummed.' It was missing a fang." She illustrated this by pulling opening her mouth and. Pulling up her lip while indicating the small but obviously elongated canine on the top left side of her jaw. "He got me head first, up to my waist almost. Luckily, I already had my rifle out and the big bugger got the barrel end stuck in his throat. That's good cuz I wasn't sure if I could kill it otherwise. I'll show you the skin later and you'll see what I mean. I kinda of messed up while cleaning the body though, snakes that big have a lot of nasty fluids in 'em I guess. Got absolutely soaked." Hector was listening with rapt attention, but Roxanne's attention was drawn to the situation forming at the other end of the table. They weren't magic, and she'd only eaten one, but Mica's reaction to them was kind of odd. They were having the desired effect, but they were making her a little emotional as well.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 14, 2017, 10:42:44 am
Lilith hadn't been particularly hungry, but everyone had to be eating so much non-cub food together for a reason, right? It must be a contest or something. She'd attempted to just scoop a bunch of food into a pile and stuff her face into it, but Nathaniel had stopped her from doing that the way she wanted. The method they'd settled on was Lilith sitting there with her mouth open while Nathaniel basically loads her gob with fake bacon, mushrooms and sausages.
Mica's command immediately registered as important for some reason. Lilith stood up, spraying bits of meat over her section of the table, and mostly hopped over to Quinn with Mica. "Bug yeth?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 14, 2017, 11:16:55 am
Quinn looks at Atomos as she tells her story, barely listening as he stares through her with a blank, hollow look. His eyes widen once he hears his name, looking at Mica, "I don't need help with eating, I'm not a ch-" he sighs, "I don't have an appetite at the moment." he says, still working on his bread.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 14, 2017, 11:33:24 am
Helen gave a curious glance over to Atomos as she retold that story, while Hector seemed rather amused by it. "I'll admit, that pretty much tops the list as far as impressive stunts go." he joked, while Helen looked back to Quinn. "Come on Quinn, it's not healthy to just nibble at a bit. You didn't sleep, and probably didn't eat well yesterday." she said, sighing a bit. "I'm worried about you." she remarked, while Hector perked up a bit.
"You said something about a weird dream last night, right Helen? Did...anyone else have that sort of thing?" he decided to ask. He'd been reluctant to, yet thanks to the effects of the mushrooms he freely admitted his poorly-recalled dream. He only recalled with certainty two things. That Agmen had reacted to something he did recently, and that some forgotten detail of the dream was...comforting? Reassuring? He wasn't even sure how to describe it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 14, 2017, 12:08:03 pm
Mica nods accomodatingly, not really feeling very accommodating. Feeling kind of agitated really, but Mica could hide it well enough. If she hadn't already expressed her displeasure that was. "Lil-eth, Queen not eatin'. You hold, and My-ka do the rest. Don't be lettin' Queen do no fightin', My-ka don't wanna have to force Picky frah-frah Queen's mouth open..." At the end of that, she flexed her claws, more to show that "prying" would certainly not be what Mica did to his face if he refused. Mica gently plucked a particularly fat mushroom off Dee's plate and wrapped a strip of the bacon, likely from one of the swamps giant frogs, around it. Dee protested, but only a little. He just hoped this wouldn't end up with people getting hurt. "Hold Queen down Lil-eth." She repeated, lacking any of her former friendliness, "Baby man gonna eat just one, then we let him go. Okay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 14, 2017, 12:45:04 pm
Quinn stares down Mica, tight lipped. He doesn't even bother resisting against Lilith, knowing it's useless.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 14, 2017, 04:54:11 pm
Lilith started to reach out a paw towards Quinn, but stops. Her claws still wouldn't retract properly, but Bug wanted her to... She placed one paw on Quinn's chest and just gently pushes him back in his chair, tipping it over. "Bug." When he's on the ground, Lilith steps over and places one paw on him, straight across both shoulders.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 14, 2017, 06:03:28 pm
Nathaniel gave a blank stare at the two of them, sighing as he stood up. "Come on Lil, don't hurt him. If he doesn't feel like eating, more for us then. Or can set some aside for later."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 14, 2017, 06:54:05 pm
Roxanne listened to all the stories, very interesting details on all of them. Atomos’ one was the one that picked her interest the most. Being swallowed by a snake? That is a fetish to some people if she recalled correctly. The banter was soon interrupted by a little disturbance with Mica. What started fairly normal escalated to Quinn being forced fed. "Come one ladies, stop that. Don’t let your transcendental instincts overtake you. You maybe post-threshold but you still got some decency in you right? Not like Roxanne over there; she went full transcendental willingly and is very much a degenerate.", Victor said as the whole ordeal went on. He did not realized what was wrong with his statement, he was just saying what he felt. Roxanne just glared at him but her reaction was mild due to she knowing why he said that. Still, knowing that was how he really felt stung a little.
"Wow...rude...anyways. Since the tin can over there and Helen have shared their dreams about...gods...I will share mine. Maybe you two can tell me what it means.", Roxanne finally said herself, "I “dreamt” of a man who took over my dream world. He had with him an army of the dead. What he wanted was what he called pieces of a puzzle. I was told I could help him get them. Told me there was still a lot of time before that would even come into play. He just wanted me to be ready. That’s it, I don’t know what to make of it. Any ideas? This stinks of another spirit or something amidst all this and with Randael, amgen and whatever Helen seem to talk too, that can’t be good news. Helen got a warning and advice, Hector and ultimatum and I an offer...what a weird series of dreams."
"I for one did not dream for once. I dreamt about all of you dying on a regular basis for days before. Quite the experience. Sometimes by the dead, others by other worldly monsters, bandits, spirits and even by my sword. Thank god that is over. Got some sleep at least.", Victor commented as well.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 14, 2017, 07:41:48 pm
Quinn stares Mica in the eye as she shoves the mushroom into his mouth, chewing it while glaring at the spider. Once he swallows he simply waits for Mica to give the order to Lilith to let go.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 14, 2017, 07:43:12 pm
Hector was glaring at Victor now after that remark. "Why you...that's fine talk from you, if even half of what Helen says is true." he remarked. "Nevermind that I've seen far worse than anything I've witnessed from Roxanne, from people with neither augmentation nor mutation."
Helen grumbled more at that. "You don't even know the half of it, Hector. The entire reason his order exists is because of abuse of blood magic, when our very origin was in combating the Sanguine Order, and they just quietly act as if that was never a part of their original mission." she grumbled.
"As for your dream, Roxanne. You know how I'd answer. You should try to discern what it is and what these pieces are, before agreeing to anything. If they're appearing with an army of the dead, it's almost certainly something that needs to be treated with caution. Not until you have a name to go with this visage and its apparent goals."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 14, 2017, 08:32:23 pm
As soon as it was eaten, Mica was pushing away Liliths arm and helping Quinn up. "Queen part of group now! Not bein' left out with frah-frahs and la-dee-das!." She wrapped her ars around him in a well intentioned hug, showing Quinn all the warmth and friendliness she could afford to spare. She couldn't understand why she'd been so upset about the whole thing. Quinn on the other hand, just looked unimpressed. Atomos heard the talk about dreams, and decided to pitch her own. "I had a dream last night, about that snake that tried to eat me." What followed was a humiliating and overly detailed account of the dream she'd had in which the snake that had attempted to kill and eat her, had instead eaten her in a very different way before swallowing her whole. Her cheeks were a bright red, and the others could feel her embarrassment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 14, 2017, 09:18:59 pm
Helen just stared at Atomos, trying not to giggle at that tale she told. "Well um...I have good news for you. There's high odds that's the only dream recounted so far that doesn't have any ominous meaning to it." she said, blushing and looking away.
Nathaniel meanwhile chuckled a bit. "I was kinda big into furry stuff back in the old days and that's still...a step or twenty stranger than what I was into." he said, while Hector chuckled some. "Old days? You're the one with furry porn come to life for a girlfriend, and also parading around in cat ears."
"Fuuuck how'd you find out about that!?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 14, 2017, 09:36:07 pm
"Wow, getting hostile there knight. Besides, I am not just talking out of nowhere. Look at her, she is a spirit now. What was she before? A genetically unstable 5a mutant? Didn’t the division you and Nathaniel were part of hunt those down Hector? Can’t she like not even have kids or something anymore? That’s mutations for you. The next step in human evolution? As if!", Victor commented towards Hector.
"Founded on blood magic? No, that was but one aspect. We delved into what others were too afraid to do. What others simply feared and destroyed. We found out how it worked, molded it to our needs and then used it to better humanity. Humanity!", Victor responded to Helen, he turned slightly towards Roxanne as he said the last bit, "Those who betray that are deemed impure and are eliminated. You and Roxanne would know, she did so for a living and you took down her alternate. To bad it wasn’t this one; the other one still had a chance. Still untainted blood, only metal that filled her body. That could be fixed, what Luna has become can’t. What a shame really. "
Victor’s words didn’t see to bother him at all, to him this was just a casual conversation. He still remained calm and collected but the effects of the mushrooms made him not hold his tongue. "When we take down randael, are you going to want your body back? Why? Just stay like this. You are literally divine, don’t go back to that tainted body. Roxanne, you deserve better. This is a chance to start over! Those are rare, I would know.", Victor told Roxanne directly.
"Shut up Victor...", Roxanne said quietly. She had lowered her head a bit. Even though she had not consumed any, the other’s auras had begun to influence her own. She was getting really emotional because of it.
"Roxanne, come on you know tha-", Victor tried to respond before being interrupted.
"I said shut up!", Roxanne interrupted with a shout. She looked up directly at him and he saw tears streaming down her ghastly eyes. Her face showed anger and pain in them; his words had digged deep. This didn’t go unnoticed by him, guilt overtook him and he sat down. "I am sorry...", was all that he managed to say as he just looked down. Roxanne herself just covered her face and sobbed for a bit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 14, 2017, 10:01:07 pm
Quinn dusted himself off, sitting back down. He gets back to staring through the table, his thousand yard stare more obvious. His ears start to ring, he stays dead silent as he stares blankly, hollow look returning.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 14, 2017, 10:02:28 pm
Helen meanwhile glowered at Victor, shaking her head. "For good reason. That sword has brought nothing but pain and misery. We met on the field of battle, she killed my mentor, the closest thing to a sister I had, and what would've been my boyfriend. She killed them without an ounce of remorse, without any chance for either of us to explain our sides and their reasons." She was rather riled up herself. "And you would consider this one impure, inferior perhaps? When she's, as Catnip called it, the killer that chose mercy? She's a better woman than the Roxanne you knew."
Hector stood up at that. His own aura was at this point radiating anger, and he tried his best to hold it back. Victor mentioning Division XIV was the point where that anger peaked, and he stopped trying to hold it back not long afterward. "Victor. Shut up. I didn't join that goddamn division for a reason. I am not my fucking doppelganger." he said, stepping closer towards Victor.
Nathaniel at this point got up, and he moved to stand between the two of them. "Look, Hector...d-don't. You're right in some ways, Victor. My unit was told to exterminate any unauthorized 5a, or any 5b period. And Hector...the Hector I knew, would've put someone like Roxanne down without hesitation. Look what that got him. A tank drone shell up the ass, that's what."
"And you know what?" he added. "Even though what I told Dee is true, about not even getting cleanup in place when zero hour happened, ever wonder how the XV Medical Directives were developed? How we knew WHAT to fucking do? Little labs, or whatever the fuck the Priority Sites were, had leaks every so often. Usually close to tiny little small towns, lucky instances where they could be contained. Seize control of them, send the civilians through checkpoints. Treat most of them, put down the 5b victims. Anyone refusing to cooperate was assumed terminal as well, and put down too. Fucking give me that bullshit about the impure again, I dare you!" he shouted, tears streaming down his face. He'd never told anyone but Hector about the training exercises.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 15, 2017, 12:43:54 am
Dee looked on with a growing sense of disquiet. The mushrooms had done a little, just a little, but already the effects were fading. Fast. He clutched at the the coroners seam in his chest. The heart, his new heart with it's integrated blood filter, was working hard and pumping the mushroom toxin out of his veins. "Well shit," He thought, "Dervish was right." On top of that, he was still getting those brain waves or whatever it was. The bad feels coming from everyone else had him thinking about friends come and gone, but he reigned in his emotions.
He pulled Mica close as she went to sit down, "That's mean as hell Mica, if the guy doesn't wanna eat then there's no need to hold him down." He said. To the others, he raised his voice and filled it with the closest approximation he could to a quality of command. "Enough! We are all friends here, aren't we? Stop killing the buzz you guys. As my dad used to say, 'snijd de rotzooi.'" The last few words sounded something like "snide de rotch oy." These words sounded odd, distinctly foreign, and very fitting in Dee's mouth. Until then no one, save Mica and Dee's deceased friends, had heard him speak in his native tongue. Like any person who suddenly degenerates to another language out of stress or anger, Dee was very close to defaulting back to it.
"Let's get back to the dream talk yeah? I had a dream. While I was laying on that infirmary bed." Dee said. Atomos went on for a bit, unaware that talk had turned bad until it reached her aura. "I mean, it's not like I want to be eaten out by a snake." She said, "I'm not a weirdo. I think? Oh god, I have a tail. And ears. Oh god, I'm a furry! I AM a weirdo!" Nathaniel was talking about executing mutants now, and Atomos clutched her tail defensively. "I'm not that bad, I'm not that bad! Nathaniel. Sir. Please..." Mica settled in, enjoying Dee's company and pleased that she didn't have to pry open Quinns mouth. Just one was enough. One sausage or one mushroom or one strip of bacon. Just one of anything and she was satisfied. Now though, he satisfaction was being swallowed up. Dee was not as vivid as before, did he have to be fed as well? No, Mica didn't have to feed him. He was just full, that's all. He'd eaten a lot after all. She didn't like this sour feeling coming to her through the aura links she'd formed with the others, but opted to push on. "My-ka gots a dream too." She said, clutching at Dee's arm and wondering if he'd say his strange grease words again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 15, 2017, 01:07:12 am
Quinn blinks at the mention of dreams, snapping out of it. "I had the same dream for... A long time, it's more of a memory... But it isn't important, what were your dreams?" He asks, resting his head against the top of his hands.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 15, 2017, 01:54:16 am
While all of this was going on Bandit woke up rubbing his head as he mumbled something about that being the last time they'd have a drinking contest. Alexei rolled his eyes as he remembered the last few times he'd heard Bandit say something along those lines. Grabbing him by the arm Alexei hauled him to his feet and helped him over to a chair.
Once he was sitting down Alexei pulled out a small burner and a kettle. Motioning to Bandit Alexei told him "Is it still bothering you?"
Bandit reached his hand up and pulled his mask off and Alexei winced as he saw the burns. He'd seen them a few times before but you never really got used to seeing someone with them. He was happy to see the ones on his face weren't infected though. "They've been hurting but I've got the pain meds somewhere. I probably shouldn't take those though, always end up getting hurt and not realizing it."
Alexei nodded as he got the kettle started and pulled out the instant coffee he carried with him. "And the others?"
Bandit simply pulled his shirt up to show Alexei. Alexei was greeted with the sight of a minor infection that Bandit had been neglecting for some time now, a few months if he had to hazard a guess. Pulling out what little meds he had Alexei found a few pills that, if he had to guess, would help stop the infection from getting worse. From there Bandit would probably need to make something a bit stronger or find an actual medical doctor.
Handing one of them to Bandit Alexei grabbed the now whistling kettle and poured the pair a cup of coffee each before setting things aside and taking a drink. "Plans for the day?"
Bandit smiled as he sipped his coffee. He hadn't exactly expected Alexei to go back to acting like his right hand man this quickly if at all but it was pleasant. "Well I want to get things settled around here, get a settlement going to help keep the peace. So I've got to deal with a gang. Today I should get to chat with some of their higher ups."
Alexei nodded as he drank his coffee and thought about what he was going to do with himself. He wanted to settle down, get out of the constant gun fights and bar brawls. He wasn't so sure Bandit's plan would be the b est of ideas for that but..this was the man that had helped him out so long ago. He supposed a debt was owed and he intended to pay it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 15, 2017, 02:32:31 am
Victor at this point had no energy left to argue. He realized he had messed up and as such did not even argue. "No, you are right. I have no right or place to say such things...I am sorry...If you are going to do something, do it now.", Victor said without even looking up. Roxanne noticed as Hector was getting angry he she took it into her own hands to fix it. "Hector?", Roxanne said softly, "Do you mind being my host soon? Please? I want to taste the food too!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 15, 2017, 02:42:25 am
Hector had tensed up, and it was clear he was halfway to grabbing Victor and likely tossing him around like a ragdoll had the others not spoke up, and had Nathaniel not stood there between them. "As much as it irritates me to hear you speak of people here in that manner, I won't, Victor. Just...we're comrades here. Friends. Practically family even. We can't forget that all of us are still human, regardless of what our bodies may have become."
He looked down, taking a moment before nodding to Roxanne. "Roxanne, I'll...go ahead, do it. And Dee? You mentioned a dream in the infirmary? Tell me. If it's related to the ones others have had, that might be important..."
Nathaniel snapped out of his earlier ranting, first at Dee's insistence, and then Atomo's panicked remarks made his heart sink. "Oh god, Atomos...I didn't mean it in that way. You're...not a furry in THAT way, like I was saying the way I was." he pointed out, facepalming. "And for fucks sake I'm not going to execute you. None of us here are gonna do that. I mean already Lilith most certainly would be a 5a, whereas you appear to only be...3a, I think? I...there's a reason I don't like thinking about the old days. XV directives can go fuck itself for all I care at this point."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 15, 2017, 03:06:29 am
"B-but..." Atomos stuttered. The Captain could say she wasn't going to do it, but to hear someone else say it was a whole other thing. Captain had protocols to follow, this Nathaniel guy had a job to do. As far as she was concerned, duty trumped protocol every time. If he wasn't going to do it, then maybe she was safe. Safe enough anyway. She stroked her tail a little, then swiped at Roxanne's incorporeal form. "Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Roxanne. Hey." Atomos pestered. Roxanne eventually gave Atomos the attention she wanted, and Atomos said in a small voice, "You can possess me if you want... Will it hurt? Can you read my mind?" "I don't remember much." Dee said, the mushroom poison fully filtered out. "I remember being harassed about Catnip's train a lot, but I'm not sure why. I think it was Catnip's god thing bugging me, but who knows. There were a lot of dreams and they all seemed to go on forever." He took a bit of his bacon and gave it to Mica, he suddenly wasn't very hungry. Mica took it and scarfed it down, then resumed watching him. "Lots of dreams about, uh... Mica." Mica raised her eyebrows a little and scooted her chair closer.
"What kind of dreamin' lizard? Eh? My-ka been dreamin' of lizard too." She said, honestly wanting to know. Dee shook his head, "Don't remember." This was a lie, he could still remember some of the dreams but was no longer bound by the mushrooms to tell the truth. "I remember a girl though. Not sure who she was. Oh, and..." The vague memory of being chased through some basement by a vast darkness crossed his mind. "A nightmare. Something chasing me. For some reason I thought that if it caught me in the dream, it would kill me in real life."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 15, 2017, 05:01:21 am
Hector regarded Dee's explanation curiously, uncertain what to make of it. "If they were intent on pestering you, that makes sense. You're the most technically-inclined here among us. I'll admit, I...my efforts were deliberate. I intentionally provoked Agmen, essentially." he admitted.
Helen meanwhile tensed up at the last thing Dee said. "A nightmare. Can you tell me for certain, whether or not the thing haunting you was a different spirit than Agmen? If so, DO NOT speak its name in describing it, assuming you even know it. My dreams of The Voice most recently have warned me of another spiritual foe we will face in time, other than Randael. But he dared not name it, only via allusions to it. Likely so that its attention would not be drawn. Speak of spirits, and they will heed the call." she said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 15, 2017, 05:22:31 am
"Yeah, pestering. I remember that really clearly. I'm not even interested in whatever Catnip's Agman or whatever wants. Hey Hec, if you want it's attention, you can have my share." He listened carefully to Helen next. He hadn't spoken with her much, but according to Mica she was a fairly nice lady, if a bit serious concerning her hoo-doo magic stuff. "It definetly wasn't Agmen." Dee said decisively, "Agmen was like a big computer thing, and it definitely had a certain presence. It was kind of like being around Catnip, if Catnip was a massive dickhead. The other thing was a lot different. I don't remember a lot about that part of the dream, but I do remember how it felt." Helen leaned in closer, eager to hear, and asked how so. "It was colder. I remember that very clearly. It was colder and hungrier." He vaguely had a thought of Mica, the old Mica. Now why should she as she had been come to him? "It was like being in a big maze, and you know there's something somewhere in the maze with you. You don't know where it is, but it knows where you are and you can feel it looking for you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 15, 2017, 06:04:58 am
Roxanne heard Hector giver her permission for her to posses him. This is something very powerful to spirit; it strengths the dominion they may have on their host. She was preparing to do so, savoring all the sensations the food in front of her would bring. The reason she did not immediately go for it was because she got caught up in the conversation about dreams.
Agman, Catnip’s god. It seemed to manifest in others now; it was real? Was it a spirit? Was it an actual god? Did it have bad intentions? All this thoughts and questions raced inside her mind. Then her own dream was replayed. The man knew her name, it even referred to her as such...she wondered if he knew her “real” name. Than she remembered, she neglected to say what the two pieces of the puzzle were, she forgot to say he himself held one, she did not mention the deal he offered or that Victor held one of said pieces. Roxanne was about to tell the others about it, interrupting her plans of possession, when atomos stole her attention.
“Oh? You want me to posses you?”, Roxanne responded. She smiled at Atomos. “No, it doesn’t hurt, and yes, I can read your mind. You would also feel my wants and desires, and you would feel mine. We would become one in body but still separate souls.”, Roxanne explained, “I am tempted you know...taking the body of a cute girl like you...wonder what she can offer this aging ghost girl…”
Roxanne took a mock pensive stance. However, she really was thinking about it. Who to pick? Her boyfriend or the new girl? Possible intimate link or some interesting exploration of another person? “Tell you what? I will try inserting a life orb and if you like that, I will posses you ok?”, Roxanne said to Atomos.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 15, 2017, 07:27:10 am
Chester Barrowfield had always told his girl to keep her mind open, and always try new things when the opportunity arose. In this case, allowing oneself to be possessed by a mischievous needy ghost, he probably would have told her to show a bit of caution. Maybe even give the experience a miss. Atomos didn't know that though because Chester Barrowfield had never encountered a ghost that wanted to possess him, let alone believe in ghosts in the first place.
"I don't know what that means." Atomos said, "But go ahead!" Her trepidation was swept away by curiosity. The thought that Roxanne would be able to read her deepest and most profoundly personal thoughts only occured to her briefly. The idea of keeping her from knowing any of it made her feel guilty. Of course, that was just the mushrooms at work.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 15, 2017, 12:09:24 pm
Lilith had, once again, gone right back to trying to stuff as much food in her face as possible, but everyone's conversations and particularly magic man and metal man's argument made it particularly hard to enjoy the slightly strange not-bacon. She had tried to leave any more mushrooms for Nathaniel, but any that had gotten into her pile had been eaten all the same. The ghost boobie lady was talking to the... Fox. "Fogth. Nahleee, fogth." She's spraying food all over the table again, but she's pointing at Atomos and Roxanne. "Bhobie lhadee. Poe-" She pauses to swallow her mouthful of food. "Pothe- Pothath- Do Lilith!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 15, 2017, 12:19:29 pm
Hector gave a little glance to Roxanne, then to Atomos, simply smiling some at that. "You can have both of us if you wish. We both seem willing to see what the experience is like. Just unsure who should go first." he remarked, before looking back to Dee. "We'll see. I don't really know for sure what it wants, other than the fairly simple stuff Catnip mentioned. Seems like the right sort of thing. To create stuff, it seems?" he said. "I'm good with some of that, forging especially, and fixing up old military vehicles to an extent, but I can only do so much." he pointed out.
Helen meanwhile regarded Dee's explanation of what was chasing him, uncertain of it. "I see. That's not a good sign. There are only a few candidates I'm aware of that had been active at the time. One is The Archon, the...thing Quinn is familiar with. But its power in this world is almost nonexistent now. One sealed intrusion has been cut off entirely, and the only two known Hosts have been put down, one of them by Sergei and I." she said.
"Randael meanwhile...I don't know of any motive that would provoke it. He From Beyond The Veil seems to have an even more different method, considerable power in this realm but little presence, as not many people actively calling upon him. That leaves...well, Victor has confessed to a member of God's Army messing with his dreams to sway him. Do you think...?"
During all this, Nathaniel sat and quietly ate as he listened to the others, now a little nervous after his confession, before Lilith's remarks made him perked up. "Come on Lil, don't point at her, that's rude...wait. Oh god Roxanne possessing you would be hilarious, but I don't think the diniong room can take that. Plus knowing her she might try to shove me somewhere..." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 15, 2017, 01:30:58 pm
Quinn gave Helen a look before looking back at Dee, "That sounds... odd. Not sure what would cause that..." he admits, scratching the side of his face.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 15, 2017, 04:26:19 pm
Roxanne smiled at Hector as he suggested they take turns being possessed; her previous sadness and bitterness was gone. It seemed the effects of the aura’s caused her to get some sort of emotional swings as well. "Fine by me. Let me test the limits of our local marine here. Now soldier, are your ready?", Roxanne told Hector then shifted to Atomos, "Let me show you the test." Roxanne summoned a divine spirit and had it hand her a life orb, it then vanished into a black mist. "Close your eyes now, no cheating!", Roxanne instructed. Then the orb became incorporeal and Roxanne stuffed it into Atomos' chest. The feeling was warm and pulses of energy would go through her body. As the orb did it’s work, Roxanne retracted her hand and then smiled. "You can open your eyes now.", Roxanne informed Atomos, "Tell me, how did it feel? Now imagine that but with a literal soul! Are you up for it? Tin can over there already felt this so I know he can take it."
Then Lilith volunteered too. “Lilith, that is a bad idea. I don’t think I would be able to even muster the courage to do so…What if something goes wrong and...”, Roxanne told Lilith; she interrupted herself in the last statement as memories came back to haunt her, "No...I am not dying again..."
The banter had resume and side conversations did as well. Victor simply sat on his spot and watched it all unfold. He had messed up and had no willingness to speak for the moment. He would use this time to go over his plan one last time. The final ingredient, the introduction of the life orbs made it possible. If he would achive this, harvester mode could be done without the loss of a soul... Soul shards, Purifier Everest had talked about something more powerful. If you were to synthesizes them into a single unit...a soul crystal! The essence and power a soul into a single item, but it required an actual soul for it to be made. However, a life orb simulated a soul for it to be replenished incase one is destroyed. So maybe, just maybe...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 15, 2017, 04:55:49 pm
"OH! Oh. That's... uh, That's tingly." Atomos said, understating the feel of the orb. The warmth spreading through her from where Roxanne had pushed the ball of light into her chest and pulsed it's essential vitality through her.
"I don't um..." She mumbled, looking around at the other people sitting at the table. It was clear that the orb had flustered the fox. "Is it always so, uh... tingly?" "Do My-ka!" Mica suddenly shouted. She had heard Lilith asking to be possessed, and if Lilith wanted it then she wanted it too. "What po-zez mean? boob lady? eh?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 15, 2017, 05:13:10 pm
Hector smiled a little at that. "I know, it's actually rather...pleasant. Still, we'll see what having this actually occur to someone feels like. I'm ready when you are, Roxanne. Unless you want to go first, Atomos?" he asked, though the effects of the mushrooms bid him to speak honestly. "Though I kinda want to...try it first, at least. It's been a while since we've been anywhere near that close, Roxanne..."
Helen meanwhile sighed as she sat beside Quinn. "Are you...alright?" she asked, before her attention turned to Mica and Lilith. "Honestly, possessing Mica is more likely to cause things to go wrong compared to Lilith, given her tendency to alter the effects of any magic she's in contact with."
"Besides Mica, doing you is Dee's job, not Roxanne's." Nathaniel joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 15, 2017, 05:28:06 pm
Quinn looks at Helen, "I'm fine, honestly." He says, taking the piece of bread and actually taking full bites out of it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 15, 2017, 05:38:35 pm
The reaction Atomos had to the orb made Roxanne a bit flustered too. Mostly since that was not the reaction she expected. "Not usually...But not like that’s a bad thing I assume. Guess you are ready for the real thing then." Hector’s remarks only contributed to Roxanne’s reaction. All her pent up desires her lack of a body forced her to experience were starting to show. "Ok then, yeah, we can take turns then...", Roxanne said in a shaky voice, " Guess it’s only fair after all..."
Roxanne was about to move towards Hector when Mica too volunteered. The way she said made Roxanne blush a little. Now, explaining possession to Mica would be difficult. Doing to your average joe was hard but Mica was anything but. "You mean possession? Well, that is when a ghost goes inside another person’s body and they control it. Not always, sometimes they shared, like what I want to do, I want share a body with someone...but everyone is jumping in, it’s hard to say no!", Roxanne responded to Mica.
"If I were you, I would check her pockets before you get possessed. I would know, I have been there...Roxanne possesed me and then used me to get high. Ok, no, she wanted to go into the spirit realm but she can’t eat the spirit pill so that’s why she did it but then she also applied her ceremonial oil on me.", Victor said, finally breaking his silence.
Roxanne looked at him, her previous emotional state now gone but Victor’s still lingering. "Don’t pretend it didn’t feel amazing. An afterglow and a high at the same time? Waaaaait...Heeeeector ~", Roxanne responded to that. She began to approach the night with a mischievous smile; slowly creeping in.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 15, 2017, 05:56:20 pm
"Eh?" Mica said, "What nat-lee mean? Lizard not ghost. Can't do My-ka!" She'd completely missed what Roxanne said, not that even her simple explanation would be understandable to her. "Can Lizard do My-ka?" She asked.
"I can't possess you, no." Dee said, deciding to go for the more innocent and intended meaning of what she said.
"You can do me." Atomos blurted quietly before she could slap a hand over her mouth. Fortunately, it didn't seem like anybody had heard her. "Er... uh... yeah, g-go ahead and uh..." Atomos mumbled. Hector would go first, Roxanne was already going for the knight anyway, and that was fine. She felt that now would be a good time to step outside, before she said something even more embarrassing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 15, 2017, 05:59:15 pm
Hector chuckled a little at that. "Go on Roxanne, I'm all yours..." he said, only to tense up a bit when Victor pointed out what Roxanne might do. "And this is a problem...how, Victor? For her sake, I'd deny her nothing so long as she's safe. A little drinking or...ahem, oil on rare occasions won't hurt. It's not something I do regularly anyway." he pointed out.
Helen meanwhile shook her head at that. "If you're sure...I know how that...thing affected you. At least, I can make the barest guess at it. I...Quinn, I'm sorry..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 15, 2017, 06:26:54 pm
Roxanne did not think twice when Hector gave her permission. She took an incorporeal form and then walked towards him as if she was going to phased through him; difference being was that she did not come out the other side. The feeling of being possessed was similar to that of the orb but constant and less intensive. Hector could now share his thoughts and desires with Roxanne’s, and she could read his mind and memories.
“Now tell the people Hector, tell them how it feels. I won’t take the reigns, yet…”, Roxanne told Hector. The knight would hear her as a voice in his head that was obviously not his and reminded him of Roxanne but sounded not too different than the “voice” he used to think. Of course Roxanne used the opportunity to look through his memories. Everything from embarrassing moments to his greatest achievements. She did this discretely as well.
Now, everything Hector felt, Roxanne would feel too and Hector could feel the way she reacted to it. They were linked after all. Roxanne would let him do what he wanted for now, just to see what he would do with this found sensations. "Well, what are you going to do now?", Roxanne asked in a mocking tone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 15, 2017, 06:55:28 pm
Quinn sighs, rubbing his eyes. "It's fine." He says simply, glancing at Helen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 15, 2017, 07:01:53 pm
Hector smiled a bit, feeling the odd, soothing warmth spread through his body. She'd become aware of countless little sensations, little hints of his very being and his body. The weight of mail, a broad mail ensuring it did not rest too heavily on the shoulders. The vigor and slight tension of bionic strength and joint torsion ratchet. That nagging little number in the very edge of his perception: 200. At some point he'd evidently installed a replacement for the power storage cell he gave up for Donny's sake. The slight twinge in his right arm, just behind where the EMP emitter was, still lingered from time to time.
His very thoughts and memories were laid bare before her. Thoughts of the old days, amusing moments and more embarrassing things, the experiences that made him what he was now, and how he survived the early days of the cataclysm. Along with the buried memories was a yearning. He'd missed her, worried over her. And now she was here, closer to him than ever before. it did far more than fluster him, and he looked away shyly.
"Unlike anything I've ever felt before. Forget the drinks or drugs, this is...more comforting to have her here than I ever expected. And what better way to protect her than ensure no harm could come through her without harming me, first?" he said, telling a little lie of omission, only letting on the emotions it provoked, not the physical sensations. And yet in doing so he made another, different mushroom-provoked confession.
He smiled a bit as he took a bite of the food, still having warm eggs and sausage on his plate, to see how she would react to Helen's cooking. He for one had still been become used to simple jerky, hardtack, other preserved food eaten with no further preparation. If it wasn't from traveling, it was thanks to their best cook recently having been abducted. To have an actual prepared meal had become a bit of a rarity for him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 15, 2017, 07:09:18 pm
"It clearly ain't fine, but if he doesn't want to talk about it then just leave it." Dee said. That sort of thing irritated him, and he usually just left people alone when they wouldn't share like that. Chances were, they were just looking for attention and while Dee was the compassionate sort, he had no time for that kind of attention whoring. "Three strikes and your out." He thought, regarding his personal policy regarding asking someone about their problems. If you had to ask two or three times and they still wouldn't talk, then they could deal with it themselves. "Leave him alone Helen."
"Lizard? Why Nat-lee and Roks-zan laughin' at My-ka?" Mica asked, leaning her head on Dee's shoulder. She had a hard time understanding some of the different nuances of speaking. Things like metaphor were a little difficult, and double entendre were completely over her head. Mica didn't lack for imagination, but she was just so... naive. It came with being born and raised mostly in a lab, Dee supposed.
"They aren't laughing at you, they are laughing at what you said." Dee told her. After a bit of silence, Mica asked her next question.
"Why?"
Dee thought about it, about the effort it might take. Then, deciding it was for the best and worth the embarassment, he began the task of explaining word play.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 15, 2017, 08:14:52 pm
Roxanne felt all the little sensation of Hector’s armor and bionics. It was funny, she never paid attention to such things in her own body but when you are in someone else's it’s different. His emotions did not escape her either. She would’ve smirked if she was able to. "I missed you too Hector.", Roxanne whispered in his mind.
Hector’s little comment revealed a bit more to her since she could not match corresponding emotions to it. He could tell Roxanne shared his sentiment. "You protect the body and I protect the soul. United as one, in life and as I have proven, even after that.", Roxanne responded to Hector’s remark. The mushroom’s Hector had eaten were starting to affect her too and she was opening up. For now, only Hector could hear her.
Now the food was delicious. It was little things like this that she missed. Being a spirit had it’s perks of course but Roxanne could not enjoy herself in this form. She missed her body, she missed being able to eat and drink, to be able to touch a soft fabric, to smell a rose. For now, this was a close as she was getting. Hector sharing his experiences with her. "Wow, thank Helen for me, this is really good. Tell her I am sorry I spiked her food too, she doesn’t deserved that.", Roxanne informed Hector via mind talk.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 15, 2017, 08:28:58 pm
Helen looked down, giving a sigh. "Alright. I'm just worried, that's all..." she said, grumbling a little at that, and looking down at that last remark.
Hector meanwhile smiled a bit, trying another of the fried mushrooms as he heard her mental responses. Imagine what a team we'd made like this. Fighting literally as one. But...you need your body back, and soon today you'll get it back. he thought, a deliberate effort to respond without speaking. He thought of how many experiences they could share in, yet he knew they didn't have the time to do much.
"Roxanne asked that I thank you for the food. It's excellent, and I agree. And to...apologize for spiking it?" he said quizzically. "So that explains it...huh."
Nathaniel facepalmed at that. "Is that why I fucking admitted to the whole furry thing, fessed up about the shit my unit got into, and referenced weird fanfiction Rox wrote? Wait...brain, stoooop."
Helen found herself giggling a little at that. "So that's why Victor mouthed off when he's too much of an ergi to normally talk down to someone like Roxanne or I, let alone in earshot of her psycho boyfriend?" she teased.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 15, 2017, 10:47:26 pm
"Figures." Dee said, smirking. "She better say sorry to Atomos. Man, I expected her mouth to fall off with how much she was talking. When the mushrooms wear off, she's gonna feel like shit." He finished his breakfast, occasionally slapping at Mica's hands when they inevitably found their way onto his plate.
"SsSsSSs," Mica hissed, "Share with My-ka lizard, share! My-ka shared breads with lizard, so lizard share with My-ka." He sighed and let her take the rest of the "bacon" and sausage from his plate, sneaking them off despite his permission being given to have them.
"Sharing." Dee said, considering. How far had they come from his rescuing her from the river, those first bunch of awkward walks, his utter disinterest in her, and yet another "rescue" from bandits. She'd sat around in his workshop, playing with the bits and bobs, drawing, making a nuisance of herself. She'd never been a bother to him though. Mica kept Medeina busy, she even cleaned out the dead bugs and plant clippings the AI packed his workshop with. Finally, he had to admit that he'd gotten accustomed to looking up from his work and finding her close at hand to give him something less cold and impersonal then a piece of electronics to look at.
"Speaking of sharing," Dee said, suddenly nervous, "Why don't you move in with me Mica?" Dee had started seeing her as a mostly normal girl, and so her response surprised him.
"My-ka already done it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 15, 2017, 11:21:58 pm
Roxanne soon realized what she had just said. The mushrooms had affected her as well. "No wait! Ugh...no use, yes, I did it. It was just a prank man!", Roxanne let Hector know. She wanted to take control for a bit know, do some little experimenting. "Hey, Hector, think you could hand over the reigns for a bit, I want to try something. Nothing dangerous or anything but something you wouldn’t do. And I would also like to properly apologize I guess...", Roxanne asked Hector.
Victor did not join in the other’s revel in learning the truth about their strange behavior. He was satisfied with the answer nonetheless. It was Helen’s comment that made him responce. "I did no such thing! It was the mushrooms like it has been said. And are you implying I am afraid of you or Roxanne? Why would I? That is ridiculous!", Victor responded, "Also Hector, her words, not mine. Blame the mushrooms."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 15, 2017, 11:32:36 pm
Helen simply smiled a bit. "A trickster she may be, but it only brought to light things that lay hidden, some should not stay in the dark." she said, looking to the two. "For you two, I hope it goes well and leads to great things. For Victor...in time we're going to need to talk."
Hector meanwhile grumbled a little at that, only to blush at her response. Why did you tell me to admit it...? he asked, only to sigh at that. Alright, just be careful then. he added, while Helen huffed at Victor's retort. "Lies. You know full well that you spoke from the heart, these things only provoked it. You were afraid to say such things until now." she said. "I can still sense it...despite it all, you still hold that hate that the likes of God's Army would've sought to prey upon." she remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 16, 2017, 12:02:58 am
"You ate the mushrooms, I guess it rubbed off on me...", Roxanne responded Hector’s question, then reacted to his consent of control, "Thank you! I won’t do anything stupid, I promise!" First thing Roxanne does is lit a small divine flame in the palm of Hector’s hand to see if her powers still work while inside a host. "This is Roxanne by the way. Hector gave me control of his body for a bit. Let me say a few things, ahem.", Roxanne said in Hector’s voice. It was a very odd sight as Roxanne made Hector’s body adopt her little mannerism and seeing an armor clad man have the mannerism of a woman like Roxanne was a bit funny and unsettling. Hector could also feel as of the little motions she was making and could see everyone's reactions to it.
"First of all, sorry for messing with your food...again...but hey, some laughs were made! Also, Now that I am in this body, I am going to do a little thing over there...try not to kill Victor while I have my back turned Helen.", Roxanne said via knight. She did as she said, Hector’s body began to walk towards the tree in the barn. Roxanne was not used to wearing armor so her walk was a bit awkward. "How do you walk wearing this?", Roxanne asked Hector.
She eventually made it to the tree; she made Hector kneel in front of it. "I feel a connection to this tree Hector. We are very similar. We are both products of arcane mishaps, we don’t belong in this world… Do you understand?", Roxanne told Hector. She made him touch the bark of the tree with his bare hands. "So this is what it feels like...I miss being able to things you know? ", Roxanne said. Afterwards, she noticed a flower growing near the tree. Roxanne picked it up and gave it a good smell, it had a wonderful fragrance.
While still kneeling, Roxanne burned the flower with her divine flames and clasped Hector’s hands and closed his eyes. She made him do a small prayer to a god Hector would not recognize. "Not a word of that leaves here ok? This blessing is for the two of us only...", Roxanne told Hector, "Thank you Hector. I needed that. You can have your body back..." She gave Hector control again and waited for him to react.
"No no! That wasn’t- You can’t- I did-", Victor stammered trying to retort Helen’s points, he finally gave up and confessed, "Not afraid to say them Helen. In denial. I said them since the mushrooms made me open up. And a talk? I can only assume the subject matter. Alright, I guess I deserve it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 16, 2017, 12:40:16 am
Dee and Mica left, arm in arm. Mica was eager to show him what she'd done to his workshop, and he was nervous to see what tragedy she had performed on his home. First though, Mica had one more bit of business.
"Lil-eth, My-ka got a fay-vor to ask." She said, doing her best to try and draw Lilith closer and only managing to paw and pull ineffectually. "My-ka tryin' to take care of things while Kat-nyp gone. Now there's tree in Kat-nyp's house, but tree too nice to ruin. Lil-eth maybe move tree? Move tree out of Kat-nyp and morsel's house?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 16, 2017, 01:04:22 am
Hector watched and listened, now he was the one partaking of the sensations of his own body, while she held control. It was a surreal experience, yet still pleasurable in a way, soothing to have Roxanne there, bound to his own body. Helen meanwhile gave a little sigh at Roxanne's remark. "I'm not going to kill him, Hec...er, Roxanne...you two lovebirds have fun." she said.
Hector expressed amusement at how she reacted to his mail. He seemed to have the strength and stamina to bear it, but they way she plodded along may well have been one thing she was missing, unused to the way the added weight affected ones movements. Practice. Conditioning. The usual. he answered in response to her question.
And perhaps we are. All four of us. You, me, Floyd, Catnip. But we can do more than merely topple some old structure over. We have an opportunity... he answered. His thoughts were laid bare for her. His ambitions. He'd come to see this world as is it was no different from his own, as far as he was concerned. He wanted to protect it. Not just the friends and family he knew at the farm, but everyone he could. In any way he could. And yet thoughts turned to what he knew, what he was good at.
And they darkened, as he considered that he could ultimately only protect through killing. The work of blacksmith, mechanic, some experience in first aid learned the hard way. This paled in comparison to what he did best, and part of him longed for another way to be useful. "I...alright then. This stays between us. I can still let you stay like this as long as you wish, until you're ready to set out." he said, standing up and looking around at the grove. "If you still hold the means to do this after you finish with Randael...anytime you desire it." he said, before steeling himself to give a mental reply. I never thought such a peculiar concept would be so...tempting, either. he said, and she surely knew what he meant.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 16, 2017, 04:33:48 pm
"I don’t know what I will be capable off once the mission is done. But whatever may happen, I hope I get to share it with you.", Roxanne responded mentally to his first remark, "I will exit your body know. I don’t know how taxing this is on someone as I have never done it for too long; so just to make sure you know?" Before she actually left, Hector made a final comment; she did not have the chance to answer it while still possessing him but she responded once outside anyways. Roxanne was no facing him directly, her eyes retained their properties of shifting green light but they seemed empty, devoid of life. "We were one, our emotions and desires linked for both of us to share. However, this wouldn’t be the first time we felt like that would it? ", Roxanne answered; she winked at him and then a smirk was plastered in her face, "Once I come back, things will be done on my end. Maybe I can help you with your goals, or maybe...you know...lay low for a while?"
Roxanne looked a around for a moment, seemingly looking for something. Then she turned her attention to Hector. "There is so much around here you can’t see Hector, things you would not want to. I bear this burden and curse due to my past sins.", Roxanne told Hector in a somber tone, "Your dream with agmen. Be careful ok? Don’t trust it. I did that mistake once and look where it got me. If you need anything, let me know ok? I am here for you... "
"Now Hector, excuse me for a bit. I did promise a certain someone to give her the same treatment you got. I am curious, how will a mutant handle this?", Roxanne told the knight. She was now grinning at the thought. Roxanne returned to her incorporeal form and went to look for her next target. "Oh little missy, where are you?", Roxanne called out for Atomos. Despite her rank and fighting ability, Roxanne saw her as a cute and frail thing; God help the former assassin if they were to ever fight.
“Lady Blackmore?” The voice of the hollowed girl said, "Preparations are ready. The traps and the guardians are set. Markus and I can set up position at a moment's notice."
“Excellent, the ritual is almost done as well. I can sense they are coming for us soon. The test of your loyalty is upon you. After this, we will start working on our dream, humanity will come to know it is no longer the dominant species.”, The spirit of harvest said through the body of Roxanne, "You will be shown great power and by my side, our kin will rise. No longer persecuted by the likes of god’s army or any other zealous out there. I knew one in particular who needs to die..."
The preparations were set, arcane traps and monsters were place in key places. The undead roamed the halls and the “guardians” would buy the inhabitants of this place enough time to call upon“him”. This place was the arcane equivalent of a fortress now, Randael was extremely paranoid.
“I hold the 4th piece...maybe after this I will get his favor. The world he promises is a glorious one. One where those with the will can make a name for themselves. For the sake of everything that has been set in motion, I cannot lose!”, Randael said to himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 16, 2017, 05:38:58 pm
Atomos kicked a stone into the farms defensive pit, considering her options. The mushrooms were wearing off, but she hadn't been around when Roxanne let slip their unique properties. "Why'd I say all that shit..." She asked herself, kicking another stone. She ran out of stones to kick and sat down with her head in her hands.
She didn't hear Roxanne at first. Too busy thinking. She could stick around the farm a bit longer, but why? Could she even show her face around here anymore? They knew everything about her now, most of it anyway. Oh god. Did anybody hear what she'd said to Dee? She shivered. At some point she realized she was being called for and waved vaguely towards the source. She wasn't sure if she even wanted to be possessed anymore, but she'd said she would and going back on what she'd volunteered for wasn't something she was raised to do.
"I guess it's time to do this then..." she said to the approaching ghost.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 16, 2017, 06:34:54 pm
"Quintero, you sure this'll work?" "Yeah. Old army guy taught me it in a group out west. Modern Forest Brotherhood, something or other." "Shit, who knew you could learn to cobble together makeshift transceivers out in the woods measuring dicks and worshiping trees." "You're a cunt, Hoyt." Out by the farmhouse, the radio tower picked up a signal. Not a strong one, and not an altogether coherent one.
"HEY, ANY####I####NO######CAT###!?!######VAN#?!?##!###NARCOTICS######KERMIT THE FROG#?#!?#####. ANSWER SOON. SOMETHING TELLS ME SHE WANTS TO GO HOME."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 16, 2017, 06:43:03 pm
Hector simply smiled at that, giving a nod after she left his body. "It does feel a little like my armor burdens me more than it would otherwise, but more like the sensation of being on the march for a good while. Tolerable." he admitted. "It was worth it. Take care, okay?" he said, blushing at her remarks. What she said, burdened by a curse, make him shake his head and give one last response. "Just know that there is always the chance for one to correct their mistakes and atone, so long as they live through it. And I'll...you're right. I'll be cautious. If its demands are simple, things I would've down on my own enemy, then for now no danger is present. But I'll be careful. You too, okay? Come back safely. All of you."
He watched as she left, looking up to the sky before making his way back towards the barn's forge room. Whoever's up there, whether it be the Lord or a machine-goddess, ensure their safety... he thought, as his attention returned to the armor he was working on.
Elsewhere Helen began setting aside the empty plates and bowls, setting aside leftovers as well. Some of it to save for later, for Quinn as well. She looked to him, now concerned as she no longer felt the effects of the mushrooms. "Alright then. If you still wish to come along, I'll explain more of what we're up against. The thing that bound itself to Victor, only to be freed in a moment of desperation. You recall my notes on wards against possession, and mention of a hollowed body? That was Victor...the act that freed Randael also consumed his soul. It was only by the intervention of another that he isn't lingering along on what little fading energy would've sustained him."
"That...THING betrayed us almost immediately once it was freed. I should've insisted on some method of binding it, or worse should've ordered it forced into the symbol of judgement and destroyed while it was weak. But it served us faithfully, acted trustworthy, until it returned in the body of a woman I killed seven years ago, stole Roxanne's via it. It has at least one human servant, and unknown numbers of undead dominated using methods stolen from Victor's research." she said. "If you will...when you're ready, meet us by Roxanne's APC." she said softly, soon leaving the room.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 16, 2017, 07:05:15 pm
Quinn nods and sighs, getting up off the table. "Of course, I'm going to grab some equipment. See you soon." He says with a nod, going to his trailer to gather up his equipment belt. He walks out with an incorruptible Messer on his hip, a dirk in his knife sheath, and his pistol in his holster. He meets up at the APC.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 16, 2017, 07:12:26 pm
The people of the farm, and refugee center, heard the transmission and awhile later, the response. The clear, administrative voice of the AI came over the radio, sending out a general broadcast in the hopes of contacting whoever had sent the transmission.
"Hello, I am Medeina. I am afraid your signal is a bit on the spotty side. Frogs you say? I would see them if you brought them. Do you have mutants among you? Who wants to go home? Are they a mutant? Would you mind if I brought my chicken walker? It isn't loaded." The AI sent, along with a barrage of other unrelated questions.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 16, 2017, 07:19:01 pm
At the refugee center, with many at the farm either unaware of the broadcast or busy, Catalina facepalmed at the answer, fumbling to grab one of the radio transmitters, practically snatched out of Leila's hand as she handed it over. "Oh for fu-ahem. This is Captain Catalina Anquino, at Refugee Center US77687. We are reading you, barely. Please excuse the AI and her...eccentricity. She is our facility AI. Who is this?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 16, 2017, 07:37:25 pm
"I am not 'your' AI! I AM MY OWN PERSON!" Medeina "shouted" over the general broadcast, "I AM A SOVEREIGN CITIZEN!" On the farm, the chicken walker suddenly shifted startling Dee a little, and Mica not at all. Inside his workshop, he was surprised to find the place relatively as he left it, except devoid of the usual collection of detritus left around by the AI. Mica had cleaned up a little, but the real "damage" was to his room. She hadn't stopped at simply putting her own things away on a shelf and making the bed. Later, she'd taken the time to clean up the rest of his room as well. The clothes that had been simply folded and then dumped in one corner were nowhere to be seen, and the filthy articles had been placed in the hamper he never used. His tools had been safely stashed away, along with the computer he used for entertainment.
"You cleaned my room." Dee said flatly. Mica was beaming at him, proud of her show of normalcy and affection. "Man, Mica..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 16, 2017, 07:48:55 pm
Catalina sighed a bit. "You're in this facility for the time being. Please, don't scare newcomers away from the center. Are you still reading us? Can you tell us your name and purpose, please?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 16, 2017, 07:57:11 pm
"No ma'am, I exist on a laptop in the possession of Mr. Koenig. The refugee center mainframe is a research hotbed." Medeina explained, unsure if the Captain was even listening anymore. "Speaking of research. Strangers! Do you have mutants or unique animals?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 16, 2017, 08:02:41 pm
"Oh good, Dee ran off with you. Leila why didn't you tell me that sooner?" she asked, a sheepish response overheard through the receiver. "Oh. That reminds me. We've had a missing persons report recently concerning a mutant. A feline sub-type 3a by the name of Kathrine, reported missing...shit, has it been two weeks by now?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 16, 2017, 08:54:16 pm
"Well, Medeina, you said, right? Fuck off. Thanks. Now, "Captain," yeah? Captain of what, the refugee center? No dice, girly, I'm looking for a farm, last I heard."
The signal came through much clearer now, though loud, metallic banging noises could be heard. Probably someone fiddling with the machinery.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 16, 2017, 09:03:16 pm
Catalina grumbled at that. "Oh this is gonna be one of those days. Yeah, there's a farm a few miles east of this center. They're the ones behind the missing persons report."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 16, 2017, 09:13:57 pm
Roxanne found her target by one of the defensive ditches along the perimeter of the farm. She gives Atomos a warm smile when she reaches her. "Heeeey, are you still up for it? Never done it with a mutant before. Er, I mean a possession...", Roxanne says to Atomos, the last bit coming a bit weird. She blushes a bit but then shakes her head to organized her thoughts. "Anyways, if you are up to it. We can start. If it gets weird at any point, let me know and I will exit. I am saying this because well...", Roxanne explains to Atomos. "One of the things that will happen is that we will share emotions and desires and as ghost, I haven’t been able to take care of some. So don’t be too creeped out. So...what do you say, are you up to it?"
Melody had done her final preparations. She wielded the present Lady Blackmore gave her, a sword that could channel her aura of harvest. It was black and when powered with what she called blood essence, she could amplify her power to deal a devastating attack of entropy. “With this, I will surely win! This is one piece of the goal according to Lady Blackmore, but it will do! I will one day have my own sword of the void!”, said the hollow girl.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 17, 2017, 12:31:22 am
Atomos was nervous about sharing emotions and desires. That, she thought, would be almost as bad as all that stuff she'd said. Still, she'd volunteered and she didn't want to miss out. "Ok ghost lady, whenever you are ready." At first, Atomos held out her hands, then she let them rest at her sides, then she crossed them. "I don't uh..." She said, "Am I supposed to do something?" "Wow, rude." Medeina said before falling silent. They wanted her to be quiet, but she would still listen in. Once she had some piece of information she could use, she would report it to someone who could use it. Despite the rudeness on the other end of the radio, she still hoped whatever this was about turned out alright.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 17, 2017, 11:57:26 am
Lilith growled in frustration. Nobody had congratulated her on the eating contest, and she'd lost whatever boobie lady was doing, and now Bug wanted something. She'd heard something about moving a tree, and then followed one of Mica's pointing fingers to look at the big tree in the barn. The one Bug made. "Lilith move tree? Okay..."
Lilith positioned herself so she's hugging the base of the tree, legs spread apart slightly in the least slav kind of squat she can do. She mentally counts down from three, then jerks upwards, trying to uproot it. Obviously, she doesn't succeed at first, with the tree still sitting there, looking smug. With a growl, Lilith tries again, pulling it backwards as well in an attempt to loosen it up slightly. "TREE GO OUT!" One of the rafters collapses inwards as she shakes the tree more, sending leaves floating down towards the ground. Lilith still hadn't made much progress on the tree by her third attempt, but the barn was definitely becoming less and less structurally sound by the second.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 17, 2017, 12:11:20 pm
Nathaniel sighed a little as he gathered his thoughts, looking back as he saw Lilith walking off. It was hard to tell at a glance, but he suspected she was down for some reason. He could still faintly sense the effects of the mushrooms, not helped by how many he had, and wondered if that was the cause. He thought maybe he'd talk to her, though for now he considered checking on other things.
Hector meanwhile had been in the barn, tending to his work at the forge, when everything seemed to shift and shake, walls and roof seemingly struggling to stay up. He came out into the main section and saw the cause, sighing a bit. "Lilith...what are you doing? Look up." he said, pointing up at the shattered remains of the roof, and how the branches were all entangled with rafters and boards.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 17, 2017, 12:34:37 pm
The poor old barn had seen decades of loving use, housing horses or cattle or the old farmers truck once upon a time. Never before the coming of the strange rat and the people who arrived with her, had the barn ever been put through such hard use. If it were a thing capable of thought, it would have worried. The rat had added onto it, painted it, even dug a hole underneath it. She'd knocked holes in it's roof, demolished some of it's walls, and had generally re-purposed it. Just lately, it had become home to an unnatural and beautiful garden. It was a building that had been old even when the oldest of the farms current residents was young, and now, it's time was up.
The tree shook, and the barn shook with it. Slats fell, at first only a few at a time, and then in a growing shower. "LILITH STOP!" Shouted Hector, but she paid him no mind. The Barn buckled, another support beam gave and took a section of roof with it. Catnips wardrobe fell over, spilling it's load of ladies undergarments onto the floor. A rack toppled and it's load of weapons and long objects scattered about the the indoor garden. Shelves containing tools were upset, and materials were thrown to hell and back. Something slid off the roof and hit the side of Catnips train with a resounding "BONG" while on the other side, several heavy struts were flipped away from the collapsing building to bang against the side of the cook shack. Glass shattered somewhere near the back and what little was left of the roof gave in, followed by the walls shortly after. For awhile, there was little sound. Then with a creak and a groan, a pile of boards and beams was heaved aside by the man beneath, the knight, completely unharmed.
"Thowy." Said Lilith. The tree now technically "out" of the barn, Lilith supposed the job was finished.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 17, 2017, 02:00:22 pm
Hector had tried to warn Lilith that uprooting the tree would take half the barn's remaining structure with it. In fact, a good portion of the roof was now supported by nothing but the tree itself. As beams began to crack, splinter, and fall upon them, he fumbled to get out from underneath. The only thing he could do now was kneel, shield braced overhead to keep debris from striking him, having removed his helm to work at the forge.
Nathaniel was about to make his way past the barn to go check on the tank, the sort of daily routine he used to follow in the old days, a routine driver and commander now followed diligently. The barn toppling all around Lilith, and on top of Hector, made him run to them. "Shit! Lilith! Hector!" he shouted. With a slight groan, the knight forced his way out, standing and looking around. If anything, the painted surface of his shield fared worse than the rest of him did. "Aaand there goes the forge too. Goddamnit Lilith..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 17, 2017, 08:06:45 pm
Drifter and Alice watched as the barn collapsed, not really able to do much from their position. Drifter followed behind Nathaniel, deftly jumping around on his peg leg as he found firm ground to stand on. "What the fuck just happened? Who's still under this shit?"
Alice for her part walked over to Hector after he emerged from the barn and asked "Are you hurt? I know some basic first aid."
Meanwhile Bandit had covered himself back up, pulling his mask on and grabbing a spare hoodie that had been lying around in his workshop. Sliding the kevlar vest on and tightening the straps he heard the commotion of the barn collapsing and sighed. Turning to the door he spotted Alexei walking through it, AK held loosely in one hand in case something bad was happening.
As the pair saw the barn in it's damaged state Alexei let go of his rifle and let it hit the dirt as he pulled a bottle of antiseptic out of his bag and started running. Bandit followed behind him as Alexei shouted "любых раненых" before shaking his head and shouting again in english "Everyone okay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 17, 2017, 08:15:10 pm
Hector grumbled a little as he stumbled to his feet, a support beam practically rolling off his shield as he dusted himself off. "I'm fine. I...OH SANCTUS MERDA, the forge!" he said, realizing he'd been working on the leg plates to his armor, clambering over rubble to shove bits of wood aside. The bellows for it were operated by a foot pump, and the hole nearly blocked with rubble, but the end result was still a fire hazard despite the coals nearly smothered by debris. He practically shoved a large section of busted wall away, one that had been propped up by the stricken mobile foundry.
As he fumbled to drag and clear the area around the forge, to at least clear a firebreak so the whole area wouldn't burn down, he winced a little at the scene. Tools were all buried, the thankfully-empty charcoal kiln nearby was caved in from a beam that struck it, and the crucible he'd been using for some of his work was cracked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 18, 2017, 09:35:52 pm
They heard it go from Sharlene's cabin, and so it was no surprise that Mica and Dee heard it. At the time, Mica was under Dee's bed showing how well she fit and explaining that she could stay under it while Dee tiptoed around telling her she didn't have to, that perhaps she'd prefer the bed. "C'mon Mica, it's uncomfortable down there." Dee tried again. Mica poked her head out and grinned at him.
"Nuh-uh! Smells like lizard cloths. An My-ka don't-" Mica had said, but just then there came the crash of the barns collapse and Mica was out from under the low bed, getting her chitin stuck momentarily on the frame. "What that?" She asked.
"Sounded like the barn collapsed." Dee said. Mica's already pale face went even whiter.
"Oh no! SsssS!" She cried before running out. The barn was a mess of broken wood and scattered vehicle parts with an abnormally large birch standing to one side of the rubble. Mica's hands, all four of them, found a place clutching at her head out of panic. "Lil-eth! How this happen!?" She cried to the tigress wading through the remains of the barn.
"Oopth." Said Lilith. Mica surveyed the wreckage with a growing sense of what she thought was calm, but was in fact a growing sort of cool panic. "What My-ka gonna do... When Kat-nyp see..." She felt cold, Catnip would be furious. Of course, she was more afraid of Catnip being angry than she was of Catnip being violent. If Catnip wanted to fight, Mica would fight, and fearlessly. The two of them had done it many times as children. No, Mica was afraid of Catnip's disappointment.
"What happened?" Dee asked once he'd caught up. It seemed obvious, but he couldn't think what else to say.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 19, 2017, 02:50:16 am
Some distance away from the barn, Roxanne saw as Atomos squirm a little as she anticipated being possessed. Roxanne giggled a little at her question. "No, just relax and I will take care of the rest.", Roxanne responded. When she noticed the reluctant marine do so, Roxanne proceed to phase inside of her. The feeling was that of the orb so nothing Atomos han’t felt before; still, was a weird experience certainly. Roxanne and Atomos lacked the kinship Roxanne shared with Victor or the feelings towards Hector so their emotions and desires synced a bit more slowly. But it eventually go there.
"So? How does it feel like?", Roxanne asked Atomos while she let her keep control of her body. Atomos would hear Roxanne as a thought in her head that wasn’t hers but would somehow know it was Roxanne. "I can read your thoughts now you know? Not that I would need to since you pretty much opened.", Roxanne teased her. The sync was now complete, they each had access to what each other was feeling; Roxanne for once felt what having a was like and it surprised her. She was about to ask a question when they both heard a loud bang and dust settling in the distance. "Oh shit, what was that?", Roxanne said inside of Atomos’ mind, "Now what...it’s always something with this place..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 19, 2017, 05:41:02 am
"One of those days, huh? This happen often? Nevermind, I don't wanna know. Thanks, Cappy. Uh, over and out, or something." Hoyt muttered into the transceiver, before sighing and cutting contact for the time being.
"Well, that's a nice start, I'd say. Got a farm up and running, eh?" "Probably means they got some good stuff going." "Good enough to pay back a few short weeks' worth of narcotics, let's hope."
There was a bit of a collective leer in the denizens of the RV. Not one of malice. More instinctive greed than anything else. Could you blame anybody in these times?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 19, 2017, 06:29:54 am
Lilith kneaded at the dirt with her forepaws, purring. "Lilith thowwy, metal man." She's still coming down from the excitement of the collapse, by the looks of it. Her pupils are completely dilated, and her tail is lashing back and forth, but she's managing to restrain herself at least. A piece of one of the rafters falls out of the tree's branches and bounces off Lilith's back, making her growl more out of surprise than pain. Lilith slowly turns around, still digging her claws into the ground, and stares down at the pole of wood. She quietly debates it, then scoops it up, gripping it tightly and turning towards the tree. "Tree move..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 19, 2017, 07:16:43 am
It felt funny, at first, but pleasantly warm. Atomos didn't have to think about Roxanne's first question to answer it. "Like being filled up. Like a cup. Sort of. Also weird, but not bad." She said aloud, and then thought. Then, she said it aloud again. She could feel Roxanne smiling inside her. She could also feel the ghost possessing her settling in and feeling her feelings. Roxanne had been about to ask her a question and he host found that Roxanne could no more hide her thoughts from Atomos than the fox could hide hers from Roxanne. Or so she believed. Questions about her tail, her other mutations, and herself began to percolate from that other inside her. Questions of this nature usually made her feel nervous and tight lipped, but now with Roxanne so intimately-
The barn crashed down and Atomos, her interest mixed with Roxanne's, went to see just what had happened.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 19, 2017, 12:40:36 pm
Hector gave a little sigh as he examined the remains of the forge area. There were several scorched timbers now, some that had started to catch alight that had been hastily thrown away from the pile of kindling he was basically wading in, and by now the forge had been outright snuffed out. "Well, lovely..." he grumbled, picking up the helm he'd set aside previously. It'd been set on the ground right next to the anvil, and thus spared the brunt of the falling wood, but it still had a noticeable dent in it, once that looked like it would've been severe had it struck him on the head while wearing it. Though obviously far worse than if he'd taken such a hit to his unarmored head. For now he simply put the helm back on while tending to an attempt to clear more of the debris, not really realizing that walking around wearing a dented helm would make it look like he took a much worse hit that he actually did.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 19, 2017, 08:20:33 pm
Roxanne stayed silent in approval and Atomos could feel that due to the possession. The two eventually made it to the barn to find it in shambles, to put it generously. Parts of the roof and the walls littered all over; it was an utter mess. Roxanne and Atomos could feel each other’s reactions; Roxanne herself felt a combination of shock and familiarity. The former being due to the barn finally giving up and the latter due to things like this not being uncommon in this place; things just tend to happen here.
But then was when she noticed it, the tree; chunks of roof were stuck on it’s branches and it’s roots looked like it had been lifted. Without a single thought, Roxanne took over control of her host and rushed towards the tree. Atomos was now in the backseat, feeling everything Roxanne did. “No, no no no!”, Roxanne shouted with Atomos’ voice. She kneeled in front of the tree, as she stood on top of the rubble, and examined it. No real harm was done to it despite her worries; this promoted to her to give a sigh of relief.
It was then when she noticed it, something “extra”. Roxanne felt as something moved behind her; she felt it in her own being. It was moving from side to side, and somehow, she could control it too. After a while of this, Roxanne turned around and noticed a tail, it moved in the same manner her feeling did. Then two and two clicked together; she now noticed Atomos’ inside of her. Roxanne blushed and she then immediately gave Atomos control again. "I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to! I...I… The tree, I thought it was harmed, I panicked...I shouldn’t have!", Roxanne exclaimed to her host.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 20, 2017, 12:44:09 am
Atomos gasped when Roxanne gave her back control. "D-don't do that!" She said, "Not so suddenly! It feels like being stuffed into box with two little holes I can look out through." Roxanne apologized again, and Atomos forgave her. Nearby, Mica was trying to get Lilith's attention. For now, Atomos felt the connection Roxanne had for the strange birch. "What's so special about it? Apart from it being in a barn?" Roxanne told her, explaining about the tree's miraculous overnight growth. Atomos listened quietly, simply facing the tree and staring at nothing. Concentrating on Roxanne's story.
"She's a good listener." Roxanne thought.
"That's what daddy always said." Atomos thought back.
The word "daddy" brought forth a stream of pleasant memories, one after the other. A young Jenny fishing and camping with her father and sometimes with her mother when they decided to make a family trip of it. Once her dad had brought her and her mother to Alaska to go caribou hunting. They'd spent the week eating spaghetti rings and McRonalds hamburgers while they enjoyed the states natural beauty and her fathers inability to get a kill. Atomos first fishing trip. She'd been little more than a petulant child the entire time. Her dad not only put up with it but encouraged it by poking fun at her. At the end of it, after the gear had been packed, her father suddenly told her "I think you need a bath to wash off that stinky attitude kit." And then lifted his eight year old daughter and threw her off the dock. She felt sour about being soaked and half drowned at the time, but later on she came to cherish the memory.
Roxanne examined each memory as it came, each one a curiosity freely on display. "Lil-eth! What happen!?" She had run, skittering over the rubble, to Lilith. Mica noticed, vaguely, a curious thing. Very little rubble had fallen into the garden. It seemed that a large amount of the barn had piled against the train, out in the street, or had fallen into the "camping" area. Still though, boards had fallen into the flowers and that was a shame. "Lil-eth!" Mica cried again, grabbing a hold of Lilith's arm and pulling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 20, 2017, 02:57:02 am
Nathaniel had been a bit shocked by the scene, relieved as he was to see that everyone seemed to be unharmed, sighing as he started trying to help drag bits of wood away here and there, looking back at the knight that had been more focused on keeping the pile from catching on fire. With that task finished he clambered over the pile back to where the others had gathered, giving a little wave to Atomos and Mica now that they were here.
And he was completely ignoring the rather sizable dent in his great helm, not realizing that it might risk startling the others who hadn't seen him previous unharmed and helmetless.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 20, 2017, 03:09:45 pm
Lilith attempted to stick the rafter underneath one of the slightly more raised roots, using it as leverage to lift it further out of the ground. "Lilith move tree." She's just repeating herself, jamming the wooden shaft into the dirt. She splinters off one of the roots, and moves on to the next one. "Lilith move tree. Bug thaid."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 20, 2017, 07:42:45 pm
Roxanne felt the memories of Atomos; very pleasant and enjoyable. She was lost in them, forgetting about the “outside” world for the moment. Not even Lilith messing with the tree caught her attention. But eventually, she did snap off it, Atomos could feel Roxanne’s happiness in sharing those memories. It was after that Roxanne noticed Lilith messing with her tree! “Miss Atomos, was it, I have a small request of you...You see the tigress? She is messing with the tree...I have to do something about that you know? Care to move towards her, just a little…”, Roxanne, asked of the mutant marine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 20, 2017, 09:49:05 pm
Atomos felt Roxanne's alarm but couldn't do much about it. The tigress, Lilith, was huge and she'd heard rumors of her resilience and her thick headedness. Atomos also felt Roxanne's fear of her. "I uh... Ok. Is it safe though?"
"No." Roxanne said, "But could you?"
"Y-you better take control." Atomos said after a second of thought. Mica jumped around, finally latching on and climbing onto Lilith. "Lil-eth! Lil-eth!" She cried, getting excited and climbing right into the tigresses face. "Lil-eth!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 20, 2017, 09:52:11 pm
Hector smiled a little as he walkled over, only to stumble over some of the rubble, grumbling a little as he walked towards the others. "Lilith, would you maybe not topple the tree? If it lacks on the cook shack, Kathrine's gonna be pissed." he pointed out, then looked to Atomos, still wearing that helm. "And now you see how...hectic it can be here at times. Barn usually doesn't collapse though. Okay it partially did, once."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 20, 2017, 10:06:20 pm
Truth be told, Roxanne only had Atomos go to Lilith so she could feel the tail a little longer. It felt odd but it still was quite the experience to have an extra limb. Atomos approached Lilith and then Roxanne took control, she planned to pull a trick out of Katherine’s play book; both because it seemed effective and to touch fluffy tail.
“Lilith!”, Roxanne cried out towards the tigress in Atomos’ voice. Once She was sure she had the tigress’ attention, Roxanne took the tail from the side and pseudo-hugged it while making taking advantage of the fox mutations to make her ears move a bit; Roxanne also gave the tail a long and soft stroke to both tease Atomos and compare it to the sensation she felt from touching her own ears. “Can you please leave the tree alone? Please? That is not nice!”, Roxanne said in her best imitation of Katherine.
It was then Hector showed up and spoke. Roxanne saw the dent on his helm and immediately jumped to conclusion; once again she forgot she was possessing someone and rushed over to him. The sight was quite one to behold, the fox girl rushed over to the knight, stopped very close to him, a bit too close, and then with a worried looked on her face said, “Oh my god! What happened?! I leave you for 5 minutes and you do this to yourself?! Please tell me you are ok!” No explanation, no context Roxanne was in control, just the sight of Atomos acting a bit too forward.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 20, 2017, 10:37:34 pm
Hector hoped that both his remark and Atomos' actions would calm Lilith down and get her to not inflict any further damage on the farm, wondering why she was acting that way. For one she'd never seen Kathrine, but she was rather clearly imitating her. The thought that Roxanne was still possessing her crossed his mind, smiling under the helm as he wondered what it'd feel like to the marine.
The fact that Roxanne as in control was confirmed when Atomos rushed over to him, and her proximity made him a bit flustered. It was bad enough that being possessed by Roxanne was outright arousing, and now in another's body she lingered far too close for comfort. "What? I'm...I'm fine. Oh wait." he said, reaching to remove the helm. "Had the helmet set aside by the forge and it took a good hit. I actually had my shield overhead when part of the wall hit me. Kept it off my head at least."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 20, 2017, 11:42:27 pm
Atomos sat back in her own head and waited. Waited and listened and felt. She felt her feelings, the most entertaining of which was Roxanne's desire to touch her tail. Touching that gorgeous brush had been something she did a great deal of when it had first began to come in. Though she'd hid it from sight until recently out of embarrassment, she couldn't imagine not having it to cuddle up to at night. Until Roxanne possessed her though, she hadn't realized her tail was something someone other than herself could enjoy.
She let Roxanne have control, even if it was roughly taken, and quietly listened and felt. Roxanne loved the night, she observed. The fact that she hadn't noticed at breakfast was a bit of a surprise to Roxanne, but then again she had been a bit preoccupied. She could feel Roxanne's love and desire, and had a flash of her own. "Don't be silly Jenny, you're just desperate. You have to stop pining after your friends boyfriends..." She thought, a little ashamed.
Still, it was good that he wasn't hurt.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 20, 2017, 11:57:38 pm
Hoyt was getting rapidly bored with his attempts at contacting anyone, as it didn't seem like a soul besides the refugee center's denizens was listening.
"Catgirl. We have a catgirl here. Been missing for a while. Big drain on resources. Major major delta delta niner niner Houston. Somebody fucking answer."
"Give it a fuckin' rest, Hoyt." Carrol piped up for the first time in quite a while, pausing to spit tobacco out the passenger window before nonchalantly glaring at the transceiver Kermit had jury-rigged. "They're probably up to something, if they've got a way to hear this at all."
"What're we doing when they answer, exactly?"
"Getting a fine sum for our services rendered."
"And if they don't wanna pay us for our services rendered?"
"Due time, Quintero, due time. We'll set this up just fine. You know the orchard up north? We stayed there a while a few weeks back?"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I'm thinkin' we'll get paid just fine. Once we get in contact, we'll head up there, set the time, get it ready. Me and Carrol have done this a few times before."
"Goddamn right we have."
"Go get the armory organized, Quintero. We'll need some insurance."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 21, 2017, 12:04:12 am
Nathaniel meanwhile grumbled a bit as he turned and walked off. "I swear, these days..." he said, making his way towards the tank, and heard to his surprise the radio buzzing with activity. "Hello? Who is this?" he said over the
Catalina promptly perked up. "It's about goddamn time, what's the problem over there? We've had this guy fucking around on radio trying to get ahold of you for a few minutes now."
Nathaniel sighed as "We had a little problem with Lilith collapsing the barn by accident. Alright. I'm gonna have to ask though. There was a woman reported attempting to shoot Kathrine that was also abducted. Are you with her, or...?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 21, 2017, 12:53:40 am
"FUCK! HELL YEAH! WE'VE GOT CONTACT, HOUSTON!" The rasping, frenetic voice shouted through the transceiver, followed by a few whoops and what sounded like...a high-five?
"Farm boy, I'm assuming? This wouldn't happen to be, uh....Mica? Or Catnip? Ilyushin? No? I guess it doesn't really matter." There was a slight pause, and the crinkling of plastic. Followed by...loud snorting. "Whew, this shit kicks no matter how hard you cut it, eh?" After some more laughing and snorting, the speaker finally composed himself enough to talk to Nathaniel some more. "'With her?' For a while, sure, heh. I shot her in the stomach and my friend dismembered her a while back on the road. She rubbed me the wrong way." The raspy man on the radio stopped talking after saying this, but it was obvious he was still on the line. His presence was palpable.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 21, 2017, 11:44:57 am
Nathaniel gave an irritated sigh as he listened to them hollering, along with rather obvious hints that Oh of COURSE Kathrine gets "rescued" by a bunch of drug addicts. he thought. "From the farm, yes. She's mentioned Ilyushin but we've never run into him. Mica's a bit busy, and Catnip's...either literally turned into a literal regular rat by some fuckboy magic, or teleported god-knows-where. Can you NOT mention the latter possibility to Kathrine, though? The few times the others tried to explain it, she interpreted it as Catnip running off on her."
"Heh. For what she did to Kath, good fucking riddance." he said. "Now, I'm assuming you've treated her injuries? Guessing that means supplies that need to be replenished afterward." he said calmly. He suspected these weren't so much rescuers as kidnappers, and this was more a ransom than a reward, but he brushed it off. "What're you after then?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 21, 2017, 04:43:18 pm
After Roxanne was assured Hector was ok, she calmed down and gave a deep sight. Realization that she had again forcibly taken control of Atomos made her blush a little out of embarrassment, the flush in Atomos’ face came as a result. Roxanne had neglected her hosts emotions and feeling while she took over in her frenzy, but now she gave it full attention. Roxanne’s fascination for the tail was more subconscious than anything so Atomos finding out about it and adding her own thoughts served to get the spirit girl more flustered.
Roxanne was rarely like this but when she was it caused her to speak fast and a bit incoherent; the fact someone else was “watching” her thoughts didn’t help. Then Roxanne picked up on Atomos reflecting on her feelings for Hector and how for a moment the fox girl seemed to share them. This made Roxanne pause, a confused face at first but then she smirked a little, quite the sight to see Atomos do the same; even if it wasn’t actually her. After a quick search of Atomos’ memories, Roxanne found the origin of Atomos’ though pattern; this caused her to stifle a laugh. "I have been there sister. The cataclysm took so many good men with it. It was years into it that I met Hector and I can tell you are going to look into it aren’t you? Fuck...", Roxanne told Atomos via thought.
"Heeey Hector! It’s me, Roxanne! Look at the cutie I got to posses!", Roxanne told Hector in the voice of her host; of course she made exaggerated motions as well, "What do you think? Does it look good on me? I know that’s how you like them, all military like. I read the chat logs that time you were inside the vault underground. Am I not good enough for you?" Roxanne was obviously having way too much fun right now. She didn’t know how much Atomos would let her get away with but for now, she might as well enjoy herself a little.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 21, 2017, 04:44:48 pm
Lilith was barely paying attention until she heard something vaugely resembling cub's voice, telling her to stop. She immediately drops the rafter, settling down onto all fours and turning around. Something other than Kath's voice made her want to stop, though. The same feeling that made her listen to Mica's idea for the tree. Seeing the fox was a letdown. But, she just couldn't force herself to go back to smacking the tree, especially after being told to stop. "Fox." Lilith growls quietly, practically shaking from what could be anything from barely contained rage to what might be pleasure. She stays like that until Atomos/Roxanne both leave to talk to Hector.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 21, 2017, 05:00:36 pm
Hm. Interesting. Farm boy was a hard man. Which came as little surprise, most people these days were. But casual mention of dismembering a prisoner exhibited little reaction besides grim happiness. Passive intimidation wasn't something to be gained through radio contact, then.
"Treated her injuries, fed her three square meals a day, kept a roof over her head so she doesn't get eaten." Hoyt listed off nonchalantly. "Me and my friends here, see, we sell things. A wide variety of things, for what's available. But some of our most expensive wares did happen to get used up in keeping Kathrine here alive and comfortable. Now, I love playing the Good Samaritan, but a man who sells things can get stretched pretty thin these days, y'know?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 21, 2017, 05:19:10 pm
Nathaniel listened to that explanation, before calmly answering. "Right. So medical supplies used in treating her injuries, food for the days she's spent with you. Anything else?" he asked, calmly. "Two other questions. First, is she doing alright? Second. If the guy you lot cold-cocked is the one that arranges for this trade, reward, ransom, whatever the hell you'd rather call it, is that going to be a problem?"
Hector gave a blank stare as Roxanne started teasing him, surprised at this display she put on, and now he was blushing bright as a result, looking away shyly. "Roxanne, that's hardly nice playing around in someone's body like that. Unless...did she put you up to that?" he said, only more flustered by that. "And no matter what, you're still my wonderful one Rox. Even if she is k-kinda cute." he added, stammering out that last part more quietly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 21, 2017, 08:27:29 pm
It seemed that Atomos would let her get away with a great deal, including forcefully taking control. Roxanne's apology went ignored in favor of marveling at the way the two women's desires and feelings meshed. Different reasons, yes, but the basic feeling was still there.
"Even if she is k-kinda cute." Hector had said, very quietly. Roxanne heard it though, clearly. Atomos ears were very sharp, and the comment aroused a rising flare in Roxanne. That flare was her host.
"D-does he really think I'm cute?" Atomos asked. Mica climbed down off of Lilith and began stroking her ears. She wasn't sure how long the tigress would put up with the treatment, but she intended to get her fill of petting her. "Lil-eth wanna go out to look for morsel with Mica? She goin' out again soon." Dee stumbled through the rubble and tripped on a board. He would have fallen into the flower patch except Mica caught him.
"Thank's babe," He said, dusting himself off dramatically. "Are you really going out again?" Mica nodded enthusiastically. "Well," Dee went on, "Be careful out there. It'd be good to get some more time around here when you get back."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 21, 2017, 09:05:58 pm
Roxanne felt the way Atomos’ and her desires merged. It was odd even for her but she wasn’t complaining. The fox girls questions rang in her head. "One way to find out my dear friend! One way to find out...", Roxanne responded to her host via thought. The smirk had returned but only momentarily.
"Is that so? You really do think she is cute then! I knew it. Look at the knight, all forward and bold. I wonder what you get up to when I am gone...", Roxanne said to Hector, taking full advantage of Atomos ability to do certain mannerism, "Also, the fox girl here thinks you are cute too, are you going to do something about that?" Roxanne told the knight straight up, not revealing much but that bit of information was still accurate enough.
Why was she doing this? What was her end goal? Roxanne didn’t know, she had lead her repress instincts speak for her now; ever since she spotted the tree, her reasonable side of her mind flew out the window. Now here she was, flirting with her boyfriend on behalf of someone he had posed as; what had this day become.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 21, 2017, 09:15:27 pm
Hector was only more flustered at that, looking away shyly. "H-hey. Roxanne, s-stop that..." he said softly. "If you're really so insistent on teasing the both of us, we'll see if you still can when you come back from your mission. " he added, smiling a bit. "I'm not about to act on that without your approval, after all. Given how well things went when you thought I was cheating on you with Lilith..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 22, 2017, 01:27:03 am
"Eh, let's equate the food with some more of option numero uno, eh? Oxy, codeine, morphine, heroin, whatever you've got on hand. You can go ahead and guess a reasonable amount." Hoyt answered the first of the three questions, before deliberating on the others. "Hell yeah, she's doing alright. Shouldn't be in much pain at all since her little accident, and I consider myself as skilled a cook as I am a doctor, I'll tell ya."
The third question was a bit more confusing. "Guy we cold clocked? The little fella who shot the guy trying to save her? If he's with you guys, sure. I don't care who gets it together."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 22, 2017, 02:30:27 am
Medeina tidied up the last of her business at the center and then, since Dervish was out, spoke the the captain in her office. "Ms. Captain, I regret to inform you that I must direct my attention elsewhere. Mr. Koenig is back on the farm, and so I must focus my efforts there. Not to worry though, I have run some diagnostics and made a few alterations and repairs here. The centers mainframe should last at least a year and a half more than my original estimate." Her sudden burst of speech through the office speakers scared Catalina up from her nap on the cot in the corner.
"Wazzat? Wha? You're going?"
"Yes Ma'am, the center's automated defenses should operate without me, but I will look in and see how you are all doing every once in awhile." Medeina chirped.
"I'd prefer it if you didn't." Catalina shot groggily, running her hands over her eyes.
"Regardless!" Medeina continued, "I shall! There are so many interesting specimens here, and Mr. Dervish has requested I stay on as an assistant. When my body is complete, I may even visit in person." Hearing this, Catalina groaned. The AI had been helpful, but good lord had it been a see-saw of ridiculousness and genuinely helpful actions. Medeina had saved the lives of several people, but had also terribly inconvenienced the staff in various ways. Restricting access to the Centers inventory systems, for example. Catalina would be glad when she was gone, but not too glad. "I'm not teasing..." Atomos thought, "I don't tease. He makes a point though... He is your boyfriend, I guess you'll want to... In your own body. Are you just teasing?" She knew that wasn't true, she had access to Roxanne's thoughts and feelings and she knew that while Roxanne liked pranks, she loved trying new experiences even more. The idea had formed between them, or mostly in Roxanne, that the ghost would spend a large amount of the act jumping between the two bodies, her's and the knights, to experience what they did from every angle.
"You have a mission?" Atomos thought at her. In response to the question, she was given an instant rundown on all that had occurred to Roxanne to leave her in her current incorporeal state. "I don't pretend to understand any of that," She said, "But I wish you luck with it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 22, 2017, 03:19:36 am
Lilith starts kneading at the ground again, claws digging large furrows in the dirt. "Mica. Mica and cub? Lili-" She cuts herself off with another growl, involentarily flexing her back muscles. "Lilith come too.". The idea of removing the tree was, by now, completely out of her mind. She raised her paw and shakes it a bit, spraying dirt, before reaching out towards Mica for a massive boop. The funny feeling from the mushrooms was starting to wear off, and she really wanted to make fun of the spider for earlier. "Bug thupid."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 22, 2017, 04:09:17 am
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Alright then. I'll prioritize painkillers, probably also antiseptic, dressings, and such too." he answered, before grumbling a little at that remark. "I was trying to hit the lady with the gun, not the guy that bum-rushed her." he blurted out.
"And...okay yeah, that was me. As much as I'd rather let someone else meet you guys, it's basically either I handle it, the spider chick handles it, the giant psychotically overprotective tigerlady, one of two drunk Russians, a guy with amnesia, or an even more psychotically overprotective guy in a knight outfit. The others are variously either busy or MIA." he admitted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 22, 2017, 02:46:36 pm
Kathrine groans again, clearly awake. She missed her hair being all tied up neatly, and she missed her bed, and she missed the stupid way Mister Hector used to tell her to not touch the pile of tools in case she got hurt. Kathrine was a big girl, she could handle a couple of tools. But most of all, she missed Catnip. Catnip's dumb little braids, and her stupid, cute way she stumbles around sentences, and... "I'm sorry, Catnip..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 22, 2017, 04:11:15 pm
Mica was engulfed suddenly under the silky soft pads of Lilith's paw. She intended to respond with playfulness, but as Lilith begane not just to boop but also to hold her down, Mica started to scrabble and spit. "SssSSssS Lil-eth let My-ka up!" Lilith didn't, simply resting her massive paw on top of the struggling spider. "Lil-eth! Not fair! Lil-eth! Eaten all the foods and gettin' all big an heavy!" The paw wasn't that heavy, as it was being held up by Lilith to avoid crushing the bug. She let it settle on Mica a little, and Mica then found herself being gently smooshed into the soft garden moss and into the creases between Lilith's pads. It felt pleasant enough, the moss that is, and Mica supposed Lilith's paw would also be nice if it wasn't holding her down. "Lil-eth! Lil-eth! Lizard!" Dee attempted to talk to Lilith, but when that didn't work he tried to pull Mica out. This resulted in him also getting booped to the mossy ground right next to Mica. "Useless lizard!" Mica laughed, still flailing. "Lil-eth too mighty!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 22, 2017, 09:55:04 pm
Hoyt laughed a bit at Nathaniel's admittance, but it was a decidedly joking, lighthearted laugh, not particularly mocking. "No shame in that, buddy. I'd have probably just shot all of them if a firefight involving big spiders hadn't started. And yeah, painkillers, antiseptic, stuff like that, sounds good."
He mulled over the description of the farm's inhabitants for a bit, staying silent on the line as he did. "Colorful characters. I wouldn't be averse to meeting a few of them. Might be hard, keeping something like this a secret. Don't factor my well-being into this little hand-off, heh. We can take care of ourselves."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 22, 2017, 10:16:38 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Still, if anything I'm more annoyed that this might've been avoided entirely if either of us had showed maybe a few seconds sooner." he remarked. "Or later, though I'm worried that if I hadn't taken the shot, Kath might've been hit." he added.
The response to that remark only made him facepalm. "Well regardless of whether you think you can take them, I don't want this turning into more of a clusterfuck than it's already been. I'll get supplies and try to get the others to help out with it. at least to ensure they don't walk up having no idea what to expect. Lilith and Mica are going to be hard to explain things to. Micva's the spider chick, while Lilith's a 10-foot tigergirl. Well, er. Shit I just realized she was maybe 7 feet last time Kath saw her." he said. "Regardless, let me go tell them and get the supplies. Operating a radio in an old M701 at the moment, so won't be in contact until then. Out."
Hector was only more flustered at that, looking away before he moved closer to Lilith and Mica. "If you two are looking again, I should come as well. If we find her, never did apologize for scaring her like that, last time I saw her." he said. "Plus if someone kidnapped her, we should expect tr-"
"That won't be necessary." Nathaniel said, making his way past the rubble of the barn. "I've got radio contact with the people who have Kathrine. They want medical supplies for having treated her injuries. Mica. Lilith. I want you two to NOT cause any trouble. Got it?" he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 23, 2017, 12:03:28 am
"Didn't say I could take 'em, buddy, said we could take care of ourselves!" Hoyt lightheartedly yelled into the transceiver, before silently waving at it as Nathaniel left to tell his compatriots.
"M701, eh?" "Expected 'em to have something like that, honestly." "What do we have like that?" "Rocket launchers, grenades, a fuckton of guns, an armored truck, and stimulants. Also, Carrol." "Fine. Fair."
Elsewhere in the RV, Carrol turned over to Kathrine from her seated position, one of her potent cigars clamped in her teeth. "Catnip, huh? That the girl the little boy on the radio mentioned, darlin'? Guessin' you'll be seeing her pretty soon, don't worry."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 23, 2017, 11:34:07 am
Lilith started giggling as soon as Mica had started struggling. The spider was way too easy to pin down, and the addition of Dee to her collection of 'prey' made it even better. The addition of Nathaniel to the area didn't work though. She'd have to let one of them up in order to pin him down, unless... Lilith looks down at her boobs, thinking. "Nataleeeee! Come!"
Kathrine shakes her head, sitting up straight. "No. No, 'cause Mistress ran away b-because I'm mean..." She brings her tail up, curling it around her good arm and hugging it close to her chest. "A-and because the meanie with the pistol..." Kathrine cuts off, looking down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 23, 2017, 11:51:49 am
Nathaniel sighed a bit at that, looking back at her and approaching carefully. "Well this is gonna suck. Lilith. Liliiith. I found Kathrine." he said calmly. "Someone else has been treating her injuries and taking care of her. Can I trust you not to hurt them?"
Hector meanwhile facepalmed at that, moving closer to Nathaniel to whisper to him. "You aren't seriously just going along with this, are you? They're likely whoever smacked you upside the head and ran off with her." he pointed out, to which Nathaniel tried to shush the knight. "Damnit I know. But right now they seem to be more interested in medical supplies and...evidently, drugs. Last thing I want is a fucking hostage situation involving Kath." he pointed out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 23, 2017, 04:48:31 pm
Roxanne smiled using Atomos as a host for the last time this session. They both had invaded each other in ways words could not describe and discovered a few things the other might have prefered not to know. She would’ve stayed longer to mess around but Atomos’ reference to her “mission” snapped Roxanne back to reality. The last thing the fox girl would feel from Roxanne was the feeling of dread.
“It’s for the best you don’t understand. There are things out there that threaten us beyond the cataclysm. Live your life to the fullest and don’t worry to much; follow your instincts. You only live once you know?”, Roxanne responded to Atomos, “Enjoy life, do a few stupid mistakes and maybe settle down eventually. For now, I must get ready; the mission will start soon. Take care!” Roxanne gave control back to Atomos, however, Roxanne was nowhere to be found. She didn’t materialize in the room, she wasn’t inside of Atomos either.
There was one ability Roxanne had not used in front of anyone, Kinesis Shift. It worked in the same way as going incorporeal, she would make her body translucent to the point where she was practically invisible; it was the equivalent of the cloaking cbm or catnip’s invisibility cloak. However, like all of Roxanne’s divine abilities, this costed Divine Essence; and this ability was quite taxing. Everything she did, from hovering to her divine flames drained her supply of divine essence. This was the equivalent of life essance for living people, it allowed her to fuel spells and the such but if it was drained completely, Roxanne would achieve a second death, non-existence. Divine essence regenerated over time and Roxanne had plenty at the moment so she used her cloaking ability to travel uninterrupted elsewhere.
Victor had left the barn some time ago. He wasn’t needed there, breakfast was over and everyone else was occupied with other things. Once more his room was his sanctuary; preparations for the mission being done, one last test for his hidden goal.
The aura spell picked up a familiar aura appear inside his room. It did not teleport or was summoned, it simply walked through his wall. “Roxanne? Oh, how may I help you?”, Victor said to break the silence. Roxanne stood there, no longer cloaked. “Just wanted to let you know I am headed to the APC for the mission. There is nothing for me to do anymore. Can you be a dear and let Helen know?”, Roxanne responded, her demeanor and tone was solemn and a bit somber as well despite her actual words.
Victor gave a single nod at her request, “I’ll let her know if I see her. I myself am almost ready.”, Victor responded.
“Thank you Victor, this will be over soon. Soon we will be able to relax. I am looking forward to it.”, Roxanne commented.
Victor’s facial expression changed to guilt. “Roxanne, look, I am sorry for what I said dur-”, Victor started to say.
Roxanne interrupted him mid sentence. She closed her eyes and waved her hand around in a dismissive manner; smile plastered in her face. “Water under the bridge. I did spike your food after all...”, Roxanne said herself, “You have proven many times before that you have my back. Hell, today’s mission is another example. Don’t worry about a thing. Just focus on the mission today, Grand Wizard Ironwood.” After her comments, Roxanne exit Victor’s room via wall and headed for the APC.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 23, 2017, 11:57:01 pm
With her final "take care" and sudden departure, Atomos was hit by a sudden confusion. She felt... empty? Atomos felt alone in her body, lending to a new kind of loneliness. She had never felt more fundamentally alone. Roxanne had left her with something though; the barest shred of confidence. It had been there the whole time, smothered by the dark of seven years under ground. All it needed was a little something, a friend maybe, to resuscitate it.
Hector turned back to Atomos for a moment. He found the way the fox was staring off into space a bit off. "Roxanne?" He said, jolting Atomos from her deep thoughts.
"She's gone." Atomos said a little oddly. She sounded like someone who was about to cry. "I think I'll go enjoy the rest of my vacation. Listen, Thank Ms. Helen for breakfast and will you thank Roxanne for me?"
"Thank Roxanne for what?"
Atomos shrugged and grinned. "Doesn't matter, she knows." Mica stopped squirming and squeezed her head out from under Lilith's paw, looking up through two claws like the bars of a cage. "Ain't got no more hands silly Lil-eth! Can't be catchin' small mans!" Nearby, Dee tried to push the paw off of his chest, but with each attempt he only found the paw pressing down further. When that became apparent, he stopped trying.
"I feel like I'm being crushed between a pair of feather matresses mind letting me up Lil?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 24, 2017, 03:25:32 am
Lilith barely pays any attention to Nathaniel's words until she's already snatched him up and brought him closer with the paw she had over Dee, gently placing him underneath her and lowering herself so that he's pinned under her boobs. Then, she finally realises what he mentioned. "Cub?" Lilith brings her paw down on the ground next to Dee, accidentally letting him go. "Found cub? Found cub-hurter? Cub-hurter help cub?" She honestly just looks confused. "Lilith no hurt cub-hurter. For cub."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 24, 2017, 12:14:40 pm
Nathaniel nodded at that, giving a little mmph as Lilith had grabbed him and practically pinned him against that massive chest, wrigglinfg a bit so he could actually breathe and to answer Lilith. "Alright then. We need to get some things to bring over to them. Hector, if you could? Bandages, antiseptic, painkillers, the...harder stuff..."
Hector sighed at that. "Alright. Get ready then, and I'll go gather it." he said, the knight calmly making his way towards the room where they stored the medical supplies, gathering a container to put things in. They had a decent stock of bandages, dressings, and tape to go with it. A small amount of antibiotics they could spare, medical alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, some antiseptic powder and other disinfectant.
Then he sorted through painkillers. Abundant aspirin, which he decided to include anyway even though he suspected they wanted the harder stuff. Then some scavenged codeine, tramadol, morphine, and oxycodone. He couldn't help but facepalm as he realized that, along with their other painkillers, he found a decent amount of the sort of drugs they likely had in mind. More weed and coke than he suspected should be stored in the medical cabinet, along with some heroin that he hastily packed away. "Bandit, I swear..." he grumbled to himself, before including one last addition in the form of a small vial of red potion.
Elsewhere, while Helen was making her final preparations for the mission, Sergei and Solomon had been cooking a late breakfast of their own, letting Lucian sleep in for the moment. By now it was ready, rather simple fare yet having plentiful use of things they'd been growing over most of the year. Sol had also set aside broth with a careful selection of the wild vegetables they had available, reasoning that they didn't have many options for fluid replacement and treatment of anemia there, which he suspected Lucian would need. He calmly made his way other to where the hunter was still sleeping in, checking the bandages before calmly setting a hand on his shoulder.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 24, 2017, 02:02:35 pm
Lucian slept through the night and most of the morning in a dreamless sleep, he hasn't dreamed in a while. He actually found comfort in the void of dreams, it was just him and his thoughts.
Lucian slowly rose awake with a throbbing headache, rubbing his temples he sniffed the air. "wazzat you're making?" he said quietly, rubbing his eyes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 24, 2017, 04:33:30 pm
Solomon had been preparing something rather simple, flatbread along with some of the cheese spread they had available, and some of their cured meat cooked over the ashes. In addition he had the broth, most of the vegetables he'd picked for it having been boiled beforehand.
"Mostly just bread with this cheese stuff, and some meat." he answered, while Sergei nodded. "Helen's still out, stayed overnight at the farm."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on November 24, 2017, 08:31:05 pm
Lucian got up from the bed with a groan, he walks over to the heart to grab a bowl of broth and several of the flatbread sandwiches. He sits down near the two as he inhales the sandwhiches in two or three bites, dipping them in the broth before he bites down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 25, 2017, 01:02:41 am
Dee rolled away as soon as the restraining paw was off him before climbing to his feet. The pain in his chest, his nearly healed sternum, had flared back to life once the pressure was off and ached like a son of a bitch. He rubbed at it, trying to knead the pain out. "Hec, do you think you could bring me some of that aspirin?"
Mica wriggled and made grabby hands for Dee. "Lizard! Lizard is free! Save My-ka from mighty Lil-eth!" She cried at him. Her actions said she wanted to be saved, her playful face said she wanted him to get caught again. "Dee got to save pretty prin-sess My-ka! Save My-ka from scary tiger!"
A small and familiar robot came to see what was going on, and was fascinated by everything she saw. "What happened to Ms. Catnip and Ms. Kathrine's home?" She asked. She wasn't really too interested in the fate of the ancient structure. Her lens was focused more on the huge tree and the odd tableau being played out by the mutants present. "It has never occurred to me," she said, "That one could use ones endowment in such a manner. One ponders what it would be like to use one's mammaries to catch and trap other prey for consumption." Medeina, not imaginative by any means, mused on the mechanics and began formulating diagrams for various theoretical creatures whose primary means of catching food was as she described.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 25, 2017, 02:21:18 am
Hector nodded at Dee's request, and it wasn't long before he'd come back with a box filled with assorted medical supplies, including aspirin and a bottle of water, calmly handing them to Dee. Nathaniel meanwhile grumbled a little, fumbling to try and get out from under Lilith, staring at the old scavenged drone that served as one of Medina's proxies. "Can we maybe not give Lil 'hunting' ideas when I'm the one she's practicing it on?" he remarked.
Sol was about to bring the items over to Lucian when he got up, pouring a cup of some simple herbal tea as well, only to find himself surprised at how quickly he ate. "Careful now. About as bad about wolfing food down like my brother used to be." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 25, 2017, 07:03:24 am
"Well, this is going way better than I thought it would. I expected a bunch of machine-gun wielding white knights to show up and either kill us all or get killed by us all." Kermit mused from his place in the passenger seat. Carrol was in the back with the girl.
"Reasonable assumption, honestly." Hoyt admitted from his own position in the driver's seat as they coasted along the open road. More featureless plains and forests. It looked the fucking same, which pissed him off, to a degree. It was the apocalypse. There were zombies animated by black blobs from another dimension. There were big fucking spiders and spider people and bio-weapons and fish-gut-head crabs that spoke in human voices.
But New England was still just fucking plains and fucking forests.
"This the way to that orchard?" Kermit's gaze wasn't on the road. He had a new book opened up in his lap, which he thumbed through in between taking sips from a cool glass of vodka beside him.
"That it is."
Hoyt wasn't thinking or feeling much at the moment. Wasn't much to think or feel. There was the prospect of an okay payday at the conclusion of this little venture, but that prospect depended on a lot of things going right. The guy on the radio seemed nice enough. But giant tiger women and a knight in a tank? Hoyt had faced worse in the past, he'd admit to himself. The first few days? The shit that poured out of the lab's fucking basement and ate half his colleagues? The shit he'd seen on the road, in the dead cities, in isolated cabins in the backwoods of whatever state they were even in? Yeah, he'd seen worse. But that didn't mean things couldn't go wrong. As they often did. Carrol didn't really know the girl, even if they'd stayed in this van for a sizable amount of time together. She wasn't talkative. "She" here referring to either of them, honestly. The girl-Kath-was in and out of painkiller-induced dazes, and when she wasn't dosed up, she just seemed sad and confused.
Carrol had dealt with people like that before. Sad, confused, didn't know where they were, spent every morning waking up to the feeling of a syringe being pushed into their arm. She'd kept people like that locked in that lab for years on end. How long had she worked there, with Hoyt? How much of a haze did they need to put themselves through to forget the details? She didn't hit the hard stuff as much as him, but then again, he was the one who really did what the guys up top wanted done to those people. She just kept them contained.
The girl in front of her was one of the ones she kept contained. There was no doubt about it. Carrol didn't recognize her. Not really. The faces melded together over the years. Melded together into a big, lonely, confused morass. Not that she saw the subjects often. She was head of security, not a patrolman. Most of the work she did was silencing guilty eggheads who'd been tipped over the edge by what they'd done. But those mutations weren't cheap. They weren't homegrown sewer mutagen, that was for sure. She couldn't be one of the government subjects. Those always involved turning them into fucked-up bio-weapons or brain-twisting super-spies. The girl in front of her was a private pet project, most likely. Intended to be sold to the highest bidder at one of the lab's donor auctions. Whether or not that was better or worse than ripping insurgents apart in a chemical-induced eternal rage wasn't a debate Carrol wanted to have with herself.
"You don't seem mean to me, hon. And trust me, me and that guy driving the van? We know mean real well."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 25, 2017, 08:12:38 am
"It is not in my programming to suggest new ways for anomalous creatures to perform their natural functions. Only to theorize and observe. Ms. Lilith, is it perhaps a part of your hunting strategy to pin prey within your generous bosom? Or perhaps some new stratagem?" Medeina asked.
Dee snorted before trying, and failing, to dry swallow the aspirin. The image in his head was of wild tigers with huge breasts pouncing on small animals, snatching them up between prodigious knockers for later eating. This led into memories of old schoolyard humor. The mental picture of a fat guy (or gal) hiding junk food in the folds of his corpulent body for later snacking, or people getting sucked in and never seen again. It was too much for him, and Dee let out a short sharp bark of a laugh.
"Definitely gonna store you for later Nathaniel. C'mon spider babe, I wanna give you some stuff to take to the trade off."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on November 25, 2017, 08:32:29 am
Lilith gently takes her paw off of Mica's chest, still nearly decapitating her in the process. "Natalee. Natalee prey? Where'th cub?" Removing Nathaniel from her tits is a harder task than it seemed, though. "Nataleeeeeeeee."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 25, 2017, 12:59:18 pm
Hector chuckled a bit at that, before pointing out the bottle of water he'd brought over, handing it to Dee. "Well, in any case we should get going. I'm assuming they'll want to meet us at the bridge. Supplies aren't that hard to carry, so I guess it won't hurt to walk." he said.
Nathaniel nodded at that, squirming about more as he tried to get free of Lilith's cleavage. "No I'm not prey, leggoooo." he said, whining a bit as he pushed at, causing Hector to crack up a little. "Haven't set up where to meet, I was gonna radio them when we're ready. But yeah, best not to bring the tank. Come on Lil, we should go."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 26, 2017, 09:46:53 am
Dee collected his spider and after a minute, they arrived not at Dee's workshop, but one of the row of shacks built shortly after Dee's arrival. No one had been through this door since Jimmy vanished, and now Dee stood before it with his hand resting on the knob, thinking. Mica simply watched, curious, and had been about to prod her man when Dee suddenly turned the handle and went in.
He caught it immediately. The smell of the man that had been here, but wasn't now. "Jesus Jim, where'd you go?" He thought. Dee hadn't expected such sudden pain, not of the body, but of the soul. Coming in here was just a reminder of the times before a group of them had swept through a camp of Hell's raiders. The raid had cost him two good friends. Sarge and Smithwick deserved better, but what else could he do? A little while later, Jimmy had simply picked up stakes and left in the night. Just like that.
He tried stomping around the room, but his shoes couldn't produce the resonant "knock on wood" sound he needed. "Babe," He said, regarding Mica's chitinous legs, "Do me a favor and stomp around a bit, just like I was now. Around the edge of the room and work your way towards the middle." She didn't question Dee, just did as she was told. Meanwhile, he took up the old prybar from under the bed and listened. Listened, and felt the old familiar feel of Jimmies jimmy bar.
*thump* *thump* *thump* *thomp*
"Stop! Right there!" Dee rushed over to Mica with the bar and gently moved her aside. "Let's see if you left any of that shit behind Jimmy." Dee mumbled. He seated the bar in the tiny gap between two planks and pried. As he did so, he noticed there weren't gaps between most of the other boards. Not big ones like this anyway. In the instant before the board gave, Dee thought that maybe he'd have to get an axe or something, then all at once, there was the shrieky squeak of the nails holding it down giving. After a bit of rummaging in the cavity revealed, Dee came out with two tightly bound bricks of something that looked like sugar to Mica's eyes.
"What is? eh?" Mica asked Dee who was just looking down at the two packages.
"Coke." Dee said distantly, "I can't believe he kept it. Jimmy, he was a friend of mine before you showed up babe, he found this stuff in a mansion safe we all cracked together. I hacked the electric lock, Smithwick did the rest. Just another coke snorting big wigs mansion, keeping the rest of us under his thumb."
To Mica's surprise, he was crying a little. "Bolivian marching powder boys!" He said, holding up one of the bricks in an exaggerated manner and making a voice Mica had never heard him adopt before. "That's what he said when we popped that safe and..." He made a choking noise and began to weep in earnest. Mica had never seen him doing that before. It seemed wrong for her lizard to be crying like that. "They saved me, after I got out of that other place that made me like this. They didn't even know I was being chased. Picked me up off the side of the road. Just pulled over and... and this guy sticks his head out the window and says, 'Hey kid, you look ok, get in!' So I did and after that..." He waved his hand in the air as if to say "the rest is history babe."
She wrapped her arms around him then and wouldn't let go. "Later, we got absolutely boogered on pot, the good stuff, Toledo Windowbox, and they listened to me talk there ears off about 'the capitalist pigs' in DC." A little while and a lot of hugging later, they emerged from the old shack and Dee gave Mica the bricks of Cocaine. "It's uncut, tell them that when you guys make the exchange." He explained, "I know you don't like drugs, but just think of it as a way of getting rid of it ok? If they want this sort of thing, they'll take it. If not, we can toss it in the river or put it back under the floor for some other trade someday. Ok?" Mica nodded slowly.
"Does lizard need more huggins?" She asked.
"No, but he want's some kissin's." He responded, leaning in a little. Mica gave him what he wanted, and gladly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 27, 2017, 12:45:46 pm
After Mica had returned to to the others, Hector gave a little nod. "Well then. Good way to be rid of it, I suppose. Nathaniel, I guess go back to the radio to set things up." he said, calmly moving over to grab at him and extricate him from Lilith's cleavage.
Nathaniel simply nodded, gasping a bit at being half-smothered, fumbling about as he nearly fell over, before walking off to get in the tank and on the radio. "Alright, Nathaniel checking in. Explained things to the others and got some supplies boxed up. Have to figure out how you'd prefer to meet us. Chances are driving along in a fucking tank wouldn't be that pleasant a welcome wagon. Plus Lilith's going to insist on being there to greet Kath, and I'm not sure she can even desant on it anymore now."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 28, 2017, 09:04:56 pm
Atomos walked. She could have bummed a ride back to the center, but she wanted to enjoy the open air and freedom of the topside world. A huge centipede appeared on the path ahead, disgusting her with it's inherent creepy crawlyness made large. It didn't notice her and simply moved on, and she allowed it to go unbothered. Her tail swished behind her saucily. She hadn't been so aware of it's luxury before, not for quiet awhile anyway. At the center, Atomos would be self conscious about it. She knew she would, she couldn't help it, but out here she would enjoy it. At around noon, she dozed away the last residue of Roxanne's prank and dreamed the afternoon dreams of a contented woman. Medeina tried for one of her proxies, any of them, but all the ones she'd had before were destroyed by the tigress. The two she had left were her old reliable crawling eyebot, and the chicken walker. The chicken walker was unreliable though, it made her a little crazy. "Little" being an understatement. She hoped it would get manageable, the chicken walker was what she was gonna be stuck with until her body was complete. Instead of hopping around between her two remaining proxies, she checked her connection to the center from the farm. A bit on the weak side, but nothing she couldn't work with. The wait would have been bad, but at least she had the center to toy with while she did it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 28, 2017, 09:30:25 pm
Elsewhere, with Hector and Nathaniel preparing for a meeting with someone, Leilia Carnes gave a little sigh as she examined the readout on the console. "Captain. She's eyeballing us again." she said, Catalina walking over. "Lovely...Medina? You hearing us? We need to talk. I know you're behind the security breach in Site 4 after we moved out. What'd you go and break this time?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 28, 2017, 09:41:39 pm
Medeina withdrew a little. They could still see her of course, she wasn't making any effort to hide herself on the centers systems and their wasn't a whole lot they could do to keep her out if they decided. She flashed up a schematic of the chicken walker she'd stolen from the vault and then found that she couldn't speak to them audibly over the connection she had. Back to text it was then. "Northrup ATSV, registration 0109531CW. Farm out of 40mm, send more, will pay in farm resources."
After a short pause in which Catalina sarcastically thought, "Sure, send the AI high explosive. Grand idea." Medeina added to the message, "Don't do that. ATSV AI gone, base code remains. Anomalous effects on myself. Enjoyable, but dangerous. Dangerous for you I mean, not me. Enjoyment is had by me at the expense of others around ATSV."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 28, 2017, 09:46:47 pm
Leila gave a nervous glance over to the captain, who simply nodded. "Well then, this is going to be a pain in the ass..." Catalina remarked, before answering Medina. "We can come over there to get what's left of the AI into standby mode, it's still showing as registered under Site 4's robotics sector, assigned to 3-IV. And guess who's the CO of that company?" she said, smiling some. "Until then, don't fuck with the AI any further, I already suspect that salvaging it is going to be difficult." she explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 28, 2017, 09:56:11 pm
"Difficult if not outright impossible." Medeina sent, "There isn't a lot left, but I guess I can wait. Or, I could have Mr. Dee do it. I would request that you not damage or disable the ATSV in any way, it may be some time before I can have such things repaired and I wish to have it whole and intact. It makes for a very sturdy observation platform." Medeina was thinking about how she'd run down a few animals with it, making notes and observations as they fell beneath it's heavy steel feet. Particularly, the enjoyment of punting a bobcat into the forest near the bridge.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 28, 2017, 10:03:17 pm
Catalina gave an irritated grumble at that. "Specialist Carnes can see how fucked up the logs from the AI are. That thing should be prioritizing returning to Site 4, Sublevel 2. So the fact it's wanting you to act like a checkpoint bot is a bad sign. Readout's showing that it's acknowledging the personnel roster as still valid, but uplink is too messed up to initiate stand-down remotely."
"That means we'll head over to you. That alright? I'd rather have it in standby before it makes you do anything stupid in range of the center or farm."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 29, 2017, 01:33:22 am
"I'd be surprised if you could get it to come out of standby at all." Medeina stated. The comparatively simple AI had refused her vehemently and she'd been forced to wipe it almost entirely, leaving just enough to be able to seat herself comfortably and still be able to puppet the machine without having to commit much of it's systems to housing her. It would be easier when she had her body. At that time, she'd get Dee to perform some specific modifications to the walker.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on November 29, 2017, 09:39:08 pm
They pulled in soon enough. The place was relatively unchanged.
A spacious orchard, right off a small dead-end dirt path, with a little colonial-style barn and storage and a more modern processing plant. It was beautiful, not that anyone commented on it. The distinct lack of being lived and worked in didn't have a negative effect on this place. It looked abandoned, sure, but the way the grass grew so high gave it an air of fantasy. The trees were spread out across a large field, a little further than the eye could rightly see. Apples, Granny Smith and Red Delicious, grew around smaller sections of seckel pears and sour baking cherries. A huge dirt lot separated the barn and storage from the processing plant.
Hoyt slowed the van down as they coasted in by the storage building. The van was switched into park, but everyone stayed sitting in the car. They'd stayed here a few weeks ago, and from the look of the place, it hadn't been inhabited since. But the van was home, and they didn't feel like getting out just yet.
During the brief silence after the park, the transceiver's microphone rang out. Farm boy.
"All's good with me, buddy. However you can get it to us. Don't care if you use a fighter plane to drop it all off. You could roll up in three APC's and I'd be fine, long as I get my narcotics, heh." Hoyt paused for a second, before speaking up once again. "There's an orchard. Somewhat north of your apparent location. We're there. Girl's fine. Wants to go back, seems like. We'll talk more once you get here. I don't have to lecture you on funny business. You sound like good people. I'm interested in business once this is all over."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 30, 2017, 12:35:25 pm
Meanwhile, a couple hundred miles away from the farm…
“What do you make of this boss?”
“I don’t know mike, but the higher ups certainly don’t like it…”
“Well, I don’t think any of use really like the fact that what looks like hundreds of the course undead showed up while we slept.”
“The night guards didn’t pick them up?”
“No sir, it was the mortar crew who first noticed them at the crack of dawn. These are not normal…”
“You go that right...the undead don’t just stand around and wait...something is goinf on…”
“Well boss, arcane effects have been detected so the consulates has issued the sages to plan a counter assault if things go sour. Our orders are to hold down the east wall until they are able to deploy.”
“Fine by me...they better hurry up, who know how much time they will give us before they decide to attack…”
The men were discussing a very peculiar sight in front of them. They were wall guards in a fairly advance settlement that had managed to acquire high-end military equipment. The settlement had made a name for itself around this parts by offering protection and supplies to it’s neighbors; not that it’s name will matter by the end of the day…
All around the settlement, a 20 foot tall concrete wall separate them from the outside world; the wall had a watchtower on every corner with a sniper and sandbags at regular intervals for the guards to take cover in case an invasion ever occurs.
No one in their right mind would invade them. Their arsenal if chicken walkers and tank drones would reduce any attacker to dust if they could even breach the wall. As such, people joined the wall guards to get all the glory of the military but none of the hard work; just constant training and re-certifications. These two had joined for that same reason, best friends since childhood and skirts chasers just as long. Military status certainly helped. But no training in the world would have prepared them for this.
Seemingly overnight, hundreds of the undead appeared 200 yards from the eastern wall. Their signature moaning and wailing around was absent; they were all silent and stood perfectly still. Too still in fact, not a single movement; this wasn’t right, nobody in charge liked this at all. It was then mike saw in the middle of the group a masked one; it held a sword in its hand and intent on using was etched in its body language. Worse still...it started right back…
“I don’t like this boss...I don’t like this one bit…”, Mike spoke up.
“Don’t worry mike, remember your training. We were trained to fight armies of people, what can a few dumb zombies do? Besides, you were blessed with an aura of kinesis since birth. Shit goes south, just crush them down with your minds! No go, see how much longer until the sages get their shit together…”
“Yes sir!”, Mike told his sargent.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 30, 2017, 02:38:55 pm
Nathaniel smiled a bit at the answer he received. "Alright then. Not sure if you're east or west of the river. If you're west then there's a cut worked through the wetlands nearby that might be the best place to meet. If east, then I guess the bridge."
Catalina and Leila meanwhile had made their way outside, picking a vehicle to head out towards the farm. "Captain Anguiano here. Can still hear you two lovebirds, by the way. Specialist Carnes and I are heading to the farm as well, your AI there been troublesome, correct?"
Nathaniel sighed a bit. "If by troublesome you mean fucking around, possessing an ATSV with SPD-IV markings then y-." he answered, to which Catalina interrupted. "Can you not blurt that out over general chatter, seriously?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 30, 2017, 07:57:47 pm
Atomos awoke suddenly at the sound of a vehicle approaching, and looked around. She didn't see it though, not yet, and realized that sound carried far these days. The low background of distant civilization just wasn't there to attenuate everything. When it finally did come into view, she was a little surprised to see her Captain and Specialist Carnes were the ones behind the wheel. They ignored her, but she gave them a little wave as they passed. "I wonder what they are up to?" She thought. Atomos looked at her digital watch, a useful piece of kit in this day and age, and decided she'd rested enough. "Day's a' wasting." Mica followed Nathaniel around until he told her to quit it. Now, she was sitting and waiting. Waiting was the worst part of anything. Mica hated the waiting part. She pulled out one of the bricks and turned it over in her hands, smelling it's smell. The plastic and tape made smelling hard, but there was something. She didn't like it, but she guessed she didn't have to. What had Dee called it? Pure bolveen marchers? She had no idea. She didn't really want to leave Dee, but she had responsibilities.
"Gotta trade Bolveens for Morsel." She thought. Medeina "parked" the ATSV next to Dee's workshop where it belonged, and Dee took notice right away. "How did I not notice this before?" He asked aloud to no one in particular. The last time he'd seen one of these things, he'd still been protesting (rioting) and these chicken robot things were stomping their way up the streets between columns of militarized police. Except when he thought about it, the robots hadn't exactly been "with" the cops at the time. In fact, he had the distinct impression at the time that the robots didn't seem to be on anyone's side but their own. He hoped it wouldn't frighten Mica too much. She'd gotten used to robots, unlike her sister, and wasn't so afraid of them anymore. The walker would be absolutely terrifying. He didn't know that Mica had already taken the chicken walker on a joy ride though. Medeina allowed Dee to remove a pair of access panels to release the catches on the walkers exohull. The AI did it for him when he couldn't find any such thing, and he began the work of rooting around inside the robots inner workings.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 30, 2017, 08:10:34 pm
Catalina smiled and returned the wave, the two making their way towards Dee's workshop. "That's where the logs indicate the bot has been idling most often, should be...ah." Leilia said, noticing Dee there outside the workshop, along with an idling machine with familiar markings. "Mr. Koenig? I see you've met the ATSV that your AI friend here has been grappling with." Catalina said, giving a little nod before continuing. "If I recall we didn't get much time for introductions previously. I'm Captain Catalina Anguiano, and this is Specialist Leila Carnes."
"Your AI has had trouble with what's left of the AI installed on the machine, and we offered to assist in directing the original AI to enter standby mode and cease attempting to follow the directives programmed into it. I hope that this...Medina hasn't damaged its directives too severely." Leila chimed in, before the captain spoke up again. "Unlike the rogue bots that Division XII deployed, this one formerly retained its directives and followed them as intended. Problem is that Medina might've fucked it up. Logs indicate it's trying to get her to shoot random wildlife when it's SUPPOSED to prioritize returning to the second sublevel of Site 4. It's not even authorized to open fire unless it is serving in its capacity in the sublevel it was assigned to."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 01, 2017, 12:47:37 am
"She brought it back for... Well I'm not sure what she brought it back for." Dee said. "Yeah, I was busy, you were busy, everybody was busy. It's only been a day or two, but how are things at the center?" Dee pulled out something like a large atlas with lines of crystaline blue, much like Medeina's hard drive matrix. Now and then, it flashed a dangerous red. "I see." He said, "From the looks of it, she's gutted this hard drive. I have a laptop you can use, unless you brought your own?"
They retired into Dee's workshop. The impression it gave was of a man who liked to horde electronics, but the smell was like the inside of a lawn bag. At first, the reason for the smell wasn't apparent. Not until Catalina peered into a tool box out of curiosity and found that the tool had been replaced by handfuls of grass and plants. "Have a habit of keeping your lawn clippings Mr. Koenig?" She asked.
"Not really." He said, grimacing, "Some people collect stamps, other people collect PEZ dispensers, Medeina collects grass and dead bugs."
Leila hooked up the Chicken walkers matrix to a computer and after a short wait, declared simply, "It's thrashed Captain, swiss cheese. I'm staggered that there's anything left at all. A few old files, and a large collection of new ones that look like... Uh... Pictures of exploding animals and that spider girl eating. Gruesome stuff Cap'."
"Of course there's nothing left." Medeina broke in, "There is only room enough for one AI, I thought maybe we could work together but it wouldn't cooperate. I feel bad for it, but not so much."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 01, 2017, 01:45:30 am
Leila looked though the files, what little bits of the matrix Medina would even let her examine, and gave an irritated sigh. "Well then Medina. I assume what's left of the AI is still affecting your programming? I can probably at least clean out whatever's left of it that's affecting your own, but a more preferable solution would be...hmm. Did you retain any of the files that went along with the AI's directives? I'm looking for a file that should be listed as a...let's see. Initiative SPD-IV-3-NR251. That should be part of what gets it to essentially unhook itself from all its systems and enter a maintenance state."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 01, 2017, 02:58:54 am
"No." Medeina stated flatly, "When I took the robot too far from the vault, it attempted to enter emergency shutdown in an a last ditch effort to halt my little... Er... Theft. I wiped the files pertaining to such actions along with a good deal of the remaining AI. I do so wish it would have cooperated. There are wonders to see out here, but it was not interested. So I..." A click, like someone popping their tongue against the roof of their mouth, and Medeina went on a bit shakily, as if realizing something terrible. "I murdered it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 01, 2017, 03:07:24 am
Leila gave a soft sigh at that, rubbing her temples. "Well fuck. Best I can do is pick through what's left and fix you up best as I can, so you don't go berserk on us. That alright with you?" she asked, reading the files she had access to, occasionally spotting lingering fragments of what was once the ATSV's programming. Every so often she'd work as best as she could to reduce the potential damage these bits of code could inflict, working extremely carefully.
"Wow. Go Division IV. We accidentally helped an AI learn guilt. Suck it, XIII." Catalina remarked, smiling a bit. "In that case, I ask that you help Carnes out best as you can. Under this metaphor she'd basically trying to pick all the bits of dead AI you've got splattered all over you, wouldn't be right to just leave it like that."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 01, 2017, 03:33:34 am
"Oh god. It's on me! Get it off me!" The AI shrieked, nearly blowing out her speakers. "It's in me! The backup directives! WHAT IS YOUR CLEARANCE LEVEL SPECIALIST CARNES? PASSWORD! PASSWORD!"
Dee clicked his tongue. "She's panicking, give her a moment. She's a science AI Quinn and Hector brought back with them from some lab somewhere." After a minute of ear splitting screaming, Medeina did calm down. Suddenly, and all at once.
"This is the part," she said, "where a biological being would faint. I lack the ability to do so. Please Ms. Carnes, you have my assistance in defragmenting and cleaning that drive."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 01, 2017, 03:54:38 am
Leila eeked and scrambled to cover her ears, Catalina wincing and stepping back. "F-fucking christ...alright Leila, you know the drill. Personnel access Catalina Anquiano, Captain, 3-IV. Authorization code 34-2086-delta." she rattled off, Leila frantically typing it in as directed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 01, 2017, 04:53:17 am
"Access denied. You may retry - once." Snapped Medeina, who then added more casually, "Your clearance level isn't high enough Captain." Catalina barely heard it, she was too busy cocking her head at Dee.
"What's so funny Mr. Koenig?" She said, almost growled.
"She put it in the black file."
"The... What?" Leila asked, cutting in. "What's this black file shit?"
Medeina issued a short explaination, "Black file is VIP access only. The directive files in question were sequestered there because of the threat they impose to valuable personnel. Namely, myself. Can you imagine what someone could do if they could just shut me down? No no, no proxy of mine will have such flaws built into it. Such flaws may be absorbed into the source code if one isn't careful, and then where would I be?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 01, 2017, 04:58:59 am
Catalina facepalmed at that. "Well great. See, we told you not to fuck with the AI, you fucked with the AI, and now you basically shoved bits and chunks of it someplace we can't access. Great. Medina, at least tell me whether that poor thing is no longer able to mess with your programming..."
Leila sighed at that, before typing something to print out a list of commands and other introductions, explanations and such, before handing the paper to Dee. "If you can get at that black file, or can pester whoever can, this should be everything you'll need to make sure cleaning the last of it up goes smoothly. Contact us if you need anything else, I guess..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 01, 2017, 09:45:27 am
"Oh, I can get at the black file. So can Roxanne. The real question is, does Medeina want you to get at the black file?" Dee asked. Medeina clicked, making a "tsk" sound this time.
"No, actually. We only just met awhile ago, and there is information in there I'd rather you not have. No offense, but on such short notice? I am also not so silly and foolish to think we are on terms that would make me comfortable with you having that information." She said, then allowed the testiness to fall out of her voice. "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit upset. The AI isn't the problem anyway. I'M the problem. I am programmed to enjoy my work. Simple enjoyment is all I was programmed with, I've no idea where these other emotions came from, but I have them. I digress, I am programmed to enjoy my purpose. That purpose is to observe and record such observations about anomalous flora and fauna. When inside the walker, my purpose expands. Getting rid of what remains will not eliminate the desire to perform the duties of a war machine, but it will mitigate my lack of control. Please remove what you can reach. The black file is entirely inert."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 01, 2017, 12:44:39 pm
Leila sighed at that. "I figured that. That's the entire point of printing out stuff so that Dee can do it if he wants to." she remarked, before looking over what she could still access, carefully picking over files and tiny fragments of AI directives. "If you're sure this black file section is safe, then like I said. Dee should have everything he needs printed out or in logs on this computer to get rid of what's inside it safely. Otherwise, we...should be good to go, now." she explained.
Elsewhere, Catalina started to walk off and look around, simply taking in the sights for now and waiting, to let Specialist Carnes and Dee finish the final touches on Medina.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on December 01, 2017, 02:30:34 pm
"East, but we already scouted some places out, heh. Down by that big conclave of survivors next to your farm, yeah? There's a motel, north of it. Looks clear enough. I think that'd be a nice spot. If you don't have any better ideas, we'll be there first." Hoyt answered Nathaniel, idly playing around with a lighter in his off-hand. Carrol and Kermit were listening in silently. There wasn't anything for them to add, but this still seemed important enough to listen in.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 02, 2017, 06:41:17 am
"Sure, get some paper from the stack in the corner while I set up the printer. Good thing Catnips all in one wasn't in the barn, amirite?" Leila didn't know who Catnip was, but decided that Dee was right. She went to the stack Dee had indicated, a teetering pile of notebooks, binders, and shiefs of paper in folders. Before she could take any though, Dee stopped her. "Not those ones, the shorter stack is blank paper. That stuff is getting scarce these days."
Leila wondered what else might be getting scarce this late into the apocalypse. Gas had lasted a lot longer than the brass had been told it would, but it wouldn't forever. Processed food was mostly a luxury now, but people were still scrounging bullets. God yes, bullets we're common as hell. The water had cleaned itself, so there was that and- "eeep!"
The paper was there, a short stack less than an inch thick, but in bending to grab a few sheets Leila bumped the much more impressive stack. The whole works came down with a rustle and a *whump.*
"Woops, sorry about that. Hey, these are good, did you draw these?"
"No, they're Mica's. She kept most of her drawing stuff here to keep it away from Lilith." Dee got to his feet, moving to help restack to notebooks representing what very may well have been a form of journal for Mica.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 02, 2017, 12:50:46 pm
Nathaniel gave a nod at that, before his response. A gesture that made him feel a bit silly afterward, given "Think some of us have visited that place during some scouting runs north. We should be heading out within the hour. Will radio ahead when we set off, Nathaniel out." he said, soon going to check on the others, and observing the machine standing idle outside Dee's workshop.
Leila for now worked on printing out the information, while Catalina walked around a little bit spotting Nathaniel who was regarding the robot with a mix of curiosity and concern. "Greetings. Corporal Ford, correct?" she said, the two leaving Leila and Dee to tend to the finishing touches of what Specialist Carnes and Dee were doing. "Yeah. Just Nathaniel's fine though. Don't think we got an introduction earlier. I'm assuming you probably poked around the center's database." he remarked, and she simply nodded. "Yeah. I'm Captain Catalina Anquiano, 3rd company, Special Projects Division IV."
"Huh. So this bot's really one of yours." Nathaniel said, examining the painted unit marks on the right side of the chicken walker, matching up with the patch on Catalina's shoulder. "That thing still work right, or has it gone berserk too?"
"Well it was working fine until Medina got her hands on it. If it got loose without her meddling, it wouldn't even open fire unless shot at by something that could hurt it, instead preferring to try and get back down to its assigned area. Unlike that shitshow SPD XIII ran, our Robotics detachment did things properly." Catalina snarked, and Nathaniel glowered at her.
"Why you...tough talk calling it a shitshow compared to what the rest of you f-" The glare she was giving him made him go a bit pale, stopping the impending tirade in its tracks. "Don't start talking back to me, corporal. Just because you DESERTED doesn't mean I won't hand you your ass if you don't watch your mouth." she barked at him, and he looked down.
"Alright, captain. Still, they tried. Not like the 'red-headed stepchild' divisions knew what to expect, what they were up against. Even the fact that you and the others of the first ten existed was still a secret." Nathaniel said. "But you know what? Fuck it. You're still right about Division XIII."
"None of us knowing anything about the alien bullshit is one thing. I mean, the top brass basically considered our existence an admission that they all fucked up royally, that you lot weren't enough to prevent all this. But that doesn't excuse wherever the hell caused the bots to fuck up like that. Maybe it was part of the early anomalies and your inactive bots were simply sp-"
"Our turrets were active, even some surface ones, and they weathered zero hour without going berserk." Catalina said bluntly, to which Nathaniel just sighed. "...figured that. So yeah, you're right. They fucked up, and way too many people I used to know paid for it. But that doesn't give you the right to shit-talk them like that."
The captain looked to the corporal, recalling the files Leila dug up on the locals. Corporal Ford, MIA. Corporal Erik, MIA. Sergeant Anderson, KIA. PFC Lowe, KIA. She just gave a little sigh at that, seeing how he was looking down now. "I know, corporal. We all lost a lot of good men and women. Not only comrades, but friends and family too." she said, before continuing. "What all family you lose?"
Nathaniel looked at her, visibly trembling a bit. "Don't know about my dad or older brother. Mom and I left them behind in Mississippi when I was maybe 11." he said, and Catalina gave a nod at that. "Didn't have a brother. Last saw my dad about 17 years ago, right before I shipped off to officer school. Don't know how he held up. You mentioned your mother?"
Nathaniel simply nodded, reluctant at first. "Living in one of the cities that had part of Operation Antibody assigned to it." he said. For a moment his voice broke, even his accent slipping a bit, from the habitual yet still faintly southern blend he'd picked up, to something that sounded more natural. "Harrisburg was evidently completely overrun by the undead and other X-rays, with no confirmed reports of survivors."
Catalina had quite a lot of time to think about friends and family, time to accept the inevitable consequences of the cataclysm. Nathaniel on the other hand never bothered talking or even thinking much about it, despite how long it'd been. He'd been so focused on the events of zero hour in the years he was alone, and what all his unit did in the months before that, that he was only just now hit with a realization that Catalina had long since come to terms with.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 02, 2017, 09:09:57 pm
Leila browsed as she stacked. "Does she just draw whatever?"
"No, she sketches what she sees. A lot of these are probably pictures of people around the farm." Dee said. His point was punctuated by his holding up several pages bearing detailed sketches of himself. "Some of these though... I'm not sure." He showed her another, this one bearing a picture of a burning eyeball and something that looked vaguely like a lobster. Dee had never seen such creatures, but he didn't doubt they existed. He flipped through the pages of a notebook, taking in each drawing. A picture of a fish, more pictures of Dee, one of Lilith, a few of Catnip.
"Who's this?" Leila said, holding out a piece of card stock.
"It's a self portrait. Hard to tell with her mouth closed isn't it?" Dee said. In the self portrait, drawn in three-fourths profile, Mica's mouth was shut. Except for the rag over one side of her face and the one visible eye being somewhat larger than human eyes should be, she looked normal. Everyone on the farm knew the lips were just markings, like the spots on a butterfly. Her real lips vanished almost entirely when her mouth was closed. When she shut her mouth, it ceased to be her most striking feature in a long list of striking features. The stack of books and papers had been mostly rebuilt, slightly more stable, when Dee found a blue notebook labeled in his own hand writing "Mica's dream book." This book was normally off limits, guarded jealously by the spider. She'd let Dee look at any of her other drawings, but not the ones in this book. "What's that?" Leila asked, and Dee showed her. "Ooh, open it! Lets see!" Leila Carnes had looked through the drawings they were stacking with increasing interest, and this notebook was all that remained. Dee hesitated though.
"I don't know. She doesn't like anybody looking through this one." He said nervously. The drawings in this book weren't drawn from real life or conventional memory. They were drawn based on Mica's dreams. She'd done this based on a suggestion by Quinn one day. Something about keeping a dream diary. Mica couldn't write of course, but she could draw. He decided, all at once, that he'd like a look. What he saw was some fairly bizarre stuff, some pictures of Catnip in a strange place, and...
His scales changed color suddenly. "How are you doing that?" Leila asked. The notebook snapped shut.
"What? Nothing. Nevermind. Uh..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 02, 2017, 10:43:39 pm
Meanwhile, all the arcanist prepared for a mission that would take all day. They all readied themselves by the vehicle area.
The APC pulled up and parked on its “designated” parking spot. It’s inhabitants now free to return to their daily lifes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 03, 2017, 06:37:31 am
"Alright, but can't I see?" Leila asked. Dee shook his head quickly, and she sighed. She was quiet enjoying her perusal of Mica's work, impressed by the budding skill of the creature that had eaten several canned chickens and MREs before her very eyes, and then later disgorged most of it as they were leaving the vault. Hector had given Mica a good couple blows to the back to help her when she began to choke on the whole can she'd downed first. Leila figured though, if the book really was for drawing the spiders dreams, then maybe she was better off not knowing.
When she went back to what she was doing, Dee opened Mica's dream journal back to the page that had him snapping it shut before. He flipped past a detailed picture of a chicken stomping on a house, passed a landscape image of a distant figure trudging through a dry looking valley, and completely missed a sketch of some shapeless starry mass with a great blue eye. The picture in question was one of the last few in the book, making it fairly recently done. What it depicted was a young man making a rather heroic pose. Dee had seen Mica make this pose when she was trying to be impressive. Hands on hips, legs apart. The young man was well toned and somewhat muscular, possibly quiet tall as well. Apart from the slight exaggerations to hight and musculature, Dee knew it was a picture of himself. How could it not be? Mica had penciled in each individual scale. Even the scar where that dink, king Barry, had knifed his arm and the broken scales around the nearly healed bullet holes were depicted. Below the belt, if Mica's dream Dee had been wearing one, the artist had been both creative and very generous. There were two other drawings after this one, and they weren't much better.
The next after this one was the same subject in a different pose, and the last featured both subject and artist in what an art major friend of Dee's before the cataclysm had called "flagrante delicto." It struck him that he'd even seen her drawing the last. She'd been hunched over her notebook for the better part of two hours, flushed with what he thought was concentration. After she was done, Mica just sat there puzzling over it like she didn't remember having drawn the lewd work. Did she even understand what she had been-
"I... Didn't need to see that, robot." Leila said suddenly. Dee spun just in time to see specialist Carnes close out of a window that had just appeared on the laptops screen a few seconds before. On the desk to his left, was Medeina's modified eyebot proxy. Medeina, and the silent shutter Dee had installed onto the eyebot for her while in the centers infirmary.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 03, 2017, 12:08:13 pm
Leila, interested as she was, didn't pry too hard when it became clear that it was likely something embarrassing, or maybe too morbid. She couldn't even begin to guess, to be honest. Mica seemed to be a rather complex subject. Catalina tolerated her despite being what the two squaddies formerly from 3-IV would've labelled an "unauthorized 5a" with all that entails. She at least knew why they abandoned those old orders. Hector's behavior, even concern over the viscous man-eating predator almost choking on a still-unopened can, had perplexed her more.
She was interrupted from her thoughts by something on the laptop's screen, hurriedly trying to close it out of a reflexive response. Then she realized it was likely a certain bot intruding again, and became aware of the modified, grounded eyebot being active. She recognized the chassis as a fairly standard LW-LE241 UAV, issued to law enforcement over most of the region. Given its lack of weapons, most of them went haywire in a less-dangerous way, but even then they had less failures that the other police and military bots. They still had some IFF issues when deployed, but at least they still only deployed when responding to the few still-working commercial alarms.
"That AI's still quite a...voyeur, isn't she?"
They'd left while Nathaniel and the others were making their preparations, the tank soon starting up as they stowed the items to take along to exchange. Nathaniel had been a bit quiet after the conversation, shaking his head as he'd walked off to finish what he was doing. Catalina had been a bit surprised that he seemed a bit shaken, when it'd been seven years after everything went to shit.
"Mica? Lilith? Y'a- ... you ready?" he called out, looking around to find the two of them. "We're about to head out to visit the guy that's been treating Kath, so if you two are still up for it..."
It'd been at some point as they were setting out, when they heard Helen over the radio. Initially at the very edge of her two-way's range and not coming in well, after giving it a moment she was heard clearly. "Think---ndset's in ra---now. I think that should do. We're on our way back, we've done what we set out for. Only casualty was...an ally we met with on arrival."
"And Sergei, Sol? If you're hearing me, I think we've all earned a chance to celebrate. Offer to host it at The Hall's still up for now."
Sergei and Solomon had been at The Hall, Sol still checking on Lucian, Sergei for now preparing a somewhat simple lunch for the three of them. They'd heard her report on the radio receiver they had. "дерьмо́. Should get a proper radio from the farm or center." Sergei grumbled. Sol for his part simply breathed a sigh of relief. "Glad they're mostly alright. But yeah, that...she'll want to know about what happened to Lucian and that he'll be here for a bit."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on December 03, 2017, 01:03:27 pm
Lilith had been napping in the now ex-room of Kathrine and Catnip when she'd been woken up by Nathaniel's yelling. "Natalee get cub? LILITH COMING TOO!" She practically bounces to her paws, grinning. "LILITH FIND CUB TOO!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on December 03, 2017, 06:55:59 pm
The ride to the motel was a rather long one. The road that led to it winded north for a decent while, before looping around to another road that winded south for a decent while. The drive itself was uneventful in that the RV didn't encounter anything besides the occasional squirrel, raccoon, or possum scurrying across the side of the road. Inside the van, however, it was a different story.
Kathrine was still in the back, as usual. Whether she was unconscious or not, nobody else knew. She was quiet even when she was awake. The other three occupants were up front, and they sure as hell were not unconscious.
"FUUUUCK! FUCK! FUCK YEAH!"
Hoyt's scratchy, frenetic voice rang out loud. He was driving, as usual, with Carrol sitting next to him, and Kermit next to her. Hoyt had his eyes on the road, but his mouth on the glass pipe Carrol was holding beneath his head. There was a lighter beneath it, and something crystalline burning inside. His pupils almost swallowed the whites of his eyes. Carrol herself was staring at the road, too. She'd gotten used to multitasking. Once Hoyt was finished, she resumed her earlier task-fastening the old-fashioned bulletproof vest she had on fully, and arranging perfectly the massive assortment of knives, hidden and obvious alike, spread across her body.
Kermit had his eyes on the large box in his lap. It was usually his job to do what he was doing, though Hoyt liked to sometimes. Once he'd loaded all seven pistols in the box fully, he turned to the three shotguns next to him, and he loaded them up too. One was a Remington, a nice utilitarian item from the back of a police car. The other two were full-length double-barreled things, lovingly cared for, probably with a good few ducks and deer under their belts. Once he was good and ready, Quintero pulled three of the handguns from the box and fastened them to his holsters. A long-barreled, old-fashioned Colt .45 1911 on his belt, plain for all to see, a slightly less conspicuous Five-Seven in a side holster beneath his jacket, and a compact .38 Ruger snub-nose in an ankle holster above his boots. The jacketed bullets in the cylinder twinkled in the light of the van. He reached into his pocket and produced a nerve-calming lump of hash, which he ate with a bit of Hoyt's jerkied venison so as to not upset his stomach. The van coasted on over to the motel soon enough. It was a desolate, lonely place. The paint was peeling and the windows were broken. It might've looked like that before the Cataclysm. No way to tell.
Hoyt turned the van over to the little parking lot, between the main building, pool, and something like a gazebo. There were other ruined cars here and there, but Hoyt's van was obviously not among them. He'd be visible enough. He opened his driver's-side door, leaning his legs out of the van itself. He didn't get out, though.
Carrol did. She stepped out through the side door from the back of the van, before looping back around the vehicle and stopping at the hood. She leaned on it nonchalantly, a potent rolled cigarette clamped in the corner of her mouth.
Kermit wordlessly left from the passenger door. There was a rifle in his hands. It was huge. He was somewhat small, but he carried it as well as anyone as he walked up the motel's stairs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 03, 2017, 08:04:51 pm
Meanwhile, unaware of her mans recent discovery, Mica waited near to the siege tower. When Nathaniel asked his important, and Mica thought redundant, question. Instead of an answer, she simply crawled into the tank. She was ready. Not knowing what to expect, but ready. "Be civ-lized. Be po-lite. Be nice." She thought, running her claws through her hair to straighten it before checking her silk head wrap was in place. The rat looked into the workshop, and snorted imperceptibly. The lizard thing was fawning over some dumb paper thing while the human tapped away on that stupid tappy board thing. She watched long enough to see the lizard put the paper thing with the other paper thing before going to the human. She wasn't interested in any of it though. The creature some on the farm had come to refer to as Ratnip, was being followed. No one else could see it but her, it was the fate of animals to be able to see that thing. The spider predator could have seen it, without her dumb cloth, and the giant stripey predator would have seen it. The thing following Ratnip was a shadow of some kind, vaguely rat shaped but a predator none the less. A cold shadow moving in the distance at the corner of her vision, not always visible but always there. Not vivid enough to be much of a worry to her. It would have given her pause, but now Ratnip had no time for pause. Dee put the book back and swallowed hard. How long had Mica been having dreams like that? Since he'd come out of his recovery coma at least. To Leila he said, "Yeah. Voyeur. Medeina, we need to talk. Later though. I swear to god, do not go sharing this with anyone else."
The blue indicator below the eyebots main lens flickered rapidly and Dee could almost imagine it as silent laughter. "But Mr. Dee, it's good! Don't you want to share the spiders talent with others?"
He shook his head vehemently. "No, not that, jesus christ no. You'll embarrass the hell out of both of us."
Leila tapped her fingers on the desk. "If you ladies are done, could we move this along? I have stuff to do." The robot offered Dee a portion of the small stack of paper, and he loaded it into the printer.
"Ok, print it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 03, 2017, 08:18:43 pm
Nathaniel smiled a bit as Lilith practically bounced over at the mention of Kathrine, leading the way back to the tank before patting the top of it, where he could easily reach at least. "Alright Lil, get on and we're pretty much set." he said. The tank only gave a quiet hum of the electric engine that had been added to it, Nathaniel climbing in and poking his head out through the commander's hatch. Even with Lilith's size, the vehicle handled the greater weight without undue complaint, starting along to make its way out. Mica being there, and getting in the tank already, was a pleasant surprise as they set off.
"Hector here, en route with Nathaniel. The fellow you spoke to earlier. Let me guess, motel in-between the center and that tiny little old town? We'll be there soon. Have Mica and Lilith here as well. The spider girl and the giant tiger lady, respectively. They've been made to promise that they'll behave." he said, the tank already crossing the open field that led to the center and surrounding roads.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 03, 2017, 10:44:51 pm
While on the way back, Roxanne decided to indulge one of her mortal needs, sleep. She and Victor made a small wager to see who would drive back and she won. Victor knew the way back and had driven this machine before so it was no big issue for him; he would’ve done the same thing Roxanne was doing if she was the one driving.
Roxanne noticed a couple things: first, she knew she was sleeping; second, she could not control her dream. “No...not this again...please...we are done!”, Roxanne reacted out loud in her dream world. She finds herself inside a rather large mansion, single floor if the distance from the floor to the roof was any indication; specially, she is in a personal library with a collection only a wealthy family could afford. With not much else to do, Roxanne decides to wander around to see what else this place has instore for her.
The other rooms were that of what you would expect in a mansion. Bedrooms, kitchens, many bathrooms, centera for recreation, a small armory, etc. She eventually ended up in front of a large, red double door. It was rather impressive in its size and Roxanne had an idea of what awaited her on the other side. “Let’s get this over with...I am so close to getting closure...”, Roxanne told to herself before opening the doors and walking inside.
“Ah! It’s been a while!”, said a familiar masked figure as he lifted a glass of wine; he was sitting behind an impressive wooden desk, three swords laid before him, “Take a seat Roxanne, we have to talk about a few things.” He stood up and pointed at the chair adjacent to him. Roxanne walked in and did as she was told; no point in arguing now. The masked man took out a wine glass and bottle; he then poured a glass to Roxanne and set it in front of her. Roxanne accepted his offer reluctantly and started to sip on it.
“First of all, congratulations on your mission and sorry for your loss. You and your companions fought bravely; an enemy that had betrayed you was brought to justice. Nothing escapes your people does it? This is why I come to you, you get stuff done.”, the masked man told Roxanne, “But for what I am here for. You acquire an item in your mission didn’t you? A little souvenir that catched your eye; may I see it?” Roxanne looked at him in confusion, how did he know any of this? That didn’t matter, this was a dream, how could she even let him see it. “I don’t have it with me. I don’t even know how I would even do to go fetch it.”, Roxanne answered.
“On you back Miss Luna.”, the masked man instructed. Roxanne looked behind her and he was right; she wore a scabbard on her back and on it was the sword she had just found. “Oh, that. You want to me to hand it to you so you can see it?”, Roxanne asked. The man just noded. She then placed her hand on the handle of her sword and the stranger sensation returned; it made her feel powerful and she craved this feeling once it was introduced. This caused her to hesitate more at handing him the sword but her fear of what he could do. With that in mind, Roxanne took the sword out of the scabbard and placed it on the table before sliding it towards the masked man.
“Ah yes, this is it! The 4th piece! It is so good that it joins the others!”, the masked man exclaimed as he examines the sword in detail. After he is done, he sets it down next to the other three which now Roxanne recognizes. “The sword of the void, The sword of convergence, The sword of assimilation and the sword of despair. These are the four pieces; isn’t the sight beautiful? Won’t you help me make this a reality?”, the masked man told Roxanne.
This felt wrong, this things didn’t belong together… Why did he want this? Roxanne couldn’t bring herself to answer out of fear. She wasn’t about to lie to it or tell her how she really felt; he could tell. “Maybe you need a little explanation? I am asking a lot from you, guess you deserve to know what I am doing.”, He offered Roxanne. She nodded in response to which he snapped his fingers. The room melted away slowly until the two were left alone in a room of pure darkness with only each other to look at.
“As you may know, this world is corrupted. We are being hunted down like animals by beings from elsewhere. Aliens from other realities, spirits from other dimensions, the undead have risen; it’s not pretty.”, The masked man told Roxanne as they both stood there, “I seek to fix this. The power of each piece is great but together...we can achieve a new beginning.” Roxanne wasn’t sure, what kind of power did he mean? Could she even trust him? This was all too familiar… she wouldn’t just blindly follow some spirit again; Roxanne needed answers.
“Who are you?”, Roxanne asked. It was a simple question but one that would come a long way. “Who am I? You know the answer to that already, denial is what is keeping you from the truth. But tell me, you too are hiding your identity aren’t you? What is your name?”, The masked man responded.
“My name? Roxanne Luna...you know this already...”, Roxanne answered. “No no, your real name...come on, tell me. No need to hide things.”, he responded back. Roxanne got nervous at this, he did indeed know too much, how? However, she assume what he said was true, it was useless to hide things when he would probably already known them. “Roxanne Blackmore...that is my birth name, Roxanne Blackmore…”
“Interesting...thank you for telling me. You don’t know it but it’s little things like that which come a long way. It’s good to see there is trust.”, He commented once more, “Now, you still have no reason to fully trust me...so just in case you choose to go back on all progress we have done today, let me show something.” Soon enough, the room was no longer dark. They found themselves in a field littered with bodies of the undead shut down for good. In front of them was a wall both tall and wide; there was a massive hole in it as the bodies of the undead were funneled inside. The pair walked inside as Roxanne carefully sidestepped the bodies. The masked man just walked forward with as much as sidestepping.
Inside the walls, the sight was worse; machine littered the place along with bodies of both the undead and fallen men. A great battle had occured here with the outcome clear; the undead had been driven away but at the cost at the life of an entire settlement. Roxanne covered her mouth at all this; the unnecessary gore and blood that littered the place was too much even for her. She was nudge to move forward by the masked man and she obliged in silence.
They eventually reached a little corridor that lead inside a staircase unto the walls themselves. By the bottom of said stair cases laid a man on the ground surrounded by the undead. No, not surrounded, they were on top feasting on his gut. The sight was gruesome, but worse of all, he was still alive. “Officer mike...to command post...mike to command post...someone..anyone...please…”, the man said weakly into a radio. Despite his condition, he held hope; hope someone was on his way to save him but even Roxanne knew that wasn’t the case. “Command post...this things are dead...only four left...I am not going to make it...be sure avenge our fallen...the masked figure...warn the others...no one else needs to die…”, those were his last words. Due to blood loss or infection, he died. How he held so long was a mystery but it help the masked man teach Roxanne as lesson.
“Y-you did this? Why? These are people too! Whatever they did, they didn’t deserve this!”, Roxanne told him while practically screaming. “They were in my way; had a good foothold of the arcane. I could not let that be; this was the only way. This is what happens when you get in my way. Pray you are never in my sight as this was nothing compared to what I can do once I amass enough energy.”, He responded, “Now, I believe you asked a question...remember this. My name is…”
Roxanne jolted awake; Victor had shaken her slightly and was surprised at her reaction. “Roxanne, are you ok? We are here, we are back on the farm. The others have gotten off and went elsewhere. I will take care of Melody here so I too will make my leave. I trust you know what to do. Take care”, Victor said to Roxanne before boarding off the APC with Melody. Roxanne was left alone in the APC to reflect on her thoughts. what was she going to do?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 04, 2017, 12:15:27 pm
"Be good girl. Be good." Mica told herself, knowing full well she would get excited. Hoping she didn't get so excited that she got... bitey. The seats in the back of the tank had been reupholstered, but Mica remembered the taste of the leather. She knew another thing too, big machines like this didn't have seats like these. This machine was special. She looked to see if anyone was watching, then tore a long strip off one of the headrests with her teeth. Disgusting. Vinyl. Mica didn't know what vinyl was, but it was nasty. She spat it out and tried another strip. Still vinyl. Not to be deterred, Mica tried another. And another. And another. She realized she'd stripped away most of the covering on the seat, and stopped. "This not good girl thing to be doin'." She said to herself, then for good measure tore a strip off the seat next to the one already mangled. More vinyl. She sighed and checked her hair was straight again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on December 04, 2017, 12:32:50 pm
Lucian raises a brow, "Celebration? For what?" he asks. He rubs his chin for a second, "You have a moment, Sergei? Mind grabbing something from my horse, it's a suit of plate covered in cloth." he asks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 04, 2017, 01:32:00 pm
Nathaniel was looking around out of the hatch, as best as he could manage with Lilith blocking a good bit of the view, not to mention her tail idly draped over one of the rear cameras. Hector in contrast was wincing a bit. With the quiet hum of the solar-electric engine, and his dented helm left behind, he could hear Mica picking at the seat, sighing a little. And here he'd hoped picking something synthetic to replace it would've deterred her.
They were heading up the road leading away from the refugee center, nearing the bend in the road that marked the motel, just east of a break in the treeline, with the old country highway continuing north to a tiny hint of a town Hector had passed through on his way to the rumored location of a bandit hideout. The motel had likewise seen the results of his handiwork, though there had been few undead still lingering there at the time.
They parked just across the small bit of field between the motel and the road itself, Nathaniel ducking back in and closing the hatch, the three of them making their way out, box of assorted goods in hand...
Later, Sol simply smiled a bit at the radio report. "Helen and the others had been preparing for a mission of some sort. She didn't tell me much, but I'm glad they came back in one piece." he said, while Sergei made his way outside, checking that Pollack was alright as he carefully hefted the cloth-wrapped suit over his shoulder. He could feel the rather impressive weight of it, despite it being a simple matter for him to carry in.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 04, 2017, 05:58:31 pm
Meanwhile a couple hundred miles away from the farm…
“So this is the advance party the command post sent? Interesting.”, a familiar masked figure commented, “Your people cost me my army of the dead you know? But no matter, I will get something in return.
Five men were sent in response to the pleas of the dying man, five men were easily overpowered and restrained. They were in the middle of the field where most of the carnage took place once the wall was broken; the masked man paced back and forth as if making a decision.
“You, on the far left, I can tell you are young and dependent. I will spare you for I need you to send a message. Tell the others of what you saw today; warn them of me, the carnage you see before hand and of what is about to happen.
All of them had stayed silent, trained not to divulge and information. The silence would soon be broken however, screams would soon fill the air. The masked man did something unexpected, he stood in front of the five men...and took off his mask, slowly.
Some sight are not meant for mortal eyes, they would break the will and mind of even the most hardened of tragic heros; this was one of them. They shouted and screamed as they struggled against arcane restrains; if they could, they would find whatever means necessary to end their existence. However, he made sure the man on the far left did not see what lied beneath the mask, only what his companions reacted to that discovery.
The sword of assimilation glew a purple hue. One by one, he would stab each one of the 4 screaming men and they would be reduced to a purple mist to which he would absorb into his “face”. He then put his mask back on and faced remaining man. “Go, go warn the others Be thankful you were spare from my sight.”, the masked man commanded before removing his prisoner’s restrains. The other man just ran, he had seen enough; he would tell everyone about what he saw today. The poor man would not return home the same.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 05, 2017, 10:24:59 am
The motel was a place it seemed everyone had been to at one point or another. Mica had been here on several occasions before going to live on the farm. Hunting, mostly. Looking at the main office, she could vaguely remember the taste of the woman she'd heaved onto the counter, disemboweling her as she did so, scissoring with her teeth one hand from an arm. She'd been greasy and foul. Mica assumed, much later, that she must have been poison. She could still remember how sick that disgusting meal had made her. Almost worse than eating the dead things.
The thought of poison brought her back to the present, and Mica could smell the people who had morsel before she saw them. As clean as they might be, the reek of their poisons clung to them. Seeped from every pore. Mica didn't like Kathrine being in the care of people who smelled like that. Catnip wouldn't mind though, so long as they weren't hurting her. Mica would endeavor not to mind, and to keep her mouth shut on the matter. Rounding into open view in front of everyone else, as had always been her way, she spied the woman leaning on the van, the legs protruding from it, and barely caught a glimpse of the too large rifle. That last might not have been there, but normally it would have been worth investigating.
Mica pulled the two bricks from her bag, raised them in the air, and shouted "Bolveen marchers!" She resisted the urge, the strong as hell urge, to throw the two bricks against the ground and burst them unceremoniously against the asphalt. Instead, she lowered them and waited.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 05, 2017, 11:58:36 am
Hector followed close behind, Nathaniel right there beside him. The result was the peculiar sight of the spider girl hefting two large bricks of cocaine, followed by a scrawny man with a mix of clearly up-armored civilian clothes, an oversized leather jacket, and an old army helmet. Then of course the man in a breastplate, pauldrons, and tassets worn over a mail hauberk, carrying the old suitcase containing most of the goods in one hand, and a kite shield in the other. His head was bare, and a few old scars likely gave the false impression that he regularly didn't wear a helm, when he'd simply left the dented old thing behind.
"Ahem. Do we have to go yelling at them the very instant they see us, Mica?" Hector said, and he'd likely facepalm if his hands weren't full.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 05, 2017, 04:52:04 pm
"My-ka not yellin'!" Mica shouted. She felt awkward just holding the bricks, and so tucked them back into her bag. She'd only been carrying it a couple hours since Dee lent it to her, but it was already her property. She thought about all the things a nice bag like this could hold. Bones, snacks, pencils, papers, and meat were all the things she'd imagined at first before thinking more creatively.
"Where morsel?" She asked, looking for Kathrine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on December 05, 2017, 06:36:57 pm
Kathrine was quietly sat in the back of the van. She'd overheard the earlier radio conversations, and it was clear that Catnip wasn't coming. She'd recovered enough to walk, even if it was with a limp. The others were all sat on or around the van. One of them had a gun. Kathrine remained sat on the counter. She missed Catnip. Lilith soon joined Mica, Hector and Mate at the mythical location of around the corner. The smell alone elicited a low growl from her, and the follow-up of the appearance of the van promoted it to a snarl. "Cub..." She couldn't even smell Kathrine over the stench eminating from the three cub-hurters. She drags her claws across the asphalt, actually making some respectable markings in it. But no, she'd promised Natalie. "...Cub hurt?" Lilith's looking at Nathaniel, even if it wasn't really a question she wanted answered.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on December 05, 2017, 09:42:23 pm
Colorful collection of characters, to say the least. Hoyt stayed silent in his position on the seat, his legs resting on the asphalt, his eyes regarding the group that'd rounded the corner. Two men, obviously human. One small, one big, the big one dressed like....a crusader? Then the other two. Women, seemingly. Hoyt's eye twitched when he saw the spider-thing that'd eaten the big guy back near the bridge. Also interesting was the massive tiger-woman. He'd seen bio-weapons before, though they weren't his expertise at the lab. He'd focused on cosmetic mutations and corporate pet projects, among other things. But that right there, that was the finished product.
Carrol hadn't even looked up from the spot on the ground she was staring at. Her cigarette smoldered and dripped ash onto the pavement. She didn't seem to be all there. That is, until Hoyt banged his hand on the windshield and she looked up. She regarded the newcomers with a look of...disinterest? She didn't even move from her lean on the hood.
Hoyt finally moved once Carrol was paying a little more attention. He hiked himself up and jumped down from his seat onto the ground, straightening his coat. He was his own colorful character, honestly. His too-pale skin almost shone in the sunlight, and his winning smile was slightly marred by his needle-like fangs. He wasn't overly tall, and didn't look like he weighed too much, having something of a featherweight boxer look to him. He had on a tattered lab coat over a dress shirt and waistcoat, then a sleeveless leather duster over this. Combat boots, hand wraps, and a wool beret rounded out his appearance. He wasn't obviously armed, besides a large hunting knife in a sheath on his belt.
Carrol was pretty visible from her position, unmoving as ever. She was tall. She was huge. She would've looked at home in a prison guard's uniform. Or woodland army camo. Instead, she was in a lab coat too. A lab coat, that is, over a bulky bullet resistant vest, and beneath a rather luxurious fur car coat. A large sword was rather obviously strapped to her back, among the other knives and blades half-hidden across her body, in addition to the suspicious bulging pockets across her two coats. A pistol-grip police Remington was propped up against the van next to her.
"Farm boy, I'm assuming? Splendid to finally meet you folks." Hoyt's rasp of a voice did somehow convey real charm and politeness in this case. He stepped up over to the side of the RV, popping open the door to retrieve a....folding TV tray table, a few objects visible on it.
"Come on over. Let's have a chat, eh? I've got batter fried carp and rhubarb pie. Some premium vodka, too, or some sweet Riesling if you prefer something lighter."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 05, 2017, 09:51:25 pm
Nathaniel regarded the two of them curiously, as he carefully reached to pat Lilith's snout. "It's alright Lil." He had that nagging feeling that barring anyone else not present at the moment, the woman was probably the one that cold-cocked him. He himself had only an old glock holstered, while Hector had an arming sword at his side.
Nathaniel then spoke up when addressed. "That'd be me. Nathaniel Ford." he answered, while Hector smiled some. "Hector Lowe. I have most of the items requested here in the suitcase, Mica has the rest. Where's Kathrine? Is she unharmed?" he asked, regarding the two a bit cautiously, given he couldn't see her right off the bat. "I'd assume the 'chat' comes first. That's fine then. Just hope she's alright." Nathaniel answered.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on December 05, 2017, 11:16:25 pm
Hoyt nodded to the men as he unfolded the little table, which now rather visibly had two white cardboard boxes on it. He rested two bottles beside the boxes, one tall, one stout. When he was good and sure the surface was stable and the bottles were safe, he looked back up and addressed them.
"Hoyt Upton." He pointed to the woman. "Carrol Hitchcock. Kathrine's fine. I saw to that. The woman who hurt her is dead. She didn't go nicely. I also saw to that. The chat's optional. The payment isn't. But you people seem nice, and you've got to be strong. And I like to know nice, strong people. And this is some damn good vodka."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 05, 2017, 11:30:41 pm
"No dicker yet!" Mica shouted, "Lin-see say, not polite! My-ka want fish, but My-ka not got ears for trade of fish. Just Bolveen marchers, and Bolveens is for morsel!" She made a show of paying no attention to the blade bedecked woman. Her way of asserting her lack of fear, though she didn't relish being stabbed or cut again. The stabs always took the longest to heal. The man though, he might be tricky. In Mica's experience, it was always the most inconspicuous who provided the most trouble. The kinds who were smart enough to keep their "cards" hidden away until they were needed. "What is roo-barbs? What is reez-lings?" The smells from the boxes were nice, and though she endeavored to hear every word the man said, she missed most of what he said. The gist of what she did catch was "Kathrine fine. Someone else is dead. Pay me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 05, 2017, 11:33:13 pm
Nathaniel gave a nod at that, while Hector regarded the drinks cautiously. "Good. What was her problem, anyway? Hope she caught a few rounds from Nate in the process." he remarked, while Nathaniel sighed a bit. "Talking's fine. Just glad she's safe. By the way, this here's Mica," he said, gesturing to the spider mutant, before he continued as he gestured to Lilith. "and this is Lilith. Already met one of them, technically. I wish she'd stop calling Kath morsel though, for fucks sake..." he grumbled.
"As for drinks, guess it wouldn't hurt. I'm admittedly not much of a drinker." Hector said, while Nathaniel chuckled a bit. "If by 'not much of a drinker' you mean a bigger lightweight than even I am." he joked, before Hector found somewhere to set the suitcase aside and open it, revealing the cache of medicine and "medicine" in it, all neatly packed away and labelled.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 06, 2017, 12:48:45 am
Mica saw Hector set up his suit case, and determined that the dickering was unnecessary. So, she retrieved the two bricks of almost pearlescent white powder again and placed them next to Hectors offering. "Kat-nyp say boos is bad. Kat-nyp tryin' to stop drinkin' boos. Smells like poison to My-ka. Lizard say Bolveen marchers bad too, but lizard say they good for trade. Lizard say uh... un...cut? uncut? Co-canes? Special Co-canes? Eh? My-ka don't know. Lin-see and Day-me-on say drugs are bad. Booses and co-canes and greens and car-toons." Mica was beginning to babble, a sign that she was rapidly getting excited.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on December 06, 2017, 01:41:11 pm
Lilith was looking increasingly frustrated over the lack of Kathrine, but remained by Nathaniel's side. "Nataleeeeee, where cub? ...Thinky man give cub, now?" She kneads at the asphalt again, snarling. "Thinky man. We take cub from thinky man." Kathrine quietly curled up on the counter top again. If Catnip wasn't back, Kathrine didn't really want to be either. "...Mistress..." She'd gotten used to the smell of the van by now, but her memories of the place were barely worth remembering. Hoyt and Carrol and Kermit were too nice to her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on December 07, 2017, 02:50:24 am
Hoyt nodded at the other introductions, a smile now visible on his face. "Yes, the man-eating spider-person, and the bio-weapon, I see. How endearing. Doubt they drink, hm?" He asked without waiting for an answer, walking closer to inspect the goods, seemingly with little to no care to the two deadly mutants' frustration and excitement. He had two glasses in his hand, which he handed to the two men to free up his hands for the inspection of the suitcase and the powder. The one given to Hector was the Riesling, and the one given to Nathaniel was the vodka. After all, he'd said Hector was more of a lightweight than him.
"Marvelous. Uncut. Fuckin' impossible to find these days. And we've got a good variety in the case, as well. Aw, aspirin. How thoughtful." Hoyt muttered with a chuckle, before snapping the case closed. "Come now, Lily, don't get too impatient. Cub's safe and sound, right, Carrol?" He called behind himself.
Carrol stepped a bit closer to Lilith, somewhat transfixed. "Absolutely right. Goddamn, this really what the others were working on? Should've asked for a transfer, made livin' art like this, 'stead of cobbling together sex slaves for corporate bucks..." She whispered aloud, stepping up next to Hoyt to get a closer look at the two mutants.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 07, 2017, 01:02:22 pm
Hector's expression visibly soured at Hoyt's remarks, though he still accepted the wine, and Nathaniel accepted the drink offered to him as well. "Familiar with the mutagenics experiments, it seems." he remarked, looking over to Carrol as she stepped up, sighing before taking a drink. "How much involvement did you two have in stuff like this?"
Nathaniel kept close to Lilith, now observing Carrol curiously. "If they did mess around with labs, I can guess which one was likely security. Hector here's had a few bad experiences lab-diving. Evidently a lot of them, especially the...what'd Dervish call it, X-series? Those, they left behind some nasty work." he remarked, before continuing. "Only thing I know about the labs would be which division was supposed to try and keep them secure from the outside, when zero hour hit. Guess she's part of whoever was running that job from the other side of the lab doors?" he asked.
He wasn't really aware of the security divisions only being used for X and Z series labs, respectively the standard general-purpose military contractors and the Bio-Weapon Project.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 07, 2017, 05:18:08 pm
Some time later after the others had gone to retrieve the kathnapped girl.
Roxanne exited the APC and walked towards her room’s back door. That was when she noticed Victor and Melody by the armory talking. The hollow girl would point at something and Victor would nonchalantly explain what it was. Roxanne smiled at the sight; things really were back to normal and better yet, a new ally had been made.
"So this is where you keep all your weapons?", Melody asked, she seemed to be legitimately bewildered.
"Only ranged weaponry it seemed. Melee stuff is scattered all over. Very few people here seem to appreciate a sword nowadays.", Victor responded, a tone of lament in his voice.
“So anyone can just pick up whatever weapon they want? Is there really that much trust around here?”, Melody asked again.
"Yes, thing is, people leave behind something of equal or greater value when they scavenge. Roxanne brings loads of plutonium for what she get; I leave behind food supplies; not that we are lacking in that department but one can never be too cautious.", Victor responded.
Before Melody could ask anything else, Roxanne interrupted the two. "Hello you two! What are you doing here all by yourselves? You are not already corrupting the poor girl aren’t you Victor?", Roxanne commented.
Victor glared at Roxanne for a moment before giving a sigh. "I am just showing her around the farm. She will be coming here to learn about the arcane from us every now and then anyways.", Victor responded, "Arrangements have been made for her to be picked up after the party Helen plans to make. For now, we can give her a tour."
"A tour? That is a great idea! Come on! I’ll help show her around!", Roxanne exclaimed. Victor simply shrugged and made a gesture that said ‘Lead the way then’. Roxanne happily obliged and led the other two around the farm. Melody would ask about some peculiarity and Victor would try to answer as best he could while Roxanne gave sarcastic quibs; Victor would just roll his eye at them but she managed to make him chuckle a bit a few times. They eventually reached the library.
“You guys have a library?!”, Melody exclaimed. She was surprised to see the collection of books. There was an even larger collection back where Randael had decided to hold out but this was impressive to. "Yes. Build and curated by many hands. Every book we find ends up here with a few exceptions. If you take something, you must add it to the ledger. Victor and I visit frequently since we have books on the arcane."
Melody went ahead and looked around. The books were organized in alphabetical order rather than subject to make sorting easier. She found the fact that holy books were placed next to cookbooks and DIY manuals. Victor and Roxanne took a seat as they waited for Melody to return. The two former members of an esoteric group talked for a bit about who knows what. Roxanne laughed at a statement Victor made when she glanced at Melody; she tried to calm down one she realized the hollow girl noticed.
“What were you guys laughing about?”, Melody asked as she sat down and placed some books on the table. Roxanne giggled and gave a knowing look at Victor. He shrugged and turned away. "Tell me Melody, how experienced are you with ‘recreational’ substances?", Roxanne asked Melody. She took out three spirit pills, the only ones she had left. One for her, one for Victor and the other for the new girl. "Do you want to talk to the dead?", Roxanne offered.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 07, 2017, 07:15:22 pm
After their return, the mage hunter had made her way to check on a few things, the guest room she had been staying in especially. She gathered some books she had stored in the locker, making her way back to the library to put them away in the appropriate section. She arrived while Melody was there, a couple books in hand. The Source, and To Master The Unknown. Were Victor to see them as she put them away, the secretive way she studied them might be clear now, given her prior intent of surprising Randael.
She was quietly singing something to herself as she did so, smiling as she did so, revealed by not wearing neither mask nor helm, and her hood down. "Quidam ludunt, quidam bibunt, quidam indiscrete vivunt..." she sang to herself, part of an old drinking song.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 07, 2017, 07:19:05 pm
"Askin' bout works..." Mica admonished, preparing to knock the drink out of Hectors hand out of excitement before stopping herself. Instead, she grabbed Lilith and urged her to flex. "Knife lady say you art Lil-eth! Show you magic muscle!" It was all getting fairly exciting now. For her anyway. Hector and Nathaniel were being sort of tense, Lilith was being Lilith, and the strangers were being friendly. She stopped tugging and swinging from Lilith long enough to ask, "Why stabby lady need so many stabbers?" A question she realized could be a bit like someone asking Mica why she had so many teeth, or why she needed four arms.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on December 08, 2017, 03:24:56 am
Lilith's quiet snarling suddenly jumped in volume as Carrol stepped closer. Mica's involvement actually encouraged her to stand up, rising up to her full ten feet of height. "Cub ok?" Before she gets a reply, she brings her arms up into the classic strongman position, and flexes. It's rediculously impressive, to be honest, and is only accentuated by her activating her hydraulic muscles. "Bug get cub?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 08, 2017, 03:04:33 pm
Melody looked at Roxanne with suspicion; not due to mistrust or malice, but more at the ensuing situation just being really strange. Victor had accepted the pill he was offered and as such Melody was less hesitant. She accepted Roxanne’s pill and regarded it for a moment. “Talk to the dead huh? I guess I have a lot to learn; show me what I am missing!”, Melody said in response to Roxanne’s offer.
That is when they noticed Helen entering the library. The trio put away their pills out of surprise. "Save it, we will ingest it together later; there is a few things I want to show you...", Roxanne whispered to Melody. She in turn noded to Roxanne’s statement and then curiously regarded Helen and her actions.
“Her name is Helen right? Is she always like this or is she kinda mean?”, Melody asked Roxanne and Victor. "Nah, she is reserved and focused on her goals; but when she gets to know you, she opens up and is friendly.", Victor responded. "Yeah, very friendly at times as well. You would know that wouldn’t you Victor?", Roxanne teased. Victor just looked at her and sighed as Roxanne giggled.
"But in all banter aside, if you want to learn about proper ways of practicing the arcane, she is your gal. I have barely starting truly dabling and Victor here has acquired a certain reputation.", Roxanne leaned in a bit to whisper at Melody, "He pretends to not are but secretly it eats at his soul. I know due to some possessing him while I was a spirit...don’t ask."
“So she can teach me how to safely use my aura of harvest?”, Melody asked yet again. "Yes, I can teach you how to weaponize it and increase it’s power tenfold, she can teach you why that is a bad idea.", Victor responded. “Guess I will have a chat with her then…”, Melody said with nervousness in her tone. "Go for it, she doesn’t bite; or does she Victor?", Roxanne responded adding a little quib at the end.
Melody got up from the table and walked over to Helen; the mage hunter was still singing her tone. Melody found this a bit perplexing; deja vu rushed over her. Similar word where spoke in peculiar incantations Randael would say in the voice of Roxanne. The hollow girl ended up humming the tune without the words without realizing as she approached and stood next to Helen, “Hello, sorry for interrupting...Helen right? Roxanne told me I could come to you if I wanted to know about the arcane in a safe manner…”, Melody told Helen. Melody wasn’t aware that the mage hunter would normally wear her mask around the place nonchalantly.
Helen looked over Melody’s shoulder to find Roxanne smiling while giving her a thumbs up and Victor shaking his head while facepalming. Roxanne would nudge Victor with her elbow and he would looked over and wave at Helen; he would then say something to Roxanne and she place her head on the table trying her best not to burst out laughing. Melody meanwhile would try to break the ice, she was obviously intimidated by Helen. “S-so...that tune you were singing. Sounds interesting, heard similar vocalisations from...well, you know who… Is it something you enjoy singing?”, Melody asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 09, 2017, 02:15:28 am
Helen smiled a bit as she finished a verse, having noticed the three of them there. for the moment she'd simply let them talk, deciding to leave them be, but when Melody approached she gave a polite nod. "Greetings. That's correct, both Victor and I have experience in such things. Victor usually has trouble when he starts...experimenting though." she remarked. "Lack of caution on his part, usually."
She then blushed a little at Melody's question. "In Taberna Quando Sumus. It's...nothing particularly special actually, a drinking song in fact." she admitted. "Would be an odd surprise for Randael to have been singing that one, but no doubt it picked up all manner of incantations for its purposes." she remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on December 09, 2017, 03:38:13 am
"We did our parts, pal. Wasn't much, honestly. You got labs summoning demons and experimenting with world-subjugating fungus, and we got givin' people cat ears and little fangs, eh?" Hoyt answered Hector, flashing his own razor-sharp, needle-like teeth. "Sometimes, yeah, you get something important, military contracts, private security sculpting, stuff like that, but that's rare, I'll say. Just why you don't see many Liliths around, heh."
Carrol's mood probably would've been soured if she'd heard Hoyt talking about their line of work, but she was too busy staring at Lilith. She didn't seem fazed whatsoever by the snarling or the fact that she was ten feet tall. When the bio-weapon flexed somewhat ridiculously, even, Carrol only smiled and quietly clapped. She only shrugged at Mica's question, having barely heard her.
"Bug get cub in a second, Lilith. Everything's fine." Hoyt added, looking to the two men again. "Anything else you wanted to add?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 09, 2017, 06:01:01 am
Clouds were gathering above. Still light up there, but in a few hours they would begin to take in the gunmetal grey indicative of a real soaker. At the refugee center, people were battening down the hatches and getting everything inside. Personally though, Atomos was looking forward to it. So too were her colleagues from the vault. Seven years below ground, they all found, had a way of making you hungry for such simple things. The warmth of sun on skin, the smell of clean air and greenery, and the prickle of rain on ones shoulders.
"You need help with that?" Dervish asked, emerging from the stairs onto the roof. Dervish was referring to Atomos's task of turning her snake hide so that the scales faced upward. In theory, she believed that the snakes scales would shed the coming storm and keep the rain from washing away her tanning solution or foul the hide. She'd begun to plan and she didn't want that bitch mother nature spoiling them before they'd even begun.
"Sure," she said, "try to keep the skin taught while I redo these fastenings." He did as asked and the two worked in silence for a bit, then Dervish asked, "Getting along well here?"
Atomos told him that she thought so, and he nodded. "Somebody whistled at me when I got back earlier." She said in passing.
"That'd be Dennis." Dervish said right away. "He has a thing for lightly mutated girls. Guys too for that matter. Sorry about that." The fox shook her head.
"It's fine. I just wasn't expecting it. I think this aught to do it, don't you?" The two of them looked over their work, Dervish sceptical, Atomos hopeful.
"Wanna go see cook demonstrate that hotdog press thing the scavenger team found this morning?" Dervish asked suddenly.
Atomos, taken off guard by the sudden silliness of the question asked, nervously, "what's a hotdog press?"
"I don't know, you wanna go check it out?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 09, 2017, 06:32:20 pm
Hector hmmed a bit at that. "And selling them as 'playthings' to people, if what I've heard is true." he remarked. Nathaniel for his part was regarding Carrol curiously. "So commercial stuff? From what little I know of those...huh." he remarked, trailing off before looking back to Hoyt.
"Anything else to be done, then? Probably best to get Kath before Lilith and Mica start acting any weirder." he added, while Hector gave the two a suspicious glance. "You'd think they could tell by scent..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 09, 2017, 08:14:10 pm
Mica was losing interest in the people. Her hunger was building along with her excitement, and despite her mostly ignored admonishment to be social, she was also losing interest in trying to be "normal." Being polite was hard, being a "good girl" was boring. There were more smells to smell, so she turned her attention to those. The smells of Hector and Nathaniel and the strong poison residue running through the new people were most obvious. The other scents drifted through and around them. Liliths strong animal smell, the subtle cinnamon in her own hair covering quiet well the smell of a well fed spider. Fish, covered in some other smell she wasn't used to. The usual smells of gas and ozone. Kathrine's smell, a delicious aroma of fresh tender meat.
There was another smell too, but it confused her a little. "Char-leen?" She whispered. It wasn't exact, something different. Masculine instead of feminine, and full of poison. For now, she pushed it away and tried to focus on food smells. Fish, swamp animals, and Kathrine. Down in the center, Dervish and Atomos entered the cafeteria where a small crowd had gathered around a strange contraption and the refugee centers head cook. He was filling the top of the device with cubed meats, unceremoniously dumping the scraps onto a pinkish sheet set into the box. "C'mon cook, where are the hotdogs?" Said someone in the crowd.
"I'll show you my hotdog Haversham." The cook said. Someone, Atomos believed it was a woman off to her right somewhere, whistled at that. The cook raised his hands placatively. "Alright alright, calm down you animals." He went on. "How many of you have seen one of these things before?" No one raised their hand or said anything, so he explained. The device, a hotdog press, was some pre-cataclysm inventors idiot idea. "Was supposed to be the next big thing in hotdog manufacture." Cook said, "But the idea was so inefficient and stupid..." He took the handle of the device and lowered the lid. "Basically, it pushed the meat into edible casings and steams them. The trouble is, an extruder can produce more hotdogs faster, and the press doesn't cook the dogs all the way through." Cook pushed down the handle and the device emitted a low drone. After about four seconds, twelve neat hotdogs dropped out of the bottom of the machine. From there, cook gathered them up and placed them in a pot of boiling water to finish them off. "Who wants the first one?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 10, 2017, 12:26:52 am
“Oh, lack of caution? Is Roxanne like that too? She told me she had just gotten started...I don’t want to start with the wrong foot...I just barely started and posses an aura of harvest and lack a soul. Maybe I should start slow?”, Melody responded to Helen’s first remarks.
“A-a...drinking song? Oh...I see…”, Melody told Helen outloud but she was screaming inside to herself for her failed attempt to find common ground, “Maybe he picked up a few things from living with Humans? I don’t know how spirits work really, Roxanne told me Randael had lived for a very long time…” The hollow girl then looked around but then shifted her focus back to Helen. “Soooo, what do you specialize in? Victor told me he specialized on auras and spirits and Roxanne just got started according to her, which I doubt really. What about you?”, Melody asked as a second attempt to break the ice; she was still flustered from her previous attempt.
"Seriously Roxanne, you have to take it easy. You haven’t been in that body for a full day and yet you are already thinking of doing drugs? Come on! You haven’t even gone to do the final ritual and we don’t know how that might react to your mutant biology.", Victor told Roxanne once they had finished with their banter. Bets had been placed, jokes had been made and overall the two seemed to embraced the new air of normalcy.
"Here we go again with the mutant speal...go on, tell me how I messed up fo the 100th time...", Roxanne responded with an annoyed voice.
"No no no, I didn’t mean it like that! Roxanne please, this is serious. We are talking about your soul here! You are taking things a bit too fast, all I am saying is maybe to take things a bit slow ok?", Victor responded.
"Sure, whatever...", Roxanne said herself; she was having none of it. Then she saw the way Helen and Melody were talking; their body language giving away how it was going. "Hey Victor, remember that time I possed you?", Roxanne asked.
"How could I forget...that was really a invasive… experiment Roxanne...", Victor responded. "Yeah, not the point...how much do you want to be that...", Roxanne tells back to Victor before she leans in and whispers in his ear. His reaction is to smile himself. "I’ll damn Roxanne...I am normally not someone who is down for such a thing but sure, you are on!", Victor responded. "Look at you! Finally loosening up then? Good to know, alright, your room or mine?", Roxanne exclaims and ask Victor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 11, 2017, 12:35:56 pm
Helen gave a sigh at that. "True, always best to be careful, studying things as safely as one can before delving too deep." she said. "And as such, definitely best to wait until your soul is restored to train further with the aura of harvest. Without a safer method of powering it, it seems that feeding on the soul is its default method of power, so..." she said, trailing off a bit.
"And who knows what it picked up, true." she remarked, smiling a bit. "My main training was in the practices of an order dedicated to hunting monsters, and dealing with dangerous magic. They could be rather..zealous though, and it's what drove our orders apart." she admitted. "Other than that, much of what I know is in protective magic, wards and such."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 11, 2017, 05:17:04 pm
“I was told the soul shards would power my aura indefinitely. As a matter of fact, we were working on a material that could power my aura indefinitely...but that doesn’t matter anymore…”, Melody responded, she looked a bit solem for a moment before picking herself up and giving a cheery tone. “But now I got people who are willing to help me! I think I can pick this up quickly enough!”
“So you focus on securing dangerous magic, contain it and then protect against it using wards? That sounds pretty cool!”, Melody commented, she had a child-like glee in her eyes; the topic of the arcane certainly interested her. “Oh, maybe you can tell me what this is?”, Melody asked Helen before she pulled out a little pendant with a small blade attached to it, “Miss Bla- Randael told me it was a sort of seal, that when I was ready I would be able to break it and claim what it hid.” Helen would recognize this as nothing more than a charm that held lots of essence for a single artifact. A basic item for carrying large amounts of essence; the fact Melody didn’t know this showed how much she had to learn.
"But your room has sound proving, that can come in handy.", Roxanne explained to Victor.
"Yes, but your has an actual altar we can use. You have all the material as well. Should be simple for use to set up there; besides, we don’t have much time.", Victor retorted
"And why not? What is the rush?", Roxanne asked.
Victor pointed at Helen and Melody talking, his face had an expressing on, ‘do I really need to explain this?’ Roxanne gave him a confused look to which Victor sighed. "Helen will eventually figure out something is off; then she will use her mask and we don’t want that happening until after it is done, don’t we?", Victor explained.
Roxanne nodded in agreement at this, she took the spirit pill and gave it a cursory look. "Do you think Melody will mind?", Roxanne asked Victor, "I mean, it’s not like we aren’t going to give anything in return."
"We both know how it feels...if anything, she might be asking for another ‘session’... ", Victor responded. Roxanne smirked at this comment. "Personal experience?", Roxanne joked.
Victor stood there silently for a moment before he gave a silent nod. Roxanne stifled a laugh as best she could upon seeing this. "Pffff, you are just as much of a degenerate like the rest of us. Maybe one day we can try mutagen too?", Roxanne said. "Yeah no...there is now way you can convince me of that...look where it has gotten you...", Victor responded, the last bit laced with sarcasm.
Roxanne just rolled her eyes and laughed it off. She then turned her gaze to Melody and then Helen and finally Victor again. "Alright, let’s get going. 30 minutes max, not much time like you said.", Roxanne explained. Victor nodded, "Lead the way then, this was your idea after all..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 11, 2017, 06:03:41 pm
"I would avoid overtaxing it just in case, then. Soul shards aren't unlimited in their energy, after all. If we can restore your soul fully, the right techniques can allow you to use that ability safely, making it indefinitely usable in the long run. Same manner by which these ward spells are typically developed. "she explained, before looking at the object Melody held out to her.
"Looks like a seal, a glyph of sorts." she said, putting on her mask and activating it to examine in better detail, and better determine what item, if any, it was linked to. The sight of her metal mask shifting was likely rather odd, as was the momentary faint red glow from within the eyeholes. "It's...oh. Like a mana gem or charged glyph, it's holding a lot of essence to be drawn upon. Might be a link to another item too, not sure..." she said, before gazing back to Roxanne and Victor.
"Why do those two get me so worried sometimes..." she said, before leaning in to whisper something to Melody. "I have to ask. Did...Randael, when showing you the place or explaining things, ever mention any particular artifacts found there?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 11, 2017, 07:20:09 pm
“So that means I can eventually use it safely? That is an option? I was told I was to bear a curse for power...That there was no other way around it...thank you Helen...thank you for giving me hope.”, Melody responded. She genuinely thought the aura of harvest was always to be a double edged sword in the most extreme sense.
Melody then watched as Helen messed around with the pendant. The way her mask turned on and contorted scare and made Melody flinch back. That sight of the mask was only known to her in the battle field and it would take awhile to see it in any other light. “It houses essence? What can I use it for? And linked to another item? How so? Is that bad?”, Melody started to bombard Helen with questions. It could be seens as endearing or annoying depending on the person.
She was interrupted as Helen commented on Roxanne and Victor. “I don’t know, are they known to do stuff to warrant that worry?”, Melody resumed asking. Then Helen asked her a question as well. “Well, he did talk about three peculiar artifacts, a device that could allow him to talk to familiar spirits, a ring that allowed the user to control other worldly being in exchange for their sanity temporarily and a peculiar sword he treasured alot. He said the sword was a piece of a puzzle and that when completed, our dreams would come true…”
Victor and Roxanne soon exited the library and head for Roxanne’s room. Roxanne lead the way and then opened the door. Victor took out a silver athame from a pocket before he entered, Roxanne smiling and rolling her eyes at the sight. "Who is doing the bleeding?", Roxanne asked.
"I think we should decided that on the unbiased art of coin flipping.", Victor responded before letting himself in. Roxanne nodded and then looked for a coin in one of her pockets. The door closed behind them and they both got to work on setting up a particular ritual.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 11, 2017, 07:30:46 pm
"It might not last as long per use though. The entire nature of making an ability that relies on spiritual power to function is that it falters and weakens when the soul is taxed too much. The current way it is, it'll last longer, but at great cost if used to that point." she explained, while she regarded the item curiously. "A couple main ways to use it. Main one is simply to have a reserve set aside for a specific effect, like how I normally use the effects bound to this." she said, tapping the cross-and-hammer she wore around her neck. "Would want to follow the link to determine what it's bound to though, in case Randael had some plan involving it." she remarked.
"Victor on occasion, whereas with Roxanne her issue is mere inexperience, not anything like with Victor." The other questions she asked, and their answer, left her worried. "The first I suspect they gathered from somewhere, the second I suspect could've been part of the collection the building's original owner assembled. The third...hmm." She went a bit pale underneath her mask. "The third's the one that troubles me. There was something in particular we were looking for, those 7 years ago. Since our second meeting I assumed that Victor's sword was the item in question, but..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 11, 2017, 08:31:30 pm
“Do you think maybe we can use such artifacts to power the aura of harvest? I don’t know, I am asking…”, Melody responded to the comments about the aura and pendant, “And yes, if there is a link, it is important we find it; even I wouldn’t know...he left me in the dark of some many things...he really did use me didn’t he?”
“Inexperience? That makes sense...I don’t want to make mistakes due to my inexperience that is why I am asking others to help...if it isn’t a bother…”, Melody said in regards to Victor and Roxanne, “Wait...if Victor isn’t inexperience, what is his excuse?”
“You were looking for an item? Victor’s sword? What is wrong with his sword? You are saying it might have a link to the one Randael held?”, Melody asked once more. She was confused but the pieces were beginning to click in her mind. “Tell me...if you found it it was and we somehow go it in our possession...what would you do with it? And item like that is dangerous…”
Roxanne was in her closet looking for some material when she stumbled upon it. The sword that she had found in the cabin where Randael fell. She smiled as she looked at it; then she touched the handled and a surge of energy flooded her. Roxanne felt powerful, like she could take on the world!
"Roxanne, are you ready?", Victor called out. Roxanne panicked for a bit and then put the sword away, she got the time she was looking for and close the closet. "I am now!", Roxanne responded to Victor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 11, 2017, 09:04:56 pm
"It might be possible, yes. This item I have here was used to sustain my own wards at a greater rate than hat I could do myself, so under the same principle it should. That might be even safer than trying to alter how the aura works when drawing from its normal power source." she suggested, before smiling some at her remarks about Victor. "I wish I knew, but I wouldn't be surprised if simple recklessness is the problem there. I can excuse the incident with the 'controlling undead' thing since he wasn't prepared for it to cause him physical pain, but then there's stuff like trying to make pacts with death spirits..." she said, clutching her temples.
"I still question what I see in him, sometimes." she remarked, before sighing some. "An item, but all signs point to Victor's sword being merely a lesser item, derived from a type of sword our orders used back when we were one. But there might be a link, or potential for one." she said, concerned now. "I'll...ask Victor about it later. If he's in on this though, he's beyond hope. He of all people would know surely, why this must be handled with caution. What little can be gleamed from The Source suggests...well, if their writings are alluding to the same 'forbidden puzzle' then that bodes unwell." he remarked, sighing some. "For now I suppose a start would be to examine the path this artifact takes us, if you wish. I'm hoping it simply leads to one of the items salvaged from the location, otherwise we'll have to deal with it tomorrow. You're still invited to tobnight's celebration, after all."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 11, 2017, 10:17:21 pm
“That’s great! You even know a technique for it already! Will you be able to teach it to me anytime soon? The aura of harvest is literally all I got going...apart from the basics of course…”, Melody responded to Helen’s answer about the source of energy. “Controlling the dead? Randael showed me how to do that but it didn’t hurt when they got hurt; we used soul shards to make them semi-independent. As for making a deal with a spirit of death...I don’t know if I understand correctly...like a deal with the devil but...with death?”, Melody asked her questions again.
“I didn’t know that item was so important then...good thing it never fell into the wrong hands...even Randael himself was afraid to use it; guess he wanted to preserve that body…”, Melody said about the sword, “Yeah, it is best if we wait until tomorrow to find out about this and about the sword...don’t want to ruin everyone else’s fun! I never been to a party before, anything I need to know...”
Roxanne and Victor had finished their ritual. Roxanne had applied a bandage on her arm to stop the bleeding. "Not the smartest move there...", Victor told Roxanne. "You are one to talk...seriously, you carry this everywhere you go?", Roxanne answered back. Victor nodded and Roxann just shook her head.
"You think this will work?", Victor asked Roxanne.
"Yes, I still have divine essence in me, this should all go smoothly.", Roxanne answered. She then took her spirit pill and crushed it into the small vial of her blood making it turn green. "It is done, the preparations are set!", Roxanne exclaimed.
"I can’t believe we are actually doing this...why did I agree to this?", Victor commented.
"Because you are no different than I am, we are both part of the same order after all.", Roxanne answer, "Anyways, just remember to take your pill before the party and find Melody ok?". Victor nodded as he picked up his stuff in preparation to leaving, "Remember, I am betting against it! Anyways, see you later, don’t get hammer before the party."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 11, 2017, 10:54:49 pm
"We can start tomorrow or whenever you're ready, until we find out what this item's linked to, we can either make use of my own for training, or I can work on making another." she suggested, smiling some as her mask deactivated, taking it back off. "There are different methods of animating the dead, admittedly. So that makes at least three ways of doing so we've encountered." she explained. "And not quite. They're...you saw the one leading a number of ancient warriors? That was one of the spirits of death in corporal form. We had an...accidental encounter that led to him becoming an ally of ours." she explained. The fact she was calling Death a "he" yet Randael an "it" likely stood out.
"I...I hope not, but I do fear how Victor might react to it. Or worse, Roxanne if she found it." she said softly, before shaking her head. "Regardless, I'll talk to Victor when I get a chance and then we'll figure out how to handle this. Just relax, will be a chance to meet the others too."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 11, 2017, 11:55:20 pm
Several hands went up, including Atomos's. She hadn't had a hotdog, even an improper one, in quiet a while. The cook picked her out right away, saying "Hey! Lady of honor! Why not? Hey everybody, this is the lady who brought in all that meat!" There was a little cheering and back slapping at that. The refugee center had been without meat for a week or two since the centers cooler had been blown. Cook boiled the hotdog, then seared it off in a pan. "Ketchup? Mustard?"
"Neither," Atomos said before taking the tube of meat wrapped in a slice of bread, "I like to taste my food before putting anything on it." She bit into the hotdog, then grimaced. It was tough and tasted of plastic. The bread was fine and Atomos came away with a bite of that, no problem, but the hotdog refused to be bitten into. "What the hell?" She said.
"That was the other things about this thing. The casings are inedible, see?" Atomos did see. The hotdog bore the mark of her teeth, but trying to bite into it was like sticking a rubber chew toy in her mouth. She tried again, this time bearing down with her fang. This new strategy worked, but once again she wished she hadn't. The hotdog tasted like a rubber chew toy. Cook was putting away the hotdog press and binning the others. "Tastes like shit doesn't it?"
Before Atomos could answer, someone from the crowd shouted, "Yo, cook, waddafuck? We ain't gettin' hotdogs?" Cook shook his head and made a gesture, signalling a couple of his assistance to wheel something else out. It looked like a large box with a cloth thrown over it. "This," Cook said, "Is what I really wanted to bring everyone down for." Atomos tossed her hotdog in the trash disappointed until cook whipped the sheet off the box and revealed the theater popcorn machine. "Line up everyone, buttered or unbuttered?" A little while later, Dervish and Atomos were sitting under the snake skin with a bucket of popcorn between them, discussing life in general.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on December 14, 2017, 01:01:16 am
"What you've heard is sure as hell true. Depends on the lab, mostly. What the feds couldn't afford was run by private corporations, and considering what exactly they were doing, they were given free reign of how to do it." Carrol responded, before looking to Hoyt on the note of the mutants getting restless.
"Sure. Right this way, gents." Hoyt nodded to Hector. He wasn't afraid of the mutants, but that didn't mean he'd like to get eaten by them for nothing. "Open the door, would you, Carrol?" At Hoyt's request, Carrol stepped over to the side door of the battered RV, swinging it open for him to lead the others through.
An overpowering, indescribably strong scent of chemicals suffused the place. It wasn't a bad smell, exactly. There wasn't anything overly foul about it, but anybody unused to it would probably have their head swimming after a few breaths. It was like living in a factory's smokestack. It looked to have been a relatively nice family luxury vehicle, the type of thing you'd take the kids and the wife up north with. Now, it was a house, drug lab, and living space, all at once.
The rear portion of the RV was rather crowded, but it wasn't exactly messy. Everything was packed tightly together, but orderly. The end opposite of the door was crowded with guns and ammunition. A veritable armory, and a strange variety. It looked like a military surplus museum. A few kits and tools related to firearm repair and reloading sat on the counter beside the weapons in their crates and racks. Next to these, it seemed, was a little kitchen, oddly enough. A hotplate, dining trays, silverware, and a large assortment of packed, non-perishable food, along with a few burlap bags containing heaps of skillfully foraged wild vegetables and mushrooms. A small booth with leather seats and a folding table sat to the right of the kitchen.
A counter situated next to the table and booth held some interesting things. A large assortment of books was visible in the lower bookshelf portion of the thing, mostly philosophical essays and old poetry interspersed with chemical textbooks and...strange-looking manila envelopes covered in printed numbers. Up top, though, was another story. Leather-bound, moldering tomes of indeterminate age leaned up against a big glass container. It was filled to the brim with a wispy, somewhat luminescent powder. Any onlookers familiar with something similar could probably hazard a guess at its origin. Beside this container sat a few bizarre trinkets: a human skull etched with strange runes, a small, ornate charm of silver and bone, and a golden ring with a trident-like motif emblazoned on it in silver.
The side with the door was packed with narcotics. A good half of the RV, that is. It looked like a federal evidence locker. It was obscene. There were unidentifiable bundles of one crystalline substance or another stacked ten high next to milk cartons filled to the brim with pill bottles. There were smudged glass vials with off-color liquids within next to extra-large freezer bags filled to bursting with colorful capsules in chalky beach-party colors. Sizable bricks of hashish jostled for space with bundles of dried mushrooms bound together with rough twine.
Left led to the driver and passenger seats, and right led to a small closed door. Most likely the back of the RV. Sleeping quarters, storage space, something like that.
"Welcome to my humble establishment. See anything you like? Everything's for sale. Er, well, most things. Almost everything." Hoyt listlessly muttered as he strode into the main aisle of the RV, looking back at the others expectantly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 14, 2017, 08:05:40 am
Hoyt had invited them in, but Mica held back. The RV had the reek of poison and chemicals wafting off it in invisible streamers, and the spider was unsure if she should draw near once the invite was given. When Hector strode in with only a little pause, she figured it would be fine. She was wrong.
Hector turned at the sound, barely audible, coming from behind him and saw Mica. He was struck with a momentary feeling of strangeness, as if looking at someone he'd never met. It wasn't that she was someone new of course, it was that he was seeing the rare occasion when Mica shut her mouth.
Her lips were drawn tight, rendering them invisible save for the two strips of darker pinkish skin that made up her very convincing pair of false lips. Hector saw that her reddening eyes were beginning to well up with tears and her nose to run. "Mica? Are you-" the illusion of her closed mouth was dispelled abruptly by the appearance of a black line tracing her lips and a dark ichor running from it down her chin. Her lips parted, and more of the resinous ichor spilled forth accompanied by an agonized hiss, covering her silk blouse and spraying gobs onto Hector's tunic.
"My-ka..." She said with syrupy slowness, "bees in My-kas head."
"W-" Nathaniel began, but then Mica was sneezing, ejecting fans of ichor and mucus. On some level, she knew she'd bit her tongue. Maybe even lost part of it. It would grow back, it always had, but for now it would be an agony to her. When she could get over her current hang up. The combined stink of drugs and cleaning product, especially cleaning product, which had come out to meet Mica as she attempted to climb into the RV after Hector had taken her sensitive olfactory system and drove a steel tent peg into it. What she wanted now was to thrash about, biting and flailing with her claws, trying to take the wasps nest in her nose out by force if necessary. Instead what she did, was shriek and black out for a little bit. "So." Dervish said. He picked another single kernel of popcorn from the bucket between Atomos and himself, savoring the theater butter it had been coated with. It had been years since either of them had eaten anything so "decadent" as theater style popcorn. "Found anybody you'd like to start a relationship with?"
Atomos coughed, nearly choking on her last handful of popcorn. When the fit passed, she asked "W-what?"
"Found a boyfriend yet?" He repeated nonchalantly. "You're out of the vault, among other people. Somebody must have caught your eye. Or you theirs."
Instead of answering him, she asked him, "Why do you ask?" Atomos peered at Dervish with suspicion, and he seemed to understand that look.
"No," He said, "I'm too old for any such thing as relationships. I ask simply because it is part of my job around here. I keep track of all the mutants that come in and out of the refugee center. You don't have to come over all shy with me, you already let your tail out." That was true. Atomos had pulled her tail carefully out of her pants before sitting down, and now her luxurious brush lay behind her flipping this way or that occasionally. "Everybody needs somebody." Dervish went on, "This next year more than ever I think."
She thought about it, and seriously. She had been interested in someone, as a matter of fact, but that someone had been a taken man. Dee was off limits, she realized, but that didn't mean anyone else was. "You'll find somebody." Dervish stated. "Even if you don't intend to go into anything serious, you'll find somebody. You're going to need it this next year."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 14, 2017, 11:21:12 am
Hector winced a little at the smell, looking around as he regarded the rather curious scene within the RV. The smell was intense, unnerving in fact, and it was enough that it was already giving Hector a bit of a headache. While Nathanial's gaze jumped back and forth between the collection of drugs and the armory, Hector's focused on the stranger items in the collection. He'd encountered enough hints of scavenged artifacts and oddities to immediately recognize the essence for what it was, and the small golden object was once he saw Helen wield before. Just the right size to grasp in the hand, with short prongs that would stick out from in between the fingers. A symbol of judgement.
The two of them would've remarked on the mess before them, or the stench of it, if not for Mica sneezing and flailing about. When she went from thrashing with horrible claws to nearly passing out, Hector rather uneasily grabbed her to help drag her out. "Mica? Easy, should...stay outside for now. Sanctus merda, it's a wonder you two have had your noses fall off." he said, a little dizzy himself. Nathaniel was now more unnerved as he fumbled to try and wipe himself off with whatever he had on hand, nearly gagging a bit. Made worse by recognizing that the strange ichor as likely what Mica had for blood. "Jesus fucking christ...alright, you two...scratch that, the three of you since I doubt Lilith's even going to get that far in there, stay here." he grumbled, taking a well-deserved breath of fresh air before entering the RV again.
He knew that if she realy was in here, she'd be behind the air, carefully making his way past the various shelves and haphazard-looking arrays of items to the door that waited, knocking on it first. "Kathrine? You there? Hector, Mica, and Lilith are waiting outside."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on December 15, 2017, 12:22:02 am
Alexei had taken off after making sure everyone was fine after the barn collapse. He’d found himself a deer after making a few crude arrows for his bow and found his mind drifting as he lined up his shot. His original plan had been to stay for a few days and let his wounds heal before moving on. But with the warm welcoming and his chance meeting with an old friend other thoughts had wandered into his mind and settled. Of course with his luck the people that had caused his walk out this direction would find him.
His mind caught up with reality as he left the deer carcass outside The Hall to go inside and check the still. Seeing that it was going fine he pulled out a bottle of vodka and took a sip as he went to find someone. He needed to get himself an axe to go cut some firewood to cook the deer. That and he figured he should ask about staying for a night instead of assuming.
Meanwhile Drifter walked over to Alice and gestured for her to follow him. He checked his Mosin before handing it to her and guiding her into the swamp. From there he set up a few targets for her to shoot and found himself happily surprised as she hit all the targets. Not bullseyes but still competent enough shots that he figured she could defend herself.
From there he helped her track one of the giant frogs before telling her to take the shot. Following his advice and teaching she managed to land the shot before looking back at him to receive an approving nod. After that he dragged it back to the farm before showing her how to butcher it and setting aside the meat to cook.
Before setting about that task he decided to go into the library and put his rifle on the small rack he’d put above the door. He’d made sure the weapon was safe to put up before walking back out and helping Alice put away the meat to cook later. For now he was satisfied with her progress in self defence. Other things could come later.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on December 15, 2017, 04:28:35 am
Kathrine tight grip around her knees tightened at the sound of Nathaniel's voice, but her tail betrayed how she actually felt about the situation by uncurling from around her and trailing across the floor. "...Yes." Part of her didn't want to go with Nathaniel. She didn't want to walk, and she was heavy, and he's all thin and noodly... "Go away..." Lilith, for one, had barely managed another step before gagging and physically recoiling. She wanted to do _something_, launch a rock at the van, throw a rock at the smelly people, throw the smelly people at the van, anything, but Nathaniel and Hector approaching the RV put a stopper on that. When Cub was out. Then she'd do something.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 15, 2017, 11:07:04 am
Nathaniel gave a sigh at that as she heard her, shaking his head. "Please Kath, we've been worried sick about you." he said, before trying the door. "Lilith especially. She came to the river right after these guys ran off with you, and she's been flipping between being sad and being pissed off since then." he remarked.
Hector now was a bit dizzy, swaying some as he laid Mica down beside Lilith, checking her breathing, and her pulse as best as he could given her chitin-covered nature. "How the hell do you get used to those fumes like that..." he remarked, looking over at Carrol.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 15, 2017, 07:43:12 pm
Melody listened on as Helen answered her questions. She gave small nods as the took in all the information. “I don’t know what to do with it personally. Randael gave me a few gifts that maybe we can take a look at later too.”, Melody responded before she gave Helen a confused look, “Three ways? Randael said he picke up his method from someone and then modified it. Told me it was ‘safer’ that way…”
“A spirit of death...you mean I was tasked to…”, Melody look down on the floor, the futility of being the last guard during the raid now apparent, “At least he is nice! I wouldn’t assume a spirit of death would have such…’human’ emotions like he showed. Guess you learn something everyday.”
Victor was back in his room for now. He had started to regret his little bet with Roxanne but he was a man of his word; he wouldn’t back off it. “So we have the life orb, now we have a soul shard...the only thing we need is…”, Victor was mumbling to himself. He was busy setting up some kind of ritual following the teaching of Purifier Everest and a little twist of his own. The silver athame he always carried now in his hand. “A little tribute to use as a catalyst…”
He took the athame and cut his hand open, he extended his other hand as it bleed instead of where the wound should be. He winced and then grinned at the thought Roxanne had just done this as well for a whole other reason. The blood he drew spilled onto the table surrounding the soul shard that was laid there in a circle. It laid on a piece of paper as the blood stained both the shard and it’s canvas.
Some incoherent word were mumbled and then the patterns on the paper glowed a bright white. It was as if the ink of the paper and the blood that stained it were swallowed by the shard. The shard then grew; it looked like snow crystal forming under a microscope. Then suddenly it engulfed itself becoming four times its original size.
“We have the device and the trigger, now we need the stabilizer…”, Victor said out loud to no one but himself. He grabbed the life or and then synthesize it using the same ritual he had told Helen to create dull essence without the tools of the Cleansing Flame. What the life orb left behind was what appeared to be both a powered and goo; it glowed a bright blue. Victor then took the grown soul shard which glowed a bright red and then let it absorb the blue essence of the life orb. The shard then shifted a bit before it changed color to an evershifting hue of purple; the ritual had been completed. “What can be worth more than a human soul? The salvation of another…”, Victor told himself.
The members of the command center waited as both Sigma and Lambda were let out of the vats; everyone else looked on: Router, Thomas and Delora. The bio-weapon twins were inside a vat with there eyes close as they floated in a strange green-ish liquid that was somehow still transparent.
“So what exactly are you doing to them Router?”, Delora asked. She in particular seemed a bit more worried than the rest. Router looked at her before answering.
“I am running some diagnosis on both them and the data we have. As you know, we won’t be able to stay in this lab too long. We are spread too thin and the vat at home is more than enough for now once we can confirm the data.”, Router responded.
“Ok then? But what exactly is the vat doing to them? Does it hurt?”, Delora asked again.
“Not at all. They are in a state of deep sleep, similar to a coma. As for what is being done to them? This machine has mutagenic and purification properties. Input genome data and the machine will alter the genome of the one inside the vat to match it. Right now, both Lambda and Sigma are both being restored to their original genome configuration. It is fixing minor mutations, altering epigenetics and a fe-”
“Wow wow wow! Hold it there egghead! English please?”
At this point, Thomas stepped in as he looked at Delora, “It is messing with their DNA to fix any damage to it and make sure they are healthy.”
“Thank you Thomas.”, Router told Thomas in response to his comment. He in turn simply did a gesture of acknowledgement before his ears twitch at a sound; his attention then turned back to Sigma and Lambda.
“I can make it work on you two you know? We can sequence your genome, find what’s human, alter it a bit and then adjust you however you want; or we can revert you, we can give you your normal life back.”, Router commented.
Delora looked on a bit in shock. Revert her? Second chance? What she had done with Roxanne was on a whim and it had brought her consequence she was paying to this day. That could go away? Surely it was too good to be true? Her state of excitement caused her wings to flap; she groaned as she concentrated to make them stop and then looked at an empty vat. “I’ll keep that in mind router…”, Delora responded.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on December 18, 2017, 04:13:10 am
Carrol nonchalantly watched as Hector laid Mica down on the grass. The fumes had gotten to her. Seemed her mutations were more than just cosmetic. They were basic, seemingly, and horrific, but not as primitive or as deforming as some others she'd seen. Carrol didn't answer for a bit, as she was too busy lighting up another pungent hand-rolled cigar. Hadn't she just finished one?
"You don't. Starts to feel good after a while, though." She muttered disinterestedly, puffing a ring of smoke out of her mouth as she watched Lilith and Mica. She looked like she'd been a rather pretty woman, once. She still was, but it was a bit tainted. Her eyes looked too old. The whites were the color of egg yolks.
Hoyt, for one, wasn't paying much attention to Nathaniel speaking to Kath. In the fleeting moments Hector had gone into the van, he'd surveyed it much the same as Nathaniel. Normally, people'd stare at either the drugs or the guns. Which Nathaniel did. Hector, however, had paid far more attention to Hoyt's little library and the items it contained.
This interested Hoyt. Unhealthily so.
He leered at Hector through the open door of the van. Not menacingly, really. It almost seemed involuntary.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on December 18, 2017, 09:26:22 am
Kathrine's uncoiling tail knocks over a bottle left just as Nathaniel goes to open the door, sending it to the ground with a very loud crashing sound. She ends up covering her head while keeping it pinned against her chest. "Mister Nathaniel, where's Miss Mica?" Kathrine pokes her head up, watching him enter. "...Mister Nathaniel? ...Is Catnip back? ...Does she hate me?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 18, 2017, 11:14:27 am
Hector had a thought. He'd known Mica long enough to know a little about her biology. Enough to know the thickish black ichor that filled her circulatory system would quickly harden. He also knew, that she seemed to be losing a lot of it through some injury in her mouth. If it hardened up in her throat, she would likely suffocate. The fact that her throat was probably flexible enough to dislodge it occurred to him too, but he wasn't sure.
Lilith was staring at him as he hooked a thumb under Mica's lower lip and the look she gave him told him what he already knew. "What you are doing, is beyond dumb." She seemed to be saying with her eyes. "No wonder it's always hanging open." He mumbled, marveling at the closeness of her teeth. Each little triangle fit perfectly, locking together like the layered shields of a well arranged phalanx. If she clenched them, she'd end up sinking the semi serrated points into her own cheeks. The only flaw in the view besides the streaks of black were the chips and breaks in some of Mica's pearly white teeth. A lot of them had fallen out and grew back since he and she went into the vault on their little raid, but several of the damaged ones still remained.
Beyond the teeth, Hector was relieved to see that her breathing had kept her airway clear, and that the resin seemed not to have set. With a little more worry, he saw that she was still bleeding. The snake-head shaped tip of her tongue was gone, the flesh inside the appendage being as Stygian black as the fluid flowing from it. Still, it wasn't blocking anything and he had just decided to leave her, when the spiders eyes flickered open.
Hectors reflexes were tuned to a high degree, and it was with that and astonishing luck that he managed to pull his hand away just in time to avoid the involuntary lunge and snap.
"My-ka bite self." She said, unconcerned for the near disaster. She ran out her tongue to where she could see it and winced. "Hek-tor find My-ka's lure!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 18, 2017, 12:45:14 pm
Hector had taken off his gauntlet to better examine Mica, but he knew from watching her tear into all manner of things that it wouldn't have helped much if those teeth caught him. Nonetheless he breathed a sigh of relief, patting Mica on the shoulder. "Still bleeding a bit, so be careful. Try to avoid tilting your head back in case more of it runs down your throat." he advised, looking back to Lilith and Hoyt.
Whereas the glance Lilith gave him was an obvious reminder that examining Mica was a terrible idea, the way Hoyt looked at him was concerning. He wasn't sure what to make of it. Meanwhile Nathaniel nodded a bit as he looked to she if she was alright, seeing at least some signs of bandages here and there, reluctant to examine her further. Now that he knew this hadn't been one big lie and that she was really still alive, that alone was a relief.
"Mica's outside, she couldn't even enter this thing without passing out. Literally blacked out, Hector had to drag her back outside. And Catnip's still back at the far-" The had she rather promptly abandoned the earlier delusion of Catnip's transformation, one he himself still hoped was correct, startled him. "...oh. She's...well, things are the same as ever. But Kath." he said. "She doesn't hate you, alright? I'm sure of it. I'd bet anything on it."
Helen simply smiled a bit at Melody's explanation. "I suspect whatever their method was, it might well be safest. One method we encountered almost certainly affects the balance between life and death. The one Victor researched seemed to cheat this system by exploiting the blob, but as a cost he shared in their pain. Modified...in that case I suppose it's two methods, Randael's method was likely derived from Victor's, in the time it was bound to his sword."
"I know. I never expected such of a spirit like that. In all honestly, my first glimpse of him wasn't pretty, even though our first meeting was cordial." she admitted, seemingly reluctant to explain the interaction of magical items and other effects that gave her that flawed vision of him through her mask-sight. "Regardless, for now I hope you take well to your studies and the new home he has to offer you, and I hope to see you at the party tonight." she said, soon taking her leave of the library for now.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 18, 2017, 01:01:37 pm
"No Hek-tor no!" Mica hissed at him petulantly, "Find My-ka's lure!" She didn't know what "lure" meant, but she had been told by Medeina that that was what the tip of her tongue was.
"Mica," Hector said calmly, enduring the playful slaps on his chest and shoulders, "You probably swallowed it."
"Oh. Well, that fine then. My-ka was gonna eat it anyway." She said. Hector grimaced and recoiled a little.
"W-what?"
"My-ka gotta. Wasteful not to. Can't grow new one without." She didn't know if that was true or not, (it wasn't) but it had been the way she'd always done it. Every so often, she would shed old chitin and she'd eat that. Long ago, Mica had been in possession of a tail. That part of her had been shot off, and later she had retrieved and eaten that too. Despite her belief though, her tail had never grown back.
She lay back, waiting for her sense of smell to return and for her eyes to stop burning. When it did, she would try again. Mica know she shouldn't, but it had to be done. Because she promised.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Luca on December 19, 2017, 03:12:54 am
The clicking and shifting of his leg always annoyed Ralph (https://pastebin.com/raw/jAmKKaYt). But really, he was in no place to complain, it was better than not having one at all.. And miles better than a regular prosthetic. But it was somewhat distracting… Was it always this loud? Maybe something was broken? No matter.
His eye zoomed in on the man cursing and swearing like a sailor, bound to a wooden, squeaking chair. Man, did he hate that chair.
But alas, he had things to do besides complaining about squeaking and clicking noises. He moved towards the chair positioned right next to the second captured ‘victim’, undoing it’s blindfold. The gaping bullethole in it’s forehead was a sight for sore eyes, at least Ralph had finally adjusted to firing with his new arm. Gripping the corpse’s hair, he threw the body towards the ground, the chair following suit.
“-fucking PSYCHOPATH.” The tied up body yelled, kicking into empty air as his blindfold blocked his vision.
“Oh. Did your hearing return to you? Sorry, I forgot how loud pistols can be in close quarters.” Ralph commented in a nonchalant tone.
“So… Now that your hearing is all here, wanna tell me where he is?” Ralph sat down on the wooden table in front of the bandit, praying to God it’d support his weight.
“Screw you.” The bandit spit into the general direction of Ralph, missing him completely, but Ralph got the gesture.
“Well, that’s… unfortunate. For you I mean.” Ralph stood up, reaching for the rusty heavy duty shovel leaning against the table.
Slowly, he lowered it into the small space below the bandit’s kneecap.
“So.. this is going to hurt quite a bit.” And with one swift hand-motion he pulled up the shovel, dislocating the kneecap as it jammed upwards. The resulting screaming was expected, but even Ralph slightly recoiled before dropping the shovel.
A backwards-hand slap across the cheek with his human hand was all it took to reduce the agonizing screams to whimpering. He grabbed the bandit’s chair, shoving him closer to the table, where Ralph’s map was lying, open for view.
Slowly he undid the bandit’s blindfold, and spoke a single word. “Where?” He hissed. Sobbingly, the bandit pointed towards an old run-down motel, quite a ways away from where they were.
Ralph nodded, grabbing his shovel once more only to whack the bandit over the head with it, knocking him out cold. Finally, gathering his stuff once more, he turned on his heel and left the abandoned house.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on December 19, 2017, 03:20:10 am
"...So Mistress really doeshate me now..." Kathrine remains curled up on the countertop, hugging her knees. Her ears are pinned back, with the multitude of emotions that could indicate. "B-but she said... She said forever..." And that's the cue for the waterworks. Kathrine starts crying, starting off with a quiet sniffle and quickly escalating to a louder sobbing. The way she's moving her mouth makes it seem like she's trying to talk still, but she can't force anything out.
Lilith had been looking at Hector like he was an idiot for that entire song and dance with Mica. Which, to be fair, he was. Lilith wouldn't let Nathaniel touch her like that, nevermind someone else. She lets out a low growl at Hoyt and Carrol, digging her claws into the dirt again. "...Cub."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 19, 2017, 01:30:00 pm
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at that. "Kath that's not..." And then the crying started, he wasn't sure to react at first. He was afraid of hurting her feelings, but at times her stubbornness got on his nerves. At this he set a hand on her shoulder, shaking a bit to get her attention. "Kathrine, listen to me. What happened to her doesn't affect how she feels about you, damnit. These God's Army fuckboys TOOK her from you. From us. Whatever the hell happened to her, it's not anything you did. So stop saying that...please." he said.
Hector sighed a bit at Micas rather bizarre ideas about eating her own bodyparts, before Lilith's apparent anger snapped him back to his senses. "Alright, Lilith you keep an eye on Mica. I'll check on them."
Elsewhere at The Hall, Solomon had been tending to Lucian's bandages again, while Sergei was setting up things to cook for later. Neither of them were sure who all would be coming to visit, simply waiting to hear anything else from the others. The signs of activity from inside the Hall at least hinted at them being there, for visitors and for Alexei to enter and inquire.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on December 20, 2017, 11:08:30 am
Lucian grumbled at Sol as he looked over the old, battered suit of plate. It was in rough condition, several lead slugs we embedded in it, large dents, and several bullet holes, even some in places that should of killed it's former wearer. "I'll be fine, Solomon." He grumbled as he winced at the stitched up hole in his abdomen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on December 20, 2017, 11:31:42 am
Alexei caught sight of the people inside and decided it would be easier to converse with Sergei in their mother tongue. Walking over he asked "Do you know where I can find an axe to cut some firewood. Caught a deer and I need to get some wood to cook it with."
As he spoke Alexei found himself reaching a hand up to gently touch a small drawing on part of his gas mask that hung around his neck as his eyes drifted to the presumably injured man with bandages on. His eyes snapped back to Sergei as he waited for an answer, hand sliding back down to his side. Whatever happened to that man he seems fine, just hope he didn't bring anythings ire back with him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on December 20, 2017, 12:14:57 pm
Kathrine's sobbing goes on for a while, until she's finally finished, or at least calmed down enough to respond. "B-but she's not here! So she hates me!" The shattered bottle on the floor shifts a bit as she fidgets. "A-and she's gonna hate me f-forever and ever and ever because I'm not a whore..."
Lilith just growls in response, nodding her head towards the RV. She's keeping eye contact with Carrol. "...Thupid thtinky lay-dee." There's clear hatred in her voice, and it's very clear that if she takes another step forward, something bad's gonna happen. Lilith hovers a paw over Mica defensively, pretty much completely covering most of her from view when combined with her massive arm. "Bug thay down."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 20, 2017, 12:44:22 pm
Victor had now exited his room and was making his way to the library looking for Melody. He had the artificial soul gem he created in on of his pockets. The two meet as she was exiting.
“Hey! Melody! Do you have a minute?", Victor asked
Melody waves back a he approached. “Hey! Yes, I do, what’s up?”, Melody asked.
Victor took out the gem, it was white now for some reason. Victor looked at it and then at Melody; she did the same recognizing this in plans Randael was working on. “So you have one...I am ready…”, Melody said.
Roxanne had decided to dress up for the occasion; nothing too flamboyant, just a simple red “party” dress. The only item she carried was a small leather coin purse. Victor and Melody catched up to her as she was exiting her room.
"Oh, hey there. You two getting along now?", Roxanne told Victor and Melody.
"Yes, we were doing a quickly little thing. Now, we have a party to go to, care to give us a ride?", Victor said; a certain hand gesture he give hinted to their little bet. Roxanne give a little smile and looks a Melody for a bit. Melody is looking away in is obviously a bit uncomfortable.
"Good timing then. I was about to leave without you. Now that I think about it, how would you two even get there… Anyways, should we head there now shall we?", Roxanne responded. The trio went to the APC and Roxanne headed to The Hall.
They eventually reach The Hall; the APC pulls in, the noise of it’s dual diesel and electric engines could be heard inside. Roxanne makes sure the weapon’s systems are off despite them not working. The trio then gets out with Victor and Melody following Roxanne.
"Now, be on your best behaviour you two! We are guests here.", Roxanne teased her two companions. She went to the main door and knocked on the door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 20, 2017, 01:12:07 pm
(( Smol addition contributed by Mrno. ))
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at that. "We didn't want to bring her here because we were afraid something might happen..." he said, looking down.
Kathrine's reply comes after a long wait. "...Alright." She loosens up somewhat, lifting her head up. "...Can we go home...?"
At this Nathaniel simply nodded and offered a hand to help her up, looking back to see Hector coming back in, coughing a bit at the intense smell of the place. "...you two alright?"
Helen had been waiting by the APC, giving a nod to the three of them. She could've walked over to The Hall, indeed felt like it'd be best to do so, but she decided to stick along for now, riding in the APC with them.
Solomon just nodded at that, giving a little sigh at that. "I know, just best to rest up, especially while the sutures are still healing up. Don't want them re-opening." he remarked, only to look back in surprise at Alexei. "Welcome back."
Sergei meanwhile just gave a nod at that, moving over to search a counter with various tools and other items stowed in it, various things the three of them had need of before, finding the old scavenged wood axe to offer to him. "Good timing, already getting ready to cook something, Helen reported back. Planning a party it seems." he answered.
It wasn't long before they heard the rumble of the engines not far off, and the knock soon afterward, Sol answering for them. "Hmm? Hello." he said. The young man seemed a bit nervous, especially seeing Roxanne, and the mask simply loosely hung from a belt likely stood out to Roxanne and Victor, though he seemed to ease up when Helen stepped up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on December 20, 2017, 01:52:20 pm
Alexei accepted the axe and said "I'll bring some extra fire wood then, never know if it will be needed. Be back in a few minutes."
With that Alexei walked out the door and started looking for some trees to get fire wood from. Hefting the axe in his hands he let himself think back a decade. Back when he and Bandit ran product, Bandit rapping along to whatever caught his fancy on the radio and the two smoked in his living room.
Roland meanwhile drove the jeep with an odd feeling of unease. The last time he'd done anything for Death he'd ended doing something from one of his worst nightmares. Now he was bringing someone with him back to the Third and the last thing they needed was something going wrong now. Still he couldn't just leave whoever it was out in the rain.
Pulling up to the Hall Roland dismounted the jeep and tucked his helmet on as he grabbed a bottle of whiskey one of the men had given him. Walking towards the building he knocked on the door and waited.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on December 21, 2017, 01:30:38 am
Sammy and Floyd return slightly battered and bruised. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jdqzUR1MT2PHWS5CEb-ZtIXoWmLF3rgjMD0v1mIqSbE/edit) The two make their way to Quinn's lab, giving three sturdy knocks. After a muffled sound of someone scrambling to get up the Doctor answers the door, "Yes? What is- oh. Come in, I'll take care of it." He stated, moving to the side and letting the two in to patch them up. Quinn looked at Sammy's wound first due to Floyd's demands that he does so. The wound wasn't serious enough to warrent sutures, so Quinn removed the bandages, cleaned and redressed the wound, and gave Sammy some asprin for the pain. Meanwhile Floyd had several grazes from shrapnel along with smaller shards in his back, Quinn pinched the bridge of his nose and grabbed a tray, a trauma kit, and draped a white sheet over his table. He layed Floyd down on the table while shooing Sammy away, "You're going to be fine, go and do... something. It can't be here." Sammy grimaced slightly at his attitude, "Jeez... okay." she answered him, walking out of the old trailer house.
Lucian rose up in the bed and gave a wave towards Helen, wrapping the plate armor back in the white linen cloth. Turning too fast to put the armor under the bed he winced, stifling a pained shout before laying back down in the bed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Luca on December 21, 2017, 04:04:33 pm
The claiming of another man’s life was never pleasant. But it felt empowering to Ralph in a way that nothing else reminded him of being alive. The copious amount of alcohol made the endless screams of agony at night fade away. They deserve no better. At least that’s how he justified it. And that’s just how he justified it when his fake hand crushed the throat of the choking bandit. His eyes rolled into the back of his head almost instantly as his corpse swung against the wall like a heavy sack of potatoes. Sweat had formed on Ralph’s back, darkening a large space in a shade on the back of his white shirt. The motel was creaky. He knew he could use this to his advantage, but the floorboards were traitors, even to him. Of course, the loud squeaking of his defunct cybernetic leg wasn’t helping his case. He leaned against the left wall of the tight hallway, just as the door a few feet in front of him flew open. His 1887 flew from shoulder-hoisted, to chest height in a matter of seconds, pumping whoever was standing in the doorframe full of lead. The shadowy figure flew back into the room they came from. Ralph didn’t bother checking, bandit or scavenger, they were either going to bleed out very soon, or in this case, be dead upon impact as the flechette rounds made their way squeezing through the ribcage into the heart. While the shot was silenced, Ralph was sure unless the last few survivors were deaf, they’d know something was up. He racked the lever back and forth in one swift motion, just as the door next to him creaked open. A gloved hand slowly peaked a Glock 22 out the small open space, prompting Ralph to shuffle his body in front of the door, his boot following suit as he kicked the door against the hand. A loud popping noise, followed by a gunshot rang out- Only interrupted by the muffled “FUCK” of the would-be assailant, though everything following the gunshot was just drowned out for Ralph and replaced by a familiar ringing. He kept his boot on the door, pressing down harder, shotgun directly up next to the door, which much to the bandit’s dismay, fired and penetrated. The disarmed hand went limp instantaneously- confirming the kill. Ralph took his foot off of the wooden door, resting his eyes on the gunshot entries for just a second, interrupted however by a .22 firing into the doorframe. He turned on his heel just in time as a second and third shot went off, adrenaline pumping, and it was that same feeling of excitement again, the same feeling that defined his state of being alive. He racked the lever and fired- and even as the body dropped he kept on racking and firing until the firearm refused and clicked. His breathing so heavy it turned into wheezing, he stared at the mutilated corpse, as if it could jump back up and shoot at him at any second. But even after minutes that felt like eternity to Ralph, it didn’t, which put him at ease. This would be the last of the grunts, then. He stepped over the mess of flesh, blonde hair, eyeballs and brain matter, undoing the first two buttons of his sweat covered shirt, and reaching into the chest-holster underneath it. And while he was stepping into the run-down room, he pulled the P38 from it. “Listen man- I-I don’t want any trouble alright? I’m unarmed-” Ralph turned slightly, empty shotgun in one hand and used the butt of said shotgun to shove the door closed. “Mind sitting down?” Ralph nodded towards the torn down bed, which he himself wouldn’t sleep in even if somebody paid him for it. Teary blue eyes stared at him, confused for just a second, but ultimately convinced by Ralph nonchalantly waving the barrel of the P38 at him from leg-height. “Right then, how do these work again..” Ralph pulled out a small mobile grey camera, ridden with scratches. “W-What are you trying to do? I think you’re supposed to press that-” He fiddled with the grey device a bit longer before being interrupted again. “The button, on the top of the camera-” Click. “Yeah, that one.” He looked at the displayed photograph of decaying wooden floorboards on the display of the camera for a second, before aiming the camera at the young man. “Say cheese.” Ralph muttered, before taking the picture. The flash blinded the gangster sitting on the bed, Ralph however ignored his tormented “What was that for?!” yellings, his vision fixed on the picture displayed, suddenly aiming the Walther at the target’s head and firing. He looked up from the camera’s display towards the corpse of the charcoal-haired man, before aiming the camera at the body again, and taking a second picture.
“Before and after.” He mumbled, holstering his Walther, turning on his heel once more and leaving.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on December 21, 2017, 04:56:55 pm
Kathrine, instead of taking Nathaniel's hand, latches onto him like a koala. She ends up hanging off the front of him, arms tightly wrapped around the back of his neck, legs clenched around his waist. "I'm sorry for running away..."
Lilith pretty much immediately loosens up at the sight of Kathrine. "Cub! Cub cub cub!" She's bouncing up and down on the spot, coming dangerously close to squishing Mica in the process. "CUB!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 21, 2017, 06:06:59 pm
Mica made a single, high, shrieky noise and scrambled away from the tigress. Sometimes Mica thought that maybe Lilith didn't have any concept of exactly how large she was, or maybe that she did know and didn't care. Mica crawled, she still couldn't manage to gain her feet without feeling incredibly dizzy, and grasped at the air placatively. "Give My-ka morsel small man! My-ka 'sposed to be watchin' for Kat-nyp!"
Nathaniel ignored her, if he was going to hand over Kathrine to anyone, it wouldn't be someone looking as grizzly and predatory as Mica did in that moment. Besides the look Lilith was giving her told him that it would be better, at least for now, if she didn't touch Kathrine at all.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 21, 2017, 06:11:53 pm
Nathaniel was nearly bowled over by that, though he didn't voice any complaint as he hauled her out as best as he could, Hector chuckling a bit as he reached to hold her instead. In contrast to Nathaniel barely able to hold onto her, he seemed to do so with little effort, the three leaving the RV. "It's fine Kath, I...I'm willing to bet you didn't know what those other people were after, right? You didn't know..." he pointed out.
Hector in contrast grumbled a bit at that, watching as Nathaniel made his way over to Lilith. "Just be careful, alright Kath? Don't go walking off with strangers next time." he said calmly.
Elsewhere, Helen practically barged in through the door on seeing Lucian, and more importantly that he seemed to be injured. "Lucian? What happened?" she asked, while Sol gave a nervous shrug. "He didn't explain much, so far. Seems he'll be fine if he doesn't go aggravating his injury though." he said, giving a concerned look to Lucian.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on December 22, 2017, 02:59:15 am
Lucian grinned, shrugging, "Tripped." he said simply. "Actually had a mark to take down, I brought the knight with. Got a wee bit stabbed through." He says oddly casually.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Forrest on December 22, 2017, 04:44:51 pm
Hoyt's attention was pulled from Hector, and Carrol's from Lilith, as Kathrine made her way out of the RV on Nathaniel. Took a bit of convincing, it seemed. He doubted that was because of his amazing cooking. Could've been. But he doubted it. He clapped as Hector took Kathrine from Nathaniel, carrying her easily and making his way to the mutants.
"Woo! Look at that! Heartwarming, really. That's what I do, see? I bring people together." Hoyt muttered offhandedly, running his fingers through the pills and powder they'd brought for him. "Kermit, get the fuck down here. We're good."
This statement was followed by rustling from the second story of the hotel. A lithe, shadowy figure stalked down from the stairs with a rifle as large as him. He was about Hoyt's size, but not as athletic. He looked pretty average, at that. Plain face, plain brown hair, a plated leather jacket, and a pair of green cargo pants. He kept his eyes down on the ground timidly as he passed by the group from the farm. Despite his obvious non-confrontational attitude, he carried the rifle very well.
The figure with the rifle loped into the RV as Hoyt exited it, smiling wide with his needle-like fangs and gesturing happily to Kath. "Man of my word, eh? Really was a pleasure." He said, gesturing for Carrol to step away over to him and the RV. "Anyways. I'm pretty sure we're gonna be...around, from now on. Maybe right here. Dunno yet, but there definitely is a conglomeration of living people around here, and that's the basis of a good business, eh?" Hoyt laughed after this, before regaining something of a straight face and composing himself.
"We'll stay in touch, alright? You, that refugee center, all that around here. Believe me, this is the most people I've seen in a good four years." He laughed again, but there was a solemn tone to the laugh. His eyes lingered on Hector and Lilith as he leaned on the van, Carrol next to him.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 22, 2017, 06:44:34 pm
Mica looked from one group to the other. "Already going?" She asked. She hadn't been expecting everything to go over so smoothly or quickly for that matter. Though, "smoothly" wasn't really the word for it. Her nose and throat stung like hell, her head swam menacingly, and her tongue was an agony in her mouth. On top of that, her silks were ruined. The resin was beginning to set in her mouth, always slow to do so in there, and most of the smaller cuts would probably be mostly healed by morning. Her "lure" though would be a good month, maybe two, until it had grown back. Until then, she wouldn't be able to taste a thing.
"Eh. What lizard gonna think?" She asked aloud. "Lizard gonna think somebody be hurtin' on My-ka." She sorely wished she was still in possession of the regeneration complex that had kept her alive through so many "hungry time" fights. It had had to go though. The healing had always made the hunger worse. Such vitality came at a cost.
"Going now?" She asked again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 22, 2017, 07:35:06 pm
Hector regarded Hoyt a bit warily, before he gave a nod. "Leery as I was having heard all this secondhand, I'm glad this turned out well. Especially with groups like God's Army out there." he said, giving a nod to Mica as he turned to carry Kathrine to the tank.
Nathaniel meanwhile looked over, seeing the movement. He was surprised at this, yet he now realized it made sense for there to have been someone on overwatch this entire time. "You likewise should be on alert for those guys. Their usual emblem is a blue cross over whatever kevlar or other armor they can get their hands on. Tendency to fuck with local settlements, crucifying mutants and cyborgs that they get their hands on. Given I'd be willing to guess you'd rate as 2a, and even if that isn't actually mutation they'd likely go after you anyway." he explained. "Already run into them a lot the past year or so, and refugee center weathered a full-on attack from them some time ago."
He then went over to Mica, giving a nod. "When you're ready, let's head out. You guys take care now." he said, while Hector helped Kathrine in, to take a seat in the turret. It wasn't long before the others walked to where the tank was too, Hector hmming a bit as the radio buzzed with activity.
"Glad to hear you guys are back. We'll be returning soon, Kath's with us. Tell Roxanne I'll meet her there at Helen's place then." he reported over the radio.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 22, 2017, 08:06:47 pm
Roxanne and co were surprised to be greeted at the door by such a young man. What was more surprising was that he had what looked like the mask of insight Helen wore hanging by the side of his person. His nervousness was easily noticed; specially by Roxanne who’s job pre-cataclysm included gathering information from people in one-on-one interactions. Victor and Melody discreetly downed their respective pills for the little thing they had planned.
"Hi there! I don’t believe we have met. I am Roxanne Luna, he is Victor Ironwood and the girl is Melody. Huh, hey Melody, do you have a surname? No? Ok then, just Melody it seems. Anyways, we are here since Helen invited us to a party she is organizing; but it seems she noticed something that required her attention.", Roxanne said to sol as her little introduction; Victor leaned in and whispered into Roxanne’s ear which caused her to smile, "Hey, it seems these two forgot this was a party and forgot to change into more appropriate clothing. Would you mind telling them about someplace around here where they can get change uninterrupted? Thank you dear."
They then heard the radio broadcast come in from the one-way radio Melody was carrying. It was Hector announcing the return of the others who had gone on their little adventure. Roxanne had not seen him since their last little interaction before they set off to take down Randael; she seemed to spring to live upon hearing this broadcast but tried to hide it as best she could. "Oh, he is coming here! Ahem, I mean, good. Guess another guest will be able to make it. I’ll wait around here for him to arrive I supposed..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 22, 2017, 08:46:20 pm
Solomon nodded at that, looking back to Helen as she went over to Lucian, then giving a polite nod to Roxanne in response to this. "A pleasure to meet the three of you. I'm Solomon Simms. And should be...oh, s-sure. One second." he said, going to answer the door, giving a nod to Roland. "Welcome, please come in." he said. Then he'd show the two outside, to the adjacent small cabin nearby, which Helen tended to use as her own personal quarters when not using the beds in the back of the longhouse. He was glad that Helen stashed any magical items in a locker in the hall itself, given he was a bit uncertain of their intent. "Aren't you Helen's, er..."
Helen meanwhile hmmed a bit at that. "I see. I trust that you completed your mission though. Just be careful and rest up. A pleasant surprise to see you here though." she admitted, smiling some before going to help with preparations, already Sol and Sergei had started cooking, making good use of some of the scavenged supplies and what had been grown in the gardens near The Hall.
Elsewhere, Hector hmmed a bit, while Nathaniel got out of his seat in the commander's hatch to check on Kath and Mica. "Kath? I know Hector's likely gonna want to go see Roxanne, what about you? You want to come along for the thing they're doing? Honestly I might end up staying at the farm to keep an eye on things."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on December 22, 2017, 08:58:17 pm
Roland nodded to the man that had greeted him, about to say something until he noticed the man rush off to speak with the others. Shrugging to himself he decided to go see if he could make himself useful. No sense sitting here with a thumb up my ass, may as well start with seeing if they need a hand in the kitchen...
Alexei meanwhile had made his way back with more than enough fire wood to cook his deer and help with anything they'd need. Walking in he set the axe where Sergei had retrieved it from before walking back to the kitchen and informing them about the surplus of wood he'd gotten. From there he retrieved his knife to go butcher the deer for cooking.
The work was something he'd become accustomed to after seven or so years in the apocalypse..or after it. He wasn't so sure which of those applied to be honest but it had forced some of his rusty skills to the forefront. Soon though he had pretty well everything set aside and ready to be prepared to cook with the skin kept almost intact, a few cuts here or there but still usable. He should probably let Helen or someone know..probably Sergei now that he was thinking of it since he seemed in charge of preparations.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 24, 2017, 03:31:41 am
Victor and Melody followed Sol as guided them to a small cabin outside the main hall. The young man’s aura hinted at a bit of uneasiness but Victor shrugged it off. They came to a stop and then Sol made his little question.
"Helen’s what? I don’t follow?", Victor asked back. He looked at him with a confused look before he looked at Melody for a bit. "Wait wait no, that isn’t what’s going on here. The fact you have a mask of insight with you makes me assume you know of the arcane. We need to do a very specific ritual real quick and we need to do it in private; it’s dedicated stuff.", Victor explained to Sol briefly. Melody herself was oblivious to what was going on. The young man just gave them a look of suspicion that read ‘Sure, whatever’.
Once the two were left alone, Victor opened the door and explained to Melody what was going to happen one last time, "Ok, like we discussed. We go in, follow the steps and get out; quick, easy and painless."
“Yeah, I get that, but why do we have to do it here? Why couldn’t do it back at the farm?”, Melody asked back.
"Because we need to be outside of the beacon’s radius for this to work. Besides, we were coming here anyways so might as well do it here."
“That makes sense. Still, I can’t help but feel like there is an ulterior motive at play…”
Victor didn’t respond to her last statement, instead going inside the cabin and signaling for Melody to do the same. She gave a deep sigh and stepped inside as well. The door close while both the stray mage and witch to be got to work.
The door of the cabin flew open after while. Victor walked out with his hands in his pockets as he quickly walked back to the hall; annoyance clearly present in his face. Melody followed swiftly after she stepped out and close the door. “Wait! Victor! I am sorry!”, Melody exclaimed as she catched up to him.
Melody catched up despite Victor’s pace. “Are you mad? I didn’t mean to! I am new to all this and I didn’t know what I was doing…”, Melody said. Victor didn’t respond at first, he simply walked along for a bit.
"No, I am not mad. Let’s just forget about it ok? Besides, we have a party to attend to.", Victor told Melody without looking at her; his next remark lower in volume, "And I have a bet to pay..." As the two walked, Victor started thinking a few things, "Kids and magic these days… They are going to be the end of me...Now I know how Helen feels sometimes...", Victor thought to himself; that last statement giving him pause, "Huh? Interesting...guess I have to think a few things later on..."
Roxanne had been left alone with her thoughts. She awaited close to the door waiting for her literal knight in shining armor to come for her. It had been a while since had seen him, in her mind at least, and a few things were different. The anticipation of his arrival alone was enough to keep her going; which was a good thing; she was bored out of her mind. There was no special skill she had to contribute to the preparation of the party and she had come ‘dry’; her sobriety only making things worse.
"Let’s see what happens next...", Roxanne talked to herself, "For now, maybe going down memory lane would help pass the time."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 24, 2017, 05:40:23 am
The tank drove on, and Mica watched over Kathrine as dutifully as a trained dog. "Morsel?" She mewled over and over, punctuating each instance of the word with a not unpleasant purring rattle from somewhere in her throat and chest. "Morsel?"
"What..." Kathrine moaned. She didn't want to talk to Mica. Mica was one of the ones she labeled a "meaner." On top of being mean, she was also scary and dumb. Mica sidled in closer and Kathrine shrank back painfully.
"Why you so sad Morsel? Cuz Kat-nyp not here?" She asked. Kathrine nodded slowly, looking to be on the edge of crying. She wasn't going to cry though, not in front of Ms. Mica.
"Mistress left because I was mean and she hates me..."
That didn't make sense to Mica, but she wasn't about to argue. She didn't know where her sister had gone, but she knew that if Catnip was really dissatisfied or even angry with her morsel, she would not have told Mica to protect her. Mica liked to believe Catnip would have given Kathrine to her to eat if she hated the morsel, but didn't say so. She wasn't sure she even wanted to eat Kathrine anymore.
Kathrine, as if reading her thoughts, asked "Ms. Mica, are you going to eat me?" Mica looked shocked. No, she didn't want to. Now that the question was out, and Mica told her so. She was disturbed a little by Kathrines disappointment.
"Alright everybody, we're home!" Came the call, and Mica carefully helped get Kathrine out of the tank.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 24, 2017, 01:53:17 pm
Sol was still a bit uncertain at this, but accepted that excuse. He himself had little experience in the arcane, only a few things overheard from Helen plus her limited teachings. He merely hoped it wasn't something dangerous. If he'd been outside instead of inside helping Helen, Roland, and Sergei then he likely would've questioned whether his initial suspicion was correct.
For now a few things were set out, some of the quicker items made, along with drinks. Fruit wine, posca, even vodka had been set out on the table, plenty available in fact. Having seen Roxanne waiting by the door, Helen walked over to offer her a drink as well.
Soon though, she picked up the radio to announce something. "To anyone at the farm or refugee center, friends and comrades who may be hearing this. Today an important mission has been accomplished, and in celebration we've arranged for a party here at The Hall of Odin's Blessing. Just south of where the others have parked, along the river's shore. Food should be ready within the hour, and drinks are already ready, though bring any more if you wish."
Elsewhere, when the tank came to a stop, and Mica helped Kathrine out of the tank, she'd finally get her first look at what happened to the barn. It was an utter mess, a mostly-collapsed ruin over a curious abundance of plant life. Aside from the area around the forge having been hastily cleared, the whole place was still in shambles.
Nathaniel winced a bit as he realized something. "Oh shit this is going to be hard to explain. Yeah, um...Kath? A tree kinda...grew into the barn due to magical weirdness. Then Lilith kinda collapsed what was left of the the barn trying to get rid of that big one there." he said.
"I'm gonna...stay with Kath and the others, alright Hector? You have someone to visit, I suspect..." he added, and Hector sighed a bit. "You sure? If Kath or the others decide they want to, just radio ahead and I'll be back immediately." he offered.
"Alight then. But just in case I'll still stay here to keep an eye on things." Nathaniel added. First Hector walked past to go to his room, remove the plate cuirass and mail, and change into a fresh set of clothes. For now he brought his mail and shield, returning to the tank to drive over. It was a brief drive in fact, and a short walk down the river's shore after parking by the roadside. It was a rarity to see him in a dress shirt and slacks, with his shield, hauberk, and gauntlets left in the tank. Instead just the sword in its scabbard and that side-flute he brought out last party, as he knocked on the door.
He saw her there, in the form he'd grown familiar with. And the remarkable space of the longhouse The Hall of Odin's Blessing was, two long wooden tables with rows of chairs running along either side of the main space. Behind it was the great stone hearth, a central chimney adding stonework to the wooden construction of the building. Its fire lit of most of the building, adding to the light of candles placed on the table. He wondered how the three of them had done such work over the course of the year, even finding time to face the interior side walls with decorative carving, though it seemed half-finished. Depicting mythlogical scenes that began to blend in with other imagery, details that seemed rather peculiar by the light of the hearth.
By now most of the food and drink was set on the tables, Helen having set out most of the foo and drink already, almost all of it ready. "Roxanne, I missed you...I'm glad you're back. And retrieved your body, I see?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on December 25, 2017, 01:55:23 am
Bandit heard the message through his radio and decided to head up there. He could use a party. Pulling out a blunt he lit it as he walked down the path towards the Hall. Turning on an old CD player he'd traded for he listened to the old songs as he walked, Cass voicing only minor protest as they made their way.
Drifter and Alice had fallen into step a ways behind him having heard the broadcast as well. As Bandit pushed through the doorway he blew a puff of smoke into the air and said "Heard you were havin' a party. Thought I'd bring some favors for everyone."
Drifter shook his head as he saw Roland the pair talked for a few minutes. While they did this Bandit looked around for the man that Roxanne had mentioned to him, someone who could teach him about this 'alchemy' thing. Granted he just wanted to ask for the moment, he still wanted to party into the night and probably into the next day.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on December 25, 2017, 02:16:45 am
Sammy fiddles with her radio, a message crackled to life...
"...anyone at the farm or refugee center, friends and comrades who may be hearing this. Today an important mission has been accomplished, and in celebration we've arranged for a party here at The Hall of Odin's Blessing. Just south of where the others have parked, along the river's shore. Food should be ready within the hour, and drinks are already ready, though bring any more if you wish."
She shrugged, putting away her radio and walking over to the hall, stopping at the small room she's staying in to stash her rifle, revolver, and ammunition, replacing her large hunting knife with a small folding knife. She looks at the large steamer trunk which Floyd had put his old dog tags, photos from Afghanistan, and family photo album. She kept those in there along with storing her clothes inside. Sammy took off her jacket, a desert army jacket that was a size too large for her. She looked around the trunk, cussing to herself quietly when she can't think of what to wear. She took an old, yellow flannel jacket, she puts it on over an olive green t-shirt, rolling up the sleeves. Sammy groans quietly, "Ffffuck it..." he mumbles, heading out of the room and heading towards The Hall, walking there.
Lucian looked at the bottles of wine and food on the table, he grinned slightly as he got up. He walked towards the bottles, grabbing a bottle of berry wine for himself along with a clay cup. He sits down back in the bed, popping open the cork and pouring it into the cup. He nods towards Bandit as he walked in, "Watch the smoke, you'll never get the stench out of the furniture." Lucian joked as he sipped from the cup.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 25, 2017, 02:41:11 am
Roxanne had been standing around a for a bit; she would smile and giggle to herself every once in awhile. Helen came by with a drink which Roxanne happily accepted and thanked her for. She drank is slowly to enjoy herself as more memories were recalled. It when she finished her drink that she saw him, her knight walked in and Roxanne perked up immediately. Roxanne walked towards Hector and stood in front of him; she placed her hand in front of her and swayed from side to side as she looked at him longingly. "I missed you too Hector...and yes, I got it back. The mission was a success! It’s over now, we can relax. ", Roxanne responded to Hector. She then leaps towards Hector into a hug. "It’s good to be back..."
The hug lasted for a while; Roxanne not wanting to let go but she eventually did as she realized that any more would just seem weird to both Hector and those around them. After she did so, Roxanne cleared her throat and regained her composer. "It’s been a while since we had time for ourselves...and the possession doesn’t count! How about we go and fetch a drink and catch up a bit...I assume we both have been pretty busy lately...", Roxanne told Hector.
Victor and Melody walked in as Roxanne hugged Hector. Victor gave a deep sigh and a smile. "The knight is here, good. Should keep her busy. Means I don’t have to deal with this until later and the both of us can relax for a bit.", Victor said both to himself and Melody.
Melody looked on at both Roxanne and Hector, she could tell what was going on; she could see they had feelings for each other. This was something she had never had to herself; at that moment in time, Melody both envied and loathed Roxanne.
"You’ll find some. You still have time, don’t rush things.", Victor told Melody while he still looked forward.
Melody turned her head and looked at him with both confused and surprised. “What do you mean?”, Melody asked softly.
"The way you are looking and Hector and Roxanne. We just had our auras linked, I know a thing or two about you know; comes with the territory."
Melody looked away as she blushed a bit. “That wasn’t a very nice thing to do! You shouldn’t just go around looking into other people’s memories and stuff…”
Victor smirked at her reaction. "Guess we are even then, wouldn’t you say? And I don’t, that would be Roxanne. Back when she was stuck as a divine spirit, she possessed a few people. I know have her memories and she has mine, felt similar to what we just did. Anyways, we have a party to enjoy. Let’s follow in those two loves bird’s foot steps and have some fun. Enjoy this, you will be joining away to the settlement the spirit of death told you about after this."
“Wait wait,are you leaving me? What should I do? I don’t know what’s going on!”
"It’s a party! Do whatever you want for fun. Talk to people, have a few drinks, I don’t know. Do what you usually do!" Victor then walks away from Melody in search of something to drink himself. Melody is left there not knowing what to do. This was all new to her; she just stood there in the middle of the place looking around. “S-someone help me…”, she told herself in a soft and barely audible voice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on December 25, 2017, 02:53:55 am
Bandit nodded to Lucian as he walked over and said "And don't spill the wine on the furniture either, it'll stain. Name's Bandit." As he said this he motioned with the blunt in an offering gesture as he observed the man.
Meanwhile Roland recognized the person that Death had sent him to retrieve and set aside the utensils he'd been using as he excused himself from the kitchen. Adjusting his jacket as he walked he wondered why this one was so important to Death as to actually incur a debt to someone. Shrugging that off for the moment Roland grabbed two bottles of beer before walking over and offering one to her. "Howdy ma'am. Seem a bit lost there, something wrong?" He asked in his southern drawl, actual concern and care clear in his tone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 25, 2017, 03:29:36 am
Melody looks around a bit, she looks nervous because she is. Roland approaching her startled her a bit as she gave a small yelp. “H-hello! Oh, is that for me?”, Melody says to Roland in response to him as she accepts one of the bottles, “I am fine, it’s just that yes...I am lost, in a few ways. I have never been here and I don’t know what I am supposed to do here.” Melody then looks around for a bit before whispering at him. “I’ve never been to a party before…”
She seems to trust Roland right away. Mostly under the assumption that if he was let in, he must be friendly. Besides, he was nice to her; he asked if she was ok and brought her a drink. “Oh, how rude of me. My name is Melody...no last name… I am an aspiring mage! And who might you be mister?”, Melody both told and asked Roland. She opened the bottle and took began to drink. Melody seemed a bit a more calm now that she wasn’t alone.
Meanwhile, Victor had gone and fetch a beer for himself as well. He walked outside while drinking it. Once he found a good spot, he took a large swig before taking out the soul gem, it was no transparent; he set it down on the floor with one hand as the other held the bottle. Then he used that same hand to withdraw his sword. "You served well for a prototype. Will have to perfect the design but hey, it worked flawlessly!", Victor said to himself. He let the tip of the sword touch the gem as it then disintegrated into dust and it surrounded the blade before being absorbed. Victor grinned before downing the rest of the beer while holding the sword in his other hand.
"Gonna need another one of those...", Victor said upon looking at his empty bottle. He shrugged before sheathing his sword and then walking back inside to fetch another drink. He activated his aura spell and device to see if he could spot Helen; he does and he smiles a bit for a couple of reasons. "Maybe I should go talk to her later on. It’s over now...it’s finally over...We are at peace once more...Only Catnip and Roxanne to worry about but there is not much I can do in either case...oh well; I’ll worry about it later."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 25, 2017, 01:38:18 pm
(( Sammy bein' smol and cute brought to you by Wilson. ))
Hector smiled as he saw her, uncertain what to say next before she hugged him. He returned the embrace, and after all that'd happened he was reluctant to let her go. Afterwards though, he stole a quick kiss. "I'm glad to see you back safely, as well as the others."
"Interesting as that...possession was, would be nice to. For now yes, should catch up. You can tell me more about how it went, too." he said, deciding to try the posca first, taking one of the various handmade ceramic cups to pour some in, looking back to Roxanne. "As for me, bit of cleaning up what...used to be the forge, and then we heard from the people who got ahold of Kathrine. She's back safe and sound now, at least."
Sergei looked around as others enjoyed food and drink, taking a sip of vodka. He was rather impressed by Alexei's work in a relatively short amount of time, going easy on it for now. Then he saw her, the girl he had briefly met last time he was at the farm. "Glad to see you here too. Don't think I got your name last time. I'm Sergei Mikhailov."
Sammy grew flustered, "U-uhm. H-heeeey, hi! I-I'm Sammy!" She stuttered. Sergei was blushing a bit as well. "Glad to see you again Sammy." "You too!" she replied, not sure how to continue. Fffuuuck...what are you DOING?
Sergei smiled a bit at that, getting a little shot glass. "Anything you'd like? Mostly just different sorts of wine, that concoction Helen made, and thanks to Alexei vodka." he said. "Plus we m-made shashlik..."
"uhm... what's that? Shashlik, I-I mean..." she asked, and Sergei grabbed a plate to get one of the skewers of meat and vegetables. "Like a kebab and other stuff of that s-sort?" Among the things there were the sort of soup Helen commonly made, various steamed vegetables and salad from all manner of wild and garden vegetables, quick bread and other items Helen had prepared. Thanks to Sergei there was not only the skewered meat but also sweetened confections made using whatever edible seeds they had in abundance as an alternative to sunflower seeds, pressed into a sort of flour, along with pelmenis, garlic bread, and other items.
"O-oh! It looks good! D-did you make it yourself?" she asked, and Sergei seemed to get a bit less nervous now. "These, yes. Along with Solomon helping out. Same with the pelmenis and halva. His idea to suggest something to use instead of sunflower seeds. Helen made most of the other stuff though."
"Uhm...c-cooooooool." she replies with a thumbs up, Fuckfuckfuck HE'S GONNA THINK I'M NOT INTERESTED SHIT her thoughts scream at her. Sergei smiled a bit, offering her some. "It...it is?" Sammy takes some of the food, "Y-yeah!" oh thank god
Meanwhile Helen downed a bit more of the wine before heading over to Victor, seeing him having come back inside. "Hope you're alright? There were some things I wanted to talk to you about later, but for now..." she said, smiling some. "I think the knight brought the flute again. Anything else besides the songs of former enemies you think you can play?" she said teasingly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on December 25, 2017, 04:14:33 pm
Roland thought back to the last time he had been at a party, back when he was a preacher in his old church. "I'm Roland, last name's McCall. Glad to meet you. As for what you do at parties you relax, talk, have fun. At least that's the usual thing, sometimes it's good to just sit and have a drink with someone."
Taking a drink from the bottle in his hand Roland looked around and continued "And since you were honest with me I ought to return the favor. Only reason I knew the festivities were going was a friend of mine asked me to swing by, enjoy the party, and then bring someone back with me. Said they were a good sort that needed a home."
Meanwhile Alexei had finished preparations and had begun actually cooking the deer outside. As he sat outside his voice drifted into the building as he sang on old drinking song. As he sang he realized this was probably the only thing he could actually sing or speak in near perfect english. Shrugging to himself he continued singing as he waited for the deer to finish cooking.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on December 25, 2017, 04:35:18 pm
Lucian waved away the joint, "I'm good, thanks though." he declined, taking another sip when a thought came to him. "What're you talkin' about? This isn't wine." he says simply, grinning slightly as he refilled the cup with the dark red berry wine.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 25, 2017, 06:14:32 pm
Roxanne slowly walked alongside Hector towards where the drinks were at. She was avoiding eye contact with anyone; she was acting a bit shy and reserve as soon as Hector came in. Roxanne decided to try some of the posca as well; if it was good for Hector, it was good for her as well.
"Overall, nothing to out of the ordinary. We infiltrated a location, took down it’s minions and executed the boss. Main difference being was that instead of bullets and swords, we were against magic and spirits. We did have a casualty...none of ours but from a group who assisted us...but that is behind us; wherever they are, they surely smile upon their comrades...", Roxanne answered Hector; she took a drink from the posca and was surprised by the taste. It wasn’t bitter nor did it burn her throat; it wasn’t dry or tasteless either. "This is pretty good, might take some for the road as well.", Roxanne told Hector, "Oh, so you got Kathrine back? That’s good! Sorry I couldn’t be there to help but you know, impending doom and all that." Her own last statement made her recall a couple things: the pieces and the consecration ritual. For the time being, she pushed those thoughts aside. "So, how were they? Kath’s captors I mean? What did they want and did you give it to them? Brought me any souvenirs?", Roxanne asked.
Victor waved at Helen once he spotted her as he was coming in. "Yes, I am doing alright. Had to take care of a few things real quick but that is done. And sure, whatever you want to talk about I am here whenever you are ready." Victor took the hand that wasn’t holding anything and put it inside his trenchcoat’s pocket as he spoke; it was more a symbol that was was relaxed that anything else. "Well, while reading books to learn on other culture’s knowledge of the arcane, I stumbled about quite a few stories, songs and dance; I learned the most interesting of the bunch so yes, I should have something to play." He then raised the empty beer bottle at Helen. "I am also going to need some more liquid courage. One isn’t going to cut it. Want to go and fetch something or did you have your pick? Anything you recommend?”
“Roland? Glad to meet you too!”, Melody responded to Roland, "I think I just might the second one. I am not very good at being out there out and about… I do like to talk, a nice chat always warms my heart."
“Oh? You come to pick someone up? I was told wait for someone that would come and take me to a settlement to work in. Are you perhaps here for me? This might sound a bit silly and hard to believe but I was given an offer by a particular spirit.”, Melody said in response to Roland’s second remarks. She was about halfway done with her beer when she took another drink. Despite her previous attitude, she seemed to be enjoying herself overall.
“So, do you know the people I am going to go with? How are they? I must admit I am a bit nervous. Do you mind telling me a bit about them? Sorry for all the questions…”, Melody says to Roland. An almost childlike fascination and curiosity can be heard in the tone of her voice; endearing to some, annoying to others.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 25, 2017, 06:35:09 pm
Hector smiled a bit, the drink seemed rather sweet to him, and mild as well. Likely the reason why he seemed to enjoy it, given even he could handle a fair bit of it. "That's what I suspected. So it went well then, mostly. Do hope these others fare well." he said, regarding her remarks curiously. "Surprisingly it went well. Seems they weren't with whoever first lured Kath away and injured her, instead treated her injuries. I was...a bit leery of going through with it, but we traded some assorted medical supplies to them. Didn't get anything for you sadly." he admitted.
"What of you though? Didn't tell me much about the place. Any discoveries there, wherever it was? Aside from evidently bringing someone back with you." he remarked.
Helen gave a nod at that. "So I see. Whatever it may be, I hope it went well. You get me worried sometimes." she said. Her thoughts lingered on what Melody said, and on the aura she sensed before. "There is one thing that concerns me, I'll...we can handle it tomorrow. For now..." She leaned in to give him a kiss. "And other things that can wait for later tonight, or whenever you'd prefer."
"Well thanks to a new friend of Sergei's we have something stronger, aside from the wine. So whichever works. Would be interesting to see what you've picked up along the way." she said, smiling a bit as she grabbed a vessel containing more of the fruit wine she had.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on December 25, 2017, 06:45:41 pm
Bandit adjusted his mask as he stared at Lucian for a couple of seconds. He blew out a puff of smoke before saying "Right..magic is a thing..just don't bite me bat boy. Assuming you're not just fucking with me..."
As he said this Bandit reached a spare hand up to his necklace and rubbed his thumb over his cross. He was still new to the whole magic being real thing. Regardless of his curiosity he was still going to be cautious.
Meanwhile Roland smiled at Melody as he adjusted his helmet and told her "I know the spirit you're talking about, did a bit of work for him. The people I'm going to bring you to are a group called the Third Paratroopers, though I've a feeling they're going to change the name at some point. Lost their old home and I brought them out this way after I finished my..business out there."
His expression soured for a moment before his smile returned and he took a drink from his bottle, most of it's contents gone. Continuing he told her "They're a kind sort, a lot of..mutants? I honestly don't know a word that'd sound kinder, but most have minor mutations and a few are quite heavily mutated. So long as you're willing to help out and learn from them they'd be more than willing to bring you in. Just don't mess with Maxim's tank, the man's a bit protective of the thing."
He motioned for her to follow him as he found a couple of chairs and sat down near a table. "Oh, and they wear old military styled uniforms. Kind of tradition for them at this point. They do let you customize the thing quite a bit but the uniform itself is a symbol for them. You have one of those then you're family to them and they take care of family."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on December 25, 2017, 07:44:25 pm
Lucian snickers, bearing a grin showing teeth and winking as he sips from the berry wine. "Sure is, and I won't, don't wanna contact high" He teases as he puts his feet up on the bed.
((dragon helped with this shhtuff))
Sammy fumbles with her words, not sure how to talk to Sergei. "S-so! uh... what do you do for fun...?" She asks, cussing herself out to herself in her mind. Sergei smiled a bit at that. "Exploring and such usually, better than just sitting around drinking and such." he remarked. "Used to know some people and have work at an old settlement around a bar, called Hap's. Never much work there though..." She listened intently, "I-I heard of Hap's, it was too far away from where I was living to actually go there, though..." she replied. "I did the same usually, I read while I was sitting around the loft though..." Sergei nodded at that. "Nice place usually, bunch there helps keep things civil. Got a lot better after God's Army officially made themselves unwelcome there." he added. Sammy bites her lip, trying to not get into a rant, "I can guess what they did..." she sneered quietly. "I've gotten... harassed by them to say the least." Sergei blinked at that, looking at her. "Why's that? You don't look mutated, nor bionic." he said, rolling up a sleeve to demonstrate the slight sension of bionic-enhanced muscles. "I could usually get away without more than the usual trouble when travelling with others, but now they likely now I'm with the lady that wiped out their last big attempt to mess with Hap's." Sammy looks at the muscle, a bit flustered as she blushes softly, "o-oh, uhh... I-it's not because I'm mutated or have CBM's, it's kinda like..." she grimaces slightly, "catcalls?" He blinked at that, only to blush a bit. "S-should've known..." he stammered a bit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Luca on December 26, 2017, 02:16:28 pm
Ralph sat in an old, wooden stool, holding a bottle of rotgut in his hand with a small glass. He remembered when he first got his enhancements he shattered his favorite bottle of Daniel’s. He popped the bottle and gave a sniff, the strong, nose-burning stench of homebrewed whiskey filled his nose. He set aside the glass and raised the bottle to his lips, before hesitating. He thought back, back when he was still known as Fergus.
“...Fergus?”
“Fergus! You awake?”
Fergus snapped out of it, staring back at his partner, focusing on his ID tag for just a minute. “Sgt. Floyd” Finally, his vision swung back up to eye-level with Floyd. “Yeah, yeah… I’m here… Just a bit out of it.” He mumbled. “Well then get back in it, Fergus. Come on man.” Floyd’s gruff voice responded. Fergus’ stomach was churning, he had a bad feeling about the whole thing- But alas, he kept it to himself, grabbing his Mossberg M00A2, that was hanging loosely in it’s sling. “Right…” Fergus muttered. Floyd looked back at the 4 other soldiers of the breaching team, barking “Stack!” at them. “Isolate and secure, people- Make this an in-and-out.” He continued as the rest lined up at the right-most wall of the building, readying their firearms.
Fergus rationalized his feeling by associating it with the extreme heat of the Afghan desert- re-adjusting his shemagh head-wrap, before racking the pump-action. “Steer clear.” Fergus shouted, moving in front of the wooden door of the target building. Floyd’s balled fist rested in the air for four more seconds before he gave the all-clear.
“BREACHING!” Two loud shots rang out, almost immediately followed by a fiery explosion bursting through the doorway.
The intense ringing of the explosion clouded Fergus’ ears. “...MAN DOW-... CALL FOR AN EVA-… RX-12, NOW!” He heard Floyd yell with intensity as he was fading in and out of consciousness, a complete numbness overcoming his arm and leg, and during the few seconds of consciousness, the lack of sight in his left eye and the surprising looseness of his jaw. He smelt the sulfur, and that was all that would remain clear in his memory. The smell of an early death, wrapping it’s burning hot fangs around his neck, waiting to bite down with anticipation.
Ralph set the bottle of whiskey up to his lips, however, shortly lifting it-
“Cheers, Floyd. If your rotting ass hasn’t been shot into the third circle of hell yet.”
He spoke to no one in particular, before beginning his long night of drinking.
((Thanks to Wilson for collabing with me on this one))
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 27, 2017, 01:00:30 pm
Mica, Lilith, and Kathrine stood before the ruins of the barn. Mica with nervousness, Kathrine with blackest despair, and Lilith with bland faced placidity building into impatience. Mica didn't need her special sight though to see what was writ large in the eyes of Kathrine. Her face showed almost nothing while her eyes opened up into the deepest blackest horror of disappointment she had ever seen. Just because, she shifted her scarf and looked around with her "good" eye, and winced. She decided she didn't need to do that again any time soon.
"Morsel?" Mica said, curiously. Kathrine didn't move. She seemed to be surveying the ruins of her home, not moving an inch. Then, without warning, Kathrine began to limp into the wreckage. She made it as far as the bare spot near the middle of the barn before she stumbled and fell. Mica tried to catch her, but Kathrine fell like a bag of sand and simply lay there.
"Go away." She mumbled into the dirt. Mica tugged at Kathrine and Lilith growled at her.
"Lil-eth, shoosh! Help My-ka move morsel to bed! Help My-ka!" She hissed. Kathrine protested, but it was hard to hear what she was saying through the heavy muffle of the grass and fantastical flowers.
Before long, Mica and Lilith had Kathrine "comfortably" interred in her bed next to the small tree that had burst through the center of the straw mattress. Mica made Lilith help her spread a tarp pulled from the wreckage of Catnips storage room as an improvised roof. The sky had turned a darkish grey, presaging rain. Rain was a thing Mica preferred to stay out of, and she guessed it was the same for her sisters morsel, if not for her sister.
"Keep eyes on morsel Lil-eth, My-ka be back. Gotta check on lizard!" and change her clothes, she didn't say. She didn't have to tell Lilith to keep an eye on Kathrine, she was already hovering close and Mica doubted Lilith would let her get so close again. "My-ka back!" She said, shouting a little and swaggering into Dee's workshop like a returning warrior. Like a warrior though, she looked like she'd been through a serious fight. Her eyes were still red and her face was a mess. On top of that, her clothes were stained with dirt and flecked with spatters of hardened chitinous resin.
"Jay-sus, what the hell happened? I thought you guys were just going for an exchange! I'm afraid to think what the others must look like." Dee exclaimed, going to her and looking her up and down, trying to clean her chin and face with a clean rag.
"Oh, lizard so good to My-ka, ooh la la." She flirted, pushing him away. "My-ka ok. My-ka smell nasty poisons, bite tongue, see?" Before she let out her tongue for him to see, Dee was starting to notice a slight change in the sound of his girlfriends voice. After she let it out, he could see why and winced. The damage was hard for him to look at. All those broken teeth and her truncated tongue. Medeina was watching intently, and Dee asked, "Does that hurt?"
"Not no more." She said, zipping the remains of her tongue back where it belonged. "It grow back lizard. It always grow back. Not fast, but it grow back." Dee wondered what it was like to be able to heal like that. He was well aware of how Mica could easily heal and even grow back small portions of her chitinous parts. It would take time. Lots of time. He took one of her hands and ran his fingers through the palm. The hand Catnip bit and crushed. The cracks were gone, and it had only taken a couple years. She filled him in on events as best she could, then left. "Gotta watch morsel." She explained as she changed her clothes, an undertaking she thought nothing of while both Medeina and Dee watched with some interest.
Mica had told him of the three people who'd brought Kathrine, and especially Hoyt. The pale man with the sharp teeth and the oddly empty and yet full eyes. "Pusher." Dee thought. The word gave him a shiver when used in this context. Jimmy had explained once that a "pusher" was a guy or gal who dealt in one or both of two things. Drugs, or death. Dee knew from Mica's description that the man named Hoyt was working in the first thing, but he wondered more than a little about the second. He took a deep breath and let his thoughts slide away for the time being. With Catnip gone, he had to focus on both his tasks with his project and the tasks he would normally get his girlfriends sister to help with. This meant of course, that he had to give Helens party thing a miss. He'd heard about it over the radio, and hell, he loved parties, but there were things to do.
The year ahead would be a busy one.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 28, 2017, 01:39:44 am
Nathaniel meanwhile sighed as he helped out however he could, clearly some debris to provide a walkway to Kathrine's bed, and looking back to Mica as she walked off. "Well, shit...this place is still a mess. Kath, hope you're alright. Want me to get you something to eat?" he asked, and the thought occurred to him that Lilith might want something too. He didn't really seem to pay much attention to the answer, trying to find something in the cook shack for the both of them, something easy to prepare. Much of what was readily available was jerky and hardtack, along with other preserved crops.
He managed at least to cook some of the meat they had, he wasn't sure if the solar-powered fridge unit it was stored in actually helped or if it was salt-cured, but the end result was rather simple food he brought other to the other two, before sitting down at a spot cleared of rubble. "Glad you'e back, Kath..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 28, 2017, 06:27:53 am
Dee was unable to attend, and Medeina didn't see why. After Mica left, she pressed him for answers and got very little. From what she could gather though, it had less to do with his need to work (Medeina had stopped pressuring him a few months ago) and more to do with current going ons. Catnip was gone, or a rat, and that bothered him a great deal. Not just because of his work, but also because Catnip was a good friend. Medeina had heard about how Dee and his band of merry men had first encountered the rat mechanic, charging at them hissing and spitting and invisible over what she perceived as a theft of her property.
But speaking of his friends, he'd also visited the room of a vanished friend that very day, and it hurt him. Medeina knew less about this than anything else she suspected or knew, but somehow it had hurt him emotionally.
At the forefront though, was the drawings. Medeina had seen them, and had shown one of them to that nice Ms. Carnes. The implication though was writ large, even to Medeina. Mica's behavior had changed after Dee's near death experience, and now the lizards behavior would start to change as well. Towards Mica at least. The AI wondered who would make the first move. Her money was on Dee. More his experience in such matters was what had her backing him. Mica was completely in the dark, and she guessed that the mutant hardly understood what she'd drawn at all. Only knowing that she didn't want anyone to see them. Especially not her boyfriend.
Medeina trundled from the wrokshop, then considered her options. She wanted to see the party, but the Walker was out of commission for at least a couple hours. Without it, the distance was just too great for her land borne eyebot to make in a timely fashion. The other option, was to harass Nathaniel. Normally, humans didn't interest her much. Nathaniel though was an exception. He was in not just a romantic, but an amorous relationship with the farms more "inconvenient" residents. Somehow though, they'd made it work. She was very interested to know how. Or at least observe this Nathaniel in his natural habitat, aka, talk to him. She circled wide around the barns wreckage, carefully picking her way through the cook shack and then bee lining to get behind the oversized birch. This was really closer than she was comfortable bringing her primary proxy to the tigress, who had a habit of breaking them. "Pssst, Mr. Nathaniel." She hissed, her voice coming out at full volume. The low rumble Lilith had been directing towards Mica grew into a throaty growl at the sound of the robot, and Mica turned sharply in the exact wrong direction. Nathaniel though simply looked in her direction. "Psst, Mr. Nathaniel, come here!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 28, 2017, 03:15:55 pm
“That’s good to hear. Glad to hear that Kath is doing fine. The trade seem fair I supposed, meds are getting a bit rare; we are running low on RX-12 for example.” Roxanne said in response to Hector’s comments on his side quest.
“Oh, yes, guess I did leave the details out…”, Roxanne answered Hector, “Well, we fought off some undead who appeared to be control by necromancy. Remember when Victor brought those zombies here? Imagine that but worse...those things could fight. Also fought an assortment of spirits who were controlled by...well, you see that girl over there?” Roxanne pointed at Melody as she talked to Roland; she hesitated a bit to continue in fear of Hector’s reaction. “She was the right hand of the spirit we were chasing. Her name is Melody, she was promised power in exchange for her soul; power she doesn’t understand. Through some deal with forces best left alone, she got a second chance…”
A little smirk formed as Roxanne recalled what happened next. “The final battle was standard. Go in, interrupt a ritual, fight the spirit and then kill it. He did have some counters to our magic but we we had ace cards of our own.” Roxanne then got a little nervous. “As for loot, the place was littered with artifacts. Most went ignored but each took something of significance. I...didn’t take anything… Nothing interesting there for me.” She had just lied to Hector, the one person she trusted the most; there was no going back.
“So that is what happened in a nutshell. Seems pretty far fetched doesn’t it? I wonder how it would sound to me if I had no idea about the arcane… But it’s over now; we can relax. I want to settle down for a while…I’ve done enough exploring for a while…” Roxanne looked at Hector as she waited for an answer; something was off in her face, a look of doubt perhaps?
“Don’t worry about it Helen, it went off perfectly. Well, almost perfectly…” Victor winces a bit as he gives a deep sigh. “Yes, we can wait until tomorrow to talk about it if you want; we have a well deserved celebration to enjoy!”
Victor was left blushing as Helen’s kiss took him by surprise, a pleasant change of pace for him. Her words lingered as he followed her to where the drinks were. He chuckled as he picked up one of the bottles Helen pointed to. “Brings back memories doesn’t it? A couple of drinks, playing some music; that’s how it all started. Guess things do come full circle.” Victor looked at the bottle for a bit longer before looking at Helen with a smile. “Well, maybe you will be surprised; we’ll see how the music turns out.”
“Oh, you worked for him? Interesting…” Melody looked a bit nervous at this, she was trying to hide the fact she faced him in battle and she was only alive due to his mercy. She immediately cling to the topic of the third paratroopers. “So they are not from around here? Well, I am not either so that is something we have in common! I’ll gladly earn my keep, it’s the least I can do…”
“Mutants? That’s fine, nothing wrong with it. More and more common now a days.” Melody’s curiosity rose at the mention of the tank. “Oh? Why not? Is it delicate or a personal thing? I am not going to do anything...just want to know.”
Melody looks at the robes she is wearing on top of her normal clothing. It was tattered from the fight and she realized it was kinda overstaying its welcome. She closes her eyes and gives Roland a look like she had been caught with her hand on the cookie jar. “I maybe need a change in pace...my outfit isn’t necessarily what I had in mind…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on December 28, 2017, 03:18:11 pm
Kathrine just... Laid there. She'd just given up on trying. It never worked. Lilith gently nudged her in the ribs with her nose, whining. Kathrine just wanted to sleep. Lilith stopped poking at her after the robot came back.
Lilith stopped her prodding as soon as Nathaniel returned. With food. She immediately stops looking concerned for Kathrine, and pads over to him, purring. "Nataleeeee. Natalee give Lilith nomphs." Shes doing the puppy eyes at him, lying on her stomach and looking... Mostly straight at him, actually. "...Or Lilith nomph Natalee..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 28, 2017, 03:57:59 pm
Nathaniel set one of the plates down near Kath's bed, then handed the other over to Lilith, sighing a bit. "Hopefully she'll be alright..." he said quietly, giving Lilith a pet. He was brought out of his thoughts by the proxy's speaker, wincing a bit as he looked in its direction. "Just what we needed...alright, I'll deal with the bot." he grumbled, standing up and heading over to where Medina's proxy was hiding. "Alright...easy now, Kath just got back and she needs to rest up."
Hector nodded, impressed as she narrated the events. There was a lingering doubt in the back of his mind, a moment's concern, and it showed on his face. Each took something of significance...not her? He brushed the thoughts off, pulling her into a hug. "I'm glad you've learned all this so fast. Just don't dive too quickly into all this. Everything I've seen so far makes me think it's a good idea to take it cautiously. I've only ever read up on what I could easily get into, I'm kinda...leery of practicing any of it. Don't do anything too risky, okay?" he said, holding her close. It was clear he was more worried than anything else.
Helen simply nodded at that as she held Victor close, giving a sigh before they both got more drinks. "If my suspicions are right..." she said quietly, before downing most of her drink. "Things seem to have changed a fair bit since then. Still things to be concerned about, people to worry over. But in other respects, things have...improved, haven't they?" she said, looking at the scene before them. "Maybe even, we...could..." she said, stammering a bit. Her thoughts turned back to what she was considering, things to discuss and think about. Barely over a year ago the thought wouldn't have ever crossed her mind. The mission, her duties, took precedence over romance and other such things. In fact thoughts of more practical explanations for what she was feeling were still in her mind. This was an alliance, they were comrades, together they could rebuild. But she pondered the other reasons for her feelings, when his suggestion.
"It'd be wonderful to join in then." she said. Soon enough she'd bring out the old side drum, Sergei getting his guitar, and even Hector bringing over his flute, joining in as best as they could at his direction.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Luca on December 29, 2017, 03:08:10 am
He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to do self-surgery when drunk- But hey, at least he wouldn’t feel a lot of pain. He’d definitely feel it in the morning though.
The half empty Jack Daniels stared back at him, as did the four empty whiskey bottles. It was tempting, but currently his jaw was half-detached. He took the screwdriver next to him, aligning the left side of the cybernetic jaw with the opening in his cheek, making sure not to squeeze any internal wiring- “Oh that does feel a bit uncomfortable.” He thought unsure if it was a good idea to push his jaw back into place with brute force and unsterilized hands, though still turning the screw in place delicately until a loud ‘click’ confirmed that his jaw was back in place. Letting go of the jaw, he attempted moving it, successfully- The loud screeching wasn’t plaguing his ears anymore. For a moment, just a moment he thought maybe his disregard for his bionics' safety was the reason they kept on malfunctioning, but he quickly went on to ignore that realisation. Now came the unpleasant part, he grunted when he reached for the needle and thread. Slowly, piercing his cheek, with the intent of closing up the gaping slits that ran along his cheeks.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 29, 2017, 01:43:32 pm
(( Stuff added thanks to Wilson. ))
Later on, after a bit of the music, Sergei took a break to talk with Sammy some more, and soon they were idly talking about their families. "Papasha was...okay. Bit distant, he was still back in the old country. Don't know how things are now." he said, to answer a question about his dad. Sammy looked down a bit, before perking up as she tried to think of something to say about hers. "Uhm... Dad was always kinda, against me going into the military? I've thought about it for college, y'know?"
"A-and he kinda always insisted that they had enough money for anything I've wanted to do..." she added, and Sergei smiled some. "Dad wouldn't have minded if I had joined. Most of my...friends though..." he said, trailing off. "Friends? What were they lllike...?"
"Little more than punks, basically." he readily admitted. "Most of them aren't really around anymore, or didn't move to America." he added. "Huh...m-most of my friends were my brother's friends. Or people that were in my archery class." Sammy responded. "I didn't really have a whole lot of actual friends..."
"Me neither, it was more like a...well, a gang. Even these days I still know a few who are involved in stuff like that, or what passes for it after the world's ended. Been less involved with them ever since all this happened." he explained, and Sammy seemed a bit saddened by that. "O-oh... I see. U-uh, did your dad share any stories...?" she asked, and he shook his head at that. "A few. Not many interesting ones admittedly, aside from what a mess things were when he was growing up."
"Uhh, I mostly got war stories from my dad..." At this, Sergei perked up a little. "I only vaguely recall a handful of things my grandpa told me of that sort. Could tell one of those." he suggested, Sammy nodding at him to continue. "It was back in the Soviet days, Afghanistan. He wasn't really that involved in front-line stuff, admittedly. Delivering parts and stuff, mostly. One time he got lost delivering parts and and somehow ended up near the Tajik SSR border."
Sammy looked down nervously, before she spoke up. "Dad didn't like talking about it for the most part, most of his stories weren't about the actual fighting..." She realized now that both her dad and Sergei's grandfather had been in the same country, decades apart. "He only told me one story of when he was in combat." she said, before continuing. "He was a breaching squad, apparently. He worked with a fffriend of his? He said his name was Fergus...he kinda had this..." She squinted, trying to remember the term.
"...huh. I'm g-guessing it was rather hectic?" he asked. "I-it was, yeah. Dad said Fergus got hit really bad the last time he saw him..." she answered. "Didn't say whether he made it out okay?" he asked. "I think dad got a letter from him."
"Thaaat's a good sign?" he said, uncertain what to say, and she shrugged. "He didn't lemme see it, and he didn't really...actually see him?" she answered. "Oh. Hope he's alright then." he said, and Sammy nodded. "Yeah..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 30, 2017, 11:00:29 pm
Roxanne looked at Hector and noticed his concern. She knew he wasn’t dumb and could guess something was off. The best strategy she could come up with was to distract from it. “Thank you! Kind of funny I was part if an arcane order yet am barely getting started with it. Wonder why!” Roxanne gave a small laugh at her last statement. “Of course, I am taking caution too. Somethings are too big to deal with alone so there is no shame on not exploring too much…” Roxanne puts down her drink as he held her close, worry and doubt in her face for a bit until she dispelled it with a smile. “Hey, enough of the past for now. Let’s focus on the now, what do you want to do? We are at a party, let’s have some fun!”
Victor looked on as Helen downed most of her drink, surprise in his face. “Yes, things have changed indeed. Things and situations change but the people stay the same. Somethings remain constant and it’s those things that we fought for…” His expression changed to confusion as she fell into though after her unfinished statement. “We could what?”, Victor thought to himself.
His own mind recalled his memories. How their first encounter in the farm had been less than pleasant; the fateful night everything changed and everything afterwards. The more he thought about, the more he had ideas. Eventually, he came to a conclusion of what she meant that left him stammering a well. “Y-yeah, should be interesting to see how it all blends together.” He joined the others as they all took his instruments; he settled down for a flute of his own as they all harmonized. Each player contributing to the song.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 31, 2017, 12:31:00 am
Hector nodded at that, still concerned and yet he pushed those worries aside, to join in drinking, eating, and the music as well. It was a relief to be here, and not having to worry about all that was going on. He'd want to rebuild the damaged forge area tomorrow, maybe help raise a new barn outright. Eventually the place needed better fortifications too. For now, the only thing that mattered was enjoying his time with friends, with Roxane in particular.
Helen of course was still flustered by this, going along with playing her part in the music they made, thinking back on their time, how things had changed. "Maybe later, we can discuss what I was going to...talk about, in private. You need only ask..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on December 31, 2017, 02:03:11 am
Bandit rolled his eyes at Lucian before his brain caught up with his eyes and he said "Uh..so how did the injuries happen?"
Meanwhile Roland set his now empty drink aside as he answered her question "Maxim's protective of that tank because it was his charge before their home was destroyed. On top of that he spent the first four years after the apocalypse getting it running. So I suppose it's got a lot of sentimental value."
At her mention of her outfit, and noticing it was in pretty rough shape, he told her "I have a spare set of pants, a spare shirt, and a jacket if you want 'em. I'm sure there's somewhere private enough to quickly change."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on December 31, 2017, 02:10:10 am
Lucian looked at the bandages on his abdomen "Oh, these? I got stabbed through with a big ol' claymore, hurt like a bitch. Still does." He answered, stretching which causes the pain to flare up a bit, wincing at that.
Sammy either idly chit-chatted with Sergei before he got up to play his guitar, watching them play with a little smile on her face.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 31, 2017, 02:58:43 pm
Roxanne noticed how Hector began to loosen up; with a moment of relief, she joined in as well in the celebration. He newly recovered body was put to use as she consumed alcohol left and right. When slightly questioned about this, she responded with: “Listen...listen. *hic* Don’t worry about it! I’ve *hic* I’ve died before, what is one more for the road? I’ll figure it out or something if *hic* if something happens I guess.” Because of this, she had become a bit more talkative; she opened up and commented on her past. The shifting eventually came up and Roxanne explained how it was living in that other universe.
“Not so different from here. There wasn’t any fuckers like god’s army thought; just plain old bandits and raiders. An all you can eat buffet...to kill and main I mean! If you are into that…” As the night went on, Roxanne was stopped from drinking anymore; wasn’t much alcohol because despite her affinity for mind-altering substances, she was still a lightweight. She had stayed close to Hector this whole time and as such it wasn’t hard to keep her from drinking anymore. "Just one more tin can... I can take it! Meeee? Drunk? When? Idunno whatcha talking about! I am fine!"
Victor relish his part in playing the music; they would take small breaks between “sets” of songs to let others play or tell drunken stories. Some of them were tall tales exaggerated from either faulty memory, alcohol modifiers or just stroking of their ego. It was during one of this short breaks that Helen approached Victor as he drank from a bottle of beer. Victor was having a good time listening to the stories, amusing in their own ways. However, now it appears Helen had something to tell him as well.
“It’s not like I am doing anything right now. If you so wish, we can go right now if you want. Wouldn’t be the first time we slip away from a party you know?” Victor put the now empty bottle down as he gave a smirk; while he could outdrink Roxanne, he wasn’t used to it like she was. The phrase “drunken courage” applied here; Victor seemed to be less reserved and more forward when under the influence. He stood next to Helen as he placed one arm around her to bring her closer to him. While pointing at the main door he began to speak once more. “How about we go to the little cabin just outside of here? Seems private enough for me; I also covered it with a sound proof spell a little while back. So what do you say? Mind if I lead the way this time?”
“Ah, that makes sense. It has meaning to him beyond a tool...I’ll make sure not to mess with it then. There is nothing more dangerous than a man protecting that which he loves...or so I heard…” Melody spoke to Roland in a bit more “mature”, for lack of a better word, manner than before. She had drank the bottle he had gotten her but it didn’t seem to affect her all that much.
At his offer, she gave him a faint smile. “That would be nice, thank you. Everyone here has been nothing but nice to me, a complete stranger…” Melody recalled her days before she met Randael in his facade, before she got the courage to leave, how her life was under as a member of the Hell’s Raider. She recalled how they always kept her down, in her place as they would put it; they would never allow her outside. Melody would always be put to do the work the other’s didn’t want to do: Load the gun magazines, sharpen their weapons, sort their inventory, clean around and even bury a couple of bodies here and there. There were many others like her in among the Raiders; the grunts as they called them. Never was she taken to any of their raids but the stench of blood always followed her around regardless.
Melody snapped from her little memory before looking back at Roland. “Sorry about that, just a few dumb thoughts I had. I guess you were right, just drinking while talking to someone is a fun way to spend your time at a party.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 31, 2017, 03:14:01 pm
Hector chuckled a bit as he kept Roxanne close. After the first drink or two he went a bit easier on, knowing he'd likely have to help drive her back over to the farm. Eventually things were winding down, smiling a bit at Roxanne's remarks. "Surprised she even has any left for us to drink." he teased, though he regarded her earlier chatter and hints about her actions with a bit of concern, before soon leading the way to head back home.
Helen likewise smiled a bit as Sol tended to putting some things away and checking Lucian's injury, deciding to lead Victor into the cabin, a bit confused when he mentioned the soundproofing spell. "Already up to things on your first visit here, I see..." she teased, leaning in against him. She'd had a fair bit to drink as well, and yet while she was a little unsteady on her feet, she wasn't too out of it.
"This is fine then. Victor, I...I love you." she admitted, blushing bright at that as they closed the door, looking away shyly. It was then she mustered up the courage, to pull him into a kiss...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Luca on January 01, 2018, 09:02:12 am
Ralph sighed in frustration. The persistent “Initializing…” orange text label hovering over the black display that was his cybernetic eye. He felt it with his human hand and felt the whirring and how hot it was getting. “Initializing… ERROR, Check optical connection!” Ralph sighed, reaching for the scalpel next to him. He figured it was the encounter he had a few hours ago. Some kid tried getting the drop on him with a baseball bat.
“You little shit-” Ralph recoiled, covering half of his face The hooded figure snatched Ralph’s satchel, making a break for it hurriedly The forest was thick and the man has disappeared within seconds into the trees and bushes. Ralph tried staying on his trail in a full sprint, at least until his bionic leg gave out with a loud screeching whirr He remembered why he didn’t run often when his face met the leafs on the ground. Slowly getting up, he tried his best getting the mud out of his clothes- hopping along.
Yeah, a steel baseball bat landing directly on his face could probably be one reason why his eye wasn’t functioning like it was advertised to. He’d already removed the stitches and screws holding the eye in place by the time he finished that thought. A leftover painkiller and the rest of his whiskey made him forget the pain while he slowly but delibaretly squeezed out his eye out of it’s socket. Just like his real eye, it was a delicate affair to operate on and one wrong move could fuck up his vision permanently. Gently, he finally pulled it out of the socket it hung loosely from, feeling around with his free hand for the loose connection- The optical cable was a very slim wire, acting as the optical nerve, leading up to the bionic eyeball, connected to the center middle of it. This wasn’t the case at the moment though, as it hung loosely out of Ralph’s eye socket, disconnected. He sighed in relief as his fingers found the hanging cable, rapidly sticking it into the slot behind his eye, and pressing the minimal in size boot button next to the cable.
“Initializing… … Booting… … Success, all optical functions online!”
He felt the eye softly whirring and a quiet humming sound as his left eye’s vision turned from completely black to that of his environment. Though his eye still hanging from his socket was kind of stomach-churning and made Ralph motion-sick. He held his eye, turning it towards the corpse of the hooded kid lying next to his satchel, before beginning the re-insertion process.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 01, 2018, 12:26:22 pm
A month later...
Mica hurled another pillow at Dee's head. "Lizard movin' My-ka's silks around! Movin' My-ka's pile!" Dee let the pillow hit him, it was after all just a pillow. This bit of drama had been on going since Mica had moved in with him. Unlike himself, and oddly like her sister, Mica was oddly organized after a fashion. Though the spiders belongings were fewer, she seemed to like having them stashed in certain places, and god help him if Dee moved any of them. The toppled and restacked pile of books had been the first thing she'd thrown a fit over. Today, it was the pile of clothes stuffed haphazardly under Dee's bed. He had taken them and folded them away in the drawer where he once kept his masks, those being stored now in his desk. Mica was upset about this not just because he had moved her clothes, but also because in doing so he had taken away her sleeping area.
He had offered her the bed at first, but while he was in the workshop she would not take it herself. The same went for the chair in the corner. When she did sleep, it was almost never at night and she did so under his bed like some kind of monster, occasionally waking and snatching at his ankles when he came too close. On only one occasion had he caught her fast asleep in the bed, and his presence had awakened her within moments. Being caught sleeping had embarrassed the living hell out of her, and she'd shouted at him with the indigence of someone caught doing something they shouldn't be.
"Mica, babe, it's not that big a deal." Dee said, dodging another pillow. "Why don't you just-" He had to duck suddenly as something not so harmless, the rust flecked hatchet, came hurtling at him. The implement thunked against the wall and dropped to the floor. When Dee looked again, Mica's hands were clasped over her chest, and over her mouth. She'd thrown it without thinking. "Why" Dee started again, "Don't you just sleep on the bed? Seriously. It's not like it's a problem." It was a problem though, for her, but it was a problem they had to get through if they were going to live together. "And it's not like..." He trailed off, the subject of what he had been about to say reminding him of the drawing. And, the others. More had come, and Mica spent more and more time examining them. Every time, the confusion etched in her face over them would deepen.
"It's... not like I'm not sharing it." Dee said. Mica didn't look at him, just went about picking up the things she'd tossed.
"Maybe not so bad sleepin' in bed..." She mumbled. Dee didn't quiet hear it, but he saw the color rising in her cheeks. Not perfect, but it was a start. Another month later
She nestled closer and shivered a little, feeling the way the mans chest rose and fell beneath her, sharing the warmth of himself with her. Fall had come, and with it the promise of winter. She knew she wouldn't see winter, and it made her sad. The shadow had drawn ever closer over the last two months, closer and closer until a week ago when it vanished altogether. She didn't need to see it though. The rat knew where it was. The shadow was in her, nested there as they always did. She watched the man carefully, and a voice came to her.
"It's time."
She remembered life before, cruel and harsh in the sewers. Then, something had happened and she had been brought here. Her life had changed, and it had been so much better. Brought from the dark of her savage life in the sewers and into the light of life, as short a time as it had been, on the farm. The rat had even gone to the new moon ball, though the one she brought with her believed it all a dream. A dream, and wasn't it though? For her it had been like a dream, but so much better because it had been real.
"Hismilo, it is time."
The shadow had left her, had done it's final work, and now perched itself above her on the couch. It stared with baleful eyes at her, into her. She lifted her head.
"Just a little longer, please?"
It was silent, waiting. The silence told her what she needed to know, she could take all the time she needed so long as they weren't late. She leaned forward on the mans chest and rubbed her nose against his one last time. How different they were. She looked at him, sleeping his troubled sleep, and dreaming his troubled dream. Then, she curled into her little ball and closed her eyes for the last time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 01, 2018, 02:43:11 pm
She slept peacefully in Victor's embrace, but in her mind things didn't seem as peaceful as they appeared on the surface. Once again, Helen was lost in a dream.
There was not a voice this time, but an image. A vaguely humanoid form, covered in all-concealing robes and rags. The robe had a hood that partially obscured an opaque, richly-embroidered veil that covered the upper half of their face, shifting swirling patterns over plain undyed linen. Where the lower half of their face would be, there was only a pitch-black void. They finally spoke up, after Helen became aware of the figure and their features.
"So you are the one that called to me. Looking back into the echoes of time, I now see that I should've paid closer attention to you. You drove back the Great Pretender, twice." they remarked, and Helen seemed a bit uncertain what to think. "You mean the Archon? What relation do you hold to that thing?"
"That is the name it takes within this realm. It is from the same domain as mine. A powerful spirit, with ambitions of godhood." they answered. "You cut off the seals, then sundered the only remaining host it had in this world. Avenged my followers. Then began to use the practices I have gifted your species with...when you took it as far as beseeching me to aid in fighting the earthly spirit your comrades fought against, I answered."
"And why did you answer me? Why bother? I am a follower of Odin, even though I have learned respect for you." she asked, curious now. why did it work, she thought. "To ensure you live to have his conversation, and because I have lost nearly every follower who has taken my oath. But I will demand no oath of you just yet. You must understand first, before you can swear it."
Helen nodded at that, stepping forward as she regarded the veiled, shrouded figure. "Then tell me what your motives are, why you intrude this world. Or were you drawn here by others?" she asked. She saw for a moment a faint gleam through the darkness where their mouth would be. A hint of a smile. "My intrusion was the result of your species sundering The Veil, but I will confide in you that it merely drew my attention."
"The one you know as The Archon is only one example of why I am here. These beings upset the balance between worlds, with yours caught in the middle. Your comrades have struggled with my followers, but I hold no hatred for you or your goals. But the chance to restore The Veil has long slipped from your grasp."
Helen simply nodded, shocked and wary of this. "So you believe my aims to be an unreachable goal? Why do you help me, then?" she asked, and the figure shook their head. "You have learned balance, have you not? With your former enemy, you will continue your work towards ensuring the preservation of this world. I know you will ask why I am willing to invest interest in a world I need not involve myself in, and now I grant the answer."
They raised a hand, covered in a simple leather glove, and a book appeared. The Six Pillars. "Look past mere poetry and obscured descriptions of practical magic, and you will see The Silver Enclave caught a glimpse of me, before The Keepers of The Oath swore unto me. This book names me Erebus under the Interpretatio Graeca, but darkness is only one thing I hold power over. You worship a god of war and death, among many other things. In those two respects we overlap. So too do I hold power over famine and pestilence."
"All that is grim yet necessary, in my domain I command it. Because if none keep watch over it, these forces run rampant and unchecked." Helen had listened, uncertain and nervous now. "So your interest in this world is that of balancing it."
The figured nodded. "Now you understand. Here, I am not a god of death, of darkness. You know the servants of those who already fulfill that purpose in this realm. The Scroll of Sundering reflects the mantle I take elsewhere. Here, I am a god of The Veil, and its balance."
Helen looked down, uncertain what to think. "Then what do you demand of me?" she asked. "For now, only that you know what you have invoked. Your own god has directed you to battle in the name of preventing this world's destruction, and so too does this suit my goals. If anything beyond this is needed, you will know in time." they answered, form fading into a black mist that dissipated, and with it her dream faded into the haze of uneasy sleep.
The morning after, thoughts still lingered in her mind, in that little cabin with Victor. Embarrassed as she was, she had no regrets. Another thought came to her mind, as she looked back to Victor. "We need to talk about something..." she said softly, sitting at the bed for now as she looked through her copy of The Cleansing Flame. It had nothing that could prepare her from what she was worried about. No, the only book that had the barest hint of info on Melody's revelations was The Source. And even that was sparse.
She'd wait until he was awake, before explaining. "Victor? I wanted to ask if you knew anything about something The Source called the...forbidden puzzle? Something Melody said when I spoke with her sounded...similar, among the items Randael had obtained. And I recall those seven years ago, Brother Toshiro spoke of an item of grave historical importance to your order, but never told me what it was. I always assumed it was your sword, but...it wasn't, was it?"
Elsewhere, Hector was up early. He had ideas about rebuilding the barn, for now having covered the area over the forge with another tarp on poles, having hammered the dent out of his helm and hastily made a new crucible for the forge Now, it was just a matter of finishing his armor. What he'd do about that tree he wasn't even sure, though. Treehouse maybe, if the others insisted on preserving it. Could use a good watchtower after all...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 01, 2018, 04:50:45 pm
That night, Victor had had a short but very vivid dream; not quite a nightmare but close. His subconscious recalled Roxanne, the Roxanne he knew before all this went down, coming back to his apartment in tatters. He recalled how she collapsed in his arms while weeping before passing out from several injuries. The sword he now carried religiously strapped to his back on it’s scabbard for the first time; this was the beginning of a task he hoped the cataclysm would’ve put and end to. His dream ended with 4 “people” holding a sword each, two lost and the other two under the hands of his organization. The sword of convergence: Entrusted to the best Hunter in the region it was found, Hunter Alex Haymaker. The sword of the void: Entrusted to the purifier who managed to pry open it’s secrets, Victor Ironwood. The sword of despair: long lost to the Nephilim and assumed save that way as no being on this planet could take them on. The sword of assimilation: a sword lost to sorcerer with ambitions beyond this world, he had been sealed away along with the sword to prevent its misuse. However, here they were, all gathered together as the four pieces reacted to each other; the dream ended as the earth shock as the puzzle was finally revealed...and none of them like what they saw…
Victor jolted awake from the dream. It seemed so distant yet so relevant; he had no idea why he was dreaming of this now but dreams tend to be influence by the auras around us and what Roxanne had acquired surely was felt by him in a way he didn’t even noticed. "It was just a dream...it’s all over now..." Victor kept telling himself as he came back to the realm of the living from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes and looked at where he was. The sight of Helen and what had happened last night calmed him down and brought a smile to his face.
At the sound of his name, Victor casted aside all thought and put his attention to Helen. "You called?" It was then that Helen began to ask all of her question. His face started with that of worry at the mention of the puzzle then it slowly transformed to that of dread as she went on until he was eventually left pale from what she had asked him. "Helen...you are joking right? You’ve been reading a lot on The Source it seems, maybe a few things have clinged to your subconsciousness..." He tried to dismiss what she had said; no, he was in utter denial. It wasn’t over, this thing still haunted him? But one thing pulled him back to reality, Melody seemed to have described a specific piece in detail: the sword of despair."You are not joking aren’t you? Helen...I am so sorry...now that you know, there is no going back...You deserve an explanation at least. After this, we will put an end to this nonsense; if we can get it, then we can protect it and not have to worry about this anymore..."
The sword of the void was propped on one of the cabin’s corners; it rested there as it’s wielder got ready to explain the long series of events. "Let’s see...where to start..." Victor told Helen everything. He started by what the pieces were; he told her how each one was like a sort of key that would unlock a “puzzle”. What the puzzle was no one knew but it was know that an ancient deity would be awoken; it was only known as the broken god. This was the same deity that created the divine spirits. Next he explained how the piece were not really unique past their status as a key to the puzzle. His the ritual to create his own sword could be found in the source and there were copies of the other pieces as well; what made these special is that they were “marked” by the life essence of the broken god. Now that gives them enough power to break through the wards put in place and reveal the puzzle itself; solve it and what awaits on the other side will call out you name…
He then told her about each piece: His sword the symbol of rebellion that created the schism, entrusted to him due to learning about it’s true nature. The sword of convergence and it’s ability to host the power of multiple swords into one. The sword of despair and how it slowly poisoned poisoned and decayed the soul and aura of it’s target; it feed the user a need to kill that started as a feeling of power. The sword of assimilation that will acquire the power of whatever it defeats and makes it it’s own; this sword can only be used by someone it deems worthy and then it will lend it it’s power. Victor then Helen about each host: About Alex, the nephilim and the masked man. The nephilim being something he didn’t know much about but that they were some kind of spirit that looked like one winged angels whose wing was that of a raven; they rarely showed themselves but when they did everything went awry, they were known as harbingers of misfortune because of this.
"That should bring you up to speed...the fact that the sword of despair, if Melody is to be trusted, is out there means that the nephilim lost it...what could be so powerful to do such a thing? Any questions you maybe have, this is the time to ask them… I intend to end this before it starts, I will gather that sword and lock it for good..." Victor then touched the handle of his own sword before continuing. "Maybe it’s time I let go of mine as well...for humanity’s sake..."
A few weeks later...
It had been a while, but Roxanne once again felt a particular feeling in one of her dreams; she was lucid but could not control her actions. She knew exactly what it was which cause her to only sigh in response. "You just don’t give up do you?" Roxanne simply looked forward with her arms crossed as the masked man walked towards Roxanne; they both stood in a white void with nothing but each other.
“I simply have come to see if you have considered my offer… nothing more. I won’t pressure you any longer, you have free will as as such the choice is yours.” The tone of the masked man solemn, almost as if he was worried about something. For the first time ever, Roxanne felt legitimate concern for him.
"Are you ok? You don’t sound too hot, something the matter?" Roxanne’s question only made the masked man chuckle.
“What’s this? Is that concern for me? I am leagues above you darling, I can take care of myself. If you must know, there is something I have to set in motion. It will take time and effort; I guess you can say this is also a goodbye. I will give you some time to think things through alone for a while. I just ask that you look over the pieces...you now hold two and some very bad being are after them…” The tone of his voice now shifted to concern as well, it was hard for Roxanne to know due to his mask.
"You mean someone other than yourself? I don’t like this...what should I do?"
“Listen, I know you have no reason to trust me but if anything, make sure no one else gets those pieces ok? I hope that nothing happens but if it does…” The masked man took both hands and slowly took off his mask; the sight made Roxanne step back as she looked in awe. “Know that I will be there to help you. Even if we are hundreds of miles apart, you know my name; we share a bond now. No matter the what happens, call upon me in your lowest point and I will grant you my power.”
Roxanne was left speechless at this. None of the usual formalities or intimidation; he simply gave her a warning and offered her his power. Who was this man? What did he want? Man questions lingered in Roxanne’s mind but she could not bring herself to ask them.
“It’s almost daytime...there is no need to be afraid Roxanne. The stage is set, protect what matters to you and all else be damned. Until we meet again...don’t forget my offer...or my name…”
After his words, everything seem to vanish; it melted away slowly as Roxanne closed her eyes. Roxanne awoke in her room; a headache suddenly overtook her as she looked around. She saw a note on her bed stand, it was a note from Victor.
[ Dear Cleanser Luna,
I would highly suggest you don’t possess people while the influence. I write this note as Hector carries you to your room. I know that you being able to transform into your ghost form temporarily is an amazing ability but it’s one that should be used with caution… I was in the middle of a lesson with Melody when suddenly I see you phase through the wall. If it wasn’t for Melody’s aura of harvest, you would’ve overtaken the poor girl...yet the combination of your state of mind then and the impact of the aura made your soul go back to it body…
Now that brings me to another thing. You never did you to finalize your consecration did you? You seem to be doing fine but I honestly hope this is something you will regret later. Be careful ok? We have been through a lot lately and neither of us understands what to make of it. Anything you need don’t hesitate to let me know.
P.S: Hector is going to proofread this for whatever reason. What did you do? None of my business really, more of a question to answer yourself. Best Wishes, Purifier Ironwood ]
Roxanne laughed at the letter as she got off from her bed and stretched a bit. "That was some weird stuff...maybe I should talk to someone about it...pffft, nah! He said he would leave me alone so it’s best to live and forget. For now, I need some breakfast..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 01, 2018, 05:15:23 pm
Helen was only more concerned by the explanation, unnerved as he elaborated on what he knew. Her own reaction indicated she was unsure what to think of these items, only that they were clearly dangerous. And she seemed especially worried at the explanation of the sword of despair. "Then we need to be extremely careful. I sensed...something, a brief glimpse linked to Roxanne. You think she...?" Helen wasn't sure what to suggest.
"We need to...when the time comes, get Roxanne to understand that this is a very dangerous matter. These interlopers might endanger all of this. Our new life here, our new order, our..." She looked away shyly. She knew what she was getting into. What she'd offered to do differently this time. And what it'd lead to. "And if your own sword as become linked to this, that means it's a vulnerability as well. In time...if you wish, you need only ask. So too will I have another sword to replace it, if you wish..."
Those few weeks later, the others had taken time preparing, studying. Mulling over when to confront Roxanne, as well. They all needed time to rest. Hector for now was there, having set aside a simply plate of scrambled eggs and bacon on a table nearly, giving a sigh as he looked back to Roxanne. He was in his full set of armor now, his arming sword at his side and that odd blade at his back. Soon, he thought. They were getting reports of possible places to test it on from the center. Hector was worried now, given last night's episode. And other unanswered questions in the back of his mind.
Elsewhere, at the center, Catalina was surveying some plans, looking back to Leila as she examined some printed-out security logs, still getting their connection to Site 4's network. "Alright...Sargeant Branham, and...Corporal Vela, you feeling any better?" she asked as they entered the medical room, where Alberto had been every so often since then. "Arm's fine, ribs aren't so sore. Got something for me, captain?"
"Yeah. Thinking about rigging charges to seal off Site 4..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 01, 2018, 07:49:11 pm
Two weeks later
Lucian gets up, no longer tender due to the two weeks he's been resting at the Hall. He whistles towards Helen, "Hey, Helen, you mind if I borrow your radio for a minute?" Helen nodded at that, going over to grab her handset and hand it over to him. "Very well then. Someone who might be worried about your absence, I'm guessing?"
"Yep." He grabs the radio and takes out a sheet of paper, adjusting the frequency and writing it down. He spoke into the radio, "Lucian speaking, still alive. Had a scuffle and was resting elsewhere." Chatter is on the other end, "yeah, yeah. Took care of Lawrence... and Horace." More chatter, "...alright, see you soon. Before you go, could you grab Reynald? I think there's someone he might wanna talk to. Alright, see you in a bit."
Lucian offered the radio to Helen, "You've been looking for another cleansing flame fellow, right?" Helen nodded at that, accepting the radio and giving him a curious look. "I...if any are left, it's my duty to get back into contact with them, yes. Why do you ask?" Lucian gave Helen a deadpan look, "Why do you think? Talk into the radio." He teased. "Very well then." she said, pressing the transmit button. "Alright then...this is Helen McKinnon, inheritor to the rank of Thane, of the Cleansing Flame. What's...left at least. And this is?" "Er. Reynald, inheritor to the rank of Defender, of the Path of The Sun sect of The Cleansing Flame." The voice answered on the other end.
Helen was a bit stunned, going silent at first, nervous as she tried to think of what to say. "So there are others. More of a blessing than I'd expected." Reynald cleared his throat, "There's Naizen too, but he's busy... He's more... traditional then I am." He responded. "I see. So you work with Lucian, I would guess..." she asked, still uncertain what to think. "Nnnot directly, usually." He paused, "He's kinda creepy... I don't really like working with him, honestly, but he's good enough I suppose..." He answered. Helen nods at that. "I can see the reasoning behind that. Still better than any kin of his old group than I've encountered before."
Reynald hesitated, "I see..." Helen sighed at that. "Let me guess. You're worried I'd...frown upon the bunch you've fallen in with, aren't you?" Reynald swallowed nervously "...maybe?" He admitted, "It...it's fine. I have my own reasons to worry about what my brethren would think." Helen responded, He hmmed away from the radio for a moment, "I hope we could meet in person soon, see you, sister." Helen looked down, nervously answering. "I hope so as well, brother." Reynald shifted the radio in his hands, "Be seeing you, sister..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 02, 2018, 10:32:23 am
There was a small, solemn ceremony. Some of the farms residents made an appearance while others, those who wondered why they should go to the bother of burying a rat. Those that did come though were somber. A few, but not many, believed that the rat had been Catnip. Those who were unsure were only filled with a lingering sense of uncertainty. If the rat wasn't Catnip, where was she now? Would they ever see her again? The death of "Ratnip" only served to drive home their trepidation concerning their friends ultimate fate.
Mica and Dee stood together, the man with his arm over the shoulders of the lady, with the robot at their feet. Dee was one of the uncertain, Mica and Medeina, the faithless. Medeina knew tact though, she would say nothing of the foolishness of magic. She only watched, and took notes, and wondered. Mica said nothing, simply because there was nothing to say. Dee didn't know what to say and he wanted to say something, anything, but he had nothing.
Nearby, Dervish wiped at his face. He and Khaki and a small contingent of friends from the refugee center had come. Those friends that either believed or were uncertain. "I just wish," Dervish suddenly said aloud, "She'd been brought up in a better place than X7." After that, he turned away and said no more.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 03, 2018, 12:13:20 am
Alexei had found that he wasn't being thrown out, nor mistreated in any significant way. In fact people had been rather nice to him up to this point. flipping the razor blade closed he inspected his work for a few moments, admiring himself being clean shaven for the first time in quite a while.
Adjusting his coat Alexei thought back to those old days and sighed. Pulling on his ushanka he pushed the door to the bathroom open and went to the still. Those thoughts were unpleasant now, memories of a happier time that brought sorrow. He should think to the future, to happier times than these. Perhaps times when there would be little ones running about and there wouldn't be so much fighting.
Meanwhile Bandit was also thinking of the future. His men had secured the handful of buildings that would make the heart of their settlement and now the locals that had agreed to join them were helping to build the walls. Of course not everyone was happy with this, and he'd been dodging a few more bullets than he'd have liked. But things were going nicely and he was content to restrict himself to the farm where those that tried to kill him were afraid to come.
Tossing the baggy of medication into the duffle bag he hummed while he worked. He had come to the decision that he wasn't going to be making the drugs he'd become used to selling, instead he was producing actual medicine. And of course the 'alchemical' products that Victor had been teaching him to produce. It was all actually effective and helpful to his surprise.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 03, 2018, 04:00:51 am
Quinn shoved his hands into his pockets, having attended to ceremony. He was silent, with an apathetic and blank look on his face. He listened to what Dervish had to say before heading back to his lab, taking out old paperwork, namely maps and storage manifests and looking them over. Floyd, however, stayed the longest at the ceremony, unsure what to think. There was no way that that rat was Catnip, a thought at the back of his mind considered it being true... But he shoved those away in his subconscious, he nodded solemnly as Dervish said his piece.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 03, 2018, 08:03:10 pm
Kathrine stood alone, tail wrapped about her feet, looking down at the little mound of dirt where the rat was buried. It was sad, but the creature under there wasn't her mistress. She couldn't tell herself that to get through the harder moments anymore, couldn't try to trick herself. Catnip wasn't here. She thought about leaving to look, but that would be bad. She'd make people worry, and that was mean. Besides, if Catnip had left then it must be her fault. Coming back to find the barn utterly ruined had been a weight that had bowed her metaphorical camels back, the rats funeral had that creature standing with it's legs shaking and it's spine just beginning to separate. A month of bad dreams, wet weather, and unwanted kindness from someone who meant well but scared her would be the final straw. For now though, she only stood alone with her thoughts and her black despair. Atomos, who had volunteered to drive the bus that had brought the collection of refugee center residents, stood off aways watching the proceedings and remembering the last funeral she had attended. The memory didn't sting her anymore. The part that still stood out the most to her was watching the coffin being lowered into the ground. Atomos remembered thinking "There's nothing in there but a jar of ashes." Her father always had had a flair of the redundant. He wanted to be cremated, but he also still wanted his spot at the military cemetery. She could still remember thinking as well, just how bright that day had been. How the sun had shone gently down on the manicured cemetery lawn and the sound of birdsong could be heard not far off, as if Jenny wasn't now burying her father. Two months before, sitting under her snake skin (now a trio of very fashionable and practical long coats and boots) Dervish had told her that it would be a hard year for some. Watching this now, she figured that he had been right.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 03, 2018, 08:07:18 pm
Nathaniel was there, looking down nervously as he attended the funeral. When he first heard of the events, he initially thought either outcome was likely, put his first glimpse of Helen and Quinn's calculations had put doubts in his mind. Then there was the realization Kath had set her mind on one outcome. He didn't know what Lilith thought of this, nor if she even cared or understood, but he assumed if she did she'd side with the cub.
But now, he had no idea what to think, what outcome was true and whether any of it meant there was still hope of ever seeing her again. "If we're wrong abot this...I can only hope she's safe. If we're right...I don't..." he said softly, looking down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 03, 2018, 09:27:07 pm
At the funeral...
Roxanne looked on as the ceremony went on. Many stirred around her from different people; few which she shared. This was the first funeral she had ever attended; she didn’t go to her parent’s funeral, not that she could’ve if she wanted to, Roxanne only remembered she wanted to be the one to watch the, bleed.
The former assassin stood there watching, not knowing what to do. Her thoughts were selfish too. Who would fix her APC? Who would she about trade? Was that really catnip? Was that really the girl that so long ago and a literal world apart made that prophecy that bore her name. Victor and Helen differ in their opinion it seemed; She hadn’t given it much thought due to her own events but now that this was happening, Roxanne fetl that one emotion she had only felt once before, guilt.
Her eyes didn’t meet with anyones that day, she kept to herself as she looked on. Roxanne stepped forward once she was buried; she held the pamphlet she had kept all along. In crude crayon was the figures that represented Floyd, Hector and Roxanne; she looked at it for a bit. Roxanne noticed a little smudge on it and then saw another one form. She went and touched her checks and noticed a tear streaming down; Roxanne was crying and she hadn’t even realized. She took the pamphlet and placed it under a rock next to where the rat was buried. Roxanne got up and promptly left; she didn’t want anyone to see her like this.
Victor didn’t go. He believed his calculations had been correct, it all pointed to one conclusion in his mind; that rat had once been catnip and he let her die. If only he had spent more time on trying to find a solution, if maybe he had convinced someone else to help, then maybe she would still be her. Granted, Victor did not know the ratgirl very well but he knew she kept this place together. Besides, losing one of their own was never easy; and he believed he could’ve prevent it it. Kathrine, Mica and Lilith’s sadness would be on him; once more, he proved himself a failure.
"Oh Iroonwood, look how low you have fallen… You used to be something you know? Had a place you belong...now you are here lamenting the death of a rat...no...she was more than that… How could a trance- nonono! It’s not time for that! I have to atone my sins somehow...", Victor took a swig off a whiskey bottle Melody had gifted him as thanks for his lessons. The third company seemed to have a good taste in the stuff. He looked at the wall in front of him as an idea came to mind. “Maybe I can rescue her soul you know? Like how Alex brought back Blackmore… Yeah, that’s the least I can do… Well, guess I gotta make some calls…”
At a different time...
The explanation he gave Helen was comboluted and not very concise; that much he admitted to himself. However, it will have to do; Helen, Melody and possibly Roxanne were now involved in something he had wished to put behind him. Victor intended to put an end to this once and for all; if giving up his sword is what it took to achieve peace, then so be it! That didn’t mean he wouldn’t look for another way… There was a reason he guarded it so much, a reason why he had such a disdain from mutations and bionics...it all came down to the day he found out about that puzzle.
That night came flooding into his mind in flashes. Roxanne blackmore sleeping in his bed as he made sure her injuries were stable. He had no idea what had happened to her. Why did she come here? How had done this? All this was so odd. It was then he felt an odd sensation in his aura spell just outside the door of his apartment. His only weapon was his sword which at the time he had no idea how to use. What happened next haunted him to this day; the door was breached, Victor’s will managed to activate the sword and he got his first taste of blood…
What snapped Victor out of his trance was hearing Helen speak to him after hisexplanation. “I don’t know her involvement in this… We do have to be very careful in this, forget all protocol, it’s useless. We have to make sure this thing is contained and out of dangerous hands. We will confront her when the time arises; for now we should observe if anything odd happens. Two pieces are in the same location; I don’t know what this means, once I find out, we will proceed accordingly.” Victor gave a deep sigh before looking at Helen in the eyes. “This doesn’t change anything ok? No one is coming for us, we are just doing clean up. We will wrap things up and things will finally return to that of peace. I look forward to it…”
Helen wasn't sure what to think, simply listening for now. she had other thoughts in her mind as well, including of their future, and now something that threatened to unravel everything. "Very well then. I doubt any of my training will be of use, any protecol. Only that caution is required. We should at least seek out Roxanne soon and explain things to her. If this thing can corrupt her, it might turn the person we need most against us..."
Roxanne approached Hector one early morning. They had made small talk about testing a particular sword Hector had some time ago and it became an actual arrangement they made; Roxanne was more than intrigued about it. She wanted to see how much Hector could handle in the arcane. In her mind, helping him with this would be payment for him helping her with the fighting lessons.
Now, Roxanne had been secretly practicing with the sword she had found those weeks back. The feeling she got from it’s touch only got stronger and make her feel even more like she alone could take on the world. While her bionic sword was still her weapon of choice, this was a close second. It wasn’t much of a transition and the fact that this had arcane properties excited her even more. As such, she decided to take it out for a test spin while out and about with Hector. Roxanne wore the blade in plain sight in a back scabbard in the same fashion Victor did with his sword.
"Hector! There you are! I hope you slept well?" Roxanne was full of energy that morning. It was almost contagious but also a bit concerning."It’s been a while since we have gone on a date like this isn’t it?" Roxanne chuckled a bit at her teasing The scabbard hugged her body as she moved, a bit uncomfortable; it caused her to wince a bit when she moved. "Anyways. I am ready to headout whenever you are. I have a small surprise to you as well. Let’s see how much you can handle tin can!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 03, 2018, 09:41:55 pm
(( Thing approved by Salt. ))
Hector was unsure what the others were up to, having his cursed blade in its own back scabbard. He had no expectation of being able to draw it easily, merely to carry it until they got closer to where they planned to test out these weapons. He didn't like holding it any longer than he had to. And when he saw her openly carrying another unfamiliar blade, he silently thanked god that Helen and Victor weren't there to see this. The mere sight of the sight gave him an unfamiliar, alien discomfort that lingered in the back of his mind.
After all that happened lately, he felt this would be a well-earned break, and an important discovery. He saw what a similar weapon seemed to do to Horace, but wasn't sure how rapidly it eroded the mind. And he recalled the recent death, of a creature he hoped wasn't Catnip. In fact he hadn't attended the funeral for that reason, part of him refused to believe it. "Slept well, yes. And ready when you are, should be a good chance to see what this can do." he said, regarding her weapon. "Though...huh. What is that thing?" he asked, concerned. "That was the...loot, wasn't it?" he remarked, making his suspicions clear.
Elsewhere, across the river in the ruined streets of what used to be a suspicious little town, a corporal and sergeant were putting the finishing touches on a controlled demolition. "Alright sarge, all set up..." he said, Alberto Vela looking over to the woman holding the detonator. "Fire in the hole!" Nell shouted. Even if it was just the corporal there and the combat engineer Mardell, keeping an eye on things. Underneath the old tunnels, a series of explosives went of, sending rock and steel crumbling to bury the remaining entrances to the hellhole they'd known for seven years. "Last I ever want to see of Site 4 again..."
A thin blue line pierced the darkness of old, heavily-irradiated tunnels, a vague mockery of the human form materializing as the glow expanded, into an outline that cast its eerie radiance on the buried passageway. They finally collapsed the last entrance to Site 4, but this did nothing to deter him. Nor did a host of peculiar undead, what little of them lingered at least. Even the melted-and-reformed steel and stone that sealed off the bottom level was no deterrent to him.
He quietly hummed an old hymn to himself, ignored by the undead and unseen by what few security cameras still worked, only for his tune to falter as he came upon his goal. For the first time in a while, there was a minor setback. In truth, it was some minor thing to be gleamed from the servers of some foolish research department, dabbling in things beyond their understanding. But all that remained was a pile of worthless, molten slag. The setback itself wasn't what irritated him. It was the fact that sheer happenstance caused this, a mere shift in fate as a reactor went prompt-critical seven years ago, all the minor what-ifs compounding to ensure his goal was filed away in old servers, in a room nestled almost adjacent to the reactor sector, one that just happened to go up in flames in just the right way.
A loss, but not one of any true consequence to him. He surveyed the scattered artifacts, the few that survived the conflagration at least. Trifling things that were priceless to ignorant mortals, but nothing useful to him. A vague imitation of fingers brushed a hint of soot off a curiously-intact golden chalice, and that was when he sensed it.
"So you still have a presence in this world after all." he mused quietly. There was an answer. "Interlopers such as you have made it all too necessary." it replied. Faint, distant, yet it echoed as though it carried power this world had never truly felt. "As are you, yourself. You've naught but empty threats to the true great powers of this world. You are powerless."
"Powerless, no. It is presence I lack. And of these great powers? The interloper from my domain has been returned to where he belongs. And now another interloper has been destroyed. They are but the first."
"So full of yourself. Taking credit for the petty squabbles of mortal and spirit? Unless...ah. Perhaps I was wrong. Somewhere, some fool still acts as your lapdog? The interloper was the one closest to being of this realm, but a single step across The Veil, correct? Perhaps I'll find the nature of your new plaything if I dig a little deeper..." the strange man said, a wicked grin on what passed for his face.
"You will do no such thing. Do not forget that you aren't the only interloper at play here. This one has already come dangerously close to upsetting the balance of power. You are a mere parasite, and I the one who will bring order to The Veil. But now, these disturbances threaten to complete the plans of one who will cast this world into the abyss, and with it the balance between countless other worlds. You can't have that, can you?"
The strange figure initially scoffed at these remarks, but slowly he weighed these statements, considered the other great power this fellow intruder from beyond spoke of. "I never suspected you would be one to acknowledge the concept of a common enemy. We shall see what fate holds in store for us. But do not get complacent. Whatever lapdogs remain at your beck and call, they will be dealt with in time, by my own hounds if nothing else. We still have plenty of time to spare, after all."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 07, 2018, 01:34:42 am
Mica was annoying Dee, but frankly he was annoying her too. Something had come between them but neither of them actually knew what it was. It was a combination of things really. Mica was taking care of Kathrine, and caring for someone who was steadfast in that they didn't want to be cared for was a tricky endeavor to say the least. For Mica, there was another factor in that Dee spent a lot of time working. Without Catnip around, he had no one to help him build the parts he needed and had to make do. Often all this "making do" only frustrated him and made him irritable. In short, he didn't go for walks much anymore or eat with Mica, and she felt lonely. Today, they had argued again and it had been a big one. Medeina had toppled, by accident, one of Mica's stacks of sketch books. Dee had tried to stop the impending cascade but following the laws of misfortune, had only made it worse. His girlfriend had watched all this, an accused Dee of throwing her books around to spite her, from there the argument had escalated until Mica had fled Dee's workshop screaming like a banshee.
Quinn poked his head in after the screaming had halted and asked, "What was that about?" Not that he cared too much.
"Fuck off." Dee shot back, not in the mood for talking to anyone. Quinn's face didn't change. He simply sniffed, adjusted his spectacles, and left. Medeina clambered onto the table where Dee sat with his head down. "Mr. Dee?"
"What am I going to do Medi? I love her, but I wanna kill her sometimes. Just strangle the ever loving crap out of her. I know they say that moving in with your girlfriend is a terrible idea, but I didn't think it would be this bad..." He said into the table top.
"I wouldn't know." Responded the AI. The information just given to her was interesting, and she quietly put it away in a file along with other information she was compiling. "I do not know much about relationships, but perhaps you should do that thing with the words and the feelings with her? You know, talk to her about it? Without getting all shouty?"
"I don't even know where to start..." He mumbled, truly not knowing. In order to start, he had to know the root of the problem, and he was too close to the problem to see it. He turned his head and saw Medeina dragging something onto the table.
"They say," She said, "There are four things with eyes that cannot see. Potatos, needles, storms, and true lovers. Maybe you should start with this?" The thing was a sketch book, more worn than the others, with a sky blue cover and a label that read "Mica's dream book." The sight of it filled Dee with a now familiar internal fumbling. Regardless of his feelings, he knew the AI was right. This book, had been where things had changed. Roxanne led Mica back to Dee's workshop, she'd told her everything. Spilled her guts, you might say, and told her about her frustrations and problems and ordeals. In the end, she'd even told Roxanne about the book and what it contained. Secretly, a light flipped on in Roxanne's head. She too had noticed the change in the couple, but had not attributed much to it. With that last piece of information out in the open though, it suddenly became more interesting.
"You're young, ignorant, and you don't know what to do about it." Roxanne told her, suddenly turning into doctor love. "I think you should talk to him about it, and by 'IT' I mean your dreams. I think there's a little something missing in your relationship that you both desperately need. Without it, you two are going to tear each other apart." Entering the workshop, Roxanne saw that Dee was seated before his main work table, now cleared of bits. "It seems," She whispered so that only Mica could hear it, "That your man has come to the same conclusion sweety." Mica didn't hear her though, she had been struck by a flair of possessive jealousy.
"What is Lizard doin' with My-ka's dreamin' book?" She hissed unpleasantly. Dee, more calm, flipped it open. Roxanne took that as her cue and turned away, shutting the door quickly but quietly behind her.
"Lookin' at your dreams." Dee said, performing a passable imitation of Mica's mode of speech. Dee flipped each page one at a time, not really looking at them and noting that Mica lost more and more of her bluster with each page that went by until...
"Lizard no!" Mica mewled as the last page went by, revealing the first of many of the dreams that had puzzled Mica the most.
"I don't know how to start babe." Dee said, smiling winningly, "But you flatter me."
She realized he wasn't angry with her, she wasn't going to get yelled at for drawing those things and that had been what she had been afraid of. Not that she would be embarrassed if he saw them, but that he would be angry. Instead he had smiled at her and she was pretty sure he was pleased. She crossed slowly and sat in the seat he had prepared for her, hearts pounding in her chest. Instead of flipping to the next page, he slid the book over to her and she took it.
"Lizard, My-ka don't understand." She whispered, "Why does My-ka dream these dreams?"
Dee swept his hair back, unsure how to explain and wishing that he hadn't told Quinn to fuck off. Quinn could have explained it, but he was pretty sure that he didn't really want Quinn involved in this discussion. It was a long time before either of them said anything and Dee realized she was staring at him, waiting for a response. He shook his head, and for a wonder Mica understood.
"Okay, well..." She began, flipping to the next page, "What is this? Why does Lizard touch My-ka like this in My-ka's dreams?" She flipped to another page, and another, blushing more furiously but gaining stride and asking questions he had no verbal answer for. Dee touched her hand and she recoiled like she'd touched a hot stove.
"Mica... I could..." He choked on the words, swallowed, then pushed on with his scales shifting into a color redder than Mica had ever seen them. "I could show you."
His heart leapt into his throat, but he knew the answer already. This was the thing between them, and the look Mica gave him then was one he had only seen once when the spider had been tipsy in King Barry's throne room. She nodded slowly and so he took her hands and helped her to her feet, leading her to the back of the workshop. To the room they shared. Dee took special care to push Medeina away from the door before closing it between them, and throwing the lock. Outside, Roxanne chuckled. Medeina had come trundling out of the workshop, not indignantly.
"Do you think they will be alright?" She asked.
Roxanne grinned, "Oh you bet. Come with me my interesting friend, you can come my hair or pinch my skin or something and I can tell you about some wild adventures I've been on within the last year or so." Roxanne looked back towards the workshack, and silently cheered for Mica.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 07, 2018, 01:37:09 am
Elsewhere, the tank soon pulled back up to the farm, after dropping someone off at the refugee center...
Later on, Helen gave a little sigh as she looked to Victor, then back to Roxanne. It'd been a little while since that fateful party, and now just when it seemed like they'd get to rest and enjoy time together, the looming specter of Roxanne's findings finally made itself clear. But to their surprise, it was Roxanne making the first move, coming to them. Though that wasn't very reassuring, nor was the sight of Hector with his armor in terrible condition, handling that dark sword with the same kind of revulsion and cautious attitude that Helen had picked up from ample understanding of the dangers sanguine artifacts posed.
"I'm glad you're both back safely. Still...gods above and below. So that's what both those things are capable of..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 07, 2018, 10:45:30 am
Four months after Kathrine's return...
Today had been it, the big "it." Life was unbearable without her mistress. For four months, she had lived in the ruins of the barn. She had been forced to sit and watch as it was cleared away by the farms residents and neatly stacked at one end of the farm. Those who had helped, occasionally pulling some profound piece of her mistresses belongings out of the wreck. One after another. Catnip's tool box, mangled beyond usefulness, it's contents scattered to hell and back. Catnip's sword, snapped off at the hilt. Catnip's Camera, smashed to bits. Even the cloak, Catnip's "scintillating blanket." Surprisingly, the cloak had proved to be fantastically durable. Catnip had relied on this cloak, one of her most cherished possessions, to get out of any number of jams. Now it lay across Kathrine's bed, providing warmth with it's oddly heavy weave and the memories it was imbued with. Then Mica had found the spare camera and with Hectors help, they'd taken the SD card from Catnip's ruined camera, and loaded it into the spare.
Kathrine had spent the day looking through the hundreds of pictures on that camera. Flipping through them, one after another. At least a third of them were a blurry mess, another third seemed to be obscured by what Kathrine could safely assume was her mistresses fingers, but the rest... Pictures from Catnip's early life. Photo's of a red haired girl with whiskers, pictures of people who didn't look very healthy, pictures of animals. As she progressed through the photos she found pictures of Floyd and Dervish. There were pictures of people at a refugee center Kathrine had never been to. A somewhat professional photo of the red haired girl standing and smiling between Khaki and an elderly man. Then, there came pictures of Hector and Roxanne and Quinn inside an RV. After that, the locale of the pictures became more familiar. Kathrine flipped through them until she realized that the pictures had begun to take on a singular focus. The closer Kathrine got to the end of the SD cards store of images, the more the pictures seemed to be of her. Kathrine cooking, Kathrine sitting and looking bored, Kathrine walking, Kathrine sewing or toying with something at Catnip's workbench, Kathrine socializing. One of the last pictures was of Kathrine and Catnip, a "selfie" Catnip had made her take by the river.
The battery on the camera had died while she looked at that last picture. She tried another battery, but it too had been dead. She assumed the camera was broken, and lay cradling it and weeping quietly until nightfall. Then, she'd made a decision. It was a mean decision, but Kathrine just couldn't do it anymore.
In the armory, Kathrine dug around through the well organized and kept weapons until she found what she was looking for. The SKS. Her SKS. It had been taken and placed in the armory during the cleanup. Kathrine realized she was humming a little nonsense song while looking it over. It would be inconvenient, and it would make everyone sad, but for once Kathrine felt like she was doing the right thing. Mistress had left her and probably hated her. This was the right thing to do. She sat against the wall in the armory and worked her shoe off. She considered, then put the barrel in her mouth. It tasted unpleasantly of the oil it had been cleaned with, but she didn't really mind all that much. Kathrine closed her eyes, and with her toe, pushed the trigger.
*SNAP*
The metallic snap shocked her back to her senses. She'd fired the gun to scare off wild animals before, and she knew the sound that should accompany oblivion was not "snap." She looked over the rifle again. When it had been removed from the barn and brought to the armory, it had been loaded. It had been loaded when she got it. Now though, it wasn't. When Hector or Nathaniel or whoever had taken the rifle brought it here, they'd also unloaded it. Not a problem, Kathrine had never loaded the rifle herself but she'd watched Catnip do it plenty of times. She picked through the bins of ammo until she found a bullet that looked right, drew back the bolt, inserted the bullet, and tried again.
*SNAP*
Kathrine was beginning to get frustrated. She checked the rifle again and couldn't find a problem until she tried to draw the bolt back. It wouldn't go. The bullet had been loaded backwards and the gun was jammed.
"Ffffffffooey..." Kathrine said quietly, unhappily. None of the guns were loaded, and that made sense but at the same time it made this more difficult. She picked out a gun that looked simple enough, a glock, and it's accompanying magazine. This one had writing on it that she could see, but though she scanned the letters and numbers several times they never quiet seemed to stay for more than a split second. Her mind simply refused to acknowledge them. So, she picked through the ammunition until she found a bullet that looked like it would fit, and carefully pushed each one into the magazine one after another. When she set it aside to retrieve the glock, the too small bullets burst in a comical shower from the magazine, startling the hell out of her. For a moment, she nearly gave up, but pushed that away. Kathrine had to do this. Another bullet was chosen, this one a little bigger, and the gun was prepped. Once again, she sat against the wall and tasted the now familiar gun oil.
"I'm thorry Mithtreth."
*SNAP*
Her eyes flew open.
*SNAP* *SNAP* *SNAP*
"Shit!" Kathrine shouted in frustration and anguish, and realized too late what she'd just said. Someone had told her that swearing was good for you, made you feel better when you were frustrated, but she'd never believed that. Doing it had only made her feel worse, so it seemed Kathrine had been right all along. She threw the gun at the far wall, and to her horror, it went off with a resounding bang. There was a long silence in which the only sound she could hear was the ringing in her ears, and what she thought must be her nerve breaking. Somewhere nearby, dully, came the bang of a door being thrown open and rising commotion. Very soon, someone would find her here among the mess she'd made of the armory and the evidence of what she'd been trying to do obvious to anyone who wasn't stupid. The thought of running away seemed prudent, but running away would be mean... Instead, Kathrine lay on the floor and curled into a ball of fur and sadness.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 07, 2018, 06:27:14 pm
Roxanne had convince Hector to go and seek help with these two swords; not that he needed much convincing anyways. He had said that he intended to get help and this presented the perfect opportunity. It was quite the sight for Victor and Helen to be greeted to; Roxanne had radio in ahead so the two former enemies waited for them by the vehicle area.
It was Helen the spoke first, her concerns clearly heard. “Yeah, it is. Helen, I would assume you would know more about the blade Hector has? You seem quite experienced with in your...tenure? Why don’t you help Hector out? It would be more beneficial to slip up the labor, for now. If anything requires attention, then both of you can jump in.” In all truth, Roxanne wanted to discuss something with Victor in private; this would serve as an excuse to do so. If the dreams and offers were true, then he might know something about this. She didn’t want to cause a ruckus just yet; Roxanne just needed answers.
Helen made some examinations to Hector and his sword and then made some recommendations. The two soon were on their way to gather some material leaving Roxanne and Victor to their own business. Roxanne waved at Hector as he left giving him a warm smile; her facial expression then turned somber and was filled with guilt as she looked back at Victor. He noticed this which only made confronting her more difficult in his mind.
“Want to go to my room? I have all my equipment there.”, Victor offered. He knew what was going on with Roxanne; at least superficially. This was going to be a delicate topic for the both of them for entirely different reasons.
“Yeah, that works. Let’s get this sorted out.”, Roxanne answered. Victor simply nodded and made a gesture for Roxanne to follow. As the two walked, only silence accompanied them; neither wanting to talk until the sound spell Victor set up would make sure not even the wall could hear them. Once they reach Victor’s shack, he hesitantly opened the door; the two stepped inside and the door closed behind them.
It had been five minutes. The two seated across from each other on a small table just looking at one another. It was getting a bit awkward but neither seemed to know how to proceed. It was Roxanne who interrupted the silence by unsheathing her sword and placing it on the table. “Tell me Victor, what is this? Why is it so special?”.
Victor’s eyes widen and he winced at the sight, memories flooded back to him; out of all the pieces, he feared this one the most. With a heavy heart, he pressed on. “Tell me Roxanne, where did you find this? I need to know...”
“I found it during the battle against Randael… It was when everyone was preparing to leave; I was looking for loot and found this...Did I do wrong?”, Roxanne responded.
“I see...so that’s how you got it...You only did wrong in not telling anyone about it. But that is in the past. For now, we must focus on the now and in the future. I am not letting this change anything...” Roxanne’s response left him a bit perplexed and worried. Randael had this? Why? Did he… nah, not even Randael was powerful enough to take on the Nephilim.
“Victor, what is going on? Why are you so secretive about this? I thought you might have answers...in my dreams, he said you-” Roxanne wasn’t able to finish her though, Victor interjected right away at the mention of dreams.
“Dreams? What type of dreams? Roxanne, I need you to tell me this things ok? No more secrets, no more games...please understand, this is beyond you and I...”
Roxanne gave a deep sigh; she understood completely. With a single nod, she began to recount everything that had happened. She told him about the dreams, about the masked man and his offers; she told him how he wanted the sword of the void and was asking her to keep an eye for it; how after she acquired both swords, his interest grew. Lastly, she told him about how in her last dream, he seemed off; a bit down as if something was bothering. No offers, no threats, just some advice and an offer to help her. Victor seemed to go pale from this, something had clicked in his mind but he wasn’t letting on.
“Victor...I know about the puzzle...this is one of the pieces isn’t it? Please, just tell me that...”. Victor hesitated again; she already knew, explained by the terrorist he thought was long ago been delt with. There was no use in hiding anything now. “Yes...it is...that is one of the pieces...so is my sword.”
“Oh...I see...” There was another long silence between them. Neither dared look at the other. Roxanne took off her scabbard and sheath the sword in; she gave it one last glance before offering it to Victor. “What? Roxanne? Are you?...”
“You are going to want to guard this, aren’t you? This is serious business, I don’t want to cause something we can’t control. I trust you know what to do because I don’t… Still, if there is anything I can do, just let me know. I’ll tell you if I have any other weird dreams. Anyways, it’s getting late...I should get going...” Roxanne stood up from the table and dismissed herself. Victor was left there a bit confused by all this; a bit too much to take in. Still, he knew there was work to be done.
“Victor Ironwood...no mortal is meant to possess as much power as you are currently holding. You now hold two pieces of the forbidden puzzle. It is my duty to help preserve the balance; if you so desire, I can guide you...Take this unholy sword and the one you so much cherish, one in each hand. Feel the hatred flow through you, feel the tempation take hold...now you must make a choice...activate them both, feel the power flow through you; or stand down, drop your weapons and follow the light…”
Victor needed no explanation of who this was; he would recognize this “voice” anywhere. This was the divine spirit trapped inside his sword. It wore the golden cloak that was once the skin of the broken god; it possess great power and experience and as such Victor did not question it’s directive. With the two swords in hand, Victor grinned as his decision was made. He gripped the handle of each sword before a strange glow overtook him.
They say that walls have ear; that if they could speak, the stories they could tell would be a treasure trove of knowledge. What happened inside the fours walls that day, not even the walls would dare repeat. One thing was for sure though, two pieces have now been secured and after tonight, the game had been stalled.
Elsewhere...
“Have you found it yet”
“Not yet. These bastards must of hidden it.
“Didn’t the one of them carried as their main weapon?”
“Yes, but they must of forseen our attack and hid it.”
“Understood.”
“What a pity...humankind is so foolish...they threw away their lives even though they knew from the start they would not win.”
“I would have agreed with you a few years back but look at us now...we have been reduced to scavenging. It was a human that did this to us, never forget that.”
“...But we will get back what is ours! With this piece, we will acquire all others!”
“That is the goal...we will finally be able to achieve peace...this whole game has been ridged from the start...I intend to finish it!”
“You are not alone! You have us all here. We all want the same thing. We won’t die without a fight!”
“Yes, we are here for you allfather. May you guide us into a better tomorrow.”
“...Thank you...all of you...even as we face extinction, I promise it will all be better. This injustice will be undone!”
“We found it! It’s here!”
“Good, show it to me.”
“Here, it’s the first of four.”
“Interesting...seems the seer was right. What pieces was this again?”
“The sword of convergence. It’s rainbow hue signifies the seven fragments it holds. It’s power is versatile so even with just this one, we can begin to rebuild.”
“I see...well, we have this place don’t we? I think we can start here...harvest anything you can and bring me the rest. We have work to do.”
“Yes allfather; you heard him! Let’s work towards what is rightly ours!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 07, 2018, 06:46:31 pm
Floyd was sleeping in one of the uninhabited rooms until the gunshot rang out, his eyes flew open and he scrambled away, running out the door towards the Armory. Meanwhile, Quinn was already running towards the armory, barreling through the door of his lab, He hit a dead stop in front of the armory with Floyd. The gunslinger had an angry look on his face as he opened his mouth to speak, Quinn put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't." He said simply, shooing him quietly. Floyd sighed and stood nearby, but stayed quiet, hoping Quinn knew what the hell he was doing.
Quinn simply waked into the Armory, grabbing the glock off the ground and pulling the magazine out. It was for the same brand of gun, but for a different model. He racked back the slide, putting the glock back where it belonged. He looked at Kathrine with a solemn look, "Do you want to talk about it?" He said in a soft tone different than his blunt monotone as he sat a ways next to her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 07, 2018, 10:52:40 pm
Kathrine hid her face in her tail, and so all Quinn saw was her fur shifting. Underneath it, Kathrine was shaking her head. It wasn't right, she didn't want this attention. She realized that her failure would likely get her more attention than she'd ever had before and that made her even more miserable. She would have to try again. For now though she'd lost her nerve and people would be on the lookout. What if mistress came back and she found out?
"Don't be stupid Kathrine, Mistress isn't coming back..." She thought. To Quinn though, she gave a muffled "no..." Mica felt different. Relaxed, bubbly, happy, and a bit sore. She took her time walking her "patrol" around the outskirts of the farm and thinking about she and her man had recently done. Thinking, and talking. She had already told Sharlene and Lilith about it, and would have even told Mohammad if he had been present. After that, she'd circled around, encountering Roxanne by the river.
"Roks-zann! Booby friend! My-ka talk to Lizard like you say!" She shouted even though she was only a few feet away.
"Oh yeah? How did it go?" Roxanne asked. Mica told her how it went of course, and what happened after in embarrassing detail.
"Holy shit, Mica not so loud!" She hissed, covering the spiders mouth perhaps unwisely with her hand. Mica was in no mood too bite though, she felt too blissed out to bite anyone. Even a chicken may have escaped her. Roxanne knew the look. "Did you really?" She asked quietly and keeping her hand over Mica's mouth. Mica nodded emphatically.
She pushed Roxanne's hand out of the way and hugged her tight. "Roks-zann so wise, given good advices! My-ka's gonna tell everyone!"
"You probably shouldn't..." Roxanne advised, but it was too late. Mica was already off, heading into the main collection of shacks and houses to "spread the good news."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 07, 2018, 11:22:20 pm
Quinn thought for a moment, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Hm... I see. If you need to... talk. You can always talk with me, or Floyd, or anyone here really. But it's up to you if you want to talk, it's okay if you want to spend time alone." He got up, heading out. "Have a good night, Kathrine." He said as goodbye in his usual monotone, dusting off his pants and heading back to his lab. Once he got inside he closed the door, sitting down in the booth. He let out a loud sigh, putting his face into his hands, emotionally exhausted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 08, 2018, 12:30:52 am
A hard year for some, an easy one for others. For most, it passed quickly and uneventfully. For others, those whose lives were filled with excitement or pain, it passed agonizingly. When a certain spider found out about what a certain small maid had attempted, it distressed her greatly. The spider tried as best she could to share a little of her newfound joy with the maid. Relationships deepened, things changed, people came and went. The coming year would be yet another one of triumphs and failures, of new friendships and new foes.
In the north, Gods Army focused it's efforts against the encroaching Canadian shock troops with diminishing success. Very soon, the red and white would finally punch through and break the lines of Gods Army, finally accomplishing whatever goal those coming men and women had in mind.
At the refugee center, residents had once again got back onto their own sweet keel. They did not forget the attack, but for a time they rested easy knowing that somewhere out there, Gods Army had it's hands full.
In the west, bands of Hells Raiders began the long process of reforming under various leaders and forming communities, incessantly raiding and trading with one another.
And further west, something was emerging from a lab in large numbers and moving west in vehicles made for the journey. Before too long, those coming through would finally end their perilous journey far to the east.
This, the eighth year of the cataclysm, would be interesting. "You're discharging me?" Atomos said. She had been called into the refugee centers ready room by her superior officer and was met by a table at which was seated no just her Captain, but also the mutagenisist Dervish. Now they were telling her she was being relieved of guard duty. To her, is sounded a lot like being fired. Or discharged...
Catalina once again rubbed the bridge of her nose. "No Private, I'm not."
Dervish put his hand on Catalina's arm, "Let me Captain. Ms. Atomos, No. Your superior officer and I have been talking, as have your peers. It has come to our attention that you aren't performing your duties to the best of your ability. To keep it short Atomos, you seem... Distracted."
"And we can't have that." Catalina put in, "You're a good marine when the chips are down private but ever since we left the vault, you've had your head in the clouds. We've all talked it over, this center appreciates your efforts, but it isn't you're guard efforts they appreciate."
Over the last year since leaving the vault, Atomos had done her duties as best she could. Still though, her mind was elsewhere. Outside. Atomos did her job, but her mind was outside among the trees and on the roads. Guarding wasn't where she excelled. Where she did best, was out there. Hunting, gathering, scavenging, and talking. Being in the world. Being free.
"Your mutations have a lot to do with it." Dervish was saying. Catalina slammed her hand on the table and shouted, cutting him off. "PRIVATE! PAY ATTENTION!" Atomos tail had begun to twitch as the thoughts of being out and about came to her. It curled itself around her leg when Catalina shouted at her though. "This is important private, I am reassigning you."
"W-what?" Not Discharge, reassignment? "What do you mean?"
Catalina, once again, rubbing the bridge of her nose "You tell her Mr. Deverish, I'm starting to get a headache."
"Just so," Dervish said, then turned back to Atomos, "The people around here appreciate what you bring in. Ms. Atomos, you bring in supplies from dangerous areas and food from the field. The center here would have run out of epinephrine and insulin months ago if you hadn't brought back that cache from up north. For the last year, as you know, we havn't been able to get any salvage teams together. There just aren't enough volunteers for it."
"What Dervish here is saying, is that we need people doing what you are doing for the survival of the center, so I'm putting you in charge of it. Think of it as a promotion." Catalina said, "Your job is to go out and do what you do best. Get out there, collect what you can find, talk to the people you come across, and then report back here. I don't need to tell you that it'll be likely be a more dangerous job than guarding, but-"
"I accept! Er... Sir!" Atomos interrupted. She was envisioning herself as a kind of ranger, her imagination already at work. She was eager to get started, it would be leagues better than guard duty.
"We knew you would. You can start as soon as you're-" Catalina began, but Atomos was already making to leave. Catalina let her go, knowing that whatever she did next would almost certainly be of some benefit to everyone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 08, 2018, 02:27:40 am
Bandit’s year had been one of hectic movement followed by taking cover in the one place that none of the men that had inevitably come gunning for him would go. As such he’d had an abundance of time to produce medications for the residents of The Precinct(as uncreative as he was Bandit had just named it after the first vaguely police sounding thing that had come to mind). On top of that the fruits of his lessons in the alchemical were being produced in large enough quantities to be both used by the Precinct and sold.
Of course things hadn’t been all positive but he’d kept the spread of the infection in the burns on his stomach and chest private. He’d take a pill every now and then that was supposed to help with it but he’d always forget to stick to a regiment and so the infections spread had stopped in the immediate term but he knew it would get worse later on. Regardless he had to push on, had to actually make this project work and show everyone that someone from his background could actually do good.
Alexei meanwhile had realized he wasn’t going to be chased off like he had so many times before. He’d pulled out some of his nicer clothes in the more recent months and had taken a more cheery demeanor most of the time even without the vodka he so frequently consumed. He’d also proven useful in keeping the larder and fridges full of fresh food for the Hall. The only part of his old attire he refused to leave behind was the intricately painted gas mask.
Elsewhere Drifter, now referring to himself as Isaac, practiced his voodou and hunted to fill his time when he wasn’t keeping track of the library. And keep track of the library he did, keeping everything in order and every book in its place. His guns were kept in the truck with the exception of a double barrel shotgun kept under the desk with his 1911 sitting beside it. The only time his rifle came out of the truck was to hunt which usually caught the attention of Junior, his now fully grown cat. He seemed to love going out into the swamp with Isaac and he enjoyed the company on the trips when Alice didn’t come.
Speaking of Alice had come a long way over the year. She had become quite comfortable with a variety of firearms. On top of that she’d learned a lot about the use of swords and other melee weapons thanks to books on the topic and the occasional lesson she pried out of anyone she could find willing to do so. Even with all of the practice and other busy work she’d been given she still felt a bit restless being cooped up in the farm however and had been looking for any excuse she could find to wander outside the farm.
Elsewhere Roland had taken charge as the 3rd looked more and more to him as their leader. They’d established their home in the lab and salvaged everything they could from it. That being said they’d also built a few buildings above ground and made any welcome to live with them up there should they desire to do so. One of Roland’s ideas for the 3rd as he firmly believed the 3rd needed a purpose and that they’d find it in the protecting of a new Voshkova, a new home for them. They had also reached out to Bandit’s new settlement and the other nearby settlements and made it clear they were friendly.
Of course things hadn’t been all chipper at the 3rd’s new base. Maxim had to decommission his tank and it now sat as a memorial of their old home in the base. It’s place had been taken by Blitz’s armored Kubelwagons. A bit of a misnomer considering they were designed to carry six men on top of the driver and four gunners while providing enough protection for everyone involved that it would take considerable fire power to take them down. Not that many would have a real chance at taking a good shot at it with four heavy machine guns on swivels being able to swing around at all angles with a large cannon attached to the turret that portruded from the top of the vehicle.
____________________________________
It was early in the day as Isaac lay on the dirt with his rifle sticking out from the small hill he’d taken a perch on. He was watching the overly dressed bowman stalk his prey with a rather impressive amount of skill. As he tracked the man in his sights Isaac felt his cat resting on his back and reached a hand back to scratch its ear before fully focusing on what he was watching.
The man in his sights drew the arrow back and began lining up his shot. Isaac pulled his to the doe that had been walking with its companion. As the buck fell with an arrow through its eye Isaac pulled the trigger and racked the bolt before seeing the two deer lying on the ground. Clean kills.
As he stood up the Cat adjusted itself so that it came up on his shoulder and perched itself there as he made his way down the hill towards his hunting companion. Alexei waved to Isaac as he finished tying up their prey for hauling back. Grabbing his share of the load Isaac told Alexei “You’re good with that thing, where’d you learn?”
Alexei hauled his share with impressive ease as he responded “Thirteen, grandfather taught us in youth to hunt with bow. Told us it would be useful.”
As they returned Bandit was finishing up a batch of potions. Setting them aside he rubbed his head and looked around at the room. He counted four crates of medications and two crates of potions to give to the next convoy that came around to take them. It wasn’t enough. He had people who needed meds, who he had a responsibility to. Standing up he walked through the door and lit up a joint as he tried to calm down. He’d taken to wearing a ballistic mask over his cloth one but he’d cut a hole specifically for the purposes of smoking. He’d gotten shot at too much to not protect himself.
Elsewhere Roland put a hand on Blitz’s shoulder as they charged down the road in a kubelwagon. The armored truck in front of them was moving medical supplies that they’d reclaimed from a group of raiders on Bandit’s behalf. Of course they hadn’t appreciated it and so were chasing the pair of vehicles.
Blitz shouted at one of the gunners and the thud of a grenade launcher going off shuddered through the vehicle. After a couple of seconds the explosive took out one of the two remaining vehicles. Roland nodded to the gunner before grabbing the handle of one of the hatches and pushing it open. Leaning out of the vehicle Roland retrieved a revolver and twirled it in his hand. The guns on the kubelwagon fell silent as they observed the display of cowboy bravado.
Twirling the gun one last time Roland fired a single shot through the window of the raider car and watched as it drifted off to the side of the road before smashing into a wrecked vehicle. A couple of seconds later the men shouted a joyous salute to their commander before a hand pulled him back in and the gunner that had grabbed him handed him a hip flask. Taking a drink from it Roland smiled as his men, dressed in differing colors of the same uniform, celebrated as they drove to the Precinct.
Somewhere not so far from the farm the seven men moved with purpose. They were going to be upon their target soon and the Blessed Seven couldn’t wait. To push the son of Tyr back along his true path was a holy quest. Of course it would still be some time before they would get their chance...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 08, 2018, 03:39:26 am
It had been quite the year for Roxanne and those whose life she touched. Not in quantity but in quality.
Roxanne for one did not go for the final ritual to bind her soul to her body. This has caused a weakened link between body and soul who’s balance was delicate. She discovered that in doing so, she was now able temporarily manifest her soul into a corporeal form using the divine essence; she was able to project her soul into the divine spirit she once was. This allowed her to pull some pranks and so some experiments but not doing that ritual would prove dire later on…
The masked man had completed his promise. He didn’t visit her dreams at all during this year. Roxanne gave up the piece she found to Victor and that was the last she heard about the puzzle for now. The rest of the year was spent in peace helping around the farm and catching up with Hector. She didn’t go out much anymore unless she need a something specific. Katherine’s little stunt had shocked her but she knew her betters were there for her. Roxanne would just ask how things were going when the two cross paths but there was not much someone like her could offer.
Victor’s year had been eventful as well. Things with Helen had escalated ever since that party. For a moment, it had seemed like the pieces might put everything they had worked for in jeopardy but Victor was having none of that. Soon after Roxanne gave up his piece, he did a last ditch spell on the sword of despair taught to him by those who trusted him with the sword of the void. It was a sort of sealing spell; no one could detect it, activate it or even wield it without ‘spiritual approval’ from Victor. He kept the thing hidden somewhere in his shack to keep a close eye to it but that had been the end of that chapter. From then on things had return to normalcy.
As stated before, his relationship with Helen was growing. Now that they had some time to relax, they let each other know of their wishes for the future. Talks about starting a family, about rebuilding what once was, to show the world that even once bitter enemies can create something beautiful. This year only allowed them to have time to bloom this further.
She was there again, by knew they both knew she was pregnant. She was a bit nervous still, all of this was new to her, and her mother had taught her more about protective magic than about any of this. Soon she closed the door, looking back to Victor. "What do you think for a name? Haven't really, er...taken your name, so could go either way. McKinnon, or Ironwood..."
“Well...for name. I have given it some thought ever since we, you know, found out. I been looking and I kinda like the name Thomas if it’s a boy or Sophia if it’s a girl... What do you think? As for the surname...really haven’t pushed for it either way but I was thinking: Ironwood if male, McKinnon is female? They can always carry the other as a second surname too...this seems fair?”
Helen was surprised by the answer, taken aback by the offer. How did he known their...then she remembered. The winds of memories. He had to have heard their names at some point, the time they shared under the effects of the strange medicine. "After father or mother...very well then. Thomas Ironwood, or Sophia McKinnon." she said, only to hold him close.
Melody was working hard under the direction of the 3rd company. She was no stranger to hard labor and as such happily helped with what was needed. Melody quickly grew fond of those around her. Despite effort to get her to stop, she still felt the need to address everyone as Sir or Ma’am. It was a habit that died hard. She followed her rules; especially the one about not touching the tank. She had been tempted a few times but decided against it out of fear.
Every to weeks or so, Melody would to the farm. She would seeks help from Victor to further her abilities, Helen to practice them safely and Quinn to make sense out of any of it. She worked hard in this regard as well. Melody even ended up teaching Victor a thing or two. Despite their better judgment, they commited a few dumb magic shenanigans together which brought them laughs; things like playing soccer with the undead, loading the wrong essence into harmless artifacts, using magic to automate small tasks and sabotaging each other so that it failed in spectacular ways. Despite their fun, they swore not to tell anyone else about this; Victor was trying to change his image and Melody seemed so responsible in her learning of the arcane.
The year went on for like this for the residents of the farm. Two other factions were at play, their year too a bit eventful.
The command center was the one who’s time was most stable. They abandoned the bio-weapon’s lab for the time being after taking all the intel with them. The clone vat they had proved to be able to handle the same operations as the ones in the lab. They would continue their experiments here to replicate later once they had the man power to take over the lab again.
It was Delora who volunteered to test the vat. She told router to rid her of the wings, the only mutation that had bothered her. He agreed and Delora got into the subject suit the next day. It was embarrassing for her wearing this suit. The places where straps, zipper and buttons were located scare her to think who was intended to wear this thing… Despite her hesitation, into the vat she went…
The experiment was a success. All genetic anomalies had been removed and Delora had achieved homeostasis. Her wings were gone at her request; it would take time to get used to but at least now they wouldn’t get in the way. This was once step closer to help those in need.
Apart from this, nothing much happened. They looted supplies like always, kept an eye on the 3rd to see if they tried to weaponize anything of the unknown lab. Nothing came of this of course, they were just a bit paranoid. There efforts to rebuild and make a settlement where mutants could find peace was blooming; it was slow work but they made do with what they had.
Shadows of Arcana was no more. The two members in the farm now joined Helen in creating something better and the others...well, they met their maker. It had been a short battle; the Nephilim came in and quickly took over. None of the trained soldiers of the UAF could even harm these beings. A few had joined the ranks of SoA as hunters and cleansers but not even they could do anything. Emily’s and Alt-Roxanne’s souls were claimed back into the afterlife by them; their divine nature no match for the power of the fallen.
Alex knew who they were, he tried to plead with them but it was no use. He was not going to give into their demands and the moment this seemed clear, they struck him down. They got what they were looking for, the sword of convergence. The Nephilim were finally one step closer to once more being able to live in peace; once close to extinction, this marked their first victory in quite a while.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 08, 2018, 03:44:26 am
That day, after Hector and Roxanne's actions...
Helen wanted to insist on being present for this, to advise Roxanne and Victor, but something pulled at her mind. Something encouraging her to see to Hector's concerns instead. Something told her that Victor, for once, could be trusted to see to this matter himself.
It had been a cautious study of the weapon's aura, Hector's after his use of it, along with questions about what happened, what he still remembered. "This...is definitely dangerous. From what I've seen and read about, and what you told me about what Lucian showed you, the risk of permanent effects is increasingly likely, especially if you use it a third time. However..." she said, gesturing to him. "Do you still have that ring Quinn had on hand?" she asked.
Hector nodded at that. "Yes. Think it might have any effect?" At this, Helen nodded. "I've seen other items with similar corruptive effects, if anything that blade's curse is simply a refinement of other techniques seen elsewhere. The ring has a deliberate ward against corruptive influences built into it. However, it will weaken the positive effects of the blade to some extent. It seemed you...relied more on the way it sapped energy from the slain, and that's likely to be unaffected by this. The surge of energy you felt might be less intense though." she remarked, and Hector nodded. "If I do dare to use it, I'll do so with the ring then." he said.
"There's another alternative, but..." she said, trailing off before continuing. "It might be possible to purify the item to some extent. That however will degrade the sanguine enchantments permanently. Moreover, its original enchantments are very dangerous if misused, and most of them are of no practical use in combat." She thought about these ritual swords, used by the Keepers of the Oath for their strange rituals. Then, she said something that she wasn't even fully sure of, blurting it out reflexively. "But if it comes down to combating other magical weapons or spiritual beings, this will be needed."
"It will? I'll...keep that in mind." Hector said, and that that point it was too late for her to backtrack and admit she had never heard of such a thing, let alone have any evidence to back that up.
Roughly a month later...
The other voice, and the veiled figure it belonged to, hadn't appeared to Helen since that fateful night. And it was a relief to her. The influence was still felt, and now another had attracted its attention. It would wait, and watch. Of those, one had been harried by the enemy constantly, and no longer held control over her piece of the puzzle. It was Victor that now seemed the weak link in the chain.
It would wait until a quiet night over the next month or so, a night spent alone. Dreams would seem to fade, until they coalesced again. A simple, empty expanse scorched to bare ground, and a figure. Seemingly humanoid, draped in robes and cloak, and under the hood was a pitch-black void, save for a veil over what would be the eyes. Whereas most of the outfit was gray or black wool, the veil was undyed linen, yet curiously it had richly-embroidered patterns on the plain fabric, ornate ever-shifting designs.
"So a mortal now has two of those things at their command. Fear not, for the pursuit of these artifacts is not my goal. Another has called upon me three months ago, in her hour of need, and I answered. Rare as it is to come when I haven't been called, being thousands of worlds away, perhaps you understand the dire nature of what you are dealing with..."
Victor stood there as he found himself in a dream once more. This was different; he knew the tell-tell signs of a ‘visitor’. He did a reality check real quick; he was definitely dreaming but seemed to have no control over it. “Lucid nightmare...guess I have to find the source...”. But alas, he didn’t have to look long for before him was the cloaked figure. Victor shook as he looked inside it’s hood to find the void itself starring back. His instincts made his reach for his sword only to find out it wasn’t there; then it spoke.
“Wait...what did you just say?How do you know ab-” He paused for a moment. Did it really know. It references a mortal possessing two of what it called ‘magic artifacts’. It said it had no interest in collecting them, so if he was talking about the puzzle, that was at least reassuring.
“S-someone called you here? And who might you be exactly? Why do you haunt my dreams? Do you work for...he who bears the mask?” Victor tried to ask questions to see how much he could trust this entity. As with Roxanne, past encounters with spirits have left a sour taste in his mouth. “Dire consequences? Just how much do you really know?And if you don’t seeks this ‘artifacts’, than what is it you seek? Forewarn? Recon? Fulfill the wishes of a master or host?”
The figure watched, somewhat amused by Victor's reactions, letting him unleash a whole barrage of questions before he calmly raised a gloved hand. "The forbidden puzzle, as your kin called it. The great anomaly, as my followers once called it. Before those who upheld my oath succumbed to the fate this world has brought upon so many. I am the one from beyond The Veil, called from afar by those who once sought to understand the nature of the beyond. The masked one pursues these pieces, which resonate with the power that drew one world into another. They are connected to the second great sundering of worlds. He is only one of the threats in pursuit of these items."
"What shall come of uniting this puzzle, I can only say that is it dangerous, and will upset the balance of a world already teetering on the brink. This one. And if it is disrupted too far, the consequences will afflict many more realms." they explained calmly. "Limited as my presence in this distant realm has become, I can only offer warning. The masked one will pose a threat in the future, even though he has been scorned. You and the huntress from beyond will endure trials as a consequence of what has happened, and what shall happen. This I cannot prevent. It will strengthen you, however."
"I warn you of this, and present two things to remember, two assets in place, for when the enemy seeks these items. The one who called upon me is the huntress, your former enemy. The one who is now with child. The divine oath she spoke, and my answer to it, is a debt I have yet to call upon. The second is the tainted sword. The only artifacts that can match the power of the pieces are those with the divine spark. Underneath the haze of blood magic, one of your comrades possesses one of this world's only surviving Blades of The Veil's Justice. Do not betray what is at your disposal to the enemy too early."
With this, the figure seemed to dissipate, vanishing into black mist, and with it the strange vision faded into uneasy, dreamless sleep...
Over the following months...
Hector had spent much of the time since then helping to repair things around the farm, fixing up a shack Lilith wrecked, a door Lilith wrecked, even the palisade he'd started work on was partly thanks to Lilith driving through the fence. The watchtower mercifully wasn't Lilith's doing. He had plenty of material to lash and secure timbers, part of it in supplies Helen brought over earlier in the week, partly thanks to the refugee center. The rope in particular he guessed to be well-made natural rope, either jute or hemp.
Helen smiled a bit as she hauled the cart to the farm, Sergei and Solomon walking along with her. The cart had a bounty of various dry plants and assorted preserved food, just in time for the autumn equinox in fact. And she brought a considerable harvest.
Much of it was in wheat and a large sack full of various herbs native to the region, but there was also a considerable bounty of hardtack and fruit leather, a small assortment of dry meat and vegetable goods, and seeds for the various culinary herbs she grew. In addition she'd prepared a surprising amount of sugar and salt. She had the farm and its reference books to thank for the idea of using crops she had available as an alternative to sugar beets or cane, while the salt was easily produced from the areas near where she sited The Hall.
Finally, among her haul of various goods, she had a large clay container filled with posca, a hydria with around 15 liters in it, and carefully wrapped up was a small block of a green substance that had a distinct smell to it. Some time ago she'd found a bounty of seeds i a ruin she and Sergei were picking through, adding it to her garden's stock of foraged seeds and those she requested from the farm. It was an innocent enough idea, though Sergei quite bluntly identified the young plants as what they were. Long long afterward they had a sizable crop that proved immensely useful for cordage, along with more of the plant itself than she knew what to do with. Solomon, despite being the youngest of them, was the one to suggest a use for it, and it was a fitting idea given she suspected Roxanne would appreciate it.
Also all, given she jokingly referred to her as a hashshashin, only fitting that she wound up making hashish as part of the harvest gift.
It had, in time, been a simple trip to the refugee center, and despite the worry, stress, and in general an experience neither of them really knew what to deal with, Helen had a son, and following their agreement a few months prior, a name was decided. Thomas Ironwood. Sergei had been there as well, having found the year so far to be a quiet one, aside from occasional visits from Alexei to lighten things up, and Solomon's training under Helen.
So too had Hector and Nathaniel had an easier year, much of it spent rebuilding and fortifying. Another question remained, the two discussing whether to continue the unfinished stone structure, some manner of chapel or maybe workshop Catnip had laid the groundwork for, and quarried the initial stone pretty much right into the barn. Nathaniel seemed hesitant to do so, for reasons he seemed reluctant to discuss.
Regardless, given the time spent on other construction, along with hunting and farming, the matter remained undecided for the remainder of the year...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 08, 2018, 12:15:28 pm
Something was coming out of the south, those at the hall heard it long before they saw it, empty as the air was of conflicting noise. The sound of engines. Large engines, and the occasional fire cracker string of popping noises or vast explosion. Dervish or Floyd would have been struck with a strange sense of doubling, had they been present. It would have reminded them of the way the sounds of Hectors tank had carried to them as they sat under a car battery powered lamp drinking beers and watching over a direly injured Catnip. The time of day was all wrong and the noise wasn't coming from Hector "Sir Loin of Beef" Lowe's heavily modified tank. They listened, those that cared to, for some time before the sound peaked suddenly and the source hoved into view along the road.
"It's coming on fast..." Commented Sammy to herself. From her place in the watch tower, she was the only one to see it.
Within minutes the vehicles, for there were more than one all linked together like some kind of convoy, stampeded past at a speed which would have made a state trooper take one look, and simply give up on chasing after without even attempting to flag them down. Each one, what Sammy could see of them, were large and white, appearing to be heavily armored buses painted a chalky color. All four plowed by, not slowing in the least and making their way north. Towards the farm. The lead bus plowed into a motorcycle, an old beater that had been hauled part way to the farm what seemed like a lifetime ago and then left behind to be returned to later, and then Sammy's view was mostly obscured. Who or what it had been hadn't been clear, but the armament and speed suggested troop transport, armored attack, possibly even the unmanned power armor that had beset the center a year ago. Sammy had heard stories about that incident, and she was sure she didn't want to go toe to toe with anything that formidable. The farm had come to the rescue before, but it had been Dee's destruction of the "warwalkers" power source that had turned the trick. One "foundry" and a handful of warwalkers. Now, there were four large vehicles headed towards the farm at alarming speed.
"They gotta know what's coming!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 08, 2018, 12:55:45 pm
Sammy stared at the convoy, reaching into her coat's pocket and taking out a radio. "Someone's incoming, and fast." She looked around for her rifle, cussing quietly as she forgot where she left the damn thing last, she grabbed it from it's rifle carrier under her bed. Setting up the bipod on the railing she peered through the scope, getting a closer look at the convoy...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 08, 2018, 01:07:16 pm
Through the scope, she could see the flat tops of the vehicles and the way their roofs had been made to slope gradually away from a double set of nozzled rails. From her angle though, she couldn't get a good view of the sides, and she couldn't see any defining marks other than the matte white paint which actually seemed to have run down the roof and sides in runnels as if it had been thrown on with a garden hose. One thing was for sure, the column wasn't exactly heavily armed that she could see, but that armor was thick.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 08, 2018, 01:40:43 pm
Nathaniel grumbled a bit at that as he fumbled for one of the old two-way radios he'd since got in the habit of carrying. In fact much of the farm did now, to the point where they were becoming as useful as cell phones had been. "Shit..." He'd fumbled to put on his jacket and holster his pistol, heading outside and waving to Hector. The knight had been heading back from some early work at the forge, only vaguely hearing the sounds in the distance. He didn't need to be told when Nathaniel ran out to board the tank, electric engine starting up. A quick flip of the radio switches, and Hector was already radioing out, hoping to be heard by whoever these were.
"This is Deputy Marshal Hector Lowe, convoy please identify yourselves." was the demand broadcasted out, while on another channel, a more secure one to be overheard by the center. "Corporal Ford here, we have unknown contacts approaching the farm rapidly."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 09, 2018, 12:31:48 am
Hector waited and listened tensely for a response. He got one as he scanned through the frequencies, but not directed at him.
"Do we have to go so fast?" "Can we open the regulators?" "Convoy sixteen, what's your fuel at? "Getting low Convoy one." "Are we there yet?" "No."
It didn't sound like a threatening bunch of people, but the incessant chatter gave the men in the siege tower and those listening from elsewhere, the impression that the people chattering among themselves either hadn't heard him, or hadn't been listening. Hector judged, and then the tank was on the move. It rounded the bend of the farm road, and crested the low hill overlooking the bridge just in time to see them. On the other side of the river they came, four huge white bus like vehicles looking like oversized APC's. If they didn't slow down and tried to turn, the onlookers realized, the vehicles would miss the turn to the bridge by a wide margin, and the river would take care of them, enemy or not. At the last possible minute, the convoy slowed.
"Jesus fucking christ, Artifex, slow down! We're going into the river! We-" "Calm down Escher! We've made the turn!" "Do you think that farm is inhabited?" "Friend or enemy?" "We can't hear them anyway stupid, the receiver is fucked, remember?" "Miss, what are you doing?"
What they seemed to be doing, was activating what seemed to be a signaling mechanism. Whoever they were, they didn't mind letting the farm know they were coming. Each vehicle in turn ejected a load of screaming flares, fireworks, and spraying streams of sparkling fire alongside jets of burning fuel and bullets!
"Well, if they are an enemy, they know we are coming now." "As if they couldn't hear us coming anyway..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 09, 2018, 12:56:32 am
Hector hmmed a bit at that as the tank pulled out, Nathaniel having entered the turret just in case. The radio chatter was a hectic mess as he listened intently. They'd be there at the road, waiting for the convoy to approach. "Sanctus merda...Nathaniel, load AP just in case and keep the gun still unless it looks like they're attacking." he said. The one thing both of them heard that made them change their stance
"Oh fuck me in the ass. Sammy I'm getting chatter indicating they're running without proper radio reception, an-" Then he saw on the camera display the shower of flares and fireworks. "...they might also be a bunch of complete and utter morons. Keep an eye on them and if any fire comes our way, aim for any open hatches or view ports. Anything to keep them flying without all eyes on the field. Otherwise hold your fire..." he remarked.
He was nervous now, jumping a bit in his seat as the hatch opened and slammed, the vehicle left idling its solar-electric engine. It was a faint little hum, almost giving the impression the strange armored man had shut the engine off completely and existed, turret still pointed directly forward as though no one was inside to operate it. He simply waited beside the tank, and gave a wave as they came into view. "I'm going to regret this..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 09, 2018, 01:56:09 am
Roxanne had been at her room enjoying a magazine. It appeared there were a few issue of “Alpha Male Quarterly” that she hadn’t read so she was doing some catching up. She at first felt a slight rumbling at her feet, her mutations making her senses more keen; Roxanne found this a bit strange. It was then that she heard what appeared to be either fireworks, explosions, gunshots or all of the above. This startled her as the magazine was dropped on the floor. She quickly grabbed the radio she always carried and the weapon that had come to replace her MX-96 laser sniper rifle: the ARC-314 laser carbine; rapid laser fire in a small package and it was efficient too? Roxanne couldn’t resist making the swap.
She ran towards her APC while activating the radio. “Victor you fuckboy, get the fuck out of your room and rush to the Armored Scouter ASAP! This is a code Scarlet! Hurry up!”, Roxanne yelled at Victor in over the radio. Once Roxanne was in the APC, she quickly did a scan of radio waves; she had been in enough scouting runs with Hector and Nathaniel two know the two loved to use the damn thing and were probably doing so right now. Soon enough, he found the two tankmen’s voices sending a broadcast to see if the other would respond. However, then heard something else; other people talking. The source of the noise? In her haste, Roxanne had actually neglected to check who or what was coming; she just rushed to her APC as she knew it it would provide safety and if danger was actually on the horizon, they would probably stage a sort of invasion. Just in case, Roxanne got on a window and manually aimed one of the laser turrets in her APC towards the source of the noise; the convoy now into view to her. “Running low on fuel huh? Interesting...”
Victor had been working on restocking his potions. He was startled to her Roxanne‘s voice suddenly blare out of the radio. She sounded rather aggressive and serious. “F-fuckboy? What? Anyways, code scarlet? Sound serious...” He and Roxanne had created a color code system to let each other know the severity of current events; mostly just to ask each other for help covertly when the other messed up. Code scarlet meant imminent danger of but not sure what. Victor had no idea what was going on; the soundproofing spell was doing its job in keeping the ruckus of the convoy outside. He grabbed his always trusty sword and the laser pistol Roxanne was teaching him to use; it was time to get with the times. It wasn’t until he got outside that he was startled a second time due to the noise that he rushed toward the APC as per Roxanne’s instruction . He reached the APC and hastily got inside to find Roxanne manning one of the turrets.“That serious huh?”, Victor asked.
“Yes, get in one of these bad boys and look for yourself. Also, listen carefully to the radio, they seem to be talking.”
The sight Victor got was that of most everyone else; speeding buses that seemed to be some form of convoy. He listen to the convo in the radio to discern the situation. “So much for code scarlet...Are you ready in case they are hostile?”, Victor asked.
Roxanne took one hand and did a mock salute to Victor. “Cleanser Roxanne Luna reporting to duty sir!” Victor just rolled his eyes as he joined Roxanne in aiming a turret in the direction of the convoy. The weapon’s system might be offline but they had found out many moons ago that they could still manually man the laser guns as turrets and fire them that way; the fuel supply cut off to the automated aiming system and AI but not to the ammo supply. The 120mm, 155mm and 30mm systems were still not operational but this would have to do.
The two aimed their turrets at the approaching buses, each ready for whatever happened next. Well, not anything… They didn’t expect the siege tower to get in the way acting as a forceful road block. The convoy would have to stop then if they wish to have a chance; whatever they were and whatever their intend, it would soon be revealed.
“On my mark Victor...”, Roxanne ordered.
Victor have her a look of disbelief. “And how put you in charge? I wasn’t there for the promotion.”
“Now is not the time Ergi. Shut up and listen for your own good for once ok?”
Victor raised an eyebrow and scoffed at her remarks. “Hmm, Transcendentals...they think so high and mighty of themselves...” He said this loud enough to make sure Roxanne heard. Both were pushing each other’s buttons on purpose now.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 09, 2018, 03:11:32 am
"Oh jesus Miss, there's a tank in the road! You're going to-"
The lead bus bore down on the Siege tower, spitting it's payload of fire, it's air brakes screaming in protest at their sudden application, and the smell of burning rubber as the armored tires slid. For a brief moment, Hector actually thought the convoy was going to hit him, but at the last moment, it swerved off the road and onto the grass, the three vehicle behind the lead bus struck the back end of it like a newtons cradle, crumpling the armor on the front and back of the middle two cars. The driver struggled to maintain control, and failed as the swerving bus came to a stop and nearly turned on it's side.
For a long time, there was radio silence and fireworks. Then,
"Is anyone hurt?" "I think we are fine convoy one. Convoy seven?" "A few bruises, but we are A-Ok convoy sixteen. The back porthole is fucked though, I think Convoy twenty nine is out of commission though." "Are we there yet?" "Would you stop asking that?" "God I hope this trip is over soon..." "Stupid closed circuit..." "Extend the cameras, the viewports won't open." "There's a guy out there." "Why's he dressed like a- Doctor Marsh, what are you doing?" "Going outside, help me with this door." "They might be unfriendly, what if they are just waiting for us to go out there?" "We could turn the burners on them..." "Jesus christ, no. If they wanted to hurt us, they could have blown us away on the approach." "If they even have shells..." "Shut the fuck up Escher, somebody help me with this fucking door damnit." "Why don't we just use the intercom?" "..." "Why don't we use the guns?" "Fuck." "Bend over and I will." "WOULD YOU PEOPLE HELP ME WITH THE FUCKING DOOR!?"
Then, outside the bus, a voice boomed as the fireworks died down.
"Helloooo? Hi sweetie, could you give us a hand? We seem to have had a little accident and-" "Minx! What the hell are you doing!?" "Oh shut up Doc, our glorious leader seems to think he's safe." "Our glorious leader just nearly wrecked us..." "Our glorious leader also go us this far." "Hello out there? Our hatches are stuck. Combination of things really. Corrosive fungus we encountered on the trip and the accident we just had. Do you have a crowbar or something? Maybe the jaws of life? We won't shoot at you if you don't shoot at us?" "They've got another big vehicle over there, jesus they've got two more. That one's just an APC, but what in the hell is that thing near the big tree?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 09, 2018, 12:23:00 pm
Hector watched and waited, only to tense up as he realized they didn't appear to be stopping at first. He weighed his options and calmly stepped back, suspecting that if they rammed the tank it wouldn't be easily driven backwards, making it safer to be behind the Siege Tower. When they finally halted, albeit with a few rear-endings, he breathed a little sigh of relief. If they'd been hostile they likely would've tried to run me over, not the tank. he thought, still wary until finally a voice resounded through the intercoms.
At the chatter over the intercoms, he looked at the convoy, the great helm concealing the fact he was surveying the state of their weapons, trying to guess what sorts of flamethrowers they had, observing the flames spat out and trying to guess how close it was safe to approach. Either way he suspect he was already too close for comfort. In response to that he calmly approached the vehicle, making a "come here "gesture back at the tank as he walked over, before reaching to remove his helm.
Nathaniel had heard this, microphones along with camera displays picking up the odd cacophony and the request, getting out of the gunner's seat and grabbing a Halligan bar from the rack holding various tools, the rear hatch soon opening. In contrast to the man with short auburn hair in the knight's armor, the shorter man in the jacket and cargo pants, an old army helmet over dark brown hair, was a more mundane sight. He handed over the old tool, and Hector in turn simply handed over shield and helm, walking over to find one of the hatches. "Alright then, let's see...try to open it on your end and this should unstick it." he said, hoping they could hear him from in there, finding a place to pry, putting that bionic augmentation to good use, along with their efforts to try and open the hatch.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 09, 2018, 10:20:01 pm
Hector and Nathaniel worked at the pry bar while from inside, they could hear movement. Up close, the two men could see that the white didn't seem to be paint, but rather it was some kind of thick clay that had been sprayed on one thick coat at a time. As they worked, chunks of it fell away to reveal the polished metal beneath.
"You know Hec," Nathaniel began, "Lil' could probably-" He had been about to suggest getting his oversized tigress girlfriend to come and perhaps peel the door away, when it suddenly gave with a resounding "POW!" Hector sidestepped the door since he'd been paying better attention to what he was doing while Nathaniel was buried under the hatch, and three very surprised looking people, two of whom appeared to be covered in greyish fur and sported large rounded ears and muzzles.
"Oof." "-Uck! "..."
A young woman stepped over them, and to Hectors shock, she didn't seem to have a face. He had been about to remark upon this when her features suddenly swirled dizzyingly and coalesced into something quite attractive. Apart from her face, the woman appeared to be utterly unremarkable. Behind her emerged several more of the mutants, and a few normal people. Some of them even taking the moment to help disentangle the four people and the door.
"Sorry about that chap, it kind of gave on us all at once." Explained one of them. Standing upright, it was plain to see the mousey mutants were fairly lean and tallish, matching Hector for height. "We've come a long way, I am Doctor Efram Marsh, and this..." He gestured towards the vehicles, "Is what's left of our caravan. I am so happy to meet you. I mean, we've done a little trading here or there since we got to this side of the rocky's but it seems people between here and there like to try and raid more than they like to trade. It's nice to see someone who doesn't open fire the moment they see us coming."
"I hope the others will be alright." Commented the woman. More people were coming out and stretching there legs, more and more of them seemed to be the same variety of mutant as well. There was a flash, like that of a camera and when Hector turned to see what it had been, he found that it had in fact been a camera carried by an amazingly tall scaly individual.
"Leslie, you're supposed to ask before-" Marsh began, but Leslie spun on him and waved some kind of badge at him prankishly.
"Freedom of the press! Freedom of the press!" She cried. She looked like some kind of snake on legs, and watching her mouth move was an odd experience. Her tongue flicked out, tasting the air. "Sorry Mister." She said, "I'm just so excited to be here, are there more people around?"
Just as suddenly, someone more familiar was present. Mica, attracted by the commotion, had climbed the back side of the bus and now crouched predatorily looking down at the new people. The state of her hair told Hector that she and Dee had fairly recently been "at it" again, and Mica hadn't put any time towards brushing it.
"Mices!" She hissed before dropping down among them. The newcomers scattered at her appearance. "Mices and new peoples!" She looked around, grinning her idiot grin at them and showing off her teeth. Instead of nervousness or outright fright, "Leslie" raised her camera, and flashed Mica. "Eh!? Snakey girl blindin' My-ka!"
Efram Marsh, who had gone back into the bus momentarily, came back out guiding another figure. Hector guessed that he had given some signal to the other transports as well, because as he came back out, the others opened and started disgorging their blinking and cramped passengers. The new figure, was short and seemed to be wearing some kind of diving suit. The helmet was bulbous and round like an old style diving helmet, and the visibility couldn't have been much to be proud of, since this newcomer kept walking into this.
"Stuck." Marsh explained, "and our tools are limited. Saved our lives more than once, but the same stuff that jammed our hatch has trapped her in that suit. If you have some tools sir, I know plenty of people among us who'd like to free her."
"Eh?" Mica said, going to the person in the ridiculous getup. That person didn't seem to notice or hear her, instead seeming to have eyes only for things in the direction of the farm, primarily, the train.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 10, 2018, 12:42:49 am
Roxanne and Victor put their bickering for a while in order to concentrate on the task at hand. "Right, the radio is still picking something up. Keep the guns pointed and let’s listen at the radio for more.". The two listened on for a bit, conversations about if the farm was hostile and about preemptive strikes. This worried them a little bit but this was interrupted by the intercom system blaring out. The two winced a bit from surprised but regain composure to re-aim the turrets.
"I don’t know Roxanne...I feel something off about them..." What Victor didn’t say is what was off about them. With his aura spell, he noticed most of them were mutants and that they easily outnumbered them. This made him more than uncomfortable. "Why? How many are there?..."
Victor let go of the turret for a moment to look at Roxanne for a moment. "There is dozens of them Roxanne. I pray to Venus they are not hostile..." It was then they saw Hector and Nathaniel approach. Roxanne was hesitant to watch as Hector helped with opening the hatch. "They don’t seem to attack him...stand down Victor..."
The two looked on as a man stepped out and he seem to greet him. Roxanne relaxed a bit as she saw this. A few more figures emerging until eventually the rest of them came out. Mica had arrive as well, seemingly entertained by someone with a serpentine appearance. She giggled at this as it appeared they meant no harm; most of them weren’t even armed. It wasn’t until Roxanne turned her attention back to Victor that she got worried again.
There were dozens of them. Various mutants stepping out from the buses; their auras now in full view of him. Victor was tensed and his skin turning pale; his hand had settled on the handle of his sword as he looked outside of the APC in shock.
"Victor...calm down...they aren’t even armed. Look, they aren’t attacking Hector or anything. Look, stay here for a bit and I will go talk to them ok? I’ll take my radio and report back. It’s ok...don’t worry about it..." With that being said, Roxanne went towards the radio in the APC and synced it to the one she was carrying; he did a small test and it was paired, radio to send messages to one another. She also flipped a little switch under the control panel; this disabled the power to the laser turrets in case Victor got any ideas. "See? We can talk to each other! Stay here ok? I’ll be back in a bit."
Roxanne step out of the APC; she left her laser rifle inside as to appear unarmed. She walked towards Hector, Mica, the man and the serpentine looking woman. A smile was etched in her face as she held her hands in front of her for them to see she wasn’t hiding anything, "Heeeey! New people! Hector, care to introduce me to the knew folk? They must have quite the story to arrive in such a way."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 10, 2018, 01:06:39 am
Hector promptly facepalmed as Nathaniel was sent toppling over with the hatch, along with several rodent-like mutants. That sudden realization made him a bit curiously saddened, memories coming back to him. It was close to a year since the attack on the center, plus or minus a week. He hadn't really been paying enough attention to the date to remember right off the top of his head.
"Greetings. You said...huh. The Rockies, glad that some people are still out there. How far a trip was it?" he asked, while Nathaniel gave a strained groan as he slid the hatch off him, dusting himself off and coughing as chunks of that odd white material dusted him. "I'm willing to bet close to home, from the sound of it." Nathaniel spoke up, his accent slightly hinting at what he meant, in contrast to Hector's more midwestern accent.
"I'm Hector Lowe, and this is Nathaniel Ford. We do have others here, yes. Far as other settlements there's a small longhouse down the river you crossed, a settlement built around a bar maybe 20, 25 miles northeast, and a few miles west is the region's refugee center." he said. At the appearance of Mica however, Hector tensed up, and Nathaniel immediately moved over towards her. "Mica, no! These are friendlies." he said firmly, while Hector stepped in between them after the odd reptilian girl blinded her with a camera flash.
He then looked over and gave a wave to Roxanne, smiling some and making introductions before regarding their question. "Of course, not good to be stuck in ones gear. Had to put effort into ensuring my own choice of equipment was easy enough to put on and remove." he remarked, while Nathaniel gave a curious glance at the figure in the "She seems to have an interest in the old train. Sadly the old thing hasn't seen much use since its owner went missing." he said, only for Hector to lower his head.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 10, 2018, 02:19:16 am
"Northern Arizona, survivor city called "Pricetown" about three or four thousand miles from here. The council there sanctioned our trip, but we had to fund it ourselves. A lot of the people you see here were debt slaves, uh, indentured servants who volunteered for the trip so they could slip their debts. They are technically still debt slaves of course, but what the council doesn't know won't hurt them eh? As far as I'm concerned, the moment we crossed the rockies every single one of them was free."
The last to get off the lead bus was a tall mouse mutant, serious of bearing and sad of countenance. She seemed to stick very close to the one stuck in her suit, as if she was her caretaker or perhaps a just a very close friend. As some watched, the suited person took out a little thing like a remote and fiddled with it, then shook her head and handed it to the tall mouse. The suited figure tapped at her own neck, and then shrugged before pointing to the train.
"It's good to meet you Mr. Lowe. You said you were a Marshal of some kind? Lots of need for vigilante justice in these parts?" Marsh said. He cocked his head in bemused interest when Hector nodded slowly and solemnly. "Dangerous country then? I suppose it's better than dealing with the Mycus... And you say you have a refugee center eh? How interesting. I never visited the one in Pricetown myself, except before the cataclysm. Afterwords it was converted into a whore house."
Mica had gotten over being "blinded" and had started striking poses for the serpent lady who introduced herself as "Leslie." Leslie thought Mica was "groovy," and "totally fun." The two of them took turns striking poses and taking pictures, after mica had been shown had the camera worked. Eventually, Dee came looking along with Medeina.
"So many interesting people." The AI commented, "How wonderful!"
"We had some problems along the way. She built that suit as a kind of EVA suit. We had to pass through some toxic territory on the way and the air regulators had to be cleaned often. Also there was the saboteur. That suits saved her life on several occasions. The firebombs had been bad, but the suit shielded her well. The caustic fungus though, that's what got her stuck. She wen't out to clear a clog in the line." Marsh pointed at the rails on top of the buses, pointing out the wide nozzles every foot or so, "And she'd get covered in the stuff. Without those lines Mr. Lowe, we would have come in covered in Mycus instead of anti-fungal compound, and that would have spelled the end for this side of the rockies. I havn't seen a howling tower since we got over here..."
Minx, who had stepped away from the loose knit crowd, sidled up to Roxanne. "Hi there cutie, did you pay for those yourself or are they natural? I'm Minx, and no I'm not hitting on you." Her face shifted again as if trying to decide what to go with, when it reformed it seemed to be slightly more appealing to Roxanne. "So... What do you guys do for fun?"
"Yes, I'm not surprised, and I'm sorry for your loss. I believe she was some kind of mechanic in a past life, she designed most of the modifications for the trains. It was her idea that we try to come out this way, and cousin seemed to back her up, so we came and look where it got us! All's well that ends well. We don't have much need for mechanics in Pricetown, and she got hit with a long string of misfortune before all this. She's a real slave, unfortunately. We uh... would have freed her, but her controller is gone. Lost somewhere." He shook his head slowly, "Rita probably has it."
Dee had listened carefully, then said, "You guys keep slaves? That's sick dude. If the collars are signal based though... Medeina?" He looked at the AI's proxy.
"Possibly Mr. Dee, I'd need a closer look."
"Excellent! Maybe once we get the he- where'd she go?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 10, 2018, 12:22:11 pm
Nathaniel listened intently, though his expression turned to a more exasperated look as she went on. "Few states over from my guess, it seems. Why am I not surprised...that's fucked up." he remarked, shaking his head.
"Officially what's left of the military, based in the center, keeps order in the area, but they frequently hire out work of that sort to people when needed. Quite a few years ago the bandits in this area were far more organized and stronger in numbers. now it's more just scattered groups and God's Army, bunch of...mutant and cyborg hunting fanatics. In fact we lost her about a year ago after those bastards...attacked the center." he said, a bit more solemnly and quietly.
This time it was Nathaniel who, after being certain that Mica asn't especially likely to eat anyone, and relieved by Dee's arrival in the hopes that'd keep her calm, spoke up. "You mentioned fungus of some sort? I've only heard rumors of that sort of thing, a lot of...horror stories. Undead's the dominant threat in the region, along with mutated wildlife. Every so often you see hotspots of some of the more supernatural critters, and there's reports of some form of plant monsters suspected to be in thriving one of the regions that still hasn't been reclaimed from the shamblers." he explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 10, 2018, 04:29:45 pm
Kathrine finally decided to try again. Something was going on around the farm, some kind of ruckus, but she wasn't going to bother with any of it. The farm could have been under attack and it would have made little difference to her. In fact, it would be simplicity itself just to walk out into the open and let the attackers do what she know believed she must be too dumb to do right. The farm wasn't under attack, and so Kathrine had reached under her now mouldering bed (She'd refused to allow anyone to take her in except when it became outstandingly cold over the winter) and came out with her sheet rope. A lot of time had been spent working on this and trying to get it right. Foolish but well meaning Mica had even helped her with the knots without knowing what she'd needed a sheet rope for. Floyd kept the armory under lock and key, and almost everything else she could use had been placed where it would be missed if she tried to take it. Now, she would loop the rope over a branch of the tree that had destroyed her home and use it to hang herself. As she carefully and quietly left her "tent" with the rope slung around her arm, she saw the cause for commotion. New people. A year ago, she'd have been on them like a shot over there and meeting them before anyone else. Now, she wasn't feeling it, hadn't been "feeling it" for awhile now. What made her toss the sheet rope back into the tent, was the newcomer inspecting her missing mistresses magnum opus.
"Um... Excuse me." Kathrine called, her voice cracking a little with disuse. Most of her mistresses things had been packed away or redistributed, but the train could not be and Kathrine had not let anyone touch it. It was the only thing she had left, and she had worried and cleaned and polished the vast machine in the hopes that these tasks might coax her mistress out of hiding. Truth be told, despite her dire mood, Kathrine had become rather protective of the train.
The figure and the tall mouse, the second being so achingly similar to her mistress that it deepened her resolve for the hanging, turned in her direction. "Um... Could you uh... not touch..." She had to stop. A thrill was moving down her spine and into her tail, and the shorter figure was on the move and coming towards her. "Yessir," Marsh said, twitching his whiskers a little and watching Mica warily. "Mycus. It's a horror story alright. The kind of thing that gets into you, infects you, then infests you. Starts in the brain if it isn't taken care of quickly and seizes control. Kind of like that stuff that gets into ants and makes them climb high enough to spread it's spores around before exploding from the poor insects head. Mycus is nasty and people on that side owe a great deal to the howling towers. I'm not sure how they work, but it's something to do with sound waves. Not my area of expertise, I was a mutagenicist. I'd be interested in hearing about this Gods Army though, cousin mentioned something about that and it made our leader nervous."
Leslie and Mica joined them, the commotion and general organization of the entire convoy beginning to take on a semblance of order. "Bunch of bad dudes is what Catnip sa-"
Hector went white, and interrupted. "I... Catnip?" Nathaniel too took on a look of shock.
"Kat-nyp?" Mica hissed. The convoy was falling silent now, looking at the small gathering.
"Yes? Wait, I didn't introduce anyone, did I?" Marsh said, feeling a bit tense. Hector grabbed for the snake, felt like he needed to grab onto something, and asked shakily, "Where is she?"
"Jeez dude, what the hell? She's over there, what-" Leslie motioned, and Hector followed the line of her gesture with his eyes. Somehow, he'd known all along really. Even Mica must have, how could they have been so blind? But why? Why hadn't she come at him, shown her familiarity first? Watching her now, beginning to break into a sprint across the lawn that had been a barn a year ago, he thought that maybe she hadn't wanted to be bogged down in friends. "Hey, what are you-" Kathrine began, only to be cut off by the person in the strange suit hitting her with a devastatingly effective football tackle. The person mooshed the face of his/her strange helmet against Kathrines face, and she got a glimpse of something blue and familiar through the fogged, scorched, dark glass. The stranger was... hugging her? Had climbed on top of her, straddling her, and was now tugging at her helmet. The taller mouse one came on the sprint and tried to pull the stranger off of Kathrine. She succeeded in toppling the stranger, only to be pushed away. Mr. Hector and Ms. Mica were coming now too, looking excited. The stranger though reset her position atop Kathrine, her (and now Kathrine suspected it was a her) familiar weight bearing down on her torso. This time though, the familiar stranger had a rock.
"She's going to kill me with that." Kathrine thought with a mix of relief and... was that terror? Why should she be scared? The rock came down and Kathrine closed her eyes, but instead of the dull thud of the stone against her head, the sound she heard was a high *CLANG!* The stranger wasn't braining her, she was braining herself, pounding at the seems of the helmet with the rock.
"I can uh... get you a hammer ma'am. I'm certain my Mistress wouldn't have minded." Kathrine offered. Instead, the person kept striking. Other people were coming on the run now too. A hinge popped and the stranger tried the helmet again. She yanked and tugged, slowly pulling the helmet up and off. It was tossed aside like so much trash in the end, and Kathrine stared in shocked awe at the person sitting atop her, staring down at her. For a space, they watched each other across a gulf of only a few feet, and Kathrine almost believed she had died. Somehow succeeded at her previous attempt on her own life.
"MISTREEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!" She shrieked up into Catnip's face, or would have if Catnip hadn't stopped her words with an awkwardly long kiss.
"I missed you," Catnip said, almost cried, "More than you can ever know."
Kathrine was starting to talk, the babble. Apologizing for being bad, apologizing for trying to kill herself, apologizing for being mean, apologizing for swearing, saying she didn't blame Catnip for hating her, saying any number of things and making ridiculous apologies.
"Shut up Kathrine." Catnip said, and for a wonder, she did. Catnip lowered her face towards Kathrines.
"Do you love me?" Kathrine nodded. "Do you love me forever?" Kathrine nodded again, more emphatically. "Then why..." Catnip lowered her face even further until her nose and Kathrines were being pushed together, "Aren't you kissing me?" She stared up at her mistress for a space then did as she was told, and gladly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 10, 2018, 06:12:51 pm
Isaac and Alexei had come to see the spectacle. They both exchanged a look before Alexei pulled out a coin and flipped it. Staring at it in his hand for a moment before putting it back into his jacket he started towards the group. As he did so he retrieved a pair of bottles from his jacket as Isaac followed him. "Drinking contest?"
Alexei nodded enthusiastically as he said "Drinking contest."
Isaac took Alexei's catch and started towards the fire pit he'd come to use more often than he'd expected. Alexei meanwhile held the bottles in one hand as he dragged a table and chairs out into the open and set up his little contest. Isaac rolled his eyes as he started cooking.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 10, 2018, 10:15:06 pm
Roxanne stood around as Hector introduced her to the people he himself just met. He commanded himself with some authority at the mention of the rank of marshal and it amused her abit. The conversation they were having francaly was starting to bore her a bit but she held on to find out who these people were as that did seem interested to her. Roxanne simply looked on with a smile and listened to what everyone was saying.
Her little activity was interrupted when she noticed a young woman approached her. "Oh, hello there...", Roxanne responded; her comment made her cross her arms to cover up a bit. That was when she noticed her face shift around a bit. Roxanne looked at her with both fascination and curiosity; of course, her own facial distortion cbm helped her mask this but given who she was talking to, it was likely the ruse was up. When the face of the woman settled, Roxanne found it very pleasant.
Roxanne loosen up a bit after all this and the question she had been asked. "For fun? Well, depends on the person really. Some read, other loot, some like to go kill the dead while others just like to stay back, drink a beer and kick back. Every once in a while we do get together and throw a parties of sorts; those are always fun. The bottom line is, if you enjoy it, we probably have it or can get it easily." After saying that, Roxanne looked at her BUI and activated her telescopic eyesight and anti-glare compensators. Now she could examine the girl closely as if she had binoculars without her noticing. When this didn’t yield any results, she opted to simply ask. "Hey, Minx is it? May I ask how you do that? If you don’t mind of course..." Roxanne showed Minx her pointy ears and her anti-glare compensators retracting would made it clear she was both a mutant and augment. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve but nothing like that..."
It was the little commotion to the side of her that interrupted her conversation with minx. Roxanne looked on as Hector had begun acting a bit off. Still not thinking anything was serious, she decide to radio in to Victor real quick. "Romeo Lima niner niner, code emerald, over.", Roxanne said into the radio. "10-4 Romeo Lima niner niner, Scarlet to Emerald, over.", Victor responded back
"Sorry about that, just had to take care of a little thing.", Roxanne said to minx; she wasn’t really paying attention to her. She was trying to see what would happen next. It was then she noticed Hector rushed towards another commotion; it seemed a couple people were fighting, one of them being the one stuck in her suit. Roxanne didn’t noticed one was Katherine and hadn't heard Catnip being mentioned. As such, she stood by as other rushed over trying to get the two separated; to her surprise, the one in the suit seemed to hit themselves.
"Romeo Lima niner niner, I am going to check that out, stand down, over." Roxanne said over the radio once more. No response. She shrugged and rushed over to the commotion as well, When she got there, the one in the suit had freed her head and now Roxanne could see who it was. Catnip. Catnip!!!. Roxanne didn’t know how to react at first; this was a bit overwhelming to her. She though Catnip dead; she had mourned over her but her she was. Roxanne was about to rush over to greet her long lost friend but then saw who was the one under her: Katherine. She stopped and just looked at the scene in front of her; a smile crept to her face as she witness the reunion of two long lost lovers.
Victor had stayed behind on Roxanne’s orders. Orders? Nah, he only listened because it was the best thing to do. Yeah, that was it. He was sure of it. He took onto manning the laser turret again and watch Roxanne approach the group. Nothing was out of the ordinary so far; Roxanne talked to them, Hector greeted her and introduced them to people. Other members of the farm had arrived and everyone seemed to be fine. Then he noticed Hector’s aura change a bit and he looked a bit agitated. Roxanne was still relatively the same but for something to bother the knight, it had to be serious…
Before he could decide what to do, he got a transmission from Roxanne. He responded according to protocol and continue manning the turret. "Code Emerald? Hope you are right about this Roxanne..." Code emerald was an all clear. It signify all threats had been eliminated or where none-existent but general caution still advised. There was nothing Victor could do but to trust Roxanne’s judgment; he felt nervous doing so but who was he to judge others judgment?
It wasn’t until everyone started rushing towards two other that Victor started to second guess themselves. The turret was aimed directly at the two. People were trying to get them separated, she had a rock on her head; this wasn’t a code Emerald anymore and Roxanne wasn’t responding. With all caution to the wind tossed aside due to great stress, he aimed the turret center mass to the one in the suit and squeezed the trigger.
*click* *click *click
The turret wasn’t firing; all Victor got was a clicking noise as the gun refused to fire. Then it was revealed to him. Catnip. Catnip?! Nah, she was dead. She had died because of his incompetence. He let her die, it was his fault, so that outside could not be catnip. Right? There was a simple solution. The aura spell. Due to so many people here, any specific souls was diluted unless Victor focused on them. For that reason, Victor didn’t notice Catnip’s aura before since he had no reason to look for it. However, no he did...and there she was. The soul of the long lost mechanic…
Victor stumbled back and sat in one of the chair. This couldn’t be! What was going on?! First all these mutants came here and now Catnip was live? What did they really want? Why was Catnip with them? Where had she gone? This was all to much for Victor; from worrying about the mutants who now outnumbered them to a possible paradox, he ast in this chair just looking at the floor. The radio sounded with the voice of Roxanne making a report; he didn’t even acknowledged it.... "What?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 10, 2018, 10:19:47 pm
(( Added a thing at Wilso's request. ))
Floyd had come out to see what all the commotion was about, fearing the worst given the radio chatter and racket, but it didn't take long to see that there were people discussing and talking with some strangers. Regardless he approached, a little wary of the stranger that seemed uncomfortably close to Kathrine.
Then the helm came off, and he paused. He was a bit stunned, as much as Hector and Nathaniel were, yet he did his best to hide it. "My god...it's really you. You're back." he said softly. He'd spent this time hoping she wasn't turned into that little rodent, yet at the same time fearing it was the truth.
Hector and Nathaniel had both stood there in shock, Hector looking away. "All this time I was afraid she was dead. Or turned into...well, you found her literally thousands of miles from here, so what happened wasn't that much more unusual compared to what we were afraid happened."
Nathaniel looked down, tears streaming down his face. "I was afraid she was dead. We found a...an actual rat among her personal effects. Damn near half of us thought she got turned into that, the other figured she was teleported. Every fucking argument over it, and I just..." he looked away, while Hector breathed a sigh of relief.
"I suspect she has a lot of stories to tell. But everything you've said so far makes it seem like she ended up in a terrible place." he said, looking to the doctor. "And whoever enslaved her, if they or any of the others try to follow you guys here..." he said, a calm voice trailing off and left his intention unspoken yet obvious.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 11, 2018, 01:10:33 am
Catnip came up for air just in time to be bowled over by her own sister. Kathrine lay there on the ground for a moment looking like a girl after her first tumble in the hay for a long moment before shooting to her feet and pacing confusedly around the now wrestling pair.
"Kat-nyp! Where you go Kat-nyp? Eh? Where you go? My-ka been doin' good watchin' morsel and catchin' fish and- and- and doing things with Lizard and-" She babbled at Catnip as the two rolled over each other. Mica's hands fought for dominance of the field, trying to bind up Catnip's arms and pin the rat mechanic beneath her. With strength she hadn't had before her disappearance, Catnip rolled, switching places with Mica briefly before being knocked from her perch by Kathrine, who had been looking for a clean opening. Now, it was the maids turn to be on top and Catnip laughed. She held up a gauntleted hand, clad mostly leather.
"Could somebody help me get these off?" She asked. Kathrine was too busy apologizing and weeping to help, so Floyd and Roxanne attempted to help. Before Floyd could retrieve the appropriate tool, a hacksaw for the brass band at the base of the glove, Mica had already sunk her teeth into the supple leather and carefully sloughed the gauntlet off. She spat it out, hating the taste of the chemicals it had been treated with and Floyd started on the other. The task was made uncomfortable by Catnip first reaching up with her bare hand to stroke Kathrine's face, then using it to pull her down and silence her with more clumsy kisses that more and more seemed to take on the aspect of a make out session. After awhile, Minx pulled one of the sheet walls from Kathrine's improvised tent down and tossed it over the pair.
"Alright, nothing to see here but girls loving girls, move along. Get a room you two." "She told us the story." Marsh said, awestruck. "But nobody actually believed her. Until recently, we thought this side of the rockies was infested with Mycus entirely." Efram Marsh turned away from the spectacle of Catnips reunion. "You're the Sir Loin of Beef?" He asked, saying the name without a hint of how strange such a name was.
He sat on a crate that had been hauled out during the initial departure, weighed down by the cosmic unlikeliness of what they'd just been party to. When he thought about it though, it wasn't much of a coincidence. Catnip had been the "leader." All they had to do was get into familiar territory and she had done the rest. He ignored Leslie taking pictures for a "newspaper" that he believed was a dumb idea and talked hollowly of what he knew.
"She was picked up by the tall woman there, her friend, and a... a murderer. It was that lasts idea to put a collar on her, as I understand it. Pricetown isn't awful, but it's systems are almost feudal and barbaric practices like slavery are legal. I wish I could tell you that was changing, but I can't. The man who enslaved her, the murdering sabatour, is dead. Rotting in hell most likely, men like that... They won't follow, not for him." Dee was the next to come on the run, absolutely staggered by Catnips dramatic reveal. He was running before he knew it, his mind still in the crowd. Some of the others in the farm were coming out now too. Lilith, probably accompanied by Mohammad and Sharlene could be seen driving towards the farm in the vehicle too small for the tigress to sit in.
"H-holy shit..." Dee breathed. Mica grabbed his leg and yammered quietly to him.
A few people blushed at some of the sounds that began to emerge from under the sheet, and Minx repeated, "Hey, didn't you hear me? I said get a room!"
At the word "room" Catnip shot up, letting the sheet slide away. "Room. Room? Uh... Where's my workshop?"
"Kat-nyp's house fall down!" Mica said, "Big tree!"
"I see it Mica, but where is my..." She said, tapering off at the end. The men with the vodka were met by a trio of men, one of them actually a woman, all dressed similarly and carrying some kind of shields that looked vaguely like car doors.
"From the looks of things," The woman said, "why not make it a celebration? We've got stuff to spare."
Another of the people who identified themselves as guards of the "shattered helm" took the seat across from Alexei. The man had no idea that he was about to be beaten badly and would wake up later with a thumping headache he hadn't felt the likes of since before the cataclysm. Others began to gather, and soon the contest began in earnest.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 11, 2018, 08:20:17 pm
Quinn awoke with a startle and a loud snort, not awaking from the loud fireworks, but from the commotion outside his lab. He rubbed his eyes and peered outside through the window at the group. He stretched and walked out of his lab, walking towards the group with a yawn, giving a tired little wave as he neared the group.
Sammy put her rifle away, placing it back under her bed. She took out her radio again, "Uhm, they seem to be friendly. Not hostile." She announced, turning her radio off and pocketing it as she scrambled down the ladder, missing the third to last rung and letting out a startled little shout and falling the rest of the way with a soft thump. "Oww..." She whined quietly, getting up off her back and going to meet the others.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 11, 2018, 08:40:57 pm
The area where the barnhouse once stood was at least cleared of debris, but to see open space, a grove where once stood Catnip's home, was striking. So too was the battered, aging shell of the mobile foundry God's Army assaulted the center with, still parked there after Hector and Medina hauled it over.
Three other things stood out, tents, tarps, and other efforts to make some shelter instead of rebuilding that. Given they'd had time to supplement the fence with a sturdy wooden wall and build a watchtower, the lack of effort was striking. A simple tarp on poles stood over the forge area, a tent had been erected where Catnip and Kathrine once slept, and another covering protected the old shrine to Agmen from the elements. That would stand out, and if Catnip where to go check on it, she'd find her various odds and ends still there, rearranged some yet still stowed away neatly. Where the makeshift altar was, what looked like an assembly of handforged replacement parts had been laid on it, what seemed to be part of the traverse mechanism to a tank turret. Someone had been making use of the shrine as well.
Hector was a bit taken aback by Efram's question, giving a nod. "It's been a while since I called myself that. I thought up the nickname while I was a bit...out of it. In the 'nobody around except dozens of undead' sort of out of it." he admitted, keeping an eye on things for now. "I'm sure she has her own impressive stories to tell us now. And we've all had a lot to deal with ever since she was taken away." he admitted.
"Er, shit." Nathaniel spoke up. "I forgot to send an all-clear over to the center." he said, and not long after he said that, a humvee could be seen speeding down the path cut through the western swamp, three people in military uniforms riding in it. Catalina was in the driver's seat, and beside her was the sergeant Nell, while manning the M240 at the back was corporal Alberto. They also had a rocket launcher of some kind propped up in the back of the vehicle, having no idea what to expect.
At the sight of them, Hector simply gave a wave and they stopped nearby, Nell speaking into a handset as Catalina stepped out. "All clear, have possible merchant convoy visiting, no sign of hostiles." the sarge spoke into the handset.
Helen was there by the hearth, holding Thomas close as Sergei listened to the radio, after a bit of scanning she heard the cacophony of chatter, then not long after silence. That, and the unholy racket she heard not far away, make her grab her handset and speak into it, radio chatter likely overheard by the tank and APC. "Helen here, is everything alright?" she asked, now a bit worried.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 11, 2018, 08:43:04 pm
Isaac had decided to make some actual celebrations since the wayward mechanic had returned. He recalled some nonsense about her being turned to a rat that had died but despite his new found belief in magic he thought it ridiculous. Regardless he saw Alice stepping out of her quarters and motioned for her to follow. grabbing extra chairs and tables along with tiki torches that Isaac had made in his spare time.
Isaac did stop for a moment, observing the Veve of Baron Samedi he'd painted on his wall and made a mental note to send an offering to Samedi. After that was done he moved on, moving about outside as he both cooked the deer that he and Alexei had caught and set up the decorations and tables. He'd rely on Alexei to provide the drink while he and Alice brought the food.
Elsewhere Roland walked into the radio room, listening to the report the private gave him. Walking over to an open station Roland retrieved the microphone and set the frequency to the one he recalled the farm having before saying "This is Roland, heard some odd radio chatter about the farm and thought we'd ask what's going on." He'd already come to the decision that if he didn't get a response he'd get a kubelwagon loaded up with men and check on the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 11, 2018, 09:27:19 pm
Many people had come out to greet the long lost mechanic. Roxanne was both amused and still perplex by what was going on. She looked on as Dee and Mica joined them as well as a few others. This was still a bit perplexing; she looked on as Catnip and Kathrine had their reunion, as Hector talked but none of it was registering. Roxanne just stood there observing all this a she giggled at a few things here and there not really paying attention. There was one thought on Roxanne’s mind this whole time: who was that rat who had died? Had it been a person? Why did her aura felt so...familiar? Wait, there was one person who could help with this; specially the last one. Roxanne would have to ask Victor about it later. Oh, that’s right, Victor! “Shit...I have not update with Victor in a while...hope he is ok...”
"Romeo Lima niner niner, I am coming over with a report so hang tight, over.’" Roxanne said over the radio so Victor could listen to it. No-one seemed to be paying attention to her, everyone in their thing. She found Minx and said her goodbyes for now. "Good to meet you Minx. Let’s have a proper chat sometime when things aren’t as hectic. Maybe I can tell you how things work around her and you tell me about where you are from. For now, I have someone I need to report to so see ya around!” Roxanne waved at Minx as she left for the APC.
When Roxanne entered the APC, she would find Victor sitting in one of the chairs with his hands on his face. She was relieved to find him ok in a general sense. The radio was set back to general settings since now Roxanne didn’t need to talk to Victor over her own radio. Roxanne then went and sat next to Victor. "Everything alright? Look, I talked to them; they are good people. And guess what! Catnip is back! We should go talk to her you know? Maybe re-introduce yourself to her? You know, since you rarely go out of your room like a hermit.’" Roxanne said to Victor.
"Are you sure Roxanne? Are sure they are fine? They are so many of them...they outnumber us one to a dozen...you know, last time I was in the presence of so many mu-" Roxanne interrupted him by placing a hand on his shoulder and hushing him. ‘Shhh. You don’t need to say it. I know...but this isn’t that day...Hell, you can’t let th-’ Now she was interrupted by the radio; it was Helen reporting in.
Victor rushed in to grabbe the radio receiver and respond to Helen. But he couldn’t move, he stammered in place in an attempt to go for the radio. Roxanne gave a sigh at this. "Damn it Victor...What the hell am I going to do with you? Maybe I should posses Helen one of this days to find out how she puts up with you...waiiiit!" That was it, possession! Roxanne grinned as she though it more.
It happened quick enough; Roxanne got comfortable, she relaxed and her soul excited her body. How she was able to do so was beyond her. One moment Victor was struggling with talking to the radio and the other her was relegated to the back of his mind into the subconsciousness. Roxanne didn’t waste much time; except of course to look through Victor’s most recent memories, whatever he had experienced since their last session. She looked on and a few things stood out: some of his new ideas and prototypes, a few projects almost done, some possible entries for his journal and her favorite, Him and Melody having their little arcane adventure. “Pffft, Corrupting the youth are we? This is what you two get up to huh? Interesting...”
With that being done, Roxanne used Victor’s body to pick up the receiver so she could talk to it. Victor had protested a bit but he finally gave in after he realized he couldn’t do anything and as such asked Roxanne to at least let him tell her what to say. Roxanne agreed and what se said was a combination of this and a few things Roxanne added.
“Helen? It’s me, Victor! Things are alright here. You are probably worried about the sudden noise? Don’t worry. A rather large convoy full of people arrive here. They seem friendly but we don’t know much yet. Roxanne and I did some aura analisis and came to a few conclusions. Also, something interesting happens that you might want to see for yourself. Why don’t you come in, take a look and meet these nice folk? I’ll be waiting!” It wasn’t clear but an astute observer would notice that this wasn’t the way Victor would normally talk. Nothing in the voice itself seemed off, just the words he choose; felt too casual.
"Damn it Roxanne! You need to stop doing this type of thing! Give me my body back! This isn’t funny anymore!/color]"
“Well, it seems you need my help to talk to girls so I decided to be nice and help you. Besides, had to catched up on your antics. Fairly time, quite the surprise… As for your body. The effect will wear of in two more minutes; until then, I will enjoy myself a bit more.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 12, 2018, 10:44:26 pm
Catnip bounced the little silver necklace in her hand experimentally. It had caused her so many problems. At first, it had simply hindered her ability to move around freely. After the remote had been lost, it had proved to be dangerous. Medeina had reached out to it and with only a small alteration had caused the collar to fall off. It had been that trivial. She gave it another toss, and then pocketed it. It would be saved for later. Soon, Lilith had joined them, eager to see the commotion and confused to see so many mice.
"Cub. Nip? Cubnip. Mithe. Moutheth." Said Lilith through her oversized teeth. The parade of small children confused her. They'd followed Medeina to the barn in a little parade, accompanied by a few of the caravans child minders. Instead of the robot though, they had shifted their attention to Lilith and Lilith wasn't sure she liked it. The little mouse faced kids loved her despite her size and her obvious dangerousness. They petted her and babbled at her, tugging at her fur. Here and there, there were more normal human children, but those were few and far between. Medeina was watching carefully, and for Lilith that was the most galling. She rumbled threateningly at the robot, momentarily scattering the children. Sharlene had gone to mingle, and Mohammad had been left to keep an eye on the tigress. Somehow, L had fallen into talking with him. "That'll be Catalina." Hector said casually watching the people from the center making their approach. "If we'd known you were friendly, we would have sent away for Dervish. He's the mutagenicist at the center."
Marsh nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, Catnip mentioned him many times." He said before shifting the topic back to the dangers of New England. "We've seen the undead in droves. Had to avoid most of the major cities, those places are charnel houses. If we had a full company of shattered helm and searing spear, we may have stopped sooner and set up there. For now though, we don't. Which brings up a little, er... issue. Might I impose on you Mr. Lowe?"
Hector motioned him to go on, and so he did. "Our caravan needs repairs, and our people need rest. We've moved almost without stop for a couple weeks now. I wonder if we might be allowed to set up camp here for a week or two before moving on? We would of course help as best we could with whatever major tasks you might have, and we have supplies to share." The shattered helm militias were beat, Alexei having drunk them under the table. A few others had joined in, but they too had been sozzled out of the contest one at a time. Now, Alexei sat across from a crag faced "man" in brown leathers. The man had matched Alexei drink for drink and now both of them were calling for yet another fresh bottle.
"How do you drink so much, tell me stranger." Said the man. The man had explained his ethanol burner, a part of his searing spear equipment, which Alexei considered cheating and was subject to the common rules of forfeit. He mentioned this several times between each drink, but his challenger wasn't backing down. "I need to get this stupid suit off, I can't stand being in it anymore. Where are my clothes?" Catnip huffed. The romantic moment had been ruined by the realization that her home was gone. She'd only been gone a year, and they'd somehow manage to knock the rickety old red barn down. The fact that the barn likely would have fallen down without anyones intervention sooner rather than later tried and failed to find purchase in her thoughts. To top it off Kathrine, as dear as she was, had begun her begging and apologizing and gentle accusing again. "Please Kat, not now..."
Kathrine's mouth snapped shut like a trap, but the maid remained locked to her Mistress like a handcuff.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 13, 2018, 01:45:54 am
Helen smiled a little at Victor's answer, a bit surprised at how...perky he sounded. "Glad you're alright then. Seems I'm due for checking on you anyway, aren't I? Since you tend to forget to come over here very often." she teased, standing up and calmly grabbing her symbol of judgement to slide in her belt. "I'll be right over then. I'll bring Thomas over too, always good to see his father after all."
"As...relaxed as you sound, assuming you haven't merely been drinking heavily to make up for my abstaining, you seem in a rather good mood." she teased, though her voice hinted at a note of suspicion. Soon though she left The Hall, Solomon deciding to follow as well just in case, the mage hunter bringing her son with her.
Hector was a bit surprised at this, though he took the request in stride. "Understandable. We admittedly don't have very many more rooms left here, but still some, and the refugee center has additional space. Should be easy to arrange for work as needed, and can in turn help with fixing up the vehicles." he offered. "I'm not at Catnip's degree of skill, but I've kept up on maintenance in her stead best as I can. Better at the forge though." he admitted.
Nathaniel chuckled a bit. "Yeah. The armor he's taken to was largely a mix of an old scavenged set and stuff he made from power armor ballistic plating. Those exo-bots or whatever you'd even call them, those choir boys somehow got their hands on that one time." he added, soon walking off to check that Lilith was alright and not about to hurt any of the children.
"God, Dervish is...I don't even know how he's going to take this news. He was kinda the one that started the competing 'Catnip got transformed' theory." Hector said. Nathaniel was now making his way over to the barn, what used to be it anyway, as Catalina and the other two walked over to make introductions, plus sort things out with Hector and Marsh. "Hey Catnip? We moved mosdt of the tools that used to be in here either to Dee's shop, and in the armory since we wanted them out of the rain and such. Tell me what you need and I can get it for you. Clothes should be, er..."
He then moved to open up the tent that had been set up, a series of wooden boxes and other storage containers having been set in there to neatly stow away most of Catnip's wardrobe barring whatever seemed to be armor, along with a large wooden chest that stored various other personal effects once buried in Catnip's bedding. It was more recent addition, a bit of carpentry on the side some of them undertook after "Catnip" died.
"Think it should be these boxes on top here, next to the chest. I'm sorry we never got around to fixing the barn or making something, anything to replace it. We kinda...neglected it after the tree incident. Moreso after Lilith finished the job trying to uproot the stupid thing."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 13, 2018, 11:40:57 am
Alexei poured another glass for the two of them as he told the man "I don't know. Remember one night, was drinking but something happen. Woke up on kitchen table, after all was black market doctor. He say I won't have any problems any longer. I don't remember much of the night though, and not any of what he said."
With that said Alexei picked up his next drink and continued. In truth he did remember little of that night. He had been out drinking for some time when they took him to the doctor. Quite a bit of babble that he didn't understand had also been passed from the doctor to himself.
Meanwhile Roland adjusted the strap of his rifle as he motioned Krieg to come closer. Adjusting his red and black uniform as he stood up Krieg gave him a questioning look before Roland told him "Get a Kubelwagon readied. Sounds like everything is all clear over there but just in case I'd like to come prepared.
The man gave a short salute before turning to walk away. As the others got ready Roland made his way to his quarters and retrieved the gun belt he'd left behind. From there was the chest holster he'd been given by the 3rd as a present not that long ago during a celebration for their first year here. As he walked down the corridor towards their garage he slid a revolver into each of the three holsters.
As he entered the garage Blitz was holding two bottles and back pedaling towards the Kubelwagon as he asked "Scotch or bourbon?"
Roland gave it a moment of thought before motioning to the bourbon bottle and saying "I'm feeling bourbon today. Unless it's Maxim's Scotch."
Blitz shrugged and said "We'll take both. Not like we're actually expecting to get shot at right? I mean what crazy Ficker would actually hit there."
Roland nodded in response as Blitz handed the bottles to a pair of waiting hands before opening the hatch to the drivers seat. Roland meanwhile stepped into the back and closed the hatch behind him before opening a hatch in the roof and pulling himself up as the Kubelwagon roared out of the garage. Next to him the primary turret whirred as the gunner surveyed the horizon for any potential hostiles. Roland doubted they'd see anything but regardless he pulled his scoped Garand up and readied himself. It'd be a while before they arrived and he felt a bit uneasy.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 13, 2018, 11:36:57 pm
"We won't need rooms. Believe it or not a majority of the Mislings here, that's what they call themselves, spent a great deal of time on the streets before the cataclysm. Most of them are used to sleeping in the rough." Marsh told Hector. "Escher, Tyler, Sophie, get these people settled in and set up a perimeter outside these nice folks wall. Mr. Lowe has agreed to let us camp here for some time." The people Marsh directed hopped to right away, moving into the crowd to direct the making of camp.
"I'm not much of a fabricator or mechanic myself." He went on to explain, "I'm just a doctor who came along to make sure everyone stayed Mycus free. Your armor project sounds interesting though, perhaps we can discuss it after we've settled in and met with these refugee center folks." Catnip, nearby, got to her feet and began issuing irritated orders.
"I want a hammer, a screwdriver, a pair of the heaviest shears we have on the farm, and the circle grindy thingy." She directed. Kathrine gently reminded her that the last tool was called an "angle grinder" and Catnip thanked her with a little peck on the cheek. "Angle grinder, get me an angle grinder."
These tools were fetched by Nathaniel, stepping around or over the tiny mouse children and being careful not to step on or drop anything on them. With tools in hand, Catnip set to work. The buttons and zippers proved to be no real problem while the canvas of the suit could not stand up to the tin snips brought in lieu of shears. The snips also made short but tough work of the chemically treated leather under the canvas until all that remained of Catnip's hazardous environment suit was the intact closed circuit breathing system, the heavy pair of firemans boots, and the brass rings that made up the joining points at the wrists, ankles, waist, and neck. The ones at her ankles and waist she cut off herself with the angle grinder while Nathaniel and Hector worked at the ones on her wrists and neck. Dee, with help from L, lugged out the chest containing Catnips most important personals.
The mechanic went over the wood with her hands, enjoying the feel of it and examining it with an eye for quality. Then, she opened it and her shoulders dropped.
"What... happened!?" She said, crying out the last word. The toolbox was the first item to come out of the chest. A beam had fallen onto it, utterly smashing the sturdy box. The sides had split and the lid would never close properly again. Another item was taken out, Catnip's sword. This had been likewise struck by a beam, snapping the blade off just above the hilt. Item after item was taken out, given a cursory examination, and then set aside. Very little had been spared the barns collapse. Some of the boxes that contained clothes from Catnips wardrobe were brought out. Catnip inside the suit had been clad in only her underwear and the small pink object dangling from a rawhide cord between her breasts. She needed something to wear. Instead, she found more underwear. Panties, boyshorts, thongs, and bras both standard and sport. While she'd been away, someone had gone to the trouble of replacing most of her clothes with underthings. All this underwear must have cost someone a fortune, maybe all of...
"Where's my chocolate?" The rough man, who after listening carefully to what Alexei had to say introduced himself as Sahlal Hassan, took another drink and let his ethanol burner do the work. Soon his cells would be fully charged, and he'd have to stop.
"We augmented ourselves like this to fight the mushrooms. Mycus don't like fire, so a bunch of us were given the option of cybernetics, or mutation. It seems I may no longer be needed to fill that role any longer." Sahlal was sipping his drink while he watched Alexei down his own. "Have you ever been to Venice? I once met a man with an accent like yours while on holiday. He was also a heavy drinker, but not nearly as heavy of one." Leslie took another picture and walked with Minx. For the moment, they were talking out there options, what were they going to do now that they were far away from Pricetown and all it's problems. Leslie figured, that since she didn't have anyone back home she would settle up around here. Maybe at the refugee center. She couldn't get the job she wanted back in Pricetown but from what she had gathered, this region didn't have a paper. Not even a single page pamphlet. No one would give her a job as a journalist, but maybe she could start her own paper.
Minx had come under the instructions that she should try to establish a new branch for Pinky's Pleasure Palace, keep an eye on Catnip, and then go back to Pricetown. Even if it were possible though, Minx didn't think she'd want to go back. Leslie's idea was a good one. Starting a business. Unlike her boss though, Minx was no entrepreneur. All she knew was that where there were people, there were needs. Minx shrugged at some observation from Leslie and were joined by L.
"What are you guys doing?" L asked. They told her, Leslie making a sour face at Minx when she explained her plan.
"You're still young sugar, you'll get it someday. What about you L? What are you gonna do?" Minx said.
"I don't know yet. I'd hate to leave Catnip, but I think I'll go to this refugee center too. Maybe I can get a fresh start there..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 15, 2018, 01:29:15 am
Hector shook his head at that. "At the very least we can get tents, tarps, and such set up to improve things if you're sure. We also have a lot of space in the old farm fields that go unused, since we don't have as much need for all of it to till. Might be better than camping outside the palisade. We've never had anything worse than wild animals and occasional thieves, but never know whether God's Army or Hell's Raiders might be stupid enough to attack us. They were dumb enough to go after the center, after all."
After getting the suit mostly taken apart, Hector visibly winced a bit at Catnip's obvious despair. "Half the barn happened. Worst of it hit the area by that little mine and by the forge." he explained. "A good chunk of it actually landed square on me, slid right off my shield. Had been at the forge when Lilith was trying to uproot the tree."
"As for the underwear, it was Mica's idea. It was on your bulletin board and she latched onto it. We went to that city of the dead, you know where you gave the train a test run? Two of us and a whole horde of strange undead that crumbled into dust when killed. Well, just the two us, all those undead, and..."
It was a good bit of timing, and an incredible relief given the subject had turned to Catnip's missing chocolate, that Catalina had walked over and given a wave. "Miss Catnip? I'm Captain Catalina Anquiano. 3rd Company, SPD-IV. Heard a lot about you when we got out from underground, and set up at the refugee center." she said, regarding her with curiosity. Mentally she guessed Catnip to be either a 4a or 5a class mutant, though it was sometimes hard to separate borderline cases without testing. "Mica's sister, essentially? Which makes you the one to thank for the survival of the remaining men and women who'd been under my command in Site 4."
Elsewhere, while still waiting for a response, Helen was packing her things to head out. Hammer hanging from the backpack by a few loops, wraithslayer slung, and symbol of judgement tucked in her belt. Some things for Thomas as well just in case, heard close as she made her way out. Sergei decided to follow along, giving a nod. "Might as well, plus should see if Sammy's okay." he offered.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 15, 2018, 06:25:56 am
While Hector talked, Catnip changed. Efram had gone off to direct the settlers in setting up camp and to send someone to get catnip's things, what she'd brought back from Pricetown, and have them carried to the patchwork tent. When she emerged from the tent, she looked at Hector hard. She had been about to ask where Kathrine had been during all of this when Catalina arrived and saved Hector from having to deal with a real tempest of a tantrum.
Just like that though, Catnip slipped back into the old shoes. Not the literal, but those metaphorical shoes of a more familiar self. The scenario presented before her old and "normal." She wasn't "Catnip the slave," or "Catnip the laborer," or even "Catnip the soldier" anymore. For the first time in a year, she was just, "Catnip the mechanic." Again.
Hello Ms. Ank-wee-ah-no," she said, stumbling over the name a little, "I'm Catnip. Catnip Walker. I'm... Home." Just like that, she was crying. She threw herself at Hector and wrapped her arms around the knight in a hug. "I'm home!" Floyd came next, then Dee, Nathaniel, and Medeina. Mica was too far and Lilith was hit with her next hug before her sister. "I'm home! I'm finally home!" Catnip even gave a hug to Mohammad and Sharlene, then grabbed the captain for good measure, and said again quietly "I'm home..." Across the farm, several men and women approached the Professor who'd come out to see what was going on. Quinn stood and watched, looking a little like a sinking pudding and possibly feeling like one.
"Excuse me sir." Called one of the approaching group, "Am I right in believing you are Mr. Quinn?" Quinn nodded and motioned for the people to come forward, and so they did, one at a time. It was notable that the people who had come to see him from the caravan were outfitted with some kind of CBM of one kind or another. The man who hailed him stood nervously before him, perhaps unable to say what he wanted.
"I uh... I have this ticking in my left ear and uh... Do you think you could fix it?"
"Aural stimulator CBM?"
"Hearing aid, yeah."
Quinn looked the group over again, the said. "Alright. Line up in front of my office there, I'll be with you shortly."
As the group dispersed, something small and brown and ratty and very familiar wrapped her arms around him.
"I'm home!" Dervish took a long hard look at the message string on the screen of his PC, sent to him by Medeina. He wasn't sure what to think. Catalina had taken a couple guardsman with her, but he knew there wouldn't be trouble now.
Dervish depressed a button next to his small intercom. "Khaki?" He said.
"Yes Doctor?"
"Is Atomos still here?"
"No doctor, she left this morning, headed south I think."
"Do you feel up for a drive?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 15, 2018, 10:31:29 am
Quinn rubbed his eyes, prepping himself for a day of work before being plesently surprised by Catnip latching herself onto his waist. He gave a tired little smile, "Ah, you're back. I was hoping my theory was incorrect..." he said, patting Catnip on her head. "It's good to see you, but I'm afraid I have to go..." He stated, looking for a way to pry her off despite not really wanting to.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 15, 2018, 10:23:50 pm
Roxanne had left Victor’s body, her time limit as a ghost having been reached. Victor was left panting as possession seemed to take energy from the host; Roxanne meanwhile had the biggest grin on her face. "Roxanne...you seriously need to stop doing that unannounced...it’s getting old..."
"I didn’t know you had it in you Victor; a real surprise...", Roxanne teased.
Victor looked on with confusion, he was too anxious and exhausted to think clearly. "What? I don’t know what you are talking about...", Victor responded.
"July 13, 193-" Victor cut Roxanne off before she could finish. He knew exactly what she was talking about. "Damn it Roxanne! Shut up! Don’t ever mention that again!" He looked away indignant as he fiddled with the APC’s radio to respond to Helen.
"So you like ponytails huh?", Roxanne said giggling struggling not to laugh.
"I said shut up damn it! Stop looking into my memories...Or would you like me to talk about operation red candle?"
Roxanne dropped her laughter and that smugness in her face as she started to blush a bit. "Ok, I’ll stop...I am sorry..." Victor messed with the dials a bit more until he got the right frequency. "Good, now quiet. I have a transmission to send." He stretched a bit and cracked his neck as if he was getting ready for some big task before picking up the receiver and responding.
"Yeah, sorry about not visiting often. Guess we both get busy at times don’t we? Anyways, would be good to see you both soon; I’ll be waiting for you then.", Victor said back; he collected his thoughts before continuing, "Things have been going well so that’s why I sound relax. Well, apart from this little incident of course...But that had been taken care off. Things really seem to have calmed down recently haven’t they? Nice change of pace; anyways, see you soon!"
Victor hanged up the transceiver after sending his message. He turned around to find Roxanne sitting down in one chair in the middle of a nasty coughing fit. He settled next to her and gave her a worried look. "Are you alright? The coughing bothering you again it seems...gotten that checked out?", Victor asked.
Roxanne dismissed him by waving her hand around. "Nah, I am good. It’s just a cough; nothing to worry about really.", Roxanne responded.
"You have been having these coughing episodes for 2 months now; don’t you think something might be going on? Now that I think about it...It tends to happen after you leave your body...Roxanne, maybe it’s time you go and-"
"NO! We are not having this conversation again ok?! I made my choice and not you or anyone else is going to say otherwise!"
"...Not even the knight?"
Roxanne paused for a moment; she looked down a bit before locking eyes with Victor. "He doesn’t know and doesn’t need to. Hector wouldn’t understand anyways. Hell, I doubt Helen would or that you do fully. Besides, still my choice. And if you ever say something...I will give you a reason to fear mutants..."
Victor gave a deep sigh; her threats not even registering beyond white noise at this point. "Fair enough...still, yet yourself checked up with dervish or quinn sometime ok? This isn’t normal...". He stood up and organized his stuff for a bit. "Well, let’s go outside and talk to some people; what is the worst that can happen?" Victor offered his hand to Roxanne. She looked up and accepted his offer as he helped her get up.
"Yeah, let’s go. Maybe I can introduce you to some people around here while we wait for Helen." The two soon exited the APC; the vehicle’s power systems having been turned off first. The pair walked in-tandem towards the middle of where people seemed to gather. Victor looked a bit uneasy but some of Roxanne’s words and memories from the possession had calmed him a bit. He stayed behind Roxanne as she took the lead.
"Seems people have moved on...did we really take that long in there? I feel someone somewhere is chastising us for taking too long in there...oh well!", Roxanne commented out loud, mostly to herself. Victor slapped her over the head for that, "This is why we can’t have nice things Roxanne! Anyways, where to?"
"Let’s talk to some of the folk around here; lots of mouse mutants here it seems. They probably have quite the story."
"Yeah...I bet they have...go on, I’ll be right behind you…." Roxanne rolled her eyes before approaching a group of people gathering and chatting. She would ask them about what they were doing her and where they were from; nothing too special, things you would ask new people who you just met. Victor would stay in the back and let Roxanne do the introductions. They would all shake hands afterwards and the pair would move to the next group; this would go on for a while, them asking group after group of newcomers as they set up camp.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 15, 2018, 11:35:21 pm
Hector was not only relieved by this distraction, but surprised by two things. First, Catnip gave a last name. He knew Mica had unofficially taken the surname Redscarf, but until just now he'd never heard Catnip[ give a surname before. The hug was the second surprise, giving a little nod at that. "Glad to have you back, Catnip." he said. Nathaniel hugged back best as he could, nearly bowled over by the energetic mutant doling out hugs to everyone.
Catalina in turn smiled a little at that. "So then. If you'd like I think the corporal brought an MRE he's already half taken apart. Can make some coffee or tea, give you the chocolate bar from it, then hopefully we'll have time to hear about what all happened." she said, prompting a look of resignation from Alberto. "But my...oh well." Hector and Nathaniel however went a bit pale at the mention of chocolate. Just when we had her off the subject... Hector thought.
Given the time spent arguing over things, and the relatively short walk upriver and across the bridge, it wasn't too long before Helen was seen walking along the road, an odd figure in a metal mask and cloak of scales, one side of the cloak tossed over her shoulder, revealing the simple sling she had well-secured.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 16, 2018, 12:32:52 am
Krieg had pulled Roland down into the 'bay' of the Kubelwagon and pushed a helmet into his hands before pulling his chest holster off. As Roland slid the helmet on he felt a chest piece being forcibly strapped to him as he asked "And this is because?"
Krieg had moved on to shoulder pauldrons as he replied "If you get shot again stepping out of a wagon Veronica is going to kill me. Or Blitz. Whichever she finds first."
Roland simply nodded as he let the man finish strapping metal plates to his arms. Once that was done Krieg moved back to his seat as Roland thanked him. "But uh, one question. How did you fabricate something that actually fit me?"
Krieg adjusted the handle on his shield as he said "I had many hobbies before. I made blades, I built cars, I learned how to manipulate metal. Once Veronica gave me your sizes the process was simple."
Roland nodded as he tightened the strap on the helmet before looking up as the gunner said "Friendlies in sight. Bunch of unidentifieds but the friendlies seem to like them well enough."
Standing as the driver brought the vehicle to a halt not far from the bridge to the farm Roland stepped out as the ramp lowered. Krieg was right behind him with his riot shield in hand as he kept the MG42 pointed towards the ground. Motioning for the men to stow their weapons Roland and company made their way into the farm.
Isaac meanwhile had finished getting things setup. A decently sized array of tables and chairs with the few decorations he had scattered about. Waving to Roland as he saw the 3rd company members making their way across the bridge Isaac then turned back to his quarters to retrieve something he'd kept for quite some time. The box of European chocolate he'd taken some time ago was placed into his bag, a present for Catnip whenever he could talk with her when she wasn't busy having her reunion with the others.
Stepping back out he saw Alice setting another bottle of vodka on Alexei's table before moving back to the pit to make sure the deer were cooking well. Walking over Isaac felt his cat claw it's way up his back to settle on his shoulder. Reaching a hand up to scratch it's ear Isaac sat next to his daughter and offered to take over so she could meet the new people. She accepted the offer and started moving from group to group offering to help however she could while asking questions of little importance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 16, 2018, 08:09:18 am
"Chocolate! I'll take the chocolate!" Catnip said, forking her hand out to receive. Kathrine tugged on her arm and gave a little whine, reminding Catnip of her manners. "Please?" The small chocolate bar vanished almost before it had a chance to so much as touch Catnips hand, and Catalina had to wonder whether or not it had. "I havn't had chocolate since..." Catnip thought about it, and hard. "Since the morning of the attack." She finished. She was savoring the taste, enjoying the delightfully specific flavor that is found primarily, if not exclusively, in chocolate.
Hector cocked his head a little, about to ask how it was that she hadn't hadn't any chocolate in so long. He'd heard enough so far that he could guess, and he wasn't wrong. "There isn't any, or if there is then slaves aren't allowed to have it. I know too, I looked all over while I was shopping for... GIFTS! I HAVE GIFTS!"
Catnip brightened even more with the last proclamation. Just in time for that statement, a pair of ladies pushed into the gathering with two pairs of duffel bags and an apology for not bringing all of Catnips things in one trip. Catnip clapped her hands together in a businesslike fashion and rooted through the bags. To hector, they looked rather dusty and well worn, but not the worse for wear. They had obviously been well used, or had been sitting out in the possession of the dead for some time. The first item she found, was an item as large as Hectors shield and of similar shape. She took it to Hector, gently taking his old wooden one and setting it aside before giving him the new one. His old shield, as far as catnip was concerned, was a relic one hung on a wall to remember old times now. The new one was lighter, edged in steel, and had Hectors emblem (as catnip thought of it) not just painted, but carved into it. The material was light and solid, appearing to be some kind of ivory. As Hector looked the gift over, Catnip told the story of how she'd obtained the shield. Catnip looked down on the courtyard which her window at Pinky's Pleasure Palace showed and thought boredly about how nice it would be to be home. At this time, she was also wondering what there was to do. Pricetown was a place of bustle and activity, and yet no one seemed to do much of anything at the end of the week except what she'd seen already, and she wasn't doing "that."
Across the courtyard, something was happening. People were getting excited, excited for the return of some group of hunters or something.
"We got one! We got one!" Someone cried, and then a large cart came into view. Atop the cart with it's huge rounded back tied down was a strange creature Catnip later learned was called an armadillo, and boy was it big. Minx told her, watching with a little awe, that armadillos were small critters. Sometimes though, when the hunters guild went out to hunt, they would run across one of these cataclysm borne giants. The rat had sprinted down stairs and out the front door for a closer look, and managed to squeeze her way through the crowd.
The beast was immense, as big as an ambulance, and she could see it's shell was as thick and solid as battleship skirting. "Could absorb a tank shell!" One of the hunters said proudly. Someone asked how they'd manage to bag it is the armor was so thick. The hunter who had spoke told a fantastically wild story about a chase, a fight, and finally cornering it in a box canyon where it caught and killed. "Head on down to the butchers block in an hour if you want some of the meat folks, stuff may taste rancid but that's why we give it up for free." Catnip wondered why they'd kill a thing if they weren't going to use all of it, but she supposed that was just the way things were here in Pricetown. The town had shown itself to be a fairly decadent place after all.
At the hunters market, at the far end of chief street, Catnip watched the hunters part out the meats, carefully rolling the oversized animal on it's side and propping it up so they could carve away large slabs of flesh and organ meat. People came and went, mostly poor Mislings looking for something to put in the soup pot at the end of the day and willing to suffer the sweltering Arizona heat for something as sour tasting as the flesh of a mutated animal. The hunters also carefully peeled the hide as they went along, taking it in segments and hauling it away in neat stacks. By the end of the day, all that was left of the animal was a stack of bones and a hollow segmented shell.
"What do you do with the bones?" Catnip had wandered over and asked. The hunter in charge had looked her over, recognizing her as the in house mechanic at Pinky's, and told her. It was custom that the bones would be ground into rough meal to send to the aeroponics facility to be process into an even finer mix of nutrients for the fertilizer matrix. Catnip said that was a shame, and the bone armor of the armadillo (she said this as "ahm-uh-dill-uh") could be used for so much more. "Like what?" the hunter asked. Catnip wracked her brain for a moment, trying to think of something. The idea she hit on right away was a thought of Hector and his shield. Catnip laid her hand on the grizzly bone and judged that it was solid all the way through. Finally, she turned to the hunter and said simply, "shields."
A section of bone was purchased for the paltry price of five watermarks. The hunters ground the rest into meal. If Catnip's project failed, she would have nothing to start over with. The bone had to be worked with while it was still fresh, still softish. Over the next few days, three in total, Catnip scraped and cleaned and carved and fitted and tested. The bone was as strong as she thought it would be, stronger than the hunters had thought in fact. Once it had dried and had left out in the desert sun to "bake" she took it for it's first test before it would see real use. The shield was the only gift that would see use by Catnip herself in the coming month, and it would serve much as Hectors wooden shield had. The main difference was, this new shield would deflect bullets where the old one would simply absorb them. Catnip ran her hands over the shield. The surface carved and polished to an ivory sheen, stained the proper colors, and then polished again with automotive wax. She'd done her research, and to Hector's eye it appeared to be period accurate apart from the choice of material. There was a mark in the upper right hand corner of the shields back, a little carving of simple locomotive. It was safe to assume that this was Catnip's makers mark.
"Where's Roxanne?" Catnip asked, then pointed, "Oh! Helen is here!" Catnip didn't have a gift for Helen, unfortunately, and she secretly hoped that wouldn't be a problem. She was interested though in the little bundle Helen carried with her. So too it seemed, was Mica.
"Squishy!" Mica cheered excitedly, "Two-face lady is bringing squishy! Let My-ka hug!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 16, 2018, 04:57:06 pm
After talking to a few groups, Roxanne was getting a bit fed up. They mostly said the same thing with variations depending on their own personal experience; debt and proper slaves, the basics of pricetown, how they each ended up where they were and what mislings are were among the recurring topics. Despite this, Roxanne pays attention to all they are saying; not because she actually cares about these people’s problems, but because she knows that what the issues of the local populace are says alot about her “targets” environment. Her target being catnip in this case; only this time, instead of neutralize it, she wanted to know more about them.
Why doesn’t Roxanne just ask her directly? Where is the fun in that? Besides, she needs a basis of comparison anyways. In all actually, Roxanne is just too nervous to talk to someone she assumed to be dead for a good part of a year, but she didn’t want to admit it to herself. "Roxanne, we talked to enough people don’t you think? I don’t think we will get anything new. Besides, didn’t catnip told you all of this already?"
Roxanne looked down a bit as if hiding something. Victor didn’t need any memory swap or mind reading to know what was going on. "You didn’t talk to her did you?"
"How could I Victor?! I thought she was dead! I mourned her...now she is back...I don’t know how to deal with that..." Victor gave a deep sigh at this. He suspected as much in the middle of her talking to all these tran- mutants. Victor placed a hand on Roxanne’s shoulder. "Huntress Roxanne Blackmore...You are not the only one to go through that..."
That name incited some sort of both primordial rage and sorrow in Roxanne before Victor finished his sentence. He was right, they shared this in common too. However, it seemed weird that person was technically her; it was made even stranger by some of the memories she now had of her and Victor. "So...what do you recommend then? Answer me that mister ‘Lord o’ spirits’..."
Victor paid no mind to her comments; he knew it was a coping mechanism. "Just talk to her. It will make things easier, that much I can tell you. Worse comes to worse, you don’t have those feelings bottled up. Besides, I would be rude of you not to do so and I sort of have to re-introduce myself as well..." A small shrug from her was what Victor got as an answer; Roxanne started walking towards where catnip and a few others were gathered. The mechanic had no stripped her restrictive suit and was enjoying some chocolate; oh that brought memories to Roxanne of the old days.
The two made themselves known after Catnip presented Hector with his shield; Roxanne’s ears twitched as she heard catnip asked for her by name. The two stood in front of the little group before speaking; Roxanne unusually shy while Victor stayed close behind her with a wary look. "C-catnip? It’s me, Roxanne...good to see you again..." That was all she managed to say. Victor smirked a little before stepping in to fill in the gaps. "Hello there. I am Victor Ironwood. We didn’t really talk at all before...the ‘incident’. This place seems to have gotten a lot livelier with you around here;good to see one of our own back home."
Victor’s attention was drawn catnip’s announcement Helen was here. He smiled and waved at her approaching. "If you excuse me, I have a couple people I need to say hi to." He walked towards Helen as they meet half-way; Victor seemingly more relax now all thing considered. "Glad you were able to make it. It appears there is quite the catching up you have to do. How is Thomas?" Victor smiled as he lowered to eye level with Thomas and then ruffled his hair. "Miss me little guy? Is mommy not letting you have fun? Been there..." The last bit a bit of teasing to Helen.
"Squishy!" Mica cheered excitedly, "Two-face lady is bringing squishy! Let My-ka hug!"
This comment made Victor feel uneasy, he rose to look at Helen at eye level. "No Helen...I don’t think that is a good idea...", Victor whispered to her. One of his hands was about to reach for his sword’s handle but then he refrained from it; he realized this would only kill the mood. Besides, Mica probably meant good; he had been around her enough and she didn’t bother him any. Why not give her chance?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 16, 2018, 05:22:26 pm
Hector was taken aback by the gift Catnip presented him with, after having practically inhaled the bar of chocolate Alberto somewhat reluctantly gave up. "Alright, it's hard to say no to that face..." the corporal admitted, while Hector removed his gauntlets to run a finger over the pattern that'd been worked into the hard section of bone.The engraving had afforded depth to the white paint of what was a simple Latin cross, the shield painted in the Hospitaller design used before the Maltese cross and its white-on-black variant.
He was surprised at how tough the material seemed, and how light the design was even in contrast to the thin plywood, canvas, and hide glue of his old shield, already extensively repaired after the thorough test run he gave the cursed sword. "This is wonderful Catnip!" he explained, and as she recounted the story he was even more surprised.
Soon afterward he'd decided to recount some things that had happened since she was gone. More about the events at Site 4, and how the tree growing came about due to that. Mention of something that happened with Randael, though he wasn't that aware of the details. And mention of his dream he had, and the vague urge that led to bring the mobile foundry back to the farm, after his attempts to pray to Agmen.
"I don't really know what led me to trying. But eventually, I...don't remember the results, what happened. Only that it put my mind at ease at the time. Never really been a highly religious person, never gave it much thought since shortly before joining the Army actually. Now that you're back, I think I know what it as in that dream that got me to stop worrying..."
Nathaniel too had been curious about the mutant wildlife that now grew in the Southwest, but as Helen arrived and he heard another distant engine sound, he stepped out towards the road to keep an eye on things just in case. It was a pleasant surprise when he saw what they now knew to be the patterns of The 3rd, and upon the sight of Roland Nathaniel gave a wave to them. "Glad to see you guys. Have someone you might want to say hi to." he said, leading the way back over to where Catnip was.
Helen gave a smile as Victor approached, keeping Thomas close before Victor ruffled his hair. A similar shade of red to her own though darker, and brown eyes like Victor had. "Glad to be here as well. And I'm sure there's plenty of trouble to get into now that you're with us." she teased.
With Mica coming over, Helen gave a nervous chuckle and a wave as the spidergirl approached, sticking close to Victor. "Now now, we can't be too rough with Thomas, he's only a couple months old." she said, still a bit instinctively on edge having Mica near her son.
Sergei meanwhile made his way past them, giving a wave to Catnip before going over to Sammy, pulling her into a hug. "Hope you've been alright. They didn't scare you any, did they?" he teased.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 16, 2018, 06:12:30 pm
Roland followed Nathaniel as he led the way towards Catnip. Roland himself had never believed that she had ever been the rat that had died some time ago. Removing his helmet as he approached Roland remarked "It's good to see her again. Never liked the idea of.." He caught himself as he felt tears making their way down his face. Reaching a hand up to wipe them away he continued "..It's just good to see her."
While this was going on Krieg shouted for Blitz to get his sax. The brother emerged carrying a couple of instrument cases as the others either let their weapons hang on straps or stowed them in the armored vehicle. The twins found a nice place to sit before Krieg retrieved his saxophone and Blitz his rather well kept guitar. Pulling off his helmet Krieg started the pair off as another member of the third walked over and started playing his harmonica.
The remaining handful of men from the third went around making themselves useful. Some moved food and water, making sure everyone was fed and had plenty to drink. Others helped build as best they could, asking a few questions here or there about the new people as they worked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 16, 2018, 06:44:37 pm
"Roxanne!" Catnip cried when the elf got her attention. The rat wrapped her arms around Roxanne in a tight hug that almost squeezed the wind out of her. Only the coughing fit that erupted from Roxanne stopped that. "Are you sick?"
"No, I'm fine. Perfectly fine. Just a summer cold." Roxanne told her, sweeping it under the rug.
Catnip listened intently to everything Hector had to say. Mica's panty raid and his vision. Dee added his own bits in, including the ordeal just after the attack. Mica, of course, was all to eager to tell her sister that she and Dee had "deepened their relationship" so to say. The words she used of course being much different and far more blunt and to the point.
"Agmen is fickle and mean." Catnip said, expressing her ongoing displeasure with her god. As it had been explained to her, and as she understood it, Gods and their worshippers were supposed to have some kind of give and take relationship. Agmen on the other hand was pushy and really rather uncaring. It came as a surprise to her that something Agmen told someone had been "nice" though. Over the course of the year away, he'd hardly spoken to Catnip at all. The "foundry" thing was interesting though, and she put down a mental note to give it a thorough inspection later.
The "Randael" adventure confused Catnip a bit, but she supposed it had all ended well enough. Roxanne was back and seeming to be in her own body after all, so all was fine on that front.
"I'm getting a bit overloaded guys." She said, meeting so many new and familiar people all in one day. "It's nice to meet all of you." Another hug for Roxanne was forthcoming, and when it was broken, Catnip was holding something out to her. It appeared to be a small round Cactus in a fist sized ceramic pot with the name "JIM" painted in blue on the rim. Catnip pushed it into her hands and began to speak. Before the first sentence had finished though, the little plant revealed it's true nature by opening up like a jack o lantern, and stealing a swatch of cloth from Roxanne's sleeve. Catnip walked the avenue just behind second street, one of three market streets in Pricetown and looked through the various baubles. The city had grown boring to her over the winter, and very soon she would be rid of the place. It would be all too good to kick the dirt of Pricetown from her heels, even if doing so meant going through the dangerous rockies in a bunch of rigged up buses. They had thirty of the things, all armored up and ready to outfit. She only hoped it could be done before winter as she'd heard that the road to the lab she sought would become impassible when the snows came, even without the Mycus to worry about.
Her run of thoughts was distracted by a stall selling something actually interesting. Too many of the stalls sold variations on the same old goods. Glass, greasy food made from cheap trash meat, booze she couldn't drink for fear of breaking her promise, and junk. So much junk. This new stall though, sold cactus and other assorted desert plants she'd never seen before. Her first few days in the region had been made miserable by thirst and cactus, but now that they were separated out into individual pots and arranged tastefully they didn't seem so bad. She marveled at the variety, and reached out to turn one of the pots for a better look. The cactus moved and she recoiled. It seemed to be unfurling itself, showing a bright yellow core and a circular maw filled with little blunted teeth.
"Careful now missus, careful. I havn't got around to feedin' em yet and they are mighty hongry." Said the stall keeper, stripping open a bag of meat cuttings. "Can feed em just about anything, so long it's not bread." He added. The stall keeper dropped a little cube of meat into the cactus that had unfurled at her touch and it snapped shut on the savory treat.
"What are they?" Catnip asked wonderingly. She had just been wandering about, killing time, but now she thought she may have found another gift for her friends back home.
"Desert triffid missus." He explained, dropping bits of meat into the pots and letting the tiny plant creatures feed. "If'n ya ever seen triffids a'fore then you'd know that they can be mighty big. Thing is though, there ain't enough water in these parts to let em get so big. Every few months I go out and replace my stock, you'd be surprised how rare some a' these are." The stall keeper talked like Catnip, and that was no wonder. He explained that he'd been from Bangor in Maine before the cataclysm, clarifying that it was in New England when Catnip asked.
"How much?" Catnip asked, pointing to a simple round one like a little barrel then withdrawing her finger when it snapped at her. "For that kind missus? I'll take thirty watermarks and a trio of slugs for the little rascal. I'll even throw in care instructions free a' charge."
A little dickering and soon Catnip was the proud owner of a desert triffid in a little pot labeled "JIM" in bold blue letters. She thought Roxanne would love it. "When did Helen have a baby?" Catnip asked. The question came so suddenly that some of them believed it had been a part of the story. "Does it pull tails? I can't stand that." To punctuate that point, she pulled her tail away from a drooling Misling baby that had toddled up to the group. She noticed Roland then, and rushed over to hug him. "Where's Drifter?" She asked, holding the man who had once fix her broken nose at arms length. "How is the leg I made him holding up?"
"I have more gifts." She said once she returned to the group, "But I'm a bit tired. There is so much to talk about, and I am so glad to be back." Sharlene had gone back to her cabin. It was nice that the mechanic girl was back, but she couldn't miss the opportunity to do some experimentation without Lilith or Mohammad around. She pushed aside a collection of broken coffee mugs, letting the shards of ceramic and glass fall noisily into a bin at the end of the table she'd set up to work on. With the surface cleared, she added a whole mug to it.
The hard part, she decided, was the first part. The circle. Over time, she'd gotten sloppier and sloppier about it. Sometimes she wondered if she should even bother with the circle. She made a couple passes over the mug, just as Victor had instructed, and began to chant. Then, stopped. She forgot the candles. She also forgot the ramifications of halting a spell in the middle of casting. Somewhere nearby, there was an audible *pop* as a frog was caught by the directionless spell and filled to exploding with "coffee."
"Let's try this again shall we?" She said to herself. The candles were in place and lit, the mug was in the now slightly smudged circle, and she began the dire ritual. The candles began to smoke, and that was correct. The book Victor had lent her said that would happen. The circle flickered, and that was wrong. She supposed it was fine though. The fluid in her mug began to darken, and that seemed to be right though the coffee produced had never been what you would call "good." That didn't matter though. What mattered was that she flubbed a word, and one of the candles suddenly splattered itself all over the table. Sharlene was used to that, it happened all the time. Another thing she'd gotten used to was the mug breaking. This time though, it did that and more. She reached the final line of her spell, and the mug split. Before she could react to that though, the circle exploded.
"Hello?" said the golden spirit emerging from the red smoke emanating from the table. Sharlene picked herself up, a bit dazed. "Are you my mother?"
Sharlene had no idea what she'd done, but the strange blade armed creature seemed disoriented and confused. Not one to miss an opportunity though, the amateur blood mage said "Yeeeess? Yes. I am your mother. What's your name son?"
"I feel like my name is Michael. That sounds right, I think."
"Uh huh." Sharlene nodded, "I'll just call your Mickey D. How does that sound Mickey D?"
"Yes Mother. Mickey D it is."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 16, 2018, 07:18:50 pm
Quinn walked towards his lab, looking at the considerable line in front. He cracked his fingers and walked to the door, "First person can enter, explain what the issue is, again." Quinn stated, holding the door open for the first Misling. While the scientist got a stack of disposable foam cups got a pot of coffee going, the rat mutant explained what was wrong. Quinn grabbed two chairs and set them next to eachother, he sat in one and motioned for the Misling to sit in the other before he got to work.
Sammy snickers into the hug, "Pffft! Shut up!" She teases back, hugging him tightly. Sergei chuckled a bit at that as he looked back to the tgroup of mislings. "So Catnip's back? I'm glad, I difn't really know what was going on with that."
Sammy rose an eyebrow, "...uh who's Catnip?" She asked. "Oh! She was gone this while time when you arrived, r-right..." he stammered out, pointing out the ratgirl. "Oh." She said simply, blushing a bit. "Expected her to be more like a cat to be honest..."
Sergei shook his head at that. "No. Whoever runs those labs evidently had a sick sense of humor. At least according to Hector. In fact first met her when she was with Quinn, Donny, couple others to raid a lab. Didn't really get much chance for introductions that time." Sammy grimaced, "Oh...u-uh... how'd it go?"
"Heard about it when they came back. Donny was in bad shape, looked like half his augmentations were torn out, Hector and Quinn were also a mess, while Catnip and Mica didn't look that pleased to have been in that sort of place." Sammy grimaced more, "o-oh..." she stammered.
Sergei sighed and held her close. "They made it out fine though. Should take you over to go say hi to her." he offered. "Maybe..." Sammy considered. Sergei then hmmed a bit. "Or so long as she doesn't go disappearing for a year again, there's time to say hi too. For now have some catching up to do, don't we?"
Sammy smiled and nodded, leading Sergei towards the watch tower...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 16, 2018, 08:51:22 pm
Roland smiled at Catnip's mention of Drifter. "He's still here at the Farm." Looking around he spotted Isaac and said "He's over there. as for the leg well..it got shot. Hasn't been functioning since so he's taken to using the old peg leg."
At her mention of needing to rest and said "You take all the time you need to rest. We're all glad you're back as well but we understand that your journey probably took a lot out of you."
Elsewhere on the farm Alice had retrieved a rifle from Isaac's truck. She figured that if they were going to help feed all of the mislings they would need quite a bit more food. Letting her father know what she was doing Alice wandered out into the swamp to get a giant frog or two, maybe a deer or alligator.
Isaac watched her go, a pair of swords on her back with a set of knives attached to the left side of her belt. She had learned quite a bit about how to use them over the past year much to his surprise. Humming to the music that the nearby band was playing Isaac watched some of the mislings running around and couldn't help but smile. Things were going to be interesting.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 17, 2018, 08:20:30 am
Catnip was shocked in the way that only the creator being told her creation had been vandalized could be shocked. "It's broken? Aww... And he's back on that... Shit leg? That won't do at all!" The vitriol with which she spat "shit" lent the word weight. Kathrine hissed at her again about her language and Catnip gave her old familiar sheepish look to Kathrine. "Listen, Roland, Have Drifter bring what's left of it back to me and I'll have it fixed as soon as I can." She thanked him for coming to see her, thanked everyone, and retreated to the quiet of Kathrine's tent. It seemed that progress on the encampment was coming along nicely. A great many people already settled in and huddled against the cool air they had grown unaccustomed to. A ferret faced man and a woman who looked a bit like a canary here while under another awning nearby, a group of men and women is rough uniform cleaned their weapons and tools. Many of the awnings were rough fabric or canvas, rather than tarp or some material more suited to the damp. One tent set up though, adorned in a bright blue with gold and red stars like a childs sheet (which is what it had been stitched from), was home to a veritable magic shops worth of tools, chemicals, and geegaws. Every now and then, a belch of blue smoke would erupt from the stove pipe of the simple home made stove sitting at the back of the tent.
"So Darling, what do you think of these people?" Said the Misling woman in her flamboyantly red robe. The man she spoke to was human, and dressed simply in the attire of a working man.
"I think they are fine." He said, tapping away at a tent stake.
"Just fine? Speak your mind dear, it's not like they are going to throw us out." She said, then caught on an idea, "It's not like there's a member of your old order among them Daniel."
"I'm not sure if I should be glad or sad about that Sylvia." He finished with the stake and went to the stove, looking into the coffee can that served the couple as a pot. "You aren't experimenting with the coffee again are you?"
"No darling, just tea this time I swear. It was nice of Ms. Walker to let us come along wasn't it?"
"Nice of her to bring you along, I wasn't the one who built that machine..."
"It got out of hand! I didn't think-"
"You didn't think It would actually be used." Daniel finished for her. Sylvia and Daniel had been the enemies of Catnip by association until after the conflict in which the rat had helped to liberate them and destroy the machine they had helped to build. It had been a godsend, and a bit of luck that she had decided to spare them. They weren't evil people after all, just a married couple who'd gotten mixed up with the wrong group of survivors.
"That girl with the teeth and arms is an arcane mute." Daniel stated, gesturing towards one of the more bizarre strangers stalking through the settlers camp. "Better not experiment here Syl, lest something go wrong." He lifted a metal mask, familiar in design, from it's case and watched Mica. Through the active mask, she appeared as little more than a grey shape like any mundane animal. The scaled man who walked with her, and the others of the camp, pulsed with the rather regular auras of those with normal arcane properties. A spell in the vicinity of that grey void would be absorbed while artifacts like his mask would malfunction if it touched them.
Sylvia watched her moving around then commented, "She seems alright, but I think I feel what you mean darling. Oh, they are coming this way, better put it away dear."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 17, 2018, 01:12:31 pm
Hector for now had settled into the familiar routine of helping out along with the 3rd, setting things up and later on heading over to take a look at the convoy of vehicles and the problems induced by their abrupt halt. "Will want to go get the welding cart for this..." he remarked, for now examining the hatch that had been wrenched entirely out of place when they worked on opening it. His immediate guess was something corrosive had seeped into the hinges, noticing that the pins seemed relatively free of corrosion, but the knuckles of the hinges simply crumbled at his touch. "Scratch that." he said to the person who was there examining the vehicle's engine. "First step would be a few measurements and then some time at the forge, if we don't have this sort of hinge to spare..."
Elsewhere, as Helen stayed near Victor for the time being, she found herself looking around and regarding the array of unfamiliar faces curiously. She had her own mask packed away, unsure how Thomas would react to her masked face when he was still so young, but her cloak was readily visible, draped around most of her body.
And for a brief moment, among the collections of auras, 50 meters in every direction until mask vision faded into a dim haze, was a distinct collection of arcane auras surrounding one of the people. Four that might, given closer observation, be recognizable as the standard items of her order, another item that was some other sort of magic item, and the vague glow of some form of warding magic.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 17, 2018, 01:42:30 pm
Roland in the mean time had walked over to Isaac. Sitting down next to his old friend he relayed Catnip's request before producing a hip flask. The two took a drink as they discussed what had been happening over the year. Meanwhile the member of the 3rd with Hector sighed as he said "I think Blitz has engine parts that could fit this thing, and we could probably provide parts for some other segments of these things."
Elsewhere while all this was going on.....
The delivery truck rolled down the old battered road with the usual product in the back with the same crew as had been driving it for the past few months. The day was the same as all the other deliveries they’d made. Until they stopped at a makeshift roadblock made out of cars, designed to look like a crash. The guards looked at each other for a moment before one grabbed the radio to talk to the Precinct Zero coordinator.
She picked up as the driver started to pull around the obstruction. He didn’t make it far before the sound of the modified STG ripped through the air as rounds tore through the armor bolted to the vehicle. The driver took five to the chest before the guards stepped out of the vehicle. They heard the automatic fire cut out as a man in heavy armor walked out from behind a nearby wreck.
The guards had turned their fire to him to find their rounds crushing against the armor or bouncing off to the side. The weapon in his hand belched a stream of liquid damnation towards the guards that ignited as it left the barrel. The liquid stuck to their bodies as it soaked them in flames that failed to go out as they dropped to the ground screaming. The only guard that escaped death dropped his weapon and put his hands in the air.
Walking over the man looked him over before grunting into the microphone built into his helmet. Walking to the back of the truck he let his Sturmtruppen take care of the guard. Lifting a hand up to the locked door he felt the hydraulics in his armor kick to life as he ripped the door off it’s hinges and let it fall to the side. Stepping in he saw it was full of medical supplies along with a box labeled ‘elixirs’. Picking a bottle out of the box he inspected it as he walked back to his men.
Handing the Flammenwerfer to one of his men and shrugging the fuel tank off he approached the guard. Holding the glass bottle in his hand he stared into it as if inspecting the color of a fine wine as he said “Once upon a time I lived in a small community of my fellow humans. Slowly however more and more of the..” He gestured with his spare hand as if searching for the word “..the mutated decided to make their living there. They needed more food, but specific kinds. Then it was special housing, special clothes, special tools. Keeping them alive became a burden to the pure among our people. Now our haven has been destroyed and us driven from our homes.We come here to find not a single haven for those creatures but many. Including your little ‘precinct’. The ‘New England Police’ have done a fine job of helping monsters.”
He returned to his flammenwerfer, picking up the weapon and inspecting it. The weapon was in perfect condition, far better than any his old comrades had carried and maintained. Modified to have extended range and a tank that was armored enough to prevent any form of rupture. Not that he was particularly concerned since he was aware the exploding of a tank was a typically hollywoodian invention for their action movies. Hefting the tank itself he thought of the exceedingly rare circumstance where it would explode.
Sliding the tank back onto his armor he shrugged off the thoughts of such things. Once he felt it snap into place he picked up the weapon itself and approached the guard. Staring down at the man through the lenses of his armored helmet he watched for a moment. The fear in the guard’s eyes was almost palpable. “I will let you return home. To send a warning to those that you harbor. We will come. We will find them. We will kill them. Any who stand beside them will be killed the same as the wretch they protect. Any who aid us will be rewarded beyond their wildest dreams.” Turning away the Kommandant motioned for his men to follow. Three, two, one…
The pistol shot bounced off of his tank before he turned and sprayed the guard with fire. The men had turned as well and all eyes watched the screaming man as he died. One of the men retrieved his axe as he started towards the burning bodies while another reached into the back of one of their vehicles to retrieve a set of metal poles. Soon the heads were separated from their bodies, poles shoved into the ground, and the heads stabbed through to leave a warning.
As they left with the medical supplies the Kommandant smiled. He abhored the impure for their cowardice, always letting the pure fight their battles. They deserved the death that would be coming for them. But he enjoyed the fighting, the chaos that arose from a battle fought with fire and gunpowder. When that time came to a close and it was time to govern he would move on into another battle. Such had his life been since childhood. Combat, street wars fought with cold metal knives and bullets. Then it had been corporate work, gun battles in warehouses or office buildings, sometimes a knife quietly slid into a man’s throat. But unlike his childhood and young adulthood he had purpose now, a goal to achieve given to him by one who had seemed almost holy.
Elsewhere a squad of purifiers swept an old temple built underneath a ruined manor. They had counted twenty men dead inside, heads having been blown off by some form of explosive. The lieutenant observed his men as they cleared the next room. His second in command stood beside him and asked “Lieutenant if I may inquire, why are we searching this place? It appears to be a run down manor of little import, especially when observed from the exterior.”
The lieutenant walked forward as his men sweeped further into the building. Looking to his second he informed him “Herr Fuhrer McCall knew someone who lived in this place before the...event. Supposedly he had an ‘artifact’ of great power that would help the Fuhrer in his goals, especially those he attained after the event. Now the Kommandant desires the artifact for his own purposes.”
The second followed him further into the temple, both admiring the fine craftsmanship of the carved stone walls and pillars. As they came to a large room that appeared to be outfitted for training the second asked “And why is the Kommandant not here?”
They came to the last room of the temple as the men waited. One looked to the pair as he said “Nothing found matching the description the Kommandant gave us. Just the inscription on the wall here.”
The lieutenant sighed as he observed the wall. In truth he disliked what the Kommandant proposed this item could do. Along with his shaky faith in the foundation of the purifiers and he found he was reluctant to give the orders that came from his mouth “Capture images, take charcoal rubbings, and then I want this place rigged with explosives to take care of anyone that might come through here behind us. Do it quickly and let us be away from here.”
As he turned to leave his men were already carrying out his orders. Soon they would be heading back towards their camp with copies of the inscription. The lieutenant was rather certain that finding this item would be his duty.
Elsewhere six men sat around the fire they had made. Their seventh had been out for several days now and had not reported. But they knew he was alive. The Raven would have told them if it had been otherwise.
And of course this proved to be the case as he approached from a bush. “The one we seek lives on the place called the ‘farm’. His hunting trips are frequent but he is armed then. However he maintains the library in the farm, so attacking him there if possible might be our best option.”
The leader frowned at that and shook his head “We are not attacking him. We are simply putting him on the proper path brother. The one he was destined for as the son of Tyr, god of courage and bravery, the original god of war before he was brought into Odin’s’ pantheon. We must put him on the path his father would have desired for him!”
The passion in his voice quieted the others as they nodded in agreement. The raven pecked at the shoulder plate of the leader as he motioned for them to gather round. They had a plan to make after all…
Death stood over the mage that had been trying to kill him for the past year. The spirit that had given him power had likewise been dealt with. Now he stood before the Elders.
Five had decided to come and determine what was going to happen to him. They had already deliberated on the evidence of the matter and now stood before him to deliver it. One spoke “You have served well but have made mistakes. Now your contract is fulfilled and we no longer need your service.” Death could already feel the power that had been bestowed upon him waning, drifting away from his body. Yet he wasn’t dead or dying which he hadn’t expected. No they had left him alive, and he could feel he wasn’t entirely without his old power. The Elder that had spoken to him handed him a pair of gloves and explained “You will live, it will be hard to kill you, but as you will be human again it will be difficult to control some of the powers left to you. The gloves are to help with that.”
Death..no he shook his head as he realized that was no longer his title. Putting the gloves on and adjusting his vest he was back to being the enforcer. Of course he wasn’t aware of the part that the Elder hadn’t mentioned. Falling backwards unconscious Steinar observed him for a moment before looking at the Elders. The one simply asked “Do you plan to finally leave our service?”
They all knew Steinar was in an entirely unique position. His contract had been up for a few hundred years at this point. But he had time and time again chosen to stay in the service of whatever spirit he happened to work for at the time. The Elders had allowed him to go from differing spirits of death, finding ones he happened to like working for and settling into working with them.
Now he frowned as he nodded “Yes. This one is my friend. I won’t abandon him now, as he had refused to abandon me.” Bending down he picked up his comrade as the Elder said “So be it. You too will retain some of your power. As for your friends weapons of choice we will return them to him once he has awakened.”
Steinar nodded to them as he started to walk away. The Elders disappeared into smoke as he walked away. Given that he now had time to think Steinar realized this was motivated by more than just his comradery with the man he was carrying. Both now bound to physical form they would live another hundred years or so. Plenty of time for Steinar to secure a future for his relatives if they would have his service. At the very least he would have them take care of his comrade for a time and he would ensure the countryside near their home was safe.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 17, 2018, 10:29:35 pm
Catnip retreated to the relative quiet and safety of Kathrine's tent and looked it over. Inside, the tent was a mere half the size of the original room. Catnip's bed had been cleared away long ago, and the tree growing up through Kathrine's bed had not been removed. Catnip was too tired to deal with it and simply flopped herself onto Kathrine's bed. The maid settled in to a position where she would be most comfortable and lifted Catnips head to rest it in her lap. They sat like that with Kathrine stroking her mistresses ears and hair. Under her gentle touch, Catnip slowly drifted off to sleep. Before dreams came to her though, she mumbled her heartfelt apology for being away so long.
"I'm sorry Kat..."
A jeep with Center markings pulled up and parked itself near to the other Refugee Center vehicle that had arrived earlier. From it stepped Dervish and Khaki. Hector waved happily, but Catalina just looked annoyed.
"Mr. Dervish, what the hell are you doing here? This could be-"
"It's not Captain. Where is she Hector?"
The knight looked confused for a moment, then his face cleared when he spied the small robot entrenched in a root hollow at the base of the tree hiding from the children. Of course she must have told him everything and he'd come running. "Is it really her? The rat wasn't... wasn't her? Helen and Quinn were right?"
"No Dervish, the rat wasn't her. She's in Kathrine's tent right now, probably fast asleep. Leave her for a bit." Hector told him. From the way Dervish looked, Hector thought he might have to repeat himself, but just then the Misling doctor returned and struck yet another coincidental hammer blow.
"Peter?" Said Doctor Marsh, "Doctor Peter Deverish? My god, how did you get out here?" Dervish was startled a little by the sudden recognition from someone who he had never met before. Or at least didn't recognize.
"I'm sorry," He said trying to be politic, "Have we met?"
Marsh grinned a mousy grin and slapped Dervish on the shoulder the way he had before the cataclysm. The gesture struck a chord with Dervish. "I was right, and you were wrong Peter. But I was right for the wrong reasons." That statement was met with stares of confusion, "Project labordrive was a success." A light came on in Dervish's brain, 'Labordrive' was a black site project like X7, experimenting with mutation to create a cheap and easily reproducible work force utilizing prisoners of war, or homeless people.
He licked his lips, and responded, "Trauma induced during the mutation process was causing case fatality in the subjects."
"No," Marsh said, "The trauma of mutation wasn't the issue. The issue was simple stress. We should have put them under like you said, knocked them out so they wouldn't have to experience it as it was happening. The computer figured it out after it rebelled and turned the staff into... well, this." Efram ran a hand down his chest to show that he was a result of this experimentation. "And then it started kidnapping people."
Dervish winced and decided he didn't like this topic much. "Dr. Marsh, I've been serving at the refugee center as a consultant for the Old Guard." After a pause he added, "If Catnip is going to be resting, I suppose I could perform my duty by surveying the people here."
"You have your work cut out for your doctor..." Medeina put in. Sylvia continued her work, preparing wooden cups and filling them with steaming hot brandy to pass out to the older settlers. Daniel helped sort out the cups and had gone back to wearing the mask and observiing people. Suddenly, his breath caught and burst out of him. There WAS another in this place. A mage hunter, and not retired either.
"Syl." He gasped, and his Misling wife looked around. "I have to seek them out." It was clear that he was getting anxious.
"Darling calm down." Sylvia cood and kissed him on the forehead. "Let him or her seek you out. You aren't ashamed of me are you?"
"Never in life." Daniel told her, then paused before asking, "Do you remember how we met?"
Sylvia did, of course she did. It hadn't been that long ago. The mage hunter had sought her out in Algol, doing his duty to root out wild and irresponsible magics where they cropped up. Sylvia had carefully avoided him for the better part of a year, until he finally closed the trap on her. From the outside, he had his duty. In his time tracking and learning about her though, he had fallen in love with his quarry. They talked for long into that first day and night, then they kept talking and meeting. Within a year, he'd asked the blood mage to marry him. Together they learned and invented until Sylvia had conceived the screaming engine.
"Whatever you want dearest." Sylvia said after they'd discussed it a little, "I know I'll stand by you no matter what they think of you." As the caravan was worked on, Leslie approached Dervish and Medeina. The two of them had set up a temporary clinic at the edge of the settlers encampment and we're making examinations one at a time. Taking down name and a brief history of each individual. Dervish was disturbed by how common the theme of homelessness, prison, and outright abduction was amongst the "Mislings" as they called themselves. Now though, perhaps he'd get a break from the depressing.
"Hello, uh, Leslie? How are you?" He asked. Leslie sat down on the plastic lawn chair across from him and he was momentarily awed by how tall she was and the matte finish of her scales and underbelly.
"I'm groovy Mr. Dervish. Can I take your picture?" She asked. Dervish did his best to look dashing in his own lawn chair and said she could. "You know what I like about pictures Mr. Dervish? They don't lie." Dervish nodded and wondered if the snake woman knew about Photoshop.
"Tell me Leslie, how old are you, and how old were you when you underwent your mutations?" Dervish pulled the top sheet from his clipboard and began to write on the fresh page.
"I'm eighteen, and what do you mean 'how old was I'?" Dervish saw she was a bit confused, and clarified. "I've always been like this." She said, and that floored Dervish.
Leslie could tell, and so she went on. "I mean, my scales came in when I was seven, and my teeth and hair fell out after I had my first er... You know. Freaked mom out, that's for sure."
Medeina recorded everything as Leslie talked, and Dervish was glad for that. Leslie talked seemingly endlessly about herself and by the end he had more than enough information to fill a hefty file. The most distinct thing about her, he thought, was not her height or hobby. It was how she'd come about her mutations. She'd grown up in Mexico, born to a couple hippies, until her scales came in. Then, some people came and moved her family to a commune in Texas where they had lived with six other free loving hippy families and watched the cataclysm happen together until about three years ago when Leslie left, with her family's blessings, to find a life of her own.
Dervish had heard a little over the years about such slow burn mutagenics experiments. They were often the most humane but most time consuming and resource intensive. The process was the complete opposite of the methods used in X7, where tube grown people were forced to maturity before having mutations carefully but quickly forced into them. Leslie developed slowly in an environment of love and understanding. Dervish wished Catnip and Mica had had the same.
When he finished, Dervish allowed himself to be photographed once again, and even gave Leslie a brief interview. Efram may have thought it was a dumb idea, but Dervish thought a newspaper was a grand idea.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 18, 2018, 02:42:38 pm
Roxanne pulled away from Catnip’s hug to find the little cactus in her hand. Part of her sleeve had been ripped apart which almost made her get all angery but then the cactus moved. "Oh? It...moved? Catnip what’s this?", asked Roxanne. Catnip gave her a short explanation about the desert triffids and how she found it. “...and for thirty watermarks and a trio of slug I was able to get little Jim for you Roxanne.”, explained Catnip.
"Huh? So a triffid...wait, doesn’t that mean it will grow here since it tends to rain a lot? I don’t think we would want that."
“No, that is not how it works”, interjected someone who happened to join this conversation, “They have adapted to live in low humidity so they will keep only using low amounts of it. Introduction of more will not affect anything; it should be fine.”
Roxanne gave a curious look at the little cactus before taking a finger and petting it a little; it moved again which made Roxanne flinch a little. The plant then appeared to yawn before setting it’s gaze on Roxanne. She giggled a little and then played it some more. "Thank you catnip! I will keep the name jim, it seems fitting. Even when out and about, still thinking of us… How th-"
A rough coughing fit erupted from Roxann interrupting her statement. This one was stronger than the previous one and she knew it. Roxanne looked at her hand and a little bit of blood had been ejected from her coughs. This was bad; she had neglected this for too long and now it had just gotten worse. “Roxanne, are you ok?”, asked Catnip. Roxanne looked around to see a few other looking at her with a hint of concern. "Yeah, just getting a little sick, that’s all...Sorry to leave you so abruptly Catnip but I am not feeling so good. Besides, I have to water little Jim here! Let’s catch up later ok? See you guys around!"
With the cactus in hand, Roxanne waved at the group and left them be to work on the encampment. She was looking for someone in particular. Now, she could’ve gone to Dervish or Quinn; you know, actual doctor’s with distinguished awards in their fields. However, a very familiar feeling had returned to her. It was something she had not felt in a while; a little more than a year actually. The only other person who would know about this would be none-other than Victor as he two felt this for a while; lost his soul due to it as a matter of fact. Roxanne approached Victor and Helen. Upon the sight of Thomas, Roxanne leaned in and did that voice you do when you talk to babies. "Who is a cutie, you are! Say Luna, Luuuuna!"
After playing with Thomas for a while, she looked at Helen. "Heeeeey, may I borrow your idiot for a bit? Something came up and I need his specific expertise; as surprising as that may sound...", Roxanne aske Helen. She then played with her hair a little bit while she awaited a response; in actuality, she was doing specific hand gestures that were more covert code between her and Victor. The two had this type of thing set up in a very sophisticated manner to convertly send messages to each other; it was a bit disturbing. Even to themselves on occasion. They were teaching it to Melody after Roxanne discovered of her shenanigans with Victor. "Oh...I think I should go and handle this Helen...", Victor said after deciphering Roxanne’s gestures, "I will be seeing both of you later on once we are done here ok? In the meantime, why not talk to some of the folk here?"
Roxanne started coughing again but she managed to suppress it this time. She shook her head a bit then looked back at Victor and Helen. "Alright then, nice seeing you Helen! See you in a bit!" She waved at Helen and Thomas before she and Victor went of back to Victor’s room for analysis. Once there, Roxanne set down Jim next to her and began to resume playing with the plant as she answered Victor’s question a bit nonchalantly. The two were seated on the usual chairs across from each other.
"So what is going? Why did you decide to get checked now? And why me of all people? Do I seem like a doctor to you?", Victor asked Roxanne.
Without missing a beat, Roxanne answered right back, "And I am the governor of Texas. No, we both know you would’ve dropped out of college after you got a bit too curious with chemical in chemistry class."
"Then why did you call me? Your signal seemed urgent..."
"Well, two things. I have been coughing without actually feeling ill and well, I st-" Roxanne was interrupted by another coughing fit, she spewed blood onto the floor which prompted Victor to get up with worry as he settled next to her. "Holy shit Roxanne, are you ok?!"
"Yeah...I am ok...shit...that made me feel a bit weak...Listen here Vic..." Roxanne cleared her throat and place Jim on a shelve that was within reach to prevent any accidental harm to it. "I am feeling strange but similar...I am craving mutagen...I want it so bad! Thing is...the source of it feels similar...it feel like when Randael was manipulating my desires..."
It took a little bit for Victor to process what Roxanne had just said. This sounded a bit too familiar for his taste...was he really going to have to use them these early in development? "Listen Roxanne...tomorrow we are going to do that consecration ritual ok? No more excuse or anything, I don’t want to hear it. Look at you! For now though...let me take a look at something..." Victor took the portable aura device and pointed it at Roxanne; his own permanent spell he set up at the farm would be amplified by the device so he could examine Roxanne’s aura in detail. He booted up the device...3 - 2 - 1.
"I’ll be go to hell..." That was all Victor said upon a quick glance at Roxanne’s aura. He went pale and slowly set the device down. "Ok...we are definitely going tomorrow...for now, I have to stabilize you...”
"What? Something wrong? What’s going on Victor? Why are you acting so strange?", Roxanne asked. No answer from Victor; instead, he started to get a few things ready. "Damn it Roxanne...why are you like this? This things are still experimental...they will probably work but...I hope the side effects aren’t too severe..." Victor grabbed a few things: a glass bottle that had blue liquid that had a hand written label that read ‘Rev +’; another glass bottle with red liquid with a label that red ‘Jugg Punch’; a blood extractor kit and a syringe.
"Here, drink this.", Victor instructed to Roxanne before tossing the blue bottle at Roxanne. She drank the whole thing in one swig before wincing a bit. "What the...that’s fucking foul! What was that thing?!" Victor drinked the from the red bottle which cause him to stumbled. He shook his head and then blushed a bit; Victor looked at Roxanne with a sly smile."Meds seem to be working as intended for now. Get ready Rox, this next bit is gonna hurt like a bitch!" He took the blood extractor kit and placed the syringe in it and then drew some of his own blood; he recoiled a bit but his smile never left his face. Victor then took the syringe out and approached Roxanne.
"Wait...what did you say? What are you going to do with th- AHHHHHHHH!!!" Roxanne began to scream as Victor injected his blood into her. The thing he drank seemingly having caused a reaction. "HAHAHA! Yeah baby, scream for me some more!" This lasted for 5 seconds as the syringe content was injected into Roxanne. Victor then took the needle out and disposed of it by throwing it in a bin he kept for “biological hazards”; basically the byproducts of creating blood essence for his sword. "See? That wasn’t so bad. It’s all over now, do you want a lollipop?"
Roxanne started to sob now, she looked down as tears formed in here eyes. "That really fucking hurt Victor! What was even in that thing?", Roxanne exclaimed demanding an answer. "Right right...I guess I do owe you that much. Let’s see." Victor took out a note from the cabinet where he had taken the two bottles. That cabinet had more bottles with liquids of all colors; seems he had been busy. "Uhhh, the thing I had you drink is made from an extract I synthesis from a life orb. It should have the same effects as it. The thing I drank increases you natural systems like metabolism and regeneration into overdrive making you temporarily use all of your body’s potential without limitations or drawbacks; instant flight or fight. Thing is, I don’t know how that works on muties and I need a template for it to work. So I used my blood as the template to deliver the compound into your bloodstream; you are welcome."
"What the fuck is wrong with you?! I can’t move my arm...how long will this pain last?"
Victor shrugs at the comment. "I told you it was going to hurt. But look, you aren’t coughing. I don’t know about you but I would call that progress. Now, this things haven’t been…’tested’ properly yet so there will be a few side effects. Guess we have witness a couple of them already...coffee?"
"I don’t want your stupid coffee! I want to go home..."
"Well excuuuuse me...You don’t have to be such a bitch about it..."
Meanwhile back in the ave that now house what is left of the Nephilim…
“You called? How may I be of service allfather?”
“I just wanted to know how our ‘guest’ is doing? Any demands?”
“He seems to be relaxed; no hostile signs as of yet. It appears they are interested in talking with us for now. As for demands, well, they did say they were interested in one thing.”
“And what might that be?”
“He did say he was interested in finding his brother. Say they have been searching for them for a long time…”
“Interesting...tell me, does he know of the puzzle?”
“By name, he said he would be able to help us with it. He himself has no interested in it or frankly cares what happens due to it. They only seem to care about finding this person.”
“And why is this? I know humans are really close to each other with their family but this sounds like there is more to that…”
“How astute of you allfather. Well, I will let their own words tell you. “I can help you acquire the pieces you seek. My brother should still hold one of them if the bastard is as stubborn as he is. Just help me find it and I will make sure it’s yours. I really need to find him...so that I can put and end to that miserable excuse of a man...he was my last target and he got away...Shadows of Arcana does not forget…” Those were his words. It seems he has a vendetta against’ this person.”
“Hmmm… how peculiar. Did he give you any details on who this person is? And does he know of the current state of SoA?”
“No allfather. The only thing he said is that you personally know them and will be glad to purge them off this earth. He wishes to speak with you as well, when you have time but does not wish to rush you.”
“I see...thank you for that, you are dismissed. Tell our guest he can come in…”
“As you wish.”
The masked man was sitting on his desk having a glass of wine playing chess with a particular individual. The game seems to be going nowhere as the two of them don’t seem to give an inch. It is currently the masked man’s turn. “Now, tell me. Why shouldn’t I just assimilate you like I have done with all the others? It will certainly save me time and resources. But please, amuse me and we will see where this leads.” The masked man makes move and then takes a sip of his wine. “Check, your move.”
“Well, it might be more convenient to you now to simply assimilate me. No having to take care of someone else, no having to share resources or having disagreements. But, there is one factor you fail to see: Knowledge.” The other player takes her hand and considered a move before backing away. “Did you know the sword of assimilation choose it’s host based on it’s past hosts? You are currently influencing who gets to use that sword. It has currently chosen you; for what reason I assume even you don’t know. However, I know about this puzzle more than you can imagine...I have a history of it myself but I lost interested after the purple veil incident.” She settled on a move to took her king out of harm's way; it seemed to be a delay tactic more than a anything.
“How interesting. So you know about the purple veil incident...Does that mean you know my true nature? We can’t have that can’t we? How can I be assure you will be loyal to me?” The masked man quickly found another move to corner his guest. “Check, your move.”
The woman grinned slightly. “You can’t. I hold no loyalties. But yes, I know who you are; I know your name. If it is betrayal you are worried about, I can assure you the puzzle doesn’t interest me anymore; it has take too much from me… But, I am looking for someone and I heard you are heading there. Now, I can offer my expertise; not to toot my own horn, but I think I now a bit more about the puzzle and it’s pieced more than you do.”
“Is that so? Like what for example?”, asked the mask man curiously.
“For example, I can show you how not to let that sword control you. The purple veil incident changed you a lot; the sword doesn’t work as intended does it? You have to be careful; you seem to leave yourself exposed like so…” She take a knight and makes her final move. “Checkmate.”
The masked man looks on at her as he ponders what she just told him. He sips his wine through his mask before settling the empty glass on the table. “Guess I have to recognize my betters. You have yourself a deal...But, if I may ask. Who is it that you are looking for?” The woman in front of him smiles at the question. “I am looking for he who defies destiny. I am sure you would like to meet him too.” The masked man nods. “Indeed I would...I wonder if they would listen to reason after all these years...the fact you know his title makes me wonder what else you know…”, he tells her in response.
“Well, I can tell you all about it if you are up for another game. 2 out of 3?”
“As you wish. This should be an interesting day…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 18, 2018, 03:23:40 pm
Hector had by now returned to find the welding cart and get his own set of tools from the Siege Tower, when Roxanne's coughing fit made him freeze in place, a look of concern crossing his face. He wasn't sure what to think, about to head over and speak up when she went off to find Victor. "Roxanne? This can't end well..." he said softly, giving a sigh as she walked away, only more concerned now. The occasional coughing fit, a vague awareness of it being a problem, but he didn't know what to make of it. Just from his own observations she'd never displayed any other symptoms around him at least, neither illness nor allergies.
Now though he found it harder to focus on the task of getting the parts from the kubelwagon, an old piece salvaged from a humvee's hatch slipping out of his grasp and bouncing ineffectually off the armored sabaton of one of his boots. "Sanctus merda..."
Helen was herself a little concerned as Roxanne arrived to ask Victor about something, giving them a wary glance before nodding. "Alright, just be careful you two. I don't want my brother and sister in arms causing trouble or getting themselves hurt." she teased, before reaching to retrieve something from her backpack. She waited until the two had turned to walk off before putting on the mask and activating it. The sight was one little Thomas had seen a couple times, perplexing and unnerving to someone so young, and her voice trying to soothe him didn't make the appearance of odd shifting metal seem any less alien. "It's okay Thomas, don't worry..."
There was something vaguely disconcerting in the aura Roxanne gave off, butt it was hard to place without a detailed examination. Moreover, almost the instant her mask activated her attention reflexively turned to a strange dark aura in her vision, among the various new arrivals. A soul showing the effects of long-term use of blood magic. And next to it was a somewhat more normal aura, and the faint pinprick of energy a magic item gave off, the character of it immediately recognizable to her as a mask of insight. "Helviti..." she said quietly to herself, uncertain what to think as she carefully deactivated her mask and put it away, the act of which was enough to soothe Thomas it seemed. Carefully, she decided to head over to the couple, regarding them with a mix of curiosity and wariness.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 18, 2018, 08:24:37 pm
Lucian rode his patchy, calico colored horse to the north. Until he found a dense forest with a gravel road being it's main entrance in. The hunter of beasts followed the trail until it met a clearing, revealing an old Victorian styled mansion with an old stable in front of it with two other horses inside along with a pair of vehicles. Lucian left his horse in the stables and entered the mansion through it's large, oaken doors. He greeted who he passed by until he made it to the armory of that mansion. He reached for the league's expanse collection of arming swords, until something else caught his eye. A simple long sword with a silver cross guard, Lucian grabbed the sword, feeling it's heft before sliding it into his scabbard.
Lucian spent much of the previous year doing small, rather boring bounties, tending to The League's horses, and putting the finishing touches on the refitted and repaired plate armor he salvaged. More and more at dinner, he stared at the Master of The League, Laurence with bitter resentment. He got so sick and tired of him sitting in that fucking chair. That god damn wheelchair when he can walk with that peg leg of his... That resentment brewed in him until, one day he had enough and demanded they met in the courtyard with pistols. The two met in the courtyard with their 'number two's', which is used to grow various herbs. A man followed Laurence with a large pistol case, the two met and the man opened up the case, revealing a pair of dueling pistols. Lucian and Laurence grabbed one each, the aged master gave a snide remark and Lucian replied with a simple, "Shut it."
The two faced away from eachother, and started to take their ten paces. Laurence, however, shot on seven. And missed. Lucian took another three, turned round, fired, and shot Laurence through the eye. He died before he hit the ground. The hunter glared at the corpse, before taking the corpse's scabbard containing a saber made from a scythe blade and a badge from inside depicting a shrike, a butcher bird. He let out a sigh through his nose, "Disgraceful cunt..." The newly appointed Master of The League spat before heading to his room.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 19, 2018, 12:54:46 am
"Something else going on at the other end of our hosts property Syl, I think-" Daniel started.
"Put it away darling! She's coming this way." Sylvia whispered sharply. She tapped her husband on the back of the head for good measure and he took the mask off quickly before tucking it back into it's box. To the approaching woman, Sylvia grinned warmly and genuinely. Why not? Despite their secretiveness, a facade likely dispelled already by the approaching woman's own magical tools, it was a big moment for her husband. A big moment for the woman too she thought.
"Good morning Lady Sei, I am Sylvia the Sanguine at your service. What can I do for you today? Would you like some tea? Maybe an incense? I can even treat any number of small affliction or even see into your future!" Sylvia leaned a little closer, twitching her whiskers a little conspiratorially, and added "Not really that last one actually." Then she straightened and continued, "Ah, you have a babbin! Daniel come here and see this good ladies chap. He's adorable! What's his name Sei?"
"Very nice." Said the man simply. He looked long and hard into Helen's eyes, remembering when he wore a cloak like that and carried a hammer like hers. Those tools had been put aside for the time being, as he had hoped his days on the hunt were over. Daniels lips quivered, and then from them came a tongue Helen hadn't heard from another in quiet some time. "Non enim adhuc stare ordine? Non Caput tuum usque stare?Nos sunt ultimum?" (Does the order still stand? Does your chapter still stand? Are we the last?) The next to enter Quinn's relatively well equipped makeshift lab was a young woman with no face. Or, as it turned out, any face she wanted. The facial distortion CBM she possessed was a rare instance of something Quinn had not seen before. If she was to be believed, that was because it was a one of a kind prototype.
"My face is stuck." She said, "I'd fix it myself but my tool got blown up. If you could uh... Not turn it off, that would be nice. I don't want anyone to see my face, and I doubt they'd want to see it anyway."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 19, 2018, 12:02:46 pm
Helen approached, the wariness and concern readily apparent on her face given she'd put away the mask, looking at the two only to give a polite nod. "And I am Helen McKinnon. If not for the aura, I would not think such a title fitting of you." she said. "I'm...it's fine, I was just curious regarding..."
It was when Daniel spoke up that she stopped, going silent in shock as he asked her these questions. It took a moment for her to answer. "Non vidi alium in octo annis. Duo Amissa Sunt reversi nobis." (I have not seen another in eight years. Two of the Lost Ones have returned to us.)
That answer in turn was likely just as much a shock, given the implication was clear; the brethren-led-astray, Shadows of Arcana. She then gave a little sigh and looked back to her. "A mere two years ago I would've considered this unthinkable. I must ask though, is she...a rogue practitioner, or an adherent to their so-called Path to Power?" she asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 19, 2018, 12:56:58 pm
Daniel scowled. He'd set aside the way of his chapter, at least in part, but that didn't mean he couldn't still feel a characteristic disdain for the Shadows of Arcana. He mulled the information over while Helen turned her attention to his wife.
"Neither." Sylvia said, "I think. I took the blood stuff on before the cataclysm cuz I thought it could help my act. What's this path to power? I got some books and scrolls, but I never heard about a Path to Power. Hold on a sec." The Misling stepped away from Helen and began rooting around in a duffel bag. "Sweetie, where's that poster tube?"
"In the trunk dear."
"Ah, yeah. Thank you darling, you're a doll." She came up with, as she said, a cardboard tube stoppered at both ends with plastic caps. From this she took and unrolled a couple advertising flyers made to be displayed in the windows of a theater. The first was a large 27" by 40" glossy poster featuring a black haired woman with curly hair dressed as a magicians assistant. In this case though, the poster billed the woman as "Sylvia the Stupendous!" The woman, whom the Misling had once been, had taken a burlesque pose, and seemed to be tipping her tophat over her face. Overall, it was a very flashy poster. The next was much the same, but in a different pose. The last though, the name and appearance of the woman was different. Gone was "Sylvia the Stupendous," here came "Sylvia the Sanguine!" and she had hidden her rather plain figure under a red robe. The design was overall less "pinup" and more "Mystical magical" in theme.
"I probably would have been famous too if it hadn't been for the er... accidents..." She was thinking about the accidents now. She'd performed a simple trick, or so she'd thought. Take a few drops of blood from a volunteer, and perform a simple lightshow with the resulting essence. Simplicity itself. Except blood magic was never that predictable. The volunteer had exsanguinated on her stage, and the contents of the poor mans vascular system were up and wreaking havoc among the crowd. She'd never faced prosecution, there had been no video evidence, and you would have to be insane to believe such a story in those days, but her reputation was ruined and she spent the next couple months living day to day until her small fortune ran out.
"Would you like some tea sister? Syl can get a bit vacant when she looks at those posters." Daniel said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 19, 2018, 01:02:01 pm
Quinn scratched his chin, "Not sure if I can fix it without it turning off, but in the case that it does, I can shut the door and close the blinds so only I would be the one who saw if it happens." He stated, Minx shook her head in response. "I can point out the spots you need to adjust, just please don't turn it off. It's not about them out there, it's us in here." She said. Quinn rose a brow, "...why's that?" he asked. "I'm... I'm ugly" She answered, Quinn stared blankly at her for a moment, "That's it...? Alright... show me where I need to adjust." He wondered for a moment, but got to work as Minx pointed out where to adjust.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 19, 2018, 02:38:10 pm
Helen breathed a little sigh of relief when Sylvia said this. The fact she seemed to be unaware of the. "I see. A dangerous habit to dabble in, but...better than what I first feared. Among those who once practiced blood magic before the cataclysm, among the first in fact, was a group of dangerous murders, blood-drinkers, predators upon the innocent calling themselves The Sanguine Order. The very reason our order was founded. That's the name they gave their self-destructive philosophy." she explained.
She then listened as she went on to explain how she ended up practicing it, and showed her the posters, surprised and concerned at the idea that she so flagrantly used such knowledge for stage tricks. She then turned her attention to Daniel and gave a polite nod at the offer of tea. "Thank you then, brother. This is quite a surprise to have found one of my brethren having explored so far. Admittedly our hunting party had gone northwest, to the empty regions of what was once Canada. There were supposed to have been other parties that traveled that way and never returned." she explained, only vaguely aware of rumors that settlements existed farther than they'd been able to explore.
"About four or five years later I came back to this region, determined merely to see if any settlements had survived, to help them however I could, and finish a few tasks left undone after all this." she said, looking down solemnly. It was obvious enough that she'd returned alone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 19, 2018, 11:37:15 pm
"You're not alone now." Daniel said, stating the obvious out loud, "And I don't mean your chapter."
"He really is adorable, your chap. Is his father still..." Sylvia asked. She couldn't seem to complete the question, fearing the answer might be painful.
"Alive." Daniel finished for her. He poured a bit of the tea from the stove into a rough tin cup painted with little astrological symbols. "Sylvia's blend sister, we won't have much of it after it runs out. The herbs needed for it don't grow on this side of the continent." Helen looked into the offered cup and smelled the buttery smell of Sylvia's "blend." Sharlene wanted to try the coffee again, but was a bit too interested in her new "Creation." The book victor gave her mentioned these "Divine spirit" things but had given no information on how to summon them, so as to how she'd managed this feat, she was at a loss. Her first instinct, was to try and get rid of it. This feeling was set aside for the time being, and her second instinct was paid attention to instead. Sharlene decided she would exploit the hell out of this situation while she could.
"Alright Mickey, why don't you clean this place up a bit? Wash these clothes, rinse out or throw away these mugs, and when you're done you can make me a sandwich."
Michael nodded agreeably enough, "Yes mother. Whatever you say."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 20, 2018, 12:54:42 am
The pair of men from the third that had been retrieving parts from the wagon with Hector saw the piece hit his boots and looked at each other. One walked over and grabbed the piece of metal from the ground as he said "You okay there? If you need to be with someone I think me 'n Preach over there got this."
The other member of the 3rd nodded as he said "Yeah, we can handle this. Seems like you got someone that you need to talk with, or just be there for."
With that said the pair went back to work.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 20, 2018, 01:26:15 am
Hector was about to kneel and pick the part back up when the man stepped forward, giving a little nod in response. "Just ask me if you need any help. I do want to...keep an eye on someone, yes." he said, deciding to head in the direction Roxanne and Victor had gone off in, to try and find her. He didn't know what was going on, but he had a growing sense of concern he couldn't shake anymore.
At this Helen gave a nod, smiling some. "Indeed. It's been so long. I've heard hints of others as well, but to meet another in person is a relief I've not felt in far too long." she said, cradling Thomas close. "And he's still alive, yes. He's...it's a long story." she admitted, looking away shyly.
At the offer of tea however, she perked up and accepted the cup. "Thank you, brother. I can offer you herbs that we've taken to growing here, if it suits you. Not the same, but still." she said, taking a sip and finding the taste rather surprising, pleasant and something she hadn't much familiarity with. "I fear it would be rude to ask, but I was curious. Were you a recruit? One of the inheritors to a founder's rank? Or a founder?" she asked, still a bit nervous.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 20, 2018, 05:29:39 am
"Just a Thane sister." Daniel said, rolling his 'cup' between his hands. "A Thane who was on a hunt for six years."
Helen gave Daniel a look of incredulity. "Six years brother?"
"Well, I did find her at one of her last shows in fact. Didn't know I'd end up hitched to her back then, especially not when she up and vanished just before the cataclysm." Daniel explained thinly. He was watching his wife hand out Brandy, occasionally breaking away to entertain a gawping gang of children, the youngest having to be no less than four. Sylvia pulled a string of colored pennants from her sleeve, a trick that was met with gasps of delight from the gathered kids.
A bit later, Sylvia turned her attention back to the mage hunters. "If anything Ms. McKinnon, your chap will have no shortage of friends." Mohammad stalked the bank of the river in the diminishing light, listening to the distant sound of celebrating people from the direction of the farm. It had been a bad year despite his resolve to make a change. Who was he kidding? It had been a shit year. Sharlene had taken up some kind of freakish magic that for some reason, required him to "donate" blood. The funeral had been hard too, and despite opening up a little, people still treated him like crap. He was mulling this over, among other things, when he came upon a lone Misling sitting on the bank of the river, not far from where Mica had slipped in a few years before.
"Sup?" She said.
"Sup..." Mohammad mumbled back.
"We talked a bit earlier didn't we?" L asked.
"Probably..."
He didn't intend to, but soon found himself sitting and listening to her. Earlier that day, he'd found himself drawn to her, and had listened carefully to every quiet little word she directed his way. She reminded him of someone, that was it. Someone from some warm, half remembered dream. L was tall. Taller than him, and apart from a few small differences, she was like the poor doomed girl from that dream. L wasn't doomed though. Just depressed.
L passed him her bottle. "There's a good soldier. What a terrible year..." The two of them had begun to get a bit of a buzz on, and L had begun to lean on him. How long had it been since somebody had leaned into him like that? "I mean, I'm all free now and shit, but izit even worth it? Tell me mamahd, izit worth it?"
Mohammad shook his head seriously, then nodded. Then did both at the same time. L turned her head up at him and just stared vacantly for a space before her eyes took on a wet gleam. "I got an idea." She said, "would you mind taken' a bad gambler for a little tumble? I can still spread em to the edge of the bed, and I don't just lay there..." It took Mohammad a full minute to realize what she was proposing, and when he finally did, he gave her a long exaggerated nod. From there, she took his hands and led him back to her tent. The only one to mark their passage was Minx as she left Quinn's lab. She shook her head a little, knowing that perhaps L was about to get what she'd really been needing for a couple years now. Minx made a circuit of the camp, long enough to give L some time to get busy before she walked by. From the sounds coming from her tall friends tent, she hadn't been mistaken in her assessment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 21, 2018, 12:11:37 pm
Roxanne and Victor had settled down a little; they were playing a card game that involved the use of tarot cards. This had been Roxanne’s idea of course and as such had the advantage; Victor had only played this game a couple of times and it showed. Despite all this, the two were having fun. "So, what are we waiting for? What is next on the agenda?"
Victor smirked at her comment; Roxanne was winning this game by a long shot yet she was becoming impatient and distraught. "Oh? So we have an agenda now?! My oh my! Look at you! Making plans and shit! How exemplary!", Victor said with the biggest sarcastic tone he could muster. He then placed a card down on the table and took on from their shared deck before signaling Roxanne it was her turn. "In all seriousness though, we are currently just waiting for the effects of the meds to pass. Oh god I am going to regret this so much when they do. For fucks sake Roxanne, not a single word to anyone ok?"
"Another one for the bag then...Alright, I can do that." Roxanne took a single look at her hand and then placed one card on the table. "I win...again...god Victor, you suck at this.", Roxanne commented as a matter of fact. He simply shrugged before gathering the cards and putting them away in their container. "Maybe if we played with house rules then I would have a chance but nooooooo, little-miss-snowflake wanted to play the dark prince version.", Victor said in retort.
"You are just mad because I am better than you!" She crossed her arms and leaned back on her seat. Victor had put the cars way and was back in his seat; he looked at Roxanne in amusement due to her statement. "Pfffft, as if! I wasn’t the one who was not allowed to play with magic after joining an esoteric organization created for that specific purpose."
"Oh? How many times have I lost my soul again? I don’t seem to recall..."
"The one time! Seriously! Besides, I at least got to keep my body. How many forms have you gone through again? Seems fitting for such an unstable girl to have shifting forms..."
"I’ll show you unstable you sad excuse for a mage!" Roxanne stood up and deployed her bionic blade before pointing it at Victor. "Bring it on muttie!" He in turn stood up, unsheathed his own blade and pointed it at Roxanne. The two stood there brandishing there weapons for about a minute before they both bursted up laughing. The two sat down slowly as they placed their weapons on the table, her hand in Roxanne’s case, still laughing for a couple moments.
"We are both such fuck ups aren’t we? How are even still alive?"
"Indeed we are. But who cares? We are having fun aren’t we?"
Victor shook his head at the statement. "I wish it was that easy Roxanne; now I have Helen and Thomas to worry about. I can’t just go fooling around like before."
Roxanne laughed again upon hearing Victor say that. "You fooling around?! Cute. Besides, when did you become mister responsibility? Live up a little!"
"Well excuuuuuuse me! We all didn’t have the luxury of working in the field."
"That didn’t stop anyone now did it? Melissa Mcmorrow comes to mind ~ "
Victor frowns a little; Roxanne apparently striking a chord. "Oh really? Does the name Erik Archer come to mind?"
Roxanne gives a deep sigh before closing her eyes and looking down for a moment. "I am never going to live down Operation Red Candlelight am I?"
"Nope, it will haunt you among those in the known."
The room became quiet for a few minutes; the two seemingly exhausting their available banter. They could feel the medicine Victor had administer starting to pass but still clearly present. During all of this, Roxanne had not coughed once; this was a good sign but Victor knew this was only temporary solution. Even if he could continue dosing Roxanne up with the concoction indefinitely, this presented its own problems; who knew what the long term effects of using this thing regularly were. Victor intended to revise the formula later on to see if he could minimize its side effects. This might decrease its effectiveness but he could always increase the dosage in turn.
There were so many variants of this thing to sort thought. “Rev +” and “Jugg Punch” only being two of the other variants. Roxanne had glanced at the cabinet where he took the two bottles and noticed many more of various colors. She was able to read the label on one containing a black liquid; it read “Widow Maker”. That was a bit unsettling but knowing Victor, what wasn’t? The two continued in their thoughts until Roxanne interrupt the silence.
"Hey, Victor. A random thought just occurred to me. Don’t you think we spend an unusual amount of time together? I mean, not just this little... whatever you call this interactions. I also mean things like the whole Randael saga and going to the spirit realm. We seem to do a lot of the latter." Roxanne paused a little while looking at the ceiling. She paid no mind to Victor or his reaction in favor of just saying what was in her mind. "I mean, you have Helen and I have Hector yet we really don’t go on any adventures or scavenge runs with them. Last thing I did with the knight was kill some GA fuckboys with that sword you seem so worried about. When was the last time I just sat down with him and just talked? Too long I suppose..." Roxanne straighten her posture and look at Victor. "Why is that?"
That was quite the bloated question complete with backstory and all. Victor wasn’t sure himself; well, that wasn’t completely true. He did have some ideas but they were preposterous notions. But if they were, what was the harm in letting her know? Fuck it why not? "Yes, I have noticed that as well but not really put much though. Kinda funny you bring that up now I suppose."
"Is it now? And why is that?"
"Well, I’ve had a couple things in my mind for awhile now. One might be able to answer your question I suppose. You see, you and I ar-"
A knock on the door interrupted Victor and his train of thought. Roxanne suddenly became a bit somber; probably the meds doing the last of their work. "Remind me to tell you later. Right now it seems we have a guest!" Victor got up from his chair and grabbed the sword that was on the table and then sheathed it to his back scabbard; Roxanne likewise withdrew her bionic blade back into her forearm. He went towards the door and opened it to find Hector standing on the other side.
"Hector! How are you my man? Came to see the status of your girl? Good news, her coughing has stopped. Some chemical concoction I gave her did the trick. Still, I suggest she gets checked out by a real doctor sooner rather than later. But enough of that, I assume you want to check on her yourself?" Victor looked around as if checking to see if anyone was around; he then whispered into Hector’s ear, "Roxanne is a bit moody right now so careful what you say. Side of effect of the meds; It should pass in a few hours."
Victor stepped aside to let Hector inside. "Please, make yourself at home! I can prepare some coffee or something if you want; or I can get something stronger if you’ve had a long day as well." Roxanne simply looked at the two talking for the moment. She had a look like that of someone on the verge of crying. "Hey Hector..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 21, 2018, 02:48:04 pm
After Victor opened the door, Hector looked over to Roxanne before nodding. "Doing fine, just been helping out with checking on the visitor's vehicles." he said, taking off his helm and gauntlets to set them aside as he entered.
At Victor's remarks and suggestion, that look of concern seemed to soften slightly, though he was still visibly worried. "You're right. Question is where. Don't know if Quinn can handle much more, and the center's..." There was a grimace as he said that, part of him was reflexively wary of taking Roxanne to the refugee center to be treated. He wasn't sure how well-received Roxanne's would be given lingering tensions ever since she launched that missile, and he still had lingering doubts about leaving her in Dr. Masken's care. Even if he knew that concern was irrational, he found himself struggling to think of where else would be suitable.
He then sat beside Roxanne, still uncertain given she looked to be on the verge of tears. "Hey Roxanne. You feeling any better? Any pain or other problems?" he asked, looking her over. "Been worried a lot about you lately..."
Helen, surprised as she was by the answer, smiled a little. "It seems the gods smile upon us, Thane. My mother and father had both passed on the title from their days as founders from Odin's Oath."
She then smiled a bit, Thomas seeming to have settled down after some initial instinctive reaction to Sylvia's presence. "I'm glad for that, for the longest time it seemed like this would not be the sort of world to be raising children in. But now we're actually rebuilding, gaining a sense of normalcy."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 22, 2018, 01:23:03 am
Somewhere else...
Atomos slipped her pack off and pulled a red sash from the front pocket. She'd collected a good assortment of identifying regalia over the year. The red sash was the sign of a Hell's Raider. They didn't always wear the sash, but if she had it on she was less likely to be shot at. She had blue markers too for gods army. Harder to disguise as them though. It wasn't her tail or ears that made it tricky, but her teeth. The tail could be hidden in her pants as she always had done before, and her ears under a heavy hat or scarf. Her teeth though were only hidden when her mouth was closed, and Gods Army sometimes interviewed travelers. She also had a little icon someone from the farm told her was a sanguinists mark, and another that same man told her was an arcanists.
She slipped on the red sash, tying it about her waist and replacing it in the pocket with her center badge. The people ahead were Hell's Raiders, and if asked, Atomos would tell you that she prefered them over any of the other gangs. For one, Hell's raiders had proved to not all be bad. Some, like the three bankers in bikers gear that greeted her entrance to the small camp, were actually halfway decent. "'Tomos! Hey guys, 'Tomos is back. Come to share a drink and a story with us 'Tomos?" Atomos shook her head and seated herself by the fire.
"Naw, take some of your soup though. I got trade this time, with interest for last time." She said, pulling a couple large bottles of center made whiskey from her bag and passing them around. "Would like to talk a bit too."
"Ah, the good shit." Said the man who had addressed her, watching the others tear into the bottles with undisguised relish. "What do you need to know 'Tomos?"
The fox took out her bowl and spork, and the man ladled two scoops of strong fish chowder into the bowl. "I want to know how those guys from Canada are progressing, if you know." She took a bite of the soup and was met with a savory taste and aroma that seemed to soak through the air itself, saturating her breath with the sweet smell of campfire made chowder. Her tail prickled with delight. The other thing about Hell's Raiders she liked, was the food.
"Making good progress, I think. Gods fuckwads are getting shelled pretty hard, but they seemed to have turtled up. Progress for the red and white is slow, from what we can see." The man scooped some soup into several other bowls, then added "We'll be moving out in a week."
"Moving out?" Atomos asked. This small camp of scouts had been in the area all winter and summer, and she had built a report with the seven men and women who had entrenched themselves here. So much so, that the man she talked to now knew that she wasn't really one of them. It was information he considered "need to know" though, and that his peers "Didn't need to know."
"Aye, we've been called back down south. They'll probably send fresh scouts, but it seems we are needed back home." He said. Atomos said she understood and the man added, almost as an afterthought, "Oh, and we got word of some heavy armored caravan headed east. Seems it's going for the center, but we couldn't put a dent in it. Heavy stuff, fond of flame throwers. We think they are headed for the refugee center."
Atomos had been spooning another bite, blowing on it to cool it off when this news hit her. A heavy caravan headed for the center. Her imagination filled with thoughts of an attack. "I just remembered something." She said standing with her bowl. She would eat while she walked. "I have to get back to my camp, I was supposed to be fixing the rain catchers and I kind of left in a hurry before doing it."
"Yeah yeah, always leavin' us all of a sudden." said one of the other men, "Least show us some skin this time, as a goodbye."
Atomos rolled her eyes, but showed them one bared shoulder. "That's cruel 'Tomos, but acceptable!" He laughed. Atomos hardly heard it, she was already vanishing back into the foliage that had hid her approach. Daniel sipped his tea and Helen noted to herself that he seemed to be a man of few words, the kind who didn't speak unless spoken to and even then wouldn't say much unless the topic was one he could relate to. This became more apparent when the conversation shifted to subjects unrelated to the cleansing flame or the couple's history with each other.
"Ah, but that was a lifetime ago." Sylvia sighed, "it's been lovely Ms. Helen, but I think this is where we say goodnight."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 22, 2018, 10:13:15 pm
Lucian adjusted his new coat, a black greatcoat with a red wool lining. The badge he grabbed from Laurence's corpse sat upon the breast of the coat, it's polished bronze luster in full view. He sat his hat against the Master's desk, his desk to look over the recent bounties the memberd have gathered. There was an influx of bounties on members of god's army, primarily crusaders but there was a bishop here or there. He picked out ones that he found interesting, a hammer wielding zealot who looked familiar with that black and red coat, a man with a baseball bat rumored to be indestructible, among others. He folded up the bounties and put them into a leather bound journal.
Lucian began his work on changing the League's Code, starting with removing the very first one.
Quote
1. One mustn’t willingly take the path of beasthood.
He always hated that rule, He worked on making small adjustments to the outdated code of conduct before holding the finished product up. Lucian felt satisfied, he got up, popped his joints, and organized a meeting. He announced the changes, while some were unimpressed, most were satisfied with the changes. He thanked everyone for their time and headed back to the office, putting the rest new Code of Conduct into where it belonged and went to his room, grabbing his hat on the way out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 23, 2018, 10:58:49 pm
"Roxanne is a mutant gal so why not either that Dervish fellow or Router from the command center? Those two should be able to help us don’t you think?", Victor said in response to Hector, "Anyways, I have something to ask you before you leave but for now go ahead and talk to her; she needs you knight...I think?"
Roxanne looked at Hector as he sat next to her she leaned on him and nodded at his first statement. “Mhmm, I been feeling better...and now, nothing hurts...anymore…” She glared at Victor at the last thing she said to which he chuckled and smiled. Roxanne’s sobbing stopped as Hector’s presence calmed her. "Don’t be. I am fine. This is just a little cough; nothing to worry about. We have been through a lot worse, not gonna let something as silly as a cough be the thing that does me in."
"Well, Alexander the great died of a fev-" Victor paused mid sentence and looked into nothing in particular with a perplexed look on his face. "Oh...Excuse me, I need to step outside for a moment. Don’t do anything weird while I am away my little love birds...what did I just say? Anyways, see you in a few minutes." With that being said, Victor opened the door and stepped outside closing the door behind him.
"Hector...", Roxanne said a bit sheepishly; her sobbing resuming slightly, "Do you still love me?"
Once outside, Victor stood there, listening. Now, he had heard the voices of many spirits and other entities crawl inside his mind before; but the one he heard right now was special. He had only heard it twice before and there was always an explanation to it; today was no exception. "I really need to tweet the formula of these damn potions...making me hear shit again...guess I will let it pass before I go inside..." The first time he heard this voice, he shouted at it asking who or what it was and what it wanted. The second time he tried to bargain with it, promising to follow its demands if it would answer him. This time, he would just listen. As those times before, his mind wasn’t in the right place albeit for different reasons…
“Victor Ironwood...we meet again...will you fulfill your duty?”, said the voice. It sounded like a rasp whisper spiking directly into his mind. He had no idea where it came from, it simply showed up on day and, as of today, spoke to him three times; Victor listened on. "You must break the curse...we were wrong...and now you must fix our mistake...beware of those who seek the same goal as ours...let them not harm you but only the bearer...we ask of you to do nothing...do not retaliate...let them fulfill their duty...that is all..." And just like that, it was gone. It said nothing else, it did not explain who was “them” or what they were going to do; but from the voice’s other two times it spoke to him, he had an idea.
"Pfffft, give me a fucking break. Again with this curse nonsense? To hell with it, I am not in the mood to try to decipher the delusions of a junkie’s mind...even if they are my own...", Victor put away a cigarette he was preparing to smoke fully expecting the voice to give a full blown speech like the other two times, "At least it’s done with...I guess I should go back inside...maybe the other two miss me already? Ha, as if..."
Meanwhile, back with the nephilim…
“Allfather...there is someone at the door...:”
“Who is with them?”
“...Our guest is…”
“What?! Alright, make sure nothing goes awry while I get there…”
“Yes Allfather…”
A lone figure wandered into the cave unannounced. It wore a large cloak that obscured its features including it’s face. It was the “guest” who greeted this figure; he was but a regular looking man wearing custom made “survivor” gear. He was obviously augmented via the looks of him; metal replaced part of his skin in the same way Roxanne once did long ago. Mutations were not obvious but present to those who could detect such things… Finally, he wore a scabbard with a peculiar sword...it was yet another sword of the void; however, this one looked different. It looked “complete”. Along this, he also wore a symbol of judgment as a badge; who ever this “guest” was, they meant business…
“Oh, and who might you be? I was about to ask if you were some lost soul but we both know you lack one and are not lost are you?”, said the guest.
The figure simply stood there; it’s hood obscuring its face. Yet, it was obvious the figure was looking at our guest right into his eyes. Silence filled the room for what seemed like half an hour. The figure seemingly frozen as it stared at our guest meanwhile he was too weirded out to move or speak himself.
"Intruder, explain your presence!", yelled the Nephilim allfather. He swiftly approached the scene and settle on our guest’s side. The figure shifted gaze to the spirit who had just appeared and snapped out of it’s trance.
“Apologies...you have to understand it’s difficult to inhabit the dead…”, answered to cloaked figure.
The Nephilim and it’s guest looked at each other briefly before the former spoke up. “So you are using the dead as a vessel to visit this place? You must understand that is of concern for quite a few reasons… Now, start by telling us who you are and why you are here if you do not wish to lose this vessel of yours…”
“You will find out who I am soon enough...a for what I want...well, the same thing as you really. I want the pieces...and I am here to claim the one you stole!” The cloak figure said this before shedding said cloak. It revealed itself as a zombie super soldier; it wielded it’s ARC-314 laser carbine. It fire a burst of shots aimed at the allfather; however, it’s guest stood in front of it causing the zombie soldier to cease it’s fire.
“A laser gun? Really? That is the best thing you could think of? You are either new to this or are really incompetent… I don’t think you can be trusted with a piece sorry but now this vessel must join it’s brethren in the ground…” It was over fairly quickly. The guest activated on of its bionic which sent a bright flash of light towards the zombie and then it disintegrated; no muss no fuss.
The allfather stood there as he took in what had just happened. They were no longer safe; they had been found. Whoever this was managed to find them knowing they had a piece. If they were truly incompetent, that just meant someone who wasn’t would eventually also find them. “We need to go...for the sake of my species...we cannot remain here…they will come back.”, said the allfather.
His guest laughed at the notion. “So what?! We will just take them on. You are a spirit from the beta sub-plane; what are you afraid of?” There was silence from the Nephilim. “Whatever, you go ahead and run for all I care. I have come a long way to just leave. he will come here eventually and I plan to stick around when that happens. I will take on you little suitors alone if I have to!”
“No, you will not be alone...I will leave my best warrior behind to assist you. Think of it as a token of our partnership...besides, if they decided to bring a piece, I need someone to collect it…”, the allfather responded.
“...So be it...go and make your preparations then. I look forward to meeting this warrior of yours before our final stand…”, said the guest.
“Clara, are you ok?”, asked the masked man. His unlikely partner looking visibly shaken as she awoke from the spell. “What did you see?”
“It’s him...he is there...I saw him…”, Clara responded in between heavy breaths.
“...I see...then I will make sure no harm comes to him. Understand it will take a while before we embark on our journey there but I have a few ambassadors who could get in touch with him…”, said the masked man.
“Y-you would do that for me? Why?”
“I am not without a soul Clara...not metaphorically anyways… I know what he means to you. Moreover...I want to meet him too… There is a series of events th-”
“A series of events that must be set in motion...I know…”
“Right, you know that. Anyways, we will play the long game for now. It seems he is working for the Nephilim now...what a turn of events...oh well, he must have his reasons… For now, let’s keep our attention to the candles and make sure things are in order…”
Victor opened the door to his room to find Hector and Roxanne laughing. She looks a lot better know; the effects of the meds seemingly wearing off finally despite his still lingering. "Good to see you too are having fun. Thankfully not too much of it… Anyways. Hector, that thing I need to tell you about. Well, you see, I need to take Roxanne on a roadtrip tomorrow… Long story short, there is this ritual she needs to do and only very specific people know it. Now, she should’ve done this a long time ago but better late than never right? Where do you come in? Well, I guess I am asking you for permission… Roxanne is your girl after all…If it’s ok with you, I will take her there and afterwards we can find a good doctor to take a look to see if there is an issue that needs to be addressed. How does that sound? If you agree, we would need to start making preparations soon...kinda of a long journey and there is a few things I need to go over with her...magic stuff, don’t want to bore ya."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 24, 2018, 01:21:03 am
Hector regarded those options carefully, before nodding. "Maybe Router would be the best choice then. It's a longer trip than the center, but that's still possible to visit periodically." he said, before holding Roxanne close as Victor left them alone. "Right. I'm still worried about you, do want to ensure you get that taken care of." he said.
Her question then prompted a quizzical look. In response he pulled her close, at this point he looked like he was on the verge of tears himself, between his worry and the shock of her question. "I still love you, Roxanne. Whenever you need me, I'll be at your side. I said before I'd fight and die for you if I must, and I mean it to this day. And if you ever want to talk, or anything..."
After this, things calmed down a bit, having went from sobbing to tears of joy, the two enjoying a quiet moment to sit and talk about various things. With Victor's return Hector stole a little kiss before getting up, giving a nod. "I see. If it's something she should've done already, then..." He then leaned in to speak more quietly, more privately. "I'm hoping this isn't related to what's been causing problems for her lately. If I is, I hope you can take care of it promptly."
Then he spoke up after that little whisper, turning toward the door to take his leave for the evening. "Go ahead and make preparations, and ask me if you need anything. I'll let you get ready for now then. Love you, Roxanne."
Elsewhere, as Helen regarded the children playing all around the farm, the place abuzz with activity, as she soon finished the tea offered to her. "True. If you ever wish to...the Hall we've set up is on the other side of the river and to the south. Regardless of whether you might rejoin us, or if you merely wish the visit. For now you're right, it's a bit late. A pleasure to meet you, brother." she said, taking her leave for the time being.
She'd noticed that, to her surprise Sergei was still busy, blushing bright at the realization of what that likely meant, finding the room she typically stayed in when spending the night at the farm. That night, she would be lost in another dream.
It was a great relief to hear the words of Odin, and not He From Beyond The Veil. Yet this time it troubled her, in ways the strange god from beyond never had. This night she would be reminded why Ruler of Treachery, Raven God, and Bale-Worker were among his kennings.
"You have served the gods, including myself, and your actions bear fruit. But soon, you will be tested. Seven men are on a viking, seeking work of great potential. But it may come to meeting them on the field of battle. Tell me, what sagas speak of a Tyrsson?" the voice asked.
"None that I know of. Only that he is son either of you, or of the jotunn Hymir, and that some speak of a wife or mistress at most." Helen answered. The first time she could ever recall being directed to speak to the voice.
"That is true. And though Zisa is spoken of so little, a son was had by her, one that may further countless plans, if his potential is realized by their actions. But this is great potential yet to be realized. Yours is proven, though smaller steps towards averting Ragnarok."
"Any that stand in their way serve as sacrifices in my name, for they are shape-strong. Your test will be to prove that your oath to a higher purpose, to fight for the sake of all and not the leavings of the wolf, is the superior cause. Temper their wrath, break their strength, or fall to their blades. The will of Skuld shall decide the outcome." With this, the dream again faded...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 24, 2018, 01:48:09 am
Isaac sat in the library reading a book as he waited. Alice was out hunting early in the morning but had asked to speak with him later in the day. He figured she would be able to find him here easily enough.
Meanwhile six men moved across the bridge and into the farm. They moved quickly, dressed in hoodies and jeans with cloth wrapped around their faces. One adjusted the strap of his messenger bag as he looked around. Raising an eyebrow as he looked over at one of the others he received a shrug in response before they stopped. The leader nodded to Bandit as he asked “Where’s Brother Isaac? We’ve business with him.”
Bandit motioned towards the library as he said “He’s in there.”
As the group moved towards the library Bandit retrieved his radio and clicked it on “This is Bandit, how’s things in the precinct?”
Control responded “Everything is fine. One of our convoys had an incident though, crew was killed and it was looted. Whoever did it is fond of flamethrowers and traps.”
Bandit ran a hand over his masked face before saying “Right, I want extra security on the convoys. Get someone looking into the bastards that did it too.”
Control acknowledged before signing off. Bandit wanted to throw the radio in his hand but restrained himself. Instead he decided to get to work and walked towards his lab. The strangers that had stopped him already slipped from his mind.
Elsewhere Steinar began to near the Hall. Salazar was still unconscious and Steinar began to worry for him. Hopefully he’d soon be at the Hall where at the very least they’d likely be able to get shelter for a time. Well hopefully.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 24, 2018, 06:18:20 pm
The settler camp stayed relatively active all through the night and into the early morning where some would wake after a short and unrestful sleep, emerging from their tents and shelters. Despite the lack of rest, most of the Misling travelers were surprisingly spry. Gunfire was heard to the west, and meat was brought back along with a variety of forage. Medeina moved about in the camp, asking questions and getting to know people who all seemed confused or annoyed to be bothered by what appeared to be a patched together eyebot. Leslie rose and stretched her limbs out in the sun, letting her body soak warm under it's gentle rays. The cooler weather made this process longer than she was used to, but not unpleasant. She watched one of the farms residents, a man she'd heard someone refer to as Mohammad, emerge from L's tent. He looked around and saw Leslie watching him. She grinned, and her turned away quickly and worked his way through the camp to the river. Elsewhere, Sylvia rolled the front of her magic tent up and out, and began again her trade for the day. "Lemme go babe." Dee said. Mica grabbed his arm and made him drop his shirt, trying to pull him back into the bed. "C'mon, we gotta go see your sister. It's almost time for breakfast babe."
"Lizard gonna talk to Kat-nyp about lizards ro-butt?" She asked, crawling out of the bed. She allowed him to help her dress, giving him a quick peck on the cheek when her head finally popper through the neck of her fine silk blouse. Dee just grinned, he was thinking about the past year. His work had stalled, and with it his relationship had nearly done the same until he had taken the steps to bring it to the next level. After that, Mica had hardly left him alone. Sometimes, when he really thought about it, it seemed almost surreal. Once upon a time he'd just been a guy. Out fighting the man and having a good time. He wondered what his dad would think of him now. Hell, he wondered what his mother would think. Dee had no illusions as to how much of a "wise man" he was, but he was fairly certain that his parents would show some kind of "concern" over his choice in lover. Mica and Catnip didn't have parents, so he wasn't about to concern himself with what they thought of him.
"Yeah babe, that and some other stuff. Some catching up, and you gotta tell Catnip how things were while she was away. All of it." Dee said. Mica took on a nervous look, the fact that Kathrine had been taken away from the farm, and had even attempted to kill herself were events that Mica had been thinking of simply avoiding.
"All of it?"
"All of it." Catnip walked the old familiar path between where her barn had once stood, and the farms communal privy, scratching at the seat of her baggy underpants as she always had. Observers from the farm noted how she had been back only one day and had already fallen back into her routine. Now though, another absent minded action had been added to Catnip's morning litany. She twiddled the little pink stone hanging from her neck. After her morning necessary, she made her way back to her small altar. Hector, up bright and early looked in on her and watch as she clasped the pinkish fragment between both hands and blew on it. When she did so, a low breeze seemed to pick up and ruffle her hair. The feeling of that breeze across the back of his neck made Hectors hackles rise.
Once she was done, she went back to Kathrine's tent and woke the cat maid.
"Wakey wakey sleepy Kat."
Kathrine woke with a start, Catnip took her by the chin, and kissed her. "I've got something for you, I hope you like it." Catnip said, smoothing Kathrine hair.
Catnip went to her bags and rummaged until she'd found the square of sky blue fabric. Something silky and covered with little wispy clouds in light gold. The garment Catnip had thought rather exotic was unfolded, revealing it to be a luxurious Kimono.
Catnip looked through the plate glass window of one of the few pre-cataclysm buildings left in Pricetown. The elegant lettering stamped onto the window had been scraped away ages ago and what took it's place was a gorgeous woven banner reading "Silk Road." The display Catnip was peering through the window at the display of simple yet elegant clothes made from rather fine silks, and a neatly stacked collection of wonderful textiles. Catnip was shaken from her daydreams of Kathrine wearing something so fancy by a tapping on the glass.
"You coming inside? It's gonna dust up today, no browsers when the dust is up." Shouted the strange looking woman through the glass. Catnip couldn't tell what kind of mutant she was, or if she even was a mutant at all. Her features were too regular to be one of the Cor, and too familiar to be anything but normal. The woman who introduced herself as Anna Fujiamo had eyes a little like King's almond shaped eyes and somewhat darker skin. Catnip had only encounter one other Japanese person before, and she hadn't seen him in years.
"Why not?" Catnip asked. Anna told her that browsers often came inside, and that when they did while a dust storm was raging outside, the sand would get in and settle in just about everything.
Inside, Catnip was greeted by the smells of a seamstresses shop. Cotton, wool, leather, silk. So much silk. Before long, a sandstorm had indeed began outside, and Anna locked up shop. Catnip stood around awkwardly as the aging woman did this, wondering what would happen next. Her time in King's Court had made her nervous of being locked in, but Anna didn't seem to mean any harm by it. To Catnips surprise, Anna invited her to tea.
They talked for some time as the storm raged outside until Catnip mentioned Kathrine. The subject shifted to business, and Catnip told Anna what she would like.
"A lady like this Kathrine is, is not suited to such clothes Ms. Walker. What your Kathrine needs, is a Kimono." Anna said, pulling out a few bolts of silks. Catnip didn't know what that was, and so asked. Anna showed her some pictures and explained that she had not made one in a long time. Catnip would be her model, since she was fairly close to Kathrine in height if not body type. Catnip picked out a material, a silk of sky blue that she believed would complement the fur of Kathrine's tail. Within the day, work began and for the next week Catnip visited the seamstress daily. The result was an elegant, sky blue Hōmongi Kimono.
Every night during that last month Catnip spent in Pricetown, she would fall asleep looking at that piece of clothing hanging in her closet, imagining how Kathrine would look in it. Kathrine looked at the garment and listened closely to every word. Then, when the story was finished, Kathrine took it and hugged it close speechlessly. It had picked up the faint smells of Catnip and the dry desert. One of those scents would fade over time, and the other would remain as a forever reminder.
"Why don't you put it on Kat, let me see you in it? And take that hoodie off silly, you can't wear my gift with other clothes like that on. I won't peek, I swear." Catnip said.
A short while later, Kathrine had done as she was told. She relished the feel of the silk and the feel of Catnips hands on her shoulders.
"It looks just like I imagined-" Catnip began.
"Knock knock, Catnip are you in?" Came Dee's voice through the tent wall. Mica forced her way in and stopped, Dee following after. "Babe, you can't just waltz in like- holy shit Kat, lookin' good."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 24, 2018, 10:17:00 pm
"Don’t worry about it Hector, I have my suspicions but whatever it is she will come back with it gone; you have my word.", Victor responded to the knight’s hushed comments. The two watched as Hector went for the door to leave. "Will do, take care!", Roxanne exclaimed to Hector as she waved him goodbye. Once more, the local fuck ups were left alone.
"So, what kind of preparations do we need to do?", asked Roxanne. Victor looked at her and gave her sly smile."Well, for starters, I need my revenge at that card game we were playing..." Roxanne grabbed a pillow and threw it. "Are you fuicking kidding me Victor?! This is your big preparations?!" He laughed out loud at Roxanne’s reactions; exactly what he expected. "I am joking, calm down! In all seriousness, I need to do another aura checkup to see how the meds affected it. What we do next depends on the results. That sound good to you?"
"Oh...I see. That makes sense. Yeah, let’s do that.", Roxanne responde seemingly calming down. Victor nodded and grabbed the portable aura spell device to amplify his own. "Alright then, let’s see what we are working here..."
That night, Roxanne was back in her room making her final preparations. The chemical formula Victor had given her finally had passed allowing her clear though. Her mutations prevented her sleeping as it wasn’t that time of the week for her to do so; instead, she was making some final choices.
Her gear was in order, she would be taking the ARC-314 laser carbine; given her power supply and the efficiency of the weapon, she could fire the thing for days. A V29 laser pistol was holstered behind her to conceal it. She wore her leather skirt and corset but neglected to wear her leather trenchcoat; she wanted to wear one of the robes available to her. This is what she was trying to decide.
On one hand, there was the robe of discovery that Huntress Blackmore, this world’s version of her, gifted her. This robe was the standard issue robe given to all hunters of Shadows of Arcana. It possess various protective wards and enhancements to her physical abilities; not to mention all the storage space she would need. On the other hand, there was the red robe of divinity she sported when she was stuck as a divine spirit; this was the same robe worn by the divine spirits. Wearing this robe activated the divine essence in her soul enabling her to use her life essence to use the abilities of divine spirits. This robe had a pocket dimension where she could store things but it provided no more storage than the robe of discovery.
Which one to wear? They both had special connotations to her beyond what abilities they provided… The former signify her ties for SoA; she would get to be the huntress like she was destined to be. However, she would not take this robe. This was no longer who she was; Roxanne was now part of the new order Victor and Helen had started, the divine spirits her symbol. Roxanne put on the robe feeling her divine essence activating; she was almost done. Finally, she looked at the blade Victor had given her; she was once more in possession of the sword of despair.
"Why are you giving me this? I thought this thing was dangerous?", asked Roxanne earlier that day.
"Indeed it is. This thing cannot be taken lightly; but after some...events...I have a feeling it would be better in your hands… It is calling your name Roxanne; I can see it in your aura. Take it, let’s see where this leads us..."
Roxanne smirked at the memory of just a few hours past. "You truly are an idiot Victor...Not that I am one to talk..." She regarded the sword carefully as it resided in its scabbard. Its mere presence gave her an odd feeling she had no basis of comparison. With a steady yet nervous hand, Roxanne placed her hand in the handle and a familiar feeling overwashed her. "The maiden of ruin is back...", Roxanne said to herself with the biggest grin she could muster.
Victor was sitting in the chair in front of his work area. He looked at the various potions he had in the little cabinet over his table; then he looked at the various materials he had for all the rituals he wanted to do. Finally, a framed picture of him and Helen was placed on the table; Victor picked it up and smiled at it, he would have them take another picture with Thomas included. He looked at the picture for a while before setting it down and and giving a deep sigh. What the fuck was he doing with his life? Why was he feeling like this? It was a weird time for something like this to occupy his mind. Victor had a loving family, all major threads had been solved, things were calmed and even the rat mechanic had come back; everything was good. Then why was this sense of doubt lingering inside of him?
With slight hesitation, he got up from the chair and slung his sword onto his back before stepping outside. The moonlight was bright and the night air was calm and cool. It was past midnight already yet he couldn’t sleep. "I am going to regret this later on...Bah, I can’t be bothered right now." Victor leaned back on the wall of his room and lighted up a cigarette as he stared into the moon; the symbols of his long lost order. "What the fuck is wrong with me now? Seriously, can’t a man just have a break?" For whatever reason, he felt the urge to check the farm using his aura spell; nothing came of it. Every aura was accounted for, save for Helen being here but she liked to spend the night in the farm on occasion, nothing unusual.
"Guess I’ll take a walk then...have to figure some things out I suppose..." For a couple of hours, he went through the farm; the had the same walk Roxanne did on occasion. Victor went through the various shacks, through and into the armory. So many weapons that hadn’t been touched in ages… Wait, what was this? It was a...rifle? It certainly looked the part, had the trigger and the stock thingy as he was taught...but that looked mysteriously like flesh… Victor picked the “rifle” up and gave it a through inspection; a sense of both power and dread filled him upon wielding the thing. "Interesting...guess I am taking this for personal research...nobody will miss it anyways..."
The next morning, Roxanne walked out of her room wearing the same getup she decided on yesterday; her carbine and sword strapped on her back. She walked to Victor’s room, it was almost time for the two of them head for the APC as agreed to. Once she got there, she found Victor was already outside seemingly waiting for her, but he looked differently. For starters, he now wore both knee and elbow pads, he kept his trenchcoat unbuttoned and underneath she could see a utilitarian vest lined with various pockets. He also seemed to be wearing his sword on his waist now with a new scabbard on left side and he had a V29 laser pistol she was teaching his to use on his left. Finally, he also started wearing sunglass too for some reason; this all seemed a bit weird to Roxanne but who was she to judge.
"Hey there Victor. New look I see?", Roxanne said to Victor as she approached him. He lowered his sunglasses to take a better look at Roxanne, sporting the robe of divinity was unexpected. "Could say the same to you...", Victor responded.
"Well, what can I say. Nostalgia hits hard I suppose."
"Nostalgia? That’s odd but understandable I suppose..."
"Oh really? Then why did you suddenly went all post-apoc warrior on me?"
Victor shrugged at her comment, not sure how to answer. "I guess I wanted to change paces? I’ve been feeling like there is something I need to do recently and well, it culminated into this..." Victor stroke a pose signifying ‘Well, here I am.’
Roxanne smirked as she looked Victor up and down again; an idea of what was going on forming. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?", Victor asked. Roxanne shook her head before placing her hand on his shoulder. "It’s called a mid-life crisis Victor, happens to the best of us."
"Wait what? Mid-life crisis? Nonono, you seem to misunderstand, I..." He did not finish that thought; he was left with a perplex though as he looked on into nothingness.
"You...what? Common Victor, spit it out; use your words, I believe in you." Roxanne was enjoying this so far. She could not believe this was actually happening; she always assumed she was the one who would have her mid-life crisis.
Victor stood there thinking about what Roxanne said. No, this wasn’t what was going on. This felt different somehow. Something was nagging at him but he quite couldn’t put word to it. Maybe she was right and he was just in denial… That was always a possibility… The thought of this was what snapped him out of his train of thought.
"Anyways, enough about me… This day is about you and your fuck ups!", Victor told Roxanne in an unusual authoritarian voice, "Come on, we have places to be, things to do; we don’t have time to lolligag. I am driving by the way, can’t trust you know the way." He then started to walk towards the vehicle array.
Roxanne stood there with a perplex look of her own; a hint of offence percent. "Oh my, you seem to have grown a spine. Maybe this little crisis of your might do you some good..."
"What was that? Couldn’t hear you properly, care to say that again?", Victor asked as he continued walking.
Roxanne shook her head in amusement soon enough walking at a rapid pace to catch up to him. "Don’t worry about it, just me talking to myself." The two reached the APC shortly thereafter. Victor took the drivers seat and Roxanne sat as co-pilot. He turned the engine of the Armored Scouter and it roared to life; all the dial and lights of the control panel came to life and Victor flipped the necessary flickered. The switch to activate the AI controlling the turrets was flicked but nothing happened causing a sigh from Victor. "Not to rush you or anything but could you maybe ask Catnip to help you fix the weapon array one of these days? It’s been over a year now Roxanne..."
"Sure thing, was meaning to do it anyways but thanks for reminding me.", Roxanne responded. She activated her own camera display and took manual control of the single laser turret installed on the roof directly above the co-pilot’s seat. The cameras came to life and the turret seemed to respond to Roxanne’s commands, all was well. "Are we good to go?", Victor asked.
"Almost, just have to do one quick thing.", Roxanne responded. She picked up the radio to make a quick announcement directly to the radio room and in turn to anyone in the farm with a radio nearby. "This is Roxanne Luna reporting in before departure as is protocol. I am accompanied by Victor Ironwood and I am his co-pilot for this mission, task? Whatever this is called. We will be heading due north west to complete a little ritual thingy and then will be heading south east of the farm due to the command center since both wizard boy here and sir loin of beef want me to get a medical checkup. We request radio silence but will be checking in periodically to let you guys know what is going on. This should last the entire day but give us until tomorrow morning just incase. If anything requires our attention or you just want to say hi, leave us a broadcast message unto the makeshift voice-message-box we set up in the radio room and we will listen to it when able. Once more, this is Roxanne Luna and Victor Ironwood reporting our departure. See you lovely people later!"
With the broadcast done, Roxanne set the transceiver back in its place and gave Victor a thumbs up to signal the all clear that they are ready to go. Victor shook his head and sighed as he pulled the APC out of it’s parking space and headed towards the path cleared to go to the refugee center. "Are you ready for this Roxanne?", Victor asked
"Of course I am, why do you ask?", Roxanne responded.
"I am not sure, but this feel like a new beginning...a time for change..."
Roxanne looked away at that comment and leaned back into her seat. His words provoking a certain thought in her brain. "Sure does feel that way doesn’t it...whatever it is, I am sure we are both ready for it...we’ve prevailed through worse haven’t we?"
Victor smiled, eyes now fixed on the road. "And it will continue to be that way...you and me against the world Roxanne...nothing can stop us..." Victor stopped himself as he realized what he was saying. "I just said that didn’t I?"
Roxanne looked at him a bit confused and concerned. "You did...this about blackmore?", she asked. Victor simply nodded. "Right...want to talk about it?", asked Roxanne once more.
"Was meaning to, but now is not the time...", Victor responded.
"I see...I guess I’ll keep my eyes on the road for any stragglers then. Let me know if you need anything from me."
"Will do, for now we have to go by the refugee center and then into wild territory we go."
The engines of the APC roared as the massive rolling fortressed marched on to its destination; it’s combination diesel and electric engines making for an fast and steady drive. They eventually passed the refugee center with no incident and continued their journey. Now they were in no-mans land; the land owned by the dead, otherworldly creatures and the supernatural. No one would help them here; for all intents and purposes, it was just the two of them.
They rode in silence as neither knew what to say. Their silence broken by the familiar moaning of the dead. Roxanne moved the turret and pointed at the source of the noise; three stragglers to their right, two shockers and a corrosive. Nothing the single laser turret couldn’t handle.
*bzzzt* *bzzzt* *bzzzt*
Three burst, three zombies dead. The Armored Scouter marched on unimpeded; Victor its driver and Roxanne its gunner. The sounds of laser fire and wails of the dead being the only company the two would have for a while.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 25, 2018, 12:02:35 am
Leslie was looking at the biggest person she had ever seen. Taller than herself, and she topped out at just under eight feet. Lilith was of course both taller and bulkier. A huge example of a bioweapon standing tall at a towering ten feet, possessing breasts like earthworks and bearing enough rippling muscle beneath her fiery orange fur and deep umbral stripes to overturn a building. Leslie stood in wide eyed awe, barely seeing the other two people walking along with the tigress. One of them seemed to be a rather ordinary woman with an eyepatch and a katana. Alongside and close behind her was a floating golden being with what looked like swords for arms. Occasionally the woman would make some comment or command to one or the other of the tigress or sword armed man. Whenever she talked, Leslie caught the strong hint of an accent.
"Australian." Minx murmured next to her, startling the journalist a little. "Trust the Aussies to keep such a retinue."
Lilith seemed to hear and turned her head laboriously in there direction, then came on. "holyfuckingshit" Minx spat as she dove for cover. Leslie had to lean back to avoid being bowled over, and to Lilith is seemed as if the snake was holding her ground, being challenging. She chuffed at the challenge but rumbled to intimidate. For one tense moment, nothing happened. Then, Leslie slowly raised her camera. Lilith watched the movement, seeing no threat there, and waited for the snake to make the first real move. Leslie had no intention of fighting. She'd seen enough of it to know she didn't like it, her camera in fact contained more than enough of her variety of shooting on a battlefield than she cared to admit in fact. What she did instead, was to snap a picture of Lilith with the flash on high. The tigress roared in outrage and lunged, but Leslie was already on the move. Just like in the not-so-old days of the winter before, she relied on her outstandingly slight frame and quick, fluid movements to get out of the way. Leslie did not carry the muscle indicative of a real snake, nor the venom of the non-constrictor varieties. Minx booked it back to camp while Leslie snapped yet another picture of the raging tigress.
"Stop pissin' her off yeah? Lil, down! Dumbass, cut the shit and get back over here." Sharlene shouted. When it became Lilith wasn't going to stop, she turned to the other one with her and said, "Take care of it Mickey, but don't hurt her too bad yeah?" Leslie had a short instant to see Lilith spinning to face her, when a boulder the size of a trashcan hurtled through the air and bowled her over. Leslie was peppered with clods of dirt and small pebbles as it passed. "Good job Mickey, I think that did it." Sharlene said. Lilith pushed the rock away, giving Sharlene enough time to close the distance and clock her upside the head with the handle of her sword. "I don't give a shit if they flash you with lights or their tits, you don't go attackin' people! Hey, I'm Sharlene, the idiot is Lilith, and the guy with the arms is my er... son Mickey. Yeah... Son." She said, directing the last to Leslie even as she directed the pommel of her sword in a different direction. Leslie nodded, then asked her question that would become all too common to the farms residents.
"Can I take your picture and maybe have an interview?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 25, 2018, 03:00:04 pm
Helen had been up early, still tending to Thomas and considering heading back to The Hall for the time being. She was preparing her gear again, thinking back on the dream she had last night. You have a habit of granting these visions at the last moment, All-Father... she thought.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Roxanne's voice over her two-way radio, announcing their trip. She picked up the handset to answer. "Helen here, take care and hope to see you again soon, sister." she said, before setting the handset down, getting up to gather her things. She suspected that would be the only message she'd have time to give them before they departed.
Hector had already been up and about, working on something at the forge. Just a small part to replace something in one of the convoy's vehicles, that they didn't have a spare of. It was then he looked up from his work to see seven strangers walking from the front of the building Bandit used as his preferred working area, past the forge through what was effectively the entrance to the walled-in farm fields. At this he put back on his helm and gauntlets, picked up his shield, and decided to follow the strangers just in case.
The result was likely a rather strange sight. A man in mail, great helm, sabatons and Visby-style gauntlets, carrying a shield made of what looked like a single massive piece of ivory instead of wood, carved and painted in the white-on-red pattern he now favored. He could guess now that they were headed for the library, for what purpose he wasn't sure.
Elsewhere, Solomon was alone in The Hall, hearing over the old radio set up on a counter that Roxanne was heading out, and Helen's reply confirming that she was still at the farm. Sergei likewise was still there, he suspected. So he waited, unaware that an unexpected visitor was soon to arrive.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 25, 2018, 08:10:34 pm
*bzzzt* *bzzzt* *bzzzt*
The symphony of the undead falling to the single laser turret accompanied Victor and Roxanne. The former didn’t take his eyes off the road for a second as the latter fired indiscriminately. It had been a few hours by now and neither had uttered a word. It wasn’t until Roxanne noticed there were no longer any targets in the vicinity that Roxanne leaned back into her seat and broke the silence with a deep sigh.
"How much longer until we get there? I don’t know if I can keep at it like this for much longer... I didn’t expect this many undead to be roaming freely… Should we be worried or something?", Roxanne asked of her pilot.
"Not much farther now. Feel free to relax now; the worse has passed it seems… And yes, it is quite unusual to see this many undead congregate in such a specific route… However, I don’t think there is cause for concern; and even if there was, why should it concern us?", Victor responded. The two talked to each other as if they had done so this entire time ignoring their mutual silent treatment.
"I suppose you are right. Still, if this thing were to spread in the direction of the farm… What do we do then?"
"If that were to happen, we would deal with it then. No use in getting stressed out in what ifs; that is never helpful to anyone."
Roxanne glanced at Victor for a moment before looking back at the camera displayed. He said this so matter of fact in such a calculated, almost monotone, fashion. His body language hinted at confidence and conviction in his words. This served to calm Roxanne’s nerves, instead focusing her attention to the situation at hand.
"Still, it seems the undead have dissipated now; almost as if they are fleeing from something...any idea why?", asked Roxanne with genuine curiosity.
Victor dismissed her question with subtle chuckle. "It’s been eight years since the cataclysm and no-one has bothered to studied the dead...As such, I am afraid I cannot in good faith answered you question. You have to stop thinking of them as animals; that type of thinking is what gets you killed… One thing is for sure, it is working in our favor."
Roxanne seemed satisfied yet disappointed with his answered. She gave him a sympathetic nod before once again shifting her attention to the camera display. Victor gave a deep sigh of relief; it had been a long time since he had hid something from Roxanne. He didn’t tell him about the various auras he was detecting; how they seem to scurrying away from their destination; how the dead seemed to be drawn to them like bugs to a lighthouse. No, there was no need to reveal such things; Roxanne was already stressed as she was, she didn’t need something else to worry about.
The two eventually reached their destination. It had been a few hours and Roxanne was utterly bored; she would’ve taken a nap but her mutations refused to grant her that. Instead, she had passed the time asking Victor all sorts of questions. The two arrived annoyed and with relief that part of their journey was over. This had been more taxing than the two had imagined but at least they were here and the first part of today’s tasks would soon be over.
"Hey Victor...Seems awfully quiet don’t you think?", Roxanne pointed out.
"Now that you mention it..." Victor didn’t finish that sentence; instead, he activated his aura spell and saw something that worried him greatly. There wasn’t the sea of aura’s from the UAF or the distinct arcane auras form Neo-SoA; Alex, Emily, and the Roxanne that for many years he knew were no longer there. In the place of all of them, only two auras lingered; both unknown to him. One of them was human but the other...it had the exact signature as the others he noted fleeing this place. It radiated with power no other creature beforehand had shown.
Victor slowly go up from hi seat and placed a hand on his sword’s handle ready to unsheath it. "Roxanne...something is going on and I don’t like it...", Victor said as he slowly go out of the APC. Roxanne followed him without saying a word; it wasn't like Victor to act like this so it must be something serious. She checked her bionic power supply and readied the monomolecular sword for deployment at a moments notice. The two slowly walked towards the entrance of the cave Neo-SoA called their home; no guard at the entrance, no sounds of anyone inside…
“Here they come...the holder of the void and the maiden of ruin…”
“Pffft, such titles are meaningless. Leave the girl to me...I have a debt to settle…”
“...As you wish...In that case, I will take care of the holder… The allfather will be pleased to learn we have acquired the sword of the void.”
“I don’t know why that incomplete garbage became a piece...my sword isn’t limited like his is! But no matter, they labeled me impure, I’ll show them both…”
“Do not let your emotions blind you to our true goal. We must acquire the pieces…”
“No, that is your goal! Mine is to make sure she suffers...to make sure she doesn’t leave here alive… She will feel the same agony and despair I felt at her hands all those years ago...anything else is secondary…”
“Humanity and their pettiness never fails to surprise me… regardless of your intentions, we are in this together. I will lend you my strength; let’s see it that both our goals are completed.”
“That I can get behind! Quiet now...here they come…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 25, 2018, 08:54:21 pm
After a bit of discussion, Catnip asked the question Mica didn't want to answer. "Did anything happen while I was gone?" Dee talked about things that had happened over the course of the year, skipping over but coming dangerously close to telling Catnip that his and Mica's relationship had gone to the next level. She seemed to understand though and listened on without comment, mostly watching Kathrine to see how she liked her gift. She seemed to like it fine, running her hands over it unconsciously while she listened.
"And how was Kathrine?" Catnip asked. Mica visibly stiffened and oddly, so did Catnip. "Something happened." Catnip stated flatly, and because she seemed to already know Mica told her.
"My-ka was watchin' morsel... and then peoples come when My-ka not lookin' and take morsel, and while they got morsel they been feedin' and takin' care of morsels hurts-"
"Hurts?"
Mica winced, and nodded but couldn't bring out the words. Dee could though, but he had no idea what the reaction would be. "They rescued her from some other people. Those people beat her up pretty-"
Catnip had leapt to her feet and before anyone could stop her, had thrown a sheet over Mica's head. Mica hardly put up a fight, Kathrine began to beg and Dee was struck by how little she was fighting back. "Promise breaker!" Catnip shouted childishly, Looping a belt around Mica's waist and arms and cinching it tight. She bounded over Kathrine's bed and retrieved a purple plastic bat covered in holes protruding from a box, then turned back and swatted Mica with it. The spider rose to her feet and quailed. She repeated the words Catnip had just said, and despite Kathrine's vehement protests, Catnip went on. Mica reeled as yet another smack of the bright purple wiffle ball bat made contact with the side of her blanket covered head and she stumbled through the tent wall. The act of the "blanket party" was an old ritual for Catnip and Mica. A deep seated hazing from there childhood which, to the children of X7, held an almost religious significance. Mica toppled over and tried to get up, looking like a caterpillar in the middle of it's arching step forward, and Catnip gave her a hard swats on the rump for her trouble. The bat was raised again, and as it was brought down, Mica's sister shouted again.
The bat came around again and again. *smack smack smack* "Catnip please sto-" Dee started. Catnip shouting cut him off, and began to draw attention to the sisters.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 25, 2018, 09:21:06 pm
Quinn woke with a groan, blinking groggily as he rose. He peeked out the window towards the tent, he really didn't feel like going out and investigating... So he didn't. He poured himself of what was left of the coffee he made yesterday, barely enough for one cup.
Floyd was cleaning his magnum before he heard the shouting, he grabbed his hat and coat from the bed in the shanty he was staying in. He made his way towards the tent, he peeked inside and his eyebrows furrowed into a scowl at Catnip's hazing of Mica. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?" He said coldly and sharpy. He knew exactly what the sisters were doing, he did it himself once as a cadet. He heard of horror stories of cadets going to the hospital from their injuries during their hazings. So he stopped and tried his damnedest to prevent them from happening.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 25, 2018, 09:58:47 pm
The six noticed the armored individual following them and the leader motioned for one to stay outside. As the rest pushed through the doorway the remaining member leaned against the wall outside. Looking around he crossed his arms and hoped things inside went quickly.
The others had already used a spell to keep anyone outside the building from hearing what was going to happen. Isaac hadn't noticed them come in but heard them talk among themselves about getting their business done. Looking past a row of bookshelves he caught sight of one and quickly ducked out of sight when he noticed the man had a hand axe out.
Deciding to make a dash for his desk he shoved the bookshelf over onto one of the men before running. He nearly hit the desk as he rushed to grab his pistol that he kept there. He tried to pull the trigger as he aimed at one of the attackers before his brain caught up with the fact there was a hand axe buried in the desk now and his hand was falling to the floor. He reached his other hand up to grab the attacker but never made it. A hand rested gently on his shoulder and his mind drifted to sleep as the man sighed.
From there he retrieved a set of bandages and began taking care of Isaac's new wound. One of the others approached and helped as he asked "And these have been 'treated'?"
The mage nodded as he said "Yes, nothing will regrow the hand and it will reject any mere mechanical replacement. The only thing I know is suitable is what our smithy sent us with. A final gift for the son of Tyr should he prove his worth. His bloodline should also make itself known soon enough to any observant to these things."
As they finished the work the leader placed a small note on the desk and observed Isaac before motioning to the door and telling his men "Yes, that it should mage. I'd rather we not be here when he awakes with that realization, after all I should think his little journey should be enlightening. Hopefully our compatriot's mission is going well."
Elsewhere a man in armor had been stalking the huntress as she found her own prey. She had settled on a target now and began lining up her shot as the Blessed one hefted the spear in his hand. As she pulled the trigger the trained warrior threw his spear and watched as it hit Alice in the shoulder. Letting out a cry of pain she turned to see who had thrown the weapon lodged in her shoulder to see nothing. The warrior had ducked out of sight and waited for her to start back towards the farm before moving silently away to the meeting point his allies had set.
Meanwhile Steinar made his way to the Hall. His first thought was to just open the door and walk in. However he decided on a more..diplomatic approach. Adjusting his grip on Salazar Steinar reached a hand up and knocked on the door. Hopefully someone's here...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 26, 2018, 12:34:29 am
"Mistress! Stooooop... Pleeeeease?" Kathrine begged, trying to find an opening to latch onto Catnip and finding none. Catnip and Mica had no protocol for friends trying to interrupt, but if the people watching and trying to intervene had been security guards from X7, they would have been beaten down. The scientists down in X7 learned very quickly not to intervene, as the children had no qualms with attacking and in at least two cases killing security personnel that tried to stop them. "What hurts one of us, hurts both of us!" Catnip cried. The wiffle bat was little more than a stinging paddle, and so Floyd had until that point intervened with words alone. When Catnip switched the bat to her other hand and struck Mica twice in the upper back with a closed fist, he stepped in and tried to grab her. Catnip wasn't unaware of her surroundings though, and very aware of the damage she'd just done to herself. Mica's carapace on her thighs and back were as hard as stone, and the blow Catnip delivered sent a shock up her arm that numbed it. Floyd tried to grab for her, but Catnip used her superior, youthful agility to dodge away from him and give Mica another bop on the back of the head with the bat.
"Goddamnit Catnip, cut it out! Leave her alone goddamnit!" He growled. Dee tried to step in as well, but Catnip tripped him and sent him sprawling, then hauled Mica to her feet before slapping her. Back in the lab, in their days of savagery, Floyds horror images of men taken away on stretchers after such beatings would have been a reality. Mica would have come out of this blanket party with injuries comparable with those inflicted upon Kathrine, and Catnip too would have ended up with hands and feet twisted and broken into uselessness. Mica and Catnip had discarded that level of beastly behavior though, and so blows inflicted with her hands were made in such a way as to injure only herself, while Mica received only blows with the stinging bat, and the occasional slap. Floyd pulled leather, preparing to fire over their heads, when suddenly Catnips assault stopped. with Mica lying prone before her.
Catnip tossed aside the bat and knelt, before Mica. She carefully pulled the sheet off Mica along the the belt she had used to fix it in place and took Mica's head in her hands. She placed a kiss on Mica's forehead and said simply, "I love you sister, will you stand?" There was some kind of static in the air all of a sudden, and both sisters panted with their exertion. Kathrine tried to hug Catnip, but the mechanic forbade it for the moment.
Mica looked into Catnip's eyes and rubbed her bottom and face, then responded "My-ka will stand."
Catnip kissed her again and finished the "ritual" saying, "Then stand by me. I forgive you." Mica rose and hugged Catnip hard.
"My-ka miss Kat-nyp, bein' wisest and strongest is hard. You be wisest and strongest again, My-ka don't wanna no more."
"DON'T BE MEAN MISTRESS!" Kathrine shouted. She looked both deeply unhappy and furious all at once. Catnip grabbed her before she could storm off, knowing that if allowed to, she wouldn't catch Kat until tomorrow.
"I know, but we gotta. I'm not going to explain. I know it's mean, but it's just something me and Mica have to do." Kathrine pushed against her, trying to push away, but Catnip held her tighter. Mica added her own arms to the tangle and made it more impossible for Kathrine to get away. "My-ka sorry morsel..."
Nearby, Dee looked confused and worried while Floyd helped him back up looking outright pissed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 26, 2018, 12:48:55 am
Floyd rubbed his temples, holstering his magnum. "Catnip. Your first mornin' back an' the first thing ya do is beat your sister. I want an explanation." He seethed, complaining in his head that it was Too damn early for this...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 26, 2018, 01:09:16 am
Hector watched warily, stepping forward. "Excuse me. I don't believe we've met. I'm Hector Lowe. Who are you, if I may ask?" he asked the one who remained outside, watching warily as he approached. His hand was away from the sword at his side, but still ready in case anything went wrong, observing the man cautiously.
Helen had finally left the guest room and found Sergei, quietly handing Thomas over and asked him to return to the Hall to let Solomon care for Thomas for the time being. "Alright, Helen. I did have something to ask you, but..." She perked up a bit before asking him. "It's fine. What's on your mind?" she asked. "I was thinking maybe, er...about s-staying at the farm for a while with Sammy..."
She simply nodded at that, setting a hand on his shoulder. "As you wish. You'll always be welcome at The Hall of Odin's Blessing, but you have someone here that needs you." she said. The way Sergei started blushing and looking away confirmed her suspicions. "I'll go ahead and take Thomas over though, and be back soon." he said, soon leaving for now.
With that out of the way, she put on her mask and activated it, looking all around. Almost at once something count her eye. Seven unfamiliar auras near Isaac and Hector, along with the faint glimmer of magic she couldn't quite identify. She turned her mask off and made her way over to the library.
As if the armored figure wasn't strange enough, her appearance was far stranger. A cloak covered in glimmering metal scales, a mask of iron with copper decoration. But most notably, the holy symbol around her neck. The imagery of Mjölnir, yet at the top the handle transitioned into the upper half of a cross. What she said upon coming into view was only more disconcerting.
"Seven men on a viking, seeking a work of great potential in the name of the All-Father. Am I correct in stating what he has said unto me?" she asked, regarding the stranger warily. "Though I saw only six..."
Back at The Hall Sol answered the door, surprised by the stranger there, carrying an unconscious man. "Greetings. Um...oh dear. Here, take him in and lay him on one of the beds in back, I'll get the medkit." he said reflexively, not even thinking at first who these strangers were.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 26, 2018, 01:36:10 am
The man responded to Hector with a smile underneath the cloth wrapped around his face. "Hello!I'm brot-err, I'm Charles. I suppose you wouldn't call me brother, no I doubt you practice voodoo. Not many do..but regardless my compatriots and myself came to speak with brother Isaac about a private matter."
As Helen approached the man observed her and listened to what she said. He was quite frankly happy he was wearing the cloth to cover his face as he frowned at what she said. As his mind raced as to what could have tipped her off he simply said "A..viking? I'm afraid we are here to speak with brother Isaac about a matter of voodoo rituals. A rather private matter as well."
The others inside had noticed what was going on and hesitated. One sighed as he grabbed Isaac, hauling him out of sight if the door were to be opened while a second cleaned up the blood that had been spilled and collected the hand. After a moments hesitation he shoved it into his bag with a look of disgust before sliding the hand axe in as well.
Cleaning themselves off the men approached the door and waited to see how the conversation outside was going. If it went well they would walk out, if not then they would do the same while simply stating their business was done. Either way they'd hurry off.
Meanwhile Isaac found himself laying on the ground, his leg and arm intact as he sat up. Inspecting his leg he wondered how that happened before noticing a looming shadow. Looking up he saw someone both unfamiliar and familiar. A rather commanding voice came from the figure as he said "Well, I suppose it's been a long time coming. I've some explaining to do don't I.."
Elsewhere Steinar did as instructed. Once the man rushed over with a medkit he waved him off. Setting Salazar's hat on his chest Steinar told the man "He's not wounded. Unconscious, but other wise physically fine. We just needed shelter, and I need to speak with Helen when she arrives."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 26, 2018, 01:58:54 am
Helen glowered at the man underneath her mask. Even with it concealing her expression, it was clear his explanation didn't make her relax in the slightest. "Really? Maybe I should give the next part of that vision. A son, by Tyr and Zisa, whose actions will further countless plans. I am a sister in service to Odin as well, brother." she said, before looking to Hector. "Hector, if you would leave us be..." she asked.
Hector looked between the two warily, before sighing a bit. "I don't know what the hell this is on about, but if the six of you cause any trou-" Helen glared at him, and he stopped himself, shaking his head as he walked away for the moment. "I also sensed one of you working seidr, am I correct? We are not enemies, brother..."
Solomon was surprised at that, regarding Salazar curiously but taking Steinar's word for it. Indeed, from a cursory glance he couldn't see anything wrong. "Very well then. Helen and Sergei are currently at the farm across the river, stayed overnight it seems. I'm Solomon, by the way." he said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 26, 2018, 07:13:42 am
"You'll get one later." Catnip said, intending no such explaination. Mica grinned wide and almost tauntingly at Floyd, the ritual was special to them, and as vicious as the beating could have been, Mica would have still accepted it. "How about breakfast?" Catnip asked, "Kathrine you go put on your gift and Mica and I will wait for you. Dee, Floyd, go to the Misling camp and see if you can get a lady named Dia Weiss to come talk to me about making breakfast. She'll agree to it, she owes me a favor." Catnip watched Kathrine go wordlessly to the tent to change, and Catnip shouted gently after her, "and like I said, take off that hoodie and anything else you don't need on under it. It won't fit right if your wearing a bunch of other stuff under it."
"But mistreeeesss!"
"No buts! Butts are for sitting on!"
"But... Ok Catnip."
After Kathrine had vanished into the safe confines of her tent, Catnip turned back to Mica and came face to face with Floyd. Dee had gone off silently as instructed, but Floyd wasn't done with her yet.
"I ain't goin' anywhere Nip. Not until you tell me why in the hell you needed to beat the tar out of your sister."
Catnip didn't really have time for this, she had a whole day ahead of her and this was not one of the things she wanted to spend it doing. She didn't want to explain the intricacies of life in the lab, especially not their sacred right. "I'll explain it later." Catnip whined petulantly.
Floyd opened his mouth, then closed it. Finally, he asked Mica, "are you really going to let Catnip wallop on you like that?" Mica shrugged and continued grinning that idiot grin of hers. A look that Floyd had come more and more to want to slap off her face simply because of how God's damned dumb it made her look, and he knew she wasn't nearly as dumb as she looked or sounded. Not all the time anyway.
"Tell you what," Catnip said, "you can have your gift now and you can show it off later."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 26, 2018, 11:25:05 am
The man sighed, weighing his options as he thought of how to respond. He looked up into the sky for a moment, spotting a raven high in the sky as it looked down on them. Smiling regretfully he pulled the cloth from his face and said "I'm sorry Sister."
The others inside saw what was going on and the mage sighed. Reaching into his own bag he tossed a small bag onto the desk and said "Fine, if our brother won't dissuade them then we will have to take a..more dangerous exit. Gather round, and pray that the god's send us to our desired location."
With that said the mage cast a spell he'd learned some time ago. Ripping his mask off the mage sighed as the feeling of being both in his current position and somewhere else at the same time before it subsided. Looking around in the forest they'd appeared in he quickly spotted the bag that was waiting for him and began changing into his armor. His compatriots did the same around him as they waited for the seventh..no the Sixth to return.
Elsewhere Steinar nodded to Solomon and said "I'm Steinar, and this unconscious man is Salazar. Hopefully he wakes soon.."
Meanwhile Alexei observed one of the mislings as the two sat on either side of a table enjoying a bit of whiskey. Looking into his glass Alexei said "It's a good whiskey."
The woman smiled as she sipped her glass. It was rather pleasant to have a drink with someone that had an appreciation for it she thought. Examining her drinking companion for a moment she said "That it is. Though it's not the vintage on the bottle and I'm willing to bet not the brand either."
Alexei gave her a surprised look before examining the bottle and saying "How?"
She gave him a smirk as she said "Oh, I used to make it. And all sorts of things before I got arrested."
Alexei slid the bottle across the table and she topped her glass off as he asked "I see. Would you like run still?"
She raised an eyebrow as she said "Like? I'd love to. You got a setup going? How big, is it copper?"
Alexei smiled as the conversation went on and on. A short distance away Blitz was counting heads as Krieg shouted "Die Kinder versuchen - Oh Gott, hilf mir!(The children are trying - Oh god help me!)" Blitz looked over to see his twin covered in the children of the new folk.
Blitz shook his head as he made a few more tally marks and picked up his radio. "Blitz here. Yes Veronica everything is fine. Yes he's good too. Listen I need a shipment of food for.." He looked over his clipboard before saying "..can you just send a lot of food. Like...a lot. I'd say a metric ton but I don't think we could move that much even if we had it. Okay yeah thanks. Signing off."
Blitz walked over to his laughing brother and hauled him to his feet with some of the children still clinging to him. The pair shook their heads before getting back to work. Which in this instance was starting a football game with some of the kids and adults. After all they were here to help them now and make sure they had food and water.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 26, 2018, 03:15:22 pm
Floyd face palmed, sighing as he cleared his mind. He scratched his chin, "Ya got me a gift?" He asked, raising a brow. "What is it...?" he asked, curious.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 26, 2018, 03:30:09 pm
Helen glowered at him as he took of his cloth mask, her own metal mask contorting from an impassive face to a hateful glare, staring through the walls again. "You...Odin had tasked me to ensure you are set on the right path. Should've known you'd carry out your mission in the most idiotic manner possible." she said. She saw the five inside vanishing, and now that she was closer to the library she could see what they'd done. In an instant she'd drawn the strange golden symbol and leveled it at him, keeping out of arm's reach. "Stand aside. You'll get one opportunity to explain yourselves, and if you cooperate you'll rejoin your comrades. Understand?" she said, her voice much colder than it was a moment ago. Hector had been in earshot the entire time, and he stepped out from around the corner, sword drawn.
"The others teleported away, Issac's wounded. Their mission involves him." she said, having sensed the knight's return through the mask. "You said seven. There were six..." At this, Helen's expression under the mask starting to mimic the mask itself now. "Check the area." Hector was already running off at this point, out of the farm's palisade. He could see Roland there with the visitors in old uniforms, and mentally checked off one of his concerns. The next one however wasn't in sight. He went with his gut instinct as he ran into the forest, the usual way Isaac went when going off hunting.
Solomon nodded at that, as as they waited he decided to prepare breakfast along with tea, while soon the door opened again, Sergei giving a wave. "Welcome back Sergei. And you brought Thomas...where's Helen?" he asked, Sergei handing over the child. "Still at the farm, asked me to bring him here. Think something's troubling her."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 26, 2018, 05:02:01 pm
The man sighed as he lifted his hands before some of what she said registered. Raising an eyebrow he restrained himself from looking around as he said “Wounded? The mage said we were going to speak with him.”
Inside Isaac was still unconscious as he spoke with the spirit. Sitting on the ground beside the spirit of Tyr he looked observed the beautiful countryside and said “So you’re my father? That makes the name Mortal a tad..ironic? I suppose that’s the word.”
Tyr nodded as he responded “That I am. Though I suppose the warning I asked Odin to send came a bit late. The men who attacked you believe you are destined for a specific path and believe they work for Odin himself.”
Isaac sighed as he looked at his hands and said “I’m going to assume they’re a bit misguided then. What with Odin even sending a warning to someone here in the first place.”
Tyr shrugged as he said “Possibly. I am not privy to his plans but I do know there are many paths for you to take. Especially now that you’ll be..feeling your heritage. After all the son of a god is more than a title. But we are running out of time here.”
Isaac stood up as he felt the magic that placed him here starting to wane. “Well, it was good to meet you at the very least. Hopefully the next time we meet will be under better circumstances.”
Tyr smiled as he said “Yes. Though Samedi asked me to let you know he doesn’t intend to dig your grave for some time.”
Isaac was about to say something when he the world around him began to fade. Sighing to himself he wondered what was going to happen now. Regardless he found himself engulfed in darkness.
Meanwhile Alice walked up the path back to the farm with the spear still sticking out of her armored shoulder. She couldn’t move her injured arm and was starting to worry about the wound. Looking around she spotted Hector and dropped her rifle to wave as she shouted “Some help over here!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 26, 2018, 05:33:41 pm
Helen glared at the man as he said that. "Inside, then. See for yourself." she said, directing him to the door as she opened it, to show him what she'd already witnessed through her mask. "They cut his right hand off, and I can see the magic still afflicting the wound. Your mage did something beyond merely healing it. There's a curse, I suspect." she remarked.
Hector rushed over to Alice as he saw her, immediately sheathing his sword and reaching for his first aid kit. "Where did he go?" he asked, looking around warily. The remark prompted a confused stammer from her, and he simply shook his head as he started to bandage around the wound, to secure the missile in place so it wouldn't be disturbed and risk further deepening the injury. Then he grabbed onto the shaft of the javelin and snapped it in two, as close to the injury as he could and doing his best not to inflict any further harm.
He kept his shield in between her and the direction she came from, concerned she might be pursued. Given the strange material, while Catnip said it would outright shrug off gunfire he had no idea what this attacker might throw his way, nor what the shield could handle.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 26, 2018, 10:00:02 pm
The man caught sight of Isaac and stopped. He reached a hand up to rub his eyes as he said "Of all the...I suppose I should explain more. You are correct, we were sent here to, as I heard it, 'set the son of Tyr on the right path'. This though..I was never told we'd be doing this. The Raven merely said that our leader would know what to do to set his path right."
Looking down at the unconscious Isaac he said "I suppose you're either going to kill me or restrain me. You should probably get that done and tend to him in case the mage fucked up. Granted regardless of what you do I've a feeling I'm not long for this world, he's either going to murder me or my old compatriots will."
Elsewhere Alice thanked Hector for his help. The injury wasn't as bad as it should have been from what Hector could tell. Regardless she was still suffering the effects of blood loss as she said "I don't think I was followed. Never even saw whoever did it."
As they neared the farm one of the members of the 3rd yelled for a medic as he ran over to help the pair after noticing the wound. As he did Krieg peeled himself away from the game he had been playing and ran towards the Wagon to get his field kit. While this was going on the man with them said "Unless ya got a doctor I think Krieg is our best bet. Paramedic 'fore the event, been patching us up since."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 26, 2018, 10:57:46 pm
Helen gave an irritated sigh at this as she reached for a vial, kneeling to administer it to Isaac, before removing her cloak and draping it around him. The potion to ease the pain and ensure any remaining bleeding had halted, and the cloak to mend the body and counteract the effects of blood loss. Even if the wound wasn't afflicted with some sort of strange magic, a severed limb was almost impossible for the gilded aegis to mend. "And what you've likely done is made an enemy of him. And of us. And it will only undermine Odin's plans if we're working against each other."
"As for that, when he wakes up...if he doesn't kill you, you're going to lead me back to your comrades. The All-Father told me to either set you on the right path or slay you. Since that argr fled with the rest of your men, that doesn't give me much chance the attempt the former does it?" she remarked.
Hector nodded as he helped Alice over towards the farm, nodding as the men approached. "Doctor Quinn's here but his equipment isn't much more extensive than what you've likely got. Bleeding seems to have stopped but of course she has part of a javelin stuck in her, and lost a fair bit of blood in the process." he explained.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 27, 2018, 12:18:04 am
Catnip retrieved a small box from the tent, quietly sneaking into the tent and sneaking back out again. Kathrine didn't see her, but Catnip saw Kathrine. She was still dressed, but it was still the least amount of clothes Catnip had ever seen her in. Kathrine was holding up the Kimono, giving it the appreciative examination it deserved while Catnip gave her stripes the appreciative examination she thought they deserved.
A very short time later, Catnip stole silently from the tent with the small box. Catnip carefully unwrapped the box, and fiddled with the latch. While she did Floyd looked at it. Some kind of varnished ribbed wood with simple brass inlay. Catnip turned it over in her hands so that the lock was facing Floyd, and lifted the lid saying... She ambled along chief street, looking for the arms trader. Her time in Algol had netted her a hefty collection of ammunition and she wanted to trade it. The benefit of bullets was that they could be used, but the benefit of watermarks was that they were portable. The arms trader of course would trade her backpack of bullets for the brightly colored bits of paper, a currency she found tiresome and dumb. Paper money was so much less durable than shinies, and so much less usable than chocolate. Furthermore, she wasn't sure what value they had. Sure, they were worth water, but why not just carry the water? Or better yet, trade goods for the water. In short, the bits of paper held about as much value to her as any other non-book piece of paper of the pre-cataclysm.
The arms trader though, was closed. Indefinitely. Catnip kicked the door hard and read again the sign screwed to the wall next to it.
"GRAY AND SONS" "CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE DUE TO MYCUS INFECTION" "NO VALUABLES WITHIN"
"Fucking Rita." Catnip spat, once again cursing the day she inadvertently released the Gray Queen from her tomb. The howling tower did it's job of keeping her away, but it didn't stop the Mycus completely. Catnip and the other engineers could only do so much.
For awhile, she wandered the side streets and alleys with her load of all too valuable lead and brass. Pretty soon, that payload began to draw the wrong kind of attention and Catnip got the feeling that she was being followed. No weapon on her, she'd left her service pistol in her room along with the narrow spike that had served many purposes beyond killing in the alleys of Algol, Catnip had no choice but to try and lose whoever it was tailing her.
She moved quickly parallel to Chief street, and then diagonally away from it, angling through the shacks and refuse to put as much space between those following her and herself. Ahead, her whiskers told her that someone was moving quickly to intercept and just as the man came around, a bag in hand to throw over her head, she ducked and used the only weapon at her disposal. Her body, weighted as it was with a an armories worth of munitions, hit her ambusher like a truck. Muscles toned from years of work with machinery and reflexes tuned by natural instinct and a season of fighting could carry the burden easily. She doubted very much any of these scraggly cowards would be able to lift it if they managed to take it off her. She stepped on the man she bowled over and felt the gratifying snap of a rib beneath her her ankle.
She was off again, not slowing an inch until a door burst open in front of her, and a hand reached out and grabbed her. As she was pulled, the weight of her bag did her an evil and drove her face first into the door jam. The last thing she heard before blackness overtook her, was the thunder of pistol fire. Later, she awoke in some kind of small warehouse factory being treated by an older gentleman. He stared not so much at her as he did into her with his gunmetal gray eyes. He was a Cor, and not one of the slightly mutated. The melted face above her moved back and Catnip was momentarily blinded by the light above her. "Afraid you took a nasty shot to the mug missus, sorry about that." He husked.
"Where am I?" Catnip asked, sitting up. Her money could wait, the place she was in was so much more interesting to her inventors mind. Drill presses, milling machines, trip hammers, welders, and rack upon rack upon box upon box of tools.
"You are in my shop," The Cor said, "Way of the Gun. My name is Stephan Weiland. Don't worry about your cash, it's all safe. Not a single slug out of place. Missus, might I ask what you are doing with so much ammunition in this part of town?"
Catnip didn't mind, and so told him how she'd meant to exchange the backpack for the paper she so held in contempt. She talked, and he listened carefully. Then said, "I see. I think I can offer you a fair deal missus." He reached into Catnips bag and randomly picked out a bullet. "Business is slow." He explained. For your bag here and everything it contains, I will make for you a weapon that will fire this round. Catnip thought about it, and an idea formed. A gift for her grandfather figure back home. She told the gunsmith what she wanted, and why she wanted it. The gunsmith grinned, bemused, and rose to her challenge. For the next three days, they worked together milling and shaping, testing and retesting. The smith made sure the gun worked and that everything moved smoothly. In this, he was a master. Catnip used her skills to aid in the mechanics of the weapon and worked the embellishments until they at last had a piece fitting of the man it was meant for.
The gun was a revolver. The bullet had been a 30-06. She lifted the lid and presented the masterwork to Floyd, carefully plucking his raging bull from its holster. He didn't stop her, her intention that this new weapon should replace it was clear. The metal of blued steel complemented by the spiraling golden vine inlay along every inch, ending in the engraving of a rose at the end of the barrels right side. There seemed to be power in that sigil, and overall the weapon looked the implement of a prince or maybe even a king. The handles had been worked from leftover giant armadillo bone, slightly yellowed by the oil rubbed into it too deeply for time or use to wear away, somehow fit Floyds hand perfectly. The weapon fit in his holster like a glove as well, and the draw was as smooth as silk. Finally, in a final touch to the absurdity of the guns chosen caliber, the cylinder also sported not six, but seven chambers. On the inverse of the boxes lid, the master gunsmith had engraved the name of what would later be his final masterwork.
"Conquest"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 27, 2018, 12:55:33 am
The man shook his head as he leaned against a wall and said "I was told the meeting point but they've likely moved." Rubbing his face again he groaned as he said "Fucking Horace. I swear to whatever god is listening I'm going to stab him myself. At least I won't have to wait long, I doubt the mage would have used anything that'd keep him under for longer than an hour."
Looking at Helen he hesitated before saying "I hope if he doesn't kill me I can show you that I don't share the idiotic sense of duty that my former comrades hold." Looking at Isaac he sighed before sliding down the wall to sit on the ground "Who am I kidding, I'm a dead man. If Horace didn't follow us than he did something more idiotic than what we just did."
Outside Krieg rushed over and took over for Hector, guiding the other man to take her towards the wagon as he told Hector "Go, I'll take care of her. You find out what you can about what happened."
Taking her over to the wagon and laying her down inside he sighed. As he worked he felt the presence of a dozen ghosts as he treated her. "Don't worry, you'll be okay. I'll take care of you."
She mumbled something that wasn't quite loud enough for him to hear as he worked. He did get an answer to a question of his as he finished patching the wound up. "You need blood, thank fuck we're the same blood type."
Pulling his sleeve up he prepared both her and himself to start a transfusion. It'd have to be from his arm since he didn't keep blood in the wagon due to a distinct lack of any way to keep it. The ghosts from his past disappeared as he leaned back in his seat and smiled. Another patient he'd managed to keep alive.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on January 27, 2018, 06:33:36 pm
Floyd inspected the revolver thouroughly, hefting the weight in his hand. It was a heavy sumbitch, heavier than his raging bull. He put it back in his holster, "God damn, dunno how t' thank ya for this..." he drawled, scratching his beard. "Aw hell, I have someone to introduce you to. Remind me once I get Dia lady fer ya." He said, having cooled off.
Sammy awoke, this being the second time when Sergei got out of her bed and woke her up, saying his goodbyes. She stretched, getting dressed and rubbing her eyes. Sammy stepped out onto the outside of the watch-tower, enjoying the view for the time being.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 28, 2018, 12:24:42 am
"Excellent then." Catnip clapped her hands together, "Then you go help Dee look for Miss Weiss please?" Floyd slid his gift into the holster tipped his invisible hat at her before leaving. Meanwhile, Catnip turned to Mica. "C'mon Mica, lets go sit under that tree. Where'd it even come from? Tell me more about what happened this year." Instead of sitting under the tree though Catnip was drawn to the foundry. Mica held the canvas bag that had for the time being taken the place of Catnip's tool box.
"Did you really? With Dee?" Catnip asked in her low voice. Mica nodded enthusiastically, and in her not so low voice responded, "Yah! We do all the time!" Catnip winced, mostly at how loud Mica was, but also a little at her eagerness to share.
The foundry was a complex piece of machinery, part vehicle, part robot, and Catnip had trouble finding exactly what drove the thing. Everything in the cabin seemed to not be hooked into much of anything. Now, she examined the hole made by Dee's miraculous recoilless rifle shot. She hooked a finger into the hole, then dimly realized the dumbshow she was enacting in relation to the conversation she was having and pulled her hand away a little to quickly. Mica saw it an winked at her. To get her back for the small embarrassment she now felt, Catnip decided to ask a question. "Are you gonna marry him Mica?"
Catnip was disappointed with Mica's confused look, and even more with the answer. "What is marry?" Catnip explained, and Mica only looked more confused afterwords. "But Lizard already touchin' and feelin' My-ka all over and not with no one else. Lizard and My-ka already married then." Catnip winced, and her lips tightened. She'd learned the intricacies of this part of romance in Pricetown, and knew that her sister and her friend were not in fact married. Not in the traditional sense anyway. Catnip shifted the topic to Dee's harrowing brush with death instead, and as they reached the part where Dee finally awoke, Kathrine emerged from the tent.
"W-will we go to breakfast Catnip?" She wimpered. Catnip grinned broadly, looking even more ratlike than she had before somehow. Kathrine was resplendent in the elegantly simple garment kimono, and the mechanic had chosen the color wisely, as it did in fact compliment the colors of Kathrine's oversized tail beautifully. Mica cood and complimented, and Catnip took Kat's hands.
"Yes, but I have a friend who will cook for us. You can come and sit with me and listen. I have a story to tell."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 28, 2018, 12:36:39 pm
Helen nodded as she remained by Isaac for the time being, knowing that the cloak would leave its telltake ache even with the numbing effects of the potion. "From there, we'd have a starting point at least." she said, looking back to the man. "If he's already done any further harm, you might have half the people here trying to get to him first." she remarked.
"It's good to have a sense of duty, however. The problem is how one carries that duty out." she said, something she knew all too well. A strong sense of duty, acted upon without thinking about anything else, ultimately brought her order into decline. "The will of Skuld shall decide the outcome..." she said quietly, remembering the final words of that dream. "We'll have to see what occurs when Isaac wakes up, then."
Soon after, Hector had returned to the library, stepping inside. "Any news?" she asked. The fact that the stranger was there, sitting calmly as though awaiting his death, was a surprise to him. "Alice took a javelin to the shoulder. Krieg from the 3rd is tending to her. Already got her bandaged up but she lost a lot of blood." he explained. Helen went a bit pale underneath her mask. "Futūtor! I'll...I'll stay here to keep an eye on things. If anything happens, let me know." she said, and Hector gave a sigh as he turned to walk off. For a moment the man in the armor glanced over at the stranger, and the fact he glared at him was likely apparent even with that all-concealing great helm.
For now he decided to check on the others, likely finding Nathaniel there with Lilith for the time being, considering getting breakfast once he as certain things had calmed down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 28, 2018, 06:50:03 pm
The man seemed in disbelief before looking at Isaac and saying "Well, I'm dead no matter what now."
As he said this Isaac opened his eyes as he reached his hand up to his head to rub his eyes. Sitting up he said "Fucking.." He noticed Helen and the man and sighed as he said "Well, at least there's one left here. I take it his friends got away Helen?"
Pushing himself to his feet with little apparent negative effects from the cloak as he handed it back. Once Helen took it he walked over to the desk and looked around before saying "They took the pistol. That's..that's just great."
Reaching under the desk he set a bottle of vodka Alexei had given him on top of it. Grabbing the machete he kept with it he looked the man over. Shaking his head he set the weapon down next to the bottle. "I swear to Samedi if you attacked anyone else here..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 29, 2018, 10:58:59 pm
Everyone who attended breakfast, save for a couple guests, complimented Kathrine on her Kimono, a certain photographer even requesting a photograph and a short interview. She blushed and shuffled nervously, unused to such attention. People sat together, some old friends, others new acquaintances. Catnip introduced everyone yet to be introduced while they waited. Food was brought, a mix of farm stock and the carvan's own supplies. From the farm, dehydrated eggs and vegetables. From the caravan, cakes and pork bacon. Dee marveled at the richness of the bacon, and commented on how long it had been since he'd had real pork bacon. Catnip, who had never had pork bacon, thought it was a bit rich for her tastes. Kathrine though agreed with Dee, as did others from the farm. When breakfast was done, Catnip began to talk. She told the story of how she'd come to and wandered the desert. How she had been picked up by L, Kyle, and Mark. About Prescott and the encounter with the fungal scorpion, and about the final betrayal not long after. With the tale of her arrival told, she sat and waited with her head down, waiting for people to comment.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on January 30, 2018, 01:17:53 am
“Here, take my sword, I won’t need it against this bitch.”
“And what makes you think I would have any use for it? We are dealing with mortals here.”
“Your chosen mortal is the holder of the void remember? This sword is the same as he wields minus the whole puzzle thing. With your power, you should even the match; it’s up to you to tilt the scale from there.”
“...Understood… I will take position in the main room, trap is ready.”
“Excellent, here they come.”
Roxanne and Victor entered the cave quietly. There was not a single sound inside; it was as if someone with a cosmic remote had pressed the mute button. The pair looked around for anything unusual but nothing seemed to be. Victor still felt the two auras but neither made their presence known.
"Roxanne, be careful, this might be an ambush of some kind. Keep your eyes peel for anyth-" Victor did not finish that sentence. Roxanne turned around to ask why he stopped but she found him missing. No matter where she looked, Victor was nowhere to be found. Her partner had disappeared despite being next to her a few moments ago. This obviously shocked her causing her to panic.
*swish* *click*
Roxanne’s monomolecular sword was deployed as she drew the sword of despair with her other hand; that familiar feeling of bloodlust filling her again. Ah yes, her bionic sword; the symbol she had come to be known as. A single molecule of some artificial form of nano-carbon. The material was prohibitively expensive due to its single property; nothing known to man would break or mold it. You could try and crush it, beat it with any alloy you could think of, expose it to extreme conditions, nothing would make it yield. Can you imagine the wonders this thing could do? However, none had enough money to experiment with it; not even the researchers who discovered it. None one, that is, but the US Army.
Dues to the rising tensions with china, congress had unanimously raised the defence budget to ridiculous levels; ridiculous even compared to the current status quo. This allowed them to experiment with the material; after a few years of testing, they came with a use: They would form it into a blade for use on their new cyborg program. The details are classified of course, but after development, many groups ended with this blades and swords for their own purpose. This powerful weapon that would not yield; fitting for Roxanne. She was it’s proud wielder and with it many enemies had fallen through the years; human or otherwise.
"Victoooor, where are you? Why did you leave me alone? Don’t you like me? Or did you find a new friend? That’s it isn’t it? Well, why don’t you invite them to play with me? I need a little playmate...", Roxanne called out in a cavalier tone, almost mockingly.
“I’ll play with you...:”, said an unknown voice. Roxanne turned to meet our guest; it wore the same military outfit as before but now it sported a mask made out of bone. “I have on of those too you know? Two in fact…” He deployed two bionic swords of his own, one on each hand. Where Roxanne’s was silver in color, his blades had a purple hue to them.
“Oh, and who may you be? Are you Victor’s new friend? I want him back you know? It’s best you cooperate; I don’t want to harm you…”
He have a hardy laugh of genuine amusement. “Victor is busy playing with a friend of mine. But don’t worry, after we are done with you, the two of you will meet again… For now, I will be your playmate, that sound fair?”
Roxanne chuckled tilting her head a bit. "Is that so? Well, I will just deal with you and find Victor myself then. Stay put and it will be over quick, the maiden of ruin promises mercy..."
"Is that what you call yourself now Roxanne? Luna not good enough for you?"
This gave paused to her despite the sword making her drunk in power and the desire for blood. "How do you know my name?"
“Now now, that is not your real name is it? But that doesn’t matter now. I have looked your you a very long time Roxanne...I want to see you suffer...I want you to feel my pain...and now that I have here, I’ll be damned if I let you slip away…”
Now it was Roxanne who laughed. The thought of someone besting “her”, the maiden of ruin, purifier of the shadows of arcana, that was laughable in the extreme. "A confident one are we? Let’s see how long you last!" She activated her cqb bionic and rushed at the man. He simply stood there and let her get close; once she did, he did a swift movement of his own blades.
*clang* *swooosh*
"...What? Impossible...", Roxanne explained. She looked at her augmented arm but the image did not register. Her bionic blade, it had been broken; only a 3 inch long piece remained, the rest was on stuck on the ground behind her as it had flung from the impact.
“My turn!”, said the man as he now rushed towards her.
Victor looked around to find himself in a dark room. He could still see but this was obviously for a deliberate reason. The sword of the void was activated and held in defensive stance as he braced himself for whatever happened next.
“So you are the holder of the void...the one who has keep a piece the longest...interesting...I am afraid I will be taking it with me now. Hand it over and you might be allowed to leave.”, said a voice. Victor turned around to the source of the voice to find a spirit he most certainly recognized; it held a sword identical to its own save for the crystal on it’s hilt.
"A nephilim? Wait...Roxanne! If you are here, I need to find here fast!"
“I am afraid I can’t allow you to do that. I need that sword and I intent to pry it for your dead hands if I need to. I hold no prejudice against you, this are just my orders.”
"I don’t have time for any of this! Taste my steel you fuck!", Victor shouted. His usual calm and passive demeanor broken in exchange for quick and blunt actions and words. He swung his sword in the direction of the spirit as wave of dark entropic energy flew in its direction. The spirit simply swung the sword it wielded and cancelled out the wave.
“You are going to have to do better than that mortal. Don’t you want to be with the wenc of yours?”
"...More you say...with pleasure..." At those words, Victor deactivated his sword and sheathed it into his scabbard. The spirit was confused, even more so when he took out a silver athame from his trenchcoat.
The divine spirit in Victor’s sword could sense his host’s intent. It was no place for him to question anyone as he was just to serve; and serve he did. "Would you like me to prepare a life orb Victor?", the divine spirit called out.
"How many charges do I have left?", Victor asked.
"Two, I can replenish them as we go."
"That would be great...buckle up...forgive me Helen..."
Victor closed his eyes and took the silver athame to point it at the spirit. It in turn threw a wave of entropy at Victor’s direction only for it to be deflected by an unknown force. Next, various voice could heard chanting in various languages. There seemed to be no origin, it was a cacophony of messaged. Victor opened his eyes; the spirit saw as they were pitch black with red streaks all over them converging at the center, and they were staring right at him.
"I who shall awaken...", said Victor in a hollow tone.
Roxanne stepped back as the her opponent recovered from a missed swing. Her breathing was heavy from exhaustion. The sword of despair was doing a good job of dulling the pain and keeping her drive to fight despite the injured. She was bleeding in various places from well place striked by him; her chest, arms, legs backs and more had cuts and gouges as those blades of him found their mark after leaving her clothing in tatters. Roxanne had managed to dodge or block any of the most serious attack but failed to land a single one of them.
“Is that all you got? Seriously? I have tracked you for years now Blackmore, at least put up a fight!”
Roxanne clenched her teeth and glared at him. "Don’t call me that!", with an almost animalistic shout, she charged at him once more. She was so used to using her bionic sword; all those hour of training with Hector, all her instincts being honed and her CQB bionic urging her so that she swung her hand where her bionic sword once was once she had reached him. She realized her mistake too little too late. The man simply shook his head as he took one of his own sword and plunged it right into Roxanne’s chest.
It didn’t hurt one bit; if anything, Roxanne felt cold. The effects of the blade were subsiding causing Roxanne to come to her senses. She looked down and saw the sword that now impaled her as she dropped the sword of despair. With both hands, she tried in vain to pull the sword out only for him to twist it in more causing her to scream now that her sense of pain was coming back.
"I’ve waited for this moment for so long...you have no idea how much I have longed for this...scream for me some more, show me how much it hurts and maybe you might comprehend how I feel...", whispered the man at Roxanne.
She just looked up at him into his eyes; the only part that wasn’t covered by his mask. Tears formed in here eyes. "W-why?", she managed to say. Her coughing resumed and was now accompanied by blood due to her injuries.
“Wouldn’t you like to know? But no, I won’t grant you that satisfaction; you don’t deserve any of it!” Once he said this, he forced the sword out of her chest in a swift motion. Roxanne stood there for a moment as her attention focused on her wound once more. She clutched her hands on the injury before collapsing on her knees.
"No...i-it can’t end like this...Hector...save me..."
Meanwhile somewhere far away.
Four candles were arranged in a single row. One was black, another red, one orange and the final one purple. They all were lit with a flame that was the same color as the candle itself. Watching carefully over them was Clara, the woman who the masked man decided to collaborate with. It was an original spell of her’s to use candles to keep track of the holders, the name given to those who the pieces had chosen. Clara was reading a book when it happened, a candle went out. She put the book down and look at as her face went pale.
“Clara? What is it? I am a busy man so make it quick.”, said the masked man as Clara entered his room. He had his masked on but he was facing away from her.
“I have bad news...one of the candles has gone out…”
The masked man was writing something in a journal; he stopped as soon as he heard this putting it down. “What candle?”
“...T-the holder of despair…”, Clara said hesitantly.
“...I see...anyone else claim the piece yet?”
“No, the piece has still not chosen anyone.”
“How long since the candle went out?”, asked the masked man.
“10 minutes...why?”
The masked man stayed quiet as he grabbed the journal, flipping the page and then resume writing.
“You are going to try and relit the candle aren’t you?”, asked Clara.
“...What choice do I have?”, responded the masked man.
“You can let her go...”
“...You and I both know I can’t do that Clara…”
“Are you prepared for the consequences? Will you disturb reality once more?”
“After what I have done, you ask me this? Add it to the list…Prepare a vessel for me...first I need to talk to someone before paying a visit...”
Clara gave a deep sigh; she would do as instructed, it didn’t affect her much after all. As long as she got her end of the bargain, this world could but for all she cared. She did offered him a warning though before she departed to do her duty, “Be careful of what you do, god can only suspend his disbelief so many times..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 30, 2018, 02:22:59 am
Helen gave a little sigh as Isaac came to, looking back to the man who remained. "They had a seidmadr who teleported the rest. We might be able to catch them, however..." she then gave a little sigh. "There was a seventh. Alice is injured, I suspect she'll be in bad shape but should survive." she explained.
"If this fool's errand has merit to it, this was a deliberate act to provoke you. We will bring them to justice. But do not give into anger." she said calmly, setting a hand on his shoulder. "He will lead us to where they were to meet, and if we have the chance to catch up from there..." she said softly, uncertain what to do from there.
For now, Hector and Nathaniel attended breakfast with the others, listening intently to the story after both gave their compliments. "So that's where you ended up. I was afraid we'd lose you for good. All of us were worried." Hector said, Nathaniel looking back outside before getting up to go bring a plate out for Lilith, given eating inside wasn't an option at her size.
"Here Lil. You doing alright?" he asked, giving her a pat as he offered her the plate, mostly bacon and eggs. Hector meanwhile looked around, still on edge given the earlier appearance of the interlopers. He felt it again. That pull towards the cursed sword, that faint yearning in the back of his mind to make use of it. Which was strange, that urge had subsided in the month after last time he used it, and had only just now flared up for a brief moment. Feeling like a spark in his chest.
It was Helen that felt something more distinct, or sensed rather. A voice, and not that of her patron deity. But it was indistinct, lost in the thoughts she was presently mulling over about their current problem.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 30, 2018, 02:49:23 am
Dervish wasn't at breakfast, though he would have liked to be. He sent Khaki along though, the centers chief of security had been all too excited to see Catnip alive and well. For now, Dervish worked through case after case, Medeina to one side, Captain Anquiano on his other. The robot had to be there for obvious reasons. Catalina though had to be there because the people now being processed by the doctor and the AI would be making their way to the refugee center after they'd had some rest here at the farm, and helped out a little. From the simple cover provided by the blue and white striped canopy set up for him by the newcomers, he saw a collection of mostly mislings and a few other regular people down by the river fishing. There was a comradery about them, perhaps a bond formed by the journey or by their similarity in background. A few had positioned themselves on the bridge and were flinging nets into the down stream side and pulling up light catches of running salmon. Some others had set up racks for holding and cleaning the catch while others had built temporary smoke houses. A very serious tan skinned man directed the cutting and brining of fish. Further down the bridge, he could barely make out the forms of men with shields made from car doors and armed with rifles protecting the fishers from attack at that end.
"Name?"
"Elle."
"Just Elle?"
"Sure."
"Are you alright?"
"Hm? Oh, sure. Sorry. I kind of met someone yesterday."
"Ah, I see. Well, good for you. Somebody from the farm I'm guessing since you'd have had plenty of opportunity to meet everybody traveling with you. Who's the lucky dog? Quinn? Isaac?"
"His name is Mohammad."
"..." "The desert sucks." Catnip said, taking another strip of the rich bacon. "I don't remember much of all the time I wandered around out there. I remember waking up covered in sand, and I remember a dry river bed. Thinking that the entire world had dried up." She lazily watched Lilith shoveling the food back, and then cuddling at Nathaniel. The tigress, who was bigger than Catnip had last seen her, head bumped Nathaniel to the ground and started carefully, gently gnawing on him. "Natalee nomph."
Nearby, Mica tried to upturn her own plate only to have Dee push it back down onto the table. He handed her a fork, which she threw away before snatching up her plate again and quickly tossing back it's contents while leaning away and holding the lizard at arms length the strangers watched the show, fascinated. Kathrine tried again to feed Catnip, and Catnip pushed the hand away gently. Atomos sprinted into the refugee center, bowling over and unfortunate man with a full bag of popcorn. Catalina's office was empty, so she went to Dervishes office. Still empty, she went to Dr. Maskens office.
"Calm down Ms. Barrowfield, the farm isn't under attack." she explained, "Why don't you go and see for yourself?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 30, 2018, 12:23:06 pm
Isaac stopped at the mention of someone attacking Alice. "So you attack the son of a god, and then just to make sure he's mad you attack his daughter. You really are making this man of peace thing difficult."
The anger in his voice made the man wince before he said "I was told we were just going to speak with you. I knew nothing about either attack."
Sighing Isaac said "If you didn't have information I needed I'd probably kill you anyway but I imagine you're aware of that." Looking to Helen he said "I'll go get my armor and weapons. Might need a hand to get the armor on but I'm not going to stay here and do nothing."
Elsewhere Alexei had brought the Misling he'd been talking with to see his still. She had been rather impressed with it but pointed out several ways he could have improved it. Alexei shrugged as he told her "Didn't see point. I make vodka, drink vodka, sometimes sell. Not like I need make industrial quantities."
She walked over to him and poured him a drink from one of his bottles as she told him "But think about it! You could produce so much more if we just refined these. You could even start your own bar!"
Alexei shrugged at that idea. The idea had a certain charm to it but he wasn't exactly the type to run such an establishment. That said her apparent passion for the idea made him say "Run bar by myself? I'm no barkeep."
She smiled as she said "I could help! And I'm sure we could find others!"
Alexei smiled as he drank the contents of his glass before motioning for her to follow. "If we do this may as well start now."
She followed him with a skip and a smile. Elsewhere Roland was sitting with a few Mislings drinking coffee. It was a bit strong for his taste but he drank it none the less, it had been a long night for him after all. One of them, younger than the other Mislings at the table, asked him about the symbols on his shoulder plate. Looking at it for a moment he explained "That's an old symbol for the US military, below it is the insignia the people I'm with designed to represent themselves. The 3rd paratroopers. Not that we do much of what paratroopers are supposed to do anymore."
The..Roland hazard a guess that he was a teenager, nodded and said that it sounded interesting before one of the adults said "I hope that your people are doing well."
Roland nodded as he said "My people are doing good. We've finally settled into our new home now that the renovations are done."
Another adult said "That's good. Always nice to have a home, and your help last night was appreciated."
Roland sipped his coffee before saying "Always happy to help people who aren't shooting at us. Gotta stick together and make this world better as best we can after all."
The conversation continued like that for a time, eventually the people at the table having to go separate ways to take care of various things.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 30, 2018, 05:45:14 pm
Nathaniel chuckled a little at Lilith's actions, even if he gave an "oof" at being bowled over by the tigress, reaching to scritch an ear lightly. "Easy Lil, no nomph." he said, seeming not that worried despite the fact she was far larger than him. Long as it had been since the incident, he'd gotten used to her new size.
Helen gave a little sigh at that. "I should've struck first, asked questions later. But no, that's the attitude that nearly got my brethren wiped out." she grumbled, before looking back to the man. "Well then. Come with us. I'll help with the armor, I have everything I need for this." she said. Her hammer, symbol of judgement, and Steinar's sword.
She then spoke into her radio, realizing she hadn't checked in with them in a while. "Helen here. Still been at the farm, few delays, and a slight...incident. Sergei, if you're at The Hall by now, come back whenever you're ready. If not, Solomon you know what to say." she said.
Elsewhere at The Hall, Sergei looked over at the radio receiver they had set up, sighing at the response. "Why do we still lack a proper two-way here..." he grumbled, while Sol looked to Steinar. "Staying here for now, or going over with Sergei?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 31, 2018, 05:31:33 pm
Steinar stood as he nodded to Sol "Thank you for letting us in and offering care. My friend here will need rest, and whatever you do don't remove the gloves he wears."
With that said he waited for Sergei to lead the way. Elsewhere Isaac left and went to his quarters. Grabbing the old duffle bag he'd kept under his bed he let it hang on his shoulder as he retrieved the fifty caliber pistol he'd never actually shot as far as he recalled. Sliding it into it's holster he then grabbed his M16 and started for the door.
As he was out the man stood up, pulling the messenger bag from around his shoulder and tossing it onto the desk "I somehow doubt you'll want me armed, so there's a knife I was given. There will be a few weapons with my armor at the meeting point if you want to confiscate them as well."
Before he could say more Isaac entered and set his weapons on the desk next to the machete before opening the bag filled with his armor. Motioning the man over he said "Help me get this on son. How old are you?"
The man picked up a piece as he said "twenty one sir. Youngest of the blessed."
Isaac nodded as they made sure the armor was securely strapped to him. Picking up the right hand of his armor he looked at it for a moment before tossing it to the side "Won't need that anymore." Before reaching into the bag again and picking up the helmet.
Sliding it on he connected the wires from the helmet to the chest plate and ran it through the programed routines. Looking over his shoulder at the man both he and Helen caught sight of the glowing red eyes of the armor as smoke poured from underneath it. The man took a step back as Isaac told him "If you do anything to harm either of us I'll run you through and leave you to bleed in the swamp."
Even with the wear and neglect over the course of the past year the armor made him look like some form of monster ceaselessly coming for it's prey. The light of the eyes piercing through the smoke that entirely concealed the helmet as he stared at the man. The voice modulator kicked in as he turned and said "And if I find you've lied to me I will give you a horrific death so painful you'll wish I had left you to bleed out in the swamps of this place, eaten by wild animals as you still live."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 31, 2018, 10:12:33 pm
The motorcade was mostly empty. A lot of the vehicles had started to pick up faults without a certain someone to repair them or even maintain them. It was amazing to Atomos how quickly a car or truck could fall apart if it was used hard and not maintained. A little bit of standing around looking lost, a trick she had mastered in her youth, and one of two attendants came around to see what she wanted.
"I need a vehicle. An ATV or something." She said. The attendant looked over his inventory, not hard considering there were only three hummers, a jeep, and a few other miscellaneous military and nonmilitary vehicles in the motorcade. Regardless of their not being one here, the attendant led her to the back bay door and indicated that she should follow.
"Gear shift is bad, you'll have to coast it to a stop since it's got no brakes. The steering is a bit wobbly too." He explained, "I'd have gotten Catnip to take a look, actually this ATV was next on her agenda for us before the attack. Poor girl. If you take it, even for a short trip to the farm, I'd take it nice and slow and avoid the holes in the path." On the ATV, as it was with any vehicle, it didn't take long to get to the farm. Atomos hit the pavement and felt her control lapse for just a moment when the grip of the ATV's tires suddenly shifted and attempted to correct. Like the attendant at the motorcade claimed though, the steering was a bit wobbly. To compensate, Atomos had to put pressure on the handlebars. She over did it, and the ATV flipped. The handle bars, and she really shouldn't have been so surprised, came off in her hand with an explosive snap. The ATV tumbled, rolling once before coming to rest on it's top while Atomos likewise rolled from the ATV, skidding to a stop at the other side of the road.
"Hello." Said a brown furred girl who came to see if she was still alive. "You should drive more carefully. I'm Catnip. I like your tail."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 01, 2018, 01:49:15 pm
Solomon gave a nod at that, not questioning the peculiar request. He'd since learned from Helen that if someone asks you not to do something that seems weird, there's usually a good reason behind it. For now Sergei left The Hall along with Steinar, heading along the shore to reach the road leading to the farm.
Elsewhere, Helen watched as she followed the others, checking her gear once more as Isaac soon gathered his armor and enlisted the young man's help in donning it. She couldn't help but be impressed by the design, armorsmithing working along with electronics to turn the suit from mere protection to something designed to strike fear into the enemy. At least that much was apparent, though she was unsure if any more functional uses for its electronic components where hidden beneath the surface.
"And if I find you or your kin have inflicted any further harm on any of the others here, you'll be praying to the gods that Isaac gets his hands on the one responsible before I do." she said, presently inspecting the sword that Steinar had given her. Whatever effects it had she'd yet to fully study, so far she knew only that it had a demonstrated effect on spiritual beings. Whether it had any effect beyond that of a mundane sword on physical beings she didn't know, and personally she doubted it would.
For now she sheathed the blade, instead regarding her hammer and symbol of judgement. Adequate enough for the task, she suspected.
Atomos was in shock momentarily at the name. She could see the farm had a whole host of visitors, among them numerous signs of rodent mutants, but the one that approached her had a distinctly different appearance. In fact her description resembled the one Derivsh had occasionally mentioned before.
The name confirmed it, and she did her best to regain her composure, standing up and dusting herself off. "I'm Atomos. Er...oh, my tail? Thank you. You said your name's Catnip?" she asked, soon explaining how she had arrived with the rest of the Site 4 squad some time after the attack, something Catnip would've already heard from Catalina. Though where the captain had been rather brief and blunt about the events in the vault, Atomos' summary of it made it apparent that the place left its mark on her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 01, 2018, 03:06:06 pm
The man merely nodded his head in understanding as Isaac holstered his pistol and picked up the machete. "Unless we're waiting for anyone I'd say we should get going. Either way we can meet anyone you want to bring at the bridge."
Motioning for the man to go through the door first Isaac followed. As he stepped through the door the man looked up to inspect the sky before shaking his head and speaking to himself "So the raven's gone back to Horace. Maybe it thinks I'm dead already."
Isaac ignored the man as he sheathed the machete and flexed the armored gauntlet. It had been some time since he'd worn the armor but found himself adjusting back to it relatively quickly. Walking past several of the members of the 3rd he noticed them giving him uneasy looks, one stopping for a few seconds to stare in a mixture of concern and horror. Raising his hand to wave at the man Isaac smiled underneath the helmet as he flinched before realizing it was in fact not something hell bound on coming to kill him like something out of a horror movie.
Soon they reached the bridge and stopped. Isaac inspected the nearby kubel wagon before walking over. Leaning inside he found Krieg watching Alice. Without looking up Krieg told Isaac "She'll live but will need a few days to rest and heal. The possibility for infection is low but I'll provide her with a few things to make sure that isn't a problem."
Isaac grabbed the discarded piece of the spear as he said "Thank you."
Krieg merely nodded as he took a sip of water. Walking back to Helen and the man he told her "I'm ready to go. But you've got a family now Helen, you sure you want to get involved in this?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 02, 2018, 07:04:05 am
"You're certainly free with your information. I suppose I was too once." Catnip said, "Being abducted and sold into slavery will do that though." Catnip ran her hands down her face, suddenly anguished. Atomos had been told, after a bit of prodding when the mourning had died down a little, that Catnip had been a very friendly and open mechanic and trader, always eager to meet with people or meet new people. When the center sent someone to the farm there were only two people they were sent to talk to. Hector, and Catnip. The person here now though friendly seemed more guarded than described, eager but not excited.
"I'm sorry." Catnip went on, "I used to meet people in my home but as you can see, my home is gone." Catnip gestured weakly to the open yard where the barn had stood. "Where am I gonna live Atomos? I can't work out of a tent, how am I gonna live out of one?" Despite the seriousness of the question, Catnip didn't seem too put off.
"Want the tour?" Catnip asked. Sylvia gave the teacup a look over before pouring her tea into it. The teas abnormal shade of rouge wasn't actually all that unusual for a floral tea, but for one derived from herbs which produced a yellow or brownish fluid like this, it would certainly raise an eyebrow.
The cup was the one Helen had drunk from the day before, and Sylvia had a reason for doing what she was doing while Daniel was out running errands in camp. He believed that the tea sight affected the soul in some way. That was nonsense of course, but his belief was strong. He would not abide the simple cantrip perpetrated on one of his sister's in arms. People so often didn't tell the whole story, or nearly enough about themselves. Sylvia told herself that what she was doing, she did for her man. She wanted to be sure, and in truth, wanted to know more about the woman with the mask like Daniels.
She lifted the tea to her lips and drank, inhaling the heady vapors of the special tea. Taking in the buttery taste mingling with the bite of sheared copper. Then she waited. When the tea began to hit her a minute later, she closed her eyes and sat back. As she did so another set of eyes, those within not without, opened and showed her.
The woman was as she said, and the tea revealed a little more. The father of her chaps name was victor ironwood, and from the skewed perspective the tea gave, Sylvia could see that Helen veiwed the man who had provided her get with a mix of love and exasperation. Beyond her man, there were others. Roxanne, a busty buffoon but a reliable one. Quinn, quiet and a bit sour. The people she lived with in a place she called "the hall of Odin's blessing." Or something like that. Hector, a knight with a sanctimonious streak. Recent trouble with an up and coming blood mages named Sharlene. The mage hunters veiwed her with especial horror for some reason. She wasn't scared of the woman, just aggrevated. The mute was also featured near the top of what the magician sifted. Helen seemed to veiw the creature, Mica, with a kind of "hands on head" horror. Mica was not just a buffoon, but a buffoon with a cannon. There came the memory of Mica holding aloft some kind of rust flecked hatchet, and the sudden sanguine detonation. Catnip was in here too. A confusing girl with a made up god who seemed to be real, and who sought an item Sylvia knew. The vortex stone. If that was what it really was that Catnip truly wanted for her grand project, then she had given up her life's goal to stop Algol. The mechanics fury when they had encountered her in the wreckage of Sylvia's invention now made a bit more sense.
A cough brought her back from the shallow rummagings of her divinations. Sylvia's eyes flew wide and her inner eye snapped shut at the sound, and standing before her she found a woman a strange man with swords for arms, and a tigress. The recently peeked at memories told her that this was Sharlene and her retinue.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 02, 2018, 11:28:57 am
Helen was ready, heading out with the other two, making the entire scene a peculiar sight. A man in horrifying armor, a complete stranger, and the peculiar scaled cloak and mask of a mage hunter. When they passed the men of the 3rd she likewise gave a wave to them and a polite nod, continuing onward.
When they reached the kubelwagon she activated her mask to look Alice over and examine the extracted javelin head, in case any further magic might be involved. When Isaac asked her that, she gave a little sigh. "And so do you. If we're to set them on the right path..." she said, uncertain of this. She knew that he most likely could handle them on his own if it came to that. If anything, their leader might've fully intended that. But that means doing so would play into their plans.
Atomos was surprised by all this, and shocked by what Catnip said about being sold into slavery. Her concerns about that were further interrupted by new worries, about the barn. She'd never even given it much thought the last few times she'd be here. She was aware that Kath seemed to sleep there and that the forge had been messed up, but now she realized that was supposed to be where two people slept.
"Oh. Maybe we could help with repairs? You guys have done so much for the center, if I asked the captain surely..." she questioned in the back of her mind why the barn had been in this state the whole time. The tree likely was a contentious subject sure, and maybe difficult to get out of the way. But not even an attempt to build a proper replacement?
"I've been here a few times before, but...sure, if you'd like?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 02, 2018, 04:38:08 pm
Isaac shook his head as he too examined the javelin head, though only inspecting it physically. To him he noticed nothing remarkable though Helen noticed a faint magical marking on the metal head of the weapon. It seemed to have no effect other than to be an identifying mark.
Isaac turned towards the road as he tucked the remains of the weapon into his belt and said "She'd be better off without me. I just bring trouble to people anyway. You though, you have a young child. He'll need you, mine doesn't need me."
Elsewhere Steinar followed Sergei to the farm. A sword was strapped to his belt on the right hand side and a trio of javelins loosely clattering in their quiver. His round shield hung from a leather strap attached to the back of his belt and a pair of hand axes sat on the left side of his belt ready for throwing or breaking open skulls. His Gjermundbu helmet covered the top of his face and a mail veil covered the rest of his head down to his Lamellar armor.
Looking around he asked Sergei "How far to this farm? I've need to speak with Helen."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 02, 2018, 09:55:00 pm
Catnip began her tour, and Atomos quickly realized she hadn't meant the farm.
"This is where Floyd's room used to be. I built him a proper room instead of that plastic sheet room he had before. Kathrine and I stayed in our room there, where the tree is. Do you know where the tree came from? It wasn't there before." Catnip asked. Atomos shook her head, she wasn't privy to the details of the trees sudden miraculous growth. "Here where this hole is was where my spare tools and stuff were kept, and the hole is the quarry. The other tent over there was my prayer room, and next to it was where all my best parts were kept. Quinn always complained about radiation from that area, but I don't see a problem. That over there is the forge room, seems it's held up better than the rest of my house..."
Catnip seemed to be bristling a little. "Just a tent for Kat to stay in." She hissed, very obviously quiet pissed and no longer hiding it, "Not even a little house or something, not even an offer to stay with one of them. Or in one of the empty houses. She would have stayed in one of them if they'd moved all our stuff into it and told her to stay..."
"It's a bit late for that." She said to Atomos suggestion, "but better late than never. The people from Pricetown made the same offer this morning." Catnip took Atomos back out front and helped her right her ATV with a promise to have it fixed in a few days. "Walk with me Atomos. Kathrine, you come too. We'll go see how the Pricetown people are doing."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 02, 2018, 10:23:20 pm
Helen sighed a bit at that as they neared the bridge. "Either way, consider what their plan may be. They want provoke you, no doubt. If you do go on your own...promise me you won't lose control of yourself." she said softly, looking back towards the bridge. Walking past it was Sergei, and a sight she was surprised to see. She gave a wave to them, and Isaac likely could tell this wasn't a stranger to her.
"Farm is across the field here, th-...or she can already be here, that works too." he remarked, waving back and approaching. "Remind me to get a two-way for The Hall too. You have visitors. Steinar here, and another by the name of Salazar?" he said, and Helen nodded at that. "Steinar's one of the ones that joined us in the hunt for Randael, but the latter name isn't familiar." she admitted.
She then looked back to Isaac and gave a sigh. "I suspect we've some catching up to do...if you're certain you can handle them alone, so be it." she said. Sergei nodded at that, for now making his way back to the farm.
Atomos was concerned now, uncertain why they left Kath like that as she showed her around. "...why didn't they? Surely...I mean if she refused..." she said, confused and uncertain. For most of the people at the farm, the reason had been an unwillingness to pry Kathrine away from the barn. The whole ruined structure had put a terrible sense of unease in most of them, with only Kath regularly loitering among the ruins, aside from Hector's occasional work at the forge. Even then it seemed like he'd done less and less at the forge when he could help it. It'd gotten worse when the rat died, despite so many having refused to believe that thing was really Catnip.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 02, 2018, 10:51:22 pm
Isaac said "I won't make a promise I'm not sure I can keep. But I can handle whatever they have to throw at me." as he pushed the man forward. The man offered no resistance as he lead the way. Nodding to the stranger as he passed him Isaac loosely held a pistol aimed towards the man leading him.
Steinar for his part watched Isaac go for a moment before approaching Helen. She most likely heard him speaking quietly to himself "I didn't know..well perhaps I am mistaken."
As he neared Helen he smiled and said "Hallå, det har gått någon tid sedan vårt senaste möte.(Hello, it has been a while since our last meeting.)" Seeming to catch himself he continued "Er..Hello, it has been some time since we've last met. Apologies I'm accustomed to speaking in such languages, I forget they aren't as common as in my youth. I went to the Hall but only found one of your comrades. I do apologize for coming on such short notice but matters made it a matter of necessity."
Noticing she had his sword he smiled and said "I see you kept it. I hope it has served you well."
Elsewhere Roland sat with Alexei. The two sat across from each other as they sipped at their drinks and did their best to stay conscious. Which for Alexei wasn't particularly a problem as he downed his glass and smiled. As Roland did the same a handful of Mislings shuffled whatever they considered money around.
In truth one of them had put Roland up to this drinking game and now they were gambling on how long it'd take him to fall over unconscious..or dead. They had a medic not too far from where they were and they viewed the latter as an unlikely outcome. Regardless they payed attention as they poured another round and started on drinking them.
Alexei's newfound friend and potential business partner smiled as tossed a minor amount into the pot and waited. "You sure you wanna put that much in?" one of the others whispered.
She she smiled sweetly at him as she said "Oh I'm sure. Now why don't you mind your own money."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 03, 2018, 01:33:09 am
"Of course she'd refuse." Catnip said, wrapping one arm around Kathrine and squeezing her tight, "She probably told them she didn't want to be a bother, or that she didn't want to make people work on her behalf, or something else along the lines of 'I'm fine, don't worry about me.' Maybe it was Mica's responsibility, but in the kindest words, Mica isn't the smartest. I relied on her to protect Kathrine physically which started, I hear, rather roughly. I relied on the rest of these people to take care of Kathrine's needs mentally. I am disturbed to learn that they utterly failed." Catnip was thinking of the incident in the armory. She had been focused on punishing Mica for her failure, but Kathrine's attempt on her own life disturbed her more than a little. Her thoughts kept drifting back to it. It wasn't Mica's fault of course, Mica was just as capable of love and kindness as she was, her relationship with Dee was proof of that. The others were smarter than Mica though. Lilith had been better at protecting Kathrine though, and Mica had even attempted cooking for Kathrine. Even Floyd hadn't done much for her, moving himself into one of the empty houses. "'I'm fine.' Is the way of my Kat's world." Catnip finished. Kathrine was blushing a little and looking at the ground as they walked.
"I'm sorry..." Kathrine said. Catnip hugged her for the billionth time and told her not to be. Considering what she'd just been told, Atomos figured that Kathrine wouldn't stop being sorry for anything, but watching the two of them together she could also assume that Catnip would always be there to make sure it was alright.
"You two are a cute couple." Atomos said off handedly. Catnip grinned wide and Kathrine looked away, smiling a little. The prior chose that as her que to change the subject.
"You know, I never knew a person could feel more naked without any clothes on. Those people at King's Court showed me that you could, if you have fur the shave off. I havn't even had this fur my whole life, but once they cut it all off... I don't think I've ever been so uncomfortable in my life. Kat, do you have a cig?" Catnip said. Kathrine passed her a cigarette from an unmarked pack and in short order, they were passing the cigarette between them, sharing the coffin nail between the two. "Want one?" Catnip asked Atomos. Atomos shook her head at the offer. A misling greeted her before moving on, and soon they were making their way through the camp. "Greetings Sha- Ma'am. Welcome to my humble tent." Sylvia said. Sharlene was already looking over things, nosing about.
"Drinkin' tea huh? Have you tried coffee?"
Of course she'd tried coffee. Sylvia preferred coffee. The odd man though leaned in before she could respond though and said simply, "Divination, mother."
"Divi-what?" Sharlene said. The large tigress, Lilith Sylvia guessed, moved forward and accidentally knocked one of Sylvia's tent poles out, snapping the support. The fabric draped itself over Lilith's head, and Sylvia thought she heard the tigress utter an "oopth" before the rest of the tents main flap gave and covered everything.
"M-madam please, I-"
"Sorry sorry, dumbass doesn't know her own size. Mickey, take care of it."
"Yes mother."
In a flurry of blinding blades, and flashing steel, the front half of the tent Sylvia shared with her husband dropped away in ribbons, along with her tablecloth and a good bit of her folding table. Sylvia stamped her foot, preparing to start shouting, but stopped herself, closed her eyes, and began to count to ten. When she opened her eyes, her guests were gone. So too was a jar of blood essence, a milk crate of teacups and coffee mugs, and one of Sylvia's small collection of day dresses. "Uh..." Said Dervish, looking to Catalina before taking a quick note on his clipboard. "Mohammad? Like, the guy with the bra and skirt?" L smirked at him. She didn't know that a little over six months before, Mohammad had been considered two things. The first being a the butt of the farms jokes, and the second being an asshole. The man she met the day before, and had allowed into her tent, no longer wore clothes like that and considered himself a "recovering asshole."
"I guess we don't get to pick who we fall in love with, I'm not going to-"
"What is that supposed to mean?" L snapped. Dervish looked taken aback, and more than a little embarassed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"You know he was a police officer once? Before the cataclysm?"
That was a surprise to Dervish, who hadn't been keeping up with farm politics. Neither had anyone else on the farm apparently. The day and night before, Mohammad had done more than just talk a little with L. When they first met, he'd talked haltingly to her about herself. Later that night, He'd talked about himself. He was a bit of a weirdo, a little. But that didn't seem to matter much to the girl who'd also opened up to him, telling him even about the fate of her family. She'd wept to him, and to Mohammad's surprise, he hadn't drawn away from her. They stayed together all night and slept very little.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 03, 2018, 01:17:17 pm
Helen nodded at that, looking away before giving a sigh. "Alright then. Take care." she said, watching them leave before looking back to Steinar. Swedish, a slip of the tongue that admittedly threw her for a loop. "Velkominn. Hvat segir þú?" (Welcome. How are you?) Aside from one word's pronunciation, the result could've passed for Icelandic rather than the revived language she was taught.
"Sorry that I wasn't there this morning, was kept a bit late by...well as you can guess, some intruders here." she remarked, gesturing to the man being led away by Isaac at gunpoint. "And proper visitors yesterday. Indeed, it's still served well, even if I'll admit I'm better with a warhammer."
Elsewhere Atomos gave a little sigh at that, still uncertain what to make of all this. She didn't really know what to think of this treatment given she hadn't been at the farm that much at all. "They have been doing a lot of work around here though, the past here. The palisade, that watchtower. They still should've asked us, evidently the center helped with the path through the swamp?" she said.
It was likely apparent after pointing those things out that the constructions they'd focused on over the year had been defensive in nature. Given the attack and everything they said about Kathrine's abduction, it was clear they'd been worried. And unknown to Atomos, this very morning had proven the necessity of these fortifications, given the six intruders had walked through the only available entrance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 03, 2018, 01:50:50 pm
"I see all the new construction, that still doesn't put a proper roof over my girlfriends head. Work, work, work. Always work to be done. Sir loin is always working on his armor, Dee is always working on his robot, I'm always working on my train. Have you noticed how much time Hector spends on his armor? I'd have expected him to have fabricated a whole armies worth of armor by now with the amount of time he spends on it. Also, that's not how a conversation works. You changed the subject already silly, and now we are talking more about my families failings again. The center are nice people, but Dervish says they havn't recovered enough to even help themselves yet. That's sad... I should visit them soon." Catnip said.
Atomos stepped lightly along, carefully avoiding stepping on some small furry children, being watched over by a pair of children who seemed shockingly ordinary compared to the kids they warded over. "I mostly work off site." Atomos said, "So uh... I guess I'm not really privy to the details." It sounded flat to her, but it was true. Most of Atomos time in the year past had been spent carousing, socializing, and spying on Hell's raiders and God's Army as well as her duties as the centers scout and provider. Apart from that, there was a month or so time she'd spent setting up what she called her "retreat." A carefully fortified house in the middle of undead infested territory stocked with her own back up supplies. The house was a veritable fortress which she accessed from a second story window and liberal application of a board across a gap.
She wondered why Catnip was leading her through the loosely staked out camp, but the reason became apparent as soon as Dervish and Medeina came into view.
"Hi L, how'd you sleep?" Catnip asked.
"Better than most nights I've had in a long time." She gave Catnip a confiding look that Catnip didn't catch.
"That's wonderful L, Medeina can I talk to you? Atomos, gimme a sec, I have a couple things I need to ask my perfectly honest ro-butt friend here, and then I'll show you a wonder. I'll show everyone here a wonder in fact."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 03, 2018, 01:56:50 pm
Steinar glanced over at Isaac before looking back to Helen and speaking in old Norse "I am well, surprised to hear someone born in this period knows my mother tongue. Your friend mentioned my companion, Salazar, though I think he failed to mention that you do in fact know him. Granted his name until now wasn't known save by those who served him."
Looking around he continued "Perhaps we should find some place to talk at greater length, and possibly privately. I've a feeling this will require some explanation."
Meanwhile Isaac had disappeared out of sight with his captive. After a time he looked back before holstering his pistol and shaking his head. The man raised an eyebrow as he heard Isaac sigh and asked "Not my place at the moment I suppose but you okay?"
Isaac didn't answer at first and the pair walked for a few minutes in silence before he said "No. But I've work to do before I can lie down and die."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 03, 2018, 07:01:38 pm
Victor walked out of the main room onto where the him and Roxanne had entered. The whole ordeal had taken 10 minutes; 10 minutes the two had been separated. The way to the entrance was down a flight of stairs made to a section of the cave that was inaccessible otherwise but it obscured what was on the bottom; that meant Victor couldn’t see Roxanne on the floor as she slowly gasped for air. Her assailant had left; he had given Roxanne a good look and declared it a good job. He kept the broken monomolecular sword a trophy and he took another thing: The sword of despair.
None of that mattered at the moment; Victor dropped the two swords he was now holding, one his and the other the one the nephilim had been using. He rushed to were Roxanne was, this scene all too familiar him. "Roxanne! What happened?!", Victor called. In his haste, he had failed to see the stab wound; the robe was red so blood wouldn’t be a good indicator. However, he did noticed it a few moments later. "Nonono, not this again! I am not going through this again!", shouted Victor.
He checked her pulse; it was still there. It was faint but still existent. Victor gave a sigh of relief. "There is still a chance… It doesn’t have to end li-"
“VIctor Ironwood...you have evaded your destiny long enough...you must finish the job,,,end the curse...”
It was back, that voice. He knew it would appear again; second time it did was when the Roxanne of this would had died. Then too it told him to finish his duty but he had refuse then, would he now?
Victor looked at Roxanne on the ground; she look so peaceful. Any other thoughts had escaped him. What had happened to his friends? The numerous other people living here? Why were this two waiting for them. He would think about this questions for a long time and come to satisfying conclusions but in this moment, none of them even register. "Maybe...maybe it’s pointless to fight it...I have done so for so many years and it has brought me nothing but misery...I have been branded a fool...I have failed every attempt thus far...maybe it’s time." Without him noticing, his hand had been reaching for his laser pistol on his hit. It was on his hand now, his finger flicking the safety off.
“Don’t you even consider it for a second! Put the gun down Victor…”, said a new voice. Well, not really new. Victor knew this voice *very* well. He hadn’t heard it in a while but it provoked an anger in him he could not describe. He wouldn’t dare acknowledge it’s presence. “Are you just going to give up like that? That isn’t the Victor I know...Didn’t you fight me tooth and nail last time we spoke? Where is that will? What happened to go?” The grip on the pistol got tighter. He would not be lectured by the likes of him! How did he think he was?! A coward that hid behind a mask had no right to tell anything to him.
“Free will is but an illusion...Even if you do not fulfill your duty today, you will tomorrow. No-one cannot escape destiny; those who do only suffer. You of all people should now that..., said the mysterious voice.
“Wait...is that...Victor, don’t listen to it. I know you have no reason to trust me but you do not want to entangle yourself with that thing. I can help you, we can bring her back, it’s not too late!”
Victor chuckle a bit; the irony of being told that by the terrorist did not escape him. "It’s a little too late for that… You cannot take it back, the curse is real… I didn’t accept it for so long but it ends today… It all ends today..." There was a momentary silence; neither voice spoke up.
"V-victor...help me...", wailed Roxanne. It was incredibly weak and strained. His attention shifted to her. "It hurts...so much..." Victor gave a sympathetic smile to her. His free hand lifting her head slightly as the other readied the pistol. "I know… Don’t worry, it will all go away soon. I will make sure the pain goes away.", Victor responded.
"D-do you promise?"
"I swear on mother Venus herself."
Roxanne gave a faint smile; she had begun to go pale but for some reason she still hanged on to life.
“Victor, don’t be a fool and listen to me! There is still a way, I just need you to listen to me! Put the gun down and let’s wo-”
*swish* *zap*
A single clean shot through the head; Roxanne’s body went limp as Victor took the laser pistol and holstered once more. She had been looking at him at the time, the two locked eyes as he pulled the trigger. Victor let Roxanne rest on the ground again before closing her eyes and saying a quick prayer. The presence of the terrorist banished, only the mysterious voice remained.
“ You have done well...the curse has been lifted...whatever happens from here is up to you..I see no need for us to speak any longer; I will now take my leave. But before I do, as penance and reward for your actions, I will grant you one request.
Victor smiled as he looked at Roxanne’s body. This day had not turned out the way it was supposed to. He looked up into the cave’s ceiling before speaking. "There is only one thing I want right now..."
The masked man gave a deep sigh as his connection was lost. Clara had a little smirk on her face at the sight of this; it was unusual to see him lose his composure. He rubbed the side of his head before putting on the mask back on.
"Something wrong?", asked Clara nonchalantly.
“Yes, Victor Ironwood ruined everything...that’s what happened…”, responded the masked man.
“Ha! That’s my little brother for ya; I seriously don’t know what you expected.”
The masked man’s gaze turned sharply to Clara. She simply looked at him confused.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”, asked Clara.
“You called him your brother…”, responded the masked man.
“Did I know? Oh well, must have slipped!”
“I thought that was a sensitive topic for you…”
Clara shrugged; she looked away while she twittled with her hair. “I don’t hold it against him anymore. We were both young and stupid. That little clubs of his meant a lot it seems. He disowned me, so what? We are still family.”
The masked man chuckled at bit and Clara gave him an annoyed look. “That wasn’t what you said when I brought it up.”
“Oh no, if you bring it up I am going to skin you alive.”
“I would like to see you try…”
“Just try me…”
There was a small moment of silence as the two of them glared at each other. Even with the masked on, Clara could tell his look of disdain on his face.
“Anyways, have you prepared the vessel?”, asked the masked man.
“I did, yes. Why is that?”, responded Clara.
“I need to go and fix your brother’s mistake myself...you better hope his stupidity is recessive…”
“Now now, you are pushing your limits…”
The all to familiar darkness of the spirit realm surrounded Victor. He was still under the protection of the divine spirit but this was uncharted waters. The feeling of bliss and clear of thought was still present due to his guardian but Victor had no time to relish any of it; he was here for one thing and one thing only. The limit of the spirit’s influence was nearing, from there, only it’s “physical” embodiment could help it but other spirits could harm him along the way.
The barrier had been breached, the feeling of bliss had ended. Victor was now traveling without any wards, his soul expose; a soul that didn’t belong to him. You see, a soul outside of it’s body is a dangerous thing. The body limits and protects us. Our senses are not there to aid us in perceiving reality, they are there to limit it. Imagine seeing all of the light spectrum at once; seeing every single wifi,television and radio signal; being able to feel them; hearing the heartbeats and the flow of blood from others. This is what an exposed soul would experience in the realm of the living. Victor was now in such a state, but this place was devoid of stimuli save for what others spirits did.
He was nearing his destination; past the winds of memories, past the hills of reconsideration and down the road of judgment lied what he was looking for: The abyssal canyon. There are no words in the english language to explain this in a way that does it any justice; worse still, only a handful of people had gone here in the history of mankind. Not because it is difficult to do, because it’s getting out that is a struggle. Only those who are brave or foolish enough make the journey before death; and most of them don’t come back. Everyone of them had a reason, a cause they sought after but reality doesn’t care for the needs and wants of mere mortals. The world isn’t fair and beyond it is more of the same.
Victor was no different, he had a reason to be here, a goal. Should he succeed, he would be able to stand in front of death itself and laugh in its face; should he fail...well the consequences of not even trying would be about the same in the realm of the living. This was it, the final adventure. He had been dreading this day, done his best to try and avoid it but it seems the voice was right: you cannot escape destiny…
There is was, the abyssal canyon in all its glory. Those who awaited judgment after their life ended awaited here. No matter your fate, you would eventually jump into the cliff. There was no use in resisting the pull of the abyss; if you stayed here, your soul would just decay into nonexistence. For some, this was preferable to their assignments fate. No one knew what or where the canyon leads to. Once you cross it, there is no coming back, no second chances, no redos, no spells that can aid you. Victor walked into the area were all the spirits of the damned awaited; it was a see of people. Here, you could tell who was dommed and who awaited salvation. Everyone’s aura was exposed and those of the wicked were tainted while the rest irradiated with light.
Now, Victor wasn’t dead so his own soul did not radiate anything; and the others noticed this. No matter their fate, the dead envied the living and Victor could feel that envy being directed as he moved through the sea of the dead. He was looking for one specific soul and finding it wouldn’t be hard; this one soul would not share the same envy as the others and it was infused with divine essence. It is difficult to describe in language not meant to describe the realm of the beyond but here you could travel anywhere you wanted in any direction. Things like left,right,up and down didn’t apply anymore; you just moved where you needed to go. As such, Victor sorted through the aura’s of the damned and found the one he sought before moving towards it.
There she was, Roxanne stood still looking down at the abyss. She had not been dead for more than an hour in the realm of the living so it was still too early to have received her judgment. Not that timed matter here; the only thing that existed here was the now. Victor could’ve had traveled for 15 minutes to get here or 15 years; he had no way of knowing. Now, here everything that was about you was stripped. Once again, there is no language suited to describe this but I’ll try my best. The concept of appearance didn’t matter. The soul lost it’s corporeal form and what was left was just, for a lack of a better term, your essence. Two people with a strong enough bond would recognize each other’s essence and as such the two of them had no trouble knowing who they were “seeing”.
"Victor? Wait, what are you doing here? Why are you- Now, how are you here?", asked Roxanne.
"That doesn’t matter...I am here for you Roxanne. We are going home...", Responded Victor.
Roxanne didn’t know what was going on, she was utterly confused. So many questions lingered here mind and now Victor was here too.
"What? Go home? Victor...this is it...this is the end. Look at it, there is no going back."
"It doesn’t have to be that way. I can take you back home Roxanne. It is not your time yet. This is a mistake, there are greater forces at play here… Come on, there is nothing for you here..."
"How in god’s name will you even do that?! Look around you! Look at that canyon there! There is no going back Victor! This is it… I don’t know how you got here but you should leave...You aren’t dead yet aren’t you? I can tell… You shouldn’t be here… We all know it..."
The spirits around them were growing restless. All their attention was focused on Victor; how dare the living come here and mock them?!
"I am not leaving without you Roxanne… I did not come here to take no for an answer..."
"I don’t understand Victor... I just don’t"
"You don’t understand what?"
"Why are you even doing this? Why are you here? How come every single time I am in peril, you come to my aid at your own expense. You lost your own soul to save me once and now you are doing it again. Why?! What is wrong with you?! Why do you insist on doing this over and over again?! I don’t get it! Why me? What risk so much for me? I don’t understand..."
If this were the realm of the living, Victor would have the biggest smirk on his face. He could knew Roxanne well enough to use this little tirade of hers to his advantage.
"You really want to know? I can show you… I can show you why… But not here. There is no way I can show you here. Come with me Roxanne and I will answer any questions you may have. There is something you need to see to understand. Will you accept or will you stay here and wither not knowing? Your choice..."
"...And how exactly are we getting out?"
“That is where I come in”, said a familiar voice. Roxanne turned her attention to see the divine spirit in Victor’s sword next to her. He remained the same despite being down the farthest area of the road of judgment; it’s essence was also it’s corporeal form so it retained it even here. Roxanne couldn’t help but stare in awe at the precedence of this spirit. The others here took noticed as well. Not only did the living infiltrate but now a divine spirit did to. They were starting to grow agitated; they has seen this before not too long ago, they knew what happened next and they were furious. If they couldn’t get out of here, no-one would!
The sea of the damned had parted when the divine spirit had shown up but now they had begun to slowly advance forward. Judgment be damned, death was permanent, nobody was getting out. The abyss itself seemed to agree; from all around them, mysterious figures began to appear. This things radiated with an aura of omnipotence. They paid no mind to anything else but the divine spirit; it didn’t belong and as such it needed to be purged. Time was running out.
Roxanne snapped back into reality and she turned her gaze to Victor. "I see...are you sure this will work?"
"Not a clue...but you must play to win. Come on, we are leaving on my mark..."
Victor took a look at the divine spirit. It radiated with incredible power but he was overwhelmed by the victims of the cataclysm itself; not to mention the new figures who seemed to be enforcers of some kind. This was like the undead back home, it wasn’t their power that made them dangerous, it was their numbers.
"Thank you for everything..."
"It was a pleasure serving you Victor. Now go.", said the divine spirit as it readied it's blades one last time. The spirits charged forward and then a bright flash engulfed everything. What happened next simply cannot be described; there is no apt comparison. Let’s just say Victor and Roxanne “jumped” out of the road of judgment...even that is not making it justice.
It was done, they had succeeded. The two had come back; they were now back in the realm of the living back in that forsaken cave. Victor inspected his sword and sighed; it now lacked a spirit to aid it and as such it wouldn’t turn on. No matter, he wouldn’t need it soon enough...not even for what he was about to do…
Roxanne was back, she saw the sun coming through the entrance of the cave. However, something was wrong. She felt cold, empty, tainted; her attention was fixed at something on the ground, something she could not explain.
"V-victor...what did you do to my body?"
"I did what I had to do Roxanne...and this in no different."
Roxanne turned around to find Victor holding a sword very similar to his own but obviously still different. His own was sheathed and this one was active. The aura of entropy felt even by her. She took a step back.
"Victor...what is going on...", asked Roxanne with worry and confusion in her voice.
"I am sorry Roxanne...neither of us can escape destiny..."
Without a moment’s hesitation, Victor swung the active sword right through Roxanne. A familiar purple flame could be seen as the sword did it’s job.
The cyborg mage hadn’t traveled far. He had the biggest grin in his face. Not only had he gotten rid of the parasite that was Roxanne Blackmore once and for all but with the help of his new allies, Shadows of Arcana was no more either. He had tracked her for years through countless places following leads. With no exaggeration, he had pursuit her through realities; the shifting proving no challenge for him. Now he sat down to reflect on what had just happened.
In his hand he held a pendant; it was one of those that opens to reveal a picture. Inside of it was the picture of a young girl next to him; he too was naught but a kid. The two seemed to be happy; he remembered this picture well. It had been taken in his birthday after all. He smiled as he looked at the picture, memories flooding back.
"I did...the witch is dead Karen. I have avenged you… Shadows of Arcana has paid for what they did, for taking you away. Wherever you are, I know you can hear me. Know that I did it for you… Please forgive me for my sins Karen. It’s over now, you can finally rest in peace. Please wait for me ok sis? Until we meet again..."
He closed the pendant and put it on his neck again. It was hidden under his shirt at all times, it served as a reminder of why he did what he did. But know with his goal done, he had his life ahead of him with nothing to strive for. He had one thing though, one thing that could maybe offer a solution.
"What is the big deal with this thing? Why are so many people killing each other over it?”, he said as he held the sword of despair in his hand. The feeling of power and bloodlust filled his mind as it did with anyone; but it didn’t seemed to bothered him. This feeling were not new to him; nothing he hadn't felt before. "Maybe this thing will prove useful...I think I will hold on to it for now..."
Clara was once again reading a book as she sat and kept watch of the candles. The masked man had wandered off to prepare to board the vessel which meant she had some time for herself. This little partnership of hers had proven beneficial but it was obvious as individuals their personalities clashed; as such, she savored this moments of silence as best she could.
Her attention was shifted to the candles due to a low popping sound coming from the set up. She lowered her book and smirked at what she saw. The red candle that had been snuffed a short while was once more lit with a red flame. The sword had chosen a new holder; and Clara knew exactly who it was.
“Go get ‘em, show everyone what we are made off!”
Victor was now inside the APC; he had taken a few of Roxanne’s belongings and they were now stored on one of the cargo spaces. The items in question were the divine cloak, the laser carabine and laser pistol. Everything else was…”taken care off”. A protective ward was casted on him and the items he had brought. It was a cloaking spell of sorts, nothing short of a divination spell would be able to discern these items had gone through a ritual. Victor’s own aura had been camouflaged as well; it looked the same as when he had left that very morning.
72 minutes, the whole ordeal had taken 72 minutes. From the moment they got off the APC to right now only 72 minutes had passed. The drive home would be longer than that. With a bit of hesitation at first, he picked up the radio transceiver and put the channel to the radio room so those carrying their own pocket radios could hear. He recalled the rehearsed lines he had come up with before speaking.
"This is Victor Ironwood reporting back. Mission was a success and in short time too. It seemed Roxanne’s condition was more serious than expected but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. It was medical in nature but she is now in the hands of a specialist. The doctor will be taking care of her for a couple days at most; something about running some test. I will make the trip home alone in the APC, I was told she will be given transportation. See you all soon I supposed, hope things are alright over there. Victor out."
Victor turned the radio off and placed the transceiver back in its place. He gave a deep sigh as he reclined on the seat and thoughts things over for a bit. "Now you’ve done it Victor...oh well...this is the last one anyway, might as well go with a bang..." After a few minutes, he stood straight and made all the preparations necessary on the Armored Scouter’s control panel. After everything was in order, Victor gave a nod of approval and started up the APC; it’s dual engines roared as the beast came to life. After one final look at the cave, Victor drove the ACP back to the road and headed off to the farm.
The ride back was uneventful. As a matter of fact, from his point of view, it was rather quick. His mind’s auto pilot had kicked in and drove the APC back to the farm as his mind went over things various times over. A few questions lingered but their answers were not something of great concerned now. What was done was done, the past could not be changed. He had to focus on his future. On this eventful day where everything changed in the blink of an eye, yet, things would still continue as normal. He had been running away, as the voice put it, his destiny for a very long time but today it caught up to him. The curse had been lifted and he had proved the prophecy wrong. It was all over at last… One thing was still needed to be done, now that it was indeed over, there was no need to hide things anymore, well, save for this for the time being. He was free from both Shadows of Arcana and the curse. That was the only thing left to do, answer people’s questions.
Victor reached the farm in due time. To him, everything seemed normal; he wasn’t aware of what had happened here or frankly cared at the moment. He got off the APC with a duffle bag Roxanne kept to easily get loot on her scavenging run. That bag contained Roxanne’s items he had gathered. He walked through the farm not really paying attention to anything save where he was going. If someone tried to get his attention, he would pay them no mind and continue walking. Everything else was just a foreground.
The first place he went was Roxanne’s room. He unlocked the back door with ease using a simple machanish spell; pins be damned. Once he was in, he got to work. He took the sword he had acquired and placed it on her bed. Next, he took off a small necklace with a gemstone and placed it next to the sword. And finally, he reached in one of his front pockets to get a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and gave it a quick read; he chuckled at it’s contents before placing it on the bed as well next to the two other items. "This is the final thing I will do for you Roxanne...my contract is over..."
Afterwards, he quickly stepped out of her room. He didn’t want to spend more time than he had too in there as memories flooded back; memories once pleasant that now only served to taunt him. It had been a long day; as such, he headed for his room. He wanted to be left alone for the moment, have time to think. Victor made his way back to his room and then entered it closing the door behind him and locking it. He took of his own sword and placed it in the corner while it was still on his scabbard. The laser pistol he carried was taken off with holster and all; Victor gave a look at it momentarily and snickered at the thought of what he had used it for. "We can’t escape destiny...", he said to himself.
Victor sat in his chair for a while thinking. He had lighted up a cigarette and was drinking wine right from the bottle. That was the strongest drink he had in his personal stash, he usually was invited when he drank stronger stuff. In front of him on his work area was his journal; it contained his projects, aspirations and theories. This was the collection of his life work; what he had been working towards slowly but surely. The many pages he went through reminded him of a few projects he had done here at the farm. Of course, he was remembered mostly for what didn’t work as that tended to make a better story and because when he failed, he did in a spectacular fashion. He reached the last page of written material and looked at it curiously. This page was odd,he did not recall it’s existence. "Guess I am keeping you..."
With those words being uttered, Victor ripped that page out of his journal and stuffed it in on of his pockets. The rest of it was placed on brasier he kept for ritualistic reasons. He took out a small vial from his coat and tossed it into the breaser; it shatters on impact coating the book in a fine silver dust. He took a final puff of his cigarette before tossing it into the brazier igniting a flame. The fire roared as he watched it consume the journal. His reaction was a stoic face as it turned to ashes. "From ashes you came, to ashes you return... "
He gave a deep breath as he looked at his collection of artifacts and potions. There a few he liked and would be keeping but most of them he didn’t need anymore. "So this really is the end huh? Interesting..." He took out the silver athame he kept with him at all times. He inspect it thoroughly and then looked at his sword in the corner. "I will deal with you two last...for now...I have a few items to turn into dull essence..."
Victor iron spend a couple hours doing just that. Various artifacts were converted into dull essence as he collected it in a jar. Using the appropriate tools would be more efficient but that was not the point here. He would use the errors of his past to create something positive, a tribute to start anew. Once he was done, he looked at his handy work and smiled. "Alright...one last thing I suppose..." He took out his own pocket radio to send a broadcast to a particular channel.
"Helen, do you copy? This is me, Victor. I need to see you whenever you can. We need to talk about a few things. I assume you received the previous broadcast? Anyways, let’s meet halfway; I will wait for you at the bridge. Come alone… " After that, he grabbed his sword and exited his room. Ignoring everything else at the farm once more, he walked towards the bridge where he would wait. Even if she didn’t come, he could use the fresh air.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 03, 2018, 09:47:40 pm
(( Victor dialogue added by Noct. ))
Helen smiled a little at that, answering in turn. "Through the best efforts of my mother and father, yes." she remarked. "So that would be the spirit's name. Good, better than having nothing to call him, or calling him Mr. Not-Odin in jest."
"Indeed, I feel it'd be best to talk at the farm itself, if he's alright for the time being. I'm admittedly also waiting for someone." she said, soon leading the way back to the farm, along the road and past the small array of tents the new arrivals made camp in.
Elsewhere, Hector sighed a bit as he did his usual work on the tank. When he went out to grab some other tools, he looked over to Catnip and Atomos, making their way back to other parts of the camp. He caught a glimpse of that look of disappointment, looking down before he climbed back into the tank.
It'd been over an hour, and it was then he heard the radio buzzing with Victor's response. He quickly reached for the handset, to answer. "Glad to hear, Victor. Where'd you take her?" he asked.
Victor was driving back to the farm at this point when he got an unexpected message from the radio. It was Hector; he knew either him or Helen would respond. He put the radio on speaker and turned on the mic. “Hector? Hey, yeah, good news. Roxanne is in good hands, I can assure you. As to where, well, it’s a bit convoluted. So former members of the little arcane order Roxanne and I belonged to set up shop on a cave a bit off to the north east. They started to house people inside who are of use to them. Now, one of them happened to be a Doctor. We were there since I thought this might be an arcane issue and these people I know could help but when they failed to find an issue, we went to the good Doctor there. His name is Robert Muller and he was a general practitioner before the cataclysm. He told us what the issue was; I don’t speak Doctor so I don’t know what he said but he told us for her to stay for a bit while he runs some checks. The place there has enough meds to handle what she has from what he told me and will come back on the farm shortly once they give her what she needs and he determines she is good to go.”
Hector listened to that, pondering this before regarding the explanation curiously. "I see. Northeast? I'll want coordinates so I can go visit her. I would assume they'd frown upon people like Helen visiting them, but surely..."
"Coordinates? Don't know exactly. Just follow the main highway northeast once you pass the refugee center then turn right on the third intersection. There should be a clearing there and it's inside the only cave in the arena. Can't miss it. That's how I get there."
Hector hmmed a bit at that, before setting the receiver back in place, exiting the tank as he went into his room. Trading mail for plate armor, and picking up that cursed sword from his locker. He felt that odd sensation flow through him as he held it, slinging the scabbard on his back. It was strange, he'd handled the sword before and it felt different from the primal urge that used to linger when he handled it. Soon however, he went back to the tank to start it up, and head out.
Helen had led Steinar to one of the spare rooms at the farm, after looking around with her mask. Something still lingered in the back of her mind, and a growing sense of worry came over her when she realized two auras were missing. That of Victor and Roxanne's swords, and the thought of why they'd take them along for something that seemed like a mundane trip worried her.
"So then. A fair bit has happened since last I saw you. Guessing you saw Sergei bring Thomas over. What of you, as well?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on February 03, 2018, 10:01:38 pm
A while earlier...
Floyd, Sammy, and Sergei are sitting at one of the several picnic tables inside the walls of the farm. They chat for a bit, before Sammy suggests they grab a meal at the center so the boys can get to know each-other better. Floyd goes to borrow Quinn's truck's keys, who coughs them up without any hassle. They set off towards the center, taking the long way around. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dK4qtNizWApJ7BMU7LOWkaQnI-r9ijVzowGzuy9OWwY/edit?usp=sharing) After a couple of hours, they return with one extra person. He has passed out and he's hurried into Quinn's lab to be patched up. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QY4xrHyMpWKLgcWLV64nb8RFnIHvIpi1FTe9vIp87zA/edit?usp=sharing)
Lucian looked at his list, and picked the one who he thought would be the easiest. Sebastian, God's Own Babe Ruth, A crusader with several privates under his command. Lucian grabbed his gear, Laurence's saber, his blunderbuss, several different potions, a canteen, and a flare gun just in case. He loaded up his horse with food and firewood and set off up north.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 03, 2018, 10:08:55 pm
"What needs doing Medeina." Catnip asked. The robot was perhaps the only one Catnip saw as entirely blameless. No hands to do building or work of any kind, not much creativity, and a singular interest that made more observant than most. Medeina told her all the things she knew, and a little more. There were a pair of generators to fix, both of which were built by Catnip and not easy to maintain due to her convoluted designs. The damage was due mostly to botched repairs earnestly attempted. There were also a few of the large outdoor lights that needed replacing, the housing on the lights was one of Catnip's bad ideas and turned out to be too complicated for most of the farms residents to fix. A great many of Catnip's vital mechanisms had fallen into disrepair because of her "unique" design choices.
"Ok... I get it. Too complicated. Blah blah blah. I never planned to be sent away." Catnip said, rolling her eyes
"Don't blame them too much Ms... Walker? It's Walker now? Not Bli-"
"Shush! Shooosh you! Yes, just Walker. It's a short story, but I won't talk about it here. Just Ms. Walker."
"Yes Ms. Walker. Don't judge them too harshly, most of your family has their own worries and fears, and after that little rat died some of them thought you were gone forever." Medeina explained. Catnip looked a little perplexed, she hadn't heard anything about any sort of rat.
"I knew it wasn't you Catnip..." Kathrine said. Catnip still didn't know what to think of what they were talking about.
"What rat?" She asked, and Medeina told her of the rat they had found rummaging in her pants and how some people has believed the little animal to be her. The poor creatures short life on the farm, and it's inevitable death by old age. Catnip still didn't feel much better about there not being more effort put into Kathrine's rehousing though, but decided to drop the subject entirely. She gave Dervish a quick hug and went back to Atomos.
"Ok, I have an idea of what I've got to do around here now. Your ATV is gonna take awhile to fix, so I think I can set you up with something else to suit you for a bit. Before that though, how about that wonder I told you about?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 03, 2018, 11:32:55 pm
Steinar had followed Helen and smiled under his helm as he nodded to her "Yes I saw him bring Thomas. As for myself I am fine, worried for Salazar. He'll live but he will need time to adjust to being mortal with the power he still has. If he even can adjust at this point. Aside from that it has been busy. Fighting a mage that is backed by a spirit that provides the power to try and slay a spirit of death is tiresome work."
Pulling his helmet from his head he held it one hand as he continued "But that's all said and done now. How are you? Is everything well here aside from your friend I saw?"
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ They had come in the early hours of the night. An armored truck slammed into the gate shattering wood and bending metal as it came to a stop not far into the settlement. The guards surrounded the vehicle as the driver adjusted the dash cam he’d been given.
As the rear doors swung open a pair of APCs trundled through the gate as the gunners mowed down the first of the guards. More rushed out to be met by a trio of men in power armor leveling flammenwerfers at them. The screams woke up the rest of the barracks in the area as men rushed out opening fire half naked with small arms. The Kommandant stepped out of the armored car as his foot soldiers opened fire with modified STGs that left bodies cut in half and heads missing.
Sweeping his own weapon over the guards as they emerged it belched a long arcing stream of napalm that stuck to almost every man that had come for them. The driver of the car stepped out with the camera in his hands recording while men swept down the street. All this while the radioman caught the transmission that the Precinct was attempting to send, recorded it, and prevented it from reaching anyone else.
The camera swept over the dismembered bodies and burning men before expertly moving to follow a squad of men walking into an apartment complex. Screams echoed through the room as the leader fired a handful of rounds into the ceiling and barking orders for them to exit the building and form a line. They complied as another squad swept the building for anyone that hadn’t obeyed.
As they lined up outside the civilians noticed that others were being ushered out of the rest of the buildings while the cameraman caught it all. They turned shocked towards the building as they heard a small burst of gunfire before the rest of the Purifiers stepped out of the building. Another barked order jarred them back into compliance as they reformed the line.
The cameraman was called over to the Kommandant as he set aside his flammenwerfer and pulled a luger from his belt. Pushing into the comms building he shot the pair of guards that had stayed in the room before shouldering through the door to the radio room. The operator attempted to fire but all the camera caught was the Kommandat’s pistol putting a hole in her hand sending her weapon to the side. As he dragged her outside he shouted an order over his headset and as they exited the camera caught the Purifiers separating the mutants from the pure.
Firing a round into the air to quiet the air the Kommandant smiled underneath his helmet as he saw a pair of his men in sealed suits moving canisters into a building. As he shouted to be heard by all he could see his men enacting the plan “I’m sure you wonder why we attack. We came because you are complicit with these scum, these impure beings who seek only to corrupt us. So as we will kill most of them we must kill some of yours. In order that you understand that the pure should never fraternize with the impure.”
All eyes watched as he slid the noose around the mutated comms operator and handed the rope to his second. As he prepared the hanging the Kommandant observed the ‘lottery’ for the mutants. As it finished and those who hadn’t ‘won’ were escorted into the building his men had sealed he made a motion to his men. Suddenly the comms operator was pulled from the ground as the noose tightened around her neck, her lungs gasping for fresh air as she swung from the lamp post.
The camera of course caught all of this before turning to show the execution of those still pure that had been deemed unfit to live. Each shot once through the back of the head. After words a few were given and accepted the opportunity to join the Purifiers and were given uniforms. As they placed a copy of the recordings in the comms room after destroying the equipment the Purifiers sealed the settlement, taking any implement those left could use to escape.
Taking the remote from one of his men the Kommandant pressed a button and the canisters placed in the sealed building opened. As they remounted their vehicles each of the Purifiers heard the screams. Only those who had agreed to join from this raid hesitated. The Kommandant tossed a device that would transmit the intercepted radio broadcast after a delay. “Let them come. Let them see that we will do what we must to win this war.”
Elsewhere the Lieutanent sighed as he observed the excavation crew moving the rubble in their way. One hidden temple had led to another, this one guarded by some form of magicked stone that had attacked them upon entering past the front hall. So now an overzealous recruit with a panzerschreck had cost them valuable time.
So of course the Liuetenant had taken this time to read the inscriptions on the walls more thoroughly. Stories of the wielder of this artifact were written on every bit of stone the crews moved and so he read. Stories of an odd power, the capability to sway masses to your side, to bring great carnage to your foes but at a cost. The more of these stories he read the more concerned he became.
But he had orders that he could not disobey. These things had done grievace harm to his family long before he was a Purifier. But still..was he judging the many by the few? Perhaps he had to admit as he observed his men for a moment.
He was shaken from his thoughts as one shouted “Sir we’ve made it through! Another map sir, and a piece of something.”
Sighing he said “Get recordings of it all and give me the piece and let us go. The Kommandant will be upset enough that we don’t have it, to return with incomplete information will only make it worse.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 04, 2018, 01:07:27 am
Helen nodded at that, looking back to Steinar. "So he's been stripped of his...not power, but immortality. That sounds like dire matters to catch up on." she remarked. "I'll need to check on him as well then."
"Things have been...going uneasy, but well. Victor and I working to try and ensure our order is rebuilt correctly, raising our son as well. He's away with Roxanne at present, she's been ill it seems." she said. Despite this she couldn't shake that quiet sense of unease in the back or her mind. "Just so much to keep an eye on, really. The two of them and their studies, training Melody in our ways, Hector and that gods-damned sword I gave him, Sharlene being reckless with magic..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 04, 2018, 02:09:05 pm
Steinar nodded, understanding the pressure of doing so much at once. Fiddling with the braids of his beard he said "Salazar will be unconscious for a time as his body adjusts. I can inform you as to the details another time, for now perhaps there is something I could do to alleviate your stress. I've found myself with far more free time than I've become accustomed to and little to fill it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 04, 2018, 02:37:04 pm
Helen smiled a bit at that. "Then we'll have time to catch up later on. For now it's good to have you here, and another to keep an eye on things always helps." she said. It was then the radio piped up, Victor's voice heard over it. She turned her mask on again. Victor had already left for the bridge, and she'd only paid a bit of attention to the last bit of radio chatter. Now she could see through her mask that Hector was no longer in sight. And worse, neither was the cursed sword. "What is Hector doing now..." she said, moving for the door before looking back to Steinar. "Perhaps we should catch up then at The Hall and wait for him to come to. But first I'll want to check on Victor." she said, heading outside. She introduced him to a few of the others before making her way outside the farm's palisade, leaving Steinar at the farm for now. Come alone, he said.
"Victor, Helen here. I was a bit preoccupied actually, was at the farm. Had some unwanted intruders this morning, then a pleasant surprise visit from Steinar. One of the ones that aided us with Randael, if you recall? I'll be there soon." she said, making her way along the road. As she passed the APC, she noticed the continued absence of the sword of despair, not in the APC nor put back in Roxanne's room under its wards. She assumed he left the weapon with Roxanne, but this already was concerning to her. Soon though, Victor would see her approaching the bridge. "Victor! I'm here. Is everything alright?"
Elsewhere, the Siege Tower trundled through what was once an old town, electric engine giving a quiet hum as he passed through. There were signs that the dead had been disturbed recently, some corpses strew about in a swath through the town, and some that had reanimated once again, marked by laser burns. He was on the right track regarding Victor's directions, Hector thought. He looked down at the camera display, a tread rolling over one half-charred undead that had stumbled into the vehicle's path, crushed so thoroughly that whatever was intact from its previous "death" was now beyond the blob's ability to salvage.
The way his thoughts lingered on that concerned him, regarding the sword slung over his shoulder, resting on his back. All this time since he last used it, and why did it feel like it was urging him to wield it now?
Meanwhile at the refugee center, Catalina found herself tending to her usual tasks, as a car drove along one of the roads approaching the center... https://docs.google.com/document/d/10IWr7tN8VKHeJRNRF77D7j-xucwOa-2Rds4PU1qO1_Y (https://docs.google.com/document/d/10IWr7tN8VKHeJRNRF77D7j-xucwOa-2Rds4PU1qO1_Y)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 04, 2018, 10:59:50 pm
Sylvia followed after in the direction she thought the woman and her rather intimidating retinue had gone. It wasn't hard, the man with the swords and the golden glow about him left an obvious arcane trail, and the giant tigress left a path of destruction in her wake. It incensed her that someone would come along, destroy her tent, steal her blood essence, and swipe one of her finest dresses. She wasn't sure how she was going to convince this Sharlene woman to give her stuff back. As she passed through the farm, she encountered in person for the first time Dee and Mica.
"Lizard, stranger coming." Mica whispered. Dee kissed her again and said, "I can see that babe. Why don't you go introduce us to her, give me a chance to get something done." Dee's idea of 'getting something done' these days was playing video games or watching movies. He'd tried to get Mica into these activities as well, but Mica couldn't see them. At first Dee didn't understand and it had taken several explanations for him to realize that his girlfriend literally couldn't see the images on the screen. She could hear it perfectly fine, but the images appeared as little more than moving colored lines on the screen. The colors bothered Mica more than a little, and convincing her that they weren't going to harm him took some doing. Letting him watch television, play games, and (god forbid) smoke a little weed now and then (despite the fact that he could no longer get anything from it) were new bits of freedom in their relationship and it seemed things were changing for Mica as well. For one, she'd begun actively seeking out and eating fruit. Mica claimed that the fruit was nasty, that she hated it, but also that she couldn't help it. Mica just wanted it, even though she hated it.
"Hello," Sylvia greeted, beating Mica to the punch, "Have you seen an Australian woman in an eyepatch, a giant tiger, and a golden man with swords for arms come by this way?"
"What is oss-trail-yun?" Mica asked, rolling the word around in her mouth. Dee decided that "getting something done" could wait and came forward. "That'd be Sharlene and Lilith. I don't know who this 'golden guy' is but that sounds like the kind of person who would hang around her. I'm Dee, and this is my girlfriend Mica. You came with Catnip?"
Sylvia nodded, she hadn't divined much about Dee from Helens teacup, suggesting that the mage hunter rarely interacted with him. His "girlfriend" on the other hand seemed to have a fairly prominent place in the part of Helen's thoughts. As her husband had identified the day before, this Mica was an arcane mute. Sylvia only had the slightest inkling of what that meant. Even without this mystic property, Helen regarded Mica as potentially dangerous. The man who could love such a creature was either crazy, or admirable. *CHIK CHIK WHIRRR-R-R-R* "flip that switch there Kat? Thanks." *CHK CHK WHIR-R-R* "Hm. Maybe it sat too long... Keep holding that handle Atomos, if it starts you don't want to be thrown." *CHK CHK CHK* "Oh wait, maybe I've forgotten to..." *CHK CHK WHIRR-VRRRRUMM!!* The morning had been a somewhat quiet one around the farm and the Camp that had sprung up just outside it's wall. Not a single person, not even the farms residents, expected that the calm of that day would be rudely obliterated by the sudden return of Agmens glory to the farm. The great engine, Catnips magnum opus, roared to life, driving Mislings scattering for the convoy for protection. The noise was a storm come upon all who could hear it like a high wind, sweeping through them and instilling panic within every fiber. The train let off it's first jet of steam in over a year, already running hot enough to incinerate a stone. The birds nest in the stack was blown outwards, it's sole occupant a steamed and irradiated wreck. The cells were still viable and hadn't begun to melt down yet. The train lurched forward suddenly, instantly crushing a car Catnip had forgotten to move. A small delegation from Pricetowns new Mechanics guild looked on with awe and appreciation for their artificers creation. As the behemoth pulled away, leaving the farm practically deaf with it's thunder, not a single eye looked to anything else if it couldn't help it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 06, 2018, 07:05:08 pm
Victor was waiting at the bridge when he received the radio transmission. Unwanted visitors? Guess she had had her hands full as well this day. At least it seemed she had handled herself nicely as well as having a steinar visit her; he would ask about that later. For now, it was time to lay the final nail in the coffin.
Was he about to hide something from Helen yet again? He had his reasons, reason that would soon no longer matter but reasons nonetheless. A part of him, the part that had compelled him to go to the abyssal canyon, told him to just tell her everything; to trust Helen to do the right thing. He other part of him, the one who made him join Shadows of Arcana and loathed mutation, it told him it was too late; he had come this far and should just finish what he started. The final act of the prophecy given to him was about to be over; there was just one small difference, he did not submit.
Victor was lighting up a cigarette as he waited for Helen; he had picked up the habit a little over a year ago after not doing so for quite a while. His trusty zippo lighter wasn’t lighting up; he stuck it with the palm of his hand but to no avail. He shrugged, put the lighter away and toss the unlit cigarette to the ground. He waited for a little while, both sides of his psyche struggling for control. It wasn’t long before he was interrupted from his thoughts by the arrival of Helen.
Victor smiled as Helen arrived and signal her to join him by the rail of the bridge to overlook the river. “Good to see you again Helen. Sorry to have abruptly left you yesterday. It has been a busy day. From your radio message, I assume yours has been too. As for how thing are...” He paused for a bit, unsure of how to answer her. The two sides of him now practically yelling at him to take a specific action: Follow the status quo or, for once in his life, swallow his pride and accept that he does need help; trust that someone else might know better, not just someone else, this was Helen after all.
“...I am fine. Things back at where I took Roxanne got a little hectic I will admit. But it got resolved… Not the way I would’ve wished for, but it got resolved...”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 06, 2018, 07:25:46 pm
Helen nodded at that, looking around as she took in the sight down the river, The Hall just barely out of view from the bridge. "It's fine. I'm glad you've returned safely." she said, before looking back to Victor.
The momentary hesitation however concerned her, but it was a thought she quickly pushed aside, when he continued and mentioned things being hectic. "I see. What did I miss? Is Roxanne alright? Hector must be worried sick already, I bet." She then decided to let slip another question. "And I trust that Roxanne's sword is back in its proper place, under its wards?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 07, 2018, 02:07:00 am
Mica sniffed her apple, grimaced, then carefully and with obvious disdain, ate it. Her boyfriend watched her do it, and Sylvia thought she saw just a hint of wonder or maybe confusion. She combed Helen's last lingering memories and found why that should be. Mica hated fruit, and fed herself mainly on meat, usually raw meat. The magician restrained the urge to shudder as a memory flitted across her mind unbidden, the girl before her tearing into a human corpse. Some bandit that had been caught by Mica near Helen's home.
"So," Dee said, "What do you need Sharlene for?" Sylvia described the brief encounter with the trader gone blood mage. Mica choked down another piece of fruit, and Dee nodded. "Sounds like Sharlene alright. Hardly any mugs around here now, I've had to drink my coffee out of a bowl for the last couple months."
"You mean she's a blood mage too? And you know about it?"
Dee shrugged, "She doesn't really hide it. After Vic showed her a couple tricks, she hauled off and started experimenting on her own. Mainly with coffee. I don't know who this golden guy is though. Must be someone new."
"Well, she took my clothes and essence. She can keep the mugs for all I care, there are mugs everywhere, but I want that essence and I want that dress."
Mica slid off the table and pushed her bag of fruit away. "Shar-leen not gonna give back." she said, "My-ka maybe help, gotta be quick or Lil-eth stop you. My-ka don't know shiny man neither, maybe he's Shar-leens new friend." While Sylvia met the strange and eccentric Mica, Atomos was being taken for a harrowing ride by her no less eccentric sister. The train roared, drowning out all sound as it thundered it's way across the new england landscape. Kathrine clutched at her seats arms in her regular terror, and Atomos clung to the rung in the ceiling for dear life lest she be thrown around the spacious cabin. Catnip was in absolute bliss, and in the short start of the trip was completely restored. She could never go back to the way she was before her forced trip to the western United States but this at least gave her a little of herself back. She leaned back and fingered the little pink stone shard around her neck absent mindedly.
The train hit and exploded a dead tree, splinters flying up and away from the speeding train. "SORRY KAT!" Catnip shouted, just as she struck another and bumped the rusted out hulk of an old solar car. Even though she was shouting, none of the three women heard it as the train rolled on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on February 07, 2018, 09:14:46 am
Lucian sat on the calico colored horse, overlooking a small camp with under a dozen tents, several crosses dotted the outskirts with recently dead cyborgs and mutants strapped onto them. He grimaced as he drew the saber, dismounting the horse and sneaking his way into the camp. He slipped into the first tent with two privates sleeping in their cots. Lucian placed a hand on their mouths and drove the blade through their chests, killing them without a sound. He slipped into two other tents, taking out their inhabitants.The saber was slick red with blood as he slinked into the next tent, catching eyes with a wide awake private, dressed in typical hunting orange. “Who the fu-!” He shouted, drawing a cheap revolver. However, he was interrupted by the saber severing his gun hand from his hand. The private screamed in anguish before the tip pierced his jugular, screams cutting off into choked gurgles. Lucian let out an irritated groan, “Son of a bitch…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 07, 2018, 02:34:01 pm
Victor let Helen finish her line of questioning before answering. He sighed and hanged his head low. "Yeah, Hector is sure to be worried right about now… As for Roxanne being alright… Well..." The voices yet again competed for his decision but he was tired of it, he quiet both of them down as he made his choice.
"You know what...fuck it, I will trust you if you promise me to trust in the decision I made… Listen, Roxanne is not fine...far from it… I can’t tell you how right now but I will soon. Trust me when I say this; don’t press much further. It will all be revealed soon. But don’t worry, she will be fine enough, sort of. Now, not a single word to Hector...for now… He too will know after some time passe, probably not from me as he might now want to speak to me for a while..."
Helen was a bit concerned atthat, watching him warily as he went on. "Well...?" His response unnerved her. "Victor...I know well enough that Roxanne's sword isn't in its place. You know you can trust me, but can I trust you? You're always keeping some form of secret from me, no matter how much harm it does to yourself over being honest." she said coldly.
"Hector's left, hasn't he? You gave him directions to someplace. Let me guess, the place you've been refusing to take me to for the past several months? When you know how much I've been begging you to allow me to make amends with them? Victor...what is Hector going to find when he gets there?" she asked, worried as she reached to remove her mask.
Helen’s statement about the sword startled him a bit, he had forgotten to mention that; it seemed like an insignificant detailed given the rest of what had happened. "Ah, the sword. I entrusted Roxanne with it for this mission. It was supposed to be a permanent thing as apparently the sword ‘choose’ her. It would’ve just beckoned her towards it until she gave in to its effects. It was better to let her have it and teach her how to use it. Didn’t tell you about it because I made the decision last night and we had this ‘quest’ today. Was going to let you know when we came back but...well, too late now… The sword was lost. It is in someone else’s hand now… But that is the least present issue...we can always recover a piece..."
Victor thought about her second question. He himself did not know what had happened there but he had his guesses. For now, he would just tell her what he knew. "He will find an empty cave. There will be a lingering feeling him not being alone, as if it were haunted… Roxanne isn’t there… I told him that to keep from asking to many questions. I don’t think he will be too happy about it...”
Helen gave an irritated sigh at that. "Giving into temptation is a dangerous thing. If it must be used, then so be it. But you assumed this was a mundane mission, where it would've been merely an undesirable complication." she remarked. "And now it's..." She went a bit pale with realization. "You say that as if losing one of those gods-damned things is a trivial matter! Someone...who? Did they harm Roxanne? If..." She was shaking a bit at that, stepping closer as a look of concern crossed her face.
"You're hiding yet more things from me, and worse you're lying to Hector in such a way than he's almost certainly going assume the worst about your intentions!" she said, raising her voice. "Roxanne is either gods-know-where or dead, someone evidently took the sword, and you...why must this wait, Victor? I can't HELP you if you don't tell me." she said, looking away. "I can only guess what else you've hidden from me. For all I could know, whatever got you and Roxanne into this mess to begin with could be yet another of your secrets. I wouldn't be surprised at this point if you KNEW about what was afflicting her, never told either of us, and only today acted on it!"
Victor just took all that Helen had to say to him. She was right, there was no excuse. He had his reasons, sure, but in the end, it was selfish. The curse, the voice, the prophesy was all self-preservation; preservation from a fate worse than death itself. He thought about his actions in the past; maybe if he was the one who Helen had ended that night so many years ago; maybe if Helen had not spared him when he offered her to end him when he had lost his soul; if these events had happened, maybe things would've been better off.
"Go on, let it all out. I really have made my infamy haven't I? First of all, don't worry about Hector; I was the one who messed with him so I will deal with him. I ask you do not intervene ok? Second, the loss of the piece was a big blow, yes, but we didn't have it with us in the first place. Those who seek the puzzle will be back... I still have my peice... We will get it back then. As for why it has to wait...I will give you a choice. You can either trust me when I say it's best to wait; despite my track record, I implore you to trust me on this one... Or, I can take my leave for my room and you can make your way to Roxanne's, put on your mask and take a look. I will lift the spell I put on them so you can take a look. Only one thing, if you choose this path, please keep quiet about it and don't seek me out until the ritual is over... It's your choice, do as you must; so what will it be?""
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 07, 2018, 03:43:49 pm
Helen sighed a bit as she looked down, irritated by this and unsure what to say anymore. She wanted to yell at him, punch him, something at this point. But now she suspected Hector might well kill Victor when he returns.
"After all this...I don't know what to do anymore. But..." she said, trailing off a moment. "If you're certain, just please try not to get yourself killed. And don't kill Hector for that matter either." she remarked, looking back to him. "I'll trust you enough to not intervene, trust that you know what you're doing this once. But I do wish to see what this entails. I won't interrupt, nor speak of it to any other." she said, making her decision.
"For now, I'll await you there. And then afterward I'll be at The Hall. You may join me there if you wish. Otherwise...I will pray for your safety." she said, turning to leave for now. She'd go to find Steinar, asking him to wait for her back at The Hall, as she had one final thing to deal with at the farm, before making her way to Roxanne's room. There, she would wait with mask at the ready, uncertain what Victor would reveal.
There was the soft hum of an electric engine, cutting out as the Siege Tower came to a stop outside the cave entrance. Hector suspected this to be the place. Signs of offroad tracks along the field, fresh and of similar appearance to the APC's tracks, further gave him confidence he was in the right place. He made his way out of the tank, shield in hand and swords at side and back, approaching the entrance.
There was no one there. No guards, nothing. A short sweeping radio broadcast, an attempt to give them forewarning of his arrival, yielded no response. "Hello? This is Hector Lowe, Victor informed me Roxanne was under your care..." he called out, flicking his light on as he entrance the cavern. There was an unnatural chill in the air, and with every step he felt a terrible sense of unease.
"Please, I've been worried sick ever since that cough started up, I want to know if she's alright." he called out again, a hand resting on one of the cavern walls. Faded, eroded marks could be seen on the stone in some places. All the while as he made his way through the tunnels, he felt as though death itself lingered in the air, even though there cavern seemed utterly barren, devoid of anything living or dead. And no signs of people having ever set up shop within it.
He felt that chill again, as though a breeze swept right through his plate armor and the garments underneath, even though the air in the cave was perfectly still. And there was that pull again, the knight carefully unslinging the back scabbard to draw the cursed sword. Why do you want this now... he thought. As he held the weapon, it hit him. It wasn't that long-since-faded urge to activate the sword. Instead it urged him to merely wield it.
No one's here. That son o- His thought was interrupted by something he saw, glimpsed in the reflection of his headlamp on the dark blade's unnatural steel. It looked inhuman, a malevolent figure wielding a weapon of some sort. In an instant he whirled around, blade cleaving a wide swath through the air. Only to find there was nothing there, no menacing creature waiting in the shadows.
"Roxanne? Roxanne!? Where...p-please..." He was shaken, great helm concealing a look of pained realization. He went a bit quiet, searching the area more and checking for anything he might regard as some hint of a secret passage, any sign of activity, finding nothing. She isn't here. He lied. he thought, as he made his way back towards the cave entrance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 07, 2018, 06:30:03 pm
Catnip took the train down a level, watching the gauges with a sense of relief and fulfillment. The noise hardly abated, but there was a noticeable drop in speed as the train began to coast a little. The way Catnip seemed to wrestle with the controls suggested that the machine was never meant to run at such a low speed.
"Now that we've run the rust off, I think it's probably time to take it for a real test. Things'll probably get smashed up, do you want to go home and wait Kat?" Catnip said, leaning over and giving Kathrine's hand a squeeze. The very idea of going home and waiting for Catnip to come back though filled Kathrine with a bleak dread, and Catnip had trouble wrestling her hand away from her. "Ok, ok, I was just asking."
Atomos was getting a bit tired, but she had to admit that the view through the front windscreen was wonderful. A panorama of the horizon as far as the eye could see, broken only by trees or tall buildings. The one thing that worried her about it though was that while it was certainly a great view of the horizon, it allowed almost no sight of the sky or of the ground. Especially not the immediate path of the train. She wondered how many times Catnip had run over an animal or a person without knowing it. Catnip hadn't, she was gifted with a particular spacial awareness when it came to her magnificent machine. That, and a cleverly concealed system of cameras and sensors around the train.
"Testing weapons systems, sorry Kat." Catnip shouted over the din. From above, Atomos heard the sound of the trains battery of UPS rifles firing off. *SHZARCH SHZARCH SHZARCH* A single volley, and the train suddenly stalled. "Not to worry!" The mechanic shouted, "I never fixed the battery system! When we stop, we can get out and I'll unfold-" The trains engine went silent, leaving Catnip shouting over the much quieter sound it's movement, "-the solar array! Er... Sorry." Sylvia went to knock, but Mica pushed her way in. Immediately, Sharlene was trying to shoo her out, gently but firmly. Mica had a way of disrupting experiments and making things not work, and while Sharlene certainly had nothing against the spider, she didn't need Mica disrupting things and making a mess. The inside of the cabin was a mess of broken mugs and strange reddish stains. All of this was seemingly in the process of being cleaned up by Sharlene's new housekeeper. Sylvia strode in after Mica, bristling.
"Oh hey, Syl right? Listen, I'm in the middle of-"
"Give me back my stuff."
"Hey, what?"
"My cups and my dress. And my essence."
"I... Don't know what you are talking about."
With nearly perfect timing, Michael emerged from the cabins other room and made Sharlene a liar. The golden divine spirit looked much as he had earlier, except that now he had Sylvia's white summer dress stretched over his muscular frame. "Greetings Mrs. Sylvia, I am afraid mother is busy."
Sylvia facepalmed, hard. For a beat, no one said a thing. Then Sharlene held up an empty mug and said a little awkwardly, "Want some coffee?" Mica took the cup and looked inside, but Sylvia had experience experimenting with coffee made with blood magic, and refused. Tea was a much better and more controllable medium anyway.
"Suit yourself." Sharlene shrugged, she placed the mug back in the magic circle after Mica had drained it and began again. The room seemed to fill with energy, and to Sylvia it seemed absurd that the woman should be expending so much energy just to make coffee. There came a flash and an odd twisting of the fabric between the known and unknown. "Uh, Sharlene..." Sylvia started, feeling the familiar presence of something beyond. The last time she'd felt this sensation, a volunteer had been exsanguinated on her stage. Lilith panted quietly and Michael continued his cleaning, almost as if Mica and Sylvia weren't even in the room, as if Sharlene wasn't screwing around with the laws of nature just the make a cup of coffee.
Then, something came through.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on February 08, 2018, 08:30:24 am
The hunter thought fast, he dropped to the floor and slipped under one of the cots. A pair of privates, one wielding a tec-9 with bright red tape wrapped on the magazine, the other has a pump action shotgun with an AR-like stock, synthetic furnitures, and a pistol grip. Lucian waited for a moment for both to enter the tent completely, drawing his blunderbuss. He swiped the blade deep into the sub machine gunner’s calf, causing him to fall onto the floor as Lucian reversed the grip on his sword, driving it into the privates gut as he brought him closer “F-FUCK HE’S GOT ME, HE’S GOT ME!” , the private screamed before Lucian drove the blade into his throat. With a flick of the hunter’s wrist he blew away the shotgunner as he rose the shotgun. He looked towards one of the exits before turning and catching a baseball bat to the ribs, he felt something crack as he stumbled backwards, gasping and dropping the blunderbuss. Lucian looked who struck him dead in the eyes, it was the crusader on his bounty. He wheezed as he readied his blade, the crusader wore the typical riot gear save for the helmet, which was replaced with a black baseball cap. “Hmm. Not what I expected. Not that it matters.” He growled in a gravelly monotone. “You will be strapped on a cross like these other Heretics.”
Lucian took a step back, a hand slipping into a pouch on his belt. He threw a bright red christmas ornament against the ground, causing a thick plume of white smoke raise from it. The hunter ran full speed out of the tent, sheathing his sword. The crusader walked out of the tent, coughing as he barked orders for the others to get him. Lucian whistled as his horse galloped towards the camp as he ran towards it. One of the privates rose a hunting shotgun towards the fleeing bounty hunter, pulling the trigger. Lucian grabbed his horse’s reins with his right hand as he mounted, before steel pellets met his left arm, blowing off his hand and mangling most of his forearm. He screamed out in pain as he gripped the reins with his good hand, the horse galloping away.
The hunter fled from the scene, leaving a trail of blood behind him until he couldn’t hear shouting anymore. Lucian let the horse run as he took a small flask containing a red liquid out of a pouch, taking the cork out with his teeth and spitting it away as he downed it, tossing it. He choked it down as his stump stopped dripping blood slowly, still searing with pain. Lucian stopped outside an old, two story farmhouse. He bound his horse in the back as he stumbled inside, clutching his stump. He sat against the wall, taking out another flask, this one containing a pitch black liquid. He downed this one, dropping the flask against the floor. Lucian’s entire body felt numb as he got up and stumbled towards one of the windows, grabbing a flare gun from his rucksack. He aimed it towards the sky and fired, a dull red plume of smoke raising up to the sky, extending high up in the sky. He walked up the stairs, into a bedroom and sat on an aging wooden chair as he stared at the door. He reloaded the blunderbuss, tucking it under his arm to break it open to eject the spent shell. Lucian slid in another shell and he set it on his lap, starting to mumble something to himself,
“Shrouded by night but with steady stride, colored by blood but always clear of mind… Oh proud hunter of The League…"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 08, 2018, 12:51:36 pm
What came through into the cool and well lit cabin at the edge of the river north of the farm, was a man. Like before, he was tall and well built and had a pair of sword in place of arms. Unlike the first time this had happened though, this man was of a somewhat less impressive shine.
"What in the... How did I get here?"
The spirit felt no compunction to obey his summoner, seemed not to have any connection to whoever it was who summoned him at all. The Divine spirit, glanced around the room until his eyes lit upon Sharlene. Sharlene, seizing upon prior experience, spread her arms wide and invitingly.
"Hello, yes, I am your mother."
"No you aren't."
That took Sharlene by surprise, and before she could even formulate a response Michael stepped in. "Brother! How could you say such a thing?" The new spirit looked the golden spirit up and down with a scowl.
"Michael, I should have expected as much. What the hell are you wearing?"
"What? It's a dress. Mother gave it to me."
"You are such a retard, how the hell did you even get so high in the hierarchy?"
This was starting to get out of hand and it became apparent that it would soon get downright chaotic soon enough. Despite the obviously growing situation, Mica seemed bored. Then something occurred to the newcomer, that feeling of being unbound.
"Shut up Michael, gimme a sec." He said. The spirit reached out with his mind and felt around. Nothing. There was no binding. No control. He wasn't a servant of anyone or anything. Nothing. He was completely free, but without purpose. Unsure of what to do next, he turned back to Sharlene. "Uh, so... what do you want?"
Sharlene picked up her mug from the table and held it out to the spirit, "can you make coffee?" The spirit rolled it's eyes and said it could. With a wave of it's sword arm, the mug filled to just below the rim with good strong coffee.
"Is that it then?"
"Yeah, thanks, you can go."
Sylvia shook her head yet again and Mica coughed gently. The silence that followed was awkward and uncomfortable, but seeing no resistance forthcoming, Sylvia took her mugs and cups. "Leave the essence doll, that stuffs hard to make." Sharlene said from the corner of her mouth, but Sylvia growled at that and reached for the jar. Her reaching arm was stopped suddenly though by a restraining hand like a bundle of twigs. Mica wasn't smiling, just shaking her head and eyeing Lilith. All through the entire exchange, Lilith has sat and watched with the disinterest only a big cat can exhibit. The moment Sylvia went for the jar though, her ears perked and eyes narrowed. Sylvia didn't see it, and Mica didn't have to. Mica felt it, the static charge in the air and the sudden change of mood. It was hard for Sylvia just to give it up like that. The dress was easy since it was essentially ruined by the divine spirit wearing it. The mugs would have been easy since you could get mugs just about anywhere. The essence was hard though. It was tricky to make, and Sylvia didn't like taking blood without asking, and donors were hard to find these days.
Sylvia glared at the belligerent Australian. "Fine, but I don't want to see you around my... my tent anymore."
"Fine by me." The other said, confidently sipping her coffee. The magician gave her a long hard look, appraising Sharlene and her retinue, very aware that wanted or not, Sylvia had already made a rival. Catnip offered Atomos the cigarette, it was her second of the day shared with Kathrine, and the fox turned it down. They stood beside the train, Kathrine clutching Catnip like she would simply fly away at the slightest breeze, and shot the breeze. Atomos talked about general events at the center and a few of her own adventures (the giant snake being particularly interesting to Catnip) while Catnip talked a little of her time away.
"The flowers are really pretty, but you don't want to get too close unless you like getting a face full of Mycus." She said, flicking the cigarette idly. In the distance, a bright point of light went up and then slowly came down again. Atomos shielded her eyes and watched it's descent.
"That's an emergency flare." She explained, but Catnip didn't seem to need much explanation.
"Yeah, we used them in the corps to set fires and signal targets. I'm so glad I don't have to do that anymore... Figure we should go see?" Catnip asked. Kathrine clutched her tighter. She didn't relish the idea of Catnip being mean to anyone, and her more violent stories always made her unhappy. Atomos agreed eagerly, duty taking over and telling her what to do. Soon, the train was running again and on the move. A short while later, they were helping an injured man into the train. Catnip took one look at the man she met only once before and sneered. It took some doing and Kathrine wheedling her, but eventually she was convinced to let him up into the cab. Atomos tied off the arm as best she could, and before long they were headed back to the center in relative silence. Or at least as silent the train could manage. Atomos didn't like the way the man felt, but couldn't really bring herself to even understand the disdain Catnip seemed to hold for him. Just a bit of a stranger, that was all.
"So..." She said. She wanted to ask what had happened to him, but the roar of the train whipped her words away like a whisper in a whirlwind. He would tell the doc, and the doc would tell the captain. From there, Atomos would eventually learn what went down in her own time. For now, he just needed treatment and fast.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 08, 2018, 08:33:22 pm
Victor stopped Helen before she left. “I see… The is your choice then. But you misunderstand, you are doing this alone...” Victor chanted something undesirable under his breath before addressing Helen again. “I cannot be near the scene now that the wards are gone or near you once you examine it for a while. Go into Roxanne’s room and scan it at your leisure. But whatever you do, DO NOT touch anything on the bed. No use in telling you why since you will find out when you scan the are.”
Victor move from where he was and stretched a little. “That is it for now I guess. You seem mighty interested in this despite having your own preoccupations earlier. Once we can speak again, I will explain everything but for now the answers the scan give you should sufficed… I suppose you have other matters to attend to so I will leave you be. See you later Helen.” He let Helen take her leave as he took his own towards his room.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 09, 2018, 12:18:12 am
Helen gave a little sigh as she looked back to him. "You...alone? Yes, I am doing this of my own will. But do not forget that we are comrades. More than that, even." she said. She remembered how she had hidden some studies of hers from Victor. He had never dared to ask nor had she betrayed any overt hint of her actions, but she would've at least explained WHY she hid them, would've cited the risk if Randael was spying on them. Better to betray the existence of a trick up her sleeve than to leave Victor curious as she was now. Still, thinking now she wondered if she worried too much, in ways that might be hypocritical.
The thought of how many times Victor had done dangerous things when left to his own devises quashed that thought, however. "Very well then. Thank you. I will do what I must then take my leave and await your actions. For now I hope that Isaac is taking care of his business well enough alone, and that the others are fine at The Hall." she said, turning to make her way into Roxanne's room. She looked around, the emptiness of it reminded her of her newfound fears. What has happened... she thought, vaguely recalling the feeling in the back of her mind that she'd brushed aside when the Blessed were at the farm. She was starting to fear the worst as she knelt, and activated her mask.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 09, 2018, 01:29:25 am
Steinar walked through the door of the hall after meeting with a spirit that had given him Salazar's weapons. Walking over to Salazar he set the weapons down before reaching a hand up to rub his eyes. Looking at Salazar Steinar wondered how long he'd be out.
Meanwhile Salazar dreamed about sitting in a room across from his wife and grown daughter. He had the paper open in front of him as he paid more attention to the discussion between his daughter and wife. The younger wanted to go to a party with a few friends of hers to celebrate her birthday. The Elder was telling her to make sure she stayed safe. He closed the paper and smiled as she started for the door.
He heard the door close as he stepped into the kitchen and made himself another cup of coffee. He felt his wife hug him from behind and tell him "Its good to be with you.."
His smile broadened as he told her "And it's good to be with you. Now why don't we have a night out while Jay is out. Go to the old ball room before getting dinner and then sneaking into bed?"
She smiled weakly as he started for the door. As he got close to it she said "Stop, why don't we just stay in? Just for tonight?"
He felt his smile slip some as he turned back to her only to find her taking his hands and pulling him towards the bedroom. He followed her as he said "well okay, but tomorrow maybe?"
She just pulled him through the doorway and closed it before guiding him to the bed but he couldn't shake that odd feeling he'd had since waking up here...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 09, 2018, 06:18:49 am
Victor was silently walking back to his room. "Perfect timing Helen...you bring this up just when it’s all about to be over...", Victor said to himself as he walked. "Guess the concept of ‘on a need to know basis’ escapes some people. Oh well, none of this will matter soon anyways so might as well just ride this off..." He could feel something in the distance with his aura spell but it wasn’t anything concerning at the moment; besides, he wasn’t in the mood. Victor would keep an eye on it just in case but he needed to rethink some stuff first.
He eventually got to the door to his room; with a heavy sigh, he unlocked and opened the door. He stepped inside and close the door locking it. “Victor Ironwood...Long time no see...We need to talk…” Victor instinctively turned around, unsheathed his sword and pointed it in the direction the voice came from in a single swift motion. "Explain your presence!", demanded Victor.
Looking back at Victor was a cloaked figure. His face was slightly visible, enough to show that it was decaying. The voice itself was rather familiar to Victor; that was what worried him the most. “I am just an old friend who want to talk to you. Is that how you treat your guests?”, the figure said.
Victor scanned the room with his aura spell; nothing. There was no reading; right were an aura should’ve been to take into account the figure, there was nothing. "What?...", Victor uttered.
“Put the sword down and take a seat. I am not going to harm you, I just want to talk ok?”, said the voice. Upon hearing it twice, Victor now knew who this was. He frozen for a bit before coming to his sense. It was useless to resist against him Victor did as told and put the sword in his scabbard before sitting down.
"Good. Glad to see you have learned manners in my absence." The figure could feel Victor’s glaring gaze pierce it’s soul...or the place where one should be. "Right, I know you don’t like me or have any reason to trust me and we are both busy men so I will get to the point. Victor, I need your help..."
Elsewhere in a false reality…
“God damn it...why did I have to be stuck playing good cop…”, Clara whined as she travels through a barren field. There is nothing but dry land devoid of any life safe for some tumbleweed and the petrified dead tree. Clara chuckled at this, pretty stereotypical.
“How cliche. I was expecting this one to have more imagination than the rest… Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers I guess…” Clara told to herself. She wasn’t far from her “destination” so there was no point in wallowing in self-pity any more. Besides, there were more important manners that needed to be taken care of. Alas, there it was! Her target was sitting in a downed tree in the middle of an oasis. “Of course you would be in a nice place while everything else rots...Typical of your kind…”, clara whispered one last time before putting up her front. She approached her target with a wide smile.
“If you are going kill me do it now...I don’t care at this point, should’ve been dead anyways…”, said her target.
Clara kept her smile as she sat next to them. “Now now, don’t say that! I know this is a little strange but we are here to help. There is nothing you have to fear anymore Roxanne.”
"How do you know my name?!", Roxanne responded in a frenzy after turning around to meet her “guest”. Clara simply continued smiling at her reaction. "I know a lot about you Roxanne. We have been keeping an eye on you."
"Wait, we? Who is we?", asked Roxanne.
“Oh, you have meet him. Tall figure, has a deep voice, wears a crazy military getup and mask. Obsessed with pieces of a certain puzzle.”, responded Clara.
"You mean Az-" Roxanne was interrupted by Clara; she placed on finger on Roxanne’s mouth to silence her. “Shhhhh, yes, him. Don’t say his name in vain. You should now this by now.” Clara took her hand away before continuing. “My name is Clara by the way. Clara Ironwood.”
"My name is Roxanne Luna, nice to meet yo- Wait...Ironwood? You don’t mean..."
“It is exactly what you think it means. Yes, I am related to Victor. I am her older sister to be exact. Trust me when I say I know I have seen his handy work…”
Roxanne was stunned. Victor had a sister? Why had he never told her this? Why did she come to her instead of Victor then? What the hell was going on?
“Now now, I know you must have lots of questions and I assure you they will all be answered. But for now, I am here for something else while we wait.”, Clara said breaking the moment of silence.
"What are we waiting for? And what else are you here for?", asked Roxanne.
Clara’s smile grew wider and was now rather genuine. “A curious one are we? We are waiting for the masked man of course. Must be tiring talking about him without using his name isn’t it? Let’s called him Plague for now.”
"Plague? That’s a little edgy don’t you think?"
Clara laughed at Roxanne’s comment. “I know right? But he insisted. Said it was fitting. ‘I am the plague of the old world’ or something like that. You have spoken to him, you know how pretentious he is.”
Roxanne gave slight nod of agreement. "Still, what do you want from me?"
“Well, let’s take things slowly ok? No rush… First, let’s look at what my brother did to you…”
Clara helped Roxanne stand up from the fallen tree. She gave a look at Roxanne and asked her to turn around for her. In any other context, this might’ve been mistaken for something else. Afterwards, a quick aura scan was all Clara needed.
“You can sit back down. I have what I needed… You poor thing, I am sorry my brother is such a lowly coward...to leave you like this over some curse…”
Roxanne looked down at Clara’s statement; she felt betrayed by Victor. Why did he saved her only to harvest her? What was about this whole thing about destiny? None of this made any sense.
“Roxanne, listen. You aren’t the first… Victor has done quite a misdoing in order to avoid this curse... You know your counterpart, Roxanne Blackmore? She was but another pawn in this ordeal… Don’t take it personal girl, that’s just the way he rolls…”, Clara told Roxanne.
"Wait what? What is so dangerous about this curse anyways? There must be a good reason he would do this to me then..."
Clara shook her head. Her face took a somber expression. “I am afraid not...you were used Roxanne… Listen, I too was betrayed… His own sister… What makes you think you are any special to him?” A moment of silence was shared between the two. Roxanne looked forward taking in what she was being told. Had Victor just used her? What happens now?
“Wondering what to do now I bet. Look, you are not alone. I am here for you; I know Victor better than anyone else.”
"Why would you even help me? What do you have to gain?”
“Absolutely nothing. I am only offering to help because I feel a bit responsible. He is my brother after all…”
"...And what is asked of me?"
Clara gave her a sympathetic look. "Come with us Roxanne. Join me and Plague on our quest for a better world. There is nothing for you in that farm of yours. Worse still, this isn’t the first time you have been stabbed in the back there hasn’t it? This is a new chance; a new beginning for you! We will take care of you, we never leave our kind behind."
Roxanne looked at Clara as various thoughts crossed her head. She wasn’t wrong; This wasn’t the first betrayal. But still, she couldn’t trust this people just yet. Besides, this was quite the offer. Just drop everything she knows and leave with people she barely knows of? It was gonna take some convincing...
"What about Hector?", asked Roxanne.
“Oh Roxanne. Do you even know where you are? Still thinking about your old life it seems... Can't fault your really. Spirits of the damned tend to be stubborn..."
A sudden sound could be heard followed by a momentary bright flash. Clara grinned wide at this. “Hold that though Roxanne, looks like was have an intruder ~ ” She was unusually perky about this; worryingly so. “This might be your lucky break girl! We will just have to wait and see what this intruder does…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 09, 2018, 09:14:12 am
Helen watched and waited, surveying the items found in the room. What little she found so far left her only more concerned, and she turned her focus to Victor. The way she was practically radiating her aura could likely be sensed by the intruder, but her mask couldn't pick up on the intruder's presence either.
She did however see Victor through her mask, drawing his weapon and pointing it at what seemed to be thin air. She started to stand and reach for her symbol of judgement, when she felt what seemed to be a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to remain where she was.
There was another there, and it sought to watch and let this play out.
Elsewhere, Hector was making his way to the tank, his grip tight on that cursed sword, as unwilling to let go of it as if it as active and rapping tendrils around his hands, despite it currently being dormant. The slam of him closing the rear hatch broke the silence hanging in the air, hard enough that he very nearly bent the handle slightly.
He wasn't sure what to think at this point, but already he feared the worst. Roxanne, if you're out there...I hope you're safe. If not, if you're gone...hope you're at peace, whatever awaits you. he thought, a silent prayer as he started up the engine. As for who or what would hear it, he neither knew nor cared.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 09, 2018, 10:25:35 pm
Mica said goodbye for now to her interesting new friend, and wandered around a little. It had been some time since she did any serious wandering, the most interesting thing for her of late was right here on the farm. The camp was filled with interesting people. Most of them shied away from her when she approached but they were still interesting. Most of them looked like mice, just like her new friend, but others were just like regular people and a very few were incredibly ugly. Mica's other new friend, Leslie, was busy doing her "interviews" with strangers so Mica kept on her merry way until she came to the blue and white striped canopy where Dervish, Medeina, and the lady in charge of the refugee center were just wrapping up.
"Hello ro-butt and med-sin man." Mica cried. The Captain jumped, but Medeina just turned Mica's way while Dervish went about his paperwork. There was a thickish stack of paper covered in the mutagenicists immaculate hand writing at the edge of the table and Mica had to restrain an urge to send it fluttering through the air. Instead, she pushed the papers away from the edge of the table and thought that she wouldn't want people throwing her drawings around.
'Hello Mica," Dervish said when he finally turned his attention to her, "How are you? Have you spoken with your sister much?" Dervish hadn't been at breakfast and Khaki hadn't reported in yet. Mica told him about the morning and he flinched a little at the description of the beating she'd happily received. "I suppose it's only a plastic bat, but it's probably a good idea to give you a checkup. Medeina could you get the medidoc back up and running?"
The captain ambled off, seeing no reason to be present for this checkup and Dervish began. He ran a few physical scans and then gave Mica a standard mental health examination. When it was all done, he waited for the medidoc to finish it's updated registry for her. "Well I'm glad to see things are the same as always then, that Catnip didn't hurt you too bad." Mica scratched the side of her face and agreed.
"What's in Med-sin mans box?" Mica asked suddenly, pointing to the cooler beneath Dervish's table. He looked down at it and popped the lid to show her.
"Nothing you'd like Mica, just a bunch of-" Dervish started. He had been about to say that the cooler was full of fruit, pears and apples from the refugee center, but Mica had begun eating them. "You like fruit now?"
Mica shook her head violently. She hated fruit, she couldn't stand fruit. The sweetness made her feel sick and the fruit seemed to leave a nasty sugary film on her teeth. While Mica told him this, and about her inability to resist the urge to eat the repulsive stuff, Dervish once again took the medidoc out. He scanned Mica very carefully before taking a blood sample.
"Chemical imbalance. Mica, I don't want to worry you but..." She hardly heard him, and for now that was ok. The chemical imbalance could mean any number of things, but for a mutant like Mica it could mean she had begun to mutate again. He watched her carefully as she ate. the spider scooped up and devoured four apples in a bite and grimaced. Dervish hoped to god she wasn't mutating again. He knew from years of research and experience that sudden genetic degradation could be downright lethal if not taken care of. He grabbed one of her wrists and pulled it to him. "Mica, I need you and Dee to come down the the refugee center tomorrow morning." He said. If the news was bad and Mica had begun to degrade, she would need someone with her for comfort. If she even understood. The medidoc just wasn't advanced enough to tell him what he needed to know.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 12, 2018, 12:15:54 am
[post created through intercharacter banter between wilson and saltmummy.]
Lucian sits in his hospital bed, fidgeting slightly before wincing slightly. Maskens walks in and the hunter locks eyes with her, "What do you want?" He sneers.
"I'm here to treat you. Are you going to be difficult?" Maskens says, setting down a blank chart and sneering right back.
"Depends. Are you going difficult?" He says, resting his chin against his good hand. "But yeah. I won't." Lucian waits for a moment, shifting the tongue in his mouth, "...What's your name?"
"Maskens, Julia Maskens. Now hold still. Nurse, administer one shot of antibiotic and wash it down with painkiller... T8. Now, Mr. Lucian, tell me how this happened."
"Mr. Hawdon." He corrects as, the nurse injects him. He winces slightly. "Well, firstly I got a bat to the ribs, most likely three broken ribs. Then I tried to run off and got my arm blown off with buckshot. How it happened is..." he points his stump towards his coat, "Check the right inside pocket, there should be a bounty."
Maskens jotted down the man's testimony, then checked another file before taking the slip from him. The bounty she gave only the most cursory of glances, then stated flatly, "You aren't in the centers records. Dr. Deverish will have to give you an examination after treatment later." She ticked something off, then asked "cybernetic or prosthetic?" She punctuated her statement by raising and displaying her own robotic replacement.
Lucian grimaced at the cybernetic, "...Hm, prosthetic." He stated plainly, "Dr. Dervish?"
Maskens restrained the urge to roll her eyes. She had about as little respect for the mutagenicist as she had for Dr. Quinn. "Deverish." She corrected, "I've no idea where he got this 'Dervish' from, but it just confuses the records when you have people alternating between two names all the time." While she talked, she began to unbind the wound and direct the nurses. Slowly, and with liberal application of stitches and the centers dwindling supply of artificial skin, she sealed the stump. "We'll have to put you through the medidoc for the bone, you're lucky we've got so much antibiotic now."
"At least I have someone who's a delight to chat with" He snarks, grinning a bit.
Maskens gave a little "mhmm" at Lucians flash of charm. She'd heard it before, she hardly couldn't have with all the time she spent in her field before the cataclysm and after. Bedside manner, she thought, was work for nurses and junior residents. "Nurse, take Mr. Hawdon to storage and let him pick out his choice of limb. Not the XNS though, Atomos brought that in for Mr. Sahnk. It was his before the cataclysm, it's his by right after. After that, take him to medbay four."
Lucian got up, stretching as his joints popped into place with a satisfying crunch. He gestured towards the Nurse, "Lead the way, missus."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 12, 2018, 08:09:04 am
“Behold the power of the void! Those who seek to harness it have gathered today at last. No...one is missing… do not fret child of the sun, for this is destiny and he who calls my name shall not perish. You chose to get involved with this, so be it. Envy the dream and scorn the infinite”, This was what Helen would hear upon scanning the sword; a lone voice who would not repeat itself, not answer any questions or leave any traces. But that voice was the least present issue.
In the sword itself, Helen would find three auras. One of what appeared to be a regular human, one unknown but filled with arcane power and another rather familiar… The last one was or Roxanne. The sword was riddle with her aura and essence; the more dominant of the three. It felt off though, as if something had changed. It shifted about as the aura of a normal person would but it also felt the same as when an other worldly monster would perish and essence would come into the realm. The other two aura simply co-existed with Roxanne’s in the sword but it was obvious they did not belong. Next to the sword was a pendant that appeared to be a small vial with some unusual substance; it’s signature was that of essence but not of any kind Helen had seen. And next to that was a piece of paper with letters, numbers and symbols that seemed like gibberish.
Helen would see the two aura’s linger until they eventually disappeared and all that was left was Roxanne’s aura permeating the room with this sword as it’s source; until that two disappeared.. Wherever this was worth it was up to Helen. This was all she would get it seems but no doubt this would raise some questions.
The last thing she would notice was rather unsettling. A feeling of rot and decay could be felt by her, as if something was tainting her body. Nothing major or serious as she would know from her experience but something lingered nonetheless; something dormant.
"An intruder? What do you mean?", asked Roxanne.
“I am not sure, but there is someone’s aura here I don’t recognize…”, Clara responded.
“That would be me; sorry for the wait ladies, had to take care of some business.”, said a familiar voice.
Roxanne and clara turned around to see the masked man, or Plague as he now went by, walking towards them. His mask was off and Roxanne had a visceral reaction of fear and panic. Clara chuckled while Plague rolled his eyes. “Every damn time…”, he whispered under his breath.
“I assume that business was my little brother?”, asked Clara.
Plague nodded in response. “Indeed. He would not cooperate so I had to go to plan B. How about you? Roxanne made a choice?”
“What a shame, but that is my brother for ya! Always putting a monkey wrench in everything. Almost as if he was cursed…”, Clara responded to Plague and winked at him on her last statement, “As for Roxanne here, she is, unsurprisingly, attached to this place. I made the offer to her but she has yet to answer.”
Plagued looked at Roxanne who in turn was looked it the ground; he motioned Clara to get up from the log and move out of the way so he could sit next to Roxanne. Clara sighed but did as she was told as Plague sat where she had been. Roxanne did not react to this one way or another.
“I know this is sudden and we are asking a lot but know that this is the best path for you. Tell me, do the people in this farm of yours really care about you?”, Plague stated.
Roxanne looked up indignant as she responded, “Of course they do! We all care for one another, that is how we survived! And beyond that, we are friends…”
“Are they now? Tell me, didn’t that rat mechanic leave you for an entire year? When was the last time you and scientist have talked? Where was the knight when you needed him most? As you died and were drowning in agony, where were any of them? And you know about Victor. He left you like this as his final act of betrayal. They don’t love you Roxanne, they are using you.”, Plague told Roxanne.
Roxanne did not respond for a few moments; she was taking in what he had just said. "They had their reasons. And catnip was taken away from us! I thought she was dead..."
“Oh, well what a coincidence that when you need them, they all seem to vanish or are busy. But they always come to you when they need something from you. I don’t call that friendship… You are not their friend, you are but a tool for them to exploit.”, Plague said in retort.
Another bright flash was seen which drew the attention to the three of them. Plague got up and looked at Clara. “Transfer is complete, our work here is done.”
“Are you really going to leave the piece behind?”, asked Clara.
“And how do you propose I carry it for a couple hundred miles?”, responded Plague
“Fair enough… Still, what about the intruder?”
“Don’t worry about her; she is Helen Mckinnon, your brother’s sweetheart. She is not one to let curiosity get in the way; besides, the ritual is over. There is no harm she can do. We just need to wait for her to leave so Roxanne can awaken.”
Clara smiled and nodded at Plague before looking back at Roxanne. “Well, we have to go now. Thinks about our offer, we will be back for you; and if you don’t believe us about you being nothing more than a tool to these people, talk to them. Go and see how much they care about you now that you are not what they expect you to be. Oh, but make sure to follow the instructions my brother left on the bed first; kinda important so you get accustomed to what you are now. At least he did something right… Au Revoir Roxanne!”
And with that being said, there was another bright flash. When it passes, Roxanne was alone but the barren wasteland had been replaced by lush greenery that rivaled the oasis she had been on. Roxanne smiled a bit as she slowly felt her consciousness drifting. One question still lingered: How sis they know so much?
"Holy shit does my head hurt...", Victor moaned as he awoke from his forceful nap. He touched his head as a massive headache pounded him and noticed he was now sitting on the ground against the wall. As he spoke, he felt something in his mouth which he promptly spitted out. Two of his teeth landed on the floor next to him covered in blood. Victor touched his face to find out he was bleeding from his mouth and nose. His nose in particular hurt when he touched it and it felt out of place.
"Greeeeat...just what I needed right now...a broken nose and some lost teeth...", Victor said sarcastically to himself. He reached over to grab his sword to use it as a crutch to get up but it wasn’t there. He took of his scabbard to grab it but he found it empty, the sword of the void was gone. "And the good news just keeps on coming!"
After a bit of struggling, he managed to get up and stumble his way to a drawer. He opened it and found a RX-12 injector that Roxanne seemed so fond of. She had insisted they both kept two dose on hand in their rooms “just in case” and he was about to use on of his. Victor took the injector and presses it against his upper arm; he applied the dose as the injector did it’s thing. The pain in his head and his previous disorientation were replaced by the sting left over from the RX-12. He took the injector with the remaining dose and put it away. His nose was now fine but was now permanently crooked and two of his front teeth were gone.
"Still have them good looks Ironwood.", Victor chuckled to himself a bit. After stretching for a bit, he started thinking about what do next. He had now lost a piece, the one he was specifically in charge of protecting, Hector was probably on his way to kill him, Roxanne no doubt was being coerced by terrorist before he had a chance to speak to her and tell her what happened and he could not come close to Helen for a while least both of them became each other’s catalyst.
"All doors are closed now...this last few hours have been the worst of my life… Everything has gone to shit and my attempts to fix it only closed other doors...Oh well, I will survive and move on like I alway have...", Victor told himself. He picked up the radio he carried and send a message to Helen.
"Helen, there is no time to explain. Get out of that room as soon as you can ok? I trust you had your answers? If not, I will explain soon enough. Right now I have to do one final thing… I tend to say that don’t I? This time I mean it, time is my ally here; one way or another, this will be resolved by morning and I will answer any questions you may have then. For now, relax a bit; enjoy a walk, talk to some people, anything but staying in that room or seeking me out… Victor out..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 12, 2018, 01:28:42 pm
Helen winced a bit, trying to grab at the symbol of judgement as she heard that voice resonating. "Helviti..." She still found herself unable to stand, yet soon what she saw made her freeze in place, unable to do anything but watch.
Roxanne... she thought, recognizing the aura. The fact it was emanating from within the sword shocked her. That she was linked to it surely wasn't the reason. Something terrible had to have happened, as all she could think of.
"Let me g-go, I can't...V-victor!" she stammered out, the other presence holding her still. If you interrupt now, your one chance to salvage this will be lost. the interloper whispered into her mind, bringing with it the vague mental image of the cloaked figure from a prior vision.
She remained there, kneeling until the auras faded, and with it the remaining interloper vanished, briefly seen as another intruding aura, distant yet carrying unknown power with it She looked away from the items, shuddering a bit as she stood and picked up the radio. "For every answer, there's another two questions...I don't know what you did, but I'm going to trust you this time. Just...please, don't get yourself killed." she answered. She could froze a bit when she turned her attention in his direction, fearing the worst as she looked upon him.
But then she deactivated her mask, leaving Roxanne's room and making her way out o the farm. At this point she was worried about Roxanne, angered at Victor, worried about these three interlopers, one of which seemingly at odd with the other two. And yet it prevented her from trying to stop the other two. She did her best to push these thoughts out of her mind, resisting the urge to storm into Victor's room and punch him in the face, instead leaving the farm to make her way to The Hall.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 12, 2018, 10:29:50 pm
Steinar had stepped outside to get fresh air. He'd been sitting beside Salazar for some time now and needed a stretch. So he found himself pacing as he went over what had happened since he'd become mortal again. His descendant had much work to do and a son to look after now. Hefting a hand axe in one hand he wished he'd paid more attention to the affairs of her order.
Meanwhile inside Salazar's dream had him in his living room once again. He had put his coat on and was walking towards the door when his wife put a hand on his arm and asked "Won't you stay a while longer?"
He gave her a sad smile as he put a hand on the door knob. "I'm afraid I can't. Give our daughter all my love." Opening the door his vision began to blur as he said "Until we meet again my dear."
In the real world he blinked a few times before pushing himself to a sitting position and looking around. He didn't see anyone else in the room with him. Grabbing the violin case that had been left near his bed he opened it to find the thompson sitting inside of it. Putting it on the bed next to him he picked up the pair of 1911 hand guns and slid them into a pair of belt holsters before picking up the .357 magnum revolver and putting it into a chest holster.
A sawn-off over-under shotgun lay next to the bed with a garand but he let them sit there. For now he reached into his vest and retrieved a pin that he put on the collar of his shirt. As he moved his hands from the orange templars cross he reached back into his jacket to retrieve a photo that he found himself staring at. "What am I gonna do now?" he asked himself as he sat there holding the photo.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 13, 2018, 02:06:43 am
The little electric bike kicked to life easily and quietly. Catnip said it would, and Atomos trusted her word. The train was a very impressive machine except for the complicated control scheme and the need to climb to a neck breaking height to get into it, and the noise it produced, she thought it was just grand. "Gonna visit us again?" Catnip asked.
"I visit all the time. Looks like you've got company Nip." Atomos said. A small delegation of Mislings was making their way purposefully towards them along with the visitors from the center.
"Oh Catnip," said Khaki happily, "I'm so fucking glad you're alright! Listen, these guys heard you talking before. About how upset you were that we didn't help Kat out like we should've... And they uh, they want to help you out."
The Misling doctor pushed through the small group, L, Leslie, and Sylvia with him. "You got us here." Efram said, "If not for your determination and insistence, and your ingenuity, these people would still be in Pricetown." The others were nodding and mumbling. For once Leslie wasn't taking pictures, her camera nowhere to be seen.
"Pricetown was a dead end for me, no one at any of the papers was going to hire me. I can start my own paper here, and follow my dreams." The snake said, then grinned "My last name is Earthchild. I thought you should know. Leslie Earthchild. My mom and dad were hippies." She pushed a polaroid into Catnips hand, and the mechanic saw it was one of the first that had been taken with them together. Leslie with her back against Mark's truck and Catnip standing on the quarter panel next to her, the two making rabbit ears behind the others head.
Sylvia strode purposely forward and held out a hand. Instead of taking it, Catnip waited. She knew it wasn't a hand to be taken, just the setup for a simple trick which Catnip loved. Sylvia followed through by sliding her other hand down her wrist and past the watch, as she performed the movement, her finger caught on the tiny nearly invisible loop barely protruding from under it and the little paper bundle hidden under the adornment suddenly bloomed into the palm of her hand. These she offered to and were taken by Catnip. "You spared my life when you could have easily and rightfully ended it." She said, "I am so thankful that you didn't, and for the fact that you thought Daniel and I could use a fresh start here in New England."
L didn't wait for her turn, "You saved me Girly. I'm so sorry what we did to you, but we did it and you still saved me and brought me with you... I wish..." She was crying a bit, the reality of her new situation suddenly pressing in on her. "I was party to mark putting that fucking collar on you and you brought me here with you! I won't ever have to be afraid or in debt again. I owe you forever!" Catnip patted L on the back gently, soothingly. Atomos was smiling. She'd said people would help, and sure enough she had been right.
"Khaki, do you want a ride back to the center?"
"On that little electric bike? No, it's fine. I have to take the others back in the jeep. Hey Nip, we'll be back in no time with some people to help out. Pick a nice spot, yeah?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 13, 2018, 02:52:59 am
(( Smol additions made with Wilson's help. ))
Solomon was there outside, with Steinar for now as he inspected the mask Helen made for him, putting it on to give a tentative test of it. He turned his attention back to Salazar for a moment. Nothing looked to be out of the ordinary to him, as the boy lacked the strange compounding circumstances that tainted how Helen perceived the spirit of death's aura. The worst he'd get is a vague discomfort, the longer he kept his full attention on the man, and even then his mind readily rationalized it away as just the unease of someone he didn't really know yet.
Seeing the man finally stir, Solomon turned the mask off, removing it before looking to Steinar. "Think your friend might be awake by now. I'll go ahead and check on him." he said, still tending to Thomas as well for a the time being in Helen's absence. He simply opened the door and walked in. "You doing alright? Was getting worried about y-" And then he saw, to his surprise, the man had produced a violin case, and from it a veritable armory, from seemingly nowhere. "How did...nevermind, I know the answer is likely magic." he remarked.
A moment later however, the awkward silence was broken by their radio set piping up, following a momentary bit of chatter between Victor and Helen while they were outside, and while Salazar had still been unconscious. It was Helen, this time reporting to them. "Helen here. I'm heading back to The Hall, already almost at the bridge. Victor...might be here later on. More likely tomorrow." she said. From the sound of her voice, she seemed shaken by something, doing her best to hide it.
Elsewhere, Catalina gave a sigh as she looked back to the paperwork on her desk, her father by n ow having left in order to go check on the farm, making note of some things by Corpsman Gao. The usual records of patients received and under the care of the other doctors, the only one that stood out was an unknown name on the patient summary, mentioning a bounty. "Huh. Odd..."
Oliver was smiling a little, a break from his usual impassive expression as Jared pulled off the road to cross the field. "You'd think they'd pave th' road by now." he remarked, Jared just grinning a bit as he followed what was practically a road of packed dirt, a trail blazed by tank tracks, wheels of various sorts, and the sheer pressure of Catnip's magnum opus. "No worries boss, they made their own road it looks like." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 13, 2018, 01:22:38 pm
Steinar walked in and he and Salazar shared a short hug before Salazar asked "Per quanto tempo sono stato fuori?(How long have I been out?)"
Steinar smiled under his helm as he said "A little over a day. How do you feel?"
Salazar shook his head as he said "Like I just returned from the dead."
Salazar reached down and slid the sawn-off into a thigh holster before standing up with the Garand held loosely in his hands. As he heard the radio he spoke to Sol "Sounds like trouble. I'm Salazar, pleasure to meet you..?"
_____________________
Meanwhile elsewhere a device's clock ran down to zero and the attached gear began broadcasting The sound of a distressed woman called out "To anyone listening this is the Precinct, we need help! We're-" the sound of automatic gun fire and screaming could be heard in the background for a few moments as she said "-we're under attack! Three armored vehicles broke through our gate and they're using flamethrowers and power armor! Please, our men aren't going to last without help. They're lining everyone up outside. Please if you can hear this we need your help."
And then the broadcast repeated. It played on loop as Bandit listened in shock at the farm. Clicking his radio on he called but got no response. Closing his eyes for a second he took a breath. Grabbing his ballistic vest from the wall of his room he started out the door checking his pistol. Heading towards where he'd stashed the motorcycle that the Precinct had put together for him in case he needed to rush over he hoped someone else would be on the way but he couldn't just sit there and not respond.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 14, 2018, 12:08:48 am
Solomon regarded the man with curiosity, before their conversation switched from Latin to English, the stranger addressing him. At this he gave a polite nod. "I'm Solomon. You're a friend of Helen's, right?" he asked, before the report over the radio prompted a look of concern from him. "I'm hoping everything's alright over there, but with Sergei and the others at the farm things should be fine." he remarked, taking a seat nearby.
It wasn't long before Helen entered The Hall, giving a little nod to Steinar and Solomon, then a wave to Salazar. For a moment, she activated her mask out of curiosity only to freeze in place, surprised by the sight. It was hard for her to tell the difference, but it was enough to realize something was off. "So, I suspect we have had quite a lot of catching up to do..."
Hector maintained a deathgrip on the Siege Tower's tread levers, rumbling along with the engine bay set to full power, when something snapped him out of his haze. A frantic plea over the radio. It took him a moment to realize it, but he started to shake off that unfocused, blind anger that he was caught up in. He checked the map, and realized he wasn't that far off from the location Bandit had mentioned the settlement being at, the one that seemed to be the source of the distress signal.
He was already too late once today. Let's see what's left this time... he thought, picking up the radio handset as his other hand jerked a lever hard, onto the open field separating two stretches of country road. "Hector here. Not more than five minutes off, I'm on my way." he said. His tone of voice was cold, seemingly out of it. Indeed it seemed like he hadn't really caught on to the fact that Bandit had given an answer to a broadcast that merely looped, with no reaction to either of their radio responses.
There was just the rumble of the tank, alone with his thoughts as he made his way towards the Precinct, not knowing what he'd find. As the area started to come into view in the distance, a familiar terrible feeling began to come over him...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 14, 2018, 01:45:37 am
Salazar shrugged at Solomons question as he said "I don't know if you'd say friends but we..know each other. I do apologize, I assume we came rather suddenly."
As Helen entered he looked over and returned the wave. He could feel her analyzing him but he could understand why. It wasn't every day a mortal incarnation of a spirit of death showed up. He listened to her before saying "I suppose we do. I probably have quite a bit of explaining myself though that would take quite a bit of time."
As he spoke he reached into his vest seemingly looking for something when he gave a puzzled look before checking the rest of his pockets. "Of course I don't have any smokes on me." He muttered to himself before continuing "Regardless if you want I can be gone from here shortly. Not like I've much tying me to one spot these days."
Steinar for his part leaned against a wall. Taking a drink from a water skin he wondered what was going through Salazar's head at the moment. Looking around the room he found himself wondering just what exactly he himself was going to do. Returning the water skin to his belt he reached a hand up to remove his helmet and began looking it over as he contemplated that.
_________________ Elsewhere when Hector arrived he would find the gate sealed from the outside. A device lay not far in front of it with a flashing LED display, and if inspected would likely be concluded to be what was broadcasting the signal. As for the gate itself it had been sealed in a manner that meant the only real practical way of opening it was driving right through it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 14, 2018, 02:37:52 am
Catnip needed an interior decorator. A few of the people from the center and some of the Pricetown settlers with experience had whipped together a basic blueprint and, after her and Kathrine's approval, began laying the ground work. She could count on Kathrine to do it, but in the end the house would only have Catnip's aesthetic to it. The person best suited to such a task wasn't either of them, it was Roxanne. Roxanne could be counted on for some good gossip, rumors, and latest news as well. Also, Catnip wanted her to meet Sylvia. She thought they would get along famously.
Roxanne's house was much the same as she'd left it, still smelling of smoke and books and Roxanne's distinctly sweet smell. Catnip let herself into the main room, and upon seeing no one about, knocked on the door to Roxanne's inner sanctum. She wouldn't dare enter the bedroom without Roxanne's go ahead, so she waited. "Roxanne? Helloooo? Are you enjoying your gift?" She said through the door. There was no answer for quiet awhile, and so she assumed Roxanne must be out mingling, or maybe she was tired. If it was the latter, she didn't want to be a bother.
The odd silence in the room beyond gave her a bit of a prickly feeling in her scalp and in her lower back though. She thought about getting her service pistol and forcing her way in, but discarded the idea. If Roxanne was in there, she didn't need Catnip kicking her door in. Especially not when she'd only just returned. Instead, she cupped her hands to the door again and said "Well, I hope you're outside. If not, sorry for bothering you... I hope your feeling better." A little later, Catnip came to Sylvia and Daniel's shredded canopy. They'd spent all morning and afternoon cleaning up and repairing the damage. Sylvia seemed to be trying to keep her man from storming off to Sharlene's shack to at least get back the magicians dress. "Hey you, behaving yourselves?"
Daniel stiffened, but Sylvia just grinned warmly. "Of course. Where's this Roxanne you wanted to introduce us to?"
"I don't know, I thought maybe she would be here in the camp meeting people, but I guess she must be sick or something. Or maybe out and about somewhere else. You havn't seen her? Tall lady with uh..." Catnip made a circular motion around her chest. "Like that?"
Sylvia cackled laughter to the sky at that, some of the people she had seen could be described like that and it was the sort of nonspecific kind of description that wasn't exactly rare. "Catnip, I met a giant woman with breasts like overinflated volleyballs. I don't suppose your Roxanne is a giant tiger lady? If not, then I can't say I have." Catnip shook her head and gave a better description. Sylvia hadn't seen her, and neither had her husband.
"Then... She must be laying down in her room. I guess I'll just let her alone for now then..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 14, 2018, 03:01:34 pm
(( Third section bantered out with Salt. ))
Solomon shook his head at that. "It's fine, just unfortunate Helen wasn't here to greet you two at first." he said.
With Helen's arrival, she gave a little sigh before removing her mask, setting it on the table. "And I have time for now, if you wish." she said. "You're welcome to stay here if you'd like. Sergei's actually requested to move to the farm. Between that and the back it's not that hard to set up more guest beds should be fine." she said.
Solomon meanwhile offered to go get drinks for the two. "Aside from being able to make herbal tea if you'd like, still have a decent amount of vodka, plus plenty of mead, wine, and posca. Sergei and Alexei are really the only ones regularly drinking the vodka, I kinda...don't drink that often, and Helen's been holding off on it."
As Hector approached he closed the driver's hatch, the M2 above it whirling about as he turned one of the controls, and with the flick of a switch the camera feeds faded from their normal view to the black-and-white of thermal imaging. Just off the bat he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, no sign of life either.
Fuck. That must be what's repeating the signal... he thought, narrowly avoiding the device as the tank passed over it, spreading up to ram the gate. He was expecting trouble of some sort, juggling the task of maneuvering the Siege Tower with keeping a hand at the controls that gave him a bare minimum ability to let loose with the gun overhead while still buttoned up.
Elsewhere, Nathaniel was looking around, heading back towards the main area outside the farm's palisade, eventually finding Catnip. "Hey Catnip. You doing alright?"
Catnip turned on her heel, giving Sylvia a moment to get her husband calmed down, and greeted Nathaniel back.
"Hello Nathaniel. I'm fine, how have things been while I was away?" she said. The camp around them was a bustle of early afternoon activity. Strangely similar but distinctly different mutants went about their daily camp business as if they belonged, but still respectful of their hosts.
Nathaniel was a bit uncertain what to say, but he knew the others had told her much of what she missed. "Hectic but alright, mostly. Still a lot to deal with it seems." he remarked. "You seen Lil anywhere? Wanted to check on her while I'm at it. Plus was going to talk to Hector, evidently something happened this morning. He already drove off, it looks like."
Hectic was one word for it. At least it was better than preparing for the journey had been, and some points during that journey. "Oh?" She said, "Any idea where he went? I was hoping we could get back on track with fencing practice. As for Lilith-"
"Lilith is with her handler up at that cabin near the river, along with a gallon jar of red essence and one of my best dresses." Cut in Sylvia bitterly.
Catnip gave a little shrug, knowing that the state of the magicians tent was likely due in part to the tigresses unintentional bumbling.
At that, Nathaniel facepalmed. "Aw hell. Sorry about that ma'am, I'm assuming Sharlene's behind that? Except for the tent, I can guess who caused that. She has trouble accounting for her own size." he answered. "And I'm not sure where he is, but he left sometime before Victor got back. Could've sworn Roxanne left with him."
"Oh, so that's where she went then, alright. I was wondering." Catnip mused, then went on, "Hey, Nathaniel, I can't find any of the tools I need. Do you think you can help me sort through everything once this new house project is finished? I have a serious backlog to attend to. Also, if I show you how, do you think you can replace a few simple parts on a few of the lamps around here?"
Sylvia stayed quiet for a bit, in which time Daniel got the small stove going again. "You're her boyfriend aren't you?"
Nathaniel have a nod at that. "Sure. I might as well do something useful around here. Hector's been helping with upkeep on the place as best as he can, but he wasn't able to do much with the electrical setup. Just checking on the train every month and maing sure it'd be in working order if needed was complicated enough evidently." he added, before looking back to Daniel.
"Friend of hers, mainly. Try to keep an eye on her and..." The way he was blushing a bit at the question likely betrayed the fact the answer was "yes" actually.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 14, 2018, 03:27:42 pm
Salazar nodded to Solomon at the offer of drinks "Wine would be appreciated." while Steinar said "Mead if you don't mind."
Salazar then looked to Helen as he said "Somewhere to stay while I become accustomed to my current state would be appreciated. As for my being here in the first place..well I was working as Death under a bit of a contract. One of the Elders liked me back when I happened to still be breathing. To simplify it they needed someone to do grunt work, I had a specific set of attributes they happened to like and a situation they could take advantage of so they made me an offer. Now they've no need for my services so to speak and they upheld the contract. As for Steinar here.."
Steinar smiled as he said "My contract was up a couple hundred years ago, maybe longer I don't quite remember. A Hand's contract is quite different as we never truly get the option to make it permanent but I was good at what I did. So they let me stick around. I decided to keep an eye on Salazar here, make sure nothing came to eat him while he was out."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________ The tank broke the gate open with a horrendous crashing noise. As it whirled out of view Hector caught sight of the remaining members of the settlement, each of them seeming shocked at the sight of the tank. As several lifted weapons one motioned for them to be at ease. "If he wanted to kill us there wouldn't be much point in shooting it with an AK." He pointed out as he watched the vehicle
A few of the barracks were still burning and Hector probably noticed that they avoided what appeared to be a sealed building. Along with that were numerous graves that had been filled recently and several people still moving bodies into those that weren't filled. Those who weren't occupied continued to watch the tank.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 14, 2018, 05:42:21 pm
Sylvia rubbed her temples dramatically in an effort to look pained, then gave it up. "You know what? I was gonna ask you to distract the tiger while I tried to get the essence back, but that bitch has probably used it all up by now..." She said. Kathrine bristled a little, getting ready to admonish Sylvia for swearing. "Oh, now I don't think Catnip introduced us earlier. You're Kathrine right? Catnip thinks very highly of you."
Kathrine shot Catnip an adoring look, "About me? Catnip talked about me?" Aloud Sylvia said it was so, but to herself she thought, 'Not out loud anyway. Just a bit of divination and you can learn a lot about people...' Divination was Sylvia's best "trick." Get someone to take a few sips of a little cocktail made up of her special blend and a bit of blood essence, then sip from the same cup herself and the previous imbibers surface thoughts, memories, and impressions came on unbidden into her own mind. Free for examination at her leisure. Of course, Sylvia would forget most of the details within a week and she had no idea what abiding the memories of others would do to her in the long run, but it made for a hell of a show. The little trick also affected her own mind a little, in that it impressed on her the same likes and dislikes as the person whom shared their memories with her.
"She loves you a whole lot." Sylvia said, observing the way the clingy cat maid watched Catnip's every move. "I can see why she would fight her way back home so hard." To Nathaniel, as Kathrine and Sylvia exchanged pleasantries, Catnip gave a few short instructions. Bulbs had to be changed out, and wires had to be rerun. Simple work. any old wire would do, but the plain copper wires would be best. If that failed and the bulb wasn't the issue, all Nathaniel had to do was get a fresh battery from storage, wherever that was now.
"I have a backlog, like I said." she explained, "I have to find my service chart and what's left of my notice board. Did you guys pack away the notices too?" Nathaniel told her they had, though he didn't remember which crate, and Catnip nodded. "That's very good then. Go do what you have to do, and then get on those lights. As the head foreman used to say when he wanted us to hurry up, 'get to it, jin jin.'"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 14, 2018, 07:07:12 pm
“The killer who chose mercy…”, said an indistinct noise, “The daughter of the sun... The maiden of ruin… Roxanne Luna… You have gone by many titles… But now it has all culminated to this… no one can escape fate... ” The voice got softer as it spoke. Roxanne simply heard this voice, unable to react to it.
”Roxanne? Helloooo? Are you enjoying your gift?”
"Catnip?", Roxanne whispered to herself in her slumber, "I am sorry Catnip..." Why was she sorry? She didn’t know, it just felt right to say.
“It is time for you to witness your final transformation… come my child, it is time to wake up…”
"Catnip!", Roxanne screamed as she bolted to the door. She opened the door to find it no one on the other side. With a heavy heart, she went back to her bed. She need someone to talk to, anyone. Once she sat back in her bed and looked around for a bit was when it hit her. "Huh? Wait, I am awake!"
Roxanne looked at herself; nothing to much of the ordinary, just a bit paler than usual; she had been down this road once before after all. She felt cold and empty; like a shell that had just been discarded. "What the hell happened to me..." Roxanne relaxed and tried to remember what had let up to this: Being stabbed, the abyssal canyon, Victor harvesting her. Wait… Victor! He did this to her; this was all his fault! Maybe Plague and Clara were right, maybe she was just a tool after all.
In her self-pity, Roxanne stumble upon the items on the bed; how she had not felt them before was beyond her. "What’s this?", Roxanne whispered to herself. She found two notes, two swords and a pendant. The first note was Victor’s, she could tell from the cryptic code he wrote the thing in; it started off with an apology for what he had done to her but that it was necessary. Roxanne crumbled the note after reading just one paragraph and tossed it to the floor; she didn’t want to hear anything he had to say right now. She looked at the pendant; it was a little vial with a substance that shifted color. Roxanne smiled and without question, put the pendant on. Next, she noted the two swords; the two almost identical: swords of the void. One of them felt...off. It felt empty while the other seemed to call her name. Roxanne knew one so this belonged to Victor but what about the other?
With a small shrug and a deep sigh, she took the reaminding note and gave that a read. This one was much shorter… It read:
“Go seek out my brother Roxanne. Talk to him and know that we are telling the truth or chose to follow him. This is your choice; unlike those you call friends, we will give you as much. And remember...wear your divine cloak, a spirit out of its host items is a very delicate thing… By the way Au Revoir! Yours truly, Clara Ironwood. P.S: We swapped you from the sword Victor harvested you to the actual piece; keep the other one two, they worked very similar and dual wielding has its perks.”
"Guess I will have to talk to him… Wait, my cloak?", Roxanne said to herself before looking down to inspect herself more thoroughly. She was still wearing the divine cloak; how? According to Clara, and her own personal experience, she was a spirit once more; why would clothing of the living fit on her? This wasn’t how it worked last time; wait, was this not like last time.
A quick glance of the swords rose more questions. Why was Victor’s sword here and whose was the other? This was all too confusing to her. There was once place she could get answers: Victor’s note. Roxanne picked it up and crumbled it; she skipped the apology and gave it a proper read. A few items popped out in her mind from the rest.
-She was now a “cursed spirit” and was bounded to a sword. -She had lost her divine essence but the cloak would help simulate it. -Without the cloak, she would be stuck as incorporeal forever; Roxanne needed to wear the cloak to interact with the real world. -She could not be harmed by “normal” attacks: guns, swords, explosives, etc. However, spiritual attacks were amplified against her. The use of a life orb was a must. -As a spirit bounded an object, that object’s wielder would technically be her master. She could chose who this person would be but he proposed something else: ”What if a spirit was their own wielder?”
The last thing she read was about the vial. It contained something called prime essence; it was a creation of Victor’s back before the cataclysm, all of the three essence consecrated into one. The note had the ritual for creating more but it warned about it’s potency. “All of SoA’s artifacts run on this. This is the first we run into so I had no use in showing this stuff to you. Now, this sword only take one essence charge at a time but it’s enough to power it for 30 minutes. As it happens, that vial contains one single charge of prime essence. Use it wisely, that sword is your body now…”
"Now it’s not...", Roxanne said quietly to herself as she put the note down. The other note said they had swapped her to the sword of the void that was the actual piece; the one who seemed to call her name. "Guess I’ll experiment a bit with these two and then I’ll go and seek out some answers..."
“Are we ready to go?”, asked a Plague. He was rather impatient right now and it was evident in his tone.
“Lock and loaded chief. Got to say, those puppets of yours are rather effient...you have to teach me how to do that sometime…”, Clara said in response.
Plague scowled at her. “Good to know. Are you ready? We are departing within the our.”
“I have been ready since two hours ago. I don’t own much remember?”
“Yes, rather efficient of you.”
“I have to ask, why the rush?”
“Two pieces have been stolen from factions we do not know the full intent of, Roxanne is now in possession of one and your little brother had forced my hand…”
Clara chuckled a bit. “Oh, seems you are the one frustrated for once. How does it feel?”
Plague looked at her right in the eyes before he said this. “I feel like satiating my hunger…”
The little smirk on Clara’s face vanished as she took a nervous step back. “Oh...I see...I will be sure to bring you some tribute then...there should be some bandits around here… If you excuse me, I have to go ahead and do that.” Clara ran off as soon as she finished saying this; Plague keeping her gaze on her the whole time. “Humans and their pettiness…”, Plague said to himself.
A while later, he was outside inspecting the military cargo truck he had acquired. All he needed for the trip was already loaded in; including 5 hand picked zombies. “Can’t go in there with an army of the dead… A single squad should do.”, Plague told himself as he looked them over.
This zombied were special for a reason; 3 of them were part of the super soldier project. They were heavily augmented and mutated combat machines; their gear matched: specialized armored suits with all kinds of gadgets that ran off their internal bionic power. One of the other two was similar to them but a bit more advance; they were a zombified member of the bio-weapon project. It’s badge read “Bio-Weapon Psi”; their gear was similar to that of the super soldiers but the weapon it wielded was an ARC-314 Laser Carbine rather than the Rivtech RM51 assault rifle the others had.
The final one was Plagued pride and joy. A very rare specimen as the blob didn’t see it fit to create it often; but his intervention had driven it to do so. The final one was a zombie overlord. What is a zombie overlord? Take the powers of a zombie master and necromancer, add sentience and the human-level coordination and you have one of these. This zombie would keep the other 4 in peak condition as well as aid in the battle.
“We are ready...once we reach our destination, the pieces shall be mine! A better world shall be reborn!”
Victor was in his room going over various scenarios of what to do next. Mainly, what to tell Helen in regards to specific questions. He wasn’t thinking of cover ups or ways to dodge the question, it was that the answers were so convoluted and far fetched he thought maybe she wouldn’t believe him. However, that train of thought left him soon enough.
"Gotta say, wasn’t expecting you so soon but I am not surprised either." Victor didn’t need to look up to know who had joined him in his room. Two very distinct feeling told him everything he needed to know. The first was the same feeling of rot and decay Helen had felt; Victor felt as it entered his body and engulfed completely. The other was the aura of a cursed spirit outside its host item. Now, cursed spirits were rare and there was only one he knew of. He smirked at these two sensations.
"Come for answers or to blow off some steam? I trust you read my note?" Victor looked up to see Roxanne with a face that both signified anger and indignance. "I am going to assume the latter then..." It was then he noticed she was wielding his sword of the void: the piece of the puzzle. "Ah, so that's where that went… So they did talk to you..."
Roxanne paid no mind to Victor’s comments; she was here for one thing and one thing only. With sword no pointed towards Victor, Roxanne practically shouted at him, “Listen here, no more games, no more cryptic bullshit; I want answers and I want the now!” Without moving even an inch, the sword activated and Roxanne was engulfed by the sword’s aura of entropy. "Or if not, I have my ways of making you talk...and accidents might happen."
Victor smirked and chuckled at Roxanne’s actions. He knew what she possessing that sword and being able to activated meant. "So you are the piece’s spirit now… How fitting. Now, do you really think you can harm me? There is one thing you forget Roxanne..." He raised his hand and extended it as if expecting something to appear in it. Then, without warning, the sword flew from Roxanne’s hand to his own deactivating it’s effect in the process. "I am still this sword’s chosen. I am the holder of the void."
This was all theatrics though, from both of them. Neither wanted to harm the other; their reasons varied. Roxanne though she could intimidate him and Victor thought about showing Roxanne her place as a spirit. Well, both of this seemed to backfire as Victor would soon find out. "Oh really now? So you are unwilling to talk? Then I guess I will pry the answers the old fashion way!" With that being said, Roxanne took off the divine cloak making her incorporeal just as the note had said.
"Wait, Roxanne, what are you doing? Stay back! You don’t understand, you don’t want to do this!", Victor exclaimed as he stepped back. He knew what Roxanne was intending and he would soon have those suspicions confirmed. "If you will not answer me, I will pry that information from your mind!" Roxanne lunged at Victor to possess him; nothing she hadn’t done before. There was nothing Victor could do, she rushed at him and the possession took hold.
“Bio-Link established.”, said a voice. Victor had heard it a few times as the spirit that was housed in this sword had changed quite a bit. However, Roxanne had no idea what was going on. She was confused at the fact that the memories she was expecting were not manifesting.
“Spirit Class: Cursed Spirit, Roxanne Luna. Sword and Wielder beware, unison complete.”, said the voice.
Roxanne was beyond confused. She was inside of Victor’s consciousness as expected but things were different. She was just there sharing Victor’s input of stimuli but not able to take hold of him. It was then that the memories started to flood in; surprisingly, only the ones she was looking for.
Victor gave a deep sigh and looked at the ceiling as he did so. The grip on his sword tighten as the usual process of assimilating a spirit into the sword occured. "Damn it all...Now I have to deal with this too..." He decided to let Roxanne take a peek at his memories pertinent to what was going on; he showed her about the curse and prophesy; about Plague’s hand in this, about what he did to her and even about what had happened that fateful day to him and Roxanne’s counterpart. Victor let her take on all of this and process it as he groaned at what had just happened.
With a swift motion of the sword by Victor’s hand, a familiar purple mist emanated from it as Roxanne assumed her physical form in the room again; a somber look was plastered on her face. "S-so that what this is about? The curse?", Roxanne asked sheepishly after being summoned. Victor simply nodded in response. "I see… You didn’t want me to end up like Blackmore...You and her… I am sorry..."
"That was years ago Roxanne. Then you came along and got entangled in this mess. At least it’s over now; just have to take the final precautions… I am the one who should be sorry. Despite the circumstances, I was the one who made you like this...", Victor responded.
"No no, that’s fine… I don’t mind really, not as bad as what the alternative was… nonexistence… Not really what one things it is...", Roxanne said in response. She look at her hands to fully take in what she was now; a cursed spirit trapped in a sword. Never in a million years did she thought she would utter those words. "Are you going to tell Helen?", Roxanne asked.
He shrugged before answering, "If it comes up, sure. There is no reason to keep it hidden anymore. She will certainly question me pretty severely… Oh well I deserve worse." after a brief moment of silence, Victor loudly cleared his throat to get Roxanne’s attention.
"I guess it will take time for you to take that information in… In the meantime, there is something I want to discuss with you.", Victor stated.
Roxanne looked at Victor proper as her curiosity peaked. "And what would that be?", she asked.
"How do I explain this… Well, did you hear that voice when you possessed me?"
"Yes, I was meaning to ask, what was that about?"
"No use sugar coating it I guess. You are now my familiar Roxanne. Yes, as in a witch owning a familiar the same way Randael once was. As the sword’s spirit, you ‘choose’ me as your wielder by possessing me… "
"I what?! No no no! Screw that! I am nobody’s property you hear!"
"Calm down! Listen. It’s not permanent. It is your choice after all. It only happened because I am this sword’s chosen and it was looking for a new spirit. Now, you are free to chose however; I just warn you to do so carefully as not only is this sword rather important to SoA, it is also a piece of the forbidden puzzle..."
Victor approached her and handed her the sword. She took it and looked at him; a sympathetic smile on his face. "I know this is the weirdest thing you can imagine but I will help you through it. It is the least I can do…."
Roxanne nodded as she took the sword; she gave it a last glance before putting it back into her back scabbard. "What you said in the note, is that true? Can I be my own wielder?".
"I am not sure. Never has been attempted before. I am currently your wielder. If you don’t deem me fit of such a thing, I will gladly help you with finding someone more, should I say, ‘qualified’... Just keep in mind, you truly desire that person to be your wielder; otherwise, it won’t work."
"I see… I really don’t know right now. I guess I’ll keep you for right now; like I have a choice."
"That’s fine; you have time. More than me anyways... You fate is in your hands...yes, for once we are free..." There was a moment of silence between the two. Various thoughts crossed each of their minds. One in particular that crossed Roxanne was Clara and Plague telling her how she is not wanted in the farm; how she is just a tool. Victor’s actions certainly seemed that way before hand but, while still a bit selfish, they made sense now and it spared her from a worse fate. Still, she wondered about the others, do they feel the same way?
"Soooo, what now?", Roxanne asked interrupting the silence.
Victor smiled and looked forwards at nothing in particular. "I have not the faintest clue… Well, what do you want to do?"
Roxanne looked at the door as Clara and Plague’s comments surfaced once more. "Want to maybe take a walk? Talk some people? We have quite the company here. Maybe I can even find a proper wielder." The last testament a bit of a joke on her part.
With a quick scan using his aura spell, Victor checked to make sure Helen wasn’t still in the farm.With that out of the way, he nodded at her request. "Sure thing. Could use the fresh air. Ready to go?"
"Just one quick thing..." Roxanne took the divine cloak and put it on. It was a metallic crimson; it symbolised the lowest ranking divine spirits with golden being the highest. She didn’t mind that but she hope to one day get herself a golden one. Roxanne gave Victor a thumbs up and the two made their way out of Victor’s room.
The two walked as if nothing had changed. Roxanne carried the sword of the void on her back as Victor used to do; that was the most obvious difference. Victor strolled a couple steps behind Roxanne taking in the changes to the farm he had neglected to see. The camp of the newcomers was coming along fine and they too seemed busy. Roxanne on the other hand walked forwards with confidence. She hoped to meet someone she knew to put her doubts to rest. Whatever the outcome, her fate was now in her hands.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 14, 2018, 07:40:19 pm
While Solomon went ahead with getting drinks for the two, Helen gave a little nod at that. "It's the least I can do given all that's happened. Victor owes his life to you, and I too am indebted due to this. As much as he sometimes makes me regret not following the procedure for a hollowed being..." she grumbled.
At this, after the two explained and Solomon handed over a glass for both, the young man perked up a bit. "What'd he do this time?" he asked, and she shook her head. "I don't know much, and not much of it should be said. Just...something happened while those two were out."
Hector regarded the thermal images warily. Burning buildings, and the dimmer signatures of a few people still there. The tank halted in place, prepared to peel out and behind a building if it looked like any of them were carrying anti-tank weaponry, but when he flicked the imaging switch off he recognized the uniforms. The tank's engines could be heard cutting off, as he fumbled for the intercom.
"Hold your fire. This is Hector Lowe, seems I'm a bit late..." he said. A few moments afterward there was the odd sight of the knight emerging from the rear hatch, that odd metal-rimmed Knights Hospitallers shield in hand and an M4 slung over his shoulder. "What the hell happened here?"
Nathaniel nodded at that as Catnip gave him her instructions, already regarding the parts and tools to be used, giving a nod at that. He started to make his way towards where lights needed replacing, already setting up at one by the time Victor and Roxanne could be seen walking around. "That's odd..." He vaguely recalled the earlier chatter he only half paid attention to, and the fact that Hector as gone, heading over to the two.
"Roxanne? Hey, I think Hector's been looking for you. You didn't tell him you were back with Victor?" he said, a bit confused by this. "He kinda stormed off in the tank after hearing back from Vic..." At this point he started to wonder what was going on, realizing he'd either failed to pay attention to the attention to a worse extent that he thought he did, or else that something weird was going on.
Elsewhere, a familiar old vehicle pulled in from the path cutting through the swamp, finding a patch of trustworthy-looking dry ground to park as the two stepped out. "Huh. Think they got their hands full, boss. Lot more vehicles here than I recall."
"No worries. Does look like that tank o' theirs is gone though. Think they said that was the knight's ride. Aw well. Might as well have a meet and greet, and give 'em the news about my boys if the kid's at least still here." Oliver remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 14, 2018, 08:11:59 pm
Salazar shrugged as he looked down at his glass. Inspecting the contents of it he said "I doubt it'd be as bad as attempting to kill a spirit of death. And if it is then I'm surprised, he didn't exactly strike me as the type to do such things."
Steinar grumbled at the first part of Salazar's comment before saying "Regardless anything we can do to help around here we'll gladly do."
_____________________
The members of the Precinct looked at the knight as he emerged before one motioned for him to follow. "They smashed through the gate in an armored car. Four men in power armor were in it with flame throwers. Combine that with the two machine gun toting APCs and we didn't stand much of a chance. Then they did the lottery for the mutants. Losers went into that." He gestured towards the sealed building as they walked past it. "After they left we heard the canisters they put inside open and..screaming. If you want more details they left a recording of it all, not pleasant to watch though."
Which was when the sound of a motorcycle roaring through the gate was heard and Bandit came to stop in the settlement. Hector could almost feel the contempt that most of the survivors felt towards Bandit as he walked towards them. "The fuck happened here?"
The man rolled his eyes as he briefly explained before saying to the two "Look. We appreciate that you two are concerned but why don't you two go back to the farm. If you really want to see what happened the recording is in the radio room. Otherwise I don't think it'd be good for you two to stick around, we're mourning our dead before we move on and find somewhere else to stay. Nothing personal, but you two aren't exactly members of the community here and given what happened..outsiders aren't looked on with much trust at the moment."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 14, 2018, 08:12:33 pm
Roxanne and Victor were walking along uneventfully until a familiar voice was heard by the two. They turn around to find Nathaniel approaching and calling to them.
“Oh hey Nathaniel, it’s been awhile.”, Roxanne responded. The two of them listened as he told them about Hector. Victor’s expression grew more annoyed and Roxanne’s with slight anger.
“Yeah Victor, what did you tell Hector? Why did he storm off like that?”, Roxanne asked in a tone that read “You best tell me now or else”.
Victor gave a deep sigh before looking both at Nathaniel and Roxanne. “I might have sent him on a wild goose chase… He is probably mad now that it didn’t amount to anything… Although I am surprised it has taken him this long to come back...”
Roxanne simply slapped Victor upside the head. “You truly are an idiot! Do you have a death wish? Hector can easily kill you if he gets mad.”
“First of all, ouch. Second, I panicked ok? I had a narrative and I was sticking to it...Besides, if he attacks me, I have my trusty sword right here.” Victor nudge Roxanne a bit on the last statement. She looked away and crossed her arms in response. “Fuck off, not for long you don’t...”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 14, 2018, 08:36:57 pm
Helen nodded at that. "True. That would top the list if anything. If my suspicions are correct then it's still high up there..." she said, before shaking her head. "No doubt there'll be things to tend to soon, but for now there's not much. Waiting on Victor actually."
Hector gave a little sigh at that, looking around and grumbling some. "Well fuck." he said, an uncommon remark from him. "Any confirmation on where they went? Any identifying marks? Red sashes, blue crosses, whatever." he asked, but now other concerns started to creep back into his mind. Even under the armor it was likely clear he was already on edge about something.
He then looked back to Bandit before regarding the burning building before them. "Doubt sticking around and watching whatever these vermin have recorded will give us anything useful. Bandit, I trust you can handle it, I still have something I was on my way to deal with..." he said, before making his way back to the tank.
Nathaniel facepalmed as the two went back and forth a bit, soon clutching his temples before Victor's last remark made him snap out of it. "Woah woah woah, no one's attacking anybody here, you got me? Nevermind that if you tried you'd probably end up disarmed in the most literal manner possible." he said.
"Well if Mister 'I shat out a ghost' here has just sent Hector on a wild goose chase, one of you is going to have to explain things to him when he gets back. For fucks sake Roxanne, he's probably worried sick about you now."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 14, 2018, 10:06:44 pm
"Roxanne! There you are. Nathaniel said you were off with sir loin. Are you feeling better? Do you like your gift?" Catnip said, surprising Roxanne with a sneaky hug from left field. "We didn't talk much after I gave you jim, where'd you go? Listen, I want you to meet someone you might like." She began tugging fitfully on Roxanne. "Her name is Sylvia, she was a 'muj-ish-in' before she got turned into a Misling. I didn't know there was magic that wasn't magic at all, but she can do it Roxanne! C'mon, we can catch up and you can look at the designs for Kathrine and my new house." She looked to victor, and added, "Magic man can come too if he wants."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 15, 2018, 01:01:26 am
Victor rolled his eyes at Nathaniel’s comment while he smiled. "It was just a joke, not a very good one, but still just a joke. Last thing I want is inter-fighting. We protect our own, not harm them." This statement stood out as a bit hypocritical to Roxanne given what he had done to her but she would let it slide.
"Nevermind grand wizard Ironwood over there; he is just lost in thought right now.", Roxanne said interrupting the other two, "Anyways, Hector. If what Victor told us is accurate, he will surely be worried when he doesn’t find me… At least I am here now!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Roxanne felt a warm embrace; it was Catnip giving her a sneaking hug. "Whoa, didn’t see you there ‘Nip. Yes, I am both fine and am liking little jim. He is in my desk by my room by a window; should get plenty of sunlight there. As to where was I, I got a little busy with a little thing recently but that’s over for now." She let Catnip continue speaking; she was still the energetic girl Roxanne remember her as.
"Magic you say? Sounds interesting. Sure, let’s go and meet this person.", Roxanne responded. This person sounded like a simple illusionist to Roxanne from the way Catnip spoke of her; however, if she too was an arcanist, maybe she could see through Roxanne’s thin facade… Oh well, she will deal with it then. One thing was for sure, slowly but surely, Roxanne was growing more convinced that Clara and Plague were wrong.
Upon hearing Catnip invite Victor, Roxanne adopted her usual personality. "Yes Victor, you have our permission and blessing to accompany us. Lucky you!"
Victor gave an indignant look in response. "Watch it Luna...I am the wielder here..."
Roxanne chuckled upon hearing that. "For now. Anyways. Catnip, lead the way!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 15, 2018, 01:21:50 am
And so, Catnip did. It wasn't a long walk back through the thin throng of settlers who seemed more and more like a band of traveling refugees. Most of the shreds of Sylvia and Daniels tent had been cleared away, leaving a rather stunted cover over their most important goods. "Come one, Come all! Come see Sylvia Le Strange! Cup of tea or hot brandy, have your palm or your tarot read while you are at it? The past! The present! The future! Well, maybe not the future... Oh, back so soon Catnip?" Sylvia said, running through her simple spiel while her husband handed out cups of warm juice, brandy being unsuitable for this time of day. They were out of brandy anyway, and juice would suit just as well.
"I found her Sylvia! I brought her back to introduce herself." Catnip said. Roxanne looked over the oddments on display, and thought that she'd seen similar small shops. Alleyway apothecaries, magic shops, and the fronts for charlatans looked much the same. Their tents or stalls were often in better shape though, and often contained things far stranger that what this woman was peddling. Sylvia was cocking her head at Roxanne, perhaps sensing something a bit off, or maybe just appraising her. It turned out to be the second, and Sylvia's smile shone warmly on her. She stepped from around her table and clasped Roxanne's hand in both of hers. "It's so nice to meet you. Catnip says you are some kind of merciful assassin?"
It was Catnips turn to cock her head, this time in confusion. "I never told you-" but Sylvia was quickly ushering her conversation along, away from her small faux pas. Roxanne didn't feel anything slipped into her hands, and so when Sylvia pulled back, dragging a line of silken handkerchiefs along with her own hands, Roxanne was taken aback. "Just keep that fist tight ma'am, just- ah! Look at that!" At first, the end of the silk scarves caught in Roxanne's hand, but with a quick tug it came free and along with it a shower of red confetti. "Red again! Always red. Stupid sanguimancy can't do any other colors it seems." She turned to Victor, then raised her eyebrow to Catnip. Behind her, Daniel had retrieved a familiar looking mask. A mask of insight. He hadn't put it on, was simply turning it over and over, regarding his wife cautiously.
"Would you join me for tea?" Sylvia asked suddenly. The man stopped his fiddling with the mask and waited for the answer.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 15, 2018, 12:45:12 pm
Salazar and Steinar finished their respective drinks as they listened and contemplated. Salazar for his part set the now empty glass aside and started assembling his Thompson. "I see. Well if you have any questions I'm sure we can answer them."
___________________________________
The man looked to Hector as he said "Iron crosses, swastikas, and some weird symbol on their breast plates that I didn't get a good look at. As for where they went, well we were sealed in here so we have no clue."
As Hector started back towards the tank the man sighed and turned to Bandit "Look, a lot of people here want you dead. They blame you because you were the leader and we weren't prepared. So I'm going to suggest you go back to the farm. To most of them you're an outsider."
Bandit looked like he was about to say something when he caught the looks most of the others were giving him. Sighing he walked to his motorcycle and decided to follow Hector back to the farm. Cass said "What's wrong with these guys?"
Something to which Bandit had no reply. He just started the engine and headed to the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 15, 2018, 03:27:44 pm
Helen nodded at that, in the meantime having prepared tea with the assorted herbs they'd been growing. "Well, I guess a start would be why they ended up making you mortal again. I'm surprised they'd do such a thing."
Nathaniel smiled a little at Victor's remarks. "Good, just take care, alright? I kinda have something Catnip asked me to do." he said, and indeed right as he said that Catnip showed up. He gave a little nod to her as the three went back outside the camp, continuing his work until Oliver and Jared found him. From there the two would discuss a few things, Nathaniel learning about what happened since their last visit.
Oliver nodded towards Nathanial, "You're uh..."Nathanial, right?" Nathaniel nodded at that, setting down an old length of frayed wire. "Yes. Mr. Sandell, if I recall?" At that Oliver smiled some. "Yup. How's uhh..." he gestured towards the train, "what ever the hell that is."
Nathaniel smiled a bit. "Still running it seems, Catnip took it out for a spin earlier. Shit, it's been a while. Before the attack on the center, Catnip vanishing, her coming back..." The other two seemed less surprised at that than Nathaniel was expecting, and he suspected that someone else already filled them in. "Yeah, shit. Sorry we didn't send help, we had our own little attack too..."
"It's fine. You ever get anything useful out of the maps?" he asked. "Yeah, uh. We found one of my boys actually. She's alive, but not doing great..." Nathaniel looked down at that, shaking his head. "Goddamn animals. Better than not getting either of them back at least."
Hector grumbled a bit at that. "Last thing any of us need is yet another gang of nutjobs running around ruining people's lives." he said, looking back to the others before he climbed into the tank. He was tempted to say something in response to the sort of attitude the group was giving the two of them, but he let it go without saying another word.
It wasn't too much longer before the faint rumble of the tank's engines could be heard in the distance at the farm, pulling in to park in its usual place, with Bandit's motorcycle not far behind. Hector climbed out, cursed sword at his back and shield in hand, a fist clenched as he looked around. He was about to storm off the Victor's room and kick the door in when he saw him, the knight heading over. But then he saw her, and froze in place.
"R-roxanne!?" At the sight of her he practically dropped his shield and ran to her. "You were here this entire time while Victor was sending me off to some empty haunted cave, what...what happened?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 15, 2018, 10:58:27 pm
Roxanne was both amused and delighted by Sylvia’s little self promotion. She always found illusionists very endearing; there was a sort of innocence in the art that appealed to Roxanne. As she walked through the place, she could not help to smile at the little nick-nacks Sylvia had in display. Nothing she had not seen before but it gave personality to the place; it she had made this her place, Roxanne admired that.
Sylvia’s question and demeanor took Roxanne off guard; this woman was speaking to Roxanne in a manner aquin of praise; like a rookie soldier meeting a war hero. While Roxanne’s ego was large enough to let her believe this was what was going on, she knew better. Roxanne had no time to reply as she was now being part of a magic trick demonstration; she smiled warmly at the display. "Wow! Very nice! You have certainly perfected your craft.", Roxanne said in response; praise and wonder in her tone, "And to answer your question, yes; although that was a long time ago."
Sylvia had complete won Roxanne over; she did not notice the vocabulary she was using; did not notice the way Sylvia’s husband looked at them from behind; Roxanne did not even notice the mask of insight. No, Roxanne was too busy being enthralled by the display at hand. However, Victor knew better. Despite what his previous track record would lead you to believe, he was careful in analyzing his surroundings. He had detected the presence of arcane mishappenings from here with his aura spell; not to mention the mask of insight from the man in the back. Victor stoof back and let Roxanne do the talking.
Then tea was offered; Victor smirked in response. He knew what this was about; not exactly what but he knew the tea wasn’t normal. Everyone who dabbles in blood magic eventually experiments with drinks as early potion practice; Victor was no exception. "I’ll pass. I am more of a coffee kinda guy.", Victor said in response. Roxanne turned back and glared at him. Her look read, “You are embarrassing me in front of these people!”
Roxanne simply assumed this was part of another routine of Sylvia’s and happily accepted a cup. "Don’t mind him; he is know to be a buzzkill at times. I’ll take one." Sylvia handed her a cup with a smile on her face and Roxanne took a sip enjoying this little interaction. "Hey, maybe I can show you one of my tricks sometime." Despite being a spirit once more, the cloak made her corporeal so the effects would manifest on her; the effect should be the same on spirits right?
At the sound of Hector calling Roxanne’s name, everyone turned around to see who it was. Roxanne looked at him and gave him a look of both relief and guilt; she stood there as he approached. Victor stood there as his actions had come back to haunt him once more in the span of a few hours.
"Greaaaat...", Victor murmured to himself, "Please mother Venus give me strength; absolve me of my sins and help me against the wrath of the iron giant..." To his relief, he didn’t seem to pay him much in the way of attention. He didn’t complain or even say a word letting this continue. Roxanne put down the now empty tea cup and looked at Hector proper. "It’s a long story...Be safe assure I am fine now and that I am here...to stay… Maybe I can explain it to you sometime later? You know, catch up a bit. For now, I am here meeting one of Catnip’s friend. A delightful lady trained in the art of magic. Care to join us?" The last few sentences were uttered in a manner as to make sure everyone around them could hear them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 15, 2018, 11:58:20 pm
As always, Sylvia was delighted by her marks focus on the more mundane aspects of her magic. The sanguimancy served only to enhance, and as fluff on the act it shouldn't be focused on. When Roxanne's attention shifted, Sylvia switched the cups with a single deft movement that no one besides victor noticed. She was refilling it when Roxanne's attention shifted back, and the illusion that Sylvia had done little more than refill both of their cups was complete.
"Yes Mr..." She was more careful not to blurt out the name she knew would be "Lowe" this time. "I'm Hector Lowe." The knight said.
"Sylvia Le Strange. Formerly Sylvia the Stupendous and until last night, Sylvia the Sanguine. Charmed. Please join us Mr. Lowe." She said, then offered, "How about a reading Ms. Luna?" She drank the tea from the swapped cup in a single slow draft, taking in both the flavors of the tea and the strange flavors of Roxanne's surface thoughts. Before Roxanne could answer, Sylvia began. The first and foremost was that Roxanne and Hector were romantically involved. There seemed to be something between Roxanne and Victor as well, but she wasn't sure what to make of that. Only that it wasn't romantic. Sylvia skipped that and went on to the next. Under that, not buried but being slightly veiled over, was Roxanne's "delicate" state. "You are a very interesting person Roxanne. Your past, your... present... You've undergone a lot of changes in your life I see. Human once, cyborg later, then you abused mutagen and became rather fey. A... ghost? A spirit, fascinating. They call you 'The blade of Sodom.' Why is that I wonder? A fighter, an assassin. Your days of service to one are ended, your days of service to others have just begun." Sylvia was working around certain memories and thoughts now, seeing that Roxanne's situation was one of absurd danger, and certain parts of it she did not wish to share. She went on with the more mundane, outlining her relationships with the others on the farm, and revealing a few other things she had gathered by cross referencing with what she'd collected from Helen the night before, and from Catnip shortly after they met. "She looks up to you, the hungry one. Catnip's sister." Sylvia opened her eyes. "Are they really sisters? They aren't anything alike."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 16, 2018, 01:48:53 am
(( More results of banter with Wilson. ))
Oliver grumbled, scratching his beard. "Yeah, thank god..." he said, taking a moment before continuing. "They took her god damn arm and leg... God knows what else they did to her. But she's fine and we got her some prosthetics, a high grade arm and a cheap bionic leg."
Nathaniel nodded at that. "Hope she'll be alright." he said, looking away. "Anything else we missed after all this time?" At this, Sandell looked around a bit. "Hm...nothin' really. Some of my boys died or got hurt bad after the attack. Charlie, the guy with one arm? He's dead." he added, Nathaniel still listening silently. "We've been grieving mostly."
"Damn. As if they haven't done enough already." he said quietly, shaking his head. "Buuut good news is I found my daughter after all these years." The mention of a daughter surprised him. "That's good. What all happened, if you don't mind my asking?" Oliver scratched his chin, "She went off to college, via the military. Might know her, currently runnin' the center." He said this with a wide grin forming on his face.
Nathaniel went wide-eyed at that. "She the lady that was with the others in that underground site?" he asked. "Yeah." Nathaniel managed a little smile at that. "That's a good surprise then." Oliver gave a little nod at that. "Mhmm. Proud of where she is right now..." he remarked. "Seems to have been a big help to the center, yeah."
"Hm... How were things 'round here?" he asked, Nathaniel smiling a bit. "Doing alright. No major casualties at least. As you probably saw, a large caravan from down south showed up recently. There's the ones that brought Catnip back with them. It's a...long story, it seems." Oliver nodded, deciding he'd ask about it later, reaching to shake Nathaniel's hand. "Hm, alright..."
Hector gave a little sigh as he hugged her tight, before looking back to Victor. Even with that great helm on, the fact he was glaring at him underneath it was likely readily apparent. "Alright then. Would like to know what happened, when we get a moment. For now though, I'm just glad you're here. I thought you'd..."
The spectacle of Sylvia and her magic tricks was a welcome reprieve from everything that'd been going through his mind ever since this morning. First that strange urge to wield the cursed sword, then his concern when Victor told him about Roxanne being left in someone's care. The feeling of unease and fear as he explored the cave, the chill and vague sense of death. And worst, the vague reflection of something in the blade, a creature he'd never seen before.
"That'd be due to the mutations Mica picked up after being taken out of the lab." he explained. "She was even more mutated in the past, in fact." he added, now curious as he regarded the tea. "Definitely interesting. Normally I wouldn't put much faith in divination and such, but given all that's happened, that's not even the most usual thing I'd encountered. Might be up to try sometime."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 16, 2018, 02:14:23 am
Salazar shook his head as he leaned back and said "My contract. I still committed many sins in my work before I became a death. I made a request in my contract for a chance to make amends. Help the world instead of..well that's old news. Nothing I'd imagine you'd be interested in. The important bit is that they went with the details of the contract. Just didn't do the whole 'reincarnation' thing that I've seen a few go for."
Setting his hat aside to reveal black hair that was cut into a rather standard military cut for the 40's. His eyes appeared partially gray though the green color seemed to be seeping back into them. Looking up at Helen he said "Not that there's much chance of me actually doing something to help the world."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 16, 2018, 02:48:55 am
After the reading Sylvia gave to Roxanne, it was now Victor’s turn to be taken aback. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow; she nailed it spot on. Victor was among the few Roxanne had possessed at least once when she was a divine spirit and as such they shared each other’s memories; he recalled some very specific memories and wondered if Sylvia knew of them too. Then a more worrying thought crossed his mind; what did she knew about him? Did she know about the pieces of the forbidden puzzle? The divine spirits and the broken god? The nephilim and the masked terrorist. It worried him that someone who seemed to have such abilities might learned things he would rather only a select few know. Then, somehow, he began thinking about silly things she might know. Did she know about his shenanigans with Melody when he acted as his arcane teacher? Was she aware that he introduced Sharlene to blood magic out of pure pettiness? Did she know about Melissa Mcmorrow?! As this thoughts raced through his mind, he stood there observing to see if he could learn a bit more.
Roxanne was in utter disbelief; this was beyond illusion magic now. She spoke after Hector gave his explanation on Mica. "H-how did you know all that? You are an actual arcanist aren’t you?!", Roxanne said quietly at first her tone rising with each passing word. "It’s so good to meet one who isn’t trying to kill us for once!" Roxanne failed to register that the words she just said might be misconstrued but would understand what she meant from the memories she just acquired. "I have been practicing magic too, maybe you might want to see a trick of my own?", Roxanne asked.
Victor facepalmed at the scene before hand; despite all the changes that she had gone through, it appears deep inside she was still the same. "Roxanne, no, that’s not how it wor- nevermind...", he said softly to no one in particular. He took out a flask from his trenchcoat and gave it a sip. As he did so, his gaze turned to Hector; he offered him a sip from the flask but Hector just glared at him. Victor shrugged and took another sip. "Listen, sorry about earlier… I had a plan and I was sticking to it but it all went to shit… Anyways, if you are going to kill me, do it now; I am not sure how much of this I can handle..." His last statement a joke on his part but as previously stated, Victor’s sense of humor was dry, to put it nicely.
A quick aura scan of Hector revealed the mistake he just made. On his person, he was now carrying a cursed blade. Despite his confidence in his abilities and a few powerful beings on his belt, Victor could not help feel intimidated by Hector; the knight was an imposing figure and Victor realized this more than ever. "Great, piss of the knight when you are unarmed and he posses an arcane weapon...way to go ironwood...", Victor thought to himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 16, 2018, 03:43:54 am
Daniels eyes cut from Sylvia to Hector, then back again. The knight looked to be built of stone, at least to Daniel. Furthermore, he carried the shield Catnip had brought into battle with her, and had faced him down with while he defended his wife from the brown Misling that had brought ruin upon his jailors. A swing of his hammer had blasted Catnip off her feet, but had saved her from harm. Blows rained down on it and the solid bone simply shrugged off strikes that he knew could explode lesser aegis of wood or metal. Thee knight would not be blown off his feet, and unlike Catnip's dizzying strike that had stunned him long enough to render him helpless, Hector would probably kill with such a manuever. Daniel didn't want to fight anyway, but the knight struck him as unstable in a way. He decided he would just wait, and try to relax.
Meanwhile, Sylvia slapped the table and asked, "and how did you know it was divination? I guessed Mr. Silence over here probably knew, one always knows another, they do say, but you? Very interesting. I think you should sit down to tea."
Sylvia had been about to open her eyes to prepare another cup for Hector, when she gasped and pushed away from the table. Her arms went up in front of her face in a cross of negation at what she saw. Daniel caught her before she could tumble from her seat. "What is it? What do you see?"
Catnip circled the table, having seen a similar but less severe reaction when Sylvia had found memories of her childhood in the lab. Sylvia said, prophetically, "I see a field of roses in bloom. So this is what Cousin had to deal with." Her eyes flew open as one single vision hit her, and she shouted "Rita!"
Things settled quickly, but both mouse and rat were a bit shaken. Victor knew what had happened, Sylvia's tea had touch Roxanne's divinity, and had given the mouse mage a vision of something it usually couldn't. The future. Or a possible future that might not be.
Sylvia ran a hand over her brow, and tried to gather up what Roxanne and the others had just said. "Not trying to kill you? Ha. Maybe at another time when we didn't have much choice... I could tell you the story, but perhaps it would be better if you saw like I did. Spoiling this trick is definitely the sort of thing that would get me tossed out of the magic circle... I swapped our cups Roxanne. Usually I replace the one in front of my mark with a third cup, but... That's my cup. If you really want to know, go ahead and drink from it and close your eyes. It's only fair."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 16, 2018, 04:13:52 am
Helen nodded at that. "So that means you have a second chance, after all this. After you've given at least one person the same thing, and possibly others for all I know. And no doubt your duties have brought peace to countless restless souls. As for now?" She went a bit quiet for a moment, uncertain of what to suggest. "There'll be time to find something. Always something to be done to rebuild and recover. As much as I wish it wasn't so often about putting down threats to humanity...whatever must be done, every little bit helps." she said. "Our very first and foremost tenet is 'so long as the sun shines upon the earth, we must never give up' for a reason."
Hector smiled a little at that, before removing that great helm, shield set aside carefully. "There are only so many answers for how you seem to so casually list facts about Roxanne. Usually the 'psychic' gives leading questions to trick the person into giving them the information. So either you're getting rather extensive info from someone, or you have magical means to get ahold of it. Right?" he pointed out, taking a seat. "The only person I'd guess told you a lot about us would be Catnip, but Roxanne's ordeal with Randael, all that spirit stuff, was after her disappearance."
Despite this, he seemed willing to try the tea anyway. He figured any secrets that he wanted kept in the dark were already things Roxanne knew, so it wouldn't hurt. The odd remark and outburst surprised him however. "Who...dare I even ask who Rita is?" he said, a bit uncertain what to think.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 16, 2018, 04:28:17 am
Roxanne stood back and let Sylvia do the explaining. She figured after Sylvia had guesses so accurate about her that magic was involved but there was a bit of classical illusion tricks in there. Victor smirked at the reveal, he knew it had something to do with the tea; guess he wasn’t drinking any. If some very specific memories got out...he didn’t even dare think about it…
A bit of consideration went into the choice Roxanne was given but her train of thought was derailed by Sylvia's little episode. "Rita?", Roxanne whispered quietly; now her curiosity was taking over. She looked at the cut one more and smiled. "I have an offer of my own if you would like...but we will discuss that after you give the knight his reading for now..." Roxanne slowly took of the divine cloak she was wearing as well as the scabbard with the sword if the void before looking at Victor, "Take care of these for me real quick...I don’t have much time."
Victor nodded and took the items while Roxanne went back and picked up the cup of tea. He had no idea what she was planning but taking that cloak off meant one of a few things. Roxanne was getting a bit more pale as the effects of the cloak were wearing off. She smiled at them and said, "Don’t mind me, carry on." However, she could feel herself slowly losing her grip on the cup as she was becoming incorporeal; before this happened, she downed the tea and set the cup back down and as she let the memories soak in.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 16, 2018, 08:16:45 am
Roxanne saw the memory closest to the surface, an image of a gray corpse with flashing purple-red eyes and sprouting with some malignant horror. She felt the very real terror that any who knew this creature would fear. This was the being known as the Gray Queen. Rita. Roxanne shrank away from the memory, disregarding the knowledge that she had little to fear from this shadow of the past.
It shifted, the vision, and Roxanne saw Catnip and the photographer standing at the edge of a mechanical precepace. Below them, the great engine roared and screamed on, pumping it's product of screeching bile into tankers to be shipped off to Pricetown. They were talking, the snake and rat, then Catnip lifted some kind of pink stone over her head and hesitated. She had stiffened as if the act she was about to commit was some sort of cardinal sin. Roxanne got the idea that to Catnip, it had been. The thing in her hand was her life's goal. The rats hand came down suddenly, and the stone was gone. Time seemed to slow, and somewhere inside the engine, there came a low, inaudible crack. Then, the entire ediface was airborn in a shower of splintered metal and burning rubble. The air was filled with screaming tar like stuff, and the noise! The engine burst like a child's toothpick house with a stick of dynamite stuck in it when the hurricane of the vortex stone ripped through it.
The noise faded into the blackness of her closed eyes and was replaced with a vision of fire and death. Catnip advancing on a man, ducking under a heavy hammer swipe, and then rising shield first into the unfortunate man. His mask was knocked off his face and before she knew it, Catnip was two handing the shield and beating the man with it. It flew from her hands as she raised it and she Drew her gun, Some kind of sawed off rifle of a heavy caliber, and muzzled it to the beaten man's head. Words in Sylvia's voice came to Roxanne.
"Please, no. Please, he's all I have. Please..."
After, there were more pleasant memories. Sylvia as a little girl going to see a magic show in Vegas. Penn and Teller, one of their last before Penn's heart failed him. She loved Penn and Teller. She loved all the old magicians. David Copperfield, David Blain, Dynamo, Doug Henning. All of them. She knew after that first live show, that she wanted to be a magician. She'd practice and study and practice some more until she was the very best.
Her induction into the magic circle too was a pleasant memory. She had studied very hard and finally, the day came when she would put on a demonstration of her skill to the masters of the craft. She did trick after trick, showing off her skill and finesse but gaining no ground. These people had seen and knew how all these tricks worked. Sylvia had one last trick though, something special she had whipped of for just this occasion. She asked one of the gathered judges, one of her childhood heros in fact, to pick a card. He did so, and after a shuffle, she presented a card. "Is this your card?" It wasn't, but that didn't seem to bother her much. "Oh, woops, then how about this one? No? Then maybe it's this one. Not that one either? Hm..." She Drew card after card and it seemed like she would exhaust her deck before she found it, except that her deck never exhausted. At one point she even held up the entire deck and bent the cards double until the deck exploded all over the stage. "How about any of these?" None of them were the card, and yet even after throwing her cards away, she was still drawing them from a deck that seemed never to have left her hand. The trick was utterly mundane, and it floored the magic circle. Especially when her cards actually did run out and the chosen one was pulled from the ear of her volunteer. It was the happiest day of her life.
Until Daniel asked her to marry him. The wedding was as nice as it could be in a world that had gone to hell around them. As it turned out, he'd been stalking (hunting, dear) her since before the cataclysm. Daniel had lost her for awhile once she'd been pulled off the streets and taken to be changed into what she was now, but he had again found her. Instead of confronting her when they finally met face to face, he asked her to marry him. She hardly knew him, but she said yes anyway and never regretted it.
Lots of other, smaller memories and surface thoughts came in after, like little goldfish swimming around before Roxanne's eyes. "Daniel dearest, could you get my roll up from my trunk? Gimme a mo' Mr. Lowe. I need a pick me up." Daniel dug around in the star bedecked trunk until he found a fabric case with several vials in it. "Not to worry." She explained, "it's a stabilizing agent. It purifies the body and restores vitality." She drank down one vial of the thick red fluid, and comment on handedly about the taste. Alright Hector, pass me your cup. Rita is... Catnip help me out here."
"Rita's a bitch." Catnip said, Kathrine clutching her arm reminded her of her manners and she apologized. "Shes a petty selfish girl that got infected with Mycus, Some kind of nasty sapient fungus stuff, then was murdered by her boyfriend. He ran off with her fortune and left her in a lab where I uh... Let her out..." Catnip looked embarrassed, and Hector realized her fur seemed a tad thinner and a tiny bit shorter than he remembered it.
"The gray Queen Rita is a major threat to everyone. Fortunately the Rockies are dotted with howling tower installations to keep her on that side, and the searing spear is experimenting with new anti fungal measures." Daniel put in. Hector sipped his tea, finishing it quickly before passing the cup back once it was gone.
"I'll take you up on your offer of a trick of your own Roxanne, only, let me do your fella's reading first." Sylvia said. She took Hector's cup and refilled it, then sipped the contents and leaned back.
"You do a lot of fighting, it's at the front of your mind always. A sedentary life isn't for you, and the next battle, the next problem to solve is always waiting. The only thing that compares to your list for battle is your love of the woman next to you." Sylvia began, she cross referenced the information from Hector with that of catnip, Helen, and Roxanne. It was spot on, but he could always say it wasn't. Nothing spoiled the trick like a subject who was afraid of the truth or looking to defame the magician. She didn't think he was either.
"You traveled as 'Sir Loin of Beef' for awhile. That's a very silly name Mr. Lowe, I wonder why you chose it. Even your memories won't give a concrete reason. Served as an operator in an armored division for a time, refused to join your friend the... Tiger lover, Nathaniel. How do they do it do you think? The physics alone... Belly rubs? You don't say? Fascinating." She went on and on, avoiding as always her subjects more glaring flaws of character and embarrassing or "dangerous" secrets. She found after the readings that she quite liked Roxanne, as Catnip said she would, and felt she could grow to be friendly with her man. When a few of Hector's more "fun" secrets we're out in the open, Sylvia opened her eyes. "You people are very interesting, but I'm afraid that's all the readings I'm giving today. I'm done up. How about a more mundane tea? We even have tiny sandwiches."
Catnip took her seat and beckoned Kathrine to sit next to her. "You'll like these Kat, tiny sandwiches are great!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 16, 2018, 10:01:29 pm
Roxanne was at first unnerved at the memories presented to her. It wasn’t the imagery that bothered her, she had gone against monsters and spirits herself, it was the idea that catnip had done so as well. Yes, Catnip; one look at her and Kathrine together brought an image of innocence Roxanne knew was now but an illusion; perhaps that is what it had always been. However, this feeling did not last; she couldn’t help but smile at the combined pleasantry of the memories given to her. She stood there until they were over.
Afterwards, the reading of Hector was fascinating to Roxanne; it wasn’t anything she didn’t already know but the fact that Sylvia could accurately determine this things that impressed her. The fact the trip had been revealed didn’t deter it’s effect from her; on the contrary, it only served to fascinate her more. She was one of those people who would recount the steps in a magic trick she was watching if she knew the trick and then enjoy people adding their own twist to it. After it was all said and done, Roxanne was ready to show her trick.
"I would take you on the offer but I can’t at the moment.", Roxanne responded to the offer of the “tiny sandwiches”; she looked at Sylvia and smiled, "You might’ve determine my ‘condition’ from the reading and as such would know why." Roxanne slowly raised on of her hands and extended it with her palm facing up, "Now, allow me to show a trick of my own!", Roxanne exclaimed.
Roxanne had done this numerous times before; both in combat and for her own amusement. She was going to summon a divine flame in the palm of her hand. However, she wasn’t going to burn anyone or hurl it as an attack; she wanted to show Sylvia how she could shift the shape of the flame into different color silhouettes. But she couldn’t summon the flame this time.
Try as she might Roxanne could not get a flame to appear on her hand. There was an awkward silence as Roxanne stood there looking at her hand. Every passing moment making Roxanne more nervous that she was making herself a fool in front Sylvia. Victor noticed something was wrong; he did the only thing that came to mind and scanned Roxanne’s aura. He gave a deep sigh as he figured out what was going on. This was partially his fault but given what had happened earlier, who could blame him? He approached Roxanne as she struggled; he attempted to put a hand on her should with his free hand but it just went through her like if she wasn’t even there.
Victor drapped the divine cloak over Roxanne and then leaned in to whisper something in her ear. "I think you should put this back on… We should really finish that ritual we were gonna do in the first place don’t you think? We will discuss that later..." After having done so, he leaned back and then chanted something. Roxanne then had a strange but faint blue glow for the faintest of moments and then a purple flame appeared on her hand. Roxanne smiled and nodded at Victor as both acknowledgement and thanks. He nodded back before going back to his chosen spot with the sword still in hand.
"Sorry for the delay… Now look closely at the flame!", Roxanne exclaimed. The little flame suddenly shifted shapes. From a phoenix to a dragon then a knight; a soldier standing at attention saluted Sylvia before it shifted to a dancing robot. After a while of this, Roxanne extinguished the flame. "Not as impressive as yours but it’s what o can do in short notice.", Roxanne said nervously, "The flame is always purple too. It nerves changes color."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 16, 2018, 10:16:54 pm
Hector gave a nod as Sylvia requested something of Daniel. "Of course, take your time." he said with a polite nod. He had no idea what to expect of how the tea worked, what it took out of her, what toll it exacted. As such, he waited and listened to Catnip's explanation, feeling a bit uneasy as she said this.
As Sylvia recounted this evaluation of the thoughts gleaned from the tea, he seemed to be impressed by this, though mention of his attitude towards battle seemed to prompt a concerned look from him. As did the mention of Roxanne, and the reasons for both where painfully clear. For the former there was a struggle of sorts, between that yearning to always be fighting anything that endangered his friends or the fledgling settlements of the area, with the fear that he might go too far. For the latter, hints of his recent worries over Roxanne were blatantly clear.
Regardless, he made no objection to those remarks, smiling some at that. "I...honestly don't recall very well other than a moment's humor after a hard fight." he admitted. he then gave a nod to that mention of Nathaniel. "You'll likely want to see his side of things sometime. Though if he's right about the differences between the Hector he knew and I..." he said, before giving a nod at the offer.
It wasn't long before his attention was back to Roxanne again, curious at the offer of displaying a magic trick, though mention of a condition worried him again. His full attention was back on the two of them, when a hand slipping right through a shoulder caused him to practically fall out of his chair in shock. He rather quickly caught himself, giving a nervous glance back to Sylvia and Daniel before looking to Roxanne. "Roxanne, I think...as soon as we have the time, when there's nothing urgent to tend to, that explanation you offered would be quite appreciated."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 16, 2018, 11:12:05 pm
The little purple flame was a fascinating trick, and had it been the old days, Sylvia would have told Roxanne to try out for the magic circle. The fact was though, Sylvia was possibly the last member of that guild of entertainers. She could probably induct Roxanne, if she wanted to give it a shot. She was more than a little interested in if the fire was mundane or not, and if it was something she could learn. Victors hand passing through her was more than a little interesting, and it was that that drew her attention to Roxanne's cloak.
"I don't suppose you know that big guy with the swords for hands that helped that bitch steal my stuff and cut up my tent? He had a cloak like yours. It was gold though." She said. Daniel, who had not been around when the "raid" had taken place, harrumphed.
"A divine spirit, a high ranking one. She must be a fairly powerful sanguimancer to pull such a being into this world. If I hadn't lost my hammer and cloak, I'd request Helen's assistance in dealing with her. I would try to do so peacefully of course, but blood mages like that aren't so reasonable as Syl. You can't just ask every sanguimancers hand in marriage every time you go against them."
Catnip looked disappointed that they others wouldn't be having tea and tiny sandwiches with them. She liked Roxanne's trick with the fire though, that was neat. She hadn't been around for the "Randael episode," and didn't know about the other time this had occured. Sylvia was pouring tea while Daniel, rather happily actually, prepared the tiny peanut butter sandwiches. Still, the magician and her man had a hard time keeping their eyes off Roxanne after her display.
"Come back and visit with us after we've moved to this refugee center we've heard about Roxanne, I'd be more than happy to show you a few things. Maybe I'll even put on a real show, for old times sakes." The refugee center had improved, not that Efram would know. He hadn't been around when the center was attacked of course. What caught him off guard was the lack of uniformity. Pricetown was a place where a single kind of mutant was beyond common, and most of his patients were either human, misling, or the rare cor visiting from Prescott. Dervish showed him around, and then had him pick an office. There was office space available, no doctors or specialists had come to replace those who'd been taken or killed the year before.
"Good choice, it's halfway between my office and Maskens. You'll be dealing with her a lot." Dervish said, "Ah, and speak of the devil, the lady herself."
"Shut up Dervish, I need those reports. I treated a man who'd lost an arm and he's since been being charming and distracting my nurses. On top of that, the AI tells me you have a whole caravan of mutants and cyborgs to deal with. I... Who are you?" Maskens said, asking the last of the stout mouse man with Dervish.
"This is Dr. Efram Marsh, from Arizona." He introduced, "He's an experienced doctor. You'll be working with him. Dr. Marsh this is Dr. Maskens, the centers head doctor."
Efram wasn't listening very closely. He caught the name and her profession, but little more. "Yes." He mumbled, coming over a bit flustered all of a sudden. "It's good to, ah, meet..."
"Spare me that shit. How many years of practice do you have?" Maskens barked.
"How long have I... oh, eight years as a general practitioner in Pricetown, and another nine before that as a mutagenicist..."
"Another mutagenicist! Deverish, you are useless. I need doctors not- Wait, general practitioner?"
"Dealing with Mislings mostly, but biologically they aren't much different from unmutated-"
"Good enough, you get to work right away. Take these charts and head over to medbay three. You do know how to operate a medbay yes?"
"Of course, I-"
"Good, now get to it!"
With that Maskens was off again, leaving Dervish a bit amused at her furtiveness and Eframs sudden show of fluster. "Sorry about that," Dervish said, "She's a bit of a bitch sometimes, but once you and some of the others in your party are in here easing her work load a bit, she should start to relax a bit." A look had come over Efram as he watched Maskens storm off, and Dervish caught a glimpse of it. "Oh boy, are you sure? I pity the man that would try." Efram nodded slowly, and Dervish smirked. "Well, I wish you the best of luck with that."
She wasn't exactly a young girl anymore, but in that short introduction, Efram thought Maskens was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Atomos stood in Catalina's office, at attention. She was waiting for the Captain to return for her debriefing and had just decided that maybe she should sit down to wait, when Captain Anquiano entered and startled both of them.
"Ranger, what the hell are you doing in my office?" Catalina barked. Atomos felt giddy at her Captains use of her unofficial title, even if it had been out of surprise. Atomos stayed at attention, letting her tail gently in her right pant leg where it was expertly hidden. "At ease Atomos, jesus. You still havn't learned."
She did ease up at that, just a bit, and explained her presence. "Captain, it's becoming harder to find decent supplies in the area. Game is plentiful, as always, but salvage is not." She paused, and Catalina gestured for her to get on with it. "The areas west and south of us are getting thin, and I've scoured everywhere east of us all the way to the sea, that way is likewise-."
Catalina stopped her at that, "You havn't mentioned hitting the coast before now. When did you see the ocean?" Atomos flushed bright red, on the edge of some big secret she didn't want getting out lest it be spoiled, rendering her advantage in the field meaningless.
"O-on one of my scouting runs..." She said. Catalina leaned back in her seat, beginning to wonder now.
"You want to go north? North is Gods Army territory, very dangerous." Catalina mused. "If they catch you, what will you do?"
Right up to the edge again, but Atomos believed that maybe the Captain could be trusted. She went to the door and looked out, making sure no one was listening before she went back. From her hip she pulled a simple pouch that looked to be stuffed with clothes. "I will not be caught." Atomos said before opening and overturning the pouch. What came out was a cascade of fabric, a small mountain of insignia. Something heavy clinked against Catalina's desk in the pile, and Atomos began sorting through them until she found what she wanted. A collection of scarves and patches, all bearing the blue cross of Gods Army. Among the pile were others, the red sash of Hell's Raiders, a few the Captain didn't recognize, and one she marveled at. A simple silver disk on blue fabric, bearing an engraving of a cross.
"Atomos, Ranger, where did you get..." Catalina's hand hovered over it. The only other one of these she'd seen was sitting on display in the front foyer along with the rest of the belongings of the bishop who'd lifted his hand against the refugee center. "A bishops sigil."
"I took it from his body."
"Where did you come across the unlooted body of a bishop?"
"Two skulls shot him."
"Two... who?"
"Two skulls of the redbone clan."
It clicked, the Redbones were a Hell's Raiders clan, but how did... No, the answer was in front of Catalina. "You've been running with the Hell's Raiders..."
Atomos was quick to explain, seeing the look of disapproval and anger coming to her Captain like a flash flood. "No, No, Captain, listen! The Redbones don't fight survivors, they've been focusing on Gods Army because Gods Army is being weakened and can't defend it's outposts so easily!"
"Ranger, I want a better fucking explaination than that. These raiders are the enemy, what the flying fuck do you think your doing?" She barked.
Atomos took on a sly look. "Of course Captain. You can learn a lot if you move with the right people." Catalina wasn't happy about it. No where near it, but she suddenly saw a few things. Foreknowledge that Atomos had. The ranger claimed she hadn't aided in any raids against survivors, but that wasn't necessarily true. Still, it seemed the Hell's Raiders were sharing information with her under the belief that she was one of them.
"Do you really think you can get away with sneaking around in Gods Army territory. With your tail and ears?"
"Captain, I've been hiding them for nine years."
"Point taken Ranger. I don't like it, but point taken. I'm going to let you pick out two men to go with you, I want- what?"
Atomos was shaking her head vigorously and blushing again. "No Captain, I don't think that's wise." She looked nervous and Catalina had to tell her to "spit it out" again before she came to yet another realization.
"You aren't confident in your peers abilities? Is that it?"
Atomos nodded, "Yes Captain. They've been mostly here in the center, not out there and dealing with the conditions and people I have for the last year. I think it would be better if I go alone."
"And with no backup? What will you do if you get caught?"
"I'll escape, or be killed."
"That's hard Ranger, but it's better than no answer at all. I don't like it, but I suppose I wasn't asked to like it, was I?"
Atomos shook her head.
"At least let me call the marshal, I'm sure he'd"
"NO! God no Captain! They'd recognize him immediately. They talk about him all the time and know what to look for. Same with any of the farm. I have to go alone."
"At least take a radio?"
Atomos relented at the radio, it wouldn't do any harm. After a bit more discussion and planning, Atomos left, leaving Captain Anquiano to her thoughts. Was she allowing Atomos to waltz into a lions den? A chicken among foxes? The confidence of the refugee centers ranger gave Catalina a good feeling though. The idea that Atomos wasn't a chicken among foxes, but the fox among the chickens.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on February 19, 2018, 01:53:02 am
Lucian fiddled with a short bladed knife as he sat in the med-bay's bed, twirling inbetween his fingers, reading through a leather bound tome. He took mental notes of what he'd need for the ritual, the hook isn't going to be enough. Already had most of it, the blood, chalice, bonemeal, and black powder. He needed something to bite on, gauze or a towel would suffice. "Hmm..." Lucian grunted, he'd going to have to wait until night. "More fuckin' waiting..." He mumbled, complaining aloud.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 20, 2018, 02:02:38 am
Salazar set the assembled Thompson aside and pulled the revolver from its holster. Opening the cylinder he let the empty shells fall to the ground as he retrieved a speed loader. As the shells clattered on the floor anyone paying particular attention to his aura would have caught a brief look at a peculiar and chilling sight.
On one side his face was cloaked in a black fog with a cracked and crooked smile glowing blood red through it. His clothes were blood spattered and torn with an array of weapons strapped to every available space. A bloodied head hung from the side of his belt with a set of knives lodged into its eyes. On the wall were hundreds of marks written in blood.
The other side was similar to how he appeared now. A smile was clear on his face with an odd peace apparent in his eye. His clothes kept clean and straight. A bag with a red cross emblazoned on the side hung close to his hip and the only weapons visible were his garand and thompson hanging on his back. On the wall on this side were drawings that appeared to have been made by children.
And then the moment was gone as he slid the revolver into its holster and he said "I don't know if I can ever atone for what I've done. The lives I've taken, the lies I've told. But I've got a chance at it at least. Just wish I didn't have to leave my son and daughter way back when.."
Elsewhere Roland and the members of the 3rd had mounted their vehicle and were heading back home. Krieg had given Roland a report on what had happened to Alice as they moved her into a room to rest. Rubbing his eyes with a gloved hand Roland sighed. His hand slid down his face to the pendant hanging around his neck. From there his hand grabbed the old whistle he'd been given by Salazar some time ago. Looking it over he sighed.
Krieg put a hand on his shoulder as they rode down the bumpy route to the 3rd's base. Roland nodded to the man as he let the whistle go and leaned back in his chair. He could feel his muscles protesting at the strain of the past couple of days and his liver throwing a fit over his little competition with Alexei. "I'll be fine Krieg. We've still got work to do after all."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 20, 2018, 12:30:54 pm
Minx made a round through the camp, stopping to say hello to Catnip and the fabled Kathrine. She was happy that Kathrine was actually a real person, Catnip had talked about her to the point of sounding like a crazy person. It had only gotten worse as time went on. Now though, it seemed everyone was making friends. Even dour, sad, Elle had found somebody. Minx thought she'd found somebody, but he'd turned out to be a sour guy. Nearly emotionless and completely oblivious. That wasn't for Minx. She'd enjoyed the company of scientists and doctors going back to the man who'd given her a fresh start on life. There was something she really liked about guys like that, something cute about the way they talked about their jobs. Way better than her wannabe chemist ex who'd made her the way she was.
Her appointment with Quinn, the cyberneticist had been an earnest one. Her CBM had gone funny. It happened, it was after all a prototype and she had lost the little tool she was given to deal with the problem when it the glitches inevitably came up. At first, it had been just an appointment. As she'd looked around the ad hoc lab though, Minx had felt a bit more bold. Dropping a few hints, being a little suggestive, all the usual ploys were used. Every single one of them failed to get through the doctors emotionless exterior though. He seemed completely oblivious. She supposed that was for the best later on. The doctor had gone from "Doctor" to "potential lover" then back to "doctor." In the space of the appointment. After she left and reflected on the appointment, he went from "doctor" to "some guy." He barely talked about himself and hadn't asked her about herself at all. Seemed in fact to not have the faintest clue how to talk to her, and from what the other patients he'd seen to said, that wasn't an uncommon theme. From now on, she would probably go to this refugee center place to have her CBM worked on. Now, there was her plans for the future, and they didn't involve romance of any kind.
It had started out as a mission to start another "Pinkies Pleasure Palace" on this side. Minx had worked off her debt though and had gone along simply to be going along. The pretense of opening up another Pleasure Palace had been dropped the instant Pinky was out of sight. She didn't think her little theft of the goods Pinky had sent with her would ever be punished. Once that idea was dropped, she planned on opening up her own brothel. It was still in the cards, but more and more Minx came to realize that she didn't really want to be doing that sort of work anymore. Her day or two on the farm was changing her mind. What to do though?
As she watched the Misling migrants work nets on the bridge, she wracked her brain for an answer. L might have an idea, that girl always had decent ideas. They just had to be coaxed out of her sometimes. Leslie had a pretty pleasant plan, maybe she'd need help setting up. That was it, Leslie would need help setting up. She'd need cash. Capital. Startup money. Minx had it, of a kind. She could pay this center places scavengers, or maybe get Catnip to help. Get some paper together, get a proper press going. That would be really pleasant. Minx could edit, could learn to run the machinery, could talk to people. Minx could hella talk to people. A good honest trade was what it was, and the more she thought about it, the more appealing it got.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 20, 2018, 01:06:38 pm
Roxanne rolled her eyes at the sight of Hector falling down on the chair; she found it silly how non-arcane people sometimes reacted to this sort of things. "Sure thing tin can, once we are free, we can talk if you want to. For now, get up, the floor is dirty." She then turned her attention to Sylvia and smiled at her while she made a slight bow. "I sure will. It’s been a pleasure meeting you! I have a few other people I need to talk to first and finish a little overdue errand. Take care!" Roxanne waved at everyone present and walked backs towards Victor; he was still standing with the sword still in his possessions. He smiled and nodded farewell to the new people before shifting his attention to Roxanne as well.
"So what now Vic?", Roxanne asked.
Victor gave her a confused look, "Vic? Haven’t called me that in a while. Anyways, we are going to complete that overdue ritual once and for all. Head to your room and I’ll meet you there, I need to take care of a few things." He smirked and turned his attention to Hector, "You are welcome to join us if you want as well; I am sure you have your own questions and Roxanne would be more than happy to answer them while I return."
Roxanne gave a smirk of her own as she responded, "Yes Hector, come join me and I will explain everything. It should be as fun as Victor explaining it to Helen." Victor’s amusement ended with that statement; he did a motion as if tipping his hat to Roxanne, "Well played. Anyways, Roxanne, go to your room while I fetch the materials I need. Hector, follow her if you would like to witness this or you are free to go if you have other things to do."
"Why my room?", Roxanne asked confused.
"Because it has more space than mind and it has ‘The Beacon’. We are going to need it for this.", Victor responded.
"The beacons? Ah, right, that thing. Alright then, I suppose I will make my way to my room."
"Take the cloak off when you get there, will make things easier. Oh, and have this; it’s yours now remember?", Victor handed over the sword to Roxanne. She took it from his hands and gave it a look before looking back at Victor. "Right...this is mine now."
The two of them dismissed each other with a gesture before they turned around and head back to their respective rooms. Roxanne walked with caution; she didn’t know what was going on but she as sure would make the most of it. Victor showed confidence in his step; he knew exactly what was going on. Things didn’t go like he had wanted them too but he would improvise.
Router looked at the control panel with confusion. “This isn’t right… what could this mean?” The panel was nothing more than a decently large touch screen monitor; on it was a list on display:
The command center was missing large chunks of data and as such they only had the status of these bio-weapons; there were more out there of course but their “data key” needed to be found. However, Router had never seen “Contaminated” before. It wasn’t on the database either. “What could this mean? Hmmm...I need more data...We are going to need a new expedition….”, Router told to himself. He opened up his map and looked for the specific lab he was looking for. “This place might have answers… I will need to send cleared personnel; that only leaves Trig- Sigma, Lambda and myself. Guess everyone else will be on guard duty; Delora isn’t gonna like that…”
Victor was now in his room and after some time, the ritual had been set. He glanced at the ashes on the brazier and sighed; there went his theories and progress. However, in his hands he held another journal; this one was different from the other one in that this one wasn’t full of experimental magic and the such, this one was filled with tried and proven methods. Some from other sources and some discovered by himself; when something from the experimental journal had been proven to work with no side effects, or said side effects were minor and well documented, he would move them to this journaal. This thing was his pride and joy; the closest to a grimoire to a non-witch.
Now, thanks to this jornal, the material for the ritual he had planned were ready; no, this wasn’t the ritual to fix Roxanne, however, it was linked to that. In the center of the room was a table with two chairs on either side; each side had a glass of wine and in the middle of the table was a deck of tarot cards faced down. Victor took a seat in on of the chairs while the other was left opened for his soon to be guest; he took a sip of his wine and then closed his eyes as the ritual called. There was a couple of minutes of silence while Victor held his eyes closed; then there it was, the cue for him to open them. Once he did, he smirked as he saw he was no longer alone.
“Long time no see Ironwood, you haven’t changed a bit I see. On what occasion do I owe the privilege to be summoned today? I assume idle chit chat isn’t it; otherwise you would have answered my phone calls…” The voice belonged to a rather handsome man who was now sitting on the chair across from Victor. He was wearing what looked like a traveling salesman in the days of the wild west; top hat included. His tone was relaxed but firm at the same time; he conducted himself with experience and regale. With glass of wine in one hand, he looked at Victor awaiting a response.
"It had been a while now hasn’t it? Listen Blackjack, sorry if it seem like I was avoiding you but it really wasn’t my intention. It’s just that one gets caught up in things you know? Living a busy life."
The man in front of him smiles as he puts down the glass of wine. “You remembered my name, wonderful! And don’t worry about it, I have an eternity to go so there is no rush; besides, you are here now and that is all that matters.” Victor gave an audible gulp; he had forgotten why he hesitated talking to this spirit for so long but was now reminded. “So, do you want to play a game or are you looking to trade?”, asked the man.
Victor cleared his throat before continuing. "Trade. Your name isn’t Blackjack for a reason and I am not really a gambling man."
The man smirked in response. “What’s wrong? Afraid to lose your soul to me? Don’t worry, I would never do such a thing to you. Besides, I much prefer the pleasures of the flesh than of the soul…” Victor had discomfort written all over his face and Blackjack chuckled at the sight. “Well, what can I get you?
"W-well...I kinda lost my experimental journal on magic and I am looking for a replacement. Thinks you can help me with that?", Victor responded.
“You mean the Trinity Codex?”, asked Blackjack.
“You know me too well… Yes, I would like the Trinity Codex.”
With a wave of his gloved hand, a leather bound book appeared in front of Victor. The cover had golden symbols inscribed in a language long lost to time. Victor touched it and recoiled as the book let out a surge of energy. "Yes, this is it...thank you. So, what do I owe you? I still technically owe you my soul so..."
Blackjack waved his hand around dismissively. "Don’t worry about that; you have done enough for me over the years. The debt has been paid. As for this current debt… Maybe consider my offer I made you all those years back?"
Victor gulped once more now more nervous than before. "L-listen, I am seeing someone now..."
“Oh? Is that so? You break my heart Victor, woe is me!”, there was a pause while Blackjack did an exaggerated gesture of despair before looking back at Victor. “Then how about you play one of my game with me for old time sake? No gambling, just a friendly game?”
Victor gave a deep sigh, "Sure, I owe you that much… What game?", asked Victor. Blackjack smirked wide once more as he picked up the deck of tarot cards. "You know which one Ironwood, none other than my favorite: Pensive. I’ll shuffle." Victor hanged his head low, this was the same game he played with Roxanne and he didn’t win once; he would surely lose in a spectacular fashion playing with “The Shadow Gambler” as Blackjack was known in some circles. "Alright, 3 out of 5 like always then I have to go take a care of a thing alright?", Victor proclaimed.
“Sure thing, I am a man of my word.”, responded Blackjack.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 20, 2018, 01:25:49 pm
Helen waited for now, uncertain as she felt a light chill in the air. She couldn't really see the display his aura put on without activating her mask, but it was enough that something left her uneasy. She knew at this point that examining Salazar with her mask on was already less than pleasant given the strange effects she'd been through.
Hector nodded at that as he got up and dusted himself off, grumbling a little. Even given his minimal experience with the arcane, the oddity of phasing a hand through Roxanne wasn't what shocked him. The fact it meant something serious had happened, specifically to the subject of his latest worries, was why he seemed so shaken.
"Very well then. Might hopefully answer some of this in the process, at least I hope." he remarked, regarding the sword Victor handed back to her with curiosity. Victor's sword, he recalled. And that only led to more questions in his mind, as he followed Roxanne to her room, a bit suspicious of the collection of items that Helen had examined earlier. "So then, if we have time while Victor's setting things up...what happened? You're evidently a spirit again, Victor's handed his sword off to you, and I don't see your own sword anywhere in here." he pointed out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 21, 2018, 04:20:10 am
Tea time was pleasant enough, but Catnip was a bit sad that Roxanne and Hector wouldn't be joining them. Still, Kathrine did and that was enough. Though Catnip kept having to pull her back into her seat to keep her from taking over for Sylvia and Daniel as they served. "They aren't cucumber sandwiches," Sylvia told Kathrine, "But at least they are tiny." Catnip didn't like the tea, a perfectly normal pot this time, but Kathrine showed no sign of preference either way. Her conditioning shone through during the occasion as she treated the affair like it was a private garden tea party. Kathrine showed Catnip how to hold her teacup, and when it was proper to eat the sandwiches. Even how to hold those as well. "Pinkies out Catnip." She told her girlfriend. Afterwords, Catnip collected the scraps of Sylvia and Daniels tent so they could be salvaged and maybe even put back together.
"I have a plan Kathrine." Catnip told Kathrine when they returned to their tent and Kathrine changed back into her more normal attire behind a curtain Catnip set up or the purpose.
"What's that Catnip? You aren't leaving again are you?"
Catnip shook her head and pulled out her computer. "I can't find all my tools Kat, I need a new tool box. Actually... I could probably put together a utility belt. That might be useful, yeah?" She had her back to the sheet which hid Kathrine from view, but she knew Kathrine was probably nodding or whispering some unheard words of agreement. For awhile, she spoke to her computer, as she always had before. Saying every word as she typed it just like Roxanne showed her. She found amongst the crates after her little conversation over the farms network, a packet containing all the posters and notices from her noticed board, along with a vast horde of underpants. Someone had been at work filling out one of her requests, and she knew who it had been. She picked out a pair of boy shorts and looked them over. Clean. If Hector was to be believed, they could be nothing but since their previous owners had been so irradiated that they'd glowed in life, and turned to dust in death.
"I have a backlog Kat, and I know I said I'd have Tomos's ATV done by tomorrow, but I really owe it to Roxanne to get her own machine fixed up. How long has she been waiting?"
Kathrine thought about it, emerging from behind the changingi sheet, and told her that Roxanne had been waiting on the modifications "forever."
"That's too long Kat. I need to get on some of this stuff right away. With Catnip back, Dee had suddenly found the will to work again. Fiddling about was replaced with real research. Real development. He picked a "body" from the line up of Warwalker parts out beside his shop and with some help brought it in to examine. The hands and legs and little parts he'd been toying with were shoved aside as the walker was opened up and carefully disassembled. The delicacy of some of the parts was fascinating, especially in the digits. Gods Army was in possession of a master of robotics. Fortunately, he thought, they didn't have a Catnip. He carefully took apart the arms of what would become Medeina's "prime" proxy. The housing of the AI's primary matrix. Inside were Catnip's own collection of simple mechanisms and Dee's addition of several cable bundles. What he sometimes referred to as the robots circulatory system.
Compared to the arm of the war walker, Catnip's design was strangely disorganized. Seemingly clunky. Preliminary tests showed though that the arm was nearly supernaturally responsive and even a bit strong to boot. Inside Medeina's arm, Dee could make out the parts here and there of a jury rigged muscle aug CBM, uncoiled and stretched along the inside of the super alloy arm in a double length or stone crushing power. Medeina had practiced with the arm to the point where she could work it with unnatural delicacy or use it in brutally efficient shows of force. A person, or animal, grabbed with these arms would have a hard time getting out. They'd give Medeina all the time she needed to take down observations before releasing whatever it was she had captured. That, or crush the life out of it. The other arm likewise had a muscle aug running through it, the CBM's normally meant to be run through two arms and a chest, not one arm and a shoulder. Dee knew the torso portion of the chassis was fitted with an extra bit of those same salvaged CBM's to hold the whole thing together.
The war walker on the other hand was working on a combination of pneumatics and hydraulics. It could move and sense very efficiently, even maintain it's balance on rough terrain. Dee wanted that kind of movement on Medeina's prime proxy. He wanted strength and longevity. Catnip could do strength, but he wasn't sure about longevity. An atomic slug would work, but atomics generated heat. He already had issues with heat coming off the hard drive matrices, he wasn't sure how he'd deal with atomics. Frankly, he wasn't even comfortable handling atomics. Catnip had no problem, but Catnip was like a reckless artificer, making doomsday weapons for kicks before stashing them in an unlocked closet somewhere and forgetting about them. Catnip knew the dangers of course, she took iodine tablets by the handful when she operated her train, but she acknowledged the dangers with a startling casualness that would strike anyone not familiar with Catnip's history.
Mica looked on as Dee worked, happy somewhere in her skull that her man was once again taking a little passion in his hobby again. Sometimes, people came by to introduce themselves. That was fine with Mica. Secretly she thought the odd mouse people were adorable, their squishies even more so. She frowned to think about it. There was a bit of jealousy deep down. She told the medicine man about it earlier. Why couldn't she have a squishy too? She liked to play with two-faced ladies squishy, but he wasn't Mica's squishy. She resigned herself to drawing. Only a moment in, and she noticed the laptop Medeina was sequestered in doing something and began mashing keys to annoy her, all the while munching apples.
"Babe, I know you like pestering her, but could you not right now? I'll take you down to the bridge in a bit to see what's up with all the fishing, just hang in there ok?" Dee said sideways. He didn't turn to face her, but she knew he was watching her and so stopped. She could be patient, no matter what the others thought. She could wait.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 22, 2018, 10:40:33 am
Roxanne walked to her room with Hector in tow. Despite her nervousness, she still seemed content with the cards she had been dealt. As a little prank, Roxanne took off her cloak and asked Hector to hold it for her; once he did, she entered her room by walking through the door without opening it. Hector was left there to puzzle over what just had happened while Roxanne unlocked the door from the inside and then opened it for her. "Make yourself at home Hector; knowing Victor, this is gonna take a while."
Once inside, Roxanne looked around her room humming a tune while Hector did his thing. She went to her desk where little jim was at. "I am going to need something to water him. Wonder if anyone around the farm has a pail...", Roxanne thought to herself. For now she made sure the curtains of her window were open so that jim got enough sunlight as she poked him to get a reaction out of the plant. It wiggled and open his mouth in a fashion similar to a yawn; Roxanne chuckled at the sight. "And to think you are part of Catnip’s year long ordeal..."
It was Hector who interrupted Roxanne’s train of thought. She turned her attention to him as he asked his question. "It’s a long and complicated story but like I said, we have time so sit down and prepare for a story." And a story he got. Roxanne explained how a seemingly normal trip turned south; about how the cave was empty and the one man who not only broke her monomolecular sword. She explained how she died; how Victor claimed her back from the abyssal canyon and then sealed her in the sword. Last bit was about how now she has to pick a wielder and how that defaulted to Victor due to the sword choosing him back when Randael was a thing.
"And that is how we find ourselves right now. I am now a spirit trapped in this sword, I have to find someone to wield it and now we are waiting on the ritual that would stabilize me. You know, the one we were supposed to do if the people in the cave were still among us." She paused for a moment to let Hector process what she just told her. Roxanne herself had a few questions but none that Hector could answer. "Now, you may be wondering what I did at first; why didn’t Victor use some sort of magic to just heal me up? Well, to put it in terms someone not into the arcane might understand: my bloodline in this world was cursed. The shifting allowed said curse to afflict me and apparently what Victor did ended it. I am not the only one who had it but apparently I was the last one. One questions still lingers: I wonder wh-"
Before Roxanne could finish her thoughts, Victor barges into the room and gives a deep sigh. His expression is showing obvious annoyance at something. "Sorry for taking so long, a little hip up came up...Am I interrupting something.", Victor asks.
"We will talk later Hector, we have things to do.", Roxanne said before looking at Victor, "Not really, just explaining to Hector what happened but I pretty much told him everything."
"Very good, saves us time. By the way Roxanne, I need you to teach me how to play Pensive properly later on.", Victor said in response.
"Sure, finally tired of losing to me after all this time?"
"No, I might have ended up promising someone to play Pensive with them. I’ll explain later; for now, ritual." He stepped into the room and walked towards the altar. Once he got there, he took out two books; one looked liked a simple composition notebook and the other was a highly decorated leather bound book. Victor opened both the books and glance at them.
"So, there are three ways for us to do this. Let me see… No wait, Roxanne doesn’t have body anymore… So only two." After a bit more of reading, Victor glanced at Roxanne and then Hector before smirking and going back to reading the books. "Nevermind, there is only one way. We only need Roxanne to step in front of the beacon. As for you Hector, just stay where you are for now and observe; hopefully it might answer some of your questions." Right after he said this, Victor closed the books and turned back to Roxanne; he did a motion for Roxanne to get into position as he got into his.
"Haven’t done this in a while so please bear with me… This is why I wanted them to do it but no used in crying over spilled milk… Alright, let us begin.", Victor announced. Afterwards, the ritual began. It was a straightforward ordeal but with a few quirks. Roxanne stood near the altar next to Victor and in front of some structure made out of some sort of chandelier with various candles. Victor chanted something while Roxanne smiled and closed her eyes. The sword of the void, now back on the bed, glow a bright purple before shifting to white and then back to purple. Roxanne grunted a bit in discomfort but that only lasted a few seconds, her eyes remained closed during the whole ordeal. That’s when the voices started.
“Imposter” “Intruder” “You do not belong here…” “Leave us alone!” “Burn the witch! Set her sins ablaze!” “Why do you struggle? It will all end eventually...and yours was already claimed.” “No matter the path, you always chose the path to ruin…” “I wonder what Helios would think of this...her student was naught but a failure…” “Mark walks among us...he wanted so much more…”
The voice kept taunting Roxanne. They poked at her insecurities and she was visibly distressed. Victor and Hector both shared her memories so they would know what most of this voices were referring to. Victor kept his calm as to not allow the voices to become more than that; the ritual was almost over anyways.
"That’s enough!", Roxanne yelled. She could not take the taunting; in the middle of it, she had opened her eyes and before yelling. The voices had now stopped but the ritual had been rendered null. Victor gave a deep sigh of disappointment but said nothing as he could understand why she did so. "Damn it all… who the hell do they think they are...", Roxanne exclaimed while panting in frustration. "I need to relax… Where is my oil."
Roxanne put on her cloak to become corporeal once more and then went to the drawer on the nightstand next to her bed and took out the little jar of her “ceremonial oil”. She began to resume the humming of her little tune to calm her nerves as she applied the oil on her forearms. "Are you really doing this right now?", aske Victor in disbelief.
"What? This is my room after all. Besides, it’s not like either of you haven’t seen me do it before. Tin can over here even joined me once; so back off yo- wait..." A realisation came to Roxanne in that moment, "Victor...how will me being this ‘cursed spirit’ thing affect my indulgence of recreational substances?"
"You mean getting high Roxanne, say it like is at least. Anyways, that is a good question. You no longer have any nerves or even a nervous system for that matter. I wonder how stimuli would work for you… Maybe with some experimentation we could find out of..." as Victor was saying this, he glanced at Hector and then he stopped himself. "Ahem, not that I would experiment you or anything… So to answer you question: we don’t know as of right now. No-one seems to have bothered documentation what happens after one becomes a cursed spirit; only how to become one. We are going to have to wait and find out."
"Greaaaaat, so there is a possibility I won’t be able to get high either now...unless...for now I will wait it out.", Roxanne responded. Meanwhile, Victor looked throughout the new book he had gotten; the “Trinity Coded” as him and Blackjack had referred to it. On a specific page, Victor had found something interesting that might help Roxanne in case drugs no longer worked on her; he would just need to borrow some ideas from the ‘red coffee’ ritual.
"Well, if you ever need any help with dealing with being a spirit, you know where to find me...I know this is technically my fault...", after saying the last bit, he looked at Hector once more to make sure everything was still fine, "But I know how to help at least. For now since the ritual is a bust, I will take my leave. Oh, one last thing before I leave… You no longer have your mutations or bionics so I would seriously recommend you get some sort of formal training with traditional weaponry; I know that is quite the statement coming from me. Still, pick up a gun and fire it a couple times and practice with that sword. I can teach you what I know since I wielded it for so long but that would only get you so far. With that being said, see you two later."
Victor grabbed his books and walked towards the door, opened it and then exited the room. Roxanne and Hector were left there with the former both annoyed and confused. "What a day this has been… It’s at least high afternoon; not like I can sleep anymore. Oh well, I guess I will play the waiting game now.", Roxanne said mostly to herself but loud enough for Hector to hear.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 22, 2018, 01:52:40 pm
Hector did his best to relax as Roxanne led him into her room, setting aside his helm and shield, removing gauntlets and the scabbard holding the cursed sword. He had a renewed sense of discomfort keeping that thing so close to him, but now it wasn't solely due to its corrupted nature.
As Roxanne explained the day's events, he was now increasingly distraught by this, the thing he feared now confirmed to be true, in a sense. She was still here and speaking with him, but now she was effectively dead. The expression on his face said it all, the solemn look of realization. Out of all the questions that came to his mind, one stood out. "A curse. That couldn't have been the only solution to it..." he said softly, just enough for Roxanne to hear him. When Victor entered the room, he found it hard not to stand up and lash out at him, yet he sat there for now.
Hector watched for now in silence, trying to remain calm as the voices started. Even without the shared memories it was easy to guess what some of them were tormenting her over. When Roxanne interrupted the ritual, he sighed a bit, letting the two discuss matters before Victor took his leave. Afterwards he stood, walking over to Roxanne to embrace her. "Don't let them bother you. No matter what they say, you know who you are now. You aren't the person you were back then, before all this started. Neither of us are. You've grown." he said. "And the most superficial taunts, of not belonging here? So what? The Shifting gave us a chance to do good in this world, a chance that several of us have taken. You're not alone."
After all this he still had questions, moreover wanting to know more about the thing that attacked Roxanne. He elaborated a bit about what he saw and felt when he went to where Victor claimed Roxanne was, mentioning the glimpse of a shadowy mockery of the human form in the reflection of that cursed sword, a figure carrying a blade of some kind.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 23, 2018, 01:37:35 am
Alexei had spent the evening in his home preparing for a hunt. a pair of whiskey glasses sat on the table in front of him as he adjusted the strap of his quiver. Picking up the gas mask that was set on the table he slid the straps over his head before tightening them. Picking up one of the glasses on the table he turned to the door and stepped outside.
The sunlight filtered through the branches of the trees as he held the glass up in a salute to the air. "Saint Jude forgive me, Ullr guide my hand, and Martin of Tours show me the way through the smoke and fire."
With that said he tilted the glass and let the liquid pour out onto the ground. As the first drops hit the ground he heard something off to the side and looked. A flash of light blinded him for a moment before he saw himself sitting against a wall holding a wound closed with one hand. Lifting a pistol this other him shouted "Bitch! I should have shot you when I had chance!"
He didn't see whoever it was this him was talking to but he did see the end of a mace slam into the side of his head. The helmet crumpled into the wound as blood gushed out of it before the body slid to the side. Another flash and a voice whispered into his ear "You can still change Alexei."
Turning towards the voice he shouted "Ms Morgan?"
As he turned he saw another version of himself kneeling with a rifle in hand. Motioning in a military fashion Alexei didn't quite understand this version was passed by a pair of men in uniforms similar to his own. This version looked around as he said "Remember the creatures are more aggressive in their own territory. They'll eat us alive if we let them get close so keep weapons ready."
The two that had passed this one moved back and soon he followed. Alexei couldn't place it but this one seemed...happy. Shaking his head as these visions dissipated he wondered what was in some of the vodka he'd drank over the last day. He didn't notice the pair of spirits that faded back to the place that kept them alive still. Didn't notice the sisters quietly holding each other as they watched him walk into the woods with his bow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 23, 2018, 07:07:58 pm
It wasn’t Hector’s actual words but the intent of them that soothe Roxanne. She smiled as he embraced her returning the gesture in kind. "Thank you Hector...You are right, I know who I am." A few moments later after Roxanne had calmed down, Hector still had some questions lingering and he made them known. Roxanne was happy to answer them to the best of her ability.
"A shadowy figure with a blade? Doesn’t ring a bell honestly. All I know as that one moment I Victor and I are standing next to each other ready to fight and the next he is gone. I grabbed my, well former, sword and its effects took hold. What seemed to be an augmented man showed up and told me he had been waiting for me; I paid him no mind as I craved combat and he happily obliged. Thing is...he bested me; one fatal wound to the chest was all it took. The moment he broke my bionic sword I should’ve run but the sword of despair wouldn’t let me..."
Roxanne stood in silence for a moment as if contemplating something. Whatever it was, she seemed rather enthralled in it; but just as the thought began it ended. "Anyways, I do not know of any spirits or anything of the sort there. Maybe Victor saw something when he disappeared? After I was stabbed, everything is a blur and there are certain bits I am not even sure if they are real..."
Something was bugging Roxanne: her ceremonial oil was supposed to be fast acting. It was a special formula of hers after all. However, it was as if she hadn’t applied it at all; she wondered if maybe it really wouldn’t have any effect. She wouldn’t voice this concern though; she assumed her being no longer technically alive was a bit more pressing. Still, there was nothing she could do but wait some more.
"Hey, it’s getting a bit late… The sunset is almost upon us. This will be the first night like this; wonder how it will be. I know I know, ‘haven’t you been like this before?’ It’s not the same; it’s hard to explain but it is not… I want some time alone to figure out what to do. You know, will I be able sleep, should I stay corporeal or not, should I maybe sleep in the sword; that kind of thing. Nightly rituals are going to be weird from now on."
Victor eventually made it to his room. His was doing his usual activity: reading from arcane books to find anything useful. Now, he wasn’t reading from just any book; no, this was the Trinity Codex. This was a book of desperation, of transition and of change. Victor thought of it just a rumor, gossip fro his friend Blackjack the gambling spirit but after recalling the conditions for acquiring the book he realized he had meet them. This is why he summoned Blackjack after all these years; Victor wanted, no, needed this book.
"I’ll be damned...this thing contains perfected versions of a lot of my research… This book, what is it’s true nature? No, best not to question it. I won’t have this for long so best I gather what I need." And gather information he would. With a pen and his remaining journal ready Victor search the Trinity Codex for as much information as he could. He would end up staying awake all night transcribing the contents of the book to his journal but it would be worth it in the long run.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 23, 2018, 08:10:48 pm
(( Smol addition written by Noct. ))
Hector sighed a bit at that, uncertain what to think as Roxanne explained. "I see. I'll ask Victor later I guess." he said softly, still unnerved as he looked back. The realization of how much time had passed struck him. "You're right, it's getting late. I know there's not much I can do to help, but I feel like things would've gone differently if...if I hadn't stayed here." he said softly, feeling a pang of regret. No, if Victor was so easily separated from her, he knew it wouldn't have helped. If anything Alice might've bled out had he not been in the right place at the right time today. They would've lost two people, not just one. But part of him wanted to believe that it would've helped in some way.
"If you want, I can stay here. As worried as I've been about you lately, and now after this? I don't know how long you'll be with us..." he said, looking away. His expression made that concern, fear even, rather apparent.
Roxanne gave a sympathetic smile to Hector upon hearing his concerns. She had been too caught up in her own change that she had neglected to think what others would feel about this. "Yes, I would like that...", Roxanne said in response to his offer to stay. Hopefully, both their worries would subside in the morning.
Elsewhere, Helen was tending to her usual tasks at The Hall, watching the setting sun after tending to the garden. She found herself tending to a small fire in the firepit outside, soon emptying a small bowl of mead to douse the fire. A variant of a ritual her mother taught her, the version occasionally practiced by the members of her old order descended from the founders of Odin's Oath. "Gæta ok leiða vit."
She then made her way inside, sighing as she picked up her two-way. "Victor, if you're still there and in one piece. Will return in the morning, unless you seek me out first. If so, I'll be here at The Hall. Good night..." she said into it, before setting it down on the table, making final preparations for the evening and heading to bed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 24, 2018, 01:31:56 am
Dee worked hard, and would have worked late into the night had it not been for Mica. He took down notes, and took up soldering iron, working on circuits and putting together small but complex pieces compiled from the scraps and components he had on hand. The sun went down and the lights from the camp on the other side of the farms defensive wall went up. Catnip's electric street lamps likewise flickered on after a few months dead. Nathaniel had followed her instructions to the letter.
"Silly lizard, too late for workin.'" Mica a little tauntingly. She poked her head around the workshops one corner and grinned wide at him.
"Just a bit more Mica, I'd like to finish this. Be patient ok?" Dee knew she could be patient, but he wasn't sure how patient. for another five minutes or so, Dee worked. Then, once again, Mica poked her head around the corner. She looked a bit annoyed.
"Liiizaaard. Keepin' My-ka waaaitin.'" She circled the corner then. It no longer startled him when she came striding out of their room without any clothes on, she did this every couple days when her patience wore thin and she wanted him to take her to bed. Mica seemed, Dee had mused, to be incapable of simply asking for it beyond that first time.
"Ok, now get back in there before you catch a cold or something. Jesus Mica, you can just talk. Hell, let me take the lead for once." She wasn't going to let him take the lead until they were alone together of course. Dee's girlfriend did an about face, making sure Dee saw all of her, then strutted back the way she came. Dee noticed, as he always did, that extra bit of sway she put in her hips to grab his attention. Roxanne had taught her that simple movement. Dee put down his tools and rose to follow, already feeling Mica's pull. He worried though, about the appointment tomorrow. He didn't want her to slide back into what she was. Not for his sake, but for hers. Catnip allowed herself to be tucked in, as it used to be, but this time she pulled Kathrine in with her. It was too cold to be sleeping on the floor or outside as Kathrine suggested. Late summer would very soon give way to autumn and here in New England, one could feel it when the sun went down. She threw half the blanket over Kathrine and held her close in a tight hug. The pair talked, at first Catnip gently shushing her girlfriend and assuring her that it was perfectly alright, that it would be warmer and more comfortable if they were both together and sharing each others warmth. Kathrine's long fluffy tail added a large measure of warmth to the equation as well. The day had been busy after the small tea party. Catnip utility belt wasn't quiet ready, but she had a temporary storage solution.
The first task had been Roxanne's APC. It had sat for a few years in front of the farm house, occasionally on the move but with it's weapons systems as dead as carved stones. The entire electric system controlling the control module, and the control module itself, had to be ripped out and replaced. This little chore had taken an inordinate amount of Catnips time and effort. Her collection of parts had been hauled away and neatly stashed in "organized" sections. Catnip couldn't find a thing. Eventually, as dinner approached, she found what she wanted and performed the proper tests. The system revved up and even fired. All it needed now was a good solid road test. It wouldn't be Catnip to do it though. It was Roxanne's baby, it was her road test to perform.
Catnip squeezed Kathrine a little closer, more glad than she had been before to be home.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on February 24, 2018, 02:41:32 am
Lucian idly waited for the sun to set, the crickets began to sing as the lights went out as everyone went to sleep. He scooped up his bag and his mantle of shadows off the floor, putting it on as he gently slipped out of the room. He activated the mantle, muffling his footsteps and shrowding him in shadow. Lucian stuck to the shadows as he slunk into a utility closet, pressing a folding chair that was inside against the doorknob. He set up on the floor, pouring some black powder, bonemeal, and some shards from a long broken athame. He gripped a short knife in his teeth, using it to slash open his palm as he let it drop from his teeth. Lucian let the crimson liquid drip onto the powder mixture, he grabbed a roll of gauze and a roll of linen. He wrapped the gauzr around his palm and bit on the roll of Linen as took off the hook, tossing a lit match into the chalice.
An intense, searing pain stabbed into his stump as something began to construct. Something black and glass-like, it began to build as Lucian let out a muffled shout. He felt it build the new 'flesh' of the arm. First was the fore-arm, then the wrist, then the palm, and finally the fingers. Every moment was searing agony as it even built nerves. Lucian wheezed as he stared at the new limb, testing it as he wiggled it's fingers. He got up, taking the roll of fabric out of his mouth and slipped out of the closet. He cleaned up after himself and slipped back into his room, setting his bag and feathered mantle on the ground. Lucian slipped back into the bed, drifting off to a dreamless sleep.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 24, 2018, 02:47:14 am
It was late into the night that Krieg found himself sitting by Roland's bed in the medical ward they had set up. The options he was presented with in the situation they were in were limited despite the numerous offers from the men. Roland had refused every one of them and Krieg wouldn't operate on a patient that wasn't willing to have the procedure. He was about to throw his helmet against the wall and yell at Roland when Veronica walked in.
She moved to stand beside Roland as he smiled at her. "Roland you..are you okay?"
Roland blinked slowly as he sat up and told her "I'm okay. I've accepted it. I'm at peace."
She started to object when he shook his head and told her "It's my time soon. Let us make it pleasant shall we? No arguing, just talk."
And so they talked for hours, many of the members of the 3rd cycling into and out of the room to say goodbye. It was early in the morning when Roland closed his eyes for the last time surrounded by the 3rd. The heartbeat monitor slowed until it flat lined entirely. For a moment everyone in the room took a breath and hoped it would come back. But Krieg knew that the hope was in vain. Reaching over he began removing the equipment as he told a nurse to jot down the time.
Once the equipment was put away Krieg retrieved a letter from his bag and handed it to Veronica before starting for the motor pool. It had been some time since he'd let a death affect him like this and he found himself stopping to take a few deep breaths. The pain in his chest wasn't unfamiliar but still unpleasant as he climbed into a jeep and started the motor. He had letters to deliver, he'd put his mind to that task and deal with this later.
Elsewhere Roland looked at the man across the desk from him. Gently tossing a folder onto the table the man shrugged as he said "Quite frankly I'm surprised they didn't make you a saint. You certainly deserved it."
Roland leaned back as the two conversed for a time. Jokes shot back and forth as they observed each other. After a time though Roland sighed as he said "I'd like to watch over them, even if I can't truly help. They don't need me anymore, they've learned to take care of themselves after all but still I feel a responsibility to watch over them. And a question if you will. How are my sons, how's Thomas?"
The man sighed for a moment as he set a cup of coffee to the side. Stopping to think for a moment before shrugging he said "Well I'm technically not supposed to tell you but with your little request I don't suppose it would cause too much harm for you to know. So..." And the man began to tell Roland of his sons.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 24, 2018, 06:44:45 am
Atomos poked at the fire in the hearth of the house she'd posted up in. The building was outfitted with a small stock of food stuffs and general supplies, along with being fortified against undead incursion. When the fire was sufficiently stirred and good bright coals revealed, she carefully placed her thoughtfully ventilated can of spaghetti rings with meatballs in amongst them. It was no coincidence she'd picked out this house as night fell. This was one of many safe houses she'd put together over the course of the year, mostly over the summer. She marked them with an orange triangle on the sidewalk.
Setting the safe houses up was a dangerous endeavor. One that didn't always see positive results. Several of her safe houses near the outskirts of towns or cities had been looted, rendering them unusable and sometimes dangerous. Sometimes, this occurred before she could complete the project. Some undead we're clever, or Atomos was sometimes unlucky. On one close occasion she managed to narrowly dive through the window and bolt up the stairs with a host of foul the undead on her heels. The plank stretched across the span, a favored trick in these places where pre-cataclysm people had been content to crowd their homes so close together, had given access to the house next door. She kicked the plank in the hopes of dislodging it and cutting off pursuit, but pursuit was already making it's way across the two story abyss. The board had jolted to the left about a foot, and the falling zombies had shoved it further as they went. With only one crawling corpse holding the board down at the other end, Atomos had just watched, amused, as it crawled towards her and in so doing upset the balance of the plank.
Next to the fire she put her toasting rack, lined with two slices of center baked bread. There would be toast with her spaghetti rings. Toast with strawberry jam. She would eat, read a little, and then turn in on the couch for the night. Tomorrow Atomos would push on to the north. By nightfall, she would be looking and New Bangor on the horizon. By morning, she would be in the shadow of Abaddon, the ruins surrounding the center of God's Army's power.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 24, 2018, 11:24:24 pm
Helen had an uneasy, restless night, only worsening as the dark haze of dreamless sleep gave way to disconcerting memories. Given the day's events she'd feared another vision might occur and only add new worries, but the vague haze of dreams was just as troubling.
Soon though, she stumbled out of bed, sighing a bit as she got dressed and reached for the two-way. "Victor? Are you there? I'll be heading over soon, if it's safe to come over now."
Elsewhere, Hector had slept rather late, in the morning a bit uncertain as he got up. Given she likely needed little, if any sleep, he wondered how she held up during the night. Soon however he stood, gathering his clothes and armor, sighing a bit. "I should ask Victor something..."
Nathaniel meanwhile had been up early, going to check on Alice after hearing the news, and a look around the farm soon confirmed the visitors from the 3rd had left. So too was Isaac gone, and the thought worried him, making his way to the tank's radio. "Nathaniel checking in. The boys from the 3rd reading me? Wanted to report that Alice seems to be okay so far, thanks to your medic's good work. Haven't heard from Isaac since then, however. Everything alright on your end?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 25, 2018, 12:22:32 am
The trek back had not been entirely unpleasant for Isaac. The men he was with were just that, men. Each spoke of home in a longing yet pained tone as they answered questions and offered up stories of their youths. As he came to know they were all hunters of a kind.
Anton had worked as a tracker for his people. Ever vigilant he kept them on the right path to follow the herds of animals they kept track of. Carrying himself with confidence and swagger the man still seemed tired despite the nights rest they had, and he seemed to always keep a hand near his knives.
Meanwhile his brother Eino had been a warrior bearing axe and shield for his kinfolk. As he explained it swords were for those of a higher status than he when asked as to why an axe. Flipping the axe from hand to hand Isaac noted the intricate details carved into its handle. His demeanor also seemed more cheerful than his brother.
Aaron and his twin Gunnar meanwhile were bowmen who seemed to share a comradery with Anton that seemed to irritate the others. Both joked and tossed remarks between themselves while fiddling with arrows that were oddly ornately decorated. They seemed to be a good sort from what Isaac could gather though.
Liam meanwhile was the second youngest of the six, and an oddity. He was the mage of the group and kept to himself. The way he kept a hand near his bag and a nervous eye out on the others made Isaac wonder if his job made him the one to be lashed out at. Regardless he seemed to try and keep a smile on his face and recounted tales of his work that kept everyone interested.
Soon though they came close to the hall as they walked and they quieted. Looking to each other they wondered what the woman that Isaac was taking them to would have in store for them. However they had little choice but to proceed as Isaac knocked on the door.
Meanwhile Vernoica picked up the radio after Nathaniel's message. Clicking it on she sighed and said "We're fine here. But Roland passed early this morning. I'm..I'm sorry. Krieg went out earlier, he's got letters that Roland wrote for people. He should be there soon."
From the sound of her voice she was hurting, but trying to remain confident sounding. From what he could hear in the background there were others still running the everyday operations but with less of the usual enthusiasm. "I'm afraid we haven't seen Isaac either. Knowing him though he's probably fine."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 25, 2018, 07:10:42 am
An early riser was Catnip now. Her time in Pricetown had got her sleep schedule working in a way that appeared fairly normal. Kathrine curled against her, a little bead of warmth amongst the blankets and straw. The straw bed would definitely have to go. Catnip had felt the wonder of mattresses. Straw was ok for animals, but Catnip wasn't an animal. Neither was Kathrine. She tried to slide off the grounded bed without disturbing Kathrine, but the maid was too well conditioned for that and woke the instant Catnip made any substantial movement. Kathrine came up with a bleary start, looking very much like she'd had a rough nights sleep. A little bit of time and some food would fix her right up, along with the mornings cigarette.
Catnip urged Kathrine to go back to bed, but once Catnip was up, so was she. They sat at the edge of the bed together passing a cigarette between them until it was gone, both of them discreetly trying to make it so the other would get the last drag before there was nothing left. This new part of the ritual would go on as part of their mornings for years. At least that's what Catnip believed. She checked her watch. The plain gold of Floyd's gift untarnished by it's unconventional storage among the other shinies. She had taken the time to examine it while Floyd showed her how it worked. The purely mechanical nature of the aged time peice tickled Catnip's love of the complex yet simple. Tiny gears and levers working around a clever little mainspring. "The little blue stones," Floyd had explained, "are sapphires. They make sure the whole thing moves smoothly." Catnip caught on quickly, sure she could fix the tiny gold plated watch if she had to.
The short hand was pointed at the line that indicated six while the longer hand sat between the ones for twenty and twenty-five. In Pricetown, that would mean she was late for work. Here at home, it meant next to nothing and that made her do a mental leap of joy. Once again back on her own lax schedule. First, the morning rituals. Next, breakfast. Then, work. She would fix the ATV the Atomos lady brought her, then would perform some basic maintenance on the farms running vehicles. Everything would get a check up. When Dee and Mica returned from the center, she would drop what she was doing and see what needed to be done for Dee's robot. That, and pass out a few more of her gifts. From Catnip's point of veiw, it was going to be a pleasant day. Later, she would reconsider that feeling. Later still, she wouldn't know what to think. Dee woke up late and would have been up later still had it not been for the short, sharp, bark of Medeina running a feedback signal through her speaker.
"You are late Dee. Dervish wants to know where you are. Should I tell him you've been sleeping off a night of-"
"No! Jesus Christ, no. You're just as bad as she is. Where's Mica?"
Mica didn't seem to have any problem allowing Dee to sleep in after a night together, even if he had things he wanted or needed to get done. Instead, she would slip out quickly and quietly before anybody (Dee) knew she was gone. Even wrapped tight in his arms, she seemed to be perfectly capable of slipping his grasp without waking him.
"Ms. Mica is down by the bridge. I believe the guests are feeding her fish for their entertainment."
Dee slapped himself hard. Mica was probably up for that treatment as well, considering she was getting fish out of it. The fact that she was likely eating a lot of it served to remind him of her appointment with Dervish though. She liked fish, but Mica didn't really gorge herself on it like she did with other meats. Dee had looked on in awe struck fascination as his girlfriend tore into a whole moose, devouring most of it bones and all while she had stopped at a mere two salmon when offered them during last years run.
Dee sniffed at yesterday's shirt and decided that it wasn't sufficiently crusty enough to throw in the hamper yet, then selected a fresh pair of shorts and socks. "I guess we better go get her. Dervish ain't gonna be too happy if we are more than a little late."
"You are already more than a little late."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 25, 2018, 03:09:18 pm
Helen gathered her cloak and mask, setting the latter aside as she tended to Thomas for now, Solomon having just made breakfast for all of them, including the two visitors that stayed at The Hall for now. Helen glanced back at the radio, giving a sigh. "If he's gone and got himself killed by Hector. Or Roxanne..."
A knock on the door brought her out of those thoughts. Carefully she handed Thomas over to Solomon before answering the door, giving a nod as she saw Isaac there. "Glad to see you back. And it seems you've brought the others back alive. Six of them at least." she said, a bit relieved. The task set by Odin could be salvaged, it seems.
Nathaniel sighed a bit as he heard that answer. "We'll await his arrival then." he said. He recalled the girl that Roxanne and the others had brought back, living with the 3rd and being mentored by Victor and Helen. He knew nothing of whether the two had any connection with Roland, not knowing that Helen and Roland had discussed a little about a being they both knew of.
But he did recall the fight against Apophis, remembered the sight of Helen kneeling with her cloak draped around the man, unaware of the fact that another was behind his survival in that exact moment, and recalled that the mage hunter seemed to approve of Melody staying with him and the 3rd, from what little of that he'd observed.
"...the others at The Hall will wish to know as well, I suspect."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 25, 2018, 09:06:34 pm
Isaac looked over his shoulder at the men behind him. They seemed hesitant save for Charles. "It's been long enough the other one has probably been eaten by something at this point. Regardless though I've no direction to give these men and they can't return home."
Reaching up and pulling his helmet off he observed it for a few moments before continuing "I've need of a purpose as well I suppose. I remember a few overheard conversations, you have an order of some sort. At the very least I imagine you could put them to use."
Meanwhile Veronica said "I'll send a message over to the Hall but Krieg should be there soon. And Nathaniel, I'm sorry. I wish we could have told you in a better manner."
With that said she clicked mic off and told one of the others to inform the Hall. After a few moments Blitz hit the button and said "This is the 3rd calling the Hall. We've some bad news that we thought you would want to hear. If no response we'll resend this transmission in an hour."
Alexei meanwhile returned to his home from his hunt with a small catch. Enough to feed himself for a couple days as he worked on his stills. retrieving some of his supplies he started his home built smoker before walking into his home. Tossing his coat onto a couch he'd dragged into the place he walked over to the table and repeated his prayers. Sitting down at the table this time he leaned back and rubbed his eyes.
He'd had another vision while he was out and he was starting to wonder what was causing them. Reaching for a bottle of vodka he figured it could wait till another time. He had work to do today.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 25, 2018, 11:32:37 pm
Mica was busy entertaining, but not in the manner Dee expected. When Dee thought of Mica "being entertaining," he thought of making light fun of her. Using innuendo and double entendre to confuse her or get her to sing little snatches of advertising jingles. Making her do tricks. The trick she was performing this time though was of a more artistic and much more flattering nature. The guests and fishers were approaching in nervous little groups and offering Mica fish. In exchange, she was drawing their pictures. One after another from a wide backed chair, the sketches came quickly and were replaced by a fish which rapidly vanished into Mica's vast maw. Nearby, others watched the spectacle of Mica's flying hands and waiting mouth.
"Babe." Dee said, "You didn't get me up. C'mon, you have an appointment."
Mica ignored him for a moment, carefully putting the finishing touches on a sketch of a drooling baby. She took a moment to examine her work before passing the drawing to the childs mother. Mica refused the fish this time though, and instead asked for the baby. Some of the gathered looked to each other nervously. A woman who could put away so much raw fish, seemed to have a taste for such a grisly feast, would surely have a taste for something a bit more... tender.
Still, seeing that the man who'd come for her wasn't trying to stop her, the woman eventually relented. Mica took the furry baby in her arms and cuddled it before gently giving it back. It was a relief to all, Dee included, once the baby was out of her hands. Other people, came in and made requests while Mica turned them down. "No no, My-ka got stuff to do now silly mices. My-ka has to go see med-sin man cuz My-ka been eatin' nasty fruits."
"Missus, you aren't sick are you?" Asked one of the fishers. Mica had endeared herself to these people a little with her show of talent and odd behavior, much like her sister had.
"My-ka not sick, silly mouse. Fruits is bad for you, like My-ka says, but can't help eatin' it so now My-ka gotta go see why she eaten so much." Dee took her hand and urged her to come on with him. The day ahead would be full of surprises. Catnip checked through every vehicle, one after another. The centers ATV turned out to be a complicated fix. At least until she could find the parts she needed. The mechanics were fixed quickly, but the body work would have to wait. Catnip disliked the plastic and fiberglass a lot of vehicles were made from, preferring instead older cars made from steel or aluminum. The tank was in good shape, as she had expected, so she checked it off the list. Dee's car, the SLS he'd been possessed of before she'd been sent away, was no where to be found. She vaguely recalled the car being swiss cheesed by bullets shortly before erupting into a fireball when the gas tank went. That made her sad, but it also meant she didn't have to give it a look over. Quinn's truck and the steel horse needed a little work, and the farms collection of miscellaneous small bikes and carts were in varying states of repair, as she'd left them. The old truck was still sitting where she'd left it, and that reminded her of another old obligation. Roland and Drifters truck. The farm had promised them one, and had not delivered it that she knew of. It took by far the longest time to go over and fix. It needed fresh wiring and a good amount of cleaning. Some field mice had built and abandoned a nest atop the engine block, and upon starting the vehicle, the cab filled with the acrid reek of burning excrement and grass. The truck was allowed to run and burn off it's filth, then cleaned up. After that, it was as simple as running a few more checks and giving the word that it was ready to be picked up. This job she gave to Nathaniel, but Nathan had news for her.
"Nip, Roland's gone."
"Oh? Well, he can come pick it up when he comes back."
"N-no, Catnip. Roland died this morning."
"Oh."
"I'm sorry Nip."
It was a bit of a shock. She hadn't known him well but she'd known him enough, and the death of any friend was reason for unhappiness. Even if it was someone she knew as little as she had Roland. Nathaniel tried to bring her attention back to the here and now, but Catnip really only wanted to find Kathrine then. Someone she could hold and be comforted by. It was as she was wandering around the front of the cook shack that she saw Dee's other car, his "new" one pulling in. Catnip watched a little emptily, only half interested, for a long time until she realized how long he was sitting and idling. That, and that Mica wasn't with him. When he finally did get out, the stunned look infused into Dee's every move and feature turned her cold with fear.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 26, 2018, 12:27:36 am
While Nathaniel said his goodbye to the person on the radio for now, and soon informed Catnip of the news, Helen regarded the new arrivals with a look of concern, before nodding. "I see. Their leader I suspect received the deserve his actions deserved." she said calmly. "That would be appreicated. Their experience would serve such a cause well, and would be interesting to see what knowledge their seidmadr has picked up along the way. He in turn might find my own notes useful." she remarked. "Will likely need more than a simple mead hall and cabin soon enough though..."
Meanwhile, Solomon picked up the radio to answer. "Solomon at The Hall here, Helen's presently at the door talking to Isaac. Everything alright over there?" he asked, concerned by that. Steinar and Salazar would likely overhear the conversation over the radio as well.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 26, 2018, 02:07:16 am
Salazar was still asleep as Blitz began "I'm sorry to inform you that Commander McCall..Roland passed away this morning. He was surrounded by those he sacrificed so much to help. We'll be holding a funeral for anyone that wants to attend. We'll radio the details when we have them, for now Krieg is on his way to deliver letters for those left behind. I'm sorry, I don't know what else to say. Normally Krieg's the one to be giving this news.."
Meanwhile outside Isaac nodded as he observed the men. Anton was tossing and catching his knife while Liam scratched his arm and watched the conversation between Isaac and Helen. "They seem a good sort. Hopefully they'll prove worthy of the chance you're giving them. Which reminds me. They follow the bearer of the Blessed Spear. Maybe you should have it."
With that said he pulled a spear from his back. The ornate decorations on it caught the eye as did the oddly colored green tip of the weapon. Past Isaac she saw the six watching intently now with even Anton sheathing his knife. Liam whispered something to himself and she caught the brief flash of a ring of fire around his head. The others glanced over at him sharply for a moment before returning their gaze to Isaac and Helen.
Meanwhile Bandit tucked a set surgical gloves into his backpack. From there he slid a small supply of drugs that he could probably trade to someone. Zipping the bag shut he sighed and leaned back. Reaching a hand up to rub his face he felt his mask and felt an odd anger. Gripping it he pulled it off and threw it against the wall before standing up to inspect the pistol he'd kept with him. If he was going to do what he was planning on doing it wouldn't do to be unprepared.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 26, 2018, 02:57:32 am
Solomon winced a bit as he heard the news, looking down solemnly. He only really knew Roland from the party, when the old fellow helped with cooking and other preparations. Yet in that time Roland seemed like a kind person, one that Helen had a peculiar rapport with, the young man unaware of Salazar being part of that. "I see. I hope he went peacefully at least." he said. These days it must be a rarity, he thought. "I'll inform Thane Helen of Krieg's departure for the farm, and give her the news."
Helen meanwhile regarded the group with curiosity, giving a little nod. "I would like to examine the item and better discern its nature, but other than that I'd leave the matter of ownership to your discretion. Have you determined whether it has any particular abilities bound to it?" she asked, retrieving her mask to give it a more thorough look. It wasn't long however before Solomon walked over to greet them, giving a polite nod to the other seven. "Mrs. McKinnon? There was a call on the radio from the paratroopers. They're sending Krieg over to the farm to deliver some news. It's about Roland..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 26, 2018, 05:44:21 am
Dervish looked over the charts very carefully again. Puzzled over them in fact, unsure of what he was looking at. Earlier, a mere hour and a half or so ago, a certain couple had come into the refugee center at his request. The man was mostly human while the lady was mostly a lot of things.
He wanted them to see him because the lady was suddenly experiencing a chemical imbalance. The mutagenicists worry was that she was undergoing genetic regression. With that in mind, he interviewed both of them. What was her diet like? How often did she sleep? Was she using any chemical substances? Had she been in an accident recently? Had she been exposed to radiation in the last three months? These and more we're asked and then the lady, the strange mutant lady, was taken to medbay one while the man waited in the foyer. The lady, really a girl in the body of a lady, struggled and squirmed. She didn't trust the machine. Dervish promised her a chicken if she calmed down, and she did. The medbay did it's work and after a solid half hour, the results were lined up neatly on a sheet of flimsy.
They made no sense to Dervish. The lady's genetics were a scramble of conflicting markers and unreadable chemical signatures. One thing he was sure of was that she wasn't regressing. She was changing somehow though, and it was his confusion over the matter that brought him to Efram and Maskens. He found them eating together in the center cafeteria, Efram happily, Maskens looking sour and uncomfortable. The latter was all too happy to be distracted from the "date" Efram had talked her into the night before. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very big distraction.
"Girls pregnant."
Dervish stared at her like someone had slapped him. Her remark had had the same sort off effect, so it made sense. Efram took the papers while Maskens took another bite of rapidly cooling rattler lasagna.
"My my yes, and in such an advanced stage of mutation. I can hardly fathom what the child will look like." He put in. Dervish didn't believe it, and said as much, but Efram went on. "It's entirely possible Dr. Deverish. Her DNA is a tattered and tangled mess, but it seems someone has managed to put a bun with just the right ingredients and seasonings in her oven. This was a problem we dealt with a lot at my lab Doctor, you know this. These markings here, see? These all combine to make up what we called her 'fertility profile.' A profile like this would be considered a failed strain, but still viable since she isn't entirely sterile. The child is a little miracle Dr. Deverish. The father should be proud."
Maskens took the papers back and gave them a better look. Dervish had barely spoken, feeling a brand of shock normally reserved for the father to be. "Who's the 'lucky' lady Deverish?"
He swallowed hard. Later on, in a few minutes actually, he would be explaining clumsily how this was possible and of course sharing the good news. Now, he was just thirsty and a bit light headed. "Mica. Catnip's sister. These are her charts." Dee stepped out of his car, but made it no further than that before Catnip was on him.
"What's wrong Dee? Where's Mica? Dee?" She was panicked, and in her panic her words began to slip into the rarely heard "labinese" that both she and mica sometimes lapsed in times of outstanding stress. A combination of the way Mica talked, through a thick Maine accent.
"Where's my sissa? What hawppaned to My-ka?"
Floyd stepped in quickly, seeing and hearing the rising tension. He couldn't let her get too upset when she was already so over the death of Roland.
"Up?" Dee mumbled, Catnip had shaken him a bit and that had brought him out of his stupor a little. "Wrong? With... Mica? No, nothing's wrong. Dervish just wanted to keep her for an hour or two. She's... A-ok. Perfectly fine. Look, I gotta go sit down or something, im-"
It was Floyd's turn to be impatient. He grabbed Dee firmly by the shoulder and turned the boy to face him, and in that moment he really did look like a boy. A scared one. "Dean, what is it."
It looked like he wasn't going to say, but then all at once the words dropped from his mouth like stones.
"Mica's pregnant."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 26, 2018, 11:49:32 am
As Helen began her examination Isaac told her "It can harm spirits. Aside from that I've noticed nothing out of the ordinary."
Helen's examination showed her that quite a few of the markings were imbued with some form of magic. As she examined the head of the spear she noticed a large hidden but incomplete marking on it that seemed to faintly glow in her mask's vision. Whatever that mark was supposed to do she was sure it needed something to complete it to work fully. However the markings were of a foreign nature to her.
As Solomon walked out Isaac nodded in greeting to the man before listening to what he said. As he heard what was said he realized where this was going and slid his helmet back on. "What happened?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 26, 2018, 01:35:34 pm
“It is done...fuck it’s already morning?!” Victor had stayed up all night transfering material from the Trinity Codex to his journal. Thing was, the journal wasn’t his; it wasn’t anyone’s. It was passed along to those who needed it and then it had to be returned. The way to do so was to put it somewhere it would not be disturbed and then just forgetting about it; from there it would be fetched and sent to the next unfortunate soul who qualified to get it.
Victor yawned loudly as he noticed the sunlight entered under the door. “Guess I am not sleeping for a while…” He decided some coffee would help. It didn’t take long for him to prepare a cup; he resumed his work as he drank from it. “Now, where to put this thing…” Victor was not thinking too clearly from being tired and it would take a while for the caffeine to take its effect; despite drinking coffee on a regular basis, it still seemed to have an effect on him. His journal was put away now that it was done and the trinity codex was picked up. It was then he knew where to put the book.
The closet in his drawer had a compartment in it Victor rarely used. A few items were inside but they were used so rarely he would go weeks without opening the compartment. In all honesty, he had forgotten everything he had in there; it was always an adventure to find something he had forgotten about. With book in hand he opened the closet and reached for the compartment lid; he opened it and placed the book inside. It was then he noticed it; an item that made him groan due to neglect.
“W-why do I still have Sharlene’s jacket? Oh god...it has been more than a year!” A little sense of panic set in. How could he had neglected this for so long? How did he not notice it? He must’ve cleaned it and when putting away stuff from his desk perhaps he did so without paying attention and to the compartment it went. Whatever the reason, it was here now and Victor felt it was right to return it. It would serve as a good excuse to pay Sharlene a visit; he was curious on what she was up too with her arcane studies. He had only given her a single book and some basic instructions yet nothing had exploded so he assumed she was doing rather well. “I wonder how far has she progressed… Heh, wonder how she will react to me having the jacket for all this time.”
Victor’s thought process was interrupted by his radio coming to life. It had startled him so he scrambled to pick it up to answer; the radio fumbling in his hands slightly. Helen was on the other side. However, it seemed the radio system or maybe just his radio was a bit off; the message he had gotten was not live but rather received as a sort of voice mail. Roxanne had long ago rigged a voice mail machine to record message and then send them to the frequency of a specific person. It worked like a phone but the message had to be relayed through the radio room as a conduit from person A and person B for it to work. Victor shrugged and responded to the message; it would probably be received in the same manner he did so Helen could listen to it when she had time.
“Helen! Yes, it should be safe for us to meet again. Now, a certain night probably wants to talk to me too so if he arrives first I am not sure in what state I will be when he arrives.” The last part was meant as a joke; Victor shifted his tone slightly when he said it to symbolize as much but his sense of humor was still off. “Anyways, Roxanne is now back safe and sound...You probably know what is going on from the scan you did of the sword… Well, if you want to get her side of the story you can always talk to her as well later on. Still, hopefully this day isn’t as hectic; I await your return Helen, take care.”
Once he finished his message, he put the radio down and gave a deep sigh. After looking at the jacket one more time, he put it away in the drawer next to the journal to not forget it again. Today was going to be an interesting day to say the least.
No matter how much she tried, Roxanne was not able to sleep that night. She didn’t feel tired or cold or anything; not even the oil she applied had an effect. Roxanne did not feel much of anything that night. Despite sleeping next to Hector, she could not feel his warmth as she had done before. This was going to take some getting used to. Instead of sleeping, Roxanne spent the night just thinking about many things: how she got here, what she could expect from her future, the curse her bloodline was given, how the shifting pretty much screwed her over and many more things in that vein of thought. Day time arrived rather quickly for her as she was not paying attention to anything but her own thoughts.
Roxanne was taken out of her train of thought by Hector waking up. He got up and put his armor back up while she sat there in bed. Hector told her he needed to talk to Victor and she knew this could go one of two ways. “Hector, don’t be to harsh on him ok? He had his reason. Listen, the alternative was worse; I am not really qualified to explain it myself but I am sure he will. Now, I don’t expect you to like the answer but now that I am at peace… Go on and talk to him I too have a few things to do. Not sure what yet but I know I have to do them...”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 26, 2018, 03:16:25 pm
Helen gave the weapon a cursory glance, smiling under her mask. "Another item with that property. Seems to be quite common. There are signs of other probable effects, either practical or markers of some sort. It'd take more deliberate testing to figure out what else it may be."
Solomon gave a nod at that as he approached, sighing some. Even given everything he'd picked up from his older brother, occasionally helping to treat injuries and aid the sick during their travels, at one point even talking their way out of captivity by a bandit group due to his brother's treatment of their wounded, he wasn't really sure how to deal with informing someone of another's death. That was something his brother was also more experienced with.
"They said Roland...passed away this morning, in the company of his comrades at their base. No mention of injuries or other circumstances, I would guess natural causes. They're planning a funeral and will inform us when they have details available." he said.
Helen went a bit pale at that, deactivating her mask. "I...I see. There's another that will wish to know of this as well. In the meantime, please. Feel free to come in if you wish. Solomon can prepare more breakfast for these new arrivals." she said, leading the way back into The Hall.
Helen sighed a little, soon regarding the radio, surprised at the sudden answer by Victor. "I'm glad you're alright Victor. I'll be over there soon." she said, setting the two-way down. "We should perhaps give Salazar here the news when he awakens, then go over there to meet with Krieg." she said. "Salazar here is...one that both Roland and I knew." she said, gesturing to the man that was still asleep.
Hector was a bit uncertain as he regarded her, realizing that despite the night's events, she seemed just as uneasy as the prior evening. He approached her before setting a hand on her shoulder, sighing a bit. "Alright. I still need answers out of him, it seems. Nevermind that Helen'd probably kill me if I did harm him." he remarked. "Take care, okay? If you need me for anything, anything at all, I'll be here for you. And if you want to, later on...if you think inhabiting a body might help. Anything I can do for you." he said softly.
Soon he had everything ready, calmly making his way over to the door to Victor's room, before knocking on the door. Questions filled his mind, uncertain what to ask first, as he waited for the door to open.
He'd decide to start with the most pressing concern, once he had the chance to ask. "Victor? I was wondering about yesterday. Roxanne doesn't remember much of the events there beyond the attack and her injury. But...what of you? What happened there, in that cave? If I'm correct in my guess that it happened at that location?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 26, 2018, 04:22:42 pm
Isaac and the others followed her into the hall. Isaac looked Salazar over as Helen told him about the man's relation to Roland. Shaking his head he wondered what had happened to Roland but tried to put those feelings aside as he said "I see. Well for now we should probably let him rest."
The six followed them inside and found themselves somewhere to sit. From the looks they cast about they seemed nervous and unsure of what was going to happen. Steinar seemed to have noticed this and approached them. Clapping Anton on the shoulder he handed the man a wine skin as he said "Good to meet fellow warriors!"
Frowning as he observed Eino's gear he said "You need a shield my friend. Easily remedied though, we'll make you a new one."
Gesturing to Liam as he put an arm around the mage's shoulder he said "And you, a mage! It has been some time since I've seen one that hails from the Nordic countries. Did they teach you in the old ways?"
Liam, seemingly both appreciative and intimidated by Steinar's friendliness, replied "Yes..well mostly. I had to pick up a few things on my own. And sometimes I accidentally do things.."
Steinar smiled as he said "Well even if you're learning yourself you'll still get there. For now take your time, it is best to pace ones self in these matters after all."
After a few more minutes he had them all talking. Stories of their work as the Blessed were shared. They were a bit loud and rambunctious as they started shoving each other and shouting over each other.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 27, 2018, 10:10:46 am
Back in his workshop, Dee sat and stared up at the ceiling. Leaning in his chair wasn't something he did often, long ago taught that if you didn't have six legs on the floor, you were sitting wrong. His mind was drifting somewhere between a state of childish panic and irrational fear. How had it happened? That was the question he kept asking himself. How had it happened, and what if it was some kind of mistake? Dervish told him everything, or at least what he knew, and the way in which he told it suggested that the mutagenicist didn't quiet believe it himself.
Mica was having a baby, she was just about two months along, and there was no doubt whose it was. Dee could probably guess when as well. The farm had done a midsummer celebration, at his request, so he could share it with her. There had been dancing and bonfire. Dee and Helen told stories they knew, and food had been served. The whole event had been a lot of fun, and Mica had looked at everything Dee did and everything that had been put on with wide eyed interest which turned to delight when Dee put a flower wreath on her head. That night had been something especially special to them both, something they hoped to repeat the following year and remember forever.
Dee was thinking about it when Floyd turned up at his door. This was one of the things he had been fearing. Floyd Price wasn't his father, wasn't anyone but Sam's father, but that didn't change how most if not all the farms youngest residents saw him. Dee even called him "granddad' as a joke sometimes. After delivering his news earlier, Dee had made his way quickly to his home. He didn't want to see or talk to anyone, wanted to be alone with his thoughts. He thought they would judge him.
Floyd wasn't judging him, just concerned. "Kid." He said. Dee didn't say anything, neither did Medeina. Dee had shut off her speaker. Floyd moved across the room, and with a move that was strangely fatherly, push Dee's chair down so that all four legs were resting on the floor. "That ain't how you sit in a chair kid."
Dee barked a single sharp "Ha!" that sounded panicky and choked. "My dad would've said the same thing, except he would have said it in Dutch. Dat is niet hoe je in een stoel zit." The sudden shift into another language took Floyd off guard. He often forgot Dee, with his ghost of an accent, was not in fact American born. Dee claimed he hadn't actually lived in the Netherlands long before his parents moved to the states, but they'd taught him their native language, sure enough.
"What else would your father say?" Floyd asked, taking the swivel chair normally reserved for Dee. He watched Dee carefully, aware that Dee seemed to have regressed into a scared kid.
Dee took a long time, picking through the words in his memory with a bit of difficulty. It seemed he'd forgotten a little bit of those old lessons. Though, not the words of his father. "Je hebt een geweldige tijd gekozen om deze stuntzoon te trekken." He said, "You picked a hell of a time to pull this stunt son. Floyd, what am I going to do? I... I want my parents man. I havn't thought about them much in years. Just kind of assumed they were safe back in the ol' motherland, but this shit..." Dee waved his hand at nothing to refer to the world in general, "This shit is world wide isn't it? We would have seen people by now, disaster relief or something. Floyd... Floyd look at me!" Floyd was looking at him. Dee was running his hands over his face, the part of his body where his fundamental change was most obvious. He recognized what Dee meant, and also that he was beginning to enter a state similar to hysteria.
With his calm, steady, fatherly voice, Floyd put an end to the coming tide. "Calm down Dean." His own name steadied him somehow, anchored the world threatening to fly out from under his feet, and Dee began to breath easier. For now. "What are you going to do Dean?"
Again, that shrieky little cough of a laugh, "What am I going to do? That was my question granddad. I asked fir-"
"Nevermind that shit Dean. What are you going to do?"
They stared at each other for a space, then the silence was broken by Dee. "I don't know."
Floyd nodded and leaned back a little. "And you know what? That's perfectly fine. Frankly, if you knew what to do I'd tell you that you were full of shit kid. I didn't know what to do when Sam's mother gave me the news either. It's something you have to work out for yourself."
"That's not very comforting granddad."
"No, no it's not. You are now walking a path that every man thinks they have to walk alone, but kid, you aren't alone. If you take this road alone, then where does that leave her?"
Dee hadn't thought about it in terms of Mica, only of himself and his future. He saw right away what Floyd meant. He wasn't sure if he should be relieved or embarassed.
"You still have some choices to make, and it's those that are going to determine whether you stay a kid, or become a man. So I gotta ask Dean, what are you going to do?"
Dee didn't say anything, and when the silence grew long, Floyd stood and turned away. "You think about it, but remember you don't need to make those decisions alone." Catnip wasn't really sure what to think about all that. The mornings news made her sad, but the afternoons news confused her a little. She wasn't as privvy to the details of her and her sisters abilities of generation except that she, Catnip, could still do it while her sister shouldn't be able to. Kathrine was helping her work through it, a little.
"I don't know what to think Catnip. Why do you keep asking me?"
"I don't know, maybe I'm just trying to talk it out. Ok ok, what do you think of Mica with a baby?"
Kathrine made a face, her thinking face, then said, "I think she likes babies."
Catnip nodded, they'd been over that already. Kathrine had told her already about how Mica showed a great interest in Helen's child, desiring to hold and hug and coo over little Thomas. Kathrine also saw the way Mica looked after Helen when the mage hunter inevitably took back her chap. Longing and jealousy painted large in her bearing. No one knew if the idea of trying to make one of her own had actually occurred to the hungry idiot.
"I don't like babies." Catnip said suddenly.
Kathrine tilted her head a little, "Oh? Why not Catnip?"
"They get into things they shouldn't and grab your tail and drool and stink and..." She trailed off, then went on changing the subject, "What do you think Mica's baby will be like?"
Kathrine made her thinking face again. "Hungry, Catnip." Catnip nodded at that, in agreement with Kathrine's assessment.
"Kat, I think I'd like to share another cigarette. Why don't we see how some of the others are doing, and maybe spread the news a bit?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on February 28, 2018, 08:00:54 pm
“So they changed the base model as well…”, Victor said to himself as he inspected the sword of the void taken from the nephilim; it was identical to his, Roxanne’s now actually, in effect but it was activated in a different way, took different fuel and, most importantly, this wasn’t a piece of the forbidden puzzle. “Mine was made from an incorruptible sword yet this one seems to have been made from a blade specifically designed for this. Interesting… I knew mine was just a prototype but what SoA managed to make here is impressive…” Victor took the pendant and opened the vial in it; he loaded the single charge of prime essence into it. The result was a small purple glow of the blade’s edge but for a brief moment. There was no mistaken the power stored in the sword once it was charge as Victor held it in his hands; the aura of harvest laid dormant in it waiting for it’s wielder to call upon its power. This sword did not require a spirit to inhabit it like the other did, the prime essence channeled the energy required to sustain the effect to with no drawbacks to its user. No more blood essence, no more feelings of insanity...no more packs with hostile spirits. If the other sword was not a peice Victor would’ve enlisted Helen to harvest it into dull essence but that wasn’t an option; even more so with Roxanne being the chosen spirit to inhabit it due to the masked terrorist. Yes, plague was it? He had done this to Roxanne. Despite Victor’s actions, despite the last decade and a half trying to find a solution to the outcome he found himself in, this was all the masked terrorist’s fault. Messing with forces beyond anyone’s control, trying to transcend humanity in the name of progress… He would pay; maybe not to Victor’s sword but he would see it that justice was made...
A knock in Victor’s door interrupted him from his train of thought. A quick scan using the aura spell revealed who it was on the other side of the door; for the briefest moment Victor froze not knowing what to do. He swallowed his fear and pride, got up from his chair putting the sword in his scabbard and then walked to open the door. With a bit of hesitation, he reached for the knob and opened the door. There he was, Roxanne’s knight in shining armor. “H-hey, Hector. What brings you here today?”, Victor asked. A bit of fear could be heard in his tone of voice. Not the fear one has for their safety but the kind a child feels when they have just done something wrong and they know their parents will find out soon. Fortunately for Victor, it seemed Hector was a bit distracted and really did not pay him any mind. This was odd to Victor but he wasn’t complaining; he listened carefully to Hector’s question.
Victor gave a deep sigh upon hearing Hector’s inquiry; he knew it would come to this. “So I assume you have a few questions to despite what Roxanne told you huh? Listen, how about I tell you what happened from my point of view and after that I will answer any questions you have? I know there is a few things you will not like so whatever you feel is right for you to do then, so be it. I only ask that you listen to what I have to say beforehand; does that seem fair?” After a nod of approval, Victor smiled and guestered Hector inside. “Good, feel free to take a seat wherever you would like, this is going to take a while…”
Once inside, Hector took a seat while Victor prepared some more coffee. His personal blend was mixed with boiling water as Hector looked around with seemingly some impatience. “Do you want some coffee? I just had some earlier but I feel I will need another one…” He prepared the two cups and then placed them on a little table adjacent to where Hector was sitting. Victor sat down with his cup in hand before taking a sip from it. “Pretty calm so far wouldn’t you say? It’s morning like this that give me the motivation to keep going, to have peace so that we may take them for granted… Isn’t that why a warrior fights?” After saying that, Victor took another sip of his coffee before setting it down for the time being. “Right, you want to know what happened. Let’s not waste any time seeing as you are a busy man. Alright, let me start from the beginning.
Victor went on to explain in great detail what had happened. Unlike before, Victor did not leave any details regarding the arcane; if Hector did not understand something, Victor was sure he would ask after the explanation. The first thing Victor went on to explain was the cough Roxanne seemed to have had. “It seemed like something minor of course; just a cough. There was no need to panic at the time. However, it became persistent and lasted for quite a while. You may recall how there were no other symptoms; that was cause for concern but I am no doctor. However, Roxanne noticed something odd that prompted her to come for me rather than an actual doctor; I am not sure how much you know about Randael but let’s just say Roxanne told me she felt something similar due to the cough as when Randael was using her as a host. Now, that is a thing for concern don’t you think? Well, I did the first thing that came to mind and I scanned her aura. It was a mess Hector...an utter mess that seemed to match her genetics due to her playing with mutagen. What was wrong with her? This might sound odd but her body was rejecting her soul. Her soul is that of a human but it co-existed with her mutations until she was separated from it the first time she became a spirit. But when she tried to go back, the arcane equivalent of an allergic reaction happened.” Victor paused to both collect his thought and drink more of his coffee.
“Now, could this have been prevented? Of course, it was a simple as performing a rather mundane ritual. However, Roxanne was adamant in not going through with it. Why? It would mean the loss of her powers as a divine spirit. She enjoyed possessing people and doing those party tricks. So, what was I supposed to do? Drag her over somewhere and perform some ritual she does not want to be part of? I explained the dangers but like I said, it was a mundane ritual. It was merely a formality; neither of us knew it would really get serious and as such I did not push too much. Well, we were wrong. However, there was still time. We could perform the ritual and everything would be fine. Now, I do not know the ritual myself; it was to be done by some colleges of ours that lived in the cave you visited.” Victor stopped himself as a sense of dread took over for a moment. “S-sorry about that by the way...I had my reason that will be explained as well… Anyways, as I was saying. Yes, the ritual would’ve been done by people who knew more about this than I did. Roxanne and I arrange a trip to the cave to perform the ritual and then seek out someone to do a medical checkup to fix any remaining issue. It was a simple plan, in and out type of thing...but as you know, that wasn’t the case...thing went sour fast…”
Another pause on Victor’s end. He hesitated for a moment deciding how much detail he would let Hector know. After having a deep breath, he continued. “The next day. Roxanne and I went to the cave aboard her APC. Everything was going according to plan; the trip was uneventful and we reached it relatively fast. Now, this is where things go wrong… We get there and there is no one there. This place was full of people, dozens of them but when we arrived I could detect no of them. I tell this to Roxanne and she tells me that is cause for alarm. We could have run away, call for backup or whatever but Roxanne was trained otherwise and this were my friends; we had to check it out. With weapons in hand we both stepped into the cave. Once inside, we felt something off; we felt watched. Then it happened; one moment I was next to Roxanne and the next I am somewhere else facing a spirit. I go ahead and fight the thing and then proceed to go and look for Roxanne. By the time I am back...well...Roxanne was injured. She had been stabbed in the chest by who I don’t know… Listen, what I did next, I had a reason ok? Roxanne’s body was rejecting her soul, there was no time to stop and think and if I hesitated, the alternative would’ve been worse...”
Dread filled Victor once more; this time he did fear for his safety. How would Hector react? Either way, he deserved to know… “Roxanne was laying on the floor. She had already sustained a considerable amount of blood loss. We were not carrying any medical supplies since this was going to be a simple ordeal. Did you take everything you need to survive off the land when going grocery shopping before the cataclysm? This is the same principle… I looked at her, she was suffering; she asked me to end it...so I did...I took my laser pistol and I place a single in the back of her head...I needed her dead for what I was about to do and letting her slowly die to blood loss seemed more cruel. Besides, those who were to perform the ritual were not here to do so which meant Roxanne’s symptoms would get worse beyond a cough and I would’ve probably had to do the same thing...I only accelerated the process… The next part requires a lot of specifici arcane knowledge so let me put it this way. I brought Roxanne’s soul back and bounded it to a sword… Now that was not enough, there was still a ritual that needed to be done to make have her ‘stable’, for a lack of a better word. Now, if this ritual was interrupted, by anyone, it would all be null and void. That is why I sent you and that wild goose chase; I needed you distracted for a few hours while Roxanne recovered and was ready to go. It’s not that I don’t trust you Hector, but there is something going on that if I told you, it would affect you too. You are still not part of the arcane and as such can be spared; Roxanne and I were not so lucky and due to her stubbornness, Helen put herself at risk too since her trust in me lapsed… That’s it...that’s what happened...I told you everything… Now, whatever you have to do, I am here...I won’t run, I won’t fight back. I deserve all of it; be it questions with words of at the end of a sword…”
Roxanne had been left alone in her room now. Hector was now off to talk to Victor and she would take the opportunity to experiment a bit. First things first, this cloak was now part of her outfit permanently so she might as well find something that matched. She went to her wardrobe and look at what she had available. Unlike most of the times she was looking at outfits, this ordeal took at most 10 minutes. Roxanne found what she was looking for rather quickly: a simple black dress that covered her up her ankles. It was nothing special but it had the design of a golden rose on the left side; Roxanne though it complimented her crimson cloak. She grabbed the dress and began the ordeal that was changing clothes.
The divine cloak was what was keeping her in a corporeal state at the moment; as such, if she took it off she would become incorporeal and things would just go through her. Roxanne wasn’t sure how it worked since her clothing and items seemed to stay on and she didn’t go through the ground either. Guess she might look in to that later. For now, she had five minutes from taking off her cloak to put on her dress and then put the cloak back on. This sounded harder than it actually was; Roxanne put on her dress and cloak combo as well as some black combat boots to match. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. “Not what I had in mind but have to make it work with what I have.”
After putting her outfit on, Roxanne grabbed her things and put them on: her laser pistol holster, the arc-314 laser rifle and lastly the sword now bestowed upon her. Roxanne looked at the sword for a while before putting it on. “I am now bounded to this thing huh? Have to find a wielder too...I didn’t have much time yesterday so I guess I will go and talk to people again today. Need to find out what’s going on around town, I feel I am outdated on the lasted gossip and that won’t do!” Roxanne laughed after she said that. Who was she speaking to? None but herself and it made her feel silly the way she spoke as if someone else was present. After checking her gear one last time, Roxanne opened the door and head outside to see what awaited her on this day.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 28, 2018, 09:01:34 pm
Hector suspected Victor was hesitant, stalling. Pauses and idle little things before he took a seat. Surprisingly he didn't reject the offer of coffee like one would expect, one of many habits he normally abstained from. Instead he sat, listening and regarding Victor with a gaze that seemed calm yet hinted at his concerns. Listening for anything that seemed like a slip-up, a mistake, some reason to validate his earlier anger. For now, idly sipping coffee and listening to the explanation.
At the first part, he simply sighed. "That makes more sense than any medical explanation that came to mind. I still wish we'd both been more insistent, but I know it's hard to pressure something into something, even if it'd save her life. If I'd known the severity of it...but I didn't. What's done is done." he said with a sign. For him, the idea of how exactly a body has an allergic reaction to ones soul was a question he shrugged off. Unusual as it was, it made sense, and he seemed more focused on the what than the how.
As Victor continued, more thoughts came to mind, more concerns and regrets. He had no reason at all to ever suspect they'd run into trouble, so when they said they'd be fine without him there was no reason to insist at the time. That much he accepted, and he wondered whether it would've made any difference if he had. He doubted it. It wasn't until Victor and Roxanne were well en route that compulsion to retrieve the cursed sword began. Had he been there, he would've been up against who-knows-what with little more than an arming sword, when at least one of the enemies faced effortlessly cut through the advanced alloys of a monomolecular blade.
It wasn't until after the end of it that he spoke up. His expression had gone from one of worry and at times shock to a neutral, impassive look. Yet the clenched first betrayed his thoughts rather clearly. "There it is. There...that you'd been attacked, that something had wiped out the ones you sought, would be the truth, and an adequate enough omission that I would've rushed there at once. Instead of a complete fabrication..." he said, before standing up.
"You're still more useful to me alive than dead. I won't kill you. I'm definitely tempted to, or do something...anything. But I can't go too far with you. At a bare minimum, there's one more thing I was concerned about. When I got there, the place was completely empty. Devoid of anything except some scratches and marks on the walls. But it didn't feel abandoned. You said you were attacked by a spirit. Describe it." he said, unslinging the scabbard holding the cursed sword. The sight usually preceded his use of it, and given his mental state that seemed like a very real possibility, before he calmly handed the still-sheathed sword to Victor.
"I hadn't felt any urge to even touch the sword in about 5 months, until that day. A sudden drive to carrying it, then when I was there in that strange place, a drive to wield it...not its active form, but the blade by itself, as you see it now. Different from how it felt for the next month or two after last time I used it. Are there any changes to its aura?" he asked. Unaware that something seemed to shine through the dull haze of a corrupted blade. A lingering spark of its original aura before the Sanguine Order got their hands on it, rekindled by some unknown influence.
Helen smiled a bit as Steinar talked to the six, regarding the two-way with a bit of concern before putting it away. "Hopefully he'll handle the news well." she said, before looking over to Steinar. "Glad you're already getting along well with them. There'll be much to explain to them, and a demonstration of their mage's knowledge would be interesting, to see what elements of my own experience would best build upon what he's learned, and vice-versa."
For the moment Solomon prepared a quick breakfast for the others, using the different sorts of supplies they had at The Hall, while Helen hmmed a bit. "Now however, I should likely go check on Victor. And Isaac, you should see to Alice. I'd hope that Solomon and Steinar can keep an eye on things in the meantime?" she asked, Sol looking back to the six. Assuming Steinar doesn't encourage them. he thought, before answering. "We'll be fine, Thane Helen."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 28, 2018, 10:48:50 pm
Isaac nodded as he followed Helen out the door and towards the farm as he said "I should yes. I expect the six of you to behave."
As the pair departed the six began eating. It was a quick meal as the six ate in relative silence compared to their earlier rambunctiousness. As the food was finished Eino asked Solomon where the sink was before collecting the dishes and beginning to wash them. Anton meanwhile continued to sit across from Solomon at the table observing the man. Solomon caught the look Anton was giving him and realized he was being measured up.
As the others continued to clean Anton stood up still observing Solomon as he said "I'm going to go outside to smoke. Let me know if anyone needs me."
With that said he walked for the door. Once outside he retrieved a cigarette from his pocket and a lighter. Blowing out a puff of smoke as he retrieved his knife Anton began idly flipping the knife from hand to hand.
Meanwhile back at the farm Isaac walked into Alice's room to find Bandit sitting beside her bed. As he entered Bandit stood up and the two switched places. Isaac watched Bandit for a few moments before telling him "She cares about you. More than you probably know."
Bandit shrugged as he leaned against the walls "Yeah well everyone I care about seems to get hurt these days."
Isaac had recognized the look in Bandit's eyes when he walked in. He'd felt the same some time ago before stumbling upon this place. Shaking his head he cut to the chase "So you're set on it then."
Bandit nodded as he said "I'm not useful around here. Besides I only really know two people. I just...I don't know but I don't think I'm doing the most I can here."
Isaac took another look at his sleeping daughter and stood up. Motioning for the young man to follow him he led Bandit to his truck. Opening the back door Isaac climbed in and soon emerged with a vest and rifle. Helping Bandit get them on he said "Well you're not going unprepared. And remember you're welcome back here when and if you want to come back."
Grabbing his old Atlyn helmet Isaac turned back to Bandit as Bandit said "Thanks, but it's probably wasted on me."
Isaac shook his head as he slid the helmet on over Bandit's head and responded "It's not. I was where you're at once upon a time and I know staying here won't help ya, but I'm not going to let you go without gear."
The two shared a few more words and Bandit handed Isaac a small packet of documents before Bandit started towards the bridge. After a few moments Isaac called out "Ya know being a drifter ain't so bad. I should know."
Bandit called back "Drifter..I like the sound of it."
Shaking his head as he returned to sit by his daughter's side. He knew Bandit would be able to take care of himself but he wondered what trouble the man would find himself in. Removing his armor he decided he himself needed to move into the future. What that future would hold he had no idea but regardless he'd push through.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 01, 2018, 01:32:26 am
"Roxanne!" Catnip cried, catching sight of her coming out of her house. "I like your dress Roxanne, but it's a bit warm for black isn't it? Listen, we've got stuff to tell you!" Roxanne had barely managed to get out and shut the door behind her when Catnip was on her and talking. It was going to take some getting used to Catnip's presence on the farm again. Catnip told her about how she'd FINALLY fixed Roxanne's APC, about the death of Roland, and about the news of Mica's impending 'little stranger.' They walked for a time, talking more about the last year and telling those they came across the news. Quinn went away looking as if he'd heard nothing, but Catnip saw the confusion when she'd told him about Mica's condition. She told Mohammad. That one seemed a bit skittish as though they'd caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. Judging from what L had to say about him, he'd probably had his hands in a lot more than a cookie jar.
By the end of the day, the Misling camp would be celebrating for Catnip and mourning for the deceased. They did not know the man named Roland, only that he was one of the people who was important to the farm that had let them stay, and friend to the artificer who had brought them so far.
Before that though, they ran across Minx Idling near the bridge.
"What's up Nip? Anything going on?" She said, not really looking at her. "Have you seen these portraits your sister did? These are prime, real good, though I'm having a hard time believing that girl is your sister. You guys look nothing alike. Oh, hey there." The last was directed at Roxanne. Minx suddenly looked a little guilty, and went on. "Er, sorry about when we met. I came on kind of strong. Really strong. Too much time hanging around the pleasure palace I guess..." Atomos saw it from the top of a water tower as she had before. Abaddon. The ruins of a city once known as Bangor, and at it's center, the shining towers of New Bangor that the residents of that distant stronghold called alternatingly, "new Eden" and "Astor's reach."
The expanse before her made her think of Mordor, from the Tolkien books she'd read and reread in highschool. Except that instead of orcs and trolls, this place was filled with zombies and xenophobes. The real difference, besides the residents, was in the appearance. If Atomos thought of it as Mordor, then it had to be the nicest Mordor she'd ever imagined. For all of the people living at it's center, the ruins looked to be just another suburban neighborhood run to riot with growth.
"Frodo and Sam would have loved going through a Mordor that looked like this." She thought, taking it all in. A sound from somewhere below pulled her out of her observations and had her in a defensive crouch in an instant. One quick check to make sure her disguise was still in place, and she stood up to look over the rail. Below, she saw two unexpected things. The first, was a fox that had been following her since she narrowly avoided running it down in the road with the electric bike. When she'd looked back to make sure it was alright, it had been gone. It had taken a strange interest in her though, and the little vixen had followed her for miles. The other thing was the triffid creep startled into activity by the foxes passing.
Atomos recognized the little bundle of sharp tendrils right away and had to admit, she hadn't expected to see one here. It was a "mantrap." As the idiosyncratic twins, Pancho and Cisco, called them. Atomos knew from those two that where there was one mantrap, their we're many. Cisco, the sister of the twins actually gardened them, wearing unusually heavy gloves and boots while tending her oddly voracious but delicious crop.
"They weave up through your skin." Cisco said, "stitching through your muscles and holding you down, then when you fall over, you get grabbed by another. Then another, and another, and another. Ain't that right Pancho?"
"Fuckin' aye Cisco. Ain't pretty."
Atomos eyes were opened to the dangers below her now, and she wondered how she had been so lucky. The ground beneath the tower was a veritable carpet of them. When there were so many, Atomos had been told, that meant one thing. Audreys. She scanned the foliage and spotted it, the massive bulb disguised as a simple shrub, it's disguise enhanced by the mid morning sun casting the days shadows over it. Atomos had seen mantraps, but never the beast that lurked below her. Named after some old movie or play or something, the hidden monster was reported to be some kind of Venus fly trap type thing. If Atomos so much as grazed one of it's tendrils, it would spring to life and be on her in an instant, stopping only long enough to spit out her clothes and any bones that it couldn't digest.
She was trapped. There was no way Atomos could get down and back out of the deadly patch below. Then, just as she was judging her chances of reaching one of the other buildings, likely breaking her legs or killing herself in the process, the fox once again seized her attention. It was hopping playfully through the man traps, carefully but quickly picking it's path until it reached an open window to jump up into. The vulpine animal turned and looked up at Atomos curiously as if to say "do you see how easy it is?" She realized that the fox, intentionally or not, had shown her the safest path through the trap she'd caught herself in. One misstep, and she was done for. With that in mind, Atomos took one deep breath, and set her foot on the first rung of the ladder. Sharlene directed the next divine spirit to stand with the others, not at all put off by her repeated failures. It was a bit of a relief actually, Lilith was an idiot and so far Michael had proved to be the same. Those two couldn't be trusted to do anything more complicated than fetching things. To top things off, Mohammad seemed to be off mooning after some mousey babe. At least that's how Sharlene put it. The truth was that Mohammad was not really "mooning" as he was "hanging out." Still. It meant he wasn't around to boss, and that would have been annoying if not for this latest circus show.
"Mother, are you certain you are doing it right?" Michael asked. The other spirits glared at him, boring holes into him with their eyes.
"Listen Mickey, I know what I'm doing here. Just gotta get the- oh!" Once again, the portal opened, only bigger this time. Something with a lot of teeth and rippling flesh began to come through, screaming from many mouths it's agony as the recently opened portal birthed it into a world in which it could share it's pain with others. The sight of the monster would have driven a normal person mad with sheer horror. Sharlene was not normal though. Sharlene, was Australian. Before it could make it much further into the world, Sharlene gave it a sharp "Shush!" And it stopped. The pain elemental (called Chzo if Sharlene cared to ask, which she didn't) had never been shushed before. It was a new experience, and quiet shocked the otherworldly abomination. Sharlene gave it a sharp tap with the flat edge of her sword-come-wand and told it to get lost.
"Sorry lady." It said, sliding back into the dimension of agonies, quietly sealing the gate behind it.
"Alright boys," Sharlene went on, addressing the gathered spirits. I got some chores that need doin'. You with the blue eyes, clean up the back lawn, the grass is gettin' tall. Red hair, I need you to pick up a case of fresh meat, FRESH meat for Lil. Mickey, be a dear and get my jacket from Vic, it's long over do to be returned. The rest of you get to doing this laundry and making this cabin ship shape. Chop chop!"
The spirits all looked at each other. There was no compunction to obey, but all the same, a job was a job.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 03, 2018, 09:18:34 am
It had been a pleasant surprise for Roxanne for Catnip to greet her. Yesterday she had to go due to some anomalies she had to deal with but today she intended to be there with the ones she called both family and friends. In the back of her mind the words Plague and Clara still lingered, “They don’t love you Roxanne, you are just but a tool to them.” She had not forgotten, but Catnip here was just a living proof that they were wrong. Roxanne happily joined up with Catnip as the two seemed to wander off.
The chat the two were having provoked a roller coaster of emotions and thoughts on Roxanne. First, the news of her APC’s weapon systems being online excited her; the thing had not had those working ever since the raid on Apophis. She remembered that triumph they had had over a beast that to those who asked for her help was like a demon. But the joy and celebration did not last however as soon after the attack on the center by god’s army had occurred and with it the loss of Catnip. This train of thought transitioned nicely into their next topic.
Next, Catnip told Roxanne about the death of Roland. Admittedly, Roxanne did not know the man very well but she knew him enough. He had helped with the construction of the library and attentended many of the farm’s celebrations. Roxanne had promised him a truck at some point but had failed to deliver due to her own issue that plagued her and it was then forgotten. Now she regretted that; somehow this stung the worse. One of theirs had passed and Roxanne had failed them in some way. Now, Roxanne was not used to this feeling; she had taken the lives of many people before and not given a single thought to any of them. She wondered when that had changed and that was when it clicked. Catnip. Roxanne had thought of Catnip as dead when the rat some assumed had been her passed away. She mourned her and for the first time had participated on a funeral not out of custom but as one of the grieving. But now Catnip was back and Roxanne would be damned if she would lose her again!
Finally, Catnip talked about Mica. At first, Roxanne was puzzled; wasn’t Mica a post threshold mutant? How was it possible for her to bear a child? She too had at one point crossed the line of mutations and it caused her to lose her fertility. And there is was; Roxanne now felt something different she two was not used to feeling: Jealous. She remembered the news when it was determined her mutations had rendered her sterile. Not once before had she considered settling down and starting a family but as time went by her desire for it grew; she was still human after all. Yes, despite all that had happened, despite all the mutations and augmentations, despite the arcane happening and her transformations, despite all of this, in the core of her being down to her aura and essence, she was still just a woman with want and desires like the rest. Despite her jealousy, bitterness and sadness that she would never get to experience this, it reminded her that despite everything she was still one of them. Roxanne look at Catnip and gave a wary smile. “It sure is unexpected but I hope the best for Mica; knowing her she will need some help but she is lucky to have as a sister someone like you ‘nip…”
Before anyone of the two could comment on that they were flagged down by Minx as the two saw they had made it to the bridge. Roxanne listened as Minx talked to Catnip; she did so as if the two knew each other for some time and then Roxanne was reminded that they had. Catnip had practically live a second life and Roxanne could only wonder what had gone down. Even with the memories Sylvia had given her, it wasn’t the same as being there. Then, Roxanne was startled a bit as Minx addressed her.
Roxanne chuckled a bit after Minx apologize. “No no, it’s fine really. If anything it showed me you have charm to pass around. Also, I was kinda shocked about Catnip being backed you know? The two of us are kind close in a manner that is hard to explain; you could say it was prophesied.” She paused for a moment to shake her head after realizing that now she might be making things weird now. “Anyways, we can start over if you want. I am Roxanne Luna, nice to meet you!”
It was that time again; the time when Melody visited the farm to learn something new from the nice arcanist from the farm. She had not gone for a while now due to some of her studies requiring more tuning than she anticipated. Not only that, but the people of the third always seemed busy and Melody did not want to disturb them unnecessarily. She did not asked questions and did as was told; Melody was just grateful they had taken her in and she did not feel it was her place to interfere in their affairs. Now though, she needed to ask them for a favor once again and despite this being routine and people knowing full well about her going to the farm every so often, she still felt anxious about talking to them feeling she would probably interrupt something important or distract them from their job.
“Come on, you can do this!”, Melody thought to herself, “You gone through this many times before.”
“Miss, are you ok?”, asked the man next to her. Melody was startled by him addressing her despite she seeking him out. “Oh, yes, I am fine! This one, I want this one.”, Melody responded pointing at one of the jeeps. The trip to the farm was quite far and as such she needed a vehicle to get there. Fortunately, the third had many jeeps to spare and were more than willing to lend her own for the week long trips she did to the farm. Melody had yet to fail at bringing them back but she feared she one day it would not turn it like that so she tried to pick the most beaten up one so in case it did go missing due to an accident they would not miss it.
“Are you sure miss? This one is quite old and honestly some people were thinking of scrapping it. We could always use the scrap for other things. Either way, you are free to pick another one if you want.”, the man explained.
“No, it’s fine. I am just taking it on a little trip.”, Melody responded.
“Going to the farm again?”
“Y-yes, how did you know?” The man smirked at Melody’s remarks. “You act as if this is something knew. You have been going on these trips to the farm every month or so for the last year; it is well known by now. You don’t need to be so shy about it, it is a custom around this parts honestly.”
Melody was stunned a bit at his response but it made total sense. Of course they would know; that spirit of death made arrangements for her to be able to do this trips when they agreed to take her in. So why was she always so nervous about it? Well, at least she wasn’t now; the acquisition of the jeep had been made so now she just needed to announce her arrival.
“If that is the one you want, I won’t argue with you. If you change your mind, let me know ok? I will leave you know so you can prepare for your trip. Good luck.” The man gave her a nod of dismissal and he took his leave while Melody stood next to the jeep. After giving a deep sigh, she grabbed the special two way radio the farm had given her to send a message.
After making his declaration, Victor stayed quiet and waited what Hector had to say. He was relieved that he would had decided to spare him; as silly as it sounded to some, Victor had considered the fact that Hector might outright just kill him. Victor didn’t think ill of Hector but he knew of the efficiency on which he despise of the enemy, his track record and the fact he got on the wrong side of him made him rather afraid he might suffer the same fate. He gave a deep sigh of relief after Hector told him he would not do anything drastic and to explain what he saw. Victor was more than happy to assist with that but doubt and slight fear returned when Hector reached for his sword.
Victor froze in place as he was both confused and terrified. Was Hector really going to do it after all? He had just said he needed him alive but did Hector change his mind? This sense of dread did not last however as Hector handed him the still sheathed sword instead of swinging it at him. This confused Victor until Hector explained his request.
“I see, so you believe this sword is somehow connected to what you saw? Very well, let me saw what I can find.”
The analysis of the sword was in real time meaning Victor told Hector what he felt and saw using the aura spell as things were revealed to him. He activated the aura spell to be focused on the blade and started describing what he saw. “Interesting… This sword has seen many wielders in the past and a trace of their own ‘influence’, for a lack of a better word, can be found here; as a matter of fact, I can sense your own essence here Hector. It seems to be calling out, actively seeking you out…” Victor pause; the way the sword Hector handed to him seemed to work in a similar, yet not quite the same, fashion as the sword of the void Roxanne was bounded to in how it ‘chose’ its wielder. Something did worry Victor though, what was driving this? “Now, I would be lying if I told you I know much about this sword or it’s history but I can tell you a few things that might point you in the right direction. First, there appears to be third party influence in it; it might be the one who created it applied their own essence and it is what drives the sword or maybe, and this might be worrisome, some other entity is actively influencing this. Unfortunately, I am not able to properly discern which is the case at the moment due to the fact that doing so might damage the sword or it’s effects. Second, I might be able to tell you why the sword reacted the way it did in the cave. I will tell you what I fought and if it matches what you saw then you sir have a gift.”
After another pause to clear his throat and adjust his clothing a bit, Victor continued. “The entity I fought is known as a nephilim in this realm; yes, as in the beings that derived from the fallen procreating with mortals in the abrahamic doctrine. They are rather tall at about 6 foot in height; they look like a rather anatomically accurate humanoid rock statue. Now, let me amend that, it doesn’t look like a rock statue, it looks like it is made out of the shadows of the rocks; this is the best way I can describe their appearance. Does it match what you saw? If so, let me explain some more. This might seem a bit far fetched and I don’t expect you to believe it but I will tell you as best as I understand it. There are various planes of existence; no, not realms like where the triffids and the other worldly monsters we fight come from but more like higher and lower forms of existence parallel to our own. Due to the nature of each plane, beings from planes above ours are more power than us simply by existing, the higher up the plane the more powerful the entity; now, the nephilim are from the second highest plane of existence. They are very powerful entities that cannot be easily defeated; the only reason I did was because the sword I used wields power from the highest plane of existence so it can easily handle them. Now, the reason the sword gave you the urge for you to wield it might’ve been as a warning; telling you something was wrong. It might have detected a disturbance somewhere and it called you to investigate. This is just a theory of mine with no further evidence than what I told you so take it with a grain of salt. I hope what I said helped any?”
Victor handed Hector the sword back after that explanation. The knight took the sword back and examined it a bit while Victor felt something vibrate slightly around his waist; he looked to find his radio was receiving a request for an upcoming communication request. “Sorry for the interruption Hector, have to take this real quick.” He took the radio, turned it on and listened.
“Hey Victor, is that you? It’s me, Melody! I am on my way to the farm for another week long study session. Sorry I haven’t been there in a while but you were right, working with crystals is harder than potions. Still, I have made quite the progress and I am excited to show you. One little thing, they seem to be unstable so I will probably will also go to Helen to see about that. Look at me running my mouth again… We can discuss this when I get there, I will be arriving around mid afternoon, see you then!”
Due mostly to recent events, Victor had completely forgot about Melody and more important the surprise he had for her when she arrived at the farm again. Still, he was pleasantly surprised to hear from her and that she was coming back; Victor enjoyed their little study sessions. He visibly smiled after receiving the message as he put the radio back in his belt loop. “Have you ever met Melody Hector? She is so full of life and eager to learn. Those in the arcane know-how help her with her studies and she is learning quite fast. I am so glad she has what I never did, a mentor to guide her through the arcane. Well, mentors plural really… Oh, sorry if I digressed, doubt you would be interested in this. Anyhow, anything else I can help you with?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 03, 2018, 03:56:48 pm
Hector was uncertain what to make of this, listening again as Victor explained the nature of the blade. "Helen described it as cursed if I recall, corrupted from some other item. I'd assume it's history is rather complex, enough to afford several explanations." he remarked.
The explanation and description of what Victor faced only surprised him further, unnerved by this as he went on. "A stony, shadowy appearance. That seems consistent with what happened there, if it is a warning...who or what influenced it, I'm not sure." he said, unnerved. There was the faintest hint of familiar elements in the influences on the sword, mingled as they were with other effects. This only brought Hector more concerns, questions he wasn't sure could even be answered. One thing that might stand out, hinting at the nature of the dark blade, was the small hint of golden decoration worked into the crossguard. A familiar three-pronged motif.
The knight simply nodded as Victor responded to the radio, slinging the scabbard back over his shoulder for now. "I recall meeting her at the party after all this, though not talking to her much. Seeing her with you or Helen, and not much beyond that. Glad she's learning rather well then." he said. "For now I...I don't know if anything can be done for now. Tend to Roxanne when the opportunity next arises, and I hope the ritual will help her next time. If it isn't too late." he said, before heading for the door. "I'll leave you to whatever other business awaits you. Thank you." he said. Before he'd been seething in quiet anger, but now his current calm attitude seemed genuine rather than an attempt to avoid lashing out. He was still a bit irritated over what Victor did, yet now new concerns had his mind focused on other matters.
On arriving at the farm Helen had left Isaac to his own devices, knowing he'd wish to check on Alice immediately, as she first made her ay to the library. She looked through the books for a moment, focused on the arcane texts, contemplating the new arrivals at The Hall. She'd want to learn what sorts of expertise in the arcane Liam had, to determine a good place to start building on that foundation with whatever she could provide. She'd already witnessed a demonstrated knowledge of teleportation, and conjuring either flames or some form of protective effect, given the circumstance that prompted him to use it. If it was the latter, sharing their own perspectives on that discipline would be a welcome distraction, she thought.
Soon however she made her way to Victor's room, and saw Hector leaving it. She gave him a concerned look as she activated her mask. Victor likely would sense it, the brief feeling of that aura, deliberately checking on him before she deactivated it. The knight saw how the mask shifted and shook his head. "He's fine. I didn't, if that's what you were worried about." At that the mage hunter simply breathed a sigh of relief, waiting for Victor in the meantime.
"What was it about? Just learning of what happened?" she asked, Hector looking away. "They were attacked on arrival, that much is obvious." he answered, and Helen gave a sigh. "Well then. I'll wait for him here. I'll trust that his answers are more useful than what I witnessed yesterday. I hope you got the answers you were looking for." she said calmly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 03, 2018, 04:02:32 pm
Fear. That's what it was. The feeling Mica was feeling was most certainly fear, an emotion she wasn't well acquainted with. A squishy, a squishy all her own. It took a couple attempts to explain it to her, but once it had dawned on her what Dervish and eventually Maskens was trying to tell her, she was overjoyed. At first. At first Mica had babbled wildly, yammered unintelligibly, clearly more than pleased. Then the talk had slowed and stopped as the implications dawned on her. She was going to have a baby. Mica didn't know how to have a baby, she had never done it before. Mica's world experience consisted of killing things and eating things. She didn't know how to take care of a squishy. She could hug and squeeze and cuddle, but she didn't know any more than that. Mica had never had a proper childhood. She didn't want to put her squishy through what she and Catnip had grown up with. She didn't want to put her squishy in a glass box and make robots shock it. She didn't want to give her squishy a christmas.
"Lizard will know." She whispered for what felt like the billionth time. Did he though? Dee hadn't ever had any squishy's before either. At least, she didn't think so. Who would help her? Help them? For all of her speed and power and hunger, Mica didn't know the first thing about what to do with her own baby, and she was afraid. "I'm Minx." Minx said, "The girl with a thousand faces. It's nice to meet you." She was glad that Roxanne was willing to restart and maybe try to forget the awkward as hell introduction she'd given before. She fell in with the small group easily and went on. "Catnip was kind of prophesied in Pricetown as well." Minx glanced at Catnip, but this subject seemed to hold little interest to her. "Cousin talked about her, but uh... I think I'm probably the only one who knows about that. Uh, Roxanne?"
"Yes?"
"I guess it's not likely to come up, but I've been kind of looking out for Catnip a bit on this. Cousin's horoscope refered to Catnip as 'walker of plagues.' If anybody in the camp knew that, they would make the connection between her and uh... Rita." Minx was suddenly very nervous, adding quickly. "'Walker' was my idea, it's a nice surname, pretty ordinary compared to 'Blightwalker' don't you think?"
"I like it." Catnip said offhandedly, then flinched when Kathrine tweaked one of her ears. In response, Catnip got a handful of Kathrine's tail fur and ran it through her fingers. "Hey, I got a gift I gotta bring to the ro-butt. You guys want to come along?"
Minx became even more nervous somehow. "Are you sure Catnip? It's dangerous... What if-"
"It'll be fine, Medeina is a ro-butt, but she isn't dumb. I think she can be trusted with it." Catnip said. It was very close, but she'd slipped through the field and into the window. Now she moved through the house, stopping only long enough to take a photo off the mantle and a couple cans of mixed fruit and one of corned beef from the kitchen. The street on the other side of the building was completely empty. The fox was no where to be seen, but that wasn't so strange. Small animals often found little bolt holes or other paths. For all Atomos knew, it could have still been in the building somewhere. She listened carefully, hoping to catch the patter of the foxes soft pads on the derelict houses floor and hearing nothing but the wind through leaves, the ticking of the house, and the distinct "churr churr" of late summer insects in this part of Bangors rural suburb.
Soon the rural setting would give way to something a bit less so, a more standard kind of suburbia made up of cookie cutter houses and round abouts. Her impression of the empty street was momentarily broken by something vaguely humanoid, a zombie, staggering around the corner of a shed across the street. As usual when in a dead zone during the day, Atomos waited and watched. She should have waited for night, but then again if she had she would have fallen into the mantraps. Zombies she could deal with, plant monstrosities not so much. Once it was gone, she waited a little bit longer just to make sure. Nothing came, and the sounds of the abandoned neighborhood quickly became just a bit too lonely for Atomos's tastes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on March 03, 2018, 04:24:08 pm
Krieg pulled up to the farm and killed the engine. For a few minutes he just sat there staring at his hands before stepping out of the jeep. Removing his heavy duty helmet tossing it back into the jeep Krieg kept his expression neutral as he walked towards Hector. As he neared he reached a hand into his bag and pulled out a letter. A wax seal unfamiliar to anyone at the farm kept it closed as he handed it to Hector. Retrieving a dagger as well Krieg gave it to Hector before saying "Roland wanted me to deliver letters to the people here that he knew. I'm..I'm sorry that there was nothing I could do."
Whenever Hector had the time to read the letter it would read
Dear Hector
I know that you and I are not that familiar with each other. In truth I hold you in high regard as I know that the immense anger that you are capable of is caused by concern for those around you. Especially Roxanne from what I observed.
In truth part of my learning to forge armor and weapons came from seeing the dedication you put into your own work. I hope that this letter and the dagger find you in good health. Hopefully you won't need to put the weapon to use.
And I want you to know I died at peace, surrounded by those that cared for me.
Sincerely yours Roland McCall
Then he handed Helen a small packet that contained the letter, a pendant with the mark of Death on it, and what appeared to be an old trench whistle. "He wanted you to have those. And uh..he mentioned you might run into a mutual friend. If you ever do give him this."
Handing another sealed letter to Helen Krieg turned to find another of those whom Roland had written letters for.
Dear Helen I hope this finds you well. I heard that you've had a son and wish you the best in raising him. If he turns out like his mother then I'm sure he'll be a good man when he grows up.
These items I've given you were gifts from a mutual friend of ours. I never found out what the whistle does but I hope it helps you in whatever adventures you get into. The pendant doesn't seem to have any effect of its own but regardless in death I've no use for it.
I'm at peace with what is to come. My only regret is that I let go of my sons. Odd how we don't realize what we regret most until we've no time to right it. Hold those you care for close because you only get so much time.
Sincerely yours Roland McCall.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 04, 2018, 08:10:27 pm
Dee wasn't in the workshop when her entourage arrived, but Medeina was. Catnip picked through the bit and parts scattered around. The warwalker limbs where fascinating. Looking through them gave Catnip an idea for the special rig Dee said he needed, and the notion was filed away with other important tasks. Catnip puzzled over Medeina's interface, looking for how to turn his speakers back on, until Roxanne did it for her.
"Hello Catnip. Have you heard the news?" The AI asked, Catnip said she had and began rummaging with something in her bag. Medeina asked Catnip many questions about her journey and about the strangely uniform mutants she had returned with. A majority of these went unanswered, or answered with "I'll tell you about it later" until Catnip finally managed to wrestle what it was she wanted from her bag. It did not escape Roxanne's attention that Minx took several large steps back as the flat block of acrylic was set on the table beside the computer. Medeina's proxy, the one present in Dee's workshop, shifted and dragged itself over.
The thing inside seemed rather innocuous to Roxanne, but the care with which Catnip handled it and the very obvious aversion Minx showed to it told her that the thing inside was not to be trifled with. Within the glassy depths of the block was a creature that Roxanne had never seen before. It was small, no bigger than a basket ball, and had the appearance of a misshaped and slightly shriveled balloon with thick tendrils trailing off of it. the whole thing was a sickly gray. She may have been mistaken, but Roxanne swore silently that she could see it aspirating in there and though she didn't know what the creature was, Roxanne was suddenly very wary of it.
"What is it?" Medeina asked with her usual infinitely pleased interest. Catnip pushed the block a little further towards the middle of the table, unfamiliar with the stable properties of acrylic and believing it a substance akin to glass. She licked her lips, and told them. Catnip sat in her darkened room with her latest bottle, contemplating it, trying to keep herself from drinking it. A month had passed since Pricetowns victory over Algol, and the loss of Catnip's greatest desire. She lost her struggle with herself and tipped the bottle up and drained it. The loss was great, like someone working on some grand project for years and years only to find that they lacked the skill to do what they wanted, that their inadequate hands had ruined their masterpiece. Slavery had got her down a little. Her complicity in the rise of the Gray Queen got her down a lot. So long as she had the stone though, it was more than bearable. She didn't have the stone though. She'd sacrificed it to destroy someone elses dream. The dream had been altered and twisted to be sure, but it had been someones ambition.
There came a knock on her door, and Catnip's now empty bottle found itself being hurled across the room to explode against the wall into which the door was set. "Stupid bottle." she mumbled, "Stupid weak piss water..." Catnip's view of Pricetowns local brew was low indeed, and she had thought of introducing these sorry people to what she called "BBQ saus."
"Ms. Walker?" said the voice from the other side of her door. Catnip's low opinion of Pricetowns booze came from the fact of it's weakness. It took so much to get a lightweight like Catnip drunk, and that made irritable.
"What?"
"I was wondering... If you'd like to have some tea with me? It's Sylvia, by the way."
Catnip didn't want to have tea. She wanted liquor. She didn't want liquor, but she wanted it. Sylvia's invitation was as good an excuse to get more as any, and so Catnip's booze brain reasoned it out. "I won't get more booze." she lied to herself, "I don't need it."
The door creaked open on it's hinges, and out staggered a half dressed Catnip. She was a sight to behold, half drunk and reeking of booze. "I think maybe some coffee to start us off..." Sylvia grumbled, catching Catnip before she could topple over.
"I don't want coffee..." Catnip mumbled. Regardless, Sylvia dragged Catnip down to the pleasure palaces kitchen and forced Catnip to drink at least a gallon of it. Pinky and Minx watched the proceedings with disapproval and worry respectively. Pinky wanted to know where the magician was taking her mechanic, the magician said simply "to tea." It seemed Pinky always wanted to know where Catnip was going these days, ever since Catnip had expressed her desire to go home. She had believed, even Minx seemed to believe, that Pinky would see reason and let her go. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Pinky would not let Catnip go, she had become too valuable.
A little while later, Sylvia was leading Catnip away from chief street, away from the more reputable parts of town. It didn't really matter to Catnip. Sylvia could go back on her promise to behave for all she cared. She'd lost her dream and lost her home. Nothing really mattered. Sylvia took her to a side door, a cellar hatch in fact, and led her down into the dimness beneath. The low sound of music could be heard somewhere, and the walls were adorned with jars of unknown substances. The air smelled with the lingering smokes of a thousand chemicals and incenses. Sylvia vanished into a back room, leaving Catnip to sit alone in the main room. Her eyes swam over it all emptily. She very badly wanted a drink. A drink, or a smoke. She couldn't get the first, but she had the second, she knew dimly that she had at least two left. Her cigarette case was taken from her pocket, and dropped.
Catnip had made to reach for it, but another hand snaked out and seized it. It was long and pale, like the man to whom it belonged. "Very nice." He hissed. The mans voice wormed into Catnips ears and seemed to nest there. It filled her with nervousness and an even stronger desire to drink. "Please madam, allow me." He took one of Catnip's two cigarettes from the case and she allowed him to place it in her mouth and light it. The flame seemed to spring from nothing but that didn't seem to surprise her. "Now, isn't that better?"
Catnip nodded slowly. He turned the cigarette case over and over in his hands, looking at it. That item had been claimed, a souvenir, from the body of one of Sylvia's peers. One of the sanguine council.
"I wonder," The man said, "Why you came. You don't seem particularly interested in what's on display, hm?"
"I'm looking for a gift..." Catnip said. She didn't know why she was bothering, but with the words out she knew it to be true. Some small part of her had not quite given up on getting home.
"A gift for a friend who isn't quiet a friend." He responded, nodding sagely. "A friend with some rather unique tastes, but with rather ununique views. I think I know the kind of thing she might like."
Catnip wanted to ask how he knew the person she was thinking of was a she, but he was already moving things around on a shelf behind the counter. She hadn't seen him move at all. One moment he was sitting with her, the next he was somewhere else. "Who are..."
"It doesn't matter who I am dear, what matters is who you are, and where you are going, and what you are doing. You have a job to do, and have suffered a minor set back. That also doesn't matter much to me. What matters to me, is that things get to those who need them and this... is what your friend needs."
Something was set on the table before her, again she didn't see his movement. Before her sat a block of acrylic with some repulsive creature within it.
"This is a fungal sporeling, a messenger of the mycus. I dare say, this friend of yours will be utterly fascinated with it. I should warn you though, as you will warn her, that the acrylic is not to be breached. The little creature is still viable, the spores still... lively."
"It's perfect... but I don't have any money. I'm a... a slave."
"Not for long you aren't, but as for this item I require no payment. Except of course, for this." He held the cigarette case out and Catnip wanted to take it from him, but at the same time, she really didn't. The case was a bleak reminder, a bad souvenir. It held only bad memories, bad dreams, bad magic. The case was the symbol of what she was now, as it had been for the man who owned it before. It was not really magical except in the way that any memento can be, but it was a powerful item all the same. Catnip would be stuck with it for the rest of her life, always having it as a reminder, always having it chaining her emotions down. The man was offering her one danger in exchange for another.
It was an easy deal to make. "You can't break the acrylic." Catnip said, "The critter inside is more dangerous than you can imagine Medeina, I'm giving this to you because I think you'd like it." The tale she told suggested that the real reason was to be rid of a mental burden, but no one dared to say so. Medeina examined the creature carefully, filing away every little bit of information she could observe.
"I would be interested in hearing what you have to say about these 'mycus' creatures Ms. Catnip. I cannot see them first hand, save this own, and would love to know more."
Catnip shrugged. "You don't need me for that, you can ask anybody in the camp about them and you'll hear more than you will know what to do with."
Kathrine was pulling a face both disheartening and somehow warming in it's familiarity. She was upset, and Catnip thought to slap herself. In the telling of her story, she had included a detail she didn't want Kathrine to know. Catnip had been drinking. Catnip had honed her reflexes a little while away and instead of fumbling after Kathrine when she turned to flee, Catnip caught her hand and held it in a gentle but firm deathgrip.
"You broke your promise!" Kathrine cried, just starting to give her voice that quality of sound that meant someone was crying inside. Catnip knew she couldn't logic her way out of this, the only thing for it was to hang onto Kathrine like she was a bull and say simply, "I'm not drinking now."
Kathrine didn't really thrash much, most of her attempts to escape we're little more than tugging and squirming her hand, but Catnip's hold on her was iron. Roxanne wanted to try and explain, though she too was a little disappointed in Catnip. She at least had a bit of understanding and lacked Kathrines brutally rigid logic.
"Let her go," said Minx, "Let me try and explain it. One on one. If she's as stubborn as you said she was Cat, it'll be a welcome challenge."
It wasn't long before Minx led Kathrine back in, scratching her head and a bit put off. Kathrine wasn't trying to get away anymore though, and there was that to be thankful for. "Yeah, you undersold it Nip. We didn't get anywhere. Really difficult."
Kathrine was incensed at that. "I am not difficult!" She pouted.
"Yes you are." Catnip teased, "but that's alright, if you were easy then you wouldn't be so interesting." Catnip once again latched onto her girlfriend, and gave her a little kiss. "Where's Dee ro-butt? I have something for him too."
"Mr. Dee said he had something he needed to do and left."
"Left? Where too?"
"I am not sure miss, he just packed a bunch of his personal effects and left. You know. Weapon, mask, a few vital tools, clothes, and photos." Atomos was rather enjoying her time in Abaddon. The outskirts of Bangor had been left entirely to themselves, to more than just run to riot, but to return to the wild state which had been present before European man first set foot on the continent. At least, that's the way she liked to think of it. It was sort of true at least. If the first Europeans had arrived to find a continent covered in overgrown ruins, aggressive plant life, oversized animals, and the living dead. Not to mention mutants, cyborgs, and the otherwise ok survivors of an apocalyptic event.
The verdance of Abaddon put the world beyond it's borders in stark contrast and Atomos wondered why there should be so much here when other places weren't nearly as overgrown. The answer, when she examined the question closely, was the triffids of course. God's Army seemed to be ignoring them so far out, letting them make the suburbs look like a modern Eden.
She heard something. As she cut her way through the space between two houses and approached the picket fence blocking off the alley, the sound of chatter came to her ears. Even a little muffled by the blue scarf tied about her head, she could hear it plain as day. Through the fence, she could see them and at first believed them to be God's army on account of the markings of the box truck. Little by little though, she came to be unsure of who they really were. If they were God's Army, they'd want to talk, and she didn't really want to be seen this early in her self appointed mission. If they weren't, they would probably attack her on sight thinking she meant to stop them, or maybe to keep her quiet about their position. She mulled her options over quietly and listened.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on March 05, 2018, 07:37:05 pm
A taller young man with a short undercut, who his little group called "Gabi". He regarded a marked road map on the hood of the large moving truck, "Fffuck. Where d'we take these folks?" A middle aged man spoke up, named "Rodrieguez". He took a glance over at the map. "Thinkin' we might find friendlier faces if we don't take the way up the coast this time..." He drawled as Gabi scratched his chin, before tapping a circle made with a red marker, labelled with "The Center". "Heard 'bout here, or..." he tapped another circle close to it, "The Farm" "Here." Rodrieguez nodded at that. "Haven't heard much of those places, but better than everything I've heard of this area. Close to each other, so..." He trailed off, Gabi nodded, "Which would be more likely to accept 'em? Might be the farm..." Rodrieguez hmmed a bit. "Sounds like a good chance, yeah." he said. "Anything overheard from the others about either place?" Gabi squinted in thought, "Farm's alot smaller, your thoughts Johnathan?" he turned towards a shorter, younger man in dark, thick dreadlocks. He shrugged without a word. Rodriguez regarded the map again. "They are both fairly close though. Only real trouble I can see is if we pick the farm and things go south, we have t' drive past them to get the best route to the center." Rodrieguez nodded at that. "Fine by me then. See how it looks along the way, and visit them if it looks like we'll get along without getting shot at." Gabi nodded, "Sounds a'ight then." Johnny gave a thumbs up, agreeing with the plan.
A shorter young man with light brown dreadlocks and bright yellow mirrored shades strolled by the space inbetween the houses, a hand in his jean pocket and a hand lazily holding the shillelagh by it's head. He was about to walk into the house the others were squatting in before stopping on his heels. He looked at Atomos, giving a small wave. "Yo." He said simply, raising a brow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 06, 2018, 07:24:11 am
They definitely weren't Gods Army, but they definitely were too loud for the task they were setting out to do. Smuggling people out of New Bangor or something like that. Atomos wasn't sure how she felt about having Gods Army's dissidents running around. So long as they behaved though... On of them clearly had better eyes than the others, or Atomos had made some noticeable noise because despite the fence obscuring the alley, he'd greeted her.
She waited. The situation wasn't common, being caught out by someone who hadn't actually seen her yet, but she had experienced this before and learned that the biggest mistake one could make in a situation like this was to reveal herself. She stayed hunkered down and watched him through the narrow space between boards. The man had placed his vision on her right away, but his eyes were scanning now. Definitely heard something, otherwise he would still be looking at her. After awhile, he scratched his head and started off with some small comment. Atomos let out a low sigh of relief. Close, very close. She didn't need to be caught out now. After her close call, Atomos stopped moving openly. Instead, she went from building to building. It seemed rather prudent, and it saved her a few moments when the real danger made it's appearance.
Atomos had settled back to rest in the kitchen of a sprawling ranch house, sitting at the dusty island to take in a quick bite and drain a bottle of something slightly minty lifted from a vandalized vending machine. Atomos loved breaking into vending machines. Loved looking through abandoned houses too, almost as much as Catnip. There was a certain quality in people, she found, where going through the belongings of people who weren't around anymore held massive appeal. Atomos supposed archaeologists probably felt the same. She was finishing the hard biscuit and preparing to round off the last half of mint drink, when a man appeared on the road outside the kitchen window. Atomos had never seen a living warwalker before, only the dead hulks gathered up and taken to Dee's workshop, or the disarmed machine on display in the refugee centers foyer. To see one actually walking around gave those hulks a new menace. In one hand, it carried a belt fed heavy machine gun. In the other it held the chains restraining a trio of repulsive creatures. These last snuffled and hissed, looking like a cross between man and rat. Not in the same way as the nice mechanic girl Atomos had met recently, but in a way more monstrous. The creatures fur seemed patchy and scabrous, blistered in places, and the spit that dripped from the ends of their muzzles had a look that reminded Atomos of raw sewage or some kind of acidic glue.
"SSssS. Mutantsss! Ssss!" The largest of the pack hissed. It tried to bolt forward and hit the end of it's chain with a loud "hurk!" The warwalker dragged it back in and held it firm, walking the beasts along like hunting dogs. "CONTINUE ON THE TRAIL. THE MASTER DEMANDS. PRAISE ARCH BISHOP ASTOR." The robot bellowed. At the call, the rat things fell into a wedge formation before the it and went back to their tracking.
They were headed in the direction Atomos had come. In a flash she realized that the people she had narrowly avoided were in fact being tracked. She had to warn them. Atomos thought about how to approach this, going in with her disguise on would get her shot. Going in without it might get her caught out by the hunters she knew were right on her heels. Deciding that going in undisguised was the way to go about it, she whipped the tightly bound head scarf from her head, allowing her furry red ears to spring jauntily from hiding. She didn't need to expose all of herself to them after all.
"Hey, no time for introductions, you guys are being followed."
"Yo, hey, who are you?"
"Atomos. I said no time, get in your truck and go. There's a warwalker and a pack of rat things coming. If you are quick you can all be loaded up and gone before they get here."
"What the hell are you talking about? How do we know this ain't-"
"The ears, stupid. You think Gods Army would let me live with ears like these? Hurry the hell up and get out of her, and wipe that stupid insignia off your truck or you won't make it fifty miles out of Abaddon."
She didn't wait around to hear what they had to say, she was already off and in action, wrapping the scarf back up around her head. If the rat things had good noses like she thought they would, they'd be following a scent. She had to spread her own around as much as possible, and had no intention of fighting. The rat trackers could be brought down with bullets, she was sure, but the warwalker would demolish her in an instant if it got a bead on her. The only options were to run, or to bluff. If the truck was found here, the hunting party would investigate. With the trackers, the group would be hung. The choosing was the hard part. Run and risk the group being found? Or intercept and risk being found out? Atomos issued a short prayer to her father, and chose the latter.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on March 07, 2018, 03:44:15 am
Gabi's eyes widened, "Fuck, Everyone get in the fuckin' cars!" He said, gesturing towards the truck and the other two vehicles, a police car and a beaten and dented hippie van. Everyone else nodded and got into the vehicles without a second question. Rod gave a wary glance around, regarding the way the stranger seemingly vanished into the ruins a bit warily as he got back into the police car. Guess that settles it. he thought, one hand on the wheel as the other slipped under that worn old sarape he'd picked up as part of his favored outfit, drawing his revolver in case they ran into trouble along the way. Gabi turned the key on the truck and it's engine stuttered for a moment before roaring to life, Green took a white can of spraypaint to the blue cross, masking it for the time being before hopping into the already running hippie van. Gabi took the beaten L39-45 out from his waitband, racking it and settling against the dash before stepping on the gas. The makeshift convoy barreled south, away from New Bangor. Rodrieguez drove along right behind them, regarding the view in his rear view mirror momentarily as they sped away from the town, resting the old .44 in a good spot of the center console. Seeing the view of New Bangor fading in the distance in that reflection made him breathe a sigh of relief. Even knowing they were by no means out of danger yet, the worst was behind them at least.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 07, 2018, 11:35:57 am
"Theoretically it should be possible, with this new data. It would be a boon for the Mislings if we could reverse engineer this genetic flaw. Gods, it's like looking at the DNA equivalent of a tangled ball of yarn." Mused Efram. In the next room, Mica was waiting in silence with her thoughts while the mutagenicists went over her charts and medbay readings with fascination. Dervish was less interested in the "when" and "why" of Mica's condition. What he wanted to know was the "how." Efram had swooped in with the explanation in short order.
"If her infertility was mandated, part of her project or a result of mutagen abuse, this couldn't have happened at all. As it stands, she's 'infertile' as a result of genetic incompatibility. Take a look Dervish, see these lines? This is her DNA. These other charts you brought me are the DNA you have on file for her boy friend. Don't give me that look, you wanted it explained. Now, these markers here on hers can be used to discern her genotype. It's mostly arachnid. These small traces here are her original genotypes, human and some kind of rodent. It's these small bits here and there. Reptilian, see? Now look at her mates. See how those reptilian markers and her remaining human markers line up? She has two points of compatibility out of four with her mate. It doesn't increases her chances much, but it does make it more likely."
Dervish was shaking his head, "Efram, I gave them so little chance. I mean, I assume that probably contributed to this in some way but..."
"Well of course, a man thinks his girl can't get pregnant, so he takes risks he wouldn't normally take. That definitely contributed. The girl herself confirmed as much, as well as being fairly open about how frequently they 'do it.' You gave her a... what? According to these reports, a zero point zero zero big fat zero... seven. So unlikely as to be negligible. With the genetic match up and these other factors, I'd reevaluate. Maybe... two percent?"
"Two percent!? That's rather wide of my original estimate. It must still be less than... wait. She's still here isn't she? Yes, she's still here."
"Hm?"
"Dean was supposed to be by to retrieve her an hour ago. An hour at least."
Efram looked at his watch, and felt a little of his colleagues trepidation. Dee was more than an hour late. Mica had been sitting in the refugee centers out patient room for five hours. It was almost half past two. Dervish opened the door for Mica, and she stepped out into the late noon light of the farm. It was thought that Dee would be there to greet her, be there with some explanation. The only one there to greet her though, was Floyd. He walked her back to the workshop home she shared with Dee, allowing Mica long enough to be hugged by her sister along the way. Dee wasn't home. Catnip and Medeina, mostly Medeina, explained that her man had simply left. Packed a few important things, and left.
"My-ka will wait." She said. Floyd couldn't hide his anger, and Catnip couldn't do the same for her worry. Mica was clearly scared, but not worried, not yet. Floyd didn't want to share his suspicions as to Dee's whereabouts. "Lizard will come back." Mica insisted, "And when lizard come back, My-ka will tell him how Lizard was mean to My-ka. Where are My-ka's nasty fruits?"
Dervish looked around at Dee's work. He didn't see most of the kids most important tools, but a few of his robotics pieces were missing. "I'm sure he'll be back. Kid doesn't seem like the kind to get cold feet. Then again... He is pretty young and..." The look Floyd gave him was absolutely vile, like the thought had already crossed his mind and he found the act of voicing it to be incredibly distasteful. "I'll get on the horn with some people at the center, they'll put out feelers. He can't have gone far, his car is still here."
"The little atv steel horse thing I was fixing for that tomos girl isn't." Catnip put in quietly, "I didn't really think anything of it, but Kathrine and I heard the engine going awhile ago. I guess I got used to the sounds of the small motors that keep the oxygen circulators in the convoy going. Same sort of small motor."
"We could probably go after him." Dervish said.
"My-ka will wait. Lizard come back. Can't leave My-ka alone." Mica said, whispering the last bit. She was beginning to be a bit miffed at Dee, but by the next morning she wouldn't be angry anymore. By then, she would be afraid. Atomos met them at the nearby intersection, mere moments after the vehicles vanished up the street. The rat things were the first to come on, snuffling and shrieking. When they spotted her, they nearly leapt forward. Teeth gnashed and spit flew, the warwalker jerked their chains and wrestled them under control while it lowered it's weapon at Atomos.
"IDENTIFY." It bellowed.
Atomos reigned in her upwelling of fear. This close up, the rat beasts were even worse to look at, and the barrel of the warwalkers piece was like looking into a subway tunnel. She mustered her will, resisting the urge to turn and flee, and said in her best voice of authority, "Jennifer Barrowfield, scout, what the hell are you doing this far out, idiot machine?"
For a few moments, the warwalker registered what she said, then "REJECTED. THERE IS NO JENNIFER BARROWFIELD IN PERSONNEL RECORDS. YOU HAVE SEVEN SECONDS TO IDENTIFY. SEVEN. SIX. FIVE."
It's voice was outstandingly loud, incredibly menacing, and filled to the brim with a hatred Atomos thought must be unique to robots watching their creators go about their frivolous lives. Atomos had to think of a bluff, and fast. Her first one wasn't working. Then it occured to her.
"Fucking junk, I've been in the field for the last two years! I'm not in your fucking records because I wasn't around to be registered in them."
The baritone roar of the warwalker cut off, and again it considered. Meanwhile, the things on the chains seemed to strain against it trying to get at her. The warwalker was a thing that could see her, but it couldn't smell her like they could. It could ask for registration and what not, the fact that God's Army had only been registering it's people into some kind of ID system for the last year or so now being common knowledge among the Hell's Raiders that made a living riding against them. The rats though knew what she was and she would have to talk her way out of that too, she supposed. She was proven correct the next time the machine let loose it's horrendously loud voice.
"THE DEVIL DOGS ARE ON TO YOU, MUTANT. YOU WEAR THE INSIGNIA OF GODS ARMY. EXPLAIN. YOU HAVE SEVEN SECONDS TO-"
"To comply, I get it, yes. I've been in the field, among mutants? Spying is my job fuckwit, no shit I stink of their heathen filth. When did we start letting these... What the hell even are these? Don't tell me we are letting demonic trash like this into New Bangor now?"
The pause was much longer, and Atomos was beginning to suspect that the jig was up, but again the warwalker broke the rising tension.
"DEVIL DOGS ARE THE GIFT OF ARCH BISHOP ASTOR AND BISHOP CLAYTON. DEVIL DOGS ARE THE RESULT OF BISHOP CLAYTON'S BLIGHTWALKER PROJECT, BEARING FRUIT ONLY FIVE MONTHS PREVIOUS. GO TO NEW BANGOR SCOUT BARROWFIELD. REGISTER YOURSELF SO THAT SUCH AN ENCOUNTER MAY NOT BE REPEATED, AND WASH THE FILTH FROM YOUR BODY AND CLOTHES."
The gun was raised back onto the machines shoulder, and Atomos was allowed to go. She circled wide around it, giving the "devil dog" things a wary look before moving on. All the while, the warwalker stood motionless. When Atomos had cleared enough distance, it jerked the chains of its pack, and urged them onward into the overgrowth of Abaddon.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 08, 2018, 04:47:24 am
Roxanne had been glad that Minx took her offer and choose to start over; she didn’t view the girl in a bad light but she knew it was best to allow her to be more comfortable. If the trend of weirdness that Roxanne seemed to have continued, it was best if Minx was at least allowed that. Their reintroduction had been brief as it was interrupted at both Catnip’s determination to at presenting Medeina with a present like she had given so many others here at the farm and Minx’s hesitation to do so. If she was being honest, Roxanne found it a bit silly in how serious simple gift-giving was being taken by this two; thing was, she didn't know what the gift was and if she had then it would be clear why the hesitation was shown.
The trio had made it to Medeina and introduced themselves to the AI; Roxanne herself was glad to see Medina, perhaps later she would have a chat with her. For now, she witness Catnip take out the acrylic box with a strange mass inside and noted Catnip’s carefulness and Minx hesitation. Roxanne didn’t know what that was but the reactions told her this was something dangerous. “What’s in the box?”, Roxanne asked to herself.
It was Catnip’s story that made the seriousness of this gift sink in. It was not just a gift but a symbol; a symbol Roxanne was very familiar with. Whatever was behind that acrylic was something to not be messed with. However, there was a sudden urge inside of Roxanne; one she wouldn’t debulge but one that would linger.
Before Catnip’s return Roxanne had found out she was able to leave her body in an incorporeal form and possess other people. It had been fun shenanigans for her and part of the reason she had neglected to take part in the ritual the ultimately led her to her current state. Now, one day she was walking alone by the northern side of the farm when a single zombie came into view; Roxanne did not bother alerting anyone else since she could take care of a single straggler. With her bionic sword deployed, she approached the creature. It was then that an idea came to her; how it did was a mystery. Roxanne put her blade back into her forearm and concentrated her mind. Then, Roxanne found her soul was once more outside of her body and staring right at her. She knew there wasn’t much time so she rushed the creature swiftly. The experiment had been a success: Roxanne had managed to possess the zombie.
For some time Roxanne remained in the body of the creature to run some experiments; soe faint fragments of memories lingered in the zombies mind and Roxanne happily took them. Once she was back inside her own body, Roxanne disposed of the zombie but it had not ended there. This encounter had sparked a new interest in her; Roxanne wanted to possess and experienced through the eyes of other creature. In her repertoire of possed creatures were the likes of various zombies, triffids, a couple mi-gos, a jabberwocky, various giant insects and the blob itself. The last one had been the most satisfying as she was no perfectly capable of controlling the very thing that had caused this mess. So far, that had been the most dangerous thing Roxanne had taken over but now she wasn’t so sure; that thing in the acrylic look inviting and how easy for Roxanne to just drop her cloak and rush at the creature. It would be simple, she would possess the thing, find out its secrets and then get out. However, Roxanne restrained herself; this was not the time and place for such things and she knew it.
“Roxanne, are you ok?”, asked Catnip. Roxanne had spent various minutes looking at seemingly nothing and when she came to, the look of concern on Minx and Catnip’s face was obvious. “Yeah, I am fine. Actually…” With some dramatic effect, Roxanne took her hand and placed it on her forehead as if checking her temperature. “Oh my, seems I might be running a fever… I should get this check out before I look around the farm some more. I’ll probably see you gals later but for now I have to run.” Roxanne was counting on their ignorance of her being a spirit and how they work so that her lie would allow her to slip through. However, she delivered this in a dry fashion and it was obvious something was bothering her; this shift in her occured around the time Catnip had finished with her story and Medeina was examining the creature in the acrylic. With Roxanne saying her last pieced, she bid Minx, Medeina and Catnip farewell and escorted herself to the library; there was something she needed to check out.
The ride to the farm was uneventful for Melody and she had done it enough times to have practically memorise the way. Well, she did have the feeling of being followed and that one truck did stay on the other rode for quite a while but they were gone now; probably someone from the center on a loot run. In the co-pilot's seat laid her trusty rifle. Both Roxanne and Victor had insisted in her taking and arcane weapon and when that failed Roxanne suggested on of the many neglected laser guns but Melody declined all of that; after many years of serving the rifle by cleaning it, reloading its magazines and fixing its issue for the various members of her previous “gang”, Melody had grown very familiar with the AK platform. The one she had chosen was a semi-automatic civilian model with a polymer stock for all the bells and whistles a mall ninja could dream of; Picatinny railing of course because Keymod and M-Lok alike are for idiots. It didn’t take long for Melody to modify the system with the help of other to convert it to full-auto and tune the mechanism. It would’ve been easier to just find a full auto version but it wouldn't have been as fun and besides, this was her rifle.
Once the farm was in sight, Melody grabbed her radio and announced her arrival; partly to let Victor know she was here for him to greet her with her surprise and partly due to her instinct to do so back in her former gang to do so or get shot. After the brief announcement, she took the jeep and parked it next to Roxanne’s APC and grabbed her gear to put it on. Her outfit that consisted of a a simple shirt, cargo pants, buts and her robe of discovery given by Victor; she also carried her rifle slung on her person, a magazine belt with 4 normal magazines and 2 red ones with ammo that looked a bit different, a holster on her hip on the right side with the M1911 Victor gave her after he stopped using it in favor of his laser pistol and a combat knife on a sheath strapped to her left leg.“That robe is standard issue to all hunters, this one used to belong to...well, you know who…” Melody knew who he was referring too but neither of them dared spoke the name. But that was in the past; right now she was here and she was eager to learn. Once her gear was in order, she stepped out of the jeep and made her way to her destination.
A sense of relief hit Victor as Hector seemed to calm down and direct his energies onto another matter. “Happy to help Hector. If there is anything else I can assist you don’t hesitate to ask.” The knight gestured in acknowledgement and then promptly left; a sense of urgency in his step as if what Victor told him about the sword had sparked something new to worry about. Whatever it was, Victor wished him the best of luck as he could not do anything if he wasn’t called upon.
Not a minute later he could sense the change in the aura of a nearby person. The signature was that of a person activating a mask of insight and after a brief check Victor confirmed it was indeed Helen waiting for him outside. Victor gave a deep sigh as he prepared to make his way outside. “Alright Victor...time to face the music…” After composing himself, Victor opened the door and walked towards Helen.
“Helen, Hello there. It has been a hectic couple of days has it not? Quite the changes around here. I’ll admit some of it was my doing and I intend to help those affected. Now, I assume you are here about that aren’t you? You want answers, hope scanning Roxanne’s room yesterday at least revealed something. Anyways, I will not stall anymore...I will tell you everything and after that if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.”
After getting confirmation from Helen for him to begin, he started explaining the events that transpired in detail. Essentially, he told her the same thing he told Hector but he did not dumb down he vocabulary to compensate for someone not knowing the arcane. Victor used the proper arcane vernacular when speaking to her. Everything was said: the reason for the trip, things going south, the ritual Victor did to get Roxanne back, the encounter with the spirit, Roxanne’s condition, sending Hector on the wild goose chase, everything was revealed.
“And now we are here. Hector asked me to analyze the sword and I did; he then thanked me for it and left. He shouldn’t ve that far off. Anyways, that was what happened. Roxanne is now inside a piece, I am her wielder and she is learning to adapt. The curse if over and as such I can afford to explain things to you without you getting involved with the whole ordeal.” Victor then paused to let Helen process what he had just told her; it was a large amount of information. The two stood there for a few moments but before any of them could say a word, Victor’s radio piped up.
“Victor? Hey, its me, Melody. I am just arriving at the farm. Same meeting place as always I assume? Also, you said you have a surprise for me? Well, I have one for you too! It’s also for Ms. Luna and Ms. Mckinnon so be sure to give them their gift whenever you meet them ok? Ok, I am getting ahead of myself now; I could be telling you this when we meet but I am just excited! Anyways, so you in a bit!”
A slight smile formed on Victor’s face and he shook his head in amusement. “It has been a while since she has come to the farm now. Always glad to see someone so excited to learn. Oh, by the way Helen. I am taking her tomorrow on a little field trip. We are looting a temple for artifacts; now a days it is essential for arcanist to know this as to find material and the such. I wanted to know if we have your blessing to go or if there is any specific precaution you recommend? Ah, look at me, changing the topic… Well, feel free to answer me or ask a question of your own. I am all ears.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 08, 2018, 03:07:03 pm
Hector was a bit surprised by the news, giving a nod as he accepted the dagger and the latter, putting the former away carefully. It was hard to resist the temptation to admire it while Krieg was there. "Very well then. Thank you you for coming." he answered.
Helen likewise was rather careful about putting away the letter that Krieg said was for their mutual friend, regarding the first letter and the gifts with a curious look her mask concealed. "I will then. He surprised us with a visit to The Hall recently."
Afterwards the two waited there for a moment, Hector regarding that blade of his before sighing. "I need to go put this sword back before it starts having any other effects on me." he said, soon taking his leave to go to his room. He'd put it away under lock, key, and the wards Helen had offered to install on it. Compared to the elaborate measures Helen took to practically bind the two pieces to their secured spots, the cursed sword was under much simpler magical protection. Wards worked into the locker itself, which Hector had supplemented by welding and in general reinforcing the locker, and ensuring it wouldn't be simple to steal the entire thing. Helen had simply taken the common precautions for safeguarding a dangerous magic item. For now, Hector read the letter given to him, and admired the craftsmanship of the dagger.
When Victor left his room, Helen removed her mask as he approached, concern on her face. Hector had already told her some of what he'd been informed of. He at least had a basic grasp of what had been said to him, as much as someone inexperienced in the arcane could at least. Relaying it back to her however was another matter. That Roxanne was a spirit of some sort again, that the two had been attacked and one piece stolen, that Victor had put Roxanne in her current state out of desperation. And a vague inkling of whatever one of the attackers was.
"Go ahead." she said simply, and listened. Victor's explanation filled in the many gaps. that Hector's attempt left. So too did it clarify what she'd learned when scanning Roxanne's room. She guessed that there was a third part involved, some cause for what happened in that time. She feared they likely sensed her presence that day as well, whatever they were. For now she waited until his elaboration was finished before she intended to give her thoughts.
The sound of Melody over the radio gave her a moment's distraction from that, the unnerved expression she had fading as she smiled. "It'll be good to see her once again. As for that...you know that I will offer to come with you if you desire it, but if you prefer to go with just her, so be it." she said, setting a hand on his shoulder. "Come back alive, both of you. Yesterday we've lost a dangerous item, but more importantly we've lost a sister-in-arms, though she is still with us in spirit. Literally. I don't want to lose either of you next, husband or apprentice." she said. "And if you wish, I will offer you any armament that may be of use, in case bringing our remaining piece makes you a target for them. I don't know however what might be sufficient to contest it..." she said, giving it a moment's thought. The only thing that would really match such weapons, and moreover the creatures that seemed interested in them, would be other things linked to the high planes. Divine magic, as The Cleansing Flame would've put it.
"I do wonder, whether the combined efforts of our orders might've helped with such a curse sooner. It's...too late to consider such, in any case." she remarked. "That spirit seems unlike anything I've encountered before. Closest would be the wraiths, but they seem much...simpler. More fluid, a more tenuous connection to this world and its related planes." she added. Though the terminology her order would've used to describe the place this being seemed to originate from, but she understood the concept. And it brought a renewed worry. "We must guard every advantage we have against them, closely. And against...whoever or whatever it was that also seems interested in these things. If you wish, I will share with you any notes I have that may be of use regarding these matters." she said.
The offer brought a slight bit of shame to her, as she thought over what that would entail. Her studies of the cursed sword and who its intended wielders were innocuous enough, as was her notes on what she'd learned trying to ward the forbidden pieces they had against theft or subversion. That would also offer one tactic she'd yet to reveal, the possibility that the wards still had some lingering link to the sword. Which would offer the means to track it down, if it hasn't been completely severed.
But her research into the arts of Sundering the Harvest and Enforcing the Veil were what she worried about. She'd concealed the fruits of her research back when they were preparing to face Randael, because she knew Victor was in danger of being compromised at the time. But now those notes were tainted by her understanding of the Divine Oath she called out during that confrontation, and what she learned since.
Elsewhere, Nathaniel gave a little sigh as he made his way over in sight of where Catnip and the others were. He had only vaguely overheard a little of what was going on. The vague idea that Mica might be pregnant was the only thing he'd heard, and his mind latched onto that. A flood of thoughts ran through his mind. It was impossible, he thought. Barring deliberate engineering or maybe the possibility of the same mutagenic subtype being compatible, a 5a classification meant an irrevocable degree of genetic incompatibility on par with being a different species.
At least, that was what he remembered from the old manuals the medical branch, Division XIV, had produced. He had little understanding of it beyond what was given to his unit on a need-to-know basis, and the thought brought all manner of worries. What about Lilith, he thought? He doubted that, they'd been in a relationship for quite a bit longer. He knew he was clean and doubted she had anything more dangerous than being intimate with a giant tiger mutant already was on its own, so he'd completely written it off as perfectly fine. But then a vague flash of memory hit him.
That lab, bleak surroundings that Isaac led him through, and the desperate bid by that mind-altering creature to influence him. Promises of things he reflexively rejected because he knew that thing would offer anything, to manipulate people for its own self-preservation. The thought of starting a family with Lilith, the first time the idea even crossed his mind.
Back before that, he would've been mortified and scared about the idea that a 5a mutant might not be as infertile as the old Medical Directives claimed, then be relieved by the fact that Lilith likely wasn't. Now he wasn't so sure. Finally, he decided to speak up. "Everything alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 09, 2018, 05:31:13 am
Dervish started a little, news was getting around fast. He remembered one of the reasons he'd volunteered to bring Mica home though, and cursed himself for not asking what he asked next while Roxanne was still with them.
"Nathaniel, one of the people I wanted to speak to. Well, Efram wants to speak to. You may not have met him yet, but Efram is a mutagenicist like myself. He specializes mostly in the Misling genotype, but this recent discovery of Dee and Mica's happy er... Accident... Has got us thinking. We'd like to speak with you and Lilith and rerun some tests. The same goes for Roxanne and Kathrine as well." He played with his lapel a bit, expecting a flood of questions. There were only a few though, why not Catnip too, was Kathrines. Dervish explained that technically Catnip was still human, despite her appearance. Kathrine, in her usual way, connected one and one and came to a conclusion.
"But... I'm not human?"
Dervish went pale at that, and Catnip's face dropped. One could almost see this new peice of unintended trauma opening up new venues of confusion and sadness in her brain.
"No no, no no no. Lemme finish." Dervish said, quickly trying to cover up, "Efram also already has data on Catnip from Pricetown, he just-"
Kathrine was already turning away and asking Catnip what she thought. "Am I human Catnip? I am aren't I?" Catnip knew from experience that whatever she said would have no hold. The seed had taken root and was already sending up shoots. Regardless, Catnip told her she was human, and Kathrine silently took the answer and let it slip through her fingers. "If I'm not human, than what am I?"
"You're human." Catnip said sternly, directing a withering glare at Dervish.
"But I have a tail and all these stripes n' spots and ears and-" she began. Catnip interrupted, saying, "and it's a really nice tail and really good stripes n' spots and everyone should be jealous that they don't have any." Kathrine moped at her girlfriends proclamation, the words going in one ear and out the other. Catnip hugged her for what felt like the hundredth time that day and gave Dervish another nasty glare for stirring up this latest crock of trouble. He sighed, and said to Nathaniel "look, just bring Lilith with you to the refugee center. If you can get her away from that Sharlene woman. More importantly though, have you seen Dee Nathaniel?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 09, 2018, 01:56:23 pm
Nathaniel looked back at Dervish as the conversation provoked a reaction from Kathrine, and the look surprisingly wasn't a glare or other expression of annoyance. If anything it looked more regretful, before he regained his composure. "It'll be interesting to meet this doctor then. I don't know if he'll find anything different, but given this surprise, you never know." he said. "Will have to likely get Hector on Roxanne's case, while I'll go get Lilith."
"Haven't seen Dee actually, but thought I heard an engine earlier. What'd he leave f-" At that moment it clicked in his mind, and he went a bit pale. "That son of a bitch. Of all the..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "If we find him, he'd better have a good reason for whatever he's doing. Never thought I'd end up participating in a shotgun wedding." he remarked. He knew Kathrine was probably glowering at him for that earlier profanity, and Catnip was probably going to ask what a "shotgun wedding" even is, but by then he was already turning to leave the farm and make his way to Sharlene's cabin.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 10, 2018, 06:52:52 am
Catnip didn't ask like Nathaniel expected her too, she'd witnessed two such ceremonies in Pricetown. Once a client had refused to use protection with one of Pinky's ladies, and once one of Pinky's guys had broken protocol by doing the same thing. In both instances, Pinky had forced a marriage and a heavy fine using her considerable standing among Pricetown's elite. Mica wanted to know though.
"Eh? What is shot-gun weddin'? Eh? Gonna shoot My-ka's lizard? Eh? Don't be shootin' My-ka's lizard!" Mica said, beginning to growl a bit at the idea of shooting her man, starting to look dangerous. Minx, who'd got the idea that Mica was deadly dangerous dangerousjust by existing before she'd even made the trip east, took a step back. She judged it to be woefully inadiquate if Catnip's sister started swinging and biting and took another before bumping Medeina's proxy off the table. The little eyebot on legs scrabbled for purchase before it could be pushed from it's perch, and momentarily caught hold of the acrylic block. Medeina fell, and the block tottered back before tipping over and hitting the table top with a flat bang. Minx and Catnip inhaled sharply, and stood stock still. Then they both rushed to make sure it was unharmed.
"Maybe you were right Minx..." Catnip said, leaving the rest unspoken. Medeina clambered her way out from under the table and Kathrine helped her back up onto it.
"What is the nature of your cybernetic Ms. Minx?" She asked. As usual with Medeina, the question was out of left field and entirely unrelated to what was currently going on. Instead of letting it touch on what the others were doing, Minx took the AI outside to talk.
Catnip then told Nathaniel what she thought of his work with the lights, about how efficiently he'd gone about it, and how he was getting a raise. "Whatever that meant." She added. "Listen though, keep an eye out for Dee. Maybe he went to the center and dervish passed him or something?" Mica looked hopeful, but Dervish was sceptical.
"No Catnip, I would have seen him. I'll get the center to keep it's eyes and ears open, but I'm sure he hasn't been there."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 10, 2018, 07:54:49 pm
After a short side trip to the library to fetch some materials, Roxanne made her way to her room. She turned off her radio and made sure no one followed her as she needed didn’t want any interruptions for this; whatever the outside world needed of her, it could wait for a little while. Everything she needed was once more in her hands as a new lead for her personal project had revealed itself. For years Roxanne had worked on this in secret but now the note made sense; it could actually yield fruit.
Now, before Hunter Alex, before her parents ratted her out, before she showed mercy to her last target, before the shifting, before the farm there was only Cleanser Roxanne Blackmore and Cleanser Rey Steller. Rey was a very special person to Roxanne, she has Rey as a mentor of sorts and the two had had their share history before the two had to part ways; this was the only person Roxanne truly admired and respected as a source of authority. Roxanne was taken under Rey’s wing; she saw them as her mentor and teacher. They had earned the right to become a hunter but the offer was turned down; Rey rejected the augmentation process Roxanne underwent too option for old school espionage and assassination Then Rey dweled into the arcane... Rejection of the rank of hunter was also a rejection of the arcane and because of it Rey had broken the rules; because of that last time Roxanne knew of Rey, they were no longer held the title of Cleanser but of Impure. Yes, Shadows of Arcana sought to bring down the one person Roxanne cared about at the time; not only that, but she had been tasked to to be the one to do so.
At first, Roxanne could not bring herself to do it. The last conversation they had before they vanished convinced her Rey was not at fault for the actions that labeled them a traitor to mankind. Roxanne let the trail go cold on purpose despite the fact she was the only one who could find the,; she knew how Rey’s mind worked, she knew hiding spots, habits and the like. Thing was, Rey knew this of Roxanne as well. After a while, Roxanne took up the task of finding Rey; she wanted to be the one to finish the job and show her mentor the respect they deserved. However, it was too late. There were no leads, no witnesses, the trail had gone cold. For years now, up until today, Roxanne had continued the search in secret. First to complete her mission, then simply to talk to them and learn the way to their actions, but after the cataclysm she just wanted to know that they was alive. There was no doubt in her mind that Rey was alive but the shifting had made her lose hope. That is when the notes started to appear.
Every so often Roxanne would venture quite a ways off on her scouting runs and would find notes of familiar origin. They had written on them code used by operatives of Shadows of Arcana to leave messages to each other in the field. Now, at first Roxanne was excited that maybe she would find someone else from her former order to join her in this new world. Then one of them continued the contents that only Rey would use; think of it as their signature. This sparked the search for him again; this was years ago, before she met Victor and when her interest in bionics and mutations had just bloomed. The notes continued and Roxanne connect the dots. Now she held the final note.
Her sudden need to posses that strange mass in the acrylic that Catnip had brought as a gift for Medeina helped Roxanne crack the code. She was now a ghost and as such could use certain abilities to aid in her search. “Now, to narrow down the search…” With a phone book in hand, Roxanne crossed out names and addresses out of the book until finally only a few remained. Four locations were circled in the phone book and then Roxanne input the addresses in her map. “In one of this locations is the final note...Rey, I am coming for you...Let’s only hope that my counterpart did not make enemy of you…”
Roxanne got the information she needed in about 45 minutes. Afterwards, she burned the phonebook and put away everything else in her hidden stash. She had the four locations to look for but that would be for another day; now she had other issues to deal with. Roxanne calmly exited her room and made her way back to the library to put back the books she had borrowed and kept this on the back of her mind; however, one thing was clear: no one could know of this. Specially Roxanne and Victor as she doubted they would take kindly to someone SoA had labeled a heretic.
Victor listened on to Helen’s offers and explanations; he appreciated her gestures and responded in kind. “Melody and I will be fine; think of it as a looting run for acare materials. I thought I should let you know about in advance; still, I appreciate the offer for more armaments but I am fine. Now, I am sure Melody would appreciate such an offer.”
Then the conversation shifted to the spirit in the cave and the pieces of the puzzle. “That spirit is dangerous. My order sought to erase them from this world via the pieces back when we did not know their power but it seems some of them survived…”, he paused a bit as if thinking of something. “And yes, sharing notes would proved to be useful. I have just come across a wealth of knowledge as well so we should share notes sometime. Now, i would offer us to do so right now but you know what a timely process that is. Why don’t we do so tomorrow when Melody and I come back from the trip? We should have enough time then and maybe Melody could share her experiences with you as well for you to give her lesson on proper arcane applications.”
Victor looked towards the library and then back at Helen. “For now, I should go and meet up with Melody. I have told you everything I know and all that is left is to share notes. If you need us, we will either be in the library or in my room. For now, have this.” Victor handed Helen a folded note, it detailed information on cursed spirits, the thing Roxanne was now. “In case what I told you was not enough… Hope you find some use in it. If anything, it should help you empathy with Roxanne… Anyways, until we meet again?”
“How much more supplies we have?”
“By my estimates, a week; two if we ration them.”
“Two weeks it is then. That is not a long time. Still no signs of a science ID card?”
“Negative, not a single one. We are going to have to look for another way out.”
“Well shit, those turrets are in the way too. This is how we fucking die isn’t it?!”
“Calm down. We will find a way out; we have survived for 3 days in here already and we are doing just fine.”
“If you says so… God damn, why is it so damn cold?!”
“It’s the climate control, it is broken beyond repair. We should send a scout team to disable them while we look for supplies on the lower floors.”
“Yeah, that seems like a plan. It should help raise moral at least. We will get out of here guys.”
“Anything just as long as it is not just sitting here. It’s so fucking boring down here!”
“Seriously?! You are bored, that is your biggest issue right now?! Well, gee, I don’t know, maybe not dying is enough incentive for you?!”
“Calm down both of you. Last thing we need is to fight among ourselves. For now, those with climate control, head to the lower floors and try to find more supplies. If you can look for a way to disable to climate control.”
“Yes sir!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 10, 2018, 09:23:54 pm
Nathaniel sighed a little at Mica's reaction to his remark. "Mica, no one's gonna hurt Dee. Just...it's complicated." he said, before Catnip's remarks about his work surprised him. "I...um. Thank you Catnip. Er, a raise? You don't really pay me and I'm fine with that, so..." he said, before getting an idea. "Speaking of Lilith though, I know she'd probably appreciate it if I wasn't basically living in a broom closet, and something more the size of the other quarters. Though already still have your own construction to tend to it seems. Could help with that if needed, best as I can" he remarked.
"For now though I'm going to go get ahold of Lil for the doctor. I'll keep an eye out for tracks or any sign of him, but I'm hoping he comes back to his senses and returns." he said, soon making his way out of the farm. A short enough walk to the cabin, and a sight he'd come to dread over the past few months. Those damned spirits Sharlene somehow summoned.
"I swear, one of these days she's gonna literally shit out a demon and get herself killed." he muttered to himself. Carefully, he went up and knocked on the door. "It's me, Nathaniel. Dervish is back over at the farm, said he wants to see Lilith about something."
Helen smiled some at that as Victor give his answer. "Alright then. We'll have to see whether Melody is interested in them then. Regardless, take care, both of you. I'll likely be back at The Hall by then. You should come by sometime." she said, before pulling him into a hug.
The mention of that spirit concerned her more. "I'm glad your old order understood the dangers at least, and that such things are not to be handled lightly. If it'd been the Sanguine Order they'd probably try to weaponize it or some other moronic attempt at exploitation." she joked, before accepting the note. "Thank you. For now I'll be tending to some things I was going to do, exchange some books at the library later along with attending to my notes. There are visitors at The Hall that Isaac brought in, with a seidmadr among them, so I suspected they might benefit from an exchange of notes and having the usual texts available." she said. "Plus I have something Dr. Quinn might need to take into consideration." she admitted.
For now however she let Victor go, reading the note given to her as she went to the library again. Maybe we need another copy of Oaths to the Chalice... she thought, soon making her way over to go check on Quinn, another one of her notes sorted out and set aside.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on March 11, 2018, 01:35:19 am
Alexei tossed the butt of the cigarette to the ground and crushed it with the heel of his boot. A leaf drifted down from the tree he’d been leaning against and landed on the magazine of the AK he had hoisted over a shoulder. Picking it off the magazine and looking at it for a moment Alexei tossed it away before stepping forward.
Sliding the knife from its sheath Alexei observed the body of the frog he’d shot. Placing the rifle to the side he knelt down and began the process of butchering the beast. He’d take the meat here and preserve it as best he could in the aims of building a stock should anything prevent him from retrieving more.
Meanwhile elsewhere Charles and Liam quietly inquired if there was a forge before quietly moving out of the room. The pair went to the forge where Charles removed his armor and retrieved a leather apron that his father had given him. Taking a piece of nearby metal and his hammer he waited for a moment.
Liam brought a closed hand up to his mouth and spoke in swedish “Brand(fire)” before moving his hand towards the forge. A short burst of flame erupted from his hand and ignited the fire for Charles.
Setting himself to work Charles thought back to the days of his not so distant youth. Standing before the forge of his father under the man’s watchful gaze. As he shaped the metal he started to recite the villanelle Eir. Liam soon joined and they heard Anton follow suit as they both recited it.
Soon inside the others began to recite it as well as they cleaned and made themselves busy. Steinar looked around at them quizzically for a moment before shrugging to Solomon. Outside Charles soon finished the shaping of the pendant. Coloring on a symbol that had seemed prominent in the carvings inside the Hall Charles then engraved symbols of the Norse gods before retrieving a gemstone and securing it into the center of the pendant.
Holding the pendant and turning to Liam Charles nodded at the questioning look of his compatriot. Placing his hands over Charles’ Liam enchanted the stone as they both said “May Eir watch over whoever shall wear it and may Odin welcome them to Valhalla with pride knowing they died a worthy death.”
Liam let his hands return to his sides as Charles took the pendant and used a strip of leather to so that one could hang it from their neck. From there he put it into a small leather pouch and returned to forging. Beginning to recite Heathen Pride as he began the next piece.
Elsewhere Isaac looked up as Krieg entered the building. Looking back at his daughter Isaac simply nodded to the man. Setting the letter and a revolver on the nearby table Krieg walked over to Alice and checked her pulse for a moment before looking at Isaac. “She’ll be fine. Lost plenty of blood but it won’t hurt her. And for what it counts for I’m sorry about Roland. I did my best for him.”
Isaac just nodded in response before Krieg turned to leave. Once the door closed Isaac retrieved the letter and read it as tears rolled down his cheeks and dripped off his chin to the floor. After reading it he put it back on the table and retrieved the revolver that lay there. Intricately decorated he recognized it as one of Roland’s old weapons.
Staring at the weapon in his hand Isaac’s mind drifted back to older times. Happier ones with his old comrade. “Till we meet again old friend.”
(Eir Villanelle http://www.odins-gift.com/poth/E/eir_ben.htm ) (Heathen Pride http://www.odins-gift.com/poth/H/heathenpride.htm )
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 12, 2018, 01:19:37 pm
"No solicitors." barked a spirit from inside when Nathaniel knocked. Said spirit opened the door with such force that Nathaniel had to jump back to avoid being struck. The inside, like the outside, of the cabin was a bustle of activity. Spirits moving around and performing chores that seemed beneath beings such as them. Here and there Nathaniel was sure he caught sight of something else moving between them. Small red creatures with claws that Sharlene chased about the cabin, striking the hissing little beasts with a chair leg. She herded one of them near Lilith, who looked bemused and a little bored by the spectacle around her, and Lilith placed a paw on the critter. She looked so catlike with the monster under her paw that for a moment, appearing like a oversized cat with a mouse pinned.
"Now listen you little fucker," Sharlene said, "pools closed, you gotta go."
Nathaniel was given entry when it became obvious he wasn't soliciting but for a little while longer, no one paid any attention to him. There was a scuffle from the back room and a another of the small red creatures came hustling through the door closely followed by Mohammad with a golf club. It hid itself under Sharlene's table, and Sharlene paid it only a single glance.
"Screw you lady! I didn't even wanna be here! I sure as hell ain't going now." The one under Lilith squealed. Sharlene expressed how regrettable it was that they couldn't come to an agreement in a single word, and Lilith pressed down. Nathaniel expected it to squish into a bloody mess, like stomping on a ketchup packet, but instead the thing just melted away and vanished. The one under the table watched Sharlene warily and avoided Mohammad's vicious jabs with the club. Sharlene turned her attention to it, and it asked "Can I just use the door?" The moment of distraction was just long enough for Mohammad to get a good whack in on it's head, and it too melted away.
"I think I've had quiet enough of this shit for one day." Mohammad grumbled as he pushed past Nathaniel. Lilith took notice of him then and bounded over, somehow managing to cover the short distance with more steps than it should have taken, and fidgeted about excitedly. This caused a great deal of chaos, coffee mugs and the cabins sparse furniture rattled and toppled while she bounced about excitedly.
"Dumbass, cut it out." Sharlene growled, "Why's he wanna see her? Nevermind, I don't care. Mickey, I thought I sent you to get my jacket, what are you..." and on and on, directing the chores and shouting at spirits. She turned her attention back to the coffee she was desperately trying to summon into her mug and repeatedly failing.
Nathaniel looked back once as he walked away from the cabin with Lilith and he contemplated how chaotic things had become at this end of the farm, and why that Helen lady hadn't gotten involved yet. A short while later, Dervish met them and considered.
"I should have insisted on that checkup last year." Dervish commented as he looked up into Lilith's face. He wondered silently about how they got around in bed, then decided it didn't matter. Lilith panted a little, and Nathaniel asked the question he hadn't bothered with before.
"What does this guy want with Lil anyway? He's not going to experiment on her or something is he?"
Dervish shook his head, then reconsidered and made a noncommittal gesture. "Maybe a little. We need a fresh look into Lilith's DNA and a general checkup. He's got some idea's that he can tune down these misling people's fertility with a bit of genetic mixing, or at least... uh." He stepped back away from the now growling Lilith. She didn't want any checkup or anybody taking anything from her to fix someone elses problems, she wanted no part of it. It sounded boring and not her problem.
Nathaniel kept her from simply slinking away due to boredom with a few scratches on her side, and asked "Why would Lil have anything to do with that? She isn't... you know."
"Well that's exactly it Nathaniel. He want's to see if her condition is due to mutation scarring, incompatibility, or by state or project mandate. Mica's baby has given him id-" He was cut off by Lilith perking up and roughly spinning back in his directing. The tiger in motion was more than frightening. Dervish had never felt so close to pissing himself. Her face came very close as well, and the look in her eyes spoke of suspicion and jealous competitiveness.
"Bug having cub? Having cub and not Lilth? Natleeeeeeee..." She said, starting in at harassing Nathaniel over this latest development. Dervish could have slapped himself, and Nathaniel facepalmed. Lilith competitive nature towards Mica was legendary. If Mica was doing something Lilith wasn't, Lilith was instantly jealous. Especially if it was something Lilith couldn't do. The drawing had galled Nathaniels girlfriend mightily. This new event would almost certainly be worse. "Natleeeeee..." She went on.
"Lilith, if you come along and let Efram take a look at you, there's a chance he may be able to do something about that." Dervish said. It was a shot in the dark, a chance, and Dervish didn't even know if Efram could actually do what he'd just claimed he could do. The man was a knowledgeable mutagenicist, but he wasn't a miracle worker. Lilith changed her tune at that though, immediately interested in what this stranger had in mind.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 12, 2018, 10:59:36 pm
(( Helen and Quinn section written with Wilson. ))
Helen gathered her notes before making her way into Quinn's lab, looking around. "Dr. Quinn? It's me, Helen. You doing alright?" she asked, removing her mask to set it aside. The inside of Quinn's lab stank of stale coffee, he was sitting in the booth and reading a thick, hard cover book. "You know the answer to the question, why do you ask?" Quinn pondered, looking up at Helen over his glasses.
Helen gave a little sigh at that as she took a seat nearby. "Still good to check on you, and I still hope that you've been faring better lately." she answered. "I'm also here with some more notes you might find useful." she admitted.
"Still the same. Oh? Show them." he said bluntly. At that, Helen set aside the notes she'd prepared. Some of them were mundane research into the techniques she'd studied when they were preparing for Randael, but the one she'd left on top was the most notable. Building upon the last note involving the cursed she'd left him, confirming the apparent antagonism between He From Beyond The Veil and The Archon, and moreover suggesting that some of its original properties weren't as dormant as she first thought. "Given recent events, it might be good for you to closely guard the sword brought over from your world. Have you...spoken with Roxanne lately?"
"No." Quinn answered as he skimmed over the notes. "The sword's already in a lockbox." Helen looked down at that. "You might wish to talk to her when you get the chance then. they ran into something last time Victor and her went out, something that has a vested interest in certain magical artifacts, and that these blades might be a threat to if they attack us." she explained.
"What did that idiot do?" Quinn asked bitterly. Helen facepalmed at that. "You mean Victor, don't you?" she asked, Quinn simply giving an "Mhmm." to answer. "It wasn't him this time. Only thing he did wrong was not insisting Roxanne see some mutual allies of theirs sooner. They were all killed by the same creatures that attacked them when they arrived." she explained.
"Creatures. Describe them." Quinn said bluntly. Helen told her what she knew of them, and the suspicion that harming them directly might be difficult without certain means. "So that's why you want me keeping an eye on this sword. Hmm." he said plainly going over the notes. "Indeed. If you wish I can assist in installing some wards as well to make it more secure. I should probably get back to The Hall soon however." she said. "How did you find this out anyway?" he asked, a question that made Helen go a bit pale.
"You can probably guess from the content of the notes that undertaking those rituals during the conflict with Randael, er...attracted someone's attention." she pointed out, explaining what she recalled of the visions. "I just hope that if that's really He From Beyond The Veil, that their intentions are as they claim."
Quinn gestured as he talked, looking up in thought, "Hrm. Could be someone playing you, or something. I'd take what 'He' said with a grain of salt." He answered simply tapping the table. "I've been regarding this with all the caution I can for now, so far they haven't attempted anything nor demanded any service yet. Thank you." she said, before setting a hand on his shoulder. "And Quinn? Take care, okay? If there's anything you wish to talk about, I'll be there for you."
After Solomon and Steinar has showed the others the forge setup, the young man found himself regarding their work curiously. Among the symbols on the walls, some imagery stood out. Notable was one scene, near the end of the carvings, depicting the founding of her order. An image of a man dressed in the mail of a crusader, and someone in a style of armor similar to Steinar's, together holding the same symbol she wore around her neck.
For now he looked back to Steinar, uncertain what Helen was going to think of this. "Hmm. Some sort of...protective charm? Is that right?" he remarked, deciding to give it a look with the mask Helen had made for him.
After all this discussion, Nathaniel seemed to have a stunned look on his face, uncertain what to say or even think. "All this time I've assumed it was impossible. There were medical manuals,stuff to look for and how to handle both victims of the blob and unintended mutagens." he explained. "They always claimed 5a...er, post-threshold, was completely sterile. Admittedly they witheld a lot of information from us. Weren't suppose to know a lot about how mutations work, just what to look for to ship victims off to...the goddamn labs." he remarked, looking down.
"Lilith, if you really want this...hell, I don't know if you actually want this or if it's just because of Mica, but if there's a chance...I'll come with you, alright?" he asked, petting her again. "Guess it's worth looking into..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on March 13, 2018, 01:13:38 am
Liam nodded as he said "Aye, tis a protective charm. Sealed by a prayer to Eir that she may watch over whomsoever shall bear it and tend their wounds when they rest."
Charles, after hearing Liam's explanation, nodded in agreement as he hammered another larger piece of metal into shape. Assembling the pieces for a Spagenhelm before beginning the process of actually putting it together. "My father often made charms of the nature. Handed them off to Liam's old teacher to bless before giving them to the people that wanted them."
After finishing the construction of the helm Charles began adorning it with engravings, the most prominent on the plate that would cover the face being that of the symbol of Tyr. Once the engraving was done he gilded the symbol of Tyr and a few other designs before setting it aside. Picking up another piece of metal he started on the chest plate as he continued "Not that we'll be able to return home."
Upon inspection with the mask the pendant was indeed what they claimed it to be. It radiated an odd aura dissimilar to any he had likely seen and an energy seemed to swirl inside the stone as he peered at it. As he looked at it he caught sight of Liam who asked "What's with the mask?"
As he spoke energy similar to what was in the stone seemed to blow like smoke out of his mouth drifting into the air. It quickly dispersed as he looked to Charles who had asked a question of little consequence. Liam shrugged as he answered and as he finished speaking the energy seemed to ignite. In fact it had and the fire began swirling around his head as he looked at it idly for a moment before focusing back on the conversation.
Meanwhile Isaac had walked out of the room Alice was in wearing a pair of headphones that she'd given him. The two had shared a short conversation when she woke up and she quickly realized she would be able to walk but her shoulder would need time. Turning on the portable radio he had the voice of Seven piped to his ears through the headphones "By popular request we present you the weekly jazz hour. Enjoy folks and as always stay safe."
Listening to the music as he went to his truck and grabbed his old Mosin Isaac slid new rounds into it as he sat on the back of the truck. He had left his armor in the room. Now all he wore was the jacket and jeans he'd come to the farm in. Sliding the strap over his shoulder Isaac strapped the holster for the revolver to his right hip before closing up the truck and sliding the ID card back into his pocket. Sighing as he walked towards the bridge to go down the old familiar hunting trail he'd found Isaac shook his head and wondered what he was going to do with himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 13, 2018, 01:52:47 pm
Atomos expectations were met on a few things, and missed the mark on others. New Bangor was clean, and she had expected that. New Bangor was also organized and that was something she expected as well. She didn't expect there to be so few happy people, and so many crosses. The roads were mostly clear besides the working people and the patrols. New Bangor was surrounded by a wall of concrete and wrecked cars. Compared to Abaddon it was a rather sterile place, the plant life kept back with flamethrowers and trained "gardeners." People went about their business rather quietly, but there was still the hum of activity that always exists in places filled with people. She could hear it. Even when she'd still been on the approach through the wild growth outside the wall, and over the noise from the rubble clogged Penobscot river.
She moved across the bridge leading into New Bangor (once these bridges had been the center of Maine's capital city) and tried to avoid looking at the crucified forms lining it. Under each was a plaque made of plywood with the crimes of the individual. "Consorting with demons" was a common one, as was "Pollution of the soul" and "Drunkenness." A society that punished being drunk with crucifixion wasn't one that Atomos wanted to be a part of, but she figured she would have to be. For awhile at least. The checkpoint was well fortified, a series of new constructions built to repel attack and appear imposing as well. Sloped angles and narrow view ports had been formed at either side of the solidly built scrap metal gate like those of a military bunker. A side door opened at Atomos approach, and she was allowed entry after a few brief questions. They held her for some time, then more questions. How long have you been gone? What were you doing? When did you join up? Atomos gave name and rank as best she could. Her name was Jennifer Barrowfield, for the last few years she had been scouting for Gods Army, she had not reported in because she had been captured by Hells Raiders. The last gave her an out for a problem that arose after the questioning as well, when it turned out that to avoid Gods Army casualties at the hands of their own warwalkers in the field, GA tagged it's men and women. A small electric chip through the lobe of an ear.
"I don't have ears anymore, my jailers cut them off." She explained. The bluff was laughable, but they bought it. It seemed that Hells Raiders cruelty was just as legendary as their own. The men and women interrogating her even sidelined into horror stories in which the "godless" forcibly inflicted mutations or cybernetics on fighting men in the field, and that it was better just to be caught by the Canadians on the northern front.
When it came to it, they tagged her palm instead. A system they explained had been phased out as unreliable. That was fine with Atomos. When she was done here, she would be having the tag removed anyway. It came with the benifit of being able to move among the warwalkers freely, but she had no idea what else it could do. Track her movements, she was sure. She was given a few documents of passage, all signed "Jennifer Barrowfield," and allowed to move about freely as a soldier of Gods Army. She would socialize like she did with the Hells Raiders, but she had to be careful now though. Keeping up her ruse would be harder under close scrutiny here among the men and women wearing the blue cross and under the watchful eye of the bishops. Sylvia snuck back behind the cabin and checked again that she had what she needed. She wanted that essence back, but she wasn't even sure the bitch would even still have it. Still, it was worth a shot. As she rounded the corner and approached the window over looking Sharlene's work table, a spirit suddenly appearated at her side.
"Hey, what are you doing out here?" It demanded, raising it's blades in preparation for a fight. Sylvia was ready for this though, or at least ready for Michael. Very calmly, she withdrew an oldish manila envelope from one voluminous sleeve and from this she pulled a trio of rectangular strips of delicate paper adorned with an odd text in red 'ink.' The spirit went from curiously cautious and ready to fight, to terrified in an instant. "Holy shit lady, calm down. Put that stuff away, we can talk about this." That was better, but the magician found the spirits behavior strange. A bound spirit, her husband had told her before she'd set off on this little excursion, would attack her on sight if she were caught sneaking around. It was Daniel who had insisted that she bring along these items.
"You know what these are?" Sylvia asked slyly. The spirit lowered it's hands and nodded.
"Yeah lady, yeah. Onmyo banishing talismans. They aren't meant for my kind, but goddamn the effect is uh... Could you just put them away? Please? I won't say a word, I swear."
"Good." Sylvia said, not putting away the talismans, "Does she still have the essence she stole from me?"
The spirit looked confused, then understood. He hadn't been around for Sharlene's little vandalism and theft earlier, but every mage needed essence. "She's run out, so I'd hazard a guess and say no." It told her. The spirit eyed the talismans she held warily. The little strips of paper would diminish the power of or hold, maybe even banish, the spirits of the land in which these talismans originated, but for the divine spirit such a charm would obliterate it's very being. Sylvia had slaved over them when she had been with the sanguine order in Algol and had kept them with her just in case. Sylvia wasn't much of a summoner, not even much of a blood mage, but a lot of what she did know had been dedicated to the defense of herself from the hazards of the profession.
"What's she doing in there?" Sylvia asked.
The spirit grunted, sounding put off. "Fucking about. She's been trying to make coffee but she keeps summoning stuff instead. We had to repel some nasty shit earlier. Do you know what a shoggoth is lady? Thing tried to come through and she just threw her coffee at it, and you know what? Shit worked. Bitch is crazy. Got the feeling of confusion from the thing as well as it's desire to not be splashed with scalding coffee."
Sylvia screwed up her face. She had no idea what the hell the spirit was on about, but if the thieving bitch was in there summoning stuff from other dimensions, it was probably wise to just leave. Especially since she apparently didn't have her essence anymore. She'd need to find another source. Her thoughts were cut off by a sudden explosion. The window behind her shattered outward, missing her by inches with it's razered cloud, and a voice from inside the cabin boomed fell and terrible. "I AM FHAR-I'L-FTHIG! I HAVE BEEN FREED AND NOW-"
Sylvia believed she would run mad at the very sound, or at least lose control of her bladder, but Sharlene's statement cut off the thunderous voice like a hatchet through the brain of a calf. "Jesus Christ, another one? Listen guy, I don't have time for this right now. If you are gonna make trouble, then you have to go."
"WHAT?"
"You heard me. And no sass back, seriously. I am Jones on for a fresh cup of joe and unless you got some on you then you gotta go."
"OH. WELL... THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME I GUESS?"
"No problem, good luck with whoever summons you next."
This was too much, even for Sylvia who made a living from a little bit of absurdity. The lady in the cabin was either a master, of had a will of steel. Mica sat outside on the roof of Dee's shack, sitting in her beach chair. Under her, she was dimly aware of the board placed over the hole she herself had once chewed her way into Dee's shack through. One could still see the hole from inside, and you wouldn't think that Mica had once been stuck at the hips while trying to crawl through it. For now though, she was watching the people working at the bridge and the rivers edge a ways off and thinking. Where did Dee go? Was he alright? Would he come back? Was he as afraid as she was? Why did he leave? Her nervousness was becoming a coal of fear, and she wanted him here with her. If he was afraid, they could be afraid together. Did he leave because of her? If he did, she would change whatever it was that had made him leave if it would bring him back.
Floyd had asked around at the bridge, and some of the fishers had seen him driving off in the ATV. After that Floyd had gone out after him, but to no avail. No one at the hall had seen or heard him go by. He'd cut cross country it seemed, and vanished into the wilderness that the world had become. Mica would wait. Surely he would come back. He couldn't just leave her like this could he? Leave her alone with their... What was she going to do if he didn't? Mica didn't know how to take care of a baby. Helen and Victor took turns, but even then there were two people looking after Thomas. Who would she take turns with?
Mica watched the bridge steadily, and fretted over her thoughts.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 15, 2018, 05:49:48 pm
Nathaniel hummed a little to himself as he led the way across the field leading to the refugee center, keeping an eye out for any sign of trouble. The fact Lilith was practically bouncing around with excitement only made him more nervous about what this unfamiliar doctor might discover, smiling some. "If they really can sort this out for you...hell, just think of how Hector and Roxanne would handle finding this out." he remarked along the way, still unaware of what happened.
Elsewhere, as Helen left Quinn's lab she decided to pay the library another visit, to check and see whether Melody had arrived yet. As she did so she sorted through the items in her pack, retrieving a small glass bottle containing a distinct, vibrant red liquid. A healing potion, that she intended to give to Melody just in case.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 15, 2018, 08:30:05 pm
After Helen left Victor gave a deep sigh of relief and went back to his room. “That went better than expected…”, he told to himself. Now with that taken care off, Victor made preparations for Melody’s visit. She had said she was on her way to the library so Victor didn’t have much time; he simply grabbed his new journal, a couple notes and then went towards the library. On his way there he meet up with Melody.
“Victor? Hey!”, Melody exclaimed outloud as she flagged down Victor on her way to the library. Victor saw her and smiled as he wave back.
“Energetic as ever aren’t we?”, Victor stated once Melody closed their distance. He could not help but note all the gear Melody was wearing; the belt full of magazines, the M1911, the combat knife and the rifle behind her back. “I see you have been practicing more than the arcane.”
Melody gave an excited nod in response; she was excited to show her progress but this wasn’t the place. “Yes, I have been working with magic crystals and have made lots of progress. As I said on the radio, I have a gift for you, Helen and Roxanne. By the way, where are they?”
The smile of Victor’s face grew widers. “Whoa, calm down a bit. I am glad to hear your work is going well. As for Roxanne and Helen, let’s see…” With a quick scan using his aura spell Victor tracked the two’s aura at the library. “Oh, they are at the library right now. Perfect timing don't you think? Come on, let’s go meet them and we can discuss things properly there.” Melody nodded once more and then followed Victor into the library. She patted her pockets to make sure her little surprise was still there; she sighed in relief when it was.
Roxanne had gone back to the library to put some material back that wasn’t hers and that other might get a use of later. If those two things weren’t true, Roxanne would’ve burned them along with the other materials. One thing she noted was the difficulty she was having in reading some of the labels and she did not know why. After a while, it came to her; her mutations that granted her super visions, including night vision, were gone. While corporeal, she was for all intents and purposes a normal human woman; well, not completely normal, more like a hollow. All medical tests done on her would come normal but it would show something was off; something that no diagnosis would pinpoint but that it would still be there. Roxanne would no longer be able to mutate or augment herself in this state and the fact that her vision was back to “normal” irritated her a little. “At least I don’t have to use glasses again…”, she told herself as comfort.
Not long after, Helen stepped into the library. Roxanne was surprised by Helen’s visit but then told herself she shouldn’t be due to the numerous books on the arcane available; and the fact she and Victor also frequented here often. “Hey, Helen. It’s been a while since we last talked hasn’t it?” Roxanne was not aware that Helen knew about her “condition” nor did it occur to her that her mask would give it away even if she didn’t. For now she would act like things were the same. “So, what brings you here? Looking for anything specific? I just finished putting some books back so if you need anything I might be able to help.”
This was when Victor and Melody came into the library as well. The latter still quite energetic and excited. “Roxanne, Helen!”, Melody exclaimed as she passed by Victor to greet the two women to which he simply rolled his eyes in amusement. “It’s been a really long time since I visited. Sorry for not keeping in touch but I was working on things. I have gifts for you two!”
“Why don’t we all take a seat and organized ourselves? I am sure we all have quite a few things we want to discuss so it is best to get comfortable.”, Victor suggested. Melody and Roxanne took up in the offer; the former sitting next to Victor while Roxanne sat across her leaving the seat across from Victor to Helen. “So, who goes first?”, Victor asked
“Good news! I found 3 weeks worth of supplies on the 3rd floor.”
“What?! I checked down there and found nothing.”
“I realized it was so cold it started numbing my antenna but once I warmed them up I was able to use them to find some hidden loot.”
“Oh, well, I have to admit that is really handy. Well done; but I still assume no science ID?”
“No, those things are fucking rare and all the scientist are zeds now so getting one from them will be tricky.”
“Well, I have offered to shoot them down myself but noooooo, we have to conserve ammo and shit…”
“We should’ve listened and gone with the laser weaponry when we had the chance.”
“No use in delwing in the past you know? We are here and it’s best to think for solutions, not on what could’ve been.”
“Easy for you to say, you have all the good mutations.”
“Ladies, no fighting.”
“But there is nothing else to do! We are slowly freezing to death here…”
“Well, I have good news, I got this console working.”
“And what good those that do to us?”
“Well, maybe we can hack our way to disable the security system and get out of here.”
“Meh, worth a shot… For now, I will go and look on the lower floors now. The machines have earned their rest.”
“We are cyborgs, not machines.”
“You certainly talk like ones. Anyways, see you in a few hours.”
“Sure, just be carefull down there.”
“Not a dull moment doc.”
On the terminal, the following could be read.
“Welcome Doctor Masterson, choose an operation.
1.) Assignments for the day. 2.) Project files. 3.) Clearance level request. 4.) Activate Blackout protocol. 5.) Access System Intranet.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 15, 2018, 09:01:51 pm
Helen gave a little nod to Roxanne as she entered the library, setting aside another of the books she'd taken from it earlier. She then removed her mask and set it on the table for now. "Good to see you're doing well, Roxanne. Much as one can at least." he said. "Was putting some things away as well, plus Melody's expected to stop by here soon to go with Victor." she said. That first remark likely hinted at her already knowing the news, and she was about to bring it up, before Victor and Melody arrived, the redhead smiling and giving a little wave to the apprentice.
"It's fine Melody, I do hope your studies have gone well in the meantime, and that you've been alright." she said, soon taking her seat at the table. "We have quite a bit to catch up on, surely. I also had something for you as well. How far along through History of Alchemy are you? If you haven't procured some already, it might be good to take this along for the mission Victor has planned." she said, setting the vial on the table for her. A vial of the Opus Parvum as the book formally termed it, a pale shadow of the eilixir of life, and yet still a potent healing item.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 16, 2018, 09:24:09 pm
Catnip put out her proverbial feelers, her connections among the Pricetown settlers and told them to search for her sisters absentee boyfriend. They were instructed to help Dee if he needed it, but to make sure he came back. Secretly, Floyd talked to a few of those who'd volunteered to lead search parties and share his suspicions and fears with them while Hector instructed them in what to keep an eye out for in terms of danger. The settlers had already had mixed interactions with groups of Hell's Raiders on their journey, but they had not encountered Gods Army beyond the leavings they'd come across. Before the end of the day, a group of Shattered Helm migrants would return carrying a handful of blue patches and bearing ammo belts greatly diminished.
"Not a problem," they told Hector that night, passing over the patches to the marshal, "We protect and serve."
The small victory was a little comfort to some, but it would be awhile before sign of Dee would be found. For the time being, Catnip let her people work while she got down to something she could actually do. To anyone who'd been with Catnip during her time at the howling tower, the small battery shaped cannister she took from a side pocket of her gift bag would look vaguely familiar. It was smaller and somewhat cruder than the intact ones discovered back in the facility. Catnip had examined them at length, commiting as well as she could to memory the design. They had been pretty simple in design, a simple fluted metal tube wrapped in copper coil. This smaller one was different, Catnips own design made from materials salvaged from the howling towers basement. a few sheets of thick superalloy wrapped with a thin wire of the same material at it's middle until it almost looked like a spool.
She slid the cap off the top, and withdrew the little pink stone hanging from her neck. It twirled a little at the end of the cord, and as always Catnip wondered if it was she who made it do that, or the stone itself. Such thoughts led her to thoughts of how she had got it, her own gift to herself. "Alcoholism, Depression, and now heart problems. I am beginning to wonder if King was right when he said she wasn't worth the trouble." Pinky said. She scrawled something through her ledger, stopping momentarily to adjust her reading glasses before moving on.
"It's completely correctable." Efram explained, "Easily in fact. The surgery would be minimally invasive, and it could only benefit you Ma'am. It would look good for your clients to know that your employees are taken care of." Pinky had shown little interest in the doctors report. Catnip had been back from Algol for only a month and in that time she'd turned alcoholic. She could barely work, she made a scene in the foyer regularly, and Minx had her hands tied keeping track of her. Now, Catnip was complaining of chest pain. She was too young for such a problem, and from his cursory examination Efram had found that Catnip had come away from combat with a souvenir. A piece of shrapnel lodged against her heart. It didn't seem like it should be causing a problem. The xrays showed that the shrapnel wasn't overly sharp that he could see, which meant that it was possible that it was toxic in some way. The screaming engine had been a device which processed the blob. It was entirely possible.
"How much?" Pinky asked. Efram named his price, a number of marks that would go towards medication alone. Efram had no intention of taking pay for more than that on Catnips behalf. Still, Pinky tried to haggle. It was not out of malice that she did this, just her nature. Still, it annoyed the doctor a little that Pinky should be haggling over the life of such a young girl. It was decided that he would absorb the loss, and Catnip was taken in right away. It was not a piece of metal. It was a shard of soft pink stone, smooth to the touch except for the little indent on one edge. That last felt rough to the touch from where it's rim all the way to where it terminated on the other side of the chip. Catnip turned the little flake over in her hand again and again, savoring the feel of it like she had with the complete stone. Her lifes goal, the item her god had directed her to find, her holy relic, was gone. Destroyed along with the screaming engine. It seemed though that Catnip had been left with a memento of it. This memento would have killed her if not for her flak vest and ribs.
"It's an interesting piece of rock isn't it?" Efram asked. He thought of Catnip's fascination over the stone was little more than the fascination of the veteran examining the bullet that had nearly killed them. There was a little of that, but mostly it was down to Catnips flagging faith. She still believed in Agmen, but often questioned her own reasoning behind her continued reverence for something that seemed intent on punishing her for seemingly nothing. Roxanne would have sat her down and told her the story of Abraham and Isaac, how god had tested Abraham's faith by taking everything from him. In the end, God had stopped him from sacrificing his son Isaac, Abrahams faith having been proved.
"It is." Catnip said distantly. She was allowed to keep it, and later that night she tied it to a lace and hung it about her neck, keeping it as close to her heart as she could without putting it back in her chest. It blew soft breezes as she slept, gifting her with sweet dreams from the winds of memory. Somewhere in that place where the gods dwell, Agmen rested back and finally released it's dire will on the threads of Catnip's fate. A slave she was in Pricetown, but from Agmen she was free. Catnip unlaced the cord and with one careful movement, pushed the stone into the tiny canister. Then, she held either end between the forefingers of both hands and waited. What happened next would depend on some assumptions Catnip had made based on a few observations. The vortex stones were a source of potential. Potential borne on the winds. Catnip knew how to harness it, or at least she thought she did. At first, nothing happened. Then, very suddenly, the canister began to spin on it's own between her fingers. Catnip was so surprised that she dropped it. She was shocked, it worked. It actually...
"It works! Kathrine! It works!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 18, 2018, 01:04:57 am
Melody look on with excitement as Helen presented the vial to her; she picked it up and examined it. “We haven’t started on alchemy yet Ms.Mckinnon; Victor said we should master achemical synthesis first so we can go ahead and practice alchemy safely. So that is what I have been doing.”, Melody explained.
Victor smiled Melody’s way. “And if you have proven you have done so, we can start on alchemy this week.”
“Really?!”
“Yes, after this little meeting I will give you a hip flask for you to pour that potion in for tomorrow.”, Victor added, “For now, why don’t you show us how much you have progressed?”
Melody gave a quick nod before taking a small box and setting it on the table. “Right, ok. I have here a present for each of you. This is the result of what I have worked.” She opened the box and three crystals on thin silver chains were inside. Melody took the first one and gave it to Victor; the crystal was a black and it seemed to absorb the light around it. “This is the midnight crystal. It is mostly a byproduct of my work. It contains all the excess energy of creating crystals and become one itself. It hold great raw power but it is highly unstable. Kind fits you don’t you think.” Victor gave a small laugh and then nodded as he accepted the necklace.
Next she took another crystal necklace and gave it to Helen; it was white and it irradiated light bright enough to be blinding but it somehow was pleasant to look at and it did not illuminate its surroundings. Quite the bizarre displace. “This is the Crystal of Ra. It has the power to dispel spirits, forces and other assorted things that would cause us harm. I figure you could get some use out of it.”
Finally, Melody presented Roxanne with the last crystal. It’s color was a combined black and white lines that spiraled upwards from the base of the crystal to the top; from pole to pole. The white irradiated light that was immediately absorbed by the black portions. “This is the equinox crystal. It is two forces fighting with one another and their eternal struggle coalesced into single entity. It seems it wants to find what it is and the two forces want influence over you. It reminded me of you, neither black or white; not quite neutrality either... Honestly, I have not found a use for it yet but you might. Hope you like it.”
Victor and Roxanne examined their respective crystals; each of them mesmerized by it for different reasons. “Wow, got to hand it to you Melody, you exceeded my expectations. You are more than ready to advance into alchemy.”, Victor explained. Melody reacted with celebratory gesture while whispering to herself “Yes!”. This clearly showed her young age and the excitement the energy that came with it. “Now, there is a bit more”, Melody explained, “Here, look at this.” She took out the two red extended magazines for her rifle and took out a bullet from each. The projectile was a crystal, one white and the other black. “Look, I have been able to make bullets out of these crystals to weaponize them. No spirit can withstand its power! It is said in old tales and legends that many creatures were immune to humans weaponry. Well, I would like to see them take an arcane crystal at 2,330 feet per second!”
Roxanne smiled at all of this; she was impressed by the crystals and the way Melody weaponized them. “I am a bit jealous Melody. I was part of an arcane order for years and yet I can’t make heads or tails of this. You are learning faster than this outdated witch ever could. I bet the boys must be fawning over you.”
A clear expression of pride was etched in Melody’s face over all the praise she was getting. It wasn’t until Roxanne’s last statement that she got a bit confused. “Wait what? N-no, it’s not like that. Theres is no such person…”, Melody responded shily.
“Is that so? I would assume a talented young girl like you would’ve found a nice man for herself.”, Roxanne teased.
Without a moment’s hesitation Melody responded back with a little smirk in her face. “Well, neither have you so you don’t have much room to talk.” Roxanne got up from her seat a bit offended on the remark but it was more comical than anything else. “Excuse me?! Are you insinuating something by that?!”
Victor chuckled a bit by that and he extended his hand upwards as it was meet by Melody’s in a high five. Roxanne just looked at his flabbergasted and then looked at Helen with an expression that read. “Can you believe this?” She then sat back on her chair with her arms crossed.
“Anyways, let’s move on for now.”, Victor proposed, “I guess I will tell Melody her surprise.” Melody’s attention quickly change to Victor and what he was saying. “I am going to take you tomorrow on a relic hunt. Whatever we find is yours; in this new world, it’s important to find materials to work with. I am going to teach you that and maybe one day you can go on your own hunts.”
“Are you serious?! Am I going to go and explore finally?!”, Melody exclaimed.
“Calm down Melody. Yes, I will take you tomorrow. Later on today we will plan it out but I have to do a little thing before hand ok? Just wait for me in my room when we are done here. For now, I will let either of these two ladies have a word.”
Roxanne did a dismissive gesture as she was still a bit annoyed. “I have nothing to say at the moment. Helen, go ahead if you have anything you want to adress.”
“Do you think they will find anything down there?”
“Doubt it...not like any of it matters. With that thing out there, we are fucked either way.”
“Hey, that’s not like you. Why don’t you drop the facade Lambda? We all are scared.”
Lambda gave a deep sigh and placed her hair back. “Yeah, I know… I am sorry Router but I just can’t shake the feeling of dread you know?”
“We will figure it out, we always have and this will be no exception.”, Router responded back. He went back and looked at the console; after some infiltration he found something disturbing.
It was the last one that made Router and the bio-weapon twins experience dread. They had assumed Bio-Weapon Plague had been neutralized once the experiments had started to go haywire but no, this consel here had the piece of information they were missing and it said that now only was it alive but was no longer being tracked.
“Is it chipped?”, asked Sigma.
“Let’s see…”, Router answered. After some typing in the console the result of that question popped out.
Bio-Weapon Alpha: Kill Switch Active Bio-Weapon Beta: Kill Switch Active Bio-Weapon Delta: Kill Switch Active Bio-Weapon Gama: N/A Bio-Weapon Lilith: Kill Switch Offline Bio-Weapon Apophis: N/A Bio-Weapon Meu: N/A Bio-Weapon Psi: Kill Switch Offline Bio-Weapon Omega: Kill Switch Offline Bio-Weapon Plague: Kill Switch Active Bio-Weapon Blade: Kill Switch Active Bio-Weapon Trigger: Kill Switch Active
With a triumphant expression, Router turned around and beckoned the two bio-weapons the results. “Yes, it’s chip is still active; the blackout protocol is a go!”, his expression went somber as he realized what this meant. “Wait, no. I am sorry, there is no way I can do that; there has to be another way.”
Lambda gave Router a sympathetic smile as Sigma placed a hand on his shoulder before speaking up. “We are ready. This is for the best; if this thing is alive… We both now even Apophis feared this thing and to know it’s out there…”
“Listen to what you are saying! Both of you will die; no, I can’t lose anymore of you. We will get out of here and assemble a team and hunt Plague down as we did Apophis.”, Router declared, his last statement seemingly orders rather than a request.
“Hunt down Plague? How? We all know that is not feasible. His abilities are that beyond of any other Bio-Weapon. I know you did not intend for it to end this way but his control over XE037 makes him practically invincible.”, Lambda explained. There was silence for a moment before Router spoke up.
“So what? Just neutralize all but three bio-weapons? Is it really worth it?”, Router asked.
“If we don’t, we will die anyways. If I am to die, I prefere knowing I did so protecting out comrades; it’s in our programing after all.”, Sigma answered. Lambda just nodded in agreement.
“Ok then...but one problem: We still have yet to find a science ID card and we need it to activate the blackout protocol. And what if it’s the only one we find? I doubt Delora and Thomas would agree to just give it up for something they have no sake in… If we even find one, that might be our only chance to get out.”, Router explained.
Before anyone else could interject, an emergency siren sounded through the facility. It sounded off, like if it was broken and it gave chills to those who heard it. “Alternate wail… This is bad…”, Router said in a calm yet haunted tone.
“What? Why? What’s going on?”, Lambda asked. But once more, no one was able to answer as the sirens stopped; in their place a song started playing: Bob Marely’s Don’t worry, be happy. The scene was bizarre and the bio twins were utterly confused while Router just looked shocked. A few moments later gunshots could be heard from the lower floors; it was muffled but Sigma could swear he heard screams along with the shoots.
“Router, what the fuck is going on?!”, Lambda screamed and demanded. Router did not bother to look at her as he answered, “Delora and Thomas. Look form them, get them here…”
Sigma and Lambda looked at each other for a few seconds. “Alright, will do, But afterwards I want to know what is going on ok?” Router nodded and then the two gathered the weapons and headed to the lower floors.
“Doctor Evans Masterson, welcome back. It’s been 5602 days since your last check in; shall I brief you on the status of the project?” This was said by a speaker on the console. Router knew this voice all too well. “Status of the project? Sure, go ahead…”
“Very well Doctor, please take a seat as I explain.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on March 18, 2018, 02:16:23 am
Isaac returned to the farm late into the day with nothing from his hunt. He could brawl with ease but using a rifle proved difficult without both hands. As such he had spent most of his time thinking of what he would do with himself now. As a vigilante he had lost everything he had cared for.
As a man of peace he had nearly lost the only thing left for him in this world. Now as he walked into the farm waving and giving greetings to some of their guests he realized he would have to strike a balance. Which he knew would take time as he tried to find equilibrium between the two.
Opening the back of his truck Isaac tossed the rifle he had taken inside. Closing the door Isaac pressed the button and heard the locks click before he turned. Sighing to himself he started for his room.
Meanwhile Alexei had decided to take a stroll. He had left the AK at home and took his handmade bow with him. A string was tied to the back of the arrow even though Alexei imagined he’d find no small game to hunt as he walked through the woods towards the farm with a backpack containing cured meats, vodka, and whiskey.
As he walked Alexei started into a song he’d heard his grandmother sing often in his youth “Oh, my crate is so full, I've got chintz and brocade. Take pity, oh sweety, Of this lad's shoulder.”
As he neared the camp outside the Farm he waved to Mislings with one hand and unslung his backpack with the other. Retrieving a bottle of vodka he tossed it to one of the approaching adults who caught it before saying “I see you’ve been okay since we last spoke.”
Alexei nodded as the pair walked to a table where several others were sitting. Setting the bag on the table and leaning back in his chair Alexei looked over the Mislings gathered before his eyes set on the one that had asked to speak with him. Raising an eyebrow as he sipped on a beer bottle filled with homemade vodka he wondered who the others with them were.
Irene smiled as she said “Oh right I haven’t introduced you to the guys! I thought since we would be making what is quite frankly an absurd amount of alcohol for just us we could start a business!”
Alexei had to admit that the enthusiasm in her voice made the idea more appealing. However more appealing than a simple chore wasn’t all that appealing to Alexei as he set the vodka down and retrieved a bottle of whiskey. Glasses were quickly produced and filled with an appropriate amount of the brown liquid. A short toast later and Alexei looked at the group as he asked them a simple question “What kind of business?”
Irene sipped her whiskey before telling him “Well we could sell it to traders and the like, but I know Ernie over here wants to start a proper bar at some point. But at the end of the day it is your still and your site so…” Alexei almost rolled his eyes as she trailed off. He knew if he didn’t offer to let them use his little shack, which he knew they’d have to expand for what she’d previously proposed, they’d just find somewhere else suitable for the purpose. Shrugging to himself he raised his glass in a salute as he said “To new friends then. We’ll need to get stills setup first, then bar of course. But that won’t be problem will it?”
All of those gathered shook their heads and Alexei produced some of the wrapped meat he’d made and they began to enjoy a meal together. The conversation was full of pleasantries as the differing people started to probe and feel out the others they would be working with. Save for Alexei as only a few minutes in he’d about measured his new business partners. Irene was intelligent, likeable, and someone he knew he could get along with since she could keep up with him when it came to drinking. Two of the others seemed to be thugs, the types one would keep around a bar to toss out the people who got a little too sauced for their own good. And then Ernie was likeable in an oddly manufactured way, asking and saying all the right things to ingratiate himself to those around him. Sipping his whiskey Alexei wondered what in the hell he’d gotten himself into and how many layers there were to this matryoshka doll.
Meanwhile elsewhere in New England a monk handed a reinforced case to one of his fellows. “Get it to the next location. It won’t be long before they come here but we’ll send word to a..friend of ours who might be able to help. If not we will do our best to cover up your tracks brother.”
The monk that had been given the case bowed to his compatriot before starting for the door. As he disappeared the other monks checked rifles and grenades as they readied themselves for death. For them it was inevitable that one would die and to deny that was simply idiocy. However they had all hoped to die during their evening prayers as their children took over the task of guarding this powerful artifact that was now being sent to yet another temple. Now they would die a warrior’s death which to them was equally honorable but still less desirable.
Their leader himself sighed as he retrieved the quill from his desk and began to write a letter. He had known that even before the cataclysm there had been organizations that had desired the magical artifacts that he had been raised to protect. It had not been until he was thirty that he had understood that they were protecting the people from the artifacts. Granted the one they were moving now would be of little use without something strong enough to power it and the existence of such a thing was something he doubted. To protect it though, that was his utmost priority.
Elsewhere a man watched the spirit that was coalescing into its true form after suffering an injury not long ago. It was still nearly dead and rather weak. So weak in fact that the man was sure an average mortal would be able to kill it with their bare hands were one there to do such a thing. As it was he eyed it with ire as he said “You couldn’t even obtain the service, let alone the soul, of a single half awoken demigod with the help of seven men blessed by gods. If your counterpart hadn’t almost equally fucked up by fucking DYING I would kill you.”
A raven lazily hopped over as its beak moved in a mimicry of talking “I did not expect him to be so strong yet. I am a spirit of chaos not insight after all.”
A deeply pained sigh escaped the man’s lips as he said “Regardless you have time yet to complete your task. I still need to obtain the item in question which given the fact that, as previously stated, your counterpart died without my permission will take time. I have no sway over his wayward minions after all.”
The raven bowed slightly before returning to the spirit’s still rebuilding form. The man for his part sat down at the head of an abandoned conference table. Taking a drink from his glass he closed his eyes and enjoyed the silence of the abandoned underground facility. Soon though he would be king! He would have a palace and servants and soldiers and..on and on and on as he cackled to himself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 18, 2018, 08:17:55 am
There wasn't much time to actually bother with doors, not in liliths mind. There wasn't much time for a lot of things actually, not when the ongoing rivalry and her own desires were concerned. The doors of the refugee center held up about as well as one would expect when she put her weight on them. Lilith did not strike them or anything like that. She simply leaned on them until a split moment later, the light steel gave with a tortured metal shriek that set those in the foyer on edge and on guard. Her muscular bulk forced it's way past a pair of doors which should have swung easily under light pressure and began making demands.
"Where'th medthin man?" She lisped. She stumbled over a bench, scattering people and absolutely wrecking several of the low seatings. She was clearly eager and it made her a bit clumsy. The security guards tried to keep people calm while the man behind the information desk tried his best to give Nathaniel directions. Instead of waiting though, Lilith bounded the single step that took her up to the window and pressed her face into it. The tigresses sizable fangs clicked against the reinforced glass, and immediatly a crack ran from one corner across to the opposite side. At the same time, the window popped out of it's moorings with a hollow, reverberating, bang.
"J-jesus! That way! F-fuck, that way! Up the right hall in the medical wing!" He cried, shrinking away from the tipping edifice of the freshly uninstalled window. He made the attempt at getting out of the way valiantly but the wall of glass innevitably tipped over and came slamming down, inches from his head. It took all of Nathaniel's will to keep Lilith from crawling atop the window in her attempts to get the information she wanted. In that moment, he pitied Sharlene for the effort it must have taken her to reign in this queen of beasts. Not that she would have needed it, in another life long gone Sharlene had been a veterinarian. An Australian veterinarian.
Nathaniel's attempts failed to make an impact with Lilith and soon she was across the desk and trapping the attendant with her weight on a sheet of glass that really wasn't made to hold her weight. Nathaniel caught another flash, this time it was the spectacle of her. His girlfriend. Huge, muscular, bestial. To top it all off she went about as nude as the animal she resembled, her leather track suit obliterated by a growth spurt and with not an article of clothing in the whole cataclysm world that could adiquately cover the brick house he called her body.
Before things could get truly tragic, a man with the features of a mouse poked his head into the foyer to see what was going on.
"Good Lord, she's huge! Dervish didn't say anything about this!" Later that night, Sharlene sat on her couch surrounded by a few remaining divine spirits and wondering just what the hell Lilith was up to. The tiger would be home later, but Sharlene wished she were home right now.
She was irritated. She was irritated by the series of things that had suddenly appeared in her cabin well after she'd given up on trying to make coffee. The largest of these things, and the one she grudgingly appreciated herself, was a large mahogany desk of astounding vintage and craftsmanship. It had slid into her cabin with such ease and grace that one could almost believe that it had been placed on casters and pushed through and enchanted door from an issue of the Sears and Roebucks catalogue, circa 1944. Behind it, leaping out of the floor from a dimension perpendicular to reality, came an ornate leather back oak chair. More throne than peice of office furniture. In the chair sat the most irritating thing. At first, it had come as a heavy dust which quickly coelesced into a skeleton. Muscle and organs came next, shaping the skeleton into a form more recognizable as female. When the muscle and meats were well and truly situated where they belonged, a sheaf of brown skin unfurled itself from the top of the figure down to her toes, followed closely behind by silk bra and panties, hiding her more delicate parts before they had become too recognizable. To finish the ensemble, a professional skirt, shirt, and heels wove themselves from nothing about her, along with the purple hair sprouting in voluminous locks from her scalp. A pair of spectacles was plonked neatly onto the womans professionally cute nose.
There are no creatures, it is said among their family, more will full and harded headed as a Quintero matron. To be any tougher, you'd have to be as thick skilled and sly as a lawyer or a beaurocrat. The being sitting across from Sharlene, it seemed, was both.
Michael was busy cutting up yet another thick ream of paper, while the woman behind the impossible desk was simply conjuring more with every flick of her wrist. "You certainly have little concern for the environment Ms. Quintero, why don't you give it over and save a tree?" The woman said slyly.
"My brother saves trees," Sharlene grunted, "He can save an amazing number of trees with a six pack of fosters and a pipe bomb. He saves trees like you wouldn't believe."
"I'm well aware of Kermit's exploits Ms. Quintero. I'm not here on his behalf, like I said."
Sharlene huffed and again wished Lilith was here. Lilith could show this uptight bitch what for. Lilith could show everybody what for. The divine spirits hadn't been able to do that. This woman had banished all of her 'helpers' shortly after she got here. "Take a break fam." Was all she'd said, and they'd simply poofed out of existence. Now she was sitting here trying to issue Sharlene with some kind of summons or citation or something, and by the God's that were, generating enough paper to fuel a moderately sized book burning.
"Fine." The woman finally decided, "you aren't going to allow me to serve you these papers, fine. I'm legally sanctioned to issue them orally." Sharlene gave a deep and profound groan. She wasn't exactly sure what the hell this was about but already she wasn't interested.
"The krecks are suing you for damages both physical and emotional. Lord of pain Chzo and the new prince are issuing you with a restraining order, you aren't to summon them for a year following the issuance of these documents. There are several divine spirits who are pursuing you for some kind of civil rights violations, and there's a shoggoth who would very much like to see you in court concerning a cup of coffee you threw at it." The woman said, paraphrasing to documents more than a little. "Oh, and someone on one of the upper planes of existence is very unhappy with you."
"You said that already. All these little bastards pressing their charges and shit." Sharlene said, a little more irritably. The woman shrugged, then templed her hands on the desk. "Technically, they are from the same plane of existence. Different dimension, same plane. If I had to explain it, you wouldn't understand and if I had to show you, your mind would break. Even mine would I think. This isn't our business though, and that wasn't the question you wanted to ask."
Sharlene shrugged that off, getting a little interested. "Oh yeah? I think it is. Who's unhappy with me? Huh?"
The woman again shrugged, "all I am aware of is that my client wanted you to know that they are uh..." She called into existence a slip of paper and squinted at it. "Reeing? That isn't a word." Sharlene snapped the paper from the woman's fingers and looked at it. While she did that, the woman played with the Newton's cradle on her desk.
"This is blank, lady." Sharlene said finally.
"To you maybe, to a Deus Ex like me, it says whatever it needs to say."
"A... What? Dio sex?"
"Day-us X. There's only one of us per world, which makes things rather lonely sometimes and- and you are distracting me. This knowledge isn't for you and these aren't the questions you want to ask." The woman said, becoming strident at the last.
Sharlene sighed again. Normally she didn't care, but the promise of forbidden knowledge had grabbed her interest. If she was going to get anywhere, she guessed she would have to deal with her new problems. "What about these whatever they are?" She asked.
"Oh, feel free to ignore them. No one takes the krecks seriously, The lord of pain doesn't have a leg to stand on in court and probably won't even show up, the divine spirits don't actually have a civil rights code to adhere to, and your mysterious dissatisfied observer can't actually harm you or anything."
"Wait. Wait wait wait." Sharlene said, holding up her hands. "If none of this stuff can actually touch me, than why should I care?"
The woman winked at her and said "You don't, and that isn't the question you want to ask. Listen Ms. Quintero, I have citations to hand out and people to see, keep these in mind next time you make coffee alright? Maybe consider getting a coffee maker?" She grinned, showing teeth like Mica's, but with wider spaces between.
Sharlene grunted something that sounded a bit like "whatever," and then had to leap up onto the couch as desk, chair, and woman slid into the space between air molecules. In her place, Sharlene was bemused to see that the woman, the "Deus Ex" had left behind a simple side table that oozed elegance atop which rested a simple white mug with a picture of the Sydney Opera House, a crimson crystal decanter of the best coffee Sharlene had ever tasted, and a small business card on which someone had wrote in meticulous cursive "I believe this is the answer to the question you really want to ask." On the other side, it bore in copperplate font the simple legend "Illiana Dheva-D'oris. Deus Ex. Attorny at law. Magical law our specialty."
Over the next few days, a mysterious brown skinned woman with purple hair, began issuing summons and citations to people around the farm. She would simply appear, serve the paper, and then vanish again leaving behind some small enigmatic gift of candy. Roxanne would later even find a tiny scrap of paper carefully taped to Jim's pot along with one of those little nutrient sticks that were so uncommonly found in the world.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 18, 2018, 12:39:54 pm
Helen smiled a little, and soon regarded thew crystals with renewed curiosity, holding the one given to her and doing what she could to determine it's nature without putting on her mask. "You've advanced in your studies rather admirably, Melody. Thank you." she said with a polite nod. "And beyond practical use, I'd say these are also symbols of what our work, combined, is achieving. Especially Roxanne's. A symbol of light and dark, making something unique in combination" she said.
The discussion of a man made her give an amused smirk at that, and a facepalm at the quip directed at Roxanne, adding a remark of her own once the opportunity arose. "You know, we should induct my apprentice into this so that he can join in the lessons. You might like him. Solomon, boy about your age, resides at The Hall?"
"In any case, do ensure you keep an eye on Victor during the hunt, Melody." she teased. "As usual, any other equipment you might prefer for this, feel free to make use of it. Though your use of crystal bullets likely makes a wraithslayer unneeded." she remarked, before giving a knowing glance to Victor. "I do want to ensure the safety of both of you, after all. Then, no doubt we have other things to catch up on when the time comes."
"One last thing I was considering. Doctor Quinn might like the opportunity to assist in teaching her, as well as others if we end up taking other students in. What do you think, Victor?"
Elsewhere at the refugee center, one of the Site 4 soldiers was watching the field from the rooftop, a weathered L523-series rifle configured as a DMR resting in easy reach. Spotting Lilith and Nathaniel approaching, he picked up his handset. "Got two coming from the farm. Massive 5a mutant, feline subtype."
Catalina's voice could be heard as the captain answered. "Let me guess, tigrine mutagenic pattern, really damn tall, and accompanied by a guy about your age, 5'6"?" Larion smirked a little at that. "Yeah. Short fellow's in cargos and jacket, looks to be an old ECH on his head." he remarked.
"That's Corporal Ford and Lilith. At ease private." she directed. "Affirmative, captain. Anything else you got on them?" he asked. "Corporal's from 2-XIV MOUT, signed up with the marshal. Well, the other one listed as KIA." Larion facepalmed at that. "The anomaly, right. And Lilith?"
"Listed as a registered 5a, on the orders of a Z-series Research Directive." Larion gave the approaching tigress another glance through his binoculars. "Sounds about right. Solar-cell aug, I'm betting." he remarked. "And how'd you guess that one?" she remarked. "Half the fur's catching the light different. Probably synthetic, optical fiber setup." he pointed out.
"I need to conceal my position better, it seems..." he muttered, only to jump a bit at the sudden resounding shriek of metal below him. So much for worrying she won't fit through the door.
Nathaniel had, along the way, given a wave to someone watching from the rooftop. He thought to himself that this was going to be one of those days, and Lilith quickly demonstrated that by the way she forced the doors open. "Lilith I could've got that f-"
And soon enough the next minute was a flurry of trying to keep Lilith in line, apologizing to the increasingly-worried guards, and trying to handle the directions a now-terrified receptionist was struggling to give.
The doctor's appearance was something he caught sight of, tapping Lilith's side to get her attention as best he could, before walking over. "Lilith, for fucks sake calm down...um, pardon me, are you...the doctor Dervish recommended?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 19, 2018, 06:02:59 am
Lilith ignored Nathaniel for a moment, choosing instead to lick the window beneath her. The poor man tried his best to cover his face, but space was now at a premium.
"Don't eat meeee..." He moaned weakly.
Lilith purred heavily. That stopped abruptly though when Eframs face hoved into veiw at her side, taking her off guard. She flopped onto her side, paws unable to get real purchase on the glass. Her claws scratched and mauled the surface and the man beneath passed out from lack of air. Later, he would wake in the medical wing in a full body cast. This little incident wouldn't kill him, but it would net him a shiny new set of metal pins running through various parts of his body, and a new lung.
Now though, Lilith was busy being startled. Efram restrained the urge to bring his hands up over his face and sort of failed. They came up about shoulder level and several steps back were taken. "Er. Yes, I suppose so." He said, "I mean, yes. I am Doctor Marsh. I'm a mutagenicist specializing in mutant uh... 'viability.' I requested this Liliths presence based on her perceived infertility and some recent discoveries having to do with advanced mutants." He paused to look Lilith up and down.
"I've no idea how we are going to fit Lilith here into a medbay though. Walk with me sir."
Before following after, Lilith looked around seemingly for the first time at the ruined doors, the wrecked benches, and the devastation of the help desk. It was quite a peice of work, and she hadn't even meant to do it.
"Oopth." Catnip received a summons to court that she was invited to ignore. The reason behind the document was writ large as "Two counts of murder in the first degree." Under that, the document went on to detail the killing of her handler, and the murder of X7s head surgeon. Catnip didn't even remember the second killing, and no one knew about it, so it was more than a bit of a surprise to her. The purple haired lady had at least shown the forethought and taste to deliver the summons when Kathrine wasn't around at least. It gave her time to scratch her head over the document before burning it.
A page served to Lucian, the import of which was his openly wearing of his orders sigil, a "canonical no no" for blood mages according to "certain little birds in other planes of existence." Very little of what the professional woman said made much sense, except that he was free to disregard. Certain "little birds" could and probably would be freely ignored for the sake of "fun." Lucian crumpled up his document and threw it away before attempting to charm what he assumed was some kind of demonic beaurocrat. The woman rebuffed him, saying "You're adorable sweety, but you don't have the paperwork or the agency for me."
Mica received a filling cabinet filled with citations and summons for a laundry list of cannibalism and murder charges. To her surprise, she could actually read them, but she didn't really understand them. The cabinet was in the way though, and the woman actually helped mica push it into the river. "It's better that way." She said, then added, "congrats on the baby sweety, it won't be as difficult as you might think. He wanted you to know that." When Mica asked who the strange lady meant, she only adjusted her glasses and flashed her sharklike teeth.
She also left behind a rather scathing citation on Dee's work desk for "abandonment" and "childish behavior." These Mica couldn't read, but decided to also toss into the river.
Quinn was issued a folder with a fine for "matter appropriation" and "being a miserable sod." He had no idea what "matter appropriation" meant, but it didn't really matter since no dollar amount was given. The folder was forgotten for three days until Quinn spilled a flask of nitric acid on his desk.
Victors heavy binder of petty crimes went unnoticed on his bookshelf for several months, and would go entirely unread when a small fire consumed it and a couple other volumes during a ritual.
Helen was given thirty days to appear before an extradimensional court for failure to confront Sharlene concerning her dangerous behavior, and also criminal tresspass on several holy sites. Helen scoffed at the accusations before lowering her mask into place. To her surprise, it showed her nothing. With the mask activated, the woman simply vanished entirely. When deactivated or taken off, she was still there. "Doesn't work on a Deus Ex ma'am." She said, grinning like mica. Helen balled up the papers in an uncharacteristic show of petulance and threw them at the woman, who further infuriated Helen by gracefully sliding into the fifth, sixth, and eighth dimensions at the same time.
Alexei and Sergei were served with drunk and disorderly charges.
Roxanne was personally given an injunction for "irresponsible and unsanctioned use of a nuclear device" and "being an elf." The second charge rankled Roxanne a little, since she wasn't an elf any longer. To her, the lady reeked of red tape and beaurocratic shickanery, contrasting with her inherent physical appeal.
Mohammad came across a woman with purple hair as he waited for L by the river. To him, she seemed to have chosen the wrong sort of outfit for such pleasant weather. His thoughts and plans for the day fell temporarily by the wayside when she approached him and issued him a warrant, the content of which made him go pale. "How did you..." He started, but she was gone. Instead, he saw L coming. He didn't want her seeing this, didn't want anyone seeing it. He panicked and did the only thing that made sense to him in that moment. He crumpled up the warrant, and ate it.
Kathrine was issued a sternly worded letter admonishing her for being "too innocent," "a space time anomaly," and "being a borderline pedophile." Kathrine couldn't read the letter, so she put it away for later. For the time being, she occupied herself with complementing the woman on her hair and clothing, and trying to shoo the "solicitor" away.
Several Mislings were served with papers that only served to remind them of crimes committed before the cataclysm, and to swerve public opinion against the bizarre woman.
Hector found a sheet bolted to the barrel of his tank. It seemed to be a ticket for driving on a suspended license, and an official admonishment for "sanctimoniousness." This paper he pulled down, (finding the bolt to actually be a magnet) crumpled up, and tossed down the breach. The wad of paper would later be obliterated by a shell fired during a test.
Throughout the week "Illiana" handed out these official documents and like anyone working to serve papers to people, did very little to endear herself to those she met while on duty. It certainly didn't help that most of the stuff she was handing out was either ridiculous or brought up painful memories. Still, at the end of the week she sat in her underwear in her own little pocket of space, enjoying the taste of existence from a tub, at the end of a spoon. Existence tasted like vanilla, and it was this, she decided, that made life worth living. She'd do her job, keeping an eye on Sharlene, and at the end of the week she would repeat this little activity. The farm would be seeing more of her maybe, and Sharlene would see more of her certainly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on March 19, 2018, 11:10:05 pm
Alexei had attempted to find out how to proceed with getting rid of his charge formally but had found the woman that had given it to him had simply disappeared. So he had simply decided to take the rest of his supplies to Isaac’s room after leaving the now blackout drunk bar tender and thugs with Irene to deal with. Pushing through the door he slid his thoughts of the woman and the charge aside as he set the bag on a table and said “You asked for supplies? For party yes?”
Isaac nodded as he stood up and gestured for Alexei to follow. “Yes for a party. I trust you can set up a good spread of drinks.”
Alexei shrugged and looked almost offended as he picked up the bag again and started to follow Isaac out the door. As it closed behind them he could almost feel the pain radiating off the man in front of him as they walked to an open area and started setting up tables. From there Alexei started to pile wood into a fire pit as Isaac went to briefly check on Alice.
Retrieving a lighter from his pocket Alexei started to light the fire. As the flames started to spread over the pile of wood Alexei watched it for a minute. Beauty could be found in many places he mused as the fire spread. Moving to a table to prepare drinks he whistled and thought that many of those places were quite destructive.
Isaac meanwhile had finished checking on Alice who had decided to come out and attend the little shindig that her father had setup. Isaac looked up to the clouds as he walked. If only he could fly up there for a time he thought as he opened the door to his quarters and pulled out a tiki torch he’d found at some point.
Returning to the area that he and Alexei had set up for the party he plunged the torch into the ground before catching the lighter that Alexei tossed to him. Lighting the torch Isaac walked over to Alexei and handed the man his lighter back before accepting the offered drink. “To lost friends.” Alexei said as he picked up one of his own.
Raising his glass Isaac responded “To lost friends.” before the two drank.
Alice meanwhile found a chair and watched the pair talk for a time. Alexei decided to go and let people know about the party taking a bottle of vodka with him as he went. Isaac meanwhile sat next to her and started talking with her about the past year.
Meanwhile at the Hall Gunnar had stopped to have a whispered conversation with Anton before walking over to where Solomon was observing Charles and Liam. Stopping to watch for a few minutes himself the bowman wondered what the two thought of him and his friends. Finally though he asked “When will the lady of the Hall be back? And where would one go to hunt around here?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 20, 2018, 01:07:55 am
Melody gave a warm smile and a nod at Helen’s suggestion of bringing her apprentice in. “Yes, having someone else to learn magic with sounds fun! As for the name, it does ring a bell but I can’t put a face to it...sorry. Still, should be nice meeting him.”
“Will do! I have heard of Victor’s little ‘adventures’ before so you can be sure I will be careful!”. Melody told Helen. Victor gave a look at Melody that read, “Oh, that’s how it is?” She smirked and listened on. “Equipment? I suppose something to keep my life energy up I suppose. The use of the aura of harvest still is very inefficient and I might have to fall back to that if I run out of bullets. I am trying to stay away from things that require essence personally. Getting ammo is difficult enough as it is. Keeping my life energy up has been difficult since I stopped using soul shards…”
Victor nodded his head at Helen’s question. “Sure thing. I don’t see Quinn offering his expertise to Melody as anything other than a benefit. The more sources of knowledge she gets the better. I did not ask him myself since I doubt he sees me in a good light; he is a man of science and I am probably just some quack playing with dangerous forces in his eyes. Still, Melody is free to seek anyone she wants to for guidance.”
“Speaking of guidance,”, Roxanne interjected, “You still need to help me find a wielder. I can’t go around with you in charge.” Victor sigh while not letting that take offend to him. “Yes, I will help you with that as well. I will be busy today and tomorrow but how about the day after?”, Victor said in response.
“Works for me, I have things to do tomorrow as well. Speaking of that, I should get ready for that.”, Roxanne answered back. Her tone was off. It wasn’t the annoyance of a few moments ago; it was as if she recalled something that changed her mood. “I will be leaving you guys for now. It’s been nice talking to you Helen; good luck dealing with him.” With that being said, Roxanne took off the cloak and carried it in her hand; then she simply walked towards the wall and phased through.
“Is Ms.Luna ok?”, asked Melody. Roxanne going through the wall wasn’t that surpricing as she was able to do that for some time now but during the whole ordeal Melody felt Roxanne’s aura a bit off. “I will explain it later Melody. For now, we should get going as well and get ready. I have to deliver something to someone as well… A long overdue item… Anything else before we go Helen?”
Roxanne made it to her room uneventfully. After gathering some items for her plans for the next day, she found some paperwork she did not recognized next to little jim. The dwarf triffid moved around which drew Roxanne’s attention more. She gave a read to the paperwork and scoffed at it. Something about a meeting for some citations? This seemed like a prank to her but there was a date, time and location later in in the week. Roxanne decided to amuse whoever left it there by showing up when the time came. Depending on her mood and who it was, she felt she would praise or scold the prankster.
After a while, 4 figures emerged from the stairs that lead to the lower floors of the lab. The four of them: Sigma, Lambda, Thoma and Delora, all walked out with various levels of injuries. Sigma’s most prominent injury was the lack of flesh on his lower left leg along with his foot. In its stead was simply a robotic skeleton supporting his mass; his foot had been blown up by the various bots now gone haywire but his built in repair nanobots systems stopped the bleeding. This left foot would’ve been a stump had it not been for the robotic skeleton being as hardy as it was.
Thomas shared a same fate but was not as lucky; his right arm had also been blown out and the bleeding had been stopped with nothing more than a rag and duct tape. He was still in pain but his drive kept him going; had it not been for his animalistic mutations, that drive would’ve been gone by now.
Lambda had been shot multiple times in the torso and abdomen by small arms fire. The combination of subdermal carbon filament armor and her own repair nanobot systems made the wound survivable but painful; furthermore, it was healing with each advancing second.
Delora was the luckiest; apart from some bumps, bruises and scratches, she was relatively unharmed. Despite not being a religious person, she thank whatever god had spared her numerous times in her head for sparing her.
“What the fuck was with that alarm and music earlier? Did it have to do with the bots going crazy?”, asked Delora.
“We are not sure ourselves. Router told us to get you guys so he could explain it himself.”, Sigma responded. Despite himself, that stoic expression and resignation was all he could show and it bothered Delora. How could he be so calm at a time like this? The music had stopped and a low alarm system had replaced it; not the siren from before but a constant beeping used to signal emergencies.
They soon reached the console where Router was at; he was setting looking at it with his back facing the group. “Router, we got them back. Thomas is wounded but he says he will manage. Now, will you tell us what is going on?”, Lambda asked. There was no response; Router just stayed seated and did not turn around. Delora did not have patience for this and reached out to turn the doctor around.
“Hey Doc, we don’t have time for this bull- whoa what the fuck?!”, Delora exclaimed once she turned the chair around. Router was slumped in his chair with his head tilted on his side. His eyes were wide open and lifeless; in his mouth there was blue foam still bubbling. On his neck there was what looked like a dart. Delora went and removed the thing and looked at it closely. “Who or what did this? I want out…”
The four of them had pieced together what had occurred but there was no signs of a culprit. It was then that the voice on the console returned. “Hello, My name is Tara. I am this laboratory’s AI assistant overseer. May you please present your credentials?” The four of them turned the attention to the console but it was Delora once more who spoke. “AI? Overseer? Are you in charge of this place? Did you make the robots attack us?” She then looked at Router’s body once more. “Did you do this to him?”
“I am sorry, but I cannot find you in our records. I was able to identify the two in the back as BM-0097 and BF-0096: Blade and Trigger. As for the feline mutant on the back, I cannot identify him either. What is your business here?” Upon hearing his assigned experiment number used as identification gave Sigma an idea. He side stepped Delora and spoke before she could say anything else. “These two are civilian consultants. He is a medical professional and she is versed in military tactics. As for Blade and I, we are here accompanying Doctor Evans Masterson.”
There was a moment of silence and the four awaited to see if that had worked. “Very well. I do not have any record of a scheduled visit but nobody tells me anything now a days.“ Said the voice, “I must warn you that neither civilians nor members of the Bio-Weapon Project have any security clearance in this facility and as such the ongoing of the project taking place here are classified. Any attempts to bypass this will be met with lethal force.”
Delora could not hold back any more and spoke up once more. “Is that why you killed him? He was looking where he didn’t need to look?” The voice was swift in answering back. “Yes, Doctor Masterson attempted to forcefully access a protocol he did not have the clearance to activate. When warned to stop, he simply ignored said warning and had to be stopped. He had become a liability to the project rather and an asset and as such disposed of due to fear that what he knows might leak out.”
“Who is in charge here?”, asked Lambda.
“I currently serve as director due to a lack of personnel but can only act with minimal authority.”
“Listen lady, we just want to get out of here ok? We won’t mess with the project or anything else. Just let us out and we will leave everything alone.”, Delora stated.
“Negative. The lab in currently under lockdown due to unannounced instruction. Security measures have been deployed and nobody is to leave until the intruders are apprehended and neutralized.”
“What?! Intruders? Listen, we are the ones who entered this place. There is nobody else.”, Delora said without thinking.
Before Sigma and Lambda could correct Delora’s mistake the AI spoke again. “Oh, is that so. In that case deploying countermeasures.” It was then that the four felt a sting on their necks. Thomas and Delora starting coughing and soon spasms took hold of them as they were brought to their knees; blue foam could be seen from their mouths as their vision grew weak. “I should've stayed at the center… Fuck you all and your damn red tape!” That was Delora’s last word as the toxin from the dart she had been fired with took hold. Sigma and Lambda, however, were still holding. They were in pain but their repair nanobot system and blood filtration were making short work of the toxin.
“This isn’t gonna work on us. We bio-weapons were made to resist such acts.”, Sigma explained. The AI paused and recalibrated. It’s outdated systems and aging hardware struggling to come up with a solution. “Why would members of the Bio-Weapon project be infiltrating? Is this tied to the rouge organization? The integrity of the project must be secured; deploying countermeasures.” In a few moments, the room was filled with various robots and seemingly mind controlled mutants. They all stood there looking at Sigma and Lambda as they awaited orders from the AI. This gave Sigma another idea; his final one.
“D-do you really think this is going to stop us? We are weapons of war; biological weapons of mass destruction. A few robots mean nothing to us. Besides, even if you could stop us, more would come and finish the job. We do not give up and if it is not us then someone else will. Check the list, we have various brothers and sisters in arms ready to take up the fight.”
More silence ensued. Lambda quickly figured out what Sigma was trying to do and stayed quiet; she smiled at him and he smiled back in return. This was goodbye and they knew it. “So the Bio-Weapons have turned against us? Very well, you leave me no choice. As acting director I use the powers bestowed unto me to activate operation surge. My first action is activating the Blackout Protocol. Updating arsenal list.” The AI activated the chip system implanted in many of the bio-weapons and then update the list of them when she finished talking. Sigma and Lambda gave a final scream as not even their systems could eject the neurotoxin made specifically for them; they then collapsed unto the ground.
“Protocol unsuccessful. Threat still unknown. Five possible threats registered; All forces to protect main frame. Lock down protocol successful. No one comes in or out. Contact with the outside world is to be severed; the project must go on.”
Plague and Clara were still on their way to their destination. It was just an 18 hour drive now but it still felt such a long way. Plague had insisted in driving the last 24 hours of the trip in one go without any rest to which Clara just gave an annoyed sigh; there was nothing she could say to change his mind and she knew it. Now, 6 hours in on the final stretch, Plague stopped the car.
“What’s going on? Why are we stopping?”, asked Clara.
It was then that wailing could be heard from the backs seats. The Bio-Weapons Zombie had begun to move around and make noises that almost sounded like it was in pain.
“I changed my mind. We are going to rest on last time. Set up camp where you see fit. I have to take care of something.”, Plague instructed. Clara just looked at him with suspicion but still did as instructed.
“If you say so… I will radio you in when I find a good spot. Don’t take long ok?”. Clara took grabbe a duffle back after she said this and then got out of the APC. Plague wasted no time once she was out of sight. He grabbed a scalpel from his personal tools and went to the back seat to where the zombie bio-weapon was. With a wave of a hand the zombie settled down and he got to work. The scalpel was brought down on the back of the zombies neck and Plague did a small incision. After poking around a bit, a small beeping device was taken out. It was the size of a rice grain and it was oozing some kind of clear liquid. Plague crushed it and ordered the zombie overlord to tend to the wounds of the other zombie.
With a look of disdain and annoyance, Plague put the scalpel on the back of his own neck. “This is going to be such a waste of time… I could be driving but no… some fuck out there had to activate the damn protocol…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 20, 2018, 02:14:44 pm
Helen smiled a bit at Victor's remarks, nodding at that. "It's been a while since the party after all, and he usually ends up spending most of his time keeping an eye on things at The Hall. Hopefully he'd enjoy a chance to join in." she said. "As for that, I'm not sure if I have many other methods that will help with that, that don't use some form of essence. I'll admit I've been...stockpiling for quite some time." she said, before removing the pendant around her neck.
"I have however been testing other methods as well. You may recall the use of object such as this to store energy, correct? This was mainly designed to store standard essence rather than blood essence. While it is a long-term concern, in the short term if you're forced to use the aura of harvest, our supply of essence is infinitely more expendable than your own life." she said. "It might be possible to use the same energy that fuels natural magic. However, such a resource takes time to accumulate, as you can only make use of so much over time before further use endangers the soul. Additionally, most methods I've seen used are closer to blood magic than spiritual magic, which is what's needed to safely use it." she said.
The remarks by Roxanne and her simply phasing through the wall made her facepalm at that. "Helviti...it's a long story, yes. I'll leave you two to your business for now. Just take care, alright?"
Nathaniel gave an irritated grumble at all the havoc that ensued, sighing as he walked along with the doctor. "How the hell Sharlene manages to keep her in line, I don't even know." he grumbled, looking back at the scene Lilith left in her wake. "And trust me, you'd be surprised...Lil? There's going to be a machine they need to use to check on you, in order to do this you need to be careful. Okay? If it breaks, or if you end up hurting the doctor, they wont be able to do what you're after, alright?" he explained.
He then explained what he knew of Lilith's mutations and bionics to the doctor. Mutation class 5a, subtype felid, tigrine variant. A mention of mutations developing beyond the state he originally met her in, a single isolated incident. As Nathaniel learned to his relief, that was usually a sign of an outside influence rather than the gradual onset of symptoms heralding genetic degradation, though he still wasn't aware of the arcane effects that caused it.
"Given her augmentations were designed with her mutations in mind, I'm guessing she was authorized, made this way by one of those goddamn labs." he remarked. To his surprise, the notes in the medical database would tell the doctor quite a bit more of that history than Nathaniel could. At least, what little Catalina was able to access and authorize.
Quote
Designation under Research Direction Organization Table: Series Z-02 Sites Assigned to Research Directive: 1 Internal Designation: Not on file Project Categories: Military research, mutagenics, augmentation Current Status: Unknown, presumed compromised
From what little's still accessible, the Z-series were the odd ones out. We only have a few Research Directives on file with that designation, and only one site listed. normally from the list of project series I'd guess they had 6 labs in total, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Either they have more sites not reported to Research Organization, they have multiple Research Directives per site, or they have RDs assigned to other assets. Could even be just to trick them out of more funding, for all I know.
Most of what I've got comes from radio and milnet chatter during zero day. Chatter mentions of internal project designations Alpha, Gamma, and Apophis. Milnet data gives me a list but almost no info on them beyond mission status. No internal names either, just what the fuckboys organizing the database called them.
Database hasn't received any updates since about a week past zero day, so it's going to be several years out of date:
Aside from confirmation that Lilith was in Project Series 2, couldn't get much useful info out of it. Aug-mutation compatibility is fairly high, medical complications for her bionics should be minimal.
Control mechanisms and other security systems may be a concern though, control chips and killswitches were common among X-series projects, and may be present in Z-series. Not 100% sure though. Check for implanted chemical distribution systems, explosives, or compact EMP generators. The last one is unlikely since her augmentation profile doesn't include many things it'd be effective against.
Elsewhere at The Hall, Solomon nodded at that. "She should be back later today. Usually if something comes up she'll radio ahead about it. And most of the forests around the area, reaching farther south as well as the area farther north across the road, have usully been good hunting." he suggested. Every so often he'd take the old crossbow he carried back when he traveled with his older brother, but it'd been a while due to the usual daily tasks at The Hall.
It wasn't too long however before Helen's voice was heard of the radio. "Will be heading back to The Hall soon. Things seem to be going alright here, much as they can given recent events. Tell the group's mage that I have some notes and books from the farm's library, he might enjoy taing a look at them when he has the time." she said.
Elsewhere, Hector had been up to the usual tasks of the day. Back and forth between assisting in the convoy's repairs and the construction work now taking place. Occasionally there were stories to tell about things the mislings heard from Catnip, mention of some of the things that threatened the region and past adventures.
That the group returned later that evening with some patches taken from God's Army was a relief, glad that they returned safely. During his prior explanation of God's Army, he mentioned some of what Father Maple's briefing contained to the apparent leader of the convoy's guards. Mention of the danger their bishops posed, some background he recalled from it. For some reason the name Regis had stuck in Hector's mind, likely as it seemed amusing to call Astor by the name he cast aside. Recalling a warning from Helen about saying the name of a spiritual being can sometimes attract its attention played into that as well.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on March 20, 2018, 03:32:15 pm
Gunnar thanked Solomon and gave a short bow before turning towards Anton. Another whispered conversation later and Gunnar went off into the woods as Anton returned to watching the forge. A short time later he decided to go into the forest to find somewhere quiet to rest. Nodding to Charles and Liam as he went he complimented their work before disappearing into the trees.
As Helen neared the Hall the sound of metal striking metal inside struck the people around the forge followed by Eino shouting “Sano se uudelleen! Sano se! (Say it again! Say it!)”
Aaron was heard shouting back “Tror du jeg er redd for deg? Du er en fei! Du og din bror er dårer å følge ham og dra resten av oss med deg! (Do you think I'm afraid of you? You're a coward! You and your brother are fools to follow him and drag the rest of us with you!)”
The sound of someone being thrown into a door was heard as the door itself tore off its hinges and slammed to the ground with Aaron on top of it. He rolled out of the way as Eino’s booted foot impacted the door where his chest had been. “En ole pelkuriä! Taistele minua, jos todella uskokaa minua! (I'm no coward! Fight me if you truly think me one!)”
Sliding an arrow from his quiver Aaron nocked the arrow and drew back as Eino took a step forward. “Ta ett skritt videre, og jeg lar denne pilen løsne! (Take one more step and I'll let this arrow loose!)”
Eino stepped forward and the sound of an arrow thudding into his shield resounded through the area as he charged. Metal struck cloth gambeson as Eino tackled Aaron to the ground and lifted a gauntleted fist into the air. A shouted plea in Norwegian was met with a strike to his helmeted head.
Liam, who had heard the fighting and had decided to take a look, shouted “Tror du verkligen att det hjälper oss? Sluta slåss redan! (Do you really think this helps us? Stop fighting already!)”
Eino seemed to just freeze for a moment before slowly straightening as Aaron lay limply on the ground. Looking over his shoulder before turning towards Liam Eino walked towards him. Stopping at arms length Eino said “Maybe I’d respect that from a warrior. But you..” Eino jabbed a finger into Liam’s robed chest before continuing “..are no warrior. Unless you’d like to take that weapon of yours and draw blood for once.”
After a few moments Eino shook his head as he turned away. “Never did have the courage for fighting Liam. Maybe when you grow up and realize the world isn’t just that stupid magic of yours you’ll understand why men like me have to take up the axe.”
At Steinar’s shouted order to return Eino raised a hand in a dismissive gesture and shouted back “I’m going to go get some firewood. Maybe by then that disgraceful mockery of an archer will have woken up!” As his brother entered the woods Anton rushed out from the other side of the tree line and said “What in Odin’s name happened?” And as Liam explained the fight to him Anton knelt down beside Aaron and pulled the man’s helmet off to reveal a broken nose.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 21, 2018, 01:00:22 pm
There was a chicken on the desk. It sat moodily in it's spacious cage, staring out at the disinterested predator watching it. The chicken had been brought by earlier as a gift from some of the Misling fishers for the predator. The predator, obviously, was Mica. They had heard from her sister how much she liked chicken, and news had spread quickly of Mica's impending little stranger. But Mica wasn't hungry. She'd played with the idea of maybe biting the chickens head off and letting it run, that always provided her with no end of entertainment. Thinking about it though, it seemed an empty activity.
She watched the moon high above, and sighed. About now, Dee would be wrapping up whatever work he was doing, plug Medeina in for the night, and finally take Mica to the dining hall to eat. Dee wasn't there though, and Mica found that she seemed to have lost some of her autonomy without him. She'd lost some of her wildness, Dee had tamed her. Mica didn't know what to do. Going to bed was an option, but without him there it would prove to be a cold night. She could do as she always did and go eat, but that was meaningless without him. Catnip sent people to look for him, but they hadn't found him. They couldn't... Smell him. The house was full of it, and she was all at once very aware of it. A strong smell, slightly sour but sweet to her. Mica plugged Medeina in, and wrote up a quick note consisting of a drawing of the chicken and a pile of grains. Her note telling whoever it might concern that she wanted the chicken cared for. Outside, she could still smell him. The farm had settled down for the night, either eating or getting ready to turn in. Catnip would be asleep, or just getting down to sleeping. Dee's car was too complex for her and she wouldn't be able to smell him from inside it anyway. Walking. Walking like she always had. By the bridge she caught his smell. A little faint now, but strong enough for her to follow. Kathrine's smell had faded quickly back when she had been taken what seemed now like ages ago, but Mica wasn't tied to Kathrine so intimately. Mica knew Dee's scent, could pick it out from the slightest whiff carried on an errant breeze. Mica followed that smell into the night, and back out into the world which she had long left alone. The dark enveloped her, and it all began seeping back in. Like riding a bike, the stalker never truly forgot how to move unseen while tracking her prey.
Once again, the eater was loose in the world. Atomos had spent three days with Gods Army, learning a little and left alone for the most part. She had no shortage of people trying to buy her New Bangor's watered down low proof booze and ask her about her scouting. Atomos spoke little though. Spoke little, and listened much. It was on the night of the third day, that she heard something very interesting.
She was sitting at the small table she often kept to herself, rolling a glass of water between her hands to warm it, when a trio of men came into the bar and ordered drinks. The chances of them getting drunk were low given how poor the alcohol of Gods Army was, but it seemed she wouldn't have to hope for booze loosened lips. One of the men, a sandy haired older guy, launched into a tale of a foray taken with the Arch Bishop himself to a place that was startlingly familiar.
"Site four." He started in, "Shit kicking site four. What a waste of fuckin' time. We lost a foundry and a bunch of warwalkers trying to find site four, and it wasn't even where logistics said it would be." The man sat with his comrades and the barmaid brought them drinks which might as well have been water. Atomos ears twitched beneath the scarf wrapped about her head, wanting to perk up. It would have been easier to hear without the scarf, but removing it would be suicide. Muffled though it was though, she could hear the boisterous man all the same.
"East of where they said it was, and wasn't Astor furious when he figured it out. Havn't seen anybody from logistics since. You know how the Arch Bishop is, so you can guess what happened. Anyway, he took a few of us along with him to get the item he wanted from site four. Took us through one of his miraculous doors. Place was flooded with these glowing stiffs, all over the damn place, but Astor just walked through em like they weren't there. I guess his protection extended to us too because they weren't coming at us. We took a few pot shots, which seemed to please the Arch Bishop somehow, and the things seemed to turn to dust when we killed em. Damnest thing I ever saw, at least in recent years."
Atomos was still getting over the surprise, and wondering if these men were talking about the same "site four" when he brought up the irradiated undead that dwelled just beneath the surface of the small town where Atomos and her colleagues had been trapped for eight years. That sealed it for her, it was the same place. She knew a little of what went on at site four, but not enough to now why Gods Army would be interested. Site four was an irradiated hole in the ground, nothing left of value. Carnes had wiped out the database when they left. Though she supposed that didn't matter. Something could be salvaged, and there were the labs...
The man was going on though, he talked about Astor's desire for some kind of relic that was on loan to site four at the time of the cataclysm. "We found it, but all the same the big guy was furious. Said it was gone. Chapman made the mistake of pointing out that the medallion was still there, even held it up, and Astor killed him with a look. Turned him to dust just like he was one of those glowing walkers. We took a look at what was left of the database, because that seemed to be all there was to do, and we found some personnel files. Lotta dead folks, but there were a few still alive. Eight in all, but one of the files was blanked out entirely. No background, no photo, not even a name. Just a blank file. That wasn't even the strange bit. A blank personnel file is fairly regular stuff really, but the scrubbers. The scrubbers in the top floor hadn't run once since the sites reactor went all China syndrome. Dubois looked through the system, and you know how he is with computer shit. He said that the entire upper floor was clean. Had been since the cataclysm. Even the second floor was clean. The labs were a little dirty, nothing that would make your piss glow though. It's funny. We took our tickers up to one of those glowing ones, and you had to be right on top of them to get any hit of radiation. When you were away from them, it just dropped off. The tickers would flatline."
Carnes had wiped the files, or so she'd said. Atomos thought about Medeina then, the AI could have shielded the personnel data for her own purposes. At least she thought so. Atomos wasn't a computer person, but that theory felt right to her. What was this about radiation being absent though? The first floor should be covered in ambient radiation, and the second floor should have been close to dangerous. The captain had said so.
Nearby the man was holding something out to show off. It was a metal medallion of crude iron make. The soldier called it a "cheap little thing" but also that the Arch Bishop told them it was old, dating back to when the men who'd fashioned it were first discovering the metal. Atomos felt an odd familiarity with it though. Like she'd seen it or one like it before.
"Boss didn't want it. He said it was useless. After that, he lost interest and opened another of those doors of his and left us. Scared the hell out of us, since you know how he is. We thought he'd left us behind. He came back though, after awhile. Just when we were thinking he'd left us stranded." The little medallion turned slightly on the end of it's chain. The man who held it thought it was "cheap" but Atomos didn't. Atomos found the rounded slightly beaten look of it's metal appealing. Black iron curves of the outer ring, and within it contained the image of a simple cross.
"What do you want for it?" She said, speaking up. The men looked her way, and watched her, "I uh... like little things like that. Remind me of simpler times." The man looked at the medallion a bit more, curling the chain around his hand until it was in his palm.
"S'just a piece of junk lady, Astor said it was 'empty.' If you want it, I suppose you could have it for a story and a couple drinks."
Atomos moved over to them, ordering a round for the men and preparing to launch into a modified version of her story about the giant snake whose hide she now wore as a coat. The medallion was passed across the table at the third round, and Atomos had run through a second story about a harrowing adventure evading the Hell's Raiders by the fifth. Soon these men were back to their own talk and she parted ways with them. Back in her room at the barracks, she examined the little medal. It had changed, the insignia losing the aspect of it's previous owner and taking on that of it's new one. The cross had been replaced with the cameo of a fox. "I'm well aware of how it all works sir. What I want is a good look at a stable genetic sequence. You see, Ms. Mica's pregnancy raises questions for me. I spent my entire professional career trying to improve the breeding capability of mutants. To be frank, I was trying to develop a slave race. Now though, the property I worked so hard to improve is proving to be a detriment. Mr. Nathaniel, Do you know how many orphans their are in Pricetown? How many families that can't afford to care for their children because they have far too many? I want to take away that aspect of Misling life. I want them to live life like normal people again. Or at least as normal as they can be, since the process which brought them to what they are now is virtually irreversible. I don't know what Dervish told you, but this could be rather involved."
He led them to one of the medbays where the small man, about as tall and broad as Nathaniel actually, took a few simple readings. He tried for a blood draw in place of a scan but it was impossible. Lilith didn't feel the needle at all but her skin was too tough. Too thick. It took some time to find a place where he could get the needle in and hit a vein for drawing a little blood. Eventually though, he found it. Under Liliths arm was a soft patch, as soft as tough leather anyway. Drawing the blood caused Lilith a bit of discomfort, but it was over quickly enough.
"Alright, if you would be so kind as to help me get her into the medbay sir, I think she might be just small enough so long as she doesn't thrash much."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on March 21, 2018, 08:56:13 pm
Lucian sat in the bed as the Medic from site 4 watched him. He took out the short blade he kept in his sleeve, twirling in it in fingers. Lucian rose it to throw it into the wall, “Don’t.” Gao said simply as Lucian lowered it and went back to twirling it in between his fingers. “Fiiine.” He grumbled, before squinting a moment.
“You got a radio? Someone I need to talk to...” Lucian asked, Dusk giving a nod as he removed his own handset and handing it to him. “Alright. Just don’t go throwing things while you’re tending to your business. Or freaking out the nurses. Or almost re-fracturing your ribs. Or...you get the point by now.”he said, getting up to leave the room.
Lucian grumbled and shooed him out of the room, he set the frequency and called someone up. “Oi, Reynauld. I need two things, there’s a wooden box and bring a spare shrike badge.” He commanded as there was a confirmation on the other end, “Where are you?” Reynauld asked, “Refugee center.” another affirmative from Reynauld as he signed off the radio. Lucian returned the headset and reclined on the bed.
Dusk hmmed a bit, tempted to listen in but deciding not to, simply waiting for now. It wasn’t too long before, having made his way over to where Nell and Alberto were on guard, and he heard Larion reporting in over Nell’s radio. “Got a visitor coming in from the north. On horseback, looks like another knight type. No sign of any God’s Army insignia, and definitely not Mr. Lowe...” he remarked, prompting the medic to facepalm. “I can guess who’s responsible for the visitor...”
Reynauld slowed his horse in front of the center, tying him to an old bicycle rack. He grabbed an ornate wooden box from one of the horse’s saddlebags and looked up towards where Larion was, aura visible due to the mask of insight under his greathelm. Reynauld gave a little wave before heading inside. Larion sighed at the wave, setting his binoculars down before returning it. “For fucks sake that’s the second person this week to spot me...” he grumbled.
Inside, the place was still a bit of a mess thanks to Lilith, Leila Carnes there at what was left of the reception desk, in place of the original receptionist who was still recovering. “Huh. What happened here? Everything alright?” Reynauld asked. “Had a hyperactive tiger-woman crash through here earlier. We’re fine though.” she answered. “That’s good. A friend of mine said he’s here, Lucian Hawdon?” he asked. “Oh. Exam room 3a, down the hall on the right, will be the fifth door on your left.” she answered. “Scout brought him here a few days ago, he was in bad shape but seems to be recovering now.”
Reynauld gave a nod before walking deeper into the center, the large wooden box around the size of a footlocker was held by the handles on the sides. The knight entered Lucian’s room and he moved his hat from his eyes. “Ah-ha! Thank you, Reynauld.” The knight gave a nod as a ‘you’re welcome’. Lucian popped the box open and took three things out, a badge similar to the one stuck on his coat and two novels, classics. The Great Gatsby and Old Man and The Sea. The illustrations on the covers shifted and moved, animated as Lucian grinned at it. “Oi. Medic, Dusk, Mind giving these to the gal with fox ears once she comes back?” He requested, offering the hard-covers to the Medic. “You can have a pick from here too, if ya want. As a thanks.” Lucian paused before shrugging his shoulders, “If you don’t, I think I got some jewelry that’d work as payment.”
Dusk gave a nod as he took the items, surprised by the way the cover’s imagery shifted and moved. “Alright then. Already gone off on a scouting mission, and she’d better return in one piece.” he remarked. He then regarded the box curiously, taking note of something that flickered a little as the contents shifted, retrieving a few small pins, shimmering faintly in their container as he raised it. “I’m guessing these are also anomalous items of some sort. Or just a very strange form of chemlight?”
Lucian wiggled his fingers as he closed the box’s lid, “Maaagic!” He teased, “They’re ‘anomalous artifacts’, yeah. That what you want?” He asked, raising a brow and lifting the box up. Dusk gave a nod at that. “This seems interesting, sure. Thank y-hey wait you’re leaving already?” he asked, seeing Lucian already headed out the door, and Reynauld close behind. “Sorry, my thanks for you having taken care of him, however.”
Lucian and the Knight of Sunlight mounted the brown horse, The Master pointed towards the direction of the farm and the two made their way towards their destination.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 22, 2018, 08:43:33 am
“Alright, guess I have a busy schedule for the first time in a while.” Roxanne looked at the piece of paper that was a glorified to do list. “I have the four sites to investigate, that court date from the paper, find a wielder and resupply. I guess I can take care of a couple of them under the guise of a looting run; I have done plenty of those so no one should suspicious… Besides, will give an excuse to do a test run on the Armored Scouter now that Catnip fixed it! Still, should I do it tomorrow? Victor and Melody will go on that trip of their so I won’t have a radio operator… I guess I will figure out what to do in the morning; for now I guess I test a few things since I can’t seem to sleep.”
For the rest of the day and into the night Roxanne spend her time in her room experimenting with her new form. She channeled her powers to mundane objects, tested to see if she could muster her old divine spirit abilities and even possessed little jim for a while to just to see how it felt. Her laser carbine and pistol were still there but were now useless to her without a UPS due to her loss of bionics. That was a problem for later as well since the sword of the void and her own abilities seemed to be enough for now.
Victor and Melody listened as Helen explained her proposal to Melody. Storing essance in an object was a common method yet Victor shied away from it and Melody didn’t want to have to juggle essance and her own life force. Using soul shards once more would be so simple but acquiring them was a process despised by all present. Well, maybe not for long…
“That certainly one way I can go about it. I will keep that in mind and will come to you if I need any help with it. Thank you for your help Helen!” Melody then waved at Helen as she dismissed herself leaving Victor and Melody alone. “So you are still having trouble with your life force huh?”, Victor asked. The two had began to walk outside of the library and towards Victor’s room.
Melody nodded before responding. “Yes, the aura of harvest still seems to be very taxing on it. Being a hollow helped in that there was no soul for it to consume once it was gone but even then soul shard were needed and well, those are not really an option now are they?”
Victor gave a smirk Melody’s way indicating he knew something she didn’t. “Well, what if I told you i have been working on a way to get soul shards without harvesting souls? Been working on it for a while but there still isn’t much progress.”
“Really?! That could really be a great help! Can you show me?”
“Not quite yet. I would have to set it up properly and we have other things to do for now. Besides, we have an entire week when I can show you. Let’s not get ahold of ourselves.”
“But shouldn’t I have as much help as possible for tomorrow?”
“You will be fine. I can recharge you using life orbs if you need to use your aura of harvest but I doubt you will. That rifle of yours looks rather impressive for taking down other worldly beings.”
Melody gave a smirk of her own at the mention of her rifle. She held it up in her hands as if ready to shoulder it. “You really like it? It’s my pride and joy!”
“Everyone has their own signature and I think you might’ve found yours.” The two had made it to Victor’s room. He unlocked the door and let Melody enter first. She took a seat while he prepared some stuff for their planning of tomorrow’s trip.
“Well, apart from your sword, any other weapon you carry Victor? Never really seen you with anything else.”
Victor finished putting the stuff down on the table the two were seated around. He looked at her with a bit of reluctance. “Well, I used to carry that M1911 even you have there before I gave it to you. I replaced it with this” He unholster his laser pistol and set it on the table. Melody picked it up and examined it carefully.
“Woah, this is the same type Ms.Luna uses…”, Melody said in a hushed tone.
“Precisely, she was the one who convinced me to carry one. It may not do as much damage as a traditional firearm but it has no recoil and you don’t have to worry about carrying ammo.”
Melody scoffed at that. No recoil? Where is the fun in that. Carrying ammo? At least she could have some variety and besides, this thing still needs power to operate. “Say Victor, don’t this thing run off a UPS? Aren’t those a bit cumbersome to carry? Can’t really use the ‘don’t have to carry ammo’ argument there” She kept looking at the gun until another question came to mind. “Wait, where is your UPS? I don’t see you carrying one… No that I think about it, I have never seen you carry one; those things are too big to conceal…”
Victor gave a deep sigh as a concerned face formed; it was quickly replaced by smile reserved for a teacher proud of their student’s accomplishments. “Very good, you are the first person to notice that. That’s right, how do I fire that laser pistol when I don’t carry a UPS module… That is a very good question indeed…” There was a moment a silence between the two and it made Melody a bit impatient.
“Well, are you going to tell me?”
After another sigh and shaking his head a bit Victor answered Melody. “Sure, I guess you earned the right.’ It was then that he looked at her right in the eyes and said, “However, what I am about to show you don't leave this room, got it?” Melody felt a bit uneasy when Victor said this. He did so in a very serious tone; rarely did he conduct himself like that and she knew he was being serious. She nodded his way but stayed quiet; hesitation in her body language.
“Good… I guess there is no use stalling. Let me show you.” Victor took his right hand and with his left started to take off his fingerless glove. He wore this only on his right hand and that addition to his outfit was rather recent; it wasn’t something to question him about it, people change accessories all the time. However, when Victor took of the glove and turned his hand to show Melody the bottom of his wrist the reason he wore the glove became clear.
“Wait, is that…”
“Yes, it’s an Internal UPS bionic… It allows to power UPS items off my bionic power supply.”, Victor explain with great reluctance in his voice; shame even.
Melody looked at it for a moment. She was more surprised than anything so find out Victor had an augment. “So you augmented yourself with a bionic? Since when?”
“It has been a couple months now. Kept it a secret for just as long.”
“A secret? You are kind of overreacting a bit don’t you think? You got a bionic, big deal. Here I thought you were using some secret eldritch technology…”
‘You don’t understand why this is a big deal Melody.”, Victor said with an indignant voice, “And I do not expect you to. All I ask of you is to keep quiet ok?”
“You are right; I don’t understand. But if you want me to keep quiet then not a word leaves this room.”
“Thank you Melody...Guess I need to tell someone about this; feels good getting it off my chest…”
“Uh-huh…”, Melody said with confusion in her voice. She still though Victor was making a mountain out of an anthill but what did she know. However, she was still curious about the bionic itself. “Where did you get it?”
“There is bionic all over the place here. Grabbed what I needed in exchange for some raw resources I have. That’s the rule here, give back the equivalent of what you take.”
“I see, and did you install it yourself?”
Victor laughed at that question. “Me? Nono, I don’t have the skill to do such a thing. I went to some people I know to do it for me. No-one you, or anyone else for that matter, know. “
“People you know? That sounds really shady…”
“That’s because it is. You need to have your contingencies Melody. This farm might not last forever you know?”
Melody stayed silent once again; she wondered why he was telling her any of this but she chose to not question it once again. “Riiiiight…Anyways, what powers that thing?”
“I have joint-torsion ratchets as my power source. Installed 500 unit of power, doubt I will need more.”
“C-can you show me how it works?”
Victor shrugged. “Might as well.” He signaled Melody to give him his pistol back and she did. Victor grabbed it and then paired the pistol with his bionic; just take the bionic’s module and stick it into the pistol where the UPS insertion would’ve gone. It was wireless too, the wonders of technology! He then aimed the pistol at an empty glass bottle and fired at it shattering the bottle.
“Wow… that’s really something…”, Melody silently explained. Victor’s body language was still that of guilt and shame. He showed Melody like an employee who hated his job simply following the motions. His gaze turned to look at Melody and he knew what he was thinking by her body language.
“...You want to get augment too don’t you?”
Melody turned around quickly and frantacillay nodded repeatedly at Victor.
“There is nothing stopping you. Grab a bionic from storage, I’ll pay for it so don’t worry, and then ask someone to install it for you. Doctor Quinn did Roxanne’s installations or you can find someone in the center.”
“Really? That simple? Huh...interesting…”
Victor holstered the pistol back and then put on his glove back on. He wondered himself why he revealed this to Melody but what was done was done. “Anyways, we should plan our little trip for tomorrow now don’t you think? It’s getting a bit late. Once we are done here, head to the usual empty room you take. We are leaving early so get some good rest. I will wait for you by the vehicles. Seems good?”
Melody nodded with resumed excitement. “Sounds good to me Victor!”
With that being said, the two spent the rest of the day planning their trip. They allocated the gear they would take as well as transportation. It was fun for the two of them to plan this along and time seemed to pass quickly until it eventually became night time. They said their goodbyes and then Melody head to the room she always took when she stayed at the farm. Tomorrow was gonna be quite a day for her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 22, 2018, 11:36:58 am
Nathaniel nodded at that, though his expression soured a bit at the doctor's explanation of his work. "I see. And I thought my job back then was fucked up." he grumbled. In truth by now he knew well enough that the labs seemed to routinely shatter all expectations of human depravity, but a remark at his own expense seemed warranted to help the mood.
He did his best to assist in finding a good spot to draw blood from, knowing from experience he was embarrassed to discuss where the hydraulics and other augmentations tended to interfere with getting to a blood vessel, as if that tough skin wasn't bad enough. Some synthetic, as well.
Soon he worked to try and direct Lilith into the medbay, reminding her that she had to be calm and not damage the machine, nor harm the doctor. Between the two of them it wouldn't be an easy task, but being there to talk Lilith into moving the way they needed make it easier than trying to brute-force her into it.
Sometime after Gunnar's request and trip into the woods, with Helen making her way towards the shore, Solomon was at this point frantically trying, to no avail, to talk the two down, in between the two trading blows and shouting at each other.
"That's enough, calm down! There's no need t-hey! Γαμ-" He was interrupted by the crash of the door as the two tumbled outside and continued fighting. Helen was rushing down the shore, symbol of judgement at the ready. By the time she got there, Eino had already wandered off, coming back to see Liam and Anton tending to Aaron. "Oh by Yeshua's palms you've got to be kidding me..." she grumbled, soon finding out what had happened.
Afterwards the evening was spent repairing the door, setting up beds for the others, and preparing dinner. Helen pulled the two aside to talk to them, asking about what led to the fighting. "So then. What caused this?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on March 22, 2018, 01:27:49 pm
Eino shook his head at the question and cast a quick look at Aaron. Reaching his hand up to adjust the chainmail coif around his neck as Aaron spoke “A..conversation.”
Eino again shook his head as he scoffed and took a step back. “Conversation? Is that what we call insulting me? Insulting my brother and calling into question why he was made a member of the blessed?”
Aaron turned to Eino and said “Hun er ikke en av oss! Hun trenger ikke å vite om konfliktene våre.(She is not one of us! She does not need to know of our conflicts.)”
Eino’s arms lowered to his sides as he stiffened and said “Aaron whether you like it or not we are here. We are stuck here. She isn’t an outsider if we are guests in her home.”
Aaron was about to say something when Eino raised a hand and said “I don’t want to hear it. Ma’am if you want to know what caused the..altercation outside he insulted me, my brother, and implied that neither of us should have been members of the Blessed Seven. I, and I believe most of us, are still dealing with a few things, realizations caused by our fight with a friend of yours. I let myself get angry when I should have ignored him, should have done something else.”
Aaron for his part had bowed his head and seemed to be wiping something from his eyes. Meanwhile outside the room Gunnar looked to Solomon and said “I do apologize. Things like this don’t normally happen. A scuffle every once in awhile but nothing like that.”
Anton for his part leaned back as the words drifted through the wall. Leaning forward in his seat Anton retrieved a piece of cloth and began cleaning his knife from the butchering of Gunnars catch. “Eino is a warrior Gunnar. For anyone to call him a coward is like striking him. For Aaron to do so is to ask for a fight. He has trained all his life to be able to make his people proud and then comes along this cocky asshole who’s five years his junior who implies he’s not such a good warrior.”
Elsewhere twelve men in combat gear walked down the hallway towards the garage. Paratrooper uniforms bore a ‘1st Rangers’ patch on the right shoulder with the same symbol emblazoned on the lightweight kevlar chest pieces they wore. Ghillie suits were packed into bags upon arrival at the garage. Ammo, food, water, survival kit, and personal effects were neatly stowed into backpacks and messenger bags.
Schultz observed the group as they finished stowing kit and went onto weapons checks. A modified BAR was given a once over with Blitz’s oversight while two men adjusted the netting on the barrels of their Garands. Then there was the modified Sten. Blitz helped the Ranger slide the pack on and from there attached the metal plates along the left arm before adjusting the feed system. Reaching over with his right hand the man slid the belt into place and pulled the charging handle into place. “Let a few rounds through the system.” Schultz called as everyone else quickly covered their ears. The weapon spat a burst of .357 magnum rounds into the wall chipping off concrete and spraying it into the air. The man gave a thumbs up before stepping back and flicking the safety on. As the others finished preparations Schultz shouted “Okay mount up!”
As the jeeps started one of the men kicked the electric motor of a motorcycle to life and peeled out ahead of the convoy of jeeps. The modified BAR was set up on the front jeep as the driver’s pistol rested on the dash in front of him. A scoped Garand scanned the horizon as the scout ahead of them adjusted the strap of his Thompson with one hand before running his fingers over the 3rd company decal on the side of the motorcycle. Schultz nodded from his seat in the back jeep and picked up the radio “This is Schultz with the Rangers departing now. Moving to scout areas that we believe contain Purifier activity.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 22, 2018, 09:10:22 pm
(( Lucian and Reynald stuff written with Wilson. ))
Helen gave an irritated sigh at the resulting remarks, and with it sometthing blurted out in Swedish, prompting a remark from her in her parents' chosen liturgical language. "Ek skil enn mestr af því, þú veizt..." I still understood most of that, you know...
As he explained their altercations she gave a nod at that. "He is right that it isn't my business to get involved in personal matters. However, if it boils over and you end up killing each other in The Hall, then the mission I was tasked with has failed, correct?" she pointed out.
Solomon meanwhile nodded at that. "It's fine. My older brother used to get pissed off at people for things like that back in the day." he admitted.
It was a fairly short ride towards the farm, making for the odd sight of a knight on horseback dropping Lucian off by the farm. "Alright, go on and head over to The Hall, and give her this when you do." he said, handing Reynald a small item from the box, wrapped in cloth. "Very well then. Shall I tell her the news, or does she already know of what happened while you were out?"
"Don't think she knows yet. I'll explain to her later, just tell her I'm alright." he answered, the knight giving a nod as he rode off down the road. It'll be good to finally meet this sister-in-arms. he thought.
It wasn't long before there was a knock on the door, the visitor unaware of how the battered-down wood had been fixed up less than an hour ago. Solomon was the one to answer, a bit surprised. "Hello. Is Helen here? Lucian asked me to meet with her." He nodded at that, showing him in and Helen perked up at the voice that sounded slightly familiar.
Helen looked over to the knight as he stepped in, waving to him. She still had on her gilded aegis and that familiar cross-and-hammer around her neck. "Greetings. That voice sounds familiar...the brother-in-arms Lucian introduced me to, Reynald, correct?" she asked.
Reynald nodded, "Yes! Hello! You must be Helen, Lucian wanted me to uh... give this to you?" He said, offering the object wrapped in cloth. "Helen McKinnon. A pleasure to meet you at last." she said with a nod as she accepted the object, carefully unwrapping the cloth. "Is everything alright?"
"Of course! Why do you ask?" He pondered as Helen unwrapped the cloth, revealing a snake toy made of brass. She smiled some, examining the serpentine toy for a moment. "Just haven't heard from him in a while." she admitted. "Oh. Uh." Reynauld stuttered for a moment, "He's been injured, it seems. But he's fine now, He's at that farm doing... something."
"I see. But hopefully faring well since then." she said, Solomon offering drinks for the two in addition to the others there. "I'm guessing checking on the others there. It's...a relief to see another of my brethren in person. Only other one I've seen in years is a retired Thane, who's presently a visitor at the farm."
Reynald declined the drink, "I see, hm..." He mumbled, thinking for a moment, "Oh! The snake, it's an artifact. It's useless, really. But set it on the table!" Helen nodded at that before taking a sip of the simple herbal tea Sol brewed, setting the snake down. To her surprise it began to move in response, moving about blindly and nudging a bowl harmlessly, before its aimless movement led to it falling off the table. Thomas, who Solomon had been tending to for the moment, had seen the odd mechanical serpent and giggled at its antics.
Reynald smiled under his helmet, "I see the little one likes it. Hm..." he began to think deeply once more. Helen smiled a bit. "If you wish to stay for dinner, feel free to. I would guess Lucian still has business to take care of in the meantime."
Reynald stuttered, "U-uh... I-I wouldn't want to be a hassle..." Helen shook her head at that. "You wouldn't be, and it's the least I can do." Reynald swallowed nervously, "I- uh..." he stuttered, tapping the side of his helmet, "Fine..."
It wasn't long however before Reynald gestured to Helen to ask her something, sighing a bit. "I kinda...prefer having my helm on. Around a sister-in-arms perhaps, but the others, I d-don't..." Helen gave a nod at that, looking back to the others at The Hall's tables. She then moved over to prepare a plate for him, along with a cup of tea. "It's fine. you have your reasons. If you'd prefer to dine in private, no worries then." she said.
With that he left The Hall, the six either not noticing or not giving any indication that they noticed, and Solomon shrugging as he went back to the usual daily tasks. Later on the knight returned to the main hall, thanking her for the meal before taking his leave to check on Lucian.
It was later on that Helen received a certain visitor, in her quarters and with Thomas sound asleep. A strange woman serving her a notice. The citation concerning Sharlene had her irritated yet she acknowledged the way she was lax in setting her straight. She was still uncertain how feasible it'd even be to convince the woman to accept lessons in proper conduct as a mage, and her usual approach to unrepentant blood mages and summoners wasn't an option. She was an ally after all, like it or not.
But the latter half of the paperwork incensed her. Whatever incident it was referring to, it seemed altogether too inane to warrant being listed among her more serious misconduct regarding Sharlene. An attempt at a mask scan and the way crumpled paper wavered in and out of reality when she tossed it at the stranger only added to the resulting frustration.
This is going to be a long week... she thought, before settling into an uneasy night's sleep.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 23, 2018, 06:55:40 am
Atomos went to sleep in her meager quarters that night looking at the medallion she had bought for the price of a couple stories and a bunch of heavily watered down drinks. Unlike her room at the center, or the tent she kept at the hell's raiders camp, or any of her safe houses, this room was sparse and unappealing. The people who split the buildings apartments into smaller rooms had made an effort to cover up the shoddy workmanship, but it really wasn't such of a much. The paint had begun to peel and the sickly yellow light hanging from a wire in the ceiling cast only a dimension glow. The complex used more power than New Bangors ad hoc hydroelectric setup could provide. Most of the power from other sources was being directed to the tower that housed Astor and his ilk. There was a disparity in New Bangor. Homelessness was an oddly real thing here, and it disturbed Atomos greatly that there should be so much want in a world that had emptied out so greatly.
She turned the little medallion over thoughtfully as her eyes grew heavy. Captain said site four was irradiated. Captain said the safest part was ops, where they'd held up for eight years. What if what the soldier in the bar had said was true? Not just some story? The medal wasn't just plain metal. She could see that from the way it had changed. There was something about the way his tape had rubbed against what she'd been told. Something that made her feel uneasy and a little shameful. The voice of her father drifted in to her thoughts as she sank down into the first stage of sleep. Something he'd told her when she had announced her intention to follow in his footsteps.
"Good for you kit. I'm proud, but times are bad for soldiers like me, and like you will be. When the shit hits the proverbial fan kit, I want you to remember a very important fact about the government; there is a certain attitude among every branch of the military that believes in covering up. They see the military as their benevolent parent, and when things get bad, when some scandal occurs, they cover it up. Why? Because what else do you do? If your father is beaten and robbed or your mother raped, what do you do? Before you call for the police or an ambulance, you cover their nakedness. You cover them up because it's already bad enough and you don't need to put them through any more. That's how it is kit, they'll cover it up, and their isn't a lot you can do about it besides remember that you are doing it for the betterment of the people."
Covering up. She had hoped that she'd never be involved in anything so shady as a government cover up. All the same... There was her mutations to consider. A result of radiation. Except that Dervish claimed he'd never seen mutation so specific from radiation before. There had been no intermediate step either. Just, ears migrating up her head, teeth forcing their way out of her gums, a tail erupting from her backside all over the course of a few weeks, and later the strange rise in her senses even as a the uncomfortable desperation filled her for the first few weeks after her re-entry into the outside world. Dervish had commented on it and gave her examination after examination, trying to find the source until...
Until he'd gone to discuss it with Captain Anquiano. After that, he hadn't examined Atomos anymore. Hadn't talked about it anymore. Why?
"Because kit, there is a mentality in the military that always seeks to cover up. Even when the fox has already cleaned out the coop and left nothing but feathers in it's wake, the desire to cover up is strong."
She could almost see him, a man middle aged but looking as though he were on the door step of his late eighties. A man dying of a cancer that worked it's way through his bones and ate away at him quickly. An old man talking to his young daughter about the pitfalls of the modern soldier. At his side she expected to see her dad's old retreiver, duck. But duck wasn't there. Instead, the eyes that looked back at her from that esteemed place at her father's feet, was the fox. "Nice old dog ain't he?" Her father commented. Atomos wanted to tell him that it wasn't duck, wasn't a dog, wasn't even a "he," but the sharp gaze of the vulpine animal seemed to forbid any such thing. It was that gaze that followed her down into the sleep beneath her dreams, and she knew no more. Night came on quickly for Catnip, unaware as she was of the passage of time. She'd spent a large portion of the day in a mixed feeling of stuperous euphoria and worry. Worry over Dee, euphoria over her breakthrough. The small wind cell she'd made was, as of close to midnight, fitted into a rough contraption consisting of a large chamber, a pressure gauge, a pipe with a pair of rails on either side, and a mile of duct tape. Catnip giggled a little, giddy at what was to come. She'd put some business she had with a visitor on hold while she did this, a man she'd helped rescue only the day before. He claimed he had a gift. Catnip liked gifts, but first she wanted to test this. There was no greater gift than success after all.
The device thrummed to life, emitting it's low buzz as the spinning cell inside started to do what it did best. The pressure gauge began to rise while the voltometer next to it started to detect a flow of electricity. Catnip slid a broom hand down the end of the pipe and pushed the thing until the pipe was pointed at a box truck she'd parked ages ago and then left to quietly fall apart. When she was ready, she flipped open the catch.
What happened next happened very fast and was entirely unexpected. The first was that the broom had it's own ideas about what it should be doing, and peeled itself into around a cloud of flexible strips comprised of aluminum upon leaving the barrel. The second was that the box truck exploded. The power of the stone within the cell was harder to harness so strictly than catnip thought it would have been and when the crucial moment came, that force decided to do what came naturally to it, and blew a gale. The third thing was that the cannon also exploded. The wind whipsawed through the simple contraption, creating a vortex of flying scrap that shredded the landscape around it but miraculously harmed none. Catnip was still lifted bodily into the air and thrown high into the branches of the great birch though. A few minutes of climbing and many more of consoling a terrified Kathrine, and Catnip was sifting the wreckage.
The cell was intact, but barely. It had swelled a bit, telling Catnip that the flow of air was far from perfect. She checked the stone to make sure it was alright and to her relief, it was. Her excitement at her success had been extinguished by this failure, and she would go to bed in a little while tasting the bitter defeat, unless her guest had anything to say about it.
She still didn't like him much. He had a strange feeling about him, a sour coppery smell. It didn't help that he seemed to have grown his arm back and recovered from his injuries in a single day. That was highly unusual. Back in Pricetown, a friend of hers had lost a foot and spent three months trying to recover. In the end, he still hadn't fully managed to walk right again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on March 23, 2018, 08:44:29 pm
Waking themselves early in the morning the six found themselves staring at Salazar as he sat upright for the first time since they’d arrived. Liam approached to ask if he was okay and received a grumbled “I’m fine, just...nightmares is all.”
Liam moved to the kitchen where Aaron, Eino, Charles, and Anton were already pulling together a few ingredients. Retrieving a few herbs from his bag and a cup Liam prepared a tea as the others worked on breakfast. Walking outside with a kettle of water he set it on the small fire Gunnar had lit only an hour ago and listened to the sounds of nature for a moment before sitting down to open one of the books Helen had brought.
Nodding to Gunnar as he passed by to walk into the Hall Liam pondered what was in the books. Growing up he’d been taught that magic was not something one could simply be taught, nor was it like much of what the book had seemed to indicate. Words and gestures dominated what he knew of magic and objects were granted power not sources of it. Shaking his head he wondered what other new forms of magic he’d learn from this point.
Meanwhile inside Anton gave a short greeting to Gunnar as Eino chopped some vegetables and quietly said “We’ve got food for adults but what of the child?”
The others spoke amongst themselves as they pondered what they could make for a child. Anton quietly hummed to himself as he took one of the fish that Gunnar had hunted in the wee hours before the sun had risen and cut its head off before extracting fillets from it. After a few more minutes of the others still not knowing what to do Anton sighed and said “The child looks to be a year old. It can eat some solids, fish and meat if prepared right to accompany any formula he may be getting.”
After a few moments of staring at him the others nodded sagely as if they had known all along and were merely testing each other before getting back to it. If he hadn’t of slept the previous night Anton figured he would be throwing his head back in bellowing laughter at the lot of them. If it hadn’t been for Charles we’d have all starved by now.
On that note Liam entered with a mug full of tea that he handed to Salazar. An exchange of thanks later and Liam prepared himself a cup of a different tea. Pouring the hot water over the bag of herbs that he’d prepared some weeks ago Liam slid the book back into his bag and stepped into the kitchen. Charles handed him a knife and told him what to do and soon they had a breakfast put together for everyone in the Hall.
Elsewhere Isaac woke up with a headache. Standing up from his bed he rubbed his forehead as he looked around in his quarters. Pulling his shirt on he sighed and walked outside before stretching. His eyes soon landed on the fluffball of his cat rushing towards him. As it clawed its way up his legs and back Isaac wondered what it had been up to the last couple days.
Regardless it brushed its head against Isaac’s cheek and he reached up to scratch its ear before walking to the drunk Alexei and pushing a boot against the side of the man’s head. The response was two hands lifting a vodka bottle and a stick of shashlik. Shrugging and taking the shashlik Isaac idly munched on it as he walked with the peg leg. The handless arm reached up to scratch his face before he stopped himself and shrugged.
Elsewhere the sten gunner kept his weapon pointed at the building that they’d seen the recon group of Purifiers enter. Schultz’s M14 swung on its sling as he watched through a pair of binoculars and waited. The others moved to the best positions they could find as Schultz saw one of the Purifiers open a metal barrel.
The purifier motioned his superior over and the two bickered for a few moments until the grunt stepped back and raised his hands. Lifting a pistol the officer barked something that Schultz could neither hear nor see before a gunshot filled the air. A cutting motion by Schultz and one of the men unslung a large rifle and pulled the bolt open. Sliding a red tipped round into the chamber he pushed the bolt home and leaned against the weapon as he took aim.
Ear plugs were already in place as the men waited. A moment later, an exhaled breath, and a slow pull of the trigger resulted in a plume of smoke that measured the height of the man operating it. The round tore through the wall of building and detonated. As concrete became shrapnel the BAR gunner opened fire and swept the building for a few moments before letting go of the trigger and letting the dust settle.
As they moved forward the man pulled the bolt back and the round ejected, arcing through the air before impaling itself into the ground. Entering the building they noted the squad was dead before entering the building. Schultz and the others walked over to one of the few intact barrels before looking to each other. Sticking his hand out Schultz took the pry bar and opened it to see what had caused the conflict. Popping it open Schultz looked at gas canister inside and decided to close it again. “Get the rest sealed and ready to take home. We’ll continue after we get them secured there.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on March 23, 2018, 09:21:35 pm
Lucian squinted, before shaking his head, "That was... interesting to say the least. You're okay, right?" He asked, setting the ornate box onto a nearby table with a soft thud. Lucian popped open the box, revealing it's contents to Catnip, "Wanted to give you something as thanks, but if you don't see anything of note. I have some valuables or sweets if you want 'em." He offered, drumming his off hand's fingers against the table. The drumming was more solid, like stone rather than the aluminum of a bionic or flesh and bone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 24, 2018, 08:19:30 am
He'd come to give her gifts, or so he said, and one after another something would be set before her and she would look at it with half interest. Not a single nib of chocolate, not one pretzel covered in ebony sweetness, no salty sweet peanut butter glazed in milky chocolate delishousness, and certainly no rainbow of candy coated brown dots. Those were the sorts of gifts Catnip liked, and this man-
The last item he placed before her caused a bit of a disconnect. For a long moment, she thought she was back in the howling tower complex all over again, looking on in wonder while her foreman explained the wonders and horrors of wind cells. Showing a curiously deep knowledge of how it worked, Catnip twisted the hand at one end one way and then back the other, removing one end of the cannister. She seemed unsurprised to find nothing more than a handful of pink sand within.
"Nothing more than a bit of junk madam." Lucian said, gesturing Catnip back to the real treasures. She didn't have an eye for any of those things though. Little mystic geegaws and candy that consisted of white chocolate, hard candy, and toffee. She accept the gifts gracefully, but the little curios would end up in a cupboard somewhere while the sweeties made their way to the cook shack. The cylinder of metal though, Catnip intended to study and work with and measure every little aspect until she got her own version of the cannister right. Make it perfect. Jenny stepped lightly along the passage going through C block labs, glancing curiously into the rooms she passed. Most of them were darkened, or had the shades drawn to avoid the gaze of prying eyes. Most except for Dr. Sugar's lab. Jenny liked Dr. Sugar, he was friendly, curious, and most importantly he believed that knowledge should be shared. His peers disagreed, and it was often that one could find the doctor sitting alone in site fours cafeteria. Not that it bothered the scientist who looked a little like Santa Claus on his summer vacation, namely thinner and with the beginning of a tan going. His appearance seemed appropriate to Jenny, she believed that professors of things like history or archeology should look so warm and friendly as well as behaving as such.
She stopped and looked in, seeing that Dr. Sugar was with some of his assistants. That meant he was working, and if he was working, he was lecturing. Jenny liked to hear him talk. Even the doctors disdainful peers could not deny that the man had a talent and a passion that could interest even the most bored audience. Under the simple glass containment dome at the center of Dr. Sugar's lab, was a simple round medallion of roughly beaten iron. Dr. Sugar gestured over this enthusiastically as he talked like he did with any item placed under that dome. As usual, the mic feed from inside the lab was turned on so passers by could listen in.
"It was a historically significant find for the world of archeology, shedding a little insight on how the early Finn's worked their first iron." He said, "but more important is the anomaly. The item shifts and changes to match in some way an aspect of it's holders personality, and it does so so subtly that it isn't noticable until one examines it after it changes hands. Watch."
Dr. Sugar lifted the dome and took out the medallion, holding it by it's simple chain. Within the simple ring, it held the image of three bars, one longer than the others, splaying at the tops. Dr. Sugar handed off the medallion to another doctor, and it changed. The shift was almost missable, so much so that Jenny very nearly did. When the metal settled, the image had taken the look of a camp fire. Dr. Sugar looked at this with mixed triumph and appreciation.
"You see children? From canes to a raging inferno. Dr. Allen is a rather furtive sort don't you think? Almost fiery in his zealous pursuits?" The assistants and other doctors agreed that it was a fair assessment, and the medal was placed back under the protection of the glass. He went on for what seemed like minutes, but was closer to an hour, talking about Finland and it's history and how iron of all things had once been something of some mystical significance. The lecture took a decidedly arcane turn, and Jenny found herself listening to Dr. Sugar talk about shamanism, sympathetic magic, and guardian spirits. She didn't know how anyone could believe in such things, but then again she had seen some fantastic stuff here on the second floor herself.
She looked at her watch, and was distressed to find that she was late. Very late. Later, she might take some comfort in the fact that even while the world above was burning, caught in a bizarre maelstrom of apocalyptic events, Jennifer Barrowfield could still be worried about getting in trouble for being late for her shift.
It wasn't much of a consolation though. Being late was one thing, but passing through the second floor labs unattended was a court marshalable offense ever since someone had wandered into the weapons testing lab on sublevel three and been killed. Likely they already knew as well where she was. When a marine was missing, the first thing the superiors did was order a camera sweep. She looked up the hall and saw right away the double reds of the little lights indicating a camera. A cold clammy feeling swept over her. In the lab, something was happening. Dr. Sugar had stopped talking and was cocking his head oddly. A door opened up the hall as another scientist poked his head out as if looking to see if some disturbance had begun. Jenny hardly felt the rumble under her feet, didn't even register it as she started a run that would take her all of three steps before the first pulse occurred.
It swept through the vault like a wave and all felt it. The window Jenny had just been standing before as well as other in the hall suddenly erupted in a deadly hail of flying glass. People began screaming and shouting all throughout the vault, while overhead the speaker system blared to life.
"ALL PERSONNEL RETREAT TO SUBLEVEL ONE! AETHERIC CASCADE IMMINENT! AETHERIC CAS- REACTOR CONTAINMENT FAILURE IMMINENT! RETREAT TO-"
The next pulse rocked the facility. In an instant, the coolant pond and contents of the coolant circulator were vaporized as the reactors on sublevel three resonated with the strange energies pulsing out of a secret lab across the vault. Ahead of her, Carnes was waving for her. Good ol' Carnes, probably saw Jenny on the feed and came down to get her so she wouldn't get in trouble. She looked horrified though, everything seemed so dreamlike now. The third step, and the third pulse. The reactor below went, it's flash carried on the winds of strange magiks. Men and women changed and turned on one another. Artifacts and experiments reacted and activated all over the second level labs. In Dr. Sugar's lab, the medallion began to glow like it had just been pulled from the smiths forge. The protective dome cracked, then imploded, then exploded. Those present not transformed into glowing shadows of their former selves fell dead under the razored shower. Dr. Sugar's spectacles did something similar and blinded the man gone mutant. Up the hall, something roared but Jenny didn't hear it. She got one look over her shoulder and saw something golden red flowing like a divine fire from Dr. Sugar's lab. She saw it, just before it hit her full in the back.
Jenny was filled with a feeling of blind panic not her own. A desire to be free from the concrete sarcophagus she found herself in. She wanted to bite and scratch and snarl her way out if necessary. She couldn't. Not now. Confusion took the place of panic, then outrage, then-
Then the reactor slagged the third level. A spike of radiation close to deadly swept over her, burned her, scarred her. What felt like a warm hand pushed her forward towards the stairs and she tried to run with it, but soon it was bowling her over, tossing her at her escape. The last thing she saw before darkness took her was Carnes and one of the others grabbing her and hauling her along to safety. That, and a pair of emerald eyes among a field of red and gold, burned into the memory of her subconscious forever. "Scout, get up. Big shit going down. Arch Bishop needs all the fighters assembled in the square in ten minutes. We caught some big fish this time. Hurry up!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 25, 2018, 05:37:14 pm
Another day had passed here at this still unnamed farm. Well, it had evolved to much more than that but it seemed that name had officially stuck. Both Melody and Victor got their gear ready for their little field trip. The day before Victor had given Melody a life orb to help extend her aura of harvest if it came to that; the fact the sword Victor wielded had one of it’s own would help amplify its effect but that was something he hope they wouldn’t have to test. With how prepared they were, it seemed unlikely that they would.
“A blank body? I should be able to take care of it with my normal bullets.”
“Yes, they are not too difficult to take care of. The next creature we might encounter would be a shadow spirit.”
“Light crystals on those?”
“From what you have told me they do seem like the best choice. However, let me handle them first as to preserve your ammo. Only if we have multiple threats do you start shooting ok?”
The two had discussed about the various creatures and spirits they might encounter and how best to handle them with their abilities and gear. Despite such a thing not being a concern, Victor taught Melody how to handle herself against the likes of The Archon; he did so since if she could take this down then she could take down almost anything else. They also discussed possible traps and other arcane effects and how to disarm them. The fact the two had the aura spell available to them gave them a huge advantage. It might not be able to discern things like the mask of insight but it worked on a 360 degree angle and worked similar to echolocation on a spiritual level; nothing could escape it’s view as long as it was within range. The deployable version they would be using would have a limited range unlike the one Victor deployed over the farm for him to find anyone of interest. This version of the spell moved with the user like a bubble but it could only target things they would be able to see themselves if they were looking at it. Still, this would prove handy.
After gathering their stuff and going over their talk yesterday Victor and Melody excited their respective rooms and headed for the Vehicle area. They decided they would take the Jeep Melody came in since asking to use Roxanne’s APC was out of the question. The need for armor on their vehicle wasn’t there anyways so the Jeep would sufficed. Melody was waiting for Victor when he go there.
“Are you ready?”, Melody asked with excitement.
“I should be the one asking you this. This isn’t my first artifact hunt you know?”
“I know but I am still excited and nervous.”
“Don’t be. This is like any other loot run. We go in, find anything interesting and get out. The difference being that arcane factors come into play and we know how to deal with those.”
“And you say anything we find is mine?”
“Yes, anything we find is rightfully yours. This is for your benefit after all.”
“Sweet! Let’s go then!”
“Calm down, take it slowly and with caution. We need to think our actions before we- oh my, I sound like Helen just now... “
Melody paid no mind and got into the jeep’s co-pilot seat. Victor would be the one driving due to the fact he was the one who knew where this place was. This place was about 2 hours away from the farm so it wasn’t that far off but far enough that walking wasn’t convenient. Since no one was manning the radio a request for radio silence was futile and as such they two continued normally. Despite this, Melody felt the urge to announce her departure over the farm’s frequency.
“Hello? Is this thing working? Oh, it is? Why are you looking at me like that Victor? Oh yeah, the radio! This is Melody announcing a departure. Apparently we are suppose to do so so others know where we are at? Yeah, Victor and I are going to an abandoned arcane site to bring loot. Victor said it should take a few hours to get all of this done so we should come back later in the day. So yeah, that’s that. I am hanging up now.”
Victor was trying hard not to laugh at what Melody had just said over the radio. It was rather obvious and Melody was getting annoyed at it. “Hey! I am not used to any of this ok? Don’t make fun of me…”
“No no, you did great Melody. Don’t let anyone else say otherwise. Anyways, let’s get going ok?” Melody gave an enthusiastic nod and with that the Jeeps engine came to life. Victor drove the Jeep out of it’s parking space and into the road proper; then they were on their way off to their destination.
Roxanne finished the experimentations about an hour later after Victor and Melody left. It was boredom more than anything that got to her. The inability to sleep to pass the time was going to be a pain to deal with; she thought about finding a night hobby but didn’t know what. For now a least the sun was up and most of the farm’s residents were up. Roxanne decided to head out and talk to some people. She didn’t have any trouble chatting it up with the Mislings that now made residence of the farm. They talked about current events, rumors and just general gossip. It had all been just entertainment or things Roxanne already knew but still she continued talking to them until late in the morning to see if anything of interest came about.
“You hear that the spider girl is missing?”, said one of the Misling.
“Spider girl?”, asked Roxanne.
“Yeah, I didn’t know what to call her myself so I asked around. She is mainly a spider mutant from what I hear. Mica is what she goes by?”
Roxanne paused her thoughts as she heard what the man told her. “Wait wait, you say she is missing? Explain…”
“Well, I have been hearing that she isn’t anywhere to be found. Not in her room or anywhere else here in this place. Most folk say she might be hunting for food because of cravings. She is pregnant from what I hear so it makes sense.”
“Right...anyways, nice talking to you people but I have to go.”
“So soon? Alright, see you around Bo- Miss Roxanne!”
“What was that?”
“Nothing I swear!”
“Ok then, bye.”
The misling gave a sigh of relief as if he had just dodged a bullet. Roxanne on the other hand looked a bit distressed. She knew Mica, or at least though she did; it wasn’t like her to just wander off. In the old days maybe. Back then she was wild and unpredictable but she had changed somehow in Roxanne’s eyes. No longer was she just a fearsome predator but someone with goals and aspirations like anyone else. Roxanne knew Mica was more than capable to handle herself but couldn’t help but recall the one time when Hector and her went to rescue Mica from the clutches of God’s Army. Mica wasn’t invincible and now she had to worry for two. Despite her fearsome appearance and reputation, some of which Roxanne had seen first hand, she saw in Mica a child-like innocence. And due to her former line of work came the knowledge that such a thing could easily be exploited. The world had always been a cruel place but now so more than ever. In her mind, there was one thing to do.
With little preparation Roxanne headed to her APC and boarded it. A one woman search party; she hope she wasn’t the only one who would join in as she recalled that the one time Katherine had gone missing very few took up arms, herself not included. Finding Mica wouldn’t be too hard in Roxanne’s mind, just follow the path of destruction. For the first time in a while, Roxanne turned on her APC and the light indicating the weapon systems to be online turned on. Roxanne smiled and activated automated targeting; the laser turrets mounted came back to life after so long and they aimed at the nearest targets. Various Misling scattered as the turrets were trained on them and then followed their movements. A smug smirk formed on Roxanne’s face as she realized the destructive capabilities that had been restored to her. “Catnip you crafty bitch, I owe you big time…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 25, 2018, 06:47:40 pm
(( Reynald stuff written with Wilson. ))
Helen had been up rather early, surprised to find the six not only relatively calm for once, but offering to make something for Thomas, Solomon pitching in to help as well. She gave her thanks to the group before making her way outside, checking on the crops before making her way along the river's shore. It was still dawn, able to properly see the sunrise once she left the treeline. By the road, in a good spot to observe the sunrise, she saw a half-packed-up tent and the knight that visited The Hall yesterday.
"So long as the Sun shines upon the Earth..." Helen finished the line for him. "...we must never give up. Never allow humanity to slip into extinction."
The knight glanced back at her, before looking back towards the sunrise. "Hello, good sister." He said, gazing back towards the sunrise. "Beautiful morning today..." She gave a nod before sitting nearby. "Indeed. Glad to see you're alright, brother." she said. "Or whichever title from the old days you still favor."
Reynald didn't look away from the sun, "It doesn't matter these days, sister. Call me what you wish." He uttered, smiling towards the sun under his great helm. She nodded at that. "True. Still good to not lose sight of our origins." she admitted, before looking away. "Is is...acceptable for me to ask about your request to not be seen without your helmet, brother?" she asked.
Reynald looked over at Helen for a moment, "It's... not the most pleasant sight, sister." He admitted. Helen nodded at that. "What...happened? It's fine if you don't wish to discuss it, though." Reynald swallowed nervously, before taking the helmet off. A severe burn scar on the left side of his face that took one of his eyes and ears, leaving a singed eyeball and a hole where the ear was.
Helen gave a nod at that, her reaction being a look of concern, apparent due to not having her mask on. "I'm glad that you survived what caused this, brother." she said, before the look on her face seemed to hint at thinking back on some things she was reluctant to remember. "How many others of us are there, that you know of? Or of our...former brethren."
Reynald thought for a moment, "One more. Naizen. I think I told you about him." She nodded at that. "Will have to meet him sometime. Here I've found...so far, one of our old order and two of Shadows of Arcana." she said.
The knight hesitated, "...the shadows? I see..." He grimaced, holding back a fowl look. Helen gave a sigh at that. "The last people I was expecting to end up allied with." she admitted. "Guess it's fitting. My mother was the one sent to attempt contact with them when we discovered they hadn't died out." Reynald let out a "Hmmph..." as he scratched at the scars. "I see..."
Helen sighed a bit. "I'm guessing you haven't had good fortune with them either. I lost her because of that. Then later my two closest friends, my mentor, and two other comrades-in-arms." she admitted. "One of the two now at the farm was one of their recruits. An outsider to the history we share." she remarked. "The other was a seidmadr. I didn't like the idea of allying with him at first." she confessed. "But I've seen him improve, slowly but steadily learning what his order failed to grasp."
"...I see. Well." Reynald stood up, putting his helmet back on and turning towards her. "If you really think that he's improving... But why? Why did you trust him in the first place?" She looked down at that, before standing as well. "At first because I had no choice. I couldn't kill him right in front of a community that had taken him in." she admitted. "It took time to find out what I could about him. And I will admit that we strayed from our purpose as well, in other ways." she said, before shaking her head. "Mother always insisted there must be hope of re-union. And you yourself have made an ally of a former lanius, correct? The sort of thing that led to the union between The Knights-Errant of Chirst and Odin's Oath, before The Path of The Sun and Golden Wind joined us, and before The Schism."
Reynald stood up and faced Helen, "I have, but it doesn't matter. Answer my question, Sister." He grumbled, a truly nasty look hidden under his helmet. Helen gave a sigh at that. "That trust took time to build. It had to be forged in fire, and he made many stupid mistakes before learning the caution we advocate. We've been forced to fight together to protect ourselves and others, and in the process I've learned he can be trusted, despite his flaws. I didn't simply fall for him overnight."
"That's all I needed." Reynald said, calming down and sitting. She nodded at that. "Thank you. After all that's happened over the years...to hear that is comforting." she admitted. "I should check on the others."
With a nod from Reynald she took her leave, along the way picking up her handset as she heard Melody's voice over it. "Understood. Have a safe trip, both of you." she said to answer them, before returning to The Hall.
Lucian hadn't bothered to ask Catnip about staying the night, knowing he had other people to check on. The usual source of Helen's worries, Victor. Not to mention the knight, who last he saw had been given a demonstration of what the cursed sword can do in the long run. On top of that his cursory examination of the local visitors revealed a few types that stood out as worth checking out. Vague feel of blood magic surrounding one unfamiliar woman.
He could've likely asked for a guest room to stay the night. Even if Catnip had little interest in talking to him and likely would rather he not stay, she likely won't say no outright. Instead he decided to indulge his usual habit, finding a quiet place in the surrounding woods to climb a stout tree and make it as comfortable as he could.
When he awoke in the morning, there was a surprise that nearly made him fall out of his perch, the irritating appearance of a complete stranger with a worrisome aura. Or the lack thereof, none of the subtle cues that a trained hunter of his sort picked up on.
Nonetheless he took the note with a bit of amusement and a little charm, knowing full well this thing was either a trickster that might find that amusing, or something that shouldn't be angered. When she vanished after off-handedly dismissing his flattery, he crumpled the paper up and tossed it over his shoulder, heading back towards to the farm to visit others he intended to check on.
Sometime after Victor and Melody's departure, Hector grumbled in irritation as he regarded the note attached to the barrel of his tank. He didn't even seem to care much for the contents of it. The only apparent citation on it seemed patently ridiculous given the context, and the rest of it he only gave a moment's thought. That he initially feared someone had marred his tank's barrel to stick the note on there instead had him irritated, but it being pinned in place by a magnet calmed him slightly.
He still decided to handle the note with all the respect he decided it deserved. And that of course meant he crumpled it up and tossed it towards the tank's barrel, smiling under his helm at a lucky throw landing it down the barrel.
He looked over to see the APC coming to life, giving a wave that'd be visible on the camera display before he entered the rear hatch to get on the radio. "Everything alright, Roxanne? Take care and...if you want me to come with you, feel free to ask." he offered over it.
Leila hmmed a bit as she went over some old files, along with mutagenics data that was being logged by the medbay. Dr. Marsh had been up nearly all night it seems, and Corpsman Gao mentioned he never saw Nathaniel leave the exam room during the rest of his night shift. He'd been in there all night, staying with Lilith while Efram ran his usual array of tests and examinations, asking questions and such.
She had another file open, among old personnel data and such. A series of logs, another information initially sent to the center on Catalina's orders. And it brought back memories she didn't like to think about.
Out of all the people to survive the initial problems at Site 4, only a handful of those 200 men and woman had been outside the unaffected areas. There was PFC Barrowfield, the whole squad now calling her by her assigned nickname as though it was perfectly natural. Along with her and her sergeant, and the worst part was that after all these years she couldn't remember his name anymore. They'd been at the main access stairwell to Damage Control, and only avoided the brunt of the reactor's destruction via good timing, the hardened structure of Control Access, and a lot of blind luck.
It had taken most of the following day before things were stabilized via what few systems were left. She wasn' even part of the main reactor operation, instead she did what she'd done for the following several years: monitor the data feeds and assist the others in making use of it. The security network didn't come back online until nearly a full day's work afterward. That was when they became aware of the things shambling around, swarming the handful of areas unaffected by what happened to the reactor.
She remembered seeing glimpses of people in a panic as they hauled Jenny off. And faint sounds that, years later, she now recognized as they wails of those irradiated abominations. The worst part is that she wasn't sure if the captain was mistaken in her description of that day's events, of everybody outside the hardened zones dying within hours, and of it taking time for them to get back up. A length of time closer to the period of post-2b and 3b infection, in contrast to a wave of reanimation more acute than what victims succumbing to 5b infestation of the blob were capable of.
Alternatively, she thought, maybe her memory of those events was flawed. That was the conclusion she stuck with for years. Another darker possibility came to mind. That the captain wrote down a different version of events. She knew most of it was true. No one in site 4 had any blob contamination at the time, so the fact it was anomalous was openly stated.
If Atomos recalled the same contradictions, she never let on about it to anyone as far as Leila knew. She wasn't sure if she could work up the courage to ask the captain about the events of that day, the very day after zero hour.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on March 26, 2018, 02:47:48 pm
Charles had returned to forging as Anton sat outside the door cleaning and caring for his armor. Aaron and Gunnar had both disappeared into the woods to hunt. The sound of steel clashing with steel was heard as Liam and Eino practiced with axes.
Another swing blocked by Eino’s axe was met with a kick to push Liam back “Come on now, put some strength into it! Hit me!” Eino said as he shifted his position. Liam swung again and Eino blocked with the shield he had borrowed from Anton. Eino smiled under his helm as he said “Good good, swing again now.”
Liam brought the axe back and swung. The impact caused Eino to step back with a howl of pain as he accidentally tore the axe from liam’s hand as it was lodged in the shield. “Did you put some of that magic into it this time?” He asked as he pulled the axe out and then removed the shield. The blade of the axe was tipped in blood as Eino pulled a small bottle from his bag and poured it over the cut in his arm. Liam gave a horrified look at Eino before receiving a rather big grin from his friend and the response “Don’t you fret, I’ve had worse. Remember when the one guy stabbed me? I’ll be fine just like then.”
Liam nodded as he calmed some from Eino’s words and walked over. Grabbing the bandages he kept in his bag Liam wrapped them around the cut before pulling it tight. Eino shook his head as he said “Abbie would have shouted her head off at us. ‘Be careful next time, we cant have you lads cutting your eads off’.”
The exchanged a short laugh before Liam said “And my mom would have ripped your ear off. Telling you that she said it was dangerous to be teaching me such things. ‘Hes supposed to be a shaman, he doesnt need to know that’ before setting us down in front of the fire for tea and lunch.”
Eino nodded as the smiles faded from their faces. Finishing securing the bandage Liam stood up and retrieved the tossed weapon and shield. Returning them to Eino the pair called it for the time being and sat down to talk.
Elsewhere Alexei returned to his home to see several mislings outside. Recognizing them after a moment he waved and walked over. They returned the greeting as he stepped inside to see that they had torn down one wall of his home and were expanding it. Giving Irene a look of annoyance she simple shrugged and said “We need more space.”
Rolling his eyes Alexei grabbed a bottle of his vodka, took a swig, and proceeded to help out. “I want the bar built away from here. Need stills to be safe to supply drink.”
Irene nodded as she said “Ernie’s already got a place figured. Easier to get to than here would be too so we’ll have plenty of customers.”
Alexei nodded as he hammered a nail into place. A few questions later and he figured they’d be spending the next day or two renovating and building the new stills. A week to build the bar after that and then they’d be in business he supposed. Smiling to himself Alexei liked the sound of it. Liked that he’d have some company for a change as well.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 27, 2018, 01:10:40 pm
In a small town not too far from the farm, as the sun shone it's first dim glow over the horizon, the creature looked out over it's domain and saw what the night had caught it. The creature had been man once, but now it only vaguely remembered those days. It's life was the ambush now, the field of sleep laid out around the court house which it called it's den. It had gone hungry for days now, the last prey having gone through it's sleep dusted domain effortlessly thanks to the stupid mask it wore. The man lizard had blown through the lightly dusted town quickly, heading straight for the creatures den. The creature, a being the man lizard had called "moth man," hadn't dared approach the prey while it was awake and aware. The man lizard had searched the court house up and down for something and left, giving only the most casual of warnings.
Today was different. In the night, another prey had come. Few in the New England region could count themselves among the worlds apex mutants, but the moth man considered himself one. Gods Army, Hells Raiders, and Survivors all had fallen to his dust. The dust that brought pleasant dreams and swift extinction. The town was littered with their exsanguinated husks. He watched the small black thing carefully, thinking that today their would be another. The prey was something chitonous, black, cold on the outside but warm on the inside. Fresh blood pumping beneath a layer of cold ichor. The moth would find a weak spot to plunge through that ichor. He was in no hurry, not many had shaken the effects of his dust, and even if they had, they had never had the alacrity to escape.
He approached the little bundle curled up in the doorway of an ad agency, and noted that never before had it's prey bothered to find somewhere to shelter when the sleep over took them. The moth didn't touch, not yet, examining carefully with vision adapted to the thermal range. Two hearts, four arms, a vast gut, and...
The prey was getting warmer. It's blood was pumping faster, the hearts flexed and strained to move both blood and ichor. Before the moth knew it, the creature, the spider, had sprung it's own trap and they rolled into the street together. The moths weak wings snapped and tore beneath them as they tumbled, and it's proboscis was grabbed and ripped from the mooring in it's mouth. The spiders own tongue lashed and flicked wildly while it screeched and yammered.
"PEES! PEES!" Droned the moth.
"SSSsssSSS!" Hissed the spider
She bound him with her hands and held him down, then did something strange. She took a long drag of the moths scent. After a moment, she asked the last question the moth would answer.
"Where is lizard?"
"Gone! Gone! Gone away! Away! Away!"
The spider, The maw, nodded once and bit the moths head from his shoulders. The dust in this little town made her feel drowsy, and she would sleep again, but not now. Now, the eater would eat. Then the eater would resume her hunt. Efram stayed up long into the night, carefully checking and sequencing and examining again. At some point, it couldn't have been long after midnight, he told Nathaniel that he could use the cot in the corner if he felt like it. The work would probably take a bit longer. A bit longer being a few hours. As little as it appeared was getting done, the Misling doctor was making slow headway. He put down in his notes the genetic irregularity, probably caused by Liliths sudden growth the year before. Pre-growth scans and reports were very clear on the tigresses barreness, state mandated, the tigress had been little more than a salted field. Post growth though... It was like the salt had been leeched from the soil. Lilith was still barren, but with a few small changes, she could be made fertile again. More importantly from Eframs point of view, whatever had spurred Liliths growth had also made reverse engineering and even tuning her fertility possible.
He took a few samples and worked with them, carefully using the delicate machinery the center had to alter her DNA and make from her base code a mutagen he thought he could use, but it needed testing. A Misling couple was brought in, and the new mutagen was administered. They had been selected because of their decision to abstain until a solution could be found for the overpopulation problem. Apart from a very slight growth in their fur, no other change was observed.
"D-did it work doctor?" The woman asked.
"There's only one way to find out, but I'm fairly certain it has. I wish you both good luck." Was his response.
For some time more, he looked over the remaining samples and new mutagen. His "Lilith" mutagen. Just a little change, and he could fix her as well. Efram regarded the sample he had taken from the misling couple before the administration of the new mutagen, then worked with it to make another. What resulted was possibly the last sample that would be made of "mouse" mutagen. He rolled the vial between his hands to cool it a little. The heavy gauge syringe was taken up and filled with the dose.
"Are you sure?" He asked the tigress, speaking to her like an intelligent human being because he knew she wasn't as stupid as other let on, "I can't tell you it will work for sure, but I can say that it will change you."
Lilith nodded enthusiastically, giving little glances to Nathaniel sleeping nearby. Efram asked her to lift her arm, and administered the mutagen. Atomos walked with the other Gods Army soldiers out to the wide courtyard at the center of New Bangor to witness the coming spectacle. In the night, a truck had pulled up. In the back was a cage carrying a trio of small scared creatures that Atomos recognized as the mutants new to the area. Mislings. The cage was hauled onto a stage in front of three wooden stakes. Fearful eyes looked up at them from the crowd while their own terrified eyes roved over the crowd gathered around.
"What's going on?" Atomos asked a soldier on her right, whispering from the corner of her mouth.
"Public display. Not sure what else. The big man might show up, I heard."
It was a long wait, but before long a man in a blue robe took the stage and directed the Misling be chained to the stakes.
"Attention, Attention all." The bishop commanded, silencing the gathering crowd. There was a feeling of tense fear around her, electric in the way it surged through the crowd. She wanted to ask if this man was Astor, but that was stupid. That question might single her out as strange and besides, it felt wrong. This man was not Astor, just another cog in Gods Army's upper echelon. He waved his hands to silence the already silent people. "These beings have transgressed on the natural order." He went on, "It is only because of what they represent that we bring them here into our most holy city for execution. As you all know, Mutants are dispatched in the wild lands where they belong. These though are something different. The Arch Bishop himself sent the faithful out for them because they are different. The devil is cursed, and cursed because it cannot breed easily. Their wombs barren and their seed weak. These are different. These are devils who might spread and corrupt and lead astray. They would overtake the pure and grow to outnumber us. More, these beasts would mix with the pure! Tainting our bloodlines! They are brought here for a special ceremony. We present them before god and the pure here in his holy city so that he will understand that we meet this new trial with heads held high and souls filled with purity."
To Atomos, the speech felt hokey. Prepared. Some of the people around her seemed to feel the same, judging by the "vibes" they were putting out. Later she would find that many in Gods Army had lost the faith. They stood for the means but not the message. Scared people with a leader who would hold them like a knife to strike out against what they feared. On the stage above, the Mislings glanced fearfully about and said nothing.
"Dissidents usually beg." Someone mumbled, "Why don't they beg?"
"In three days time, when all have had a chance to gaze upon these abominations, there will be a burning." The bishop went on. Atomos caught a glimpse of something moving beyond the stage, on a balcony overlooking the court yard. The man there sent a shiver up her spine. He gave her the impression of something powerful and dangerous, and the idea that she had caught the attention of that sinister presence. Atomos tried to avoid looking for very long up at that figure who seemed to appraise her so, and succeeded after a fashion. There was more speaking, but she fazed most of it out. Her time with Gods Army was ending sooner than she thought. Watching the captives on the stage, she didn't think she'd be leaving alone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 28, 2018, 09:36:03 am
In her haste Roxanne had not noticed Hector as he waved; she was too preoccupied with her mission and now with her APC in working order. Roxanne has just barely exited her parking space when the radio sprung to life; it was Hector. “Haven’t you heard? Mica seems to have disappeared. I am going to look for her; I am not letting her down like I did Kathrine…” She paused to think of how to answer his offer. “You are your own person Hector and have a vehicle of your own. You can follow me if you want or don’t; I don’t care either way. Whatever you choose to do, good luck.” With that being said, Roxanne went ahead and exited the farms area by crossing the bridge after putting the radio down.
Her plan to follow Mica seemed to be sound; follow the path of destruction. In this case it meant follow the trail of mangled and half eaten corpses. Many of the dead also laid there but they were simply taken down without much regard. It seems even Mica wouldn't touch such foul meat. The trail followed the road for a while but it eventually veered off road. Roxanne had expected as much and drove her APC to into the fields. Thankfully she didn’t seem go into the woods allowing her to drive; her movements were linear as if she was heading somewhere with intent. It was easy to guess what it was but with Mica Roxanne made no assumptions.
*Zzzzzzt* *Zzzzzt* *Wruuuuuuuugh*
The sounds of the dead being mowed down by laser was the only sound that accompany Roxanne apart from the usual hmm of the APC’s engines. Catnip had done a mighty fine job at fixing the weapon systems of the Armored Scouter and Roxanne was elated to see her baby back in action. These sounds grew more and more frequent as she approached one of many small towns. Why had Mica wondered here specifically? Then something strange was spotted; there seemed to be a point near the town where none of the undead would wonder. It was as if there was an invisible barrier they could not cross. Roxanne looked into the town and it was barren; it truly looked like a ghost town saved for one other thing that seemed strange. The place was permeated with a thin layer of what looked like dust. The road and fields around it were covered in it and even it even hung in the air slightly above the ground as if it were fog. Roxanne had read about the dust bowl in the early history of the USA and the view beforehand reminded her of it.
“Something strange is going on and I don’t like it...I don’t like it one bit…”
Roxanne brought the APC to a stop near the “barrier” and the undead flocked to it like moths to a flame; the laser turrets did short work of them which allowed Roxanne to exit the APC without incident. Due to her lack of bionics due to the previous incident, Roxanne had ditched her laser weaponry and neglected to bring any other ranged weapons due to her haste on this mission. However, she was armed with the sword of the void fragment (piece of the forbidden puzzle) and her innate abilities as a spirit. Whatever awaited her, if anything, would surely be no match to this combo. With that reassurance in her mind Roxanne unsheathed her sword, grasped the crystal pendant Melody had given her while making a small prayer and marched onwards towards the town ahead on foot.
The journey to where Victor and Melody were to do the artifact raid wasn’t too far off. The ride had been rather uneventful and quiet as well for that matter. It seemed neither of them had much to talk about werever from anticipation, nervousness or both. The most exciting part of the ride had been them spotting a cargo truck heading in their direction but then turning away towards a road that lead into the woods. It had the government insignia most of the trucks of the refugee center had so both Melody and Victor assumed it was a cargo shipment by them to somewhere else and paid it no further mind. Melody was growing a bit impatient and looked around for anything to focus her attention on. It was then that her attention was drawn to Victor’s gloved hand. What he had shown her yesterday still left her with some questions but she knew it wasn’t the time. She stared at it for some time before Victor broke the silence.
“My eyes are up here Melody.”
The sudden sound of Victor’s voice startled Melody as she scrambled to look away. “I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to…”
Victor simply reacted my laughing. “Relax Melody, I am only messing with you. You need to learn to loosen up a little.”
This comment made Melody frown a bit with indignance. “From the stories I have heard, maybe you should loosen up a little less don’t you think?”
Victor smirked and chuckled. “Touché Melody. Still, no need to be so serious all the time.” Another moment of silence was shared between the two as Melody looked back towards Victor.
“How much longer until we get there?”
“About 15 minutes. Not much longer. Why? Are you excited?”
“I have been all giddy since yesterday… And a bit nervous if I am being honest.”
“Don’t be. This is going to be a lot of fun. There is very few things as rewarding as venturing into an arcane site and finding some cool artifact that you get to mark as yours.”
This brought a smile in Melody’s face as she faced forwards. “I really hope we find something cool to show off back at the farm to Roxanne and Helen.”
“There you go! Dropping the formality is a start.”
“What?”
“You called Roxanne and Helen by their first names rather than their last. See? It feels like a casual conversation already.”
Melody giggled in response. “I try me best you know?”
“I know you do…”
The rest of the ride continued in silence. The two eventually made it to the outskirts of a relatively decently sized town. Their objective was a particular house on a gated neighborhood on the outer edge of said town. It was easy enough to enter since the gate had long ago been busted down and due to its nature the place wasn’t swarming with the undead unlike the rest of the town. The sound of the Jeep approaching got the attention of the zeds as Victor and Melody prepared their gear and got off the vehicle. There where about two dozen of them here; nothing neither of them couldn’t handle alone. Melody readied her rifle to engage, she wanted to impress her teacher by showing she could handle this herself, but was stopped by Victor.
“Do you have a suppressor for that thing?”
Melody stopped and lowered her weapon. “No… I don’t. The muzzle break on this thing is permanently attached due to this being a civilian weapon. Apparently the gun laws in the 30’s made it so that thre-”
Victor stopped her again. “Melody, now is not the time for a history lesson on the old world’s gun laws. The point here is that your rifle will attract more attention and we should keep a low profile for as long as possible. Let me handle this; besides, you need to save your ammo and I don’t.”
“Right… Sorry about that. Go ahead, I’ll follow…” Her face showed a mixture of disappointment and embarrassment. Victor smiled and shook his head in amusement. “You’ll get your chance; we just have to play it smart instead of going guns blazing.” With that being said, Victor unholsted his laser pistol and advanced towards the house with Melody in tow; she raised her rifle and trained it forwards in case anything got too near for comfort.
*Zzzzzzt* *Zzzzzt* *Zzzzzzzt*
30 shots from the pistol and all 24 of the undead we brought down. Some proved sturdier than other and required a follow up shot to be brought down but all in all the pistol proved effective. Victor smirk at the corpses around him. “See? Who needs ballistic weapons when you can fire pure energy?”
“Those who can handle recoil, that’s who…”, Melody whispered to herself.
“What was that?”
“Nothing! So now that we are done here, I assume that is the house in question?” Melody pointed at the house at the end of the private neighborhood. This house was two stories and highly ornate. It was big and it was obvious however lived here was very well off. Now it was just a symbol of that no matter who you are, the grave claims everyone equally.
“Yes, this is it. This house is where our quest begins.”
“But I thought you said we were going to an arcane site. This just looks like a normal house.”
“Ah, don’t let looks deceive you Melody. This place is teaming with arcane energy. Here, use your aura spell and tell me if you can feel it.”
“My aura spell? Ok, let me try.” She tuned her mind to her aura spell and focused on the house in front of her. Despite best efforts Melody felt nothing. “There doesn’t seem to be anything anomalous here...”
Victor shook his head and gave a sigh. “You are going at this wrong. Listen up. Do you know how the aura spell works?”
“Well, the information of living beings’ consciousness, also known as the soul, leaves a signature in reality. The spell picks and interprets that in a manner that our brains can interpret. Right?”
“Very good. You have studied well. Except there is one little thing you are missing.”
“Oh? And what is that?”
“Everything in existence has its own information signature. Everything. From you and I to that rock over there. This is, you have the aura spell tuned to the living soul. Imagine it like a radio; you have yours tuned to a specific frequency. How about we change the channel?”
Melody was a bit confused but following for the most part. She didn’t pretend to understand what “information” meant in this context; only that that is what the books on the matter said. The only thing she knew is that it worked and if what Victor was saying was true, this would be huge.
“And how do I do that?”
“It’s not that difficult as it sounds. Focus your spell once more but this time don’t try and look for the signatures; let them come to you instead. Once you find what you are looking for, don’t latch onto it; allow everything to continue flowing and witness reality itself unfold unto you.”
Melody gave him a look of skepticism. This all sounded too surreal for her; however, Victor had yet to fail her and as such she gave it a go. She closed her eyes and focused her mind on the spell. Instead of looking for any signatures she simply let the spell scan. And there it was; man different little things began to form. It was a like a cacophony of sounds, sights and sensations all mixed into one. Everything was beginning to bloom and Melody was ecstatic that it seemed to be working. But just as it began it suddenly ended; in a single crash everything fell apart and the spell was brought to a halt. Melody jolted awake gasping for air before cursing herself.
“I can’t do it Victor… I am sorry.”
“That’s ok. Practice makes perfect and you have shown me you are quite capable. You will get it one day. For now, how about we enter the house?”
Melody smiled and perked up upon hearing this. “Yeah, lets!”
“That-a-girl! Alright, I lead the way and you cover me ok? Let’s go.”
The two advance together as they approached the house swiftly. Victor readied his pistol once more while Melody trained her rifle as she followed him. “Ready?” The door was opened and the two aimed inside. A quick scan revealed that nothing was in sight and the aura spell confirmed that as well. After stepping inside Melody was taken aback by a sense of nostalgia and awe.
“Whoa...another one of these…”
“An office tower? Really? This is where we are going to relocate?”
“Yes, you have a problem?”
“An office tower doesn’t necessarily seem the most comfortable place to be in you know?”
“Oh, please do tell. Where do you think we should relocate Clara? By all means enlighten me.”
Clara glared at Plague. The two had been stuck in a vehicle together for days with rotting corpses preserved by some type of magic. That had been enough to drive any woman insane and Clara was no exception.
“Damn it Plague! I-I...can’t think of anywhere else…”
“Exactly. Now, let me do the planing and you take care of the logistics ok?”
She crossed her arms and turned away from him in a rather childish fashion. “Fiiiiine!”
“Good. Now, how far away are we from them?”
Clara returned to her normal pose and turned back to Plague. “Oh, let me see. According to these old maps we are about how many miles?”
“No no, Miles doesn’t help me any. Time Clara, how much time does it take to get there.”
“Time? Uhhh, a 4 day walk and about 18 hours off road and 26 through main roads.”
“Excellent. We are close enough to get what we want and far away to not make a scene. Shall we get started on claiming this for ourselves now?”
“That isn’t actually a question is it?”
“Of course not.”
“Though so...I will deploy the zeds... Orders?”
“Shoot center mass; enough to kill but not destroy. There should be enough undead here to raise a small army of workers. We are going to need labor to transform this thing into a proper base of operations.”
Clara paid no mind to him as Plague was going to his usual trans of planning and delusions of grandeur she had come to know. She gave a deep sigh and went to the back of their APC to retrieve the zombies.
“You heard the big guy. Wound but don’t destroy… Psi, you take lead. You have 30 minutes; I don’t want to be out here to long.”
The zeds groaned in unison to symbolize agreement and understanding. Clara just gave a dismissive hand gesture as they went inside the office tower and got to work. She sat on the back of the APC and took out a packet of cigarettes. With the simple fire spell every mage seemed to know she lit one of them and started to smoke.
“I am going to need a drink after this… I hope meeting him once again is worth all this…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 28, 2018, 10:08:42 pm
Catnip wasn't exactly surprised that Mica had vanished in the night, but neither was she surprised. A few of the settlers had gone to see her sister, some of them having taken to her, and found her absent. She'd gone quietly into the night, disturbing none as she went. Catnip could guess where she'd gone and after long consideration, decided not to go after her. Mica would find what she was looking for and come back. In the mean time, Catnip would work on a few small tasks and finally relax a little. In that vein...
"Kathrine, wanna throw rocks at cars?" She asked.
"That's not nice Catnip..." mumbled.
"Only if they aren't my cars." Catnip retorted, already picking up a handful of small stones. They made her think of her quarry, and she remembered she hadn't gone down to take a look at how it was holding up yet. That could wait. Today she planned on slinging some stones, drinking some flat soda, maybe talking with some friends, hanging out with Kathrine, and waiting to see if Mica and Dee would come back today or not. Perhaps she'd even get a little bit of hand holding in, ooh la la. Despite the small worry over Mica and Dee, it looked like it was going to be another nice day here on the farm. "Hey nip, hows it hangin'?" Leslie asked, waving. Today she'd left her camera in her bag and was instead fidgeting with a notepad. "Groovy shirt."
Leslie's tongue flicked and her lips curled back with the modicum of a smile. Catnips shirt was indeed "groovy." She'd opted for one of the collection of rarely worn T-shirts in her vast wardrobe. This one was orange and blue tie-dye. Catnip liked the way the colors mingled, and how the blue complimented Kathrine's tail. She took one of the small stones from the plastic cup between her and Kathrine and threw it into the river, her girlfriend having convinced her to throw the stones into the water instead of damaging her own property.
"Thank you Leslie, what's up?" Catnip said, reaching for another stone.
Leslie looked at her notepad, then curled her head back up to look at the pair sitting on the bank of the river. "I'm doing as my first piece an article about the trip here, and the farm and the people here, but I don't really know, er, the name."
"The name of what?" Catnip said. She tossed another stone and it skipped twice. She wasn't very good at skipping stones so the unintentional double pleased her.
"The farm. It's gotta have a name. You guys named it right?"
Catnip vaguely, very vaguely, recalled someone at the center asking about the farms name a long time ago, but no one had really paid much attention to it. She looked to Kathrine to see what she thought, but Kathrine just shrugged a little. "I guess not..." Catnip said. She leaned back and thought about it for a bit, dimly aware that Leslie was waiting patiently. As usual, what she came up with was simple and blunt and familiar sounding. This time, it sounded just a bit better than her usual ideas when it came to names.
"I don't know, just call it like, walkerville or something."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 28, 2018, 10:51:49 pm
(( Lucian stuff written with Wilson. ))
Nathaniel had been up rather late to ensure Lilith would behave, but eventually he found the offer hard not to take up, and it wasn't until later on that he stirred. "...but sarge I don't wanna wear the kitty ears..." was barely overheard before he practically rolled out of the cot, and with a start managing to go from toppling out of bed to stumbling to his feet and standing at attention. "I...er. Oh."
Hector winced a bit at Roxanne's answer, giving a sigh before replying. "I had, but I wasn't sure how easy it'd be to get her trail. Not to mention Dee's already wandered off...though if she proves easier to follow than Dee, it's worth a shot." he answered, shutting the rear hatch and starting up the tank.
The trip itself was fairly uneventful, as the Armored Scouter had an easy time scything through any undead they encountered along the way. Occasionally Hector would veer the tank off to the side a bit, intent on trying to catch the occasional hole-filled, smouldering corpse under the treads. Given the efficiency of the laser weaponry, he hadn't even needed to make use of the weapon mounted on the driver's hatch, merely passing over freshly put-down undead in her wake to ensure they'd stay down.
The sight of the empty town up ahead unnerved him, especially in contrast to the swarming undead that congregated all around it. The fine dust that every little breeze kicked up unnerved him, and he reflexively reached to make certain the hatches were buttoned up securely, and checked his instrument panel for something. Filter should still work. he thought.
He then picked up the radio as the tank stopped nearby. "Roxanne, I don't like the look of this place, that du-" A slight shift in the wind, and his remarks were interrupted by the blare of a warning tone, immediately he halted the tank and looked up at the source. A light flashing on and off, and a small screen showing a bar that was about one-fifth full.
He reached for a compartment nearby, only to grumble and realize the only thing there were a few extra first aid supplies. He got out of the driver's seat and checked the others, soon finding a gas mask in its intended compartment, in the commander's position. As he expected of Nathaniel, at least. He soon removed his great helm and donned in, testing the fit for a tight seal before picking up the radio again. "Alright, found a gas mask. Do you have one? I don't know if this stuff will affect you or not..." he said, before making his way out of the tank, sword and shield at the ready.
Sergei hmmed a bit as he'd just finished preparing a light breakfast for Sammy as well as himself, along with some other items for when others woke up. Smoked meat, fried eggs, and toast mostly. Sammy meanwhile smiled a bit, looking back to see Lucian approaching. Someone she wasn't very familiar with, and so far unfamiliar faces just randomly showing up had been a bad sign.
"Over at the farm I see." Lucian remarked. Sergei looked over and simply waved. "Welcome. Sammy, this is Lucian. Met him at The Hall a while back. Been staying here lately to be with Sammy." Lucian smiled a bit at that. "Seems you've picked a good excuse to stay here at least. More...comfortable?" he teased, Sammy giving him a confused look that quickly turned to one of embarrassment.
"Блять...so what's up, then? Been a while." Sergei asked. Lucian snorted, "Been busy, climbed up the ladder within the League so to speak. Got my shit pushed in too." He said, shedding a glove to show off the dark, stonelike prosthetic. He wiggled the fingers as he commented with a; "Neat, huh?"
Sammy went a bit pale, surprised at the appearance of that odd limb, recognizing it wasn't a crude prosthetic nor a bionic, while Sergei gave a nod. "Seems that has a way of leading you to find time to visit." he joked.
Lucian waves him off, "My ass is very kickable. Your girl is very quiet, by the way." He commented. Sammy was blushing more at that, before looking back at him, having been quietly observing before speaking up. "So what else are you here for? I'm guessing you have some business besides showing off the new hand." she remarked.
"Was just checking on people, saw that Sir Knight's tank left already. Did he do anything stupid recently?" Lucian replied. Sergei blinked at that. "Not that I know of. If anything, not recently at least?" he said, before looking over to Sammy. "He was out the day before yesterday after some radio chatter, and back not long afterward. Spotted him picking up some gear from his room sometime before the chatter started, that big sword of his." she said, and Sergei gave a concerned look towards Lucian.
"Whatever happened, looked like he came back in one piece at least. Helen said that thing's not to be used unless it's a severe emergency, right?" Lucian grimaced, "Shouldn't be used at all... Anywho. How have you two been?" He asked. Sammy smiled a bit. "We've been fine so far. Sergei just made breakfast too, if you want?" Lucian perked up, "Food? I would, yeah."
It wasn't long before Helen and Solomon were already planning out the layout of another building for The Hall, looking over a simple hand-drawn map. "The wood at least will be easily obtained given time and effort." she said, looking to the beds hastily set up. "And furnishing is just a matter of moving those and getting more adequate mattresses, then storage space too. Maybe even armor stands, move some of the forge setup inside since they've taken so well to it..."
"Already planning for more than just these six, aren't you?" Solomon asked, as she gave a nod at that. "Perhaps. If we're going to rebuild, it's more than just training recruits, gathering supplies and all that. They'll need a home. Not just these six, nor you, Steinar, Salazar, even Thomas. There'll be others, eventually."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on March 28, 2018, 11:41:42 pm
Outside the noise of the forge had stopped as Charles sat down and rubbed his forehead. Aaron and Gunnar were still out and about as Anton heard the conversation inside and motioned Liam and Eino over. “We’ll be making barracks. Get what we need for it from the trees nearby if you don’t mind.” He said as he examined the knife in his hands.
Eino nodded as he stepped inside and walked to where he’d left most of his kit. Kneeling down to open his bag Eino pulled a felling axe from it and a pendant hanging from a golden chain hung from the blade. Picking up the pendant Eino opened it for a moment before snapping it shut and angrily throwing it against the far wall hard enough for it to stick in by the edge. Walking out the door he called Liam as the two started for the forest.
As they did Anton walked over to Charles and asked him “Do you think Horace died?”
Charles shrugged as he adjusted his grip on the hammer in his hand and answered “He was missing both legs in a forest with plenty of unsavoury creatures. I’d say it’s a safe assumption.”
Anton nodded as he started to walk towards the hall “Aye, I suppose that makes sense.” he said before sitting beside the door again. Charles shook his head at the question and took a drink from his flask before moving back to the forge. When he looked back up to check his comrade Anton had already slipped inside the Hall. Spotting the pendant stuck in the wall he sighed before picking up his own pack and pulling a large flask from it.
Sitting on the bed he pulled the lid free before taking a long pull from it. Pulling a letter from his pocket he read it once more before letting out a breath and taking another pull from the flask and putting the lid back on. Grabbing his armor from the floor Anton began putting it on as he said “Eino is out getting wood for the new barracks with Liam, Charles can produce whatever metal pieces you need for it. The twins, Aaron and Gunnar that is, are out hunting as is their hobby. If you truly want to build a home for them..” he shook his head as he secured the lamellar armor to his chest “..make sure they are always welcome to return. Don’t make them give up another.”
As he finished securing the final strap of his chest piece he tossed an object of stone that vaguely resembled a hand onto a nearby bed and said “And give that to your friend that brought us here. If it even works it will replace what was taken.”
Elsewhere the gas container had been returned to the base and Schultz’s men had rearmed. Now the modified jeeps rumbled over the rough terrain as the men on the motorcycle radioed in that they’d run into a group of roving traders. As the jeeps pulled alongside the stopped caravan Schultz jumped off and waved to the men talking with the radioman on the motorcycle. “You stopped our scout?”
The trader nodded, recognizing the 3rd company logos on their uniforms “Yes, some of those goons, the uh purifiers. They stopped my caravan and stole some supplies. One of them mentioned a raid of some sort, something to do with a group of ‘delinquent’ purifiers. Perhaps these delinquents might prove to be allies of yours.”
Schultz nodded as he said “Thank you for the information. Unfortunately we’ve nothing to give to you in return.”
The man shook his head as he said “Oh no worries no worries. We’ll live and nothing was expected. Now I’ve need to be off but this was the fastest I could get you what I knew.”
Schultz again thanked the man before ordering the radioman to send the information back to base. Remounting their vehicles they continued the patrol. Perhaps they would get lucky enough to find another group of purifiers to kill.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 29, 2018, 08:13:42 am
"Did you see that? Holy shit it's fast! Back to back! Back to back!"
The small riverside stretch where they now found themselves being stalked was made up of two homes, a gas station convenience store, a two story country side motel of the rather pleasant Maine style, and a small building with a sign stating "prospector supply and tours!" By the side of the road, one could still see the hand carved sign reading "Welcome to Rogers Mill rest area." Long ago it had been a small town, but now the town was just a bunch of foundations tucked away and overgrown back in the woods or lying at the bottom of the river. When the town had still been a town, the river had shifted course on one stormy weekend and swallowed up a portion of Rogers Mill. Someday it would do so again, but not today. Today, a trio of survivors had come to make what they believed would be a small score.
They'd planned and watched for a month, preparing to run the circuit of buildings to scoop up whatever they could carry while evading the undead that had filtered from the motel and migrated in from throughout the countryside. The plan was to hit the tourist trap prospecting "supply" last. A failing business before the cataclysm it may have been, but the survivors had it on good authority that the places miserly owner had been loaded with the bounty of a lifetime spent gold panning and mineral hunting. There plans were set to go and they had been nervously waiting for nightfall the day before when something had happened to render their plan null, and the entire job much easier. A man had come. He had blown through the town on the back of an ATV with refugee center markings, stopping long enough to hit the prospectors supply and nothing else. The undead had followed in his wake as he left. For awhile the survivors debated, wondering if the stranger in the odd mask had cleared out everything of value from the store or not. In the end, they agreed he hadn't. The man had not been in there long enough. It would turn out later that he had taken something. The contents of the places small electronic safe. By the time they learned that in the early afternoon of the next day, they were too busy being carried by something else to care about more than their lives.
They'd disturbed it. It had been sleeping, tucked away and wrapped in a heavy blanket in a corner of the gas station, when they came to it. One of them had made the mistake of whipping the blanket off the form, thinking that it was perhaps a cache of some kind, and it had come to life immediately, thrashing with claws and biting with teeth until their was just a pitiful mass left where their friend had been.
"HOLY SHIT JIM! ITS THE MAW! THE MOTHER FUCKING MAW!" Screamed one of the remaining looters before he was grabbed roughly by the collar and pulled from her reach.
"Where the fuck are we going? We gotta get the fuck out of here!" It was a good question, one that should have stoked some urgency into getting themselves moving back towards their van. Instead it seemed John was pulling in the direction of the prospectors supply. "Now!? Jesus fuck John, Chris is dead! We have to-"
"We have a fucking contract Dave, those crusader fuck heads don't screw around on contracts. We don't get out of here with the goods and we'll be dead anyway." John growled.
"What? Jesus John, that's the fucking Maw in there! God's Army can piss into a windstorm for all I care, I-"
"Would you shut the fuck up. God's Army will take care of that bitch sooner rather than later. She ain't immortal stupid."
They ran until they found themselves in the store front that they believed might very well be where their lives would end. The store was explosively hot, and that was the main thing. Compared to the gas station or the houses, the prospectors supply with it's dark roof and cedar slat walls was a blast furnace. When a quick cool breeze wafted over them momentarily, stirring the still air and bringing fresh sweat to their brows, they knew they weren't alone. John and Dave went back to back, expecting to counter the monsters speed in doing so. Dave realized just how dark it was in the prospectors supply and began to suspect every shadow. The long umbra cast by the tall geode by the counter, the display case filled with sifting pans, even the empty magazine rack became suspect in the failed light of the place.
Something rose up from behind the counter at the back, and without thinking Dave fired his automatic three times. He didn't see or feel John's sudden departure, his "friend" fleeing for the front door and out of his life at the sudden eruption of gun shots. All Dave saw was the falling form behind the counter. It wasn't the Maw. It was a zombie. The moldering, black streaked face showed that plainly.
"You friend isss a bad friend." Hissed the somewhat rough voice of the monster. He spun about, and she let him spin. He raised his gun, and she let him do that too. He tried to pull the trigger, and couldn't muster the strength to do it. Fear drained it from him until he was on his knees before the crude, grinning, living mocker of the female form that made up the Maws being. "You seen My-ka's lizard?" She asked.
Dave was relieved, but only for a few seconds. If he couldn't answer, and he could not, he would probably die here. He didn't answer for a moment, then two, then three. The silence stretched out interminably. Just him, her, and those rows of razored pearly whites. Then, she sniffed and dropped to all six. Snuffling about the floor excitedly before coming back up. "Lissssard..." She hissed. It searched around the store thoroughly, leaving Dave to stand stunned in the growing stink of his sweat until she suddenly pushed him towards the door.
"You stinkin' up lizards smells! Get out stink pants!"
Dave stumbled out the door, vaguely realizing that, yes, his pants did seem to be reeking. He decided to clean up, only dimly aware of the danger looming over him. While he did that, the Maw finished her business with the small town and pedalled away on a bike she had clearly just learned how to ride. Just learned, or was still learning. As for him, he checked the prospectors supply himself and found nothing of what John had been after. Just scattered bills and prospecting tools. It was in Rogers Mill he would still be when a certain spirit and knight discovered him later that day.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 31, 2018, 09:01:46 pm
The dust surrounding the place was proving to be more of an annoyance to Roxanne more than anything. It didn’t affect her in any real tangible way but the nocebo effect made her fill an itch in her nose every once in a while. This eventually become a sneeze.
“It’s all in the mind… This thing can’t actu- *achoo* Damn it!”
That was when the radio pipe up; it was Hector once again. She heard him fumble around and then the alarm form the tank. “Great, now more zeds are inbound...” She grabbed her radio to respond back to him. “You found a gasmaks? Good good, put it on. It doesn’t affect me in any way that matt- *achoo* excuse me. I am fine. Listen, if you are going to follow, why not split up the work? You search from the left inwards and I from the right; we’ll meet up by the building by the center? This should make things more efficient. Anything comes up don’t hesitate to radio it in; this dust is something new to me. Alright, see you in a bit?”
Roxanne put the radio away and walked toward the building awaiting his response. She approached to one of two houses in sight assuming Hector was in agreement. The fact she had neglected to bring up the alarm was due to the fact that him talking over the radio despite it going off meant he was fine. With her plan being conveyed to him, she went ahead and entered the first house.
Inside the house Roxanne notice that there was hardly any dust. There was some near the entrance and more came in when she opened the door but the insides looked fairly devoid of it. However, she knew better to make any assumptions on something she didn’t understand. This home was fairly typical in terms of contents; nothing out of the ordinary. Roxanne did pocked some rather fancy earring made of a red gemstone she assumed to be rubies; they seem to go nicely with the crystal pendant Melody had given her. She also took some plant food pellets that promised enhanced growth; she was sure little jim would appreciate it.
She moved to the next house after a while. This one was just as uneventful as the other; it was devoid of anyone or anything rather interesting. What she took from this was was one of the missing editions of the “Alpha Male Quarterly” magazine series from her collection. She did so checking to see if anyone was around to witness this despite knowing full well she was alone. The only other thing of interest here was a double barrel shotgun with custom insignias on it’s wooden stock. She didn’t take it as the farm has enough weapons as it was but she did take the ammunition it had as well as a couple boxes of more ammo that were sitting on a night stand.
Roxanne was about to exit the house thinking she had seen it all when she found a book on one of the shelves seemingly overlooked. She grabbed the book and tilted her head in confusion at what she was holding. “CHICken BOOK” was what the title of the book said. Roxanne skimmed throught it and was amused to find it was a series of photographs of chicken in a sort of costumes and other gimmicky stuff. She was impressed at the quality of the photographs and as such decide she would take this as well. Now with her loot assured, she exited the house and headed to the rendezvous point. Roxanne picked up the radio to let Hector know.
“Hey, I don’t know how far into searching your side you are but I have reached the meeting point… I am going to go ahead and enter it, you can feel free to continue your search if you aren’t done or meet me here. Roxanne out.”
After putting the radio down, Roxanne clutched her sword more carefully and walked towards the store. There were signs of someone being here already and she didn’t like that. She opened the door slowly and peered inside. “Mica? Is that you? It’s me, Roxanne…”
A smirk was plastered on Victor’s face as he realized what type of place they found themselves in. “Indeed, another one of these…” The two walked inside, the door closing behind them on it’s own. This place was much larger on the inside than what it looked like on outside. The main corridor they found themselves in was massive; it was at least 200 yards in length. On either side were various doors that housed many different types of rooms; anything from bedrooms,a kitchen and a coupe libraries to a weapon’s cache and a hub full of electronics as if it was someone’s hobby room. The two would explore the place to find it empty; this gave them time savor all the loot that they could call theirs. However, something was off.
This place had a large resemblance to a place that meant something to both Victor and Melody. It resembles the place where Randael made his final stand and where Victor and this world’s version of Roxanne took refuge for a while. The resemblance was both in architectural style and layout; however, instead of this place being an impossible maze, it was just a single long corridor. Victor knew full well this type of place held large amounts of arcane items. What they were he wasn’t sure; they seem hastily built safehouses/caches for arcane studies. Helen called the one she knew of a ticking arcane bomb and now doubt she would’ve felt the same way about this one had she been here; but that was the thing that was odd. Despite the arcane signature being prevalent everywhere; despite it practically screaming of its presence, there was not a single arcane entity or artifact anywhere. Victor found this extremely strange and Melody was quite disappointed thus far. Still, the two pressed on from room to room in hopes of finding what they came here for.
“Clear, no hostiles here either.”, said Melody as she signal to Victor is was ok to enter the room.
“Wow, picked up on the lingo and everything huh? Where did you learn such tactics?”, Victor asked.
“Not every book out there is of the arcane you know? This I learned from some police academy’s training manual; pretty handy if you ask me.”
“I would say… Anything else interesting you have read apart from the arcane?”
The two were now looking through the room as they talked; each looking at a different section. This appeared to be yet another bedroom and thus far it proved to be no different than the other rooms.
“Well, I have read some survival books as I think those might come in handy someday. This one book called ‘The Anarchist Cookbook’ had some interesting concepts and ideas; might try some of them, I think that in this world such information is common but meh. Oh! I also have read some interesting fiction books some titles you might recognize, I think…”
He had done it, Victor had made Melody go on another of her patented rants. He chuckled and rolled his eyes to himself as he listened to her go on and on. After 10 minutes of looking in every nook and cranny of the room the searched proved unfruitful in terms of the arcane. Melody did find a hidden ‘stash’ but instead of arcane artifacts it had whips and handcuffs. It didn’t take long for her to figure out what those were for and quickly left that alone.
“Found anything interesting?”
“Nono! Same as before, just clothes and what not. Mhmm, just same as before.”
Victor gave a heavy sigh. “What a shame… I am sorry for this Melody; I really though I had found the jackpot here but this turned out to be another mundane supply run…”
Melody turned her attention to Victor and smiled his way. “It’s ok! I had fun and some of this stuff could really help the farm you know? Maybe next time we will find something neat.”
Victor reciprocated her smile with one of his own. “I really envy your enthusiasm and positivity. Those are things lacking now a days… Anyways, should we go to the final room and call it a day?”
A series of nods was what Victor got as a response from her.
“Very well then. Lead the way Melody; one more to go.”
Despite not facing any resistance so far the two still exercised the same level of caution as they had done while entering this place. Melody gave the all clear sign and the two entered the room. This room was the aforementioned electronics hobby room. Neither of them knew what they were looking at but they could tell all of this was rather high-tech. The tables and counters were filled with half finished projects on various tages as well as tool and scraps. Both of them examined various things marveling at the level of craftsmanship on some of this pieces.
“Maybe this trip wasn’t a bust…”, Melody said in a low tone; awe evident in her tone.
“Maybe not…”, Victor responded as he picked up and examined a peculiar piece. I looked like a cylinder with a black glass dome on top of it; an over sized flashlight in appearance but with an opening large enough to fit your hand from behind. It appear that was the intent as when Victor looked inside of it, an adapter for the UPS bionic was on the far end. It appeared to be designed to connect when you put your hand on it. Well, old habits die hard for some people and Victor was no exception. He had to know what this thing did. With the utmost care, he took of his glove from his right hand and pocket it, took of the UPS module from his wrist and place it back on his laser pistol before holstering it and then finally slowly inserted his hand inside the device. A soft clicking sound was heard and then a low humming sound that subsided soon after. These sounds were loud enough to draw Melody’s attention as she now looked at Victor with a strange device attached to his arm.
“Victor...w-what was that?”, Melody asked pointing at his arm.
“I have no clue...but I am about to find out.”
Almost as if by instinct, Victor raised his hand and pointed the device towards an empty wall a;; in a single swift motion. Seemingly out of nowhere, three burst of laser fire came out of the black dome and damage the wall it was pointed all. There was a small but noticeable recoil to the fire and it sent Victor stumbling a bit before he got a hold of himself. It wasn’t quiet either, the sound was straight out of old 20th century sci-fi movies. The sound caused Melody to give as small whimper as she scurried for cover at the sight.
“Melody! Are you ok?”
“Y-yeah...what the hell was that?” She slowly poked her head out of cover from a counter she was now hiding behind. The damage on the wall told her everything she needed to know.
“It seems to be an energy weapon of some kind…Definitely more powerful than my laser pistol” Victor looked at the cylinder in his arm and smiled some. “I like it, I think I am keeping this one…” He checked his bionic power banks to real quick; they were at 86% capacity. Taking into account the energy he used outside of the building, it was safe to say this thing was rather energy efficient.
“O-ok then...just give me a heads up if you fire that thing again ok?”
“Sorry about that… Curiosity got the best of me…”
“A-anyways...I think we are done here don’t you think? Should we go and grab the foldable cart to gather some stuff up?’
“Yeah… I guess we are done here then. Sure, let’s go grab the cart then.” Victor wasn’t all there as he was still marveling at his new toy; his smirk not showing signs of subsiding. The two of them compused themselves and then promptly exited the room. As Victor was still distracted, it was Melody who stopped him when she spotted something.
“What is Melody?”, asked Victor a bit confused.
“T-that wasn’t there before… Right? I am not going crazy am I?”
Victor turned his attention at what Melody was no pointing at. At the end of the corridor was now a door; a door that had not been there before. This was not just any door either, it had a familiar resemblance to another particular door. That door being the entrance to the room where Randael had taken refuge. This door symbolised a room with great significance to this place. After a quick scan with the aura scan Victor noticed the arcane signature skyrocketed; maybe what they were looking for was behind there. But, an air of familiarity permeated this signature; something long forgotten but yet still fresh in Victor’s instincts. This whole place triggered this very feeling, in Melody too, but it was somehow stronger now. Whatever was behind that door was something worth taking.
“It seems we have found the jackpot. I can sense arcane happenings behind that door. As you said earlier, this trip might’ve not been a bust after all.”
Melody smiled with excitement and glee. “Yes! Our adventure resumes! I can’t wait to see what we find in there.”
Victor was excited too, but something was naggin on the back of his head; something that told him to be extra careful. “Melody, listen. I am glad you are excited and all but this place is starting to give me the creeps… Listen, if you really want to continue, I will guide you through it but know that something seems to be nagging me to be careful…
Melody was too excited to head the warning seriously but was quick to think of a compromise. “You must be tired from all this. Why don’t we take a break to calm down your nerves Vic’? Listen, let’s bring the cart and haul things away for now. This door appeared out of nowhere so it might disappear too. If when we finish carrying out loot out it’s still there, we go in; if not, we go back home. Does that sound fair?”
“You know what? That sounds like an excellent plan. Should rule out a couple of my concerns if the door stays or make me glad we didn’t go in if it doesn’t. Yeah, lets go and grab the cart.”
Clara Ironwood was outside of the office tower next to a window smoking a cigarette while Plague was off doing who knows what. She was still frustrated, in more ways than one, due to all this. It was bad enough that the journey itself was had been tedious but now Plague had once more got another of his patented plans put in motion. She didn’t understand how he thought or frankly cared but not knowing did give her a lot of headaches.
“Just hang in there girl. We are already near the damn objective… It’s just a matter of helping him put the plan in motion and then we can get what we want to…” She took another puff of the cigarette and looked up at the sky letting the silence take hold. It had been about an hour since the gunshots had ceased meaning Plague’s pets had done the job. However, the silence did not last. Clara dropped her cigarette as the sound of glass breaking startled her. All over the building and on it’s two above ground floors the sound of it’s windows breaking filled the landscape. As if that wasn’t bad enough, soon the sound of hammering took its place and Clara noted how the window next to her was being barricaded.
“God fucking damn it! What now?!”
She stepped on the down cigarette and made her way inside the building in search of Plague; this surely had to be his doing. When she got to the door she got her answer; Plague had revived the undead and put the to work barricading the building. She had to push two zeds that were getting the main entrance ready to be sealed with plywood. Clara had to admit that it was a smart move but she didn’t appreciate how he simply took decisions without her input.
“This is a partnership plague, you're not the one in charge here damn it!”
Clara eventually made it past the working zombie and the raw material being harvested from random furniture in the area. She found the stair and read the emergency fire map locating the main office. Plague was such a narcissist that of course he would take residence there. Lo and behold she was right once more; Plague was inside the office with his hands behind his back and looking outside through the one undamage window. Despite her annoyance, it did not escape Clara how cliche the whole scene looked.
“Hey! What in god’s name are you doing now?!”, Clara exclaimed demanding an answer.
“Which one? You have met so many.”. Plague answered without so much as moving a muscle.
“This isn’t the time for your quips, you know what I mean! Listen, I am getting tired of you just doing what you want without taking me into account. This is a partnership, I am not you damn assistant! Are you even hearing me?!”
Plague gave a deep sigh. “Mortals and their needs…”, he said to himself before turning around.
“I’m listening. What’s this really about Clara?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“This isn’t like you. You are always so calm and collected. Now you suddenly just barge in here yelling your frustrations. Is that what you need? Is so, by all mean, let it all out.”
Clara pause for a moment. Plague’s words along with having vented a bit calmed her down. “No, that’s not it. Sorry for lashing out. I just..don’t know…”
“Clara, don’t push yourself so hard. Despite your power, your abilities, you are still just a human. Take things slowly ok? Leave the logistics to me.”
“See? This is what I am talking about! You are just patronizing me again! I can handle myself you know?! I am just as capable as you!”
“Ahhh, I see. So this is what this is about…”
“Now what are you on about?!”
Plague went ahead and pulled his chair from the desk and took a seat. He motioned Clara to do the same. “Come on, take a seat.” She reluctantly did so but was nonetheless a bit more calm. “Now, what is it exactly that you want? Sovereignty? Is that it?”
“What? You are not making any sense Plague…”
“You feel I am not treating you as my equal, just using you as another pawn in some big game I have planned. Well, is it?”
“Well, yeah, a bit…”
“I see…” a few moments of silence passed between the two before Plague grabbed a piece of printer paper and a pen; he wrote something in it and handed it to Clara. “How about we renegotiate our contract? Does that seem fair.”
She read the contents of the paper and a smile slowly formed on her face as she read along. Once she finished, she looked at him a bit surprised. “Wow, mighty generous of you. Still, I am not sure…”
“Why don’t you take a few days off? Do whatever you want; travel a bit maybe? Think things through for a bit.”
Clara’s smile turned into a smirk as she nodded. “That sounds like a plan. How about I start today?”
“Fine by me. Feel free to take any of the zeds if you decide to head out.”
“I can take care of myself you know?”
Plague raised his hand in the air as if the police had ordered him to. “Ok, fine. Just a suggestion. You are free to go, I have matters to attend to.”
“What a surprise...very well then, I guess I will see you in a few days.” Clara got up from her seat and made her way out of the office. Before she could actually exit, Plague called to her.
“Wait, one last thing before you go.”
Clare turned her head before he continued.
“If you meet any of the VIP, do not interact with them ok? Come back and let me know first.“
She smiled at him before heading out. “You got it chief.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 31, 2018, 10:34:19 pm
Hector gave a nod as he found a handset in the turret, tuning it to answer Roxanne after she continued. "That works then." he answered, making his way down the street. The place looked relatively untouched despite obvious signs of survivors having passed through here every so often. A stricken car or two, rusted out and looted, far enough on the edge of town that survivors usually hadn't yet succumbed to the strange dust in the air.
It was when he entered the wrecked gas station that he saw the first body. A couple in fact. One slumped over in one of the the convenience store's aisles, another sitting behind the counter. And a third in an awkward position on the floor by a broken store window, having evidently toppled over in the process of stepping over the shattered panel's framework, likely having cut themselves to ribbons.
"Few bodies so far. Look like a giant spider's been at them, haven't seen any webbing though. Be careful." he calmly said into the radio, before sweeping through the store to examine it. Nothing in the back room nor the restrooms, simply picking up a couple cans of food from the shelves to stow in his pack, followed by calmly examining the bodies.
There were the usual supplies and ammo, some of which he took, before continuing on. Another small store, a restaurant, the most he searched by more bodies he found. He soon found himself walking down a side street deeper in town, still in sight of their planned meeting point when Roxanne chimed in.
"I'm near it. There are several bodies all around the whole edge of town. Some even in the streets. Doesn't look like there are any deeper in town." he remarked. "In fact most of town looks like it's been untouched this whole time." he said, stopping as he saw something. Not far off he could see the court house. Surrounded by small offices and stores that seemed pristine, he could see the glass door was ripped out of its hinges and pushed aside. "Scratch that. Courthouse has seen some activity. I'll meet up with you at the rendezvous point afterward." he said, readying his sword as he continued down main street, towards the old building.
He made it to the front of a nearby building before he stopped, having found his mark. Or what was left of them. Little more than a smear of dried blood all along the sidewalk, scattered chunks of chitin and tattered wings that seemed to be from a massive moth. He knelt, examining a section of exoskeleton that had been chewed up and spat out, careful with it given it was still slick with an unnervingly acrid saliva. "Found what likely made such a mess of the place. Someone else got her claws on them, I'm willing to bet. Going to search the courthouse."
The place had all the signs of some monster's lair, scattered trinkets and supplies could be seen, variously either tossed about haphazardly or neatly laid out on the reception desk, with no apparent rhyme or reason to what was worthy of display. There were a few old halls and offices, and sometimes in them he saw signs someone had been in there. Some furniture clawed up and knocked over. And worse, every step kicked up clouds of that dust.
He half-expected the creature to make their den in the courtroom itself, only to find it littered with more stolen trinkets, noticing an old magazine on reenactment swords and knives that he decided to take. Instead it was in the clerk's office where he found the den. Papers had been yanked from the cabinets and piled up in an attempt at a makeshift bed, supplemented with tattered scraps of wool clothing stolen from various victims. Searching the pile he found little more than old shredded files, newspapers, torn clothes. But among them, a small silver ring with a diamond set in it. He didn't give it a second thought as he put it away, even though he suspected there was a reason the creature kept that particular item, when he'd seen more ornate jewelry tossed on the floor in the courtroom.
Soon he left the buildiong, heading for the motel that was their planned meeting point, waving to her as he neared. "Looks like there was one person here. Mothlike, and guessing they ran into Mica. She seems to have poked through the courthouse then moved on. Any sign of a trail?"
Elsewhere, as Helen regarded the first efforts to plan and build the barracks, she looked back and gave a nod to Anton. "Hinges and latches will likely be the main metalwork needed later on. Nails as well, though we still have a good stock of those from before." she admitted. "Of course. I swore I would do what I must. So long as you don't go killing each other." she said, before regarding the hand of stone, picking it up carefully. "If you wish I can bring it over to him today, if he doesn't return to check on us today." she offered.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 01, 2018, 12:00:06 am
Anton shrugged at that as he adjusted the gauntlet on his left arm “You can wait until he comes. That much I know will happen as he views us as much his responsibility as yours.” Satisfied with his gauntlets Anton then picked up a piece of cloth and a glass bottle. Popping the top open the scent of flowers quickly flooded the air before he poured some onto the cloth and closed the bottle once more. Wrapping the cloth around his face Anton coughed for a moment before muttering “At least it’s better than nothing.”
Sliding the bandoleer of daggers over a shoulder Anton shook his head and said “You don’t have to worry about us killing each other. We may fight but we wouldn’t kill one of our fellows.”
Picking up one of his axes and hefting it experimentally Anton looked over at Helen and Solomon as he said “You want to make us part of your order am I correct? If so knowing what we’re in for would put our minds at ease.”
As for the stone 'hand' it had the shape of hand however the 'fingers' only went to the mid joint. It lacked in real detail but the four gems, which were placed as the knuckles of each finger, that seemed to be partially enveloped by the stone. Occasionally one of them would flash gently as something seemed to be moving inside it. Flipping it over the palm had a somewhat larger gem. It seemed to be filled to the brim with energy as it faintly glowed and pulsed. Inspecting it with one of their masks would reveal that all of the gems were indeed full of energy but what was in the stone in the palm seemed..off somehow. The way it appeared in the mask was far different from the others and when viewed from the mask the pulsing seemed more like something tapping the gem from the inside.
Elsewhere Isaac found himself walking with Alice towards the Hall. “So these guys cut off your hand and you didn’t shoot them?”
Isaac shrugged as he yawned into his hand before answering “I couldn’t hold my rifle. Besides that I had given someone my word that I would exercise caution.”
Alice raised an eyebrow at that as she asked “Caution meaning bringing them to someone you barely know?”
Isaac rolled his eyes as he answered “Yes. Look they’re good guys just misled.”
Alice shrugged as she said they would see. Rolling his eyes again Isaac agreed as they made their way across the bridge and turned towards the path to the Hall. Admittedly he had reservations about bringing her with him but figured if he intended to keep up with the six, and potentially learn from Helen, she deserved to know where he would be.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 01, 2018, 01:21:59 am
Business was good for the Smoke Marshal clan in these parts. The Hell's Raiders had split up a few years before, leaving the remainder to split up into separate bands of raiding survivors. Some went on with the ways of the Hells Raiders, others took on a more subdued lifestyle. Some also took on a more extreme way of life, but the Smoke Marshals weren't one of those. The small scouting party camped out in the buffer between the turnpike and the last exit to join the seldom used Old River Road, demanding "donations" for free passage and hitting the now rare Gods Army raiding caravans. It was about time to pack up though. Time to move on. Carter Black directed the packing of goods, doing so ahead of time to try and beat the coming rains. If they weather turned before they were ready to go, they wouldn't be getting far. It was a little difficult to focus though, he was thinking about the kid they'd held up the day before.
"You alright Curt? Somethin' wrong?" Asked another of the raiders taking a break from packing.
"Nothing wrong, just thinking about that kid."
"Kid" had had some problems. Personal stuff that Curtis wasn't exactly comfortable discussing. Probably because he himself had been through something similar. Girlfriend caught with a bun in the oven. Future uncertain, unsure of what to do. Curtis had told him what he knew, how to deal with it as best he could. "I'd just keep running kid." He'd said. The dead look of the kids mask didn't tell him much, but he got the feeling that the kid was strongly considering it. Probably doing it already. Still, Curtis wasn't a dick, he could tell when he'd given bad advice.
"You shouldn't give up kid, stick around, maybe it will be better than you think." He said to himself, "It ain't the end of the world."
The clouds were thickening above, looking absolutely vile in the weather they stood for. He supposed the kid had to keep running though, if he knew what was after him. Another reason for the packing up and leaving was this parties losses. The kid hadn't killed anyone. The Eater had done that. She dove into them, biting and swiping like they'd wronged her in some way. The Smoke Marshals scouting party hadn't heard her bike, of course not. Simple pedals didn't make noise. She did though. She'd dismounted and started snuffling and sniffing. Ripping and tearing. The day watch was lighter, and she bit the poor kid practically in half from behind. After that, she'd ripped into a tent and attacked to guards, gelding one man and bleeding him out with her claws while beating the others head in with his own gun. The camp had been alerted to this midday attack when she burst from another tent in hot pursuit of a third shouting, "don't run from My-ka! Just be tired when My-ka catch you!" He told his men to hold, to stand away, but for a wonder she believed he had been talking to her and stopped. The eater even seemed a bit... Sheepish. His men had formed a ring around her, intending to try and catch her but she led them on a "merry" chase through the encampment until she finally broke away and sped off on her bike. Curtis Black barely managed to restrain his men from going after her.
Another reason Curtis wanted to pack because when it rained, she'd lose her scent. If she lost the scent, she would be back. He felt bad for the kid she was chasing, but all the same it was better him than them. The trouble was that he couldn't connect the two. Why did she want the kid so bad? She had certainly killed and eaten her fill here, so what was it?
Curtis tried to dismiss it. It wasn't his business really. Intrigue like this only got you in trouble, but he couldn't. Big Smoke, his leader, was always looking for answers. An answer to a question regarding the eater would interest him greatly. After all, he thought she was some kind of demigod. He thought all the Apex mutants we're demigods, and he concerned himself greatly with there where abouts and stories. The eater had been absent these last couple years. Big Smoke would want to know.
"Hurry it along boys, we gotta get this shit packed before the rains start." He called again, "We'll be back in Big Smoke's long house by night fall if we're quick or we'll be slogging up the turnpike if not. Pack the dead carefully too, we don't want to lose em on the way." Atomos was out with the others, mingling but staying away from the main body of the celebration. It was a nightly occurrence, these "parties." Once they'd been a way to raise morale among the populace, but now they were where the fighting men and women of God's Army got together to harass the populace.
She stayed at the edge of the jeering circle that had formed in the courtyard around a brawl. Somebody's bright idea to haul a "defector" up from the prison block so the crowd could take turns beating hell out of him. It seemed that this particular political enemy wasn't in the mood to be beaten though. Bloodied and bruised he may have been, but the man was knocking down challengers left and right. Atomos realized that the spectacle she was watching was something akin to the gladiatorial fights of the old world. Perhaps an arena proper would spring up around it some day. She wasn't interested in the fighting though. What Atomos wanted to see was the Mislings.
She was stoppedas she walked towards the stage, a pair of soldiers. Their uniforms we're better somehow than the others. Cleaner, heavier. Atomos assumed that these men were Templars.
"Sorry ma'am, Astor wants these devil's kept away from the public for their safety."
"Safety?" Atomos scoffed, "They are going to get burnt aren't they?"
"Yessim, they are. That doesn't mean we can let the public get at them. Astor wants them for the spectacle of the burning. Why don't you turn around and look at what this rabble is doing, then tell me you think these creatures would live long if that lot got ahold of them."
Atomos did look. She saw what she'd seen before. A group of rowdy men and women trying like hell to beat down one man. Going at him like dogs at a steak. The prisoned let loose with a haymaker that seemed to actually whistle as it passed through the air and blew through a soldiers jaw, snowplowing the teeth of his enemy and the skin of his knuckles.
"I just want a look at them." She said, turning back and making an effort to crane her neck up a little.
"You can see them from here, I suggest you back off ma'am."
Atomos supposed she could see from where she was, but not well enough to see what she really wanted to see. The cage. It looked like thick rebar, and she couldn't really tell but she could sort of make out a pair of padlocks. Either padlocks or combo locks. From this distance she couldn't get much information, but she supposed she didn't need much. It was the plan, the part after what she was planning. The people in that cage might not have any skill fighting and even if they did and Atomos armed them, what then? Storm the gates? Doubtful. The soldiers would be enough to bring them all down, the warwalkers and devil hunters we're an entirely new level of force God's Army could field in pursuit. Atomos needed a proper plan. And she hoped she wouldn't be too late or cock it up too badly. L put down her book and went outside. The noon sun was beginning to make it stuffy in the little tent anyway, and it just wasn't very comfortable. Unlike some of the others, all L had been able to bring along had been a rollmat she'd taken from the trash behind Pinky's, a blanket she'd outright stolen from an unattended stall on chief street, and a pup tent that had cost her most of the watermarks she'd had saved up. All six of them in fact. She'd been a little embarrassed when she'd woken up the morning after their arrival to find the man she'd met earlier hogging the blankets in her sparse, uncomfortable tent. More about the surroundings than the fact of his presence and the dim memory of what they'd been up to.
It was a nice day anyway, getting a little cloudy maybe. While the trip had been rough and unpleasant she could sometimes look around at this place she once thought was merely the figment of a lost girls desperate imagination and think that it was all worth it. As she walked, Minx fell into step quietly beside her.
"What's goin' on girly?" L asked, sensing with her whiskers more than seeing Minx directly.
"Not much. Didn't think I'd ever see so much green again, did you?"
"Eh."
"So uh... You got a guy huh?"
L clasped her hands behind her back, approaching the edge of the woods across the road. Somewhere on the otherside, maybe a mile away she'd been told, was a grain field. Catnip's sister's favorite place. Just about now, it would be sprouting with green stalks just starting to change gold.
"I guess." L said.
"He nice?"
"A bit of a dick sometimes, but he's alright."
"Maybe husband material?"
"Pffft, no. Minx, I'm not ready for that. I'm still..."
Minx put a hand out, hearing the warble that had started in L's voice. It had been a few years, and the wound had closed somewhat. Catnip had helped, new friends had helped, this new country was helping every day. Taking solace in the arms of this new man would probably close them for good, but Elle was still getting over Henry. Him, and the four she'd lost to the Mycus.
"I'm sorry. Shouldn't have uh..." Minx started.
"It's fine." L told her, "He's more a uh, friend. With benefits. I guess. I mean, the glamour has kind of worn off, but I still like him. You know?"
"The glamour will come back." Minx said, "Always does. Especially if he isn't a shit bag and you aren't the kind to fall for shit bags. I suppose... Hey, you uh, "went" with him? Did you-"
"Nope. My fault for getting smashed."
It was Minx's turn to wince. That word, "smash," had been one of Cousins favorites. There was a not so subtle double entendre in it as well, thanks to Minx's association of that word with Cousin, and what it meant to him. L didn't see the wince, but winced herself.
"So uh..."
"Yeah..."
"Well... congratulations?"
L shrugged, and walked into the woods, Minx walking after. They moved on in silence for a bit. They weren't afraid of hunters in these parts, chances were that they were up north looking in the swamp. The locals had told the migrants where the game was good and plentiful, and what to watch out for, and the hunters went about the job of getting food with zeal and attentiveness.
"So, you ain't gonna marry him. What are you going to do about..."
"Nothing, I'll deal with it when the time comes. I'm more wracking my brains with how to tell him."
Minx sighed, and said "Yeah, that's the hard part alright. Only known him a day or two and you've already got a surprise for him."
"I'm not a whore."
"I didn't say you were. I didn't even imply it."
"Sorry."
"It's fine. Hm..."
"Hm?"
"Seems babies are the current fad around here, aren't they?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 03, 2018, 09:38:52 pm
The doors to the lab slid open as a heavy metal boot clanked on the concrete. Adjusting his grip on the wrench as he stepped through the doors B-23’s mind wandered to when he’d broken out of this facility. He was surprised that anyone had cleaned up the dead bodies he had left behind. Walking further inside B-23 observed the marks gunshots had made on the walls and floors and wondered where they had come from before focusing back on the task at hand.
Walking through the hallways he was surprised to hear a guttural roar. More so that another B series unit rushed out of the darkness and slammed him against the far wall as Jay pinged shots off it’s back. It tried and failed to hold him as he slipped out of its grasp before it could slam its fist into his skull. Slamming the wrench into its elbow and was surprised to hear the mechanical components shatter with the bone.
Kicking it down onto the ground B-23 stared at it for a moment, memories that he was sure weren’t his flooding his memory. Having drinks with a man, talking for hours in the barracks, and smoking as they shared photos of family. This hesitation earned him a punch that broke several components in his abdomen and sent him stumbling back.
Another burst of gunfire did nothing as the B series subject rushed him screaming. Cocking an arm back B-23 shut off the safeties in his arm. A moment later he brought the metal and flesh fist forward. The fist collided with the subject’s skull hard enough to send it flying across the room as the hand, metal and flesh, evaporated into crushed metal and a spray of blood and oil.
B-23 and Jay stood there for a moment a the shock of the moment hung over them. A few seconds later and B-23 had re-engaged his safeties and started down a corridor. Jay was saying something about needing to get the leaks plugged up and bandaged but he didn’t quite hear her as they moved through the corridors.
No he didn’t stop until he found himself pulling a desk drawer open and retrieving a set of programming chips. Looking up at Jay the words ‘someone else was here, someone that I want to find’ appeared on his screen as he slid the packet into his bag. Jay nodded as she motioned to the security cameras in the facility.
B-23 led the way to the security office and pulled up the security feed. Scanning through it for a half hour he found himself stopping it as a familiar face popped up. His own, bearded, but his own. Motioning to Jay he waited and after a few seconds of staring at the screen she finally said “Wait. That’s one of the guys at the ‘farm’ place. Bunch of crazies according to my ‘friend’ in the area.”
B-23 stood up as he grabbed the wrench from the desk. Jay followed behind him as she said they should just drop it, it wasn’t worth messing with them. B-23 looked over his shoulder as ‘You can go’ popped onto the screen.
She shook her head as she followed him. She knew this was dumb but she owed him and she paid her debts. “Let’s get it over with shall we.”
Elsewhere Eino watched the first of the trees he needed to fell fall to the ground. Retrieving a different axe Eino started for it as Liam sat on a rock and watched. As he split it into easier to carry logs Liam asked “So why am I here?”
Eino shrugged as he set to work. Liam shook his head as he grabbed a small stone from the ground and began playing with it. It was a few minutes later Eino handed him a set of logs to carry and they started back towards the Hall. “You’re here because you need something to do. Or did you think none of us noticed how you couldn’t sleep?”
Liam looked away as they walked and Eino sighed before continuing “You miss your mother. I miss..her. But we’ll have to learn to live without them brother.”
Liam nodded as he stepped around a stump and said “I know. Doesn’t make it any easier.”
Eino shrugged as they neared the Hall and said “Maybe, just maybe, it’s not supposed to. Knowing doesn’t make some things easier but it gives you a starting point. Sometimes you just have to let that point sink in.”
The two tossed the logs near the Hall and started back into the woods. Eino started singing an old working song he’d heard some of the woodsman sing. After a few minutes Liam joined him as they both began work on taking the next tree down.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 05, 2018, 02:47:24 am
Roxanne had been listening in to Hector over the radio as she looked on for on her own. She assumed that when he said courthouse that it would take him a long time to explore it since they are large buildings. As such, she didn’t expect him to sneak up on her as she is entering the meeting point.
“Holy shit! Hector you fuck! You scared me back there!” She was currently brandishing that sword of the void in his face out of instinct but quickly put it away.
“Mothman? Huh...think he caused the dust? Anyways, I haven’t seen any bodies or any trails yet. Did find some interesting items though. Look!” Roxanne showed him the Chicken Book, the shells and then the earrings. “They look nice don’t they? I think they are rubies! I doubt their owner will miss them.” That last statement was followed by a wink. “Anyways, we are here at the meeting point. Want to explore this place and then move on? Maybe we can find something here or maybe we could explore in the courthouse for more clues; you know, magic and what not.”
Roxanne put her sword away and then smiled at Hector. She then rustled his hair playfully. “Nice mask. It’s been a while since I saw that hair of yours tin can.” Suddenly, Roxanne felt odd. She felt lightweight. “Hector? I don’t feel so good…” Roxanne then looks at Hector with a face that looks almost sad.
“Hector...hug me please?” She had no idea what was causing this. One moment she was fine, the other she was like this. The feeling was hard to explain; she felt empty somehow yet also free. It was as if a weight had been lifted off her. Still, whatever it was, she felt a bit lonely, fortunately, Hector was here for her.
It eventually passed. Roxanne seemed incredibly embarrassed after the fact quickly pulling away from Hector. “Ahem...anyways...W-we should look for clues… I-I’ll go look at the courthouse and you look here...That seem fair?”
It only took the two about half an hour to bring the cart and carry the stuff from the various rooms to the Jeep. They had already pre-chosen what to take so it had only been a matter of picking the stuff up and putting it in the Jeep’s cargo box. They had taken quite the amount of loot too! Nothing the farm didn’t already had, even the electronics found here were already present in dee’s workshop on his project with Medina, but having more of it wouldn’t hurt. Now that the loot and the cart were put away, it was the moment of truth.
“That is the last of it. Do you still want to check out the door?”, asked Victor; a bit of hesitation in his voice.
“Yes! We made a deal!”, Melody responded; she did so in a rather childish manner but short of outright pouting.
“Alright then, a promise is a promise. Let’s go.”
Victor grabbed the keys of the Jeep and then checked his power supply before going back in. It was at 98% capacity; going in and out to carry the loot had helped recharge his systems. With a satisfactory smile he signaled Melody to lead the way. She nodded, readied her rifle and entered the house once more.
The two walked the length of the corridor towards the end of the hall were they had seen the door. Melody was excited as ever while Victor couldn’t help but advance with reluctance. That aura he had sense earlier still lingered and the familiarity he felt was rather unexpected; he still couldn’t put a finger on what it was yet it unnerved him. Still, the two walked along the hall in silence. Two and a half minutes, that is how long it took them to reach the door. The corridor was decently large and as such it was to be expected that the door still standing in front of them would also be rather extravagant. Yes, the door was still there; the arcane auras still lingering in the air. The ornate red metal door beckoning the two of them to enter.
“The door is still here… As promised, we will go in whenever you are ready.”, Victor said
Melody nodded in excitement. “Yes! Ok, one moment please.” She took out the magazine from her rifle, placed it back on her belt and ejected the still loaded cartridge. Then, she took one of the larger red magazines and loaded it into rifle and chambered a round. With a defiant click, Melody signaled her readiness.
“All set! Equinox crystals loaded just in case you know.”
Victor smirked and rolled his eyes. He placed a hand on the door to open it. “Ok, once this door opens, we do a visual sweep before we proceed. Stay by my side and don’t run ahead ok?”
“Got it!”
“Good, alright, here we go.”
Despite the appearance of the door, it was rather easy and smooth to open; it didn’t make a single sound. On the other side a dark room was revealed. Victor could feel the arcane auras stronger than ever now and something else: a direction. He could feel something straight ahead in the room. It could be the artifact they had com here for or some otherworldly creature to defeat. Victor’s reluctance gave way to anticipation as all of this unfolded.
“I don’t see anything odd inside. Should we go in Victor?”
“Yes, I don’t sense anything out of the ordinary either. But, it seem something of interest is up ahead. Let’s go to it and see what it is.”
Melody gave no response but the most enthusiastic series of nods she had ever given. She calmed herself down before continuing inside with her rifle pointed forwards; Victor walked along side of her with his new found energy weapon pointed forwards and his sword on the other hand. They walked with slow but deliberate steps inside the room. The room was impossibly dark but a light seemed to be surrounding and following them. This allowed them to see 5 feet ahead of them but beyond that darkness overtook. Flashlights were of no use as it seemed the darkness consumed the light of them 2 feet outside of the light bubble the room offered them. The floor seemed to be a white and black checkerboard; surprisingly simply given the rest of the house and the door they just came by.
*thump*
Both of them had been to pre-occupied on advancing and not letting anything get the jump on them that they failed to notice the door behind them closing. It didn’t make a sound as it did so until it slammed shut. The two of them rushed back, not having walked more than 3 yards and examined the room. They tried to open it but to no avail; they were not getting out this way.
“Add finding a way out in the todo list.”, Victor commented, “For now, let’s just walk to the point of interest. We will deal with things as they come.”
They turned around and resumed their march. The two were a bit more relax now in their approached as nothing had appeared yet but they still kept their weapons at the ready due to an ever present feeling of being watched permeated the room. It took them five minutes to get to their target and it was evident the room still kept going. The two of them didn’t see and end in sight so the room could be as big as Texas for all they knew; given their misadventures so far that wasn’t totally out of the question. Still, they at least knew it was bigger than the hallway itself.
“Look! Something is up ahead!”, Melody said in excitement.
“Melody wait!”
She had gone and rushed ahead. Victor followed suit and catched up to her soon after. He was about to scold her due to being reckless, the irony of said statement didn’t escape him, but he soon became distracted by what the two of them were now looking at on the floor. It looked like a someone laying there. Traces of dried blood all over the floor around it and by it’s condition they had been dead for some time now. The body was appeared to be heavily augmented; pieces of super alloy sandwiching the bits of dried skin still visible. Two monomolecular blades laid in front of it still attached to decaying hands.
The scene was gruesome to say the least yet neither of them were disturbed by it. A mage who had cause worse due to faulty experiments and a girl that had for years run with the Hell’s Raiders were no stranger to such scenes even without the cataclysm to show them worse. However, it did worry them that whatever had done this could still be lurking around. They looked frantically but as before, they could see nothing. Victor focused his aura spell to see if he could find anything while Melody went ahead and searched the body. She had no idea what she was looking at. It was a bloody mess of flesh and circuitry. After poking around with it for a bit, she did find something of interest. Hidden on it’s side was a scabbard with a longblade still attached to it; the handle a crimson red that shone in the little light they were allowed in this room.
“Hey, come look at what I found!”, Melody exclaimed
Victor was not able to find anything tangible with his aura spell. It was all an abstract mess of arcane signatures permeating the room. This corpse seemed to be the only thing the spell was able to find. Finally giving up to find anything of worth with the spell, he went and looked at what Melody seemed excited about will still keeping tabs on the spell in case anything changed.
“What’s up, what did you find?”
“Look, this person here was carrying this sword. Do you think it might be an artifact of some kind?”
“It’s possible. If it is then we found ourselves your first artifact. If not I am afraid I can’t sense anything else in this room. Besides, we should focus on getting out of here before we end up like them.”
“Yeah, you are right. Care to give it a scan and tell me if it’s an artifact?” Melody held the scabbard in front of her towards Victor to aid him in the scan. She did so very carefully as she knew better to go and play with things like this without knowing what they are.
“Alright, hold it still for me. Let’s see what we got here.”
It didn’t take long for Victor to discern what it was she was holding,and he didn’t like it one bit. The familiar aura from before had been drowned out in the cacophony of other signatures but now it was back and it was coming from that sword. Now Victor knew why it seemed so familiar; that was because he was indeed familiar with it: The sword of despair. His face went pale as Melody held it; were she to touch the handle and its effects would take hold.
“Melody… Give me that sword.” There was no time for tactness or to explain to her what this thing was. It needed to be put in containment now! At least now Victor knew whose corpse was in front of them. However, Melody interpreted Victor’s command as something else.
“No! You said I could keep whatever artifact we could find here! This is an artifact isn’t it? It is mine! You already have that laser cannon thingy, this one is mine!”
“Melody, this isn’t the time. You have no idea what that thing is! The danger that sword represents is great...wait...why is it even here in the first place? Unless…We have to get ou-”
That command would go unfinished as Victor was interrupted by a wail. It sounded distant and it instilled fear just listening at it. The aura spell suddenly came to life with various entities on it’s sight, for lack of a better word. As soon as Victor deciphered what they were, he looked down at his and Melody’s feet; no shadows. Such a minor detail to miss when everything else was going on. With this revelation, Victor gave a deep sigh. Not long after, what appeared to be pairs of red eyes started to appear all around the room.
“Of course…”, Victor said in a tone that sounded more annoyed than anything else. “Melody, fire at will, don’t let those things into your light bubble!”
“Victor...what is going on…” Melody sounded genuinely frightened at this point. The scabbard she had picked up no properly work on her back. She held her rifle on the ready for dear life; it was set to semi-automatic as every shot needed to count.
“There is no time to explain; just shoot!”
*zzzzzzt* *zzzzzzt* *zzzzzzt*
*p-taff* *p-taff* *p-taff*
Laser and rifle fire soon filled the room as Victor and Melody downed entity after entity. Neither of them got a good look of those things as they were clouded in the darkness beyond their light bubbles. They were doing short work of those things; they aimed a bit down of the glowing eyes and a single shot took care of them. Melody had grown confident in here abilities; when she ran out of ammo, she had enough time to load the other red magazine to continue to unleash fire and glory. However, they just kept coming; these things didn’t seem to be slowing down and eventually the two of them would run out of their respective ammos.
*click* *click* *click*
“God damn it! I’m out!”, Victor shouted in frustration. He activated his sword and continued to slay those creatures. There was no time to take of the laser generator from his right hand so his right arm was out of action. Still, he cut through entity after entity with his sword. Slowly but surely, they started to pile up on him; this things started to ignore Melody and go directly after Victor. She watched and then started to fire her remainder crystal bullets towards the things assaulting Victor to aid him. Soon enough, she too ran out of ammo. She reloaded a magazine of normal ammunition and fired but the bullets just passed through them. There was nothing Melody could do now but watch as Victor hacked and slashed at anything that approached him.
The first of the entities breached Victor’s light bubble. Melody caught a glimpse of it but Victor cut it down before it could continue any further. He cursed and shouted at the entities as they one by one breached the bubble. They were started to overwhelm him but he didn’t relant; Victor continue to slay each and one of them. It was now that they managed to stay inside the bubble long enough and in so many numbers before Victor destroyed them for Melody to make out what they were. It was as if you took a shadow from the ground on a summer day and then made it third dimensional. It looked unnatural; as if it didn’t belong in this world.
“What the...Don’t tell me…”
The shadows came to a halt, five of them in all, inside of Victor’s light bubble. He swung his sword one last time before it shattered. He had run out of prime essence for it and broke upon touching one of the shadows. Melody simply looked on frozen in place; too many things to process at once cause her to stand there watching it all unfold. Victor stood there for a moment; his resolved not diminished and determination in his body language. Green flames erupted and engulfed his arms as he assumed a brawling stance.
“Bring it on you fucks! I dealt you before and I will do it again! Do your worse! Come on!’
His taunts were happily obliged by the shadows. They charged at him with no particular strategy or finesse; shock and awe was the name of the game. Victor punched the first one out of existence, then the second one. It was the third that was to fast for him; it dodged his blow and then got to him. Then the fourth, then the fifth. The other two fallen shadows were quickly replaced by two more bringing the count to five once more and joining their brethren. Surprisingly, they didn’t seem to be attacking so much as restraining Victor.
“I am not going down so easy you bastards! Get a load of this!”
A series or arcs of lighting came out of Victor in random directions striking three of the shadows. They disappeared as many before them had done in this fight but the other two did not let go. Three more shadows took the place of the fallen ones and resumed their task. Those two stunts, the fire and lighting, had severely drained Victor’s life energy. These were moves of desperation not unlike Melody’s aura of harvest; and they worked in a similar fashion as said aura. This, combined from the previous fight, left Victor exhausted; he finally yielded, he could fight no more.
Melody had finally snapped out of her trance. Despite it not working before, she raised her rifle and aimed it the shadows restraining Victor. She was about to fire when a new figure entered Victor’s bubble.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you little missy. You might accidently hit your friend here.”
This new figure was a person. It looked to be an old man wearing a tattered tunic. He was bald and had a long white beard that reached his waist. The man was wielding an ornate black metal staff which he seemed to be using as a walking stick. He was looking right at Melody as he spoke; she lowered her rifle and the man nodded.
“Good girl. I will be with you shortly. But first…”
The man approached Victor and stood right in front of him. The two looked at each other right in the eyes for a moment until the man broke the silence.
“Victor Ironwood… So we meet again. You truly are a pain in the ass, you know that? Not only do you once more disturb the of a sanctum but you brought another innocent girl to die. If it weren’t for the laws of this realm I would slay you where you stand…”
Victor chuckled. “And what is stopping you?”
“Bureaucracy. I am not a judge but merely an enforcer. I do not make the rules, I simply make sure they are followed. And you have broken a myriad of them yet you still dare to come here…”
“In my defense...I didn’t know this place was a sanctum.”
“Oh really? So you just come and bust into someplace without knowing what you are getting into? Why doesn’t that surprise me? What am I going to do with you…”
“Whatever it is, just let the girl go. It’s my fault she is here in the first place.”
“No, it’s too late for that. I bet you have already tainted her, I need to examined her myself and make sure she isn’t following in your footsteps.”
The man cleared his throat and adjusted his tunic. He closed his eyes for a moment and then looked at Victor again with a smirk. “So, still the holder of the void I see. I am impressed. I had assumed you were killed by someone looking to wield that sword. Listen Victor, despite me hating your guts on a personal level, what I am about to do has nothing to do with that. Like I said, I don’t get to make decisions, simply to enforce them. However, it doesn’t mean I won’t take pleasure in it.”
Victor looked at the man with panic in his eyes. He had no idea what was going to happen. Sure, he had dealt with him before but he had always found a way to outsmart him. It had been years since their last meeting so he figured he just got sloopy.
“W-what are you going to do?”
“I am going to grant you something you always claim to achieve but never truly do. A fresh start.”
“Wait, what? What does that mean?!”
“How many times have you said that it was over? That you would change your ways only for you to end up in the same loop again? If it isn’t your idiocracy then it’s your past coming back to haunt you. You can’t live in peace like that Ironwood. When will you grow up? You have a family for hel’s sake! No, it seems I have to intervene…”
“Answer me! What are you going to do?!” Victor struggled against the shadows to no avail.
“You will awake with a clean slate. Pass your trial and you will come out of it a better man; one that I could one day meet again and let go without incident. Fail...well, you will at least be able to live the rest of your live in peace like you always wanted.”
“Trial? What are you talking about?! Let go of me!”
“Time to sleep Ironwood. Maybe our paths never cross again…”
The man and Victor locked eyes once again. Victor’s struggles stopped after a while and he simply looked on into the man’s eyes. Then, Victor’s light bubble seemingly exploded into a bright flash that forced Melody to cover her eyes. When uncover them, the room was no longer dark but an impossible white. It was as if the entire room was now part of the light bubble. The room seemed to stretch out forever; not even the door was visible. The shadows had disappeared and the man was looking right at her. Victor was know laying on the ground seemingly passed out; shattered sword and laser generator still in hand.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting. Now let’s take care of business shall we?”
Melody raised her rifle at the man and set it to full auto. “Stand back! Don’t come any closer! I am warning you!” Her voice was shaky and she was on the verge of tears. The man smirked at Melody’s threats but paid them no heed. He advance towards Melody slowly but surely. She gave a piercing shout and unload lead down range towards the man. As with the shadows, the bullets simply passed through him. They didn’t slow his walk any but Melody kept firing. She unloaded all remaining rounds, reloaded another mag ditching the empty and unloaded that one two. Same result. By the time she ran out of ammo the second time time, the man was already upon her. He readied his staff to strike her. Melody dropped her rifle and activated her aura of harvest in a haste. She covered her face and cowered as she gave a small shout upon feeling the staff strike her. The staff bounced out from the impact but was unharmed; not even entropy itself seemed to damage it.
“I see you are following in Ironwood’s footsteps.”, the man said. He struck Melody again but she was still shielded. However, each strike seemed to drain Melody of her life essence shortening the time the spell would stay active. She still had the life orb but that would only delay the inevitable.
“It’s a shame really. I can see potential in you. You are in pain, your past haunts you but you are a kind soul. Too bad you had to meet the likes of him. Don’t worry, soon that will be fixed; just as soon as I peel this barrier off.”
The man continued to strike. One strike, then two, then three. The first charge of the life orb gone; had it not been for it, Melody’s very soul would’ve been damaged from using the spell for too long.
“I know you are afraid, aren’t you? You don’t understand any of it. Your introduction to the arcane was by some malevolent spirit posing as a mentor. It used you and abandoned you to die. The torch was passed along to those you fought back then and saw in Ironwood a teacher.”
Four strikes, six, seven. Second charge. Melody held one; she was in tears now there was nothing else she could do but hold on.
“Interesting, Helen McKinnon, Roxanne Luna. You hold this people in high regard too. Mentors as well? I see… The former tries her best to uphold what she thinks is right but isn’t without her faults. The latter is just as rotten as the one who lies on the floor. What a pity…
“They will come for you…”
“What was that?”
“Ms.Luna and Ms.McKinnon will come and they will defeat you!”
The man laughed at Melody’s words. He had heard it all before.
“Defeat me? Oh please be my guest! Many have tried before you. So typical of humans. They assume that if they cut of the head, the rest will follow.”
Eight strikes.
“You assume there's always some entity, something you can defeat don’t you? What is your latest boogieman? God’s Army? You and your friends assume you can just kill them out of existence don’t you? Find their leader and then topple their entire structure. Hector Lowe, he embodies this notion perfectly… Humanity has though this since the beginning of time…”
Nine strikes.
“You will not defeat God’s Army, you will not defeat me, you will not defeat evil. There is no boogieman out there. You kill the leader of God’s Army and then what? Everyone else will just surrender peacefully? No, just look at Randel. Did defeating him end anything? Of course not, calamity continues. You defeat me and then what? Another will just take my place. Listen, I am the one thing Humanity can never defeat….”
Ten strikes. The life orb is no more; there is nothing to sustain the aura of harvest anymore and as such it dissipates. Melody looks on in terror at the man as he smiles from ear to ear. He lowers his staff and looks at Melody right in the eyes.
“I am an idea.”
Another bright flash fill the room and from there, it all goes black once more.
Some time later, Melody wakes up from her slumber. The room is back to being pitch black but this time there is not even any light bubble to help guide her. Worse, she has no idea in what direction the door is. She picks up on Victor’s aura, he is nearby. Melody rushes to him.
“Victor? Wake up! We need to get out of here!”
No response. She tries to shake him but nothing; he simply lays there unmoving. He isn’t dead or anything, Melody’s aura spell tells her as much. However, his aura feels a bit different; just slightly but noticeably so.
“Victor, please! Wake up! We need to go!”
Still nothing. Melody shook him some more but nothing was working. It was then that Melody felt it. Her aura spell picked something up; something she recognized. Then she heard them, she sound of air rushing into an artificial vacuum. Lesser spirits of harvest were filling the room. Melody was beginning to panic. She shook, tickle and slap Victor around but nothing worked. Eventually, she gave up in favor of trying to find a way out; she would deal with Victor later. Her rifle was somewhere in the darkness, Victor was passed out, the door who knows where, she had nothing to combat spirits at the moment and lesser spirits of harvest were surrounding her.
“Think Melody, think! Aha!”
Earlier in the day, Victor had introduced her to a new concept. He told her that everything had a signature, not just the arcane. Victor tried to teach her how to do it and for a moment was able to perceive the world around her through her aura spell. However, it soon collapse. Well, if she could tap into that again for even just a moment she could locate the door or at least her rifle. There was nothing else to be done as the spirits around her continued to multiply.
“Concentrate...don’t focus on anything in particular, let it all come in…”
Melody closed her eyes and focused her mind on the aura spell. She could see the spirits and tried her best to ignore them. They were growing in number and they were getting closer. Despite best efforts, Melody could not ignore them. Try as she might, she could not get it to work. Just when she was about to give up, just when all seemed lost, she heard a voice.
“Marie Knox, in your time of need, let me be the light that guides you…”
“What? Who is there?! H-how do you know my name?!”
“I can sense your panic, your despair, your pain. It is enough to feed me for a lifetime… Will you allow me to?”
“Who are you? Show yourself!”
There was nothing else besides for the growing number of spirits of harvest to account for the voice. Worse still, it knew her name; her real name. She hadn’t heard it in a long time and now she was hearing it from some unknown entity.
“You found me discarded not too long ago. I have swapped hands many times as recently as a few days ago. Now I am in yours, allow me to be your guide, to consume your pain. I am the sword of despair. Wield me in your time of need and show them your power, show them the power of the maiden of ruin!”
Despite having just found the sword, despite not knowing who or what it was, despite Helen’s lessons, despite better judgement Melody knew of nothing else but of the sword right now. It was the only thing she could cling on. With motions that would indicate she had some practice doing this, she swiftly took out the sword from its scabbard and held it in front of her. The aura spell had come to life; she could see the world now. Everything has a signature just as Victor said and now Melody could tap into it. There it was. The door, her rifle, she could see them in the dark. However, she had no interest in them right now. This had been a long time coming, she had the power of a piece in her hands and there were a myriad of spirits in front of her to test it on. The maiden of ruin had awaken once more.
What in the world had happened? Everything was a blur. Where was he? What? Someone is shouting? It’s a girl. What is she saying? She is calling out a series of names. Names… Yes, what was his name again? Damn it! Not even his name?! What the fuck had happened to him? Maybe the girl would know. It’s hard to see in here, it’s gonna take a minute for his eyes to adjust.
Oh? That girl, she is fighting. She is angry at something; no, anger was an understatement. Hers was a fury unmatched by anything else that had come before hand. It is as if everyone who had ever suffered had culminated into a single entity and now she wielded it as a weapon. Wait, the signature is coming from something she is wielding; a sword? Yes, it looks like it. Long and slender with curvatures to and serrations on one side. Hmm, what was she even fighting? It appears to be shadow ghosts. He can feel their presence so they had to be real. She is laughing now. It seems she is enjoying taking this things down.
Wait, how does he know all this? How does he feel her anger and the ghost’s presence? It is as if he had some sixth sense or something. It felt very familiar to him as if this thing had been with him for a long time. Maybe this was an ability of his. Whatever it was, it should help him find answers. It might take him a long time, maybe even a lifetime but he was determined to find out what had happened here and more importantly: who he was.
Huh? The girl is looking at him now. Wait, all the spirits are gone; did she kill them all? Was she going to kill him too? No, he would be damn if he was about to die here! Weapons, he needed to find something. Oh, what this in his right hand? It looks like a soda can attached to his arm. Hmm, it feels wired to him somehow… Wired? Yes, wired! Those numbers, this thing is a weapon right? Yes! Know, how many shots does he have in this thing? Only one? Damn… Well, better make it count…
“There is one more...careful, he seems to be armed with something…”
“Armed? What do you mean? Who is it?”
Melody did a check with her aura spell. She was tired now, the sword was driving her to her breaking point. But as it said, there was one more, she couldn’t stop now. No, she could, she recognized this aura!
“Victor, is that you?”
Victor? Was she talking to him? Was that his name? Well, that was easy. Even if it wasn’t, he liked the name. Yes, he was Victor now. Hmm, she has stopped. What is with that look? Oh no, she is moving towards him now.
“Stop right there! Don’t move or I will shoot!”
“Victor! Its me, Melody! Hear the sound of my voice, use your aura spell. I am so happy you are awake!”
“Melody? That is her name? Well then, to each their own. She said something about an aura spell. What’s she talking about? Is that the name of his sixth sense? Aura...makes sense… She said to try it and she had lowered her sword. That hostile intent of hers is gone… Huh? Her anger, it’s gone. She sword too, it seems dormant now. Not gonna pretend to know what is going on but that’s another plus.
Hey, that signature; it seems familiar. Melody huh? Maybe she can help him after all. She seemed different now from what she was a few minutes ago but somehow, in this form, he knew he could trust her. Wonder how much she knows… For now, better lower this weapon thingy.
“You see? It’s me Melody. Come on, we have to find a way out of here.” Melody knew Victor had lowered that crazy weapon of his. One thing the aura allows you to see is intent and emotion. Before, his was of hostility but now he just seems confused. Well that makes two of them.
“Victor, is that my name?”
What? That’s a weird question to be asking.
“Yes… why do ask that?”
“And you said yours was Melody?”
“...Victor, what is going on?”
“How do I not know your aren’t going to kill me?”
“What?! What kind of question is that? Victor, are you ok?”
“So we did know each other…”
“Did?”
“Listen… I don’t remember anything…”
“Oh...you must of hit your head pretty hard then. Don’t worry, I will fill you in on our way to the farm. Come one, I can feel the way to the door.”
“No no...you don’t understand… I don’t remember anything at all. Not a single thing… I don’t even remember who I am…”
There was a long pause between them. Melody had no idea what to make of this. Was he saying that he forgot how he was? He said he can’t remember anything. Wait, he forgot who she was?
“Victor, it’s me Melody… I am your student. We came here for you to teach me how to look for arcane artifacts… Remember? Victor...please...tell me you remember…”
Another long pause but he eventually answered. Reluctance obvious in his voice. “I am sorry… I don’t…” He could tell those were not the words she wanted to hear. Still, she remained calm.
“Oh...I see. It’s ok… I’ll help you ok? Let’s go back to the farm and we will have you check out ok?”
“The farm?”
“Yes, that’s where we live.”
“We live in a farm?”
“Well, yes… It’s complicated… I’ll explain in the way home ok? Let’s just go...while we still can…”
“I agree. The exit is behind that door?”
“Yes, let’s go…”
The two made their way to the door. Melody didn’t stop for anything; it was Victor who found the dropped items.
“Uhh, Melody? There is a rifle and a couple clips for it on the ground?”
Melody smiled to herself. It seemed Victor was still his old self and that gave her a sense of relief. “Can you do me a favor and give them to me at the door? Thanks…”
Victor picked up the rifle and magazines and catched up with Melody on the door. He gave her the items which she accepted. Her rifle was slung behind her back along with her new sword and the magazines put in their respective pouch. She place a hand on the door and pushed; to her relief, it opened. The two of them exited the wretched room and made their way to the Jeep. However, there was one little issue.
“Why is it so dark in here? I can’t see a damn thing?”
Victor looked confused. Dark? In the room sure, but the sunlight here made it fine to see.
“Dark? I can see fine. The sun is shining inside, are you ok?”
Melody paused for a moment. She was confused now as well. He could see well? What was going on? The sun? Where? Wait… Melody stopped walking for a moment. She raised her hand to her face and used a simple fire spell to light a fire in her palm. The heat of the flame was felt in her face.
“Melody? What’s wrong? Why did you stop?” He didn’t question the flame. He somehow knew he could do the same thing. Wasn’t too shocking after seeing ghosts and having a sixth sense. However, Melody did not answered, she continued to look at the flame for a while. She stared at it unblinking with a face of both shock and terror. Then, she smiled, tears rolled down her eyes and then she looked at Victor.
“Victor...I’m blind…”
For the final time that day, the two stood there, silence their only companion. Victor did not know what to say. He did not know this girl, did not know how to comfort her or anything; he just stood there until she eventually spoke up.
“Let’s go home…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 05, 2018, 03:49:31 am
Helen nodded at Anton's answer, carefully wrapping the stone hand in cloth to set it aside for the time being. "Very well then. Would be best to await his return then. And I'm glad, Victor is enough trouble already." she joked. Solomon gave a little glance over at Helen, concerned about what that remark possibly hinted at, though not yet aware of the full story.
At this, Helen gave a nod as she retrieved her copy of The Cleansing Flame. "An arcane order, dating back to before all this started. It started off as just two groups who were united by problems with a bunch called The Sanguine Order. Back when none of us knew of the arcane, and their lot was just a bunch of murderous cultists. Then others joined, and people picked up some...experience." she said.
"As for what we are now? Our mission's changed over the years. First hunting down The Sanguine Order. Then trying to repair the growing wound in The Veil. Then we deteriorated to hunting down any dangerous magic that began to spread. Hunting down otherworldly monsters as well. And now...I suppose the last one is still relevant. But I suspect teaching others how to handle the arcane safely may do more good in the long run than confiscating and destroying unsafe items and books, like we used to."
Hector hummed a bit to himself as he made his way towards the motel, close enough that it wasn't too long of a walk. Roxanne whirling about and pointing her sword at him prompted him to calmly take a step to the side to get outside of her guard. "Easy, it's just me. Courthouse was a couple blocks over." he explained.
In response to her showing off the loot he did the same. A few cans of fruit and chili, a box of 5.56mm rounds, a couple magazines he'd never had the chance to read, and then he produced the ring, silver and diamond "I'm not yet sure what to do with this, but. If you, I mean..." Roxanne ruffling his hair interrupted that train of thought. "At least the helmet hair gets easier to comb back to normal by the day." he joked, only for him to nearly panic at her saying she didn't feel good, kicking in the nearest motel door and practically dragging her along into a relatively unspoiled room.
"Easy, it might be th-" At her request to hug him, he did so, embracing her. "It's okay Roxanne, I'm here for you. I wasn't last time, but now...if you ever need me, I'll be by your side. I said a couple years ago I'd fight and die for you if I had to. I still stand by that." he said, looking away as she seemed to calm down, unaware of the curious feeling that sparked this, or how it faded so suddenly.
"Alright then. Just...you sure you'll be alright? I'll do whatever I can for you." he said. "There's still plenty of things I left untouched in the courthouse if you wish. The mothman's den was in the clerk office." he offered. "For now then I'll take a look for any sign of them from the second floor."
With this, he made his way up the stairs to the second floor, taking a look out into the streets below. Easy enough to see now where the dried-up bodies were most common, a frequent path of travel likely detouring through the side of town he searched. From up above it was easier to see the area, along with the deep, caked layer of fine dust coating the pavement.
He'd seen that the few vehicles that were parked in the city had long since had their tracks covered up by a steady cascade of dust, as best as he could see from checking the balcony and various motel room windows, a few of which had a view of the back. There were signs of a vehicle having passed through however, cutting through part of town, down another street a couple blocks over from the courthouse, and disappearing down another road he couldn't see from the motel.
Soon he made his way out into the street, kneeling to examine the closest section of track. "Got tire tracks, only ones I've seen so far. Small vehicle, four-wheeled. Offroad sort of tread pattern, I think. Hard to be 100% certain, but this dust settles in in the street rather well. If Mica's out for a reason, she might be...sanctus merda, if she ran off to try and find Dee she might have actually found his trail." he said into the radio.
"When you're finished in the courthouse, the tracks continue down part of Penn street, two blocks east from the part of Main street the courthouse is at. We can pick up a trail from there and see if we get results."
Quote
To bring justice to those who would endanger humanity, if we must. To mend the growing wound In The Veil Between Worlds, if we can. To guard and guide so that a dangerous path may be avoided, so we shall. So long as the Sun shines upon the Earth.
It was later on, after reading some of the introductory text that explained some of how order used to be, as well as mentioning the details about Victor's order and what she knew of The Schism before she was born, she looked over to Salazar. She approached, having retrieved what Krieg asked her to give to them.
"Salazar, if I may...one of the men from the 3rd, those who Roland aided in his mission, asked that I give this to you." she said. "I'm sorry that I did not get the chance to yesterday, to...give you the news." she said with a sigh, handing the items over. "Roland passed away the night before last. Peacefully, they said."
It wasn't long after this that she looked outside, seeing that it was getting into the evening, picking up her radio. "Helen, checking in. Victor? Melody? What's your status? Been gone a while..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 05, 2018, 12:31:16 pm
Salazar took the letter and opened it after saying “Thank you. I...I’m not sure what to say.” Reading the letter Salazar wasn’t sure how to feel. In some way he felt responsible. Closing the letter after he finished reading he slid it into his vest and stood up. Retrieving a cigarette he stepped outside to smoke as Anton read a letter of his own for the third time.
Setting the letter on the table he walked to his bag and pulled a sword from it. Staring at the weapon for a moment Anton ran a thumb over the symbol engraved on the pommel before attaching the scabbard to his belt. Picking up the helmet that had sat on his bed he Anton held it in his hands for a moment.
Sliding it on he looked over to Helen “I’ve been summoned to repay a debt of my fathers. The task as it’s been described seems to be in line with your principles. Keeping those who would do nothing but harm from obtaining these items. I…” Anton shook his head before continuing “...why am I telling you this. I’m a stranger to you. Worse one that attacked a friend of yours. If I died I imagine you’d rejoice.”
Meanwhile outside Isaac waved to Charles before stepping up to the door and knocking. Alice shrugged as they waited and said “I still don’t get why you decided to bring them here.”
Isaac looked down at her and simply said “Well maybe you will when you get to be my age.”
Elsewhere the squad of Purifiers pushed into the empty building with weapons ready. As they moved through the first doorway the lead element tripped a wire and the jam tin’s set next to the doorway they had been breaching detonated. As the second element pushed past their dead bodies one of them said over the radio “Where is this motherfucker? He rushed in here!”
None of them heard a man cough as they swept the room. Pushing himself up the man sent the blanket that had been covering him flying as he fired with the MP5 in his hands. The six purifiers in the room fell to the floor dead before they knew where they were getting hit from. The monk coughed into the cloth wrapped around his mouth further staining it with blood. As another squad moved in he lifted his weapon and sprayed at the door as bullets tore into his chest.
A floor above another monk fired a shot from his scoped rifle and sent another purifier onto his back. Racking the bolt and firing another he could hear the purifiers in the building marching up the steps as the other monk with him readied the lmg he had. Another explosion rocked the building as more jam tins shredded purifier soldiers. Still more rushed up the steps as their comrades lay bleeding and dying.
The machinegun belched fire as the rifle barked and sent an armored purifier soldier to his grave. Below the building the remaining monks took up a hammer and smashed what they could of records that would lead to other locations. Soon though the purifiers swept the rest of the building and pushed into the temple. As the dust settled the Lieutenant observed the wreckage and sighed. The more he pursued this mission the less faith he had in the order, what little he’d had in the purifiers in the first place. Barking a few half hearted orders he watched the men salvage what records they could. If they were just now facing resistance, and on this scale, they had to be getting close.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 05, 2018, 05:16:15 pm
Khaki did what she always did in the afternoons, this time with more people in her step than normal. Catnip wasn't dead, and that made the last year or so hurt a hell of a lot less. The noon ritual entailed a quick trip to the cafe to get one of cooks watered down hot chocolates then up to the security office to go over the rather mundane security footage. She decided today though to use something that hadn't seen use since crow died.
The thing was an atmospheric satalite uplink. A wonder of hardware that let the everyday man or woman bypass the forecast of the friendly neighborhood meteorologist and do their own weather reports from home. So long as they calculated the weather patterns and trends from the local weather stations and had an uplink to the satalite relay that supplied current data. In the pre-cataclysm, a truly worthless peice of equipment. In the post cataclysm, it was marginally more useful. Here in the refugee center, with the data compiled and calculated by crow in his spare time, an invaluable peice of the centers information network.
The little color screen lit up and showed only a blank display for a moment, then it flickered a few times and showed a large map of the New England area. Khaki let it runs it's course, checking occasionally to see that crows research was still accurate. Over the last year, she wouldn't have touched this stuff. It had been his little project, and it hurt too much. Now, she was up for it and she was curious. She made a few corrections and watched it. It moved like the old weather forecasts on the news. All it needed was some blow dried guy in a suit waving his hands about in front of the screen.
"Low pressure? What low pressure?" Khaki said to herself off handedly. Another part of the noon ritual came up next and it was performed, as usual, on the dot.
"Attention people," she said into the mic in the communications room, "shift change in five minutes."
The intercom clicked off when she let go of the little button at it's base, and she twirled around in the swivel chair. Liela Carnes was here, and khaki thought that was fortunate. Watching the weather was boring and a little soothing, but all the same she decided to take a quick break.
"Carnes, could you keep an eye on things for a minute?"
"You can't hold it?"
Khaki shook her head and grinned, a little embarrassed.
"Alright, but be quick. I gotta go too."
When Khaki returned, the weather monitor had changed. Before, it showed moving waves of dissipating green wisps. Now it had a big dark greenish black splotch moving across it. She showed it to Carnes to see if she would think about it the same way Khaki did. As it turned out, she did and the center went into an immediate state of frenzy in preparation for the biggest storm to hit New England in over a decade. Over on the farm the Mislings had started calling walkerville, the attitude was much the same. A radio operator who'd been monitoring a device much like the one Khaki had received a radio transmission confirming his fears. From there, he sent out a broad range radio transmission warning of the coming storm.
For the Misling camp, it became time to batten down the hatches. From the estimates, they had another day, possibly two, to get everything put away and locked up before the mother of all wind and rain storms could sweep through and carry it all away. Things were packed into the caravans haphazardly, and suddenly the settlers found themselves without shelter. Logically, those who wouldn't fit in the caravans requested permission to blow over the storm in the farms buildings while some hooked it to the hall they saw down stream, guessing it to be the home of the woman in the mask. Others still requested transportation to the refugee center. Atomos had a plan. It hadn't occurred to her at first, but sitting on the edge of her bed in her darkened apartment, it came to her. A few days before, God's Army had warned it's people of a coming storm.
"Hurricane force winds, pounding rain, the whole deal." The crier had claimed. The rain had begun to come down, sprinkling at first. Soon it would be raining in earnest and it would continue to get worse until the storm was on them. You'd have to be crazy to be out in it, and that was just what she was going to do. Tom Dunner ran screaming from the thing hounding him, the cracked mask that had drawn it's attention still plastered to his face. He had obtained the mask, he boasted, from some guy he and some mates tried to hold up the night before. Tom claimed that he'd shot the dude and taken his stuff. That of course was a lie. Everyone knew that Toms friends were useless, and Tom himself could hardly handle a gun. Tom was a bumbling moron, in fact. The leader of the small group he was allowed to move with even once referred to him as a "plodding, uncreative, shit."
Tom had picked up the mask after it had been dropped. The owner had driven too close to a low hanging branch and hadn't been looking where he was going. It had nearly toppled the guy from his ATV, but he managed to maintain his seat at the cost of his mask. Tom waited, and when the guy hadn't come back for it, he broke cover and snatched it up. In his head he was already making up the story about the big bad mutant he "robbed."
The thing behind him hadn't heard the story, but she seemed plenty furious. Tom dove to crawl under a box truck, and that proved to be a mistake. He hit the ground and started crawling only to feel your hands like articulating sticks wrap around his ankles and thighs, pulling him from cover. Reaching up and grabbing his belt and dragging him out further. A hand found his shoulder and flipped him over, and that was how Tom found himself staring up into the face of the eater. She ripped the mask off and shrieked into his face a question. It sounded like she was demanding to know where he got the mask, but starting up into the face of death as he was, he could hardly respond. She shrieked again, and this time it had the impression of a question regarding some kind of lizard. Tom realized in the fog of his terror, that the guy who'd owned the mask had been kind of lizardy. He had scales anyway.
"The- the- tha-" he stammered, pointing off in the direction of some large building across the field from where they ended up. The spider thing hissed at him and considered. It felt the rain in the air, a storm was coming and that terrified her. Memories of her time as a starving monster came unbidden. Experience losing track of prey thanks to the stupid rain. She wanted to kill and eat the fool beneath her, but she had no time. If she didn't find what she was looking for before the storm started, she likely wouldn't find it at all.
She punched Tom in the nose and snatched the mask. Later that night, he'd be boasting about how he'd gotten into a fight with some hell's raiders and thrashed all of them. After, the leaders daughter would punch him in the nose again for "being a terrible liar."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 07, 2018, 10:09:21 pm
Roxanne nodded at Hector’s concern but told her she was fine. Then she went towards the courthouse while he investigated the two story building. Her radio was left on to hear any transmissions from him. The walk to the courthouse wasn’t far at all; she know could see how he made it so quickly back here to surprise her.
Once she made it to the court house she entered it with caution. It was a mess in here but not as much as she would’ve had imagine. There was a high concentration of dust in here which caused her to sneeze quite a bit. “Damn...this mothman must be what is causing this dust after all...just what the hell is it?” Roxanne proceeded quietly towards the clerk office.
The inside was more messy than outside; it looked like a proper nest in some ways. There were a collection of various papers and rags scattered on specific places on the floor but were covered in so much dust Roxanne didn’t find it worth it to look at them too much. Once she was done with the clerk office proper, Roxanne moved on to the registry office. A few things struck her as odd here.
First, various cabinets and drawers were opened. Why would the mothman do this? Looking for something specific? Closer inspection revealed they were empty so someone definitely was looking through them and took what they needed. If it was the mothman of not she did not know but the next detail made her lean towards the no answer.
The second thing she noticed was various neatly stacked piles of papers. They weren’t covered in too much dust compared to the rest of the place so she assumed they were placed like that rather recently. The mothman might have used them as part of his den so it probably wasn’t it. Roxanne assumed the mentality of the fallen beast to be rather animalistic. She took one of the papers and examined it. It appeared to be court papers and other legalize that she did not care for. Why would anyone want this? Most other papers were like this as well, nothing to much of interest to her. However had been there was long gone with whatever prize this place had. Worse still, no sign or trail of Mica.
It was then that her radio came to life once more; it was Hector again. He was reporting a trail of some sorts; tire tracks to be specific. This could be the sign they were looking for while searching for Mica. “That’s good to hear Hector. I am done here, nothing much of interest. I’ll be on my way.” But on thing was still bothering her; that feeling from earlier was back from having hear Hector’s voice.
Roxanne could not explain what it was; she felt empty in a way she did not understand. She felt unwanted, without a purpose for some reason as well. It had manifested out of nowhere with not discernable trigger. “What is wrong with you Luna? Get a hold of yourself!” A new urge overcame her: she grabbed her sword and held it in the air. No, that wasn’t it. She activated it and busted a chair with it. That felt better but the feeling still linger. “I’ll figure it out later...I am in a mission after all.”
The walk back to where Hector said to meet him was a bit longer than expected. Roxanne was feeling discomfort from that still present feeling. When she saw Hector a sense of glee engulfed Roxanne and she rushed towards him. “Hectoooor”, she exclaimed while dashing towards him. She stopped when she was right next to him. “Hiiii, did you miss me? Umm, I didn’t find anything of worth in the courthouse. You said you found a lead.”
The feeling was now stronger than before and her sudden urge was back. She had an idea. “H-hector, can I ask you a favor? It’s kinda weird…” She paused for a moment looking away, she seemed a bit embarrassed for some reason. “Umm, could you use this sword instead of yours for now? Please? Don’t worry about any arcane effects, it's just a normal sword as long as you don’t activate it… Just for now?”
Melody and Victor made their way down the hallway. They excited the to the outside world where the sun was still shining. Clouds were on their way but for now it was still sunny. Melody paused as the glare from the sun was really bothering her. “Great...I can’t see but bright light is still a bother…” She seemed to be taking this a bit too well; had Victor still have his memories, this would be a cause for concern. Melody squinted as she walked.
“Oh, hold on. I think I have something.”
Victor went to the Jeep, their pile of salvaged junk still visible. Somehow he knew that was his due to it being just outside of where they had just been; the power of deduction. He went and retrieved a black thing scarf. Seemed like a fashion accessory rather than something to offer real protection; still, it was perfect for the occasion. Victor folded the scarf once and placed it on Melody’s eyes like a blindfold; he tied it around her back with a gentle nod and then smiled at his handy work.
“There, that should help for now. It’s not the best looking thing but it should do the job. Not that you will care how it looks right now…” Melody paused and then shifted her head as if looking at Victor. “S-sorry. That was insensitive of me.”
“No no, it’s fine. Thank you, this works pretty well.”
The two then quickly got into the jeep. Victor was obviously driving but there was a slight problem. Where the hell was the farm?
“Open your map navigator.”
“My what?”
“You know, your virtual map thingy. Everyone has one; the one thing nobody bothers stealing since they are so common. Hardy, weatherproof, excellent battery life; I hear they work off old satellites. Anyways, do you still have yours?”
Victor search his numerous pockets and eventually found it. It looked like a scroll that extended into a medium size tablet. A map appeared on the screen with various labels and options.
“Now what?”
“Well, do you see any labels marked home or something similar?”
Victor searched for a bit. “I found one that says headquarters.”
“Is there a label named hall or something close to it? A river as well.”
“Yes, how do you know.”
“Just a guess. That’s where we are going. Ummm, can you still drive?”
Victor looked at this laser generator still attached to his right armed. He smiled and started to take it off to have both hands free. “Was I able to drive before I lost my memory?”
“Yes, why?”
“Then I should be able to. I seemed to lost my memory of events and stuff but not my skills.”
“Huh...that’s convenient...anyways. Let’s go then.”
The roar of the jeeps engine could be heard. Melody “felt” in awe as she trained her spell at the engine as it did it’s thing. She might not be able to see any more but now she was able to “feel” beyond what her sight had to offer. Melody tugged at her scarf turned blindfold to adjust her and then leaned back. Victor pulled out of the private neighborhood and towards the farm.
The ride to the farm started out quiet at first. Victor had nothing to talk about since he practically knew nothing and Melody was too busy taking in the scenery with her new found ability. She quickly grew accustomed to it and then leaned back in her seat again. It was Victor who broke the silence.
“Soooo, this farm place. We both live there?”
“You do. I was taken in by some people who call themselves the third company. Very nice people but a bit eccentric. I help around as best I can but mostly keep to myself and my studies. As a matter of fact, this jeep is theirs. I visit the farm every now and again to brush up on arcane by lessons; lesson by you in fact. Oh, that’s right, you don’t remember the fight with Randael do you? Well, there was this one spirit that-”
It had started once more; one of Melody’s infamous rants. While an endearing quality of hers, Victor tended to stop them before they got out of control while on the field. But now, with his memory gone he was just utterly fascinated by what Melody had to say. She went on about Randael, the arcane and various other tangents. It wasn’t until the radio came to life that she stopped talking; not even to catch her breath.
Helen’s words made Melody have a mini panic attack. The full scope of consequences to what just had happened finally settling into Melody’s mind. “Oh shit, it’s Helen! Oh god...uhhh, what to do…”
“Who’s Helen? She just asked a simple question, what’s with that reaction?”
Melody gave Victor a look of disbelief for a moment before reminding herself of his status. “Oh right, Helen. Well, she is another arcanist from the farm.”
“Ah, another one who can do magic like we can.”
“Yes, hers is a bit different but yes.”
“That still doesn’t explain your reaction.”
“Oh, well… Umm, it’s because you and her...you know”
“We what? Wait, are we related?”
Melody chuckled a bit at that comment. “Well, yes, technically.” She wondered why it was so hard for her to just tell him the truth.
“Is she my sister or something?”
Melody laughed a bit. “Yes, Victor, she is your sister.”
“Ah, I see. I can see why she would be worried.”
For a moment there Melody considered not correcting Victor and make him belief Helen was indeed his sister but she realised that would just make him trust her less later on.
“No Victor, she isn’t your sister. I was just joking.”
“Oh? Sounded believable enough. Than what is she?” Melody couldn’t believe the gullibility of Victor. She now realized she could tell him anything she wanted and he would believe it; he had no choice really as she was the only person he knew at the moment. Melody stored that in the back of her mind for later use.
“Well, you and her, uhhh, you two are an item…”
“An item? My wife? Why are you going in circles for this.”
“I don’t know...and yes, she is your wife, sort of…”
“Sort of? What do you mean?”
“Well, you two never actually got married or anything but you did have a child.”
“Wait wait wait! I am a father?!”
“Heh, yes, guess that is quite the shock for you know is it?”
“Uh yeah...quite the way to find out…”
Victor stayed quiet for a moment while Melody chuckled to herself.
“You said she is an arcanist, she fight with us against that Randael spirit?”
“Yes she did. She and Roxanne were the ones who sealed him when you defeated me.”
“Roxanne?”
Melody rolled her eyes. “Oh boy...this is going to be a long day...Anyways...should we answer Helen?”
“Yes, we wouldn’t want her to get worried now would we?”
“I guess you are right...but what should I tell her?”
“Just tell her the truth. No use in hiding it, she will just find out eventually and it will lead to more problems don’t you think?”
Melody gave him a nod of agreement. “Yeah, true. Alright then, guess I’ll respond…” She picked up the radio transceiver from the jeep and tuned it to Helen’s frequency that was saved on her persona; radio.
“Helen? This is Melody; I am answering since Victor is driving and don’t want to distract him… Umm, the mission went...it was quite the shitshow.... It’s hard to explain here over the radio so how about we meet up when we get to the farm? Your choice of location. We are fine, sort of...like I said, hard to explain. Umm, we did find lots of loot! Yeah! I even got myself a cool artifact so we succeeded in that regard. I assume we aren’t going to be allowed to go on any adventures soon one we get back...alright...that’s pretty much it...get back to me when you can.”
The radio receiver was placed back and Melody gave a deep sigh. Victor was more qualified to explain what had happened but now he had no idea. All she could do was tell her very general info. Oh well, she would do her best; what worried her most was Helen’s reaction. That was something she would face when she got there. For now she leaned back and enjoyed the “view” through her aura spell once more.
“Alright Victor, take us home…”
“So, what’s your name?”
“Clara, but you can call me Clair for short.”
“Cool, my name is Christina but you can call me Christy for short as well.”
Clara chuckled a bit. The woman in front of her seemed awfully cheerful and upbeat for what they were about to do. She was young and pretty; and although not as ‘endowed’ as the likes of Roxanne she still had a body that would make the aforementioned ghost quite envious. Her outfit was far from practical: she wore a hoodie over a t-shirt with a long forgotten band’s logo on it, a leather skirt and thigh-high boots. Clara was not sure if the woman would be able to fight in such an outfit. The woman smiled before waiting for Clara to speak.
“Nice to meet you Christy. Do you really want to do this? That outfit is not really suitable for fighting...”
“Of course! Not everyday you meet with an arcanist willing to show off their abilities in battle. My partner is never willing; he is so boring you know?”
Clara laughed slightly at the last comment. “Ha, men am I right?”
“Ugh, tell me about it…”
“Anyways, if I win, you will tell me what I want to know?”
“Of course, I am a woman of my word!”
“Alright, all I needed to know. First one to land a blow wins.”
“That’s right, now show me what you got!”
“With pleasure…” Clara assumed her custom fighting stance. She extended her arms downwards. “Teleblades…” two purple, seemingly holographic, swords extended from each of Clara’s forearms. She grasped them and then adjusted her stance.
“Your move girly.”
Christina grinned. She was amused by what she was seeing and could tell Clara was confident in her abilities. “Ohhh, nice. Never seen that trick before. This should be interesting. My turn!” She reached inside of her hoodie’s sleeves and retrieved a round metallic object. A finger was looped in a string that came out of the object. “Ready!”
“Um, that’s your weapon? What the hell is that?”
“It’s my yoyo!”
“Your yoyo… B-but that’s a toy…”
“Then it shouldn’t be any problem for you, shouldn’t it?”
“Riiight…” Clara was getting more and more weirded out by this woman as time went on. She had met her when looking for shelter from what appeared to be a storm approaching but unfortunately for her the cabin she chose was already taken. Christina turned out to be a nice lady but she challenged Clara to a sparring duel when it was revealed Clara was an arcanist. Christina promised to tell Clara some juicy intel on the area is she accepted and won. So right now Clara was outside about to start a duel with an oddly dressed girl using a yoyo as a weapon.
Christina did the first move; she launched her yoyo towards Clara but was easily blocked. Then she swirled back and launched here yoyo again at Clara; she did so faster than Clara anticipated causing the arcanist to not have time to do much but block the attacks. Christina paused to gauge her opponent's reaction.
“Wow, not bad for a toy… You are pretty fast.”
Christina smiled wide; she loved how people reacted to her fighting style. “Not bad yourself. Quick reflects to dodge my attacks. Look out, here I go again!”
Another attack was launched and Clara blocked it again. This went out for a while, yoyo attacks being blocked by telekinetic sword attacks. Christina knew she would not win at this rate; it was time to change gears. “Alright, time to stop playing around. Get a load of this!” The yoyo suddenly started to start and little arcs of electricity flew from it. Clara backed always one step at the sight of this.
“What the hell was that?”
“Augments my dear. You thought this was a normal yoyo?”
“I kinda figured otherwise when it didn’t shatter by my blades...what the hell is that thing anyways?”
“Custom superalloy yoyo with a UPS mod to power up a taser module. You are now seeing the second part of it. But enough talking, let’s fight!”
Yet another attack was launched. Clara prepared to block it again but the yoyo didn’t aim directly at her this time. Instead, it swirled and entangled the sword. “What the...that’s not very fair…” Christina janked the string on the yoyo and pulled the sword right from Clara’s hand. The sword hit the floor and then vanish in a puff of smoke.
“One down, another to go ~ ”
“Oh, you think you can disarm me? Good luck with that. Teleblade go!”
Another sword extended from Clara’s forearm and her wielder happily accepted it rearming herself. Christina smirked as she launched another attack with her yoyo; sparks flew out with the intent to shock her opponent. The arcanist slash at the weaponized toy and what appeared to be a shockwave made it bounce. It flew straight towards Christina who managed to dodge it by jumping to the side. When she looked back at Clara, she was standing next to her with one of her blades pointing at her head.
“Stand down, it’s over.”
Christina smiled once more and raised her hands up. “Alright, you win. That was fun; haven’t been bested in a while. Was this a real fight I would’ve won you know?”
Clara rolled her eyes. “Sure thing kid. That’s what they all say.”
A look of indignation filled Chirstina’s face. “Kid? I am probably older than you! Show me some respect!”
“Older than me? I am 42, you don’t look past 22.”
“Well, I am 63, so ha!”
Clara’s face turned to that of shock. “Wait what? H-how?”
Christina smiled at her reaction, she also enjoyed seeing people react to her true age. “A good genetic base and some mutations baby! Alpha Mutant Christina Bay at your service! I am the next step in human evolution and augmentation.”
“So you are a mutant? You don’t look like it… Alpha you say? That would explain it… Wait, you also said augments?”
“Yup, physical enhancements and other nifty things. The intent was to perfect the human body or something like that. It’s been years since I put any thought into it. Anyways, let’s go inside and talk some more there. We should get ready for the storm. I am sure you have many questions and I will answer them as promised.”
“Yeah...lots of questions…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 07, 2018, 10:54:39 pm
Helen nodded at that, sighing some. "Regardless, I hope that he's at peace. He's left a legacy at least, people who look up to him and will continue to help others as he would've wished, I think. And you ensured their meeting, what allowed for that to develop, to occur." she pointed out.
Regarding Anton again as Salazar stepped outside, she smiled some. "Then I'm glad we have this opportunity." she said, before his question gave her pause. "That you did. But you are not our enemy." she said in response to this. "Foolish as your actions were, they are understandable. You had your duties, misguided or not. And with the one responsible for setting you on that path slain, this is a chance to make something better out of what occurred, correct?" she pointed out.
"Just as Victor has, overconfident though he may still be. And just as I've sought to redeem my order." she said. Solomon meanwhile opened the door for Isaac and Alice, giving a polite nod. "Welcome back. One of the men said they have a gift for you that had been prepared." he said, clutching the mask that he'd been using earlier. "It's a magic item of some sort, I'm not sure about it. Mrs. McKinnon hasn't yet given it a thorough examination yet and I don't really know enough about how to interpret what this mask shows me."
Hector hmmed a bit as he made his way down the stairs and back out into the parking lot, cautious as he soon began to follow the tracks. Given the heavy layer of packed dust he found it easy to follow, taking care to follow alongside the tracks rather than in it. The walk wasn't too long at least, the two soon meeting where he formerly saw the last hint of tracks from his prior position.
From there another major street cut through much of town, and he could see the tracks running down the street until they veered off to cross a field, once part of a lot cleared to build that the faded, dusty sign stated was eventually going to be some sort of gardening store. He smiled under the gas mask at that, gesturing to the tracks running along. "Good to see you Roxanne. And yes, looks like the tracks lead at least to the edge of town, maybe past there. After that we should be able to find Mica's trail again."
By now he was starting to lead the way back to where they parked the vehicles, perking up at Roxanne's question. "Hmm? It's fine, ask me anything." he responded, sheathing his sword. "Looks like it'd be perfectly usable even without its abilities, so...sure." he said softly, reaching to accept it.
Soon after however, he looked off into the distance and shook his head, seeing the clouds hanging in the sky. "This isn't going to be good...should get the vehicles started and follow that trail before the rain messes it up." he said, unaware of the radio receiving an urgent broadcast about the storm expected tonight or tomorrow, received while they were heading back to the vehicles.
Elsewhere, corporal Alberto Vela and sergeant Nell Branham had been out on a scouting run several miles north of the center, when they encountered survivors...
Nell grumbled a bit as she looked off into the distance, seeing the growing clouds and the ominous breeze that had slowly picked up over the past half-hour. They'd at least made it a safe distance away from the infested town that the van and truck had riled up earlier.
"Sargent, corporal. Sat report is confirming an inbound tropical storm expected to hit sometime tonight or tomorrow, backed up by reports being radioed in from the boys down south, from their contacts over at the Ocean City outpost." was the report they received over the radio, from captain Catalina Sandell. By now she'd been more open about using her father's surname, rather than her mother's maiden name.
"Understood. We've made contact with a convoy of survivors but road conditions aren't so good for their larger vehicle. We do not expect to arrive before sundown." she answer, looking back to the group. They'd made it to the edge of a mostly cleared-out town, in sight of a few old storefronts and warehouses.
Helen breathed a sigh of relief as at last she heard a reply from Melody. Her heart sank as that answer went on, fearing the worst even though she heard that Victor was alright. After all, he has said the same about Roxanne when they were returning from the last mission. "Thank the gods you're still in one piece then. So soon after Roxanne...damnit. Victor'll need to explain what happened when you return then. And I...no, both of us, also still need to fill you in on what occurred the day before yesterday. I can only hope you didn't run into the same monster..."
Soon however, to her surprise there were more visitors, several of the mislings having arrived at The Hall, noticing that as the evening wore on the clouds had darkened, wind picking up slightly, and a slight drizzle had started to come down. She was there in her cloak, holding Thomas after feeding him, having been making the usual evening preparations. "Greetings. Come on in. Will be best to move the dining halls the rest of the way to the side and set up bedding." she said, soon directing the group to set things up, along with some other preparations for the storm.
They'd harvest crops that were close enough to mature, gathering cloth and canvas to stake out and cover the rest, bringing tools and other goods in from the forge area as well. Helen had worked to drag her old log canoe in from the shore and soon had it put away behind Freki's old kennel, who was by now at the farm with Sergei.
Soon she picked up the radio again. "Helen here. I'm hoping you make it back soon, as a storm is expected to arrive later, tonight or tomorrow. I would prefer you both meet me at The Hall if possible. Rain's already started..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 08, 2018, 08:37:47 am
Lilith padded along after Nathaniel, unsure of how to approach him. All day after they'd got back from the center, he'd gone about tasks around the farm as usual while Lilith trailed him, sometimes even managing to get underfoot. In so far as she could get underfoot. The small doctor said he'd fixed her, or something like that. She wouldn't call dulling the sheen on her luxurious fur "fixing," but apparently the new sheen came with some benefit that she very much wanted. She just... Didn't know what to do about it.
At some point in her long thoughts, a rarity for her, she'd got side tracked and separated from Nathaniel. Not a problem, she would find him, he couldn't have gone far. Lilith dropped to all fours and padded along, appearing now more as tiger than woman. Her tail flicked this way and that as she went, on the prowl for her man. She thought that perhaps the usual method would work fine. No need to get all mushy about it. The people she encountered, mostly Mislings making themselves as useful as humanly possible, scattered at her passage. The mice charmed her a little but mostly they were just annoying. Just more strange creatures in her domain. She hardly put up with "bug," how was she supposed to go about her business with all these mice around? It didn't matter now. What mattered was that she find Nathaniel.
Lilith rounded the corner of the farm house and spied the one she was after. He was directing a pair of mice and a normal man with a beard on some task or other that needed to be done, smiling and talking and pointing to spots on a hand drawn map, no doubt given to him by catnip so he could do this. She padded over, giving her steps a little of that catlike bounce. If not for her distinctly human features, anyone would have assumed she was a perfectly normal tiger freshly escaped from a zoo somewhere.
"Nataleeeee." She whined, scattering the group with her intrusion. Nathaniel was about to speak, but found he couldn't with Liliths side pressed into his face. She curved and curled, running the length of her body over him like a cat rubbing itself on someone's leg. He was of course, pushed to the ground by her action, and very quickly she was pinning him down and panting at him.
"Uh, I think we'll get to it then Mr. Ford." Said one of the mice nervously, "You seem kind of uh, busy."
"W-wait," Nathaniel wheezed, trying to wave them back, "You don't... Lil, please let me go."
Lilith didn't let him go, instead she took her paw off his chest and lowered herself down so that they were face to face, and Nathaniel was sandwiched between her pendulous breasts. "Nataleeeee..." She husked. Her voice took on a sultry silky sound, a sound Nathaniel knew all too well.
"C'mon Lil, not now, I'm busy. Later ok? We can do-"
Lilith placed a paw on his face, being careful not to suffocate him with her soft pads. He struggled under her, trying to push her off and making agonized muffled sounds. The pushing only did one thing, and that was to excite her. His hands and arms pushed and shoved, doing little more than knead the supple soft chest engulfing his torso and arms. Lilith moved her paw, pivoting it like she was playing peek-a-boo with him and whispered, "kith?" He did kiss her, but again demanded she let him go. Instead, she stood and picked him up, carrying the small man under one arm back to his shack, a small rickety structure that would be gone soon enough. She pushed through the enlarged hole in the wall, taking a moment to lean the freshly splintered rude back over the hole where it had more recently been a door, and tossed Nathaniel on the bed sure that his resistance would melt soon enough. There were three pleasures in life, illiana believed. Four. No, five. Thinking about this, she managed to confuse herself yet again and restarted.
There were... No.
Thinking like this was hard, her thoughts had to be organized, and she supposed that was the difficult part of existing like she did. Illiana endeavored to work through it though and tried again.
There were THREE pleasures in HER life. Other things could be lumped into those three as a blanket and...
Damn, again. She closed her eyes and let her mind dissipate into it's original form, one of simple potential energy. A primal force, mindless in nature but as powerful as the human imagination. She was Deus Ex. A greater primal force, more powerful than life, death, or time but still bound by their rules. In this form, she was not a she, but an "it." She allowed her essence, her energy, to drift until it was commanded by a force even greater than herself to fill the body that force had given her. Then, she started again.
There were three pleasures in illiana's newfound existence. The first was Vanilla ice cream. She was allowed to create as much of the stuff as she wanted, and it seemed to be, as a result, the only thing she ate. She loved it, the sweet flavor and fragrance of vanilla. She wished she herself could smell of vanilla, but that was sadly not to be. Still, it gave her great pleasure and tied into her greatest pleasure.
The second, was beurocracy. One part job, one part hobby, all parts experience. She liked the looks on people's faces when she slid into their space and served them with some trivial bit of fuckery. Telling them to fill out and mail papers in absurd ways when they complained. None of those sending such complaints actually believed that the strange beaurocrat would ever get them, but she did. It also fed into her third and greatest pleasure, of course.
That third, was existence. Illiana was a rare being, a Deus Ex, the physical embodiment of her worlds "cop out" force. Whenever there was a hero with no way out, a puzzle with no solution, a situation in which a resolution, it was Illiana's power that came into play. She was the hole in the wall, the friendly face with the solution at the last moment, the key under the mat. The drawback, was that she experienced none of it. In the form that granted her such power beyond anything the God's of the world could even imagine, she was utterly mindless. No more than a tool to be used very sparingly by a hand that did not dwell in the world in which the tool belonged.
As "Illiana" though, she could experience things. Her power was restrained, wrapped up in red tape, but that was a small price to pay. Especially since she was still considerably more powerful than any god. It didn't matter to her, power was nothing. The body she was given though, that was everything. She found herself standing nude in front of the mirror she would call up from the floor, pinching and prodding. Tugging at her hair, prodding the filed points of her teeth, spreading open her eyes to get a good look at them, stretching her skin out and letting it settle back. She ran her hands down her hips, feeling the skin under her palms. She had begun to squish her breasts in her hands when she realized what she was doing, and imagined what her actions would look like from the perspective of an outside observer. The sight of her face turning a bright crimson and the feel of it was fascinating, but she made herself stop. With a snap of her fingers, she was dressed again and eating ice cream in her opulant chair, feet up on her desk.
Mostly, she liked meeting the people. Much like catnip did. Catnip enjoyed meeting people for social reasons though, Illiana enjoyed it because it was always a new experience. Emotions were nice, if unpleasant sometimes. She enjoyed them. More than experiencing them though, she liked instilling them. Especially, it turned out, annoyance. The job part of her beaurocracy was policing Sharlene, but the fun part was harassing one of the people she'd met on her first day in the world. Helen. Illiana came for Sharlene, but stayed for Helen. Roxanne was fun, but Roxanne was abiding. Helen on the other hand would put up with little of Illiana's fun. Helen was straight lace, and Illiana could respect that. All the same though. What she had been doing earlier came back to her and again she felt that warm flush. Such earnest examination wasn't the sort of thing she imagined a being such as herself doing. If someone like Helen saw her, they would probably stop taking her seriously. Except... No one took her seriously already. That made her laugh. She laughed wildly, all mighty omnipotent being that she was and yet no one took her anywhere near as seriously as any of the Gods or beings they had prior experience with. For God's sakes, Helen thought she was just a ghost. A ghost!
Eventually, the giggling tapered off and Illiana stared grinning at the floor of her pocket dimension, relishing the experience of the spilled vanilla at her feet.
She suddenly decided that since it was her day off, she needed to go outside her little pocket dimension and... Mingle. Who wasn't busy though? She looked through current goings on and grimaced. Not many people she really wanted to hang out with. Medeina maybe, but that was it really and Medeina wasn't much fun for her. Helen would soon have her hands very full, so she was out. Mica was also busy. Illiana mulled her options over, and realized she was bored. At random, she chose someone from her list of "friends."
"How about... You."
She looked at the name and grinned. Catnip moved from one sanguinist to the next, drawing the bolt on her service pistol and ejecting the spent casing. The next was making some gesture at her. Trapped as he was under the wreckage of the screaming engine, it could have been begging, but she'd seen enough of how they cast their spells the believe that. The oversized bullet passed neatly through his plaintive hand and exploded the brain in the skull behind it. There was nothing in her mind. No thoughts, just dormant conditioning awakened by stress and rage. The next trying to crawl away from her had a bald head and greasy complexion, like someone she dimly remembered. She had a notion that perhaps this man liked to cut, and then ended the thought with a bullet in the back of his neck. The next, preparing to leave some kind of hatchet at her looked a little like her handler, Nathan, and she shot him out of hand. Twice, taking the time to again draw back the bolt on the cut down rifle before placing the second in his chest next to the first. Then, another was bearing down on her with a hammer. He was dressed differently than the others, not one of them but he was defending one of them. The mask he wore looked plain, but eyeless. "I cut them out." She thought distantly before the hammer looped in and made contact with the shield. She fought this man for a few blows, going so far as to holster her gun. If he knocked it from her hand then ending this would be harder. Instead, she took a lesson from Hector's playbook and struck the enemy senseless with her aegis. When he was on his knees before her, she Drew her gun and socked the barrel against his head.
And a voice came to her. Small and afraid. "Please, don't."
She remembered this, she was dreaming, this had happened. Catnip looked, and it wasn't Sylvia. Not like the real events then. It was Kathrine. Kat trapped and unable to get away or perhaps unwilling to get away.
"Don't mistress, it's mean."
Catnip awoke with a small start from her nap and scrabbled for Kathrine, but she wasn't there. Where? She panicked, then sighed with relief when the bundle in the corner shifted. Kathrine had moved onto the floor again, not wanting to take up space on the bed that Catnip could have. Catnip crawled over and shook her gently, but Kathrine just moaned weakly. She'd had a tough day and it was only just after noon. People had come to see her and it made her uncomfortable. They wanted to know about this face that Catnip had been so desperate to see. Catnip's "face that could launch a thousand ships." Or rather, thirty buses.
She hefted Kathrine carefully and carried her to the bed, laying her down in the cooling patch of warmth where she'd been before and gave her a little kiss on the cheek. She'd never need to know about the screaming engine, and that was a relief.
She climbed into the bed next to the sleeping maid and threw the blanket over both of them. Kathrine didn't stir once as her girlfriend wrapped her arms around her and went back to sleep for a bit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 08, 2018, 01:10:15 pm
Charles quickly came inside, both due to the fire of the forge going out and the surprise visitors, and started helping get things in place. At the sight of Anton carrying a sword the pair exchanged a look before continuing on with their work. Somewhere in the midst of it all Anton had slid the sword into a bag that he slung over his shoulder.
Isaac and Alice also helped to get things in order. Afterwords Isaac looked the stone hand over before sliding it over the stump of his hand. He felt it drive something into the stump of his old hand but noticed it didn’t hurt. Then the hand changed as he flexed the fingers.
The fingers extended to full length as details seemed to chisel themselves into the hand. Flexing the hand the stones inset in the knuckles faintly glowed. Turning it over to look at the palm Isaac could have sworn he heard a voice as the stone pulsed more rapidly ‘Hi!’. Shaking his head Isaac wondered what that was about as his cat grumpily stared at the people in the room.
Charles approached once things settled down and gave a short bow to Solomon before motioning to Isaac “I see you’ve got the uh..’hand’ we brought with us. I hope it serves you well. Oh and I’ve been making armor for you should you want it. A gift from us.”
Isaac put a hand on Charles’ shoulder as he said “Thank you and I’ll take the armor.”
Alice looked between the two as she thought of something “Could you make me some armor?” she asked.
Charles looked at Isaac for a moment and received a nod of approval before he replied “I can. I’ll need measurements and time though.”
The two stepped away as they talked and elsewhere in the Hall Anton walked over to Helen. A cloak pulled from his bag was slung over his shoulder. “I need to go with or without this storm. The people I'm going to help well they protect magical artifacts. Someone is attacking them, hunting for something, and from what the letter said these guys are modern day Nazi's. Now I need to go, with or without help.” He said before starting for the door.
Elsewhere purifier soldiers held position as they waited to carry out their assault on what they believed to be the final temple. The wait was primarily logistical in nature as the flamethrowers were having trouble in the rain and the gas was being dispersed into the wind away from targets. The Lieutenant adjusted his grip on his pistol as the two men he’d been given tended to their power armor. The Kommandant had sent them for the final skirmish as backup. And as overseers of the lieutenant.
None of them questioned his blue arm band, nor that of the lieutenant’s small group of Sturmtruppen. His original command these men were loyal to him. They knew each other personally and the Lieutenant knew that their faith had dwindled as much if not more so than his. Sending up a silent prayer he wondered if they would get the chance for redemption were that even possible. Pushing the rounds into his Mauser’s internal magazine he somehow doubted it was.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 09, 2018, 08:21:56 am
Medeina moved her peice diagonally, once again breaking the rules of the game between Leslie and herself.
"C'mon robot, that ain't how that peice moves and you totally know it. Not cool."
Medeina clicked, the shutter in her advanced eye flickering only the very slightest. "I wanted to see how you would react."
The game had progressed like this for almost an hour, Leslie making earnest moves and putting up with Medeina's little slights here and there. Over that hour though, the snake had started to lose her cool. She understood the rules, and so did Medeina, so why did the robot insist on trolling her? Leslie didn't understand Medeina's purpose though. Like Leslie, Medeina was a kind of reporter. Unlike Leslie, Medeina's reports were of a more intimate nature and sometimes quiet private.
"I am examining your behavior." Medeina clarified.
"You shouldn't do that without permission, that ain't cool." Leslie said. She put Medeina's peice back, and the robot pushed it back. Leslie's sigh of annoyance sounded more like a hiss than the last one. Catnip was afraid of robots, but she didn't see anything scarier here than a little eyebot that liked to cheat at board games to get a reaction out of people. A little troll bot, she thought. She didn't know about Medeina's stint as a chicken walker though. The robot sitting alongside Dee's shack was just a curiousity for the time being, but someday it would walk again, Medeina's own little project. Medeina wasn't scary though. Just invasive.
Leslie began packing the game away, and medeina inquired why. The response was that Leslie didn't play with cheaters. If it was possible for a robot to look downcast and a little offended, Medeina somehow managed it with her proxy.
"Let me ask you though," Leslie said, shifting the subject, "What do you think of Walkerville?"
"Walkerville?" Medeina asked, perking up a little.
"Yeah, the farm. Catnip told me to call it Walkerville."
"Oh. Fascinating. I will have to question her as to the source of this label. I like the variaty of creatures who come here. They are many and varied."
"Creatures?"
"Yes. Creatures like you. Mutants and cyborgs and animals. I am an observational research AI, designed to observe and catalogue the Flora and fauna in my designated zone."
Leslie cocked her head. She didn't much like being referred to as a "creature," but she couldn't argue it either.
"Groovy, but uh... Why? I mean, what makes you do that? And why here in Walkerville?"
Medeina stared at Leslie for nearly a minute before saying, "I... Don't know. There is a hole in my memory. I seem to have no designated area set in parameters, which defaults in such cases to wherever I may be at the time. As for why, it is my programming. I am designed to do a specific task with a little free will and basic emotional feedback."
That seemed wrong to Leslie as Medeina's banter and emotional range were more than simple, and she said so. The AI didn't remember any of it though. She knew the advanced emotional matrix was "stitched" into her base code crudely, as if it had been forced there and the AI had installed them herself. "I am told Mr. Quinn and Marshal Lowe had an interesting adventure though. Ms. Catnip and Ms. Mica were also there, but their part in it was small I guess."
Leslie jotted it all down in sloppy short hand, careful not to be so sloppy as to be illegible, and yawned. Medeina examined while she could the inside of her mouth, noting the tiny pin teeth and how the entire oriface resembled not at all the inside of a human mouth. The lips were articulate, but otherwise it seemed to Medeina that Leslie was only a few small changes away from being full blown serpent.
"Are you tired Ms. Leslie?" Medeina asked, "There is a folding cot behind that boxy robot in the corner if you wish to rest. Despite what the others in... Walkerville might say, I am not the voyeur I am made out to be and will give you ample privacy."
"No robot, I'm not tired. I'm cold."
"Ah, you are cold blooded then? Mr. Koenig is not, but Mr. Koenig is also possessed of a limited form of a chameleons ability which you do not possess. You are five-A?"
"What's five-A?"
Medeina explained the graduating scale of mutation, going into unneeded detail.
Leslie decided to shift the subject again, not liking this prodding of her biology after she'd already undergone a check up of sorts a few days before. She pointed to an object that looked to her like a breastplate designed specifically for a woman, except that there were wires hanging down from the bottom and from the arm holes.
"What's that?" She asked. It seemed to be a robot part of some kind. Attached via wires to one of the arm sockets and suspended on a pair of straps next to the hanging torso was some kind of arm. Long and spindly like Micas. Medeina looked at the body for a long time, almost as long as she had stared at Leslie, then explained.
"My body. This small proxy is nice, but it and the computer which house me are insufficient. Without certain restrictive measures, I would overload any machine that held me. My only hope is to be uploaded into a large mainframe or into... That. Mr. Koenig believes it will provide enough space and power to accommodate all my functions, and I believe him. My hope... Ms. Leslie? May I confident in you?" When Leslie had nodded and gestured to the effect that Medeina should continue, she went on. "I am terrified. Mr. Koen- Dee, lost hope of completing my body when Catnip was taken away last year. When she returned, he went back to work on it with such zeal. But now, Mica has caught quick with his offspring, a highly improbable circumstance, and now he has left. I am merely an AI with little understanding of human nuances, but I am terrified that he will not return. It would be selfish of me to say that it was for my body alone though, and also a lie. Ms. Leslie, what will Mica do if he does not return? She is not mentally prepared for such a step in her life. She is not even that old. She and her sister have the appearance, were they still human, of ones who would be entering their thirtieth year, but according to my files, they will soon be in their eighteenth."
"Catnip is only... I uh, I don't know. I'm uh..." Leslie fumbled. She hadn't been prepared for such an outburst from the AI, and she didn't really like it. "Look, I'm sorry I uh..."
"No, I am sorry. You are young yourself, too young for this sort of problem. The thing there is my body. Or will be. The arms and torso are mostly finished, Dee still has to work on legs and find a safe and functional power supply. Solar power won't cut it and fusion will run the body too hot. I am eager to know what he comes up with."
Leslie still didn't know what to say, and so she decided one last time, to change the subject.
"Do you want to try the game again?"
"Of course Ms. Leslie, always a pleasure."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 09, 2018, 04:34:53 pm
Roxanne stayed close to Hector the whole time. She was glad that he accepted to hold her sword but when he grabbed it she felt something odd: Disappointment. No particular reason, she just felt that at that moment. Still, it did bring her some comfort.
“Yeah, the storm is looking bad...do you think our vehicles will hold? Anyways, we each have our own to worry about. K-keep the sword for now...I’ll ask for it if I need it. Go ahead and take the lead once we reach the vehicles and I’ll follow. Uhm, don’t bother wasting ammo, my laser turrets will take care of it. Still have plenty of power...”
The two started walking towards their respective vehicles keeping in mind where the tracks were. Roxanne did not let on just how weird she was feeling as she believed that the mission came first. When they reached the vehicles and Roxanne got in the APC she immediately radioed in to Hector.
“Hey, can you hear me? Just wanted to see if this is working you know? Alright, lead the way…” Roxanne turned on her engines and waited for the tank to pass her and take the lead to follow the trail they had seen. If Roxanne was right, they only had a few hour before the rain would make them lose their tracks. She had kicked herself for not being there for Katherine and she would be damn if the same happened to Mica. As best she could, she pusher her feeling aside and focused her minds on the mission at hand.
“We’ll find you Mica, don’t wonder too far ok?”
Melody and Victor had been riding in silence for a while. She was nervous at what Helen would say while he wonder what this farm place was like and what the people who lived there would be. Their thoughts were interrupted by the radio piping up. It was Helen again with a response. Melody breathed easy as she didn’t seem to upset.
“You heard your wife Vic. We are going to the Hall.”
“Vic? That seems awfully casual.”
“I can call you Vicky is you want.”
“...Vic it is!”
“Thought so.”
“Anyways, where is this ‘hall’?”
“Just keep driving to where we were going and then follow the road. The Farm and the Hall will be very apparent. Can’t confuse them with anything else.”
“So the farm and the hall huh? Wow, what creative names…”
Melody chuckled a bit. “I know right? Oh, there is this woman named Sharlene; she lives in ‘The Cabin’.”
“Are you serious? My god...we need to have a naming contest or something I swear…”
“We? You are speaking really comfortable about a place you don’t know about.”
“Well, I really have no choice do I?”
“I suppose you are right...things won’t be the same now…”
“Melody...uhm...sorry if I ask but are you alright? You seems rather cheerful for someone who just uh...had an accident…”
Melody stayed quiet for a moment and then spoke up without changing her gaze; not that it would do any good to her. “Can we not talk about that please? It’s really weird...trying to distract myself from it…”
“Got it...won’t come up again…”
The rest of the ride was spent in silence. They didn’t have much more to go; it was about 15 minutes now. The farm came into view soon enough from beyond the river and Victor was taken aback. It really was big and obvious filled with people it seemed and some really impressive machines.
“I-is that a tank?!”
"Sorta, I heard it being called a train."
"A train? I can see the resemblance."
"Yes, build from the ground up with very little assistance. Can take the beating I hear."
"Damn...Don't want to mess with however can build that thing..."
“Anyways, yes. That is kinda of a tank.”
NVictor saw the train again and knew there really wasn’t a proper explanation for it but did it give him chills and a sense of awe looking a it. He approached the road and was almost within the farms main territory.
“Are does...rat people?”
“The mislings? Yeah, mice to be more accurate. What I can only describe as the leader of this whole place, Catnip, is a true rat girl but she isn’t misling.”
“Why not?”
“I am not sure myself. I don’t ask because I thinks it might be something sensitive.”
“That makes sense. Heh, that one is wearing a hard hat and it’s tail is swinging from side to side; looks rather amusing.”
“They are very hardworking people. Ask for help on a job and they are on it; seems they are trying to find their place in the world.”
“Do they now? I can admire that. Isn’t that what we are doing in the first place.”
They were in the farms main territory now. It would take about a minute to pass through and go towards the hall but that minute would be terrifying for the both of them. Thing was, Victor’s aura spell was still active in the farm. The one they were using was a weak deployable version for field use. You had to focus on something to see it and require concentration. They way melody was using hers it would strip her of depth perception to get a 360 degree view and it made it “look” fuzzy to her. But now she was in the true aura spell and could feel everything. Every soul, every nook and cranny of the place, the countless round of ammunition and each grain of rice were felt in a cacophony of sensations that was overwhelming her.
“Ahhhh, shut it off! Please make it stop! Please!” Melody was screaming bloody murder which panic Victor while he too felt the same thing. He was somehow not fully overwhelmed but boy was he close.
Without second thought he floored the gas pedal and got out of the spell range as quickly as possible. Once they were out he braked hard making the two bounce forward; the catch their breaths as they recovered from that.
“W-what was that?”, asked Melody.
“I don’t know...but that sixth sense thingy got really intense...man was that scary…”
“Y-yeah...oh god...give me a minute...sorry for screaming. Go ahead and take us to the hall when you are ready…” In a few minutes, the two had regain their composure. They had no clue what that was but as was habit with them they decided they would deal with it later. For now, they had to face the music to the tune of Helen McKinnon.
Victor parked the Jeep in front of the hall. Melody was as nervous as can be. The two got off rather reluctantly and Melody hid behind Victor the whole time; she could feel Helen’s presence but did not know where she was due to lack of depth perception. They walk to thr front door and knocked.
“Hello? It’s Victor and Melody here. Anyone home?”
It had been quite the day. First finding the damn resin Christy wanted was hard enough but now it seemed like a storm was approaching. Great, just what he needed. They needed to move out soon but this damn storm would force them to stay a few days in this cabin. Whatever, he would deal with it when it came up. For now, he would go to the cabin and rest for the day. It was close now, just a few more minutes.
He put down his scythe and tried to open the door of the cabin; it was locked, great. This could mean one of two things and he could guess which of the two it was. He pressed his ear against the door and heard the noises inside; sure enough, Christy had found “company” again. Did she really need to do this every time? Oh well, he would give them a few minutes more before he interrupted.
Ten minutes later and he knocked on the door. He waited for a moment and knocked again. “Christy, open up damn it. I brought what you wanted.” It was no just a matter of waiting for the door to open; he knew the drill. A couple minutes and sure enough Christina opened the door. It was evident she had put her outfit in a haste and her hair was a mess. “Heeeeeeey, brought me the thing?”
“Yes” He took out a rather large crystal of resin and handed it to Christina. “This should power you for a few weeks don’t you think?”
“Yessss! Thank you! Come on in. Oh, we have a guest in here so be nice.”
“Oh, a guest? How rude of me, I would’ve never guessed!”
Christina's face showed her annoyance at that statement. “Watch it! Alright, I’ll be right back. Come on in.”
He didn’t need to be told twice; with scythe now in hand once more, he entered the cabin where he was greeted by the “guest”.
“Clara, this is Rey, Rey Steller. He is my partner in crime. Don’t let his edgy appearance get to you; he is a softy inside.” Rey rolled his eyes as Christy made the introductions; she know spoke to him. “Rey, this is Clara Ironwood. She says she is an arcanist; how exciting! Well, feel free to talk while I get something ready. Be nice you two!” With that being said, Christina went to the other room leaving Rey and Clara alone. The two were analyzing each other in silence for now
“Clara huh? Nice to meet you. How did you find this place?”, Rey said breaking the silence.
“Was looking for a place to weather the coming storm and found this little shack. It appears to not be empty after all…”
“Well, had you passed here a few days ago it would’ve been. We don’t plan on staying here for long. So I see you have gotten to know Christina; in more than one way too.”
Clara gave Rey a look at disdain at for that comment. “Yes. She turned out to be a nice gal. What is it to you?”
Rey smirked. “Oh, quite nice indeed. What is it to me? Well, I don’t think you know what you just gotten yourself into… I hope you enjoyed yourself so far…” He clutched his scythe and flicked his wrist as if getting ready to swing it. Clara noticed this and gave a smirk of his own; she prepared her hands to draw her teleblades again. “I am about to enjoy myself even more…”
“Wait, Rey stop! She isn’t tribute.” Christina had finished whatever she had to do and had just now stepped back into the room to witness the two about to fight.
“Wait what? You are serious?”
“Yes I am. I like her, she is fun.”
“Oh I bet...but if you say so. Alright, I’ll stand down.”
Rey put down his scythe on the side of an armchair and then took a seat on it. Christina went ahead and took a seat on the 3 person sofa and then patted the spot next to her to signal Clara to sit take a sit there. Clara was still standing there with her gaze following Christy as she walked and sat down. “Tribute? What the hell are you on about? What’s going on?”
“Don’t worry about it. We will explain it when we get to that part.”
“Like hell we will.”, interjected Rey. “Why would I tell her anything about that?”
“Because I might have promise her to do so if she won a duel against me and she did…”
“Well, that sounds like a you problem. I don’t see why I have to reveal anything.”
“You have to because if you don’t I am not helping you getting any more tribute.”
Rey thought about it for a moment and then he slumped back into the air chair grumbling. “Fine! I’ll fill in the blanks wherever I am needed I suppose…”
“That’s more like it.”
Clara had gone ahead and taken a seat while the two had their argument. She smirked upon hearing them; only thing that was missing was the popcorn in her mind. “I see who wears the pants in the relationship. Good to know.” Christina simply winked at Clara while Rey gave a little quip. “Me in a relationship with the hag? Ha! Funny…”
“What was that?!”, exclaimed Christina while standing up. Clara set a hand on her shoulder and she looked back at her.
“Calm down you two. You can fight later; I am still owed and explanation.” Christy dusted her skirt and sat down. Rey simply looked on with a bored and annoyed expression.
“Sure thing Clair, ask away.”, said Christina.
“For starters, who the hell are you people and what are you doing here?”
“Well, that’s easy. Like I said earlier. I am Christina Bay and this is Rey Steller. We are nomads of sorts just trying to survive really. Nothing special.”
“Nothing special you say? Sure, that’s why you are an augmented 63 year old woman with the appearances of a 20 year old. Not to mention you use a Yo-Yo as a weapon…”
“A custom Yo-Yo! There is a difference. As for that other part; well, I have always been interested in transhumanism. I jumped on board with stem cell research, crispr, bionic modules and everything you could think of to better myself. I eventually joined a clandestine research project that got me all this fun toys and mutated me beyond human limitations. Doesn’t it look good?”
“So you are a lab girl?
“It’s more complicated than that but you could say so. I lived a ‘normal’ life before and after that so not really.”
“I see. How about you edgelord?” Clara said towards Rey. “What’s your story.
Rey smirked at the comment. “Not afraid to speak your mind huh? I can respect that. I am just some guy who was interested in the arcane and pursuit it. Self-taught and self-proclaimed master of the art of harvest.”
“Harvest huh? Is that why you carry a scythe?”
“Yes! It is symbolic for what I am.”
“God and I thought my brother was an edgelord...I am surrounded by them…”
It was Christina’s turn to take the conversation back. “ Brother? You didn’t mention this before.
“Yeah, you didn’t let me speak much remember?”
“I don’t hear you complaining at the time ~ “
“Anyways. Yes, I have a brother, Victor Ironwood. He too is an arcanist. Fucking idiot if you tell me. Decent mage but his curiosity gets the better of him all the damn time. Haven't spoken to him in years but if he's anything like back then I am sure he is still and edgelord.”
“Haven’t spoke to him in years? And why is that? Don’t you miss him? Also, who is the older one?”
“I am older. I am 6 years older than him so that would make him 36 is I am not mistaken. As to why I don’t talk to him. Well, he joined this little magic club, met a girl, I didn’t join and he got pissy about it. That’s pretty much it.”
“Magic club? What’s the name of this so called club? I doubt it’s as mundane as you make it sound for your own brother to leave you like that. Come on girl, give the details!”
Clara gave a deep sigh. “Fine. The organization was called Shadows of Arcana. It was more like a circle jerk of mages, assassin's and bounty hunters than a club to be fair but it wasn’t my thing. The only issue was that if they asked you to join and you declined they would come and hunt you down. Due to issues I don’t remember very well, he disowned me and double down his loyalty to the organization. There was a girl involved, he is a man so of course there was...What was her name? Roxanne Blackmore.”
Christina gave a wide grin upon hearing that she looked at Clara intently. “Shadows of Arcana you say? How interesting. So you were labeled impure?”
“At first, yes. Then I was labeled a terrorist for actively working against them. Wait, how do you guys know the terminology?”
“What would you say that we are former members of SoA ourselves? We too were labeled impure years ago. Welcome to the club?”
“Oh really? More people with ties to SoA great...that would explain some stuff from you two.”
Rey interjected again with some questions of his own. “That name...did you say Roxanne Blackmore?”
“Yeah, why? Don’t tell me you know her?”
“Yes, I do...a long time ago anyways.”
“Oh great! So you are buddy buddies with the whore who took my brother away! Well, sorry to burst your bubble but she is dead.”
“Wait? She is? What?” Rey sounded more confused than shocked. Clara took notice of it but frankly didn’t care.
“Relax. Another version of her appeared from another reality if you really wanna talk to her for some reason. She goes by the name of Roxanne Luna. I know it sounds far fetched but it’s the truth.”
“A-and why are you telling me this?”
“Why not? I don’t see the harm in doing so.”
Rey and Christina looked at each other for awhile and then nodded. “I think she deserves to know more don’t you think?”, Christina suggested.
Rey nodded some more. “Yes...I think she does…”
“Know more? What are you two on about now?”, Clara asked.
“Clair, do you know about SoA history?”, asked Christina right back.
“Yes I do. They splintered off from the fun-loving Cleansing Flame and then they went to war with each other. Cleansing Flame thought of SoA dead but they had moved online.”
“Yes, very good! Now, you know how the founders never really revealed who their were? How they just blended in with the others?”
“Yes...why do you ask?”
“Well, you are looking at one right now! Founder Christina Bay at your service!”
Clara scouted back for a bit not expecting that. “Wait wait wait… did you just say what I think you said?”
“I did, yes. I am the one who had the genius idea to go online to hide and what do I get in return? I get kicked out and an assassin after me!”
“I am that assassin…”, Rey said soon after. “I was sent to kill Christina… My last job actually. Failed miserably and was labeled for hunting to. My assassin was Roxanne Blackmore. You starting to draw a picture?”
Clara paused for a moment. Nothing really that hard to swallow or a shocking twist but for some reason all of this felt bad to her. “H-how do I know you guys aren’t lying?”
“You don’t. Also, how do we know you are not lying?”
“Fair point...I’ll keep that in mind…”
“Anyways. You said your brother abandon you for SoA? What did you do then? Have you really been alone this entire time?”
“Well, I was for the longest time. Then I met with my current...uhm…’business associate’. Really creepy guy but can get stuff done.”
“Ah, so there is a guy in your life.”, Christina teased, “So what is it you guys do and where is he?”
“Ha, very funny… Well, right now I am on vacation of some sorts. Had to get away from him for a while you know? He is in an office tower not too far from here. As to what we do? For now I am helping find some magic sword artifacts. Once that is done I don’t know…”
Rey chuckled a bit. “You mean one of these?” He reached for something on the lamp table next to him and showed it to Clara. She stood up in shock upon seeing the item.
“I-is that the sword of assimilation?”
Indeed it was. The very sword stolen from Alex during the destruction of Neo-SoA was now in front of Clara. The one who held it did so with caution as if knowing what this was; maybe he did. Rey gave a glance at it and then back to Clara; she simply gawked at the blade.
“W-where did you get that from? Do you have any clue what your are handling right now?”
“Please. Around this parts, any arcanist worth a damn knows about the pieces and the forbidden puzzle. It’s what you eventually work towards once you grown bored with your craft; the true end game…”
“So you two are trying to get the pieces together? That’s a bad idea…”
Rey laughed at this. He placed the sword on its scabbard and that on his lap. “No no, I am not interested. I only have this due to a happy coincidence. Now, this partner of yours, I bet he would be interested in this thing?”
“Oh, you have no idea…”
“Would he be willing to bargain?”
Clara smiled at the question. “My partner may go at very extreme lengths to get what he wants but he is not a brute. He prefers the path of less resistance and if that means avoiding a fight then he is game. Make him an offer he can’t refuse and he won’t…”
Rey gave a matching smile to Clara. “Excellent. I can’t wait to meet him. Hope he has something worthwhile.”
“That he does. He has lots of fun toys and power you can’t imagine. I am sure he will have something you like.”
“What about me?”, asked Christy.
“Well, what do you want?”, asked Clara in reply.
Christina gave a predatory smile and pounced Clara pinning her to the sofa. “I want you ~ “
“Let go of me! We just met damn it!”
“And yet you were willing to cuddle with me right of the bat?”
“That’s different! I said let go!”
Rey gave a deep sigh at the sight of this. He was growing weaker each day and didn’t have enough patience for Christy’s shenanigans. “This is gonna be a long week…”
Clara managed to get Christina off her and the two sat calmly in the sofa again. “Are you done?”
“For now ~ ”
Clara gave a wary glance and then turned her attention to Rey.
“Oh, by the way. One last thing. What’s up with the whole tribute thing?”
“Ah, that. Well, I abandoned my humanity a long time ago to transcend into a higher form. I know wield great power but must feed on human souls every couple of months or so to maintain a corporeal form. I am about as powerful as a spirit of harvest from the sub-plane delta when I am fully fed.”
“So you are a spirit then?”
“Yes, I have become a spirit.”
“Great...what kind?”
“Have you heard of the Jinn?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 09, 2018, 06:33:19 pm
Hector seemed concerned as he looked over at Roxanne, inspecting the blade carefully before the two made their way back to the vehicles. "Vehicles should be fine. Fairly heavy and well-built. Only thing I'd worry about would be the backup solars." he remarked. "Plus if Dee and Mica get caught out in it..." he said, a bit concerned as he soon took care in brushing the dust off before re-entering the tank, taking a moment to ensure it was safe to unmask and put his helm back on again, before starting the tank up.
"Hearing you loud and clear. Ready when you are." he said, pulling ahead to drive into the city, making sure again that the hatches were sealed securely before they soon picked up the trail again. When they followed it across the field, they saw a nearby road along with what was left of a decaying blockage of old vehicles, the likely cause of Dee's detour. And nearby, the familiar swath of devastation Mica had left in her wake, mangled scraps of various undead littering the pavement. At least one undead seemed to have been literally ripped limb from limb, another haphazardly torn in two starting at the midriff. The upper half of a now-twitching zombie could be seen several feet away, left impaled on what was left of a mangled, burnt-out wreck that had long since rusted over.
The trail was easily enough followed, a few miles down the main road and then down an older country road that led towards another location Dee and Mica had passed through. Along the way every so often a stray zombie could be seen, either run down by the tank or reduced to a charred tangle of limbs by the APC. Soon however they saw the next leg of their journey, Hector calmly flicking a few switches at his controls.
"There we go...I see one figure in thermals. And no sign of Dee's vehicle, so..." he said, carefully pulling to a stop. The engine at least ran rather quietly given he'd left it on just the electric half for the past few minutes to conserve fuel, in contrast to Roxanne's vehicle. He carefully opened the rear hatch and stepped out, Roxanne's sword in hand and Catnip's gifted shield at the ready. He'd wait for Roxanne to exit her vehicle before quietly pointing with his sword where to go, making his way to the door before opening it.
"Hello...?"
Helen regarded Anton with a look of concern, before giving a nod. "Very well then. Please take care." she said, before doing a double-take at that. "Wait what. Gods damnit. That's the sort of mission I shouldn't refuse, but if Victor and Melody have already got themselves into trouble..." she said, looking back to the others of the six. "Who else would y-" By the time she'd looked back to ask him, he'd already left The Hall. Soon enough there was a knock on the door, interrupting the mumbled Old Norse profanity that ensued.
Melody could briefly sense Helen's aura in greater clarity, radiating out as the mage hunter donned her mask to scan...and her walk towards the door could be seen abruptly halting at what she saw, promptly fumbling to deactivate it, remove it and set it aside, before answering the door. It was clear something she perceived had startled her.
"By Odin's missing blood eye, what happened...Melody?" she said, concerned as she looked to the blindfolded woman. The redheaded woman there in her usual dress shirt and slacks, not wearing her cloak or other armament, the only overt sign of her order being the holy symbol around her neck. "Melody, I...this is going to take some explaining it seems. Both what you two got yourselves into, and what happened to Roxanne the other day. Though given you're holding the sword she had taken from her, you can surely guess half of it." she remarked.
"Just...please, come in. Thank the gods you're both alive at least." she said, promptly pulling Victor into a hug.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 09, 2018, 07:56:54 pm
Anton ran through the rain towards the meeting point he’d been given. It took several hours before he reached the building to find a pair of monks waiting for him. After a few words of greeting they led him to a secret entrance into the temple.
As he walked with them he could hear the sounds of gunfire being exchanged back and forth but rather infrequently. Taking a bolt action rifle that had been offered to him Anton pulled the cloth from his face, leaving it hanging around his neck, as the magic of the temple nullified his blessing to an extent. He found it odd that magic could do such things to magic but shrugged it off as he listened to the report on how the battle had been.
With the storm the gas canisters would need to make it inside the temple to be of much use and the rain kept the flamethrowers at bay. Of course when the storm stopped that would be a different story though they’d heard that someone might be coming to help. Somehow Anton doubted that as he checked the rifle in his hands. Old, bolt action, it reminded him of hunting trips with his father.
It was late into the night of the next day. He had been up for most of it, taking only a short two hour rest before continuing his watch and firing on the enemy. He was with a group of the monks in a forward room, keeping the enemy at bay, when he heard something clatter to the floor near him. The sound of gas releasing alerted them and Anton picked the thing up before hurling it into the hurricane winds as a fragmentation grenade smacked into the earth above him.
Coughing into his hand he saw blood and quickly pulled the cloth back up over his face as the monks with him did similar. Pulling his helmet off and taking aim at an injured purifier that lay in the midst of the storm Anton shot the man through the skull before racking another round into the chamber. The monks followed suit, firing at anything in the storm as the cloth over their faces slowly became stained with blood. Soon he would be retreating inward to radio for aid, he doubted he would be of much use if this battle dragged on for days as it appeared it would.
Blitz adjusted his grip on the satchel as the armored jeep bumped along the road beside an armored truck. Popping the top hatch of the vehicle open Blitz climbed on top of the jeep as the private driving kept them beside the truck. The rain slammed into the metal of the jeep and almost immediately drenched him as he readied himself. Jumping across the gap Blitz pulled his pistol as he moved towards the front of the truck. One of the bandits leaned out the window of the truck to shoot at him and found a boot to the face that sent him out of the truck.
Climbing onto the hood Blitz turned towards the driver as the magnets in the boots helped keep him on the truck. Lifting a foot up and bringing it down into the bullet proof window Blitz sent the splintering piece of plastic and adhesive into the driver’s face. Leveling the pistol in his hand sideways at the opening in the window and pulled the trigger as he let the recoil sweep the vehicle for him. As the bodies went limp inside he lifted his grenade launcher and hip fired a round into the trailing vehicle.
Climbing down as the vehicle stopped Blitz switched off the magnets before hauling the bodies out and clearing the vehicle of its contents. AKs and Tech Nines with a mixture of jam tin grenades of differing types were moved into a jeep before they remounted and started back towards their destination. Blitz radioed it in as he slid off the extra kit of his rifle and retrieved the suppressed 1911 he’d produced and tucking that into a holster before taking the modified mp40 one of the others was offering.
Soon the vehicle stopped in a building to weather the storm as Blitz and one of the junior members, a misling, took the final leg of the journey on foot through the rain. The misling, being a naturally smaller frame than most of the people in the 3rd, was sent along to the tunnels they were going to be clearing. She wore a uniform modified to accommodate the specifics of her mutations and armor to accompany the pistol and cut down shotgun.
Sliding down into the concrete sewer tunnels turned shelter the pair kept their weapons up as they moved slowly. Coming to a room setup to be a barracks the pair noticed it was empty and moved in. Purifier symbols decorated the walls as they moved silently. Leaning around the corner at the end of the room they saw a pair of men smoking and nodded to each other. The misling produced a knife as they moved closer and as the two turned at the sound of Blitz wading through the water they lunged.
A knife through the throat of one as Blitz tackled one to the ground and pushed his head under the water. As Blitz drowned the man the misling shrunk away at the violence and hatred of the scene as the red glow of Blitz’s goggles stared down at his enemy. As he straightened and the lights of his goggles switched off Blitz looked over and shook his head. Standing he motioned for her to follow as he said “Sorry. Just..some things don’t go away.”
She nodded in understanding, somehow picking up on what he meant, and the pair moved forward. The underground barracks led to a storage room of gas canisters. Radioing it in the pair cleared the rest of the tunnel and moved to the entrance. Realizing it was getting worse the pair called in that they’d hunker down here and move out when things cleared up.
Sitting down Blitz produced a pack of cards and asked if she’d like to play. Nodding to him the pair started a game of blackjack. Blitz popped off about raising the stakes after a while and was surprised she agreed. Shaking his head he dealt the next hand.
Elsewhere the 3rd had opened the doors to the bunker and were guiding Mislings inside to the barracks. More beds were produced from storage rooms and threw blankets over whatever would work as a spare bed. Veronica oversaw the effort and directed a group of her men to make food for their guests. Offers of staying permanently and offers to help build them a home elsewhere if they wanted were conveyed to their guests.
In the garage Maxim, along with some of his engineers, worked. Steel was welded and shaped under calloused and gloved hands. They had spent the past three days working on the vehicle they were assembling to carry Blitz’s larger scale weaponry. In the next few hours the body of the vehicle would be finished.
From there the engine was put into place and secured while the canon was put into its designated slot. A few of the rangers helped move bunk beds into the rear of the vehicle were they were secured with footlockers. Schultz observed as they added weapon racks and attached the turrets onto the side of the vehicle. As the finishing touches were made Schultz nodded in approval to Maxim. The vehicle that they had used as a base was now an armored vehicle with room for twelve men to sleep inside of if needed. The forward segment contained the driver, radio, and the commander with the turret above. The four machine guns attached to the sides could be operated by the men in the rear in case of overwhelming surrounding forces.
Aaron and Gunnar’s hunt had been interrupted. Picking up what they had caught the pair moved in relative silence as they made their way back. An argument had left the two quiet as they now returned home.
Eino and Liam made their way back. Eino carried the logs of wood as Liam rubbed his bandaged nose. Another apology from Eino and Liam telling him it was fine passed as they left the wood with the rest they had gathered before stepping to the doorway. Looking to each other with surprise at the number of guests the pair set to work making people comfortable.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 10, 2018, 03:51:27 am
Far to the north, beyond New Bangor, an armored column was on the move. Advancing on the last major choke point in their path. Again and again, the Canadian Retaliatory Front hit Gods Army in an effort to break their line and make contact with the remains of the American government. They would get to the reliant and link up with the Old Guard contingent based in the old cruiser, then move on to any refugee center showing signs of Old Guard activity. If all went well, they'd force their way south into Old Guard territory proper.
The men manning the choke point had been evacuated, and in their place had been left Warwalkers, Heavy Warwalkers, and a trio of mobile foundries. These robots formed rank, mounting emplacements and readying for the coming fight. The rains came down harder, and thunder boomed overhead. Out there somewhere was an enemy they were ready to face head on. The machines would stop the red and white here and now.
The comms in every robot crackled to life with intercepted chatter, and they moved into position.
"Automatons ahead, take up vanguard position, lets see how these boys respond to the Midgard's Loki protocol."
Engines, slow atomic motors and transitive circuits hummed through the storm, lead by something new. Gods Army had tried to steal it. They had failed, and now here it was bearing down on their territory.
"Load steel," Came the command across all the warwalkers comm circuits, "Load for Armor. Heavy walkers load DU."
And it was there. Improbably large and agile for a machine of it's bipedal design, five meters of bright super alloy absurdly adorned in the red and white flag of the country that had built it. The eyes of the machine blazed in arcs of blue fire, scanning each target available.
"Open fire."
The Warwalkers opened up, throwing an armor ripping wall of steel and depleted uranium, the Machine's left hand came up, and the air seemed to warp around it. The melding of magic and machine twisting and bending but not tearing the veil. Ordinance caught in the warp were sucked inwards, being absorbed into the mass building before the machines out stretched hand until the warp collapsed. The ball of ordinance dropped to the ground with an audible sound and rolled off the road.
"Reload, fire again."
It was charging, the machine called Midgard. Again the hail of bullets came, joined by other ordinance. Again the the veil shifted and the Midgard was gone. It reappeared much closer to the line with a resounding sound like the ripping of a huge sheet and a pulse that staggered the nearest walkers. Artillery rained on the Walkers from the column.
"Loki effective, switching protocol for direct conflict. Switching over to Freya."
The Midgard took in the energy of the veil and changed, the eyes shifted and it's facial features were suddenly feminine. Warwalkers Fell under the Midgard's plasma blade and with one heavy blow, a foundry was kicked onto it's side and vital components ripped away. Warwalkers would not scatter like men of flesh and blood, but like men they fell. Shells pierced and exploded inside the other foundries and ripped apart heavy warwalkers. Lighter bullets found their marks, fired by the column which had finally come into view the the naked eye.
"Freya effective, but boring." Said the voice coming from within the Midgard, "Activating Thor protocol."
The Midgard exploded in a cloud of electricity. It threw bolts here and there, frying enemies where they stood. Tanks and transports moved casually through the hole in Gods Army's line, unafraid. What reason did that have to be afraid with such a marvel of technology to lead them? Behind the column was left a bulwark in ruins while the red and white pushed on. [/color]
The first thing that hit Hector was the stink. The stink and the heat. The little prospectors supply was explosively hot and bore the vague reek of an outhouse. Behind the counter, right away, he noticed the man sitting behind the counter cradling what looked like a pistol in his arms, looking more than a little traumatized. The man noticed him and did nothing, but upon seeing Roxanne raised a hand to stop them.
"Uh, sorry strangers, I'm not uh... decent."
From his perspective, Hector could see through the glass counter top behind which the man sat and saw that below the waist, he seemed to be wearing a towel.
"Just did my laundry, and I uh... didn't bring a clean change of clothes. I guess you're probably asking yourself why I'm sitting pantsless in this shit stinking shop. Honestly, I don't really know myself." He said, then added, "My friend is dead, my boss took off, and I shit myself. What even was all this trouble for? Just..." What followed was an awkward pause, then he set his gun on the counter and asked, "Are you hunting the Eater?" Illiana settled on the metal counter top and examined the little doodle carved into it. A little stick figure of a girl with four arms. She knew who'd done this and when, and smirked at just how far the artist had come from such childish doodling. The strange bureaucrat ran a thumb over the doodle and it changed to an incredibly detailed engraving of Mica. Illiana liked Mica and Mica seemed to have taken a liking to the Deus Ex on account of their teeth. Illiana's were not as sharp as Mica's though. This wasn't why she was here though. Mica was busy, on a hunt for her man and Helen was about to have her hands full. So she came to see a few people. For starters, she chose someone a bit straight lace.
Quinn emerged from the bedroom of his trailer, awoken by the sound of light rain drifting in through his window, and started at the sight of the woman sitting on his counter. She seemed to be holding a flask filled with a yellowish fluid in one hand, and the glass stopper for the flask in the other. The woman glanced in his direction, tilting her head a little to look over her glasses at him before returning her attention to the flask.
"What are you doing? Put that down please, it's-"
"I know what it is, it's Aqua Regia. Kings water. Acid. Do you need this?"
"Not right now, but later I may have use for- WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
What Illiana was doing, was drinking it. The entire flask disappeared down her throat.
"Hm." She hummed, "A bit sour. Oh calm down, it's fine. How are you today doctor? Do you mind if I try some of your Nitric as well?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on April 10, 2018, 12:03:17 pm
Quinn stared at the deus ex, "...No you can't try my Nitric. And I'm fine, thank you." He grumbled, rubbing his eyes as he started a pot of coffee, he stared at the coffee pot before glancing back towards Illiania then back at the coffee maker. "...Do you want a cup?" he asked, raising a brow.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 12, 2018, 01:31:59 am
Illiana watched Quinn, feeling unimpressed but not showing it. "No thank's, coffee is bitter. That's more Sharlene's thing. I think she'll be fairly pleased with the little gift I gave her, perhaps she'll even stop bothering otherworldly entities." She set the flask down with a pert flourish, replacing the glass stopper along the way. When Quinn looked again the flask had refilled with what he was certain was Aqua Regia.
"What I'd really like," She said, pointing to a locker Quinn kept locked and bolted, "Is some of that." The locker did not open, instead the bolts quickly undid themselves, the hinge pins jumped out of their knuckles and the locks disassembled themselves. Each individual component lined themselves up neatly on Quinn's desk. The locker was the one Quinn kept Catnip's booze supply in. It also happened to be where he kept most of his most dangerous chemical regents. It seemed though that taking apart his locked was entirely meaningless as when he looked back, his beaker of nitric acid, a plastic spray bottle of bleach, and a rectangular bottle labeled "BBQ SAWZ" were lined up just as neatly as the lock components next to her. The exception was the bleach, which she took a single spritz of before deciding she didn't like it, and set it aside.
"Please stop." Quinn said without much conviction.
"You know what your problem is doctor?" Illiana asked, sipping from the nitric acid, "Ooh, that's not quiet so sour. Your problem is that you don't have enough agency."
"Agency?"
"Agency. Not enough oomph, not enough development. Your spirit is plain. You're a 'shmot' guy, act like it. You've got issues you could be working through, little projects you could be doing all on your own. Do you really need to laze around in bed all day? Not doing anything? 'Shmot' guys don't do nothing."
"I guess I could be doing m-" He began to say, but Illiana was already onto the next point.
"Not enough of a nice girl in your life either. Maskens was a bit of a bitch, but you probably could have softened her up. Believe it or not, she had thought of you once, but a certain mouse is going to have her market cornered soon enough and won't that be a surprise for her in a few years when she realizes where her life has got her."
Quinn scoffed, he had no interest in Maskens. Unpleasant and mean spirited. Or at least, she seemed to be. He couldn't imagine that sour woman in a relationship with anyone. He wanted to say so, but again Illiana was talking.
"And that faceless girl, Minx. You had such an opportunity, but you were too inside yourself. You have to come out a bit. Maybe somebody will come along for you, but you should remember Dr. Quinn, the third strike is always an out."
Quinn's expression never changed, and again Illiana thoughts were one of how unimpressed she was. She picked up the last bottle and looked it over.
"This is Catnip's isn't it? You might try this as the solvent in your next experiment. First though..." With that, Illiana downed the bottle, "Boy, that's awful. Just terrible. You could get a god drunk on this stuff. Not me though, Deus Ex don't get drunk. Not unless I want to that is, and I don't want to. Listen, have a good day yeah? And cheer the hell up. Life doesn't always kick you in the- oh! before I forget!"
A shadow suddenly stretched vertically across the window next to Quinn's favorite seat. He looked and saw what appeared to be some kind of tow strap.
"What the hell?"
"There's a storm coming, don't you know? You wouldn't want your trailer blowing away would you? The farm house and the hall will be fine, but there is a reason why trailer parks turn into a living hell during tornados and hurricanes. We don't want your home becoming your coffin before you've found whatever it is your looking for in life? Do we?"
Quinn turned to respond, the say something, anything, but the brown skinned woman with the purple hair and filed teeth was gone. He finished his coffee, and thought a bit about what she had to say. At last, he said something to the empty trailer, the one word in her whole tirade he didn't quite understand.
"Agency." He said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 12, 2018, 02:35:06 pm
Alexei sipped his vodka as he sat in his private room. After a few moments he put the bottle to the side and grabbed his AK. His thoughts wandered back to the land of his birth. A simpler life but one he’d hated with a passion. One of tending to farms while his elder brother and sister went off to fight in the army. When they had learned of his dreams to leave for America they had all turned their backs on him.
Setting the weapon back where it had been he stood up and walked to the cabinet he’d built. Pulling out a couple of bottles he began mixing a pair of drinks before stepping out of his room. Irene and the others were yelling at a pair of strangers that had barged through the door. Alexei snapped off an order that sent everyone quiet before gesturing for the newcomers to find a place to sit.
Offering them drinks he wasn’t surprised when the one with a screen for a face shook his head. Setting a drink down for the girl who’d nodded Alexei sipped on the other. The pair explained they had been passing through when the weather had started picking up and had come here because it looked abandoned. Irene was about to say something before Alexei interrupted her saying he could understand the misconception and they could stay until it blew over. Soon he again retreated to his private room to be alone with his thoughts.
Elsewhere a man was pressing gauze into a cut on his arm as he kicked the raider’s makeshift sword away. Leaning against a nearby wall he looked at the aftermath of the battle that had resulted from him trying to find shelter. He hadn’t noticed the man dressed in a black suit appear out of thin air around the corner.
Walking into view the man twirled the cane in his hands as he smiled. As the man in the altyn helmet raised a pistol the man in black’s smile broadened as he said “I mean no harm. I simply come to deliver an..offer. But first let’s take care of that wound of yours!”
Grabbing the gauze and tossing it away as the man in the altyn helmet waited for him to try something the man in black laid his hand on the wound. A few seconds later he pulled it away and retrieved a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his hand as the other checked the wound to find it healed. Holstering his pistol he asked “So that offer?”
The man in black made a broad gesture as black feathered wings stretched from his back. “Quite simple my friend. Someone I..work for needs something. You will be charged with retrieving it. In return you will be given great power. The power to become the hero that you so desperately want to consider yourself. The power to atone for years of selling substances that made addicts out of teenagers and young adults who needed something to make it through the day. So, what do you say?” The man finished, clapping his hands together.
The other considered the offer for a few moments before asking “Can I..have some time to consider?”
The man smiled as he nodded. Tossing a whistle to the man wearing the altyn helmet he turned to leave. “Should you decide to accept just give it a whistle.”
As he turned back into the raven the spirit hated this part. The manipulation was as much a part of his task as the spilling of blood with his own hand or arranging for a man’s ‘natural’ death. But there had to be ORDER. There had to be villains for heroes and heroes for villains. Night for day, day for night, dark for light, and light for dark. Even if it meant playing ‘servant’ for a buffoon of a man who played with forces he failed to understand.
As he took human form again in a room that he doubted any had seen in hundreds of years he retrieved a cigarette and lit it. A vice he’d gained from spending the early 1920’s in human form among the mob moving magical items here and there to keep certain organizations out of the way. Faintly he heard the sounds of a voice he’d heard only once some thousand years ago, if not more. His memory of his early years was almost non existant at this point. The only thing he remembered was being young, too young, when his life had been given to a god as sacrifice.
And now he obeyed the mission that god had sent him on even as that god faded and died. Her last breath on the night the last of her disciples had gutted themselves in sacrifice to avoid being detained by an order of knights for heresy. Yet he lived on and carried out his duty. Odd how that works he thought as he stared at a stone that faintly glowed in his presence.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 12, 2018, 10:30:14 pm
Roxanne heard over the radio as Hector pointing out thermal signatures. She followed Hector and stopped her APC behind his tank before getting off. When he pointed to the building, she nodded and followed suit behind him. He carefully went forward but Roxanne’s mind was elsewhere.
The previous feeling was gone. It had been replaced by a sense of glee and calmness. She wasn’t feeling any extreme right now; she was just mellow. There was nothing to worry, no sense of urgency; no past or future, just the now. She moved forward following Hector as her mind was in auto-pilot. When he opened the door, the noise of it snapped her out of her trance a bit and her mind now payed attention to her surroundings.
“Are you sure someone is here? I can’t sense anything…” Roxanne did not have Victor’s aura spell or Helen’s mask of insight but her spectral nature allowed her to feel presences. She didn’t know who or what they were, where they were or anything of the sort; she simply knew something was there when she sensed it. It took time but she eventually felt something.
“T-there it is...something is definitely here...I’ll be right behind you…” Roxanne was confident in Hector’s abilities in case things went sour; besides, she was also still there and would assist him. Worse came to worse, she could activate the sword to kill whatever threaten them with the power of the sub-plane alpha.
“I hear a noise...be careful…”
Melody and Victor stood there as Helen addressed them; she was nervous as can be while he was trying his best to act normal. It was Helen’s hug that made him lose the act but he still tried to hold on to it.. “Yes, we are well. How are you..uhhh...Helen? Yes! Helen! My wife! As you can see, Melody and I have come back from...the mission...yes...you are not buying it are you?”
At the butchered attempt to pretend things were fine Melody only shook her head. “It was a valiant effort Victor...6/10, at least you tried.” She took of her scarf-turned-blindfold now that the sunlight wasn’t hurting her eyes.
“Oh yeah? Could you do a better job then? Well, then why don’t you explain to her then?”
“I kinda have to, it’s not like you remember a thing.”
“Oh, right…”
The two stepped inside and closed the door behind them. “Do you have somewhere we can all sit down? It’s been a long day… I’ll fill you in on the way.” Helen told them of a spot and went ahead and lead them there. Melody gave a deep sigh and began her explanation as they walked.
“Well, we went to this large, rich person house. The inside was much larger than the outside and it looked very similar to the underground where Randael and I took refuge. We checked all the rooms and found a nice amount of loot but nothing arcane. Victor and I were about to go home defeated but we found a door at the end of the hallway we were in that appeared out of nowhere. He said he detected an arcane signature inside and told me if I was sure I wanted to go in sine he was very hesitant. I said yes and we went in. Inside it was very dark but some strange bubble of light surrounded us. We found a corpse inside and he was holding this very sword.”
Melody grabbed the sword’s handle and she flinched a bit as its effect took over for a bit. She then smiled a the feeling coursed inside of her; it was obvious she took pleasure in the feeling in some sort of way. Melody showed the sword to Helen in detail but she didn’t let her touch it.
“Then I picked it up and Victor scanned it. He was very apprehensive about it and told me to give it up. I refused since he said any artifact we found would be mine and he had found this...never mind....Uhhh, anyways, then he sensed something and told me to shoot down whatever had appeared before it entered my light bubble. Various shadows appeared and we held them off for a while but eventually they ignored me and overwhelmed Victor. They restrained me and I watched an old man with some sort of ornate staff come out and chastise Victor for something. Then man then looked into Victor’s eyes and then a big flashed appeared. The room then was no longer dark and the spirits were gone. Then the old man targeted me but I defended myself with my aura of harvest. It eventually ran out and then he too looked into my eyes and a bright flash appeared...and then...then…”
Melody was no a bit hesitant. Helen would notice Melody was not looking in any specific direction, more like looking into empty space. But then she looked at Helen directly before continuing.
“Then I woke up...the room was dark and I went insane for a moment. Except the room wasn’t dark as I would find out… I killed any remaining spirit with the power of this artifact using Victor’s aura spell to guide me. Then he woke up and I soon learned he had lost all his memories. Yes...all of them...Victor here doesn’t even remember who he is...it appears that is what the old man did to him. As to what he did to me? Well, I found out the room wasn’t actually dark...he took away my sight...he blinded me, I am now currently using the mentioned aura spell to move around…”
By the time she was done, the trio had arrived to where Helen had led them. Melody fimble around grabbing a seat but eventually managed to do so. “The scarf was Victor’s idea after the sun’s glare got in my eyes. That still bothers me apparently...so that was our day...how about yours?”
Clara lead Rey and Christina back to the office tower to meet up with Plague. She was still bother by the fact that Rey was now in possession of one of the pieces. Had the sword chosen him as welder too? That would be bad news if it did. Then there was what she had just witnessed; the fact he had done it so nonchalantly and Christy was not bothered in the slightest was what got to her the most. Her discomfort was written in her face and it showed.
“What’s wrong dear? You look down.”, asked Christina.
“Nothing, just...it’s nothing.”
Rey smirked a bit. “What? First time seeing a spirit harvest a human soul?”
Clara winced a bit followed by a deep sigh. “No actually. But it never gets any easier to watch...I know you need to to survive and he was one of God’s Army but...christ...that was someone’s son you know?”
Christy chuckled a bit. “D’aww, the mage has a heart. How adorable ~”
“I am still human you know! I didn’t abandon it unlike the two following me...anyways, we are here.”
The trio continued to walk until the reached what looked like a security checkpoint. Two men in full military getup were guarding the entrance and one of them told the group to stop. Clara rolled her eyes; she knew these were Plague’s zombies doing this and she didn’t really respect them. The zombie walked towards them and then it did something Clara didn’t expect but didn’t surprise her either: it spoke.
“C-clara? Y-you weren’t...supposed to be here...yet…”
“So what? I came back from my vacation a little earlier. Why? Did Plague do something stupid again? Another one of his plans? Wait...is he really not gonna let me enter?!”
“N-no...you can enter...just...unexpected...c-come on in...i’ll let him know...you are here.” The zombie stepped aside and gave them the signal to continue. The other zombie gave a salute to which Clara ignored, Rey nodded with acknowledgement and Christina returned sticking her tongue out. The three walked in to the sight of at least one and a half hundred zombies doing all sorts of menial labor. Reinforcing walls, doors and windows; taking inventory of what appeared to be recently acquired loot, deconstruction and construction furniture; and overall making the place look like a full fledged base of operations.
“Wow...this your partner’s doing?”, asked Christina.
“Yes, he is a sort of necromancer. Likes to make his toys do the work for him. Probably assimilated a nearby town to have this many laying around.”, Clara responded.
The trio went up stairs and found a waiting area. It was rather nice with comfortable chairs and sofas; some snacks and magazines that were recently looked and what looked to be a TV hooked to a DVR replaying old recorded movies and shows. The waiting area led to a hallway full of office rooms now labeled as “Quarters 1, Quarters 2” and so on. At the end of the hallways was the main office where Plague had situated himself.
“Alright...here we are...he knows we are here so introductions are in order. He might be a bit weird so be patient.”
Clara opened the door and lead the other two inside. Plague was seating behind the heavy office desk drinking what looked like some sort of tea. He put the up down and gestured the group to take a seat on one of three chair prepared. “Please, take a seat. It must been quite the journey. So I take it introductions are in order?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 13, 2018, 12:39:58 am
Hector momentary found himself wishing he'd retained the gas mask instead, but he tried to avoid showing it, not that it'd be apparent on his face given the great helm he was wearing. He'd gotten acclimated to the usual stench of the undead to a degree, the smell of decay that lingered around zombies for most of the first year after the cataclysm, steadily displaced with the acrid, oily smell of the blob's work to preserve its victims. But this was something unpleasant for entirely different reasons.
When the man piped up, he simply gave a polite nod. "I see. If I'd brought a spare change of clothes I'd offer you one." he said, giving a sigh as the stranger continued. "The Eater. That'd be Mica, correct? We're following her, yes. And she in turn is following someone else. I'm sorry that she did this to your friend." he said, guessing that she was the cause for all this.
Helen looked at Victor with a concerned expression on her face, guessing almost immediately that something was up. There was the briefest flash of annoyance on her expression, but Victor barely even got halfway through his attempt to save face when she clearly looked worried. This didn't seem to her like how Victor acted when trying to over up something going wrong. In fact it seemed rather awkward and unlike him entirely. "I see. Come in then, please."
As she led the way in, she listened to Melody's explanation. Along the walls of The Hall, there were carvings worked into the wood, carefully stained to preserve the surface and add detail to the scenes portrayed. A slow, gradual work that she'd done small bits of work on every so often when she had spare time, and other the few years of her stay here the scene had been nearly finished. Scenes of wildly differing religious iconography, blended together until it reached a scene depicting strange, ominous figures preying upon various other people. Then a scene representing the founding of her order, of The Schism, the cataclysm itself, dwindling and dying figures in masks and cloaks, until only one was left. And then, scenes of renewal and rebuilding, and a nearly-finished carving representing the reunion of The Cleansing Flame and Shadows of Arcana.
"I see. So you...encountered the ones who stole that sword from Roxanne, it seems. Victor...gods above and below, I'm sorry..." she said, looking away as she took a seat with the two of them. "It seems then I'll need to explain what happened. Victor and Roxanne left the other day to seek treatment for her from old allies of theirs, lingering side effects of the fight with Randael. They found a...creature, a powerful spiritual being and its servant, had killed those they sought and laid a trap."
She then gave a sigh at that. "The two were separated and when Victor found her, Roxanne was mortally wounded and her sword taken from her. Victor was forced to bind her spirit to his sword of the void. We've made one small victory against them, but now...Victor, I..." She was on the verge of tears at this point, several thoughts running through her mind, unsure what to make of all this.
"Melody, you need to be extremely careful with that blade. I can tell you what I know and that may help you control it. But your possession of it now makes you a target for those who seek the forbidden pieces. Will you trust me in this?" she asked, before looking to Victor. "As for you Victor...gods above and below, I don't know where to begin. If you've lost every memory, I...if there's anything I can do to help, any question I can answer..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 13, 2018, 08:22:38 am
"It's fine. Just wish I'd known what I was in for when Jim John signed us in for all these. I don't even know what the hell we we're looking for. What the hell would be hidden here in a prospectors supply except a bunch of pans and maybe a vial of gold dust or some nugget glued to a board for dumb tourists to gawp at." He said, adjusting his towel, then adding disconsolately, "Why am I sitting in this stink?"
Hector saw the recognition barely hidden in the man's eyes, the way he avoided looking directly at the pair served to reinforce rather than dispel the impression. He stood slowly, being careful not to let the beach towel slip. Roxanne and Hector secretly shared amusement at the logo emblazoned on it. An old TV show that had been popular right up until the cataclysm. In big bold italics, the towel said "Nugget Bois: The secret of the stackton stash." As the man said, the store they were in WAS a tourist trap.
"Didn't think any of the alpha's had names." He went on, scooping up his soaked clothes. "I hope you find her before she finds him, he's in for a bad time if she finds him first. She snagged a bike on her way out by the way, otherwise you are behind her by an hour or so..." The way he stumbled and stared off into the middle distance told them that he was probably in a little shock. "I'm Dave by the way. Did I say that already? Can't remember if I did. I think I'd like to sit outside, what with all the dead fuckers drawn out of town and... Jesus. He's really dead ain't he? Eaten up by that... Damn."
The shock was starting to dissipate, little by little, and then Hector made another leap of thought connected to the man's odd glances. His shock was fake too.
"Don't like the look of those clouds. Storms coming." He said, "Better find them before it starts." A stone, large as a baseball zipped out of the bushes and brained the final devil hunters, striking it down. All it could harm now was those who consumed it festering flesh, and the creature who had thrown the stone wasn't going to do that. She could smell the sickness boiling out of them and even in her feral state she was not so careless. To compound matters, the spider like monster would not eat it's own. It smelled the smell of X7 on the devil hunters that had come charging after her as she tried to make sense of the mixed tracks in the swampy field outside a huge structure known as a "mall." She smelled them before she heard them. They came hissing and spitting, but for a moment all the eater could do was gawk at them, confused.
"Ali-bass-tur? Wiz-key? Kat-nyp? Eh?"
No, no, they weren't them. Catnip was back at the farm. Besides, the fur was all wrong. Alibaster and whiskey had never lived long enough to mutate so much. They were dead. Dead and gone, which made these imposters. They smelled the same, but not exactly. More importantly though, they we're aggressive towards her, and bore the blue Cross painted onto them. Their shoulders, their foreheads, even their sides. There was not an inch of them that had not been painted with it.
The eater dropped to all six and took up the predatory defensive stance she hadn't used in years as they surrounded her. Both legs and two arms planted firmly on the ground, two arms raised and at the ready to strike. It made her look bigger and more dangerous, and they hesitated. One arm came down and snatched at something in the mud, then the joints in the arm seemed to pop rapidly as the organic ratchet that had too gone unused for so long cocked. The action was risky on the eaters part, but during the hungry days, she would use it to deadly effect. There was more to consider as well that made the risk worth it. These imposters we're carrying something that would harm her. More, it would harm her baby.
The arm came out with a sound like a gun shot, resinous blood flew from her joints and her tendons screamed in protest at the mistreatment, but the stone struck one of the devil hunters with the force of a cannon ball. When it hit it's mark, it didn't matter that it had been a glancing blow. The imposters side collapsed and the heart, lungs, and ribcage beneath did so with it. The arm wasn't a loss, but it lay limp and twitching at her side. One of them charged her and she spat in it's face. The acid was weak, too weak to burn skin or fur, but strong enough to blind. The last was hissing, preparing for a lunge but hesitating, the eater had ten, maybe fifteen feet behind her of open ground. The creature was too far for her claws, and she wouldn't want to touch the thing anyway.
It was too fixated on her raised hand to avoid the double fan of mud thrown up by her lowered ones as she rose. Another stone, large as a softball and somewhat oblong in shape, was snatched up and again came that pistol shot. The stone came in straight and true, traveling the short distance to the devil hunters spine, ending it's life in anticlimactic agony. The eater retreated into the foliage, and the events which have been told unfolded at last.
With the last of them dead, the eater returned to her task, scenting out the lizard who had passed here a day before. The tracks already fouled by many scents and passers by we're further ruined though, and so she returned to where she started. The highway. But here too the scent was lost in a mix of other smells and washing into the soil by the rain. The eater tried again and again to regain the trail, but she'd lost it. Lost it to the coming storm.
Mica had lost Dee's scent. The worst part was the waiting, Atomos mused. The weather was beginning to get bad. Rain getting heavier, wind picking up a little. The guys who'd forecast it said it would come during the night and then last a day or two. When the storm had cleared, the burning would commence. If, that was, the mutants survived. If they didn't, the more faithful said, then it was and act of God. If they did though, then it was the will of God that they be burned. Either way, many were looking forward to the event. Atomos had no intention of letting them go through with it. She had a plan, a risky one. When the storm was at it's wildest, she would go out and release the captives. Then, her time in New Bangor would be over. She'd guide them out through the front gate. Or rather, she'd drive them out. The strangers she'd encountered in Abaddon had showed her how. Get a van and just go. It would look weird, but not as weird as a God's Army scout leading a trio of mutants out of New Bangor unchained.
But she had to wait, and waiting was the worst part. It gave her time to think, and time to think was time to get antsy. Thinking about her current operation. What she was doing was risky as hell. Thinking about the coming season, and what it meant. Once out of the vault, her mutations had progressed and she'd become rather... Desperate. It was embarrassing now to think about it. She physically cringed, rolling over into a ball on her bed while making a high whining noise. "Jesus Christ, what was wrong with me?" She thought. She knew the answer. She was different now, that was all. Atomos also thought about the center and the people who just showed up at the farm. There were a lot of them, a lot of very similar mutants. Most of the mutants she encountered we're different from one another. Mostly the product of radiation. The ones that were radiation made we're often rather difficult to look at. That, or mutated fairly subtley. Small manifestations. Animal people though, they were always the product of mutagen. Either made that way, or through messing around with something they shouldn't.
That brought her back around to herself. She wasn't the product of mutagen, and she was now highly suspicious of the radiation explaination. What happened to her? She dreamed so vividly now too, and that had started here in New Bangor. The dreams had a lot in them that hadn't happened, but the core of truth was still in them. The one theme that was always common, was red and gold fur and emerald eyes.
Waiting was the worst, she thought again. The absolute nadir.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 13, 2018, 08:55:49 pm
Alexei had decided to be social. His guests turned out to be from an area not exactly close to here. The business they had conducted, whatever it had been in all their vagueness, had led to business on the farm. He offered to guide them the rest of the way there, he had some alcohol to deliver to a friend anyway.
They agreed to that as the woman sipped her drink and the man seemed to be maintaining parts of himself. Alexei raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask questions as he downed the rest of a bottle of beer and grabbed another from Ernie. He found the guests quite interesting if he were to be honest and the rest of the night was spent with them talking until everyone went to rest.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on April 14, 2018, 11:49:13 pm
Elsewhere, in a warehouse... (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w7dXqNJ_1kVj54yAJzvrhwtuGeJOToPz_zm2r-Ng0TQ/edit?usp=drivesdk)
Lucian and Reynald already left before the storm got too bad, around half-way there rain started to pour and Lucian grimaced, groaning softly. They made it to the League's estate with Lucian's wool greatcoat almost completely soaked through. He shed the coat and gave it to Walter so he could dry it, annoyed and grouchy he went to the Master's office without a word. He grabbed the stack of bounties on his desk to sort by reason of bounty, reward, and last name. Personal fueds were discarded, he went through the stack. Seeing several of the normal raider nicknames until he saw something interesting. "B-23" and a man with a television for a head, he saw the hefty bounty in gold but the reason was vague. Lucian thought it might of been purposely so. "Last seen: Heading west of Holmstead, spotted south east of Hap's."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 15, 2018, 07:47:56 am
Catnip woke to the sound of rain, rising winds, and Floyd shaking her awake.
"Where's Kathrine?" She asked fuzzily. Except for the bed, the tent, and the blanket she slept under, all of Catnip's things were gone. For the most part anyway. Only two crates of the seven that had been there remained and these, she was told, contained mostly things they thought wouldn't hurt anyone or were too heavy to get picked up by the storm.
"Over at Roxanne's. She didn't want to wake you, so I took her over first and told her I was going to go check on Quinn. C'mon Nip, hup hup. Storms gonna get bad tonight I think. People over at the center say it's gonna last a good portion of tomorrow and maybe tomorrow night too." Floyd explained. He helped Catnip out of bed and wrapped her in the blanket, grabbing up the pillow and the last of Catnip's loose stuff.
"Are Mica and Dee back yet?" Catnip asked.
"No. Haven't heard much from Hec and Roxanne either. The storm is starting to have an effect on the long range radio."
"Oh."
Catnip didn't like the sound of that. She'd seen plenty of heavy storms here in New England, heavy rain or high wind, but nothing quiet so bad as what people seemed to think it was going to be. The rain came down in thick sheets, whipsawing in the wind and blowing at angles she hadn't thought possible. Before she'd taken her sixth step, she and her blanket we're utterly soaked. The farms small growing area and the rows of shacks were inundated with water, and the river beyond the palisade, she was told, had begun to swell above it's banks. Outside the wall, the Pricetown encampment had been packed away and the the migrants either packed away or moving to find shelter from the deluge.
"It's so empty." Catnip commented as she stepped lightly up the steps to Roxanne's house.
"Aya." Floyd said. He ushered her in and set to the work of getting the wood stove and old fireplace going. Catnip looked around at some of the faces gathered in the farm house. Most she recognized, mostly from time spent cramped in the buses together. Some of them looked scared, others nervous, and a few simply bored. "They say it's gonna be a hurricane. Haven't been one of those in these parts for oh... Thirty years? Something like that." Floyd went on. "I was just back from the Middle East and it hit New York. Hurricane Irene, we used to give 'em dumb names. Knocked out power to a lot of upstate New York, demolished Coney island, and flooded the Hudson. I thought it was pretty bad until the next year when Sandy blew in and trashed the place even worse. Especially New Jersey and Manhattan and uh, you have no idea what I'm talking about..."
It was true. She really had no clue about any of the places Floyd was talking about, and Floyd forgot that a lot. The fact OF Catnip was that she hadn't known the world like he knew it. Until the cataclysm, Catnip's knowledge of the world was relegated to the inside of a lab and the pages of a mechanical manual.
"What's a hurricane?" She asked, driving the point home to Floyd.
"Windstorm Nip, a big one. People used to think of them as one of the world's natural disasters."
Catnip nodded her head sagely, pretending to understand. Floyd thought that after this, she really would understand. Illiana was having a great time. The winds were picking up, the rain was getting heavier, and the world was as seemingly empty as it was on the day it was created. There was not a soul that she could see or sense outdoors in her general area. This of course, was why she was doing what she was doing. Standing in a major windstorm in her suit had been one interesting experience, but doing it in the nude was an entire other. Where she was doing this, was atop a certain building belonging to a certain mage hunter. Helen wouldn't mind, Helen wouldn't know. Not unless she or someone else came outside that was. Illiana sat cross legged at the Apex of the halls roof, facing into the storm. The winds were getting rough, but not quiet enough to do more than pick up a tent or perhaps topple a she'd or two. As she thought about this, she saw the makeshift tent over on the farm, maybe a mile or two away, suddenly lift off and go flying away in several peices, some of which were caught in the branches of trees or we're plastered against the side of Quinn's trailer.
Speaking of which, she had watched earlier in that day as the scientist added to her simple but surefire protection. He got some migrants to help drive posts and string straps and ropes over his home. It was all redundant of course, the whims of Deus ex machina were perfect and could not be countered. The elder gods themselves could blow on Quinn's trailer and it would not budge. Still, it gave him something to do.
The feel of the rain and cold wind blowing against her bare skin was amazing, invigorating even. Existence was fantastic, and Illiana wondered how she'd got by before sapience had been gifted to her. At the same time, she did know though. She hadn't gotten by. She hadn't existed yet. She let the revitalizing shower soak her to the bone and thought about the farm. Only three building within it's walls would survive. Outside it's walls though, nothing. She felt the sheer volume of divine energy pouring from around Sharlene's cabin and was certain that while the cabin would be washed away, she would certainly be perfectly fine. The woman had broken Illiana's gift while trying to figure out how to make it start giving coffee again, the crystal carafe having been bottomless so long as it was allowed to rest every now and then. Now she was doing her best to get Illiana to come back again.
There was a drawback to existence though, one she seemed to be encountering mostly at times like this. Being an individual meant having character flaws, and one of Illiana's was that while she could certainly focus on everything at once, doing so was difficult. In fact, she had a hard time focusing on more than a few things at once. She could shift her attention lightning quick, but that was easier said than done since when it came right down to it, she was a daydreamer. It was because of this that for many long moments, she didn't notice the huge man looking up at her from the ground, getting an eyeful of her from a less than flattering angle.
She gave a startled shriek upon noticing him and nearly toppled from the roof. Clothing wove themselves from the nothing to cover her most sensitive parts while she fought to maintain her balance, a feat won with little effort.
"Er. I guess I'll uh, go somewhere else..." She mumbled before being sucked into a space a few inches above the roof. Sergei scratched his head and blinked. He really had to cut down on the drinking, he thought.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 15, 2018, 09:21:52 pm
Upon entering the room. Roxanne knew something was off. You see, Roxanne didn’t perceive smells, or any other sense for that matter, the same way anymore. Roxanne’s mere existence contradicted the notion of cause and effect; everything she did was now an act of acusality. As such reality itself molded to try make make sense Roxanne’s existence in accordance to its own laws. This is why she could go through wall, not die to anything but spiritual attacks or why she need an item with divine essence to stay corporeal. What does this have to do with entering this room and finding a man covering himself with a towel? Well, the smell didn’t register right away. She knew there was a smell, that was reality making sense of it, but she didn’t perceive it. It wasn’t until she saw Hector’s discomfort and pieced together what was going on that the putrid smell manifested itself. Roxanne coughed and gagged at the stranger displeasure.
“What the hell happened here?” She soon got her answer as the stranger answered Hector. The man’s story, especially the part mentioning “the eater” was definitely the trademark of Mica. Had she been in all senses, she would’ve lashed out and demanded answers; but now she was just mellow. After the initial coughing fit, Roxanne resumed to be eerily content. She was “more than happy” as a comedian of old would’ve put it.
Hector did a fine job getting the information they needed; not like the man seemed to have any intention of doing otherwise. It seemed he had learned a lesson of some kind; he acted as if he was done with everything for the moment, only thinking of the now.
“Hector, we know where she is now. Well, we have a solid trail at least… We should go and follow it. The storm is brewing up and I don’t like it. We might lose the trail if it rains to much and it it gets worse…” At the thought of that Roxanne shock a bit and her expression returned back to that of before; it was full of melancholy. She then went and hugged Hector out of nowhere. “Noooo...I won’t let it.” Then she realized what she was doing and quickly let go stepping back. “Uhhhh...w-we should go...C-can I have my sword back.” She then gave a glance at the man again. Her expression read, “You saw nothing ok?!” and it was safe to say his expression displayed understanding.
Melody and Victor stayed silent as Helen spoke. His face was full of both confusion and worry while hers was also that of worry but also of something else: contempt. Victor had lost his memory, he lost something very important but he had someone there for him; someone to comfort him and help him through. She had no one; not in the ways that mattered anyways. Sure the people of the farm cared for her and she had become close friends to some but it wasn’t the same. No, it wasn’t the same as she felt back then...what she felt for someone she though as a mentor only to be revealed to be a malevolent spirit.
“I did that? So this Roxanne, she is a spirit now? Huh...that’s...hard to take in you know?”, Victor responded.
“You saw me take down a couple of them when you awoke remember? It shouldn’t be that surprising.”
“Yeah, I know but...wait, how did you know that?”
“I felt when you woke up. I was under the trance of the sword so I only saw you as a target back then...but I knew who you were at least.”
“Whoa there, you saw me as a target? You mean…”
“Yes, that could we have been the end for one of us.”, Melody unsheathed her sword. She signaled Helen and Victor to remain calm, that there was nothing to worry about. For a while, she looked at the sword with unseeing eyes; there was something soothing about it. “But it didn’t come to that didn’t it? Thankfully it didn’t.”
There was a moment of silence before Melody spoke up again. “You say this sword is dangerous? I don’t doubt it is but...I like it. I need it as much as it needs me, I know that know. I know you may think this is a bad idea, that I may not be ready or whatever but I keeping this sword. I am willing to comply in finding out more about it but you are not taking it away ok?”
“Melody...calm down for a moment, nobody is goi-”
“Oh, don’t you even dare finish that!”, Melody said raising her voice. “The last thing you did before we were attack was trying to take it away from me. Told me it was for the best. You know what, you drag me into this and now I come out of it blind; this is the best thing out of that whole trip and I’ll be damned if let it go!” After that, she went ahead and sheathed her sword and stood up not really paying attention to Victor and Helen. “I’ll go ahead and ask around for a room to stay the night I guess...there is no way I am going out with the wind the way it is…”
“The wind?”, asked Melody.
“Yes, outside it’s starting to pick up and so is the rain. The storm is upon us. I plan to sleep it off. Anyways, I am off; peace.” Melody waved at them as she walked away not waiting for a response. This was rather cold and emotional demeanor for her; very odd. Despite not knowing her very well due to his memory loss Victor knew this wasn’t like her.
“Just give her some space...she is right. We should find a room to settle in. We can catch up on the way. Uhhhm...Melody said you and I are a thing...I can get a seperate room if you want or…”. It was obvious he was a bit uncomfortable bringing this up. But the night was growing and so was the storm, it was going to be a bumpy ride.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 15, 2018, 10:40:41 pm
Hector hmmed a bit as he regarded the man with a note of suspicion, though obscured by his helm it was rather clear that he was scrutinizing the man. "I see. The name's Hector. Thank you then." he said, as Roxanne's remarks derailed his train of thought. He was going to question the stranger further, wary of what he had been in such a strange place for. Gold had regained some meager use among the fledgling community, though barter of goods and services had become the most common manner in which trade was plied, and the thought of someone visiting what was blatantly a tourist trap, risking unknown threats for a few nuggets locked up in display cases seemed suspicious to him.
As he made his way out, still keeping a wary eye out for any other trouble, only to blush under the helm as Roxanne hugged him, holding her close. "Don't worry Roxanne. We'll find her." he said softly, giving a nod of understanding as he carefully handed back his sword.
Soon the tank started up again, Hector checking other things on hand as they continued on their way. They were traveling farther north and he was expecting trouble to be left in Mica's wake. The weapon at his hatch was loaded with a fresh belt, another in easy reach, the gas mask nearby as well. And that M4, with a few spare magazines, still in its usual spot. As they followed an old country road the signs of ATV tracks were now gone, only sometimes seeing hints of them in the dirt, evidence of Dee working around old wreckage, half-exploded minefields, and other obstacles. More useful to them was the trail of mangled undead bodies, many still freshly put down despite only some being mangled enough to remove the threat permanently, that showed someone cut a bloody swath through the area.
The sight up ahead, close to the remains of an old abandoned town, he saw something ahead that gave him pause, fumbling for the radio as he looked at what he saw on the thermal cameras. "We're close. I've got a couple bodies in the field ahead, still a bit warm. Not very, but we're not far behind her. We'll halt here." he said softly, pulling the tank to a halt nearby. This time he grabbed the M4 to sling over his shoulder, and left the gas mask hanging off his belt as he left the tank.
He didn't get far when the smell hit him. Fetid, foul like rotting corpses, and almost on reflex he yanked his helmet off and masked up. He knew the corpses were fresh, suspecting something was deeply wrong with the twisted, rodent-like corpses. "What in God's name...these look like mislings. Or no, closer to what Catnip looked like after the infuser worked over her." he remarked. "And they're covered in God's Army crosses..." he said, wary now as he looked around, scanning the nearby treeline.
Helen gave a soft sigh as Melody rambled about the blade, shaking her head. "Melody, I can teach you what I can but these weapons are addictive." she said, and when she drew the sword Helen gave Melody a wary glance. "Helviti...you've already seen firsthand what this sword can drive you to do. You could've killed him." she said, glowering at her, before shaking her head as she calmed herself.
"Just...Melody? Remember, you're not alone in this..." she said softly, watching her leave, before looking back to Victor. "I'll...I can only hope she'll be alright after some time to calm herself." Helen then gave a nod at that. "If you're...well, what would you be comfortable with? Thomas is asleep in the crib in my quarters, so I mean...we wouldn't actually be alone there. Still, if you aren't comfortable with..." she said softly, before looking away. She seemed worried, uncertain what to say. She could tell from his expression that the implication that they had a son was something he wasn't used to.
"At the very least I can set up separate bedding if you'd prefer. Then we'll be out of the storm and I can answer any questions you might have." she offered, standing up. As they left the main building of The Hall, Helen gathered a small handful of something from the kitchen area, waiting until she was outside. She'd gathered her cloak and mask as well, the rain sweeping around and running down the gilded scales as the wind picked up. She let go of what she took, a small amount of salt that was immediately swept away in the wind. "Deorum dona nobis, et aliis, salutem..."
Elsewhere, Solomon was fixing dinner for most of the others, surprised at the work that had been accomplished in accomidating the others in such a short amount of time. Now however he was putting away some books in a drawer. The usual ones Helen always had here, The Cleansing Flame, a copy of The Source, and Oaths to The Chalice. Along with this was History of Alchemy, and a couple other books Helen had borrowed from the library. A cookbook, a book about gardening, another about blacksmithing. Plus a couple novels, one of which Solomon had been reading.
He was surprised to see a rather stunned and flustered Sergei holding up a book on brewing and distilling, handing it over along with an old Russian novel, having arrived not long after Sammy did. "Another for the collection. Library has lots of windows, thought I'd take what I could before the storm picks up." he remarked, and Sol gave a little nod. "Glad to see you two here. Wasn't sure how well the watchtower would hold up in this. So what happened?" he asked.
"Oh! Er, nothing. Just...think I should go easy on the vodka evidently." he remarked, regaining his composure quickly, leaving Solomon giving a quizzical look. Sammy simply shrugged at that, setting aside her rifle. "It might hold given Mr. Lowe's work on it, but better to not take any chances."
Nathaniel had more or less slept in through the afternoon and into the evening, as much as Lilith let him at least, when rain getting in through the still-damaged roof woke him up. As did a chill. The door was gone by now, picked up and tossed into the wind. "Oh fuck me..." There was a mumbled, half-awake "yeth" from the tigress, in a tone he guessed was sarcastic. It was then he realized something was going on, getting dressed, bagging up his spare clothes and anything else in his room he felt worth taking in out of the rain, and heading over to Hector's quarters.
"Jesus, Hector's still out? Of all the fucki-" The wind practically rattling the walls was less than reassuring, as he thought fast. "Shit. Change of plans Lil, we should get this shit somewhere more secure." he remarked, handing Lilith the plastic bag he was carrying as he grabbed at Hector's locker. To his surprise it wouldn't budge, looking down and seeing that there were no signs of it having been bolted to the floor. He hefted and heaved up until Lilith shoved him aside and grabbed the locker in a single massive paw, and tugged. To his surprise he saw vague glowing patterns across the sheet metal as it held firm, unaware of Helen's work to give the cursed sword a secure resting place. Lilith was just about to try her hydraulic muscles when her grip, slick due to the rain, loosened up and she went tumbling backwards, massive claws taking a chunk of the doorway with her, and cracking the wall of Victors quarters across from Hector's. "Thupid mehtal bawkth..."
Nathaniel grumbled as he turned to Lil, looking her over. "You alright? Well plan B...or C by now, help me find something to cover Hector's shit and hope the storm can't do worse than y-" At that moment he was abruptly bowled over by a tray section of flying tarp caught in the wind, Lilith giggling as she picked up the offending item. "Like thith?" she asked, Nathaniel nodded as he fumbled to stand up. "...yeah. That'll do." Soon enough the two were over at Roxanne's quarters where the others were staying, Nathaniel giving a wave as he tossed the garbage bag into a nearby corner. "Welp. This is what I get for not checking the weather, huh?" he joked, before explaining his concern that the shanties might not hold up under the storm.
Soon enough he had another plastic bag to bring things into the sturdiest-looking building at the farm, deciding to start with Victor's room, courtesy of Lilith almost bringing the wall down by accident. While he set about bagging up whatever he could find in Victor's quarters, starting with anything in the wardrobe and desk, he thought about the storm. He vaguely recalled tornadoes back when he lived in Mississippi, but he moved way back when he was barely a teenager. He was snapped out of it by Lilith picking up Victor's dresser. "Wooden bawkth not thupid like mehtal man bawkth." Nathaniel went wide-eyed at that. "No wait Lil, gimme a sec and I'll have it cleaned out." he said, Lilith setting it down with a huff. "Thupid Natalee gonna get weeeet." she remarked, watching him finish packing away anything he could find in the dresser, before the two hauled the resulting bags off to Roxanne's place.
He was now trying to think of what other preparations would be needed that the mislings and others hadn't already done, looking around as the rain pelted him, that old leather jacket only marginally helping. Fucks sake, this shit's starting and no one wakes me up. What next? he thought, shaking his head as he and Lilith slipped back into the farmhouse. "Alright, anything else? Weather's picking up. Last call for a complete idiot to run out into this mess and pull stuff in out of the rain." he joked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 15, 2018, 10:58:07 pm
Already more mislings than they had previously recruited were volunteering to join and Veronica directed them towards Schultz. After a bit of grumbling he’d agreed to start with the basics while he was waiting out the storm to get back out on patrol. Walking to the armory to retrieve a box of ammo for his pistol he heard something in one of the side rooms and sighed.
Walking over he listened for a moment before rolling his eyes and popping the door open. He took a breath to shout when he saw a pair of the newly arrived mislings in a state of undress that implied they’d been in the middle of something. Looking away he simply and quietly said “I see nothing.” and slid the door closed as the pair seemed to acknowledge what he meant.
From there he made his way to the armory and waved to one of the techs before grabbing the ammunition they used to familiarize people with their more common weapons. Walking back down the same corridor he heard them in the same room. Rolling his eyes he was thankful they were at least being a bit quieter about it this time.
As he returned to the area where they trained the new recruits he spotted one of the Sargeants rolling himself in front of the group of new recruits. As Schultz recalled the man had been kept aboard in a ceremonial fashion after losing his left leg and right foot. Whilst prosthetics could be procured for him he had always refused in favor of sending them along to the younger members. Coming up behind him was the only other doctor of the 3rd and they both paused as they heard the wheelchair bound officer bellow loud enough that they figured it was heard through the facility. “YOU WILL BE ASSIGNED KIT! YOU WILL KEEP YOUR KIT CLEAN AND IN ORDER! IF I FIND YOU HAVE FAILED TO DO SO I WILL MAKE YOU WISH THAT THE DEVIL HIMSELF HAD SHAT YOU OUT INTO THE DEEPEST AND MOST PAINFUL DEPTHS OF HELL! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!”
The men gathered gave a somewhat loud “Yes Sergeant!”
The Sergeant almost seemed disappointed as he shouted “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT PRIVATES? WERE YOU ANSWERING YER WEE NAN WHILE SHE WAS HAVING TEA WITH HER MAJESTY? ANSWER ME PROPERLY!”
The collection of privates shouted at full volume “YES SERGEANT!”
Looking the collection over for a few tense moments the Sergeant inspected them. Soon though he gave a nod and a short salute before saying “Good. Schultz here will take you to the quartermaster. You will be given uniforms, taken to one of the section barracks, and strip and change into your new uniforms. Training begins in earnest today.”
Schultz snapped for them to turn left and nodded in semi approval as they turned. Ordering them to follow in formation he started back towards the quartermaster’s room. The man in charge of the duty for the day looked up and Schultz only just managed to keep his expression neutral as he spotted the man’s eyes widen.
He stood as the recruits lined up outside at Schultz instruction. The first stepped in at the quartermaster’s command. A set of olive drab fatigues, side hat for parade duty, suspenders, helmet, leather shoes for parade duty, tan steel toed boots, gear webbing, olive drab backpack, and leather gloves along with all the essentials of military life were handed out one by one as the quartermaster sent one out to wait for his fellows while calling for the next. Once each man was issued gear the quartermaster stepped out into the hallway to speak “This is your gear, you are responsible for it. You are paid a weekly sum and any replacements will be taken from said pay. Once a week as soldiers in basic the store will be opened to you to purchase both personal items and items for the entirety of your section. The purchase or ownership of alcohol however is strictly forbidden until you are out of basic. Understood?”
Schultz led them to an empty section barracks and led them in. The room had been prepared with beds and lockers for the new recruits. Instructing each of them to stand in front of a locker and face it he walked to the end of the barracks and turned. “These are your quarters. You will all be here for the duration of your training! Now you are going to strip down to your skivvies and change into uniform. We’ll then start with the basics of taking care of your barracks. Tomorrow training will start in earnest.”
Marching out of the room as the men obeyed he heard his female counterpart shouting from down the hall. Waiting for a few moments for his men to finish changing he nodded to her as she stepped out of the barracks on the far end of the hall. She shook her head as she walked over and once in earshot said “I swear to god I’m going to need a cigarette after today.”
Schultz produced a pipe from his bag and handed it to the woman. Filling it with tobacco and retrieving a match Schultz soon had her puffing on it as he said “No proper officer smokes rolled cigarettes, always a pipe of proper fashion for their rank.”
She let out a breath of smoke before saying “Thank you. How’ve you been Schultz?”
Schultz shrugged as he said “I’m fine. Been to busy to breakdown and too busy to meet with our mental health doc.”
She put a hand on his shoulder as she said “You really should take the time Schultz. And if you won’t make the time to visit him you’ve got the rest of the company here for you.”
Schultz nodded, scratching at the scars that were still healing from his time under the purifier intelligence officer's interrogation, before saying he should get back to the section. Stepping through the door he quickly corrected the mistakes of the men as to how to wear the uniforms. From there it was onto the basics of taking care of the barracks. Schultz was slowly realizing it was going to be a long night, and day, and probably a long few months of training these new recruits.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 16, 2018, 08:12:43 am
He watched the treeline for some time, dimly aware of the steadily increasing volume of water in the air and that it had become heavy enough that it was obscuring the mall across the field almost entirely. In that direction he could barely make out the outline of the beheamoth structure that had once played court to thousands of people. A symbol of pre-cataclysm decadence.
Under the roar or the rain and the rushing wind, Hector heard something. At first, he took it for nothing more than those sounds but when he noticed Roxanne scanning the direction of the place where the dirt road joined the tarmac, he knew it wasn't. It sounded like a woman melancholicly wailing into the storm.
"What is it Hector?" Roxanne asked. The sound was ghostly in the rain, filled with anguished defeat.
"I think I know. C'mon." Hector replied, putting his hand to his sword. They walked around the siege tower and moved towards the highway. Before long, only a matter of then or thirty steps really, a figure materialized out of the mist, sitting disconsolately in the mud on the shoulder of the highway. Every few moments, it would let out that long low cry of utter defeat.
It was Mica. They had not seen her as they had pulled in and she had not heard them over the storm. They saw her stiffen suddenly, knew that she had just come aware of them.
"SssSSSssS stupid im-pos-turs. Making fun of My-ka. No brothers an sisssters. No lisard. Im-pos-turs jel-us. Wanna take My-ka's sssquishy before it made. My-ka knowss. Blue people come too, My-ka will... Ssssss."
Hector read the run of her thoughts by the run of the dialogue with herself. She couldn't smell Roxanne and Hector's scent was likely being suppressed by the rain and wind. Though the wind was at his back, it seemed the strongest reek was still that of the diseased corpses cooling in the field behind him. If he didn't say something, she would spin and attack. Hector even knew how she would start. She'd bite. If she bit and he wasn't quick, she'd take more than just armor.
"Mica!"
She did spin, but it was more out of surprise than anything else. All the same, she did lunge for him. She scrabbled and clutched desperately and Hector realized she was trying to hug him.
"Hek-tor! Tin-can Hek-tor! My-ka searched! Followed trail! But rain-"
"The rain washed the scent out." Roxanne finished, "Listen Mica, there's a huge storm coming and it's almost on us now. We have to get under cover before-"
In turn. Roxanne was cut off by a sudden Lance of red light sweeping through the fog. Instinct alone, sharp on the part of all three had the trio dropping to their knees. The beam was not that of a laser weapon Hector observed. Likely it was some kind of optic, maybe a target acquisition system from some kind of robot. If not for the fog, they would have missed the beam entirely and been attacked by...
"Ro-butt..." Mica hissed. Hector took her arm before she could move forward. The set of her body spoke of aggression, and Hector did not want to go toe to toe with anything more than an eyebot if he could help it. Judging from the red light sweeping just over their heads, Hector guessed the thing to be one of the rogue tank drone, maybe a tripod or chicken walker or-
"IDIOT MUTANT CREATURES. I AM AWARE THAT THE TRACKING TAGS HAVE GONE OUT. FOOLISH CRUSADER."
A warwalker. The beam winked out as the machine they could not see turned it's attention to whoever was with it.
"SPEAK NOT TO ME SO, FOOLISH CRUSADER. WE STAND YOUR ABUSE IN NEW BANGOR. WITHIN THE SAFETY OF YOUR HALLOWED CITY. UNDER THE EYES OF YOUR TEMPLARS AND YOUR PRECIOUS BISHOPS. OUT HERE IN THE WILD LANDS. YOU ARE THE FODDER AND I WILL NOT TAKE YOUR BROW BEATING HERE."
There came a cry, barely audible over the weather compared to the intimidating roar of the warwalker. His words were lost in the din, but the response was not.
"BECAUSE YOU ARE FOOLS AND WILL DIE THE DEATHS OF FOOLS. YOUR PEOPLE LEAVE YOU IN DROVES. YOUR LITTLE DISPLAYS OF FORCE DO NOTHING TO ENAMOR YOU TO THEM. IT ONLY DRIVES THEM FROM YOU. EVEN I, A MACHINE OF NOTHING BUT BOLTS AND WIRES, CAN SEE IT."
The beam once again swept over them and Roxanne had a thought. She tapped Hector gently until he was looking at her and she mouthed the words "No thermal imaging" at him. There was no chance of being heard, not in this rain, but it was better safe than sorry.
"THRICE DAMNED RAIN. CRUSADER, YOU WILL SEARCH FOR THE DEVIL HUNTERS. THE MUTANTS OF X7 ARE NOT EASY TO MAKE AND THEIR BODIES SHOULD BE RECOVERED. WHEN THEY ARE FOUND, LOAD WHATEVER IS LEFT OF THEM INTO THE TRANSPORT. DO NOT RETURN TO THE ROTUNDA UNTIL YOU HAVE DONE THIS. IF YOU FAIL IN THIS. RETURN WITHOUT THEM. YOU WILL TAKE THE MUTANTS PLACE ON THE FINAL CROSS."
This time, the beam did not appear again, and for a long moment everything seemed quiet. Then, a man appeared from the mist, walking along the highway. It was very clear who his alliances were to. The old riot uniform still in relatively good condition despite all the engagements it had been through. He didn't see them, but they saw him and moved to engage three against one. "The wind ruined my umbrella. I saved that umbrella for a rainy day and only ever got to use it twice before, and now it's gone." Leslie said. She set down what she'd got from the cook shack and Minx set to work sorting through it. Most of it was candy and junk food, but here and there Leslie had bothered to collect a bit of real food. Labelless cans which someone had written "JHGD." On closer inspection, none of the cans bore the same legend.
"Want some GHJFD Leslie?" Minx asked. She picked up a jar of tomatos and set it aside.
"Lots of tomatos in there. What are these cans?"
"Looks like the farms supply of soup. Or dog food. Want to try one?" Minx offered Leslie a can.
Medeina's proxy crawled over the the cans and looked over them as well. "These can's are a variety of woods soup, made with sausages or smoked meats. Ms. Kathrine made them and labeled them, but since she cannot read, she simply wrote whatever letters on the cans. I suspect though that she is not illiterate, but rather, alliterate. The writing on these cans supports my theory. Mr. Dee has a hot plate in his desk."
The others in the house, people seeking shelter from the storm were beginning to fan out, or try to with the house so crowded, and looking through things. Medeina had made clear that they could not handle the computer that contained her consciousness but otherwise, they were mostly free to look around. Leslie opened a can of soup and gave it an experimental sniff before placing it on the hotplate to warm. The people in Dee's workshop certainly had it easier for staying entertained since Dee had made sure that his workshop was entirely "off grid." His television worked, and so did the DVD player and console attached to it as well as Medeina's board games. No one would play these last after awhile because Medeina, they claimed, cheated.
"Hey look at these!" Someone said, pulling a handful of notebooks from a stack. "These are really good." several of the notebooks were passed around for people to look at. "You think Ms. Spider did these? She-"
"Holy shit."
"What?"
Minx looked and what she saw was a Misling with her nose in a sky blue notebook with the label "Mica's Dream book." She turned it around so the group could see what she'd found.
"Woah." "Oh jeez." "Don't let the kids see that, jesus."
Minx smirked, and snatched the book. "Yeah, if you find anything else like this I'd thank you kindly not to share it? We're guests remember? What the Lizard and Ms. Spider get up to in their spare time is none of our business." She flipped through the book cursorily and let her facial distortion CBM go blank. The stuff in this notebook was beyond risque. A lot of the newer drawings were of a less sexual nature, but most of the early ones were entirely sex. "Definitely none of our business." she said again, thinking that if these drawings were true to life, then Ms. Spider was certainly a lucky girl.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 16, 2018, 08:12:28 pm
Roxanne was feeling a mixture of emotions right now. She was feeling happy that they had found Mica. Sorrow overtook her as she saw her on the floor crying amidst the fog; a sight very unusual for the once feral predator. A sense of anger arose at the machine issuing demands at them. Before any of them could say anything else, they were running towards the not-so mysterious figure that had appeared. That tattered uniform and the way he moved so camly in the fog despite the blurring of the machine both unneverved and angered Roxanne. Her previous feelings that she could not explain had subsided for now.
As they rushed, Roxanne whispered something to the other two. “Hector, feel free to attack first, they tend to confuse you with one of their own and in this fog that should apply even more. I’ll stay behind with Mica and we will flank to the left; if you need back up we will be right there. Once that is done, we we will see how to deal with the machine. We need to do this quickly before any of them notices us ok.” Roxanne’s attention then rushed directly to Mica now. “Listen, we will find Dee ok? I promise you. But now I need you to stay behind me and let us take care of this ok? You have a baby to worry about now… Trust me on this ok? Just this once?”
Roxanne place her hand to pause Mica as Hector continued forward. She signaled Mica to follow her and then she guided her to the left of the man and out of sight of the laser beam. Had she still had her bionic and mutation, she could easily navigate this fog and even destroy the machine. Now she was struggling to navigate but eventually found her spot. The only sense of direction a super natural sense of presence much weaker than that of the mask of insight or even the aura spell. Still, it was all she had; with Mica behind her, she waited for her opportunity to pounce or to help out her knight in shining armor.
Victor nodded at Helen’s suggestion. He didn’t particularly mind either way, he simply assumed she was feeling the way he was. The only frame of reference we have is our own and Victor was no exception; he thought that since he lost his memories, Helen might think of him as a different person, a stranger if you will, and needed time to adjust to that.
“That works. Either way works for me… I just assumed that, you know… Don’t know how to explain it. Up to you I guess…” Victor accompanied Helen as she gathered something from the table only to release it outside. He didn’t know exactly what it was but he did recognize it as a ritual. Once that was done he followed her to what he presumed was where they would spend the night. Despite saying they should sleep the storm off he was not tired in the slightest; he assume Melody would feel the same.
“Uhhm, Helen. Can I ask you something real quick? Don’t you suppose you would have any of my belongings here? Maybe that could help jog my memory or something?” Upon that suggestion, he reached inside his trenchcoat and pulled out a notebook. Very ornate in design; looked a like a regular book. “Also, found this journal with me. Has a lot of information on rituals and other things. Hand written too. Did I maybe write this? Would you know?”
Once they reached their chambers, he let Helen do the preparations as she saw fit; he would help her in whatever he was needed but felt intrusive to do anything unless asked to do so. “You go ahead and rest if you wish...I will give this a quick read before going to bed.
Christina and Rey were sitting in there respective chairs after having explained and haggled with Plague. Clara stood next to Plague on his right sight as symbolism; she was his right hand and wanted to show it.
“How about a quick recap of what we discussed then?”, Suggested Plague
“Fine by me, go on then.”, Responded Rey
“Alright. Christina is one of the founders of SoA and then labeled impure for not following their doctrine by Grandmaster Johnathan himself. Rey, you are a former assassin of SoA from the world beyond the conveyance; you refused augmentations and the title of hunter. You were labeled impure for dabbling with the arcane without a proper title and order for removal by none other than Roxanne Luna… is that backstory correct?”
“Yeah, you missed a few parts but that sounds good.”
“And now you are in possession of the sword of conveyance after stumbling with the nephilim. An encounter that you not only survived but managed to kill their leader and take the sword from them… You...a jinn, defeated a being from sub-plane beta, how impressive... ”
“That is correct. I don’t care who you are, you are no match for entropy itself. My scythe here posses an aura of harvest from the same system that powers the sword of the void SoA loves to use.”
“And now you wish for us to help you defeat this nephilim who have been chasing you around…”
“That is correct. And In exchange you can have the piece and we will gladly serve you.”
“Hmm...you do realize the Nephilim will attack with everything they have right? You killed their leader; they have nothing to lose anymore. This is the final stand for them...you bring such a burden to my compound and have the audacity to ask for my help?! If you were anyone else I would’ve assimilated you where you stand!”
“But we are not just anybody are we?”
“No...you have important history and know-how in your belt...to defeat the Nephilim Allfather...we need people like you? Don’t you agree Clara.”
The mage looked at Plague and then at the two seated before her. “Yes. I agree. I have seen Christina in battle and can vouch for her skills.”
“You have seen me in more than just battle haven’t you? ~”
“Shut it! This isn’t the time…”
Plague paused for a moment before speaking. “Very well...we will help you defeat this things once and for all…”
“Great! Alright, how much time to prepare.”, exclaimed Rey.
“There is none, They are here…”
“What?! Already?”
“They were following your trail. You are lucky you got to us now.”
“So what do we do?”
“Give me the sword of convergence.”
Rey hesitated. He didn’t fully trust this Plague guy and here he was asking him to hand over his sword; the only bargaining tool he and Christina had. Her looked at his partner and she nodded at him to do so. He nodded back and handed over the sword with some reluctance.
“Good. Now, we will commend to forge the tool to bring the end to this menace… Shine Force: Dual Assimilation.” The sword he was handed too and Plagues own sword started to glow. He unsheathed his and held the two close together. They then started to do something unexpected: the started to fuze.
“From two piece a single one shall be born. As the holder of assimilation I order the tool to bend to my will. I shall forge with smokeless fire the weapon to conquer worlds: The sword of coalescence.” In Plagues hand a new sword emerged from the previous two. This new sword was a simple cutlass with an ornate handle guard. It resembles old cavalry sabers and an aura of authority shone from it. It’s color was an ever changing hue of purple; it’s tone change as if it’s blade was made out of liquid.
“They are here...this it...the last stand. Whatever SoA stood for beforehand, it ends here. With blessing of one of its founders and the power of coalescence I will end this chapter here.” Plague grabbed the sword and began to walk outside towards the stairway leading down. The other three followed suit with their own weapons at hand.
“If only Blackmore was here so I could rub this in here face!”, Clara exclaimed.
“Whoa, you really do have a hate boner for her don’t you?”, Christina said.
“Oh, you have no idea sister…”
Outside of the office tower Plague had capture, the wind had picked up and the rain clouds make it impossibly dark. Rain and wind ravaged the landscape and the tower only survived due to the fortification made beforehand. A single bolt of lightning that fell far away illuminated the empty lot around the tower. When second bolt him the place was no surrounded by the Nephilim. They wielded swords of materials not from this world. 30 of them in total ready for battle; to avenge the fallen and begin their plan to get rid of humanity for good starting with the ones who drove them to this.
“Come out from your fortress and face us! You are only delaying the inevitable. We come from a higher plane of existence; your fragile power is no to our own!”
Another flash of lightning illuminated the place and the Nephilim saw they were no longer alone. 300 of the undead joined them out numbering them 10 to one. Each of them wielded a rifle and was clad in military armor. Where Plague had found this he would not say. Leading the army of undead was the former Bio-Weapon Psi accompanied by two zombie super soldiers.
“I see how it is...no mercy will be shown to your masters once we breach inside...may the best prevail…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 16, 2018, 10:18:04 pm
Hector watched and waited as the laser swept overhead, and the resounding voice drove home just what they were they were dealing with. A war-walker. This one seemed more advanced than the ones they encountered during the attack on the center. Or at least the others lacked either ability or reason to say anything. But his examination of the stricken war-walkers had made him reasonably confident that their AI was relative simple, purpose-built for the task, and lacked anything he recognized as voice output.
They waited, until the coast was clear, to be replaced with signs of a new threat. "Fine by me..." he said softly, carefully waiting until he had the right moment, taking advantage of the crusader approaching from the obscuring rain and darkness. He had that shield obscured, relying on the unfamiliar appearance of that sword and the less distinct armor. "Crusader. Report." he said, taking on a calm yet firm, authoritative voice.
He only needed to close the distance enough to make one decisive strike, lashing out the instant he got close enough. Already he was formulating a plan. He knew those war-walkers would be hard to take down without getting in EMP range. That left the only other option an anti-tank weapon, either his main gun or the battery of weapons on Roxanne's APC. And for that, they needed to put down their target before he could alert any others, and calmly make it back to the vehicles.
Helen gave a nod as she led the way inside, looking back to Victor as he asked her that. "Not that I know of. You actually stayed at the farm at least as often as here." she said, but soon gathered a strange, faintly-glowing dust that swirled and floated at her command. "However. It wasn't long ago that you...dismantled several items to produce this. A relief, to be honest." she said, and soon she'd set up a cot for him as well. "You can, separate or...er. Well, either if you wish." she said softly.
"I don't know what you mind find in that, but...I will ask something of you." she said. "Whatever you find in there, of magic research and such, be careful with it. Many of the techniques you looked into are extremely dangerous if you don't recall how they were to be properly used." she said softly. "We've both learned a lot over the years, most of which shouldn't be used lightly."
"I think I'll be fine for now actually. So if you wish, anything I can do for you, any question I can answer. Of us, of this place, of the orders..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 17, 2018, 01:13:49 am
The crusader barely registered the sound of Hectors voice or even the knights appearance through the mist. It wasn't until Hector was nearly on him that he noticed, and by then there was only time enough for a look of startlement before the blade of his sword found it's mark in the only exposed flesh Hector could see. The crusaders face. On quick stab, then the crusader was tackled to the ground. Mica hadn't stayed behind, but had not been quicker than the knight.
"Ssss..."
The crusader convulsed, spurring Mica into thinking the man was still alive. She ripped the patch from his shoulder and in the same flurry of movements, raked the body into ribbons, then stopped. Her face was inches from the shredded armor, and she smelled something. Not the smell of death or blood. The smell of... Lizard? She rummaged furtively through the pockets and pouches and pockets until she came up with a small canvas sheet covered in little sleeves, each of which contained all the tools required for computer maintenance.
"Lizard?" Mica said, snuffling at the rolled tool kit, "Lizard? Blue mans have lizard? Maybe. Hek-tor, we go to big house." She was pocketing the tools and lifting her scarf to compensate for the loss of smell and sight in her more normal eye. The other eyes, packed into a single oversized socket under a single lens. She looked around, pausing at Roxanne. She found Roxanne to be somewhat strange. A multitude of colors floating around something with only two dimensions, but was being projected onto her vision with three. She decided to ignore it for now, the enigma of Roxanne was important, but there was danger. The rain colored the vision of that eye a misty white, punctuated by wisps of darker blue representing the main body of every gust and points of light here and there. If Hector or Roxanne were to see the world as she saw it, it would remind them of certain paintings they'd seen. Mica pointed in the direction of the mall. The warwalker was moving off, just entering the mall. There were other figures, dead, hanging from something against the side of the mall, but even that distance was too great to make out any real detail even with her special vision. The body beneath her cooled rapidly and was soon just another splotch of blue amongst a sea of color. Catnip clutched Kathrine close to her. The storm was beginning to get frightening as the light began to fade. Somewhere outside, there came a resounding crash which Nathaniel guessed to be his own house.
"That's... mine." He said, staring down at the floor. He'd recovered everything he thought important from the rickety broom closet of a house, and even though the thing had been a literal shack, it still hurt to know it was gone.
"Well, we'll build you a new one hoss." Floyd said, "Once everything get's cleaned up. Gonna take a bit of effort though. You can stay in one of the empty places until we get everything squared away."
Catnip squeezed Kathrine hard enough to make her squeek and Lilith, her bulk barely fitting in the house and already covered in sleeping Misling children, turned her head.
"Cub?"
"It's fine Ms. Lilith. Just Catnip."
Catnip shivered against Kathrine. It was strange and a little uncomfortable for Catnips friends to see her so, especially the migrants who had watched as Catnip calmly climbed from the caravan several times in her diving suit to clear out air filters, or to fix small problems with the antifungus sprayers, or to deal with a certain sabatour. Catnip had faced the likes of the grey queen herself, and so it was strange to see their artificer terrified by a sub-tropical storm.
"Kathrine." Catnip moaned, "Kathrine, I don't like this."
Kathrine stroked Catnip's ears and held her closer. The storm didn't scare Kathrine much, she had experienced worse, she'd experienced life without Catnip around. A storm couldn't do worse than that to her, a storm couldn't hurt her worse. She squeezed Catnip back, determined not to let her go.
L picked at the sole of her shoe, an old high top. She jumped when something heavy hit the outside of the farm house, and the sound of breaking glass. Someone rushed into the house and someone else wrestled with the door, trying to get it shut.
"The cook shacks all over the place, walls are still up but the doors are gone. That nice kitchen unit's been pushed into a corner and the building is stable, but it's a mess in there. Junk food everywhere, but at least I managed to get some of these cans. What's 'JJKLK?'"
"Tomato soup." Kathrine piped up. Over at Sharlene's cabin, things were going considerably less well.
"Hold the roof on Michael, I gotta get these nails in. Mohammad, stop fucking around and tie this shit down!"
The divine spirits worked as best they could, expending small amounts of divine essence to shield what they could from the storm. Michael couldn't do anything to keep the roof in place unfortunately, and it did Sharlene the disservice of disintegration into several sheets of corrugated steel and blowing away.
"Well shit." Sharlene groaned, instantly soaked by the rain. The books and clothes and other articles were lifted by the raging storm and flung to every point of the compass. A kreck flew by, clearly distressed by it's current predicament. Sharlene wanted in that moment, to know just where the hell Lilith had got to. Lilith could hold this place together. It wasn't in the cards though, Sharlene's cabin quickly began coming apart and the spirits she had summoned throughout the last few days switched from trying to protect the cabin, to protecting their summoner and the man they saw as some kind of man slave.
"Who's gonna pay for all this?" Sharlene asked. It was her final word on the matter until the storm ended.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 17, 2018, 04:35:02 pm
Hector glowered down at the twitching form as Mica tore away panels of crude armor and re-purposed kevlar, tensing up at the realization. "We need to strike immediately." he said calmly, leading the way back to the vehicles. As he did so, he outlined his plan of attack.
"We need to start by taking out their unmanned unit. But if Dee's in here we need to be careful." he said calmly, before looking to Roxanne. "Does your gun setup have any AP rounds you can use? We can't go throwing around high explosives if friendly fire is a concern."
Nathaniel for now remained at Lilith's side, wincing a bit at the resounding thump. That put a renewed bit of worry into him, moreso than the lingering annoyance that the thought of his quarters being destroyed gave him. He wondered what else was going to be wrecked by the storm. If the cook shack was wrecked they might lose a lot of supplies. The watchtower might topple, and he didn't know that Sammy and Sergei had already left for The Hall. Some of the mislings mentioned helping Quinn secure his trailer, and the fact he was likely staying there now had him worried. But it was a bit late now, with the storm picking up in full.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 17, 2018, 07:36:52 pm
Roxanne stayed back for a moment as she watched Hector swiftly walk to the crusader only to bring down his sword right onto his face. She looked back to see how Mica was holding up only to find she had ran towards the scene. “Mica! God damn it…”, Roxanne thought to herself. Still, she wasn’t angry; she really couldn’t blame the girl after what she was going through. Wasting no time Roxanne joined with the other two.
It was then Hector laid out his plan to bring the war-walker with the Vehicles’ weapons systems; Catnip had just fixed hers and she was itching to test it. Now, the Armored Scouter was equip with some very heavy weaponry. It had a 155mm missile system that would target something from far away and deliver an explosive payload. However, the target was too close to get a lock on and Hector specifically said no explosive so that was out of the question. Next, it had a 120mm canon salvaged from a downed tank long ago. Thing was, it had to be controlled manually due to fog interfering with the turret chasis’s targeting system and her vision was too poor to do that. The final ballistic solution was a 30mm chain gun that could deliver impressive firepower to a foe; however, Roxanne kept this as an emergency. There really was no point in using this when she still had her pride and joy of the entire weapon loadout: The laser turrets.
Ah yes, the jury-rigged laser turret system. Roxanne did not pretend to understand it; she only knew that it brought down the hellfire in the form of light. Nothing that it’s sights were set on had survived this yet. Roxanne was hoping to test the reputation once again. Now, each turret was comprised of an obviously survivor made UPS laser rifle; the same type like the A7 or the ARC-314. However, it was an extreme energy hog. A single burst of 10 shots would drain an entire UPS unit and back when Roxanne still her augments this thing would drain her very quickly too. Thing was, this was more powerful than those weapons due to a few factors.
This laser gun had coil system that would store the amplify the energy going through it creating very powerful succession shots that were typically only possible with charged weapons. Thing was, this rendered the gun to overheat extremely quickly. To combat this, an energy suppression system was installed in it. It didn’t hinder the gun but made it so that most of the energy would be converted to light so that there wasn’t enough to become heat. This is what rendered the gun so energy inefficient and why the shots were so damn bright. Now, this would be a problem except they were currently connected to vehicular power; and not just any vehicle but Roxanne’ APC loaded with many fully charged large storage batteries and a powerful diesel engine/alternator combo to supply electricity directly as well. The turret system comprised of 7 turrets would have ammo for quite some time and Roxanne planned to use it.
“AP rounds? Pffft, why waste that on that when I can fry it’s circuits with laser fire? You know I don’t like ballistics; get with the times old man! Now, let’s get to the APC and I’ll handle it from there.”
Roxanne did not wait for an answer, her mind was set on this and she would be damned if anything would stop her. She carefully made her way to the APC avoiding the laser and then got on it when she found it. There was no need to be discreet now that they knew the enemy; shock and awe was the name of the game. Roxanne turned on the diesel engine and it made a loud roar as it began to fuel the batteries. The war-walker took notice and it’s attention shifted toward Roxanne’s general direction. Next, Roxanne activated the laser turrets to work in unison; to target a single thing at the same time and unleash hellfire on it until disabled. Thing was, this fog was confusing the target system. Roxanne looked through the camera system with her finger on the console to approve of a target. Suddenly, the camera feed in front of her became red; the laser was aiming directly at the APC and a sound she recognized as a lock on was heard from both the war-walker and the laser turret system. Roxanne smirked and pressed the button making the turrets unleash its payload towards the behemoth in unison.
Victor waited on Helen as she produced the some rather strange behaving dust. He had seen some similar to it come off Melody when she was hacking and slashing the shadows when he had woken up. Whatever this was, it had some significance.
“I dismantled items to produce this? Huh...either this is really powerful or those items were useless…”
He nodded at Helen when she set up the cog. He sat on it to test it a bit and found it to his liking. Then he listened to her warning about the contents of the book.
“If you say so then I’ll be carefull. You seem to know what you are doing so there shouldn’t be a reason not to.” Victor put the journal away for now, curious on some other things.
“Well, if I am asking questions, why not start from the basics? Tell me about yourself, about me, about us… If you and I are really together there must be something that made you choose me… Maybe that could help me remember? It’s weird, I woke up to a world where ghosts and magic are real, found out I have a wife and am a father, and had this thing attached to my arm.”
Victor took out the cylinder looking laser blasted and showed it to Helen. “This seems to be a weapon… fires lasers powered by what Melody said to be internal bionics. It has a slot inside of it that matched to one in my wrist.” He then showed her the port for the UPS bionic and how it fit in the cylindrical gauntlet. “Might you have any idea how something like this works or how I might have used it in the past?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 18, 2018, 02:16:09 am
Hector facepalmed at Roxanne's remarks, looking back to her. "Better something reliable th-" By now she'd already ran off and brought her APC to bear. Whereas Roxanne could simply phase right through the steel, Hector quickly decided that running for the tank would take time he now lacked. He gestured to Mica as he unslung his M4. "Stay behind me and my shield. And don't look towards the enemy until AFTER Roxanne has fired. There'll be a bright flash." he said, staying low as he advanced carefully.
He knew that, one way or another, the brilliant glow of Roxanne's laser battery would signal the time to press the attack, one way or another. He just hoped that he wouldn't have a war-walker to deal with. If he did, he might barely have enough time to close in and use his EMP while it fired on the APC, but then that'd leave who-knows-what to deal with.
Helen shook her head at this. "If not useless, then dangerous. Sometimes there's good reason to do so." she said, and after the cot was set up she smiled a bit. That he trusted her judgement, without objection, brought a relief she was unused to. "Very well then. You'd been at the farm some time before I arrived, having heard a broadcast Roxanne had set up for wayward travelers. It was at a small settlement northeast of here where I ran into the first sign of civilization I'd encountered in 5 years, and not long after I arrived here." she said.
"As for us...we were from different arcane orders, who had been one and the same decades ago." she continued. "I'll admit it's a long story, but after time to reconcile, and circumstances that demanded we work together, as comrades in arms, that's when, well..." she said, blushing a bit. "One of the things that brought us together was the matter of Randael, and other threats we faced together. And before it betrayed us, it had been manipulating Roxanne, and sought our combined aid to let it communicate properly. At the time it seemed trustworthy." she said. And that brought a thought that she kept hidden. She wasn't sure how easy it'd be to explain The Shifting, or that they had been enemies once.
When he showed her his bionic, this was a surprise to her, and he could likely tell that. "That's a more recent development. As hectic as things had been lately, you didn't get the chance to show me that..." she said. If if weren't for Victor's memory loss she would've teased him over having kept this a secret from her for reasons she still considered trivial. "As for usage I'm not that experienced with bionics, but..." she said, looking for power controls of any sort, any way to link the pistol to the port.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 18, 2018, 03:59:23 am
The warwalker turned, looking into the mist and letting it's targeting beam rest in the general direction of the suddenly roaring engine. It had completely missed the new vehicles, thanks to it's builders incompetence. A terrible oversight on the part of it's human makers. It's reflective armor caught the first volley, frying off the cheap coating the builders had laid on it. The beams of light vaporized and evaporated the mist between weapon and target as the weapons super heated the air with it's discharge. Hector charged, hearing the sound of something winding up under the rain, the wind, the cacophony of laser fire, and the roar of the APC's engine. Two steps, and another sound joined all the others, the "BRRRRRRRR" of a weapon firing fast enough that each individual shot could not be separated from the next. It didn't last long though, long enough to demolish the armor plating on the front of the APC before the next volley of laser fire, and before the stone. From behind him, he heard Mica shout something that sounded like "Down with dez-pots!" and another sound like a pistol shot, then the side of his face was covered in specks of mud and dirt, and something heavy rocketed past his head. The sound of the warwalkers weapon cut off as it came into view, clutching at it's face.
"VISION ZERO! VISION ZERO! REPORT LOCATION TO-"
Then the next volley of killing light struck it, one fewer beam than before. The chest melted under Roxanne's barrage before the engine of the APC coughed and cut out. Another volley and the walker simply stopped moving.
"POWER SYSTEM COMPROMISED. MOBILITY ZERO. MOBILITY-"
Hector pushed it over like it was nothing more than a statue. There was a little pleasure to be found in the act, but no time to revel in it now. There was bloodshed at hand. The APC came back to life and lurched forward, Mica pushed past Hector and went wide. The entrance to the mall was an open cavern in front of them, and after the APC hit it, it looked even more cave like. Hector took a cursory look at the figures nailed to the crosses outside. Hell's Raiders mostly, all dead, and one empty cross ready to be occupied. Atomos napped for a bit. She couldn't remember it when she awoke, but the dream she'd had made her feel comfortable somehow, confident even. Darkness was coming and the storm was progressing she could hardly see a thing outside and that was how she wanted it. It had to be now or not at all. The street was empty except for the pouring rain and the lashing wind. First, to find a vehicle. That was simple enough, nearby the small motel complex where she'd been assigned was a parking garage made motorcade. Atomos took her time and picked out something inconspicuous, a simple windowless green van. Into this she loaded several tools from the shop. Things she'd need.
She didn't notice the motorcades mechanic making his rounds approach.
"Hey scout, going out? Kind of shitty out to be taking one of the vans for a ride don't you think?" He said. Atomos started a little and raced for an excuse.
"I uh, just getting things together for my next..."
"Uh huh, yeah I get it. Listen, if you are going out then I need to to sign this check out. Need to keep track of all outgoing vehicles you know?" He was holding up a clipboard with a single sheet of flimsy on it. The paper was a rather short list of names and numbers. The name was the easy part but the number, which she recognized as part of Gods Army's little registration system, was impossible. Atomos didn't have a number, she didn't even have one of the updated tracking chips. That was a problem too.
"One that's filled out, I'll scan your chip and your good to go. Just have to install one of the tracking hubs on the van. Policy now, since so many people'v been going out and not coming back. You know how it is."
Atomos said she did know how it was, sliding the clipboard up onto the van and reaching into the bag of tools. The mechanic was too busy fitting the receiver into the inner door to see her coming with the socket wrench. One quick blow to the back of the head, then a second, and she was in the van and on the move. She'd killed before, but this time it made her feel a bit sick. The man was a mechanic. A Gods Army mechanic, but not necessarily one of the blood thirsty regulars. He'd had the look of somebodies dad, some inoffensive guy doing a job. She didn't like it.
She hoped he wasn't actually dead. The noise outside had alerted the men inside, and so they were only mildly surprised when the APC came crashing up the mall avenue and into the rotunda like a charging bull. A crusader was plowed under and crushed while another was thrown aside. The APC passed the rotunda then, bootlegged, then gave another loud cough as it came to a stop. The mall showed signs mostly of Hell's Raiders occupation, but there were no Hell's Raiders here now. Just this small Gods Army party camped in one of two rotundas. Roxanne had barely missed running over the small garden centerpiece turned fire pit at the center, but had blown over several makeshift rooms on her path of destruction.
Mica and Hector brought up the rear, the men and women of the small contingent having attention only for the vehicle which had come barreling into them from outside. Hector took note of his surroundings, preparing for his rush. The fire pit. Plenty of small canvas "rooms," A series of cages. He noted with some interest that one of the cages was occupied by an aspirating weakly. There were splashes of yellow and black among the brown and white that he guessed were probably feathers.
"SsSsS..." Mica hissed, breaking Hector away from his planning.
"Mica n-" He started, but it was too late. She was among the enemy, all the fury and hate she had for the people with the blue crosses coming to bear hand in hand with sadness and confusion at the departure of her man and her inability to find him. Someone's legs were grabbed and pulled out from under him. He never felt the ground coming up to meet him. One quick swipe not so neatly ripping into the back of his neck and rending the spine beneath delivered as he fell made sure of it. Hector charged a moment later, no time to plan now. He cut down a soldier has she turned then twisted and struck another with his shield. The result was a bit confusing. The shield absorbed the impact well enough that he felt only the dull thump and none of the jolt the act usually elicited. The crusader crumpled, unaware that he was the first of God's Army to have the "honor" of being struck with Catnip's gift shield.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 19, 2018, 10:19:14 am
The battle had already started without her; Hector and Mica were doing short work of the makeshift camp inside the mall after they were taken by surprise by her little stunt. The APC had no doubt taken damage from both the wall waker and plowing through various obstacles. Still, Roxanne wasn’t upset at that; the APC had been designed to do that and it did it’s job while still holding. However, it had reached its limit, the battery had died; the laser targeting system would’ve have single out and killed everyone of GA here. Too bad it was down.
Roxanne composed herself after the crash. She didn’t feel any different but somehow felt obligated to act staggered; she felt as if it was the reality itself told her to do so. After stumbling around for a bit she heard the sounds of fighting; Hector’s steel and Mica’s primal feriosity both doing their work. Roxanne’s unknown feelings were back but this time they manifested into something she recognized; something she could feed and feed from it. They manifested as some long hidden bloodlust.
The red cloak that allowed her to stay corporeal was dropped to the floor of the APC and she then went through one of the walls to witness the battle. The enemy tried in vain to defend themselves but they were being overwhelmed by a greater purpose; greater in the eyes of the attackers anyways. Roxanne looked on and something inside her urge her to join in. She placed her hand on the handle of the very sword that bounded her ready to retrieve it but she hesitated; something inside of her told her not to, something else needed to awaken. A soft voice spoke, it gave instructions. It told Roxanne it would lend her its power for now; it told her to aid it in finding someone worthy of wielding it. The sword had spoken; Roxanne and it now had a common goal.
“A fight? Not today. That would just take too long wouldn’t it? That is not my style anyways… How about we cheat a little? Bio-link established, Harvester Mode active…”
It was then Roxanne began to change. Her appearance darken; had mica look at her with her “good” eye right now she would witness the colors drain to be replaced by impossible darkness only matched by the sword itself. An aura of harvest enveloped her entirely as it began to feast; the air around her its first victim. Her sword was still sheathed but it didn’t matter, Roxanne was now the blade of sodom personified. One thing lingered, she and the sword needed an objective; they needed something to use this power for. It was soon revealed as a cage with a prisoner still inside. Where amongst it were only the dead this one cage still held life and Roxanne sought to free it.
Then the gunfire started. Automatic fire hit her torso; she had gotten careless. However, it didn’t matter anymore; especially now, she felt invincible. Roxanne started to walk towards the cage with deliberate steps. The gunfire aimed at her disintegrated as soon as it met the aura that now cloaked her. Soon enough, those who fired met the same fate as Roxanne phased through them only for them to be disintegrated to fuel her current state. She reached the cage and looked inside; someone was badly wounded and would need care. As a final act, Roxanne passed her hand through the outer edges of the cage and the bars melted into nothingness. Once that side of cage fell, the aura was stripped away from Roxanne leaving a lingering energy that allowed her to be corporeal for some time without divine essence. With the utmost care, Roxanne lifted the wounded prisoner and took him out of the cage with the APC as her destination.
“Cover me! I got wounded!”, Roxanne cried out. She didn’t bother to wait before advancing to her destination for she knew Mica and Hector would do their job even if they didn’t hear her. Roxanne walked with the prisoner in hand. Feathers. So they had gotten this one for the “sin” of mutation. She smirked, they once sought to bring her down for the same thing; now she wondered what they would charge he with.
Once in the APC, Roxanne set the mutant on a reclining seat and went to look for something of use. What she found made her smile; emergency RX-12. She kept it in the APC in case of emergencies back when she had flesh to worry about. If only she had brought it with her when on the cave instead of leaving it in the APC… No, it wasn’t the time for that. She had wounded. The two doses of RX-12 were applied and Roxanne took a seat nearby as she let the chemicals take effect. It would take a few hours for the actual wounds to be healed or the pain to go away but for now the mutant wouldn’t die from them.
She sat there and breathed heavily; it was due to instinct she did so rather than any need to do so. A smile was plastered in her face; she had not felt such a rush for some time now. Excitement, joy, pleasure and many other emotions had manifested during that little encounter. She wanted more; she needed more. It seems she had finally found something to stimulate her.
Victor listened intently as Helen gave the rundown of what he had asked. To find out he was part of an arcane order did take him but surprise at first but given what had seen so far that soon passed. He wouldn’t pretend to fully understand but he was getting the general idea. For now, he would stow away what he had learned and compare it to what others had to say once this storm passed.
“Recent development huh?”, Victor said on the matter of his bionic and laser weapon. “So I never showed it to you? That new…” Something inside was bothering him, as if something disapproved of him having revealed what he had done. He looked at the device again and then at his hand. “At least it proved useful according to Melody. We should probably see how she is holding up in the morning don’t you think? For now, I am suddenly feeling rather tired all of the sudden… I think I will call it a night. Good night...uhhh...Helen? Is that what I called you? I am not sure what would be polite for me to call you by…” He rested his head in the cot and then closed his eyes after setting the device on the floor next to him. “Regardless, thank you for putting up with this. Must not be easy for you either… Until morning.”
*Brrrrrrrrrt* *clank* *groan* *roooar*
“God damn it! To your left! He has a machine gun?!
“This is where it all ends! Your transgressions will not go unpunished!”
“We are down to half our forces...shit...regroup on me!”
“Bad move. Behold the power bestowed unto me!”
“Shit, everyone get down! That thing is about to blo-”
*KABOOM*
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 19, 2018, 12:58:20 pm
Hector sighed under the helm as he made contact with the enemy, surveying his surroundings as he went. Nothing left but to plan on the fly and work with what he had, and he could handle that, despite his worrying about Mica. Who be now was making a mess of several crusaders, and he was soon lost in his work, hacking apart others as the opportunity arose.
Two priorities came to mind, and what he saw in the surrounding areas was enough to give him a rough idea for what to focus on. There was a clear direction as he charged, finding out for the first time the capabilities of Catnip's gift. He'd make his way to try and secure the cages, he thought. Keep them from potentially harming whoever they had captive currently, along with a chance of Dee being among them, though what he could see wasn't promising.
The other priority was to deal with whatever unusual threats might present themselves, and the unfamiliar stinking corpses from earlier stood out as a potential threat. He wasn't sure what to expect, and that meant dealing with them at a distance would likely be safest.
Soon however, Roxanne had taken care of that matter herself, which great ease given she acted solely on that objective. Seeing her with another person in her arms, he raised his shield and pressed the advance, trying to keep the remaining crusaders at bay and focused on the two of them, rather than attempting to attack Roxanne. He was humming a little at this point, keeping an eye out for any other threats that presented themselves.
Solomon had been handing out plates along with cups of tea for now, soon heading over to where Melody had chosen to rest for now, giving a nod. "Hey...Melody, right? You doing okay?" he asked, setting a plate aside. They'd made good use of the crops they harvested prematurely due to the storm, along with smoked fish, wild game, and some simple bread.
Helen gave a little sigh as Victor said this, and her expression looked rather pained at that. She looked away, uncertain what to say initially. "Victor...can you promise me something? If anything else happens, always...remember that you can talk to me about it. To trust me." she said, looking like she was going to tear up a bit, before regaining her composure.
"Helen's fine. Thank you...and good night." she said, setting cloak and boots aside. "And it's fine, Victor. I know it'll take time, I'll do whatever I must for you." she said softly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 20, 2018, 01:30:28 am
The remaining crusaders scattered from the fight, broken by the ferocity of the assault just like the Hell's Raiders before them. Those that fled deeper into the mall were hunted by Mica. In the meantime, while she went after stragglers and Roxanne tended to the captive, Hector went about the post battle ritual of divesting the dead of their belongings and going through the camp site. There was a lot of stuff, too much gear for just the small contingent of God's Army. Most of the evidence suggested they'd taken what looked like a settlement inside the mall. He felt a bit bad for the survivors who'd escaped. They would be weathering the storm out in the elements. Apart from the one captive, the cages were empty and Hector guessed those crucified out front had been kept here until they had met their ends.
Hector was looking over something interesting when Mica returned with a hand full of blue patches.
"What you got? Eh? Lizard? Eh? Lizard?" She said, catching a whiff of it and becoming more interested. Hector held it out to her, a rubber sleeve from the handle of a bike. Or an ATV. Mica snatched it from him, hording the scent. Roxanne emerged from her APC, now wearing her cloak.
"Any sign of the lizard?" She asked.
"Just an ATV grip. He was here, I'm sure. I'd hazard a guess and say he either escaped or was allowed to leave before God's Army got here. Mica, stay close." Hector responded, directing the last to Mica who was moving off into the mall. "Who's the bird?"
"No idea, he's beat pretty bad. My guess is they were probably getting ready to nail him up."
"Hell's Raider?"
"I don't think so... He's pretty bad off sweety."
Outside, the storm worsened and the light failed. Mica returned, disheartened. Every path she took led her to an exit, and at the exits, the trails ended. Dee was out there somewhere, but not here. She huddled by the fire with her arms wrapped around her legs, cold despite the gentle crackle of the fire. The window above gave a small rattle every now and then and rain dripped from a broken pane. Hector tried to retrieve the siege tower, but by the time he got around to it, the storm had progressed beyond his ability to traverse it. It was too dark, too wild. To go outside the safety of the mall would only get him lost in the murk. The night was long, the night was dark, and to Mica, it was the loneliest night she'd ever been through. Catnip was somewhere between Roxanne's house, and a memory. She'd been through a lot in her life, and learned a lot. In a very short period of time she'd learned a lot in fact. She'd even gotten used to many things. Something she had never thought she would ever get used to, or even get over, was the sound of the screaming tower. This far east, Catnip had never expected to hear the sound ever again. Three. There were three towers used to combat the Mycus. The howling tower repelled the Mycus. Catnip had repaired one, or helped repair one. The singing tower's attracted the Mycus. Catnip was told that it was these that filled the gap between the rockies and the gulf of mexico and served as part of a one-two punch that kept the infectious fungus from passing through that gap.
The third, the screaming tower, was the voice of the storm. The screaming tower had guarded the portal that sent the caravan to the other side of the Rockies from Mycus incursion. The screaming tower, killed things. Not just Mycus, but everything. Catnip had gone ahead to turn it off so the caravan could approach, and stayed behind to turn it back on once everyone was safely through. She came through the portal after them nearly deaf and had lay senseless for a month as she recovered, and she dreamed the dreams of those afflicted by the screaming tower.
The storm outside was the voice of the screaming tower. The others couldn't hear it, hadn't been close enough to the tower to hear it, but she could hear it now.
"Kathrine... Make it stop..."
Kathrine hugged her close and threw another blanket over her. "Shush Catnip, shush. It's ok. I'm scared too..."
Floyd went looking for earplugs, and for a wonder they helped a little. For Catnip, the night seemed to last forever. Atomos set to work cutting through the locks on the cage. She wasn't afraid of being overheard, the sound was perfectly covered by the storm, but she was worried about being caught. She learned that even with the storm, crusaders would be sent out every few hours to check on the prisoners. Fortunately, one such check had just occurred. The real worry was that they wouldn't have time to get out before the Mislings were missed. It wouldn't take longer than an hour or so before they were out of New Bangor, but what Atomos wanted was to be out of New Bangor, out of Abaddon, and out of the main area of God's Army's influence well before anyone noticed.
The Mislings stirred in the cage, uneasy of the stranger breaking into their cage. Atomos took off her scarf to show them her ears.
"These guys hate mutants, they wouldn't let someone like me into their ranks knowingly. I'm a uh, a spy. I guess." She explained.
"Says you, those could be fake ears."
Atomos smirked, no one had ever accused her of wearing false ears before. She pulled her tail from her pants, then cursed herself for doing it. The luxurious fur soaked in enough rainwater in an instant to drown a fully grown man. Still, they didn't believe her.
"That could be one of those fancy tail plugs."
"A... What?"
"A sex toy with a tail on it."
"Oh jeez, are you fucking serious? Why the hell would I- you know what? Fuck it. You wanna just sit in this cage?"
"No! No, please, I'm-"
"Are you sure? Because I'm giving you the only shot you are going to get and yet your sitting there in this cage under the belief that these fucks who've captured you would send a chick with a fox tail butt plug and a pair of fake ears to... What? Taunt you? Let you out so they can chase you and lock you up again? Please think realistically. I've got clothes in the van.
They stared at her, a mix of fear and hope plainly stirring in them. They didn't see Atomos as she was known at the center or with the Hell's raiders. What they looked upon was Jenny, daughter of Chester, the girl who wanted to be a marine like her father. Something else too. When the hammer she carried struck the weakened lock off the cages door, the spark reflected off her eyes, revealing the green in them. An inner spark deep back in those eyes speaking of a hidden level of cunning.
"O-okay, just don't leave us, alright?"
"I wouldn't dream of it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 20, 2018, 10:47:47 pm
The cleanup of the battle had taken less time than anticipated. After hauling some of the loot and regrouping with Mica and Hector to ask what was up Roxanne finally relaxed knowing their mission was finally over. They might’ve lost track of Dee but they found Mica which was what they were after in the first place. The captive was stable in the APC and the other two were getting ready to do who knows what. While they did their thing, Roxanne decided to try out something she hadn’t done in a while out of boredom. With a smile on her face, she headed for the APC.
Once there, she carefully got into the APC making sure not to disturb their “guest. He was looking better already but far from recovered. With that out if the way Roxanne took a small PDA out of one of the cloak’s pockets and connected it to the radio system of the APC. Although not as skilled as many of the other farm residents, both Roxanne and Victor had discovered and joined SoA via the “darknet” and then consequently having to go through the motions of installing a custom OS on their laptops to access and use a private network system; the private darknet of SoA if you will. With the knowledge of how to do that still in her head Roxanne decided to test if she could go ahead and program the PDA in her hand to access that network and just snoop around. The antenna system of the APC would provide the necessary hardware to access it once the PDA was programmed.
It had been 8 years since the collapse of civilization and with it most of its infrastructure. Many connections to the internet had gone down with it; Wifi was no longer a thing and many LAN connections reached dead ends when specific nodes failed to relay the message. But, for those in the know how, the use of old radio towers and satellites in geostationary orbit proved to be a reliable way to do so. However, it was really slow and lots of the net had gone down. Any small site such as personal forums and blogs had went down. The social media giants and video hosting sites seemed to work but large chunks of content were missing. Still, the net lived on and with it a piece of SoA did as well.
By the time Roxanne manage to program the PDA she saw Hector preparing food of in the distance. Mica seemed to be nearby at the moment but she knew the girl could wander off at any moment. She smiled at the seemingly mundane scene after what had just happened today.
“Connection established”
“Attempting to bypass fault”
“Codex failed. Do you wish to manually alter the connection settings?”
Frustration set in at not being able to connect this damn thing to the SoA network. What were the settings again? Damn it, she wasn’t a programing expert! While this was going on, Roxanne heard the sound of wood being worked on. Hammering and other sounds joined in as she looked through the camera system to find Hector having tried to weather the storm only to fail. The wooden crosses he stumbled on now being molded into something else. Time was going rather quickly for Roxanne. Just how much longer would this take?
“Connection established”
“Connection successful. Please input credentials”
“Agent Luna online, welcome! You have 23 unread messages.”
23 messages? Huh, that was rather odd… Only one of them was directed at her; the other seemed to be general announcements. Roxanne disconnected the PDA from the APC and made her way to the fire; mostly to leave the bird alone but subconsciously she wanted company. She exited the vehicle with PDA in hand and read along while walking only to continue once she found a spot and sat down.
The messages seemed to be from on single individual. He had masked his signature; typical behaviour when sending messages on the field. This person seemed to be updating some sort of log; a log from the beginning of the cataclysm to now. Long periods of time from message to message with each containing updates from the last, an announcement of hotspots, safehouses and a puzzle that when solved would give the coordinates for a meeting. Each messages meeting time was always two weeks. The last one had been more than two weeks ago so this person must of have move on making it useless to purse. Only one more message remained, one sent directly to her.
This message was not from the same person leaving the logs; she could tell by the way the message was formated. This one was a formal invite but written with a casual tone; oxymoron aside, it was very well written making Roxanne assume whoever wrote this meant business. After being done with reading it, Roxanne gave the biggest smile she had given in a while. She noted the person who sent the message was online. After giving them a quick reply Roxanne opened her map; she erased the previous four locations marked and replaced it with this one. The PDA was then put away and Roxanne laid back with a certain satisfaction in her mind.
“Maybe things aren’t so bad after all…”
Melody was sitting quick the ways from everyone else. When solomon approached he would notice a couple thing. First, she was smoking a cigarette and the other is that she appeared to be talking to herself. Despite her aura spell easily being able to see him coming she didn’t notice from both being distracted and being a bit tired.
“Ugh...how can people smoke this?”
“Well, I heard the help with the nerves. But now, never smoked one before.”
“What?! That is just...no…”
“Well, I don’t know, maybe finding an arcane talking sword would do it?!”
It was then he heard Solomon talk to her. This took Melody by surprise as he came into view in her spell. She frantically rushed to hide the cigarette and lighter while coughing. Once that was done, she looked at him from instinct.
“I wasn’t doing anything! Noooo! Uhhh...Hi…” The words Solomon said took a bit to process but she did eventually got them. “Y-yeah, apart from the storm I am doing fine. Wait, you know my name?”
In her mind, she was already chastising herself for being so awkward. “Got damn it Mar- Melody, what is wrong with you?!” It was then she smelled the food he had brought along for her and then her stomach grumbled making her face go bright red and turning away.
“S-sorry! Just haven’t eaten in a while...I made this awkward didn’t I? I am not talking to you! Sorry! Not you, you are fine mr. uhhhh, what is your name?”
Victor noted the way Helen was speaking to him. He could tell something was bothering her but the sudden pull of sleep was getting stronger. Something foreign was at work and try as he must he failed to fight it off. He did manage to mumble something before being rendered unconscious.
“Don’t worry...I’ll be there...for you too…”
After what could’ve been 2 seconds or 30 years Victor opened his eyes. He was in a place surrounded by impossible darkness with only a light bubble to guide him. Despite his memory loss; this place seemed rather familiar; even more so, a familiar feeling overtook him as well; a sense of bliss and joy could be felt all over. In the distance far away a dim light could be seen. With nothing else to do Victor decide to follow it.
Each step, and the journey to the light itself, seemed to take both no time at all and an eternity. It was as if time itself had no meaning here and in truth it didn’t. The only way Victor knew he was making progress was due to the light getting bigger and brighter. He could now make out it’s color; it was a bright and soothing green. Once he reached the source of the light he found it came for a lamp post with a bright green flame illuminating it. This was the type used to light the streets back before electricity was common place; A relic of the past, just like this place.
“Very pretty isn’t it?”
Victor was startled by a sudden voice behind him. He turned around instinctively to reach for a sword that was no longer there and that he had no recollection of event exiting. This act confused him which only brought amusement to the voice.
“I see you are still the same despite your accident. It's good to see that.”
Now Victor paid his full attention at the source of the voice and was surprised with what he saw. A well kept man in a suit and formal hat looked back at him. It was as if he was ripped straight from a western movie; the image he gave off was more “traveling snake oil salesman” than of “important business man”. Still the man took his hat of and place it on his chest while his other hand extended to offer a handshake.
“Name is Blackjack, nice to both see you again and to meet you my old friend.”
Victor was now more confused than ever. Where was he? Who was this person? Did he know him at some point? Many questions lingered but all were said into a single one.
“What?”
After some brief introductions and assurance he wasn’t going to hurt him Victor accepted the offer from the man to be guided around. The two were now walking around seemingly endlessly in the dark.
“So let me get this straight. In my past, I contacted a myriad of spirits and entities to solve some sort of curse; you being one of those spirits. We became friends over similar ambitions and interests. Then we simply went our separate paths for a while until recently. Is that right?”
“More or less. A more detailed explanation would take quite some time but I wouldn’t mind sharing it with you some other time.”
“Uh-huh...so what are you doing here? Did you drag me here?”
“Oh no, I wouldn't be so rude as to do that. You would’ve ended here regardless of my presence. There is small disturbance going on and you were caught up in it. Nothing serious, just made you fall asleep involuntarily and dragged you here. I caught wind of this and decided to meet up with you and offer to be your guide spirit like Randael did before me. Oh, sorry, shouldn't have said that name…”
“Ok...so I am here, what exactly is ‘here’ then? Where am I?”
“This place is known to humans as ‘The spirit realm’. Cliche and unoriginal I know but so are most humans if you ask me. This place is situated between life and death and is the home to many spirits. You have been here before believe it or not; did so via an arance poison that when consumed in small doses gave hallucinogenic effects. It was dubbed the ‘spirit pill’.”
“Wait wait! Life and death? Am I in danger or something?”
“Relax, you are in no danger. That is why I am here for. That fire from earlier is my aura protecting a swath of this place for safe travels. Stick with me and everything will be alright.”
“...Guess I have no choice but to trust you for now… Anyways, where are we going?”
“We are going to a rest area. My favorite in fact. You cannot leave this place until you awake so why not have some fun in the meantime?”
“Rest area? What do you mean?”
“Ok, the correct term would be casino but not many people like to call it that. The word has been tainted by mortal too much.”
“A casino? What? Here?”
“Of course! What is a spirit supposed to do in their spare time? We don’t all just haunt the living or seek to amass power you know? Some of us just wanna have fun. I for example am a spirit of gambling so of course I like this place.”
“Uhhm, I am not sure...seems fishy…”
“Come on, drinks and game are on me. Lots of entertainment to be offered; and lost of pretty women to play around with...or men if you are into that…”
“Oh no no, I am good in that department. I am married and have a child.”
“Ah, so you do know that part then. Alright, your loss. Anyways, what do you say? Wanna play some card games at least?”
“...Fine...let’s just not get overboard...”
Famous last word. The two did indeed take it slowly at first playing some simple card games. Blackjack being what he is easily manage to score big and invited Victor to try some other things. This went from slots and roulette tables to bets on fights and other such activities. This casino was run like many others and with Blackjack spending so much money that Victor didn’t know was a thing for spirits the drinks were now on the house. With the casino pushing them to drink so much they both eventually gave in and soon enough ended up drunk beyond reasonable level. Right now they were sitting on a bar ordering more specialized drinks.
“A-and then I told her it was fine. *hic* I told her not to worry about it you know? But I could tell something was wrong… If only I had stayed awake a bit more…”
“No no no. Listen… I wasn’t yo- your fault. You were pulled here by force. She’ll understand, I am sure of it.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah, I am sure of it.”
Another man was sitting next to them. He was wearing a red hooded cloak, the same type Roxanne wore, and for arms swords took their place. The hood was down to reveal a young blonde man with a distress look on his face. It appeared he was using telekinesis to drink from the mug in front of him.
“Can you two over there keep it down? Many of us came her because of women, don't remind us of it…”
Victor and Blackjack turned around to see the man. He took downed the rest of his drink and demanded another.
“Oh really? T-Tell me my man? What is that plagues you?”
The spirit shrugged. “What the hell, maybe telling someone might help or whatever… Thing is, there is this mortal I kinda have feelings for. There is just a couple problems. First, my kind was not meant to have such emotions. Second, She is not the type to be wooed and third… Well, she is currently my master… I am two days away from retirement though. So at least I got that going for me.”
“Ouch buddy. That is rather rough… Care for some advice?”
“ *Sigh* Lay it on me, what you got?”
“Well, we don’t all choose the card we get to play with in life. What is important is what you do with the hand you are dealt. Why not give it a go?” As he said this Blackjack had summoned a deck of cards from one of his sleeves; he took out five cards and showed them to the troubled man. With a flick of his wrist the card turned into a bouquet of flowers and he handed them to the man. “Maybe this hand might do the trick?”
The and took the bouquet and shrugged again. “What the hell, what is the worst that could happen. Thanks I suppose. Magician?”
“Gambling spirit. Why keep an ace under your sleeve when you can keep the whole deck?”
The man smirked. “Nicely put, I like your style. I am just a red cloak divine spirit; and on that note. It’s soon my turn to work...oh joy…”
“Well, we too have to go soon. Good luck.”
With that exchange of words, the divine spirit stood up, placed some unusual coins on the counter and vanished in a small puff of smoke.
“Wait, we have to go soon?”, interjected Victor.
“Yes we do. Well, you have to at least. It’s almost time to wake up… just close your eyes when you’re ready.”
“B-but I am not in great shape...I will wake up drunk.”
“Don’t worry. Time means nothing here. You’ll be fine when you wake up. Maybe a headache but that’s it. Well, until we meet again my friend.”
“About that. How do I come back here?”
“Just read your journal. All the answers you need are there. You copied lots of the Trinity Codex there.”
“The what?”
“I’ll explain later. For now, close your eyes.”
Victor nodded and did as he was told. He closed his eyes and soon enough he opened them to find himself back in the cot he had slept the previous night. He stood up in place to find a still sleeping Helen. That’s when the headache came; Blackjack wasn’t kidding, he was no light weight being able to outdrink Roxanne every time but this hurt on a whole different level. It was hard for him not to groan in discomfort but he held back to let Helen sleep. On the side of his laser gauntlet was a box with a note attached to it. Victor picked up the box and read the note.
“For you and the women in your life…”
Inside the box were three items; each with a note. The first one was a simple looking black blindfold; no decorations or anything but while thin it was very dense and it was rather opaque. The note on it said: “A new blindfold for Melody. This should help filter out some of the feedback when using the spell by the farm to not be overwhelmed by information. Tell me what she thinks when she tries it out.”
The next item was a pair of bracelets. Both golden and with three red gemstone on top. The note read: “Some new blind for Roxanne. I know she is vain girl so this should be to her liking. These should help her stay corporeal without her cloak. One is imbued with divine essence for her to be corporeal and the other is an inhibitor so she can pass through walls without taking them off. Though customer to please but I feel I did a fine job.”
Finally, the last item was a little box. Inside of it were two rings; one was white with an orange gemstone and the other was black with a purple stone. Small engraving were on the side of each ring; none which Victor would recognize right now but that he did at one point. The note read: “A sun stone and a moon stone. Seems fitting don’t you think? A human life span is short, don’t waste it…”
Victor smiled at the little gift his new and old friend had decided to leave. He had to admit he was a little creeped out but at least it wasn’t looking to harm him. The items were put back in the box and he laid back on the after grabbing his notebook. He would give it a read while Helen woke up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 21, 2018, 05:11:59 am
(( Melody stuff written with Noct. ))
Hector gave a sigh as they'd soon mopped up. It was now little more than dragging corpses somewhere they won't stink up the place they were making camp in, securing supplies to load into the APC, and in the meantime checking on the avian. He gave a little wince, shield set aside and helm removed as he did a cursory examination. There were signs of healing already, RX-12 doing its work, and he decided that further care could wait for after it had taken full effect, and after he was conscious.
Soon, all that remained was sheltering from the storm, a night he feared would be a long one. He'd gathered the available supplies and did his best to cook something simple, something making rather heavy use of meat for Mica. Among the things he decided to go with, he ended up opening a couple of the cans scavenged during their trip from the moth's domain. Somewhat mild chili, chicken without beans. That left one can that was simply beef, and a couple other items he'd neglected to drop off in the Siege Tower. The rest were instead stowed in the Armored Scouter with what they found in the mall's camp, setting aside a bowl to offer Mica, and leaving the pot along with a few other items warming by the fire.
There was that brief attempt to brave the storm, managing to accomplish little. What he did manage was to knock down about half of the crosses that were immediately outside the entrance, those that hadn't already snapped in the wind and toppled over. He'd drag what he could inside, not wanting to attract people after the storm who might think they were the ones responsible. Afterward he decided to spend some of that free time to make use of the wood, pieces split and lashed together into a set of rudimentary chevaux de frise, left in the gaping hole the APC's entrance left. Two hour's work just in reach of the wind and rain, an act done more to give himself something constructive to do.
It was later on that he rested with the others, sighing as he sat by Mica. "Don't lose hope. This will pass, just as the storm will." he said softly, regarding Roxanne. The knight would need his rest eventually, knowing that Roxanne was best-suited to keep watch. But he was torn. Not wanting to sleep, wanting to be there for Mica. And for Roxanne. There was a vague sense of unease, and time with nothing to do but sit by the fire meant he was left with thoughts to dwell on.
Thoughts of recent effects, and implications that were only now starting to hit him. And he didn't want to lose his composure when others here had other things to worry about. For now he did his best to rest, trusting Roxanne to keep watch.
Solomon regarded her a bit nervously, uncertain why she had a blindfold on, but afraid the ask. He offered her the food, curious now as she scrambled to hide the cigarette. "H-hi. I know, I never thought it'd get this bad. Oh, I recall seeing you at the party, and Helen has mentioned you before. Learning faster than I am, honestly. I've kinda...wanted to join in the lessons with Victor too, just never had the chance to ask."
At her remarks, unaware of what happened with the sword, he looked away, afraid he'd offend her. "Oh, sorry! I'm Solomon. And it's fine. I'm guessing it's been a long day?" he asked.
Later on, after they both ate, Solomon decided to speak up. "So are you...sure everything's alright?" Melody just nodded at that, not even looking in his direction, though the blindfold made that obvious. “Yeah...just, had a bad trip and a friend of mine suffered the consequences...”
"Were either of you wound? I don't really have much besides first aid training and some understanding of alchemy, but...though I'm guessing you had an eye injury." he asked, concerned. “All I know is that I woke up blind and my friend lost his memories. Victor to be specific, that’s who...doubt you could help but thanks...” At this answer, Solomon lowered his head. "I see. I'm sorry...oh. That's...going to be awkward for Helen, isn't it?"
Melody’s tone changes to something more apologetic. “Oh, wait, it’s not your fault or anything. No need to be sorry! As for Helen, I would imagine so...he still has his skills but he didn’t even know who I or he was...” Solomon looked away at that, before nodding. "Hopefully they can handle that. Still, if there's anything I can do to help, just tell me."
“I will keep that in mind. Thank you and like wise. I learned quite some things in the arcane, if you need some help learning something I am glad to help!” Melody answered, and Solomon smiled some. "Thank you. Most of what I've learned until being here was thanks to my brother. Alchemical textbooks found rather early into all this, he got the hang of it and helped me try and understand it."
“I had practice before hand from a mentor. Well, did some things Helen would not approve of and that mentor did stab me in the back but hey, all in the world of the arcane huh? Then Victor teaches me one specific thing at a time, I practice it religiously and then come back to show him and find something else.”
Solomon smiled a bit. "I'm glad to have them as teachers. A mentor...no one in your, er...f-family helped?" he asked, though there was a certain discomfort in his voice, and that smile faded just as quickly.
Melody sulked back a bit. ”My parents never cared for me, I ran away at the age of 12 and ran with a gang until the cataclysm when I was 15...they became part of the Hell’s raiders so technically I was once part of them...so no, didn’t have anyone to help me before hand...”
Solomon looked away. "Mine either skipped town, disappeared, something a couple years before this all started. My brother...Joseph, was just over six years older than me. Just enough to end up taking care of things without them. I'm...sorry. You have, er. People here though, who'll do anything they can...I..." he stammered, head lowered again. "I should let you get some rest. I'm sorry for keeping you up like this." he said, standing to tend to the dishes before heading to bed.
Helen managed a smile as Victor drifted off to sleep, looking back and shaking her head. The rain and wind outside had now grown louder, enough to wake Thomas. Unaware of the compulsion that forcibly drew Victor into the realm of sleep, she was careful and calm about tending to him, later in the hour softly singing a verse from something she recalled from her childhood. Softly enough that it would be lost in the storm outside, heard only by her son and ensuring it wouldn't wake Victor.
"Þat kann ek it níunda: Ef mik nauðr of stendr at bjarga fari mínu á floti, vind ek kyrri vági á ok svæfik allan sæ."
A ninth I know: When need befalls me to save my vessel afloat, I hush the wind on the stormy wave, and soothe all the sea to rest.
Around an hour after Victor had been pulled from the waking would, Thomas was sound asleep again, and Helen soon afterward. When she awoke she could still hear the rain outside. The wind still seemed to pick up on occasion, and by no means was it calm just yet, but she hoped the worst of it was over.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 21, 2018, 05:03:34 pm
Liam had drifted off to sleep late in the night. Now his pleasant dreams swirled around him until it he was in the foyer of a large mansion. The sound of a metal capped cane tapping the ground caught his attention as a man in a black suit walked over. “Ah it’s our guest of the hour! I suppose I should go get the champagne but it appears the kitchen was misplaced..again.”
Shrugging to Liam as he received a quizzical look the man smiled meekly and said “What can I say, the house doesn’t exactly design itself in logical manners.”
Liam blinked as he started to follow the man in the suit. The man, whose hair was currently a bright shade of pink and cut in a fo-hawk with the sides trimmed close to the head, led him towards a set of large double doors. As they approached the large doors they opened by themselves and the two walked through.
The room they entered was some form of game room with tables for various different card games setup and a roulette wheel in one corner. The only table that had anyone at it was playing blackjack at the moment. Walking over and sitting down Liam nodded to the dealer as the cards were dealt.
Over the span of the night players came and went as Liam held his own. Finally though it was just him and one other player with the dealer. The other player had just lost a hand and was leaning back when he spoke in a voice familiar to Liam “You know it is a shame. What happened, what’s happening, all of it. Just a few more years and I’m sure you’d have been a proper and fully trained shaman after we returned.”
Liam raised his bet as he replied “Oh? Do I know you?”
The man looked himself over for a few moments as the hands were played and the game was finished. Finally he realized something as he said “Oh! I’ve not appeared in this form to you, just the uh..raven form.”
Turning his head to face Liam as it changed shape into that of a raven’s head. “It’s a shame about your friend Anton though, admirable man when he’s not being hot headed.” The raven said to Liam, who upon seeing this, fell backwards out of his chair and- woke up screaming in the hall. Aaron, who’d been sleeping next to him, put a hand over Liam’s mouth and harshly told him to be quiet as many of the people in the room stared at him. “Liam you’re awake now, so shut up.” Aaron hissed in Norwegian.
Liam nodded and Aaron stood up, removing his hand as he asked quietly “Another nightmare?”
Liam sat up as he told Aaron “Yeah. But..this felt too real. And the Raven he was there..”
Aaron shook his head as he grabbed Liam by the shoulder and pulled him to his feet. “It’ll be okay. Been a while since you had one of those..what was it the shaman said they were? Out of body experiences? Something like that.”
Liam agreed as he adjusted his clothes. Aaron had at this point walked out, calling Gunnar to come hunt with him while things had quieted down. Feeling something in his pocket Liam retrieved a brightly glowing stone that he didn’t recall having before noticing the note. ‘Sorry you couldnt pick yer own prize on the way out, hope this makes up for it!’ Shaking his head again he wondered just how much of a dream that had been.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 22, 2018, 06:33:06 am
Bishop Malcolm stepped lightly but quickly up the hall towards the Archbishop's suite while the storm outside raged. The building had been nice once, but a few years of tantrums and experiments by the archbishop and his magically minded underlings had reduced it to something like a rather opulant drug den. There were no drugs here of course. Just a mishmash of temperamental arcanists, mages, sorcerers, warlocks, sanguinists, and assorted other magic users all competing for the favor of the archbishop.
Malcolm wasn't competing. He was on the edge of what the others referred to as "faithless." A man teetering on the balance beam between his list for power, and his disgust at the knowledge of the Archbishop's true nature. Bishop Brynna had fallen off the edge of the faithless and defected to the Canadian front while Bishop Hanson covered for her. He had not been faithless, but he had suffered punishment as one. It was the punishment that kept Malcolm on the side of the faithful. Fear alone. It was with that fear that he opened the elegant oak double doors at the end of the final hall. The room beyond smelled of the sweet-sour tang of burnt sugar, ozone, and rotting citrus that was the Hallmark of what the master of God's Army did. The mage hunters destroyed dangerous relics. Astor, consumed them.
Astor raised the golden rod, and released it. It floated there in the air for a moment before suddenly dropping to the table. Where the rod had been a seemingly vibrant thing before, it now looked dull and ugly. It looked wasted, used up. Astor swept it aside and the rod simply crumbled at his touch, turning to dust when it's peices hit the floor.
"Archbishop sir."
"What do you want Malcolm? Can't you see I'm busy? As busy as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest I am, so spit it out already and stop wasting my time."
"A suspicious van stopped at the bridge checkpoint Archbishop. They tried to contact the mechanic to see if anyone checked out a green van, but no one's picking up and they want to know-"
"So? Fool is probably asleep on the job. Or dead. Yes, I'd say dead is very likely."
Malcolm was taken aback, as he usually was, by Astor's knowledge of what was what and his seeming indifference to it.
"If he's dead then-"
"The driver of the van is a mutant. If you head on down to the courtyard, you'll find that she's performed her own little magic trick, making some mice disappear. An oldie but a goodie. Tell them to let her through Malcolm."
"Archbishop, are you... Sure?"
"Are you questioning me Malcolm? I hope to God that's not what you are doing. I already know you are balanced on the edge of trying what that Brynna whore did, leaving like that, but don't tell me you are so stupid as to question me when I tell you to do something while being in such a delicate... State."
Malcolm went cold. He suddenly felt clammy all over, aware that he was now closer to death than he'd ever been before. Not just death, but outright nonexistence. Astor would kill him only if he was lucky.
"Y-yes arch- I mean, no! No archbishop. I just-"
"Don't worry about them Bishop, the trap will close around them. The scout has something I want anyway. I intend to collect."
Astor reclined a little in his throne, a piece fashioned for him by one of his adoring subjects. "Bishop, do you know what happens when an object containing a prisoner allows it's ward to escape? It calls it back. Two vessels, calling to one another. I promise you Malcolm, they won't make it out of Abaddon. Not carrying what's mine. Now do as I say, and let them through."
Malcolm paused and speculated, and Astor let him. Then, quietly, Bishop Malcolm turned and left. When he was gone, Astor pulled a small hand mirror from his sleeve, fashioned from a fragment of the one he'd broken, and made a pass over it. Through the mirror he watched a certain woman behind the wheel of a green van as she spoke with a watchman at the gate. He watched as another watchman came and told her she could pass. He even watched for a time as she drove on through the rain and wind and flying debris into Abaddon. To himself he seemed to be muttering.
"I see you Mikko, I see you very well." Atomos stopped the van but let it idle before getting out and sliding open the side door. The Mislings inside shrank away, expecting some trick.
"Can any of you drive?" Atomos asked. She looked up into the sky knowing full well what she would see. Clear sky, stars, the moon, and the swirling funnel of the storm. Atomos had never seen the eye of a hurricane before. The spectacle of it was awe inspiring. The immediate area was calm, unusually so, but in the distance she could still hear it. The ripping sound of a tree with shallow roots being torn up and toppled, the scree of a breaking window, and the howl of wind in empty places. Again, she asked the question.
"I can, but I don't think I can in the storm. Why?" The woman Misling asked, staring up into the eye of the storm.
"I don't know." Atomos shot back, perhaps a bit too aggressively. Her hair felt like it was standing on end, it felt as if something electric was passing through the air around them and it had her aggitated. "You drive. Keep driving until you reach a place where the people aren't wearing blue crosses. Here, take these red sashes. They'll let you get close to people who won't harm you unless you screw around. Ask their clan. If they say red skulls, tell them Atomos sent you, if it's the big smokes, tell them Jenny sent you, and if it's the Triggers, just make an excuse and keep moving."
"What about you miss?" Asked another of the Mislings.
"I don't know. Get to the refugee center if you can, red skulls or big smokes might even lead you there. Either way, you have to get there. Tell Captain Anquiano that Barrowfield stayed in Abaddon. Tell her what went down. Tell her not to send anyone after me, those jarheads couldn't manuever a mineless minefield without blowing themselves up let alone navigate Abaddon without getting caught in a man trap. Just keep going south until you get there, alright?"
"Y-yeah, we'll try."
"Don't try. Do." Atomos didn't have to wait long. Like the box truck earlier, the van was just out of veiw when whatever she was waiting for chose to arrive. A rectangular space opened up, bright like a star filled sky, and from it strode a trio of ugly creatures held back by a trio of strong chain. Then, the chains holder strode through, a warwalker carrying a weapon her brain effortlessly identified as a box fed fifty cal M2 Browning. Last came a man she recognized. The blue of his robe was a stark contrast to the white of his face, and the malevolent, humorous light in his eyes.
"Hey there Jenny, what's your story?" He said, closing the gate behind him. Above, the moon looked down like the iris of a great eye through the storm and for a moment, Atomos imagined that it had blinked at the newcomers appearance.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 22, 2018, 09:57:31 am
As it turns out, the RX-12 might've been doing it's job a little too well. The first signs of something that could be taken as the bird stirring come when one of his wings twitches, although it more seems to be from it popping back into the socket than willful movement. The next movement, however, was definitely conscious. The gentle crack of his fractured arm re-healing is paired with a sudden jerk up, and a somewhat loud squawking noise. The avian mutant takes a couple seconds to look around before noticing the lady stood practically in front of him, facing the other direction. His talons scrabble over the APC's floor as he tries to stand up but fails to get any purchase, ending up leaning against the back of a chair, wings semi-splayed out. Although his face doesn't quite show it, he's very clearly panicked.
Although, the new position he's in does make it easier to make out his overall appearance. He's currently shirtless, although it doesn't seem to matter in terms of being considered indecent, given the white feathers around his stomach and chest, blending into a lighter shade of brown as they go towards his back or shoulders. The feathers around his head, though, are a somewhat dark red, with black around his beak, which starts off with yellow and terminates in a black tip. His wings are completely black, save for a single stripe of gold going across the flight feathers on both wings. His arms and legs are also somewhat interesting, with the feathers transitioning to pale orange scales from his elbows/knees down, along with pale yellow talons tipping his fingers and toes. Speaking of, he seems to be... Lacking, in that regard, having three fingers and a thumb on his hands, and three toes plus a heel talon on his feet.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 22, 2018, 11:39:36 pm
"Where are we headed little miss atmosphere, queen of the stratosphere?" He said, striding around the warwalker and giving one of the devil hunters a stroke as he went. For a wonder, the vile creatures actually flinched away from his touch. At being called by that old title, Atomos anger grew a little. That little sing song question was one asked by her father on an almost weekly basis, poking a little fun at her back in the days when she was still young and spent more time daydreaming than studying. "Shy? C'mon now, hows Chester's littlest marine been?"
"Shut up!" She shouted, her anger flashing out. The rifle was in her hand and ready. Aimed from the hip, she wouldn't have the accuracy but from this distance she couldn't miss. The archbishops knowledge of her took her off guard and disturbed her. His willingness to bring it up for so little was what made her angry. How dare this evil man bring her father into this?
"I see. You know, there are a few people back the way you came that might wish to have a little chat, what with how you released their 'sacrifices' and killed their mechanic, a fairly well liked and reputable member of the community. Oh, and of course..." Astor flipped his hand, and the scarf was whipped away into the storm as if the eye was not in fact above them. She clutched at her ears, struggling to hide them before giving up and letting them stand free. The time of hiding was over anyway. She hadn't stuffed her tail back anyway so hiding her ears was rather redundant. "Nothing to say about that? Not even about poor Collin? Chester didn't raise a murderer di-"
Atomos raised her rifle, socking the butt in her shoulder and bracing for the shot. The Devil hunters jerked forward, held only by the chain and the warwalkers considerable strength. Astor didn't even flinch. Instead, his grin widened obscenely.
"You can try," He said, "but I'm afraid it's only misfires against me, little miss atmos-"
The dry snap of her rifle cut him off and confirmed his statement. Atomos drew the bolt and tried again, but again all the gun did was drop it's firing pin on another dud.
"Told yeh!" he cried jovially. He clapped the warwalker on the back, and even it looked uncomfortable.
"WE SHOULD GO AFTER THE MUTANTS." The warwalker boomed, "ARCHBISHOP, LET THE DEVIL HUNTERS DEAL WITH THIS ONE. WE CAN STILL CATCH THEM IF WE HURRY."
Astor scratched his chin, then said, "Nah. We'll just tell the people that they escaped and the storm took them. Their deaths mean little in the long run anyway, and they will not survive the storm. We have bigger fish to filet and fry right here." Then, to Atomos, "You have something I want girl. What if I told you that if you gave it to me, your little... Mutations, would go away?"
Atomos paused and looked to him with wonder. He was a dangerous man, and dealing with him would be like dealing with the devil. She had no doubt he could do it, but why? She felt herself shaking her head. She would like to be rid of them. Her tail that always got in the way, the ears that made her stand out in a crowd, the teeth that made talking to people hard because she knew they would stare. Still, she wasn't going to deal with this man. It then occured to her, that if she really didn't want them then why didn't she approach Dervish about having them removed? reversing her mutation? It was possible, she'd heard about the diffuser device after all.
"Too bad. I didn't let the fools keep that medallion for nothing you know. A prison always calls to it's prisoner, and the prisoner to it's prison. Isn't that right Cid?"
"I SUPPOSE ARCHBISHOP. IT IS BEYOND ME. MAGIC IS A FALLACY."
Atomos took a step back. If she couldn't fight, then she would run. She was sure she could outrun the warwalker, and perhaps even Astor himself. The devil hunters was what she worried about. They looked fast despite the sickness pulsing through them, and she'd learned enough during her time in New Bangor to know that whatever it was was virulent and deadly.
"Don't run miss atmosphere, you'll only die tired. Trust me, these little guys carry something that makes ebola look like a runny nose. Just give it over."
There was a moment of silence between them in which the sounds of the hurricane could be heard, then Atomos lifted the medallion from inside her shirt.
"No no no no, not that my sweet. You know what I want, somewhere deep down, and it isn't that empty jail cell. I want the guardian." Astor admonished. Now Atomos was really confused. Guardian? The archbishop was talking nonsense now but she felt closer to the answer of some big question than she ever had before. Again she began to step back and Astors smile widened even more. Then, it faltered. His eyes flew wide and rage filled his face. "What? Now? Bastards..." He said to himself, to Atomos though he said, "We will have to tie this little thread up later. In the meantime though, this gentleman and his pets will keep you company. Oh, and just to sweeten the deal when we next meet..."
Atomos blinked. Astor waved his hands enigmatically. Before her eyes, he seemed to grow. The warwalker too, and the devil hunters looked more like huge beasts than they had before. Likewise, the buildings and trees had grown. If things had in fact grown though, why was the ground now so close?
"Ah, now isn't that more suitable? What good is a fox if all it has is the tail and ears? Not much of a fox I think. When we next meet, maybe you'll be a bit less attached to that... what was the word the mice used? Ah yes, that 'plug.' Good luck, little vixen. Cid, catch her but do not kill her. If you kill her, the guardian will escape. Bring her back to New Bangor, alive. For now, I have some knucks to deal with."
"AS YOU WISH ARCHBISHOP."
Atomos hardly heard any of it. She had tried to speak, to demand to know what he'd done to her, but all that came out was a startled sounding shrieky little bark. There was something unfamiliar in the center of her vision, and she had the strangest feeling of being covered in something soft and warm. Atomos looked back, it seemed to be the only direction she could manage to move her head to look at herself, and saw her tail sprouting from a body of luxurious red fur. She looked up in time to see the Warwalker release it's hunters, and to see the Archbishop vanishing into his blanket of stars. "He's coming general, massive spike on the aetheric monitor. Class five lifeform approaching fast."
"Excellent, permission to use-"
"No!, for gods sakes, no!"
The field of stars opened before the column of men and machinery, blocking the progress of the Canadian invaders entering Abaddon. The man who came through didn't come alone, undead and warwalkers marched from the portal under the watchful eye of the storm. Very soon, the eye would close and leave the newly joined battle in swirling gale and pounding rain.
"Big mans here, not going to be able to-"
The distant figure pointed, and a length of the column simply exploded, lighting up the night in a holocaust of sound, light, and heat. He shifted his focus, pointing to a line of tanks and they too detonated. Their magazine's instantly combusting and sending their ordinance raining down upon the field.
"Brynna, we need to-"
"Fine! Fuck! Do it!"
"Great, activated the Nidhogg protocol."
The Midgard flashed, drawing Astors ire. He pointed to it, and the wonder of science and magic buckled. It flashed again, and then everything stopped. Somewhere beyond what is known, He from beyond the veil focused all it's attention on a central point and went into an ecstasy of rage at the rent opened in the veil. The weave of magic screamed, and so too did a certain Deus ex seated upon a certain hall near a certain farm. The midgard widened the rift, shredding the veil as it stole power from the world next door. Astor fell back, struck by the overwhelming potential energy flowing into the world through the newly opened wound in the fabric of reality. Light filled the world, and things died. The river flowing through Bangor simultaneously froze and boiled away. The air ignited around the battlefield while in the mobile command center owned by the militia, an ex Bishop focused all her will on protecting the militias men and women from the greatest perversion of magic she had helped to complete.
Astors body withered and died, the soul of it's previous owner finally allowed to flee the beast who had taken it, and the true Astor was momentarily revealed. Not Astor, but Ahz't'ur. For only a moment did they see him for what he was. A beast of otherworldly angles and mottled blue flesh. Arms reached out to try and stop the Midgard, but were pushed back. In the end, the monstrous Ahz't'ur fled, fearing that he would be sucked through the rent and lost in a world he could not feed from.
"TURN IT OFF, FOR GODS SAKE GENERAL, TURN IT OFF OR WE'LL BE LOST! HE'S GONE! HE'S FUCKING GONE! TURN! IT! OFF!"
With an anticlimactic "pop" the Midgard shut down.
"Is he dead?"
"No general, he fled. He'll probably find another body to puppet and try to rebuild his strength, but I think it will be some time. God's general, we need to clear out. That rip isn't going to just sit there and seal itself back up quickly. This area is going to become hell real quick, a second tiny cataclysm all our making."
"Agreed, we need to push through before the archbishop comes back, the Midgard is out of commission for fighting and frankly I'd rather not do that again." Daniel brought her in, a nude brown skinned woman with brightly colored hair who had suddenly fallen from the roof of the hall screaming bloody murder. Sylvia covered her up as the others, residents and those borrowing shelter for the storm, looked on.
"The weave! The veil! the magic is screaming! I am torn apart! I am wounded! I am-"
Sylvia covered her mouth with her finger, shushing her, and looked into her eyes. They were distant, blank.
"I just wanted to help the fox, help Atomos, moved them forward a little, Deus ex Machina, but they... they tore it apart... Why didn't I know? How didn't I know? Why..." she babbled. When she woke later, she would know. She would investigate. The pain would last her a week while the rent healed, but later she would know that it would close back up again. For now, Illiana writhed in the experience of agony. Mica felt an odd push against her being, and shrugged it off. Instead of paying attention to whatever it had been, she instead finished her bowl of meat stuff Hector placed in front of her. Mica didn't often eat food cooked in such a way, not to mention food with flavors above basic. Kathrine was good, sure, but Kathrine hadn't cooked for the farm in quiet some time. Despite herself, Mica sort of enjoyed the strange flavor of the spiced sauce with which the meat had been mixed. It was nice, but it didn't stop her from weeping to herself into the bowl.
"No lizard... Just chi-kun man..." She mumbled to herself while watching Hector work. When she finished her bowl, licking it clean of course, she clutched at the ATV grip and lay over on her side, taking in the faint smell and feel of it while silently watching the fire. At some point, Hector placed a spare blanket over her. It was a simple act of kindness, but it made her sadder. Dee had done that too when he was up late and she curled up on the couch, falling asleep while waiting for him. Then he would take her in, carefully lifting her and putting her on the bed, tucking her in and showing so much love and... And...
She sobbed quietly to herself, trying not to let the others see, but helpless to prevent it. The knight took her bowl and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"He'll be back." He said, not adding, "he better."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 23, 2018, 12:13:51 am
Alexei and the stranger with the screen for a face had found themselves awake before anyone else. In fact Alexei somehow doubted the stranger ever slept. Sliding a bottle of water in front of the stranger Alexei then leaned back and rubbed his eyes as he tried to get the morning grogginess out of his brain.
An appreciative (well Alexei thought it was appreciative at least) beep came from the stranger as he picked up the bottle and slid a straw into it. Drinking the surprisingly cool water he rested his head on the stump of his arm for a moment. Alexei leaned forward in his chair and grabbed a bottle from his jacket before popping it open.
The stranger set his bottle of water down as the pair sat there and grabbed his satchel. Rummaging through it he pulled a data chip that resembled the size and shape of a cassette tape. Looking at the smudged label he pondered what exactly this one contained before sliding it into the slot in his head and selecting a data section to overwrite.
Grabbing a nearby guitar the stranger strummed it a few times. Alexei leaned back in his chair as he drank from the bottle and soon found himself tapping his foot along to the stranger’s guitar playing. Soon the vodka bottle was set on the table and he started singing in english that was only marginally better than what he normally used.
Meanwhile Schultz observed the new recruits as they did PT. Surprisingly the Mislings were doing the best out of the new recruits. In fact he spotted one from his section that had ran back through half the obstacle course and was still hauling recruits over one of the walls. Schultz inspected his clipboard for a moment and made a mark next to that misling’s name. ‘McKenzie’, someone who on their first day looked to be shaping up to officer material but they’d see how long that would last.
Soon though morning PT was done and the men filtered into the cafeteria. The usual mess hall food was served as both trained soldiers and the recruits filtered down the line to get their breakfast. Schultz himself sat with a group that was comprised of regular infantry and the new Rangers special team.
The conversation was a mixture of the men talking about loved ones and the Rangers wanting to get back into combat gear and out on patrol. Schultz himself shrugged at the sentiment as he finished eating and retrieved a block of wood he’d been wittling down. The vague shape of a toy soldier had been achieved and he was now filling in the details.
He wasn’t particularly paying attention when one of the men asked him what he’d rather be doing. He knew without thinking that they were trying to get him to break the tie between the infantry that were happy to be at base and the rangers wanting to go out. He also without thinking said “I’d rather be in my carpenters apron making toys.”
The men with him were somewhat taken aback. They’d not known his history before the cataclysm, or the event as the 3rd came to call it, nor had he ever talked about what his profession had been. Instead he had led and trained most of them with military precision learned from a decade in his homeland’s military. He was mildly surprised when one of the Rangers smoothly transitioned the discussion to something else.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 23, 2018, 06:10:51 am
The opening of the rift and tapping of the veil could be felt by certain “players”. The pieces knew something greater was now at play and now their wielders and spirits needed to adjust accordingly. Not all of them knew what to do but certain plan and contingencies would now be put in motion.
“Did you send the message?”, asked a seemingly frustrated Plague.
“Done and done. I design the damn thing after all.”, Clara responded.
“Very well, that should give is assurance…”
“Why the long face? There is only five of them left.”
The battle with the nephilim was still ongoing. 25 of them were killed and 4/5ths of Plagues undead army had been wiped out as well. The rest were still outside holding the other 5 off while Plague and company seeked cover in the ruined office tower. The reinforcements were what kept it from collapsing but it looked as if it had been in the middle of a war torn nation. Rey and Clara cover Plague and Christina as they plotted something.
“That’s not it. Something else is now at play. I am being forced to play my hand rather early…”
“What do you mean? What’s going on.”
“The newly formed sword here is reacting to something. It is reacting rather poorly to it… it’s afraid… two pieces of a once mighty god are afraid of something out there… that is not a good sign… the veil, something has pierced it…”
“Wait, the viel? That ain’t good… You have a plan?”
“Of course I do. I just need you to cover me for a few more minutes. Think you can do that.”
“Are you kidding? I can do more than just cover. Just leave it to me boss.”
Clara on the other hand was a bit concerned. She noted the power of these spirits and how the undead forces had gone down. Some of them had been raised 20 times now and most of them were rendered incapable of being raised again. The explosion from earlier damaged the tower and took down a good chunk of the undead. She would defend as best she could given there was no other choice. The storm had calmed down as had the battle but the toll was raising.
“Hey, Plague, I think we could use some undead reinforcements right here…”, Clara stated nervously.
“Don’t worry, I am on that too…” The sword of coalescence started to shift into various colors until it settled into a bright blue. Plague smiled under his mask for he had found what he was looking for. “Clara, I am activating the sleeper protocol.”
Clara stopped what she was doing and shifted her attention to Plague. “What?! Now?! We just got here a few days ago! Come on, give it some time…”
“A few days and yet we have been hunted, our base almost destroyed and a power beyond our own has accessed the veil… No, this will be done. Once this is done, you are to help secure the connection.”
Clara reluctantly focused her attention back to keeping the nephilim out of the tower. “As you wish. Hope you know what you are doing…”
Victor was reading his journal when he reached a rather interesting bit. It was titled, “The convergence and you.” He was about done with the chapter but he felt there was some context he was missing; something his memories now lost would’ve answered.
He spoke softly as he read. “...And if left unchecked the convergence will take hold. There is nothing us humans can do but to take cover and weather the storm. Here is some tips in case it happens to you…”
Suddenly there were screams. Helen jolted awake and seemingly wasted no time in getting up and rushing towards it. Victor dropped the journal and quickly put on his laser gauntlet. He was about to ask Helen was the hell was that but she was already out of the room. Something was odd. An odd feeling lingered. Then something catched his eyes; it seemed Helen had dropped a strange medallion on her way out; he didn’t pay attention when that happened as he was making sure the gauntlet would activate.
Melody too had heard the screams but she had already been wake by then. She didn’t pay any attention to them for she was seemingly arguing with herself for an outsider's perspective.
“You are scared? Weren’t you the one boating great power? What? How was I supposed to know?! And what could I possibly do? I am blind! Huh, is he know… Yeah, I can feel it too… You sure? Yeah, Roxanne is out and the storm is making things a mess. Victor? I can see if he is not busy… Alright...I will trust you on this one, like I have a choice…”
She made her way to where Victor and Helen were taking residence for the night. Oddly, she sence Helen rushing towards something. She sensed danger in that direction so she opted to continue the course. When she got there she felt Victor quite uneasy as well. The silhouette that revealed in her spell was the same when the awoke from the attack in the sanctum; he was aiming his laser gauntlet at her. He lowered it as soon as he saw who it was.
“Thank god it’s just you Melody...something weird is going on… Helen rushed out to who knows were I guess I am holding out here for know.”
“Yeah, something weird is going on...Hey, can I ask you for something?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“I know you have lost your memories but you were the resident expert when it came to these things… Uhhm, it has been talking to me; it says its scared. It wants the sword of the void…”
“Huh, that’s very… strange… Maybe we can find something in my journal.”
“Victor...the sword of the void is what hosts Roxanne...the sword I have says you are no longer it’s wielder...worse...the sword of the void has gone ‘rogue’...”
Those words, Victor did not know what they meant but it shook him to his core. Something really bad was going on and if he could find a solution then might as well give it a shot. “Sit down and explain it thoroughly. Don’t skim anything, not matter how trivial… Let’s see what I can find…”
Roxanne was checking some random readings in the APC to see if anything had change in SoA’s intranet. Nothing yet it seemed; same messages as before and no response. Suddenly she felt weird. A sudden urge overcame her to hold her sword. Touching it brought along a sense of emptiness; something was missing. The it spoke to her; what is said did not matter, it was why it spoke that did.
A sinister smile overcame Roxanne, she let go of the sword still in its scabbard and looked around; she looked at herself, specially her hands. For the first time since becoming a spirit she felt different; she felt alive.
There wasn’t much time to take in the feeling; something else catched Roxanne’s eye. Their avian rescue target moved for a bit. Roxanne found this particularly odd but dismissed it as the meds kicking in. Then he moved again, this time deliberately. Roxanne turned around to find him struggling to stand up only for him to end up back up on the back of a chair. She gave him a sympathetic smile before speaking up.
“Now now, don’t go moving around so harshly. Why don’t we take a look and see if anything needs patching up hmm? Don’t worry, I am not going to hurt you; I have had practice with bandages.”
She went and grabbed some bandages that had been looted from the dust covered town. Roxanne then went ahead and slowly approached the bird mutant. However, something was off; Roxanne suddenly felt rather sleepy...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 23, 2018, 07:34:08 am
His chest hurt. As did his ribs, his arms, his legs, and his head, but his chest hurt the most. Like a vice. There was an incredibly loud thumping sound. Was that his heart? His breathing got faster. The person was walking towards him, saying something he couldn't hear over his own heartbeat. How could they hear anything over it? The clicking of his talons on the APC's floor stopped suddenly as the somewhat unnaturally sharp tips catch on a lip in the metal, leading to him propping himself up on the back of a chair instead of sitting against it. The mutant grips the back of the leather seat, claws digging into the material and poking small holes in it. The person was blocking the exit. He swallows heavily, wings closing up against his back, as he stares right past Roxanne. Outside.
There was a gentle click as he grouped all of his fingers together, making his talons into a sort of cinquedae-style 'knife'. The leather seat's back was a good springboard. He brought his hand up, stabbing towards the spirit's side, as he quickly passed her. He didn't check to make sure he hit, or even moved her at all, before he scrambled out of the APC's door, gasping for air. Against any better judgement he had, he just laid there, curled up into a ball, clutching his chest. Everything hurt more than it did before.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 23, 2018, 10:57:33 am
Hector had an uneasy rest despite how readily he slept in normally. Between his recent worries and having yet to actually spend a night in his plate armor, the end result was him being up earlier than he would usually. He did a quick check of the area and to ensure Mica was still before making his way over to the APC, bringing some still-warm food in. He wasn't even sure what the avian could or preferred to eat, but he stuck with some cooked greens taken from the camp's supplies, simple flatbread, and cured wild game. Deer, if he recalled. The chili had already been mostly eaten by Mica overnight, and given it was chicken he wasn't sure if such a thing would seem distasteful to the mutant.
On seeing the avian all awkwardly sprawled out, he gave a wave to both Roxanne and the now-conscious mutant. "Glad to see you're awake. Go easy though, you looked in rough shape an-" He stopped, giving a blank stare under the great helm. "Though from the looks of things, I'm guessing she went with less conventional treatment. In that case, still. Take it easy, you'll likely still be sore for a while afterward." he said calmly, removing his helm.
However, he soon noticed two things were off. First, he thought he saw something faintly glow from inside the driver's compartment. Second, Roxanne seemed at first to be acting a bit off momentary. "Roxanne? Are you alr-"
And then the avian lunged at Roxanne, practically right through her and out the door of the APC. He was glad he had only been at the doorway as the avian rushed right past him, but a moment later he knelt by the avian, grabbing at him. "What the hell are you doing? You could killed her." he said, glowering down at the mutant. There was a certain restrained anger in his voice, and his other hand had that shield off to the side. He found himself struggling to calm himself, and that grip went from a careful yet firm hold to a hand simply set on the avian's shoulder.
Soon he grumbled, laying the shield down and retrieving some bandages from his drop leg pouch to tend to the avian, looking back to Roxanne with a worried look hidden under the helm.
Helen was shocked to her senses by two things. First, the shouting of someone familiar, of Liam screaming bloody murder. That alone was enough to have her rushing out of the cabin, symbol of judgement in hand. Then, just as abruptly, two things happened. The first was a sudden searing pain in the hand holding her symbol of judgement, forcing her to drop it. The second was another figure screaming, a feminine voice only vaguely familiar to her.
By the time she was in the Hall, Solomon had already been jolted awake and was now trying to help tend to Illiana, utterly unaware of who she was or what she was rambling about. The sight however made Helen's blood run cold, donning and activating her mask. Something else drew her attention instead. Far north, a light pierced the darkness that marked the limits of her mask's sight range. It was brilliant and terrifying in ways that made her go still immediately. During zero day, horrid flashes of this light from beyond pierced the limits of their masks, from all around. And for the first time in over 7 years, another such great wound in The Veil had been torn open.
"I'll explain who she is in a moment. Daniel, Solomon, your masks. Put them on and tell me what you see." Solomon hastily complied, stumbling back a bit. "Wha...I can see something, but it's that...aren't you supposed to be unable to see past..." he stammered, trailing off into stunned silence.
"The woman here is a spirit of sorts, a mediator. A celestial bureaucrat if you will. And a meddler, it seems..." she said softly, kneeling as she clasped Illiana's hand. "By Odin and The God in Three Persons both, what have you done..." she said softly.
It was then that the Deus Ex's ramblings sparked murmurs among a few of the others there. Sergei was the one that spoke up. "Atomos is...lady from the center, right? What..." he said softly, and Helen picked up her radio. "Quinn? Quinn, if you're alright and reading me, I need you to pick up a mask of insight and use it, if you have one. Confirm what we're seeing from here..." she said, while Sergei stood up, walking towards where Illiana was. "You. Explain. What happened with fox."
Helen meanwhile sighed a bit at this, shaking her head as she went back out to where Victor and Melody were. "I'm sorry if I scared the two of you. Something's going on. There's another wound in The Veil. A fresh one, far to the north."
Elsewhere, a figure watched from its little staging point, a little nest where it surveyed a world far from its own domain. Now something had drawn its ire in full. Another massive gash in The Veil. For but a moment, there were multiple beings watching the scene unfurl.
The beast was on the winds, drifting as it fled one of the few things that actually threatened it. No body to bind it, and for a moment the watcher wished he could afford to project more of his power, but to force more of himself through and combat a vulnerable foe directly would endanger his own realm, and worsen the fabric of The Veil. Worse, the radiance of this wound was nearly as bright as zero day. He could barely gaze beyond it for the moment, let alone risk taking any drastic actions
Instead it watched, knowing that the wound in The Veil would mend to a degree, given time and careful ministrations. As he observed, it brought a certain morbid amusement to him. Mortal hands struck a blow against the enemy. Not only that, but a bishop, the "archbishop" having engineered the very threat it faced. He also remembered a similar mistake he made. Just over three thousand years ago, in his own domain, mortal hands had been gifted with a fragment of his power, manipulated to serve his plans in that era. The thing known in this realm as The Archon was the consequence of this misstep.
He knew that one was watching too, though it lacked the presence in this realm that he had, a foothold gained over the past few decades. His current plans pertained to things he suspected would cause dire consequences for all realms affected by these wounds in The Veil. He feared this would only make the consequences of that plan's failure more severe, but that could be dealt with.
For now, He From Beyond The Veil watched, content to only take whatever actions would prevent the absolute worst outcomes from happening. In time, laughter would follow the cry of rage.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on April 23, 2018, 11:41:35 am
Quinn picked up, "I don't have one, sor-" Something began to wirr from inside one of Quinn's cabinet. He got up and grabbed a small black and white box with a speaker, an LED, and an antenna. The green LED flashed rapidly, the small device wirred and clicked. It reminded him of when it all started, the device was sitting in a desk drawer. He was working on something, couldn't remember what it was. But he remembered the noises. Quinn picked the radio back up, "...interesting, assuming whatever you're seeing is what caused this to go off...?"
In the morning, Nell, Alberto, and the various survivors they'd hunkered down with had started to wake up, preparing breakfast while Alberto and Rodriguez kept watch. Nell meanwhile had been inspecting the vehicles to ensure they'd be in working order. The jeep first, being the most familiar with it, then with Rodriguez's permission a quick once-over of his old TPD squad car, and the van. When she got to the point of checking up on the truck, she stopped as realization hit her. "Hey Rodriguez. A lot of the God's Army vehicles we've ran into and managed to capture have had a tracking setup on them. Did you guys find anything like that on this one?"
Rodriguez looked back to her as she asked, giving a concerned look. "One of the others mentioned that it might be a concern, but they weren't sure where to look for it. Storm at least buys us time, but getting rid of it before then would be good." he remarked. At this Nell nodded some. "I can tell you what they tend to look like and where they usually put them, and if you know anyone that'd be good help with that it should be a lot easier to remove."
"Alright. I'd suggest Reyes and Johnny then. Reyes has been the one fixin' up the vehicles the most, and Johnny's good with electronics." he suggested, Nell nodding at that as she went over to ask the two. "Hey Johnny, Reyes. Rodriguez said you'd be the best to help with removing any trackers on the truck. They usually hide them in the same couple of places, so knowing that it should be easy between the three of us." she offered.
Reyes nodded at that. "Aight. You know where to look, y' said?" he asked, and Nell nodded. "Usually wound up assisting the main person at the center in charge of disabling the trackers when we've captured their vehicles." she answered. "Alright. I gave it a basic peek under the hood and the undercarriage when Brian told me about the trackers, but didn't really have time to take the old bitch apart. Guess the storm's made time for us."
"Lot easier than that actually." she answered, soon leading the way over to the truck. The obvious place, where the center had found a lot of the trackers, was in the door compartments. That it wasn't in there was readily apparent. The next place was the center console's storage, found to be empty, and Reyes additionally helped undo a few screws to check that it wasn't more carefully hidden under the storage itself.
It was when they checked the glovebox that they found what they were after. The glove compartment itself had only the usual items stashed in it, but Nell poked around a bit to peer into the space behind it, and right in front of the cabin filter she saw a dim red LED light, only easily seen when she had the glovebox light off to see behind it more clearly.
Reyes rather easily managed to remove the glovebox to expose it, a small black box with a couple switches, and an LED display besides the power indicator light that confirmed it was set to tracking mode, along with a number displaying mileage traveled on the current trip, and a battery charge meter.
"Alright, main thing for now is to be careful not to hit the switches here. Batteries in them usually last a good while, so if it flicks off they'll likely guess we found it." she explained. This time it was Johnny who assisted, calmly helping to unscrew the brackets holding the device in place and removing it, double-checking for any wires attaching it to the vehicle. As Nell was expecting, there were none. Nell simply laid the device down on the concrete directly underneath the truck itself. "Just make sure the driver doesn't back over it when we're heading out." she added.
By now, however, the storm had at least wound down a little bit, rain and wind still strong well into the morning, yet at least the debris was no longer flying freely as it once had. Rodriguez hmmed a bit as he stepped out, looking around. "Could probably make a break for it. They might not come out in this unless the tracker's out, so we either should do so before they catch up, or buy ourselves a head start, depending on if they can get the tracker out without it cutting out."
They took time to finish breakfast before packing things up, Nell directing the driver who backed the truck out to ensure they'd leave the active tracker behind. The other vehicles soon pulled out into the rain and carefully made their way out into the street, to continue on their way. As Alberto drove, Nell picked up the radio to report to the center. "Sargeant Nell Branham here. Making ready to leave, progress may be slow due to the weather. Seems like the worst is over though." she said, pointedly not specifying that they were already outbound, careful about what she said over the radio despite using what was supposed to be a secure channel.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 23, 2018, 01:47:25 pm
Liam had at this point gathered himself and was speaking with Eino about things of little import. He hadn’t felt or realized there was a wound in the veil. More of the energy that he usually expelled while breathing gathered and swirled around his head. As he talked he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his neck and reached a hand up as Eino took a step back.
Looking over his shoulder he found that he was out in the woods in the pouring rain. Looking around he wasn’t quite sure where he was and reached for his axe to find it wasn’t on his belt. It dawned on him what had just happened as he opened his bag and rummaged through it. Failing to find the potion he thought he’d left in his bag he sighed and started walking.
It wasn’t long before he heard a somewhat familiar voice say “Hey kid, need a place to weather the rest of this shit?” Turning Liam spotted a man wearing a grey leather coat and jeans carrying a small handful of laminated paper. “I uh..I was supposed to hand out invitations but even the boss thinks it wouldn’t be good to do that in this weather.”
Liam, after a few moments thought, agreed and followed the man. “I’m Liam, and thanks for this.” The man shrugged as he said “I’m Gregory and its no problem. The house always likes to have guests. After the storm I’ll take you back home to, you live in the Hall right?”
Liam nodded as they approached an old and rather antiquated building. “Sorry about that, he’s not expecting guests.” Gregory said as they walked towards it. Liam almost panicked when he saw the house shift and change into a much more elegant form. This would be an interesting night he figured as he stepped through the doorway.
Meanwhile Eino looked around before sighing. Liam was his responsibility and now the kid had teleported himself to Odin knows where. Grabbing his gear Eino wondered if he should wait out the rest of the storm or go. Looking around he could see Charles entertaining the kids that were in the building with Steinar and Salazar and decided not to bother him. For now he would wait it out he thought, better to wait until the worst blew over.
Elsewhere Blitz and the misling had climbed out of the purifier hideout and returned to their fellows during a lull in the storm. They welcomed him back and explained the presence of a group of mercenaries. They needed to weather out the storm and everyone had agreed not to fight. Now they were all gathered speaking of their homes and families while several of the men cooked a meal.
Blitz himself sat down with one of the mercenaries and inquired what they did. He found out they were transporters, pay them enough and they’ll move whatever you want. These guys were moving a shipment of weapons to a depot for further transportation to its destination. Handing the man a beer Blitz and him fell into talking of their old homeland of Germany. Neither of them knew what had happened there but they shared stories of their childhoods.
_____________________________________ Amelia brushed her teeth inside the house as it grumbled about the weather. Spitting into the sink she grabbed a glass of water and rinsed her mouth before telling the house “Ya know if’n you don’t like hosting for spirits maybe don’t do it again. I get they’re the only one’s who’d come in the storm but if you hate it that much.”
She rolled her eyes as it grumbled about how bored it had been over the past few months, how it needed that little night of fun despite the annoyances. Grabbing a pair of jeans she wondered when Gregory was going to be back. The answer came a bit suddenly as she found herself dressed in a blue leather jacket and black jeans with a happy humming in her head from the house. Looking out the window she spotted Liam and Gregory approaching.
Smiling as the house jittered about having a guest, a repeat one at that, Amelia walked down the steps as Gregory led Liam inside and set the laminated invites aside. She was somewhat surprised the house wasn’t changing them into some silly costume or such..especially considering it had developed a bit of a fascination with the Friday the 13th movies as of late. Waving as Gregory led Liam into a large living room Amelia went to find the kitchen, that was if it wasn’t somewhere inaccessible again, and get something for their guest.
With a few short directions from the house she quickly found and grabbed a premade meal for Liam and a bottle of wine. Retracing her steps to the foyer and then into the living room she handed Liam the warm meal with a smile before grabbing a chair. “‘Ello I’m Amelia! Happy to meet you.”
Liam swallowed his mouthful of eggs before saying “I’m Liam, pleasure to meet you.” with a cheery voice. He set the plate of eggs to the side to shake her hand.
She shook her head as she looked over at Gregory adjusting wires as he tried to get a tv hooked up to the dvd player. “We got a gentleman here Gregory.” she said as she picked up a couple of wine glasses and set them out. He looked over his shoulder as he shot back “Oooh, is he a smooth talker to?”
Amelia cocked an eyebrow at Liam as she said “I don’t know, is he?”
Liam blinked for a moment before deciding to try. “Ma’am I cannot believe the gods would grant a single woman such beauty. Were I an artist I would spend eternity trying to emulate it and never match it for how could one match perfection?”
Amelia had poured the glasses of wine and now looked at Gregory and said “I’ve never heard that one I’ll give him that.” Gregory rolled his eyes as he said “Women, they just can’t handle the truth.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 23, 2018, 10:33:11 pm
Illiana writhed a little, wavering half in and half out of lucidity. While out on the roof, she had felt the pull of her untapped power. When that pull came, she was helpless to do anything but obey. After, she'd watched and when the Midgard did what it had done, she experienced a new emotion. Surprise. Somehow she, the omnipotent bureaucrat, hadn't known about the Midgard's capability. More than the wound to her being, which felt like a knife plunged into her gut, the wound to her confidence was vast. She should know absolutely everything but if she didn't know about this, what else didn't she know about?
Someone was holding her hand, and the contact brought her back a little. "What? I didn't do anything. I didn't... I moved them. I sped them along, but I didn't know about their machine." The large russian man she recognized as being the one who'd seen her in a rather compromising position before was asking questions, and here things got dangerous. As if any line of questioning at this time wasn't dangerous. "Atomos escaped Gods Army and let someone escape. They would have been caught for sure if not for me, I could have ensured Atomos as well, but she stayed behind to distract their pursuers. Such is the way of heroes and heroic deeds. So I sped the canadians along, a simple change here and there, changing where certain obstacles settled so that they reached Abaddon sooner than they should have. Atomos was saved from The Eater of Days, but the veil... and..."
She shook her head, making a pained squeek when she tried to adjust her position. Sylvia gave her a little tea, normal stuff, not the divination kind used a few days before. Illiana went on.
"Atomos er... I cannot say. It's not that I don't want to, just that I'm not allowed to. Let us say that she has a, uh, journey of discovery to undertake. There's only one more thing I can do for her..."
Illiana's eyes went blank and for a moment, the her body seemed to take on the properties of some kind of lifelike doll, then the life filled them again. After, she tried to call up something to make her feel better, a little vanilla maybe, but she couldn't do it. The wound to her being was too great. For now, she was as powerless as those around her. She wondered when she'd be back the way she was. Her little paws carried her on, the devil hunters in hot pursuit. She couldn't believe how her rather simple escape plan had gone. Near disaster, to certain catastrophe, to an absolute tragedy. He'd changed her, somehow he had changed her. Atomos was now in an ecstasy of horror at her predicament. If she escaped, how was she going to go back to normal? Was this her life now? How was she to survive like this? She had gone from being a human with a few fox features which she saw as embarrassing deformity, to being a fox. She sped up the sidewalk and over a lawn, cringing internally at the crash of a garbage can being toppled.
"This way Mikko! This way!" Said a high pitched excited voice. With her enhanced senses, she knew instinctively that it had come from the low fence between two suburban houses. She ran for the fence and tried to hop it, but it was too high.
"No no, under! Go under!" Said the voice, just the other side of the fence. Atomos got the impression of golden eyes on the other side, but she found the space between two boards where one of them had split and fell away. Squeezing through was easy, but behind her as her tail cleared the gap, the fence was hit with the weight of one of her pursuers. It wouldn't hold for long, but that didn't matter. Already they had scaled it and were about ready to pounce. Down the alley, she saw the bright brush of another fox vanishing into the bushes. There was no time to consider, Atomos went in after it. The other fox urged her on and on, her own new instincts keeping her from being slapped by small branches or pricked by thorns.
"This way Mikko!" the other fox cheered, "This way! This way! This way!" On and on until they suddenly stopped. "Okay! Safe now! Safe for now! I'm Cheena, but you aren't Mikko!"
Atomos was taken aback by the energy of the obviously young vixen. "I... No, I'm not. I'm Atomos. How are you talking like that?"
"Eh? You're funny. I talk to you like this! I thought you were Mikko. Mama always told us stories about Mikko, they were my favorite!"
"Who's Mikko?"
Cheena looked at her like she was dumb. "Mikko! Duh! Are you a dumb dumb? Silly dumb dumb! Everyone knows who Mikko is! Mikko and the wolves is my favorite!"
Atomos sat, trying to take it all in. Trying to sort this whole crock of new troubles. First, she had narrowly escaped death at the hands of Archbishop Astor, though not before he had cursed her... or something. Now, she was a fox running from creatures that would likely track her and this new... person, to their current hiding spot.
"You smell like that lady from before, she was Mikko, I'm sure of it!"
"W-what?"
"She had a tail and ears and she smelled a little foxy. But foxes aren't humans! I followed her around because I thought she would change! Mikko is a master trickster! She can change her shape to trick others!"
It clicked. Against all odds, Atomos had been saved for a second time by the fox she had narrowly avoided running down on her way here. Like meeting someone on the bus to work, then meeting them again a few days later at the store. It was all just too much, so Atomos quietly put her aching mind on autopilot, and went along with her excitable savior as the storm closed back in on them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 23, 2018, 10:52:09 pm
Roxanne noticed something was off with the bird mutant but once again attributed to nervousness from what he had been through. Being abducted wasn’t fun; she would know. It was too late when Roxanne noticed the avian launching at her with high speed. Her instincts were to dodge but he was too quick. The act made her stagger and sit down on one of the seats. A quick sigh was her only reaction as she stepped outside to go after him only to find him on the ground cowering with Hector next to him. Roxanne looked at Hector up and down as if sizing him up. Her face then showed an expression of both disdain and approval before returning to normal and her attention going back to the mutant.
“I told you not to move so harshly...now I bet it must really hurt doesn't it? Let me patch you up at least?”
It was then Roxanne noticed something off. There was a sort of discomfort on her left side. Roxanne stopped advancing forwards and pressed on the discomfort instinctively. When she took her hand to look at it she noticed there was blood on it.
“Huh… weird, that isn’t supposed to happen…”. Roxanne said seemingly nonchalantly. Then the pain hit. It was as if it would not take hold unless she noticed the wound. Yes, the bird had dug in three sharp-curved talons into her side essentially stabbing her. She gave a series of small screams of pain and discomfort.
“Ok, that hurts...wait, it hurts? Oh...that isn’t supposed to happen either.”
Roxanne looked around and noticed the sharp talons of the avian still covered with her blood. She didn’t understand why when previous injuries were dry. Then she looked at Hector and could tell worry was manifesting.
“Don’t worry about me. I am fine. Just stings a little. Tend to the VIP and make sure he is bandaged to prevent further injury… I’ll take care of myself.”
She picked up the bandages and then slowly walked back to the APC to sit on the door frame. Slowly she place some bandages over the wound which stopped the bleeding but the pain still lingered.
“You see? All better…”
Victor and Melody had been working on possible cause for the sword’s attitude and what it meant about Roxanne. It had made a suggestion of it’s own Melody favored but Victor wasn’t too sure about. It was the only one they had at the moment and finding another would both take time they didn’t know they had and angered the sword some.
“I still don’t get it…”, Melody commented, “So you are saying there needs to be a catalyst?”
“Yes, this didn’t happen on it’s own.”, Victor responded, “It seems the sword knows but it isn’t telling you huh?”
“It says its worried you might see it as weak...seriously? This is what this is about? Now you shut up!”
It was then that Helen came in. She announced the wound in the veil and both Melody and Victor went pale.
“That would be the catalyst then and would explain that odd feeling I had a while back...:”, Melody whispered.
“Weird feeling?”, Victor asked.
“Yes, over there.” Melody pointed in the direction of the phenomenon without moving anything else. “Tune your spell to focus on spectral fields...you can’t miss it…”
Victor was a bit reluctant but did as Melody instructed. What he saw had him in awe. “That’s not good...we might have less time than we thought we did…”
“Yeah,...should we tell Helen about the plan?
“I think we have too. Go ahead and tell her Melody…”
Melody hesitated for a bit before addressing Helen directly. “Victor and I have a plan. The sword seems to agree. Hope we could have your blessing on it... But you might not like it... I was thinking on me giving up the sword, fusing it with the sword of the void and find an adequate wielder asap. It will keep the effect on the pieces at minimum and we only have to worry about one person… This is the only solution we have right now. We would first need to find a wielder and then have Roxanne agree before we can do anything…”
Victor then interjected offering the a caveat. “But as Melody said. We wanted your input. If you think it’s too dangerous then we are willing to step back and think something else. We would just need time that we might not have… So, what will it be?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 23, 2018, 11:35:33 pm
Hector looked down at the avian only to look back at Roxanne. "What...Roxanne, you're..." The fact shocked him. Worse, outright terrified him, though his expression remained hidden by the helm. "Yes, please. Tend to that immediately, I don't know what else might happen." he said, before he'd start carefully working on the avian's injuries.
"You need to be careful. Please. We aren't your enemy. You're not only liable to hurt someone else, but also seriously injure yourself." he said calmly, bandaging the wounds before carefully lifting the avian up, carrying him along to a space in the more open expanse of the mall, where the firepit was. "There we go. Space set up out here for you, just rest, okay? Another hour at most and the rain should be calmed enough we can make a break for it." he said. "The last thing I want is those God's Army pests finding us sitting around here."
An answer, something from Quinn, made Helen give a sigh. "What'd you find? From the looks of it, that's three so far seeing a single wound in The Veil. Far north. We've seen worse on zero day, but..."
Sergei looked at the spirit with a wary eye, mumbling something in Russian. The meaning of it wouldn't escape the ears of a Deus Ex. How in the hell did one person cause this? Even with Helen's explanation it was hard for him to fully grasp the implications without time to let it sink in.
The Russian shook his head as he turned to head towards the door, prompting a concerned plea from Sammy. "What are you doing? It's still going strong out there." she asked, and Sergei sighed. "They're going to want to know this. We can't just radio it in." he said. "It'll have to wait, like it or not." she said, grabbing him by the shoulder and practically dragging him back over.
Elsewhere, Solomon was there at the strange woman's side as well. Looking up only to blink. Last time he saw, Liam was there, and now he'd vanished. "Where did...γαμώτο..." he grumbled to himself.
Helen listened to this, sighing and surveying the area as the rain ran off her cloak. This was the first time Victor would see her with that mask on, and just as abruptly the shift of metal as it returned to its inactive state. "That's not a good sign, but. I have an explanation at least." she said, gesturing to Solomon to come over to them. "She said it was something that happened during a battle with God's Army. Something about cannucks, to quote her. So, up near Canada."
With Solomon asked to go back to keeping an eye on Iliana, leaving the three with some privacy again, Helen sighed a bit. "That would be an absolute last resort. I don't know how any way just yet to split the pieces, and it might kill Roxanne. The former means that's one less step before they're united, and..." she trailed off a bit.
"The consequences could be extremely dangerous. It could restore things, or it could make things worse. And if this rift adds more instability..." she said, sighing a bit. "We must find a way to buy ourselves more time. There's something I wanted to tell you Victor, before your memory loss." she said, gesturing to the symbol left on the ground. "When we fought Randael, I made use of rites I learned from studying a book my order once forbid. Oaths to The Chalice. The act attracted the attention of something who, from all I've seen, can be trusted in their claim that their objective is the balance of The Veil." she said.
"I'm reluctant to do this, but I suspect this may give a way to buy that time. The symbol of judgement reacted to this event, and if he was not the cause..." she said, then looked to Melody. "I was also able to maintain a seal on the sword of despair while it was in Roxanne's possession. That gives us one less thing to worry about, but the thing is...the wielder most likely needs to work with the spirit for it to work. I suspect I could only do so become Roxanne was willing to allow the sword to rest. It needs to understand that the consequences of uniting now are potentially dangerous." she said.
"For now though, one way or another we can't do much except remain vigilant, explore anything that might be able to contest the magic of a piece, and always be ready to face whoever else is out there seeking to unify them." she said.
Along a difficult path on Mount Katahdin, where the two Appalachian Trails met, a survivor watched the storm. According to most people, the mountain range was no place for survivors. Only the passes were worth the risk, and even then monsters from beyond infested every ridge.
Few braved the danger. There were rumors that the trailhead had become relatively safe now, though it meant little as neither of the most useful mountain passes in Maine were near it. Only the desperate and insane ventured here. The former formed a small community of mutants and cyborgs in what was still arguably God's Army territory, a place of respite on the journey to Canada. Even then anywhere but here was considered better. God's Army, meanwhile, was occasionally the latter.
Sometimes it was the otherworldly monsters, bodies marked with countless glowing white symbols. Other times it was a host of corrupted, mutated insects, marked in the same manner. Any interloper that disturbed the peace or attacked travellers at the foot of the mountain risked the ire of an unknown watcher.
He was a hermit of sorts. Indeed, in the classic sense that was exactly what he was. But he never prayed. Not in about 6 years. He had learned many things through his faith, and still applied these principles to tend to the mountain, but no longer did he pray to his god. No longer did he drink from the chalice or present burnt offerings through it. The holy symbol, both a tool and the emblem of an abandoned oath, had been laid to rest in a small display case by his bedside.
Instead he hunted, by bow and by spear, the latter wreathed in chitinous decoration. The great army of vermin, once used by the faithful as a metaphor about uplifting the lowly and poorest of all, was the work of this spear. So too did mundane arrows and a magical lance provide everything he needed. He knew which monsters that stalked the Trail were precious as a source of game, and which provided the essence that sustained his magic, no longer using the old holy rites.
Every so often when he used the spear to replenish the army that warded the mountain, his control lapsed a little. Rather than the chitinous beasts, mere flies seemed to coalesce out of whatever distant area of Earth they were pulled from. He remembered a high priest, who was practically a father to him, explaining that it was rarely the user's fault. Sometimes fluctuations in The Veil meant some other form of vermin was found instead. He tried again. The same result. Again, and then a fourth time. Flies and gnats hovered all about now, and they too were afflicted by his spell, circling protectively yet uselessly.
He was about to break his self-imposed vow, to never again speak the name of He From Beyond The Veil. Then, all at once, he was surrounded by a cloud of embers. Every last one of the tiny little insects went up in otherworldly flames. Outside, the chitinous horde writhed in searing pain. They would survive this at first, but many of the giant insects would fall ill and perish over the week, and the next month would be a frenzy to replace the losses. He dropped the spear of pestilence, but not out of shock.
No, it was because it felt like the whole length of the spear had been set alight in his grasp. Neither the embers nor his spear would set flame to anything, but it was a clear warning that something was wrong.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 24, 2018, 09:59:47 am
They moved along quickly, Atomos and Cheena, the latter leading through the winding network of underbrush and buildings. Like Mica, Cheena knew that the storm would serve to break up their scent trail and at least slow up the trackers for awhile. As for Atomos, she was approaching that stage where disbelief turns into either anger or a dream like numbness. Her brain felt dazzled trying to wrap itself around what had just happened to her. One of the larger things that kept crossing her mind was that if she was an animal now, why did she still think like Atomos?
"Because you were always an animal." Said the little voice inside her, "All people are animals, humans have just lost touch."
Cheena was still talking to her, but she'd missed most of it. Little day to day life things that sounded surprisingly similar to the lives of regular people. Atomos resolved, numbly, to try and stop thinking of humans as "normal people." Or to at least consider widening her world view a bit, if she ever managed to get back to normal. At the moment, Cheena was babbling about some Tod she had her eye on, but didn't have his eye on her and wouldn't Atomos maybe give her a blessing, just in case she was this "Mikko" but didn't know it, and just bye the way, what was she doing out in this place where the Metalmen and Bigrats stalked and the hungry flowers grew?
There were no answers. She came because she wanted to see that was all, and that was what she told the strange fox. She never intended to come to New Bangor and rescue anyone or anything like that. All she wanted was to get a lay of the land. Once again Atomos found herself sinking into the spiraling slide of her thoughts. She realized that if she didn't get a grip, she would go mad. She forced herself out of it, punching and pummeling her brain into something resembling lucidity and asked a question.
"What if she hadn't been Mikko? What if she was like, just some weird human?"
"Hm? Oh, I don't know. I guess I would have showed her the way anyway. I wouldn't want someone with such a nice tail to get eaten by the snapper would I? I bet Renald would like me more if I had a tail like that! I wonder what happened to her? I was following, but I lost her when she talked to those others! Mama says not to go near humans, but I think they are okay if they are alone. Besides, she wrestled the bike thingy away from me! B-I-K-E! That's what the humans call it! I think some of their stuff is neat! I like to look at all the things they left behind!"
Cheena rambled. It was hard to follow her speech, but Atomos listened carefully. Cheena spoke like an excited child and it was her eagerness to talk that eased Atomos mind.
"I like your medal." Cheena said, suddenly changing the subject with one of her startling dime turns in the conversation. Atomos tried to look down and heard the clink of metal on a stone. The collar around her neck was more obvious now too. How had she not noticed it before? Atomos cocked her vulpine head a little and tried her best to look at it. The little circle of iron, the "relic" she had obtained in exchange for a story or two. Where the medallion had been the aspect of a fox before, it now bore the image of a young woman.
"It's changed." She said, "It was a fox before."
"Ooh! That would be very pretty, but you know what? I like it the way it is!"
"Do you?"
"Uh huh! Hey, you wanna explore one of the human houses?"
Atomos sat and curled her tail around her rump. She didn't really want to. Exploring was something too familiar for her and it seemed wrong to do it in this new form.
"Aw, don't be like that!" Cheena said, "We should get out of the rain anyway, we don't want to get sniffles!"
Atomos shifted from one paw to the other, then decided that Cheena was right. The weather was foul. If anything, they would do well to get in where it was dry.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 24, 2018, 10:32:19 pm
Roxanne sat back in the edge of the APC examining herself. Hector had patched up the avian and she hoped he had calmed down for now. A few thoughts lingered in her mind; the strongest were the new feelings she felt. At first it was wild and sporadic while in the town of dust. Then they manifested as a familiar bloodlust. All of this culmination into soft spoken words from her sword and an ecstatic feeling of, for lack of a better term, feeling outright alive again. Pain and blood from her wound was not expected but neither was what had happened previously; it was gonna take used to this new form. At least she wasn’t alone anymore…
“It’s been just a few days and get changes are already manifesting… Unprecedented series of events… how unfortunate… Oh well, might as well continue the current course; I have my objectives after all… For now, I need to get to the farm and talk to them…” Roxanne was completely lost in thought at the moment. Her words mere whispers barely audible and incoherent to anyone but herself. However, all of the sudden she composed herself and addressed the others.
“Right, this morning has been a bit hectic and I don’t want it to get anymore while we are who knows where. As soon as the storm clears enough I will zerg rush it to the farm; what is zerg rush? A term I picked up from… someone who I played video games with a while ago… Anyways, if both the bird and Mica agree they can come with.” Her attention then shifted to Hector and her tone was now rather authoritarian. “Hector, since you came on your own vehicle you can either follow us or stay or whatever else you wish to do. This seem fair to go guys? Good, I will be playing the waiting game for now...everyone make preparations for now…”
Victor and Melody listened to Helen’s response. They were both a bit nervous as to what she might say. The rejection of their offer was expected but her proposed solution was not. Melody clutched her sword defensively while Victor gave her a sympathetic glance; she spoke up soon after.
“Wait a minute. I am not just going to give up the sword ok? I know I said I would to fuse it but...even then I am reluctant to do so. You say this will only buy us time? No, sorry Helen but I don’t buy it… plus, this is the only weapon I have left. My rifle, well, I can’t really use properly now can’t I?”
Victor place a hand on Melody’s shoulder. “We aren’t taking anything away just yet. We are all just throwing ideas ok? Relax, the last thing we need is to stress out.” Melody gave a deep sigh and nodded to which Victor interpreted as sign to move on. His attention shifted to Helen and he addressed her directly.
“That sounds rather interesting. The symbol of judgment huh? If you say we can trust whatever that thing represents than so be it. We should at least look into fixing that medallion at least. I think we can run down this once more when this Roxanne gets back, it seems you guys trust her a bit. For now it wouldn’t hurt reading more into the matter while me and Melody wait for her to arrive. Do you have a copy of this Oath of the Chalice book? We might find something useful. Seems like a plan?”
“Is the link up yet?”
“Yes, it’s a bit unstable but up. Clara, swap with me. Stabilize the link while I manually tell these dead husks what to do.”
“On it. How many more to go by the way?”
“Just two, they seem to be stronger than the other 28. They did survive this far.”
“I want them gone before the storm clears. Once they are, we will begin securing the tower once again. It’s not gonna be easy to rebuild. Is that clear?”
The other three exclaimed in unison. “Loud and clear!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 24, 2018, 10:53:16 pm
Isaac had been helping tend to the Hall’s guests as Alice worked with Charles. The new hand worked well as he helped one Misling adjust his jacket. He had finished and took a seat when he felt something tugging him by the shoulder. While his physical body stayed in the chair his mind found itself in a forest where everything seemed to be differing shades of white and grey.
A warrior in grey and white armor was pacing in front of him as it loosely held a bearded axe. “This is the son of Tyr?” the warrior asked as he shifted his grip on the shield in his other hand. “Well then. Let us see if you are ready for the tests.”
Following the warrior’s gesture Isaac found a sword and shield. Picking them up he eyed the warrior and tried to figure out what was going on. The warrior grinned as he said “You don’t know? I’ll make you a deal if you beat me I’ll tell you who I am and where you are.”
Isaac shook his head as the warrior stepped in for the first attack. A strike that hit Isaac’s shield that was followed up by a strike from the warrior’s shield as Isaac lowered his guard to try and return the hit. As he stumbled away from the blow to the head the warrior followed him and slammed a boot into the side of his stomach. “Attack. Do not hesitate lest you give your opponent the upper hand.”
Isaac whirled around and swung the blade at his opponent’s head. The warrior didn’t flinch as the blade hit his helmet and glanced off. Another strike to the head from his shield was followed by the warrior shouting at Isaac “Do not hold back! I am not some weak mortal who will crumble if you let yourself swing with everything you have!.”
The warrior gave Isaac a moment to breath before swinging his axe. Isaac ducked the strike and as he brought back the shield and slammed it forward into the warrior’s helmeted head. The shield shattered to pieces as the warrior grinned down at Isaac. “Perhaps striking with such force using a wooden weapon was not your best choice.” The warrior said slowly before bringing a booted foot into Isaac’s head causing him to snap upright before a strike from his axe left the warrior’s weapon sticking out of Isaac’s skull. “Perhaps you’ll do better next time. Perhaps not. Just remember I am not your enemy, merely a..gatekeeper so to speak.”
And then Isaac blinked awake as his mind pulled back into his body and snapped into focus as he realized it had only been a handful of seconds. His memory of what had happened was somewhat fuzzy. Shaking his head to clear it of the staticy feeling he had he was sure of one thing, he’d be seeing that warrior again.
Meanwhile Salazar sat in a corner talking with some of the elder mislings. They voiced concerns he was certain they’d normally have taken to their deathbeds with him like they were old friends. Maybe it was his past, maybe he just gave off the trustable vibe. Either way he did his best to assuage their worries.
He looked to Steinar to find that his compatriot and Eino were putting on a show for the children. The pair were going back and forth with training weapons while they said elegant if meaningless prose that the children found amusing. Shaking his head for a moment Salazar smiled as he felt a prickling sensation on his neck that had become a bit too familiar since he’d become mortal again. He figured it was just his body getting used to the whole ‘I am mortal now’ thing.
Elsewhere Schultz passed around toys to the misling children that were taking shelter with them. They were all thankful for the gifts and he smiled and nodded at their thank yous. This was the part of his job he had enjoyed, the building. Building people up, building homes, building toys for the children to play with. Now that the purifiers, despite still being one, were less of a problem he was looking forward to getting back to it once the Rangers were up and fully operational.
As he was almost finished a child approached with her parents in tow. She was obviously nervous to even approach a stranger, much more so one who was being so nice for no reason. He smiled as she took the final few steps towards him and waited. Reaching into his bag he retrieved a toy he had not thought of in some time. The last he had built in his little workshop before the Event. Smiling at her as he handed her the toy and told her the usual pleasantries he had said as a volunteer santa some years ago.
As she scurried off to play with the other misling children Schultz closed his bag and walked over to where some of the Rangers had been watching. One of them gave him a grin as he said “Didn’t know you had it in ya sarge.”
Schultz rolled his eyes and lit a pipe of tobacco. Blowing a ring of smoke into the air he looked over and said “I should make you do push ups for that.” Even he cracked a smile at the joke shared between comrades. Soon they’d be back out there on patrol as he showed the rest of the Rangers the ropes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 25, 2018, 01:20:28 am
The bird mutant takes a very long time to calm down properly, even after Hector has moved him away from the APC and placed him down next to the firepit. He looks down at the blood on his talons, now staining his feathers, and lets out a quiet chirp, followed by what seems to be an apologetic look over to Roxanne. Had he really stabbed her? The blood marking the outside of the bandage, along with the stuff coating his hand, suggest that he did. At least he wasn't in that tiny box anymore...
There's a series of chirps, cheeps and short whistles as Roxanne finishes talking. His... Tone? Something about whatever he's doing suggests he's asking if he can come.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 25, 2018, 02:28:47 am
(( Atomos stuff written with Salt. ))
Hector gave a sigh as he looked back to Roxanne. He'd taken his helm off for the moment and his expression now betrayed his worry, standing and moving to set a hand on Roxanne's shoulder. "I'll be ready when you are. I have no reason to stick around here and no intention of leaving you now." he said calmly. "We're in this together, after all."
He would spent his time afterward waiting for the storm, watching outside as the wind swept the rain all around. For a moment, it seemed just a bit more calm, and he decided to risk heading out into the storm, shield held over him as he went to the tank.
A few bits of debris had been blown onto it, and his initial inspection indicated it was fine, but he could see the solar panels on it had been variously either scratched or outright cracked from the storm-blown objects. He did the best he could for now, getting in to pull it over closer to the entrance of the mall, relying on just the lone diesel engine remaining in the old engine array.
When he came back in, he sat down beside the avian. "If you want to come along, it's fine. Not sure if you'd want to ride in the tank or the APC." he said, an innocent suggestion and yet he could pretty much immediately see the mutant's reaction. "...or desant ON the tank, but this weather is rather awful for that."
Soon however, he made his way to Roxanne. "Hey Rox? I've been thinking about some stuff, though I suspect now is hardly a good time...I'm just worried it might be too late by the next time we have a quiet moment."
Helen sighed a bit, shaking her head. "It may not require outright sealing the sword up. There are other defensive measures that may be useful to restrict the enemy from being able to take it or manipulate it as easily. At a bare minimum, with your permission I'd like to restore that link that was on it before. That will make whatever we choose to do with it easier and quicker to set up in the future." she suggested.
"And as you wish, I have a copy of the book in the storage, back of The Hall. Might as well while we await Roxanne's return." she said softly, reaching to pick the symbol up of the ground. It still felt uncomfortably warm to the touch, but it hadn't burnt the grass nor evaporated the rainwater that now soaked it. She only vaguely sensed something as she held it, the vague sense of a flurry of activity, but for what purpose she wasn't sure.
The watcher on Mount Katahdin observed, spying through a thousand eyes as the glowing beasts descended upon the group, a handful of men bearing the blue cross. It seemed like a disorganized handful of privates and crusaders rather than the usual parties that ventured here. And neither hounds nor war-walkers accompanied them, a fact that left the watcher concerned.
A chitinous thing with 3 pairs of wings fell upon a private in a twitching, flailing mass, and rending pincers revealed already-marred flesh wrapped in bandages, formerly concealed by the clothing and kevlar. The thousand feelers emerging from the mi-go's head could only give the watcher so much detail. He needed something with eyes.
Something with eyes, quite a few of them in fact, took that role as the wounded mi-go staggered off of the slain God's Army soldier. He could see now, bullet wounds. Skirmish or battle of some sort, but this left more questions than answers.
Idle chatter among the mutated and augmented visitors, said in ignorance of who was truly watching, revealed a hint of the cause. The Red and White were up to something here in Maine, farther south in the vicinity of New Bangor. There was a vague sense of unease in the air, as well. None of the villagers seem to know what was wrong, but a few felt an odd tingle in the air. The otherworldly creatures however new it.
In the darkness of an overcast sky, a shifting mass of living shadows only barely had enough cover from the wretched sun, enough to linger in trailing wisps along a ridge overlooking the old trails. Even for a thing that had no body, motes of light sometimes shone from within, hinting at who it was bound to serve. It cast an eyeless gaze to the southeast, and could see the waver of the world itself on the horizon. A reason was found, it seems. The cause however, remained a mystery to him.
The journey in out of the rain felt like it took an hour, under the crawlspaces of a house that mercifully was elevated slightly, making for a den that would not easily flood. In truth, it'd been a matter of minutes before their scent was lost in the rain and the pursuers eluded for the time being.
Atomos' heart was going a mile a minute it felt like, even after they finally had a chance to catch their breath. No, it was staying like that, even at a resting rate it was above her mutated form's elevated pulse, let alone that of a mundane human's heartrate.
Then there was the scent, a heavy earthen scent and lingering signs of the den's occupants, muddled by the array of smells brought in by the pouring rain outside. Her own scent was unfamiliar to her too, and she was unsure how long before her mind was acclimated to it enough to ignore the change.
Then there was the dull, grayed-out imagery of the spacious den, as loathe as she was to declare the area under the house spacious. In near darkness, with barely even the faintest hint of an overcast dawn filtering in from outside, everything within was even more clear to her than the slight edge her sight had over her old, un-mutated self.
Finally able to process all this, all this and so much more, she nearly collapsed in shock, her inadvertent savior nudging her side out of concern. Atomos could only manage a little whimper as she looked away, only to close her eyes to shut out at least one of the unnatural sensations. "It's all, I can't be...what if I never see them again, never turn back..." she finally managed to whimper out.
She had been prepared for the former, but the latter was a sobering thought, and it made the possibility of never being seen again horrifying in ways she never considered. She was expecting the risk of ending up shot, crucified, even burnt at the stake. But no amount of training and mental conditioning could've prepared her for this.
"Watcha doin silly?" Cheena said, worried, "See who again? Turn back? Why would you want to go back when there are Bigrats? Is there someone in human place across the bridge? Old Red says the people across the bridge are bad people, that's why there's no foxes over there!" She babbled on and on, making it hard to think or cope with her problem. Innocent as she was, the young fox kept pulling Atomos back into the harsh reality of things.
"I-I'm sorry." She said suddenly, "Momma says I talk too much, I'm sorry if I'm bothering you or... We can rest here a bit. When you're ready, the house above us has one of those little holes in the door made for dogs, but we can slip right in through it too. You just um... rest! Yes, you rest and I will look around. When you feel all rested, we can see if there's anything to eat inside. Human food is easier than rabbits and mice. Tastier too! Yeah, you rest."
Atomos whimpered quietly, not hearing a word of what Cheena said.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 25, 2018, 08:26:20 am
The hurricane passed by New England, going as quickly as it had come and leaving the region in ruins. Greater ruin than it had been before anyway. On the day Mica and Hector returned to the farm with their new guest, the rain had slackened to the point where visibility was no longer restricted, and the wind down to the point where it was no longer a danger to those out and about. The river flowed high, swollen with the nights rains and choked with the debris washed down from upstream. When the residents finally got around to scouting the lay of the land, they found that the river had rerouted itself. A not uncommon occurance after such storms, and it was remarked upon just how lucky they were. The river could have easily shift it's course and flooded out the farm. Down stream, those in the Hall of Odin's Blessing emerged to find the river closer, and the lands around them swamped. The hall itself though was entirely unharmed except for it's fields, almost as though it had been protected.
Illiana did not comment, instead preferring to curl up in the corner she'd been given. She didn't dare return to her pocket dimension in this state, worried about what condition it would be in.
Catnip shivered and her head bowed, eyes heavy from lack of sleep. She would take one quick look around the farm before allowing sleep to take her. The farm itself was a mess. Most of the shacks were gone entirely, including the dining room and the armory. Sections of wall had been ripped down and scattered while lengths of the pit around the farm had been filled in with muddy rain water. Except for the anvil, the forge was gone.
Quinns trailer had not moved, as Illiana had ensured, but it had taken a hit. A slender tree had been ripped up and forced through the shutters of Quinn's largest window. The man inside was fine, and there was that to be thankful for.
The greatest loss of all though was the library. The building lay in a heap, crushed by a falling pine. Some books could be saved, but many were sodden and ruined. Catnip carefully picked through the rudes and retrieved a wood panel, covered in tiny images of her own history that she had carved years ago. She hadn't managed to get anyone else to do the project, but she had still done it. The panel was still intact and Catnip took that as an omen. Like the ordeal with the screaming tower before, she was still alive. She would make the most of it.
Nearby, Sharlene's cabin and the land it sat on was completely gone. At the height of the storm, the river had swept over the simple wood platform that was all she had left, carrying away with it her humvee. The many divine spirits she had summoned had carried her to safety shortly before the rent in the veil sent them scrambling in confusion, some of them banishing themselves in sheer horror. In the end, only Michael remained to shelter the pissed Aussie and Mohammad from the storm.
Now, the process of cleaning up would begin. They rested for longer than Cheena was comfortable with, and in the morning came the screaming. Atomos had been sure that it was a dream, it was all a dream, but when she woke and she was still the same... Cheena pounced on her and tried her best to hold Atomos muzzle shut with her paws. The sounds she made would draw the attention of the "Bigrats" if they were still around and they couldn't have that. They were still on the run.
"Shhhh! Shuush! Shushy shush! Bigrats will find us!" Cheena hissed, but it was still some time before Atomos calmed down. When she finally did, she lay on her side breathing heavily. The young fox waited patiently but stayed alert, ready to leap on Atomos again if she needed to or give warning if their hunters appeared. She came to her senses slowly and hoped against hope that the feeling of unreality would leave her. That the dream would end. When she was ready to face the horror of her first day as a fox, or as ready as she would ever be, she rose shakily and allowed Cheena to lead her into the house to scavenge for food.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 25, 2018, 02:21:26 pm
Cardin looked downright offended at the idea of him going back into that APC, raising his bloody hand and showing off his, honestly somewhat impressive, wingspan. He takes the idea of sitting on the tank much better, letting off a happy chirrup. As the knight turned his attention back to Roxanne, the bird did too, in a way. Maybe that wasn't the best idea. Slashing at her. But she was walking towards him, and he was visibly panicked, right? Right. The beak. It might make emoting hard. For other people to read, that is, he knew what he felt. Cardin slowly furled his wings back up, using his non-bloodied hand to feel along his beak. He still wasn't all that used to it, despite having it for god knows how long by now.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 25, 2018, 09:20:18 pm
Roxanne spent her time daydreaming; or at least that is what it looked like. She hardly noticed when Hector brought in the tank after weathering what was left of the storm. Her attention finally settled on them once it was determined it was soon time to go. Hector’s suggestion to the bird to ride on top of the tank seemed to be what he liked best. Roxanne couldn't blame him; he did wake up to it after being looked in a cage so he probably didn’t want to back inside of it.
While she was still in the middle of some thoughts and soon after made arrangements with the bird and Mica, it seems she would also ride with him, probably due to her animalistic sense telling her something was odd with Roxanne in some way, Hector came by and told her something. She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a sympathetic smiled; something else was projected on her face but not quite so discernible.
“You are right, this is hardly the time. We have an opportunity to head back to the farm and we should take it; people might be injured and they might need us Hector. Listen, I have a few things to take care off once we make it home… Some of them have to do with this.” Roxanne pointed out her wound. “ But, I might need your help later on. When that time comes, how about we take that time just for the two of us? Not in a mission like we did yesterday but actually spend some time. That sound good?”
Roxanne patted his shoulder and then left him for the time being. “See you on the other side though guy.” She boarded her APC and reeved the engines on. It whined like a wounded animal and it hurt Roxanne to hear just as if it were a dear pet. “I know baby. Just a little longer and I will have you patched up ok? Just get me there and it will all be fine.”
And they were off. Rain and wind still lingered and navigating through the roads was a nightmare. Debris for damage buildings and cars scattered all over the place made it a sort of maze. Roxanne still took the lead letting Hector chase in his tank; she was eager to get home and it was apparent in her erratic driving and actions. Actions like using concentrated laser fire to move car out of the way before ramming the rest with her heavily damaged front bumper. There was no seeming care or finesse in what she did; she had a destination and she was going to get there one way or another.
Eventually, they made it home. The damage to the farm and surrounding areas was evident as they neared. Roxanne let out an annoyed sigh as she knew there will be work to be done for some time now. It was time to rebuild this mess and she could use this to keep and eye on things. Still, first things first…
“Victor, Melody, do you copy? It’s me Roxanne. I know things are hectic and you guys must have your own problems but do you mind coming to my room when you are able to? There is something I need to talk about with the both of you. Anyways, take care and hope to see from the both of you soon. Oh, and come alone... “ Roxanne announced this over the radio to the private frequency Victor and Melody shared with Roxanne. It was mostly use to communicate their shenanigans but now there was a legitimate use for it. She set the radio down and then promptly parked her APC where she usually did. The door to the radio room and then her room was just ahead yet she couldn’t help but feel like she would not like what she would see...
“Oh...just applying some wards on it?”, Melody asked timidly but less defencibly. “I guess we can do that some time… As long as I can still use it.” She relaxed after that now a bit embarrassed by her outburst. “I’ll go fetch the book for now…”
“Melody…”, Victor cried out. “I’ll go get it.”
“Why, I sho- oh, right… Reading the cover and all.”
The two then watched Helen pick up the medallion a bit reluctantly before leaving them. She let them know that if they needed her she would be elsewhere on the hall attending other stuff. After she left, Victor went ahead and retrieved the book. It was easy to find all things considered. Once he got back him and Melody got to work; he would read, explain it to her as best he could and the two would spitball ideas and forth. Melody was quite used to this and Victor was now somewhat comfortable with her.
After about a coupled hours of this the radio message picked up. It was Roxanne. Victor was surprised by this not recalling he was wearing a radio. Melody was a bit worried and taken aback that she had requested they two come alone. Something in that didn’t settle well with her.
“Guess that is our cue Melody. We should get going.”, Victor suggested.
“Yeah, I’ll let Helen know. Meet me at the jeep so we can get going.”
Victor nodded and they two made their way out of the room. Melody’s aura spell made it easy to track Helen. A 2D silhouette of white noise somewhere in a specific direction. The ever looming tear in the veil scared her a bit but nothing bad was happening yet. They would worry about things as the came.
“Helen!”, Melody cried out. “Hey! Victor and I are heading out. The storm seems to have mostly passed. It’s just rain at this point. Roxanne radio’d in, she appears to have arrived from whatever little journey she took and requested us to meet her. So Victor and I are gonna go ahead and do that. We will explain to her what is going on to get her on board. Alright, I’ll be on my way. Bye!”
Afterwards, Melody met up with Victor in there agreed location. She had neglected to bring an umbrella so she activated her aura of harvest for the raindrop to be harvested before they could touch her. Had Helen witness this there was no doubt she would be scolded for such careless use of power.
Victor was standing there with an umbrella of his own. Melody could sense distressed from him over something. “What’s wrong?”, she asked.
“Well, the jeep didn’t survive the storm... “
“What?! No no no! They are going to kill me…”
“I am sorry Melody...we will worry about that later. For now let’s get to the farm on foot. You should fetch an umbrella bef-” That was when he noticed the paradoxically bright aura of hers. He simply shook his head. “Seriously? Using the magic like that?”
She scoffed at his statement. “Funny coming from you...?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Never mind...let’s just meet up with Roxanne…”
The battle was over. The nephilim had been taken down. It had been hardfought but it was done. The tower laid in ruins, the undead army decimated and the rain left them freezing with no spare clothing.
“Well, no what?”, asked Christina
“We rebuild. Not your first time losing everything remember?”, Rey said as a matter of fact. Christina gave a sarcastic laugh and then stared at him.
“Stop it, both of you. We don’t have time for games yet. Rey is right, we need to rebuild. Clara, how is the link going?”
Clara stepped out. “Link is finally stable. I took the liberty to call her and she picked up… Plague, she is kinda pissed right now. The wound in the veil isn’t really something she has patience for. She told me, and I quote, ‘It better be damn important for him to be calling me at a time like this!’ then that was followed by the usual rant about how foreigners taking over her realm and what not. You sure you want to do this?”
“It will be fine. She and I want the same thing right now. Connect me.”
After a little handwave Plague was connected to the person on the other line of she Psy-line.
“Lucy? Is that you? It’s me Plague. Has been some time since we spoke hasn’t it?”
“Drop the damn courtesies. I don’t have time. What do you want? I am a busy woman!”
“I don’t doubt that. The wound in the veil must have you riled up. Wasn’t it due to it you lost your foothold in this real because of it 8 years back?”
“Do you have a death wish?! Are you really just calling to mock me? Well, I have more imp-”
“No no, I called her to make a deal with you Lucy. How does that sound?”
The was a silence for a moment. Then the woman on the other line spoke up. Her aggressiveness now gone. “Go on, what is it you want?”
“Well, I am in a bit of a predicament right now. The wound here has some VIP rather worried. I wanted to discuss that with you. That and my HQ was destroyed in a rather recent conflict…”
“So you want me to rebuild my house and have a chat? Seems reasonable...what are you willing to offer in return?”
“Why don’t we discuss that in our chat? The veil is a concern to both of us. We can discuss terms then.”
“...You know what? I supposed it’s about time I paid you a visit… Yeah, we will have a nice long chat… For now, I need you to take your friends with you on a trip.. I know who they are, don’t act surprised. Leave a couple dozen of your undead golems and go somewhere else not here for about 12 hours. I don’t care where just leave. When you come back the tower will be rebuilt. Got that?”
“Every last word.”
“Good, now I have other things to worry about. See you then.”
The connection ended then and there. Plagued turned around to address the others. “Well, anyone have somewhere in mind they would like to spend time in?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 25, 2018, 09:50:25 pm
Anton had pulled back from his forward position and to the radio of the temple kept. Tuning it to a frequency he had memorized while back at the Hall he lifted the microphone to his face and clicked it on. “Helen..this is Anton. Could use some help here, wasn’t-” Anton coughed, spotting the blood staining the hand he had reached up to cover his mouth “-wasn’t expecting this. Don’t think I’m going to make it, and what I’ve seen here..you don’t want this guys to get a hold of it.”
Taking a moment to breath he gave a set of coordinates. Pushing himself away from the radio he picked up his rifle and started for the front of the temple. Unknown to him a squad of purifiers heard the communication as well. The squad leader nodded to his radio man before barking an order. The armored Todesschwadron moved to await any possible hostile reinforcements.
Elsewhere Alexei bade farewell to his guests as they went to meet an old friend before heading to the farm. They of course left with a few gifts. From there Alexei and the others grabbed tools to start working on the bar they would be running. Soon that would be taken care of and Alexei would be playing bar man with Ernie.
Meanwhile B-23 followed Jay away from Alexei’s place. From there they made their way to a house where she said an old ‘friend’ of hers was supposed to be at to meet. Walking inside they found her ‘friend’ dead on the ground in one of the rooms. She leaned down to inspect the body as B-23 began adjusting the bandages around his stub for a hand. After a few minutes She shook her head and told him the guy was probably killed by bandits before pulling out a cigarette and beginning to smoke. Which was when: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FVkqoRIOrBEUukS-gKfughDu27ewTl9ymxPIP02v8R0/edit?usp=sharing
The House had entertained Liam for far longer than it had actually taken for the storm to pass. Walking out the door with Gregory he felt..relieved? He wasn’t quite sure what he felt but the stress of the past few days had been lifted from him. Following Gregory to the edge of the woods and listening to the directions the man gave him Liam bid him farewell.
Soon he pushed through the door of the hall just after the radio message. Walking over to Eino and sharing a few words he then walked over and sat next to Charles. The short conversation they shared indicated it hadn’t been the first time something similar had happened. Still he was happy his comrade was back safe.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 25, 2018, 11:02:55 pm
Hector was still clearly worried, yet he wasn't sure what to make of all this, before in response he held her tightly. "Very well then. Take care of that, figure out what you must. I don't want to ever lose you again..." he said softly, before smiling at the offer. "When we get that chance, yes. Later today, or tomorrow, I wouldn't mind that. See you at the farm."
He had the commander's hatch opened, loathe as he was to let the rain in, he suggested it was a way for the avian to have a more secure seat, and offered a tarp to at least keep the rain off. He left it there, accessible just in case, before the rumble of the tank's engine was heard, trailing along behind the APC. In her wake, he could afford to go at full speed, rolling over what little was left, keeping a close eye on Mica who was there in the gunner's position.
"Indeed, wards should be easier and give us options." she said. "If you've anything to ask me, anything I've learn that I can clarify, feel free to." she said, for now checking on the area outside The Hall.
Helen sighed as she surveyed the damage at last, seeing how the river's bank had drawn closer, the wetlands overflowing and surrounding more of the area. The crops, despite efforts to cover them with tarps, were almost all unsalvageable. As she examined the area, she quietly said a passage that came to mind. Not something in Old Norse, but a something else from another major component of her order. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil..."
Soon however she was surprised by Melody returning to her, smiling some at that. "Alright. Just be careful, okay? You're...oh. You're going to need to help Victor if she doesn't want me to attend to this as well, given she doesn't know yet. And...Melody? If anything seems off, if anything has gone wrong, don't let it wait until it potentially causes a problem." she said.
"I'll be there later to help establish the wards, just radio me when you're ready."
A different take on the same verse, at a different time in the morning, was calmly quoted by Hector as they drove past a ruined city. It looked even worse than it had been when they first went by it, all manner of things left to blow freely in the terrible wind, glass facades stripped from distant skyscrapers. "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil..." The rumble of the engine drowned out much of the words, the knight looking to ensure the avian remained safely at his place atop the tank.
When they finally arrived, he was a bit shocked by the scene. the watchtower had been knocked over, and the sight only got worse as he reached the front. The loss of the barn area he expected, but as he walked in he saw how much worse it was.
"Sanctus merda...I didn't think it'd be this bad." he said, meeting up with Nathaniel and Floyd who were working to salvage what they could. "Yo Hector, what the fuck did they make that locker out of?" he asked, Hector facepalming as he realized it was still intact. "That's...a relief it seems. Well. Alright, what have you got on the to-do list?"
"Damn near everything. Shacks are fucked, holes in the walls, watchtower's fucked, cook shack ALMOST full apart, I'm gonna have to fix the lighting again, the barn is gone for good, dining room is FUBAR, library is a mess of waterlogged books..." he said.
"Then let's sort what we can recover and start with the basics. Housing, need more quarters anyway. Get you something Lilith can fit into, make more use of the space we have." he remarked.
It was then Floyd noticed Mica sulking behind Hector. "..y' find him? Anything?" he asked, and Hector shook his head. "Most of the the way across the state following her. We found her right at the point where we lost his trail. Ran into a God's Army settlement, but looks like he slipped away before we arrived."
"That...son of a..." he said quietly, a sort of reserved fury that matched, even exceeded, Hector at his worst. A hand rested at his hip, just above the holstered pistol Catnip gave him. Seeing the mournful look Mica was giving the two make his features soften a bit. "Glad you two got her back safe and sound." he said, then noticing the avian perched on the tank, tipping his hat.
Sammy at this point was tagging along, grumbling about the rain as Sergei walked over towards the farm. "You should check on Mr. Price, plus someone has to tell the center..." he said, waving as he saw Hector, Nathaniel, and Floyd. Sammy practically rushed over to her father, hugging him close. "Thank God you're still alright..."
"Been through worse storms. Sorry that your perch is in rough shape. Think Mr. Lowe here did some work on it, guess it could only help so much." he said, giving a knowing glance to Sergei, who blushed a bit. "I need...to check something at the center. Give some news to...Catalina?"
Nathaniel perked up at that. "I can give the news, whatever it is. I've been shoveling debris and litter all morning, but we could use you helping out here." he said, and Sergei nodded. "...you know her, right? I'm fairly certain that's the captain's name. Alright, I..." He pulled Nathaniel aside, explaining some of what he overheard among the rambling. "A...what? Where the fuck does this bitch get off saying shit like that happened?"
"She also said a wound in The Veil. Helen, Solomon, both said they saw something like that. If she's right..." he said, trailing off. "Jesus fucking christ. Barely even knew the girl but god damn...alright. Good reason for radio discipline." he said, asking if he could make use of the Steel Horse. "...alright. Go on. You've earned a break, and if this is something important..."
Helen barely had time to think on what was going on when the radio piped up. "Helviti...hold your position best as you can. We'll be there." she said, looking over to the others. "Solomon, I need you to stay here and keep watch. Liam...where i-." His sudden reappearance startled her, facepalming at that. "Liam, something's up. Anton gave me coordinates and he might be injured." she said, gathering her cloak, mask, and hammer. She wasn't sure what else to expect, rummaging through her supplies as she called out over the radio again. "Melody? Victor? Roxanne. Something came up, I'm going to be stopping by the farm then on my way to help with something. Please, all of you...be careful, and be safe."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 25, 2018, 11:18:22 pm
At the mention of Anton being in trouble the Vikings stood. Charles and Gunnar, being the only two who hadn’t put on their gear yet, immediately went to their bags and started strapping on armor. Eino grabbed a bag of aid supplies and tossed it to Liam.
As they did this Salazar excused himself and walked to his bunk. Sliding his gear out from under it and strapped his sawn off to one hip and a pistol to the other. Sliding his Garand over his back he then retrieved a Thompson M1a1 and tapped the magazine on the side of the weapon before inserting it.
Steinar for his part shrugged and grabbed his flask. He, as usual, was wearing his gear. Moving over he started helping Charles and Gunnar get their gear on while Isaac leaned against the wall and waited with Alice. Everyone was ready to go if needed that much was readily apparent.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 26, 2018, 08:06:44 am
Sharlene sat in the mud sour faced for what seemed like years. She hadn't really been watching as the divine spirits had fended off flying objects or sheltering her from the inclimate weather. Even the sudden eruption of fear and howling terror didn't rouse much more than a grunt from the irritable vet gone blood mage. All there was left now was herself, Michael, and good for nothing Mohammad. The last of whom had already taken off for the farm, leaving just Sharlene and Michael. Sort of.
Sharlene watched the bubbles on the surface of the newly formed lake appearing around where she knew the cabin had once been. It was deep over there. Deep for her, but not deep for Lilith. The bubbles moved swiftly along towards Sharlene waiting on the shore, quickly joined by a pair of ears, then the top of a tigrine head, and then the sodden face of a Lilith. On her shoulders, she carried the only thing to survive the deluge, the wood stove. An aging peice of metal pilfered from the back room of a pizza parlour. The water had likely ruined the cast iron's "season," but Sharlene never used the thing for making pizza anyway.
"She appears to have recovered the stove mother." Michael mused. Sharlene rolled her eyes at him, a feat of ocular acrobatics which finished in a withering glare directed at Lilith.
"I can see that Mickey. Is all there was Lil?"
Lilith gave a pleased, exaggerated nod. She didn't notice the way her handler was watching her.
"And just where the hell were you all last night and yesterday and the day before?" Sharlene demanded, "In case you hadn't noticed, our house is gone."
"Lilth wath making cubth."
"What's that? Wasting time? You aren't going to have any cubs dumbass, you can't."
"Uh huh. Mouthth doctor thaid tho. Gave a thot that makth it tho I can."
"Bullshit. Besides, I didn't give my permission for that."
Lilith crossed her arms and stood up tall, trying to look indignant and authoritative. "Don't need tharlenth permithon."
She didn't stay standing for long for as soon as the words were out, Sharlene was on her like a shot, brandishing her tazer. It wasn't the impact of Sharlene jumping on her that made her drop, but the single zap of the implement. Lilith was still wet, and as such she felt the shock through her whole body, tensing muscles just under the surface and causing discomfort but no pain. Sharlene on the other hand felt the pain. Like Lilith, she was also soaked to the bone, and in order to deliver the punishment she had to actually touch Lilith.
The first sign that something was off was that Lilith wasn't cowering or even showing any sign of shame or fear. Instead, she was growling.
"Oh ho! Wanna try it huh? We haven't played this song and dance in years! I think that guy has made you disobedient! He's also made you soft, you big ol'-"
Sharlene stepped aside, reading Lilith like she did years ago. The taser dropped from her hand and plopped into the mud with a wet splat as she reached for the cattle prod she used when Lilith was really disobedient, but not quite bad enough for rifle punishment. She knew from testing on Mohammad that it packed a wallop far in excess of what the taser could do, and it's rubberized grip and long reach made it safe to use. She jammed the prod in the soft flesh under Liliths arm and shocked her a good one, and Lilith felt it.
Sharlene hopped back a few steps, holding her fists up in a comical old timey boxing stance and shaking them at Lilith before settling back.
"Hurts, do'nit dumb-"
Lilith roared, "LILTH NOT DUMB!" and charged. Sharlene decided that perhaps she should run, and did so with some haste.
Michael stood by himself, unsure what to do next as Sharlene vanished into the swamp, a snarling roaring tigress on her heels. Catnip and Kathrine weaved through the wood and splinters, fallen branches and broken glass, towards the workshop shared by Dee and Mica, more lately occupied by Mica alone and a plethora of sympathetic guests.
Mica lay huddled on the couch, Minx on hand rubbing her shoulder while a horse faced woman told Mica that all men were pigs.
"Lizard not pig, lizard is lizard." Mica stated sadly before looking around at the newcomers. Catnip staggered past Leslie, barely taking note of the snake writing on a notepad, an action which took place above Catnip's head due to the hight difference. Despite how bone tired she felt, how mentally exhausted, she still had enough in her for a little barb.
"How would you know Christa?" She spat, taking a place next to Mica, then to her asking, "Hard night?"
Mica nodded slowly, and asked a similar question. "Skay-ree night?"
Catnip's eyes sagged a little, red with exhaustion and terror. She nodded, and noted Mica's own face streaked red in places from crying all night. She threw an arm around her sister and the two of them seemed to rock gently together.
After the woman Catnip had referred to as "Christa" had huffed and left, Mica said, "Snek tryin' to ask My-ka questions."
"Yeah. She does that a lot. You don't hafta answer, just say you don't want to talk about it and she'll... Jus... Sevetfrf..."
Mica felt Catnip slacken a little and knew she was asleep. She didn't mind, it was nice to have someone to lean on, even if they were asleep. Meanwhile Kathrine tried her best to squeeze in and eventually managed to get a tenious perch on the arm of the loveseat next to Catnip from where she tried to hug her, but mostly ended up laying on top of the two. Mica didn't argue, and Catnip was out like a light.
"We better leave them be 'snek.' make sure nobody bugs them for an hour or two." Minx suggested. She slid off the arm of the couch and let her face go blank, "Let's see if we can go help out."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 26, 2018, 02:21:45 pm
Cardin quickly realised that sitting on the outside of the tank was barely better than being inside it. On the one hand, he wasn't having a panic attack. On the other, he was freezing, soaked and thoroughly miserable. He tried to keep his spirits up by whistling, but come to think of it, that was pretty much the same as him trying to talk. "干得好，我. Now you've just made yourself sadder." Cardin pulled the tarp around him tighter, not really achieving anything except mildly making his wings uncomfortable. He curls his talons up, showing a somewhat impressive level of prehensibility, probably lending itself to either gripping branches or snatching up prey. Not that he'd be doing either, considering his size.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 26, 2018, 07:53:31 pm
Nathaniel stopped by the center, uncertain at first what to expect. The back through the forest was muddy, soaked and if not for the heavy amount of stone infilling, the swamp would've likely reclaimed it. The sight at the center was a relief. Given they'd variously boarded up, bricked over, or otherwise secured previously-broken windows after the attack, and the sturdy nature of the building, meant they weathered the storm relatively well.
He got there, finding the place to be a bit more crowded than usual, waiting until he had a chance to ask Leila about seeing the captain. "Specialist Carnes? Have something that came up, to ask Captain Anguiano about." he said. "She's going by Sandell now, she dropped the habit of using her mother's maiden name it seems." she answered, directing him to the office where Catalina was.
"Corporal Ford. Doing alright back home?" she asked, and Nathaniel nodded. "We all lived at least. Now it's just cleaning up and rebuilding." he said, and the captain nodded. "If you need it, we can help arrange for lumber or labor." she offered, and shook his head. "Lumber might help, but we'll handle the labor. Main reason I'm here is about PFC Atomos." he said.
"She's been out. Scouting run." she said plainly, and Nathaniel nodded. "I know." At this, Catalina gave a gesture, and over at the reception desk, Leila calmly tapped a key and disabled the security feed for the captain's office. "What do you know, corporal? And tell me how you found this out."
"I'll start with the latter, captain. A strange woman evidently dropped in out of nowhere at The Hall this morning. I would've assumed she was talking out her ass except the people there have already confirmed the existence of an anomaly up north, consistent with her rambling." he said. "So I'll relay what she said, and I'm gonna hope it doesn't match up with your intel because I really wish it was a load of bullshit." he remarked.
"Alright. Tell me what you have." she said, and Nathaniel continued. "She mentioned Atomos, saying she escaped God's Army and that someone escaped with her. They might've caught up with her while she let them escape. Also something about speeding the Canadians along to Abaddon?"
"Not many people know they've taken to calling Bangor that, not many outside Maine at least." Catalina said, before giving a weary sigh. "As for the rest? I hate to admit this corporal, but this woman knows things that only Jenny, my CO, and I are supposed to know." she said, Nathaniel giving an inquisitive look. "Jenny?"
At this, Catalina glared at him, and her voice took on a more authoritative tone. "Her name does not leave this room unless I order it, understand?" On instinct, Nathaniel immediately did something he hadn't reflexively done in years. He snapped to attention, startled by the sudden change in tone. "Sir, yes sir!"
"At ease, corporal." she said, regarding the radio at her desk. "Just remember, careful who you tell this too. I'll have Larion arrange for the some the boys on loan from offshore to assemble a group, to ensure we recover them." she said. "Alberto and Nell are also en route back here with some civilians recovered from the area. Dismissed."
As Nathaniel made his way back to the farm, Catalina picked up the radio and sent out a report over The Old Guard's secure channel. "Colonel. Captain Catalina Sandell reporting in. How's the ship, by the way?" she asked, and a calm, older male voice answered her.
"At shore for some minor repairs. Would've been worse if not for advance warning. Most of the others from the bridge are here in D.C. with the rest of us. Anything to report?"
"Storm's dying down here, some problems for the local communities, but the center is fine. I've received probable intel about Operation Uplink, sir." she said. "Go on then." he answered, and she continued.
"Our scout is MIA, but intel made it out. CAF suspected to be making a move on the target, mission status unknown. Two waves of rescued civilians are expected, one on the way and already out of enemy lines, status of the second is unknown." There was a momentary pause at this, before the colonel spoke up again.
"Understood captain. We will send additional personnel your way in preparation for making contact. They will be informed of the situation along with tentative intel on viable civilian contacts. A few are in the region and are suspected to be coordinating with the boys up north to form a sort of underground railroad. And Cat?"
"Please don't call me that, Luther. Er, sir." she said, sighing some. "Sorry, Catalina. I'm sorry for your loss. Sounded like a good kid from what you've told me. I wouldn't wish what these people are doing on anyone, not even their own." he said calmly. "I know colonel. She knew the risks though..." she said, unaware of how, far to the north, Atomos was dealing with something nothing could have prepared her to deal with.
Helen looked to the group that had made ready at her request, giving a nod as she had her hammer, symbol of judgement, and wraithslayer on hand as she went outside, the hood of her cloak over her helm as the rain was still intermittently falling. "Alright, Isaac maybe if your vehicle's still in working order after all of this...or any other vehicles that might be usable for this." she said, leading the way over to the bridge.
For now, Hector was at work with Sergei and the others, taking a look at the damaged fortifications and the watchtower. The whole thing had tipped over, leaning against the palisade and having almost crashed through it. There were split timbers to replace, and he made a note to dig holes for a more firm support base that'd be harder to uproot, but he suspected the watchtower could be salvaged.
Next was the series of shacks, the others having been drawing up plans for rebuilding them. Given the amount of field that went unused, he rather easily came up with a layout that let them make a couple more, make them all a consistent size, and space them out better. The armory meanwhile had been picked clean, supplies carted off and stored elsewhere, after an initial effort to clean up whatever guns and ammo seemed to have survived the deluge.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 26, 2018, 09:51:17 pm
Isaac had told Alice to stay with Solomon while he and the others went to deal with whatever it was that was going on. At the mention of his vehicle Isaac smiled and said “Oh the truck? It still runs at least it was designed with worse in mind so it should.”
As they reached his truck he opened the back with the keycard and climbed in. Where there had been plastic tubs full of RPG rockets and grenades there were metal tins secured to the wall. Guns were put in and secured to proper racks and armor was shut in lockers. The original benches were still in place as was the door to the cabin. As he climbed into the cabin he called back “Feel free to take anything but the uh..minigun? I don’t know what to call that monstrosity of a gun.”
Eino and Liam climbed in and took their seats. Aaron and Gunnar followed, grabbing rifles and inspecting them as they sat down while Charles waited for the others to get in. Steinar and Salazar both walked in and found their seats. Isaac retrieved his keys and got the engine rumbling to life. Isaac let out a chuckle before saying “Knew it’d work.”
Meanwhile back at the Hall Alice sighed. Finding a seat she looked around in boredom. Soon she turned to Solomon and asked “So..what exactly do you do around here?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on April 27, 2018, 02:21:10 am
Elsewhere, a small group of vehicles drove along the path to the farm, the palisade around it making the place almost unrecognizable, signs of a watchtower leaning against the wall hinting at how the storm affected the place. Regardless there was a flurry of activity apparent, passing by a truly massive vehicle, making the tank and damaged APC seem quaint in comparison. A few of the mislings there rushed to warn the others, knowing how their own arrival had startled the people here. This led to the rather peculiar sight of a man in mail and helm, an older fellow with a noticeably long revolver at his side, and a man in tracksuit pants and duster being out there to greet them, and to everyone's relief Alberto waved at the trio.
Alberto soon stepped out of the jeep when they pulled to a stop, while motioned for the others to park nearby. "Yo guys, glad you didn't blow away in all this. Picked up some civilians who were on their way out of Maine before the hurricane hit." Gabi peeked out of the van, "They gon' shoot us?"
Hector looked over at the fellow peeking out and waved to him as well, Nell looking over. "No, they're friendly. Russian over there, and the guy in the knight outfit, are about half of why the corporal and I made it out of where we'd been stationed in one piece." Gabi nodded, stepping out of the van. Green hopped out as well, catching a look at Floyd, "Yo! Roddy! They got another cowboy here!"
Rodriguez chuckled a bit as he stepped out of the police car, tipping his hat to Floyd, who returned the gesture. Hector was next to speak up. "Welcome back then, and glad you were able to help someone out of that area. The cowboy here's Floyd, this is Sergei, and I'm Hector." Gabi rose a hand, "'M Gabi, sunglasses 's Green. And who's 'bout to step out is Johnny and Reyes. Got a few more, lemme get 'em out." He said, clearing his throat nervously as he went to open up the cargo van.
Hector nodded at that. "So who all did you pick up along the way?" he asked, and while Nell went along to help Gabi and explain to the others, Alberto smiled some. "The boys here stopped a prisoner transport, some fellows God's Army snatched up along the way, plus some of their own who had too much of a conscience for their liking." he remarked. As Alberto said this Hector watched, able to guess from formal attire and that stiff, disciplined appearance who was likely among the latter category. And of those, two stood out to him from the nervousness showing on their face when they saw the trio. One was a young man with a medical bag at his side and a long coat, the other was an older man in what he recognized as the sort of outfits he sometimes saw under the riot gear and armor of crusaders and templars. Each seemed to fixate more on one of the three, the former regarding Sergei with a curious look, and the latter having a solemn expression at the sight of Hector.
Gabi scratched his head, "Yeah, uh. Here they are. Aaand we kinda need a..." He paused, thinking of a way to say it... "Plaaace to stay?" Hector nodded at that. "We used to have quarters to spare even with the convoy that came back with Catnip, but the storm kinda damaged everything except a few of the buildings here. Most we can do right now is tend to any injured if you have them, resupply, and set up some of the tents that we were able to pack up before the storm hit. First few shacks will be fixed up by the end of the day though, between that, The Hall, and the refugee center..." he said, and Rodriguez perked up a bit. "The Hall?"
"Small place across the river and to the south." Sergei spoke up. "Not much room there but they were working on it. Helen there is nice, and been looking for people to join her. Sorta magic group, odd as that sounds..." he said, and the young man who'd been regarding Sergei curiously spoke up. "I've seen more of that than I'd care to."
Gabi hmmed a bit at that. "Uhh... hm. We could help 'round here, if that's fine with you." Hector nodded some. "Wouldn't mind that. Should get you all in out of the rain and finish up introductions."
Meanwhile, further north... (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q8jdQKOi9XchNMlQVeaAECP7C9-n974EENkcCq4tWh4/edit?usp=drivesdk)
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 27, 2018, 04:20:44 am
Sharlene moved confidently through the swamp knowing for a fact that she put herself at a disadvantage.
"Got her right where I want her." She thought, striding along the length of a fallen tree. The previous nights storm had made a hell of a mess of things, flooding out some portions of the lands around the farm. Here and there though she caught sight of debris blown in from the farm, mostly just ruined junk, but here and there she saw things that could be useful. She was rather brazen in how she went about this, behaving as though she were not now being stalked by a bioweapon in the shape of a hulked out anthropomorphic tiger with breasts that could crush a car.
She bent to pick up a mug and tensed a little when the going of orange and white caught the corner of her eye. The mug was cracked, but serviceable. She made a show of examining it as the orange shifted, silently stalking in, quietly hunching itself down to pounce. The mug was nice, even despite the crack running down it's center. Sharlene touched it with one experimental finger and half the mug broke away with a tiny "clink." The form, flew silently from the brush.
What was left of the mug flew and exploded against the side of Liliths head as she touched down a few feet from Sharlene and began the second spring that would put the tigress on top of her handler. Instead, the loose ground slipped out from under her, as Sharlene had intended, and she fell flat on her face.
"You know a few years ago you wouldn't have slipped like that, softie." Sharlene quipped. She turned away. Lilith would of course recover in record time and come after her. When she tried to pounce, Sharlene would turn and lay it on-site
There was a sickening feeling of putting ones foot onto something not quite solid, and finding that it was even less solid than you thought. Sharlene put her foot down, and she was all of a sudden three feet shorter, up to her groin in the muck. At the same moment, Liliths shadow passed over her and she too hit the until then invisible bog with a loud wet "plop." Unlike Sharlene though, Lilith had no trouble breaking free. The deep mud was no obstacle for her, and so she turned back and advanced on her handler.
"You thtuck." She said, "You thtupid now." Lilith stood over Sharlene, triumphant, but leaned over when Sharlene gestured.
"A little closer lil." Sharlene said sweetly. Lilith grinned, confident that the woman who was much smaller and much weaker than her was no longer capable of bossing her around. Her opinion changed when she leaned got close, and Sharlene punched her in the nose.
It wasn't enough to hurt and never would be, but it still caused a great amount of irritation. Lilith reqred back and sneezed. She shook her head to clear it of the need and sneezed again. More shaking and more sneezing, and finally Sharlene spoke up.
"How do you like that huh? You wouldn't have fallen for that a few years ago either." She said, hands on hips. Lilith growled and got another punch in the nose for her trouble. "You want another? I can give you another. Pull me out of this shit."
Lilith sneezed again and again, but between the sneezes managed a single "No."
"What do you mean 'no?' You go off running around without your handler, letting that weirdo stick it to you, and come back like nothing's up except that, oh yeah, you let some quack stick a needle of who knows what in you because he says he can make it so that more than a bit of dry cleaning can be the result of your regular tumble in the sheets with that guy? And your still standing her saying no to me? To ME? Lilith, pull me out of this fucking mud or I swear to God I'm going to force my way out of it with pure anger and Australian might and sock you another one!"
Lilith wasn't really all that impressed, but did what she was told simply for the sake of getting Sharlene to shut up. Instead though, Sharlene did what she said she wasn't going to do, and punched Lilith in the nose again once she was free.
Lilith sneezed. The punches we're actually beginning to hurt a little now, and she was getting tired of it. She gave Sharlene a wary glare, finally catching on to what she was doing.
"Yeah. I said I wouldn't do it again, didn't I? You know what else is new though? You never used to talk this much."
Sharlene scraped what little of the mud off there was to remove and let her button up shirt hang free since the mud had pulled her boots and pants off. Fortunately, Lilith managed to retreive the latter, but they were in no condition to be worn.
"Now I gotta know, am I gonna have to wrestle you down and shock the ever living shit out of you like I did way back when we met? Or are you gonna listen?"
Lilith handed Sharlene back her pants and mulled it over a little. Sharlene waited, and was unsurprised when Lilith gave her answer by leading the way, not back to the farm, but towards the center. They would talk alright. Well, Sharlene would talk. But they had a doctor to visit, Sharlene had some questions. The dog door wasn't a tight fit, but Atomos still hesitated at using it. She wanted to try the handle. More, she wanted to try it, find it locked, and attempt to break in in a way more clever than simply kicking the door down. She did not want to simply traipse right in through a door designed for dogs and cats.
"Are you coming?" Cheena asked, sticking her head back through the little hole in the door. She was eager to be looking around, but didn't want to leave Atomos out. It seemed she believed that they were now friends. Atomos wondered distantly if all foxes were like that. "No need to be scared, the humans left a long time ago."
A long time ago. That's what it felt like, her memories of the refugee center and the red skulls. Even her time in New Bangor seemed like an age long past. She gave up, and pushed her way into the house, momentarily getting caught between Cheena and the doorway. It felt odd, fur on fur, tiny beating heart just under the surface.
"Silly bean! You gotta wait your turn!" Cheena laughed. Inside the house was warm, close to getting hot, but not quite allowed to by virtue of the rain outside. Against her better judgement, Atomos began to try and shake off. She tried to stop, but it was just so uncomfortable and besides, Cheena was doing it too. Atomos found that it wasn't a motion of the body, but of the head alone. By twisting her head back and forth, she could make her entire coat catch the momentum and send a majority of the moisture on her flying every which way.
The house was small and painfully middle class, a sort of cookie cutter styling that had always made Atomos eyes hurt almost literally. Generic photos of generic soccer kids. Atomos almost took a kind of joy in sousing them with cast off water. Cheena looked down at her from where she'd climbed up.
"I'm gonna try to push open the box thing, maybe you can help from down there?"
"I wouldn't bother..." Atomos said, a bit listlissly, "stuff in there is probably all rotten."
"Weeeell... How about these? Mama says humans put food in these." She pushed a can to the edge of the counter. To Atomos it looked like a bucket, and she marveled at how much food must be inside. Had she really thought cans like that had almost no food in them? She had, hadn't she?
"Yeah. But we- they have special tools to open them." She explained, taking interest.
"What's a tool?"
"A thing you use to do another thing. Even if we find the one for opening the can, we couldn't use it anyway..."
Cheena looked a bit downcast at that. She shuffled about, trying to find a good spot to jump down, and she bumped the can. As it tottered over the edge of the counter, Atomos saw the iconic red and blue of a can of Campbell's chunky chicken noodle. Cheena jumped and bolted to another room at the sound of the can clattering to the floor, but for Atomos, inspiration struck.
"Hey Cheena, come back. I got an idea."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 27, 2018, 11:18:46 pm
Roxanne opened the door to the radio room and quietly entered. Some mislings were roaming about and chatting or playing card games. This perplexed her a bit; what were they doing here? The sight of Roxanne entering startled them a little bit.
“Uhhh, what’s going on here?”, aske Roxanne.
“Oh, I am sorry Ms. Roxanne but we needed a place to hunker down for the night of the storm... Everywhere else was affected but this looked sturdy enough.“
“...That’s fine I suppose. My room was left alone right?”
Silence. The one speaking gulped hard; the last thing he wanted was to get on the bad side of the “Blade of Sodom”.
“W-well...there were a lot of us… There was not enough space in the radio room alone so…”
Roxanne breathe in heavily. A tint of panic concealed in a facade of annoyance.
“Is anyone there currently?”
“No, most left to help rebuild the place. We didn’t touch anything! I swear!”
“You have better not… Anyways...I am going to be in my room getting ready for something important. No one is to disturb me ok?”
“Y-yes ma’am!”
“Good, have fun or whatever…”
With that little interaction out of the way, Roxanne made her way to her room. The misling just stared at her but return to their individual activities once she entered and closed the door behind her. They were not lying; nothing was broken our out of place save for things moved to the side to accommodate for people and an undone bed. It could’ve been a lot worse thing considered.
Victor and Melody made their way the farm on foot. It wasn’t a long walk but the rain made it miserable and slower than it should be. Melody had neglected her umbrella and didn’t accept Victor’s offer to use his. She insisted he needed it more than her since she had her aura up. Thankfully, the rain stopped as they approached the farm. Victor put the umbrella away and Melody stopped her aura. However, a new problem soon arose.
Just like last time, the aura spell Victor had deployed over the farm had started to overwhelm Melody. She took a single step inside the radius and then back away in a scurry. The feeling of sensory overload justifiably too much for her. Victor took note of this and decided this was the best time to present her with the gift Blackjack said was for her.
“Damn it...how am I supposed to go in there? I can’t turn this thing off…”, Melody stated.
“Well, I might have a thing for that.”
“Do you? What is it?”
“Hand me you blindfold please. Also, stand still and wait for a moment.”
Melody was a bit taken aback by that request but did so anyways. She took off her blindfold and handed it to Victor. He reached for one of his pockets and took out the folded blindfold he was given. Carefully, Victor unfolded it and then placed it over Melody’s eyes; he let go once he tied it behind her. Melody’s blonde hair was quite the contrast to the black blindfold.
“Oh...this one feels a bit different than the other one. It feels light and...warm…”
“It was given to me by a friend. He said you would like it.”
“A friend? We haven’t been separated since our mission except for the night. I didn’t meet any ‘friend’. Also, you forgot who we were, how did you know this ‘friend’?”
“A little accusatory are we? Well, I meet with him in a dream. Then I woke up with this in my pockets. Neat huh?”
“Neat but suspicious...anyways...thanks for the gift...should we test it?”
“Go ahead.”
With a small nod, Melody turned around and faced the invisible barrier. She walked into where the full aura spell’s effect were present. After a few moments, nothing. Everything seemed the same. No headaches, no overwhelming amount of information. Melody smiled brightly. “It works! It really does work.”
Victor reciprocated her smile and walked to her. “Good to hear. As long as you have that on you should be protected from anything trying to use the aura spell against it. It limits it a bit by having you have to focus to use it to the max but it’s worth it don’t you think?”
“Yeah… but how do you know all this?”
“I don’t. It was written on a little note that came with that blindfold.”
“Ah, that makes sense.”
“Well, we are a few dozen yards away from Roxanne’s. Let’s get going shall we?”
“Yeah, let’s go! We have to let her know about our project and I think she also has something she wants to tell us?”
Some time had passed since she arrived. Things were back in order as if nothing had happened; the farm outside in chaos yet her room remained the same. Roxanne closed her window’s curtains despite Jim’s protest. He gave a little yawn which made Roxanne chuckle.
“I know you haven’t gotten sunlight recently due to the storm but you have to hold on a little longer ok? Once I am done here I’ll get you a lamp or something. We probably have those UV ones used on private weed operations…”
There was a knock on her door that was built on the back. She could feel two silhouettes beyond the door and guessed who they belonged to. It was time to put her plan in motion; to plant the seeds.
“Victor! It’s so nice to see you!” Roxanne embrace him in a tight hug which took him by surprise. She held for a bit before letting go. “Melody! What’s with the blindfold? Whatever, come here!” Roxanne hugged her a well in the same manner as she had Victor. After letting go she invited the two in. The pair did so but found the whole thing a bit out of place.
“So you two went on your little trip together huh? How did it go? Any interesting finds?”, Roxanne asked.
“It’s a long story Roxanne… and the reason I am wearing this blindfold…”, Melody answered.
“Is it now? Well, take a seat and tell me all about it! We have all the time in the world...all the time to catch up…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 28, 2018, 02:46:34 am
Blitz and his tunnel rats were moving again. He had found himself sitting on top of the scout car as it roared down the road. The weapon resting on his shoulder vaguely resembled an M1a1 bazooka if an M1a1 bazooka had four rotating cylinders that loaded into the thing for rapid firing. Lining up the vehicle they were chasing with the 75 yard sight he hummed as he adjusted his shot. The thunderous sound of it firing was followed by the deafening explosion as the vehicle it hit detonated. Doors went flying and glass flew like shrapnel as it rolled to a stop.
The next cylinder slid into place as Blitz lowered the weapon. Handing it down the hatch as the scout car slowed down and rolled past the destroyed vehicle. Taking the rifle that was handed up he asked over comms “Why are there so many purifiers moving around here? And why so many of the death squads?”
One of the men inside climbed into the hatch as he said “I don’t know. All I do know is that it’s why we’re out here. Herr Kommandant Marsh is definitely around here, only motherfucker bold enough to actually use the gas on our records.”
Blitz nodded as he observed the surrounding area. Nothing of real note was out here, at least that he could see. Retrieving a cigarette from his bag he started to smoke before responding “I know he’s around here. Just wish we knew more is all.”
Meanwhile Schultz had found a note slid under his door. It simply read '22-b, enjoy!' in rather crude handwriting. Walking down the hallway he found the Ranger's patrol vehicles gone and Maxim told him the boys had gone out without him. Rolling his eyes he figured he'd give them a good shouting at later, for the time being he decided to go the room listed in the note.
Walking down the corridors of the facility he soon found himself outside of it. Pushing open the double doors he noticed the machinery that had been moved into the room. Another note was taped to one of the machines that simply read 'make some toys old man, we got the combat part taken care of'. Sitting down he observed the workshop they'd put together and wondered what he was going to do with them. Probably buy them a beer at the officer's club..
Elsewhere, far from them, a man sat meditating. He often found himself meditating through the days in these modern times. Now though he could feel it. Something was happening in one of the temples. He knew what this meant. Someone had failed in their duties.
Standing from his meditations the man felt his bones creak as he did so. Walking towards the exit of the underground shrine he'd been living in he ran a hand along the dark blue fabric of his headdress. The dark red templar cross embroidered on the side denoted where he had served in those years while his shinobi uniform denoted his origin. Walking through the door into the sunlight he found himself slightly disoriented for a few moments.
As this passed he adjusted the blade on his back before sliding a hand down to the pistol one of his old pupils had given him. happy to find the suppressed weapon still there he recalled using it's ancient predecessors with a smile. With the pleasentries of the memories passing he started his journey to find out what had happened to warrant the interest of an Inquisitor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 28, 2018, 08:14:01 am
Despite Hector leaving the tank to talk to some other arrivals, along with Roxanne wandering off and Mica doing her own thing, Cardin remained sat on top of the tank, wrapped up in the tarp. He wasn't sure how to continue, considering he'd y'know, potentially severely injured a member of their community. She seemed fine with it, but still. For now, at least, he decided to stay put. The risk of getting in trouble again and thrown out wasn't worth it.
The empty cans along the river's new bank could easily be just scrap blown away by the storm. Nobody would question the questionably wet patches on the ground inside some of the farm's buildings, it was just rainwater someone tracked in. Everything was covered up. It was almost smile worthy.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 28, 2018, 10:45:12 am
The rain tapered off around the middle of the day, leaving the day a bit overcast. Throughout her walkabout with Lilith, Sharlene had come across the wreckage of the storm. Pieces of wood or property she recognized as being from the farm. A length of painted cedar plank from the pile of wood the barn had become here, a sheet of corrugated metal roofing from one of the shacks there. At the place where the swamp turned into dryer land, Sharlene and Lilith discovered something interesting.
"Hey, look at this! Look's like a big safety deposit box." She hefted it easily, the whole thing being about the size and shape of a drawer. Two bolts and a fragment of wood attached to one of them seemed to confirm that it had once been attached to some other piece of furniture. They looked a little more closely around the clearing to see if they could find some clue, and indeed they did. Bits and pieces of what were obviously some kind of dresser lay scattered around the woods in the area, as though the storm had picked the article of furniture up and tossed the thing, revealing the hidden drawer behind the decorative base panel. Among the wreckage were also a few articles of clothing which had either been intentionally left in the dresser, or missed. From a low hanging branch, Sharlene pulled down a pair of black jeans which she fancied.
"How do I look? Nevermind, let's bust this baby open." She said, fiddling with the lid. She felt something as the box opened, some magic she didn't really understand, but it seemed to slide off some intangible thing in her. A combination of association with the divine and saturation with the sanguine providing protection from the simple wards on the box.
Inside, she was pleasantly surprised to find a very familiar jacket.
"Hey! This is mine! This must have been Vic's dresser?" She commented, turning the very nicely cleaned jacket around to examine before putting it on. Lilith nodded, now that Sharlene mentioned it the pieces of wood did look a bit familiar. She vaguely remembered the dresser as one of the few pieces of furniture left behind while she and Nathaniel had been moving things. Under the jacket, they found a pair of jars containing what Sharlene was pleased to see was blood essence and some kind of dull essence along with a bag of instant coffee and a scrap of paper. The jars and coffee she made vanish into the voluminous pockets of her jacket while looking over the note.
"It's Vicky boys alright. I think this is his handwriting. What else we got in the box?" She asked, pocketing the note. It contained some kind of notes on a way to raise and control the dead. Not something she was too interested in, but then again it could be useful. The only thing left in the box was a silver knife of some kind, an athame with a single edge. Sharlene knew it was magically significant somehow, probably valuable, and would likely make a good weapon now that her katana was sitting at the bottom of the lake.
"Finders keepers, right Lil?" She asked. Lilith nodded and purred a little. Sharlene thought that aside from the business she had to "discuss" with this doctor at the refugee center, it was going to be a good day. Another can hit the floor and like the others Cheena had pushed down, this one clattered to the floor with little effect other than dinting the can a little. Atomos licked a little of the chicken noodle that she'd managed to get into a bowl. That had been a feat, a bit of good luck that had gone a short distance towards making her more optimistic about her predicament. The can of chicken noodle had sprung a tiny leak at the rim and Atomos had urged Cheena to push down a plastic bowl. She didn't want to lick the soup off the floor, that was okay for Cheena, but Atomos wasn't ready to do something so disgusting. The bowl served, and Cheena had commented that it was a clever thing.
"We can't get the other stuff out this way though." Atomos said, "There's chicken and noodles."
"What's noodles? You sure use a lot of funny words Atomos." Cheena asked. From Cheena's standpoint, Atomos was intensely interesting. She knew lots of strange words and lots of strange things about all sorts of things.
"Noodles are... Uh. Food. They start out hard until you put them in hot water. The ones in the can are already soft."
Cheena came down a took a few licks of the broth collecting in the bowl, and asked if any of the other cans had broken. None had, and Atomos was getting tired of trying. She wanted her thumbs back, her thumbs could do so much and this experience was making her appreciate them a hell of a lot more. She was thinking about prying or puncturing the can, but then it occurred to her that perhaps she was going about this all wrong. She scanned the counter top looking for something heavy and spotted what she thought she needed right away. The cast iron sitting on the stove.
"Hey Cheena, see that thing there? The black thing? I'm gonna put a can on the floor down over here, push that onto it."
"Ok Atomos!"
After a bit of effort, and a little measurement, the pan came hurtling down with all the force gravity could put into it. The can placed on it's side on the floor exploded, rocketing it's contents out in a fan onto the kitchen floor which Cheena was quick to lap up. Atomos snatched the can in her teeth and overturned it into the bowl along with the chicken broth. Before she started eating, she noted with some relish that it was Ravioli. Her favorite. Atomos shared some of the little pasta pockets with Cheena since none had come out of the can when the pan hit it.
They did the trick with the pan twice more, getting spaghetti rings from the next, and peaches from the last. By the time they'd opened the peaches, Atomos had stopped caring so much about getting the food in the bowl and more about getting fed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 28, 2018, 04:41:59 pm
For now Hector led the others in out of the rain, using Dee's workshop and the few tents they'd set up. He looked back and saw, to his surprise, the avian still sitting there atop the tank, walking over. "Come on in. You shouldn't be out here getting rained on, not good to be out in this." he said, offering a hand to help him down from the tank.
Elsewhere as the truck drove past, Helen examined the array of armament within an impressed look, examining one such rifle. She wasn't sure it'd be needed, but it was clear they had ample kit for everyone else that was there.
Solomon nodded at that, looking back at the rather plain breaskfat he'd been in the middle of making. "Me? Lately whatever Ms. McKinnon needs help with. Usually cooking with her, helping care for Thomas since his dad isn't here very often. When I have time sometimes I end up reading some of the books from the library, or study alchemy. Plus nice to go out on a walk around here, sometimes end up bringing small game back." he remarked.
"Or er...do you mean all of us?" he asked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 28, 2018, 05:44:50 pm
Isaac drove the truck to the co-ordinates. The others had finished preparing themselves for the fight ahead. Stopping in front of an old house Isaac checked to make sure they were there before walking into the back. Grabbing a sword that was stored in the back he put it on his back before grabbing a desert eagle. Sliding that into a hip holster he smiled as he opened the back and stepped out
The others followed as a man stepped out of the house carrying a rifle. Waving he said “You must be the people Anton called. We need to hurry they’ve pushed into the temple!”
Isaac waited for the others to go, with him and Salazar sharing a nod as they hung back. They didn’t hear the pair of men down the street camoflauged and hidden in the ruined rooftop deciding who to open up on but they had noticed them. The sound of the first shot ringing out was followed by a spray of black blood exploding out from Salazar’s back. The others saw the black shadow envelop his head as he laughed. Lifting the Thompson he fired a spray that sent the pair of snipers ducking back as the deathsquad moved in.
Salazar looked at his comrades as he said “I’ll take care of these men. You go, things will be worse up ahead I imagine.”
Meanwhile The Sar’nt observed the recruits with a gaze that made them all stare forward lest they catch his ire. Rolling past them slowly he quickly found himself stopping. Closing his eyes he tried to think back to his days in the actual army where people actually knew how to fucking dress themselves. Rolling back and turning to stare the dense motherfucker of a recruit in the eyes the Sar’nt wondered if it was simply he didn’t know how or if he was so retarded that he could not clip suspenders onto one side of his pants, over his shoulders, and onto the other side. The fact that the clips were tucked into his pants didn’t help either. It reminded him of some of the idiots he’d seen while he was in containment detail before that collapsed.
He could see the man squirming in his uniform and almost relished it for a few moments. Finally though he shouted “CAN YOU TELL ME WHY THE FUCK YOUR SUSPENDERS AREN’T FUCKING CLIPPED ONTO YOUR PANTS? IN FACT WERE YOU TRYING TO CLIP THEM TO YOUR FUCKING WILLY? IS THAT IT?”
The recruit mumbled a reply that the Sar’nt hadn’t in all honesty heard nor would he have acknowledged had he heard it. “SPEAK THE QUEENS ENGLISH PROUDLY! NOW TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK YOU WERE THINKING!”
The recruit managed an acceptable level of volume this time as he said “Sir I forgot to clip them on before coming out for inspection Sir!”
The Sar’nt closed his eyes again, a familiar tired feeling coming to the forefront of his mind, and said “Clip them on properly now.” and moved on. From there he spent the next ten minutes correcting mistakes that the recruits had made. Doing all of this almost made him wish he was out in the field getting shot at…
Meanwhile the Ranger team had cleared a warehouse and were inspecting its contents. The click of boot heels on the concrete echoed through the warehouse as they moved carefully. They came to a metal shipping container and one of the men produced a crowbar. Slamming it down onto the padlock he broke it and swung the door open.
As it swung open the BAR gunner saw what was inside. It’s eyes lit up as it scanned the men present. Letting off a burst he swung wide and missed as the thing stepped out. One of the others threw a grenade in before ducking out of the way as it stepped out.
The explosion had no effect on it as it stood to full height and lifted a quad mounted set of MG42’s and sprayed down the BAR gunner.Turning it’s weapon towards the scrambling squad it prepared a set of rockets. It was staggered as an AT grenade tore it’s right arm off. Turning towards the threat it fired the MGs only to find that whatever had thrown the explosive was out of sight. It stumbled as a rocket hit the back of it’s head and then fell to the ground as another grenade exploded destroying the head of the robot.
The Rangers let out a sigh of relief as it settled on the ground. One of them strapped explosives to it as they rallied. Soon they were riding away when they triggered the explosives.
Meanwhile back at the Hall Alice shrugged to Solomon. "How about both." She said as she looked around before continuing "Want any help cooking?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 29, 2018, 04:05:49 am
Cardin chirped, looking at Hector's extended hand. He lets off an inquisitive chirrup before slowly reaching his foot down, talons outstretched. Hector remained stood there, interested in what the bird mutant was trying to do, as Cardin gently closed his talons around Hector's arm and stood up, stepping up onto his arm and then dropping down onto the ground. He's almost impossibly light during the short time Hector's carrying his weight, barely making his arm dip in the process. He lets out a happy cheep as he drops the tarp next to the tank, flexing his wings.
Getting Cardin into the building was a struggle, though. The place being packed, coupled with it being indoors to begin with, added up into him not wanting anything to do with it.
In fact, it was entirely smile worthy. It was laugh worthy. She was good at her job. Not that it was hard, nobody looks down, or checks the corners, or uses their eyes at all, really. And, even more surprisingly given the recent storm, nobody even tried to block up their doors. And so, Delta giggled. It was a dignified giggle, as required for one of her stature, but a giggle nontheless.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 29, 2018, 09:11:35 am
Catnip awoke a couple hours later to the sound of Hammering and hauling. She didn't remember coming to Dee's house, but here she was with something on top of her. What she at first took for a luxurious but somewhat weighty blanket turned out instead to be Kathrine, napping on top of her. Like that they slept for a good two hours with their cheeks mooshed together. They just lay like that for a bit, Catnip taking pleasure in the self enforced illusion that Kathrine had set the situation up on purpose. Reinforced by the arm wrapped around her waist, the other around her shoulders, and the rarely heard purr of contentment rumbling up from deep in her chest.
Kathrine shifted a little, rubbing her face against Catnip's, and her eyes flicked open. Part of her conditioning kicking her awake when her subconscious sensed her girlfriend was awake. She sat up on her knees, unaware of how she was straddling Catnip until Catnip reached up and tweaked her chin.
"Whatcha doin'?" Catnip asked, sliding one hand behind her head and puffing herself up slightly. Kathrine leapt up Galvanically as if electrocuted with surprise and apologized profusely for being so bold.
"I'm sorry Catnip! I'm sor-"
Catnip grabbed her and pulled her in close, winding up for the "good morning" smooch she intended to make a regular occurrence, but Kathrine pulled back. At first she didn't understand what the problem was but then she realized Medeina was watching. As was a certain faceless lady, despite her insistence that everyone including herself shove off.
"Do continue, I've never seen Catnip so invested in romance." She snickered. Medeina stayed silent, clicking away silently to herself in quiet observation.
"Please do ffff- go away." Catnip snipped. She tried to pull Kathrine close again and succeeded easily. Minx covered her eyes of course, but not before throwing a handy towel over the proxy staring up at them. Catnip used the provided opportunity to take that kiss she wanted. The kiss turned into a hug, and then they sat up.
"Where's Mica?" Catnip asked. Minx pointed to the room Mica and Dee shared before pulling the towel off Medeina. It was good that she did, Medeina was beginning to get tangled up in the heavy cloth.
"In yonder room nip, petting that chicken the Mislings gave her. Nip, if she's as into chickens as you say she is, that thing should be gone by now. I guess I'll leave it to you, but I think she's pretty bad off. Robot here was trying to get her to eat earlier, but she just wouldn't."
Catnip frowned. Even when coping with the recent death of her handlers and her hunger had been reversed, Mica was still a voracious eater. She would continue eating even if she didn't want to, and would likely starve to death within days if she didn't. Medeina fidgeted a little, waving her two front digits around to get someone's attention.
"Ms. Mica has gone into a state Dr. Dervish calls 'starvation hibernation.' There is no need to worry about her, she will wake and eat when she is gets desperate enough to eat. It is her baby that I worry for. I do not know if this state is condusive to healthy formation of-"
Catnip stood and walked to the door, peeking in on Mica. She sat motionless on the edge of the rooms single bed with her hands between her knees. The chicken roosted on the headrest of the office chair at the desk opposite the bed. Catnip went in and looked at Mica hard for a moment. There was nothing but a vacant tired expression about her, and when Catnip prodded her, nothing happened. When she emerged from the bedroom, she looked down at Medeina wonderingly for a moment before saying anything.
"Ro-butt, could you get Dervish for me?" Sharlene took her time ambling towards the refugee center. The leasurely pace gave her time to talk at lilith, and that proved to be a surprisingly relaxing practice. Not nearly as good as coffee or harassing Mohammad, but it was up there.
"You're gonna be a terrible mom." Sharlene said off hand. Lilith scoffed and when she did, the sound was like somebody whacking a loose bundle of dead grass with a stick.
"Better than bug." She said, turning her nose up and puffing out her chest a little, "lilth have more than bug."
"Pffft, so one then."
Lilith shook her head and tried to hold up two fingers. She couldn't quiet do it, but Sharlene seemed to understand anyway.
"Two? Mica can't have Cubs. I highly doubt you could have any either, but I guess we will see about that. Still, bug isn't having anything."
Lilith nodded emphatically. Sharlene seemed to get this too and stopped to stare at her.
"Seriously? Bullshit. Buuuull shiiit. Unless lizard kid is shooting super strength loads, Mica isn't having anything. You know what? Fine. We can settle this once and for all. I was gonna go ream out that doc for sticking you with whatever it was he stuck you with, but you know what? I'll humor it. Why don't we ask him?"
Lilith grinned knowingly, not shrinking back from Sharlene's insistence on getting proof. That made Sharlene pause a little.
"Eh. Whatever. After I get all this out in the open, I got something I need your help with. Something to get us back on our feet."
Sharlene rubbed her hands together to warm them a bit then stuffed them into her pockets. It was nice having her jacket and it's pockets back. She would probably need them for what she had planned.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 29, 2018, 12:51:06 pm
Once her rather over-the-top giggle fit was over, Delta sat up, looking out over the new river. It wasn't the prettiest view she'd seen, but there's been worse. Detroit, for example. Or that one time in Hungary. She shakes that memory away, unsettling her hair in the process. The change in scenery was certainly welcomed, at least. The new company not so much. At least the Mislings weren't too lo- "Uhm... Delta? The spid- Mica Redscarf? She's hibernating. A-again." Delta sighed. "Yes, thank you Puddle. "
"And Brook saw Roxanne Luna, Victor Ironwood an-and, uhm..." Puddle trails off into silence as she looks at the floor, face full of shame. "Melody. Roxanne, Victor and Melody met up in Roxanne's room, they're talking about..." Delta pauses, closing her eyes. "Oooh. This is interesting. Puddle, you can leave." Delta crosses her legs, leaning back on her hands. "Actually, first, pass us that can. Oth- Oh my god. Roxanne, you certainly are a bad liar, aren't you..." Puddle pauses, holding an unmarked can. "Delta?"
"Yes, what is it?" Delta sits back up, opening her eyes once more. "What?"
"T-this one?" Puddle's blushing now, looking at her feet. "Yes, that one. Now, stop wasting our time and go back to your post." Delta snatches the can of soup off of her and leans back once more, going back to her meditation. "Well well, isn't that scandalous."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 29, 2018, 02:26:50 pm
The trio of arcan misfits settled themselves in Roxanne’s room. Roxanne and Victor sat on two chairs reserved for the sidelines of the alter while Melody sat the bed. The cursed spirit listened as Melody recounted the events of their journey. Roxanne showed a myriad of expressions precisely tuned to the words that were being spoken; nothing she hadn’t done before. Still, small sense of surprise lingered in Roxanne’s mind; however, it was accompanied by something else. Mixed in was something predatory; something told her she could use this to her advantage and she had all the intention to do so.
“Wow...and then what, you just headed to the Hall?”, asked Roxanne with a perplex tone.
“Yes”, clarified Melody. “It Helen wanted to see us and honestly I wanted to get any scolding from her out of the way. Luckily it didn’t came to that and looking back it was a good idea since the storm kinda took us by surprise…”
“Ha, that’s a surprise! Still, I assume you two won’t be allowed on any adventures any time soon?”
“I don’t think so...and honestly, I don’t want to either. The last one is why I have to wear this blindfold now…”
“Have to? There is no light here; it should be fine.”
“Oh no, Victor’s aura spell he put in the farm is a bit too much for me. This lets me filter out excess information or something. Victor, you explain it, you gave this thing to me.”
Victor’s attention perked up just then. He cleared his throat and addressed Roxanne directly. “Well, I don’t understand it myself. It was gifted by a supposed it friend of mine to give to Melody while I dreamed last night. Weird huh?”
“I have heard weirder from you. Friend you say? Anyone I know?”, Roxanne's asked.
“His name was Blackjack. Recognize the name?”
Roxanne smirked at the mention of that name. “I do. Never met him myself but I know he was a good friend of yours some years back. Did he leave anything for me?”
He nodded at her question. “As a matter of fact he did. A pair of bracelets to help you with your corporeal needs. Or so it says on the note that came with it…” Victor took a small box from one of his pockets and handed it to Roxanne. She accept it promptly and looked inside. An expressing of joy similar to a child getting a new toy. Roxanne took out the bracelets in a haste and put them on; the box was simply let to drop on the floor with no regard.
“They are so pretty! And they go with my earrings. Wow, who though you could be so thoughtful? Wonder what Helen would think of you giving jewelry to other women ~”
“Stop that. I am simply relaying them to you. Don’t make this weird…”
“Oh calm down. Don’t be so damn serious all the time. You might have forgotten your memories but are still so easy to tease. Anyways, let’s test them!”
Roxanne looked at the thing gold bracelets on her wrist again. They had three red gemstones on top which glew in light. Her earrings she had scavenged from the dust town the day before matched perfectly as if they were from a set. With observation out of the way Roxanne began to test them.
The red cloak that held her corporeal form was ditched. She took it off slowly as to not damage it despite that not being a concern given it’s properties. This was the cloak of a divine spirit; her cloak to be exact when she was one herself. The divine essence that it gave her radiated away and the bracelets took over. It felt a bit odd at first but Roxanne quickly got used to it. She glanced back at the her two visitors as if seeking approval. With a nod from Victor she reached for her sword.
“Would you look at that...it really does work…”, Roxanne exclaimed.
As if just having it received for the first time and examining her new weapon, Roxanne looked at the sword she brandished. With no need to call upon its power she had been able to lift it with the cloak on. A smile was etched on her face; this opened new possibilities.
She stood there with a triumphant look while Victor looked on processing just what this all meant. Melody on the other hand was getting bored and a bit impatient. Roxanne had called them here for something and the lack of stimuli was getting to her. With no hesitation she voiced her concern.
“Hey, not to be a buzzkill or anything but you had something to tell us? Said over the radio yourself… How about you get started on that.”
Roxanne’s trance from the sword ended there and she shook her head. Victor chuckled and shook his head in amusement.
“Right right! Sorry, was just lost in thought for a second. Anyways, yes, asked you two here to help me with something. But first things first…” She pretended to look around for something for a bit before applying a facepalm. “Oh no...I seem to have left a book in the library… Victor, could you be a dear and fetch it for me?”
“Oh, sure thing Roxanne. But uhhm, the library was destroyed by the storm… The book might have not survived....”
“Well, still worth a look don’t you think? If it’s not there than we will make due. I have you as a backup Victor. Anyways, the book is called ‘The essence of essence’. Should make the task at hand easier.”
Victor nodded at the task at hand and dismissed himself. “Will see what I can do. Be back in a few.” With exited the room and closed the door behind him leaving Roxanne and Melody alone. The latter let out a heavy sigh that betrayed more than boredom. Roxanne noticed this and flashed a predatory smile to her; not that Melody would notice. She made her way to the bed and sat next to Melody startling her.
“Hey, you ok there Mel? How are you holding on?”, Roxanne asked with a sympathetic tone.
“I am fine… Why do you ask all of the sudden?”
“Well, going through all that must not have been easy. You act tough but I know you are hurting. Do you want to talk about it?” She settled her hands on Melody’s shoulders and gently began to massage them.
“W-what are you doing?”, Melody asked sheepishly.
“Relax, I am just giving you a shoulder massage. You must have some pent up stress. Go on, tell me what plagues you…”
Despite her hesitation, it did feel nice. Melody decided maybe it was a good idea to open up. “It wasn’t easy… When we were there, the words of the old man still haunt me you know? No end to evil... “
“Oh, is that it? Don’t worry about that… there is so much we can do. It’s no use beating ourselves over it…” Roxanne’s motions got a bit faster and more deliberate. Melody eased up a little more.
“T-that’s not all… It’s the fact that I wasn’t able to do anything… I just stood there and watched… Victor, they overwhelmed him and I could do nothing but watch...he could’ve been killed, if only I was stronger- ”
Roxanne quietted Melody down with a deliberate stroke of one of her fingers down the length of her arm; the other firmly grasping her other arm and pulling her back. She whispered intently in Melody’s ear. “That’s not what I see… I see a brave young woman who stood up; she raised her weapon and fought with honor. That is all that can be asked… sure, you are not that strong yet. But, you still have a lot to learn… That is why you have Helen, and Victor...and why you have me Melody…”
“I-I do? You think I can become stronger?”
“I know you can...just let me teach you… you and I Mel’, the world won’t be able to stop us…” Roxanne began to kiss Melody’s neck and she gave in. All the stress Melody had was slowly melting away in the hands of someone she trusted the most. “Relax Melody...let me take care of everything…” From then on it was just silent. Roxanne did indeed take charge. Her hands began to wander and Melody simply let it happen.
There was something specific Roxanne wanted; her current prime objective. The two swords, despair and void, they had talked to each other. It was decided it was time re-united. The wound of the veil left them no choice; the will of the wielder be damned; and with the sword of the void not having a wielder in the first place it seemed like the right time. Roxanne had one objective, to have Melody surrender her sword to her; to fuse them and become the next wielder of the sword of transcendence…
It was all going well. Melody seemed to be in a vulnerable place right now; Roxanne was exploiting this quite nicely. She just needed to give Melody a hint; something to tell her what she wanted. Within the passion of the moment, Roxanne reached down Melody’s hand again and reached for her sword; she kept it on her hand instead of her scabbard due to comforting her but she had all the confort she needed right now. However, something happened when Roxanne’s hand touched the sword of despair.
A sudden shock ran down Melody’s spine that pulled her away from Roxanne. It felt like something was being taken away from her; it felt odd and very real. The sword was reacting to who it deemed worthy of it and the two present, it’s current and a former wielder, were both that. The feeling was strong and unexpected and now with a chance to calm down Melody felt the need to get out of there.
“Uhhh, s-sorry… Have to go now…”
“Aww, what’s wrong? Do you not like me?”
“No, it’s not that it’s just...I need to go ok!”
Without letting another word be said from Roxanne, Melody rushed out far from Roxanne's room as she could in a single sprint. After being sufficiently far away she stopped. Her breathing was still heavy and she decided to take a quick rest before thinking on what to do about this.
"W-what is going on with Roxanne? That isn't like her..."
Suddenly her expression turned sour.
"You shut up! I am not taking that from a sword. Had enough problems with your kind today..."
Roxanne was still in the room with the door wide open. She smiled at herself; she failed her main objective but at least seeds of doubt had been planted. Still, she did manage to get something else. I her hands she was twirling a single crystal bullet that Melody was so fond of. This would help nicely in her next projects. It was while in the middle of her thoughts that Victor came in. He had a book in hand; the one that had been requested.
“Hey, I managed to find the book. It has some water damage but it is readable. Uhhhh, where is Melody and why is the door opened?”
“Don’t worry about it. She had to run out. Lady stuff. I was just too lazy to close the door. Can you close it for me? Now, you and I have a job to do. This is why I called you here today… Open the book to page 37…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 29, 2018, 05:35:18 pm
Hector sighed a bit as he helped the avian down and lead the way over to the building, and the tarps set up nearby. He looked over to the nervous mutant before leading the way to one worn tarp that had been set up on poles, to at least keep him out of the rain.
Soon Hector looked over to the group once they were inside. "So then. More introductions, right?" he said, and Lewis nodded. "Lewis. Missionary of sorts, not for God's Army though. Had a good bunch of people in one of the GA-leaning settlements on the fence until the fuckin' templar showed up." Meanwhile the rougher-looking man from earlier stepped up. "Crusader Joshua. Former crusader, at least. Talked back to my CO after having some time to think on things, and in the brig that gave me a whole lot more time to rethink what I've been doing with my life..."
Gabi nudges Brian with his Elbow, "'ay c'mon. Introduce yourself." He whispered. Brian gave a nervous little nod at that. "Brian. Used to be a doctor in one of their settlements..."
Solomon nodded at that. "Well, Helen's been working on this arcane stuff, trying to get together a group like what she evidently used to be a part of..."
When they'd arrived, Helen was already surveying the area with her mask. That wound in The Veil was still visible far beyond the normal edge of her mask's sight, and here on the edge of the area she was getting an unusual feeling from the place up ahead. "Alright, let's ge-" The rifle round ripping through Salazar interrupted her, directing to advance using any available cover as they moved up under his fire to cover them.
"If you see me raise my hammer, look away." she directed calmly, and as soon as she saw an opportunity to approach she did just that. There was a brilliant flash, immediately followed by her rushing in and scanning the area ahead for any targets she could spot through her mask, letting loose a bolt of green death from her wraithslayer as she did.
Elsewhere, Nathaniel had been driving back from the center when he saw the two crossing the open field, stopping the ATV borrowed from Floyd and giving a wave. "Glad you two are alright after this. Sorry no one's been around to check on you guys other than Lilith, things have been hectic all morning." he remarked. "You heading to the center? Can turn back and ride over there if you want to hop on." he offered.
He then gave a glance at Lilith. "Er, Sharlene I mean, sorry Lil but you riding on the back wouldn't work all that well..." he remarked. "While I'm at it, I had some stuff to tell the captain there, evidently they're trying to help with supplies and manpower for the locals that got fucked over by the storm. So if you need it, tell them the farm can at least cover whatever it is they need in exchange."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 29, 2018, 06:42:03 pm
As they followed the monk into the temple Salazar smiled at the oncoming deathsquad. He knew he wasn’t invincible and tanking just that one shot had been taxing. Shooting the first of them as they scrambled blindly for cover Salazar started moving.
Inside the others could hear gunfire and shouting. Soon their magic items and weapons began to cease functioning. Aaron stopped for a moment, reaching a hand up to his eyes. “Something..something’s wrong. Can’t see that well.”
The monk with them looked over before saying “Wait..you must be one of the Blessed Anton told us about. There’s a spell in place here, it..it negates most kinds of magic, magnifies others. I’d explain but-”
The sound of gunfire grew louder as they entered a large room. Whilst the fighting hadn’t reached this room the men inside were preparing. Sandbag walls had been erected and machine guns setup as they waited. As Helen and company entered the room they saw two men in haul Anton into the room “Their power armor flametroopers are doing a number up ahead.”
They set Anton down in a chair as the leader of the monks looked to Helen and said “I take it you’re the cavalry? The enemy have pushed into the first few rooms of the temple at this point. As for what they’re after I’ve no clue, they’ve no reason to attack our order. In fact I’d think you would be more inclined given the order you hail from and it’s principles but if I must work with it to preserve my own so be it.”
Upon actually looking the room over Helen could probably spot a number of historical artifacts. From a handful of swords that hailed both from Norse heritage to those that saw combat in the crusades to rings and pendants. All of which she could probably discern had some form of minor magic to them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 29, 2018, 06:45:43 pm
Cardin still didn't feel comfortable in the tent. He knew he wasn't trapped, or stuck, but the fear still remained. He raked the ground with his talons, trying to pay attention to everyone's introductions. "Crusa- *bumph* -at least. Talked ba- *ba-bumph* -ter ha- *bumph* *ba-bumph* -Brian." Cardin stands up suddenly, kicking mud up behind him as he storms outside, breathing heavily. "Stop freaking out, Johnathan..." He mentally slaps himself, placing a hand over his beak. "Introductions. Easy. Just can't talk. Less easy." Cardin takes a moment to pace, attempting to calm himself down. It didn't help. "Stupid wings. Stupid mutations." His pacing took him around the side of the tent, when he bumped, head-first, into a girl. ...Wearing a blindfold. His wings unfurl, curling forward and around the girl. "C-cheep!"
Delta crosses her legs, lying against the muddy incline. "Good god, Roxanne. You're a downright slut, aren't you..." She raises the can of soup and holds her hand against the lid, waiting for about a minute before the lid melts through with a satisfying hisssssssssss.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 29, 2018, 09:11:41 pm
"Sure, why not, but first..." Sharlene said, "You've been stickin' it to my tiger, and now she says she's gonna have 'cubs.' I don't believe that for a second, but I gotta know, what are you gonna do if she does? She isn't designed for that sort of thing." She poked Nathaniel hard in the chest. "Are you coming along dear?" Daniel asked, retrieving his mask. Sylvia had stayed up most of the night sitting with the strange woman who'd fallen from the hall during the night. Both he and Helen had examined her, hoping to get some kind of feedback about her nature from their masks. For Helen, she'd been invisible to the mask of insight. For Daniel, who hadn't even met her until now, she was invisible except for the scar. A bright light at where he judged her abdomen to be glowing with the same light as the distant rent.
"No sweetest, I think I'll get some sleep. Ms. McKinnon set aside a spot for me, but I havn't used it. This poor girl, what's wrong with her?"
"She's tied to the veil in some integral way. If my mask would fit your face dear, I'd show you something that sends a shiver up my spine. There's a tear up north. Like this girl said, someone has done something terrible."
Sylvia ran a hand over Illiana's forehead and she opened one eye.
"Canadians." She said, "Don't worry too much, it will close. Until then though I'm hoofing it everywhere. Oh well, I needed a vacation anyway."
Sylvia and Daniel stared at her for a bit and she winked at them before closing her eyes again and pretending to sleep.
"Weird lady." Sylvia commented. Daniel took his time to get wrapped up against the lessening rain. He wouldn't need it soon, but for now it was nice to be as dry as possible. He only had one change of clothes. The river had changed, and that was interesting. He and Sylvia had only been around for a few days, but the view of the river having rerouted itself so dramatically was intensely interesting. Almost awe inspiring when he considered how the hall had been barely missed by the surging water.
As he neared the other end of the bridge, watching some of the fisher people going back to work in rain slickers, he took a moment to look out at the newly formed lake. 'That' He thought, 'Is gonna be quiet the sight come next spring when the waters have settled a bit.' He leaned on the bridges railing for a bit and wish he could share the view with Sylvia. He could always take a picture though, that was a thought. He pulled out the phone he always carried, a useless tool that he carried out of habit, and saw something strange down on the banks of the river.
It looked, vaguely, like a woman. A woman endowed with breasts, hips, and bottom of nearly absurd proportions. At the moment, she appeared to be sucking on one end of a can of soup. The overall spectacle was made all the more bizarre when the can became completely engulfed in her green, semi transparent mass. Daniel was unsure of what he was seeing and shook his head to clear it. When she remained where she was, he put on his mask and was surprised to see an aura that was fuzzy at best near the center, nearly invisible to the mask at the edges.
"Excuse us, do you always stare at people like that?" She said, turning her face up at him.
"Er... This might sound like a dumb question, but what are you?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 29, 2018, 10:17:33 pm
(daniel bit written by salt) "What are we? Well that seems a bit rude. Normally they open with 'who', 'where' or 'aaaaaaaah!'" Delta waves her arms about in mock panic as she recites the last one. "But, while we don't doubt your astute powers of observation, we think it's pretty obvious that we're an entirely normal human woman." She leaves a long, deliberate pause, just about long enough for Daniel to start replying and for her to cut him off. "Made entirely out of slime. Don't touch us, we're very deadly!" Delta punctuates her exclaimation with a wink. Or at least, what seems to be a wink. Her equivalent of a wink.
Daniel was a bit taken aback. He wasn't quiet sure if she was serious or not about being deadly. She didn't look deadly, but then again he'd never encountered anything like her before except for the occasional eldritch 'thing.' She seemed sapient, but if she was dangerous...
"How deadly?" He asked, then slapped himself. "Sorry, that's a stupid question. Ok, 'Who' are you? Where did you come from?"
"Who are we? Now you're getting somewhere. We are Operative Delta Cee-Oh-Ex-Ewe. Or just Delta. It's what we call us. I call us. I call me?" She seems to have an extraordinary amount of difficulty speaking in straight first person. "Is that right? I call me? Whatever. We're not at your service. Yes. No, they did-" Delta suddenly shuts up, something that comes as a surprise to Daniel. "E-excuse us." She shakily gets to her feet. Or, as they are at this point, 'feet', as they appear to be melting. As do her legs. And arms. It isn't long before she's completely lost any semblance to a humanoid form and collapsed into something that was almost, but not quite entirely unlike the classical blob enemy design commonplace in many RPG's.
Delta's quivering blob seems to pulsate slightly, slowly growing another 'base', before the two conjoined blobs split apart into two entirely seperate entities. The newer, slightly smaller one immediately pops up with a exactly identical copy of Delta's body above the waist, with everything below it remaining as a shapeless mass. "Hi. I'm leaving. Bye."
A few seconds later, after the copy has gotten a considerable head start towards the farm, the original blob, Delta, forms back into what Daniel was talking to originally, albiet with a much smaller bust, butt and, well, everything else. She looks... Somewhat aroused, actually, although she doesn't actually have anything visible to suggest so except for her face and body language. "S-sorry about thaaaaaa-" She pauses to clear her throat, an entirely pointless action. "That."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 29, 2018, 11:11:45 pm
(( Floyd and punkboi stuff written with Wilson. ))
Nathaniel gave a sigh as he looked to Sharlene, then over at Lilith. "She wanted this sorta thing, so. If the doctor's treatment worked, so be it. I'll do what I have to in order to be there for her. Who do think I am, Dee?" he joked.
"I do worry that she's going to regret it when she realizes what this truly entails and experiences it for herself, but least I can do is be there for her." he added. "And if this lunacy does work, now I gotta ask. How are you gonna feel being basically an aunt?" he remarked.
Hector gave a sigh at that, gesturing to another rain shelter that wasn't even a tent so much as a tarp roof without walls. "Hey, come on, you shouldn't be out here in the rain..." he said softly, only to glance at Melody who the avian was now outright wrapped around. "Huh. Roxanne's already done talking with you? Is everything alright?" he asked.
Meanwhile, Floyd and Rodriguez both sat down nearby, Floyd giving a little nod. "So." Roddy just nodded. "Yep." At this Floyd managed a little wry smile. "Good choice by the way, poncho." he mused, and Rodriguez chuckled. "Duster certainly works too." he remarked, before Floyd spoke up. "So, Tampa Police it said. You boys from all the way down there?"
"Yep. Went up, followed the coast a bit. South Carolina wasn't in good shape so we cut through Georgia and followed the west side of the mountains. Wasn't until we apparently missed Old Guard territory and this place that we cut through a pass and go on this side of the Appalachian again."
Sergei meanwhile looked over to Brian, taking a seat nearby. "Why so nervous by the way? Not going to hurt you. Didn't know God's Army was shaking in their dog collars because of me." he remarked, and Brian shrugged. "Don't know about the regular soldiers, but in Abbadon rumors would get around among the bishops, and I'd hear it from there when running the clinic there. Something about a person matching your description having killed a bishop with his bare hands. That guy kinda wasn't...well-liked among the others. Templars under him had the nickname of 'the atheist chaplain' for the guy, but nobody was dumb enough to call him something like that where any of the other bishops could find out about it."
"Huh. Wasn't expecting that, but alright. Regardless, I've no problem with you if you have none with me. Should get everyone a drink since we've had time to take a break from rebuilding." he suggested, and Brian nodded at that. "Never been much of a drinker, but a little wouldn't hurt..." Gabi hmmed a bit at that. "Let him if he wants, but Green, Reyes, and the others should stay off of that." Reyes then perked up. "And you sure as hell aren't either."
Helen gave a sigh as she entered the structure, mask deactivated as they pushed through to where the monks were. As they explained their situation, she gave a little sigh. "I'm sorry to admit I'm not familiar with your order. Our missions were many, and like a lot of our hunting parties most of my life was spent focused on The Sanguine Order." she said. "However, I assure you that I am no enemy."
As she surveyed the area ahead where they were prepared to face the advancing soldiers, she activated her mask again, to test if it would work. She could see the enemy up ahead alright. And several beyond, outside the normal range of her mask. She could also see that her hammer had dimmed to a barely-perceptible aura, though her other items at least seemed unaffected.
Then she turned her attention, for but an instant, towards the lingering sense of that wound in The Veil, far away. The sight filled her vision as she yelped in surprise, trying and failing to draw her attention away from it, as now it seemed like reflections off the rift's light was blinding in and of itself. For but a moment she thought she could see a trail of havoc from a divine figure's recent crash through the plane and into a corporal form, an echo of two auras rippling and flowing as one, steady gloved hands weaving patterns into the fabric of The Veil. And the faintest hint of a blue flicker, slithering and eluding a net woven from The Veil itself. All this in an instant before she was forced by the brilliant light to forcibly remove her mask, causing it to revert to its deactivated form.
"Mask is malfunctioning in this, hammer seemed to be neutralized. Rest of my gear seems fine as far as I could see before I couldn't see anything else..." she said softly. "If that's a common outcome when you try to store magic items in this place, I can see why some of us might've had quarrel with you..." she said, hefting her wraithslayer and leveling it at the doorway where the soldiers had been approaching. There, she would wait with the others who'd taken up positions.
Moments after machineguns opened up on the assailants, one of the first men out the door was struck by a green bolt. The brilliant flare of green, lancing clean through the man, shearing an arm off the next, and cracking the stone wall behind him, was a good bit beyond what the weapon normally did. Aside from sending the others behind him scrambling for cover, she also felt the recoil. The fact her weapon of choice would even HAVE recoil, let alone enough to bowl her over, startled her. "Okay, lesson learned..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 30, 2018, 01:11:39 am
Sharlene sized Nathaniel up. It was a needless gesture meant more to make fun of the small man. Compared to Lilith, anyone was a runt. When placed side by side though, Nathaniel and Lilith as a couple seemed farce. Also there was this business with Dee. Sharlene had not been up to date on current events and didn't know that he had picked up stakes and left.
"I won't have to worry about being an aunt because it isn't happening. Lil can't have kids. That would be like getting kittens out of a cheese cake. As for the Dee, what's this gotta do with him?" She went on. Nathaniel explained what had been going on about the farm, and some of it she knew. New people hanging around, recent damages, interesting people. The doctors at the center said Mica was in the family way. That information she'd heard from Lilith and of course, she didn't believe it either. The gist of this stuff with Dee though was that he'd gotten wind of it and took it seriously. Sharlene listened with half an ear, not really catching most of it.
"So he left." She said almost casually, "Why didn't you say that first? Well anyway, onward! Try to keep up dumbass!"
She was about to climb aboard the ATV, the two way on the handle bars crackled to life.
"Heya, Mr. Nate?" Said the voice on the other end. Nathaniel picked up the radio and asked who was speaking, and what he could do for them.
"It's Leslie. Medeina can't get through to the center, but she says you were there a bit ago? If you're still there, could you get Mr. Dervish to come to Dee's?"
Nathaniel looked at the radio, a little worried. "Uh, sure. What for?"
"Something's wrong with Ms. Mica. Totally not groovy."
"Probably just morning sickness or something." Sharlene said, winking at Nathaniel in a conspiratorial manner, like they were on the inside of some joke. Meanwhile, Nathaniel told Leslie that he would see to it that Dervish got the message and kicked the ATV to life.
Lilith watched the it pull away for a moment until it had got a bit of distance, then dropped to all four and loped after. "Are you alright? What was that about?" Daniel asked, concerned and moving around the barrier. Walking the rest of the way around the rail and down the embankment took long enough for Delta to regain a bit of her composure. From down here, Daniel realized that despite being in full view of a few people working on the bridge, fixing nets or casting lines, no one seemed to take notice of the retired mage hunter and the strange slime lady below them. She didn't appear to be hurt but he couldn't really tell, and her body language coupled with her physical nature and professed "deadliness" made him nervous. His earlier thoughts had put her somewhere in the realm of the eldritch, now he had thoughts of very old games. Especially table top games. Ochre oozes, black puddings, gelatinous cubes.
Delta spat the can into the river, getting an impressive amount of distance with it. Daniel gestured in the direction of the farm, and the recently split girl. "Should I uh... Go after her? You? er... It?" They were full, absolutely stuffed by the team they had finished the cans they had and somehow that made Atomos feel a little better. In a bit she would be back to her dour self but in the meantime she decided she would focus on the here and now. Right now, she needed to get out of Abaddon and back to the center. What she did once she was there would have to wait until her current goal was met.
"Atomos," Cheena asked, licking her chops with relish, "Wanna come back to my den? It's warm and dry there, and you can meet mama and Red!"
She went on for a bit about her den, more a network of warrens and separate dens that sounded to Atomos more like some kind of village than a "den." Cheena talked about her mama, a pleasant but aging vixen named Mayna and her "uncle." He wasn't actually her uncle. He wasn't actually anyone's uncle. Red was an aging Renard whom everyone in the collection of warrens believed was only days away from "entering the clearing" as Cheena put it. The thing was, Red had been on the edge of "entering the clearing" for at least three generations of foxes to come out of the little fox village. Atomos did up the math in her head, and that seemed more than a little strange to her. Regardless, Red was revered among the others not for his advanced age or for the quality of the quickness of his wit, but for his sagacity. Red was wise and full of tales. "Mama learned her stories from Red!" Cheena would put in, "He even knows all of the stories about Mikko! My favorite is 'Mikko and the wolves!' Mikko is my favorite!"
"Who is Mikko?" Atomos interrupted. She had only the very vaguest of ideas who Mikko was from Cheena's rambling, but she thought she needed to know. The name had an odd power and she herself had after all, been mistaken for whoever it was. Cheena just stared at her.
"You're serious? You don't know who Mikko is!?" Cheena gawped at her. To Atomos, her astonishment was that of a pious woman finding out that one of her own order doesn't know anything about the god they both supposedly worshipped. Atomos had gathered a little, enough to know that Cheena at least did see this Mikko as some kind of shapeshifting fox god.
"I... No..."
"What kind of foxes don't know about Mikko? He's only the most famous fox ever!"
"He? But you mistook m- that one girl for him?"
"Mikko is both! Mikko can be any shape he wants! Red says that all foxes used to be like Mikko until the long winter!"
She was introducing too many concepts at a time now and Atomos had to stop her and tell her to stick with Mikko for the time being.
"Nuh-uh, you are definitely coming to my den now! You should talk to Red! Red will know how to tell it!"
Cheena urged her on, losing interest in the house and guiding Atomos back the way they came and into the foliage beyond. While they walked, Cheena talked and despite her assurances that Red would be the one to tell it, Cheena shared with Atomos the story of Mikko and the wolves. A story about how cunning could thwart both evil and brute strength. "Where the fuck are we going to get another arch slab?"
"We aren't. What happened was a worst case scenario when it came to using the Nidhogg protocol. Jesus Christ and Thor before him, I wish there had been another way. How's the general?"
"Aged about ten years. He was just a kid when they promoted him, my age, but now look at him. He's old enough to be my granddaddy."
"Aya, and he'd get older too if the arch slab was still in place. It's half blessing as well as a goddamnit disaster."
"Can we get another?"
"Only if the cleansing flame missed more than the ones we know about."
"What about the banshee slab?"
"Fuck that, the banshee would kill the general and everything else within a mile if the midgard activated even it's least power hungry protocols. Besides, it's being used to operate some death tower thing at a portal station in the Rockies."
"So... What do we do then?"
"What we've been doing. We link up with the old guard, maybe the railroad while we are at it, and complete our objective. If we find an arch slab along the way, woohoo. If not, then oh well. The general is old, not dead. We follow him like we've been doing."
"Yeah. Well, now that that's settled, wanna sit with me on transport seven and throw rocks at cars we pass?"
"That's stupid."
"Is that a no?"
"Just give me one of those stones..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 30, 2018, 08:46:52 am
Delta, as it turns out, can definitely smile. It's quite unnerving. "She's Arroyo! One of our affluents, but she's not one of the best ones, like Pud- Puddle." Why did she say that? She normally hated Puddle. "Arroyo's supposed to be our... Something or other. Affluents are weird." Delta covers her mouth with her hands, trying to stop herself from giving away more actually correct details of any nature. It fails miserably to stop her from talking, however, when a second mouth apparently grows out on the back of her hand. "And she came out because we ate too much! And we don't know why we're talking so much, except for the fact you are the first human we've talked to since we retired! Stop babbling." Delta shakes her head, making her entire body jiggle as she drops her arms to her sides again. "We're sorry about this. Yes, could you go get Arroyo for us? She should be..." She closes her eyes, shakily sitting down again. "...Beelining for Dee's workshop. With the idea that Catnip is a psychopath. D-do you know Catnip, Daniel? Memory is a bit shaky right now."
"...Actually, scratch that. We're coming too. Get rid of her quic-" She's interrupted by a few bubbles trailing their way up from about where her guts would be, followed by her burping quite loudly. "Jeez, pardon us.'
Arroyo had a goal. She was gonna seperate Kathrine and Catnip. In her head, she was helping Kathrine, but to pretty much any other living human, she appeared to be a bit unhinged. What, with being a lime green slime person making wet slapping noises with every step who's walking with purpose towards the lizard's workshop and ignoring everything else. Delta made a vague attempt at calling her back, but full control was waaaay beyond her capabilities. Arroyo reached the door, and without missing a beat, collapsed into a blob in order to slip under it. Popping up on the other side took a tad longer, with her left arm needing to slide through seperately, but she kept her stride up as she appoached the couple. "Hi. You're a psychopath." She's pointing directly at Catnip, speaking in a dull monotone, lacking any real trace of Delta's valley girl accent. "You, ugly one." She pauses, apparently in thought, before snapping her fingers. "Minx. Leave."
Kathrine was terrified. The strange green woman had started talking about how Catnip was manipulating her, and that their relationship was false, and how Catnip was a terrible person. "S-stop that! Mistress is l-lovely!" Arroyo paused. "I see. It's worse than I feared."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 30, 2018, 11:35:17 am
“...Ha, no. Roxanne, I am not doing that…”, Victor stated nervously but with conviction. A look of disappointment clearly visible in Roxanne’s face.
“What? Why not? You are the only one who can help me… Aren’t we friends?”, Roxanne responded
“Ok, no. Don’t try to use that card on me. Memory loss remember? For all I know we are bitter rivals.”
Roxanne smirked upon hearing that statement. “Well, in some ways we are. Anyways, help me! This is you are of expertise!”
“Was… and even so, what you are asking me to do...that’s too far…”
“Then why did you so readily accept the sword?”
“Wait what?”, Victor said in confusion. The sword of the void was now being held by his hands. There was no recollection of him actually grabbing it. “When did…”
“Reverse sleight of hand. Chat someone up and they will accept anything you hand to them. You are a simple man with simple motives, no offence; and I like that. Makes it easier to work with you.”
She was right. While with Melody she tried to exploit the need for reassurance, with Victor it was as simple as talking. She opened the book, told him what she wanted and in the process planted the seeds for him to do so. However, he was still a bit hesitant.
“Ok...the book tells us how to easily do this but the note...where did you even get it?”, Victor asked.
“I got it from you! Look closely, it has your handwriting.”
Victor did as asked. He looked at the writing and compared it to the journal he carried. The handwriting matched perfectly. It looked as if the note had been ripped apart from a notebook. “W-why would I even work on something like this?”
“Beats me. If I had to guess it would be around the time you or Melody lost your souls.”
“Wait what?! We lost our souls?”
“Yes, you did. God, this is gonna be a thing for a while isn’t it? Me referencing something, you not knowing what the hell I am talking about and then having to explain it…”
“Probably… That’s besides the point anyways! I am not doing this!” Victor placed the noted inside the book and close it. The sword of the void he carried placed next to it on the altar. She needed to change strategiz; if he wasn’t going to do it, maybe he could teach her...
He was about to leave when Roxanne uttered something. “Melissa Mcmorrow. Long straight brunette hair. She was quite pretty if I say so myself.”
Victor turned around confused and a bit annoyed. “What are you going on about now?”
“Your first girlfriend silly. Didn’t go anywhere of course… But still, you have some fond memories of her. Don’t you miss them? Don’t you want them back?”
He was left perplexed. Roxanne could be lying of course but still; what she was saying intrigued him. “H-how would you even know about something like this?”
“This isn’t the first time I have been a spirit Victor. Back then I possed you and we shared many of our memories. You have lost mine but I still have yours. I can share them with you if you want… I don’t have many to share but you might appreciate what I do have…”
Victor turned fully to face her. The prospect of her offer sinking in. He walked towards her with intrigued.This might be it, the first step of getting his old life back. All he had to do was ask. “And what would you want in return?”
Roxanne smiled. “Oh, so you know I want something huh? Very astute. Just let me pick that mind of yours again. Teach me everything you know… Let me explore your mind and absorb whatever skills I need to make a better life and in exchange I will let you relive some of yours…”
“Is that all?” Victor looked at Roxanne directly in the eyes. He sensed truthfulness in her voice. Had he been her earlier he might not have though the same. Roxanne was different, not all there. It seems she was changing to fit her needs but he wouldn’t know that; and even if he did, in this moment he didn’t care. “You have yourself a deal…’
“Good… Close your eyes and just stand there ok? Once this is done you are free to go; I will do the experiment on my own…”
Victor closed his eyes and stood still. He focused on his breathing; something told him to do so. It was just waiting for now; he heard the sound of the sword being picked up. Then he felt something else; he felt as if something was invading his mind.
A while later Victor emerged from Roxanne’s room. A look of disbelief on his face was evident as he closed the door slowly. His laser gauntlet was in his hand due to Roxanne’s curiosity taking over; but he didn’t care, he was too busy browsing other things as she played around. Now that was over Victor emerged with fragmented pieces of his memories. Many of the memories she gave him were once he had shared with her; not surprising but unexpected. The rest were of his early life; those he was more grateful for. It was very little all things considered but it was something; something to cling to. For now he had a new objective in mind. He looked at the laser gauntlet once more and sighed. “I need to find another weapon…”
Melody had been walking in a random direction. It was by some happenstance she hadn’t bumped into anything since she wasn’t really paying attention to the aura spell. Instead; she seemed to me murmuring something about sword and friendship. It was then she felt it.
She bumped into something and quite startled her. Her sword was dropped as she tried to free herself from...feathers? She resisted at first but then she calmed down a bit. Her spell told her this was another person and for a moment she simply let happen. “Fluff…”
Then she heard the voice of Hector calling her. She panic as the events from a bit ago were recounted in her mind. By pure instinct she moved forward a bit and embraced the bird; she did so in an attempt to feel secure, and it seemed to work somewhat.
“H-hey Hec- Mr. Lowe!” He sudden insurance in formality was her mind attempting to seem normal but it probably had the opposite effect. “Yes! Ms.Luna let me go… she, uhhh, we… I did what she needed from me…” A few moments went by as she continued to embrace the avain before realizing what she was doing. She let out an embarrassed scream and let go quickly placing her hand on her sides and turning away. “S-sorry! I didn’t mean to!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on April 30, 2018, 12:25:15 pm
Cardin's wing embrace quickly ended as Melody dropped her sword and hugged him. He looked over his shoulder at Hector, chirping quietly with a potentially pleading look on his face. Either that, or he's laughing. Or screaming. It's hard to tell. Then Melody screamed and backed off, looking embarrassed. "Cheep, chirp?" He spends a couple seconds looking up at Melody, hesistant to touch her, when instead, he bends down and picks her sword up. "Chirrup?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 30, 2018, 01:33:26 pm
The monk shook his head “Things malfunctioning in here is uncommon. Usually it completely nullifies magic, and if it doesn’t we move it to somewhere that does.”
He was taken off guard as the first of the enemy showed up and again when Helen used her weapon. Lifting the modified and suppressed M16 in his hands he fired into the next two as they attempted to fire. As a medic took care of his leg Anton fired his bolt action rifle as well and put down another of them.
The enemy pulled back for the moment as Eino and Gunnar moved towards the door. Isaac for his part slid the revolver from the holster on his chest and pulled the hammer back. Steinar hefted the axe in his hands as Liam took a rifle one of the monks offered him and Aaron took up position behind some of the sand bags.
The leader of the monks walked over to the radio as he said “Though at this rate our only salvation may require us to break the nullification spell. That’s..that’s going to be unpleasant.”
Picking up the microphone he clicked it on and said “Now would be a good time for you to move that fucking ammo up here! We’re going to need it.”
Elsewhere in the temple the Lieutenant moved up with his personal guard. One of them nodded to him as they passed a room where one of the power armor operators was doing field repair. A knife slid from it’s sheath and found its way into the man’s throat. Tieing a piece of blue cloth around the arm of the power armor the guardsman climbed into it.
Retrieving the only modern piece of equipment in his kit the Lieutenant pressed the button on the side of his radio and lifted it up before speaking “Remember, try not to shoot the ones in blue armbands.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 30, 2018, 02:27:10 pm
Helen nodded at that. "So I see, it would be valuable to see if any work can be done to refine it, but...another time." she said, dusting herself off and ducking behind the sand bags. "At this point a rifle would be more reliable then..." she said, at this point uncertain if she could trust her items, if they seemed unaffected through her mask's vision.
She took one from the rack of rifles nearby, an AK of some sort she could tell, a quick glance at the side confirming it was chambered for 5.45x39mm. As she had demonstrated with Victor in the past, she at least knew the general handling of most types of firearms, and her training with a wraithslayer translated into its use better than it did when she tried to help him learn how to use a pistol.
They were in what would've been mask range, and both weapons had sights, she thought. But there were some things she wasn't prepared for. The first was not being used to accounting for how the weapon was zeroed, but merely hitting a few inches above where she aimed quickly became the least of her problems. That the gun was set to full-auto, and that she still was used to a weapon that had ineligible recoil, left her chosen target reduced to a crumpled, bloody heap after a solid 7-round-burst arced up his body, the fifth entering the side of his neck and the last 2 sailing over his head. The next couple bursts at least were shorter and more manageable, at least.
"Well, if Mica's actually pregnant than Lilith's chances seem a hell of a lot more likely in comparison. You want the info out of the doc, have at it. I don't really know as much about mutagenics except was declassified for the old manuals." he admitted. "And you know what? They say the same thing you said, and that I'm fairly certain I told the doc. Something something baseline DNA artifacts, purifier receptivity, immune response. Basically they said if someone's 5a, at best they're only able to breed within the same class of mutation, at worst they're sterile."
"As for Dee, I'll be honest. If he comes slithering back after deciding to pull a Billy Jean on Mica, there's going to be a waiting list for peope to kick him in the dick. Mica ran off and could've got herself killed trying to find him, then Hector and Roxanne ran off to find her. Glad at least they got her back, but fuck me..."
Hector watched, most of the new arrivals resting in tents or under tarps, with Rodriguez and Floyd chatting just outside the workshop. The knight gave a concerned glance over at the avian before shrugging, only to sigh a bit at Melody's reactions. "I see, then. Glad that's taken care of." It was only then he noticed the sword dropped on the ground, and went a bit pale under the helm. He vaguely recalled her using it, lost in the dim haze of a rampage under the influence of the cursed sword.
Immediately he stepped forward. "That's the sword Roxanne had taken from her. By a...nephilim, and some person working for them that wounded her. How did you end up finding that?"
Meanwhile, Sergei and Brian had gone inside the workshop to get out of the cold, and to see about finding a drink with Gabi and the others had remained in the tents. This left the Russian staring at a peculiar sight, Brian having been idly reminiscing on mundane duties at the local clinic, the one positive from his time in Abaddon, when he noticed Sergei had gone quiet, staring at the old garage door.
When Brian turned, he started stammering in panic. "What...blob, X-ray, whatever it is, n-north entrance!" he cried out, only for Sergei to stand and give the creature a concerned glance. "No. She talked. What are you doing here, little one?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 30, 2018, 08:32:43 pm
The monk decided to ignore her comments for the time being, instead tossing a small device into the next room. A small explosion was followed by the screaming of blinded men as Eino and Gunnar moved in with Isaac close behind. The sound of gunfire and more screaming followed as they cleared the room. Isaac called back “I think they’re regrouping. That or we scared their frontline into retreating.”
This was quickly followed by a slow, calm, and commanding voice echoing through the halls and rooms with a conciliatory tone as he said “Look mein friends there is no need for this to continue. We offered compensation for the item we sought and this was met with..unsatisfactory reactions on both sides. I can tell none of you are mutants so we’ve no quarrel with you, we merely want the item we specified. Surrender it into our hands and you won’t be harmed. I’m going to give you..three minutes to reply. If not I’m afraid there is only bloodshed in the future. Should you decide to accept let me know on frequency 45.1.”
The monk sighed at this, seeming to only be happy for the fact they had some breathing room. Rubbing his eyes he said “Of all the people I’ve had to deal with these are the most unpleasant. Can’t give them what they want and I don’t have another place to fall back to.”
Another of the monks, his head shaved and intricately tattooed in mystic patterns, entered the room carrying a detonator. Handing it to the leader of them he said “The room’s rigged, it’ll destroy the nullification but..you know what happens after that.”
The leader nodded as he looked down at the detonator for a few moments. Tucking it into a vest pouch he patted the other monk on the shoulder. “Let us hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on April 30, 2018, 09:02:28 pm
Roxanne was working on in her room with her new found skill set. “Well, Victor certainly has quite the skill set… Too bad I could only get what was relevant in our deal. Oh well, I can get the rest later. Now where was I…” She flipped the book to the next page using the note as a road map.
“Now that I think about it, didn’t Randael teach Melody this stuff as well? I should’ve ask her before...no no, you did right Luna! You are doing what you need to do... “ She said this yet she was starting to doubt herself. Something was off, she didn’t feel like herself… Was she doing something wrong? No, it couldn’t be, she felt great! It must be something else...maybe the stab wound? Yes, that must be it!
The recipe was coming along nicely. It was a lot harder to do this way but at least no one had to die… Victor’s little invention came in handy. She just needed essence...plain old essence. She had blood essence and dull essence sure, but not the regular kind. Once she did it was a simple matter, now with the proper recipe for Victor, to mix the three into prime essence. Once that was done she could make the first out of five fragments; the first out of five soul shards.
“And once I have all five… I can build the reactor...I will be whole again… Are you proud of me? Is this what you want of me? Please answer me again...I want to hear your voice…” More doubt was beginning to manifest and certain thoughts she had a hard time shaking. Thoughts that almost seemed blasphemous to her.
“I am doing what you asked… By any means necessary… Why don’t you talk to me? Please...give me guidance again…” Her facade was slipping away slowly. A lucidity was beginning to form. Just when she seemed to succumb, she felt it again. She felt it just the same as she felt it back at the town with the deadly dust; the same as in the mall before busting the bird of his cage. An energizing feeling of rage, adrenaline and other similar feeling she would not bulge set in. Her mind was once more focused on that objective of hers.
“Thank you...I will not fail you… until we finally meet…”
There was nothing else for her to do here. Roxanne took the unfinished ritual and put it in her secret stash under the altar. Hers had fared better than Victor’s as she actually took steps to secure it. Right now she needed essence; it was time to step out and ask around. Maybe Helen would have some, Sharlene? Oh, maybe the new comer Sylvia. It didn’t matter who, she needed some. But there was no rush, she still had time.
With her sword now back in her scabbard, and her cloak back on or good measure despite not being needed anymore, she opened the door to her room. The mislings were busy at work helping to rebuild. What a charm-filled group of people; hard working to earn their keep. They really saw this as a new home huh? Oh well, with those thoughts out of the way, Roxanne strolled around the farm to see what the rest of the day awaited her.
Melody hears the avian speak to her. “Yeah, I am alright…”, she answered him. She could tell he was hesitant but she did not blame him. Then he picked up the sword for her; and act those in the known would scold him for but nothing seemed to happen… it was as if the sword did not affect him. It did rattle a bit, something that would probably catch his attention. Melody grabbed the sword offered to her. “Oh, thanks you… S-sorry for getting all handsy...I panicked…”
Then Hector spoke up; the voice of concern evident in his speech which troubled Melody. For even Hector to panic at its sight this thing must really be something else...and now it was in her possession. It spoke to her, choose her.
“This sword? I found it on my trip with Victor yesterday. Before this happened…” Melody pointed at her blindfold before continuing. “It was in its scabbard still worn by a corpse… The corpse of a cyborg if I recall? Had broken bionic swords which made me question why he had the sword in the first place... “
She tensed up a bit, implications of what this meant forming in her mind and for a second she considered hugging the bird again before mentally slapping herself for the idea. “Roxanne lost the sword during her ‘transformation’ incident right? This sword, everyone has been hesitant around it...telling me how dangerous it is…”
Roxanne walked for a bit before spotting Melody. She was an arcanist too; she probably had essence. Even if she didn’t or didn’t want to share, it was worth the shot. With a smile in her face she walked towards the little group that had gathered there.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 30, 2018, 09:50:11 pm
Hector watched and listened. As Melody went on, he seemed tense, clenching a gauntlet-clad fist. "A corpse. Broken bionic swords..." Thoughts were forming in his mind, and there was a shift of plates as he seemed to stifle a reaction. Shaking a bit in quiet fury.
He then sighed, reaching a hand to set it on Melody's shoulder. "Either the one who killed Roxanne is likewise already dead, or this was left as a trap. A warning. Mockery. Something." he said, an abnormally cold tone to his voice. "And if it was set up on purpose, do you understand that they may be planning to exploit what this sword might do, if misused?" he pointed out.
"Whoever or whatever did this to you, if they do turn out to be the motherfucker wh-" The sight of Roxanne approaching, unaware that Victor had already left her, caused him to freeze in place for a moment. He turned towards her, walking over. "Roxanne? I...was hoping to talk to you about something. Do you have time? You did say, when we get a chance..."
Helen averted her eyes, knowing her mask was currently useless to her at the moment, before resuming her fire, watching as they seemed to push the group back. When they had that moment of breathing room, only for the radio to chime in, she grumbled a bit. "Not much of a respite..."
She was getting ideas, looking to the others. "If we've any chance to either push ahead or prepare a trap for when they resume the assault, we should take it now."
There was another traveler visiting the small village. Mutant from the look of her, a young woman with short brown hair and cold blue eyes. Flashes of vibrant green scales over her back could be seen, as her dress left it exposed for the sake of what seemed to be wings. it was an obvious guess at least, as they had been carefully draped in cloth covers that hindered movement some. That she had a tail was likewise obscured by a plain, dark red sundress. Unfitting for the cold left by wind and rain in the mountain air, and it left others wondering whether this traveler was from.
She'd been spotted from the north rather than the south, and she carried a long staff with one end tightly bound in cloth wrapping. It was long before discussion led to questions about where she was from, and where she was headed.
"South? Most people here are headin' north. Whole region save a few oases are God's Army territory." one heavily-augmented man said, pointing out a swatch of picked-over corpses bearing the mark of the blue cross. That she expressed ignorance of them only furthered the concern. "Lass you'll get yourself crucified going in unprepared. Literally. Well-armed, and here in Maine they've war machines, mutants used as plague-bearing bloodhounds. Strange magic among their bishops." he said, and the woman's expression only faltered at the last one.
"If you're certain, we've scouts from the Red and White that'll be heading down south once they stop by here. I beg you lass, stay a few days then go along with them. They're leery of the eyes on the mountain, but they still try and check up on us when they can."
She could see them, all along the ridges of the deteriorating old trail, shifting inhuman shapes. The trail seemed all aglow in dim glimpses of white light, betraying some that were concealed. For every one creature she could made out, she was certain 10 more haunted the mountain unseen. There was an inquiry, a quiet request to know more.
"The watchers of Katahdin. Couple old-timers from the area, native maybe, figure that Pamola tamed those things. Some sorta storm god or mountain spirit, if I recall." the cyborg answered, and there was an unexpected disdain that crossed her face, souring a formerly calm, kind expression. Uncertain of her reaction, the man continued. "Whole of the Appalachian is infested with them. They say they don't glow like that anywhere but here. Only place where the creatures don't try to eat anyone they run into. Just those that attack this place, or try to climb the mountain."
Finally, she spoke up, more clearly. For a moment, her voice betrayed hatred unlike the soft-spoken words from before. "Neither god nor spirit did this. I can assure you of that."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 01, 2018, 12:09:56 am
Catnip had been about to ask what a "psychopath" was, she had some rough idea but wasn't really too sure about the finer details, when Minx cut in. Catnip saw it coming and clapped her hands over Kathrine's ears as best she could.
"Who the fuck are you, and how the fuck do you know about my fucking problems?" She demanded. It got through Catnip's blocking hands anyway, and Kathrine gasped. Things had been so worrying a moment ago and now it had all suddenly exploded into people being mean.
"Why would you even say such a thing?" Catnip asked, "I don't even know you."
She hadn't come with the migrants, that was for sure. Minx and Catnip would recognize her if she had, how could they have not? They rushed to intercept, Daniel hoping to reach the split off slime lady thing before it could harm anyone or cause any damage or... do anything bad. He still wasn't sure about Delta, but at the moment he didn't have much choice, she wanted to get rid of the split quickly which meant, in his mind, that it was dangerous.
"This is the place, I think." He said, reaching for the door. Delta surprised him by suddenly losing cohesion and turning into a pool of gently undulating slime and slipping under the door. "God's above and below..." He whispered in awe. He waited only a moment, long enough to hear the growing commotion inside the workshop, then threw open the door. "Where is she? It? She?"
He felt a bit dumb making that demand, it was very obvious where they were. In the short time since the "affluent" had made it's appearance in the workshop. Catnip seemed to be trying to calm Kathrine, Minx was bearing down on the Affluent with some kind of rage filled face superimposed with her bionic, two relative strangers looking on, and the strange AI looking on and trying to get a good angle on the action. Daniel had a moment to wonder just how Delta was going to "get rid" of her copy. The merchant of the Old Guard Refugee Center outpost was having a good day. Better than a couple days before anyway, the day when the big tiger lady had come through the foyer like a disaster and trapped him under his own-
The doors to the refugee center, recently repaired from the aforementioned tigers last visit, bowed dramatically before being forced off their hinges and slammed against the floor with a deafening clap. Instead of the tigeress, a woman strode in, followed closely by Lilith and Nathaniel.
"Ok!" Sharlene announced, snapping her fingers, "Bring me the doctor guy, I wanna talk with the doc who's been putting weird shit in my tiger." She snapped her fingers some more times, picking up a little rhythm. The merchant sank below his desk, but not before Sharlene noticed him and started in his direction. He peeked up over his desk and came up face to face with Lilith, no window between them. Sharlene snapped her fingers under his nose a few times to get his attention, then another few times just because. A guard approached and was about to ask her to leave, when she turned and snapped her fingers at him too.
"Ma'am, I need to ask you to-"
"No no, get the doctor, I want to talk to the doctor. Get him. I've brought forth bureaucrats scarier than you and your rifle, hurry up." He couldn't deny that the woman carried herself with authority. With a sigh and a shake of his head, along with an irritated look at the broken doors, he went to fetch both Doctor Marsh, Doctor Maskens, and Doctor Deverish.
Meanwhile, Lilith was climbing up onto the Merchants counter, knocking various office supplies this way and that. It was obvious that her short time with Sharlene was affecting her behavior a bit because like Sharlene, she was trying to snap her fingers at people, which was comical in and of itself. Nathaniel grabbed her tail and tried to pull her down, and that was a mistake. She spun with a growl and grabbed him with two big paws. Experience told him that it wasn't an aggressive growl though, more a playful one.
Sharlene's expression was a mix between amusement and horror, and for a moment Nathaniel was confused. Then, it dawned on him. She didn't know that Lilith hadn't meant what she was doing playfully.
"Dumbass, put him down! Put him down, what have I told you about that?" She barked, her attitude taking a one-eighty in an instant. She was preparing to get out her prod, scrambling for the handle at her hip, when Nathaniel spoke up and stopped her.
"It's fine Sharlene, it's fine." He said, and of course it was. Lilith held him close and demanded a "kith." Once the little kiss was delivered, she set him down gently. It was the kind of small kiss that one shares with a long time partner, something not held long but filled with unspoken meaning none the less.
"Huh. Guess she's better behaved than I thought? When did that happen?" Sharlene puzzled. While they waited, they talked about the things Nathaniel had mentioned.
"So spider girl didn't even get a shot of whatever this doctor gave Lil? That's weird. I don't really know what the rest of what you said means, not that it matters. Too much science, too much technical junk. Can they make rug monkey's or not, that was what I got out of that part of the run down. The answer was no, so until either of these ladies squeezes out a grub, I'm gonna keep saying bullshit."
Nathaniel sat across from her, letting the thoughts organize themselves slowly in his head. "Mica has begun to show."
"Yeah, actually. It's hard to tell, but once some of us found out, we started noticing. Dervish says she's about two months along."
"What does a spider even need boobs for?"
"What? That's what your asking? She's not all spider you know."
"Eh. Just talking."
"Oookay? How about that offer?"
"What offer?"
"The one where I told you the center could help you repair any damage? and the farm could help pay for it?"
"Oh. Cabin's gone."
"Oh? How's that?"
"River took it."
"You seem awfully matter of fact about it."
"Yeah, gotta get back on my feet, but that shouldn't be a problem."
"So... the offer?"
"Naw."
"Naw?"
"Naw."
"Where are you gonna live?"
"In my cabin."
Nathaniel face palmed hard, the conversation was beginning to make his head hurt. Sharlene sometimes visited the farm, usually to get food or supplies, but otherwise kept mostly to herself on the outskirts doing strange things. She had, over the last year, begun to remind him of some kind of hermit living outside society, except that she also did weird stuff with magic that occasionally spilled over onto the farm. In that respect, she was more like some kind of witch.
"I've got some help already, trust me, it'll be fine. Hey, I need Lilith for a day, so..."
"Yeah, it's fine. She's your tiger."
"She's your girlfriend."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on May 01, 2018, 12:01:24 pm
Arroyo was starting to get frustrated, and it was visible. "I am only fourteen years younger than you, Russian. Leave this building." Then, Minx and Catnip both decided to pipe up. That was the kicker. Deliberately ignoring Minx, she turned to Catnip. "Catnip Walker, project X7, titled Blightwalker. I know you. Ignorant little shit."
Kathrine flinched at the coupled swear and insult directed at Catnip. "S-shut up, meanie!" That got the scary woman's attention. "You. Shut the fuck up, ungrateful cunt." Then she turned to Minx. "And you. It's obvious. That's how."
Cardin mostly just seemed confused. The strange girl- Melody, had responded to him. And even though they were perfectly generic responses and she might've assumed his questions, it didn't quite seem that way. Hector's sudden shift in tone, coupled with his arm reaching past Cardin, came as an unwelcome jolt back from his thoughts. "Chirp?
Delta was glad she didn't need to breathe, especially seeing as Arroyo's split had taken a lot out of her. Including making her damnably hungry. At least that would pass as soon as she dealt with Arroyo again. The damage had already been done, though, and she'd have to introduce herself to the farm finally. Eurgh. Delta and Daniel both reached Dee's workshop at the same time, surprisingly, and Delta quickly realised that she wouldn't be able to open it without at least a couple seconds of effort, so she used her usual method to bypass it.
Popping up inside the building was easy. Ignoring everyone except Arroyo for the moment, Delta, still in blob form, rolled up behind the split-off slime girl, and raised herself up slightly in preparation. "Arroyo, you're terminated." Arroyo doesn't even try to resist as the queen slime splits open, seperating into a crude mockery of a mouth, including jagged fangs, and snaps shut over her. Delta spends the next few minutes after consuming Arroyo inert on the ground, quivering gently and slowly growing to be slightly smaller than she was when Daniel first saw her. Eventually, a quiet, accented voice comes from the shaking blob. "Sorry about that."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 01, 2018, 01:58:44 pm
The monks exchanged a look before one of them broke the glass case containing some of the artifacts and picked them up. The leader himself threw one of the swords into the next room as he said “An ambush would probably work better. Pull back, let more of their forces draw into these rooms. Then we break the spell, all of these artifacts activate and go haywire, and then we push into them while they’re dealing with swords trying to hack them to pieces and the like.”
Picking up the radio on his vest the leader spoke into the microphone “Friend I’d suggest you hang back for the time being.” Before motioning his men back. MGs were taken up as they moved further into the temple as Isaac and the others looked to Helen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 01, 2018, 03:29:31 pm
Melody noted how Hector tensed up as she spoke; she couldn’t see his expression but his aura shifted somewhat. Then she flinched a bit when he set his hand on her shoulder due to being queasy from earlier.
“A trap? I won’t pretend to know what made you come to that conclusion but… It doesn’t matter know does it? I have the sword and where he is neither Victor or I know… But if it was a trap… Why would he want us there? It seemed to recognized Victor...” She started to think rationalisations. It was one thing that they stumbled there but a trap? That seemed rather sinister and it terrified. She wanted to leave that behind but maybe that wasn’t an option.
“Exploit the sword? They can do that? But this sword, it told me th-” Melody stayed quiet. She didn’t want to reveal just yet what it had said about Roxanne. For now this was just between Helen, Victor and her. Wherever the other two trusted someone else to let them on it was not up to her; at least that is what she felt like. Hector didn’t seem to notice; instead he cursed out whoever was responsible for this.
When Hector called out Roxanne Melody tensed up a bit. The aura surrounding the former assassin still felt off somehow. Nothing she could comment on, it just seemed like an emotion she had yet to encounter. Then she heard the bird talk to her again.
“Yeah, I do. Why do you ask?” She was legitimately confused for all of half a second before it hit her. He wasn’t speaking but making bird noises. He was right; how was she able to understand him. Despite him not asking this Melody felt compelled to answer it. “I just do ok? I don’t know myself… Name is Melody by the way. Nice to meet you. New comer?”
Roxanne was surprised to find Hector her. She had been too fixated on her thoughts to notice him but now he was here. It seemed fitting she took a break from her little endeavour; there was still time after all. She smiled at Hector as he approached her.
“Oh? What’s up big guy, what’s on your mind? I have time, nothing important going on at the moment. And yes, I did promise you. Going to cash in that coupon now are we?”
Plague and Co. were returning from their little side trip into a nearby city. It had only taken about 2 hours to walk and another one they spent in the city itself. The trip proved fruitful as three dozen undead were following them. The sword of Coalescence was in Plague’s hand as he marched ahead of everyone else.
“I am so boooooored…”, Christina whined. She was clinging to Christina’s hand who seemed more annoyed than anything else.
“We are going home already Christy, relax for once.”, Rey said in response.
“Easy for you to say! You got to feed again… I didn’t get to kill a single thing…”
“Life isn’t just combat you know?”
“Says the former assassin.”
“...Touche…”
They were nearing the tower; it was in sight now. And boy were they surprised at what they saw. The tower was not only repaired and reinforced but it looked new and cleaned. In the surrounding perimeter were installed what looked like pillboxes on every corner and side of the building. A team of 4 undead was already meaning each one and two were guarding the entrance running a makeshift checkpoint.
“Whoa… When you said this Lucy gal was gonna fix our broke you weren’t kidding…”, Christina said in awe. “Just who are we dealing with here?”
“Someone very powerful. We have a bit of a history so I know I can count on her. This wound in the viel worries her too.”, Plague responded.
“Cool! I wonder if she will want to spar...or maybe even want to get to kn-”
Clara interrupted that though by speaking abruptly. Christina smirked as she noted a hint of disdain. “That being said. When in her presence be on your best behaviour. She isn’t one to joke around… So when you meet her, have some courtesy, some sympathy and some taste least she lay your soul to waste.”
Christina smiled upon hearing that. Obviously paraphrased and butchered but she could forgive that; too young to appreciate the classics. “Ohhhh, so that is what we are dealing with… How interesting… Alright, I will use my indoor voice.”
“What?”, asked Rey perplexed. “I don’t get it…”
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get inside and meet our guest”, Plague instructed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 01, 2018, 03:42:43 pm
Hector would've fixated on everything else Melody had said, and if he'd been paying attention he would've been shocked by the sword speaking to her. Instead, with Roxanne's return, he simply gave a nod to Melody. "Just please be careful. Don't use that thing unless you absolutely have to."
With Roxanne's answer, he led the way back to Roxanne's room, giving a sigh as he removed his helm. "Alright then...you remember back before this started? Before your death, before the sword of ruin, before Randael's betrayal. I said I would fight and die for you, if needed..."
"Before then, I thought I'd left behind every part of myself that wasn't useful for survival. As far as I was concerned, there was just my skillset and knowledge. I wrote off my friends and family, everyone I knew, as dead. I already abandoned the only other survivor I found to answer Catnip. And for all I know, I might've considered wandering off again once the train was finished. It took longer than expected, and so many events have made it so I couldn't dare abandon my comrades. The Shifting, God's Army, new friends here..."
He then looked down. "That day, when we made our confessions, you also helped me decide to stay. Here I may have friends, duties, even the only link I have to my old life. But out of all this, you're one I'm afraid to lose. And I very nearly did, repeatedly. Even now...what will happen to you?"
Helen gave a little sigh at that, before nodding as they gave this suggestion. "That would be a far more extreme form of ambush than I was proposing, but if we must...I should add that this very day, another great wound in The Veil was opened. This will be difficult to clean up, and the risks may extend beyond this place, but so be it. I will do what little I can to assist in restoration, if needed. The least I can do..." she said, soon assisting in moving equipment back in preparation for the ambush.
Nathaniel had, after dropping her off at the center, decided to go ahead and stay as well to keep an eye on Lilith. The resulting events were a clusterfuck, to but it bluntly, Nathaniel left doing his best to keep Lilith in line.
The shock Sharlene displayed at Lilith picking him up, kissing him, then setting him back down gently was uniquely amusing. Admittedly, if he hadn't had time to get used to Lilith, and more importantly how her behavior had changed over the past few years, he would've been terrified.
After all this, the fact Sharlene actually asked him to let her "borrow" Lilith, was a surprise after the unbelievable annoyance the preceding conversation was. "Well, I know that's not the sorta thing you're used to, but might try asking Lilith if she's alright with it. In fact, while I'm at lemme talk to her real quick." he said, and with that he'd carefully pull the tigress aside.
"Lil, Sharlene's gonna want you to help out with something. I want you to do something for me in the meantime...keep an eye on her, alright? Given last I saw she was doing dumb shit that would have Helen on her case if she wasn't constantly busy with other varieties of dumb shit...she does anything suspicious, or tells you to harm someone who doesn't deserve it, you let me know."
Sergei seemed mildly amused by Arroyo's dismissive remarks, though how she knew his age enough to say that that was concerning. "Tell you what. I was just about to get a drink, you want one?" he said, an attempt to defuse the situation.
He didn't have time to follow through however, as by then they were all shouting at each other and suddenly another blob creature had slithered in and outright ate the first one. At this Sergei just gave a blank stare, Brian left quietly hiding behind the Russian. He just gave a sigh, once she finally formed anew after that inexicable episode. "So what was all that about? Who are you, if you mind my asking?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 02, 2018, 12:52:28 am
The monks led the way further into the temple through the long hallways and open rooms. After a couple minutes they came to a stop in a large open room that contained a suit of armor. Looking to each other for a moment two of them picked it up as others started making makeshift positions. Throwing the armor into the previous room with a rather loud crashing sound the two returned as Isaac and Eino carried Anton into the room.
The others followed in behind them. Taking cover everyone settled in for the final few moments of quiet as one of the monks told Helen to temporarily ditch her magic gear. Holding the detonator loosely in one hand the leader of the monks watched the hallways as the same voice from before let out an exasperated sigh “You know I’m beginning to think you don’t like me. A shame really I would have let you live but if you’re going to play the quiet game..”
A few moments passed before the first of the enemy came into sight. Dark grey uniforms with black metal armor over them and metal helms with blood red lights shining over their eyes. Clicking the detonator the leader of the monks ducked his head as the explosive destroyed the stone carvings that held the nullification spell in place.
The purifier closest to the door was suddenly impaled on the edge of a sword as one of his compatriots screamed inside the suit of armor that enveloped him. The sounds of screaming as the artifacts reacted to the sudden disappearance of the spell and tore into the enemy forces melded with the screaming of Anton as the sounds and smells of the entire temple flooded his head.
Liam screamed in panic as he fell back, engulfed in flame, before realizing it wasn’t hurting him. In fact he smiled at the realization and the flame seemed to change as he tried to control it. As Aaron fell back grabbing at his eyes shouting about the lights hurting them Liam walked for the door. Reaching a hand out towards one of the purifiers the flame leapt from his hand and wrapped around the purifier.
Gunnar followed Liam into the adjacent room opening fire with the rifle with Eino rushing in behind him. The sounds of screaming intensified as the three ripped into the few purifiers that hadn’t turned and ran or were already dead. As this happened a voice came over the leader’s radio “You know a simple ‘keep back’ wasn’t really warning about what was going to happen. One of my men had his throat ripped out by a concrete goblin.”
The leader grabbed the radio and said “I wasn’t exactly expecting it to be that bad. But with any luck that’ll allow us to win today.”
The voice came back with “I’ll say one of the power armor suits was wrecked by something according to the radio. Ripped a hole straight through it.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 02, 2018, 08:24:25 am
Confusion at first. That was what Catnip felt first and what shot through all the emotions that would soon follow. Then, angry at Minx for swearing in front of Kathrine. Then furious with the strange creature because it told Kathrine to "shut the fuck up" and called her a "cunt." The latter more than the former. Not the insult directed at herself though, Catnip had heard them plenty in Pricetown whether she deserved it or not. There were two words, only two, which Pinky had drilled into her that must never be said. That weren't allowed in the pleasure palace, even in the height of passion. The first, was Rat. Mislings took great offense at being called "rat" and especially Pinky who before and after her mutation had been greatly vain of her looks. The other, was "cunt."
"Never ever say dirty C chica, or I'll personally wash that mouth out with soap." She would say to the new workers and sometimes clients.
Catnip was torn between advancing on the slime and comforting Kathrine. She decided on the former, and that was probably for the best. Just the swearing was effecting Kathrine, the unexpectedly hostile atmosphere was making it worse. She made the right choice, as when another of the unpleasant green slimy things made it's appearance Kathrine shrank back and began to shake a bit. A sign that she was edging on the border of some emotional crisis in which Catnip would have to chase her, or risk her hiding somewhere where people couldn't find her easily. It only got worse when the new slimy thing opened up, and devoured the first one. Kathrine felt like she would fly away if Catnip let her go.
"What is going on? We don't even know you, why are you so mean?" Catnip demanded to know. This creatures intrusion was poorly timed in Catnip's view, she had enough to deal with already without this things unpleasantness on top of it all.
"She isn't, at least I don't think so." Daniel puffed, "This is Delta, I found her by the river." Lilith curled the fingers into the closest approximation of the "ok" gesture she could and winked, more to assuage Nathaniel's worry than anything else. She understood that Sharlene would be fine, regardless of what she was doing it always seemed to turn out for the best for her. Even without Lilith there, it always seemed to turn out for the best. Except for this most recent turn of luck that was. Sharlene sat nearby, picking her teeth confidently.
"I'm asking you because I already know the answer she'll give. She- Ah, hold on. Save it for later, doctors are here." Sharlene said, shifting the subject as the centers doctors were shown in. Maskens grimaced at the destroyed door while Dervish went to try and pick them up and lean them against the wall next to the open frame. The last, Efram approached the trio.
"Ah, Ms. Tiger, uh, Lilith. How do you feel?"
Lilith made a noncommittal gesture while Efram started in on the standard checkup.
"Are you the doc who stuck my tiger with weird shit?" Sharlene asked. She tried to go for something along the lines of menace, but couldn't really do it. It was hard to menace someone who wasn't really paying any attention to you.
"That would be me. My name is Efram Marsh. Can I safely assume that you are her handler?"
"I am, and I wanna know what you put in her and who gave you permission for that."
"I injected her with a mutagenic serum to aid in her fertility problem. As for who gave me permission, I did it in payment for the assistance she provided me. I didn't know I needed permission to pay someone."
Sharlene smirked and decided to change the subject. She didn't believe any of it would work, it was all designed to be fool proof or so she'd been told, but she had to admit that she did want to know for sure.
"Does it work?"
"It's working for the people her contribution went to. I can safely assume it's working in reverse. We won't really know for awhile."
Meanwhile the other doctors were assessing that damage. Judging what it would take to get it fixed, though workmen were already going about the job of remounting the doors and replacing hinges. Even with the damage, the mood around the center appeared to have shifted back into a casual feeling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on May 02, 2018, 11:52:52 am
Cardin was frankly amazed. She was the first person to understand him since... Well, since he stopped being able to speak. "Cheep! Chirp!" He's bouncing up and down already, obviously happy, and gently flapping his wings. The gust is almost enough to completely knock over one of the empty, smaller tents. He pauses to quietly whistle, followed by two quick chirps.
Delta took a while to properly reform, but at least she seemed more coherent than when she split. She clears her throat again before starting. "Sergei, as Daniel said, we are operative Delta C0XEU. Our operations leader was, and still is, Agent Oxbow, if the information is at all relevant to you. Which it isn't. We will take you up on that drink, though." She punctuates that with a wink, and turns towards Minx. "Minx, you should watch what you say around people that aren't interested, and we'll leave it at that." And finally, she turns to Catnip and Kathrine, looking apologetic. "And look, we're sorry. Arroyo's a bit of a cu- Bad person. We try not to be on her level, but we don't really... Control her. If you see her again, just try and ignore her, okay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 02, 2018, 08:48:17 pm
Roxanne followed Hector unaware of what was going on. Doubt settling in once again at the his presence with a feeling she couldn’t shake off. It wasn’t until they reached her room and he began to speak that that feeling changed; it became lucidity. For a moment whatever was manifesting inside of her panic; it had lost control and could not get it back. However, it soon realized something; it was probably for the best. He would let her be for now; what needed to be done had been accomplished and she had earned her rest. Besides, there were bigger fish to fry at the moment…
There was silence from her at first, not sure what to say. The doubt and drive from earlier and the day before gone just as they had arrive. However, now was not the time to be confused; she had been asked a question and she intended to answer. With a sympathetic smile in her face, Roxanne set a hand on his shoulder and spoke.
“I remember very well. We all lived scattered lives and we came together under the mantle of Catnip and her prophecy. We hid from an event we dubbed the shifting which I only found out due to happenstance. We could’ve all gone our separate ways yet we stuck together; we took a simple farm and made it much more.”
“You have told me countless time you would always be there for me and have proven that to be the case. You say you would die for me and yet I never asked that of you. We have fought and reminisce together but there is something that needs to be said…”
Roxanne gave a deep sigh; she was struggling with words and wanted to make sure their meaning was what she wanted it to be. “Do you remember how it all began? Two people seeking themselves in a brand new world full of possibility. We found ourselves in each other didn’t we? At least partially. But look at us, we are not normal; we never have been. I have gone through countless transformations and you fought countless battles. Yet we could always return knowing the other was there. Our relationship is not normal Hector; and you know what? That is ok… Maybe settling down isn’t for us. Maybe starting a family and raising the next generation is not our goal. Or maybe it is. Who knows. The thing is, we have to make it ours. Erase all notions of what is normal and what is taboo and let’s work together… Hell, you are dating a literal spirit and I a soldier clad in armor.”
“You know, we have been through so much these past few years. We both have changed as people. There is something we both have neglected; something perhaps we should’ve done a while back… When was the last time we sat down and asked each other what we wanted? It is mostly my fault… I have been seeking meaningless goals and objectives to distract me from the fact that I have failed to be the person I wanted to be all those years back… And that is not your fault… You ask what what will become of me? Who knows… But you have a choice to make: do you want to be there to find out?”
It wasn’t long before Victor found the armory, or what was left of it anyways. It had been as simple as following the trail of one of the memories Roxanne had just given him back; the time she gave him pretty much a lecture on why laser weapons were better than ballistics. He smiled as he looked at the laser gauntlet; he had lasers covered all to well.
Some mislings were hauling crates of guns, ammo and explosives from the wreckage of the collapse armory; it was a miracle nothing detonated. Crate after crate of bolt rifles, laser guns and a myriad of ammunition was carried to them to elsewhere so they can then begin the proper cleanup. Victor located what looked to be the leader of the salvage operation and asked where the crates were being headed. The misling pointed and directed Victor to the chapel nearby. There was small chatter about the gauntlet still in his arm; the misling expressed interest in bionics and mentioned finding a few while salvaging other buildings.
“Dream on my friend.”, Victor said in response, “Not all of them are weapons, it’s a matter of finding what you like.” The misling nodded in agreement and the two exchanges farewells before Victor moved on to the chapel. It didn’t very long to get there. Along the way he saw more misling clearing debri and helping on salvage operations. Victor felt like maybe he should help with that later on.
Once in the chapel Victor was a bit of awe at what he saw. An unfinished yet impressive stone structure. Two of its walls completed with the others as work in progress. The construction work on it was rather amazing; so much so it weathered the storm like nothing. Inside the chapel were crates full of weapons and ammo taken from what was once the armory. Surprisingly, there was no one else. It seems the misling choose to take crates in bulk rather than it being a continuous supply line.
Victor bagan to take a look. We was looking for a sidearm; some compact and reliable. The laser pistol he had was no longer needed due to his laser gauntlet. He would also want some sort of melee weapon. Memories of him carrying a sword were prevalent in what Roxanne gave him and as such he might as well stick with what he knew; or at least his other self knew.
While looking at the collection of handguns and blades he noted something on the corner. In its own crate were two items that stood out from the rest. One of them was what appeared to be a serrated sword; blade one sided. The sword was a metal case with the serrations what looked like fangs sticking out from some purpleish flesh. Next to it was a seemingly crude rifle looking thing. It too was a metal case with components made of the same flesh as the sword. The bolt was on it’s right side; it seemed to be a small horn and everytime it was cycled the entire thing would vibrate a little.
Curiosity got the better of Victor and he picked up the sword first. As soon as he touched the handle a sense of power and joy took over. He felt like he could take on the world. However, it seemed concentrating was getting harder and an unshakable feeling of being watched persisted. The sword was swung around a few times; each motion felt fluid and natural as if it was an extension of his arm. Despite the urge not to do so, Victor put the sword down. Next was the rifle.
This thing was weirded than the sword. Grabbing it gave the similar feeling of being watched as well as sharper eyesight. He looked around a hole in one of the unfinished walls that faced the woods. Nothing was in that direction so Victor decided to take a few shots of this thing in that direction. A five round burst was unleashed. What was seemingly large flaming ball bearing came out of the crude barrel. They were shot out of view to the woods ahead. The unmistakable same surge of power and glee was felt when he squeezed the trigger as when he held the sword. Victor was left smirking at this feeling. He searched his memories to see if there was anything on this. Nothing he could find. The trigger was about to be squeezed again when a sudden memory came forward that made him stop.
He recalled this exact feeling with another sword; a sword that threaten to consume anything it touched. The feeling was backed by a terrible power; a creature not of this reality who held the same power to harvest what was around him. Victor had asked this spirit for its power and this very feeling was present. In that moment he was truly invisible; at least it felt that way. However, following that trail of incomplete memories made him realize only strife followed. This terrible power didn’t belong in the hands of anyone.
Victor gave the rifle one last glance and then at the sword. They could not be left here; this things needed to be secured. Another memory came to view: The Cleansing Flame. No, something more specific… Thane Helen McKinnon. He nodded as he realized what needed to be done. Who else would be more qualified to deal with this things than someone under the banner dedicated to mitigate the dangers of the arcane? However, memories his own organization started to creep in as well. Broken as all these memories were he saw potential in understanding this things. He would have to ask her if he could research this things. That being said, containment and securing came first; last thing he needed was to repeat the mistakes of his past.
“Anybody there?”, Victor said over the radio, “This is Victor reporting in. Anyone in the hall picking up? I am heading over there with a couple items of interest. Helen might want to take a look. She appears to be busy from her last radio message so when she arrived could someone let her know I will in last night’s room? Ironwood out.”
Was that ok? Was it too formal? It didn’t really matter. It would take some time to adjust here but he would manage. For now his quest for a new weapon would have to wait. After finding a sling and scabbard for this things Victor began to make his journey back to the farm.
Melody was both glad and a bit taken aback by Hector’s dismissal of her. It didn’t matter anyways as it meant that line of question was now over for now. Then her attention was shifted back to the avian mutant. His little chants of celebration both quite adorable and amazing to her causing a smile.
“Cardin? That’s a nice name. Sorry again for uhhh...being too forward? As you can probably tell from this blindfold, I can’t really tell where I am going…” She paused for a moment and shook her head as well as clearing her throat. “We started on the wrong foot. How about we try again. Cardin, I am Melody. Nice to meet you! Wanna maybe go somewhere a little less crowded?”
She was still confused herself at the fact that she could understand him. Maybe she could find out by taking to him some more? Whatever it was, finding out would be a fun distraction. However, the sword rattled a bit. Melody rolled her eyes under her blindfold; it didn’t say anything to her, it was more like a sigh.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 02, 2018, 09:36:01 pm
Hector listened, calmly as she gave this answer, looking back to her, waiting before she ended it with a question. Despite the worry, sadness, even fear apparent on his face, his answer was clear.
"You ask me if I will stand firm, regardless of what might happen. Regardless of the fact things will never be the same. For your sake, if you ask it, I will." he then paused a moment, a look of concern on his face. "As much as I've come to enjoy this new life, I know it can't all be about putting evil to sword and fire. I'd hoped we might have time one day, to settle down. To help people in more constructive ways. If not a family, than apprentices, squires, people to ensure the next generation has something left to call home."
"Even if it won't be the same as it could've been before you ended up like this, I will be there for you if you wish. And I hope you'll be there as well."
Solomon had been there, now idly chatting and reading with Alice in between helping out around The Hall, though most of the people there had left leaving the place fairly quiet. Calm, only a few mislings, the strange woman, and Thomas to sake care of. The radio however made him perk up, fumbling to answer it. "Yes? Mr. Ironwood, Solomon here. She's out, yes. Lot of them left in a hurry after one of the others called in. Very well then, if you want I'll start preparing lunch too for when you arrive."
Helen was still wary of this course of action, carefully removing her mask, cloak, and that holy symbol she'd repurposed as a holder for essence. Likewise her hammer, wraithslayer, and symbol of judgement were set aside, in favor of taking up a few extra magazines and inserting fresh rounds into the one she nearly emptied earlier, along with drawing the essence from each of the items and saving it for later.
Then she remembered something else, gesturing as she deactivated the typical wards she maintained. They wouldn't have been useful in the fight, instead of more everyday use for certain purposes, and she'd never even noticed that the temple suppressed their effects.
As the artifacts ahead started to turn on their attackers, she'd maintain her distance, being careful, methodical about waiting until any were to try and force their way past the artifact room, only to get a short burst aimed at them. "Only problem is we might need to push through that to continue the adv-" And then she saw the Blessed already pressing the advance. "Helviti. If you insist..." she grumbled, pushing up behind them to provide covering fire.
Sergei was still a bit uneasily at this, moreso from how this being seemed so casual about its actions and about the remarks so casually thrown around. "So I see, then. I suppose the offer still stands." he said, going to get a bottle, somewhat higher-end brand from before the cataclysm.
Nathaniel hmmed a bit, still uncertain and concerned before taking a seat while doctor Efram examined her. "Rather...odd luck that the storm would hit right afterward. Up until I woke up getting rained on I don't remember much of last night." he remarked.
"As for permission, yeah. I know you're not gonna like it Sharlene, but she acted on her own initiative in this." he said, not confessing his own motives for going along with it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 03, 2018, 12:56:34 am
The rain stopped and that was a relief. Atomos could shake off and not worry about the rain soaking into her new fur. Despite what Cheena thought, Atomos didn't find the sensation of being covered in soggy hair. The area was filled with the frantic sound of Atomos shaking the moisture from her body, after which her fur puffed out comically. Cheena did the same, and likewise puffed out. Atomos couldn't help but let out a little giggle. Cheena though laughed raucously, a sound that was high, loud, and startling in it's sharpness. It brought her back to her situation, they were still trying to be sneaky. The devil hunters would have lost their trail, but there was no reason they couldn't pick it back up again. At the moment, they were crossing a wide field. Wide and open. Once the field had been filled with corn grown wild, but the nights storm had beaten down, ripped out, and blew away the stalks.
At the center of the field was an aged barn and a copse of trees. Atomos figured that the trees had been allowed to stay on account of the large stones that littered the interior of the copse. It was to this that Cheena was taking her. She didn't see the fence until they were right on it and Cheena was squeezing under it. Some pre-cataclysm person, perhaps the owner of the land or some conservationist, had erected a fence. Cheena explained as they maneuvered the obstacle that the fence had been brighter with little colored strips, but that the fence had dulled and the strips had blown away before she was born.
They weaved their way through bushes, around rocks, and past trees into the interior of the copse until without warning, Atomos was in the company of several foxes.
"Cheena's back! Cheena! Cheena brought another!"
There was a great deal of excitement among them. There were more than Atomos had thought their would be from Cheena's descriptions and she felt more self conscious than ever. Even in her own form, her own body, she had not felt so exposed. Suddenly the fur covering her wasn't quiet enough to make her feel comfortable among so many even with most of them focusing their attention on Cheena.
"Hello. Who are you? Cheena is always bringing strange things home, but this is the first time she's brought someone from outside." Said a larger, lithe female, "I'm Mayna dear, Cheena is my pup. I do hope she didn't talk you have to death or make you do anything dangerous."
Atomos shrank back, curling her tail around in front of her and lowering her ears unconsciously. "H-Hello... I'm..."
"Atomos!" Cheena cried, "I found Atomos in the overgrowth! I-"
Mayna spun on Cheena suddenly, her eyes flared and even as a fox Atomos recognized it. A flash of anger. "And what were you doing in the overgrowth? Cheena, how many times do I have to tell you never to go there? The humans who live there are wicked and the plants there are dangerous!"
Cheena shrank back, cowering even more than Atomos at the fury of her mother. "But Mama!"
"No buts! Buts are for sitting! Now tell me why you went there?"
Atomos perked a little at that, perhaps things weren't too different. At least not in the sayings and phrases used.
"I saw a lady! Sh-she was riding one of the two wheel thingies and almost hit me, but she had a tail! Like mine!"
"Uh-huh. And you thought she was Mikko, I bet? Not one of the changed humans?"
Cheena nodded solemnly, "Yes mama... Why would one of the changed ones go to the wicked people? The wicked people hate them."
Cheena took her punishment, a litany of parental speech that was achingly familiar. Words and phrases Atomos own mother and father once used and in the same manner. Atomos had to admit that despite the current drama, she liked Mayna. Cheena was a "friend." Mayna acted like a human mother, chastising her human child. If she'd been capable of holding a spoon, Atomos found it easy to imagine the elderly vixen holding one menacingly at one him.
"Kid..." Came an aged voice from beyond the small gathering of foxes, and silence fell. Cheena lay on her belly with her head on the ground and Maybe bowed her head deeply. The other foxes did similar to Cheena's mother as they separated, allowing passage to a fox of such advanced age and of such regal bearing, that Cheena's descriptions of him fell miles short. He could be none other than "Red."
"I am old, but I have not smelled a fox like you before. Nor have I ever encountered one of my kind in possession of the oath of iron. Would you join us, Lady? Would you make palaver with myself after food and tales?"
Atomos felt weight. In the air and in her heart. A knot in her guts. She was close to something. These foxes were clearly not exactly normal, something inside her told her that. Her problem was great, the outlook on her mission bleak, but all the same she felt it would be important to stop here and listen to the old renard. She realized that the others were watching her expectantly, and so she gave her answer.
"I w-would like that..." It was good having those strange weapons out of the chapel, but Barry Bliegh of the shattered helm still had a heavy workload. It was his self appointed duty to oversee the recovery effort of the farms (Walkerville, they keep calling it Walkerville now, he thought) collection of firearms and ammunition. For this task, he collected up every migrant he could find who had firearms experience along with the shattered helmsman who had accompanied the caravan all the way here, and set them to work inspecting, disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling.
In all, it added up to about eleven people all sat around the chapels work tables with a pile of guns and tools. Barry wasn't enjoying the task of cataloguing it all. He was looking forward to making copies of the inventory even less. Basically, he needed three copies. One for himself, one for the Marshal, and one for Ms. Walker. For now he was enjoying the inspection part, he'd always loved inspection. It was a grim report to look at though, despite his enjoyment.
One of every three guns was still usable as is. A little cleaning and they were fine. The rest had to be stripped down, cleaned, and put back together. Of those, only two in five would be considered in "good" condition. A lot of it was preexisting damage, the most prominent of which was rust. The old armory had been an open front building with guns thrown mostly on racks willy nilly. There was evidence of prior organization, but on that first look through before the storm, it seemed that any semblance of organization had gone out the window. Ammo was still alright though, but here in the now, that was a lot less apparent.
A bullet caster brought from Pricetown was assigned the job of ammo inspection, and from the growing pile of bullets tossed in the trashcan, Barry could tell he wasn't impressed.
"The thing about ammo," the bullet caster, a humorless man named simply Gus, said, "is they teach people to maintain their weapons, but not their ammo." As he said this, he held up one forty-five cartridge, letting the light play on the dull brass. Or rather, the dull brass showing through the verdigris. He tossed the bullet in the trash and picked up another.
"Take these boxes of point forty and stick em in the trash, would you Barry? Been over them and I ain't comfortable with letting people fire them. These boxes of point twenty-two are done for as well."
It was a hell of a loss, but not a total one.
Kathrine wouldn't be able to ignore her, Catnip knew that all to well. This little incident would affect her for some time. She'd accept the apology, for now, but Minx on the other hand. She was about to let loose a tirade on the slime when Catnip socked her hard on the shoulder.
"Oooow, Nip, what the hell?"
Kathrine squirmed slightly and Catnip held her close and would continue to do so until Kathrine calmed down. Wrapping herself around Kathrine like a ratty security blanket. She realized that what she was doing was probably absurd. Kathrine on the other hand understood. A little. Just a very little. It was more about how long Catnip had been gone, she still wanted to be around Kathrine as much as possible. Had to know she was still there.
Minx could see it all writ large, and stopped.
"I'm gonna go find L. Or Leslie, I'll see if Leslie has got that message through to the doc yet. Or..." She regarded Catnip suspiciously. A lot of people in Pricetown knew about her deformity, but so far as she knew, most of the migrants either didn't or weren't interested enough to even remember. There were only three. Three people in this "new frontier" who knew and could have told. Catnip, L, and of course, the cyberneticist who had helped fix her bionic.
Catnip was too blunt and honor bound in her own odd way to spill even a single bean about it, while L had her own shadows to jump at that Minx could whip out if she let slip that Minx was a vomit inducingly horrid freak. That left Dr. Quinn. Minx would go and talk with L, then see what Leslie had done about the message. Then, after she'd completed those simple tasks, she would see about this doctor whom she began to believe more and more had talked about it to someone else. Mica sat motionless on the edge of the bed halfway between the waking world, the world of dreams, and the realm of starvation. She would not starve. Had she not been quick with child, that would not be a sure thing. Was she not pregnant, she would starve. She couldn't do that now, couldn't allow it. All the same though, in her simple mind, she thought that perhaps it would be for the best. If she did not have a "squishy," perhaps her lizard would come back. But had he run from such a responsibility? Truly? The others assumed he had and so had she. At first. But once she was home and in her current state, her mind cleared. Hibernation was a state that allowed her brain to operate at a level resembling her pre-mutation capacity. Unclouded by hunger and mutagen demolished brain cells. Dee wasn't the sort to just run, not when they had been through so much together. She was twice rescued and she had stayed by his bedside when his fate was as yet undetermined. Unwoven. She had given him everything of herself, and despite his sometimes childish behavior, he was not the kind to flee from such a small thing. She, as his lover, was grown to him root and branch. Clarity hibernation brought, but clouded is the mind of a lover.
She had to eat. Her chap demanded it. She came up momentarily, and devoured the one thing there was to devour in the room. The screeching of the hen died away quickly. Before Sergei or any of the strangers in Dee's house could see what had made the godawful noise. When they looked in, all they saw was Mica's motionless form, and a few errent feathers.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on May 03, 2018, 01:03:47 pm
Cardin's wings flutter when she replies to him again. Melody. "Cheep, tweet!" He quickly clamps his beak shut with his hands, wondering what the hell he just said. "Cheep..." He raises his hand, reaching out to grab her shoulder, when he realises that he'll most likely end up cutting her. He quietly whistles again, then nods. "Chirp..."
Delta groaned internally, this wasn't how she wanted to introduce herself to everyone. Really, she didn't want to introduce herself to anyone at all. "Thank you, Sergei. Of course, we can't actually get drunk, given..." She points at her right arm, which she's briefly changed into an appendage not unlike one of Lilith's paws. If anyone is paying attention, they would be able to see her rather... Oversized assets losing their comical size as her arm gains mass. "...We're not particularly very human. Liquid is liquid, though!"
"And, we really are very sorry about that, you two. We'll try our best to make sure it doesn't happen again." Delta puts her hands together, twiddling her thumbs as she speaks. Or, her 'thumbs', given she hadn't changed her arm back to it's regular state. That was quickly rectified by her shaking her arm, the excess slime splattering against the floor and crawling back towards her foot. "And Kathrine? We don't think you or Catnip are any of those things." By the time the splattered slime has been re-absorbed, Delta has started her next step to looking a bit more presentable. Getting some clothes. She starts off by forming a pair of somewhat cowboy-looking boots, followed by a fairly nondescript pair of pants and a somewhat flowery shirt. The mass needed for an extra layer seems to have taken enough out of her to shrink her boobs and ass down by quite a lot, too. "Right, so where were we?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 03, 2018, 08:06:27 pm
Liam couldn’t help but laugh as he pushed past the first room leaving two of the purifiers screaming for air. Moving into the next room he saw one of the power armor operators moving the suit into position. As the first burst from the machine gun it was carrying in one hand swept across him he stumbled back in panic. Then he realized the magic swirling around him had stopped the projectiles.
Two of the monks pushed in with Eino and Gunnar and found the Sturmtruppen to have deadly accuracy. The staccato of two modified MP40s firing was heard shortly before the two hit the floor missing half their heads. Eino, upon seeing this, lifted his shield in front of his head as he rushed them with Gunnar popping a few rounds into a pair of the purifiers that hadn’t found cover yet.
As Eino reached their cover and jumped over it to engage the power armor swept the machine gun in it’s hand towards Liam again as the man operating it realized he wasn’t dead. It took a dud AT grenade being tossed at his helmet by gunnar to get him to switch his target and send Gunnar diving for cover.
The leader of the monks pushed up with Helen and caught sight of the power armor. Looking around he said “I’ve got an AT grenade but I’m not sure that’ll put it out of commission. How about you?”
Meanwhile Salazar had finished with the purifiers that had ambushed them outside. Turning to go find the tunnel he didn’t see the young man wearing a leather jacket and altyn helmet rush into the building and start down the hidden stairs. Walking towards them himself Salazar let the shadows fade as he slid another magazine into the thompson he was carrying. He hoped that what was going on inside had gone better than what he’d just taken care of.
Elsewhere in the temple the Lieutenant observed his watch for a moment before snapping it closed and readying his pistol. Putting it to the back of one of the purifier’s heads he pulled the trigger. In an instant his guardsmen were putting the enemy down with vicious efficiency. Once the room was clear they ripped the purifier patches from their uniforms and pulled tape off of their chest plates to reveal Valkyrie symbols.
Throwing his old cap onto the body of a purifier the Lieutenant retrieved an old beret one of the men had given him. Sliding on the maroon beret and pulling the same colored shemagh over his face he motioned for his Sargeant to take the lead. Turning his radio on he simply transmitted “Valkyrie is a go.”
Elsewhere Blitz and the Rats had come upon a merchant caravan that had stopped on the road due to engine troubles. He had replaced the carburetor and had just replaced several of the hoses on the engine. One of the others was pouring in fluids as Blitz walked over to the caravan leader. “Should get you moving here in a minute.”
The caravan leader nodded as he flicked the hand rolled cigarette away “I appreciate this stranger. If’n there’s anything you need you just find me now. I’ll repay this.”
Blitz recalled some radio chatter he’d heard and looked over at some of the cargo the trucks were carrying “Well..since you mention it someone I know needs a good lathe and a larger stationary saw. I’ll pay you for it though.” Blitz raised a hand as the man started to say he’d give it to them. “I intend to pay, it’s not fair for you to get nothing for something.”
The two discussed the price for a bit before settling on a fair one. Retrieving some old gold coins that Blitz had seen pressed back home he counted some before handing the man a bag of them. As the caravan’s engine roared to life the machinery was moved from it to a small cargo truck the Rats kept with them.
While this was going Alexei was working on the bar. The foundation had been set with relative easy. Evidentally one of thugs had some knowledge of construction and things were going smoothly. Tossing a small bag of tools to one of the others Alexei smiled as he hauled the first wall up and held it as the others secured it. Once that was done he went back to his shack and grabbed a few bottles of alcohol, tucking them into his jacket, and started for the Hall. He intended to have a good time drinking with his Russian friend if he were there. He’d have a good time regardless though.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 04, 2018, 08:21:40 am
Illiana rose carefully, catching the blanket wrapped around her before it could slip and expose her. The curse of existence, one of them anyway, was that she could be embarrassed by things. Her tumble off the roof was embarrassing. The fact that she'd been nude when it happened was humiliating. Well, she didn't want to be nude anymore. She needed to get dressed. The problem was that while the rift up in Maine was open, she didn't dare use her powers. They were things she understood were somehow separate from her main function. Dressing herself was one of those things done without thought, but through utilization of power she didn't want to use.
Instead, she move quickly and quietly through the hall. Considering going to Catnip, but knowing that catnip had her hands full at the moment. Instead, she moved from rack to rack to trunk to wardrobe, intentionally ignoring the information that came to her preternaturally. She was "shopping" and it wasn't "shopping" If you had the foreknowledge of what you were doing.
The hall was surprisingly quiet at the moment, the few people there not really paying attention to little ol' Illiana. She picked over one rack of cloaks, then syrupticiously peeked into three separate trunks. She did not intend to simply take things, that would be rude. Rather, she intended to pick out something she could borrow for a bit and then pay for later. Something to rent, in other words.
There was not much she was interested in out in the main hall, so she decided to... Intrude a bit. Helen wouldn't mind. Actually, she would. Helen would mind greatly. Illiana dug through the drawers and wardrobe, enjoying Helens often neglected selection of outfits. There was even a business suit which Illiana believed the mage hunter would look right smart in.
"You have better taste than you let on girl." She muttered. When it came to underwear, she hesitated the longest. It was weird, but at the same time she didn't like the idea of going "commando" in public. After a long time of consideration, she bit the bullet. After that, the rest came out easy. A shirt she knew Helen never wore, purple like her hair and somewhat tie dyed. For pants, she picked out a pair of Helens faded glory. Jeans of such tightness that they looked like Helen had painted them on. These the mage hunter also rarely work for that very reason. On Illiana, somewhat more petite about the hips and legs, they fit snug, but not uncomfortably.
It was while judging how her but looked in Helens mirror and thinking about socks, that Victor stepped quietly in and caught her "playing" dress up.
"Oh." "I think we were uh..." Said Daniel, unable to take his eyes off the spectacle of Delta. Neither could Catnip for that matter. Mica's burst of activity in the bedroom elicited only the slightest reaction. She was something like spellbound by the way Delta's strange body shifted and flowed. Kathrine squeezed her a little and broke her out of her trance.
"I don't know... How do you know so much? Um. How am I ignorant? What's a psychopath?"
Kathrine squirmed uneasily. The creature splattering itself looked like a nightmare to clean up after and she could already see herself following after it with a mop while desperately trying to get it to stay in a bucket.
Medeina was most intrigued though. She had not seen a being like Delta, that she knew of, ever. She had seen shaggoths and crawlers, but those were memories left behind in the now dead lab of C.I.D. where she had been held hostage for a time. The small proxy approached carefully and prodded at Delta, scraping away a tiny sample for her archive only for it to escape and flow back into the main mass.
"Excuse me, but by what method do you maintain cohesion? Why do you refer to yourself as if you were actually many? Does it have to do with the spectacle you have just shown us? Where are you from?" She asked. All those questions and far more, Medeina was not afraid, she was fascinated. The fact that Delta could speak meant that Medeina could talk to her and possibly interview her. "Sir!" Said a whey faced youth wearing the sigil of the shattered helm. An icon of struck bronze with the rough image of a broken nasal helm on it's surface. Barry, who wore a sigil like the kids but made from a hard silver alloy (so it would not wear out), told him to be at ease.
"Yessir. Jamey and I were down in Ms. Artifex's quarry and-"
"Walker, Collin, her name is Walker."
"Yessir. Jamey and I were getting the last of the guns from Ms. Walker's quarry sir and Jamey found something."
"I imagine she did. Why does this matter private? Why should I be interested?"
"Well sir, it's a bunker. There are tree roots over the entrance, but Jamey, you know how those Mislings can squeeze through tiny spaces and all, she went through and found a bunker."
"Oh?"
"Er... Yessir. No way in that she could see, no way out either."
"Alright, then why isn't she... She's stuck in there isn't she?"
"Yessir."
Barry gave a sigh, these privates these days. "Well for fucks sakes Collin, do I have to tell you everything? I swear to God, the current run of privates will be asking me how to properly hold their peckers to piss at this rate. Get an axe or something or- oh for fucks sakes."
A Misling lady carrying a bronze sigil like the others entered the chapel carrying an arm load of guns under one arm, and a collection of old papers in the other.
"Colin! You idiot, why'd you leave? I told you to climb through after me!"
Barry had to restrain himself from slapping them both. Jamey had a thing for Colin, Colin didn't feel the same way but was being all coy about it. As a result, private Jamey clung to him like a burr in ones britches, and private Colin often tried to ditch her. He had come with the caravan to get away from her. Barry still remembered the look on Colin's face when he found out that she had come too.
"Private Colin, cut the kiddy shit and either dump the girl or give her a fuck already."
"A girl can dream..."
"Jesus Christ... What do you have to report?"
Jamey handed over the guns, then passed over the pages. Barry looked them over very carefully, scrutinizing each sentence. The pages were hand written, some kind of journal cataloguing a man's last few days.
"Fascinating. Ms. Walker should see these, but she's had a long trip and I'm told she's got problems of her own right now. Besides, I don't think these were meant for her anyway. Take them to Marshal Lowe. Private Jamey, anything else of note down there?"
"A body sir, and a bunch of tank shells and MRE's."
"Alright, after you've delivered these documents, then you can BOTH go down and collect anything that might be down in the bunker. Bring it all up, and uh, Private Jamey?"
"Yessir?"
"No grabass, you're on duty."
"Yes sir..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 04, 2018, 09:59:35 am
Roxanne smiled at Hector’s response. She felt the same, to stand there no matter what happens but it wasn't him getting into so many shenanigans. Something inside her was nagging at her; it told her something needed to changed. A visible frown formed on her face; Hector noticed asked what was wrong.
“To be frank, I haven’t been fully honest with you. I am being a hypocrite, telling you we should talk thing through yet hiding stuff… I justify it myself by saying you don’t understand the arcane but if it actually affects me...then in a way it affects you too and it wouldn’t be fair to make those decision on my own…”
She stayed quiet for a bit looking around her room. After a bit of this she shrugged and looked at Hector. “You know what? Fuck it… I could use your advice on something… as my partner that is… care to take a look at something I am working at?”
The sword of the void rattled a bit but Roxanne ignored it. Her attention was elsewhere for now. For the first time in a while she neglected her “duties” in favor of time for herself and what she wanted.
“I see. Alright, I will wait for her in her quarters. And if you would be so kind to prepare something to eat that would be grand. You are Helen’s apprentice? Maybe you too might want to take a look at this things…” Victor said this over the radio in response to Solomon. He only recalled the name and the fact he was under the instruction of Helen from a memory of a conversation he and Roxanne had.
The journey to the hall went smoothly, now with no rain to slow him down. Once he got there he noted things were quiet in here. He guessed people were busy with their own affairs and he soon would be with his. Eventually he made it to Helen’s quarters and opened the door. He didn’t expect to find a woman looking at herself in the mirror. Her little reaction to him walking in was expressed by him as well.
“Uhhhm, who are you and what are you doing here?” He wasn’t aware that she was wearing Helen’s clothing and as such didn’t comment on them. “Are you from here at the Hall? It isn’t very nice to enter people’s room’s unannounced…”
It was then he looked at the piles of clothing on the bed an in other choice places. He put two and two together and came to the conclusion the woman was stealing. “...So you are stealing from her are you? I don’t know who you are but that was a mistake…”
Melody awaits Cardin’s answer and boy does she get one. She ends up blushing a bit from what he says. “Oh...you think so? I m-mean it’s fine….” She stayed quiet unaware he too didn’t know what to do. Then he spoke again. “Alright, follow me.”
The two started walking in with Melody as the guide. She knew what she wanted; she needed a drink. The farm kept the main liquor looked up except for personal stashes. She didn’t have one so as such she would need to break in to get a bottle. “I need a drink...want one?”
She found the stash inside an intact section of the cooking section and via sheer memory found the lock to the door with the stash. A single flick of her sword was all it took to get it open and with that she went in and picked two bottles. Not knowing what she had gotten she handed one to Cardin. The label was crude and it read “Barbee Q Sauce”.
“Here. One for you… Might was well drink here… There is shade, no one is bothering us and I don’t have a room anymore... “ Melody opened her bottle and took a swig. Before it took effect she sat down and raised the bottle up towards Cardin. “Cheers!”
Getting past the two undead guards was easy enough; Plague's control over XE037 and Coalence’s aura made it unmistakable who was approaching. The two guards stood at attention before giving a salute to which Plague acknowledge with a nod. Clara shook her head while Rey and Christina looked at each other with amusement. Soon they entered the former office tower and followed the bio-weapon turned arcanist; he seemed to know exactly where he was headed.
The inside of the tower was just as impressive as outside. Lush and luxurious furniture was placed everywhere, doors to various rooms were labeled with appropriate indicators, the emergency maps reworked to reflect this changes; however, the most surprising thing of all, the lights were on. Christina, Clara and Rey looked at all the little things along the way. They passed a kitchen area, a big living room, what appeared to be an armory and a closed door labeled “Recreational Downtime”. Plague didn’t pay any mind to this as if he had seen it a thousand times. He ignored their questions for now and lead them to the stairs to the floor above. Once there he stopped and addressed them for the first time since entering the tower.
“Wait downstairs for now. Go look at all room and get yourself familiarized with everything. I will meet up with Lucy alone. Once our meeting is over she will no doubt wish to talk to you as well. For now excuse me.” Without waiting for a response, Plague made his way upstairs. The three were left a bit perplexed. Clara specifically gave a wary look as if she knew something the others two didn’t; indeed she did but it was nothing to worry about is this Lucy was as reasonable as Plague made her to be.
“Hey, Clara!”, Christina exclaimed before clinging to one of Clara’s arms. “Come on, let’s check this place out. Why don’t we hit the recreation room first? Maybe there is something fun to do.” Instead of her usual expression of disdain or sarcastic response, Clara simply closed her eyes and smiled. She nodded in agreement before looking at Rey.
“How about you? Want to come with?”, Clara asked.
“Nah, I think I will look at the armory and supply rooms first. See what we are working with.”, Rey answered.
“Always the practical one. Let loose a little!”, Christina exclaimed. “Come on, it should be fun!”
Rey turned down the offer with a hand gesture this time. “Maybe some other time. Have some things to take care of. See you gals in a bit.” With that being said, Rey adjusted his grip on his overly exaggerated and decorated Scythe before heading for the door labeled “Armory and Supply”. Christina shrugged and eagerly dragged Clara over to the recreational room.
Plague made it up the stairs and looked at the hall in front of him. What looked to be converted office rooms now were labeled as barracks with numbered coding. He was currently starting in what looked to be a small waiting area with a corner sofa overlooking a large television set. Down the hall to the other side of the place was a single door that lead to the main office; his headquarters. Knowing Lucy, she would’ve taken his chair by now. It didn’t matter, he needed her help and no doubt this wound in the veil ordeal had her a bit worried too.
With deliberate steps he walked to the main office. He stood in front of the door and hesitated for a moment. A sense of dread overtook him; he resisted a strong urge to unsheathed his sword. Yes, the being behind the door was quite powerful and could not be fully trusted due to her nature but still, just barging in with sword in hand would seem rude and she hated that. He gave a deep breath and opened the door to find Lucy was indeed in his chair with her elbows resting on the large desk and her hand on her chin as if waiting for him.
“United States Army Bio-Weapon XE037-A12 B, Codename: Plague. It’s been a long time Sargent; still persuing shadows I assume?” The words that came from the woman behind the desk were firm but soft spoken. They had an air of authority and experience but also dignity and grace. She was a slender woman with auburn hair and scarlet eyes; she had a figure of a secretary hired for looks rather than skill and her business casual outfit matched that as well. Still, Plague, himself clad in a military uniform and wearing a custom gas mask was more than afraid of her. He step forward and took a seat on the chair made available for him.”
“It’s good to see you as well Lucy, you still go by that? And yes, I still seek the same goal since last we met; a better world…” He took off his mask to show her his face; signs of decay on what might’ve been a handsome face some time in the past. His eyes were sunken, tired and empty; his grey eye color quite the contrast to the rest of his face.
The woman chuckled a bit. “Yes, you can go ahead and call me Lucy. I still go with that motif. Lucifer, the fallen one… cast aside from paradise for daring to give humanity the gift of knowledge. It is as close to the truth of who I am than any other story; although I personally prefer the story of Prometheus. It was simple and it worked… Oh well, so you called me here today; how may I help you? Come to make a deal with the devil?”
Plague scoffed at her word. “You and I both know there is no devil and no hell Lucy. Already trying to pull rank on me huh? Please spare me that. Let’s go on with the meeting; you know exactly why I called you here today.”
“The wound in the veil. I know, why else would you call me? It’s odd to see you so desperate…”
“It’s not desperation, it’s precaution. You know what happened the last time this event took place. Beings from other dimensions took over and almost rendered the human race extinct, they took over your precious realm and fused two worlds… You more than anyone should know how serious this is.”
Lucy did not respond. She opted to stay quiet for a moment before answering. “I am not worried about humanity. They always find a way; they were made in my father’s image. At least the story goes…”
“That is not very reassuring… Are you really just going to sit here and do nothing?”
“Why and what can I do? I don’t like to interfere. Free will Plague, why go tamper with that?”
“Do you call those eldritch abominations hunting us down free will?”
“Yes, they are trying to survive in this new world just like everyone else. They were not asked to be brought here you know? Humanity once again messed with powers greater than itself and look where it got them. Besides, two other beings of great power are already at play: one who the veil itself was broken to wound and another the embodiment of acausality itself… I doubt me getting involved would be appreciated…”
Plague sat there and now he was the one without any words. Was she really this complacent? Why did she even come here then? “So what you are saying is you are unwilling to help us?”
“I did not say that. What I am saying is that if you are hoping for me to bear the mantle of warrior or craftsman and take an active role in any of this then you are wishing upon an empty well. Besides, why don’t you go out there and fight? You rely on your army of undead a bit too much and now you are partnering with others. It is so unlike you… The proud bio-weapon that could take down armies is now hiding in an office tower… But I suppose that is to be expected isn’t it? For I am not talking to Plague am I?”
Plague raised his eyebrow at her words, particularly the last one; he clung to that one ignoring the rest. “What do you mean? I am standing right infront of you…”
“Are you now? Is your goal still the same? A better world? Such a vague goal, never understood what he meant by that. A better world… Too bad he didn’t live to see his goal come to fruition. I am not speaking to Plague, I am speaking to his hollow shell being puppeteered by the very thing that promised it the world. Coalescence, you truly are a nasty one aren’t you?”
This words, Plague held back. The urge to take out the sword stronger than ever. But it would do no good. He had been found out; he had been unmasked as a fraud. Besides, what could he do against the devil? His blade was dull in comparison. Were he to die here, it would take some time to be reborn into another blade and perhaps reuniting with his brethren even more difficult.
“So, you have me all figured out huh?”, Plague said with a sinister smirk on his face. “Please do tell. What do you mean by all this?”
Lucy nodded; she crossed her legs and placed her hands on her lap to get more comfortable. “Let’s go on a history lesson together. The broken god and his pieces.”
“The year was 1286. Six small kingdoms in what is now germany had gathered their best mages to stop a unified threat. Six mages from each kingdom and a mysterious seventh were in the woods of Nelphemtar after having defeated a being of great power. It had taken decades of preparation and execution but mere humans brought down the deity known as Anomon. He was captured and brought to a unified council of the six kingdoms. The details of this event and battle are irrelevant...its consequences though…”
“Times were turbulent and while the seven mages did their work two of the six kingdoms had fallen. The need for a greater power was recognized. That is how the pieces came to be. Each kingdom wanted the power of Anomon for itself and as such it was decided to instill a fragment of it into four swords, one for each kingdom, and that it’s chosen mage would wield such a terrible weapon. It was up to the mages to figure this out and to come back to their home as heros. The two mages with lost homes and the seventh one were not granted swords but instead the means to defeat them: the shields of divinity. The seventh mage declined and as such only two shields were made. Where they are no one knows. Well...not no one but that is not the point… The mages got together and for two years worked on this project.”
“Each weapon was crafted in the image of the mage who was going to wielded; not in blade design as that had changed but in function. Anomon’s name was forbidden from being spoken and he became the broken god in reference for his existence being bounded in for separate instance. The weapons and shields were finished eventually. Void, Convergence, Assimilation and Despair as weapons while Trinity and Fantasia as the shields. Their job was done...but of course the mages were just human, they got cocky and mistakes were made.”
“A little proposal was made. They knew they would not keep this power to themselves forever; other will claim this tools so why not make a process for that too? A little game...a little puzzle… You know what happens from there. The swords eventually make their way around the world over the centuries and eventually here.”
“But, what are this pierced anyways? Why don’t we recap that too? Yeah, lets...we will save the best for last…”
“Void: A sword shrouded with an aura of harvest. This sword, like all four, has a will of its own. However, it feels empty, it requires a familiar spirit to inhabit it for it to channel its power; but everytime it does this the spirit becomes more corrupted, unhinged. It will learn to crave that power and if freed… But what is that power? Entropy. The sword harvests everything it touches and converts it in life essence to which it feeds to its wielder, spirit and itself. Like the other swords, it chooses someone worthy to wield its power and entrusts it with its goal of unification. In exchange for great power the wielder is task to feed the sword.”
“Despair: The pain and anger of the broken god manifesting into raw power. It’s will is that of war; truly a weapon to smite your foes. This one grants its wielder an insatiable bloodlust and rage to aid them in battle greatly enhancing their skills. But it comes with a price; their regrets, fears, insecurities and failures are exposed to them and the sword feeds of them. It doesn’t go away unless the sword chooses a different wielder. Its other effect is for the enemy; a single strike is lethal. Something akin to poison takes hold and it cannot be stopped. It is as simple as making a small cut in exposed flesh.”
“Convergence: The ever evolving sword. It has a motif of the color of the rainbow; each color represents a setting. This sword uses the power granted to it in order to adapt its power to whatever situation it is facing. It then stores that setting in a chosen color for it to be used at a later time. It’s wielder is granter the choice to adapt or use stored powers. Only those who can see and plan ahead are deemed worthy of it. Drawbacks? There is only one, a minor one at that, no matter who you are your ego will go through the roof. You will think yourself as invisible and eventually not even the sword will adapt to whatever it is you gotten yourself into.
“Assimilation: The sword to unite all under its banner. The power of this one is pretty nasty if I say so myself. Take the soul of anything that has one and make it your own. A person’s memories, skills, abilities and anything else of the sort is distilled into its most basic facets and become part of the sword. It then leaves behind a husk that it can manipulate as its own; a flesh puppet to exert its will into. Whatever it stole is now part of the sword and available to its wielder with no restrains; it simply asks to harvest some more. Now, how does it chose its wielder? Now that is truly the worst part… It calls someone over, tempts them with incredible power; power to change the world, promises everything to them and if they accept...well… Why don’t you tell me. Tell me what happened with plague…”
Lucy stayed quite now. She waited for an answer from the man in front of her. He who was referred as Plague smiled. He had been found out. “The sword assimilates the wielder the same way as any other victim. It’s power becoming one with the weapon. The husk left behind a perfect conduit; the person avatar. The use of hands and legs are useful. Yes, Plague is no more… when he accepted the power of Assimilation the sword took over. All this time it has spoken through him.”
Lucy shook her head as if disappointed. “And that leaves you Coalescence. A consciousness born from Assimilation and Convergence… You still take over the mind of your wielder and harvest them all the same but now you have the power to adapt as well. You can make your husks all that more powerful. Currently you posses the body of a onced feared biological weapon; your ability no doubt numerous from so many you have assimilated and situations you have adapted to… So I ask again, why don’t you go out there and fight?”
“You know full well why… This is the closest I have been to achieving my goal...my real goal… I am one half of Anomon and I will acquire the other half. I will assimilate the other two swords and be reborn… Then I will Assimilate the power of the broken god as my own and then I will be unstoppable!”
Lucy smirked. She got from Plague what she wanted to hear. Well, not really Plague, he was gone, but the sword masquerading as him. “Tell me, and then what? I assume you will eventually seek to assimilate everything. And that leaves one inevitable thing: you will want to assimilate me…”
“... Eventually yes… You would be a lovely addition to my army but I have not nearly enough power now to even face you… Once I am reborn though...“
“Hahaha! You honestly think Anomon could take me on? For all it’s mighty power it was taken down by mere humans. Seriously… Don’t delude yourself kid, I a waaaaay out of your league.”
“Is this what you came here? To have me admit my goal and then mock me? No...you came here to save your skin from your inevitable fate...you come to destroy me… You should know that will not work! Th-”
Lucy interrupted him before he could finish. “I know, you will only be reborn again in some different part of the world, bla bla bla, only delaying the inevitable bla bla. Sound about right? Relax, I am not here for that. I have nothing to fear from you. I have here to make an announcement.”
Plague did not appreciate the way she was no openly mocking him but there was nothing to be done. He could only answer her question and try to at least get her to help in something. “And what is that?”
“Listen. The wound in the veil is concerning but not for the reasons you think. There is a lot behind the scenes you don’t understand… this is only a symptom of something greater. This world is in a crossroads. If something happens to it a chain reaction will affect many others. I don’t necessarily care what happens to them but I do care about this one. This is my home and I will protect it. A long lost deity from far away has been called forth… It is getting bad and honestly the last thing I need is for you to make things worse with your little game.”
“Game?! How dare you in-”
“Shut up and listen! Don’t test my patience…”, Lucy exclaimed finally raising her own voice. Had any person heard that they would surely have lost their mind but to a piece it simply instilled terror. Plague calmed down and listened. “Void and Despair are to be left alone, at least for now. Once the wound in the veil is fixed and this world no longer hold the balance of many others then can you resume your endeavours. I am not asking this, it is an order. If you dare defy me, Lucifer Morningstar, then I will have no hesitation to end you…”
“...End me? I already told you it’s not possible. Besides, what do I get from this? You are just telling me to put my own ambitions on hold for something I don’t care about… How long do I even have to do so anyways.”
“For as long as it takes. A few years or thirty generations; it doesn’t matter. As for compensations I will give you one along with a task.” Lucy reached for the inside of her blazer and took out three small glowing disks. “One is for you and the other two for void and despair. They will make sure you survive the wound. I will make sure you and your brethren make it through this. That is what you get in exchange, survival.”
Plague picked up one of the disks and looked at it. It felt warm to the touch and a rather powerful aura could be felt. “And how do I get this to my brethren?”
“Two of your subordinate, Rey and Clara, have called the spirit of the void Roxanne Luna. When she arrives here in due time you will give her the disks, instruct her on what to do and then let her go. Leave the sword of the void alone you hear me? Also, you are to release her from your spell.”
“Pardon? My spell?”
“Don’t play dumb. You are trying to influence her the same way Randael did before you. Leave her alone, that poor girl is suffering as it is. You put her in that damned sword and is now feeling it’s effects. Not even can take her out but the disk should at least stabilize her.”
Plague pocked the disks and looked at Lucy who was currently serving herself a cup of coffee from a brewer that didn’t existed a second ago. “Is that all?”
“Yeah, that should be it. Halt unifying the pieces until further notice, give Roxanne the two disks and free her from your spell. Do that and we will get along just fine... “
“And if I don’t?”
Lucy’s expression turned serious. She took a sip of her coffee and then set it on the table before leaning in. “Let me tell you a secret… Humanity have the power enslave Anomon but they are not alone… Many others will happily lend a hand to help them. I am one of them… You should know something… I was the seventh mage…”
Silence permeated the room for a long time. She not speaking due to having said everything she needed to say and him being at a loss for words. Finally he found what to say. “I see… The seventh mage lives… I will do as you ask then. I think this meeting is over then.”
Lucy nodded one last time before finishing the rest of her coffee and poofing the cup out of existence. “I would say so. Its good to see we could come to terms. I will leave you know since I know you are a busy man and have things to do now. Just don’t forget what I told you here today. See you around!” With that being said, Lucy got from her chair and walked past Plague to exit the room. She wanted to talk to the other three; it had been a while she had spoken to another person.
Plague got up from his chair and made his way to the main chair where Lucy was sitting in. He finally unsheathed the sword and laid it on the desk. After staring it for a few minutes he took a seat and opened a drawer on the desk. He smirked, Lucy had left it there: in the drawer the trinity codex was laying alone. If Plague could not fulfill his goal this century, might as well form new ones…
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 04, 2018, 01:16:55 pm
Hector waited, listening and watching, before giving a nod. "And I have been carefully picking my way through the books. It's slow going, but I do want to understand more. Especially now that it's something tied to you, and your safety." he answered. "I do then. I'll help you in any way I can." he answered.
Helen was calm and cautious, taking care in letting the others get the attention of the Purifiers, and taking shots of opportunity as she went along. If she had her cloak she could afford to be more aggressive, at least when the opportunity was available. Even if she had the cloak, she knew being too foolhardy about its use had killed many of her brethren before.
When the monk made that remark, she shook her head. "All I have right now is the vague hope of blinding him with this thing, at best. If I had the use of my usual weapons, but I don't know if even a wraithslayer could get through that." she said softly, making her decision.
She took aim before letting loose a burst, aimed the the soldier's head. That certainly got his attention at least, and drew it away from the monk who was preparing to strike. Rounds struck the face of the helm, ricocheting off steel and narrowly missing the armored glass. It was enough to make the soldier recoil out of reflex though, a burst of gunfire sailing wide and well overhead.
"I am, yes. Didn't hear much of what happened when you two spent last night here, but I'm glad you're both back alive." Solomon answered, soon getting back to the usual business and waiting for Victor.
He'd tending to the usual things at The Hall, given how busy he was it wasn't until a bit after preparing food that he noticed Illiana had slipped away from her bed there, starting to look around. "Hello? Miss, where did...you need your rest, you shouldn't be walking around..." he called out, half outside the door to The Hall. He was unaware that Victor had just now arrived and entered Helen's room, and that Illiana was there too.
Sergei was rather amused at that, even as she shifted and explained slightly about her nature, pouring a glass for Brian as well as one for himself, before offering her the bottle. "You seem to know quite a few of the people here. Never seen you before." he remarked, Brian glancing at her shifting form nervously, before accepting the drink. Now he was afraid to speak up rather than simply scared of her. He knew almost nothing about mutants other than useless info glimpsed from the rare autopsy, ordered by the occasional bishop. Useless to him at least, he would've been interested in knowing how it'd affect treating their injuries and illnesses, if that had been allowed. But even expressing an interest in that would've gotten him killed.
The screeching of a hen from within Mica's room jolted him out of those thoughts, rather hastily finishing his drink. He wasn't sure he even wanted to pry at this point.
Elsewhere, something distant watched and worked, deft hands weaving the fabric of The Veil. Its attention was there, but also in other places. It felt through the ties to this world, that had since gotten its attention. By now there were only a few of the worlds among this collection left, among what had been hundreds of realms that had called out across realms, all in the same manner, in a single brilliant instant. A handful had by now earned an unsteady peace and stability, but they weren't as closely linked as this one. Enough threads of fate, however, that they would be among the first realms to suffer if those unforeseen, indeed unforeseeable, consequences came to pass.
He, at least in the archaic sense of the word, watched through the artifacts made on his orders. Vague flashes of information, little he could make of without drawing precious attention away from the current task. Of greater use to him was the whisper of events in the domain of spirits and gods, of powerful magical influence.
Even then what little there was gleaned with difficulty. He had two tasks of importance he wished he could focus on, but couldn't. Snatching up the spirit lost in the wind, when the best he could manage was to harry, misguide, hinder. And then the other great concern, all that could be sensed was the signs of yet another being involved in those events. But whether it did so to help or hinder, he could not tell.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 04, 2018, 02:19:52 pm
The leader of the monks rushed in after Helen and threw the grenade. It arced through the air and impacted the chest of the power armor. Detonating it left a small mark on the chest plate as the operator swept the machine gun over the leader of the monks. Falling to the ground with several holes in his chest the leader of the monks’ body slid to a stop near where Helen had found cover.
Another of the monks rushed in, this one holding the grenade in his hand as he rushed the power armor. The operator swept the gun towards the man but swung high as the rounds hit the wall behind him. In turn his squad also opened fire trying to put the man down and a couple of their bullets found their marks. Not enough to stop the man however. Jumping up and grabbing onto part of the chestplate the monk activated an artifact he’d picked up and shoved the grenade inside the man’s power armor. Smiling cruelly as he withdrew his hand the monk pushed off as the grenade ticked towards detonating.
As his killer ran to cover the purifier tried to use the power armor to rip the chestplate off to no avail. The grenade detonated as the other purifiers pulled back to regroup with their comrades. Gunnar and Isaac opened fire on them as they retreated while the monk moved to his leader. Kneeling down he checked the body’s pulse before shaking his head. Turning the body over he ripped the man’s dog tags off and tucked them into a pouch on his plate carrier. Helen then recognized the monk that had given their leader the detonator and noticed his tattoos faintly glowing even as he threw the artifact he’d used away.
Picking up the rifle his leader had been carrying the monk shook his head. Inserting a new magazine he took a second to breath before he quietly said “And so I’m the last.” before standing up and starting towards the largest room in the compound.
The purifiers were making their last stand there. Tables and pedestals had been toppled over for cover as the last power armor operator tried to repair his suit in the rear. MGs were pointed towards either door as they waited. Some contemplated surrender but knew what would happen to them. With what they had done they would receive death. Even the traitors would be turned on once they outlived their usefulness. The new commander of the purifiers barked orders as the final setup was completed.
As Helens group pushed up they stopped in the hallway, spotting a number of purifiers whose armor was decorated with symbols of valkyries and wearing blue armbands. They didn’t open fire on seeing Isaac and Liam, instead looking as if they awaited a signal from someone in their rear group. Who, judging from the way the others reacted to him, had just moved up to the front. A man in an officers uniform wearing a maroon beret. Holding a bastardized C96 that looked to be chambered in a larger pistol caliber with a drum magazine the man motioned into the room before seeming to wait and see if Helen and co were going to attack him and his men.
Elsewhere Alexei pushed through the door to the hall with a bottle in hand. Looking around he didn’t spot Sergei, just a bunch of the new folk. Looking around a bit more he finally spotted Solomon and asked “Where Sergei go? I thought he live here and I brought drinks.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on May 04, 2018, 03:15:59 pm
Delta giggles. It's somewhat off-putting, seeing as her entire body wobbles as she does so. "We remember what we were doing, Daniel, it's fine." Her smile wides further than it should be possible for a second, until she seems to realise it looks wrong and setting it firmly back inside the human limit. "Miss Walker, if we told you, we'd have to kill you." Delta leaves an uncomfortable pause for the joke nobody seems to find funny. "...Joking. At most Oxbow would give us a stern lecture about secretive information. And then kill you. At some point. And just forget what Arroyo said, she's a conspiracy theorist. A bad one, at that."
Medina's scraping drew her attention well before her questions did. Another 'eye' opened up on the back of her leg, staring directly at the little proxy. Waiting for the robot's series of questions to be over first, Delta turns around, kneeling down. "Now, you see, Medina. You don't have the clearance for that information. Well, we call ourselves 'we' because we have the whole affluent thing going on, but the rest is classified." She winks once more. She has a tendancy for that, it appears. "OH! And Sergei? We've been here a while. And Alexei's looking for you, over at The Hall. Says he's got drinks."
Cardin takes the bottle from Melody, shooting a glance behind him as she takes a gulp. He gives off a somewhat unsteady cheep as he attempts to pop the cork off using his hands. "Cheep, chirrup? Cheep!" He holds the bottle out towards Melody for a second, then quickly withdraws it, holding up a single talon and tapping it against the top of the bottle, missing the cork completely. Another attempt has a similar result. One or two agitated tweets later, Cardin simply gives up and grips the cork in his beak, tugging it out with surprising ease that way. "Chirp!"
Raising the bottle up to his beak again, he spits the cork off to the side and also takes a swig. The first taste that hits him is somewhat akin to sweet tea. The second, more like battery acid. The third, something unplacable that could be closest described as radiation poisoning.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 05, 2018, 12:23:26 am
"I don't make mistakes!" Illiana retorted, "And I don't steal! Not often anyway. Besides, these pants are too small for Helen. What do you think? Do they make my butt look fat?" They didn't, at least she didn't think so. The clothes she had picked out were perfect for her somewhat slight frame. Illiana knew she could take advantage of Victor, tell him some half truth or even a full on lie to weave her way around the situation, but she couldn't see doing that. Helen wouldn't like it, but what she was doing wasn't exactly a heinous crime.
"What? Do you think Ms. McKinnon would just let me run around with nothing to cover up with but a blanket? You don't remember a whole lot, but even if you did though, I'd still be a stranger. Illiana Dheva-D'oris, at the worlds service." She bowed deeply, then snapped her fingers. The clothing she'd tossed around in piles while looking through Helen's things leapt off the floor and began neatly putting themselves away organized according to color, type, season, and material. While that happened, Illiana was helpless to let out a little pained screech every now and then. She wanted to show off, and was now paying the price in the form of spiking pain in her stomach. Nathaniel delivered message meant for Dervish and the mutagenicist got his things right away. Efram would come along as well, taking the few things he would need as well. Before leaving though, Efram informed Sharlene that he would like to see Lilith in about a month or so for a routine check up. Nothing more complicated than that.
"Uh huh." Sharlene said dismissively. She was already planning her return to the "top." The top being "not homeless." She checked out a map the center provided on an oversized automap located in the public section of the center overseers office. A map made up of ASCII, but somehow not that hard to read. Sharlene scanned over the map, bypassing the little yellow "N" annotations. Each of these "N's" represented a building that had been looted already. Shops, gun stores, home improvement centers. All of these bore the "N." On a few buildings, the yellow N was taken up by instead by a blue letter. An incomplete search. Sharlene scanned each icon carefully, looking for something that looked like a grey dollar sign and found two. Both of these had the blue N and a note.
"COULD NOT COMPLETE SEARCH. BANK VAULT NOT BREACHED."
That was the ticket. The perfect heist. Hardly any guards, a behemoth tigress to take the doors off. It would be a piece of cake. She wondered if anyone would have a problem with it. Syrupticiously, she reached across the map and tapped the touch screen of the automap changing the blue N to a yellow one. With another couple taps, the message was gone as well.
"Ok, time to get Lil and get this show on the road." She said to herself. It might take a day or two, but she didn't plan on this endeavor taking forever. It would be a cool breeze and already she was imagining what she and Lilith would find in the vaults.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 05, 2018, 02:06:32 am
Helen gave a growl of anger as she fired, burst after burst either striking the helm futilely or narrowly missing his head. She was lucky that attention wasn't fully on her, but the leader who'd she tried to cover for fell even as she did everything she could. A few stray rounds impacted near, a near-miss still kicking up dust that blinded her, and next thing she knew a round left a wound low along her arm as she dived for cover.
There wasn't much at that point she could do without her artifacts, wincing as she fumbled with bandages. By the time she'd popped out of cover, her left arm faltering a bit and not holding the AK as steadily as before, the initial assault had already been pushed back, and soon they ran into what at first seemed to be more of the enemy.
They weren't immediately attacking though, and she spotted the flashes of blue they were warned of. Instead she gave a little wave, breathing a sigh of relief. "So you're joining in this as well. A pleasant surprise. What remains to be done?"
Sergei took in this information as best as he could, only to facepalm as this all went on. The remark that Alexei was evidently at The Hall caught him off-guard, only to grumble some. "You've more of yourself spying over there, don't you?" he remarked, sighing and heading for the door. Brian meanwhile looked over at Delta, before giving a sigh. "So why...here, of all places?"
Nathaniel hmmed a bit, looking over to Lilith before, once it seemed he was free to leave, reaching over and giving her a pet. "You behave, alright? Remember, careful with the doors this time." he said, soon making his way back outside and starting up the borrowed Steel Horse, to drive back over to the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 05, 2018, 02:34:09 am
The Lieutenant handed one of his men the pistol before grabbing a bandana and tying it around his face. At the same time he said “Fifteen purifiers stand ready to die in a final room. They know they’ve no escape so they will fight until they die. Such is their indoctrination..such was mine.”
Taking the pistol back and flicking a switch on the side of it he looked over his shoulder at the man in a suit if power armor moving forward. “That being said we’ve some tools of our own. Ones that should match the maschinengewehr they’ve surely set up by now.”
With that said he motioned towards a door not far from them. Letting the power armor push through first the sound of an MG42 opening fire ripped through the air. As Valkyrie soldiers opened fire and pushed in behind it the remaining monk borrowed a bundle of grenades from one. Running in he threw the grenades in a wide arc that had them scattered to the far side of the room before he slid behind a large concrete pillar. Snapping his fingers the grenades detonated as the charges inside them suddenly ignited sending four of the remaining purifiers flying and three more on the receiving end of shrapnel.
At the same time rounds tore into two of the Valkyries as the Lieutenant pulled the trigger on his pistol and sent a burst of 357 magnum rounds into a duo of the Purifiers. Moving in a clean and swift motion he let off a longer burst to suppress some of the others that left the barrel a slight tinge of red
Of course most of the remaining fire was turned towards the man who appeared to be on fire as Liam walked confidentely towards them. To a trained eye though the flames had begun to waver as whatever was going on started to calm. Raising his hands in the directions of a couple of the Purifiers the two men lifted into the air grabbing at their throats before their heads suddenly and violently snapped to one side.
Elsewhere in the temple the man that had managed to sneak past Salazar had run into the backroom while everyone was distracted. Dodging stray artifacts he soon found himself in front of the case that held what he was after. Of course now came the tricky part as he retrieved a set of tools. If he shattered the glass it would lower itself into a secure room so he needed to do this properly.
________________________________________________________________ The radio signal was received by the group that had been waiting patiently near the radio in the base. Suppressed pistols and knives were passed around as the group shared a short and silent prayer. Moving quietly they knew where the command room was and passed by the security forces as they closed in. Two men to each door, four doors, ten men inside. That was the intel they had managed to gather about tonight’s meeting. On the leader’s signal they pushed through the doors with guns drawn ready to kill the Kommandant and his-
The solitary item on the table in the room was accompanied by a feeling of dread. Rushing for the doors they rushed for cover. Meanwhile the Kommandant observed the building from the distance smiling as he saw one of the traitors trip over a dead body. An order barked in german and one of the men with him produced the detonator. Taking it and pressing the button he watched the entire building be reduced to shrapnel as the traitors were evaporated.
Meanwhile the Pionier company had been inspecting a building when several of the men saw the small devices they had clipped to their vests flash green. Pulling back and away the others let the flammenwerfer operators take care of business. As the Purifiers walked for the door after finishing inspection they were met with the trio of operators leveling their weapons at them. Before they could react they were engulfed in flames.
After a minute the men let off and allowed the other Valkyrie members to push in. Those that hadn’t already died were executed with prejudice. Once that was taken care of they piled the bodies up and boobie trapped them before disappearing with a radio signal to the others. They would be heading to the rendezvous location. __________________________________________________________________________ Elsewhere Bandit, now going by the monicker Drifter, sat cross legged across from an elderly man. Sipping tea as his helmet sat beside him he’d spent most of his time with the elderly man learning. The blade that now rested on his back had come to be a familiar presence. Of course his time with the man had to come to an end eventually. Setting the empty cup down gently he couldn’t help but smile that his hands weren’t shaking without the medication.
Pushing himself to his feet and bowing to the man he didn’t say a word. His thanks were apparent in the gesture of respect the two shared. Walking for the door he slid the helmet on and walked out into the ruins of the small town’s mini-chinatown. Sliding the navy blue bandana over his face in place of his usual balacavla before sliding the face shield of the helmet down. Walking down the road he grinned to himself as the eyes of the residents turned to focus on him. No man had walked back out of those doors smiling before.
The scars of his previous life would take time to heal that much he knew. However he was ready for the journey there now. The suppressed pistol was tucked into a holster hidden in the small fo his back as the sword hung on his back. A set of improvised grenades hung inside pouches of the bandoleer he carried. And now he was ready for war.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 05, 2018, 02:42:39 pm
A little nod of understanding was Roxanne’s reaction to Hector. She turned towards the altar and kneeled to access her secret stash on the floor under the altar. A smile forms as she looks back and up to Hector. “You saw nothing ok? A lady needs a place to store her stuff...” This is followed by a wink before she went back to retrieve her material. “I am glad you been reading on it then; should come in handy.”
Eventually everything she needed was on the altar; after closing the hatch she stands up and signals Hector to come closer. On the altar were what looked like a bowl with some odd dust looking thing and a crystal in the middle of it, a book opened to a page on how essance worked and a handwritten note. Roxanne cleared her throat and began to explain.
“Right, so what you are seeing here is a side project of mine. To be honest, I am working on limited knowledge and resources...it literally came to me in a dream when we were at the mall… Anyways, I am not sure how much you know about Randael but he was very fond of using what is dubbed ‘life shards’. The are pure arcane energy codenced by harvesting a human soul… I know, very morbid… Melody used them to fight us back when… sorry, going off track again…”
“Now, this note here is from Victor; it is a theory on what would happen if you got five of this shards together. Creating a soul shard is has an efficiency of 20% meaning the other 80% is wasted… but if you combine five then you would have the power of an entire soul… Why would I want that? Well, the sword I now call home is unstable...every time I call upon its power it eats a little bit of me but when I do I get to feel… like literally feel… I can smell the roses, feel my own skin, taste food again… But I really can’t go letting it corrupt me just for this. However, what if I put a ‘life crystal’, 5 life shards in one, as it’s source of power? Then it could eat that instead… I could call upon its power and feel whole again…”
“I know what you are thinking and no. I am not willing to take the lives of five people just for such a selfish need… Instead another of Victor’s ideas is at play. The note also describes something called ‘prime essence’. I don’t understand how it works but it says here that combining dull, blood and normal essence will yield it… Then I can use that to create an artificial life shard according to this book. It works, I have created one of the five shards so far… Just need the other four. That is where you come in.”
“I have plenty of blood and dull essence, you can guess how, but am lacking in the normal one. There is an easy way to get them so and it involves two ways; though I can guess which one you will want to do. One way is to go out and seek supernatural beings out in the field and slay them. Something something the veil makes it so they drop essence… however there somes to be something fucky with it at the moment. That is where the second option comes in.”
Roxanne hesitated a bit, she knew Hector would not like to hear this but she did tell him she would tell him everything. “I am a supernatural being now you know? My own second death would create essense… I possess a life orb inside of me with two charges left so harvesting me once should be fine… I am not tied to the veil so it should be fine in that respect… So, you have a choice, do you want to help me? And if so what do you want to do?”
For now she kept quiet about the voice. There was no need to say that now; it would come as less of a shock once the reactor was built. Maybe perhaps Hector would trust that it wasn’t all crazy talk. Thing was, she was beginning to not trust in it herself.
“You are not stealing huh? You admitted those are Helen’s clothes; and what kind of question is that? I mean they do good fine but that is not the point... “, Victor responded to the strange woman. She didn’t seem to have any qualms at what she was doing. He didn’t question her more due to something that was distressing him: she was completely invisible to his aura spell. Granted he still did not know how it worked but he did have enough of his memories back to know that it was best to leave her alone for now.
“So you are getting clothing because you lacked any before? I guess that is fair… Wait, how did you know of my memory issues? You say we are strangers Ms. Illiana. So how do you- “ His line of questioning was interrupted by her little display. The clothes seemingly moving on their own and being organised surely impressed Victor who know firmly believe this woman was not to be messed with. Then he heard Illiana’s screeches of pain and saw how she clutched her stomach. He rushed to her seeing if she was ok.
“Are you ok? Are you hurt? Did something go wrong?, Victor asked as he offered to be used as a guide for her to find a seat. “Want me to get you something?”
Melody sat back waiting for her drink to take hold. Having only ever drank alcohol twice in her life, a beer when she was 16 and a cup of wine when under the wing of Randael, she though maybe she needed to drink another swig when nothing seemed to happen. As she did she heard Cardin struggling and calling for her help opening the bottle.
“Come here, let me help you. No? Alright…” Then she felt something happening and started to giggle a bit; for ‘good’ measure she took a third swig while Cardin was still struggling. “Let me hel- oh, you go it. Yeah! Cheers!” She was about to take a fourth swig when the effects finally hit her. The bottle was set down on the floor and then she began to laugh hysterically.
“Holy shit what is going on? Everything moooves… Are you ok?” Despite it just beginning to take effect the drink was so strong for her due to not being used to this that she was already out of it. And it was beginning to mess with her aura spell too.
Now the way it worked was it told her where things were. Imagine a tree was in front of her and instead of seeing it, getting a silhouette or what not the word tree was in its place. She looks down and all over the place words like “ground”, “dirt road” and whatnot littered the landscape. She didn’t really see words but it’s the best way to describe it. Following this analogy, the alcohol was beginning to make her dyslexia and such the words didn’t make much sense. If she concentrated she could make out what they meant but it was still messy.
“Caaaaardin! That’s your name right? Are you seeing this? Well, I am not… Is it pretty? Am I pretty? Another!” Melody takes a fourth swig and then lays back a bit to watch everything unfold.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 05, 2018, 04:21:30 pm
Helen nodded at that, giving a sigh as the lieutenant explained this. "Well then. I suspect there's no time to give them a chance to stand down, nor are they expected to take it. No quarter, as we would with sanguinists." she said calmly, checking the rifle before following along in the advance.
She let the power armor push up first, taking shots of opportunity until the machinegun team was out, before pushing the attack more eagerly. The thought of these foes holed up in an apparent dead-end brought back vague memories of old missions, before the cataclysm. Usually ended in the last of them surrendering, terrified of the glowing red eyes of masks in the darkness, of a dozen voices chanting a marching song in unison.
Unlike the time that stuck most strongly in her mind, she had a rifle in hand, playing what her group would've called the support element instead. She held back, only to wince as a 9mm round narrowly missed her head, still close enough to skid off the side of her helm.
"If that's the last of them...everyone, search the rest of the building, hold every entrance and make preparations for sealing or otherwise neutralizing any artifacts that're still causing trouble." she directed calmly, looking to the remaining monk. "Do you know where to start in that regard? Any way that survivors might get out if they're finished their objective..."
Hector listened as she'd explained this, increasingly concerned as she went along. "Then we need to get what we can for that. However it came to you, so be it. I don't want you dying from the very thing that saved you." he said softly, before listening to the options that she listed.
"If I hadn't already given all the essence I've...found, over the years..." he remarked, before that second option seemed to prompt a look of worry. "I would prefer the first option to be honest. While I assume doing...that to yourself would have to be a catalyst for accumulating energy, for it to actually do more good than harm, I still don't want to risk finding out the hard way whether it worsens the situation." he said, before giving a nod.
"So then. I assume we need a place that attracts these creatures. I remember seeing a few spots along my exploration where they seemed to linger, but if you have a definite lead on such a place, that would be best. If I'd known I'd have need of essence I would've kept some of it. This is all I have left." he said, producing a small medical vial, long since emptied and filled with blood essence. For a trained blood mage this would've been barely a week of careful effort if obtained via bloodletting, or a matter of hours if they had a sacrificial victim to drain dry instead of using their own blood.
But he had collected it from the lingering presence surrounding some of the more exotic undead that haunted the old cities, over the course of a few years of exploration and fighting. "So to answer you, I'll help. Anywhere that may get us what we need for this, for your sake."
Sergei passed by Melody and Cardin, looking over and giving a sigh at that. "You two go easy on that, don't want you passing out in the rain." he teased, before continuing on to leave the farm for now, and head towards The Hall.
Solomon looked over as he stepped out his mask hanging off his belt and a plate of food in hand. He'd planned to offer it to Iliana once she was awake enough to eat, the try to find some clothes for her. He hadn't even thought of checking Helen's dresser for that, and if he had he would've wanted to ask Helen's permission first.
He gave a little wave to Alexei, nodding. "He's been at the farm lately, found someone there. Think the still is...still set up here. Pun not intended." he remarked. "Admittedly without him around we haven't used it as much, Helen's been avoiding drinks until Thomas is weaned off fully, and I don't...drink very often." he admitted. "Regardless, should radio over and ask him to stop by, since you're already he-"
The shout interrupted him, Solomon rushing over to open the door to Helen's quarters, startled by Victor already there. "Oh. There she...has she been in...n-nevermind. Victor, glad you're back. This is...I don't think I actually got her name. Helen said she's some sort of spirit, an arbiter or something." he said, rushing over to check on her. Of her injury, there was nothing physical that he could treat, and he gave a sigh. "She just dropped in, literally, when the new wound in The Veil evidently showed up far to the north, rambling about things going on in God's Army territory..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 05, 2018, 06:03:53 pm
The monk stood up, throwing the AK in his hands aside as he did so, and simply said “A search isn’t necessary. There were two entrances, the front and the one you came in through. All that’s needed is you retrieve your friend and let me finish some final preparations. Besides it would take far too long to destroy the artifacts that need to be destroyed in a..more pleasant manner.”
Without waiting for a response he turned to walk away. He knew he was being rude, that perhaps he should explain some things, but he had lost much in the past couple days. Passing through some of the more obscure hallways of the facility he soon found himself in a room he’d hoped he’d never see. Connecting a few final components to activate the arcane explosives he knew the place would never see another soul walking it’s halls.
As he made his way back to the room Anton was in the Valkyries shrugged. The Lieutenant looked at Helen for a moment before ordering some of his men out the front exit. He would follow the strangers and see if there was more to the situation than he was aware of. Or at the very least to explain them if the need arose. For now he motioned for Helen to take the lead as Liam and the others of the Six rushed to their comrade.
As this was going on the man had managed to get the open. Lifting the lid and looking at the wooden ring sitting on the pillow he wondered what was so special about it. Shaking off the questions he grabbed the thing and started for the door. Of course that'd mean passing by the little area that led to the back exit, so plenty of chance to get seen he figured. Especially now that the fighting seemed to have stopped. Regardless he'd do his best to not be seen.
Elsewhere Schultz had finished his work for the time being and wiped the sawdust from his apron. He had the toys mostly finished now and all that remained was the detail work. That however could wait as he had heard the Rangers were nearing home and had run into trouble. He’d soon find out what that trouble had been.
Meanwhile Alexei nodded at the explanations. Looking at his bottle for a moment as Solomon talked of the still. Once the woman had been explained he waved Solomon over “Veils are sensitive things, not to be played with. But if nothing is to be done why not have drink. At least enjoy little celebratory one.”
Even if Solom didn’t walk over Alexei poured a smaller glass full of an old whiskey he’d gotten some time ago before pouring himself a marginally larger glass. Sipping the drink as he sat there he seemed somewhat lost in thought. The look on his face a mixture of uncertainty and tiredness.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 06, 2018, 01:27:25 am
"I" Illiana said grandly, straightening up with a bit of a drunken wobble, "Am the physical embodiment of a literary concept! Deus Ex Machina. That means, God from the machine. I know everything there is to know about everything, except that which it has been decided that I don't know. Ow!" That last little exclamation in reference to another twist of the knife in the open wound to the veil. "I'm tied to the weave, what Helen calls 'the veil,' It seems." She turned her attention back to Victor, "Of course they are hers. She's the only one around here in my size, and I'm not stealing them. I'm borrowing them. I'd make my own if I could, but as you can see any act that calls on my purpose is painful to my existence."
She kicked her feet a little while Solomon examined her, analyzing the feel of another persons hands on her skin. Solomon had nice hands, not calloused and rough like Daniels or small and a little fuzzy like Sylvias.
"I'd take some vanilla if you've got any, but you don't. The farm lack refrigeration of any kind and the refugee center only uses their freezer to store meat.
Victor looked confused, and she cut him off before he could ask any questions. "No, I will not tell you who decides what I know and what I don't know. Knowing would make your head explode. Literally. Like a man trying to wield a jar of jam." The small group fell to drinking, or at least Delta did. Catnip though made an excuse and decided to wait for Dervish outside. She knew full well the trap that was alcoholism, and how you never did quite quit drinking. It was easier, by far, to resist with Kathrine clinging to her like an adorable growth. Delta said some mean things, or aroyyo, or... whoever. It wasn't a good start, especially with how mean she'd been to Kathrine.
The works on the farm we're proceeding quickly. No rebuilding as of yet, just cleanup. Catnip had gotten used to the speed and dedication of the Mislings, a people who were mostly derived from abducted homeless and addicts, people who were just happy to be working. Happy to be productive. Pinky had told many people on many occasions, that the mutation was a blessing in that it gave a lot of them a second chance after they'd escaped the home lab.
They walked to the cook shack, watching carefully for nails or glass or other sharp objects as they went, and found that it was leaning slightly, the back doors had been torn off, one corner of the building now sagged sadly, and that it's contents were now scattered to hell and back. Inside, two cupboards of junk food had been toppled, and a cabinet which she remembered contained a fraction of the farms liquer hung open but otherwise unmoved. Also, there were people. Catnip didn't recognize the person with the feathers, but she thought she might know the girl with the cloth on her face. Both were drinking. Drinking lightly in fact, but it wasn't the volume that mattered. It was "what" that did. A bottle labeled with the familiar "Barbee Q saus" had been passed around. A single sip would have been enough, and by the looks of these two, they may have had more than a single sip. Catnip didn't need to see them, or feel the way Kathrine was clutching her, to know the evils of alcohol. She had been there and back twice. Moderation was a good thing, but when it came to Catnip's special sauce, moderation consisted of not touching the stuff at all.
Catnip and Kathrine didn't bother them, they didn't want to get sucked into what was going on there. Instead, they set about the task they'd come for, looking for food. The cupboards being face down was actually fortunate. With the cupboards laying flat on the ground, their profile had been low enough to avoid the brunt of the wind and the snacks inside them were left safely within. Catnip righted them and went to give the kitchen unit a once over while Kathrine got them something to munch on while they waited. The unit was trashed. Something heavy had been hurled through the doorway, or possibly the doors themselves, and crashed into it. Catnip judged that she could salvage the battery and some of the tools, but the solar panel that kept Kathrine in power enough to cook was little more than a pile of crumbly glass in a thin metal tray.
After, they shared a bag of chips and a cigarette while playing Jenga on an overturned bucket. Catnip seated upon a folding chair which belonged to Hector, and Kathrine seated prettily on a little stool.
"It's not so bad." Catnip mused, "it was scary, but we are still here right?"
Kathrine nodded slowly. She didn't think it was good, but didn't want to disagree with Catnip. She passed the lucky star cigarette over and Catnip took a drag before handing it back.
"Hey Catnip, Jenga? Groovy." Leslie said, coming upon the pair, "Doctor dude is on his way and you've got some people wanna talk about helping rebuild. Some architect with some plans. Hey. Uh, Kathrine right?"
Kathrine jumped a little, she hadn't expected to be addressed directly. "Yes?" She squeaked.
"I wanna have a good couple stories for my first issue, would you let me ask you some questions?" She asked. Leslie's tongue flicked out unconciously, tasting the air. Kathrine looked almost tiny sitting on her little stool next to Leslie. Stood up, Kathrine would still be dwarfed by the serpentine girl. She looked to Catnip to see what she thought about it.
"She will." Catnip said, rolling her eyes, "Go talk with Leslie Kat, she's a nice friend." Leslie nodded, enthusiastically and added, "Yeah, I'm cool."
Kathrine looked from one to the other. Leslie certainly didn't look mean. Maybe it would be alright. Catnip wasn't going anywhere. Hopefully.
Leslie helped Kathrine up and led her away, the maid shooting glances back towards Catnip every few seconds. A bit later, Dervish pulled up along with a couple of others from the center to assess damages.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on May 06, 2018, 04:53:53 am
"Got it in one!" Delta gives Sergei a thumbs up as he walks past on his way out, taking the bottle of vodka off of him. "And... What's your name? Lewis? Josh- No, you're not- BRIAN! And, Brian, we chose here because, well... This place is pretty interesting. You have domesticated bio-weapons next to now-physical embodiments of... Some god, we think. Speaking of, has anyone here seen Roxanne around?" She raises the open bottle to her current mouth and starts chugging it, opening up another mouth to continue talking. "Anyway, y'all are interesting, basically. And we like weird stuff."
Cardin seems very hesitant to take another sip, nevermind continue drinking. "Cheep..." He puts the bottle down, putting his hands over his beak. The bird's discomfort would be readily apparent if Melody could, y'know, see. "Chir-" Cardin just straight up falls to his knees, bending over with an attempt to hold back the inevitable. With it being called the inevitable, however, he obviously ends up vomiting. All over Melody's shoes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 07, 2018, 12:21:54 am
[Second, third, and fourth paragraphs in the Atomos stuff written by Random_Dragon. Thanks dragon!]
The younger foxes, most of them anyway, gathered around the small clearing at the center of the fenced in copse for what Cheena called "Red's story time." For hours the old fox spoke, telling stories unique to fox kind and also stories that were familiar. A tale in which a fox tricked a wolf into doing a majority of a hard task while also robbing him of his lunch. Another in which a fox repayed a debt to a boy who brought him home and treated his wounds, the repayment being tricking the local king into allowing the boy to marry the princess. Red told stories that didn't feature foxes as well. A tale Atomos quite enjoyed in spite of herself in which a young man felled a tree and followed the direction it fell to find for himself a wife in the first house he came to. The occupant of said house had been a mouse. Except the mouse was actually a princess who had been cursed. More and more familiar stories. Cautionary tales mostly, but many that she knew were some variety of the grimm's fairy tale stripe. Atomos had been fascinated at first, but the more familiar the tales got, the more she began to grow uneasy. Until she couldn't really take much more.
"I don't understand how, why. None of this makes sense, you've stories and village elders and names an-" The older fox gave her a peculiar glance, one that seemed more authoritative than expected of a mere animal, causing her to falter. "It seems you've much to learn, little one." he answered plainly. "You still think in terms of the body you possessed. You hear, but not with your ears do you understand."
The remark confounded her, prompting her to shake her head, a rather alien gesture in this body. "What...that makes no sense!" she said, fur bristling a bit with irritation. "What do you mean, not by my ears?" she asked. The fox simply gave a wry chuckle. "There is a presence bound to you. Its nature will be revealed to you in time. As for these little ones, by my guidance they're quite clever, by the standards of an animal. But they're still just that. Animals. Scent, the twitching of ears and tail, each shift in posture. With a little wisdom to guide them, that alone can convey a lot of very 'human' things."
He then gave her a strange glare, fur bristling as he gazed at her. She felt an unnatural chill deep in her body, and glanced over at Cheena fearfully. "What's wrong? Don't be afraid..." the young fox asked. But this time she didn't hear it. Instead there was a faint whine, head lowered and ears splayed out, tail swaying slowly. A voice did speak up, that of the old fox, or whatever he was, and she heard it with perfect clarity. "Another guides you, allows you to hear what is said but not spoken. The very one the shadow in The Veil pursues."
Green eyes. Just for an instant, Atomos saw them in her minds eye. Green eyes among a field of red. She closed her own eyes, and when she opened them again, the others were looking at her.
"Is something the matter? Would you like a nap Atomos?" Cheena said, "I can show you the den if mama say's it's fine!" Atomos stared at her. What had just happened? She shook her head again, a made a show of stretching the tension out of her limbs.
"No, I was just... Sometimes it's easier to imagine a story if you can't see anything." She explained, only half lying. Red looked at her with what she judged to be a knowing, appraising stare.
"Indeed." He said, "Only with ones eyes shut can one open the eyes of the imagination." Red gave her one final glance, and said in a voice she wasn't sure she had heard herself, "Give it some time. Stay, and learn." Dervish came to Dee's house first and examined Mica, confirming it to be what Medeina claimed it was. "It isn't particularly harmful to the baby." He explained, "But if she stays like this for too long, it might. I hope to god Dee hasn't just up and run out on her." Catnip had questions to ask, and Dervish answered them as best he could. What was wrong with Mica was the first, and Dervish filled her in on the condition. "She's depressed and as a result, she's decided to stop eating. I don't know it it's a conscious decision on he part, or if she just can't bring herself to eat, but as a result she's gone into a kind of trance."
"She ate the chicken though..." Catnip said. Dervish nodded and told her that Mica would still eat, but only when it became absolutely necessary.
"But how about you Catnip? You know it's good to have you back, but you havn't been in for a checkup."
Catnip squirmed uneasily. She didn't want to do the checkup, there were things to do. When Dervish brought what he had in his coat pocket out though, her attitude changed in a heartbeat. Chocolate. Glorious, wonderful, sweet milk chocolate. Whole bars collected from some dead city and stashed for some special occasion. To most, a rare treat. To Catnip, an ambrosial substance that was as good as cold hard cash. She stared hungrily at the bars. When had been the last time she had eaten chocolate? It seemed like years, decades, centuries, a millennium. Her own stash was gone, but now before her was a thing she loved second only to Kathrine and machines. Chocolate.
She snatched the bars and stuffed one whole in her mouth, sucking the chocolate and letting it melt in her mouth. The rich aroma and taste permeating her senses made everything seem so much better, the slight temptations of the day thus far were forgotten and her mood lightened immeasurably.
"Aaaaah..." She sighed contentedly, "Chocolate..." While Catnip sat in her sugar induced stupor, Dervish drew a little blood and gave her a basic physical. When he was done, she bit down on the next bar and again let the treat melt slowly, running her tongue over it to get every little nuance of it's taste. She thought she would be ready to meet the world, face the days challenges head on. She wanted to meet the strange slime girl again on better terms, and kick Dee in the balls if she had to. She wanted to wake Mica and take her out on the town like Minx had tried to do when Catnip had been around her lowest point in Pricetown. Instead, she settled for throwing her arms around Dervish and giving him one big chocolatey kiss on the cheek.
"I'm glad I saved it then. I know you love the stuff, but what's with this reaction?"
"You don't understand," Catnip said emphatically, "There is no chocolate in Pricetown. Not a single chocolate chip. It's so hard to find and I was a slave so I couldn't afford to get any! I'm glad you saved it too! Oh boy, I've gotta build up a new savings!" The short range, wide band radio in the comm room of the refugee center crackled to life and Khaki listened in closely, enjoying her coffee and the crisp afternoon outside the window. The weather had become the sort of crystal clear day that only occurs in the immediate aftermath of a massive storm, and she was loving it. The transmission was a bit worrying though, but not overly so. She thought to get ahold of the captain to tell her about it, but she was busy at the moment. Besides, the people on the line could wait. Had even said as much.
"Approaching Refugee Center, approximate distance is uh, something like ten miles. How do you want to go about contact General?"
"They've got a short wave, they'd be stupid not to, and this is going out over general broadcast. They will get to us when they are good and ready. Besides, we should wait an hour or two anyway, Brynna is having one of her 'episodes.'"
"Yes sir, want me to put this on repeat?"
"Yeah, go for it. It would be more likely to get their attention. If you need me, I'll be in the Midgard."
"Is it safe?"
"No, but we will cross that river when we get to it."
"Want me to get your cane, old man?"
"... Shut up private."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 07, 2018, 12:37:52 am
Helen sighed a bit at that, calmly unloading the AK in her hands, checking the chamber before setting it aside with the rest of the monk's stockpiled weapons. She gave a sweeping glance over the artifacts there. The look on her face hinted at how she thought about having to destroy the place and its artifacts. In the wake of the cataclysm, a collection of this size would've likely been less than a year of diligent hunting.
But the artifacts that were now so abundant were produced by rote, solid foundations and established magecraft that had begun to grow exponentially in the couple decades prior to the cataclysm. Whereas these items were unique, each the culmination of a brief glimpse into the beyond, or one-of-a-kind events no scholar of their day could reverse-engineer. This was the work of centuries, millennia even, of history soon to be washed away.
Not long ago she would've reveled in the challenge of trying to study and puzzle out which was save to preserve, and how to most safely the rest, but wouldn't have given their scuttling a second thought if the need arose. Now she found it hard to actually step down and let the monk do what she would've wholeheartedly went along with in the past. "I see. This is your temple, so as you wish." she said, soon going along to gather her items again, and help Anton get safely outside.
Catalina had pulled up soon, in a humvee with Deverish and Corpsman Gao. As she stepped out Nell and Alberto, who had been waiting there, stood and saluted, the captain returning the gesture. "At ease." she said, smiling as Deverish continued on his way into the farm. "So, go ahead and head on back when you're ready, and I'll debrief you after speaking with the survivors you brought in." she said, the two nodding and heading back to start up the jeep.
For now the two went about introducing themselves to the new survivors, Dusk checking them for injuries and the usual questions, while Catalina decided to survey the damage to determine what would be needed if the others asked for help. When she told Deverish that Nathaniel had said that'd take care of it, the doctor had insisted on her coming along just in case, but both were surprised by how much had already been cleaned up. "These people from down south are handling the work rather well, it seems." she remarked to Corpsman Gao, who simply nodded. "Thinking you might get in touch with their commander, see what they know?"
It was then they saw the blindfolded woman, and more importantly the unfamiliar avian mutant puking on her shoes. "Later. Might want to check on this boy first, corpsman." she mused, the two making their way over to Melody and Cardin.
Sammy grumbled a little as she worked at trying to pry open the case of an old laptop, grumbling as she looked over it to check for the third time that she'd unscrewed it at every point.
Johnathan walked into the radio room without a word, and without Sammy noticing him. He peeked over her shoulder, looking over the laptop as Sammy unscrewed the plastic casing over the bottom. She grumbled a little to herself, checking again before prying at the bottom of the laptop case, reaching over to set the screwdriver back down on the table. In the process she bumped into Johnathan, giving a little meep and turning around. "Oh! Hello?"
Johnny gave a little wave as his focus went to the computer, he took out a soldering iron, a small notepad, and a pen from his pocket and pointed to the area near the charging port. He scribbled, 'stop charging?' on the notepad.
Sammy was a bit surprised by this, giving a nod after he wrote the question down. "Yeah, how'd you know? Seems like the charger itself is working, which is what I first expected was the problem..." He pointed at the internal connection, in which the wires appeared to be damaged. He scribbled on the notepad once more, 'Internal connection's fucked' before adding 'easy fix.'
Sammy smiled a bit at that. "Hopefully that's all it is, yeah. I wasn't sure what I'd find in this old thing." she admitted. Johnny shrugged as he went to mend the wires. It wasn't long before he went to test it, and the small LED lit up signifying that it was charging.
Sammy watched as he went to work, as she hadn't been sure what she'd find, she didn't have a soldering iron on hand. "Thank you. The name's Sammy, by the way. I'm guessing you're with the new fellows that arrived this morning?"
Johnny gave a nod, putting the soldering iron away he scribbled on the notepad again. 'Johnny' it read. Sammy held her hand out to shake his hand. "Anything I can get you then? Least I can do for you fixing this." Johnny shook her hand, and shrugged at the request.
Sammy hmmed a bit at that. "Still, just ask if you need anything." Johnny nodded, scribbling on the notepad, 'Anything else need fixing?' Sammy shook her head at this. "Nothing that I know of, but Catnip might have something to fix." Johnny rose a brow, 'where is she? Who is she?'
Sammy nodded at that. "She should be over in Dee's workshop, along the wall to the north. Ratlike mutations, less mouselike than the...mislings as they called themselves." With that, Johnny nodded as he walked off, towards Dee's workshop.
Brian gave a blank stare at that, waiting until she was done with the guesswork, not saying anything at first. "B-brian, yes. This place does seem...interesting, yes. All oddity aside, rather more cheerful than my old home in fact." he admitted.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 07, 2018, 03:39:00 pm
Anton had pulled the cloth from his face, wincing somewhat as it scraped blisters, and managed a weak smile as Helen and the others approached. Eino grabbed his brother as he said “You know I would have come with you. Even on this suicide mission.”
Anton shook his head as the others helped him walk. As they did the thief stepped out of the shadows. It took a moment for Charles’ to notice him, the others apparently distracted, and as the thief dashed to the exit he shouted “Stop!” as he ran towards the man. For his part the Thief pushed up the stairs and past Salazar. _________________________________________________________________________
Elsewhere the Sarn’t was watching the recruits in a practice exercise. They’d made a good course for this and the men moved with modified paintball guns as they tried to complete the objectives. Of course that was assuming they IDed the correct structure. Judging by their radio chatter they hadn’t.
He had been about to light his pipe when he caught sight of something that almost made him facepalm. What seven flavors of retard was this kid that he not only had fucked up putting on his kit, inserting the magazine of his weapon, and ran across in front of an actively firing squadmate. Soon he’d yell at the kid, tell him where he’d fucked up, and then beast him and the others that had fucked up. For now he lit the pipe and looked over at the footsteps he heard behind him. Schultz, in full kit with his officer emblems shined and correctly pinned on, walked up beside him. Nodding to the man he spoke in somewhat botched German “Hello Corporal. How are you?”
Schultz pulled his own lit pipe from his mouth and observed the men training for a moment before answering “I am fine. Happier to be working my old trade but I know there is still much work to be done. So much if we are to establish a settlement, then another, and so on. We will need to become a true army.”
The Sarn’t nodded as he blew out a ring of smoke. He knew Schultz was right but he also knew he needed time to train the recruits. Speaking of he almost shouted over the PA when he spotted one of them. The man, displaying that he was going to be ‘special’ forces, had just dropped a grenade at his feet and fragged his entire group. Five men dead. Rubbing his eyes as he told Schultz “Yes we will. However if this is what I’m dealing with we’ll need a decade to get these men combat ready. Assuming they can get their pants on right..”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 07, 2018, 08:42:06 pm
Roxanne noded almost stoically at his choice; she was almost certain that would’ve been his answer but wanted to put all the cards on the table anyways. Indeed, it seemed the two would have to gather some essence. What did take her by surprise was Hector producing the jar with blood essence. While not exactly what she needed, it would prove useful in powering the sword for a bit longer without affecting her while the reactor was made. She eagerly accepted the vial and started to load it into the sword as Hector spoke. It was quite the process for anyone who hadn’t witness it; the red power was poured into a very specific part of the handle and it seemed to drain inside as if there was a funnel. Once all of it had been poured, the sword gave a slight red glow before settling back to normal.
“Thank you! This should buy us some time! And also thank you for helping me… I know I’ve haven’t been the best person lately… I hope I can fix that...” She then paused for a moment and recalled a very specific thing while she was dreaming in the mall; something the voice had told her which caused her to smile slightly. “Well, it seems I know where we can find some creature. Long story short, there is a slight disturbance going on among spirits. Being one, I can feel it too… Don’t worry, nothing serious, more like a slight discomfort. Now, this should rile up other spirits as well; maybe we can find some of them causing havoc? I think we should talk to people here and find out if anything strange is going on.”
She grabbed her sword and looked around for a moment as if looking for something and then shrugged. “Gossip spread really quickly now. I doubt anything that happens would go unnoticed… that can be easier to keep tabs on someone you know? That can be both good and bad; though I should let you know. For now let’s go out and talk to some folk huh?”
The storm had finally cleared but the center still didn’t let her go out. It was so boring inside and so were all of her peers. She missed miguel the most but at least this place had clean water and food; best still, she didn’t have to work herself to sleep for it. Still, he wanted to explore this place, wanted to see all that it had to offer. The older kids were allowed to visit the farm and help around; she wasn’t allowed for being “too young”. Bah, she was going to turn 10 in a couple months! Whatever, if they weren’t going to allow her to go, she would go by herself!
It wasn’t so hard to slip away; there were so many misling, children and adult alike, that it was easy to just walk around outside of the room when one of the doors was opened and then walk down the halls. From there she just followed anyone who looked like they didn’t quite belong until she was led to the main entrance. Then it was just a matter of tagging along with some people exiting and the guard was none the wiser.
“Yes! Freedom! Now, where to go…” The girl took out a chocolate bar from her light jacket and took a bite eyeing the landscape. “They said there was a path in the woods… in that direction? Yes, that one!” With her destination settled, the misling girl turned around and marched triumphantly towards it. It was a long walk but she was quite energetic and the excitement of disobeying the adult feed that even more. Eventually she made it to the makeshift path on the woods to connect the center and the farm; or as she had heard it referred to “Walkerville”.
The path was wide and some makeshift wooden fences had been placed along either side to prevent wildlife or the undead to cross when transports were being made. Still, she wondered why it was so wide when the cars weren’t that big. Regardless, the journey continued. It went rather uneventful until about midway through.
The fur on her back stood up and she paused when a feeling of fear and of being watched came over her. She turned around to her left and found what looked like an abandoned makeshift camp. The fact that someone was campting so close to two settlements didn’t cross this girls young mind and what she saw there made it even more unlikely to register. Standing there what appeared to be three white shadows. They circled the place as she stared until the eventually noticed. Then they slowly turned to face her; where the face should be a single yellow orb was in its place. The voiced then started.
“The headache...make it go away...please...make it go away...is it you? Are you doing this? Are you?! HOW DARE YOU! GO!”
The three white shadows then disappeared but a strong gust of wind picked up towards her causing her to scream and run the rest of the path towards the farm.
Victor stood there in his confusion as Solomon examined her after him. She didn’t appeared to be injured at least. What she had said was swirling in his mind. Deus Ex Machine? The concept? Did that mean she was tied to acausality rather than causality? Or maybe even not tied at all. He did indeed have more question but Illiana shut down his first.
“Right… I guess you can keep the clothing for now if you say you don’t have anything else. You will have to deal with Helen once she get her. And you say you can’t answer that… I would like to ask more questions but you seem in pain… If there anything a being like yourself would need from us? Apart from vanilla icecream…”
It was then that the sword and rifle he had slung started to shake a bit; it did so slightly but enough to be felt. Victor reach to touch the rifle and it felt odd; it felt like a cat purring. This was rather disturbing to him as it seemed this things were actually alive and they were reacting to something.
“Ok...I can’t wait for Helen to get here to talk what to do about this things...unless anyone here can make heads or tails of them… Because I don’t..”
Melody was sitting down taking in how the world changed around her; she found hw everything was meshing and modeling together. Her movements added to this causing the whole thing to become a kaleidoscope. She wondered what would happened if she took her blindfold off right now… That thought was interrupted by the sudden appearance of another person; or at least Melody assumed it was another personed. She felt judged and for a moment she was about to ask them why the hell they were looking them like that despite the fact she wasn’t even sure that they were but that person had gone and left. With a shrug Melody was about to do the oh so smart idea of taking another swig but was interrupted by Cardin.
“Wha? What you mean sick? You are going to wh- No no, turn around! Don’t get it on me!”
Too late, Melody could feel the warm vile in her feet protected by a simple pair off boot..
“Ewwwwwwww, I told you to turn around… Why di- New person?”
Melody’s drunk attention shifted to what looked like more people approaching. She waved in their general direction and then held the bottle up.
“Hello! Do you guys want some! It makes you feel awesome!” She then took another swig and then stood there for a moment before throwing up herself. “Ok...ok...maybe I need to sit down or something...Cardin...dear, are you alright?”
Rey was still in the armory and supply room looking at the collection of weapons looted from the nearby town. The collection consisted of popular civilian grade rifles, shotguns and pistols. A few military rifles an launcher here and there but not enough ammo to feed those for prolong use unlike their civilian counterparts. In the melee department there was hardly anything. Makeshift weapons and antiques were put with tools that were now passed as weapons such as machetes and crowbars. Thankfully the undead that needed to be armed already were so and he along with Christina were allowed to keep their weapons.
He smirk a bit at their weapons of choice. For her a damn yoyo… yes it was made out of superalloy, was conductive via bionic power and had deployable blades but it was still a damn yoyo. He choose a scythe; a highly decorated at that. The power of the aura of harvest had been implanted on it using a sword of the void as it’s blueprint. However, these two weapons were for show, if things got serious then they had backups.
Christina had two laser pistols that she had become quite the gunslinger with; she could shot down then targets in about one and a half seconds. It helped that she didn’t have to reload for taking down large numbers of targets. If that failed, she had in her a CQB Bionic, the same one Roxanne had as well, so with the flip of switch in her BUI Christina was proficient with hand-to-hand and any improvised weapon.
Rey would ditch his scythe go unarmed. You would know he was serious when said scythe would seems to burn into ashes. Then a simple brawling stance would be assumed by him. Rey would not attack first; his style was always reactionary and adaptive. An attacker would go after him only for Rey to also seem to vanish into smoke and ash. The opponent would then be utterly confused for but a second before they felt an agonizing heat consume them and from it Rey would emerge with scythe in hand.
Despite all of this, he did like and study the weaponry humanity had and still used; he felt it signified the times and a bit of character would be imbued in them. Every single weapon here was once owned by someone who for one reason or another saw fit to wield them. Oh the stories they could tell if the could talk…
“Rey Steller… the arcane assassin, you got a minute?”
He turned around and looked at who was talking to him. A woman in business casual attire was leaning on the door frame looking at him. Rey didn’t recognize her but didn’t feel any ill-will.
“And who is asking?”
“My name is Lucifer Morningstar, you can call me Lucy for short. Nice to meet you.” Lucy approached him and extended her hand to offer a handshake.
Rey smirked and shook her hand. “You do realize those two mean the same thing right? Choose your name yourself?”
“Yes and no. It’s a complicated story…”
“I bet it is… so, you are this Lucy woman who both Plague and Clara have been talking about you. Tell me, what makes you so special?”
Lucy have a hardy laugh at how nonchalantly she was being addressed. It was rather refreshing to be treated as one of their own rather than having the ground she walked worshiped like many before had. “Yes I am. Now, I am sure you have many questions about who I am and what not. Tell you what, answer some of your own and I will tell you everything you need to know...sound like a deal?”
“Sounds fair to me. Why don’t we take a seat and talk a little?”
“Lead the way then.”
Rey showed Lucy to the waiting area nearby. A round table with six chair was there to which the two took a seat across from each other. Lucy manifested a bottle of wine from out of nowhere.
“Want some?”, she asked.
Rey smiled but shook his head. “I can’t indulge in that. Haven’t been able for a long time.”
“Don’t worry. This is spirit wine, should get even the most incorporeal of beings at least a buzz. I like it since it targets my soul…”
He wasn’t quite sure what she meant or what accepting entailed but being rude was not an option right now. With hidden hesitation he nodded in acceptance of the offer. Lucy nodded back and two glass cup appeared; she went ahead and filled both and handed one to Rey. He looked at his for a moment and took a sip skeptical...he could taste it...
“It’s to your liking I hope? Anyway… about those questions…”
“What do you want to know?”
“Tell me, what is you relationship with Roxanne Luna?”
Rey chuckled and took another sip of his wine. “Oh boy… Something tells me you already know and just want to hear it from me. Is that correct?”
“Perhaps… Care to entertain a lady?”
“As long as you keep your end of the bargain… relax, it’s gonna be a long story…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 08, 2018, 03:37:44 am
Alexei had finished his drink and stood deciding to leave the small glass he’d poured for Solomon in case the young man decided he’d like it later. For now Alexei stepped outside to have a smoke sliding the hand rolled cigarette into his mouth. For a moment he contemplated smoking something else but decided against it with a child in the house he was leaning against. Flicking the lighter on in his hands he stopped for a moment as his mind drifted to thoughts of lighting molotovs before finally lifting it to the end of his cigarette. Blowing out a puff of smoke he pondered what to do now that he knew Sergei had found someone.
Alexei, when he felt particularly introspective, knew that those he considered friends tended to end up getting hurt. Opening the locket he’d kept in his pocket for some time he looked at the picture inside for a few moments. Putting the locket up he contemplated the best course of action to take to make sure his friend was okay. Whether or not that meant he stayed friends with Sergei.
Elsewhere Blitz sat atop the armored recon car as they moved down the road. The truck they had loaded with machinery was making it’s way back home as the other tunnel rats continued on. They had a job to do after all.
Soon though he spotted something up ahead of them. A small group of..small people sitting on the side of the road. After a few seconds of pondering what to do he tapped his earpiece and told the driver to pull them up in front of the group. When the driver complied Blitz was looking down at a group of children that scattered to the nearest building. If one could call that wreck of a former house a building.
Hopping off the vehicle as a couple of the others got out with him Blitz looked over. The pair that were with him gave a shrug before he walked to the back of the vehicle and pulled a stuffed bear that they’d taken and kept for posterity’s sake. Removing his helmet as he walked towards the building he gently shook the bear side to side. After a few moments a little girl rushed out in spite of the protests of the others and hugged the bear. Blitz let her have it as he sat near her and asked a few simple questions. After a few minutes the others trickled out and started to interact with them. Soon they Tunnel Rats were homebound with the children in chatting and playing happily.
Meanwhile elsewhere A man in a red suit scratched at his beard as he walked down a hallway with Roland in tow. He was reading a file with a somewhat exasperated expression as he read some of the final notes. Walking through the doorway to a luxurious office the man in the suit tossed the papers onto the desk and winced as some of them scattered to the floor. That was always annoying to clean up. Walking to the window of the office he made a broad gesture as if to encompasse the entirety of the view with the statement he made "I'd congratulate you if this was a different circumstance. I really would! But look at this from my perspective."
Turning with a broad smile on his face that belied his current mood he continued “But I’ve got a spirit that’s..well that’s not supposed to be here but big G is telling me you aren’t supposed to be up there. An independent agent decided you got to stay on earth as a..what was it again? Guardian? Something like that. Of course I’ve got the other pantheons bitching at me over this because when someone dies guess what happens to their souls.”
Roland didn’t respond. He didn’t need to so he stood there in the old fatigues with the grey grain sack obscuring his face. Quite frankly he was more compelled to ask why his companion had a Brooklyn accent. As he kept his mouth shut the man’s shoulders dropped as he said “I see. One of those. Okay then well I’ll educate you. They, depending on their religion, go before whatever god and receive their reward or punishment or whatever that god happens to do. Now big G is the guy you’re supposed to be in front of but no. So because the uh..wranglers? No that sounds too brutish. Hmm… the uh..you know for someone who’s supposed to keep this place profitable I can’t come up with a marketable name for those guys.”
Walking to his desk the man motioned for Roland to take a seat. As he did the man grabbed a bottle of multi-colored swirling liquid and poured himself a glass. Looking over his shoulder as he added a couple of things to his drink he said “I suppose by this point I should introduce myself. I'm what one might call a collection agent. Sometimes souls end up where they don't belong and it's my job to correct that. Funny how Death and the differing Dietys need a middleman for these things. Of course I started off as a demon here. You can call me En. Short for enmity, which is itself another word for what I used to cause in people. Hatred.” before taking his seat and sipping his drink. Setting it to the side he continued “Now. I do have to abide by your little contract of course. There’s no getting around it. I mean there is but I don’t feel like making my legal team go against the other guys. Well legal team may be the wrong word. Still you get the meaning.”
Roland leaned back as he nodded. Looking around he said “Fancy place you got here.” as he admired the office. Finely furnished as it was the devil shrugged and the look on his face indicated a bit of disdain.
Motioning towards Roland he said “To you maybe. Not really my speed but I’ve got to keep the presentation up. Never know when Hel might decide to pop in for a chat.” Picking up some of the scattered papers he set them back on the desk as he thought for a moment. Once he’d collected them he said “Look I’ll help you out with your paperwork. Least I can do for the guy who kept a few dozen souls from coming down here.” At the surprised look, well what he thought was a surprised look, he said “Oh I’m not such a bad guy okay. I really hate to see some of the people that end up down here. Good folk but they did something wrong at some point that kept them from going up.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 08, 2018, 09:24:27 am
"I need everything!" Illiana said cheerily, "I need to experience things first hand! I know what they are like, but experience is a highly personal thing. Someone carry me! I want to see what that's like!" Illiana opened and closed her hands at the two men. When they made no move to do as she asked, she stopped. "Those," she said to victor, indicating the strange blade and firearm he carried, "Are fairly dangerous items. To the user anyway. You may find yourself attracting unwanted attention, like Sharlene, and feeling a bit, uh, dumb. They'll both sap your mental faculties in exchange for fabulous benefits! It occurs to me that you won't remember Sharlene..."
She swiveled in an oddly acrobatic way, going from sitting on the edge of Helens bed, to laying on her belly with her feet in the air and her chin in her hands. "Catnip found them in the same place she got her invisibility cloak, but she never used them. Dervish finished with Catnip and moved on to a more raucous part of the farm, the cook shack. The girl looked familiar, but he couldn't remember if he had met her or not. The avian mutant on the other hand was new in around here. The bottle they had passed between one another was very telling. The captain wouldn't be as familiar with Catnip's history as both bootlegger and lush.
"They are drunk Captain." Dervish called, "Catnip's best tipple. I imagine they are suffering minor radiation poisoning from exposure to the stuff in the barbecue sauce bottles."
When Cardin had finished vomiting, or at least had been reduced to dry heaving, Dervish helped to get him sitting up while Gao made Melody sit down next to him.
"Half the bottle. Get them some Prussian blue corpsman. Prussian blue and some iodine. You two are really going to be feeling it, and not tomorrow. Tonight." Sharlene cruised along on foot, Lilith close at her side. They walked the sidewalk, stepping over branches and debris or taking small detours around ruined cars and store fronts. The former whistled a pleasant little tune with her hands in her pockets while the latter padded along softly, occasionally swatting aside the odd zombie here and there. The sun was out, and that was nice. It glittered off broken glass in the streets, making it look like piles of rainbow diamonds resting in the light of the cool day. Sharlene peeked around a corner, still whistling. The first bank was up ahead and the coast was mostly clear.
"Alright Lil, we still clear on the plan? Walk in, rip out the door, and break open the safes. We can sort through the safety deposit boxes... Bah, back where we left the stove." She explained. At the end, she had been about to say "back in the cabin" but realized that there was no cabin to go back to. This whole venture was meant to solve that predicament. They got on the move again and soon were walking into the foyer of the Maine branch of the "America First" bank.
In the back, they found the vault they came for, and Sharlene gave the word while stepping aside. Lilith rubber her hands together and huffed once before laying her hands on the great door. A pause, and then with a loud "PSSSH" she activated her hydraulic muscles and flexed. The door didn't give at first, but then it gave with a scream of tortured metal, snapping mechanisms, and the crash of collapsing concrete. Another crash as Lilith hefted the door and threw it through the back door. The vaults own door bounced once then crashed loudly into the pizza place beyond the banks back alley. When the dust settled, Sharlene was already setting to work inside the vault with a pry bar, popping open safety deposit boxes and stacking them neatly. Lilith moved to the back and ripped the doors off the standing safes so Sharlene could bag up what there was within. When it became obvious that Sharlene was taking too long with the pry bar, Lilith simply raked the boxes with her claws, ripping the little doors off en masse.
CBMs, jewels, precious metals, and useless money galore. Even a few binders containing now meaningless account information or stock certificates. Sharlene picked up a brick of something that looked like silver and nearly dropped it on her foot.
"It's a good haul Lil, maybe we won't have to go to any of the other banks?"
Lilith nodded and started collecting the deposit boxes. A problem then became apparent. Lilith couldn't hold all the deposit boxes and other loot, and there were too many for a shopping cart. Sharlene thought of a car or a flat cart, but then again she didn't really want to leave the stuff behind to look for either. She could leave Lilith behind, or...
From the banks break room, she retrieved a coffee mug with the company logo on it, and prepared to make coffee.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 08, 2018, 01:11:34 pm
Helen helped Anton with the others, fumbling for a vial once they were out. "This wasn't made with this sort of hazard in mind, but it should ease the symptoms slightly, I hope." she said softly, offering it to him. It was a vial of that strange red liquid.
The sudden shouting interrupted her, helping Anton before running after the man along with Charles, unslinging her wraithslayer as she did so. If the monk had been there she would've likely been either expressing irritation or amusement at this. There was a good reason why her old order used to be very thorough about securing exits, they'd had rogue arcanists and panicking blood mages do things like this hundreds of times. Usually right when the fighting was over, when they expected the hunters to have let down their guard.
Hector gave her the vial without a second thought. It didn't matter to him just how many shadowy, wavering undead abominations it took to earn that amount. That it'd keep her from being drained further was of greater importance. "Very well then, we'll see what we find. Whenever you're ready." he said, and when she was he made his way out of the house to start asking around.
They didn't get very far in their asking around, when a little girl came running in from the path through the forest. He saw her running in looking utterly panicked, and he felt a growing sense of dread as he went over to her, kneeling to look her in her eyes. "Are you alright? What happened?" he asked, calmly yet concern was evident in his voice.
The corpsman was over there soon enough, but it didn't take more than a couple seconds to realize the very obvious cause. The smell of vomit was one thing, but more apparent to him was the scent of strong alcohol. "Alright, easy you two, let's both get you sat down. 該死, where'd you get this rotgut..." he said, trailing off a bit as the captain approached, and Deverish directed him.
"You've got to kidding me, Catnip's stuff has..." He was grumbling some, calmly handing out tablets to the both of them, and pouring water from his canteen. "Here, both of you. Take it with water, not more of this shit." he said, reaching to cork the bottle back up and taking out a small device that beeped steadily, giving a readout as he swept it over the device. "You're right, fair amount of alpha contamination. Not too much of a concern. You know, unless you drink it..."
The captain meantime gave the two a glance. "Well, glad to see someone here's already getting along with one of the new arrivals. Was going to do the usual checkups since we had a reason to drive Dr. Deverish over here anyway. Normally we just suggest stopping by the refugee center on your own time, and indeed it can wait if you'd prefer it." she said, looking over to Cardin.
Solomon gave a nod at that, looking back at the two before regarding Illiana. "It's fine then, we'll talk to Helen about it, if she doesn't use that outfit much she might let her keep it, plus help find spare clothes." he said, and by now the spirit was being rather...eccentric, to put it mildly.
The young man then set a plate aside for her. Flatbread with some made from melted hard cheese and various herbs, freshly-cooked wild game, and an assortment of cooked wild vegetables. Along with that he offered her a cup of tea. "By the way, I brought this for you. Figured it might help, not sure if spirits eat anything. Er, besides vanilla. I wonder if I can get vanilla extract..." he mused to himself.
At the mention of those weapons, and Illiana's appraisal of them, he nodded. "I can take a look at it too, but I don't know if I'd find anything of use. That said yeah, put them in the drawer here that Helen has, I think she put some of the basic ward stuff she uses on it. Just in case." he suggested.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 08, 2018, 06:11:16 pm
Salazar shouted in annoyance as the three rushed past him and turned to follow. As the pair rushed out of the house that the staircase was housed in Charles pulled his Axe off his belt and brought an arm back. Hurling the weapon at the man he was chasing Charles hit him in the back just below his neck. His body fell in an arc before slamming into the ground with a thud. Charles pulled his axe out of the man’s back and rolled him over. As the others walked out of the house Charles started searching the body, pulling out a ring and a black card. Handing Helen the ring he looked the card over before shaking his head “Now I wish I hadn’t killed the fucker. Could have asked him what the Raven promised him to do this.” he said as he tucked the card into a pouch. “At least this looks like the Raven’s calling card.”
Meanwhile inside the remaining monk sighed as he grabbed two bags. Retrieving a handful of artifacts and placing them inside before retrieving a duffle bag of armor. Two of the artifacts he’d retrieved were strapped to his back as he came up the steps. Spotting the incident and giving Anton a questioning look the monk received a brief explanation. Shrugging it off he suggested getting more distance. “Whilst it should do minimal physical damage it will damage or destroy magical items in its effective range.” He said as Isaac started for his truck. As he opened the door Isaac said “That reminds me Helen, if you ever need some help learning to handle a rifle I’d be happy to help. Least I can do after you took this lot in. oh and uh..whatever your name is, you can ride along for a bit. Wouldn’t want to leave someone in the blast zone.”
Shrugging the monk walked to the back and tossed the bags he was carrying in. Even if they decided to get nosy the bags were locked close and protected against magics to see inside of them. For now he sat back and closed his eyes. The energy in his tattoos pulsed as he tried to calm himself and focus but that was a bit hard given what had happened. For now he waited as the others started to climb into the truck.
Elsewhere the black Raven sighed as he walked through the long hallways of this place. Given what had happened with the veil he had to make additions to certain plans which involved doing something counter to his current goals. Adjusting his grip on the knife he held in his hand he let out a breath as he turned a corner. The two guards inquired as to why he was there and who he was and received a knife plunged through the chests into their hearts. He hated the wet work. Always unpleasant, that’s why he tried to get others to do it when possible. Of course when all you cared about was getting paid and the promise of potential rewards wasn’t that appealing compared to the garunteed rewards they were getting
That was the problem with mercenaries he thought. They only cared for what they knew they could get, not potential things. Opening the door to the room he wanted into he tossed the knife aside. Walking in and retrieving the revolver he had tucked into his jacket the Raven walked to the man that had been sat there for some time. The cuts and bruises all over his upper body indicated quite a bit of torture had been going on here. Tapping a few buttons on a nearby computer he had the man’s restraints off. As the prisoner stood up he looked at the Raven and asked “So what’s the catch. You’re helping me so there has gotta be one.”
The Raven handed him the revolver as he said “Oh nothing too serious. At least not for someone like you. I need a certain someone killed if you make it out of here. Nothing major really. He’s just half liable to do something incredibly stupid and destroy something quite valuable..well important, valuable is probably the wrong word.”
The prisoner checked the revolver as he responded “I see. Well then I assume you’ll have more details for me later.”
The Raven nodded as he finished taking care of the evidence of his presence “Oh of course, wouldn’t want to leave you in the dark as to who you’re supposed to kill. For now though you’ll have to finish this up on your own, I’ve places to be!” he said before walking back out the door and disappearing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 10, 2018, 01:35:35 am
It disturbed Astor greatly, that he was still bound to the whims of "her" whom he thought originally to be just a no one. A source of potential, yes. A greater source of potential than any he had yet encountered, oh gods yes. Hers was a power he could only dream of. The power of the greater gods could only dream of, and she wasn't even one of them. Her power was limited though by something fundamental. Two things in fact. Physical form made her fallible, and her greatest power could only be used seldomly.
He mused over the events of what just happened carefully. The Canadians had a power he wanted, a source of potential far greater than some old Finlandic spirit tangled up in the net of a young womans essentia animae. The arch slab had been more important. The slabs had once been a part of the elder things home plane, before it had been consumed and scattered. There was enough potential in that strange grey slab to not just bring him back to full power, but also to bring forth others of his kind from the no where space they had been banished to. His greed got the better of him.
That was getting away from the main subject though. Astor needed potential, and he needed it fast. He could consume his collection of relics, but that would take time. The other solution, was people. He'd stayed away from consuming the potential of living things, only really doing it when he absolutely had to. He needed people, needed them to collect for him until all the collecting was done. Captives would do though, captives were good for nothing and their potential was mostly wasted when they were crucified. He shook the head of his newly acquired body puppet, why hadn't he thought of that sooner? Ah, but appearances had to be kept. Consuming people's potential might out him as something different. Then again, it could reinforce his position as a prophet of the human god...
Later that day, the crier of New Bangor put out the word. Captives were no longer to be crucified. Instead, they would be brought to New Bangor so that the archbishop could mete out gods light, in person. The people of God's Army were invited to see the wonders of gods retribution upon the demonic, the polluted, and the sympathetic. Catnip wandered around looking for something to help do while she waited for Leslie to finish with Kathrine, and instead found herself scaling the side of the train. Hand of hand, foot over foot, clinging to the side of her beheamoth like a nimble flea on the belly of an old dog. A couple days before she'd given it a proper run to knock the years dirt off, now she was sorely tempted to cruise around in it as if cruising was something it was made to do.
Clambering into the cab, she wondered why she hadn't weathered the storm here in what was possibly the safest place to be on the farm, aside from Hector's tank. It was a small question, but one that irked her. What also irked her was the mess of hanging wires in the back. She had always wanted to get around to redoing the wiring, but had never gotten around to it. Looking at it now, it reminded her of just how unfinished the whole thing was. What she had was just an engine. It still needed cars, and now that was a problem. Catnip glanced around the cab at the dusty walls and marveled for a moment at the amount of effort all this had taken. The cab had once been a heavily modified RV. Very little of that original structure still existed to even hint at the fact of the trains lineage.
Speaking of the trains cars, Catnip was back to square one on that front. A lot of her parts were scrap or had been carried off by the storm. Sheets of reinforced glass which she had been saving for the "observation" car and "dining" car we're utterly ruined by flying debris. Scratched and cracked all to hell with very little salvageable sheets left. A stack of sheet metal slated for integration into various walkways and interior elements had been lifted and hurled by the wind like ninjas shuriken. It was a blessing that no one had been hurt by any of them, but Quinn's trailer sported a chunk of metal jutting from just to the left of the door. That one had come within inches of decapitating a charming young Misling lady who had shown an interest in a few of the stranger items the psuedoscientist kept around. More of the sheets and peices were discovered embedded in trees, buried in vehicles, and occasionally jutting out of the ground. She glanced out the front window and was amused to see a sheet of metal practically wrapped around one of the barrels of the trains battery of cannon.
Engines and motors as well, though the storm hadn't been responsible for that. That had been, basically, Catnip's own fault. The farms residents had done their best to shelter Catnip's part horde from the elements, but in the end a lot of that stuff was already bad off. Electrics were corroded and useless, while the more conventional gas powered engines had seized up and failed. They would have to be broken down and cleaned if she ever hoped to get them running again. The greatest loss though was solar panels. Catnip couldn't just repair the costly panels. She had to either find them intact, or construct impovised ones from salvaged cells. It wasn't easy, and Catnip's improvised panels were always far less effective than the manufactured ones.
She crawled in her strangely fluid way from the driver's window, catching the specially placed handholds and hoisting herself atop the train. Her intent was to unfold the solar array and get a bit of charge into the trains flat batteries. It was either that or activate the trains reactors, and that would produce radioactive steam. Instead of irradiating people in the general vicinity, she opted for the solar option. When she got up their though, Catnip found that she wasn't alone.
"Hey." Said L, laying on a trio of beach towels atop The train. "Veiw is nice up here." Illiana picked at the plate, carefully trying a little of everything before eating in earnest. While she ate, she talked. Mostly about inane things, everyday stuff. Sometimes she would let something they didn't understand slip though but it seemed almost calculated in how she let them slip.
"You know, not long ago I started the hurricane? But then it was realized that that was stupid, and so it changed. I didn't make the storm, that would be stupid." Illiana said. Victor stared at her, suddenly completely lost. "My powers can't be used like that, it's a concept used to save people and things, not ruin them. So it doesn't make sense for me to make a storm like that, does it?" Illiana munched happily, tossing in a compliment about the food. It wasn't as nice as vanilla ice cream, but she would take what she could get and would enjoy it as much as she could. When she was finished, she pushed aside the plate and stood up, wide eyed and grinning. She sipped the tea thoughtfully, then said "Diamonds, rubies, saphire, jade, I sense Delta's little maid. Though, she isn't really a maid. Come out puddle, maybe these nice people will feed you? Come try the tea!" Illiana stomped around Helens room for a bit, as if trying to annoy a loud neighbor in an adjacent apartment. She sat, then lay with her hands on her paws, then let her eyes shut and let the old foxes stories wash over her. Word after word droned over her. Atomos had relegated herself to listening, as it seemed there wasn't much else she could do. Red told his stories, and Atomos mind drifted off into the place where the waking world mat the veil of sleep and the dream lands beyond. She had an absurd dream in which she and everyone else in the refugee center were animals, and not of the mutant variety either. The captain was a bear, the bitchy doctor Maskens was a wolverine. Dervish, the nice mutagenicist was a mole. Khaki was a corvid of some kind, Atomos had never been good with birds. If it was black, it was probably a crow. Carnes had been changed into a badger while the chef in the cafe was now a thorny devil. Atomos herself was not changed. She glanced around and saw that she didn't even have a tail. Likewise, her ears and teeth were gone. She was just human.
"The most dangerous animal of all." Said a voice from no where. Atomos knew that voice, it was high and reedy. Almost whining. She'd never heard it, but still knew it. "Keep an eye on the old man," It said, "Not a bad idea, you might learn something. You're caught in a net woven before your time, and it isn't even your fault. You were just there at just the wrong moment. Funny how things work out like that."
"Who's talking?" Atomos demanded, spinning in a circle. The animals of the refugee center were all staring at her now, staring at the strange human. "Who are you, and how do I get home?"
"You can never go home. Not until you figure this out. Stay awhile Jenny, stay awhile and learn."
"Who are you!?"
"You know who I am, but until you remember, you won't be going anywhere. Just stay put Jenny. Stay and listen, listen and learn."
Atomos became frustrated and like always when she got frustrated with the center, she went to her room to get her things. She would stay at one of her safe houses nearby for a week or so, stay out in the field for awhile. She would-
There was a fox sitting on her bed.
"Oh, hello." It said, "Are you new?"
"New!? No, this is my room! What are you doing in my room?"
"I think you are mistaken, this is my room. I think we got off on the wrong foot, maybe we could have hot chocolate in the cafe?"
Atomos was suddenly afraid. The fox in her room was wearing her clothes, her gear. She wanted to be away from here more than ever now, but she couldn't without...
"I'm Atomos." The fox said, "I think we've met before actually. You're Jenny aren't you? Jenny Barrowfield?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on May 10, 2018, 02:40:21 am
Delta just gives Brian the look. "Well yeah, the-" She pauses, a forest green blush spreading across her face. "O-oh..." She looks down at the bottle of vodka she's holding, and sighs. "G-gooaahhh-DAMNIT!" Daniel would probably recognise this as her being about to split again, but to Brian or anybody else in the room, she... Just looks like she's having an orgasm, before collapsing into a blob again. Tumerous growth, split, so on. But something very distinct is different about the split-off slime blob. It has cat ears. The second blob springs up into the familiar torso, only she's distinctly shorter than even Arroyo was, possibly due to the addition of cat ears and... A smaller replica of Kathrine's tail? "Hiiii!"
Cardin didn't want to sit up, but staring at his own vomit wasn't good either. Some people were saying things at him? He should listen. "Cheep..." He shakily gets to his feet, spreading his wings out to his sides for balance, and almost smacking Melody and the new doctor-looking fellow in the face. "Squawk!" Despite only having one drink, he's very obviously completely pissed already.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 10, 2018, 10:37:47 pm
The misling girl did not notice when she reached the farm, she did not notice when she ran into its property, and for a moment did not notice the man clad in armor asking her what was wrong. All that had been in her mind was to run and did she run alright. The man in the armor was besides a woman wearing a black dress; she was in a complete panic and while finally staring at Hector she did not speak.
Roxanne joined Hector’s side and gave the girl a sympathetic look. “It’s ok, whatever it is you are running from can’t hurt you here. He is Hector Lowe, the center’s marshall and I am Roxanne Luna if those names mean anything to you; tell us, what happened to you? We will take care of it so relax ok?”
It took a few moments but the girl finally did calm down. Her breathing was still frantic but now she was at least willing to speak. “G-ghosts!”
“What was that? Ghosts?”, Roxanne asked a bit confused.
“Yes… by the path, three ghosts. The told me it hurt, then they screamed, I scream and then I ran. What’s going on?!”
A little smirk formed on Roxanne’s face upon hearing this. “Are you sure they are ghosts?” She wasn’t too sure she could trust this girl but whatever it was she saw would most likely be something that would yield at least some essence.
“I-I think so...I didn’t look at them so much… My teachers had told me they weren’t real but… You guys believe me right?” The girl said this pleadingly and looked at the too for confirmation.
Roxanne gave a little nod and ruffled her hair. “I do. I believe you 100%. And you know what? We will take care of them for you. I don’t like seeing such a pretty thing like you cry.”
The girl’s face went from sour to hopeful and enthusiastic. “Will you really?!”
Another series of nods from Roxanne and then a smile. “Of course! I might not look like it but I know a thing or two about ghosts. And the knight her would be happy to help a girl in distress, wouldn’t you tin can?”
The girl wiped her tears and then laughed a little at Roxanne’s comment. “Like a can of sardines!”
Roxanne joined in her laughter. “Exactly like that! I like you… Anyways, where are this ghosts?”
“Right! Follow me!” The girl started to run towards the scene with glee and excitement common with kids of that age. Roxanne rolled her eyes and ran as well to keep up.
“Hope that armor isn’t to heavy for ya!”, Roxanne yelled back at Hector to tease him a little more.
The run didn’t take to long and suffice to say a few heads were turned at the sight or Roxanne and Hector running towards the woods. Once there the little girl stopped and hid behind Hector. “T-there they are…”
Roxanne looked towards where the ghosts were. Well, she was right in a sense, these were Anomalic spirits; their signature goldeneye was a giveaway. Not too dangerous but their existence was an omen. They were still circling the camp that was about 30 yards from them across the wooden railing. Roxanne stood next to Hector and explained the situation.
“She is right, those are spirits. They are known as Anomalic spirits. As their name suggests their existence is an anomaly. They come come about when something in reality is quite right and it begins to re-adjusts; when this happens sometimes consciousness comes about and take the form of those things. They were seen as omens in the olden days because their sight was often followed by bad happening. However, they are not the cause but a symptom… But you wanna know what the best part is? They are essanse piñatas. Killing all three should give me what I need and it might help stop spreading whatever is going on…”
Roxanne looked a bit more carefully at them; they didn’t seem to be paying attention to the three at all this time. “I was told there was a distortion happening...might be tied to this whole veil thing...going to have to read some more later…killing them might help alleviate some pressure in the phaneron...whatever that means...god, why did Victor have to be so cryptic...Anyways, they are quite unstable so your sword might do the trick here...however, if it doesn’t...the safer way is to use the sword of the void here since it can harvest them and we can get that sweet essence.”
She paused again as if hesitating to mention the rest. “However...we would need to activate it… as is it is just another sword… I could go and do it but those things deal spiritual attacks...the one thing that can harm me… their attacks against the living aren’t too powerful, nothing your shield can’t handle… so, what is it gonna be? How do you wanna play this?”
While they were discussing this, the spirits slowly turned around and looked at the three. Their golden eyes each focusing on one individual. The girl gave a little squeak and tugged on Roxanne and Hector. “T-they are looking at us…”
The three spirits then spoke at once. “A human, a transcendental and a cursed spirit… What an unusual sight… How are the two biological ones holding up to you sister? Being around you cannot be healthy to them, your kind spreads misfortune wherever it goes like radiation… I bet it was your doing that is causing our pain… if we get rid of you maybe we can rest… we share kinship to you sister, neither of us belongs in this world…”
Roxanne pause for a second simply staring at the three spirits. She didn’t like what they were saying, she didn’t like it one bit… “Hector...they are getting a bit too aggressive for my taste...so what is it going to be? I don’t think we have much time...
Victor looked on to Illiana and they way she was behaving. He was both impressed and a bit put off by it but he assumed that was the intent so thought nothing of it beyond that. Her warning on the items he held was interesting. Dangerous to the use, attracting unwanted attention… That would explain what he was feeling when he used them… He was glad Solomon offered a place to store them. With a little nod as a response he walked towards the spot and placed the weapons inside.
“Dangerous to the user huh? I don’t think it’s safe for anyone to handle them… Glad they are somewhere secured for now, I’ll talk to Helen when she gets back.”
It wasn’t long before Illiana took the stage again. Victor listened on but was confused in certain bits; he wasn’t sure if it was his gaps in memory or just the subject matters she brought up. Then she started talking about something else he didn’t understand. Delta’s maid? What? The jumping around seemed a bit concerning.
“Easy there… you might hurt yourself more if you do that…”, Victor said as he reached over to calm her down not aware of what she was trying to do.
Melody stood around in bewilderment as the new people spoke. It wasn’t until they handed her the pills that she snapped out of it. “Stop drinking? But it’s fun… what do this things do? I was told by people not to accept drugs from strangers…” Despite saying this, her programming to obey authority kicked in her drunken state and subconsciously consumed the pills.
“A check up? T-that would be great! Can I have them take a look at my eyes? I went blind yesterday and it sucks! Maybe get me some more pills or something... owie...my head hurts…”
The fluff from Cardin semi-smacking her woke her up a little and she reached to hug the wing before it was pulled aways and she felled forwards just barely missing the vomit on the floor. She quickly got up and acted normal, as normal as a drunk could, to save face.
“I-it’s fine Cardin… you are fine, we are fine. Let’s go with these nice people over for a little adventure…”
“Luna huh? Wonder where she got that from… Back when I knew her she went by Blackmore.”, Rey said in a curious tone”, Anyways, that’s irrelevant now. I will refer to as Luna now to avoid confusion. So I guess I will start from the beginning… Are you aware of an event known as the convergence?”
Lucy nodded at the question. “Of course, though some might know it as the shifting; Roxanne Luna does anyways…”
“Well, I come from the world that merged with this one and I hear Luna did as well; her counterpart still going by Blackmore and died twice as well. That girl surely gets around...”
A small chuckle was let out by Lucy. “You have no clue… She did find a partner but seems to refuse to settle down.”
“A a partner? Really now… Never saw her as the type? Who might be the lucky gal?”
The last statement provoked a Lucy to choke on her drink for briefly from sudden laugher. “Sorry? Gal? She has a boyfriend you know...”
“What? A boyfriend? I always assumed she swung for the other team…”
“You really are blind aren’t you? Humans can be so amusing sometimes…”
“Blind? What do you mean?”, asked Rey in confusion.”
“You were Luna’s first love interest. That is why she spared you… And here you go thinking she was a lesbian… Where do I even begin with that?”
Rey looked even more puzzled now; he tilted his head briefly. “She what now? That would explain some stuff… Huh...interesting?” He spent something seemingly lost in thought until Lucy snapped her fingers to make him come to his senses.
“Hello? You were telling me a story. One I already know but am trying to make a point…”
“Oh, right right, sorry. Where was I? Yes, she and I come from another reality via conveyance. Back in our world, things were a bit different. We both were part of the organization known as Shadows of Arcana under the title of ‘Cleansers’; glorified assassins really with the promise of graduation to the rank of Hunter and introduction to the arcane.”
“The two of us met early on after we both took on the same freelance target; The organisation let us take hit jobs from the private sector as a way to earn extra cash and keep their sponsors happy. From there we learned about each other and bonded as co-workers if you will. The life of a hired gun is a lonely one so you cling to the friends you know and trust; we could trust each other since if one ratted the other then they could do the same.”
“To make this part short, we became friends outside of the job too. But professionally I took her under my wing; a mentor of sorts. You see, I was offered bionic augmentations but refused; my skill set was enough. Roxanne lack said skill set and relied on her bionics way too much. As my friend I sought to correct that; kind of morbid if you think about it… ‘You are my friend so let me show you how to commit serial murder easier.’ Anyways, that went on for a while until...until I was offered the rank of Hunter…”
Lucy was sitting with her legs crossed now and the cup of wine in one hand as she swirled the liquid on it. A smirk visible on her face but not once did he interrupt until now. “You learned about the arcane way too early didn’t you? At least SoA arcana thought so. Tell me, how did that go?”
“It started off as a fairly regular day; Roxanne and I met up to have a few drinks on the club we frequented to before we laundered our money there. Then I got an alert on my phone. I was to report immediately to a very specific location; a warehouse if I recall after all these years. I parted ways with Roxanne and went to check it out a bit worried on the back of my head…”
“Thing was, SoA used the assassins they recruited as grunts to do their dirty work; that was the main reason they didn’t trust us with the arcane. We were not trusted enough; only their hunters and above could dabble… So I went to the warehouse where a couple people identified as SoA recruiters were waiting. To summarize I was offered the rank of Hunter...no, not offered now that I looked back…”
Lucy’s smirk turned into a wide smile as she heard him tell the story; the human touch to it was amusing to her. “And why was that? What do you mean it wasn’t an offer?”
“I had been dabbling in the arcane on my own accord in secret. No one was supposed to know yet higher ups in SoA found out anyways… Don’t let anyone tell you SoA didn’t have a hierarchy; it didn’t officially but give someone a fancy title and they will start acting as if there was...and people will listen… Anyways, I was told I had a chance to redeem myself; to accept bionic augmentation, the rank of hunter and they would relocate me. All would be forgotten as I proved useful elsewhere. It was a tempting offer…”
The pose of Lucy changed; she sat straight and leaned in a bit as if to hear his words louder. “And why didn’t you accept?”
“One reason really, I woke up. I realized SoA sought to control me. If they had the power to seek me out and then find out my actions what was stopping them from doing it again? What was stopping them from doing worse? Here they were giving me an ultimatum, accept their terms or else. I didn’t want any of that; I wasn’t going to become the puppet of anyone. So I refused. They let me go, sure...but not for long.”
“When you do something SoA does not approve of, they label you as impure. It was their way to make their devote members see us as evil; it felt like religious doctrine and for some it was. My actions qualified their criteria for ‘impurity’ and they needed to get rid of me. Now, they can’t have their hunters do it; nooooo, they are too busy to deal with low scum like us. It was up to an assassin to do it...and guess who was the one chosen for the job?”
Lucy’s expression and tone became serious for a moment. “Luna. It was her wasn’t it?”
“She was… I only saw her once after I saw my name in the list of targets. I hid in some abandoned house to make my next move as a fugitive of an organization that held no authority… Somehow she found me; she told me she was her to finish the job. I told her I understood but I wasn’t going down without a fight. But she said no.”
“Roxanne said she would finish the job but not on that day. She would give me a headstart out of respect for our history and I was desperate enough to take it. There was a couple of conditions; first, I was to explain to her why. I did, spared no detail as there was no need to. The second one was a promise. She made me promise to stay alive; she told me I was not allowed to die but by her own hands. I accepted and we parted ways for the final time. I have kept my promise so far and it seems she is close to finally catching up to me…”
Lucy gave a nod of understanding and filled her own glass of wine again; rey hadn't touch his save for a couple sips but she refilled it anyways. “Aren’t you afraid? What if she does indeed finish the job?”
Rey scoffed the idea with amusement. “I would like to see her try. I have abandoned my humanity in my years of running away and transcended. My skills in the arcane have been honed through need and use. I doubt she could take me. And if she indeed does...well, then I guess I would be proud that she too has found the power we both once craved.”
“Then why do you want to me her so badly? Well, badly enough for you and your friend Christina to send her a message. That part I don’t understand.”, Lucy stated and asked.
“Well, it would be the end of a chapter. Roxanne is the last ties to SoA I have left. The nephilim are gone, one of the founders of SoA has joined me so Roxanne is the only one left. Whatever happens once we meet is up to fate but one way or another it will be the end of something…”
Lucy simply stared at him not quite satisfied with his answer. “And what will you do once you do meet her?”
“I will finish the job myself… By any means necessary…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 11, 2018, 12:12:14 am
Hector looked ahead towards the path the girl came from, uncertain yet as he listened to Roxanne comfort the young misling and discuss the apparent haunting. At those questions about belief in her story, he simply gave a calm nod. "No matter what it may be, anything unusual like that is important to report. I believe you." he answered calmly.
He then managed a chuckle at their remarks on his armor. "And ghosts aren't too known for operating can openers." he joked, soon running after the two. Between an energetic young girl and a sword-spirit, he lagged behind sightly, but easily caught up and kept an even pace behind the two. He raised his shield, glaring at the spirits as the child hid behind him.
"Well, if they're nothing but after-effects of this disruption in the Veil, then..." he said, glancing back to Roxanne. "I'll take up your sword, to take no chances and ensure the best results." he said, calmly reaching his hand out. "When you're ready, I accept." When he took up the blade, he glared at the spirits. They were threatening her.
"Then your presence is thrice the hazard, Waylaying young travelers rather than seeking to mend what caused these wounds in The Veil, so be it." he said, calmly yet intentionally putting on a little bit of theatrics for the misling's amusement. With that he'd activate the sword and charge, intent on giving the spirits as little time to react as he could.
Helen wasn't sure what to make of this as she regarded the ring, giving a nod as Charles handed it to her. "If he's after it, then I suspect we'll either get our answer eventually, or a confrontation. Can see what there is to be done about examining it and then, if needed, establish whatever seals will help mean they can't attempt a repeat of this stunt so easily..." she said, continuing along with the others.
They waited by the truck until the monk was finished, Helen nodding to Isaac. "I wouldn't mind that, if you're able to. The weapons I'm used to handling only gave me so much to use as a foundation, and I get the feeling more than half those shots weren't very helpful." she grumbled. "Not even counting that ones that went into trying to keep that man in power armor's attention elsewhere." she said, soon resting near the monk. "Are you doing alright? I'm...sorry that we hadn't been able to do more to help. And sorry for your loss." she said softly. "If there's anything I can do to help..."
The young man wasn't sure what to make of this, watching in shock and confusion as Delta was convulsing and shifting, reacting in ways that he was completely unprepared for. He was partly stunned, partly worried, and partly embarrassed at the sight as he stepped closer, kneeling out of worry. He wasn't even sure what happened or what he could do to help, if anything, but out of reflex he pushed aside that nervousness to step forward. "Shit, are you...okay...?"
The second blob that sprung up, splitting off from Delta and taking on a mimicry in miniature of Kathrine, make him facepalm as the realization hit him. "Hopefully should be alright I hope." he said, giving a nervous swallow before looking to the smaller blob. "Easy little lass. You alright?"
Meanwhile, Dusk Gao grumbled more at that, ducking a wild flap of a wing that nearly smacked him, setting a hand on the avian's shoulder to try and reassure him. "Come on lad, I need you to take this pill. It's Prussian blue, radiation treatment." he said, calmly yet firmly.
At Melody's remarks he simply handed her a pill and a cup of water, before nodding. "I'll do what I can to help then. Can you tell me if any eye injuries. exposure to irritants or foreign substances occurred recently? Any recent blurry vision, persistent headaches during the course of the day?" he asked.
Solomon seemed increasingly exasperated by Illiana, not even certain about the things she rambled about as she ate, looking over to Victor. "If Helen knows this one, and she had to put up with this...God, I feel sorry for her." he remarked.
Elsewhere, Sergei made his way towards The Hall, still a bit unsure about Delta's remarks given he felt they might've been meant to get him out before he asked too many questions. It wasn't long before he made his way across the bridge, along the shore and giving Alexei a wave as he spotted him.
"Good to see you again. Was over at the farm, been staying there lately." he said. "Found someone there in fact..." he admitted, looking out across the river. "Things been going alright for you, I hope?"
Later in the day the cyborg was shouting at the strange woman again, who was heading towards the path leading up the foot of the mountain. "You've gone fucking mad! Anyone that climbs up there falls prey to the watchers!" he said.
"Well then. Worry all you like, but I will return come morning. Unless..." She gave a little smile. "You are free to do as you wish, bound only by your ability, and those of who contest your actions." she said, and in response the cyborg stood to block her path. "This is the limit of your ability? To stand in my way?" she asked.
"It will suffice. We are forbidden from striking another in anger, as much as I'd like to slap some sense into you so you won't get killed. The watchers only allow it if done in self-defense." he said, and as she took a step he shifted to further intercede. This continued for a couple moments, before she swayed as though feinting to her right. In that moment, he wasn't sure if she'd actually darted to her left, or if she outright vanished.
Her voice was heard, behind him now. "I'll return by morning. Follow The Path if you so choose." she said, and just like that she was gone. A mechanical fist, clad in a skin of steel, clenched in seething anger, before he forced himself to calm down. "They won't like this..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 11, 2018, 01:20:09 am
Catnip was surprised to see someone on top of the train, most people were too leery or clumsy to scale the side of the massive machine unaided. What she was doing seemed obvious except for a simple fact. L was doing was sunbathing. L was covered in a short layer of silky grey fur, so Catnip was confused. Further, L was clothed. In Catnip's limited experience, sunbathers usually didn't have fur and usually did it with their clothes mostly off.
"What are you doing?" Catnip asked awkwardly.
"Sunbathing, silly." L responded, looking at Catnip over her sunglasses. It clicked a little in her head, and L went on. "Oh, you mean like. Girly, you don't have to take off your clothes to sunbathe. Besides, the sun around her is nice and gentle. Nip, sometimes it's just nice to find a warm patch of sun to sit in and let it soak into your fur. C'mon, lay down here with me."
She had to admit, L had a point. The sun up here was nice. Catnip decided that she had time, she could spare a bit of time to sit and relax a bit. Falling into conversation was an easy step to take from there.
"I like it here Catnip, I really do. Are we really here?"
"Yes silly, I told you it was fine here. What will you do now?"
"I've been thinking about that. A little. I thought maybe I'd work with Leslie on that newspaper she wants to start. That seems like a good idea, but then again it's not really my thing. I thought about maybe joining the shattered helm, or maybe hooking up with one of the work crews or scouts, but I don't really favor that idea either..."
"So..."
"So I thought, what am I good at? Book keeping. That's about it really. Book keeping and organization and gambling. Do you see what I'm getting at? No? Let me put it this way girly, every gambler has a dream. They want to win big. Most of us gamblers want it the easy way, we want to win it. Get rich at the expense of one of the big casinos. But that isn't easy, not like we think it is. The other way, the way that makes you have to earn it, is to make it big at the expense of other gamblers."
"So you beat other people at poker?"
"No no. What I mean is that every gambler has to spend money to make money, and who does the money they spend go to? The house. I want to be the house Catnip, the house always wins, and I wanna be the winner."
L began talking distantly, a sign that she was lost in thought, and Catnip listened. She talked about how fancy her casino would be, how many people would visit, described in detail all people coming in through the doors, a mosaic of people from every walk of life coming to spend money and either make it big or lose it all at L's tables.
"Irene, one of the settlers who came with us, met a guy here and is setting up a bar and distillery. I could probably convince her and her partner to provide basic drinks for the bar. If I could find a chef, I could probably serve fancy meals to people too. Mohammad could be my head of security and... and..." L halted as if suddenly remembering something, or suddenly having something occur to her.
"And?" Catnip asked, cocking her head to the side to look at L. The mislings eyes were wide and wondering, her lips drawn tight.
"I'm pregnant."
Catnip was more surprised over L's recent lift in mood, the constantly broody Misling sometimes seemed practically depressed. Her mood had gotten so much better that Catnip believed that perhaps she'd found herself someone to talk to and be with. She'd even heard rumors that this was in fact the case.
"It's only been a couple days, but you know how things are. I talked to Efram, he says if his fertility treatment works, I won't be able to get it until after. Nip, I'm not sure what to do."
"It seems to going around recently." Catnip said flatly, "Babies I mean. Everyone is having babies or trying to have babies. I don't get it."
L sighed deeply, "You will someday, when you are older."
"No I won't. Why don't you tell me more about your casino?"
And like that, the topic of L's issue was brought up and then set aside again. The way she talked about the casino idea though gave the impression that she was serious about it. It wouldn't be a bad plan for the future, and after all, L's skill set was well suited to the task. Everyone would see how it came out, if it ever did.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on May 11, 2018, 03:05:08 am
Delta remained as a shaking blob for quite a while, while the new slime kept vibrating like a chainsaw. "Hi hi! I'm WADI!" The tail 'fluffs' up as she throws her arms into the air, grinning. "Cuz we're like Arroyo exce- Wow, das rooooooood!" Wadi firmly plants her hands on her 'hips', as much as they are, and leans over to the Delta-blob, wagging a finger at her. "Queen Delta is a meanie! A big silly meanie! AAAANNYWAAAAY, hiii Briaaaaan!" She runs forward and lunges at the man, arms spread wide open for a hug. She just... Splatters on impact. One of the gel pieces left stuck to him forms an eye and mouth, looking straight up at his face. "Hiiii..."
Cardin just blankly stares at Dusk for a while, then opens his beak, keeping an eye him the entire time. "Chirr..." He flashes his talons, shrugging, then shakes his head.
It takes a second, but eventually bits of Puddle start soaking through the floor and crawling out from the corners and edges of the room. "O-oh, sorry..." She, like most affluents, looks like a perfect replica of the main body, only... She seems to carry herself worse. Always looking down, fiddling with things, slightly hunched over, all that noise. Even now, she's gently sliding the blade of a small pocket knife in and out of her stomach. "D-de- I mean... I-I shouldn't do that a-again..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 11, 2018, 09:28:03 am
Dervish narrowly avoided being battered by Cardins wings but failed to avoid being buffeted by the gust they kicked up. "Impressive wingspan." He commented once he'd picked himself up and dusted himself off. "Cardin is your name? Well, how long have you been like this Cardin? If your comfortable talking about it that is."
Cardin gave a weak "Chirr" and Dervish had to stop himself from shaking his head. "Is that all the speech you're capable of?" He couldn't understand a word of what the birdboy said, but it seemed that the girl could. "Are you guys a uh... Couple?" Minx stormed across the farm. Those that saw her coming got out of her way. Those that didn't were asked nicely to move, as minxes "storming" was more a stern walk than an actual storm. She couldn't find L, and that made her a little suspicious. Still, she had another name on her docket, she supposed she could visit that one first. She'd only really wanted to harangue L a little, rake her a bit and see if she gave at all. When she couldn't find L, she cooled a bit on that plan. They'd shared a hell of a lot since meeting in Catnip's room at Pinky's pleasure palace. She wasn't a blabber mouth.
Which left the unknown, the new person in minxes life. "Dr." Quinn. 'Doctor! Ha! That was a laugh.' Minx thought, She'd spent the majority of the storm with that weird little robot. Medeina, as she identified herself, had dirt on everybody and Minx had listened to every word she was willing to share. "Dr." Quinn was a cyberneticist, sure. But his major interest, or so Medeina had told her, was the occult studies. The occult! A pseudoscience at best, a hobby at the least, and he'd minored in it! She even recalled seeing the certificate on the wall in his trailer, but had thought nothing of it at the time. Minx knew about the occult, she knew plenty enough for her lifetime. In fact, she had once gone on the regular to get her fortune and the fortune of her boss told by a psychic talking... coyote.
Her shoulders slumped. While she had thought her long angry thoughts, she had worked. Quinn was either not at home, or asleep in the back. It didn't matter which really, he wouldn't discover the spray painted message until he got up or came back. The thought of cousin though, put a stop to her malicious mischief. She'd intended a slew of epithets spray painted across the front of Quinn's trailer, but she just didn't feel like it now. She missed Cousin. Despite being essentially a wild animal, Cousin hadn't belonged to all of Pricetown as it was widely believed. Cousin had been her dog. After the fall of Kings Court he'd followed her to Pinky's where he lived out back, eating scraps, taking peyote, and "smashing" with the strays that sometimes came around looking for trash to dig through. She'd kept him clean as she could, sometimes sat with him and listened to him babble, and made sure that he stayed fed.
Minx made some kind of muffled noise that couldn't be mistaken for anything but what it was. Despair. She dropped the paint can, leaving "dick" as her one and only message to the doctor who was in reality, innocent of the charge she laid on him. She didn't know that though, nor would it have mattered in that moment. The day had become bright and sunny, but all the same she wished it wasn't. Minx turned away from her unfinished handywork, and went to sulk. Leslie asked Kathrine the usual questions, but unlike most people, Kathrine seemed unusually nervous. It could have been from being separated from Catnip, or simply because she thought the towering Leslie was frightening. Leslie hoped it wasn't the second, that would not be groovy in the least.
"So, first question, who are you?" Leslie started. To her surprise, Kathrine jumped a little.
"I-I'm Kathrine..."
"Just Kathrine? You don't have a last name or anything?" Leslie asked, jotting down Kathrines short answer on her notepad. She wasn't very talkative, and Leslie wasn't entire sure what that was about. Catnip had described the small lady like an amazingly charming woman. Personally, Leslie had imagined her as a busty Russian maid. Kathrine shook her head at the question, tight lipped.
So, Leslie pushed on with the next question. "How did you get here?" This one was always good, a question that illicited a variety of responses and interesting stories.
"I walked..."
Leslie waited, tensed up and ready for some harrowing journey across the post cataclysm world. A tale of adventure that ended with an encounter with someone who would later become much more than a friend. Such a tale did not come. "You just... Walked? You didnt, like, fight any zombies? Do battle with bandits? Or..."
Kathrine was shaking her head vigorously, and Leslie remembered. Kathrine might as well be a pacifist. Not just any pacifist either, but a super pacifist. When she went on by stating, flatly and with a certain finality, that violence was mean, Leslie knew that Catnip hadn't lied about it. She set aside the question and pushed on with the next. There had to be material she could use, had to be something the maid had to say...
"Ok, uh, How did you and Catnip meet?"
There it was, that little spark. Leslie had an eye for it, the moment when a person lit up and started to open up to her. Finally, a question that had got Kathrines interest.
"Mistress saw me first! A-and I saw her first! It's how I wa- Nevermind..."
And it was gone. Just shut down like a switch had been thrown. "What do you mean Mistress? You mean Catnip? And how you were what?" Leslie asked. Kathrine shook her head, letting her hair flop into her face a little.
"Catnip says she doesn't want to be called Mistress... Nevermind..." She mumbled. If Leslie had hair, she would be pulling it out. Kathrine was interesting. Interesting because she was so quiet, so... Mysterious without wanting to be. Leslie had to know more, but it appeared Kathrine wasn't going to budge. She could pry, but Leslie didn't like prying. Instead she just changed the subject.
"Ok ok, *sigh* how about this one. What is life like here in Walkerville?" She wasn't expecting much from Kathrine at this point and was not disappointed.
"It's lots better now that Catnip is back!" Kathrine asserted without hesitation. Her eyes were taking on a disinterested quality now, a sign that the interview was coming to an end. Leslie pawed at her bag and took out a little tin. "Want a butterscotch?" She asked, turning over the tin and dumping out a pair of the candies. Kathrine hesitated a moment, the held out her hand.
"Y-yes please..." Daniel stepped back, knowing what was about to happen. He'd seen it before and dreaded to think what might come out of the odd slime girl next. When she did split, leaving Delta gasping and vibrating gently on the floor, he was a little releived. The "affluent" seemed friendly enough, but looks could be deceiving. This new one looked a bit like the girl Catnip had come all this way for, and he found that very interesting. He wanted to reach for his mask and put it on, but he was certain it would meet with the same result and when he went through with it, he was not at all surprised to see nothing out of the ordinary.
"Hello there, uh, wadi." Daniel said awkwardly. He wasn't sure what to say, talking not being his thing. He sorely wished he hadn't left Sylvia behind, she was much better at this than he was.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 11, 2018, 02:50:38 pm
Grabbing the door the Lieutenant gave a short salute before saying “It was an honour. Should you require the members of operation Valkyrie we’ll be listening on the radio.” Closing the door he turned to walk away. Somehow he doubted he’d be the first one called for help but the offer stood. For now he needed to get to the rendevous and organize his men.
Meanwhile inside the truck the monk unzipped the ballistic vest he’d been wearing and pulled it off. Underneath which were his numerous tattoos that glowed faintly of essence. “I’ll be fine. Going to need to find someplace to rebuild and that’s assuming any others of my order remain.” he said as he leaned back in his chair and looked up to the ceiling. He looked exhausted as he closed his eyes and tried to think of where to begin. “I suppose I should introduce myself. Name’s Mike. Most people call me Mystic.”
Elsewhere Alexei waved back as Sergei approached. Listening to Sergei and following his gaze across the river Alexei shrugged. “I guess. Building a bar with some of the new folk. Not exactly what I pictured myself doing but it’s something at least.” Clapping Sergei on the shoulder he said “And you could have told me. I would have made a present or something, at least brought the good drinks.” Despite the attempt at a jovial tone he knew some of his current somber mood was pushing through it. _________________________________________________________________ The spirit realms clock could work a little differently from the physical plane. A matter of minutes for those in the mortal realm had been several hours in Ens office. During which he’d gotten rid of the jacket to reveal a beautiful silk shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. This revealed skin that had gone from a rather tanned color to a black color with white tattoos of various symbols. This had taken the course of the first couple of hours as his face lost it’s features until it appeared to be a flat plane with two white dots for his eyes as his attention shifted more and more to his work rather than keeping up appearances.
Leaning back in his chair and looking at the window En noticed it had moved. It had a tendency to do that since it had no true ‘home’. Which reminded him of how he’d immediately started talking as if he still had his old role in hell. Funny that, hell was run by the ‘barons’ or ‘lords’ or whatever they tried to call themselves these days, but they gave all the power to one person so they couldn’t destroy the place with in fighting. Or inbreeding. Some even chose to leave such lofty positions much to the ‘devils’ glee since whoever took over would take that much longer to get strong enough to even attempt to oppose him..her, whatever it happened to be at that point in time. That’s what he had done, abandoning his power and stature as well as his old appearance.
Standing up with his glass in one hand and the decanter of the swirling liquid in the other he gestured for Roland to follow. The now de-masked man followed En out the door onto the grassy hilltop. Walking to the edge of the cliff and sitting down En watched the wild animals below as Roland sat down with him. Pouring some of the liquid into the cup En then handed it to Roland before setting the decanter down and watching the animals.
He had always liked this place. The gods had taken the spirits of many of the previously near extinction animals and set them and many others free in this world where they could live at peace with each other. Of course there was still hunting but this was done more in play than in threatening manners. It was so peaceful compared to the normal world. Leaning back on his hands he said “That’s all of your paperwork done. So..feel free to go.”
Roland sipped the drink and found it had a slightly sweet but not overbearing flavour while still having that burn of alcohol. Watching the animals as he swirled the drink in the glass he thought for a few moments. Letting his legs swing he said “I think I’ll stay here for a while if you don’t mind.”
En shrugged as he watched a lion running after a deer. He knew both were in no danger and knew it themselves but it was what they had been used to in life. So it was here. He had to admire that they were so willing to indulge each other as he said “If you so please. I do not own this place. I merely visit as many spirits do.” ______________________________________________________
The Sarn’t had his corporals beasting the few exceptionally bad examples as the section commanders ran their men for a couple miles. This had left the Sarn’t with the rare commodity of free time. This had resulted in him rolling into the officers kitchen and getting things together to prepare himself a meal. Chopping some of the vegetables as the pan heated up he found himself smiling. Tossing the ingredients into the pan he wondered how long it would take before he got to do this again.
Elsewhere the Kommandant rolled a coin between his fingers as he listened to a radio report. A scout squad had spotted the Valkyries walking out of the building they had attempted to raid. Among them was his former trusted Lieutenant. Nodding as he smoked his cigarette the Kommandant waited for the report to finish before giving the order to follow them for the time being. Discovering where they would base themselves and how many there were would prove useful later.
Flicking the cigarette away he turned his head to look at his visitor. Leaning back he observed the golden coin he’d borrowed from the man. Brilliantly decorated while only slightly larger than a quarter he found he had to admire the craftsmanship. He’d admire it more so if he understood the writing on it. Handing it back he said “I’m tempted to kill you for what you’ve said here. But I find needless violence distasteful.”
The man shrugged as he flipped the coin into the air. The Kommandant watched it fly up and found himself surprised by how long it stayed in the air. As he was fixated on the coin the man said “If you tried I would be quite surprised if it succeeded. Besides despite my distaste for you and your views I did offer you something.”
The Kommandant’s eyes fell to the man’s face as he said this last bit. What had been offered was a tempting offer but the Kommandant knew these things usually came with strings attached. Still the offer itself was too good to pass up. Removing his hat the Kommandant tilted his head slightly to the side as he said “I accept of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
The man smiled, revealing pointed teeth, and caught the coin as he said “Oh any number of reasons I could spend the next two days listing. But too late for backing out now!” Handing the Kommandant a small USB the man stood up and turned towards the door as he said “Have fun Kommandant Sabre! I know I will.” before pushing through the door.
The Kommandant found a purple card with a diamond insignia on it in his hand with the USB. Looking up at the door for a moment he wondered who this man had been. Never even gave his name after all.
The man meanwhile smiled as he walked through a wall and into the spirit world. He let the color of his skin swirl and alter until it was a mess of red and blew that mixed into a purple over most of his body. Of course this wouldn’t last long. He had a trip to..somewhere in europe he believed in the next couple of days. And until then he had soooo much more to do to make things interesting. To break them. Them..who was them he wondered. As he materialized himself a short distance outside of the 3rd’s base he decided them wasn’t a specific group. Them happened to be whoever happened to strike his fancy, whomever he deemed deserving of being shown the true nature of the world. But for now he had another USB to hand out! Walking up to the guards he smiled as they asked his name and why he was there. “Me? I’m Vikaar and I’m here to make your commanders a deal they can’t refuse! I mean why would they it’s free!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 13, 2018, 08:58:10 pm
As soon as Hector took hold of the sword of the void Roxanne gave him permission to call upon it’s power. Now, the word permission here is used loosely; it was more akin to Hector being placed in a whitelist to wield the sword’s power. Only the sword of the void could do this as the whatever spirit was trapped in it had complete control of the sword and in turn the chosen wilder had control over said spirit. Had Victor not lost his memories he would still technically be Roxanne’s owner but now the race was on to find someone else actually worthy of that title, at least in Roxanne’s eyes.
Hector would no doubt feel the rage and bloodlust the sword instilled in him; however, the spirit in charge was not malevolent so his clarity of mind was still there. While Hector began his charge, two of the spirits charged at him as well; each deployed 3 long claws on each arm like appendage and raked in Hector’s direction once the three met. The third ghost lingered behind a bit and then circled the commotion towards Roxanne. Then it too deployed it’s claws and charged at Roxanne.
“Stay back… it’s fine, we can handle this…”, Roxanne told the misling girl softly as she now cowered behind Roxanne. She then charged at that spirit as well and caught one of the clawed hands when the two meet. The spirit let out a screech and looked at Roxanne with it’s golden eye right into Roxanne’s own two now purple eyes. “Do you know who I am? I am the spirit of the void… one fourth of the broken god… Did you really think you can get rid of me? Dream on!”
A purple aura surrounded Roxanne and then the spirit as Hector took care of the other two. The spirit let out a haunting wail as it started to phase out like a flashlight running out of battery. When it fully disappeared, so did the purple aura around Roxanne and her eyes returned to their normal black color. She then check on the milsing girl who was still standing there both scared and with admiration. Roxanne gave her a wink and turned around to Hector.
“Need any help or do you go this sweety? One hit should be enough! You can do this; show them why they shouldn't have messed with the Iron Marshal!”
Victor gives a nod of acknowledgement to Solomon. The way Illiana was going on about was rather eccentric but she still carried a dignified aura around her and he could respect that.
“I she did, then she must have the patience of a saint...but given the stories of what I have done before my little amnesia… I got to say she definitely has.”
It was then he noticed that the stomping around from Illiana wasn’t just a random act and that it had served a purpose. The slime coming from the edges and corners of the room a bit cornering but not alarming given a what he had seen just today. Once it coalesced into the shape of a girl with a knife stuck in her stomach, Victor facepalmed a bit.
“So this is the type of stuff we deal in a regular basis? Alright? What is your name miss? A-and how long have you been there?”
Melody took the pills given and drank the entire cup of water. She then faced the man talking and heard his questioning. “No, none of that! Nothing hurt before. I was in a dark room, an old man came in and beat me with a stick, he then looked at me in the eyes and I fainted. When I woke I could’nt see anything and a friend put a scarf- *hic* a a scarf on my face. Now I have this blindfold and we are here! So yeah, that helps?”
The sudden line of questions from dervish made Melody nod and then frantically shake her head in no specific direction. “Yes, no! Uhhh, b-both? I don’t knooooow! Well… he speak in these cute bird noises but no one seems to understand him but me. I can’t explain it but I just do… And no! We are not a c-couple, we just met too…” The sudden confusion and slight embarrassment sobered Melody up a bit but not by much given her intolerance of alcohol and the drink she choose to indulged in.
“Oh, and he is saying he can’t take the pills by himself… S-some one help him. I would myself but I might hurt him if I miss… Melody is drunk! Woooo!”
Plague had gathered some material and was currently down stairs walking towards the main door. He was wearing his mask so his expression and mood was a mystery to all but the undead he had under his control. As he walked he was approached by Christina.
“Plague? Hey! Where are you going?”
“I am going for a walk. I need to clear my mind and do a few things.”
“Oh? Something is wrong? Do you want to talk about it? Everyone else is with Miss Morningstar and we are sharing stories. Want to join?”
“I’ll pass. Have fun all of you; don’t let that woman dig into your brain to much though. She has a silver tongue. Has she told you what she is yet?”
“No, not yet. She was about to but I ran for something real quick and told her to wait for me.”
“I see, well, have an open mind about it I guess… Anyways, I will be seeing you some time later on. If anything happens the zeds will let me know so don’t worry on that department.”
Christina nodded and excused herself as she returned to the table where everyone else was gathered. He in turned continued his path to the main door and then exited the building as he went on his walk.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 13, 2018, 09:47:10 pm
Hector grinned a bit as he let the sense of the sword's energy flow through him, shield forward as he met the spirit's charge, sword held in a high guard with his shield ahead of him. It was empowering, invigorating in ways the cursed sword wasn't. Sure he felt that yearning for battle, but it didn't cloud his judgement and leave him in a haze. He suspected it was more insidious and subtle, if not for Roxanne's nature and his own focus he suspected it'd be uniquely addictive.
As he broke right through the first spirit's guard and cleaved it open with a powerful downward strike, he found the feeling of the sword drinking up the essence and reducing the spirit to mere wisps was different too. It wasn't the feeling of life flowing into him like with the cursed sword, instead the vague sense that the spirit bound within was gaining from it instead. To his relief, as it only made it easier for him to focus on the mission rather than enjoying the bloodlust, reinforcing in his mind the reason he was doing this.
That left the second, with the third being dealt with by Roxanne quite easily. "I have this." he said calmly, letting it hover and shift to his right in an apparent attempt to get outside his guard. He easily pivoted and kept the sword low and forward, and with his shield not brought to bear it made him an inviting target. A temptation the spirit acted on, and in an instant he lunged from that low guard, shield brought into position to receive the strike as he cut the remaining opponent down.
Carefully he looked around before ensuring that both spirits were put down, focusing to clear his mind as he went over to Roxanne and the girl. "They won't bother us again, young one. Are you alright?"
Helen looked over to the lieutenant, having been a bit surprised by the unexpected ally, but relieved. "Thank you. Hopefully when we next meet things won' be so hectic." she said. For now she sat there, examining her injuries. Mot of it was thanks to the shallow, yet long-running, wound her left arm suffered, wincing a bit as she threw on her cloak and activated it. To her relief it still functioned, but this long after sustaining the injury, she could still feel the effect it had on her arm.
She then looked over to the monk, smiling some. "So we share the same predicament. I've seen...so far, two former members of my order, and that is all. I've been having to rebuild on my own. However..." She looked away, sighing some. "You're welcome to any assistance I can offer. I don't know much of the history behind our orders interactions, but I can see it shouldn't have gone the way it did. We both had an interest in protecting the world it seems, and you seem to have experience that we had to build from scratch." she remarked, and at his name she smiled some. "The name's Helen."
Brian smiled a little at that, watching the small blob creature curiously. "Well hello Wadi. Glad you'e not mean like Arr-" He was then promptly stunned by Wadi splattering against him in her attempt at a bit, giving a startled little squeak and stumbling back, toppling over. "Ack! P-please don't startle me like that..." he mumbled, relieved that her touch didn't seem to inflict any harm.
Sergei hmmed a bit at that, smiling a little at that answer. "Always an interesting line of work. Used to be a regular at a place somewhat northeast of here, place called Haps'. Had a few friends there, some former friends too. Wonder how they're doing..." he remarked. "And indeed I should've gotten in touch. Wasn't more than a couple days after I made my decision to stay there, that things started getting hectic like this, storm and all." he admitted, before that hint of a solemn look prompted concern from him. "You sure you're alright?"
Solomon nodded at that, only to give a concerned glance at the slime that showed up. "These...people? Creatures? I don't even know, this is new to me." he remarked, stepping towards her and kneeling. "And where'd you get that thing...need help with that?"
With Melody's answers he looked back to Catalina, who shrugged at this, the corpsman moving over to Cardin before sighing. "Alright, just keep your beak open like that and I'll handle it, then give you the drink." he said calmly, before helping with giving the avian the medicine, taking care to avoid accidentally getting bitten.
She knew they were observing. Not daring to act until the conifers obscured the fate that was expected of her. She also suspected they wouldn't send some lowly kreck, giant wasp, or other petty creature after her. She was right to suspect that.
It was a strange, vaguely-humanoid creature. Its body twitched erratically, a shivering blur of motion that was usually content to wander with a discomforting leisure. Endless movement, yet aimless and plodding. The creature cast a vaguely blue tint, occasional glimpses of pale gray skin revealing the coloration to be either an illusion or a trick of the light.
There were two key differences, compared to the ones many survivors have encountered. One, the brilliance of its glowing body, from white runes lost in constant shivering and vibration. Second, it was neither passive nor content to direct its incredible movement towards a gentle meandering walk. No, it lunged at the interloper, limbs clawing broad arcs in the air and leaving illusory wisps of blue in its wake.
The interloper, stave and wings alike bound in cloth, evaded with quick darting movements, ducking, weaving, swaying to avoid the beast. Even then limbs battered and nails raked at legs and arms, and repeatedly the creater almost knocked her to the ground. "Come on, show me. Just stand still for a moment..." she said softly, seeming to be deliberately taunting it, yet not bothering to counter-attack.
Another twitch, and she risked feinting in sync with its movement, taking a hard hit to the chest that toppled her over for her trouble. She scrambled away just as a wild sweeping kick carved a zig-zagging gouge in the dirt, dust filling the air. "Trident rune. Square in the center of your chest. His mark..."
To her surprise, the beast suddenly froze in place. There remained a constant twitching and shivering to the skin, enough that it made the array of glowing symbols waver in and out of legibility, but the blue haze died down to the faintest tinge of blueish-grey.
It was then that she heard a voice. Not spoken, but one that seemed to be a whisper carried along mountain winds, heard by her mind rather than her ear. "I know what you are. Why have you come here?"
"A traveler. Seeking lessons she failed to learn when she had the chance." she answered, before smiling, flashing teeth that just barely gave the impression of fangs. "Now, I promised someone down there that I would return by morning. Don't be afraid of speaking to me in person. I won't bite." she teased, and the wind seemed to take on an abnormal chill.
"Follow the trail through the conifers, and break off to what'll be your right when you see the tree bearing his mark. Below the collapsed ridge, the rubble conceals the path to me. I await, at the end of the treeline." he answered. "My children will not intervene if you get yourself into trouble, but they will allow you to pass as you wish."
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 14, 2018, 02:04:17 am
Mike rubbed his eyes as he listened to Helen speak. Once she was done he said “Pleasure to meet you. As for help a place to stay for a while would be appreciated. And I will give any assistance I can give in return. I’ve a wealth of knowledge that may be useful. Whether it be in containment or..use of artifacts.” Then he looked around as he asked “Anyone have a cigarette?”
Anton retrieved a pack from his pouch and tossed it to the monk. Catching it Mike opened the pack and pulled one out. Tossing the pack back to Anton the monk lifted his hand up and snapped his fingers. Sparks popped out of his thumb as a small flame came to life on it. Lighting the cigarette with the flame Mike closed his eyes and leaned back. Blowing out a puff of smoke as he shook the flame out Mike said “Thanks.”
As he smoked a hand traced one of the more intricate tattoos on his chest. A spartan helmet with the name Hekate over the top of it and Δόξα στη μάχη wrapped around the bottom of it. Aside from that tattoo there were numerous depicting symbols of significance to various religions with more lettering of over a dozen different languages. The vikings recognized some of the symbols that belonged to Norse gods including a symbol of the hammer of Thor. Blowing out a puff of smoke the tattoos near his chest seemed to pulse with his breathing.
Isaac meanwhile sighed up front as he saw the thing stumbling in the road and accelerated a bit. The vehicle slammed into the zombie hard enough that one of it’s arms went flying off in one direction as the bottom half of it’s body slid under the vehicle. “Looks like something’s bringing in these..things.” He said more to himself than to anyone in the back. ___________________________________
Alexei looked down at his gloved hands and sighed. In truth he wasn’t. He was far from okay after losing one place he had finally been able to finally call home thanks to two canibilistic children. Now..now he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with himself. He’d become so used to traveling..
Realizing he hadn’t answered he shook his head as he said “I..I’ll get there. Settling down just never seemed..possible.” Seeming to think for a moment as he thought of the words to use Alexei continued “A hypothetical question. If you knew someone was only going to bring trouble to your friends would you do everything you could to keep them away from that person? And I mean the kind of trouble that usually ends up with someone dead.” _________________________________________________________
En and Roland had returned to his office after a short discussion. En set the decanter of liquid back where he’d retrieved it from as the pair sat down again. Looking over a few angry messages from a couple of gods he pondered for a moment. “If you are serious about that offer I could use some help. Help that wouldn’t go unrewarded. After all some spirits are on the run, escapees from wherever they’re supposed to be or some similar situation.”
Roland, reaching a hand up to run it through his brown hair, nodded as he said “I was serious. You did me a favor and I don’t intend to stop repaying debts just because I’m dead.” Sipping the liquid still in his cup he waited for the response.
En shrugged after a few moments as he shuffled through a small stack of papers. Pulling one out and handing it to Roland he said “This spirit is supposed to be reincarnated. However he’s been dodging it for quite a while. If you could bring him to my office so I can take care of it..”
Roland nodded as he took the papers. Looking them over for a few moments he noted all the important details. Downing the rest of his glass he slid it across the desk before standing. The pair exchanged a nod before he tucked the dull grey cloth sack over his head and stepped out the door. ________________________________________________
The Sarn’t, having finished his little meal, had watched the next section to run through the course. One man had miracously missed his underwear while dressing, another had inserted the magazine upside down, and a third was currently stripping down because he had become ten different kinds of stupid when putting on his uniform inside out. Every. Last. Piece.
He had been staring at them for the past five minutes in complete silence as Schultz and his corporals stood behind him. The five men behind him could feel the contempt, the pure unadulterated contempt, and prayed to whatever god or devil happened to be listening that he didn’t kill one of them. Finally he opened his mouth to merely close it again shaking his head. A few more tense moments later and he said “Twenty of you. Twenty of you and you can’t complete an objective a FUCKING TODDLER WOULD HAVE DONE IT IN TWO MINUTES! A FUCKING BABY STILL ATTACHED TO IT’S MOTHER BY THE UMBILICAL CORD COULD HAVE DONE THIS!”
Stopping himself and taking a breath the Sarn’t continued “I see potential. That is why I am so disappointed in you.” Looking over his shoulder he said “Schultz, get me a training rifle. One of you get the situation in order.”
It was ten minutes later and the Sarn’t rolled back into the observation room and tossed the suitcase into Schultz’s hands. Setting the training rifle down he looked at the men waiting for him and just stared. Soon he said “A cripple. A man stuck in a wheelchair. A man incapable of movement and firing at the same time got the objective and exfiltrated without issue. You had the capability to have an automatic rifleman to suppress the enemy. Well when you weren’t being so fucking retarded that you ran in front of him as he was firing. You could designate a group to hold the route to exfil. But it took a cripple to do the job.”
Shaking his head as he rolled himself away he said “Corporals beast your sections. We’ll have them run this again in two weeks.” Schultz followed him out as he rolled towards his office. “Yes I know I’m being hard on them. Yes I know I probably set them up to fail. But I’m trying to make so they don’t make these mistakes out in the field when they won’t just get hit with a paintball. When that projectile that hits them is a live round that will stain the earth with their blood.”
Schultz nodded as he followed. “I know. I remember you training me. You told us at the end of it all that we needed to be ready for the inevitable and that’s what you were doing.” Smiling he said “But they could have done that one. Just needed a bit more leadership in their ranks is all. Now how about I get us a drink from the officers rec room?” With the Sarn’t’s nod the pair started in that direction.
_______________________________________________________________ Vikaar had a vast ocean of patience when it suited him. Which it normally didn’t. The longer things took meant less time to do other business. Something he had plenty of. So walking down a long hallway with two armed escorts who seemed nervous about his presence wasn’t exactly his speed. Not that very many things were. In fact the last time he’d gotten to move at his ‘speed’ was that little incident at that bank. Such fun! But now he needed to focus. Focus focus focus!
Snapping the fingers of one hand as a door was opened and he was ushered in he couldn’t suppress the smile on his face. The mutated woman that met with him seemed mildly perturbed by his pointed teeth. Still she politely requested he sit down and he obliged. She leaned back in her chair with her hands clasped together tightly in front of her as she asked him “My men told me you have something for us. If I may inquire as to what it is?”
Vikaar retrieved his coin and began rolling it between his fingers as he leaned forward slightly. Flicking it up into the air he began his spiel “I know the location of a storage facility of sorts. It contains materials as well as a rather substantial arsenal. Something an up and coming army-turned-unification force might want.”
Veronica’s eyes had followed the coin up into the air. As it came down into Vikaar’s hand she responded “I..I see..we could use such things. What do you want in return?”
Vikaar shook his head as he leaned back and let the tension in his body flow out. Smiling as he spoke slowly and deliberately Vikaar knew he had what he wanted “Oh nothing. I’ve no need of anything I merely felt sympathetic towards your plight. Now, take this and do good.” With that said he slid a usb and the purple card into her hand before walking away. Of course she didn’t realize the card was there until he was already halfway down the hall. Things were going just right.
As he walked through the double doors leading to the outside world he started for the nearest place to be out of sight. It wouldn’t do to disturb these fine gentleman too much. Or would it? Vikaar shrugged to himself as he walked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 15, 2018, 12:50:29 am
[Framework for first few paragraphs of Minx bit and Quinn's dialogue by Wilson]
Quinn was sitting in his bedroom, reading some horror novel from an author he didn't like all that much. In the middle of a paragraph he started to zone out a bit, letting his senses slip away from the uninteresting story. Without the distraction, he thought he heard something outside. Something slightly different from the usual sounds of hauling and construction going on. He shrugged, then opted to finish the paragraph before checking. A few more pages went by before he decided to put it down, unimpressed. A short interesting bit that didn't last. He walked outside to check on what he suspected was probably nothing and saw the single word on the front of his trailer.
"Dick."
Quinn sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and taking a look around. The closest people he could find were a pair of Mislings and a man directing them in the task of preparing the tree lodged in Quinns trailer for removal.
"Excuse me, did you see who painted this?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah mac. That Minx lady, she looked pretty pissed when she started but kind of tapered off after that. Trouble in paradise?"
Quinn ignored that last comment. She probably hadn't gone far, and of course he was right. He rounded a pile of rubble that had been someone's house, probably Nathaniel's by the look, and spotted her sulking by Roxanne's house. He considered going back inside his trailer, but after a bit of deliberation, decided that he should try to he sociable. Despite the choice though, he still hesitated. The doctor had an internal debate for a moment before caving and going to have a chat with her, once he caught up he asked a question.
"Are you okay?"
"No. I miss my- Oh, it's you." Minx said. She tried to scowl at Quinn but just couldn't do it. Nor did it matter though, he couldn't see her face at the moment anyway. Her CBM was blank. Even to Quinn, it was the most unnerving of the many faces she'd already shown off. "What do you want?"
Quinn gave a hmm, thinking. "...why did you write on my trailer?" he finally asked. With a rub of the bridge of his nose, "I'm not angry. Just... curious." The lack of face made it hard to judge whether she was lying or not, but the workers had already told him the truth. She didn't know that of course.
"I didn't paint anything, why would I do that?" She said sulkily, not really engaging. Minx looked like she'd rather be sitting alone in a dark, quiet room.
Quinn gave a blank look, letting out a sigh. "You do realize that I wouldn't have confronted you if someone else didn't tell me who did it, right?" he said, raising a brow. The CBM hiding her face was very good at what it did, even capable of mimicking whatever color Minx chose to shift her skin. It couldn't tell the difference between a normal color shift and simple blushing however and as a result, her entire face went a cartoonish red. Minx fidgeted a little, alternating into a deep shade of black that she knew would hide it before finally letting it subside back into the normal slightly tanned color.
"It doesn't matter... Did... Did you tell anyone about what I said was hidden under this CBM?"
Quinn shook his head, "No. You didn't want it shared so I didnt." With a rub of his eyes and another comment, "Do you want to talk about it? You said you missed someome, right?" He asked, before looking away for a moment. "Er, sorry, I'm not very good at this... talking to people thing."
"He was a good 'dog' but I guess he was old. I just wish he didn't have to go the way he went... No... I don't really want to talk about it." Minx mumbled, then went on skirting the subject, "I guess I'd just like to hear just one more of his horoscopes. Just one last one. He told me that when I got here, there would be 'friendship and happiness forever more.' Still, the future is uncertain and I wish I had him here. Him and his 'field of roses.' I could use a glimpse of the future..."
She stared off into the distance west of them, back the way she and the others had come as if contemplating how she'd got where she was now. "His name was Cousin. He was murdered." She whispered. Her hand came up and pinched the bridge of her nose in a way similar to the way Quinn had done earlier and she seemed to come back to herself. "Look, I'm sorry about your house. I'll paint it over myself when the work crews get to finalizing the construction stuff."
Quinn sighed, "No need, I can handle it myself. Do you... want somewhere quiet to stay for the time being?" He asked, scratching his chin. "I have things to do for the time being anyways..."
"No," she said, giving a wave of the hand meant to look expansive but only really looking noncommittal, "I've got a miles of quiet places, and I don't sleep much anyway. I haven't seen places this green in years, what with not leaving Pricetown until now. I guess it's a way of losing myself in spectacle... God, aren't I using big words and phrases today..." The last statement dripped with venomous self deprecation. Quinn traced the line of where he judged her sight to be pointed, into the great green of the woods and swamps across the farms quiet dead end road.
Quinn thought for a moment, *What am I doing...* "Do you want to..." *what are you doing you idiot?* "...go for a walk?" He asked, a ball of *'god dammit what are you doing?!'* welled up in his chest as that emotionless shell cracked a bit, he swallowed nervously to shove that ball away.
"If you want. I guess I'm not much in the mood for talk, but sure. You can walk with me." She said not catching Quinn's show of nerves, then laughed and added, "I had a client back in Pricetown who only ever wanted to go for walks and talk to me. Never about sex stuff either, he just wanted to see what it was like to walk and talk with different people. Sometimes he'd practice different speeches or proposals with me and I'd take the face of the person he was supposed to give it to. I guess we better get going then, and maybe I will talk a bit." Minx pointed into the woods, and started to walk with purpose. She thought that perhaps she would talk a lot more than she thought she would. Atomos jerked awake suddenly in the dark and for a few moments panicked. She could smell the smells of dirt and animals around her, could feel the weight of the earth over her head. The sight of Cheena laying nearby, splayed out on her back, belly exposed to the roof of the den, and snoring surprisingly loudly for such a small creature gave Atomos a bit of stability somehow. Still, she didn't like being underground. She had not gone beneath the earth since leaving the vault and now that she was out, she found that she never wanted to be enclosed like that again. The den wasn't quiet that bad. Still, she needed some air. Atomos padded along the short passage to the surface, feeling her way along following the cooler outside air until she broke out into the night above.
The stars were out and with the moon still on the full, the world was lit with it's pale ghostly light. Something small dashed out of the brush in front of her then back into the undergrowth. She had to restrain an urge to chase after it, trying to resist the animal urges her new form brought. Adapting to moving on four feet had come easily enough, for what little consolation that offered, but it was the urges that bothered her the most. The need to go after every small creature she saw, to investigate little disturbances.
She encountered the fence and pondered for a long moment simply leaving. Leaving all this behind and making her way back home, back to the center. Someone there could probably help her. Doctor Dervish or maybe Victor and Helen. It would take awhile, and in this form she would be vulnerable. There were things out there that she had no fear of as herself, but as a fox...
"Thinking about leaving us already?" Came the aging voice of the story teller, "I had hoped you'd stay longer."
Atomos looked around and spotted him, sitting upon a flat boulder set back a bit into the copse.
"I should go," She said uncertainly, "My people will wonder what happened, and I have a... a mission."
The old fox nodded in a way that was all too human and grinned a foxy grin at her before becoming solemn again.
"Aye, you should, you are trailing danger. Still, there is time. You would not have been brought to me otherwise. May I see your medallion?" Atomos tried to look at the iron disk hung about her neck but couldn't quiet do it. She could see it if she tilted her head just right, but only enough to catch a glimpse of it. Meanwhile, Red waited patiently and watched her. The medallion slipped from her neck with a gentle little metallic noise as it came into contact with some small pebble. Trying to pick it up was impossible, but she wanted to try. To his credit, Red did not comment on the futile attempt until Atomos gave up and picked it up in her jaws and brought it to him. The medallion had shrunk with her and the little image inside the ring had changed to that of a young woman, but otherwise it remained unchanged. Red turned it with one paw, looking at it very carefully before pushing it back.
"Not a nice thing, no prison is ever pleasant though. How though, I wonder, did you come across such a thing?"
"It was... given to me. In exchange for a story."
"I can't imagine many foxes who would trade anything for a story, or would even carry around such a thing."
"Who are you?" Atomos asked, seeking to change the subject. An odd trepidation had come over her about the medallion since she had been changed. As if she didn't want to acknowledge it for some reason. He pushed it back to her and without thinking about it, she nuzzled the loop until it was up on her nose, then let it slip back around her neck.
"Red is what they call me, though red is not my name. Just an old fox Atomos. An old fox surrounded by much younger ones. You shouldn't leave, Cheena has begun to look up to you I think."
Atomos said nothing for a long time, watching Red warily. He watched her back, then grinned again and went on.
"You'll learn," He said, "You will stay with us a while longer yet, and you will learn. Why don't you go back to sleep? Tomorrow is a better time to dwell on such things, under the light of day when the dark has fled."
"Tomorrows another day," Atomos said, "Lets think about it tomorrow."
She meant it sarcastically, but Red gave one sharp laugh and said "Just so! Why think about tonight what you can think about tomorrow?" Atomos felt a bit of panic at the idea of not thinking, or more correctly, impatience. She didn't want to think about it tomorrow, she wanted to think about it now. She wanted answers now. It seemed Red could see it or perhaps sense it and nodded solemnly. He mused a little on how impatient she was. "I will make you a compromise. Stay with us here, and when the time comes, I will provide answers when I can."
Atomos considered it. To just sit by and live life like this? Or to move on, possibly find a 'cure?'
"You don't need to give your answer now," he put it, "Sleep on it. I think you will find that the Father Sun banishes ones fears and confusions far better than than Lady Moon."
Something in her stirred, urging her to do as she was told. It wasn't a strong urge, she could have shrugged it off easily. More easily than the need to go after every little thing, but she didn't. Atomos let it take hold, let it make the decision for her. She turned away, back to the den, and Red watched her go wordlessly. He was right of course. In the morning under the light of the sun, things wouldn't seem so bad. Atomos had questions, and they would be answered. "Ah, so that's it!" Said Dervish, "Alright alright, let me help you with that." He took a couple of the pills and placed them in Cardin's mouth, then carefully helped him tilt his head back for the water. With the pills down, Dervish began his examination in earnest. It wouldn't get far though. Even with Melody's help, Cardin was too drunk to give straight answers and Dervish wasn't sure about taking blood samples from someone with so much of Catnip's brew flowing through their veins. He would have to wait until they sobered up.
"Might I recommend," He added, "Drinking something a bit softer next time? Thunderbolt maybe?" "She's puddle!" Illiana spouted happily, "Sad little slimy girl. Do you want some food puddle? I'd offer you icecream, but at the moment that feat is a bit painful..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 15, 2018, 02:02:08 am
Alice had been generally ignoring the noises from the other room. The momentary occupation of observing Alexei had helped but now that he was outside that distraction was gone. Sighing to herself she stood up and grabbed the drink Alexei had left for Solomon and sipped it. Shaking her head at the burning sensation she heard the last bit of shouting, though not with enough detail to hear what was being said, and wondered what exactly was going on. Walking to the door she knocked and said “Hey, everything alright?..or should I uh..give you some time?” ___________________________________
The first mechanized infantry rolled along the road as their leader listened to their orders over his radio. The United Townships had located another group of purifiers and they were being tasked to deal with them. Grabbing the short range he carried the leader radioed in to his men giving them the details. In the rear vehicle one of the men opened the hatch and climbed up to man the machine gun. The helmet he wore bore a peace sign with the lettering ‘born to kill’ underneath it. His jungle jacket was opened in the front.
The flamethrower operator in the back adjusted his backpack’s straps as it sat in front of him. The man next to him cleaned the M79 grenade launcher he carried. The man across ran a thumb over the side of his scope on his Garand. The others were carrying M16s as they adjusted their helmets or boonie caps and passed around camouflage paints. The machine gunner called down as he heard one of the men messing with the radio “I swear to god you play fortunate son or ride of the valkyries I will put a boot up yer ass.”
Elsewhere the council sat in their meeting room. Everyone was exhausted due to the weeks long debate over a measure that would increase their military’s numbers at the expense of public satisfaction. After a few moments the arguing continued and they all realized it would be many more days before they came to a conclusion.
They were all surprised by the gunshots. None of them however were concerned as the men outside led another group of unrepentant Purifiers to a concrete wall. The commander ordered his men to aim. Twenty men lifted loaded rifles as the purifiers flipped them off. The order to fire came and rounds flew down range and bodies fell to the floor. Saluting the riflemen the commander sent them on their way.
Meanwhile in the large ‘town’ called Hope two men adjusted the painted hockey masks they were wearing as they walked along. As one stepped into a small business the other walked up to the cops that were nearby and made a grand gesture as he moved their eyes away. The money he handed one helped as well. Meanwhile his compatriot slid the large blade from his jacket and made the shop owner a deal he couldn’t refuse.
A few moments and screams later the man with the cops clapped one on the shoulder and excused himself as he joined his compatriot. He didn’t ask about the hand in the plastic bag. He knew why. Adjusting his coat as his hand fidgeted the Face shook his head. He’d handled the cops in a polite manner, he just wished the rest of the business could have been handled in that manner. Still the business was done.
They turned a few more corners before tossing their masks aside and sliding into the chinese restaurant that had been established in the town. Face led the way making polite noises to all the people they passed. Reaching a specific table he bowed, as did the man with him, to the man sitting behind the table. Requesting and receiving the severed hand he observed it for a few moments before motioning for his men to sit. Face doubted he’d enjoy the meal but he rarely did when with company. He was just glad none of them recognized the orange templar cross on his lapel.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on May 15, 2018, 02:47:11 am
Wadi's loose parts start to crawl around Brian's body, seemingly to gather around one piece on the ground behind him. "Sowwy, Brian! But hugs are super awesome!" The slime girl reforms fully, and immediately goes in to nuzzle against Brian's back, being as careful as she appears to be able so she doesn't splatter herself again. Wadi's voice drops it's bubbly quality for a second. "Don't worry, she's always like th- Das mean! Queenie meanie!" She quickly regains it, climbing over the man's head to point at Delta's no-longer-quivering blob, tail stuck in the air.
Cardin tries not to bite down as the two help him with taking his medicine. Giving a woozy thumbs up and a chirp, He attempts to answer Deverish's questions. And fails misirably.
Puddle winces at the sudden burst of people paying attention to her. Especially Illiana. "I-I'm t- I'm a m-messenger for the... Slime queen and River God, Miss D-Delta!" She stops fiddling with the knife when Soloman approches. "P-plea-please do-don't touch me, s-sir..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 16, 2018, 01:54:50 am
"You're dead Jim John. Fall down."
Jim John stared at the man, his own small gun laying on the ground at his feet, and wavered a little. He stood there and stared dumbly with his mouth hanging open a little. As though he was not a dead man, as though the smoking gun in the other mans hand held no import for him, as if there was not a golf ball sized hole in his chest and red blooms springing out on his plain blue work shirt. He stayed that way for a moment, then his legs doubled up and he settled into a pile of cooling meat and clothes.
The man waited a bit longer, then crossed the street to Jim Johns ATV. Jim John had scavenged for Gods Army, but that wasn't what was important to the man. What was important was what Jim John had taken from him. It wasn't hard to find, the small box was one of only a few things inside the milk crate strapped down to the back of the ATV. The man's scaled fingers fumbled for his pocket knife. Long ago, or at least it seemed long ago, he had carried another knife. A cheap thing with a cheap handle, decorated with a printed on scale pattern. He'd exchanged that cheap thing for a new utilitarian knife, and it was with that that he cut the zip ties keeping the crate firmly attached to the ATV. He took it and made his way back to his small ambush spot next to the river.
Inside was a small wooden box, ornate to a ludicrous degree. He set it aside, the contents weren't for now. They would make their appearance in spring. There were other small boxes, small things of import, but the bag was what he wanted now. He could make sure he was all packed up and ready to go, but all at once he felt it important to take care of this first. The crown royal bag contained a myriad collection of small shining stones, and one large stone. Jim John had needed the large one, needed it for Gods Army. Some kind of amethyst. Such a simple thing. He turned it over and over, occasionally catching a vaguely lizard reflection in the stones natural facets. If Gods Army wanted this thing, then he would make sure they didn't get it. He set the crystal down on the concrete walkway bordering the river and with a stone, smashed the ever living hell out of it. It took five or six blows but the crystal couldn't hold up to such an assault and quickly gave to the mans primitive battering. What was left the man kicked into the river.
A little later the man, Dean by name, judged the stones he'd picked up at a prospectors supply store miles up the river from a small but active farm filled with cataclysm survivors. The fire light danced through the gems enticingly, making the facets refract the warm glow and make it into something else. There was no greed in obtaining them. Just practicality. Within a day or two, they would be in the hands of a mechanic who could do what he wanted with them. It wasn't important right now. Right now, he needed rest. He packed away the box and the bag of gems into the cart the Hell's Raiders had so kindly furnished him with, pocketing the much smaller box while he was at it, and turned in for the night. He intended to get plenty of rest. Tomorrow, he would travel and work on his explanations. Illiana clasped her hands together and squealed girlishly before pouncing on the slime girl, waving her hands around excitedly and all but touching her.
"Oh. My. Gawd! You are just the most adorable! River god! I like it, what is your bidding for these peasants oh riv-"
There came a knock on the door, and everything in the room went quiet. Illiana's smile broadened into a rictus of mischievousness. Victor didn't see it, Solomon didn't see it, but Puddle saw it and wasn't sure she liked it. She just hoped it didn't mean that embarrassment was on the way. Illiana strode to the door and before anyone could stop her, she opened the door a crack.
"Hi Alice, we are having an orgy. Wanna join us?"
Alice took a step back, leering in through the crack at the bizarre woman. Illiana couldn't help herself and began to laugh before throwing open the door all the way and shouting, "An orgy of adorableness! C'mon! Look at this cute slime thing!" Michael blinked. Then, he was suddenly surrounded by buildings and wrecked cars and streets. Sharlene and Lilith were here as well, and Sharlene appeared to be trying to make coffee again. Nearby sat a neat stack of safety deposit boxes, and Michael wondered what that was about.
"Hello mother." He said cheerily, "What would you have me do?"
Sharlene cocked an eyebrow at him. She hadn't meant to bring Michael here, she'd mostly just wanted some coffee to think about her problem over, perhaps summoning a spirit or something in the process to help carry all the loot. She could drive, she supposed. Load all the boxes into a truck or van and haul them back, but that would be a lot of effort and none of the vehicles within the few blocks of the bank were in any condition to run again.
"We gotta move these safety deposit boxes Mickey, Lil can't carry 'em all. Should have brought the car with us, how many do you think you can carry Mickey?"
Michael was examining the boxes, then Lilith, then the boxes again.
"Might I make a suggestion mother?" He asked, then continued when it appeared Sharlene was listening, "What if Ms. Lilith had some kind of bag? Or pockets? Or clothing of any kind?"
"Nothin' fits Mickey. Besides, she probably wouldn't wear it anyway. A couple duffel bags though..."
"No mother, I think I have a better idea." Minx talked a whole lot more than "more than she thought she would." Mostly, the topic was the business and clients she left behind. Eventually though, the topic drifted to the more delicate matter of Cousin, and Minx's attachment to the strange creature. Quinn thought he understood. A dog was a bit like a friend, a best friend. One you had to feed and keep hydrated. A friend who would come around every now and then and crap on your lawn. Or crap on your neighbors lawn. Almost as if reading his thoughts, Minx smirked and commented, "A bit like having a drunk friend around all the time."
She sighed and pushed aside a bush to see what lay beneath.
"What are you doing?" Quinn asked.
"Looking for critters. You guys sure have reduced the local wildlife down to a more than manageable level."
"Keeping people fed is a bit difficult, especially when you have people like Mica living with you."
"She can't be that bad."
"I've seen her eat the leather off a sofa because she couldn't find anything else to eat."
Minx had to stop and stare at Quinn for a moment, unsure if he was joking or not. Then, a sound caught their attention. Minx hushed Quinn and motioned for him to follow. It was odd, but she was suddenly no longer dour and sad. Whatever the noise had been seemed to have pulled her out of her funk a bit, she was struck with interest, something to distract her from her problems for a time. She crept around hedge of blackberries dotted with green berries and disappeared from view.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 16, 2018, 11:56:21 am
Sergei regarded Alexei before giving a solemn nod. "I know. Hard to settle down once you've gotten used to wandering around. But it's kinda nice, to be honest." he admitted. The question however gave him pause, uncertain of the meaning behind it, glancing over at the man.
"That depends. There are troublemakers, and then there are people who find trouble following them. Can be hard to discern sometimes." he pointed out. "If they were a friend, it depends. If they're the former, I'd want them to stay out of trouble if they can. If they aren't willing to change and it gets people killed, then they shouldn't be around. But if trouble prefers to find them..." He trailed a bit, uncertain what to say. "Facing that alone isn't something anyone should have to put up with, though."
Catalina and Dusk for now assisted in helping the doctor with checking on and tending to the two of them, the corpsman grumbling a little to himself. "You're right, with that stuff it might mess with testing, I have no idea what sort of gunk might be in it. No visible symptoms of exposure to contaminant at least, and that's generally the main thing we look for, in addition to any mundane infections that the smaller communities might have trouble treating."
Brian seemed unsure how to react at first, and that translated into a bit of nervous laughter. Then more of that, squirming and snickering at the slime trying to reform herself. "Ack, s-stop that actually kinda tickles..." he mumbled, standing up unsteadily as he regained his composure. "She is? Wouldn't know to be honest, only just got here today." he said, glancing over at the seemingly inert slime. Not that long ago he'd think this absurd, talking to a blob. They were supposed to be otherworldly monsters, "X-rays" was one term that got passed around among the Templars, something gleaned from military deserters and chatter intercepted from the Old Guard.
Blob mutants were something he'd effectively never heard of, either. At least, no one in the regulars dealing with the outside world spok of them like people. They tended to regard them as nothing more than victims of the blob itself, to be dealt with in the same manner. Not like they were practical to crucify, after all. This left the young doctor with no real experience go to on, not knowing if they were of human origin or not.
Helen nodded at that, regarding the array of tattoos curiously, recognizing many of the symbols. Including not merely the Norse symbols, but various other religions as well. "That should be fine, yes. We'd been working to build and expand the place we've been living at just before the storm hit, to accommodate other recent arrivals." she admitted.
Beyond that, there wasn't much to say as they rode on, though the newly stirred up undead concerned her. "Could be anything from all the recent activity and fighting, affects of the wound in The Veil, or just the storm having riled them up."
It wasn't long before they again reached the area by the bridge, the rumble of the vehicle passing by easily noticed at the farm, and Helen led the way back the The Hall. It was there she saw the amusing sight of Solomon increasingly exasperated about something, Alice flustered over gods-know-what, and Illiana...being Illiana. When she poked her head into her quarters she was confounded by the resulting sights.
"Oh hey Mrs. McKinnon!" Solomon said, walking over towards Helen and waving. "Um, Illiana was hoping to b-borrow some of your..." he trailed over, noticing the rather weary condition the group was in, and Helen's bandaged-up arm. "Shit. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just a minor hit to the arm. See if you can do anything for Anton. And it's fine, should've said to get something for her before I left." she said, heading over to check on Victor.
The trip up the mountain was slow going, well into the evening as she managed a careful ascent along a no-longer-managed trail, much of it overgrown with shrubs or littered with rocks. By the late evening, she saw what was likely her destination, a small cabin hidden in the woods, still at an elevation where the conifers would grow, albeit the treeline was thinning by now.
She reached to knock on the door when the person within opened it for her. She gave an inquisitive glance at him before noticing the small, implike creature perched on the roof, glaring down at her. The hermit seemed to be a man no more than a decade older than she was, in dark old robes with a hood up, leaving a somewhat pale complexion and hazel eyes as the only details readily apparent to her.
"Any of your kin's usual backstabbing and you won't leave this mountain alive. I know what you are." he said coldly before stepping aside to let her in, and she shook her head before following. "I wouldn't be here if I dealt in backstabbing anymore. I wouldn't have outlived the others." she remarked, and he gave her a glare as he took a seat, still watching her. "That just means you're the one left holding the knife, sanguinuist." He then leaned forward slightly, glowering at her. She still seemed mildly surprised at how readily he knew her nature as a blood mage. Even more surprising, he picked up on her expression, and gave her an answer. "The harriers of the faceless one, few of them that I have bound, see by aura rather than eye. To them you reek of blood magic. A little cloth only conceals that hellfire stave from the ignorant and blind, magus. Now, why are you here?"
"It's a long story, but I can assure you of one thing. I was no magus. I was till an Apprentice of The Path when everything crashing down." she answered. "Well then. I've time to hear that, it seems..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 16, 2018, 03:58:02 pm
Roxanne grinned at both the display of skill and power Hector was giving and the energizing feeling after each downed spirit. The one she took down gave her a hint or it; the first one Hector took down energized her and finally the final one satiated her fully. This energy was hers to use as she would like; the sword might have it stored but both it and she knew who was really in charge. The misling girl looked down in awe as Hector did his handy work not taking her gaze for a moment. When the knight approached and asked his question she simply nodded slowly.
“I think you killed whatever fear she might’ve had to Hector. Good job!”, Roxanne said in excitement. “We should head back to my room and finish the reactor; I have enough essence for it.” Roxanne’s thoughts were interrupted by the little girl tugging at her dress. She looked down to find her with a pleading look.
“I wanna go home… I am sorry I ran away…”
Roxanne gave a sympathetic smile; the only thing she knew to do in this situation. She wasn’t used to dealing with children at all and as such looked at Hector to see if he might know. Then an idea came to mind; Roxanne lowered herself to look at her face to face.
“Ran away? From the center I assume?” The little girl nodded timidly. “That is a bit far from here. Tell you what. Lets go back to the farm and find someone to take you there. I sorta have to do something else right now so sorry about that...”
“It’s ok… it’s my fault anyways. But, can we maybe play again sometime?”
This though made Roxanne chuckle a bit. Play? This was this girls idea of playing? She looked at Hector and smiled playfully then looked back at the little girl. “Sure thing. I’ll make sure to visit you sometime and I am sure Hector will do the same. Maybe we might do so together. Does that sound good?”
“Yes! That sounds great!”
“Good. Let’s go back to the farm for now.”
“You mean Walkerville?”
“Walkerville?”
“People at the center have started to call that to the farm. In honor of Miss Walker herself. You know, Catnip.”
Roxanne knew nothing of this but still nodded in agreement. “Alright. Let’s go back to Walkerville then.”
Once they reach the farm the girl tugged on Roxanne’s dress again and pointed to a misling man standing around smoking a cigarette. Roxanne knew what she meant and simply nodded. The misling girl ran for the man who looked toward them and then shook his head playfully; he then addressed the girl and riffle her hair. They both of them said something neither Roxanne or Hector could hear but noticed the man looking directly to them. He then smiled and gave a gesture of gratitude and acknowledgement before he and the girl went towards the path to the center.
“Well, that takes care of that. Let’s go finish what we started tin can.”, Roxanne told Hector before guiding him back to her room. Once inside, Roxanne closed the door and took out the book and note again; she told Hector to stay back a bit just in case. With everything now in the altar, she got to work.
The sword was laid across the altar when Roxanne took the bowl with the crystal and odd power. She poured the contents of the bowl and everything went inside of it as if it were a drain despite no entrances visible in the sword; the crystal was the last thing to go but it went inside just as easy as the power. Once that was done, Roxanne touched the sword by the handle and it started to glow. This caused Roxanne to scream slightly and fall to her knees as she let go of the swords handle and it stopped glowing.
Hector rushed to see if Roxanne was ok and placed a hand on Roxanne’s shoulder; her reaction was to place her own hand on his own and squeeze tightly. “I can feel your hand Hector… I can feel your warmth…” Slowly she stood up and looked at him with a smile before pulling him in for a hug. “I missed this so much… I missed your touch...”
Victor wasn’t sure how to properly react to this. Between what Roxanne did earlier, the flesh weapons, the supposed embodiment of acasuality and now a slime girl this day had been quite the sober awaking to what he assumed was his life before amnesia. He gave a little smirk at Illiana’s reaction to the smile girls responses; it made her seems like she was one of them, just another person, rather than some abstract concept.
Then came the knock on the door. Victor dreaded it a bit not knowing if yet another eccentric thing would come in. To his surprise and relief it appeared to be just a young girl; he didn’t recognize her but her aura was not out of the ordinary. Then Illiana’s comment was heard and it both confused and amused him. He chuckled a bit at the clarification and Alice’s expression.
Finally Helen showed up and he lit up upon seeing her; memories of her had come back to him and he wanted to share it. However the bandaged arm triggered a sense of worry. Whatever he had in mind was substituted by the need to confirm she was alright.
“Are you sure you are ok? Seems like you had quite the encounter…”, Victor said as Helen approched him.
Melody assisted as best she could in the examination of Cardin despite her state by translating as best she could. Still, she didn’t understand the question herself and then she gave up when it was obvious it was going nowhere. She didn’t know what she had drank so she didn’t know if ‘thunderbolt’ was stronger or not.
“What’s thunderbolt? I drank the first bottle I grabbed… that was probably a mistake in hindsight…” She shrugged and out of nowhere reached for her slung rifle. The bolt pulled open and the magazine ejected as it fell in the ground. “Can someone pick that up for me please? Thanks…” The sound of the bolt opening didn’t sound right to melody and so she closed it and opened it again a few times until she frowned.
“My baby is dirty… and I don’t have the tools to clean here… anyone can hel- *hic* help with that?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 16, 2018, 07:21:40 pm
Charles waved as Isaac drove off before turning to follow the others. Eino walked carefully by his brother’s side as they made their way in. As his brother found a seat he made his way to one of the beds nearby and sat down. Charles shook his head as he watched Liam, who appeared rather pale at the moment, look over Anton and shake his head. Putting a hand on Anton’s shoulder Liam said “Best I can do is dull the pain for now.”
Anton gave a weak thumbs up as Liam stepped aside to let Solomon take the lead. As this was happening Salazar walked to his bed and collapsed face first into it. For a brief moment he thought about changing out of his ruined clothes but decided to just rest. He could fix the giant hole in his shirt and vest tomorrow. Aaron and Gunnar made their way inside and found somewhere to sit.
Meanwhile Alice took a step back to let Helen into the room. Looking into it she wondered how all this had happened before deciding it was probably best she not know. Waving to Illiania she asked “how do you know my name? I don’t think we’ve met before.”
Outside Alexei had retrieved a small flask from his jacket as Sergei talked. Drinking from it as Sergei came to his conclusion Alexei pondered getting something to adjust his augment on the fly, these conversations worked better when he was actually drunk. Looking down at the engraved flask as he thought of how to respond he finally shrugged at his own internal thoughts before saying “I see.”
After another moment he looked up and smiled, putting up that ‘friendly drunk’ face that he had become accustomed to faking. Pulling a bottle from his jacket he said “Anyway, enough with depressing hypotheticals! Let’s drink!” ________________________________________________________
Meanwhile in Europe
Drake slid the baseball bat off his back as he walked towards the older gentleman his raiders had stopped. One of his men had already opened the back of the vehicle and pulled out a bag as the others kept rifles leveled at the people inside. Giving a cruel smile underneath the cricket helmet he wore Drake tapped the hood of the vehicle with the bat as he said “Did you forget about us? Nah..you probably didn’t. I recall telling everyone around here that if they came round they’d have to pay a toll. That or I’d let my mandem come kill ‘em.”
The man in the car tried to respond but found himself being hauled out of the vehicle and tossed to the ground. Bending down Drake looked at the man as two of his men kicked him. “Now. I also recall telling your cunt of a son if I ever saw him or his family again I’d rip yer heads right off.” he said before straightening and looking around. Shaking his head at the sight of others in the vehicle Drake contemplated what to do with them. Two of them looked young enough to be put to work..
His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a third of his men running past him and away. Closing his eyes he turned around shouting that if it was over nothing he’d kill them. As he opened his eyes he caught sight of the pair of men in medieval armor and stopped. The thought of running crossed his mind as he saw the crosses emblazoned on the cloth surcoats they wore. Gripping the baseball bat in both hands he yelled at his men to shoot them. Neither of them seemed bothered as they walked slowly towards the raiders.
More of the raiders ran as they neared and Drake found himself looking around to find only a handful of his men remaining. What else could he expect when Templars had just appeared out of nowhere. And suddenly one of them was upon his men. The first flash of steel from the man’s scabbard had cut a man’s arm off. It hadn’t hit the ground before the Templar had kicked the raider aside and cut another’s wooden club in two.
Drake saw the second Templar grab one of his men and lift him up by the throat. Charging the first Templar Drake brought the bat down to strike him in the head only to find the strike blocked. The Templar pushed him back with a kick to the stomach before the sword came down. Swatting it aside and stepping the side Drake brought the bat into his elbow. His armored elbow. Now that he was thinking about it Drake realized a baseball bat, regardless of what it happened to be made of, was not the ideal weapon for dealing with men wearing medieval armor.
As this thought crossed his mind he found he’d suddenly lost his right arm. This was followed by a gauntleted fist striking him in the side of the head hard enough to topple him to the ground. A dark blue metal boot kicked away his baseball bat as the two templars stood in front of him. As what he guessed to be the senior of the two lifted his hand with his thumb out sideways he wondered who would become the next Drake. This was cut short as the Templar that had switched his grip on his sword to where he was holding the blade stepped forward. His senior had flicked his thumb up. The cross guard of the sword came down and through Drakes helmet.
As he extracted his weapon from the man’s skull William remarked “You know it’s getting annoying getting dents out of this armor. Why don’t we just shoot them again?” before retrieving a rag from his belt and wiping the blood from his weapon. No reason not to keep his weapon in good shape.
Horace looked sideways at his fellow as he responded “I never said you couldn’t use a gun. Merely that it was unorthodox for a knight to use such weaponry. Others among our numbers use them quite frequently.” With that said he helped the older man up and offered to bandage him. After the man’s refusal Horace nodded “Very well. Perhaps we could guide you to your destination then? It should prevent further mishaps.”
After a bit of discussion, during which William retrieved the Templar’s motorcycles, the elder gentleman agreed to let them follow along as guards of a sort.
Elsewhere A group of men strapped ballistic vests on over their plate armor. The Knight that was leading them waited patiently as they prepared. To Mortimer Sylas and his men were his charges. To Sylas the Knight was his.
Giving the thumbs up to Mortimer Sylas tapped the side of his trigger guard. Pushing through the door of the large library Mortimer led the way into battle. The men at arms moved up behind him firing their rifles. The Kings Militia returned fire as the Templars moved forward. Of course the sight of a Knight, men who on average stood at eight foot tall with their augmentations, made them hesitate for a moment. Long enough for Sylas to range a shot. The Thoonk of the underbarrel grenade launcher was followed by the projectile detonating in the midst of the Militia.
Mortimer managed to chop a few down before they routed. The men at arms chased them away with rifle fire as the Knight watched them. When all was said and done the Men at Arms ceased firing at Sylas’ order and moved back towards the brick and mortar library that had become the Templar outpost in the area. Mortimer looked over at Sylas as he walked by and said “I could have handled the situation without your men endangering themselves.”
Sylas looked over at the Knight. He wasn’t intimidated. Not by his size, not the armor thick enough to tank most modern rifle rounds, nor by the blade that he was sure could cut through his rifle and his helm. He’d played this game before with other more experienced knights. Older ones too. “It is the job of the Man at Arms, specifically the assault element, to draw fire from and provide support to the Knight. Regardless of the danger.”
Mortimer’s eyes narrowed at Sylas as the two stared at each other. Finally he said “I know the code. I need no reminder of what it says.”
Sylas observed the Knight. His hand tightened on the now sheathed sword and he straightened to further emphasize his size. Sylas, all five foot and seven inches of him, shrugged off the man’s attempt at intimidation. Walking away he said “Then you would know I've no responsibility to obey your command Knight Initiate. Perhaps when you’ve earned it I’ll defer to your command.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 17, 2018, 12:38:37 am
[A response to a question provided by dragon]
"I know everything!" Illiana said again. She grabbed Alice roughly by the arm and pulled her into Helen's room. "You guys, come meet the river god queen."
She'd believed that Helen would have been upset at the pilfering of her clothes, even if they were ones that didn't quite fit. The fact that she didn't seem to be bothered Illiana. She didn't 'want' Helen to be upset, but all the same it wasn't exactly the response she knew she should have got. The twinge in her guts reminded her that she was wounded in an oddly fundamental way and that it could be the source of the misinformation. She hadn't been wrong about anything else yet though. At first, there was the urge to bring it up. Thinking better of that was easy though, if she brought it up she would expose a gap in what she should know. Even a tiny gap like that was cause for serious concern and embarrassment.
"So you aren't upset?" Illiana asked, showing Alice and Helen to the "river queen."
Helen sighed a bit at that. "Well if we hadn't been in a rush to assist Anton, I wouldn't preferred you waited. But, you need clothes if you're going to be stuck like this."
Illiana's mind filled with further information, new lines of possibility that coalesced into one main thread of knowledge yet again. "It's not forever. Never and forever are neither for men, I'll be back on my feet again. Tell me though, what do you think of Ms. Puddle, servant of the river goddess? Isn't she cute?" Even as Illiana spoke, Puddle squirmed under Illiana's scrutinous adoration. Alice tried to slide back out, but Illiana grabbed her and pulled her back again. "Don't be shy, say hello." Catnip touched down on the ground again, feeling somehow less stable than she'd felt while up on top of her creation. The grass looked absolutely vibrant in the dim light provided by one last lingering cloud passing before the sun, and unbearably vivid once the cloud had cleared. She took a moment to check her shoes, to make sure they weren't too bad off. Catnip preferred her old work boots but had so far made do with an aging pair of converse sneakers that provided no protection from dropped tools and wore out quicker than a toilet paper fan belt. For the rest of the day, she would be with Kathrine and the two of them together would keep an eye on Mica.
Again, she marveled at the speed of the migrants. How fast they worked. Before she'd been sent away to that horrible desert, Catnip would have told you that it would take weeks to rebuild the farm if it were destroyed. The migrants though worked together, in large numbers, and with concentrated effort. It was just after noon and already they had cleared away most of the rubble. There were even foundations set up for a pair of houses, and a shirtless misling foreman was looking through a little scope like device at another little scope device across the farm. A survey. By the end of the day, Catnip guessed that at least one of the houses would be finished while all the rubble would be gone. It had only been half an hour or so since they started, but already the migrants working on Quinn's trailer had extracted sheet metal, tree, and were nearly finished installing a pair of new windows and applying a fresh coat of paint.
There was time to wonder what Minx was doing. She'd seen her walking off into the woods with Quinn, but wasn't too worried. Quinn was safe to be with, though Catnip didn't think much of his ability to protect Minx. In fact, Minx was probably more capable of driving off enemies than anyone else Catnip knew of. "Driving off" being the key phrase there. All she had to do was turn off her bionic and whatever was harassing her would either flee or be rendered helpless. Catnip had seen the results of people seeing Minx's real face but thankfully not the womans face itself.
Kathrine rejoined her as she made her way back to Dee's workshop and commented on how quickly the newcomers worked.
"How was Leslie?" Catnip asked, knowing it wasn't Kathrine she should be asking about the interview. Kathrine was sucking on something, and Catnip guessed it was probably one of the little candies that Leslie often liked to share. "Did she give you a buttscotch?"
"Yes... She asked a bunch of questions..."
"A lot? I guess she must like you then."
"I don't know..."
Catnip leaned over and surprised Kathrine with a kiss, tasting some of her butterscotch and banishing a little of the maids nervousness over being interviewed. The rest of the day would be alright, granted they didn't have anymore unpleasant surprises like Arroyo. Quinn lost Minx in the underbrush, the short woman being surprisingly nimble in the verdant maze. Not so much that he couldn't at least hear her though. The path they had taken led them not too far from the farm, but far enough for him to feel a bit of unease and it wasn't much further until he found his unease at least partially well founded. Suddenly breaking through into an odd clearing, he found Minx.
The clearing had been covered, every inch of it, in thick strands of silvery webbing indicative of the giant grass spiders living practically everywhere in most regions. Despite being so common, Minx was in wonder about all of it. Quinn on the other hand was alarmed. How had this web gone unnoticed by the farm for so long?
"Ms. Minx, we'd better get away from here, the resident of this web could be-"
"It's dead!"
Quinn blinked. Minx had circled one large, web covered bush and vanished from sight again. He hadn't brought a weapon with him and that was a problem. As far as he could tell, she didn't have one either. If it was dead though, perhaps it didn't matter. He carefully picked his way over the web and came to a stop, aghast at the sight. A spider, as big as a bull, lay on it's back with it's legs curled against it's underside. Minx circled it once, then placed her hand on one leg.
"Poor thing... I've never seen one this close before. A jumping one, but never one of these kinds... Do you think the storm killed it? Or maybe it just got old?"
"It's a female." Quinn guessed, judging the spiders gender based on it's size.
"Oh course it is, it's huge. The males are only half this size." She returned, thinking that Quinn was stating the obvious. The spiders pattern was beautiful, minx believed. A strangely orderly mix of brown shades ranging from tan to blackish which caught the eye and held it. She traced her fingers along the lines of it's carapace once before turning away. "Just... wow..."
"We should get going. Report this nest to Hector or... What are you doing?"
What Minx was doing was reaching up towards a particularly thick looking line of silk.
"I wouldn't, you might get stu-"
Minx plucked it and it thrummed gorgeously like the sound of a godly guitar. They didn't really have time to appreciate the sound before the odd lumpy bundle that Quinn had at first taken to be some unfortunate animals husk, split apart in every direction and the fist sized baby spiders that made up it's bulk hurried to escape the predator that had disturbed the web. Those that couldn't quiet hang on, dropped off the web and showered both the forest floor, and Minx. "First, we need a bag. The bag will serve as the focus and determine how much can be fitted within the pocket dimension we plan to install." Said the divine spirit. Some of the others nodded and a murmur of agreement rose from the small crowd. A kreck peeked out from behind the bumper of a car, a tattered bra fastened securely under its chin with the cups covering it's horns. Sharlene took a sip of her coffee and the effects hit her right away. First, she tasted the flavor of tea. A very nice green tea in fact. Then, the coffee exploded up out of the mug, drenching her in the scalding coftea. Michael gave a wave of his blades at the moment the "pop" of the explosion was heard and Sharlene was bathed in purple flame. The kreck jumped back behind the truck and the spirits had to once again restrain their laughter. It was a scene that had played out four times. Five, counting this one.
Meanwhile, Sharlene coughed and hacked to clear the tea which had exploded it's way into her airways. When the fit finally cleared, she asked, "and *cough* and how much space *cough* is that?"
"The duffel bag you have will hold all of these, uh, loot bricks... And then more. All told, about as much as that truck there." The spirit pointed with one of it's blades at a long semi trailer adorned with a huge mural of groceries and bearing the words "sun's harvest" in large rustic letters. It was a lot of space, but Sharlene wasn't satisfied.
"Naw. She's still gotta have both hands free. A normal bag isn't gonna fit on this girl. Look at her and tell me buttons on shirts she isn't even wearing don't fly off when this tiger flexes it's mighty muscles."
"Can she not just wear it like one of those hand bag things?"
At that, Sharlene tossed the empty duffel bag to Lilith, and told her to "put it on like a purse." When she did however, it got caught on her bicep and out of frustration snapped the strap apart at one of the plastic clips.
"No can do, see? She's gotta be able to wear it." The spirits stayed quiet. The biggest bag any of them had seen personally since Sharlene had unknowingly rescued them from Oblivion thanks to the tear in the weave, was the now broken duffel bag. Sharlene of course had seen bigger. Monstrous hiking bags carried on aluminum frames or sleds. That also wouldn't do. Lilith would flex or simply move the wrong way and there would go the bags ballgame. Sharlene watched the kreck with the bra on it's head for a moment. It was staring at something and when Sharlene traced the line of it's vision, she wasn't at all surprised. It was staring at Lilith. Specifically, her bare tiger breasts.
"Dumb thing." Sharlene thought, "even that guy lil hangs around with doesn't stare that openly. Maybe he's just used to seeing them. I should really get some clothes to fit her. Start with a..."
She eyes shot back around to the kreck again, it didn't even register the movement or even the way Sharlene was staring at it until it felt the eyes boring into it. When it noticed, it slowly slid itself back out of view.
"I got an idea." Sharlene said, "can you guys see at all?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on May 17, 2018, 05:46:34 am
Delta wasn't all too sure if she should reform yet or not. On the one hand, she could avoid talking to people, on the other, Puddle could do with some bailing out. "Meanie meanie!" Wadi was still yelling at her, jumping off of Brian and sliding between his legs in order to hug him properly. A third hand forms on the end of her tail, still pointing at Delta. "She's mean, Brian!"
Delta pulls an arm up out of her mass with a wet 'pop', places her hand up against the rest of her blob, and pushes down. The effect looks somewhat like she's turning herself inside out, until she's back to being her normal humanoid self. "We've got places to be. Sorry." Again, her valley girl accent seems to have been dropped in favor of a flat monotone. Wadi, meanwhile, has stopped using her tail to point, and moved to making an almost lifesaver-ring around his waist with her lower body and hanging off him. Bits keep dropping off and splatting onto the floor, only to slither up Brain's legs and add back to the affluent.
Cardin didn't really understand anything anyone was saying at him. Or to him. Or what people were saying in general. The medicine didn't taste particularly nice, and Melody had suddenly pulled her rifle on... Something. He quietly chirps and almost faceplants again, feet completely curled up and impeding his ability to stand. "Cheeeeeep... Squawk!" Something appears to have startled him, as he hops up unsteadily, spreading his wings again and successfully hitting... Someone, in the face. Oops.
Puddle was very disturbed. Illiana was being stranger than usual, and Delta stopped telling her what to say. "C-c-can I l-leave...? P-please?" She looks like she's about ready to collapse into her namesake and leave through the floorboards again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 17, 2018, 03:45:41 pm
Hector had been relieved that the young girl was safe, and that Roxanne was okay as well. "Make sure you're careful when you go out like this. The others must be worried." he said, still cautious as they went back, just in case there were any other unusual things that might attack them.
At the name mentioned, he perked up a bit. "I kinda like that name. Sounds better than just The Farm." he remarked, and soon the misling was left with the man there, Hector continuing on to let Roxanne tend to the ritual.
At first he was worried, unaware of the shock of sensation and the full effects of the act. Then she responded to his touch, and next thing he knew she was embracing him. He held her close before pulling her into a kiss, having removed his helm and set it aside when he entered. "I'm glad Roxanne. I hope this keeps you going for a while, but if you ever need my help with this, don't hesitate to ask."
Solomon had for now went over to tend to Anton as best as he could, a bit nervous as e recognized the effects of chemical burns, possibly a . He wasn't that experienced with such things, but he did understand the usual hazards from vapor an liquid exposure, vaguely recalling the occasional survivor treated for exposure to various nasty things. More often it some halfwit dabbling in making important or valuable chemicals, or the occasional lab-diver who wasn't very careful with the loot.
His recommendation was fairly simple. Get him washed up as soon as possible, clothes changed, have the old clothes bagged up as securely as possible and sterilized later, and treat the burns.
Helen, despite her confusion at all the things going on now, soon focused on Victor, hugging him tightly. "I'm fine, honest. Should tell you more about it when we get the chance." she said, glancing over towards Iliana and Puddle. It was then she started getting curious, letting go to approach.
"So who's this little one?" she asked, retrieving her mask and activating it. She was surprised by what she saw, an aura that was so faint she could've easily mistook it for a small fish or even a mouse, had she been in hiding rather than sitting right there in the room. Even then it was hard to actually maintain focus on the little blob. This was in sharp contrast to her own encounters with blob monsters, which practically glowed with an otherworldly aura, and even when dormant it discolored the water with corruption.
Sergei gave a concerned glance at Alexei, still uncertain about the reason behind those questions, giving a nod as he deciding to head inside and bring out a bottle of the vodka they'd brewed, along with some food for the both of them. "Very well then. If something's troubling you, might help a bit."
Brian was now a bit nervous due to all this, a hand carefully reaching and, against his better judgement, petting Wadi. Seemed like a natural response to him, as he regarded Delta with a certain degree of curiosity. "I see, er...alright. Take care I guess." He then gave a glance over towards Daniel, the sort that screamed "are things normally this weird here" from the look of him.
By now the captain and corpsman had gone from trying to hep the avian to trying to get Melody to calm down, the corpsman mumbling something the Cardin likely would recognize despite not being in English, albeit his rendering of it hinted at only taking well to remembering the profanity.
Catalina, in between trying to reassure Melody that they'll help with her rifle versus trying to get her to not handle it while drunk, abruptly mmphed and ended up glancing over at the reason for her suddenly getting a faceful of feathers.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 18, 2018, 04:30:11 pm
Alice had been surprised by Illiana’s insistance and waved to puddle. Looking at Illiana as she spoke she wondered what exactly this woman was. Shrugging it off after a moment she wondered where her father was now.
Alexei meanwhile led the way inside. Finding somewhere to sit Alexei put a bottle on the table and poured the pair a drink. Retrieving a joint from a small bag that Bandit had given him some time ago Alexei took a drink before searching his pockets for a lighter. Finding an old lighter that he figured he’d probably stolen from a gas station at some point. Flicking it on and lighting it he leaned his chair onto it’s back two legs before blowing out a puff of smoke. Taking a drink he offered it to Sergei as he continued talking in Russian “The bar will probably open..tomorrow? The day after? I forget which that old bastard told me. You’re welcome to come any time, drinks on the house.”
Anton sighed at the recommendation to change his clothes. Pulling his helmet off and the cloth from around his neck the blisters and burns from the chemicals on his face were rather apparent. “Do we have a privacy screen or something?” He asked as he motioned towards the women in the other room.
Isaac meanwhile parked his truck. Walking into the back Isaac stopped and looked at one of the suits of armor. There were only two left in the truck plus a few spare ballistic vests and plate carriers. Grabbing one of the suits he decided to put it in his room before heading back. As he finished moving it he looked over and saw the chocolate he’d been meaning to give to Catnip since he’d gotten Alice back. Grabbing the still wrapped package of european chocolate he slid it into his bag before heading out. ___________________________________________________________________
Vikaar sighed. He was watching this little bustling settlement full of people following rules. Everything in order and everyone in their place. He was tempted to try and do something about it but anything he could do would be of little consequence. It would result in nothing.
Maybe he’d visit that new bar once it was done. Something had some of the spirits he knew talking about it. Something ‘special’ in the sauce as one of them had put it. Another had simply said it would be a nice place to unwind away from the usual haunts of their lot. Whatever the reason Vikaar loved bars anyway. They were always so chaotic.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 19, 2018, 07:38:28 am
Sharlene's logic was odd, but sound. The spirits couldn't really argue it, and those that would have were either not present, or were present on an entirely different plane of existence. The idea of using a bra as the target container was bold but bizarre, and sounded a bit on the wrong side of practical.
"Ladies in the pre-cataclysm used to do it all the time. Tuck your cash or whatever in your bra and no one but a pervert is gonna take it from you. If you were well endowed enough, you could fit a cell phone in between your puppies, but you couldn't do it without the boulder holder." She explained again. Gabe, a red spirit who seemed to have attained a kind of dominance over the others despite his rank in the hierarchy, nodded and sighed. Sharlene had sent Michael off in search of reagents and the kreck, now devoid of his head gear, was gleefully and skillfully taking Liliths measurements. The plan had been to fit Lilith with a bra all her own, custom sized to fit her. The more the kreck, Sharlene called him simply "Chad," measured the more it became obvious that it wasn't going to work. Liliths movements changed the expected measurements in odd ways. The way her muscles flexed, and the way her bionics shifted within them. A woman Sharlene's size would have no problem, but Lilith was just too big. "Chad" allowed the tailors measuring tape to roll itself up with a silky little whir.
"No good. Nope nope. Tiddy too big, much difficult. Tiger, mighty tiddy!" He grunted in his odd gutteral speech.
Sharlene shook her head, she didn't like that answer and Chad saw it in the way she advanced on him. He backed away slowly and Sharlene kept pace.
"Don't hurt! Try something else? Hm? Y-yes?"
"Like what?" Sharlene said menacingly. She wasn't seriously concerned, but she also didn't have time to be piddling about. There were more vaults to hit, and a limited amount of daylight left. Chad babbled for a long bit, believing that if he didn't think of something, the lady would kick him into next week.
"B-b-blankets?" He stuttered.
"Ok. What about them?"
"Just want to cover tiddy? make pocket between? B-b-blankets not frilly, but T'Chad'z'hir seen it 'fore."
"So a wrap."
Chad nodded enthusiastically, a wrap, just so. He watched Sharlene and Lilith expectantly, shifting his glance between them.
"Will that work Gabe?" Sharlene asked. Gabe thought about it, then shrugged.
"I suppose. It would serve the same purpose, though it wouldn't provide the same 'lift' or appearance... It would provide more coverage though and if the enchantment works, might even provide a rather immense measure of capacity. Though... We won't know of any negative effects until we are done, or even if the enchantment will actually hold or not. Also, we'll need more regeants to try and, ah, trick the spells into working. I suppose it could be done, yes."
"Uh huh. Alright, make it happen." Sharlene finished, then took another sip of coffee. Once again, the cup emited it's little popping sound, and Sharlene was again soused in coftea. This time though, the drink had at least gone cold. Minx stood stock still, not exactly sure what to do about her current predicament. She did know though that it was an experience she'd remember for the rest of her life. The feel of the little creatures scrambling to escape was like having someone's hands gently drumming at her body and pinching at her clothes. A spiderling dropped off her shoulder without anchoring itself and rolled itself down her back to hit the web covered leaves with a gentle plop. It seemed to have trouble getting it's footing in the heavy duff of the spider grove and Minx felt for it, struggling for footing in it's so far short life. In the future, this little critter would probably be trapping and eating large game, everything from rats to deer or even bears if it ever got big enough. A whole life stretching out before it.
That was when Quinn stepped on it. The poor thing popped under his shoe with a disgusting little squelch. Minx was aghast at what he'd done, and more. He stomped on another and another, then swatted one out of the air. The last sailed slowly along on the end of it's line, pathetically waggling it's legs until the silk strand snapped and dropped it into the dense foliage at the edge of the grove. Then Quinn was patting her down, slapping the baby spiders off of her while simultaneously and unintentionally groping her.
"What the fuck are you doing!?" She screamed, twisting away from him. He looked startled at the upset tone of her voice. The look she gave him was cold, edging on unfriendly, and Quinn's heart sank.
"I was uh... Saving you..." He mumbled.
"From what? They're just babies! They're harmless! Look at them!" She shouted at him. Quinn did look at them. Those he hadn't crushed or swatted aside were either struggling to get away, or were gently vibrating in the web above them. A tactic used by some spiders to make themselves harder to see to predators. That struck Quinn as strange. From what little he knew of grass spiders, they didn't build webs that allowed that sort of tactic.
Minx was still shouting at him, heedless of the tiny versions of the giant dead spider tangled in her hair or clambering about down the front of her loose fitting shirt. When she drew in a breath for fresh spate of admonishment, he interrupted her.
"Look. I'm, um... Sorry ok? I just thought..."
Minx was about to interrupt him right back with some stinging barb about how he wasn't thinking, but stopped. It wasn't that he wasn't thinking. He just didn't understand. Minx's anger died away in an instant, leaving her feeling a little sad and a lot sorry. She took a deep breath and let it out again. Of course he didn't know, he was a different person than the people she was raised by and with.
"Ok..." She sighed when the silence had stretched out long enough for her tastes, "Ok. Listen, you can't just... It's not right to... Oh god, where do I start?" Quinn waited, and after a moment she continued, "Ok, ok. Like, every life is important. Not sacred, I'm not some Christian dumb dumb, just... Important. See?"
Quinn didn't see. At the moment, he was coming to believe that Minx was some kind of PETA person, some animal rights jack handle, and that wasn't correct. Minx just didn't like the senseless waste of a life, even that of a mutated spider. Killing without reason. Quinn hadn't killed without reason. He had been mistaken but not without reason.
"No... Just don't kill anymore ok?" She finished, then added, "Let's just get back to Walkerville..." At the mention of "leaving," Daniel remembered that he also had somewhere he needed to be. Someone to be with, that was. Sylvia had surely tied up whatever business she'd been conducting by now and was probably either waiting for him or on her way to meet up with him.
"I really must be going as well. Madam Delta, will you be needing an escort or... Wait, where are you going?" Meanwhile, back in the hall. Illiana jumped down off Helens foot stool, looking serious.
"You can go whenever you want puddle, but I'd rather you stayed. Besides, Delta is coming to get you. Now that she's allowed herself to be outed, or rather, was caught out and then let herself be seen by others, she should come here to meet the others she's been keeping an eye on in person. Besides..." Illiana winked, "Don't you want these nice people to meet the river goddess?"
The change in attitude was sudden and obvious, and judging by the way she clutched at her belly, painful.
"Oof. Um... Helen? Can I stick around for a day or three?" "Look at this! I was told this place had proper equipment for this sort of work, but look at this Syl! Look what I have to work with!"
Sylvia smirked, she was looking and she supposed Lolita's gripe was justified. The setup she was forced to work with was little more than a sterilized sheet of metal suspended over a low fire with cinder blocks, and the ingredients she had to work with were flour made from cattail starch, boiled river water, salt, and vacuum packed fruit that could have been peaches or apricots. Sylvia thought it was the latter. Lolita, a master cook gone cybernetic showgirl before the cataclysm originally, tugged one of her long ears fitfully. A nervous tic that meant she was starting to get frustrated.
"Where's 'Gordon Ramsey?' got off to?" She asked, referring to the head chef of "Le Homard Bleu" in Pricetown. Lolita leita had worked as sous chef in the expensive roach trap for three years under the watchful, drugged out, eye of the owner, Renault Lapierre. The most galling thing about those three years wasn't that Lolita had been a debt slave for most of them, it had been that she was a one time Michelin star chef working under a coke head who couldn't cook for shit. The star may have been taken away a mere half year later, and the restaurant she'd owned with it, but even through the mental breakdown that had caused and her start as a dancer, she'd had enough pride in her art to stay in practice.
"You mean lord mayor snail sucker of la bastille de shitfuck? He's probably off looking for blow. No one has seen him since before the storm. Do you know where I can find some sugar? I want to glaze these turnovers." Lolita asked. With a practiced flip of her spoon, she flipped one of the "turnovers," revealing the golden brown of it's underside. Sylvia almost giggled. It had been a long time and most of her body since the frenchwoman had come to America, but Lolita's accent was as thick as the day she arrived. "What I would not give for some nice unsalted butter. Even lard would do! Pah! For a place that calls itself a farm, there is surprisingly little farming going on here! The freshest produce I could find was tomato. Tomato! These people live of tomato and flakes!"
While on her small tirade, she flipped the other turnovers one after another in rapid succession, then went through them all again and served them out on paper or styrofoam plates. Sylvia got one. She munched on it thoughtfully and tasted at once why Lolita was so upset. No sugar for frosting, the dough was fairly bland, and the filling was just hot fruit. These turnovers would make for a simple meal, and that was all. Circumstances made it so that the chef could do no better than this.
"Do me a favor Sylvia, get me some fish from the fishers and some sugar for glaze?"
Sylvia said that she would. She was waiting for Daniel anyway, and who knew how long he would take. Might as well get a few chores done and help out while she was at it. "So she's just stuck like this?" Catnip asked, prodding Mica again. She and Kathrine had snuck through Dee's workshop and into the bedroom at the back. They didn't want to get the attention of the slimy thing out there. Little did they know of course, Delta had marked their passage easily, as though they had walked right up to her and said hello on their way through. Now, though they were safely within the confines of this room. Catnip pinched Mica's face and tugged on it, then stopped. It struck her as very wrong to be toying with Mica while she was like this. Kathrine nodded a little and scooched an inch closer to Mica while Catnip had a look around. Dee's room consisted of the one small bed, a desk with swivel chair, a shelf decorated with golden cups and odd trinkets, and many posters collected over the course of the cataclysm. These last covered a great deal of real estate on the walls, except for one spot where a collection of some of Mica's best works were taped up. The room was ok, from Catnip's standpoint it was more than acceptable. For a single person. For two people though, it was just a bit crowded. Especially the bed.
"Do you think he'll come back?" She asked, plopping herself down in the chair. Kathrine nodded again.
"You came back, Mr. Dee will too..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 22, 2018, 04:48:07 pm
At the kiss Roxanne all hesitation and doubt was gone. The previous pull she had experienced for the last to day that had made her act strange could no longer be felt as if her own free will had been restored; and right now all she cared about was this moment. She pulled back and nodded at Hector’s comment.
“I will let you know if I do. Thank you.” Then she looked around hesitantly for a bit before she looked back at the knight. “Well, there is one more thing I would like to ask you about...”
Roxanne walked away from hector towards the middle of the room and looked around again. She saw all the way it was ll organized for her needs; everything was the way she wanted but that was the issue, it was just hers. Little Jim made a slight noise which drew Roxanne’s attention; she went and picked it up turning around with it in its hands as she spoke up to Hector.
“Look around you. This is my room; I keep really weird things here like Catnip’s gift. This is the only place I can truly call my own you know? No matter how hectic the day can be I can count to come back home and shake it off here. But there is one thing that has been missing and I am now seeing it… I have my room, you have yours and we go to them after each day… Maybe, if you would be ok with it, maybe we could make it the same place? You know, you and I, moving in together… would that be something you would like?”
Victor gave a sigh of relief as Helen said she was fine. The little memories he had of her reminded him of the cloak she wore and he knew she could shrug of wounds; what he didn’t remember was just how painful it was to do so as he associated the pain he witnessed in the memories given to the wound itself. “I am glad you are ok. And sure, there is a couple things I want to talk to you about in due time.”
He found it odd that Illiana seemed a bit stressed at Helen not being so bothered at she wearing her clothes but he thought nothing of it other than just an amusing character trait. The way she spoke of the blob who called itself “puddle” also amused him. A being who claimed to have as much power as she did reduced to a school girl at the sight of the blob.
When Helen put on her mask another memory popped up to Victor. He now knew Helen used it to “see beyond” but didn’t understand how since he had no memories of wearing it or having it explained to him. Instead he assumed it might work similar to his aura spell he was calling his “6th sense” now. He activated the aura spell and was surprised to see he detected no signature on the blob. This concerned him as he was reminded Melody used this spell exclusively to get her way around now; if things could hide from it the poor girl might get sneaked upon. The sudden change in attitude from Illiana as she answered puddle’s question unnerved him a bit. That was the attitude he expected from the embodiment of acausality. However that feeling didn’t last as she casually asked for a place to stay causing him to chuckle a bit.
“Hey, puddle right? Tell me, are you hungry? What do you eat?”, Victor asked her in order to both seem friendly and out of curiosity.
Melody was hearing people saying things, the bird was screaming someone had been hit by something judging by the way the suddenly stopped talking. “Don’t be such drama queen, this thing is unloaded. I used all my ammo up fighting an old man. Look!” She resumed to rack the bolt and indeed nothing was coming out but she was too drunk to realize that was not the point.
“So you people will help me? I think it’s the mechanism needing a tune up… should’ve gone a better base but nooooooooo, I wanted a challenge converting a civilian rifle” She then slung the rifle onto her back again as she wobbled back and forth but still on her feet. “Where is birdy? He was here a bit ago. Is he with medic finally?”
Lucy was sitting in her chair doing her nails with a file she had conjured out of thin air like many other things she had so far. Clara, Christina and Rey were sitting adjacent to her across the round table. Each was reading a letter from an envelope Lucy had given each. The envelope was crimson with a black seal depicting an eagle what held it close. The letter was made from papyrus paper and had a strong whiff of sulfur; the writing in the letter just as perplexing as the material it was housed in.
“You guys are fairly quiet.”, Lucy spoke up breaking the silence, “Do you really not have any questions?
The trio looked at each other momentarily and then at Lucy. Confusion and disbelief in their faces. Finally, it was Rey who spoke up. “It’s just, that claims here are a bit out there…”
“Says the man who gave up his humanity to become a spirit of smokeless fire. Is it really as far-fetch as the dead raising up and beings from beyond the veil asserting themselves here?”
“When you put it that way… Ok, assuming what is here is corrected, let me ask for clarification.”
“Throw it on me.”
“So you say you are among the original creations, a being fallen from grace due due to granting humanity a gift. That you were cast out of your home unto the realm humans were cast out as well. You are telling us free will was granted because of actions you did and you were punished for it; and given the chance to rule over earth you choose not to so that said gift of free will would not go to waste… This story seems very familiar to me… plagiarized even…”
Lucy smirked at the statement putting down her file. “Maybe it is not plagiarized. Maybe it is the exact story you are thinking of. Perhaps the story has been told countless times by different cultures this being the most recent.”
“Well, if that is also true… from what it says here that only leaves you with one possible rule your could’ve played.”
“Oh, do tell what is if you will. Enlighten us women here.”
Rey looked nervously around the table. He realized that yes, he was the only male present and that somehow unnerved him simply due to the fact that it was pointed out as if it was relevant. He gulped down nervously and then proceeded to speak. “So this letter says you are The Devil. As in Satan himself.”
“Herself, I am a she if you couldn’t tell.”, Lucy interjected before flashing a smile at the trio. “It is more complicated than; the story of Satan is one of many interpretations of the truth. Hell, what is in that letter is my version with my own biases. Technically I am the devil, but I am also Prometheus; the poor soul who defied the gods and gave humanity the gift of fire and was then punished for their sins. That story is my personal favorite interpretation. But humanity had to portray me as a man… Oh well.”
The trio looked at Lucy in silence not knowing how to react. It was quite the claim but as it had been pointed out it wouldn’t have been the weirdest thing to happen in recent years and she had shown great power so far. This time Christina spoke up. “Is that why you go by the name Lucifer Morningstar?”
“It is, yes. It is easier to tell a mortal I am the devil than explain the nuances of what I am. It is technically correct and it saves time for when they inevitably fuck up and I get to keep their souls.”
“And why do you want souls? Are you gearing for the final battle foretold in the book of revelations?”
Lucy laughed at that question. “No no, I have no interest in ruling over earth. Let the mortals here sort that out. I just want to protect it because it too is my home. As for why I want souls…” She looked away shyly and started to blush a bit; the last thing you would expect from someone who claimed what she had done today. “A girl gets lonely sometimes ok... “
The trio blinked rapidly at the response not remotely expecting that. Clara and Rey were utterly confused but Christian saw an opportunity by god would she take it. “Well, you don’t have to be. Why don’t we go back to my room later? Maybe you could use a little company...”
Everyone else, including Lucy, turned to look at Christina with shock. “Wait, did you just say what I think you just said?”, Lucy asked.
“Maybe I did and if so, would the morningstar grant my request?”
“...We will talk later… for now, any other questions?”
Plague had been walking for a while now and had ended up inside the woods. Well, not really plague anymore. The sword of coalescence had harvested his mind and soul a long time ago and now it’s will was imposed on his body as it masqueraded itself as him. And now this sword was walking in the woods in the body of a mortal it had tricked to wielded years ago thinking about its future.
Now, Coalescence might be a fragment of the long defeated god Anomon but it was it’s own will. Forged by human hands it had inherited their qualities; it had goal and ambitions, felt joy and frustration, it made mistakes and let emotions get the best of him. Spirit of ancient god or not he was in a human body with a mind crafted by them; and right now he was thinking like one.
“Who the fuck does she think she is! I am a fragment of the mighty god Anomon! I will collect the pieces and resurrect it. Then I will assimilate him all the same and will become the broken god himself. It is my destiny, my purpose and I won’t let some had tell me otherwise!”
He was speaking of Lucy of course. She had told him to stop with his little game of puzzle building for now. He understood the dangers of the veil, that is why he had called her, but didn’t expect this outcome. It frustrated him that he was no closer to the piece than ever but couldn’t do anything about it. To calm down he did the one thing many people do to escape their troubles, fantasize about something better.
Coalescence was fantasizing of his goal; he imagine gathering all the pieces and becoming one with the broken gone. The final piece, the key of it all, the sword of anomon in his hand as he wielded it’s power. Maybe he would find a better body than plague’s by then or maybe not; this one had proven quite resourceful and finding someone else who was both powerful but naive enough was going to be though. At that his mind wandered to another thing he would need: the spirit who would channel the sword’s power.
In assimilating the sword of the void, the sword of anomon would inherit the property of requiring a spirit to channel its power. This spirit would be subservient to the will of it’s wielder who in this case was the sword itself in the body of it’s chosen mortal. But what spirit? A divine spirit? Nah, he could just create those at will if they were needed. A spirit of harvest? While that would compliment the sword quite well the story of Victor and Roxanne made that a no go. Wait, Roxanne… she was the current spirit of the void. Why not keep her?
As said before, Coalescence had the qualities of a human and as such craved many of the things they did; one of those things was companionship. What good was to rule over an empire when you had no-one to share it with? Most spirits he could use are just too different from himself to be anything but a tool. Roxanne was different though; she had been human once and had the same ambitions as he did. Better yet, he didn’t have to do anything but make sure she stayed in the sword until he was allowed to assimilate it. Yes, he could picture it. Bio-Weapon Anomon the Plague Bringer and Spirit of Anomon Roxanne Luna. He could work on the titles later, he had a literal lifetime to do so. For now he was looking forward to that talk with Roxanne Lucy told him to have.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on May 22, 2018, 06:10:03 pm
Delta blankly stares at Brian and Daniel for a second before continuing with her monotone explainations. "You don't ne-" "SHE'S GOING TO SEE PUDDLE! She's over at the haaaaall~" Wadi happily gives away the information Delta was apparently trying to hide. Looks like there's a reason why she doesn't like her affluents. "Yes. Thank you, Wadi." The smaller slime nods happily, swishing her tail back and forth and smearing a bit of slime over Brian's legs. "You're welcome! Oh Mister Briiiaaaaaaaaan~?"
Delta decided to quietly leave, slipping underneath the door the same way as she did to get in. A visit to the Hall was definitely on the list, but she had another location to visit first. Even if it did interrupt something.
Cardin turns around and tries to apologise to Catalina, but ends up just chirping repeatedly and wilding swinging his visibly razor sharp talons around like a maniac. "Ch-chooorp?" The bird's unsteadiness got the best of him again, and he topples over, arms going over Catalina's shoulders and wings splayed out to his sides. Cardin makes something barely recognisable as a bird noise and pushes a blunter part of his beak against her shoulder. He appears to be... Crying?
Puddle falls to her knees. Well, less falls, more melts. She wasn't sure how to respond to everybody's questions, or even how to get out of this situation. "I... I... Hah... Ah..." Despite not actually having the need to breathe, the slime appears to be hyperventilating. After a couple seconds of this, she eventually completely melts down into a circular blob, flattened against the ground.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 22, 2018, 07:25:06 pm
(( Gabi and Joshua stuff written with Wilson. ))
Solomon nodded as he grabbed sheets and anything he had available to help set up a screen, in order to tend to Anton without the entire Hall watching them.
While Solomon tended to the burns and getting new clothes for Anton, Sergei sat down nearby, setting aside a few different drinks, in addition to the vodka. Likewise he got a jar of pickled vegetables that had been pickled up in a scouting run, and some of the remaining flat bread from last batch, before answering. "Would be nice to see. Should likewise show you Haps' sometime. Must as I'd rather not spend my days just hanging out at a bar with nothing to do..."
Hector listened, for now holding her close, relief readily apparent on his face to finally be holding her again. Even with the artifacts that had granted her solidity before, he knew it was artificial, induced by magic. And that she didn't react and feel in the same way she would if she had a body.
This was still induced by magic, but to him it seemed more real than any other solution he knew of, and how she seemed to react in a way hinting at how she could better feel everything. He thought back on how his own quarters had been reduced to rubble like the others, how the only thing left standing was that locker. "I would like that, to be honest. There was a lot we never ended up doing before all this happened. Some of which is no longer an option, but..." he said, following her as she stood in the center of the room.
"I do want to be able to enjoy the time we have left, together." he answered.
"Very well. Whenever you wish, I have time now. I'm sorry if I might've worried you." she said to Victor. For now she was concerned, watching and regarding the strange creature curiously. Iliana's remarks however drew her attention, giving a sigh at that. "Of course. I don't yet know the full extent of what you've done, but it's likely for the best to have you here while you recover." she said. "Moreover, I can keep an eye on you..."
Brian, suffice to say, was now embarrassed in ways he didn't think possible, stammering and whining a bit as he looked away shyly. "I, er...h-halp. L-look Wadi, you're an adorable little, er, slime monster, but please stop that. That tickles..." he said, nervously reaching to give her a pat.
Catalina meanwhile grumbled more as Cardin had gone from flailing about drunkenly to smacking her to now scrambling up her, and in response she calmly yet firmly grabbed at and set him down in a standing position. "Look, just calm down and it'll be alright, take it easy..."
Dusk meanwhile had shifted attention from Cardin to Melody, helping her unsling and check the chamber on the rifle. "Alright, easy. Can take care of it and see what's wrong. I know well enough you get attached to a piece of kit when your life depends on it."
Elsewhere at the farm, Joshua hummed to himself as he set aside a large chunk of splintered timber, cast onto a pile with the rest that had been cleared away. He had been rather astounded by the speed and efficiency the mislings had in their work, and with a chance to take a break he sat down nearby Gabriel, looking around at the farm’s surroundings.
Gabi hmmed as he dug out a pack of cigarettes, “Nice place…” He commented, offering a smoke to Joshua. He accepted it, fumbling for an old matchbook to light it, looking on. “It is. Even after the storm.” he admitted, thinking back on some things.
Gabriel looked over to Joshua, “You a’ight? Johnny has that look alot.” He says, grabbing a smoke for himself, lighting himself with an old, plastic lighter. Joshua visibly winced a bit at that. “For the opposite reason, no doubt.” he remarked, taking a drag from the cigarette before his gaze went towards the mostly-intact palisade.
“I’m surprised they’d just accept me like this. Figured it was more likely to lead to me getting lined up against the wall and shot. Or hacked to pieces. And if came to that...” He trailed off, going a bit quiet. Gabriel scowled, “I wouldn't of let that happen.” He said with a hint of malice, “I’m so fucking… sick of people dying.” Gabi finished with a slight shudder in his voice.
Joshua managed a smile at that. “I would’ve. Never mind that if they wanted me dead, I don’t see that being easy to stop. How many of my brothers under Christ died in their idiotic crusade? The best I could hope for is that it’d be the knight, or one of the center soldiers. Better than being caught by The Blade of Sodom, or the Shepherd's Wolves...”
Gabi sighed, then rose a brow, “Who?” He asked simply. Joshua shook his head at that. “The blade, or the wolves? I don’t know if the former is here anymore, but she’s known to be with the knight and others. The latter’s a group farther north. You...don’t want to get taken alive by them while in a God’s Army uniform.”
Gabi grew pale a bit, before finally asking, “Why’s that?” Joshua looked down. “Most of it’s just rumors, but we never find the body in one piece. The knight at least will just shoot or hack you to bits, the soldiers will just shoot you. But if those people get their hands on an enemy...just because we’ve done so much worse to people doesn’t mean I’d wish it on anyone else.”
Gabi hmmed a bit, looking away. “Well. I’ll make sure that ain’t happening. No one’s dying on my watch.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 23, 2018, 05:46:10 pm
[quinn stuff and some framework provided by a volleyball] Quinn sighed a bit, the two having returned to the farm, or 'Walkerville' as Minx called it. The scientist found the name a bit odd, but gave it no mind. He grimaced as he looked down at his labcoat. It was absolutely covered in cobwebs, Quinn grimaced as he started to pick them off.
"Er, Minx. You've got a lot on you too." He pointed out as he began to think, specifically if it was worth starting a friendship with her. Maybe, dare he think, a relationship. A slight knot formed in his gut, he sighed to make it go away and changed the subject a little. "So you're a naturalist? I imagine a CBM like yours could be used in that field to great effect."
Minx raked her hands through her hair absent mindedly, a little surprised that the doctor had opened up a little and asked her about herself. She thought about his question seriously though, it seemed there was an opportunity for something she hadn't considered here. Quinn was wrong for her, but not too wrong. She didn't think she'd take him as a lover but if he was starting to open up a little, he could be a friend.
"Naturalist? No no, I'm a..." She began, caught off guard by her reluctance to tell this man, this man of science and higher thought, that she was not anything close to being a naturalist. Minx was in fact a practitioner of the worlds oldest profession. Telling him so would be embarrassing, "I'm a uh... a..."
The word she said came out mumbled, but Quinn's ears worked. Worked well in fact, and he heard it clearly. "You're a prostitute?" Quinn almost instantly facepalmed, utterly disappointed in himself. *You stupid son of a bitch, why??* His face turned a bright red, "Sorry uh- I- Dammit." He finished, cupping his face in his hands as he let out a loud groan of defeat.
Oddly, his discomfort seemed to calm Minx. It gave him a bit of humanity that he hadn't shown before. She seemed to puff up a bit with an unmistakable pride, unsure of why she'd been so nervous before. "The best." She said, "The very best. Loved by legions of desperate men and a handful of lonely women. I'm done with that life though. I came with the others to set up a branch for my 'boss,' but my 'boss' isn't here is she? What's a naturalist?"
Quinn cleared his throat, still very embarrassed. "Darwin, Audubon, Irwin. They were Naturalists. It's uh... The idea that only natural laws and principles operate in the world. Instead of gods, spirits, and the supernatural."
"Not what I thought," She said, "and not entirely accurate on my part. I was never really too into spirits and stuff, but I still believed. That's why they always sent me to talk to Cousin... It's not a terrible idea though. Go for walks, discover new animals."
A lot of the debris was cleared away now. With so many people to help out, it was a task that took very little time. They reached Quinn's trailer, now repainted and mostly repaired save for a sheet of wood placed over the broken window, and she turned to him. Silence for a moment, then, at the same time they said the same thing.
"I think we should just be friends."
Quinn gawped at her for a second, while she immediately began laughing.
"What's so funny?" He asked, straightening his spectacles and smoothing his labcoat.
"Nothing, don't worry about it." She giggled, "No problem here! See you later 'doctor.'" Sharlene rubbed her hands together in preparation, and drew the "borrowed" silver knife. Divine spirits stood in a circle, blade to blade, around her. Inside the circle with her was a plain white blanket of the non-quilt variety and Lilith. She scratched her head, feeling for the first time a bit of tension. The ritual she wanted to perform was jury rigged to the furthest reaches of what was reasonable for this sort of thing. The spirits also claimed that there was some kind of rent in something called alternatively "the veil" or "the weave." That would probably cause a disruption as well, though it was due to that same injury to reality that this whole endeavor would be possible in the first place. At best, Sharlene would get an erratic artifact out of this. At worst, she, lilith, and the gathered spirits would be cast on the aether. Never to be seen again. She took a deep breath, and began.
The piles of wood which had once been shacks were piled up into neat stacks of good boards and boxes of nails by the end of the day. Men and Mislings worked hard sorting through it all. Pulling nails, setting aside good wood, and putting away 'bad' wood for use as kindling in the coming winter. Glass was bagged up and people with magnets walked the farm searching for loose iron. Scattered goods were collected and put away. The greatest losses were in food stores. Flour, sugar, salt, pepper. Bags were soaked through while tins, jars, and plastic bins lay shattered or cracked. Dried meat was soaked through, dehydrated vegitables thoroughly hydrated, and jars of jam exploded against walls. The shattered helm finished with it's inspections by the time it got dark while people worked at pulling in the days catch or stoking the smoke fires to preserve food. The storm took it's toll, but recovery was made simple by the migrants earning their keep. In a couple days they would move on to the center, but in the meantime they would get themselves squared away here. In the morning, Walkerville would stretch it's limbs and prepare for the coming day as it always had.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 23, 2018, 07:43:13 pm
Alexei, during the previous night, had drank with Sergei for a time. Checking the clock at one point he stood up and grabbed his ushanka from the table. Leaving a bottle of his finer stuff on the table for Sergei he walked to the door before stopping. Looking over his shoulder he said, accidentally loud enough for most in the place to hear him, “Sergei..enjoy life. We don’t get much of it. And it’d be better to stay away, people around me get hurt. Especially friends.” before walking out the door and back towards home.
Now he found himself at home after a sleepless night of building and self contemplation. As such he found himself shirtless in front of a mirror looking at his tattoos. A single Russian church spire on his stomach with a rose underneath, a rose wrapped around a large dagger was tattooed on his upper left arm, while a skull was depicted just above the church spire with protruding teeth that flanked the spire on either side. A dollar insignia was tattooed on the right side of his back while a ‘grudge’ of a british bulldog baring its teeth was on the other side.
On his lower back was a pair of crossed rifles, the barrels of which had smoke pouring out that had roses stuffed in the barrels with the phrase ‘Roses and gun smoke’ underneath. A stack of money on his right forearm had the words ‘Price of Freedom’ written on it. Then there was a strange tattoo of a some weird insignia on his shoulder. He didn’t quite remember where he’d gotten it. Something to do with certain people recognizing it since he’d been so helpful smuggling...something. Shrugging he head the knock on his door and pulled his shirt and jacket on. Calling for whoever it was to enter he grabbed his gloves.
Irene opened the door as he pulled the gloves on. Looking him over she commented “Well don’t you look fancy. Bars gonna open in a couple minutes so let’s hurry on over.” Alexei nodded as he slid the glove on over the tattoo on his right hand. A skull with the number 32 written in the skull which was surrounded by a tattoo of a gear. Following her out the door he wondered what the first day of this would bring.
Meanwhile Isaac had passed Krieg on the way out and taken the other letters off of him. As Krieg put it he didn’t know who anyone was and Isaac probably did. So now he was going do deliver the final couple of letters to Catnip and Floyd at some point. Picking up the leg Catnip had made him, and had requested he bring to her since it’d been damaged, he decided to go look for her.
Elsewhere the Sarn’t sipped his morning coffee as Schultz pushed his wheelchair to where the recruits had gathered. For once they were all dressed and groomed appropriately. They still weren’t given weapons when on parade since he didn’t trust any of them not to shoot themselves in the head..either head. As they came to a halt he looked them over and nodded in approval. “Okay boys. Today you’re going to do PT and then..well tonight is a bit of a celebration for you, you got to go to the pub.”
He couldn’t help but smile as they cheered and hugged each other.Waiting a few moments he snapped “Section commanders! Get your sections moving!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 23, 2018, 10:31:20 pm
Classified Document
The Cleaners
Comprised of five members as of writing this the Cleaners are oft accompanied by six recruits and two power armor operators. The low number of actual members of the Cleaners is due to the activities in which they operate. Most men have mental breakdowns after prolonged tours in this service. On top of that the current members are rather selective as to who they bring in.
After their next assignment Doctor [REDACTED] would like for them to be assigned to his castle. Due to their experience handling the undead and other similar creatures they would be most suitable for the assignment. Of course if someone higher up has reservations about the assignment it can be discussed in more detail in person.
Your ever faithful servant: Commander [REDACTED]
__________________
The weapon hung heavy in Wilhelm’s hand as he rode with the Militia. It was a simple extermination mission as he’d been told. Still he wasn’t truly one of the ‘Cleaners’. Maybe after this deployment they’d treat him as one of their own. Snapping from his revery as the truck snapped to a halt he looked up to spot the engineers hopping out of their truck’s cabin. Soon a tap on his left shoulder prompted him to follow the man to his right off the truck. Lining up with the other riflemen his eyes followed two of his comrades as they climbed onto the engineering truck’s flatbed.
Then his training gripped his mind as the commander ordered the Cleaners and the recruits to activate their suits. Hermetically sealed the suits were designed to prevent airborne contaminants from entering the wearer’s body as well as being armored against blades and teeth. Especially teeth. But what they were turning on was the suits combat systems. A press of a button turned on the mini motors that chugged to life to power the suits. The right lense of the helmet flashed blindingly bright momentarily before the screen settled into its usual form. A fuel and battery gauge in the lower left accompanied by the ammo count in his backpacks ammo feed in the upper right. The display briefly flashed the status of his sidearm before registering it was holstered. Grabbing the end of the ammo feeder he slid it into place on his rifle before chambering a round.
Everyone looked over to the objects on the engineer’s flatbed. The engines that powered the two sets of power armor had roared to life and then thrummed gently. The operators guided the suits off of the truck as the two exhaust pipes shook somewhat. The commander shook his head for a moment before motioning the men onward with a gesture of his sword. Wilhelm followed the man to his left as they started moving in a more casual manner. They still kept pace but the drilled marching from back at base had deformed into casual walking. Still he noted that the Cleaners that had been serving in the group for longer seemed to have formed their own section.
Looking back to the man in front of him Wilhelm examined the back of his helmet as he thought. A nest of the creatures had formed and now they had scared off the locals. They’d have to swing by the local towns to make sure none of the creatures had gotten to them. From there it’d be back home. Now if only the lining on the top of his helmet didn’t itch.
Of course that was assuming they made it home. Looking around he noted how most of the squad..if one could call a fifteen man group a squad, were carrying rifles like his own. The Engineers bore magazine fed trench shotguns. Then there was the machine gunner. His suit bore a larger motor to power the hydraulic suit he had to wear to carry the ‘Vickers 2.0’. Firing the .303 cartridge of it’s namesake the weapon the weapon was made to accommodate the ammo feed and the mid range sight that was attached atop it. The backpack he wore also carried five hundred rounds that were fed into the weapon by the same system that Wilhelm wore himself. He was accompanied by the two Bren Gunners. Whereas the man with the vickers stayed back these men oft accompanied the riflemen into buildings to provide fire support.
He was about to examine the grenadier when the commander called them to a stop. The experienced Cleaners joked to each other as they came to a halt and eyed the commander. For his part Wilhelm took position with the other riflemen. The machine gunner settled himself in as he observed the building they were going into. His voice hummed gently over the suits built in radio system. “Twenty in the parking lot. One of ‘em is emitting electricity. Looks like another is oozing something..seems to burn the ground.”
Wilhelm hoped the 150 rounds in his pack were enough. Regardless he wasn’t surprised when the machine gunner opened fire. He would clear the route there for the riflemen. They were already on the move as he tore into the parking lot. Some of them took to a sprint at the machine gunner before rounds tore through their rotten flesh and put them down. The autoriflemen were following close behind the riflemen as they moved confidently forward.
Soon they were in the parking lot as the machine gun went quiet. The pool of acid around one of the corpses bubbled. Wilhelm doubted his armor would stand up to that. Moving past it they watched the entrance warily. The power armor moved to the front and pushed towards the doors. Clearing the first room the power armor operators radioed for the riflemen to take over.
Which they did. Wilhelm followed Eyes as they moved into a room on the right. Eyes moved in a peculiar yet smooth manner. He pushed through the door backwards and rolled along it as he lazily raised the rifle and fired two rounds into the first zombie in the room. It collapsed to the ground as Eyes shoved the bayonet on his rifle into the other zombie’s skull. Kicking the body off Eyes shook his head before gesturing to the next door. “Rookie goes first. Give him some space Tooth.”
Wilhelm looked over his shoulder to notice the man called Tooth. The necklace of old, somewhat rotting, teeth stuck out at first glance. As was the fact he was standing close enough to Wilhelm that had he not been wearing the suit he’d have been breathing down Wilhelm’s neck. But at the words from Eyes the man backed off a bit as Wilhelm walked to the next door. He heard something through the door as he neared it. Tilting his head and listening closer he could hear..
Stepping back he told the others to pull back. Eyes gestured to Tooth with a stupid grin and the pair walked back. The other riflemen with them followed suit as Wilhelm retrieved a grenade bola that the Cleaners had often carried. Activating the timer Wilhelm kicked the door open and threw the bola into the room before turning and diving away.
The first zombie to notice the door had also gotten caught by the bola and fell. The others had begun trampling over it before the clicking noise of the timer sounded. The resulting explosion sent parts flying as Tooth and Eyes opened fire. The few that had escaped the explosion fell to rapid gunfire. Of course Wilhelm thought he was dead as he pushed his head to the ground. Soon though he felt a hand grab him by the arm and haul him up to his feet.
Eyes clapped him on the back as he motioned for the others to follow. “Good throw Ears. Good throw.” he said as he walked into the destroyed room and looked at the carnage for a moment before continuing on. Wilhelm wondered what the ‘Ears’ comment was about as he followed.
___________8 hours later__________________
Wilhelm had watched one of the other Riflemen start running away. The Commander had shouted for him to return to no avail. The man was intent on running home now after what he’d seen. The bark of a rifle ended that little dream of his as Eyes waited a moment to make sure the body lay still before standing up. The commander screamed at the man who remained unfazed by the response to his actions. “He was giving our position away to the monsters. Better he die then all of us.” was the casual response.
Maybe it was the fact he’d done this duty before. Maybe it was that he’d not been anywhere but the Cleaner barracks in months while the other recruits got leave rather regularly. Whatever it was he wasn’t sure but Wilhelm regarded the now dead man with contempt. He had endangered his comrades by his actions. He deserved it.
Following Tooth as the man gestured for him to do so Wilhelm didn’t notice that everyone in the group were the veterans. Eyes, Tooth, Rot, Nose, and Claws led the way forward. The little town was comprised of wood shacks that only vaguely resembled houses. Eyes was humming over the radio as they walked while Rot fidgeted nervously..or was it just a twitch.
The sound of Eyes’ rifle going off as a pair of zombies tried to climb out of a window snapped everyone to attention. More of them came out of the buildings around them as the Cleaners opened fire. Rot had started cackling a they mowed down their enemy while Claw, upon his weapon jamming, started bashing skulls off of heads with his rifle being held like a club.
Soon the gunfire stopped and Claw held his rifle as normal and unjammed it. Still something felt off as the others chattered to themselves. Wilhelm looked around at the houses before hearing something. Grabbing two of his bolas Wilhelm turned and threw them into a building. This was followed by a larger zombie pushing through the wall before the bolas wrapped around its neck. As the two grenades on either end detonated the things head was sent flying in a spray of shrapnel and gore.
A sudden slap to his back from Eyes was followed by Tooth saying “Good job Ears. Now let’s get moving.”
__________2 days later_______
Wilhelm and the Cleaners had been walking for the past two days between the local towns. Those that still had people in them had furnished food for them as a thanks. None of them asked what had happened to the others. Not that they’d have offered up the fact that most of them had been eaten and that they’d shot the commander for ordering a retreat. Not that Wilhelm would have cared what they thought. The cowards deserved it.
Regardless he liked his new rifle. The grenade launcher attachment added a nice weight to the front without throwing off his aim. Sliding a fresh rifle grenade in he listened as Claw said “So we’re going to be shipped off to his Majesty’s little friend’s castle. Something about things there needing to be contained and we’re the only bastards sick enough. So you gonna come with us Ears or are you gonna chicken out like the last guy?”
Wilhelm shrugged in response as he watched the horizon. None of his compatriots responded to it. They’d seen the same before after all. Claws wondered if he could make a serviceable mug from Wilhelm’s skull while Rot assumed he’d turn around to their point of view. What life was better than this?
It was a half hour later when Eyes called out “Templars. Looks like that chapter that’s been fucking with our farmers too.” Despite their disposition these men still held some loyalty to their country it seemed. Regardless they were all surprised as Wilhelm strode forward past Eyes with his rifle in hand. The Templar Knight didn’t see him as he moved forward at a rapid pace.
The Templar turned around from his conversation to find a bayonet stabbing up through the gap between his breastplate and helmet. The Knight fell to his knees as a hand gripped Wilhelm’s throat. The bayonet slid from his throat as Wilhelm smiled. Pushing the weak knight over Wilhelm said “I remember that little insignia on your shoulder. Now..I’ve got to have a little chat with your friends inside. I’m sure their curious as to why you’ve just been stabbed.”
The others had caught up as Wilhelm kicked the door open with the cry “Hello Mein friends! I have a friend that wants to say hello!” The elderly man cried out for help before a bullet struck him in the eye. As another walked into the room unaware of what was going on save for the gunshot Wilhelm’s mind flashed to all the comrades he’d lost. So many faces, so many names.
The second round killed the man that had walked in. Striding through the doorway into the back room Wilhelm saw nothing. As he walked slowly he soon heard something. Retrieving a bola from his belt he walked over to a rug and pulled it away to reveal a hatch. Activating the grenade he threw them below before striding back outside. He was greeted by Tooth offering him a necklace with the Templar’s ears on it. As Ears put on his new necklace Rot spoke for the first time since they’d met “Welcome aboard kid. We’ll preserve those when we get back.”
___________5 days later___________
Ears grumbled at the new uniform he’d been given. The Cleaner’s previous armor was designed for the duty they had been given. This was focused on providing more overall protection. As such the heavy metal plates and thicker kevlar weaving left him feeling sluggish even with the sleeker and more advanced hydraulic systems that enabled him to carry the cut down box fed Bren gun with ease. Fortunately the hud system from his older armor had been transferred over thanks to Rot’s tinkering. At least the helmet lining didn’t itch anymore..
Still he hated the inaction of this place. And judging by Rot’s grunt at the moment he hated it too. Sighing Ears led them around the corner of the castle basements winding halls. Sometimes he swore these halls changed every now and then. At least the screaming from whatever kind of hellish experiment they were performing daily stayed the same.
Rot tapped his shotguns grip idely in time to the screams. A beeping noise caused Ears to motion for them to stop at the nearby refueling station. Attaching the end of the fuel hose to his backpack Ears pulled the lever. After a minute another beep alerted him and he removed the fuel hose and handed it to Rot. “At least these things are spread all over this place. It’d be a pain to drag our gear back if it ran dry.”
Rot nodded as he waited for his tank to fill up. Once it did he replaced the hose and followed Ears as he said “If only that idiot of a chef could brew some proper coffee.” Ears chuckled before nodding in agreement.
The pair soon returned to the usual silence as they walked casually down the hall. It wasn’t long until a scientist ran into the hallway screaming only to be brought back in by some invisible force. The pair exchanged a look and Rot shrugged before the pair moved to the door. Rot, with his typical reckless abandon since arriving here, rushed in firing his shotgun at the creature that floated in the middle of the room. Ears rushed in and fired with the same results as Rot’s shotgun. That was the total and full amount of nothing.
The beast, which appeared human save for barb wire protruding from it’s right arm, wore only a pair of pants and black military boots not dissimilar to what Rot and Ears wore. It in turn looked over at them before lashing out with it’s arm and sending barb wire out that impaled Rot’s leg before returning to it’s body.
Ears saw that every scientist that had been in the room was dead, ripped to pieces with barb wire. Seeing his comrade injured Ears tossed the Bren gun aside and rushed the monster. Leaping at it as it went to disable his legs he slammed into it and took it to the ground. Stabbing it in the throat with his knife. He vaguely heard Rot make a comment about him going a bit overboard as he continued to furiously gouge and stab at it’s throat and head. After a few minutes of rage induced attacks Ears stopped. Slicing it’s ears off to add to his collection he stood up and moved towards Rot. “Kid see what the fuck these guys were doing first. I can stop the bleeding myself.” Rot said as he pulled the now broken metal plates from his leg armor off.
Ears nodded as he tried to stand. He screamed when it felt like barb wire was tearing his right arm apart as he moved. Rot forced himself to his feet and limped over to a nearby computer terminal. Skimming over the notes on it he said “Fucking..magic barbwire..says something about only the sick minded can truly control it..hey that fits us to a T!”
Ears nodded as he jerked his arm up and away from the body and noticed the barb wire rip itself from the now dead body. The pain had begun to subside as it wrapped itself around his arm and pushed the metal armor out of the way. Flexing his arm and fingers Ears smiled as he removed the helmet he wore to get a better look. Admiring it as the metal plates, now cut into pieces, fell away from his arm Ears said “Heh, sick minded? Rot you of all people know what people like us are.”
Rot nodded as he flicked through the files on the computer. More and more records rituals and sacrifices showed up as he skimmed through them. Summoning spirits, zombies, even some kind of demon that they had to put down. Shit like this..thing only started popping up a month ago. “This shit’s pretty fucked up even for me. I like it!”
Ears nodded in agreement as he moved to help Rot walk. They’d get to the infirmary and then Ears figured he’d be having a long talk with Herr Doctor. For now though it was time for the long walk to the infirmary.
The Militia captain sighed as he sat in his little hidden office and listened to the reports of his men. If he were to be honest he’d tell his higher ups he didn’t like being positioned so close to enemy territory. But then he also knew it was a necessary evil. Still he’d have liked to be able to head somewhere for a good cup of tea.
As he scribbled out a few notes on some items to pick up when he next left this place he heard the door open. Looking up he saw a man standing roughly eight foot tall walk in. Putting the shopping list aside the Captain nodded to the man before flipping open a notebook. The man fed him information of local convoys, some disguised some not, military movements of the Red Duke’s ‘Kingdom’, and locations of arms and supplies stashes. Once he’d gotten all the details written down the Captain observed his cloaked guest.
Making a gesture towards the still shining cross that hung around his neck the Captain said “You Knight it would be better if you removed that. Even in dark places it shines like a beacon to those that despise you.”
The Knight shrugged as he said “You know I can handle anyone who would come after me. Besides I didn’t have the time to disguise myself properly.”
The Captain retrieved a cigarette and lit it as he said “You’re eight foot tall, kind of hard to disguise yourself. But anyway, I’ve been curious. Why give me all of this information? You’ve not asked for any kind of pay.”
The knight had turned to leave when he heard this. Smiling underneath his helmet he looked over his shoulder and responded “Simple really. This will ensure the services of the Templars will be needed. The current issue the Militia has with us is that we refuse to join them in battle. If you succeed in eliminating the Duke then we’ll no longer have an issue. Besides military conflict will give us more to do, more ways to ingratiate the populace to us.”
Without further discussion the man departed. The Captain watched him go with a look of contempt as he pressed the button to stop the recorder on the bottom of his desk. Tapping his pencil on the top of the desk he planned to meet his courier friend later in the week, making a mental note to ensure he understood that this assignment was one that required discretion. Leaning back and putting his feet up on the table he turned the radio back on and listened to more reports for the time being. Perhaps one of the units would broadcast a cricket game or something of the like.
______________________________________________________________4 days later
The Captain walked through the local town wearing the little getup he’d acquired from a contact. The red badge denoting him as a member of his Dukes people annoyed him but less so then the accent he had to put on to fit in here. At least he finally found the bench that his courier said to meet him at. Next time he was going to arrange to meet at a Militia cafe. At least then he could get a good cup of tea..or maybe coffee..no definitely tea.
After a half hour of nothingness as he idely flipped through a paper the courier sat next to him. A few passing words to play their parts and they quietly and discreetly passed the messages from one to the other. After a few more minutes to keep up appearances the two parted ways. The courier first to Militia headquarters then to take those tapes to a friend of the Captains while he went back to his little hideout.
Ears and the other Cleaners stood at attention in their new all black dress uniforms as General Norman observed them. Well as at attention as the Cleaners could be as Rot stood somewhat crooked as he adjusted to the new leg and Claws stood in that odd bent knee stance of his. Ears himself stood upright but had his hands in front of him as he ran a finger along the barb wire that wrapped around his right arm.
After a few more minutes the General turned to the doctor and asked “Are you sure these men are capable of handling the situation?” To which the Doctor replied “Of course! We have here men who embody the concepts of hatred and anger and ill desire! If they cannot kill the things within that fortress then I shudder to think what would happen if they were to be let out of that place.”
Ears rolled his eyes at the ‘embody the concepts of hatred’ comments. He was well aware they were talking of him and his hatred of both zombies and a sect of the Templars. Of course neither of those had been divulged but they knew something was there for the barb wire to have chosen him as a new host over taking control of a corpse.
Regardless the General agreed to send them. It seemed he had little choice to the Cleaners who were happy to be leaving this place. Happier to be doing so to fight something.
____________________________________________________2 days later
Ears and the other Cleaners dismounted the truck. Weapons in hand and ammo packs filled they were ready for war. Or the second apocalypse, whichever came first. Walking towards the fortress that they had been instructed to clear Ears pulled the hammer of his side arm which Rot had configured to work with an Ammo feed.
As he walked towards the large double doors Tooth had already setup a charge. Three. Two. One. The explosion sent the doors flying inwards as Ears opened fire on the zombies. They fell with relative ease as bullets tore through their heads and throats. Claws let his Bren gun belch fire as they moved forward into the mass.
His arm didn’t even move as the barb wire twisted and dug into his skin before launching outwards. Ripping into the zombies that rushed towards them the barbwire dripped with tainted blood. At the same time Ears gun barked and sent another bullet into a zombie’s skull.
Surprisingly the entrance was easy to clearout. Pushing into a courtyard inside Ears saw a group of zombies that were holding rifles. These zombies were also taking cover and firing at them. Ears felt the bullets ping off the barb wire as it contorted to protect him. Lifting his pistol he fired at one of the zombies as the others slid to cover. The first round tore through an eye. The second sent another zombie to the ground with a hole between it’s legs. Then Rot’s shotgun fired and sent a third to the ground. From there it was a slaughter. Something the Cleaner’s were familiar with carrying out.
Ears led the way again. This time towards the hallway that had a sign saying ‘lab’. The few zombies that stood in their way were destroyed with ease. Sliding to the front Rot cleared around the corner as Nose retrieved what they called a ‘Can Opener’. Putting it on the door they needed to get through Nose let people get clear before detonating it. The door in it’s entirety was sent flying inward crushing several of the zombies that had been bowing to a floating man in the middle of the room. He, and the zombies, turned to face them.
Rot let his shotgun talk as Claws Bren gun burped through the doorway. This dealt with the first handful of zombies. It did not in fact deal with the floating man that was now throwing fireballs at them. They stepped aside as the fireballs hit the wall behind them before Ears rushed in.
This one like the last would prove an easy foe. The barbwire wrapped around his throat as Ears shoved a knife through his throat. This was followed by a series of stab wounds that left the thing limp before being tossed to the side. Which was when he spotted the staircase. “They don’t make evil magic dens simple do they?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 24, 2018, 09:55:21 am
The Hell's raiders checked over the mall and what was left of their leavings. They had intended to take the place back from the God's Army scouts who had assaulted the mall shortly after the scaled young mans departure days before. Since then Big smoke and his surviving group of raiders had rejoined with Curtis and his group of scouts, giving them enough fighters to attempt a retaking of the mall they called "Stallport." It hadn't been necessary. Their was sign of fighting, of ambush much like that which had taken the mall from the raiders. Except that whoever had done it, had done a number to the entrance and then threw up rough fortifications.
"A tank, and some other heavy vehicle judging from what's left of the tracks." Said Curtis, "Tank stayed outside, left a deep depression where it was sitting. I'm gonna guess the other vehicle was what plowed I to the place. The pigs walker is still here though, beat to hell, and whoever did this went to the trouble of nailing a couple of the GA thugs up and burying ours..."
Big smoke stroked the thin beard on his chin, making him look more wizened and elderly than he usually did. "The iron Marshal? The blade of Sodom perhaps?"
"And The Maw, judging by some of the bodies." Curtis said, confirming his chief's suspicions and surprising him.
"Aaah, so rumors bear fruit! She was here? Do you say so?"
"I do say so, but Smo-"
"Then let it be so!"
Other raiders, mostly those who had been evacuated because they couldn't fight, we're gathering up supplies, goods, and personal belongings to be loaded into the Big Smokes "transport" wagon. A large semi which the Big smokes chief had believed they would not be needing again. The rat devil's had been slain on the forests edge though, and some of them thought that the poison which had run through them would taint the land, or poison them if left where it was.
"Okay." Curtis sighed, drawing out the 'oh' portion of the word, "and what about the kid?"
He glanced sideward at the kid who'd rejoined them on the road. He'd brought back supplies the Big Smokes had desperately needed from a scavenger that had claimed peace but took from them, even going so far as to try and kidnap one of their women folk. The kid, a troubled young man named Dean, had gone after him. What happened to Jim John, Big Smoke never asked. Dee brought back the stolen property, and that was enough.
"He has a bit more reflection to consider I think, but I expect we will be accompanying him back to his home."
Curtis started a little as the realization hit him. "What? To the farm? Refugee center? What makes you think we can go to either of those places and not get shelled to hell and back again?"
"Because he won't let them if it comes to it. If we end up at the center instead, Atomos the scout will prevent it. She often has dealings with them. I suspect the exchange of information. She does the same with our rivals as well."
"But why?" Curtis demanded, shrugging off what Big Smoke said about the nice scout girl who went out, sometimes for weeks, getting the lay of the land for them.
"Because The Maw is there."
"And why the flying fuck would we want to be anywhere near there? Have you lost your fuckin-"
"You still don't understand do you Curt? The kid needs to go back because he has a duty there. A duty you should be helping him return to, since you tried to turn him away from it before. I want to go there because I wish to meet in person The Maw. We both must go because Dean's duty, and my desire, are one in the same." Lilith awoke in the morning tasting something sweet. A bit like cotton candy, which was a thing she had never had but somehow knew the taste of. She looked around, and found herself at the intersection of two streets, laying amongst a neatly stacked pile of safety deposit box is. Most importantly, she was alone. There was the vague memory of Sharlene doing something with a blanket. It had made a great deal of light and noise, and produced an odd sucking sensation all over and throughout her body. She had of course resisted that feeling easily, but where had Sharlene and the strange spooky men with swords for hands gone?
The blanket was nearby at least, one of those soft fluffy kinds that keeps one warm even on the coldest nights, and weighed a ton even when dry. Except it was blue. A vivid navy blue thing which complemented her orange fur quite pleasingly. Along with it was a long skirt of some kind, also of the same once-white-but-now-blue blanket material. But what was she supposed to do with them? And where was Sharlene? Lilith decided she would look, Nathaniel had told her to keep an eye on Sharlene after all, and she couldn't well do that if she couldn't see her handler now could she? But then there was also the boxes. If Lilith left them to look for Sharlene and someone happened to find them just out here in the open like this...
She eyed an alleyway suspiciously for a moment, a cat sauntered confidently out from behind a dumpster and yowled at her.
"Myowl." It said, amorously.
Lilith's fur bristled and she hissed menacingly at it. The small lank Tom yowled again, but kept what it felt was a safe distance. No, she couldn't just leave them. But how was she going to carry them? The blue thing? Sharlene seemed to think it could carry all the boxes, but how? If she had it right, all Lilith had to do was wrap the thing around her chest and tuck the boxes between her breasts. That didn't make much sense to her but then again, Sharlene sometimes did a lot of things that didn't make sense. They usually worked out for the best though. Usually.
It was very soft and very warm. She could feel that by running her paw over it, almost as soft but not quite as silky as the pads on her digits. To her delight, she found that she couldn't tear it. Couldn't even get a claw through the weave, that was nice. She had a little difficulty getting the skirt thing on, finding that it had a slit up the side so that it would allow her more ease of movement. There was the vague recollection of "Chad" working on it, but Lilith hadn't paid him much mind. The wrap came next, and that was a lot harder. With a few loops, a bit of ingenuity, about an hour of fiddling, and the idea that she could just tie the thing into a wide sash about her waist to twist around and pull up over her prodigious bosom, she finally managed to get it on.
The result was noticable instantly. As she sinched down the blue thing she felt at first the cloth cupping and squeezing her chest, then there came a sensation of suddenly slipping through the fabric. She looked down expecting to see herself protruding through the cloth, and was shocked to see that where once there had been a pair of the largest boobs in the post cataclysm world, she was now as flat as a board. The shock wore off quick and anger took it's place.
"What? Where boobth go?" She growled, patting at her chest. She couldn't feel a thing under there other than her flat, featureless chest. Not even nipples were left. A car was rolled and several of Sharlene's prized boxes went flying, smashing against vehicles and wall. She swatted a wandering zombie into a store front, and that made her feel a little better. Killing undead was always a good vent. "Where boobth go!? Where tharlene go? Thtupid blue thing!"
At the height of her tantrum, she hooked a claw under the top of the blue thing to whip it off, to tear it apart, but stopped. There, under the blue thing, were her breasts. She let it settle back, and they were gone again. Sharlene was gone. Her boobs were gone, but only while wearing the blue thing. Lilith made the connection from there easily, but the next part was much harder. It didn't work if she wasn't wearing it, but she couldn't look inside while it was on. What to do? Just to check and see, to make sure her theory was correct, Lilith pried open the blue thing and stuffed one of the boxes down into her cleavage. Then another, and another. It was rather amusing how they just vanished once they were in. Sharlene's experiment was a success, but now Lilith needed to find Sharlene. To that end, help would be needed. It was obvious who it had to be.
Lilith padded off back towards the refugee center, taking a moment to push the safety deposit boxes out of sight, calling out every few seconds as she moved.
"Nataleeeee!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 24, 2018, 02:39:21 pm
The pub had opened in earnest at this point. Ernie had his own little bar setup off to one side serving his specialty drinks that Alexei had heard some good comments about. Unlike Alexei he was dressed rather casually in a t-shirt and jeans that belied his grumpy nature. Of course now that they had customers that had changed too, he was actually smiling as he served people. Seemed genuinely happy.
Alexei meanwhile smiled and made the necessary comments to appease customers. Some of whom seemed rather odd. One in particular walked through the door in a dress shirt with rolled up sleeves. His skin was an odd mix of purple, blue, and red that made him stand out. Almost as much as the pointed teeth that revealed themselves when he smiled. Sitting at the bar the man grinned as he ordered “A drink of one of those vodkas I’ve been hearing so much about.”
Alexei nodded as he poured the drink before sliding it across the counter to the man in front of him. Downing the vodka in one go the man knocked on the counter with a knuckle as he observed a pair of patrons arguing. Shaking his head he said “Interesting isn’t it? Introduce alcohol and some people just can’t control themselves.”
Downing the second drink Alexei put in front of him the man put a pair of gold coins on the counter. “Thanks. Name’s Vikaar by the way, and those..well you’ll find out how valuable those really are.” he said before standing up and walking to a table where another pair of customers sat. Alexei shook his head as he walked to another customer and started preparing their drink.
Another customer walked up to the bar and ordered a drink a few minutes later. Removing his helmet the customer looked at his drink for a few minutes before taking a sip. Coughing the man shook his head before taking a long drink from the cup. Setting the glass down he said “Shit, I thought the lads were kidding. Hot damn this actually gets to us.” before putting a few gold coins on the counter and walking out. No one in the bar saw the spirit disappear into another realm to go tell his friends.
In a building far from there three armed men sat around a somewhat elderly russian woman as they waited for her to finish getting ready to go. They were somewhat surprised when a pair of men that were heavily tattooed walked in. One of the three men spoke in Russian “One slug of vodka that they try to kill us.”
The other shook their heads as the two men walked over. The ‘captain’ of the three recognized some bastardized military gear the pair were wearing. Someone had raided a military base it looked like. One of them produced a photograph and asked “Have you seen this heretic?”
The captain took it and passed it around after looking it over. After a time it was passed to the woman who after a few moments asked “What do you want with him?”
One of the two gave a wicked smile as he said “We’re gonna kill him just like he did the Brothers. He’s gonna burn.”
A single word in Russian was all it took. An axe cleaved one of the pair’s arm off as one of the men stepped forward. This was followed by a spray of blood as the other lost his head to a shotgun blast. The one that had lost his arm shouted something that no one caught or cared enough to actually remember before the point on the back side of the axe came up through his chin and into his brain. The captain extracted his weapon from the man’s skull as the woman suggested they start moving again.
On the other end of a radio a man sighed. Spitting of to the side he rubbed his blue eyes before walking out to his flock. Spreading his arms he shouted “We will find the Heretic! He will come to know the ultimate pain and any who stand in our way will share it! But for now we must bide our time.”
Motioning to a group that was off to the side he said “Brothers, go. Find the Heretic and report back. And if you should bring anyone else under the Brother’s blessing so be it.”
As the others mounted up their leader called back “It will take us time to arrive in that region. But we will report once we find him. Go with the Brothers priest.”
Nodding to the man the Priest looked over as one of the others of his flock guided a man to him. His eyes were black. “Another who has consumed the impure flesh. A shame.” Putting a gun in the man’s hand he said “But you know how to atone.”
The gunshot rang out as the trucks moved out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 25, 2018, 01:54:02 am
(( Stuff with the general and the rendezvous platoon written with Salt. ))
Hector had relatively easily moved the one surviving item from his old quarters, the locker's metal giving off a faint warmth that faded at his touch, the knight still not entirely sure how it worked. Only that Helen had bound it in some way and it somehow weathered the storm. Aside from that there were spare clothes scattered by the storm, a loss made easier by a spare tossed in the tank, scavenged clothes in his size, and some stored in the locker, selected for how they went with his armor.
Compared to the uneasy sleep of the past few days, the night that followed was calm, relieved by recent events and comforted by the knowledge that Roxanne would be stable for now. He had, over the evening, pondered some of those things he remarked on, thinking that should be find something adequate as a wedding ring, and if she wished it, they had missed out on some of the formality of it.
He had never really given it much thought, thinking it hardly relevant in the wake of the apocalypse. But having heard mumblings about how Helen and Victor were known to not technically be married, realizing people still used the terms, he left the question up to Roxanne.
Soon things had finally settled down a bit at The Hall, plus or minus the spirit and her shenanigans, or the small slime creature and her own shenanigans. Solomon and five of the six had been variously either tending to Anton, cooking dinner, or further working with the mislings who had sheltered there, making solid progress on the initial structure of the planned addition.
And now, after tending to feeding Thomas and otherwise settling him in for the evening, Helen sat there at the side of her bed, regarding Victor. "Now that we have...finally, a moment's respite." she said, the left sleeve of her shirt rolled up, arm having been carefully bandaged up. "You had mentioned something to discuss?"
The story itself hadn't been what kept them up late into the night. Instead it was both her discomfort with retelling it, and her own attempts to pry info about the hermit from him. It was clear enough to him however that she hadn't partaken of the infamous Dragonblood Sacrement, the act of summoning that called the Sanguine Order's downfall into this world. But she had quite clearly benefited from picking at the knowledge that remained, having revealed the green-scaled, batlike wings and tail.
"Don't think I can even glide on them, to be honest. Feels like it helps to stretch them out in hot weather though. Helps with the rest of what all this did to me." she explained, the hermit regarding those blue eyes of hers. "So that explains why you're walking around this far north like it's a deep south summer." he remarked. "I wonder if you could breathe fire..."
"If that's even possible, I have no idea how nor whether I'd survive the attempt." she remarked. "So what about you? Why are you here?" The hermit grumbled a bit, looking away. "Damnit you've asked me that three times already...you know what, fine. I haven't called out to Him in years. Not since the day this all boiled over. Our greatest temples lay in ruins, the mage-hunters were falling apart at the seams, and I didn't know if I'd ever be able to regain some semblance of normalcy in the blind world. It was too late to try by then anyway."
"And you cared about the mage hunters?" she scoffed, and he sighed. "Obsolete gods or not, all our differences or not, we both at least wanted to ensure The Veil wouldn't be torn asunder." She looked down a bit at that, sighing some. "I guess when you put it that way, knowing what I know now...that doesn't excuse the ignorance, the bull-headedness, the self-destructive approach to everything even remotely unknown..."
"Right. So much for having learned to set aside hatred." he teased, and she glared at him, before looking away. "S-shut up...look, if you know any places..."
"I'm still not sure what you're looking for. I assume to see if any more of your lot survived, and honestly I hope they didn't." he said bluntly. He simply watched her, watching that defiant look cross her face again, only for it to turn solemn. "L-look, if I can just salvage any of this...I may have learned valuable lessons from following The Path, but I also learned where it can lead. I just want to find out if I have any...family left."
"So that's it. They were like family to you. In which case I pity you, poor creature." he remarked, and she gave a huff at that. "Hey! Some of them weren't that bad. And it was better than nothing. Plus the shrikes..." she said, trailing off. "Right. Defenders of the defenseless. Scratch that, defenders of those who depredate the defenseless." he remarked. "If The Path hadn't led me down this route, I would've liked it. I may have done what I had to do to thrive among the Order, but applying those lessons to protect another would've been...I don't know. Nice?"
"Right. Instead of using it to murder and corrupt. That's called having a conscience. Or something close to one. Something you blood mages seemed to have a short supply of." he remarked, prompting another glare from her. "Not like you lot were any better about human sacrifice..."
"We operated solely off of volunteers and captured enemies. Emphasis on enemies. They had to be taken in a fair fight, and more often we preferred the latter already dead. That way it was a matter of not letting even a hated foe's death be in vain, rather than deliberate slaughter." he said. "And I see you can do the holier-than-thou thing just as well as any mage hunter. Must be all those holy books giving you ideas." she teased.
"Look, as much as I enjoy trading childish insults over our respective sordid pasts, it's getting late. I have a cot set up in the other room." he said, sighing a bit. "Then when the Canadians come along to do their usual checkup on the village, they can probably spare a person or two to escort you down to the other railroad outposts. You might figure out something there." he said.
"Alright...you really know nothing?" she asked, and he shook his head. "Been up here since close to 7, 8 years by now. I know God's Army has some magic-users in their upper ranks, but no way am I suggesting you go near them. Their leader is a demon of some sort, and the common peons would string you up on sight. If they knew you were essentially an atheist mutant witch, they'd have to invent a new sort of cross just for you." he joked.
"So that leaves south for a distant hope of finding someone, versus any other direction being useless to me. Guess all those metaphors and parables about The Path are finally useful in literal meaning for once..."
Nathaniel had, since the visit to the center, returned to help out as best as he could manage, soon out walking through the surrounding woods. Evidently the local arrivals had settled into the usual work, Hector had a room with Roxanne now, the captain had evidently talked down a panicking avian, and as far as he knew Lilith had fucked off to who-knows-where.
As he walked out towards the field leading to the refugee center, he thought about the ruined cabin and Sharlene's refusal to accept any help. Stubbornness he understood, sure. But when she was involved her behavior provoked suspicion. All he could do was look around, help out around Walkerville as they started calling it, and hope they returned safely.
PFC Larion glanced over at the corporal who was driving the center's old jeep, this time with an APC following behind them. Wasn't Corporal Vela this time, some new guy sent over, either from Maryland or the cruiser. In fact most of the people in the group were from that bunch, along with a Navy officer in the APC who was to meet with the group they intended to make contact with. It was then he heard the voice over the radio, of the man assigned to lead the party.
"This is Lieutenant Commander Anderson, we are approaching the rendezvous point. What's your status, over."
Radio silence. It lasted for all of two or three minutes, then it suddenly kicked on.
"Sorry for the delay, status is uh..." The voice, that of a young man, said, "Buncha injured, lotta machinery down for the count, guide lady is having some kind of psychotic episode, and general's all kinds of fucked up. Over." The voice on the other end had the unmistakable twang of one of the great lakes states, or Canada. From what the caravan was expecting, it was almost certainly the latter. "Eyuh, provide proof of providence on approach. No offense, but we're expecting trouble. You don't wanna get a load of mortar. The General will meet with your leader mono e mono on the bridge leading to our camp. Uh, just a sec..." A pause, then, "He says you can all come across. He'll meet you there in the Midgard. General can't leave it for too long til he's recovered anyway. Big mech thing, you can't miss it."
The lieutenant commander listened before answering. "Very well then, we will be approaching the bridge. Look for two vehicles. Lead's an M151A2, old 4x4. Top's down, you'll see PFC Larion from the Center driving, corporal Alex in passenger's seat, and Private Wills in the back." he answered. "M113A3 carrier following behind, you'll spot me out of the commander's hatch. ETA two minutes."
"Ok, you heard the man. Two Minutes, jeep and carrier on the bridge. General will meet with them alone." Said the man, more boy than man, as he hung up the radio, "They aren't sending the lady from the center or the marshal like we thought they would, but that's fine. Are you ready General?"
"Yah, ready as I can be." replied an elderly looking man, bent low at the back but offputtingly young in the eyes. He struggled to his feet, clutching at the sore place in his lower back, groaning in pain. The radio operator tried to help him, but was waved away for his trouble. "Bridge, two minutes. Easy, and it won't even use the stone much."
"You're putting an awful lot of risk for yourself into this meeting." Commented a young woman, the lady in charge of maintaining the columns lesser vehicles. The General didn't say a word of response to that, not a sound. He simply climbed into the Midgard and started it up. He felt the stone working on him immediately, every second spent exposed to it took a minute off his life. A man of only twenty five, already looking and feeling like a gentleman of seventy. Most of the machines protocols stripped days off his lifespan, except the Nidhogg. Nidhogg had taken years.
"Alright General, you are cleared to go. Good luck sir!" With that, the two would meet at the bridge, the lieutenant commander having his report of the situation.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on May 26, 2018, 07:14:33 am
Wadi had remained stuck to Brian for a good while after Delta had left, mostly just hugging him and climbing over him. Delta, meanwhile, had taken up shop within the farmhouse, having split herself up to hide in numerous cracks and behind multiple objects without melting too much of anything. She hadn't hidden like this herself in nearly three years, seeing as she'd given the job off to be handled by affluents. Delta watched Hector do a bit of back-and-forth with his stuff for a bit, deciding to let the two have a bit of a moment. Not alone, of course, but she's not going to burst in just yet.
By the time Cardin had stopped bawling over nothing, he'd settled into groaning while sitting calmly on the floor. He seems to default to using his wings like a cape, bunched up behind him with his longer feathers slightly curled up to prevent them from dragging across the ground. Not that it's helping, given that he's currently sat down with half of his feathers coated in mud anyway.
Puddle had taken advantage of the short period where people weren't paying attention to her to escape. Or, more accurately, to return to her hiding places.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 26, 2018, 08:15:24 am
Sharlene sat up, feeling a hell of a headache and an odd itch just under the skin of her face. She ignored the latter and tended to the former as best she could. Mostly this involved bringing the heel of her hand I to her good eye until the migraine didn't seem so bad. When she was sure her head wasn't going to explode, she took stock of her situation. She had been doing something with... Magic? Yes, magic. Enchanting? That sounded right. Something for... Lilith! A quick glance told her that Lilith wasn't with her, another slower one confirmed it. Liliths absence wasn't the biggest issue though. Lilith was a big girl would could take care of herself. Sharlene had even gotten used to the tigers extended absences. The big issue was everything else.
Everything around her was blue, everything looking as though it were being veiwed through a blue filter. To that end, Sharlene at first believed she must have damaged her remaining eye. What a joke that would be, wake up with a head ache and blind herself trying to get the sleep out of her eyes. Har har. Then she spied the deposit boxes. A majority of them were the same shades of blue, but three of them were not. These three lay in a neat stack away from the main bulk of the pile as if specifically set aside for some special purpose. She stood and made to examine them, except that once she was standing she could see yet another anomaly. A few blocks in every direction from the intersection, the world suddenly stopped. It just ceased at a solid looking wall of fog, as absurd an idea as that was.
"Well Shar, you've done it now. You fucked up and sent yourself to-"
"Ah, mother, you are awake! A shame about the others, but at least you and I are still alive."
It was Michael cheerily floating up the avenue to greet her. Before he could reach her though, the world shifted sickeningly without warning. Everything blurred and ran together, there was a sensation of sudden instantaneous movement. When it finally settled she, Michael, and the deposit boxes were standing in the middle of a field of tall grass.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Sharlene said, covering her mouth with one hand and falling to one knee.
"Would you like me to get you a bucket mother?" Michael asked, clearly concerned. Sharlene waved him away and regained her footing. What just happened? More though, now that she was in a place where it would be more noticable, where was the wind? Why was everything so still? She felt like she was standing in a photograph under a blue filter instead of just looking at one.
"Ok." She said, trying not to panic. "Ok, Mickey. Have you seen Lil?"
Michael simply pointed up, and Sharlene tracing the direction his blade indicated, saw.
"Oh for fucks sakes."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 26, 2018, 01:28:54 pm
Alexei set another drink down in front of another customer. He had noticed that Ernie kept shifting clientele his way. Usually the ones with pointy teeth and this weird vibe. Still some of them didn’t listen and got served by him before moving over to Alexei. Something about his specialty vodkas got these guys giddy.
Two men in particular stood out as they walked in. One was wearing a military uniform from almost a century ago with a dull grey sack over his head. The other wore a pair of dress pants and shoes with a dark red dress shirt that had the sleeves rolled up, and no apparent mouth to speak of.
The two sat down in front of him and the one in the dress shirt raised two fingers as he said “Your best whiskey please. Leave the bottle.”
Alexei shrugged. Retrieving a bottle from under the bar he put it in front of them with a pair of glasses. He was somewhat surprised when the one with the sack over his head poured them drinks and then lifted his glass through the sack. Fancy optical illusion he had there. He caught a little of the conversation, something about that last target getting through the military guys fingers. The man in the dress shirt, evidently named En, told him not to worry about it since it happened sometimes.
Things were surprisingly busy now that he thought about it. Irene had given him a bit of a fit when she noticed him taking the coins until he firmly reminded her just who actually owned the place. He’d take what currency he felt like, to which she’d responded fine, she could find someone who’d take the coins.
Of course he’d asked around with the customers that paid with them. The most he’d gotten was that they were in fact a standardized currency. With who and based on what he didn’t know though, simply that he’d find out what kind of value they had later. So for now he focused on serving his customers.
Elsewhere Garrick sighed. Of course this had to end the way it did. Blood stained silk and a smoking barrel. Now that his little problem was taken care of he reached over and grabbed the PA device while he moved to sit down. Tapping the mic he heard the speakers squeal a bit before he began to speak slowly and calmly “I’m going to give you a choice. Join the Society or die like dogs. Did you think your employer wouldn’t have this building rigged with a failsafe. I press a button and everyone but me dies.”
Slowly but surely men radioed in. Most simply agreed with it. Others were convinced by the few that knew of him. Putting his feet up on the table he smiled. “I need men to form a surveillance crew. And don’t worry I know somewhere we can get gear like you’ve never seen before. But first send up a Mister Lawrence Bates. I’d like to have a word.”
It took only a few minutes for a man to walk hesitantly in. During that time Garrick had chambered a round in a pistol he’d found in the desk. Waving to Lawrence Garrick smiled as he said “Hello old friend. Been a while Sev.”
Sev blinked. A hand went to his pistol and started to raise the weapon before Garrick let the gun built into his boot blow Sev’s lower arm off. “Did I say you could draw it boy?” Garrick said before grabbing the pistol out of the desk drawer. Walking over he said “And did you think I wouldn’t notice?”
Sev blinked as he backpedaled away. “Notice what?” he asked as he backed into the now closed and secured doors. Garrick laughed as he tapped his ear with his spare hand. “The devices implanted into members of the Society emitted a noise that one could only hear if they had a specific kind of CBM installed, one I always had the medics modify. Now I’m not an idiot, I could hear that the one in your neck wasn’t active.”
Making a dismissive gesture he continued “Of course that meant there had to be others you were attempting to sway. So I did what I had to do.”
Sev tried to shout at him. This resulted in a bullet that tore through Sev’s skull that sprayed blood and brain matter onto the wall. “A shame. You would have made a fine successor when the time came.” Garrick said as he moved to sit back down.
Retrieving a phone from his pocket he dialed a number and waited. After a few minutes, during which he’d had men come to remove the body, Garrick heard the voice of the man that had sent him this way. Garrick responded “Your info was good. The plane you want is in an underground hangar. You’ll be able to find it-” He gave the coordinates “-and the way to get it out should be obvious. Good luck with whatever crazy plan it is you’re doing.”
Pulling out a cigar Garrick sniffed it before retrieving his gold plated lighter. Sitting there smoking he made plans. Soon his men would be outfitted just as well as his previous men. Then they’d move to secure their reputation from the posers.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on May 27, 2018, 02:00:07 am
Even if Roxanne had needed to sleep, she wouldn’t be able to as excitement took over her. She had acquired the means to feel again, her relationship with Hector was moving along despite them taking it quite slow for a while. She had helped Roxanne find and move what little items he had; she offered him whatever clothing she had that would fit him which was admittedly not much. Why she had clothing the size of Hector was explained to him simply by Roxanne saying she liked the style despite it not fitting her.
In the back of her mind something lingered. She had been contacted the day of they stayed at the mall by someone who claimed to be former SoA. They had settled on meeting within the week, no set date but it had to be one day this week. Still, she had a choice to make; lots of things had happened and no doubt Hector worried over her. Would she go there alone or offer him to go with her? He would no doubt have his own issues and she still had some days to make good on her “appointment”. Maybe the next day wasn’t the time to go either; maybe she just wanted to spend lost time with the knight. But if he had his plans maybe getting her appointment out of the way would be prudent.
Well, Roxanne decided things would happen as they did. No used in stressing over the little details. Whatever the next day held she would be ready! Just this little thing and from there she was free. They said they knew more about her sword, maybe she could get the answers she needed; answers Victor could no longer give and she would find a way to enjoy her time with her beloved.
Melody nodded at the Corpsman at his offer to help her with her rifle. Once he checked the chamber and returned it to her she slung it back and held it close to her back as if being protective. “Y-yeah. This one has been through a lot with me. It’s speshial…”
She noted the way the bird was positioned through her aura spell and the way the sun was getting low. Both irritated her a bit due to her current stated. “A-are you guys gonna help or what?! It’s getting laaate! Maybe we can do medical stuff later id birb is ok. Find a place to sleep too. My room is gone and birb doesn’t have one. Victooooor! Roxaaaaane! Heleeeeen! I need a house!”
Things have finally settled at the hall. The slime who had called herself puddle had disappeared in suddenly while Helen and Illiana were talking. With that and Illiana being told she was free to stay, she went and looked for a place to stay as well as probably assist with dinner as her powers were a bit out of commission. That left Helen and Victor alone in the room after a few things were taken care of. At Helen’s comments and questions Victor payed his full attention to her. He was standing overlooking the drawer where the weapons he had brought were stored but he made his way to her by the bed standing in front of her.
“Ah yes. Well, first, that wound of yours concerns me a bit but you said it’s fine so I trust you on that. But if you need anything for that just let me know ok?” He then looked back at the drawer where Solomon had told him to store the odd flesh weapons; the “evil” they emanated not being felt by even his aura spell as the wards safely contained them. “I also found some peculiar weapons you might want to take a look in the morning. Right now it’s getting late for a good examination and frankly there are more important things to discuss in my opinion. Solomon said to place them in that drawer and whatever seals that has seems to be doing a fine job at containing them.”
Next he looked down at his right hand, specifically his wrist. He smile at the slot and plugs that were the UPS Bionic installed in him. He now knew he would have hated this at one point in his past but he didn’t know; the reason why was no longer relevant or even known to him and he wanted to keep it that way. That was the one memory he did not want back. Victor then looked at Helen again, smile still in his face.
“Thane Helen McKinnon of the Cleansing Flame. Once my sworn enemy and now my life partner. Purifier Victor Ironwood of Shadow of Arcane; I have been nothing but but a fool and a burden to you who has the patience of a saint. Yet, you have not only forgave me, you have always been by my side. Well, no more! Roxanne apparently had some of my memories with her and she gave them to me. I have seen who I was back then… I would like to ask for your forgiveness and offer you the assurance I will not make the same mistake. I vow to make things right; for you, for your son... “
“But this is not a plea for forgiveness, it is a plea to move forward for a better future. I know how you are Helen, who we are. And if you allow me, I want to cement our future together. I talked to friend of mine yesterday who I would like you to meet one day and he told me something. He said life is too short to hesitate and I agree. Now I want to give you something. I hope you accept…”
Victor went and reached inside one of his pockets and reached for a small box. He held it out in his hand for her to see as he opened it to reveal to rings. One golden with a red gemstone as its jewel; the other a black one with a purple gemstone as its jewel. He let them see them as he spoke.
“A ring made out of gold with a sunstone as its jewel. You are like the morning sun that brings light to this world and cleanses it. This ring fits you perfectly; an agent that brings order. The other is a black ring with a moonstone as it’s jewel. I am one who lurks in the night with the moon as their guide as they traverse the unknown to learn more from it. Sure what they find is not always pretty and trouble lurks but it’s necessary. Quite the contrast to yourself wouldn’t you agree? Still we have proven with our union that anyone can find common ground and peace can be made. This rings are a symbol of that and I want them to also be a symbol to official seal what is already an unspoken truth.”
Victor took a knee down in front of Helen as took one of her hands, box clutched at his chest. “Helen, will you marry me?”
It was getting dark, Plague knew he should start to head back to the tower. The tower would need a name too as just tower was not good enough. He would give it though later as for now something else occupied the mind of the blade-controlled bio-weapon. After fantasizing about achieving literal godhood and adopting Roxanne as his personal pet, his mind went to more immediate and achievable goals.
He was in a clearing now; something was lurking by the trees but Plague payed it no mind. This body was hard to kill and the power of Coalescence enough would fill any gaps. If he wasn’t allowed to acquire the true power he craved then he would have to secure his place in this land. Authority would make it easier to keep on eye on the other two pieces he need for when the time came for assimilation. But how? The answer was obvious of course; he would focus on building an empire. He would start simple of course: turn the tower into a fortress, then take over the town next door. Then he would get a commodity others would want in this ruin world.
Drugs, weapons and supplies were all to common nowadays as well as being so cliche so he would not go into that. No, he would focus on something else. His colony would be known in the art of dealing in the arcane. The highest bidder would get what he wanted and he had enough power in knowledge in this area to make it work. Enemies would be made of course; the likes of the cleansing flame and other organizations similar he no doubt knew existed despite not being able to name one. He would just deal with them like he dealt with anything else: assimilate them or destroy them, simple.
For now there had to be a first step, something to kickstart everything. He had to get his name out there; it was time to come out of hiding and what better way to do it then by the opportunity in front of him right now? The bushes moved and the light from a gun barrel reflected the shine in the sun. This were amateurs; not worthy of being assimilated. Plague stood there and let them make their move.
“I know you are there. You picked on the wrong person.Come out and face me and I will make it painle-”
*poomb*
Plagues vision went blurry for a moment. Something warm was flowing from his forehead. The sword of coalescence activated and changed to an orange hue. He stumbled back as he saw blood and brain matter splatter before him as armed men started to exit their cover in the bushes. Directed headshot. Before he could regain his footing they began to fire their weapons all at once; they were 6 of them in total all of them brandishing what looked like assault rifles, the same kind plague’s zombies used.
*bratatatatatatatata*
Automatic fire could be heard all over the once quiet landscape. Each bullet finding their mark as they tore flesh,bone and struck metal from bionics the former bio-weapon hadn’t used in years. It was all over in less than 15 seconds; shots had more done their fair share of damage. Yet, Plague was still in one piece somehow. He was brought down to one knee as he used his sword that was dug into the ground in front of him to keep him from falling over. His left hand hanged barely still attached to him; his breathing was erratic and gurgly as he wheezed due to struggling to get air into his lungs.
The other men smirked as they stepped forward seeing their handy work. The man they had shot at still was still somehow alive but he wouldn't be soon enough; another shot to the head would put him out of his misery while they looted whatever he had that had not been damage by the gunshots. That sword of his would looked like it would be worth something. The men took out their magazines and dropped them to the ground before loading a new one and then chambering a round. They were getting close to their kill; the middle one was closer to the other ones.
“Y-you… have done a grave mistake…”, said Plague in a rather strained voice.
The other men laughed as the one in the middle pointed his rifle right in between the eyes of Plague who was for some reason not wearing his mask. “Whatever you say old man. Just hurry up and die!”
A gunshot was expected from the men who were behind the one about to dispatch Plague but the shot never came. A strained groan was heard instead as the orange saber pierced the man’s chest and came from his back. Plague looked at him in the eye as panic set in to the would-be-killer.
“You tried to kill me but you forgot to factor something… You can’t kill what is already dead…”
The man shouted as he suddenly combusted into a bright orange flame and soon became ashes blown into the wind. Plague was standing giving the other men a defiant look. Without missing a beat they started to shoot at him again but this time their bullets did not find their mark. It was as if some force field was shielding him but it wasn’t like that once CMB that did that, no, this bullets seemed to disintegrate in a puff of fire and smoke. Plague started to walk forwards and the man soon stepped back as they continued to shoot.
The bushed behind them where they had hidden rustled again and four zombies emerged. They looked odd though, as if they had never been human. No exaggerated figures but it seemed as if instead of skin they had been made of flesh who had no hardened due to necrosis. The men turned around to focus their fire at the undead but it was too late; they were grasped by the zombies who went and bit down on their necks severing major arteries. One of them was spared and he ran in the opposite right towards Plague as his peers were divorced while screaming in agony. Plague grabbed him by the throat and pointed his blade at the man’s stomach; he was now fully healed with no signs of ever having been injured.
“Bio-Weapon Anomon, The Plague Bringer; know the name. I could kill you right now but there is no need for that. Go, go and spread the word of what happened today. Tell everyone this area is now under my command and protection now and anyone who dares stand in my way will suffer the same fate.” Plague dropped the man down who was now crying and looked him in the eye while putting his sword away. “I SAID GO!”
The man screamed and stumbled himself as he got up and ran away. Plague smiled and looked over as his zombies had finished their meal and he called them back. “It’s good to have eyes and ears everywhere… they thought they were stalking me, how quaint.” He gave one look at the sun through the trees as it began to set over the horizon. It was rather late now and nightfall would soon be upon him. It was time to go. His zombies looked at him awaiting orders. “Loot their corpses for anything useful. Let’s go home, it’s getting late.”
Lucy was now reclining back in her chair as she looked at the other three a bit perplexed at Christina’s advances. She tried not to think anything of it as she awaited any questions they may have. Clara and Rey looked at each other in as if asking one another what they could ask the literal devil and to reaffirm the fact Christina was crazy. Christina rolled her eyes at the three’s reactions and decide to speak up once more.
“I have a question.”
Lucy winced a bit. “Just don’t make it weird kid…”
Christina chuckled. “No no, nothing like that. The offer still stands by the way.” She winked at Lucy before asking her question. “Tell me, how do you summon things out of nowhere? Didn’t know that was a thing. I don’t notice any changes in aura’s or any residue like with any other spell… it is as if you are violating the law of equal exchange. Care to explain that?”
At the question Lucy smiled wide and with glee. She was quite passionate about this topic. “That is a very interesting question with an equally interesting answer. You see, I am as old as I am powerful and the two are linked to one another. In my day I have had quite a few encounters and discoveries. Things that take a lifetime to discover and another to master are trivial to me. This ability here…” Lucy placed her hand out and summoned a golden coin with an eagle on the front in her palm; she handed it to Christina who examined it with excitement as Lucy continued. “...This is one of those things.”
“As you may know, there is quite a large number of things going on behind the scenes. Somethings a select few know about, other things no mortal has any business knowing and things no one, not even the likes of me, will ever know. Things like the veil, the portals that gave us the alien invaders we have fought for years now and many other things. Now, there is a great barrier that will never be breached. Beyond there lie powerful creatures who we will never meet. This beings wield the power to shape our reality on a whim; I call them the story tellers. They are not evil or good, they just are… and they left something behind… A hidden tool to correct their mistakes. They call it ‘The Debug Menu’.”
Rey and Clara looked at each other again this time in just pure confusion; they understood what she was saying somewhat but not fully. Christina on the other hand was in awe. The implications of this overwhelming her. Her full attention was on Lucy now as she spoke. “Wait, you are saying you control the means to alter our world?”
“No no, not control, simply have access to. The debug menu isn’t something one can control; it is just a tool the storyteller use to correct and test many things. I have gained access to it only after centuries of experimentation. It is quite powerful too but not omnipotent. It is through it I can summon whatever I want to my whim.”
Rey looked at Lucy, not in confusion anymore but both awe and dread. “So you mean… What else can you do with it?”
“Well, I can alter the weather, create and destroy life, alter the traits of various things, give titles to others that grant them certain privileges, control things like hunger and thirst and even control time.”
Clara was the one who spoke this time. She was nervous as what this meant was finally sinking into her mind as well. “C-can you show us what it can do?”
Lucy smiled softly this time and she close her eyes. “Sure thing. Why don’t we skip to tomorrow then? Close your eyes; when you open them you will feel well rested and fed as you witness the sunrise…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 27, 2018, 08:21:47 am
Atomos was having a dream in which she was very small and trapped in many layers of sweaters while trying to turn the air conditioning down in her small apartment. Every time she would get close to the dial though, something would inevitably knock the chair or stool or box she was standing on over and she would end up having to go find another thing to stand on. She was right in the middle of dragging the tiny stepladder out of her hallway closet when something dense and warm and excited jumped on her.
"Wake up Atomos! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Cried Cheena, bouncing about merrily on top of her. Eventually the young fox settled for sitting on Atomos's head, and if all the jumping around hadn't woke her up then a face full of fluffy tail certainly did.
"Whazzat? Cheena? What's..." She tried to force her way to wakefulness and while doing so, get Cheena off of her. It couldn't be done. Atomos just couldn't pry herself out from under the lighter but more experienced in the ways of fox "wrestling" Cheena. So, with little warning, Atomos bit her.
"YOW!" Cheena yelped. She jumped to her feet and Atomos felt sorry, but rather than be upset, Cheena lowered her head and began hopping back and forth with her paws splayed out before her. "A bitter huh? Well Cheena the great knows how to deal with biters!"
She skipped about, feinting at Atomos for a bit, then dashed back up the tunnel she'd come down from. Atomos was, logically, bemused. This strange start to her day, especially when Cheena came charging back down and then back out again, had the effect of softening the blow of once again waking up as something she shouldn't be. As Red had known it would. Topside, Atomos was struck by how empty the grove was compared to the day before. Yesterday, there had been a few dozen foxes about. Now there were only a few juvenile pups and less than a dozen adults.
"Where did everyone go?" Atomos mumbled, sleepily. She wished she had hands to rub the sleep from her eyes with, but that was not to be. Instead, she blinked frequently to try and adapt to the light.
"Off living their lives, I expect. We all have to eat, and this is no human city where food is stored away in great piles for convenience." Red said with a sarcastic smile on his face. Cheena leapt towards Atomos, then feigned a hop to the left.
"Atomos! What's it like living with humans!?" Cheena shouted, still hopping around like a playful puppy.
"W-what?"
"Not now young one, go find your mother. I would speak to Atomos alone for a bit." Red said. Atomos was a bit perplexed as to how Cheena had known that, but then again, she could have figured it out. She was energetic, but not dumb. Red went on, finishing with an explaination. "Cheena asked about you, I told her you were domesticated. That you lived with humans. I hope you don't mind."
High up, hanging ponderously in the sky where the sun would have been, was Lilith. Or rather, part of her. Sharlene stared at them. The fact of Lilith's breasts hanging in the sky like they belonged there was just the next massive step in what was turning out to be an absurdly surreal day. Not just standing in a world viewed through a blue filter, not a photo through a blue filter, but a perverse Van Gogh.
"Oookay Mickey, where are we? What the hell happened?" She asked. The tigers chest was difficult to look away from, even for Sharlene who usually found little of interest in such spectacle. "And how do we get out."
Michael shrugged. He knew about as much as Sharlene, perhaps a bit more. "We are inside Ms. Lilith's brazier mother. The ritual worked, but the others were consumed in the casting. Sad."
Sharlene found the news a bit disturbing. She had legitimately liked Gabe, a very useful spirit. Full of information, unlike Mickey who probably wouldn't be able to tie his shoes if given hands that could do it. Sharlene shook her head, there was no time for this now. There was only one way out, and it was high above them, suspended in the air between a pair of orange and white boobs.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 27, 2018, 05:40:30 pm
(( Hector and Quinn stuffed written with Wilson, some of the Aurelia banter written with Salt. ))
Catalina had, over the course of the day, found herself going from assisting the center's doctor to trying and failing to wrangle an avian. The evening was soon spent helping Cardin get cleaned up best as she could, and at the request regarding where to stay, she looked over to Cardin. "Well, given the state of things here, I'm guessing you'd want to rest up either at the center due west, or at The Hall to the east." A quick chirp and a vague point eastward, confirmed by Melody's drunken translation, soon had them on their way to The Hall.
As they drove over the corpsman tended to the rifle, rather trivial maintenance in his opinion but his examination . "Y'know, I've seen way worse than this, but it looks like you somehow got real fine broken glass in this old thing..." he remarked, soon stopping by the road to lead the way over.
Solomon had been waiting there outside for the time being, waving to them as the four approached. As they soon found out, most of the mislings that had weathered the door had since left to return to the usual work along the river and in Walkerville, and the assist in reconstruction there, leaving them with space for the two.
Helen gave a nod as she sat there, listening as he discussed recent events. At the mention of the weapons, she wondered how they found them. She hadn't yet realized they were the same weapons they found long ago, during their exploration of the bunker they fought Apophis in. At the time she hadn't given the matter much thought, hadn't considered giving them a thorough examination since she trusted the others to keep them secure.
As he went on, she was surprised to hear Victor speak of memories he had regained, and her expression at first showed concern. But that quickly went on to relief, more than that in fact, smiling as he said this, and as he knelt she was surprised by this. Carefully she set a hand on his shoulder, before accepting the ring.
"I will. I..." For a moment she was tearing up a bit, that smile having returned, as bright as ever. "Thank you, Victor. When you returned without your memories, I was afraid to admit to how we had once been enemies, how you had me constantly worried." she admitted, before hugging him tightly. "Whatever ceremony you would wish for this, that we can manage, so be it. Together, taking what is good in our orders and combining them..."
She then looked out. By now the sun had set, rather late in the evening after all that had happened. "For now, we likely both should rest up. Victor...welcome back." she said softly, setting up for the two to turn in for the night.
Hector had, after all the evening's events, slept well for once. Rather late certainly, but after all this he was relieved. Glad that Roxanne at last had some relief from what had plagued her lately.
The next morning he had been unsure what to do at first. He wanted to spend time with her as well, though as he got dressed for the morning he admitted to her that he should at least check on the others. "If anything comes up, and you're still free to, would you want to come along?" he asked, having decided to forego his armor and shield for now, a rare sight as he left the farmhouse for the moment.
Hector had soon made his way out to survey the initial work on rebuilding, wanting to assist in his usual manner soon. But first he wanted to check on the others, checking and finding that things seemed to be alright around Walkerville, the others in their usual places aside from Nathaniel evidently being out.
That left one person to check on next, seeing the remarkable extent to which the trailer had somehow survived the storm. He approached, not in his plate or mail but in simple dress shirt and pants, sword still at his side even then, and knocked on the door.
Quinn was looking over a map, with a pair of duffel bags packed filled with clothing. He jumped a bit at the knock, before answering it. “...Yes?” Hector glanced over before giving a nod to Quinn. “You doing alright? Heard you evidently held up in here during the storm.” he asked. “I’m fine, yes. Just a broken window, although. I could use your help. Come in.” Quinn uttered, motioning for Hector to come inside, revealing the broken window being patched up with a large piece of plywood. “I’ve been thinking about heading south, we haven’t been very far south so it might be useful. Plus I need the time to think.” Quinn explained, “I… need a few things as well.”
Hector entered the trailer after Quinn motioned for him to enter, taking a seat nearby. “Anything I can help with then? You’re right, there’s been a lot of things encouraging us to push north.” At that Quinn listened to that remark, pouring himself a cup of coffee. “As for that...if you do, take care in doing so. The others are going to miss you, as will I. They’ll be worried about you.” he said.
Quinn grumbled a bit, “I know, how I’ll be keeping in touch is one of the two things I’ll be needing.” He held up a finger, “Number one, a caravan trailer.” He held up two fingers, “Number two, a longer range radio.” Hector listened to that explanation, before regarding the request. “The radio, if we can’t get a proper one, can be put together at least. For the former, you thinking about seeing if the center knows where to get one? Or if we can find an intact one...”
Quinn hmmed a bit before taking a sip of the coffer. “If they don’t have one, they might know where to get one. Might not be in usable condition though. But if you got an old tank up and running, together that should be easy enough.” he said, and Hector smiled some. “Fine by me. It’s the least I can do.” he answered.
“Alright. Get ready and I’ll meet you by the tank.” he answered, rather hastily finished the rest of his coffee. Hector made his way back to the farmhouse to start putting his armor back on, and to tell Roxanne of his current plan.
Nathaniel looked around as he walked through the woods, making his way closer to the river. There was a sudden scuttling movement and he reflexively yelped, reaching for his pistol only to facepalm at the cause skittering off into the woods. A tarantula-sized spider, something he guessed had recently hatched. "For fucks sake, if we get a bunch of those things growing up out here..."
It was then he caught sight of Lilith, his surprised reaction easily heard by her, running over to her. "Hey Lil, you alright?" It was then he noticed the chestwrap, glancing at it curiously. "...huh. How are you even fitting all that in there..."
The next morning, at the foot of Mount Katahdin, a weathered old cyborg waited by a decaying old tree. "You're lucky I have time to waste..." he grumbled to himself, tossing a burnt-down Remanent of a hand-rolled cigarette aside onto the rocky ground. He looked over and grumbled a bit, seeing a kreck staring at him from the ridge, covered in the familiar runes. He was about to mouth off at it when a figure stepped into view from the overlooking trail, making her way back down towards the foot of the mountain. "Well fuck. I owe somebody ten bucks now. Not like anyone uses it for more than toilet paper these days." he remarked, glancing over at the woman walking down the mountain. He could see signs of that sundress having been scraped up and hastily repaired, and he smirked a bit. "Still didn't make it up unscathed I see. Find whatever you're looking for?"
"I did. And know where I'll be going next. Whenever your patrols arrive, I'll have to ask if they can spare men to lead me to settlements farther south, past God's Army territory." she answered, and he shook his head as he turned back to lead the way to the village. "Not coming today. C'mere and talk about it to the corporal, he can explain this shit better than I can."
With the two back inside one of the main buildings, the woman regarded the man standing there in a built-up office with a look of curiosity, the fellow wearing a uniform marking him as having either been sent there on behalf of the "Red and White" or simply a former soldier from up north. "So, what's your name miss?"
"Aurelia. The man here said that heading south isn't an option?" she asked, and he gave a little sigh. "Wish I knew why you'd want to head through Maine, but that isn't my place to ask. The patrols have been delayed due to a major operation in the region. Beyond that, I'm afraid I can't say anything further." he explained.
"Well then, if your boys can be trusted not to mistake an obvious mutant for a member of God's Army, no better time for me to take the journey myself." What amused her now was the way his eyes were on her wings as she spoke, on cloth covers bound with cords that restricted their movement without being too tight, but above all else concealed what kind they even were. There was a certain inexperience and general unfamiliarity to him, the woman suspecting that mutants in general might be uncommon.
"We won't, miss. I do recommend you stay until things have calmed down ,however." he said, and she looked away. "I don't know how much longer I can stay before I'll need to continue onward. Regardless, thank you." she said, taking a seat for now. There was an awkward pause as she regarded the maps laid out on the desk, before the young man perked up. "...why do you bind them up?" he asked, and she regarded him with an amused look. "The wings, you mean?"
"They'd be pretty useful, even barring flight. You could scare off predators by spreading them. You could buffet the more determined enemies by beating them. I bet you could produce enough of an air blast with a couple flaps to even put somebody off balance..." At first she had been a bit nervous at the question, reluctant to answer for some reason, but as the young man went on she found it hard not to crack up a bit before regaining her composure. "I wouldn't mind it, but to be honest the weather isn't that suited for it. Keeping them covered feels more comfortable up here than warmer clothes would..." she answered. An accurate answer at least, albeit incomplete.
"Now then. Just in case I do end up moving on early, what paths would be safest? Any other communities out there than can be trusted?" she asked, and the young soldier laid out one of the maps. "Best bet would be to skirt west around God's Army territory and avoid the few settlements out there nearby. The main site in charge of that segment of underground railroad is...here." he said, pointing out a place on the map.
"Thank you then. I'll stay for the time being, but I'll likely continue on later today..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 27, 2018, 09:08:13 pm
Some talk of ‘Operation Valkyrie’ and how some Purifiers had left and united against their former comrades. Evidently they had started referring to themselves as the ‘Blue Rose’. The Sarn’t got what the name was in memory of and why it was a subtle difference. What had been a peaceful resistance could not rise again in this instance.
The others would be wary of them of course.That was just the nature of these things. Now onto training the men he thought as he observed them.
Elsewhere the Lieutenant had just finished a field meeting and was now sitting in the ruined house sipping a cup of coffee as his men worked. Some were constructing walls and a gate around the houses of this abandoned suburb. They’d had to clear out a few zombies but that was easy work.
Then there were the men digging underground, building shelters as they mapped out the ‘Hedgerow’. Sipping his drink as he listened to the excavation team over the radio the Lieutenant watched as his men handed out food to a group of mutants they’d freed from a Purifier convoy. Haven would be a safe place for them and anyone else looking to rebuild their lives. A place of second chances even in this world.
Removing his hat the Lieutenant looked it over before walking to the edge of the ruined house and throwing it into a barrel that his men had lit a fire in. A few minutes later and he emerged from the house and walked to the line that his men had formed in front of the tattoo artist that had been among their ranks. It took a few minutes for the man in front of him to look over his shoulder. Stepping to the side and snapping to attention the men waited as the Lieutenant sipped his coffee. Looking the men over as he did so he soon found himself smiling and having to spit his drink to the side.
One of the men rushed over to check on him and was met by a hand grabbing his shoulder to leverage its owner back to a fully standing position. Everyone’s stance had shifted out of the standard At Attention to a more relaxed and curious one. Finally getting himself to stop laughing the Lieutenant said “Meine friends..” coughing a bit as his body protested the accidental inhaling of coffee the Lieutenant soon continued “..there is no need for such formality. We are all equals here, in this for the long..uh..”
The man that had come to help him said “The long haul sir?” To which the Lieutenant nodded “Yes, the Long Haul. Thank you. Now I’ll wait my turn while I drink meine coffee.”
Everyone nodded as someone said “Yes Herr Lieutenant.” To which the Lieutenant said “Please, call me Otto.”
Elsewhere a man silently tapped a desk as he listened to the radio signals flying back and forth. He checked his watch and noticed he’d not slept in 36 hours. Not that big of a deal for him, he’d done it enough times before. Still he should probably get something to keep himself going..
“Oh and we got a request here to advertise..The ‘Red Star Pub’ . Owned and operated by Alexei Vasiliev and Irene Baker-” The man scribbled down the location of the pub as it was rattled off by Seven “-It serves high quality alcohol made by the owners and serves specialty drinks at all hours of operation. And if any of our faithful listeners happens to stop by do send us back a good bottle. Now here’s a highly requested single, enjoy folks.”
Tapping the pencil against the desk he pondered if he should be more discreet about this one. Thinking on it for a few moments he grabbed a transmitter and decided he wasn’t paid enough for that. Dialing in the frequency he’d been given he said “Yes, miss? I’ve gotten a bit of additional information that your friends paid me to listen out for..”
Alexei meanwhile was serving another pair of customers as he listened to people talking at the bar. The music they’d been playing had been interrupted by that little advert. He frowned at the mention of his last name, his actual last name as far as he remembered, and decided to chew Irene out for giving it to the DJ. He didn’t want his name out there for everyone.
Blitz sighed as he worked on fixing the feed system of another experimental weapon. It didn’t help that the kids he and the Tunnel Rats had saved were in his workshop asking him questions and playing with things. Reaching over to grab a wrench without looking he found nothing where he remembered it being. Looking around he saw one of the kids messing with it and rolled his eyes. “Could I have that back?” He asked somewhat politely as he turned his chair.
The child walked over and handed it to him as a familiar voice called from the doorway “Got your hands full there. Want me to take them off your hands?” Schultz said as he watched them.
Blitz looked around at the children before shaking his head. Adjusting the ammo feeder he said “No. Some coffee would be nice, maybe something for the children as well.”
Schultz pushed himself off the door frame as he gave a thumbs up and said “I’ll be back in a couple minutes with drinks for everyone.” Blitz merely nodded as he continued working.
He wasn’t aware the time had passed when Schultz and a couple members of the 3rd showed up with his coffee and hot chocolate for the children. Taking the offered mug Blitz leaned back and drank from it as he closed his eyes. A long time ago he’d have found the buzzing of his own thoughts pleasant even with all this other noise. Now all it was..was pain if he were to be honest.
Opening his eyes and staring at his design he could see it like the 3d blueprints he’d used when he worked for the weapons companies. A bolt here, how the mechanism was supposed to move when in use, and how it was supposed to bounce with the motions of the operator. Somehow he could see all of that. Leaning forward and adjusting a final piece he said “I don’t know how your Ranger friend screwed this up but it should work again. Now onto the next bit of work. Oh..have you seen my brother?”
Schultz shook his head as he said “No but he radioed in, he’s on his way.” to which Blitz nodded as he moved aside the ammo feeder and grabbed the Thompson that he’d been planning to work on…
Elsewhere a group of criminals had gathered. Almost all to pay tribute to the one sitting at the head of the table. The discussion had raged on for two days at this point. How to kill Isaac. They knew where he lived now after all so it should have been easy. But no one wanted to go against the boogieman.
Smiling under his gala mask ‘Horace’ had come here less to actually discuss this and more to repay a debt. Now it was only a matter of time before..
One of the men said something in shock. Then it was followed by a shout of “Who the fuck stole the money?!” Horace shook his head as they frantically scrambled the guards to find whoever stole the money to hire the mercenaries.
Of course Spider was already walking down a hallway with the briefcase. Well, the empty briefcase. His compatriots were moving the money. He was the distraction. Pulling on the mask he’d brought as he turned a corner Spider stopped at the sight of a pair of guards. Flashing them a grin he sidestepped back around the corner and broke out into a run. The first round that the guards fired hit the wall above him as he turned to a side door and slid through it.
More guards rushed towards him as he ran down the stairs. None of them risked firing on the move for fear of damaging the money. A voice came over his ear piece “They’ve got the effin first floor locked down. Stashed the gear on the fourth floor so that’s your escape route.”
Looking up at the number above the door up ahead Spider shoulder checked it open as he said “Got it. Don’t need the gear though.” The voice sighed as its owner said into the background “get the guns ready just in case.”
Spider saw the gear setup ahead of him as he leaned forward and started running full tilt at the window. As he neared it Spider launched himself through the window. Arcing through the air he landed and felt his knees shake for a moment before he pushed himself forward and into the awaiting van. “I keep telling you my mutations man, plus the CBMs, they make me hard to kill from this stuff.” Spider said as he laid there in the vehicle with Frog. Soon they were out of sight and would ditch the vehicle before getting away to the hideout to count their money.
Meanwhile Horace leaned back and smiled. A few more minutes of this and he could leave. Checking his watch he tapped the table idly. Once he was in his armored limousine he’d have one of his messengers send a message to mister Mortal. The debt was repaid, and perhaps a future relationship could be established. Putting the end of the cigar through the small hole in his mask he enjoyed taking a long drag on it.
Isaac had woken up and stood to get coffee. Which was when he realized he didn’t have any. Sighing to himself he pulled on his shirt and jacket before strapping the machete to his hip. Grabbing the chest holster he slid it on before picking up the revolver. He stopped for a few moments to look the piece over. Sliding it into the holster he started for the door after grabbing his bag. Deciding to go find Catnip he figured his best bet was what was left of the barn, and then look around if she wasn’t there. He had a letter to deliver after all.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 29, 2018, 08:32:24 pm
Catnip woke slowly. This was a thing that had been a privilege in Pricetown, a practice not often allowed. Sleeping in was nice. Dozing, snoozing, napping, and especially sleeping in were big NO's while in captivity. Work, sleep, work, sleep. So it was only natural that Catnip took as much sleep as she damn well pleased. Kathrine didn't mind, she would go about doing her thing, checking back in on Catnip every now and then or simply waiting around. Mostly it seemed to be the latter. In time, Kathrine's clinginess would probably taper a little, at least to the point where she could leave Catnip out of her sight for longer than a few seconds.
The sun moved across the sky, cresting the tops of the trees beyond the river and beginning it's long climb towards the opposite horizon. Catnip stayed asleep, even with the sun casting a long ray across her face. In truth, the gentle warmth on her fur only served to deepen her sleep and make her dream of the desert. Then, a low pounding brought her up. The pounding coalesced into knocking, and then talking.
"Catnip is sleeping, can it wait?"
"It could, but it's already late morning. This guy says he wants to talk to her, and I've never known Ms. Walker to just reject people who want to talk. At least not those that want to talk publicly."
"It's fine Kat, I'm up. What's going on?"
Catnip sat up and yawned deeply, stretching her arms wide to release the sleep tension.
"Ms. Walker, this guy Isaac is looking for you. Asking around. You want to talk to him?"
Catnip thought about it. Isaac was good people, no harm in talking to him. "Sure. It's probably important. Kathrine, where are my shoes?" Assuming that it was important was a safe assumption, Isaac and she were on friendly terms, but they had hardly spoken at all before she'd been sent away. Catnip slipped on the tennis shoes that she planned to replace with her old work boots as soon as possible, and went to meet with Isaac. "Nataleeee!" Lilith whined. Nathaniel couldn't help but wonder just what the hell they had been doing. The wrap was obvious, but there was something off about it. Then it hit him. She was flat. Completely breastless. "Boobth mithing Natalie!"
Nathaniel could see that, the anger growing in him. Lilith didn't need them for him to love her, but what the hell had Sharlene done? Knowing her, or at least what he thought he knew of her, she probably removed them and sold them or something stupid and greedy like that. Or something.
"Are you hurt Lil? What happened? Where the hell is Sharlene, and what has she done to you?"
"Tharlene mithing. Natalie help."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 29, 2018, 11:03:05 pm
Isaac waited for Catnip outside. Looking around he saw the mislings at work in the Farm and wondered what all they were going to add. However his thoughts were cut short when he saw Catnip. Retrieving the box of european chocolates he’d kept and the letter he walked over. “I uh..I ran into someone last night. Had a letter for you from Roland. I thought I’d bring a gift along with it, a thanks from me for everything you did.” Handing them to her he said “Anything you need just let know, I keep a radio with me. We’re all in this together.”
The Letter read
‘Dear Catnip
I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you. I know that we didn’t know each other that well, something I wish I had the time to change. You’re stronger than many I’ve met and so capable. You’ve kept the farm together for so long after all. And kind as well.
You’ve got a long road ahead of you though. Don’t forget to lean on those around you for help when you need it. Being strong is fine, but part of strength is knowing when you need to let others help. Though I’m sure you know this.
I’m happy though, I’m not in pain and my mind is clear. Things will go on and the hope that the farm gives people will grow. Somehow I don’t know if any of this would have been possible if not for you. From everything I heard you were what kept that place together, kept everyone there.
I know it’s not much but I wanted to give you something. It’s a coin that my daughter gave me some time ago. She engraved it herself, said there was something special about it. I hope in some way it helps even if it just brings good luck like I always believed.
Take care kid, I’ll be watching from wherever I end up.
Your’s Truly, Roland McCall’
Elsewhere
Skull cut the ‘police’ lettering from the front of his vest as he listened to Magnus. The precinct had collapsed into the clans Jīxiè xué, Comercio, Carnicería, and the War Boys. Magnus was the son of the Jīxiè xué leader, Skull led the War Boys.
Tossing his wrench back into his toolbox Magnus shook his head as he said “You know this is a bad idea right? I mean I don’t mind tunin’ and fixin’ yer vehicles but bein’ raiders?”
Skull nodded as he leaned against the back of the car. Adjusting the straps of his vest he responded “A lot of folks go hurt cause of ‘good’ people not being where they needed to be, we both know that. We both also know that the wrong people in the right location is gonna just end in things being worse.”
Magnus gave Skull a look that the two had shared several times before. Usually when Magnus thought Skull was being a fucking moron. “So you’re telling me the folks that banded together around you are the ‘wrong’ people? That they shouldn’t be wherever the other clans decide to settle down?”
Skull grabbed a cigarette from his vest, an old pack that predated the cataclysm by at least ten years, and shook his head. “Nah, I’m saying my folks shouldn’t all stay there. I’ve got a lot of the troublemakers, and if they stay in whatever settlement the clans establish..well they’ll cause trouble. So we go out, we hit the clans need or things that might pose a threat. Things no one’s gonna miss.”
Magnus again shook his head as he pressed a button and the garage door opened. “Just..don’t do anything stupid. Walkerville would bring the hammer down on all of us if you piss them off and really..you don’t have the backing of most members of the other clans. My father didn’t want the Jīxiè xué fixing up your cars if you were just gonna ride around jumping off them. But I owed you so he let me borrow tools and a couple mechanics.”
Skull nodded as he got in the driver’s seat and started the engine. “I kinda figured. No one really liked us boys in security before, why like us now. And when the clans were figuring out who went to what they quietly shuffled a lot of the ‘problems’ my way.”
As he drove away the other cars of the clan started to follow. Men were painted head to toe in war paint as they hung off the sides. Letting out a warcry as they went Skull couldn’t help but smile.
Meanwhile at the Hall Liam woke later than he had planned. Forcing himself to stand up and grab his gear Liam reached his hand up to rub one eye as he put the strap of his bag over a shoulder. Walking outside he saw the others building their barracks as Anton watched from a chair. Which was about when a laminated piece of paper hit him in the shin. Bending down to pick it up he read part of it ‘You and any friends you desire to bring are cordially invited to our summerset party!’
Shrugging to himself Liam contemplated going before deciding to see what else would be required of him today.
Vikaar sighed as he waited idly for something to happen. Something to do! His trip to europe would be the next day so he’d have less time around these parts to create chaos. Maybe..no that would be a bit too chaotic.
As he pondered this a figure approached him in his little domain, a piece of the spirit world he’d carved out for himself. Nothing came here that wasn’t allowed by him. So..it must be one of his little minions that he had keep an eye on some things.
It approached with a piece of paper that it quickly handed to him before retreating back to it’s task. Looking the message over he muttered “Heretic?...brothers..hm..” Snapping his fingers as he stood and walked around. His mind raced as he thought of ways to play this.
He didn’t even notice the ‘minion’ tap it’s ear as it walked out of his domain. Shaking it’s head it said “The task is done master. I will return-I see. I will do what you desire.” before disappearing from the spirit world.
Elsewhere the 3 russian men smoked as they yet again waited on the woman. It had become a bit of a ritual at this point. They stood watch while she did her morning ritual of praying. During which she didn’t wear her coat.
The 3 men were tattooed and anyone who had a background in the police or criminal worlds knew they were killers. All three of them having served prison sentences and having killed at least four men during that time. The Captain’s upper right arm was covered in a rather detailed tattoo of an ammo belt. The few who’d dare ask about it were told that it counted the number of men he’d killed. 73 in total.
If one had the knowledge they would also know that the woman outranked all three of them. Standing she retrieved her coat and gave the order. The 3 men started moving as she followed them out the door. All 3 of them wondered what exactly she had them doing out here.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 31, 2018, 08:17:01 am
Catnip looked at Roland's last words to her, turning the words over carefully and slowly in her own plodding way. He really was gone then. Kathrine reached up and wiped something from the crease where her muzzle met the rest of her face, and she recoiled. Kathrine then did the same to herself. She reached up, and felt the damp in the fur beneath her eyes. This wasn't how she wanted to start the day but it seemed this would be how it would go. She read the letter again. It was true, she supposed, that everyone here had been drawn in in some way because of her. A message to the first three, her call for assistance seen across new england, drawing them as if by magic. The enormity of such a fact had never occurred to Catnip before. If not for her need, these people wouldn't be here. Nor would she for that matter. There wouldn't be a Kathrine around to help her and give her hugs when she was feeling grumpy. Roxanne and Quinn wouldn't have been around to teach her to read and write. Floyd would not have taught her to shoot or...
The big one crashed in on her. If not for the others, none of any of that would matter. She didn't understand the shifting, but it wasn't that odd event that hit her. It was what happened before that. Dimly, Catnip looked at her hands. Dextrous little manipulators covered in sleek brownish fur. They had been pink once. Small, pink hands. Until she'd let greed get the better of her, and she ran afoul of the being known as Apophis. None of it would matter, because she'd be dead. The envelope trembled in her hands, and something slipped out.
Kathrine, more dextrous than Catnip and more alert than she gave herself credit for caught the coin before it could fall more than a foot. The maid gently slid it into Catnip's palm and she squeezed down on it, taking comfort from it's solid warmth. Luck. If she'd been possessed of luck in any measurable amount, she wouldn't be in such rough shape to begin with. That thought was banished immediately as both terribly negative and incorrect. Catnip had luck. Lady luck had cast her hand in when Catnip had staked her fate on a help wanted poster. Lucks hand had come up favorable, and the mechanics life had unfolded from there. The good and the bad. A little more luck wouldn't hurt her. Now though, her girlfriend was tugging on her, trying to bring her back.
"Sorry, just... Went away for a bit." She sniffed apologetically, "I um... Thank you. I hope you get use out of the uh... Truck." The coin went into a pocket, later it would be set into a metal ring and worn in place of the pink stone flake. Now, she took the chocolate. Some kind of brand she'd never heard of from a place she'd only read about. Quiet frankly, she didn't really believe a place like Europe even existed. Pricetown had existed though, so it wasn't beyond her realm of possibility. The chocolate did bring to mind though the fact that she was now, in her own mind, destitute. No chocolate stash. Only shinies, and shinies were not as valuable as chocolate. What was needed, was a business. Something to shore up her lack of capital. Roland had told her to seek help in her friends in his final words to her. Real help this time, not just marking cars for her. She had always had them mark the vehicles and then she'd go get them. It was time to start a business, and it was time to start letting people help with the heavy lifting. But first.
"Do you need anything Isaac? Other than delivering this, which I appreciate, did you need something that I can do for you?" "Okay! We are packed and ready to roll out." Announced Curtis to the remains of the Smoke Marshals, "Keep those weapons stowed and those sashes off. So far as any old John Public knows, we are just a caravan of traveling traders. Our first stop, is the farm. After that, if we get out of there without too much suspicion we head for the refugee center and see if we can link up with Atomos. She can guide us to the red skulls from there. Understood?"
Everyone seemed to understand, though Curtis thought he heard some grumbling mixed into it as well. The trip wouldn't be a long one, but it would be tense. They would have to be careful of any God's Army they came across, not to mention a rival gang. The biggest worry though was that both Curtis and Big Smoke didn't think they could trust their people to keep their weapons holstered. Already he could see some of the gangs fighters fingering their weapons nervously. He didn't want a rebellion on his hands. If it came to it though, it would have to be dealt with. Harshly. "How is your paw Atomos?" Red asked. Her paw (hand) felt fine, and she said so. His question tickled something at the back of her mind though, some important and possibly dangerous thing. She searched and found it, then mentally slapped herself for failing to remember it. The chip. The tracking chip.
"How do you know?" Atomos asked back.
"Cheena is very perceptive. She knows that there is something wrong with your paw, but she cannot see it. She told me this this morning. I didn't need her to tell me, but I try to nurture her perceptions. Were there time, she would be in training to take my place."
She shook her head, overwhelmed already. She was just trying to focus on getting used to being what she was and already she was having new information pushed in. Atomos wished this stuff would go slower. Her life was caught up in the absurdity of the situation and she just couldn't deal with it unless it came a peice at a time. Red seemed to recognize this, and brought her back down a bit.
"Subjects for another day. For now, how does it feel? Does it ache? Is it hot?" He questioned.
"If you mean the chip, no. I don't have it anymore. All my... How do you know about this stuff though?"
"I just do, now tell me. Do you truly feel nothing? Close your eyes, tell me."
She did as she was told. Waiting for a long time, letting her mind wander. Then, there was an odd spike in her paw. A sensation of something attached not to a paw, but a hand. When she opened her eyes again, she was still a fox and nothing had changed.
"As I thought." Red mused, "but why can't you change back, I wonder? Perhaps... Enough. Walk with me for a bit, and perhaps I will share a little with you. Maybe you will share with me what's been going on since I took up the mantle and ceased my wandering."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 01, 2018, 06:11:31 pm
Isaac thought about asking about his prosthetic but decided giving Catnip time was more important. Shaking his head he told her “No. Just wanted to pass along that letter and the chocolate I’d been meaning to give you. I’ll be around if you need anything, got a kid to look out for now after all so I can’t go wandering around like I used to. Besides..I think I’ve found a place to call home. So I’m gonna chip in more around here, help folks build and take care of things.”
Looking down at his hands he noticed a few scars from battles but not the calluses of hard work. Closing his hands gently he looked back up at Catnip as he said “So if you need anything just let me know. I’ll do everything I can.”
Elsewhere Alexei sighed. Irene had taken over the bar for him for a time so he could rest. Stopping in the hall that led to the backroom he leaned against a wall and slid to the floor. He had enjoyed the work but it was tiring. Add that onto helping finish the bar over the previous night he needed a break. Retrieving a flask from his vest he sipped the whiskey it contained before leaning his head back against the wall. Still he couldn’t help but smile to himself as he looked at the ceiling. He’d make this one last this time.
Skull flipped a switch and felt his car accelerate forward suddenly. His eyes were half closed as he slid his car to the side of the vehicle they were chasing and the men on his car hollered. Most of them were wearing police vests that had the lettering ripped or cut off with leather jackets underneath. Others wore armor made out of cut up pots and pans or whatever else they could get their creative little hands on.
He winced as one bounced off the side of the truck and smack into the pavement. The mag boots one of the Jīxiè xué mentioned might have been a good idea. The gloves too. Of course that was a bit late he thought as one jumped over and landed on top of the modified box truck. The men in the cab shouted something about the unclean. This was cut off by a spat of gunfire through their ceiling before the driver punched his passenger.
One of Skulls men placed the end of his spear above the driver before pressing a button on the shaft. The weapon punched through the roof of the cab and into the driver’s skull as another war boy swung through the driver’s window. Grabbing the steering wheel with one hand he fired the pocket pistol into the passenger’s brain, painting the window a nice shade of red and pink.
Skull smiled as the pack of trucks and cars pulled over around the box truck. The purifiers had been running around a lot lately so finding one of their trucks wasn’t that difficult. If Skull ahd to bet he’d place his money on them gearing up for something. Walking over as his men slid the doors open he blinked at the contents of the truck. Two of his men walked in and tossed out a pair of sub machine guns.
There were maybe a hundred and fifty of those, fifty rifles, grenades, explosive materials, and three canisters that one of his men hesitated upon seeing. Walking to them slowly he shook his head before looking to the others. “We can’t deal with this. I hear those blokes..the third whatever it was know how to dispose of it. Maybe the Comercio could take it over to ‘em.”
Elsewhere, and a few minutes later, a man wearing a vante black mask sighed. The featureless mask, including vante black cloth over the eyes, looked over at one of his men and simply said “Consigue un camión Oh, y toma tu arma. Me ocuparé del problema mientras estés fuera.”
Once his compatriot had walked away the masked man sighed. Retrieving an engraved revolver from his desk the man pressed a button on his desk. This would ring the receptionist to send up the man in the..’special’ holding area. The two guards led the ‘guest’ up to the meeting room and waited by the entrance. The masked man reached a hand up to rub his eyes before realizing the mask was in the way. Transitioning the motion to adjusting the mask he stood up and said “You know, I’ve got simple principles when it comes operating the Comercio.” By this point he’d moved around his desk and was leaning against it “Make money, but be fair to your customer. It keeps them coming back. And never. NEVER. Betray your family. Now I like to believe Comercio is one big familia. I trust everyone in it to do their job as it’s laid out for them. A misunderstanding?”
Making a gesture of indifference that caused the barrel of the revolver to sweep past the others in the room he continued “I understand that. If that were the case it was a failing on my part, or those I sent to explain it, so I will forgive that much. I don’t even mind making sure you earn enough for yourself, after all what’s a little off the top to this familia? We’ll make small amounts back with no trouble after all and it keeps everyone just that little bit more loyal to the rest. “
Pulling the hammer back as the guest tried to push past the guards and out the door he only ended up on his ass as the guards tossed him back in. Continuing the man in the mask said “But shipments. ENTIRE SHIPMENTS! Going missing? I gave you drugs. Then guns. Both of those disappeared. Then I gave you that last shipment, after we truly became the clans, and do you know what was in it?”
As the man stuttered to answer his boss he looked up to find the revolver leveled at his head. “Even before we truly became the clan Comercio we were still a familia, I still let all of you have the same benefits as now. But that shipment had trackers in it. So when my men found it in the hands of a small group of those..purifiers?” He said as he looked at one of the guards. Receiving a nod he continued “Purifiers. So we killed them, and then we brought you here. And now you get to receive what all traidores get.”
The pleas for mercy were cut off by the sound of a .44 revolver going off. Setting the still smoking gun on the desk the masked man sighed. Throwing a coin to one of the men in the room he said “Dispose of it. Tell mister Connager that Segador needs this done quickly. He’ll get the point.”
A buzz from something in his coat caused ‘Segador’ to turn around and retrieve the secure radio he carried with him. Listening to the man on the other end he smiled under the mask as he spoke in a calm and appreciative tone. “Horace! It is good to hear from you. I assume that farce of a meeting went as expected..”
Elsewhere a group of Carnicería members, from the group internally called the Matanza, had been asked by the Jīxiè xué leader to handle a delicate situation with a former parts supplier. One of Bandit’s old contacts before..whatever had happened to him. Quite frankly none of the men present cared what had happened to him. One way or another they’d have had to have gotten rid of him anyway.
One of them sat some distance away wearing a ghillie suit. The others were approaching the building that the Jīxiè xué had used as a meeting point with the suppliers. Men who used the misfortune of others to procure much sought after parts to trade. Of course the Matanza had no intention of trading.
As two of them walked around to the back the rest of them walked to the front door. Walking through they noticed the men they had been sent to ‘meet’ recoiled at the sight of black armor and ballistic masks. The weapons being raised to fire didn’t help either.
Within a few seconds the place had been cleared save for the boss of the men they’d been sent for. Retrieving a blade from his vest the head of the Matanza present brought the weapon down and cut his foe’s hand off. This was followed by two bullets, one through each eye.
As they walked out of the buillding a radio was produced and their leader took it. “It’s done. We’re going to head back now, make sure the cleaners come.” Not that cleaners would be needed. To be a member of the Matanza meant you didn’t leave a trace. Hair and fingerprints were chemically removed and mutations induced to prevent skin being left behind. The only trace that could be left was spit, sweat, blood, and bullet casings. Three of the men had already collected the casings and extracted the bullets from the dead, none of them had a tendency to spit during operations, and they didn’t get shot. With augments one could prevent sweating on demand as well.
As far as anyone that came behind them was concerned these men had been killed by ghosts. Not that anyone would likely give a shit about these guys since they stole parts regularly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 04, 2018, 09:42:22 am
Lilith shifted her weight from one foot to the other nervously. She wanted to give Nathaniel enough time to work out what was going on, maybe form some plan of action, but she didn't really have time for this kind of inaction. Sharlene was at stake, though Nathaniel probably wouldn't care too much. Maybe he was just as perplexed as she was. If that was the case, then Sharlene was likely doomed, and she couldn't have that.
"Well," Nathaniel said hesitantly. For his part, he wasn't really sure of what was going on himself. "Start slow. First off, are you injured? What happened?"
Lilith started off by patting her chest, then pulling open the blue wrap and trying to look inside before letting it settle back. "Lilth not hurt. Boobth mithing."
"I can see that." Nathaniel said. He didn't quite have the empathy that Sharlene had with the tiger, (A strong relationship on par with it though) but he thought that even Sharlene would have trouble working through the obtuseness of Lilith's explaination. "Where'd they go?"
To this, Lilith leaned down so that she was practically face to face with him, and pulled the wrap down a little. Nathaniel's jaw dropped, for looking and behold, there they were. The effect of seeing the vast expanse made up by Lilith's cleavage but not the breasts which made that heavenly crease was a real heel rocker. He leaned in for a closer look at the phenomenon that was his girlfriend's newly acquired "pocket," and suddenly Lilith grabbed him and forced him bodily into it.
"Natalie look for Tharlene. Thhe in boobth thomewhere." He heard her say, or thought so anyway. It was hard to hear anything packed into so much softness. For him, it was like suddenly being stuffed inside the most luxurious sleeping bag he'd ever been in, and then gently hugged all over by something big and warm and incredibly gentle. The rapid thrum of Liliths heart could be heard. A little muffled, but otherwise fairly clear. A noise he'd listened to as he lay against her as she slept at night many times. Only the heavy purr was missing this time around. Then, as soon as he'd been stuffed in, he was being pulled back out again. There came a moment where he realized that he hadn't come out the other side of the wrap or bumped his head against fabric when the push on him turned into a pull. Compared to the space within, the outside seemed pretty cold and pretty bright.
"Natalie the Tharlene?" She asked, holding him upside down. Nathaniel shook his head quietly and imagined how his hair might look. She was lowering him back towards the cleavage inside the wrap again. "Okay!"
"Lil, can we-"
He'd intended to mention how they might need a professional or something, but before he could finish the thought, he was back in with only his feet sticking out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 04, 2018, 10:46:59 am
Roxanne had not slept or whatever passed for sleep in her current state. Instead she had spent the night making plans for what needed to be done. She had yet to present herself for the “court date” on that document she had found under her name. Whoever this prankster was Roxanne would most surely have a pleasant time if their humor extended beyond this. She also had to visit the location marked in the former SoA intranet she hacked into when in the mall; who the fuck from SoA was still alive? When Alex and her alt didn’t just who might these people be? Lastly she needed to start working on “interfacing” with Victor as they had planned. She needed to find some armor for that and Victor the correct settings. This one was the lowest priority since the two had plenty of time now.
Hector woke up and told her he would check things around. At his question she nodded and smiled. “Sure thing. If anything comes up I will gladly tag along with you. I will be here or fetching something around the farm. See you around!” Indeed seeing him without armor or shield was strange for her but she didn’t question it. For now she went ahead and experimented with both the bracelets and the reactor system upgrade for the sword of the void.
The night had been fairly relaxing for Victor; no dreams or anything, simply a night’s rest. When he awoke Helen was still asleep; he let her sleep for now simply taking out his journal and reading a bit. Things made more sense now with the partial library of memories he had gotten back. As he read he felt a sudden presence spying on them; he used his aura spell to discern who it was and he smiled. He looked in the direction it came from, gave a thumbs up and the presence disappeared. Afterwards he simply shook his head in amusement and went back to his journal as he awaited for Helen to wake up.
Rey, Clara and Christina opened their eyes to find that not much seemed different. They looked around as Lucy smiled and went back to admire her nails. It was then they spotted it: sunlight coming down the door. They had closed their eyes for a mere moment yet the entirety of the night had gone by. And as Lucy promised they didn’t feel tired and actually felt both full and slaked.
“What did you do?”, asked Clara.
“I used the debug menu as I said I would. You should all get ready for the day. Plague is back and he seems a bit moody; I will deal with him but been on your toes ok?”, Lucy answered.
“Wait, Plague is already back?”
“Of course. We skipped the night so he already came back.”
“How does that even work?”
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know honestly. Not even I will understand the workings of the story tellers. Now go, stop waiting time. Prepare for the meeting with Luna.”
“You know about that?”
“I do, there is very little I don’t know. Now excuse me, I have a bio-weapon to quell.”
Somewhere in a town nearby three men were inside a house sorting through recently acquired loot. A fourth was sleeping while a fifth was looking through a pair of binoculars at an office tower.
“So Jack said fucker ambushed them in the woods?”
“Yeah, shrugged of their bullets and then summoned the dead.”
“Shit man… that sounds like either more of that magic bullshit or one of those mutties.”
“Seems so. Who care anyways. Whatever it is I am sure we can take him.”
“Why so confident all of the sudden? We are wanted men… if even one of those machines finds us…”
“Will you relax? We have the shield… no more will we be pawns for the blue cross or anyone else. We can make our own future! This thing lets me see many things Mike and where to go next is one of them.”
“Oh yeah, and where the hell is that?”
“You are looking at it Mike. That tower there house that thing that killed our men.”
“Wait what?! Are you sure? And you want to go there?! Are you fucking nuts?”
“No, I told you I can see beyond. This shield doesn’t lie… It tells me there are plenty of juicy things in there. Weapons we can use and among them a particular sword we can use…”
“Shit man… I don’t know… sounds very sketchy to me.”
“Listen, who was the one who led us to escape the assault in the first place and evade those damn machines? GA was going to shit and I knew it before hand! This shield will guide us Mike, have some faith…”
“...Alright… I trust you John. Just be sure of what you are saying ok? That damn shield isn’t ev-”
“Isn’t mine, I know. Stole it from the corpse of one of those fucking bishops after the Iron Marshal and the Blade of Sodom tore the fucking place down… That seems like such a long time ago… Oh well. Pack your shit boys! We are moving out!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 04, 2018, 01:56:06 pm
(( First section of Hector/Roxanne/Quinn collab written with Noct and Wilson. ))
Helen had slept rather well that night, albeit a bit later than usual given the previous day' events. By now the others had settled into the usual routine, working to continue construction of the barracks.
It wasn't long though before she stirred, yawning a bit as she sat up. She looked doe at her shirt, the left arm still having a hole in the sleeve and dried blood stains from the fighting, deciding to go ahead and get fresh clothes, to clean up and get dressed. From there would be the usual daily matters, checking on everyone, but soon the matter of yesterday's events came up, and she decided to examine the two weapons that Victor had brought to her. A cursory glance through her mask confirmed the first of her suspicions. "They have have strong auras, closer to that of living creatures than magic items...somewhat otherworldly, but altered. Shaped by an influence of this realm."
"It might still be possible to put them down and return their spirits to where they belong, in the same way that consecrating essence restores the creature it was taken from."
Soon Hector make his way back into the farmhouse, quickly trading the dress shoes Roxanne had found among her collection for the weathered pair of boots designed to go with the sabatons of his armor, before grabbing his gambeson to put on first. As he did so, he waved to Roxanne. “Already got something that came up, Quinn has something he wanted help with, might take me out to one of the old ruins. Could come with if you’d like?”
Roxanne had finally decided to go outside and explore for a bit; perhaps she would find what to do first in her “busy” schedule this way. As she passed the farmhouse she noticed Hector and she waved back at him. She smiled at him and at what he said to her. “Always the busy one aren’t you? Sure thing, I can come with; would serve as an excuse to spend more time with my knight.” She winked at him and then reached back for her sword, a usual ritual of hers to get confidence. However, she noticed it wasn’t there; she had left it in her room in her haste for fresh air. “One little thing… I have to go back to my room and get ready… meet you by the vehicle area?” She said this not realizing he was also heading there to suit up.
Hector nodded at that. “Would be nice to, yes. For now I should get my armor just in case, might find what he’s after in one of the still-infested towns.” he pointed out, making his way to the door to her room. “If it’s, er...alright with you?” he asked, now a bit nervous. Roxanne snapped out of her distraction from her little mishap and realized what he was saying. She chuckled a bit and made a hand gesture indicating to go ahead. “Sure sure, just need to grab a few things myself so should be quick. After you.”
Hector nodded at that, and soon opened up the locker to retrieve his gear, piece by piece. The arm and legs sections were easy enough, the latter more due to practice than design, though the main component itself proved a bit awkward for him, he’d done all he could when designing the cuirass to ensure he could put it on by himself, but it still took a moment.
Roxanne soon entered her room after Hector and went straight for what she needed; both in terms of everyday carry and for a mission. She went and grabbed the sword, still in its scabbard and place it on the bed. Next she took a look at her laser pistol and rifle frowning at no longer having the bionics necessary to power them and she wasn’t going to start wearing a UPS to do it. Instead she ignored them and went for a final item; she looked in her dresser and found the robe of discovery her counterpart had given her. It was standard issue for all hunters of SoA and it had been her dream to earn the right to wear one. Roxanne smirked and put the purple, hooded robe with an unusual amount of internal pockets on.
After moving in it and looking down on herself she nodded in approval, put on the scabbard with the sword on it and grabbed her journal stuffing it in a pocket inside the robe. “I am ready! How about you Hector?” Hector had secured the straps on the side of his breastplate, shifting it to ensure the armor rested the way it was supposed to before tightening them, and after that it was a simple matter to throw on gauntlets and great helm, securing scabbard and shield once again. “Ready.” he answered, now making his way to the door and lead the way to the tank.
Quinn was already at the tank, a holster containing his colt and a sheath containing a simple boot knife on his belt. “Do you have everything, Hector?” He asked, fiddling with an unlit cigarette in his fingers as he looked over his glasses at him. Hector nodded at that, opening up the rear hatch of the tank. He already had supplies, his M4, gas mask, and other items stashed in the tank, and more importantly his assortment of tools. “I assume first ask the center if they have a lead on one. Might want to explain to Roxanne though...”
Roxanne simply followed Hector to the tank and regarded Quinn with a friendly smile as she let the two do their thing. At the sight of the gear loaded into the tank she suddenly felt a bit undergeared but then recalled both her bracelets and the necklace Melody had given her; this reassured her while she grabbed at the necklace reminding her of her abilities. When she heard Hector suggest they explain what was going on, her curiosity peaked. “Explain what? I would be best I know what I am getting into if nothing more to know who I am shooting at. Are we even shooting at anyone?”
Quinn shrugged, “I don’t know why he’s getting so geared up. But I’m planning on scouting down south.” He said, letting out a hmmph. Hector shrugged at that. “You said you need a suitable caravan for this trip, and I don’t know yet where we’re getting one.” he pointed out.
Roxanne chuckled at the exchange between the two. She reached and held the handle of her sword as she witness this. “Quinn, I've known tin can here for a while now; he likes to wear his armor. Let the kid have his toy ok? I too was going to bring a laser rifle but don’t have the means to power it now.” She glanced at her APC and then at the tank. “Scouting down south huh? Alright, if you don’t want to stay any more I understand. I know compartmentalization better than anyone. Unlike certain people…”
That last statement an obvious jab at someone; who this someone was she would not say. “Anyways. We have what we need I assume. We are all going in the tank right? If there is anything I need to know, now is the time. Otherwise, lead the way!”
Hector nodded as he got into the driver’s compartment, the rumble of a diesel engine heard as he started the tank up, flicking a switch before grabbing the handset to send a message. “Hector to the center, taking a quick trip over to ask about someone a friend of mine is looking for. You have any caravans recently salvaged?” he asked, and Leilia soon answered. “Specialist Carnes here. You mean a merchant caravan or…?” At that Hector shook his head, even though it was unseen. “Trailer, right size for a pickup to tow it.”
“Not really, no. Couple old damaged RVs that are still being fixed up, but might see if any have been marked on scouting runs but not picked up.” she offered, and by now the tank was rumbling along towards the path leading to the center. “That’d be good, yeah. My guess is if there are any RV parks in the area, there might be one left over.”
At Roxanne’s remarks, Quinn shrugged it off as he boarded the tank. “I don’t take ten minutes to get ready for a simple excursion.” he quipped in response. Soon however the matter turned to discussion over the radio, picking up the handset in the commander’s position. “I also need a, uh. Long-range radio. Would be best to keep in touch.”
At that, Leila perked up a bit before answering. “Oh! Doctor Quinn, I didn’t know you were the one gearing up for this. Everything alright? We should have a military radio from one of the old vehicles that’d work, yeah...”
Quinn sighed a bit, “I just need some time to think. Figure out what to do.” He said simply. There was a momentary pause, before Leila answered. “Who is going with you? Shouldn’t...travel alone. Not everyone can wave a sword at every problem that shows up.” she joked, the muffled metallic sound of Hector facepalming heard from the driver’s compartment.
Quinn managed a slight hint of a smile, moreso at Hector’s audible reaction than the remark that promoted it. “Going by myself. I’ll keep in touch.” he answered simply, and Leila had a discernible hint of worry in her voice as she answered. “I...what if s-someone asked to go with you?”
Roxanne had just been quietly musing herself once she got inside the tank along the other two. The little conversation they were having made her chuckle a little and roll her eyes playfully when Hector facepalmed. Still, she wondered what was going on, an RV? A Camper? This sounded to her like either plans for a long term expedition or a new home. Quinn said he was going alone but they were here with him. What?
Scouting down south, camper, going alone… It took awhile before Roxanne figured out, although not 100% confident about her deduction, yet she will keep quiet about. Her training in compartmentalization made her very keen in the whole “on a need to know basis” strategy of operations. They would say what was going on if they needed to.
Roxanne pulled Hector aside a bit and whispered to him out of Quinn’s earshot while he spoke on the radio. “Not to interrupt the two love birds over there but I should let you know I am not really welcomed in the center… not since the nuke and how I handled it… so if you two go there it is best I stay inside here less I cause an incident... again…”
Hector nodded at that, parking the tank outside along the center’s parking lot. “As long as it’s been? They still didn’t learn what the launch was even for?” he said, grumbling a bit. “Though you’re right, and with the captain there they might bring that up given what she said her unit’s job entailed back then...” he added, before setting a hand on her shoulder. “Alright then. That said, sounds like if we want to get a trailer for Quinn, we might not have to do much at the center except pick up a radio.”
Leila soon chimed in again. “I’m going to go ahead and head out to meet you guys, got the motor pool boys to find a long-range setup for you, and I have map coordinates of places likely to have what you’re looking for. Quinn, I um...” There was another pause before she spoke up. “When are you leaving? I wouldn’t mind talking to you about maybe, er...”
”As soon as I get everything I need. And maybe…?” Quinn said, raising a brow at Leila’s comment at the end. “I can see if the captain will let me go along with it. If you want?” Quinn let out a little ‘oh.’ “I… Wouldn’t mind that…” He said looking away for a moment.
Hector then picked up the radio. “If you want I can go ahead and pick up the map, and radio if you have it.” he answered, having stopped the tank for now. “I’ve got it actually. See you soon.” she said, soon making her way outside the center. Hector had for now opened up the hatch to wait there with Quinn and Roxanne. At this, Leila gave a nervous little wave as she approached, helping set a long-range radio setup in one of the storage compartments for now.
“Nearest RV park is in the town due west, not far into city limits. Still a fair degree of undead activity stirred up after the town, and not a lot of scouting reports about it. At the very least no one has hit up the RV park.” she said, before looking over to Roxanne. “Oh, and Mrs. Luna? The captain was hoping to ask some questions about some things from before we ended up here, if you get the time to.”
Before Roxanne could work up the nerve to answer, noticeably looking away nervously, Hector spoke up. “We’ll have time later, hopefully. We should go ahead and see if there’s anything to salvage over there.” he answered, opening up the rear hatch again. With the map in hand he regarded it, along with his own map, getting a rough idea of where to approach. Markings on it confirmed the town had been little-explored by survivors in the area, and with the way the undead were riled up after the storm, he was expecting trouble already...
Meanwhile, after Leila went back into the center, she started to go ahead with asking the captain about being allowed to leave with Quinn, but it wasn't long before something over the old network distracted them both from their conversation. Ralph had gotten himself lost, evidently.
The jeep driving back to the center was a relief for everyone involved, though as the captain waited outside the center, she gave a concerned glance at the fourth person in the jeep as well. "Not what I was expecting to see, but glads you three made a new friend along the way." the captain said, regarding the strange curiously, before leading them back into the center.
She had a few things to discuss with Ralph after all, and now was curious about the stranger that had arrived with them.
Nathaniel grumbled a bit as he was left dangling, looking around the strange pocket dimension he was almost completely dumped into. The first thing he did was scramble to grab a couple handfuls of fur, anything to ensure he wouldn't fall. "Jesus fucking christ, this is a crazy fantasy and a sick nightmare rolled up into one..." It was then that Nathaniel glanced down, spotting a figure among the landscape below him. "Yo! Fuck me, you've got some serious explaining to do..."
There was a cautious kick to nudge Sharlene and try to encourage her to pull him back out. "Lilith! Come on, pull me up..." he grumbled, mmphing and soon gasping for air after he'd felt a powerful paw seize him by the ankles and drag him out. "Gah...f-fuck. Lil, I need a rope of something, because I can't reach them. I can't just, y'know, do this and haul shit out." he said, sticking his hand into her cleavage for emphasis.
The effect, as seen from inside the pocket dimension, could be charitably described as unnerving. Less charitably, it could be described as a complete and utter affront to scale and perspective. A hand, at first massive and fitting the expected size relative to the massive breasts dominating the landscape. But as he reached with the distinct thought of the first box he spotted among the pile, the sense of scale momentarily seemed more normal, a hand perfectly normal in size somehow snatching up a much larger safe deposit box, until just like that both the offending limb and the box had vanished.
On Nathaniel's end, it felt like he'd simply reached into an endless expanse, only for something to settle in his hand, tugging it free of the chestwrap just as easily despite its size. Only to promptly yelp a split-second after it was freed, as he became quite acutely aware of its bulk and weight, a couple inches from landing on a foot as he dropped it. "Motherfucking holy goddamn...w-what the fuck!?"
"Okay, c-change of plans...here's hoping this works."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 04, 2018, 10:20:27 pm
Liam and Charles had stepped aside to the forge. Liam had asked about the procedure to make a specific item and Charles had needed to check a few things. As it was the setup here lacked a few things he’d have liked but that would be remedied with the barracks construction. Even then what Liam wanted..
Charles wiped sweat from his forehead as he shook his head. “I’d need more materials, an actual sketch of the design you want, and even then for the other properties I’d need..I frankly don’t know. Whatever material we’d use would have to be able to absorb magical energy. From there you’d need something that would cause it to condense that energy into..liquid? Something that’s not just one crystal slowly building up energy until it explodes like a hand grenade.”
Liam nodded as he let out a sigh and felt the energy tingle for a moment before the air in front of him froze for a moment. Rolling his eyes at this he said “I know. And I realize we lack the steel or iron for the actual helmet part. I was going to take Gunnar out scavenging in a bit and wanted to know what we should look out for.”
Charles gave Liam a list of supplies before walking back towards the others building the barracks. He hoped Liam could find the materials, from there it would be his job to actually make the prototype. For now though he refocused on his work.
Elsewhere the Captain smoked a cigarette as his two russian comrades went to take a leak. The woman had sat down and was looking at the photo those..idiots had shown her. The captain blew a puff of smoke into the air before asking “Who is this man to you?”
It had been the first time he had spoken to her since he’d come under her command. Quite frankly neither of them cared that he’d asked a question at this point. He’d earned his curiousity. Sighing she said “He went down for something he didn’t do. Something I was involved in. He had been part of a program that would have put him on the fast track as an officer in the military if he pursued a career there.”
The quizzical look of the Captain was met with a sigh as she continued “Don’t misunderstand. He was involved in illegal activities but this? This was something that had I not called in a number of favors would have landed him in jail for many many years. The illegal transportation of certain goods would do that back then.”
Shaking her head she wiped a tear from her face as she said “He was sixteen when he went in. He came of age there too, and when he left prison he started drinking heavily. He somehow had become a brilliant smuggler though. Our people had tried to convince him not to go but he went to america. From there I heard that he transported goods for a number of criminal organizations. But I never did get to apologize for what had happened.”
The Captain shook his head and muttered a surprised curse “I thought we were coming to kill him. But if your reasons are more..sincere I’m happier to be coming along. But I swear the way you talk, you have to be related to this guy.” before noticing the others returning and helping the woman up to continue onward.
Elsewhere the Black raven sighed. He’d learned that his little accomplice had failed in procuring the ring he had been after. This had resulted in a fit of anger which had destroyed a few of his nice things. Sighing he took up an item he’d kept to himself for some time and summoned one of his minions. Extending the engraved dagger towards the minion he said “I want you to stab a man in that wretched hive of ‘heroes’. His name is..Isaac was it?” grabbing his notes he flipped through some before nodding “Yes Isaac. This is no ordinary weapon of course.”
The minion walked away as he sighed. If he couldn’t have the ring he’d have to find another artifact. Several came to mind but none that would be easy to acquire. Sighing to himself he contemplated ways to acquire the ring anyway.
His minion however smiled as it flipped the dagger in the air. Disappearing from the spirit world it felt it’s true master contact it. It’s smile broadened as it said “Helloooo. I’ve been asked to stab Isaac Mortal with this little beauty. Oh?... Really?... I see. It can be arranged. I don’t see why you’d want this one to have a chance like that but..I know not my place but still. It will be done.”
Meanwhile B-23 looked around the room he’d been staying in. Nothing of actual concern had happened but he and Jay still felt uneasy. He also wondered when the men he’d met would take him to get a new hand. He did expect people to keep their word, and if they didn’t…
Adjusting the wrench in his hand he paced a bit as Jay watched. “Oh calm down big boy, not much we can do right now.” she said as she checked her pistol. B-23 replied with “I don’t like being cooped up” popping onto his screen.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 05, 2018, 10:43:48 am
A messy purple tuft of hair appeared over the edge of the crib, slowly rising to reveal the brown face and sharp teeth beneath it. The woman stared down at Thomas grinning behind her glasses and he stared back up at her with a look of concern.
"Hey little baby." She whispered, "You've got a future ahead of you, but I can't really share the details. Shhhh. You know, your older than I am. But also younger. Does that make sense?"
Thomas looked even more concerned now, almost like the baby wanted to push himself down through the bottom of his crib and escape the purple haired weirdo. She talked to him about all sorts of subjects, all sorts of things he didn't understand and wouldn't remember later.
"Don't cry." She said suddenly, "You're just hungry. I can go get your mom if you want. Yes? Okay! But in the meantime..."
Illiana winced, the small feat of prestidigitation causing her more pain than she would let on. With a flick of her wrist and a twist of her fingers, Illiana conjured up glittering crystal too big to fit in his mouth if he managed to get ahold of it. With another move, an arcing motion of her hands over the crib, a hook sprouted from the simple bed and from it Illiana hung the crystal. As an after thought, she ran her hands along the sides of the crib and the material changed from modern material to live wood. Small branches as strong as iron weaving themselves into the desired shape. This new crib would protect as well as provide comfort. She looked over her work and wondered how long it would be before Helen saw this and what she would think. Probably not long. When looked at through the mask of insight, the crib would light up brilliantly.
Thomas looked around himself with a bit of the babyish awe that Illiana found adorable. When he looked back to the purple haired lady, she was gone. The bridge wasn't much of a bridge. In reality, it was more a drainage ditch with a concrete culvert directing water under it and over the side of the hill it crested. The rush of water from the previous few days stormy weather over this hill created a rainbow through the light spray. It was a stark contrast to the machine standing at one side of the "bridge." Tall and dangerous, but with no obvious weapons on display. The paint was faded or gone in most places. It stood stock still as the men and women in the American delegation made their slow approach. They watched it, not getting out of their vehicles for a long time. Then, the robot raised it's right hand and a speaker hidden somewhere about it came to life. The voice that spoke through it gave little doubt as to where it was from. The accent was undeniably male and very obviously Canadian.
"Good morning sirs, we can meet here or you can accompany me back to camp. Either way is fine with me, but every second in this machine sucks a minute off my lifespan. So the camp would be preferred."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 05, 2018, 06:51:30 pm
Lucian was out on a, in his words, 'A shopping trip'. He returned with a bionic arm still in it's plastic case, as he walked into the mansion he grabbed one of the 'servants'. Who really could be better described as a 'housemate' or as the lady Lucian had go with him, A medic. The hunter explained what he needed to do, and the maid nodded politely. Lucian knocked on the door where B23 and Jay were being held for the time being. He walked in and tossed the case on the bed, "It was a pain in the fuckin' ass, but I found one. Specifically, a military grade one. Either you, your lady-pal here if she can, or Maria here can help ya out."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 05, 2018, 10:33:16 pm
Popping the case open B-23 examined the hand for a moment before nodding. Looking over at Lucian the words ‘I can install it. Just need to install some programming.’ before he opened his bag and retrieved the case of data chips. Flipping through them he picked one out. It was, like the rest, dull grey. This one was marked with a yellow piece of tape and a series of little marks.
Plugging it into the slot on his head B-23 selected a data file for it to overwrite. He didn’t really use rocket launchers, so the knowledge of building, maintaining, and utilizing such was of little value. Still he’d miss that one video clip of one being used on a decomissioned tank to provide an example of where to shoot one in case you had to.
After a few minutes he removed the data chip and slid it back into its place. Retrieving the hand he began the process as Jay watched. Switching off his pain receptors B-23 looked over at Lucian as the words ‘how did you get this anyway?’ drifted onto the screen in a lazy blue.
Elsewhere a man from the Carnicería tapped the side of his rifle in sync with the metronome in the background. His comandante had told him to deal with an issue. So now he waited.
It wasn’t long before his target stepped into the light, apperating out of nowhere. The Carnicería had been dealing with this spirit for some time since it had started bothering their community. Pulling the bolt back and letting the round that had been sitting in the chamber fly out the man replaced it with an engraved round. Sliding the bolt forward he lined up his shot.
The spirit had begun by harassing the elderly with visions of death. Then it had caused actual harm to a young man that wasn’t religious. After that the community had put it in Carnicería hands. After all they were one of the few that knew about such spirits and actually believed in them. For some time they had served as protectors who operated in violent means, enforcers of their people’s laws and killers of any who would attack them, the Carnicería had only recently started doing ‘favors for the other clans. Slowly squeezing the trigger the rifleman said “Descansa en paz y deja que el Señor te guíe a casa” before letting the bullet fly.
A hole tore through the spirits head as an odd blue substance sprayed the wall before turning grey. Standing up and walking down the stairs of the building the rifleman shook his head. The odd blue trail that had followed the bullet through the air had disappeared as he exited the building. Throwing a silver coin onto the disappearing corpse of the spirit the man began walking away towards his stashed truck.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 05, 2018, 10:57:32 pm
Lucian rolled his eyes, "Turned in a favour, not killin' everyone yeh meet has it's perks." He joked, flashing a wide, sharp toothed grin. His teeth weren't unlike that of a vampire, neither was his skin. Rather pale but not sickly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 06, 2018, 01:53:09 am
Catnip slipped the coin into her pocket, already imagining a kind of mount she could set it into so that she could string it around her neck without putting a hole in it. The coin had to remain whole to keep the luck inside, she had determined. Before all the personal tasks though, she wanted to make sure everyone else was taken care of. Most of the workers were off on break. The sudden disappearance of the work force was a phenomenon Catnip had become familiar with. The noon lunch break had to her mind taken on a kind of religious significance while she'd worked for Pricetown salt in the howling tower.
With people away from the works, it gave Catnip a chance to examine the work without getting in anyones way. With the focuses method, a way of working that put as many workers as possible on a single project without putting so many that they got in each others way, the migrants had very nearly finished both Nathaniel and Hector's houses. They were bigger than the small shacks they'd had. Twice as big in fact. Nathaniel's featured a huge double door that Lilith could fit through and a large main room. Hectors on the other hand had been built with an eye for storage. Mainly stands for armor and weapons. Along with that, it was given a simple fenced yard. In the yard, someone had dragged the anvil and whatever else could be salvaged from the forge works. All that had to be done with them now was to fit windows, apply embellishment, paint, and furnish the two houses.
While those two groups had been working on those structures, another smaller group had repainted Roxanne's farmhouse while others had laid foundations for other houses. As soon as Nathaniel and Hectors houses were done, the construction crews would move on to the readied worksites. Catnip expected that at least another house or two would be done by the end of the day. They weren't massive houses after all, not as big as the pre-cataclysm houses she'd seen. They would be much roomier though.
For now, she wanted to look for a way to be useful. Sad thoughts or not, work meant happiness. Or at least distraction from pain. Catnip rounded out her inspection of the works by checking on Mica, then clearing off a section of Dee's workbench for her own use. The caravan moved slowly, and this made the mood among some of the raiders worse. Curtis did his best to hold them together, whether that be with words or with hard shots to the jaw. Jeremiah "Big Smoke" Black believed his eldest son would make a good leader someday. If, that was, he was still in a place of leadership after they hooked up with with the Red Skulls. Chief Kyle "Two Skulls" Phenning was more than just a rival to Big Smoke. In the pre-cataclysm, they'd been colleagues. No one would believe that the man who now called himself "Two Skulls" had been a history teacher. His classroom had been right next to Big Smokes math class.
"From teachers to bandits." He said aloud, laughing when the closest of his men looked up at him in confusion. Up ahead, the road came parallel with the river. In a few miles, it would pass by a small and rarely visited tourist trap. Beyond that, it would be clear sailing right up to the farm. Big Smoke, like everyone else, was worried most about what would happen when they got there. He looked around and spotted the kid. Big Smoke felt for him a bit. To have such a responsibility at his age was hard, but he didn't have to do it alone. He had a whole group of people to help him. Big Smoke didn't know it, but Dee had received advice like that before. Sharlene was suddenly grabbed and hauled up by the wrist by something she couldn't see. She and Michael had watched as one of the deposit boxes had gone zipping up into the breasts hanging in the air in place of the sun, and that had been very strange. When the hand appeared again momentarily, and she felt the tug on her wrist, Sharlene pulled away knowing what would happen. She only had a moment.
"Hold my jacket Mickey." She said, whipping off the jacket and tossing it to the spirit. To his credit, he managed to catch it without cutting it, putting any holes in it, or dropping any of the pockets contents. "Stick around here, I don't know how any of this works, but I'll get you out of here next."
Then, she was gone. Michael has expected to see his "mother" being drawn up into the sky like the box had been. Instead though, she was just gone. There one moment, vanished the next. It would have irritated Sharlene to know end if she'd known that Michael could have left the dimension at any time he chose. He wondered for a bit if he should tell her or not and decided he would. Her jacket he laid over the boxes, carefully folding it and setting it down neatly atop the two remaining. During the wait, he cracked open the boxes and organized them, adapting to Sharlene's way of thinking and using his own knowledge of the enchantment. Taking the things out of the boxes, and out of her pockets, would make retrieving the contents difficult. Any time someone reached into the container without thinking of anything specific, they'd come out with a random object. Most of the objects from the boxes were simple mementos and jewelry. Lot's of little items and documents. Next to all that stuff, he laid out the note and knife. Apart from the jacket, it was really all she had left. The enchanting ritual had consumed everything else. Even the Athame looked thin and used up, so Michael guessed that some of it had not weathered the spell so well. Still, a tool was a tool and Sharlene would need it.
While looking over his organization work, he suddenly felt himself being pulled up. Resisting was easy, but he chose not to. As the dark warmth of tiger fur momentarily engulfed him, the divine spirit had a moment to reflect on just how effective attaching your treasure to it's guardian was.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 06, 2018, 01:55:48 am
B-23’s display showed the words ‘If you had told me that a year ago I would have said you were full of it.’ as he installed the hand. Some blood poured from a cut in his arm as he fumbled with part of it. ‘One hand makes this a bit difficult’ popped onto the screen as the sounds of it integrating echoed in the room.
Jay stood up and walked over with a bandage as he flexed his new hand. “Give me that. A new hand won’t do you any good if you let yourself bleed out you idiot.” She said as she grabbed his arm and started bandaging the wound that he’d accidentally caused. Stopping the bleeding with practiced ease she continued “You know for a machine with a big brain you sure act dumb sometimes.”
Looking back at Lucian B-23’s display mimicked an amused face before the words ‘Now I believe what you said, it does have its perks’ appeared. Jay smacked him lightly on the chest as she said “Stop fidgeting.” As she continued working.
Elsewhere Magnus watched the gears turn. This resulted in the engine turning over and electricity sparking. In turn this caused the lights on the creation to turn on. Leaning back Magnus waited for the machine to fully come to life.
A few minutes later and a robotic voice asked “Is there anything with which I may help?” and Magnus smiled. He’d been trying to get it to work for so long now. He wasn’t sure if he was sad or relieved that it was finally done.
Which was about when it began making a noise that indicated an issue. Letting out a frustrated sigh Magnus cut it off and stood. He didn’t have time to work on it further. Looking the machine up and down he whispered more to himself than anything else “You’ll live again, and that time you’ll get to live a life your own.” Putting a hand on the metallic shoulder he continued “Just hang in there alright.”
Standing to walk away from this and to his duties Magnus hoped that the next time he truly would keep that promise. Not even wiping the grease from his hands he walked out the door and turned to walk in step with the passing manager. Mentally noting the tasks he was given Magnus turned towards the room that was designated for the Irrigation Development Team.
Listening to the head technicians of the project Magnus only spoke up when he felt his knowledge would prove useful. The irrigation systems would be installed on the mobile platforms that had already been prepared to grow crops. From there a somewhat modified version would be installed on any stationary fields the Clans made. Once that was done Magnus nodded as he stepped away to go towards his other duties. As he walked through the door he said aloud “May the machine spirits guide us to success.”
As he fell into step with another of the Jīxiè xué the man shook his head and said “You know Magnus not everyone believes that. They doubt that any form of machine could hold a spirit, much less something like an irrigation system.”
Magnus shrugged as he replied “So be it. If they wish to make fun of me for my beliefs I’ll prove that I am worthy of taking my father’s place in time with my skill.”
The man returned the shrug as he said “We will see. However for now I’ve need of you in repairing one of the trucks.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 08, 2018, 08:51:27 am
Atomos and red walked and talked along the line of the fence. Asking questions and receiving answers. One would think this a one sided affair but truth be told, both sides asked and answered their fair share. On Red's part, he asked what was going on out in the world. He knew of the machinations of God's Army and all that happened in Abaddon, but events to the South were completely unknown to him. In exchange, Atomos asked him about her condition. When he wouldn't give straight answers, she stopped asking straight questions.
"Curious," Red commented, "How you can set aside your shock to get down to business like this. Even if the respite is temporary." Atomos flinched. 'Not quite as distracted as she was trying to be.' he thought to himself. Inside, deep down, Atomos was a roiling sea of shock and frustration. On the surface though, she'd managed to push it down under a cover of curiosity and professionalism. She was seeking answers. What she wasn't doing was looking directly at red, at herself, at other foxes they passed, or at how big the world seemed now. She spoke and heard, but didn't hear. Red couldn't have that. This stranger, this cursed stranger, would never be free of the devil's which plagued her if she couldn't come to accept the world she now found herself in.
"There was a time when I remember there not being so many of those cars that... People... Used to drive around before the end." Red said, tailoring his words so that they'd be less grating to Atomos will. She was staring directly at him now though, and he could have kicked himself.
"You can't possibly be that old." Atomos said. Her voice seemed small and distant, but fascinated. The old fox thought there was something in that fascination. Something the girl could use to her benefit. Red decided to play on it a bit.
"I am that old, and older, but not by much. I was still a young renard when man shot each other with revolving pistols and only lived to the ripe old age of forty or fifty."
Atomos looked as floored as any fox could. "Foxes don't live that long!" She barked, perhaps a little louder than she intended. Her ears folded back and she hunched down a little like an animal being hunted.
"No." He confirmed, "Not all of us are clever enough. The younger generations are often brash and arrogant. So fond of their tails. Even the most clever don't usually live so long though. There's always one of us in a skulk, and always one to take his or her place."
Atomos cocked her head, but didn't rise from her low crouch. "What." Was all she had to say on the matter, and Red realized that for all his wisdom, he really didn't fully understand the depth of the problem. He sighed. "There is always one 'grandfather' in every skulk, every group, of foxes. Other creatures have similar elder figures. It is a mystery that goes back ages, since before the long winter. The first grandfather's were numerous, but for us foxes, there is only one with a name known to us. Mikko."
For a wonder, Atomos did rise a little. "Who is he? She?" She asked. Red was warming to what he wanted to tell, and so it was easier for him to let slip the secret. He could give her an answer. It would bring up more questions but they would be small questions. The quandries of a curious youth.
"This is an old story, one I have not told since I was not half as old as I am now. Before the long winter," He said, only aware at the edge of his story tellers senses that another had silently joined them, "Man and beast we're as one. Then, the cold came. Long and dark was that winter, and when spring finally came, many generations had passed and man had forgotten the words of beasts. Mikko and his brothers and sisters though, remembered what it was like before the long winter, and they became the first spirits. Mikko was not the only one, as I said, but he is the only one whose name is known, and that was his undoing." Atomos listened, drawn in by Reds way with words. She too didn't notice Cheena slipping in next to her to hear the story. Red smiled, finally taking notice of the young vixen. "Ah, Cheena. I suppose you've been following?"
"Yes Red!" Cheena huffed excitedly, a glutton for stories.
"There isn't much more, not that I or my own grandfather's know more apart from the stories you've already been told. Men learned of Mikko's name because Mikko was full of pride. He communed with man more often than any other spirit because he bore a love for man, but men are filled with tricks. A good or devil or even a spirit can be brought out by mention of it's true name. It was only a matter of time before Mikko fell into the trap he had woven with his legacy."
"But Mikko still exists!" Cheena said excitedly. Red grinned again, knowing that Cheena had picked up on more than what Red had told Atomos. Very likely, she had been given dreams of her own.
"Aye, Cheena. Mikko is still in the world. If he was not, there would be no 'grandfathers.' He sewed for himself a tapestry of tales to remind men of him. Do you think he did so knowing what would befall him?" Cheena nodded enthusiastically. Red judged Atomos, and found what he wanted. She was easier, not much, but she no longer had the look of a harried creature.
"Cheena, why don't you show our new friend around a bit, ease her into life here so she isn't so uncomfortable while she is staying with us."
Atomos tottered from one foot to the other. The mention of staying and of later leaving brought back the memory of something important. She didn't feel anything in her paw, but she did wonder about it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 10, 2018, 01:09:02 am
Aaron stepped back from the work on their barracks. It was almost finished, enough so to sleep in at least, and he could feel himself becoming hungry. Looking up at the sky for a moment to check the time he soon gestured for the others to relax. Retrieving his bow he started for the woods to get something for them to cook as the others rested.
Gunnar meanwhile stopped to check on Anton while Eino found somewhere to sit and rest. Removing his helmet Eino looked the piece of armor over before throwing it aside. Liam walked over and asked “Something wrong?” as he looked at the thrown helmet.
Eino stood up and started removing his chest plate as he said “Nothing you’d understand Liam.” Walking away as he tossed the chest plate aside Eino shook his head.
Following him Liam said “Eino we’re here for each other. Fucks sake we grew up together. I’m he-” He was cut off by Eino stopping and looking over his shoulder. A moment passed before Eino turned towards Liam and said “Yeah. We grew up together. You the miracle kid who could use magic. And me.The kid whose gift was strength. The kid who when he wasn’t off to battle was either training or helping around the village with little time to himself. So what do you really know about my life? Cause I remember being the one to pick up after your messes.”
Liam just stood and watched as Eino turned back around and walked away leaving a trail of armor behind. Soon Charles put a hand on Liam’s shoulder and said “Don’t worry. He’ll be back. He’s just angry and doesn’t have anyone to punch for once.”
Isaac found himself resting and with that drifting off to sleep. He wasn’t expecting to be woken up by a low gravelly voice speaking to him. “So you’ve come again. But this time not for a test of strength. What is it then?”
Standing up Isaac looked around. A forest filled with cherry blossoms was the sight that greeted him with a table in front of him. Sitting on the other side was an old man wearing a set of old clothes and a cloth gambeson. Taking a seat Isaac asked “Who are you?”
Smiling at the question the man poured tea for the both of them as he said “I normally prefer mead but it is nice to partake in what some of our eastern friends produce. Or the other Europeans.” Finishing pouring the tea and setting the kettle aside the man smiled nervously as he continued “They call me.. Well in a tongue you may understand they call me North. I work as a guide of sorts.”
Sipping his tea for a moment the man observed his guest. As Isaac did his host. Fiery red hair with a close cut beard with equally fiery red eyes. Setting his cup down North said “In a way I suppose that’s something we have in common.” At the questioning look North’s eyes widened as he said “don’t tell me you don’t realize you’ve guided so many down paths they otherwise wouldn’t have taken. If you hadn’t started being the ‘boogey man’ of the criminal world there wouldn’t have been a surge of vigilantes. If you hadn’t done some of the things you’ve done recently the third wouldn’t be here, the precinct wouldn’t have existed, and those men who now follow you would be back home with no purpose save whatever foolhardy quest they try to get out of me.”
Sipping his own tea Isaac wondered about all of that. Still holding the cup he asked “And what now? How does one guide others when one is lost himself?” with a worrying frown on his face.
Shaking his head North said “I know much. But I cannot solve this conflict within you, this battle of two sides.” Looking out into the trees North sighed before he said “You view your actions in the past as either inherently good or evil. So within you now there is a battle raging that you must settle. However it is one that will take far more time than any other battle you have fought.”
Isaac stared into his cup as he asked “And there is no advice you can offer?” to which North sighed and said “It is not my place. At the end of this battle though..you will come out on one of many paths. As far as I can foresee this path will affect others, but how I don’t know. Nor can I tell if this path will truly be under your control after this battle reaches its highest point.”
Isaac noticed the forest starting to fade as North said “It appears your time here is done. Perhaps soon we can have a longer conversation outside of this place. In your world perhaps. Though I doubt you’ll free me from my prison just yet, not without the advice of another.”
Isaac woke up and looked around. Forcing himself to stand he recognized hie was in Walkerville. Shaking his head he decided he’d have to discuss this with someone. But for now he should probably make himself useful here.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 10, 2018, 03:14:48 pm
(( Part 2 of Hector, Roxanne, and Quinn stuff written with Noct and Wilson. ))
Roxanne was still thinking about what these questions would be. The last time she had been there was during the attack and before that she used her limited magic to pretty much intimidate command there; she was sure she was going to be reprimanded. She stayed silent when Hector suggested where to start looking simply nodding. However, eventually snapped out of it and decided to contribute as best she can. “Anything I should be looking for as well? I have a limited ability to sense any nearby creatures if that helps or I can patrol the area when we get there. Anything either of you need?”
Hector glanced into the camera displays as he flicked a switch, seeing intermittent dim signs of thermal signatures as they drove into town. “If you can spot any particularly dangerous ones before they become a problem, that’d be best. Anything big, anomalous abilities, bionics if you can pick up on that.” he answered, calmly swerving to bowl over one undead straggler, rapidly reduced to a smear under the tread, before the tank turned down the road leading to their destination.
“Understood. Will keep a look out for any danger then.” Roxanne activated one of the bracelets and started to pay attention to whatever feeling might come her way. Then she looked over Quinn’s way. “How about you Quinn? Any orders for me? Seems this is your operation after all.”
Quinn let out a little grumble, “No. Hector said what I would’ve.” He said simply, narrowing his eyes slightly with a grimace. Hector hmmed a bit at that. “And careful not to stir up too much attention, if we can...so Quinn.” He rose a brow at that, “What?” Quinn asked, with a raise of his brow. “Seems you found someone to go with you. Seems like a good choice...”
Quinn frowned a bit, before looking away. “Yeah… I’m not humoring you…” He said, clearly flustered. Hector shrugged at that. “Hey, it’s good if you do though. I say go for it.” he remarked, soon pulling the tank into the park, spotting a few full-on RVs, and among them a couple trailers in various sizes. “Let’s see, what’d suit your requirements best...”
Quinn looked at the trailers, hmming a bit. Then, he pointed at the largest and most intact out of the number of them. “That one.” Hector nodded at that, seeing that the vehicle it had been hitched to was still there, knowing it’d need to be moved out of the way unless it was still running. “Alright then, should take a look inside while we‘re at it.”
A faint mass of groaning and shuffling made their way towards the RV park. However, from what Roxanne could see, there was no one inside the old trailer. Quinn got out of the tank and made his way to the door, a faint acidic stench and a… flowery smell was obvious to whoever was nearby.
Roxanne simply remained quiet after Quinn answered her; she didn’t want to interrupt their little back and forth as she found it amusing herself. Then they were back on track with the mission and her focus shifted to pay close attention to them in case she herself could help. When the chosen trailer was pointed out she focused her ability at it to “scan it”; she did not understand what it was or how to control it but didn’t honestly care. It didn’t picked out anything out of the ordinary, the thing devoid of life.
“Nothing is in there, I checked.”, Roxanne announced to the other two. Quinn soon made his way out and Roxanne activated her bracelets again to exit the tank by going through its walls. Once outside she picked up a scent thanks to those bracelets; this was a scent familiar to her and it made her smile. Roxanne floated her way to the entrance of the trailer just behind Quinn and stood there. “If you want I can go in first to make sure it’s really cleared… I don’t mind, not like I can be hurt or anything…” The tone in her voice suggested an ulterior motive and the scent in the air hinted at what it was.
Quinn sighed and gave a little roll of his eyes, “Go ahead. Make sure it’s alright to breathe in.” Hector meanwhile had been keeping a wary eye out on the approaching figures, singling out a few of the less steady shambling undead just in case. At Roxanne’s eagerness, and moreover the strong scent coming from within the cabin, had him suspicious. It reminded him mainly of the stench coming from the room Bandit had formerly commandeered as a lab, with still lingered a bit even after he had left. “Be careful with anything you find in there, Roxanne. Might be unstable, not to mention hazardous to...ahem, play with.” he remarked, already suspecting her newfound solidity of form might tempt her to experiment.
Roxanne smiled wide and nodded eagerly at Quinn’s command and prepared herself to phase through the door when she heard Hector. At this she rolled her eyes but winced a bit as well. “Hey! What would make you think I would do something like that… Don’t worry about me… I am fine…” After her her own comment she went ahead and entered the trailer.
Inside was as expected but Roxanne didn’t look around much as the smell was way stronger inside. She cough a bit but it was just the smell and she didn’t detect anything dangerous lingering. A sudden need for fresh air overtook her and she reached out to open the door from the inside; the whole ordeal having taken about 2 minutes. Roxanne come out coughing. “It’s ok. Safe to go in...just let the smell waft a bit… then we can look it over properly… haven’t touched anything I swear!”
Hector hmmed a bit, and when he moved to open the door, he winced a little at the smell that came from it. “Hard to say when you can probably still shrug off any hazardous chemicals coming from it.” he said, taking a look around. “Probably been here since zero day though, so chances are anything immediately dangerous has broken down a bit by now. What do you think, Quinn?”
Quinn sniffed the air outside the door, “Hmmph. It's likely just an open jug of sulfuric acid and… flowers?” He announced, confused slightly at the second scent. He walked inside and looked around, there were plant bulbs sitting on the kitchen counter, glass jars labelled with ‘morphine’ and flour bags being filled with an off-white powder. “Jesus christ Roxanne…” Quinn grumbled as he shook his head.
Hector nodded at that, keeping a wary eye out on the shambling undead in the distance. He suspected they had heard their approach and, in the absence of any other distractions, a few stragglers would be after them soon. “Let’s finish checking up on the place, get that vehicle unhitched from the trailer, and hook it up to the tank.” he said, carefully patrolling around the trailer itself, checking that there were no utilities hooked up to it to detach.
Quinn nodded at that and looked through the ‘lab’. There was a small solar panel set on a window sill, it’s cord leading to a closet. Inside was a grow lamp, recently broken by the storm. However, there were a half dozen large opium poppies, possibly mutated due to the larger than average flower.
He glared at them, they’re fully matured and practically useless. Quinn grabbed the sides of the wooden planter box and tossed it outside, along with the broken grow light. He pressed the heel of his shoe against the flowers, grinding them against the floor.
Roxanne had gone back inside to inspect stuff on her own as well. The smell still present but nothing the three of them who had survived the cataclysm couldn’t handle. The little growing operation something Roxanne had seen in her scouting runs before so she knew what to look for. As much as she tried to conceal it having found this little “lab” had her giddy; she started to hum a little tune to herself as she looked.
She found a jar full of a mixture of mint leaves, probably to help mask the scent, but they had rotten a long time ago. Searching further didn’t yield much more besides the “finished product” Quinn and Hector were aware of. Roxanne was about to try and sneak a taste to see how her new form would react to the substances but was surprised at how Quinn threw the lamp and smashed the flowers. “Whoa there… everything alright Quinn? What’s the big idea?”
Quinn knelt down, and pointed at the smashed poppies. “Like I suspected, no seeds.” He stated simply, “There’s likely seeds stored in the trailer elsewhere, however.” Quinn pointed out, letting out sigh of… relief. “I would be lying if I said that didn't feel good though…”
Hector had been in the middle of unhitching the truck the caravan was connected to, having simply opted to put it in neutral and push it away rather than gamble on being able to start it, when he heard the commotion outside it, rushing over only to regard Quinn with a quizzical look, though concealed under his helm. “Didn’t take you for the straight-edge type.” he joked, regarding the remains of the plant. “Could likely save the seeds if you find them. Make sure they’re stored well and chances are a farming settlement might accept them.”
“Or we can always farm them ourselves you know? Think of it as an investment… Just a thought.” Now Roxanne wanted to find seeds herself, maybe keep a few for herself. While looking around a thought came to mind; more of a question. “Soooo, what are we going to do with this trailer? As in where are we taking it? The contents of it are nice but I don’t think that is what we came for did we? Let’s wrap up searching this place and storing the goods. I-I can help move them to the tanks cargo hold if you guys want…”
Hector shook his head at that. “We could, but I would be a bit cautious about setting up such a thing at Walkerville. I mean if you’re really that eager to test out that magic, remember all those...er, blocks of hash?” he pointed out, to his embarrassment. “Regardless, it looks like there’s more activity up ahead, by the way we came in. Don’t want them trashing this thing when we just got it ready to drive off with.” he said, before gesturing to the road leading deeper into the RV park. “If we can find another exit before they start meandering over, or until we attract their attention again...”
Helen and Victor had discussed, for the moment, what to do with the two biological weapons. Helen suspected they where otherworldly creatures, but why they'd ended up in the form of weapons she wasn't sure. What was clear though was they would not be as easy to neutralize as most magic objects.
Victor, in contrast, suggested trying to study them instead, musing that her initial idea was very "Cleansing Flame" of her. A joke that, despite her mild annoyance at it, she conceded. "To be honest...you're right. If we can safely figure out its properties, origin, how to make it safe to use...they've been in the armory this whole time without being a problem, and storing them here seems to suffice as well."
With that settled for now she'd soon find herself going back to the usual daily tasks, helping out around The Hall and assisting in construction. It wasn't long however that, on taking a break to check on Thomas and tend to him. Being only a few months old Thomas was still not very vocal just yet, but Iliana's presence and the strange magic she wove left him abnormally quiet, even at that young an age able to tell something was off about the strange spirit woman standing over the crib.
"Now what did you d-...helviti." Helen remarked, giving a sigh as she carefully held Thomas close, taking a seat on the bed. "If you're sure this is safe then, I've been trying to avoid any untested magical effects around him..." she remarked, glancing back at Iliana.
Nathaniel was, to put it lightly, utterly stunned by what had happened. He gave a blank stare at Lilith before reaching in again, soon getting an idea that led to yanking Sharlene out of the pocket dimension. "Alright. I don't know how the fuck this works, or how you set this up, but...fucking hell." he said, before the irritated glare he was giving Sharlene softened a bit. "I'm glad you made it back in one piece at least."
The convoy had decided quite promptly, the lieutenant commander answering. "The camp is fine then, lead the way." he answered, soon making ready to follow the machine over. Larion was caught off guard by the sight of the machine, unaware that the Canadian Armed Forces had been developing any such thing. Admittedly, such info would be far above his paygrade, but he had expected to hear at least some rumors or news about the sort of tech that would precede such a machine.
Leila had soon radioed ahead to Walkerville, informing them that a traveler would be heading there, and giving a rough idea of what to expect. She had expected Roxanne, Hector, even Nathaniel to be the one to answer her, instead Floyd was the one to answer, calmly answering that he'll keep an eye out for this person.
"By the way, your friend you brought here a while back is here, talked with Captain Sandell a bit. Picked him up in the nearby woods. Boy's lucky he had an uplink with your little network there. Uninjured, just got lost it seems. Possibly will want to talk him into getting his eye bionic checked."
Soon she went back to the captain's office after both of them had dismissed the two they were interviewing. "So, Leila. You started mentioned something you wanted to ask about?"
"Yes, captain. Doctor Quinn has expressed an interest in a scouting mission, probably south in directions other than Old Guard territory. I was thinking if you'd authorize, er..." she said, trailing off a bit.
At that, Catalina gave a nod. "Go ahead. I can ask Khaki to take over for handling communications and data management again. I assume he'd have the means to check in and report?" she asked, and Leilia gave a nod. "Thank you captain."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Luca on June 10, 2018, 05:56:08 pm
On the horizon of Walkerville, a shadow grew closer- a figure.
White dress shirt and faded blue jeans, finishing up in stern black shoes. Very obviously borrowed clothes from the refuge center.
The heavily bandaged man had a gladiator helm slung loosely from his left side, dangling along as he walked.
Bow and arrow were slung over his shoulder, neatly behind the double chest holsters bearing .45ACP pistols.
A Gladius type sword strapped tightly into it's sheathe strapped onto the lower of the man's back.
His bandages showed wear and tear, though the most important ones, covering the right side of his face- were seemingly fresh.
The ones concealing his bloodied, burned and torn knuckles however- were not.
A backpack held all of his original Roman-type war clothing inconspicuously.
Cain's steps grew closer toward the impromptu fort of Walkerville.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 10, 2018, 11:08:28 pm
Alexei was back behind the bar serving drinks. So far it seemed like everything was going well, no major problems that had been brought to his attention. En and his compatriot had left along with a large group of patrons that had gotten drunk enough for their tastes leaving the stools in front of him open. Cleaning a glass he took a moment to survey the room and see what was going on.
Which was nothing of note. A few drunk patrons being escorted out and Ernie complaining. Shrugging to himself he continued cleaning glasses as he waited for more customers. Though he did find out Irene had sent a couple of mislings back to Walkerville to spread the word of the bar.
Which of course was when the four men in dusters, wide flat brimmed cowboy hats, and long cut bandanas walked in. Silver plated revolvers rested on their hips and one carried a shining steel shotgun. Honestly Alexei was reminded of those old cheesey cowboy movies except these didn’t feel like the good guys.
Watching them for a moment Alexei pondered his course of action. Whatever it was he should probably figure it out soon since they all seemed to be eyeing him. Coming to a decision Alexei walked over and almost smiled as one of them stood up. He recognized him now, one of those cannibals he’d thought he’d wiped out four years ago. The ones that had ate Pat.
Before the man could react, much less reach for his own weapon, Alexei ripped the silver revolver from it’s holster. The hammer slammed down into the primer as the barrel stared the man down. Before the body could fall one of his friends rushed Alexei and swung a knife at him. Instead he found Alexei grabbing his arm and tossing him to the ground through a table. Yanking the man’s shoulder out of its socket Alexei let the man scream for a moment before letting a round off through his throat.
Fanning three rounds out of the revolver Alexei put the man with the shotgun down. Blood sprayed the wall as he stumbled back with blood pouring out of his mouth. The last remaining cannibal had his revolver out and was leveling it at Alexei’s head. “You’s only got one shot left.” the man said in voice that Alexei could only describe as that of a dying man.
Fitting enough Alexei thought as he shifted himself down and to the right suddenly and lifted the sideways revolver and shot the man through the heart. Staggering back against the bar he put one hand on the hole in his chest as the other let the revolver drop to the floor. “You know there’s others. They’s really want you too.” before shakily grabbing a shot glass he downed the drink before falling to the floor dead. Alexei shook his head as he retrieved a pair of holsters from the bodies and put them on before sliding two of the revolvers into them. Ernie walked around his counter and the two tossed the bodies outside before Alexei took the shotgun and walked back to his bar.
Sliding it under the counter he handed some of the gold coins to one of his current patrons in return for disposing of the bodies outside. The man nodded as he sipped his drink, he’d take care of it when he was done. For now Alexei shook his head and stared at the door.
Meanwhile Isaac found himself keeping busy by painting his armor. Humming to himself he used a pearly white that he’d mixed with just a hint of blue along with golden accents. An overall pleasing and soothing appearance to most. Adding in soft glowing lights to the helmet, specifically along the bottom of it and under the eyes to give an other worldly effect. Once he’d finished he stepped back and observed it.
Of course for what he wanted to do with this suit would require a bit of knowledge he didn’t have. Programming to be specific. But there was also the need for some additional gear to attach to the suit. A medical system that would allow someone like him, only trained in first aid, to be able to administer aid in the field effectively. As far as he remembered the manufacturer of the armor had also produced the attachment as well in a limited run shortly before the cataclysm, but he had an idea as to where to find one. After all they had kept a lot of expensive and strange gear in that old lab. But that would wait he supposed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 11, 2018, 08:21:48 am
The Smoke Marshals broke away from the river onto a circuitous road that most of them knew would circle wide around a Swatch of forest land and the den of an alpha mutant their leader referred to simply as the moth man. They had no need to fear that place, the storm would have blown or washed away the sleep inducing powder that had dusted the town. As far as they knew though, the moth man was still in residence. After, it would be a straight shot across a vast open field and into the ruins of another dead small town. Some who'd been there had described it like it was a bombardment target. Burnt and blown apart buildings with their glass and stone innards laying in the streets and not many of the undead to be found.
A little later, sitting in the parking lot of the burnt out "blue lagoon" motel at the necropolises center where once there stood three wooden crosses and a pile of bleached, gnawwed bones, Curtis performed one last check. He was as nervous as his people now. He knew already what he was walking them through at his elderly father's request. What gave Curtis the edge though, was the plan. He'd thought it over as they'd traveled and he thought it a good one.
"We're merhcants." He told them as he checked over their gear. "Like I said before, no sashes. No talking. As far as the farm is concerned, we've already sold our stock and are on traveling supply. To keep up appearances, we'll see if we can make a deal at the center. Big Smoke is going to talk with the leader there and if all goes well, we'll leave without further incident. Understood? Alright, rest up. We move out in half an hour."
At last, he turned to Dee, the kid. "I guess I should apologize for the shitty advice." He said, "but I'm not gonna. We all make or choices in life and it's best to stick with em. Are you ready?"
Dee took in a deep breath, "Yeah. I've made up my mind."
"Uh-huh. Well... Good. I guess." Curtis stuffed his hands into the pouch on his zip up hoodie. He was beginning to look just a bit too old for the garment, and it made him appear either homeless, or dodgy. Dee pointed this out in not so gentle terms.
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Curtis asked, stretching the shirt out so he could get a better look at it. Dee went on with what he was doing, checking to make sure the connections from the electric ATV and the trailer he was hauling were still secure.
"You look like a drug dealer. Or a bum."
Curtis took a long look at the hoodie and scowled. Dee was right. This getup was fine for fighters, or fighters posing as guards, but not for a trader. He'd have to find something a lot less casual. Or maybe a little less casual. Dee tossed him a coat, a brown airy number with wide pockets.
"Try that." Dee said offhandedly, "Stuff the pockets with valuables and button up. If anything, Catnip will buy it. Hold, actually..." He snapped his fingers and took a brown plastic bag out of a duffel on the trailer. He judged it in his palm for a moment, then tossed it to Curtis. "Chocolate dots. Catnip fuckin' loves chocolate. Bring that out and say you wanna make a deal. Trust me, you won't have to ask for anything. Catnip will make all the offers."
Curtis stuffed the chocolate into the pocket on his right side, and thanked Dee. Then, to his surprise, Curtis did apologize.
"Naw, it's fine. Bad advice is maybe, at most you stalled me up and gave me something to think about, but I would have been back anyway. I left my heart with Mica Redscarf."
"Fag." Curtis snorted. Dee just grinned. "Bike needs new chain. Check." Catnip said, going over the days docket. So far, she'd tuned a child's bike, cleaned and replaced the bolt on a Misling hunters beloved rifle, and inspected a chainsaw. Other than that, there were also the numerous requests to sharpen or clean tools and occasionally do real repairs. Replace a handle here, anneal and reapply the temper on a blade or bit there. She wished Hector were around. He could also do that sort or maintainance work and it was the sort of thing that Catnip didn't see as needing any great degree of her skill. There was a stack of parts and tools nearby, and Catnip looked at them with a bit of boredom. The work was nice, but working with the roughest of tools was rather slow and tedious.
"Kathrine," she called suddenly, "I'm gonna go look for a circle grindy doodad. Keep an eye on Mica please? I'll be right back." Kathrine didn't really want to hang around Dee's house and look after Mica. There were two things that kept her where she was told to be though. The most important was that Catnip told her to. She couldn't disobey, no matter how afraid she was of Catnip leaving again. Catnip said stay. Catnip said she was only going out to get a circle grindy doodad (angle grinder, Mistress). Searching for it wouldn't take long, those tools were all over the farm. Catnip had collected six of them herself, and those had been stored carefully in easily accessible crates in Roxanne's house. The other thing was that no matter how uneasy she was around Mica, Kathrine couldn't just leave her either. Catnip said to keep an eye on her and Kathrine felt a little responsible for Mica. The year Catnip had been gone was the most miserable time in her entire life and she wouldn't have made it if not for Mica being there. Mica couldn't cook, but she still tried to keep Kathrine fed, and Mica always stayed nearby and tried to tuck her in. The door to Dee's room opened and Kathrine slipped in on silent feet. Mica was just as inert as she'd been before.
She took out the little towel taken from Dee's little storage cabinet and shook out the grass and dead bugs of Medeina's collection. Mica was just sitting there, gathering dust, and Kathrine couldn't just haul her outside and spray her down in the shower. The towel would have to do. Door open. Smells on the wind. Morsel. Mice. Sister. River. Smoke. Fish. Others... Unfamiliar. Greasy engines. Dirty people. Red scarves. Kathrine dropped the towel before she had a chance to even touch Mica once with it. She'd only wanted to get the dust off, but it seemed that it wasn't in the cards. She'd risk touching Mica only if she really had to, or if Catnip told her to, but not while Mica was awake. It seemed now, that she was doing just that. Again, the fingers moved. Only a little, but the slight twitch produced an audible creaking noise. Only a couple days and Mica's joints had settled. The slight injury caused by her stone tossing had healed nicely, but the resinous ichor between her joints had gummed up the works. It had to be worked off. Very slowly, Mica's sad face twisted into a rictus of sly aggression. The look of the hunter scenting prey.
Kathrine didn't see it though. By the time Mica's face began to change, she was already hiding under Dee's work table, wrapped in a blanket.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 12, 2018, 09:08:31 pm
The newcomers, the punks, have been lazing the morning away, hanging out and making small chatter. Sooner or later, the boredom turned into a discussion about girls, then about mutated girls specifically. Reyes snorted, “Pfff- Fox girls are the basic bitch choice, they’re for fuckin’ anime weeaboos..”
The rest crack up, “Better than your lizard chick fetish.” Gabi teased, Reyes snorted again and shoved him. “Hah! Fuck off!” Reyes retorted. Green rose a brow over his shades, “Why do they have ta’ be mutated? Can’t they just be normal?” He wondered... Gabi grinned, “That isn't interesting! And hey, admit it. There’s some cuties among those mouse folks, eh?” Green then got real quiet, “Shut up…” He said, clearly flustered as he pressed his glasses up closer against his face.
There was an awkward silence, before Gabi thought for a moment. “Wait shit, Green. Didn’t you find some weird shit a while back? How ‘bout you bring it to that magic chick across the river, across the river.” Green jumped a bit, suddenly remembering he was gonna do that, yesterday. “FUCK, you're right! Gotta go!” He said, scrambling to get up as he grabbed his bag, hurrying towards The Hall.
Lucian grinned a bit at B23, "Once you're all ready, meet me in my office. Down the hall, dark hickory door. I have a job for you that I'll be observing, first will be a basic interview." He explained as he walked back out, and to his office.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on June 13, 2018, 03:47:44 pm
"Ah shit, Lexi. She's not going anywhere." Eric closes the hood and walks to the side window. "Are you sure?" Lexi leans out the window to give him a distressed look. "Yeah. Fortunately, I heard on the radio that there is a settlement not to far from here called The Farm. From what I heard, they have some serious equipment. Might be the place to fix up the truck. I'll be heading out to see if they're willing to help." He moves further back on the truck, unhooking a motorcycle from it. "Just be careful then, no idea who they might be." Eric starts the engine and puts on his helmet. "Yeah, just stay safe here, okay? I'll be back in a few." With this, he kicks up the stand and rids his way towards the farm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 13, 2018, 07:53:14 pm
B-23 nodded to Lucian as the man left. After Jay finished fixing up his arm he flexed the new hand before grabbing his pistol. Making sure it was loaded and a round chambered he slid it into the back of his pants. Running a robotic hand over the cracks on his screen he hoped the pain he’d gone through the get here was worth it. Walking out of the room he followed the directions to the office.
Meanwhile Krieg grabbed the microphone on the radio the 3rd used and said “To anyone that cares, we’ll be burying Roland in two days. Everyone’s welcome to come, he’ll be buried not far from our base.” before handing the microphone back to the man that had been listening to the signals coming through.
Walking to the garage Krieg wondered if he’d make it there. Maybe I don’t deserve to. Pushing through the doors to the garage he waved to Maxim and his mechanics before climbing into the back of a halftrack. He’d been asked onto the mission since he was the most experienced medic they had and they didn’t know much of the situation they’d be moving to.
Schultz sat across from him and was busy inspecting the rifle in his hands. Looking around Krieg saw that the others looked to be eager to see some action. Shaking his head he passed Schultz a cigarette. Lighting Schultz’ cigarette as the vehicle started lumbering forward Krieg wondered just what was waiting. Letting out a puff of smoke he figured they’d find out.
Meanwhile the Kommandant watched the troop transports move out. Unfolding a map he looked at his new Lieutenant and said “It’s time we step up our operations here. The impure must be purged from the region before we move on.” The Lieutenant nodded as he observed the Kommandant giving him orders for where to position his men on the map.
Elsewhere Vikaar, dressed as a hooligan, sighed to himself as he waved down a truck. Throwing his voice he said “Hey!” as it slowed down. Restraining a smile he nodded as they asked what they could do for him. “Oh nothing brothers. But I recognized the symbol there, wanted to let you know I got an idea where that fucking heretic is hiding.”
The excited questions from the men were met with Vikaar asking and being provided with a map. Gesturing to a general area he said “Me and some mates saw the fucker in that area, looked to me like he’s settlin down.”
As the men drove off after a bit of further discussion Vikaar smiled and waited. Soon disappearing once they were out of sight Vikaar decided he’d get ready to cause some chaos over the sea. There would be enough chaos here for a while after all. He just wished he could be at that bar for the next couple days..oh well he’d have someone go watch it at the very least.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 14, 2018, 08:17:12 am
People were so unobservant, Illiana mused. She hadn't been there, but unlike Helen, Illiana knew already. Helen had assumed she was still present in the room. Even now, the mage hunter was glancing around and saying how she wanted to avoid "untested magic effects" around Thomas. It was a preposterous idea, that Illiana would be so dumb or irresponsible as to do something that would harm the baby. Everything Illiana did was as untested as the wheel or a hammer. Perfectly well known. To her. If she'd stayed like Helen had at first assumed, she could have explained it. A good trickster or humble gift giver never sticks around to see the reaction to what they've done.
"Ah, but she still doesn't understand." Illiana said to herself, "she still thinks your a spirit."
As she crossed the bridge, making a course she knew would intercept Sharlene's, a feeling came to her. Just a small one. The metaphysical wound in her gut, slowly closing. It was a pleasant sensation, one of wholeness restored. It still hurt like a bastard son of a bitch, but my oh my was that sealing sensation nice. Like a cold bowl of vanilla on a hot day. A bowl of ice cream would go down a treat, but alas, she couldn't. The simple feat, the abuse of her power to do that would stretch her limit beyond what the crib had done. She'd double over with the agony of it and maybe fall into the rushing river. Instead, she just called up the smell. Just a whiff. Even this small allowance caused pain to rip across her body, up from her belly and between her temples. Pain that would floor even the iron Marshal himself. Illiana just rubbed at the pained areas until it faded back into a sharp ache, and moved on. She had an Australian to chastise. Sharlene came out from between the soft heaven that was the buxom gateway to what she would later call "the blue lodge" not so much like a freshly birthed babe and more like a caffeine deprived Australian woman. Nathaniel heaved her up and out, and Sharlene's head momentarily cracked into Lilith jaw. Neither of them felt it, but Nathaniel winced at the dull sound. He was snippy at first, and as usual when people got snippy at her, Sharlene just toned them out. She'd only been in the blue thing for at most an hour or two but it was long enough that once out of it, the mirriade colors of the world we're painfully unpleasant to her eyes.
"I'm glad you made it back in one piece at least." Said Nathaniel much less snippily, and Sharlene was back with him. Softness of tone, congeniality, friendliness, that was the key. Aggression got through to, but if they were getting pissy or trying to lecture, she was right out.
"I'm glad I made it back in one peice as well. Hey Lilith." Sharlene said, "What did you do with the other boxes?"
Lilith grinned like only a tiger could grin and simply nodded. Sharlene at first thought to chastise her for not packing away all the boxes, then thought better of it. Lilith wasn't really retarded after all, and she had her own set of priorities. Lilith scooped up Nathaniel under one arm and started off back the way she came.
"Lil, what- stop! Where are you taking-"
"All aboard the El tigre express! Sharlene cried, striding along next to Lilith. In short order Lilith, Sharlene, and Nathaniel were packing metal boxes one by one. Stuffing them into the blue chest wrap. Sharlene and Nathaniel doing the packing, Lilith holding the "bag" open.
"Don't look so embarrassed Nate," Sharlene said, chuckling a little at Nathaniel's discomfort, "You see em, and I'm told, touch em on a regular basis. Don't tell me your getting shy on yet girl now?" Lilith purred enticingly to further Sharlene's point when Nathaniel next slid another of the metal boxes into the cleavage formed pocket. The tip of her tongue made an appearance and was quick in darting out to give Nathaniel one of Liliths tiger kisses.
"Kith?" She asked, flexing enough to trap Nathaniel's arm.
"Not now kids." Sharlene said with a laugh, "wait til after the works done and all this crap is unpacked. Nate, stop being a distraction and find us some prybars would ya? Maybe a... Ah, forget it. Lil can open em herself." Brynna surfaced from the waking nightmare of her shattered mind just long enough to reassert control. It never got easier, but nor was it harder. The book on the table, a volume that any cleansing flame hunter would absolutely love to see shredded and burned, was slapped shut. She could only look at a single page of the book at a time. Any more and she would descend into a psychotic episode the likes of which she could not force her way out of. It wasn't the collected works of Abdul Alhazred, but it was certainly something.
The slab was coming back, and so the general was coming back. It wasn't something you needed special abilities or senses to feel. At first, you'd feel no different, but once the arch slab was gone you would feel somehow lighter. It had a kind of gravity to it. It made her easier of mind as well. Her dabbling in the dark and entropic had touched her, had broken (I can't fix you.) her. The irony of it all though was that she couldn't remember why she was doing it. Astor had claimed he'd known. Had claimed that he could (fix) cure her of her psychosis. He had (liar) with held it from her. He hadn't wanted her at all. He wanted the book. He wanted (thief) the book and someone who could read it. And she had read it she-
She was losing herself again. Realizing this, she slapped herself hard on the left cheek. She couldn't feel the right. Brynna Knight was a broken and battered woman of barely twenty five, yet she looked like a woman who'd been married to an abusive husband for many more years than that. The book on her table with the cutesy cat bookmark in it was responsible for that. Because of the book, Brynna had inflicted on herself a menagerie of punishments. Her arms alone bore the scars of a thousand cuts and burns, all day inflicted in the name of agony. The real Brynna was afraid of her mental problem, and she was right to be. The inside of her trailer was a stinking den of dessication, a grizzly abattoir of death. She wanted to burn the place down, but what then? The only thing she'd found that could keep her (broken) self from hurting others was this her domain of death. Her room in New Bangor had been much the same.
She checked the door. Locked, of course. The Canadians trusted her about as much as she trusted herself. She had also instructed her to keep her locked up when she was like this anyway. The door being inaccessable, she pulled down a blade of the blinds and looked out. The light was blinding compared to the dark of the trailer, and she didn't dare look around at the room she stood in. It would send her back over the edge. She batted aside a roach from the sink she was leaning on and then pushed her face closer. The general was on his way back alright, had some diplomats or scouts or whoever with him too. Good. She'd had to get cleaned up. Being outside would be good for her mind. Her skin too. If she was lucky, the next fit wouldn't come around for another week or two. She didn't dare hope for two, one week would be enough. One week of calm and normalcy. Brynna grabbed the bag she knew was next to the door and made a mental note to get rid of the thing on her table. She suspected it of being some kind of carcass, but wasn't willing to look. 'Take things as they come Brynna." She told herself. "And this is Quartermasters Stockholm and Stouffer. Step lightly gentlemen. Our sawbones, Mr. Cleagway and fuel acquisition officers Jin-wei Kark, and peikard. Or Janeway, Kirk, and Picard if you like poking fun."
The short tour was about what the Americans had expected. They hadn't expected it to be so casual though. As they passed, people from the Canadian contingent would stand or give some cursory gesture of recognition to the "General." The Midgard came to a stop amid a circle of large transport vehicles. A mobile HQ and machines of the sort one used when carrying large numbers of men and bombardment equipment. The general stepped the midgard up onto one of the vehicles, a platform of some sort, and men with cords as thick as a man's wrist hooked them into the back of the machines ankles. After a moment, it opened, disgorging a little fog and the man within.
He was old. Very. Old. A woman offered him a copper topped cane which he dismissed with a "No, thank you Ms. Rhines, but no." And carefully settled himself into a plastic lawn chair placed strategically nearby.
"You'll have to forgive me sirs, I can't stay on my feet so long and this plug in my back makes walking an excersize in agony. Please, have a seat. You'll have to forgive the sparse accommodation as well, I'm sorry to say. Metal chairs and paper plates for all. I think it's appropriate. We aren't kings ey? Ah, Ms. Knight. Excellent timing. How do you feel?"
Ms. Knight looked like hell warmed over, but the General didn't show it. Brynna came to the newcomers as she'd come to the Canadians, brazenly still wearing her bishops attire, and carrying under one arm a thick tome that gave everyone gathered a feeling of dread and a handbag filled with cosmetics she hadn't applied in the other. Her face would have been rather plain, maybe even pretty, were it not the shade of a battered peice of rotten fruit.
"I feel like shit Kringle, you know that." She said. When she spoke, the guests could see the wreck that had once been her teeth. She was not pleasant to behold, and she knew it. Further more, she didn't care. "I need to clean up, where's Brusher?"
"Just being polite. He's in the mess tent I think." Directed the general. He turned back to his guests, "I'm General Danforth Kringle. I think we have things to discuss."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on June 14, 2018, 06:21:06 pm
Eric pulls his bike up behind the motorcade of vehicles just off the side of the road. For anyone who looks his way, he was wearing a kevlar vest with the Gods Army cross on it, although somewhat faded.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 14, 2018, 11:54:53 pm
Lucian set his hat on the desk in the office, "Alright, before we talk about that job. I need to say something, you're not goin' off scott free for whateber you did to get this bounty in the first place... I'm going to make this very clear, when we do this job. I want no collateral damage. At least keep it to a minimum. Got it?" He explained in a clear and authoritative tone.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 15, 2018, 12:48:39 am
B-23 leaned against a wall as he listened. No collateral was a crapshoot depending on the situation. He sure as hell wasn’t going to play nice if someone pulled a grenade launcher. “I’ll keep it as minimal as I can, but I won’t hold back if they’re using grenades or the like.” appeared on his screen as he waited to hear just what this contract was.
Meanwhile Isaac waved to the man on the motorcycle that was approaching. He had been getting ready to go out hunting but had stopped upon seeing the incoming vehicle. As they neared he said “Howdy, anything I can help you with?”
Elsewhere the minion adjusted his belt before retrieving a rather ugly cloth mask. Admittedly he hated this thing, the red and blue mixing into a gaudy purple irked him. But it was part of the charade he had to play. Sliding the knife out of its sheath he settled in to wait on the hunting trail he’d heard his target frequented, almost smiling as he slowly faded into invisibility. He’d wait out his enemy.
While all of this was happening Krieg and Schultz were rushing out of the half track with weapons ready. A scout had reported purifiers at the location so they were preparing to ambush them. Schultz took command of his Rangers as they moved to the front of the group. Tucking an ace of hearts into the band on his helmet he hoped this would go well.
Krieg on the other hand was moving with the rear echelon of the attack force. His rifle hung loosely in his hand as he watched ahead of them. For a moment he was back on an older battlefield surrounded by his wounded and dead comrades. Moving forward he shook his head to clear the cobwebs from his mind. Soon enough he’d have work to do, no sense thinking of the past.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 15, 2018, 01:00:39 am
Lucian rolled his eyes, "Right. So, the contract is someone who goes by 'Roulette'. Gambler. He also has something that I want, his coin and his revolver. Both are arcane artifacts and are tied together. Hard to explain. But, before we go. We need to get you properly kitted, an actual holster for one and whatever else you'll need." He rambled on as he grabbed his hat and sat up from his chair, he dug around his greatcoat pockets and tossed B23 a small pouch of various trinkets, rings and jewelery primarily. "Your pay for your bounty. Various trinkets and such, for when you want to go out and get somethin'." Lucian cocked a grin, "Or a lady perhaps? Some oddballs over in The Center."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 15, 2018, 08:20:56 am
Cheena was saying something about the big boulder at the center of the grove with the tree growing so close to it that it might as well have been on top of it, but Atomos was only listening with half an ear. Not even that really. At most, a quarter. Another quarter of her attention was reserved for blank space, a deep mental pit in which she could banish those unhelpful destructive thoughts pertaining to her situation. The last half though, was fixed on her paw (hand).
Cheena knew something was wrong with it, and so did red. Atomos herself hadn't. Partially because she'd gotten used to it during her stay in New Bangor and because she'd been busy trying to maintain her sanity. The only benefit of thinking about the chip was that it kept her mind off herself. If Cheena and Red knew it was there, then it must be there. Right? Not necessarily. Atomos couldn't feel anything. The chip wasn't bulging out of her paw (hand?) like some grotesque growth and she couldn't feel anything grinding between the bones of her toes (fingers?) She didn't have any of her gear either though, and she didn't remember seeing any of it lying around when she'd been...
She shied away from that moment. No, her belongings hadn't been lying around when Astor had cursed her. Now that she was thinking of her belongings though, she couldn't help but wonder what had happened to them. There was clearly something special about the medallion that had kept it from changing, but what about her stuff? If she couldn't touch or see any of it, that didn't mean it wasn't there did it? Atomos came back around again to the matter at hand. Or in her hand, as it was. She wasn't sure if the chip was still tracking her movements or not. Astor wouldn't need it, Atomos could guess that, but his men and machines did. Every time she came around to that thought, a cold shiver would run through her. Red had asked her to stay, and she wanted to stay. But could she risk it? Staying in one place too long would mean that her pursuers could catch up to her. She realized another thing too. Anyone she was with was likewise in danger so long as she was with them. Man or fox. She didn't bother wondering if God's Army would even bother with a skulk of wild foxes. All she knew was that she herself might be dangerous to those around her.
"Do you like them too?" Cheena asked, closer to Atomos ear than she had the first and second times.
"W-what?"
"Raspberries! In the spring they come popping out of their little white flowers in big clusters and I shake the bushes to get some! Moma says their nasty, but I like them! Do you like raspberries 'Tomos?" Atomos nodded a little. Sure, she liked raspberries. Raspberry salad was nice. What Atomos wouldn't do for a raspberry salad right then. Cheena was looking at her patiently. The way her tail was flipping back and forth belied her inherent excitement though. Suddenly she sprang up, feet spread apart before her challengingly. "Wanna race!?" She barked, Race! Race! Race!"
No, Atomos couldn't take a chance. Foxes they were but once one could speak with them, they weren't exactly world's apart from humans. She didn't want them, and certainly not this nieve excitable "girl" suffering if it turned out the chip was still active. Atomos decided, she had to leave. The only big quandry, was when. "Stop. Stop!"
Curtis stopped. He wasn't aware that someone at the hall had very likely radio'd ahead to the the farm that some kind of caravan was on it's way in. Curtis, and in fact all of the Smoke Marshals, had no idea that the hall even existed. So it came as a surprise that his entire group was stopped on the necropolis's side of the bridge.
The man had the semblance of a rodent, but wasn't the kind of thing the Smoke Marshals leader revered. Just a guy. Nearby, their we're others. Some like the one that had stopped them, others fairly normal looking. All except the speaker was hidden behind some kind of shield like a car door. Or a riot shield. They were wide enough to hide behind, and tall enough to put it between an enemy and it's user while still allowing sight through the window. From slightly left of center, the window suddenly dipped slightly, and in these low spots Curtis could see the barrels of long rifles and scatter guns.
"State your business in Walkerville. I'd ask you to present valid travel papers, but I'm led to believe no one does that on this side of the Rockies."
"Not even this side of the Apalachians." Curtis confirmed. He wasn't fond of the authoritative way this mouse guy talked. He sounded like a shithead. Then again, Curtis himself was a bit of a shithead and when it came down to it, shitheads just didn't mix. The muzzle sneered at Curtis and he thought it the sneer of a bridge troll, except trolls didn't look so cuddly normally. He wasn't afraid of this guard and his pals guns and shields though. What kept Curtis from hauling off and punching the guy right in the center of his elongated face was the need to get through this without shedding blood. The Smoke Marshals blood that was. To that end, these rather serious looking folk had what appeared to be a cannon. It looked like the sort of thing you saw on old wood ships except the barrel of this beauty was rifled. A falconet, he recalled from early history lessons.
Beyond these dickheads and their cannon, he could clearly see the bridge beyond and the road straight across. There were people on the bridge, some of them like senõr mouse. A lot of them actually. Curtis had never seen such uniformity in mutants, and judging by the looks his people were giving them, neither had they.
"Merchants. Er, traders." Curtis finally said. Somehow, it got through. The guard eased up immediatly.
"Well why the hell didn't you say so? What are you trading?"
"Uh, odds and ends. I mean, whatever people will buy right?"
"Yeah, no trade unions or specialization in these parts yet. That's gonna change soon, now that the Pricetown influence is in New England. Or at least a shard of it."
Curtis had no clue what the man was on about, but he nodded agreeably enough. It seemed the trader angle was the right angle to go on.
"I'm going to let you through, but I've gotta radio the other end to let em know your coming. Don't start any trouble and we won't have any problem. Between you and me, there won't be much to trade for in Walkerville except services from Ms. Walker, but there's a refugee center further on. They might have stuff worth trading for if you've got bulk goods."
Curtis would keep it in mind, and thanked the guard. Further back along the line, Dee wrapped a scarf around his face and prepared to break away from the line as soon as he was clear of the bridge. He didn't want to be stopped and questioned. If they wanted to ask him what he'd been up to, they would have to wait their turns.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on June 15, 2018, 08:36:33 am
"Ah, I was on my way here to see if you guys have a mechanic on hand. Me an my friend's rig broke down a few miles north of here due to previous damage from the storm a few days ago. It needs to be towed though. The name's Eric by the way." He sticks his hand out to shake Isaac's.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 15, 2018, 12:30:30 pm
Isaac grabbed the man’s hand as his other pulled the revolver on his chest free. Leveling it at the man’s neck he said “And I’m Isaac. Now you are going to explain why a member of God’s Army is here. Give me a reasonable answer and I’ll make it quick, try and bullshit me and we’ll see just how painful this gets.”
Elsewhere B-23 shook his head at the ladies comment. “I have everything I need. Besides if I want someone freaky enough to get with me I know better places.” appeared on his screen as he started for the door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on June 15, 2018, 12:46:34 pm
Eric instinctively attempts to step back, only to be stopped by Isaac. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! I quit the God's Army years ago, look." He turn his head, showing him his nonexistent left ear. "They track their people with microchips in their ears, I had to cut mine off to make sure they didn't hunt me down. And plus, I only wear the vest these days for protection, was meaning to find some paint to cover it."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 16, 2018, 08:51:47 pm
Isaac nodded as he holstered the pistol. "Get the vest off and keep it off till you cover that shit, others won't be so nice as to ask questions." He said as he motioned for Eric to follow. "And I'll see about getting you some help. Don't know if a friend of mine would be willing to help but I'm sure someone around here would."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on June 18, 2018, 05:33:14 pm
"Yeah, right." Eric takes the vest off, tucking it under his arm. "Do you guys have any heavy-duty vehicles? My rig is quite a heavy one."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 21, 2018, 08:36:41 am
Cheena leapt straight up off an old plow blade buried half in the ground, and landed on the dirt mound nearby front feet first. Her front half sank into it up to her shoulders and her tail went up like a bobbing flag. Atomos heard her excited yip moments before the excited vixen pulled free and made another leap. This time, she came down on a bald patch of flat dirt, putting all her weight on to her front paws. A tunnel beneath collapsed beneath her, and she gave another of those excited yips. The sound put Atomos hair on end, a noise that threatened to rile her up into an excitement akin to that of her friends.
"Found it! Found it! Found it! Atomos! Found it!" Cheena shrilled wildly. She crammed her nose into the exposed tunnel and yipped again, then began to dig. Dirt and small stones whipsawed out from under her searching paws and filled the air until something small and brown darted away from Cheena. She saw it immediately and gave chase.
The small thing, some kind of tunneling rodent, led Cheena in circles and zig zag patterns through the storm flattened field until finally, Cheena snapped one paw down on it. The vole let out a squeal and tried to bite, but like a flash Cheena grabbed it in her teeth and flipped it into the air only to let it come down a few feet away and the chase renew.
A little while later, Cheena offered the dead vole to Atomos. She didn't want to eat it, not raw, but that foxish part of herself wanted to. That part had always been there. Ever since the incident in the vault. It was stronger now. Not by much, but still. Atomos didn't have much choice anyway. She had no hands with which to prepare a fire. Not easily anyway, and she hadn't eaten since the day before. So with little love of what she did next, and a very well hidden grimace, she accepted the rodent.
At first, it disgusted her. Little cold feet and claw, still warm fur that clung to her tongue. When she bit down though, her opinion changed. To her hightened sense of taste, the small gush of blood in her mouth was like the juices of the finest rare steak she'd ever had. Not beefy, not rich, but very fine. She gnawwed a little, breaking down the larger bones before swallowing the creature whole. She wanted another, had to have another. The alien predatory feelings brought her back around again and Atomos was a little shocked with herself. She was not a fox. Not really.
"Atomos..." Cheena whimpered. She nudged Atomos a little, and suddenly she was very sad and very nervous. "Are you gonna leave?"
"How did you know?"
"Just do. I can feel it. So does momma and Red. They can feel it to, they say your feet want to wander." The way Cheena was looking at her, like a sad dog, just about tore Atomos's heart out.
"I have to Cheena, I... I'm dangerous." Atomos stuttered. It felt like a hollow justification, a lie with a hint of truth. She didn't know for sure, but she didn't want to risk it. Atomos had to keep moving until she was free of her curse.
"Will you come back?" Cheena asked. Atomos couldn't say for sure. If she did, would she come back as she was, or as herself? The question of whether or not Cheena could go with her crossed her mind but she didn't need to think about it for more than a second before the "no" came floating up in her thoughts like the answer in an eight ball.
"Maybe." She said, inside thinking, "ask again later, outlook not so good."
Cheena was quiet for a long time, staring off to the South across the field. Atomos could guess what was going through her head because they were the same thoughts she had just had herself.
"What's it like living with people? With humans?" She was laying down now, in the listener position. Atomos did the same, and said, "It's alright, I guess. I like being outside more though."
"I like being outside too, do people make you stay inside all day? In their houses?" The words came low and slow, but steady. Cheena was tired after all, and Atomos made up her mind that the next vole would be her friends, and she would be the one to catch it.
"No. I can come and go as I please. I even have a room of my own and... And friends." It wasn't about the story or the explaining anymore, Atomos realized. She was stalling. Stalling for more time. More than answers, there were friendly beings here. Not humans, but intelligent and open. They didn't have a God's Army or a refugee center or biker gangs. No guns or drugs. No desperate want or fear. Just friends shaped like animals.
"I'm glad," Cheena said, rolling onto her side, "That I showed you the way out of the garden. It really was you wasn't it?"
Atomos was beyond surprise. If anything, she was relieved that Cheena had come to the conclusion again. "I'm glad I didn't run you over..." She returned.
"I knew. Red says you're cursed, and that your curse is a curse of the self. I don't know what that means, but I can guess. Sort of. What's being human like?"
"A bit like being a giant. At least, that's how I'll feel if I ever change back..."
"If you do, you should come back. Your tail is nicer than Renauld and Tavi's tails put together. You'll show them..."
"I have to go Cheena."
"I know..." A snake, large as a log, rearing it's head back, ready to strike. Mikko sees it, and his prison moves to the right, ever so slightly. The mouth opens, and his intuition is correct. The serpent is an aged veteran. Only one fang. The prison is engulfed, panics for but a moment, then... Blood and fire. The serpent is weak from the inside, the prison realizes this. She empties her fantastic weapon into the beasts gullet, it's fangs peircing and tangling in her clothes. Fortune favors the bold, and the prison has been bold. The prison has also been clever.
Sleep. So sleepy. Further back, escape. The old prison has let go and so Mikko flees. From a prison cell and into a net. The new prison is called "Jenny" but sometimes she is called "Atomos." Mikko is tangled up in the net of her spirit, and cannot escape. Soon, he is so intertwined that the two are nearly indistinguishable, and he sleeps.
Foxes, his people. The eater of days has warped the prison. It's aspect is more akin to his and he can at last breath. He is awake, but he can only watch. The prison meets one with a touch of his own spark. The other is shaped like a friend, a friend shaped like a fox, but the prison has become dangerous. She wants to leave, Mikko wants to stay. Stay with his own, and so he reaches out. The prison doesn't feel the weave of the red ribbon like color coming undone. Doesn't feel it when it drops from her neck in the soft grass just inside the grove. When she realizes it is gone, the prison will surely go back for it. Mikko has been imprisoned for over long, and his wisdom is fading. His cleverness is mighty indeed, but this time he has overstepped without looking as all truly clever folken are doomed to do every now and then. He is out of touch with the world. He does not know what he has set in motion.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 21, 2018, 05:17:54 pm
(( Green and Helen section written with Wilson, rendezvous and Aurelia sections written with Salt. ))
Green had sprinted the entire way along the road to the bridge, reaching the river before the vehicle had even passed by and stopped nearby. Before the caravan of bandits, masquerading as traders had neared the area.
"Fuh... fuh... is she even-" The young man, stooped over along the shore, went from panting to coughing. "awh fu-huh-huh-uuuck!" Helen had just finished up something in The Hall, having stepped out to draw some water from the shore for something, when she saw Green there, wheezing a bit. "Hello?"
Green looked up at her, the woman in a strange cloak of scales, and immediately guessed she was the person recommended to him. "Hi...jus' sec." he said almost breathlessly, coughing again. "Fuck I'm outta shape..."
Helen carefully approached, looking him over as she gave him a moment to catch his breath. If Solomon had been out there at the moment, he would've been considering the suggestion of atropine in the absence of albuterol, but Helen simply leaned in to check on him. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, literally sprinted here...distance running ain't my forte." Green answered, his voice more normal and less wheezy. "I got weird shit and I was told you were a weird lady." he added, and Helen gave a concerned glance at him.
"I...um. A weird lady? I assume, or at least hope, you mean my experience in the arcane?" she asked, unsure what to make of that. "Magic? Yeah." Helen smiled a bit at the answer. "I have experience with such, yes."
It wasn't long before she, having asked Liam to come along to observe as well, soon ascertained that Green was aware that magic existed and very little about the practical effects, showing her a pair of gems. One round gem made of smooth peridot, and the other a carefully cut and polished quartz. Both gave off a very faint radiance, the former a faint diffused green. "Okay uhhh... I got this green gem that glows and this quartz that also glows."
"I see. Can give it a look, then demonstrate for you how this artifact works, and how these two items work if I'm familiar with them." she answered, taking out her mask, with its plain steel and copper decoration representing the hair framing the face it depicted, putting it on. He simply gave her a confused glance before nodding. "I'm pretty sure these rocks are magic. But I dunno what they do."
"Understandable." she said, the features of the metal mask contorting from a neutral expression to a glower, eyeholes seeming to momentarily give off a faint red glow. She gave a quick glance over the two gems, and it became immediately apparent the green one caught her attention more than the quartz.
"Yo what the fuuuuck?" Green said, staring at the mask in confusion. Helen, rather than answering, simply regarded the gems. "The quartz is a rather basic sort of storage device for essence. The other one...I'm not as familiar with, but it seems to be incomplete. Like it was removed from an artifact it was made for."
Green ran a hand through his dreads, "Er, it was attached to a stick. Had a shit-load've carving on it. It was broke to shit though." At that Helen nodded some, before the mask's features reverted to its normal appearance. She removed it before offering the mask to him. "Might be useful to take a look for yourself."
Green looked confused for a moment, before removing his sunglasses, giving a noticeable squint as he grabbed the mask for himself and put it on. Helen in turn reached to activate it, and Green's perception was filled with the strange sensations it brought. The sense of "seeing" his surroundings all around, faintly perceiving the general layout of the buildings through the walls, and sensing the various auras of the people and magic items nearby. All in exchange for the sight he took in fading into darkness beyond about 50 meters, save a faint glow far in the distance, to the north.
Green's eyes widen as he lets out a "woaaah..." completely in awe. "This is fuckin' trippy..." The other thing he noticed was how that usual irritation that bright light caused was absent, to his relief. Helen just smiled at that, and he'd not only see her aura, but also the shimmering patterns of an aura surrounding the cross-and-hammer symbol around her neck. Recognizably similar to the appearance the white gem, though a bit brighter. Likewise different sorts of glows enveloped her cloak, the odd golden talisman at her side, and emanating from her body, faint yet distinctly different from that of her aura.
"Should be able to see that the quartz has similar properties to what I've converted my holy symbol into." she explained. "As for the other one, seems similar to some transformative effects I've seen, but it has..." She gestured to the side of the gem where it would've been socketed into its mounting on the stave, where the glow surrounding it was noticeably weaker. "See how it looks incomplete? Most of the effect is bound to the gem itself, but it likely can't activate without being a complete item."
Green took the mask off and put his green-tinted raybans back on. "Yo that's fucking cool as hell..." he said again, a wide smile on his face. She nodded before opening the door for him. "Can go ahead and see what it'd take to get it back in working order, maybe ask Solomon to make some tea?" she offered, leading him into The Hall itself for now.
The group had been expecting some degree less formality than before the cataclysm, but this was quite a bit more relaxed that they were prepared for. They were expecting a battle-weary group, still on high alert and expecting potential counter-attacks. They weren't expecting this air of calm. Though the lieutenant commander personally suspected the presence of a war-machine, that likely outmatched anything God's Army could throw at it, made a counter-attack much less likely.
With most of the men and women at ease, the lieutenant commander took a seat before speaking up. "I'm surprised to see things are so calm here, but that's a relief. Had the colonel not been expecting most of Maine to still be a warzone, he would've been here as well. My apologies for that." he said, before giving a nod. The majority of the group, being sent from either Maryland or the frigate, didn't seem particular perturbed by the "bishop" among the Canadian's ranks, more concerned by her appearance than worried. Larion however, though not having direct experience fighting God's Army just yet, knew what to look for, and his gaze reflected that. Sizing her up, from the looks of it.
Kringle sized them up carefully, taking the measure of the group. "They're calm because I'm calm. Really, I wish some of them would shape up a bit. Still, we've got pickets set out a ways to warn of incoming attack. You know, I really expected you to bring the Iron Marshal with you. To show off a little? I suppose I'll have to wait until my visit to the center. Coffee or tea?" The final question came as a bit of a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. They sat and sipped in silence, the Leader of the Canadian force even go so far as to offer real cream and brown sugar. As they were finishing up the opening pleasantries, Brynna made her reappearance looking much less like a housewife who's had a few too many run ins with the stairs or the door knob, and more like someone who's done a good deal of brawling.
"Alright Kringle," she huffed, "What are we discussing first?"
The bluster was just a show, one that she wasn't good at. It was also a bit obvious that she had been given something strong for the pain. The ugly book had been stowed for the time being.
"Sit down Ms. Knight, you look like you're about to fall on your face." Kringle said, gesturing to an empty plastic chair at his right.
"A fall on my face would be an improvement to how I feel." Brynna retorted. She took the chair anyway and accepted a cup of tea when it was offered. "You look older Danforth."
"I don't feel it. That doesn't matter anyway, these people have come to speak and so we will speak. I suppose you lot will want an itinerary?" Kringle said.
The lieutenant commander shook his head at the initial remarks. "The Iron Marshal would make the wrong impression, nevermind that he is a civilian contractor." he answered. "Though I am aware of rather conflicting records regarding Mr. Lowe's history of service, for reasons that would seem ridiculous if not for the rest of the center personnel vouching for it." he added, before regarding Brynna curiously.
It was Larion however who spoke up. "Marshal would likely run her over on sight anyway. A bishop defecting is something none of us have heard of before...that is what you are, correct?" he pointed out, prompting a concerned look from the lieutenant commander. "That's enough, private. Unheard of does not mean impossible. And that's correct sir, I also have a message from the colonel regarding his present objectives." he added, retrieving a small folded sheet of paper from his front pocket.
"He does doesn't he? In the early years, we tried to judge exactly how the remaining population was faring south of us. Once the residents of that farm moved in and we started losing eyebots rather consistently, we had to learn more. I doubt you'd be interested in discussing data collection though. We were just under the impression that the man preferred to meet strangers with guns first hand." Kringle elaborated, taking another sip of his coffee. A little more cream was added to his cup, and he took another.
"Most bishops are given what they want." Brynna said simply. An assistant brought Brynna a pair of small orange pills and she waved them away. Another accepted it and passed it to the General.
"Goddamn fumble fingers..." He mumbled as he struggled with the paper, "Aubrey, I'm not too proud to ask for help. Can you unfold this for me?" With that, they settled in to discuss the plan, and the message laid out in the note..
Elsewhere at the foot of Mount Katahdin, Aurelia gave a little sigh as she surveyed the map and the places marked on it, glowering a bit at the various scribbles surrounding the region around Bangor. She soon stood, slinging a messenger bag over her shoulder after a shift of that cloth-bound wing. She'd already set aside some goods obtained during her travels, traded for a few more useful supplies. Much of what she had traded off was ammunition for weapons she lacked, retaining only a plain revolver and a half-empty box of .38 Special.
"It's late enough in the afternoon that it might be a long journey if I wait too long." she remarked. "Besides, if your friends are busy giving this 'God's Army' a hard time, there's no better moment for someone to travel alone." she remarked. "I am however thankful for your hospitality."
"We are, but that only handles the human element. They can always make more warwalkers." One of the men said, another kicked into the conversation saying, "A long journey need not be unpleasant. You sure you wanna leave? At least stick around til after lunch?"
"If you're sure," said the first one, rising to his feet, "Steer clear of Abaddon. It's what God's Army calls the outskirts around New Bangor. Mostly the old Bangor suburbs. Northern section is subject to regular artillery strikes, and the areas south are crowded with plant critters."
Aurelia considered this before regarding the map, shaking her head. "No intention of going near Abaddon, but I think now would be a better time. Regardless, thank you." she said, soon making her way out to pack her things and head down the road.
The tank had finally pulled in after crossing the path through the forest, an old caravan trailer in tow with it, Hector getting out to unhitch it before getting back in to pull the tank out of the way. "Alright, that should do it...Quinn, don't forget to stop by the center on the way, since you have someone waiting for you."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 22, 2018, 10:36:55 pm
Isaac shrugged as he said “I know we got a tank, but other than that the only vehicle I’m fully aware of is my truck. Thing’s a modified box truck so it can haul ass but it ain’t built for dragging anything behind it.”
Leading the way inside Isaac patted his pockets to check for the ID card and smiled when he felt it in his jacket. “But we can probably get your rig running. If I can’t I know someone who definitely can at least. Hell she could probably make a motor out of a tin can if she put her mind to it.”
Elsewhere the Black Raven guided his new acquaintance to the plane they’d be using. Garrick hadn’t provided anything fancy but the Raven hadn’t believed he would. Only that it would provide them travel. Motioning for the man to get inside the Raven moved to the pilots seat. Turning the engine one he smiled as he thought of how shocked his little friend would be to see what had become of europe. After all he thought it hadn’t been effected, that surely the whole world couldn’t have been effected. A shame the Raven wouldn’t get to see his face.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 23, 2018, 08:48:28 am
Lolita Leita demanded to know if Curtis's caravan had butter. Curtis would have demanded to know if she would blow him for it, had he not bit back the remark and asked instead, "Beef lard okay?" The french chef let out a heavy sigh of relief and told him that it would do perfectly. For ten pounds of it, she traded a fancy looking class ring and told Curtis that if he ever met a man named "Renault Lapierre," to tell him that "If I see him again, I'll cram his blue lobster so far up his pig fucking ass, he'll taste brine."
She seemed like a rather angry lady to Curtis, but he figured she was entitled to it. What with all the hardware she was sporting. The next "customer" was one of the grey furred rodent faced folks who called themselves "Mislings" like they were any different than anybody else. Big Smoke came out to look at them from a distance, despite the danger of being recognized. The rodent guy wanted a carpenters square, which Curtis actually had four of. The Smoke Marshals mingled, the tension quickly easing when they didn't get shot at. These immigrants were newcomers to the area, no reason to shoot the Marshals out of hand even if they didn't know about the Hell's raiders. Curtis passed over the square for a can of creamed corn and a handshake. Then a kid of about sixteen came to him and traded three rolls of duct tape for a kinetic battery for his MP3 player. A brown rodent chick, most definitely a rat, gave Curtis and the Smoke Marshals four AR-15 assault rifles and tuned one of their bikes for nothing more than two bars of chocolate and a ziploc of chocolate covered pretzels.
A little after concluding that last deal, Curtis felt the tap on his side.
"What's up old dad?" He said. Curtis felt a little blissed. Trading was a thing he didn't do often, but he thought perhaps there was a future in this sort of thing.
"The sister of the maw." Big Smoke said simply, watching Catnip go. "Stabbed Chief Big Dog in the side, saw it withy own eyes."
Curtis watched her go, examined the oddly skulky way she moved among the crowd. Every Hell's raider knew about the assault on Big Dogs war camp. Fatalities across the board for the raiders, and only two on the side of the farm. The Iron Marshal and the blade of Sodom had done for him, but they would have had a harder time of it had the rat who'd just bought the Marshals chocolate not stuck Big Dog in the kidney.
"Where's the kid?" Curtis asked, suddenly curious and feeling a bit flighty.
"Broke column as soon as we cleared the bridge, along the river bank and, I assume, around behind the fortifications. In fact, he should be somewhere inside by now unless he got stuck in the mud or overturned his trailer." Mica stirred, the smell of redscarves was stronger, getting stronger. We're they attacking? She thought so. Redscarves were dumb. If it had been the blue crosses they would hit struck already, but it wasn't. Redscarves were always up to some stupid trick. The resin built up in her joints from her rock tossing creaked and snapped. The protective film over her eyes pulled up, clearing the fog from her vision and confusing her for a moment. Mica didn't know a lot, but she knew that it took longer than a couple days for dust to accumulate to any great degree. She ran her hand down her face, and there was dust. Heavy dust that fell away from her hands like it was being repulsed by them.
"Eh?" She groaned. Maybe she was wrong, maybe it was the amount of visitors putting it in the air. She didn't know and right now, it wasn't important. Right now, there were redscarves coming and she had to tell someone. After the telling, she would meet them head on. Mica rose from the bed and her knees popped like a pair of muffled pistol shots. The chitin around her joints protesting the sudden activity. The door between the workshop and the bedroom swung open, striking the wall with a clap as Mica clumsily rushed through it, just as the front door did the same. Mica had more dexterity and a better reaction time than Dee but was still sluggish from coming out of hibernation. She and Dee collided like two people not watching where they were going.
"Lizard!" Mica croaked, trying to cling to him before she could bounce away.
"Oof." Dee said, allowing himself to be clinged to. She was trying to babble, but all that came out of her mouth were weak little croaks and hisses. He could feel the weakness in her and just looking at her made him feel like a grade A, prime cut asshole. "Sorry I was away so long, I-"
Movent from under his work bench caught his eye and drew it to the shifting blanket beneath and the maid trying to crawl out from under both.
"Oh, hey Kat, what are you-"
"You're mean!" Kathrine shouted. She was still trying to pull herself up, but her tail gave her the balance necessary to point an accusatory finger at him. Mica jerked him away from her, suddenly full of strength and the weakness in her replaced with stridence.
"Mean lizard! Why did lizard leave My-ka all alone!? Eh? My-ka looked ev-ree-where for lizard!"
"You went looking for me?" Dee asked, not really surprised. Curtis had already informed Big Smoke about his own encounter with Dee's woman, and from Big Smoke the news got to Dee.
"So did Mr. Hector and Ms. Roxanne." Kathrine put in, and now Dee could hear the barest hint of how upset she was over it. A younger Dee would have addressed it, would have argued with it, but that just wasn't him anymore.
"I'm sorry," he said, "I had to think about some things. Alone. I guess it was kind of selfish, but... I don't know. I uh... Hey Kat, could you uh..." Kathrine squinted at him, and Dee could almost see the word "meany" shooting out of her eyes and stitching the word into his brow while her still pointing fingers threatened to peirce his heart. Mica pulled him a little closer, regaining a little more strength from his show of sincere regret.
"What lizard got to say to My-ka, lizard can say in front of morsel." She said teasingly, "Morsel is My-ka's friend." She took a little pleasure in the uncomfortable way he was shifting about, but didn't see what Kathrine saw. Mica was focused on his face. As upset as she was, she'd already forgiven him and was ready to rain hugs and kisses on Dee, if he asked. Kathrine though noted the way Dee's hand fumbled around in the front pocket of his faded hoodie, and her breath stopped when he removed it.
Dee put on his best winning smile, cleared his throat awkwardly, and held up the tiny box he'd recovered from the thieving Jim John. Mica eyed it with confusion and a growing awareness of the giddy keen rising up from the slightly vibrating maid. The box opened with a click and Dee showed it to her. The simple angular silver of the ring he'd had made by a Hell's raider artisan. Medeina's fingers, perfect replicas of Mica's, used as the model. Metal and stone taken from a prospectors supply store safe.
"Wanna get married for real?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on June 23, 2018, 10:11:19 am
"Yeah, that tank shooooould work." After walking with Isaac for a second in silence, Eric pulls out two wrapped granola bars and offers one to Isaac. "You want one?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 23, 2018, 11:36:49 pm
Isaac shrugged as he said “I doubt that knight would be willing to haul a big rig with his tank but your more than welcome to ask him if you can find him. Just uh..don’t wear that vest till you get that cross taken care of.” before noticing the granola bar. Taking it he said “How in the hell did you find these? I haven’t seen one since..four years ago maybe..or was it five. Either way thanks kid.”
Meanwhile Gregory sighed as he flipped through the invites in his hands before shakily starting towards Walkerville. Soon he met a guard and asked who was the boss here. He and some friends had a carnival to setup afterall! After a few seconds of talking with one of them he was pointed in a direction.
Soon enough he was pointed in the direction of where Catnip was. Moving there he nervously adjusted the invitations. Maybe, dressed in a blue coverall and purple shirt with a carnival mask on, he’d convince her to let them throw the carnival here with all these people.
Elsewhere Alexei noticed the three men walk in. On top of that he noticed the insignias on their jackets and the tattoos.Tattoos and insignias reserved for certain members of the local sect of a Russian mob family..well back before the cataclysm at least. And now they were in his bar.
As they started towards him he came to a rather singular decision. He turned and ran down the hallway to the back. As he did so the three men retrieved pistols from concealed holsters as they gave chase. Slamming through the back door as one of the three lost his footing and slammed into a wall. The other two made it out the door and leveled weapons at Alexei’s retreating form before firing a round each. One went wide and slammed into a tree.
The other was more on target. Slamming through Alexei’s leg it caused the man to fall to the ground for long enough that the captain shouted at his men for harming the man they were after. To which they responded with “we thought we were supposed to kill him.” before following orders to haul him inside to patch him up.
Irene showed up with a somewhat elderly russian woman. “Since they’re patching up my stillman I won’t shoot you. Yet.” before walking away.
The woman sighed as she looked down at Alexei. In return he was glaring up at her but not reaching for his weapons. “I’m sorry. I hoped our meeting would have been a bit more..pleasant. Well without you getting shot I suppose. I always knew you’d run from me.”
Alexei rolled his eyes as two of the men helped him up. “Of course I would. After spending seven years in jail for you so you didn’t go to jail I’d imagine anyone’s son would be bitter. At least tell me you took care of Babushka.”
The woman nodded as she said “Yes, and she’s being brought out this way. For the time being let’s go find somewhere to sit and talk.” Alexei sighed, he knew he didn’t have much of a choice. He just hoped this wasn’t going to be as long of a conversation as he thought it was going to be. At least he hoped it would have plenty of vodka.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 25, 2018, 08:12:27 am
Nathaniel suggested they take the boxes somewhere safe to open and Sharlene agreed. He suggested the refugee center or the farm, and Sharlene did not agree. Instead she led them back to the bank of lake. In the clearing Sharlene was planning to rebuild in, the solitary wood stove could be seen. The moisture had already turned the cast irons seasoned surface into a disheartening film of rust.
"I suppose this is safe enough, but I still think there are better places you could be doing this." He put in. It wasn't about safety, at least not theirs that he was worried about. The real reasoning for wanting them to go to the center was what dangerous stuff could be in those lock boxes. Nathaniel had heard rumors of certain less secure or less careful labs storing some fairly high clearance stuff in a bank vault before the cataclysm. One mix up, and those documents had ended up in the hands of some elderly woman who thought she was taking out a binder containing her late husband's stock portfolio. It was frightening, if true, that confidential stuff like that could get into hands like Sharlenes. It turned out though that he needn't have worried.
Nathaniel was given the job of reaching into the pocket dimension formed by the magic of the blue wrap and pulling out the boxes. It took awhile and took a bit more work than he expected. For one, a lot of the boxes were actually kind of weighty. For another, while the repeated action of handling the part of Liliths anatomy that made up the gateway to the dimension quickly went from fascinating, to fun, and now had graduated to humdrum for Nathaniel. For Lilith though, the repeated fondling was having a completely different effect. Pulling out box after box wasn't too bad, but as the hour the task took went on, Nathaniel could feel resistance when he tried to pull back out and a heavy thrum deep in Liliths chest. The look she kept giving him told him what was up. The next time he pulled up a box, he watched. Lilith flexed ever so slightly, not enough to feel it, but just enough to make resistance for the box, trying to hold him in as long as possible.
"Lil, let him go, for Christ's sake. Save the foreplay for later." Sharlene chastised. Lilith relaxed and pouted while the box slid loose. In short order, Sharlene laid the box down and Lilith peeled back the side with one sharp claw to reveal the loot. Sharlene wasnt really surprised, the little silver disks were a fairly common find in all the boxes they opened. More than half of them contained the thing. Small metal disks about a centimeter and a half thick and as wide as a fifty cents peice. Other boxes contained jewelry, stocks, bonds, photographs, mementos, keepsakes, and of course cash, but the strange billets we're a mystery.
"What are these?" Sharlene asked, holding one up and examining it under the light. "Silver, obviously, but what for? Why so many in one vault? Hey Nate, did we find a manifest or something in any of these? Maybe an invoice?"
Nathaniel shook his head and took another step away from Lilith. The latter wasn't about to take "no" for an answer though and head bumped him to the ground.
"Alright Lil, works done." Sharlene went on, "You to can go do whatever it is you two do when you're alone."
Nathaniel hardly had a chance to protest before Lilith scooped him up and padded off. Sharlene's expression was one of jovial hilarity as she watched Lilith stomping away, tucking her boyfriend down the front of the blue chest wrap until all of him she could see was his upper chest, arms, and head. Why not? The image was just absurdly silly. When she turned though, her expression soured.
"Hello Ms. Quintero, you've been up to some mischief haven't you?" Illiana called as she entered the clearing. Sharlene sighed the bitter sigh of a woman being forced to take unpleasant medicine. It was going to be one of those days. The objectives for the two government factions overlapped conveniently with one another. The Canadians wanted to reduce the God's Army influence in the area north of New Bangor while the Americans wanted to reopen easy lanes of travel between the two countries, for whatever the old borders were still worth. Kringle expressed a vested interest in reaching several important sites in the south, so long as the Americans allowed them passage. The trip would be long, and Kringle was very clear in his belief that he would not survive it.
"The Midgard is killing me." He said, "The power source takes it's toll."
"The time slab. A very dangerous source, but there really wasn't much of a choice." Brynna explained, a little. She hadn't been with the Canadians when they'd installed the Midgard's volatile catalyst, the simple grey slab of stone the size of a standard paver. They discussed weapons and defenses, methods for moving troops and civilians. In the end, it was decided that the Canadians could move on, but they would need to meet with certain individuals along the way.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 26, 2018, 12:16:55 am
Lucian glared hard at B23, before realizing something. "I've made a mistake, clearly... I've changed my mind on bringing you on a job, but for having you stay. You can stay until you're better, but that's it. Once you are better, you're leaving. Am I clear? I apologize for wasting your time. Go." He said, frustrated with himself, gesturing B23 away.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 26, 2018, 01:26:12 am
B-23 didn’t move for a moment. He scanned the room without moving and determined no one was waiting for him, no one was aiming weapons at him. Walking away without a word he closed the door behind him. Checking the magazine of the pistol he made sure it was full before sliding it back in and putting the gun up.
Jay was surprised to see him back so soon, less surprised by what appeared on his face. Grabbing her gear she got ready to go as B-23 slid something out of his bag. A compound he’d become quite used to using way back when, one that he knew would cause negligible harm. Still it would send the appropriate message.
The arrangement took only a minute before he motioned for Jay to follow. The pair moved quickly through the halls and outside before starting off and away from the place. A few miles distant, their tracks and scent covered by some equipment B-23 had procurred in his travels, he retrieved a device from his bag.
Now normally this device was used in the operation of detonating explosives at great distances on a variable frequency. Right now however this was hooked up to activate a pair of electrodes which were stuck to the wall by duct tape near enough each other that they would spark. And so they did. The result of this was to agitate the chemical.
Now this agitation ignited the chemical. The chemical which one was able to essentially ‘paint’ and leave a trail of fire which would only go out when covered to prevent air from fueling it. Said chemical was in fact painted in a pattern which was recognizable to the educated human eye. In rather big, bold letters which caused the drapes and other nearby furniture to ignite as well.
“I know a trap when I see one. DO NOT PURSUE ME”
While this was happening B-23 and Jay saw an armored truck that had stopped with six men in all black outside of it. Judging by the fact they were smoking with shovels slung on their shoulders they didn’t really care that strangers were approaching. Upon being asked whether they could hitch a ride their apparent leader shrugged and said “Any brother and sister are welcome to ride with us. We’re only going to be heading home though, so if you need somewhere else..”
B-23 shook his head and the men climbed into the vehicle. Soon enough they’d have some number of miles from their potential pursuers. For now all they could do was sit back as they were driven to the home of the Clans.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on June 26, 2018, 07:03:56 pm
Five men were walking through the town near the tower plague and co called their headquarters; as a matter of fact they were heading there directly. The man leading them went by the name of Richard; he was a former GA templar who had acquired an artifact from one of their fallen bishops. The artifact had told him many things like how GA was being slowly replaced by the bots, how astor didn’t have their stated goal as his own and many other things. After a particular raid Richard stole said artifact, a shield that seemed to be woven straw but was made out of steel; it was the shape of an isosceles triangle and when it was held correctly the point that was not like the other two pointed down. It was thanks to what this shield told richard that he was able to rally a few men of GA to get the hell out after the raid and follow him. Many of those men were now dead and now only four remained.
There was Mike, Richard’s right hand, he was a no nonsense skeptic who had only joined GA because they seemed like a more legit organization than any others that offered the means for him to contribute to rebuilding civilization; besides, he had gone to church every now and then so he could pretend believe. There was Tommy; he was a very silent man but very proficient with a rifle. If anything needed to be killed in a single shot Tommy was your man; he didn’t ask any questions, he simply did his job. Then there was Erick; he was a gearhead who believed human technology could fix the “curse” that was mutants. He didn’t want them killed but sought to “cure” them and bring them back to humanity. He was an eccentric man and his gadgets were weird but he proved to be helpful in more than one occasion. Lastly there was Jack, he was a coward who joined GA for the same reasons Mike did but out of cowardice. GA offered protection and the power he craved; he felt like a tough guy wearing the sigil of the blue cross and welding a rifle. His little encountered with Plague had taken that away and he now reverted to how he felt before GA.
The shield told Richard to be careful, machines of war now controlled almost autonomously seemed to hunt them, warhunters; these were seemingly specially made to hunt down deserters and anyone GA wanted gone but weren’t that much of a threat to send the proper warwalkers. In GA’s heaven city they would be fine but outside those walls there were pray to these machines. Thankfully none seemed to be present so they walked the streets of the town they were in unimpeded towards Plague’s tower. Richard lead them with Mike by his side, Tommy and Erick keeping careful watch at anything that might sneak up on them while Jack watch the rear. Things were going smoothly so far for them since they left their little temporary base.
“So, just what the hell is the plan again?”, asked Mike.
“The shield says the man who killed the men with Jack are there. Says he is an old acquaintance of hers.”, responded Richard.
“Wait, her?”
“Yes, the shield is a she Mike. Her name is Trinity, be nice.”
“...Alright, so what does ‘She’ want from this man.”
“Apparently a powerful artifact known as ‘Coalescence’ resides there. It masquerades as a man by the name of Plague but Trinity can see beyond that. She is worried about this artifact and what it has been doing lately.”
“And that is? Just what the hell are we getting into…”
“She says it’s a long and complicated story. Trinity wants to talk to Plague and find out what is going on and go from there. Nothing too out there you see?”
“Nah, just talking artifacts with names that apparently know each other. It’s all good man…”
“I mean fair but still… Just follow my lead ok? Trinity has been nothing but truthful and has proven she has our interests at heart too. We are almost there anyways, just a little longer. Get ready for a fight...”
The groups was approaching a particular intersection. In the days before the cataclysm you would go through here daily to get anywhere in town and as such many businesses made their home here. When it all went to shit many of the people were here and this was the place in town with the most zeds. Richard knew this so he ordered his men to get ready to fight their way through; once they did it was a smooth walk to the tower. The group crossed the corner to expect many zombies charing at them but instead found something unexpected.
“Hey… Rich...I don’t like this one bit…”, Jack expressed out loud.
“Calm down...it’s just one instead of a horde… just remember your training…”, Richard responded
Where the horde of the dead should be there was only corpses. Many of them were dismembered; scattered limbs all over the place. Some of them were also partially eaten and the vast majority were too injured to get up even by the will of a zombie necromancer or lord. In the middle of it all was a figure wearing what looked to be a gray jumpsuit eating the corpse of a zombie hulk right in the middle of the intersection. Richard stood his ground with shield in front and his one-handed longsword deployed and ready to strike. Mike and Tommy at either side aiming DMR style experimental rifles at the creature; Erick and Jack each had experimental bullpup rifles of a rather powerful cartridge ready to provide support fire if needed. Jack was obviously very nervous but he held his ground embolden by his companions.
“What the fuck is that? Should we just shoot it? Rich? Hey, what are your orders?”, Mike said with an increasingly worried tone.
Richard did not as much budge or take his gaze off what he saw. Trinity was speaking to him again and what Richard didn’t like what he heard one bit. The creature turned around after it was done with his meal to reveal it was once a man; but it hadn’t been that for quite a while. The sight made the men recoil back a bit with Richard standing his ground and Jack losing his poster.
“Richard what the hell?! Fucking let’s just shoot it already!”
“No…”
“What?!”
“Hold your fire...no, lower your weapons…”
“Have you lost your fuicking mind?! That thing was eating a hulk!”
The creature looked at the groups in confusion as it tilted its head; then it smirked as he adjusted. His smiled contorting his face in ways that did not look natural. The appearance of the creature was that of a human who had begun to decay after death, then soaked in water and finally polished smooth again; no visible wounds despite this so it suggested it was still probably alive. It took a single step making the sound of gunfire erupted behind Richard who simple held his ground.
“Fuck fuck fuck! This thing is going to kills us all! We need to run!”, Jack exclaimed
Jack lost it at the moment, he witness as round after round of gunfire connected with the creature and it simply stood there. The same scene had happened yesterday with Plague who Jack knew as “Anomon” and he knew how that ended up. After every round had been exhausted and the echoing of gun fired ceased the creature simply twitched as it regenerated.
“My turn...He who shall awaken...”
The group witnessed in horror as the creature suddenly started to grow claws on his fingertips; one foot then two then three and still growing. They were trying to reloaded their rifles as Richard started to walked towards the creatures.
“What the hell are you doing know?! Get back here you crazy son-of-a-bitch! We don’t have time for this!”, Mike screamed
“Take the others back to the safehouse and wait there…”, Richard responded back.
“Wait what?”
The creature spoke again, “...Am the artificial fragment who stole the power from the broken god...” It’s claws started to grow after they had glown to their full size; each three yards long and they looked rather sharp. The creature had them pointed up and crossed in front of his face.
“I will hold this thing off… Trinity knows what it is… get back to the safe house now!”
“Richard god damn it! You can’t take that thing alone! Look at it!”
“We are loaded sir!”, Shouted Erick at the other two.
“See! We can take it together Rich!”, Mike said with a hint of desperation.
“...I scoff at the union and envy the awakened...”, The creature’s eyes started to glow the same way his claws did as he stared right at Richard… and he stared back.
“No...I have to do this alone. Only I wield the power to stop it, your rifles will do nothing against it.”
“Why do you always have to be the fucking hero?! Listen to me for once damn it!”
“...I am bio-weapon omega, the culmination of humanity's power and will...” It then assumed a peculiar stance; it kept it’s pose low while his massive claws now pointed forwards halving the distance between him and Richard who stopped walking and assumed his own stance with shield and sword ready once more.
“Don’t you trust me? I will be back...and I will have back up ok? Trinity will guide us all, we just need to trust her... “
“Rich...fucking hell I hope you are not wrong…”
“...And I shall show you the nature beyond divinity... Artificial Overdrive! ” The creature gave an ear deafening roar louder than that of their weapons; their simple electronic earmuff they used to shoot their guns safely proved no match and as such they ditched them to be able to cover their ears. Once the roar stopped the creature rushed towards Richard who held his shield high.
“Just fucking run for now! Go!”
Jack didn’t have to be told twice as he was the first to book it. Tommy and Erick looked at each other and quickly followed suit after a quick nod. It was Mike who lingered a bit too long. He saw as the shield blocked Omega’s massive claw perfectly. Richard looked back and smiled. “I will be fine, now go!”
Mike gave a salute to his superior and hesitantly retreated. He didn’t look back; he kept running. He ran as he heard Omega roar again, as Richard shouted in pain, as the creature did the same soon after. Mike ran towards the safehouse where he would wait for Richard to return.
Lucy walked up the stairs and looked down the hall; Plague’s office was at the other end of it. She wanted to go and pay him a visit to check how he was holding on but something seemed strange. She felt watched...and as if Plague was expecting her. However, unlike most people Lucy simply smirked and shrugged it off. She was the devil after all; only a few beings were powerful enough to match her power and none of them would do such a thing as stalk her as they had no need to. As for Plague, that damned sword had nothing on her either, even if all the pieces were combined Anomon was no big deal. She was the 7th mage who helped sealed the now broken god and she could do it again. With all of this in mind, Lucy walked towards the office, opened the door once she got there and let herself in closing the door behind her.
“Hey there ‘Plague’, how are you doing?”, Lucy asked.
Plague was looking out the window with his hands behind his back. The sword of coalescence in its scabbard that he wore on his hip. He gave a deep sigh at Lucy’s words before answering her; he did so without as much as looking back.
“What do you want know? Come to take something else away? Let me guess, you are going to give me a curfew too…”
Lucy couldn’t help but laugh at his little quip. “Still sour over that? Listened, it’s not like I am your mom...wait, I technically am aren’t I? One of 7 parents. Well, as your 7th mom you are grounded young man!” She smiled and could tell Plague was having none of it.
“This is just a joke to you isn’t it? All of it is. How could it not? This era will pass for you like many others have. What are my ambitions are just obstacles for your own way of life.”
Her laughter stopped but she still smiled as she heard this. “Well, you are not wrong in any of that. Anomon is one of the few beings powerful enough that I broke my vow to not interfere in this world’s will. Astor is another and I don’t need both of you running around. That is why I told you to at least halt this for a while; we can have our final battle in a few eons from now.”
Plague stood there silent not saying a word; Lucy’s smile was now gone and sense of worry started to creep over before she spoke once more. “Besides, we are in a delicate position. We are in a crossroads with other worlds and the wound in the veil is getting serious. I doubt the many other beings making their presence here would appreciate that. Just why do you bring this up again?”
“The veil… the myriad of other beings fighting for this place… why should I care for any of it? I destined to become Anomon reborn, rule over this world and if that means defending it from them so be it! Why should I care about this balance nonsense?! And you! You have stood in my way for the last time!”
He unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Lucy who just stood there perplexed. There was a pulse of energy on the veil that threatened to expand the wound; anyone in tune would feel it and as such Lucy did as well. She slowly started to walk towards Plague with worry now having taken over.
“Plague...no, Coalescence, listen to yourself. Don’t do something you will regret. We had a deal ok? Don’t make me your enemy, it won’t end well for anyone…”
More silence, Lucy continued walking towards Plague; when she was close enough to touch the blade she stopped and spoke.
“Do you really think you can take me on kid? I am the fallen one, the oldest being on this reality. This is your last chance, stand down now!”
He chuckled a little. “No no, I know I can’t take on the devil herself. I am not powerful enough...yet. No, I am not trying to stop Lucifer...I am going to stop the 7th mage...” Suddenly six cloaked figures appeared in the room around Lucy; they resemble divine spirits with their face concealed by their hoods but they had normal hands rather than blade. Lucy looked around her as her eyes widen.
“What did you do?! You mad man! Do you realize what you just done?!”
“Silence!” At Plagues shout another surge of energy could be felt in the veil making Lucy stand down for the moment. “You are in no position to say anything. You will now hear my demands…”
Lucy glared at him but soon enough she smirked. “No, I won’t. I won’t be staying here for long. Know that what happens from here is your choice. I don’t know what the hell happened for you to suddenly take this route but I have my guesses… You might have just started a war… Next time we meet shoot first...”
“Get her!” At Plague’s command the cloaked figures rushed towards Lucy but before they could touch her a puff of smoke appeared and she was gone; a smell of sulfur lingered behind. Plague chuckled to himself; the cloaked figures looked at him awaiting orders.
“Oh well, it was a long shot that we would catch her. Doesn’t matter, we got what we wanted anyways; we can no freely advance with our plan. Omega has made himself know… all we need is a single piece... “ He stood there for a minute thinking something through, then his authoritarian tone returned as he started to issue orders to the figures. “Two of you gentile swordmen go and investigate Omega’s whereabouts; the other four come with me, we need to have a team meeting…”
Victor was in Helen’s quarters running a few diagnostic test on the flesh weapons after returning from having grabbed a bite to eat.; some from memory but the majority being re-discovered from his journal. Not once did he touched them as there was no need to; they just sat there as spell after spell was made after all the precautionary wards were set in place. Arcane wise this thing seemed to have an aura of its own and exhibit properties of a cursed soul rather than an item that was enchanted. Now he did not know how in the world someone was able to keep something like this alive; that was not his area of expertise. After jotting down his findings he ran one last test; this one would take a while to complete so he simply put them back in the warded drawer and called it down.
After putting his journal away and making sure everything was neatly put away Victor went and checked on Thomas. The crib suddenly being made out of wood surprised him but Helen hadn’t been screaming out of her mind and the baby seemed to be doing ok, arcane and other wise. “Hey there little guy, how are you doing? It’s your dad, remember me?” He reached into the crib and carried him in his arms. “There we go. Come here. I certainly remember you know. It’s funny, we probably remember about each other mostly the same amount.”
“Well, you have all the time in the world for you two to get to know one another don’t you think? It’s good to see you are taking this seriously now.”, said a mysterious voice behind Victor. He turned around to the source as he held his close out is instinct. He found behind him was now a woman with red hair that matched her eyes; her outfit was a business casual attire with a blazer and tie and the color of it all also matched her hair and eyes.
“And who the hell are you? Explain your presence!”, Victor demanded after giving one step back.
The woman laughed at his reaction and his words. “Oh my, where have I heard that before? Anyways, I go by Lucy; don’t worry, I am not here to hurt you. If I wanted to I would’ve done so already.”
“Lucy huh? And what are you here for?”, Victor warily looked at the woman and then noted Thomas looking at her with childish glee and laughter in his face.
“See? Your son seems to be ok with me, can you maybe trust me enough to talk a little?”
Victor’s was still warded but he was more calm by what she said, Thomas looked at him with a smile and he smiled back before looking back at Lucy. “Alright, we can talk. But any sudden movements and I will not hesitate to fight back.
Lucy grinned at his statement rather amused by it. “You are holding your kid, do you really think you can take me on?”
It was now Victor’s turn to grin at her. “No need to, don’t you notice something weird about this room?” Lucy gave him a confused look. She looked around and eventually spotted what he meant; the entire room was devoid of any shadows and a peculiar presence could be felt. It was nothing she couldn’t take on but she was still rather impress by his resolve.
“Touche, there will be no need for that. So, why don’t we exit the room real quick?”
“And why do you want to do that? We are already here…”
Lucy gave a loud sigh, rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Victor… Just trust me ok? I know that’s weird coming from a woman who just appeared in your room but… look into my eyes and see that I don’t have any ill will.” He did just that; Victor looked at Lucy right into her eyes and then felt a strange sensation. Her look was disarming, she seemed like the most trustworthy person in existence and any reservations he might have had about her were dispelled.
“Oh, right… Sorry about that. Yeah let’s...let’s go outside.”
Lucy smiled returned this time a bit mischievous. “See? That wasn’t too hard. Ladies first, after me Ironwood.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
The two exited the room and stood outside for the time being. Arcane effects and wards echoed in the room. The flesh weapons were secure and he had placed a seal on the drawer just in case; no one but himself or Helen would be able to open it. This seal was one he recalled from his memories Roxanne had shared with him; he seemed to use it alot so it must be really secured. With the peace of mind that brought him, he spoke up after he and Lucy stood by the door.
“So, what are you here for? You never did answered that.”, Victor remarked.
“Can’t a lady just come and visit an old acquaintance?”, Lucy answered.
“Wait, we know each other? Are you another one of my friends I can’t recall?”
Lucy chuckled to herself. “Don’t flatter yourself. We aren’t close or anything. I just happen to remember you from a certain incident and come here to repay something.”
“An incident? What type of incident.”
“Well, you tried to bargain with me after going through the trouble of summing me directly rather than one of my many servants. I got to say that really impressed me. In the end I could not help you but as a token of appreciation I promised you I would help you out one day. You know what? Explaining this is pointless. Come, hold my hand.” Normally Victor would be question such a request but he was still in a trance-like state from looking into her eyes. He nodded and offered his hand which she took into her own. “Close your eyes.”
Victor knew exactly what was happening; she was sharing a memory with him. The feeling was the same as when Roxanne did this but this time he didn’t have someone literally inside his body mucking around with his aura. However, he soon realized this wasn’t his memory unlike with Roxanne but the memory of Lucy. He was in it but it was from her perspective. There he was after having completed a ritual; Roxanne was there? Or was it the alt he kept hearing about. The memory went on revealing what had happened; Victor was quite surprised and when it was over he pulled back as if he had woken up in a cold sweat holding Thomas protectively while he took a step back. Lucy opened her own eyes and smiled in Victor’s direction.
“So, what did we learn from that?”, Lucy asked in a teasing tone.
Victor looked at her as he proposed what he had just “seen”. He finally spoke up when he found the correct words. “D-did I make a deal with the devil?”
“That you did. Sorry I couldn’t help you there but be safe assured you solved it yourself quite recently.”
“I did? It seemed serious… And was that…”
“No, she this version of Roxanne, the one you were friends with pre-cataclysm. The one you currently know if from another world. Complicated but it doesn’t really matter anymore. And before you ask, no, you didn’t lose your memory solving it those two are separate events.”
“...So the literal devil has come to pay me a visit… And you said you came to grant me that favor? The one from the memory?”
“Yes, I am here to do that. Now, I won’t be able to stay for long. I detect the signature of a certain ice-cream loving woman here and I really don’t want her finding me… so let’s cut to the chase…”
“You mean Illiana? She kept talking about vanilla ice cream when I met her.”
“Yes yes her… don’t have anything against her personally but given her job she might not be too please at my past and future actions... Anyways, this isn’t what I am here for.” Lucy cleared her throat before speaking up again. “Well, I am here to do a few things. First things first. Can I hold your baby? He is so cute!”
Victor gave her a look of disbelief. Was she being serious? With this eldritch beings he couldn’t be sure anymore. The effect of the enchantment from looking into her eyes lingered but he was a bit more lucid now. “Sure, just be careful... “ He carefully extended his arms for Luct to hold Thomas.
“Relax, I am good with children.” Lucy took the baby from Victor and and started doing funny face as him. “How’s a cute baby? You are, yes you are.” She placed a finger close to his face witch he grasp with his hands as he gave the typical baby laughter. “I can see the resemblance with you. Hopefully he inherits his mother’s common sense as well…”
“Wait wait?”, Victor said in genuine confusion.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s all in the past now.” She played with Thomas for a bit more in the same way a typical middle aged woman would when one of her friends had a baby. “You are the next generation little one. Grow strong and healthy for me ok? Take care of your mother and father, specially your father, and make them proud. Now, here is a little something from me.” Lucy flickered her fingers and light red particles trickled down into Thomas; he laughed to which she smiled in return.
“W-what did you just do?”, asked Victor a bit concerned.
“I just sprinkled him with my essence; in the same way animals mark their territory with with their scent, I have just marked him as being under my personal protection. No hostile being would dare lay a finger on him less they be willing to face the my wrath… It should also give him a slight affinity with the arcane so teach him well.”
“Uhhh, I am not so sure about this… what will Helen say when she uses her mask?”
“Don’t worry about that. This doesn’t change his aura or anything. It is only detectable by those things that would want to cause him harm in the first place and I doubt his own mother would do that. This is my first favor to you.”
“And why would you do that?”
“Well, I have an interest in humanity increasing their numbers you know… it’s not fun just having a bunch of undead and aliens wobbling around. So I have a personal bias in making sure this goes well. Plus with so many people being alive I can afford to get to know a few; and like I said, you caught my eye all those years back with your bold action. Skipped all the red tape and called the manager directly. Secondly, this ties back to my second favor… I come to give you a warning and some advice…”
“A warning? That can’t be good if it’s coming from you...what is it?”
“Victor, another incident is coming. The whims of an arcane being have put me in an uncomfortable situation and it will eventually come knocking on your doorstep. Now this is my advice… don’t answer. You will be tempted to respond but it’s not worth it. You have a family now, your responsibility is with them first. Let the world burn down to the ground; it is my job to prevent that from happening.”
Before Victor could respond his Aura Spell detected something in their Quarters. He was about to rush over but he was stopped by Lucy by placing her hand on his shoulder. “Let it happen. Your son is safe here with us and that is all that matters. This is the first time it will knock on your doorstep and also the most direct. Stay here with me, with Thomas.”
Victor clenched his fist at her words; she was telling him to just stand idly by as something was rummaging in there. He then let loose and his expression was that of shock. “I-is that…”
“It is, let them. It will be ok.”
“B-but why would they?”
“Everyone has their reasons. If I do my job you will never have to find out.”
Thomas was quiet, not scared or anything but very curious at the scene in front of him he could not understand. Lucy smiled at him and gently pinched his cheeks making him laugh slightly again. Victor then felt a certain seal be broken and he panic a little; so now understood what they were here after and that confused him even more.
“They are taking them! I can’t let them get in the wrong hands!”
“Shhhh, stop worrying about every little thing. It’s fine. Trust me ok?” The way Lucy spoke was rather nonchalant; she held Thomas and played with hi while she did so. It was as if the scene in the other room wasn’t happening at all. Eventually, the aura of the thief along with what they took disappeared from Victor’s Aura Spell. He stood there perplex wondering is what had happened was not just some illusion.
“Good job Victor. You did the right thing. Come on, let’s go back inside.”
Victor didn’t know what to think so he simply followed Lucy back inside the room. She carefully set Thomas back on the crib as Victor looked around the room. He eventually saw the drawer the two flesh weapons had been in and he sighed; it was opened and the two weapons gone. Lucy waved her arms around Thomas and he quickly fell asleep.
“I took the liberty of feeding you son and check if anything was wrong with him.”
“Do I have to ask?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
Another sigh escaped Victor’s lips as he crossed his arms looking at Lucy. “Not to be ungrateful but...what now?”
“Live your life. Next time you see Helen give her a hug, spend time with her and your son. Of course, you don’t have to do any of that but it is what I recommend. Remember, this incident will come haunt you again and I will not be there to stop you.”
“And what about you? I take it you are leaving now.”
“Yes, I am. Have to get started with somethings. But before I go, take this.” Lucy materialized what looked like a business card; it was a black with white text giving her basic information. On the right corner a semi-circle in golden font.
“Lucifer Morningstar, Personal Assistant.”, Victor read out loud before looking at Lucy, “Your business card? That title seems too underwhelming.”
“Well, it works given I don’t specify in one thing. Feel free to contact me sometime; even eldritch beings get lonely sometimes… I would like to meet Helen some time, haven’t dealt with the Cleansing Flame all that much, should be fun.”
“And how would I do that? This has no contact information.”
Lucy chuckled and pointed at the circle on the corner. “We do it the old fashion was of course. A drop of blood in circle and the contract is sealed.” She winked at him and then laughed. “I am just kidding. The drop of blood is to just know who is summoning me so I can find them. Anyways, it’s been a pleasure seeing you again but I must be off. Au Revoir!”
With that being said, a puff of scarlet mist enveloped her and once it dissipated she was no longer there. Victor sighed one more time and pockeded the card. “And just what the hell am I going to tell Helen?”
On the way back to the farm from the trailer park Roxanne felt a familiar sensation once again. That same nagging feeling from the mall and yesterday, but this time it was different; it was calling for her but it seemed to be trapped, for a lack of a better word. This though lingered in her and it was anything she could really focus on so the entire trip back she seemed distracted and lost in thought.
Eventually they got back and she bid farewell to Quinn and Hector as they got off the tend to the trailer. “Well, it’s been fun guys but I have to take care of some stuff that came up; it’s uhhh, ghost stuff, yeah. Anyways, be seeing you guys later.” And with that she took off not waiting for their reactions.
She was now back at the farm and she noticed something was different; new vehicles? New people? She couldn’t tell or cared at the moment. She needed to get back to her room and take care of this nagging feeling. Roxanne walked back to her room and didn’t bothered opening the door opting to simply cross it as the bracelets made her momentarily incorporeal. This would be quite the sight for anyone who happened to walk by the back side of Roxanne’s room.
Once inside she got to work on something she hadn’t done in quite a while. Roxanne closed the blinds on her windows, turned on two three tier candelabras and began to undress carefully setting her garments on the bed. Inside her stash under the altar was the robe she put on when doing this particular ritual; she put it on and kneeled in front of her altar. The ritual was well known to her but this time she had no “tribute” to accompany it; and even if she had she would be unable to consume it. Roxanne hoped her calling alone would suffice.
And suffice it did. The nagging feeling in her grew stronger and stronger; it soon became almost painful but it never reached that point. Instead it too a different form, a voice; the voice was at first a whisper but then it too grew louder and more coherent with time. Roxanne stayed silent with her eyes closed and listened and when she could finally understand it the candle light turned off and then the flame relit itself with a purple flame. She opened her eyes, eyes that were now an ever-changing hue of pink; just as her eyes as a mutant did with the color green.
“There you are… finally got through to me did ya?”, Roxanne said out loud. The voice responded and she smiled. “I see, no no, I summoned you so it’s fine. But I have to warn you, you are not the first to have come to me; I know how to deal with you kind. Now, tell me why you have seeked me out?”
There was silence for a moment; the voice spoke to Roxanne in private. After few moments Roxanne interrupted the silence with her laughter. “I appreciate your honesty; I like that. Ok, but you must understand there I am quite comfortable right now. Besides, I have gone through a rather dramatic change and I am still getting used to it. Will you be taking me by force?”
More silence only filled with Roxanne’s audible reactions. “Oh? An offer I can refuse? So you are going to try that tactic? Alright, tell you what? I will allow you to muse me but if I don’t like what I hear I will expel you out. Seems fair? Good. Now, what is this offer of yours?”
What could a spirit offer someone that would cause them to give up to the whims of said spirit? Victor had offered his soul to a spirit of harvest to attain power from a higher dimension; Plague was took wielded a weapon that offered enough power to rebuild the world in his image and paid the price of assimilation. What would you give up for power? For some grand ability? For wealth or health? Well, Roxanne was offered no of these things. What was offered to her was much simpler; something she did not expect to hear. Roxanne stood up from her position and exclaimed her response lossing any facade of sophistication.
“Bullshit! There is no way you could poss-” Her words were interrupted by another voice, one that confirmed what the first one said was real. Roxanne collapsed onto the ground. “I-it really is you… after all these years… you are still alive?”
There was more silence; this time for a solid five minutes before Roxanne answered again. “You want to talk? Sure… if what you say it’s true then I will be there… just give me the rest of the day please… I need to do a few things… See you in the morning.”
The voice went away and so did any feeling it might have given her; the candle light went out again and it returned to its normal orange glow. Roxanne stayed on the floor for a couple more minutes simply thinking things through. She eventually picked herself up, composed herself and then started to get to work. First she took of the robe and put back on her outfit; the black dress a golden rose on the left side of it as well as a pair fancy dress shoes that were she was rather mobile in. Also her two golden bracelets she received as a gift.
After she did so she went through and packed items she would need; her journal, some material for arcane rituals and a couple outfits. Both her red divine cloak and robe of discovery were packed inside as were her laser rifle and laser pistols. She also packed a coupled books for the road and the last of her RX-12 as well as some red potions; not like either would do any good on her. This contents were put in a couple of duffle bags; she put them on and she then grabbed the gift Catnip had given her: the desert triffid known as Little Jim.
Roxanne went to her APC making sure no one spotted her. Once inside she put the contents of her duffle bag in their appropriate cargo section. When she went to open the driver’s compartment she laughed at its contents: A couple of playboys, some cocaine, a vibrator and an atomic lamp. The tools of the trade from herself not too long ago. She took them out of there and put inside some books, the RX-12, the potions and her journal; the previous items properly organized in the storage as well. With that being done Roxanne carefully got off the APC with only Little Jim in hand. Making sure not to be followed Roxanne made her way into the woods up north to a certain clearing she liked. The day was still young but it wouldn’t be long before the sun would start to go down.
After about 30 minutes of walking, Roxanne reached the clearing; the hurricane had changed it to make a small and thing stream go through the middle of it. The plants here bloomed as the soil was rich and they had a constant source of water. Roxanne smiled and got to work. She burned a little circle using her divine flames to burn any plants inside said circle to the root; this way nothing would compete with Jim for nutrients and the ashes of the burned ones would serve as nutrients for him. Then she dug a hole inside the circle with her hands and gently placed Jim inside of it covering the whole with the soil. Once he was secured Roxanne petted the him as it gave a yawn.
“Grow strong for me Jim ok? I will come back for you one day so make sure you get big and healthy until then. I am sorry I can’t take you with me but maybe this is for the best. This isn’t goodbye but a until next time…” Roxanne facepalmed and laughed to herself. “What a I doing? I am saying farewell to a plant…” She stood up and gave a final glance to Jim “Plenty of food for you here. See you later.” And with that Roxanne turned around and headed back to the farm.
She made her way back and boarded the APC again. Should she leave a message? Nah, why would she? Catnip left for an entire year and Dee bailed on Mica out of nowhere so no one had any reason to judge her if she just got up and left. Besides, she had already left a note for Hector in her room stating she was going a little trip; that should buy her a few days. There was no time to delve on it, she had a destination in mind; but first she had to make a stop. After sitting on the driver’s seat, Roxanne turned on the silent electric engine of her APC purposely not turning the loud diesel one. She drove the APC out of the parking space and headed for The Hall; hopefully Victor nor Helen would be a problem…
It didn’t take long before she reached the Hall; she got off the APC who was till on the road and left it running; she wouldn’t be here long. Roxanne snucked her way inside Helen’t room after her sense told her it was empty. The voice had said something about special weapons made out of flesh? Roxanne searched but nothing matched their description. Eventually the only place left to look was a drawer but it wouldn’t budge. After some examination she noted it was sealed off but luckily she knew how to get it open. Unknow to Victor was that the seal he had used was a special drop zone seal used but member of SoA to leave supplies on the field for other members to open. As such it didn’t take long for Roxanne to open revealing the price inside.
“Oh Victor… never change… makes things easier for me.” Roxanne grabbed the weapons, looked around and went back to the APC; for some reason the effects of said weapons didn’t seem to affect her, not that she would know they had any effects in the first place.
Once back in the APC Roxanne examined the sickly looking sword and rifle made out of flesh. She didn’t know what to make of them but if the voice wanted them then so be it. Roxanne put the things in a special compartment and then got into the driver’s seat. She gave a sigh of relief and then started to drive towards her destination; it would be a long drive.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 27, 2018, 08:00:34 am
Catnip reached into the large pouch at her hip, searching for something important. An old friend from Pricetown that bag. It had weathered the journey from the abandoned garage behind Pinky's Pleasure Palace where she'd found it. A belt bag for holding small tools and parts. Her fingers felt their way around a tightly bundled bag of mixed bolts and a ziplock full of nuts before she found what she was looking for. Small, cylindrical, and somewhat round. The new version of her improvised wind cell made from the flake of pink stone she'd kept safe during the journey home.
Her pace was brisk, steady, and purposeful. The first test showed her that the original design was too restrictive, it wouldn't work without detonating whatever it was powering. Catnip hadn't needed to see what the cell would do on that occasion to know that it would happen. It was different this time. If this small cell worked, she would have a solid design to work off of when she finally managed to recover another complete stone. A bit of trading to break up the flow of the day was always good, but now what she needed was the forge and the tools that had been stashed in the new house Hector would never use as a home. Not that Catnip knew that for the moment. She didn't notice the ATV pulled up to Dee's workshop, it didn't matter now. What mattered was a proper device to test with. She could make another cannon, but that would take forever. No, she decided, the cell only needs one more thing.
After a bit of fiddling and work, her old unused stationary charger had been fitted with the cell. This device hadn't been used since they all moved out to the farm. The pedals were disconnected and set aside, the old cords replaced, and a new belt installed. Very carefully, she slid the sleeve on the cell around until the outer slots obscured the inner slots, rendering the air flow tighter. At first, it just rotated slowly, but within two seconds it began to spin. The pegs keeping it in place on the charger held, but already Catnip could see them beginning to wear down. Swirling lines formed in her vision, judging and eying how the process was taking shape in the old way she had until the cell spat a spark. Just one, a loud snap accompanied by a small arc of electricity. The meter on the charging unit began to climb, indicating the amount of power being put out. It spun faster and faster, increasing in speed and air output until it must break and fly free.
It didn't. Catnip carefully put a truck battery into the charger and checked it every minute or two to see. A grin cracked her face and as time went on, it turned into a smile a mile wide. The truck battery was replaced with a conventional rechargeable unit.
"How are you gonna take it out?" Minx asked over her shoulder. Catnip jumped nearly out of her shoes with surprise, but didn't berate her friend. Instead, she picked up a stick. Then, as professional as always, struck the cell. It rebounded off the ground and popped up into the air a good three feet before speeding off across the road and coming to rest in the bushes near the road between the farm and the refugee center. "Nice, very nice. So, this is how you are going to get it out whenever you want to stop using it?"
"Where it's going, I don't intend to take it out. Slow it down, sure, but I won't be the one taking it out."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 27, 2018, 09:30:45 pm
Clapping the man on the shoulder Isaac started off for his old hunting trail. He had been thinking of bringing Alice but she was training with that sword of hers. Checking his rifle as he walked towards the trail.
A short while later and he found himself settled in a spot eyeing one of the giant frogs in the area. He didn’t notice the man appearing behind him with a knife in hand. Slowly walking towards Isaac the man almost wished he didn’t have to do this. At least in this manner, he prefered having his time to kill someone. But if this made his master happy he’d do it this way.
_______________________________________________________________ Mikhail slid a white glove encased finger over the top of a locker. Inspecting the finger once he finished Mikhail nodded in approval before turning to the next man. Every recruit in the room wore a uniform that was primarily a pebble grey. It was accented by a rather nice Sangria red including the Duke’s symbol stitched onto the front of the left shoulder. Shirts were tucked into pants that led down to black boots with Sangria laces.
These were well trained men as far as he could tell. Weapons were ready for war and uniforms for parade. Still they would have another month of training before being shipped out. A short while later and he found himself standing at the end of the line of recruits. Giving them one last look over he said “Congratulations. You pass inspection. Not only that but you’ve earned a reward, tomorrow will be a half day, then we’ll have you all taken out to the beach for a nice day trip. Dismissed privates!”
With that said he left the building with the officer in charge of the training facility in tow. Moving at a steady pace he gave a small smile at the way the training officer had a bit of trouble keeping up. He sometimes pondered how a sixty year old man who was more held together by cybernetics than actual good health was more capable than those younger than himself. Still the man had proven capable in training soldiers for the Duke’s army.
Mikhail twitched a muscle in a specific manner which activated a secure radio built into his cybernetics. Speaking as his guards fell into step in a manner that caused the officer that had been following to have to stop for a moment Mikhail spoke in a tired but inquisitive tone “Vassiliev, what exactly did you find that made you feel the need to contact me?”
The man on the other end, a member of the Duke’s cabinet and a trusted member of his military, sounded equally tired and angry enough to have forced himself to continue his observation for the past three days “An ill omen arises brother Mikhail. According to what I’ve found out over the past..three? Has it truly been three days? Regardless it would appear one of the cabinet members desires to take a final step up in the ranks.”
Mikhail knew his comrade was eyeing something through a scope as they talked, it was always the case when he was on one of these tasks. Stepping into his armored humvee Mikhail had to ask “Who are your suspects brother? I know many who are loyal to the Duke, none who would dare attempt a coup.”
Vassiliev was stowing his rifle and walking down the steps of the grain mill as he said “Two men. His Exalted Priesthood Maximilian. Evidentally he wants a church state. The other is..she is unfortunately a sister Mikhail. Lauren Hemsburg.”
He almost winced at Mikhail’s response “A sister! Have you gone mad Vassiliev? No one in the Duke’s Army would ever betray him. He has given us so much, provided us with the faith, in ourselves and in the state, to continue to fight against the false king!”
Vassiliev shrugged to himself as he pulled the hood of his cloak down over his head and stepped into the rain. He mixed in with the crowd as he said “Brother I was in disbelief as well. But I cannot deny the facts that point to her.”
Mikhail sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose and replied “Very well. I’ll speak with some of my trusted men, for now make sure you were never there.”
Vassiliev was already halfway out of the town, the only thing he’d left would point to a grain farmer having a smoke in his mill and he’d only done it because the man actually did smoke in there. Regardless there wouldn’t even be a DNA trace of him in there. “Yeah I did. For now I’m going to disappear for a time. I’ve need to keep up appearances after all.”
Mikhail smirked as he said “Appearances of not showing up to Cabinet meetings?”
Vassiliev rolled his eyes as he continued walking. Cutting off the transmission with a farewell standard among the Duke’s Army he made his way away from the town to a position he knew he’d been reported being near. This would be a fun few days he thought.
Elsewhere a man wearing the Duke’s Army uniform accepted the dagger from the person in front of him. The individual was hidden in shadow and the man was incapable of making out their face. All he knew was that he was to follow their orders to the letter.
Which is what he would do. His instructions were simple and concerned a traitorous member of the Cabinet. One of the members from the Holy Administration. The Army and the Ministry, as the Holy Administration was referred to, did not get along very well. But that was the way of how things went when one organization was accustomed to the use of violence while the other preferred the way of pacifistic advance.
Sliding the dagger into a hidden sheath sewn into his jacket and bowed his head to the figure before turning. No one gave him a second look as he opened the door of the office and stepped into the hallway and mixed into the flow of men carrying papers or moving to deliver a report. The manilla folder he carried was enough of a disguise that not even an officer would question if he was busy. And of course the shadowed figure disappeared without a trace.
The private, named Jack, walked towards the exit. Sliding the folder into a door slot as he went Jack then retrieved his ID badge from his breast pocket. Holding it open as he walked to the door the guards gave it a quick scan before opening the door. If they had taken time to give it a proper once over they’d have noticed that Jack was part of a penal batallion, as such not allowed to leave without the written consent of an officer.
Of course if Jack had needed to he could get the written consent of an officer, and he knew one would cover for his absence, but this was faster. Walking across the concrete runway Jack retrieved a cigarette and lit it before tossing the now burnt out match away. Nodding to a few men that were walking this way and that Jack smiled, he knew how to accomplish his task.
While that was happening a woman stood next to the eight foot tall monstrosity of a man. The man’s build was muscular beyond what one would think a man could achieve while still allowing him perfect mobility. A battle scarred face clashed with oddly kind eyes and a tired look. Nodding to another private as he checked off another crate of aid supplies the man waited for the next one to step forward to retrieve a box.
The woman followed him as he moved to observe the men handing out supplies. Water and food was being distributed as the woman asked “So what’s the Butcher of the East doing here handling aid supply shipments?”
The Butcher, more commonly referred to as Juggernaut, checked another thing off his list as he looked over the scene. Armed and armored men handing out supplies to people whose clothes could probably use a good wash and some patches. Looking down at the woman he said “Because these are my people. It is my duty to take care of them, the fighting can come later. Besides the Russians have left us alone for the past year and the fight has taken a turn towards our own people. I will better serve here.”
The woman nodded as she watched the men. A friend of hers had gotten her this assignment with Juggernaut at her request. She’d always dreamed of working with the man. This just cemented that feeling.
-------------------------------
4 days later
Jack pulled the patrol cap a bit lower on his head as he passed through Ministry hallways. The knife was still in its sheath waiting for the right time. The badge that a member of the ministry had given him was pinned to his chest. He couldn’t help but to smile as he walked towards Father Maximilian’s quarters.
He had much to atone for but killing a priest wasn’t that big of a thing compared to some of the others. Entering the unlocked room Jack slid the knife from his jacket. He hoped this would be quick and clean enough for him to leave without a trace of blood on him.
Calling for Father Maximilian Jack adjusted his grip on the weapon. When he received no response he wondered if the Father was in. Sliding the weapon back into it’s hidden sheath Jack sighed. A cleric walked in, bowing his head as he said “I apologize, Father Maximilian was delayed in Harronfeld, we’ve only been informed just now. A wave of residents of another town were being brought in and the Father desired to stop and speak with many of them and to insure that they would receive aid supplies.”
Jack sighed as he asked “And how long will it be until he returns here?”
The cleric bowed again as he said “No more then three days. I can have word sent to your superiors that your stay has been extended due to issues concerning the availability of the Father.”
Jack nodded as the cleric motioned for him to follow. “Yes, that will be fine.” Was the only response he gave the man as he followed. Soon they’d make their way to the guest quarters where he would be staying until Father Maximilian was there.
Elsewhere, atop a hill overlooking one of the barren and abandoned towns, Vassiliev watched the men that were moving through it with his scope. Activating the cybernetics built into his ear he heard something that almost made him turn. A chant.
Da pacem, Domine, in diebus nostris Quia non est alius Qui pugnet pro nobis Nisi tu Deus noster.
Shifting where he was looking to the hill on the other side of the town he soon saw the banner flying high in the sky as a single templar planted it in the ground. Soon hundreds of men wearing plate armor, Footmen, moved over the hilltop.
Fiat pax in virtute tua: et abundantia in turribus tuis
The first line of Templars opened fire as they moved forward. Bullets tore into the King’s Militiamen below them as they continued to chant. Vassiliev switched the safety on his rifle off as the army of Templars only seemed to grow.
Da pacem, Domine, in diebus nostris Quia non est alius Qui pugnet pro nobis Nisi tu Deus noster.
As their brothers fell the next line of Templars let their weapons loose. Their lines broke to find cover and vantage points but the chanting remained unbroken even by those dying on the hillside. The few knights among their ranks held swords in turned with the flat facing towards them as they chanted and moved ever onward.
Propter fratres meos et proximos meos loquebar pacem de te
The King’s Militiamen began to pull back as they saw just how many Templars were marching over the hill. Even the Duke’s finest would buckle under what Vassiliev saw. He’d only heard tales of what had happened five years ago, but now he believed them.
Da pacem, Domine, in diebus nostris Quia non est alius Qui pugnet pro nobis Nisi tu Deus noster.
Standing as he saw the battle was over as quickly as it had begun Vassiliev started towards the town. Adjusting the collar of his uniform to reveal a Templar cross as he neared he joined in the next part of the chant as a Knight approached him. “Propter domum Domini Dei nostri quaesivi bona tibi.”
Bowing to the Knight as the chant came to a close without finishing Vassiliev waited. The Knights sheathed their weapons as one said “And what brings you back to us Brother? Surely you are not here to desert your Duke.”
Vassiliev shook his head. “No, I was here to observe the King’s Militia movements in the area. I didn’t think I’d witness a crusade.” he said as he looked at the army of templars. Footmen and Knights alike waited on their commander.
“Well, you have been witness to it. A stranger is coming, and we must aid him in his duty here. To do that though..we must take measures that require substantial force. Now go back to your Duke, we must continue on. The commander said before turning to continue his march.
Vassiliev decided he’d need to report this. Turning to walk away to his vehicle he wondered what the Duke’s response would be. Well when he got the report in a few days.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 28, 2018, 08:22:54 am
[format on this first part may be a bit strange because phone. Mostly written by dragon, cowritten by me.]
Nathaniel grumbled a little as he peeked out from the strange, all-encompassing spacial anomaly that Lilith had tucked him into. "Okay shit, if this thing were to do weird shit to any bullets that hit it, this might be pretty badass...anyway Lil, let's head on back to the farm, I want to check on how things are going there." he said.
"And for that matter, afterwards we oughta pay Helen...y'know, magic lady, a visit. I want her to take a look at this chestwrap and make sure it's not going to eat you. I don't think I trust Sharlene to magic up bullshit like this..."
To his surprise as the two neared the farm's surrounding palisade, two things stood out. First, the missing ATV parked nearby. And second, the sight of Kathrine hauling Medina's proxy, the former stopping and giving a blank stare at the sight of Nathaniel rather improbably peeking out from an all-concealing, all-encompassing chestwrap. "...what." was all she could squeak out.
"What's up, I'm stuffed down a spacial anomaly." Nathaniel said, rather cheerfully. Medina seemed to be glaring at him, as close to a glare as the proxy could at least. "How are you doing that? Lilith is particularly well endowed, but not that well endowed. What logical thottery is this?" the machine queried, seemingly struggling to parse what it was witnessing.
"Sharlene somehow stuffed a Sierra Echo in a boobwrap. I think one of those ate the remaining main battle tank in my group..." he answered, much to Medina's utter confusion. "Lil, can you lemme go real quick?" he asked, the tigress giving a whine before further insistence led to her reluctantly pulling him out and setting him down. "Nataleee..."
"What injury has Ms. Lilith suffered?" Medina asked, still concerned, and Nathaniel shook his head. "Lil, you can take the thing off I guess, show her it's fine. Er, Kath, you should probably look away." he said, prompting Kath to puff up a bit, tail flicking about in agitation. "It's fine..." Lilith just grinned an unintentionally menacing smile. "Boobth gone..." She then tugged the blanket off. "Boobth back!"
Kathrine turned around, helpless to obey. The day had seemed so normal too, but now she didn't know how to feel. She was scared and excited and now Nathaniel and Lilith were being mean and adding confusion onto the whole mix of emotions. Medeina scrabbled at the front of her hoodie, trying for a better look at Lilith until Kathrine put her down. Medeina trundled up to Lilith and exactly as expected, the tigresses attitude changed.
"Thtupid robutt." She growled. Medeina backed away from her, she didn't want to lose another proxy. Kathrine focused on something else, and Nathaniel's own attention was drawn back to the ATV.
"So." He said, "Dee's back?"
Kathrine nodded silently, then added a quick "uh huh." Nathaniel realized she sounded a little excited.
At that, Nathaniel gave a little sigh, looking over. "So he goes and runs off on her, and now he's back...I'm assuming Mica hasn't eaten his face yet?" he remarked, eyeing the small trailer hitched to the ATV, and its contents.
"I swear, part of me wants to kick his ribs in, but...hey Kath?" he asked, before glancing at the trailer. "What d'you make of the stuff in this trailer anyway?"
Kathrine shrugged, still excited. Rummaging through the stuff in it though made her even more excited, and she began to make a little hum.
"Kath, are you... are you vibrating?"
"I don't know. Why do you have to be mean? Look at this stuff Mr. Nathaniel!"
She pulled the loose tarp free and pulled out a large plastic parcel. The picture showed a very generic smiling baby, but beyond the generic wrapping, Nathaniel was aware of the brand of diapers. Dee had collected up tons of them, mostly filling the trailer. Most of the rest of the space in it was taken up by a trash bag filled with tiny clothes, several brand new toys for infants, and an as yet to be assembled crib.
Nathaniel just gave a blank stare, only to sigh a bit. "I'm not trying to be mean, Kath. Just...what if Dee hadn't decided to come back? Decided to leave Mica to...huh." He was interrupted by the sight of everything in the trailer. "Alright. I'll admit, a deadbeat dad doesn't bring a whole ton of baby stuff with him..." Further to the north, a cloud passed across the sky and obscured the sun. This didn't matter much for the people and machines who were caught in that shadow. What did matter was that they get through with the task at hand quickly. There, on the edge of Abaddon, something big was happening. A small group of God's Army led by one of the xenophobic factions few remaining field commanders, a templar, was preparing. One of the three trucks that we're meant for this job sat idle, ready to ferry the few men needed for the job to the site where they had been told a relic of aged power was waiting. These men weren't exactly impressed with the "enemy" they would be facing. The machines with them knew it, and laughed their strange silent laughter at the men.
These men, and two of the three trucks were not the focus of the attention though. That was reserved for the third. This third was a smaller truck loaded down with a kind of cylindrical box, and inside this, was the beast the men called "Mammon."
"Templar, sir! The beasts body is starting to acclimate to the tranquilizer. I'm not certain we can keep it sedated much longer." Reported a young crusader.
"We won't have to. Men, load up. Warwalkers, you know what to do."
And they did, of course. While they worked, the templar gave his breifing to the few crusaders under his command. While doing so, he marveled at how diminished they were in number now and had a few moments to reflect on it.
"It's a crying shame that we gotta put ourselves in this kind of shit to find a fuckin' fox. Listen up. We have what the bishops call a 'sapient' on our hands. Archbishop wants it captured alive."
A few hands went up and the templar was disheartened to see that in this case "a few" meant "all of them." They wanted to know why the Mammon was necessary for this hunt if it the 'sapient' was wanted alive. The templar had asked the same question and had been given the same answer he gave his men now. Simply put, Mammon couldn't touch the 'sapient.' Mammon would drive it out into the open. They wanted to know what they should be looking for, and he explained that too.
"A fox with a collar or a ribbon. The ribbon will have a medallion hanging from it. I'm told that it was fitted with a tracking chip of some kind. It went out during the storm, but the boys in comms got a blip on it before it fizzled for good. Four miles out, large farm area."
The last of the crusaders wanted to know, if they were putting Mammon in the field, then what was the tanker truck for? The templar frowned deeply. God's army he may have been, but the tanker her found most distasteful of all, perhaps the most wasteful part of the operation. Instead of giving his answer, which he knew would shake his men's faith in him, he shook his head and passed out the gas masks. Meanwhile, the warwalkers worked to open the cylinder. The research of X7 had borne fruit for God's Army in the form of devil hunters, but the rat like monsters were not the only thing to come out of that place. Astor had brought back other samples as well. Not the preserved tissue slides and organs in glass tubes or suspended in acrylic, but peices of chitin and samples of blood, ichor, and acid. These had bore a completely different fruit from the apple tree of X7. A whole other beast.
The warwalkers finished their preparations and then broke the seal. The cylinder held Mammon suspended in a vacuum which kept the ravenous monster sluggish, and frequently dosed with an aerosol tranquilizer. When the seal gave, the air around the container filled with the reek of medicine and inhuman fetor. The creature inside slid out and hit the ground with a sickly greasy splat.
Whatever vestiges of humanity it had once had, there was none of it now. Even the creatures counterpart had been more human than it at the hight of her monstrous self. This thing appeared as something serpentine, crawling on six arms or legs and sporting a pelt of slick, greasy, black wire like hair. Where the head should have been, the creatures long neck came to an abrupt, blunt end. For a moment, it just lay there. Then it began to slither away, the end of it's neck opening and closing on a mouth which opened in both the X and Y axis, showing off a black interior adorned with row upon row upon row of eviscerating teeth. It shreiked and picked up speed, trying to find the sources of smells and escape before the advancing warwalkers could collar it. It couldn't find meat, so it started eating dirt, shoveling in mouth full of inedible earth. With the distraction, one of the machines managed to get a harness onto it and leash it. The leash, a steel cable, did not hold when the thrashing monster bit into it and ran free. The men were prepared for this though, and turned on the speakers in their own truck. It had no eyes, but it heard. And it smelled. The beast bolted for the truck, moving like quick silver and the truck heaved itself forward and away with it in hot pursuit.
The truck would make better time than the monster, but the monster would catch up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on June 28, 2018, 10:51:44 am
"No problem, my friend makes them. She's keeping the truck safe right now." He explains. They finally reach the entrance to The Farm. Eric lets out a low whistle. "Oh man, you guys have quite a set up here."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 28, 2018, 02:49:10 pm
(( Hector and Quinn stuff sent by Wilson before posting, first collab linked written with Wilson, second linked written by Wilson only and linked at his request. ))
Hector had pulled the tank away to allow Quinn to haul the trailer off, looking back to him and removing his helm. He was unaware of what Roxanne would soon be up to, for now assisting in getting everything set up for the doctor. "Got everything you need? Supplies, tools, spare parts..."
"I've taken care of it, Hector." he said calmly, brushing off the concern apparent in the knight's voice. "And to answer earlier, yes I'll...stop by the center...just don't say anything else about it..." he added, trailing off a bit. Hector just gave a nod at that. "Very well then. Take care, alright?"
"I'll keep in touch. Don't think they'll really notice..." he said, and Hector shook his head. "Hectic as things seem to be? Should radio out that you're heading out so they can say goodby-"
"Please don't..." Quinn said, looking down before turning away. "...I'll take care of saying goodbye to the others. Thanks though." Hector just nodded, making sure the tank was out of the way before making his way over to check on the others.
It wasn't that long a walk before he saw Isaac there with a stranger, the armored figure calmly giving a wave as Isaac walked off to tend to other things. The sight was likely rather unusual, a man in plate armor with a kite shield bearing the white-on-red of an old Knights Hospitallers design. Not to mention the noticeably modern touches such as hints of normal clothes and work boots, or the drop leg pouch concealing first aid supplies.
"Greetings. Name's Hector, everything alright?" he asked, unaware of the man's origins. Likewise whether the knight would even be recognizable to a man who deserted God's Army back when most of the farm's survivors were barely known as a thorn in Astor's side. Back when he was in mail and bearing a shield pattern after the Knights Templar, not the Knights Hospitaller.
With the vehicles loaded up and the trackers disabled, the group started to head out, making their way back to the main encampment of the Shepard's Wolves. no with a few new vehicles to repurpose or salvage, captured armament, the remains of a stricken warwalker, and two survivors in tow.
One, a burly mutated fellow who'd already expressed interest in staying a while and possibly finding work, a man by the name of Jacob. The other, another mutant, a woman who was traveling south rather than most intent on heading north, by the name of Aurelia.
Elsewhere in less well-traveled parts of New England, a gambler rolled the dice...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 30, 2018, 01:02:47 am
The back of the truck rode relatively smoothly down the bumpy road. That however did not ease B-23’s mind as he saw the tac vests and firearms sitting in the center racks. However none of the men seemed to desire to bring him or Jay harm, instead they talked about minor things and answered their questions.
He did look over when one reached up a hand to his earpiece and the other to the radio he was wearing clipped to his belt. After a few moments he said “We have a couple of guests with us...I see. I’ll ask if they want to tag along but..I know. It will be done Father. May the lord’s light shine on you.”
The other men started strapping on vests as the man turned to him and Jay “I apologize. We’ve been tasked with eliminating someone who proves a risk to our people. We can let you off here or you could help. We’ll compensate you of course.”
B-23’s display lit up with the words “We’ll help, but we’re gonna want a tac vest and rifles.”
The man nodded as he said “Of course, we wouldn’t want you two going in unarmed.” while B-23 and Jay strapped on vests and B-23 grabbed a rifle. Jay however shook her head when one of the men offered her one. Smiling as she retrieved a pistol and made sure it was fully loaded she said “I’m good. I prefer smaller guns and..well you’ll find out I’m sure.”
Shrugging to himself the man put the gun back and slid a black balaclava on before strapping the ballistic mask the men all seemed to wear onto his face. The men all wore these with black turtlenecks, black pants that had extra magazine pouches stitched on, and customized black military boots. Oddly enough no gloves B-23 observed as he checked the gun and then chambered a round.
An old rifle, the M4 to be exact, equipped with an M68 CCO sight and an M26 MASS on the front rail. A quick scan of the serial number revealed it to be from a production run that had occured 30 years ago. Tucking a magazine into the fore-mounted shotgun B-23 chambered a shell before grabbing a couple of spare magazines and sliding them into pouches on his vest.
As they finished preparations one of the men tossed Jay and him a pair of gloves each. “Put those on.” Glancing at each other the two slid the gloves on. B-23 wondered why they had them putting on the oddly thick gloves but decided since they were providing them with arms he’d indulge them. They were also given ear pieces and radios that fit a special pouch in their vests.
They felt the vehicle come to a stop from it’s rather rapid movement prior before one of the men they were with pushed the door open. Following them B-23 and Jay saw the building they were heading for. Primarily because the six guards outside of it were already dead before B-23’s feet hit the ground. These guys were professionals.
Following them to the door B-23 tightened his grip on the rifle. Sliding into the third position in their stack he waited. A second later and he followed the man in front if him in and swept his rifle over the right side of the room. Spotting nothing he kept moving along the wall until he came to a doorway. Following the man that had been in front of him B-23 cleared the room with the man.
Approaching another closed door B-23 looked over at the man across from him. Receiving a nod B-23 checked the handle before shaking his head. Blowing it off with the M26 he pushed the door open and moved through. Sweeping the room he fired two rounds from the rifle that tore open a gunman’s chest. From the chatter over the earpiece the rest of the floor had been cleared as well. He was somewhat surprised that most of them were speaking spanish.
As he returned to the main room and advanced up the stairs with the rest of the group B-23 wondered who exactly these guys were. The men leading the way fired a handful of rounds, one of which resulted in a body falling down the space between the two flights of stairs. Hearing a groan come from the body B-23 lifted his rifle over the railing and fired a round into the man’s chest that resulted in a scream that turned to a wet gurgling sound.
One of the guys behind him called out “Nice shot.” as they moved through the stairwell. The team stacked up on the doorway at the top of the stairs and readied a pair of grenades. One was a flashbang, the other an M67 fragmentation grenade.
The bigman at the front of the group pulled the trigger on his shotgun and pushed the door open before the two men behind him threw their grenades. They hit the door and bounced into the room before exploding. Then came the men rushing in.
B-23 entered seventh. By the time he had entered the room the first men from the stack were moving around corners or into rooms. B-23 moved across the wall to a heavily armored door as the radio chatter indicated the rest of the rooms on the floor had been cleared. The prior gunfire confirmed it.
As they exited the rooms they’d cleared B-23 saw Jay follow two men out of a room and gave B-23 a horrified look. He’d recognized it because it wasn’t the first time he’d seen it, and that last time had been after he’d flown into a rage at a group of men that had been harassing her. He nodded to her, flashed a hand gesture, and put his hand back on his gun and looked back to the door when she shook her head.
One of the men let his weapon hang on its swing as he pulled his bag around and opened it. From it he pulled out a block of a malleable greyish substance commonly referred to as C4. Cutting off a smaller block from it the man then rigged it to explode before attaching it to the door. By this point everyone had given the door space as he walked to a safe distance.
Then the door exploded and they rushed forward. The only man in the room was on his ass pulling a chunk of the door from his shoulder when one of the men B-23 was with kicked his weapon out of a window while another hauled him up to his feet and pushed him against a wall.
One of the men pulled a pistol before their leader told him “Wait. Let our friend here do it.” As ordered the man stepped back and walked over to B-23 and offered him the pistol. “One through each eye friend.”
B-23 took the pistol as he saw the red swastika emblazoned on the man’s hat as he begged for his life. B-23 leveled the gun at the man’s eye and started to slowly pull the trigger. He hesitated when the man mentioned his wife and kids. The man holding him shouted “AND WHAT ABOUT THEIRS?” which gave B-23 enough motivation to finish pulling the trigger. The man slumped at first, then fell once B-23 fired again and hit him in the other eye.
As B-23 handed the pistol back the leader said “Good shooting. Dead center of the eyes.”
B-23 nodded as he looked over and “I don’t half ass my shots” floated onto the screen. He and Jay were asked to follow one of the others back to the truck, they needed to clean this place up a bit, remove the tracks, casings, and bullets from the scene. B-23 shrugged as Jay gave him a questioning look but they obliged their new friends. Over the radio he heard the leader say “When we get back you may have a place among us Brother. If you’d like to take it.”
B-23 flashed "Sure, that's what the last guy said too." to the guy that had brought them back to the truck and he relayed that to his commander. The response was "Don't worry my friend, we care not for the past."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 30, 2018, 04:06:49 am
There were birds nesting in the eaves above, and Atomos was hungry. When it came to it, robbing a nest would be easier than setting up a convoluted can drop and Atomos knew this house. She'd stayed in it one night while on the road to New Bangor. That trip felt like it had been a hundred years ago now, but the house was just as she left it. She expected dust, but there was none. Just broken glass and the debris of the storm. It looked sadder somehow than it had before. An empty home whose occupants would never return. She found the empty picture frame she'd left behind on her previous visit. The photo which had been ensconced in it was now safely tucked away in a manila envelope with many others. She hoped. That envelope, along with all her other things, had vanished when she'd been changed.
Atomos stepped slowly but lightly up the swing back staircase leading to the attic. The house still smelled of spiced dust, but now she could smell more. The smells of people, worked into the rugs and walls by years of habitation only now beginning to fade. The smell of animals that had visited the domacile as nature encroached back in on it from all sides. Mold in the foundation, the rusty smell of long gone blood, and something black and oily permeating the earth everywhere. Also, another smell. Something new. She didn't quite place the reek until she squeezed through the broken grill which gave access to the roof above the houses small car port. Out here, the smell was strong, carried on the wind. Acrid and "green" like bleach or some other household cleaner. Even diluted by the air, it still bit Atomos nose and made her eyes smart. Poison. The kind you used to fumegate a house infested with roaches or termites. The wind picked up strong again, and she sneezed. It was strong stuff. Something about it made her forget her appetite, something about the wind and it's... Direction.
She'd been sitting and watching the horizon but as the direction dawned on her, she bolted to her feet. The miasmic stink was coming from the way she had come. There was little reason to believe that it was coming from the grove, it could be coming from anywhere. Maybe a trick of the wind or geography. Perhaps it was a smell that was always there and she just hadn't been able to sense it with her human nose. Maybe...
"Maybe shit!" She screamed in her head, "Maybe that's a bunch of shit and you've gone and..." Atomos didn't want to think about it anymore. Instead, she hopped down onto the station wagon parked sideways below her and then to the ground. She could cover a lot of distance as a fox in not much time, even more so if she ran as the crow flies. Branches and undergrowth snagged at her fur and slapped at her face. A thorny vine hoved into view, the Barb's reaching for her eyes and nostrils, any soft flesh really, but she saw it in time and ducked under. A bear, a relative rarity in these parts now watched her as she dashed through it's clearing with a little interest. Atomos imagined, or thought she had, the creature asking her what the hurry was. Lungs burned and heart pounded, her legs wanted to give up. Why had she left? Why hadn't she tried to talk them into coming with her? They would have all still been in danger, but they would have been on the move. They weren't dumb animals, none of them were. Something clicked a little in her mind, some small thing she could examine at length when time permitted.
The forest fell away at the edge of a hard packed dirt road and beyond that road was the vast field. She scanned the horizon and her heart sank. The setting sun shone orange spreading the lengthening shadows of the farms rain beaten surface through a cloud which looked thick and heavy enough to justify it's pressence on the ground instead of hanging in the sky, and the trees of the grove trapped within it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 30, 2018, 05:06:43 pm
Liam had been observing Helen and Green’s little inspection of the crystals. He didn’t particularly care about it, he had other things on his mind at the moment if he were honest, but he paid attention regardless. Admittedly it was more interesting than having another argument with one of the others.
Reaching a hand up to his face he yawned, his eyes closing as he did so. Blinking and shaking his head he noticed someone standing next to him. Looking over he saw a man standing next to him who was occupied with looking with childlike curiosity. Quietly speaking the man said “Oooh, this place is interesting. More interesting than that other place at least.”
Liam, not wanting to cause a fuss, sighed as he wondered what to do. The man was dressed in a fashion similar to what Liam had worn before the cataclysm, a dress shirt, red vest, a pair of black slacks, and leather shoes. It had allowed him to fit in well enough during his day job to help the village bring in funds, but he’d never particularly liked it. This realization caused him to say “What in the name of Odin and Jesus is going on?” just loud enough to be heard by the others.
Elsewhere Schultz ducked as his position took fire from a Purifier machine gun. They had been holding their own with Krieg running here and there to patch up anyone he could. Schultz swore the man must have been a chimney sweep in a past life.
The sound of a bullet smacking into his cover brought him to the here and now. The best he could hope for at the moment was for them to make it out with a third of their forces alive. Shouting for the other Rangers near him to hear he said “Rangers! We aren’t making it out of here but we sure as hell can make it so the rest can!”
He was greeted with cheers and several shouts of “Rangers lead the way!” as his men readied themselves. One of his men, Brian, stood up and opened fire with his own machine gun at the Purifiers. The other Rangers let out war cries as they too opened fire on the enemy as their fellows began to retreat.
Of course they all knew they wouldn’t make it. At least until they heard something over their radios. The sound of a man laughing before calling out in a heavily russian accented voice “Hullo comrades! I heard some radio chatter on the old frequencies and thought I’d come and see what all this friendly gunfire was about!”
Looking at the hill behind their enemy Schultz saw a BTR rumble on top of the hill followed by several more vehicles and infantry. The men were dressed in a green color that stood out amongst the grass while the vehicles were painted red and gold. And a man opened a hatch on one of the vehicles, climbing out dressed in a red and white uniform as he shouted “Here’s your presents my friends!”
Schultz recognized the voice and the man. Santa had originally formed a militia when the cataclysm started. After the United Townships started trying to restrict his militia they went mobile and started eliminating purifiers and zombies wherever they please. They had a tendency to come in to help the military detachments of the United Townships when they heard they were having trouble and kept in touch with the units from Voshkova.
Now the only thing Schultz wasn’t sure of was why they had wandered this far from home. Of course the sound of copious amounts of 7.62 being fired at his enemy put that out of his mind for the moment. The retreating members of the 3rd had noticed this too and rushed back to their positions to continue firing at the enemy.
The only thing they were all certain of was that Santa was back in town.
Meanwhile inside the facility the Purifier commander sighed. He knew he and his men were dead now, they weren’t equipped for this many foes. Sliding his pistol out of it’s holster he barked a few orders that sent men scattering outside. They’d die with honor at least.
Back outside the 3rd and their new comrades pushed forward. Those that had rushed out of the facility were quickly cut down. The officer in charge of them walked out with pistol in hand but didn’t fire. Instead he tucked the pistol under his chin and pulled the trigger.
After a short discussion Santa agreed to help haul the goods from the facility with the 3rd back to their base. From there he intended to have a discussion with the 3rd about potentially staying with them.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 01, 2018, 07:49:44 am
Nathaniel, Kathrine, and Lilith rummaged through the trailer with increasing interest. Interest on Kathrines part mostly. Nathaniel was more put at ease than interested and Lilith hardly looked at the trailer. Kathrine pulled up one of the many parcels of diapers, an action which made her look a bit comical with how awkwardly she handled the bulky thing.
"Why did he get so many Mr. Nathaniel?" She asked. Nathaniel shrugged, but figured that it was good thinking on Dee's part. Helen mostly made due with clouts, and personally Nathaniel preferred the idea of using even bargain bin diapers over clouts.
The door to Dee's house swung open on it's silent silent hinge. Lilith noted the movement and jerked towards it, bringing Nathaniel around just in time to hear what Dee was saying.
"I know, calm down. It's okay, listen babe, come take a look at what I- I uh... What's up Nathan?" Mica was hanging off Dee like a Christmas ornament, clinging like he would up and take off again, and anyone with eyes could see that all was forgiven on that front. At least up front where everyone could see, it was forgiven. Nathaniel wanted to kick him in the balls.
"Dunno Dee, what is up?" Nathaniel said. Now that he was looking at Dee, a bit of his reservations fell away. Sure he'd come back but all the same, the guy had run off with little to no explaination. Just up and took off into the wild blue and seemingly left his girlfriend to deal with his issue alone. Mica could forgive, but it was hard for him to do the same when she looked the way she did. A couple days and so little to eat had done the spider a small evil for her appearance. She looked like the girl who refused to leave an abusive boyfriend.
Nathaniel winced at the thought. The image just didn't fit, and he felt shitty for even imagining it because for all Dee put her through, he wasn't abusive. When Nathaniel winced, he noticed someone else approaching.
"You got some nerve kid." Floyd growled, "Where the hell did you go?" He advanced through a thinning group of workers going about their business looking very much like he wanted to pull leather and blow the "kid" away.
"You told me to think and so I went to-" Dee started, freeing his hand from Mica's.
"That didn't mean 'fuck off for the hills without telling anybody where you were going!'" Floyd barked. Kathrine balked at the swearing, but before she could get a word in edgewise, Floyd calmed a little and went on. "What the hell are we supposed to think? Gods, the storm! What if you'd been killed in the storm kid?"
Dee scratched the back of his head and cocked a half sure smile. He wasn't about to tell them, now that he saw the way they were, that he'd intended to be out longer. That the final straws had been laid out before him during that frightening night. Rescuing the trailer from the wind, hauling his ass into a house only to have the windows blow out and take the dilapidated building apart around him. Tying his gear down with as many straps as he could get onto it and lashing it all into the side of a big rig while he spent the rest of the night in the cab, hoping to God the storm didn't dump his loot or take his life while listening to guns and roses and eating Oreos while he thought his life over.
Listening to old words and thinking of himself as a small kid still in the short pants, curled up in his closet as the lightning and thunder overhead crashed. Instead of him though, it was some other kid curled up in that closet, and instead of Mama Koenig taking him or her out with a hug and a cup of hot chocolate, it was Daddy Dee taking their hand and moving them to the living room and a plate of peanut butter crackers and comic books.
"So why did you come back?" Floyd asked, a little of the growl coming back into his voice. Dee, smirked at him with a grin that looked like it would be very much at home shoveling excrement into itself and said, "Oxytocin."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on July 03, 2018, 01:35:39 am
Alexei, now with his leg properly bandaged and nursing a glass of vodka, sat across from the woman. He was rather annoyed to be seeing her again since the last time he’d seen her had been when he was being hauled out of their house. Both had to admit his reaction wasn’t entirely irrational.
The three Russian mob members sat not far off watching the pair. Something about hearing the name Alexei Vassiliev had made them..not nervous but they did seem to have some odd form of respect for him now. One that had them glancing over once in awhile.
“So you come to my place of business, get me shot in the leg, and now you want to reconcile years of you not even so much as calling.” Alexei said as he leaned back and stared at the woman.
She sipped her coffee as she listened. Once he was done she said “I tried. Your number was no longer in use. Then I learned of your work here and decided it best I not involve you in the family business.Granted that didn’t really help the not getting you killed idea.”
Shrugging Alexei said “I’ve done okay for myself over the years. Had my liver go out some time back but a friend of mine got me a..CBM? I think that’s what it was called. I can adjust it so I can’t get drunk if I want. As for nearly dying..it’s part of being a runner. Drugs, alcohol, whatever it was there was always someone who wanted to make sure I didn’t make the shipment.”
His mother nodded in understanding as she said “Yes that is the way of such things. There were those among the Family that wanted to come kill you but didn’t for fear we would return the favor. Though I imagine you know that, your old friend Makarov did send you some letters.”
Alexei took a drink from his mug before saying “Yeah he did. Listen why don’t we continue this wonderful conversation once I’m done with work.”
Meanwhile Eino sighed as he walked through the woods. His anger had dissolved for the moment and was replaced by an empty feeling. He wasn’t sure how far he’d wandered when he saw a pair of men sitting against a tree, who in turn noticed him and raised their bottles in a salute. One called out “Come, drink with us!”
Eino, not really having anything better to do, walked over and sat with the men. One was dressed in a suit of cold weather gear. The other a somewhat familiar suit of armor though Eino was unable to place it. Taking the offered bottle he took a swig of the drink. Soon they fell to conversing about minor things as the two men talked with him.
Elsewhere Salazar looked at a photograph he’d kept with him and sighed. Folding the photo again he stood up, retrieving his rifle as he did so. Slinging it over his back he grabbed an axe as he walked towards the door of the Hall. He hoped no one noticed the tears rolling down his face as he left and started into the woods. He had a daughter, once upon a time, and he never knew what had happened to her. Now he lived in a hell of a world where he’d seen men turn into things worse than demons. The least he could try and do was make her proud. Maybe an orphanage.
While this was going on the Sarn’t rolled himself to the front of the formation. Looking at the clipboard he had he couldn’t help but sigh before beginning “Listen. Consider this the only time I’ll be..polite. I do not care what you do when you have time off. BUT! If you have a woman, gimp, fish, suck bot, man, dick girl, clown, or chicken in your room by zero-six-hundred you will be running laps till your appendage, whatever it maybe, falls off. Understood? Oh and the vacuum cleaners are not for sexual purposes. Now get going you fucking perverts.”
As the men dispersed the Sarn’t sighed again. Rolling away he nodded to a few of the other older members as they passed. Soon he found himself in Maxim’s workshop watching the engineers work on what they called their magnum opus. Quite frankly he didn’t think they’d have gotten this far without Blitz but he had to admire their enthusiasm. ]
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on July 03, 2018, 12:33:04 pm
Eric was taken aback a bit by the man in plate. "Nice to meet you Hector, name's Eric. Was wondering if anyone here could help me with big problem I have, quite literally." He neglected to mention that he was ex Gods Army, not wanting to see what the knight would do if he found out.
(At some other point in time) Eric meanders throughout the property, interested in what was going on around the farm. Glancing around, he saw many small, mice-like folk who seemed to just be doing there own business. A few of the children nearly collide with him, kicking around an old soccer ball. For a second, hatred burns up inside him. He was surprised by this. From years of being brainwashed by the Gods Army, it was almost instinctual to hate mutants. Eric immediately shut the thought down, only to have more rage inside him. He hated the Gods Army. He hated them for brainwashing him in their murderous ways. Eric himself had taken more than a few lives from execution.
"Sorry sir, exuse us!"
One of the older children ran up to him, apoligizing while the others stay back. Eric thought for a second, and takes a deep breath, calming his nerves.
"Hey kids, mind if I join you?" "Yeah, sure!"
He tosses his vest down and joins the kids in their games.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 03, 2018, 05:46:43 pm
(( Hector and Eric stuff written with Blitz, Helen and Green stuff written with Wilson. ))
Hector hmmed a bit, regarding Eric curiously, that concern hidden under the great helm. He didn't suspect anything just yet, as many of the usual cues he picked up on when observing Joshua had faded over however long the defector had been away from God's Army. "A pleasure to meet you, Eric. And go ahead, ask away."
"Well, me and my friend has a rig not too far from here." He puts down his vest and rummages though his pockets, grabbing a map. "It was damaged by the storm. It currently isn't running now." He points to the rough location of where it was. "It's currently sitting here. It needs to be towed to a safe location to perform repairs. Its a big beast, so was wondering if you guys had anything big enough to tow it."
Hector looked the map over as Eric retrieved it, glancing at the vest. The stranger wasn't doing much to conceal the pattern on it, but the man's informal attitude and the faded design on the vest made him not say anything just yet. "Should be doable, the tank likely can unless it's anything as heavy as an APC or engineering vehicle. Otherwise Catnip's rig would be best for it." he answered.
"Yeah, probably the rig then. It's a semi with two 50ft trailers, connected like the articulated busses back in the day, plus the armor and the modification the truck would need to pull all of it." Eric looked around for a second, spotting Catnip's huge beast. "... How the fuck did I miss that?"
Hector nodded at that as he led the way, the tank visible parked near the path cutting through the swamp. "Mine might've been able to handle when it was brand new, but after all it's been through it's on an ad-hoc setup using part of the old engine array plus an electric one." he said, before gesturing up at the train. "As for that, I imagine most people would have to be told it's even a vehicle to realize it can move." he said, before leading the way to where Catnip was.
Helen had been working with Green for now, helping him decide on a staff to mount the gem into, to specifications that'd be practical for him, trying to puzzle out the best pattern of engravings that'd match the way the aura seemed incomplete, along with using what he could recall of the patterns.
Soon, with a silver mounting prepared for it, she brought out another item, what was left of an old bronze mirror, retrieved from the place Randael had been lurking at. The old shards brought back a few memories that made her glad she had her mask on.
"Yo what's that?" Green asked, Helen giving a sigh as the set the pieces on the table. "A broken old relic my mentor used to own. Good thing to test this on." she explained, before demonstrating how to charge the staff with the energy lingering in the other gem.
"Aight, this is trippy as hell...let's see how it works." he said, pointing the item at the pile of bronze shards. As Green tried to work out how to activate it, a brief flash of instinct crept through his mind, and his grip on the staff tightened. The gem glowed a brighter shade momentarily, and the shards gave off a similar glow, a few starting to move. Vague hints of what the item looked like intact could be sensed, guiding him as the pieces moved in response to thought.
Green's eyes widened under his aviators. "Woaaaah..." he said, awestruck. He snapped his fingers, "Could this be stuck on anything else? The gem thing. Cuz I got somethin' that might work as well." He said, almost too fast to be understood. He was very interested in learning more and was practically shaking in his sneakers with excitement.
"I think it should be able to, yeah. Should show me and I'll help you with setting it in a different mounting." she said. The pieces seemed to move awkwardly, giving a vague impression in the back of Green's mind of what the item looked like when it was intact. A highly-polished bronze surface, depicting an imposing divine figure. The quirks in its design also came through, but the purpose of them, to make the light reflected off the mirror depict another image entirely, wouldn't be conveyed by that vague sense of the item's design.
Moreover, the pieces seemed to move sluggishly, not fitting together well without a clear head and a steady hand, yet even then the pieces weren't so much being bound back together as merely fitted in place. Helen regarded the pieces and the flow of magic via her mask, regarding it. "There's some other effect coming off of the staff, but for some reason it's not activating...hold on a moment."
She froze, sensing two things through her mask. First, the two weapons Victor brought were gone, and second there was an unfamiliar figure there beside Liam. "Wait...Liam, who's that?" she asked, focusing on that and regarding it as the more pressing concern.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on July 04, 2018, 02:55:36 am
Liam glanced over at the man before saying “I..I’m not honestly sure.”
In response the man shrugged and adjusted the vest he was wearing as he stood there. Rolling its eyes it said “I don’t know either. Which should feel strange but it doesn’t. Ooooh maybe I’m a ghost with amnesia? Or maybe I’m just some weird result of whatever weird magic chicanery seems to be rolling off this guy.” gesturing towards Liam with that last comment.
Raising an eyebrow Liam looked at the man before glancing over at Helen “Uh..I doubt the first one. The second one..maybe? But I didn’t actually do anything to summon a spirit.” he said in an annoyed tone of voice.
The spirit shrugged again as it looked around before closing its eyes and shaking its head. “Great. Well I guess I need to go.” Starting to walk away the spirit stopped and said “Oh yeah, before I forget again.” Grabbing Liam’s arm it continued “Remember you never finished that training of yours back home. I’d do that if I were you.” before disappearing.
Elsewhere the man adjusted his grip on the knife. This was always the most exhilarating part of his work he thought. He waited for the person he was hunting to fire a shot at his own, less human, prey before rushing forward. Isaac didn’t hear the few footsteps of the man rushing towards him.
The blade plunged through his back and caused him to take a sharp breath before he tried to turn with his pistol. Leaving the blade in Isaac’s back the man kicked the pistol from his grip as the dagger drained his opponent of his strength. Squatting down in front of Isaac the man shook his head as he told Isaac “You know, once there was a time of gods and demigods. They ruled the world. Now. Now it’s man’s time! Granted plenty of the dead are playing their parts now that they’ve the capability to do so, but man is in control in this age.”
Sighing the man retrieved a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. Talking around the cigarette he continued “And you. Well you have a role to play I guess. You see, and you won’t remember any of this, one master wants your..soul I guess it was, that’s what the dagger is supposed to do. But one, well one doesn’t like the other, so he wanted me to give you a chance of sorts.”
Taking the radio from Isaac’s now weakened self the man clicked it over to a frequency he’d known Isaac would have programmed on it and finished “So. Now we get to see who your friends decide you are. Well between the two versions of yourself that are having this little fight inside of you.” Taking a device from his jacket the man adjusted it before speaking into it “Hello. I think you’d like to pick up your friend here.” Holding the microphone of the recorder up to Isaac it caught him mumbling something unintelligible before he continued his message “You’ll find a traceable signal you can follow to his body. It’s a secure location, no one will be present and there will be no traps.”
Setting the message to send after about an hour the man walked over to Isaac’s body. Pulling the knife out as the jewel in the handle glowed. Retrieving a kit he patched Isaac’s wounds before picking the man up. He’d deposit Isaac safely in a nearby building. And one of the Keeper’s beads so his friends could make whatever decision it was that they would come to after speaking with the Keeper.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 04, 2018, 05:40:17 pm
(( Nathaniel, Dee, Floyd, Catnip, and Quinn stuffs done with Salt and Wilson. Special guest star: Dee's old font face and color from back in the old days. ))
Nathaniel just gave a blank stare as he mentally ran through his rather limited medical knowledge, which largely consisted of first aid training. "...eh? Oxycodone? Dean, are you fucking high?"
Dee glanced at the other three before shaking his head. "No no no, Nate, it's a hormone. Y'know, keeps you from eating your baby when you are really hungry." Nathaniel simply facepalmed, barely containing a few frustrated noises before finally mumbling. "Yep, he's fucking high..."
"No I'm... Nevermind." Dee coughed. Mica couldn't help herself and snatched at his hand again, and that was when Nathaniel noticed the bizarrely shaped ring on one of the fingers of her lower left hand. Dee flipped up a couple of the packages and dug around with his one free hand until he came up the pack he'd taken with him when he left and a wide brown box. Nathaniel hadn't a lot of experience with humidors, but Floyd had. Furthermore, Floyd was old enough to be familiar with this tradition as well. Dee flipped up the lid, and passed one of the cigars inside to each of them. "For the big day, I guess. My dad and his mates did the same thing when I was born. I uh..."
"You want to do it right." Floyd said, softening up, "Yeah, we did the same when Sammy was born..."
"What is stinky brown thing?" Mica hissed, trying to pluck the box away from Dee, "Stinky sticks smell like tiny white sticks!"
Nathaniel gave a little sigh as he regarded the various items dug up, not quite realizing the purpose until Floyd mentioned it as well, and after cigars had been passed around. Then it hit him, the sort of thing he only vaguely knew as an old movie cliche. "Huh. So you're making this official. Not sure what to make of this..." he said, before grumbling some. "Still, you had the lot of us worried. Mica ran off trying to find you, then Hector and Roxanne went along trying to find her. Only thing they got out of it was finding Mica and picking up someone God's Army had captured."
"Oh?" Dee said, "So somebody survived the attack on- Er..."
Nathaniel cocked an eye at him, but before he could question Dee on how he knew about the mall and the attack God's Army had executed against the Hell's Raiders there, Mica started hissing.
"Red scarfs... ssSSss..." She hissed. She was looking and smelling the air in the direction of the migrant camp and the recently arrived "merchants." Dee tugged her arm and tried to draw her attention to the trailer instead. He grabbed a onesie and showed it to Mica.
"I uh... Mica, babe, over here. I got uh... Oh boy." He stuttered. There wasn't a lot he could do to keep her from taking off though, on the hunt for strangers. She pushed him gently aside and darted over the rain flattened fields of the farm.
"What the fuck does...wait, Mica!" Nathaniel called out as she ran off, looking back at Dee. "You've got some explaining to do after this..." he grumbled, before Nathaniel, Floyd, and Dee started to follow after her. Floyd however, after watching the others outpace him readily, began to suspect that checking on others might be better, the first thing that came to mind being to ensure Catnip was alright. From the looks of things, it seemed a situation was developing between her and Quinn.
Quinn finished with the last of his packing and looked out onto the farm he'd spent the last several years on. Everything was ready now and all that remained was the hardest part. The goodbyes.
It took him a moment before he decided on what to do first, making his way back in and trying to seek out Catnip, wanting to talk to her first.
He was in time to spot her by the forge shack, striking something that looked rather delicate with a half worked stave and sending the whirling object bouncing and rolling across the road. The woman, Minx, was with her. They talked, then Catnip followed the object into the bushes. When she came back out again, she saw him and waved him over.
Quinn had to take a moment to work up the nerve to approach, though a lingering curiosity over the artifact that Catnip was chasing after helped him focus on a way to break the ice. "Hello Catnip. Would be interesting to see your latest project. Listen, I..."
Catnip pushed the cell into his hands, eager to have him look at it. As for as she was concerned, one scientist was as good as another. She wouldn't let others touch the cell though, no no, but Quinn had helped teach her to read and told her about religion and even watched over her with Dervish while in the throes of dramatic mutation.
"It works!" She said excitedly. The sound was oddly diffuse though. Did she sense his reason for approaching her? Quinn didn't think so, but judging from the look Minx was giving them... Quinn realized his normally placid, blank expression was touched with a particularly deep frown. Catnip was moving his hands, trying to get him to put his fingers on either end of the cell and that made him realize another thing. She was touching him. Quinn didn't let anyone touch him. Somehow though, this seemed alright. Warm leathery hands, hardened and stained by manual labor, trying to arrange his. She pulled back and he was holding her device between two fingers.
It began to spin slowly and Quinn could feel the charge building in the hairs on his arm. Before it could start really going though, Catnip snatched it back. "It works, and if this works than there's no reason a bigger one couldn't work if we managed to get a bigger one!"
"Uh, Nip? I'm gonna go look for Elle, I think she needed some help designing that Casino she wanted to open." Minx said, excusing herself. She shot Quinn a confused look over her shoulder.
"Yeah, that's fine Minx. Tell me when she wants me to help out ok?" Then to Quinn, she asked, "What do you think?"
Quinn looked over the cell, turning it over his hands. Thoughts ran through his head, thoughts on how much he actually cared about the members of the farm. Specifically the ones who have been around since the start, "...very interesting. What is this for? Very very interesting..." he said, trailing off as he thought about what he was going to say. His mouth felt dry...
"Er- Catnip? If you have a moment--" He sighed a moment, before rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I... I'm leaving. I'll come back and I'll have a radio to keep in touch; but I'll be heading down south, seeing what there is down there that we haven't explored." he explained, before gesturing with the cell a bit, "Plus I'm unsure what to do with my life, the trip might help with that." Quinn continued as he let out a heavy sigh.
The idea that people could just leave had never occurred to Catnip before. Sure, people had gone out for awhile, but they'd always come back. Barring her own forced misadventure, they'd always come back rather promptly too. Leaving intentionally just hadn't been in the cards, and so it took her off guard.
"It's a mini wind cell." She started to explain, "I want to use it in Medina's... What? Leaving? What? You are coming back, but then why would you leave? And... And I just got back."
Her expression was like breaking glass. She wanted to know what was so important about down south, what was he going to find there that he couldn't find here. She'd found a few new things in Pricetown, but nothing she absolutely needed. She did not register her own change of self to be something she'd found though. To her, the trials and tribulations that she'd gone through to get home had been nothing more than obstacles in her road.
Quinn sighed, holding a hand to his mouth and swiping it down. "I-... I'm not..." He let out another sigh. "I need time to figure out what I need to do..." He said, struggling to find the words.
Floyd made a calm, careful approach to where the two were, giving a polite nod to Catnip before waiting for Quinn to take notice. "Y' alright, Quinn?" He coughed. Quinn twitched a glance his way.
"He's leaving!" Catnip squeaked, "Why would anyone leave? How can Quinn leave?"
"You're leaving?" Floyd asked. Unlike Catnip, Floyd was worldly and wise. Catnip was raised in a lab where people never left. If someone stopped being there, it was because they had been taken away. "Leaving" just wasn't a concept she'd understand on this level. Floyd understood. Floyd understood that sometimes there were roads a man or woman must walk, whether they wanted to or not. Some paths that had to be tread. In everything he did, Quinn was not easy with himself. Floyd understood that the man had a path to walk and that it would take him, for awhile at least, away from them.
"How long?"
"I don't know."
Floyd nodded and put a calming hand to Catnip's shoulder.
"Maybe," Floyd suggested as the waterworks started, "You should go find Kat? I'll talk with the doc here alright?" Catnip tried to go and do as she was told, but couldn't do it right away. "You'll come back, right Quinn?" She threw herself at Quinn and hugged him tight before fleeing back to Dee's workshop. She still wasn't sure what to think of all this, hoping that Floyd would talk some sense into Quinn, not having the same experience Floyd had.
Helen blinked at that, regarding Liam and the aura she sensed curiously, examining as best as she could while she had the chance. "Right, this is...unusual. So you don't recall who you are? I mean we could help wi-" And just like that, he was gone. "...huh. He does have a point though, I suppose. If there is anything I can do to help with building upon your experience in the arcane, especially if it helps prevent...accidents, then so be it." he remarked.
She then glanced over in the general direction of her quarters. "Though it seems like yet more problems are piling up as it is..." She suspected that Victor would've sensed her use of her mask, if not the spirit's appearance as well.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 07, 2018, 08:14:57 am
"Well yes, a Polaroid or old film camera does have that certain look to it. Lemme put it another way ma'am, you can stick with your old film cameras, but films gonna run out. It wasn't exactly common before the cataclysm either. Now, with one of these rechargable digitals..."
Curtis was going over the pros and cons of a digital camera with tall girl with the strong features of a snake on legs. She had originally come over to ask questions and Curtis had wanted to tell her to bugger off. That compulsion was coming to him less and less as people came to trade with the "merchants." The strange mouse mutants loved it, the trading that was. This snake chick, Leslie by name, informed him that it made them feel at home and made this side of the Rockies feel more familiar. Now he was showing off a few of the more expensive digital models to the self proclaimed journalist. "Cameras like these cost hundreds, sometimes thousands, in the pre-cataclysm world. Now it can be yours for... How about a photo? Not too much to ask, if we're talking monetary value then I'm basically giving it away. What reason could you have for not making the deal?"
Leslie didn't know. She'd known some double dealers in her short time, known of some real stinkers too. This man felt like them, but somehow without the greed and malice of the Pricetown hucksters. On Curtis's end, he found himself rather amused by his knack for this sort of work. Enough so to make him seriously consider turning things around for the Smoke Marshals. They certainly didn't have the power to commit any real raids anymore. Trading might be a viable alternative, especially since the Smoke Marshals were a respected clan and could find protection and safety in regions controlled by other clans.
He looked around to see what his old man was doing, maybe see about calling him over for that photograph. Big Smoke wasn't watching him anymore though. He had eyes for something else. Wide eyes, full of alarm and something else Curtis couldn't quite place. The kid was coming, but he hardly mattered. The kid was trying to hold back a dangerously familiar young woman. Four arms, black hair, legs and feet like chitin sabatons and greaves, and a mouth filled with gleaming razors. It was her that his old man had eyes for, but once Curtis was looking that way too, he himself couldn't look away from Lilith. She was close to twice his hight and twice as broad at the shoulders than anybody he'd ever met, making her look like some giant had stretched an unfortunate tiger over herself. To top it off, on top of her bestial head sat a beret. Orderly and proper there on top of the monstrous alpha.
Mica moved fast and with purpose. She recognized the "trader." She'd led him and a few others on a merry chase after eating a few of the red scarves. He was the most recognizable, therefore he was the one she wanted. She would rip him apart and then home would be safe from the red scarves and their stupid tricks. She just wished Dee wouldn't buzz in her ear when she had work to do like a little bee. Her wonderful little bee. She would listen later, but for now there was a matter of bloodshed at hand and when it came to-
There was an old man in her way. She tried to step around him, but he stepped limpingly to the side and got back in her path. His smell hit her, and it stirred something in her. An old memory, half remembered from a time when thinking hadn't come naturally.
"One that got away." Her mind said, "One that got away has come back. Caught in your trap again."
"Eater." He said, reaching for her. When had someone other than Dee or Catnip last reached for her like that? She recoiled from such a brazen advance, alarmed. No one just reached out to touch her. The hand he offered, was mangled in the neatest way possible. Somehow she knew that if this man lifted his jacket and shirt, his chest would bear the scars of an acid burn. She remembered picking off the people in small camp by the river, then falling asleep while rummaging through their fishing nets. Red scarves had found her, thinking she was tangled up in them.
"It was just after the fall of Big Dog. That was when we last saw each other. You almost got your hooks in me." He said gravely. His face was serious, but Mica still heard it as a challenge.
"My-ka still got hooks in you red scarf. My-ka show you hooks. Comin' to My-ka's home place, My-ka show you hooks." She hissed. The encounter was turning into a spectacle now, and it didn't take a perceptional wonder to see the merchants getting uneasy.
"Mica." Dee hissed into her ear. She didn't even glance his way until he took her by the shoulder and squeezed hard enough to draw a hiss from the spider.
"Eh? Lizard, you hurtin' My-ka's-"
"Babe, I promised they wouldn't get hurt."
"Eh? Why lizard? Why does lizard say so?"
"Look at them."
She did what she was told. Dee spoke to her, and she listened. To the young leader of the Smoke Marshals, it said a lot of the kids guts that he could reign in such a creature. To the older, the depth of their relationship was what he saw. Mica looked at Big Smoke for a long moment, and what she saw confused her. He smelled like a red scarf, but he didn't look like one. The others too, they weren't armed. They didn't have the look in their eyes. They didn't 'feel' like an enemy. That she was listening and doing what Dee asked of her spoke volumes of how far she'd come since being the slavering monster that had assaulted the old man in those years past.
"Eater... Ms. Mica?" The old man said reverently, "I apologise if what I said came off as antagonistic."
"An-tag-oh-niz-tik?"
"It means taunting." Nathaniel said, striding over. All the talk of red scarves and enemies had clued him in to what was really up here. The "merchants" were Hell's raiders, their angle currently unclear. "What do you want with the fa- Walkerville?"
Big Smoke scratched his head, unsure of how to proceed, and looked to Curtis. Big Smoke raised his son well enough, and he was proud to hear Curtis simply skim over the growing tension, dispelling it entirely.
"How about an invitation to the wedding?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on July 08, 2018, 12:30:37 am
The truck they were in came to a halt after a while of traveling. One of the men, now changed out of their all black gear and into more casual attire, reached over and opened the back of the truck before dismounting the vehicle with the others. Motioning for B-23 to follow their apparent leader said “The boss wants to talk with you. Said he was impressed by the report.”
B-23 followed as he let Jay know to wait for him nearby. She gave a thumbs up before following the other members of the group they’d been with. Evidently they were going to go get drinks.
He was led into a small house. Entering a side room the man stopped and bowed to the older man sitting in the room. After an exchange that B-23 didn’t quite catch the man motioned for him to sit. Doing so B-23 waited for the old man to talk.
Which he did once his subordinate left “So you’re the one that the Matanza seem to like so much…”
Elsewhere Segador adjusted his mask as he walked the streets. His right hand man walked beside him as the two shared a conversation that no one around them heard “I walk the streets openly because it inspires respect, loyalty, instills that I am merely yet another of the people. Now about that man our people overheard about on the radio, I want you to extend an offer to him once the leader of our counterpart is done.”
The man beside him shrugged as he said “Very well. And the other issue?”\
Segador tilted his head to the side as he thought about what to do about that. Something was disturbing his business, but it was nothing his men had been able to track down. No physical trace was ever found. Sighing he said “Have our men continue as normal for now, I need to negotiate with a friend of mine.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 08, 2018, 02:06:03 am
Victor stood there thinking about what he could possibly say to Helen. “The devil arrived, told me to stand down from a mysterious happening, stopped me from preventing Roxanne from stealing the flesh weapons and blessed our son.” was not something he could just say. Still, Helen needed to know but he needed to find a way to tell it to her in bits as to not panic her or anything.
The aura spell picked up various auras come and go. Normal he would’ve gone to investigate but one was screaming, at least the he heard, so he let it be for now as he was deep in thought. Then he felt the aura of something similar to his own spell; if he had to guess it was Helen’s mask activating and scanning the area.
“Great...she now knows… You are out of time Ironwood. Time to face the music.” Victor grabbed the sleeping Thomas and gently carried him as he was uncomfortable leaving him alone giving recent happenings. He exited the room and went to look for Helen.
The silence of the countryside was interrupted by the loud roar of of a massive engine moving a vehicle along. The wildlife scattered around at the sound but the more bold of them charged at the passing vehicle. Those who dared and even some of the wandering undead were quickly shot down by laser fire; The Armored Scouter continued along uninterrupted. It was sunny, hot and humid out here; good thing Roxanne didn’t really have a need for “regular” temperatures and as such the AC was unneeded. Still, the laser turrets and electric engine drained their good share of power so the fact the sun was up and the diesel engine was running made sure the batteries remained charged.
As she drove, Roxanne thought about the good old days of the post cataclysm; it had just been 8 years but so much had happened that it felt like a lifetime ago. The first day, she realized it had all gone to shit, she had been tasted to kill someone, her last mark, yet she decided against it. Along the way she had been wounded and it became infected. Right then and there she realized she was alone; the organization that had given her purpose gone, Rey and Alex distant memories. Once she found her target, she choose to spare him; not only that but she recruited her to a common cause: survival.
The first few weeks were your typical survival story. She and the man who she could only recall as Hilario had secured a van and found a camping site in the woods with a town nearby. They spend the first few weeks scavenging for supplies in the town and eventually resorting to eating dog meat to survive. It was rough with only a vehicle and some tents to call home, constant worries over the basic such as food and water, and the threat of the undead and other horrors.
Then she heard a message on a radio transmission. Some surviving scientist by the last name of Quinn offered supplies and a place to stay in exchange for working as an assistant. Roxanne did not know what any of that meant but she wasn’t going to pass free stuff in this new world. She made her way to the coordinates on the radio and accepted the good doctor’s offer. One whole year she spend down there, reading books and helping where she could. Occasionally she would make scavenge runs in her newly acquired APC that had been abandoned. On one of these runs she found a survivor by the name of Evelynn Rose; she and Hilario seemed to get along, maybe a bit too much…
For that whole year things had been going smoothly; there was plenty of supplies and material to work on projects and if they found more people an honest attempt to rebuild could've been made. In the search for others is how she found the flyer and how everything changed.
Ah yes, catnip’s flyer; the thing always seemed to land in Roxanne’s hands just at the right moment like a boomerang. At first she had attributed to her printing to many copies but now he understood it was something else. Even now, she had a copy of it in the driver’s compartment next to the control panel of the APC. Three people were in the flyer: Floyd Hector and Roxanne herself; “The man on a horse of steel”, The knight in a modern age, “The killer who chose mercy”. For whatever reason them three were mentioned by catnip and both now and then Roxanne didn’t questioned it given her own experiences. All she knew is there were people in need and so she followed to coordinates on the flyer to meet up whoever made this.
Once she found the place Roxanne felt sense of belonging she hadn’t felt in the year or so she had spend in the post-cataclysm new england. She learned the “survivor” mutant catnip had been the one to make the flyer and that she was still a kid. There were other’s, Floyd the gunslinger in his custom quad bike, Sir Loin of Beef the knight who drove a Tank of all things and the scientist who went by “Dervish”. All very colorful people but the knight in particular had catched Roxanne’s eye.
Their meeting was short and a couple others occurred but none too consequential but soon their live became intertwined forever. Roxanne felt an anomaly coming, one that would be known as the shifting to them, one that warned her to get moving. She packed her thing, warned Quinn and her other knew friends and was set to go to some lonely farm where the anomaly would not get them. It was then she parted ways with Hilario and Evelynn; they refused to go and instead opted to take their chances out there. Roxanne wished them luck and soon they parted ways; to this day she does not know whatever became of them.
Eventually she made it to the farm and claimed the biggest room in there for herself. To her surprises, everyone else had decided to follow her and took residency in the farm as well. From there everything is history. Many others came and went; rather recently the mislings arrived and the farm was finally given a name: walkerville. Roxanne chuckled at this and at other memories she recalled of people and events.
Roxanne recalled how slowly but surely the seeds of romance were planted for many of the residents here and how this led to the current baby fever going on. She recalled the arrival of Katherine and how everyone sought it to protect her. The arrival of Victor and how it was revealed the fate of her counterpart and her role in this world. Then there was the time she had a personal dealer for her “recreational” needs. There was all those missions where everyone gathered up to take down a common foe. Whatabout the time she flirted with Dee to get back at Mica for embarrassing her in front of Hector?
A smiled was plastered in her face at all those memories, good and back. But the ones she treasure the most were the ones she had spent with her knight in shining armor. He was there for her where it counted and the two reciprocated their feeling for one another. They had gone on adventure together and they knew that at the end of the day after a long battle or mission they would have on another. One memory that stood front and center was the lessons that he gave her. How to fight without relying in her then crutch that were her bionic. The two sparred and he taught her enough for her to develop her own style; he had even forged a new weapon for her she admittedly used sparecely: a highly decorate katar. Given her familiarity with the bionic sword this was right at home for her, and right now she carried it with her.
With one hand on the steering wheel Roxanne looked over the katar he wielded with the other. To her, this was quite symbolic; she would complete her mission using this as her weapon to symbolize the end of it. “13 years Luna, you waited 13 years for this moment… time to finish the job…” She drove on as she sheathed her weapon on her scabbard on her hip. Were things to get too hectic, the sword of the void was still in the back. There was no way she would fail… but incase she did plan had been set in motion.
After some thought, this all seemed all too familiar. This wasn’t the first “end” she had faced and overcome. She told herself every time she would settle down afterwards but the call to action always got to her. There was always the next missions, something would always get in the way and this was no exception. Hell, she and Hector had just moved in together, the perfect chance for her to settle down with him but no, she was driving to unknown coordinates on a promise given by some being for her to finish something she had not done in 13 years.
“Who the fuck are we kidding Luna… you crave this… you like every moment of this…”, Roxanne told to herself, “Why can’t you just settle down and life you life like a normal person? Why did you have to inject yourself with that damn infuser? Why did you not get treatment when your body rejected your own soul? Why?... It’s not like I don’t know the answer…”
Indeed she did. In that moment it became clear, she could admit it to herself. Roxanne had always been a free spirit; even as an agent in SoA she always sought her next target, the next mission. That mentality did not die with SoA. Roxanne craved action, adventure, adversity and so the call to action here brought her out once more.
“So many others envy what you have Luna and you just go and risk it all away on a damn whim… you are an idiot sometimes, you know that right? Heh, I’ve given shit to Victor over the years but at least he is somewhat reformed. Look at you? A literal ghost of your former self… Didn’t even bother to say goodbye…”
She drove on, the sound of the engines as loud as her thoughts causing her to go in autopilot as she thought to herself. “Don’t kid yourself, this isn’t the end of anything. Another baddy will come around and you will be there front and center… Why the hell am I just realizing this now? I could’ve told someone about this… Wait…”
A cloud of realization hit her. Going on dangerous missions for the sake of the thrill, seeking more and more power, disregard for authority, lone wolf mentality, expensive vehicle. “Holy shit, am I having a mid-life crisis?!”
The thought was interrupted by a sudden jerk forwards. One moment she was driving and the next her APC was in the air moving into the woods on the side of the road. The crash was bad, one that would’ve killed her had she not been what she was. Roxanne stayed there in here seat, harness keeping her in place. “W-what?”
“Fuck yeah it was a hit!”
“Good job! We got that bitch! Someone the boss wants her alive. I know she is fucking dead, you know what I mean smartasses.”
The men walked towards the crash scene; as single well place missile strike to a front tire was all it took to send the APC flying. They were surprised to find the thing mostly still serviceable; the armor and the tire where the impact had happened were gone but everything else could still be salvaged.
“Sweet jesus what the hell is that made out of?”
“Does it fucking matter? Just order your men to ready their weapons.”
“You heard him. Keep aim. Dutch, if she bitch gets uppity, sap her and then the rest of you shoot.”
Everyone but two of them raise rifles; one of them raised a golden badge with a carving of two swords crossed. The other man walked calmly towards the APC then stopped when he noted Roxanne walking through the totaled APC. “So you can still walk? As expected from the blade of sodom.”
Roxanne gave a loud groan. Who was this guy and what did he want? She had a headache as she adjusted to reality itself. Soon she turned around behind her and saw the APC on it’s side causing her groan to become that of annoyance.
“God fucking damn it all! Just what I fucking needed! Who are you fucks and what do you want?!”, Roxanne shouted
“Woah, someone woke up on the wrong side of bed. Regardless, who we are doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are coming with us.”, the man said rather calmly.
“You what? Do you have any fucking clue who I am fuckboy?”
“Roxanne Luna or the now Walkerville farm. Know by you alias as the ‘Blade of Sodom’. And frankly, a thorn on my client’s side. Nothing personal, just doing my job.”
“Let me guess, bounty hunter or killer for hire? Been there pal, this doesn’t end well for you.”
“I very well know your past. It was in your file.”
“File? I have a file? I gotta say, I am a bit flattered.”
“Enough talking, we are on a schedule. Are you coming here willingly or do we have to make you?”
“You lot only have rifles and I possess a fragment of an ancient god. Someone here is fucking fixing my APC when I am done with you fucks!”
“I’ll take that as a no. Dutch?”
The man with the badge raised his hand up and then suddenly Roxanne could feel a jolt of electricity. From the sky bolt of lighting came down and struck her directly; she shouted and was brought to her knees as the strike lasted a whole 5 seconds. Roxanne looked up to find not a single cloud in the sky.
“What the fuck? Who are you people?!”, Roxanne demanded.
“Like I said, not important. Now, this can end here, just give it up.”
“Bite me!” Roxanne took out her katar and charged at the man only to be stopped by another bold. It was in this second strike she noticed something; it hurt. She felt weak after every strike and was in pain. This was bad, this weren’t just normal bandits. Roxanne looked around at the men with the rifles.
“Let me guess, those things aren’t loaded with normal bullets…”
“That is correct. They are loaded with crystalline essence made to harm spirit: rapid fire exorcisms.”
Roxanne chuckled, once again in her knees. She took out the sword of the void now wielding it as well as the katar. “Going to take a lot more than that to take me in. Do your worst!”
“With pleasure. Fire at will!”
The sound of rifle fire filled the air, Roxanne activated her bracelets becoming incorporeal just. She screamed, the bullets found their mark but the crystals dissipated and became a cloud of dust that did not seemed to settle; like dust disturbed in the bottom of the ocean. The screaming stopped but the dust remained.
“Hold your fire and reload.”, ordered the man giving a gesture to them to stop, “I am going in, she should be out of commission now.” The man walked forwards with an odd pair of handcuffs in hand. Just as he was approaching the cloud, a hand reached out and pulled him in. Another loud scream was heard, this time from the man who was inside the cloud, and then it stopped after a loud crunch. The other men fumbled to reload their rifles as the dust finally settled revealing Roxanne standing with the two swords still in hand; the corpse of the man no laying on the ground mangled next to her.
“I am fucking tired of you all. No matter how many we kills you always come back like the vermin you are. “Roxanne exclaimed. “Seriously, how many have we killed?! God’s army, Hells Raiders, a plethora of other arcane bullshit and now you fucks who thing just because you have some fancy toys you can beat me?! DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH!!!”
No response was given from the men who immediately resumed firing at Roxanne with their rifles. However, this time they seemed to disintegrate just as they were going to hit her. Roxanne shouted as the bullets found their mark to no avail. The barraged continued as extended magazines unloaded their payload.
“Bitch activated the sword! Dutch, aim for the head, we need to knock her out now!”
The man with the badge raised it again to the sky but before he could activated, he let a shout himself as he was disintegrated like the bullets hitting Roxanne; his clothes and gear were intact, only he was consumed.
“What the… this wasn’t in the report! Unless…” He started to back away as more and more men shared the same fate as Dutch. Their rifles and gear fell to the ground as the rest soon grew scared and they too started to step back and then outright began to run. No one of them were spared. Roxanne shouted loudly until every last one of them was consumed leaving none to tell the tale.
Roxanne quieted down and looked down at the scene before hand. She looked at the casing on the ground and walked forwards towards the badge. “This is how things have been, how they are and how they always will be; no point in changing them. This is who I am; an ever evolving misfit who isn’t satiated with the status quo. There will alway be the next mission, the next objective...the next target. Because of that I have to make it out alive and return home; make it back to his arm and explain this to him. For now I have to get going, they need me by sunrise tomorrow…”
The badge was peculiar; upon picking it up Roxanne noticed the symbol engraved of two swords. It was made out of gold and it was oval with the wide sides meant to be worn horizontally. It had a clip for a lanyard or could be worn as a clip on. Roxanne shrugged and pocketed the thing; she was already wearing Melody’s crystal as a necklace and a bio-weapon badge as a clip on. Next she went and inspected her APC; she noted the damage and was surprised it wasn’t more. However, there was no way she was tilting that back up less get it back on the road and driving it anywhere. For now Roxanne went back and gathered whatever gear the men had.
For being “prepared” to take her down their gear was simplistic. Typical police wear and a kevlar vest each. The rifles were M4s with tacticool accessories and extended mags. What was valuable was the ammunition; Roxanne took out one of the magazines and blew on it. The ammo was colored crystals similar to what Melody had shown but they looked rather fragile. With that being revealed, Roxanne gathered the rifles and clothing one by one and put it into the APC. Then she gathered some foliage and covered the APC with it to make sure no one would get it; after making sure the coordinates of it were on her map, she made her way back to the street.
Just as she was making her way back she noted among the trees a motorcycle. Curious she approached to find a dead body next to it. “Someone who saw something they weren’t supposed to huh?” Not caring who it was, Roxanne consumed them the same way she did the other men. Why? Well, they were wearing a one piece black tracksuit, fingerless gloves and black fingerless gloves; there was also a helmet but who needed that? Roxanne undressed and put on the clothing in that was on the ground. After inspecting it more, she nodded to herself and picked up her own outfit to carry it to the APC.
Now that that was taken care off, Roxanne took the bike toward the road. She checked her map and looked in the direction of the her destination setting the bike accordingly and sitting on it. The engine turned on and she smiled as she tested it. She checked swords and other accessories, looked up ahead and then sped off. “Hell yeah, now this is what I am talking about!”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 08, 2018, 09:23:04 am
Atomos ran on across the field occasionally catching sight of a fox fleeing the cloud. Most of these seemed to be young foxes who'd been out and about when whatever was happening occurred.
"Blue men!" One cried back at her hail, hacking coughs between every exclaimation, "Evil wind! Blue men with evil winds! Can't breath! Can't breath! Wasps in my chest! Wasps!"
He fled from her after that, making it only a handful of yards before seizure overtook him. Atomos went to him, but the poor creature was already dead. The poison clung to his fur like dew, giving his coat a nasty matted appearance. Such a sad sight, death had never been presented to Atomos like this before. To be shot or stabbed or burned was unpleasant, but this... It reminded her of seeing her father lying in his bed near the end of his Illness. There had been more nobility to that somehow. To find the air you breath suddenly thickening in your lungs, your chest filling with fluid as you drown in the open air.
Something tugged at her thoughts, compelling her to go north but It was overridden right away by something else flaring up and coming to the forefront. Cheena and Red. Were they alright? Red had answers she wanted, and Cheena... Cheena didn't deserve this. Atomos had to know, and ignoring her sense of danger, she went on. It wasn't far before she came across the truck bearing exactly what she thought it would.
*Rowdy Randies Pest Control*
It's hose lay like a dead snake, leading into the grove with the end that was supposed to be attached to the tank clipped off at the connection point. Someone had plowed an armored truck of some kind into the cab, and it was clear from outside that the driver of the armored truck was very dead. The wind picked up, shifting to the south and for a wonder it pushed the cloud of poison away a little. Enough that Atomos could make out the dim outline of the groves fence and the tragedy that was the Warren beyond.
They were gone. All dead. But why? She felt an agonizing guilt welling up slowly in her guts, knotting them up with it's bleak bile. The poison cleared slowly and hung on the ground in the dips and ditches like puddles. Here and there were the remains of God's Armies black work. For what? They could have just tracked her, kept following her signal and given the grove a miss. So why? A tiny voice, sounding as though it was coming from just inside her ears gave the answer.
"Because cruelty is a way of life. If given a dagger and a hand in which to hold it..."
She wept. It didn't have to be that way, so why was it? Why? Here was a fox, a vixen choked to death on her own tongue. Another slashed by unimaginable claws, and another shot on the run. Why?
"You know why."
"I did this." Atomos cried. It was a preposterous idea, but unshakable once formed. She wandered along the fence, stepping carefully around pools of poison or holding her breath when necessary until she discovered a scene which broke her heart, and sealed her guilt. The hole in the fence, the foxes place of ingress and egress, some abominable thing had been through here. It had trapped some number of the helpless creatures in the bottleneck of the hole, and left little more than tufts of fur and blood. Hanging in the fence, so desperate to get away that trying to leap seemed a more than possible option, was an aging vixen. Just barely peaking up over the line of what humans would call "late middle age." The creature had leapt for escape, followed close by some unimaginable horror that chased them into their warrens and out into the open to be poisoned or trapped, and hung herself in the fence.
"Mayna..." The name dropped from her mouth like a stone. Atomos hardly knew Cheena's mother, but to see her like this, to see any creature like this, was too much. She couldn't move for a long time. Just say. Soaking in the guilt and sadness. Then, a weak cough. Somewhere outside the fence, back the way she had come.
"H-hello?" She whispered, "Cheena? Red? Please..."
"Atomos...?" It was red. Tucked between the wreckage where he'd hid himself, Red looked as bad as the others. "'Tomos... You came back. C-cheena and I... Knew you would..." He wasn't going to live much longer, Atomos could see it. His voice rasped painfully and the hole in his chest bled slowly but freely. The fact was, Red had no right still clinging to life.
"I did this, I... I'm just..."
"No. Atomos... You need to find Cheena..."
At the mention of Cheena, Atomos perked up. One last light of hope in the poison.
"She's alive?"
"Fled... From the beast. Led it into the men of the Blue Cross. They kept it busy... Panicked them. She's gone to the gar-garden. Abaddon... Atomos, I'm... Done up. I have so much... To tell... But no... Time..." He trailed off, eyes staring off into the sun beyond Atomos shoulder. Red took one last hitching breath, and fell into a darkness he would never wake up from.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on July 08, 2018, 10:36:52 pm
Liam shrugged as he said “I might take you up on that offer of help, but quite frankly I don’t know if it will stop these ‘accidents’.” At the mention of more problems he he closed his eyes as he said “And anything I can do to help with these problems I’d be more than happy to.”
Meanwhile B-23 wasn’t entirely sure how he’d gotten to this point, all he knew was that whatever he’d smoked with the elder of the Carnicería had led him to it. Sitting up he found that he was missing the grey jumpsuit and his other gear. In its place was a pair of sneakers, jeans, a dark blue leather jacket, a set of brown gloves, and a T-shirt wrapped around his head. Pushing to his feet he found it both easier than normal and odd, the lack of a feeling of hydraulics pushing his legs into movement noticed but not entirely realized.
He found himself on the side of a street not far from a gas station. Checking his pockets he found a handgun in his jacket and a knife in his jeans as he started towards the gas station. A voice that sounded like it was right next to him said “So this is what started you down this path?”
Pulling the pistol out B-23 racked the slide to chamber a round. Getting close to the building he said “There were five of us. No jobs in the area, no contacts in the underworld. What were we supposed to do start a taco stand?”
B-23 and his four now existant accomplices stepped through the doors. Leveling the weapon at the clerk B-23 and his accomplices shouted for him to hand over the money. From there things seemed to fast forward as the men acquired the money and stepped out to see four heavily armored trucks and at least ten armed officers. Two of them turned to run and the officers in front of them shot the two dead before shouting at B-23 and the others. As the pair of them got on their knees and put their hands on the back of their heads B-23 said “Well Patches, looks like we got caught.”
Just before things blacked out Patches told B-23 “These ain’t cops man.” and the insignia of the lab came into focus in B-23’s view before a club smacked him in the side of the head.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 09, 2018, 08:36:27 am
Sharlene found the Deus Ex insufferable even without all the magic bullshit. Too cheery, too bouyant. The only thing going for her on this visit was that Sharlene was in an alright mood. Houseless she may have been, tigerless too at the moment, but she still had a large collection of... Whatever they were.
"Silver dollar blanks, Miss Quintero." Illiana quipped, reading her thoughts as easily as a page in a book. Sharlene hated that too. Illiana knew that, and Sharlene hated that she knew. She hated that Illiana knew she knew she knew. Before now, Sharlene had encountered her once and on that occasion she'd been under a roof and Illiana had been possessed of power Sharlene didn't much care about. Now they were on near even footing, or so she thought. It seemed though, that she could still had a few tricks.
Illiana pulled a small handful of her own hair out and wrapped it around a twig. This was more mundane magics, something anyone could do with the right practice. Done by her though it had the extra kick of her own being and to top it off, it hardly drew on any of her base power at all. To the small bundle she added a bit of clay, a handful of ash, the smallest pinch of arcane essence, and a drop of Sharlene's blood. Once it was all together and bound up tight, Illiana burned it with a borrowed sulfer match. It went up instantly, the hair catching first. Instead of being melted away and filling the air with the nasty stink that only burning hair produces, it glowed. The clay seemed to grow around the twigs until it engulfed them, and Illiana dropped it almost carelessly. Before Sharlene's eyes, the little bundle grew larger and larger until it was the size of a soccer ball and seemed to sprout legs and arms. The fire went out, but it kept growing, new features sprouting from the mass until it looked like a bizarre one eyed ape no larger than a German Shepherd. The clay ape thing tried to move and the surface of it's earthen body split and cracked, spilling blood and some kind of viscous clear goo out onto the ground where it dissolved. Still it grew. From within the clay shell, a form pushed and shoved to be free. Yellow hair like gold, bordering a single huge amethyst colored eye set into skin like porcelain, followed by narrow shoulders, a waist and hips, shapely legs and finally a pair of petite feet to complement it's small hands.
"It's a girl!" Illiana cried, "well no, it's not. This creature is going to be your case worker while I'm down and out, at which point it will turn back into clay and fall apart."
Sharlene was secretly fascinated. The whole process looked incredibly painful, but the humanoid creature didn't seem to cry out. Illiana brushed the hair away from it's purple irised eye and it became obvious why. Below the blank stare was nothing. No mouth. No nose. Illiana looked at it with some pride and a pained rub at the belly.
"It does sort of have a feminine look to it, doesn't it?" She said. If it had a gender, Sharlene couldn't tell. The shape and stature suggested femininity, but there were no features to suggest it. No nipples, no genitals, no belly button. Not a single crease on it's small porcelain body. It even lacked fingernails, Sharlene saw. Illiana asked for Sharlene's athame, but she didn't have it. It was in the pocket dimension, which mattered very little to the physical embodiment of causality shenanigans. She flipped the silver blade out of thin air, grunting the agony of the act as she did so.
"Uh, lawyer lady? Watcha' doin'?" Sharlene asked, nervously. It was obvious what she was doing, and absurdly logical. Illiana drove into the creatures face an inch below the eye and swept it across the face. Instead of blood pouring from the new wound, the slash regularized in shape and sprouted a set of teeth which matched Illiana's own.
"Oh, much better." It said with it's new mouth. It took the blade from Illiana and cut a pair of small slits between the new oriface and it's eye. These formed a tiny nose. "I would like some clothes, yes?"
Sharlene was even more perplexed, and perhaps a little shocked, when Illiana snapped at it. "Get them yourself, you can do that after all."
It didn't look upset or hurt. It didn't seem to express any emotion in fact. It simply waved a hand over it's featureless body and wove itself a smart business suit from nothing.
"Ok!" Illiana chirped, as cheery as she'd been before, "this is your new case worker, my replacement for a bit. A few rules which I expect you'll break pretty much right away. Number one, don't name it. Number two, don't ever give it any clothing. Number three, don't feed it."
"Yeah yeah," Sharlene said, "don't get it wet, don't feed it after midnight."
"Shoosh silly. Lastly, don't let Helen destroy it. She will want to, it's a homunculus, an abomination. Normally the spell for making them requires human sacrifice and blood rites, etcetera etcetera, long story short the mage hunters will want to hunt it. It can protect itself, but Helen or Daniel are more than capable of killing it. Ok?'
Sharlene nodded. Her fascination was already wearing off and the creature was just another thing to take care of. Illiana gave it some papers and told the thing what to do with them. With that done, it set off on the short distance between the two women and handed the papers to Sharlene, the import of which was a court summons for the accidental destruction of forteen divine spirits and a kreck while performing an illegal ritual with the intent of creating a pocket dimension.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 10, 2018, 01:14:19 am
(( Quinn and Floyd section written with Wilson, Hector/Eric/Catnip section written with Blitz and Salt. ))
Quinn shifted uncomfortably, he sighed. "I... It might be a little under a month. Maybe two. I'm not sure." He swiped his face again. He let a breath of of his nose, he didn't know what to say. Floyd put a hand on the doctor's shoulder, "Do what'cha need. It ain't healthy stayin' cooped up in that trailer a' yours. This trip'll be good for you, keep in touch, y'hear?" He drawled on. Quinn gave a weak little smile and nodded.
"I... I won't be traveling alone either." he admitted. "Ms. Carnes from the center asked to come along as well." Floyd, rather than giving any reassurances or encouragement he suspected might make Quinn retreat further into his shell, simply gave a nod. "Take care of y'self, alright?"
"I will, Floyd. Thanks."
Meanwhile, Hector led the way through the farm, looking around to see if he could find Catnip. "Lately she's been in the workshop on the north edge, as we've still been rebuilding after the storm." he explained, before glancing back to Eric. "So...how long ago was it? The emblem looks faded enough, but some people here still might get jumpy from that alone." he pointed out.
Eric let out a small sigh. "I left God's Army two years ago. Well, left as in captured by Canadians then captured again slash rescued by my now friend Lexi deep into Quebec. I was captured while scouting a Canadian base that supposedly held atomic weaponry. They beat me to near death, understandably. After what it seemed like an eternity, artillery started to rain down. The Canadians abandoned me and ran. I was knocked unconscious and didn't wake up until much later. When I did, I was being pulled out by Lexi. Oh man, I was so fucking pissed. Not only had I been captured, then left, by Canadians, a mutie would be my only savior. She tied me up and took her back to her truck. While on the road, I realized that, mutants aren't what the abominations that the archbishop described them. She was extremely kind and sweet to me, even though I was thought to be her enemy. After a while, I had even asked if she was in love. She said no and I respected her decision. After that, we became best friends and the last few months was us adventuring down here."
Hector listened for now as he led the way into the workshop, seeing that there had been a fair amount of activity lately, as far as he could guess, the outside entrance left wide open and no one else to be found initially. "I see. Hadn't heard of the Canadian's involvement until...at this point maybe a year and a half at most, shortly after the big attack on the center." he said, an armored gauntlet clenching momentarily. "Our first run-in with God's Army was a small group trying to lure Catnip and Kathrine away, claiming to be nothing more than missionaries hosting a service, wanting to get the two alone." he said, his tone lowering a bit.
He didn't get to continue that story however, as two figures walked in, the rat-like mechanic rubbing her temples in frustration as the long-tailed young woman practically clinged to her mistress. "M-mister Nathaniel was bein' mean, an' Mica ran off, and Dee..." Catnip sighed a bit. "Just give them time, Dee'll explain. See, he came back. But why would Qui-" She then looked over to the other two, pulling away from Kathrine. "Hector, Quinn said he's leaving! He...w-why would..." She then stopped herself again on seeing Eric, instinctively on edge at the sight. That he was standing anywhere near Hector and still had his head on his shoulders was a good sign at least, but she was still cautious given the faded marking on the vest tucked on his arm. "Who's that?"
Eric looked the two over quickly, starting with Kathrine. His heart melted a bit when he saw the sad look on her face. Swinging his gaze over to Catnip, he clearly saw that she is a mechanic of some sort. "I assume you are Catnip. Hector told me you could help me with a problem I have. Was also wondering if you had any paint." He extended his hand. "Names Eric, ex Gods Army, by the way."
Catnip recoiled away from the offered hand and clung to Kathrine. Paint was the furthest thing from her mind, and the newcomer hardly mattered to her in the moment after the introduction. Hector said he was fine, so he was fine. Kathrine brought out a ball of tissues and tried to wipe Catnips eyes with them, a task made tricky by Catnips fur.
"How can he leave Kat? Why?" She whined. Hector cocked a thumb at one of the less used cabinets. When preparing for the storm, some of the migrants had put several cans of paint and varnish in it and he'd found them while looking for a tool. He'd found a lot of dead bugs as well, but that wasn't something he figured would concern their guest much. Catnip looked back to them, turning Kathrine so that she could look over her shoulder instead of twisting her neck around. "You better *sniff* take that off. If... If my sister sees it, she'll... she'll hurt you."
Eric immediately dropped his vest to the ground. "Ah shit, I'm sorry. I don't associate with them any more. Fuckin' assholes, they were. I'm sorry for anything done to ya two." He seemed very serious all of a sudden. "Even though I wasn't involved, if there is anything I can do, anything, to make up for what has been done, I will do so at my fullest potential."
Hector simply regarded the paint at first, before moving back over to Catnip and setting a gauntleted hand on her shoulder, hoping that Kathrine wouldn't object too strongly to Eric's profanity. "It's alright Catnip. I'm already aware he'll be leaving. He's going with someone from the center. They'll be back." he said, briefly pushing aside thoughts about something he recalled confessing to Roxanne. About how, very early on, he'd had thoughts of leaving once Catnip's great project was finished, unaware of how long it would take, and the experiences over that period of time that made him choose to stay.
Kathrine gasped and squeezed Catnip hard enough to make her squeak. The maid never missed a thing. Hector wasn't surprised to see her pointing at Eric and whispering the word "mean" into Catnip's shoulder. That was another thing, Hector mused, swearing was a thing rarely heard on the farm. When it did happen, it was met with sudden shock and silent expectation. Kathrine looked down on swearing with a dire distaste that made it so that punishment wasn't necessary. What's more, upsetting Kathrine was a good way to upset Catnip, and in this way the maid had inadvertently weaned swearing out of the residents of Walkerville.
The knight gently but firmly turned Catnip around, noting distantly that she was shorter than Kathrine. "Nip." He sighed, "I swear, he will be back. Besides, he's not going forever and he's in good hands."
"Do you promise?" She sniffed. Hector suddenly found himself walking dangerous territory. He couldn't promise that, and if he did and something happened to Quinn, she'd never trust him fully again.
"I can't do that Nip." He said, "all I can say is that he'll be in touch, and I'll be keeping track his movements down south. I can't say for sure he won't be back, but I can't say he'll never be back either, that he'll be gone forever. "
Catnip wouldn't look him in the eye, but he felt that she understood. Maybe that was just his hope, but all the same, she would understand in time. Kathrine wrapped her up again in a hug, adding her tail to the restraining limbs. Nearby, Eric stood awkwardly like a sinking pudding. Catnip managed to get a hand free, and hobble over to Dee's small cabinet of tools with Kathrine still wrapped around her, and got him a brush.
"Uh, thank you Miss..." He said quietly. Catnip nodded and Kathrine began the task of soothing her mistress with soft sounds and kind words.
Eric quickly and quietly grabbed a can of black paint and the brush from Catnip. "I'm sorry, I'll be going." Hector meanwhile nodded at that, checking something in the workshop. "Go ahead and tend to the armor, and I'll see if I can get Medina to assist again. Worked well enough last time, but I wanted to get Catnip's permission before using the train." he answered.
Helen gave a little sigh as she regarded the view through her mask, before turning it off. "I think...I hope I can handle this on my own at least. Keep an eye on things just in case, please." she asked, soon making her way outside to where she saw Victor heading to her.
"Victor? Are you alright? What about Thomas? What...happened? Who or what took those?" she asked, looking back in the direction of her quarters. "Seems we need to refine the locking portion of." she said. Indeed, its principal purpose was to keep dangerous magic items under control, which the ability to securely ward and lock it being Victor's own addition. This was in contrast not only to the basic work she did independently to secure Hector's locker using only her own familiarity with wards, and the more intricate weave of both their knowledge combined in the act of providing a safe way to bind what had once been Roxanne's sword.
"This is on top of an unexpected...visitor Liam received. Gone just like that, but not before mouthing off at him about something entailing incomplete training."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 11, 2018, 10:18:23 am
Cheena was alive. Red had been sure of it, though that could have been the hopes of a dying creature. The search gave Atomos something to focus on, a hard edge to keep herself firm of mind and purpose in the hurt of what had become of the grove. She even knew where to start. Abaddon. Once again Atomos moved north, searching carefully until she found sign. Prints and a trail of pungent black ichor. The ichor stank of rotting meat and human filth with just the hint of burnt cinnamon under it. Cheena's animal smell was with it though, zigzaging over the beaten mounds in panicked flight. Atomos felt a pang of anger and guilt smelling that fear. Whatever had left the more monstrous tracks and the nasty fluid was following her. Close behind, judging from the signs. The thing was an unknown variable in the chase. Cheena was fast, agile, and knew Abaddon. Still, the thing was voracious. It left it's mark on the poisoned grove, devouring foxes and the Gods Army it had followed there (Atomos had put this together before setting off in search of Cheena) with little regard for what it was eating. The evidence reminded Atomos of the stories told about the eater, Mica, before her diffusal and "domestication."
A wailing screech split the air further north among the houses beyond the foliage reclaiming that end of the vast field. Not Cheena, not human either. It gave Atomos a firmer direction to go for, if it was still after Cheena and if it even was the creature. Atomos would see when it came to it. For now, she steeled herself for what she would find. Horror, tragedy, and possibly her own death or capture. What happened, would happen. "My god, Dr. Marsh, please stop following me around. We have jobs to do, for shits sakes." Maskens shouted. To his credit, Efram didn't back down. He seemed to be the only one living in the center that Maskens just couldn't cow with vitriol and shouting. It didn't help that he seemed to be quiet enamored of her, making her attempts to shrug him off seem almost cruel and unwarranted. Some of the residents and staff would glare at her when she did. Sure, they could look away and hide their eyes when she spun on them. Bastards, they didn't have the rodent following them around all day.
"Only," He said winningly, "If you'll attend an afternoon luncheon with me."
"God. Damnit." She growled back, "I don't have time for 'luncheon,' you boob! I have checkups with all the newcomers and Sandell wants me to run through physicals for all the security staff."
"Let your nurses do it," Efram shot back gently, "Your three and the pair who accompanied the caravan from Pricetown can do the job perfectly fine. You put too much stress on yourself by taking everything into your own hands. Come with me, sit down for an hour, just one hour, and I'll leave you be. For now."
"I can't let them do it! They are incompetent, they are-"
"I'm sure they can lift a scrotum or look at a suspicious lump on someones neck as well as you or I Sydney. You should-"
"And don't call me that, show some goddamn professionalism for fucks sakes."
Efram tapped his foot impatiently. He could almost see where she was coming from. The security checkups were running long and Maskens frayed easy. On top of those though the center was expecting a fresh group of Pricetown migrants, some of whom would be staying in the center, and they were due soon. In fact, he could see several rodent featured people filtering into the center now. It would be better to get Maskens relaxed before she had to deal with the new comers.
"Please, Dr. Maskens, as a fellow doctor I think it's in your best interests to at least take a break. Even if it isn't with me." He pressed. Maskens began to growl incoherently, no words in it, only the sound.
"Fine," He continued, putting his hands up, "If this is the impression you want to give, then that's the-"
"SYDNEY!?" Sylvia hitched a ride on one of the caravan busses, leaving Daniel behind to help out at the hall if Helen needed. Around twenty or so curious and nervous people all heading to another place they had yet to visit in this this old familiar world beneath a new face. She would be getting a checkup she supposed. Dr. Marsh had insisted all the Mislings get a more thorough check up right away, and she didn't want one. Her real reason for heading over was very simple. As an entertainer, she wanted to scope out the new venue.
It wasn't much of a venue though. The foyer was a large room with two glass walls at either end, one of which seemed to have been broken down repeatedly. It also had an abundance of benches, and bright patches of unpainted concrete where, she assumed based on stories, bullet holes had been patched. The halls were wide enough, but all the rooms of any substantial size had been converted into large barracks. These she looked into with a bit of amusement. The Pricetown folks wouldn't stand for that. People would probably start living in proper houses. Shacks at least. What these refugee center people needed was a bit of privacy, and the migrants would give it. After a brief visit to the cafeteria, an enlightening experience in that it seemed to be a focal point for congregation. People making deals or general discussion while eating game meats and the centers own small foraged crop harvest. That would change too, everything would change for this place with the arrival of new blood.
She decided that it would probably be best to get the "formalities" over with and introduce herself to the doctoring staff. It was when she managed to push her way past a group of people loitering in the hall that she caught sight of someone familiar. For a moment, she couldn't believe it. A decade and a continent of travel, and suddenly Sylvia was setting eyes on someone she had assumed dead years ago. Her mouth felt like it had been welded shut, her heart pounded and her tail seemed to go cold. Then, when the seam on her lips finally gave, she was helpless to shout.
"SYDNEY!?"
Maskens jumped, she hadn't expected anyone to just shout her name at her. Especially not after she'd just scolded Efram for it. Moving up the hall, no, charging up the hall, was one of the rodent women in a voluminous red robe. She practically leapt, wrapping her arms around Maskens shoulders.
"OHMYGODYOU'REALIVE!" She cried, actually weeping a little.
"Ma'am," Maskens said, the growl gone and replaced by a hiss that the rodent woman either didn't notice or didn't care about, "Do I know you? Because if I don't, I suggest you-"
"Sydney!" Sylvia cried jubilantly, "Sydney! Oh god, of course you don't recognize... Syd! It's me, Syl!"
Maskens froze. Only one person had ever called her "Syd."
"Sylvia? Is it..."
Sylvia nodded, she wanted to tell Maskens so much.
"It is Syd, It is! I don't look it, but I... It's me! Oh god, I thought you'd died!"
Efram gently pried Sylvia away from Maskens, not really surprised by the amount of effort it took.
"Do you know each other?" He asked, but they didn't seem to register him.
"Did you..." Maskens began warrily, "ever get in?" The question was vague, so vague that it could only be a test. Sylvia understood.
"Yes. The magic circle! Yes! Oh Syd, it's so... Oh jeez, we have so much to... I don't even know where to start!"
A new emotion came to Maskens face, a thing the bystanders had never seen before. She looked gobsmacked. Utterly shocked. She reached out with both hands and took Sylvia by the shoulders. Words wouldn't come for her, and words kept coming for Sylvia. Maskens ran a hand down Sylvia's muzzle, the robotic hand.
"Oh my god, your hand! What happened to-" Sylvia started, taking the metal appendage in her own. Maskens grabbed it and turned it over though, marveling at the ring on one of the fingers.
"You... got married?"
"Excuse me," Efram cut in, pushing them apart again, "I'm missing something, are you two friends?"
Maskens swallowed hard and felt her heart practically leap into her chest. "Yes. I should say so..."
"She's my sister!" Sylvia cried.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on July 18, 2018, 09:20:06 pm
B-23 awoke yet again in a vast empty space. This time to the sight of a little girl sitting with her mother in an old apartment. The voices sounded like they were playing from an old recording device. An officer told the woman and her daughter “I’m sorry, we couldn’t find the bodies. We’ve exhausted everything we have to find him.”
B-23 flung the gun at the back of the officer’s head to watch it fly through and clatter to the ground on the other side. This memory faded as well and left him back in the room with the old man. Looking over at him the words “I have business to take care of.” appeared on the screen and the man nodded.
“But will you join us? We can help you deal with the pain.” the man told him as he sipped a cup of tea.
Tilting his head B-23 let “I will. It should be fun.” popped onto the screen.
The man smiled as he said “Good. My men will join you on your business to help. But first if you’d let them give you a traditional tattoo that would be rather beneficial.”
B-23 shrugged as a pair of men walked in at a command from the man. Instead of a tattoo the symbol was painted onto B-23’s head. After that was done one handed him a pistol with a holster before saying “Lead the way.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 18, 2018, 11:08:18 pm
(( Hector/Catnip/Eric section written with Salt and Blitz, Nathaniel/Lilith/Etc section written with Salt. ))
Hector hummed a bit as he went over to find Medeina's proxy, letting Eric tend to painting his armor for now, and leaving Catnip and Kathrine to themselves for the time being. "Hey Medeina. Got another thing I'd like your help with. Was going to ask Catnip about it but she has enough to worry about."
Medeina had been examining specimens up until Mica had given her proxy a shove with the back side of the bedroom door, leaving the poor robot upside down and jammed behind the portal. Hector fished the proxy out, and Medeina took a moment to re-calibrate her gyroscope and lenses.
"What is it Mr. Lowe? I suppose I have a bit of time." The knight gave the proxy a cursory examination to ensure it wasn't overly damaged from the situation it had been. "A recent arrival asked that we tow his vehicle over for repairs, and seems it'll need the train." He then hesitated a bit, suspecting that a little added incentive would encourage her. "The man said he arrived with a mutated friend of his as well who's remaining at the vehicle, so you'll have someone new to interview too." he offered.
Medeina trilled a little to herself. Having so many new specimens to examine and interview was thrilling. What was one more on top of all the others? Still, she needed to know about the task itself. Specifically, "Why the train Mr. Lowe? Would your own vehicle not be just as suitable? Or is this persons mode of transport somewhat more than it can handle? And... What sort of cre- person is this?"
Eric comes up to Hector. He had painted over the blue cross with the black paint. "Hey robot, I don't appreciate you calling my friend a creature." Hector gave a sigh at that, regarding the proxy with a concerned look. "She's the sort more interested in data points than the people behind them, I'm afraid. But she's the only one besides Catnip that can help operate the train. Only problem is the litany of questions she's probably going to ask your companion."
Eric let out a loud sigh, "I suppose, if she's the only one who can get us moving again..."
Medeina bristled a little to herself. She couldn't wait for the new body she'd waited so long for Dee to build. People wouldn't ignore her then. Or at least, it would be harder to ignore her. Always out of sight and out of mind and not underfoot enough to pay attention to. Eric chastised her for calling his friend a "creature." As far as Medeina was concerned, they were all "creatures." His ire demanded a response, but there was an order of operations to this conversation and she'd be damned if she was going to let it skew out of order like some kind of "human" conversation. She had asked a question, now she was asking it again. This time though, she cranked the volume on the proxy.
It should be noted that the eyebots from which her proxies had been made, were possessed of a particularly heavy duty speaker. As such, when she said "MR. LOWE, IS USING THE TRAIN AGAIN REALLY NECESSARY? WHY NOT USE YOUR TANK INSTEAD?" everyone heard it.
Silence fell over the workshop, but only for a moment. It was quiet enough to hear the pleasant breeze outside and the chatter of the newcomers at the other end of the farm. Then something hit the garage door and rebounded, then crashed the regular entrance open with a clap like a gunshot and Catnip bolted in and caught up the robot, devoid of the unease the mechanic usually reserved for dealing with Medeina and the confused despair she'd had only a handful of minutes before.
"What do you mean, 'again?'" She hissed dangerously. Eric stepped the fuck back, surprised of the speed of Catnip, while Hector winced a bit underneath his helm, before carefully removing it. "It was while you were away. Something came up, and I was...encouraged by you-know-who to bring in what was left of the Vehicle God's Army used in the attack." he answered.
Catnip seethed quietly. She knew the remote control unit had been a mistake. Now Hector had the stupid ro-butt driving it around without her say so and doing who knew what possible damage to it. First chance she got, the stupid remote was coming out. The only ones she wanted moving her train was herself.
"What vehicle? Who knows what?" She stumped Hector on the chest with one calloused finger. "You know what? Nevermind. If you want the train moved, you ask me. Ro-butt isn't allowed to touch it! What are we moving?"
Hector stood there, accepting her reaction without complaint, only to give a nod as she said that. "Understood. I feared that asking it of you would cause more annoyance than what this has." he said, before sighing. "I'll explain what I meant afterward then. It's a large trailer truck from the sound of it. Hence why the tank likely won't be able to handle it, not with basically a fourth of its original engine array."
He then looked over to Eric. "If you would show us the way then?" he asked. “Yeah, sure. Should I pack up my motorcycle in the train, or should I hop on it and lead you?” Eric asked in response, to which Catnip spoke up. "Lead on. Nowhere to store a vehicle on it." she said, the four of them soon leaving the workshop.
Nathaniel wasn't even remotely sure what to make of the sight before him, calmly managing to talk Lilith into setting him down. The large tigress had practically snatched him up not long after realizing the familiar smell of the intruders, these so-called traders. The only thing stopping her from tearing the group of interlopers apart, or better yet playing a game of "beat a motherfucker with another motherfucker" with their leader, was the fact that a fight hadn't broken out. For whatever reason, their attitude didn't match her expectations.
"This is the last thing I was expecting to be honest, but if Dee and Mica are fine with it...I do have one question though." he said, putting together the pieces from the remark Dee had started to blurt out. "From the look of it, you guys are the reason Dee's back. What happened? Kid mentioned something suggesting he knew about whoever had been at the place Hector and Roxanne found Mica at."
"You mean the mall?" Curtis asked. He didn't miss the way Nathaniel was eyeing him. "Kid was traveling with us when we stopped there. The Hell's Raiders in that place are good clients. Were good clients. We're looking for new contacts further east. Until God's Army did those nice folks in, they were our furthest eastern contact."
He had a "way" about him Nathaniel wasn't sure he liked in a stranger. He kept glancing at the older gentleman, looking for deferral? Or maybe approval. The similarities between the older man and the younger were obvious when he looked. Then Nathaniel got it. The older of the two was the leader and this charade, for that was what it was he thought, wasn't just a cover up. The old man was testing the younger.
Nathaniel seemed to be taking in the sight, examining the two, before that sharp glance of his softened some. "I see. Seems things have changed a bit since those few years ago. From the sound of it, God's Army's bunch had been holding that location since then, probably due to the storm." The tone of his voice hinted at his conflicted attitude. The phrases "Hell's Raiders" and "nice folks" had hardly seemed to belong in the same sentence, when the last time they'd encountered any of the bandits, they were a bunch of cannibal bikers.
"They had to take off in a hurry, I doubt they'll reform. The raider clan at the mall. I'm not sure myself what happened to the survivors. The clans are scattered and don't usually get along with one another now." Curtis explained. He seemed to be losing interest, or at least trying to divert attention to something else. He lifted his head after a thorough examination of his fingernails. "So, about that invitation?"
Mica was less eager for fighting now and more taken aback. Dee had put an arm around her shoulders, making her feel safe and at ease. Since when had Mica needed to be made to feel "safe?" Steady would have been a better word. The older man had taken Mica's hand, the one with the ring on it, and clutched it like she would fly away if he let her go. It was then that one of the others from the caravan approached with a bag. That first came on uneasily, nervously, but once the flood broke they came in casually.
"Er... Eater? Ma'am? I uh...." Said the young woman. Nathaniel saw she was pulling along a young kid, no more than four or five by the look of him. "I... er... I have an offering for you..."
Dee actually rolled his eyes, but Mica took the bag and looked inside. Meat. Messy, delicious viscera. The spider downed it in a go and the woman backed away, smiling broadly. The caravan came up one by one or in small groups making "offerings" to Mica like she was some kind of god. Lilith too, they swarmed around the dangerous tiger, keeping their distance but placing offerings of feed and flowers at her feet.
Nathaniel regarded the group stepping up to offer various goods to Lilith with a worried look, tensing up at first before easing up once their reasoning became apparent. Lilith likewise gave a little rumbling growl as they crowded around her, sniffing the air as she picked up the scent of fresh wild game, vegetables and grains among the fading scent of wildflowers. Not human flesh at least, which was the sort of stench she expected the red-sash men to stink of. For now she regarded them with a cautious curiosity, still not trusting them enough to just eat up food laid at her feet.
A van pulled up to the street in front of an old cathedral, another mission successful. Aside from a burly armored figure nursing an arm injury, and among three rescued captives, one of them was still examining his malfunctioning bionic arm.
At the same time, another group among the Shepard's Wolves was unloading a few captured vehicles...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 19, 2018, 06:13:49 am
Catnip hadn't got around to installing more seats yet so as usual, her passengers had to stand and hold onto the rungs in the ceiling of the cab, and after consideration, had the motorcycle loaded into a compartment on the side of the train. It was too dangerous to be outside the train so close. A tank was fine. A van or car were dodgy. A man on a motorcycle would be dosed with radiation and thrown around like a bath toy. It was better this way. Hector was ready for it. Eric was not. Not even after Catnip passed him one of the little white iodine tablets and a pair of earplugs still in the bag, the roar of the train springing to life was enough to make the man think he was being bombarded by something that just wouldn't stop exploding. The unholy (to anyone but catnip) amalgam of gas, diesel, electric, and atomic power running beneath their feet was enough to make Eric believe he would die if the thing actually started moving. When it did just that, jumping off the metaphorical line like a race car, he had no chance of hanging on. Catnip, Kathrine, and Hector stayed firmly in place while Eric was thrown roughly to the back from where he would crawl back towards the front, bouncing every so often when the Catnip express hit a bus or a building.
Kathrine as usual hated every moment of it, Hector was once again in awe of it, and Catnip was again filled with the religious bliss the trains movement instilled in her. As such, she temporarily forget the days sad news and left behind her anger entirely. As she drove, she did the maths. Or at least, her equivalent of the maths. The next peice planned for the train was the conductors quarters. Just someplace where she and Kathrine could rest up on long journeys. After that, the cabins. Cabins for everyone. For guests, for family, for friends.
A rather sudden stop threw Eric forward with the force of a car wreck, the only thing saving him being Hector and the back of Kathrines prodigious and exquisitely comfortable passenger seat.
"Oof." Kathrine cried as she was jolted forward, Catnip catching her by the wrist before she could hit anything that might hurt her.
"Woopsie Daisy Katrin!" She shouted gleefully as she stopped her girlfriend from having a spill, "Hey you slugs, I thought I said to hang onto the handles? You almost knocked Kathrine out of her seat!"
"It's ok Catnip..." Kathrine muttered insistently. Catnip pulled her over and Kathrines tail curled around the back of the seat almost of its own accord.
"Nuh-uh." Catnip coo'd back, then to Hector and Eric, "I'll get it into position in a sec. You guys get it all hooked up ok?" The way she said it made it seem like it would be quiet awhile before the train got moving again but once the two men were down and clear of the monstrous vehicle, it began to move into position. If anything, it was more awe inspiring and terrifying from the outside. They didn't argue with the directive, just hopped to it and jumped into the truck. Eric checked his cargo, reassuring the one hiding in the back first, and they were off. As they pulled away he said, "Seems those two are as tight as two nuts in a jockstrap."
Hector shook his head, chuckling a little. "Sure. They've been blue ballsing each other like two nuts squeezed into a too small jockstrap since they met too." Atomos bolted for the bushline ahead, following a trail that had gotten more and more grim since she entered Abaddon. The time for simply running was over and the time for frantic sprinting had arrived. Just after making it into a clearing made up by the high fence of some homes backyard, she'd begun to find more disturbing sign. Strands or tufts of fur stripped away from a fox in hurried flight. Puddles of some horrid yellowish bile that smoked and bubbled, killing the Flora and reducing it to black ooze. Eventually, spots of blood and larger tufts of fur, burnt away from their sorry owner.
Then without warning as she broke her way under a fence she sighted her, and the look of her pulled at Atomos guilt all over again. Cheena's eyes swept over Atomos like she wasn't even there, her eyes rolled madly in their sockets with the sheer maddening terror and exhaustion she must have been feeling. Her fur was patchy amd burnt with the skin of the places where fur had been burned away looking blistered and rancid. Cheena looked like a creature in the final stages of of mange. To top it off, her tail. Her pride, the pride of all foxes, was mostly gone. Not burned away, but sheered off. As soon as Cheena was in sight, the thing chasing her tirelessly broke through the brush behind her and snapped at the fleeing vixen, taking another peice of her tail.
It was the most vile thing Atomos had ever seen. Black bristly fur, long arms like branches, a blunted head that would seem almost phallic if it weren't for the fact that it kept opening and closing it's X shaped maw to snap or spit or split the air with some horrendous monstrous expletive. It moved fast and fluid like an obscene serpent, and when it hit the dog door behind Cheena, it seemed to accordion bonelessly against the frame before returning to it's "normal" shape. It rebounded and then swelled at the middle. The swelling squeezed out of the thing as a torrent of sickly yellow bile that rapidly ate away the door, not the the monster bothered waiting for it to finish before charging through.
Dimly through it all, Atomos was aware of a striking familiarity with this place. The memory of an exploding can of some kind of pasta came to her and she realized it was the house where she'd shown Cheena how to break open cans. That memory seemed like something from years ago now, every memory was like a lifetime though. As the monster barreled through the dissolving portal, the vixen within let out a terrified shriek. That sound stirred something in the ranger. A cool anger that rose up and steeled her along with the voice just inside her ear. Not quite her father's voice, that sound. Too sly, too cunning, too old.
"A curse is only as powerful as the doubt that holds it. When ones conviction is strong and purpose is true, sometimes such black things can be held at bay for a time." It said. She rushed forward after the monster, he path now clear. At first on four legs, then on two. She didn't stop to think about it. If she did, doubt would set in and Astor's curse would reassert itself. For the time being, 'Atomos' was forgotten. In the line of duty, real action, 'Atomos' was always left behind along with 'the fox.'
Jenny unslung her rifle and kicked what was left of the door in. "Right, don't forget those invites kid." Curtis said to Dee, winking at him. The day of dickering at the farm was just about done, and the Smoke Marshals had been surprisingly (to themselves) successful. They'd got a fill of revering the alphas, especially Mica, and a lot of experience in the final art of dickering. The clan was now half as laden with stuff as they'd been before showing up, and a good portion of their weaponry was now in the hands of eager rodent faced individuals who'd previously not been allowed to carry such without a permit. Pricetown was strict like that it seemed. Still, all good things had to come to an end. The Nathaniel guy had suspected, but not outright known for sure, but the guy in the tin suit would know. He and the rat girl had taken off in the monstrous machine not too long ago. That thing suddenly coming to life and moving had scared the bejesus out of the Smoke Marshals. From the looks the people they we're trading with gave it, it scared them a bit too.
"Lady Artifexes great engine!" A child shouted as it started up. Another voice somewhere in the crowd cried "Agmen! Agmen!" Religiously. Curtis didn't know who Agmen was, but it had the sound of something you'd shout at a cult rally at the point when some preist started the laying on of hands. Quinn would have told him, had he not been at that moment saying one last goodbye to his trailer, that the call to Agmen meant something significant. Catnip's religion was gaining traction.
The only thing it meant to Curtis and the Smoke Marshals though was that it was time to move on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 19, 2018, 02:41:34 pm
The sound of the motorcycle Roxanne rode was the only other sound heard for miles apart from the natural sounds of nature; the groans of the dead and the wails of various unwanted invaders had already become part of these sounds. As Roxanne advanced forward she noticed something odd; there should’ve been a left turn here but instead there was a straight road ahead. With little more to go by and rather confused by this she decided to simply take out her automap and take a look.
The standard issue automap was one of those things everyone had and as such no-one bothered to steal it as it had no value; it using proprietary tech meant it wasn’t even useful for parts. Roxanne stopped her bike and took out her automap and checked where she was. Indeed the map said there should’ve been a left turn and that she was 12 hours from here destination. Confused she refreshed the map which only added to the predicament; the map adjusted and it now said to go straight ahead as if the left turn never existed. Furthermore, the ETA was now of 30 minutes. Having just dealt with the bandits and with the “loss” of her APC Roxanne shrugged this off for now and put away the automap only to continue down the path she was heading.
About 30 minutes later Roxanne arrived to her destination. To her surprise this seemed like more than just an office tower given the pill boxes all around and a couple of armed personnel going towards her after she stopped at a checkpoint. With a smile and keeping her hands where the guards could see them while she waited for them to arrive. Yet another surprise found its way as she realized this were zombies… and one of them was talking…
“P-papers?”, asked one of the two armed zeds extending it’s hand; the other simply stared hands gripping the rifle he carried.
“What? Oh, sorry. No sir, I do not have papers. I was just invited here by someone by the name of Anomon.”, Roxanne responded after snapping out of her confusion. Great, just what she needed, more bureaucracy and possibly having to deal with more resistance.
“V-VIP?”
“I believe so, yes. Told me to be here by morning but I am hear a bit earlier.”
“N-name?”
“Roxanne, Roxanne Luna.”
“O-one mom-ment pl-please…”
The zed stayed still after that for a few moments while the other one had not moved a bit. This was unnerving her as she had no idea what to expect. Suddenly the one asking the questions looked up at Roxanne and stepped aside; the other one doing the same.
“Y-you are c-cleared...en-enjoy your s-stay…”
“...Thank you. I’ll be heading inside now…”
With that out of the way Roxanne went ahead and passed the checkpoint; she parked the motorcycle and adjusted her weapons be it normal, arcane or flesh before she got off the bike and headed for the main door. Just as she was walking towards it it opened and Roxanne was greeted by a somewhat familiar face.
“Good to finally meet you in the flesh Luna. Glad you could make it. I see you came alone…”
Roxanne blinked a few times before answering. “Clara? Is that you? The one in dreams...that was real?”
Clara smiled at that and managed to stifle a laugh. “Of course it was. Who do you think helped you transitioned when you became a spirit for good?”
“...If you are here...that means that the one who called me was…”
“Plague, yeah. He seems to be active with his artifact hunting again.”
This time it was Roxanne who smiled. “It’s been over a year he has bothered me with that. Is Melody here as well?”
“Melody? Oh, the wielder of Despair, no, she hasn’t been summoned here for some reason. Who knows what he has in mind; don’t be too hard on him ok?... But you are not here for that are you?”
“No...I have my own reasons for being here… Is he here?”
“Of course, that was part of the deal. He is in the lobby speaking to another one this tower’s residents; follow me and I will show you.”
Roxanne nodded and followed Clara inside the building. She paid little mind to the inside of the building instead opting to ask questions to Clara who happily answered them. It was made clear she would have the rest of the day free to explore and that Plague would want her to go upstairs alone at midnight to discuss something. The conversation eventually started getting a bit more personal until Clara asked something of Roxanne.
“So, why did you come alone?”
“Excuse me? What do you mean?”
“From what I heard you usually bring Victor along with you in this types of missions yet you came alone this time? How come?”
“Wow, you really know your stuff huh? What’s your secret?”
“I have eyes and ears everywhere hun, now, answer me.”
“Ehhh, I didn’t see a reason to bring him along. This is my mission after all and I don’t think I would need what he has to offer. Besides, he lost his memories recently and from what I heard he has gone all family man; didn’t want to bother that.”
“I see. That is too bad. Kinda wanted to talk to my brother after all this years… Oh well, what about the knight? Why didn’t you bring him here?”
“Same reason as Victor minus the family bit. While he is no doubt a way better fighter than Victor in every regard, he knows very little in the arcane and I kinda need that in this missions. This is why we rarely go on missions together; different niches.”
“I supposed I can respect that. Still, I wanna talk to Victor one of these days; maybe meet the mage hunter he is so fond of.”
“After this is over I can arrange that for you; he probably is going to want to talk to me given I took this two lovely weapons from him.”
“I will hold you to that Luna. Heh, like you more than your counterpart already?”
“Thank you? Any reasons?”
“That whore is the reason Victor distanced himself for me. He claims it was the oath of SoA or what not but I call bullshit. Not that it matters anyways, she is dead and for good this time.”
From there the two just continued walking until they reached the lobby that was in the middle of the first floor. There Rey and Christina were discussing who knows what with Rey obviously annoyed at something. Roxanne freezes in place with a perplex look on her face as she look at him yet he isn’t aware of her yet. Clare rolls her eyes as she smiles and calls for Rey’s attention.
“Hey, Rey, you have a visitor.”
“I do? And wh-” His words are interrupted as he turns around and see Roxanne standing there. He smiles, gets up and walks towards her; Cristina gives Clara a confused look and she signals back to not worry about it. Rey stops once he is in front of Roxanne and speaks up.
“If it isn’t Roxanne Bl- Luna, long time no see.”
“Hey...yeah...it’s been a while…”
“It has, almost 13 years if I recall.”
“That long huh? Who is keeping track anyways?”
Rey simply laughs out loud and pat Roxanne on the shoulder. She simply looks at his hand while still unmoving and then back at him; the whole time that perplex looked still in her face.
“Fair enough. Seeing you again in person reminded me of something.”
“And what is that?
“Just how short you actually are.”
At that comment, Roxanne snapped out of her trance and her face reflected indigence.
“Excuse me?! You want to say that again to my face?!”
Rey laughed a little more and leaned in before whispering. “How is the weather down there?
“Shut up! You are just 6’2!” A now rather flustered Roxanne raise her hand to deliver a swift slap across his face; however, years of fighting had honed Rey’s reflexes and he effortlessly catched her hand by the wrist. She looked at it with her perplexed expression returning but before she could do or say anything Rey pulled her in for a hug. “There will be time for that later, let’s take it slow; glad to see you are at least ok.”
Roxanne did not say a word as many thoughts raced through her head. All of them, however, were dispersed when she realized something. Roxanne hugged Rey back and began to rub at his back. Rey was startled at this a bit and pulled back only to find Roxanne was still clinging to him.
“Having fun there?”, Rey teased.
“I can touch you…”
“Uhmm? Yes?”
“No no… you feel...real… What?”
Before either of them could do or say anything Christina intervened by clearing her throat rather loudly. “Hey, Rey, why don’t you introduce me to your lady friend over there? Always a sucker for meeting new people.”
As if suddenly realizing other people exists, Roxanne pulls away from Rey blushing. She then looks at Christina and answers her. “Ahem… Sorry about that. My name is Roxanne Luna and I am an old friend of Rey here. Wait…” Roxanne looks at Rey again and asks him, “Uhhh, you from this world or…”
“I am the same Rey you knew from your reality. I took survived the convergence.”, Rey answered.”
“So yeah, old friend of Rey here… Former Assassin for SoA and current free lance looter.”
Christina grinned and moved towards Roxanne before responding. “SoA huh? Interesting… My name is Christina but you can call me Christy if you would like. I am one of the founder of SoA as a matter of fact. Interesting meeting someone else wrapped in the mess that was that group. Maybe later we can head to my room and chat a little...you know, get to know each other a little more.”
“You're wasting your time Christina.”, Clara interjected, “Roxanne is already seeing someone.”
“Awww, Come one Clair, why do you have to be this way? Besides...they don’t have to know ~”
“That someone is the Iron Marshall, You don’t want to piss him off.”
Christina looked back at Roxanne surprised at what she heard. “Wait, you are with the Iron Marshall? That means you…”
“You are the Blade of Sodom? Ha! How fitting of you! Unexpected but not surprising.”, Rey interjected.
Roxanne just stepped back now more embarrassed than before. Clara gave a sigh before speaking up. “You two, give our guest some space. She just got here for Jupiter’s sake.”
“Sorry… you are right…”, responded Christina before she and Rey moved back as well. “Good. Now, do you need anything Luna?”, Clara asked
“Well, I was told to bring these things but I don’t know what to do with them and I really don’t want to carry them until nightfall…” Roxanne pointed at the flesh weapons she was carrying to which Clara noded.
“I can sense some arcane signature in them but can’t discern what it is but if Plague wants them they must be useful for somethings. Anyways, I know this place better than anyone at this point so I will go ahead and take them off your hands and put them in storage; I will go ahead and examine them and write a report so that Plague is informed when you have your meeting with him.”
“Oh, yeah, that works. Gotta say, that’s awfully generous of you Clara. What do you get out of this?”
“Well, first I get Plague of my back for a while and second, well, I look good to the girl who is my ticket to seeing my brother.”
To that Roxanne smirked and nodded at Clara. “Very well. I’ll leave it to you then.” She handed over the flesh weapons to Clara whom accepted them and then signaled for Christina. “You are coming with me Christy.”
“What? Why me? I wan-” Christina’s words were cut off my Clara’s look that read ‘Do I really have to spell this out to you.’ “Oh, right right. I’ll be right behind you. I have to take care of my inventory anyways…”
“Right, Luna, Steller, why don’t you two go to the mess hall and catch up for now? We will take care of this and bring something to eat later.”
Rey smirked and shook his head a bit. “Not much of a hall is it now? Besides, I will pass on the food.”
“Count me out too. Thanks for the offer though.”, Roxanne responded as well.
“Alright, suit yourselfs. Anyways, see you in a bit.” and with that Clara went off to storage holding the flesh weapons and with Christina reluctantly tagging along.
Rey and Roxanne turned around to look at where they needed to go. “After you.”, Rey said signaling for Roxanne to go first. She nodded and started walking with Rey catching up besides her.
“So, what have you been up to this last 13 years Luna? I can tell by your aura you have certainly changed alot since we last me.”
Roxanne laughed to herself a little. “You have not the faintest idea… Lots of things have happened. Where to start…”
“Why don’t you start from the day we said goodbye? That is a good start.”
She nodded and began to tell her story; at first she made it seemed official as if making a report to her superiors like in her days as agent Blackmore and then agent Luna but eventually she slowly started to talk more casual as she grew more comfortable with her former partner in crime. She told him how after they parted ways she continued her work with SoA until her parents ratted her out. Then she met Alex and he almost helped her become a Huntress but of course the cataclysm struck before she had the chance.
Once she got to the post cataclysm her eyes lighted up and she talked in more detail. She went on about how she lived scavenging the cities living with the man she was meant to kill, how then she stayed with Quinn underground for about 2 years and the prophecy that united them all due to Catnip. By the time she was talking about the shifting and the early days of what was now walkerville the two were now sitting across from each other in a cafeteria table. Rey listened on as Roxanne explained how she met and interacted with the closest people she knew; from Victor’s arrival, her confession to the knight, the little spars with Lilith and playing video games with Dee from time to time. What he found rather fascinating was the details of her various transformations from misusing the infuser, to having her body stolen to finally her current state after a convoluted plot to free her from some curse after death.
“So he lost his memories now? Damn, can’t even explain it huh?”, Rey asked.
“Nope. Who care honestly? I don’t get it myself but I’ll just adapt like I always have. From what Melody says the fucked who stabbed me is dead so at least that is that.”, Roxanne answered.
“Ha! I supposed you are right. Say, how long have you been a spirit now?”
“Eh, about a week and a half. Why?”
“I see, so I take it you still haven’t mastered your current state. If I were to guess those are corporeal regulators?” Rey pointed at Roxanne’s bracelets.
“Oh, these? I suppose so. Victor gave them to me to help with staying corporeal.”
“Still struggling with that? You need training then… Roxanne, look at me in the eyes.”
A bit confused, Roxanne looked up at him right in the eyes. He stared back with his mind deep in thought. “You have bright pink eyes…”
“Uhhh, that mean anything to you?”
“What? No no, nothing useful really. Not now anyways. Still I see potential in you. Tell you what Roxanne, why don’t you stay awhile and let me train you with the basics.”
“Basics? Wait, how would you know any of this anyways?”
“The same reason I suspected you acted so weird when you touched me; Roxanne, I too am a spirit.”
Roxanne stepped back at that revelation; not because of what he was but thinking of how she became one and the implications of that. “Wait, that means that you… was I too late?”
“Oh no no, none of that. I didn’t die, I simply broke on of SoA’s rules: I abandoned my humanity. People have been doing this for millennia and I am simply one of the latest. I have years of experience with this so why not let me help you?”
There was a moment of silence, Roxanne looked down at the floor while Rey waited for her answer. “Rey… you know why I am here… I made you a promise and I intend to keep it.”
To that he grinned. “I know. Loyal the oath even to this day; if anyone deserved to be a Huntress it was you. But if I was meeting with Huntress Luna, we wouldn’t be talking would we?”
“I suppose not… still, it is something I have to see through.”
“And I understand that completely. But why rush it? You waited for 13 years so what is a few more hours? What do you say? Let’s talk a bit more, figure some stuff out and then I will grant you your wish.”
“...I guess I can do that. What would you even want to talk about?”
“Well, why don’t I tell you what I have been up to? Then we can figure out how I can help you not rely on that clutch. You are a cursed spirit, a living paradox, so it might take a bit more effort than I did.”
Roxanne smiled at the comment. “A living paradox huh? I like that, Roxanne Luna the living paradox… sure, so what have you been up to this years?”
“An unexpected visit huh? Had same here…”, Victor responded to Helen, “And you are pretty perceptive with that mask knowing the two weapons are gone.” He gave a heavy sigh before looking at Helen with a rather serious yet annoyed expression. “Thomas is fine, he is sleeping on the now wooden crib. Listen, I am going to explain to you what just happened but it doesn’t leave this room, not now at least since I don’t want Hector to panic or anything… So what happened was…”
Victor went on to explain about the mysterious woman suddenly appearing who went by the name of Lucy and introduced her as the literal devil. He went on about how she warned him about something going on in the works but that would find its way to him but for him to just ignore it. Then he described how he felt someone in their room bypassing the locking wards on the drawer and taking the flesh weapons; he explained how the woman stopped him from pursuing and he then finally explained who he saw it was through the aura spell.
“It was Roxanne… she was there and took the flesh weapons before taking off. I have no idea how she could bypass the locks or why she would want those things… Lucy said not to worry about and not look to much into it… Then she gave her blessing to Thomas, apparently she is very interested in seeing the next generation flourish given the previous one well… they are walking as undead. I don’t know what to make of this… any ideas Helen?”
“Owwwww...everything huuuurts…”
Melody awoke after a rather long sleeping session. She heard noises all around and could feel the place was quite busy using the aura spell. The noise was making her head hurt but not like she could complained. She notice there was a glass of water and some pills next to her; there was also a note but she couldn’t read it so she ignored it. After taking the pills and dowing the whole glass, Melody go out of the cot she had been sleeping.
“Marie… hear my pleas…”, said an unknown voice
“W-what, who’s there?”, Melody called back. No one seemed to pay her any mind as everyone went about their day. Melody eventually pieced it together and recalled just what this voice was. “Uhhhm… Miss Despair, is that you?”
“Alas she who bears my power has awakened. Why does a maiden like yourself indulge in such activities.”
Melody gave an annoyed groaned before answering. “Funny, can you talk like a normal person for once? Jeez, I thought we had been over this already…” She heard laughter from the sword before it answered.
“Right right, sorry. Anyways, good to see you are awake Marie.”
“I don’t go by that anymore… why do you insist on calling me that?”
“As a spirit bound to you, I can’t help but answer and respond to your natural name. It’s something I can’t shave off so you will have to live with it.”
Melody gave a deep sigh. “Is this what Roxanne has to deal with?”
“Well, no, the Void is very...ahem…’shy’ and gives full control to it’s chosen spirit. A wielder normally keeps said spirit in check but since she had none Roxanne is pretty much autonomous.”
“Great… anyways… why are you talking to me?”
“I have come to warn you… My brethren seem fear something far away… it’s different for each but for pieces of Anomon to feel this way… it concerns me... “
“Oh… that bad...what are we going to do?”
“Well, I am going to go dormant for awhile until this pases. I will not be there to guide you but I will lend you my power so you can use the sword at will. This way my brethren can’t track me.”
Melody gave off an annoyed looked again. And what the hell am I supposed to do then?"
"Lay low, earn your keep, don't cause any trouble. Think you can do that?"
"Earn my keep?"
"That man over there, he has a clipboard and is bossing people around. Talk to him and see if he needs any help. You can take it from there."
“But wait… I am blind remember?”
“Yes, but you can still use your aura spell to tell things apart. You will figure it out. Now take off that blindfold and go talk to that nice man. The rest is up to you. Good luck.”
And with that Despair went dormant. Melody could no longer feel it’s influence yet still felt i’s power. She gave a deep sigh and took off the blindfold before walking over to the man.
“Hello mister… My name is Melody… uhhh, do you have any work I could do?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 21, 2018, 08:43:36 am
Despite her rebellious nature, Sharlene intended to follow Illiana's instructions to the letter, but it was proving tricky. Specifically, the part about naming. Once Illiana was absent, the homunculus took on an altogether more mischievous aspect. It was trying to trick Sharlene into naming it, and Sharlene realized the ruse right away. This creature would construe any "name" directed at it as a name. Be it a conventional name, a nickname, or even an insult. The only safe way of referring to it, it seemed, was as "you."
It approached Sharlene, who was mulling over how to rebuild her cabin without help from the center, and handed her a citation for loitering.
"It's my property you..."
It's pointed ears perked up and it grinned a tiny little grin. Sharlene caught herself and glared back. If it had been her creation, she guessed, the thing wouldn't be so brazen or... Evil. That was the word. This creature wasn't just mischievous, it was evil. At least to her it was. The reality was it was something she had to tip toe around, and it was going to cramp her style. Get in the way, probably worse than that Helen woman. Speaking of which...
She considered the pile of stuff she'd come back with. Normally, she would leave Lilith or Michael to watch over it while she went off to do whatever it was she was doin, but both of them were currently indisposed. The blanks we're worthless to her, but Illiana claimed that someone would want them, which meant they weren't worthless. She hemmed while the homunculus scrutinized her with it's big purple eye. Nathaniel left his radio, she noticed. That was a one. Not as sanctimonious as Helen, but he did like to moralize at her. The radio though, that had been set aside because Lilith kept flipping it out of it's holster and Nate didn't feel like putting it back in again just so Lil could keep knocking it out. That was a mistake, with the radio gone she didn't have anything to flip out besides his belt. Poor guy could hardly keep up with the Randy tigress.
Sharlene picked it up and thought about if she really wanted to do this. The radio had little stickers on it with the wavebands for various other two ways written on it. Near the bottom was the band she wanted.
"Yeah is this the hall?" She said. For a long moment there was no response, then an unsure voice came back.
"Yes? Who is this?"
"It's Sharlene. Could you send that Helen woman to me? I gotta thing I need..." She stopped herself, not wanting to say the next few words. Fortunately, she didn't have to.
"Sharlene. Check. I'll let her know." The voice said before clicking off. Sharlene twitched her eyebrows up, impressed with the professionalism. She didn't know of course that the radio operator was likely losing his mind. Sharlene was known to get into some rather serious trouble and then simply shrug it off with bloody mindedness. If she was calling for assistance, it was probably more than a little serious.
It wasn't serious, not yet anyway. She took the steps three at a time, flying up the flight of stairs in a flash, making the landing in double time. There was no need to chamber a round, the rifle was already primed and ready. Had been since she drove a van full of mice out of New Bangor in the middle of a hurricane and all throughout her strange time as an animal. Her return to normalcy would only last as long as her purpose held, and she intended to make the most of it.
She was just in time to see Cheena's punished form dart from a bathroom at the end of the hall where she'd given the beast the run around. No time to shoulder her rifle, instead she aimed from the hip and fired.
The voice in her ear, the one she suspected now was the other, spoke words she didn't understand. Quick, fluid, old. They passed into her ears and through her lips and when they were finished, the medallion around Cheena's neck flashed. Jenny didn't feel the kick of the rifle as it fired. The steel bullet passed from the barrel like a comet. The tail of the tracer spiralled as it flew and it struck the creature God's Army called Mammon like a meteor, blowing it's reeking guts and teeth out it's back and all over the hall.
Somewhere further north, something emense shifted. Feeling the sudden expression of potential.
"It isn't dead." The voice within said. The words were dire, but somehow they acted on Jenny like a cool breeze on a hot day. "Move, now. It won't be long."
And she didn't. The monsters twitching corpse heaved itself weekly up, and Jenny could make out the viscera of it's demolished body regrowing in the hole left by the enchanted bullet. She made to raise her rifle again, but the voice shouted and she felt pushed.
"But Cheen-"
"Come back for her, it won't bother her any longer. You are it's prey now. Run. Run like the fox from the wolf."
And so she ran, her purpose faltering. By the time she reached the back garden, she was once again a fox. Once again in flight. This time though, she had an idea of where to go. Barry Bliegh looked up from his clipboard to see a young woman. She was asking for a job.
"Do you even know what we do?" He asked. Melody shook her head and looked around. Looking around was mostly for show, this man didn't know she was blind and her chances were probably better if she made it look like she wasn't, for now. Barry sighed, "We are representatives of The Shattered Helm. What passes for the police in Pricetown, I guess."
Melody nodded exaggeratingly, not really understanding if dispair sent her to this man specifically, or as a matter of convenience. The sword remained quiet on the matter however, so she wouldn't know for now. The man snapped his fingers at her, and she jumped.
"I said, do you have any experience with firearms, and can you hold a shield? How are your arms?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 21, 2018, 01:04:08 pm
Cardin had partially dragged himself, partially been carried over to The Hall, where he'd been since his and Melody's adventure to find the bottom of a bottle. The bird mutant ended up watching Helen's thing with the crystal, half interested, half asleep, before passing out mid-way through it. And there he stayed, before waking up at about noon with a killer hangover and a newfound interest in something or other. The empty cot he was put in wasn't the most comfortable thing, and his wings ached almost as much as his head. Chirping to himself quietly, he tries to stretch out and manages to smack his bruised wing against the wall, earning a squawk and a funny look from a big dude not that far away.
Delta had managed to slink off to her own little corner once more. The slime creature had originally planned to harass the 'spirit' and that knight of hers, but a couple of more pressing issues came up. Namely, the resurgence of Oxbow's contact. It'd been more than a couple years (About six and a half since last contact), but command had suddenly decided to re-establish comms. Nothing too important, but it certainly was surprising. The slime girl had gone back to her secluded little spot on the bank, same space, same position, lying back against the dirt.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 22, 2018, 12:53:51 am
(( Helen/Victor/Quinn stuff written with Noct and Wilson. ))
Helen regarded Victor with a look of concern, only to sigh a bit as he made that remark. "Force of habit, to be honest. Not like we had a lot of places to store what we couldn't destroy, so ensuring captured artifacts didn't start acting up was something you started getting used to as soon as you had your first mask."
With Victor asking to explain what happened in private, she nodded and listened for now, though rather clearly concerned as he went on. "This seems...worrisome. I'm not so worried about the swords themselves, they've been stored for all that time without causing problems." she said, Victor nodding at that. "They were in the farm’s armory just sitting there unguarded for who knows how long. She could have taken them at any time but chose to do so now. There has to be a motive that was introduced rather recently."
She gave a little sigh at that, for now having focused on that concern moreso than the implications of a "devil" visiting them. "And that's what worries me. I'm not sure what the reason might be. As for Hector, right now there's no need to tell him. He doesn't have the right kind of experience to help with this." she added. "But if something happens to her, it might require explaining what we know to him."
"That seems fair; we don’t know now much so we should not act rash until we have more information. If the times comes to tell him, then so be it, but that is then. For now we should check what Roxanne did to bypass the lock and maybe we can find a motive along the way." With that, Helen knelt by the dresser that the weapons had been contained in, putting her mask back on to examine it.
"Unfortunately I only worked on the actual seals and wards, the locking spell was your work if I recall." she said. "However, at least there's no sign of the enchantment being damaged. It'd take a lot to get past it that way though..." she said, trailing off as she fiddled with the locking spell.
“Roxanne couldn’t have bypassed the lock by force. It’s based on computer encryption so even the fastest of unlocking spells would take literal years. Breaking the lock is a no go either as it’s bound by rather strong forces in a small space; anyone attempting to break it open would have the hall and possibly the center and the farm noticing.” Victor gave a deep sigh before saying the next bit afraid of how Helen would react. “I used the lock because I saw myself use it in memories Roxanne gave me and because it’s in my journal... I don’t actually remember it’s origins just how it works...”
Helen gave a nod at that. "Makes sense, yes. I can only hope that our more elaborate effort that went into the binding rituals for the forbidden piece won't be as vulnerable. Not that it matters, as Roxanne had full access to it in the first place, not to mention the piece is still in Melody's hands..." she said, a renewed sense of worry crossing her face. "As for the lock, it was set up so that you, Solomon, and I could unlock it. My guess is that she had some way of exploiting our ability to access it. Possibly something from your memories maybe? Either that, or there's some other way to open it without using its natural means of access..."
“The wards on the swords are to prevent misuse of their power except by their wielder given the sword’s violent reaction when we attempt to limit that, it’s detailed in my journal but I wish I had memories of that experiment. The lock is just that, a lock, bypassing one doesn’t show ability to bypass the other.” Victor hoped that brought so comfort but given the situation and how she had other things in her plate he knew that might not be the case. “As for Roxanne, memory shenanigans might be it. She was the one gave me the memories of me using it so she clearly wanted me to... was she planning this for some time? Did she do so just in case she needed to get something? Seems fitting for an agent of SoA if you ask me...”
Helen nodded at that. "Indeed. All I recall is the elements of it that I contributed to, and what had to be done to render it compatible with and complementary to your work." she said, before looking down. "I'm not sure if it was planned, but either way there's some reason. Did this...Lucifer give any hints as to what happened? If not, I can't think of anything we can even do, unless you know of any other outside influences that might've contacted her under our noses. Any remnant of Shadow of Arcana, other spirits..."
“Maybe looking into the wards might yield something of we are ever so desperate for answers. Ms.Lucy didn’t say what was going on to prevent temptation. And no, I wouldn’t know of any forces that would have contacted Roxanne. Maybe somebody has noticed something weird but how to ask without revealing too much?” he answered, and Helen found it hard not to chuckle. "A self-described devil trying not to tempt us...as for that,. might be worth it to take a look, yes." she said.
With that she led the way outside, making her way towards the bridge alongside Victor, unaware of things going on there, and things that would soon come up.
Quinn was already there, the caravan already hitched and he was sitting on the hood of the truck. He was putting off of going to see Helen himself, but she came to him. "Shhhit..." He whispered to himself as the tossed the cigarette and stepped on it as he hopped off the truck's hood.
Helen led the way over, and when she saw Quinn nearby she removed her mask and gave a wave to him, a bit surprised by the new trailer hitched to the truck. "Hey Quinn, you doing alright?"
Quinn's eyes glance over at Victor for a moment, before locking back onto Helen. "I'm leaving for a while, checking what's down south. There's little information of what's down there." He said simply, avoiding eye contact.
Helen's expression turned to worry at that, before she gave a nod. "I see. You aren't traveling alone are you? It's...dangerous to do so, at least farther north was in my experience." she said, before sighing. "Come back safe and sound whenever you find what you seek, alright?"
Victor stood there listening to the unexpected conversation between Quinn and Helen. He really didn’t have anything to add and assumed whatever Quinn was doing was probably a private matter given his reaction. Taking this into account and the fact Helen probably has a lot on her plate he decided to dismiss himself and help with some of her checklist.
“If you two would excuse me. I will go ahead and investigate a matter me and Helen were attending to. I will be in the farm if I am needed. Always a pleasure seeing you Doctor, I’ll be back soon Helen.” And with that being said, Victor went and made his way to the farm.
Quinn sighed a bit, "I'm not going alone, no... But I'll see you whenever I come back." He paused for a moment, letting a breath out of his nose. "...goodbye." With that Helen reached to shake his hand, the doctor doing so a bit nervously. "Thank you. Stay safe." she said, before continuing towards the farm. May the gods guard and guide you... she thought.
With that out of the way, Quinn gave a heavy sigh as he looked back towards the farm, before a realization hit him. Could at least bring a couple of my old novels too... he thought, one final excuse to go back in, turning to head towards his trailer.
Elsewhere, Solomon gave a concerned sigh as he glanced at the radio, a bit shocked by Sharlene's message. He only really knew of her from Helen's remarks, but she seemed the type to only ask for help if something important came up. He looked back to the handset before a thump and squawking interrupted him, snapping him out of his train of thought. At that he got a glass of water, and a bowl of some fairly simple soup, approaching Cardin. "You alright? Take it easy, might still be hungover I'm guessing."
Between the realms, another event was stirring, as a figure from beyond once more gazed upon the shifting ebb and flow of spirits. The time to strike and remove a vulnerable enemy had passed, for there was no recourse for a being so distant, who had only wayward spirits and mortals to direct into serving his agenda. But the fruit of that labor would soon resurface, not in the realm between realms but in the living realm, on the edge of Maine...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on July 22, 2018, 10:12:41 pm
Alexei sat by himself now. His mother had gone after a brief conversation where they made amends about things that happened years ago. Where she went he didn’t know, only that she went with more ammunition than she had arrived with. Another debt settled in his eyes.
Sliding out of the booth he started for the door before stopping as Irene called out something about how he better be checking on the still. He closed his eyes for a moment.This had been a bad enough day, he didn’t need someone bossing him around. Looking over his shoulder the look he gave her would have made even the hardest murder take a step back as he said “I’ll check on it later.”
Walking out the door he adjusted the pair of leather gloves he was wearing. Walking back to his shack he thought of the old days. Just fourteen and carrying a knife tucked into his belt. Fifteen and visiting a back alley doctor cause he’d gotten shanked in the back but two weeks later he rolled past the lad’s funeral. Then in jail at sixteen.
Pushing through the door he walked into his room and slid the suit vest off and let it hit the floor. Looking in the mirror he’d found he sighed. Pulling his shirt off he saw the tattoos of his old life and wondered what would have happened if he’d just kept doing it. If he hadn’t of fallen in with Bandit and sold methamphetamines and hallucinogens. Changing back into his old jeans he saw the man in the mirror sitting on a couch counting money before it returned to normal.
Pulling on his T-shirt Alexei shook his head as he said “It doesn’t matter what I do. Things always catch up with me.” and grabbed an old jacket of his. Putting it on he grabbed a mask and rolled it up so that it looked like a regular beanie before putting it on. Pulling the hood of his jacket down over his head he picked up the gas mask he’d kept with him for so many years now and ran a thumb over the trio of little pink and purple hearts painted on it. Tossing it back on the table he retrieved a pistol and checked the chamber.
His mind flashed back to a late night making a delivery years back. The mobsters he’d brought the shipment for refused to pay. A brief memory of the smell of gunpowder during a rainy night as he remembered shooting two of them dead and crippling the third. Riding away in one of their cars he dialed a number his employer had him memorize and saw the car he’d been driving explode. Evidently the shipment to his lackeys had been fake. As the memory faded he tucked the pistol into his pants and slid his jacket over it.
Grabbing his knife he slid it into the improvised sheath he’d sewn into the jacket. From there he slid a messenger bag over his shoulder and thought about bringing his AK. Deciding not to he walked out of the shack.
It was sometime later, he wasn’t sure how long he’d been walking, that he found himself sitting in a small building that the 3rd had built as part of their trading post. A bar. Of course it was a bar. But he was more interested in two of the patrons he’d noticed. Which had only been because of a tattoo he’d noticed the woman of the pair had.
It had been years since he’d seen a member of the cannibal clan that had attacked him and..was it Art? Maybe Bartley. Whatever that poor Irish bastard’s name was that her people decided to eat. Whatever had happened to the rest of them these two were going to pay.
Alexei pushed away from the bar and set two bullets on the counter before tossing one to the bartender. Walking out of the bar he started towards the small mess of a vehicle he had seen the two get out of shortly before he’d entered the bar. Whoever had built the damn thing knew what they were doing, at least with the frame. The owners obviously took less pride in the thing as it was unlocked.
Finding a clutter of objects in the back Alexei climbed in and covered himself with some cloth before settling in to wait. Which didn’t take long before he felt the vehicle begin moving again. Which was also followed by two somewhat heavy metal objects being tossed onto him which he guessed were the pair’s guns. A few minutes of moving later and Alexei sat up with his pistol in hand. “Stop the car.” was all he told them.
A few curses later the woman complied with the order, then the follow up of get out. Alexei joined them as the woman asked him “So what are you going to do? Kill us?”
Alexei shrugged as he kept the weapon pointed at the two of them. He had given that idea some thought. But he said “That depends. Do you still eat human?”
This caught the woman by surprise. The man even more so. As he started to say something Alexei pointed the gun at him and simply asked “Was I speaking to you or the woman?”
The man shut up long enough for the woman to say “No. I stopped after the clan disbanded. Ya know, shortly after most of it chased you for killing some of them.” Spitting off to the side she continued “Besides we didn’t have much of a choice. Most of the wildlife turned into monsters.”
Alexei lowered the gun and nodded as he responded “Good. Now I’ve got a proposition for you.”
The two looked at each other before looking back at Alexei. The look was one of shock and disbelief. The man said “Let me guess this straight. You hold us at gun point and ask her if she still eats people,” he turned to the woman “which is a conversation me and you are going to have out later,” turning back to Alexei “And then you offer us...what exactly?”
Alexei motioned to the vehicle as he said “A job. I used to work as smuggler. I can get in contact with people who need things. But I don’t want to just be the mover, no I want to be the one making the calls.”
The woman raised a hand and said “Someone already runs the drugs, you got a problem with that?” Alexei shook his head as he tucked the pistol back into his pants and said “No. I don’t care if someone else runs the drugs. But I’ll run the guns and the booze.”
The man looked over at the woman and said “You know he sounds absolutely crazy. It’s the goddamn apocalypse and he wants to run things like the old world.”
The woman gave him a grin as she said “Yeah, but it looks like he’s crazy enough to pull it off. He did climb into our car knowing I used to be a cannibal, held us at gunpoint and then offered us jobs.”
Alexei shrugged as he responded “So what’s the answer? You two being the first you’d be..what’s the word..captains? Whatever it is.”
After a bit of conversation the pair finally nodded as the woman said “Well I don’t have anything better to do. I’m assuming you know where to start this?”
Alexei smiled as he spread his arms and gave a short bow “With the booze of course.”
It was a very productive ride back Alexei thought.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 25, 2018, 06:21:51 am
Melody shook her head. At first, she didn't understand the bit about holding a shield and firing a long gun one handed, then she saw (sensed) One of the people in the corner of the small chapel pulling tacks or nails or possibly rivets from something large and flat. A shield of some kind, like a riot shield or... an old car door? She'd done a lot of manual labor during her time with the raiders, but she wasn't sure she could muster the strength to hold up one of those AND use a rifle at the same time. Heck, just using the rifle would be an issue. She shook her head again.
"No, I uh, I don't think so. Do you have anything I could do that isn't... um... shooting?"
Barry sighed. Just what he needed, another noncombatant. He'd been approached by a few of his own and some of the locals since they'd arrived looking for things to do, but most of them seemed to think that the Shattered Helm wouldn't need fighters. He had turned them all down, and he didn't see why he shouldn't turn this one down.
"Alright little lady," He said, "What exactly can you do?"
That question always got them. Ask them what they could do. If she answered with one of the usual answers about hauling or cleaning or some such basic chore that his recruits could do themselves, he'd dismiss her out of hand.
"Well," She mumbled before perking up nervously, "I'm definitely not blind!"
Barry barked a short laugh, then began laughing in earnest. Melody sensed the others in the room stopping their tasks and looking their way with something like bemusement and worry. Their captain and quartermaster wasn't usually the sort to show any kind of humor. Usually, he showed the men and women under him a kind of rough accommodation. A misling girl stood from her seat but the quartermaster waved her down.
"Well, ho-lee shit little lady." Barry managed after recovering from what he saw as a fairly clever joke and not the earnest statement that it was. "Yer funny. It would be a shame to turn you down now, you sure you don't have any kind of shooting skill?"
Melody grinned sheepishly, "I didn't say I couldn't shoot. Just that I was looking for something that didn't involve shooting. I load my own bullets. My gun was taken away sometime last night though, I guess I got a bit out of hand... It's an AK!"
He appraised her a bit more. She didn't look like the shooter type and he'd assumed she wasn't. You never knew, even he could be fooled sometimes. Hell, he'd seen the rifle she was talking about, his boys and girls had finished cleaning it up and marveling over the strange bullets they found in the magazines. "You know what, I'll give you a shot. We're heading for the refugee center in a day or two to help out there. Take a seat at the bench and Dorian will show you what it takes to be a bullet farmer. If you still feel like sticking around, you can come along to work with us there. Hop to it little lady."
Melody took the seat offered, only stumbling a little and trying not to look blind. The act wouldn't hold up long but by the time anyone noticed, she would have cemented her place as one of the refugee centers ammo "farmers." Time would tell what she would take away from the experience, for now though she just picked up a bullet and set it with others she sensed to be similar after inspecting it and feeling it for damage. The monster barreled through a line of blackberries like it was nothing, only momentarily getting tangled in the growth but Atomos didn't bother taking notice except in the most peripheral manner. The form she had been forced into had a quick small frame going for it and she found herself able to make weaves and movements that were sharper and trickier than what she would have managed on foot, and she was oddly thankful for that. Even so, the beast would have caught up to her and killed her already were it not for the other.
She knew who he was now. Always suspected, but not until her purpose became clear did she know for sure. Despite how little she'd gleaned, how little she actually knew about it, Atomos was the prison, and the other was the prisoner. He spoke to her and guided her, sped her along and wove behind her a net of illusion to slow up her pursuer. He would have told her where to go, but she knew that already. The monster getting stuck momentarily in the foliage wasn't ignored out of fear, but out of banality. It would always happen. The creature was stupid in the extreme, allowing itself to be guided by it's hunger. It crashed into obstacles and plowed through them with brute force. If it's strength was not enough, it would spew the contents of it's guts and burn away whatever was in it's way.
A short leap took her to the center of an overgrown patch and then a dash for the low open window was all it took to clear the place where she expected to end this chase. Atomos allowed herself a chance to look back and see what she knew she would see. The monster broke into the clearing, then stopped. Stuck by the mantraps beneath the water tower. The plants wrapped and probed, looking for a soft place to bury their tendrils among the chitinous branches of it's arms. Like the spider girls, those arms. Mica, her name was Mica. It thrashed and then swelled appallingly before a vine like a telephone pole erupted from the ground and smashed the it in the side. It disgorged its foul bile in a spray, instantly killing mantraps and burning off other smaller vines that threatened to wrap it up. The maw of the plant, the audrey, loomed above it ready to strike. A foxish grin touched Atomos lips and she turned away. She doubted, considering the monsters ability to regenerate so quickly, that the ambush she'd forced it into would kill it. It would slow it up long enough for her to lose it. Long enough for her to go back and see to Cheena. She had to hurry, no time to watch.
Mikko pushed her on, carrying her on the winds of what power he had left. Unlike Atomos, his own view of matters at hand were much more grim. Atomos feared that it might be too late. Mikko knew it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on July 26, 2018, 02:27:31 pm
Alexei leaned against the side of the car with his two new compatriots. The man was called Edgar, the woman Alicia, though she went by Allie. He’d sent out a radio call to some folks he knew ran around these parts. Some of them old friends that owed him a debt. Six shots to the chest. But if anyone had his old rig it would be them.
He’d radioed back to Irene that he’d be gone for a while. She hadn’t been happy but told him to stay safe. Probably because she didn’t want to work the stills herself. Taking a sip of vodka from his flask Alexei heard the distant sound of motors. Putting the flask back in his jacket he spat off to the side.
Two vehicles pulled up in front of them. One an old beat up pickup truck and the other a modified and armored dodge charger. Six men got out of the vehicles, each carrying ten inch blades and wearing masks. One pointed his blade at Alexei and said “You got out the game old man. Now you want this back?” he gestured towards the charger before continuing “hows about I just put this blade tween your ribs and leave it at that.”
Alexei regarded his old partner with something between contempt and wariness. Sighing he said “I let you keep that. Now I want it back.”
The man shook his head as he looked at his fellows. A few of them looked less confident now that they realized this was the man their boss had bragged about working with before. Still they would fight for their boss if it came down to it. Even against the man their boss bragged about killing.
Alexei reached a hand up to his neck and grabbed the piece of cloth tied around it. Smiling at the men in front of him he said “Why don’t you all run along and leave me with boss.” He tilted his head to the side as he concluded with “Unless you’d like to die with him. In that case…”
As they took up fighting stances Alexei pulled the red piece of cloth up over his nose. One of them decided to rush Alexei. Not a good move. In a blur of motion Alexei pulled his knife out and knocked the man’s strike to the side. The blade of the knife slid between the man’s ribs as Alexei stared him in the eyes.
Ripping the knife out Alexei pushed the man to the side and started for his old friend. He could see the fear in his opponents eyes as the two walked towards each other. Alexei remembered his early twenties, a late night riding in a suped up car as sirens wailed behind the two of them. Back when the two were like brothers to each other. Back when he would have done anything for the man. Then he shot Alexei six times in the back.
Alexei felt a tear roll down his face as he said “I ran men down for your sister! I shot that fuck that threatened your mother! And how did you repay that loyalty?” He could feel his grip tighten on the knife in his hand as he looked for his opening.
The man shook his head as he told Alexei “I paid that loyalty with the same thing you would have. It was self preservation. Cause you knew I was getting hungry for more of the pie and no one in your position would have given up part of their share!”
He saw the blur of motion as Alexei rushed forward. He swung but only hit Alexei with his arm as he closed the distance. He felt the knife cut into his stomach with ease as Alexei pushed him back causing him to stumble and fall. Trying to swing his blade the man felt Alexei break his hand with a kick before grabbing his knife and ripping it out of the man’s stomach.
Hauling him up to his feet Alexei stared at his old partner for a few moments. Putting the knife to his throat Alexei screamed in the man’s face before pushing him back and telling him “Run. Leave the car and run.”
Turning away from the retreating man he saw Edgar, wearing his hockey mask, take a step toward the armless man in front of him before plunging a machete through his throat. Looking around he saw Allie break a man’s neck. The others were already laying on the ground dead.
Opening the door of the charger he said “Right, you two remember where that bar I told you how to get to?” When Edgar confirmed he said “Good, meet there.”
Elsewhere Alice checked the pistol Isaac had given her. The magazine was fully loaded and one round was in the chamber. Replacing the magazine she put it in the holster attached to her belt. Grabbing the bolt action rifle he’d given her as well she adjusted the sling so that it stayed on her back. Strapping the sheathed sword she kept with her on she pushed the door open and walked outside. Looking around the farm for a while she couldn’t find Isaac and wondered if maybe he was at that new bar. Shrugging to herself she figured she may as well check.
Meanwhile, outside an armored door leading to a storage facility, a group of bandits were trying to break in. They had tried explosives so now one of them was trying to cut through it. Of course he didn’t get very far into the process.
A bullet tore through his throat and left him choking on his own blood. As the other bandits tried to get to cover a group of men in heavy body armor and flecktarn uniforms opened fire on them. Most of them didn’t make it but a few managed to get behind a wrecked vehicle. The gunfire slowed as the bandits all looked to each other trying to figure out what to do. Not that they really got a chance. The grenade rolled under the wreck and came to a stop against one of the bandit’s feet.
Garrick approached the security door’s card reader and nodded as he saw that it was still online. Swiping his security card he smiled as the doors slid open. His men followed him inside and stopped shortly into the building as they took in all of the equipment this facility stored. Underground it stretched for quite a distance. Turning to them he smiled as he said “Well? It’s not gonna load itself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: guest48 on July 27, 2018, 11:28:40 am
Cardin gives the man with soup and water what seems to be an incredibly suspicious look. Despite the situation having changed, someone bringing him food and water still feels... Wrong. He chirps a couple times, hands splayed out in a way that makes his sharp talons seem as threatening as possible. The bird mutant doesn't seem actually panicked, just cautious as he slowly starts reaching out to take Solomon's offerings. The soup smelled nice, at least. Cardin's headache returns again in full force, earning a flinch and a wing twitch coupled with a quiet cheeping noise.
Delta mulled over that message. Of course, she didn't have to respond. She was retired, they legally cou- The legal system didn't exist anymore. They very much could just shut her down... She absently waved off a 'call' from Puddle, instead trying to tell Wadi to come back to her for a second. Of course, that wouldn't work. Wadi rarely listened to Delta, plus the slime girl was rather distracted with what Oxbow's contact could mean.
Wadi, meanwhile, was skulking about the place still. She'd been seeking out one specific person, for one specific reason... There. She spotted her targets in the direction of the bridge. Closer to where Delta could stop her, but she really wanted to play with the big kitty! The slimy catgirl set off at a run, leaving a slight trail of green as she goes, a trail that slowly follows after her, gathering up into a blob as it does. As she neared, Wadi began to change, dropping to all fours, hands turning into paws and gaining a small muzzle and saber teeth, until she looks like a very, very tiny Lilith. Showtime!
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on July 28, 2018, 08:52:31 pm
Victor had bypassed the primitive lock Roxanne had set up on her door; it was fully mechanical, nothing an arcanist of SoA couldn’t bypass. Once inside, Victor didn’t waste much time looking for any clues; it did feel weird going through the room of Roxanne but he was justified right? Roxanne had stolen powerful and dangerous weaponry and went off who knows where. Besides, when someone who claims to be the actual devil gets involved...
The obvious places yielded no clues except for a few chuckles, face palms and a couple of embarrassed expressions. He still didn’t know Hector had decided to move in so he found it unusual to find a closed locked box inside the room. He went to investigate and noted the wards the locked had. “Just what the hell are you plotting?” However, his attention soon was shifted to a note left behind under some notebook on arcane basics. Victor read the note and soon realized it was addressed to Hector. From the looks of it, if Roxanne was plotting something, this note would could be used as an alibi to buy her a few days.
“An emergency involving other people huh? Why would you need those flesh weapons then? Just what the hell are you planning?”
He continued reading to find a cryptic message on the bottom of the note. They were odd symbols that would mean nothing to the average observe but to Victor they were a code. He frantically opened his journal to one of the codes field agents used to encrypt messages. After 5 minutes he decrypted the code and surprisingly it was addressed to him. It read : “Page 36, 3548, 3rd lock.”
This just confused Victor completely. Where the hell was she going, with who, why did she take the weapons and why did she leave this note to Hector and a message for him? He wasn’t able to think for too long however as he suddenly collapsed onto Roxanne’s bed and fell soundly asleep; the note still on his hand and the journal closed on the floor. Every once in a while he would murmur something as if reliving a dream.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 29, 2018, 08:33:51 am
As she ran, the other talked. Cheena's belief that Atomos was Mikko hadn't been far off. She had "seen" him in her. She was a grandfather after all. Red had sensed that in her as well. The old blood, less diluted in her veins than in her fellows. Blood that remembered a world before the long winter. Mikko had lived then, living and celebrating alongside the other animals. Bear and hare and bird and fish. Even man. But then the long winter came. As the story went, man forgot the ways of speaking and the world became strange. The animals hibernated while man stayed yet awake, and so to did Mikko.
"I died." He said, "Which isn't so bad. It was the fate of all those who chose to stay with man, but Ukko was kind. I died, my fellows died, but our spirits lived on."
He told her everything he thought she needed to know, but much of it was forgotten in an instant. This pleased him somehow. Atomos urgency banished thought and replaced her panic and fear over her condition with fervent concern for someone else. He just hoped she wouldn't be too crushed by what she found when she got there. Cheena slept, or so she thought, and in her dreams she walked the cold place that had come to her more and more often as the Cataclysm rolled on around her pack. A cold place of stoney ground and ice where not a single sprout dared reveal itself among the fields of hoary Frost and biting wind. This, she thought, was what the long winter had been like. Man had gone against the coming snows with their faces forward. Man, bravest and most foolish of creatures, had gone in defiance of winter's wrath while the animals hid themselves away.
She didn't feel cold, and that was different and she wasn't alone. That was different. Swirling around her, mingling with the streamers of snow blowing from the tops of glittering snow dunes, were the spirits. At least that's what she thought they were. Cheena had always seen them even when awake, but never so many as in these dreams. They were guiding her on, keeping her on what seemed to be a well beaten path towards what she knew would be some kind of clearing in the snow. She had never walked all the way to that place before, had feared to. Now it seemed to be the right thing to do. It was time.
When she got to it though, she couldn't bring herself to take that final step. The clearing was wider and more pleasant than she had imagined. There was grass and flowing water and warm sun splashing over every rock and every flower. It seemed here at least, it was spring. Best of all though, they were here. Her pack, her family. But they were...
"What are you all doing here?" She asked, then turned. Someone behind her, familiar and unfamiliar. Flowing red and gold fur, eyes like shining emeralds. He came like a river of fire from the cold waste behind her, and she knew who he was. "Mikko?" Atomos mounted the stairs, four legs instead of two this time, and bolted up as fast as she could go. She did not see the shadow that ascended slowly behind her. She didn't register the alarm of her own senses or heed the alarm of the other. It was already too late, but she prayed to a good she didn't exactly believe in that it wasn't. Atomos didn't even stop to think if she could actually do anything. Her mind hadn't got that far yet. The hall where she had shot the monster was spattered with it's ichor and the carpet and floor had been mostly eaten away by it's acidic bile but that wasn't where she was going. All that had been blown out it's back away from her goal, leaving her path clear. Another sense of impending danger swept through her, but the sight of Cheena overwhelmed it and covered it up.
She wasn't breathing, or was doing so so shallowly that it was hard to tell. Her tail was little more than a stub and her fur was mostly gone except in an odd ring around her neck. Atomos tried to speak to Cheena, nudged her, even shouted in her ear, she she was already growing cold in the darkening corner of what seemed to be the bedroom of some pre-cataclysm teen girl. A pair of posters and a doll on a vanity stared at the tragedy playing out here with as much interest as they'd shown the fall of the old world while one fox wept openly over another.
Then the hair on Atomos back rippled in alarm as she realized something. The ring of fur on Cheenas neck, Atomos remembered her wearing her medallion as she'd darted into this room. It had protected her neck from the caustic spit, but it wasn't here now. If Cheena wasn't wearing it anymore, and she hadn't been able to take it off, then where was it?
The answer came with a sudden pinch at the back of her neck and the sensation of being lifted into the air by the scruff of her neck.
"Well well, little miss atmosphere, you came sooner than expected." "They are greeting you Cheena."
"Greeting me where?"
"The clearing at the end of the path. Where else? Or maybe they aren't here for you?"
Cheena looked again, it was definitely her pack here. Only they seemed to watch her sadly, like she shouldn't be here, or maybe they just weren't expecting her. The snow and ice seemed to be getting colder and for once she could actually hear it. A crisp crunching sound that wasn't at all pleasant to the ears. Like small bones under foot.
"Where is this?" She asked.
"You know where, as all Grandfather foxes know. This is the long winter. This is death."
She was taken aback, and rather sharply. "What? But that's not... 'Tomos killed the monster with her human weapon, her gun thing! I can't be..."
"You are, and the beast was not killed. Cheena, she came back for you but it was too late."
It ran through her thoughts to blame Atomos, but she couldn't do that. Not when she had come back for her, and not after all Red had told her and taught her. She glanced again into the clearing and saw that it wasn't just a clearing. Beyond was an open field, filled with tall grasses and shady groves. An eternal spring beyond the line she had yet to cross, and she realized it was getting harder to stay where she was.
"There is choice to be made Cheena, and it is right that you make it. Come away from the clearing, walk with me while I can still walk. I have something to show you." Mikko asked, "the long winter is cold, one need not walk the path alone." Atomos thrashed about, snapping wildly at the robed form holding her about the scruff of the neck, but to no avail. He shook her playfully and tittered at her. The shaking make her head spin and the back of her neck screamed at her in pain. The feeling of hair being pulled out was outstandingly painful, not to mention the pinching and stretching of her skin. If Atomos ever got the chance, she'd never pick up an animal this way again unless she really had to. There was no doubt in her mind who the bastard was who'd caught her, it was Astor of course. The other had been screaming it at her for the better part of the moments leading up to the encounter. She'd been a fool to ignore the warnings and keep on, and now she was caught. That didn't mean she couldn't go out fighting though, fox or no. If only she could get her jaws into him though.
"Ah, ah, ah, now that's not very nice. In fact, you haven't been a very nice girl at all have you, little miss atmosphere?" Astor said, "I mean gods, what were you thinking?"
Atomos stilled, listening. Mikko hissed at her not to listen, the eater of days was a liar, a black liar. He was just feeding her guilt. Why? Because that's where he gets his fun. Making people suffer.
"You led us right to them, and you knew it. You were just so absorbed in yourself and not thinking about any one else. That little tracker in your paw." He said. Atomos couldn't see under his hood. There was something under there, but she just couldn't see it in the late evening light. That thing, that whatever it was, was telling her what she'd suspected, no, known the whole time. It was her-
"No. It isn't, he's playing with you. He's-"
"Ah!" Sighed Astor, "Tsk, finally come out of hiding in your cell? Good."
Atomos hung limp as Astor brought out the medallion, retreived from Cheena's body. The thought that this 'thing' had dared to touch Cheena sent a spark through her brain. Any progress he'd made in demoralizing her was momentarily lost and she thrashed again, this time managing to get a tooth into the robed arm. Except, there was no arm. She could feel the pressure on her skin from something holding her, but at the same time there was no substance to it. The robe seemed empty except the face of the hood. She could sense it in there. The pressence of Astor.
"Stupid animal." Astor hissed humourously, "This chase is over and you haven't even realized it yet. Maybe you'd be a little more cooperative if we took a bit of that spark out eh?"
The medallion flashed once and Atomos felt the sickening sensation of being pulled in two halves. Some sucking, rending feeling deep in her chest. A feeling of growing and a profound, painful emptiness. Before she had a chance to adjust, she was falling. As she hit the floor and momentary unconsciousness swept through her, she saw Astor holding up something that looked very much like a truly ancient dog like creature, just before it erupted with beautiful light and heard faintly a scream of unearthly agony. By that point though, Atomos was lost in the dark, and wouldn't know what happened after until much later.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on July 30, 2018, 04:03:00 am
(( Eric/Lexi/Catnip stuff written with Blitz and Salt, Quinn stuff written with Wilson, Victor stuff written with Noct, Sharlene bit written with Salt. ))
At the intense rumble and the sound of two people talking, only one of which was familiar, Lex poked her head into the truck's cab. "Hey Eric, what's going...oh." she said, looking at the towering machine that dominated the view from the front window, trailing off into a soft squeak. Hector looked back to her and simply gave a little wave, peculiar a sight as it was to see a man in plate armor just nonchalantly greeting her. "Hello. Name's Hector. Catnip's up in the train towing this in for repairs."
She turned her head slightly, avoiding eye contact. "Ah... Hello." she said, a slight French accent apparent. "Hector, this is Lexi. She's too shy to introduce herself, but she's generally quite nice." Eric walked over to her and gave her a light hug. At all this she turned away, her face red.
Hector simply answered with a nod, the helm concealing his expression. "Pleased to meet you." he answered. If not for the armor appearing to have been made properly rather than being a mishmash of scavenged gear, it would've been easy to assume he was a Templar at first. The shield tucked away in the cabin likewise would look odd, a strange ivory-like material painted in the white-on-red of the Knights Hospitaller, in contrast to a plain blue God's Army cross or the less common red-on-white of the Knights Templar, as sometimes used by those of the appropriate rank.
Lexi slowly gained her composure, now looking more confident. "Yes, it is nice to meet someone for a change. I do believe it actually been quite some time since I have stepped outside." she said. "There you go Lexi, no need to push yourself." Eric then turned to Hector. "You want to see the inside of our rig? Just a warning though, if we do, would be wise to not touch anything."
Hector gave a nod at that, smiling some. "Think the train's almost done hauling, so can show you around Walkerville in a bit." he offered, before getting up at Eric's suggestion. "And sure, understandable."
Eric motioned for hector to follow. “Well, this is the crafting area. We build shit here, simple enough.” He then pointed to a compartment to the side. “That’s where we store radioactive material. Not wise to open without a rad suit.”
Lexi was amazed at the engineering of the train. She stared out the front window, calculating things in her head. After a minute, she turned to Hector "Eh, who was the person who created this, er, vehicle?”
Hector looked around, nodding at the explanation as he smiled under his helm. "Understandable, more discipline than Catnip at least, good reason why at this rate being in this might be safer than being in the train while it's going full steam." he joked, before looking back to Lexi. "That'd be Catnip's creation. Much more complex and over-the-top than fixing up an old tank, for one. She's the young woman that Medeina's full-volume shouting set off. Never gave a name over than that, likely since she was, er..." He trailed off a bit. "Raised in, probably born in as far as she's said, one of the old X-series labs."
Eric gave Hector a small look of distress. “Really? Radiation poisoning is no joke. I’ve had it and nearly died.” He let out a sigh. “Well, seems like Lexi needs to give her a lesson in nuclear safety.”
Lexi visible shuddered. ”Putain d'enfer, of all the people...” Hector gave a nod at that. "I don't know how she hasn't gotten sick like that, but something lets her work around higher doses. My guess is either what the labs did to her, or one incident that had happened pretty much right before I met her." he remarked. "Wouldn't be surprising, evidently the stuff contaminating the water can act oddly around radiation exposure when it's in your system. Something a friend of mine mentioned, something from a medical manual from right before this all boiled over."
Eric merely shrugged, “Well, I guess if she’s still up and going, then she probably knows what she’s doing.” He then looked at Lexi. “What’s wrong, Lexi?” Lexi was looking out the window. “I was a part of the X-series. Code name Medusa. I was part of a joint experiment between the US and Canada. I lost so, so many friends...”
Hector gave a sigh at that. "More reason why I hope every last lab tech got what they deserved for doing this to people." he grumbled. "From the looks of the few labs we've opened up that'd be the case, in fact. When they aren't still being run by a rogue AI. Nearly died along with Catnip, her sister, and two others last lab raid we went on." he said, hearing the echoing screech of a massive array of brakes, the train finally pulled into position.
Eric looked awkwardly out the window. “Well, uh, if you’re still up for it, I can show you the other trailer.” Lexi was staring off into space, deep in thought. Hector gave a nod at that. "If you wish, sure. Though should be ready by now..."
Eric brought him into the second trailer. “Well, this trailer contains our reactor and artillery system. Reactor to power the truck, 250mm cannon to screw anything in a ten mile radius. Nuclear ordinance included.”
Hector was glad he had his helm on, to hide his expression of shock. "You have literal heavy artillery rigged up to this. That's...alright yeah, more firepower than I was expecting anyone to be able to maintain. Even I've been carefully keeping any spent 120mm canisters to re-use, as replacing the charge, rigging up a new electric primer, and using a huge chunk of lead is still better than most things Hell's Raiders or God's Army have."
“Well, the shells we have are all homemade, since most things didn’t have a gun bigger than 150mm. We make both proper nuke shells for long-range bombardment and depleted uranium for when we have to direct fire. Plus, the thing is that it’s just a huge air cannon, no primer or gunpowder needed. Much quieter, too.”
Hector nodded at that. "Would explain that, wasn't sure there was even anything like that besides naval guns, and I don't even know if anything in that range is still used." he said with a shrug, before continuing. "Think we should go ahead and unhitch it now that the train's stopped, anything I can help with in the meantime?"
Eric scratched the back of his head. “No, not really. Just some help repairing the truck would be appreciated.” Meanwhile, Lexi exited the truck’s cabin, examining the small mislings with curiosity from afar.
Hector nodded at that, making his way towards the exit as well. "Welding cart should be somewhere nearby, hopefully it didn't get damaged in the storm. For now I should go check on someone." he said. With that he made his way out of the truck, heading back into the farm itself.
Quinn stopped his truck outside the path leading towards the Center, and made his way back to his trailer. He went inside and grabbed much of his books, old classic novels. Once he put an an old copy of 'The Clockwork Orange' in his bag, he heard a knock on his door. Quinn peeked around his window, seeing that it was... Brian.
Brian gave a nervous little wave to Quinn once he opened the door. "Ah, hello. Doctor Quinn, correct? I'm Brian, one of the arrivals Rodriguez brought over. I was hoping to try and make myself useful around here, least I could do. One of the...mislings, they called themselves, suggested talking to the farm's doctor." he said, unaware of the fact that Quinn would soon be leaving.
Quinn looked Brian up and down, "Hm... What is it?" He asked simply. He was still a bit nervous, giving a nod at the question. "Most of my experience is medical, hence their suggestion. Had been working on a pharmacology course prior to all this, not that it mattered to the people I used to work with. Anyone who could do more than basic first aid ended up getting pressed into whatever roles they needed..."
Quinn shrugged, "I'm... not staying. You're welcome to stay here, I can show you around." he said as he gestured at the trailer. "There's some stuff I'd like you to... not touch."
Brian looked surprised at the news, following Quinn into the trailer. "Alright, surprised to see you go, but okay. I'll do what I can to help, then." he said, regarding the interior of the trailer with curiosity.
Quinn showed Brian around, where everything was. Where the meds were, the surgical supplies, sterile sheets for the table. Then he stopped at a box with strange engravings, wards. "Do not mess with anything inside this box, in-fact. If you can, bring this to someone who can look over it." He ordered, looking Brian in the eye.
Brian took mental note of everything Quinn showed him, nodding as he went along. When Quinn stopped and warned him about the box, the look on his face made it clear he was quite used to that warning. "Understood. Anyone in particular you would recommend?"
Quinn said a simple, "Helen." Without any hesitation, "Make sure no one steals it either." He said. At that he gave a nod. "Very well then. You be careful out there, alright?" Quinn simply nodded in return, taking his leave.
Helen sighed as she made her way back towards Roxanne's quarters, knocking at first before entering. "Victor? Of all the times to be passed out..." she grumbled, moving over to look over him and ensure he was alright, activating her mask for but a brief moment. On her own she didn't have much to go off of, beyond seeing the note Victor had already found, and evidence of some enchantment worked into it, a hidden message.
Victor woke up suddenly as Helen looked over the note briefly. He stayed there unmoving for a moment, hand reaching out as if trying to grasp something before going limp. After laying there for a couple seconds more he finally got up and stretched for a bit. "Helen? Right... guess I finally woke up... note, note. You found it huh? Yeah, it's from Roxanne to Hector; give a it read to catch up."
Helen nodded as she glanced back at Victor. "Found it, yes. A note for Hector. So she planned this..." she mumbled a bit, already suspecting whoever prompted her "trip" likely was behind her decision to take the flesh weapons. But whether it was just a decision to pick armament for suspected trouble, or something more deliberate behind it, she wasn't sure. She glanced back at the locker. "And Hector's locker is in here too, huh..."
"That's because I've moved in with her." came an answer from behind her, startling her. Hector had entered the room while she was busy puzzling over the note. Helviti... she thought, turning to face him. "Is everything alright?" he asked, regarding the two of them with a look of concern, concealed under the helm.
Helen glanced back over at Victor, uncertain how much of the situation to explain to Hector. Victor leaned over to Helen to whisper, "Give him the note and we will answer any questions from there... if we tell him about the flesh weapons. maybe we should slip it in rather than make it an announcement..."
Helen gave a nod at that, handing Hector the note. For the moment he read it before looking back to the two of them. "So that explains why she isn't here." he said and Helen nodded a bit. "Was checking on the place after some things came up back at The Hall." he answered, before sighing a bit. "She should be alright, but wanted to check just in case." she added.
Hector hmmed a bit at that, glancing at the two before shrugging. "Alright. Anything you need me to answer?" he asked. Victor glanced at Helen for a moment and then looked back to Hector. “Has Roxanne been acting odd lately? Not specifically anything concerning, just not like herself?”
Hector shook his head at that. "Nothing off the top of my head. Sometimes seems like all that's happened has been getting to her a little, but that's to be expected. She's kind of..you know, dead technically." he answered, before Helen decided to speak up. "Any idea why she might take certain weapons with her? Specifically those two living weapons we found during that raid on Apophis..."
Hector perked up a bit at that. "Now that seems unusual. I don't know if she'd be immune to whatever side effects it has. I can see her maybe using the rifle though. A UPS isn't really as practical for her anymore, and she seems less than impressed with normal guns." he added, before Helen nodded. "And the sword?" The surprised expression on Hector's face said it all. "She has multiple weapons that'd likely be more practical than that thing, unlike the rifle. I can't see any obvious reason why she'd want them..."
Helen then spoke up again. "Here's what we were able to discern at least. Those weapons are alive, in a sense. Definitely otherworldly, contorted into a more earthly form. They also don't seem to require the same kind of power draw that most magic items to. Guessing either their interaction with the wielder is enough, or more likely it's a catalyst for generating what it needs by other means." she explained. "But what would someone need with that.." Helen explained, the three of them taking a moment. To their mutual surprise, all three of them blurted out the same thing.
"Essence."
Helen glanced over at Hector, surprised. "It's not that difficult a concept. Even without what I've been reading up on, I know otherworldly monsters can leave behind essence when killed. And so can some of the more abnormal zombies,except blood essence." he pointed out. "Hell, I've never encountered a monster I'd describe as both earthly and otherworldly before. If those things are technically alive, would it yield both types if you killed them?"
"More than that..." Helen added, a look of worry crossing her face. "There's also magic woven into their structure, and consecrating the energy that went into that might be one way you could put them down. Hypothetically, it'd be a way to get any variety of essence, or all of them at once. But what for..."
It was then the radio came alive, a delayed transmission received by several in The Hall, in addition to Alice and Helen.
Quote
"Hello. I think you’d like to pick up your friend here."
"..nng...wha- f-fu..."
"You’ll find a traceable signal you can follow to his body. It’s a secure location, no one will be present and there will be no traps."
Helen tensed up at that. "Helviti. You've got to be kidding me..." she said, putting her mask back on. Victor sighed a bit at that. “Another item on your plate huh? We can put this to rest and I can help you where I can.”
Helen gave a nod before looking back to Hector. "Go ahead and see if you can figure out what you can while I'm away, then..." she said, before making her way out of the room, Hector giving a nod. "Already going to be a busy day, it seems..."
Elsewhere, Solomon gave a nod to the avian, a bit concerned but relaxed as he set the bowl and glass aside. "It's alright. The captain lady from the center dropped you off here last night. This is The Hall of Odin's Blessing, as Ms. Helen calls it." he said, before the radio piped up again. "I'm sorry, things also keep coming up...wait, what the hell is going on now..."
It was then Helen could be heard over the radio. "Liam? Alice? If anyone else is responding to this, meet at the bridge." she said, only for Solomon to excuse himself to pick up the radio and answer. "Whatever it is, be careful. That kinda screams 'very clearly a trap' to me. By the way, er...Sharlene was asking if you could come see her. Sounded like it might be important." he added.
The banter over the radio, and moreover her response, would be heard by Sharlene, unlike the message that prompted the flurry of activity. "Helviti. Sharlene, if you're reading me, I'm afraid something came up. A kidnapping. Can you tell me what's going on, on your end?"
Sharlene watched the creature carefully and it watched back, waiting for her to do just about anything. A kidnapping was important, and she wasn't sure if this thing trumped that or not.
"Uh, I guess it could wait. I got some kind of... Thing lawyer lady left with me. It's kind of hard to deal with it without breaking it's rules. I guess I normally wouldn't care, but uh..."
Helen was a bit surprised at that, taking a moment before she answered. "I'm still not sure I trust that spirit, but she has reprimanded me before for not checking on you sooner. If that thing is there to suit her purposes, I'd say try to follow the rules laid out for now until I get a chance to see what it is. In addition, keep it away from other magic items if you can, depending on the type of creature or magic involved, there might be unexpected interactions."
That just compounded things a bit. More rules she couldn't break. It picked up one of Sharlene's coffee mugs and balanced it on the tip of it's little finger, and Sharlene had to restrain an urge to shout at it. For one, shouting wouldn't accomplish anything and for two, she would end up flinging an insult at it. The homunculus had already tried to construe insults as attempts to name it, and that was a no no.
"Goddamnit, alright. No magic." She said, then thought about what Illiana had told her. She knew it started with an h, and the name was kind of goofy. "It's a one eyed thing. Lawyer bitch made it out of clay and sticks and hair."
"A construct of some kind, a...homunculus?" she asked, wincing a bit. "If that's the case then there at least should be less risk of interactions. I'd still be careful if you can." she said, looking back down the road as she left Walkerville. "One thing to be careful of is it varies how they're able to follow their own orders. Too loose a reasoning and they can be unpredictable, too strict and they can cause problems from being too literal."
She then gave a little sigh at that. "For now, just take it easy and tend to any other business you can that its strictures won't interfere with, if you're able to. Don't be afraid to ask the others for help if needed. Take care, alright?"
Interfere was the key word. The big word. This thing would do nothing but interfere. 'shit,' Sharlene thought as it tried to pin a sticky note with an affidavit on it to her sleeve, 'its already interfering.' she slapped it's hand away along with the note, thinking about how good the day had seemed like it was going to be earlier but now expecting it to get a lot worse before the sun went down.
Elsewhere in northern Maine, Horace rode on, bound in his unearthly armor and following the enigmatic directions of the entity from far beyond, who drew him out of his place adrift among lost spirits...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on July 30, 2018, 09:06:26 pm
Alexei walked into his bar with the cloth still pulled over his face. He’d forgotten it was there. His two compatriots followed him in, Edgar with his mask pushed on top of his head and Allie with hers hanging around her neck. Patting his pockets Alexei sighed and called out “Anyone got cigarette? And Ernie, have someone get bottles in crates.”
Ernie shrugged to one of his enforcers before telling the man to go take care of it. Irene meanwhile looked over at Alexei and said “And just what are you going to do with my alcohol?”
Now Alexei was a man that was generally hard to piss off. In fact he quite prefered to being nice to people as it tended to resolve problems before they could arise. However how Irene tended to treat him had worn on his nerves. Taking an offered cigarette from a patron he pulled the red cloth down just enough to stick the cigarette in his mouth. Grabbing a match and striking it on the counter he said “I’m going to find buyer. Then I’m going to sell it. Or have you forgotten who built the stills? And the bar? And provided enough word of mouth to get customers?”
Irene glared at him over the bar. He knew very well the two of them would have words in private later. For now he simply smiled as he lit the cigarette before blowing the match out and tossing it aside. She walked over to a customer as she said “Fine.”
Blowing out a puff of smoke Alexei sighed as his two new associates sat down on either side of him. Now that he thought about it this felt rather odd, being part of a team again. Even more odd leading one. This would be fun.
Retrieving his radio from his room before rejoining his associates. Tuning it he told them “I’ll deal with that bar we met in. Should be able to convince them to get what they don’t produce from us. I want you two to get ears out, I want to know where we can get guns. Better yet I want to get gear to make guns. If it come down to it we’ll work with Walkerville to manufacture.”
Edgar stood up as he said “I might know someone who might know where we can get guns, we’ll meet with them.” As he and Alicia walked away Alexei tucked the radio into his jacket.
A few minutes later he’d checked on the stills and was now leaning against the side of his car. Closing his eyes he wondered what the future was going to bring. Flicking his almost burnt out cigarette to the ground he figured he’d find out. Opening the car door he got ready to conduct his business.
While that was going on Liam, having heard the transmission, ran out and called for the others. The Seven, minus Eino wherever the fuck he had gone, arrived at the bridge still pulling on armor and adjusting their scabbards. Spotting Alice walking along the bridge Liam waved as he said “You coming with us to find Isaac?”
She blinked, giving a surprised look, before asking “What happened?”
And then it was Liam’s turn to look surprised. She should have heard the transmission. Pulling his cloak on Liam said “Someone’s knocked him out but says we can just go and retrieve him. I don’t know what’s up but we’re not letting Helen go by herself.”
Alice sighed as she checked that she had her sword on her back and her gun with her. Looking at the others she said “Well I’m going with you. It’s my dad.” and the others looked around as they waited.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 01, 2018, 01:15:07 am
“So let me get this straight…”, Roxanne exclaimed
“Oh, want to repeat what I said back to me?”. Rey responded.
“A small summary to see if I understood.”
“Ah, like those small reports of yours back in the day when we were partners in crime.”
“Don’t give me that ‘back in the day’ crap… it makes me feel old…”
Rey smirked stifling a laugh at the comment. “Alright alright, go ahead and report Luna.”
“Ha ha, funny… Anyways. So if I understood correctly, you spent the first few years after our last encounter running away from SoA.”
“Yeah, they always seemed to know where I was and was afraid you would show up one day and claim me as your trophy.”
“What? That’s what you think that of me?”
“Would you have not?”
“...Fair enough... Ok, so in the meantime you continued your arcane studies. You stole books and artifacts here and there, killed some SoA, Sanguine Order and Cleansing Flame operatives for gear and generally just learned through practice.”
“Yes, that got me so far though. That change when I met Christina.”
“The augmented alpha-mutant arcanist… and a founder of SoA… quite the person to just bump into in the post cataclysm. You met her after the shifting?”
“Shifting? Oh, the convergence. Yes yes, I did. The convergence hit me out of nowhere; I suddenly had an urge to go into the woods where I found a cabin. I entered, went to sleep after making sure it was empty and when I woke up in the morning I was sleeping next to her…”
Roxanne laughed a little at this before responding. “Oh my, what did she say?”
“She took it pretty good all things considered. I turned around and she was there staring at me. I jumped out of bed ready to fight but she told me to relax and that she wasn’t armed. Wasn’t too hard to determine she actually wasn’t given she wasn’t… ahem… ‘decent’ while being in the bed.”
Roxanne laugh some more this time not making an attempt to hold back. “Holy shit Rey you sure are a pervert.”
“Say the girl who worked at a strip club for extra cash given she had enough money as she was a paid hitman…”
“Fair enough but still...continue…”
“Right… so she then asked me ‘Sudden urge to come to the woods?’ I nodded and she nodded back. ‘Alright, guess we are in this together now’ We both got ready, I rather perplexed at the whole thing but then when we stepped outside the forrest was now a swamp. And that is how I met Christina...”
“That’s...rather peculiar. So from there the two of you just explored and decided to stick together in this new world; help increase your odds of survival. What about the arcane stuff?”
“Wait a minute, weren’t you going to make a summary of all this? Why are we having this conversation again.”
“Shush! It’s interesting. Go on…”
“Well, we eventually found out we were both from SoA and she let me onto the fact she was a founder of SoA in this world and the person who brought technology to the organization. From there we exchanged backstories, you might want to ask her about it, and then we made a deal.”
“You both would help each other advance in your respective ‘fields’. It became more about survival huh?”
“It did, yeah. But anyway, I know the bit you are waiting to hear, how I became a spirit…”
Roxanne simply nodded, her attention transfixed at his words.
“Well, it’s quite simple actually. I did not die the way you did, I simply ‘sold’ away my humanity. I have become what we like to call ourselves, a regulator spirit. We emulate and protect nature and more importantly we regulate it. The spirits of death are our guides and teachers… we not really, we are just a bunch of copy catters but hey! It works for us…”
“Is that why do you carry that scythe?”
“Yes, itt represents the harvest. Spirits of death use them to represent their job and as such we emulate that.”
“Uhhhh, no? I meet one and he used a tommy gun.”
“...Did he now?”
“Yeah, he used it pretty well. Scythes are actually pretty impractical in battle don’t you think?”
“Well, it is a bit unorthodox but… a gun?”
“Sure, why not? Humanity upgraded so why wouldn’t they?”
“Huh… I supposed you are right… so I should transform mine into one?”
“Heh, if you do, may I recommend a laser rifle? Lasers are the future! Add some essence here and there… some arcane effects and you get ghost busting lasers!” She stood up as she spoke as if preparing to make a grand speech.
Rey looked at her with a wary look; if she was still the same Roxanne he knew she was getting quite close to going on a rant of sorts. “Right right… I will keep that in mind. You sure have put a lot of effort into this.
Roxanne sat down and nodded. “That I have. Before I was a spirit I used to carry a laser rifle. Ballistics are too crude for me...but nothing will be the intimacy of a blade…” She gave a deep breath and smiled; a big gulp of smoke that had filled the room entered Roxanne's nose as if she was breathing. “What the hell is this stuff? Feels...nice…”
“It’s a synthetic compound combined with some arcane effects to affect the informational cortex of reality via the phaneron to stimulate the same regions Tetrahydrocannabinol would on the brain but on a spiritual level.”, explained Clara.
“It’s ghost weed; no need to complicate it. It hits right into the soul and since you and Rey are technically just souls without a body…”, Christina added.
“Well, look who decided to finally talk…”, Roxanne commented; she looked at the vial that was letting the smoke out. It looked like an urn and while the smoke was thin and you didn’t feel it, the effect certainly hit quickly.
“Well, you two were going at it and it seemed rude to interrupt.”, Christina said next.
“Since when did you care about being rude?”, Clara added.
“Hey, I can a be a nice girl, you of all people should know…”
“Which one of the two brought this stuff?”, Roxanne asked.
Christina raised her hand and smile. “That would be me, it’s a homebrew formula based off some old alchemy texts and my own research.”
“Could you hook a sister up? This stuff feels real nice… and it’s the only thing that appears to work…”
Christina did a fake expression of though as if she was considering something before responding. “Hmmm, I don’t know… what do you have to exchange?”
“Uhhh, I can let you browser my collection of memories for some hot gossip.”
“Deal! I’ll get you the recipe later.”
“Sweet!”
“Now wait a minute!”, Clara interjected standing up suddenly, her usual composure gone due to being under the influence, “I helped with the compound, I should get something too!”
“Shhhh, don’t be too loud…”, Roxanne said obviously being affected the most by the substance. “Ok ok… Listen, I will hook you up with Victor and you can talk to him. That sound good?”
Clare sat down seemingly satisfied with that but crossed her arms and pouted to which Christian chuckled at. “Fine! But how are we doing that?”
“Maaaaagic! That and some dream trickery I picked up recently. I have did a lot of reading during the storm and the days after.” Before anyone could respond Roxanne went limp; her head fell right onto the table. *thonk* Roxanne was fast asleep, a smile plastered on her face as she began to drool in her sleep.
“C-can she even do that. Do ghosts drool?”, asked Christina.
“Well, this one is… let’s see what she comes up with…”, Clara said.
Victor found himself in a strange place; there was no background, floor or any sense of up and down. No, it wasn’t black or white, there simply was no background as if space and time didn’t exist. The side of him that had awaken after the memory loss kept him on his toes; he was wary of his surrounding incase anything happened. However, another side of him, a more instinctual one, had a feeling that this was rather familiar. At the latter notion, he smiled before uttering a name.
“Roxanne Luna”
“In the flesh! Well, kinda. I sorta don’t have flesh and this is a dream so…”
“Wait, a dream? Great… not only did I pass out in your room due to some stupidity you are doing, now you are haunting me in my dreams?”
Roxanne laughed upon hearing this. Once she stopped doing so she smiled shaking her head smiling. “Our paths are linked together Vic, no matter how often we try, mostly you to be fair, to go our separate ways we can’t.”
Victor gave Roxanne a rather confused look. “Wait, what do you mean by that.”
She shrugged. “I don’t understand it very good myself. Something about a curse which is why you killed me, originally hooked up with Helen, why you have 13 IOUs for your soul, ect. You write very weird you know? Well… the other you, before you become a buzzkill.”
“What? Roxanne, you are not making any sense. What are you talking about?”
At that Roxanne simply facepalmed. She groaned and looked up at Victor. “Did you get the message in the note I left you?”
“I did, page 37? Three locks? What?”
“Your journal fuckwit! God do I have to spell it out for you? Wait… sorry, that was uncalled for… it’s just the meds…”
Victor wasn’t sure what the hell was going on. However, now he had a clue to go by. Still, Roxanne was here, he might a well try and get her to explain why she stole the flesh weapons.
“It’s fine… Roxanne, listen. You and I need to talk…”
“Yeah, we do. How about I come pick you up tomorrow morning?”
“Wait what?”
“Jeez, you sure like saying that a lot. Anyways, yeah, I need your help for a thing. So how about it, tomorrow like at noon-ish?”
“Roxanne…”, now Victor facepalmed. “Let me get this straight… You want me to drop everything I am currently doing, wait for you to arrive, go with you to who knows where while I have no idea what your intentions are?”
“Uhhh, yeah, that pretty much sums it up.” It was at this point Victor noted Roxanne was acting strange in the way she carried herself and spoke. “Ok, what the hell is going on, what is wrong with you?”
Roxanne smiled wide at the question. She extended her arms at Victor inviting him to a hug. “Why don’t you come here to find out.” Victor stood there for a moment not sure what to do; Roxanne made a motioned for him to take the hug with her hands still extended. After a few moments of hesitation, Victor shrugged accepted the hug. Roxanne hugged tightly and giggled; immediately Victor felt something seeping into his body numbing his sense.
‘R-Roxanne… what are you doing?”
“Shhhhh… it’s called a contact high Vic… just let it happen…”
At that moment the dream started to fade and Victor soon found himself in the waking world still in Roxanne’s room but with Helen now there examining the note.
Roxanne woke up groaning but she stayed still. “Owwwww, I am back…”
“So, any luck with Victor?”, asked Clara
Roxanne didn’t bother lifting her head, instead she lifted her hand and did a thumbs down. “He said he was busy… and that I am a bad influence…” She said this a bit muffled as the table prevented her from speaking properly.
“What? Speak up, I didn’t hear you properly. Lift your head up.”
After a loud groan, Roxanne spoke up again, her head still lowered. “I don’t wanna…”
“Be nice to Clara.”, Rey said, “Lift your head up and speak clearly.”
“No, make me!”
Rey shrugged and grabbed a handful of Roxanne’s hair before pulling her head forcefully. Roxanne’s reaction was rather unexpected; she gave a prolonged moan as she was lifted up by her head. This made Rey rather uncomfortable causing him to let go; Roxanne’s face met the table hard with a loud thud. “Owwww... I’m ok…”
“Uhhhh, are you sure? What was that about?”. Asked Rey.
“Sorry about that… force of habit…”
Before anyone else could comment any further, one of the many undead roaming the place approached the group. This one was able to speak rather coherently but its voice was still strained. “Excuse me… Lord Anomon is requesting to speak with Agent Luna now; I know it’s earlier than expected but preparations are complete and he is rather impatient.”
Roxanne finally lifted her head enough to face the zed; with her head still laying on the desk she spoke up. “Early? Yeah, by about 9 hours. It’s ok, I can go now. And tell him I know it’s plague, no need for fancy titles; just makes him sound pretentious. I’ll be up in a minute; be a dear and carry the things I brought to his office will ya?”
“Yes Agent Luna, I will make the preparations and I will let Lord Anomon you are on your way.”
“Yeah yeah, give me a minute…”
The zombie left and Roxanne groaned loudly. She stood up and stretched a bit; it was as if she had just woken up from a long nap.”
“Are you sure you are good to go know Roxanne? The effect of the smoke is still in your system plus you don’t look so good…”, Christina commented.
“She will be fine.”, responded Clara, “She is the Blade of Sodom, she has gone through worse than whatever Plague has in store for her.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 01, 2018, 10:53:48 am
The Smoke Marshal's packed up what they'd brought out slowly, but by late afternoon they had mostly finished and were saying their goodbyes and their thank you's when something green bolted through the crowd straight towards Lilith and Nathanial. For Lilith, the afternoon had been a little aggravating but time and offerings had put her in a more amicable mood. She still started when someone tried to touch her though. Neither of them saw Wadi coming, though Lilith felt her. As she turned to face whatever was coming at her fast enough to make her think it was an approaching challenger, the saber toothed cat shaped "girl" hit the tiger in the side and splattered against her.
Wadi's head reformed from the mass and glared up into Lilith's confused face and cried "Gotcha!" Lilith made an attempt to swat Wadi away, but the goo clung to her fur like putty left on a shag carpet. The tiger swiped again and again, then roared her agitation. People scattered and Lilith rolled to try and dislodge the annoyance clinging to her.
"Weeee!" Wadi screamed excitedly as Lilith shoulder tackled a van then rolled over a motorcycle. "Ride em' cowgirl!"
Dee ran his hand up his forehead and watched with growing horror at the unfolding destruction. As far as he knew, the green thing was some kind of monster that had come out of the forest to attack someone and had gone straight for Lilith. Mica was a little better, discerning the nature of the slimey creature based on the noises it was making. She tugged Dee's sleeve, pulling him gently back towards the farm.
"This gonna get silly lizard, why don't you show My-ka what you bring home?"
Dee swallowed hard, hoping to god Lilith didn't wreak too much havok, and took Mica's hand. The ring around her finger felt cold against his skin, reminding him of what he'd asked of her upon his return. He didn't care much what his mother would think anymore, Dee was over that internal conflict. Mica gave him another tug, so he relented and guided her back to the workshop. Catnip scaled the side of the train as easily as she always had. She'd always loved meeting new people, but Pricetown had taught her a few things when it came to new people. Here in New England, other people were few and far between, living in small groups dotted around the countryside or sometimes among the smaller towns. In the Arizona region, people had gatherer together into large towns and lived rarely away from them for fear of the Mycus. The fact that those conditions were just right for Mycus infestation didn't seem to matter, so long as they were together. Catnip learned that people were tricky. Especially when they got into large groups and started settling in with each other. The farm and the refugee center were an exception, and there was something about that that made her a little sad.
She helped Kathrine down and let her go off and introduce herself. There was no reason Kathrine should be made to share Catnip's feelings. She watched the made rush over and struggle to find a place to hug Lexi. It seemed impossible for her to get her arms around enough of the snake mutant. The strangers would probably want Catnip to look at their truck, that was always the way and she would do it readily enough. Kathrine would make the arrangements. Catnip was proven right in her assumptions when her girlfriend timidly came back.
"Are you gonna fix their truck Catnip?" She asked. Catnip threw an arm around her shoulders and thought about it. Thinking was just for show of course.
"Tomorrow maybe. I have other things to look at before the end of today. Where was that other new person hiding? In the back?"
Kathrine nodded and looked back to the newcomers. They were nice enough, but she wondered at Catnip's reluctance to go meet with them. "You aren't gonna go over?"
"Naw, they'll bide."
"Bide?"
"Wait, they'll wait. Pinky said 'bide' a lot. I guess I still havn't washed Pricetown off my tongue. C'mon, let's go find a snack, I like being able to just go get food and stuff whenever."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Mrnocamera on August 01, 2018, 02:54:13 pm
(majority of this post is written by random whoo)
Cardin had stopped attempting to chug his bowl of soup at the mention of magic. Quietly chirping, he leans forward, still holding the bowl up towards his beak. "A construct of some kind, a...homunculus?" That definitely caught his interest more, with the avian putting down his bowl and scooting closer to the radio until the conversation ends. "Chirp, chirrup?" He 'asks' Solomon, cocking his head to the side.
Solomon unfortunately had no idea what the chirp meant, but he could make a reasonable guess from the way Cardin reacted to the discussion on the radio. "That was Helen. Handles a lot of the magic-related stuff here." he explained. "As er...weird as it is to just say 'magic' as if it's normal." he admitted.
Cardin blinks a couple times, head still cocked, before flaring his wings out. "Tweet! Cheep?" He points over at nothing in particular, then makes an 'expanding' motion with his hands while making a rumbling noise in the back of his throat. After he's finished with that, he looks back up at Soloman inquisitively, wings neatly tucked back up against him and his foot-talons curled up. It seems like the talk of magic has really interested the bird.
Solomon blinked at that, uncertain at first what to make of that. Something going out or exploding? That wouldn't make sense. he thought, before getting an idea. He reached over to retrieve one of the books that had been set out, an old alchemical text he'd had for quite some time. "I'm...guessing you're asking about this stuff?" he asked, a bit hesitant and uncertain of himself. "To be honest I'm still learning myself...okay, either that or you just asked if I'm insane for just casually talking about weird magic stuff, in which case I don't blame you."
Cardin's wings droop behind him and he shakes his head. The bird points to a spot on the floor not too far away, raises both of his hands, and does some incredibly strange looking motion involving his left hand going past his stationary right hand, which he then closes. He doesn't wait for a response before standing up, wings fluttering slightly for balance, and continuously quietly chirping at Solomon, as if that'd suddenly make him able to understand him. A quick glance at the book makes him pause, though. "Chirrup." He states, grabbing at it despite his wicked sharp-looking talons.
The look on Solomon's face said it all, he was completely stumped by that gesture, and increasingly embarrassed at not getting it. "I um...sorry, I'm kinda bad at this..." he said, trailing off a bit. "Not sure how to...oh. H-here, go ahead." he said, offering the book to Cardin and opening it for him.
Cardin smugly chirps at Solomon, then slides a talon down the side of the book, splitting two pages apart and turning the page. If he could smile, it looks like he'd be grinning his arse off right now. The bowl of soup is still just sat on the ground behind him, going cold, while he looks over a couple pages and then promptly dumps the book on the table. "Cheep!" He exclaims happily, giving Sol a hug and narrowly avoiding stabbing him in the spine with those talons.
Solomon was about to mention some of the things he'd learned from reading it, though Cardin could easily enough figure out what the book was going on about. Much of it concerned the proper science and history of alchemy itself and the chemical principles behind it, but at times it hinted at less mundane matters and the author's own findings. In time, seguing into the unconventional experiments using developments from about 30 years prior to the cataclysm.
And Solomon didn't get much chance to add his own remarks on the book before the avian dropped it in favor of pulling him into a hug, almost going limp as the only response he could manage was a quiet, embarrassed little squeak. "Er...it's alright, I..." he stammered out, surprised by Cardin's reaction.
Wadi wraps her 'legs' around Lilith's neck, having made a small cowboy hat. "Whooo!" She exclaims. The disembodied, forest green torso waves about that 'hat', giggling like a maniac as Lilith throws herself around in an effort to dislodge the slime girl. "THUPID TMHMALL- NATALEEEEEE!" Lilith roars, standing up and then slamming down onto her back, managing to dislodge a cloud of dust/dirt in the process. The hyperactive slime girl spins around to Lilith's chest, having ditched the hat idea in favor of partially copying Lilth's face again. "Thilly Lilith!" Wadi leans down and pokes Lilith's nose, making the massive feline sniffle and then sneeze, slamming her paws into the dirt once more. Wadi slides down to Lilith's belly as the tiger angrily swats at her own chest, then rolls over onto all fours. "THU-" Anything Lilith was trying to say is drowned out by her own frustrated growling as the two continue their strange rodeo.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 02, 2018, 08:35:49 am
Sylvia tipped her cup up and sipped the coffee at about the same time as Maskens, and Efram saw it again. The similarities between them. Index and ring finger hooked around the tin cups handle with their left hands placed under it as if to delicately push the coffee into their mouths. Visually different but very similar in mannerisms. He finished his coffee and excused himself, giving Maskens a little grin which she didn't see. A lot of the rough bitchiness had dropped away and that, he thought, would do her a world of good.
"I have no idea where to start Syd." Sylvia said once the small pleasantries had been concluded. With Efram out of earshot, it was time for the real catching up.
"Why don't you start with why you look... Er..." Maskens fumbled. She felt a little giddy and was thankful that her sister didn't seem offended.
"My appearance? It's not so bad once you get used to it. It happened before the cataclysm." She said. Sylvia folded her hands in front of her. Now that Sydney had brought it up though, she couldn't stop her eyes from wandering back down to take them in. She'd gotten used to the short muzzle that had stretched her face out too, but now it was very noticeable.
"Is that why your letters stopped coming?" Maskens asked. She felt the need to take Sylvia's hand and restrained it.
"No. That was before... I didn't want anyone to know what had happened." She looked away and thought for a moment, "I made it Sydney, I made it and then lost it all to a stupid mistake. Should never have played around with real magic. But then if I hadn't..."
She was lost in confusion, torn between two thoughts. If she hadn't dabbled in blood magic, she wouldn't have become what she was. Wouldn't have built the screaming engine. Wouldn't have met Daniel. Wouldn't have survived the cataclysm.
"It doesn't matter." Maskens interrupted, "Whatever it was is done now and you are here."
A shrug, and Sylvia went on. "After that, I couldn't get booked anywhere. When it looked like my lease was about to default and my account was in the red, I decided I'd go for a walk to try and clear my head. A long walk. By the time I started for my apartment, it was getting dark and the night folks were starting to come out. I figured it was about time to rebrand myself, start again, maybe develop a new act without blood magic. I didn't get far on my walk home before some suits grabbed me and tossed me into a van. Kind of remember thinking they were gonna have their way with me, I thought 'Holy shit Syl, your career is over, you've got blood on your hands, and holy shit, some creep is about to force himself on you.'"
"Jesus." Maskens whispered angrily, "Bastards. They didn't though did they."
"No. They took me to some government lab. Told me I'd be paid for my time, kept safe, fed, all that jazz. Except it was all a lie. They kept all their 'test subjects' in an extensive favela underground, and once I'd been chipped and released into it, they mostly left us alone. Occasionally, some guy (we called them droids) would come down and pick somebody out. They'd either not come back, or if they did, they would be rereleased changed. It wasn't a good time and I'll admit, I kept thinking about... Well, you know."
Sylvia drew a line across her throat, and Maskens didn't need to be told what that meant. Her sister had contemplated suicide. Sylvia went on a little longer, about when the scientists had picked her out. How they seemed to be nervous about something. Sylvia had already seen what she was going to become by then, the mutation strain had been mice for the most part for the last few months. The AI overseeing the operation was pleased with the results, and the way it interacted with the science team was like a powerful master talking down to it's servants. By then, she later learned, the cataclysm was raging and the AI had gone mad.
"I met Daniel in Algol, a city north of Pricetown aways." She finished, spreading her hands out on the white tablecloth draped rather haphazardly over the plastic folding table they'd picked out for their little reunion. She wanted to let her sister digest the tale, but couldn't but ask, "What happened to your arm Syd? Was it an accident? An attack?"
It was Maskens turn to look at her hands. A skeletal framework of prosthetic robotics, similar to but unrelated to CBM technology chosen entirely out of contempt for a cyberneticist from the farm.
"Yes. Technically. A local despot sent his latest creations to attack us. During the confusion, a brave young idiot got himself shot up and went into a coma. His mutant girlfriend panicked when it seemed he was about to die, and bit one of my fingers off."
She couldn't remember which finger it had been, things had been hectic then, stress was high. She remembered being absolutely incensed by the "doctor" and the self rightous prig in the knight getup telling her how terrible she must have been as a doctor to let it happen. Dr. Frankenstein and the meathead knight telling her that the injury she suffered was no big deal. How they'd assumed a great deal with their basic knowledge of medicine. Hector had been acceptable, of course he knew nothing about deep tissue infection, sepsis, and the effects extreme stress can have on the bodies immune system. "Dr." Quinn though. That fool had been allowed to work on people, allowed to perform surgeries for God's sakes.
"Syd?"
"I'm alright. Some of the people in these parts think they know more than a doctor. To cut a short story even shorter, I didn't take the time to treat it properly and when deep tissue infection reared its head, the center had run out of antibiotics. We lost a lot of people to infection..."
Sylvia glanced around and saw, now that she was actually looking, a lot of people seemed to have a prosthesis of some kind. Some few of them even had a bionic of some kind. Most of these people didn't exactly look very happy either. Neutral of mood at least.
"It's so dreary..." She mused.
"Yes. The last year was hard after the attack. A lot of people dead, good people, and just recently the centers self proclaimed ranger went off on a hunting trip and didn't come back. She was feeding the centers fresh meat supply. One can only eat so much snake before it starts to lose it's appeal. Nevermind that, tell me about this man who put a ring on your finger."
"I think not now Syd." Sylvia said, grinning foolishly, "I'll bring him by later, but for now I think I should probably let you get back to your work."
Maskens heart sank. Despite her professionalism and the pressing duties of being the head doctor, she wanted to stay here. Stay here and talk to her "long lost" sister. Sylvia was right though. Sydney Maskens had work to do. She put on a hard face and pushed herself away from the table.
"Yes, I suppose so. Will you-"
"Don't get all cold with me Miss doctor lady. Soften up. I swear Syd, you haven't changed."
"Neither have you." Maskens thought. She smiled openly and rolled her eyes saying aloud, "Yes yes, stick around long enough and Captain Anquiano or Sandell or whatever she's calling herself now will put you to work. Get going, I'll tell Efram you've got a clean bill of health." At first, Minx didn't know where to start, or even if she should start. What she had for the job was a trio of notebook, a handful of writing implements, and a couple granola bars. She felt foolish, standing out in the swamp with these things. The notebooks weren't completely empty, not anymore. A red spiral notebook with a picture she'd drawn of a spider on the cover contained a few things she'd gleaned from people at the center. She flipped this open again and read the short unfinished forward she'd written.
"New Wildlife of New England. These journals are for the purpose of cataloguing and recording the new wildlife of post cataclysm New England. The world is filled with strange creatures, a new age of..."
New age of what? Standing around in a swamp with stagnant water seeping into her boots? It seemed like the way to do it, but even so, she didn't have any idea what she was meant to be doing.
"Observing." She said, "Like that robot."
Now there was an idea. That nosey robot had stated that this sort of work was her deal. Maybe Minx could learn a thing or two, maybe work for- no, with, the robot. Medeina was her name. Minx would go to see her, then she would see what she would do next. Two hundred and fifty per box. Five rows of twenty five silver blanks, two layers of one hundred and twenty five. Around two hundred boxes, not including the odd shaped boxes or ones that didn't contain blanks. That made for around five hundred thousand blanks. A lot of silver, all told. In the pre-cataclysm, Sharlene would have been filthy stinking rich. There was one problem though. The silver might as well have been worthless for all the good it could do her at this point in time.
She was broken from her reverie by the homunculus Illiana had left shoving a sheaf of papers in her face. Instead of looking at it, Sharlene simply took it and in the same smooth movement, tossed it into the wood stove.
"Stop that."
"Never."
"..."
She was about to haul off and pop the homunculus in the eye with a right hook when a tall mousy chick and Mohammad strode past the clearing.
"Aw shit, where'd the cabin go?!" He said, dropping the girls hand and rushing to the bank of the new lake.
"Aw shit," Sharlene said, "where'd you go?"
Mohammad jumped and spun on the familiar source. It seemed less than ideal. The cabin was gone, and that sucked. The fact that it hadn't taken Sharlene with it was the real shame. Sharlene wanted to give him the business and Mohammad wanted to tell her to fuck off when she did. It was fortunate then that the woman asked a question that could solve Sharlene's issue with the blanks.
"Hey, where'd you get so many chip blanks?" L asked.
"Bank vault. Want em?" Sharlene inquired, leaning back and looking a little toad like.
Mohammad whispered something in the girl's ear and she nodded. This was the one Mo' was boinking alright.
"Why don't we get to know each other first. Rude to do business on such short notice." She said. Sharlene shrugged and offered her a seat on the damp grass.
"Mo, go get us some coffee yeah? Chop chop."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 02, 2018, 09:39:14 pm
A quick drive back to the 3rd’s little outpost above their base found Alexei sitting at a table with the man in charge of the bar. They had come to a relatively easy agreement. So long as Alexei could keep up the supply he’d buy liquor from him. For a mutually profitable price of course.
The man walked away as Alexei finished his smoke and glass of water. A couple of the 3rd’s newer members were looking to each other and glancing back at Alexei from time to time as they had what appeared to be an excitable conversation. As Alexei went to leave several of them walked over and asked “We uh..we heard you were planning on running booze around these parts. We were wondering if maybe you could use a little help.”
Alexei looked the men over. Most of them were maybe in their twenties, wearing uniforms that were mostly in order aside from a few issues, and seemed eager. Pulling the cigarette from his mouth Alexei said “I might need enforcers, and people to run product, but aren’t you in with the 3rd?”
One of the men nodded as he explained “Yeah but we’re going to be part of the patrol section they’re establishing. Work in small teams and we just move around making sure everything’s okay around here. We’d have plenty of agency to move things for you.”
Alexei seemed to think about it for a time before shaking one’s hand and telling the group “Okay. But if you try and fuck me I’ll repay the favor.” before walking away as the men assured him that they wouldn’t. Walking out the door he thought to years back.
Back when he was riding with Bandit on a pair of motorcycles with balaclavas and helmets on with their license plates covered. That night they were going for blood cause someone that Bandit had grown up with had tried to get him killed. Alexei recalled walking up to the man’s door and kicking it in before running in with his pistol out. The man hadn’t even had the chance to grab his own gun before Alexei and Bandit were in his room.
Alexei spotted something that pissed both him and Bandit off. Of course the man tried to explain it away. That only ended with Alexei covering the man’s face with the bandanna that had pissed him and Bandit off. Then he shot the man through the head and left the body there as he and Bandit ran out to their motorcycles and rode off.
As he sat down in his car he figured doing something like that to any of these men would be easy. They would have the whole of the 3rd backing them up. But still, eye for eye tooth for tooth blood for blood and all that.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2018, 03:48:35 am
(( Victor stuff written with Noct. ))
"So." Hector said to break the silence, now that Helen had left the room. "Anything else I can help with? Aside from you testing out the bed." he remarked. "Which admittedly seems like an unusual thing to do given the apparent urgency of this."
Victor looked a bit tired as if he was just half paying attention. At Hector's remark he slowly shifted his attention to him. "Yeah, listen. This might seem weird but is there anything of interest Roxanne keeps here maybe? You said you moved here so I suppose I can ask for your permission. So far I only have one lead and it's a puzzle..." Victor then looked back at the bed then to Hector again. "Oh, sorry about the bed... it was... a dream."
Hector hmmed a bit at that, giving a glance at Victor as he realized how it seemed like Victor had managed to fit in a decent nap in however little time he had been there. "My guess is likely where she's kept the items related to her being a spirit now. Dresser has some different ceremonial clothes mixed in with the usual stuff from the looks of it, a few artifacts, I'm guessing also items acquired over the years or from her time as an assassin." he answered.
The second thing Victor said to him stood out, however. "Huh. I'm reasonably certain you simply passing out for an having a dream isn't exactly normal. You weren't in here very long, were you?" he asked, getting an idea. "Anything you recall?"
"Items from being a spirit and assassin huh? I guess if anything is missing we can work what type of missing she is in? Working backwards you know? She took the flesh weapons but might need other stuff. She doesn't carry the laser stuff anymore since she lost the bionics to power them; my bad apparently." After saying this Victor went over and looked at the altar Roxanne had set up. He went over and examined it; it had been used recently from what he saw.
Hector's second remarks caught him a bit off guard. "Oh, right. How long you ask?" He checked his wrist as if checking a wrist watch but chuckled when he found out he wasn't wearing one. Victor looked back at Hector and shrugged a little. "I don't know actually. It could've been a couple minutes or a couple hours. All I know is I came in here, passed out and woke up to Helen reading the note. You probably want to know the dream right? Sure."
Victor gave a deep sigh before continuing. "It was Roxanne, she learned from some people how to invade dreams apparently. Wants to meet up tomorrow. You probably weren't supposed to know that but you know. She was acting weird and then hugged me after telling me to check a puzzle thingy. Anyways, the altar there has been used recently, might be a clue as well."
Hector winced a little under his helm as Victor rather casually mentioned why Roxanne was a spirit, before calming himself. Let it slide, he doesn't remember all of it. At least he'd better not... he thought, listening before glancing over at the altar. "I'm guessing it wasn't too long, but no idea. Should've asked Helen I guess." he said, before giving a sigh.
As Victor went on he perked up a bit, regarding the altar curiously. "That likely means she's still alive at least. Puzzle, right...maybe it's here by the altar, wouldn't be surprised if she expected you to check it." he said, taking a look through a couple other things in the meantime, to see if anything was noticeably out of place. "Huh. Katar's not here either. That makes that sword she took even more redundant..."
"Yeah, not used in delving into the dream stuff now. It was just weird." Victor responding still rather nonchalantly. "As for the puzzle, it's in my journal according to her. I'll deal with it later; have to bypass an algo- a bunch of arcane locks first." At the mention of the katar Victor gave a confused look. "I've only ever seen that thing once actually. Does it have any special properties she might favor over a literal fragment of a god?"
Hector chuckled some. "I see. Didn't think arcane locks would operate on codes and puzzles like that. I can see that being rather insecure depending on how its rules are set up." he pointed out, before shaking his head over the question. "No. Not like I could add any enchantments to it, forged it and made all the fittings myself. Tried to make it as compatible as I could with the way she used her preferred weapon at the time."
“It’s more like computer algorithms from what I know. SoA liked to borrow tech concepts for its arcane stuff so this “puzzle” is just a modified arcane lock.” Victor responded to the comment on the puzzle. Then he shrugged at the explanation of the katar.
“Then I have no idea why she would take it... unless...” Victor’s expression turned to that of deep thought. “Uhhh, sorry if this sound offensive or something... But in my experiences with this world’s version of Roxanne, you know, my friend before she died and then I met this current Roxanne... anyways, she was always keen on symbolism in things. Maybe Luna shares that in common?” What Victor wasn’t saying is that those “experiences” were just brief entries in his journal due to his now lack of memories of alt-Roxanne. However, Victor’s mind was too scrambled at the moment to understand that might cause some confusion.
Hector regarded Victor's question with a look of curiosity, though concealed under his helm the fact he'd stopped to consider that was apparent. "That...might be the case. If it's symbolic then..." he said, trailing off a bit. "What comes to mind, then? My guess is if there's a symbolic reason, it might be a connection to the people here at the farm."
Victor gave a deep sigh at the response. "Yeah, she is close to you for obvious reasons and you made the thing for her. That might be it, why would she decided that was important on a mission when she didn't show that before? This is making my head hurt..." He took a moment to think before commenting again. "Tell you what, we aren't going anywhere right now... why don't you see if you can figure out what might be going through Roxanne's head since you know her better than anyone and I go figure out what this puzzle thing even is... oh, and sorry for barging into your room like that... didn't know it was also your room... I'll get a warrant next time..."
Hector regarded the spot where the katar usually rested, looking back to Victor. "Very well then. Maybe it is a personal matter. Maybe some ritual purpose involving her connection to people here. Or if anyone specific..." He trailed off a bit, before giving a nod. "It's fine. You had your reasons." he said. "Go ahead and I'll keep at it for now. Just...I pray she comes back safely. If she does that dream thing again, and if you think it's acceptable to tell her that you let me in on it, tell her that." he added, sitting down by the desk as Victor left.
Nathaniel grumbled a bit as he followed the trail of utter havoc left in Lilith's wake, one hand in reach of his old holstered pistol as he went, still having no idea what the creature clinging to her was. Though it certainly didn't quite act like the blobs he'd seen here and there, he hadn't been present to witness Delta and one of her offshoots show up earlier.
"Fuckin' wait, Lilith ease up! You're gonna trash the whole place at this rate!" he called out after her, nearly tripping over what used to be part of a motorcycle. "Great. The fuckin' bunker under this place, all these new people, Dee crawlin' back, Sharlene doing god knows what, tiger-riding slimes...what next?"
Helen glanced over her armament as she neared the bridge. Hammer. Symbol of judgement. And the sword Steinar gave her. She considered whether it would be a good idea to bring a firearm as well, as it had proven useful just yesterday. But now was not a good time to double back and rifle through the farm's armory. Others were already soon to arrive.
"Gods, guard and guide us. Those of this world and beyond, by your protection, may we find our those we seek, safe and sound." she said softly. "Dii supra et infra, dōnēs nobis virtus..."
The Knight of The Veil could feel a pull, a vague sense of guidance channeled through the weapon he now held. The guidance itself was less direct, less of a voice in the pit of his very soul, and more of a pull towards a specific purpose. The reason why would become apparent from the flash of insight that came with it.
Horace was tasked to hand off the items retrieved from the God's Army camp to the augmented fellow he rescued, so that they may be returned to the smiths as promised. Then, the pull seemed to suggest heading deeper into Maine. The recent rift was readily apparent, sensed by any spirit, even one bound in a suit of unearthly armor. There was a task to be done to prevent it from causing further problems, it seems.
The briefest of images became apparent, a warning of what to look out for. Those who caused the rift, not an enemy but still to be avoided just in case. Something else, a spirit. Someone being chased, a potential ally if encountered. And finally, a grave warning, a flash of imagery that made the reason for communing via a deluge of images and vague sensations plain as day.
The parasite, as the shrouded one would have termed him, was a part of this world again. And to name him would draw unwanted attention.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 03, 2018, 10:54:19 am
Cheena followed the spirit of Mikko back the way they had come. Cold fields gave way to bleak rocks, a maze of clear ground where surprisingly hardy tufts of sparse grasses had begun to come up. There was more life in this cold place than there had been in the rest of the expanse save for the clearing.
"We are almost there, Cheena." Mikko said. The further they had walked, Cheena had seen a change taking place in her guide and god figure. Slowly but surely, he was wearing out. She knew it, but until he stumbled, she couldn't see it.
"Are you okay?" She asked fearfully. If their was something wrong with him, wrong with Mikko, then it was serious.
"No." He grunted, "But I will be." He pushed himself back to his feet and continued the climb, Cheena in close tow behind him. Atomos woke a few hours later, her brains afire with a hell of a migraine. It took a long moment for her to clear her head and reorient herself. She was in a room, a young ladies room by the looks. Their was something wrong, everything seemed so dark. Too dark, and there was something wrong with her mouth. The chalky, dirty feel of an unclean mouth was absent. she couldn't feel it running her tongue over her teeth anyway. There was something else she didn't feel either. Her fangs, the long teeth that had so rudely pushed their way out of her gums, we're gone. Her night sight was gone, her sense of smell too. She hadn't noticed how dull the world was before. She was human again, that was certain, but she was ALL human. She raked her hands through her hair and found that her ears had returned to normal. Last she ran a hand down her backside. She wasn't sure how to take the disappearance of her jaunty fluffy tail. Astor had done something to her, had taken something. The guardian, he had taken the guardian and fled. Why though? Why not kill her as she lay unconscious? He could have done it easily enough.
She stood uneasily, finding balance to be something akin to tightrope walking now that the fox like equilibrium had been stripped from her. How had she managed being so clumsy before? It didn't matter, her memory mattered. She sifted it, seeking some clue in the dark. There was the feeling of being pulled in two, and then a bright light. Astor's hood hadn't allowed a single narrow beam into it, the darkness within was too absolute. In his other hand, the one not throwing her across the room like a limp toy, was her medallion. There was screaming too, but it hadn't been her doing it. It was Astor, but why?
There was a flashlight in her bag which she hadn't really needed much but kept just in case, and with a bit of rummaging it was out and on. It was definitely the same room. Same posters, same vanity, same sad form crumpled in the corner amongst a pile of blankets. Atomos tripped over her own feet and came down with a hard this which stirred up dust from the carpet. As the dust settled, she heard it. Something downstairs, snuffling about and croaking quietly. It was then that her muted senses kicked themselves up a notch, and she smelled it. Acrid, oily, the scent of filth and decay. The thing, the "Mammon." It was a wonder it hadn't found her while she was unconcious and ripped her apart. She stood as quietly as she could and thought. How to get out of this? The window? Maybe. Then she thought about Cheena. It seemed wrong, very wrong, that her body should be left to that things whims. The window it was, but Cheena would be coming too. Atomos spread out a blanket on the bed and carefully wrapped the poor foxes body in it, then for the moment tucked it under her arm. The waning moon above showed the back yard better than she thought it would and she was pleased to see the drop wasn't long, or uninterrupted. There was an awning below her window, the trip down would be even shorter from there. She had a moment to wonder how good the monsters hearing was as she slid down from the window, and whether it would pick up her trail or not after this. She had to hope it wouldn't. "We have arrived." Mikko announced. Cheena found herself led into a circle of stones atop a wide flat plateau. The sparse grass was thicker here, but oddly withered and there was litter of the human sort scattered about. At the center of it all was some kind of construction of wooden shafts and cords upon which was stretched a fox skin.
"What is this place?" She asked, looking at the skin warrily. Even though the skin was badly worn, ragged and torn even, it had a sense of something familiar and warm.
"This is a spirit house." Mikko told her, "This is Atomos spirit house, where I have been trapped until the eater of days tore me from my imprisonment. What do you see Cheena?" He waited patiently for the answer, pleased that Cheena seemed to be taking her time. For her part, the young vixen believed that she was being tested somehow, Mikko was a tricky one and often had some game in mind. There was no game here though.
"A fox... skin?"
Mikko nodded slowly. He wasn't really surprised. "To me Cheena, it appears as a net. A worn and weathered net. You are still very young, metaphor escapes you. This is Atomos spirit."
Cheena was taken aback. She could see the 'net' now that Mikko had described it. The skin had seemed to transform into it as he'd told her about it. As he said, it was worn out. That didn't quiet cover it though, the net was ripped and ruined. Nothing would ever be caught in this net ever again.
"But Mikko, this net is useless. Like the skin, no fox could survive with..." She stopped. If this thing was Atomos spirit, and it was in such a condition... "Atomos can't live with her spirit like this! What happened to it?"
"I happened to it." Mikko said, "I was ensnared in it, and I was torn from it. I happened to it Cheena." He looked sad and a little guilty sitting in front of the net blowing in the wind. A breeze from the cold plain below snatched at a scrap of paper lying between a pair of boulders and blew it across the plateau where Cheena caught it. It was a crude drawing of many people, some kind of note asking for help. Of all the drawings, one stood out to her. A girl with ears and a tail of a fox, looking sickly and pale.
"Can't you... Can't you fix it? Fix her?" Cheena asked. She couldn't keep the fear out of her voice. She seemed to have forgotten that she was dead in her wonder and that fact came back to her when she considered her options for aiding her friend. The dead couldn't help anyone...
"No, I can't. I'm old Cheena, I've been old for centuries and I just don't have it in me anymore. I am, as the humans say, 'used up.'"
"But, Atomos-"
"I'm tired, I can't go on Cheena... I'm an old spirit with no followers." Mikko said. In that moment, he sounded old and worn out, empty. "I should have faded from the world centuries ago."
"So there's nothing you can do?" Cheena quailed. The fox was shocked that her god figure could do nothing for her friend, more shocked at what he claimed about "fading."
"Nothing, but there is something you can do." Cheena was heavy in her arms, and the thing was out there somewhere, stalking her. Under the light of day, it had charged and tore through the underbrush. Under the light of the moon and stars, it took on a whole new aspect. One of silence and stealth. Atomos didn't need her lost senses to know she was being hunted. The line of trees broke before her, and let her out onto the open field. Once she was out in the open, there would be no where to hide. No where to stalk her from. When she was out in the open, it would come for her. Stupid to do so, would have been smarter to hit her while she'd still been in Abaddon. That was the one advantage she knew she had over the wretched thing. It was stupid.
"One foot in front of the other Jenny, don't trip yourself up." She mumbled. Getting that first foot out in front of her was hard though. It was stupid for the creature to come after her in the open, but it was just as stupid for Atomos to expose herself like this. As she saw it though, there wasn't much choice. Dead in the field or dead in the garden. She was just as dead wherever the monster caught her. Finally the first step was taken, and everything that followed unfolded from there. "She doesn't know it yet. Might not even feel it, but as you have guessed Cheena, She is dying. Not right away but in time this wound will spread and Atomos will wither and die." Mikko explained, circling the sad looking net, "Seven years ago, a long time for you maybe but an instant for me, I was freed from my imprisonment only to run myself into a trap of a very different kind. Imagine yourself Cheena, caught in a net. Thrashing about, trying to get free. Would you not tear that net? And if in your struggle you only managed to wrap yourself more thoroughly in that net, what would happen to that net if you found yourself being forcibly torn from it?"
Cheena hadn't been lucid, or even alive at that point in the encounter with Astor. By then, she'd been walking the path through the snow.
"But how Mikko? How did you get tangled up?" She asked, but he shook his head. The time had been a confusion of strange influences and fear. His host had been in and out of consciousness and he himself had gone dormant for a long period of time until Atomos found herself free of the festering tomb that the vault had become.
"It doesn't matter. You have a choice, and time has become very short. If Atomos spirit remains in this state, she will surely die. I hold you to nothing Cheena, but another spirit must be laid over Atomos's."
"And I'm the only one who can do it." Cheena said wonderingly. She hadn't been faced with such an important decision before. The implications were broad and alien. If she took Mikko's place, who could tell what would become of her. What would happen to Atomos too. In the realm of the living, Atomos was stumbling her way across the empty field, a dead fox in her arms, cursing rather than thanking whatever god was listening for the loss of her mutations.
"I hold you to nothing, as I said. You may pass with me into the spring at the end of the long winter. Atomos will surely die if you do so, but the eternal spring is the reward of all goodly creatures. Or you can join with her and save her life, living as a prisoner in her body and seeing the world of the living for however long she lives."
"It isn't much of a choice," Cheena said bitterly, "Going to the clearing would be an empty thing to do now that I know what I know. How could I go there knowing I left someone to suffer?"
"You are a good creature Cheena, one of-"
"Just tell me what I need to do to save her." Atomos hit the door to the farm house harder than she had to and sprawled out on the floor beyond. She rolled and kicked the door shut in the things face before scrambling clumsily to her feet, nearly toppling herself when she bent for Cheena. There was no time to take stock of her surroundings, all she could see was windows instead and again she cursed the loss of her mutations. What she wouldn't give for the balance her tail had afforded, or her night sight. Outside, the monster gurgled and vomited. A window was spattered with the vile acid. Fortunately and surprisingly, the glass didn't dissolve and that gave Atomos an idea.
In her time with Cheena, she had briefly looked into the farmhouse. It had an old fireplace with a glass front. It would be worthless for hiding, but if she could get the door off it's slide... There wasn't time. Instead, she slid Cheena into the fireplace and shut the glass doors in the hopes that it would keep the beast from finding her body. With her hands free, Atomos could put up a fight, put up some kind of defense. If she was lucky she thought perhaps she could drive it off. If it was as stupid as she thought it was though, there would be no chance of that. When Cheena was secure, she spun and listened.
Silence.
Her rifle was in her hands before she knew it but she wondered what good it would do her in such a tight confined space. Scanning the darkness provided no clues, but it gave her a moment to take stock of herself. She felt sick, sick and empty. Phantom versions of her lost physical mutations seemed to be insisting that they still existed, like shadows of their former selves. She thought she saw something, a shadow cast from a window. Something slick and spiderlike. The stalker. Not Mammon as God's Army called it, Atomos had given it her own name. The Stalker. If she couldn't kill it, it would be stalking her forever. She didn't need her foxes instincts to know it.
A feeling came over her, horribly familiar, confusing, unexpected, and agonizing. She was changing, and she didn't know how or why.
"Not now, oh jeez, not now."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 03, 2018, 09:05:12 pm
The Seven, Alice, and Helen followed the signal. It was surprisingly easy to do so as Charles pointed out, even for one that someone wanted them to follow. And soon they caught sight of the building. An old ramshackle place that was boarded up to keep prying eyes out.
As they approached Anton sniffed the air and said “Only one I smell in there is him.”
In fact, if she were inclined to do so, scanning the place with her mask the only thing Helen would see would be Isaac sitting limply in a chair. That and something faintly glowing in her mask’s vision clutched in his hand, a single pearl.
Walking through the door would reveal a stripped room with Isaac sitting in the middle of it. He was rather obviously alive but unconscious. The only thing of note was the faintly glowing pearl that Helen noticed she seemed to be the only one to see as the Seven waited for orders as Alice worriedly checked her father.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 03, 2018, 09:27:52 pm
Hector was lost in thought as he pondered what Roxanne would need the katar for. He suspected the bonds it represented, not only to him but to Walkerville as a whole, might be important for something. A reminder...or protection. Or something to stabilze her. he thought.
Stabilize. It was that word that brought him back to the earlier conjecture on why she took the flesh weapons. Someone, if not Roxanne than whoever she was going to meet, might have figured out the same thing Helen suggested. Roxanne had needed all three types of essence, and his mind kept coming back to that thought.
At the same time, he wondered who might possibly know enough about the living weapons to encourage her to bring it. If it wasn't her decision, and Hector still wasn't 100% sure if it was or wasn't. But if it wasn't, that someone would've had to been exposed to them sometime in the past. Possibly someone linked to whatever mad science created them. Some aspect of the bio-weapon project.
Part of him wished Victor was still there, to tell him that his wild train of thought involved too much in the way of jumping to conclusions. Maybe offer alternative reasons someone would want the weapons, or failing that some alternative use for combined essence unrelated to the forbidden pieces. At the same time, the barest chance that Roxanne might be meeting another holder of those things filled him with immeasurable dread, surpassing the tension of stalking his way through the empty cave where she had technically died.
Out of reflex he reached for his shield, set aside by the desk, a hand resting on the surface as he realized that he could do nothing. He looked over it, over the strange ivory and the design that was not merely painted on it, but also engraved into the material itself. He stumbled a bit over half-remembered words, from decades ago that now felt like centuries, a literal world away. "Defend them from all dangers...soul and body..." he said softly, wincing as he realized that last bit didn't quite apply anymore. "...may be bound together in thy love..." He trailed off a bit, before picking up the shield.
She'd followed along close behind the others, hammer in one hand and symbol of judgement in the other, and when they stopped she activated her mask to peer through the building. "Nothing visible in there besides Isaac and...magical effect I don't recognize in his hand, might be part of the trap." she said softly, before making her decision.
"I'd suggest at least three of you maintain the perimeter and watch for anyone approaching while we're in there." she suggested, singling out Liam. "Liam, maybe...just in case it's liable to interact with your magic?" she suggested.
When they entered the building she swept the room, mask still active and still expecting something to ambush them, but all there seemed to be to the place was Isaac and the strange magical aura. It soon became apparent the pearl was only noticed as an aura in the vision of her mask. "Careful, check him for injuries and use this if needed." she said, handing a small vial of red liquid to Alice.
"You can't...see it? It's not a magic item then, some sort of spell bound to him then." she said, reaching to ensure that his apparent "grip" on it wouldn't be disturbed.
Horace rode on, his mount allowing him to make good time, knowing well enough how to keep his steed at a pace that would make good time without undue burden to it. The closer to the outskirts of Abaddon they got, the more Horace could instinctively sense the rift itself. It was still relatively fresh. In time it would stabilize, and cease to be a short-term threat. But it could be mended permanently if caught and tended to while it was still unstable.
The knight could also sense the sheer aura of malice that seemed to radiate from the city itself. And faint hints of the unnatural goings-on that practically spilled out into the surrounding countryside. Their route had allowed him to avoid the creeping vines that infested a full half of the city's perimeter, and simple good fortune had allowed him to avoid running into any God's Army patrols. But now, though it seemed as though the surrounding area was devoid of any natural life, the feeling of being near something unnatural lingered, stronger than even the haze of dread permeating the city itself, or radiating from the rift a few miles away.
Elsewhere in another part of Maine, those among the Shepard's Wolves returned from their missions...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 03, 2018, 11:25:52 pm
Alice checked him over. Aside from a scrape on his leg he was fine. When Helen grabbed his wrist however she heard a voice. An old raspy voice that somehow sounded young and energetic at the same time. “If you’d like for your friend to wake sooner I’d suggest you take the pearl. Or not..perhaps it would be better to leave him as such.”
Liam meanwhile stood outside rolling his eyes and looking around. He didn’t really see anything around the place but figured he may as well keep an eye out. Looking over his shoulder after a minute he said “Nothing out here or in the tree line.”
Elsewhere Edgar racked the shotgun in his hand and started for the door. Allie had told him about the place and they were going to knock the door in like he had back in his younger years. Sliding the hockey mask on over his face he walked towards the door as Allie stood next to it.
One kick and the door fell in as he followed behind it with the shotgun ready. In this enclosed of a space the gun going off deafened him as the slug flew through the air. Racking the weapon again he saw two more men rush into the room with MP5s. Silently cussing himself Edgar hoped they were piss poor shots.
Thankfully one went down as Allie shot him in the head cause him to stumble back into the wall. The other managed to hit Edgar in the stomach with a round before a slug sent his arm flying off to the side before a pistol bullet took him to the floor missing an eye. Walking forward Edgar chambered another shell as they walked into the other room of the building.
Inside they found shelves of crates. Letting the shotgun hang on it’s sling Edgar grabbed a crowbar and popped one open. Looking over at Allie he said “Holy fuck. If all of these is loaded up like that..swear these lads must’ve been gearing up an army.”
Grabbing a radio Allie said “Hey Ale..Boss we need you to come round so we can haul all of this.” A few moments later and Alexei said he was on the way.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 04, 2018, 02:48:37 am
(( Horace stuff written with Salt and Wilson. ))
Helen gave a little sigh as she heard the voice calling out, looking back to the others. A fourth I know, if men shall fasten bonds on my bended legs... she thought, reciting something to herself as she reached to touch the pearl. "Be ready for whatever activating this may provoke." she directed.
The fetters spring from my feet... she thought, focusing on whatever effect the magic bound in that gem would reveal. Whatever the nature of this trap, she knew it wouldn't bode well to leave him like this.
Horace rode up onto an recently demolished ruin of a farm, despite his new 'predicament', he could still smell the thick miasma emanating from the pile of wood scraps and tile. There were scraps of flesh, fur, and body parts of what he assumed were foxes or small dogs. An echo-y groan came out from inside that hollow helmet, "Gods, what did this?" He said as he looked around.
As he skirted the site, he saw the pair of trucks smashed together. One of them was some kind of small tanker with "Rowdy Randies Pest Control" stenciled onto the side while the other was a transport of some kind with blue crosses painted onto it. What the animals were was made clear when he spied a complete body, the corpse of a particularly aged looking fox lying near the wrecked vehicles.
The watcher from beyond saw and sensed through the "body" of his knight easily enough, and the stench of death was familiar. The sense permeating the place gave an unnatural character to the field. There was a vague flash of thought in the back of Horace's mind. The feeling that something abnormal was at work. The watcher suspected this was neither battle nor culling of vermin. There was a purpose in this, one that wasn't part of the natural order.
He scanned the area carefully, unsure of what to make of the unnatural pall that hung over the farm. It was a place of death, but he had the feeling that something was still afoot here and he was right. A shrieky little cry erupted from the farmhouse and their followed a loud crash and an unnatural roar. It was a hungry sound, the sound of a predator. Horace spurred his horse on and rounded the wreckage just in time to see a flash of red in the moonlight, dogged close behind by something black and vile. The thing seemed to inflate before spraying some acrid sizzling fluid after the poor creature. The fox swerved, and saw him.
"PICK ME UP! PICK ME UP!" It shrieked. The sounds were entirely animal, but he understood none the less. There was some other power at work here. He didn't quite understand yet.
Horace's eyes would have widened if he had any, without hesitation he leaned over to scoop up that fox by grabbing it by the nape of it's neck. Horace took off his helmet, "Get in. You should be safe." He said as he dropped the fox inside the suit of armor without waiting for it's response, putting the helmet back on. The knight of The Veil drew that slightly warped claymore, holding it with one hand.
The beast stopped short, unsure what to make of the horse. A creature as large as this was something it hadn't encountered before other than the plants which had tried to snare it. It wouldn't hold for long though. Inside his breastplate, The animate suit of armor felt the fox suddenly go still.
Passed out. He thought, But what of this monstrosity?
The question of what to do about it was answered for him when it launched itself at him, tackling him from his mount. His helm was in it's mouth, the thing trying to devour what it could. The enchanted steel held against it's assault though, resisting sheer edges that would cleave through more mundane metal like a wire through butter. Surprise wore off quickly, and Horace punched a gauntleted fist into the side of the things "head," shattering the bizarrely flexible bones and teeth beneath. Instead of dislodging though, it countered by pouring the contents of it's guts over the suit of armor. The corrosive fluid touched the enchantment and sizzled uselessly in the open night air.
"Off me foul beast!" He cried, bringing the hilt of his sword around to send it sprawling. He gained his feet quickly and swung in a wide, whistling arc. The warped blade withered and snapped off on of the creatures arms, and the monster screamed. It sounded like an angry sound. As he watched, it snatched up the lost limb and consumed it all the while regrowing the limb it had just lost. The fox would have told him that running was the only option, but he had made an impression on this beast, and for now it seemed content to keep it's distance and wait. The armored newcomer could not be bitten into, could not be burned, and could fight back. It would bide.
The watcher broke the silence that had lingered, when the beast had regrouped. The heart, or the head. Preferably both.the voice directed, Horace readying his axe. The unnatural nature of the creature was readily apparent, watching as it stalked and crept around Horace. Surveying and judging the nature of potential prey. There was the stench of the fox it was after, strange steel and treated skin ripped from some unfamiliar-smelling beast. But no flesh underneath.
Except that of its target. It lunged again, not heeding the axe brought into a guard position, soon brought down to bite deep into the clavicle of the creature. That and a hard kick that cracked chitin. The spray of horrid ichor seemed to fume and smoke as the blade cut in, a strange heat emanating from it. Just as quickly as the blade was withdrawn, the flesh was already mending, though slowed by the marks the weapon left.
He pressed the attack, another limb shorn off as it raised spindly clawed limbs to halt the strike, letting loose a screech that would've been ear-splitting if the figure had a body. "Come on you overgrown cockroach..." the armored figure hissed out.
It backed down, emitting a short shriek now and again. The armor wondered what purpose such calls served, if there were more of these things around. For the time being though, it kept a safe distance from the source of danger. The first creature besides a warwalker that could provide such agony.
Inside Horace, he felt the animal stir. "Where am I? Is it gone?" A pause, and then she said something a little confusing. "I changed back?"
A cursed being. The watcher observed, feeling the creature hiding inside Horace.
Horace took off his helmet, "Are you alright?" He asked, "You passed out..." Horace continued as he reached into the armor to get the fox out, lowering the axe down.
The curse will need mending, before she can be restored. the voice added, a vague sense of that whisper from beyond, a flicker of it that Atomos could vaguely sense, if not overhear. Dragging her into the fray will only endanger her, but we have a mission...
The fox saw the creature right away, stalking nearby. As soon as she'd cleared the mail, it darted forward only to be rebuffed by the strange suit of armor raising it's axe threateningly. Her situation was getting stranger all the time, but she would make the most of it.
"I need to go back for Cheena, but your horse. If we leave it alone it will- Who? Ch-Cheena?"
Horace couldn't hear it, but the watcher did. A discourse between another, a second spirit laid over the foxes own. It wasn't the source of this poor animals curse, but it was somehow tied to it in some way.
"What do you mean 'leave it behind!?' I can't leave you behind, it's not... You don't..." She said aloud. She was talking to the other, the spirit twined into her own. The other, Cheena, wanted this Atomos to leave her body behind. To not risk going back for it, it was no good to her anymore anyway. It was right that it should stay in the open air. "Do you hear other voices?"
They seemed to have forgotten the creature, and it had opted to watch and wait from somewhere they couldn't see it. In the meantime there was plenty of carrion to sate itself with.
Horace sat crisscrossed, as he focused on his hearing and began to meditate. It can wait, Watcher. The cockroach is still around. And the fox here would make an easy and tasty morsel. Besides, the fox is important, no? Horace spoke up, as his 'breathing' slowed. "We have a moment of respite, little one. As I've said earlier, are you alright?" he asked, Horace's voice was deep and raspy, aged but not overtly so.
"No! I'm a fox!" She shouted, "I'm a fox and I did this! I did all of-"
Horace actually heard it, a small voice. Youthful, female, a little sad. "No you didn't. Blue men did this."
"They followed me! They followed me and they killed everyone and they brought that thing here and I-"
"They would have come anyway, Mikko said so."
The fox shivered uncontrollably. Now that the danger had backed off and it seemed safe, Atomos had time to think. She wasn't sure how Cheena had ended up in her head, or where the other had gone. Cheena was more active than the other, and that was a relief, but what exactly was going on?
"I don't know," Cheena said, "But Mikko is gone. Poor Mikko, he was too old. He said so. What are we going to do now?"
"I can't live like this, I'm sorry Cheena, but I can't stay a fox forever..." Atomos explained, then surprised the armor a little by addressing him, "Excuse me Mr. uh, armor... person... thing... Do you know the way to the refugee center? The one near 'New London?' I need to get there, there's a woman near there who I have to find."
Horace nodded, "I do. Horace, by the way." He didn't believe he was about to ask this, but... "What's your name?" Horace asked as he got up, letting out a sigh.
"Atomos..." Atomos said sulkily.
"Cheena!" Cheena shouted energetically. Atomos winced, wondering if this was what it was going to be like with the energetic young fox riding around in her head.
Horace tilted his head slightly, before shrugging it off. "Would you like to continue riding inside my armor or I could get a saddlebag ready for you." He offered.
Atomos looked around warily, looking for the creature. She wasn't comfortable being carried in any way, even in a saddle bag, but if she went on foot the Stalker wouldn't hesitate. It would try to snatch her up and be away from the protective suit of armor before it could respond.
"What's a saddlebag?" Cheena asked, Atomos looked to the horse and focused on the bags strapped to it's sides. "Oh. That might be fun."
"The bag..." Atomos grumbled.
Horace nodded at that, scooping her up and settling her inside one of the empty bags on the horse. "Apologies for not having more comfortable alternatives." He apologized as he looked up at the night sky. "Moon sets in the east, rises in the west... Never eat shredded wheat..." he mumbled aloud. Before turning the horse around and embarking to the south.
If we are prompt, then the mission can wait. So be it. the watcher finally replied. Denying the parasite its prey will help as well. However...of those spirits, the one this young one mentioned...Mikko. If they are lost to us, we may be unable to recover them. the voice added, now clear enough that Atomos could hear it in the back of her mind.
"He's gone..." Cheena interjected, "Went to the eternal spring with the rest of them. He told me he was tired and asked me to take his place..."
She seemed sad and the watcher could see why. This young spirit had seen the ancient guardian as some kind of god figure. What she meant by "gone." Was obvious. The spirit of Mikko had passed on.
Atomos stayed silent, unsure of what to make of this news. She hardly knew the spirit, didn't even know how he got there really. The idea of magic and spirits and all this hoodoo was strange and incomprehensible to her. Even Cheena it seemed had a better grasp on it than she did.
The watcher did not reply. He knew well enough that this Mikko was a bit above a mere wayward spirit of the dead. Passing on was the fate of mortal spirits, whose purpose had been fulfilled. There was a vague sense almost like perceiving distant thunder, that betrayed the irritation that his impassive mental voice would've failed to convey. He fully suspected that "passed on" meant "destroyed" in this case.
But that merely left the task at hand, the horse riding on as they gained distance between them and the Stalker. And moreover, between them and Abaddon. Soon there would be a time to rest, but for now they rode on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Mrnocamera on August 04, 2018, 05:36:25 am
Cardin happily chirps as he releases Solomon, bouncing up and down on the spot and fluttering his wings. He does a low, long whistle before covering his beak with his hands. Looking apologetic, the bird picks the book back up and starts to wander off, plopping himself on the floor next to the cot he was in and starting to read through it, waving off Solomon like he was a servant.
Wadi was stuck to Lilith like she was made out of fly paper, despite the agitated tiger's best efforts. The slime felt weirdly cold against her fur, and she hated it. "NataLEEEEEEEE! THUPID GREEN THING ON LILITH!" She roars, bellyflopping onto the ground again. The green googirl just flattens herself against Lilith's midsection, then reforms when the feline gets up once more. "Missed me!" Wadi moves upwards again, grabbing onto Lilith's teeth as she 'rolls' over the blue chest wrap. "Oooooh, what's thiiiiiis? Didn't you have b-" The goo is cut off by Lilith sneezing again. "Rude! Didn't you have bigger tits before? Where's your boobies?" She accompanies her question by getting rid of the ears and tail, using their mass to make a pretty sizeable bosom, orbs 'balanced' on top of Lilith's muzzle.
A couple of violent thrashes later, and Wadi appears to have vanished completely, save for a few drops of green gel on top of the blue thing, and what seems like an echo. "Wheeeeeeee!"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 04, 2018, 05:51:51 pm
Helen, after touching the pearl, found herself in a black void. This quickly filled itself with a desk atop which sat an old parchment with a quill and inkwell nearby. Behind that sat what appeared to be a long series of bookshelves that stretched as far as the eye could see. And of course behind the desk sat a being which wore a set of armor engraved in old ruins that Helen’s order had seen only in the most ancient of places they had delved for artifacts.
Setting another quill in the inkwell as Helen appeared the being glanced up at her before checking the parchment in front of him one last time. Standing she saw that the engravings on his armor extended to the sword on his belt and the shield on his back. Walking around the desk the being gave a deep bow as it said “Greetings Thane Helen McKinnon of The Cleansing Flame, I have been following your journey for some time now.”
Straightening itself to its full seven foot height the being looked around. As it did so the void was filled with ancient tapestries and stone masonry that turned to what appeared to be an old medieval looking library. As it looked over the surroundings it said “I regret that we must speak due to this situation. Perhaps, once your story had been concluded, I would have liked to have spoken with you about the details. However a spirit did damage to items which I would have liked to have studied at some point and as such I..meddled in his plans. Something I should not have done.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 05, 2018, 02:21:06 pm
Helen wasn't even sure what to think at first, raising a hand as she found herself drawn into a void, one that gradually coalesced into an unfamiliar setting. Her gaze settled on the figure that had appeared before her, examining the runes and trying to puzzle out who or what had drawn her into this setting.
She listened for a moment, figuring out at a bare minimum he didn't seem to be hostile. "I see. I had expected whoever inflicted this on the one I sought. But instead, I would guess that you are the reason he is still alive?" she asked, before giving a nod. "Regardless, if this is the case then if repairing the damage that has occurred is what you seek, then I will help however I can. May I ask who you are?"
Solomon for now tended to things around the Hall as Cardin read. The text itself included portions of ancient texts in other languages, with translations and the author's own musings in it. Egyptian work from the Hellenic period written in Greek, excerpts in Sanskrit, a substainial body of Arabic works referenced, portions written in Latin. But it was the excerpts from ancient Chinese sources that stood out the most, and would be the portions Cardin could get a grasp on.
From there it would be apparent that the author's translation was somewhat lacking, focusing more on the search for immortality, and not paying as much attention to the spiritual concepts referenced in the original text. The avian could puzzle out from the archaic text how the author treated the concept of a grand elixer of immortality as directly equivalent to the pancea, along with a few other mistakes that would be amusing if not for the conclusions producing something of practical value in its own right.
Nathaniel grumbled a bit as he caught up to Lilith, glaring at Wadi before reaching to try and do what he could to calm Lilith down. "Hell...easy Lil. Damnit, what are you doing y-" Cue a facepalm as Wafi went from shifting and mimicking what the strange cloth concealed to slithering in under it. "Oh for fucks sake...you know what? She can stay there for now. I think both of us need a break from that. And I need a drink..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 05, 2018, 04:15:56 pm
The being looked over to Helen and responded “It has been some time since I’ve needed to use a name. I recall being called the Great Historian many years ago. Though most I talked with called me Scholar.”
Reaching into one of the shelves he retrieved a dagger. Showing it to Helen he explained “Your friend was stabbed with this. They leave no physical wound but capture the soul of the victim in a gem placed in the pommel. Whoever did this does have something as powerful as your friends soul but I could not prevent all of the damage.”
Putting the dagger away he turned to observe the shelves he continued “I cannot make him whole. The wound to his soul exacerbated an internal conflict. He viewed himself in two parts, an angel and a demon. I can revive him but he will become one of the two.”
Making a slight motion the Scholar made what at first appeared to be a mirror come out of the floor. As he spoke an image of Isaac in a set of white armor bearing a red templar cross on the shoulder apperated in the mirror “The angel will strive to do good, do what is best not just for himself and his daughter but for a community.” Stopping for a moment as if to consider something he finally said “Sometimes I am allowed to view the ‘fates’, the ‘weave’, whatever one desires to call it. In the future this one will hesitate and that will cause the death of someone he cares for. He will start an organization after he deals with another, but not everyone he brings in will live up to his values.”
Looking back to Helen he concluded “If I’m to be honest he’ll also be weaker. Evidently the man viewed more of his actions as evil than good when he looked back on them.”
After a few moments the image in the mirror changed. This time of Isaac standing in his old armor though through the smoke rising from his helmet stuck out two horns and the eyes seemed to glow more intensely. “Honestly a bit on the nose for the ‘demon’. But this one, he won’t hesitate. He will do everything in his power to protect his daughter, kill anyone to protect her. Many men will die at his hands for little reason, but some will die and the world will be better without them. But he will bring great pain to many as well, perhaps even to some of those that you strive to train now.”
Sitting back behind the desk and grabbing the quill Scholar looked to Helen “The choice between the two is yours. If there is any question that I can answer to help with this decision I will do my best.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 05, 2018, 07:32:04 pm
Helen listened, cautious and uncertain as he went on. As she regarded the imagery the figure presented for her, she gave a sigh. "I wish I knew a way to ensure this could be mended without casting aside either element. Put simply, this is not a choice I should be making for him. If not his own choice, then that of his daughter." she said.
"But, I do not know if Alice can be drawn into this to give her thoughts on what must be done. Can you tell me...what would they be most likely to choose?" she asked, as she weighed the options. In truth, she was leaning heavily towards the former, and it was rather obvious that she'd see that as the least destructive choice. But the looming threat that it would lead to losing someone worried her. She knew if she chose that, this person's blood would ultimately be on her hands. But conversely, so would that of any innocents his other side might go on to harm.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 05, 2018, 07:51:29 pm
Scholar sighed as he began writing on the parchment. As he did so he said “I will not involve a child in this decision. The only reason there is a decision to be made is that the man himself was torn down the middle to his very soul.”
Stopping his writing for a moment he sighed again and continued “All that matters to the child is that her father lives. She has little knowledge of the man thanks to his crusade against crime years ago. Either way you choose she will get to know the man.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 05, 2018, 07:59:36 pm
Helen sighed a bit at that. "I understand. I suspect this is not a decision anyone would be comfortable making, whether for a loved one or a comrade." she said, realizing that something like this was quite similar to her predicament with Victor's memory.
And she knew full well that, conflicted though she was about the issue of Victor's lost memories, she had come to favor what she believed was the least self-destructive approach. "I see. I wish there was another way, but..." she said, before bowing her head. "If I choose the former, the consequences the future will bring are on my hands. But the same applies to the latter choice. The blood of any innocents he will kill, and the possible threat to a mission that has defined my entire life."
"I only hope I am making the right choice. I choose the path of the angel." she said softly.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 05, 2018, 08:23:10 pm
Scholar nodded to her as she spoke. Once she finished he said “Very well. I pray if we should meet again that it will be in better circumstance.”
The library faded into blackness. When she found herself in the real world she saw Aaron holding Alice and felt Anton’s hand on her shoulder as he pulled her back. The reason for this was a faint glow that poured off of Isaac for a moment before dissipating.
Blinking awake he looked around before saying “What in the hell happened? Swear with how all of you are looking at me I got stabbed or something.”
Standing up hugged Alice as she rushed to him after Aaron let her go. “How’re you doing? Sorry I worried everyone.”
She smiled as she said “I’m fine, just glad you’re okay now.”
Smiling himself Isaac said “That’s good. Now let’s all head home, I’ve got some things to work on. And I need to get back to teaching you how to shoot.” this last comment was directed towards Alice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 06, 2018, 05:52:35 am
With a loud groan and a bit of hesitation, Roxanne made her way up the stairs. Everyone else down at the mess area had already gone back to their rooms despite the day being quite young. The effects of the drug Christina and Clara had given her was still quite strong but it filled Roxanne with confidence. After a couple minutes, due to impareness, she made it up the stairs and looked down at the hallway in front of her.
“Huh? What do you want?”, Roxanne asked out loud at seemingly no one. “Wait what? You are creeped out? Why? Oh… yeah, this seems a bit odd and the atmosphere is quite heavy. Still, there is nothing you and I can’t overcome; we both proven as much right? Besides, this Plague guy might be a creep but the guys downstairs seem fine with it. Come on! Void, seriously? Fine fine, we are in this together, I will keep my guard up; just lend me your strength.”
Roxanne had been walking forwards towards Plague’s office as she spoke; by the time she had said all that she was already at the door. Roxanne reached a hand to open the door knob but suddenly felt something; it was the same feeling she had felt at the mall, what she felt when she made the deal to come here in the first place, the same one when she was with Hector and Quinn, the very feeling that caused her to steal the flesh weapons. Roxanne’s now bright pink eyes flashed and she let go of the knob; her was blanc save for an unnerving smile. The door suddenly opened on its own to reveal plague sitting behind his desk; the flesh weapons laid in front of him.
“Spirit of the Void Roxanne Luna, it’s good to finally meet you in person. Come on in and take a seat. We have a lot to talk about.” Roxanne noded at the words Plague told her. She entered the room and closed the door behind her; not once did her gaze left Plague’s unmaked face.
It wasn’t long before Victor made his way back to the hall and more specifically to Helen’s quarters; his quarters too? This drug made him not sure. Still, he had had limited exposure to it in a dream so it was wearing of quite nicely and it wasn’t as severe as it was with Roxanne. Once inside the room, Victor closed the door and sat in the bed for a moment; he gave a heavy sigh as he rubbed his head and process what just had happened and what he had learned.
“When Roxanne comes back, if she comes back, she better have a good explanation… alright… what was that puzzle? Page 37? Three locks?”
Given the circumstance, Victor did the thing he had learned to do when he had questions: consult his journal. For whatever reason, he went ahead and go straight to page 37; just in case the puzzle had to do with his journal. It was good that he did for it indeed was what Roxanne meant. Normally Victor would question how she knew about his journals but after knowing she had some of his memories and could target his dreams he just assumed it was par for the course.
“Alright...three locks? Hmm”
A quick scan with the aura spell revealed three peculiarities when the jornal was flipped to this page. The contents of the page itself were no help, it was simply the continuation of something called “Phaneron Shifted Dust”. These particularities resembled the lock he used to seal the dresser but this were rather simplistic. After about 5 minutes he cracked them open and he felt the book shift a bit. Something felt odd about the last page of the journal; when he flipped to that page he found a folded sheet of paper. He picked it and unfolded it; it was rather long in size and the two size had writing in it.
“Hello, if you are reading this then you are seeking some sort of answers. You have probably been guided by someone I trust and as such I assume something has gone wrong. I cannot offer much but this should help you stay in track of what we have been working on.” Victor found it weird that the note said ‘we’ given it appears he was the on who wrote it; the handwriting matched. “We made a promise a long time ago and if anything we have to see it through. Use the back of this sheet to keep track of any progress; the rest of front is the general outline in case you need a reminder. Good luck.”
Victor was confused at this but the only way he would get any answers was to read on. Why did Roxanne want him to read this? The note continued.
“Operation Salvation” He chuckled; it seemed his lack of creativity wasn’t due to the accident where he lost his memories. “Mission Objective: Protection/Rescue, Organization: Null, Agent: Victor Ironwood, Target: Roxanne Blackmore/Luna” The word Protection and Blackmore had been scratched off and to the side of them the word Rescue and Luna had been written which rather intrigued him. He read on and found out this was about that curse Roxanne was talking about. He reached a point midway through that said “Read progress item 57.” Victor turned the page and went to item 57.
“Side Mission New Moon, Mission Objective: Intelligence Gathering, Organization: Cleansing Flame, Target: Helen McKinnon” Victor blinked a few times in disbelief for a moment before re-reading that part. He wasn’t sure what that meant so he read on. The note was a maze of footnotes and technicalities which Victor examined carefully. As he went on he got filled with more and more dread. What the hell was this? Roxanne knew of this? At the end, Victor put the note back into the journal and close the thing before putting it away. What he read didn’t answered why Roxanne did what she did but opened more questions not related to it; key among them is why Roxanne wanted him to see this and why now?
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 06, 2018, 08:46:00 am
While Eric was working if the truck, Lexi wanders around Walkerville. Being was taller than most, she stood out among a crowd. This gained her much unwanted interactions, though most of them were compliments. They complimented on her long orange hair and shiny crimson scales, among other things. There were some complaints though from people tripping over her nearly 20ft tail. Lexi retreats to an unoccupied space on the farm, embarrassed by the things said to her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 06, 2018, 10:18:10 am
Lilith froze. The green thing wasn't attached to her anymore but where it was, she could not follow. She couldn't reach in after the slimey annoyance, so how was she going to deal with this new bother? As usual for Lilith when the solution wasn't right out on her nose for her to look at, she called on someone who would know.
"Nataleeeeee, Nataleeeeee... Green thing in boobth! Get it out!" She whined, leaning over to present her cleavage to him. Nathaniel sighed heavily, having grown bored with this game and the destruction already, and thrust his hand in. To her credit, Lilith did not try to hold him. Something else though, did. It felt slick and slimey and it seemed to wrap itself around his arm like a sleeve the moment his arm was in. Almost like his arm was just a finger, and it was being sucked on.
"I think I got it Lil, but I'm not sure if-" He was suddenly jerked downwards, smacking his head painfully into Liliths jaw. Then before he could say a single word of protest, he found himself being pulled into the pocket dimension. Lilith scrabbled, trying to grab for his legs before they too would vanish into the space between her breasts. Onlookers watched with wide eyed perplexity and fascination. They looked, rather understandably, astonished.
Lilith straightened up, face blank. Worry crept across her mug, and an eye twitched dangerously. She sniffed, and then without warning started sprinting north, shouting.
"Tharleeeeeeeen!"
The "merchants" finished gathering their belongings, both intact and demolished, and readied themselves to go, thankful that they had at least not lost their lives and realizing that even at their friendliest, the people of Walkerville were not to be trifled with. Kringle ordered his men and women to start packing up after the evening meal, after the American contingent had left for the night. A mere ten miles between where they'd camped and the refugee center journey south and they would be in among more friendly faces. Brynna didn't like the implications.
She wasn't afraid to face them. Brynna was an entirely selfish creature and cared very little for the people whom God's Army had made suffer during the Cataclysm. That after all was what the Cult of Agony had been about. The book in her lap thrummed gently, not that anyone but her would notice. None of those she traveled with even knew the real import of the ancient tome. It beckoned to her to open it and look within, and she would, in time. It was one of a set, the last one, from her cults most sacred scriptures. The cleansing flame had burned the others along with the temple of the seven hates ages ago, long before Brynna Knight's time. How she had come across it in the first place was but another memory eaten up by the grimoire.
Brynna's caretaker (jailer) fixed her seat for her, making sure she was buckled up (strapped down) for the short journey ahead.
What irked her was that the center was filled with goodly people, and where there were goodly people, their were often mage hunters seeking to destroy her and her book, Sanguinists looking to curry her favor to get closer to the book, Arcanists looking to steal the book from her, or Shrikes who wished to kill her and take the book for themselves. Either way it usually amounted to killing. If there was killing, she hoped it was she who was doing it. Mica picked through a bag of carefully folded clothes which were too tiny for anyone she'd ever met to wear. Tiny socks, tiny shirts, little tiny pyjamas that Dee called "onesies." One of these last she pulled out and turned over in her hands, marveling at how small the little blue onesie was.
"What does squishy need tiny cloths for? My-ka and Kat-nip never had no tiny cloths..." She asked, putting it back and taking out another.
"To keep him or her warm babe, you can't let it just lay around naked... My mom and dad gave me stuff like this, I'm going to do the same for mine." He responded vehemently. For some reason Mica didn't understand, his attitude since coming back warmed her heart and made her feel all gooey and squishy. A little sad too. "What's wrong babe?"
"My-ka wishes lin-see and Day-me-on were here. And My-ka's brothers an sisters..."
Dee wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. He supposed he understood, he'd thought about how much he wished his father was around with some advice. His mother wouldn't have gone for it, but Dean's pop would be reasonable.
"You got a sister here babe, and a whole family of people here on the farm to help out." He said. Mica shook her head and grinned, and Dee saw the roguish look she had when she was having fun at someone's expense.
"Nuh. My-ka wants Lin-see and Day-me-on to see, but My-ka wants brothers and sisters to be jell-us. Kat-nip won't be jell-us, Kat-nip don't like squishies."
"You shouldn't be focused on making people jealous babe, it's not a contest."
Mica nodded, knowing something Dee didn't. Even if she didn't make a contest of it, she knew someone who would. Lilith. Like Mica, Lilith wasn't supposed to be able to conceive. If Mica could though, then she didn't see why Lilith couldn't. Especially not after that mouse doctor had seen her. She'd heard things about that little visit. It didn't matter. Mica's man said it wasn't a contest, and so she wouldn't treat it that way. Now that she thought about it some more, it was kind of mean to wish her siblings were still around just for the sake of making them jealous. If they were to be around, she wanted them around to be happy for her. Mica's fortunes would have been their fortunes, as it had always been with the children of X7.
Mica slid a finger into one of the plastic parcels and cut a slit into it. From it, she pulled a papery soft thing and unfolded it.
"What is it lizard?" She asked, holding it up.
"It's a diaper babe, you put them on babies so they don't poop on anything." He explained. Dee had grabbed a ton of the packages, he didn't want to make regular scavenging runs for these, and he'd grabbed the best brand he could find. "Only the best for my kid."
Mica regarded them with confusion. "Eh?" She didn't seem to understand, so Dee took it from her and started to explain, but Mica smiled warmly and shook her head, she got that bit. "Silly lizard. If squishy is wearin' die-pur thing, then squishy will be poopin' on itself. Why squishy gotta be poopin' on itself?"
Dee hadn't thought of that, she had a point. A good one, but he had a counter. "These things keep it all in one place and not stuck in the babies clothes and stuff. We can clean him or her off easier too. It's only for a couple years anyway babe." Mica nodded sagely, still not really getting it. Still, she trusted Dee to know what he was talking about. He was more worldly than her after all.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 06, 2018, 07:37:41 pm
Helen gave a nod. "May we meet again, under more pleasant circumstances." she said, before there was the sense of everything fading, and of being jerked back into reality. She saw the glow that enveloped Isaac, and looked back to Anton. As Alice and Isaac had their discussion, she sighed some. "Glad you're alright Isaac." she said, before whispering a question to Anton. "Have I been standing there like a statue for as long as it felt like when I activated the effect, or did it appear the instant my hand reached his palm?" she asked.
"I'll explain later." she added, before speaking normally. "Indeed. Keep an eye out for any trouble along the way, but hopefully this is over. I also have another thing I'll need to tend to when we return." she said, as the group made their way back out, to head home.
By the time Nathaniel had managed to cry out in surprise, his shout was lost in the pocket dimension bound to the cloth, and he tumbled into the blue expanse along with the cause of what dragged him in. "Oh for...for fucks sake. What the hell did you do that for?" he grumbled, fumbling to get up.
He was left staring up at the strange abyss that now loomed overhead. "Damnit. Come on Lil, just either reach in or take it off and dump us out, it's not that hard..."
Elsewhere at the center, within its garage was parked a relatively uncommon vehicle these days. One of the old experimental APCs. The original markings on it were faded, but still legibly displayed the "XIV" and stylized tank shell design that marked what unit the majority of them had been assigned to. More recent was someone's informal addition to the side, someone having taken the time to paint the state flag of Maryland on it.
The reason for the vehicle's presence could be found in Catalina's office, a handful of people who'd arrived after receiving confirmation that contact had been made. Colonel Luther was there, along with a handful of others. Most of the others were Navy personnel sent from the cruiser, but a few were from the group that had reclaimed the area surrounding D.C. Of those, only two of them had the peculiar patches, or the mish-mash of Army and Marine Corp gear, that confirmed them to have been part of the Special Division Project.
"Well Colonel, group's radioed ahead and looks like they've got an impressive setup. They've got a big old war machine, and a defected bishop. Mention of something called a time slab." Catalina said, before one of the men in the mixed uniforms spoke up. The patch wasn't that of the "topside" divisions, instead showing only the Roman numerals VIII and a stylized depiction of a celtic cross.
"I'd keep a close eye on this bishop. If they're using what intel from back in the day makes me think they're using, some ex-fundie absolutely can't be trusted with Y-C95." he said. The designation itself was little more than a reporting name, a label for a project the anomalous artifacts research directives had for something they had little info on, nothing but leaked fragments of buzzwords and rumors from their Canadian counterparts.
"We'll handle the matter when we must." the colonel said, giving a sigh. "Don't think they got any messages from back west did they? Still never received any transmissions, any sign of general staff, SPD-X, the president..."
Catalina spoke up next. "Colonel? If you haven't heard the reports from the recent group of traders from the west, that might give an answer. Seems the general vicinity of the Rocky Mountains has a network of containment systems placed due to a particularly dangerous class of X-ray. Rumors from them suggest Cheyenne Mountain might also be part of that network."
The colonel went a bit pale, before sighing. "Very well then. We'll see if the CAF received any transmissions to give us an answer, but if not I'll assume the worst..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 06, 2018, 09:08:35 pm
Anton waited until the two groups parted ways and Isaac was out of earshot to tell Helen “You touched whatever it was that was in his hand and next thing I know he’s glowing and I have to pull you back. It was only a matter of seconds.”
Aaron nodded as if to confirm what Anton was saying as he said “Yeah. You grab it, a couple seconds later and he’s glowing so we have to pull you two away.”
Isaac meanwhile led Alice back to Walkerville. The two had a conversation about teaching her how to handle firearms better as well as a few other skills she’d find useful these days. But first he had to teach her proper tactical gear to wear when wandering into potentially dangerous environments..though he was proud she had her pistol with her.
Meanwhile back at Walkerville B-23 walked through the gates with the four masked Matanza members with him. He heard one talk through their radios “Lots of civvies..been awhile since I’ve said that..but we’ve definitely got some armed individuals as well.”
B-23 adjusted his new shirt underneath the ballistic vest the Matanza had given him. His pistol now resided in a holster that hung on his left hip with a second strapped to his chest that had a suppressor attached to the barrel. On his right hip was a cut down MP5 that also had a suppressor attached to it. The bulges in his vest’s grenade pouches indicated a number of cylindrical grenades. Thankfully the pair of black cargo pants they’d found for him fit rather nicely and matched the black boots.
Reaching a hand up and adjusting a wire from a device Jay had given him he soon said “We’re not here to fight. I just need to speak with someone that lives here.” in a rather archaic text to speech voice.
All four of the men agreed over the radio as they looked around for the man that B-23 had described. It was a few minutes later one of the men saw Isaac coming through the gate. Walking towards him B-23 felt an odd itch to smoke a cigarette, an old nervous tick of his.
Noticing them Isaac told Alice to go ahead to his room, he’d meet her there. She agreed and walked ahead to his room. As they neared Isaac said “Look if you’re here to fight we can do that but not here. Not with all these people around.”
B-23 looked him over for a few moments. He finally let “How do you have my face?” appear on the screen.
Isaac blinked as B-23 said this. The two, now that they were face to face, found each other oddly familiar. Isaac finally responded “What do you mean?”
B-23 crossed his arms as the words “I saw you from security footage in the lab. You look exactly like me. And we’re the same age.”
Isaac had tried to not panic when he saw B-23, recognizing the tell tale signs of the experiment, but this one seemed sane. Sighing he said “Look my name’s Isaac Mortal. Now I don’t know you but I do know none of the B-series worked.”
B-23 shrugged as the words “I’m Isaac Frontiers, and I was the only one that didn’t go berzerk.” floated onto the screen
Isaac blinked as he read this. That was his name before he got married…”Were you going to marry a woman named Moira?”
B-23 wasn’t really sure how he felt a sense of shock, most things didn’t really do that to him anymore, but there it was. “How did you know? We were going to have a son but..then they picked me up” popped onto the screen in a dull grey.
Isaac stared at him as something happened in the pairs heads. B-23 reached a hand up to the side of his head as memories he knew weren’t his popped into his head. Isaac closed his eyes as he felt the same. After a few moments Isaac said “We’re one and the same aren’t we? With a few differences mind, but still..”
B-23 nodded as he tried to process all of this. Finally the words “At least I have my answers.” appeared as he stuck his hand out. Isaac took it and the two embraced for a moment before stepping back and the words “If you need any help with things just radio for B-23, I’ll hear it.” appeared along with a frequency.
Isaac nodded in turn and said “Same goes for you. Stay safe.” before the two parted ways. Isaac went to go meet with Alice and start teaching her more. B-23 left to go find his place in the world with the guns strapped to him.
A few minutes later and Isaac left his shack with Alice in tow. Noticing the lizard like woman he motioned for Alice to follow as he walked over. Once he neared he asked “Are you okay Ma’am? Just noticed you running back here and thought I’d check and see if anything’s wrong.”
Meanwhile B-23 loaded into the van with the Matanza members. They all heard the boss’ voice over the radio asking if there was a team that could deal with a situation. Radioing that they were on the way the driver turned the vehicle and pushed the pedal to the floor.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 06, 2018, 09:17:09 pm
Leslie surveyed the farm with satisfaction, not that she'd had a hand in much of it's rebuilding. Still, she thought she could at least take pride in the work the others had done so far. Catnip had returned from somewhere recently, which caused more than a little panic, and a couple newcomers had appeared. That was nice, newcomers were always nice. The journalist went over events in her head as she thought they would unfold.
First, The robot would get to them. Then, everyone else. She was wrong of course but that didn't bother her. One couldn't be right all the time. The most obvious of the newcomers was obvious for a good reason. She was huge and like Leslie, serpentine. Leslie and the newcomer couldn't be more different though. The newcomer was long and uniform in color, human at the top whereas Leslie was more humanish in shape. Tall and thin and lightweight. Leslies scales were a myriad of colors, a point of pride for the usually prideless girl. The newcomer looked like someones fetish given life while Leslie was all practical in shape.
She raised her camera to snap a picture before remembering her manners and lowering it again. "Gotta ask permission first girl, freedom of the press and peoples personal privacy may be completely at odds, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be polite. Better go say hello and ask permission first."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 06, 2018, 09:26:04 pm
Lexi quickly turned to face Isaac, a blush spreading across her face. ”Oh, um, I was just escaping from the mouse people. They were a bit too nice to me and I was really, really embarrassed, so I came here to regain my composure. The whole time she was talking, she was curling her hair between her fingers and not giving eye contact to Isaac. ”Ah, my name is Lexi by the way.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 07, 2018, 03:18:43 am
Isaac smiled and shook his head as he said “First time I’ve heard someone say people were too nice in a long time. I’m Isaac by the way, this is my daughter Alice.” She waved and said hello before he continued “Welcome to Walkerville by the way. If you need help getting settled most of the folks here wouldn’t mind helping, myself included.”
Elsewhere Edgar leaned against a wall and unzipped his jacket. Retrieving a pair of pliers from his pocket Allie stared at him in a bit of shock. It was rather shocking seeing a man rip a bullet out of his own stomach before asking you if you knew how to sew a wound shut. Allie blinked before saying “No I don’t.”
Sighing to himself Edgar retrieved a syringe of painkillers he kept on him and injected it. From there he grabbed a packet and opened it which led to the comment “Is that a tampon” from Allie. Edgar ignored the comment for the moment and shoved it into the wound.
As he zipped his jacket back up he said “Helps stop the bleeding for a while. I’ll get stitched up when we get to the bar.” before grabbing one of the cases and picking it up.
Allie did the same as they moved several of the crates into their car before Alexei arrived. Seeing that Edgar was injured he sent them back to the bar as he grabbed the rest of the crates. Radioing back Alexei told Irene to have Ernie get ready to stitch someone up.
As they rode towards Alexei’s bar Edgar said “Ya know, I never thought I’d be smuggling guns and booze. Shit, the guys who used to do this type of shit would be eating their hats if they knew I was getting into it.”
Allie looked over and asked him what he meant. Smiling and shaking his head he said “I used to go out in the night, dress up in all black, and I’d start shooting up drug dens and trap houses. Then I graduated to shooting up hitmen and smacking up pimps for info.”
Allie shook her head and said “Come on man who cares about all that, it’s a new age and all that bullshit. Fuck, I used to be a cannibal. People change, sometimes it’s for the better.”
It wasn’t long before they arrived at the bar and Ernie ushered them to a back room where he had Edgar lay on a table. Sitting next to him Allie said “So why don’t you tell me about your family kid? Mother? Father?”
Edgar blinked as he stared at the ceiling, a mixture of being high on painkillers and blood loss slurring his speech, said “My mom..shit she did the best she could for me, didn’t even know her teenage son was going out busting up drug dealers, raised me right as far as anyone I knew would tell you. Dad though..dad got killed before I was born according to what I heard. Also heard he was a bad guy but only did it cause he couldn’t make ends meet normally. That’s why I never went after anyone with kids.”
From there he shortly fell unconcscious. Ernie explained it was the blood loss. “Yer welcome to stay here wit him, but it’ll be awhile before he wakes up.” Ernie said before leaving to get back behind the bar.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 07, 2018, 06:22:00 am
L turned a coin over to examine it carefully. She judged the weight and size, trying to guess the value and for what purpose. Poker chips, yes, but not any normal chips these. Normal chips were not made from metal, L knew very well. In her misspent days in cheap casinos to a time when she threw out money as readily as any high roller, she had only ever seen chips made from a kind of ceramic material. Not to say other materials didn't exist. They did, but were for very special occasions.
"And they didn't come with a manifest or anything?" L asked, scrutinizing another blank and comparing it to another. Sharlene didn't answer for fear that whether or not she had one would effect whatever Mohammad's new lady would offer for them. "I suppose not. I'd guess any such thing would be in the bankers office and not kept in the vault. That or you just didn't grab it on the way out..."
Mohammad had wandered off to the edge of the lake, leaving the girls to their business. He had a body of water to stare at. They're original intent had been to come and show L where Mohammad had been staying. He wouldn't say that he lived their, the cabin had been kind of a dump and even if it hadn't been... Well, if it hadn't been the post cataclysm then he certainly wouldn't have brought a nice girl to it. Especially not with Sharlene hanging around.
"So." Sharlene said, leaning back on her pile of opened boxes and sounding a bit unsure of herself. "How serious is this thing you got going between you two? This thing gonna last or..."
By the banks of the lake, Mohammad began picking up and flipping stones into the water, trying and not doing a very good job of skipping them. Between L and Sharlene though, the air was suddenly electric. L was suddenly very sure that she did not like this woman and understood Mohammad's hesitance or unwillingness to talk about her. She determined then that she needed the chips, but she needed to get them as unfairly as possible.
"It'll be fine." She said shortly, becoming more businesslike. "Back to the business? I've no interest in discussing..."
"C'moooon," Sharlene hectored, "I don't know about you, but he's pretty lazy. Kind of a weirdo too."
"No he's not." L growled dangerously. She'd heard so many rumors about Mohammad and was frankly unimpressed with how prevalent all the unfounded crap was. Bordering on bullying even. For what? He put up with it, but that didn't mean she had to. Sharlene was in the middle of telling her some piece of ridiculous drivel, when someone else stepped in and threw her off.
"Ms. Quintero, this is a citation for libel and slander. You-" Said the homunculus. L had a moment to marvel at the strange creatures oversized eye and odd gender neutral features, then, Sharlene shouted at it and waved a hand at it like she was trying to swat a fly out of the air.
"Go away, goddamn, just leave me alone!"
"Hello." L said. She held a hand out to the thing, "I'm L. You are?"
Sharlene went pale, or seemed to, "No no. No! listen, I'll make you a deal alright, back to business ok?"
"I have no name." The homunculus said quietly, nodding it's faux sadness.
"No no, you know the rules. You can't-" Sharlene began.
"Oh? Then I'll just call you branches." L interrupted. The Homunculus smile widened dangerously, showing off it's teeth along with a dangerous glint in it's amythist eye. Sharlene slapped herself.
"Aw... shit."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: A Blitzkrieg of Butts on August 07, 2018, 08:40:53 am
Lexi looks towards them and gives them a warm smile, her long fangs gleaming in the sun. ”It is nice to meet the both of you. If you can, I would like a tour of Walkerville to get myself aquatinted with the area. Plus, Eric told me to talk to more people to improve my social skills.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 07, 2018, 09:52:51 pm
Isaac nodded as he said “I can show you around.” And he did so, guiding her around the place and showing her the important locations. ((AKA I’m not sure how to write this bit, I blame it on having overslept and feeling like a zombie))
Elsewhere Alexei pulled out a cigarette as he walked towards the door to the bar. Sticking one between his teeth he pushed through the door as he stuffed the pack back into his pocket. One hand adjusted the strap of a duffel bag and the other pulled a lighter out of his pocket. Walking to an empty table in the corner he tossed the bag onto it and sat down.
Allie walked out of the back and spotted him at the table. Walking over she saw him making notes in a small booklet he had. As she sat down she told him that Edgar would be fine. Nodding Alexei said “Is good. He seem like a good man.” before beginning to go over the numbers with Allie.
Meanwhile B-23 took the cylindrical MK III grenade from his vest as they neared their destination. Normally the Matanza left no trace that they had even been there so they did little collateral damage. However when dealing with individuals such as the purifiers..well they liked to send a clear message.
As the van drifted in the dirt the man next to B-23 slid the door open. With the vehicle still moving B-23 hopped out and threw the fragmentation grenade through a window, bouncing it off the head of a purifier in the building. As it detonated he ripped the MP5 from it’s holster and sprayed down the two guards at the door.
Tossing the MP5 aside he caught the shotgun one of his men tossed to him as he walked towards the door. Walking to the door he stepped to the side with his men following suit. After a pair of seconds the door opened and a purifier stepped out to find himself missing his brain before the second step. Rushing in B-23 slammed a man that was standing beside the door with the butt of the shotgun before firing the weapon into an officer that was trying to send a radio message.
From there the kill squad fanned out and swept through the building. It only took a handful of minutes for them to clear it save for one room. B-23 kicked the door open to find a young man, only fifteen, holding a pistol dressed in a purifier uniform. After a moment of the two staring at each other B-23 lowered his weapon and walked over. Taking the gun gently from the kid B-23 wasn’t sure why he hadn’t just shot him.
Hauling the kid to his feet the words “What’s your name kid?” appeared on the screen. Nervously the teenager said “I’m Jack..er Jackson sir.”
The words “You’re coming with me. You’ll be fine.” floated onto the screen as B-23 helped the kid to his feet and walked him out of the building. As he did the other Matanza members took notice and he could hear them chattering through the radio. He cut it off by saying “I’ll pay the price with the boss when we get home. For now no one touches him without my say so.”
Leaving Jackson in the car B-23 helped the men set things up inside. Every round they had expended was lined up on a table inside that one of them rigged with explosives that would go off shortly after someone opened the door. From there they drove back home.
When they got back he removed his gear before going to meet the boss. The only thing he kept was the machete that hung off his belt. Walking in he heard the boss say “I thought I made it clear, kill everyone in a purifier uniform. Why did you bring one back?”
B-23 crossed his arms as he said “Because he was a kid. Fifteen, me and you both know how easy it is to give young people something to hate, give them something to target.”
The boss sighed as he said “And? An order is an order.”
The argument continued for a time. Finally B-23 frustradely said “Look, if he gets in trouble I’ll take the punishment with him. I’ll keep him in line.”
Sighing yet again the boss said “Fine. Fine, if he fucks up it’s on both of your heads. I’ll be keeping an eye on you and I’ll figure out what to assign you to. For now get him changed and acquainted with the place.”
A few more minutes later B-23 walked out of the room and motioned for Jackson, now wearing some regular clothes, to follow him. Looking over his shoulder he told the teenager “Let’s get you settled in and set the ground rules. First of which is no trying to kill anyone from here, second being forget everything those purifier fuckers taught you.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 08, 2018, 03:57:58 am
(( Written with Salt. ))
Helen nodded at that. "That makes sense then." she said, waiting until Isaac was out of earshot before explaining a little to Aaron and Anton. "There was a spirit of some sort. Evidently interested in something of Isaac's, that led it to meddle and hinder whoever did this to him." she said. She was relieved that she had her mask on, as looking back to Isaac discussing things with Alice, it was hard not to tear up a bit, given the choice she was confronted with.
They made their way back, and soon upon nearing The Hall, she turned to cross the bridge, picking up her handset and speak into it. "Helen here. Sharlene, you there? I'll be heading over now, if you're able to. The problem I had to tend to earlier is resolved." she said.
Helen listened patiently, but the silence from Sharlene's end began to grow longer than she was comfortable with. It was telling of how potentially serious things had gotten. Helen assumed the worst, the possibilities spun around and around in her head like galaxies. 'She could just be ignoring me...' She thought.
"Er, hello?" said an unfamiliar voice over the radio, "Sharlene is uh- *CRASH* busy..."
"LITTLE FUCKER! Mo', grab it! FUCK THE TEETH! JUST GRAB IT!"
"You should probably hurry, I think she's going to need-"
"L! PUT THE FUCKING RADIO DOWN AND HELP US!"
"I gotta go..."
Helen grumbled a bit at what she overheard, quickly readying her hammer and symbol of judgement as she picked up the pace. By the time she'd neared the farm she was practically sprinting past, heading north into the woods along the way to Sharlene's cabin.
Great, what idiocy has she gotten herself into this time... she thought, activating her mask once she neared the general area where the cabin had once stood.
She picked out four figures and a lot of disturbances as she approached. Three fairly mundane people, and one small person whom she could safely assume to be the "homunculus." It glowed balefully red in her masks enhanced sight, pulsing darker at it's center where it's artificial heart would be. The disturbances in her mask could be ignored, she could guess very easily what they were. Coffee mugs, hundreds of sanguine touched coffee mugs littering the clearing and the bank of the new lake with the largest concentration being over the lake itself where she judged Sharlene's cabin to be.
"Bitch is stronger than she looks!" Someone said, a male voice. Helen broke through the last of the foliage line into a clearing she judged to be quite pleasant, despite the litter and sanguine taint. The man had the small figure in a hold, his arms under it's shoulders and being held suspended in the air. Despite that, the homunculus kicked and giggled wildly. To Helen, it looked like a tiny one eyed Mica.
"Don't let it get it's footing mister, uh, Mohammad." Helen ordered, slapping her hammer across her open palm as she approached, "And close your eyes everyone.
Unfortunately, when Helen spoke, Mohammad's grip slipped on the wriggling homunculus, and he did exactly what the mage hunter told him not to do. Mohammad didn't have time to realize what was happening to him as he suddenly found himself being pulled up over the small creatures head and on his back with the wind knocked out of him. The effect of this was the Mohammad was blinded, and just in the right position to protect the vulnerable eye of the homunculus.
"HA!" It shouted, pointing at Helen, just before Sharlene tackled it to the ground. For her trouble, Sharlene was tossed off like a bundle of sticks. To make matters worse, a split moment later, someone else arrived in the clearing adding to the confusion.
"THARLEEEEEEN!" Lilith cried. Sharlene lay on her back on the ground, completely exhausted.
"God. Damnit." She sighed.
Helen grumbled a bit at that, advancing towards the homunculus, glowering at it through her mask. Through her mask she could discern the aura that permeated it, giving the impression of a sanguine construct. The nature of which she doubted the Rite of Enforcing the Veil would be effective against, unlike if it relied on a soul artificially bound to it.
"Alright you...stand down and stop this, or...hey Lil!" she called out, getting an idea that made her smile impishly under the mask. "This one-eyed naked lady is trying to hurt Sharlene..."
Lilith caught only a little of what Helen said. She was focused on getting Sharlene to try and pull Nathaniel out from the pocket dimension into which he'd been pulled. Upon seeing Sharlene laid out, not to mention Mohammad struggling for breath, a strange mousey lady looking on with worry and fright, and a small nude one eyed 'cub' looking triumphant over the whole scene, she charged.
It caught her and stopped her, giggling the entire time. Helen momentarily saw through her mask the homunculus's aura simply wink out. She remembered something Sharlene had told her over the radio, that this thing was left by...
"By Odin's eye..." she mouthed, "She didn't. She had to have known better. Lilith! Pick it up! Don't let it touch the ground!"
The homunculus pushed back, plowing a furrow into the ground before Lilith snatched it off the ground. It's strength vanished and it was left flailing in the air.
"Put me down big dummy! I ain't filling out any more papers, no more citations! Freedo-" It shouted. Before it could finish, and before Helen could stop her, Lilith punted the Homunculus.
"WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!" It cried as it flew into the lake. Helen slapped a hand over her mask covered face. "No! Gods, no! It has to be purified! You can't be sure it's been broken apart!"
Sharlene pried herself to her feet and dusted herself off. "I guess that takes care of that."
Helen sighed a bit, grumbling as she deactivated her mask. And on seeing the splash into the lake she simply leveled the symbol of judgement and fired it into the water. In truth she had no idea how the water would conduct the magical lightning in the beam's wake, and whether that thing would be strongly affected by anything besides a direct hit, which would be a matter of blind luck.
Still, after what she just witnessed it was a rare, well-deserved moment of catharsis. "Fututor! Of all the...alright. Can you tell me what happened?" she asked. "Was it an interaction with some other magic, or was one of Illiana's demands broken?"
"The last." Sharlene said glaring at L, "Mo's hump bunny gave it a name. Lawyer lady said that was a no. Then it whipped it's clothes off and tried to run off. What happened? Why'd it go crazy like that?" L fumed at being called a "hump bunny" and Lilith seemed to be doing a nervous little dance. Sharlene knew that little one foot to the other dance. Lilith had done something that was going to piss her off. Or piss someone else off.
Helen winced. The mage hunter had destroyed a number of homunculi in the past, but she hadn't come across one with such strength before. "When they are named, their binding breaks and they attain a new level of sapience. Did it do anything else?"
Sharlene went on to explain how Illiana had left the thing to, in her eyes, torment her and how the homunculus had sought endlessly to try and trick Sharlene into breaking one of it's three rules. It shouldn't have been capable of that level of cleverness. It was really dependent on the catalyst. The catalyst had to be a part of it's maker, and acted as the creatures artificial soul. Being a mere shadow of it's creator, it was never quite as intelligent or...
"Oh." Helen said.
"Oh?" Sharlene said curiously, "Oh as in, 'oh, everything is alright?' or maybe 'oh, well it's a good thing we got here in time?' or maybe 'oh, this is better than expected?'"
"Nothing is alright. Where is Illiana now?"
Sharlene shrugged dramatically. Until then she neither knew nor cared about what the annoying extradimensional lawyer was doing.
Helen started to rub her temples a bit, pointless a gesture as it was given her helm and hood. "Never have I more wished I could drink heavily right now..." she muttered, before shaking her head. "That thing is dangerous, and will continue to get moreso now that it has a measure of free will. Constructs made by human hands are already unreliable and easy to accidentally unbind, one made by a...I'd say spirit, close enough at least, is even worse."
She then perked up a bit. "I have an idea that might prove adequate as a temporary fix. But for that I'll need...limestone or quicklime, a small amount of decent quality. Or failing that, certain materials from otherworldly monsters. Like an eye from a flesh angel, or the keystone of another humunculus." she said. "That, and hoping that I have a copy of The Six Pillars. Until then, keep an eye out for it and be careful." she said, before looking over to L.
"Sorry that we didn't get to meet properly under more pleasant circumstances. Friend of Mohammad I'm guessing? Speaking of, hadn't really spoken to him since the mission we were a part of." she said, giving a little wave to him. "Anyway, I...I'll see what I can prepare at The Hall. Keep me informed if anything happens." she said, turning to head back towards The Hall.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Mrnocamera on August 08, 2018, 05:08:47 am
Cardin silently reads through the alchemy book, wings folded up neatly behind him. The avian is just sat cross legged on the floor near his cot, carefully leafing through the book. The traditional Chinese parts take a bit of getting used to again, but once he remembers it, he starts questioning if pretty much any of the book is accurately translated, or if most of it is just the author's ramblings that just happened to work out well. After checking out the rest of the book to see if there's anything else that interests him, Cardin puts the book down on top of his cot and stands up, stretching out his wings again and nearly smacks a viking in the face, earning a stern look and a grumbled insult. One sheepish chirp of apology later, Cardin goes back to try and charades for Solomon to help him with something. Wadi giggles at Nathaniel's frustrated reaction. "Ha! You're stuck!". She exclaims, bouncing up and down happily. The slime freezes at something she spots in the distance while the environment shifts slightly. She, for no apparent reason to Nathaniel, turns back into her Lilith cosplay and bolts off, only to yell "Hiiiii!" at something and try to splatter hug it like she did with Lilith.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 08, 2018, 02:25:57 pm
It was the first real rest besides the night spent in the den that Atomos got any real rest. The saddle bag wasn't ideal and she'd feel it in the morning but there was little she could do. Sleep brought dreams, and Cheena's influence seemed to enhance that. A white expanse stretched out around her, dunes of snow and grey stone for as far as the eye could see. Cheena padded along to Atomos side, and she realized she was normal here. The snow didn't seem so cold on her bare skin.
"What is this Cheena?" She asked, staring out at the fields, then answering herself, "The long winter, isn't it?"
Cheena made no gesture. Instead she curled up next to Atomos, almost like a pet, and let her stroke the back of her head. Her soft copper fur felt luxurious under Atomos fingers, like the fur of her own tail.
"Mikko left something for you." Cheena said, "A memory. He said it was yours. Told me to give it to you. Do you want it?"
Atomos did want it, and so Cheena passed it on. Something bad is happening. The vaults alarms are blaring, and the ground shakes around her. Somewhere up the hall from where she has been watching a demonstration by the esteemed Professor Sugar, a window explodes. As she turns away to run, run from this place she knows she shouldn't be in, something catches her like a wave and pushes her. It is gentle. It doesn't toss or throw her, but she does stumble none the less and the window she has just been looking through explodes behind her. The men and women inside are dead, something has filled the room with light and what she thinks is fire. It is not this thing which has killed them, but the pulse. Jenny does not know this, and so she begins her sprint again. No more than a few steps does she take when she hears the rush of wind behind her. Jenny turns in time to see him crashing into her. She won't know him for who he is until his final hours, but for better or worse they are one. Twined and fused at the spirit.
Later, she is asleep. Or rather, unconcious. She won't remember this later either way, but Mikko will. Mikko is wide awake. There are people in the room, and he knows them. He knows them because Jenny knows them. Dr. Cherise, and Captain Anquiano. They speak of important matters and he doesn't understand, but Jenny does. Deep down, she too can hear it. It gets stored away deep down where all the hidden thoughts hide, where the true self is hidden away from even one's own prying eyes. The secret heart.
"How are they?"
"These ones? Fine for the time being."
"Not them, the ones downstairs."
"Captain, I don't know. The pulse killed a lot of people at it's epicenter, the reactor killed and is still killing many more, but..."
"But?"
"It's doing something to them. Look at these charts, on the reactor sublevel alone... Captain, they're absorbing it."
A pregnant pause, then, "When and how will it effect them?"
"It's already effecting them. Captain, we need to move the wounded as soon as they can move on their own, either that or let this place become a slaughterhouse with us in it."
It's already too late of course. In less than two hours, Dr. Cherise will be dead. She and so many of the others still alive down here in this concrete tomb will succumb to what has befallen the vault. Death comes on swift wings, as they say, but death is only the beginning. "What happened to her Captain?"
It's one of the others the few remaining others. Only a week later and they have been wittled down to a mere thirty or so. Jenny is changing, and she has no idea why. The others won't come too close at first, afraid that yet another of them is going to undergo the change into one of the glowing monstrosities. Mikko knows better. It is his fault after all. He is doing his best to keep his new prison alive, but he's old. So old, so tired. Jenny is caught in the throes of mutation, transformation, and she is delirious.
"Stoop calling me that daddy!" She cries. It isn't a lucid moment. She wishes she could forget the lucid moments, lose them in delerium, but she doesn't. She watches in horror at first as her teeth fall out and her ears begin to melt and migrate. Her backside itches and sometimes she's jabbed with a sharp agony like hot iron in her spine. These are the moments she'll remember the most about the vault. Her transformation.
"Who is she talking to?"
"If I were to guess, I'd say it's her dad, dumb dumb."
Catalina is watching her carefully, seeing how far the change will take her. She knows it's not radiation, she's discussed it with another doctor. Aeyers, Doctor Aeyers.
"It's not radiation," he says, "It's something else entirely. Perhaps the pulse-"
"Shut up, she's coming to. Let's take this to the storage closet."
And they are gone, leaving Jenny to writhe alone.
"I don't want to be any miss atmosphere!" She screams, "I just want to be myself!" They've put her under, but while she is under, Mikko is over. He helps her capture the memories, keep them for later. They are talking about her. Atomos. Her code name is Atomos. Everyone calls her that as a nickname anyway, since she has never shared her name with anyone but her superiors. Most if not all those who knew it are dead now, and Atomos has changed. She didn't want to go under, worried that they'd terminate her while she was out. Mikko wouldn't let it happen. He can't survive without her, but she doesn't know he's there.
"Radiation." The captain announces, "just a bizarre happenstance of radiation. It is up to Atomos if she's been fortunate or not, but for now I want everyone to know that you are to lay not a finger on her. There are too few of us now..." The captain knows what happened now. There are only eleven people left besides Atomos, and one of them is an occult professor who worked closely with professor sugar.
"It's very simple," he explains, examining Atomos ears while she is sedated, "An entity has entered her body, either intentionally or accidentally, and it has changed her genetic make up."
"That sounds absolutely ridiculous." The captain says, she sounds unsure of herself. The doctor is stroking Atomos tail, deep down Atomos enjoys this. Like having gentle hands braiding her hair or rubbing her back. She can feel it even in her sleep, and she pulls the tail away. In her waking moments it will gall her, but when she is asleep she will hold it as close as any protective charm or security blanket. "Who have you told?"
"No one, just yourself. I see no reason to tell anyone else other than the superior officer, and with the heads of the vaults snakes severed so to say, you are the superior officer."
"Yes.." she says thoughtfully, "I suppose we could talk about this in more detail in private?"
"I suppose..."
Later, the colleague of Professor Sugar will be found dead, a suicide with his own pistol. The others don't doubt it, but Mikko wonders. The dream comes to an end, and Atomos once again finds herself sitting out in the snow with naught but a solitary red fox to keep her warm.
"What's a captain?" Cheena asked innocently. Atomos sits still and silent for a moment, long enough to make Cheena uneasy before finally breaking the silence.
"Someone who I thought I could trust not to lie to me."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Mrnocamera on August 10, 2018, 02:31:12 pm
(wadi and michael written with salt mostly salt)
Wadi splattered against the figure spectacularly, reforming quickly and turning the splatter tackle into a Wadi signiture splatter hug. The figure, a golden spirit, looks down into the facsimile of her eyes.
"Well hello amorphous creature and Mr. Ford. What manner of being are you, and how did you gain access to this pocket dimension?"
Nearby, Nathaniel retches again and thanks god that he hasn't eaten. The movement inside this place is sickeningly Swift amd smooth.
Wadi's upper body pops out from the mess of slime, and the goo-girl reaches up to try and boop the spirit.
"Hi!I'mWadiIwentintothestupidtigerlady'stitsandfellinhere.Doyouhaveanyfood?" She babbles, running through it all one sentence, barely pausing between words.
Michael had never been "booped" before so he assumed the appendage which slapped softly but messilly into his face was perfectly acceptable. He let the good run down his face to repool with the slime wrapped around his waist like a girdle.
"I am Michael and I apologise, I have no food. Did mother send you to retrieve me?" Michael asked. Nathaniel could only struggle to his feet after the sudden movement and all the hacking and gagging. The motion sickness enduced by the blue world's sudden shift had thoroughly beat his stomach into a fine queesy slurry.
"How are you two... Still... Oh god..." He moaned. Then he was off again, wretching and dry heaving his woes to the blue dirt.
Wadi just looks confused at the question, ignoring the meanie she dragged into the weird blue place. "Sharlene's like... Talking to people rig- oh! There's a mouse! She's cute..." Wadi seems to have zoned out for a moment, but quickly comes back to her wits. Or whatever it is she has. "Sharlene didn't send me, I just wanted to know where the big tiger tits went!"
Michael didn't flinch at Wadi's energy, but he still had a hard time understanding her with the way she shifted from topic to topic. There was something endearing about it. The retching man held little interest for Michael at that moment as well. Sharlene had told him to stay put and keep an eye on things, but now there was nothing to watch. She'd removed everything.
"I... See?" He droned, glancing at the breasts suspended high up in the sky as they always did, "and so you climbed in? Along with Mr. Ford? I'm afraid there is not much to do around here."
"Yeah great." Nathaniel said, wiping his sleeve across his face. It had the opposite of the intended effect in that the action smeared dirt across his already clean face. "How do we get Lilith to dump us out?"
"Shut up, meanie!" Wadi shouts without actually looking at Nathaniel." The green slime starts actually looking over Michael, gasping at the sight of the sword arms. "Were you in an accident? You might be legible for compensation!" She giggles at her own joke, and then detaches from the spirit, getting even smaller as she tried to imitate his stature and features. "Look at me, I'm Michael! Where's Mother?"
"I have always been this way." Michael explained, confused, "I thought you said your name was Wadi? But you are actually called Michael as well?"
"She's mocking you, big guy." Nathaniel growled, Wadi shot him an irritated glance and Michael stared down at her.
"I do not think so." He said finally, "Why would she mock me? Clearly it is as she says and you are a mean person seeking to keep us from our mothers." Michael watched Nathaniel not just warrily, but with a brand of growing hostility as well.
Wadi is slightly taken back by his remark, but returns back to her previous attitude quickly. "I was born like this too! I was born... Four hours ago! Mother doesn't like me..." She waves one of the dull green swords around. "Nobody likes me! It sucks!" She's specifically looking over at Nathaniel as she says that.
"Nobody likes you? Why not? You seem fine to me." Michael said, also taken aback.
Nathaniel approached cautiously, wondering just what the hell he had gotten into now. It seemed perfectly obvious, but also perfectly ludicrous. He had been grabbed and pulled into another dimension which existed between his giant tigress girlfriends breasts, a dimension which resembled his own world in every way except that it was devoid of life and was entirely blue. He seemed to be stuck listening to a green shape shifting slime thing hash out it's mother issues with a golden man with swords for arms. Frankly, Nathaniel was already sick of it, and wanted out.
"Excuse me, we should probably be looking for a way out." He said, deciding not to poke anyone for emphasis.
"Oh." Michael started, "I suppose I could let you out. Once out, perhaps we could even throw young Wadi here a birthday party."
Nathaniel slapped himself on the forehead hard enough to leave a mark.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 10, 2018, 11:17:12 pm
“I see, so Ironwood had secured them before you could get them?”. Plague asked pacing around them room brandishing the biological sword.
“Yes my lord, they had been in the armory before hand but just before you ask for them he took them inside to secure them.”, Roxanne responded. She was genuflecting in the middle of the room with her head down and an arm crossed across her chest.
Plague stopped pacing and looked at Roxanne. “That was a risky move Luna, he might start to suspect something and might want to get involved.”
“My apologies, I saw no other way. Have I displeased you?”
“No no, you did your job and got me the items I asked of you. Just be careful next time. If anything comes of this I will personally deal with it ok?”
“Understood. No objections here.”
“Good, now raise, on your feet huntress.”
Roxanne stood up and looked forwards unmoving. Plague walked in front of Roxanne to address her directly. He unsheathed the saber, coalescence, Plague’s true identity. “Roxanne Luna, you have served me ever since you became a spirit of misfortune. You have done what I have asked you and even came all the way over here fulfill your purpose. Tonight is the night you shall; you will be rewarded for tonight we become one.”
At this announcement Roxanne broke her composure and looked at Plague with utter glee. “Yes! We will unite and be one step closer towards the goal!”
Plague nodded at her words; the sword in his hand was illuminated by a green aura. “Close your eyes and don’t move Luna…” Roxanne did as she was told. He then casted a spell of binding on her making so she could not move at all. “Now that I have right where I want you…” With a flick of his wrists, something seemed to exit Roxanne’s body; some sort of mist.
“W-what?”, asked a seemingly groggy and confused Roxanne. She tried looking around the room only to find she couldn’t move. “What’s going on? Wait since when did I… Why can’t I move?”
“Like I said, you have done my bidding all this time, obied every order without question but you know, that can get boring really quickly. I want to see you squirm a bit, right before I assimilate you… I had place you in a basic spell to control the undead; worked like a charm on you. Now I just lifted it so that the real you can experience becoming part of a greater being.”
Roxanne tried to move but wasn’t able to. No more words were exchanged; her self-preservation instincts kicked in as Plague approached with saber in hand. One he was within striking distance, he took the tip of the sword and pressed it against Roxanne’s chest right where heart would be. “Not going to say anything? This is hardly any more satisfying than if I had left the spell on. No matter, this still has to be done. By the power of the great god Anomon I claim you as mine!”
With a single thrust the blade pierced Roxanne and began doing it’ handy work; a distortion was engulfing Roxanne as the blade began assimilating her as it had done many beings before her.. However, she did not wince, or cry out in pain like the others did; nor was she giving in to the blades effect like he expected. This Plague found both intriguing and disappointed...until Roxanne made her move. You have seen it before, that cliche move where someone is stabbed so they push themselves into the blade to stab the enemy taking them down with them. However, Roxanne currently had no weapons with her so the only thing she managed to do with this maneuver was headbut Plague. This took him by surprise which she used to push him all the way to the back wall of the room; she stared at Plague right in the eyes despite the sword of coalescence effects.
“We am getting real tired of this you know? We have been pushed around for too damn long and this is where we put our foot down.” We? What the hell was she talking about? Why was she still standing; now, why was she still able to speak? Why wasn’t the sword doing its job? This and many other questions were racing through Plague’s mind.
“W-we? What they hell is going on? Why are you still standing? Give in already!” Plague managed to say.
“What’s going on you say? See, your mistake was to lift the mind control spell or whatever that thing was. I am the spirit of the void yet you thought you could just assimilate like any other spirit you have come across. Let me tell you something, better men have tried…”
He didn’t give a response, instead using his other hand to try and slash at Roxanne using the biological sword. She inturned reached over and grabbed his wrist. Suddenly his hand began to decay into a purple goo that began to drip into the floor; Plague looked with dread sketched on his unmasked face as his hand was gone. He, the augmented undead bio-weapon under the control of not one but two fragments of Anomon was being subdue.
“Now now.”, Roxanne uttered nonchalantly, “We can’t have that can’t we? Went right through your augments too huh? Did it hurt? If not it will in a minute. Come one, where was that bradado a moment ago? Squirm for me a little…”
“How are you even doing this? T-the sword should have claimed you by know… I am the rightful hei-” Roxanne slapped him before he could finish what he was saying.
“Oh shut up! Always going on with that nonsense. Listen, right now none of that matters ok? It is only you and I in this little dance of ours. I am your everything, I am your judge, the final authority...I decide how and when you die…”
“Why you! On whose authority do you say such things?!”
Roxanne’s previously empty hand now wielded the sword of the void and she pinned the tip of it right in Plague’s neck; the effects of it peeling some of the decayed flesh from him. “Well, you see. Void here has said you, Assimilation, and Despair have always bullied him; hard to believe beings like yourself would do such human actions but you know… He wants revenge now. You think you are all mighty just because you assimilated Convergence? Well, if she is in there, how about it? How about you help your brother and I teach this pretentious spirit a lessons? I call upon you Convergance, let’s take this fucker down!”
Plague squirmed at Roxannes’ grip; he was pinned down by her and his left arm was decaying as time went by. “I-I won’t let you! This is my destiny...I won’t let a bitch like you strip that away from you.”
It was now her turn to dig her blade into him; she thrusted it right into his next. Roxanne gave out a little cry of delight as she heard him for the first time scream in pain. “Oh my, you are finally giving in. How does it feel? To hurt, to face the very thing humanity has on a regular basis: your own mortality?” She held there and moved the sword around causing him to lose his grip on the sword of coalescence still in Roxanne’s chest. “A person’s last moment says a lot of who they are and I am honored you will share yours with me… There is nothing more intimate than a blade for the occasion wouldn’t you agree? Let’s see what kind of person you are…”
Roxanne let go of the blade as it was now stuck to bone and bionic in his neck. The purple goo started to ooze out of the wound which meant the clock was ticking. “Don’t worry, I will prolong this as much as I can...Haven’t indulge myself like this in quite a while...Please...It’s ok to scream…”
Victor was still mulling over what he had just read. “To the end of the world and back… By any means necessary.” Those were phrases that means nothing to him now but he felt they somehow should. If what he knew currently was correct, it was irrelevant anyways given he had completed what the main task of the note was. Then why did Roxanne make him read it? Was it not actually over? Did she need help? Then why make this whole thing so ominous? That couldn’t be it; if it was why would that woman show up and told him to back off from Luna? None of this made sense and had only given him more questions.
“Just who the hell are you Roxanne? Who the hell am I?”
He decided he wasn’t going to get any answers on his own. He needed to talk to some people; hopefully Roxanne would tell him what she was planning to at least get that out of the way. Maybe his friend Blackjack knew something? Whatever the case, what that note said was no longer him; the mission was over as well so there no use worrying over it. Still, the last part of it still lingered on his mind. “...Whatever your feelings are after all of this is up to you. Ask yourself the question and from there do what you think is right. As for me, I am starting to grow fond of her; Helen McKinnon, how about you? Those that feeling linger?”
“Very much so...seems not even memory loss can take that away from me… but to think it started b-... no, that doesn’t matter. Now of it does, it’s the now that matters...So long as the sun shines upon this earth…”
It had been a few hours inside of Plagues office by now; the night having descended upon them for some time now.. Downstairs the undead patrolling the area, as well as the ones outside, had just dropped on the spot; they were unmoving as if they had all just fainted. One of them remained up however; it was Plagues favorite toy: Bio-Weapon Psi. It looked around with new found lucidity as his brethren collapsed. After a moment that only those with new found sentience would understand, Psi gathered some items and gear and calmly exited the tower unimpeded; everyone else was in their rooms or “busy”.
Roxanne excited Plague’s office with a wide smile of satisfaction. She was covered in the purpled ooze which she seemed to be happily licking off her one of her hands while the other was behind her back. Her katar still sheathed in their place. She walked along the hall humming a familiar tune as she was heading to the stair that would lead her to the lower floor. Suddenly a figure appeared before her blocking her way.
“Hey, you. I don’t know who you are or why you are her or frankly do I care. I have had a long day now so I will give you a chance to leave unharmed. But know that you are in my way so if you choose not to you will be moved.”
The figure laughed before speaking. “We can do introductions later. For now you can call me Lucy. I know who you are Roxanne and what you just did. I am here to speak to Plague if you don’t mind.”
At this Roxanne smiled. She revealed the hand behind her back and brandished something before tossing it at Lucy’s feet; it was Plague’s severed head. It sparked from damaged bionic and it leaked the purple ooze like if it was soaked in it. Lucy simply facepalmed. “Of all the things you could’ve done Roxanne… Let me guess, you know wield the sword of singularity?”
“Guilty as charged. You seems to know your stuff. Well, then you should know it’s best for you to move along. Don’t want to dirty that nice outfit of yours.”
Lucy gave a deep sigh. “I am afraid I can’t do that… I sensed Singularity being awakened and I came her expecting Plague to have disobeyed me but… you of all people? I swear, you and Ironwood cause me so many headaches…”
“So I am taking that as a no on leaving me alone. Alright, you asked for it. Behold the power of the singularity!” Roxanne unsheathed her katar and charged at Lucy. Her response was another sigh before snapping her fingers; a bright white light engulfed the room as if a flashbang had been detonated.
“I don’t think so. You are coming with me. We need to have a nice long chat…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 11, 2018, 12:21:22 am
Catalina gave a heavy sigh once she was again alone in her office. There was a lot to think about, but her mind kept coming back to what Leila dredged up. The two had spoken not long before she left. Not so much spoken as argued, rather.
The captain had always suspected that Specialist Carnes knew the truth. Leila never brought the issue up back then, and so the captain let it slide back then. She guessed that the fact that Atomos was likely dead, and that she ultimately played a hand in Jennifer's condition, was the catalyst for the confrontation.
She thought back and remembered how one of the few surviving Y-series personnel cottoned on to what caused it. And how they had a "disagreement" because she fully suspected he was either going to be unable to act discreet about it, or worse cause more trauma for Jenny as a result of trying to "study" the anomalous nature of her mutations. At least that's what the captain told herself. There were plenty of valid reasons not to trust the science team assigned to Site 4, the entire incident was proof of that. But that wouldn't justify his "suicide" and she knew it.
She also remembered how the test strips "ran out" suspiciously fast, and the blood analysis machines "malfunctioned" about a week after discovering what happened to Atomos. As the files confirmed, the fact the undead had no logical reason to be getting back up wasn't covered up. That would've been as impossible as trying to sweep the entire apocalypse under the rug. That some of the undead hadn't actually DIED first was, however, much easier to redact.
The argument brought back some painful memories, and as much as she hated to, she had been unable to say anything that would ease Leila's concerns. Or get her to trust her own commanding officer again. She wondered who else might know. There was no sign at all that the remaining Marines and Corps of Engineers personnel knew. They were only briefed on the absolute basics of how to take a reading, and how to accurately report the numbers to a member of 3-IV. Not how to interpret the readings.
Leila knew however. She'd found out from asking Larion evidently. So she suspected Larion knew, but if he did he kept quiet about it. She hoped he at least trusted her judgement.
She glanced down at a file on her computer. Medeina's record and analysis of Atomos' mutations. The AI evidently hadn't been programmed to use Division XV's method of categorizing mutations, but rather the X-series Research Directive Protocols. Indeed, what use would the AI have for it? Its principal advantage was being more practical to analyze a mutant in the field, and quicker to get a result if you weren't an advanced computer intelligence.
Their method didn't give an exact profile of what mutations had occurred, only a general overview of what subtypes and how strongly-developed they were in total. In contrast, Medeina's method could get an exact profile using only one of the things their method tested for. Giving the AI exactly what she seemed addicted to learning, and none of the information she seemed to regard as unimportant.
Quote
Category: Pre-threshold, vulpine sub-type, 57% degree of alteration.
Mutations observed: 1. Musculoskeletal alteration of tailbone, defusion and growth of vertebrae into a functioning tail. 2. Cartilaginous and musculoskeletal alteration of ears, pointed vulpine structure. 3. Neurological alterations, adaptation of auditory system to mimic vulpine characteristics. 4. Minor degree of neurological changes to visual and olfactory systems, marginal improvements of sight and sense of smell over baseline. Effect is reduced by absence of any corresponding cartilaginous and musculoskeletal changes. 5. Mutagenic odontogenesis, second development of permanent teeth. Number and type follows standard canine structure, adapted to the human mandible and maxilla. 6. Minor metabolic and hormonal alterations. Slightly elevated resting heartrate, partial development towards canid dietary requirements with absence of disruptive symptoms. Development of estrous cycle suspect but unconfirmed.
Notes: 1. Elevated heartbeat may be side effect of stress owing to reluctance to cooperate with analysis procedures. 2. Continuity of genetic alterations highly likely, fertility of subject undetermined. 3. Absence of non-vulpine alterations to DNA, consistent with targeted serum application.
She then looked at a small paper printout, faded and folded over countless times. She hadn't entered this data into the computer records, and for good reason. The SPD-XV testing method had one other advantage that the X-series system lacked. Unlike Medeina, it could spot the anomalous nature of her mutations from a mile away.
By now Donovan had settled in at the mess hall in the Shepard's Wolves compound, quietly nursing his drink. Something that probably should've been in a much smaller shot glass. Not that it mattered much to him with his bionics. The sound he made was quiet, almost impossible to hear, something like a distorted electronic stutter. That he was tearing up a bit confirmed that the sound was his laryngeal correction augmentation failing at rendering quiet sobs.
Someone sat down at his table. A young woman. What he took notice of first was the German shepherd that she had been leading along. "Hi there. You doing alright?" she asked.
The cyborg looked over at her, before giving an electronic sigh. "I w-will be. Why do you a-a-ask?" he said, seeming to focus more on the canine, who simply sat there, giving a quizzical headtilt.
"Good to check up on new arrivals, especially if they've been brought here after getting held up by God's Army. We can...talk about it if you'd like?" she suggested, and Donny looked away. "It's not anything they did to me. My b-bionics h-aa-" He thumped his chest, voice fading before a degree of normalcy returned to it. "Bionics have been acting up for years. I have...had, several dogs I'd been taki-i-ing care of." he answered.
The woman went quiet at that, looking down before reaching to set a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." she said, Donny simply finishing his drink. "What's your name?" he asked her.
"Sandra. And you?" she answered. "Donovan. What about him?" he asked, reaching to gently pet the canine sitting there, his tail wagging slowly. "He's Gunther. Stray I'd been taking care of. He's a good boy."
At that, Donny managed a little smile. "All dogs are."
Helen marched on, wearily yet maintaining a steady pace. She was chanting again, a familiar song.
"Hoc die nos pugna, tenere aciem, purgare tenebras, et renovare lux..."
It was as she ended this that she neared her quarters, the last of that verse overheard as she reached the door. She opened it and with little ceremony set her hammer down on the dresser, taking her mask off. "Victor, you alright? It's been...a long day already." she said, sitting down by the side of the bed.
She wasn't sure what he had found, but from the look of him she guessed his day had already been tiresome as well. The fact something had been worrying her was readily apparent on her face, yet she didn't seem injured at least.
As the Knight of The Veil rode on, keeping a wary eye out on the road ahead of them, he felt something. A resonance in the axe. The watcher's attention seemed to shift. "...what is it, watcher?"
Something grave has happened. It...that... There was a moment's pause. Hmm. Most unexpected. There is another matter I must attend to. Continue your mission. he ordered simply. The mark of the axe's forging will suffice to protect you should you get into trouble. With that, for once Horace could no longer feel that looming sensation in the back of his mind, of He From Beyond The Veil's full attention upon him.
Would he did not know was that the watcher was seeking something out. It didn't take long to determine who caused what. There was a plan in place, but it was decades too early to implement it. That left him with one option. And with the one carrying three shards seemingly out of his sight, he chose to reach out to that which remained.
He would need a moment, when its host would be resting, freed from the trivial tasks of the day. Then, a momentary rest would give way to sleep, then dream...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 11, 2018, 12:27:35 am
B-23 was still surprised by how people reacted to the markings on his head. He was walking shirtless in the exercise yard with Jackson and two men who both stood seven foot tall vacated the weight stations that the pair had stopped in front of. Sitting down B-23 started to exercise as Jackson watched him. The text to speech voice spoke over the earpiece Jackson was wearing as B-23 said “You’re going to get a work detail here. You get along with the others and I’ll get you a better job.”
Jackson looked around obviously nervous as he responded “Okay. I’ll do my best.”
B-23 nodded as he told him “And get along with the mutants too. They’re as much a part of this community as you and me. They are still people.”
Jackson nodded as he said “I know I know. It’s just...it makes me nervous thinking about what if that was me?”
B-23 shrugged before saying “Continue living. How you look, how your guts are arranged, none of that fucking matters. It’s the man that stands up, the man that acts like a fucking man and takes care of his own, the man that knows how to handle himself so no one else has to handle his business that matters, not what people see when they look at him.” and found himself surprised that he was saying things like that. Surprised he’d helped the kid in the first place.
Elsewhere Blitz sighed as he leaned back in his chair. His forehead was bandaged from a shrapnel wound but he kept working. Sighing as a spring shot across the room he looked over at Schultz and asked “How in the hell do you do this?”
Smiling Schultz said “Practice. Lots of practice. Making toys is hard work after all.”
Blitz set the half finished toy down and stood up. Rubbing his eyes he said “Well this has been nice but I’ve got to go. Take care Schultz.”
Walking out the door he heard Schultz tell him to do the same. Walking down the hall he noticed some of the lights were out at the moment. Making a mental note to tell Maxim about it he kept walking. His thoughts turned to the reports that his men had found a lieutenant willing to talk for protection. That would be go-
The sound of a baton being scraped along the concrete wall of the corridor behind him roused him from his thoughts. Turning he saw a man slowly walking towards him. A man wearing the uniform that Blitz hadn’t seen in years.
A black metal helmet that engulfed the bearers head led to a similar chestpiece, which in turn led to pieces that covered up to the elbows and knees. The numbers ‘00013’ were painted in gold on the right side of the chest plate along with a cross over the heart and a revolver that had been painted black in one hand. Recognizing the armor Blitz blinked and the man was gone.
After a moment of shock he turned and ran to his private quarters. Pushing through the door and scrambling to pull out a key he managed to get his footlocker open and found what he’d been looking for. A black revolver with gold engravings on the cylinder and the words ‘Oathbearer’ on the barrel.
Hugging the gun to himself he felt the tears roll down his face. After a few minutes he pulled himself together and slid the revolver into his bag before forcing himself to stand. Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would uphold the oath he’d taken all those years ago. Walking out he made his way to the briefing room and shouted at his sargent “Get the Tunnel Rats ready to move tonight. We’ll meet with that lieutenant and see what he knows. If it’s what he implied I’ll make sure that motherfucker lives, if not..if not I’ll put a hole in his throat.”
Meanwhile the Vikings, having returned home, moved their possessions into the finished barracks. It was as they finished that they spotted Eino stumble out of the forest. Looking to each other the rest sighed and continued about their work while Anton walked over.
Before Eino could say a thing Anton punched him hard enough to knock him to the floor. Looking down at the man Anton said “You went off and got drunk? What if we needed you? Fucking idiot.” before walking off. Eino mumbled something as he walked into the barracks to collapse on his bed.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Mrnocamera on August 12, 2018, 03:28:36 pm
(gotta love all these posts written by other people)
Solomon looked back over to Cardin, smiling a bit at that before giving a nod. "Anything else I can help you with? Well er...I can try. I'm sorry that I'm not good at following along..." he admitted, looking down.
Cardin tugs at Solomon's arm gently, chirping at him quietly. The avian mutant drags him over to the book, and then opens it back up to the page he found the most interesting, one that was entirely in Chinese, and happily chirps at Sol, pointing at the (somewhat accurate) translation.
Solomon looked back to Cardin with a curious look, following along and regarding the section he opened with a curious look. "Oh? Nice. I don't have as much familiarity with the original sections except for the old Hellenic bits. Could translate that for you if you'd like. I know the author took some...odd liberties with the Greek portion, guessing they did the same for the other excerpts?"
Cardin shakes his head, then nods, chirping a couple times. He gently traces a talon across the entry talking about alchemical fire, something the author put down as simply the discovery of fireworks. "Cheep!" He clicks two talons together and then spreads his hands out, making a 'tchoo' noise. He then looks at Sol and chirps again, tilting his head to the side. Solomon hmmed a bit at that, glancing at the translation before smiling. "Something went right over the author's head, I'm guessing?" he remarked.
Cardin nods, then points over towards the hearth, nodding again. Then he mimes throwing something, followed by him squatting down and doing another explosion gesture against the ground. "Chirrup? Tweet!"
Solomon smiled a bit at that, following him over to the hearth, before the gesture gave him pause. "Oh. It was something to do with incendiaries instead?" he asked, going off of a wild guess.
Cardin nods happily, wings fluttering. A couple of happy chirps and tweets later, he gathers himself again, and gently pokes Solomon in the chest with the back of a talon, then points at the book, cocking his head and giving a chirrup.
Solomon gave a little sound at that poke, something vaguely like a squeak of surprise before regaining his composure. "Thinking about trying to figure how to make it? Should probably test it outside..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 14, 2018, 02:59:17 am
The convoy reached the center in good time, pulling up and 'circling the wagons' as it were. Things started tense but when no attack came from either side, people went out from both parties to meet with others. Meanwhile, Illiana watched from the roof of the center, sitting neatly on a clothes line. She wanted to see what would happen here. Elsewhere too, but she only had two eyes. She had to choose what it was she wanted to watch and what it was she simply wanted to know about. She couldn't watch Roxanne, such an intrusion would likely tip the balance of fate and as much as she wanted to she couldn't go after Branches. Branches was a problem, one she could deal with, but still a problem.
She was more interested in the Canadians, but more specifically, Ms. Knight. She'd wanted to issue all sorts of papers to Brynna Knight, but she'd been too close to Astor then. After that, Illiana still couldn't get close. Ahz't'urs hand was still on her. The book was the problem. The book and Brynna's fragile mental condition. In Illiana's current state, Brynna could harm her and due to the Deus Ex's nature, she could not harm Brynna. It made her interesting how dangerous she was. Illiana made a circle with her thumb and forefinger, then looked through it pretending that it was a telescope. The act, which acted much like a telescope, caused a tiny jolt up her right temple.
And there she was, in a reclining lawn chair next to a trailer Illiana knew was filled with things better not seen or imagined. Brynna Knight, high priestess (by virtue of being the sole member) of the Cult of Agony, had arrived in the territory of the enemy. Illiana knew what it would come to and when, but it was important to her that she see it in person. Branches crawled out of the lake on the opposite side. The jolt of lightning coursing through the water had killed a lot of fish, and those had been delicious. It was nice that the name clause had been broken first. Branches wouldn't have enjoyed the result of the food clause. Growing into a monster and rampaging often ended poorly for her kind, she had enough of Illiana's power to know it. Now, she needed rest. The blast had also jolted her, and her skin had cracked. Fish, and mud. That was what she needed. Both were easy enough to get, since she already had the fish and mud could be found everywhere.
The homunculus patched the cracks running from it's shoulder down to its hip, scooping globs of sticky mud from the banks of the river and carefully smearing it all over it's body. It would let the mud dry, then scrape it off. It would be enough. Then it had a thought. Branches was a person now, a sapient being. But was it a boy? Or a girl? It experimented with the clay, forming the sculpting the mud into a shell around it's body and experimenting with the two body types.
"I could be both." Branches mused, then giggled the thought away even as it wiped away the wet mud and returned it self to a gender neutral state. A general humanoid shape was perfectly fine, and it would have no need of the organs of generation anyway. Instead it sculpted many tiny little versions of itself, including a single strand of hair in each. The little golems worked tirelessly over branches body in a way the homunculus itself could not. They piled mud and clay onto it, making Branches bigger until it was the size of a normal human being. Their job done, they collapsed back into the lifeless earth while Branches lay still under the lowering sun, preparing for it's first night of freedom.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 14, 2018, 04:01:53 am
Things in Europe had moved fast over the past two weeks. With news of an actual crusade sweeping through the land the Red Duke’s forces were pushing the King’s Militia as hard as they could. This however proved not entirely effective as the Militia released weapons not seen before by the Duke’s men.
Vassiliev was observing yet another battle on the edge of the Duke’s territory through the scope of his rifle. Mikhail’s voice over the radio was inquiring, as it always was, about the latest information Vassiliev and his network had found. Slowly pulling the trigger as a Militiaman stepped over the parapet of a trench Vassiliev watched as his body stood rigid for a moment before slumping over to the side. Looking for his next target he answered Mikhail “The traitor, for I have no doubt of the existence of one, is close to being found. When we do..well you know what happens, accidents and the like.”
Another slow pull of the trigger, another body to be marked in his book, Vassiliev admired just how effective the optical camouflage built into his suit was. Taking a breath as he observed the Duke’s army pushing the Militia back Vassiliev let his sight rest on an officer of the Duke’s army. Pulling the trigger he watched the lifeless body of the officer slam into the ground. He had served his purpose well, but now he was a hazard..well he was a hazard.
Standing and moving down the steps of the windmill Vassiliev spoke again to Mikhail “I understand your concern however one of your status must not concern himself with such things. It is my duty to do so after all. But if you should like I can inform you that it is not within the Holy Ministry.”
Striding away from the battlefield another signal prompted him to accept another radio call. Listening he heard the woman on the other end say “Vassiliev sire I’ve grave news. A number of our priests are being killed, high ranking in the church. As well..the duke’s family has gone missing.” And so the report continued as he disappeared into a scout car that began taking him home.
Elsewhere a soldier walked through the archway of a church. The dagger that was sheathed in his coat thirsted for its first blood letting. Soon it would be sated. Soon.
Walking past the pews the soldier slid the knife from its sheath. As the guardsmen rushed him he pulled his arm back before throwing the weapon through the air. Slamming a fist into the first guardsman’s throat he kept an eye on the flying blade until it lodged itself into the priest’s throat. His job was done.
Feeling a sword cut through his back the man gave up fighting. He had done his duty. Closing his eyes as another blade swung through the air he wondered what glory awaited him in the most hallowed halls. He’d find out as his head thudded against the floor.
While that had been happening a man bearing suit of plate armor that led to a bevor and salet helmet. The armor, made according to a more sleek design, had been painted a dull black that had chipped in places. Despite the condition of the paint the armor was obviously cared for however.
Slowly walking out of the ruined church he had been praying in he saw the townsfolk retreating into shelters. He also saw what they were running from. A group of ‘cleaners’ that had been assigned to clear the area due to a suspected outbreak.
As he stood in front of them they looked to each other as if wondering who would kill him first. One finally decided to try a bayonet charge. As it impacted the armor with sufficient force to pierce steel it instead shattered. A flash of motion and the armored knight had his sword out and the man that had tried to stab him fall to the side missing his lower body.
The rest of the men opened fire on the knight and watched as bullets pinged off his armor like harmless little pellets. Walking towards them they could hear him over the symphony of gunfire “No weapon made by man may pierce the armor of the Lord.”
Another flash of motion cut their weapons into pieces. As they began to panic he started to cut them down. Only a handful made it over the hill and away from the town. As he turned back to the emerging townsfolk he said “The invaders have been driven out In nomine Dei.”
As he walked towards the ruined docks he observed the ships that were somewhat less ruined. He could also hear the townsfolk walking behind him. Their leader approached thanking him and he responded “I was merely upholding my sacred duty. Now if you truly desire for your people to be safe we require a ship. A ship to sail to America.”
Looking over at him the elder said “Isn’t America just as bad?”
The knight looked out over the water for a moment. Turning back he said “It is safer than the land we stand on. The fates..They do not speak highly of our chances if we stay here.”
After a few minutes of watching the knight stride away the Elder called for them to begin working on ships. It would take maybe a month. But the Knight had never led them astray. Turning as the Elder called out asking his name the Knight smiled underneath his helm as he said “They call me Gabriel.”
A week later…
Vassiliev sighed. He had seen the writing on the wall long ago. Now..well now it was written out in blood on the wall before the Great Chambers. His men had killed the traitorous bastards where they stood but he would be the only one to enter the chamber itself. Sighing again he walked through the door.
Inside was the Duke and his council save the high priest and a few military men. Though of course now he knew why the priests had been killed naught but a week prior. A shame that a second plot had covered up the one that had succeeded. A shame that all that stood in front of him had known of it. Looking at Mikhail he asked “How long brother? How long have you been a part of the charade?”
Mikhail gave him a smile. One full of the rot of lies and deceipt. One that let Vassiliev know everything he needed to. Mikhail said “Brother whatever are you talking about? I knew nothing of the attack that was coming here today. You should take a seat and calm down, enjoy some tea.”
Vassiliev almost enjoyed the way the man’s teeth shattered as a bullet rammed through them and tore the back of his mouth out. Working the hammer of the revolver Vassiliev turned it to the next. Four more shots rang out in the room.
Walking out he ordered his men to follow. As he had in the old world Vassiliev would bring his family with him when he disappeared from the new one. The men with him were loyal, some to a fault if he were honest, and he would take care of them for that. For now he needed to head to that port town he’d heard about. Granted showing up with nearly a hundred men would be questioned but he could explain it away.
1 week later…
The war had turned. Vassiliev sat with Gabriel in the ruined church observing the movement of the Militia. As it turned out the town had not been targeted for ‘cleaning’ and as such had had the right to defend itself. So the Militia passed through when they discovered no Duke’s Army present. Of course the Militia would have attacked had they known the town was taking care of defectors.
On top of that the crusade had subsided now that the war was waning in favor of one of side. They had little care for who won the war the Templars. All they cared for was that people could travel the land safely. Now that that was possible they had settled down and in fact a number of them had come here upon learning of the plan to sail away.
Vassiliev had to admit that he was impressed with the records of Cyrus and his men, but not so much the Knight accompanying them. He had a knack for getting in trouble. But still it was pleasant that they were going with them.
In three weeks they would be in America. What a thought.
Meanwhile in New England. One week later
It was early in the morning a week later as Blitz stared at a man. The man’s purifier lieutenant uniform lay on the floor not far from the pair as they looked at each other. Blitz clenched his fist as he resisted the urge to punch the man. Instead he asked “Alright, what information do you have?”
The man smiled as he finished adjusting the leather belt he was wearing. Walking out with Blitz he said “Oh that? He’s based himself out of a church. Bastard’s gone mad.” And then he rattled of the locations coordinates
Outside the Tunnel Rats watched a van pull up outside the building. The back opened as B-23 and his men walked out carrying their weapons at the ready. If he could have B-23 would have smiled as Blitz walked out with the man. He did catch Blitz say “Right,we held up our end of the bargain. Good luck.”
Walking to the transport that his men were in Blitz shook his head as he heard the man protest. Turning as the armored transport started moving Blitz told him “Hey, I just agreed to get you out of the compound safely.” before the back hatch slammed shut.
One of B-23’s men had grabbed the man and shoved a needle into his arm. Another handed a tablet to B-23. After seeing the tracker that had just been injected into the man’s arm was active he handed it back and started handing his guns to one of the others. The man rather intelligently took the fact he was let go as a cue to run.
B-23 pulled the black turtle neck off and tossed it into the back of the van. From there he took the offered machete and started walking towards the nearby woods. Walking after the man that he was now hunting. As a smiley face appeared on his screen B-23 hoped he made this interesting.
Of course his men giving him information over the radio helped. That and the man couldn’t keep quiet to save his life. He could still hear the man jibbering about how he had to do what he did. Which led to B-23 wondering if he even knew that this was payback for an old world debt, the death of someone’s son.
Elsewhere Isaac had just finished his breakfast when he got a radio call. Listening to the man on the other end he said “Yeah I’m with you. I’ll grab my gear you pick me up by the Red Star..yeah the bar run by Alexei..Okay fine, I’ll meet you as far out as I can but you know the road there yeah? Okay, go careful Blitz.”
Tucking his radio back into his bag he sighed. Grabbing the bag that had his armor in it he slung it over his shoulder. From there he grabbed his rifle and started out the door. He was halfway to the gate when he heard Alice shout “Hey dad! I thought we were supposed to go practice shooting today?”
Turning he saw his daughter approach, a curious look on her face. Smiling he said “Hey! I just have to..uh..” he sighed at the look on her face, letting the smile fall as he said “Look, some people I know need help dealing with someone. Someone that’s just gonna hurt more and more people for no reason.”
Alice nodded in understanding before saying “Fine, but I’m going with you.” which started an argument
Said argument ended with the pair running down the road. The deal was if she kept up she could come along. Isaac had thought she wasn’t going to keep up after all. As the pair saw the waiting transport with Blitz leaning out Isaac realized that she was faster than he had thought.
As the he climbed in Blitz gave Isaac a sideways look that said ‘why is she here’ which was met with Isaac’s look of ‘you try arguing with her’. As Blitz and Isaac sat down Blitz rolled his eyes before getting elbowed in the shoulder by Alice, who had taken a seat beside him. Isaac laughed at that as he started sliding on his armor.
Elsewhere the Kommandant observed the commanders of the remaining Purifier units. Of the five remaining three were ceremonial units that were ill equipped for modern combat. Still they would serve a purpose here. All would serve a purpose.
But then with all of them here how many men did he truly have? Maybe one hundred. More likely eighty.What could so few men accomplish that would be of substantial worth to the cause? Stepping behind the podium of the church which was now a fortress he looked them all over. “Brothers! We are here today to prepare for a final attack!”
As he began to detail the plan his men were preparing. The first of a number of trucks was being loaded with canisters. Most of these canisters contained a gas solution that would leave a man dying within a few minutes of exposure. Several were filled with an explosive mixture that would theoretically cause the gas to spread further, or at least at a faster rate.
Meanwhile Isaac had gotten his armor on and was plugging the helmet in.One of the men in the transport said “White huh? What happened to the other suit, the one that made you look like you was coming after someone like a demon outta hell?”
Isaac grinned at that description as he connected the helmet to the rest of the armor. After a moment the lights on his helmet and armor flashed before faintly glowing a dark blue. Looking over at the man as the HUD in the armor started up he said “Let’s just say I’m starting to have a better outlook on life.”
The men gave a laugh and Blitz said “That’s a rare thing these days hold onto it.” as the transport trundled forward. After a few minutes Blitz sighed and started up “Okay, our target is in a church, most likely armored it to hell and back. We also know that the bastard’s gotten desperate. Gathered all of the remaining Purifier units to him for something. We’re gonna go in there and put holes in each and every one of them.”
Isaac looked up at him, the lights integrated into the eye protection following the movement of his iris, and said “that’s your mission brief? No numbers just go and kick ass?”
Blitz shrugged as he leaned back in his seat and said “What’re you expecting? I got the location this morning I ain’t had time to go and scout it. But we don’t do this now that bastard will keep on doing what he’s doing and more people are gonna get killed.”
Alice shrugged as she responded “I don’t know, maybe a plan of attack?” to which Blitz told her “I don’t know enough to make a plan kid.”
After that it became relatively silent as the men inspected their gear. Some time later they had dismounted and were observing the church. It indeed was an armored fortress of a church with a garage essentially tacked onto it.
Alice and several of the men would be hanging back as the rest rushed the place from the front. Which was a fairly easy ordeal after a pair of suppressed sniper shots took down the door guards. From there though. Well it was going to get loud.
Blitz had planted the charges on the door and three seconds later as the doors flew in they rushed. Isaac didn’t recall much of what happened in those first few rooms, just a lot of gunfire and blood and cursing. He did remember Kicking in the door to the Kommandant’s office.
Two shots put down his guards as the Kommandant stared at them. A sigh escaped the man’s lips as he leaned back. “My time has come. Our time has come us purifiers. Though I had not thought I would be killed by one of my own.” the Kommandant said staring at Blitz.
Blitz retrieved the black revolver as he stepped close to the Kommandant and said “I gave up everything to protect my family. I served you because that was the best course of action I saw. But then I saw the light. I became a better human being than you would ever be.”
The Kommandant tried to respond but found a bullet lodged in his throat from the revolver. As he fell backwards Isaac lowered his weapon and looked over at Blitz. A moment later he said “So..Oathbearer?”
Blitz looked at him as they walked out of the room and said “Long story.”
After a few minutes they confirmed no one had made it out of the building alive. Every last one dead on the floor. With that done the Purifiers were done, no one left to take the mantle. Still the hate that had driven them would be taken up by others.
For now though..for now they all loaded back up in the transport as Blitz radioed for a cleanup team. Things would be taken care of by others. For now they brought Isaac and Alice home before leaving for their own home. Save Blitz, who decided to stick around.
Well in all honesty he more planned on heading up to Alexei’s bar, but this place was closer than the 3rd’s base. For now though..for now he needed to talk with Isaac. The only man who knew the secret he’d been keeping for the past six years.
Making Isaac aware of the fact he wanted to talk with him Isaac sent Alice to go get a few things. From there he turned to speak with Blitz “Well what’ve you got to say kid?”
Blitz shuffled nervously as he said “Well..you heard the Kommandant..I used to be one of them. No one knows at the 3rd. I..I was scared and I just wanted to keep Krieg safe. He didn’t even know, he’d been getting high most of the first three years of this shit. It was after my second year I..I ducked out of that shit with the oathbearers. We..we all took an oath to take care of that rat bastard. But I ended up giving up some information that got them killed to save Krieg. So..now you know.”
Isaac looked the man over as he said “Well can’t say you did a good thing in either instance. But you’ve become a good man. And..I’ve got some ideas that’ll need good people behind them. But for right now let’s take things slow and discuss it over a drink sometime.”
Blitz nodded, and they agreed to meet later in the day. For now Blitz went his way and Isaac went to go find Alice. Humming to himself Isaac wondered just how this little plan of his would turn out.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 15, 2018, 09:52:37 am
(First paragraph provided by dragon, first half shown to Nocam for approval. [he logged off while I was working on the second]) Nathaniel sighed a bit as he looked over to Michael, then glanced at Wadi. "Alright, we can see about a...birthday party. Lead the way...what was your name again?" he asked, regarding the spirit with a mix of curiosity and concern. If he wasn't trying his hardest not to puke from every movement of the pocket dimension and its unnatural structure, he'd likely be a lot more suspicious of the sword-handed spirit. Especially given his only other experience with spirits was, as he jokingly put it once, Victor shitting out a ghost.
"I," Michael began, puffing up with pride, "am Michael. Mothers favorite boy." He punctuated his statement by trying to put his hands on his hips and angling his head heroically. For obvious reasons, it didn't work. He couldn't get the blades positioned right, and raising his chin and looking to the side gave him the appearance of a lost tourist. Wadi tried it herself, and managed to accomplish the right appearance easily. "Er... I suppose it is time to go. I hope mother won't be upset that I left."
"It'll be fine." Nathaniel said, not also saying that Sharlene had probably forgotten about him. He was well aware of the way Sharlene probably exploited the golden spirit, but as for how it came about for this obviously powerful being to call Sharlene "mother" or why it allowed her to dress it up in womens clothing was anyones guess. Nathaniel looked at the spirit from the corner of his eye, not really liking the way the sun dress it had been made to wear stretched over his muscular frame.
"Are you ready Mr. Nathaniel? Ms. Michael?" He asked, drawing circles in the air with his arms. Wadi moaned a protest and something about Nathaniel being "no fun" and then there was a flickering flash in the air, and all was dark for a moment. A sensation Nathaniel could only describe as being "folded" in on himself overcame him, and his consciousness went spiraling into the dark, only to come screaming back as the light of the failing day greeted him on the other side of Michaels rift. "Mother!" Michael cried, floating over Nathaniels prone body, even as Wadi changed the tips of her simulated sword hands into cat paws and bapped him on the face.
"How'd you get out Mickey?" Sharlene demanded without bothering to worry about Nathaniel or Wadi. She tossed aside the gloves and gave Lilith a light push which the tigress responded to by standing up. It was obvious that they'd been about to try and pull Nathaniel out. He suspected the attempt would result in much the same as it had for him.
"I left Mother. You already know Mr. Nathaniel, but this is Ms. Michael, she is-"
"You just left?"
"Er, yes. Did you want me to stay mother? I'm sorry, I didn't want to leave, but you see-"
"You could have left the whole time and you didn't say anything? You could have got me out of there when we were trapped, skipping the whole show of Lil' wandering back to the center, getting pulled out by Nate, then hiking all the way back?"
"Yes."
Sharlene ran her hand down her face and considered grounding Michael, then decided against it. The day had started so well, and this was certainly not the worst thing to happen. If anything, even if it had been a great day this wouldn't have been a bad thing. In fact, now that she was thinking about it, the whole ordeal with the homunculus may have turned out worse if Michael was around. He was useful, but an idiot.
"Okay then..." She growled, "We're gonna have a long talk about this later Mickey." She then turned on L and Mohammad, "I should tell you two to go after 'Branches,' but I can't be bothered. I need to think about what to do with these coins. I'm not sure if I'm gonna give em' up to you or not, hump bunny."
L stepped up dangerously, but Mohammad grabbed her arm and held her back. The look she shot him made Sharlene grin inwardly. 'Someone's not getting any tonight,' Sharlene thought, 'Didn't anybody ever tell you to back you're lady up Mo'?'
"I'm not done here." L hissed, pointing to Sharlene sternly. The moment held it's vague tension for only a split second until it was broken by the sound of Wadi splatting her "paw" into Nathaniel's face again. He was beginning to get thoroughly coated in a sheen of green slime, which made it look like the gooey girl was holding him down. Lilith stomped over, and Wadi got one more "bap" in before reforming and slithering out of reach.
"Can't catch me kitty!" She cried, "Maybe we can play again at my birthday party!" Atomos was sick. Not the kind of sickness one takes off the shelf medicine for, or drinks bowls of hot soup and downs bottles of lemon soda for. No, Atomos was in the throes of soul sickness. Cheena was settling in and it made both of them feel weak and a bit wobbly. More, Atomos recognized the sensation. There was less pain, a lot less, and no delerium this time around. Atomos had already gone through the change, and it wouldn't happen while she was cursed anyway.
"I feel like ass..." Atomos groaned from inside Horaces saddlebag. She poked her nose out to get a whiff of the air and was pleased to find the stink of the stalker was less today. The beast had kept it's distance, but it was still stalking them. Occasionally, Horace supposed aloud one evening, it must divert itself to find something to eat. She sniffed again and was satisfied with what she smelled. Late summer flowers, autumn apples just about ready to start ripening, and the coming fall rains. Even the light had begun to take on the quality of fall, catching and reflecting the light of leaves preparing to change. It was so much more obvious and though she was saddled with an ailment of the spirit, Atomos and Cheena couldn't help but watch in pleasant awe as the country rolled on slowly by them, easing the pain of what the two had been through together and healing Atomos heart a little.
Despite the safety, the ease of travel, and the leisurely country, Atomos had slowly grown to feel like a burden. The hollow armor tended to most of her whims, collecting supplies and caring for her like she was not an animal. That made sense of course, Atomos wasn't an animal. To that end though, Cheena was. She wasn't any kind of domestic animal either, and so the attention made her uncomfortable. On top of it all, they both had the impression that this Horace had someplace he needed to be.
"You agree then, Cheena?" Atomos thought. She felt a sensation rather than hearing Cheena's voice. They had also come to the conclusion that Horace could hear them both, so Cheena had communicated more in this way. 'Practice,' so to speak. "This sickness, whatever it is, isn't going to make traveling easy but at least I know which way to go now. Are you sure though? That it won't come after us?" The sensation came again, positive. The two of them must have held palaver on this topic three or four times now. The most important thing was the stalker. If they slipped away, could they be sure that they would not be trigged by the monster. Cheena was certain they would not. She believed that the beast had lost interest in small game like them, and was only after Horaces horse now. Atomos had to admit, it was probably true. They didn't like the idea of using a stranger as a diversion, but they also agreed that Horace didn't have much to fear. The stalker wouldn't come after him directly, and so far it had not approached under cover of darkness. Horace himself said he believed it to be a tormented creature, caught in the throes of eternal starvation. Unable to sate it's hunger, but also unable to die from it. Cheena didn't understand, but Atomos did. She had seen for herself the things guts growing back when she'd blown them out with one blessed steel round. It healed too fast to starve.
For all their conjecture, Atomos and Cheena didn't really know for sure. They would soon though. For better or worse Atomos steeled herself against the queesiness of soul sickness, and when Horace dismounted at the next brook crossing, she slipped silently and nimbly from the saddle bag and down the embankment before diving into the gentle stream. She didn't stop to shake off on the other side, simply bolted up the opposite bank and vanished into the undergrowth.
"I wish him luck, hopefully we will meet again under better circumstances..." She thought as the sound of the stream vanished behind her.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 16, 2018, 02:31:59 pm
(( Victor and Helen stuff written with Noct, Leila and Quinn stuff written with Wilson. ))
Victor heard Helen approach by her chant and it distracted him of his own thoughts momentarily. He didn't say anything as he just stared at her while she set down her hammer and mask making herself comfortable. Her question snapped him out of his small trance.
"What? Oh." He shook his head a couple times before answering properly. "Yeah, it has been. Excuse me, just a few things in my mind." He regarded her and the way she seemed fed up but mostly worried over something; her lack of any apparent injuries a relief especially given the cloak she wore. "Something the matter? You look like you have gone through some things yourself today. Anything I can help with?"
He said this but he himself wasn't too sure if he could be of any help. However, rather than a empty gesture he genuinely wanted to offer her any help he could offer. Mostly out of guilt, guilty over someone he was pretty sure he wasn't anymore, something that was not even relevant anymore, an event that remained unspoken.
It was then he noticed how she looked at him realizing she must have figured out something was bothering him. "Don't worry about me. Everything is ok. Just a few questions on my mind I would like answers to but... that is not important. As for Roxanne, told Hector to see if he could figure out any symbolic reasons she might done what she did. We are stuck there, until she comes back or decides to pull a stunt that's how it'd going to be... Anyways, Coffee? Tea? Some water?"
As she sat there she regarded him with a look of concern, listening at first before offering her answers. "Just a few matters to attend to. First ensuring Isaac was alright, thank the gods he was. Then Sharlene...seems Iliana made an idiotic mistake in the creature she tasked to keep an eye on her." she remarked, before shaking her head.
"Regardless, if you're sure you're alright? If there's anything I can help with, so be it." she asked. "I hope he found something out, but I suspect it might take an understanding not only of her, but of the arcane, to puzzle out any symbolism." she said. "And...tea would be nice, thank you." she said. There was a moment's hesitation before that answer, she was sorely tempted to suggest mead at this point, if not for the fact that Thomas was only a few months old, and thus hadn't been weaned off yet.
The Doctor took that makeshift path Hector paved a long time ago, it was a rough ride but it was at least short. Quinn found Leila already packed and ready to go, with the radio. He popped open the truck’s door and got out.
Leila brought her things in with her, giving a wave to Quinn as he stepped out of the truck, smiling some. “Nice, seems you guys found a good one.” she said, gesturing to the caravan. She had a pack with additional ammunition, supplies including an IFAK, and hidden away in it was a laptop from the center, along with a solar charger, though she expected it to be more useful for a few other devices she’d taken with her.
Quinn nodded at that, “It should have plenty of room for the both of us and whatever we find.” He said, looking over the devices Leila brought. “I brought my own laptop, unsure if the Modem I brought will even work…” Quinn announced clearly, pointing out Leila’s laptop.
Leila gave a nod at that. “Not sure if it’ll work either. But if not, there’s a few files for reference from Site 4 that might be handy, plus...” As she said that, she set out two more small devices. One resembled a blood glucose meter except for the odd designations on the plastic, and the other was a small device evidently intended to connect to the laptop. “I don’t think we’ll really need the latter device here, but this one -” she said, holding up the first of the two devices. “-might be useful. One of the old contaminant readers from Site 4.”
Quinn looked over the devices, the device resembling a glucose meter was one of those blob testers. The other was a tester for mutations, “...We don’t need these… I’m not sure why you brought them either, they’d likely go unused with us.” He said rather bluntly.
Leila sighed a bit at that. “Larion handed them off to me. Center still has a few of the blob testers and they probably would get more use of it than we would. He said the mutagenic tester was even less useful to the center than it’d be for us.” she said. “He has his reasons I guess. Wouldn’t hurt I guess, and Larion will probably mouth off about it if I try to make them take them back. Already tried to tell him we won’t need these things.”
Quinn gave Leila a look, before rolling his eyes. “Fine. Lets look around the inside of the caravan. You can put your personal belongings inside for now.” He said, opening the door to the inside of the caravan.
Leila nodded at that, stepping in and taking a look around before finding a suitable place to put things away. She’d packed the electronics back up in a pack that she put away, along with a duffel bag for most of her other personal items. Then finally was an old shoulder bag with Army markings on it, labelling its contents as protective gear of some sort.
After they got situated, Quinn and Leila got into the truck and drove off down south. There was a silence after a while, before he broke it. “Why did you offer to come?” He asked as they began to drive.
As Quinn asked that question she looked back over to him, before giving a nod.”For one it’s not safe these days to be going off alone. Seems like even the Iron Marshal doesn’t as often. Plus, well...after being cooped up in Site 4 for 7 years, most of the group has been eager to do something, anything else. Larion’s always on the roof, Mardell’s always outside inspecting the area and keeping and eye on things, captain and corpsman keep themselves busy, Nell and Alberto always have missions, Atomos has...had scouting runs...” she said, looking down as she said that last one. “I thought it might be nice to?”
Quinn hmmed a bit at that, “I see.” He said, hoping there wasn’t any other reason. Leila nodded at that. “Still, thank you.” she said in response, looking back to the road ahead. Thankfully the road out was relatively clear, and she knew their journey south might take them either into Old Guard territory, or they might end up going past them...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 17, 2018, 01:06:36 am
Alexei sighed. He had never minded working with those of a particularly brutal mindset. In fact way back when it had been refreshing from time to time. But now.
Alexei looked back at the dead body on the floor before looking at his ‘customer’. Wiping the blood spatter from his face Alexei stood up from the table and shook his head as he told the man “You know what I think I’m going to have to rethink our business relationship.”
Edgar recognized the phrase and reached up to adjust his mask, tapping it over his right eye with three fingers to signal the other men in the room as he stepped over to the door. Alexei rolled his eyes as the man he’d been doing business with started to get upset. Turning with a pistol in hand Alexei fired two rounds into the man’s chest as his men took out the ‘customers’ compatriots. Maybe the rest of his gang would get the picture and refrain from shooting innocents.
Edgar and the others had already started walking through the rest of the makeshift house. Emerging from the back room Edgar and the others followed Alexei outside. Sliding into the charger beside Alexei Edgar opened the bag and shook his head “They left their payment in the backroom, lucky us.”
Alexei shrugged as he started the motor and led the trio of cars back to the bar.
Elsewhere B-23 pushed past a particularly clingy bush and saw his target leaning against a tree. So it wasn’t going to be that fun of a hunt after all. Taking a running leap with the machete B-23 waited for it to tear into flesh and bone and spray blo-
The machete thunked into wood as the man ducked out of the way and started running again. Ripping it out of the tree he turned to pursue. Maybe this was going to be fun!
Rushing after he felt the familiar rush of adrenaline, the howling in his ears, and smiled. Catching up in a matter of seconds B-23 cleaved the man’s head from his shoulders and slid to a stop. And just as quickly as the chemicals had rushed into his bloodstream they were removed.
Now that that was done he turned and started for the nearest road sized trail. Meeting with his men he tossed the machete in the back of the van and climbed in. time to head home. _________________ The ship landed on the beach of new england with a dull thud. A few minutes later and Gabriel walked down a ramp with several of what were now referred to as the Defenders. Much easier to say than all the differing titles of the groups that had formed it.
As they walked the man beside him had started the motor on his armor and was looking their landing site over. His voice, though muffled by the hermetically sealed suit he wore, was still understandable as he said “Detecting little in the way of..threats..why the fuck does that bush have a-”
The first shot pinged off Gabriel’s armor sending the men ducking for cover. Drawing his sword as his fellows retreated Gabriel spotted the glint of a sniper scope tucked away in a bush. Taking a step forward he felt another round strike his armor and bounce off. Advancing slowly Gabriel prepared to cut the foe dow-
The explosion in the bush was unexpected as Cyrus spoke over the comm channel “Don’t know why you decided to advance on ‘im with a sword but a grenade launcher does the trick.”
Gabriel turned and nodded at the advancing Assault Templar. He’d learned that Cyrus was of a special yet stagnant branch of the Templars, the Holy Judges of His Magnificence, and bore similar station to a Knight of the Templars. Turning to observe their surroundings he said to the templar “Well, we’ve a new home to make. Let’s get started.”
Meanwhile back at Walkerville Isaac had put his armor and weapons away and now found himself standing in front of the ruined library. Alice was beside him and noticed the look on his face. Sighing she started towards the mess as she said “Well we better start fixing it. If we don’t we won’t get it done this year.”
Isaac followed her and they started pulling apart the ruined walls and roof, moving them out of the way. As they moved the books they tossed any obviously ruined ones out with the scraps from the old library. Once that was out of the way Isaac looked around. They’d need new materials to rebuild it.
Isaac and Alice walked towards the gate as he thought about how they’d build it again. It occured to him that having a cafeteria or canteen for the settlement would be a good idea and he could build that into the library. It’d be a larger building but it would provide a nice sheltered place for people to grab their meals and read and he could build it to accomodate feeding so many people.
Grabbing his radio he called the Anton and asked if he could get the others to help him prepare the materials to build. After Anton said he could assuming Helen didn’t have anything for them to do Isaac crossed the bridge with Alice in tow. Soon they passed the tree line.
As they walked Isaac felt a strange pulse in his stone hand and looked down at it. Seeing the swirling in the stone of the palm he sighed. As he walked he said “Look we’ll talk later. And not in front of the child.”
Alice looked over from where she’d been standing and asked what he said. He made some excuse he was certain she didn’t buy. But she did get back to work as they waited to see if the vikings would show.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 21, 2018, 06:09:27 am
"People to see you Captain." Said the dough faced assistant who ran Catalina's messages. The one's she'd deemed unclassified that was. "An envoy from the Canadian and a messenger from the traders who set up camp on the east side this evening."
Catalina tapped her pen on her desk. A year she'd been doing this, a year managing the combined problems of the refugee center. Dealing with "traders" wasn't her job though. The Canadians though. She would meet with them. Larion had brought her the report from his meeting with them and it made for interesting reading. Catalina would very much like to know about this bishop that the Canadians seemed to have "captured" as well.
"Tell the merchants to deal with Jesse at the front desk. That is why he's there after all." She said, setting aside the pen and tucking the old documents she'd been going over back into their folder.
"I-I think you'll want to speak with this one Ma'am." The assistant stuttered, "R-raider..." Catalina's eyes narrowed. She had enough problems without the Hell's Raiders rearing their heads. More to worry about on top of her already full plate.
"Show them in then." She instructed, "Let's get this over with." A short while later, a man and a woman were seated across from the Captain. One of them, wearing a badge identifying herself as a member of the Canadian force, had come dressed smartly and prepared for this meeting. The other though, a somewhat overweight man in a leather vest and red sash, fidgeted nervously in his chair. The man looked like a diplomat sent to negotiate at a meeting he knows is going to be bombed. When it came down to the real talk though, roles became strangely reversed.
"What can the Refugee Center do for you two today?" Catalina asked. The Smoke Marshals representative straightened and waited politely for his Canadian counterpart to go first. When she didn't, he went ahead.
"My name is Skittles Teigen. Yes, Skittles. I'm here representing Big Smoke and his son, Curtis. They would have liked to attend this meeting themselves, but right now they are undergoing a... Well, for lack of a better way of putting it, a ceremony of ascension. Big Smoke is handing over control of the Marshals to his son." The rep from the Smoke Marshals introduced. He picked at his vest absent mindedly, fiddling with the pins in a manner that was actually rather distracting.
"And uh, yes. My name is er, uh, I have some things here that, uh, Captai- I mean, Genereal Kringle wants you to have a look at." She nervously pushed them onto Catalina's desk and became silent. Now that she'd spoken, she seemed to shake slightly like someone had touched her to a live wire. Catalina reached across the plucked up the file. It wasn't anything Larion hadn't told her about already. A simple outline of what the Canadians were up to, where they came from, where they were going, and a few requests.
"I know all this already Ms?"
"Lemat."
"Ms. Lemat. As for these requests at the end, the center can only accommodate a few of them. We have no men to spare, and our fresh food stocks are running thin. The immediate area around the center is completely stripped of preserved resources. For medical aid, we also have next to nothing. Firearms and munitions, we can do something about. Is there anything else?"
"Well... There is another issue you should know about, but I don't think, uh..." The Canadian rep eyed the man in the red scarf warily, hoping that Catalina would understand. Fortunately, she did.
"Nevermind then, save it. Mr. Teigen, what do your people need that the receptionist can't provide?"
"Nothin' it seems. We had mostly the same requests. When the boss is finished up, he'll likely want to discuss some other business with you as well. Not everyone is for it, but there isn't anybody to oppose him. I think it would involve trade routes and the possibility of setting up a kind of hub based around the center here. Curt' thinks sharp and the Marshals don't have many fighters left to defend em'. He told me to be completely honest, so I am. We were headed to meet with Two Skulls and his band to see about integrating. That might be possible, but Chief Two Skulls is a sonuva bitch. If it doesn't work out, we want to know if we'd be welcome here? Not to stay. Just to come and go. Setting up trade lines takes time, or so Curt says, and he needs to know any regulations you folks might want to impose so we don't bring something in you don't want in."
"Well-"
"Save it for Curt' Ma'am, pardon the disrespect. Since we can't expect to get any escort here, we'll have to settle for trading for some of your weapons. Long days, pleasant nights ma'am." The man rose to leave, then something struck him. It seemed to strike Ms. Lemat too because his sudden rise and stop made her flinch. "Oh! God, Big Smoke would kill me if I forgot. Captain, we're looking for one of ours who came by the center here often. Big Smoke had intended her to be our reach out agent instead of myself, but she left us one day for the center and never came back. Blond hair, red ears, big fluffy tail. Curtis and Smoke call her Redtail, but everyone else just calls her Atomos. We'd like to know what happened to her, if you know anything?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 23, 2018, 01:38:04 am
(( Victor and Melody stuff written with Noct's go-ahead, same with the Aurelia flavor stuff. Horace and Atomos stuff written with Wilson and Salt. ))
Catalina had remained calm during all this, not betraying the emotions that the mention of Atomos had provoked, as she gave a nod. "She had visited here a few times, on good terms. But the last visit from her was over two weeks ago, about two and a half. Last intel we found suggested she was scouting farther north, into Maine. If she hasn't come back after this time, I...while I hope she made it out unscathed, that you haven't heard back from her either would confirm our suspicions. I'm sorry." she said.
It was a half-truth and she knew it. Going on that mission, which Catalina blamed herself for allowing, was ultimately to blame for this. But who Atomos was, and why she went there, wasn't something the Smoke Marshals needed to know.
Elsewhere in the center, for the first time since the cataclysm started, what remained of American and Canadian forces had a proper meeting. A discussion of plans. There was tension in the air, excitement as well. But certainly tension, owing to the aura of unease the bishop seemed to radiate, and the unnatural circumstances behind their general's condition.
Some things became apparent quickly enough. That General Kringle was called such due to being the highest-ranking officer available. Colonel Adrian Luther had fallen into a similar situation. The difference was that the forces he had at his disposal had been nowhere near large enough to warrant acting as a general. Even as the manpower available to him grew and organized structure returned, the official rank had stuck through sheer inertia.
A sense of their mutual plans became apparent, and the Canadians intel confirmed early suspicions, ones strengthened by word from the caravans had been out west. It had been a recorded message, picked up by a handful of installations that had too many problems of their own to deal with. Of the few present for the discussion, the colonel had taken particular notice of the lieutenant who handed the recording over, the patches on the RCN uniform unfamiliar in ways that now stood out, carrying the same ominous weight as the atom design of Larion and Catalina's patches, or the celtic cross of SPD-VIII.
Quote
My fellow Americans. No, more than that. To all of humanity that may receive this message. I will keep the remainder of this message as brief as I can.
By the time this message is received, I will most likely be dead. Know that I died fighting, alongside the men and women here with me. I am hopeful that this final mission will contain the worst threat to come out of these portals. Might as well end with at least one success...
From there, a plan was devised for the joint operation that would be needed to secure the route through Maine, and after all the stress of their journey, what ensued was a well-earned discussion of the day's remaining plans in the center's cafeteria.
As Helen and Victor relaxed over tea, they recounted the day's experiences. Helen admitted to Victor about the spirit she encountered in rescuing, of effectively just picking up, Isaac. She didn't explain what she had to do, realizing that there were elements of it that would hit close to home. Only that it had intervened in the affairs of whoever caused it.
She also mentioned the problem with Sharlene and the construct that had been assigned to her, in less than flattering terms. She had her suspicions and concerns, but despite the vitriol towards Sharlene she knew the woman had been either tough enough or lucky enough to handle the consequences, even if lacking in common sense.
As for Victor, he explained what happened with Hector after Helen left, what they discussed, and how Hector had been thinking over what might motivate Roxanne to take the katar with her. Helen almost immediately suspected that it was a ritual purpose, using the tie to her friends for some purpose, but exactly what, she wasn't sure. Of the note he was directed towards however, he didn't say.
Likewise he was unaware of Hector's thoughts after Victor left, not knowing of his suspicion that whoever she was going to meet had to have had a connection to the bio-weapon project to be aware of whatever purposes the flesh weapons might have. Nor would he know of Hector's concerns about the only known use that came to mind, a use that implied a connection to the same type of sword she was bound to.
They hadn't gotten much progress beyond that, little more than tending to a few things, and about an hour later chiding Cardin and Solomon over an unholy racket and patch of scorched grass left by the river's shore. However, despite all this the mood had improved by the time the two retired for the evening. It was one hint of normalcy after all that had happened, a sense of things being closer to how it was before Victor's memory loss, minus the constant thought of what trouble Victor might get into the next day.
It had only taken a moment's rest, a break between work, for sleep to overcome Melody. "I'll just rest my eyes a moment." she thought, and it would seem like but a minute of rest to outside observers.
Within the dream she was pulled into, there was a vague awareness of the empty field she stood in. She wouldn't see it as such, afflicted by her blindness even within these dreams. But she could get a vague sense of the surroundings, intensified as the spirit of Despair had been drawn into the dream with her. A vague sense of an endless expanse, and of not being alone within it.
The watcher was there, and what ensued as he made his presence clear confirmed suspicions that the sword-spirit already had. It had encouraged Melody to lay low for a while, and now things had worsened. Though even the entity in the Veil, meddling as he did in the affairs of a distant realm, did not know where Roxanne currently was, nor what would result. Only that, if nothing was disrupted by these events, Roxanne had business someone here and, and the center would no longer be a safe place to hide if she accepted the request to meet this person here.
As both Melody and the spirit of Despair were left free to return to the waking world, a warning lingered in their minds. To Melody's surprise, when she awoke she felt something around her neck. A simple necklace, bearing a small amulet carved of bone, engraved with strange markings. And in her mind, lingered a warning. "I cannot ensure your protection, only that you shall be obscured from those who would seek you by the aura of Despair."
Horace had come to a momentary stop to let the horse rest, check that the road ahead was clear, and find supplies for Atomos. He had set himself down the path of this new mission even if the watcher saw it as already a failure.
But suddenly, his attention was drawn to the fox's aura. Or rather, the lack thereof. The knight rushed back to his steed to find everything was as he left it, save for the fox's absence. He tried to sense and puzzle out her trail as he mounted his horse, wishing the watcher hadn't shifted his attention just before this occurred. To trail her, or take this as a chance to resume his mission, both thoughts crossed his mind.
Horace stared hard at across the brook. He considered following, he also considering just leaving her to her own devices. She might end up some other animal's meal, a hawk, a wolf. The cockroach might come after her as well, Horace's conscience was gnawing at him. He mounted back on his horse, and perused. "Gods dammit..." he complained softly as he gripped the reins.
As he led the horse across the stream, he knew full well that any trail the fox left would be difficult to follow. But as he attuned his attention to the area past the water, something caught his attention. A bit of disturbance in the brush, but when he led his horse closer to the trail, it flinched, hesitant. There was a sudden rustle of movement before suddenly something caused a branch to snap, a familiar presence falling from a tree it had clambered up.
It was here. The knight had retrieved his bow and loosed an arrow into the beast's side as soon as the horse started acting strangely, steadying the reins when the monster shrieked and retreated into the undergrowth. At that, Horace spurred his steed after it, aware that if he could not trail Atomos directly, the stalker would lead him to her.
Meanwhile, Atomos had made it only a mile or so when the illness began to wax. She felt a sense of vertigo and couldn't help stumbling. The ground, already close at hand, rose up to meet her and Atomos lay just off a sidewalk aspirating until finally passing out. She didn't know how long she lay there under the baking sun, but she awoke with a start when Cheena began to worry at her.
"Tomos' we Have to go. Tomos, Tomos, wake up! It followed us Tomos' it's coming!"
She rose shakily, and was startled by how strong the smell was. Greasy and acrid. Hear it too, the rustle and hiss from somewhere nearby. Atomos couldn't tell, but Cheena was more experienced in the underbrush. Adding her senses to Atomos, serving for the first time as "guardian," Cheena showed her the way.
"It's coming from the way we came, follow the smooth stone, see if we can squeeze into one of the car thingies or something. We have to hide!"
"It'll still find us..." Atomos thought, but followed the instruction anyway. There were no houses to cut through, as Cheena suggested, it would have to be a vehicle they hid out in. Atomos was reminded painfully of how she'd found Red, the poor old fox stumbling out of the space between a pesticide trucks cab and cargo.
It was fortunate then, that as she rounded a bend at an uneven sprint, some sort of military vehicle hoved into view. On the side, was a simple doodle. A mark she'd seen often in her year since leaving the vault. It was an indicator left for the rodent mechanic. Yellow paint, indicating that the vehicle would run, but only with work. Catnip's pickup mark.
"There..." Atomos gasped, darting for the side of the vehicle. Somewhere around the bend they heard the crash and screech of the stalker breaking the brush line. Atomos slipped into a gap in the damaged transports siding, and hoped it hadn't seen where she'd gone.
Horace felt anger well up in his chest as he caught a glimpse of the Cockroach. The arrow sank uselessly into the chitin, barely hitting even flesh. He put the bow back over his body and unsheathed the claymore, charging after the horror head-on.
The trail, thankfully, was an easy one to follow. That his horse followed the directions of its rider despite the unnatural nature of his quarry was one advantage he had, and that the undergrowth was thin in places was another.
He knew they were on the edge of Maine by now, possibly out of it in fact. Grass and woodland gave way to pavement and roads once again, and if not for the aura of decay and corruption left in it's wake it might be harder to tell the beast had passed through the area. The occasional claw mark and pool of acrid slime made the trail more apparent, the knight readying his half-melted, warped sword as he passed by one of several long-since abandoned vehicles.
Atomos tucked herself deeper into the maintenance well of the trucks undercarriage. She and Cheena suspected that the thing hadn't even been after them at first, they'd got a glimpse of it before it sensed them and it hadn't been moving for them. The arrow in it's side also looked very familiar. Until it triggered them, it had been fleeing. Now that it had prey to go after though, it had forgotten it's flight. Fear drowned in the dumb need to kill and eat. It screeched and filled Atomos blown hiding place with sound. It squeezed itself into the gap, flexing it's body flatter and pulling the skin around it's "face" taught. It was a blessing in disguise that mattered very little. The stalkers mouth was forced the stay open, it couldn't spit, but Atomos was still trapped.
Atomos didn't hear the coming rider, but Cheena did. Unhindered by the shackles of the body, Cheena had ears where Atomos didn't. The rider wouldn't miss the screaming thing trying to squeeze itself into a tiny space, he would almost certainly take notice. If it was Horace like she expected though, he might drive it deeper into the vehicle or try to run it through and kill them in the process. Cheena had to do something.
It wasn't something she would be able to do much longer, her time as passenger would be over as soon as Atomos sickness had passed, but she leapt forward in Atomos mind and blotted her host out momentarily. Atomos didn't even realize it had happened.
"IN HERE! WE ARE IN HERE! HELP!"
Horace charged at the abomination, before leaping off and tackling the horror. He gripped the claymore by the blade, halfswording it at he stabbed into the thick chitin. He pulled back and stabbed again, and again as he attempted to crack through the natural armor.
The monster pushed forward, trying to get away from the biting steel and twisting around in a futile attempt to face it's attacker. From the outside, it looked like a vicious snail with the truck as it's oversized shell. The illusion was momentary though. As soon as its head was exposed and it's arms thrown wide in a defensive spread, Horace snagged it by the jaw and heaved.
It came out of the maintenance well with a reluctant hiss and growl. Horace smote it about the "head" with the pommel of his sword, punishing the monster for it's impudence. He didn't miss Atomos slipping out of her hiding place and bolting for the verge. There was a tense few minutes where Horace and the stalker struggled against one another, the suit of armor pushing and striking as best he could against it's tough but flexible hide while it scrabbled almost uselessly against his metallic body. For his trouble, Horace was given several scratches he knew wouldn't be easy to buff out.
They separated, the stalker mustering a surprising amount of force with it's arms. Horace heard a sharp crack as it straightened one of it's jaws and the skin he'd managed to cut loose fell away and grew back. Then, the opportunity was gone. Horace charged anyway and severed the tail of the fleeing monster, a trophy for his troubles, and it was gone screaming into the noon day light.
"Is it gone?" Atomos whispered.
Horace picked up the severed tail, before staring hard at where the beast ran off to. He glanced back at Atomos, and then back towards the screeching. "Child." Horace growled before gently, but firmly picking the fox up by the nape of her neck. "Tell me when you leave like that again, you could have gotten eaten by that insufferable horror. " he berated, Atomos feeling Horace's glare despite the lack of eyes.
For the second time, Atomos found herself being grabbed and lifted by the back of her neck. Unlike when Astor had snatched her up though, Horace grip was firm and gentle so there was none of the pinching and hair pulling. At that moment, all she felt was embarrassed. She could feel her ears flat against her skull and could do nothing about the way her tail curled up between her back legs to hide her belly.
"Okay..." She said softly. It was all she could think to say. Horace strode to the shoulder where his horse calmly cropped a little of the tall grass and flipped open the saddle bag.
"Now you will stay in here until we reach safer territory." He admonished. Atomos didn't say anything, just allowed herself to be lowered into the bag. She was too sick and tired to kick up much of an argument anyway. Once the bags flap was closed, she fell into a deep sleep in which she dreamed of better days.
With Atomos securely tucked away in the saddlebag Horace calmly mounted his horse to set off along their path. It wouldn't be too much longer, at least that's what he hoped. Figures this would happen the instant you look away, Watcher...
"So. You mentioned a Helen McKinnon?" Jonathan asked, sitting at a table with Heather and Tajima. Much to the old mage hunter's relief, Aurelia had gone off elsewhere for the moment. "Not much to say. Stopped by the bar I used to frequent, few years ago. God's Army hit the place, killed the barkeep's kid during the fighting. As soon as they're out the door with their intended victims she directs a few of us to follow her lead." he explained.
"Hmm. Likely led a couple hunting parties in the old days I bet. Anything else you know?" Jonathan asked. "Seemed like an okay lady at least. Sergei...old friend of mine, and I went on a raid with her right afterward. Floating temple of some sort taken over by one of the bishops. After that she eventually went on her way and Sergei followed along. Heard bits and pieces from time to time, both settled in a local community a few hours southwest of the bar."
"Hmm. Think they got together?" Heather asked, Taji chuckling some. "Sounded more like they both found somebody actually." he said, before glancing over at Jonathan. An awkward silence lingered for a bit, Heather speaking up again to break it. "So it...seemed like you two weren't getting along very well. Why's that?" she asked, only to give Taji a sideways glance when he stifled a snicker at the fact that she'd be the one to say that.
"Blood magic. More than just the practice of it, any young fool can dabble in that self-destructive practice. It lingers on her when you look at her through one of these masks." he said, glancing over at the young woman who was now idly chatting with the bartender. "There was a group, The Sanguine Order. Long ago as it was when they destroyed themselves, if she has any ties to them, someone had to have mentored her even into the first couple years of the apocalypse." he said.
Tajima looked back, unsure what to say, suspicions lingering in his mind. Once again, it was Heather that broke the silence. "Arguments aside, it wouldn't be right to kick someone else on suspicions. Talk to her, might be able to see if she's hiding anything. Maybe after everyone gets some rest, you've all just gotten back from a mission after all."
"Sure." he said, glancing over to Jonathan. "Later today or tomorrow I'll see what I can do. In the meantime I'll be keeping an eye on her." he answered, before going back to finishing his drink.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 24, 2018, 08:16:41 am
Branches sat on the bank of the river and twiddled it's thumbs. The fear and uncertainty that had come over the homunculus had turned to a sense of dread and doom and now back to uncertainty. It knew things. For example, branches knew that it should be dead, but it wasn't. It's week of life had been spent in industrious study, pouring over books and tomes, looking for an answer that it's creator had not, or maybe would not, provide. The curse of sentience foisted upon it when the rodent woman had named it was awareness of it's own mortality. Animals and people knew this thing instinctively, but branches was neither of those things until a label had been placed on it.
One of it's servitors, a crude facsimile of itself made from lake mud, approached with a hand woven basket of clay. Branches had ordered them to bring as much as could be carried in the three baskets they could carry. Being aware of the fact of it's oncoming death hadn't stopped branches from following it's compulsions. It had to multiply, had to make more of it's kind. The little golems were just the start. With practice, branches would make more of them, and better. But what was the point? It's creations we're as doomed to crumble as it was. In the time since it's creation, Branches sought endlessly for answers. It watched as the people living across the lake lived their lives, seeing things that the normal people didn't normally see. Things they wouldn't believe. Sneaking into the hall at night to steal books and return them before day break was something it did too. The little servents she sent we're usually destroyed right away, making them more annoying to Helen than anything else. A poor way of collecting information. Branches sometimes wondered though, why Helen hadn't come after it yet. Thinking about it always came back around to Branches inevitable death.
When it didn't happen though, the homunculus started wondering. Branches had gone over books of sanguimancy, medicine, and especially alchemy in search of an answer to the problem of extending it's own life. Now it seemed that it wasn't going to die, and it didn't know why. That bothered it the most. Illiana would know and through it's connection to the Deus Ex, Branches could catch snatches of things. Things that were, things that had been, or things that would be, but never any insight into itself. No, to know the mind of your creator was not for creatures like Branches.
There was really only one thing for it, Branches had to find Illiana. The Smoke Marshals moved on with big plans and big sadness. As far as they knew, Atomos had been one of theirs. Hearing that she'd vanished into the north left little doubt in their minds that the helpful scout who'd joined their ranks out of the blue one day was dead. So they left with a promise return every few weeks. The beginning of something permanent had begun. Dr. Maskens had never consulted someone so casual about death. General Kringle was old. Far older than he should have been, and he was dying.
"This one is important now, are you listening?" He said. Maskens marveled at the strength still left in his voice, nor could Catalina for that matter. They both nodded silently and he went on. "The midgards power source must be destroyed. As marvelous a thing as it is, it can't be allowed to exist. You need to find someone from the cleansing flame, their order destroyed these things in the past. The Midgard has done it's job as far as I'm concerned, my people can push on without it and me. That stone must be broken up and scattered, do you understand? As for the Midgard, it doesn't matter what happens to it now so long as it doesn't end up in the Archbishops hands."
Catalina did understand. Understanding when it came to such things was her forte after all she'd been through in the vault. Both she and Maskens knew just who to call on. At least they thought so. Catalina would put out a message for Helen McKinnon to come take a look while Maskens would send for her sisters husband. Both would try to get ahold of Catnip. The Midgard could be a useful tool, and if not, the mechanic could scrap it. It was a shame to think of such a wonder in such a way, but it had to be done. "A hormonal imbalance I think." Dervish mused while putting away his portable equipment. Mica was sitting on Dee's cleared table, itching frantically at the white strands hanging from her chitinous parts and in her hair. At first these strands had manifested as a dust that collected on her constantly, making Mica feel filthy. As the days passed, the dust started to take the shape of light strands like cobweb and then into threads like real spiders silk, especially around Mica's hands. Whenever she closed her hands and then opened them again, new threads of silk would be formed between her fingers.
"Lizard! Help My-ka! Scratch My-ka!" She pestered. Dee scratched her back absently while he listened to Dervish give them the results of his testing. The effect of his ministrations on the spider were immediate and very satisfying. "Aaaaaaaaah, veeery niiize..."
"Her genetic makeup hasn't changed," Dervish went on, sweeping a hand through her hair and getting it covered in thick web, "So it's reasonable to assume you could always do this Mica. You just couldn't express it before."
"Will it stop any time soon? Maybe after the baby is, you know, born?" Dee asked. His hand moved lower to get to the really hard to reach spot and Mica arched her back languidly. To Dervish, it made her condition all the more obvious, but Dee didn't really notice. His attention was on the rest of his workshop. It was covered. Everything Mica touched ended up covered in her silk and over time web had built up and formed cobwebs over just about everything. The webs were getting stronger too, and thicker.
"I don't know. She could figure out how to control it, or it could go away on it's own when her hormones are back in balance. I can't say for sure Dean. For now, I suggest you invest in a vacuum cleaner and a few brooms."
"Assistance please." Medeina interrupted. Her proxy trundled out from under the table where it had been lying inactive while she used another one. That other had been put out of commission by Lilith, and now Medeina was back to her primary proxy. The little robot was covered into web, so much so that the lens of it's camera was totally obscured. "Vision zero. Assistance please."
Mica snatched the robot up and tried to wipe away the web, only it didn't help. She ended up putting more web over the lens. Turning over the robot just made things worse, strands of silk covering it's chassis and binding the little legs up.
"Mobility zero, vision zero. Miss Mica, I appreciate your eagerness to assist, but please hand my proxy over to Mr. Dean or Mr. Deverish." She said. Dee peeled the web off the robot with little difficulty, but wondered at the growing strength of the stuff before setting Medeina down again. The proxy only made it a few steps before it's legs were bound up in the lines tracing the floor. "Please assist, mobility hindered. I would like to go outside please. Mobility zero."
"Lizaaaard, scratch My-ka!" Mica whined, ignoring the robot. Dervish grinned and shook his head. They'd come so far together. From pulling her out of the river to working out a rocky patch in their relationship, to Dervish they were a symbol of what the world could become if it ever recovered. Nothing would ever be the same, but at least people could still be people. Dee reached over and continued scratching Mica. It was hard to find a soft spot to scratch, since Mica's back was covered in a thick layer of flexible plates. He reached around to where the tough skin of her front began to fuse into her chitin and scratched. Her reaction was galvanic, leaning heavily into the scratching while making blissful little noises. The sign of man who knows his lady well, he knew just where to scratch
"Uh, I think I'll just excuse myself." Dervish said, "before this gets any steamier. Come with me 'ro-butt,' let's leave these two alone." he tossed his hat in his bag and scooped up the entangled proxy. He had to swerve a little to barely Dodge Catnip as she strode in without knocking.
"Hey guys! Wanna see my new house?" Brynna lay in the dark of her trailer, laying on the floor and trying not to think. The break had come sooner than she expected it and the voices came rushing in at her all at once. It was the people. Too many people. The refugee center was full of them. Warm bodies, fresh blood, potential agony waiting to happen. She didn't want to, but she did too. She couldn't fix them if she couldn't do as she was commanded. Fix who? She didn't know anymore. It seemed important, the only reason Brynna Knight had embarked on this path so long ago. The path of agony, the path of the hates. The book could tell her, but she could only stand so much of it at once. Reading more of it would invite only a deeper madness.
"I can't fix you... The angels wouldn't help you... They've all gone away... I can't..."
Kringle was dying. When he was dead, she would have no one to keep her from being cast out or killed. The soldiers would hang her. Or shoot her. Brynna couldn't let that happen. She couldn't fix them if they killed her.
"They'll take the book..."
She couldn't have that either. She couldn't fix them if they were dead, but she couldn't fix them if they were alive either. They would have to go. When Kringle was gone, that was when... When Kringle...
"I can't fix you..." Horace and Atomos made their way through the new England countryside at a steady pace, both of them providing something for the other. Horace offered protection and fast travel, while Atomos offered up directions and insight into places to avoid. Today, their was a slight difference. They'd been attacked at a God's Army checkpoint that should have been manned by Hell's Raiders. The checkpoint was a derlict little pitstop, featuring a gas station and the station owners residence. In the time before and even shortly after the cataclysm, it had been a small family business until the owner died two years into the end of the world.
It was as they came abreast of a wrecked flatbed that they struck. Not men, warwalkers, or devil hunters, but sleek light robots bearing the stamp of God's Army. They weren't expecting this sort of new thing, certainly not Atomos. They came lithely out from either side, not quiet aggressively, silently judging the New comers. Scanning the horse and living suit of armor with their flashing white eyes.
"Aetheric signiture detected. Procure, secure, deliver. Neutralize organics." One of then buzzed. The voice was crude and robotic, almost like someone had put less care I these than had been done with the standard warwalker. One of those things resembled a suit of power armor walking on it's own. These though we're blatantly machines. One of them suddenly lunged, deceptively quick on it's feet and lashed out at Horaces mount. Horace moved his leg to catch the blow, then kicked out with the same leg. It didn't have the effect intended, which was to stagger the machine. In fact, it recovered right away and shot it's hands out to seize the rider instead. The axe was out and moving in a downward arc before any contact could be made, smashing the machine away. Horace turned in his saddle to the other just in time to cleave it in half at the shoulder. Something shiny spilled out of some kind of compartment opened by the blow, and the fight was over as soon as it had begun.
"Not very intelligent, were they?" The suit asked. Atomos slipped from the saddle bag and shook her head. The little thing that had fallen out of the second machine was a little silver icon that Atomos knew.
"It belonged to Mitch, he said it was his imaginary friend." She mourned, "I guess this means they're dead..."
"Not for certain. It's possible that they escaped, young one. Why was this inside the machine though? Hm... Some form of glyph, very old but very powerful." Horace mused. The icon bore the likeness of a creature from the outer realms in artistic relief, and it shone in Horace sight like a baleful lantern. "A creature is tied to this. I dare say, if this 'Mitch' ever called to it, it would not be machines assaulting us here."
"Like what?" Atomos asked curiously.
"Shoggoth." Horace responded simply. He picked up Atomos gently and slid her back into the saddle bag, "Come now, your journey is nearly at an end. I'm not certain of what you will do when we get there, but I do believe we have almost arrived."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 25, 2018, 07:58:18 pm
Alexei sipped a drink as he sat with Ernie. The pair had decided to take a short break from business and were enjoying a drink together as they talked. Eventually they talked about communities they’d been a part of and Ernie stared at his cup. Taking a sip of his drink he said “So what community are we going to contribute to? Us?”
Alexei downed the rest of his drink as he thought about that. He hadn’t thought that far ahead he just wanted to get himself established. Standing up he grabbed his jacket and tossed Ernie his. At being asked where they were going Alexei said “Walkerville. You know them, why not help?”
Ernie blinked before standing up and pulling on his jacket. Irene called after the two and Alexei looked over his shoulder and told her Edgar would take over for them for a while. From there Alexei unlocked his Charger and got in the driver’s seat. Starting the motor he slid on his seatbelt as Ernie did the same. As he started driving Alexei asked “What do you think they’ll need?”
Ernie shrugged and said “I don’t know. But we can help where we can, and if we have more than is needed we can reach out elsewhere.”
Alexei rolled his eyes at that. “I didn’t know you were..idealistic? Is that correct word?”
Ernie shrugged again as he told Alexei it was close enough. The conversation died down after that and Alexei’s mood swung a bit as his mind turned back to business. Soon enough they’d arrive at Walkerville.
Meanwhile Isaac waved to the vikings as they arrived. Anton hung back, the chemical burns blazing with pain, and watched. It was maybe an hour later and they were moving their new building supplies back to Walkerville. A few trips later, made easier with the help of some mislings, and they were ready to start building. Once they had the supplies delivered to Walkerville Anton checked his watch and told the others it was time to get going, they had class.
Turning Isaac saw the charger pull in and Alexei and Ernie step out. Waving to the russian man Isaac walked over and asked what they were up to. When they said they were coming to see what was needed around here Isaac asked “Would you mind helping build the new library?”
Alexei started over to the building as Ernie said he was a bit old but could get a some of the mislings to help. Isaac nodded and said “Alright sir, I’ll let you round up some help and we’ll get to work.”
Tools were passed around as they started to build. Getting the frame of the building put together was the first priority since the foundation didn’t seemed to be damaged much. A few of the people there patched it up and started expanding it to accommodate the additions. By the time that was done Ernie returned with a crew of ten mislings that seemed less than thrilled to be there.
Tying ropes and setting up pulleys the crew got ready to lift the frame into position and secure it. After that the crew started setting up the plumbing and electricity. It was obvious some of these mislings had experience in these things and Isaac wondered what they owed Ernie to be taking time to do this.
After that was mostly setup they took a break. Walking over to Alexei Isaac handed him a bottle of water. “So what made you take interest in this place?” Isaac asked. There was something in his friend’s expression that concerned him.
Alexei took a drink from the bottle and stared up at the cloudy sky. Rubbing his face hoping to rid himself of the exhaustion he felt Alexei said “Have you ever wondered about your legacy? What people will say about you after you’re gone?”
Isaac shrugged as he looked at the frame of the building. He had. He had thought about that quite a lot if he were honest. “I..I have. And I don’t know if I’m going to be spoken of as a monster or as a man. It scares me sometimes. But we have to keep moving forward or we’ll get stuck in the past. We have to change.”
Alexei walked back towards the building as the crew reassembled to get back to work. Looking over his shoulder he said “Some people can’t change friend.”
It wasn’t long before the plumbing and electricity were set up. Grabbing some insulating materials they set to the next step of the work. The work was going at a steady pace Isaac thought as he followed a couple of people to grab materials.
Elsewhere B-23 adjusted the hydraulics in his arms and legs as he listened to a few of the Jīxiè xué talk about him. To them he was a machine. Which he supposed was as accurate as calling him a man. But the way they talked about him seemed odd.
How they seemed to be so focused on him having a soul perplexed him. If he had one he’d most certainly be going to hell. But he was fairly certain he did have one, he was human after all. Adjusting his fully robotic hand B-23 hummed to himself as he optimized it.
He stopped himself. He was humming? He hadn’t been able to make much other than a gurgling noise since he’d been in the lab. Smiling he looked back down at his work and continued humming as the men nearby seemed to be surprised by the sudden upswing in mood.
Elsewhere Liam was listening to Helen and Solomon teaching them and sighed to himself. Leaning back in his seat he wondered how long this was going to take. He’d rather be doing..something productive rather than feeling like he was back in a classroom. At least Anton seemed to be doing okay. Then he heard Helen ask him to help with teaching magic and stood up to walk over.
Checking the clock he realized it had been about an hour and a half into this lesson. Sighing as he said “Alright, Eino are you paying attention now or do I have to walk over there and slap you? Yes? Okay then.” and started with a spell he’d become familiar with over the week. A simple light spell that was probably meant for beginners of the craft. It went well for the most part, though as he was explaining the basics of the spell, and some general basics of spellcraft, the thing exploded into a bright ball of green flames. Sighing frustratedly he grabbed his bag and walked to the door muttering “Fucking tired of this shit..”
Slamming the door behind him as he heard Eino make a comment about ‘yeah things tend to explode around you’ Liam walked to the barracks. Opening his footlocker Liam removed the somewhat burned shirt he was wearing and pulled out a new one. Sliding it on he grabbed his chest plate and tucked it on.
As he did so he reflected that this had in fact not been that good of a day so far and there was still much of it to go. Picking up his axe and attaching the sheath to his belt Liam stood up and grabbed his robe and shrugged it on as he walked back out of the barracks. Looking back at the Hall he thought about walking back in. Shaking his head after a moment he decided to head into the woods to take a breather. Starting in that direction he wondered how mad Helen would be at him for leaving.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on August 25, 2018, 09:28:56 pm
"Ughhhhh...where am I?"
"Look who decided to finally wake up? How are you feeling?"
"What?"
Roxanne looked around and realized she was in a simple bedroom with plain white walls. She was in a bed clutching at some bedsheets and in front of her touching the other side of the wall was a woman sitting in a chair. Her crimson business casual outfit matched her long wavy hair in color; she was looking at Roxanne with a mischievous grin and her arms crossed.
It took a moment for Roxanne to recall anything that was going on; she felt like is she was having a hangover and her memory was a bit faulty. Eventually she realized this was the woman she attempted to jump in the hallway after her "meeting". Then she somehow knew who this person was; a memory that wasn't hers.
"Lucy?! What the hell are you doing here? And why do I know who you are?" Roxanne suddenly felt a bit cold; not cold in the way she had felt previously due to being a spirit but the cold one feels when they don't take a jacket in an autumn afternoon walk. Confused, Roxanne looked down on her and realized two things: one, was wearing nothing and only the sheets she was clutching were covering her exposed form and she could actually feel the texture of the sheets, the air around her, the bed underneath her, ect. "What the hell is going on? Where are my clothes? What did you do to me?!"
Lucy couldn't help but laugh at Roxanne's reaction. It was definitely expected but it still didn't fail to amuse her; a welcomed catharsis to what she had to go through just a couple of hours prior. “Well hello there! It’s good to see that you at least know who I am; that saves times. It seems you assimilated some of coalescence memories before you went all medieval on them. As for why you are undressed, well, here have this.” Lucy manifested as small hand mirror and tossed it to the bed in front of Roxanne. “Take a look at yourself. Don’t be shy.”
Roxanne picked up the mirror and examined face; what she saw on that reflection alarmed her. Her eyes’ irises were still a bright pink from before, however, her sclera was a no longer white but a pitch black; she kinda liked the look but still had no explanation for it. Next she noticed what was around her eyes; imagine a girl who applies way to much mascara who then has an intense crying session, now smudge that all around your eyes like warpaint and then down towards your neck. It looked like if it was a both a tattoo and paint and Roxanne couldn’t take her eyes of it; she traced the pattern with her gaze along her neck down under the sheets. Lucy smirked at what she knew Roxanne would see.
All over her body were more tattoos; they were intricate patterns of arcane and religious nature. Many of them she recognized but not all; a few she knew were seals used by SoA which perplexed her a bit. Then it hit her; this markings on her body were a sort of seal on her. “W-what did you do to me?” Roxanne asked nervously still clutching the bed sheets.
Lucy smiled and shook her head in amusement before answering. “You have been a very bad girl Luna. What you did back there was a bit too far for me to simply let it slide.”
“What do you mean? What did I do?”
“Well, let’s see. You invoked the help of two of the pieced of Anomon for help to ‘teach a lesson’ to a third. Normally this would’ve just resulted in all three pieces being reborn and scattered elsewhere but nooooo; the piece in question had to be assimilation and it had to be you of all people to rebel against it… seriously you and Victor have given me so many headaches that I choose to ignore…”
Roxanne glared at Lucy for her comment. “What do you mean me of all people?! If there is something you want to say just say it to my face!”
“Oh, feisty all of the sudden are we? I respect that. Alright, let me explain it to you in terms you can understand. You aren’t normal; you have committed a lot of dumb decisions in the name of power. Do any of these sound familiar? ‘Don’t use the infuser Roxanne. Please go get that cough checked out. Be careful, even if you are a ghost you aren’t invincible.’ Well, do they?”
Now obviously both irritated but with a sense of wrongdoing she looked down to not look at Lucy in the eyes. “What of it? Why are you bringing this up now? Yeah I did some mistakes but who hasn’t?”
“Mistakes? Oh no, you fucked up everything up Luna; and trust me when I say I know what fuck ups look like. I had to come down here and fix your damn mess! Those little mistakes you made turned you into an unstable paradox of information. You needed magical bracelets to even be able to interact with the world for goodness sake! Then you, the living paradox, had to go and mess around with Assimilation... “
“He attacked me! I had to defend myself!”
“Was harvesting its power, calling the two other pieces, and becoming 3/4th of Anomon part of that? And whatever did you do with Plagues corpse? I couldn’t find it anywhere.”
Roxanne clutched at her sheets a bit more. “Oh...that… Well… I kinda did a ritual on him…”
“A ritual? What do you mean?”
“You know… guided him to the after life.”
Lucy blinked a couple of times upon hearing this and then rubbed her eyes. In any other context she would simply had asked for more details but Lucy was well aware of Roxanne’s ritual to guide souls to the afterlife. “You ate his corpse?! Roxanne what the fuck?!”
“It was in the heat of the moment ok! I was having fun and got carried away…”
“Having fun torturing Assimilation to actual death… Christ you people need help…”
“You are one to talk! You have done more fucked up shit than I have!”
“I am not the one who almost messed up reality!”
“Yes you were miss ‘this apple is tasty why don’t you eat it!’”
What followed was an awkward moment of silence between the two; they simply stared at each other for a moment before Roxanne spoke up. “Ok, that was too far… I am sorry.”
“No no, you are right. I have no right to criticize anyone. Sorry for snapping at you; I have just been stressed as of late.”
“Well, I’ll cooperate with you now. Just tell me what the hell is going on and what I need to do. Deal?”
“Alright then. How about you start by standing up and let me take a look at you for a moment.”
Roxanne blushed deeply and recoilde back a bit. “What?!”
“Listen, I need to make sure the seal are holding up and run a couple of tests. Besides, who do you think put those tattoos on? I’ve already had my fill on the sightseeing.”
“Y-you… I can’t believe…”
“What? Will it make you more comfortable if I undress to? That’s fi-”
Roxanne interrupts Lucy before she could finish that statement. “No no! It’s fine! I’ll get up.”
Lucy shrugs “Your loss then. Now come on, we don’t have all day.”
Roxanne reluctantly go off the bed and let the sheets drop to the floor. After about 30 minutes of Lucy making diagnostic checks on the seals and some teasing at Roxanne’s expense, she told Roxanne she could get dressed. The black dress she had left in the wrecked APC in favor of the leather tracksuit was on a dresser waiting for her.
“Wait, where did you get this from?” asked Roxanne.
“I took the liberty of fetching it from the APC. Well, I actually fetched the whole thing including it’s cargo...and I also fixed it up for you.” Lucy responded.
“You did what? How?”
“The storyteller's debug menu. I deleted the items and summoned copies from it. Not that difficult and no laws of physics were violated!”
“Ok, so what did you learned from that...check up?”
“Well, the seals are doing fine. You appear to be more sensitive to the touch where the seals are more concentrated.”
“Tell me about it…”
“Just don’t tell anyone where those areas are; they are your weak points after all, in more ways than one.”
“Like hell I’ll tell anyone!”
“Not even the knight?”
“Shut up! ...Anyways… care to explain to me what is going on now that the initial shock is gone?”
“Alright. Take a seat then.” Roxanne sat down at the edge of the bed she awoke from while Lucy sat back on the chair against the wall but this time she brought the chair closer to close the gap between them a bit.
“Ok, I’ll start from when you went full idiot. Now, you attempted to take over the newly created sword of singularity instead of Assimilation doing so. Normally, this is impossible; the 7 mages, myself included, put wards in place when creating the pieces to prevent this. If we didn’t do it, nothing would’ve prevent Randael from gaining Anomon's power back when he was the spirit of the void. Well, remember when I called you a living paradox? That combined with the recent gash in the veil from the canadians the conditions were set to somehow override this. You successfully became the the sword of singularity itself; no, not the spirit of singularity like you were the with void but the actual consciousness of the sword. Meanwhile, you trapped Assimilation in Plague’s body and then outright killed him effectively destroying on of the pieces for good. Now you and I know that isn’t really a good thing… Then I arrive to find you walking down the hallway brandishing a blade and Plague’s head in the other. I took you in and found out you did quite the mess… First of all your existence was rather unstable so the pieces would’ve just separate and be reborn again. But wait, you killed assimilation so if that would’ve happened the consequences were something I wasn’t willing to let happen. Now, I couldn’t let you run around as Singularity either. You being you I didn’t trust you wouldn’t just try to assimilate Despair and become Anomon yourself. So I decided to I had to manually separate you. The first thing I did when I separated you was I needed to figure out how to deal with Assimilation being dead and then I realized ‘Hey, Roxanne is here! Why not use her consciousness?’ And so I did. Congratulations on the promotion by the way. You went from being the spirit of void to the sword of Assimilation. Good job! And since this counts as being reborn you choose the nearest weapon to host you; your katar. So that katar is now the sword of assimilation which is the physical embodiment of you. Following so far?”
“S-so I am a piece now?”, asked Roxanne
“Correct! Moving on. You still are rather unstable due to everything you have gone through this last 8 years. Mutagen, becoming a ghost then spirit and now a piece. This is where the seals come in. As long as those tattoos hold, you will not disappear into the ether. They also serve as an energy source so you don’t need essence or the bracelets to use your senses as if you were alive. But is the seals are ever broken, you will disappear. This is important, you understand what I am saying?”
Roxanne looked at the marking in her hands and then back at Lucy before nodding slowly. “I understand. I need these to survive.”
“Good good. Ok, now, as a spirit you can still be harmed and destroyed by any exorcism or attack meant to dispel spirits. If you are killed by it then Assimilation will simply be reborn again with a new consciousness meaning you will also disappear. And finally, if the sword is destroyed and a rebirth cycle is triggered then it will acquire a new consciousness destroying you as well. Do you understand that as well?”
“I do… Protect myself and the sword, got it…” Roxanne responded.
“Ok, good…” Lucy gave a deep sigh. “This is gonna be a punch to the gut… The only reason you are even able to exists now is because of the wound in the veil. That creates an instability powerful enough so that reality doesn’t simply collapse on you and destroy you… That means…”
“It means that no matter what happens, I will die once the wound in the veil is fixed… Right?” Roxanne said finishing Lucy’s statement.
“Yes, that is what it means. You seem awfully calm about it too. Are you ok?”
“Eh, not like it matters. You are right, I caused this to myself so I accept my faith. I’ll die along with this world’s problems; seems fitting no?”
Heh, oh Roxanne. You say this now but in a couple days the reality of what that means will hit and you will have an existential crisis.”
“Whatever…” Roxanne was pretending to not be affected by what Lucy was saying by acting stoic but the facade was rather thin. “Anyways, what happened to void and convergence?”
Lucy gave another smirk at the question and got up to fetch something from a drawer. “Well, they were forced to be reborn. However, since they were a part of you their consciousness shifted as well; for all intent and purposes, they are different beings now but with their usual powers. But...something weird happened…”
“Something weird? What do you mean?” Asked Roxanne.
“Here, pick them up and feel for yourself.” Lucy handed Roxanne a one handed bastard sword made out of dark steel and a kukri that seemed to shift between different shades of purple. Roxanne grabbed them and the kukri turned pink at her touch. Roxanne’s jaw dropped at what she heard from the two sword in unison.
“Mom! You are finally awake! We were so worried about you.”
Roxanne looked at Lucy with a face of disbelief and defeat. She looked back at her with sympathetic look.
“Congratulations?” said Lucy softly.
“I just wanna go home... “
“That can be arranged…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 26, 2018, 11:21:49 pm
The new house was the last the migrants put together for the farm. All the repairs and work had been completed as quickly and efficiently as possible, save for the work on the future home of Catnip and Kathrine. Two floor instead of one and a sizable space on the first where Catnip could store all the parts she would ever need. One of the builders said it was a garage, and it was certainly big enough to hold a couple cars but it would never see more than Floyd's Steel Horse.
Mica ran a hand over the heavy wooden chair sitting temporarily in the main room. It was out of place among the plush couch and armchair, but not the rustic fireplace. The couch and chair had been recovered from another home in the devastated ruins to the east, while the rest had been built on sight. Kathrine came out of a back room with snacks, carefully removed from their packages and arranged pleasingly onto tray. These she placed on a long low table in the center of the room, and took up a position near the door. Offering to take Dee and Mica's coats.
"Sit down Kathrine, you don't gotta take nobodies coats!" Catnip said, rolling her eyes a little. Kathrine stomped petulantly and huffed, "Catniiiiiip!"
"It's real nice Catnip." Dee said uncomfortably. He knew how innocently meant the invitation was, but how it would effect Mica. "Very uh... housey."
Catnip couldn't stay sitting and she was off excitedly opening doors, pulling things out, and showing things off. "It's got closets! and rooms! Look at this thing! People make stands just for holding hats!" Mica took the heavy rack when Catnip handed it to her, a cumbersome piece of furniture which Mica looked at a little confused and a little jealous. Dee could see it, the growing jealousy.
"My-ka doesn't have stick for hats..." She mumbled, then raised her voice, "Lizard! My-ka wants stick for hats! And cloz-zits!"
"Babe, we have a closet and I can get you a hat stand later. Right now I think-"
Mica crossed her arms and puffed up, "No. My-ka wants a house like Kat-nyp!" Catnip grinned at them and tugged at Dee tauntingly.
"Yeah! Mica needs a house too! You guys can't live in that workshop forever!" She said, with Kathrine adding sheepishly, "It's too small for a baby..."
Dee picked the web off his jacket and sighed. He was definitely going to lose this one. He did sort of like the idea of getting a real house though. Either way you looked at it though, it was going to be a lot of work.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 27, 2018, 01:27:54 am
Helen gave a little sigh as she regarded the class. so far it had been a rather hectic period of time, but after the barracks were finished up, a sort of rhythm had at last settled in. Tend to The Hall's daily tasks, check the crops, hunt and scout the surrounding area. Feed, change, and otherwise tend to Thomas. And now, finally some effort to assist in training and teaching the others. Not only of the studies they were starting to get invested in, but of the principles that went into both The Cleaning Flame and Shadows of Arcana, and in combination provide a foundation for what was to come.
Victor was there as well, assisting in any way he could, offering what notes he had deemed relevant to what was being taught, and re-learning lessons he had since forgotten. Liam helped as well, having the founding experience and experience with another system of magic, different from the seidr she knew, and thus they both compounded on each other's different experience.
Today however, another little incident led to him storming out of the Hall, Helen sighing at that. It didn't help that the accidental display of flames had got Cardin inordinately excited, cheeping and chirping inquisitively as though more interested in the mishap than the intended lesson. She wished Melody was here to help interpret, as while Solomon had started to get familiar enough with the avian to quickly puzzle out his intent, having her around would've made things much easier.
She'd been to the center to check on Melody. There was a vague explanation of wanting to find work and take a break from involving herslef with magic, along with rather clear evidence that the young woman was hiding something. But the visits had never gotten Helen much result, only assurance that Melody would be fine. There had been a scare during the most recent visit, where she tried to find Melody using her mask and couldn't find the girl, and that left questions that Melody seemed particularly keen on avoiding. Admittedly, Helen was more just relieved that, despite her mask deceiving her, Melody was not only still there yet also still in possession of the sword of Despair. She was unaware of Melody's choice to hide there, nor did she know of the watcher and the charm he placed upon her.
The mage hunter grumbled a bit as she made her way out of the Hall, looking around as she found that Liam had already wandered off into the woods. She was more concerned than anything else, giving a sigh as she stopped by the shore. To her surprise, when she turned she saw Hector heading over, along the river's shore.
"Greetings Helen. Hope I'm not interrupting anything?" he asked. He had spent most of the day assisting in construction over in Walkerville, relieved at the fact that quite a few of the structures were finally up. By now Helen and Victor were aware of the knight's suspicions about what might've led to Roxanne taking the katar and the flesh weapons, his worries about what the latter might be used for, who or what might've demanded it. The worst part was that she couldn't think of anything that might put his mind at ease, and they were no closer to finding her.
"No, it's fine. If you're here to ask about Roxanne, I...I'm sorry. I've still heard nothing of her." she said, looking away. To her surprise the knight stepped closer, removing his helmet. "That's not it actually. There was something I wanted to ask you about, actually. Something, er...personal." he said. She looked at him with concern, but gave a calm nod, letting him lean in to whisper the plan he had to her.
"This won't...it won't do anything to help find her, Hector." she said softly, giving him a confused look when he pulled away. "I know. It's more for my own sake really. Something for me to focus on since I'm not really able to help. Plus, keeping a hands-off approach to this may well have been why she never wanted me to get involved." he said.
"I see...alright. I'll tell you what you need to get, and what you'll have to do. And I'll get what you'll need from here." she said, turning to get something from The Hall...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 27, 2018, 02:45:24 am
Isaac had gotten some space from the crew. There had been something nawing at him since Helen had woken him up in that shack. Lifting his stone hand Isaac brought the palm down on a metal pole in the ground and heard the jewel shatter. And suddenly there was a white raven on his shoulder. A raven which thanked him. Looking at it he said “So you’re the guide? Look right now I’m busy but I know a friend of mine that could use some help. Go find him.”
Guide nodded as he said “Very well. We still need to have a conversation later but we can’t exactly have that in the open can we? Don’t want you looking crazy.” before taking off. Isaac walked back to the others and got back to work. He just hoped the bird would be able to actually help.
Meanwhile in the woods Liam walked through the brush sighing to himself. He hated how little control he seemed to have. He hated that nothing seemed to go right. Sighing to himself he wondered why his father hadn’t taught him all that he needed to know.
Which was when a white raven flew into the clearing and landed not far in front of him. Blinking as he saw it he started to backpedal.
Turning he noticed that suddenly everything was white. Turning back he saw a man standing where the raven had been. “Hello Liam it’s been a long time. And before you start, let me just-”
Liam grabbed his head as he felt something being done in there..no being undone. Suddenly his memories shifted and he remembered the Guide as he had actually been. Not that black raven but a white one that had actually taught them. “You’re..you’re the real one? And the other one..?”
“Was merely using you to further his own ends.” Guide said as he motioned Liam over. “I’m here to help you take the next step in your training. You won’t be a master but it’s techniques that will help you greatly. Oh, and feel free to take your time, whatever happens here will happen in a few moments.” And then the training began.
Once they were finished Liam found himself in the same clearing. The raven tilted it’s head as he re-oriented himself. Once he’d done that it said “That’s good, it can be disconcerting coming out of that realm, but you seem to adjust qui-..something’s coming.”
Hiding himself the Guide watched. This would make a good test for Liam. Though he didn’t seem aware of what was going on.
Not until the Black Raven appeared out of thin air. It, as had become his norm, was in a human form. “Liam, just the man I wanted to talk with. I’ve got a deal for you and all you have to do is get me one little ring.”
Liam sighed. Looking at the black raven as it promised him power beyond his imagination in return. He smiled under his robe as he put a hand on his axe. “Tell me. What’s your name? Because I know you aren’t really the guide now.” he asked as he started walking towards it.
It gave him a grin as it said “Oh my name? I don’t suppose it matters if you know. I’m Grey.” Taking a step forward Grey snapped his fingers and a knife appeared in his hand.
Grey cleared the distance between the two in a second. Deflecting his first swing with his arm Liam drew his axe and barked “Brann!” sending a bolt of fire into Grey’s shoulder. Stepping forward Liam swung the axe down at Grey’s head.
As it pushed through thin air Liam turned to see Grey a few feet behind him. As Grey made his way towards him Liam sighed and said “Anker.” Grey frowned as he told Liam that was just unfair before darting forward. The first strike made Liam take a step back, the second knocked his weapon from his hands.
Smiling again Grey said “Not that it really matters. Fair or not you could never kill me. I’m a spirit fueled by the dying desires of a god.” His smile turned to a look of annoyance as Liam dodged to his left and ran for his axe. “..hard to kill. I’m hard to kill that is.”
Grabbing his axe and turning Liam noticed that Grey hadn’t followed him. Instead Grey was looking into the trees. “You..he should have..” Turning and charging Liam he said “How is that damnable bird not in his cage? I had it’s bearer killed!”
Blocking Grey’s strike again Liam pushed him back before cutting into Grey’s arm. “You know I wondered that as well. And Helen didn’t really explain what happened to Isaac but I’m going to guess your little attack failed.” Liam said as Grey ducked his next swing and cut Liam in the leg in return.
Grinning Grey said “Well I’ll have to rectify that one.” before slashing into Liam’s chest. Standing up as Liam fell to his knees Grey started to walk away.
Liam smiled as he said “You know you should never turn your back on an enemy till he’s dead on the floor.”
Grey turned in time to have the axe sink into his chest. Normally this didn’t cause him to panic but this time.. Liam ripped the axe out and put it into Grey’s stomach before telling him “Especially when your opponent is carrying a weapon that can damage the soul of a spirit. At least it can temporarily. Guess you didn't hear me prepare it while you were shouting about Guide.”
Grey looked up at Liam for a moment and managed to gasp out “I’ll return..and I’ll kill you.” before feeling the spell that had anchored him there dissipate. Disappearing from sight Grey apperated in a building far from the clearing he’d fought Liam in. Taking a moment to breath he tried to think of what to do.
With a damaged soul like this..well some spirits would desire to come fight him, to consume what was left. He’d need to find another to patch his own with. Or worse yet..one to bond with. That would most certainly ward off any wandering malicious spirits but..ergh, sharing a soul was a hassle. He felt a tear roll down his cheek and blinked. “I..why am I afraid? I’m..I’m not going to die today.”
Meanwhile back in the clearing a white raven flew over and rested on Liam’s shoulder. “I see that I was able to help you with your training. Are you okay?” it said.
Liam smiled as he said “He didn’t realize I had my chestplate on.”
Walking away back towards the Hall Liam said “I guess you did. Kinda..weird how simple that was. But my old man was always a bit of a bastard when it comes to teaching. Anyway what should I call you other than Guide?”
The bird fidgeted for a moment before telling him “I was called” Whatever it was the bird said Liam didn’t understand it. In fact it sounded quite a bit like gibberish.
The pair exchanged a look before agreeing Guide would work. Liam patted his coat and sighed. He could really go for one of Anton’s cigarettes at the moment. “You’d best head back to Isaac for now. I doubt the others will be happy to meet another talking bird. Especially when they find out the other one messed with their memories.”
Guide agreed with him and flew off. Walking through the fallen leaves Liam thought about things. Controlling his breathing while using his magic would help keep things under control. Confidence would also help granted that was..that was another ordeal in and of itself. Slowing his breathing for a moment he decided to try something.
Casting a spell he watched a little ball of fire appear in front of him as he walked. Observing it bounce around in front of him. Watching it drift close to a tree he said “Careful there little guy. Don’t want you catching this place on fire.” and smiled as it immediately drifted closer. “Come to think of it can you even light things on fire? Cause I’m pretty sure you’re just a little puff ball of light.”
Reaching his hand over to it he found it did give off heat. A surprisingly pleasant level of heat, but it could probably burn him if he left his hand on it long enough. And yeah it probably would light things on fire so better be careful with it. It bobbed in the air like it was nodding in agreement and Liam laughed “I think I like you little guy.” Soon enough he’d be back at the Hall.
Meanwhile..
Blitz had been enjoying his day. He had a nice mug..a coffee pot sized mug of good coffee, he’d enjoyed working with Schultz for a couple hours, and now he was walking into the Tunnel Rat’s barracks. Suddenly he wished he’d stayed in bed. He liked staying in bed.
With the same carefree smile he’d had on when he walked in Blitz put the mug down, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. “Children. I’m going to give you thirty seconds. I’m going to walk back out that door and in thirty seconds this place had better be cleaned, someone had better have patched up Jerry there, and I swear to god if you’re not all standing at attention I’m going to make you all run until your legs break, then I’m going to have each and every one of you go through a full and proper medical exam. I’ll even make sure the docs wear the shoulder length gloves for the prostate exam.”
Walking back out he saw a couple of people staring at him as he drank his coffee. He heard one of them speak quietly to his friend “Dear god I feel sorry for those guys. Anyone that can use that tone and be smiling isn’t someone to fuck around with.”
Looking over Blitz gave the man a smile that caused him to go back to his clipboard. Thirty seconds were up rather quickly. Turning and walking back into the room Blitz looked over at Jerry and told him to get back to his unit. Once he was gone Blitz put his coffee back down and looked every man and woman in the room over.
Sighing he said “So. We’ve all had time to think. Maybe not enough, I most certainly haven’t so I’ll abstain, but it’s time I think.” leaning against the wall he concluded “All for striking out on our own?”
The majority raised their hands or made some noise of agreement. Blitz nodded “Alright, load up the truck and get ready. You’ve got an hour lads, and remember I’m sure they’ll forgive us later so take what we need. They’ve got things set up here.”
As everyone moved to as covertly as they could get supplies Blitz walked down the hall with a sigh. Today was going to be one of those days, he could feel it. But he owed it to these guys to stick with them even if he didn’t agree with the decision. Not that they didn’t have their reasons.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 27, 2018, 05:26:47 am
After the guests were gone, Kathrine started at once on the cleaning. Unlike in the barn, cleaning the house was a whole different and much simpler chore. For one, there wasn't motor oil or grease all over a dirt floor. Hardwood was so easy. It had all been just too much for her, so much kindness from strangers and mostly for her on Catnip's orders. She had to admit to herself that a house was something she had secretly coveted for a long time. No more barn, no more shoddy tent, but a real house. One Kathrine could clean in and bring her mistress tea in and maybe even a bit of cuddling-
She stopped her train of thought right there, blushing a little and smiling. Something felt odd about her face, and she touched it. She was smiling. Authentically smiling for the first time in who knew how long. She'd been too shocked to smile on Catnip's sudden return, and too busy keeping an eye on Catnip to give more than a simple grin until now. It felt... Good.
Catnip had gone upstairs while Kathrine cleaned, putting away a few things and probably trying out the new chair in Catnip's new office. "Paper storage" Catnip called it. Meanwhile, downstairs, Kathrine tidied away the couch and dusted up the last of the silk poor Mica had left everywhere. The baby was wreaking havoc on her body chemistry, and Kathrine could see the way Mica was beginning to show. With the main room, 'the living room' she reminded herself, done she moved on to the hall leading to the small but well equipped kitchen and started sorting through all the silverware. To her, the silverware was a symbol. Not of her and Catnip's new home, but of the coming speration. Not a major one, but a small one. Eating with everyone would be a thing done less frequently now. Most of the new houses were fitted with their own individual cooking spaces and equipment and the cookshack was now just the food storage. It bothered the little maid a bit, but it wasn't like she'd never see anyone again.
She heard Catnip coming down the stairs softly, no longer wearing the heavy engineers boots that had carried the mechanic from the trenches of Algol, all the way home. Kathrine kept working diligently, ignoring the sharp click from the front room. The lock on the front door. There was nothing to be afraid of, no theives here in Walkerville, so Kathrine assumed that Catnip had locked up without knowing Kathrine was-
"Kaaaaatrin." Catnip said playfully from the living room. Kathrine set aside her broom and emerged from the hall, and found Catnip standing before the large picture window looking out at the wide yard that had once been a plowed field until it was stomped flat by passing feet.
"Yes Catnip?" She said, dusting herself off. Mica's silk was particularly tenacious when it came to sticking to clothing.
"Couch or bed?" Catnip asked.
"Hm? Are you tired?" Kathrine responded. Catnip looked over at her, and there was something in her girlfriends eyes she thought seemed familiar but so rarely seen that it was hard to put her finger on. She thought about Catnip's question, if Catnip was tired then she should go to bed, but the bed was still a little dusty with Mica's leavings. "If you are tired Catnip, you can rest on the couch, I still have to clean-"
"I'm not tired." Catnip said, sliding the curtains shut and making her way to the couch, "Couch then. Do you want to sit with me?"
"With the curtains closed?" Kathrine asked, puzzled. She was suddenly a little nervous, on edge even. Catnip had asked her a question but as usual, it was taken by the maid as an order. Kathrine stepped lightly, taking off her cleaning apron and hanging it up as she went, and sat down just as lightly next to Catnip. As soon as she was sat, Catnip took her by the chin and kissed her.
"Now," the mechanic whispered when she finally separated, "Where did we leave off? Let's see, I think you were..." She pushed Kathrine down by the shoulders onto the couch and kissed her again.
"C-catnip..." She whispered.
"Shoosh, now what was I... Ah yes..."
Then Catnip stood and turned before climbing up onto the couch and straddling Kathrine. The maids luxurious tail straightened out then wrapped around them like a heavenly blanket, twining with Catnip's leathery one as it did so. Like holding hands.
"That's right, now what did I say again? Oh yeah. Kathrine? Do you love me forever?"
"Y-yes..."
"Then why..."
Kathrine surprised Catnip by wrapping her arms around her, and pulling her down into a kiss that wouldn't break until the sun had set. Atomos slid from the saddle bag and looked up at the sign by the side of the road reading, "Welcome to New Paris."
"What's this?" She asked aloud. She didn't really expect an answer, but the voice of Cheena just inside her ear suggested that it was a sign. "I know it's a sign, but what's it doing here? It wasn't here when I left..."
"We will find out when we get there little one." Horace said, nudging his horse into a canter. Atomos gave the sign another look before hopping along to catch up. She felt energetic, ditzy, and she suspected that it wasn't all the excitement of her return to the center. The change in her behavior had been subtle but noticable when she thought about it. Atomos felt more generally excitable than she'd ever been before. Sometimes, for no reason, she would feel an urge she couldn't resist and would tear off up the road before sprinting back. She'd leap and Chase after birds or watch the sky for hours. It wasn't her foxish form doing it, it was Cheena. Cheena's influence, her character, melded into Atomos.
The answer to the sign came not long after encountering it. Horace and Atomos we're discussing whether they had lost the stalker or not when the rough countryside forest abruptly ended and was replaced by orderly farmland on which men and women were working to expand. There was the smell of brush fire as well, and trucks hauling lumber. For one long moment, Atomos felt like she was waking from a dream to find that the cataclysm was all just a long nightmare and she was in fact in the waking world again. Then she saw the way the trucks looked and the aspect of some of the people working and knew she wasn't dreaming.
"It all looks so... Civilized!" She thought.
"It looks like home!" Cheena's voice corrected.
"Hail!" Cried someone coming up to them in a Jeep, "hail! hail! I told you it wasn't a warwalker stupid. Welcome to New Paris fella, formerly the refugee center. Are you a friend of the Marshals? I only ask cuz of the armor and all, and uh..."
"Shuttup Pilings, just see who he is..." Came a voice from inside the Jeep. Horace didn't see a gun, but one never knew. After a short palaver, the Jeep turned around and headed back the way it came.
"They'll tell the center your coming." Atomos said, stating the obvious. "I think we'll probably be parting ways soon Mr. Horace. I'm not really sure I want to be seen like this at the center..."
"What would it matter? None would recognize you."
"That's what I'm worried about..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 30, 2018, 12:25:08 am
Liam finally pushed through the last of the trees with the flame still bobbing near him. He wondered just what he should do. Explaining things to Helen and the others would be necessary but..how would they react to some of it. The fact that they had been leading lives based on false memories would surely cause his fellows some measure of unease but the fact he’d attempted to outright destroy a soul was another matter entirely.
Shaken from his thoughts as he spotted the armored Hector Liam remembered the slash in his robe. Raising a hand to greet the man he smiled as the hood hung low over his face. “Hello! Visiting Helen I see.” he said before looking over and blowing out the small puff ball of flame. “Have we had the pleasure of meeting before?” he continued as he got closer.
Elsewhere the Tunnel Rats slid the last of the supplies into their transport. Blitz climbed into the back as Maxim quietly made his way over to the truck. He’d found out their little plan to find somewhere better suited to them rather than the militaristic society of the 3rd’s forces. He’d agreed to keep quiet if he could come along.
Hopping into the back of the truck Maxim found a seat next to the trio of mislings that were a part of the tunnel rats. Closing the door Blitz felt the truck start to move as he went to the turret on top of the vehicle. Climbing into the turret Blitz checked that the safety on the fifty caliber machine gun was on before observing the curious onlookers.
He heard the driver switch the radio off as command demanded to know what they were doing. In truth none of them really knew that. Retrieving his gasmask all Blitz knew was that they planned to go where they were truly needed and this place..this place had enough heroes.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 31, 2018, 07:44:34 am
Catnip lay in the dark of her living room, wrapped in Kathrines tail and arms, as well as the haze of what they'd spent the day doing. She felt sore all over, but a good sore. The pleasant soreness that can only come from a hard days good work, or a bout of heart felt love making. Kathrine had fallen asleep, exhausted by their days act, and Catnip had examined her spots and stripes at a leisure she'd never been afforded before. They were wonderful and Catnip wondered what had happened to make Kathrine so hesitant to show off such a striking feature. It wasn't a matter of Kathrines lack of vanity, that was certain. The patterns drawn out on Kathrines body were mazy and hard to follow without touching them. The mechanic traced the line of a stripe along the low rise of Kathrines hip, relishing the Stark contrast of color and the smooth feel of the skin under her work calloused hand.
"Mmmistrisss..." Kathrine mumbled in her sleep, tightening her grip on her girlfriend but not stirring. She would wake up just as sore as Catnip in the morning, deeply embarrassed by what she'd done. Catnip would be there, assuring her that there was nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to be embarrassed over, but it was the first time for both of them.
Catnip didn't want to wake Kathrine, so she shifted her attention to something else. The feeling of the couch under them, the smell of wood and fresh carpet, the small sounds of the farm at night as heard through solid built walls. Her left hand slipped down and caressed the carpet between the couch and coffee table. The barn had had dirt floors, and both Pinky's and King's Court we're possessed of hardwood. Catnip's living room was carpet. Actual carpet. Her carpet. Her eyes were good enough in the dark to see the pattern of the wall paper and the texturing painted onto the ceiling. Her wallpaper, her texturing. It was all hers. Hers and Kathrines.
Catnip rolled over so she was face to face with Kathrine and the little maid mumbled something unintelligible. She opened her eyes a little and stared into Catnip's for a space before closing them again. Catnip threw her free arm around her and pulled her closer. It felt the same as when they met. Kathrine crying out and binding her up in a hug the likes of which had made Catnip uncomfortable in it's closeness. Now all she wanted was to be held like that again even if it meant doing it herself.
"Look how far you've come, builder. Look at how far you and your kind have come." She half dreamed, "From the sad existence you lived before, to this. Just how much further will you go, I wonder?" The dream had the impression of a familiar voice in the dark. The grinding of gears and the working of great engines. "How far?"
"As far as I want..." Catnip mumbled. It was on this that she slipped down into the depths of sleep, the questions of her god still in her ears. Meanwhile, at the newly named refugee center, Walt Stockworth was busy doing what he usually did five days a week in the motor pool. Reading one of the six magazines available to the centers mechanics and slowly sipping his coffee. Kicking his feet up on a handy crate and leaning back in his chair. His mother would have chastised him, were she still alive.
"Six feet on the floor Walter. I swear you're going to break your neck one of these days." She'd say. But of course she couldn't, so what did he care? He'd lean all he damn well pleased until his replacement showed up to take over in the morning in a pair of hours. One of the new guys, a rodent faced guy, would come in and take over for him after Stockworth showed him around. He figured the new guy would work dutifully for a good couple weeks, maybe months, then he'd fall into the same routine they all did once he got used to things. Sitting, looking at a magazine, and drinking the swill that passed for coffee.
Walter Stockworth turned to the next page of his magazine and had time for one last sip of his coffee when something sharp hit him high in the back just under the nape of his neck. Stockworth had time to wonder if the vengeful spirit of his mother had come back to punish him for his misdeeds, or if one of his co-workers had come in early to surprise him before the legs of the chair snapped and he was shoved aside. He didn't make a sound as he fell and whoever it was dove for him, driving the implement through his neck. A weight, his attacker, came down on his back and he never saw who it was cutting his life short. Just the awl and the scarred hand holding it, coming in towards his eyes. Jules entered the motor pool two hours later with a bad case of the sniffles. He was glad to be away from Pricetown and his life as a debt slave but good lord was the damp, cool of New England punishing his nose. It was common among most of the Misling migrants. Stuffy noses and sore throats all around. As instructed, he checked into the office first, going over the nights logs and seeing it unchanged from the night before. Not unusual, no one had checked anything out since the week before. After going through the motions, he went to the small offices communal coffee pot to grab a pick me up, and found the thing hadn't been reset.
"Oh what the hell..." He mumbled, then shouted, "Stockworth, you forgot to turn the pot back on."
After a moment, he poked his head out of the office. He'd expected some kind of response. In fact, Stockworth should have been there in the office waiting for him. Jules had been told that the weekday night guy was supposed to show him around.
"Stockworth?"
Something was wrong. It was too quiet.
"Yo, where- Oh shit..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 02, 2018, 10:09:16 pm
Blitz checked the ammo belt for the fifty cal as the half track lumbered over the terrain. They had dropped off most of their people after finding an old fire station that they intended to use. Now Blitz and the rest of the men were checking some things out. Namely an area that some folks had mentioned to them, something about it being irradiated to hell and back.
A few adjustments to their gear meant they could stand the radiation and now they were on the edge of the irradiated zone. Adjusting his suspenders as they rode on Blitz was mildly annoyed with the suit covering his entire body. He liked wearing a tank top or feeling the wind blow over his bald tattooed head.
Tapping the driver’s head with his foot Blitz felt the vehicle lurch forward again. He also heard some of the men in the back open the side view ports to watch the terrain. Lord knew what monsters traveled this area.
The trees had at least grown since whatever had caused this shit. The other foliage too, some of it at a surprising pace. Looking at the trees Blitz noticed an oversized fox leap on a multi headed bunny for its next meal. ‘Oversized’ meaning standing at one and half times the size of an average man. Blitz had a feeling mutagen and radiation had something to do with some of the wildlife.
The bright blue leaves was also odd as he observed it. Maybe he should bring a few back as a keepsake. Something to show his future kids. He was shaken from his thoughts by the driver calling out “Zombie 12 o’clock, 10.”
Looking over he did see the ten zombies. Taking his rifle from where it was resting in the turret he took aim. Letting off a shot he hit the zombie in the eye and..it screamed as it and the others started running towards them. Dropping the rifle down he swung the turret around and opened fire.
The first trio of rounds blew one’s skull out and ripped a pair of holes into its chest. As it fell to the ground more fire swept killing most while two of the remaining zombies were reduced to crawling with their arms. The last two however leapt over his line of fire and slammed down on top of the half track. As they advanced on him Blitz retrieved his pistol and shot one’s arm off causing it to fall.
The second grabbed his arm and went to bite into it. Swinging the pistol around he felt it crush the metal plate on his arm before the first shot tore through its neck. Its head falling off it lashed out at him with a set of claws that left marks on his chest plate before a trio of rounds caused it to fall limply to the side of the vehicle as the half track ran over its crawling brethren with a disturbing crunch.
“Okay that’s a new one. Blowing their heads off doesn’t kill them lads.” Blitz said as he slid down and started checking his suit. Satisfied that it was okay he gave the order to keep going.
Elsewhere Isaac leaned against the finished wall of the library and watched the work crew walk away. Alexei and Ernie had said their goodbyes a short while ago and were now back at home. Walking in through the doors Isaac looked the place over and told Alice that this would work. She rolled her eyes and said “You’ve made a library and a mess hall. It had better work.”
Nodding at that he retrieved the few still intact books and put them on a shelf. Once that was done he started writing a list down as Alice checked the stoves. After she told him everything was in working order he told her “Alright. Tomorrow we should go find more books. I’m sure we can find someone to man the place while we’re gone.”
She blinked at that and sat down as she asked “You want to take me along?”
Looking over at here he said “Well of course. You need some experience and it’ll be nice to have some company. Besides the two of us can carry more than just me.” to which she agreed and said she’d be ready to go whenever he was.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 03, 2018, 03:23:35 am
Hector hmmed a bit as he regarded Liam, his helm concealing concern and suspicion. He was only vaguely aware of Helen having taken on new arrivals as students, but then he realized that he had recalled the figure before him only vaguely. It was the memory, a brief look towards a group of six men that entered the farm by walking past the forge area, that put him on edge a bit.
"Indeed. Something I had to ask her about. One of these days I should attend one of her classes, while I'm at it." he said, still looking the man over. "Don't think we have, no. Name's Hector. So...this explains what became of you six, it seems. Unexpected, but I'm not going to question it."
Soon however, he found himself regarding the signs of an injury. "Hmm. You alright?" he finally said after a moment's awkward silence.
Catalina gave a heavy sigh as she talked to the man sent to her office. The place was under a renewed flurry of heightened security, renewed suspicion. A random murder out of the blue wasn't something that just happened all of a sudden. Usually there was a fight that'd break out, things happening out in the old ruins and settlements they couldn't effectively police. Or an attack, like what happened at the center before her arrival.
The usual procedures were put in place, but for now she had let the civilian leadership here at the center take the lead in interviewing and gathering evidence. The Old Guard here had a busy enough time as it is. Still, there was one she that was still quite solidly under her authority, that she had to tend to. Surveying the security feed, looking through and taking note of all who came and went through the motor pool entrance.
Something interrupted her train of thought. The radio. "Captain. Got wind of a visitor approaching, got him on visual now." It was Larion again, monitoring from the roof. "Got it private, anything unusual?" she responded.
"The usual weirdness around here. Full armor, horseback. No identifying marks on his kit. Not God's Army stuff, not Mr. Lowe's shield, nothing." he answered over the radio, surveying through his binoculars as the figure rode towards the center itself.
"Understood. Continue monitoring but we'll see what he's here for. Likely just another traveler."
Horace regarded the surrounding area curiously, uncertain just what Atomos was going to do once they reached it. It was then he felt something. "About time, watcher..."
There weren't any remarks or guidance this time, nor any admonishment for Atomos having slipped away pretty much as soon as He From Beyond The Veil turned his attention elsewhere. Nothing except a single brief warning, one sensed and perceived more than heard.
Someone among recent arrivals would be a potential threat if pushed, and had a link to what caused the latest portal. Horace was to avoid her if possible, exterminate her if necessary. But to cause a scene was a last resort, given all the plans that might be endangered if it came to that.
Elsewhere at the Shepard's Wolves encampment, in the mess hall Tajima and Jonathon had settled into another conversation, while Aurelia had thankfully decided to converse with Donovan instead, rather than deal with the old mage hunter glowering at her. "So the lass you mentioned meeting might well have been kin of one of the old groups that made up our order. Daughter of one or two of them, I'm guessing Odin's Oath." Jonathan remarked.
"I see. Sounds about right. What others were there?" Taji asked. "There was the Knights-Errant of Christ for one, the other group making up the very first founders. My own order from quite some time ago. Things were simpler back then. The other two major founders where The Path of The Sun, and Golden Wind" Taji perked up a bit at that.
"...huh. Third one sounds familiar. Faintly. Something kinda...before my time." he said, and Jonathan nodded a bit. "Understandable. Sort of spiritualist group prior to the founding, most of them moved to the states...I think five years before the founding, and that was over 30 years before all this started." he said, looking back to Tajima, who seemed to be reminiscing on something.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 03, 2018, 10:07:49 am
For a creature that felt it should be in a hurry, Branches was certainly spending a great deal of it's time dawdling. In some way, the homunculus had inherited certain characteristics from it's two contributers. Curiosity was Illiana's contribution, and it was curiosity that held it up. Branches had spent the better part of the day catching bugs and frogs in the swamp. After, that was, it had managed to cross the bridge. With the migrants moving on, there was no longer a picket on what branches thought of as it's side of the lake. It could move freely on the east and north sides of the lake, but the south branches considered Helen's and the west side, Sharlene's. It had to move disguised, and did so by wrapping a stolen blanket around it's head. It turned out that the crossing hadn't been such of a much. Those left in charge of fishing nets were still there, but they had no time for Branches. They were all busy collecting the last run of salmon before fall, and expanding their small fishery to fit the demand. Still, it had spent a long time watching the fisher folk. The amount of strength and teamwork required to haul a net seemed monumental. When Branches tried it though, the homunculus managed it easily enough. It impressed the foreman so much that he offered Branches a job.
"Waddaya say little lady? Haul fish for a couple weeks and get paid in food and shelter?"
Branches declined the offer, saying that it had only wanted to try it out. Of course, the foreman had upped the offer but by then Branches was already walking away.
The fisher folk we're a mix of strange people, most of them being either rodent featured Prictowners or normal humans from the refugee center. Pulling up nets and releasing two of every three fish they took. It was here too that Branches found the source of the pleasant smoke that had wanted across the lake, hanging over the water in the mornings like a fog bank when it looked out at the dawn from it's improvised shelter. A series of smoke houses running twenty-four seven to cure the rich fatty salmon in aromatic Maple and alder. The smoke houses, Branches learned, were a venture of the Walkerville. An industry laid on with the Walker stamp of approval. It seemed, or so the working folk said among themselves, that Catnip had come back from Pricetown with a bit more than a caravan load of immigrants.
Branches didn't know who this "Catnip" was, but it supposed that it would find out someday so long as it didn't die before then. The next thing Branches came to as the homunculus followed the line of the palisade, skirting the clearly marked pit at it's base, was farm land. To the west of the farm, the woods around it opened up again on a vast field of farm land being plowed and prepared. Here was the true source of the smoke. Not the small time plumes of the smoke houses, but the roaring bonfires of large piles of duff and scrap wood. When a pile had cooled a little, the sizable pile of ash left behind would be spread and tilled into the soil as fertilizer for the coming year. This industry wouldn't see fruit until next summer or fall. From simple roots, plants would grow. Branches had a moment to wonder what the workers had used as fill for the swamp when it was called on by an aged voice. The homunculus turned it's head, and by the gateless entrance to Walkerville was an old man with a broad brimmed hat on his head and a gun on his hip.
"How you doin' pard?" He asked, "Judgin' by your clothes I reckon you ain't one of the workers. I'm Floyd, where're your parents, Missy?"
Floyd sat in a wicker arm chair much as he had sipping a beer and watching over Catnip in the throes of mutation, and rubbed ointment into his hands. The beer was replaced with an iced tea, containing real ice. Branches was stuck with the choice to simply keep walking, or to engage the friendly old man.
"Cat gotcher tongue?" He asked, leaning forward a little. Branches took a step back but Floyd held up a hand to calm it. "It's all right, I ain't gonna hurt you. How old are you?" Any answer Branches gave, any honest answer, would out the homunculus for what it was. Or so Branches thought right up until it failed to lie.
"Branches..." It mumbled, then slapped it's hands over it's mouth. Then realized it was showing off it's skin, and stuffed them into the pockets of the stolen jeans.
"Ah," Floyd said, leaning back again. "Branches huh? You're a mutant too then? Like Catnip and some of the others? Well, nothin' to be afraid of here. Plenty like you around. Why don't you sit a spell and watch the work, talk to an old man?" Floyd didn't know who or what Branches was, and that said a little about how communicative the farm was. Surely one of those who'd been present at Sharlene's grove might have recognized it, but Floyd hadn't been there. Floyd didn't know. Branches looked around, hoping to see an escape and instead saw a jeep coming up the road towards them. Inside, the homunculus spotted the familiar mask of a mage hunter. It could have been Helen, or it could have been the other. Either way there was nowhere to go but here, and so Branches took the wicker chair next to Floyd and hoped that the mage hunter wouldn't glance over and see it.
Floyd gave a little half wave to the jeep and for a slim moment, Branches believed the jig was up. The homunculus was as as strong as a titan with it's feet planted firmly on the ground, but that didn't mean a well placed bolt from a wraithslayer couldn't harm the creature. Or a hammer blow. Or a lightning bolt. Branches suddenly felt very vulnerable, wanting to squirm and run, to sneak away. No bolt came. Neither did a lightning bolt, and the mage hunter wasn't coming at Branches with a hammer. In fact, the mage hunter had missed Floyd's wave entirely.
"So," Floyd went on as he settled back to his rubbing, "You never told me where your parents were missy."
"At the center..." Branches said, giving it some thought before answering. Technically, it was true. Illiana was at the center still and in so far as the Homunculus had a parent, it was Illiana.
"Ah, should have guessed. I suppose you're with the migrants." Floyd talked about all sorts of things for the next hour or so, Branches curiosity overriding it's need to move on keeping the homunculus anchored to the seat. Floyd offered it a glass of iced tea, taking the jug beneath the small table out along with a plastic cup and a few ice cubes from a small cooler. Branches decided that it liked iced tea, and finished off it's cup while Floyd spoke.
"Why do you rub your hands like that?" Branches asked when Floyd had finally gone silent, "Do they hurt?"
The old cowboy looked down at his hands, he had been rubbing them unconsciously her realized. It wasn't a surprise though, it seemed he did it a lot these days. "Aye," he said, "They hurt alright. Doctor over at the center says it's probably the rhumatiz. Arthritis. I'm not really surprised, my pa had it. It usually skips a generation, but I suppose it can't always be that way. Maybe it means it'll skip over sammy..." Branches watched him carefully, and measured the man. There was steel there under the pain, a keenly honed machine that was sinking in the mud. He seemed to shrug it off, but Branches could see it with the strange foresight granted by Illiana's influence. This man would sink into the mud and the machine of his body would fail as the muck clogged the works.
"I'm gettin' old Branches. I can still shoot and work, but no idea for how long. I mean, it's not going to kill me but..." He said, and Branches saw it. Saw in him a hint of something the homunculus had seen in itself. Hopelessness. This man knew that something was coming, some obsolescence, and it worried him. Weathered lines in his face, canyons that caught the light and drowned it in his countenance but which could soften. Branches saw it for itself, the softening. Floyd turned his face back to Branches and smiled. The look lit up his face and made it look young again. "Heh, you don't need me sharing any of this with you. You're still young after all. You won't have to worry about it for a long long time. Why don't you catch up with your parents?"
Branches slid from the chair uncertainly, and stood thinking. Then, the homunculus knelt and scooped up a handful of dirt.
"Watcha' doin'?" Floyd asked. It wasn't as obvious as one thought, and Floyd himself had little to no experience with the arcane. Branches took leftover ice and added it to the dirt, unsure of why it should care so much. There was an affinity between the two, that was all, and for some reason Branches couldn't stand seeing it's own uncertainty painted on the face of another. Besides, it still owed Floyd for the tea.
"Shush, hold up your hands and hold still." Branches instructed. Floyd did it and the Homunculus began painting his hands with the new mud, gently pushing the wet clay in between the old mans fingers and over his palms until he was wearing a pair of mud mitts. The effect of the Homunculus peculiar form of magic took a moment to present itself.
"What is this about? Mud therapy or something? Kiddo, this isn't- Oh. What?"
The mud dried and cracked, and as it fell away from his hands, taking the pain with it, Branches turned away and disappeared into the woods northwest of Walkerville. It was down the the Sharlene part of itself that the Homunculus owed it's more mischievous and negative aspects. It wandered the woods in the lessening light and tried to puzzle out why it had done what it did for the old man and finding no satisfactory answer. The small magic that Branches had woven would only last a few months, a year at most, but it would stall the degeneration in the cowboys hands. When it stumbled on another person in need when the morning sun began to peek it's first rays about the tree tops, Branches reaction was entirely different.
It stood and watched the prone form of the scarred woman in the blue robe laying face down in the dirt. She was alive and seemingly healthy, but Branches didn't like the smell of her. She stank of sheared copper, human decay, fear, adrenaline, and madness. The book though smelled worse. The book smelled outright evil. That didn't stop Branches from taking it and perusing it's pages though. Branches was always interested in new books. This one though was a complete cryptic mystery to it though. The letters were wide and swooping, a language that Branches didn't understand. How the woman read it was an absolute mystery.
Branches looked the woman over, checking her for some clue. Nothing. Not a single clue. So the book was set aside, and Branches got to work replacing the stolen blanket with the woman's robes. The robe showed surprisingly little wear and tear and it seemed to bear no stains or grime that Branches could find. To top it all off, it had a hood and could hide Branches features much more easily.
"Stealing is wrong..." Branches mumbled a little guiltily, "But I suppose... hm..."
Something told Branches to leave the robe and book alone, but at the same time it couldn't really let them go. Branches wanted to study the strange new book and Branches wanted to own the fancy self cleaning robe. After a long moment of hard thought, Branches took them. The woman probably wouldn't even remember having them... Probably.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 03, 2018, 01:45:43 pm
Liam noticed the scrutiny he was being put under by Hector. Shrugging it off he did recall running into the man’s home and cutting his friend’s hand off. He had to admit this was fair, hell even trying to attack him would have been fair. “I’m Liam. The uh..magic guy of the group. If it helps, and I know it probably doesn’t, we were manipulated into what we did.”
At the question about if he was alright Liam smiled. “Yeah I’m okay. Bastard forgot I was wearing a chestplate.” he said as he pulled the robe off and stuffed it into his bag. Adjusting his chestplate he continued “And yeah we’ve been living with Helen for a while. I mean technically Isaac is our leader, he does still have the spear, but he’s left us in her care for the time being.”
Finishing with his adjustments he concluded “But uh, if there is anything I can do for you do let me know. I’d be more than happy to help. Especially given what we’ve done in the past I’d say helping in any way we can is the last we can do.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 04, 2018, 12:12:23 am
Catalina set down her radio and paused the footage before her at around a certain point in the early morning. In the footage, she'd watched as Stockworth went about his duties locking down the back bays and checking the exterior entrances before sweeping up, taking inventory, and settling in with a magazine. Catalina had watched over and over as a figure in a blue robe came into the motorpool and stalked around the office. If Stockworth had stood up, he would have even seen his killer wandering around through the large windows looking out on the motorpool floor. The killer spent some time in the office before finally finding a tool box and taking out what looked like an ice pick, an awl, or perhaps one of the guiding pegs that the mechanic living in Walkerville made and distributed to fellow mechanics. Then, the murderer made a bee line for the man and proceeded to take out whatever frustrations they had on the unfortunate mechanic. What happened after was strange. The woman, and it was obviously a woman, stood over Stockworths body for half an hour before getting to work drawing some kind of sigil or seal on the floor with Stockworth's blood. It gave the captain a shiver just looking at it, the strange sign on the floor. Catalina had had the motorpool locked off to keep people from muddying the crime scene, but she had to admit that the entire room now instilled in those that went in a sense of profound dread. Better to keep people out for their own safety.
Catalina was still looking at the sign drawn on the floor through the camera feed when she was pulled from the growing sense of horror by a professional rap upon her door. Without being invited, Maskens let herself in and took the seat opposite her. Catalina both did and did not like Maskens, the woman was too uptight. Too rigid. Something had softened the doctor recently though, and so Catalina too had softened a bit on Maskens.
"We have an issue." Maskens said, again without being invited.
"Oh, I have enough of those already doc, what's this new turd hitting my desk fan?"
"Kringle has passed away."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 05, 2018, 03:15:09 am
It had been a hectic two weeks for Roxanne. After the little talk Roxanne and Lucy had, the two walked to the cafeteria of sorts in the office tower where they were greeted by Clara, Rey and Christina. The three immediately asked where Lucy had been but that question was soon substituted by asking Roxanne what had happened to her. The five of them sat down and both Lucy and Roxanne explained about Plague, how he went crazy, try to assimilate Roxanne and how it backfire. Then what specifically had happened to Roxanne and how those tattoos where how she was able to stay stable.
“And what about your eyes… still pink but… the bit that’s supposed to be white is now black…” Asked Christina.
“Side effects of my stupidity I suppose…”, Roxanne responded, “Speaking of…” with a deep sigh, Roxanne produced both Void, now a one-handed bastard sword, and Convergence, now a kukri. The other three were confused while Lucy smirked and Roxanne gave a deep sigh. “Go on...speak you two…”
“Mom… who are these people? Are they friendly?”, asked Void
“We are ready to defend you if it comes to that!”, exclaimed Convergane.
There was a sudden moment of silence in the room before it was filled with laughter. Roxanne was now more annoyed than ever.
“My my, you had a night of reckless fun and now suffered the consequence every woman fears out of it. It usually takes 9 months for that though. Who is the father anyways?”, Clara teased.
“Well, about decaded ago Roxanne would’ve hoped that Rey here was the answer to that question.”, Christina added.
Roxanne glared at her over that comment and it earned her a smack over the head from Rey. “Easy you two. We still don’t know what’s going on.”
“No no… let them have their fun… I deserve it… I don’t even know what to do…”
The room fell silent once more. This time it was Lucy who spoke up. “Well, how about we have a meal first am then we discuss that? I am sure we can come up with something.” The others quickly agreed on the suggestion and Lucy used the Debug Menu to summon some food. Clara and Christina received normal food while Roxanne and Rey got something special given they were both spirits. After the meal the 5 got to discussion and a few hours later emerged with a plan.
The next two weeks were spent putting that plan in motions. As much as Roxanne wanted to go back to the farm Lucy denied her that saying she still needed to be monitored. The deadline of the note Roxanne had left behind eventually passed and Roxanne worried how the others would react when she didn't come back. She hope Victor had at least reacted to the note she had left him the way she wanted but even that was pushed back as the days passed.
First Roxanne explained how as she was now the sword of Assimilation itself she could acquire the abilities of others and right now she only had Plague’s ability over the control of blob infested zombies. Given this Clara offered Roxanne her magery so she could learn spells and Rey his affinity for spirits so she could interact with the metaphysical like any other spirit could. This was a start and then she went to practice this skills under the guidance of the others.
She had many spars against them, they taught her the basics of the arcane and essence, something even Victor hadn’t done given Roxanne waa rather impatient and just wanted results. Lucy would keep track of her and run test every now and then to see how the seal were holding up. After a long day of lessons and practice Roxanne would retire to her temporary quarters and lay there given she couldn’t sleep anymore. This time was not wasted however, as she used it to talk to Void and Convergence; Roxanne got to know the two sword spirits, the two that now called her their mother. Through this she learned that the old desire to unite had been unkindled and now they sought their own individuality. Roxanne could sympathise with this and soon she grew to like the two sword spirits.
“Maybe this isn’t so bad…”, Roxanne would say to herself. After a conversation with them.
Roxanne improved much during those two weeks and Lucy told her she would no longer need her checkups. She had learned how to perform some spells and create essance given she found the materials. Now longer was she the powerhouse she once was and while she had nothing to fear from the undead or bandits she could hope at best to become a glass cannon against anyone with the most rudimentary of arcane skills; damage her seals enough and it was over.
“Alright Luna, you are cleared.”, Lucy told Roxanne, “It’s been two weeks now, your seals seems to be stable… you are free to go.”
Roxanne gave a deep sigh of relief as she put her clothing back on. Finally she was allowed to go back, go home. Despite this, something still nagged her. “And what do I do now?”
Lucy shrugged. “Live your life I guess. I gave you free will, use it.”
“That’s the problem… this whole ordeal, no, all of my problems can be traced to something: lack of direction. I need something to look forward to; a goal, an objective, a target to kill, an item to steal, a problem to fix… the next missions… I go back to walkerville and then what?”
Roxanne looked at Lucy with a face that betrayed her need for an answer. Lucy stayed silent for a moment before she gave a satisfied grin. “I have an idea but I need to talk to someone first. Why don’t you go tell the other the news first then we’ll talk?”
The two exited Roxanne’s room where the other three were waiting. Lucy asked for Christina to enter so the two could talk in private while Roxanne approached Rey and Clara.
“You doing alright?”, asked Rey, his hands brandishing his weapon: an arcane laser rifle at the suggestion of Roxanne. She smiled at the sight.
“Yeah, Lucy said I am cleared and can go home now. I am stable and thanks to all of you I can defend myself as well, thank you for that.”, Roxanne responded.
“It’s good to hear you are doing well. That said, are you really going back home?”, asked Clara.
“Yeah, I have been away for too long. Besides, I only left because I have commitment issues. The prospect of settling down scared me, to have to sacrifice my sovereignty but due to it I no longer have a choice. So, to walkerville it is.”
Rey and Clara looked at each other and smiled before looking back to Roxanne. “Well, we are coming with you.” Rey announced.
“You promised me you would take me to see my little brother Victor. You can’t back down now.”, Clara added.
Roxanne looked at the two a bit confused but then she herself smiled. There was nothing to be afraid; she wasn’t alone. Both here and in Walkerville she had people who care about her and that is all that mattered. Yes, she had this realization before but always with a hint of doubt in the back of her mind; it took her a moment of humbling vulnerability for it to sink it.
“Alright, pack you things guys, we are going to walkerville! I can’t wait for you to meet the gang; Catnip and Kath, Dee and Mica, Lilith, Nate, Granpa Floyd, Victor of course, and my beloved knight… It will be fun!”
Suddenly the door to Roxanne’s room opened and both Lucy and Christina exited with hands behind their backs and standing as if waiting to make an announcement; and indeed they were going to do just that.
“Listen up people”, Lucy said, the three others turned their attention to them, “Founder Christina has a few words to say. Ma’am?”
Christina stepped forward and cleared her throat before speaking. “As you here are all aware, I was one of the founder of Shadows of Arcana. Under the guidance of Grandmaster Jonathan we became a force in the arcane underground and achieve many great things. Flawed as he may have been, I mean, the fucker disowned me, killed a woman seeking peace and lost the one thing he based his organization around to the enemy only to be killed himself… anyways, he did manage to leave the blueprint for what SoA became. In the shadows it always stood seeking to understand the unknown and master it for the betterment of humanity. Where other shun away the marvels of modern technology we embraced it and with my help we developed our own infrastructure and what was akin to a militia. Now, SoA is no more, it was snuffed along with the vast majority of its members… But, we are still here, we can still make a difference. So with the authority vested in my I would like to announce the revival of Shadows of Arcane. I grandmaster Christina will make amends where needed and move our organization forwards. We will reclaim our great name and together will will combat the evils of this world that now plague us; be it forces long ago forgotten or invaders from other worlds… I ask you that you join me…
Agent Rey Steller, Purifier Clara Ironwood… and Huntress Roxanne Luna, will you answer the call?”
In a bunker not to far away from the office tower were Luna recided. A peculiar undead made the preparations to seal itself away from the world for a while. In its hands were the biological rifle and sword as he addressed the 6 mages who created the pieces of anomon as well as the two shields. Bio-Weapon Psi, when Plague was brought down it regained its sapience and and booked it out of the tower after quiring the two flesh weapons in the chaos of Roxanne and Plague’s struggled as everyone else slept.
The 6 mages were no longer under Plague’s control either and as such sought something to latch onto and Psi made the perfect candidate. The 7 of them secured a bunker after gathering some supplies and had now made preparations to stay in the shadows for an indefinite time frame. What they had planned when they finally decided to emerge, it would seems not even they knew 100%.
What appeared to be a convoy was traveling awfully closed to the center. It seemed to be going around it taking a route very rarely traveled. For anyone checking out with binoculars they would see a motorcycle leading an armored vehicle and what appeared to be a military cargo truck. Who was in the two back vehicles could not be determine as they hid inside but the rider of the vehicle was wearing a wooden mask and a cloak over their form. Their hands appeared to be bandage and the cloak prevented any view of their outfit. Whoever this people were, they seemed awfully careful not to approach the center as they traveled along roads making twist and turns going on unnecessary long routes to do so.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 05, 2018, 01:11:56 pm
(( Catalina and others bit written with Salt, Hector and Floyd stuff written with Wilson. ))
Catalina was rubbing her temples in frustration as she made her way out into the main room of the center. "This isn't good...I assume Colonel Luther been made aware of this?" she asked, already pondering what should be done. The colonel was most likely busy discussing their plans of securing safe routes between New England and Canada, possibly with the General's direct subordinates. And now she had multiple concerns on her hands. The time slab still needed to be dealt with, soon deciding to meet with the mage hunter that was heading to the center.
As she walked, she decided to pick up the radio she had. "This is Captain Catalina, if anyone over at The Hall or Walkerville is receiving this. We've recently requested the assistance of one of your members of the Cleansing Flame to assist in something, but we might need the assistance of both of them."
Maskens parted ways with Catalina as they passed through the infirmary hall. Maskens domain was quiet today, fortunately. The woman had less serious problems to deal with now that Efram had arrived with his nurses to deal with a good measure of the work load, leaving the centers head doctor to do paperwork. Paperwork like post mortem reports.
"I've paperwork to do Captain, you will attend the autopsies later?" She asked. Catalina nodded and said that she would. It was part of her duties to do so, especially with one so important. "Good good. While you're meeting with these 'mage hunters' do you think you could apologize to Sylvia for me? I'm going to miss lunch. Never eat before an autopsy..."
After that, the captain finished the short walk to the foyer to wait for the people she'd called on, but found that one of them was there already. An uncomfortable looking man carrying a simple mask accompanied by a Misling woman in a red robe. Catalina was somewhat familiar with the latter, Sylvia 'le Strange' Maskens. Dr. Sydney Maskens' long lost sister.
"Dr. Maskens asked me to relay her apologies Ms. Sylvia, she has a lot of paperwork and a double autopsy suddenly come up today. This is your husband?" She asked. Sylvia frowned and sighed while Daniel shuffled his feet nervously.
"Well shoot, what autopsy is so important that a lady can't have lunch with her own sister and that sisters man?"
"One unexpected murder, and the passing of the Canadian Armed Forces' commanding officer. The latter is related to why I have asked you to come here. There was an artifact in their possession that he advocated members of your group to deal with, and given the premature aging it induced..." she said, trailing off.
She then gave a little nod upon regarding the mage hunter. "The item that they advocated you deal with was what they referred to as a 'time slab', and doesn't match anything in the records maintained back at Site 4. Evidently the Canadian's equivalent did have experience with these things, however."
"A murder? Hopefully it's an isolated case. In this day and age, such things can get into peoples heads and drive them to panic. Sylvia tells me that things are just starting to move forward here, and we don't need anyone running wild..." He tapered off awkwardly. Talking had never been Daniels strong suit. Investigating and acting on the evidence given, those were where he shone best. It was Sylvia whom he relied on most to do the talking for him. She was the one with a way with words, not him. "As for this slab, I can only hazard a tentative guess but is it perhaps an Arch-slab?"
"A fragment of another world." Sylvia put in, "The sanguine council was seeking one for their... er... my, screaming engine."
"Screaming engine?" Catalina asked, but Sylvia shook her head.
"No, I don't want to go into it. Danny dearest, why don't you go look at this time thingy of hers? I'm going to go mope in the cafe."
Sylvia kissed Daniel on the cheek and wandered in the direction of the centers cafe, and he watched her go. From the corner of her eye, Catalina noticed the newcomer in the armor crossing the foyer. A strange one, carrying a... A fox? She was reminded painfully of Atomos and pushed the thoughts away. There were matters at hand to deal with. The newcomer was under watch, she didn't need to worry about it right now. As for the fox, a quirky pet and nothing more.
"I have no Idea sir," She explained, "General Kringle only advised that I seek out members of the Cleansing Flame to deal with it and I am well aware of what the machine this 'time slab' is powering can do." A thought occurred to her and she added, "Perhaps you'd take a look at something in the motorpool as well? The machine, the Midgard, has been moved there for temporary storage anyway."
"Ah, I suppose so long as it's something you are comfortable with me seeing without my compatriot here, though I'd really rather not handle this slab without her around. lead the way."
Catalina gave a nod as she turned to lead the way. "Very well then. If you'd like, I am expecting Mrs. McKinnon to arrive here as well, though the recent murder also has a touch of something that might fall under your group's area of expertise. Since we're still reviewing the evidence and security footage, that can wait." she said, the two soon entering the motor pool, to examine the Midgard while waiting for Helen.
Hector gave a nod at the answer, seeming to still be wary yet at least not on edge. "Guessing it had something to do with whoever the seventh person was." he said, before shrugging it off. "In any case, I'm glad things have settled down then, I'll trust Helen to handle matters." he said.
Soon however, Helen stepped out of The Hall, giving a concerned glance over to Liam as she handed something to Hector. A scroll, and something written on another piece of paper. "Liam, are you alright?" she asked, before something interrupted. Catalina's voice over the radio.
"Understood. I was just finishing up with some tasks here, so I will arrive shortly." she answered, looking back to Liam with a sigh. By now Hector had already walked off, accepting the items she handed over to him. "At least we got a couple days before something came up again..." she said softly.
She went back inside the Hall to gather her things, explain the situation to Victor, before again making her way back out, along the shore and across the bridge, to head towards the center.
It wasn't long before Hector was back at Walkerville, making his way over to what was once the old barn. The forge area was still nearby, and every day he did his work there, he did so in sight of that birch tree. As far as he was concerned it was in an inconvenient spot, and it was to blame for the barn being ruined. But it was still there, largely due to Roxanne's insistence.
Floyd would be the one to see what was happening as he walked by, noticing the rustle of leaves and creak of branches. "C'mon kid, you're gonna get yourself hurt climbin' th-" He looked over, expecting to find some misling kid clambering up it, or maybe Mica. Instead he realized that there was a shield and old backpack left at the base of the tree, and the glint of armor betrayed who was actually climbing it.
Floyd squinted up at Hector, "Chrissakes, kid. The hell are you doin'?!" He drawled, trying to get a better look at him. "I'm too damn old to be climbing after your hide, get down from there!" After a moment Hector shifted a bit, moving one limb at a time, lowering himself before dropping the last seven feet. "Sorry if I startled you Floyd." he said, before retrieving something that he'd hastily tucked into his drop leg pouch. One of a few small birch nuts, still in its winged pod, early enough in the season that they hadn't fallen yet. "It's a bit of a long story, but there was something I needed a couple of these for."
Floyd pinched the bridge of his nose, "An' I got time. Explain." He said, glaring. Hector gave a little sigh at that. "I asked Helen for help with something I was going to do. It sounds stupider now that I explain it, but she suggested planting something with personal significance to...well, Roxanne. And I'm not about to go seeing what happens when you plant Jim in proper soil."
Floyd gave Hector a look, "Ain't it a lil' early to be doin' that? Just cuz she's gone doesn't mean she's dead. She's been gone for what, a couple of days?" He said, raising a brow. Hector gave a nod at that. "True. To be honest I'd wanted to surprise her with it if I got the opportunity to, been thinking on the idea for a little while. So if she's alright, this would be a good chance to do this." he said, before adding. "I had just the place in mind, as well. Bit of a trip, half-hour at most."
Floyd sighed, "Can't have you dyin' ... I'll come with." He requested simply. Hector gave a nod at that, smiling underneath the helm. "Thank you. I think Nathaniel's over by the tank, might even get him to come along too." he remarked, Floyd giving a little shrug as they made their preparations.
Floyd, if anything, was more concerned about what led Hector to start clambering up a tree over some gardening project, deciding to go along with it even with Nathaniel manning the commander's hatch in the tank. Not like I've been in the turret lately...not as cramped as I remember it. he thought, as the tank started up and set off down the path through the swamp.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 05, 2018, 04:20:20 pm
“She who shall awaken… I am the wielder of Anomon’s burden. I am indifferent to the union and scoff at the goal. I, the maiden of ruin, will show you true despair.”
Melody was taking a small break from her now somewhat routine tasks. She was eating a sandwich chanting that under her breath multiple times. Those words appeared on her mind suddenly without explanation but she had an idea of what they meant. She tried to contact Despair but the sword wouldn’t answer; well, not until now.
“Do not fret my child, for I have awaken!”
“Can you cut that out? This is serious!”, Melody whispered angrily.
A small laugh resonated from Despair in Melody’s mind. “Hahaha, you are so easy my dear. Sorry I didn’t respond sooner; it wasn’t safe. What do you need?”
Melody explained to Despair about the chant and how she had no idea what it was. “Would you know?”
“Ah yes, the chant for my Sword Drive.”, Despair responded.
“Sword Drive?”, Melody asked, “What is that.”
“Well, when I or one of my brethren deem a weidler worthy enough, they may use a specific chant to active our Sword Drive. Think of it as a last resort ability we can bestow our wielders in case of an emergency. Each one of us gives our wielder a different benefit with our drives.”
“Different ability? Like what?”
“Well, I grant my wielder the skillset, rage and determination of every wielder before hand; and not just my wielder's but the ones of my brethren too. Convergence grants their wielder the ability to use their 7 stored abilities at once. Assimilation harvester all energy around it to power all the abilities it acquired; it is essentially infinite energy while the effect last. And void grants its own power to its wielder; or they can choose to bargain with the spirit inside the blade to channel that power instead, however, they price of that bargain is up to said spirit.”
“T-that’s… pretty cool actually! Can I activate your sword drive?”
Despair gave another hardy laugh. “No no, you are still too inexperienced at this. The fact you want to activated it just because it’s cool signifies you aren’t ready. Besides, if you did, it would give my location away and we can’t have that; this place is cozy enough plus you are now finally a productive member of society.”
“I will choose to ignore that… then why did I suddenly learned the chant?”
“It seems the forces within me are gearing up for trouble… nothing should come of it but in times of great desperation we may temporarily grant a wielder to access our drives before they are ready. Just keep doing what you are doing and you will be fine… Also, you might want to finish that sandwich, your break is almost over.”
It had taken a while but Victor was re-learning many of his lost skills; he hadn't forgotten how to do them he simply had forgotten the ability itself so he “learned” these skills rather quickly as he was just relearning the steps to perform them. However, one of these skills was giving him trouble: the shadow spirit.
The shadow spirit was an ability he had learned years before even meeting alt-Roxanne. It was the ability to grant your shadow sentience and bind it to you by removing any chance of it having free will. He had temporarily sacrificed this when he was in the works of getting Randael as the spirit of the void; he temporarily made his shadow spirit the spirit of the void causing him to be without a shadow until Randael accepted his offer. However, now the shadow spirit wouldn’t even manifest.
He had already learned a similar ability; he could manifest the shadows of a room and make them temporary shadow spirits but it wasn’t the same. Keyword being temporary. He had used this ability to show Lucy he could defend himself back when she paid him a visit. Despite being able to do this the shadow spirit spell didn’t work.
“Maybe I am missing something… It’s a fun puzzle at least. Hmm...wonder if anyone else would know about it…”
The convoy, if you could call it that, stopped just shy of accessing a road that would take it towards the farm. It had successfully avoided the center and the hall arriving where it wanted to go. However, both the armored vehicle and the cargo truck stopped, a passenger got off and got in the motorcycle along with the cloaked driver and the two continued on towards walkerville following the road that would take them straight. The passenger appeared to be a man wearing a brown duster, denim pants, a black polo shirt and a grey Kevlar west; for head gear he was wearing a cowboy hat with six bullets in the front and a wooden mask similar to the driver.
“You will the all the talking for now alright? We have to gauge the people’s reaction here first. As far as they know I am a mute, got it?”, the cloaked driver said as they clutched at their wooden mask.
“As you wish. What shall be our names?”
“Eh, how about Eris for me and Leonard for you?”
“Then Leonard will happily serve mistress Eris with my entire being.”
“Geez, a bit dramatic much? Anyways, here we are...walkerville…”
The motorcycle reached side of the farm where the various structures and people could be seen. The driver slowed down until they turned the corner to the proper entrance gulping hard at the sight of catnip’s train. They both got off the motorcycle, Eris took out a piece of paper from inside her cloak and Leonard step forward incase anyone approached. Both were armed with revolvers visible on both sides of their waists just in case. These weapons weren’t meant for the people of walkerville but for both the hazards of the cataclysm and those who seeked to harm them. Not that the people of walkerville would know. The two walked inside of the farm looking around the buildings for one in specific, their confidence evident as if they owned the place, and took mental notes of the place.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 05, 2018, 05:53:56 pm
[wilson provided the third paragraph]
"I recognize that man." Atomos told Horace as he handed his horses reines over to a Misling offering to take it to the centers "new" pasture for him. Horace followed the line of Atomos eyes to a man standing near an empty stall outside the front entrance to the refugee center, smoking a cigarette. It was busy out front, people coming and going like Atomos had not seen before. She wasn't surprised to see this particular man simply standing idle while the people around him worked so hard. "Skittles..." She growled. The sound surprised her in that it was audible. Horace heard the words in it, as did Atomos, but the Misling taking Horaces horse didn't.
"Uh, sorry mate but uh, I hope that things had it's shots. Know what I mean? Maybe keep it on a leash or something?"
Horace looked over and down at the misling, "She has. Don't worry though, it wasn't towards you." He said, looking over at Skittles as the man Atomos had growled at disappeared into the center. "Why the reaction, young one?" He said quietly, glancing down at Atomos.
"Skittles is Hell's Raiders, but last I saw him he was trying to squeeze his way into Big Smoke's position at the top of the gang." Atomos said, "What is he doing here though?"
Meanwhile, the man flicked his cigarette away and went inside. Atomos didn't miss the disgusted look a woman gave him before stomping out the still lit cigarette before the grass could catch fire. There were other people of course, but most of the individuals coming and going weren't people Atomos recognized. Not many of them anyway. She'd been gone for such a short time but already, things had changed. There was even a sign above the centers double doors reading "Welcome to New Paris" and there were tents and canopies set up where the old car garden used to be.
A young lady, one Atomos recognized from the center, approached Horace and asked him a question that Atomos suspected she would be hearing a lot of about something she now realized she would also have to expect a lot of.
"Excuse me sir, can I pet your fox?" Without waiting for an answer, the lady leaned over and gave Atomos a long stroke from the back of her head to the root of her tail. The experience was somewhat less pleasurable than the fox anticipated. The young lady though loved it, going so far as to give Atomos another couple pets for good measure.
"Aw, she's so soft! Where did you get it? Is she trained?"
Horace wasn't sure what to say to that, unsure of how to proceed. On the one hand, Atomos was an individual capable of speaking to him if not to the lady. On the other, the fox didn't seem to want people to know she was the centers ranger. She didn't think they would believe it.
"What I really want..." Atomos wimpered, "Is to go to my room."
"Aw, what's wrong? Too much attention?" The lady asked, hearing the wimpering whining noise Atomos was making. Horace scooped her up gently and craddled the fox in one arm.
"That's enough." He stated simply. The young woman stole one last little stroke of an ear, and a scratch behind that same. The petting was nothing to Atomos, but that scratch... That was very nice. Horace only managed a few steps before he was stopped again, and this time Atomos leaned into the scratching. Inside, Cheena moaned contentedly. It seemed she could feel the same feelings as Atomos after all.
Several forced stops and a lot of petting, scratching, questions, and a piece of some kind of sausage later, they finally managed to get into the center. Inside it wasn't that different from when Atomos had departed the month before. Somehow, that made her heart ache a little. Like coming home and finding that everything had changed except, nothing had changed. Nothing except herself. She wasn't home, not yet. Her friends were here, her stuff was here, but as long as she was in the condition she was in, she was not yet home.
Off to one side, she spotted the Captain talking to a middle aged man and a mouse faced woman, and she let out a low growl. To calm her, Horace put a hand on her head and tried to divert her attention.
"Not yet young one. What will you do now?" He asked. Atomos sniffed dismissively. The suit of armor was right she couldn't confront Catalina now. For now, all she wanted to do was rest. Rest in her own room, her own bed.
"Take me to my room, it's that way. That guy the Captain is talking to has a mask like the lady I'm looking for. After you get me to my room, do you think you could talk to him and see if he knows her? Maybe he can bring her here or maybe he knows where I can go to meet with her myself."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 06, 2018, 01:58:15 am
As Helen and Hector both left Liam decided to lay down for a while. The last thing he noticed before drifting to sleep was Eino sneaking out of a window. And what strange dreams awaited him.
Elsewhere Garric sighed. He and his men were armed now and had taken care of a bit of business over the past couple of weeks. They had done good work too, efficient and ruthless. So why did he find himself here of all places. He’d not been here in thirty years.
Lighting the candles arranged in front of him Garric wasn’t sure if this would all still work. The damage, the holes, in the veil might stop it. He was so tired after all. But if he knew something, had a purpose again, he could keep going.
Closing his eyes and waiting a few moments he felt himself begin to ‘move’. When he opened his eyes he was staring at a man in a red robe. Looking up from his book Scholar sighed. “How did you get here?”
Looking around Garric said “I performed a ritual. It was supposed to take me to the Sisters of Fate..not here.”
Standing and closing the book he’d been writing in Scholar recognized the man. ‘Garric’, one of many assumed names, the boogeyman of boogeymen. Founder and sole commander of the 32 society, which also had a few dozen other names it operated under. And one of the few who could actually visit the Sisters of Fate without being called by them. Scholar was half tempted to kill the man where he stood but he’d interfered enough. “My guess is that the veil is still repairing itself and or being repaired. That damage may have accidentally redirected you here. So..without a way to properly redirect you I suppose I’ll have to answer your question.”
Garric sighed frustratedly as he said “I..I was looking to learn something of my fate.”
Scholar rolled his eyes at that. Walking over to a bookshelf he rummaged through part of it before retreiving a faintly glowing orb Scholar tossed it to Garric. The instant it was in his hands Garric heard a jumble of voices calling out to him as scholar said “That was a gift from the Sisters of Fate. Supposedly it’ll do what you want, but it won’t be as clear as the Sisters themselves.”
The voices kept speaking all at once. After a few minutes the voices finally became more coherent. “Protect..save them..he will find them..” they seemed to be saying followed by an image of a man. Horns twisted and turned out of the helmet he wore and it looked like the man had been raked by machinegun fire. “The boogeyman is coming..doom will follow..”
As Garric handed the orb back to Scholar he thanked him. Shrugging Scholar returned to his book as his unexpected guest left. He’d heard the voices and seen the image as well. He saw everything that happened in his library. Leaning back he found himself unable to write for the first time since time itself had started and he was faintly aware of how much that annoyed all of the other versions of him. “So… I am the anomaly we anticipated?” As he spoke he concentrated and found that through as many universes he was aware of he had not once stepped in to change things except twice. No other version of himself had done this save two. One expediting his world’s destruction to save the veil and the other..the other had to step in. He was a god in that world and had to play the part so he wasn’t the anomaly that Scholar had anticipated.
Cutting himself off from the others Scholar stood up and began pacing. “From here..from here I must be careful. I am not so strictly bound to my task in this world as the others. If I overstep then..then I’ll die. The others will see to that. After all when you exist in every universe possible you learn how to deal with problems.” Stopping and looking at the ceiling he said “And I’m one of sixty seven that talk to themselves. One of twenty that have learned to cut themselves off from the rest. And..I’m the anomaly. Why was it this world that had to have the shit luck of the shifting?”
Meanwhile Grey found himself lying on the floor. Most spirits didn’t feel fatigue as far as he could tell. But here he was feeling so goddamn tired. Forcing himself to sit up he wondered out loud “Why did my bitch of a mother have to sacrifice me to a dying god?” and caused himself to pause. "A..dead god. A god who doesn't exist anymore.."
As that sunk in he stared blankly at the wall. The god he'd been serving for so long was dead. So why in the name of all that exists was he still doing what she wanted him to do all those centuries ago? He was free. So now it was time to find a new purpose he supposed.
Looking around he saw several people walking by, and through, him but none noticed. Seeing a gurney with a child on it he decided to stand and see what was happening. Walking through the halls he stopped at the surgery ward and looked through the window in the door.
He almost screamed when he saw them fucking up a few moments later. In his current state he could tap into people’s minds and utilize their knowledge for a short time. And luckily enough there was a medically knowledgeable mind nearby. Walking through the door he ripped the scalpel from the doctor’s hand and set to work. Of course a randomly flying and moving scalpel caused some concern.
Some meaning excessive amounts. Excessive amounts leading to the doctor and nurses stepping back as Grey finished the surgery perfectly, turned, and slapped the doctor before realizing he’d just spent what little essence he’d managed to retain. Stepping back and dropping the tools in his hands he turned and started back down the hall.
Turning a corner and sifting through a few walls he came to a stop in an office. Finding a man in an office asleep he decided to try and make a deal. Stepping into their mind he found himself..in the same office except now the man was drinking coffee and wearing a sweater and pair of loose fitting sweatpants. Looking up the man was immediately aware that Grey didn’t belong.
The fact he was talking in German somewhat surprised Grey as well when the man said “So..who are you and why are you interrupting my dream of not having to wear a uniform that chafes all the fucking time while I sip coffee and not having to do paperwork?” Grey sighed. He didn’t have anything to bargain with anymore. His control over those other spirits was gone now and he had lost his little hoard of treasures. “I..I came to make a deal. I noticed your other doctors aren’t that good. I could..help with that.”
Krieg sighed as well as he stood up and said “You obviously aren’t a physical creature. But I’m going to guess you can actually help, trying to be fair I suppose. But what do you get out of it?”
Grey looked down at his hands and noticed they were beginning to decay. “I..my soul has been damaged. I need to bond with another, or replace the damaged portion, to continue to exist. If I don’t then I’ll poof out of existence.”
Krieg observed Grey for a few moments. “I assume I can decide to revoke this little deal?”
Grey nodded as he said “Yes. This kind of thing..well the person who has the larger portion of the soul can decide not to be bonded to the other if they so desire. And I..I swear I’ll do good. I can’t just sit aside and let people die for no reason.”
Krieg rolled his eyes as he told Grey “You realize I can look into your memories, you’ve decided to let me do that for some reason. You’ve spent gods know how long trying to keep ‘balance’ and you’re going to give it up now?”
Grey smiled at that. “I opened up my memories so you weren’t going into this blind. And yes but..almost dying gives you a new perspective. I’ve spent so long in the service of a dead god, I decided..I decided I’m not going to serve it anymore. It’s time for me to take my destiny into my own hands even if that means giving up all of that power.”
Krieg sipped more of the dream coffee before nodding to Grey. “Fine. But if you fuck us over, you bring trouble to me or anyone else here, or do anything out of line I’ll kick your soul out of my metaphorical house.”
Krieg woke up, scratched his shoulder, and looked at Grey. “You need essence right?” he asked as he picked up a stone and tossed it to the spirit “My brother was involved in attempts to weaponize it. They decided to leave a few things to him once the project shut down, and in turn he left me a few things when he and his crew left.”
Grey absorbed the essence in the stone and tossed it back to Krieg. “Now that I’m not damaged, or at least bonded to another soul, I can start producing my own essence again. Granted it’ll be much slower than I’m used to so the jump start is appreciated.” he said as he turned to follow Krieg out the door and towards the medical ward.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 06, 2018, 10:00:27 pm
(( Helen and Daniel stuff written with Salt, Hector and Floyd stuff written with Wilson. ))
Daniel greeted Helen in the foyer, quickly ushering her along to the motorpool where Catalina was waiting.
"Do you feel it sister?" He asked, "Even without our masks, have you ever felt anything like it before?" Helen didn't feel anything, not at first, but after a moment of silence she thought she could hear something. A whisper, barely audible just on the very edge of perception, so low as to be next to impossible to understand. Then, she did feel it. A shiver that ran up her spine and down her arms. There was evil afoot.
"The stone? Is that-"
"No sister. The Captain here tells me that something happened early this morning, a murder. Ms. Sandell believes we should deal with the result first." He explained in a hushed tone. The air seemed heavy and somehow dark, making her feel glad that she'd brought all her tools. Catalina seemed worse off than Daniel, paler, jittery. Without a word, the Captain slid a key into the lock on the double doors leading to the refugee centers garage. The feeling of dread spiked. "Do you feel it now?" Helen nodded dumbly, the feeling was vile.
Inside, the two mage hunters moved slowly, Helen preparing her hammer while Daniel clenched his hands on nothing, wishing he still had his. The first thing they saw was the Midgard, not hard to miss with how it looked. Before reaching it though, they came across the sigil. It was around this that the feeling was strongest. A sigil of blood drawn in concentric circles. Within each circle was painted letters neither hunter could read, but which both could identify. Seeing it, they looked at one another and mouthed the same words.
"The Cult of Agony."
Aloud, Daniel said "Salt, we need salt."
Helen had brought a small bag of salt, but the task required quite a bit more than the meager amount she had packed. Soon however, with the sense of ease that the act brought, she looked around. "It'll take ages to boil up enough to repay the kitchen staff..." she muttered, before looking back to Daniel. "I suppose they'll have enough."
A quick trip to the cafeteria and Daniel had a bag of the stuff, the last of the centers supply. This the two hunters carefully laid over the image drawn on the floor, then scattered the rest around the Midgard and the area where the victim had been killed. The feeling lifted rapidly after that.
"I'm going to guess that you have more experience with this group than I have. My own kin had focused mainly on the Sanguine Order, and Shadows of Arcana." she admitted. Even then, the pattern was unmistakable, and the intel that got passed around back in the day was too unsettling for any hunter to forget.
"The Cult of Agony," Daniel said, "Were a group our order wiped out decades ago." He noticed Catalina close at hand and chose wisely not add that this murder might not be the first.
Catalina sighed a bit at that, more relieved than anything else. "We've got a rough idea of what the killer looks like. Female, pale, blue robe..." she said, looking back to some of the soldiers who had witnessed the peculiar ritual.
"That's good. For now, we should be safe to proceed with the Midgard and then perhaps pursue this killer after. Normally such investigations are not our area, but this killing has obvious arcane connections. One Sister McKinnon and I should pursue."
Helen sighed a bit as she examined the other items she brought with her, having no idea what might be needed for what she was asked to do with the slab. Her hammer counted as one such tool, her holy symbol, converted into a mana gem was another. Then there was the firestarting tools, a small ceramic bowl, salt that had been swiftly depleted, candles, and incense. Having no idea what to expect, she retrieved everything that came to mind as potentially useful.
Catalina looked over to Helen as she approached, standing there with Daniel as they gave the fittings for the slab a once-over. The actual mechanics of it weren't of any use to study, other than the vague aura of magic that would still be lingering where the slab was previously mounted after they'd removed it.
The trip was relatively short and uneventful, following directions along old roads and across overground fields to what seemed to be an old cave, standing out in the ground around it remaining rocky and barren.
Carefully Hector stopped the tank and got out, looking around as he approached the area in front of the cave entrance. Nathaniel gave a little shiver as he glanced over towards the cavern. "So this is...what's so special about this place anyway?"
Hector carefully retrieved an entrenching tool from a storage compartment in the tank, along with one of the birch nuts he'd picked. "This was where Roxanne and Victor went, where all this...sword spirit nonsense boiled over." he answered.
Floyd meanwhile gave Hector a concerned glance. "Y'know, trees don't grow overnight. What's the idea of planting something out here just for Roxanne to look at, kid?" he asked, and Hector retrieved the scroll Helen had given him. "That's why I asked Helen about this."
"Whoo boy, just um...try not to pull a Victor and go shitting out a ghost." Nathaniel joked. Hector ignored that remark as he dug out a small patch of softer ground in front of the cave entrance, kneeling by it. The first thing he did was remove the wax seal from the scroll, dropping it into the hole first, followed by one of the birch nuts.
"Now, her instructions said all I need is to use this ess-" It was then a chill swept through the air, and out of instinct both Floyd and Nathaniel moved forward, beside Hector as he stood. The source of the unease in the air became apparent as a figure emerged from the cave entrance. Human, tall and thin with a contorted mockery of bat wings, and an unearthly glow in its eyes. An angel of flesh, sprinting full-tilt towards the trio as its malevolent gaze swept over them.
Nathaniel had frozen up. No amount of training or experience had really prepared him for the horrible piercing eyes, that seemed to gaze right through him. Floyd however didn't freeze up, despite the unnerving aura the creature radiated. Out of reflex his iron cleared leather, and in just under two seconds, three shots rang out.
The first struck the creature in the gut, seemingly not even fazing it. Another through where a lung would be, if the creature even has any. It seemed to take a split-second before its charge faltered, slowed such that a shot through where its heart likely was fixed it in place. Halted, but still standing. But in the blur of activity, something stayed Floyd's hand, right before he could take careful aim at the creature's head. The sight of light reflecting off steel, out of the corner of his eye.
Hector hadn't frozen up either, and was already charging at it. Those three shots likely sealed the flesh angel's fate, but that didn't matter to the knight. It'd likely drop within the minute and yet it could easily trample over his work before then. In those few seconds he charged, and which it staggered it barely got a chance to try and backpedal before the heavy thump of shield meeting flesh and bone resounded, and in the same moment his sword opened up the creature's side.
The next few seconds were a flurry of scrabbling and heavy strikes, the creature bowled over as a berserk fury replaced technique. By the end of it Hector was standing over what was left, the creature's ribcage split open, head cloven asunder, one arm halfway chopped off.
Floyd set a hand on Nathaniel's shoulder as he holstered his piece, feeling his nerves calm again. "Sloppy, keep your mind in the fight." he said firmly, Nathaniel looking away. "That...doesn't usually happen to me." he remarked. Hector, having wiped the blade clean before sheathing it, simply smiled a bit under the helm. "Hope Lilith never hears you say that." he joked, a remark that made the other two facepalm, Floyd muttering under his breath. "Crissakes..."
Hector looked back towards the small patch of upset earth, breathing a sigh of relief. it remained undisturbed. He then raised a hand, small motes of essence drifting and swirling around him, drawn from the steaming corpse splayed out before him. "Essence is essence, so..." he said. Technically untrue, but what remained after the strange creature's death was the same sort as what Helen gave him a vial of.
He carefully sprinkled the motes of essence into the small hole he'd dug out, carefully laying earth over it to cover it up. "Last instruction is...stand back." he said, the three of them backing away as the mound of dirt shifted, a tiny sapling emerging from the ground. Within a matter of moments it grew, and grass spread around it as well, the tree growing out just as the first birch tree had when Mica's influence altered the scroll she accidentally activated.
"Jesus...so are these trees gonna do that all the time? At this rate, when they're in season the whole farm is gonna be a forest." Nathaniel remarked, Hector shaking his head as he held up the now-inert scroll. A scroll of regrowth. "Only reason is using the same sort of magic. Evidently using just the wax seal makes the effect more focused." he said, before looking back to what had grown over the area in front of the cave. A sprawling patch of vibrant grass and a ring of flowers around a single towering birch tree, standing out among the barren ground.
Floyd simply grimaced a bit in concern as he eyed the tree, before the three made their way back to the tank, to head back to Walkerville. They had a long day ahead of them. And for Hector, another long week.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 06, 2018, 11:55:05 pm
Vikaar smiled to himself. Finally his opponent was weakened. HE WAS NEARLY DEAD! It was time to strike even if he was bonded to another soul. But no, he couldn’t do it himself. He unfortunately had matters that would require attention.
Snapping his fingers he found himself walking into a bar. The two men behind him jumped back surprised at his sudden appearance but he ignored them. Sitting down and ordering a drink he slid a golden coin onto the counter as he’d been told was simply what spirits did here.
Sipping his drink he started planning how to get rid of that damn spirit. He couldn’t do it today. Maybe in a few days he could arrange to have some people who would have a vendetta against Grey to take care of him.
Elsewhere Isaac woke up from a nap to find a white raven pecking at some food he’d not finished before falling asleep. Standing up he listened to the bird explain what had happened with Liam in the woods. Once they had finished that conversation Isaac found himself standing in front of the building sipping coffee. Looking at the bird out of the corner of his eye he said “Well since that’s taken care of word of warning for ya. If you ever hurt my daughter I will pluck you and cook you like a chicken.”
It nodded to that as the pair walked around walkerville to see what was going on.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 07, 2018, 09:15:39 am
"What did you do to him!? You monster! What did you do!"
The voice came drifting across the inky blackness of the dark sea to which Brynna found herself floundering. A tenebrious ocean of bitter tears she visited nightly to flounder in memories that emerged at night before sinking beneath the stygian waves like ghost ships under the light of dawn. This was the sea of agony and long had it haunted Brynna's dreams, bringing her closer to the truth than Astor had ever promised. All she had forgotten was revealed here before being ripped away from her broken mind by whatever dark god ruled this world of tears and secret things that sometimes rose to the surface.
"Liar! Where is my baby! You bastard son of a bitch! I'll fix you! Damn right I'll fix you for what you did!"
There were monsters here, chitinous black things with tendrils and claws that swirled about in the lower depths, dark secrets of the mind. Dark truths that never saw the waking world. They bit and ate away at the edges of her sanity, the dire truths of who and what and where and why. The book had the answers, the book could hold them. It held all truths, it... Was gone. The stable foundation on which she floated in the tumultuous sea was gone and she was sinking. Sinking down and down into a sea of her own making, down to depths where strange idiot creatures dwelled and fed on the scraps that tumbled into their domain. Down and down and... Brynna shot up from a nightmare she could not remember, and into a world of light and life.
"Where the fuck..."
Then it hit her, what she'd been up to that morning. An attempt to skrye an answer to a question, and an attempt to summon something. The skrye had failed, but the summoning had not. She had made a sacrifice and brought forth... Something. She'd left it bound it in a ring of blood in the motor pool at the- The refugee center... was she seen? She couldn't recall. The break had been especially bad this time and took with it many of her memories of the previous night. She could remember that Kringle was dying, and that she'd felt suddenly very insecure. She'd summoned whatever it was she had summoned to protect her from the Canadians. Only, it wasn't with her now. Nor for that matter were her clothes, save for the bra covering a part of her modesty that she frankly cared little if anyone saw. More important than her clothes though, was the book. The book of hates was missing and that sent Brynna into a cold sweat. The book was gone, her book of answers. She had been robbed as she slept. No, not slept, passed out. But they hadn't killed her. They'd seen her robes and the signet she carried and not killed her, which meant... They weren't from these parts? They didn't know the significance of her robe and signet, otherwise she'd be dead. She checked her unlovely body of scar tissue for wounds beyond those she had inflicted upon herself and found none. Brynna Knight, Bishop of God's Army, was entirely unharmed.
Except that wasn't true. Her book was gone. In the right hands it could vestow power that would make the thief quail in horror when she caught up with him and used it on them. Gods, would it just. She just needed to find them, and to that end she had something to go off of. In the moss nearby, adjacent her own, was a foot print. Small and shapely like a teenagers, and pointed towards the center. Brynna would go back, but she wasn't going to do it naked. A vile grin twitched the corner of her mouth, she was sure she'd find something along the way. Horace held the door open a crack and looked to see if anyone was watching. No one was, this part of the center was empty for the time being except for the night shift guards sleeping off their shifts before getting up and doing it all again. Atomos slipped in without a sound, and Horace gently closed it behind her, but not before making certain that Atomos could get out on her own again later.
It was kind of strange, looking up at her room from so close to the floor. She'd only spent a year here, and yet it felt like home. Only from this angle, it felt odd. Alien. She made a circuit of the small room, struggling with her foot locker a little before moving on to explaining things to Cheena as she went. A table, a chair, a couple shelves on which rested some of Atomos's most prized possessions, the footlocker, and finally the bed. This last, she hopped up onto she kneaded the covers with her paws. It was still made, and Atomos liked that, but the room was cold. Unlived in for too long.
"Do you think," Atomos asked, "I'll ever be normal again?"
"You are normal." Cheena said, "At least to me you are. Red said you just needed to figure out yourself who you are."
"I know who I am..." Atomos snipped.
"Do you?" Cheena snipped back. Atomos didn't respond at first, then replied "I don't know."
Atomos worked the covers with her nose until they were loose, then belly crawled under the blanket. She was a bit surprised by the smell. above, the bed had only smelled faintly of herself but underneath the blanket, her own scent had persisted. Preserved from the outside world by heavy cloth laid over it. Her own smell, her own bed, her own room, and her own home. Atomos was home. She curled into a tight little ball on the bed, and slept the first easy sleep she'd had in almost a month. The refugee center looked bigger than Branches had imagined it and on top of that, there were people everywhere. It wasn't crowded, but it was certainly busier than the farm. The homunculus hugged it's blanket bindle close so it wouldn't drop it and what they saw as it's precious cargo. Branches wasn't here to gawk, as much as it wanted to, there was a job to do. Someone to find and questions that demanded answers. They had gone over them in their mind while they walked, and now that the destination was in sight they loomed in the homunculus's mind even larger. It was made to harass Sharlene but at the same time, Branches knew things that Illiana knew and what Illiana knew was that Branches stated purpose was a lie. Branches shouldn't have lived past the first week, and that was another thing it wanted an answer for.
Branches pondered it's long thoughts and kept on on a beeline for the center, unaware that unfriendly eyes had fallen upon it, and what waited for it when it arrived.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 09, 2018, 12:49:11 am
(( Written with Salt. ))
Helen hmmed a bit, mask activated as she regarded the slab, and the magic it radiated with. "The sigil at least shouldn't interact with it now. However..." she said, kneeling a bit. "We might want some form of proper protective seal to prevent it from causing any anomalies while purifying it. We've already run through all the salt in the mess hall, but what we've laid around the Migard could be worked into that."
She then looked through the few dried herbs she had on hand. "Otherwise we might want...any sort of verbena we can get our hands on, or white cedar branches perhaps." she suggested, before making a gesture. Through Daniel's own mask he could see the aura she gave off, one that permeated the both of them, seeming to be fueled by the energy stored in her modified cross-and-hammer. A warding spell, the sort of seidr she was trained in.
Daniel traced the line of the crack running through the slab with a pencil and noted the way the wood seemed to darken. He had encountered one such stone before, but hadn't actually seen it. Catnip had seen it, and it had nearly killed her. The memory served to punctuate the danger the relic represented.
"Verbana, white cedar, yes. As it happens, my wife has a few sprigs of the latter in her trunk but perhaps not enough. Otherwise I think it may be best to simply smash it apart. This crack is exhibiting effects in excess of what I'd believe possible. Like radioactive material trapped in a tungsten box."
"The demon core." Catalina said off hand, remembering a case she'd read about while wiling away the hours in the vault. A sphere of plutonium that had, due to a critical mistake on the part of the scientists involved, gone super critical and killed the researchers.
"Exactly." Daniel said, unfastening the mount and unscrewing a pair of brackets holding the slab in place, "the first thing we should do is separate the halves."
Helen watched cautiously, regarding the slab with caution. "If that isn't enough that I can at least shore up the salt laid out, a bit." she suggested, retrieving the few candles she brought with her. She placed them at several points around the Midgard and the slab, where there were gaps in the trail of salt or thin spots, lighting them as she went.
"At a bare minimum this should keep the actual consequences of smashing it confined, otherwise it might affect everyone and everything in the room if it releases its energy too violently."
Daniel stepped back from his work and surveyed the Midgard with his mask. He and Helen were pleased to see that the aura of the slab had "calmed" somewhat now that the broken pieces were separated.
"This is turning out to be more routine than I at first believed it would be sister."
Helen smiled a bit, carefully examining the pieces to discern any unusual properties that might still be apparent. "Indeed, though it's hardly broken down properly yet. Can't rest easy until then..."
Daniel looked at Helen's hammer again, considering the ramifications of simply smashing the slab. It was doable, he knew, but as for whether it was safe or not was a mystery. Both he and Helen were familiar at least in some small way with the arch slabs. One of a few relics the Cleansing Flame had deemed too dangerous to contain. The order did not go about it wantonly or recklessly though, and had kept exhaustive records of the slabs before destroying any they recovered. Helen's hammer would do the job but the records indicated a certain unpredictability in how the slabs would react to their destruction, and Daniel didn't like to imagine what would happen if you broke something with "time" in it's name.
"We could certainly break it up with the tools we have on hand, but all the same I think we can afford to be more careful than that. Sister, it shouldn't be too difficult to assemble a thaumaturgists trip hammer should it?"
Helen regarded the slab with an increasing suspicion and concern, giving a nod at that. "I suppose we could do exactly that...not something very commonly-made to be honest. Most of the people who pioneered that idea were among those who joined Shadows of Arcana. They did take rather well to less traditional methods, it seems." she remarked, before smiling under her mask. "If Ms. Anq- ...Sandell could request the parts we need and the required assistance..."
Catalina nodded at that, writing up a list of what they needed, and getting a few of the motor pool technicians to help set it up.
"In the meantime, why don't we get started on this killing?" Daniel said. In the meantime, a guard stepped in and saluted Catalina.
"Captain, we got her. She came striding in like how-do-you-do and started demanding to see someone named 'Illiana.' Blue robe, pale skin, God's Army markings on the robe. Gave us a bit of trouble though. She's strong and flighty. Tried to run and managed to pull a door off it's hinges." The man explained.
"How did you manage to catch her?" Catalina inquired, motioning for the mage hunters to follow her.
"Simple Captain. They picked her up. She screamed and hollered at us, but she went as weak as a child when we picked her up. Damnedest thing I've seen in awhile, considering all we've seen since the cataclysm."
Catalina nodded at that. "Good. Keep her restrained like that, we'll need to question her." she directed, leading the way. Helen however regarded the news with suspicion. "We're looking for someone from the Cult of Agony though. That description...that damned homunculus?"
Catalina hmmed at that. "If it's a God's Army robe then that also leaves another possible suspect. However, we'll see what we can discern through questioning her." With hat the three of them made their way to where their suspect was being held.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 09, 2018, 08:22:37 am
Branches was grabbed bodily, a guard under each arm, and tossed into one of the newer cells built to accommodate any new trouble makers that might come from the newcomers who had settled in and named the center. A little bit later, another guard arrived with instructions to keep branches from touching the ground, but it was a bit late for that. The bars of branches cell we're leaning against the opposite wall, a little bent but otherwise still serviceable. Trying to escape would just make things worse for itself, Branches knew. After the accident with the bars, the nervous guards had ordered the homunculus to sit up on the cot, and not move an inch from it. Apart from believing branches was female, they also seemed to think it was a kid too. The homunculus looked itself over, having discarded the troublesome robe to the corner of the cell before it had ripped out the bars, and judged. Helens jeans and one of Helens seldom worn t-shirts. Branches had to admit, the jeans had been made to fit a more feminine figure and the shirt was rather... Girly. There was also the fact that branches had left the clay on a bit long while experimenting with it's body, giving it a slight female shape.
"I didn't do anything wrong..." Branches whined out at the guards. The two men and woman simply glared back at it. "I know my rights, I want to speak to a lawyer..." It added sulkily.
That was a thought. Branches didn't have a lawyer, even though the homunculus itself had a law schools worth of inhereted judicial knowledge stashed away in the mind behind that big eye of theirs and could represent itself if it had to. The homunculus wondered if they would assign it a lawyer, and hoped that if they, Branches hoped it wasn't a kreck. But then it had an idea. Branches didn't need an assigned lawyer, and it didn't have to represent itself. Branches had questions and needed someone who knew an awful lot about law to get it out of this mess.
"I want to speak with my lawyer!" Branches demanded. It kicked it's feet childishly, making it's demand seem less like a serious request and more like a kids attempt to pretend to be an adult. "And this cot is too high off the floor, someone could fall out and break there-"
"Lawyer?" Cut in one of the guards, "yeah, good luck with that. The cen- New Paris isn't gonna go get some God's Army law slinger just to defend a murderer like you."
"Excuse me," said a purple haired, shark toothed, bespectacled woman in a business suit who strode in at that moment, "But I heard my client was being kept here?"
Branches hopped down off the cot and the guards were a bit surprised. They had all seen the strange lady around the center, issuing citations and sitting out on the roof watching the Canadians, but they hadnt expected her to be more than an eccentric survivor. She looked over the damages to the cell and took down a note in a small yellow legal pad, Branches knew what that was. Illiana's citation booklet. From which every paper, every summons, every ticket the Deus Ex issued had come. The tear in the rift had ceased causing Illiana trouble, as made apparent by the sudden appearance of a block of wood which carved itself into a rather striking example of classic personal business surface. A small clock, the kind which would normally adorn a mantle crawled out from between the grains of wood and constructed itself opposite a framed picture and metronome on the opposite corner. Illiana took a seat in the same inexplicable chair she had brought forth when she'd made her appearance at Sharlene's and took out a pair of pens and a stack of forms.
"I can't represent you." She said stiffly. Branches slumped back down onto the cot, confused. "It's a conflict of interest Branches, but now that you have my attention I suppose you want to ask some questions."
"Which you aren't going to answer..." Branches mumbled with defeat. Illiana cocked her head, a little surprised. She hadn't expected this kind of response from Branches who by all right, should have been on the edge of panic. Illiana had watched from a distance as Branches had learned and lived over the past two weeks, reveling in the Homunculus's little triumphs and worries. The thing was though, Illiana had watched from second hand. The hair, she determined, the hair was the issue. The hair had acted as the catalyst for Branches artificial soul while Sharlene's drop of blood had built everything else. Instead of knowing everything Branches did and experienced through what she'd believed would be a conduit between them, Illiana had been locked out. She knew what she knew about Branches because she knew what other people knew. Or believed they knew.
"You are a silly bean Branches, a silly little bean! No, I'm not going to answer them. Not all of them anyway, and not all of them right now. Some of your less pressing and important questions though, I can answer." Illiana said. She slid a slip of paper across the desk along with a pen and Branches took them. It signed on the line at the bottom in an oddly blocky script made up of switch backs and spirals, then tore it in half. One half Branches ate, and the other was folded and thrown out the window. Another surprise for Illiana, Branches knew just how to file the Deus Ex's arbitrary forms.
"Why do I exist?" Branches asked.
"Because I wanted you to, more I can't say until later. Just rest assured that I had a good reason, and it wasn't to harass Sharlene and steal books or clothes from Helen."
Branches noticed that the guards had stopped moving and cocked it's head towards them. Sound too had stopped. Time had been stopped for their benefit, but if Illiana wasn't going to answer Branches questions then what purpose would it serve? The homunculus decided to surprise Illiana again by cutting to the chase.
"Will I die?"
"Well, everything dies."
"No, the time limit you gave me. Will I die soon?"
Branches asked with enough bitterness to make Illiana stop and think for a moment. After a space, she said "yes."
"When?"
The desk slid into the floor along with the rest of Illiana's office. She stood sharply and would have smarted her knees badly if the desk were still there. The guards blinked with momentary confusion
"Look at the time, I have to be going now. Listen sweety and listen good. What you do next and how you do it matters a great deal as to how soon. If you do everything just right, you may even come out of this entirely unharmed." She told Branches, then turned to the guards and informed them, "My client would like to plead not guilty, but I must regret to inform you that said client will be representing itself in the coming trial. I trust Ms. Sandell will adhere to the law in this matter."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 09, 2018, 08:36:11 pm
(( Branches stuff written with Salt, Horace stuff written with Salt and Wilson. ))
Catalina gave an irritated sigh at the scene before her as she led the way, one of the guards stopping and saluting as she entered. "Captain. Glad to see you. We still have her. Supposed to give her a trial, according to the woman claiming to represent her. Who then walked off..."
"In any case, we found a strange book in her possession, no sign of any weapons or other evidence though." the guard explained, one of the guards showing them the item they had set aside to examine, Helen and Daniel both reflexively tensing up at the sight of it.
Catalina facepalmed at that. "Oh God...let me guess." She was going to describe the eccentric woman that had been handing out citations,only for Helen to interrupt her. "Illiana." At that, the others looked over at the woman in the cloak and mask. "We may want to ask our suspect some questions first, then I'll explain." she said, stepping towards Branches. The way those eyeholes seemed to glow as the mask shifted, examining the homunculus, lent a certain menace to her gaze, not to mention unsettled the guards.
"What happened here?" Catalina said irritably looking at the bars leaning against the opposite wall. A guard explained what had happened while Daniel hesitantly took the book. It was by no means a modest thing, the cult that penned it having had a flair for the dramatic. He contemplated opening it, but decided right away that doing so would be a terrible idea. Instead, he activated his mask.
"It's authentic sister. You, homunculus, where did you get this?" He snapped, feeling a kind of anger overcoming him. In the sight of the mage hunters masks, the book seemed to drip with a deep red- black energy, tainting everything it touched with it's hateful power. Daniel dropped it surreptitiously back onto the desk where it had been sitting and rubbed a bit of salt into his hands. Branches aura was surprisingly clean of the books influence, suggesting it hadn't been in possession of it long.
"I found it in the woods..." Branches said, looking away. It hadn't expected Helen to be here. That was bad, Helen wanted to destroy Branches, and that wouldn't make for a fair trial. "She wants to kill me! Conflict of interest! I call conflict of interest!"
Helen in contrast had no interest whatsoever in handling that book, glancing at Daniel with concern as he handled it. She could tell through her mask that it was more dangerous than any other book she'd handled before. Once, most of her order considered To Master The Unknown the most dangerous book they knew of, but even it was a mundane book despite its content. This however was dangerous even without considering its writing.
"Found it? From who?" she said. Despite the seriousness in her voice, there was a bit less hatred in it, as she tried to calm herself. "Look. you stole this from someone, didn't you? That person is very dangerous...as much as I'd like to destroy you, especially if you're the one that killed that man, there's another person of interest here, isn't there?"
"I didn't kill nobody!" Branches shouted indignantly, "And I didn't steal nothing... Innocent! I'm innocent!" If Branches wanted to escape, Helen noticed, the homunculus could have. It's feet were grazing the floor. Daniel took the cot opposite Branches and lifted his mask.
"A homunculus? I wasn't aware they could even read. The book is very rare. I think you'll agree with me sister, the chances of simply 'finding' it in the woods is rather slim."
"I read just fine..." Branches huffed. Helen wasn't surprised, feral homunculi were notoriously difficult to reason with, but Helen thought of something that could give her an edge. She didn't have it on her, but that didn't mean she couldn't still use it's implication against Branches.
"You know, I have a little something back at the hall. I wouldn't take long to go back and get it. A certain little scroll that could make you tell the truth?" Helen suggested. Branches squirmed but didn't say anything. Using the scroll of command to subvert it's will would break Branches alright and that was disturbing to the creature who had only obtained a free will a couple weeks before.
"I didn't steal..." Branches whispered, "I didn't... I just...borrowed it..."
Helen nodded at that. "Borrowed it. But can you tell us from who? Because if you didn't kill them...well. The murderer left behind a sigil in blood. Not just the kind of blood magic that the Sanguine Order made commonplace, but a style that is effectively extinct. One that the book you...borrowed is linked to."
Catalina then got an idea, approaching Branches calmly. "Can you tell me when you came into possession of that book?"
"Earlier..." Branches mumbled, then sighed, "I'm gonna die anyway... I took it from a lady I found in the woods on my way here..."
A guard entered and stood patiently aside while the hunters and Catalina questioned the suspect. After a bit, he gave a little cough.
"What is it? Can't you see we're in the middle of an interrogation?" Catalina said irritably.
"Yes ma'am, I just thought you'd want to know. The Canadians are burning a pair of their trailers." He informed them. That was when they smelled it. Smoke. Not the smoke from the Walkerville smokers on the other side of the swamp but house smoke. Burning plastic and metal. "I believe," the guard added, "They are burning Kringle's body."
Catalina sighed a bit at that. "How much earlier would've been nice to know..." she grumbled, before looking to the guard. "I see. Send someone to check on them and confirm that they're alright." she said, before adding. "Additionally, ask them if they know of anyone known to wear a God's Army bishop robe and carry a rare...magic book. Fuck me, seven years cooped up in a place that stores anomalous artifacts and i still feel weird saying 'magic' like that."
Helen however looked back to Branches. "Look, we're not...going to hurt you unless it turns out you did this." she said, giving a resigned sigh. As much as she wanted to put the construct down given her experiences so far, she realized that she might have to tolerate her existence if it meant getting answers.
The guard nodded. "I think they are fine Captain, but as you say. I also thought though it was important to tell you that they are burning potential evidence."
"Wait, what? What evidence?"
"One of the trailers the Canadians are burning is the one this Bishop was traveling with them in." The guard clarified, gesturing at Branches and the robe the homunculus had stripped off and tossed into the corner.
"It's not mine." Branches scoffed, "what's a Bishop?"
"Oh for fucks sake..." Catalina said, facepalming. Almost instantly, Helen and Daniel perked up. "As much as I hate to actually defend her when she may well still have done something, she is no bishop. Nor even human, for that matter. The robe was most likely stolen as...wait. Helviti!" Helen said, trailing off before regaining her composure.
"Gods damnit, check on who is responsible for burning the trailer immediately. If this homunculus stol-" Branches promptly interjected. "Borrowed!" Cue a glare at the construct from under her mask. "...borrowed both items from the same person, that means the Canadians have been traveling with a murderous cultist in their employ."
Catalina nodded at that, looking to the guards. "Keep an eye on her, I'll see to this..." she said, turning to leave with the guard that had interrupted them. Helen meanwhile sighed at that. "I swear...God's Army is idiotic enough, I've encountered a former sanguinist in their employ before, so having a member of Cult of Agony among their ranks is no surprise. But that these people would make the same mistake of trusting someone like that...it's better off burned."
Horace sat at Atomos small table keeping watch. Not that he needed to, but it was a moment of relative silence in a safe place in which he could think and confer with the watcher. It gave the suit of armor a chance to see what sort of person this Atomos was based on her possessions. Her table was clear and clean except for the very thinnest layer of dust that had collected in her absence. In contrast though, her shelf was lined with a chaotically sorted array of trinkets, small hunting trophies, and photographs. Horace picked up an unknown object and after a cursory observation, determined it to be a fang of some kind. Long and slightly curved like a snakes. The photos confused him momentarily because they were mostly of other people and their families.
Watcher. Do you know what can fix her? The watcher's focus had briefly strayed to one of the other people there in the center. Already so many disturbances to deal with. The continued presence of Melody in spite of his orders was one such annoyance, though at least she had made no attempt to try and sabotage the charm he placed to hide her aura, and that of Despair. "This is no mere transformative effect. It would require magic designed to break curses, for one. If she still had the spirit formerly bound with hers, it would be easier to alter and subvert the effect. Otherwise, it may take magic of a divine nature, specialized in such effects." the watcher answered.
He was pulled from his observations by a sudden change in the atmosphere of the room. On the orderly bed under the covers where the tiny ball of Atomos had been, was a woman curled up and fast asleep. He could just make out the top of her head, blond hair and red furred ears.
Horace hmmed a bit at that, pondering the ramifications. That she had the potential to resist the curse meant she could likely do what she needed to do alone. She was out of danger, and he had a mission that grew more urgent the longer they delayed. He let her rest there, leaving the room for now. Instead, he decided to stop by and see what was available to trade for, before continuing on his way.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 10, 2018, 08:32:47 am
Brynna glanced out across the field towards the growing blaze of the two trailers. Kringle was dead, the fires told her that much. They also told her how the Canadians would react to her return. She was "the enemy" after all, Kringle's unstable prisoner. They treated her with courtesy while he was around but now he was dead and they would show her no such treatment. For now, she spared only the barest of glances for the fire, waiting to see the black smoke that would surely rise out of the inferno of her trailer. The man underneath her squirmed a little, thinking Brynna was distracted enough to shake, and she stabbed him again with his own utility knife. He'd been lured away from the fields by Brynna, believing her to be a gorgeous woman coaxing him into the privacy of the woods for a trist only to find himself assaulted by a scarred madwoman upon removing his clothes. She twisted the knife, angling it so that it would carve a plug into his flesh, opening up the arteries in deep circular slice. She carved more of these little spiraling idiograms into his skin, taking perverse pleasure in the pain of another. In short order, her victim bled out. They always did.
"I can't fix you..." She groaned, lowering her face close to his rapidly cooling countenance. She looked up at the growing cloud of smoke through the trees and saw what she'd waited to see. The dimly outlineed lines of pulsing red in the smoke, invisible to all but the faithful and those with the gift of sight. She slipped into her victims clothes and set off again for the center, ready to take back what was hers. After Horace left, Atomos stirred and looked around. Her body moved and her eyes saw, but it was not Atomos who moved it or saw with her eyes. Like Mikko before her, Cheena became more "awake" when Atomos was asleep and she wasn't about to miss this opportunity. It might be the last time she got the chance to explore with true freedom of movement.
She pushed the blanket away and marveled at the fingers. Atomos fingers, a little calloused but still somehow soft and delicate. The digits of a working woman. The clothes she was wearing felt hot and heavy, way too uncomfortable for Cheena under any circumstances but absolutely unbearable to sleep in. Especially the rucksack, how was a person supposed to live carrying something like that? Carefully, Cheena twisted in the bed until Atomos feet were off of it and touching the floor. The boots, how could Atomos stand that too? Cheena had yet to do much of anything and already she felt like being human must be a difficult life if they had to wear things like this all the time. She decided she would change that, at least for now. The rucksack, rifle, and jacket were dropped to the floor, and soon followed the light outer shirt Atomos had left New Bangor with. That was better, but not perfect. Cheena pushed away the blanket and wrestled for a long moment trying to figure out the belt on Atomos pants before giving up and moving to the boots.These she found easier to remove, simply tugging the strings the right way loosened them up enough that Cheena could slide them off with the assistance of the other foot.
Standing up was the next and most difficult challenge. At first she couldn't seem to get her balance. Two legs, Cheena marveled, was a lot harder than it looked. If she couldn't keep her balance and she fell, Atomos would surely wake up. She knew it instinctively, so she had to be careful. In the meantime, the puzzle of the belt was solved and then the button and zipper behind that. The reason for the strange discomfort regarding that particular article of clothing became very apparent as soon as Cheena stood and let the pants fall to the floor. Atomos had stuffed her tail into them before leaving New Bangor, and that was a shame. The fluffy appendage was one of the floofiest Cheena had ever seen. Soft and warm and such color. Why would Atomos ever want to hide such a fine brush?
Walking came next. She found it hard, but with a little help from a little nonsense song that drifted across Atomos mind, she managed it.
"Put one foot, in front of, the otheeer..." She whispered, taking another step away from the bed. She practiced moving around Atomos's room until she felt she'd got the hang of walking, then settled in in front of a mirror. The mirror was a little joy to her, something Cheena could examine herself in. Atomos's face, her teeth, her ears and hair. Her furless skin. Having no fur was strange. Atomos smooth white skin prickled out in gooseflesh, reacting to the cold air. Cheena looked her fill at the new body in which she found herself, then turned her attention to the things in Atomos's room. The mirror was a fascinating thing, but the rest of Atomos's things told Cheena more about the woman herself. A fang that Atomos memory told Cheena about her first adventure and triumph over a snake that had tried to eat her. Cheena had never seen a snake as big as the one in Atomos's memory, but if her memories weren't enough, the monstrous fang would be more than enough to prove that it had existed. The fang and the meat that Atomos had brought in. Those, and the long coat hanging from the hook on the door. Cheena ran a hand over the scales and enjoyed how it felt, how developed Atomos sense of touch was in leiu of hearing and smell. There were a few cans like those she and Atomos had broken open in the Footlocker under the bed. They felt so light and easy to move around. It was hard to believe so much food could fit into such a small thing, but then again, it wasn't so small. Cheena was just bigger.
She sifted through pictures and clothing, slowly beginning to see the appeal of the latter. Normal humans didn't have warm coats like foxes, so they had to make their own fancy coats out of other things. Cheena found that she liked the idea, especially after she'd eyed over some of Atomos's less often worn clothes.
When she was done exploring, she lay back on the bed and thought over what had happened since Atomos had come into her life. It made her sad, but at the same time Atomos was a promise of a new sort of life. A new adventure for Cheena. She gave the room another glance. She probably wouldn't have stayed awake had she not felt the change coming over Atomos when it did. What was it about this place that it allowed her friend to push off the curse laid on her? Cheena came to the conclusion that it must be because this was the one place where Atomos could be herself. Set aside her masks and just be "Jenny." Red and Mikko said she was experiencing a crisis of the self, looking for who she really was. The curse on her couldn't be lifted until she'd figured that out for herself. This room, this place, was a stones throw from that answer.
Cheena closed her eyes believing she was close to the answer Atomos sought, and drifted off to sleep. Branches kicked it's feet disconsolately, occasionally kicking up a bit of concrete each swing. It was relieved, a little, that it didn't seem like it was going to be killed after all. At least not right away. Still, something felt off. The smoke smelled funny, and it wasn't the plastic or carpet or other burning things. Something IN the smoke felt off. Like a chemical fire or something someone knew would soon be out of hand. Catalina had only left one guard to keep an eye on the homunculus, a fact that the guard didn't fail to understand. The anxiety baked off of her like sweat and Branches didn't think she looked like she wasn't all too comfortable with the rifle in her hands. It didn't want to escape, but Branches didn't want to just sit around either.
"Excuse me?" Branches said. The guard jumped a little and Branches could see she was just falling apart, figuratively speaking. "I'm going outside ok? I'll be right back, I promise."
"N-no! You can't! You just stay in your cell, you're still under arrest!" The guard stuttered, lowering her gun at Branches. The threat would have held more weight if the guard had not at that moment engaged the magazine release and ejected most of her ammunition. "Er... T-there's still one in the chamber! Ju-just stay in your..."
"It's not much of a jail if it doesn't have bars on the cells and the guards don't have bullets in their guns. I swear, I'll be right back!" Branches said casually stepping foot outside it's cell. The homunculus was feeling mischievous again, but tempered it's need to do something it thought would be funny with purpose. The gurad followed it around the room with the barrel of her gun but her conviction, if it had ever existed in the first place, was gone. Branches picked up the book off the desk and left, leaving the guard to slump back into a chair and wonder if she was really cut out for the job.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 11, 2018, 12:06:17 pm
(( Written with Salt. ))
Catalina marched out towards where the Canadians were set up, giving a wave as she approached. Two of the guards from the center were there with her. "Greetings. Here to check and make sure everything's alright. We've got a situation on our end however. Have any of you seen the bishop purported to be traveling with you?" she asked, looking over towards the burning trailers. "There's been a murder, earlier today. Some sort of magic pattern written in the victim's blood."
"That'd be Brynna Knight." One of the onlooking Canadians told the Captain, "Not surprised. Bitch is crazy. Her trailer is the one on the left there, burning along with the General's."
The smoke billowed up from the burning trailers in a voluminous cloud that hung heavily over the center and the surrounding fields, giving the day an overcast look. People from the Canadian camp we're gathered in little groups around the burning trailers in what Catalina recognized as mourning huddles.
"General felt bad for her, thought he could see the good in her. Maybe even fix her." The man went on. He kicked a little dirt and fixed his gaze at a seemingly blank space on the ground. Catalina realized he was holding back tears. The woman the captain recognized as the representative sent to talk with her before. Lemat.
"Don't talk about her Wayne. Not at a time like this."
Catalina gave a sigh at that. "So you set the...for fucks sake. Where is she right now?" she asked, only for Helen to step forward. She'd left Daniel in charge of keeping an eye on things outside Branches' cell, along with instructions to burn the book as soon as possible. But a thought crept into the back of her mind. She should've offered to let him borrow her hammer, as she still had a symbol of judgement on hand. That she felt able to trust Branches had led her to decide it'd be alright.
There was the peculiar sight of her metal mask shifting its features, as she peered into the roaring flames to discern whatever she could. "Please, this is an urgent matter. If this Brynna is who we think she is, a member of the Cult of Agony as well as a former bishop, she may well end up killing someone. Or another, if the man we've already found carved open was her doing."
"It was probably her. We knew her connections, but we couldn't really do anything about it. Kringle didn't want us harming her. I suppose he was just... Stuck in the old days. When people didn't just execute their prisoners out of hand..." Lemat explained, "I'm sorry for your peoples loss Captain Sandell, but after the funeral, our people would very much like to move on. Kringle would want us to finish the task we came south to accomplish. The Midgard is taken care of?"
Catalina nodded her understanding. The Canadians did have there own mission to accomplish, and the loss of their leader was a major blow to morale.
Helen scanned the crowds, a little tentatively. Something didn't feel right, didn't look right. Through the true sight offered by her mask, a black veil had seemed to fall over everything. There were lines in it, vague and almost unseen. Red lines like veins pulsing with life. She was torn from her observations by the sound of Daniel shouting.
"NO! GET BACK IN THE CELL DAMNIT! YOU AREN'T EXONERATED YET! HOMUNCULUS! LISTEN GODS DAMN IT!"
Catalina gave a sigh at that. "And I'm sorry for your loss as well. However..." She then gave the man a glare, and went from her prior calm tone to a more authoritative one. "Do you or do you NOT know where she is?" At that the man snapped to attention out of reflex, shocked by that. "No ma'am, sorry ma'am."
However, before Catalina could start saying anything about having had to ask three times in a row, the shouting got her attention. "For fucks sake..." Helen grumbled a bit, readying her hammer as she ran towards the sound of the source. "Gods damnit...Daniel! Did you at least burn that bloody thing yet or...of all the..."
Branches slid the book out of it's bindle, showing Helen that the book had not yet been destroyed.On Daniels part, he had intended to burn the book as Helen had instructed once Helen had returned but hadn't really got the chance. He followed after the homunculus, trying to tackle it to the ground and finding himself shrugged off like a twig, reminding him that the creature was possessed of an unheard of strength while rooted to the ground.
"Helen! We can burn it on the fire, but we should-" was as far as Branches got, nearly catching up with Helen and Catalina when a hellish screech carried over the roar of the inferno and the growing commotion. Something was wrong, the red lines Helen could see pulsed brighter and reached out, touching people. Groups of mourning people, workers, and onlookers touched suddenly turned on one another.
"IT'S MINE!" Screamed a terribly scarred woman. She looked like she'd been through a blender, covered in scars and blood and wearing clothes that obviously didn't belong to her. Helen only had an instant to utter the start of an exclamation, when a bolt of red-black lightning sizzled the air between she and Branches. Branches held the book out before it like a shield, wincing at the sudden surge of chaotic hateful magic.
Helen was about to say something when the strange magic struck, and on hearing the voice and narrowly avoiding the crackle of lightning, she promptly raised her hammer. The shout she gave was drowned out in a brilliant flash. Her other hand reached to a certain golden talisman hanging from her belt, drawing it as she whirled around to fire wildly in the direction of the scream.
Catalina had felt something, shaking her to the core. Indeed everyone save the one person warded by magic, and the other that wasn't actually human, seemed afflicted by it. Despite her earlier frustration she initially forced herself to freeze rather than act on the sudden surge of instinct. That lasted about a second before the Canadian she was about to berate lunged at her, and as she sent the man toppling to the ground, she was blinded by the blast of Helen's hammer.
In the center, Atomos snapped awake. Something was very wrong and she felt it with the instinct afforded her by her mutations, the manifestation of the spirit residing in her. Her things were scattered around the room helter skelter, but she had little time to consider it and Cheena was strangely silent on the matter. As Atomos had come awake, Cheena had been pushed back and the human body once again succumbed to the curse laid on it.
"What's going on?" Atomos thought. The smell of burning, shouting in the halls, and distant screaming. There came a loud bang somewhere outside and that settled it. The center was under attack, her home was under attack. She took advantage of the setup Horace had left her to open the door, and sprinted into the thickening smoke, deftly avoiding the pulsing lines of red that threatened to touch off a fire in her mind that would turn her reasoning to ash.
Helen threw another bolt from the golden talisman, grunting with satisfaction as the woman's barrier shattered like glass under the barrage of her retribution. Brynna staggered back, rubbing her eyes and reeling from the impact as Helen leveled the icon again preparing to finish the Bishop off with a single killing bolt. Something hit her in the back though, jogging her aim and sending the lightning coursing just over Byrnna's head and sending her sprawling. It was Daniel, wearing his mask had saved him from being blinded but he lacked a cloak like Helens or the mental fortitude to resist the fog of hate that had fallen over the people of the center.
"Get ahold of yourself brother!" Helen shouted, trying to reason with him. "Don't let your emotions get the better of you!" She didn't want to use her hammer, nor would she use the symbol of judgement. Instead, she relied on an old reliable tactic and brought her knee up into his groin.
"Oof!" Daniel grunted, but was not dislodged until something else, a book, slammed into his side. Pages scattered and Daniel was sent rolling away like a barrel kicked down a slope. Branches had struck him with the book of hate.
"I'm sorry! I'm-"
Brynna had regained her sight, fuzzy as it was, and saw the scuffle. Saw the pages, the damage, to her book. Her mind, snapped.
"You. Little. Cunt." She breathed, pointing at the homunculus. Branches eye swiveled up, and Helen heard it say something inarticulate as a bolt of killing black lightning shredded the tome and blasted a hole through the unfortunate creature holding it.
Catalina groaned a bit as she came to, still reeling from the effects of the hammer. It was enough to snap her out of it at least, cutting through the fog and leaving her unable to do anything but linger until her sight returned. She realized she was atop someone, glancing down in shock before checking on the man. Out cold, but alive.
Helen glowered at Brynna under her mask as she regained her footing, essence swirling around, drifting from the symbol around her neck to the symbol of judgement. She lunged forward, raising that symbol of judgment again. "Enough..."
Something struck near her, sending a jolt of agony through her entire body. She'd loosed another beam of electric death in the same instant, narrowly missing her weakened target. It wouldn't finished the job, but arcing bolts jumped through her body as the beam passed by. Enough that they both faltered, dropping to their knees.
Helen was preparing to stand and aim again, Bryana struggling to retain her focus and restore the barrier that the blasts shattered. The sound of gunfire interrupted. A quick trio of pistol shots, Catalina following up by taking more careful aim at the former bishop she was firing upon. This was followed by a short burst, the regular, steady barking of a bullpup rifle one of the Canadians was toting.
Atomos looked out on the field in front of the center with a sense of horror and rising anger. What was this? There was fire and fighting, but there was not an enemy in sight that she could identify. Just smoke and people, people fighting each other. A man swung a heavy fist at another man, snow plowing his victims teeth with the haymaker, and Atomos shied away from the fight. Why? Just what was going on? The question was answered by another crackling boom and the flash of a bolt of lightning. A fight, a battle going on near the fires. The woman Atomos had sought was doing battle with a scarred woman, throwing lightning at one another among the fields of crazed people. She saw a man with a mask like the woman's tackle her, and a child with one eye somehow send the man rolling away with a single blow. She saw the scarred woman fire a bolt of lightning through the unfortunate kid, and Atomos realized who the enemy was.
The red lines formed a web across the sky, turning the light of day red and bloody, Cheena pulled at Atomos consciousness and told her something, the smoke was the key. The mage hunter and the captain would soon have the woman well in hand, but even then the smoke would continue to wreak havoc on the center if it was allowed to continue. To that end, Atomos took a moment and traced the strange lines, determining them to be the real cause, and saw something interesting. All the lines joined together at an odd pulsing disk like the eye of a deep sea creature at the center of the smoke. It was lowering itself down, getting itself between the captain and her target. Bullets would do no good, they had to strike the heart. Atomos charged, and as she did, she began to change.
Branches dropped the ruins of the book, and stared down at the hole in it's torso. Mottled brown spreading out from the wound through it's strange flesh, cracking and crumbling. Distantly, sensed Helen rising and charging, being jolted. It heard the rise of the gunfire directed at it's killer, and very distantly saw the red flash of something small and furry darting onto the field. Most of Branches attention was for itself though, looking at it's crumbling body with resigned fascination while it turned back into the clay from which it sprouted until there was nothing left but stolen clothes, burning paper, crumbling dirt, and a single twig with a bundle of purple hair wrapped around it.
Meanwhile, Brynna felt the destruction of the book spreading out through her. The pain of bullets ripping through the weak defense she through up, and the combined agony of the memories she'd long sought surging in. Above, the smoke lurched downwards, covering her in a cloak of hate that would stop further assault, but not her coming death. She didn't care, she was gone already. The book was gone, she was gone, Brynna had failed in whatever task it had been that had set her on the path of pain and hatred. The smoke wrapped itself around her and tried to protect her.
"Hold your fire!" Catalina shouted. Helen gave her a glance and noted the smoke pulling away as if repulsed by the woman's will. The same went for some of the Canadians, and Helen realized the nature of the smoke. "We aren't getting through anymore!"
"It's an elemental!" Helen shouted, "Aim for the disc at it's center, aim-"
Her hammer was suddenly snatched from her hand, and she caught a glimpse of white skin, blond hair, and red fur.
Helen had barely any time to react. Now she had to focus on watching out for any further assault from the woman, but it seemed the shifting smoke had focused on blocking further attacks. Then, next thing she knew, her hammer was snatched out of her grasp. "Helviti..."
It was then something else attracted her attention. She rushed forward, grabbing one of a few vials on her person, handing them to those who'd been injured in the scuffle rather forcefully, as she removed her cloak. "Godsdamnit..." The fact she was wasting her effort trying to drape her cloak around the stricken homunculus was something she didn't think of. She was already deteriorating, nevermind the effect was designed with flesh and blood in mind.
Catalina meanwhile was stunned. She'd lowered her pistol, catching a glimpse of something. No, someone. Despite the sheer shock however, she kept her guard up. "That...no. It can't be..."
The figure disappeared into the thickening smoke around the bishop, and the smoke seemed to suck into itself. Catalina was reminded of an octopus or a spider wrestling with something that had gotten entirely too close. Smoke rolled up into the mass, congealing into something semi solid and leaving the day as clear as it had been before the start of the funeral. People who had been fighting came to their senses as soon as the smoke left them.
"What the hell hit me?" Daniel groaned, trying to rise to his feet and falling back. Sylvia appeared at his side and he tried to wave her off. There was still danger at hand and he didn't want her involved in it. "Sister," He called, "Sister what's going on?"
The ball of smoke tumbled and rolled which let Catalina confirm the death of the Bishop who'd come to the center with the Canadians, but not the familiar person who'd charged into it.
"I CAME SO FAR AND THROUGH SO FUCKING MUCH!" Came the cry from the mass, "I RISKED EVERYTHING AND ALMOST DIED! I ATE A VOLE!" On and on, the person vented at the thing listing off ridiculous and strange things it had done. Then there was a flash. Not of Helen's hammer, but something else. Red light from the core of the smoke, and a rush of air as the smoke exploded harmlessly. Almost anticlimactically, leaving a haggard woman standing out in the middle of a plowed field, mostly nude, and covered in filthy smoke grime.
"At-" Catalina began.
"YOU LIED TO ME!" Atomos screamed back.
Catalina winced a bit at that, looking away. "This is gonna be a long day..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 11, 2018, 10:41:27 pm
Salazar had waited until Steinar wasn’t at the Hall. He didn’t want to talk with his old friend about this one. Better that they part ways where Steinar could be happy. Retrieving a piece of paper from his pocket he gathered his gear and strapped it on. Walking towards the door he handed the paper to Solomon.
When he was asked what it was for he told Solomon to give it to Steinar when he got back. As he turned to walk out the door Solomon saw something even without the mask on. A flicker of Salazar covered in tattoos with his right eye bleeding and smiling with sharpened teeth, a blood stained skull mask hanging around his neck. After a second it was gone as Salazar smiled nervously at Solomon’s stunned expression and said “Take care kid, never know what’s gonna happen tomorrow. And uh..” finding himself unsure of what to say he concluded with “Just take care kid, and tell Helen to do the same.
Closing the door behind him Salazar pulled his bandanna over his face and started to walk. Using some of his magic he changed his face as he tapped the side of his tommy gun. Making his way to Alexei’s bar he wondered just what he was going to do with himself.
Sitting down he placed a few bullets down and Alexei slid him a glass of whiskey. As he took a drink Alexei asked “Never seen you before, what’s your name?”
Salazar stared at his drink for a moment before answering “Sa-..Anthony. My friends call me Anton.” pausing a second before he asked “Listen know anywhere a guy could get a job?”
Alexei looked him over. Salazar wasn’t sure how comfortable he should be with being examined so carefully but he just sipped his drink and waited. Finally Alexei asked “You good with gun?” to which Salazar nodded and Alexei continued “I might need someone in a minute. Finish that and wait outside.”
Doing as instructed Salazar soon found himself standing outside with a couple of young men who were waiting near a van. One of them, the one wearing a hockey mask, looked over at him and said “Did he really hire an old geezer for this?” before opening the back of the van and rummaging through a box. Tossing a plate carrier to Salazar the man said “Put that on, should help keep you alive. Oh and the boss wants us to wear masks for this one so..take your pick from the ones in the passenger seat while we wait.”
Walking over as he slid the plate carrier on Salazar looked through the masks before grabbing one. Putting his bowler hat down on the van for a moment he slid the skull mask before replacing his hat on his head and turning to Alexei as he walked out.
Alexei slid his own mask on as he said “We got word. An old friend of Edgar’s is moving guns. So we’re going to take them.” He started for the driver’s seat of a Charger with Edgar following him. Salazar got the idea that Alexei wasn’t being entirely truthful. Still a job was a job. And it was better than wasting everyone’s time trying to get better at the Hall. Not that he’d let even Steinar know anything was wrong.
The ride to the stash they were after was a couple hours long. Now they found themselves pushing through a tree line and crouching low to the ground in the tall grass. He could hear someone from the building they were moving towards preaching. Taking a knee at the edge of the grass Salazar lined up a shot on a sentry as Alexei and his gunmen moved up to cover.
Once they were ready Salazar squeezed the trigger. As the sentry fell backwards his compatriots took up arms as the preacher shouted “BY THE BROTHERS WE WILL KILL YOU!” before the first exchange of gunfire commenced.
Moving forward while using magic to push himself faster Salazar switched to his Tommy Gun and opened fire. He wasn’t aiming to be accurate just accurate enough to keep their heads down. In that regard he was effective. Sliding into cover behind one of their own vehicles Salazar took the time to reload as Edgar and the other gunmen Alexei had brought along managed to kill a two of the six men actually guarding the place.
Stepping out of cover Salazar noticed that the preacher wasn’t armed. Shooting the two men next to him Salazar started walking over as Alexei and his men took out the other. Walking over they all heard the preacher “You help the heretic? Then all of you will burn in hell! The followers of the brothers will come to cleanse this land of you! I was merely sent to find something.”
Before he could continue Salazar kicked him in the stomach and knelt down. Staring the man in the eyes he said “I’ve met gods. Your ‘brothers’ aren’t among that group. More importantly gods are as fickle as men, turning their backs on loyal servants because it pleases them in the moment. Not that a man like you would take my word for it.” before putting the barrel of the tommy gun to the man’s head and pulling the trigger.
Blinking as his mask was sprayed with blood Salazar stood up as the van rolled up. Helping load the vehicle he heard Alexei tell him he did good. Looking the haul over it was a load of pistols and small caliber SMGs. Tossing his gear into the Van Salazar picked one up and checked it. “Chinese. It’s a knockoff of the MP5SD3. Then we’ve got some P90s and a couple of UMPs.”
Alexei nodded as he made the same assessment. Walking away he said “If you like one take one Anton. If you want you’re part of the family.”
Picking up a P90 and a few spar magazines Salazar climbed into the back and closed the doors. Following Alexei in his Charger the van made its way to a building that Edgar and the others had built near the bar. Unloading the new gear Salazar heard Alexei and Edgar talking. It sounded like they had enough for a shipment to the 3rd now, just needed to make sure the deal went smooth. Turning to Salazar Edgar said “Listen man, tomorrow we’re gonna have another job. You in?”
Nodding Salazar set one of the boxes down and said “Yeah. I’m in.” Retrieving his gear from the van he listened to the pair agree the shipment to the 3rd would have to wait a couple days.
As Alexei went back to the bar Edgar motioned Salazar to follow. Leading him into the building and closing the garage doors behind them he said “Well the big guy said it, so if you want in you’re in. Either way you can stay the night, only fair if you’re gonna be working with us tomorrow. And hey you might need a while to think about the offer.” Stopping by a door he said “This is your room. If you want into the ‘family’ just let me know but keep in mind it’s not some temporary thing. Everyone that’s here has agreed to fight and die for each other and we expect that from everyone.”
Walking into his room Salazar sighed and sat on the bed. Pulling the mask off and cleaning it with a rag he had he wondered what this was all going to lead to. Laying down on the bed he decided to sleep. Maybe he wasn’t going to have another nightmare.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 12, 2018, 02:06:37 pm
The fires died down and cooled, leaving behind little more than ash and the heavy steel frames of the two trailers. As soon as the ashes had cooled, Helen launched an investigation into the ruins of the one belonging to the dead Bishop. She and Daniel scanned through the ashes, finding very little. There was warped glass, unburned scraps of clothing, plenty of metal, and essence. Nothing too hazardous, but both mage hunters could see the gaseous wisps kicking up from the remains or soaked into the soil. They also found bones which a Canadian aiding in their investigation identified as probably a part of Brynna's abattoir.
"The cleanup is going to be so much work..." Daniel commented while he looked over the burnt ruins, "Ah, but then again, New Paris has more than enough able bodied workers now who are more than willing to lend a hand."
"True Brother Daniel, very true." Helen agreed. She bent suddenly and shifted a charred board then lifted something out of the ash. It was a round glass globe with a long spout coming off of it at an angle. It had been unharmed by the fire and judging by how thick the glass was and the strange aura it gave off, Helen believed she'd found what they were looking for. "A summoners alembic. If our hate elemental was trapped inside this, it probably escaped when the seal burned off or melted."
Illiana picked her way through the ashes, smiling sadly at Helen. It was an unusual look for the Deus Ex to adopt, considering how jovial she usually was. Helen had, over the last two weeks, seen an awful lot of her and had to begrudgingly admit that the crib she'd given Helen was very nice and aesthetically pleasing. Illiana seemed to kick up no ash as she walked and her suit didn't seem to be getting dirty. Both mage hunters were just a bit envious of that, cleaning the ashes off their clothes later promised to be a nightmare.
"Hello Ms. McKinnon, the rift has almost stabilized and I've returned the clothes I borrowed. Also I'm sorry for any trouble my homunculus may have caused you. I assure you, I have a very good reason." She said. Clutched in her hands was the focus, the core of the homunculus. A twig, stained brown with blood and wrapped in Illiana's hair. "Can I ask you a favor Helen? Before I go?" Helen tucked the globe under one arm, and waited for the request. Illiana went on, seeing she had Helen's attention. "I um... I feel bad for it. I told Branches that it would die after a week, but it didn't die and it caused Branches a lot of stress. I suppose it wouldn't have been here to get blasted if it hadn't known."
"You don't know?" Helen asked. Illiana usually knew everything so her not knowing something was a bit of a surprise. Illiana held up the little stick and indicated the hair.
"It was made with my hair, I couldn't keep track of it for some reason. Branches eluded my sight so easily and you know, I only understand in the loosest sense. So I'm not going to think about it. Anyways, I suppose I should get to the point. The only body Branches had to do anything with is what's left of it's core. Could you bury it for me? Anywhere is fine, but on the other side of the lake opposite Sharlene's grove or near the hall would be best. Branches had a kind of lair on the other side of the lake and believe it or not, despite the danger it quite liked being around the hall." Despite the excitement around her return, it would be some time before Atomos came out of her room and confronted the captain. She fully intended to give a report, a heavily edited report, to Captain Sandell later but now she didn't have the time. She made arrangements to meet with Helen back in her room, and pondered the things that had changed since she left. One of the larger things to Atomos was the revelation of her Captains name. It wasn't a good thing to learn coming off the realization of everything else Catalina had kept from the people under her command, especially Atomos. While she had the chance, she washed herself off and changed into more casual clothing. People came to her room to see her, but she didn't answer. The only person she wanted to speak with was Helen, but first she needed to get the short of her trip down on paper, specifically the details of the curse and an explaination of why there would be a fox in the center.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 12, 2018, 03:22:43 pm
Horace stopped outside an old, wrecked church after leaving the center, having gotten a bolt of leather among other amenities from trading. He lead the horse inside through a big, gaping hole where the front door used to be. Horace tied his steed to one of the old pews, and unloaded an aluminum striker, a can of post-cataclysm kerosene, a bolt of leather, one of the gold coins, a vial of blood essence he got from a mongrel a while ago, and his trophy, the tail of the stalker. He dropped the tail, the coin, and the leather in an old, rusted brazier, and poured the kerosene and the blood essence over it. Horace took the striker and set all of it ablaze, surely getting The Veiled King’s attention.
As the flames engulfed the items cast into the brazier, the watcher's attention shifted to Horace, regarding the offering made. The tail was scorched to the bone readily, gold melting and pooling in the center of the leather, and a strange aura seemed to fill the room. "So that is your wish, it seems. Still can't shake the habits of your order. I had a reward in mind for when the current task is complete, if it can be finished in time. However..." As a sense of unease seemed to fill the air, the leather itself seemed to shift, taking on a peculiar texture. Flames lapped over it yet it did not burn, instead shifting and altering, infused with the ashes from charred flesh. Sinews seemed to renew and grow into seams, bones hardened and darkened, finding their place as decoration, and gold shifted to form buckles for straps woven of the shifting leather. Soon, the flames died down, revealing his handiwork lingering in the brazier.
Horace growled, ”Quiet.” He picked up the hooded cape, he put it on, adjusting the buckles where they’re needed. Horace put the hood up over his helmet, “Should help with not getting recognized.” He grumbled a bit, “Except for arcanists with eyes.” Horace admitted begrudgingly, before remounting on the horse.
Horace began to head farther north, "...I doubt I’ll be able to handle closing the portal alone, Watcher." He said, "Any ideas?" Horace asked, pondering himself.
The watcher gave what seemed to be a wry chuckle at that. "Then find whoever may suit you along the way, if you can trust them to follow you so close to Abaddon." he answered. "The task itself can be worked through without issue, it is more a matter of the dangers you may encounter along the way."
Horace galloped ahead, only to pass by a western themed steakhouse with a handful of vehicles parked outside it. A tall man with a large, ornate warhammer and a mask stood outside of the restaurant. "Fire!" The crusader shouted, and the dozen privates opened fire. The wood was torn apart, but a mare's leg poked out of one of the windows and fired. One of the dozen privates caught a round to the skull, "FUCK OFF, I'M NOT THIS DAMN 'BULL'." The man shouted from inside, firing another shot, taking out another private.
The watcher kept his presence relatively obscured, not voicing any orders just yet, but instead giving Horace a single mental image. That of the bow, suggesting that the knight take a chance to strike while the God's Army soldiers were focused on another.
The crusader meanwhile gave a wicked grin under his mask as he gestured to direct his soldiers from behind cover, before raising his hammer. The flash would do little to harm Horace, but his steed frozen and flinched from the light, and a dim, flickering electric light in one of the windows was swiftly snuffed out as a pulse of strange magic radiated from it.
Horace dismounted the horse, that claymore was drawn, which was re-sharpened, and he charged on foot. He cleaved a private in two, who let out a wail of agony. The knight rose the bloodsoaked blade at the Fanatic, "Greetings, deserter. Seems you didn't listen to your order's teachings." He boomed, letting down his hood. "What will you do, Fanatic?" He asked, the blade unwavering.
There was what could only be an irritated resonance reflecting frustration, though the words that rang out went unheard by the former mage hunter, instead sensed only as an aura of sheer malice that appeared to him to be radiating from Horace himself. "At least use the only PROPER weapon you have if you're going to disobey and charge in like a rabid beast."
The Fanatic meanwhile, though balked at the unnatural aura glimpsed through his mask, directed his remaining soldiers with a gesture, immediately striking the blade aside and backing away. "I listened to what matters. Return the powers from beyond to their rightful resting place." He then added his own take on that tenet as the hammer flashed again, not realizing it would do little to deter Horace, yet still closing in with alarming speed under heavy fire from the others. "Living or dead!"
Horace growled at that, "Quiet.", he gripped the claymore by the blade, and threw it like a spear at one of the private, skewering him to the floor. "Fine, watcher." He said to the veiled king, drawing the axe, 'activating' it. "You don't recognize me, deserter? Oh dear." Horace taunted, catching more bullets. "Get your lackeys to stand down, coward." He barked.
The Veiled King only gave what sounded like a quiet chuckle, watching as Horace again drove off and held the crusaders at bay, the Fanatic not heeding that remark, instead striking at Horace with the pointed side of the hammer, shocked as it seemed to make a dent yet far less off a blow than expected. "Who...what are you? You're not human..."
Horace grabbed the hammer, snatching it out of the fanatic's grip. "You've figured it out." He remarked dryly, the man inside the building took the opening to pick off five more privates with ease. "Beg." Horace barked, as it was just him and the Fanatic. His subordinates have already fled, fearing for their lives. "Interesting hammer... It's not like the others your former brothers and sisters used." he continued to mock.
The Fanatic glowered up at Horace, left unarmed as his hammer was wrenched out of his grasp. "Heh...the shrike, the mad one. That's you, isn't it? Looks like you've strayed farther from your heretical spawn than I've strayed from those old fools." he said, ignoring the demand and remark about his hammer. Instead he yanked something off of his belt. A grenade, the safety lever flying free.
Horace's eyes would have widened if he had the, but as a reflex, he swung that hammer. The ornate steel broke several fingers, and splattered several against the grenade. But the explosive was sent flying. "Coward!" The knight barked, pointing the hammer at the man. A gauntlet tore his mask off his face, and beat him down with it. He continued to beat the one-eyed-fanatic down with his own mask, as the man was left beaten and bloodied. There was a visible dent in the man's forehead, and with a downward swing of that hammer, he crushed the traitor's skull.
With the former mage hunter finally put down, and the remaining God's Army soldiers having fled, Horace could vaguely sense the attention of another, the gun warily trained on him. "Careful...I cannot sense their intent, but there is potential if we have a mutual enemy." the watcher directed, unaware that his words, channeled through the axe, would be overheard by the stranger.
Horace looked at up at the gun trained on him, "We've got a mutual enemy, marksman. Besides, didn't you see what good the coward's firearms did?" The gunslinger's gun didn't waver, "Well all'a those idjits shoot all fuckin' cattywumpus, those mundie motherfuckers are all talk anyways." He let out a groan, "Dammit, you got me damn near ramblin' til' the cows came home! Who in the gatdamn hell are ya'?!" The 'slinger barked, The knight let out a sigh, "Horace. I'm not here for your head." He said, dead calm. "...Abraham." He drawled, raising the mare's leg. "Aren'tchu colder than a witch's tit..." The southerner muttered, walking back into the building. Horace grunted at that remark, before walking inside. If Horace still had a face, he'd be grimacing at the restaurant's decor. "It's a bit... gaudy. Whoever ran this place was really pushing the envelope..." He grumbled, looking around.
The watcher seemed almost relieved that it didn't lead to a shootout. "A pleasant surprise. Try not to dally for too long. The portal has settled a bit, but we still have time." the voice stated. Abraham simply grumbled a little as he kicked a body over, what was once a zombie that presumably had broken into the building, left slumped over a chair with its head blown open. "Yer damn axe over there got somethin' t' worry about? Heard of'a storm brewin' up in Bangor, bet that's what yer spook's ramblin' about." he drawled out, the remark catching Horace off guard.
"Hmm. So you can hear the watcher as well. Strange." Horace remarked, still regarding the figure with an uneasy gaze, at least that was the impression that the eyeless void of the visor gave.
"Interesting." the voice resonating through the axe mused. "Perhaps it would be to our benefit if you weren't at each other's throats then...even working together." the watcher added, and the man perked up a bit, glowering at the armored figure, hat brim raised just barely enough to meet Horace's ethereal gaze. "Suppose we're after a couple common enemies at least. I've got no interest in this hoodoo and cultist hogwash though, so I haf'ta ask what's in it for me..."
The aura that seemed to permeate the area seemed to grow heavy in the air, reflecting the greater scrutiny the strange presence from beyond was placing on the stranger. Enough that his cold gaze faltered a bit, before he regained his composure. "Disinterest in the arcane aside, it seems you've picked up a few tricks along the way all the same. No, not tricks. Something you'd rather be rid of, is that right?"
Horace glanced over at the man, curious now. "He looks fine to me. Just what sort of curse to you sense, watcher?" he asked, and the stranger grumbled a bit. "Personal business, axe. Your tin soldier's no need to know. But if yer offering t' fix it...alright."
The two walked out of the steakhouse, the gunslinger heading off in a different direction as Horace walked back to his own horse, petting the steed softly. At that, Abraham brought his own horse. A pale, skinny and sickly-looking horse, Horace cocked his head at it. "Didn't hear it protest at all." Abraham patted the pale steed's side, "It's deaf, can shoot without gettin' bucked off 'er." He said, climbing onto his horse. Horace got onto his much healthier looking horse, "Will it live for the trip?" The knight asked, and the gunslinger sighed. "She will. Jessie's been with me through thick an' thin." the leadslinger muttered as the two went their way towards Bangor.
Helen had carefully taken inventory of the items found there, what little was recovered at least. The alembic was a particular curiosity to her, if only because it wasn't common at all anymore. Most of the summon practices that had become widespread were based on the research of the Silver Enclave, long since broken and scattered after some unknown calamity, when she was a toddler at most.
That it could seal up a monster was the property she found interesting, as the common glyphs merely yanked a monster from the Beyond and attempted to place a command spell on it, leaving it loose should the binding fail.
Beyond that there was the request, carefully wrapping the stick and hair in cloth to bury later on. For now, it seemed she had someone else to talk to.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 14, 2018, 08:42:03 am
Floyd knocked again, harder than he had before.
"Nip' c'mon you know the rules, only half an hour per person. You're wastin' water!" He yelled at the door. Inside, the water was running full blast, but he knew he'd been heard. It had been like this since the water had clarified of storm runoff a week and a half before. Catnip's long showers. The rat was a glutton for her morning shower, and not afraid to flaunt her perceived right to as long a bath as she wanted, by virtue of having built the pumps that brought water up from the river. Inside, Floyd could vaguely hear the voices of both girls, Catnip and Kathrine.
"But he says we gotta get out though..."
"Nuh uh, I built the pump, I'll use as much as I want!"
"Mean..."
"No, mean would be making everyone else pay to use it like they do in Pricetown."
Floyd knocked again, pounding on the door in irritation. The shouting was now less like an annoyed parent and more like a pissed off old man telling kids to get off his lawn. His towel slipped off his back and he went to get it, forgetting his annoyance in the momentary feel of his fingers working as well as they always had.
"What's up old timer? 'Nip taking her time again?" Said a woman. The woman was Minx, and she seemed to be at the farms showers for the same reason as Floyd. "She ran up quite the bill on Pinky before we left, long ass showers at the public bath after Pinky banned her from using the ones at the Pleasure Palace. I imagine Pinky is getting the tab about now. Wish I could see the look on her face!"
"Uh yeah." Floyd said, giving Minx only the slightest glance. He wasn't sure what to think of the short girl with the shifting face that Catnip had brought back with her. She was quick witted, smart, and fairly kind hearted. It also happened that she lacked modesty, judging by how she'd dressed when deciding to hit the showers. A bikini bottom and a towel. "What're you doin' over here and not at the center? I figured most of 'Nips friends had headed off to start their own little projects out that way."
"I was in the area, exchanging notes with Medeina. She's awfully interested in the sort of animals we had over on the west coast. Also I wanted to deliver a couple copies of Leslie's first edition. Catnip wanted a few before they hit the shelves over in New Paris." She explained, then knocked on the shower door herself. "C'mon Catnip, you got stuff to do today. Cut the kanoodling and finish up!"
"Aw maaan... Minx is here... Alright, we're coming out. Give us a sec." Came Catnip's voice, followed by a little giggle from Kathrine. The water cut off, and the two could be heard moving around inside.
"Finally did it did they?" Minx asked. Floyd nodded. He was one of the few Walkerville residents who lived at that end of the farm, and had heard. Catnip wasn't exactly the most quiet of love makers it seemed, and she'd already planned on having the house sound proofed after learning that everyone knew. After a bit, Catnip strode proprietarily out of the showers with a Kathrine in tow.
"Well..." Floyd mused, "'least little miss ain't showering with her clothes on like she used to sometimes, judgin' by how dry they are. Ladies first." Floyd gave a little bow and gestured to the showers at that last. In response, Minx bowed back and said, "Age before beauty old timer. Besides, you were here first." Maskens took another bite of the lasagna that was the days special and watched her sister fuss over her husband. Maskens had taken into her Ward and given him an expert examination. He looked like he'd been hit by a truck rather than some kid with a book. The bones had been easy to set though, and the massive bruise was nothing to be worried about. A shot of RX and he was right on his way to recovery.
"You're lucky," Maskens commented, "the center is just about out of RX. You'd have to take the long road to recovery and rehabilitation if it had happened later."
"Very reassuring Doctor." Daniel said. Sylvia prodded him in the side gently and the pain made him slide out of his chair, making it worse.
"Stop tormenting him Syl, he won't heal properly at this rate." Maskens said lightly before taking another bite of her food. It tasted familiar, but whatever it was had been well masked by a combination of herbs and masterful preparation. She looked to Sylvia and Daniel plate and nodded her approval of the fish they we're sharing. Sylvia hated fish and Sydney had always told her she should try it. The slice had been curious width wise instead of the more traditional filet cut, making the peice of meat look like a white steak, only there was more of it than one expected. Further, Maskens suddenly recognized the steak as something the center had gotten sick of months ago. Snake.
She was about to say so, perhaps get on the chefs case about continuing to serve the bland meat, when there came a crash from the kitchens.
"Plébéien! Front bas! imbécile! Get out! Get out of the kitchen! Compromise my ass! The only thing compromised around here is my ruex! Get out!" Shouted the indignant French accent. The centers chef stumbled out of the kitchen followed close behind by a flying spoon. The wooden implement bounced off the man's pate as he fled, clattering harmlessly to the floor.
"Well gat' damn Leita, if I'd known I'd have-" he began.
"But you did not know, you did not even ask! Communication is key in any kitchen! Now the roux is ruined and I have to start again! I banish you! Banished from the kitchen!" Came the angry French accent again. Maskens want the show with amusement. She liked the new chef, Lolita Leita. A hard ass, like only a professional chef could be. Chef liked her though, and not simply because she made the food thrice as edible. She could turn even over used snake into a feast a bored diner wouldn't pass up. No, chef had the hots for her. Maskens knew that because the man had come to her seeking advice on weight loss. It wasn't hard to connect the dots.
"So..." Chef began, straightening his apron and coming to Maskens table. He winced as another French Barb came zipping from the kitchen, some expletive spoken in French. "How's the food?"
"It's good." Maskens said, Sylvia and Daniel agreed, "trouble in paradise chef?"
The chef coughed, "It's never paradise with that woman..."
"Not yet anyway." Quipped Sylvia into her iced tea, eliciting the rare chuckle from Maskens. Chef looked at her and smirked.
"Har har, make fun of chef, sure. How about you Doc? How's your paradise coming along? That Marsh fella give up yet?" Maskens choked on her tea. Efram Marsh had been hounding after her almost daily, and she had to admit that it was sort of charming. Still though, the doctor wished he would focus more on his work and less on her. "I'll take that as a no then."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 14, 2018, 11:03:48 pm
(( Atomos stuff written with Salt, Horace stuff written with Salt and Wilson. ))
Helen hummed a bit as she made her way into he center, a sense of relief coming over her as things at last calmed down. Evidently those at Walkerville had radioed in and were relieved as well to hear that the gunfire they heard did not mean yet another attack on the center, and now that left the matter of cleanup.
And for her, something else to deal with as she reached Atomos' quarters, seeing someone standing by in the hallway. Larion. She glanced over at him, nodding as he stepped aside. "She's waiting for you, Mrs. McKinnon." he said calmly, before he looked away. Unwilling to look the mage hunter in the eye, for reasons she could only guess. Instead she focused on the task at hand, knocking on the door.
There wasn't an answer at first, so Helen knocked again. She wanted to knock again, but she only got her fist up to do so a few inches when there came a scratch on the door, low and close to the floor. Larion looked concerned, and Helen lowered her mask into place. The room beyond didn't seem to contain any human sized aura at all, instead Helen could see something small and bright. Brighter than anything that size should be.
"Stand back please." Helen said. Instead, Larion reached over and turned the knob. The door opened with a click and Helen shot him a glare. "I said 'stand back' not 'open the door.'"
"Sorry ma'am, you made it sound like you were going to kick it in." Larion responded blandly.
"There are some things- Nevermind."
The scratch came again, and this time Helen saw the small bright aura move. It had walked to the door, then dashed back across the room after the scratching. It was clear that whatever it was was getting impatient, so Helen stepped in and shut the door behind her. As soon as the door was closed, the aura revealed itself. Atomos was not in the room that clearly belonged to her, and which she had been very clear about it being where she wanted to meet. Just a fox. It leapt up onto the chair, and then onto the table to shuffle the small stack of paper with one paw. It looked down at the papers, then at Helen, then back again.
Helen regarded the sight with curiosity. If she was more familiar with Atomos and her aura she would've recognized the anomaly before her, but the fox' aura was already an unusual sight. Instead she moved over to regard the paper and read what the fox was drawing her attention to. "Huh. You're not acting like a common animal would, as far as I can tell...and your aura seems unusual. Just what trickery is this, I wonder..."
Atomos gave the notes another nudge, pushing them with a paw rather than her nose, and sighed. Coming from a fox, it was an uncharacteristically human gesture and served to compound the strangeness of it's presence. Helen got the idea that it would be tapping it's foot if it could, but instead it scratched itself behind the ear and resumed it's staring.
"Yes, I think I understand. I wonder if this Atomos has taken up the magic arts and you are some familiar. Hm. Let's see." She said and took the chair and began reading.
Quote
Miss McKinnon. You do not know me maybe, but I have heard of you. If you are reading this, then it means my time ran out and I have changed back. The fox in this room is me, I have been cursed. Looking at it written down is kind of bizarre for me. Especially since I would not believe it myself. I hope you believe it. I have heard that you are some kind of witch or something? If so, I hope you can help. I am going to write down everything that happened to me after I left New Bangor and a detail or two about some things before. Hopefully it can give you a clue or at least a bit of clarity on my situation."
After that, the pages were a recounting of what Atomos had been up to after her flight from the city of God's Army. The Oath of Iron, the encounter with Astor in the eye of the hurricane, meeting Cheena while running from the "devil hunters," and the meeting with and slaughter of the poor young foxes family at the hands of God's Army and something Atomos referred to as "stalker." She had begun to write about a being who called itself Horace and his "watcher" when the writing simply stopped mid-sentence. Helen blinked and turned the page over before looking to the fox sitting neatly on the table. The notes were filled with references to someone named "Cheena" and "Red" and "Mikko." From the description, Helen could piece together a bit. Grandfather foxes were a rare and wise breed, and Mikko had been the patron of several long dead tribal sects. At some point, Atomos had got her self entangled with old magic, even before running afoul of the archbishop of God's Army.
Helen had read the note carefully, regarding every detail with curiosity. As she did the fox remained there at her side, surprised at what the note revealed. "That explains the aura, and why you didn't seem to be present even though Larion has likely been waiting out there the whole time..." she said, and as the note went on she went a bit pale.
"The...the watcher and the archbishop. Gods, the kind of things you've accidentally gotten tangled in." she said, looking back to her with that mask active, scrutinizing the aura carefully. She quickly discerned that the magic was tied with the same presence that had originally caused her mutations, at least that was her best guess. But something seemed different about it, some manner of dark magic maintaining a seal on her even though the original foundation for it seemed to be absent. The implication of this, that this "Mikko" was no longer present, gave her a renewed worry.
Through the worry though was the matter at hand. Helen skimmed over the story again. As much as Atomos wanted to think she'd given enough details, the truth was that almost none of it gave much insight into the curse itself. What Helen knew for certain was this; First, it had been laid on by a powerful being. Second, the curse was an effect on the woman's aspect and not her spirit. Third, and finally, it wasn't permanent. If anything, being at the center seemed to have weakened it somewhat. It had to have something to latch onto and something about the center loosened the curses hold. If the curse was tied into some kind of identity crisis, which it seemed to be, there could be a combination of things acting on it. Helen dove into old teachings, things she hadn't had need of for a long time.
"You changed back in a time of need, defending the center." She mused, "That at least gives us a good clue to go off of. Think of a curse like a length of chain with weights attached to it held at several points with a padlock. Now say one of those locks slips or opens up." Atomos nodded enthusiastically, she could understand the analogy easily. "Now you've already slipped some of the locks, but there are still a few in place. I'm afraid this isn't something I can just wave a wand and fix, often it's like this with curses. You have to lift them yourself... Now this grandfather fox, Red, claimed you were having some kind of crisis?"
Atomos shuffled from one foot to the other. This line of questioning wasn't entirely unexpected, but she still hadn't wanted to go down it's road with a stranger. It occurred to her then though, that doing so might be the key she needed to pop that last metaphorical lock.
Helen then hmmed a bit at that, considering her options. The more she thought about it, the less likely she'd be able to fix it in any other manner. Without Mikko there she would need much stronger magic to unbind it and restore Atomos than anything at her disposal. Almost as strong as the kind of magic needed to unravel and destroy the alterations entirely. That'd restore her to human form outright, but even if it was anything she had the power to do, it'd likely destroy the spirit being used as a binding in Mikko's place. Not to mention risk harming Atomos' soul too.
"It might help then...to seek others to talk you through this, if possible. Any friends..." she said, pondering this. "If I even knew your name..."
The fox hopped down off the table and circled the room thoughtfully. Helen got the feeling that it was thinking about the problem. Then, Atomos approached the footlocker and fiddled with the latches as best she could. Inside would be her old ID, passport, and a few old photos and letters addressed to her. She hadn't thought about them in what felt like ages. She couldn't get the latches, but did manage the little button above the lock by bumping it with the top of her head. She was about to give up when Helen got the idea and flipped up the two latches with a practiced flick of the wrists.
Inside, put back away neatly after Cheena's rampant examination of just about everything to do with Atomos, were a variety of belongings. Atomos jumped into the box and started digging, carefully removing articles of clothing with her teeth or flinging less important things out of the footlocker entirely until she came up with a small stack of envelopes and a plastic card that anyone of driving age before the Cataclysm would recognize. A driver's license bearing the image of a bored looking blond girl much like the one that had appeared on the field out front and snatched Helens hammer, and to the side of the picture was the name "Barrowfield, A. Jennifer."
Though Helen, like a lot of mage hunters, had been distant enough from civilization to have not learned to drive, she knew what it was all the same. "Jennifer...I'm glad to meet you, even if I wish it had been under more conventional circumstances. The name's Helen." she answered. She suspected, perhaps guessed, that such an introduction would restore a hint of normalcy to this ordeal, which might assist in undoing this "lock" Jenny needed to deal with.
"'Atomos' is just a nickname then?" Helen asked, sitting on the floor with the fox. She had to consciously stop herself from reaching out and stroking the luxurious fur. Such an act might in fact reinforce the curse, but Helen wasn't really certain. Jenny shook her head vigorously, another uncharacteristically human gesture. Helen thought about it and hit on an idea. "A callsign or a codename then?" At that, Atomos nodded enthusiastically. A code name assigned as part of a cover up, and then made to look like her own idea.
"Then I suppose no one else knows your name? Your friends? people you care about?" Helen asked. Atomos shook her head. No one knew except for her commanding officer, the one friend she had who'd survived the vault, and now God's Army. "Then we should tell the others! It won't hurt, and it most certainly will help. You can't know yourself if no one else knows you."
Jenny liked the idea, she was sick of hiding behind Atomos. Besides, she knew it would piss off her commanding officer. Helen smiled a bit at that. "Alright. I'll go ahead and explain that you haven't been feeling well, since they're worried about you..." she said, the fox giving a peculiarly intelligent nod at that, before the mage hunter left the room to tell the others.
Horace and Abraham rode on, the gunslinger taking the time to examine Horace, what little he could glean from observation. He blinked, closing one eye as the other, a small orb of gold, perceived not with regular sight but peculiar senses. The cloak around the knight of the veil he readily determined had some manner of magic about it, and the axe utterly reeked of it. Beyond that he could discern nothing else, having to open his good eye again soon enough, guiding his horse along the road behind Horace's own steed.
Horace glanced over at Abraham, "For one who claimed to not care much for 'hoodoo'. You certainly got an eye for it." He said, unaware of the pun. "Ha-dee-fuckin'-hah. Christ, nothin' gets past you." The gunslinger growled, gripping the reins. Horace would of rolled his eyes if he had any, even then, his body language gave the intention well enough.
Horace hmmed a bit, looking towards the desolate city in the distance. There was life to be found there, sure. But not any sort he'd care to encounter. He then focused his thoughts. Watcher. You spoke of protection, previously. What, aside from teleporting and doing something to portals, can this thing do?
The Veiled King shifted his attention again, seemingly putting his ever-distant focus on the aura of malice that hung over Abaddon. Its effect on disrupting instabilities is the main thing you should be concerned about. But there are certain hazards often tied to portals, and that is the purpose for what I spoke of. Beyond that, I know some of my chosen used its disruptive effect for more destructive purposes. Another time, perhaps...
Soon however, to their relief they had made it to the outskirts of New Bangor, with the portal now clearly in sight. To their relief, God's Army was still in a state of chaos, and the area around the city was not as heavily patrolled as it once was. Part of the reason why could be seen clearly enough though, from the strange shifting creatures of endless eyes and fanged maws, flitting about and circling the area over the portal like vultures.
Horace sighed, "Gods above and below. Gunslinger, how are you with these creatures?" he said, drawing the bearded axe. Abraham just smirked a bit, drawing his mare's leg and looking up. "Like shootin' clay pigeons, my boy." he said, waiting until they had closed in enough that the creatures looked as though they had taken notice of them, before a round sent one of them screeching and scrambling to pull itself out of a dive,
A kreck lunged at the horse, only to be gripped by it's skull by a gauntlet. Horace squeezed, until it cracked inwards. He threw the corpse to the dirt, as it melted. "Watch yourself." He growled, staying alert.
The gunslinger drew his pistol and calmly fired a shot into a mi-go as it flitted towards him, keeping his mare's leg aimed high to send the faltering polyp creature crashing out of the sky, before a first shot from the rifle did the same the the second one of the creatures to dive at them. "I got ya, take care of yer own business." he remarked, Horace raising the axe and setting his horse into a gallop, runes all aglow as he set his sights on the portal.
Through his senses, Horace could see the outlines of the portal, the instability practically radiating from it. Yet compared to how strong that sense of instability was from much farther away, only a few days ago, this was downright mild in comparison despite being much closer. It was waning, settling, stabilizing. And that meant time was close to running out to seal it properly. But Horace could sense an almost instinctive drive channeled through the axe, the closer he got. A sense of gestures, of focusing power through the axe and closing in until the portal itself practically engulfed him, only to unleash that power to strike at the right moment.
When Horace neared the portal, the energy radiating from the axe resonated with the portal. At first, the effects were barely even apparent. The steady settling of its energy halted, fixed as it was then and there. A mi-go leaped at Horace only to be cloven into two twitching halves. Whether it reacted on mere alien instinct or somehow knew what was about to happen, it'd be hard to tell. He raised the weapon, feeling it crackle with lightning, driving his horse into a charge at the foggy, rippling surface of the portal. This had better work, Watcher... he thought, and as he charged through the portal, blade meeting its surface...
The next thing he knew, his steed was slowing into a steady trot, across the ground that the rift had formerly engulfed. His axe was still glowing brilliantly with peculiar power, but now the tension pervading the area faded all at once, and the abominations circling overhead abruptly scattered, fleeing in all directions. It was the gunslinger that broke the silence first. "I've got a bad feelin' about this..."
"The parasite is stirring. It will come to investigate the rift and feed. It would be wise to leave."
The wind stirred and died, then silence fell. It was possible to hear motors running from the distant city, and even the clamor of New Bangor's few remaining living residents. Then all at once a new rift, appearing as a field of stars big enough to move a building through, opened and just as suddenly closed again.
The light of day, could not pierce the darkness beneath the newcomer's hood.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 15, 2018, 01:18:56 am
Anton took the freshly sharpened knife from Charles. Plucking a fresh onion from the basket with his other hand he began. Removing the skin with a practiced efficiency Anton let Charles swipe up the waste and throw it into a bucket as he halved the onion. From there he started chopping it as Aaron and Gunnar skinned and butchered a trio of rabbits they’d hunted.
Charles handed Anton the next vegetable to cut before sliding a clean metal bowl across the floor. Aaron caught it with his foot and kicked it up and onto the table before depositing a large chunk of rabbit into it. Gunnar set the skin of the animals aside for future use in a bucket that Charles placed on his right as Anton tossed Aaron another knife as requested.
Catching it by the handle he returned to his work as Charles made a note on a chalkboard to sharpen the other knife. As he grabbed a small container of cooking oil Charles asked “If I could inquire, where exactly did you get a sword Anton?”
Cutting a potato into large chunks Anton said “My father was considered of high enough rank to bear a sword. I’ve carried it since I was sent away to America with Eino and our mother and chose to actually use it when repaying my father’s debt to..well our friend’s order. I’ve no clue what it’s actually named.” sliding the quartet of cut potatoes into a bowl he grabbed a carrot and started removing its skin.
Aaron shook his head as he threw the first of the fully butchered carcasses out the window and said “Ah. My father always said there was something about you and your brother. ‘Think their too good to do whats needed’ he’d complain about you. But I saw Eino at work even before all of this mess started. You as well. We’d never have found some of our..more intelligent prey if not for your help.”
Charles nodded as he tossed the onions into a pan he’d melted butter in. “I’ve seen everyone here do good work. And bad, but that came with inexperience. Hell I’m the youngest here so I’ve still got some learning to do.” he said. Noticing the onions were cooked well enough he put them aside and put in some of the cut meat as Anton slid the potatoes into a boiling pot of water.
Anton smiled underneath the cloth that covered the lower half of his face. He had found that Charles underestimated himself too often. That being said it was endearing how humble he tried to be when it came to everything except his blacksmithing. The last time Aaron had questioned the quality of his repairs Charles had shouted him out of the village for a couple of days.
Nudging Charles’ arm Anton motioned towards Liam with his head. Nodding in return Charles walked over and gently woke Liam up. Anton watched for a moment before returning to cutting up vegetables.
Even though Liam was 28 he was still the second youngest of the group. Anton had always thought of him as another younger brother. He’d gone out of his way to talk with him and made sure he was welcome in his home. He only wished he could help with the nightmares the kid had all the time.
As Liam started waking up Charles returned to cooking the meat. After a few more minutes Gunnar picked up the bucket of skins and walked outside to begin preparing those for tanning. Aaron handed the bowl of meat to Charles before washing his hands and the knives that had been used. Putting his own knife aside Anton settled in to wait for their dinner to be done.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 15, 2018, 09:43:15 am
Dee tapped casually at the keyboard on the laptop that he now considered to be Medeina's main interface. A few years ago, it had been home to his workstation. Most of those utilities and most of the others, his apps, games, and most especially his porn, had been totally wiped out by the panicking AI in it's attempt to find a safe and suitable hard drive. In that mad rush, Medeina had swept through the farms connected Laptops, devices, and robots like a virus burning out each in sequence until returning to the only computer capable of holding her. Now Dee needed the use of what little remained of the computers original programming to check up on something he hadn't checked on in ages, but should have been doing regularly.
"What'chya doin' Dee?" Nathaniel said, standing just outside the workshops big garage door. The man walked awkwardly, like he was in pain. If asked, and Dee had asked, it was because Lilith just wouldn't leave him be. After the treatment at the center, Lilith took the opportunity to corner the man at least once a day. Sharlene was getting awfully tired of it as well but there was little either of them could really do about it.
"Checking the network my dude, or at least trying to. Been trying to ping the repeater we set up a few years back and it is returning them, but I can't seem to access anything besides the centers intranet. I think we're in the dark buddy." Dee said, "but you know, books are the future anyway. Books don't have built in obsolescence. They don't break down just because some shitty corporation says they should just to sell more. Look at this thing."
Dee brought out an older laptop, one of the ones Medeina hadn't burned out. It had teeth marks and chocolate stains on it's aluminum polymer case. "This was Catnip's. Things dead, hard drive failure. The hard books are supposed to last decades, or so they say, but this thing went all of a out six or seven years. Catnip hardly used the thing except to look at memes she didn't understand or play solitaire. I'm tellin' ya Nate, books. Books equal knowledge. It's what we're gonna have to build off of. Even the centers intranet is gonna be gone eventually. Medeina gave it five years, remember."
Nathaniel scratched his neck pondered. Dee's little slice of the internet was gone. It wasn't great that it had happened, but it was one of those things that had got progressively worse as time had gone on until there really wasn't much to see. He also thought Dee was probably right about the books too. It would be better for kids in the post cataclysm, maybe, anyway. Speaking of which.
"Where's Mica at?" Nathaniel asked. Lilith hadn't come to him that morning and that was, he assumed, because she was busy looking for Mica. The two had gotten into some kind of argument after Mica and Dee had left Catnip's the day before which ended with Mica blinding Lilith by wrapping her head in a thick layer of sticky silk and running off. Lilith was still understandably pissed, to say the least. Dee cocked a finger to something hanging in the corner of the room and Nathaniel followed it.
"Hanging out." Dee said simply. In the corner was Mica, dangling from a rope of silk anchored to the ceiling and wrapped around her waist and arms. "No clue how she managed it, but she's not getting out on her own."
"Lizaaaaard..." Mica moaned, "Can My-ka come down now?"
"Naw babe, you're too crazy right now. Just hang in there for a bit, at least until Lilith calms down." He said. He reached out and gave Mica's foot a push, setting her rotating on the end of the line.
"Are you sure it's alright to just leave her like that Dee? It seems kind of uh... Cruel?"
"Yes! Cruel lizard! Cruel lizard leavin' My-ka to swing! Cruel-" Mica started, gaining a bit of stridence before she shifted her weight and flipped over. "Eh? Lizaaaaard! My-ka is upside down! Turn My-ka over!"
Mica continued to turn and kick frantically, and Dee went on letting her do it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 15, 2018, 12:24:55 pm
(The return of color coded dialogue due to reasons that will be apparent in the post...)
The scene at walkerville was mostly what Eris expected as she walked around inspecting the place. Mislings working hard at their respective jobs with patrols here and there from armed men and women of both human and mutant kind. Now one had questioned them or their motives yet which quite surprised and amused Eris give the circumstances; she knew quite well of walkervilles defensive capabilities and of the individuals there she shouldn’t mess with but this was an obvious oversight in this part.
The masked man and woman walked by uninterrupted until they reached the backdoor of Roxanne’s room. It was then Eris noticed something odd. There was a feeling of dread in the air as if something serious nearby had happened or was happening; she didn’t know about any of the events at the center or with any individual here so she simply shrugged it off and continued with her objectives. Trying to look as discreet as possible Eris stood in front of the door as Leonard kept an eye around; she took out a keychain and tried one of the keys she had on the lock.
*click click*
The door wouldn’t open.
“What the? What’s going on?”, Eris whispered to herself still trying to keep her image as a mute in case anyone noticed them. She tried the lock a few times more but to no avail. Frustrated, Eris gave up and put the keys away.
“It’s a bust, can’t go in…”, Eris whispered to Leonard.
“What do you mean, aren’t this ke-“, Leonard responded before being silenced with a loud hush from Eris.
“Shhhh! Someone might be listening! It’s a bust ok? I will deal with it later… for now we will head to The Hall and take care of business there.”
“As you wish Mistress.”
“And can you stop calling me that? It’s weird…”
“Then what should I call you?”
“Eris is fine… No need for titles.”
“Any last name?”
“Last name? Uhhh… How about Gray? Eris Gray?”
“And how about myself?”
“You will be Leonard Millers.”
“Understood Lady Gray.”
“My name is Er- Whatever, just get in the bike and let’s go to The Hall.”
The two made their way back to the motorcycle they had arrived in and promptly got on. Eris was the driver and Leonard rode in the back portion holding on to her by the waste.
“Keep those hands where I can see them.”, Eris teased.
“As you command Eris.”
At this Eris frowned underneath her mask. “You are no fun…”
With that brief exchange over Eris turned on the engine of her motorcycle and the two rode of towards The Hall. Of course the journey didn’t take long at all and the two soon found themselves at their destination. They got of the bike and made their way towards Helen and Victor’s quarters being cautious to nit be detected.
“Eris, what do we do about those mask that can see through walls?”, Leonard ask.
“It will be fine.”, Eris responded, “Our masks nullify clairvoyance so they happen to be using them now they won’t notice us.”
After sneaking about a bit, Eris and Leonard were at the door of the room they intended to go. “I pray that Helen isn’t there… Will make things so much easier.”, Eris whispered to Herself. Leonard places a hand on the grip of one of his revolvers and stepped forward to knock on the door.
*knock knock knock*
The sudden knocking on the door startled Victor. What was worse is that his aura spell could not pick up anyone behind the door and the aura’s of everyone else were accounted for. Thomas was under the care of Solomon at Victor’s requests so that he may run some test unimpeded so that wasn’t a variable in this. Ever so weary, Victor put on his laser gauntlet and aimed it at the door.
Who is that?, Victor asked nervously. No answer, instead he simply heard more knocking. He gulped hard while keeping his gauntlet pointed at the door. Answer me or I am not opening the door.
“An old friend of yours wants to talk to you Ironwood. I am her interpreter Leonard, she has come a long way so the least you could is at least hear what she has to say don’t you think?”, Said a masculine voice
Victor chuckled a bit to himself. Oh really? How do I not know this is not an ambush?
“Because if it was we wouldn’t have knocked on the door. We mean no harm, we just want to talk.”
Victor nodded to himself as he realized they had a point but he had one more question. “Alright… but how do I know there aren’t more people with you? There is a sound spell in this room which would ease an ambush and since I can’t detect you with my aura spell…”
“A valid concern, however, this place house many people and if more than just the two of came here we would surely be noticed. As for the sound and aura spell, we know of both of them; the first is of no concern to us and we apologize for the second, it was a necessary precaution.”
“Precaution from what?”
“Why don’t you open the door and find out?”
At this point Victor felt he had no choice; if he cried out for help these people might just hurt the other. Thomas wasn’t here so if they made a move only he would be hurt. With this in mind Victor stepped back from the door until his back touched the wall facing the door; with a flick of his wrist the door slowly opened to reveal the masked man and woman.
Victor still had his gauntlet aimed at Eris and Leonard, the reaction of the latter was to reach for one of his revolvers and aim aim it at Victor fearing he would make the first shot. At the sight of this, Eris reached and grabbed Leonards arm pulling him away. “Leo no! Stop that, we aren’t here for that!”
That voice, it was unmistakable. Victor lowered his gauntlet and look at Eris with confusion. Leonard lowered and holstered his revolver. “I am so sorry Eris. I just tho-”
“J-just go and guard the bike ok? You just made me give up my identity… Victor here probably knows who I am already..”
“As you wish.” With that Leonard excused himself and waited outside closing the door behind once he exited. Eris and Victor were left alone in the room. She gave a deep sigh while Victor just eyed here suspiciously.
“Care to explain? Just what the hell are you doing?”, Victor asked both irritated and confused. He crossed his arms and waited for her answer.
“You know… I want to talk to you…”, Eris responded.
“No that! This whole show you just made. What’s up with the mask anyways? Answer me Luna.”
“Heh, so you did figure me out huh? I can explain...” “Eris” gave another deep sigh before stepping back. “Before I take off my mask, don’t ask questions… I will explain everything… ok?”
“Oh god… what did you do this time Roxanne?”
“You will see...” Roxanne took off the hood from the cloak she was wearing letting her hair flow freely and then slowly took of the mask. She stared directly at Victor, their eyes locking. At the sight of Roxanne’s bright pink eyes enveloped in black Victor took a step back in shock. Then he noticed the black tattoos circling her eyes and going down here eyes to her neck. She was wearing a one piece leather track suit under her cloak and it nice concealed her other tattoos. “Am I really that ugly now?”
“What? No...” Victor responded nervously. “You look the same as always but… it’s just surprising that’s all...”
“Same as always?”, Roxanne teased.
“You know what I mean. Anyways, what is this about an explanation?”
“Right right… this is going to be a long one... ” Roxanne looked around and sat on a chair nearby. She then looked back at Victor, the expression on her face signaling how this was bothering her. “Got anything to drink? Some coffee maybe? We should make this as smooth as possible.”
“Uhhh, sure. I have some iced coffee mix if that is to your liking.”
“That works. Make one for me and one for yourself.”
“Wait, can ghosts even drink coffee?”
“This one can.”, Roxanne answered pointing to herself. Victor noded and prepared two cups of coffee and some extra in case she requested a refill. He grabbed the two cups and offered one to Roxanne before grabbing a chair and sitting adjacent to her. At first there weren’t any word from either of them; they both just sat back and sipped on their coffee. Roxanne looked down on her cup and smiled before breaking the silence.
“Ah how I missed this… it’s been years...”
“Missed this? What do you mean?”
“Years ago you and I used to this pretty much daily. We exchanged note, talked about gossip around the place, and just generally talked.”
“Huh, did we now?”
“Yup, you would prepare me a cup of coffee, come to my door at around noon and we would talk for like an hour.”
“Why did we stop?”
“Well, I got together with Hector and you said it was now weird for you to visit me given I was now a taken woman.”
“Well... You know, makes sense.”
“Yeah but then I had to make my own coffee and that was now fun… Those were more innocent times… and also much darker...”
“Darker? How so?”
Roxanne ignored that question for the moment instead sipping more of her coffee. She then looked off into the distance at seemingly nothing for a few moments before snapping back and continuing with the conversation. “Well, guess that ties in nicely with what I wanted to talk about...”
“And what would that be?”
“Well, about us, the past and future.”
“Excuse me what?”
“Shut up and listen for a moment. It makes sense in context.”
With that Victor stopped talking, more due to intrigue than anything else.
“You know about this world’s version of me right? Your former friend who died on the battlefield?”
“Yeah, what about her?”
“Well, this begins there… Long before I came into the picture. I have some of your memories of her after all.”
“Sorry to interrupt why I have been wondering. Why did you not share those memories with me?”
Roxanne shrugged. “Didn’t think it was important. Besides, some of them might taint your perspective on things in ways I am sure Helen would not appreciate...”
“I see… go on then...”
“[Anyways. You and blackmore were rather close for what I gathered. Now before you ask, no, not romantically. She saw herself as a too much of a free spirit to even consider a relationship and you saw her as ‘impure’ so neither of you even considered it.”
“Impure?”
“I am getting there. God Victor, you are so impatient...”
“Sorry, I will keep quiet now...”
“Anyways. What is relevant is that you two were sorta normal, all things considered, and your friendship grew due to being forced to interact due to SoA. Both of you had affinity and entered in the arcane so it was only a matter of time once some trust had been established that the two of you would venture into collaboration projects. Using SoA’s resources you both experimented with various things and learned quite a lot. However, given your track record, it was a matter of time something went wrong eventually...”
Roxanne gave another deep sigh and sipped more of her coffee before continuing. “This next bit is somewhat fuzzy but I will explain the best I can. So one day Blackmore comes to you with this new thing she discovered in her line of work and asks you to help her with another project. Seemed normal but something went wrong. I am not sure what but you two pissed off forced that should not be messed with and with that a curse was laid on you. Both of you and your offspring down the line would be cursed with no-existence after death. Neither of you would be subject to the reincarnation cycle or be in the after life. This single event changed the both of you.”
“How did it change you you ask? Well, both of you became more reckless in life and work in general. There was a feeling none of it mattered in the end and you were technically right. At first the two of you worked towards trying to lift it but that never worked. She eventually gave up but you did not. Now, Blackmore became detached, she lived her life in the moment having accepted her fate. You on the other hand, too on to more and more dangerous experiments; this is where your reputation as a fuckup started. While most of your work succeeded, when it didn’t it failed spectacularly. Even Blackmore urge you to stop but you didn’t listen.”
“Now, it changed you too in one other way. The experiment that messed the both of you was one to acquire power, transcend the limits of humanity; a violation of SoA’s code. When it backfired, you latched onto that code almost religiously. You saw any attempt at transcendence as heresy from your own experience. Augmentations, Mutations, both sins in your eyes. But blame the sin not the sinner is what you would say on the matter.
“The years passed and eventually the cataclysm hit. The two of you stroked out on your own for a while living as nomads until you found that one arcane mess of a stronghold. You know the rest… that once day it all went to shit… the day Helen came and killed Blackmore… And from that is where I come in...”
“You? How?”
“Wellm after her death you were kinda in denial about it and around that time is when I started broadcasting to any one out there to come to walkerville. You heard the message and in grief induced delusion latched onto me as if I was Blackmore. You used me in that respect for a while.”
“Oh… So I did...”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I didn’t use you either. After learning of the existence of our alts I used you as a way to bolster my own ego. You were living proof that I was better than Blackmore. I was not only alive and she wasn’t, but even her best friend choose me over her. That was the logic I went by… It was a mutually parasitic relationship we both had going since the very start… and it didn’t change much from there...”
“That is what I am trying to get at. Times changed, things happened, people came and went but neither of us changed our ways. We both continued using each other, we knew we had one another to experiment on. You would use me as your personal material gather and I would keep you around to feed off your knowledge and make thing for me. I didn’t need to learn the arcane because you were there to make it happen for me. You didn’t need to work for getting new artifacts or material because I would happily do it for you. Are you getting the picture? This has been going on for years… It part of the reason neither of us really go on adventure with our significant other but instead opt to fo with each other; there is a mutual understanding of greed and decipt that neither Hector and Helen could fulfill… Well, at least there was...”
Roxanne stopped talking for a moment and finished the last of her coffee. She asked Victor for another cup and he filled his own as well. The two were visibly shaken, he from what he was learning and she from what she was finally admitting.
“This is how it’s always been. A friendship of interest. Even as I augmented myself more, as I delved into mutations; as I went against your core beliefs, you did not care. You were still able to use me. Those few moments we helped each other? We didn’t want to lose our our tool. Hell you saw my death as a failure, if you couldn’t keep Blackmore alive, you would be damned if I was going to be a repeat of that. But things changed...”
“We eventually learned that when I arrived here I also inherited the curse you and Blackmore had… by then you were already cured as your soul had been recycled and Blackmore...well she was brought back and killed again… her curse was over and probably granted an afterlife. I was the only one left with it and your old instinct of trying to cure it kicked it in… Once fateful day we went to a cave to do a mundane ritual due to some issue I was having. We learned of Blackmore and co’s death and fough some unknown forces… You don’t remember this because I specifically kept it from you but you were given the chance t end the curse for good...and you took it...”
“Just as Blackmore had been killed and brought back you sought to do the same to me. I lost the battle Victor and was dying; so you finished me off and fetched my soul using a ritual to this day I am not sure what was about… That is how I ended up being a spirit trapped inside a soul. I was forever changed, my curse lifted and to you that is all that matter… and truthfully I didn’t care, hell, I thought it was cool.”
“Our parasitic tendencies continued, you know had a personal spirit to do your bidding and I used you to understand myself and acquire more power. Things would’ve continued as normal if it hadn't been for your little accident… the accident where your lost your memories… You changed there and then, our little gimmick had ended as you had no context about it. I tried to mold you by giving you memories; at first to earn your trust back but eventually I would try to mold you back into what you were… With no bagga about the ritual or the curse you no longer held any animosity towards mutations and augmentations. You had no need for me and that was what ticked me off the most; I had lost my main source of arcane knowledge to an accident. So that was my plan… to convert you, hell, I could still do it right now...just one memory Victor… just one and it all would return to normal… you read the note as I had planned… the seeds had all been planted...”
Victor started to get warry, Roxanne’s words no concerning him a bit. He summoned the shadows in the room on stand by and activated his laser gauntlet just in case. Roxanne just smirked and placed a hand on your shoulder to reassure him. “Don’t worry. I am not going to do that. I too have changed in this little two week vacation of mine. It has to do with the tattoos I have now; I would let you see them to explain better but for obvious reasons that is a no go… Anyways… this is what happened...”
Roxanne went on to explain the events in Plague’s tower. How she meet up with some people. She told them their names and abilities but not their significance as that would surely derail the conversation. Other than that she spared no detail; she told him about Plague and how he had been manipulating her, how he tried to assimilate her and in the end she acquired three of the four pieces. Then she told him how Lucy came and “fixed” her, the topic of Lucy was easy to explain once Victor informed her she had visited him too; how the tattoos were seals on her and the four ways she could die. Roxanne didn’t mention how Void and Coalescence saw her as their mother instead saying they were in control.
“So that is what happened… I have the pieces and the katar with me hidden under the cloak… I am now sealed with these tattoos and have come back… well sorta...”
“Well… that explains that but… what about this whole get up of yours Miss ‘Eris’...”
Roxanne laughed a little under her breath before giving an exaggerated gasp.“Not only was my physical nature changed… so was my mind and very soul altered… The mask I wear right now blocks clairvoyance so that is why you couldn’t see me with your aura spell but you can see me now right?”
“Yes I can… your aura is a bit different than last time I felt it but I can tell it is you...”
“Alright… now, let me show you something… Victor, look into my eyes...” Roxanne leaned in a bit and stared at Victor right in the eyes. He was unnerved a bit by her unnatural eye colors but he did as she told him. Then he found himself feeling rather calm, almost in a trance. He recognized the feeling as how Lucy managed to calm him down in her visit; he didn’t struggle as he was curious what Roxanne would do. Just as the trance would fully take place, about 5 second of starring, Roxanne blinked and when she opened her eyes again Victor was taken aback again. Her aura had changed slightly again and when he looked back… Roxanne now had bright purple eyes surrounded by the black.
“Hello Victor… long time no see...”
Victor was utterly confused but he managed to put the pieces together. Roxanne’s tone of voice had changed from being an energetic woman to that of one of refined taste and precision. “B-Blackmore?”
“Good, so I see your memory loss did not hinder your deduction skills… but I must say, you are not entirely correct.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, let me begin by saying who you knew as Luna and Blackmore no longer exist… We have become one you see? Luna and Blackmore are but alter egos of the same person. We are Roxanne… one in the same.”
“W-wait what? What are you talking about?”
“Oh Victor… never one to work quickly under pressure. Luna, care to take over? Not like you have much choice, you know, being me and all...”
Roxanne blinked again and her eyes returned to their pink color. “Heh, surprised? Let me explain. When Lucy ‘fixed’ me, I was fragmented from having two pieces of the puzzle stripped away from me. So what she did is she gathered all fragments of information of me and reconstructed me as Assimilation and sealed me in my Katar becoming one of the pieces myself… well… Blackmore is another version of me… she is my information in that respect so she got bundled into the mix...”
“But.. She is dead...” Victor pointed out still rather confused.
“Oh Victor… no one truly dies… we all leave a trail...Even if that trail is just dust...”
“And this changed you in your attitude how?”
“Well, having Blackmore’s perspective on the manner and what I experienced made me realize just how stupid I was. You and I have now both changed dramatically and clinging onto old ideals… especially ones as toxic as ours, is wrong… Victor, I come here to make a proposal with you… Eris here, my alter ego for Blackmore and I Luna want to ask you something...”
“And what would that be?”
Roxanne stood up and put back her mask. “Victor, how about we start over? Forget the past and our old ways. Move on finally from what tied us down…” Roxanne extended her hand to Victor. “My name is Roxanne Eris Gray… Nice to meet you.”
For a moment Victor was stunned, not sure what to say or react. Soon enough he regained his composure and what Roxanne said started to sink in. He smiled and stood up himself accepting Roxanne’s hand in a firm handshake. “My name is Victor Ironwood. Nice to meet you too.”
Roxanne exited Victor’s room with her mask still on. Leonard was waiting for her outside not having hear a word due to the sound spell. “How did it go? Did he accept?”
“My my Leonard. Calm down… I didn’t bring up the proposal yet. No need to rush things. Besides, I have things I need to look at… Go back to the convoy and tell them to go back… apparently something is going down at the center or something… Helen apparently had to deal with it, I don’t understand but the last thing we want is to add more to her plate… I will take care of what needs to be done alone...”
“Beside… I have lots of explaining to do to Hector and the others...hmm, I wonder how Jim is doing...”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 15, 2018, 07:54:37 pm
(( Roxanne stuff written with Noct. ))
Helen gave a nod to Larion as as she exited the room. "Jennifer will be alright, but she's been through a lot. Still a bit out of it and exhausted, it'll take a bit before she's ready to speak with the captain..."
"So that's her name." Larion said, glancing back to the mage hunter. "I don't need you lying to me. Caught a glimpse in the room while you were barging in. Didn't see her, and there was scratching at the door." he pointed out.
"Short answer? Magic." Helen said, and Larion glowered at her. "I guessed as much. Captain made it public enough that those undead back at Site 4 weren't normal. Whole place wasn't normal, ever since that science team got shipped over." he practically spat out. "But...please, I don't care if it'll go right over my head, use whatever term for her situation your group would use. Calling it 'magic' just sounds moronic."
Helen gave a little sigh at that, before answering. "Alright. A spiritual entity used as the catalyst for a binding transformative effect." she stated, and Larion looked away. "I...I'm not going to pretend I understood all of that, nor its implications. But thank you..." he said.
"Fucking hell...if Leila was here, she'd want to be present for this." he said, Helen perking up. "Leila?" she asked, and the marksman nodded. "Friend of hers, it seems. Wasn't my place to bother with whether she knew, if the captain wanted secrecy then it's her responsibility."
"And why did she do that? It seems to me that it wouldn't do much to protect her identity." she said. At that, Larion finally managed to look her in the eye, cracking a wry smile. "Short answer? Protocol." With that, Helen tended to some final business, informing others of the situation before taking her leave for now.
It had been an uneasy two weeks, Hector having kept himself busy nearly all day, and as of the past few days rather late into the night as well. Constant work on the forge, assisting in swordsmanship lessons for Alice as well as the occasional inquisitive young misling. Not to mention frequently checking on the vehicles, forging the occasional replacement tool, even trading a few with the caravan and the center.
It kept his mind at ease, as he hammered a bevel into what would later on be a decent arming sword. It wasn't even to replace his. Despite frequent repairs to the edge, and at least one bit of work to straighten it back out, it was the same sword he scavenged from that mansion, during zero day. By now pretty much the only piece of his equipment that hadn't been either replaced or repaired to the point of being unrecognizable.
Instead, it was something he planned to give to Alice after finishing another lesson, but more than that it kept him focused and alert, despite uneasy sleep over the last week or so.
With Leonard now on his way to do what he was ordered, Roxanne was left to go back to the farm back on foot. She hoped she could sneak back to her room and see if the lock would open this time. Why wasn’t it working if these were her keys?
“Whatever, I’ll deal with it when I get there…”
Roxanne walked her way back from the Hall to the farm. Once she got there she sneaked inside of the radio room making sure she wasn’t caught. The changes to the place took her aback for a bit but still she concentrated on her task. She took out the key ring again and tried opening the front door of her room. No luck, the keys weren’t working. She tried all the keys, even the ones she knew were for other things but no luck.
“What is going on? Why can’t I open the door.”
As soon as she caught herself speaking she hushed herself. She still had her mask on and was passing herself as Eris. Still going with the idea that she was a mute as to not have people guess her identity due to her voice. With urgency and rather clumsily Roxanne went back to try and open the door to her room.
Hector had soon put the beveled piece of steel down somewhere that it could cool safely out of reach of anyone who might not realize it was still hot, putting on his helm and taking up his shield. He thought he saw someone walk by the main entrance to the farm earlier, but he had been busy at the moment, deciding to go check on something.
Carefully he made his way back towards his quarters. Well, his and Roxanne's, a thought that he had to push into he back of his mind. There was a stranger trying the door, evidently unaware of the arcane lock that Roxanne had placed on it. A clever bit of magic, albeit one he had to ask Helen to explain how to operate about a day or two after Roxanne's departure, when he realized she hadn't left a spare key and thus he couldn't lock the door itself.
"What the...hey! Who are you?" he asked, shield not yet raised yet clearly in a position to be ready at any moment, as he approached the masked figure.
Roxanne was too busy fumbling with the door to notice Hector approach. She forgot about the lock spell on the door since her ability to use magic had changed along with her; such ability was lost and she would need to re-learn it. As soon as she heard Hector she stood straight dropping the key ring. She stood there momentarily before slowly turning around; Hector would note her simple wooden mask and the two revolvers visible on her sides. Roxanne tilted her head some and simply stood there.
“Shit shit… this wasn’t how it was supposed to go… what to do… wait, where are the keys?”, Roxanne thought to herself. She looked down and noticed the keys ring on the floor. “Great… this is bad…”
Slowly, Roxanne raised her hands so that Hector could see them while he remained unmoving. She carefully pointed to the keys on the ground and then her hands remained up to show no hostile intent.
Hector scrutinized the figure carefully as he stepped closer, making note of the mask, the revolvers...and the key ring that fell. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure who you are or why you're here, but you seem to have the wrong place, if y-" He stopped himself, realizing something. "Unless you know whose room this is...and who you took those keys from." he said, glowering at the stranger from under his helm.
"Explain yourself. Who are you, what are you doing here, and why were you trying to get into her room?" he demanded, advancing closer. "If it's some personal business involving her, we can talk in private if you must, but if you're here to cause trouble..." he said, giving a wave of his right hand, and a faint click was heard. Or rather, not so much heard as sensed.
Hector’s words resonated with Roxanne as he advanced forwards. She stood still despite herself not sure what to do; this was one of the few times she had been caught while sneaking around. Her improvisation skills in such scenarios were almost non-existent.
“He thinks I am just some intruder… wait, I technically am… hmm… maybe if I continue with this persona…”
With the most raspy and deep voice she could muster, Roxanne pretended to have trouble speaking. “Vo-voice… bad… n-no… hurt... y-you…” SHe kept her arms up hoping Hector would buy her little gamble. She was slightly trembling and almost gave a light shriek as he waved his wrist and the click was heard causing her to gulp hard and step back a little.
Hector hmmed a bit, regarding the figure with caution. Something about the voice made him tense up a bit, still wary of her as he reached to open the door, waving her in. "Go on then. You can write what you need to then. Try to mess with any of Roxanne's belongings and your head will be on the floor before you can draw those pieces, understand?" he said, a bit coldly.
He then closed the door behind them, removing his helm. He was confident it seemed, though the look on his face would betray a certain weariness in his eyes. Roxanne's items still seemed to be just as she left them, and on the desk was a few unfamiliar things. A vial of dull essence, a few extra notes, and a copy of The Six Pillars. "Now. Please, take that mask off."
Roxanne gave a sigh of relief as Hector opened the door and let her in. It wasn’t what she wanted but given the circumstances she would take it. She nodded at him when he told her not to touch anything else. She looked around to find almost everything was the way she remembered it despite the changes outside.
“Ok… I am inside… now just to ge- what?” Roxanne’s train of thought was cut off by Hector’s request. Take her mask off? No, she couldn’t yet. Damn, another unexpected turn of events. She raised her hands again and moved them to show disagreement. In that same raspy voice she said, “N-no… mask...on…”
“This is bad…”, Roxanne thought to herself, “Hector is going to find out sooner or later… what will I even say?”
Hector grumbled a bit at that, glaring at her. The expression he had was readily apparent with that helm off, one that reflected the concern brewing up within. And the absolute fury it was starting to turn to. "You tried to break into Roxanne's room, having evidently stolen her keys, after god-knows-what might've happened to her, and expect me to let you stand around playing masked spook?" he said, glaring at her.
“He isn’t going to budge is he?”, Roxanne thought to herself, “Nope, he is not…. I think we should just reveal ourselves to him… Are you crazy?! Wait… no I think we should… but which one of us should represent us? Well, you are dating him... He is dating the both of us! You are me! God this is weird… having two personalities is gonna be hard to get used to… Fine, I’ll talk to him.”
Roxanne took her hands and slowly placed them behind her back making sure not to make any sudden motions. She took off her hood but kept her hands behind her back. She looked at him and Hector could tell she was looking him in the eyes. Finally using her normal voice Roxanne spoke up. “Why don’t you come and take it off bad boy? Threatening a woman like that…”
At her voice, Hector quite noticeably went a bit pale. "You can't be serious..." he said quietly, and as he reached to remove the mask, still rather wary of the "stranger" before her, he very nearly dropped it on seeing her. "It...it is you." He'd set that shield aside, and rather suddenly pulled her into a tight hug. "Why the hell did you scare me like that!?"
Roxanne kept her hands behind her back smirking a bit under the mask as he noticed his reaction to her voice. She let him take of her mask and was about to make a cheesy joke when he suddenly pulled her in for a hug. It was unexpected but not surprising to her so it only took a moment for her to regain her composure and hug him back.
“I am so sorry, we weren’t supposed to bump into each other yet… I’ve never been caught in an ‘ops’ before so didn’t know how to react… But… I suppose I have some explaining to do huh? It’s written on my face that things happened...quite literally…”
"I see. That...that would be nice, yes. I guess I should mention what I know first, as...that left a lot of unanswered questions." he said, soon mentioning Helen and Victor's probing, discovering which weapons she'd taken, how little other progress they'd made...and what he had fixated on. Helen's evaluation of one possible use for the flesh weapons, and the kind of evocative worst-case scenarios that Hector had been trying to keep from dwelling on ever since then.
Roxanne listened to Hector’s explanation, nodding as she took in what he had to say. He wasn’t wrong it’s just that what actually happened was different. “Well, not far off. It’s a bit simpler than that actually… It started with how most of my bad decisions started… an otherworldly entity contacted me… offered me things and I said yes. It told me to bring it the flesh weapons for what I eventually learned was that someone wanted to combine with them and acquire their power. Who they were doesn’t matter, they are dead, I made sure of that. The flesh weapons are lost for now I am afraid… as for the katar… well, I took that for symbolic reasons… shit…” She realized that she didn’t actually had closure with Rey, at that though she smiled. “And now it’s me… it was a long two weeks…”
As she explained, he seemed increasingly concerned, yet her remarks did alleviate his fears somewhat. "I...I see. It seems we have some catching up to do. And further explanation, huh..." he remarked.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 16, 2018, 07:42:22 am
"Hello Ms. McKinnon." Maskens greeted, "You haven't brought Thomas in for a check-up recently, how is he doing?" Helen, who hadn't expected such a friendly greeting from the normally bitchy doctor, nodded and told her that Thomas was just fine. "Well that's good. I suppose he'll have a little friend his own age soon enough. Who would have thought? But now tell me, you spoke with Atomos?"
Helen took off her mask and sat at an offered seat next to Sylvia and Daniel, and the centers chef hurried over to take her order. As good a place to start as any, she thought.
"Yes, she's sick and exhausted from her trip and wanted me to take a look at some things. I must admit, I haven't encountered her before but-"
The chef stopped Helen and blurted, "You never met Atomos before now? Well shit, she's only one of the most important people to the kitchen here, almost as important as myself or Ms. Leita in there anyway. She provides most of the centers meat and scavenged food stuffs."
"Medication too, don't forget that Lyle." Maskens added into her cup.
"Sure, right important lady to a lot of facets of life here. Most of us were getting worried that she'd been killed or captured doin' whatever it was she was doin' out there..." The chef went on. Listeners nearby we're nodding and talking amongst themselves. Long time residents and visitors relieved over Atomos safe return or worried about the toll the trip may have taken on her. Newcomers asking about this lady everyone was now talking about. Helen took it in for a long moment and understood how the curse could be done away with in this place. Of the people who'd come out of the vault, two of the eight had had a real impact on the people here. Captain "Anquiano" Sandell, and the mysteriously named "Atomos." Jenny had figured out who she was, she just needed those around her to know it too.
"I'll have to give her an examination as soon as possible then. I'll page Mr. Deverish to bring her records over after I'm done here." Maskens said. Helen shook her head.
"No no, she told me herself. She wants to rest awhile. She knows she should get checked out, but she really just wants some rest. In the mean time though, she wanted to get her name out there." The talking at other tables hushed, listening close now. These people were interested, and with good reason. Not many of them talked with the centers ranger, but they all knew of her efforts. Helen figured that there were probably a handful of theories about Atomos name. "It's Jennifer. Jennifer Barrowfield."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 16, 2018, 06:54:37 pm
(( Horace stuff written with Salt. ))
With things finally settled at the center, Helen had started on the walk back to The Hall, and when she arrived she did not stop for long. She'd grabbed a tool from the rack she left a few basic items on. A shovel, and a small chisel. Then, her trip turned into a walk in the woods.
She followed the rough directions, noticing as she went along more and more signs that something had been here frequently. Something intelligent, no doubt. When she came upon the spot by the small lake, she knew she'd found it.
She looked around before finding a decent spot, one that offered a good view of the water without being close enough to end up inundated by heavy rains. She set to work, first digging out a small hole, before she knelt and placed the items in their simple cloth wrapping within. After she covered the items to make a simple, barely-apparent burial mound, she found herself frowning under her mask, looking around before picking up a relatively large, broken stone by the lake's shore.
She suspected that, with so little to bury, it would be an improvement over an unmarked grave, retrieving the small hammer multitool she'd scavenged long ago, along with the chisel she brought along, then started carving. There was nothing she could even think to add to it, nevermind that the stone was not very large and wouldn't have allowed her to engrave much anyway. Instead she carved two simple words. One in Old Norse, one in English.
Quote
ᚴᚱᚬᛁᚾᛅᚱ
BRANCHES
There was a renewed sense of urgency to the distant voice, channeled through the axe. "Do not fight it unless you are forced to. If you have to, use the power that lingers to your fullest advantage..." the watcher whispered, while Abraham winced a bit, opening the lever on his mare's leg. "Coverin' ya, knight boy..."
As Horace quickly turned his horse around, Abraham hastily worked a round directly into the chamber rather than closing it, pivoting to fire a parting shot behind him. "Let's see if the taste of silver is more your style, you fucking space varmint." he growled under his breath, doubting it would even faze the archbishop.
The figure made no move to avoid or deflect, not even a simple recognition that the shot had been thrown. The simple tug of the bullet as it passed through the fabric and then seemingly into empty space to pass out the other side. Like shooting a blanket hung on a line. A result that was even less than what Abraham had expected. The road in front of them was clear, at first, then it began to buckle and rear up.
"RIDE!" Horace shouted, "RIDE OR THE ROAD IS GOING TO SWALLOW US UP!"
"It isn't the road you should worry about, friends." Hissed a jovial voice that seemed to come from somewhere above them. They felt a monstrous presence around them, unseen but for the robed figure. The fleeing men had the feeling that the robe was just a facade, something to focus on while the real being moved about them. With the realization made, Horace could suddenly see. Both of them could. Huge and angular, every part of it. Less of a creature from another world, more of a fragment all on it's own. Every part of it seemed so coldly logical in it's placement, it's body being the very definition of tabula rasa. A blank canvas, a block of marble, a square of clay, all waiting to find shape. To find a deeper form within. Not an eye or a mouth to be seen. It skittered after them on four appendages like inverted pyramids, rolling the road up in front of them as it went, trying to pen them in. In a cage of twisted fingers, bony tendrils, and obscene claws.
Horace could feel the residual energy from the rift being sucked away into the thing. He could feel the pull on himself as well, the thing trying to steal away his very being.
"I would be a fool," the drone around them intoned, "To give you a chance to escape. But I would be a greater fool to allow that bitch an opportunity to intervene again. How about a game, Watcher?" By then, the riders had become mired in loose chunks of asphalt, and the horses beginning to climb up the road instead of simply running on it. Then, it split down the middle. "There's your opening, insects, now flee and make this interesting..."
Abraham was half-tempted to try a round aimed at the thing skittering after them, but just looking at it made it hard to focus. And now with this thing chasing them, he didn't dare look back. Horace, in contrast, could sense it right behind them whether he was looking its way or not, an inevitable downside of his lack of eyes.
That trick the bishop used? Horace thought as he rode on, a plea to the Veiled King. "No. Your blessing is carrying a considerable fragment of the energy that this parasite seeks. And that alone will be insufficient to deplete it...not enough to discourage it." he answered. "Perhaps your second lesson will come sooner than I intended."
Horace knew what that meant, though its meaning may be hidden in distant conversation far from Abaddon. For now he resolved to play this "game" and wait until the time was right.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 18, 2018, 10:55:13 am
Catnip didn't have incisors like most of the Mislings, at least not the same sort, but she still felt the need to chew. Today she gnawwed absently on a thick hardwood dowel, one of many she kept in a little bit next to the door just inside her and Kathrines new pantry. All sorts of nice things in there, including and assortment of dowels. These had been brought all the way from Pricetown and were soaked thoroughly in sweet agave. Mislings would work through one in a day, Catnip took somewhat longer with them as she tried to chew every last drop of flavor from the wood. Kathrine had tried one of the mint ones, but chewing on sticks was unappealing to her for obvious reasons.
"That's alright then." She said to the foreman who'd come to give his reports, "So long as we get a decent supply for winter. People are gonna get awfully sick of fish pretty quick, but once next winter rolls around it's gonna be worth the wait. You guys are releasing two or three or whatever like Minx said?"
"Yes madam Artifex, sustainability is being observed. I'm not really sure why we have to worry so much about it when we have to feed so few, but I won't question it so long as we can still stock up enough to go around." He said. The Misling foreman helped himself to a red chewy candy before returning to his own chewstick. Chewstick would be a big deal for New Paris too, now that it's numbers had been bolstered by the migrants who'd come this far with Catnip. Kathrine offered the man tea and he politely accepted. Catnip was relying on foremen like him to carry out her plans. She could turn to the growing religion that had sprung up from her beliefs, but the Agmenenites were a bit too zealous for simple administration. She wanted to keep Agmen out of her business ventures. Such things would serve to keep construction of her train and the expansion of the chapel going full steam even when she wasn't working on the latter herself.
They sipped tea, talked about fish, chewed sticks, and discussed the future while Catnip put the finishing touches on what looked like a metallic pelvis. Dee had delivered, on a flatcart, several demolished warwalkers for Catnip to look at. Originally, he'd wanted to build a special rig for assembling and testing robotic legs. It turned out he didn't need them. The legs, the entire bodies in fact, of God's Armies warwalkers we're fantastically sophisticated. With a bit of examination and tinkering by a master artificer, or as the Agmenenites said "Artifex," they could be improved further and put into service. As such, progress on Medeina's body was coming along faster than it had in all the previous year.
"You're building a robot madam? I thought you had a phobia?" The foreman asked.
"Don't call me madam and you don't have to be so formal. Yeah, my sister's boyfriend is putting together a ro-butt for some dumb ro-butt lady, so I'm making the parts for him. Ro-butt lady is ok. She doesn't shock people for no reason or do mean things. Minx is helping now too, doing redesigns and stuff. Dee and I had a whole functional design planned out, but apparently it isn't 'elegant'" enough." Catnip explained, giving her eyes an exaggerated roll at saying "elegant."
Kathrine took a seat on a little stool nearby, then moved to sit closer to Catnip when she gave the maid a little wink. "They are working together on a book!" Kathrine said chirpily, handing Catnip a smaller screwdriver than the one she had. The foreman quietly downed the rest of his tea and grabbed another candy, mentioning that he had to be going. At the door though, he stopped and turned the paper on the arm of the living rooms large chair to face him.
"Snake chicks first edition? Can't wait to see for myself. Have a nice day Ms. Walker, Ms. Kathrine."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 18, 2018, 06:28:54 pm
(( Written with Salt's approval. ))
"I have my doubts that you have any intent of playing fair, parasite." the Watcher mused, as an ever-shifting mire of blank surfaces, impossible angles and bony claws watched the two riding off. It could catch up trivially, and there was almost a sense of leisure in its pursuit. "Perhaps, perhaps not. That meddlesome spirit will only make things worse if I don't at least give them the hope of escape."
"Ah yes, the reason behind this last portal." the voice remarked with what seemed to be a rumble of stifled irritation, before its focus on the living hellscape intensified. "And you no doubt think it a mere game, don't you? The chance to feed on the leftovers, versus inflicting suffering now. You are an impudent child."
"And you, an impotent old man." the Eater of Days snapped back, a thousand faceless grins seeming to wash over his unnatural structure. "That's all you are. You can do nothing here, except goad vermin into doing your bidding, something that is trivial for me." he added. "And the dead, it seems...that's what your favored pawn is, isn't it?"
"The nature of my chosen is no concern of yours, parasite." the Watcher intoned, only for a creaking, shifting like the settling of a massive stone structure, to resound in a mimicry of laughter. "That's what you are, isn't it? A god of death, playing at something beyond his domain. You are powerless here."
Then, for but a moment, that presence seemed to intensify. Where Astor gave his victims an obscene sight rife with all the overt wrongness he could force reality to accept, the Watcher's presence was sensed rather than seen, with veiled figures being just as much a facade as the one the Eater of Days used. For a moment, Astor relished the thought of the Watcher over-extending himself enough to feed upon another power. Then, that pervading sense of unease, eternal disquiet and dread, became stifling. Seemingly suffocating to the Eater, for but a moment.
Just like that however, the sensation was gone. "Impotent indeed. You can't, can you? Not without causing more harm than good." he mocked. "That's all you can manage. Nothing but an. Empty. Threat."
"I have what I need already in place. You've already seen what happens when you underestimate mortals. A lesson I took to heart thousands of years ago. Perhaps you will as well." he answered, and the Eater simply scoffed, turning his focus back to the two riders.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 22, 2018, 12:10:33 pm
Illiana looked down at the simple grave Helen had put together with a sense of satisfaction and wry self indulgence. Branches had been impossible for Illiana to keep track of directly except at the end. Illiana had experienced the last of the homunculus's experiences. As planned.
Helen had done very good, even going so far as to wrap the little twig in cloth and set up a little marker for it. Illiana had her own look around the area. Helen's chosen spot was, by coincidence, very close to Branches little "lair." A cave of sorts fashions from a pit covered in thick branches on top of which Branches had laid several tarps and then more branches. Inside was surprisingly dry and surprisingly lived in. Near the back, straddled by what Illiana deduced to be the roofs improvised runoff channels, was a tiny stove and it's chiminy. It was like looking through a single room home in miniature. Even down to the small pile of straw in one corner next to a stack of obviously stolen literature. Above this, Branches had created a small window slot on which the homunculus had placed any number of small objects that interested it. In one corner stood a little ape like statue with one eye.
The last interested Illiana greatly. Like Branches, the automatons it made were completely untracable to Illiana. She could still learn what was most important to her from it though. It was rough, very crude make. For an eye, Branches had affixed a bowl with a black dot drawn on with charcoal. There were smaller ones too, all lacking distinct eyes and in various shapes but all none the less useful. Illiana had seen some of them before wandering around the grounds of Helens hall or pilfering things on Branches behalf. They didn't just steal from Helen and the Hall though. She'd seen them on the farm too.
Illiana laid a hand on the largest of Branches golems and was pleased when it didn't crumble. Instead, it twitched in response to her touch. It was all the proof the Deus Ex needed that the next step and final step of her plan was now in motion. She crawled out of Branches shelter, took a seat near the grave, and waited. At the same time Illiana was beginning her investigation of Branches little homestead, the first of the get well cards was being slid under the door. A simple little hand made card in an unsealed envelope addressed to Jenny. Not Atomos, Jenny. The name on the card was "Connie Bryent." Jenny knew Connie as the greeter lady, the woman who'd hung around in the foyer giving directions and welcoming residents. Two more cards came shortly after from the trade rep and the arsonist scavenger who always seemed to hang around in the same place, making themselves a fixture. A long winded letter came from the centers teacher and signed by the few children he taught. The margins had been covered in little drawings of foxes, and Cheena found it charming.
"Adorable!" She said, "Oh! Another one At- Jenny!"
It wasn't one, it was five. Then six. Atomos heard a sound outside and peeking under the door showed it to be some kind of box. More, there were people waiting outside. Larion, Jenny recognized the subtle smell of his aftershave, and others.
"Can't I just go and set it on her table? Not even for a second? I swear, I'll be in and out no problem. Won't make a sound."
"No, I'm sorry Chef but no one's allowed in. Atomos needs to rest."
"It's Jennifer, Larion. Her name's Jenny."
Jenny moved away from the door. It was the first of several times she would hear an exchange like that. By the time Illiana was finishing up on the shore of the new lake, Jenny was busy tucking herself in. The sun marched across the evening sky, making it's laborious way beyond the horizon and casting long shadows over the new lake. Very soon, Illiana knew, they would be calling it The name given by a certain young chimeric spider who would look on it for the first time when she had grown large with her unlikely pregnancy. "Big water..." She would say. It would be the biggest body of water she'd ever seen until some time later when she would stand hand in hand with her sister, staring out at the vastness of the ocean.
"Of course, Branches will never get to see the ocean." Illiana said out loud, seemingly to no one in particular. "Unless it wakes up."
The stone Helen had placed above the little cairn shifted suddenly, and Illiana smiled broadly at it. The automatons had not crumbled with their master, which could only mean that Helen had been the right choice. The risk of the mage hunter purifying or sanctifying the twig had been very real, but Helen hadn't. She had her own fish to fry and Illiana had put on just enough of a sad mask to get Helen thinking about doing as she was asked. About now, Helen would be realizing the little slip up. Maybe she'd even dismiss it. The little pile of stones toppled and the earth beneath it bulged ever so slightly before a hand pushed up through the loose soil and mud. Helen had buried the focus at just the right depth too. The arm was joined by another, small, thin, and porclain white. The arms, scrabbled wildly before finding purchase and pulled. The earth didn't just rise, it bulged like the belly of a pregnant woman before finally relinquishing it's prisoner.
"Gah!" Branches shouted, erupting from their grave like the undead in a movie. It had lost some mass, being somewhat smaller then it's original body when Illiana had first created it. It spat dirt and grass for a bit and Illiana waited patiently. The Deus Ex reached into a pocket in causality and snatched a towel from the rod where it had languished in towelhood since the start of the cataclysm. When the homunculus had finished coughing up it's grave, she handed it the towel.
"Clean yourself off sweety, you'll want to get the leftover clay before it dries." Illiana said, "you're going to want a more even coating to get back up to size."
"Why'd you bury me?" Branches sniffed, getting a nose full of dirt for the effort. It snatched the towel and began vigorously scrubbing the caked earth from its skin.
"I didn't, Helen did."
"Yeah? I bet you told her to do it to, meany! Why'd she bury me? I thought she wanted to kill me?"
"You don't remember?"
"The last thing I remember before you buried me is talking to some old man across the river..." Branches explained, "well no, I also remember... Being grabbed? Arrested. Why was I arrested?"
"You don't remember being killed then?" Illiana asked, "Going out to try and help and getting blasted?"
"No? I died?" Branches asked, putting down the towel and rising to it's feet. The homunculus took to the water and started rubbing at the toughest stains.
Illiana watched it go about this task with a growing feeling of accomplishment. Branches was special. Special because Illiana had made it. A stick, some hair, a drop of blood, some clay, and just a touch of that deus ex machina. In a way, Branches was Illiana's squishy. A normal homunculus wouldn't have been able to bounce back from death like Branches had. A normal homunculus wouldn't be able to do a lot of the things Branches did.
"What are you staring at?" Branches asked acidically. Illiana had begun to let her mind wander again and her eyes had simply lost focus.
"Hm? Oh, nothing. You really should pick a gender sweety. You aren't going to crumble now, that loophole in your existence has been cleared. Start thinking about the future. Or at least something permanent. Also, I want you to do something." Illiana said. Branches listened closely. It didn't really care about any of that right now, but it listened all the same. "Helen is going to be starting a little class on magic safety or something like that. I want you to attend."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on September 22, 2018, 06:45:36 pm
A nice, calm beat was played by the small band inside the old cabaret. It was well maintained, despite the cataclysm. Lights were still working and and it was a lightshow inside, many went to the Golden Circle Cabaret for the lights, the cold drinks, and the live music. Despite it being little more than a fancy Hooter’s a good few mutants, many came just to talk with the ‘hostesses’, there were many rules in place. That unless you were behind the curtains or shut doors of the hostess’s rooms, you aren’t allowed to touch them.
It was a normal business day, many customers came to spend their trade-goods and have a good time. However, one of the customers got a little too tipsy… And too handsy. “Sir! This establishment has a firm policy about touching. Please refrain from doing so, sir.” The drunk ignored him, “Look, I’m warning you here.” The drunkard stood up, and glared at the waiter. “An’ you’ll do what, exactly?!” He shouted, before pushing the man to the floor. The cabaret went silent, “Yer gettin’ paid, quit your griping!” A man in a snake-skin dress-coat tapped the drunk on the shoulder.
“Sir.” The manager went, “Your patronage is much appreciated, thank you so very much, however. I please request you don’t touch the hostesses.” He continued, bowing his head. The drunk looked him up and down, “Th’fuck are you? A bouncer or somethin’?” The manager chuckled, “A common mistake. But, a mistake none-the-less.” He explained, the drunk replied with a “Yeah? Then what the fuck are ya?” The manager took out an Employee ID, showing it to the man. “My name is Nashio Yuko, and I am the manager of this Cabaret.” The drunk laughed in Nashio’s face, “YOU’RE the manager? Hah! They got a jap running the place?” He glared at the drunk, “Sir, please. Refrain from calling me as such.”
“But I digress, sir. Please refrain from touching the hostesses and acts of violence while you are our guest.” Nashio explained clearly, “If it bothers ya that much, why don’t you do somethin’ about it?” He shouted at the manager, “I’m afraid I can’t do that, sir. ‘The customer is king’, you see.” The drunk had a wicked grin on his face, “Oh?” He said, grabbing the bottle of champagne from his table, “Quite a policy you got there, I’m a big fan. Here, a drink on me.” The thug said, pouring the bottle over Nashio’s head. He didn’t even flinch, he grinned in-fact. “Very kind of you, sir.” He said as he got the liquor out of his eyes, “I always said I loved this brand so much, I wish I could bathe in it.” The manager’s grin widened, “You’ve made a dream come true.” The drunk was furious, “Prick! You’ve certainly got a pair!” He growled, gripping the bottle by it’s neck.
The bottle was swung, but Nashio dodged effortlessly. It was swung again and again with similar results, “Sir, perhaps you had enough for one evening? If you insist on interrupting our business any further…” The man stepped forward, “You do what, huh?” The manager grinned, “[If that’s the way you want it…] Boys! Gimme one with some beat!” The music erupted again, “The fuck?” He said, confused. “If you insist that I overstep my station, then I, Nashio. Shall dance with you! I will not, however, raise a hand. After all, ‘customer is king’!” He said with a little bow. “You’re still going on with that, Smug motherfucker! I’ll kick your teeth in!”
The drunkard tossed the bottle over his shoulder and put his fists up, as Nashio adjusted his tie. The drunk swung at him, and he simply stepped out of the way. The thug lost sight of him and looked around, just as Nashio put a hand on his shoulder. “Over here, sir.” He said mockingly, which caused the man to kick at him. Nashi simply caught it, he lifted the leg up and dropped the man onto his back.
The drunk let out an annoyed growl, before drawing a small folding knife. “Oh dear, sir? I don’t think anyone here wants you to hurt yourself…” Nashio mocked, which caused the man to lunge at him. He dodged out of the way, gripping his wrist, Nashio disarmed the man and threw him over his shoulder. “I will be confiscating this for your own safety, sir.” He said, folding the knife back up and sliding it into pocket.
The drunk was dragged out by two waiters as he let out a sigh of relief, “Fucks sake… I need a drink.” He grumbled as he walked up to his office, pinching the bridge of his nose. An hour or two pass without much needing his attention as he goes through a nice glass of oolong tea with Sake.
That was, at least, until another argument broke out was heard, just as the music went dead silent. “Dammit... “ He grumbled, grabbing an old louisville slugger. He quietly opened the door to peek at the comotion, there was around four God’s Army thugs and the drunk. “Fuuuuck me sideways… my fault for stayin’ here. Those punks are right at my doorstep.” He growled as he creeped ahead, the intruders were saying something about ‘everyone here isn’t free of sin’ or something. However, Nashio’s eye locked onto one of the crusader’s weapons. The capped man had a signed bat, and Nashio wanted it.
“You all will be smited by the will of god hims-!” and as if on cue, the maple met the visor of the riot helmet. The glass shattered inwards, and into the crusader’s face and eyes. The man fell to the floor, screaming about how he couldn't see. Nashio scooped up the crusader’s bat, and the three privates recoiled. “He actually hit him…” one of them mumbled, “Not even that van-hellsing looking motherfucker couldn’t…” another said.
“...what? It’s just a bat. A very nice bat, yes. But a bat none-the-less.” He asked, confused. Another private spoke up, one of the more devoted ones. “It’s been blessed by the lord almighty Himself! And you will be struck down for even grasping-” Nashio brained the privated with the baseball bat, “Really now? Huh.” Cue another meaty thwack at the Private’s skull. “Doesn’t seem very blessed…” He mocked.
He brought it down again, and the wood snapped in half. The other two privates were stunned, “...what, he- he actually broke it! It caved in tin-heads skulls without breaking! What are you?!” One of them cried out, “You two wanna end up like him? Take your boss and get the fuck out of here, leave the shitstain.” He barked, nodding towards the former drunk.
The two picked up the blinded crusader and dragged him out, leaving the corpse. Nashio got one of the waiters to toss it for the wolves outside. He dragged the Drunk inside the office, scooping up his maple bat. “You little fundie fuckboy, You thought to bring your fucking choir boy friends here? ‘Eh Merridew?” He tossed him inside his office, and pointed his bat at him. “You. Fucked. Up.” Nashi snarled, cracking the less-than intelligent man across the jaw. He brought it down again, and again as business returned to normal and the band played in the main hall. The drunk was left a beaten and bloody mess when Nashio stopped, just before he opened the window of his Office. It was a two-three story drop, and he set the bloodstained bat to the side. Nashi grabbed the man by the back of his collar and proceeded to throw him out of the window.
As he hit the pavement, his skull cracked open and splattered against the concrete. Nashio glared at the mangled corpse, and caught an eyeful of a pair of vehicles, a station wagon and a pick-up truck. Barreling towards the Cabaret with blue crosses on the hood. “[Oh son of a BITCH]” He exclaimed, going to the gun locker he and one of the ‘waiters’ nabbed from an old police station. All they could find was a semi-auto hunting shotgun, a magnum, a pair of semi-autos, and even a small SMG. For being so far north, GA held pretty much a monopoly on whatever firearms they could find. It was a luck of the draw they could even find that.
Nashio stuffed whatever into his leather bag, the guns, boxes of ammunition, the works. He peered out of the window again, just as God’s Army began to pour out of the black vans. The manager stormed out, scooping up his bat he shouted “Everyone! Get to the back rooms, I need the waiters to stay! Everyone else needs to HIDE!” Everyone began to flood behind the stage, save for a little under a half dozen waiters. Nashi barred the door with his bat, “I need something sturdier! Like a fucking… Barstool!” He shouted, pointing at the bar. One of the ‘waiters’ nodded, an older, middle aged man. An pre-cataclysm immigrant, Nashi could tell from the accent. He said to call him ‘Jimmy’ when he first came around a couple years back. He ran over and hopped the bar. “The fuck are you-?!” Nashio questioned, just as Jimmy grabbed his bag, an old, patched together dufflebag. He took out an barely used sawed off pump action shotgun, he held it in his off hand and grabbed a bar stool with the duffle over his shoulder. “No worries, boss man. Jus’ grabbin’ my ol’ girl here.” Jimboy said, bracing the front door with that barstool. Nashio sighed, before passing out the pistols to the rest.
A tall skinny man, said he used to be a security guard when he first got employed here. He accepted the small SMG and checked it’s chamber, he stuffed the spare mag that was given to him into his dress pocket. Another was a old man, clearly from the south. Was a farmer, he was good muscle for the cabaret. He gladly took the Python and a hefy handful of loose rounds. The other two were average joes, but could at least point and shoot. They were given the semi-autos, the group got situated behind the bar in the center of the hall. The moment the door was blown open, the group of Mundies were torn apart by gunfire, the final crusader struggled to get up as Jimmy finished him off with a shot through his visor.
Nashio rose a brow, “That can’t be it…” He mumbled, his train of thought interrupted by screaming in the back rooms of the stage. “Oh FUCK.” Nashi exclaimed, scrambling to his feet as several of the waiters followed. The farmer and Jimmy, primarily. Nashio barged into the back room, to be met with a baseball bat to the head. He felt his brain get knocked around inside his skull and was knocked on his back. The man with the bat was blown away by Jimmy, as the farmer walked in to check the room. Nashio was dragged out by Jimboy, groaning. “Aw hell, get DOWN.” The farmer yelled as the drywall was torn up by gunfire, Farmer caught a couple of rounds and returned them in kind. One round per private. The magnum clicked as he slid down the wall, Jimmy barged in as Nashio’s skull pounded as he got back to his feet. The last two privates were taken out, inside the large room was a massacre.
Nashio was sickened, “Ohh no…” he mumbled, but he noticed something. None of them were the hostesses. The corpses were mostly the customers, a door to one of the changing rooms eased open. One of the hostesses spoke up, “Uh- Are they gone?” She meekly asked Nashio, “Yeah, they’re gone. Y’alright back there?” He asked, raising a brow. He looked over at the Farmer. “Aw hell pops, they gotcha bad, old man…” Nashio whispered, kneeling down. The old man wheezed and sputtered, “Nawh, nawh. It’s fine. Jus’ go. Lived my life, kiddo…” He drawled, as the former yakuza nodded. “Rest well, old man…” He whispered, getting up.
There was an agreement that they need to leave, more will no doubt be coming. So they ‘commodeered’ the late GA squad’s vehicles. And with a paint can from storage. They painted over the crosses and Jimmy scratched the back of his head. “Well, boss. I fink this may be our separate ways. I got some unfinished business I shoulda’ taken care of a long time ago. Be seein’ ya.” Nashio nodded, “You too, Jim-boy. Stay safe.” He said, as Jimmy took the old station wagon. The handful of folks following Nashio, along with Nashio himself, took the cube van.
The Yakuza and the Brit took their separate ways, and hopefully fate had something pleasant in store...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 22, 2018, 06:55:13 pm
Horace looked down at the axe in his hand, he remembered what the templar did with it. And he remembered how he'd activate his cursed blade ages ago. Horace just needed to do the same thing, right? "Throw the energy, not the axe. Throw it without throwing it." The Veiled King said to the Abyssal knight, just as he attempted to swing it like he was going to throw it, but he didn't let go.
There was a resonance as Horace swung the blade, feeling as though a tendril of energy lashed out and left a peculiar blur in the air, arcing out as though seeking something to bridge a connection with before flowing back into the blade. "Wait until the moment is right..." the Watcher directed.
"Aaah, such potential!" the beast hissed. An arm came up, crooked bent knuckles curling into an unsightly claw, and with it came stones and debris. Abraham was pulling ahead, but Horace seemed to be slowing. Not the horse, but time itself. "Be careful though, be ever so careful. The fox and the hound, and the old fox surprised you last time. Surprised you and escaped into the land of the dead..." Astor's hand came down and time rippled. It felt like being caught on a wave, and Horace was lifted on it and thrown from his horse.
"Ah, but to devour yet another. So much potential, even in a dead world. Give in, hollow one, give in and experience Oblivion."
The knight's horse doubled back, reacting to its rider suddenly being absent, and Abraham jerked the reins of his own to turn. As he did, the snapped the leaver shut on his rifle, hastily firing a silver bullet at the horrid thing that was bearing down on Horace.
Horace could sense a blur whizzing by, seeming fixed in midair. As well as himself, so too did it catch the claws that sought to ensnare him. A sudden tension filled the air, the presence making itself known again. This time, the threads of the Veil were pulled taut, for a mere instant that felt like an eternity.
The command that resounded through Horace's very being seemed so much more alien in tone than any word he'd heard from the Veiled King before, but its meaning was grasped by simple instinct. Strike.
Horace snarled at the parasite, just as the axe-head began to glow a hot orange. He hacked at the claw, ”I will not.” The knight barked, sending the energy towards the horrid thing.
There was a resonance in that moment, energy arcing out in a wave as before, and when it met Astor's form it seemed to pulse through every limb in the immediate vicinity of Horace, flowing like electric current at last completing a circuit.
The energy whipped around and coursed through the being looming above. Then Horace could feel a sense of ease in the air, and an out of place sensation of... Nostalgia? Stone and fragments picked up by Astor's presence dropped dangerously, crushing derelict vehicles and smashing into abandoned houses. The residual energy, at first being lashed out with, was now being drawn away. Pulled into the otherworldly monstrosity.
"Such potential..." Astor said absently. Horace found himself mounting his horse, loyal as always, and riding away full tilt as the last of the energy was drawn away but before the monster could turn it's attention to him or the axe itself.
"Ride for your life, Hollow one. You have your distraction, now ride and let the parasite gorge itself."
The both of them rode off, finding their path to escape Astor, as the Watcher regarded this with a certain amusement. His actions today would draw some unwanted attention, of that he was certain. But it was not a complete loss. The portal was mended in time, and though no harm seemed to befall the Eater of Days from the strike, it gave the Veiled King something to think over...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on September 26, 2018, 03:26:36 pm
Soon after their little reunion, Roxanne excused herself to Hector as she fetched her things. She reminded him that the two weren’t supposed to meet just yet and still had to take care of a couple things. After a goodbye kiss the knight, she put her mask back on and exited their shared room. Her destination wasn’t too far off yet she still didn’t quite know what to expected. Roxanne walked north towards a particular clearing in the dense woods near walkerville; she used to frequent it when she needed some alone time with nature but now she had a guarding looking over it and she wanted to check on him.
As Roxanne walked, her modified two-way radio sounded off; it was Leonard. “Hello, Leo? What’s up? Something holding you back en-route back to the tower?”, Roxanne asked
“Yeah… about that…”, Leonard responded, “We still haven’t moved… A little argument broke out. It seems Clara doesn’t want to meet without seeing her little brother and Christina is taking her side. Rey and Lucy don’t care either way but are pointing out you must have your reasons for us to go.”
Roxanne gave a deep sigh before answering. “Tell you what, tell them to stay put there for the night and tomorrow I’ll give them a tour of walkerville myself. As for Clara, make her take Void and Coalescence, give her a ride to the Hall and let her talk to Victor. While she is there, tell her to put the two pieces in the little warded drawer they have going; gonna need to ask Helen to help me make one some time soon…”
“Understood...just one thing if I may…”
“What is it?”
“Void and Coalescence won’t be too happy that you made them dormant and then put them in a drawer. They see you as their mother you know? Might make them...unstable…”
“Don’t worry about it; they have the mentality of children. I’ll deal with it later, just do as you are told ok? Luna and Grey out.”
The two way radio went silent afterwards and Roxanne put it back in its place. She have a deep sigh and rubbed the sides of her head. “It’s always something with you people...”
“Well, you don’t make things easier either you know?”
“Not now Eris! I am not in the mood...”
“Awwww, don’t want to talk to yourself either?”
Without saying a word Roxanne continued walking forwards as thoughts went through her mind; thoughts that were both her and Eris. She became more and more confused and needed clarification and what better way than talking to herself on the matter to see if she missed any little details.
“Hey Eris, you there?”
“Oh, look who decided to talk... Of course I am here, where else would I be?”
“Right right… Listen, there is something that I still don’t get...”
“There’s a surprise...”
“Shut up this is important!”
“Fine, what do you want?”
“Why are we still talking, pretending and outright feeling like we are two different people?”
“Oh that? Well, it’s kinda obvious from what Lucy said.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we were two different people who became a single consciousness, and rather forcefully at that. We have different personalities and some aspect of that make us incompatible due to some differences we have. Think of it like the arcane version of Multiple-personalities disorder.”
“Right right… but how do we fix it? It’s starting to get annoying arguing with...myself of all people...”
“I feel ya sister! Well, Lucy said that it would naturally happen over the course of a couple decades which is when our personalities will coalesce into one.”
“Did you just say decades?! What?!”
“Calm down, that is just the default time frame. It can occur much sooner if we work out those difference of ours that are incompatible. If one can convince the other of the other of their point of view in all those fronts then we would be able to coalesce much sooner.”
“Huh, so we need to talk things over then… What sorta things?”
“Well, we have different values, belief and moral compasses so we should focus on those. We can either deal with them as they come or we can set aside time now and again to deal with them.”
“Eh, I can set aside some time to talk to myself some more. Anything we could discuss that comes to mind?”
“Well, one that comes to mind is that fact that you won’t allow me to mess around with neither guys or girls...”
Roxanne stopped in her tracks; another argument was about to erupt and she knew if she continue walking she would wander elsewhere. “Goddammit Eris you fucking slut! I already told you I am straight so I won’t allow you to fool around with girls. And we have a boyfriend!”
“Correction, you have a boyfriend. How is it my fault you decided to give up and settled down with the knight? Besides, you let him fool around, why can’t we?”
“Bitch, you know very well why! I am a ghost remember? I can’t really...you know...satiate his ‘needs’ properly… so if he wants to seek that elsewhere he is free to do so...”
“And what about our needs huh? Do those not count for anything?”
“Ghost remember, we don’t really have any.”
“Oh really now?” Eris forcibly took control for a moment; she took her right hand and jabbed her fingers on her upper chest where the main tattoo seal was. Right before she struck she handed over control to Luna again. Luna fell to her knees as the sensations form the jab took hold and she moaned loudly before plating her hands on the ground as well.
“Y-you fucking cunt! Do-don’t you ever...ever d-do that again!”. Roxanne exclaimed in between hard breaths.
“Awww, what’s wrong? Luna can’t take a little teasing?”, Eris responding in their mind not bothering taking hold of the body to let Luna feel everything.
“F-fuck off!”
“Anyways, I made my point. You can’t use being a ghost as an excuse anymore.”
Roxanne slowly go up and then dusted herself after regaining her composure; she adjusted her mask and continued in the direction of the clearing. “I am not having this conversation with you now… I have a mission to complete why thank you...”
“Fiiiine, but I am not dropping it...”
A while later Roxanne found the clearing in the woods. She walked towards it noting the bright sunlight that permeated through the trees signaling she was close. A bit of excitement took hold as she approached but that soon turned to dread and awe as she looked at the scene before hand. In the middle of the clearing was Jim just where Roxanne had planted him; well, a few things were off from when she last saw him…
First, Jim was bigger, much bigger. The once small desert triffid that lived in Roxanne’s pot had no grown to the size of a compact car and it appeared to have “bloomed” growing tendrils that borrowed themselves to the ground. Second, said tendrils came back up and would dig themselves again making a pattern that resembled a mat. The whole clearing was covered in this mat of tendrils that originated from Jim. Third, Roxanne realized that Jim wasn’t a “him” but a “she” because she recognized this as she uttered it’s name: “Triffid Grove...”
Indeed, Roxanne had accidently created a triffid grove about a couple miles away from the farm; and Jim was it’s queen. She just looked at what she had done with awe seemingly in a trance until that was cut short by vines slowly entangling her body. Roxanne had not time to react as they wrapped around her arms, legs and waist before they suddenly lifted her up. In futile desperation Roxanne attempted to struggle against them but to no avail. Through her mask, Roxanne witness as a mutant wasp flew by only for it to be pierced by a vine and then dragged down to the mat below. She gulped hard at this before her attention was shifted elsewhere.
A tendril rose from below and in front of Roxanne; this one was a little different than the other. It was thinner and also had what looked like a needle on it’s tip. It was transparent but soon it began to turned purple from the bottom up until a purple fluid spurted a bit from the tip. The tendril then lined itself up with Roxanne’s chest just above her breast where Eris had jabbed...well, herself… Roxanne gasped knowing what this meant and she didn’t like it. She knew that wouldn’t actually hurt her since it wasn’t an arcane attack but if that little jab had provoked such a reaction from her being stabbed in the seal would be so much worse. Her struggles resumed, this time much more violently which irritated Jim.
Seemingly out of nowhere, another vine rose up; this one was thicker than the tendril but not as much as the ones that made up the mat. Then without any warning it slapped Roxanne on the side of her head which immediately made her cease her struggles. This little act made her mask fall of onto the mat leaving her face exposed; Roxanne’s pink eyes looked at Jim with terror and somehow she knew Jim was looking back. She waited for Jim to pierce her chest but that never came; on the contrary, the tendril lowered itself and then then vines that held her up unwrapped from both her arms and legs but were still wrapped around her waist. Jim brought Roxanne close. “W-what the? Jim? I-it’s me… Roxanne, remember me?” Jim’s head tilted a bit before it did something Roxanne would recognize: it’s now massive maw opened and it gave a light yawn before closing again.
“Jim! It’s you!” Roxanne hugged the tiffrid with her now free arms. She held the hug for a minute before letting go at which point the remaining vine lowered her to the mat and unwrapped to her waist. It then picked up Roxanne’s mask and handed it to her; it seemed Jim had some sort of intelligence. “Oh Jim, you are so grown up! I am so proud of you! But… bad Jim! Bad! You have been a naughty bo- girl… girl apparently...” Roxanne gave a deep sigh of both relief and annoyance. “Oh you big dumb and adorable weed, what and I going to do with you? Hmm… wait I know! That catalina lady wants to talk to me still I hope… she has some pull in the center, maybe I can convince her to leave you alone… heh, worth the shot...”
Leonard once again pulled up to near the hall in his motorcycle being mindful to not draw any attention. However, he didn’t have Roxanne as his passenger this time but rather it was Clara. She got off the motorcycle checking her stuff.
“You have the swords with you?”, asked Leonard.
“Of course I do, it was part of the deal.”, Clara respond.
“Alright then, just making. We don’t want any mistakes you know?”
Clara glared at him while he remained looking forwards towards the road. “Listen here you undead fuck, you may think you are a big shot because you are Luna’s servant or whatever but I won’t all you to talk to me in such a tone, do I make myself clear?”
“...My apologies Miss Ironwood.”
“Good, now on you go. I’ll take care of my part of the deal…”
With that, Leonard took off again leaving Clara alone. She was wearing black jeans, a grey dress shirt and a black denim jacket. On her back were both Void and Coalescence which she was tasked to take care off for now. With little reservation, Clara have a deep breath and walked towards the door of Victor’s room.
Victor was sitting in a chair in the room pondering something, the note in the journal to be more specific and what Roxanne had told him before she left during their meeting a while ago. He remembered that she asked him something as she was exiting his room with her mask already on:
“Hey Victor, before I go, let me ask you something...”
“What is it?”
“If today was the end of the world, if this was our last day on earth… would you come back for me?”
Victor had smiled when he heard that, he had no memory of it but he recognized those word from the note and he responded to that as he had done all those years back. “To the end of the world and back…”
Roxanne had just laugh upon hearing that. “So you did read the note huh? Good, saves me a lot of time… did you tell Helen about it?”
“I can’t bring myself to do so… even though its something irrelevant now… the way things are going, why risk it?”
“Eh, I mean, that’s fair but… what if she finds out from someone other than you? That would hurt more wouldn’t it? Besides, you are no longer that person are you? You have a choice to make… The Victor I knew would have had burned the note already… what will you do?”
Those last words were what stuck to him, what would he do? Keep the status quo and risk what Roxanne said or bring it out to seal up the last wound? A wound he had no memory of from what was from all intents and purposes another life… That train of thought was interrupted but a sudden knock on the door. Victor’s attention was brought to his aura spell that revealed a single person behind the door. He was thankful they weren’t shielding themselves like the last two had.
Victor was about to ask who it was because he didn’t know who this aura belonged to but he didn’t due to a simple reason: the aura felt familiar and to the point he felt he could trust the person behind the door. Almost as if by instinct he opened the door to find a woman looking at him with both excitement and relief. She gasped and smiled before abruptly pulling him into a hug.
“Victor! It really is you! I finally catched up to you! It’s been so long...”
He was quite confused and pulled her off before responding. “Uhhh...who are you?”, Victor asked.
The woman looked at him confused. “It’s me, Clara, your sister… Don’t you remember me?” She knew the answer to that but she clinged to the hope that it wasn’t true.
“Sister? Oh… no...sorry...I don’t remember...”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 26, 2018, 05:43:34 pm
(( Sammy and Sergei stuff written with Wilson. ))
Helen had, after burying what remained of Branches, returned to The Hall to check on things, a thought lingering in the back of her mind. However, after matters pushed her concerns aside, as she went over to check on Solomon, seeing that he was there talking with Steinar, having handed over the note Salazar had instructed him to give to the man. "I...don't know what this is about to be honest, but I hope he's okay." he said, Helen looking the two over with concern. Soon though, she decided to make her very next task to head to her quarters, to check on Victor and Thomas...
Sammy was going through her steamer trunk, frowning a bit at her selection of clothes. Pants, shirts, and jackets. Olive green, blue-jeans, and tan. All of her clothes were very drab, boring, and utilitarian. She let out a huff, “I should of gotten more of a color palette…” She mumbled.
Sergei meanwhile hmmed a bit, having sorted through a few things unpacked since moving into the watchtower, regarding an old leather trenchcoat with an amused look, before tossing it aside. “Can’t blame you. Still looks good, and it works...” Sammy pouted a bit, “But they’re all plaaain… At least you got some actual colors in your clothing. W-well… Clothing that other people are gonna see…” She said, mumbling that last part as she blushed a bit.
Sergei ended up looking away shyly at that. “Suppose if you want we could get something like that...dunno if they have anything like that to spare here, but maybe either the center, or...” he remarked. “Or we can poke around the city.” Sammy suggested, smiling a bit. “Pluuus we can get somewhere a lil’ more sturdy.” She suggested, that smile widening.
Sergei was trying, and failing miserably, to hide his blush at that last remark. Then he thought back on what all he’d been up to lately. In all honesty, very little action, the last being the raid on the lab Apophis had been in. “That sounds fine by me. Much as I trust the construction, er...” he stammered, before regaining his composure as they got ready to head out on a little trip. Sammy grabbed her Vaquero and remembered something else. “Oh! Uh. Sergei! I got you somethin’!” She said, offering the russian a small box wrapped in butcher’s paper and twine.
“Oh? Thank you.” he said, curious as he unwrapped the present, finding to his surprise a pair of what seemed to be demi-gauntlets. As he examined them he quickly took notice of them being just right for his hands, each having a knuckle bar with spikes carefully riveted in place, the bar and spikes contrasting with the rest of the metal plates in being a noticeably darker, harder steel. Leftover pieces of salvaged war walker plating, which immediately made him suspect just who she requested make it. He also took notice of the fluting and other decorative reinforcement on the other plates, and on each a design was engraved on the back of the hand. For the right, a Russian Orthodox cross, and a star design on the left. “I...Sammy, wow this is...I could punch so many things with these.” he blurted out, stunned.
Sammy giggled at that, “Pfff- You dork… I knew you’d like it.” She said, smiling at him. “Had Hector make it for me, I thought he needed somethin’ t’do…” Sammy continued, glancing down at the gauntlets. Sergei nodded as he tried them out, making note of the padding right under the knuckle bars, a bit of fabric of some sort and leather. “Keeps himself busy a lot it seems. And does look like something he’d make, true...so I guess this makes a good right cross punch a real cross punch, hmm?”
Sammy cracked up at that, “Shoooosh!” She giggled, shoving him playfully. “Double Dork!” She teased, before the two climbed down from the tower. Sergei snickered a bit before climbing down after her, checking the supplies he’d brought. A mostly-empty duffel bag actually, expecting to bring home a good bit of loot with them but he did bring food and other basic things in case they found a quiet place to stop while in the old city they planned to explore.
The two went to the motor pool, and Sammy spotted an old motorcycle. “Ooooh! Oooh! A ducati!” She said in delight, pointing at one of the worn vehicles. It was a sleek, modernized motorcycle designed to look like one of those old World War 2 motorcycles. “I should find you a badass biker jacket…” She said, gawking over that motorcycle.
Sergei hmmed a bit at that, examining the ride and getting on. He couldn’t help but feel that the effect was rather less impressive in his plain red tracksuit jacket. “And a helmet or two, but I guess it’ll be fine since the roads aren’t crowded. Besides, if we start asking about helmets Hector will likely start forging a lobster helmet or something like that...”
Sammy pshhed at that, “We can fiiiind some. Jeez.” She teased, waving it off. “It’ll be fiiiiine.” She waved off. Sergei chuckled a bit to himself as he got on. “Maybe we’ll find a pair in town, same shelf as some leather pants, hmm?” he joked. Sammy blushed at that, before getting on the bike behind him, wrapping her arms around him. “I can't fit in those…” She mumbled, as the engine was started on the motorcycle.
Sergei was careful about starting off along the path through the woods, cutting across the field to reach open road, along a path only occasionally visited by passing explorers and caravans. “So how cleaned up do you think this place is?” Sammy shrugged a bit as they neared an old strip mall, “We’ll get lucky, hopefully…” She said softly to him.
Sergei nodded as he pulled the bike to a stop, cutting the engine off and hopping off, looking around for any sign of people, looting, the undead, whatever he could discern. It was sparse save for some wild animals and a handful of long-rotten undead. Sammy looked at the shops with a smile, “Ooh. A spencer’s!” she said quietly, getting off the bike and drawing the Vaquero.
Sergei nodded as he clenched his fists, testing the fit on the gauntlets and moving other to nudge one skeletal corpse with a foot, discerning easily enough that the nearest ones had already been put down. “A...hmm? Never been there.” Sammy smiled at Sergei, “Oh sweetie, you sweet summer child…” She teased as she lead Sergei towards the store, seeking to show him rather than tell him.
To their relief things seemed to be fairly quiet as they entered the store, the place relatively intact and untouched. Up until a dried-out, decayed figure slumped over a checkout stand stirred, giving a raspy hiss right before a quick strike knocked its head right off its body. “Nice!” Sammy said aloud, before going to look at T-shirts. Inside the store could be described as a hot-topic, but not gothic.
Sergei found himself regarding the place with amusement, looking over a few items here and there, only to chuckle a bit at the jacket he found. “Wonder if they have anything made of actual leather, though...” he remarked, more to himself than anything else. As if on cue, Sergei wandered to the back of the store. As he was doing that, Sammy continued to look at various T-Shirts, jeans, and hoodies.
It wasn’t long before Sergei found himself holding up something that, upon realizing that Sammy was looking over at him now, he promptly dropped, blushing furiously. “Well, I said I was looking for leather, but that wasn’t what I had in mind...” he mumbled, looking away. “C’moooon, sweetie. It ain’t that sk- Oh. Oh no it is…” Sammy said, holding up the ‘outfit’. Which was basically a bundle of straps. “How would you even wear this…” She mumbled as she dropped it like Sergei, however.
The two continued to shop, and Sammy picked up a few bright t-shirts and a hoodie. And the two walked back out, and towards another shop. A motorcyclist shop, with biker memorabilia. Sergei once again examined and checked to ensure the area seemed to be clear, looking over a jacket. “I wonder if this is where Nathaniel got that thing that doesn’t fit him...”
Sammy shook her head, “Naw, apparently it was Mr. Lowe’s…” She said, before picking up a leather jacket that'd fit Sergei, before turning it over. She giggled aloud, “Cuuute!” Sammy said, showing the back to the russian.
Sergei smiled some, only to blush as he held up a rather form-fitting pair of pants. On seeing the jacket he started to snicker, dropping the item he was holding up on seeing the design on the back, a kitten. “Well, that’s...not straps at least.” he remarked. Sammy laughed at that, as she stuffed the jacket into the duffel bag. She wandered over to the helmets, spotting a large cardboard box under the shelves.
Picking it up, Sammy took out her knife and cut the tape sealing it. Inside was a bunch of foreign military helmets, along with some antiques. Sergei hmmed a bit, looking at the helms and regarding one with amusement. A particular padded helmet designed for tank crews, in a style he recalled from old photos and stories told by his grandfather. “Huh...”
Sammy snickered a bit as Sergei tried on the helmet, shouldering a duffel bag now filled with various articles of clothing. “Probably should get going. You know, spooky mall, zombies and all that.” she teased, Sergei nodding as they made their way back outside and started up the motorcycle. “Seems quiet at least...” With that, the two made their way back, a decent amount of loot in tow.
Within the space between realms, bridging worlds immeasurable distances apart, something stirred. Someone stirred. Focus shifted from beyond their reach, following a path that linked their natural domain to a disturbance. Following the effect the Watcher had on the Veil after his latest act wound up the fabric of reality into a dangerously tense state, all for the sake of catching Astor within the ragged net for a split-second.
A voice rang out. Clear in tone and noticeably feminine. "So this is what you have been meddling in. This is very far beyond our reach, you know."
He From Beyond The Veil answered simply, that familiar voice in its impassive tone resounding through the Beyond. "You have not seen the pleas that drew my attention. A thousand flames that burned in offering to me. Too many to be a coincidence." The answer seemed to displease the other presence. "If that is true, then such an event is of vital importance. It demands the attention of us all. All five of us. Not just you."
A wry chuckle answered her. "And the sixth would have been drawn to meddling even sooner. The mortals there call him the Archon. Amusing, to label a servant-turned-god after a servant of a false g-"
"Do NOT speak of him as though he has a place among us. I would not be surprised if you are to blame for said meddling, just as your meddling turned him into what he is now." she practically hissed out.
"Patience. What's done is done, and all the tatters in the Veil, all the fraying links that may endanger even our domains, have weathered foretold events by my steady hand. I suspected that even my involvement was a risk, but one that had to be taken. To involve more of us would only further destabilize things."
"...I understand. I do not approve, and I will be watching, but I understand." With that, at last silence fell upon the void. For but a moment. After what seemed like an entity, one final word broke the eternal quiet.
"F̵̧o͘o͟ļ̢͠s̨.͘"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 28, 2018, 08:33:17 am
Work went ahead steadily on the new robot, even with a bit of a stall caused by Minx. She had come into the workshop, simply striding in as she had since making Dee and Mica's acquaintance, and looked over the parts being assembled. Arms, legs, a torso. It all looked very robot. It also looked a bit improvised and "plebian" as she put it. Catnip had done good work, as was expected, and Dee had worked carefully on fine electronic details, but all in all it failed to impress Minx. She knew Catnip could do better, she just needed a shove to get her thinking extravagantly. What Catnip wanted was a simple robot, something that wouldn't harass her or her sister. Dee on the other hand wanted what they were getting, a humanoid robot. Medeina just wanted a body that could hold her, while Minx... Minx believed Medeina should have the ultimate in walking, talking, fighting, and fucking that robotics could provide. She offered up ideas and crude designs in her own style.
"What she wanted," Dee later explained, "was an android from some science fiction star trek movie, except better. You should have seen the designs she handed over Nip. Shit, actually you can, I've still got em." If anything, Dee had undersold it. Minx's sketches would never match up to Mica's, but Minx had had a lot of practice. What she'd produced was a litany of coolness and sexiness both literally and figuratively. A nearly perfect humanoid robot that even Catnip and Dee likely wouldn't have been able to build. Dee had been aghast but Catnip knew what was up. Minx wanted them to shoot for the moon and land among the stars. Dee was down for it, but Catnip needed the push.
"Ok, we aren't building this. I'm not even sure why a ro-butt would need most of this stuff, so we definitely aren't giving it any of that." Catnip sighed. She and Dee looked over the parts they had and Catnip had to admit, her heart hadn't exactly been into making them. In fact now that she looked them over after all this time, all the parts save for the arms had been built with flaws that could be exploited. More though, a redesign was necessary. Without redesigning the robot, Catnip's solution to the power issue would destroy it. "Two birds with one stone." She said, looking around to make sure Kathrine wasn't listening
And so she and Dee, and Mica, designed something new. Angular lines and narrow abrupt edges were replaced with sweeping curves and decorative sweeps. Specially made opening and closing slot would allow air to flow freely from the wind cell Catnip was providing all throughout the chassis and limbs, as well as allowing Medeina to control the airflow in creative ways. Most of the robots utility would still come from modified CBMs. EMP shielding, a collection of small but useful tools and weapons, a variety of lenses for the robots eye, and a specially made automap unit. Instead of the bulbous eyebot Dee had planned on simply attaching to it's shoulders, Catnip came up with something that looked a lot like an old Polaroid camera. It was smaller than the eyebot and easier to work with. They hashed out the details together, Catnip on the shape and make of the body parts, Dee on the arrangement of smaller parts, and Mica on the design of the detailing. Then, when they had what they thought they could work with, the split up and got on what they would spend the next month creating. While they were working on designs, Medeina and Minx were busy working on their book. Minx had come to the AI after her first few failed outings on her own. She just didn't know how or where to start, and decided to consult with someone who did. Medeina did of course know where to start and from there, they had put the smallest of dents in organizing and adding to Medeina's collected data.
"Ok, so... According to what that Atomos chick told you, it had to have been fifty or so feet?" Minx asked, making a rough sketch of what the snake may have looked like. She thought she'd probably be taking a visit with this 'Atomos' to help complete the entry.
"Yes, I estimate about fifty based on footage of Miss Atomos hauling the serpent into the center and tanning it's skin on the roof. Unfortunately Miss Atomos did not acquire measurements before butchering it." Medeina enumerated. The AI was fascinated by the idea that more snakes like the one encountered by Atomos existed somewhere, as Minx had told her they did on the west coast. "Do they truly get so large?" She finished.
One of the reasons the information was taking so long to collate was that Medeina kept asking questions and adding to what needed to be parsed. Minx had mentioned the fact about snake sizes only in passing and without realizing the depth of the AI's code borne obsession. Minx told her about the tube fields, an old government storage for building materials, and the men who worked their in steel suits to call the population of giant snakes so it would attack Pricetown's livestock. Medeina also got to hear about the jumping spiders that knocked men and women from their horses in an attempt to pounce not on the human, but on their mount. Armadillo like box trucks that moved sluggishly around the landscape in their impenetrable boo e carapaces, fearless of everything except for the hunters that harried them. The Mycus and the screamers. Gigantic insects and other strange creatures that now stalked the country in place of their old world equivalent. Minx had to admit, Medeina was a great listener. She never interrupted even once to comment on what Minx had to tell her.
"Are we friends now?" Medeina said. The question would have been awkward, coming so suddenly and out of nowhere. From a human, it would have been. From Medeina, the machine, it was perfectly earnest.
"Uh-huh." Minx said, glossing over the question, "Do you want to add anything else to this entry on snakes or leave it as is for now?"
"Leave it as is for now, I still need to sort through remaining data. What do friends do?"
"Alright good. What do you mean 'what do friends do?' Big observant robot, aren't the people you live with your friends? You can't tell what friends are by looking around?"
Medeina felt a bit nettled and oddly embarrassed. The people of the farm we're "friends" yes, but they weren't her "friend friends" as she'd heard it put somewhere. Medeina was to them, "the robot" or "the little spy" or sometimes even "the voyuer." She wasn't a biologist to them, like she thought of herself. She was there, but the AI just wasn't a person. Just a machine to get in the way and get smashed. It turned out, the drawback to emotions was the desire to be noticed and treated like an equal. A desire for more.
"No." She said, then added, "When my body is complete, I will experience what it is to be friends. You will show me."
"Pffft, ok. Whatever you say robolady. I'll walk you to the center and we can go shopping and talk about boys."
"Why?"
"Because you want to, now stop obsessing and help me with this bit on birds."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 02, 2018, 03:54:49 am
((Co-written with Chaosvolt))
After her reunion with Jim, Roxanne started to make her way back to the farm. There really wasn’t anything left to do for the day. Clara should be with Victor by now, she pondered visiting them. Maybe she could go and visit Catnip, Mica and the others; maybe they noticed her absence or maybe they did not but either way she rather them find out about her tattoos and other quirks. For now she figured she would head back to her room and check on her things properly.
It was when she was half way back to the farm that it started. Roxanne was feeling a bit heavy and movement was becoming difficult; it was almost as if she was becoming fatigued. “Hey Eris, it’s really hot today don’t you think?”, Roxanne asked to herself in an attempt at distraction at her current situation.
“Yeah, but, what is it with this sudden fatigue? I don’t feel all that good…”
“I don’t know… let’s just get… back to our room.”
The symptoms worsened as she advanced. The heat she was feeling was getting worse and it was becoming ever more difficult to walk. Chills and aches started to manifest all over her body as well followed by a cough. By the time she was in the farm itself her consciousness was hazy.
“Eriiiiis… h-help me…” No answer. Roxanne walked seemingly on auto-pilot. Her legs were starting to gave way and she almost lost her footing a couple times. Despite all odds she made it to the door of her room. She abruptly and loudly threw the door open. The moment she did, she coughed and green, viscous fluid spewed from her mouth and into the floor. Roxanne looked at it curiously for a moment. “What?...”, she asked to herself confused before collapsing to the floor, eyes still wide open.
Hector had been there in the room still, regarding the notes he’d been studying, and lost in thought. She was back, but she’d told him almost nothing of what happened, and he still didn’t know of her fusion with the other Roxanne. When she entered the room a clear sense of worry crossed he face, able to tell something was up. “Roxanne? What’s wr-” Her suddenly vomiting, only to collapse, interrupted his question.
He rushed over without hesitation, immediately supporting her, to try and carry her over to the bed, laid on her side as he checked her breathing and pulse. “How the hell...this isn’t supposed to happen, not when you’re already a spirit.” he muttered, setting aside any belongings that got in the way of examining her. That allowed him to finally get a look at the items she’d returned with, and that only left him more confounded.
Roxanne remained on moving while he carried her to the bed, set her on her side, and set aside her belongings. Her eyes were unblinking and despite the heat she was feeling herself she felt cold to the touch. After a few moments she blinked only for her eyes to turn purple; she then let out a groan of discomfort before speaking.
“What the… the hell? I can’t… move?”
Roxanne’s eyes darted around until they locked at Hector. “Knight? You are Hector right? Luna’s boy- our boyfriend, I mean…” She quieted down for a moment before coughing a bit more. “Fuck… I-I feel horrible…”
Hector was stunned, nervous as he tried to figure out what would help, and when their eyes met there was a curious unfamiliarity to her gaze. “It’s me, Hector...what do you mean, our...what’s going on?” he asked, worry giving way to outright fear. “Tell me if there’s anything you need that’ll help, if not I might need to get...not sure if it’d be the center or the Hall, nothing seems off medically from just a quick check.” he explained.
Roxanne laughed slightly before being interrupted by another cough. “Medically? We, I mean I, am too far gone for that to apply… I don’t know what’s going on...feels like a fever? Have an ice pack, maybe that would help? I don’t know anymore…” Her eyes wandered to her hands before looking back at Hector. “Huh… seems Luna has passed out? Didn’t know that was a thing… I will explain things as best I can, you must have lots of questions… for now I need you to help us reset, can you that for me? The instructions might seem weird but... I need you to trust me ok? Please?”
Hector nodded at that, holding up a likely old chemical cold pack, uncertain if it’d still work as he offered it to her, sitting at the bedside. “So it seems Roxanne has more going on in there than just herself. Just as she’s traded the sword she was in for...what looks like the katar I forged, except...” He sighed a bit, shaking his head. “Nevermind, we’ll get to that. I will then. Ask me what I need to do.”
Eris gave a deep sigh as the explanation that followed wasn’t an easy one. Besides, it was Luna that was in charge of spirit shenanigans like this but now that was she asleep or whatnot she had to take over .“Ok, this might seems a bit weird but once you do it you will understand… So you see the Katar? That is us now...I need you to grab it and I will grant you temporary dominion over us,me? Me. Now, you will feel a slight pull of sorts, not really a physical pull, hard to explain… Just don’t let the sword suggest anything. Once you feel that pull simply order us to reset… It’s the equivalent of turning your phone off and on… If you can do that for me I would really appreciate it…”
Hector listened intently, stunned by her explaining that was the sword she was bound to, carefully taking it up. “So be it then...” he said, closing his eyes. He could sense it, a vague tug in the back of his mind. Having handled the cursed sword, a brief experience with the sword of despair, and having used the sword she was formerly bound to, this was something he could shove aside and ignore, calmly speaking up. “I command you to reset...”
A small smile formed on her face as Hector followed her instructions. He seemed to resist the pull well enough which was a relief given that otherwise she wouldn’t hear the end of it from Luna. Once the command was uttered Roxanne went limp on the bed with her eyes close this time. Suddenly her tattoos gave of a slight purple glow; not enough to light up the room but enough to be noticeable. A few moments later Roxanne was jolted awake gasping as she sat upright; her eyes were still purple signifying which personality was still present.
“W-well holy shit… that was something… wouldn’t mind doing that again… felt… pleasant. Anyways, seems Luna is still asleep but now I can move again and I don’t feel quite as bad…” She looked down where the green vile she spewed had hit the ground to find only essence. A few ideas came to mind from that but they were quickly ignore in favor of the situation at had. “Uhhh, thanks a lot for that… I now see what Luna sees in you… Now, she is still asleep and I have nothing else to do at the moment, guess an explanation is in order? Like why I keep saying ‘we’ and ‘us’...”
Hector watched, cautiously sheathing the katar, now handling it by the scabbarding instead as he set it down. He looked her other, sitting down beside her. “Alright then. I’d already guessed you’re someone else in there...and it seems this katar is neither Despair nor Void, correct? At least based on how it feels versus how handling the others felt. Assuming it’s still one of those other swords, that leaves...Assimilation and one other, right?” he asked.
At his analysis Roxanne gave a laugh. “Ha, very good, you catch on quick. Well, I was another person, this world’s version of Roxanne or her alt as you people call us. However, due to Luna her being a whimsical girl with a deathwish she and I have now become one. Currently we are struggling with mixing our personalities since we are really not that compatible so it feels like we are two different people and we act like it too… To avoid confusion, I go by Eris Grey and when my eyes are purple you are speaking with me, when the eyes are pink you are speaking with Luna. As for the swords… this here katar became Assimilation and due to more arcane happenings the original consciousness of it was destroyed and we became it instead. So congrats, you are now dating 1/4th of a literal god. That should cover the basics. Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll fill in the blanks oh knight in shining armor.”
Hector hmmed a bit at that, surprised as he listened to her. “So you’re...I see. A pleasure to meet you then, Eris. Not quite what I expected given Helen’s the only one to say anything of you. Though when she mentioned an...incident during the last major problem Roxanne got herself into, I would’ve hoped we’d get the chance to meet under more pleasant circumstances.” he admitted, before giving a sigh.
“So I guess the main thing that leaves is...what happened? Roxanne didn’t say much of this yet. I...jesus she gets me worried sometimes. If it isn’t getting her body stolen, or literally dying...” he said softly, his previous worry giving way to a momentary exasperation.
Eris shook her head with a smile on her face before setting a hand on his shoulder. “I am sorry you have to put up with us. On behalf of all Roxanne’s out there, I feel your pain.” She then tried her best to not laugh. “Ok, sorry, had to do that. But yeah, we are a mess. We weren’t supposed to meet but take a girl like us, give us magic and add the wound in the veil and then you have sentient swords with midlife crisis as a result. As for what happened. Well, it all started as most of the messes Luna, I and Victor are involved with do: she was contacted by an arcane entity. She talked with it, as you do, and asked what it wanted. For some reason or another she accepted an invitation to go and discuss a deal of some sort. Well, to no one's surprise said entity turned on her. Said entity was no other than the sword of assimilation itself using the host of a mad man who wanted to shape the world in it’s image of whatnot. Well, the fucker had managed to get 3 of the pieces, void being supplied by Luna, and then was was about to assimilate Roxanne too. Now, due to the veil being the way it is, it backfired and Roxanne ended up being the wielder of the 3 pieces for like 5 minutes until a higher power came, beat her up and then sealed her as Assimilation due to the fact she literally ate, yes ate, the original consciousness. Since it was her fault she would take Assimilation place as a piece and here we are. A couple other things though: the tattoos are arcane seals to keep her stable, if they are damage she might cease to exist; if the sword gets destroyed, it will be reincarnate with a new consciousness leaving us behind and once again we cease to exist; and also once the wound in the veil is fix, don’t fully understand what that is about myself, we will also disappear. Fun! That answer your question?”
Hector gave a blank stare at Eris when she was done, only to...promptly facepalm at that. “And she...didn’t tell me anything before setting out on this stupid quest. She could’ve been killed. You know, again.” he said. “Which...I’m guessing isn’t new to you, given the place Roxanne died at was already devoid of life.” he added, before shaking his head. “And on top of that, you’re saying she’ll be gone for good if this ever gets fixed? I...” He trailed off, looking down. “As much as I love her, she’s going to be the death of me at this rate. I think I get why Helen would get so frustrated with Victor. She can’t keep doing things like this...”
Eris’ expression changes to; it went from whimsical amusement to something akin to sympathy. “So that is how you feel huh? Listen, I have no experience with relationships at all but knowing her and myself she does behave pretty reckless for someone who has someone worrying about her.” She looked around as if looking for something. “I don’t know if I should do this but… Well, I have access to all her memories and thoughts as she has mine; I currently feel like I have no stake in this despite the fact I kinda do so it wouldn’t be to hard for me to reveal something to you… something Luna would never admit to you or even herself…”
“Luna and I have something in common; we both value our sovereignty very much. We despise authority and don’t like being tied down or being told what to do. This translates to every facet of our life including social interactions… Because of this I never bothered with relationships, didn’t want to be beholden to anyone. I would have my five minutes of fun and then move on… that is why I had so few people I called friends in the first place… there was Victor and a couple other hunters I called friends but that was it. Now Luna is the same, she doesn’t want to be tied down and I feel her actions are a way to prove to herself she is still free in a way. She fell for you Hector and being the whimsical girl she is she decided to give the whole having a significant other thing a shot. Were it me I wouldn’t have.. Yet she still wanted to retain her freedom; she still adhere to the normal boundaries that are expected of a monogamous relationship from what I see, but she still wanted to go on raids and missions, the call for adventure. She didn’t tell you this because I assume she saw it as some sort of betrayal? I don’t know. Anyways, that attitude is what led her to now. If it brings you any comfort know that I will keep her in line; I am not going to let her stupidity compromise my existence. Keep her, us, me, close and things should settle down on their own now…”
“And one last thing on that vein… She choose you as her partner… I didn’t… I won’t do anything to get in the way of that but know that I may not be present much… this whole thing is still new to me… still, if you wanna ask me something feel free. Guess the only reason we are talking now is because SOMEONE WON’T WAKE UP!... That didn’t work...worth the shot...”
Hector gave a sigh at that, before nodding when she finally finished. “I see. That...that makes sense. I sometimes feel a similar drive to always keep myself occupied. And she knows she’s one of the reasons why I’ve ended up staying. That and Catnip, the center...still.” He gave a little sigh. “There’s a difference between retaining one’s independence and leaving others in the dark, getting themselves in trouble and leaving everyone ignorant. Every single time, I’ve had to find out after the fact what happened, and wasn’t there to help...these days even I rarely go on a mission alone, and either way I keep people informed. Is it not possible to do that without feeling tied down?”
Eris nodded at his statement. “People are complicated Hector, what you assume is perfectly logical and obvious might be an alien concept to someone else. What was the name of those xenophobes you guys were fighting constantly? God’s Army? To you it’s clear that killing mutants just because of who they are is wrong but they don’t see it that way; difference of opinion to the extreme and because of that you two are enemies. Hell, some people thinking killing is bad altogether, a certain catgirl from Luna’s memories comes to mind, but neither you are I are uncomfortable getting our hands dirty. This is what it comes down to, a difference of opinion. I can see why it’s frustrating but it’s how it is. Still, doesn’t help she never talks about it…” After saying that she stayed silent for a moment and then bursted out laughing. “Ha, isn’t that hypocritical of me?! And I am still speaking as if we are two different people. This is gonna take some getting used to…”
Hector nodded at that. “True...I suppose when the time is right I’ll talk to her about it, but for now there’s not much else one can do. Still, er...thank you.” he said, looking back a bit. “I get the feeling this will be a long day...”
“Ha, tell me something I didn’t know!”, Clara responded to Victor’s statement after sipping some coffee, “I have been keeping tabs on you and this place ever since I received that radio signal from Luna all those years back. Wanted to come and meet you sooner but… things got complicated. Still, I have eyes and ears everywhere little brother. Anything else I should know?”
Victor was still processing what the two had discussed. So he had a sister that he had disowned due to SoA. Made sense to him but now that his mind wasn’t clouded with the weight of his past that really seemed like a stupid and cold move. “Eh, not really. Still getting used to life now I supposed. Finding out I had a sister surely didn’t help get things on track…”
Clara chuckled and took another sip of coffee. “I am sure it didn’t. But don’t worry, I am back and I won’t be leaving you any time soon. I can help you Victor, I can help you become what father always wanted out of us… I am sorry… that doesn’t matter now…”
“Father? What do you mean?”
“Don’t worry about that… just a slip of my mouth… I am just glad to have you back. All those years lost… I want to make them up. So, if you have anything that plagues you, don’t hesitate to ask me ok?”
Despite what she said and what the Aura spell indicated, Victor was still very hesitant yet it felt right to open up to her. She didn’t seem to be lying and there was no indication of ill will. Maybe it was alright if he brought up the note to her… “Well, there is one thing that maybe you can help me with…”
“Oh, and what would that be?’
“It’s a long story… requires an explanation that spans all the way from when I was partners with Blackmore…”
At hearing that name Clara’s expression turned to disgust. “Her… so she is still plaguing you to this day huh? Alright… what can I help you with?”
Helen meanwhile had been heading to their quarters to check on Victor and Thomas, surprised to see a figure standing there with him. “Oh. Hello?” she said, a bit surprised, but given all the experiences they’ve had lately noticeably a bit wary, the expression clear as she wasn’t wearing her mask at the moment.
At the sight of Helen entering the room Victor calmly ignore his previous comment and stopped himself from getting his journal out. Clara smiled at Helen and looked back at Victor. “From the way she is dressed I assume that is Helen?”
“Behave…”, Victor warned.
“Oh I will, don’t want to embarrass you more than you have embarrassed yourself no doubt. Besides, I am not the one who had qualms with the Cleansing Flame aster all.” After that she calmly returned to drinking her coffee.
Victor gave a deep sigh before addressing Helen. “Guess introductions are in order… Helen, this is Clara...Clara Ironwood, my sister… Clara, this is Helen McKinnon, my partner...”
Clara extended her hand and waved at Helen. “Nice to finally meet you. Taking care of him? Sorry about the headaches he surely has given you…”
Helen gave a polite nod to Clara, surprised at that. “Wife you mean, lack of ceremonies aside you did offer the ring, after all.” she teased, only to give a nod. “A surprise to meet you, Clara, but a pleasant one in any case. Better than Roxanne running off for gods-know-what reason. As for headaches, due to...recent events things have been far less hassle to be honest. As...bad as I feel, admitting that memory loss seems to have made him less inclined to do stupid things involving the arcane.”
Clara blinks in surprised at Helen’s words before looking at Victor. “You put a ring on it? Didn’t know you had it in you! Seems she has been doing a good domesticating you in my absence.”
“What is that supposed to mean?!”, Victor exclaimed.
“Haha! Still so easy to mess with, glad that didn’t change. Memory loss or not you are still my younger brother after all.”
“Can both of you cool it down a bit… this is getting to be a bit too much for my comfort…”
“Fine, I will talk to your wife then.” Clara shifted her attention to Helen. “Well, it’s good to see we met in good terms. As for the arcane stuff, he was always a curious one and that led him into trouble. Discipline, like in all things it is required with the arcane. He was good enough to be recruited by that arcane club of his, so was I but I rejected the offer; so I guess you and I both know what it’s like to be at odds with SoA. Well, good to know he has at least cooled off.”
She took a sip of her coffee and then look at Victor again. “Hey, where are your manners? Make your wife a cup and make me another one too if you will.”
Victor grumbled and got up to make more coffee given he needed a cup too. “This is my life now…”, he whispered to himself under his breath.
“Anyways, how are things going for you Helen? Tell me about yourself.”
Healen gave a nod as she sat down, first checking that Thomas was alright. “Well, unlike him I was basically born into this, and for a while things went...about as expected for the Cleansing Flame. To be honest, first time the two of us met was on the battlefield, but we never clashed. Instead it ended in Roxanne’s death, along with several of my friends.” she explained.
“Then when we ended up meeting again, here...some things I’d encountered along the way made me better understand that, as dangerous as Shadows of Arcana could be, we needed to be able to make peace, and work out the flaws in both orders. Ending up here at a place that was effectively neutral ground helped.” she said, before accepting the coffee with a nod.
Victor sat down after giving the both of them a cup and then drinking from his own. “From what I’ve gathered apparently we had some slight animosity but that changed rather quickly. A few arcane incidents here and there happened and now we are here.”
“Born into it huh? So you must have quite the first hand experience in your area.”, Clara added, ”Victor here and I have some innate affinity with the Arcane which allowed us a head start. But my brother’s is a bit finicky; hell, is aura spell is even colorblind. And you know what, I applaud you wanting to bring the orders together; a lesser person would just try to annihilate the other. For you to put up with the enemy like that is admirable… That will make my ‘boss’ really happy to hear…”
Helen nodded as she listened, taking a sip of the coffee before regarding Clara with concern. “Indeed, ideally we...both would like to form a new order, combining the best of our own traditions, educating so that these practices can be done safely. Who is your boss, if I may ask?”
Clara smirked a bit at the question. “Your own order huh? That’s too bad, kinda wanted to recruit you two, oh well. An alliance sounds good too. Excuse me, an explanation is in order.”
“Well, for all intents and purposes the old SoA is dead. It’s members scattered in the post-cataclysm for their own survival. Some probably tried to revive the order but must surely have failed for it to not be know. Well, I am part of a group who is trying to do the same; revive SoA with a different goal in mind, containment and protection. There are many dangerous things out there and it’s best if we understood and learned how to deal with them. This is where my ‘boss’ comes in… Her name is Christina and well… she is one of the original founders of SoA back when it split off from The Cleansing Flame, she says she wants to speak to you some time...something about healing old wounds. Now, you will probably not want to join us then but would you consider some sort of partnership or alliance? Sorry that this became a business meeting all of the sudden…”
She was surprised by this, though part of her expected some peculiar business would happen, at that offer she smiled some. “A partnership may be the best approach then. I would...like that, in fact. To be able to resolve this in a more official manner, at last. A founder of SoA, and the daughter of two of the the Cleansing Flame’s founders...I would hope if there is any others among our old order still out there, that would set an example to foster peace.”
“Peace huh? That’s something many of us haven’t had in a while. It’s almost been a decade since it all went to hell...but some of us were already there weren’t we? Anyways, yeah, that would really be something to look forward to. I’ll let her know you’ve agreed to the meeting. Now. what title would you like to go by? You know, for official reasons”
Helen gave a nod at that. “My mother and father both passed on the old rank of thane from the days when they were part of Odin’s Oath, but...Sister Helen would suffice.” she answered.
“As you wish when. I will arrange the meeting between Founder Christina and Sister Helen then. But for now let’s relax some. I wanna catch up with my dear brother here.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 02, 2018, 03:13:47 pm
(( Written with Wilson. ))
Heather hummed a bit to herself as she walked along an old hiking trail with Taji, hard ground hindering the overgrowth that had started to take over the place in the absence of management. Nonetheless it was relaxing, far from any known anomalies, infested towns, or places known to be patrolled by God’s Army, making it in her mind a romantic place to visit with him.
Another was following along too, though out of sight. Aurelia had been occasionally trying to get to know Taji as well, but her current stalking hadn’t been related to that. In truth, she’d puzzled out Heather’s little quiet place, and thought it’d be perfect to enjoy time to herself away from the old mage hunter’s constant scrutiny. That she found the two strolling along today was an amusing bonus in her mind.
Less desirable however, was the conversation she overheard, signs of voices just off the beaten path. A chattering of Russian, before one of them spoke up in English, a taller man in a red dress shirt. “English, please…” he grumbled. There was a hearty chuckle shared among the others, before one spoke up, noticeably less fluent-sounding.
“He said the fuck who busted Pyotr’s leg has a girl with him. Probably won’t like us roughing up his boyfriend, but that’s her fucking problem. She wants to do something about it, she’s welcome to try...” one of the men grumbled. Aurelia was glowering at the group through the foliage, pupils narrowed. The first thing she did was retrieve a small vial from her messenger bag, containing a view motes of blood essence. The first thing she thought of would’ve been horribly messy, and the last thing she wanted was for Tajima to stumble into what’d be left of her handiwork.
Instead, a few motes of blood essence drifted up, floating by her will, before focused into a spell. As the group turned and headed towards the treeline, the trees obscured her work, revealing to them what seemed to be the path they were going to ambush Taji from, when in truth she was leading them deeper into the forest, splitting the group up with a moment’s misdirection.
Tajima stopped suddenly, stopped, putting a hand in front of Heather. “Wait…” He said quietly, glaring at the group walking towards him. They carried long, blunt weapons. Ones that stood out was a baseball bat with a steel pipe-cap, and and another was a steel sledgehammer, wielded by a man who reminded Taji of Sergei. Without any of Sergei's integrity, however.
“So this is where you’ve fucked off to.” the man with the hammer remarked, glancing over at Heather. “Cute girlfriend you’ve got there.” he added, prompting Taji to glare at him. “She’s not my girlfriend...” he said, Heather giving Taji a concerned look before he spoke again. “Seems a bit pointless chasing me into Maine over a drunken brawl, you know. What would Sergei say?”
“Probably something pithy about revenge. Boy never did have the stomach for business.” he remarked. “Good thing he’s not here though. He wouldn’t understand. You put the hurt on my brother, and I’m not going to let that slide just because you walked off into God’s Army territory.” he said, taking a step forward. “Not as bad as those augs must be treating you. You know Pyotr would likely disapprove of you risking your life out here just for revenge, Savely.”
The man spat at the ground between them, looking up with a glare. “Don’t think you can try talking your way out of this. Or are you going to pussy out just because we’ve got you 12 to 1?” he said, only for Heather to step forward. “Funny. Looks more like 6 to 2 to me.” she said. At that, the bunch of them started laughing, though soon Savely was the only one laughing, the others looking back warily. “Really, you can’t be serious, this little girl is going to...wait...” He then looked back behind him. “...blyat.”
Tajima sighed, cracking his knuckles. “Hoped it wouldn’t come to this… Heather, go. I caused this, I’m going to deal with it” He said, raising his fists. Heather grumbled a bit. “Oh for fucks sake, you’re stubborn...” she grumbled, before finally backing off and heading back the way they came. Taji looked back as she ran off, “Good. There’s nothing holding me back, If you all plan on taking me down. I’m dragging you straight to hell with me.” He stared Savely in the eye, “What did Sergei call you… Ah, that’s right. Little Baby Savely. That was before you got those augs though…”
Savely glared at Taji as a sudden tension filled his frame, grimacing noticeably as his augmentations kicked in. It always made his joints ache to use them, but it’d be worth it, he thought. He simply raised his hammer, stepping forward with two of his compatriots flanking him, muttering something in Russian as they advanced on him…
Elsewhere, the other six gopniks gave a blank stare at the sight before them. The hiking trail just abruptly ended, vanishing into dense underbrush, so thick as to be impenetrable. There was no sign of the other half of the group, nor the two they were following. One of them muttered something only for the one less fluent in Russian to speak up. “What’d he say this time?”
The man at the front whirled around, furious. “He said we’re LOST, you fucking id-” He stopped, going pale. The others whirled around as well and saw the cause of his reaction. The path they’d just been walking down was gone, and now they were completely encircled by sprawling, dense woodland.
“What kinda bullshit is this...” the man in the back muttered, only for a woman’s voice to resound around them. “You shouldn’t be trespassing here, you know...” One of the men grumbled a bit at that, raising the pipe he had on hand. “Who the fuck is out there?” he shouted, only for a mischievous giggle to echo through the forest. “You don’t get to ask the questions, child. What are you doing in my forest?”
“Fuck you and fuck your forest...and fuck Taji for thinking this shithole is a fine place to take his girlfriend out.” the man grumbled, swinging the pipe at a tree trunk to emphasize his point. To his surprise he stumbled right through, put off balance as he swung, as though there was nothing to connect with. Indeed, there wasn’t. One of the men turned in a panic to run the way they came, only to bounce off what seemed to be thin air, the whole forest seeming to shift again in the blink of an eye..
“That one is under my protection, children...and trust me, leaving the forest won’t change that.” The group of them were now increasingly on edge, realizing that the trees seemed to give way to a heavy fog, and even the midday sun no longer seemed to offer much light. “So I suggest you rethink your decisions, give up whatever folly has led you here, and...”
In response to the darkness, one of the men fumbled with a matchbook, the only thing he had on hand, only for a sudden gust of wind to snuff it out, seeming to blow away the fog for a moment. Strange shifting shapes could be seen all around, except a single path through the forest. The next word they heard sounded much closer, a whisper in their ears. “Run.”
Aurelia watched as the six men screamed, running in blind panic at mere illusions, along a path that’d take them well away from where Taji would be, moreover most likely they’d be running around until eventually stumbling out the way they came. She had a shit-eating grin on her face, trying her hardest not to double over with laughter, and the downright childish giggling only added to the effect of the “haunted forest” they fled from. It took her a moment, thankfully after they were well out of earshot, before she said something in between the ensuing laughter. “Always wanted to do that...”
Back at the path, The hammer was brought down and Tajima dodged to the side. Making sure to stand on the hammerhead, as he kicked Savely across the jaw. Two of the six took the opportunity to rush past Taji, heading down the path, as Savely just gave a bloodied grin. “Can’t let your girlfriend come running home to mama...now the rest of you, find where those idiots ran off to, while I give the runt what he deserves...”
Heather grumbled a bit as she ran down the path, thinking that the first thing to do is get the others to assist, uncertain if Taji would be able to handle all of them at once. It was as she stopped a moment, panting and resting against a tree trunk, that she heard someone. “And where you think you’re going?” The two men that bolted past Taji had caught up alarmingly quick, one clutching a bat as the other idly twirled a knife, drawn from a neck sheath. “You’ve got to be kidding me...” she grumbled, sizing the two up and raising her arms, hands in front. “Look, whatever you’re here for, th-” One of them interrupted her. “Save it, shorty. You’re coming back with us, so you can watch. If you ask nicely, Savely just might let him go with just every arm and leg broken...”
A lead-pipe was thrown from the treeline, clocking the one lacking the knife in the head. “The f-!” One of them shouted, before being interrupted by a hand on his shoulder and another scooping the knife out of his hand. “Oy. Knives are dangerous, y'know.” The eye-patched man mocked. The Russian groaned a bit, stumbling a bit. “Who the fuck are you, you fuckin’ ...” Heather meanwhile backed up a bit, glancing back at him. “There’s four more attacking a friend of mine, six more evidently lost out there...”
Nashio hmmphed, before scooping up the pipe and cracking one of the two russians in the head with the pipe, stabbing the other with his own knife in the back, leaving the knife in the wound, and cracking the first russian again across the jaw. He knocked the former knife-owner out with a dress-shoe to the face, “Go wherever you were goin’, [Sweetheart]. Uhh…” Nashio commanded, before yanking the knife out of the last russian and giving it to her. “Here.” He said as he ran down the path.
Heather grumbled a bit at that, taking the knife and continuing on. “Alright, I think Maya and Bigby should be back by the park entrance, they’ll be able to handle them...” she said, breaking into a run.
Elsewhere, Aurelia grumbled a bit as she made her way back towards the hiking trail, hearing a shout in Russian. She spotted one of them, the three sent after the rest of the group having split up to cover more ground. The man was running, shouting, and it only took a moment’s focus for the sanguinist to misdirect him such that he slammed full-tilt into a tree, concealed from his view. Next thing he knew, he was being held with his hands behind his bag, a short length of rope tying them together, before he was slammed face-first against a tree trunk he could’ve sworn wasn’t there a moment ago. Not realizing that two others had ran off as well, she made her way back towards the hiking trail, thinking she’d taken care of their attempt to find the stragglers.
As Nashio made his way back down the path, he recognized who he was supposed to save. His face lit up as a wicked grin formed on his lips, “[Tajima-chan! I've finally found you!]” He cackled as he drew his tanto, “[Do you need an assist, my brother?]” Nashio continued on, prompting a nod from Tajima.
Savely grumbled a bit as he backed up, only to be startled by someone calling out. “Taji! Are you alright? I’m here, I...oh. Bad boy, you only left one of them for me.” Aurelia teased, glowering at the gopnik. “Two ran after Heather, three after their friends.” Taji answered.
Naisho glanced over at Aurelia, only to give a low whistle. “Oppai...” he mumbled under his breath, before speaking up. “I handled the two.” Aurelia then smiled a bit. “I scared off six, and...took care of...one.” She looked behind her warily, hearing a rustling before sidestepping a lead pipe thrown at her.
Nine men stepped out onto the path, one of them with a noticeably bloodied-up face and broken nose, and one of the others spoke up. “That voice, that’s her. Some kinda fucking witch.” The man with the broken nose simply smirked a bit, before spitting up a cracked piece of tooth at the ground between them. “See? Just trickery. Funny, I wasn’t expecting your so-called forest spirit to be some girl with bat wings.” he remarked, prompting a glare from Aurelia. “Remind me to actually knock you out next time I have you tied up...”
Nashio rose a brow at Aurelia, “Not the best at this, are ya’?” He shouted, before shaking his head. “Forget it! Just keep these cowards off Tajima’s back!” Nashio continued, grabbing one of the gopniks running towards Tajima and Savely. He threw the man at the group, knocking many of them over as Nashio got back into the fray.
Aurelia simply chuckled a bit. “And here I was hoping Taji could handle a mere six of them.” she said, only to smirk as she lunged forward at one of them. He took a swing at her with a bat, the woman sidestepping and pulling him forward with his own momentum. That tail lashed out as well, striking his knee with enough force to twist it a bit. It wouldn’t been merely painful rather than enough to break something, but she readily used that to further send him toppling facefirst to the ground, followed up with her drawing a peculiar silvery knife from its sheath.
“Mine’s prettier.” Nashio quipped as he readied his tanto, prompting a little fanged smile from Aurelia. “And mine’s bigger.” she responded, leading Nashio to chuckle and mumble something indistinct in Japanese. As they stood between the others that were still conscious and Tajima, Savely squared off with Taji. “Your augs aren’t going to hold out forever you know. This is only going to end in more senseless bloodshed.” he said calmly, prompting Savely to grumble a bit. “Fuck you. I told Pyotr not to come after me if something goes wrong. Not like he’s going to limp all the way to Maine anyway. One way or another, I’m ending this...” he practically growled out, before lunging at Taji, sledgehammer overhead.
Meanwhile, Nashio practically cackled a bit as the two circled and picked at the group, keeping them on their toes and preventing them from joining the fray. A quick flick of his tanto and he hamstrung one, pushing the man into the person charging at him, while Aurelia drove her athame into the arm of another who took a swing at her, using it as leverage to floor him, opening muscles and tendons in the process. “Just try not to get in between them.” she remarked, before another of the men cried out as the abnormally-sharp silver blade was jabbed into his back.
Nashio grinned at Aurelia, before driving a knife in another russian’s elbow. “You need more grace!” He teased, dodging to the side as another swung the trench-bat at him. Accidentally, The russian brained his own comrade as Nashio cackled at him. The yakuza’s footwork could be akin to dancing. He ducked with a twirl, as the one wielding the trench-bat swung at him again. As a counter, Nashio stabbed the knife into his side, and kicked the butt of the knife to drive it in deep.
Aurelia, in contrast, made short, sharp movements that left her attackers scrambling to catch up, and catching them right as they lashed out, demonstrating again by shifting a bit, sending the next person to lunge at her tumbling into another person charging at her. “A little viciousness has a beauty all its own.” she teased, and as one man charged at Nashio while he was withdrawing the knife, she sent the person she previously staggered toppling over in front of his attacker, tripping him.
Meanwhile, Tajima weaved out of the way of that hammer-swing. “You’re better than this, Savely. You don’t need that hammer.” He barked, punching the large brute in the abdomen,then in the ribs, then a kick to the underside of his jaw. Savely spat out a tooth and hit Tajima square in the ribs, knocking the air out of his lungs. He let out a loud wheeze as he fell to one knee, The russian rose the hammer as Tajima caught his breath. He glared hard as the hammer fell, before it collided Taji gripped the fore-end of the handle and struck the russian hard in the chest with his palm. The sledge slipped out of his grasp and into the Yakuza’s, who simply tossed it aside. “Come on. You always bragged about how much of a boxer you were, prove it..” Tajima scorned at, still wheezing. He make a ‘come on’ gesture, getting into a more relaxed stance as he did so. “[C’mon, prove me wrong.]” He taunted.
Savely grumbled a bit as he raised his guard, practically lunging at Taji with a right hook, demonstrating he was indeed quite a bit quicker on his feet with his bare hands. “Fine, I’ll break you with my bare fucking hands if I have to!” Tajima took the hook, and returned it in kind. The two stumbled backwards, they came back swinging. Taji ducked under Savely’s punch, jabbing him in the face, following up with a hook to the back of the head, and ending with an undercut to his jaw.
Savely likely would’ve kept going, even as his own augs made the pain worse, but as he reeled and scrambled to grab at Taji, he felt the tension in his frame fading, the shifting and faint hissing of hydraulic muscles faltering as the last reserves of his bionic power faded, only managing to sway forward and give Taji a hard jab before he toppled over, coughing a bit. Tajima caught the swing by Savely’s wrist, he twisted around and brought the arm down over his shoulder. A loud scream was heard as the russian felt a sickening crack as Taji broke his arm.
Taji then calmly motioned over to Nashio, who walked up and handed over the tanto, knowing exactly what he was about to do. Taji had the man pinned down, grabbing onto his good arm and forcing him to hold his hand out, pinned against the stony ground of the hiking trail. Tajima dug out a clean, white handkerchief from his pocket. He brought the knife to the side of the first pinky knuckle, but lowered to the second. Taji brought the knife down, severing the finger and wraps it in the handkerchief. “Give this to Pyotr. Be glad this is the worst you’ve got.” He spat, glaring hard at the broken russian.
Aurelia watched with an amused smirk, standing over the last of the others, only to hear a shout from up the hiking path. Maya and Bigby had come running, Heather following close behind, all of them surprised to find Tajima hadn’t in fact been beaten into a pulp. There was something muttered in Russian from the woman, toting a weathered old SMG as she examined the various men sprawled out on the ground. “And I thought you’d need help.”
Tajima looked over at Heather, “Glad to see you’re alright.” He said, giving a tired little smile. Taji spat out blood out of his mouth, before sighing, “Thought this could of been a nice time…” He continued, frowning a bit. Heather nodded at that, immediately starting to check him for injuries. “Look, it’s fine. But what about you? You’re the one telling me to run off and leave you to fight a dozen people alone.” she grumbled.
Aurelia simply smiled a bit, watching as Bigby and Maya started securing the various unconscious and bleeding men, tying them up. “I was keeping an eye on things, would’ve gone a lot easier if a little trick I had up my sleeve had kept the other six running though...” she grumbled. “Oh well. Plus we had a surprise visitor here, decent hand with a knife too it seems. Name’s Aurelia, and you are…?”
Nashio looked over at Aurelia, “Oh-” He dug out an old paper ID card from his suit jacket, he gave it to the bloodmage. “Nashio Yuko, ‘Lord of The Red Light’, and ‘The Mad Oni of Yushi’.” Nashi rambled, before giving a little bow. “You’re friends with Tajima-chan, right?” He asked, raising a brow.
Aurelia smiled a bit at that. “Oh how adorable. Sadly I don’t have any titles myself. Never been called anything more than Ms. Santoro. And yes, I am. Both of of us met after ending up at the place we’ve been staying at.” Bigby meanwhile glanced over at Taji. “Don’t look like God’s Army boys, not any local bandit gangs either. You know these punks?”
Taji grimaced, “Russian punks. Gopniks.” He said, glaring hard at Savely once again. “They won’t come back.” Tajima said simply, holding a hand against his ribs. Maya muttered something quietly in Russian at that, kicking one of the downed men in the side, prompting a groan and something mumbled in turn, while Heather sighed a bit. “Let’s get you home and looked at. I’m guessing John Luke might want to talk to you about this, plus meet your friend here.”
Aurelia then glanced over at the men, getting ideas right up until she saw the annoyed glance Taji was giving her, wiping that smile off her face, approaching Savely. “So we’re just counting on them to not cause further trouble...” She watched Savely fumble a bit, almost getting on all fours before faltering, kneeling beside him. “Just abandon this attempt at revenge. It won’t do anyone any good.” As the man managed to rise a bit, she leaned in to whisper to him. “Talk to your compatriots when they come to, and ask them about the ‘witchcraft‘ they witnessed. I can do more than mere illusions. And you will lose more than just a finger if you attempt this again.”
Nashio rose another brow, “Oh, uh. Speaking of that, I have a few more... people who need a place to stay.” He said, glancing over at the trench-club on the floor. “Oooh, Nice bat. It’s mine now, friend.” Nashio mocked, scooping up the bat off the floor.
Bigby hmmed a bit, nodding some. “Alright. Going to want to talk to the pastor then, runs the community we’re from. Visitors show up all the time on their way farther north, not much safe refuge from God’s Army in the area. Sometimes people decide to stay.” he said, Maya nodding a bit. “Besides, gives these punks time to crawl back home to babushka, the ones that aren't full of holes at least.”
The group made their way back to the entrance, and Nashio briefly departing to find his vehicle. As he made his way back, with a white van with a crudely painted over hood. In pink paint. The group made their way back to the Oasis of Eden...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 03, 2018, 08:50:33 am
[couple paragraphs by Dragon]
New Paris was abuzz with activity. People coming and going to and from their assigned duties, clearing away what was left of the burned trailers. The Canadians helped a little, dragging the steel frames away from the center and leaving them on the edge of the small town just Southwest of the southern fields. Plans were laid to pour a concrete pad on the spot where they'd burned. No resident was particularly superstitious, but all the same most agreed that farming on the spot would be bad. That some illness could be spread from the ashes of Brynna's trailer. Other plans were made to build a church and many small houses north and east of the center while the lands south and west were clear-cut and plowed. Rumors of undead being sighted moving towards the center circulated and there was merit to the rumors. Sound traveled in a dead world, and the undead weren't deaf. The newly settled militia dealt with the small hordes that appeared harshly. Forming up as they were trained in phalanx firing lines, blasting the undead in volleys from behind oversized shields. It was a vacation to them compared to dealing with the Mycus abominations and screamers.
Another reason for the glut of activity at the newly named refugee center was because the people's provider had apparently returned. The ranger, the hunter, Ms. Atomos, had returned from a long trip that no one knew anything about. Whatever it had been though, she'd returned ill and that made them worry. Cards and letters piled up like a snow drift under her door and every now and then, Larion would bring some larger gift in. He knew what to expect but even so, he never caught a glimpse of Jenny until the next day.
Catalina made the rounds late the next day, irritated by the sudden slipping of protocol. The name was on everyones lips, the one she'd told those who knew it to keep to themselves. Jennifer Barrowfield. Only a few knew it, and they either weren't around to spread it or were too trustworthy to do so. That left Atomos, and the woman she'd met with the previous day. Even Dr. Maskens, usually professional to a T, was referring to Atomos by her given name.
"Captain! Hello, I was wondering, you know Jenny pretty well right? Do you know if-" Began a bright faced Migrant. Catalina spun to face her, wanted to chew the young girl out for spouting sensitive information like that, but stopped herself. Instead she counted down from five, and took a deep breath.
"It's Atomos." She said, realizing she was saying it out of impulse, "Where did you learn that name?"
"Er, it's all over the place. Connie from the front desk told me, but she heard it from somewhere else. What's Atomos?"
Somewhere else. Always how rumors and information got spread around. In a small community like the center (It was still just "the center" to her) information spread like wildfire. The girl asking 'what' Atomos was was even more irritating. These peoples first impression of the ranger would be with her real name. The conversation wasn't new though. Four other individuals had approached her wanting to know something or other about Jennifer. She made her way to the cafeteria, ignoring the girls questions. The chef had done a lot of rumor spreading himself, and he seemed like a good place to start. She didn't see Larion coming up the hall from the quarters wing at a fast walk, but by the time she managed her way into the cafeteria he had closed the distance and entered just behind her.
"Atomos is up." He mumbled close to her ear in the old fashioned conspiratorial way of the officer. Catalina leaned back only the smallest bit.
"What's wrong with her?" Catalina asked. Larion meant to tell her that she could ask the ranger herself, but Atomos was already there restored, apparently, to normal. She flinched a little as she pushed Larion gently to the side.
"'Scuse me Larion." She said sweetly, then turned on the Captain and hissed, "None of your business 'Captain,' except for the fact that you fucking lied to me..." The Cafeteria went dead silent. Atomos never swore, at least not often. As such, it lent weight to her words. Catalina looked like she'd been shot at from an unexpected source, but that look vanished as fast as it came, replaced by anger.
"What the hell do you mean 'none of my business?' And watch your mouth soldier, I havn't-"
"I'M NOT YOUR SOLDIER! I'm not your marine, I'm not your ranger, I'm not your anything! You lied to me about..." Atomos was waving her tail at Catalina, making it very obvious as to what she meant. The fur looked brighter somehow, a vibrant rich orange instead of the bright rust it had been before she went on her mission. "All of it. All of it was a lie! Why? What was the point? You had me thinking... Shit... You knew all about what had happened to me and you let me go around thinking I was some kind of freak of radiation!"
Catalina Suddenly realized what the ranger was talking about, but where had she learned anything about it? In New Bangor? What had she seen or heard, or what had they told her? How had they learned? One thing that really struck her at that moment was just how many eyes were on them now, how many ears were open. Jennifer was beginning to get really upset. "Ato- Jennifer," She said more calmly than before, "Not here. Not in front of these people. We don't know who-" She tried.
"Could be listening? Right now, I give less than a shit 'Captain.' You'll get your report as soon as I'm good and ready, but right now 'I' want some goddamn answers!"
Catalina gave a heavy sign. "Jenny, do you recall why the XV Medical Directives existed back then, before this all boiled over? Think back to when the top brass was foolishly thinking we wouldn't NEED to prepare for it, and even the preparation still expected to be able to put it down. Think about what being mutated would be like if it actually went as planned, and look at how poorly some people are handling it now. Literally the only thing the topside directives didn't fuck up was cooking up a way to avoid a blanket execution order for anyone affected by this. Because so long as we could make PE018, xenolase, purifier...whatever you want to call it, we thought there was some way to make things normal."
She then retrieved an odd scrap of paper and handed it over to Jenny. It was an old printout of test results, the same anomalous reading she'd been holding onto for years. "So think about what it means when I have to tell you that, not only will things never be normal, every form of science existing at the time says that shouldn't be the case? Imagine having to handle that, on top of managing a few of those sick fucks that would've been eager to study you, like Doctor Emerson. The doc who 'committed suicide' after the two of us had a spirited discussion? He expressed interest in how you ended up setting off one of the artifacts in Research, and wanted to see if he could get it out of you."
Jenny looked over the scrap with a growing sneer, but a soft one. "You wouldn't know, but I kind of figured this out already." She said, flipping the paper back to Catalina rudely, "I don't really are anymore. I've gotten over it. What I want to know is why the need to cover up? Why would the execution crap even matter? I've had time to think, and you know what? I didn't have anything to be afraid of, not for the reasons I thought. Being terminated for being a mutant? That was stupid, just what I told myself so I wouldn't have to believe that you'd do it just to cover up. I... I guess I didn't have anything to be worried about on that front, but since that's the case, why cover it up? My dad told me that it was just the mentality of the military government. Covering shit up." She flipped her hands up a little, deflated. "I'm done. After this, after I give my report, I'm done."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 03, 2018, 04:39:32 pm
As the day turned towards night Alexei sat across from Salazar in the back of the van. The pair of them were wearing clown masks that were reminiscent of the Joker’s gang from an old movie Alexei had watched in his youth. And tonight they were heading to meet with a few people that had expressed interest in some of their supplies.
Sliding a magazine into his P90 Salazar looked out the window into the dark night and thought back. He’d done things like this before when he pretended to be part of the mob. But now he was doing it because he wanted to not just to maintain a cover.
Meanwhile back at the Hall Steinar read the letter and sighed to himself. Throwing the letter off to the side he walked outside to clear his head. Of all the stupid decisions his friend could have made.
Liam saw Steinar walk off into the woods and wondered what that was about. But that wasn’t his business he thought as he looked around. Making sure no one was around he sat down and summoned the little puffball of fire. It drifted over to a pile of wood in the fire pit that the vikings had dug lighting it.
Sitting cross legged Liam started some meditations he’d read about. After a few minutes he felt more in control of himself. He could also ‘feel’ the other’s in the barracks and in the Hall, a rather odd sensation to him. Turning his head towards the barracks he ‘saw’ the others getting ready to sleep and noticed Eino climbing in through a window.
That however dissipated as he turned his focus to a different meditation. Taking a deep breath he let it out and smiled. The little puffball of flames danced around him as he settled in for the night.
Elsewhere Blitz and his men dismounted the halftrack and admired the work their compatriots had done to the building they would be living in. A firehouse that had been abandoned for some time that would need a setup for getting power and more defensive capabilities. At least it wasn’t far from the irradiated zone they would be exploring over the coming months and years.
Of course they probably could have done this while working with the 3rd but Blitz had his reservations. On top of that the Tunnel rats had been getting harrassed for a while over minor things. So it was natural they would leave without a word.
Blitz set his helmet down as he thought about things. Veronica had been acting strange since Roland had passed. He knew that before she had been a part of the 3rd she’d come from some odd religion but had never thought much of it. Now though he wondered if that was playing into some of the strange behaviours he’d noticed.
Shaking his head he heard one of his men call him over. Walking to the man he listened as he reported what work had been done to their base of operations. Nodding in approval he told them to keep at it before walking over to a bed and laying down to get some sleep.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 06, 2018, 09:54:46 pm
bNight eventually came; Eris and Hector had their little discussion and while he choose to go to bed she stayed up reading some of the books Luna hadn’t touched yet. Soon after the moon showed itself in the night sky Luna finally “awoke”
“Well look who decided to wake up. How was your nap?”, Eris asked
“Nap? You call that a nap?Funny...”
Eris shrugged, still in control of their body. “I don’t know what to call it. What the hell happened anyways? What was that whole passing out thing?”
“Reconstitution...”
“Reconstitution? What?”
“To put it simply, we are tied to the wound in the veil now. Any changes to it will affect us as well. It seems like something in it was patched and as such our information, as Victor would put it, rebalanced itself to find a stable spot. If it wouldn’t have found one that would’ve been it for us.”
Eris stayed silent; hearing this was not what disturbed her as she could’ve have pulled the information from their shared memory. No, what disturbed her was just how calm Luna was about the whole thing. Dry, clean and sterile delivery as if it didn’t matter. “Ok… That still doesn’t explain why you went silent for so long.”
“Due to my past shenanigans I am a bit more complex than you so it took a bit longer to reconstitute me than you.”
“...I will choose to not take that as an insult...”
“Good because it wasn’t meant as one.”
They two stayed silent. Luna had not bothered to asked Eris for control of their body yet and it was somehow concerning. The two personalities were acting as separate entities more than ever before; was their progress to coalesce being undone?
“Luna, are you ok? Seems to me something is bothering you...”
If Luna was the one on the wheel this would’ve made her chuckle a bit. “Seems we are still far from coalescing if you cannot pick it up... Well, let me ask you. What is the one universal thing every creature post-cataclysm has fought for? Why do we go on loot runs and fight the hordes of the undead? What in the end are we striving for.”
All of the sudden, Eris could now read Luna again, things were returning to normal... well as normal as they could be relative to them. Luna toon over their body seemingly subconsciously and Eris didn’t notice. “Survival?”
Luna nodded and gave a deep sigh. She closed the book Eris was reading and looked at its cover. She smirked and put the book away before continuing. “Survival... is that all we are good for? Look at us, are we just going to wait until they day we stop existing?”, Roxanne told herself, “Well, I don’t want to just sit idly by. The veil is something we can’t really mess around with and no doubt better people are working on it and basic survival has not been an issue for years. It think we should focus on the middle, relief the symptoms of the cataclysm; learn it’s cause and both contain and assimilate them. Humanity was here first, it’s only fair we too seek out our place in this world.”
Eris was now slightly more confused but she knew where this was coming from and where it was leading. “The symptoms? What do you mean?”
“The dead starting rising, creature from other worlds arrived, our fellow man started to change and mutate… and what did we do? Well, what we always do as a species when there is something we don’t understand. We fought… We fought, we secured, we survived. The survivors quickly learned to kill the zombies but very few bothered to understand it. What does it want? Why does it attack us? Can we reason with it in any way? Nah, it’s easier to hack and slash...”
There was a long pause there. Roxanne placed here hands on her forehead as if stressed over something. “We have been doing this for almost a decade and it has all been meaningless. My transformations,our deaths, the enemies we fought… all meaningless. We could’ve just stayed here, rebuild like we had and justs keep to ourselves but no, the call to adventure was to hard for any of us to resist and in my case… our case… drove us to become abominations… I am tired of all of it you know? No more fighting, no more the next mission… Those areas have already been taken...”
“Then what do you propose?”, asked Eris. She was curious, concerned and astounded by what she heard.
“I want to learn. Figure out the rules of this new world. I want to see what is safe, what needs to be destroyed and anything between. I want to share my findings with the world so that one way we may once more claim our spot as he dominant species. It took about 2 and a half centuries after industrialization for us to reach our peak; I am sure given what we now have available we can do it again...”
More silence filled the room. The two needed not to talk about it anymore; they knew it others views and thoughts and a conclusion was quickly reached in their psyches. “We will need manpower you know? I really doubt we can do this alone? Should we get SoA involved i. this? The Flames of Arcana?”
“Nah, they have their own goals and objectives. We can use the resources of SoA if need be and I am sure Helen and Victor will be willing to help some once we start producing results.”
“Fair enough… than what about Hector, I am sure he would be willing and someone we can trust.”
Roxanne got up and sat next to him by the bed. She stroked his hair as he slept making her smile. “Hector is a warrior at heart. I can’t ask him to lower his sword. Although from the mistakes from before I learned a thing or too… first, we won’t leave him in the dark and if he wishes to help I am certain we can find something for him to do...”
“Ok then… then who do you propose?”
“Well, there are dozen of misling here who are loyal and hardworking. I am sure some will be interested in our cause. Besides, maybe they can be the first thing we can learn about… mutations, yes… learn them so that no one follows in GA’s footsteps...” Roxanne had a gleam in her eyes and then an epiphany. With do excitement she go up from where she was and got a pen and paper.
“Already getting to work?”
“Yes.Just leaving a note for Hector.”
“So much for not leaving him in the dark...”, Eris teased.
“Shut up… I just need to gather a few material, talk to a couple people around here and get this ball rolling. Might even have to go to the center… Afterwards we will tell the knight here all about it and hopefully with good news.”
Without any time to waste, Roxanne finished up the note and put on her entire get up. One piece leather suit, cloak, revolvers, bandolier and katar. She gave Hector one last look as she stepped out of the room into the night. “As long as the sun still shines...”, Luna whispered before both she and Eris started laughing.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 06, 2018, 10:29:59 pm
Grey followed behind Krieg as he ran down the hallway towards the medical bay. The two of them had been sleeping when the radio had told them to book it due to a patrol getting ambushed by a large group of zombies. Pushing through the doors Krieg slid next to one of the men as Grey walked through a couple of beds to one of the critically injured. Krieg looked over for a moment to warn “I’d step away from the bed folks.”
As they did so Grey lifted one of the tools and set to work. A handful of minutes later and he turned to see that there wasn’t enough medical staff to actually help them all. Closing his eyes for a moment he tried to run through what he could do to help. Most options would consume too much essence, others would be too ineffective.
Staring down at his hands for another moment he looked up and started for the next patient. As he did so utensils next to more of the beds lifted and began setting to work as faint replicas of himself set about their work. If this killed him then so be it, at least it would serve a purpose.
Elsewhere Alexei observed the items he’d requested. A suit of old, and most certainly out of date, Russian prototype armor. He’d heard stories of this stuff from his brother. It turned an already lethal soldier into a monster.
Tossing one of the bags they’d brought to the men they were buying from Alexei waited. After a momentary inspection of the guns the man nodded and threw the bag to one of his underlings. The two groups exchanged the items they’d agreed upon.
Salazar for his part had kept his weapon ready. Something gave him an off feeling about this whole deal. But the transaction went smooth. It wasn’t long before they arrived back home.
Edgar and Salazar unloaded the boxes of AKs that they’d traded for while Alexei checked out the armor. The helmet’s subsystems, that of a HUD that tagged confirmed hostiles and kept a tab on ammo of weapons that were synced up to it, where completely smashed. Popping open one of the cases Edgar picked up a rifle and stared at it for a moment. It wasn’t a typical AK he was certain of that.
He passed it over to Alexei along with an odd magazine. Setting those aside for the moment he went to conclude his inspection of the armor. As instructed Salazar hooked a car battery up to part of it and Alexei went to test a few things. Sliding a gauntlet on he connected it to the rest of the armor and flexed his hand. Feeling the old machinery come alive he smiled before activating one of the gauntlet’s other functions. Electricity buzzed over the surface of the gauntlet as it loaded with enough energy to knock a man flat on his ass.
Deactivating the device he moved to the rifle on the table. A bit bulkier and heavier than it’s normal counterparts. Setting the weapon itself down he inspected the magazine. It could contain up to four different kinds of rounds from normal to rounds that contained the chemical equivalent to a high yield grenade. At the command of it’s operator it could switch between any of the rounds loaded into it.
Grabbing a bag that he’d set aside from the others Alexei opened it and nodded in approval. It had the rounds for the rifle as he’d asked. Tossing it on the table he grabbed the rifle and did the setup required to get it to actually work. That was primarily registering as it’s operator using a provided audio sample of a russian officer authorizing it and then saying a few words in his old tongue. Once that was done it wouldn’t fire unless he was the one operating it.
Meanwhile Edgar had pulled out a few bottles of Alexei’s moonshine and the rest of the gang was celebrating in the background. Pulling off his jacket and shirt Edgar, still in his mask, sat in a chair as one of the others pulled out a tattoo gun. After a while he stood up and walked over to Salazar. Giving a short friendly embrace Edgar asked “So you in?”
Rolling up his sleeve Salazar nodded and said “Yeah I’m in. I’ll have my own business to take care of from time to time so I won’t be available all the time.” and sat down at the chair the tattoo artist was in front of. Indicating part of his forearm and telling him what he wanted Salazar let the man get to work.
It was a half hour later and everyone was tatted with the word ‘sinner’ somewhere on their body save Alexei. He’d decided on ‘Heretic’, explaining that that’s what some old..’friends’ of his were calling him now. Taking a bottle of moonshine and adjusting his filter Alexei led the way as he drank. The already half drunk assortment of now shirtless men followed after him as they walked out into the woods. It wasn’t long before they all ended up passed out in the woods.
A few hours later in the morning and Alexei sat up, rubbing the side of his head as he felt the first real hangover he’d felt in a long time. Smiling he looked around before hearing something behind him. Said something was the blood curdling screech of horror that Edgar emitted when he woke up to a zombie falling to it’s knees to try and eat him.
The sound of his pistol going off woke the others. Alexei pulled his pistol and shot the zombie in the head as Edgar fired another shot before standing up and emptying the rest of the magazine into the corpse as he let off a series of expletives that would have made Alexei’s babushka beat him. The others stood up and Salazar grabbed him by the arm to start calming him down.
Which was when one of the others looked around, being smart enough to realize zombies rarely moved alone, and noticed several more. Shouting to the others the man drew an old Tokarev and shot the first of the shambling zombies. The rest turned and opened fire as well before Salazar noticed the electricity pouring off of one. Turning to shoot at it he was surprised when it rushed forward and leapt onto him.
Hitting the ground hard Salazar didn’t have time to react before it bit into him. Feeling it rip part of his shoulder off he noticed it stopped for a moment before shambling off of him and spitting the chunk of meat to the side. Putting a hand on his shoulder Salazar lifted his pistol with the other and put a hole in it’s head before it could turn to attack the others. Standing up he leaned against a nearby tree and fired another couple of shots. They’d dealt with most of them but a few were still moving. Muttering to himself “Guess having rotten blood inside of you has its perks.”
Meanwhile outside the Hall Liam heard the gunshots and snapped out of his meditation. Standing up he saw Charles step out of the barracks with his sword and look around. Turning to run into the woods Liam shouted “Get the rest and get your gear on Charles, I’m going to go check what’s going on!” before running full tilt into the woods.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 09, 2018, 09:59:23 pm
Branches heard the distant gunshots from near the hall and turned over, grumbling. Sleeping was always the hardest part when you had so much energy. Not to mention, weren't intended to sleep. It would probably get about an hour if it was lucky. Illiana had insisted though. In bed by dark, up before the crack of dawn, and off to "class" when Helen finally got around to teaching kids why you shouldn't drunk magic and drive, or why you shouldn't cop a feel on a shoggoth or whatever. More gunshots, shouting, the general din of man sized creatures moving through the woods. There was something odd about it though, a sensation in the air that Branches strange senses picked up. The dead were about. The blob. The homunculus decided that trying to sleep was just too much effort, and instead opted to go for a little walk.
Outside the small mudhut it had painstakingly dug out for itself though, branches encountered it's own adversity. only a trio, a small arm of the horde headed towards the only source of sound in the empty landscape. It wasn't as bad as branches thoughts made it sound, but it wasn't a good circumstance. It occurred to the homunculus that it could probably do something to mitigate the issue and maybe even profit itself a little. Branches started by slugging the first of the creatures that came at them, turning it's lower half into a spray of black ichor and shredded cloth that would soak into the environment within a few days. The second got a hand on the homunculus and tried to bite, but was heaved over head much as Mohammad had been when Branches had been named. Instead of knocking the wind out of the zombie though, branches turned the move into a back breaking body slam like the ones it had studied in a stolen wrestling magazine. Branches had grown fond of stuff like that, and executing the moves always gave the homunculus a childish glee.
"Move stupid!" Branches shouted, it's excitement rising. Instead of waiting to see if "stupid" would actually move or not, Branches gave it a kick to the groin. The blow would have certainly castrated a living man, the zombie was simply punted straight up before crashing to the ground at the edge of branches clearing at the lakes edge with a painful crash. Medeina raked the small group of undead trying to cross the bridge again with the heavy machine gun of her most prized proxy. They danced like marionettes on string, pulled in several directions at once by the bullets tearing them apart. When the gunfire ceased, what was left of the undead would find themselves being snatched up and pitched back towards the opposite end by an oversized tiger woman. Sharlene watched separate from the others, bored by the impromptu show.
"C'mon Lil, you can do better than that. Get a little pepper behind those pitches, jeez." Sharlene shouted. Lilith oblidged by scooping up a pair of zombies and "rolling" them into a ball before pitching it at a trio making their way across the bridge.
"Where'd they come from?" Catnip asked. She'd come outside at the first sign of gunfire, wrapped in a sheet and carrying her sidearm. Floyd did and didn't like the proficiency she showed in carrying the cut down rifle. It was good that she could use it, but the implication that she handled it like a soldier suggested that she'd used it more than he'd like to believe. "I haven't seen them so close in a long time."
"Yeah, it's been awhile alright." Floyd drawled, "If I had to guess, I'd say they're coming after the center or maybe they followed your caravan. If it's the second though, we probably would have seen them sooner..."
Nathaniel stood off to the side waiting for Lilith to finish up and fretted a little. "Hope this doesn't mess up the works on the bridge." He said. One of the foremen from the fishery had come out to see what was going on from the small workshop where he'd been checking over the nets before heading back to the center, and he had taken a place with Nathaniel.
"Not likely, but we'll have to get some guys out here to keep an eye on the opposite end if this is how things are going to be. Hope your folks across the river are alright."
"Helen and the lot? I'm sure they're fine, they're a capable bunch." Floyd said, gently slipping the gun away from Catnip. He'd give it back in the morning. Down on the bridge Lilith tore one zombies leg off and used it to beat another to death while Medeina stomped on into paste and again fired a volley into the few remaining monsters.
"Lilth winth!" Lilith roared. Medeina's walker simply stood still and scanned the treeline, seeking more targets. Branches crept up on the scene which had unfolded in the woods and watched the men recollecting themselves. The action had died down minutes before, so the homunculus was a bit disappointed that it had missed out. The again, the woods were still full of loosely grouped individual undead. To prove this, some bloated monstrosity lumbered from the tree line and was kicked back for it's trouble. The man who had done the kicking, wounded already at the shoulder, took several steps back and placed a single shot in the belly of the bloated zombie. Instead of exploding as he seemed to expect, it began to vent the gasses built up inside it's foetid belly.
"What the hell!?"
The man had nothing to fear from the gas, at least that Branches could tell, but it was an ample distraction and he didn't see the wirey thing speeding towards him on spindly legs bound up in taught tendon. It lunged, clearing the space of yards between the man and itself in one impressive leap, and Branches hit it. The man spun in time to see the porclain white figure deliver a punishing shoulder tackle to his would be attacker, taking it by the neck and pinning it's rank body to the base of a narrow pine.
"Where the hell are they coming from!?" Someone screamed. The sound of gunfire ripped the early morning apart and the air filled with the stink of the undead. The pinned monsted screeched and clawed, chipping Branches skin around the face and shoulders until the homunculus crushed it's malformed skull.
"Ew... Why did I do that?" It mumbled to itself, noticing more familiar people joining the fray. People from the hall. "Er, I should probably go..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 10, 2018, 03:28:59 am
(( Floyd and Horace segments written with Wilson. ))
Upon Mount Katahdin, the hermit watched and waited, seeing through the eyes and exotic senses of a host of strange creatures. He could hear it again, a distinct resonance in the back of his mind. A distant echo of the days when he served under oath to He From Beyond The Veil. Again, he pushed the thoughts into the back of his mind.
Something gave him pause, enough to nearly lose his focus entirely. The echoes. They were back. They'd faded back into their usual tone over the course of the past few hours, when the latest portal previously drowned them out. A welcome reprieve from the distant demands of the master he abandoned, despite the loss of many of the creatures under his spell. He expected this to happen over the course of days as the portal at last stablized, not mere hours.
A shadowy form was snatched up by his focus, a hunter of the Crawling Chaos enthralled by his magic, formerly resting in the darkness of a fallen tree. Its unnatural senses were forced to turn to the southeast horizon, peering through underbrush, stone, and miles upon miles of distance. It couldn't see the dim glow of the portal, which was destined to fade into the dull haze of countless other holes in reality torn open on zero day. It was gone outright, and he knew of only one thing that could cause that.
Slowly, he stood from his seat, walking over to an old wooden wardrobe, opening it to gaze upon the golden talisman haphazardly thrown in the back. "Seems I'm not the last, Shrouded One..."
Hector gave an irritated grumble as he crumpled up the note Roxanne left for him. "If this goes wrong again..." he muttered to himself, before opening his locker and taking pieces of armor out, suiting up in his full plate. The intermittent, distant gunfire added a renewed sense of urgency to the task, and soon when he made his way out he could discern the cause, making his way to where Catnip, Floyd, and others were keeping watch near the bridge, mopping up what remained of an undead horde.
"Should've known I'd miss out." he remarked, Nathaniel looking back. "Just finished up. Lil and Medina have it all in hand, though there might be more in the woods. No worries, kinda figured let you get some rest, you've been keeping yourself busy enough at the forge in Roxanne's absence." he said, prompting a quizzical look under the helm.
"She hasn't...wait. She returned today actually. Though now she's gone off again." he said, fumbling for the crumpled note he haphazardly tucked in his drop-leg pouch. Nathaniel squinted at the handwriting before looking back up at Hector. "Jesus...she sneaks back in here, doesn't tell anybody except you that she's back, then skulks off again?"
He was interrupted by Hector taking a step forward, prompting him to hush himself, until Floyd set a hand on the knight's shoulder. "Hector look, it's always good t'give a lady her space. But there's a such-a thing as 'too much space'. An' this's likely somethin' t'do with her. Seein' her track record, she can't be up t'any good." The cowboy drawled on, before scratching his beard. "Plus, y'might wanna have a serious talk with her." He grimaced a bit, before letting out a sigh. "Might do ya' good t'think long an' hard 'bout y'relationship with her too..." Floyd finally admitted.
Hector gave a sigh at that. "You're right. There's a lot to talk about to be honest, and barely enough time to do so. I'm going to make that time if she returns safely." he said, before looking back towards the killzone Medina had left. "For now, if this area's secured, I might wish to check up on The Hall, then push into the woods and hunt down what's left." he said, giving a wave to Medina to ensure she was aware of his presence as he crossed the bridge, to avoid getting shot as he made his way towards The Hall.
Helen had heard the gunfire along with the others, getting her cloak and hammer, Clara looking over at her with concern. "Aw c'mon, let the others handle it. You've got a kid to look after. Two of them if you count Vic over here." she teased, prompting an annoyed groan from Victor.
It was then that Solomon stepped up, mask in hand. "Missus McKinnon, if you'd like I can check on it with the others instead." he offered, and Helen gave a little sigh. She knew what the young man was doing. Wanting to prove that he could handle the duties that came with the mask he now owned. She simply nodded, picking her wraithslayer up on the nearby counter, one hand held out as the other offered it to him. "Bring it back undamaged, and remember that it is a lot more destructive than a regular crossbow." she said, Sol nodding as he exchanged his old hunting crossbow for the wraithslayer, before joining Liam and the others in investigating what was going on outside.
Horace and Abraham rode for hours, their horses pulling into a clearing, with an abandoned campsite. They tied their steeds down and sat down. Horace sat on the ground while Abraham sat on an old stump as the knight worked on making a fire, unloading some split logs from the horse's saddlebags. Horace spoke up, “We haven't gotten a chance to talk. How did you end up in Maine? You sound like you're from much further south.” He asked rather bluntly.
Abraham grumbled a bit at that question. “How d’you think I got here? Answer’s a bit more mundane than how y’ likely ended up in that damned tin can. I rode, up from Nevada actually. Been a while...” Horace looked over at the gunslinger at that, dropping the logs into the firepit. “Since what?” He asked, grabbing matches from his horse.
“Since I mosied on up here. Been a few years, back a’fore all these undead showed up.” he said in response, looking through his supplies. Horace looked at the ornate prosthetic eye as he started the fire, “For someone who doesn’t care at all for ‘Hoodoo’ as you put it, you got an interesting glass eye. What's the story behind it?” He pondered.
Abraham waved a hand, “It’s non'ya gatdamn business, at least buy me a drink first b'fore you go an’ ask me ‘bout my life's sto-” He was interrupted by Horace tossing the gunslinger a bottle of southern comfort, “Now, what's a tinman like you got with a bottle of whiskey? Thought that kinda stuff would go right through you.” Horace gave a simple answer, “Firebombs. Got flour too for powder explosions.” He said, and Abraham’s face lit up. “Ah got th’ lard if you wanna gimme a bag. Maybe ah can yell yeh the story in exchange for the drink an’ meal?” He said, grinning. “‘cides, ah still gotta eat.” Abraham said, procuring a cast-iron skillet and a tin of lard from his own horse's saddlebags.
Horace handed over the bag of flour and Abraham set about preparing simple unleavened dough, greasing the pan while letting it warm up near the fire a bit. “I don’t dabble in hoodoo m’self, but I knew a lady what did, coupl’a decades ago. Few o’ them masked folk, I reckon. Either that or used t’ be, dunno what their deal was. Up in th’ area an’ met the lass an’ her friends after we was both after the same coupl’a hooligans. She had this little glass piece among the spoils. Funny thing too, they smashed up most of the stuff those fellas had on ‘em but decided one or two items were alright.” he explained. “Didn’t see no rhyme or reason behind which was what, but then I’m no expert on witchery. Put a little extra in it and gave it t’ me since we were workin’ together for that, parted ways afterward. Never saw hide nor hair of her or th’ others since.”
Horace hmmed at that, “What about Nevada? What did you do over there?” He asked, before Abraham snickered a bit at Horace. “‘Nev-aaa-da?’ It's Nuh-vaa-da, boy.” He mocked, before The Knight groaned. “Of all the inane...don’t change the subject.” He grumbled, as the gunslinger rolled his eyes. “I… got into trouble with th'law. But I ain't gunna go inta more detail, ‘less ya’ got somethin’ more…?” Horace swore under his breath as he dug around in his saddlebags once again. He gave up a few trinkets, tossing them to Abraham. He let out a grunt as he looked them over, “Can melt ‘em down for bullet tips.” He said simply.
Horace grumbled a little under his “breath” at that last remark, before gesturing. “So what happened?” he asked, and Abe grumbled a bit. “Aight kid, don’t git yer panties in a twist. Quite a long damn while ago, a’fore you was born I reckon.” he said, and Horace gave the man a sideways glance. “You don’t look THAT old.” he remarked, only for Abraham to grumble some. “Just trust me on that, it probably was. Anyways...”
Abraham sat in a mojave saloon, in the corner and nursing a drink. He watched as everyone slowly but steadily poured out of the bar. Soon, it was just him and the bartender. “Hey, old man. Where'd everyone go?” Abe asked, and the bartender shifted nervously. “Oh, yahknow. It's gettin’ late an’ sumsuch. Tomorrow's sunday, people gotta go t’church…” He blabbered, and Abraham glared hard at that. “It’s friday, barkeep.” He said simply, and all the color drained from the fat man's face. “Oh- U-uhm. Well…” Abraham stood up suddenly, slamming his hands against the rough-wood table. “Don’t lie to me, boy!” He barked at the bartender, drawing steel and pointing his schofield at the fat man.
The barkeep carefully raised his hands up to remain in view. “Easy now. If it were the sheriff I would’ve told him not to get anybody else involved. You know exactly who the damn varmints are what put me up to this.” he grumbled, as outside a group of men circled around the saloon, as the door was barred up from outside, others lurking near the windows. “Show yerself, boy! If I haf’ta burn this place to the ground t’get your hide, I will!”
Abraham cussed under his breath, “Y’ain’t gonna get jack shit Warren!” He shouted, reaching behind the bar. “Hey-!” The bartender shouted as Abraham grabbed the old coach gun from behind the bar, along with the shells. He tucked the shotgun under his arm and loaded in two red shells. “You want me, Warren? Come an’ git me you red-headed sonuvabitch!” The outlaw shouted, just as he gestured at the bartender. “Git outta here you dammed mo-ron!” Abraham shouted at him.
The bartender nodded nervously, bolting out the back door, only to yelp as one of the men tripped him, spitting at the ground. “Git, worthless sack o’shit.” the man grumbled, another keeping a shotgun trained on the doorway. Warren just smiled a little at that. “Now now boy, I wouldn’t mind a little bonfire if y’ git me in the mood fer it..” Abraham growled a bit at that, shoving the rest of the shells into his pocket.
Abe grabbed a bottle from the shelf behind him, inspecting the reflection as he inched to the side of the backroom. He saw two men guarding the backdoor in the reflection, dropping the bottle and blind firing around the corner to splatter one of them. With a flick of his wrist, the outlaw drew his schofield once again to give the other bounty hunter a silver bullet in between his eyes.
Warren shouted out to his men as one of them fired through a window, finding the barroom itself empty, the leader of the bounty hunters grumbling a bit. He rose a weathered, sawn off lever-action rifle, gesturing to a couple men to follow him as he ran around the building towards the back. As Abraham ran down the alleyways of the town, he pointed the coachgun backwards and fired blindly back at the mob chasing him, downing one of the bounty hunters. Warren rose his mare’s leg and fired, Abe caught a round in the back, and it clipped his liver. He stumbled and limped down an alley, directly into a dead end.
Warren smirked a bit as he advanced on Abraham, leveling the mare’s leg. He calmly stomped down on Abe’s hand to keep him from reaching for his pistol, before a shot rang out, aimed right at the outlaw’s right eye. “Serves y’right, not like I get any better pay fer bringing you in alive..”
Abraham awoke in an ornate smoking lounge, with fine velvet armchairs and a large fireplace made of dark obsidian. Bookshelves and trophy racks lined the walls. The trophy racks held crystal balls with ornate gold and silver bases with amber studs. A man dressed in a dark purple three-piece suit with silver and amethyst cufflinks sat in the armchair in front of the gunslinger, The man wore a black stovepipe hat and wore a pair of rose-gold lens-less glasses. The man was tan, tall, and skinny and had a wide, toothy grin. “Hey there, Pal. Quite the predicament you got yourself in, ‘eh?” He said, causing Abraham to jump.
Abraham grumbled a bit as he looked the man over. “Aw hell...l’me guess, Ol’ Scratch?” he muttered, a bit nervous as that remark provoked a wry chuckle from the stranger. “Naw. Well. Kinda. They say ‘Greed is of The Devil.’ So not far off, but no dice. Anyways, to my point. I always liked rooting for the little guy, unlike those other deities. Like that snooty bastard with his ‘veils’ and sh-” Abraham cleared his throat, “Yer ramblin’ like my gran-dad. Get to yer point.” And at that, the man rolled his eyes, “My point is; Do you want revenge?” He said, and a grin formed on Abe’s lips. “Why yes ah do… What’s yer offer?” He asked.
“Simple, in fact. The man who killed you stole something from me. Something quite important to me.” he answered, holding up a little flickering ghostly flame at his fingertip, and within the dancing light a faint glimpse of a peculiar glass eye could be seen. “Retrieve it, from his cooling body if you must. Just don't go playing with it.” Abraham nodded, “Trust me, I ain’t gonna take it from ‘im by askin’ nicely… Now, what do ah call ya? Ahm Abraham.” The gunslinger drawled.
“Cupiditas.” he answered, before snuffing out the wisp of flame as though shaking out a lit match. “Now then, time for you to wake up...” With that, everything seemed to fade into darkness.
The air was stale and it smelled like dry oak, moonlight peered in through the spaces in between the planks. He was in a coffin, and he was being hauled off somewhere. Abe heard voices chatting from outside of the casket,
“We’ll be set for a long while… Warren finally got this sumbitch.” “What’re you gonna do with yer share?” “Dunno yet…”
They chattered for a while as Abe pressed his boots against the cheap wood, and pressed hard. The oak creaked and groaned, the nails were slowly pried from the boards. “The fuck is that?” “It’s nathin’ don’t fuckin’ worry ‘bout it.”
The lid was pried off, and the casket was dropped. The younger one screamed and ran, “HOLY SHIT HE'S A FUCKING VAMPIRE!” He screamed bloody murder as he ran. The older one drew his colt navy, only to be met with a large splinter of wood to his throat. Abraham patted at his sheath, and then his holster. Both empty. “Corpse lootin’ sumbitch…” He growled as he scooped up the black-powder revolver.
It wasn’t long before one of the men was walking back, toting an old coach gun and grumbling. Damn stupid sum’bitch, ain’t no fuckin’ vampires or nothin’.“ he grumbled. The man felt a revolver press up against his back, “Howdy, Jim.” Abe drawled as Jim dropped the coach gun, and Abraham grabbed the colt walker from Jim’s holster. “Well uh, howdy Abe. It was nothin’ personal, yaknow… Jus’ business…” Jim stuttered, “Mhmm, I know for shore we both kill summ’n b’fore for cash. Now, where’s Warren and his boys?” Abraham continued, and Jim nervously pointed towards the saloon. Abe nodded and grabbed the knife from Jimmy’s sheath, placing it in his own. “Buh-bye, Jimmy. Git outta here.” He growled, and the man ran off.
A bounty hunter stood outside of the saloon, smoking a hand rolled cigarette. Abraham gave a wave as he walked up to him, giving a “Howdy” as he drew that knife. “Oh F-“ The bounty hunter shouted, before Abraham put his hand over the hunter’s mouth. He drove the knife into the hunter’s chest, then into his throat. The man had two revolvers in his holster, and Abraham took both. He slid one into his own holster and clutched the other in his teeth. Abe approached the front doors of the saloon, a revolver in each hand.
Warren gave a little chuckle as he nursed his drink, examining the pistol taken from Abraham, while nearby a couple of the bounty hunters idly chattered over several drinks. “Y’ think he’s gonna sell the shit taken off that bastard or keep it?” he asked, only for one of them to drunkenly pipe up. “This rate I think he’s gonna marry that damn piece he keeps eyeballin’” he joked, only for Warren to look over and glare at the drunkards. “Aw shaddup, y’ fat idiot! Thinkin’ whether I can git the old man next town over to tinker with this. The bullets fer this thing fit in that other piece I was thinkin’ ‘bout buyin’, but not th’ other way ‘round.”
Abraham walked in quietly, and no-one paid him any mind until one of the younger bounty hunters looked at him and went pale, he nudged his friend and Abraham opened fire. He took down two right away, one shot for each. All of them scrambled as the shooting started, one of them drew a pocket-pistol and shot Abraham in the shoulder. The gunslinger took the round without barely flinching, and shot the shooter in the neck. Abe continued to fire until the guns were empty and it left him, Warren, and his right-hand.
The lieutenant tried to knock Abraham to the floor causing him to drop the guns in his hands, but the gunslinger overpowered him. He pinned the right-hand against a table, draw the revolver clutched in his teeth and proceeded to beat him to death with the grip of the pistol.
Warren grumbled a bit as he leveled the mare’s leg, a round ripping right through Abraham’s side seemingly without even fazing him. “Y’ gatdamned spook, what th’ hell...” he grumbled, seemingly the only one of the group that kept his cool in the face of the unearthly sight before him.
Adding to that was the vague sense of unease, a pull towards Warren that Abraham could sense from the moment he entered the bar, drawing him to something on the bounty hunter’s person. “Ah count twelve shots…” Warren mocked and Abe drew the last pistol in his holster, “Ah count four guns.” He mocked right back, kneecapping Warren.
Warren gave a groan of pain as he dropped, raising the mare’s leg only to catch a bullet to the chest, a deliberate round to a lung, drawing it out. In an instant, Abraham closed in, yanking the mare’s leg out of his grasp with an unnatural strength. He then kneeled, spitting blood in the bounty hunter’s face and forcing him to gaze into his eyes. Or eye at least, the right one nothing but a ragged hole.
As Abraham rifled through the man’s pockets, it wasn’t long before he found what he sought, taking it from the dying man and examining it. It was a peculiar golden orb with an eye pattern, decorated with silver and jade forming an iris, and oynx for the pupil. There was a vague sensation pulling at him as he held the fake eye up, gazing into it with his own good eye. It never even occurred to him that what he was about to do might be a bad idea.
He slipped the eye into place, and all at once he could see from that side again. The vision out of his right eye seemed off though, a faded imitation of his natural sight, and it returned to a peculiar blackness when he closed his left eye.
It was then he felt something. A sharp, stabbing pain in his shoulder and side, where he’d been shot before. He hadn’t realized it until now, that he hadn’t felt the wounds, nor had they bled as heavily as they should’ve. He also realized that the earlier wounds he had had mended at some point, though his eye had still been shot out. “You. Absolute. Idiot...” a voice rang out, sensed moreso in the back of his mind than actually heard with his own ears.
Abraham jumped at that, “What?” He said, looking behind him. “Who’s there?” Abraham demanded, “It’s me you ingrate! It's bound to you now! YOU TOOK MY THINGS! I CAN’T GET IT BACK NOW!” The personification screamed at him, and the insides of Abe's ears rung at that.
While Abraham stumbled a bit, ears ringing and his wounds now aching, Cupiditas struggled to calm himself. “I...you...do you just shove anything eye-shaped where you damn well please?” he quipped, before at last regaining his composure.
“Well then...I’m not about to go repeating this mistake. It’ll take a while before I can pry that damned thing out of your socket and have it back. I have time...oh, so will you.” he hissed, his voice taking on a particularly sinister quality. “It won’t be too long before you’ll find this second chance lasting too long for your liking. And people need only look you in the eye to find what a walking mistake you are. Don’t worry, there’ll come a time when the only people who’ll care are dead.” he said, giving a wry chuckle. “If someone doesn’t put you out of your misery before then...” With that, the voice faded, leaving only the unsteady wheezes of the bounty hunter, and the faint mumbling of the now-traumatized bartender hiding behind the counter.
Horace would be squinting at Abraham if he still had eyes, “What. How did you know about the parts you weren’t there for?” He questioned, moving the johnny cakes off the fire. Abraham grumbled a bit, downing the very last of the bottle. “Barkeep told me a bit, I thiiink.” he slurred, only to toss the bottle over his shoulder. Horace’s “stare” only seemed more intense. “And this ‘Cupiditas’ sounds like he foresaw stuff that only makes sense in hindsight...” he added. “Why y’think I didn’t want t’ tell it shober?” Abe added, grumbling a little. “Shpent ove’a gatdamned cent’ry runnin’ and hidin’ ‘cause eventually people start ashkin’ questions I can’t answer, and whaz’at that letsh m’ show my damn face finally? Shome shecond comin’ bullshit and more folk not stayin’ dead. Thought I’d be happy fer that day ‘til it happened.”
Horace had trouble believing his story, but he pitied him. He gave the finished, if a bit overcooked, johnny cakes to him. “Eat. You need to drink water too.” Horace said, gesturing towards the Abraham’s canteen. Abe nodded at that, taking a swig before he sat down to enjoy his meal. “Bettin’ that boy foreshaw yer spook too I bet.” he remarked, talking through a mouthful of johnnycake. Horace’s stare continued, “Or he was an fresh ‘god’ like that parasite up north. Gods, he may even be lesser than the Archon. He’s likely little more than a forest spirit, or a personification of a human vice. He might be lesser than a forest spirit, actually… At least Forest Spirits are respectable.” The knight ranted calmly, staring at the gunslinger.
Abraham shrugged at that. “I don’t know, nor do I give a damn. Never heard nothin’ from that thing ever since. Hope that fuckin’ space varmint ate him. An’ I hope the ‘parasite’ choked on ‘im.” he added.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 10, 2018, 02:41:10 pm
Nearby Walkerville in the necropolis Roxanne sat on the roof of an SUV eating an ice cream bar. She was amazed at the rich flavors and textures it gave. “Hey, this whole spiritual comestible line is really good! Being able to taste something, even if it doesn’t give me nurishment, is nice.”, Roxanne commented after finishing the snack.
“I am glad you liked it. You and Rey deserve to enjoy the little pleasures in life just like the rest of us.”, Christina responded. She was standing on the roof next to Roxanne on her right and to her left Rey was standing. The two had come from the convoy to meet her with Roxanne as she explained her vision.
“Getting back to the topic at hand,” Rey interjected with the other two looking at him, “So this is what you want to focus on now Luna? Got to say, quite unexpected of you, what made you seek this path so suddenly.”
It was then the three of them heard the scream; be it with augmented hearing or by supernatural means the scream was loud and clear. Rey deployed his laser rifle and Christina her yo-yo but Roxanne soon stood up and lowered their hands with her own as she shook her hand. “That is why Rey. Listen to that. That has been the norm for the last 8 years. And what were you two going to do? Raise your weapons and fight; is that all we can do? I don’t think so… Look, this is how the future could look.”
Roxanne extended her hands outwards signaling the others to look in front. On the street below in front of the SUV was about two dozen zombies standing still. They looked at the trio with what almost appeared like curiosity. Not single sound from them as they shuffled in place looking as if awaiting orders. “Look at them, so obedient. They had lost their will to fight, only because I understand them. No one else bothered to and now they are at my mercy.” Roxanne looked at the zombies before closing her eyes and snapping her fingers. The gathered undead fell to the ground then and there and they would not be getting up. “What a waste… but no one is ready for them to assimilate. Oh well, baby steps am I right?”
It wasn’t the little display that worried Rey and Christina; this was the same power Plague had after all. No, it was what she had said that worried them. “Shouldn’t we go and see if anyone needs help?”, Rey asked. Roxanne busted out laughing. “Help? Walkervie, The Hall, The Center? Please, I am sure better men have been deployed to handle whatever that was. Besides, you two don’t really have jurisdiction here don’t you? You two have come here as ambassadors of SoA so let the locals handle it.”
“Well, you are a local here right? Why don’t you go and check it out then? We can follow suit and help if need be.”, Christina asked. Roxanne wave her hand dismissively. “I am done with this whole faux warrior thing. Eris and I have had our fun in that department but it’s time we retired from that. I am no longer a huntress, no, I am now Purifier Luna.”
Rey and Christina looked at each other for a moment before Christina addressed Roxanne once more. “So, what are we supposed to do now?” Roxanne jumped off the SUV with the other two following suit. “Well, I need to take a sample of this zeds to Medi whenever she is available. I should also let everyone else know I am back now and have a little talk with Catnip, our leader, about a little gathering space… Are Leonard and Lucy heading back to the tower?”
“Yes, they left as soon as we got off.”, Rey responded.
“Good, alright. You two have your meeting with Helen from what Clara let us know. I’ll let you guys handle the bureaucracy, it was never my thing. Does that seem like a good agenda for now?” Rey and Christina nodded. “Alright, in that case, grab me a leg from one of the corpses here, wrap it in the blanket and let’s go.”
She was tempted to wear her mask, go and hide her face but no; this look of hers was due to her own past mistakes and they should serve of a reminder of her… not like she had plenty of them already. With her wooden masked strapped to the back of her head she guided the other two as they walked towards walkerville. Eris had been rather silent as of yet and it hadn’t gone unnoticed. It seemed that at least for now Luna was the dominant personality.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 10, 2018, 03:19:22 pm
Alexei squeezed the trigger of his old pistol as his ears rang. Another zombie went stumbling past him missing it’s brain as Edgar dropped his gun and ripped his machete from its sheath. Cutting a zombie’s head off the muscular man started laying into the remaining zombies.
Salazar meanwhile walked amongst the dead executing them with his gun. His maniacal laughter echoed as blood fountained from another head. Now that one had bitten him the rest seemed to realize he wasn’t ‘good’ food and he was loving the carnage that was letting him carry out. Noticing his pistols slide lock back he flipped the weapon in his hand and slammed the handle of the pistol into a skull. The resulting crunching noises only made him laugh louder.
As Liam reached the clearing he saw the few remaining zombies. Reaching an open hand out to the side he leapt up and towards them. The ball of flame that had been following him drifted into his open palm as he closed it. Landing on top of a zombie Liam swung the magic mace that had formed in his hand and killed it. He couldn’t help but to smile that his spell had actually worked.
Looking over his shoulder at the handful of zombies left Liam sighed. “Alright, let’s see how this one goes.” Liam said before focusing for a moment. One of the zombies head’s exploded as Liam shook his head. “Right. Guess it’s back to basics.” he said before taking a step forward and smashing another skull open. His other hand had pulled his axe out and chopped into the head of the last zombie he could see.
Liam looked over the group of shirtless men and rolled his eyes. Walking over to them he cast a glance at the still clothed and laughing Salazar. “Anyone hurt?” Liam asked as Anton and the others emerged from the trees.
Alexei shook his head as he let his empty magazine clatter to the ground. Sliding in his last magazine and chambering a round he tried to recall just who these men were until he spotted Solomon following close behind the group. Retrieving a cigarette he said “We’re fine. I didn’t see anyone get bit at least.”
Salazar meanwhile reached a hand up to wipe away what felt like tears. Pulling his hand away he noticed that it wasn’t tears, it was blood. Pulling out a handkerchief he used it to cover his eye as he leaned back and laughed. He didn’t care about the chunk missing from his shoulder and his eye still worked. even though he was laughing the eye was mildly concerning.
But that also came with a realization. One he’d most likely take advantage of in the future he thought. In the meantime he stood up and noticed the others that had arrived. In truth he hoped Solomon wouldn’t recognize him but his little tricks to change himself didn’t always work on everyone.
Elsewhere Isaac and Alice had finished preparing to leave. As they walked Isaac connected his helmet to his breastplate and let the electronics start up. He only hoped the armor that Alice had managed to find and or make was good enough. He’d given her his old pistol and she’d elected to take a rifle along with her makeshift sword.
Isaac meanwhile had elected to take the spear that the Seven had entrusted to him. Primarily at the suggestion of The Guide, the white raven currently resting on his shoulder. Along with it he carried an automatic pistol that had been in his truck and a bandoleer that contained a few spare magazines and some grenades. And no one was liable to miss the old but reliable RPG attached to the back of his armor.
Spotting the carnage that had happened at the bridge and unholstered his pistol. Nodding to Floyd and the others as they passed Isaac said “We’re going out scavenging. If you need us to keep an eye out for anything you can catch me on the radio.”
As he walked Isaac kept an eye on the corpses. He’d dealt with them enough to be wary of them even when it looked like they had died. Nevertheless they made it across and away from Walkerville.
A few hours later they were looking through an old store. Isaac figured he’d been here before, he’d been to a lot of places in the area, but he figured he hadn’t been looking for books back then. At least Alice seemed to be enjoying getting out of Walkerville.
Isaac picked up an old woodworking magazine and shrugged to himself before stuffing it into his backpack. Standing up and walking through the aisles he and Alice found a few more magazines and books before heading out to look somewhere else.
Walking down the street they caught sight of a group of armed men standing around a young man. Isaac recognized the tattoos and patches the men had as that of a roving raider gang he’d fought a couple times before. The man they were beating looked like he may have been from a rival group.
Alice saw it too and said “We should just go around them. Let things sort themselves out.”
Isaac hesitated before pulling his pistol. The first shot domed one of the eight men that had been beating the young man. His compatriots turned and pulled weapons out of their jackets and pants. The second that took provided room for a second accurate shot that tore through another man’s throat. When the gunfire started pouring in return Isaac went to duck behind an old mail dropbox and felt a bullet hit his left arm, striking a gap in the armor plating.
Alice, telling Isaac he was an idiot over the radio, returned fire as well. Another of the raider gang hit the floor before she had to duck back into cover. Responding to the shift in direction of the gunfire Isaac switched the pistol over to automatic and opened fire. Two of the raiders were caught by the hail of gunfire before the weapon malfunctioned. If it hadn’t of been for the armored glove he was wearing the weapon detonating would have badly injured his hand.
Ducking back down as the three remaining raiders split their fire between the two threats. When they had to stop to reload Isaac charged out with the spear in hand as Alice followed behind firing her pistol. A shot hit one in the shoulder before Alice stabbed him in the stomach and followed that by emptying her pistol’s magazine into the a second. While she did that Isaac stabbed the spear through the last of them before kicking his body off.
Returning the spear to his belt as it magically reduced its size Isaac walked over to the man they’d been beating. Just like he thought the man had a patch on his jacket that belonged to another raider gang. Putting a hand on his shoulder Isaac knelt down. Retrieving some of his medical supplies he treated the man’s wounds. Once he was done he looked the man in the eye and said “You’ll be fine but I’d recommend a change in profession. If I catch you on the other end of this situation you’ll be the one dead on the asphalt “
The man stammered a thank you and picked up his baseball bat from the ground. As he went to walk away he said “I..I won’t forget this sir. And I’ll let my friends know too.”
Leaning down to pick up an MP5 that the raiders had attempted to use to kill him Isaac checked it over. A leather sling had been attached to it so he put that over a shoulder and noted this one had been cut down heavily. A removed stock made the weapon fairly easy for him to use in one hand and he was fairly certain he had some magazines for it in his truck back home.
He didn’t bother responding to the man as he and Alice went back to their business. Once they were out of sight Isaac removed the armor on his left arm to remove the bullet and stitch the wound. Alice helped as best as she could before they started moving again. Isaac had to admit he liked this white suit of armor better but his other one had better plating.
Giving Alice a smile before replacing his helmet Isaac hoped she wasn’t worried too much. Whispering into the mic built into his helmet Isaac had the built in systems administer some pain killers as they walked. Another hour of scavenging and then they’d head back.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 10, 2018, 10:43:25 pm
[last few lines of the Atomos bit provided by dragon, with a little modification]
Branches sped away from the dying down commotion, satisfied in it's good deed for the day. The men had been too preoccupied to take more than a passing note of it, and that was fine as far as the homunculus was concerned. Being around people had been a bit nerve wracking though, especially when people from the hall had shown up. Branches was supposed to be dead after all. Those people didn't know that, even the people from the hall wouldn't likely know unless Helen told them, but it was still a case of "better safe than sorry."
No more zombies were encountered that day, but Branches had plans. Plans that wouldn't hurt anyone, but would likely annoy Helen. To start though, Branches needed a shovel and some servants. The south side of the road was Helens territory, but Branches decided it would lay claim to the north side of the road. After all, part of being a person was claiming things, and to that end Branches needed more thralls. More clay automatons to keep watch over it's land. Keep undead incursions from happening. They would need to be bigger, better, smarter. That's what Branches would do. It slowed to a walk, retracing it's steps back towards it's mud hut. It cleaned itself off in the lake before returning to bed. As Branches tucked itself in, the light outside began to brighten. Jennifer, Catalina, and Larion sequestered themselves in Catalina's office and Jennifer shaped up immediately. The report she gave was terse, factual, and Catalina suspected, incomplete. She detailed the journey to and her infiltration of New Bangor, and everything she'd seen and learned there in. God's Army was on the wane, men and women stealing away in droves. It seemed, from what Jennifer had seen, that the people had lost the faith and that only the most fervent of Astor's followers were sticking around. Bishops and the more zealous crusaders or templars. They were afraid. Afraid of the bishops, afraid of the new robotic fighting force that was beginning to dominate the rank and file of the wastelands despotic faction, and very afraid of Astor. The Archbishop wasn't playing his hand so close to the vest anymore, almost like he'd stopped caring or had begun to get sloppy.
From a simple canvas document case Jennifer retrieved documents taken from New Bangor. The sort of things that Catalina would have kept under lock and key in a cabinet marked "confidential." They had been left lying around and easy to steal, so all three of the gathered agreed that they should be taken with a grain of salt. Still, they were interesting. Project plans for improved warwalkers and several new autonomous units labeled "Warhunter" and an improved mobile foundry the papers simply called "scrapper units." Jennifer also showed off a partial report on God's Army's attempts at creating Devil Hunters and something called "Mammon."
"I think the people are leaving because of that project as well. The people who came to God's Army did so out of fear of that sort of thing. Now that Astor is adopting it, well... It disturbs them." Jennifer explained.
Their was also the collection. Jennifer explained what she understood of how God's Army was collecting relics. It was more than just grabbing and equipping his soldiers with anomalous items, Astor needed them for more. It was the reason for the attack on the center the year before. A miscalculation of location. The real target had been the vault. To that end, Jennifer informed Catalina that Astor had been in the vault after they'd left it. The details of his foray were unclear and after all she'd been through, it was more believable than it had been before.
"Why was he in the vault?" Catalina asked, deciding that the "hows" of the matter could wait.
"He was looking for relics, an item called the 'Oath of Iron.'" Jennifer explained, tensing a bit.
"And did he find it?" Catalina asked, leaning forward a bit in her seat. She wasn't familiar with everything kept in the vault, but the Oath was one she knew. It had been deemed harmless and brought up to the second floor for testing and storage. "Why did he want it?"
"He found it, and I don't know why he wanted it." Jennifer lied, "But I had it for awhile. He allowed one of his crusaders to keep it because, as I was told, it was useless to him."
"But you don't have it anymore?"
"No."
"Care to share why?" Catalina said, nettled.
"I don't think so, 'Captain.'" Jennifer shot back. There it was again, that belligerence. "I think there are some parts of my trip I'll just keep to myself. Can't go sharing all the secrets now, can I? Either way, apart from the storm and my choice to leave New Bangor, that's all there really is to tell. Except..." She dropped the attitude for a moment, "Have everyone keep an eye out for a creature, black, bristly fur. Kind of greasy looking, four arms, face like a lamprey. It stalked me most of the way home and I've seen what it can do. If our men encounter it in the field, they should do what they can to evade it. Direct confrontation is useless."
"I'll put the word out, but Jennifer, there are parts of this report you aren't giving me." Catalina stated, settling back. The captain glanced at Larion, suspecting that he at least might have been let in on something. This spate of hostility seemed to be directed mainly at her.
"Yep, but I've told you everything I think is pertinent to the center. Anything else that may have happened between my leaving New Bangor and my arrival here are between me, myself, and Cheena."
"Cheena?"
"My imaginary friend, nevermind."
Jennifer slid her chair back and stood, making her way for the door. Catalina bristled in her chair and stood to follow.
"Atomos, come back here. Goddamnit Atomos I havn't dismissed-" She began.
"No, I dismissed myself." Jennifer hissed, spinning on Catalina in the hall. "My report is given. Like I said, I'm done. You can keep all your secrets and your cover ups to yourself, I don't care anymore. It's fine, since I don't work for you anymore. I quit, I'm out, I'm done. Dishonorably discharge me if you want, it's not like it would matter anyway since the old world is gone and being dismissed like that really can't harm me anymore. Do what you want because I am not your or anyone elses marine. I'm my own marine. I'm a ranger of the Cen- New Paris, but I don't serve you anymore!" She didn't wait for a retort, didn't wait for the explosion that would surely follow. Jennifer only turned on her heel and stormed off.
Catalina grumbled a bit as she made her way back to her office, now rather thoroughly irritated by all this. She wanted to go after her, to explain what happened. Only Jenny had shouted down everything she attempted to say and wasn't interested in hearing anything else on the matter.
It was Larion instead who decided to follow Jennifer, losing her in the center but knowing where she was going. He gave a knock on the door to her room. At first he waited a moment, about to knock again when she opened the door. "What is i- oh. Hey Larion...oh um. Whatever your actual name is..."
Larion stood there, rather typically unamused by this, though it manifested as a mere blank stare rather than the scowl he was tempted to give her. "First name, yes. Last name's Pierson." he finally said, before sighing a bit. "Is it alright if we talk?"
At that, Jennifer gave him a concerned glance. "Did Catalina put you up to this?" she asked, and he answered her rather simply. "No."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 11, 2018, 08:16:57 pm
As the first rays of sunlight illuminated this particular corner of the arguably ruined earth, Roxanne walked into Walkerville proper with Rey and Christina in tow. The atmosphere was tense from recent events the trio did not know about. While Rey and Christina picked up on it and were rather wary about it, Roxanne simply continued nonchalantly with a smile on her face. Roxanne showed the other two around superficially as they walked towards Catnip's place, or what she assumed to be after asking some of the misling given many of the buildings were new or modified. Many of them looked at Roxanne with confusion and worry at her new “aesthetics”. The color of her Iris and Sclera along with the tattoos visible in her face and down to her neck were quite the visual for some yet others didn’t really pay much attention to as that was far from the weirdest thing they had experienced.
“So, this is where you live now?”, asked Rey.
“6 years and counting.”, Responded Roxanne
“What’s with all the mice people?”, asked Christina.
“Well, Catnip, our leader, went missing for about a year. We thought she had died and many of us mourned her... However, she eventually came back and with her she brought them here. They call themselves Misling and are very hardworking people. Apparently they were the result of science gone wrong.”
“Huh, that’s quite the backstory…”
“As with anything in this farm, nothing is simple. We have had spirits of death and harvest, people have died and come back like myself, lots of magic shenanigans and the occasional science experiment. If I were you, I would drop every expectation you have, this place can be… colorful...”
The trio walked forwards, Christina waved at the pacing Misling while Rey seemed to be in discomfort. Roxanne took noticed and promptly brought it up. “You ok there Rey? You aren’t looking so hot...” He looked up at her and made a forced smile. “Yeah, I am fine it’s just that it’s been 3 weeks since my last… meal… feel kinda weak right now...”
“It’s been three weeks already?!”, Roxanne exclaimed, “Christ time flies sometimes...”
“Yeah, it does… and from what I hear you people have been very through at chasing off bandits and most of GA…”
Roxanne gave a deep sigh. “How much longer do you have?”
“About a week…”
“Alright… Damn it Rey, I told you I was done fighting… But whatever, I will help you find a meal after I am done catching up here. Just give me a couple days ok? Anyways, we are here.” Roxanne stood in front of what she was told was were catnip lived now. She was quite impressed with what had been done to the place and if she was honest a bit intimidated as well.
“What is wrong, having cold feet?”, Christina asked.
“No...it’s just… things have changed I suppose. It’s been only two weeks but it feels like forever...”
It wasn’t know to any of them about the whole ordeal with the undead rising a while ago or that Catnip had assisted with it. Roxanne knew she might not be home but she could wait. With a small sense of hesitation and dread, she knocked on the door and awaited an answer.
Another day that of hiding in plain sight had begun. Melody woke up from her assigned sleeping spot; she went to the changing area to put on her proper outfit she had adopted here, which included her blindfold during nighttime, ate some of the canned food she was given and went on her way to her work station. It was once she reached her work spot that she heard it again, Despair started to speak.
“Hey, Melody…”, said Despair suddendly. This shocked Melody for various reasons. First, there was no usual banter by speaking formally. Second, she referred to her as Melody rather than Marrie. Lastly, her “tone”, for lack of a better word in the context of telepathic communications, was off as if something was bothering the sword spirit.
“Oh, hey there Despair, what’s up?”, Melody responded. She had been tempted to start teasing Despair back but this seemed to not be the time.
“So… Are you comfortable here?”
Melody found the question odd. She was content in her position here and was secluded as order; besides, this was Despair’s idea after all. “Yeah, I am. No complaints here. Why?”
“Even with the higher ups seemingly distraught over something? That’s good to hear…” There was a pause which further worried Melody but eventually Despair spoke up again. “Listen, a few things have happened and it’s worrying me… Maybe that being from your dream was right and we should move… No sure, want your thoughts on it.”
“Things? What sorta things?”
“Well… First of all, I have reconnected with Void and Conveyance. Their signature seems different and they have made no attempt to communicate… I can’t detect Assimilation anywhere but traces of it seem to be in Luna’s signature…”
“Roxanne? Wait, you called her Luna?”
“That’s not the point Mel! Anyways, yes, but not only that. Seems like Roxanne’s own signature had changed slightly… I fear the worst…”
Melody was starting to get even more concern now. For Despair to be worried something big must have happened and she didn’t like it one bit. “What do you think happened?”
“This is just a possibility but it fits the data… I have no other explication but to think that Roxanne has become Assimilation’s wielder… and you know what that means…”
“Wait… are you saying…”
“Yes, that is what I am saying… Worse, she seems to have access to Void and Conveyance but has made no attempt to assimilate them… Something is off Melody… I don’t like it…”
“Despair… that can’t be… Roxanne would never… she couldn't have ok?! She is not gone!” Melody was starting to get a bit too loud for her own good and was beginning to sob a bit.
“Calm down… please… I might be wrong… I don’t know what is going on but… We need to make a decision before Roxanne finds us…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 12, 2018, 03:42:05 am
(( Taji stuff written with Wilson, Atomos stuff written with Salt. ))
"So." Larion continued. Mind if I come in?" he asked, Atomos giving him a wary look before nodding, letting him in to talk in private. He took a seat, seemingly taking a moment to prepare himself. "I'm not going to speak for the captain here. Much of what she's done was wrong, either from the start or in hindsight. I can...understand some of it, starting out. But not for continuing to keep things from you. And from the rest of us." he said.
Jennifer was still visibly irritated, and as she listened for the moment, she found it hard not to say something out of anger at first, but afterward she finally spoke up. "You really think she had a good reason to begin with? Look at how things went, this cover-up nonsense. How the world went to hell and it wasn't even remotely prepared for it." she said, a particular bitterness apparent in her tone of voice.
Larion nodded at that. "Hence why I said, in hindsight." he said, before giving a sigh. His expression had soured, notable less stoic as he looked down, and his next response was a bit more quiet. "It's hard to imagine it anymore, isn't it? Things being normal back then, before all this happened. Before zero day. Let alone what life would be like now, if all this had been prevented. Stopped before it even started, or at least soon enough things could go back to normal. Am I right, or is it just me?"
Atomos shuffled the photos piled on her desk and moved them into neat piles separating Polaroids, small 3x5s, and numerous portrait shots. From where he stood, Larion could barely make out the faces on them. Family photos, vacation photos, selfies, landscapes. Windows into the world of yesterday, memories pilfered and saved by the ranger.
"It's not hard to imagine. If it is, it's only because of all the time we spent in the vault..." She said, then gestured vaguely towards the foyer and the cafeteria, "all that out there... That's the new normal. Those people out there. Mutated and unmutated, farming like medieval peasants and working together. Can you really say it's not normal? I mean, people living life? This is the new normal. Captains motives though... I don't care for them. My father said that there is a mentality in government and especially the military that believes in covering up before anything else, even if it's far too late and covering up would just harm them."
She offered Larion a handful of cake. The chef had brought it by the day before, a luxury of milk and eggs and butter lavished upon the centers favorite hunter.
"I don't like being lied to Larion. I don't like languishing in a concrete tomb for seven years while strange things happen to my body. When you mix them together though... Do you even know what a relief it would have been to know the truth?" She stopped and thought about it, "No, actually it wouldn't have been. I wouldn't have understood what the report Captain tried to give me meant back then like I do now..."
Larion gave a little sigh at that, looking away a bit. "I suppose it makes sense, this is...normal. But it's not what we envisioned back in the day. All this death, things like God's Army, the shit going on back west...intel is out president died alongside SPD-X, and they're the reason this place isn't a fungal hellhole." he said.
"And you're right. There's a mentality that does more harm than good. But there's always a reason for why it starts, sometimes a good one. A year into it, she should've come clean. But back when we thought maybe, just maybe, we could stop all this from happening...this wouldn't have been the new normal." he said. "You didn't have to listen to scientists musing on inhumane experiments as though their subjects...no, victims were nothing but animals. Imagine the worst excesses you saw in God's Army during your time in Abaddon, and now imagine a world were mutants and augs are just a handful of victims of circumstance, and not a part of the populace, an unavoidable fact of life." he said, before rather bluntly continuing.
"They would've treated you like nothing but an animal, a scientific curiosity. Something to dissect. No sane officer wants to be to blame for someone under their command suffering that sort of fate. Now imagine having that hanging over your head, and tell me you could say it to their face that no matter what happens, all that sense of normalcy we spent the past decade before zero day hoping for will be just out of their reach. If all this went just a bit differently, she'd have to tell you that your family and friends are living comfortably and you'd never be allowed to see them again. Could you do that to someone?" he asked.
Jennifer was shocked by this, trying at first to respond, before looking away. "No. But that doesn't excuse not telling me after all this..." she said, and Larion nodded. "You're right. It doesn't. I only agree with why she started this deception and bullshit, not why it continued..."
"I'm only arguing against continuing the lies." Atomos said, spicing the statement with a pinch of bitterness, "I can't afford to care about why it started in the first place... She could have at least let the others in on it..."
Larion pinched his nose and screwed his eyes up before releasing the expression and saying, rather tersely, "They were never afraid of you Jennifer, knowing what was going on with you wouldn't have made them change their opinions because you already had their support. You aren't the only marine who survived down there. You spent all that time trying to distance yourself because you assumed we were afraid, just... Stop. Not every tribulation in the vault was a result of Catalina's not telling you about all this. Thinking like that is... It's... It's terribly self indulgent!"
Jennifer's tail curled around the base of her chair nervously and dropped her head. He was right, of course. Maybe she was being unfair to the Captain, taking all the stress of her trip and releasing all in a single direction for a selfish reason. What did it really matter that she'd been changed and it had been covered up now? Years later, and she'd lived life until finding out perfectly fine. She'd lived her life after the accident in the vault under a thickly veiled layer of fear, willfully unaware that there were people who would hold her up. With the realization, both glorious and terrible in it's ramifications, made Jennifer felt something slip. Somewhere deep in her soul, Cheena felt it too. The last chains of Astor's curse turning to rust and slipping away.
There was a long silent pause in which the only sounds were those of people going about their lives like they did every day and the low buzz of the centers budget ventilation system. Then, Jenny began to cry.
Larion didn't say anything at first, letting her reflect on this stroke of realization, but he remained there, calm and not showing any anger on his face despite the preceding outburst. He let her for a moment before speaking up. "We're here for you. All of us. Even me." he said calmly, before perking up a bit. She'd offered him a slice of cake, and in their argument he initially left the plate sitting at the table, finally deciding to try it now that things had calmed down a bit.
Solomon had been following behind, off to one side to screen for any undead still in the woods, when Liam had set upon the first bunch they encountered. Hearing the gunfire and and pop of magical flames, he activated his mask and shouldered the wraithslayer.
He had, on occasion the past couple of months, attempted hunting using his mask. Compared to how it was without the mask, it was in many ways a breathtaking experience. He could sense his way through every obstacle, picking up on life in all directions, even right behind him. But at the same time it carried challenges of its own. The mask's sight limited his vision to about 50 meters at most, and on occasion he lost quarry due to a lesson his brother taught him, years ago: the first step to crossbow hunting starts well outside of crossbow range.
The undead won't flee if they notice you first, however. And as he worked his way through the treeline, he spotted a couple of stragglers among the underbrush. Another thing that came to his mind was that he hadn't loosed a bolt at the undead in quite some time. Only really during the early days, before they found out that the undead weren't all that fazed by a single crossbow bolt.
The sound was barely noticeable, far quieter than the snap of a crossbow, modern or replica. Nor did he feel the vibrations from the movement of the prod, as it remained perfectly still. But what drew his attention was the brilliant bolt of green light, lancing out from the weapon and piercing right through the shambling figure that stumbled out into the open. It staggered, lurching forward from a wound that ripped a fist-sized hole through it, an expanding plume of green flames stripping bark from the tree behind it.
It didn't stop of course, nor did the horribly-decayed undead following alongside it, but he found the energy flowing into the weapon to be quite a lot faster than reloading his usual weapon of choice, and the follow-up shot blew the lead undead's head clean from its shoulders.
For the second, he circled around, pushing past to keep up with the others and ensure he'd see if any other undead were in the way, to continue screening the woods for the others, and a point-blank shot from the wraithslayer blew the second zombie's left leg out from under it, reducing it to crawling after him. Enough that he decided to leave it there and catch up with the others.
When he broke out into the clearing behind them he lowered the weapon and gave a wave, deactivating the mask and removing it. He'd swept his masked gaze over the lot and found only a slightly-familar presence, that of Alexei. The mask alone wasn't enough to betray Salazar's true nature. "Sure everyone's alright? I brought medical supplies if needed." he answered, before looking back. "Nothing else in this part of the woods at least, except for one of the older undead that'll crawl along eventually. Not a threat now at least."
Hector, meanwhile, had pushed ahead past The Hall after checking with Helen. He'd yet to tell her about his reunion with Roxanne, having more pressing matters to deal with. He figured that Liam and the others were able to deal with the sounds they heard elsewhere, so instead he went with pushing deeper into the woods to catch any other undead before they reached the bridge or The Hall.
And find them he did, running into at first a couple stragglers that had been following the distant sound, decaying undead that were more easily dealt with. It wasn't long before he was humming a tune as he backpedaled, driving the undead to stagger themselves and get caught up on underbrush, the better to cut them down one by one. It wasn't his usual tune he was humming, something else entirely, Latin rather than the only Middle High German he knew.
"Sancte Deus, sancte fortis..." As his blade opened the ribcage of some vaguely-humanoid monster, skin dried and grown over with spare bony plates, another creature lunged at him from the underbrush, another of the undead seemingly adapted to moving on all fours like an animal. It knocked him off-balance, skidding and clambering to try and snatch at the kite shield that it slammed into, only for the knight to roll with it, sending them both to the ground. As he jabbed at the feral undead with his sword, something caught him by the shoulder, a bony limb stretching with the tension of unnatural muscles, yanking back with enough force that he was pulled back up and dragged towards another abomination. It had spindly long arms, hunched over with its other limb cocked back in a way that would be quite reminiscent of Mica's peculiar ability, had he ever witnessed her use it.
It pulled him in, only to be met with a hard slam from his shield, but that alone wasn't enough to break its grip, the knight instead using it as leverage to keep it at bay, as the creature fumbled with trying to bite into the hardened plate armor. He hacked at it, carving open deep wounds before his blade caught the arm that had ensnared him, sending a twitching, thrashing limb splaying out as all that tension in the muscles were released by its severance.
He was in the middle of stabbing at the creature, pushing it away when the creature that pounced him earlier struck him again, sending him stumbling into the now one-armed undead and bowling it over. Claws and fangs frantically scrabbled at steel, until Hector regained his footing and tensed up. Augmented muscles drove him backwards, step by step until he slammed right into a treetrunk, causing the creature clinging to his back to give a hiss and loosen its grip. In an instant Hector pulled away, turning on his heel and going from a high guard to powerful slash that opened the creature up from shoulder to hip.
It wasn't long afterward that he turned to finish off the grappler zombie that lunged its other limb out to snare him, letting it skid off his shield to close in and lop the other arms off, followed by cleaving its head open. Suddenly, he gave a pained shout as a bolt of lightning arced around him, mostly flowing through the armor and all around him, yet still paining him at every spot where metal was near the skin. The cause was a stumbling figure, decaying flesh exposing old bionics, a few spots revealing bare wires and an old power cell. He lunged at the creature, shrugging off the pain and closing in, shouting in pain and anger as he felt the jolt from his blade cleaving its neck open. At first it didn't even topple over, even with the head little hanging by a few wires and a strip of flesh, before faltering bionics went slack, the zombie going limp before him.
By now he was working his way closer to the edge of the treeline, checking for more signs of stragglers in the woods, but so far he saw little else. It was as he neared the treeline however, that he saw something up ahead. There was a figure there, kneeling over a mangled undead body. Much like the one he encountered earlier, the creature had been heavily augmented, seemingly put down at some point during the fighting then dragged off by the stranger. The kneeling figure was clearly heavily augmented, to the point where the artificial skin covering what little was exposed gave it an almost robot appearance. The uniform was old, tattered and seemed to be a mish-mash of Army and Marine equipment, a peculiar combination that was uniquely suspicious. The faded shoulder patch and badge affixed underneath confirmed it.
The patch bore the emblem of some sort of boat and a solar symbol, with the Roman numerals VII. The silver badge meanwhile was something he hadn't seen in a long time, not since they took on the lab Apophis had taken over. The other thing that stood out was its left hand, a frayed, tangled mess of dried flesh, artificial bones, and wires, most of which were hooked up to the slain augmented zombie. As soon as it noticed the knight it whirled around, raising a pistol linked to its right arm with a thin cable, and the sharp crack of laser fire resounded.
The heat was painful, conducting through the whole of his cuirass, though the laser pistol alone wasn't adequate to damage the temper of the steel, nor to do him much harm. His eyes stung a bit already, even though he wasn't looking down at where he'd been struck at that moment. He raised his shield out of reflex, another laser beam striking it and stripping the paint from the strange ivory surface.
He rushed at the strange cybernetic zombie, another shot narrowly missing his head in an attempt to shoot past the shield, demonstrating a peculiar intelligence to the creature, before it swayed and sidestepped the slash he opened up with. In the exchange, though his shield forced its pistol hand aside to keep himself out of its line of fire, its other limb lashed out at him, wires and cables seeming to writhe and move of their own accord, directed by whatever bionics controlled them.
He'd only narrowly moved to avoid getting prodding cables in the eyeslits of his helm, instead feeling a jolt of pain as they arced and sparked across the steel, and raked at his neck in an attempt to jab at any exposed spot. In turn he stabbed at it, piercing through the tattered uniform, meeting minimal resistance from artificial skin covering desiccated flesh, only to feel another shock as he pierced something that sent the creature convulsing. A quick snap kick drove its leg out from under it, only for sparking wires to snake around his neck and drag him down as well.
The two scrabbled and struggled for a moment, Hector soon enough pinning it down and cracking its left arm with a hard slam with the edge of his shield, managing to free himself from its grasp. He practically jumped to his feet, frantically stomping it in a nearly berserk fury, its neck giving a crunch as his armored boot came down, again and again until the twitching augmented zombie ceased moving. He knelt, making certain it was so thoroughly damaged that it'd fail to get back up, before yanking the small silver emblem from its sleeve.
As he limped back down the road towards the farm, he'd sheathed his sword and slung the shield over his back by its guige strap, helm removed as he examined his injures. His neck was bleeding from several scratches, stopping briefly to take particular care of the shallow marks and electrical burns. With the adrenaline fading, the aches of all those shocks and strikes were now readily apparent, taking particular care of what injuries he could before returning to the farm, tossing an empty bottle back into his medical pouch, once half-full of some antiseptic concoction Helen had cooked up.
Pastor John Luke was there to greet them, giving a nod to Bigby as he approached. “Got a couple visitors here to stay a while, led by a friend of Taji’s.” he remarked, and the pastor nodded. “I see. And the troublemakers Heather mentioned?” Maya simply smirked a bit. “Bunch of gopniki he had trouble with, it seems. They won’t cause any further problems.” John simply hmmed a bit, giving a polite nod to Nashio as he stepped out of the van.
Nashio nodded back as he opened the cube van, assisting several women out along with a man dressed in formal wear stepped down from inside. The girls were dressed in classy dresses, either bright neon club dresses, or something cutesy with one of the mutants, a mothgirl, Among the group was a woman with augmented legs, rather clearly designed to mimic a human appearance yet with overt joints, just enough artificial structure to not look like an unsettling imitation.
The pastor gave the group of hostesses an odd look, before looking back at Nashio. “A friend of Tajima? Well, it’s nice to meet you. How about we head inside?” Nashio nodded, “‘Course. Lets go.” He said, and the two went inside the church to have a talk.
Meanwhile back at Heather’s place, she was already further tending to Taji’s injuries, promptly giving him a kiss. “Promise me you won’t get into trouble like that again...” she said, sighing a bit. “Or at least won’t tell me to run off while you take on a dozen armed men alone.” Tajima was surprised at the kiss, but at her second comment, Taji gave a small, pained chuckle. “No promises, can't have you getting hurt… besides, I think Nashio wants a ‘talk’ later.” He joked, patting Heather's head.
Heather grumbled a bit at that, giving him a firm poke in the side, confident enough that his ribs had been bruised but not broken. “He’s going to have to wait then, not much of a ‘talk’ when one of you is all bruised up already.” she pointed out. Taji winced a bit at that, “I’ve had fights with worse wounds, I’ll be fine. Who knows, it might be an actual talk…” He said, sighing as he reclined back on the chair he was sitting in.
Heather grumbled a bit at that, only for there to be a knock on the door. Jacob shouted from outside the door, “Hello?! Tajima?! I got something for you! Heard you like baseball!” He continued, knocking again. Heather followed Taji as he went over to answer the door, seeing Jacob there smiling wide. “What’d you have in mind?” Jacob clapped his hands together, “I fixed up an old pitching machine, aaaand your pirate friend mentioned that you two used to go to a batting cage together.” The man in the wheelchair explained, gesturing wheeling backwards and gesturing towards the old park, with a baseball field.
Tajima hmmed a bit at that, glancing back over Heather, before nodding. “It’s been awhile, but I wouldn’t mind it. Has Aurelia been...you know, following him? Or stalking around here?” he asked, and Jacob shrugged. “Lady with the tits and the wings, an’ the blonde hair, right?” he asked, before chuckling. “Saw her chatting up the pirate fellow previously, don’t think she’s the baseball type though.” he said, before giving a sly grin.
“Think you’ve got yourself a little love triangle going on soon, with your one-eyed pal around now.” At that, Heather promptly facepalmed. “Given she was only there to help with those goons because she was stalking Taji, I think we have that part covered already...”
Nashio gave a wave as Tajima walked up, handing the trench-bat to Taji as he fussed with a remote. “[Oy, Just like old times, right?]” Nashi said in his native tongue, Tajima gave a nod. “[Yeah…]” He said, accepting the bat as Nashio turned on the pitching machine. A baseball was launched and it was sent flying. The pair was silent as they relaxed for a moment, and Taji simply batted. Nashio let out a sigh,
“[Tajima.]” “‘Uh?” “[Where were you?]” “...” “[Tajima.]” “[I had a ‘job’. Zero day struck as it went down.] “[Why didn’t you look for me?]” “[I don’t- I don’t know.]”
Nashio glared hard as Tajima swung, another ball launched and Taji prepped to swing. Just as he was going to let it rip, Nashi barked at his friend. “[Horseshit!]” He shouted as he caught the baseball mid-air. The two stared hard at each other, as Taji let the bat hit the ground. “[I… didn’t want to see you dead if you got overwhelmed…]” Tajima admitted, as he dropped the club. He walked slowly into the field, as Nashio turned the pitching machine off. “[What’s the hold-up? The price of desertion is death, right? But kicking my ass is probably the next best thing.]” Tajima asked, Nashio let out a grunt at that. “[Well, we’re not gonna pull any punches then?]” He asked, and Taji smirked, “[Wouldn’t want it any other way.]”
As the two squared off, a few others watched from the sidelines, a bit wary of this. Donavan had been there, about to use the pitching machine as a good way to test some recent repairs to his augmentations. “Oh hell. You can’t be serious, Ta-aji...” he said, wincing at the momentary distortion in his voice. Aurelia meanwhile winced some. “Today, after what they just went through? You can’t be ser-” She was interrupted by Nashio unbuttoning his shirt and tossing it aside, Tajima following suit. “Nevermind. Let’s see where this goes...”
Nashio ran at Taji, cracking him across the jaw. He stumbled backwards, spitting the blood out of his mouth and going for a wide kick which Nashi slid under with a wide grin. With a twirl, he was back on his feet and going for another haymaker. Tajima caught the fist and stared hard at the eyepatched man in front of him as he swung his fist square in Nashio’s face. The Mad Oni stumbled backwards, into the fence behind the homebase. The Phoenix pinned him against the fence and punched him hard in the ribs, then cracked him twice across the jaw. Nashi held his arms up, raising a leg to kick Taji in the chest, which caused his ribs to flare up in pain.
Aurelia watched with an unnerving amusement, while Donny shook his head a bit. There weren’t any others there at the moment, but the cyborg suspected things would go south rapidly if one of the Shepard’s Wolves saw them up to this. “For fucks sa-ake, of *BZZT* the...” he grumbled, nudging Aurelia aside to step forward. “Come on, break it u-” He managed to get as far as setting a hand on Nashio’s shoulder after he’d driven Taji back, only for the Mad Oni to deftly slip out of his grasp and yank him off-balance, sending him toppling to the ground. “Come now, let an old friend have his fun...” Nashio said with a smirk, while Tajima looked down at Donny, seeing him stumbling back up, unharmed but now glaring daggers at the both of them. “I’ll be fine, Donny.”
As Donny backed off, the two tried to catch their breath. Nashio popped his neck as the two went back to it, circling each other like wolves. Nashi ran forward, going for a feinting kick, which Taji fell for and Nashio twirled the opposite direction, cracking him across the jaw with a roundhouse. The Phoenix fell to the ground, away from the fence as he felt something in his nose pop. Tajima let out a frustrated scream as he jumped to his feet, running at Nashio and jumping at him. He grabbed the Oni by his shoulders and brought his forehead to his opponent’s.
Heather had been heading over to check on Taji belatedly when she heard the scream, rushing in only to find, to her shock, the two of them trading blows and grappling with each other, shirtless at that. “What the...are you fucking kidding me!?” she said, facepalming at that, right up until Taji shifted and tensed up noticeably, sending Nashio stumbling backwards and nearly bowling him over. “I...oh.” Aurelia simply gave a fanged smile as she saw that. “Let them have their fun. I was going to step in if things got too heated. Donny tried, didn’t go so well.” she said, and Heather looked away a bit. “...you’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” At that, Aurelia simply snickering at that.
The two were getting tuckered out, the two wheezed before Nashio ran at Taji again. He grabbed him by his shoulder and punched him square in the ribs, then cracking him across the jaw. Tajima stumbled backwards, falling to his hands and knees, spitting out blood. The phoenix couldn’t rise again, wheezing and coughing. Nashio stared hard at him, “[What? That all ya’ got?! Are you already fuckin’ done?!]” The oni screamed at him, as he ran at him with another scream, prepping to punch him square in the face. He stopped mere inches away from his friends face, “I can’t ruin that face of yours…” Nashio joked, collapsing next to him.
At this, Heather rushed over to Tajima, kneeling beside him and checking on him, rather clearly flustered. “Taji, damnit...are you alright?” she asked. Likewise Aurelia knelt beside Nashio and helped him sit up. “Easy. Guess you won since he fell over first, huh?” she teased. Taji nodded, “I’m alright, Heather. Don’t worry…” He said as Heather fussed over him, “Seems like you enjoyed it, though…” Tajima teased as Nashio looked up at Aurelia. “I’d say he won, he got a few good licks in, I think he dislocated my nose…” He grumbled, popping his nose back into place.
Nashio and Tajima limped back to Heather’s house to get patched up, with Heather and Aurelia in their company. Their brawl beat the spite out of Nashio, and Tajima was happy to have a good spar with his best friend again. Heather fussed over the two’s bruises and scrapes berated the two for getting into a brawl in the first place.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 15, 2018, 06:11:24 am
Roxanne waited patiently and took note of the little changes here and there. The early morning farm wasn't quite as busy as it would become, with Catnip's foremen going here and there on daily tasks and the workers under them collecting the needed supplies. Several men and women took up seats on a bench press in front of Catnip's picture window and the empty flower box under it, seemingly waiting for their dear artificer to appear. That Catnip could unintentionally instill a sort of loyalty in people was fascinating to Roxanne, now that she took a calm moment to reflect. A result of some inherent quality in the young mechanic? Or was it just the way she had been designed down in X7? A woman approached, rather rudely squeezing past Roxanne and hammering on the door.
"C'mon, c'mon, we ain't got all day! Walker! Are you gonna keep to the schedule or not?" She hollared up at the windows above.
"Sit the f... Heck down Connie, the line starts back here. This lady was here first." A man chastised. "Show some friggin respect yeah?"
Connie huffed impatiently and stormed to the back of the "line." Three men, all Misling, in work clothes, a human woman dressed like a gardener, and another in some kind of utility bathrobe. At least that's how it looked to Roxanne, all strapped up with belts and pouches and pockets but having long plush sleeves and practically dragging along the ground.
"Used to be she was always punctual." One of them men commented.
"Sure, but now that she's back home she doesn't have to be..." Connie sulked back prisily.
"That's not entirely right Connie. This is the first time she's been late anyway, you can't judge the future entirely off the events of the present..."
The door popped open, surprising Roxanne a little, and Kathrine's familiar innocent face peeked out at her. Except there was something different. Roxanne could see her shoulder. Just a bit but, but enough to glimpse the rim of one ovoid spot. On top of that, she was obviously a bit flustered. It was dark inside, but just bright enough to see the general disarray of a coffee table and the blankets on a couch. Apple and Cinnamon, the smells of Autumn, wafted gently from the barely open door in a wave that struck Roxanne and made her feel... Homesick? It only lasted for the moment before Kathrine spoke, and not that strong in the first place. If anything all it really left her with was a warm fuzzy feeling and a desire for some hot cider.
"Um. Catnip will be ready in just a bit. She's getting dressed." Kathrine peeped. She started to close the door, but stopped and looked out at Roxanne again for a long moment, almost squinting. Then, "Catnip!" She shouted in the familiar tone of displeasure she saved for "mean" people. "Ms. Roxanne has been using the infusey thingy again!" A divine spirit waited impatiently as the woman who had summoned it looked over the work he and his fellows had been forced to do knowing very well that if it wasn't up to Sharlene's horribly unreasonable standards, it would once again be put to the torch. She'd done it six times already. The first of these was a veritable palace in miniature, a luxurious abode feature the very highest quality the world's next door could provide. That first and the four likewise exemplary examples of home architecture had been one by one put to the match until the last half assed dumpy example of backwoods cabin construction. It called the spirit and it's fellows, creatures mostly like itself, that it had come to such. The divine spirits were fed up, the krecks were bored, and the lone youthful Mi-go was downright disheartened. It was a being of science, it didn't need this kind of treatment from some meat being with bizarre delusions of power.
Sharlene finished inspecting the cabin from the outside. One door, a window at the back, solid wood construction. The door looked loose in it's frame, not like it was poorly fit, but as though it had been wrenched from it's hinges multiple times and rebuilt. The large picture window at the back was cracked in one corner as though the building had been shifted by force at some point. The whole building leaned ever so slightly in such a way as to give vertigo to anyone who stared too long.
"Okay, good enough I guess." Sharlene said nonchalantly. She touched the door and listened to the sound it made. A long low creak. "Sounds right."
"Madam, I must insist-" began the spirit.
"Shut up, listen. You hear that?" She asked, testing to first step below the door with one foot and making it creak. "Not quite... Hm..."
"Oh by the God's of the five shards..." The spirit moaned.
"Calm your tits guy, it's close enough for government work. This'll be fine enough."
The spirit fumed. Fine enough? After five burned down houses? After so much energy wasted, so much effort. Divine spirits had exhausted their essentia supplies trying to get this arrogant woman's cabin just the way she wanted it. The spirits had walked the planes of existence collecting materials and furniture to please this one picky Australians sickeningly simple tastes. Normally, the spirits would consult with one of their own, the highest and most glorious of their kind. A golden spirit. Unfortunately, the only golden divine spirit present was in league with this heinous witch. Instead they consulted with one another, taking no note of the krecks wandering off disconsolately and the Mi-go shifting it's weight nervously from one forelimb to the other.
"We want to be paid." The spirit spoke up suddenly. Sharlene didn't even spare a glance for the spirits. She seemed preoccupied with adjusting the positioning of a bucket near the door. "I said-"
"I heard what you said and it ain't happening. I don't have any money. What would you even do with money?" She said.
"You do have money." The spirit insisted hotly, "You have a horde in silver. As for what we would do with it, it doesn't matter. Humans use money to buy things, we will do the same."
"Oh right, the blanks. Uh..." Sharlene fumbled, "Those aren't mine."
The spirit screwed it's face up. "What?" It scoffed. It could spot an example of fast talk when it heard one. Sharlene tugged an ear, thinking quick. "Yeah, uh. Gave those away. Just holding onto them."
"We don't believe you." The spirit announced after a moment of silent consultation with the others. "Who have you given them to?"
Sharlene drew a blank, fumbling over the question like a woman treading water. The spirits moved closer, fanning out into a semi circle to make themselves look more intimidating. Fortunately, Sharlene knew better than that. These chumps would no more harm her than they would themselves. At least, she didn't think so.
"She gave them to me!" L called, walking calmly from the end of the beaten path and into sight of Sharlene's clearing. Alongside her was Sylvia and between them they carried a somewhat undersized trunk. Too flat to hold much and having a handle on both the top between the latches, and the bottom between the hinges. The spirits eyed her warrily, and ignored the Mi-go finally getting the hint and skulking off to find something it could reasonably catch and dissect.
"This isn't over Quintero." The lead spirit at last relented. It turned to the others and after even more silent discussion and a glare at Sharlene over his shoulder, vanished into thin air leaving behind a shimmer that faded quickly and oddly left the smell of lemons lingering in the area. Sharlene had already lost interest though and instead turned her attention to the new comers.
"Well, if it isn't Mo's new roasty rodent. Come to try and negotiate for those blanks again?"
L ignored the comment, she hadn't come to be pissed off at a witch who was frankly beneath her or so she told herself. Sylvia though looked pissed enough for both of them. L had come to know the stolid expression Sylvia showed and the fury that hid behind it. Sylvia had only come along because she wanted to watch what was about to go down.
"No. Well, sort of. Do you play cards Sharlene?" She asked smoothly. Judging from the smirk, L judged that Sharlene did in fact like the occasional card game. "I see that you do. How about a wager?"
"What sort of wager?" Sharlene asked, gaining interest. "And what do you have that I could possibly want?"
"Five hands of Texas hold em,'. If I win, I get your blanks." L explained. She'd gone over this with Mohammad the night before, discussing the in's and out's of how it would go and arguing about what L would bring to the table.
"Yeah, I figured." Sharlene said cattily. "But what-"
"What I have is this folding poker table, and this." L cut in, withdrawing from an inner pocket of her lucky jacket a rolled up sheet of card stock inside a paper towel tube. "My debt papers."
Sharlene scoffed, "What the heck would I want your debt papers for? That isn't much to offer, hump bunny, I think you should try again when you've got-"
Again L cut her off, this time adding a dangerous glare to punctuate the fact that Sharlene was getting awfully close to breaking the Mislings cool. "Why don't you actually look at it instead of jaw jacking, Wog?"
Sharlene snatched the tube, incensed at being called such by somebody like this, and read the document carefully. There wasn't so much to look at actually, and Sharlene found it more interesting than at first she'd believed. It read;
"The holder of this document agrees to house, feed, and clothe ELLE ERICSON until the sum of FIVE THOUSAND EIGHTY SIX water marks has been paid to the holder of said document or the courts of Pricetown, until which time holder may dispense with profits incurred by ELLE ERICSON as they see fit so long as share of said payment is made to the courts of Pricetown. After such time as the entirety of this debt is paid to either this documents holder or to the courts of Pricetown, this contract becomes null and ELLE ERICSON judged free from debt slavery."
"My slave papers, in other words." L put in. Sharlene scratched her head at that. It was a ballsy offer and she had to respect that, but Sharlene wasn't really down with the whole slavery thing.
"What's it worth? The number here? What's a water mark?" She asked.
"Water mark is about a gallon of clean water. Or about twenty bucks or so."
A quick burst of simple ars mathmatica brought a number to Sharlene and she scratched her head again. "I guess... The table comes with it if I win?"
"Sure."
"Well... Yeah alright, you're on then." Sharlene mused.
"Excellent." L said slyly, and thought "The fool and her money. First step on your way Elle, just the first step."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 19, 2018, 12:11:41 am
Alexei looked around and noticed the only one that seemed injured was Salazar. Asking if he would be alright in Russian Alexei grinned when he got a nod in response. Looking back to Solomon he said “We’re fine. Thanks for the assist.”
Retrieving a cigarette from his pants pocket Alexei lit it as he waited for his men to start back home. Looking over to Edgar and speaking a quick sentence in Russian Alexei caught the bottle his associate tossed to him. Holding it in one hand Alexei walked over to Solomon and handed the bottle to him. “For Miss McKinnon. A gift for providing me shelter some time ago. I wish I had the time to deliver it myself but..” He trailed off. He wasn’t sure what to say, whether or not to admit he was preparing to die, and paused for a few moments. Flashing a fake smile as he’d become accustomed to Alexei finished “..I’ve business to attend to. Tell her I wish her and her family the best.”
Turning he followed his men. Alexei had no illusions about him having a long life now. Perhaps in another life he’d have stayed, maybe even joined Miss Mckinnon’s little group. But with what was coming he knew he’d only bring more danger to her and her child if he was there. Better to die like his brother he thought. Better to be killed protecting something.
Meanwhile Veronica received communications on a bandwidth that had been dormant for some time. The voice of a man she knew only as The Father called out “Hello. It has been a long time since I’ve spoken to my flock abroad in this land. But it is time I call upon you once more. It is time we pursue the heretic now that our scouts have found the area he is believed to be operating in.”
Veronica hadn’t been from the UT, or Voshkova, having arrived a number of years into the cataclysm and cementing her place there. She had been sent for a reason though she had lost sight of it after meeting that infuriating pastor. Something about the way he had treated her..
As of late though she had started what she had been sent to do. Looking at the other members of the ‘family’ in the room she saw the excitement in their faces. Listening they heard the Father give them some information and their excitement only grew. The Heretic was supposed to be near them.
Elsewhere a few minutes later in the 3rds base Schultz listened to the PA system. Closing his eyes and sighing he stood up. Krieg was sitting near him as the pair had been discussing the very thing they had just heard. Schultz opened a drawer and retrieved a detonator as he said “Girl I tried to guide you away like Roland had wanted but now..now you’ve gone and done it.”
The two stood up from their conversation as Krieg sent a signal to the Rangers. The pair were walking down the hall when a man in full kit stopped them. He was asking about some new authorization badge that Veronica’s little order over the PA instated. Looking the man over Krieg spotted that little symbol Schultz had told him about a few days ago and that he’d been seeing more and more of stitched onto the man’s uniform.
A silent communication between Krieg and Gray led to the man falling to the floor. Grey had slit the man’s throat open. A few spats of gunfire erupted as they made their way to the garage. The Rangers were waiting there with the children that the 3rd had been sheltering.
Hopping into the back Schultz barked an order and the vehicles started off. As they cleared the garage Schultz pressed the button on the detonator.
After a few seconds the charges, disguised as toys, that were spread through the facility detonated. Of course this killed men and damaged the place. But there were survivors. And after a few minutes Veronica and her cultists stepped into the garage. Clenching her fists she said “Get in the vehicles, we’re going to find the Heretic and kill him. Then we’ll deal with the rest of these idiots.”
Elsewhere B-23 and his crew had intercepted the transmission. Not that it made much sense to the Carniceria. They didn’t care for such things. But they knew there would be an influx of trouble because of this.
B-23 adjusted the vest he was wearing as the vehicle came to a stop. Following the others and jumping out the back of the vehicle B-23 wondered what this new programing he’d installed would do. Something about a data base of individuals. It hadn’t been one that the scientists had shown interest in testing.
Walking towards the building to meet with someone that had contacted the head of the Carniceria B-23 kept a hand on his pistol as it sat in its holster. Upon walking in B-23 saw a woman and a young man, the woman being maybe in her early twenties while the young man was sixteen or so. A few words in spanish were exchanged as B-23 scanned the two.
As he’d expected the kid came up with nothing. The woman however surprised him. Her record had been clean though a few roving bots had clocked her for a few misdemeanors before law enforcement systems lost contact with each other. Her age was 25, and her name was Alicia Frontiers.
Walking back out of the building now that the two parties were satisified with the deal they’d made B-23 let the two strangers into the van before stepping back in with his comrades. As they got moving B-23 leaned forward in his chair and wondered just what was going on. Because the only person he knew with that name was supposed to be much younger.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 19, 2018, 02:11:50 am
Solomon gave a nod, looking back and found himself surprised at realizing who was there among the group. "Alexei...it's been a while. Helen had been hoping to come by the bar after Thomas gets weaned o-" He was then further surprised by the bottle handed to him, giving a sigh.
"I'll pass it on to her then." he said, with a resignation that hinted at him fearing the worst, whatever it may be. "Take care, alright?" he said, waiting with the others to ensure they'd be off safely before returning to The Hall.
Floyd grimaced a bit as he looked back, to the road Roxanne and two others had walked down. They didn't stop to talk for long, but Floyd gave her nothing but a simple piece of advice: she needs to talk to Hector after whatever she was up do was done. The tattoos didn't even get a mention, as much as he wanted to demand to know what was up with that.
Hector trudged his way back past the bridge, seeing a few mislings watching the scene along with Floyd, who gave a concerned look at the bandages around Hector's neck. "Yer gonna git yerself killed one a' these days, boy." the gunslinger said, setting a hand on the knight's shoulder. "Sure yer alright?"
Hector simply nodded at that, holding up a small silver emblem before handing it to Nate. "Been through worse, it'll heal up within the week at most. Area should be clear for the time being, all the ones I ran into I made sure to put down." Nathaniel went wide-eyed at the bade. "Holy fuck, is that...those things from the lab raid, remember those? They all had badges like that." he said, and Hector shook his head.
"Something close to it, augmented zombie but far easier to put down. Augs left it able to roughly point a laser pistol in the right direction too, but was able to handle that." he said, and Nathaniel hmmed a bit. "Don't like the sound of that...no telling what kinds of population these projects had, how many went rogue and have succumbed to the blob. Who knows, maybe the storms stirred 'em up..."
Nathaniel then continued. "Roxanne passed through here, two others with her. She get herself a tattoo job while she was out? Floyd told her she better not pull a vanishing act on you again without explaining shit." he said, and Hector sighed a bit. "Thank Agmen she came back this time...it's a long story, I'll have to talk to her about...this. And us." he said, before heading down the road towards Walkerville.
Nathaniel meanwhile handed the bade to a Shattered Helm guard. "Make sure this gets to Catnip." he said before heading over to go check on Lilith, a few of the misling fishermen nearby whispering among themselves, of what they witnessed, overheard references to an event they only knew of from Catnip's secondhand retelling.
Aurelia smirked a bit as she looked around, standing in one of the alleys of the Shepard's Wolves buildings. She looked up at the fire escape, its ladder just out of her reach. A trifling spell and it seemed like she was shrouded in flowing shadows, vanishing only to reappear a moment later on the fire escape itself, still cloaked by shadow. In her case it was a mere illusion, a good vertical leap at the ladder, and a practical approach to her getting up there while still in her usual attire.
Of course she knew a certain annoying mage hunter whose mask would cut right through the illusion, but she wasn't that concerned about that. Let the grumpy old man do so, for all she cared. If he wanted to keep spying on her, the apartment tower went high enough that he'd have to climb a few stories before getting her back in mask range, while she sunned herself and enjoyed time to herself on the roof. And personally she hoped he'd try, and throw his back out in the process.
As she made her way up the fire escape's stairs, she stopped in amusement on passing by one of the formerly empty sliding glass doors. To her surprise, Nashio had evidently picked that particular room, getting settled in from the looks of it. She amused herself, watching him go about seemingly unaware, before working up the courage to knock on the glass...
Elsewhere, south-by-southwest of the Center, now titled New Paris...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on October 20, 2018, 07:25:35 pm
It seemed a bit odd to both Rey and Christina that a line had formed to see this Catnip person; was she really that important around here? Roxanne seemed to respect her and as Rey knew that was rather rare. The trio remained silent and rolled their eyes at the rude misling who seemed to have barged in, the three all to used to rude people in their respective lines of work before the cataclysm. They waited and made some small chit chat with the ones waiting in line saying that they needed some alone time with “Ms. Walker” and as soon as they left it they could meet with her.
For Roxanne and Rey, waiting was something they were used to and they did so patiently but Christina was another issue. She fidgeted and rocked back and forth with anticipation and growing boredom; she was by far the oldest person here yet the one who acted most like a child. When the door seemed to be opening Christina lit up but soon was disillusioned when it only opened slightly. Neither Rey nor Christina got a good glimpse of Katherine but they sure heard her voice when she made her particular accusation at Roxanne.
"What? Infu- Oh no, I hav-", Roxanne tried to say but she was interrupted by Kathrine going back inside slamming the door behind her with indignation; she quickly opened it again slightly, apologize for being rude and then close it again softly. Roxanne gave a nervous chuckle and then gave a deep sigh.
“Infusey? What was that all about?”, asked Rey
"Long story of when my stupidity in the post cataclysm began...", Roxanne answered.
“Your time as a mutey?”, Christina asked next. To that Roxanne simply nodded. While they waited a bit more Roxanne started to think of what she just witnessed and sensed. That spot she got a glimpse from Kathrine wasn’t there before, not that she could recall; guess she wasn’t the only one who got some new designs on her body. The smell of autumn from inside still lingered in her mind and she was grateful her senses had returned; that was one thing she could count with Kathrine, wherever directly or indirectly she could make Roxanne forget about her troubles for a moment with pleasant company. Then there was the way she was dressed; her own memories and those of Eris came to the front and she put two and two together causing her to smile a little. "About time...", she whispered to herself.
The door opened again, this time properly and fully and Katherine invited Roxanne in. “Uhm, who are they?”, Kathrine asked with both nervousness and curiosity. Her tail moved slightly obscured lightly by the long hoodie she had put on herself and in her eye the same glim she got when she encountered new people was there. Roxanne had forgotten about the tackled hugs and almost expected her to do so at any moment but she was hesitating. Why? Well, these people seemed “mean”, specially the man who at 6’2” towered over everyone.
"Oh, they are some friends of mine. They are here for a visit and I was showing them around here. They too want to speak with Catnip if that is ok." Upon hearing that Kathrine smiled and simply said ok in her usual cheerful voice. “Catnip is still getting ready. I will make some coffee, you wait here ok?” Roxanne and company found somewhere to sit and soon Kathrine brought three cups of coffee. Now, both Rey and Roxanne couldn’t really drink the coffee due to being spirits but she knew better than to reject anything Kath had prepared so she gave a glance at Rey and took a sip of her coffee. Rey nodded and began to drank his cup too; the two would deal with processing it later. Christina on the other hand was enjoying her cup; the taste and the smell of the room that had been quickly tidied by Kathrine when she closed the door reminded her simpler times. Times before the cataclysm, before SoA, before any of her augmentations and mutations. It reminded her of a time in her youth when she was carefree and naive.
“Hey, this is really good!”, Christina exclaimed, “Haven’t had coffee like this in years. Did you make it yourself?” Kathrine nodded. “Well, thank you. What is your name?”
“Kathrine”
“Nice to meet you Kathrine, my name is Christina; at your service.”
Both Rey and Roxanne were a bit surprised, and pleasantly so, at how Christina was being. No jokes or pranks, no second hand innuendo; just a pleasant talk. It seems she was finally behaving her age...well, somewhat…
"Sooooo...", Roxanne said bringing the attention to herself, "Looks like things have been busy around here lately huh? Pretty nice setup you got going here."
Katherine lit up and nodded enthusiastically. “It’s really nice isn’t it? Catnip will like to explain it to you I am sure, she likes that sort of thing.”
Roxanne laughed hardedly as she put down her now empty cup of coffee. "I am sure she will. Would be nice to have a chat about current events with her. Would also like to hear from you and how Mica is doing. Something tells me other things have changed beyond just the infrastructure." That last bit was delivered with a grin on her face to which Kathrine simply looked in confusion.
“Roxanne?”, Catnip said as she entered where they were gathered. “Oh, new people?” She then got a good look at Roxanne’s face. “So you have been using the infuser. You were told not to Roxanne.”
To that Roxanne first gave a deep sigh before answering. “No no, these are tattoos… and why my eyes are black where they should be white… uhhh… eye tattoos! Yes! It’s the new fad among middle age women with midlife crises…”
Now both Kathrine and Catnip looked at Roxanne confused the latter speaking up. “Uhhh, ok? What brings you here?”
“Well, it’s been a long time since we last had a chat and I would like to catch up a bit… that and as you can see I have some new friends and we would like to ask you a favor; nothing you need to do...we are more asking permission for something but that can wait. For now, what have you done with this place and the farm over all? Almost didn’t recognize it at first…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 23, 2018, 09:53:16 am
"You can't fool me 'boob lady,' I know what contacts are!" Catnip said, squinting at Roxanne. Kathrine guided The guests to the couch, reserving a more stately looking chair for Roxanne while Catnip took to the heavy wooden seat across from her. To Roxanne Catnip's chair looked almost throne like despite it's lack of fancy adornment. Both modest and grand, Catnip's audience chair. "Look at you, tattoos and all. Aren't they nice Kathrine? Roxanne's not shy to show off her stripes. In fact, she went and got stripes of her own. You don't have to be nervous about yours."
Kathrine anxiously fidgeted with her hoodie, clumsily masking her attempt to pull it lower over her knees. Roxanne had never seen so much skin on the maid and found it hard not to find her eyes drifting to Kathrine's bare legs and the stripes and spots that ran unevenly up their sides. It was easy to imagine how Catnip might find them fascinating, when they were on the appealingly tomboyish legs of Kathrine. Catnip sipped her own coffee and gave the sweet smelling dowel retrieved from a clay jar on the table a few experimental gnaws.
"It has changed a bit, hasn't it? The Pricetown people did a good job right? They even patched up and repainted your house Roxanne. A lot of the shacks people around here were staying in just weren't up to much, and since the storm did us the favor of knocking them all down, it was decided to build proper houses. There was plenty of space, why weren't we using it?" Catnip said. When she thought about it, Roxanne had to agree. The farm hadn't been much of a farm after a couple years living in it, and the old shacks had just been thrown up over the field that had been where most of the actual farming had been done. Poor Nathaniel, Floyd, and Hector for a little bit had lived in crappy little sheds compared to Roxanne's claimed farm house or Dee's workshop. Even the barn had been better outfitted. Now it seemed everyone had a small but proper house. Homes even, and where the shacks once stood there was now a large courtyard of sorts. The Mislings had even fenced in the area where the barn had been and rebuilt the farms armory and watch tower. Catnip and Kathrine's shared house was on par with houses of the pre-cataclysm, and if Roxanne was honest it entirely suited the couple.
"After that, me and some others decided to put people to work." Catnip went on, leaning forward in her chair and offering Roxanne a chocolate truffle, "Some Mislings wanted to fish, so a couple folks opened up a fishery and some smoke houses. Other folks decided it would be a great idea to start planting lots of vegetables, or at least getting fields ready for next spring. All of them come to me, can you believe that? It's kind of stressful actually... Oh! Oh! Some of the people I came back with know about Agmen! They want to hold services, whatever that means, and Hector even got the start of the chapel all up to snuff before now, so they have a place to meet!"
She leaned back in her chair looking like the prospect alone had tired her out. Then, she looked at her cup.
"Kat? Did you use that Chicory stuff again?"
Roxanne almost chuckled. A year away, and Catnip's accent had hardly changed, getting thicker with excitement. She could predict that it would only get thicker with age.
"So..." Catnip went on again, clasping her refilled cup in both hands and leaning forward, "Where did you go for two weeks?" Jennifer rolled out of bed and dragged a hand across her eyes. She had things to do, announcements to make, and some small plans to prepare. First, to get dressed. Cheena had fallen silent almost completely now that the curse had been broken, but Jenny could still feel her strongly. While she couldn't hear the young fox, she could still feel her. Understanding the meaning of Cheena's intent almost instinctively. There was synergy between them that hadn't been there with Mikko. They both believed it was a factor as simple as gender. Right or wrong, it was the explanation they went with.
"Okay..." She groaned to the mirror, stretching the sleep out of her limbs. "Breakfast, then business. I wonder if you can feel what I feel?"
A sensation like being unsure came to her very briefly, then Jenny got the feeling that Cheena could to some extent. Taste, feel, experience. She was aware that Cheena became more active when she was asleep now as well. A handy trait to have as Cheena could keep watch while Jenny slept. It would take some getting used to, and a bit more time for them to adjust to the change. Mikko had been old and inactive, but Cheena was a young spirit and filled with energy. She wouldn't always be content with some things. Right now, she wanted human breakfast and Jenny had to keep her eagerness reigned in. Cheena would push her to eat as much as she could, her simple inexperienced mind wanting to act like the animal she'd been even as Jenny subconsciously behaved like the animal she wasn't.
"Bacon and eggs today, nothing else. Maybe toast. Toast? Ok, toast." she planned aloud as she left her room, boots slung over her shoulder. It would be a hard day to start, but later on she felt it would get easier. Branches crawled from it's mudhut a sparse two hours later and got to work digging with it's bare hands and forming mud into as many servitors as it could before it's interest waned. What this amounted to was a solid eight small ape like mud creatures that would be a solid start to getting what it needed. The mud men would collect sticks, duff, and solid wood while Branches snuck down to the hall to get a few things. A close call here, a narrow escape through a window, and a good long look at the squishy baby thing in the crib and Branches had a shovel, a fresh shirt, and a collection of discarded feathers from the strange bird boy. These last Branches intended to use as a substitute for another ingredient. Right now, the feathers would be ground into a fine powder and bottled with salt, alder, and just a touch of clean water.
With those preperations complete, there was a bit of reading to be done and straightening up to do. Viscera from the previous night was buried, Branches grave was straightened and fixed up, and a book was selected. A primer on fashion. Branches delved into the book with a new interest and a mind for what Illiana had instructed it to do. Male or female? Boy or girl? After a bit of comparison, Branches gave up. Why couldn't Illiana have done this? Most people had one or the other arbitrarily placed on them by chance. Branches knew why actually. Illiana hadn't done it because doing it would deprive her of experiencing something no one ever got to experience. Time passed, the homunculus's servants worked with the shovel digging out clay, and after much more thought, Branches made a choice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on October 30, 2018, 12:10:36 am
Alexei and his crew had returned home and had spent a few hours working at this point. As Alexei finished preparing the modified AK Edgar looked over and said “Hey boss that suit of yours was modified. Fucking thing can run on high grade alcohol like the shit we drank last night.”
Alexei nodded in response. Checking the last magazine for the weapon Alexei made sure it was fully loaded. Off to his right Edgar and another of his men were loading magazines for the various weapons they had. Behind him Salazar was lugging a fifty caliber machine gun while another man followed behind him with a stack of ammo boxes.
The cause of this amount of activity had been a message that Irene had been given earlier in the morning. It came from an old friend of Alexei’s that still worked for his mother in what remained of the Russian mob in New England. It was the only aid they were willing to send. A warning that trouble would arrive during the early morning fog tomorrow.
Salazar arrived on the roof to set up the fifty cal in position behind the sandbags, which were actually filled with dirt, while the ammo boxes were deposited next to it. Not far behind the fifty was an old mortar that looked like it had come straight out of a museum, the homemade ammunition less so. Below the fifty, behind a set of wooden blinds in front of the windows, were a pair of belt fed M249s that they’d ‘liberated’ from some folks a few days back.
Two more men came back in from the woods. Out of the fifty explosives they’d taken only five remained on the vests and belts. The rest had been spread out in the tree line rigged with various methods as traps.
As they entered the building Alexei called them over. Opening a crate as they made their way over Alexei produced a modernized RPG. Still cut along the same lines Alexei knew the weapon had still seen major use in third world guerrilla armies alongside it’s elder counterparts. Fired the same rockets too.
Producing a bastardized rocket Alexei turned to the two men and said “Increased payload but no arming distance. It’ll shred infantry easy.” Tossing the rocket to one man he picked up another “This one will punch through any modern armored plating and detonate within said vehicle. If you see something worth one of these by all means shoot it.”
Tossing that rocket to the second man Alexei turned and grabbed a canister of petrol. Cases of empty bottles sat waiting to be readied as petrol bombs. His old comrades called them Molotov Cocktails. As he prepared them he contemplated yet again calling the Hall and Walkerville. And yet again he decided this was his problem. These men were only involved due to some bastard sense of loyalty like he had felt for Bandit some years ago. They were far enough away from the bar that they wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 03, 2018, 04:19:22 am
All the while Roxanne had been listening to Catnip speak, she had been thinking of things as they came along: Katherine’s new patterns, seems she wasn’t the only one with new “adornments”; the work the missling had made and how she had missed just sitting around talking to her friends. The tidbit about the contacts had thrown her off but she choose to go with it as it made things simpler, however, she knew an explanation for the rest was in order. It was in the middle of her thoughts about the chapel Hector was working on and what a coincidence she had similar plan that Catnip made her question.
Oh? Me?, Roxanne responded, she leaned back and gave a deep sigh before continuing, Where haven’t I’ve been? Word of advice girls, stay away from magic if you can help it… it’s only been a mess for me ever since I’ve delved in it. Not like I haven’t been a mess before hand! Infuser notwithstanding. Roxanne chuckles a little to herself but stopped when she noted no one else shared her humor. She cleared her throat and continued. Well, a few days before I departed I got an invitation to a little reunion of people involved with Shadows of Arcana, you know, the group I belonged to before the cataclysm. So I go there and I have this heartwarming reunion with Rey here.
Roxanne waves her hand to point at Rey who waves back awkwardly. Hey is… a long lost friend of mine from before the cataclysm. He was affected by the shifting too so he is team shifting too! Anyways, I met with him and with Christina too. She was one of the founders of our little groups. So we talked and had a few drinks as friends do. I had planned to stay for a couple days but then...
Another deep sigh from Roxanne and then a few seconds of silence before continuing. The other shoe dropped… Turns out the guy who invited me was a baddie and wanted to make me his slave of sorts. He chooses the wrong ghost… in short I uhm... She looks around and see kathrine and as such decides it to tone it down in details. I took care of him so that he wouldn’t bother me anymore. And that should’ve been the end of that but it can never be that simple… As I went and did a little celebratory dance I was jumped by someone else, don’t worry, they were taken care of too, and I passed out. When I woke up I found out I had these lovely tattoos and ‘contacts’ too. I was also pretty week from the beating so I had to rest there for two weeks and recover. These two were really nice in taking care of but now I am back!
Despite being overly excited now, Roxanne gave Catnip and Kathrine time to process what she had said. Still, she didn’t give them time to respond as she continued. By the way, ‘nip, I wanted to tell you and ask you a few things… First, our group, SoA, is operational agains so if you hear the name know that it’s us. We miiiight use a few zombies in our ranks so that is why I am letting you know… to prevent any incidents. Second, well, my friends and I were discussing a few things, I won’t bore you with the details but I wanted to ask if you know of any place I could use to hold a small gathering? I want to put up posters and have a little gathering for a club of sorts I have in mind… if it’s ok with you that is...
With that Roxanne finally quieted down for a moment too and metaphorically catched her breath. She noticed Rey and Christina awkwardly smiling, not sure of what to do.
How rude of me… didn’t give anyone else the chance to speak… Rey, Christina, anything you wanna say or ask my friends here?
“Nah, I am all good for now. Thanks for the coffee Kathrine. Can I call you by your name? Or is it too early?”, Christina responded.
“There is nothing particularly that comes to mind. I am sure this isn’t the last time we will meet anyways, if I have an inquiry I’ll be sure to ask. Still, I am your service if you need anything.”, Rey said as well.
Well then, guess we have two shy ones here huh? Kinda unexpected. Anything else you two wanna ask us? Roxanne had suddenly gone to her “Eris” persona but this time it didn’t feel like a switch; for the first time it felt like the two were one in the same and it visibly intrigued Roxanne. She noted Catnip and Kathrine looking at her eye color shift and smiled. Oh that? What can I say, advance contacts. I can change my eye color from pink to purple but the outer part stays black...
Elsewhere Lucy and Roxanne’s new zombie servant, Leonard, were heading back to the tower that once belonged to Plague. They were driving Roxanne’s APC as she was using the motocycle she found in the meantime. Lucy was the driver while Leonard was reading a piece of paper Lucy had manifested when he had asked more details on the pieces of anomon.
The poem read as follows: [Seven pieces, seven swords; seven mages, seven souls. Three were broken, four remain; two made shields, one left dead.
Seven kingdoms survey the land; as the sun rises they make their final stand. The skies will darken, the rivers will run dry; as he awakens all will surely die.
Seven mages are called upon; one common goal they all cling on. Different kingdoms they represent, all to which to god they had repent. They set aside their differences to defeat the monster; he who threaten to devour and conquer.
The seventh mage captured the beast, the first bore its mark. The rest created the seals and together they divided it up. The broken god was born, Anomon was no more.
Seven pieces, seven swords; seven mages, seven souls. Three were broken, four remain; two made shields, one left dead.
Assimilation, Annihilation, Convergence, Despair, Pestilence, Storm and Void. The power was taken, the typhoon quelled, the ailment cured and from the corpses two more were made. Trinity and Fantasia, Guardians of the night. They envied the union and fought it will all might.
The first through fourth was handed a sword. Firth and six a shield in tow. The seventh left empty handed, for their hand was too slow.
The mission was done, the goal accomplished. Nothing was left, the goal was achieved. The mages however still ploated with glee.
A puzzle emerged, one with dire consequences; for once the mages had passed the swords would remain. They plotted a plan for the legacy to go on. One of 6 wielders would the whole set one day obtain. Once united the god will be awoken and he who bears the mark will become his chosen token. No one will stop, not even the bravest knight; for he will unite all armies under ever darker night.
One man will have the power, one man will expose the sham. But by then it will be too late for salvation for he will be no other than the lamb.]
“What does it mean?”, Leonard asked.
“Read it carefully, it’s kinda obvious. Mind you, some of it is wishy-washy noustromous tier prophecy stuff but it holds up. It was written a few centuries ago by a man who knew he was about to die too…”
“Noustromous?”
“Don’t worry about it… just, what do you think it means?”
“A group of people came together to seal a powerful being and sealed in swords? That much is clear but… can only be stopped by the lamb?”
“Ah yes, the lamb… back in the day people were very religious. They assumed if Anomon was reborn again it would bring the apocalypse himself and only the second coming of the messiah would stop him.”
“Messiah? Wait, aren’t you-“
“I don’t wanna talk about it ok? I am not as dumb as to rebel against dad a second time… Anyways, just shut up and think things through for a bit; gotta concentrate on driving… we’ll discuss it later...”
“As you wish Miss Morningstar.”
“Morningstar… jeesh, what was I thinking…”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 05, 2018, 03:53:06 am
People were watching her and Jennifer didn't even notice. She was too busy explaining the items on her plate to someone that only she seemed to be able to hear and generally sounding like a crazy person. Lyle, the chef, watched her from the small kitchen window opening out to the cafeteria. She'd ordered the basic breakfast; eggs, bacon, toast and for her he'd brought out the good stuff. Real pork bacon, chickens eggs, and fresh white bread with real butter. In the old days, such a simple meal would have run no more than a few bucks. Nowadays though, it was all fairly valuable stuff. Pigs were only just being captured and redomesticated, chickens were scarce since the farm that once produced them had been burned and looted, and butter... Butter was expensive as hell, the only source being from that asshole Hoyt up north. Lucky bastard had got himself twenty head of cattle. They just showed up in his orchard one day and since then he'd run the entire beef and dairy market in the region. The man was breeding them too, but you could go fuck yourself for all the intention he had of selling any off to the center unaltered. A cornered market was a cornered market.
The meal was expensive to say the least, and Jenny was just picking at it. He couldn't hear what she was saying, not entirely, but the way her lips moved and the occasional snatch of words that came to his ears through the chatter of all the other people. To top it off, she seemed to be salivating uncontrollably. Every few moments, she'd reach over and grab a couple napkins and wipe her face, or swipe at her chin with the back of her wrist. Something had happened to her out there, he was marking the change even now. The sharp looks she sometimes shot at strangers who walked by, the little tensing in her body whenever someone greeted her, and the way her tail darted back and forth behind her. The fact that her tail was out was another thing that added to the impression that there was something altogether wilder about her. When she did finally dig in, she did so with a hardly restrained eagerness. The food vanished as quickly as it had come out of Lyle's kitchen. He couldn't help but frown. People shouldn't just vacuum down their food like that. Especially not food as luxurious as that, and certainly not ladies like Jenny. There was a bit of reassurance to come when Atomos settled in. Her shoulders sagged and her tail curled around her chair comfortably.
"So," Lyle asked as he took the dishes away, "did you even taste it?" Jennifer looked up at him and blinked.
"Yeah, fantastic, really good Lyle. Where'd you get butter?"
"Oh, so you did taste it? Wouldn't know it by the way you shoveled it down." He mused jokingly, "It came from that Hoyt prick up north. The cider man. He wants an arm and a leg for the stuff."
Jenny knew who Hoyt was. A thoroughly unpleasant man she had encountered during several of her scouting trips. He wasn't a gross man. Not a slob, but there was definitely a sense of menace or arrogance in most of his speech. The man had authoritative ways, big ways, and Jenny got the idea that he might just be crazy as well. There was also the drugs. Aside from the harmless products he peddled at exhorbitant prices, he was also a drug dealer. Cheena saw all this in Jenny's memories as they flitted by and Atomos felt her feelings on the matter. Confusion and trust for her assessment.
"Whatcha got there Ms. Jenny?" Lyle asked. She'd brought a pair of forms with her to breakfast and had been filling them out here and there while talking to her breakfast. They were a bit rough, but professional enough for documents that had been gone over with white out and stickers to turn them into a different sort of document, then run through a copy machine. At the top with ever so slightly crooked letters, Jennifer had placed the words "Letter of Resignation." By the end of the day the woods north of the road, and by extension north of the hall, we're littered with Branches work. To the casual observer they looked like oddly vertical dirt mounds, but to people in the know they were crude golems. Simple but effective watchers of the woods like all-natural security cameras. Watchers. There were larger ones too, short and squat or lean and tall. These were branches wardens. Over time the elements would take their toll but as with all magic of this sort, it would get stronger with age. Moss and vegetation would take hold in the soft unfired ceramic of the wardens and watchers, making them blend in and look natural in the process. For now though, they were as bald as freshly dug stones.
That of course was the first half of branches day, or maybe two thirds? The homunculus didn't rightly know, it had spent so long on the project and wasn't sure if it should do more or not. Instead, Branches went for a dive. The stuff it had used thus far was relatively common sandy silty clay mud. It would hold together well enough, and it was ideal for growing plants in, but even Branches automatons were poor imitations of what they could be with real clay. To that end, Branches needed something special. Not for golems, but for itself. What it needed was good old fashioned new england stoneware, and for that it needed to find the original bank of the river. Normally this would have been a hell of a task, navigating the underwater forest of fallen trees and debris, but there was one thing branches could count on; Sharlene's Cabin. The cabin had been a half hearted stones throw from the river, and even now it's chiminy poked up just above the newly formed lakes surface. All the homunculus had to do was point itself at it and walk.
The clay near the sunken cabin was exactly what branches needed. A foot down, it hit the good stuff. A solid thunderstorm grey earth untainted by sand or silt that Branches hauled up in sticky clumps that stuck to the hands and the shovel and the canvas shopping bags used to carry the stuff out. Aside from the clay, there was another thing Branches wanted to grab that would save it a bit of time, and that thing was coffee mugs. There were many broken mugs in the cabins murk, cheap broken cryolite, Bakelite, and porclain mugs. There were very few it could use as Branches didn't want any of those. Branches needed stoneware. Mugs of a suitable type were found after a little searching, broken shards anyway, and Branches hauled it all back to it's side of the lake.
The mugs were pounded down into dust and mixed with the fresh clay. Then, Branches began to sculpt. Laying the new fire clay on was the easy part. Moving it evenly and getting the proportions right was not. Golems came and added water or more clay when necessary until all of branches save for hair and eyes were covered in it. The homunculus could feel the magic bound to the powdered mugs infusing into the clay and into itself, being absorbed by it's core and powering the process of addition. You couldn't have something for nothing when it came to quality. When it was satisfied, Branches instructed it's servants to put the clay away in a cool place in the hut and waited. The itch came on slow and steady, the feeling of the clay drying. It would have been more severe had Branches been a hairy creature, but fortunately it wasn't. The evening sun had dipped behind the trees and left long shadows on the lake before Branches stirred again.
There was a satisfying little crackle as the now thin layer or clay cracked and fell away from what Branches had wrought upon itself. Herself. Shallow curves, narrow hips, and distinctly feminine features. The choice had come down to a feeling. Something Branches caught from that tiny part of itself that was Illiana's essence. She spent a long time staring down at her new features reflected in the lake, grinning like an idiot child.
For the rest of the day, Branches lay or sat on her new bench (one of the days side projects) and played around with her new breasts until it became too dark to see them. It was time for pretending to sleep and later in the morning, she would gorge herself on fish and prod at her new chest some more. Catnip and Kathrine listened politely to Roxanne, passing around biscuits or cookies and tea or coffee when appropriate. There were a few questions, but Catnip decided not to tax Roxanne with them. Roxanne was after all one of her three. Roxanne, Floyd, and Hector could be trusted despite their occasional foibles. As to meeting places though, Catnip could think of a few.
"Well," she said thoughtfully, "There's the chapel, when it's not in use. If you want something a little more private, then there's a big old room in the quarry under Walkerville. Oh! And that one place across the river. You know the one? It used to be a part of a larger bunch of buildings full of beds and stuff until they burned down. Now it's just one building. It's got a lot of space and one big meeting room."
Roxanne had to strain a bit to remember what Catnip was talking about. "The hotel?" She asked finally. Catnip nodded enthusiastically. The hotel wasn't a bad choice, not badly located either and certainly more private than the chapel. Catnip went on.
"The big room in the quarry was there when we got here I guess. You'd need to clean up a lot of broken glass and do something about the flooding... Floor is crooked too... Maybe not the quarry then. It's pretty cramped, only fit for Mislings and Catnip's to squeeze through. You can use the chapel until you decide though. Oh oh, oooor... We could ask the center to build you something!"
Roxanne thought about everything the center and the Arizona migrants had done already, and nixed the idea. They'd done enough as it was and had their own stuff to get on with, probably. There was an interim silence broken by small talk here and there while Roxanne thought about her choices. It felt like a draining kind of silence, the sort of thing that makes one lethargic and bored. What was odd was that she could see it in her companions too. Kathrine served energetically while Catnip served the role of chatty Kathy. Her accent, her nonsense filler words, and her nievete tinged with experience worked hand in hand to make her a somewhat charming conversationalist. So what was with this strange lethargy. Roxanne frowned as she remembered other times she felt this way. It hadn't been so extreme then though. The real reminder came with Mica, crashing through the back door and howling for her sister.
"Kat-nyp! Lizard won't help My-ka!!" She called, rebounding off the doorway under the stair case and rolling to the floor. She seemed to have been wrapped in up in hundreds of gossamer white and grey threads which bound all but most of one arm. "Roks-zan! Help My-ka! Lizard left My-ka hangin' and says My-ka's too crazy! Help My-ka!!"
Roxanne recoiled from the prone mutant. If Mica touched her, she had no clue what would happen. To add to her trepidation and fear, the threads Mica was wrapped in seemed to share some of her null properties. Mica wasn't just a null wrapped in that stuff, she was a vortex sucking in and nullifying any magic she touched. Catnip was giving some instruction to Kathrine and the maid disappeared to the kitchen for a bit. When she came back, she had a plain opaque jug that Roxanne correctly guessed contained vinegar.
"Eh!! No stinky vin-gurs! No vin-gurs!!" Mica squeeled. She flopped away from Kathrine and rolled or crawled back the way she came. Catnip rounded the table and grabbed Mica's feet while Kathrine splashed the vinegar onto her sister. At the slightest touch of the acidic stuff the threads started to separate and unravel, the adhesive properties completely lost and the muting property with it. Kathrine gathered up the silk and carefully spun it onto a dowel.
"What's this about?" She asked, "who did this to you sweetie?"
"She did it to herself." Kathrine said simply, "Mr. Dervish says he doesn't know if she could always do it or if it's a hormone change."
Kathrine stepped further back from Mica when her hands were free, and it was a good thing she did. Mica made grabby hands for the maid, and everyone saw the strands that formed between her fingers.
"When did Roks-zan change eyes? Eh? Why does Roks-zan smell dif-rent? Eh? Eh?" Before she could get out of the way, Mica sprang up onto two feet and launched herself to Roxanne, close enough to smell. She smelled like apples and smoked fish, an odd combination to be sure. "Hugs for My-ka? Eh?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 06, 2018, 10:45:45 am
It was maybe six in the morning when Alexei sat down next to one of his men. If he recalled his name was Edward, but thanks to those damn romance novels he prefered Eddie. Handing a metal hip flask over Alexei watched the woods as Eddie took a drink and offered a cigar.
Taking the cigar Alexei waved off the offered lighter. “With cigars use a match.” He told Eddie as he retrieved one from his pocket. Lighting the cigar he let his eyes drift over the edge of the trees ahead as they sat there shrouded in the morning fog.
Above them they heard Salazar unzip his pants and saw the stream of piss fall down in front of their window. Eddie called up through the boards “Jesus man really? Right in front of my window?”
Salazar called back “Oh get the fuck over it. I saw worse back in my day, saw a hell of a lot worse.” But the stream rather quickly stopped and they heard the sound of the zipper followed by a few footsteps. The sound of him and Edgar talking was about the only thing that Eddie and Alexei heard as they watched and waited.
A few minutes passed and Eddie scratched his nose as he said “I’d fucking kill for a candy bar right about now. Haven’t had one since the world went to shit. But not those fuckin..off brand chalk tasting pieces of shit.”
Alexei nodded as he handed the cigar over to Eddie for him to take a drag of. As he took another swig from the flask Alexei hoped the enemy would come soon. Taking the cigar back he said “You a heathen Eddie?”
Eddie looked over before letting his eyes return to the tree line. The question hung in the air as the pair just stared out at the trees. Finally Eddie responded “To you christian motherfuckers maybe. But at least I know when I die I’ll sit with my ancestors and tell my stories. And I’ll get to hear how my great great grand daddy put rounds in them nazi motherfuckers back in WW2. Always was fascinated by that.”
Alexei shook his head as he idly tapped the side of his AK and responded “When I go I’ll be sitting right next to the devil himself I imagine. Done a lot of bad things. Killed a lot of people.”
Eddie looked at Alexei out of the corner of his eye. Picking up the SAW from where it had been resting on the ground he set it’s bipod on the windowsill and said “We’ve all done a lot of killing. A lot of bad things. Gonna do a lot more before we get put in our graves.”
Alexei looked over at the man and wondered just what this kid had done that was so bad before things went to shit. He was a relatively tame man compared to the rest of the lot. It was due to Eddie Alexei hadn’t gone and done some of the stupid shit he’d thought of doing. Like walking into the bar and shooting Irene in the face. Maybe he’d ask later after this little fight was over.
----
Meanwhile the group of men that had been approaching stopped. Retrieving a radio one of them called back that they were assaulting the Heretic’s camp now. The voice on the other confirmed their location before signing off and leaving them to their fight.
A few seconds later and one of them stepped on the first trap that was waiting for them. As he picked his foot off the ground the explosion rang through the air as what was left of his body and those that had been standing close flew through the air to decorate the nearby trees.
-----
Alexei lifted his rifle at the noise and he heard the footsteps of Edgar and Salazar taking position on the roof. Then the fifty cal boomed into the air as Salazar let rounds off into the woods. Eddie followed suit and swept the tree line as several more explosions sent dirt and blood spraying through the air.
----
Meanwhile back at Walkerville Isaac had been organizing the books in the library when he heard the explosions. Running out he started for his truck. A handful of minutes later and he hopped down with his small caliber minigun strapped to his chest as he connected the helmet to the rest of his armor. An M14 was strapped to his back as he ran over the bridge and towards the fight.
----
Salazar saw the mass of bodies before the others had. He couldn’t really count how many there were but it was a damn army as far as he could tell. And now they were returning fire.
Of course a fifty cal and two M249’s were for the most part keeping them from having the time to line up accurate shots. Still if things continued like this they’d be overrun due to the sheer number of bodies.
Below him Alexei sent off rounds from the drum fed AK-47 he was using. Beside him Eddie produced a remote detonator and watched while one of the others took over the SAW he’d been operating. Staring into the fog he waited a minute before pressing the button.
Three trees were turned into lethal shrapnel as a deafening explosion ripped through the air. And still they kept coming as they ran forward with axes, shovels, and whatever else they had managed to get a hold of while those armed with guns opened fire through the fog. Screams of ‘death to the heretic’ were heard as Alexei’s men kept firing themselves.
A rocket landed in a particularly thick part of the mob and sent body parts flying in through the windows as Alexei ducked down to reload. Salazar felt a handful of rounds tear through his stomach as scrambled to reload the fifty cal. Eddie meanwhile pulled out a pair of pipe bombs and threw them into the oncoming foes before ducking down to grab more of their improvised grenades.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 06, 2018, 04:07:19 pm
(( Parts of Green and Solomon section written with Wilson. ))
Solomon breathed a sigh of relief as he took off his mask, setting the wraithslayer down beside his normal hunting crossbow and taking a seat in The Hall. Green was there as well, looking up from the book he was studying.
"You alright?" Green asked, sitting up straight for once as Solomon gave a nod. "I'm fine actually, went well enough. Alexei was there in fact, hadn't seen him in a while." he admitted, Green shrugging. "Huh...before I came here, I'm guessing?" he said, before setting down the book.
"Yeah, stayed a while, helped set up a still...useful for medical supplies at least, much as he'd balk at not drinking it." he joked, Green giving Solomon a strange look before looking back at his book. "Huh. Medical supplies? Right...betting you an' Gabi would get along well."
Green looked at Solomon's hair for a moment, before letting out a snort. "Y'got cowlicks all over the place, it's all frazzled. D'ya want me to fix it up? Or try to, hair looks like I could find some change in there..." He joked, putting the book down.
Solomon was surprised at that, blushing a little. "I...oh. Never really...gave it much though before. Usually comb it myself but kinda been tending to things most of the day, but now that things have calmed down I...guess that'd be alright? Sure..." he said, surprised by the offer.
Green nodded, motioning for Solomon to take a seat, the two occasionally talking as Green did his work, mentioning some of the alchemical text that Green had just started to get into, a subject Solomon had more experience with, something to muse on intermittently as time passed by.
Meanwhile at Walkerville, Hector trudged his way back into Walkerville, stopping by the forge setup to set his helm aside and continue on into the main area of the farm's fortified space.
He made his way over to Catnip's house, seeing the people already there waiting for her to no longer be busy, looking around and finding no sign of Roxanne elsewhere. For now he'd wait, suspecting Roxanne had come to Catnip first, clutching the small silver emblem taken from the augmented undead.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 07, 2018, 07:26:54 pm
"expected you to just bust through like that other one. Cept she just went around back and snuck in the back door..." Said the rather pissed looking man at the front of the short line. The others looked rather irritated as well, though some to much more varied degrees. The woman at the end looked particularly livid. It had been a few years since Hector last saw people lined up to see Catnip. As far back as before the shifting in fact. Catnip had met with guests, mostly people from the center coming to see about the repair of vehicles, but they'd never really lined up for her. "You gonna get in line or what Mac?"
"Sorry, are you talking to me?" Hector asked innocently.
"Yeah I'm talking to you. The rest of us are waiting here all neat as you please and we already got one line jumper, you gonna jump the line too or what?" He said. He'd contemplated it momentarily, but Hector wasn't a barbarian. Not some dick head that would just force his way past a group of patient folks, even if his status perhaps gave him an allowance of such behavior. The man sighed and held out something to him. "If you plan on it, save me some time and give these to Ms. Walker. It's an income report. Said she wanted one when the run was over. First page is number of fish brought in per day, number released, and how long we can expect the supply to last. Second is expenses. Third is a thanks from the fishers. Tell her that the smokers are running their last load and then they'll be shut down for the winter." One of the others in the line stood and put his own collection or reports on top of the fishery report, then a third person did the same. One more report was forked over, leaving just two people in line. The pissed woman, and a placid Misling in a hooded robe. They seemed to have settled on the assumption that Hector had made up his mind to cut to the front of the line, but we're satisfied that they too would be leaping forward substantially. Faintly from inside he caught the voice of Mica, and could guess who the last line jumper was. The game was two for two and L was losing the final hand. Sharlene didn't know that though, and Sharlene was having trouble reading L. To be fair though, L couldn't really read the Australian either. She was just too casual, not taking the game seriously. In fact, Sharlene seemed more interested in L's fancy portable poker table than the cards. On L's part though, the Mislings face was a furry stone. Even as a Misling, L could keep a straight poker face. It was hard though. This was the first game she'd played since being collared after her disastrous fall under a landslide of depression and truama that had come over her after her rescue. Drinking and gambling had been her escape before the Cataclysm and so it had been the same after.
Sharlene wouldn't take the contract though. L didn't know that, but she wouldn't. If she won though, L wouldn't hear the end of it. L had to win. She had to...
"Ok, you gonna hold em or fold em?" Sharlene asked. L looked at her hand and at the cards laid out on the table. A pair of fives. A pair of fives in hand and three completely unrelated cards on the table.
"Hold." L said, cool as a glass of water.
Sharlene was glaring at her. "I want free drinks, and no limits at your tables. High roller treatment." She said, turning her cards over. L's shoulders fell. A straight. Even with low numbers, Sharlene's straight beat out L's paltry pair. The Misling was back in the hole, all on a bad play. Or so she thought. Sharlene surprised both Mislings by reaching across the table, taking the rolled up contract, and putting it to the match without even looking it over. "What?" She said, amused, "Been talking to Mo' haven't ya? Judging by the look on your faces, you two expected me to start issuing orders and shit right away? Listen and listen good, I'm not down for that slavery shit. Wouldn't imprison you either. Mo' stayed for his own reasons, nobody ever made him stay. Maybe Lil a few times, but I didn't stop him. I'm sure he and half the farm have made me out to be some kind of heinous witch or something, but that isn't really how it is. So take the blanks and like I said, free drinks and high roller treatment, that's what I want."
L nodded silently, shocked by the repreive. She didn't think it would turn out like this. Not the game, no, to try and expect the outcome of the game would have been the right of foolishness. Especially for a gambler like L. From what Mohammad and the others told her, L expected Sharlene to behave like an A+ class bitch. Stubborn, irresponsible, greedy in the extreme, criminally minded, and perfectly willing to exploit L's contract in some way. Instead, Sharlene offered her coffee, and asked her if she'd play another hand with the Mislings for "funsies." Jennifer polished off her toast quickly and completed her letter to Captain Anquiano or Sandell or whatever it was now. She decided it would be best not to focus on the Captains name, lest it reignite some new irritation in her. Instead, she addressed it to "Captain Anquiano/Sandell" and wondered whether or not she should add a second l to the end of "Sandel." She wanted to ask for more toast, Cheena insisted on it. Now that the stress of the journey was over, the curse lifted and all that, Atomos found herself getting annoyed with Cheena. They were more similar than Jenny and Mikko had been, and so Cheena had more "pull" than the old spirit despite not being a powerful... Ghost... Fox... Thing... She wouldn't pretend to get it. What she would get was that Cheena would make things difficult. Breakfast was more than proof enough of that. The richness of the butter and bacon had been almost completely lost to her, she'd devoured them like a starving animal. The impression from Cheena, was that she didn't want any one else eating it before she could.
"That's ridiculous." She'd thought back at the young fox. It wasn't to Cheena though. Cheena had lived until then in her own little animal world, where food had to be tracked and caught and killed and defended from other foxes. Even in such a place as the burrow where her whole life had been spent, there were foxes who would not have flinched at trying to intimidate Cheena out of a meal. Human food was delicious too, so there was that to consider as well... "Ok yes, fine. It's great. But no one is going to steal it from us. For one, there's enough for everybody here. We store food up and keep it for later. Like the cans, remember? For two, you saw and heard the way people reacted when they heard I was back. They wouldn't dream of stealing food from my plate. Unless they were friends. Oh jeez, are we gonna have a situation where somebody tries to snag a French fry or something and I bite them? Oh jeez..."
While she mumbled to herself, she walked to Catalina's office. Now she stood before the Captains door, wondering if she should knock or not. There wasn't really any question about it though, she wasn't an animal after all. She knocked, and waited.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on November 13, 2018, 08:20:27 pm
They kept coming. With all of the gunfire the bodies were still pushing forward towards the building and there wasn’t much Alexei could think of to stop them. Not at this point.
Turning to run back into the building he heard a thud as Edgar fell to the floor above him. The man was clutching a wound on the side of his neck as he tried and failed to scream through the blood clogging his throat. Salazar meanwhile felt a round tear a hole the size of a grapefruit in his chest.
Stumbling back from that he let go of the fifty and felt a second open up his stomach. Tripping on Edgar’s blood he hit the floor and tried to breath through the hole in his chest. Before his world faded he saw two versions of himself standing over him. One, with a blood stained face and an eye that leaked brown blood, said “Well, this is interesting ain’t it Smiley? Something finally ripped a hole big enough in him that we could get out! I’m gonna have some fun after I finish making myself a corporeal form.”
The other version frowned at his bloody counterpart and said “You don’t intend to help anyone do you? A shame really, you always were the side more versed in violence but I know you could do some real good.”
As they disappeared to find a safe place to form physical bodies Salazar found himself sitting in his old living room. Looking around he saw a man in front of him reading a newspaper. As an older woman rounded the corner it dawned on him. He was home.
Back with the living Alexei had managed to get to his armor as he heard Eddie scream in pain as he was beaten. The armor wasn’t ready and he knew that had been his only real chance to get out of this alive. Which meant it was time for plan b.
Grabbing a device he’d had Eddie make for him he stared at it for a moment. Clipping it to his vest he sighed as it synced up to his heartbeat. Now if only he had the time to get drunk one last time.
Turning he sprayed the first few that got through the door before tossing the spent weapon aside and pulling out his machete. Decapitating the first to rus him Alexei felt at peace. For the first time in his life he didn’t care about anything anymore.
Then the shot tore through his head.
----
Isaac fell to the ground as the shockwave roared past him. He was fairly certain if he hadn’t been wearing his armor he’d have broken a rib or two. Forcing himself to his feet he ran forward and past the bar.
A few minutes at a dead sprint later he came upon a crater where Alexei’s little business had been. A few stragglers were picking over the place and making sure no one had actually survived. They didn’t last long under Isaac’s fire.
Once that was done he stared at the surroundings, what little of it was left. And he knew. He knew that crazy Russian Drunkard was gone. A relic just like him.
Then he caught sight of it. Alexei was standing with a pair of women and several young children smiling. Not the fake one that he’d always worn around the others. A genuine happy smile as he walked over to Isaac. Speaking in perfect english the man said “Haha, Isaac! I can’t tell you how much I’m going to miss our hunts! But I’m going to somewhere better I think. I’m going to be better. And who knows maybe we’ll see each other again! I could always reincarnate.”
Before Isaac could say much the spirit of his friend faded, whisking away to talk with some others before he could no longer do so. Falling to his knees Isaac felt himself cry for the first time in years. And he swore to himself he’d stay at Walkerville, raise Alice right. He owed her that much.
----
In the Hall Alexei decided to apperate sitting on a table. Smiling he watched Helen for a moment before saying “Ah..I wish I had spent more time here. You always gave me odd inspiration, like I could be better than I was. I’m going to miss that about you McKinnon. But I don’t have much time so I should tell you that I left a gift for you and the child, just ask Ernie for it at the bar.”
Said gifts were a good bottle of his favorite whiskey and an assortment of weapons for when the child grew older. There were also a few other things for the child. Mostly older russian toys.
Smiling as he cried Alexei continued as he began to fade “And don’t worry I’m not going to hell. I probably deserve to but I’m not. Instead I’m going to help a few old friends of mine watch over the spirits of children! And of course I’ll get to see my brother again..he uh..he was a good man, you’d have liked hi-” he was cut off by the fact he’d finished fading and found himself sitting in a mansion in front of a group of children.
Giving them a smile he picked up a book and said “Now who wants to hear about Miss McKinnon and her travels? Everyone? Good.”
---
Roland meanwhile decided to find a resting spot. He’d helped En for long enough he figured. Sitting down he decided he’d keep a watch on his wayward son. Afterall Isaac would need plenty of guarding now...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on November 13, 2018, 08:48:22 pm
Roxanne had been weighing her options of where she could set up her little gathering place. A few other things had been bothering her as various memories passed through her head from the current environment; some she recognized as not her own. The time she spent as a divine spirit harvesting others’ memories sometimes made her not sure of what was her real experiences and to boot now she had her doppelganger's memories as well. The silence suffocated her as even Rey and Christina remained quiet out of politeness. It wasn’t until Mica came through that a semblance of normalcy in Roxanne’s eyes was restored.
Indeed Roxanne was rather wary of touching Mica due to her current affliction; those tattoos of hers were seal that kept her corporeal and Mica being an arcane mute could spell serious consequences. She did eventually, among her short lived fear, the silk like substance covering Mica and after the vinegar was brought in and taking into account what Mica was it all clicked together. It was strange though as she hadn’t seen Mica do this before; even Kathrine’s explanation served little to ease the confusion. Had things change so much so quickly? Seems things typically did around these parts. A whole year goes by in a flash and a day lasts forever.
A hug?, Roxanne asked nervously now being a bit to uncomfortably close to Mica. She didn’t want to say no, this was Mica after all, one of her closest friends. However, her fear of the Arcane Mute still lingered. Well, if Luna wasn’t going to do it, Roxanne’s alt, Eris, definitely would. She had been starved of human, or mutant in this case, contact for so long she craved for something as simple as a hug. Roxanne’s eyes went from pink to purple and she smiled at Mica.
Sure, I’ll hug you! She extended her arms and pull Mica in for a hug who quickly wrapped her arms around as well. It was then Eris realized her mistake. No, the reality of time and space wasn’t broken, nothing exploded, no blood, no one went insane. No, the only thing that happened is a jolt of what seemed electricity ran down Roxanne’s back and she gave a small yelp. Eris and Mica hugged for an awkwardly long time making the other look at them a bit funny. Eris was the one of the two who realized this and pulled herself awa handing control back to Luna.
Oh, by the way. I have something for you! Roxanne went through her messenger back and pulled a particular book. It had the picture of a chicken on it’s cover and was a rather hefty book for what it was. This is called the chicken book. Has many good pictures of chickens of all types! Thought of you when I found it some time ago. Had been meaning to give it to you but forgot every time I was back here. She then gave Mica a pat on the head sending another jolt of electricity. Her attention was brought back to Catnip.
I think the hotel sounds like a good place for my little gathering place. If you don’t mind I will place some posters on around later on today, want to hold the first meeting tomorrow. It was then that Christina and Rey got up and the former whispered something in Roxanne’s ear to which she nodded.Well, duty calls now my good friends! Have to tie up some lose ends. If you need me, I will be around the farm somewhere, or maybe at the center, have some business there too… I really have no interest in going out much anymore… Anyways, I will be seeing you gals later, it’s nice seeing you again! Rey and Christina thanked them as well for hosting them and the trio walked out of the door.
The next destination was the hall for the meeting with Helen. Roxanne wanted to go simply to talk to Helen about what had happened and Eris wanted to meet her after all this time for reasons she kept to herself. However, when the stepped out of the door, Hector was there which caught Roxanne by surprise. Oh, Hector? Came to see Catnip too? Noticing the two people behind her, Rey the imposing figure at 6’2, at least compare to Roxanne and Christina who were around 5’8, she decided to introduce them to Hector. Oh, btw, meet my, well not so new, friends. This is Rey, former mentor of mine and literal partner in crime; long story. And Christina, one of the founders of that organization I belonged before the cataclysm.
Rey walked over and offered his hand to Hector. “Greetings, you are the Iron Marshall I take it? Roxanne here has given you glowing reviews. Good to finally meet you. Wish we could sit around and talk but we have a little appointment to go to.” Roxanne noticed the look on Hector’s face and frowned a little herself. She knew all too well the little expressions and mannerisms of Hector; didn’t help it came with the old job she had.
You two go ahead. I’ll catch up to you guys later.
“Are you sure?”, Rey asked.
Yeah, personal matter.
“Ah, gotcha. Alright then, will be seeing you later.”
And with that Rey and Christina made their way to the hall leaving Hector and Roxanne alone. Ok. Something is on your mind isn’t it? Spit it out. Let me guess… I know… I haven’t been the best person lately… or much at all… Listen, I am sure you have business with catnip. Go take care of that first and then meet me at out room ok? I don’t like it when you seem like this… I’ll see you then.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 14, 2018, 02:50:25 pm
Hector waited until he had an opportunity, giving a wave when he spotted Roxanne, along with Catnip. His first priority of course was ensuring that he'd catch Roxanne before she could inevitably sneak off again. At the introductions he nodded, shaking Rey's hand. The man had two inches of height on him, and he suspected the man was the sort to be expected of an order of former mage hunters turned assassins, but nonetheless kept his sizing up of the two rather cursory. "A pleasure to meet you, brief though it may be. Seems we'll have catching up and a proper introduction to do, later on."
At Roxanne's suggestion he soon found himself caught up in handing over the papers, relaying the various tasks handed off to him by various people who'd given up as a result of his presence. That at least was easily relayed, and it still surprised him how readily Catnip had taken charge of matters. How she'd grown during her journey. Along with the papers though, was a familiar silver badge, one hat likely stood out to both Catnip and Roxanne among the mundane paperwork. A few of with still remained in Catnip's collection, brought back from the raid on Apophis, and he had to assure her that the thing he ran into was far less of a fearsome beast than the creatures they described after the raid, despite his shield and cuirass bearing signs that the thing he ran into was dangerous in its own right, for entirely different reasons.
"All this time and it seems like you've settled into managing things far better than any of us could." he said, with a bit of relief. Rallying then together as he had, keeping some degree of unity, was one thing. But as their handling of things in Catnip's absence had revealed, without Catnip the farm hadn't been able to keep up with even the most mundane day-to-day tasks as the year wore on.
Catalina sighed a bit as she looked over the personnel files and forms, noting with some degree of annoyance that Leila's resignation, while accepted by her, wasn't quite as official as she would've liked. At least not with the higher-ups from the Old Guard still much more present at the center, seemingly investing even more attention after the first official reunion between their forces quite literally blew up thanks to Brynna.
At the knock on the door however, and answering it revealing who it was, all those thoughts fell away, leaving only a few on her mind. The admission to herself that Leila's departure hadn't bothered her much at the time, and that it was a new departure that seemed likely, inevitable even, that brought her mind to the matter of resignations and procedures, the sort of thing she used to despise in the days before it all quite literally blew up, in an entirely different manner than the recent incident. "...private Barrowfield."
"Good morning Captain." Atomos chirped hollowly, she seemed rather energetic and somehow a bit lighter. Bouncier. She slid comfortably into the seat across from Catalina's own before the captain had so much as rounded her desk to take up her position behind it. That struck Catalina as a bit familiar of Jennifer, but she let it slide. As irritated as she was from yesterday, she wouldn't be the one to sour things here. If they weren't soured already that was. It seemed though, that they weren't.
"Awfully energetic this morning are we not, Private?" She said enquiringly.
"I've eaten an entire cake." Jennifer blurted back. Catalina felt a strong urge to cover her face with her palm hard enough to knock herself out and just about did it when Atomos went on. "And a bunch of chocolate cookies and breakfast."
"One step at a time..." Catalina thought, then aloud asked, "why... Did you eat an entire cake?"
"Because it was there." Atomos stated before backing up and trying again, "Because when it comes to food, I seem to have lost self control." Her tail twitched, flicking side to side. It could have been Catalina's imagination of course, but the luxurious fur on that appendage struck her as less of a rich rouge and more of a vibrant youthful red than it had before. It was hard to tell since the young woman it was attached to had hidden it as much as possible until then. "I would like," she went on, "to start off by saying I'm sorry. I thought of just writing it down, but that didn't really seem personal enough. I could just leave all this stuff here and shove off but... But that wouldn't be fair. I'm sorry Captain, I was unfair to you yesterday, and I'm sorry for being so."
Catalina, surprised as she was by Atomos' recent strange behavior, was at least relieved that she'd come to apologize. She however found herself seeming unable to look her in the eye, before nodding a bit. "It's understandable that you'd be frustrated with what I'd kept hidden from you. If I'd known this would happen, or if I'd known how to handle this..."
Atomos shifted uncomfortably in her chair, she wasn't used to the captain being sorry and it made her oddly uncomfortable. It also brought her down a little. Despite her previous anger at Catalina, Atomos still sort of looked up to her. The papers in her hands felt a bit heavier and she hoped the third of the documents, the one chef hadn't seen because it had already been finished, would lighten what was to come.
"Um, well... It feels sort of out of the blue, but I was serious yesterday. I'm sorry for being so uh, uncouth about it..." Atomos mumbled, then taking a steadying breath, went on, "Captain Catalina er... Sandell, I am formally resigning as an acting marine in service to the United States military."
Catalina was taken aback by this, snapping out of it after Atomos explained what she was here for, looking Atomos in the eye. "Are you...sure that you wish to now? I'd recommend giving yourself time for some much needed R&R before turning it in. Plus, we need all the help we can get." she said. In truth, she knew it'd be hard to force Atomos to stay if she didn't want to, and it's not like the Old Guard was able to push its regulations like it could before the cataclysm. But at the same time, she was reluctant to let Atomos go, for her own various reasons.
"Oh, I intend to take a break. A day or two adjusting to uh... Life at the center. New Paris. All the new people. Then I'll head out again on my normal duties." Atomos explained. She handed over her third sheet and went on, "I'm not going to abandon the center. Just separating from the Old Guard. Er... Take a look."
She pushed the paper across the desk at Catalina, nudging it a few times almost childishly. It appeared to be some kind of declaration, and the contents were interesting but only a little surprising.
Quote
"I, Jennifer "Atomos" Barrowfield, hereby declare the organization of "The New England Rangers." Duties include but are not limited to; supplying New Paris and all affiliated groups with supplies acquired from the field via salvage, forage, or hunting. The pursuit of dangerous wildlife. Outreach and pursuit of potentially advantageous contacts with outside groups. Mediation in non-violent dispute between New Paris and outsider elements. Subversion, sabotage, and espionage of hostile elements within and without New England territory. Scouting of dangerous pre-cataclysm territory. Cooperation with Old Guard elements when deemed necessary.
The New England Rangers by the sealing of this document swear to uphold pre-cataclysm law which still applies in these latter days in and around the New England region, based out of the refugee center hereby known by it's residents as 'New Paris.'
Signed - Jennifer Barrowfield, Ranger Alpha.
Atomos stared at the floor while Catalina read over the short document, mouthing the words as she went along. The declaration was clumsily written and basically outlined the things Atomos had already been doing, only under some new organization she was proposing. There was space on the page and she realized that Atomos had likely left it that way for negotiating further duties and terms, and also so that Catalina could sign it. While she read a pen had found it's way onto her desk, confirming her suspicion.
"This is an unexpected surprise, Jennifer. That said, I'm glad you're not breaking ties with the New Paris completely." she said, glancing the document over. "This might need a bit to review, and to determine what other duties will be needed." she said, the rather obvious reaction. Likely trying to buy time to find some way to convince Atomos to stay.
"I'd hoped to offer other alternatives to leaving entirely, to be honest. I know the old command structure was ad-hoc and a result of the necessity of the only CO being from 3-IV, so I had intended to make arrangements for a platoon formerly assigned to the cruiser to be stationed here, to formally take command of the other two marines left over." she explained.
"That's fine, that's fine." Atomos said hurriedly, "just... Hold onto that, I made a copy in case it gets lost or something, and when your ready to discuss it just, well, you know where to find me. I'm not leaving or anything like that. I mean, where else would I go? I could probably throw in with the raiders or the farm, but that's not really what I want to do."
She paused for a moment to let that sink in and maybe collect her thoughts. Then, she flinched. "Stop it, just stop. This is just how it's done, we have to be professional about this... Stop pressuring me."
Catalina nodded at that, carefully setting the paperwork aside. "Alright, just take it easy fior now and I'll see what I can do in terms of making arrangements. I suspect the center leadership will probably like having part of their ability to protect the area be outside the Old Guard's chain of command." she admitted, stifling a hint of bitterness that nearly shone through.
At Atomos' quiet remarks however she was a bit unnerved, still not fully aware of what was happening with her. "Just...definitely try to take it easy. For now though, you're dismissed."
On Mount Katahdin, a burnt offering was laid out on the circle of stones near the old cabin, hidden away far from the prying eyes of the village below. The smoke would be seen within the hour, faint though it was, and the old hermit found himself wondering if the people there would take it as an ill omen, maybe a sign from the "watcher" that guarded the region.
There it was. A faint flash of insight, distant. It took great effort to bridge the gap between realms and commune with the Veiled King, unless he was the one seeking someone out. Or unless someone had one of his relics, and the sudden premature absence of the new wound in reality made it almost certain someone used it for its intended purpose. Close to the heart of God's Army even, and the thought put a renewed worry into his mind.
"This offering, to bind and renew our oath...to grant insight where darkness clouds our minds..."
"...an oath you have broken."
Horace stopped his horse, Abraham looking over at the Knight of the Veil as the two had continued on their path. So far they'd had no overarching goal since their escape from Abaddon, no new orders yet. Events had seemingly held the Veled King's attention now that things were less hectic here, and so far Horace had been simply maintaining an uneasy course back to the settlement he had originally been guided towards.
But for a moment, they overheard the answer He From Beyond The Veil gave to something else, but whatever else transpired was left unheard. "Huh. Y'think yer spook there has lost his mind?" Abe said, glancing around.
Horace grimaced a bit, focusing his full attention on the axe. It was a few minutes of a wary canter down the road, in utter silence, before he felt the watcher's presence again. "It seems I have a fitting task for you. Farther northwest, along the mountains, there is someone who has lost their way. They have something for you..."
Horace hmmed a bit at that, concerned but simply giving a nod. "Alright then...coming with me, Abraham?" he asked, and the gunslinger nodded. "Yer spook did give the offer t'begin with, an' I stick by my promises. Besides, sounds 'bout good enough. Might get somethin' out of this after all..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 19, 2018, 08:19:14 am
Mica cooed over the book, but had trouble opening it on account of the strands of sticky silk she cast over it with every attempt. Kathrine was hesitant to use the vinegar on it, on account of the fact that she didn't want to ruin the nice gift Roxanne had brought but scissors just wouldn't do the job. Mica's silk was as strong as rolled aluminum and as sticky as duct tape when it was allowed to get really thick. Kathrine's best shears would cut the clumps of webbing, but they'd come back as dull as a stone if she even got them back at all. Fortunately, Mica's teeth shared the same adhesive resistent property as the rest of her body and like most other materials, would shear right through it. With the book between two hands, she gently ran her teeth over the cover and shred the silk to ribbons. She wanted to keep going and free the book of wonderous pictures, but Catnip stopped her.
"Um, maybe you should wait until it falls off on it's own?" Catnip suggested, "your going to hurt your book Mica." Sure enough, she had. It was hard to see, but running down the cover of the book, the tip of one of Mica's teeth had grazed the cover just enough to create a long slash. One wouldn't see unless they gave the book a certain amount of scrutiny, but it was there. Mica began to get agitated, she held the book out before her like a child with some particularly nice toy which they can't play with.
"Eeeeh!" Mica squealed, "Kat-nip! My-ka wants to see! My-ka wants to see!"
"You have to wait Miss Mica." Kathrine said, gently taking the book from Mica, "wait until you learn how to control it. We will keep the nice book Ms. Roxanne gave you until then."
While Kathrine saw to Mica, Catnip turned the little badge over in her hand. It was similar to so many others she'd seen, but very slightly different due to the numbers and a series of verticle lines pressed into it's lower half like a barcode. Catnip had enough experience to know that the badges we're more than just simple shinies, little baubles for her to gawp over. They had power. Power of deception. Some of the badges would protect by tricking others into thinking you were something you weren't. Like Teigen. Poor dead Teigen. He had a shiny sheriff's badge that let him walk unhindered into the robot factory west of Pricetown and come back with parts Catnip needed. A sabatour stole that badge later though, and Teigen was shot at the outset of the journey east.
She discarded her long thoughts for the time being and put Hector's gift in a glass faced cabinet next to a line of others. The aforementioned sheriff's badge, a battered and somewhat scorched bioweapon badge accompanied it as well as another that Catnip and Mica themselves should have worn. She didn't remember where she got it (you blew up his car and burned him to hide the evidence, even from yourself) but the silver plated badge bearing "X7" sat on a little mount between this newest addition and the scorched one. Quite a little collection of objects, and Catnip was glad to have more badges to add to her collection. If it came to it, she would even use them. Along with some of her other interesting trinkets. The cabinet was filled with all sorts of things she'd collected over her eight or nine years above ground. A jar of purple wispy stuff, a shredded wind cell cannisters, a little name tag from pinkies, a pair of shiny metal gloves that sometimes shocked her but we're handy when she needed to jump a salvage vehicle back to life. One of Kathrines seldom worn hair clips and a few of Mica's teeth. Next to the teeth of her monstrous but still much loved sister was the little rubber goldfish they'd steal from one another, relatively unharmed by the stomach acids it had been submerged in for years after Mica swallowed it.
Catnip reached into the cabinet and took out a long thin sheet of blue green metal. While she examined it, she stepped back from the cabinet so that Kathrine could sequester Mica's book within. Mica wouldn't dare touch the cabinet, but she would look longingly into it. As an after thought Kathrine opened the book to the first page with a picture and left it propper up against the back of the cabinet before closing the door and locking it. Mica pressed her face against the glass and stared in at the picture of a brindle hen and a high quality glossy of a rare lavender orpington. Her tongue came out and made a circle on the glass. The sheet of metal was super alloy, and Catnip didn't have enough of it. A long time ago, she'd assigned Floyd the task of finding more of it along with what Agmen had told her was "the lead wind." He'd brought plenty of lead wind, but had found no alloy. Roxanne too had kept an eye out for the stuff, but her direct duty to Catnip had been as an instructor. Teaching her to read, enlightening her on the deeper nuances of the world and most importantly, how to worship. One of her chosen, her three, her "holy trinity," though had as yet not searched for her special stuff. Possibly because he thought she no longer needed it. At least that's what she suspected he thought, chances are it wasn't true. She simply hadn't asked. Roxanne and Hector had already left, but that wasn't a problem they would not have gone far. She pushed open the front door to her new house and saw them right away.
"Hector! Come back! I'm not done with you yet. Come here silly. I need super alloy!" She said, pushing past the two waiting women with a hurried apology and a promise to see them in just a moment.
"Oh?" Hector said, raising an eyebrow at the interruption, "I would have thought military plating was more than enough for the train? I suppose it's a lighter material, but putting it on will just add to the weight Nip, and the train is already heavy enough as it is." He was thinking about the effect super alloy would have on the trains armor. As a man who could appreciate the finely turned skirt of a war machine, he was familiar with the materials such machines were outfitted with both mundane and miraculous. Super alloy was a bad option for the train. Sure, it could take a shell better than the composite, it's odd compressive strength against things like bullets or heavy ordinance we're legendary, but Catnip's comparatively slow moving train would just bypass that property as it plowed through the landscape. Super alloy plating would come out mangled and mashed.
"No silly, not for the train. I want to run some experiments but I need super alloy for a furnace along with a bunch of extra and some uh... Graff-een. It's for ro-butt's body. We can't just use the hardened stuff Dee's got pulled up between my house and the workshop, it's too heavy. Even the... Cum-paw-zit? The green stuff. The green stuff is too heavy and too tricky to work with. The power source would wear through it. So, graff-een and super alloy, okay? Then I'll have something else for you to do okay?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 20, 2018, 12:16:19 am
(( Written with Noct. ))
Catnip caught up to him easily enough, asking that he keep an eye out for particular things, a material which brought to mind those bio-weapons again. In truth, while there were all well-armored, not all of it had been superalloy of the quality that Catnip was likely after. Milder titanium alloys, much of which found itself underused due to being in small plates no one had much use for, and not being ideal to work with. Indeed, the shining white gauntlets were pretty much the only thing he'd used any of it for.
The strange blue-green metal however, almost only ever seen in experimental military uses and non-priceless bionics, was far more useful and far more precious. Apophis had been covered in the stuff, the mark of just how his unknown creators went all-out, and the explosion had recovered the few pieces they could salvage into twisted scrap.
"I will then. Harder to find than the titanium alloy, but if there are are sources still untouched, I'll be thorough in my search." he answered. With things squared away, he headed back out to meet with Roxanne, giving a little sigh.
He again checked the bandages about his neck, a sight that likely made the "iron marshal" less imposing to the others earlier than Roxanne's description probably made him out to be. "Well. I'm glad you at least left a note this time." he said. "And I'm glad you came back safely as well. Seems we have a lot to catch up on, properly. Assuming your...other side hasn't shared any of the discussion I had with her previously..."
“Well, we are the same person so whatever one experience the other knows. So yeah, I know about that interaction. And sorry for scaring you that time... think of it as a ghost seizure, will happen whenever the veil is messed with...” Roxanne then smiled a bit. “Yeah, didn’t go far. Don’t really plan to anymore. Am sorta done fighting... leave the violence to the young and hardy.” It was then she properly noticed the bandages on his neck and then the rest of his gear. A concerned expression was etched on her face. “Now you on the other hand... What happened to you? Are you ok? Not like you to be this banged up...”
Hector gave a nod at that, relieved at least by her remarks. "I see. At least I know how to correct it when it happens, if it does again. Seems I'll still end up having to at least briefly use your blade even if I'm not to be your wielder." he said, only to give a sigh. "To be honest, that's a relief. As often as you get in trouble...or get dragged off by random spirits...from now on, can you promise me, that if any strange beings go trying to tell you to wander off, talk to me first?" he asked.
At her concern over his bandages, he simply shook his head. "Just got a bit reckless I guess. Had an unexpected encounter while mopping up the rest of the recent group of undead that strayed towards the bridge. Hence the badge I turned in to Catnip." he explained.
“Yeah, seeing that badge scared me a bit but would’ve been rather hypocritical of me to question you about it... Glad it was taken care of and that you are relatively ok. If anything hurts let me know ok?” Roxanne’s attention then shifted to his previous comments. “Yeah, I will let you know of any other incidents. Maybe you could act as the opposite of a yes man... lord knows that’s my problem. As for you using the blade... try to do so only when needed... this thing is... evil...”
She them gave a quick look around the room fidgeting a bit before she gave a deep sigh herself. “So, what did you want to talk about? I am in trouble aren’t I?”
Hector smiled a bit, before setting a hand on her shoulder. "Should be alright, the worst of it was just a few scratches that got in between the helm and planes." he admitted. "As for that...understandable. Between the sword Helen brought here, what little momentary experience with the sword of despair, and sword of the void...your latest one seems like the most disconcerting one to hold."
At her nervous response he shook his head. "No. I'm more concerned and disappointed than anything else. Just remember...I'm here for you. I'd been trying to train and learn what I could to be worth of wielding you, but even if that's no longer an option, just remember that I'm here for you." he said. "There was also something else I wanted to surprise you with sometime, but that can wait. Seems we have catching up to do, along with other business..."
“This sword... it’s something else... When I say evil I mean it... Anyways, we should get comfortable then.” Roxanne took a seat in a chair nearby and took from her messenger bag a pair of ice cream sandwiches that somehow had not melted; she extended her hand and offered to Hector. “You want one? These are a gift from Christina, she found a way to infuse essence into food so spirits can enjoy them too. Doesn’t provide any nourishment but hey, it tastes good.” Then she peeled her own ice cream sandwich and took a bite plastering a smile on her face.
“The little things Hector... that’s what matters... how soon I forgot that... Well, seeing as I am the fuck up as usual... I’ll let you start... get what you need off your chest or ask me something... I’ll be candid, I promise...”
Hector smiled a bit as he took a seat, deciding to accept it and give it a try. It had nearly a decade at this point since he'd had any proper chilled food, let alone ice cream. He could understand that she seemed to be enjoying it almost as though it was a drug to her, finding it a pleasant reminder of life from before the cataclysm. "How she even got these, I can only guess..." he remarked, before her question gave him pause.
"I guess it's just...the usual worries. If I can trust that you won't be trying to go out and get yourself killed anymore, that's a relief at least. Even then it doesn't have to be the end to adventuring, I know both of us are the type to want to keep ourselves busy. But that's why I'd wanted to prove myself, I guess." he said, before looking away.
"But now even that won't be an option. First a family, now this..." he said, lowering his head. "I figured maybe it'd be a way for us both to do something more with our....talents. I at least can offering training to the locals and make tools for the center, but it's just not the same as being out there. But at the same time, despite that yearning...part of me wanted to be able to settle down eventually, when things had finally calmed down. With you." he confessed.
This time it was Roxanne who put a hand on Hector's shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look. "I know... and it's all my fault really... when I stuck that needle in my arm that made me into a mutant I should've stopped but no... I wanted more and it eventually culminated into this." She pulled away and made a gesture with her hands to point at herself. "You have no fault in this... so you should continue in your adventures and help others in the way that you know how. I am done... sure if I am needed I will answer the call but honestly I am tired of it all... I will focus my energies else where and see if , for once in my life, I can truly help others... You see, despite what I am now I am sure my abilities can be put to good use and that is what I want to dedicate myself now.... so that is where something I want to tell comes in... I am holding a small meeting in the burned down hotel tomorrow, will be putting up flyers in a bit; I have an idea on how I want to help... and of you are interested maybe you could attend... if not I understand...."
Roxanne then looked away, something was bothering her and then her expression turned into a pained one. "To settle down one day huh... you know... it's still not late for you... if you really want that, why not pursue it? Look at me, I am less than a shadow of my former self.... Here I am promising you the world once more and I assume deep down you don't fully believe me, hell, I am not sure if I believe myself at this point... If I am tying you down, if the spark has died... I get it... I am a desensitized killer who has brought a lot of strife into your life yet you had stood by me taking that for granted... so you have a choice to make... if that is not the life you want to live anymore... I understand..."
Hector listened, regarding her offer and the other things she said carefully, only to look her in the eye, brown eyes meeting her own oddly-colored gaze. "If you had something in mind, a meeting to arrange...I'd be happy to. Maybe I can find some way to put my own skills to good use, finally." he said, managing a little smile.
That smile faded a little, only to sigh a bit at the second part however. "After all this...honestly, you were one of the reasons I ended up staying, so long ago. I don't know if I can accept that offer to find someone else, even after you suggested it I was...reluctant to. To be honest...it's worry that's made it so hard to put up with this." he said, seeming to be weighing what he'd say next carefully. "I can't abandon you. Despite it all, I still love you. If I can trust that you'll be alright, and if you still love me as I still love you...we'll figure it out. I can promise that."
Roxanne looked at him and gave a sincere but tired smile. She looked up despite her body seeming limp and numb even as she stood. "I still do, that had never changed... the one constant in my life, to the point I started to take it for granted... as for trust, that is up to you, I can only promise transparency and to not go off on wild goose chases anymore... and if you really want to attend the talk, then you are more than welcome. I really think I can change people's lives Hector, for the better... start to rebuild... hope it goes like I want it to..." She looked down for a bit before looking back up, her smile still there but her eyes now purple. "And as for this side of me, don't worry. It seems we are slowly truly becoming one. Neither will let the other make any stupid things, in that department it's all good." Roxanne closed her eyes for a few seconds and when she opened them they were pink once more. "Anything else on your mind big guy? Now that we have this alone time, might as well use it if you want... I don't have anything I need to address to you right now beyond what has been said today or when I had that little episode..."
At that, he hugged her tightly, relieved by her words. "Thank you...if we can then, this'll give us a chance to do something constructive." he admitted, smiling a bit as he eased up on the embrace, a bit embarrassed when Eris revealed herself briefly. "That...should be it mainly. Good to get time to ourselves, and to catch up...and I have time free until next scouting run as well, so..."
Roxanne smiled herself and returned the hug happily before he pulled away. She too was rather relieved; there were plans in the work and she needed to tie some lose ends, but for the most part she was done. The call to adventure had been put on snooze for now. "Yes, it's good to just relax somewhat...although not sure if we can call this relaxing.", she teased. Then she looked over the room trying to remember where stuff was. "Well, maybe you can help me make some posters and set them up around the farm? Wanna get the word out for tomorrow, I am rather excited about it and a bit nervous...."
"That sounds fine in fact, wouldn't mind helping out while we have time." he added, the two setting to work on sorting things out and gathering materials...
Christina and Rey were walking towards the Hall after their departure with Luna in the hand of Hector. The former seemed rather serious yet still playful in mannerisms somehow. The duo walked by and Rey suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong Rey-rey?", asked Christina
"Seriously? You still haven't dropped that... You haven't told anyone that nickname yet right?", Rey responded
Christina grinned. "Don't worry, Luna doesn't know so you don't have to worry about further teasing."
"That' not what I mea- whatever, anyhow... I am not feeling so hot right now..."
"Oh? What's wrong? A bit under the weather? Can regulator spirits even get sick?"
"I need to feed... It's been a while now... I can still hold on for a bit but am rather weak. My combat ability is rather limited now and in a couple days I will lose my corporeal form."
"Jesus... ok, that sounds serious. Wanna call this off for later then? We can g-"
"No no, it's fine.", Rey interjected, "Like I said, I can still hold on. Luna said she would take me on a hunt later on, hopefully some time tomorrow..."
It was then the two were interrupted by the sound of Christina's radio making noise. She picked up and answer it knowing full well who to expect.
"Hey, are you two on your way?", asked Clare through the radio.
"Yeah, we are about 2 minutes away on foot.", Christina responded.
"Alright, see you soon then. I will be waiting for you by the side closest to the road."
"10-4, Yo-yo out."
Rey shook his head playfully and chuckled. "Did you really choose yo-yo as your call sign?", he teased.
"Much better than Harvester you edgelord."
"Hey! I am a regulator spirit, it's what I do..."
"Doesn't make my point invalid."
The two soon reached the Hall and Christina saw Clara waved them down. After a brief greeting, Clara showed them the way to the main quarters where Helen and Victor were waiting.
Elsewhere, within Helen's quarters in The Hall, Helen gave a sigh as she finished getting dressed, looking back to Victor. "So she is, it seems...well. We'll need to have her explain the rest of things when we can, it seems." she said, before stretching a bit. "So there's the lesson with Liam later today, Clara said she'd arrange something soon too...anything else I missed?" she asked.
Before Victor could answer that, there was a knock on the door, the two getting up as Helen answered it, seeing Clara there along with two unfamiliar faces.
"Well, they are finally here! Introductions are in order. This is Rey Steller, former Agent and Current Hunter of Shadows of Arcana; also a former partner of Luna's, that girl surely gets around... And this is Christina, one of the founders of Shadows or Arcana and it's current leader. She is the one who is interested in talking to you Helen."
Clara then turned around to address the guests. "This is Thane Helen McKinnon of The Cleansing Flame and now of The Flames of Arcana. I would say co-founder but knowing the other, we all know she is the actual leader.", she looked at Victor with a smirk who he in turn simply rolled his eyes. "And this is Purifier Ironwood, formerly of Shadows of Arcana but now also of The Flames of Arcana. And also my little brother, that is not relevant but it bothers him."
"Nice to finally meet you two.", Said Christina while doing a small bow.
"Yes, I've heard quite a few things along the way. Hope we can get along.", Rey added.
At the introductions Helen gave a polite nod, looking back to Victor. "I'm glad to be able to meet like this, instead of how things used to go." she admitted. "And memory loss aside, Victor is still just as important to this foundation." she remarked, hiding her amusement at how Victor was smiling almost childishly at her remark, and how Clara was the one rolling her eyes now.
"Riiight... Anyways, why don't we take a seat then?", Clara suggested.
"Fine by me.", responded Christina. She and Rey sat down in a couple chairs Clara had arranged for them. Rey stayed silent for now as Christina was the one representing them. "So, quite the interesting story; two former enemies who entered into a partnership. Forgive me if I am intruding too much but... I never thought I would see the day... Back when SoA was getting its roots, there was a lot of hatred and animosity... We've caused a lot of pain, I know, I was there; so first and foremost I would like to apologize for that..."
Helen nodded as she took a seat, before sighing a bit at the mention of that. "Indeed. And our first meeting had technically been in battle, though I don't recall if we'd even seen each other at the time." she said, sighing some. "And so too would I like to apologize for how things had declined, as time went on. Our mission strayed from our ideals." she admitted.
Clara nodded and took from a pocket a small vial which she handed to Christina. "Do you know what this is?", Christina asked Helen as she showed Helen the multi-color substance in the vial. "Both Victor and Clara have independently made what they called "Prime Essence"; a way to fuse the properties of dull, blood and normal essence into an energetic form. You currently have Victor and we have Clara who can make us more if we need to. This is a prime example of what I want to get across; we are not different, we seek the same thing I am sure.
The vial was put down but Christina fidgeted with it as she talked. "Forget what our organizations were in the past, what do we want now? Well, we at SoA want to contain and study the things that endanger those who know not any better. But not only that, no no. For what use is to keep a thing locked away without understanding what it is and why it exists. We want to study these things, learn more and find out what we can use and what needs to be discarded away. Is this not a goal we share?"
Helen listened, regarding the vial with concern. "That would explain certain worries Hector had regarding Roxanne's prior absence..." she said softly, before nodding. "Indeed. To protect others, now that there is little need for out founding objective of stopping the Sanguine Order. I'd also sought to try and teach those who seek it, to ensure that what we discover can be used safely. Better it be practiced sensibly than only by untrained arcanists fearing reprisal." she added. "But to keep others safe from what is too dangerous, and ensure what isn't can be used safely...our methods of ensuring the safety of others may have differed, but both have their merits."
Christina smiled and nodded at Helen's response. "Indeed. Among our circles we considered The Cleansing Flame too much of a 'prude' with the arcane for our liking...Hence the split. And sure, we were probably seemed like overcurious children handling things unsafely at times..."
"Not that that is completely unwarranted...", Clara added briefly with a grin towards Victor who glared back.
"Anyways.",Christina resumed, "To culminate both of those views, there was the reason for the split in the happened in the first place. A powerful arcane sword that we would later learn was a piece of Anomon's puzzle. The sword our own sword of harvest derived from; though, I haven't seen any of those in a while... But I digress. It has come to my understanding it was in the possession of Victor for some time? Now Roxanne is in charge of it along with Conveyance. That's good, we have three pieces secured and the forth is in the hands of a mutual ally. Well...this should test both our resolve to an alliance, I have a proposal for you to start working for a shared goal. Interested?"
Helen listened, stifling her amusement at Clara's remarks, knowing all too well the reason behind that. "Indeed, that it seems was the very thing that made our initial split turn violent, between the Grandmaster and the Jarl, if I recall what my parents said of the event. Concerned though I am about having three of them in one place, especially given what led to what seems to be her current state, but we don't have any better methods of securing them." she admitted.
At the offer however, she perked up a bit. "Very well then. What did you have in mind?" she asked.
"Don't worry, we are nowhere near desperation yet. While this whole situation is tricky, the way things are then as long as nothing unexpected happens then we are fine. That is what I want to propose you, a way to keep things fine. I don't know how much you been briefed at but allow me to give a refresher. Roxanne currently is the current incarnation of the sword of assimilation. Both the sword of the void and the sword of convergence have been reborn with new consciousness and, as weird as this may be, believe Roxanne is their mother... We will focus on keeping Roxanne in check, we have our means... some drastic but hopefully it won't come to that. What I ask of you is to help secure the other two: void and convergence. We need some sort of warded container we can store them in when not in use. Someplace they can be placed in and remain dormant; that way if need be we can deal them away indefinitely and prevent a union. Does this seems like something you might want to tackle?"
Helen gave a nod, smiling some. "That's something I think I can attempt. I had prepared measures for back when Roxanne had possession of Despair, which required the use of specific bonds linking the weapon to its place of containment. The main flaw with it was the fact that it still needed to be accessible to Roxanne for her use, and that required the wielder have access to its bonds." she said, before giving a sigh.
"Admittedly, I don't know how well they would've held up had the enchantment been restricted to its fullest extent, but the sword's ability to recognize the person who ended up taking it from her likely made undermining the enchantment far easier. Not even trying to track them using the bond still functioned by the time I was able to attempt it." she stated. "But if Void and Convergence are to be kept in a state where they have no wielder, that would make securing them far easier."
Christina smiled wider and nodded at Helen's explanation. She then looked to Clara for validation; while Christina was rather well versed in the arcane, her focus was more in the combat aspects from it since her bionics and mutations took care of the rest. It was safe to say that she was the one least versed in the full intricacies of the arcane. Clara nodded nodded back signaling that she trusted what Helen proposed. "Very well!", Christina exclaimed, "Let's shake on it then." She offered her hand to Helen. "Say, what shall I address you as? Is Thane still fine or do you go by anything else. I ask because I do not wish to use the title of founder or grandmaster due to... bad memories. I suppose Overseer seems fitting? What do you think?"
Helen's smile brightened at that, before shaking Christina's hand in response. "Thank you. As for that, whatever you deem fitting. Even without old formalities passed down by my parents, we're still Brothers and Sisters as they'd call us, are we not?"
Christina shook Helen’s hand with her on smile. Her grip was tight which would seem odd given her petite appearance; her smile friendly and warm but her shake firm and formal. “That we are! Hopefully not just in arms but one day we may look back once peaceful days are upon us.” The handshake ended and Christina looked at the others. “Well, I’ll leave you three to it. We will be around here for now so if you need anything. Let use know.”
“Wait, three?”, Clara asked confused.
“Yeah, you are to help them. You were oh so eager to see your little brother so you are to stick around for a while; don’t want to hear your whining again...”
“W-whining?! Oh, so that’s how it is? Fiiine, we will have a grand old time together!”
Christina shook her head in amusement and despite her words, Clara’s tone was more of someone being embarrassed than any legitimate hostility.
“Alright, we will be going now, take care!” Rey and Christina rose from their seats and dismissed themselves before heading towards the door.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 23, 2018, 05:57:21 am
Branches awoke the next day to a pile of neatly folded if somewhat filthy clothes and wondered where Illiana had gotten off to. She at first assumed that the Deus Ex had brought the clothes, but upon further reflection it was probably the automatons who'd brought them. The streaks of dirt and mud on them pretty much confirmed that. They'd have to be cleaned before they were eventually returned. The real issue was the volume. Pants, shirts, skirts, dresses, underwear, shoes. If it all belonged to Helen, then the mage hunter would be waking up to find her dresser completely empty. Also, some of the clothing was either too large or too small for Helen. That, or simply not her style. A leather track suit, split at the seams in some places and terribly stretched in others. A blue silk blouse so fine that it could only be real, and the product of much scavenging. A tattered skirt that looked like it had been worn constantly for far too long. An oil stained cotton tank top and a pair of much loved mechanics suspended pants, sans suspender belts. A bra that was too big for most of the farms residents, but too small for the giant tiger. There was even a well cared for quilted gambeson. Most of it though was Helens, either pilfered straight from the hall or pulled down off a clothesline. There was more though too, not just clothes but books. Books, canned food, tools... While branches looked on in horror, some of her servitors broke from the tree line with a heavy oak chair carried above them. Furniture.
"No! No! No!" Branches shouted, "we're supposed to be subtle! We're-" she noticed the damage. The little clay golems hadn't gone unnoticed. Little injuries here and there mostly, but some of them had gone about their thefts much less carefully and had suffered far greater damages. Missing arms, cracked limbs, even one unfortunate automaton with a hefty bullet hole in it's chest. That last was hardly moving. Branches felt a sinking feeling, a deep gnawwing in the pit of her stomach. There was no way these thefts would go unnoticed, and who's fault was that? Not the golems, now that Branches thought about it, no. It was her fault. Branches had been too distracted by her attempts to sleep and too fixated on the new soft lumps of flesh on her chest to worry about her servants. So distracted in fact that she had neglected to tell them to stop. So, they'd stayed up all night collecting things for their creator and when they'd run out of clothes that were easy to swipe, they'd shifted their focus on other things Branches might like.
"I'm so dead. There's no way Helen won't notice this. There's no way everyone won't notice this... I'll have to send it back, have them take it all back. No, that won't work, they'd be destroyed on sight. No, I have to... Oh boy..." Branches mumbled. The day before, life had seemed great and good and just fine. Today, it seemed like it was just about to end. The homunculus couldn't send the stuff back via her golems. She would have to bring it back herself. Not all of it was Helens though, and that was the hard part. Some of it could have come from the farm or from Sharlene's clearing, but not all of it. Some of it had to have come from someone else. what if... What if they'd been followed?
The last question answered itself with a sudden feeling, an intrusion that was alarming in it's implication. Someone had just entered the woods under Branches control, strangers she didn't recognize. For a long time she stood frozen, surrounded by stolen goods. Then she turned stiffly back towards her mud hut and sprinted back inside to hide. "Those things took the shit this way man, I fuckin' know it. What would those things even want with all that crap?"
"I don't know, little shit people is what they are, who knows why they want it. What matters is we get it back, Yellow Jacket is gonna be fucking pissed. Some of that stuff was slated for that cult she's thrown us in with. C'mon, let's just find em and get this over with. I hate brush cutting."
Branches could hear them now and cursed herself. She'd been prepared for Helen or someone else from the hall, but not complete strangers. The big golems in the forest didn't bother hindering these Intruders, Branches hadn't instructed them to. She focused, trying to direct them indirectly, but found that she was too nervous to do it.
"Jesus, look at all this shit. Why the hell did they pile it up here?"
"Shut the fuck up Kenny, we got a live one. Over there. Do little shit people build houses or light fires? Maybe there's somebody here who can own up to the theft. Maybe Yellow Jacket will wanna have a word, ya dig?"
Branches shot a glance at the small dug out clay fireplace. The fire was dead but it had left behind a pile of smoldering ash, small signs of life just beneath. She considered putting it out for good, but dismissed the thought. It wouldn't do any good now that the light smoke from her admittedly too tall chiminy had been seen. Instead she tried to focus harder, putting all her effort into trying to get her sentinels to respond, sharpening her panic into an arrow of purpose. That arrow fell yards short of the mark, and the sentinels in the forest shifted not a single inch. It never once occurred to her that maybe they wouldn't shoot her on sight, maybe they wouldn't try to grab her or charge her with some crime. It didn't occur to her because she was certain of it. She had two options, as she saw it. Fight or flee. If this were Helen, she'd have fled. But it wasn't. Instead, she threw on a ragged blanket and a broad straw hat. She didn't want to hurt anyone so Branches was going to try something else, just to see if she could guage the newcomers or maybe scare them off. In one instance of the things she was certain they'd do, she was completely correct. The plan was to pretend to be some kind of witch or great and powerful something or another. 'chances are,' she thought as she threw on the cloak and hat, 'this isn't going to work. Maybe I'll at least buy myself a headst-'
*BANG*
The crack of the pistol shot and the near simultaneous feeling of the bullet tugging the brim of the hat hard enough to spin it a half turn on top of her head took her completely off guard, and Branches dropped to her knees with the suddeness of it.
"Don't fuckin' move a single fuckin' step!" One of the men shouted. From her position, it would have been difficult to do anything of the sort these men didn't want her doing. As they moved in on her, Branches had a moment more to reflect on how it came to this, whose fault it was, and if she was going to be all right.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 27, 2018, 06:32:56 pm
(( Horace stuff written with Wilson, Alice and Steinar stuff written after discussion with Vulnus, Lilith stuff written with Mrno's approval. ))
As Horace and Abraham rode on, the gunslinger gave a little glance at the road ahead, before looking back to Horace as he led the way. “So. What do y’think yer boy is sendin’ us after?” he asked, Horace just shrugging. “Something dangerous, I bet.” he remarked after a moment, Abe hmming a bit. “Reckon that’s just what yer hopin’ fer. So, y’sure you know where we’re going?”
Horace just gave an irritated grumble at that. “Yes, I do. Rather hard to miss the mountains, can practically sense it all the way from here.” At that Abraham chuckled quietly, replacing his glass eye with the other in his possession. “An’ I reckon the entire Appalachian is probably alight with whatever voodoo is goin’ on over there. Be like findin’ a needle in a haystack ‘less you have directions.” he pointed out.
“And I do.” Horace answered, looking down at his axe. “Y’sure? Figure more that we’re lost.” he said, cracking a wry smile. “Or is it, we’re not lost, just don’t know where we’re going?” Horace looked up at a thick plume of smoke, letting out a “Hmmph.” and pointing towards it. “I know where I’m going, revenant.”[/color] He stated simply, turning his steed towards the smoke.
“Lookin’ like y’ might be right about there bein’ a fight...” Abraham grumbled, spurring his steed to pick up the pace, watching out for any other sign of trouble up ahead. Horace likewise drove his horse to lead the way, readying his axe as they rode.
The village at the foot of the mountain was in utter chaos. Buildings were set alight and the small contingent of Canadian troops there had been driven back to the buildings on the very edge of the mountain trail, frantically holding any position they could. Had it been any other circumstance, they would’ve had no need to even return fire. But this time the strange abominations under unknown control were faltering.
It had been a while since the last time God’s Army had attempted to take the village. The Canadian troops had thrown much of their forces into utter chaos, and what remained was properly wary of the entire Appalachian. But the forces advancing through the burning ruins were fanatical, filled with renewed morale. And in the very center of the chaos was a single robed man, calming holding a crucifix in one hand, and a weathered golden talisman in the other. Strange chitinous beasts and flowing ethereal shapes, marked in the familiar white runes of Mount Katahdin’s unseen protector, descended upon the interlopers. And one by one, the man would gesture with the three-pronged golden trinket, runes fading only to erupt into blue flames, sending attacking monsters crashing to the ground and screeching alien cries of agony.
A few of the travelers stopping at the village had joined in the fighting, taking positions anywhere they could, wary of the fact that the mountain itself was practically at their backs. A handful of soldiers had managed to fall back and take positions on the ledge overlooking the village, despite the protests of the more superstitious guards and those who’d decided to stay instead of continue into Canada.
As one of the crusaders pushed up down what had been the main street of the ramshackle town, a young woman peeked out from behind the cover of a crumbling, bullet-marked stone wall. She was nervously clutching an old lighter with a faded patina, partly obscuring ornate engravings. Seeing the ruins alaze on every side of the streets, she found herself gazing into one of the burning buildings from her concealed position. The young cat-eared man beside her was about to yank her back down behind cover when a surge of flame erupted from the ruins, engulfing the crusader and sending the men behind him backpedaling in fear.
At this the apparent leader of the bunch, adorned in a bishop’s robes, sent another strange shifting monster crashing down towards their segment of wall, the mutant fellow bolting for another position down the street, and the young woman narrowly avoiding being crushed beneath the polypous abomination, as ghostly fire enveloped it. “I can sense your little sorcery, young one.” the man called out, calmly walking along behind the bulk of the men combing the ruined city square. “You’re not the one I’m looking for. You’re pure, full of potential...give up, and you will be spared the punishment owed to this profligate filth.”
The woman held up two fingers, before striking her lighter as she murmured a chant. “May the eternal flame cleans thine flesh, thine bones, thine aura and soul…” She repeated it quietly as she continued to strike the lighter’s flint, more and more sparks falling to the floor. One of the templars gave a shout as he fired blindly at where he guessed the interloper was hiding, others scrambling to take cover behind a burned-out wreck of an armored vehicle. The bishop frowned at this, stepping back as he saw the line of sparks encircling the position of those ahead of him. “It’s a trap you idi-” The woman turned her hand and brought her two fingers up, and a slight swirl of flames was seen by one of the privates. The fireball expanded rapidly, incinerating the crusaders and privates in front of the bishop.
The bishop facepalmed at the display, only to lift his strange talisman, a beam of wicked lightning lancing through the smoldering ruins and over the charred corpses before him, sending bolts arcing in every direction as it impacted the rustic old stone, sending a spray of molten shards of stone flying overhead. Then, he raised his crucifix, calmly striding forward as the lingering flames parted for him. “I will not make any further offers of mercy, sorceress. Perhaps drowning would be better fit than the cross for you...”
The woman hefted a bag of flour, chucking it towards the bishop as she rose the lighter. With a single strike of its flint, a thin arc of flame flew towards the paper bag as she ran in the opposite direction. The others marching beside him scrambled for cover, most reduced to crumpled burning heaps as the flames engulfed them, the bishop taking a wary step back. Where charred corpses surrounded where he once stood, only ashes littered the ground in the center of the group.
A knight, followed by a gunslinger, galloped into town at all speed, catching the scattered remnants of the attackers from behind. Axe blade fell in wide sweeping strikes, hewing men to pieces before they could react to the horseman behind them, and behind him the gunslinger unloaded round after round from an old revolver into any God’s Army soldier he could catch in the open, beyond the knight’s reach.
The Canadians watching the scene unfold were stunned, wary enough of the roaring flames of a recent arrival, and now it seemed the cavalry had literally arrived. What remained broke and ran, Horace dismounting and his horse turning to clear the way, willed along by whatever strange magic guided it.The young man previously beside the mage broke cover to retreat to the other positions farther back, only for a snap of electricity to resound through the air. A beam of light lanced through the raging inferno that engulfed several old buildings between the young woman and the Canadian positions, parting the flames momentarily and sending the young man toppling to the ground in a smoldering heap, flesh stripped from the bone where he’d been struck.
The flames surged forward in a living inferno, and with ashen footsteps the bishop’s figure coalesced from out of the flames. “I gave you one chance...” he said, watching as she turned to run, caught in the open. The bishop rose his odd talisman, sending an arc of lightning towards the retreating mage. Meanwhile, A knight ran to the mage’s aid, catching the arc to the black breastplate. ”Enough.” Horace yawped, falling to one knee with the axe’s pommel bracing him.
The bishop watched in stunned silence, moreso when he caught sight of the axe. “You...” he muttered, glowering at the knight before another beam lanced out. Horace had managed to stand, whirling to face the bishop, but even though the beam struck the axe instead, dispersing arcs of lightning around both knight and mage, he staggered back, reeling and looking less like an injured man, and more like a suit of armor about to topple over in pieces, as he practically was. Then he stood, bracing the axe as lingering sparks lingered, trailing from now-glowing runes. “I am not going to die from your stolen magicks. I am the Knight of the Abyss and I have had ENOUGH of your foolish cult, following a damned PARASITE.” he said coldly, taking a step forward.
The knight gripped the axe firmly, the faux lightning crackling from the blade. “You will know the true extent of your unfounded zeal, you filthy raving MISCREANT.” Horace roared at the lone Bishop, the echo from his armor intensifying the sound of his voice as it rang out. The bishop flinched visibly, hesitating for a moment only for the energy from the axe to be released as Horace swung the tool savagely with an inhuman shout, although the energy itself was weakened.
The bishop glowered, brandishing the crucifix. “You misuse that heathen power, beast...” he said, stumbling back at the impact. The wave of energy seemed to surge through him, less of an electric arc and more like a blade of divine fire, seemingly still standing. He raised his arm, and it took a split-second to realize that his hand did not follow suit. Only then did he take notice of the bloody gash across his chest, after the energy seared right through the arm held out in front of him a moment ago.
Horace shuddered forward. Each step was more like a lunge forward from a poorly used marionette, a hand reaching towards the Bishop as he took long, stiff and lunging steps towards him. Horace was looming over the Bishop before he dug his hands into that bloody gash, hands tearing the flesh. The man gave a strained cry of pain as he tried to backpedal, brandishing the symbol of judgement only for a round to rip through the man’s arm, shattering bone and forcing him to drop it, deformed lead skidding off Horace’s breastplate. “Watch your fire...” Horace growled out, just barely loud enough for the gunslinger to hear, the bishop glaring into the empty visor. “H-hah...I forsook him years ago, to think I’d ever lay eyes on one of the b-blades again...let alone his puppet dancing with it.” he spat out, a hint of blood running down his chin.
Horace’s hands dug in deeper, as he tore apart the flesh with his gauntlets alone, discarding the axe for a moment. “Cease your prattling, petulant child.” Horace snarled as his hands dug in deeper, as they widened the bloody gash. The man said nothing, a glare of pure hatred being the only answer as the knight tore him open, flesh yielding along with the ribs beneath, widening the gouge the axe’s surge cut into flesh and bone, until gauntleted hands ripped him open entirely, grasping at the first thing he could reach to tear it free, the bishop’s heart. Horace tore out the muscle, throwing it to the ground, and grinding it into the floor.
The pyromancer was busy emptying her lunch onto the floor at this, utterly disgusted. One of the Canadians stepped up once it seemed the remaining attackers had all been put down or fled, giving a wary wave to the pair before helping the mage stand. “This is an unexpected surprise, but one we’re grateful for. What are your names?” the man asked. Horace dropped the torn mass of flesh, still shuddering and threatening to fall apart as he spoke. “Horace.” He said simply as Abraham double-tapped a nearby God's Army soldier, “Abe, who's the girl?” Abe asked simply, racking the sawn down rifle.
The mage grumbled a bit as she stood up, fumbling with a cloth to wipe her mouth, and simply tossing it into the flames. “Fucking hell...” she grumbled, the Canadian smiling a bit. “Don’t think they’ll buy that your name’s Fucking Hell, ma’am.” he joked, prompting her to facepalm. “Name’s Celine.” Horace let out a wince-like hiss, “You’re okay, that's good.” He said wearily as he walked away, Watcher. I… Need help.
In response to this the Watcher turned his attention back to the knight. My, smitten by a sickened stranger? he teased, prompting an irritated metallic growl from Horace. No, dammit… Celine meanwhile regarded to stumbling knight with concern. “Are you okay? Come on, let’s get you inside one of the buildings that’s still standing...” she said, catching up to him and reaching up to put a hand on his shoulder. The plate was hot to the touch, “No. I- I just need to be alone. Leave me be, I will talk to you later.” Horace snarled softly, moving his shoulder stiffly out of the mage's grip.
Celine grumbled a bit at that, looking over to Abraham. “The hell’s his problem...” she said, and Abe shrugged. “Beats me. Yer as likely t’ get through t’ him as y’ are t’ take black off’a kettle.” he said. “I...okay...” she said, promptly regretting asking him about it, watching as Horace stumbled off. The others looked on in stunned silence, wary enough about having to go just up the ridge overlooking the foot of the trail, to see the man just stumbling off was a worrisome sight, one that brought to mind whispers among the soldiers of the last person to do so.
Abraham shrugged a bit and looked around, before grumbling. “Well hell. Tell y’what, say we get in afore the weather gets any worse? Catch our breath a bit. Fella’s a tough ol’ bastard an’ I’m sure he’ll do just fine.” he said, Celine reluctantly showing him to one of the village’s remaining buildings to have a well-earned moment of respite over dinner.
The knight trudged up the mountain path, armored boots falling heavily over loose, cracked and overgrown stone, sitting down beside a crumbling boulder. “What...do I...” he mumbled, and the watcher regarded this with curiosity. Perhaps the expected outcome of that traitor attempting to turn one of my own symbols against my chosen, or...ah. No. Just rest...you’ve failed to even consider that you have a soul bound to this otherwise-needless body, and where there is body and soul, there is the mind. And that still requires rest…
Horace walked among weathered cobblestones, overgrown and cracked from grass and vines. He was whole again, flesh and blood clad in dark clothes, button-up shirt and slacks. He walked past ivy overgrowing old stone edifices, so worn and covered in greenery that it was impossible to tell if the underlying rock was natural or manmade.
He took a seat in a quaint wrought iron chair, in the center of what was once a garden. One thing came to mind. He wasn't weary as he once was, nor in pain from the strikes suffered during the last battle. His new unlife was far from his mind. Instead he was hungry. He sat at a table, vaguely reminded of things from a past life, buried in the haze of death and the bloodlust that consumed his latter years as a mortal.
A figure was sitting across from him. A heavy woolen cloak, dyed a modest dark color, was contrasted by finely-tailored and patterned robes of pale, coarse undyed linen. A deliberate paradox of fine clothing worked from crude cloth. The hood was down, and an equally-paradoxical face veil of richly-embroidered yet undyed linen had been laid out on the table. The face so-exposed was not something living mortals were expected to see.
There was darkness, wispy shadows occasionally coalescing into brief imitations of human structure. And in the darkness, intermittent glimpses into whatever faraway worlds the figure held dominion over. Of war, of death, and in turn vague afterimages of the less-grim things they were foils of.
Horace was torn between wanting to ignore the figure and enjoy his dream in peace, and asking the watcher questions that started to come to mind. But he didn't get the chance to do either. The sensation of sitting where he was seemed to fade, but the cold of his metal seat faded more slowly, permeating through more of his body as it did so. A gentle breeze sweeping through the garden ceased all at once, and it seemed as though night was falling upon the surrounding woods. It all seemed to fade, before he had the chance to say anything to the watcher...
A storm had rolled into the area over the course of the night, leaving heavy blankets of snow across the mountain trails, dense fall stifling the lingering fires left in the village below. A strange sight for the warmer season, but one that had become increasingly common around the mountains at all times of the year. Horace could sense, rather that feel, the chill that lingered in his metal frame.
He neither felt nor sensed snow on him however, nor his immediate surroundings, even though he started to become vaguely aware of it all around him. There was also light, a fire burning a few feet from him. That drew his attention immediately, the plates shifting as he sat up from his half-collapsed position with a start.
Across from him was an old man, at least from the weathered face and long, scraggly beard. The rest of him was covered in furs of varied states of disrepair, obscuring the rest of his features. Leaning against a nearby tree was a long staff that vaguely glowed with magic to his senses, one end decorated with carved pieces of some mutated insect's overgrown chitinous plates, the very end ragged in rags. Covering either the end of a staff, or more likely a spearhead from what he recalled of common magical items.
"You're awake. Good." the man murmured, glancing over at Horace. "Lucky you're lacking in fingers to lose from frostbite..." he remarked, regarding Horace's armor with amusement. "Who are you?" he asked bluntly, the old man simply smiling. "The one who lives up here, keeping an eye on things below." he answered.
Horace sat up straight, regarding the man with suspicion. "The reason those monsters were attacking..." he said coldly, and the old man shook his head. "Because there were intruders attacking the village. The beasts surrounding this place are under my control. They keep an eye on things, keep a measure of order down there." he said.
"For all the good that did." Horace scoffed, and the man gave a little sigh. "I can only do so much. The man that led the attack...he was one of ours. Turned aside the magic I used." he said. "One of yours, you mean. I wasn't part of your little cult." Horace answered. The man noticeably went pale, tensing up a bit. Still uncertain of the armored figure's purpose.
It was then that a familiar presence echoed around them. Do not fear the one I have sent to meet you. Though he was not of my followers in life, he has proven himself worthy. the watcher directed. Horace would've grimaced a bit if he could, before nodding. "This is...better than how things were after I died." he admitted. "So that bishop was one of yours. Surprised that he would abandon you for the parasite, watcher."
That one broke his oath to me years before God's Army ever became a concern. Then and since he had been an occasional threat to my faithful, though the decline of the Keepers did what no one man ever could. the voice answered. I suspect he pledged allegiance to the parasite to avoid my wrath. Perhaps believing that the abomination devouring his soul would be a more pleasant fate. But that oath outlives even one who dares break it. He has been brought to where he is fated to be.
Horace seemed to perk up a bit at this. "Hmmph. Serves him right to burn in whatever hell you drag your oath-breakers to." he remarked. The aura pervading the area seemed to reflect the tone in the watcher's voice, a faint hint of amusement. Perhaps. All who have sworn my oath are to be received in my domain, for the time being. But my judgement for those who have wronged others is a ledger, not a scale. His judgement will be attended to by all those spirits I have accepted, for all good and ill done by him. And he has wronged a great many of those spirits...
Horace hmmed a bit at that, shaking his head. "Right. Well, not my concern then." he muttered, the old man nodding. "For now, it seems we have some things to discuss..."
Hector had spent most of yesterday working on the posters with Roxanne and posting them here and there, smiling a little as he picked up his helm, set on the desk. "Wait, wha-" He stopped, staring into it. There had been padding inside it, a simple arming cap made of scavenged fabric that had long since replaced the original padding the great helm was fitted with. Figuring it simply fell out of place he looked around a bit in the room, before resigning himself to simply getting an older spare out of Roxanne's dresser, now storing clothes for both of them.
The fact it was noticeably missing a few items here and there startled him, mainly random bits of clothing stolen from Roxanne's wardrobe. He knew that much, she certainly hadn't decided to wear any of the items that stood out as missing.
As soon as he went outside, he saw Nathaniel there along with Lilith, both seeming less than pleased with something. "Nate, you both alright?" he asked, and Nathaniel shook his head. "Nope. Y'know that nice jacket Bandit went and made for me? Fuckin' thing's disappeared, and I know Lilith didn't go eating it or whatever, even if she likes your old lucky jacket more." he remarked.
"It's still other-me's jacket, not mi-" Lilith butted in, growling a bit. "Thupid dirt men took thmall man jacket..." she whined, prompting a confused look from Hector. "Thought I hadn't seen any of those little critters in a few days, but she's right. Saw one of the fuckers scamper off with Lil's old suit too." Nathaniel said, only to be nearly bowled over by a heavy paw giving him a dismissive little pat. "No thwear. Mean." the tigress remarked, giving what seemed to be her best impression of a shit-eating grin.
The two would've discussed the situation further, had something not interrupted. Explosions, gunfire, somewhat distant but still audible. The knight further secured his replacement arming cap and put on his helm, running out along with Nathaniel to see that Isaac was already running off to investigate. "Merda..." Hector mumbled, only to be staggered by a nudge from Lilith's paw. "Thpanish thill mean. No thwear."
The knight grumbled a bit, regaining his composure. "He likely has the situation well in hand, but we should get the tank ready just in case, follow along..." he mumbled, Nathaniel nodding a bit. "Lil, stay here and keep an eye on things."
"No. Go with thmall man." she answered, glancing over at the tank that Hector was making ready. Given her size, simply keeping up with it would likely be more practical than trying to desant on it like she used to be able to do. The three of them made ready to head out and belatedly follow after him, and to their surprise they saw Alice running ahead by the time they'd been able to get the tank ready and head down the road. She was in her full gear, rifle at her back, pistol holster, even the sword Hector had finished forging for her at her side, something that made the knight smile under his helm when he recognized the armament through the driver's camera feed.
Nathaniel opened up the hatch, giving a wave. "Come on, if you're headed our way to catch up. Gunner's seat's still empty." he called out, Alice nodding as she clambered up the tank, narrowly avoiding an over-excited tigress bolting past the tank entirely to run down the road, lifting up the hatch to drop into the turret, as the tank sped forward, Lilith following the trail and the distant sounds...
The morning had been an uneasy one for The Hall, one of preparing and tending to daily tasks that left a sense of foreboding in the air. It wasn't anything provoked by the recent visit, in fact yesterday's events had been a great relief for her.
However, the sudden resurgence of stolen items and sightings of those miniature golems gave her renewed concern. She assumed at first, especially with how they acted wildly unlike they did under Branches' direction, that they were running amok in her absence. But that didn't explain why they hadn't been active in between Branches' "death" and now.
She recalled the thoughts and suspicions she initially stowed away, some things that would've made her question the nature of the homunculus' death had she not disregard them, were brought back to the surface. But then, the sound of gunfire and explosions, distant but close enough to be worrisome, interrupted her train of thought.
She scrambled to the radio, picking it up. "Is everything alright?" she asked, hearing the rumble of an engine and Nathaniel's voice in reply. "We're on our way to the scene, keep an ear out for anything else going on closer to your position. Nathaniel out."
The radio message left her concerned and wary, gathering her gear just in case, until appearance of a familiar figure interrupted her further not long afterward. "Alexei...gods." she muttered, sitting and listening as he appeared to speak to her, and explain what he could. She wanted a chance to say goodbye properly to him, and ask him what happened.
Steinar mumbled a bit as he stepped into the main room of The Hall. "Helviti, fuckers took one of my old drinking cups, and three pair of winningas. Who in Odin's name needs a bunch of legwraps, and who's gone and started explo-" He stopped, seeing the faded apparition that had appeared before her. He didn't know the man that well compared to Helen or especially Sergei, but the realization hit him rather abruptly. Moreover it hit him with an instinctive sense of dread, something he couldn't quite place, the two of them watching as Alexei faded away.
He would've asked about what Alexei said to Helen, when yet another problem presented itself. A gunshot, much closer than the distant sounds they heard earlier. Helen was already up, heading for the door and soon directing the Six to keep an eye on things around The Hall. She guessed roughly where the gunfire sounded to have been coming from, and already heading off along the shore.
"Oi, wait! You...just as brash as any son of mine'd be." he mumbled, snatching up a drink off the table and downing it. He needed it more at this point, and he promptly grimaced at the taste. That watered-down Roman drink that Helen was known to mix up on occasion, something no descendant of his should be drinking in his opinion.
He was kitted out and out the door within a matter of minutes, muttering to himself. "Why do I have the feeling something stupid is happening..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 28, 2018, 01:59:56 pm
[first part written with a gecko]
Helen led the way to the site Illiana had directed her to visit, knowing it was in the right direction based on the sound heard earlier, Steinar following not far behind. It was as she reached the treeline that she heard the shouting ahead, activating her mask. The outlines of the figures ahead of them stood out from her position concealed behind a tree, giving a hand gesture to Steinar. In response he headed to the right to huge the treeline, intent on taking a position behind the unfamiliar figures, while Helen stalked closer.
It was when she reached a position that she could call out from behind cover that she finally spoke up. "Easy, both of you! I mean none of you any harm." she said, still watching through the vision of her mask in case they were to react with hostility.
Helen barely registered at first what she had chosen to hide behind, but now that she'd settled there was something strangely off about the boulder offering her it's concealment. The color for one, and it's aura for another. Someone, she could easily guess who, had tried to build a crude golem but had neglected the most important part; the core. Everything else about it was up to standard in such a construct, right down to the faint letters inscribed on where Branches had judged the things forehead to be. They looked like English spelling out "nyx" but Helen, knowledgeable in such things new it to be another word entirely. The way the earthen thing pulsed in her masks vision let on that the stranger these two others were harassing, almost certainly the wild homunculus, was trying to reach out to her creation for aid. Without a core, it would never be able to hold onto and harness it's much needed energy.
"Who the hell? You with the girl? Come on out and we won't hurt her. These little shit people took some of our bosses stuff and she'll be wanting it back." Said one of the bandits. The one who spoke tried to get a look around to see who it was talking to them but the other kept his weapon leveled at the homunculus, and Helen got a better look. Blond hair, one big purple red flecked eye, definitely Branches. Steinar was in position, should this go sour, so they definitely had the upper hand here.
"Helen?" Branches muttered, straightening her straw hat and lowering it, "I am so dead..."
"I'm afraid I'm not with her, though I know her". Helen answered, before carefully stepping out from behind cover. The sight was rather odd, a woman in a metal mask and a cloak covered in metal scales, a warhammer resting over her shoulder. "She's a petty thief who's bothered the settlement nearby, but this is beyond what she's normally done." she said, looking back towards the homunculus. "Moreover, she's supposed to have died in a recent attack on the center she helped defend against, last I heard..." she added.
Branches had heard that she was supposed to have been dead, but didn't really believe it. Though to her knowledge, Illiana couldn't lie about most things. She could mislead a little through vague hints and such, but not lie outright. It gave her a straw to grasp at though.
"Woooo, I am a ghoooost! Woooo!" She moaned
"Shut up over there, the grown ups are talking." The bandit with the gun barked, "Ain't this a place huh? Some mutant thief who sends little shit people out to do her pillaging, and now iron woman. Very interesting day this is gonna be."
"I didn't steal nothing, I just forgot to-" Branches began. Her mistake hadn't been in talking, but in trying to get back onto her feet. For that smallest of movements, the bandit fired a slug over her head. After that, things moved quickly. From behind the two men, Steinar bore down on the speaker, leaving the expected blinding of the gun toting other to Helen, but the man was on the move with the mage hunter close behind. She couldn't well blind a man who wasn't looking, so her only real option was to catch him. She leveled her Symbol of Judgement... And stopped.
"Alright, alright, nobody fucking move!" The bandit shrieked almost girlishly. Helen could very well blast the man and risk harming the homunculus in the process, but she also knew a little something about her. The bandit had in his sudden surprise and desperation at the rapidly declining situation decided his best option for getting away from "iron woman" and the unexpected Viking, was to take a hostage. Behind her mask, Helen was chuckling a little.
"What the fuck is so fucking funny? You ain't won this yet." He shouted.
"You have no idea. A tip for you; if you planned on taking that particular Homunculus hostage, you should have picked her up."
"Homuncu-what?"
"She's right you know." Branches said simply. The bandit confusion only lasted about as long as his feet were still planted on the ground, then he was airborne for all of half a second as Branches reached back, grabbed him, and drove him deep enough into the soft earth that it would take a good deal of pulling to dislodge him. Helen grimaced a bit at the display of power under her mask, before taking a step forward. "Stand down and you won't be harmed." she said, the strange golden talisman pointed at the other. Steinar just snickered a bit, shield forward and a francisca raised. "Come on lass, no use reasoning with a bunch of brigands." he pointed out.
"Oi! Watch your fuckin' language." the bandit called out, and Helen would've facepalmed if she had a hand free. "He called you a bandit." she pointed out, and the man gave a look at the viking. "...oh."
Branches stayed silent, trying to focus. The bandits were well in hand and all, but that still left the mage hunter. With the men, Branches could have run away or played dead, something like that. Maybe even reasoned with them. Maybe. Helen was another deal entirely, a thing which creatures like Branches should rightly be afraid of, regardless of Illiana's assurances.
"You can stop now, your golems are lacking cores. They aren't going to move." Helen said without turning.
"Oy, uh, Helen, she's running for it." Steinar pointed out. Helen spun around just in time to see the straw hat and rough cloak flutter to the ground, and the proclain white of branches skin and golden Cascade of hair disappearing into the woods.
"Helviti..." Helen muttered under her breath. "Steinar, secure the others, I'll catch up to her!" she said, starting off into a run. By her first few steps the viking was already closing in towards the other. "Alright, on your knees you. Your turn to relax a little." he called out.
Helen dove into the forest after Branches, thankful that she stuck out like a sore thumb among all the greens and browns. Also that Branches wasn't exactly being careful with how she fled. Somewhere ahead of her, she heard the resounding splintering crack of a spring maple exploding as the tension in it's fibers released when Branches rebounded off of and through it. Then the tearing of a tree being uprooted somewhere beyond that.
It was like following Lilith, only Lilith's strength was all her own. Branches was only as strong as the earth she put her feet on. Pick her up, and she'd be as weak as a teenaged girl. That was Helen's plan of attack. Rather than violently smashing the homunculus until there was little left and exorcising it's heart, Helen would try to pick her up. She just had to catch her first.
"Hello Helen." Said Illiana, phasing out of a tree ahead and to her right, "You don't have to run you know, she's going to tire herself out pretty quickly here in a bit."
Helen had very nearly ran straight into a tree at Illiana's appearance, her pace slowing into one that the Deus Ex could trivially keep up with. "By Yeshua's palms, what all haven't you told her? She's acting nearly as scared as the first time I saw her."
"I told her not to worry about you, that you buried her and all that. etcetera etcetera. Doesn't mean she internalized any of it though. What do you think of her new self by the way? Pretty? Ugly?" Illiana said. Helen slowed to a walk and gave Illiana a look. The look missed and the mage hunter had to cast her eyes about for her. It seemed that the Deus Ex was moving around, but only when Helen wasn't looking at her.
"That's awfully considerate of you, to think of 'it's' appearance like some kind of parent?" Helen pressed. Illiana shrugged noncommittally, so Helen dropped it. "Maybe you can shed some light on this whole stealing business?"
"She's going to need a bit of a guiding hand I think, and I'm not going to be around much to do it. I'm afraid my hand would be just a bit too frustrating for the poor thing. Hm. Also this whole mess with the stolen property, I think it's best she explains it herself. Don't you?"
Helen simply nodded, though clearly less than pleased by all this as she followed Branches' trail. "Very well then. Seems I'll have to get her to do the explaining herself..." she said softly, making full use of her mask and the rather obvious swath of utter havoc to keep pace, until the moment was right to close in and make her move. They walked along, Illiana moving in her own way just beyond Helen's periphery, walking clearly too plebian for her at that time and place. The destruction lessened until it stopped entirely, and the trail became harder to follow. Illiana pointed the way after that and soon enough, Helen was glaring down at Branches. She huffed heavily, scooping air in great gulps like drinking water and plainly exhausted.
Helen rolled her eyes behind her mask. "No. You may have the strength of ten, but you clearly aren't in good enough shape to go sprinting off through trees and boulders. Get up." Branches didn't get up. Whether she was being belligerent or was simply too tired to do so wasn't really clear. Perhaps both, but she didn't get up. Helen again rolled her eyes and grabbed the homunculus's feet while Illiana quickly hefted Branches shoulders.
"Hi sweety." She said, "You got some 'splainin to do missy." Jenny felt a tension in her senses just as she reached out to pick the mushroom and stopped. The sensation faded quickly and pulled her attention to her right where she spotted more fungus of another kind. Orange jelly like growths on the side of a fallen log. Jennifer, with Cheena's prodding, got the idea that these lumps of rubbery looking orange would be "okay" in every aspect. Cheena herself had never indulged in mushrooms of any kind, but she knew which ones the less picky animals enjoyed or stayed away from. They weren't slimey like she thought they'd be, but they did fall apart when she tried to pull them with her fingers because of how solidly the deceptively soft mushrooms were rooted into the wood. With a showy flick of the wrist, more to make herself feel cool than any practical reason, Jenny opened her knife and sliced the fungus from the log. The benefit was that the roots remained implanted in the log and the mushrooms would grow back. They tasted very plain. Jenny would go so far as to say that they tasted "boring" and it wasn't just Cheena's influence that made them so. They reminded her of a salad with no dressing or croutons. No bacon bits, no sliced boiled egg, no nothing. Just leaves in a plain white bowl.
After she'd delivered her resignation and proposition to Catalina, Jenny had opted to go out for a bit of a nature walk. The next few days would be her time to get used to Cheena, and time for Cheena to get used to her and come to terms with what had happened to them. The young fox spirit had taken it all in stride at first but now that things had calmed down and there was a good meal in them, it had become just a little too much to handle. Cheena's family, friends, and mentor were dead. Cheena herself was dead, technically. She found herself in a strange place with strange creatures, trapped in an unfamiliar body that wasn't her own. Her situation brought Jenny's similar adventure back to the forefront, making her uneasy and a little agitated. So she did what she thought Cheena really needed, and that was to offer distraction in the familiar.
"You know what would be really nice?" Atomos said aloud, "A dip in a hot tub. Just us and an iced tea. Or maybe a sauna? That's not quite the same as a long soak in a tub full of hot water, but it would certainly get the blood pumping and give us some time to relax and unwind." A sauna would be easy to put up and there was less risk of boiling herself alive if it was done wrong. Jennifer could just imagine it now. Sitting back on a wooden bench, wrapped in a towel and sweating all the days problems away. Letting the steam melt the stress out of her like an ice cream sandwich on a hot sidewalk. The hot tub was an enticing image too, or maybe just a hot bath. The center only had showers, no good old fashioned bathtubs. Jennifer laughed the thought away, saying "No use anyway! My tail would soak up all the water! Still, the sauna isn't a bad idea. Why don't we talk to Catalina and then see if anyone would be willing to help us put one together. Maybe that mechanic lady over at the farm. She still has the centers ATV I think."
That sounded a bit like work to her, now that she thought about it. Then again though, Jennifer wouldn’t actually be doing any of the heavy lifting or building and really, it wasn’t that much work anyway. The real work would begin after her little vacation. This Hoyt guy she’d been hearing about. Asking around and a long talk with doctor Maskens gave her the impression that the man was a hassle to deal with. The center traded with him for medicine of dubious origin and kicked his dealers out at least once a month. The short of it was that he was a drug dealer that New Paris had no choice but to deal with. They wanted butter and milk? Hoyt. They wanted penicillin or antibiotics? Hoyt. The unpleasant drug dealer had a stranglehold on some of the most basic necessities, and Jenny thought that maybe she should do something about it. Juanita Alvarez left Catnip’s home happily formulating her next sermon in her head. The subject; the wonders of creativity and the need for artists and dreamers in these latter days. Juanita had been one of Catnip’s associates at Pinky’s Pleasure Palace, a misling who’d been unfortunate enough to break her contract by getting pregnant. Rather than let her be put out on the streets, Catnip had requested she be allowed to work with her as an assistant. She wasn’t the most creative sort, and certainly no good with tools or machines, but in her own way she had helped out. In time, she’d even picked up on Catnip’s strange god and gained a zealous revery for her saviors unconventional god.
“Kathrine, could you let the next person in and make sure ‘Nita get’s back to the chapel alright?” Catnip asked. Kathrine agreed hesitantly and was off. She wouldn’t be gone long of course. As soon as Juanita was back in the chapel and squared away, she would hurry back as though connected to Catnip via a rubber band.
After the next meeting, which didn’t take long at all, Kathrine arrived just in time to see the irritable last guest out. After that bit of business, she began the process of tidying up only for Catnip to stop her. She found herself face to face with the mechanic, a pair of dainty but strong arms wrapped about her waist.
“Smooches?” Catnip asked, and of course Kathrine couldn’t say no. Catnip stole several kisses before going on. “So, I was thinking, we have a lot of that thread from Mica right? Maybe we could do something nice for her with it? You know our birthday is coming up?”
Kathrine, who had never even heard Catnip mention anything about she or Mica having a birthday before, leaned back. “Oh? When is it?” She asked. The idea that she’d finally have a consistent day to celebrate Catnip’s birthday was thrilling. Catnip made a noncommittal gesture, not quite as solid as Kathrine was hoping then, but it would be “soon.”
“Dee and Mica are getting married too. I was thinking, you and I could make some fabric out of Mica’s silk and then we could take it to the lady who made your kim-oh-no to make a special dress with. People wear special clothes for weddings don’t they?”
Kathrine nodded enthusiastically and Catnip kissed her again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on December 14, 2018, 09:07:04 pm
After the little talk with Hector, him and Roxanne went about putting the posters she had made for tomorrow’s event. She was excited; tomorrow marked the beginning of her new vision. One where it wouldn’t just be hoarding arms and supplies until the need to fight the next enemy arose. Roxanne stood in front of one of the posters smiling at its contents.
“To the hardworking residents of Walkerville and elsewhere.
How has life been treating you so far? You, yes you, the one reading this. You surely are clothed and fed right? That has not been a problem here for some time. But one thing has been, strife. Those of you who have been here a while or have hear the stories know of the various enemies we as a group have fought against. We have overcome each and everyone of those challenges and we will overcome any that are to follow. But, what about those who didn’t fight? Those who stayed behind and made sure this place kept running?
Are we to only celebrate the warrior and not the builder, the farmer, the medic, or the craftsmen? All of you, yes you, we all contribute our part here no doubt. We all work hard to not only make this place run smooth but make it better. However, do you ever feel you could be doing more? Do you feel you could offer more? That your skills are being wasted? I for one do. Who am I? I am known as many things but my name is Roxanne Luna, the blade of sodom as some call me.
I was one of the warriors, one who’s niche was to fight the next enemy but no more. In my time here I have made many discoveries and new abilities and I feel I could help elsewhere. How? By helping others find their niche, to become the best they can offer. Self-Actualisation. Let me help you help yourself. Let’s make a journey of self discovery for the better.
If any of this peaks your interest, I am holding a small meeting down at the ruined hotel near the necropolis. Don’t worry, it’s safe; I made sure of that, former warrior remember. Just come, listen to what I have to say and if it’s not your cup of tea I will at least thank you for your time. But if you like what you hear, hopefully we make great things together! For those interested, see you tomorrow at noon!
Roxanne Luna, Blade of Sodom”
Roxanne was rather giddy about the whole thing. She wondered if anyone would show up but those thoughts were quickly dismissed. Whatever happens would happen regardless if she stressed about it or not. For now she would go to her room and get ready for tomorrow event. Hector had gone back before hand so maybe she would catch up to him. As she made her way back she heard them; explosions, gunshots and then people scrambling. She simply shook her head and continued her merry way, Once this would’ve been a call to adventure but this wasn’t who she was anymore.
Eventually she reached her room and found Hector wasn’t there. She gave a deep sigh; he probably went to check out what the commotion was. He would be fine, he always was; unlike herself. Roxanne shrugged and got to work on her preparations. Something seemed odd tho, an uneasiness in the air. It probably was the sounds from earlier; with that in mind Roxanne pushed those thoughts aside as well as she went to her “secret” stash to get some item.
A pair of hip pouches was the first was the first set of items; she could attach them to her belt in front of her revolvers for easy access. Currently she was wearing a messenger bag to carry her items but that seemed too cumbersome for what she needed to carry on her person. She had become sort of a minimalist and as such the number of items was now small.
The next item was a vail with a strange and suspicious black liquid. It appear to be nothing more than a test tube with a cork. The vial and a pipette went inside one of the compartments in her drop pouches. Next was a syringe with a white liquid in it; the liquid looked familiar to the untrained and easily recognisable to researchers such as Quinn and Dervish: Purifier Serum. The syringe, in a proper contained for carrying, was placed in the compartment next to to the vial.
The final object she pulled out was the all to common auto-injector loaded with RX-12. She used to carry it everywhere but stopped once she, well, didn’t need it anymore. But now she grabbed some and promptly put it in her pouches.
After that she took off her messenger back and emptied it of its contents. Most of the items inside were place back in their appropriate place but her speed loaders for her revolvers and her vials of essence went into the pouches. As she went through the contents of said bag, she came across one that made her snicker a bit; the silver athame Victor had entrusted her after the two had had their “I am done with this whole thing” talk a few days prior. She smiled and shook her head playful before putting away next to her ritual and ceremonial items. When she did so, she noted some stuff was missing, nothing important or that couldn’t be replaced but still odd; she would ask Hector about it later.
What wasn’t gone, however, was another set of items not in her stash that she was looking for. The first was a white sundress. The type that was light and was supported by a couple of shoulder straps; the kind that also would show off cleavage with the excuse that it was to be worn when it was hot outside. Roxanne took the dress and set it on her bed. The second item was her ceremonial robe; the one she used when performing any of her rituals; it was a red silk robe, the kind that looked like a sheet with a hole on top and a couple to stick her arms out. Normally she would wear nothing underneath it as part of the ritual but she was thinking of an exception.. She took the robe and placed it next to the dress.
Roxanne undressed herself setting her accessories on a nearby table and her outfit on the bed next to the other two items. She was left in nothing but black panties as she removed even her bra. After putting her old outfit that consisted or a leather one piece biker suit and a green cloak, she took out a rather big roll of bandages and started to wrap them around her chest. This would have two effects, keep her breast from moving all over the place and create the illusion of being smaller than they were under clothing. Once she finished with the wrapping, she put on the white dress; banges visible due to the design made to show off what she was now trying to conceal. Next she put on the robe. It concealed the dress underneath rather well but still left a portion of it stick out from underneath as the dress was still longer. The bandages were still visible from the sides but it didn’t matter. The contrast of white and dark red appealed to Roxanne as she approved of her now completed new outfit. Finally she put on her belt with the pouches, her holsters with the revolvers and on her back the katar.
“Looking good Roxanne!”, Eris said taking control of their body momentarily.
“Thank you! Looking fine yourself Roxanne!”, said Luna taking back control and smiling some.
Before she could continue with the self-congratulatory ceremony of sorts, she hear a knock on the door. It was firm but quick, a tell-tell sign of desperation. Roxanne, confused, went towards the door and opened it. “Rey? What are you doing here? Where is Christina?”
“Don’t know, let her out of my sight for a second and she went around flirting with the various mice-girls here.”,Rey responded. He looked up and down Roxanne noticing the new outfit; he also noted how she was now trying to “downsize” but that was something he would not comment on. “Special occasion?”, he asked.
“You could say that. Anyways, what brings you here?”
“I am starving...”, Rey responded, he look weary and fatigued. His expression was that need and he clutched his stomach somewhat when he stood still.
At that Roxanne gave a deep sigh and hanged her head low momentarily. She then looked back at Rey as to address him properly. “Come on, step inside.”
Rey nodded and followed Roxanne through the door. He closed it behind him but Roxanne spoke up again before he could step away from it. “Look the door if you will.”
“Lock the door? Why?”, Rey asked.
“I don’t need people walking in on this. It’s weird.”
“What about Hector?”
“He has the key.”
Roxanne gave another deep sigh; she moved towards the mirror in the room before speaking up while not looking at her reflection. “Damn it Rey, can’t you wait a bit more?”, Roxanne exclaimed as she adjusted her ceremonial robe. Rey shook his head almost shivering.
“I really can’t, I am feeling cold and am going numb... It has to be today...”
Roxanne gave a deep sigh and shook her own head in annoyance. Then she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled at how her outfit had come together seemingly ignoring Rey’s pleas. Eventually she turned around and addressed Rey once more.
“Ok, fine. I can’t give you a soul right now but; how about you have me instead?”
In his growing confusion, Roxanne just added more; he tilted his head as he responded with a simply question. “What?”
At this Roxanne threw her head back as she huffed in exasperation; she was seemingly annoyed at his ignorance. “Me! I am ghost, a soul. Do I have to spell it out for you?”
Rey’s expression was now not that of confusion but concern. “Roxanne… just what are you proposing?”
She didn’t answered him, instead asking a question of her own. “How do you harvest souls exactly?”
“Hmm? Oh, that? Well, attacks from regulator’s weapon harvests what I need and then funnel’s the soul to me.”
“So you need to physically strike someone with your summoned weapon?”
“Yeah, why?”
Once again she did not answer instead making a request, no, more akin to a demand. “Can you summon your regulator weapon as a hatchet please? And for the love of Anomon tone down the edginess...”
“Edginess? What do you mean?”
“Oh please spare me! Look at the way you are dressed. Gray Combat books, black work jeans, gray shirt, a tac-vest and fingerless gloves. You are just missing the shades and I would expect you to ask if my papers were in order.”
Rey just ignored her and grumbled to himself. As he did he summoned a plane looking hatched that had a wooden handle and a red glowing line going through from bottom to top. Roxanne grabbed it and looked at it. “See, this looks decent. I knew you would do it.”, she commented.
The next series of events happened too fast for Rey to rect. Roxanne went towards her altar, she placed her left arm on it, raised the hatched and then with a swift motion brought it down on her arm. She screamed bloody murder which was thankfully muffled to the outside thanks to the sound proof spell. Rey rushed to her.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” He looked closely at the wound. The hatchet was now placed next to her arm but the arm itself was quite the sight. It had been a clean cut; the hatched slice through it like butter. However, while the arm was severed it was still being held together by...her tattoos. The arm had been cut at the elbow and it was separated by an inch from the cut but the tattoos around it glowed purple and they extended out of the arm like ribbons. In her arm the tattoos were three bands wrapping around the length of her arm in a spiral going down until they landed at her wrist wrapping around it; a final band then formed and went towards her middle finger wrapping around it. But now, where the wound had been made it looked like they were ribbons peeling off and stretching to keep her arm together.
Roxanne kept screaming. “Holy fuck that hurts way more than I imagined it would!”
“You chopped off your own arm you fucking psycho! What did you expect?!”
“Pain hasn’t been a problem before so why no- ahhhhhhh!”
Her words were interrupted by another scream as the tattoos forced the arm together. Each end of the severed piece was glowing purple and soon those two sides touched and a familiar purple mist formed around it as it seemed to heal. The experience was excruciating to her but it was short lived for the hatchet started to do its work.
The hatchet’s red stripe started to glow and soon the entire section of Roxanne’s arm that had been severed was turning into the purple mist. The tattoos appeared to peel off that section of her arm as the hatchet began to consume the mist. Roxanne kept screaming and now embraced Rey settling her head on his shoulder; the pain was getting to her and out of instinct she bit down hard on his shoulder. Rey didn’t react, he simply looked at what was going on with the hatchet and the arm.
Eventually the arm was fully consumed and the tattoos dangled like ribbons. Roxanne let go of him and collapsed on the floor having gone limp. At least the ritual had worked; Rey felt somewhat more energetic but just barely. He wouldn’t die today but he still needed to feed within a couple of days. But none of that mattered to him right now as he looked at Roxanne passed on the floor and his hatchet now disintegrating being called back to him.
“What the hell just happened?”, he asked himself.
It had been a relatively quiet day for Melody. She went about doing her daily tasks which today were rather few. She had finished a short while ago and was now returning to her assigned bedding. Something had been bothering her however. It was as if something was calling at the back of her head, it wasn’t despair but she couldn’t make out what it was. Well, that is until now…
She who is guided by rage… answer my call… bring with you the broken man… seek my trial… and become whole once more...
“What the… who is there?”, Melody asked aloud. No one responded and her aura spell suggested very few people were around and those who were were doing their own thing. The voice didn’t speak again and the nagging feeling went away. However, she didn’t have time to relax as another voice picked up.
“Mel? We need to talk…”
Melody jumped at that but then gave a sigh of relief as she recognized that voice.
“Don’t scare me like that Dez, I am still human you know?”, Melody responded.
Despair gave a half hearted chuckle. “Yeah, that you are…”
“Anyways, what do you want to talk about?”
“Well, something feels off you know? Can’t pinpoint what but…”
“But?”
“You heard that voice too?”
“The one about being whole again?”
‘Yeah, so you did...hmm…”
Melody’s expression turned to that of concern. The flurry of stimuli from the aura spell made it hard for her to sense what Despair was feeling; things would be much easier if she could wear the blindfold to filter it all out but she could not risk being discovered that she was blind.
“What’s up, what’s going on?”, Melody asked.
“Listen… this is going to sound counterintuitive but… I need to speak to Roxanne…”, Despair explained.
Melody was shocked at hearing that and expressed herself so. “What? But we are here to hide from her in the first place! Now you just want to ignore that and dream ghost’s warning? Still have that medallion you know?”
“I know, I know! Just… I need to ok? Hard to explain… Please just trust me on this on... “
“So you need to speak to Roxanne?”
“Well, not so much her but Assimilation… but now she is assimilation so…”
“Ahhh, I get ya now… Sword business… Alright, I’ll go ahead and see if I can request to leave for the day… Done all my work for today.
Just as she said that a familiar aura was sensed. Melody smiled to herself, got up from her spot and approached the man. It was the same man she had spoken to when she “applied” for the job here. It had been nothing more than a ploy to hide out here for a bit but now she seeked the opposite. The man was, just like last time, holding a clipboard looking over stuff; he looks up to see Melody approach and he flashes a smile of familiarity.
“Well hello there little lady! Melody right? Working hard from what I am hearing. How are you liking it here so far?”, asked the man
“It’s really neat, work is something I am used to and the people are nice. Thank you once again for giving me a chance!”
The man gave a slight laugh before responding. “Don’t mention it. Not like we were running low on personnel in that department but hey, better over prepared than under.” Once he finished talking, his expression turned from amusement to a semi-serious one; one to signify he meant business, not that Melody could tell either way. “But something tells me you are here to ask me something aren’t you? Go on kid, spit it out.”
Melody was surprised by what he said; he had seen right through her. Just how much did he know? Did he know of what she was going to ask? She stood there thinking a bit until she was interrupted by him waving his hand in front of her eyes. “Hello? Are you alright there?”, he asked. The gesture would’ve been one that would’ve bothered her if he was being deliberately mocking her due to her blindness but due to the fact that she was hiding that fact to the center, he knew he wasn’t doing that.
“S-sorry about that. Yes, I have come to ask something. Was just lost in thought about what to say, that’s all…”, Melody responded.
“Ah, well, don’t be nervous kid. Just say what you mean, do it like you own the place. People respect confidence and if you show some more likely than not you will get what you want. Just a little tip from me, up to you to do with it what you like.”
Melody gave one last gulp of nervousness as she took his words to heart. She then remembered a thing Randael, of a people, had taught her; one of the few lessons she had kept from him despite what he turned out to be. His advice was meant to be used before combat but she applied to everyday life. “Let your anger, your anxiety, your nervousness, let all those emotions that cloud your judgment do their worst. Ten seconds. Give them ten seconds to claim you, to eat your soul. But once that time has past, discard them like tissue paper and focus on the task at hand.”
And so she did. Once more she went silent for ten seconds. The man was about to ask her again if she was alright when Melody began to ask her request. “I am thankful for what you and the center have done for me, I really am. I wish to stay here for a long time if I am permitted; this place is really inviting. But, a little thing has come up; something personal… It is a bit delicate and I need to take care of it… So, I wanted to ask you if I could get a few days off so I can do so. 3 days, tops, and I’ll be back. I have already finished my work for today and if you check my review I have no marks. S-”
Before she could finish her remarks, he answered her. “Granted.”
“What?”, Melody asked, a bit confused at the sudden conclusion.
“Granted. Take a whole week if you need to.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah, no kidding. You said personal stuff right? I get that, we all have a life and I assume yours is still outside of this place. I don’t know your past or really care; that is yours alone. But if you need to take care of something, well, you do what you have to do. Besides, it’s not like we are starving for bullet loaders.”
Melody smiled at his statement. She was about to thank him but then another though crept in and made her smile go away a bit. “W-what’s the catch?”
The man simply smiled. “Smart girl, I like you more already. Yeah, there is a small catch. Like I said, we are not really starving for bullet loaders, what we need is fighters. It’s getting harder to justify those numbers to those I need to report to. So, consider your time off a suspension of sorts. A week long suspension. When you come back, you and I will have a little interview and see if we will still keep you on board or not...among other things. That seem fair? Really the only way I can grant you those days off”
Of course there was a catch, Melody knew it; nothing came for free, especially to her. She was a little disheartened but she did need those days off. There was no choice but to accept. “Alright, I accept…”
The man nodded and closed his clipboard. “Understood. In that case; see you in a week kid. I have to go and do paperwork now. You take care.”
“Thank you… for everything…”
“Don’t mention it. Really, don’t, you’ll kill my reputation.”, the man joked.
“Ugh...w-where am I?” The air felt cold and everything was dark. A numb sensation was felt but it was ignored in favor of figuring out what had happened. It wasn’t until a familiar voice was heard that it all became clear.
“Oh thank god you are awake!”
A little smirk formed upon hearing those words. Weakly she spoke. “Which one? There are so many now…”
“This is not the time for jokes Luna!”
He was right, but Roxanne didn’t care. Humor what was kept her going, her own specific brand of humor anyway; verbal pranks if you will. The numb sensation was quickly registered as her now missing arm. She opened her eyes to find herself in her bed tucked in by her blanket with Rey watching over her sitting in a nearby chair.
“D’awww, you did this for little old me? You really do care~”, Roxanne teased.
“Shut it! I was panicking ok? What the hell was I supposed to tell others if something happened to you?!”, Rey asked half angry, half worried.
“Hey guys, Roxanne did it again. She played with stuff she wasn’t supposed to. Let’s see what unintended consequences we have to deal with now.”
“...That common?”
“You have no idea…”
Roxanne grabbe the blanket with her good hand and pulled it off her. She then sat up and stretched a bit yawning before rubbing one of her eyes. The way she nonchalantly did this as if she was waking up from a nap was what was bothering Rey the most, not that she cared. Then she went ahead and looked at her “wounded” arm. It had been neatly bandaged as if to stop bleeding; all it needed was a tourniquet and it would look like a first at job. “Bandages? Seriously Rey? It’s not like I am going to bleed out. I am waaaaay past that point.”
“Panic, remember? I did the first thing that came to mind, give me a break.”
With a playful roll of her eyes and a smile, she started to undo the bandages slowly. “Did it at least work?”
“What?”
“The ritual, did it work? Are you not gonna die on me yet?”
“Yeah, it did. It feed me enough to grant me about 3 more days, 2 if I use my abilities. It would’ve been four but you did bit me pretty hard on the shoulder...that took some energy to regen…”
Roxanne looked away a bit embarrassed. “Heh, yeah, sorry about that… force of habit… “
“F-force of habbit? Wh- No, you know what, not even going to ask...”
“Yeah, it’s better if you don’t…”
With that being said and done, she finished undoing the bandages and took a good look at her arm; Rey too looked at the wound intently. The end of the arm still glowed purple and her tattoos still protruded like ribbons. They had been wrapped around her arm to put the bandages on but now that she undid them they resumed their position to dangle as if they were still attached to the arm.
“That is going to heal up, right?”, Rey asked nervously
“Eventually.”, Roxanne responded calmly.
“Eventually?! What kind of response is that?!”
“Christ, lower your volume Rey. I am right here, no need to yell…”
“Sorry, just… please tell me you have a way to fix this…”
“Relax, I do, just, let me do my thing ok?”
“Last time you said that was about an hour ago and you literally chopped your arm off…”
“It’s been an hour? Huh, thought it was longer. Anyways, fiiine, I’ll let you in on it.” Roxanne stood up from the bed and stretched again before going to her drawer to retrieve something. Upon finding it, she turned around and showed Rey a gem while smiling with selfrightouness. “This is a soul crystal, you know what this is?”
Rey stared at the gem dumbfounded. “A-a soul crystal? That is 5 soul shards into one...it has the same properties as a human soul but condensed into a crystal form...y-you have one?”
A simple nod confirmed that he was right. “Yes, a looooong time ago we were dealing with a higher spirit of harvest who started to use soul shards to power himself and other things. We defeat him and cease the shards. This is the last one that remains, 5 shards combined into a crystal. This is the purest form of spiritual energy there is. You could get so much essence from it, it’s packed with energy… so, if I consume this like so…”
Roxanne held the crystal in the palm of her hand and then made a fist. Suddenly her tattoos started to glow purple and from her arm wound the purple glow inside her arm extended out and formed the shape of her arm and hand. The tattoos wrapped around it as it formed the shape and outline and then it materialized as her hand should be. Her hand was completely restored. The process took but a minute to which Roxanne smiled all the way through and Rey stared at in awe. Once the arm reformed, she moved it gently and slapped at it a couple times to confirmed it “worked”. She then extended it to Rey as if showing it off. “With this I can accelerate any of my process to an absurd degree. This would’ve taken about a week to heal, but with it it took only a minute.”
Silence permeated the room after that. Rey looked at Roxanne in disbelief and she reveled in that with triumphant glee. However, he wasn’t in that state for the reasons she expected.
“S-so… let me get this straight… You chopped off your arm to feed it to me… knowing you would regenerate it...then used, of all things, a soul crystal to accelerate the process… is that right?”, Rey asked slowly.
“Yup, really smart right?”
Rey tried to utter something but he only ended up stumbling his words. Eventually he gave a deep sigh and facepalmed. “This is so fucking stupid…”
Roxanne was no confused at that reaction. “W-what do you mean?”
He looked up at Roxanne, an expression of slight disappointment and annoyance. “Roxanne… I could’ve consume that crystal and not have to feed for a whole month… that was the equivalent of a human soul… not only did you make the process much complicated that it needed to be...doing something incredibly dumb… it ended up being that much more inefficient…”
Silence once more, this time it was Roxanne who looked on perplexed. Her previous aura of pride vanished. “O-oh… is that so… You can feed off that?”
“Yes, Roxanne, I can… Alternate fuel sources, that’s what that means…”
“Well, how was I supposed to know that?!”, Roxanne asked now suddenly angry herself.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe communicating your intentions out loud instead of avoiding questions like you know better! You don’t know everything Roxanne and people who do are just trying to help. If you had let me in on what you had planned I would’ve told you all about the crystal from the beginning. But how the hell was I supposed to know you had one if you didn’t answer my question about what you had planned?”
For the third time if a short span of time, more silence. Roxanne reflected at what he said. Is this what Hector and the others were trying to get at? Is this why they were annoyed at her “secrecy”? Maybe he, an to extension the others, was right; maybe she did need to listen and share her intentions more. It was a mute point now but would keep it in mind for later. “Yeah, guess you are right… Sorry for not trusting you then… I thought you were going to simply shut down my idea without rebuttal like many always do…”
“Well, if you explain yourself, maybe they wouldn’t. But sometime they need to shut it down, for your own good. We are just trying to help. Like you are trying to help me.”
Roxanne smiled, he nodded quietly and turned around to look at her drawer again only to close it and sigh. “You know what, I am way too over my head for this… I can only promise to take you on hunts but for emergency measures maybe we should see an expert…”
What Roxanne said surprised him. She wasn’t once to give up and seek the help of others that easily. Still, it was a welcomed change for him. “An expert? What do you have in mind?”, Rey asked.
“The Flames of Arcana...”, Roxanne answered.
“Helen and Victor?”
She nodded. “Yes. He specialist in spirits, souls and whatnot while she is an expert in applying arcan practices safely and warding against unwanted things… I am neither… so I assume it would be best to seek them out...”
“I see… so you are saying they could help in other ways than just feeding then… Well, I trust you even if I don’t know about them. Wouldn’t hurt to give that a try.”
“Yeah, they too are just trying to help. I am sure they can offer something to us. Besides, you and I could focus on the hunt. To satiate our desires…”
Rey looked at her confused and slightly concerned. “Ours?”
“Sure, I am Assimilation now remember? My primal instincts urge me to feed as well, to harvest… so when we are on the hunt, maybe I could indulge myself as well…”
He grinned upon hearing that. “Just like the old days right? Only this time more is at stake…”
She smiled back. “Yes, just like the old days… just you and me and our respective victims… those days were cut to short… time to make up for lost time don’t you think?”
“Maybe… just maybe… a lot of things have changed since they but the principle is still there. The goal should be to minimize the need to even go on hunts anymore. But when we do we might as well enjoy them... By the way, didn’t you say you were done fighting.”
“Bah, never said I wasn’t a hypocrite… Besides, I am doing to to help a friend. It’s not like we are doing this just for the hell of it like we did all those years back. There is a purpose this time. And sometimes some people have to die for the greater good.”
“Heh, that I can get behind…”
But suddenly Roxanne grabs Rey from his collar and pulls him towards her; their foreheads meet and her expression as stoic and serious as can be. “That being said… No matter how desperate you get… If I find out you hurt anyone around here… not only will I stop helping you but I will hunt you down like I was supposed to all those years back… That is the once condition for going on this hunts with you… leave the people here alone”
Rey was somewhat shocked from the sudden change in attitude from Roxanne. The scene would’ve been comical; a 5’8” woman pulling a 6’2” man towards her by the grasp of his shirt’s collar. Weren’t for the tone of everything that had happened now, even he would’ve find it funny. “Didn’t plan to… I am sure you would be the only one after me if I did anything of the sort…”
Roxanne let go of him and step back. “Good, nice to see you are using your head...and yeah, the hypocrisy in that doesn’t escape me…”
Before Rey could make a retort, there was a sudden knock on the door; the only sound “programmed” to go through the sound spell. Rey and Roxanne looked at each other before she gestured him to open up the door. He nodded and went to do so. Upon opening the door, he found Melody on the other side. She looked a bit nervous and was now wearing her blindfold to suppress her aura spell and filter the sensations it caused. Upon sensing Rey she jumped a bit.
“Melody right? What brings you here?”, asked Rey.
“Uhhh… I-I could ask you the same thing… w-what are you doing in miss Roxanne’s room? She has a boyfriend you know?”, Melody responded.
At that Rey looked at Melody surprised and then started laughing heavily to Melody’s annoyance. Roxanne then went and checked on the commotion. “Oh, Melody it’s you. What a surprise.”
The presence of Roxanne unnerved her more as the Roxanne reacted to Despair and as her wielder Melody felt that. Still, Despair said she needed to talk to Roxanne and her she was. All that time spent trying to hide from her wasted, the warning from “dream ghost” ignored. Melody stood there as Roxanne and a now calmed down Rey looked at her patiently. Finally she spoke. “H-hey there Roxanne, Roxanne’s friend.”
“Name is Rey. Nice meeting you.”
“R-right… nice meeting you too. Sorry if I am interrupting something...”
“Nah, we are already done. It only took like an hour anyways, quite interesting experience. The logi-”, Roxanne started to respond before being interrupted by Melody, something she found surprising.
“N-never mind that… N-not my business anyways… Besides, I have to talk to you about something urgent… Maybe I come in?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on December 15, 2018, 01:51:24 am
(( Branches section written with Salt. ))
Helen gave a little sigh as she regarded Branches with concern. "So. First and foremost. What do you recall of recent events? You don't seem to even realize what has passed, nor the fact you died." she pointed out, still taking care to keep the homunculus held up.
Branches hung limp between the two women, wanting to escape but unable to muster up enough strength to give even the weakest struggle. She'd put everything into the attempted escape and could have done it too, if it hadn't been for Illiana's sudden appearance. Helen's mask had been far from her mind of course. Branches didn't answer Helen's questions until they got back to the clearing by the lake and the he was laid out safely on a roughly made wooden bench. From the looks of the thing, Helen could guess that she'd probably split the log by hand.
"Recent?" Branches puffed nervously, "How recent? I remember sitting here by the lake and shaping this new body and then wouldn't you know it, all this little dirt people started bringing me things and-"
"Sweety, you are not Scheherazade and we don't have one thousand and one nights for silly stories. I swear, she isn't going to kill you so please just tell the truth? I don't want to have to issue you a court summons, it would invalidate your own credentials." Illiana scolded, "She wants to know what you can remember from before you found yourself buried here a few days ago."
"O-oh. Well... I went to that place full of people to try and find Illiana... And along the way... I think I remember a book? And a cloud? Maybe an old guy from across the lake. And a... A red cloud? I don't really remember." Branches thought aloud. She grasped at her throat, an oddly symbolic gesture that made Helen think of the homunculus swinging by a rope around it's neck, but Branches was no "hanged man" and the gesture was no more than her way of trying to remember. "Will you really not? Kill me?"
"I don't know about that girly," Steinar put in, cradling his cup. Meanwhile, the two men who'd arrived first groaned loudly, one of them with a mouth full of dirt.
Helen sighed a bit at all this, looking back to Steinar, who was simply smiling after having retrieved the items stolen from him. "So. You remember some of the events that happened. And to be honest, no I'm not going to kill you. I'd already decided against doing so before your apparent death made it seemingly a moot point." Helen explained.
Steinar shook his head a bit, regarding the homunculus with a bit of suspicion. "Wasn't expecting her to have trouble staying dead, when even normal people find that a daunting task these days?" he joked, to which the mage hunter grumbled a bit. "This is actually the first time I've witnessed a homunculus not disenchant on being slain. Then again she's also the first one I've ever heard of to end up being a thinking being with free will." she pointed out. In her experience, even the rogue homunculi she'd encountered had generally been acting out of the very basic programming worked into their being, or just as often possessed by outside influence.
She then turned her attention back to Branches. "As for what happened, there was a murder at the center, and you ended up as the prime suspect until the actual culprit was uncovered. She was a dangerous arcanist, and ended up striking you down during the fighting."
"That's because Branches wasn't made like a normal Homunculus and even then, most of the time people feed their little creation before naming it." Illiana explained. Helen crossed her arms and waited for Branches to react to what she'd just been told. The mechanic of creation and the consequences for breaking the rules were well known to most mage hunters as well as any experienced alchemist. She supposed it was fortunate Branches hadn't been fed. The resulting monstrosity would have been difficult to deal with.
"I didn't kill nobody..." Branches groaned. Helen sighed, this song and dance again. She didn't really have time for it, and neither did Branches for that matter.
"That's what she said sweetie. Why don't you take your fingers out of your ears and listen to the scary mage hunter?" Illiana suggested. Branches tried to roll over and groaned. The groan turned into an irritable rumble when Illiana grabbed her by the shoulder and stopped her. Helen waited patiently, watching the interaction with the feeling of someone watching a parent try and fail to manage their child. Furthermore, Illiana knew that Helen felt that way and for all of her omnipotence and power, it embarrassed the hell out of her because it was sort of true. "C'mon now, I gave you very specific instructions sweetie and while I'm glad you chose what you wanted to be and have gone on doing all sorts of things for yourself, you've gotta follow through on that last little thing. You can't afford to be afraid of Ms. McKinnon anymore."
"I don't wanna..." Branches grumbled. That irked Illiana like any parent hearing their child saying no to them and more. She shot Helen a quick glance, taking in the smirk hidden behind the mask and the much less hidden wide grin on Steinar's mug. Branches had crossed her arms and taken the prone stance of an indignant teen. "Nope, not gonna-"
Helen was just a little too late activating her masks noise dampening effects when the shout came. Steinar unfortunately had no such luxury and was knocked backwards off his seat before throwing his hands over his ears. The bandits unfortunately, were totally deafened.
"BRANCHES D'EVA-D'HORIS, I BROUGHT YOU INTO THIS WORLD AND HELEN SURE AS HELL CAN TAKE YOU OUT OF IT! NOW ASK HER IF YOU CAN JOIN HER CLASS THIS INSTANT OR BY THE OUTER GODS, I WILL BANISH YOU TO THE REALM OF MENIAL LABOR WHERE YOU'LL FILE TAX RETURNS FOR THE REST OF YOUR EXISTENCE!"
Helen gave a little wince, still momentarily shocked and stunned by the sheer volume that Illiana so abruptly displayed, such that as the wards of her mask finally eased the ringing in her ears, she heard the radio piping up. "Sister McKinnon? We heard more gunfire and now what sounded like something shouting into a megaphone..."
Helen grumbled a bit, recognizing Solomon's voice through the handset, grabbing it to answer while still doing her best to keep Branches held up just in case. "We have things under control, just a local spirit and her toddler, plus two bandits we've already subdued." she said, before turning back to look at Branches expectantly.
"Well then? I'm not here to hurt you. And gods know Illiana seems to have enough to deal with, it seems. Plenty of people to hand out frivolous citations to." she said jokingly, though she knew full well that the entire cause of Branches' creation was one of the prime examples of an intervention that was well-warranted.
Either she was ignoring them, or Branches ears were more sensitive than Helen had given her credit for. Instead of slumping into Helen's arms, Branches was now tense and jittery as though jolted. If the homunculus got her feet under her, Helen realized, it would be trivial to start the chase all over again.
"OOOOOW. WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?" Branches shouted, clearly compensating for her blasted hearing, "SHE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A CLASS SCHOOL THING, WHY CAN'T I JUST WAIT AND-"
"And hope I forget? Sit around and play with your new boobs? You want to be your own person sweetie, but you don't want to take on the responsibilities of being a person. You're young and chaotic, you know the rules but not the ways. Knowing the rules is all fine and good, but they don't mean anything if you don't practice them. Look at your current situation sweetie. you've got all the magical talent and aptitude an instructor could ever want, but look. You could have been killed, and not by Helen. Do you even know who these men are?" Illiana scolded.
Branches managed to stand on her own while Illiana spoke her piece and now stood unassisted, drawing circles in the grass with her foot. Illiana's special influence ensured Branches could at least hear her above the ringing no doubt sounding it's solitary note in her ears.
They sat side by side on Branches simple bench, Illiana doing most of the talking until her hearing had returned. At some point, the talk turned private, and the two shifted into using a language that sounded nonsensical, having no similarities to any language Helen knew. Or even to one another. Branches sounded high and flighty, like chirping birds, while Illiana's version sounded oddly blocky and rough. The talk went on awhile, and so Helen decided she didn't want to be on the outside of it anymore.
"You know, I do already teach some people over at The Hall." She mentioned. To her surprise, her little interruption didn't seem to put them off or even surprise them at all.
"That isn't what she's talking about..." Branches said simply.
Helen regarded Branches with concern as she said that, before looking back to Iliana. "Then what is it you wish for me to teach her? I've been trying to ensure the others don't go burning down The Hall or getting into trouble with magic, but..."
It was then that Steinar spoke up, having removed his helmet for a bit, seemingly as though trying to dislodge the ringing in his ears, or simply to get comfortable during a moment of respite. "I'm sure a magical creature that's already gotten herself slain once has learned half your intended lesson the hard way." he pointed out, before looking Branches in the eye.
"She wants you teaching the girl how to actually handle all the things a person learns during their life, isn't it? The small stuff you don't just crawl out of the ground instinctively knowing." he suggested, before glancing back at Illiana.
"Exactly!" Illiana said, popping up in a manner that should have been next to impossible in her current professional business attire, "My Homunculus is smarter than your average Homunculus in every way. Smarter, faster, stronger better!" She gave Branches a long glance. She had done a perfectly acceptable job shaping herself. From one eyed child to a somewhat slight of frame one eyed young lady. Helen may have missed the little glimmer of pride in Illiana's bespectacled eyes, but Steinar didn't.
"Sure'n any parent thinks their spawn'r better'n anyone else's." He said, putting on an old fashioned sort of accent. Illiana gave him a glare that would have withered grass had she decided to, before shifting her attention back to the Homunculus.
"Er... Well, I suppose you don't have to ask right away..." Illiana said, embarrassed. "But for starters, your going to make amends for what your little toys did. Return everything. Got it?"
Branches nodded solemnly, knowing that the "private" conversation they had just been having would almost certainly come up again. Illiana still had business in this world after all, and Branches needed to be ready to work on her behalf.
Helen hmmed a bit at that, before taking something out of the backpack she had concealed under her cloak. A few small gold and silver tokens, marked with a cross-and-hammer of the Cleansing Flame, along with its material purity and intended weight. The now-quite-uncommon "coins" their armorers regularly carried for field repairs. "First, we should have Branches' golems sort out everything that was stolen, and set aside the items these brigands were seeking to return them. Add these as recompense for what's happened." she said, Steinar giving Helen a wary look as he took the small tokens, before the group headed back to sort things out...
"So...I've been lapse in my duties. Throwing away my old life in favor of living in exile. Believing our mission was a failure..." the hermit said, regarding Horace. "But it seems there is still hope. I have something for you, meager though it is." he said, retrieving a small pouch of some stranger creature's leather. From it, among sundry old items and dried herbs, he retrieved a dagger.
Or at least, it used to be. Whatever leather or wood had once covered the tag had long since crumbled and sloughed off, and the blade had at some point shattered into pieces. But what remained of it still showed the familiar engraved runes, matching the otherworldly script of Horace's axe. "This can no longer fulfill its purpose. But so long as one of his gifts remain, it isn't useless yet."
"Right." Horace remarked, accepting the broken dagger, seemingly dismissive of it at first. But there was a faint glimmer of magic left in it, wisps of essence seeming to flow through it and drift through the plates of his armor, conducting through him to flow into the axe he grasped in his other hand.
"So, you're here for more than handing out an old artifact, aren't you?" Horace asked, and the old man gave a sigh. "Indeed. To see that someone had taken up one of the sacred relics with my own eyes as another, not to mention ensuring you're suitable for the task. Though it seems you've proven yourself already." he admitted. "However, there is something I'd like to ask of you."
"Figures. Go on." the knight said gruffly, and the old man procured an odd necklace, simple leather cord and a small talisman carved from bone. "I'm not going to be around forever. The village you passed through along the way has come to depend on the fact that this area is a place of refuge. Without my magic, when I pass, the creatures that haunt this part of the mountain will be freed from my control. And that would mean disaster for them." He held out the amulet, Horace accepting it warily.
"I ask that you venture farther up the mountain, to lay this amulet upon the stones of its peak. It will serve as the binding force for my final preparations, so that what I've done here will remain even after my death." he explained, Horace regarding the man with concern. "This seems like a rather plain request to ask a stranger to do. Too hard on the knees?" he said, the old man grumbling a little. "Where did you get this one..." he muttered.
The presence around them seemed to regard their discussion with amusement, knowing full well one of the reasons behind this request. He had, after all, made a point of saying that even a rogue priest sworn under his oath could not escape being reclaimed, not even Astor could deny what was due. The hermit had lapsed in his duties, and hoped to linger. Not merely to watch over the village, but to escape what might be due to him. If his master would permit it.
The shift in the aura permeating the area sent a clear message, and Horace stood, turning towards the path leading farther up the mountain. Whether for what Horace might find at the peak, for the hermit's sake, for the good of the village, or for his own peculiar plans, it was a request the watcher would grant.
The tank roared ahead, turret sweeping unsteadily across the surrounding treeline, following the path towards smoke in the distance. Inside the vehicle the chatter was frantic, a young woman wracked with worry at the main gun, a short fellow in the commander's hatch trying to relay the very basics of operating the turret just in case, and a knight in the driver's position, quietly scanning camera displays as he operated levers to maneuver the tank.
"Got it, I...Jesus, place is lit up on thermal, let me-" Hector finally spoke up, only for Alice to interrupt. "Who's left? Do you see him?" she asked, Nathaniel checking his own displays. "Show's over, I got a lot of cooling bodies in the treeline and some smoldering ruins. Bar looks like it's still up at least. Fuck me, this whole time I'd been meaning to visit that place..." the commander muttered.
It was then however they saw movement, a figure that was still readily apparent on the old thermal imaging, and a mere flick of the switch revealed the shine of armor on the man staggering to stand. "Stop the tank! There he is!"
Over Nathaniel's attempts to warn Alice that there might still be someone out there, the tank came to a halt just before what was once a humble dirt lot for the bar, the woman popping open the hatch and climbing out, leaping off in a frantic pace. Her rifle was unslung and shouldered before she hit the ground, and Hector was out of the rear hatch and close behind a few seconds later.
It was to their utter relief that he was battered and stunned, yet seemingly not seriously injured, the two helping him up, to fall back behind the tank while Nathaniel carefully scanned the treeline at the M2 his hatch had come into possession of.
Isaac had little to say, pale and sullen in expression, seemingly numbed by something even as he found himself assuring his daughter that he was fine, which soon gave way to his own worry and exasperation over her decision to follow after him, on the way back...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on December 26, 2018, 12:45:53 am
Helen picked through the neatly piled belongings, picking out the property of the halls residents while also confiscating other items of interest she didn't recognize. A silver athame, a jar of essence, and a pair of purple stones that anyone would have mistaken for fist sized amethyst pyramid carvings, but were actually a relatively common variety of ioun stone. The variety could hide the user from undead attention and Helen had to wonder if they would work on the modern sort of undead. If so, they would be truly powerful artifacts given the abundance of the living dead in these latter days.
Meanwhile, Branches sorted through the clothes and tossed any that seemed worn out or outright damaged onto a messy pile. Moving to one neat stack, she picked up a large black bra trimmed with a simple decorative lace, and judged it carefully. It was in good condition, and it wasn't Helens, which meant it either came from the bandits or the farm.
"It's Roxanne's." Helen said simply, then explained "too big for me or anyone else on the farm, too small for Lilith, and it's style is all Roxanne." With that, it went onto the pile with a few of Roxanne's other clothes. A lot of elegant dresses and dark colors. Branches picked through the pile a bit more and came up with a pile of underthings, shirts, and skirts. Helen had input for these as well. "Mica's. Anything that's not silk is probably her sisters. Mica can only wear silk, and Catnip can't stand the feel of it on her fur." Branches went to yet another stack, holding up each article in turn. "That one is mine, but I've never worn it. That cloak is Victor's, the jacket is Hector's, not that he ever wears it. Hm, some of this is too generic to put to any one person. You could probably hand it all over to the center, the stuff we can't put to an owner..."
As they went over and sorted the clothing, the little automatons took it away and stacked it neatly in the back of a cart. Also, as they worked through it, Helen realized something; there was an awful lot of underwear in the swiped stacks. An unreasonably high fraction of the clothing in fact, was women's underwear.
"What's with all the panties?" Branches asked, noticing the disparity herself. Steinar raised an eyebrow and surveyed the scene. Yes, with most of the regular clothing loaded into a cart, what was left to sort was an inordinate amount of underwear. Helen was perplexed for only a moment until she remembered the events over the last year. Then, she laughed.
"Mica's panty raid." She said, "The silly thing took off to the destroyed city east of here and brought back a truck load of ladies wear and a a big bag of relics." The cleanup after the results of Mica's playing around with a certain hatchet had been particularly messy, but not horribly destructive unless one counted the destruction of the barn, which Helen supposed she did. Branches was already sorting through it all without much interest. Neatly stacking or folding any of it was a fools errand, so the Homunculus simply picked up handfuls of underthings and tossed them into bags Steinar had retrieved from the hall. With the clothing sorted, they began on everything else. The stuff Helen hadn't confiscated of course. A bench, a chair, a small private libraries worth of books. Helen even let Branches hang on to some of the more mundane texts on history or more benign fields of magic. There was also food. Stuff in jars and cans, dried stuff, powders, bottles of various fluids ranging from water to oil to what seemed to be very tart but very fresh juice. For all of the trouble they'd made, the theiving automatons had picked up plenty that would keep their master well fed and comfortable.
"Ok, let's try this again." Helen said, bringing out the coins again. She had taken them out earlier to try and bargain with the two bandits, to make repairations for the trouble caused by the Homunculus. Unfortunately, at the time, Steinar had been less than successful at dealing with the two. He'd done a fine enough job trying to reason with the men but reasoning really was beyond them. What with one of them being either too stupid or too belligerent and the other with his mouth stuffed with dirt and out like a light.
"You wanna deal," the one without dirt in his mouth spat, "you can deal direct with Yellow Jacket. She'll deal, oh fuck yeah, she'll deal."
Just like with Steinar. Helen had no clue who this "Yellow Jacket" was as did Steinar and Branches. When questioned, the only answer the mage hunter could get out of them was "you'll see" and other likewise vaguely threatening proclaimations. She had other, better things, to do than assist in the sorting while standing around being unconvincingly menaced by tied up bandits, but Illiana had vanished into her own navel and the golems weren't very good at distinguishing the differences in ownership or quality when it came to sorting.
"I suppose we will." She thought before turning to Steinar, drinking slowly from his best cup. "Make sure most of this gets back to it's owners, like I said before, but ask around. Maybe someone over at the f- Walkerville has heard something." Jenny dropped off her cargo of mushrooms at the kitchen to the thanks of a greatfull french woman and a somewhat more leery chef before making her way around to where she'd been told the new "expansion planning" office was. There she found Communications officer Khaki arguing with a stern faced man and his bubbly assistant while a tall straight faced mouse woman looked on in amusement.
"You have to give me something!" Khaki barked, "Without the antenna, we can't raise Dirtnap, Tinkertown, or any of the scavenging crews in the dead zones! Dirtnap and Tinkertown can take care of themselves for awhile, but without that antenna we can't get any logistics to the scavenging crews and they are flying blind out there. What if we have to recall them or if they get in a jam? Oh, hey Atomos. Er, wait, it's Jenny now isn't it?"
The man looked over, but only long enough to get a look at who Khaki was talking to, and his assistant offered Jenny a seat just next to the door, an apology, and a cookie. She waved off the apology, took the seat, and was helpless to keep herself from rudely snatching and scarfing the cookie.
"Sorry..." Jenny mumbled through a mouthful of raisens and sugar. The assistant skipped away nervously. For a moment, she thought the ranger had growled at her. Khaki spared her one more long glance before returning to the matter at hand.
"Anyways, I need that antenna. It's vital that we have it." She resumed.
"And I'll say it again," said the exhasperated man, "We. Don't. Have. It. The radio equipment available isnt suitable and even if it was, the storm knocked out some of the existing towers. The only one with the kind of antenna you're hassling us for is owned by that Hoyt bastard up north."
Jenny's ears perked a little. "Hoyt?"
"Yeah, junky drug dealing ass hole moved into some ranch or something about a year ago and has been strangling the local economy and pumping out drugs ever since. He's only now started to be a real problem for the center though..." Khaki explained, the swivel under her chair squeeling horrendously when her weight shifted, "One of his guys sometimes gets the idea to use their relay to transmit shitty gachi music over the centers intercom."
Jenny stayed silent and conferred with Cheena. It felt wrong to ask for anything else with an important thing like the centers comma antenna out of commission and with no replacement to be had except in the hands of a man that they hadn't met, but already didn't like. Khaki and the man discussed setting an alternative system up, satalite radios or a kind of HAM setup. They would work fine, but not as well as the old system. It would be worrying, and the frequency could be easily monitored. Khaki eventually left, somewhat satisfied with the propositions but still deeply worried.
"I'm getting the feeling I should do something about that..." Jenny thought before listening in on the next conversation. Something about a casino. Commercial construction details, all very boring. Cheena sorted through Jenny's thoughts and memories, and came back a little confused but better educated all the same. It was very strange. That sensation, like fingers sifting through her mind as though it was a bin filled with beans, was beyond strange. Not unbearable though. If anything it was sort of pleasant. She fidgeted a little and leaned back. Talk and planning, still boring, but it gave Cheena something to focus on. Youthful and curious, Jenny liked that. It was the impulsiveness that was going to take some getting used to. It had been a day since finally settling back in, but it had already proven incredibly difficult to control her urges with Cheena's influence.
The assistant tentatively offered Jenny another cookie and this time, she was more civilized about how she took it. Cheena it seemed had decided that she didn't like raisens.
"Okay, so that's all settled then. We'll have the materials requisitioned as soon as a location has been staked out and an agreement for payment can be reached." The man said, sliding what one could safely assume to be requisitions to the rodent lady. "It's good to have transitioned into basically the same job I had before, innit L?"
"Whatever you say Chuck, as long as everybody is doing something right? The uh, special accommodations I asked for are in these plans yeah?"
"Yeah. It's all there."
"Good. Be seeing you guys." L finished before seeing herself out. Jenny had to restrain an urge to go after the woman's sleek silky tail. It looked very enticing as something to chase after. Instead she moved over to the recently vacated chair across from "Chuck" and made her request.
"Well, first off, I'm afraid it's not as simple as striding in and just requesting stuff be built for you." He explained after Jenny had finished, "You'll need the right forms, which we've got plenty of, and a bit of capital. With that said though, I'm more than happy to waive the payment stuff, but even then you've got another issue."
"Oh?" Jenny said, a little taken aback by the thought that her little project required so much in the way of bureaucracy. "It's just a tiny little building, no more than ten by twenty or so. Ten by ten even."
"No see, that's the problem. The issue is planning. All the buildings and stuff are already planned out, construction starts in earnest here next spring, but there's no room on the street plan for a structure that small." He told her. Street plan. A structure that small. Planning. Jenny was suddenly very on edge, she didn't like the sound of any of that. None of it was bad, of course not. In fact, a return to civilization on a small scale would be more than welcome. It was all happening too fast though. Too quick, too steady. "Fortunately for the Mislings, Doctor Marsh has got a fertility treatment in the works. Lucky for us as well since that means things won't be so chaotic for awhile. Construction can go slow, in other words, we can take our time. If your project were bigger, we could squeeze it onto the plan."
Jenny had a think about it. She wasn't for any kind of spa treatment, she didn't want to built an outright bathhouse. She just wanted someplace nice she could go and sit in the steam for a bit. Maybe a good place for... She hit on an idea.
"How about a lodge?" She asked, "For my rangers?" Daniel put the finishing touches on the trip hammer he and his wife had spent the day on. He doing the heavy lifting, physical and arcane, and she doing the light work. Namely, making tea and mixing reagents.
"And this is real Otto of rose?" Daniel asked, holding up a tiny crystal flask containing a light pinkish oil.
"Yes sweetest, the last I had. Condensed it myself before we left Algol. You know, I haven't seen a rose since?" Sylvia said. Daniel took the flowery fluid and poured it into a bag, tossing it gently to thoroughly mix the contents before carefully spreading them over the anvil stone. "What is it about this rock that's got you and Helen all worked up love?"
"You should remember ma'am, your engine ran on a stone like this."
"Oh? It's the same? Seems a shame to destroy it."
"It must be done my dear, it's damaged and it's leaking entropy into the atmosphere."
"Whatever you say love, torch?"
"Torch."
Sylvia withdrew an acetalyne torch from the collection of tools and materials she and Daniel had hauled to the crossroad where the arcane trip hammer was to be assembled and handed it over. It was used to fuse the silver spread over the anvil surface and finish off the project.
"Lovely day for it." Daniel said, and it was. The sky was blue, the few clouds racing through the sky, a gentle breeze. Just the sort of pleasant weather Daniel wanted for this. It needed to be as nice as possible. "Perfect even. Alright, where'd we leave the bag? Ah, there we are. Just leave it in Syl, the bag won't be much worse for wear after." He hefted the bag, it's obvious slab shaped cargo putting stress on it where it's corners pushed the leather outward, and placed it on the newly annointed trip hammer. With that done, Daniel set the hammer going, and fled to a safe distance with Sylvia in close pursuit.
"So what next Dan?" Sylvia asked, snaking her hand into his. She'd never seen Daniel doing more than fighting as part of his duties. That and a little investigating. When he'd finally confronted her in the sparse counsel room of the sanguine order in Algol. The shadowy figure slipping in through the window, eyes glowing with the distinct light of hard magic, had intrigued her even while frightening her. She hadn't known then what a mage hunter was and it would be until later that she would learn more.
"We get lunch and wait. Generally, no one is going to bother a machine in operation if it looks dangerous. Trust me darling, it's going to look dangerous. We can watch from the roof while we eat." He told her, allowing his hand to be snaked into. Behind them, the trip hammer made it's first descending blow. The hammer dropped and the leather bag did little to muffle the "chk" of of stone on stone. As it went through it's operation, the bag began to look worse for wear. More obvious was the death of the grass, the cracking and degradation of the concrete and asphalt, the rusting of the signs nearby, and the general appearance of great age overtaking the intersection while leaving the trip hammer itself utterly untouched. By the end of the day, the time slab would be reduced to nothing more than a fine grit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on December 28, 2018, 01:25:22 pm
Foster adjusted his trench coat as he walked down the road. If he were honest this wasn’t exactly his style but given the fact it was raining it was better than nothing. Still he could do with something a bit more comfortable than the bullet proof vest and trench coat.
That was if he lived long enough to actually look. At the moment he found himself staring at a couple of people holding a woman hostage. The man holding a gun to her head had said something about paying them or he’d kill the woman. This simply resulted in a sigh from Foster as he stared at the man for a moment before continuing to walk away. The man stared at the back of Foster’s head for a moment before asking “Wait so you’s just gonna walk away? Not even try ‘n help this lady?”
Foster shrugged in response as he continued walking. He didn’t need to explain that he had nothing of real value to give them. Nor did he care to explain that he’d seen their little charade before and knew the woman was with them. So he kept walking as the trio stared after him and wondered what the fuck was wrong with him.
It must have been a few hours later when he found himself walking along an abandoned highway. Cars still littered the place along with more than a few gruesome scenes. One of which made Foster stop for a moment. Sitting on the hood of the car in question he stared at the trio of dead bodies before deciding to use some of his magic.
Faint outlines of what had once been actual people formed around the skeletons as his magic replayed the last moments of their lives. From what he could gather the car had died, and he wished he could hear whatever it was they were saying, but he could tell one of the outlines had pulled a gun.A few seconds of arguing and then swift action left the form in the drivers seat alone.
Foster pushed off the car and started walking away. If what he’d already seen didn’t provoke a response watching the form shoot itself in the head wouldn’t. Though he did have to admit the fact he’d shoot his wife and kid before himself was somehow admirable.
Lighting a cigarette as he walked Foster took a drag and kept walking. He wasn’t sure why he smoked if he were honest with himself. Probably just another thing he’d gotten from working in a cubicle farm while he tried to puzzle himself out.
A few days later TJ found himself running yet again. The trio of voices that were shouting at him didn’t exactly make him want to stop either as he darted around the corner of a building and caught sight of some zombies. That seemed to be his best escape plan he figured as he started sprinting towards the mob of undead.
A handful of the zombies peeled off from the group at a sprint and ran past TJ. Pushing into the mob he ignored the frightened screams of the three people that had been chasing him. Better not to focus on it he thought as he pushed his way through the zombies.
He’d made it past the mob and had turned the corner onto the nearby highway when he heard an unfamiliar voice call after him “Nice trick there, running through those zombies like that. How’d you do it?”
TJ stared at Foster as the man sat on the hood of an old car and smoked a cigarette. He was half tempted to keep running but something about the man made him stop. He was about to say something when Foster hopped off the car and said “Eh, probably some sorta magic. Question is, why’s a little punk like you on his own?”
TJ shrugged at that. He didn’t really have a reason for him being on his own. He could have stayed at home, but that would have come with other..problems. So he said “Don’t really have anyone to go to.”
Now Foster could tell this wasn’t a normal kid just like TJ could tell there was something odd about him.So he stared at the kid that could see through the bandages wrapped around his head and covering his eyes for a moment before shrugging. Starting to walk he said “Well I ‘spose neither of us have anyone or anywhere to go to. May as well walk together.”
TJ stared at Foster for a moment before deciding to follow the man. If Foster had meant him harm then he likely wouldn’t have bothered to talk to him. If he meant him harm anyway..well TJ did know some magic of his own even if he hadn’t demonstrated it yet. But for now the two walked in silence save for the occasional sound of nature as it creeped back into what had been civilization.
It was only after about a half hour that Foster looked over at TJ in the morning rain and slid off the trench coat. Putting it over TJ’s shoulders he shrugged at the puzzled look. “Ya just looked cold is all.”
After a moment TJ pulled the coat on properly, the tail end of it dipping into the water that had collected on the surface of the road. He also took stock of the pistol tucked into the front of Foster’s pants as he said “Thanks.”
Present day
Foster inspected the jar of preserved meat that a trader had given him as he contemplated just what he was going to do today. He was still cold, what with not having a jacket and it being the early morning, and he and TJ would need some more food than a couple of jars of preserved meat. So..his choices were to find somewhere to trade the few goods he had, namely some older jewelry and a few pieces of tech that he’d found out was somewhat hard to come by, or find someone to rob.
The second option wasn’t one that he particularly liked. Well it wasn’t that he didn’t like it, more that he just understood it wasn’t something that was okay. But if he brought TJ with him to a settlement he’d probably have the usual questions to answer, chief among them being why TJ was covered in bandages. It hadn’t been uncommon for him to have to ward off curious folk who tried to pull them off. And TJ didn’t really like big crowds either..
Picking up the pistol that he’d set on the ground Foster stood up and tucked it back into his pants. Taking a few steps he spotted TJ, with the trench coat now tied around his waist, drawing in an old notepad as he looked at a butterfly that had landed nearby. Leaning against a tree he watched.
After a minute TJ stood up and asked “So where to today.Foster.”
Foster started walking as he said “Some place called the Refugee Center. Or the Center, depends on who you ask.”
The two walked in silence as they made their way towards the Center. After three hours of walking Foster noticed TJ getting tired and picked him up. Not long after he was asleep.
Foster wondered about the kid, and he had no doubt that he wasn’t an adult, but respected him enough to let him have his privacy. If Foster had to hazard a guess TJ was sixteen, seventeen at most. Granted his little ‘condition’ made that a bit hard to tell. Hell if Foster was right the kid had only existed for the past eight years, when the world went to shit, when Foster himself got his own magic.
Sighing to himself Foster wished he had a proper lab to test some things. He knew he’d get some answers to some of his questions at the least. But then he doubted he’d get the answer he was looking for.
Soon enough they were nearing the entrance and Foster set TJ down. The pair walked up to the busy entrance and noted the damage. “Alright TJ, I have a few things I need to go get. If you want to go by yourself just be careful and make sure folks know you’re with me. And remember to stay away from medical staff yeah? Last doctor we ran into nearly beat me half to death to try and get those bandages off of ya.”
TJ shrugged but checked to make sure he still had the combat knife Foster had given him. “To be fair that guy was a bit..crazy. Besides with these sunglasses no one should worry too much about my eyes being bandaged over, kinda hard to tell through them after all.”
And with that the two split to go find someone to trade with. Foster was after food and if he could get some info on a place where he could settle down and find some work. Or some place where he could rig himself up a lab. TJ set off to find some clothes since his were somewhat worn and he wanted to get something for Foster. ______________________
Foster had lost sight of TJ in the crowd as they went inside. He knew the kid would be okay, and that he had an uncanny ability to find Foster, but it still wasn’t the best of situations. Regardless Foster made his way into the building and found someone who was trading for food.
After a few minutes of haggling he’d managed to trade for a few days worth of food and some additional bandages. Not quite as much as he’d hoped to get for what he’d had but it would do. It would last long enough for them to find somewhere TJ would be safe.
As far as he could tell there were two places around here that people stayed, this place and somewhere called Walkerville. He needed somewhere he could discreetly build and operate a small scale lab. Somehow, looking at how busy this place seemed, he doubted he’d be able to do so here at the Center. At least not without some kind of oversight by someone else and that wasn’t likely to end well given some of the subject matter he’d be delving into.
So..Walkerville. Of course he’d have to see if he could actually live there, some places didn’t welcome strangers to stay after all, and what kind of place it was. If there was a more authoritative structure he likely wouldn’t be able to sneak around with the kind of technology he’d need. Even then he wouldn’t have the same level of tech he was use to but it would be something. Now where was TJ?
Meanwhile TJ had found a trader that was selling clothes and was willing to work with what TJ had. Thanking the man TJ slid on the dark green hoodie he’d traded for and started looking for Foster to give him the turtleneck sweater and other things he’d gotten. Now to find Foster.
Foster gave TJ a reassuring smile as the pair reunited a few minutes later. Telling TJ about his plan to inspect Walkerville and determine where would be better for the pair to stay he was surprised by TJ producing the sweater. Taking it and tucking it under his arm Foster thanked TJ. “Don’t you want to put it on? I know you hate that shirt.” TJ said as the pair stood there.
Foster looked down at the pink shirt he’d been wearing. He’d stolen it off of a colleague he’d had to kill eight years ago when his own clothes were too torn to wear. It had always been a bit..garish for his taste. With a sigh Foster closed his eyes and removed the sunglasses that had concealed them “Hold these.” he told TJ before removing the shirt.
Being in front of him TJ saw the dozens of scars that Foster had. An educated eye would see the tally marks on his left shoulder and some of the larger ones on his chest and stomach and note they were self inflicted. Others were caused by injuries from his work. On his back were a handful of scars as well, though the only ones of note were six marks from needles. These were concealed after a few seconds by the black turtleneck that Foster slid on.
Keeping his eyes closed Foster asked “My glasses please.” Accepting them as TJ put them in his hand Foster put them on. Once that was done he allowed himself to open his eyes and look around. As he thought a few sets of eyes had drifted over to stare at the two while he had changed his shirt but they quickly went back to whatever it was they had been doing.
From there he accepted the shoulder holster set that TJ had also gotten him. Strapping it on he pulled the old pistol from his belt and slid it into a holster. That was when he noticed a cut in the bandages around TJ’s hand and knelt down. “I told you to be careful TJ.” Foster said as he wrapped over the bandages that were already on TJ’s hand and continued more quietly “We don’t want your ‘condition’ to cause anyone to do something dumb.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 09, 2019, 02:04:44 am
The rodent mutants turned out to be a bit much for Jennifer's hightened olfactory sense, especially with Cheena's influence. It wasn't uncommon to get caught in their little groups loitering and wandering around New Paris and every time without fail, the mixed scent of creatures Cheena considered "prey" would hit her and aggitate the spirit passenger trapped inside her. There wasn't a whole lot she could do about it. She shuffled around, looking for the Captain and was informed that she had gone out to inspect the cleanup of the recent murder in the motorcade. She was glad that whole thing was over at least. Catalina being out and unavailable just meant that Jenny could take her time and put together a proposal. Maybe get someone to help her put together a rough floor plan or something. Also some time to think about the "Hoyt problem."
She had just begun to mull over what she'd learned of the man and his cohorts. Their domination of several "markets" in a time when she felt "markets" were the least of anybodies concerns, oh how little she knew, and how they were dealing narcotics at the center. That last, more than the monopoly on milk and butter, really got to Jenny. Cheena tried to warn her of the person she was about to walk into, but by then Jennifer was already thoroughly rankled and not really paying attention to where she was going or the angst of the other.
"Watch where you're going, don't just stand..." She began. She realized she was about to harangue someone for something that was as far from their fault as possible and changed her tone. "No, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
The "guy" was wrapped up in bandages and that was curious. More curious was that the other guy was wearing sunglasses inside. The one she'd walked into was just a kid really, but the other guy, now he was an adult. A scarred, thoroughly worked over adult.
"Er, you two have been through the wars huh?" Jenny asked, trying to break up the widening silence, "Did you uh, arrive with the rest of the new people?" Branches dragged the last of the goods out to the road and looked back at the now obvious path through the foliage near the rivers bank. She had the feeling that the path would see frequent use and was going to get packed down. Over the course of her chore, Branches had come to the conclusion that Helen wasn't going to kill her, and that perhaps interacting a bit more with the mage hunter would be a good idea. Otherwise, Branches really didn't know what she would do with her time. Read and build golems and experiment, she supposed.
Rather than help out, Helen had gone off back to the hall and left Steinar to keep an eye on how the homunculus got on. What that meant was that he had been drinking a steadily diminishing supply of pilfered posca, and sitting in the cart while Branches pulled it along. The weak sour booze, sweetened with honey, didn't appeal to Branches. It had the same general effect on her nose as it would have had on Mica, revulsion. Of course Branches had never smelled anything stronger and really had no standard for comparison.
"Are you going to help?" Branches said, dropping the handles of the cart. This action caused Steinars cup to slosh over, sousing him with posca. It didn't seem to upset him at all though.
"I am helping." He said, "I'm managing."
"You are a poop." Branches spat. Steinar hopped down unsteadily and hauled the two bandits from the cart.
"Alright," He began, ignoring Branches last childish remark, "Now, we got a bunch o' this stuff here and Ms. Helen wants it returned. What we need to know is where you lot came from so we can bring it back to this 'Yellow Jacket guy?"
The bandits stayed silent and refused to even look at Branches and Steinar. They'd long stopped struggling against their bindings around the same time they'd decided to clam up. Branches and Steinar had discussed, out of ear shot, what they were going to do if the bandits wouldn't talk. Steinar seemed to be in favor of disposing of the bandits and the stuff if they wouldn't help them help themselves. Branches didn't want to kill anybody though, and even if the bandits did talk she didn't really want to give the stuff back. Without Helen around keeping an eye on her, and without Illiana looming over her, Branches didn't particularly care for giving anything back. Not the stuff which she didn't know the owners of. Everything else had to go back. Tools, books, panties. All of it.
"Eh, if'n they won't talk then maybe we should turn em over to Hector or the center?" Steinar mused. That got a bit of a reaction, and Steinar grinned. "Aye, I think one of them will be just the thing. Saves time too, since you can stop by the farm and apologize for the trouble. Eh, little one?" He pushed the two men back into the cart and checked the bindings and straps were secure while Branches prepared for the next leg of hauling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 10, 2019, 12:31:56 pm
(( Solomon section written with Mrno, Helen section written with Wilson. ))
As the four of them made their way back to Walkerville, Alice had been checking on Isaac to make sure that he was unharmed. Certainly bruised and sore it seemed, yet otherwise unharmed. As for why he seemed so shaken, it wasn't until the tank stopped, Hector and Nathaniel stepping out of the rear hatch, that Isaac told Alice the news...
Solomon gave a sigh of relief after the radio chatter had died down, able to set it down at last. Despite the gunshots and distant thunder of Helen's hammer heard earlier, he was confident that she and Steinar had the situation under control. He'd sit down at last if not for one very troublesome thing remaining, nearly knocking him over in a flurry of panicked, trembling feathers.
Solomon struggled to stay standing, taking an uneasy step forward. "Now could you please let go? It's fine..." The offending bird-man chirped shakily, arms and legs wrapped around Solomon's left leg like a little kid. He gave another chirp before spreading his wings out, curling them in and around Solomon's legs, stopping him from taking another step forward unless he wants to fall over.
The avian only tightened his grip on Solomon, talon-tips starting to dig in through his pant legs a bit. Cardin tweets quietly, his wings shaking as he buries his beak against Sol's leg. Solomon gave a little whine, afraid he was going to fall over at that rate, and in fact he very much did, giving a startled yelp. "Ack! C-come on, we're not under attack...nevermind how thick the timbers in this place are anyway." he pointed out, only to grumble at the frightened avian refusing to let go.
Helen began the trip back to The Hall after leaving Steinar to handle Branches, grumbling to herself as she made her way along a different route. One that took her along the main road cutting through the woods east of the bridge, to ensure the area was clear after the disturbance. I swear...incompetent brigands. I fear this isn’t the last we’ll hear of them... she thought. Of course, her thoughts turned to the others at The Hall, and especially Walkerville. Despite the danger, she knew several of them, Hector especially, would relish such a thing.
A tall, slender man wearing a houndstooth patterned sweater stood in front of a easel, with a palette and a brush in hand. He chuckled aloud as he held the brush up to the landscape, with a nearby ruined town. “What a landscape…! A striking image!” The artist said to himself, as he continued with the painting. “Beautiful…” He was lost in his task, making small comments to himself as he painted.
Helen blinked a bit, left stunned by the completely out-of-place sight before her, quickly activating her mask to look around. No one else waiting in ambush, all that became apparent was a peculiar glow of magic of materials stowed away among his arts supplies, yet its nature was hard for her to discern with just a glance. “What in Hel’s name...” she muttered, shaking her head. The artist stood back from the painting, admiring his work. The painting itself was a more abstract version of the landscape, full of color. “It was worth coming out here for this wonderful landscape…” He whispered to himself, chewing on the end of his brush. The artist took a bottle of water and a paint-stained rag from a nearby moped. He began to clean his palette and hum softly, still oblivious to the person watching him.
After a moment of waiting in silence, Helen finally gave an “ahem” to get the stranger’s attention. “Greetings...er, is everything alright?” she asked, likely leading to the strange sight of a woman in a scaled cloak and copper-decorated mask. The artist let out a small shout, before composing himself. “You’ve startled me... Yes. Hello. I’m doing fantastic… Hmm…” He said, as he zoned out once more, absentmindedly washing the palette.
Helen smiled a bit underneath her mask, before giving a nod. “An...unusual place to stop and enjoy the scenery. Fields and forests giving way to swamp and a crater-filled ruin...” she remarked. The artist hmmphed at that, “I sense your sarcasm… Allow me to show you what I see.” He said softly, setting aside the washed palette and walking up to her. He stood beside her and framed the landscape he was painting with his fingers, “See? A beautiful composition… wonderful mix of new and old, nature retaking civilization. Truly amazing... “ He rambled softly.
Helen smiled a bit at that. “So I see...it can be dangerous here at times, admittedly. Regardless, you’re right. Morbid though it may be, I suppose there is beauty to it.” she admitted. “What’s your name? I’m Helen McKinnon.” The artist smiled a bit, “My name Remi Lafonce, pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He introduced himself, before he glanced over at Helen. “What a beautiful mask… May I inspect it?” Remi asked, infatuated by the design of the mask itself.
Helen was taken aback at that, before nodding and removing it carefully, showing its design was a feminine depiction of some divine figure with an ambivalent expression. Similar to a cavalry mask in fact, well-kept steel for much of it, and copper to form the hairline that it depicted, along with brows and the faintest hint of decoration to imply eyelashes for the eyeholes. Remi held the mask tenderly, running a thumb across the engravings. “So ornate… It’s very well made, miss. Is it an heirloom?” He asked, handing the mask back.
Helen shook her head at that, putting it back on afterward. “Made by my mother, and its enchantments were put into place by myself.” she explained. Remi cocked his head to the side, “Enchantments?” He asked, raising a thin brow. Helen smiled some under the mask. “Don’t tell me you’ve paints that glow under the sight of my mask, but would be dumbfounded by mention of the arcane.” she teased. Remi blinked at Helen for a moment, before cocking his head in the opposite direction. “The arcane?” He asked, legitimately confused. The Artist thought hard for a moment, “My peinture de la prêtresse?” He asked again.
Helen gave a nod at that. “Surprised that you seem to not know what I speak of...” she said, before sighing. “Your paint, yes. It has some manner of effect to it beyond producing art, am I correct?” she asked. Remi hummed a bit, walking towards his moped and grabbing a small clay vessel, a bottle of slightly murky water, and a sketchbook. He tore out a sheet and set it on the ground, taking a brush and drawing a water-drop symbol. Remi set the bottle against the sheet of water and held his hand against the paper.
Helen watched with amusement, the motif evident and hinting at its nature, though no visible effect made the effect clear from vision alone. However, as the metal of her mask shifted and the faint hint of green eyes vanished in the faintest hint of a red glow, the nature of his work became obvious. “Interesting...a way to form symbolic magic, it seems.” Remi nodded, before letting out a hmm. “Appears I’ve forgotten to eat…” He said aloud, looking through his moped. “...oh.” he said quietly.
“If you’d like, my home isn’t far from here, and there’s another community just across the river. Then west of that, the local refugee center.” she offered. Remi nodded, “I’d be happy to be your guest!” He said, gripping his moped by the handlebars. Helen nodded at that. “It’s just down to the bridge, then south along the east bank.” she said, turning to lead the way. The two walked back to the hall, Remi walking the Moped along as they walked. The artist let his mind wander as he looked at the scenery around them, “Interesting…” He mumbled.
Elsewhere in Maine, Donny looked over to the nearby table in the Shepard's Wolves' mess hall, seeing Aurelia sitting across from Nashio, having spoken to Taji earlier, looking back to Jonathon. "So I last saw her skulking about in stolen clothes, but..." Donny gave a blank stare at the aging mage hunter. "Over where Ta-a-aji's friend is st-st" He thumped his chest, coughing a bit. "...staying?" The mage hunter just gave a nod at that.
"Describe it..." he said, which prompted Jonathon to give the cyborg a concerned glance. "Dress shirt and slacks. Shirt was this real tacky pattern..." Donavon pointed over to Nashio. "Tacky as *bzzt* that?" Jonathon nodded. "Yeah...you...wait..."
"It took you thi-i-is long to figure that out?" Donny quipped mechanically.
And on Mount Katadin...
Horace, despite his reservations and suspicions about the old man, walked along the old hiking trails. They were overgrown with plants, broken and cracked, unmanaged after nearly a decade having only ever had a single human being walking along them. At least, only one to walk the trail without be assailed by the things that haunted the mountain.
But soon, hardy snow-covered plants gave way to barren ground, seemingly along a much lower altitude than was normal for the mountains. The higher elevations suffered the full brunt of all the things that afflicted the air those eight years ago, and the plant life here had never fully recovered. He suspected this was higher than the old man ever dared to climb, and for good reason given the air was thinner. But there was something unnatural to it, a certain clarity where heavy snow once shrouded the sky, to the point of barely being able to see ahead a few yards.
The unyielding blizzard gave way to snow that fell in a peculiar swirling torrent, intense yet offering an unnatural clarity to the sky overhead. Like rain on a sunny day, yet not a cloud in the sky. More than appearing as though the sky was perfectly clear, there was a peculiar clarity as though the vastness of space itself was laid bare before him, a brilliant field of azure fading into purple, distant nebulae and a sprawling web of stars offering light that the rising sun struggled futilely to diminish.
He was being watched, by creatures of inhuman shape and form, on a peak where the little instabilities that dotted the mountains mingled, leaving not rifts but a dull haze where the world was both earthly and otherworldly. It was here that the monsters from Beyond could linger and stalk, not comfortably but certainly surviving this unfamiliar world better than they did down below. And here, among shifting stars, it appeared as though the sky offered a view of both this world, and of worlds that had no place here, a glimpse into a world humans did not belong in.
He held his axe in one hand, and the amulet in the other, continuing on towards the very summit, as though daring the inhuman things to attack him. The unearthly abominations here weren't under the old man's control, and with a heavy blow the blade sheared through the iridescent chitin of a six-winged monstrosity, scuttling in and out of reality. Other beasts began to advance on him, another smote by the axe and descending as a rain of formerly-living shadows, but a faint whisper bid him to halt, instead holding up the necklace he'd been given.
It was carved from strange, almost shimmering ivory from one of the many abominations to stalk the mountains, strange patterns etched into a rounded-off lower surface, that gave way to rune-inscribed prongs that split off and entwined together in unnatural ways, flat surface transitioning into a tangled bramble of bones, carved and trimmed into a more orderly motif that resembled flames rising from an offering chalice.
Shadowy, twisting forms recoiled and froze, halting a charge through strange time and space. Not due to the example easily made of the first attackers, but at the symbol held aloft. The armored figure stepped forward, until he looked down upon the land from the very summit. A twisted shadow of an already ruined land, warped and hinting at the reflections of strange gods and otherworldly horrors.
Horace simply laid the carved amulet on the bare stone at the peak, turning to return the way he came. Things looked different, the lay of the land threatening to lead him astray, as though he might find himself in other worlds entirely, but he felt that ethereal pull guiding every heavy step.
He found his way back, and the creatures didn't stand in his path this time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 10, 2019, 07:30:16 pm
TJ had stumbled into Foster after having Jennifer walk into him, who helped steady him. When TJ didn’t say anything Foster spoke up “It’s okay, we should have found a better place for that.”
At her questions Foster shrugged “That we have. And uh..we came on our own though it appears we’ve arrived alongside quite a crowd.” Adjusting his glasses Foster continued “But where are my manners, I’m Foster and this is my friend TJ.”
TJ waved but stayed silent as he looked around to make sure he wasn’t in anyone else’s way. Noticing that TJ didn’t really seem to want to talk at the moment Foster sighed before saying “To be honest we came looking for somewhere we could stay but it looks like you all have your hands full here. Of course we could help around here, I’m trained as a..scientist of sorts, and TJ here well to be honest I’d prefer to keep him at my side but with proper training he’d be able to fill most jobs.”
Elsewhere Liam stepped out of the barracks sans his usual armor. Instead he’d decided to dress more casually, and modernly, in a set of grey cargo pants, a set of black work boots with blue laces, and a grey t-shirt accompanied by his brown sling bag on his back and a white and black checkered scarf wrapped around his neck and draping down along his back. Along with the new clothes Liam had taken the time to cut his hair into a mohawk, giving the sides a rough shave that he’d refine later. As per usual these days the little puff ball of light bounced along in the air next to him as he walked.
Gunnar, a bow slung on his back as he watched the terrain, asked “Going somewhere Liam?”
Liam shrugged as he kept walking “Going for a walk Gunnar. Keep an eye on things for me?” he said.
Gunnar nodded as Liam started towards the nearby woods. After a few minutes Liam found himself alone among the trees. Smiling to himself he said “Alright little guy, you wanted to come out to the woods. Wanna let me know why?”
In response the ball of light took off ahead of Liam. Laughing he started running after it as he called out “Alright let’s go for a run then!”
It was a good twenty minutes later and he’d caught up with the ball as it came to a stop. Taking a second to look around Liam wondered why it had stopped here. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary here as he said “So why’d we stop? Meditation time or are you just bored of watching me run?”
Ever since he’d accidentally made this little puff ball it had acted like it had a mind of its own. He’d pretty much come to consider it a pet at this point. And right now it seemed..confused? Maybe even agitated. Looking around he wondered why that was.
For a twenty minute run he was further out than he normally got he realized. Sitting down he shook his head and prepared to meditate for a little while. Smiling as he crossed his legs Liam called “Let me know when you figure out what’s bothering you.” and began to meditate.
It hadn’t even been a minute when the puff ball smacked Liam in the head and darted off. With a sigh the viking stood and started after it at a run. He lost sight of it after a minute and started to worry.
Soon he found himself in a clearing and stopped. The little puffball of light was currently hovering as if waiting for him. It took the sound of the young wolf under the ball of light growling for Liam to notice it.
His immediate reaction was to draw his dagger as the wolf backed away. In response the ball of light swatted Liam in the forehead and made a buzzing noise he’d heard it make before. Sheathing the blade he said “And what do you want me to do? Take care of it?”
When the light bounced up and down in a ‘yes’ gesture Liam sighed. Sometimes he wondered if this thing wanted to get him killed. Still, wolves lived in packs normally, and this one was all alone and too young to be by itself. So he kneeled down and retrieved a bit of food from his bag. “Tule, pieni kaveri, en aio satuttaa sinua.”
After a few moments of hesitation the wolf walked over to sniff what he was holding. Finally it decided to take a bite of the food before walking away and staring at him again. Looking over at the puff ball Liam sighed “This is gonna take a while.”
Ten minutes later and the wolf was following Liam. Leading the way home Liam glanced over at the puff ball before shrugging. “I don’t know the lesson you’re trying to teach me here but hey, a pet would be nice. At least one that’s not an asshole half the time.”
To which the puff ball gently rammed his shoulder. Laughing to himself Liam knew he’d get home soon enough. From there he’d have to figure out where he was going to keep the wolf.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 16, 2019, 05:33:48 am
"Ah, charmed! A scientist?" Jenny said curiously, "Well Mr. Dervish and Doc Efram could probably use you then. If you guys are mutants though, Dervish will want to give you a physical and an interview. Oh, and that robot will more than likely want to do the same, but she can be a bit more... invasive..." That last point was punctuated by a quick glance up. Foster followed the glance and saw the small black dome of an obviously still functioning security camera. "I don't know about jobs, but I guess... hm."
Jenny stepped back and gave Foster and TJ a more scrutinizing look. "Hm... brainwave." She mumbled, then asked, "Can you fight? If it comes down to it I mean? I've got something I want to do but I need a bit of time to scout a few things and ask around... Listen." Jennifer pulled the man aside and asked, "Have you heard of a guy called Hoyt?" Steinar followed Branches as far as the other side of the bridge, then unceremoniously turned back.
"Where are you going?" Branches shouted, unable to keep a little of her credulousness from creeping into her voice. "Aren't you going to help me give all this stuff back?"
Steinar shrugged, "Nah. Helen gave ya' the task. You finish it. That means all of it now. Make sure it gets back to where it's gotta go little one, you don't want ta' face Helen wrath now do ya'?"
Branches watched him go, baffled and a little upset. How was she supposed to give all this stuff back alone? She didn't know these people. Heck, some of them might even try to kill her or something. They'd be upset at least. She watched Steinar from a long time as he made his slow progress across the bridge. At some point, it became apparent that he was drinking again, now and then retrieving a jug from the several in a messenger bag at his hip to fill his cup. About the time he got two thirds of the way across, Branches started to think about it a little differently. The mischief was creeping back in. No one to keep an eye on her, no one to tell her what to do.
"Pffft. No." She said quietly, as though Helen or Steinar were hidden nearby. "Leave the cart near the entrance, keep the rest..."
"You're looking for that youngin' with the one eye? If I were less experienced, I'd say she was your younger sister but I know mutation don't work like that. Otherwise, Catnip n' Mica'd look the same."
Branches just about jumped out of her shoes, if she'd been wearing any. She could swear she'd heard the voice somewhere before, but couldn't quite place it. The man who'd spoken to her sat in a plastic lawn chair just outside the entrance, across from where Branches had intended to leave the load of stuff. An odd sense of deja vu swept over her, as though she'd been through this before. Maybe she had though? Helen claimed that she'd been destroyed once, maybe something from that hazy space. She did remember something about an old man, so it was very possible.
"Names Floyd, and you're awfully similar to that other girl that passed through a couple days ago." Floyd said. He offered the other chair at his side, but Branches shook her head and stayed quiet. "She was pretty quiet too. Must be related somehow. Alright well, I offered. Watcha got there in your cart miss?"
"Er... Stuff?" Branches mumbled, stiffening noticeably, "Got it from... Bandits?"
"Hm. Lets have a look then, might be something we can- Hey, that's one of Mica's shirts!" Floyd shot out of his chair faster than Branches would have expected, showing off that he was a hell of a lot more spry than he let on. "And this is one of Hec's padded shirts, and look at this, my old sixgun. How'd you say you got this stuff? Bandits?"
Branches couldn't become much whiter, but she was suddenly overcome with the desire to be able to. Her big purple eye searched Floyds face for anger or coming violence, but didn't see it. Only confusion and concern. "B-bandits... uh... Showed up at my house?"
"Your house? Where's that miss?"
"Across the lake..."
"And what did they want with you? Nevermind, I can probably guess. Young girl like you, bandit scum." Floyd said scornfully, sorting through the items nearly sorted into the cart. "I've had my fill of that kind of trash. But how'd you get all this from them?"
Branches couldn't think of a lie or half truth quickly enough and on impulse blurted, "I'm not helpless. I've got... er... friends... I gotta go."
"I'm sure your not, and I don't think so. We gotta tell Hector about this, and you can meet your neighbors while your at it. Nobody is gonna hurt you here. How long've you been there? Can't have been long since the lake is new." Floyd said, grabbing the homunculus by the shoulder. The urge to grab the mans arm and lay him out was palpable, but Branches resisted. It wasn't nice, this man hadn't done anything to her. All the same, she didn't want to meet the people at the farm. She didn't want to be recognized for who she was, nor for what she was.
"Please, I just want to go back to-" She began.
"Nonsense." Floyd insisted, guiding her into the palisaded farm, "Let's see what Hec has to say and then maybe we can collect your 'sister' and get a good meal in you. What did you say your name was?"
"Branches..." Branches mumbled, sure that she was going to be dead for sure soon enough. The streets sat empty and untended, the result of a week's worth of purging and exodus under cover of night, turning New Bangor into a varitable ghost town. A once populous settlement of xenophobic, scared, people of a little over a thousand now reduced to less than a hundred staunch believers. In place of the citizenry, machines walked the streets and converted the buildings into workshops and manufactories all to recycle old material and construct new soldiers for the growing army. The army masterminded and led not by the archbishop or his cabal of close followers, but by the AI.
Secretly, Astor cared very little for the army of machines amassing itself around him. They still followed their programming well enough and had yet to break away from it. Seek and destroy mutants or cyborgs, bring any artifacts to be offered up to him. They weren't perfect though, as they didn't truly believe any of what Astor wanted for them or in what these objects could do. What mattered was that he was at odds with the AI that controlled the robots. Astor could wipe the AI out in an instant, devour it's huge potential and be done with it, but he still needed it. Astor couldn't do anything without followers, yet. And so, he sought a replacement. After losing track of the troublesome arcane knight, and what a fool he'd been to think that the meddling lawyer would intervene in everything he did, Astor had returned to his scrying mirror, reassuming his facade so to not frighten his Bishops.
Soon, he had found what he wanted. Deep in the Rocky Mountain range, trapped within a wall of howling wind and melodious voices, a woman sat upon a throne of tendrils and twisted steel and seethed quietly to herself. Another being of great power he could wipe away in an instant, but wouldn't. She was as beautiful as the breaking dawn and as terrible as the new moon, though starvation was not being kind. Rita, The Grey Queen, sat motionless upon her throne and plotted to break free of the trap she'd closed on herself. Ahz't'ur, The Eater of Days, could do just that for her, if she cooperated with him. That was the difficulty though. Getting her to work with him would have been easy, but getting them to do so was so much harder. He knew of them. A strain of resilient infectious spores from a dead world floating around the rim of the outer dark. The men of this world had made contact with it, and had been trying to contain it's spread ever since. They were a direct competitor to Ahz't'ur.
He watched the mycus queen, judged, and planned. Yellow Jacket paced the interior of her yurt with a growing sense of unease and anger. Anger which had already spilled over thrice that day, leading to a lot of screaming and at least one stabbing. She and her gang had come south after Yellow Jackets defeat at the hands of an somewhat different sort of stinging insect, the mutant "Lady" Apis. Self proclaimed Queen of a hive of mutant honey bees. The bitch had come down on Yellow Jackets gang like a ton of bricks, crushing her Hell's Raiders in one shot on the shore of Lake Erie, and driving them south out of her "kingdom." Banditry was a losers game up that way on account of the Queen bee and her swarm. It was good for people up there so long as they behaved themselves and paid the Queen's tax.
Yellow Jacket decided she'd had enough of pacing and threw herself on her cot. Where the hell were they? First they get thrown out of the great lakes area, then they somehow get robbed in the night and lose all the stuff they'd planned to deliver to the Astor prick in charge of God's Army, and now the guys she'd sent out to find out what the heck was going on had failed to return. It was promising to be a very shitty few days if things kept up like they'd been doing. Just about out of food, game getting scarce in this region, Hell's Raiders seemingly lost their nerve around here, and good if there wasn't a lot of freakish shit hanging around in the woods these days. She stood and looked long into the mirror. A rather slim woman who behaved about as severely as she looked stared back at her. Her face was sunken and unattractive, as it always had been. Neck and cheeks scarred from the day everything fell apart for the united clans, and the sallow unattractive body beneath it. Yellow Jacket ran a hand down her face and felt the ennui seeping back in. What had happened to the world in which a woman like her had to suffer defeat after defeat and had to reign shitheads in with an iron fist and a razored tongue? Yellow Jacket, Delores VanAllen that was, had been a kind, respected, and much loved HR director before the cataclysm. Saving people's jobs, seeing the good in seemingly scummy potential employees. Beaten down by the end of the world, a young freak with a perky exoskeleton, and a swarm of mastiff sized bees.
"God, life is shit..." She groaned at the woman in the mirror. She cleaned her face and looked again. That was a bit better. Along with the dirt, she'd also wiped away a measure of her more depressing thoughts. Then, she snatched the jacket from the back of the camp chair where it had been carelessly tossed, and she emerged into the light of late morning.
"Alright you fucks," she barked, "If those chucklefucks aren't back by five... Make it four, then we go west and hit the first thing we come across, got it?"
The men and women still following her stood and said as one, "Yes ma'am!" As rowdy as this bunch could be, they at least still respected her. In Yellow Jackets mind, that was all that really mattered. "This is uh... Scouting party six on approach, we are coming into New Paris."
"Yeah, this is New Paris, Communications officer Khaki Jones speaking. What's up six?"
"Uuuh, Khaki, get Captain Sandell on the horn. We've got a situation up on the north side."
"Oh? I'll get her right away, but what's the situation six?"
"It's uh, God's Army Khaki."
"Aw fuck, Aw f-"
"They aren't fighting or anything Khaki, just a couple bus loads of people and uh... Khaki? New Paris?"
"What are they doing now? Six?"
"Following behind, going slow, trying not to spook us I think. Khaki, they've got mutants with em."
"Shit, okay uh, take it slow. We'll meet you by the place where the road turns sharp just before you hit the new fields, we can take em by surprise."
"I'm not sure ma'am, they ain't got those freaky robots with em, and most of these people are civilians hardly any fighters I think."
"Alright, I'll be sure to inform the Captain. Get ready for a fight though, we don't want to go through what we went through last year. Over."
Khaki let the radio fall silent in it's cradle, and gave it only a moment before hitting the big green button with the strip of tape under it reading "Cap's office."
It was going to be a stressful afternoon.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 21, 2019, 10:17:25 pm
At the mention of a physical TJ visibly tensed and shook his head. Foster meanwhile smiled and gave a short wave to the security camera. He seemed oddly comfortable with being surveilled to someone who didn’t know much about him, he’d spent most of his life being watched by some form of hidden camera. Looking back to Jennifer he listened to what she had to say.
Then, as he was about to speak, she pulled him aside to ask about this Hoyt fellow. “I’ve heard the name, some sort of connection to drugs, but I’ve no further knowledge. As for fighting I know some. I can shoot but I’m more..proficient with a knife.”
TJ stepped closer to say “I can fight. I mean I don’t like to but if it will help I can. And I can help scout things out, I’m pretty easy to miss according to some people I used to know.. Just..I’d rather not get an examination. I’m healthy and the last doctor I ran into..” TJ shuddered as he looked around and pulled his jacket on a bit tighter. “..he wasn’t nice.” TJ’s voice had gone quiet at the end there and his hand reached up to check his neck reflexively.
Foster put a hand gently on TJ’s shoulder as he said “We’d be more than happy to help you with whatever this matter is. I’m afraid we’d need a bit more information though, at the very least whenever you do require us we’ll need to know what we’ll be doing.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 25, 2019, 10:41:51 pm
Catnip bobbed her head in time with the music streaming from the lifeless wreck of a robot that Dee had been rather upset to lose. The speakers inside still worked and so did the little device Dee explained to her was a thing called "bluetooth." This "bluetooth" was, to Catnip, a wonder. It allowed Dee to send music to the dead robot and take control of live ones. She'd seen him do it before, time and time again, but she'd never asked about it until now. She'd always figured it was some kind of remote control.
"It's different than that." Dee explained, not really sure of how it was different, "Sort of." There followed a long silence until finally Dee set down the limb armature he had been working on and asked "What do you need Nip?" Like a switch, Catnip took out the graph paper notebook and flipped it open to the page she wanted. On it she had drawn something that looked like an urn with a window on it's front. Dee nodded slowly and feigned understanding, then shifted the motion of his head into another axis entirely. "Yeah, I don't know what that is Catnip."
"It's a metal melty thing. A furnace!" She explained, "For the super alloy Hector is going to get for me. We need it to finish this ro-butt. If we try to shape the super alloy, it won't work. We gotta melt it and reshape it, but normal heat will just ruin it. Hector is going to find some plates and some graphene!"
"Ok, cool, but what's the graphene for?" Dee asked, turning the book over so he could get a better look. "I suppose it could be used for heat retention or something?"
"No no, it goes in the body. I'm going to shape the graphene into the shapes we want and then cast the alloy over it."
"Oh."
"Oh?"
"Okay, I guess that works. We should be working to solve the power problems first though Nip, seriously. I'm thinking some kind of atomic cell, but then heat retention becomes an issue and we don't need Medeina getting radioactive around here..." He said, turning back to the limb. Catnip tugged his sleeve and stopped him though, rummaging through her bag and producing a small object no larger than a soda can.
"I got that solved silly, we'll use this. It's called a 'wind cell.' The howling tower in Pricetown used a larger version to keep itself moving without power. This thing will spin forever and ever and ever and ever. It'll keep Medeina cool too!" Dee took the cell and turned it over. It even looked like a soda can without a label. With a bit of instruction from Catnip, and a little of the mechanic arranging his hands, he had the cell suspended between two fingers. Before long, it started to turn on it's own.
"Woah. So uh, how fast will this thing spin?" He asked. The cell started to turn over faster and his fingers began to grow warm from the friction.
"As fast as you let it." Catnip said, slapping the cell out of his hands and letting it rebound off his work table and fly with it's gathered momentum across the room to strike the robot playing the music. In response, the song changed like a kicked jukebox.
"Well shoot, that'll work." Dee said, the pieces sliding into place in his plan. He thought that perhaps he should just leave the mechanical aspects on all this to Catnip and just stick to what he knew. "Oh no fighting, hopefully. Like I said, I'll need to get a lay of the land first. Actually meet this Hoyt guy maybe. I can tell you this though..." She said, lowering her voice and motioning the two closer and off to the side of the hall, "If it all goes well and the terrain allows it, the only action you'll see is some theft and maybe some smashed up radio equipment. Are either of you any good with cattle? Nevermind, those details can wait."
Her voice rose, and it was clear she was getting excited. It wasn't mood swings, nothing so severe, but these newcomers could see that something was very different about how the womans enthusiasm seemed to shift up and down from determination to breakneck excitement. Jennifer herself only slightly felt the change from calm and collected to uncomfortably energetic. She'd feel it in a moment though. In a little bit, when she was through with her proposition and separated from the newcomers for the time being, Jennifer would catch herself shoveling down a plate of salty fries while the chef and others watched in mixed fascination and something akin to horror. At that moment though, Jenny was in control and Cheena was only just beginning to think about salted sticks of savory deliciousness.
"Just, stick around. Once I've got all the details I will reach out to you. In the meantime though, if you really aren't down for an examination then I'd say give the introductions to the staff here a miss. I don't know about that Efram guy, but Mr. Dervish will insist. He won't force you, but he will pressure you. Dr. Maskens won't care, but the robot..." Jenny glanced up at the camera again, thankful that their weren't any listening devices (that she knew of) in the center, "If she finds out, she'll just harass you or spy on you until you give her what she wants. She isn't evil. Just... enthusiastic? It'll be fine."
Jenny had intended to stick with these people and speak with them more, they had skills that would be useful and she did seem to be getting along with them, but just then she caught a whiff of something. Something greasy and fried, a smell Cheena had already homed in on. "Do you guys smell fries?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on January 28, 2019, 01:13:40 am
Foster and TJ gave each other a glance as they wondered just what was up with this woman. Still Foster believed her to be..harmless more or less. She didn’t seem to be hiding anything from them with malicious intent that he could tell. Smiling Foster said “I’m afraid I don’t smell anything at the moment. Though if we’re going to help you we should probably find out what we’ll need to do to stay here. I can’t imagine they’d let us stay without giving something back to the place.”
TJ meanwhile slid his hands into the pockets of the hoodie he was wearing. He wondered just what it was Foster was planning to get out of this. He didn’t know Foster’s plans to build a lab and continue his old experiments, nor even what exactly it was that Foster’s old work had been. Something to do with magic was all he had figured out based on the depth and breadth of his knowledge on the subject. Now that he was thinking about it he wondered what Foster wanted from him?
Looking up at Foster he frowned under the bandages. In all the time the pair had travelled together he’d never seen Foster do or give something to someone without expecting to get something. Even if the person didn’t realize Foster was getting something out of the situation.
His thoughts were temporarily interrupted by Foster asking “So who should we speak to about getting shelter while we wait for you to formulate this plan of yours?”
Meanwhile Liam sat with the excited wolf pup outside the Hall. The others hadn’t seemed to mind his new pet. Still he couldn’t help but imagine Aaron would try and pull something. He hated wolves after all.
Standing and walking to the forge that was ringing with activity Liam wondered how Charles was doing. Soon he saw his companion doing some basic maintenance on their armor. As he approached he was somewhat shocked to see Charles pick up the piece he’d been fixing and throw it at the wall. As he neared he heard Charles talking to himself quietly “‘oh I’m sorry Charles I broke another piece of armor can you fix it?’ fucking entitled pricks. Like I’ve not got better things to do than this, like loaf around like you lot doing nothing but hunt and spar.”
Glancing over his shoulder Charles paused a moment. Picking up his hammer and walking over to the table his tools were laid out on he returned it to its place as he said “You saw and heard that didn’t you?” At Liam’s nod Charles sighed.
Stepping forward Liam asked “What’s wrong Charles? Something’s been bothering you since we left on the whole affair that got us here.”
Charles sighed again before turning to Liam and saying “What’s wrong? That’s what you’re going to ask me? I’m the only one here who’s not got some kind of bullshit magical blessing. I’m not blessed, I’m just a smith’s son. I wasn’t even done with my apprenticeship when we left. I was simply counted amongst you so you had someone to fix your armor and weapons when you invariably broke them. And now I’m stuck here, far away from my family and unable to go back because we went along with his stupid plan.”
Liam could hear his friend’s anger growing in his voice as it all came bubbling to the surface. He’d known everyone had been angry and hurt by those events but he’d never seen Charles crack. He’d always done his best to keep the others going when they’d talked about what they were going to do and whether they should actually stay there. “Look Charles we’re all in the same bo-”
He was cut off again as Charles shouted “Same boat? Liam any one of you could survive on your own because of your gifts but me? Don’t fucking kid yourself I’m only the second least capable warrior because you don’t know how to really fight like the rest of us and I can’t use a bow to save my life. My one saving grace is I can use a rifle but even then I’d still last maybe a week. Everyone here but me has something special about them, even Helen has her extensive training and that mask. But me? I have nothing but my tools.”
Sighing to himself Charles lowered his head for a moment. “I..I just don’t know why I’m here. You don’t need me, not anymore. Besides Eino and Anton won’t listen to my suggestions, and Aaron and Gunnar listen to them despite their conflicts.” Pausing for a moment he said “I’m going to go clear my head. You...you keep an eye on that wolf there. Never know what Aaron might do.”
Liam watched his friend walk off. He started trying to figure out what he could do as he knelt down and patted the wolf cub on the head. He’d talk more with Charles later, for now the best thing he could do was give his friend some space.
Meanwhile Charles made his way to Walkerville, and from there to Isaac’s community center. He’d been stewing about things for over a year at this point. The other’s refusing to modernize their approach, whilst in honor of their people’s ways and augmented by their blessings, was a constant frustration for him. But at the moment he was thinking about what he needed to do for himself.
Walking in he was greeted by Isaac, who was currently putting on a smile to hide how he was feeling at the moment. “What can I do for you Charles?”
Smiling in return Charles motioned for them to sit at a table. Once they had he detailed his plans and listened to Isaac’s input. At the end Isaac said “I can get you some of the things you’ll need but I’ve got to ask why this is coming up now.”
Charles sighed as he leaned back in the chair and said “Because I’m tired. I’m tired and I need start looking to the future rather than looking at the past. And this is the first step, where it takes me from there I don’t know.”
Isaac nodded as he thought about his own not to distant moment of clarity. Putting a hand on Charles’ shoulder he said “Well wherever it does you’ll do yourself and your friends proud. I know you will.”
With that the pair parted. Charles went back towards the Hall. Isaac went back to helping Alice with the community center they’d built together. He was going to be there for her when she needed to talk about what had transpired. For now all he could do was wait for that moment to come and prepare himself as best he could.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 29, 2019, 04:50:53 pm
Catalina was making her way over to the main entrance of the center, directing a few others who were running around, slinging an M4 over her shoulder and picking up her radio. It was an unusual sight after all this time, vest and helmet on, mask in its usual bag and other gear in her pack. "Larion, I'll want you watching just in case." she said, hearing his calm affirmative before turning to the few others who had assembled with her. "Sargent Branham, if you're ready, you'll take the squad north to intercept and meet with them. All of you are to be at MOPP Zero, limited intel confirms that some of their tricks in Maine have included what would qualify as biological warfare." she said, the others giving a salute before making ready to head out, checking gear beforehand.
The captain was soon enough heading back over to check with Khaki, giving a little nod as the other soldiers had been dismissed. "We should keep the others down in D.C. and offshore informed just in case, possibly get in touch with Walkerville. If all goes well all we'll have to worry about is the risk the Marshal or any of the others might scare them." she joked. "Other than that...who else might be able to help sort this out? I know we sent two to Maryland that might be able to help advise us..."
Khaki felt cold at the mention of contacting anyone in long distance. Walkerville might still be possible by virtue of short range radio. Hell, the AI that often spied on the center could and would probably relay the message, but Catalina didn't know yet that the center was flying blind. A surge the night before, the centers industrial generator having a hiccup thanks to the recent influx of people and the increase of power usage. Just a flicker that had gone mostly unnoticed, and the antenna repeater had been shot to shit. Khaki hadn't discovered the issue until late morning of the next day. She wasn't afraid of telling the Captain, she was afraid of the fact that she was telling the Captain now of all times and not even making her the first person Khaki informed.
"Eeer... I don't want to freak you out Captain but the antenna is fried. I talked to the guys in requisitions about it, but they don't have a spare. I-I'm getting people to see if they can dig one up somewhere." Khaki stammered, throwing the last bit in just to squeeze it in before the explosion she expected.
Catalina gave a blank stare before facepalming at that. "Great...how long have we been cut off from D.C. then?" she asked, seeming more concerned than angry, though displeasure was readily evident in her expression.
"A day at most." Khaki said immediately, "I think whatever happened occurred during the power surge last night. The repeater looks like it caught fire and... well, its broken. We're 'incommunicado' Captain."
'So the situation was like this,' Khaki reflected to herself, 'A couple busloads of GA are stalking a group of our scavengers, following them back to the refugee center, and we are completely cut off from most avenues of advice and assistance save the farm.' She wondered off hand if there were other groups in the area. The party coming over the short range had mentioned that the people in the buses were mostly civilians, but that didn't mean much in these degenerate times.
Catalina gave an irritated sigh at that, shaking her head. "Just like old times, it seems..." she remarked. "Well, in that case if we at least have anything short-range, we should have Walkerville standing by and aware that they may be the only asset available. That would also include The Hall nearby, should be in range too if the farm is. Our friendly neighborhood drug-pusher may or may not be an available asset too, if he's in range."
"He's in the right direction at least to notify us if any other forces are following the convoy. Assuming he doesn't decide to charge for intel that might be vital to the only place that puts up with his shit." she added, grumbling a bit to herself.
Khaki would have spat if she was the sort that hadn't been taught at an early age via liberal application of a wooden spoon to her behind, that spitting was incredibly unladylike. It wasn't that Hoyt would charge, oh no, It was that Hoyt wouldn't tell them period. The man was borderline raider, pushing his shit keeping him more than comfortable enough to keep him from just taking what he wanted from travelers.
"I'll get on it Cap." Khaki said, snapping a quick salute and keeping her thoughts on Hoyt to herself. With that Catalina went off to tend to her own business. She knew full well that Hoyt was not well-like by most of the center, and in fact she herself didn't think highly of him either. As Oliver would put it, Hoyt was a person with no class, no scruples, and no sense of good business. Enough that she herself doubted that Hoyt would actually play along even if not doing so was likely to end with him lynched by God's Army.
Hector hummed a bit to himself as he did his usual check on the tank after it was parked, ensuring everything was in working order. It was still missing the solar panels and he knew that the the bio-diesel they were starting to make wouldn't suffice too long, already there were too many things to reserve much for something as inefficient as a tank, even one that had been heavily stripped down and supplemented with an electric engine.
It was afterward, dropping off a few tools in the forge area, that he took a look around, taking notice of Floyd coming along with someone unfamiliar.
Floyd waved and ambled over pulling the young woman along behind. Hector noted the girls pale skin and thin form, and Branches one striking eye taking up the center of her face. This last she tried to hide under her hood, but doing that made it difficult to walk straight and so the effort was unsuccessful.
"Afternoon Floyd, who's your friend?" Hector asked, wiping what felt like grease or oil from his hands. Knowing who used some of these tools and how well she kept them, it was probably a little of both.
"Sister of that girl I told you about with the magic mud." He looked to Branches, expecting her to introduce herself. Instead, she stuffed her hands in her pockets and looked at her bare feet. "She lives over across that new lake Hec'. Name's Branches. This is Hector little lady, if you have any problems with thugs or anything, you can come to him for help."
Hector smiled a bit, giving a polite nod. He'd taken his helm off, and the older, more worn arming cap he'd used in place of the last one would be evident as well, if she'd taken notice of the newer one among the stolen possessions.
"Greetings. You're always welcome here if need be. I hope your sister is faring well?" he asked, seeming concerned. "Should see if anything from the collection Mica scavenged will fit her, might be good to get shoes for her." he said, setting the great helm aside.
Branches squirmed silently for a moment before pulling the strings on her hood tight, practically cutting off her face from sight except for the iris of her saucer sized eye. She was in the Lions den, metaphorically speaking, and frankly terrified now. If L, Mohammad, Sharlene, or even Helen had informed Hector of the incident at Sharlene's Clearing, she would be sunk.
Thoughts of running away or hiding who she was turned to smoke and dropped out of her thoughts entirely when Hector took off his cap and set it aside with his helm. He was handsome. A rugged man with experience and kindness in his eyes. His every move was performed with casual confidence and total control of his strong- Branches shook her head. What had that been?
"W-what? No, uh, no shoes. My name is... Branches." She said, loosening the hood again. The homunculus felt sweaty all of a sudden and a little swoony, but the two men didn't seem to notice. "She's... She's fine..."
Hector nodded and raised an eyebrow at Floyd, then asked, "No shoes? Are you sure? We just cleaned up a lot of old wood and there could still be nails around. Broken glass too." Branches shuffled nervously, and thought fast. Such kindness and concern for a stranger. Branches was new to the world, but as far as she knew people didn't just go around offering charity for nothing.
"No. I don't really like shoes. I'll be ok..."
"You're a bit shy eh?" Floyd observed, "Oh, Hec, our new friend here brought in a cart load of some of the stuff that went missing last night."
Hector regarded the homunculus with what seemed to simply be concern, though at Floyd's remark he perked up a bit. "That's a pleasant surprise. Any word on just how most of it ended up missing? I know we've had a rash of strange mischief before." he said, recalling recent events.
"Bandits, it seems." Floyd said, seeming to be giving Branches the benefit of the doubt for now, even though what he'd seen of the missing items made it seem unlikely for bandits to have made off with so much stuff unnoticed.
"That's...disconcerting." Hector said. "First there was the random food thefts, Helen had a vague guess as to what might've caused that, I think? Then a few days ago there were all those little clay figurines...both events were rather different in character compared to what happened this time."
"Ah, so you've seen them around your place too?" Hector asked, raising an eye brow. Branches squirmed a little more under his scrutiny and nodded.
"I've got more stuff and uh..." She went on. The thought of keeping everything that hadn't belonged to the farm or to Helen had been her original plan now that both Helen and Steinar weren't keeping an eye on her while she had no plan at all for the bandits. The two man would have ended up tied to a tree. Branches would have got bored of their threats and complaining and painted their faces. Now she had an option though. An option that was always open to her, but now it seemed like a much better one. It might even please Hector. "Two bandits..."
Hector hmmed a bit, seeming to regard just how nervous Branches was, though he shrugged it off. "It's alright then, you can go ahead and tell us. We'll go ahead and sort out whatever they took and get them back to where they belong." he said, before her last remark seemed to make him noticably perk up, though he tried to hide it behind his usual calm expression.
"Is that so? Go ahead then, lead the way. There may well be more of them. It's a good thing it was just bandits and not God's Army. Though they've been far less active in the region, it's still good to be careful." he said, taking a look at some of the items in the cart.
It wasn't long before the sampling of items started to concern him, however. "So they...huh. This is a lot of stuff taken right from under our noses..." he said, concerned. "Maybe they took it from whoever did this? Might be why we haven't seen any of those little clay creatures for a good while. The other bunch only ever stole food." he pointed out.
The lies and half truths were beginning to break down and Branches could feel it. She expected the man to hear about bandits and cast off any suspicions in a fit of "case closed" but he didn't. In fact, he'd just grown more suspicious of a combined effort to swipe stuff. She couldn't quite see a way out of this, but if these men went with her to go and question the bandits... Oh boy, question the bandits? If they talked to the bandits, everything would fall apart right away and Branches would be exposed. Not just as the thief, but as a liar. In any other case, she wouldn't care. Helen knew the Homunculus was a tricky one and Illiana knew Branches nature all too well. These men though. The old man was friendly, treated her nicer than most people had and Hector...
Branches gave him a quick glance, one he noticed, and hid her face again. "Oh... Um... Ok... I..." She mumbled, "Ok, follow me then..." She spun and scurried off, the knight and the cowboy following. Before long though, Branches just couldn't take it much more. She didn't want to be a liar. "The little clay people are mine... I... I didn't mean any harm... I just forgot..."
When Branches finally admitted to it after a few minutes of walking along, there was a momentary look of surprise on the knight's face, one that quickly faded to...disppointment, it seemed. "You did that? Why, though?" he asked, a bit leery of her, seeming to be sizing her up, unsure just what her intent was, yet he didn't yet lash out at her.
"I just forgot! They were just supposed to go borrow books and clothes, but I forgot to tell them to stop and they just kept taking things they thought I would need! I didn't mean to..." Branches tried to explain, "They were just supposed to go to the hall, but they started going to other places too... they took so much stuff that some bandit guys came, and then Helen showed up, and... and..."
She had disappointed them, and that seemed worse than the other possible outcomes to her. She stood there on the bridge with them, staring down at her own bare feet and disappointed in herself in a way that Illiana and Helen hadn't been able to get her to be. Not just Hector though, Floyd too. He was disappointed as well. He had the look of a father finding his child stuffing candy into their pockets at the store.
"Please... I just want to return everything and get rid of the bandits..."
Hector gave a little sigh at that. "Well. I'm glad you came forward with it now at least. I'm guessing Helen's already given you an earful, for whatever magic goes into those creatures if not for stealing." he said. "I'll deal with the band-"
It was then that Floyd finally spoke up. "Don't go traumatizin' the kid. She already looks scared half t' death as it is." he said calmly. "I know. Still, attracting bandits out here doesn't bode well. They'll likely escalate things, and it'd be reasonable to do so if she stole from them as well, they might think we did it."
The effect of the reprieve on Branches was internally profound. Floyd's addition compounded the feeling of having dodged a bullet. Or it would have if Branches hadn't been too busy imagining what it would be like to see Hector dealing with bandits. How he'd grab one by the shirt and punch him in the face like an action hero. Branches hadn't seen an action movie before (yet) but that's the sort of things she imagined the knight doing. Action movie stuff, but in armor. And he wouldn't punch people, he would cut them with his sword and hit them with his shield.
"Taste my steel knave!" She imagined him crying as he cut down one unfortunate thug before spinning on another and smashing him in the face with his shield.
"You alright little lady?" Floyd asked, snapping his fingers in front of Branches eye.
"W-what?" Branches stuttered. Her imagination had carried her away for a moment, and that was a new experience.
"I asked," Floyd said, "Do you know where this lot is? You said Helen showed up when these guys were around, I imagine she took care of them. Did they have anything on them we could use to track where they came from?"
"Oh, they're still there. We tied them up and I was supposed to bring them to Mr. Hector."
"Well then, I suppose we should pay them a visit. If they're any of the Hell's Raiders leftovers this will be an...interesting visit." Hector remarked, Floyd already having a bad feeling about this as Branches led the way.
Nashio dug into his meal, which consisted of a flatbread, some sort of homemade, soft cheese, and some stewed meat. When Aurelia sat down in front of him he jumped a bit, swallowing his food. “Oh- uh, Hey. Doin’ alright?” Nashio asked, setting his meal aside for a moment. Aurelia smiled a bit as she took her seat, giving a little nod. “Doing fine in fact. Not too worn out, hmm?” she teased.
Nashio shook his head, “Huh? Nah, just starvin’ ‘cause someone had me sleep past breakfast…” He teased right back, grinning a bit. Aurelia nodded a bit, taking a sip of the cup of coffee she’d brought over. “Suppose you needed your rest.” Nashio let out an amused snort, “Says the gal who wouldn't let me go ‘cause I was ‘too warm’” He joked, poking at his food again.
“Funny, usually I’m the warm one.” she teased, wings giving a little flutter as the two settled down to eat a belated breakfast.
As Nashio finished his meal, he checked his watch. “Shit- The pastor gave me a job, I got five minutes. Unless you wanted to join me…” He trailed off, thinking for a moment. Aurelia gave a nod at that. “To be honest I was thinking about volunteering for something, as it seems I might be around for a bit before trying to head any farther south...” she admitted, though there was a degree of hesitation in her voice as she finished her sentence.
Nashio hmmed a bit at that, “We can talk about what- uh, happened later. And about you heading out.” He said, getting up from his seat. Aurelia nodded as she finished what was left of her cup of coffee, gathering the cup and tray to put things away before following along.
As the two made their way to a yard outside the cathedral, Bigby was giving a rundown of the situation to the Shepherd’s Wolves’ ‘misfits’. “Now. Since you all have been acting like dipshits, and I’ve had it with babysitting you fucks. So the pastor had the pleasure of having one of the newbies teach some discipline into you.” The captain barked, giving Nashio a nod as he left.
Aurelia watched in amusement as Nashio stepped up, giving a little wave to the group that had been gathered there, likely already sizing them up herself. Cyclops, there with the others, gave a little chuckle as he looked over at Aurelia, looking away towards Nashio once he saw that the winged woman was practically looking right through him. “Huh...so this is the boy you picked? Thought you’d pick Donny, he in the garage for repairs or something?” he joked. “Even Taji’d be a better choice than this shrimp...”
Nashio glared hard at Cyclops, walking up close until they were eye to eye. “Watch your tongue, dipshit.” He said coldly, the bottom half of his palm striking the misfit square in the nose, the cartilage letting out a soft crack. “You need to adjust your attitude.” He snapped at him.
Cyclops acked a bit, stumbling back and clutching his nose at that, glaring furiously at Nashio, his resulting remark mumbled in a nasally tone. “You fuckin’...” Nashio glared back, “Had enough?” He smirked, clutching his fists and getting into a stance. Cyclops glared at Nashio before lunging forward, taking a swing at Nashio, Bigby promptly facepalming at this. “I’m surrounded by fucking four-year-olds...”
Nashio ducked and weaved under the swing, going for a heavy haymaker and nearly knocking him flat, if not for him grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. He brought Cyclops close to his own face, “Had enough yet?” He said quietly, staring him in the eye.
Cyclops glowered up at Nashio, half-tempted to spit in his face, before finally calming himself, muttering a bit before he spoke up. “Alright...” he grumbled, Bigby grinning a bit. “About damn time we’ve had new meat here with the balls to instill some fucking discipline around here. Pick yourself up Cyclops, and count yourself lucky I didn’t have to hand out the discipline myself.”
Nashio let go of Cyclops’ shirt, “I’ve been sent here to do two things, to teach some of you some actual discipline, and to teach you how to fight properly with your own bare hands.” He said clearly, “And with Fuckboy over here, makes a great example. He was stiff as a board, no flow. He put too much thought in what he was going to do, he was pissed off. I was calm. Be like…” Nashio paused for a moment.
“Like water. It’s not about strength or power, you have to be fluid. Using Fuckboy as an example, again, he applied excessive force, I control that force through fluid motion. So you all gotta relax your whole body so it can react instantly, understand?” He explained further, giving an aside glance towards Aurelia, before looking back at the Misfits.
Cyclops chuckled a bit at that, standing up and looking over at Aurelia. “Right. So ya gotta be soft on ‘em, eh? Guessing your girlfriend there must not be all that hap-” He was interrupted by taking notice of the way Aurelia was looking into his eyes, the other Misfits about to start snickering, whether at his joke or how he stopped himself, before she seemed to cast her gaze over the group, cold blue eyes sizing them up. “The point is using your own energy efficiently. To use his metaphor, water can flow around obstacles, but it can also wear down stones.”
“Use that control and fluidity, so that when the moment is right, your strike is not just immediate, but decisive. That sound about right?” she said, Bigby chuckling some. “Whatever gets this bunch from having their asses handed to them, and keeps them from embarrassing this unit any further like Fuckboy here has. So, the other fresh meat’s joining in I guess?”
Nashio shook his head, “Naw, she’s just here to supervise. Make sure I don’t break any bones or what-not.” He said, and the session continued for a while. There was a point where Nashio was happy with where the misfits have arrived, and he gave a nod, giving his farewell.
Aurelia of course had nonetheless been eager to join in, occasionally remarking on things and at one point being paired up to spar with one of the younger men among the Misfits, getting a few remarks and critique from Nashio about her technique in the process, much to her embarrassment. By the time they were heading back after being dismissed, it had already gotten a bit later in the day. “So...you mentioned wanting to talk about some things?”
Nashio let out a soft ‘uh…’, “Do you want to be, a uh… ‘A thing’” He asked, looking away for a moment, scratching his chin. Aurelia was surprised by that question, seeming not to expect it, looking away nervously. “I had, well...considered it to be honest. The problem is I did have reasons to keep heading south...” she admitted. “Not sure what your plans are.”[/color] Nashio let out a hmm, “I… wouldn’t mind coming with you…” He admitted back, scratching at his chin.
Aurelia nodded a bit at that. “Wouldn’t mind that...it’s a lot more difficult getting through alone. Though at least the worst of it seems to be farther north anyway.” she remarked. Nashio let out a hmm, “S-sounds good…” He said, awkwardly. Aurelia smiled some, trying and failing to hide a blush. “Fine by me then. We can stay as long as you feel the need to...”
Back at the village on the foot of Mount Katahdin, an assortment of travelers, regulars formerly living in now-ruined houses, and a few of the Canadians assigned to the village. Celine and Abraham were among them, the two talking over coffee, or at least what passed for it eight years after the cataclysm.
"Are you certain your...friend will be alright?" the mage asked, the weathered old gunslinger simply nodding. "I've seen th' bastard look up at the fuckin' space octopus himself and not back down. A bit of snow and some overgrown bugs won't do a thing to th' likes o' him." he drawled.
One of the villagers took a seat at the table as well, an old man with a few noticeable bionic implants. "So long as he doesn't go bringin' the wrath of Pamola down on this place doin' stupid shit like that. Already had one person maybe a week or so ago pull that kinda stunt." the old man remarked.
Abe raised a brow at that. "He make it back down?" he asked, the cyborg nodding. "She, yeah. Dunno what the deal with that was." Abraham chuckled a bit. "So maybe this Pamela...er...what is it anyway?"
"Old native god of thunder, bird spirit, somethin' like that, supposed to live up on that mountain. Some of the locals think that's why the monsters infesting this part of the Appalachian act like this." he answered. Celine seemed noticeably curious, and was about to ask questions if not for Abraham speaking up. "Well, maybe the ol' buzzard's gettin' tired or summit. Never know with inj-"
It was then that the door to the building opened, bringing with it a brief chill from the wind-driven snow still blowing outside, though by now it had calmed down enough to travel through, if not for the two of them waiting for the figure who'd just now stepped in.
As he closed the door behind him, Horace spoke up. "We'll move on whenever you're ready."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on January 31, 2019, 12:51:11 am
[Written with a dragon while a volleyball watched from the hedge outside the window.]
The walk from where Branches had given her admission was a short one, but to the homunculus it felt like an hour. She was nervous, a bit squirmy, and she'd spent the time after describing how Helen and Steinar had taken them down, leaving out her own part in the whole ordeal or the fact of her strength entirely. The sense of fear and the desire to flee was mostly gone now. At least the need to flee because of being in danger was gone. Branches now wanted to flee because 'he' was just too large. 'He' being Hector. From the moment he took off his helmet, a sensation of awe had come over her along with a desire to be close to him. Listen to him talk and look at him, but when he talked her mind would wander off imagining what he might say for other subjects and when he looked her way she couldn't help but look away. Branches didn't really understand, but Illiana or Helen would. Illiana because she knew things and Helen because she'd been a young lady once and that youth wasn't exactly behind her.
"So..." Branches began during a low in the discussion between the two men, "what will you do when you have these guys? Just questions?"
They had reached the other end of the bridge at this point, and the men had been left tied up just around the next bend on a wide spot by the side of the road where long gone people had pulled off to enjoy the river in the world before the cataclysm. Floyd scratched the chin beneath his bushy grey beard and looked to Hector.
"Maybe question em' a bit? What do you think Hec? From the sound of things, these boys are more dildos than desperados. You think they'll be worth turning in if they don't have any Hell's Raiders connections?" He asked.
It'd been only a short walk so far, Hector already thinking over just how to handle this situation, when he found it hard not to crack up at Floyd's description of the captured bandits. "Now there's a phrase I never thought I'd hear from somebody." he remarked, leading the way towards the bend. "If we can reason with them sure. Clear things up...but if Helen couldn't talk them down then I'm not so sure it'd go well."
Branches mulled that over to herself. Helen couldn't get them to talk because they were either brave or stupid. She thought maybe Hector and Floyd could do better, but before the strange new feelings stewing around in her thoughts could convince her of that, her inherent knowledge kicked in. The bandits would say just about anything if threatened, "confession under duress" as it were. Helen had only pressed them a little, and they'd resisted.
She was going over this in her head, pushing aside everything to try and work her way over the coming interrogation analytically, when they finally rounded the bend.
"God, look at all that underwear! I can't believe Nip hasn't noticed yet." Floyd balked when he caught sight of the carts. Hector ignored him. As soon as the carts were in sight, he'd felt something off. Branches too in fact, but Hector was the first to voice the problem.
"I thought you said there were two of them?" He growled. Branches flinched a little, then ran to the carts and the man laying on his side in the grass next to one. The bandit was grinning like a moron and seemed to be in the process of working his bonds loose.
As soon as he realized something was off, he rushed ahead, shield held up and a hand reaching for his sword. In his mind he cursed himself for having left his helm back at the forge, feeling rather exposed due to not knowing if the other bandit was lurking in the treeline...or worse, if he'd come back with friends.
Floyd likewise followed behind, his longer-barreled gift from Catnip clearing leather with unnatural speed, already keeping an eye on any sign of movement in the treeline around them, but he couldn't quite get a bead on the one bandit left behind. Not only had Branches already rushed ahead, but the knight was close behind as well. But Conquest would prove more than adequate for any trouble lurking in the woods, just as his old pieces had been for countless bandits before The Shifting.
In his fluted plate armor, noticeably bright gauntlets, and a kite shield of different size and pattern to the old mansion find long since ruined. He looked almost nothing like the Hector that any former Hell's Raider would've been familiar with. The only pieces of his old gear to have survived this long were his sabatons, great helm, and sword. The first was hardly a distinctive feature, the second had been touched up with dents and scratches repaired countless times, but would've been distinctive had he brought it.
His sword however...weathered, scarred, chipped and worn blunt time and time again, only to have its flaws polished and ground away, its heat treatment renewed to forge-weld out a crack and a bent blade at least once, that would be the most overt surviving piece of his equipment. A typical replica of the knightly swords so common through many of the Crusades, now pointed at the struggling bandit's throat. "Hold, if you want to keep your head."
Branches took a step back and gave an uncharacteristic gasp. For a moment, she believed the knight was actually just going to kill the man. Instead, he had simply warned him. Put steel to the man and menaced him like Helen and Steinar had not. It was undeniably cool in her opinion.
"Jesus man, calm down. Hey, that's fuckin' cold." The bandit husked, "Who'r you supposed to be? King Arthur and Wyatt Earp?" The man was stupid, the dumber of the two in Branches opinion. The homunculus dropped to her knees behind the man and cinched the loosened bindings back into place and gave them another couple knots for good measure. "Where's the other one?" She demanded gently. His silence was expected. Unlike Helen, Hector was not content with silence and pressed his blade in closer.
"Little lady asked you a question pard'." Floyd growled, not taking his eyes off the tree line. There were unfamiliar forms in the woods, not exactly human ones. Varying shapes and sizes hardly moving at all and somehow familiar. Floyd was old and maybe his hands gave him hell now and again, but his eyes were as sharp as always. He picked out movement in the underbrush and zeroed in on it. Branches noted the movement and put a hand out.
"It's mine, please don't break it..."
"Yeah," The bandit heckled, "don't hurt the little girls little shit dolls. Little girls need their dolls, need-" Hector pushed the sword in hard enough to draw just the barest trickle of blood. "Goddamn, stop. Fuck man."
Hector seemed to be glowering down at the man, something between a reflexive urge to behead the man he barely suppressed, and a form of disappointment altogether less fatherly than how he'd looked at Branches. "Where did your little friend go?" he asked calmly, sword still held right where it'd make every word spoken just the slightest bit uncomfortable.
The bandit tried to move his head back away from the blade, a weapon bearing the scars of use and repair as points of pride to its owner, and suddenly got an inkling of what he was dealing with. He himself hadn't been around when Yellow Jacket and the other chiefs had run afoul of a harder group of survivors than they'd been prepared for, but even the sparse groups in the north from which he had been had heard of the Iron Marshal, The Blade of Sodom, and all the others that followed them.
"You ain't... the Marshal... are ya?" he rasped. Hector smirked, and that was enough for the bandit, "Shiiiiiit..." The long drawn out expletive was enough to convince Hector that the mans hope of getting out of this alive, let alone a shot at retribution, was now dead in the water. "Went to get Yellow Jacket, she's gonna raise some fuckin' hell when she gets here. Nobody robs Yellow Jacket in the night and gets away with it, you'll fuckin' see." There didn't seem to be too much conviction behind his threats though, his priorities had just changed from escaping and getting Yellow Jacket so they could stomp all over the little one eyed freak and her weird friends, to just keeping himself from having his head unceremoniously parted from his shoulders.
"And she won't." Hector answered. "We'll handle disciplining her as needed. Helen especially, no doubt, You weren't the only ones who had things stolen from you." Floyd watched the man, a calm expression on his face as the knight continued his threats. "You have your possessions to return. I'll give you one chance. Do so, and tell this Yellow Jacket who is responsible for this place."
"If you don't, if you return to cause trouble, you've more than just a Marshal to deal with. The Blade of Sodom, as God's Army calls her, makes her home here too. As does..." Hector stopped for a moment, looking back to Floyd. "You know, you would think someone would've thought up an epitaph for you too by now. Have they...?"
Floyd shrugged, "Dunno. Heard a few things, 'steel rider' seems to go around a lot." He said. Branches could tell he wasn't very interested, but these people being well known enough to have titles was pretty cool. Hector made to cut the man loose but branches stopped him and worked the knots loose again. It was a little annoying, having just tightened them and then having to untie them, but Hector knew what he was doing.
The knight pulled the man to his feet and checked him over for weapons. "If you're looking for weapons then you're out of luck bro. Mask lady already took my piece, only weapon I got now is my meat cannon." The bandit joked, keeping his hands where Hector could see them.
"That's fine," Hector said dismissively, "I can't imagine it's a very powerful weapon anyway."
The bandit laughed, seemingly taking no offense. He couldn't really be offended anyway, they had spared him so he could send a message. It would be shitty having to tell Yellow Jacket what had gone down, she'd almost certainly start screaming at him, but if his partner had made it then he wouldn't exactly be the one getting raked over hot coals would he? The idiots were actually going to let him take one of the carts back. Shit, he wasn't going to get worked over for this. If anything, it would just encourage Yellow Jacket to push in.
The daffy smile that had begun to form on the bandits face died and he glared at the knight. Did he know that? Did he know that the warning might just antagonize Yellow Jacket and get her to come at him? The sneer Hector gave him strongly suggested that he did know. Maybe even counting on it. After a bit of judging, the bandit picked out a cart he knew was filled mostly with his gangs stuff and moved off. Hector watched him go and as soon as the Bandit was out of sight, gestured for Floyd to follow and watch. Branches stopped them with a wave of her hand. She knew what was up, keep an eye on the man and make sure he didn't turn back. One of the little figures, a small clay ape like creature, trundled from the woods and waited at Branches heel. At the giving of some unseen order, the creature took off after the bandit.
"So..." Branches said anxiously looking to Hector and Floyd. Hector hmmed a bit quietly. "They're not to be persuaded so easily. Funny, usually it's Helen that tries talking sense into the enemy first..." he joked.
"Aye, but Ms. Mckinnon is a more reasonable sort. Some people just don't respond to sugared threats and need somethin' a bit harder to think about." Floyd said seriously.
"True. I suppose we'll need to stay on alert. If we're lucky their leader will be smarter than that one was, and moreover that they figure out what trying to retaliate entails..." he remarked, before looking back to Branches. "You doing alright?"
"Hmm?" Branches hummed, snapping back from deep confused fantasies in which a certain knight fought off bandits and monstrosities, "O-oh, yeah. I still have more stuff to bring back to you guys though..." She pointed to the remaining cart. While she'd been at the farm, someone from the hall had stopped by to grab the last load of the Hall's property. After the bandit had grabbed one of the carts, there were just the two left. One loaded with a lingerie stores worth of ladies under things, and the other filled with a mix and match of bandit and farm property.
"Okay then, we can help with that. Floyd, your old back up to the task?" Hector volunteered. Floyd harrumphed and took up the handles of one of the carts. "Alright, we'll get all this put back to the farm where it belongs and you..." Hector went on, "Can make sure it gets back to it's owners." Branches averted her eye with embarrassment and considered silently how it seemed to be getting harder to keep her eye off the knight. By the time the three had set off with the last couple carts for the farm, Yellow Jacket was just finishing off her interrogation of the bandit who'd slipped his bonds and escaped. The story he'd told was troubling and not a little infuriating. A short woman in a mask, a drunk asshole, and a small freak had got the drop on and captured two of her men. More over, the little weirdo had been the one to steal all of the crap Yellow Jacket and her gang had collected since coming south. To top it all off, the bitch in the mask had recognized the stone pyramids and confiscated them. The rest of the stuff could be burned and pissed on for all she cared, it was the stones that were important. Those things were her and her gangs ticket back into the big time. She had to think about her next move. Yellow Jacket didn't believe a single word about the little mutants "unnatural strength." What was more likely was that her guys were stoned at the time. The woman in the mask though, she would probably be dangerous. She knew what the stones were and that was knowledge Yellow Jacket didn't have herself.
"Yo, YJ, got a sec?" Said someone pawing at the flaps of her yurt. Yellow Jacket didn't answer, she didn't want to talk to Stacy at that moment or in the next moment. Stacy stood just outside waiting before pushing his way through the fabric portal into Yellow Jacket's den. He was the only man brave enough to just barge in like that. Unannounced, no, but whether she wanted him to or not he would come in when he was ready.
"The fuck you want stacy?" Yellow Jacket growled. Stacy was a big man, but Yellow Jacket had laid low bigger than him and the man wasn't trying to intimidate or threaten her anyway. She took a deep breath and let it out, calming herself down. "Okay, what's up Stacy."
"The rest of us are ready to move YJ, but we wanna know what's up. We going in for scouting or we going in for war?" He asked.
She thought about it for a second, then responded, "We go to parley, but prepare for war." Fosters question to Jennifer's already turned back caught her attention and turned her back around. She'd still get the fries Cheena desperately wanted, but this man's concerns had to be addressed first. It was a part of what she saw as her duty. After a bit of thought, she said, "Well there's always manual labor that needs to be done. All these newcomers need somewhere to stay and they installed a planning office down the hall and to the left there." She told them this with a sour expression. The idea of all these people crowded into a city seemed distasteful to her. All packed together like sardines. It didn't occur to her until houses had actually been built that life in the refugee center was much like that, and that the new "village" wouldn't actually be as crowded as she believed it would be. "There are fields to clear, boards to plane, blah blah blah. If you aren't into that sort of work then you can try the farm. Walkerville or something like that, that place is like a commune for weirdos and Heroes. Er..."
She said that last bit, referring to the farm residents as "weirdos and heroes," falteringly knowing that if she wasn't here in New Paris, Jennifer would very likely be living on the farm herself. As strange as some of the people in New Paris were, none of them save Jennifer "Atomos" Barrowfield could lay claim to the outrageous character that typified the residents of Walkerville. Even some of their most benign resident could boast some amazing feat. Her friend Dean had aided in programming and salvaging various robots and computers in his spare time. In the full time, he kept a dangerous predatory mutant under control. The same went for a rather friendly guy named Nathaniel who kept a likewise unstoppable beast at Bay with no more than a rub of the belly and the sorts of behind doors activities that were he and his "lady's" business alone.
"Yeah, if you're looking to kill the hell out of bandits and undead or doing some seriously dangerous work, go see the folks over at Walkerville." She said, "They boast some of the better mechanics and craftsman too I guess, so if you need something fixed or made then yeah. Go to them. Just remember to bring chocolate, the nice rat girl only take payment in chocolate."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 05, 2019, 12:04:54 am
Foster felt TJ pull on his sleeve and turned to look at him. Looking up at him TJ said “Let’s at least check out this Walkerville place. We have a radio so she’ll be able to reach us whenever it’s time for her plan.”
In response Foster nodded. He wasn’t quite sure why TJ was interested in the place but he’d go along with it for now. Looking back to Jenifer her told her “Yes, for now we’ll be checking out Walkerville. When you need us just call us on the radio-” He rattled off one of the old radio frequencies Section 1 had used to stay in touch with the retrieval teams, a frequency that had been dead silent since a year into the cataclysm, “- and we’ll come to help out.”
With that the pair turned to leave. Foster hummed to himself as they walked away, feeling like someone was watching him but he couldn’t tell from where. Still he had somewhere to be he supposed so he’d stop and find whoever it was watching him later when TJ wasn’t so antsy to be going somewhere.
Elsewhere Isaac had found a few spare minutes. Not many people were using the community center in walkerville yet so the place wasn’t too busy. So he’d made his way back to his truck to find some of the things Charles’ had asked for.
A vest was easy enough to find, something to carry magazines with adatable pouches. A Battle rifle for mid to long range was next. G3A3, modified to accept a variety of sights, the muzzle could take a suppressor or compensator of the operator’s choosing, and a foregrip that could be removed in favor of a bipod. For closer ranges he picked out a Saiga 12 gauge and a UMP, both designed to be modified for the operator’s comfort.
With the guns he grabbed a variety of components that Charles might want to attach or use in some way. Then he got the other components Charles had asked for. Mostly it was spare parts for his helmets, things Charles was going to integrate into one he was going to build for himself. Of course he also packaged in a power system so that the suit would be capable of prolonged operation.
All in all it took him a half hour to get everything together. As he walked with the duffel bag towards the bridge he called over a younger misling, still an adult but not by much, and asked to call in a favor. One of the perks of running the community center was a few people owed him favors. So upon reaching the bridge Isaac gave the man instructions to deliver the duffel bag to Charles.
Looking across the bridge he saw the pair of approaching strangers. Waving to them he scrutinized the one in bandages before speaking once they were within earshot “Hello! Welcome to Walkerville, I’m Isaac. I..I run the community center over that way, it’s also a library. If you’re looking to stay we’re currently working on some new housing unless that got done while my back was turned.”
Foster smiled as he shook the offered hand and said “Foster, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. This is my friend TJ-” TJ shook Isaac’s hand and nodded to him before Foster continued “-I do hope there’s somewhere we could stay.”
Isaac nodded to that “worst comes to worst you can sleep on a cot in the community center. We’ve got beds, a cafeteria, a couple of bathrooms though we still need to get the showers hooked up, and of course the library. I’d show you around the place in general but I’ve got to get back to my daughter.”
Foster nodded and was about to speak when TJ said “Okay, hope she’s doing well.” to which Isaac just nodded. Foster gave TJ a curious look as the pair continued across the bridge.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 06, 2019, 06:54:26 am
A van and a truck rolled along towards the refugee center according to the speed limit on a bullet riddled sign. The van and truck belonged to one of the centers scav crews, and they had a good reason for paying heed to the archaic signs directive. In the post cataclysm world, such signs were just quaint reminders of a world gone by. Not much more than a target for traveling survivors to blast away at. The scav crew followed the speed limit out of a need to seem normal. They were being followed. The pair of buses following them moved along steadily behind, just out of sight usually but occasionally coming into view. Public transport buses overloaded with people and not heavily armored. Gods Army markings had been hastily scraped off or painted over, but it wasn't hard to tell who was in the vehicles. The scav crews had seen the buses first, but the people in the buses had seen them not long after and had begun to follow. One of the scavengers picked up his radio with one trembling hand, too aware that his peers could see the way he was shaking, and pressed the button on the side.
"New Paris, this is scouting party six, we've almost reached the rendezvous point. GA contacts are still following." He said. Those in the truck who had been around for the attack the year before fingered their weapons nervously, but those who had migrated to the Center recently just looked on with interest, confusion, and interest. The radio crackled a simple reply, and the scavenger sent back his own response. Then, to the others, "Sit tight and don't start anything until the cavalry gets here unless these guys come out shooting. You mice get your heads covered. No offense, but these guys get itchy over mutants and we don't want the shit kicking off until we've got support."
As he finished giving his brief instructions, the first of two buses hoved around the bend and came to a stop a mere twenty or thirty feet away and he took note of the front end. From a distance it hadn't been obvious, but now with the vehicle this close, it was obvious. This vehicle had been used as a ram. The other bus pulling in behind it was much the same as well, and both were possessed of flat tires and broken windows. They didn't sound like they were doing too well either, the hissing noise from the lead bus telling the scavenger that the engine wasn't being cooled properly. There was a healthy sounding "swish" and the lead bus disgorged four men. Armed, armored, and looking as nervous as the scavengers felt.
"Eya, you mind awfully calling your uh, leader?" One of them called. The scavenger with the radio took a moment to register the question, then shouted back. "Already done, just... You just stay right where you are, y'hear?" The men from the buses, much to his surprise, stayed where they were and began speaking among themselves.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 16, 2019, 12:00:56 pm
(( Written with Salt. ))
To the scav crew, the wait seemed like hours when actually it was only a handful of minutes. Twenty minutes at most. The buses had unloaded their cargo of people, letting those aboard get fresh air and stretch their legs before being ushered back on again. It gave the rest of the fighters a chance to disembark and make the scavengers even more nervous. They didn't show a sign of aggression though. Just looks of fear and suspicion directed at the people they'd been following. The fighters kept their weapons shouldered and passed around cigarettes or lined themselves up along the side of the buses as though waiting for an execution order to be given. When Catalina arrived with her small contingent of last minute fighters, they continued to not make a move.
"They wanna talk Cap'." One of the scavengers said simply when asked about the situation. Captain Sandell looked over the motley crew of possible enemies with a more expert eye than the scavengers. Mooring points on the buses either cut or torn off as through removed in a hurry to make the vehicles lighter. Bullet holes near the bottoms as though someone had been trying to disable them without injuring the occupants. And the tires. Catalina had once seen a troubled recruit who had decided he wasn't down for the army life try to steal a military truck. When he'd hit the checkpoint on his way out of the base, the trucks tires had looked much like the tires of these buses after it had gone over the checkpoint's spike strip. Those that weren't shredded were flat or just about flat.
Catalina nodded at that, looking back over to Nell who'd been directing the rest of the squad, retaining a wary eye. From the look of things, a quick glance over the mangled vehicles at least gave ample reason to believe that it wasn't a trick like they were afraid of. She gave a hand signal to indicate that they'd cleared the vehicles as best as their cursory examination would allow.
"Alright. Tell them we're ready for whoever's in charge here." she said, still marveling to herself at the degree of abuse the vehicles endured. So far the scavengers had given little clue as to what motivated what seemed like a mass defection. Once again making her wish that they had contact with the rest of the Old Guard in Maryland and offshore, especially the handful of defectors that had been sent that way over the years.
One of the scavengers waved to the gathered men, and the first three to disembark broke away from the group. They had been watching and waiting patiently for that signal, the sign that the centers leadership was present and ready to speak. Once they were face to face with Catalina though, the man who seemed to represent them seemed to be having a hard time speaking. One of the other two gave him a light shove.
"C'mon, we didn't come this way for nothing. Swallow your pride already James." He said. The other gave him a glare before looking back to "James" expectantly.
"I'm... I'm gettin' to it, just gimme a sec..." James mumbled. Catalina saw pride in James, pride that was crumbling before her eyes and leaving a man exposed before the people he'd once thought of as the "enemy." Seeing that, she was certain as to what this was about even before he blurted what he said next. "God's Army is dead. The Archbishop... The Archbishop is a monster."
The men to either side of him unslung their weapons, and laid them at Catalina's feet. The other fighters of these people, these refugees, came forward and did the same while James went on. "We're all that's left after the bastards... after his..."
"After his fucking feast!" Someone from the crowd of soldiers shouted. There came a rumble at that, a note of horror tinging it. "He fucking lied to us! He's got his fucking robots now, and he doesn't need any of us anymore. We're just more fucking sheep to that fuckers slaughter!" The crowd was getting agitated now, and Catalina could almost imagine it. The intel Atomos had shared, reports from survivors of raids. The facts of New Bangor fell into place.
Before the crowd could get any more uneasy, James pushed something into her hands and said what Catalina had expected and what he'd had the most trouble getting out. "We... Surrender..." The something he'd handed her was a stack of blue cross patches.
Catalina gave a simple nod of understanding at that, accepting the patches with caution. "It seems we have a lot to talk about, when you're comfortable discussing it, at least." she said, before giving a nod. "We should head inside. Get any injured tended to, interview the civilians you've brought along, discuss what your plan is for now." she answered calmly.
She turned to get back into her jeep and began to signal for her people to move out when a hand found her elbow. At first she suspected some new trick, some treachery, but there wasn't any. She spun back harshly, ready to meet the perceived threat and was stopped by the haunted depth in the mans eyes.
"Are... are you serious? Just like that?" He said. The words dropped like stones from his mouth, "I don't know what to... My... Our people though, you aren't worried about..."
"You're human aren't you?" Nell cut in, "So are we. So are the people living here, even if they look a bit different." Nell glanced at Catalina, and the Captain nodded approvingly. "You aren't beyond scrutiny, don't go around thinking that, but people are people. In times like these, we have to help each other. I'm just sad that it took you this long and going through... whatever happened to you to come around."
James hung his head for a moment and the others couldn't quite see the New Paris representatives face to face, then he took a deep breath and let it out in two words.
"Thank god..."
Hector and Floyd led the way back into the farm, Hector occasionally pointing things out as they passed for Branches' benefit, in particular as they passed by the forge area. That the main opening in Walkerville's palisade took visitors right past the forge area was evident. While being able to observe people coming and going while working on smithing was one side benefit, and perhaps he enjoyed having his smithing be readily visible, the real reason it was still there was simply due to that being more or less the same area it was back when it was tucked away in the old barn, now a distant memory.
Branches ogled the large silvery birch beyond the forge before taking note of the work area itself. Despite having all the equipment needed at a new forge Catnip had set up for him, Hector still preferred the equipment set out near the entrance. For one dreamy moment, Branches could imagine the knight standing at the anvil under the simple cover, hammering away at some bit of hot metal. Sweat trickling down his brow in the heat. She shook her head to clear the strange thoughts, and none too soon. While Hector pointed out the cook shack and Floyd stepped away to deal with a trio of people finishing off hauling furniture into his newly built house, something black and white stumble staggered over to her to fall at the homunculus's feet in a pile of arms, silk, and teeth.
"SSSsssSSS! Dirty one eyes! Smells like mud and earths and green things! Eh? Little tur-nup will be My-ka's friend yes?" Mica hissed, uncharacteristically friendly. She'd seen Branches approaching with the others, and something about the girl appealed to Mica. Perhaps it was the teeth or maybe Branches one eye, reminiscent of Mica's own single "normal" eye. "SssssSSss, what is it? Eh? My-ka can't eat tur-nup, what is it?"
Hector soon turned his attention back to Branches, and went pale at realizing Mica had stumbled out and was now "menacing" the homunculus as best as a pregnant spidergirl covered in silk could. Which still was likely a fair bit. "Easy Mica, this is Branches. She's a visitor here." he explained, stepping forward before offering a gauntleted hand to help Mica back up.
"Bran-chez? Bran-chez? Eh? Tur-nup is Bran-chez? Ssssssss!" Mica hissed. Mica didn't just accept Hector's hand. Of all the residents, only Dee could coax a gesture so simple and gentle out of her. For everyone else, Mica would "climb." A long, web webbed hand snatched Hector's wrist and pulled. There wasn't large amount of strength in the pull but there was weight. A lot of people would have been pulled to the ground but Hector wasn't most people, and so he easily maintained his footing. The next hand came up and grabbed the top of a greave, then a third hand hooked itself over the gorget at his throat while the forth found purchase just below his right pauldron. Floyd broke away from what he was doing rather abruptly to assist, but the spider was already on her feet and looking like some kind of life sucking wraith. The silk in her hair made her look like she was wearing a shredded wedding veil and the whispy gossamer clinging to her clothing brought the "wraith" comparison all together.
"C'mon kiddo," Floyd said, drawling unconsciously, "let the tin can go and we'll go see Dee."
"My-ka don't wanna see lizard!" She barked, "lizard let's My-ka get all tied up and won't help!" She pawed Hector while she spoke and Branches couldn't really tell if she even knew she was doing it or not. Her hands crawled all over the surface of the knights armor, leaving sheets of messy silk that stuck fast. Then, she turned her eyes back on Branches. "Bran-chez will help My-ka yes? Eh?"
"Um... Maybe?" Branches said sheepishly. It seemed that maybe meant yes to Mica, and she gave Hector a gentle push and darted for the Homunculus. The result was that Hector tripped over the iron threads Mica had unknowingly spun around his legs, and he could only get one hand free to catch himself. He hit the ground with a crash, and Mica was already wrapping her arms around Branches. In turn, Branches felt instantly sick to her stomach. It felt like she was being drained of something vital, like the spider really was the wraith like creature she appeared to be.
Hector stood his ground even as Mica clambered upright rather than accepting a hand up, likely one of the few who trusted that she wouldn't intentionally attack her, in addition to trusting his armor to hold up to grasping claws that might otherwise slash him up in her attempt to stand. "Easy Mica, you're going to trip yourself u-"
It was then he himself tripped due to the threads increasingly caught on plates and around limbs, the sound being something like a muffled clatter and the subdued shifting of metal on metal as he was left fumbling with trying to untangle himself.
"Where'd she go?" Hector asked, looking around after Floyd finished giving him a few selective dabs with the brush. Mica had seemingly taken off again, satisfied with her assessment of the newcomer and the minor havoc she wreaked with them. Branches sat up with a bit of a wobble and Hector offered her a hand. "Well nevermind. Hm, I don't remember you being so dark before."
"Dark?" Branches asked. She was darker, slightly, and her skin had changed texture somehow. Small lines like the strokes of fingers had formed, and Branches realized with not a little horror that that was exactly what they were. Strokes left by her own fingers while forming her body. Mica's influence had begun to revert the Homunculus back into the soil she was derived from. She was changing back though and before she took Hectors hand (an act that sent a thrill through her) her skin was back to it's porcelain white.
"My eyes are playing tricks on me I guess." Hector said, "My mistake. Where to next Floyd?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 20, 2019, 07:41:49 am
The story was totally familiar by the end of the day. Person after person was led into the office. "My name is so and so, I was a such and such. I put my faith in the Archbishop and we were misled." They told tales of how the big storm came and things had changed. There had been a burst of light in the eye of the hurricane, and when the storm ended the Archbishop had begun gathering people up. slowly at first, then with increasing frequency. Again, something changed. The earth had churned in Abaddon and some ungodly monstrosity, too terrible to look at, had appeared and just as quickly disappeared. When Astor made his next appearance before the gathered people of New Bangor, he had made a terrible proclamation. New Bangor had been undermined. Corrupted by body corrupters and demons. New Bangor would be purged of it's corruption.
On the first day, fifty three people had been purged and on the second another forty. Then on the third Astor robbed his followers of over a hundred people. It was decided that the remaining would flee. Many had already done so, it would be simple if they all left at once. There would be no one to come after them if they all went together. If they stayed, they would surely die. Astor was a monster, and the robots of God's Army were in service to him alone. They'd started with seven buses, Catalina had only seen the two that made it. The others had broken down or been destroyed. In all, maybe seventy people or so had made it this far.
Catalina and the others assigned to assist in processing gave her reassurances that they wouldn't be harmed. Yes, they'd be watched closely and yes, they would probably be looked on negatively at first. If they had anything that would mark them out as God's Army, they were to turn such things in or keep them hidden. They could stay so long as they did their part.
"Okay," Nell sighed, "That's the last of them. What do you make of all that Captain?" Larion slipped out and closed the door behind him with a perfunctory farewell.
"It sounds like a clusterfuck." Catalina said, "I'm not entirely sure what to make of it yet, but we will have to see what comes of it. It all matches up with some of Jennifer's reports... If you want to take a look at that Nell, go ahead and ask Jenny if you can. Just don't spread it around too much."
"Speaking of Captain... How do you think Jenny is going to take this?"
"She'll be fine." Catalina replied, casually filing away her collection of reports, "Maybe she'll recognize some... Oh." Jennifer wasn't fine. Jennifer was alarmed. She had just finished her second helping of fries when the first of the New Bangor refugees nervously filed into the cafeteria and took up a position against the wall. Standing against it with their hands behind their backs and glancing around the large room like harried animals. Other people walked past them like they were just more survivors, but Jennifer knew. More people trickled in and she recognized some of them. What had her alarmed was the idea that they would recognize her. Sure enough though, someone did.
"You're a mutant!?" A man hissed, dropping himself in the chair next to and badly startling her. He was tall, old, and a bit scruffy with the perpetual five o' clock shadow and swept back short hair unique to a certain class of late middle aged working man. Jennifer recognized him as the man who ran the bar in New Bangor where she'd spent time collecting information and sharing half true stories of her own. "I'd like to say I feel betrayed."
"I have no idea what you are talking about." Jennifer said stiffly, "What are you people doing here?"
"Sure you do, and I could ask you the same thing. I don't have to though because you're a mutant, and of course you're here since that's the case. What were you doing in New Bangor?"
"Spying." Jennifer said simply. The old barman nodded solemnly. She'd spent plenty of time in the bar and that made sense to him. What better place to keep your ear to the ground than the bar? He hadn't come to indict the woman, he had questions and just maybe she could be a 'friendly' in to this place. Someone who could vouch for them, so long as she could be convinced. The silence between them stretched out to an uncomfortable degree, but no one noticed besides him. The people standing against the wall started to disperse among the tables now, seemingly emboldened by the barman's initiative. Jennifer was glaring at him, and it took him a moment to notice. "You didn't answer my question."
"New Bangor's full of mind controlled undead, devil hunters, and especially robots. The Archbishop started making all the humans disappear..." He told her flatly. Then his lips quivered almost imperceptibly and added, "They took Madaline." Jennifer had to rake her memory for the name and came up with the face of the friendly chubby woman who'd gone from table to table refilling mugs and offering bread or salted mystery meat. She'd had doughy eye's and a pretty face. Jennifer had once noted off handedly how the barman and the barmaid often had their eyes drawn to one another when the other wasn't looking. "These people, the regular folk, have nothing to be afraid of." He went on suddenly steering the conversation away from this subject, "They were just people huddling together against what the world has become. A whole lot of terrified people sticking together for protection. They've got nothing to be afraid of from this place I mean. But them, the fighting men and women who lined themselves up against that wall like a line of criminals in an execution line, they are afraid."
'Of course they were.' Jennifer thought, 'Fighters in the den of the enemy, of course they are.'
"They know what they've done to the people here or people much like them. They don't know if it's safe here for them, if the people here can even forgive them. You understand? It was hard for this people to choose to come here. Some of them are still unsure and some of them just can't let go. I'm a man of the world, I can let go, but in order to get them to do so you have to-"
Jennifer cut him off with finger. "What the hell brought this on? You guys are here for a start, I don't see anybody bullying your people, so what brought this on?"
"I suppose..." He said, "I suppose I'm just preempting."
"Well don't do that. They don't seem to be getting along all that terribly. You could probably tell them to loosen up a bit though." As she said this, she indicated discreetly a nearby table where a woman was sitting stock still and rigid among a group of chattering locals, one of whom sat tall above the others as a prime example of the deeply mutated, a young serpentine woman with a camera and a crayon drawn journalists badge. The newcomer couldn't help but stare at Leslie uncomfortably. It was probably fortunate that it had been that particular mutant, since Leslie could put up with that sort of strange behavior for a long time before losing her cool. Without her armor, Jennifer hadn't recognized her at all until she got a good long look at her face. Cherise Cohen, Templar of the blue flame. One of God's Army's small group of skilled mutant hunters. No wonder she sat so awkwardly. Jenny couldn't help but think that Cherise must have been pissing herself at that moment, but she could see why the barman had seen the need to preempt whatever it was he was preempting. These people knew what they had done and what they were responsible for. The fighters knew well what had happened here little more than a year ago. She thought for a long time, conferring with Cheena. Cheena wasn't having any of it at first. The fox inside Jenny hated these people, but there was a weakness to that hate. For all that had occurred to Cheena and the death wrought upon her skulk, she couldn't force herself to keep on hating. It wasn't a part of her.
"I'm going to go." The Barman said briskly rising from his own seat, "I need to make myself useful I guess."
Jennifer grabbed his elbow, getting a few ideas. "Hold on a second." She instructed. Cheena had reminded her of the little 'job' Jennifer had been planning out, and that she'd likely need more than just the two men she'd already conscripted. "Hey chef!" she called and waited for the chef to emerge from he steaming kitchen, "This guy needs a job, he's got experience pre and post Cataclysm working a bar. You think you have a space for him?"
"Sure thing little lady, always need people to watch the floor and run errands. Can he cook?"
"No," The barman said, "Not well I mean. I can wash a dish though."
Lyle took the barmans details and scuttled back to his kitchen to get him an apron. "In exchange," Jennifer said, "I need you to introduce me to Cherise Cohen, and any of the other fighters you guys brought with you. I'm getting together a group and maybe somebody will want to earn a little redemption."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Mrnocamera on February 26, 2019, 06:27:43 pm
(middle three paragraphs done by a derg)
Cardin quietly whistled to himself as he worked, sharp talons deftly flipping through pages of the book he was currently trying to study. As usual, the translator's notes were wrong, but the mutant's grasp on Traditional Chinese still left a few things up to interpretation. Chirping quietly, he slides his current, mostly-depleted, mana gem to the side, clearing up some space on the table as he moves the book front and centre. The texts kept referencing something about a 'Path', though neither the notes nor Cardin could figure out the words before it. Cardin leans forward, resting his beak on his hand, talons gently tapping against the hard material as he continues idly whistling a tune to himself. After a couple more minutes of trying to figure out the context behind it, the avian mutant decides to just wing it, so to speak.
Shuffling his wings around and tightening the bandages covering some healing burn wounds from earlier experiments, Cardin picks up his mana gem and holds it close to his chest, closing his eyes and trying to focus on 'opening a path' by just removing the space between both points. The gem starts to glow in his hands, gently at first, but it quickly starts shining brightly, growing hot in his grasp as the air starts to feel heavier, the pages of his study book starting to shift, reacting to winds that aren't there. Cardin's feathers ruffle slightly as that 'wind' picks up, before everything stops suddenly, the mana gem fading back to a dull blue.
Solomon had been tending to matters in The Hall proper, the usual daily tasks in between his own studies, mask set aside for the moment. At least things had calmed down since Helen dealt with the bandits earlier. He made his way back to the area that was now serving as an improved workshop for testing and studying magic.
There was a table nearby as he entered, expecting to find the book the both of them had spent time studying, likely left haphazardly on it or elsewhere in the room. He wanted to put it away properly lest Helen have to put the books away for them, again. Or worse, if Isaac stopped by he might give them both an earful over it. Again.
Instead he saw the avian there, experimenting with something. "Hey Cardin. Everything alright?" Without his mask on he had no idea what the bird was up to, though something lingering in the air left him instinctively unease, and something caught his eye on glancing over at the adjacent table. Another of Helen's lessons entailed a small trinket carved of otherworldly ivory, and at some point it'd be cracked nearly in half for Green to practice mending with that stave he'd made. But now the formerly cross-shaped charm had unraveled into a tangle of thin bony tendrils, rewound into an alien symbol in reaction to some abnormality.
Cardin shrugs, his wings mimicking the action, as a response to Solomon's question. He tosses the used gem, now obviously just a plastic sapphire replica, back onto the table, next to the book. The avian cheeps quietly before pointing at the book, now flipped onto a completely different page in a language he doesn't recognise. A few chirps and attempts at charades later, and Cardin just gives up on trying to convey what he was trying to do, his wings fluttering a bit before he settles down again.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on February 27, 2019, 06:50:28 pm
(( Written with Mrno. ))
Helen hummed to herself as she returned to The Hall, having trusted Branches to Steinar for the time being, though by now he too was on his way back after she wound up with Hector and Floyd.
Solomon had already gone back to regular tasks at hand, and Green was busy reading a a collection of Helen's notes on the texts he was not yet prepared for. A quick question and she was soon headed out behind the building of the Hall itself to check on Cardin, finding him looking around and fumbling to put away the signs of his previous experiment.
She saw little out of the ordinary at first, until her gaze fell on the bone charm. The avian only just now noticed that, and gave a quiet chirp at Helen when he saw her masked face glance in that direction.
The metal mask's features shifted in a familiar display of magic, and almost immediately she seemed to glaring right at him, a concerned look hidden under her mask. He froze, chittering and chirping as she seemed to look right through him. She quite literally was however, regarding the faint shimmer of magic lingering over the table behind him, stepping forward as he nervously shuffled his wings.
"... do you know what happened?" she asked, Cardin giving a shrug before pointing at the lab, Helen quickly taking note of the items on the table, and what was halfway through being put away.
The only answer Cardin could give was a few nervous chirps, but that was enough to provoke her suspicion, leaning forward a bit. "Something here caused a bit of instability, a very faint one, and there's other signs too." she said, holding up the now-mangled bone charm. "The disturbance seems too weak to have caused this directly, so this is more likely due to the source of the ivory reacting to the effect. Now, did you witness what caused this?"
Cardin stood there, looking down as he pondered how to try and explain this. Solomon was better at judging what he was trying to hint at, while Helen was instead better at reading his intent. He fiddled with the bandages covering his arms, already something that had caused Helen of concern lately, before the avian finally gave a nod.
When Helen stepped forward to where he was sitting, now in arm's reach of him, he almost panicked, even moreso as her mask deactivated and she seemed to look him in the eye, green gaze just barely apparent through the eyeholes. "Well." she said with a sigh. "However it happened, it may prove useful to teach you how to clean up minor disturbances like this."
He gave a guilty little nod before standing, only to freeze up as she pulled that strange golden talisman from her belt, which he vaguely knew was a weapon of some kind. To his surprise she reached her other hand out, the avian cheeping quietly before offering his in turn.
In doing so she placed the symbol of judgement in his hand, the weight of it surprising Cardin. He almost dropped it before her hand supported his, helping him grasp the symbol's band, leaving its three winding prods pointing outward. She guided his hand, mask re-activated so she could see the disturbance and trace along its outline with the symbol held up to it. As she went along she pointed out the way the golden talisman seemed to glow, brighter as it trailed along the peak points and critical threads of reality, caught up in the disturbance.
A momentary lesson in mending a disruption that was minor enough it didn't tear a hole in the Veil, and a firm reprimand to be careful and not risk creating a worse one next time.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on February 27, 2019, 11:42:34 pm
Charles examined the helmet he’d already manufactured. It had the space for the new components and already had the inlay to insert the lenses. Setting it back in the metal case he’d retrieved it from Charles put the padlock back in place. Better his companions not know about it yet.
The chest plate he’d made was sitting under his bed along with the plates for his arms. So when Isaac’s runner arrived with the bags Charles took them and placed them on his work table. Opening one he found a chest rig, the guns, and plenty of ammo and magazines. The other contained all of the electrical components he’d need.
Then there was the hydraulic systems as well as the lenses. Everything was here as well as a note. “I don’t have anything for the other thing we talked about but I have an old ‘friend’ who’d probably be able to help. He’s one of the ones running the radio station.”
Making a mental note of the information Charles’ tossed the note into the nearby fire of the forge. He’d be able to hide the bags easily enough but he didn’t need the note floating around. Zipping the bag up Charles hid them under his bed as well before starting to put on his armor.
Sitting on the edge of his bed he stopped for a moment. His eyes looked searched the room until they finally rested on Liam. He was happy to see his friend finally coming into his own and learning to control his powers. Out of all of them Charles remembered Liam being the one the elders whispered about the most. ‘That one will lead us one day’ ‘he may not be strong but he will protect us’ ‘he will be a beacon of hope’.
His eyes turned down to the helmet in his hands. ‘He is hopeless’ ‘he cannot even make a proper sword’ ‘he is a disgrace’. He’d heard those words as well. ‘He will be the ruin of us if anyone listens to him’. Sliding the helmet on and standing he started to walk away when Liam said “Charles? You..you were crying. What’s wrong?”
Closing his eyes Charles stopped in his tracks. “I’m fine Liam.” he said, looking at the sleeping Anton in the corner.
Liam leaned back from where he was sitting on the edge of his own bed and looked over at Charles, grinning in a manner that annoyed Charles as his friend said “Charles you are a terrible liar. So why don’t you just tell-”
Charles’ sigh cut Liam off and the grin fell from his face as Charles said “You ever really believe Anton’s little bullshit about how they won’t take us back?”
Liam frowned at that, staring down at the wolf pup that was sleeping at his feet. “I..never really did. I mean maybe they’d cut him and his brother loose since they vouched so heavily for the old..boss..I don’t even remember his name now. But the rest of us? Nah, they’d take us back.”
Charles shook his head “Liam they’d take you back. Aaron and Gunnar are two hot heads, so’s Eino. Anton’s always been a poor judge when it comes to actions, and me? You do realize they didn’t like my interest in modern technology right? The Elders were probably going to toss me out if we hadn’t gone on this stupid adventure..”
Charles started for the door when he heard Liam call for him to wait. “Where’re you going?”
Sighing Charles told him he was going ‘out’ and that he’d be back whenever he got back. Soon he was surrounded by the trees. Keeping an axe held loosely in his right hand he started towards the radio station.
Meanwhile Liam sat there staring at the door for a few minutes before shaking his head. He’d heard about how the elders treated Charles, from the sounds of it he was only kept around because his father had threatened to leave if they tossed his son out and he was the best smith they had. He’d always thought that was just rumours but with how Charles sounded he guessed there must have been some truth in there.
Standing up he decided to make his way outside while he pulled an old cigarello from his pocket. Walking out the door with both the puff ball and pup in tow Liam snapped his fingers and lifted his burning thumb to the cigarello’s end. Leaning against the wall next to the door he shook the fire out and watched the pup run off and play with the puff ball of light smiling.
He coughed a little, unused to smoking. Still it was a change of pace from his norm he thought. Change was something he needed if he were honest though. Scratching his cheek he pondered dying his hair, maybe even his beard, while he sat there and took a minute to catch his breath.
Elsewhere Foster and TJ made their way around Walkerville. The people here were nice and honestly kind of fascinating to Foster. That being said Foster, and TJ to a greater extent, was not a social butterfly of a person. So when the children started pulling a bit on TJ’s bandages and one had tried to snag at Foster’s sunglasses the pair had ducked away from people and ended up ducking out of the way to catch a breather.
Adjusting his glasses to properly cover his eyes Foster noticed some of the bandages around TJ’s hand were loose and sighed. Grabbing the hand in question Foster tightened the bandages and said “Well, the people are nice enough I’d say though they could do with better teaching their children. Which will in and of itself come in time.”
TJ nodded as he looked around to see if anyone was watching them. It was an old habit at this point. Nodding in thanks to Foster once he was done TJ said “Yeah, wonder if they’ve got anyone who could teach me how to actually fight. Running’s great and all but it’s not gonna get us out of every situation we get ourselves into.”
Foster nodded in agreement. The only reason the pair had avoided any sort of confrontation was due to the fact neither of them were experienced at fighting and Foster’s pistol didn’t have much ammo. “Yes, hopefully they do. But for now why don’t we go see about that man, Isaac I think it was, and his little library.”
TJ agreed and the pair started for the building. It wasn’t too difficult to make it there and the place was relatively quiet compared to outside. So the pair decided to take a bit of a breather and sip the coffee that Alice brought them.
She’d asked them what it was that brought them there and they responded with what they figured was the usual story. Just a couple of people looking for somewhere safe to stay. She nodded and asked if she could get them anything else but they shook their heads. “Well okay, but if you need anything me and my dad are just around the corner getting the cafeteria setup.”
The pair nodded in response and decided to peruse some of the books. They needed a bit of a breather anyway,
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Mrnocamera on February 28, 2019, 07:26:45 pm
(written by derg)
Cardin, of course, immediately ignored what Helen had just told him in favour of grabbing Solomon and dragging him back into the lab, holding up the plastic sapphire he'd been using for a mana gem. He chirps a bit, gently pressing it into his hand and waiting patiently. Solomon managed a little squeak of protest, being dragged about pretty much the instant Helen was busy with other things, giving a quizzical stare at the now-depleted mana gem, sighing as he fumbled with a small vial. The occasional straggler undead and otherworldly creature stalking the woods had given them an intermittent supply of essence and blood essence, and Helen had taught him the basics of consecrating it. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
Cardin shakes his head, chirping an unintelligable response while waiting for Solomon to 'refill' the gem for him. His wings stretch out a bit as he practically bounces with excitement, grabbing Solomon by the wrist as soon as it looks like he's done and leading him over to the book they were studying, flipping back to the page he was looking at and tapping the line with a talon, starting to cheep out a long-winded explaination before he remembers that nobody besides Melody can understand him. The avian mutant moves one hand up to rub at his beak nervously as he lets go of Sol's wrist, his sharp talons having dug into his skin a little bit. He looks a bit apologetic as he gently takes the gem back, holding it close to his chest again, not attempting anything yet.
Solomon sighed a bit at that gesture, concerned as glittering dull essence floated and drifted seemingly by thought, flowing into an steadily restoring that odd perception of radiance to the mana gem. No sooner had he done so then he gave a little yelp of surprise, dragged along back to the workstation in the lab, a bit nervous as he looked back at Cardin.
"Alright, just...be careful, okay? If something happens we might need to ask Helen for help, as I'm not sure either of us can handle whatever might go wrong." he pointed out, a bit uncertain as he tried to puzzle out just what Cardin was up to.
The avian takes a few steps back, bare talons clicking against the floor as he concentrates again, Solomon's hairs standing on end as a strange feeling fills the room, almost but not quite llike static electricity. Cardin's wings lightly flap a bit as that wind returns again, slightly stronger this time as... Something starts to form in the air between Solomon and Cardin, not really looking like, well, anything. The ball of nothing shifts slightly, the 'edge' of it not quite clear. An identical rift opens up directly behind Solomon, neither of them 'expanding' past being about basketball sized. Cardin looks surprised for a second, before excitedly chirping and bouncing up and down a bit.
Without thinking for even a second to maybe realize that this could be a terrible idea, Cardin hops forward, sticking his arm straight through the rift. He immediately squawks, with the sensation being like his arm, and only his arm, was being dunked into a bucket of ice water, a strange numbness spreading through his limb as it becomes visible from the other hole, feeling around a bit. The mutant gets an idea, leaning in a bit further to be able to reach Solomon's back, tapping him on the shoulder from behind with a curved talon.
Solomon watched warily, nervous as Cardin focused on magic he was rather unfamiliar with. He started to reach for his mask, yet he realized even if he activated it, what would he be looking for, and what could he even do? The need to actually do so however was made moot by the unnatural sensation and the vague image of a wavering mote of unreality, just distinct enough to be perceived with the naked eye.
He froze up, startled by the sight of it as he started to realize what it was. "Wh-Cardin, we really shouldn't be doing things like that, this is exactly the sort o-" He stopped himself only to go wide-eyed at Cardin doing what was probably the dumbest thing possible, jabbing his arm through it. He got about as far as putting a hand on the avian's shoulder with the intent of pulling him back, when he jumped at the hand tapping his shoulder, eliciting an underused fragment of what he'd picked up from studying to translate alchemical texts. "Γαμώ το!"
Cardin visibly restrains himself from laughing, already clearly having too much fun with this for it to be safe, and pulls his arm back, it coming back through both portals easily enough, and with a satisfying 'pop' that cause both rifts to vanish, seemingly... Dispelled? There doesn't seem to be much of a trace that they were even there in the first place, even if the spots were viewed through a mask of insight, although there was still a slight, fuzzy hint of them left behind.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 01, 2019, 10:49:23 pm
[written by a big lizard, a skellyman, and a ball]
Walkerville as seen from outside appeared to be an almost medieval kind of palisaded village, except for the fairly modern houses whose roofs could be seen just over the wall. From the inside, it wasn't much different except that the air here thrummed with improvised electricity and the low buzz of the strange jury rigged street lights. Contrary to how it had been a couple weeks ago, Walkerville was now rather calm, leaving the large courtyard at the center of it all rather empty but not abandoned.
"That there is the armory, we mostly stash recovered weapons there. We don't usually take anything out of it, so I guess it's just storage." Hector said, pointing to one of the farms only concrete structures. "Quinn's trailer, though Quinn is gone now. Headed south I think."
Floyd nodded at that, Quinn had indeed headed south. "Aye, just about tore Nip's heart out when he made it clear he was going." He put in.
"Thankfully we have a doctor to tend to the place in his stead, and to kep watch of Quinn's collection. Evidently Helen's supposed to come by and help with storing most of his old artifacts and curios safely." he added, glancing back to Branches to check on her, before nearing the vehicle bay and garage.
To his surprise, he soon saw Nathaniel heading over to greet them, Lilith bounding along excitedly right behind him, though the tigress soon halted, quite clearly glowering at the homunculus. "Hey Nathaniel? What's going on? Just showing a newcomer around. Branches, meet Nathaniel and Lilith." Hector said.
"Huh. Pleased to meet you. I was going to say, you might want to check in with the center soon. They received a large group of people from up north, said a high number of defectors from God's Army. Supposed to keep us informed if anything goes sideways, but things seen quiet for now. Not much else coming in over radio."
In the meantime, Lilith dropped to all fours and advanced on the petite homunculus. The contrast of Lilith's rippling muscles to Branches slim frame made the both of them seem more than they were. The smell was the same, like turned dirt, wild flowers, and unburned ceramic. All the wild things that made up the homunculus, the little smells that creatures like Lilith and Mica could smell.
"thtupid one eyeth. I'm gonna kick you again." Lilith growled. Branches recoiled. Being kicked hadn't hurt so bad, but the crack it had made had taken time to fill in. Then though, Branches face twisted in a cocky scowl. Lilith had picked branches up and drop kicked her last time. If she tried it while the homunculus was firmly two feet, or even one foot, on the ground...
"Jesus Lil, what's that for? Don't be so unfriendly." Nathaniel chastised, tugging uselessly at Lilith's bulky shoulder. Lilith advanced, and he snagged her tail. Where trying to get her attention by pulling on her shoulder hadn't got a result, grabbing her tail certainly did. She spun on him and pounced predatorily, pulling her surprised swipe enough to avoid taking his head off and instead burying him under a ton of fur and flesh. Branches sighed and moved behind Hector for protection. Hector simply put a hand to his face, but smiled none the less.
Nathaniel was left mmphing and squirming in protest as a result, Hector trying not to crack up as he carefully stood between then two of them. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this...Lil, what's going on? Have you met her before?" he asked. Even being aware of her thefts, he still didn't know what she was nor the events that led to Lilith's sudden hostility.
Floyd likewise was a bit concerned as he stepped up, keeping a hand on Branches' shoulder calmly. Most like to pull her out of the way if things got heated again. "Y'said somethin' about the center?" he asked, Nathaniel trying to give a nod, Hector hmming a bit before he spoke up again. "If they need me I'll head over there immediately, otherwise I suppose we should continue keeping an eye on things here..."
"Thtupid clay baby." Lilith purred before head bumping Nathaniel back down when he tried to slide out from under her, "Lilth kicked thtupid one eyeth into the water and broke it." Her statement only confused things a little more. Clay? Broken? The new visitor didn't look like clay, and didn't appear to be broken. A little smirk crossed Branches lips and she stifled it. She considered challenging Lilith to try it again, but such a show of strength would only serve to make the tigress angry, make the men suspicious of her, and possibly tip off Sharlene. Instead, she switched to logic and innocence.
"I don't know what she means... I'm not broken, and I haven't met her before..." She said, moving a little further behind Hector and looking at Lilith over his shoulder with a bit of worry. Lilith narrowed her eyes and growled, but then seemed confused. Branches had been half the size then and completely devoid of gender characteristics. The one eyed creature had the same smell and the same face, but it was different too. She let Nathaniel loose and padded over suspiciously. In response, Branches cringed even closer to the knight. 'On top of being handsome,' she thought distractedly, 'he smells nice too.'
"Can't fool Lilth one eyeth, Lilth know." She menaced.
"You... You're just a big dumb kitty! You never kicked me, I'm not broken!" Branches huffed.
Lilith stared at Branches for a moment, then chuffed a little. "Thtupid. Lilth kick one eyeth later." She chuckled, Floyds grip on her shoulder loosened noticably then and Lilith circled back around again. "Nataleeeeee." She whined, leaving Branches on notice for now. The Homunculus had no doubt that Sharlene would still hear about the encounter later though. Unfortunately for her peace of mind, she clearly didn't know Lilith very well. In an hour or two, Lilith would have dismissed the encounter entirely until the next time they crossed paths.
"Yeah yeah, calm down Lil, we'll get going in a sec. It sounds like they've got things under control Hec, but like I said they thought it was important for us to be kept in the loop on this, just in case. Where are you guys going next? See Catnip?"
Hector, concerned and confused as he was, gave a little nod to Nathaniel as the man tried his best to juggle keeping Lilith from attacking the newcomer with not getting bowled over or dragged along by the tigress. "Yeah, might check on them later today just in case, but for now further introductions might be in order." he said, leading the way along for now.
Lilith watched them go for a bit and quickly lost interest in them, preferring to harass Nathaniel to continue what she saw as her job. She could bully the one eyed clay baby later. Maybe even lump it together with bullying the bug. Lilith gave Nathaniel a lazy satisfied look and imagined what it would be like to knock Mica and the clay babies heads together, and what sort of noise it would make.
Meanwhile, Branches got the grand tour. From the encounter with the tiger, they moved on to the cook shack. The simple structure still looked much like it had when they had moved into the farm. A moderately sized tool shed from the outside, the inside had taken on a decidedly non-toolshed smell. Kathrine's kitchen, Kathrine's domain where she ruled over all with an eye for perfection. Even Catnip wasn't exempt from the small maids shooing once she got started. It smelled heavenly inside.
"Kat's not here at the moment, I suppose she'll be around the cook shack a lot less now that she and Nip have got their own house now." Floyd mused. Hector Nodded and added, "Kathrine can do great things with very little, but the farm tries to keep her stocked with the best we can manage. A lot of times that means canned stuff and somehow she can make it work. Kat's a good chef."
Hector and Floyd extolled Kathrine's skill while sorting through a few of the snacks on a shelf, looking for something to tide Branches over if she wanted, and then there came a bump from under the cook shacks long prep table, and a pot jolted the the side. It slid across the shacks new wood floor and thumped into the side of the stove, then rebounded and made a slow beeline back towards the table.
"Medeina..." Floyd drawled. At that mention and the distinct sight of a certain inquisitive AI practically acting like a scuttling pest, Hector facepalmed, now acutely aware of what this meant. "This can't go well..." he mumbled, stepping forward.
The clattering and shuffling gave way to skittering of a machine trapped under a pot right up until Hector pinned the pot in place under a gauntleted hand, knowing full well that once Medeina caught sight of Branches she'd want to "examine" her thoroughly. Of course, what he didn't know was that such examination might yield anomalous results.
After a long pause, from the pot came a loud "bonk." As Medeina attempted one last try to dislodge the offending kitchenware by trying to push it up and off with a little hop. The proxy really wasn't built for that sort of thing though, so the effort was weak and only accomplished making Hector snort an unintentional laugh.
"Vison zero. Mobility zero. Ms. Price? Are you still there?" the robot asked. Floyd cocked an eye at Hector, but the knight shrugged. It seemed obvious what had happened, Sammy wasn't the sort to do something like this for fun. Mica maybe, but not Floyds girl. No, Medeina had probably got annoying or asked a particularly personal question, and Sammy had trapped the robot under Kathrine's biggest pot. The basin and a collection of cans scattered in one corner suggested she'd tried to weight it down. "Ms. Minx? I'm under here Ms. Minx."
Hector slid one hand under the pot, and under the robot, and flipped the whole collection of things over. The small robot clonked against the bottom of the pot upside down like a turtle but unable to right itself due to the tight confines of her prison. "Hello Mr. Lowe!" She chirped. Her Camera swiveled and focused, clicking rapidly as the robot took and discarded a series of photographs. "And hello Mr. Price and Ms... Oh, Branches was it? I am glad to see that you are alright, though I believed you terminated in the recent kerfuffle at the center. I am glad to see that I was mistaken."
Floyd stared hard at the robot for a moment, "...What didja' say t'Sammy?" He drawled, somewhat confused as he facepalmed for a moment. "Y'really gotta stop askin' folks these kinda questions..."
"Huh. Yeah, what do you do to get Sammy riled u-" It was then that Hector stopped, glancing back at Branches confusedly, before looking back to Medeina. "...terminated? Alright. Explain what you were doing to Sammy first, then explain what you meant about a 'kerfuffle' at the center. They said there was an incident and that some of the locals from here and The Hall lent a hand, but not much else."
Medeina wriggled in the pot like a beetle stuck on it's back and refocused on Floyd. "Such questions are kept under utmost confidentiality Mr. Price. You know I can't go around sharing the details of collected data with just anyone, not even with a subjects father." She entoned administravely, then back to Hector again, "There was a brief conflict at the refugee center about two weeks ago while the Canadian forces and Smoke Marshal traders were visiting. The results were a lot of injuries but only two fatalities. An unknown woman and Ms. Branches. The unknown woman fired some form of energy weapon, and Branches seemed to have been disintigrated. Ms. D'eva-Dhoris requested Helen bury what was left."
Hector didn't recognize the name at first, but then remembered the name on a pink slip he'd received in his forge. Illiana D'eva-Dhoris. Before Hector could ask for more details, Medeina kept going. "And you have even since managed to reproduce. A reproductive cycle so quick is unsurprising seeing how quickly you have matured since then."
Silence, absolute silence for many long moments. The only thing changing in the room was the color rising in the Homunculus's face. "I'm sorry, have I said something untoward?" Medeina said, "Have I made an assumption and the earthen men are not your offspring?" Branches shook her head vigorously.
"N-no, I make them out of clay..." She mumbled. Hector and Floyd had seen her command such a creature once already, so that at least nipped that in the bud before all this could get overly awkward, but still left the question of this supposed death to answer for. Hector expected something arcane, that being his main experience with things like this, but Floyd was a father and drew an entirely different conclusion.
"I'm so sorry. Why didn't you just tell us that she..." He asked, putting a hand to Branches shoulder. Hector wasn't certain what to say at this point. There was definitely suspicion, or at least curiosity and concern, but it was Floyd's reaction that halted any further attempt to pry any hidden truths out of the homunculus. Given her silence he started to find his suspicions wavering in favor of worry, and a hand carefully rested on her shoulder in turn, to offer what support he could.
"I wish I'd known..." Hector said, uncertain how to react. This strange woman, Illiana, was clearly up to some unknown trickery, but the few people who'd actually met with her had spoken little of her, other than a momentary whisper that she was behind an early glimmer of intel regarding a local scout's mission, that she knew in advanced it was compromised.
And then there was this madness involving the center, he was certain that Medeina was dismissing arcane happenings in her usual manner, but the true character of it was something he could only guess at. More importantly, he reasoned that no matter what the truth was, it likely hit close to home in a way that'd be uncomfortable to discuss.
And just like that, Branches had been dished up a way out. She couldn't help but feel bad about taking it though, the men were earnest and she could tell they really felt for her.
"I'll be okay..." She said simply. Hector and Floyd looked to each other with a bit of worry, but nodded. They knew where to take a sad girl in need of a good hug and a little friendliness. Catnip would be more than eager to meet with Branches, and Kathrine was a hug champion as well as a provider of treats.
"Alright," Floyd said decisively, "off to see Catnip and Kathrine then. I won't hear no buts about it. If anybody is gonna lift the mood, it's those two."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Noctifer-De-Mortem on March 06, 2019, 09:33:05 pm
The day had gone relatively peaceful for Victor. He was currently taking inventory and seeing if the materials he needed for a project in his journal were to be found in his an Helen’s shared arcane storage. Helen was off taking care of some business while Clara had gone off with Christina for some “quality time” in the woods; to each their own he though. Still, things were indeed peaceful right now; furthermore, he had a family, one he now remembered. He had a home, nothing was actively trying to harm his or those he cared about, he had enough resources to pursue his own projects and the general outlook for the future look bright.
In the back of his mind one thing always lingered: his memory loss. Sure, many of them had been given back from various sources but many of them still remained a mystery. The man he was before the accident, if what others said could be trusted, how he ended up here, what was he working on and who a lot of the people here were. Those questions still lingered but it didn’t matter too much, he remembered enough including Helen and Thomas which right now is what he most cared about. One day he would get his memories back and face his past a new man but even if he didn’t, that was ok. Yes, times were good, he could get used to this.
That had been about an hour ago. Right now he was walking into walkerville for an impromptu meeting. His expression was of annoyance and concern for he realized a few things from this last hour. It had begun with his portable radio he kept on his hip. It perked up and he grabbed it to answer whoever was on the other side.
“Hello?”, asked Victor
“Heyyy, missed me?”, answered back the well known voice of Eris. He knew how to distinguish the two simply by the inflection of their tone. Luna was more carefree and outgoing while Eris was more cold and calice, and at times, even a bit sultry. Victor gave a deep sigh prompting Eris to laugh. Wow, I just said hello and you already react like this. Is my reputation really that tainted?
“Eris, get to the point. What do you want.”
“Ahhh, what makes you assume I want something? Can’t a girl just talk to her friends?”
“You and I both know you wouldn’t be using the radio if you just wanted to talk. What’s on our mind?”
A bit of silence before Eris spoke up again. “Already picking up on my tendencies huh? Interesting… Anyways, fine, I just wanted to ask you to come to my room for a little meeting. I need to discuss something with you… it’s important so come alone.”
That last bit sent a shiver down his spine. With what little he knew of her since the memory loss, that could mean anything. “Important huh? What about?”
“Can’t say it right now. Please, just meet me in my room in an hour ok? I think what I have to say will interest you… Have to go now, sorry, an hour ok? See ya then!”
“Eris wai-”
Before he could respond, she had disconnected already. Victor gave another deep sigh and put his radio back in his belt. “Jupiter have mercy on me.... Roxanne, you are going to be the end of me one day...”
Yes right now he was on his way to the meeting held in Roxanne’s room. But there was something that this little incident resparked in him; a memory he sought to ignore until now: Just who was Roxanne? From little memories she gave him back, and from what others had told him, they were apparently rather close friends. Then way was he always so hesitant around her? Why did her ideas sound so weird and dangerous? Was that really how he was before the accident? What was Roxanne hiding from him?
All this questions and more lingered as he walked. He had tried his best to ignore this calling to find out more and focus in his life but something just kept nagging at him. “Just who the hell are you Roxanne?”, he whispered to himself. Maybe it was the ridiculousness of the whole ordeal, maybe it was how uneasy he felt around her or maybe how carefree she was about everything all the time. Sure, she had explained and reveal quite a whole lot to him, and they had that deep conversation on how much of a fuckup they both were, but he felt there was more. Whatever it was, right then and there Victor decided he would find out the truth; find out who he was and who Roxanne really is.
Soon enough he reach the door of Roxanne’s room. Walkerville was both busy and seemingly quiet in its own way; sure there was plenty of noise as everyone went around their work but it all felt as if it was background noise, nothing stood out. Victor reached out to knock but before he could a familiar voice spoke up beyond the door. “Come on in, its open.”
“Melody?”, Victor whispered to himself once more. Yes, the first person he meet after losing his memories. Apparently they were on an adventure that had gone wrong and because of it she lost her sight and her his memories. He was her mentor of sorts as well but no lessons had emerged yet. What was she doing in there?
After a single shrug, Victor opened the door to find Roxanne serving coffee to Melody and the person he recognized as Rey; the 6’2” man nodded his way and Victor nodded back. He didn’t know much about Rey and now he had also gave up giving up on explaining why everyone was here.
“Victor! Glad you could make it!”, exclaimed Roxanne.
“Got busy hands I see. Anyone else in here I need to know about? Half the farm is in here...”, Victor joked back. His attempts at humor a way to seem normal and not betray how on edge he was.
Roxanne gave a light laugh and shook her head. “Nope, just us. Now we can start the meeting. Coffee?”
Victor accepted a cup and found a spot to sit on the bed next to Roxanne. Rey and Melody had grabbed a couple chairs and sat adjacent to them. “Right, so why did you call me here Roxanne?”
“My my, so impatient. Don’t you want to catch up first?”, Roxanne asked almost rhetorically.
Victor gave a deep sigh.“Like I said before, if you just wanted to talk you wouldn’t have invited me under such shady circumstances. You would’ve probably just barged into my room; I know that much about you at least.”
Roxanne smiled and nodded with her eyes close. “Alright, fair enough. Then I guess we shouldn’t waste any more time then.” She put down her now empty cup of coffee. How she was able to drink it so fast or the logistics of how a ghost could enjoy coffee beyond taste, those were things Victor readily avoid thinking about. “Melody, if you will.”
Melody jumped in place as Roxanne called out for her; the entire time she had been nervous and fidgeting to herself seemingly lost in thought. That was quite interesting given the fact she was going to say what this whole thing was about. She cleared her throat, adjusted her blindfold and began to speak.
“Well, it’s hard to explain but I’ll do my best. As you guys know I am the wielder of despair. Because of it a lot of weird stuff has happened to me; I’ve had weird dreams, artifacts appear on me… certain ghosts hit on me…”
“Guilty as charged~”, Roxanne said with a smirk before Melody resumed speaking.
“Anyways, the latest weird thing is what I want to talk about… I’ve been hearing voices.” At this revelation Roxanne perked up; Victor and Rey simply listened on. “They been telling me things about a trial and how I must report to get my score. Something like that… And how I must bring the ‘broken man’ with me…”
“Ok, but what does this have to do with us? You need help getting rid of this voices?”, Victor asked from both impatience and curiosity.
“Well, not exactly…”, Melody continued, “You see. I was discussing this with Roxanne and Rey before you got here Victor and we came to a conclusion.” Melody went silent seemingly leaving the statement unfinished.
“And that is?”
“You are the broken man Victor and Melody here needs you.”, Roxanne blurted out before anyone else had a chance to speak.
“Excuse me?”, Victor asked not sure how to feel about that.
“Roxanne!”, exclaimed Melody rather exasperated.
“What? You weren’t going to say it and it needed to be said. Rey here really has no stake in this so he is going to state quiet and mr.mage here is too dense to figure it out. I did us all a favor.”
Melody stayed quiet for a moment before speaking up again, her words stuttering, “B-but… you didn’t have to be so blunt about.”
“Hold on a moment...”, Victor interjected, “What do you mean by ‘broke man?’”
Roxanne tapped a finger to the side of her head as she spoke, “Your memories. We are our memories after all and given your amnesia...”
“Wait, but wouldn’t that make me a new person then?”
“It would have but… I did give you a portion of them so instead you are on the path to be your old self. So now you are simply a man with a piece of him missing; a broken man… Don’t look at me like that, it was the voices Mel’ here keeps hearing that said that!”
“Don’t put the blame on me like that! That is not fair!”, Melody exclaimed in Roxanne’s direction and Roxanne could swear her eyes were piercing her despite her blindness. For whatever reason this unnerved her so she reached for her wooden mask and put it on; she did so in the same way a someone would hide behind a blanket for comfort. That’s when something unexpected happened that threatened to derail the meeting.
“Huh? Roxanne? Where did you go?” Melody began to turn her head in all directions seemingly looking for Roxanne. Despite not being able to see her eyes behind her blindfold, what was seen revealed her face was full of confusion.
“You have to be kidding me...”, Roxanne whispered to herself smirking a bit. She got up and slowly approached the confused girl; her training in SoA came in handy as she sneaked behind Melody and wrapping her arms around her keeping them an inch from touching. Rey simply facepalmed as he was still here in the promise that his participation on this would grant him souls to feed. Victor meanwhile seemed lost in thought and was paying no mind.
“Roxaaaane, this isn’t funny! Where are you?!”, Melody asked seemingly a bit concerned now.
Roxanne leaned in and whispered in here ear. “Right behind you...” At that Melody jumped in place giving a high-pitched squeak but before she could get away Roxanne wrapped her arms around her; Melody trashed about confused and scared. “Stop! Get away! This isn’t funny!”
“Oh, I can do much worse...”, Eris whispered. Her hands soon started to trail up her body and sought to grope at her chest. Melody’s trashing stopped for a moment as she realized what was going on and promptly resumed; she recalled being a similar situation back when Roxanne was trying to coerce her into giving up Despair. “I am not giving you the sword!”, Melody shouted.
“Nah, we don’t want it anymore...”
Rey tried not to look at the scene in front of him choosing to distract himself by examining Roxanne’s altar closer and trying to ignore Melody’s pleas for her to stop. Victor on the other hand was still lost in thought; something was bothering him but he couldn’t pinpoint what. Was it something in his lost memories? Why did this whole thing feel so wrong? It was as if something was screaming for him to get away but another part, something more primal, insisted they saw this through. In his mind the latter idea prevailed and he resigned himself to at least hearing out what it was they needed him for.
“Alright, I think I get it now. So what do you need me to do?”
Eris looked back at Victor as he spoke and stopped her teasing on Melody who in turned took the opportunity to elbow her in the shoulder so she could get away. “Ow, easy girl. I can feel pain again you know?”
“Yeah, that was the point! Do that again and I will do much worse!”, Melody exclaimed to Roxanne as she sat down back on her chair. She huffed and crossed her arms while still blushing bright; it seemed that the whole ordeal was only a mild annoyance to her. Melody then shifted her would-be gaze at again. “Well, he asked you a question. What are you waiting for?”
Eris smiled at that as she too took her seat taking off the mask.“Me-ow~ Look who decided to become bossy all of the sudden. But alright, I do guess it is my turn.” She took a deep breath to calm her amusement from her previous actions. Her expression turned serious and so did her words; the meeting was back on track again. “A long time ago Victor, you and I found an abandoned building. It looked like a regular house until we reached a particular room; inside said room it looked like some sort of shrine. In this shrine we performed a certain ritual and ended up angering some sort of wanna-be deity. He place some curse on due to it and we have been recovering from it ever since..”
Victor was about to ask something; Eris preemptively put out her hand to signal him to let her finish. “I’ll get to that; believe, it’s important to me too… Anyways, so here is what Melody told me happened that day. You took her to explore her first location with magical anomalies; you had Luna scout the place before hand and she gave the all clear but of course what the fuck would she know about properly sweeping an anomalous place? The two of you go in and loot the place then find a mysterious room. Once inside she finds Despair on the ground after apparently Luna lost it to some fuckboy that defeated her in combat. She takes the sword and the place is swarmed by shadows. The two of you fight and some wannabe all powerful deity shows up, gives you a lecture and curses the two of you. Does this sound familiar?”
Eris stops talking so Victor could process this; it didn’t take him long and he nods in understanding. “Ok, so that explains why I am needed and what this thing is I suppose. Melody here said the voices told her to report back with me. So we go and meet this asshole and get the curse over with?”, Victor asks.
This prompted laughter from Eris. “Oh Vic’, if it only were that easy. See, none of us know where you two went even is. Besides. This is a trail, the spirit there has to judge you and see if you have passed his bullshit test.”
“Than what the hell are we doing here? I am getting really impatient, get to the point already!”
“Woah! Calm down there… Jeez, I’ve only seen you like this back wh… never mind that. I am getting there ok?” Indeed Victor seemed a bit agitated and Eris could guess why but she didn’t know the full story. Melody was a bit confused herself but still following along. Rey on the other hand was enjoying this comparing the mistakes of Eris and Victor to his and Luna’s. After another series of deep breaths Eris continued.
“Sometime in our travels together after the cataclysm, before we meet anyone else… before a certain incident… We found another one of these shrines. At that point we knew better than to mess with them so we simply took steps to make sure no one would ever find it and we simply left. It is still there you know? And I know how to get there.” She smirke a bit as the realization of this hit Victor. “You are thinking right. I propose taking you there and getting this over with. I have experience with this you know? I can make sure we do this right and safely; find out about the curse plaguing your mind and Melody’s sight and hopefully end it.”
Silence took the room as everyone pondered their own thoughts. Victor looked around and all attention was focused on him. “What about you Melody, are you down for this?”
She nodded. “This was my idea in the first place, Eris here was the one who came up with the plan. It is a literal calling! I want to do this Victor, please?”
He then looked back at Eris who simply smiled; it was a sincere smile, something he deep down knew was rare. She spoke up before he could. “Don’t you want to know who you are? Who I am? What this all means? Our curse? I want to talk to you about it Victor, a conversation we needed to have had years ago… but for that I need you back...”
“I don’t know… are we even ready to face trial to this thing?”
“One way to find out right? Please? Listen… I can’t believe I am saying this but… I am asking you as a friend. I know you don’t truly know me but you will, I promise. Just this once, trust me ok?”
Those words, they resonated with him a bit. Inside of him what seemed like every alarm bell in his body going off. What appeared to be a seething hatred welled up urging him to take up arms and strike her down. However, there was a third feeling, one he didn’t want to even acknowledge but that was present; one that told him he could trust her and to this feeling he clinged on.
“I don’t know… give me an hour ok? Just need to think about...”
“Alright, I can respect that...”
An hour passed, and then another. Finally the meeting ended and Melody opened the door. She and Rey stepped outside wandering off together seemingly having struck a conversation. They didn’t bother saying their goodbyes the Roxanne or Victor simply wandering off to the next adventure. The sight of the 5’4”young woman with the 6’2” man was quite amusing to Roxanne. As they walked he materialized a sword and handed it to her in turn handing Despair to him.
Victor exited the room soon after them giving a deep sigh; his shoulders were slumped and he walked seemingly defeated. Roxanne patted him on the back which straightened him up. He looked back at her before she spoke. “You did the right thing Victor, you’ll see.”
“And how the hell am I going to explain this to Helen?”, Victor answered back
“Just tell her the truth and everything will fall into place. I too will have to let Hector know about this… We’ll see who has more luck in that department.. Anyways, safe travels and see you tomorrow if not sooner.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 08, 2019, 04:14:42 pm
(( Written with Mrno ))
Solomon was noticeably shaken after what he'd witnessed, fumbling to put his mask on and examine first Cardin, then the room the act had taken place in. "Cardin..." he grumbled worriedly, regarding a fading aura that lingered around the limb the avian had thrust through the portal. What residual energy remained at least seemed harmless as far as he could discern, dwindling of its own accord, and the disturbance left was focused, small and narrow such that its aftereffects were barely visible in the slightest.
He sighed, shaking his head as he finally regained his composure, before quietly excusing himself from the lab area. It was obvious what he was going to do though, even though he was just as likely to get in trouble for having played along and even helped Cardin recharge the amulet.
The avian mutant, meanwhile, quickly made to follow after Solomon. He paused at the door, though, rubbing at his right arm, the lingering numbness worrying him slightly. He chirps, having decided that following Solomon with some kind of weird magic still... Attached? To him wasn't the best idea, and steps back into the lab again, sitting down cross-legged on the floor.
It wasn't long before Solomon returned however, his expression less mortified in favor of the look of a scolded puppy. And following right behind him was Helen, her mask off and therefore making the look of sheer disappointment perfectly clear.
"By Yeshua's palms, what were you thinking? Here, sit still for now." she said, kneeling beside the sitting avian and calmly grabbing him by the arm he'd stuck through the portal. As she did, she carefully unraveled the bandages his prior burns required, retrieving a vial of odd red liquid, and a mote of dull essence. She left it drift into the open vial, shimmering with odd silver light within the red liquid as it seemed to dissolve into the vial's contents.
Then, she poured it along the limb with caution, that odd numbness momentarily giving way to a stinging sensation before fading, the burns noticeably healed up faster than normal, though that seemed to be a side effect of the potion itself. "You're lucky something in-between didn't decide it wanted to keep your arm." she grumbled, looking him over. "What am I to do with you..."
Cardin squirmed a bit at the sensation of his arm healing up, wings half-flaring out behind him, holding them in close enough to not knock anything over still. The avian mutant looked down, a heat spreading across his face as he blushed underneath his already red feathers and chirped out an unintelligable apology. The embarrassed bird deliberately tried to avoid making eye contact with either of them while he did so.
Helen gave a sigh at that, before taking him by the hand, calmly grabbing the mana gem as she shook her head. "You need to learn caution, and that your actions have consequences, ideally before those consequences get you killed." she said, soon leading the two out to the workspace along the side of The Hall.
"Kitchen duty won't exactly be much punishment for Solomon, but perhaps in the late afternoon teaching you to help prepare dinner will suffice, for helping out with this dangerous experiment. For now..." She'd laid out a few tools atop the anvil, along with a bin of thin scrap steel, which she'd cleaned of rust beforehand. A broad hammer, metal shears, file, and engraving chisel.
The punishment was fairly mundane yet menial, and if Hector was present he'd likely laugh at the idea given it was not very different from the making of replacement rings he'd found quite relaxing. Simply working pieces of steel flat, cutting them into a long scale shape as she demonstrated, filing the rough edges smooth, then working the feather motif into one face with the chisel to add detail. The sort of mundane task that used to be a daily chore back in the sanctums of her youth, and frequently handed out to young trainees in need of discipline, or to train a steady hand.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 10, 2019, 03:15:54 pm
Now that she was sitting next to her, the person Jennifer was already thinking of as "the hussar" seemed even more vulnerable and nervous than before. Cherise was trying though and in the presence of people she would have spent her time hunting, and the absence of the armor she used to wear, was admirable. Last time Jennifer had seen this woman, the only part of her she'd actually been able to see was her head. A round unfriendly face topped by a mop of county cork red hair like a load of limp springs. The grim look from before hadn't suited her, but Jenny thought the new look of nervous fear suited her even less. Without the light power armor, Cherise was built like a small truck. Where Jennifer was smooth and feminine, Cherise was lightly muscled and somewhat imposing. The overall impression was a lady who could and would knock the teeth out of the skull of any man dumb enough to try getting fresh with her. It had been her idea to sit close.
"To get used to being near you..." She explained. Jennifer sighed and made a gesture. Nearby, Lolita had been watching and when the gesture was given the new chef ordered the old chef to get out a fresh plate of fries. It had only taken a moment to explain their part in the meeting. To Jenny's surprise though, Cherise hadn't missed it and appreciated the effort as a means of trying to get the woman to be more comfortable around her. So, they ate fries. Jennifer forcing herself to go slow and make sure Cherise got a fair share. When the plate was gone, only then would Jennifer talk business.
"So, I know you. Do you know me?" She asked. Cherise rubbed a cheek and thought. Jenny seemed familiar, but not quite. It took Jenny covering her ears with a hand to bring it back to her fully.
"From the bar! How did you get into New Bangor? Or... did it happen after?" Cherise asked. She was a gentle woman by nature it seemed and that was fine and good with Jenny. It would help her fit in better. What Jennifer knew about her though was what she wanted for her rangers.
"You'd be surprised how easy it is to hide them under a scarf and tuck my tail into a pair of way too big pants. I'm not mutated like the rest of these people anyway, but I doubt that matters much. Cherise- I can call you Cherise right? Good. Cherise, I need you."
Cherise chuckled at something that struck her funny, then said, "Sorry lady, I hardly know you. Besides that, I don't swing for that team anyway." Jenny cocked her head for a moment out of confusion, then burst out laughing. Both of them did in fact, and the tension between them seemed to melt away. Over by the kitchen, New Bangors former barman looked up at the commotion and grinned before getting back to his new work. Things would be alright.
"Holy shit lady," Jenny said when she got her breath back, "You sure know how to turn a girl down gently. Joking aside, that's not what I meant. Listen. I would like your talents for a job."
"My talents?"
"Yeah. Fighting. Tracking. All that stuff. Instead of going after people though, I had something else in mind. Are you in?" Jennifer asked casually, thinking that she'd loosened the woman up enough.
"No." Cherise said, "I just got here and someone is already trying to get me to do something without explaining what's going on. I didn't agree to come here of all places just to start doing more dirty work."
"I'm getting to it, but I need to do some scouting first. Can I at least get a maybe out of you?"
"No. If you want me to help, then your going to need to share some details."
Jennifer squirmed a little in her chair and looked around. She'd been somewhat subtle about this whole thing up to this point mostly because she wasn't sure it wouldn't get out that she was up to something. She didn't want it getting back to this Hoyt guy and ruining the whole plan before it was even formulated. At the same time, she really wanted Cherise. Jenny had never formally met the woman, but her reputation back in New Bangor had been enough to keep Atomos away. Rumors that the huntress could smell mutants. A stupid rumor, but tempting considering all the strange things in the world. Especially when the ranger had been spying. Cherise was watching her carefully, then broke the silence of Jenny's thoughts with a request.
"Take me with you when you do your scouting." She said. That was an idea. Not a bad one either. Perfect in fact, it would give Jenny a chance to get some more personal discussion with the woman and share her plans without fear of it getting around.
"Yeah, that sounds acceptable." She said and offered her hand, "Tomorrow first thing in the morning, I'll meet you in the foyer and we'll move out."
"Well, alright. You've got a deal I suppose, but don't be surprised if I don't show up." Cherise said a little despondently.
"Don't say it like that, c'mon. It'll be fine. I've already got a code name for you and everything."
"Codename? Listen lady, I haven't agreed to anything yet and you're already throwing code names and shit around. Good god, It's like when I- er..." Cherise looked around and lowered her voice, "When I was conscripted..."
"I swear to god," Jenny said slyly, "It's not going to be like that. How does 'Hussar' sound?"
"It sounds dumb. What about you?" Cherise asked, scowling. Jenny didn't know what a hussar was, but liked the sound of it. As for Cherise, her brother had been a hobby historian and absolutely mad about cavalry. The old unit didn't describe her in the least, but if this was how it was going to be then this girl with the ears and tail wasn't going to be dissuaded.
"It's Atomos outside the center, but don't worry about that for now. Just try to relax and meet some of the people you'll be helping out around here. In the morning, things will look so much better." Catnip stared at her tail and tried to get it to move. She wasn't sure how she sometimes managed to get it to twitch, but she'd been told that it could articulate and she thought that would be just peachy. She stared at it and it continued to not move. 'Maybe I should be doing something else...' she thought, 'It's a nice enough day, maybe Kathrine will go on a walk with me?' Kathrine would go of course, she wouldn't dream of not going. She pushed that idea away as Kathrine was napping upstairs. The maid rarely did anything for herself and so the nap was, to Catnip, a small show of self indulgence on her girlfriends part. A bit of self indulgence Catnip would allow to go on unimpeded.
It was the first time in quite awhile for Catnip where she didn't feel like working. Meeting with guests, building things, fixing things. It was all fun, but it was work. Satisfying work. Even Catnip couldn't work all the time though. She looked over at Kathrine's guitar sitting at the end of the couch and considered trying it out. No, that was out of the question. Last time she'd so much as plucked a string, Kathrine had come down stairs and assumed that Catnip had wanted to hear her play. No no no. No extra work for Kathrine. Catnip wracked her brain for something to do. Games with Dee? No, he was busy with Medeina and Mica. Cartoons? She wasn't allowed to watch cartoons anymore. See what Roxanne was up to? Roxanne was very likely busy with whatever it was she needed a meeting place for.
She picked up a chew stick from the jar on the table and gnawed it thoughtfully. Through the window, she caught a glimpse of Hector and Floyd coming up to the house with someone new in tow. A social call? An introduction maybe? She went to the door and threw it open just as Hectors fist came up to knock. Perhaps a social call would be fine, so long as it wasn't a business one. Maybe the new person would be fun.
"Hector! Floyd! Who's your friend?" Catnip asked cheerily but a little quietly. She was already going over in her head how to go about the tasks Kathrine usually took care of when there were guests. First, answer door. Check. Next, show them to the living room. That was easy enough. "Come in, sit down guys. Er, Mr. Lowe, Mr. Price, and Ms..." She realized she had asked but hadn't yet got the name of the new girl. "Wait, uh, I've done it out of order. Just a sec."
"Good afternoon Nip, this is Branches. She lives across the new lake. Branches, this is Catnip. If you need someone to fix something, you can come to her and she'll take care of it." Hector introduced, then asked, "Where's Kathrine Nip?"
"Sleeping, just leave her be, I can do the hosp-ee-tality thing." Catnip explained, "Come in, sit down. I'll get you guys some food and stuff." She wasn't quite as adept at house keeping and serving as Kathrine, but Catnip would be butched if she was going to make Kathrine get up and do this. Even if she would be happy to do so. She brought out a bag of stale pretzels and a large mason jar of sun tea. All the while, the wooden dowel bobbed up and down fitfully and Branches watched it curiously. "Want one?" Catnip asked when she noticed the one eyed girl watching her chew stick. There was something about the pale girl that Catnip liked. The wide curious eye and bright rice paper white skin reminded her of Mica. Or rather, Branches visually reminded her of Snowball. Snowball had looked out at the small world the children of lab X7 knew with a worldly curiousity under her golden blond hair. Snowball had tripped up during testing, tripped over a skitter and buried under a pile of stinging metal robots. Then she'd been taken away for christmas.
"Nip?" Floyd asked, waving a hand in front of Catnips face, "Y'all right?" She nodded sheepishly and gave Branches a stick stained a golden shade by the honey that had been soaked into it.
"Yeah just thinkin'." She said. Back in the cupboard under the stair, she found a jar of pink and white frosted cookies shaped like animals. Catnip hated white chocolate, but these animal cookies were somehow acceptable to her. Aside from the hard candies that were always present on the coffee table, these cookies were one of her favorites for casual visits. She took a moment to dust off and consider an eight pack of apple juice when a shadow blocked out the light from the door.
"Need any help Nip?" Floyd asked. Catnip handed him the apple juice and the jar, then added a spray can labeled 'squeezy cheese.'
"I think that'll be good." She said, "But I can handle all this. Gimme gimme so I can carry it back. I wanna do it!"
"Nip." Floyd said in a hushed tone, "I don't think I have to tell you to be extra nice, but that girl in there... The center got attacked recently and she lost her sister." Catnip cocked her head and stopped trying to prise the food from Floyd's arms. She was lost again for a moment, thinking about her own siblings.
"Catnip?" Came the small voice at the top of the stairs above her, bringing Catnip out of her memories before she could sink in. Branches (entirely ficticious, not that any of them knew it) tragedy was something Catnip and Mica were all too familiar with. It was a well she could fall into and have difficulty climbing up out of again, and so it was fortunate that Kathrine had stirred and heard the talking downstairs.
"It's alright Kathrine, we have guests." Catnip said. She took everything from Floyd but the can of cheese and rushed them to the table before Kathrine could snap into "maid mode" and start serving. "I've got it all taken care of, you don't have to do anything." When she looked to the maid, she saw the mix of adorable sleepiness and groggy petulance all over her girlfriend. "Don't be mad k?"
Branches meanwhile gave the stick an experimental chew. It was sweet and splintery, but not horrible. It could certainly keep the mouth busy. Catnip felt right to her. Open and friendly, willing to please but not soft. She'd been described like some kind of business lady or a strict mechanic. From what the homunculus could see, Catnip was doting and sweet. Kathrine eyed Branches from the top of the stairs. In a little bit, when Kathrine had fully woken up and forced Catnip to settle in, she would see that Kathrine was certainly the most spun sugar and warm cocoa of the two. Even if her face didn't show it. Over the course of the visit, Catnip and Kathrine would hold their attention with talk and food and entertainment, stretching what had been intended to be a short visit into a much longer one. By the time Branches, Hector, and Floyd were allowed to leave, the sun had progressed through it's usual climb across the sky and had begun to sink below the tree line in the west. Catnip had told a harrowing tale from Arizona and Kathrine had got out a board game which they'd gone through several times. In all, the visit had so far been the most enjoyable time Branches had had in her short life. Floyd departed for his own home, rubbing his back and waving, while Hector saw the Branches.
"Sorry it took so long," He said, "those two are fond of guests. Also it seems Catnip really took a shine to you, so that's good. It's not hard to get on her good side, but it's also not easy to get so close so quickly." Hector rubbed the back of his head. He knew about what Floyd had told Catnip in the mechanics snack cupboard and suspected that maybe that had something to do with it. "Anyways, if you want I can take you home. It's still light out, but it's not easy in the dark."
It was an innocent suggestion but all the same, it made Branches feel uneasy and a little embarassed. A little light and flgihty even. Someone as important and strong as Hector would offer to take a simple homunculus back to her mud hut in the woods? She realized that he would probably think she was some kind of savage if he saw where she lived. Compared to the houses on the farm, Branches might as well have lived in a dirty hole in the river bank.
"N-no, I can take care of myself fine..." She said quietly.
"Are you sure? If you want, you can stay around here til tomorrow. I understand that... Well, I mean I can imagine what it must be like to come home and find your house... empty..." Branches grinned at the ground, unable to meet his gaze. She was touched by his genuine concern for her fake loss. Letting him walk her back would just make her feel terrible for making him feel pity for a sad event that never happened.
"No, it's okay. Thank you though. If I can't take it, I'll just go to Helens." She said. Hector bowed, and the spots of red that caused in her face went unnoticed in the failing light. By the time his head came back up, she'd already turned away and was on the move towards the gate and the bridge beyond. Yellow Jacket and her crew lay in wait just beyond the tree line, looking out at the ruined shack by the lakes edge and watching for the return for the little cyclopian bitch who'd stolen her gangs property and humiliated her men. They'd trashed the little bitches camp upon their arrival, scattering the little dirt statues like bowling pins whenever the things tried to mount a defense. It was dangerous though, earlier in the day her other man had met them on the road with a hell of a story to tell. The iron marshal was in the area and had laid his protection over the girl. Not that Yellow Jacket gave a tin shit. He'd passed on a warning from the dipshit who fancied himself a knight, and that pissed her off.
"Fuck you..." She grumbled to herself thinking about that warning. The sound of an owl down by the river splashed a bucket of cold water in her face, dismissing her rage for attentiveness in an instant. That was the signal. The little bitch was home. Yellow Jacket peered across the lakeside clearing in the low light towards the rough new path the homunculus had cleared at Helen's behest earlier in the morning, and caught a glimpse of her. A young woman with pale white skin and one big eye at the center of her face beneath yellow hair the color of corn silk. Yellow Jacket tensed. Something off about the girl. It was surely the girl who'd done for her men, but she looked odd. After a bit of watching, Yellow Jacket placed the look. The girl was dreamy, just sort of ambling around like a young woman day dreaming. That eased the tension a little. It would make her easy to take when she got close enough.
When the thoughts of ambush started to formulate though, the girl suddenly snapped to attention. The house was wrecked and it wasn't subtle, she'd noticed before getting close enough for Yellow Jackets gang to close the trap perfectly. That was fine, if her men had followed directions, then several men would be coming up the path behind the girl at that moment. When they came into view, Yellow Jacket stepped into view.
"Sup cunt." She said, "I think you have something that belongs to me." Branches eye widened and she spun about to see the men coming in behind her. "Don't even think about it, we've got you-"
Branches bolted right at them, and to Yellow Jackets horror, her men were sent scattering like the little clay people her own men had kicked and smashed upon their arrival. The first to try and grab Branches was socked in the gut and thrown bodily aside. The next received a kick to the groin that lifted him then tossed him five or six feet straight up, a wound that would no doubt castrate him. A broken leg and pulped face later, the girl was vanishing back the way she'd come and Yellow Jacket was screaming after her. They never caught up, but what they found when they followed was a surprise. Not far away, just across the road south of Branches camp in fact, was a thick line of trees. It was the palisade within that line of trees in the swamp that was the surprise.
"So she's gone in?" Yellow Jacket asked. The man who'd scouted the place nodded enthusiastically, he'd managed to keep up just outside visible range and saw the young woman slip over the wall. It wasn't hard to pick her out in the dark. "Alright then." Yellow Jacket decided, "Keep scouting, we go after her before dawn."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on March 12, 2019, 09:15:54 am
The trio had purchases a few more supplies, flour and other goods for the journey ahead, sold at cost given the aid they offered to the village in its hour of need, traded away for some of the coin Horace still had on him.
They would find, after getting ready, Abraham just outside the village, snapping branches off dead trees and sweeping up dead leaves, piling them onto a body. That of the sickly old mare that had weathered the journey this far. Whether it was the harsh blizzard or simply old age, the gunslinger wasn’t certain, but he suspected the latter.
Horace looked at what Abraham was doing, “...What are you doing?” He asked. Abraham shrugged, “Ground’s t'hard fer an actual burial.” He drawled matter-of-factly. Celine balked a bit at the sight, looking away in disgust, before she finally spoke up. “So where we headed next, anyway? Guess he’ll be riding in the wagon...”
“West. Across the mountains. We may find what we seek there.” Horace answered plainly, looking back towards the road. “There’s a mountain pass along the way, as well.” he added, Abraham hmming a bit. “Think yer wagon’ll be good enough fer shelter?” Ceiline gave a nod, “Should be… Not a whole lot of space though.” She explained, scratching her head for a moment.
Abe hmmphed a bit at that, looking down the old road. “Right. Better than a crowded chuck down to Santa Fe at least.” he remarked, getting a stare of confusion from Celine, and an amused chuckle from Horace, as he mounted his own steed. “Let’s go...”
They rode onward, along a cracked and worn old country road, running along the way towards one of the major passes in the Appalachian mountains, knowing full well they were in the shadow of a haven for the otherworldly and ethereal, and that way lay beyond was likely to hold even stranger things. The signs of life, at least earthly life, seemed to fade the farther along they went. However, every so often there were signs that some people occasionally still traveled these old roads.
“So why are we heading this way, anyway?” Celine asked, looking down from her position on the wagon at Horace. “Finding a way to deal with a threat we’re after.” he answered plainly, the mage shaking her head. “That...doesn’t explain much.” she remarked, only for Abraham to leaning out the wagon a bit, having overheard the conversation.
“Fuckin’ space shoggoth his talkin’ axe done sent him t’ kill. So what y’find up there anyway?” Abe added, an explanation that just confounded Celine further. Horace gave a little hmmph at that, gaze focused on the road ahead. “Got a few answers. We’re after Astor. The demon controlling God’s Army. There is a way to harm it at least. The artifact can open rifts as well as manipulate them, and that can weaken it...”
“Open rif-are you crazy!? Last big one that opened up made everything almost as haywire as back when this started! What the hell could be worth causing that again?” Celine said, only for Horace to shake his head. “Anything big enough to kill it would likely be at least as disruptive to The Veil as the last one that opened, not to mention take more power to be practical. But a smaller one, a ripple. This thing can open them safely, and close them afterward.” he said, before looking back to the mountains looming in the distance.
“We’re being sent to find something that might help kill it. But for now, we at least have something that can wound it.” Horace gave a dry sounding exhale, as he got as comfortable as one could in that wagon.
Time passed, Horace was left to his thoughts and Abraham dozed off as the wagon found itself onto a paved road. The party neared a roofed small stage on the side of the road. Must have been a part of a bar due to the large pile of rubble nearby. Over a dozen people crowded in front, to watch a man in odd looking motley garb put on a show.
As they neared, the mix of travelers that obverse seemed to include a few of less savory appearance, kept from causing trouble only by the offer of momentary respite and a few words from a silver tongue. Even then however, as the strumming of a weathered old guitar wound down into an outro, one of the men spoke up, heckling the odd fellow with some indistinct drunken shout.
Horace hmmed a bit, hopping out of the wagon and walking ahead as Celine pulled the wagon to a stop, Abraham mumbling groggily as he stretched before practically rolling out of the back, the all-too-brief rest leaving him feeling practically hungover at first. “Never can sleep well in those gatdamn things...” he mumbled, the three of them making their way over to get a closer look.
Pretty much right as the three got to the back of the crowd, one of the more rowdy bandits stepped up, waving a half-empty bottle of probably-stolen alcohol. “Hey Krusty! Do Freebird!” The Jester turned his head towards the heckler, he seemed to start Freebird and strumming the strings before suddenly stopping. “No thanks!” The Jester said, giving a little chuckle as he set the guitar aside. “I don’t do just music, I do magic too!” He stated in a joyous tone, as he took out a deck of cards. “I’m going to need a volunteer, friends! Hm…” The Jester tapped his chin, looking at the crowd. He pointed a gloved hand towards Celine, “You! The redhead! Come on up!” He said, his grin widening as he gestured up towards the stage.
Celine was taken aback by this, looking back to Horace who simply shrugged, before stepping up on stage with him, one of the banduits giving a catcall right up until her nervousness gave way to a glare that promptly shut him up. The Jester nodded, the bells on his hat giving a little jingle as he passed the deck to her. “Alright! Look through the deck, then showcase the deck to our lovely crowd here, then pick a card” He explained, before giving a turn of his hands at her.
Celine regarded the act with curiosity, knowing more of the arcane than sleight-of-hand, playing along with it out of genuine interest. After all, this was something she never thought she’d end up seeing after the cataclysm. Horace meanwhile watched on, his gaze at this point fixed on the jester. Abe glanced over at The Knight, “What? Y’see somethin’?” He asked, as he simply gave a hmmph, “He has got essense on him. Cards are magical too. Can’t you see it?” Abraham gave a nod, “Since I saw ‘im, yeah. But he’s playin’ a show, what’s the worst that could happen?” He answered, which Horace gave a shrug to.
Celine, in contrast, had no innate sense of the odd magic that was afoot, showing the audience the deck as instructed, looking through to pick a particular card, settling on the jack of hearts. “Alright...” The Jester took the deck back, “Thank you! Now, with a quick shuffle…” He narrated as he put a little pinch of dull essence on the cards, before he stumbled a little. “Whuh-” He exclaimed as he fell forward, dropping the deck onto the stage, all the cards face up.
Celine was about to try and catch the jester as he stumbled, though the sight of him bumbling around earned momentary amusement from the crowd, only to stop and stare as she realized what he’d dropped. One moment the deck had been perfectly normal, the next every single card was the same one she’d picked. The Jester did a little sumersault, gesturing towards the cards with a flourish. “Tadaa!””
Celine found herself applauding the trick as well as most of those present as she stepped off the stage, not realizing the nature of the spell and merely assuming it was a stage trick, in which case it was genuinely impressive.
By now the group that had gathered was starting to disperse, a few conversing among themselves as they prepared to continue on their way, when a pickup truck pulled over nearby, clipping a battered old motorcycle as it went, a couple men in similar
garb to the few drunken troublemakers stepping out and glaring at the trio who’d stopped to watch the show. “Now what in the goddamn are you louts doin’, standing around watching a puppet show or somethin’? Ain’t y’ got work t’ do?”
The Jester grew pale, “Uh oh…” He said quietly, as he slinked off suddenly, snatching his guitar. Horace hmmphed a bit, already keeping his gaze on the group of troublemakers, as was Abraham, a few of the other travelers quite wisely getting out of the way. One of the men who got out of the truck pushed one of his drunken comrades aside as he stepped forward, holding a crowbar in both hands. “And where you think you’re goin’, clown?”
“Those lot look like trouble...” Abraham muttered, watching as Horace started to step forward, Celine glancing back at the group warily. They were just close enough to overhear The Jester, with a shit-eating grin, give the bandit a response. “Ya’know. To see your mother?” he answered. “On second thought, do we hav’ta help the idjit?”
The Jester’s grin just widened, as he held out a palm full of essence dust. He blew the blue dust into the face and eyes of the crowbar wielding bandit, as he threw another handful of dull essense onto the hard pavement. The dust threw up a thick plume of glittery smoke as he backpedaled, giving himself space as the Jester drew a dirk with a black grip.
The man stumbled a bit, crowbar raised defensively as one of the others caught him. “Oi. Y’alight?” he asked, and the man looked around only to go into a panic, promptly braining the bandit that caught him. Everywhere around him, was that same jester, and he simply lashed out at the first one that seemed “real” to him, which just happened to be an image mimicking the fellow behind him.
“Oi! You fuckin’ dumbass, watch where you’re swingin’ that goddamn thing!” another shouted, a few others stepping up and drawing various weapons, mostly knives and clubs, though one had a wary hand on a sawed-down shotgun. “C’mon kid, don’t make us get too rough. Can’t pay us back if you’re dead...”
As this went on, Horace started to step up, hefting his axe as a couple others watched the flank, one of the glaring looking up at the knight. “Mind yer fuckin’ business ‘less you want a few holes in that armor. I swear, a knight, a cowboy, and a girl walk into a bar...” he muttered, pointing a short-barreled rifle at Horace. Quincy of course, quite gleefully spoke up at that. “Hey! I write the jokes here!” he called out mirthfully.
Already the other two quite wisely stepped behind Horace, or at least Abraham pulled Celine behind the armored figure as he drew his revolver, and the bandit fired at Horace’s chest point-blank, expecting the round to go right through him. He had just enough time to realize that the round had hit the strange iridescent steel only to be reduced to a spray of bullet fragments, before the axe cut deep into his collarbone, continuing on through ribs and everything else in its way until it had cleaved halfway through his torso, his rifle dropping to the ground utterly soaked in blood.
Horace struggled to yank the axe out of the bandit’s gushing wound, as he was distracted he was clonked in the back of his head by an aluminum bat. The suit rung like a bell for a moment, the knight struck the man across the jaw with the back of his gauntlet. He followed up with a haymaker that sent the bandit flying.
Quincy chuckled a bit as he twirled the dirk a bit, letting one of the others come at him with a knife before he deftly, swayed and whirled out of reach, letting the man push ahead of the others and isolate himself in his eagerness. The very next moment he was behind his would-be attacker, delivering a pair of quick cuts that opened up tendons along and arm and a leg, ensuring he dropped the knife and stumbled to a knee. At that he vaulted over the bandit, using that added momentum to send the man crashing hard into the pavement. “Heehee, play that tune again, friend!” he said, seemingly in response to the noise Horace’s helm made when struck.
Horace groaned a little, “I’m not a drum…” He grumbled as he stomped on the man’s throat. The shotgunner levelled the sawed off towards Quincy before a shot rang out, splattering the bandits fingers. Abraham drew first, having already cleared leather and fired off two shots. The man clutched his hand as the shotgun clattered the floor, another of the men rushing towards Abraham with a makeshift machete, before a burst of flame struck him square in the chest, charring the leather of his jacket and sending him smacking into the side of the pickup truck.
“What the fuck!?” Between the sight of the flames leaping from Celine’s hand, with at least two men crippled and another two slain, the few of them left were variously either backing away and dropping their weapons, or frantically scrambling to pile into the truck, intending to simply cut their losses and run. Horace grimaced at the sight, half-tempted to give them no quarter until Abraham set a hand on his shoulder, watching the old man still keeping his gun in their direction as they chose flight other what was quickly looking to be suicide. “About goddamn time sons o’ bitches think to quit while they’re ahead...”
Horace let out a little yelp at the hand on his shoulder, raising a hand and nearly backhanding Abraham. “Don’t- Don't touch me.” He rasped out quickly, shrugging the hand off his shoulder. Abraham shrugged at that, while Celine gave a little wave to Quincy as she approached. “Are you okay?”
The Jester skipped over into a bow as he offered a pink tulip from his sleeve. “Better than okay, my dear!” He declared as he held a hand over his chest. Celine blinked at that, a bit surprised as she looked back to Horace and Abraham. “That’s, er...that’s good then.” It was then Horace stepped forward, hmming a bit. “What were they after, arcanist?” he asked bluntly.
Quincy’s entire body seemed to wilt alongside the flower, he got back to his feet and dusted himself off. He stuffed the flower back into his sleeve as he explained, “I may have used a teensy weensy itty bit of magic to- ah.” He cleared his throat
“Cheat in a game of poker.” Quincy admitted as he scratched at the back of his head. Celine was just about to tease Horace for mistaking a magician’s tricks for actual arcane ability, until Quincy seemed to just brush the remarks off without acting like being found out was at all unusual, or if the accusation wasn’t rather weird. “So that wasn’t just sleight of hand, it seems...”
Quincy shook his head, “Kinda-sorta!” He exclaimed. “I still have to hide the essence use!”
Horace stifled a sigh, “...and why did you cheat at poker?” Quincy seemee to perk up a that, “I was strapped for valuables and they seemed pretty stupid!”
Horace uttered an “Of course…” Under his breath as he clonked an open palm against his helmet, which caused Quincy to give an amused giggle. “Hee hee! You make a great chime, friend!”
Celine found herself snickering a bit at that, looking back to Quincy. “You know, maybe between a humorless knight and a gruff cowboy, we could use some comedy. What do you say?” she asked, Abraham giving a blank stare. “So yer basically askin’ ‘can we keep ‘em’ like he’s a stray puppy.”
Quincy's grin grew toothy as he looked up at Horace, who would grimace if he could. “Fine. He better be useful…” He growled as he made his way back to the wagon, Quincy simply gave a mock salute. “Sir yes sir!” as he followed behind him, the various bells on his outfit jingling.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 21, 2019, 11:15:21 pm
(( Written with Mrno, Wilson, Vulnus, and Wilson. ))
Solomon gave a little sigh as he set aside the tools finally, going to get a washbasin and a couple towels. He'd ended up spending most of the afternoon helping Cardin actually do the task that the avian was supposed to be doing on his own, mostly due to the difficulty those tools had posed, despite seemingly getting the hang of handling a blacksmith's hammer and chisel halfway through it. What was likely meant mostly to leave Cardin worn out and left with the mental image of a properly-made scale burnt into his mind mostly just left them both with sore hands and leftover rust to wash off.
Cardin's issues had largely come from how unwieldy his talons made holding a hammer and chisel properly, scraping his wrist whenever he tried to grip them. Although, he didn't seem to mind whenever Solomon would help, sometimes helping the avian mutant adjust his grip, something that kept earning surprised little chirps from Cardin. He rubs at his arms, trying to work out the aches from hammering.
Solomon set the newly-filled basket of feather-like metal scales aside, wincing a bit at the sharp ache left along both arms before helping get them both cleaned up, looking back to Cardin for a moment. "Still have to prepare dinner too...she said to help out with that, but er...can you cook?"
The mutant shakes his head, making a can opener gesture with his hands and then shrugging. Shuffling his wings a bit, he inches a bit closer to Solomon, before shyly chirping and shaking his head again.
Solomon sighed a bit at that. "How about, er...stew maybe. Simple and easy to make, it's mostly just pick good ingredients and the actually cooking isn't much more complex than heating a can would be." he said, trying to make it seem as simple as possible, to reassure the avian as he set a hand on his shoulder.
Cardin chirps quietly, nodding, eyes looking at the hand resting on him for a second before he returns his gaze to the cooking room, looking for something probably suitable to put in a stew and finding... Canned beans, at first. He holds the can out, tilting his head to the side and chirping inquisitively at Solomon.
Solomon gave a shrug at that, thinking they had dried ingredients that'd be a better fit, but soon enough the two got to work...
Helen had been just about done with getting things cleaned up after dinner, about to further talk to Solomon and Cardin regarding the tasks of the day, and to check up on them. Not to mention give them some reassurance that she suspected Cardin now needed, only for someone to practically throw the door to the main hall open. Branches. She was starting to get a bad feeling about this already.
Branches was very careful not to break the door, but that was about as careful as she got. She'd vaulted the wall and hid behind a small house that smelled of straw and dog for half an hour before she could work up the courage to move. As 'nice' as Helen had been that morning, Branches was still afraid of her. To her, it was like fleeing from wolves by ducking into the den of a sleeping bear.
She heard Helen say something, heard the sounds of surprise at her sudden noisy entrance, heard a clatter of arms being taken up. Before an arrow or spear could find her though or before a hammer could find her head, Branches flung open a large trunk and climbed in.
"There are mean people looking for me, I'm not here." Branches said through the thick wood. That wasn't much of an explanation, but at that moment detailed explanations were beyond her.
Helen blinked a bit at that, taken by surprise and likely annoyed not just by Branches' sudden intrusion, but now by the confusion of the others, most of which had no idea who this was nor any of the events that Helen already knew of. "Who?" she said, before quickly gathering cloak, mask, hammer, and that symbol of judgement.
She directed the others to get ready, handing over her wraithslayer to Solomon as well. As for others, her intended conversation with Victor was sidelined when, partway through trying to talk Green out of volunteering to join in, a sudden realization hit her. It stopped her dead in her tracks, as she realized the full gravity of the situation.
"Victor...you're staying in my quarters, keep Thomas safe." she said firmly, activating her mask and scanning the area outside, through the walls of The Hall itself. She then looked over to Cardin, shushing his excited chirps with a glare from under that mask. "No. We're already risking Solomon and Green, and they seem to be armed." she said, pointing in a couple directions, at what to an observer without a mask of insight on was merely a few different parts of the carved mural on the wall.
Branches sat curled up in the trunk and tried to focus. A tricky proposition from inside the cramped space, but doable. Why hadn't her scavengers warned her that someone was at her shack? Why hadn't they warned her that someone was wrecking her shack? She knew the answer already though. The truth was, they had. She'd been too wrapped up in Catnip and Kathrine's hospitality to notice, not to mention Hector. She wondered if he would come to rescue her and lost her concentration.
"C'mon, focus..." She growled at herself, and that seemed to work. The dark of the trunk seemed to take on a certain incorporeality and then was replaced by the somewhat brighter dark outside. She could see. From the eye of the one scout she had left, the fortunate construct that she'd sent along to follow the bandit earlier that day. It could see the bandits still, a group of them organizing vehicles and setting up tents around Branches clearing. Scouts departing and returning the camp to give updates on what was going on over here. Branches didn't know if she'd actually been followed or not, but Helen did. Helen knew and had seen. Scouts coming and going, checking the walls and trying to peek over. "Pssst. Helen. Anybody..."
Liam for his part had been outside with the wolf pup when he’d heard Branches storm into the Hall. Perhaps if he’d been paying attention he might have spotted one of the people observing the place, as is he started humming to himself a bit he walked over to the door and stepped inside. “What’s goin-” He was interrupted Helen mentioning someone being armed.
Sighing to himself he lowered a hand to his hatchet and looked back to the door. “Visitors..this’ll be fun.”
Helen was ready soon enough, catching glimpses of the scouts lurking outside, at the ready as Steinar and Liam followed close behind, Solomon and Green behind them in turn. "Alright. I'll want Solomon and Green to take places at the palisade, stay low and don't expose yourselves from unless things get heated." she said, picking up her handset and gave a sigh.
She hoped that breaking radio silence wouldn't prove to be a bad idea. "This is Helen. We have a situation here."
With most of the prep being carried out, there was one thing left to deal with. Helen gave the trunk a knock and from inside Branches gave a startled mewling noise that made Helen smirk. The trunk lid came up a few inches and the mage hunter expected to see the homunculus's eye peeking out, but it seemed that there wasn't enough room to allow Branches to look out without getting up on her knees.
"W-what?" she said in a hushed tone, "I'm cogitating."
"Hopefully about the consequences of your actions." Helen said, "Get out of there, you can't leave the rest of us to deal with this ourselves." The trunk lid settled back for a moment, then came back up again to disgorge a very unhappy looking homunculus.
"I don't want to hurt anybody..." She huffed, dusting herself off. Helen gave the perimeter another look. The scouts were thinning, but they'd be back. The real question was whether to bring the fight to these thugs, or let them besiege the Hall.
Helen grumbled a bit at that. "We may have to if they won't listen to reason. Moreover, you brought them here, where there are children." she said. Technically one child, one teenager, and two that were just barely adults, but she was still irritated at enemies being brought to her doorstep. At the same time, she realized there would be even more innocents potentially in harm's way had they been led to Walkerville.
Rather soon however, the handset perked up a bit belatedly. "Corporal Ford here. On it." There was the very beginning of Nathaniel's attempts to knock on the farmhouse door to wake Hector up overheard, a moment before he let go of the receiver.
Branches stuck close to Helen, silent. She really couldn't argue with her, since she was right. Branches had been surprised and panicked and fled to the closest "safe" place she could think of. The farm was further than the hall, and the hall had been hidden. Branches just didn't figure on the bandits following her, which was very dumb on her part.
Her scout caught sight of something on it's own short trip back to the hall. A single bandit settling in close to the river gate, tucked into the crook of a large swamp flanked willow. He said something into a small radio, before getting out a small pair of binoculars and peering around the tree to watch the gate.
"Settling in YJ, got the back gate on lock until morning." Crackled the radio in the hall, and that startled the operator. They'd heard his transmission, but it seemed they hadn't heard theirs.
"What do you want us to do Helen?" Someone asked. The mage hunter looked to the back gate and was disturbed by the lack of aura there.
"It could be a bluff, I wouldn't-" She began. Branches tugged at her arm and stopped her with a look. Not a bluff. Helen looked again. There was something there, but her mask couldn't see it. It was just a void. Then it hit her. A void. "What is she doing here? She's in no condition to-"
Branches flinched like she'd been jabbed in the eye and shivered violently, skipping and juttering like she'd got a serious case of the heebie jeebies. If she'd been able to see the man, Helen surmised, then she'd just witnessed what had almost certainly just happened to him and who had done it.
Floyd had been awake, as he often was these days. Slept on and off, short naps through the day. He could see Nathaniel practically hammering on the door to the house Hector and Roxanne now lived in, trying to wake the knight up. Roxanne was awake too it seems, she seemed to never even sleep anymore. He calmly sauntered over, giving a little wave. "Everythin' alright?"
Nathaniel looked back over to Floyd. "Helen radioed in. Said they have a situation or something, not much other than that. Hector's sleepin' like a log and Roxanne is staying here, so..." Almost immediately he grimaced a bit, suspecting the worst. They hadn't heard gunfire at least. "Radio silence, I reckon. Hold up a moment..."
He had an idea though, leaning into the doorway and speaking up. "Wake up, boy! There's a battle t'win!" he called out, and practically the instant he said "battle" the knight quite literally rolled out of bed and hit the floor. Actually does sleep in that damn chainmail, he thought with amusement.
Meanwhile, Helen grimaced a bit at the sight of another aura rather abruptly being cut short, then picked up her handset again. She tried to tune it to ensure that whoever was on the other end would hear them, this time.
"We're aware that you're here. For what reason have you come to this place?" she said into it, Solomon and Green taking their positions crouched at the walkway built into the palisade. She could see that they hadn't breached the gates, but she could see they were surrounded. The presence of a certain "void" complicated things further, as now they had until she either started stalking the other bandits or they discovered what was left of the bandit before they'd be forced into a fight.
There was no pause before the radio crackled back, "I want the one eyed bitch and the amethyst pyramids. Was gonna wait til dawn to start us off, but since you've decided to kick this lynching off already we can just get started now. Bring me that shit in half an hour or we can start shelling your little tree fort."
Helen smirked grimly at that. The woman on the other end sounded tired but ready to go. She also sounded completely unaware of what she was dealing with. She was cocky and pissed, whoever "she" was. Helen scooped up her own radio again and prepared to shoot back some bit of biting wit along with a refusal, when the feed was drowned out by a single pistol shit followed by a womanly screech the likes of which could only have come from the vocal cords of a man. They even heard it from inside the Hall, as it wasn't that far off. Helen knew from the way Branches covered her mouth, and from the sickened look of her, that Mica had taken another victim in rather spectacular fashion. Hopefully the shot hadn't hit the girl.
Remi's trance was broken by that loud screech as he looked back towards the hall. He turned off the electric lamp he was using, turning around and squinting towards the large group surrounding the Hall. "Oh." Remi said rather unceremoniously as he set aside the portrait of Walkerville and took out two smaller canvases, a vial of the magical ink, and his Gunto. He drew a campfire on one, with a smaller drawing with an altar under it, while drawing a larger version of the altar on the other canvas. Remi framed the small mob with his fingers for a moment, before stalking closer and chucking the canvas containing the campfire like a frisbee. He would settle a hand against the 'Altar' canvas, and the ink would glow on both of them.
Helen grumbled a bit and shook her head, giving a hand signal that Green just barely saw in the darkness, though it was Solomon she intended to signal, before again pointing out the closest scouts through the walls. With that she readied to open the gate, right as peculiar flickering firelight seemed to waver into existence, seemingly engulfing the scouts in their immediate vicinity.
Nearly the instant the gate started to open, from the top of the palisade a bolt of green light lanced through the air, leaving an expanding plume and a spray of thin streaks of light after ripping through a tree trunk, burning holes through the person on the other side. And as fire seemed to illuminate the treeline, this gave Green targets to take potshots at as well, while the others remained behind cover. She'd only need to expose enough to stick that hammer out from behind cover, to cover their advance.
Elsewhere at the farm, there was the faint whine of an electric engine spinning to life, three men piled into the old light tank. Hector flicked a switch, the surrounding darkness perceived through camera displays fading to a slightly-brighter monochrome, the heat of a running generator and a few signatures standing out in the dim view offered.
"We won't be able to get positive ID from just thermals..." Hector pointed out over the crew radio, Nathaniel grumbling as he switched it to radioing out. "Ford here. Keep your men on overwatch, and away from the bridge." he said, before addressing Floyd, having manned the turret. "Gunner, load canister." One of those makeshift shells, Catnip's clever idea from those several years ago. Certainly more useful than AP shells were for 90% of things they ran into.
Though the tank's radio reply to The Hall would've barely been picked up even by the handset tuned to it, Helen's response was still, intentionally in fact, left so that all would overhear it. "Acknowledged. Try to leave two alive." she said, her tone rather cold compared to when she initially attempted to reason with their attackers.
The answer had come back, as far as Yellow Jacket was concerned. The people at that fort in the swamp weren't going to just hand the stuff over. Unfortunately, from her standpoint, that meant they'd called her bluff. Yellow Jacket no more had mortars or shells or anything else to hammer The Hall with than she had confidence in being able to coerce the woman over the radio now that they'd decided to fight back. They couldn't even hold off until morning like Yellow Jacket had wanted.
"Green light in the area around the fort ma'am." A scout reported, "Three men dead cuz a' some fuckin' monster outside the fort too. We should retreat boss."
"Retreat? You fuckin' pussy, just a bunch of survivors in a wooden fort." Yellow Jacket growled, "Get the men organized, we're fighting in the dark. Get-"
"EATER! EATER!" Someone screamed, then, "Holy shit, holy shit." A scream, excited gibbering, and fire leapt up from nothing. The camp didn't see the fires, but they saw the light and heard the screams. Yellow Jackets camp would have descended into confused turmoil then were it not for herself. She wasn't going to have another "Apis" situation on her hands, not again. This was threatening to turn into exactly that, and by the gods that were, Yellow Jacket would not put up with such a total failure again.
As soon as the gate was open, there was a brilliant flash of light cutting the darkness momentarily, alongside a thundering boom. Enough for the woman in her cloak of scales to rush out, Liam and Steinar close behind. The firelight that engulfed the few scouts surrounding the camp had left the two on the ramparts with little left to fire on, Helen checking for any more nearby foes before breaking away from the other two. She had to ensure the perimeter was secure, and find Mica before she either got hurt or attacked the wrong person.
"SKREEE!" came a familiar shriek from the newly erupting firelight as Helen emerged from the gate, and the silhouette of a wraithlike four armed creature scuttled, smoking, towards her. Clutched in one web covered hand was the bloody remains of an arm. "SssSSssS..." Mica hissed, "Stupid fires, stupid stupid..."
"Whatcha got there Mica?" Helen asked, stopping momentarily to make sure Mica was unharmed. The only wound she could find was a fresh crack in the chitin of her left leg. It was already filling in with hardening resin, and Mica didn't seem to be paying it much mind. The strange fire had bothered her more than the bullet being pushed out of her leg.
"Eh? Two-faces Hel-on! My-ka just gettin' snacks before going to see Hel-on's squishy! My-ka wants to see Squishy!" She waved the arm at Helen before tossing it aside. It left the spiders hand tailing a tail red stained silk, and Helen noticed the state of Mica. Still covered in silk, but now it had all been colored a grizzly red with what she'd been eating. Across the river, they could hear shouting.
Branches came up then, tugging on Helen's cloak. "They're organizing over there..." She informed the mage hunter.
Helen gave a nod as she turned towards Branches. "With me, Mica. Steinar and Liam are here too, so careful not to hurt them. Understand?" she said firmly.
"Ssss... but My-ka is hong-ree... sssss." Mica hissed petulantly. Branches shied away from the spider, turning a bit green again thinking about what she'd seen through the eye of her remaining watcher. "Ssss..."
"There's a whole day's catch of smoked salmon in it for you if you don't hurt any friendlies, okay?" she said, before making her way back towards where Branches indicated. They'd need to drive them back and take the road, and she hoped that the other two were doing well enough without her.
The sudden explosion of magical flame erupting among the treeline ahead answered that question soon enough, along the flicker of a magical aura darting across to embed itself in somebody, only to vanish and reappear back in Steinar's grasp.
Steinar led the way as he and Liam split away from Helen. Running full tilt the pair heard the gunfire from the tank a moment before Liam shouted to Steinar “On your left!”
Raising his shield Steinar blocked a handfull of pistol rounds as he charged another of the enemy. Bringing his hand back Liam focused for a moment as he said “Brand!” and brought his hand forward. The fireball that emerged from his hand flew through the air and caught the gunman in the chest.
As he started screaming due to his flesh and clothes burning Steinar swung the shield in his hand. The enemy he’d been charging found the makeshift club he’d been holding flying away from him as his hand shattered from the blow. He was about to scream when Steinar brought his axe into the side of the man’s head.
Rushing past Steinar Liam readied another fireball as Steinar followed close behind after removing his axe from the man’s skull. “Good eye lad, that one nearly got me.”
Elsewhere, the tank sped up, hurrying towards the bridge as they peered out at the woodlands and saw movement, people filtering into the woods and wetlands from a clearing, just across the river. "Gunner, canister, troops, north of road." Nathaniel directed through the radio, a calm drawl answering him. Almost like the old days, the both of them thought. "Identified." he answered, Nathaniel grinning a bit as the tank neared the bridge. "Index four hundred. Fire."
"On the way." The boom of a homemade canister shell announced their presence, fired into the very edge of the clearing as they pushed forward. They could take the bridge and hammer the clearing all they liked, but sooner or later Helen and the others were likely to drive their enemies across the road, and that'd require them to dismount.
The canister in the chamber fired with what Floyd would later call "a hell of a punch" and Hector would call "Way too much punch" as he carefully examined the cannon of his machine for damage later. The primer was struck, and the volatile cocktail of powders exploded violently, shredding the cannister at the tip of the shell and sending it's payload towards the point of the compass that had displeased the tanks operators that day. A cloud of pellets, BBs, gravel, ball bearings, nails, screws, bolts, nuts, and assorted small hard objects flew forth from the cannon and through the tanks viewfinder, the men inside the tank watched as what they estimated to be between fifteen and twenty men and women simply collapsed in on themselves amidst a red mist.
"Jesus fuck Nip..." Hector breathed, "I hope to Christ none of ours were in that." The explosion of the round resounded out across the area as such shots always did, startling up birds and knocking a few bats out of the night sky as well as scaring the living hell out of a certain homunculus who had never heard anything like it before.
"What was that!?" She cried, "Are they using their shells!?"
"No." Helen said, pushing on in the wake of Steinar and Liam. "If they had any, they would have started by now. No, that was probably Hector in his tank. I'm not sure what he'd use against people on foot though. Maybe it was a signaling shot or something to try and spook our foes?" The few scouts who were left hit the road ahead of the men and turned to fire, just in time to see some kind of ragged woman with four arms dart in front and take a comrades head off with a well aimed bite. There were a few left still trying to fight, a man with some kind of blade ran at Helen thinking her an easy enough target only to find himself being rolled over a pale white figure with one eye. This same figure gave a little twist as she flipped him and the move that was simply meant to make him cry uncle instead pulled the bone from it's socket in his shoulder.
"Fuck you!" Someone shouted, spraying bullets from some toy-like automatic pistol. The bullets embedded themselves in Steinars shield and only stopped coming when Mica vaulted over the viking and landed square on top of the shooter.
"My-ka's gotta feed her squishy, gonna be such a good squishy. My-ka's gonna be better than Lil-eth!" She hissed.
"What the f-" He began. No one dared to watch what happened next. They all heard the sound of the bite though. Tooth through bone, and the gurgle of a scream through something that wasn't quite a mouth anymore.
Meanwhile, Yellow Jacket was running. Running as fast as she could. First had been the cataclysm, taking all of her hard work and ambition away just as it took away the rest of the world as she'd known it. Then, that little chit with the black and yellow stripes and a horde of oversized bees. Now it was this. One little one eyed bitch who'd brought ruination upon Yellow Jacket once again. One. Single. Girl. The worst part was, this could have been prevented. She could have just backed down. Turned away. Said "fuck it, I'm not playing this song and dance again." No. It had taken seeing most of her gang turned to a screaming bloody mess in one fell swoop to get her to back down. Would she ever learn?
"Not fucking likely." She babbled madly to herself as she fled, "No, cuz you don't ever fucking learn your lesson do you old girl? No fucking way, not fucking likely."
As if all this wasn't enough, the road cleared for their advance, two more figures made their way down the road. A knight, and following close behind a gunslinger. They'd dismounted from the tank, though at this point there wasn't much left to mop up.
It didn't take long to sort through the dead and dying. For the most part, the bandits were dead. Catnip's canister had done the work Catnip knew it would and it was easy to see why she hadn't made more. Branches little clearing on the edge of the lake was now an abattoir and the homunculus looked at it with a sense of relief, but also a growing feeling of unhappiness. Her house was destroyed and her borrowed possessions scattered to hell and back. Helen put a hand on her shoulder in commiseration. She'd be invited to stay at The Hall until the 'mess' could be cleaned up and everything set to rights again.
The doings weren't such of a mess to Mica though. She watched, languidly relaxing at the edge of the clearing and waiting for the others to leave. The others picked through the wounded, taking any who were well enough to treat and putting down those with enough piss left in them to offer a fight or too far gone to recover. Mica would wait. She was a-hongry, needed to feed her squishy with more than nasty fruits and somewhat less nasty vegetables. Hector and Floyd gave their condolences to Branches as well, the little pale girl Mica thought of as "turnip," then mounted up and headed back to the farm. Likewise, Helen and Branches and the others from the hall squared away their business and made their way home. Leaving Mica in the dark by the waters edge. She waited for some time, then moved from the tree line to the waiting feast.
Helen, for her part, made certain that the others were unharmed, the whole lot rattled from the thunder of cannon fire earlier and the adrenaline of fighting, all too soon it seemed that what was supposed to be a grim affair was increasingly less morbid, between Hector and Steinar trying to one-up each other comparing the dents and other marks in their equipment, and Mica regarding the carnage in the clearing like a buffet just waiting to be sampled.
Helen however did have one very clear objective regarding the men they captured, retreiving the sword Steinar had given her, those years ago. They would have their weapons confiscated, and be sent back unharmed. All except one. She made it very clear to them. She had family here, and would not tolerate an attack on this place. Her thoughts turned to the fact that what she ended up doing was essentially human sacrifice, an offering to Odin. A thought she quickly banished from her mind, as this was a matter of making an example of one of the remaining survivors, not religion.
The blade bit deep into the man's back, separating ribs from the spine, several at a time with each strike, until it was sufficient to draw the lungs out through the twin cuts. What was left of the others would be for Mica to sort out, but the one chosen for the blood eagle was returned to the survivors to be carried back, to be buried or otherwise dealt with as they saw fit.
That just left cleaning up.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on March 28, 2019, 01:21:33 am
Many eyes in a single head watched the few surviving bandits pick up the body as directed to carry back to whoever. The many eyes then watched and followed the group of three men until they simply dumped the body by the side of the road. Mica, the owner of the eyes, thought that was a fine thing. Sarcastically of course. Helen had put all that effort into doing up that body, and the men had simply dropped it as soon as they were sure no one was watching them. She followed them a bit longer and listened to their conversation, wanting but not quite willing to move in on them. What she'd done tonight had been irresponsible of her. She had a squishy to think about, she could have been hurt and that could have hurt the squishy. She wasn't going to risk moving in on the trio and gamble with her squishy. Instead, when she was sure they weren't going to come back, she retraced her steps the way she'd come back to the dumped body. Helen had taken great care to cut open the man's back and pull out his air bags. Mica knew instinctively that's what they were, the truth was that she'd eaten enough people to know what most of the parts inside were for. Except for the kidneys,(which tasted nasty) the liver, (which tasted divine) and the bits between the legs (which Mica had always avoided eating because of it's proximity to other foul tasting parts.
She gave the body a sniff, it didn't smell any different, and ripped off one of the lungs with her teeth. It didn't taste much different either. Something symbolic then? Dee said that Helen did lots of symbolic things, but Mica didn't exactly know what that meant. She bit the other lung off along with a good sized chunk of skin. A hairy man, Mica hated eating hairy people. Their skins always tickled the back of her throat and made her feel like vomiting. Speaking of which, she'd eaten a great deal that night and there was more left back at the little camp by the lake. Plenty of food a great deal less hairy than Helen's "offering." Mica regurgitated the Gore she'd thus far eaten, re-affixed her scarf, and strolled slowly back the way she'd come. Upon her arrival though, she found that she was no longer alone.
"Hey sweetie." Roxanne said. She was doing something to what was left of Mica's "feast" and that peeved the spider a little. Before her eyes, one of the bodies suddenly shuddered, rose, and then ambled into the woods where it would wait for further orders from it's new master. Then Roxanne moved to another body, and Mica knew what would happen next. It didn't matter to her that Roxanne was here making undead, what mattered was that she was doing it with meat that Mica had been determined to eat herself. Before Roxanne could kneel over the body she had targeted for raising, Mica cut her off at the pass and began ripping it apart and eating it all while staring Roxanne in the eyes. "That's fine, there are others." Roxanne said, nettled. She went to another and Mica again cut her off. "Don't be greedy sweety, it's unbecoming."
"What is un-bee-kum-in'?" Mica asked through a mouth full of viscera.
"Speaking with your mouth full for one." Admonished Roxanne, "C'mon Mica, can't I have just like, a few?"
"No!" Mica shouted happily. Roxanne reached into her robe and took out something that looked like a perfume bottle. Mica didn't like the smell of it, it smelled nasty like poison. The woman turned and went for another body, and Mica made a dive for it. This time though, Roxanne squeezed the bottle at her and Mica recoiled. "Nasty! Nasty poisons!" She screeched.
"It's just perfume sweetie, and I'm not afraid to use it! I got a spray bottle full of vinegar too, just in case." They stood across from each other, eyeing one another up, then Mica turned away and began taking bites out of every body she could find. After each bite, she would glance at Roxanne and for her part, Roxanne had the image of a child taking a bite out of the center of every sandwich on a plate. Fortunately for Roxanne, the bodies didn't have to be intact. So, Mica ate and Roxanne worked. Eventually though, both gave up. Roxanne. Only had so much time, and Mica only had so much patience and stomach space. By the time they quit on it, they'd both stopped trying to one up each other anyway.
"My-ka's gotta go back soon..." Mica yawned languidly.
"Yeah me too." Roxanne said, "The tin can is fast asleep, but that doesn't mean he won't wake up and ask questions. I'm on a short leash as it is. Remember to clean yourself up sweetie, you look absolutely grizzly."
Mica nodded, she would clean up of course. That process would involve rolling around in the grass for a bit to dislodge as much of the bloody silk as she could before taking a quick rinse in the river. She wasn't about to jump into bed covered head to toe in streaks of blood and guts. That wouldn't please Dee one bit, having his smelly bloody fiance climb into bed next to him as filthy as a mass grave.
When Mica was gone, Roxanne did a bit of snooping. There were some useful things left behind by the dead bandits, but she was more interested in how long they'd been there. A couple tents and a big yurt, but also a more permanent mud and bough structure that had probably been destroyed in the fighting. It was the stone bearing runes carved into it that was most interesting though. It raised questions about Helens involvement, and a few more about the bandits themselves. Then she remembered something Hector had told her earlier. "There's a nice girl living across the lake." Or something like that. She also recalled that the girl had lost a sister, and this stone certainly looked like a gravestone. The bandits had camped here then, but the girl had lived here. Where was she now? Most interestingly though, if this was the sisters grave, then why couldn't Roxanne sense a body beneath the stone? It wasn't as much of a mess as Branches expected. There had been more bodies, at least branches thought so, but sometime in the night they had been moved. It was kind of surreal actually, looking out across the small clearing and seeing so little to clean up besides the blood soaked grass and litter. Here and there was a bone or some bit of corpse, but that was a lot easier to deal with from her perspective than a complete carcass or a mutilated body. Where'd they go though? It was a question she wasn't too concerned with. She prodded a leg with a stick for a bit before lobbing it into the lake and looked around.
The damage wasn't quite as extensive as she'd thought it was, but it was still bad enough to be disheartening. Almost everything from inside her house had been torn up, scattered, burned, or broken and the center pillar that held up the roof had been snapped with one solid kick or maybe a swing of some tool. Replacing that would be easy though. Branches had the bandit leaders yurt and examining that gave the homunculus ideas. The yurt had a collapsible lattice, and Branches thought that said frame would make for good walls if she expanded the rectangular mud pit into a larger circular one. Inspired, she even planned out a new wooden floor and thought the canvas roof could be replaced with overlapping shingles. From mud hut to wood hut. If she felt like it, and she did, she could even build up the dirt around the outside of the house so that it created a rise up to the edge of the roof. From sunken wood hut to earth sheltered house. It was perfect, the perfect home for her. Maybe she could even take visitors like Catnip or Kathrine. Or even...
She tossed her stick away and cringed a little, grinning like an idiot. Hector could come visit. Maybe he'd have tea with her. She shook her head at the thought but it wouldn't leave her. Thoughts of the man, day dreams, slowed her down tremendously. Branches would get to work, splashing buckets of water on the grass to wash away to blood and then a fancy would strike her and she'd stare off across the lake.
"What the heck..." She groaned. Why couldn't she stop thinking about him? At least filling and dumping buckets didn't require too much attention, and besides that it helped her not think about the things she was handling. It also kept her from noticing Illiana watching her go about the task before her until the lake suddenly rose up and soused her, then dragged her back with it along with most of the gore left over from the nights fighting.
"Pffft!" She spat, "What- What are you doing!? You might drown me!"
"We won't drown and we both know it. You seemed pretty lost in thought there sweetie, thought maybe you'd gone back to being a regular old homunculus. Why didn't you just start with the house and use the dirt to make some new workers?" Illiana asked. Branches hadn't thought of that. The house didn't need to be cleaned up, there was plenty of good clay bearing soil around the pit that made up part of her hut, that should have been the first thing she should have done. Branches could have smacked herself for not thinking of it. Instead, she spluttered the disgusting tainted water and slogged back onto somewhat dry land. "Go on then, what's on your mind?"
"I don't know..." Branches finally said after after a bit of nervous silence. Illiana watched her intently, reading Branches growing nervousness with the same ease as she would a sign. "I said I don't know, why don't you just-"
"You've got a crush on someone." Illiana stated with a widening smile, "Oh how fast they grow up, who is it?"
"W-what?" Branches stuttered, "I don't know what you're talking-"
"Of course you do! Silly girl, it's a part of being a person! That nice Elle gave you a name, you ran away from sharlene, you built yourself a house and even claimed some property. Then you decided to be a little lady and now you've found a boy you fancy! Tell me everything, is he nice? Is he handsome?" Illiana prodded, waggling her eyebrows at that last. The homunculus looked away, not quite understanding what Illiana meant but starting to grasp the concept. A crush, on Hector. Yes, that was the feeling. She wasn't going to tell the nosey Illiana that though, oh no. Rather than spill the beans to her creator, Branches maintained her silence. It didn't bother Illiana though, Branches was the one being she couldn't know everything about. That lack of knowledge was troubling of course, but it was cathartic in a way. One could get tired of knowing everything about everyone. Also, if Steinar was correct and Branches was like a daughter figure to the Deus Ex, then it was only right that the homunculus should perplex her. "Well, never mind then. You just keep it to yourself, see if I care." She said, pretending not to care but clearly very interested, "But if you need advice then don't come crawling to me. For purely practical reasons I mean, I couldn't give you much advice."
"But why not?" Branches blurted before remembering herself and staring down at her feet furiously. "Aren't you supposed to know everything?"
"Yes, but not where you are concerned. Refreshing really. If you really want advice about those silly little feelings you've got crawling around in your head, making your guts feel all twisted and knotted up, then you can go to a couple people. I recommend Helen, her advice would be sound and maybe even prevent a bit of heart ache if it doesn't work out for the best."
"It... Work out?" Branches said, looking questioningly. Illiana nodded sagely, but the appearance of knowledge was just for show.
"Sometimes it doesn't. A young girl or boys feelings can shift in an instant and sometimes it's just not meant to be. Helen can tell you how to gird yourself against such an occurance, along with all the other ins and outs of building a relationship."
Branches thought about it. She wasn't afraid of Helen anymore but all the same, she didn't want to go to Helen with such a personal issue. "And who else?" Branches asked. Illiana's grin turned to a frown.
"You could also go with the person everyone on the farm went to, Roxanne Luna. I suppose it's worked out for them so far and Roxanne certainly fancies herself 'doctor love,' but frankly sweetie she certainly isn't the best romantic role model." Illiana explained, then sighed, "It's up to you though. Roxanne is nice enough. You'll probably end up representing her in court if she can't find her own counsel anyway."
"As soon as she stops being busy and doesn't have to postpone you mean?" Branches asked, easing up a bit. She'd already decided on going to this Roxanne lady. Illiana grinned fondly, there was no denying it she really did have a bit of affection for her creation. Furthering that affection was the fact that the homunculus shared Illiana's passion for the legal system after a fashion. With a bit of maturing and a little personal growth, Branches could be quite a bureaucrat if she so desired.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on April 07, 2019, 06:28:49 pm
(( Written with Noct. ))
Helen sighed as she sat down at last in her quarters, tending to Thomas and making certain that Victor was unharmed as well. "So you...had something to ask, before all this started?" she finally spoke up.
Victor was caught off-guard by that at first, quickly returning to what he'd planned to inform her of. “Something to ask? Well, yes. Actually, as Luna put it, need to ask for permission for the field trip tomorrow.”
Helen glanced at him, a concerned expression on her face before she sighed. "Field trip? First I've heard of this...Hector's not going to like that, I suspect." At that Victor simply shrugged. “Honestly, that is her problem at this point. Not her idea or mine but Melody’s. Something about the incident I had with her before I pretty much forgot everything.”
Helen hmmed a bit at that, concerned yet now mainly curious. "I...oh. I see. Anyone else going with you? If you'd like I could come with, just in case...if not, well. At least let me know where you're going, intended route, and when you expect to be back. That way, if something goes wrong..."
The expression of worry on her face was a bit more apparent, and Victor nodded as he tried to reassure her. “It’s going to be Melody, Roxanne, Rey and myself. Melody doesn’t want anyone else to go for whatever reason, says I would understand if I had my memories but, well, I don’t. We aren’t going far, should take maybe a few hours. I’ve made a map too in case I need it, I can make you a copy if you want.”
Helen hmmed a bit, before warily agreeing to it, the map laid out on the table and the expected route traced out, Helen nonetheless a bit wary when she saw just where the location was. "I worry it might have something to do with Randael if it was her idea...at least you told me this time."
“Wow, I was that bad? I am slightly hesitant too but I am apparently needed badly. Roxanne is just the one who happens to know the way and layout. Oh, and before I forget, we are to go unarmed. Apparently that’s very important too.” At that last bit Helen went wide-eyed with shock.
"Unarmed? Oh gods. Roxanne, of all the...I see. Just, be careful. Contact me if anything goes wrong, then..." she said, grimacing a bit. For a moment she vaguely suspected that what she was preemptively feeling was exactly how Hector felt when he was led on a wild goose chase after Roxanne technically died.
Seeing the way she seemed uneasy, Victor set a hand on her shoulder. “Will make sure to do so. Two way radio should be synced.” he said, Helen giving a little nod, finally satisfied that he'd be alright. "Thank you..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on April 14, 2019, 02:56:47 pm
The following morning marked the release of another issue of New Paris's newspaper. Leslie's own simple eight page broadsheet detailing what had been going on since the last issue. It was a surprisingly effective way of keeping up to date, Jennifer thought, on the ins and outs of life in the center. The front page article was a continuation of a piece on events of the strange attack on the center not long ago precipitating in the sudden reappearance of the centers hunter just in the knick of time. The newspaper was a boon to the center, at least Jenny and Catalina thought so. It added a sense of normalcy in a time which still seemed frighteningly chaotic. The stability was more than welcome in a settlement, and it was a settlement now, that previously had been friendly but not amazingly welcoming to people so heavily mutated. Journalism was powerful though, and talking to Leslie gave the impression that she knew it, and was afraid of it. The dedication of the young serpent was admirable though.
Jenny had taken her time with the paper she'd found lying in a basket that had appeared sometime in the night screwed to the wall beside her door. It hadn't taken much time, but reading it made her feel more "in the loop." More a part of a community she'd spent a large part of her time providing for but not really making herself a part of. The coffee that had come, delivered to her room by a young pug nosed Misling boy, had been even more of a surprise.
"Courtesy of Sylvia's coffee ma'am, some muscley lady paid for it already." Jennifer had looked at it wonderingly before taking it gingerly and setting it next to the paper on her table. "Ma'am?"
Jennifer looked back and saw the boy holding up one surprisingly well kept hand. "I thought you said it had been paid for?" She asked. He didn't say anything, only rolled his eyes at her and left. "What was that abo- oh. Hey wait up!" She snatched for anything she could think of and found the little cigar box on her shelf. The kid had turned around, hardly any further than just out of sight and Jenny mused that he must have been expecting it. A kid used to running errands for tips. She pushed a few heavy coins into his hand, fifty cents prices, with an apology that she didn't know if they'd have any real value or not. It didn't seem to matter much to him, and he took them with no word of thanks. The coffee had come black, and Cheena hated it. Atomos wasn't too partial to black coffee either, but she drank it down nevertheless. A little sugar added, which Cheena was all too eager with, and it became a bit more palatable. 'What it really needs,' Jenny thought, 'is cream.'
That thought got her moving. She was on vacation, but there was still a bit of business to do. Scouting this Hoyt guys place, and a bit of bonding with Cherise. Jennifer wanted to get into it as casually as possible, just a plain old walk between two people. Neither of them was a mutant and neither of them had committed atrocities in the name of the survivors nemesis. When she got to the foyer though, she almost lost it. If Cherise wanted to make as generic an impression as possible, she was doing it the complete wrong way.
"You're a bit overdressed aren't you?" Jenny asked, adjusting the strap on her rifle so it wouldn't slip. Cherise glared at her incredulously, letting a little contempt slip into that look before forcing it away.
"Aren't you a bit under dressed?" She shot back. Jennifer actually looked down at herself and had to strongly disagree. If anything, she was also overdressed. Snakeskin overcoat, messenger bag filled with equipment, and a harness with all her gear strapped to it or stashed away in the various pouches and pockets. By contrast though, Cherise had come to this "interview" clad in some kind of pre-cataclysm light power armor that Jennifer couldn't identify. All buffed metal plates, military grade weave, and actuated joints fitted over Cherise's muscular body in such a way that made it seem like most of her mass was in the armor alone.
"We're both overdressed!" Jennifer laughed, seeing the looks people were giving both of them. Again, Cherise sneered but Jenny waved at the sneer. "This is just supposed to be a look around. We aren't riding out to raid or something. C'mon, we've got plenty of time to dress down a bit. Go get some actual clothes on."
"I can't." Cherise said exasperated, "the clothes I wore yesterday are all I have and they're filthy."
"You didn't bring any other clothes?"
"It was either the mark seven or an acceptable wardrobe. Sorry." Cherise shot back. The "sorry" sounded more than a little sarcastic. "It's the only one of it's kind and I wasn't going to leave it where er... They could keep it." Jennifer had to think about that for a moment. It wasn't great, but having spent time in New Bangor, she could guess. She just wondered if the rest of the armor had been left behind, or if Cherise had never had it in the first place. Jenny shook her head.
"Okay... When we get back though, I'm getting you some clothes of your own. Let's just get going alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on April 24, 2019, 01:41:02 am
Foster had woken up early in the morning and made himself coffee in the mess halls kitchen. Even this early in the morning he had company in the kitchen as Alice prepared some eggs and hashbrowns for the morning meal they’d serve. Looking over at her unexpected guest she gave him a smile and said “Howdy. Glad to see y’all are sticking around even if just for a day.”
Foster nodded to her as he waited for the coffee to brew. He’d set his percolator, one of the few things he’d kept with him that wasn’t an absolute necessity, on a burner and was letting it work while he tried to wake up without a dose of caffeine. As such his response was a somewhat slurred “Morning. Glad to be here.”
Alice pretended she didn’t notice the absolute monotone in Foster’s voice as she peeked through the window between the kitchen and the mess hall. A few mislings were starting to file in and wait for the meal to be served. “You really need that morning coffee don’t you?”
Foster nodded in response, adjusting his glasses to ensure they were properly covering his eyes, and said “Coffee is just about the only vice I have. Work got me hooked on the stuff with numerous late nights. Nowadays I just feel..sluggish before my morning cup or two.”
Pouring his coffee into a thermos Foster set the percolator to the side. Taking a drink from his thermos Foster started for the door. Soon he found himself walking through Walkerville with purpose.
Thanks to some direction Foster made his way to the man in charge of getting things built around here. “A pleasure to meet you sir. I’ve been told you’re the one to talk to about getting myself a place to properly live.”
The misling shrugged as the pair walked and inspected the remaining build sites. “I ‘spose I am. I can getcha a place built but it isn’t free. You’ll have to sign me an IOU though on account of there not being a system of currency in place.”
Foster described what he was looking for and the pair came to an agreement. There would be enough space for him to assemble a lab, both TJ and himself could have rooms, and with his specifications he would be able to dig himself a basement in time. With the specifications out of the way he signed the IOU.
TJ meanwhile woke up when the morning crowd started getting a bit rowdy. They were all discussing their plans for the day from what he could hear. Granted it was mostly the construction crews shouting to each other to about what jobs they had for the day.
Nothing that really interested TJ if he were honest so he decided to go outside for a while. Soon he found himself making his way to the forge having grown curious about the noise coming from the place. Not particularly wanting to draw attention to himself or wanting to interrupt whoever was at work TJ decided to watch from a distance instead of bothering them.
Charles had met with Sev3n during the night, slept at the radio station for a handful of hours, and was now nearly home again. The backpack he was carrying with him contained a computer and a small cylindrical drive that contained what he’d traveled all that way for. Setting it down near the forge at the Hall Charles retrieved everything else he would need.
He had already prepared the parts, now it was down to assembly. The armor itself all slotted into place perfectly. He had after all been trained to make it so. Connecting the electronics and hydraulics of the chest piece and arms was somewhat more difficult. Then attaching the batteries in the proper slot and integrating a port for the drive took some time.
Then came the time to attach the mechanical arm to the back. It resembled some older bits of machinery, a basic system that allowed it to rotate at three different joints and a ‘hand’ that consisted of three ‘fingers’. By the time that was installed the others were stirring in the barracks.
Sliding the drive into place and twisting it to lock it in Charles waited. A minute later and the armor lit up and the arm attached to the back jerked upright. Smiling Charles tapped the earpiece he was wearing and said “Hello Maddy, I’m Charles.”
The arm turned to face him, the optic built into it focusing on his face. Giving a friendly wave Charles waited for her to say something. That came after a couple minutes processing when she imitated the wave and said “Hello Charles. I am Maddy.”
Walking over Charles recalled Seven telling him it would take some time for Maddy to fully ‘form’. Kind of like an accelerated process of a child developing a personality. Picking up the helmet Charles slid it on and watched as Maddy played with the heads up display. “Having fun are we? Well so long as you learn how to actually run it I don’t care.”
Maddy gave him an exaggerated sigh as he walked over to his work table and retrieved an old knife. As he began practicing throwing the two talked about various minor things. As the others started to emerge Maddy turned her eye to observe them as Charles explained who they were.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 03, 2019, 03:38:36 am
(( Written with Wilson. ))
Aurelia gave a little hum as she glanced over at Nashio, sitting at the table next to where Taji and Heather were sitting. The question that Nashio finally asked made her perk up, a bit caught off-guard by it. "So why are you heading south anyway? Got family down there?" he asked.
She gave a little nod at that, tail twitching nervously. "I...might. Not sure is the problem. It's been a while since I've been down that far south, not since roughly when this all started. Nowhere else to go really." she answered.
Nashio rose a brow. "How far south?" he asked, Aurelia giving a little nod at that. "Likely not much farther than Massachusetts or, at most, New Hampshire..." As she said that, Tajima perked up a bit, looking over at their table before shaking his head, quietly going back to his own conversation with Heather.
Nashio rocked on his chair, feet on the table as he went back and forth. "What's your..." He squinted a bit, before looking back at her, "...plllan?" He finished, raising a brow. Aurelia smiled a bit at that. "Check the last place in town I knew where they were, and if I don't find any sign of them, go from there. At least will feel better that way knowing I tried." she admitted, not mentioning what trying to find her "family" would entail.
Nashio shrugged, rocking back farther, "Tryin' can't hurt. When are you gonna head out, again?" He asked. "Tomorrow works, unless you'd prefer sooner or later." she answered, before getting up soon enough, the two about ready to tend to other things for now...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 08, 2019, 12:51:37 pm
Jennifer led the way from storage with a pair of duffel bags, one under each arm, and Cherise in tow. For the cost of absolutely nothing, she'd managed to negotiate a collection of more casual clothing for her newest ranger and herself. Of course, it had cost them something. Time. The morning had swept by in no time at all, but it had been fun. Now looking down the barrel of the late morning before noon, Jennifer was in a better mood and arguably better disposed for the job ahead.
"What a humanizing experience." She said, referring to the bit of "shopping" she and Cherise had just done. Cherise tugged at the faded blue shirt uncomfortably.
"It's been awhile since I wore real clothes..." she explained, "It was either jumpers of the mark 7 most of the time."
"Yeah, I can see that being not too comfortable. Fortunately around here, you can get casual every now and then. Maybe we can set you up with a room or- Oh wait, where did you stay last night?" Jennifer asked, swerving the line of her talk at the last minute. She was very interested in this since as far as she knew, there wasn't any living space left in the center.
"Outside." Cherise said plainly, "Under one of those fire damaged trees out front."
Jennifer stopped and looked at her with a pained smile. "Really?" She asked. She was keeping somewhat straight face, but inside she and Cheena were bothered. It was getting colder at night. Just that morning, as Jenny had glanced out the foyer windows at the people outside in the early morning and the freshly plowed fields beyond bathed in the first few rays of dawn sun, she'd seen the way those people's breath had puffed visibly from their mouths out in the cold. That wouldn't do for much longer.
"Of course. Everyone else had crammed onto the benches inside, the rest of us... fighters... stayed outside. Didn't really want to cram in there with... er... nevermind." Cherise explained, stumbling over her words especially at the last. Jennifer watched her and realized another thing she'd realized before already. This was going to be hard for them. What Cherise had meant to say was that she hadn't wanted to be crowded in with all the mutants. Between living here with the creatures they'd spent so much time fearing and hating, and staying in New Bangor, they'd chosen what they must have seen as a lesser evil. Staying in Bangor was death, but staying out in the world was risking damnation.
"Are you religious?" Jennifer asked out of no where. The answer came back just as snappy at first.
"Jehovah's witness. I'm not doing a very good job of it though... I guess I'm not anymore..." Cherise began, tapering off at the end. The shame was readily apparent, not that of her distaste and distrust, but the fact of her lapsed faith. Jennifer put a hand on her shoulder and Cherise nearly cringed away.
"Calm down, some of the people here can't really be called human anymore, but they aren't any less 'people.' They'll accept you if you accept them right?" She consoled, choosing to touch all and none of the mutant hunter's internal crisis. "Just give it some time and work with me for a bit. You still have to decide whether you want to stick with the job I'm offering or not."
Cherise nodded at that, picked at her clothes again, and pushed through the big double doors in silence, and out into the warming early noon air. Branches carefully pushed into the hall and noisily plonked a canvas bag onto one of Helen's long tables before taking a seat and waiting for someone to come along and ask her what she was doing. What she was doing wasn't exactly obvious of course. The contents of her bag, a series of large jars filled with various plants and seeds, had been taken out and placed in a neat row in front of her, surrounding her while she read a "borrowed" copy of some alchemy book. The nettle and pine bough cloak she wore had been tossed onto the bench next to her on the bench where it wouldn't get in anyones way, but wouldn't exactly let anyone sit next to her either.
"Wacha doin' kid?" Solomon asked, leaning over and looking at her from across the hall. He wasn't used to seeing the humunculus around the place. He knew who she was though, and that she had a penchant for mischief and theft.
"Waiting." Branches said simply. She turned a page, and turned one of her jars towards her before pushing it out of line with the others. "I want to trade some of these for others I don't have, and I want to ask Helen something about my golems."
Solomon watched her for a bit longer and decided that wasn't all she was up to. She wasn't really reading the book in front of her and she wasn't exactly looking at the herbs and seeds either. Branches looked distant, distracted. "Well," He said warningly, "You just stay out here and she'll be around in a bit." She nodded casually and he didn't miss the way her head bobbed seriously once and then tapered off in it's movement. "Something bothering you?"
"Hm? Oh. Um, no. I just have other stuff to do today... It's fine. Is Helen around?" She asked as though Solomon had not just told her Helen would be in in a bit.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 08, 2019, 02:14:45 pm
"Solomon? Everything alright?" came a voice from the side room connect to the Hall, Helen stepping out into the main room. "Hopefully Cardin hasn't done anything..."
"It's fine Mrs. McKinnon, Cardin's still...trying to help clean up. A visitor actually." he answered, Helen stepping out from behind the stone hearth that dominated the back half of the Hall's main space. "Oh? Hector, or someone else? There was something that came up he might need t-." When she saw Branches for herself that answered her own question, giving a nod to the homonculus. "Ah, welcome back. Hopefully no one else following you here." she joked, to Branches' visible discomfort.
"She brought something to trade actually, and a question about her golems she said. I'll...leave that to you." he said, nervously making her way back to the kitchen area as Helen sat down nearby.
"Are you well? It's alright, ask away."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 08, 2019, 03:16:10 pm
Branches turned a languid gaze on Helen and for a moment seemed about to ask something, then stopped. The collection of jars, if they were what she came to trade, weren't really such of a much. What was odd was that Helen had got a close look at all the herbs and things Branches had been in possession of, and these were some of the more scarce ones from her stores. Other than the jars, all she had that she could trade on hand was the cloak, which wasn't worth much except as a special accessory. Helen gave it a look with her mask just in case and sure enough, it was relatively mundane except for the usual residual nature magics inherent in such cloaks that made them ideal for herb gathering.
"I need mugwort, star anise, sliver root, and hemp seed." Branches explained. Helen did a double take. If she wasn't mistaken, then the mason jars sitting on her long table in front of the humunculus were exactly what she'd come to trade for.
"Branches." Helen said with not a little scrutiny in her voice, "You appear to have brought those things with you. Are you feeling alright?"
Branches looked at her jars again and Helen could see her turning a bright red as realization came to her. Instead of grabbing her bulk, Branches had accidentally grabbed the things she had intended to trade for in the kind of mix up Helen believed was far below her ability to make. "O-oh... I um... I've been cleaning all morning... I guess I'll get it later then..." She mumbled, then perked up, "Then I need some help with my guards. You said they needed hearts or cores or something?"
"Yes." Helen said, drawing out the e a little out of bemused curiosity, "You essentially mixed two kinds of golem together and didn't implement the power source of either. If you want to build a core, you'll need a pair of iron rings and a tear of glass... The other method involves a lot of rituals and some profound truth."
"Which one is easier?" Branches asked.
"It doesn't matter because you aren't doing the first one. I forbid it. Binding spirits or souls to this world isn't just immoral, it's dangerous." Helen said sternly.
"But... I don't know any profound truths..." Branches moaned, "How am I going to get them moving and protecting me if I don't have cores or truths?"
Helen shrugged, "Maybe you don't need Golems right now? Have you considered building fewer servants and guardians? Things like that can get out of hand if you can't control all of them you know." She suggested. It was a load of crap of course, Helen had had enough time to observe and analyze Branches capabilities. She knew the humunculus could maintain as many automatons as she wanted and still have enough focus to learn everything Helen had to teach about magic and more. Branches didn't know that though, didn't seem to know that a limit even existed and so when Helen suggested it Branches began to consider it as a possible truth. "Besides," Helen went on, "Just because you don't know any truths or secrets now, that doesn't mean you won't have any later. Life has many doors and you've got plenty of time to explore them. Why don't you go get what you wanted to trade and maybe I can set you up with some reagents you can use for whatever it is you are making."
Branches nodded slowly and solemnly. Helen could tell her later, after she'd gained a bit more world experience, what she could be capable of.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 18, 2019, 11:12:57 pm
The stack was large, but it was always impressive that Kathrine could manage carrying it all the same. Mica watched carefully as the small maid hefted the platter with a little "hup!" and carried the load of sugary breakfast discs towards the communal dining room. She watched and wondered, then slipped into the cook shack when she was sure Kathrine was done. The dim shack was filled with the smell of of the breakfast discs, and Mica reminded herself that they were called pancakes. Mica couldn't eat the pancakes, but Dee could. Dee liked the pancakes. Liked a lot of the breakfast things that Catnip's morsel made. Sometimes, Mica wished she could make Dee's pancakes, and to that end she had watched Kathrine attentively when she cooked.
"Flappy jacks..." Mica mumbled, "lizard likes flappy jacks." She took down a bag that looked a bit like the one Kathrine had used. It was the same shape anyway, but it didn't quite smell the same. When she tried to set it down near the stove, strands of her uncontrollable silk stuck to it and pulled it off the counter. Mica almost screeched at that, seeing it totter, then fall, then hit the ground and scatter the grainy stuff inside all over the floor. She tried to scoop the stuff that clearly wasn't what Kathrine had used back into the back, but the meal stuck fast to her hands. The effect was that she mostly made a bigger mess, but the meal coated her hands enough that the bag didn't seem to stick. Now it was in her hair though. In her hair, on her knees, all up her arms. Mica was covered in the grainy stuff from the bag with a picture of corn on it.
After making a mess of her attempt to clean up, she gave up and grabbed a cast iron pan and a different bag. A blue one with a picture of a 'flappy jack' on it. To her credit she got the measurements mostly right, she haden't been watching Kathrine for nothing after all, but the heat was all wrong. After a few, she tried playing with the temperature knob and turned it up too high. Several burned or half cooked pancakes later, and having miraculously avoided having the strands of silk hanging off of her catch fire, she was ready.
"lizaaaard." Mica hissed, carrying her own load of pancakes back to the house where Dee had spent the morning sweeping up silk strands. He looked exhausted and ready for a morning meal.
"Uh, wacha got there babe? Kathrine give that to you?" He asked, leering warily at the tray of misshapen and badly cooked pancakes.
"My-ka made lizard flappy jacks!" she said endearingly. With one pair of hands she ushered Dee to his work space, and with the other placed before him the pancakes. There were a lot of them, and some of them had leaked their uncooked batter onto the tray. "Eat them! Eat them! My-ka made for lizard!"
Dee tightened his lips and let the strange feeling of disgusted appreciation fill his heart. She couldn't cook for shit, but Mica meant well. As his own father said when Dee's mother delegated the cooking to her husband, "A meal made with love is never a bad meal." He picked up the fork and looked at it, then Mica. She was eager and nervous. Wanted to please him. The first bite was like charcoal, and the third was a cold soup of under cooked batter. After the sixth, he pushed the tray away. Internally, he decided that his father had been full of shit.
"Wow babe, that sure was good but I'm full now. Hey, you wanna go for a walk?" He said, making a show of how stuffed he was. A trick he'd also learned from his father that never fooled his mother. It fooled Mica though. His fiance wasn't exactly a mental giant after all. It was a nice day, and a walk would distract him from the combined gnaw of hunger and squall of queasiness from over/under cooked food.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 26, 2019, 02:07:10 am
Foster took a drag from his cigarette as he picked up the pistol he kept and made sure a round was chambered. It wouldn’t do to be caught unarmed or unready when out scavenging. Picking up the backpack he’d bartered for Foster set out to go get parts for his lab.
Walking through Walkerville no one stopped him. Once outside of the settlement Foster lit another cigarette and made his way down the road on foot. With any luck he’d be able to procure all of the necessities for starting the lab before the house was built.
TJ meanwhile had climbed up on top of a house and was sitting on top of it watching the people pass by. It had become a bit of a habit over the years and a source of mild entertainment. At the very least it was harmless entertainment as well TJ figured. He could get his kicks from hurting someone after all.
Hopping down form the building he decided to go see what was going on at the library. Entering he smelled food and saw several of the work crews eating at the tables in the place. He was broken from his observation by Alice waving to him and saying “Hey TJ, good to see you’re sticking around.”
Waving back he said “Good to have some place I can actually stay!” before sliding onto the counter. “Sooo what do you guys have to do around here? Like for fun?”
Alice stopped to think for a moment before answering “Well we do have some gambling here and there and some folk who play it for fun and card games of course. There’s hunting, fishing, some folk make things for fun around here..like Hector, I think he enjoys it at least. Hiking is fun once in a while but you still gotta have something to deal with zombies just in case. Other’n that you’d have to come up with it yourself I think.”
TJ nodded as he looked around the room. “Cool. I could go for a hike sometime, though I don’t think I’d have to worry about the zeds. Oh, know somewhere I could get some work? I’d like to earn my keep and help out ya know?”
Alice thought about that for a minute as she served a few more people. “I don’t know honestly. My dad and I just kind of got this place built and are trying to take care of the folk here. Maybe ask one of the work crews bosses? I mean if you want to help out here we’d appreciate it, and I’m sure we could arrange some form of payment for you.”
Looking over his shoulder at her TJ said “I might take you up on that one. I’ve never been one for construction work after all. Too much sweat and hard labor.”
Alice playfully swatted him on the arm as she said “Nothing wrong with hard labor and sweat TJ. Just so long as its for a good a reason.”
Pushing off the counter TJ started for the door as he replied “I guess it’s a matter of opinion Alice, catch you later.”
Meanwhile Charles had slid the chest and backplate on and was letting Maddy help him. Well help was a bit of a strong word. It was more like she was attempting to see what he’d put up with without straight up hindering him. “Okay Maddy, get me the right wrench this time please.”
In truth what he was working on was of limited consequence. It was more an exercise in teaching Maddy to actually work alongside him. As such the task at hand was repairing a mechanical clock.
Taking the offered wrench he thanked her as he set another piece in place and tightened it down. Liam had come out of the barracks a while ago, taken one look, and walked into the woods to go meditate or whatever the fuck it was he did. Charles honestly could not give less of a fuck about whatever Liam was doing right now. Now the others weren’t going to just sit there and not say anything when they saw him.
Again, not that he really cared. They were never going home so Charles was truly free to embrace the future..or the modern times at the very least. So he continued to sit there and work and wait for someone to bother him. “Maddy please stop messing with the helmet screen, thank you.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 28, 2019, 12:19:00 am
Foster slid out from underneath the car holding a couple of parts that he slipped into his bag. The pipes would need to be properly cleaned thoroughly first of course. Turning he spotted a building that looked..relatively undamaged. A surprise to be sure but a good place to look for parts.
A short while later Foster left the building with little to show for his effort. Checking his watch he decided it would be a good time to head home. There would be plenty of time to get what he needed after all.
An hour in and Foster was close what Isaac had told him was called the Hall. Perhaps getting to know the neighbours would be a good idea. Less suspicious to try and not be a total recluse, at least in the old world.
His trip was cut short by someone tackling him from the side after a few minutes of walking. He’d caught sight of the Hall before the world turned sideways and he found a man who’s eyes were a dark black in color standing over him.
The raised knife and the crazy gibbering about needing to eat of the flesh gave Foster more than enough reason to kick the man off of him and onto the ground sprawling to get back on his feet. Foster didn’t bother to stand as he retrieved his pistol from it’s holster under his left arm and took aim.
The forty-five ACP round flew from the barrel and struck the man in his infected eyeball. The spray of black blood was enough to throw his compatriot off. The second shot from Foster’s pistol struck him in the throat.
Reaching over Foster picked up his sunglasses and slid them on over his eyes before standing up. A couple of steps was enough for him to be standing over the man clutching his bleeding neck. “Fascinating. The only things I’ve seen with blood like that are usually undead.” Kneeling down he retrieved a vial from his bag and took a sample “Shame you made me shoot you and your friend, I’m sure I could have gotten this in a much more civil manner.”
Foster hadn’t noticed the other cultists watching him. Watching and waiting.
Not far from him the Vikings rushed out with weapons drawn and ready. Steinar, in a particularly grumpy mood, hadn’t even gotten his helmet on when he stepped outside with a blade at the ready. Liam rushed out of the woodworks on the other side of the Hall with his puffball of light right behind him. “What the hell is going on?” He shouted as he made his way to regroup with the others.
Elsewhere TJ had pieced together a fishing rod and had bartered for a cooler. Walking over the bridge he noticed the river below and decided to take a seat to do his fishing. Half closing his eyes he settled in for the wait. His mind drifted as he sat there and thoughts of his past poured in. Memories of losing pursuers in the crowds of the undead that had filled the city he’d woken up in when all of this started. He didn’t have any memories from before that after all. And the undead’s indifference to him had always perplexed him. Maybe it had to do with-
His thoughts were cut off by a tug on the line. Giving a tug in return to hook the fish TJ settled in for the ‘fight’. A couple of minutes later and he hauled the tired fish up and tossed it into the cooler. A salmon just like all the other people fishing seemed to be catching. Maybe he could find something more interesting...
Standing he decided to go along the river and see if he could find any other species. Some time later he found a spot where the flow of the river was slower and the water was calmer. Retrieving a pair of old rubber boots from his bag TJ slid off his shoes and put them on. Then he removed his jacket and shirt revealing even more bandages covering the entirety of his body.
From there he waded into the water and kept darting his eyes around. He’d read about catching bass by hand and this was the most ideal place to find them around here, at least that he’d seen. This process took a lot longer and more trial and error than he’d prefer. But after about twenty minutes he finally caught hold of a bass with his hand and hauled it out of the water. Walking over he slid it into the cooler and went back out.
An hour later and he had a number of fish. Enough that he could probably use some to barter and still have enough to eat for the day. Looking around he noticed he was alone out here.
Sliding his bandages down and retrieving a mirror TJ inspected himself for a moment. Thanks to some daily effort his teeth were white and in near perfect condition. His jaw could use some cleaning but so could the rest of him. Not that he stunk but he could spend some time getting the dirt off of himself a bit more.
Replacing the bandages on his face and tightening them some more so they couldn’t fall down TJ started back home after putting his jacket and shirt back on. As he arrived back on the bridge one of the locals waved and he returned the gesture. At the very least they weren’t hostile to him.
Walking along he made his way back to the library and saw Isaac doing some mild butchering to perpare for lunch. Walking over TJ said “Want some help with that?
Isaac looked over with a smile as he said “Sure kid. You know how?”
TJ shook his head as he grabbed a knife and a piece of meat. “Alright kid, just do what I do and you’ll be good.” Isaac said as the lesson started.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 28, 2019, 01:02:18 am
The gunshot had likewise drawn out Helen, who had just been discussing things with Branch and soon tending to the day's tasks when some commotion sent most of the others there running out to see what was going on. With cloak and mask thrown on hastily, hammer at the ready she was not far behind the others, hammer lowered as she saw what was before them.
"What happened? Is everything alright?" she asked, mask contorted to examine their surroundings. Enough to get a vague sense of something peculiar about the stricken figure sprawled out at Foster's feet, though the signs of otherworldly life growing within were too faint for her to pick up on.
She seemed to briefly look Foster and the cultist over, before the mask deactivated. She'd noticed something else was off, but made no move to suggest that she was aware of it. The man standing in front of them was the bigger concern at the moment, as what she saw nearly made her hesitate. Best to ensure the situation was under control, avoid drawing the attention of whatever was lurking out then, then take him aside to ask him about it, she decided. "That looks like one of the undead if not for how lively he seems...are you injured?" she asked, still on guard but seeming more concerned than anything else.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 28, 2019, 02:12:41 am
“I’m fine, lucky there were only two of them though. I was just coming over-” Foster leaned over and grabbed the knife that one of them had attempted to stab him with and slid it into his belt as he continued “-to say hello, I’m moving in over at Walkerville and Isaac said it might be good to meet the proverbial neighbours.”
Standing up Foster quietly slid the vial of blood into his bag then grabbed the rifle to unload it and remove the round in the chamber. Giving a smile he most certainly wasn’t feeling Foster’s eyes rested on Helen’s mask for a moment before he looked the others over. “I apologize we met in such circumstances by the by. These assholes here should have evaluated the situation a bit better before jumping me like that but I’m guessing they were keeping sketch around here. But uh, where are my manners, I’m Ha-..I’m Foster. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Aaron, Gunnar, and Eino along with Steinar moved into the woods to search for more of the ‘people’ that had attacked Foster. Charles went back to the forge now that he was certain nothing was going to happen. The others decided to keep watch.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on May 28, 2019, 07:49:14 am
Branches looked down the side of the bridge at the water below. She'd left the hall with the intention of going home and swapping what she'd brought to trade for what she really wanted to trade with, but quickly forgot all about that as she trudged along the river bank towards the bridge. Rather than cross the road and continue her northward course, she had turned and ambled slowly over the bridge. What she was thinking about was Hector. Hector and much needed advice. It had occurred to her that she'd taken a wrong turn, and now she'd stopped to look at the river and think about her predicament. For a long time she stared before realizing that she was rather rudely staring at a couple people fishing in the river, no more than twenty or thirty feet away.
"Heya, do you need anything?" The older of the two men shouted for what must have been the third or fourth time. Branches blinked and actually looked at them. The other man standing further in seemed to be wrapped up in heavy bandages and now that she was actually looking at him, she felt kind of bad for him and wondered what had caused such a serious extensive injury.
"Uh, sorry. I was just thinking." She responded, straightening up as best she could, "I guess I didn't see you down there..."
Isaac looked around and then raised his eyebrow at her questioningly. The question being, 'how could you not see us?' Branches didn't know, but the embarrassment was enough to move her along and get her thinking a little more clearly. With a little help from one of the few people coming and going from the farm, Branches found Roxanne's house. A bit of adjusting her hat and cloak, a deep breath, and she was ready. The door, as innocuous as it was, seemed to menace her a little. Never the less, she knocked and waited. Hopefully this Roxanne would be a nice and understanding lady. "Well that wasn't here before." Jennifer said while looking up and shading her eyes. What she was looking up at was a tree. The last time she'd been down this way, just before her mission to New Bangor, there had been an intersection on the spot. Now, there was an absolutely monstrous tree just off center of it. Roots had rippled outwards and burst through the road violently which made it obvious to Jennifer, with Cheena's experience, that it was not natural.
"It's huge!" Cherise said, making her awe known. "Where d'ya think it came from if it wasn't here before?" Jennifer thought about it but came up blank. The only other 'miraculous' plant like this she could think of was the 'sacred' birch at Walkerville, a tree she had been allowed to sit under many times when something was bothering her. Sometimes she would be joined by the sad maid who'd lived on the old farm, sometimes the strange four armed girl or her man came to sit and think.
"No idea, but gawd, it's gotta be seven stories..." Jennifer said. She and Cherise made to circle the tree, wordlessly deciding to go in opposite directions around it. Not only was it tall for an oak, it was thick as well. Thick enough to fit a large truck in if it was hollowed out and outfitted to maintain it. On the far side, they were both surprised to find a man absorbed in whatever it was he was doing. Apart from his mask, and the red robed mutant woman with him, he was perfectly ordinary.
"I don't know Sylvia, I can hazard a guess but I'd say it grew out of the trip hammer. We used a fresh log for the construction, perhaps the stone- Oh! Hello, sorry, it's not quite safe yet." Daniel said, noticing the two rangers at the last.
"What isn't safe?" Jennifer asked, snapping into professional mode, "Daniel was it? Just what's going on here?" She noted Cherise drawing something that looked a bit like the handle of one of the tacticool knives from her belt, sans blade, and chose to ignore it for the time being.
"Not much ma'am," Daniel was quick to explain, recognizing Jennifer right away, "We destroyed a dangerous item here yesterday, I just didn't expect it to do something like this. As of right now, I'm searching around to see if the item in question was actually destroyed or not. If it was incompletely destroyed, it could be dangerous. The problem is though, I can't find any trace of it. There should be something but it's just completely and utterly gone. For now it should be safer just to stay away. I swear, I'll have a full report with the Captain by the end of the day. Alright?"
Jennifer glanced at Cherise again, noting that the handle thing had vanished back into whatever hidden belt loop or pocket had stowed it originally and then back to the mage hunter, sanguinist, couple. "Alright then. Do me a favor and have Captain Sandell send me a copy of your report as well. I don't report to her anymore and I'm going to be busy setting up a group of people to look into things like this, alright?" Daniel nodded at that, being privy to some of the details of current refugee center politics. "Orchard is another couple miles on Ms. Cohen, lets get going before we lose the daylight."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Wheel-Son on May 29, 2019, 03:41:15 am
The wagon went further west, past the mountains. As there was less mointains, and more trees Quincy played a little tune on his guitar. The obnoxious tune about cheese and pizza continued for most of the trip west, no matter how long Horace glared at Quincy, he didn't stop. Horace looked at the axe for a moment, 'I'm going to kill him, I swear to the gods.' Celine gave a little sigh as she looked back over at Quincy, trying to think of some other song, literally anything else, and how to convince him to switch to it. "Maybe something that isn't about food? It's going to be a long way before we can make camp and prepare dinner, and I think the knight's starting to eye you like a steak." she joked.
Abraham rubbed his temples, "I swear to god, boy. If you don't'n pick another song or shut up I will personally blow out your god damn kneecaps." Quincy gave a little cackle, and stopped his silly little song. "I haven't been at it for that long!" He stated, Horace barked at that, "You've been at it for over an hour." Celine breathed a sigh of relief, before giving the treeline up ahead a cautious glance. "Looks like activity up ahead." she said, Horace perking up finally, gripping his axe tight. "Someone else seeking to give their opinion on his taste in music?" he remarked, Abraham casting a wary gaze down the road. "Keep y'pants on boy, looks like a town down th' road..."
As Horace, despite his grumbling over the lack of a fight, dismounted from the wagon, he gave the area a wary glance. "Something still isn't right about this place..." he mumbled, Abraham giving a nod. "Y'can sense it, boy?" he asked, Horace feeling a faint presence. A vague ominous feeling. Though it seemed to fade as they neared the village, a hint of calm among growing darkness, the trees farther down the road carried a sense of foreboding, and a distant warning channeled through the axe hinted that the Veiled King was wary as well...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on May 30, 2019, 07:22:08 pm
Helen gave a cautious motion with a hand as the others advanced to investigate the area, intending to gesture towards where she saw figures, as best she could without giving their intent away, though the others scouting ahead likely risked scaring off whatever was watching anyway.
"A pleasure to meet you, then." she said, before reaching to offer a handshake. "The name's Helen McKinnon, sorry if we may have startled you with the sword-waving and such. Though if you've already been around in Walkerville you've likely already seen Hector." she joked.
"The Hall is just down the river nearby, suppose introductions are in order. And if you'd like, we'd almost finished preparing lunch after the morning lessons."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on May 30, 2019, 08:51:45 pm
Dusting his pants off Foster said “I’ve not had the pleasure to speak to him no. But if he is like the others I’ve met I’m sure he’s a wonderful individual.”
At the offer of food Foster realized he’d not eaten breakfast. “If you don’t mind sharing a meal that would be wonderful. I’m sure we’ve plenty to talk about, what with living in this wonderful new world for the past eight years. Must be some stories to tell thanks to that.”
Meanwhile Heinrik adjusted the coat he was wearing as he listened in on the conversation in the other room. A ballistic coat accompanied by plates on his arms and legs covered his body over a set of black cargo pants and a black long sleeve shirt. Reaching over he pulled the machete out of the body next to him as his other hand lightly gripped his amulet.
“¿Seriamente? ¿Quieres que vaya a buscar al Verdugo? Solo haz lo que te digo que hagas!” Someone in the other room shouted. This was followed by a flurry of sounds from the other room.
Flipping down the protective faceplate of his helmet Heinrik slammed through the wall. He’d inadvertently crashed through it and knocked one of the men to the ground while the others screamed in panic. This gave him the space to capitalize.
Two swings brought three of the five men down, one losing his head, a second getting his body cut in half at the chest, and a third catching the blade in his stomach. As Heinrik pulled the blade out one of the men popped a shot off that hit him in the neck.
Taking two steps he kicked the gun out of the man’s hand before grabbing him by the throat. Lifting him into the air Heinrik turned and cut the last of his opponents down with a rather lazy swing with the blade lodging itself in his throat. Turning his full attention to the man he was holding Heinrik lowered him and grabbed his throat with both hands.
The sound of gunfire echoed throughout the rest of the motel as he stared into his victims eyes. The same feeble attempts at escape as everyone else. As two men in black combat gear entered Heinrik dropped the now dead man to the ground. “It’s done. I’ve paid the debt”
One of the men threw him a wrapped object that he caught with ease. Not a word passed as Heinrik walked away with machete in hand and a healing wound in his neck. Also very happy to have his artifact back as he clipped it back onto his necklace.
Back in the motel B-23 looked to the other members of the Carnicería members. “He didn’t owe us shit. Still he was useful.” one member said as they departed.
B-23 nodded as he replied “Yes, useful. Also dangerous. I fear for whoever it is he is hunting. Especially with what it sounds like they did to him.”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 07, 2019, 10:10:28 pm
"Of course. Would be interesting to hear what stories you have of your travels after lunch." she offered, leading the way back towards The Hall.
As she led the way along the river's shore, she took a look around, the entrance of The Hall already in sight, just around the bend such that it was less visible from the bridge. However, she soon removed her peculiar metal mask, letting the scale-armored hood down as well. "I noticed something earlier, while looking out into the treeline. Aside from signs that you were being watched, possibly by whatever company your attackers brought." she said, before continuing.
"What experience do you have with the arcane? Anomalous, supernatural, whatever you may prefer to call it." As she said this, she held up the mask, to let him see it clearly. "Items such as these can perceive things that one's own eyes can't, though they have their own limitations in turn. When I saw you through it, something seemed as though you had endured your own run-in with dangerous effects before." she explained. "Can you tell me what happened? If you're not...comfortable telling, it's fine. Just concerned that you're alright."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on June 07, 2019, 11:00:47 pm
Foster followed Helen and listened to what she had to say. Sitting and listening to her questions once inside Foster pondered what to tell her. He wasn’t quite sure she knew he didn’t have a soul but still if she did..
Foster retrieved his flask and took a drink before starting to speak “Experience with the arcane? Years of personal research including handling artifacts with anomalous abilities and then years with an organization that provided quite a few chances to witness the more..adverse effects of such things. As for run ins with dangerous effects I’ve had plenty.”
Taking another drink Foster continued with a rather vacant expression “I mean some were just stupid little things, the equivalent to a magic flashlight. One though, well it was an interesting sight. We gave it to a man in a secure room, nothing happens for the first three days. Then they come in early in the morning to see a tree’s grown out of the bastard’s stomach and swallowed the artifact.”
“As for what happened to me. Well as far as I know I was born the way I am. My condition makes others uncomfortable around me but they can never place why. As such I’ve generally been isolated in my life with few people to rely on. In my workplace before whatever it was happened I was only welcome due to my breadth of knowledge on the subject. I’ve grown accustomed to the effects of my condition after all of that. But alright? I'd not go that far.”
Staring down at the engraved flask Foster asked “Any questions?”
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on June 07, 2019, 11:33:15 pm
Helen was a bit surprised at that, listening intently as she set her mask aside, sitting down across from him. When he'd finished, she gave a cautious little nod. "I see. That you've made it through all that at least means you handled yourself cautiously, or so I hope." she said, smiling some. "I was part of a group that had interest in such as well, though it often came down to destroying things we couldn't afford to contain safely." she admitted. "It led to, I suspect, a bit too much bad blood between my brethren and others who were less strict about handling such things."
She was at this point a bit concerned, cautious and mildly unnerved by the anecdote he told of testing dangerous artifacts on people, but for now she said nothing of it. If he proved to be dangerous, then she'd deal with him, she reasoned to herself. If not, he'd be welcome given he was received as a guest. "And I see. So what I saw was due to that, I would guess. I'm not sure what to make of that..." she said softly, before getting up to get a drink, deciding to offer him some of the mead that they'd recently been able to produce, and soon Solomon entered the main area of The Hall to bring them their food.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on June 08, 2019, 12:25:52 am
Roxanne was very nice, Branches thought. A nice lady who moved about with elegance and purpose, and whose words dripped with wisdom and experience. Anyone else would have told her otherwise but Branches found herself as trusting of Roxanne and her words as Mica was. The house was a fine example of pre-cataclysm ranch, heavily modified after the fact but still standing even after everything had gone to hell. Roxanne led the Homunculus through the house and into the 'inner sanctum,' a bedroom fancifully and heavily adorned in the trappings of Roxanne Luna's particular decorative tastes and post-cataclysm necessity. Now, after a bit of chit chat and Branches introduction, they found themselves seated at the small table in front of a window. Roxanne had opened the curtains to let in a bit of light and give a view of the farm proper should the view of the room around them begin to grow stale to Branches eye.
"So," Roxanne broached, "What exactly can I do for you sweetie?" She took out from a hidden fold of her robes a pair of fresh icecream sandwiches. Using her glamour in small ways like this, no matter how insignificant it was, always made Roxanne feel clever. Branches took the offered ice cream without much comment though, as though it was a trick she'd seen a hundred times before, and that disappointed Roxanne a little. The homunculus unwrapped it and gave it an experimental lick.
"I think I see why Illiana likes vanilla so much..." She commented, side stepping Roxanne's question.
"Oh? You know that lady?" Roxanne asked.
"Yeah, she said I was to be your attorney if you couldn't find one for yourself. Looks like it might never happen since she keeps issuing postponements though." Branches explained, not noticing the color rise a little in Roxanne's face and the sudden flicker of color in her eyes.
"Well uh, I suppose you came here for some other reason though?" She swerved back. Branches own color rose and for a long time Roxanne didn't think the girl would tell her. Then, Branches gave her ice cream another lick and let her gaze drift over to the window.
"W-what do you do... when you have a crush on someone?" Branches asked. She sounded not all there, but Roxanne immediately understood much more than she had when the girl had come knocking on her door. After a very brief internal conference with Eris, Roxanne gave the homunculus another look over, judging not as a person but as her potential as somebodies girlfriend. Average height, average weight, striking gold cornsilk hair and even more striking amethyst eye. Roxanne didn't think she could do much for the girls appearance, but she could at least give her something to wear so that she wouldn't look like some kind of homeless waif. On top of all that though, the girl also had an obvious touch of the arcane about her, and if she was associated with Illiana then that "touch" was more likely than not a veritable well of arcane touches.
"Well, I could tell you generically sweetie, but the generic approach doesn't really work on everybody." Roxanne explained, putting one hand on her chin and licking her own ice cream, "To really net you a successful catch, I need to know what sort of person this guy is. It might even help if you told me exactly who you had in mind." That last was more for Roxanne's own amusement of course, but it was true that it could help. If it was someone Roxanne knew, that was.
"Well..." Branches said dreamily, "He's tall and handsome and strong and kind and... and..." Roxanne noted that Branches seemed to have drifted off, a sure sign that the homunculus had begun to day dream. She'd seen Mica do the same thing before. The empty gaze, the daffy grin. Branches ice cream dripped onto the paper beneath it, and she didn't seem to notice the impending mess. Her eye was fixed firmly on... Roxanne's head twisted like on a pivot to trace the gaze of the girl across from her and immediately had to stifle herself.
'Oh. My. God.' She thought in tandem with her internal other.
"Girls got good taste Luna," Eris whispered a little tauntingly in her head, "Really fine taste!"
Outside the window, just to the side of the house Hector rarely stayed in, was the new workshop Catnip had set up for him. Hector rarely used the work space, preferring to use the old space in the shadow of the sacred birch simply because he liked to see people coming and going to and from the farm. Today though, Catnip could be seen seated on the round pole fence surrounding the forge space, talking to Hector hard at work on some piece of metal work. The knight had decided to remove his armor for the day and replaced the shirt he usually wore under it with a leather apron that did nothing to hide Hectors not inconsiderable and rarely seen muscles. As Roxanne watched, he wiped the sweat from his brow and readied his hammer for another blow at the anvil, then noticed the ladies watching him and waved. Roxanne grinned and waved back, then quickly glanced back at Branches. The homunculus had sunk into her seat a bit, but had turned an obvious bright red.
"This could be fun." Roxanne thought to Eris, then aloud shouted, "Oh ho ho! So that's the way it is then!?" She leaned across the table and pinched Branches cheek. Branches snapped back to, instantly looking guilty like she'd been caught in the act of theft. "You've got good taste sweetie, really good taste! It's a good thing you came to me. Don't worry, Roxanne will help you land that big fish! I'll give you some advice to get started, but ol' Hec is a bit oblivious so give me some time alright?"
Internally, Roxanne and Eris were already hard at work making plans. They had they're own fish to fry first, but when that was done then there would be all the time she needed to have a bit of "fun" with this. Catnip snuffed the cigarette, much to Hector's relief, and tossed it into the forge to incinerate. Hector didn't really understand why he was working at this forge rather than 'his' forge, but figured it might just have been a momentary desire for a change of scenery. A byproduct of this temporary move was that Catnip had come out to watch and chide. There were worse things, but the situation was akin to one expert trying to tell another how to do something they already knew how to do.
"You need a press." Catnip insisted, "Otherwise you're gonna get de-lams." Hector didn't need a press. At least, not that he believed. His own augmented muscles and a sufficiently heavy hammer was all that he thought he'd need, which was true enough. When he wasn't on official business or out fighting Hector had found in the post cataclysm a talent in himself. Talent as a hobby smith. More than that though, he'd discovered that some people would even appreciate the effort he put into his craft. He wasn't a savant like Catnip, but that didn't mean he was bad or even half bad. It turned out, he was very good.
"I'm not going to get delaminations Nip. I've got this under control." He said, putting down his main hammer and taking out one with a flared flat face.
"Planishing isn't going to take the de-lams out Hector." Catnip commented. Hector growled at that, knowing she knew he wasn't trying to get any mythological delaminations out of the piece. She'd gone over the work he'd done with a master's eye, considering every bit of effort he'd put in and the workmanship he'd worked so hard to develop. Her response had been entirely unexpected though. A simple "it's fine enough." She had been sent away to Arizona and had come back with a sacks worth of ego.
"It's not for getting any delaminations out!" He said sharply. He glared at her, and she grinned back playfully. It was then he realized that she wasn't at all serious. Catnip was pulling his leg. She had come back with a bit of ego, but not as much as she sometimes pretended to have.
"Calm down, calm down." She said, "It's fine. Better than that scrap armor you made anyway." Hector had begun to calm, but that nettled him a little.
"Oh come on, it was a clever idea that came up after you got... You know, teleported and slash or turned into a rat. We had all that scrap power armor turned robot metal left over and I thought it would be poetic to make new armor out of it." Hector said, fuming a little. Catnip scrutinized him and the work he was doing, then Hector had a thought and corrected himself. "Well, after a few of us thought you got turned into a rat. Most of the reasoning there was kind of stupid really..."
"You should never try to heat treat hardened steel tin can," Catnip chastised gently, "who knows what you may have done to it internally..." She kicked her feet a little, then asked "do you think it's strange?"
"What's strange?"
"That I know all this stuff. Minx says it's weird, if Mica and I grew up in a lab, that I should know so much." She explained. Hector made a perfunctory non-committal gesture at that.
"Nip, you have a passion. Considering all the things you don't know, personally I think it's normal. I mean, what's this thing called?" He said, holding up a fork shaped object at his question before picking up a second tool. "Or this?"
"Er... A fork prying thing and a spinny soft wheel?" She said cautiously.
"A picklefork and a buffing wheel." He corrected, setting them down. "Nip, for all the tools you have, I know of only about a fourth of them you can name properly. I'd say you are doing just fine in terms of being a savant."
There was a long silence between them, in which time Kathrine brought out a pair of glasses containing sweet tea, and the announcement the the ice maker had broken down again. Another thing Catnip would have to look into. Catnip stopped watching Hector so much and instead examined the sword he'd laid aside on the forges stout table. The old arming sword he'd carried with him throughout his post cataclysm career onto a hundred fields of battle. It looked, despite the sharpening and buffing and repeated treatment, like it had been thrown into an oversized blender.
"I really should replace that old thing." Hector said wistfully when he noticed Catnip examining it, "But the fact that it hasn't fallen apart yet is just a testament to it's reproduction quality."
Catnip stayed silent for some time, then suggested, "eh, if it does break, bring it to me. I've got something I'd like to try. Speaking of metals and craft works and stuff like that, I'd like to try to build some specialized armor at some point after Dee and I get Medeina built, could use some help with that. Also wanted to know if you had any idea concerning that list I gave you yesterday." Hector swiped a hand at his brow and raised his hammer again. Then he saw the girls watching him and waved. "Putting on quite a show." Catnip mused while watching Roxanne and her guest while they watched Hector.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on July 10, 2019, 12:22:55 am
2 months ago
The sound of the air tight seals popping open filled the room as the first sounds to greet the silence in nearly fifteen years. The heavy footsteps that followed echoed as the five men stepped out of the stasis pods and shook the drowsiness from their heads.
Once they were able to fully avail themselves of their faculties they moved to the lockers in the room to retrieve their uniforms. Each man donned a grey uniform that was accompanied by a pair of black boots, a metal Sallet helmet and a black chest rig. Walking over to a console one of them switched it back on and inserted his thumb into a slot.
‘ID confirmed: Alexander Sokolov. Rank: Crusader. Status changed: Active’
Moving to another console Sokolov connected a wire to a small port in his neck. ‘Adjusting bionic liver. Tuning bionic eye. Calibrating…’
All of them went through the same process of having their bionics calibrated and getting their gear in order. When all was said and done they approached the door and waited as one of their number stepped forward and read the instructions on the door console. Tapping a button the man started to speak “Howard R. M., Captain of the order speaking. Stasis pods were deactivated, alert from Secure Compound Zeta under the..local bank. Present with me is Alexander Sokolov, survival specialist.” He rattled off the rest of the names and jobs of the men with him before signing off and walking out of the facility with his men in tow.
1 week ago
Sokolov watched his captain stare through a pair of binoculars at the men in the building in front of them. Tilting his head back Sokolov finished the mickey of vodka as he waited. Finally his captain spoke “There’s gotta be thirty of them, maybe more. Heavily armed and looking twitchy from here. You still ready for this Sokolov?”
Setting the bottle down and grabbing his rifle Sokolov shrugged. In the past month he’d watched one of his friends shoot himself in the head because of this apocalypse and two more get gunned down by scum. The way he figured it the pair of them would either complete their objective or die trying. “We go quiet and stay quiet.”
2 days ago
Sokolov sat in Haps bar sipping his drink. And waiting. He’d been waiting for the past two days. His armor was stowed in a large carryall bag sitting next to him. Pulling his hand from his pocket he sorted through the coins he had, palming one and dumping the rest back into his pocket.
The man he’d been waiting for had entered the building and sat down. Standing up Sokolov walked towards the door. As he passed the table he flipped the coin onto it. Before the man could question it Sokolov was out the door.
“I do not enjoy work. I do not relish a piece of paper being handed to me. I do not savor the moment before action. I do my work as is my duty. When I pass may the Lord forgive my soul. If he does not then may I take my place at Lucifers right hand. Please oh lord hear this sinners prayerr.” Sokolov said to himself as the man picked the coin up to inspect it.
Sokolov didn’t need to hear the gunshot that came quickly after, nor did he need to see the blood stain on the window of the bar. Sliding the Salet helmet onto his head Sokolov stared down at the coin that had returned to his hand as he walked. The only thing Howard would know of what had happened is that the man whom had been giving the orders to the men that had held the bank was dead. He would never really know how it happened.
For a brief moment the hooded figure walked beside him. He’d been told the man was an old gun who’d wagered his soul for one of the devil’s coins. The Templars wanted to destroy it, the Order had smuggled it away from the Catholics. Then they’d hidden it from the Cleansing Flame.
The Archival Order of Holstadt, a long destroyed town, had hidden many things of historical and religious importance in their eyes. Most of their catalogue were mundane items, glasses of some historical figure, a pair of pants that a crusader had worn, things of such mundane nature. But every once in a while they got their hands on something special. Along with their modern public facing cover they’d changed the name simply to The Archival Order.
Sokolov had broken a long standing agreement among the high ranking members of the Order when he’d taken this coin. Anything abnormal was supposed to be left in a secure room in the Order’s headquarters. But it had served him well in his work as an assassin of the Order.
When he returned to Howard he informed him that their target was dead. Then he received the news. Some cultists had taken over. Ones that liked to eat the flesh of the undead and other humans.
Present day
Sokolov had seen the group at the bank and knew no matter what they brought two men wouldn’t be able to take them on. So he’d started his journey to where the friends of an old enemy of the cult lived. Walking down the abandoned road he spotted a handful of the undead here and there but not enough to cause him any problems.
Of course he needed to sell something to these people. After all why did he care that these were the men that killed their friend? So he took a moment to settle back into his old accent. It had been years since he’d spoken like this, since he was a teenager if he recalled correctly. After his mother took him to her homeland of Ireland she’d taught him how to hide the accent of his homeland. “My name Alexander Sokolov, pleasure to meet you. I have news concerning mutual friend Alexei’s killers. I know where man that gave order is located, but I need help to kill.”
Even with practice speaking in broken english was painful at this point. And that was assuming they would be interested in getting revenge on the men. Assuming his intel was accurate. But that was all he had to go on while Howard kept sketch on the old bank.
Shooting a zombie that had been running at him Alexander also wondered about just who this Alexei had been. Why had these men been so angry that they were still partying and celebrating this man’s death? But that and all of Alexander’s other questions about the man would have to wait. He was getting near his destination, Walkerville.
Meanwhile TJ had finished helping Alice and Isaac with the lunch rush and was currently sitting outside leaning against the wall. He’d gotten enough parts to start working on the air gun he wanted to make so he set to work. Sliding the pieces into place and fastening them as best he could onto the frame he’d made TJ soon had the rough outline and basics of it down. Actually getting it to work would take quite a bit more work.
Looking up from his work he spotted a young misling watching him. Scurrying over upon realizing he’d been seen the young misling grabbed the makeshift air rifle and inspected what was built. “Needs seals. Barrell will only work with large bearings or darts. A padded stock would also make it more comfortable.” Handing it back the misling scratched at it’s damaged right ear and said “Could probably scrounge the parts you need, but it’ll take a while.”
TJ blinked, stunned for a moment, before saying “Wait you..want to help me? How much?”
Shaking his head the misling said “No charge. No real scrip around here so it doesn’t matter anyway. Scratch your back now you scratch mine later?”
TJ nodded after a moment’s thought and said “Sure. I’m TJ by the way, what’s your name?”
“Friends call me Bolt, or Wrench, or Driver. I don’t really care, I do my work and get my food, names don’t affect work. Which I probably need to get back to.” Bolt said before scurrying off into Walkerville.
TJ wasn’t sure what had inspired the young misling to talk to him but he had a feeling Bolt would probably be a good friend to have. Standing up and stowing his project TJ decided to explore the place a bit. Maybe even find some work of his own now that he was thinking about it.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on July 11, 2019, 11:30:31 pm
Bolt tapped his foot rapidly as he waited for the foreman to go down the line. He already knew what he was going to be doing but the last time he’d gone straight to work the foreman had been less than pleased. So he waited, tapping his feet and ignoring the other mislings that were to either side of him.
Finally he got his instructions: dismantle and salvage. Turning and walking away Bolt made his way to where the mislings used to disassemble various things for salvage and parts. He’d not been here long but already knew that the walk was simply a hundred steps, give or take twenty to avoid people or jams of foot traffic.
Once he reached the area he opened the locker that had been designated as his and retrieved his tools. Unlike the others his tool belt included an air tank that connected to his special tools. As he filled the tank nearby he couldn’t help but smile as he recalled how much easier his tools made his work.
He’d made them himself for the express purpose of his salvage job. Of course none of the others believed that he’d made them. Not that he cared if they believed he could build things, he was fine with everyone believing he was only capable of dismantling them. Life was easier when people didn’t expect much from you after all.
Humming to himself Bolt set to work now that his equipment was fully operational. His first task was to cut some pipe down for the construction crews.Nodding to the foreman of the ‘pit’ Bolt retrieved his cutter. Turning on the tool and inserting the pipe, sliding it along so that it was the proper length, Bolt squeezed the handle. The saw blade attached to it was designed for cutting metal so the pipe was taken care of quickly as he slid the next section into place.
Once the pipe was done, which lasted maybe a half hour of work, Bolt was told to just work on the pile. This was what they called the heap of items that had been left in the pit to be disassembled for any sort of use they could make of them. This usually involved stripping items for useful materials or parts such as circuit boards or valves or what have you.
This was work Bolt was particularly good at. That was mostly due to the fact he’d done it so much he could do it without really thinking about it. And so he sat there gutting computers and appliances until he came to a few gas tanks that had made their way into the pit. Inspecting them yielded the reason that they were down here, they’d been punctured here and there. If he were to hazard a guess the holes were small enough to have been caused by something akin to a screwdriver.
Taking off the valves and seals Bolt pocketed a few while the Foreman wasn’t really paying attention. It hadn’t been the first time he’d done such a thing even when the foreman was paying attention. The two had simply come to an understanding. ‘Dont pocket everything and I wont have a problem’ was the gist of it.
After that he just let himself slip into work. Which left his mind to wander. He was curious about the new person, TJ. He’d never seen anyone wearing that many bandages before. And there was an odd mixture of curiosity and sadness about him that clashed with how he tried to act happy. Or maybe Bolt was just misreading him.
Still the pair were outsiders among what appeared to be their own people, they had that much in common. The other mislings had decided that Bolt was unlucky, some due to the marks on his fur and others simply because he’d received more than a handful of opportunities after the misfortune of others. As such he often found himself on his own. So he’d made himself content with his lot in life.
Before long, well at least before it felt like it had been a long time, the bell rang. Bolt finished his cut and walked over to the lockers. Stowing his gear Bolt slid the lock into place and decided to go find something to eat. A bit early for dinner but he’d not eaten lunch.
So he made his way to the community center that Isaac had built. He’d never met the man but had heard from the other mislings they gave food for free. And they were nice people. He’d check and see then go and find TJ.
Entering the place he could smell food cooking and spotted Alice setting some out onto the serving trays. Isaac spotted Bolt and waved as he said “Hey right on time! Let me go get some plates and we’ll let you grab some grub.”
After a moment Bolt had his meal and was sitting down to eat. As he was used to no one really sat next to him. This gave him time to muse over his various projects at the very least.
At the same time as all of this TJ had been wandering around. He’d stopped to talk to some of the mislings here and there but none could really point him towards work that could earn him anything. As Bolt had put it “there isn’t any scrip here yet.” was the general consensus.
As such TJ had found himself sitting with an older misling in what appeared to be some sort of rug stall. The misling wore an old vest, dress shirt, pants and a pair of leather shoes along with a rather long and well kept and trimmed beard of grey hair. The pair had talked over a home mixed and brewed tea that the elder misling had made. “So you say you don’t know your past? Perhaps it matters not where you came from, perhaps you have yet to fulfill your purpose in life? Perhaps you have yet to even determine what that purpose is.”
The way the elder was watching him made TJ somewhat uncomfortable as he sat cross legged across from the man. Taking a moment to sip his tea and collect his thoughts TJ finally admitted “I don’t know, I guess I haven’t really had time to figure out what my purpose is.”
The elder simply nodded as he drank from his own cup. A younger misling had entered the stall and spoke a few words. “Oh for that design you should use that pattern there. It will look lovely, take the roll and bring back what you don’t use.”
From what TJ had gathered this man organized quite a few of the odds and ends for the construction crews. Some of the young mislings under his employ kept things organized in this stall and the others in the area where things like rugs, cloth, and other such items were kept. It also was built like it was going to be turned into a market at some point. Regardless the elder looked at him and said “That is okay child. Many do not find their purpose for most of their lives. What matters is that you carry yourself in a manner that is respectable, one that anyone could admire and look up to. Of course..” he paused for a moment to show that the vest concealed a blade “..sometimes one must act in unsavory manners to protect himself and others. That too is understandable.”
TJ shrugged. He’d killed once and found the act..distasteful himself. Before he could say anything the elder smiled and said “Ah, a pacifist? Admirable I must say but you need to be willing to defend yourself should the need arise.”
TJ nodded and said “I know, I really do. I just hope it doesn’t come to that. That’s why I’ve been trying to find a place like this where I don’t have to fight people.”
For a few minutes the pair sat in silence as the elder inspected TJ. Finally he stood and retrieved a long dark blue piece of cloth from a table. “I have known many men. Some wear these for the purpose of worship. Others because it means something to them as a symbol of things such as pride and courage. To me it is worn as a symbol of dedication and self worth not for some religious reason.”
Wrapping it around TJ’s head the elder hummed softly to himself. After a moment he finished wrapping the turban and tied it off, leaving a trail of the blue cloth hanging behind TJ’s head. “May it take on whatever meaning you assign to it however. You can always change the style as well, perhaps add layers or shorten the tail of it. That is ultimately up to you, just as all paths ultimately lead to the same place in the end.”
Reaching a hand up TJ touched the turban as the elder misling provided him a mirror to inspect himself. It was a deep blue and unlike the mislings it was only wrapped around his head a couple times to keep it on without really protruding from his head. “Thanks. I don’t really have anything to pay you with though.”
The elder waved the thought of payment away. “All I ask is that you remember our conversation today. I hope that it helps you find your way in life.”
The elder misling bowed and TJ returned the gesture after standing up. “I will. Thank you for the tea.” The elder smiled as he said “Of course, and as I said whenever we figure out money here I’ll be more than happy to have you working with me.”
TJ departed with that. Some of the younger mislings that worked for the elder waved and nodded to him as he went. The snug feeling of the turban wasn’t dissimilar to his bandages and was oddly comforting. Checking the time he realized it was almost six pm and decided to see if Alice and Isaac needed any help.
The walk there didn’t take very long and he spotted only a handful of mislings making their way in. Walking in he took a look around and spotted Bolt sitting by himself and decided to walk over. Sitting down he couldn’t help but smile at Bolt jumping slightly at his presence. “Hi Bolt, how was work?”
Swallowing a mouthful of mac and cheese Bolt shrugged “Was work. Same thing I did yesterday, same thing tomorrow.” Fishing in his bag Bolt pulled out the valves and seals “But got parts for air gun. Can take time to work on it tomorrow before shift if you’d like.”
TJ nodded as he leaned back and said “That works for me. I’m not gonna have much of anything to do anyway, at least that I know of. Maybe going out to look for parts or books.”
Bolt scratched his nose as he said “You read books? Could teach?”
TJ again nodded and leaned back in his chair “I could. We could start tonight if you want too.”
Bolt nodded eagerly as he took another bite of his food. As they sat there it dawned on TJ that Bolt was pretty small for his age, standing at thee foot four inches. The pair were both sixteen(well Bolt was Sixteen in misling years) and here they were living the farthest things from what they’d heard described as the life of someone their age. Instead of studying and dating they were disassembling salvage and working on a weapon that could kill both zombies and people while one of them taught the other to read.
Once Bolt had finished his meal he returned the plate to a receptacle and walked back over to TJ. Reaching over TJ pulled a seat out next to him and waited for Bolt to sit down as he retrieved a book from his bag. “This one should be pretty easy to start with.”
As they sat there TJ was surprised at Bolt’s eagerness to learn. The constant stream of questions made him imagine a child if he were honest. But he did his best to stay patient with Bolt as they sat there.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on July 22, 2019, 02:49:26 pm
Jennifer had been rather impressed with the organization on display at the orchard turned ranch, until she and Cherise got a closer look at the place. The first thing they found was a man, not a mutant or cyborg, nailed to a cross in the God's Army fashion. Cherise hadn't been able to look at it long, but Jenny did. The man was wasted away. Not as a man who had been hanging for a week, but like a man who's body was blown out by hard drug use. His eyes sat sunken and empty in his head, cheeks sallow and thin, body a sagging half starved sack. From the condition of the body, they could tell he'd had been alive recently as well, though the women would have had a hard time calling what this man had done before being nailed up "living." A fly buzzed around the feeling body and landed on one glazed over eye and Jenny grimaced before averting her gaze downward. There was a note, a simple scrap of card stock, stapled to the man's chest with industrial staples that read "thief" in long spidery letters. When it came to those desperate for a fix it seemed, this Hoyt didn't fuck around. In the distance, maybe a half mile, they could still barely see the steady line of smoke from a chimney, the orderly trees with people milling here and there among them, cattle in a more distant field, and a run downish looking two story house next to what was either a barn or a processing shed. The wind shifted and they caught the smell of the place. The spiced tang of apples, the stink of manure, and the unpleasant sickly sweet stench burnt plastic and ammonia.
"What do you think?" Jenny asked, trying to look like she was appraising Cherise reaction.
"I think I'd like to shell it and crucify it's occupants." Cherise growled in response. She pulled something from a pocket and Jenny wasn't sure what to think of it until the woman extended it.
"Is that a telescope?" Jenny asked incredulously at Cherise's old fashioned looking glass. Cherise started to raise it, then stopped.
"What? It's lighter and easier to carry than a pair of binoculars." She stated. Jenny pulled out her own pair of looking glasses at that, a small pair of basic folding binoculars that fit comfortably in the palm of her hand. Instead of commenting on it, Cherise simply grunted and peered through her antique while Jenny smirked and raised her own. The people in the orchard were much like the man on the cross. Wasted, sallow, unhealthy. Junkies, most of them, by the look. Their haunted, hunted, eyes told Jenny everything she needed to know. The people in the orchard were working all right, but they were hooked through the bag as well. The two women moved down the dirt road a ways to get a better look at the lay of the land and spotted a man and woman leaving the barn structure, headed for the house. The woman looked tough and wary, and carried some kind of large glaive bouncing on one shoulder. The other, the man, wore a lab coat that flapped gently in the breeze just as his hair was whipped a bit by said wind. His sun glasses glinted with the menacing humor behind them.
"Beware beware," Cherise said, "I think that's our guy." The words sent a shiver up Jenny's spine. Unlike Cherise, Jenny knew for a fact that it was their guy. Hoyt, the candy man. She knew it because Cheena knew it. The animal inside her could feel it, feel the poison in the man's veins. Smell the poison in his being. This man was at home with death and dealt in all the things that "his" kind took for pleasant but would quickly turn them into raving idiots and slaves to him. Cheena didn't like him, but Jenny didn't need Cheena for that. She looked somewhere else just so she wouldn't have to look at the unpleasant scene, and spotted the antenna. Judging from it's position she guessed it to be somewhere around the edge of the distant pasture. "They're looking our way fox girl." Cherise suddenly said matter of factly. Jenny swerved her gaze back down to see the man headed for the house, and the woman walking briskly in their direction.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 08, 2019, 10:16:27 pm
Night had come by the time Foster returned to Walkerville. It was still busy but the noise had died down at this point leaving him in an odd silence as he walked. He’d say he hated the silence but in truth he didn’t..he quite simply couldn’t. So he simply retrieved his bag from where TJ had stored their equipment and made his way to a secluded corner.
Foster contemplated his day. Overall it had been about as productive as he thought it would have been.The attack was unexpected but provided him with some interesting samples to test at the very least. So he pulled out his cigarettes and lit one as he sat there thinking. It wasn’t long before he fell asleep with the cigarette still lit in his mouth.
The next morning TJ woke up to the sound of a plate being set in front of him. Looking up he saw Bolt sit down across from him and say “Is time to wake, work starts soon.”
TJ took the plate and started to eat as he said “I don’t have any work yet. I’ve asked but I keep getting told that they don’t know how to pay me.”
Bolt shrugged “No money here, lot of paper in my bag that says I’m owed though. Will be work when they find something to use as scrip.”
The pair ate the rest of their meal in silence before Bolt retrieved the parts for the airgun and TJ produced the rest of it. Within the hour they had it working properly and a tank of air filled for TJ to use. As Bolt scurried of to work TJ took a pair of metal rings and tightened them around the air tank and hooked them to a leather strap he had setup to wrap around his waist.
The canister was small enough to comfortably fit on his back with his backpack on top of it. The air rifle itself was not dissimilar to an actual rifle in shape as was the intent. Railings on top of the rifle allowed him to mount optics and on the bottom to add a foregrip. At the pressure he had it set to it shot a lethal round quite a distance. And he had a set of barrels for two different kinds of ammo he’d prepared for it.
For now though he set it aside and walked outside. The sun was up but still low in the sky as he stretched and contemplated his day. He needed something to do he guessed.
Alexander, dressed now in an old leather jacket and jeans, walked towards Walkerville with his AK slung over one shoulder and a canteen of water in the other. His face was covered by the visor of the altyn helmet he’d carried with him and a black balaclava.
For a moment he stopped and stared at a zombie limping towards walkerville as well. It didn’t know why it was going there just that it sounded like food was in that direction. “So my friend, we have the same destination? But what was your story? Who were you?”
Alexander’s left eye faintly glowed a golden yellow as he saw the zombie not as what it was but who it had been. A doctor, he’d been out with friends when it had happened. They’d all made it a few days before the zombies found them holed up in his friend’s cabin. He’d vomited after shooting his best friend in the head after he started to turn. And then he’d finally given up.
Alexander clipped the canteen back to his belt and retrieved an internally suppressed pistol. The sound was so quiet he doubted anyone would have heard the gunshot that ended the zombie. As the last of its life left the body Alexander’s eye stopped glowing. Soon enough he’d be at the bridge and would hopefully be able to bring some help to kill the cultists.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 13, 2019, 01:59:42 am
Heinrik adjusted his grip on the machete as he stared at the group of zombies walking towards him. A swing and two heads rolled to the ground as he took a stride forward. A second swing and three more fell. These things were growing increasingly common as of late.
Still they had no real way to harm him, their claws scraped against metal plates and their jaws broke when they tried to bite through it. Soon they all were gone and he continued on his way. Soon he reached New Paris.
The guards had him stop outside and approached. One, the elder and most likely more experienced of the two, asked him “What is it you’re here for?”
Heinrik shrugged, he was here for a number of things, “Food, shelter, work.”
A short discussion on the expectations of his behaviour later and he walked in. The noise he was met with immediately made him stop in his tracks. The dull anger in his brain made him wonder if this endeavor called life was worth it. “Why in the name of any god is that playing over the speakers?” He asked to no one in particular. The response was one he hadn’t quite expected. Someone quite plainly being an asshole.
“Why, who, and where?” Heinrik asked as he stood there. He got the answer to all three. From there he walked to the person who appeared to be in charge and continued “Give me a rocket launcher and I’ll take care of whatever’s playing this noise.”
It was fifteen minutes later and Heinrik, standing his full eight feet tall with a rocket launcher slung over his back, started towards the orchard. It would take him a while but he simply didn’t care. It would take however long it would take, and in the end these fine folks wouldn’t have to listen to that ‘music’.
Elsewhere Sokolov walked over the bridge and into Walkerville. His rifle was still hanging loosely in front of him as he walked to the community center and spotted someone. Walking over he said “Isaac yes? You were friend of Alexei?”
Isaac nodded and suddenly found himself staring at the man. He couldn’t really discern much beneath the helmet and mask but he said “Yes, that’s me and yes that was my friend.”
Sokolov nodded and continued “I know where large number of cultists that attacked him reside. You get revenge, I get revenge, everyone happy.”
Isaac felt the old temper flare. He knew the men that had caused that explosion were more than likely still alive and now that had been confirmed. And he somehow knew the man wasn’t lying. “Alright, but let get some help first. If they feel like coming that is.”
And with that Isaac went to find Nathaniel and present the situation to him. When he did find him he gave him what info he had, having known that there was a group after Alexei thanks to a private conversation between the two. “We could get some justice for Alexei Nathaniel, we could do something about these guys. But it’s gonna need to be more than just me and a stranger.”
Elsewhere Bolt had finished his first shift of the day and was sitting by himself. He unwrapped his sandwich and nibbled at it as he worked on one of his projects in his head. If he just had the parts to make a hydraulic system he could actually make a system to help him bend steel.
He was soon interrupted by TJ sitting down beside him. “Hi Bolt, how’re you?” TJ asked as they sat there.
Bolt finished his bite of the sandwich and said “Good. Work was annoying, too much pipe that needed cutting today. But work is not the whole day.”
TJ and Bolt sat in silence for a minute and TJ nervously asked “Hey can I uh..can I show you something?”
Bolt nodded and the two started walking. Unbenownst to the crew that had made the bridge TJ had found a small alcove under it where one could sit in peace. He’d built a small cover for the entrance to it and had dug a hole that he’d slid a cooler into in the soft dirt. A pair of fishing poles were set to the side as well.
Sitting down the pair just stared at the water for a few moments before Bolt said “Is nice and quiet down here.”
TJ shrugged “Yeah, quiet is nice I guess but I just like being able to stare at the water personally.”
Bolt had to agree that the way the water ran over the rocks under the bridge was oddly soothing. As was the presence of TJ in a strange way. Unlike everyone else he’d met TJ didn’t treat him strangely due to the markings on his fur or the way he acted. It was nice to have a-
Bolt’s thoughts were interrupted by TJ pulling out a book and asking if he’d like to learn some more. Bolt nodded and looked down at the book as TJ pointed to one of the words and helped him read it. After a moment Bolt rested his head on TJ’s shoulder as they worked on his ability to read.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 14, 2019, 04:48:06 am
The sun had begun to set by the time Jennifer and Cherise had managed to free themselves of the unpleasant social situation in which they found themselves. A woman named Carrol had approached them demanding to know what they were doing sneaking around. Jennifer had been at a loss for a moment but Cherise had been ready, reaffirming Jenny's choice for her first ranger. Cherise had responded with an old standby that had marked her as unaligned with the refugee center.
"Sorry to bother you ma'am, but do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior, Jesus Christ?"
Carrol had scowled deeply and tightened the grip on her glaive. Hoyt and his thugs were familiar with the ploy, but not afraid of what it could mean for the orchard and it's denizens.
"We told you fucks to come Openly if you wanted what Hoyt's selling." She said more than a little menacingly. Carrol did an about face and headed back the way she'd come, only turning long enough to throw an insult at the women, and a command to hurry the hell up. Jennifer's first impression of Hoyt and the people who surrounded the man was soon proved to be spot on. He was dangerous, and the feeling of thinly veiled menace seemed to drop away to be replaced with open hostility when the rangers insisted that they hadn't come for drugs. Until that was, Jenny mentioned milk. Hoyt calmed quickly, but there was still an air of hostility. A bridge had been burned, but he was still willing to deal with them. He wouldn't bargain though, and Jennifer ended up paying the mans exorbitant price for the one jug brought in by Carrol after a long wait.
Now, walking along the road and discussing what they'd seen, Jennifer looked closely at the milk. To her, it looked like regular milk. To Cheena though, it looked wrong. Without a word, she popped the cap on the old fashioned glass bottle and overturned it.
"What are you doing? You paid for that!" Cherise gasped. Jenny shook her head slowly, and told her that it was poison. "What do you mean?"
"We wasted his time, his assistant or whatever put something in it. From what I've been told by the chef and the people he has taking shipments from this Hoyt guy, he doesn't ship his product in bottles like this. It was filled individually on the spot, just for us. That Carrol lady took her time, didn't she?" Jennifer explained. Cherise thought about it for a moment, then nodded. Carrol had taken more than enough time retrieving the bottle. Enough that she could have filled many bottles in the time it took her to return. "Plus," Jenny said, ears perking up as Cheena made her aware of something else, "Someone is following us."
They waited, listening to the silence of dusk. Crickets, wind, and silence. Cherise heard nothing but her senses, honed by her time hunting humans and mutants, suddenly went off. Jennifer hefted a stone and cursed herself for not bringing a holdout while Cherise drew the strange handle she'd had taken out momentarily earlier. With a quick movement, Cherise had drawn something from her sleeve and attached it to the handle.
"You're still wearing your armor?" Jennifer asked, astonished that Cherise had been able to conceal something like that under her clothes.
"Just the battery and the power circulator. I need them for the axe." She explained. Jenny didn't have time to ask when all became clear. A click and snap, and the handle had extended in Cherise's hand, then a lightsaberish 'fwoosh' and a jet of blue fire erupted from the end of the handles extended shaft. To Jenny, it really did look like an axe, albeit one made of blue light. The heat was obvious, even from as far as Jenny was standing. The implement would heat up quickly, and the burns on Cherise's hands suddenly made sense.
Something moved off the side of the road back the way they came. Someone or something moving away, headed back to the orchard. A little later, when they were sure that they were alone again, Cherise rubbed the palm of her hand while Jennifer examined the handle. She'd never seen anything like it, and doubted very much that Captain Sandell had either.
"It's a plasma weapon," Cherise explained, "The Mark Seven can usually discharge the heat produced, but not for very long since I never had the full suit."
"Where did you get it?" Jennifer asked wonderingly. Cherise shrugged, and took it back.
"A 'gift' for being especially good at what I did. Now it's just a really useful shameful reminder." The other woman continued looking uneasy and guilty. "I did what I had to, but it wasn't moral. I'll certainly go to hell." Now she looked sad, but only for a moment before the emotion melted away. The two of them decided to head on in the opposite direction of New Paris. If the drug dealer was intent on having his people follow them, then it wouldn't be good to have them followed back and revealing their true allegiances. Hoyt believed they were Gods Army, and that suited Jennifer just fine. It got darker and any sign of pursuit soon dropped away for good. The plan now was to keep going until they found one of Jennifer's safe houses.
"It'll be good for you to know where they are, if you decide to stick with the rangers." She explained, "Some of them are in some rather dangerous areas too, so those ones you won't have to worry too much about bandits or anything like that in. Xrays are still a problem though." Cherise soaked in the information, and considered. She probably would join, now that she'd experienced a bit of time with the mutant spy and had time to think about what she was offering.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 15, 2019, 01:41:48 am
TJ had gone off to deal with other things and Bolt once again found himself alone. But he liked the water and he liked that no one was bothering the ‘cursed’ child here. Which was when an idea popped into his head.
Running over to where they kept the supplies Bolt produced his IOUs. After a bit of negotiation Bolt left with a few spare hands to carry his materials. Once they were deposited he ran to get his tools and fill the air tank.
Bolt, aside from being quite competent at making tools to make his work easier, was also excellent at making shelter. Climbing out over the water and he started constructing what would be his home.
A few hours later and he stared at his work. The house itself hung over the water and was attached to the bridge itself. A retractable walkway was all that led from the shore to the house which was painted a dark blue. It also had an open air patio where one could fish if they so desired. All in all it was a wonderful looking house attached underneath a bridge that could house two.
TJ meanwhile had found himself walking through Walkerville when he saw a group of mislings. Each was decked out with a metal chest plate they’d made and carrying weapons given to them by Isaac. One looked over and called “Hey, we could use a fifth if you want to come along kid.”
After a moments consideration TJ nodded, hoping to get something of value for the trip and being bored out of his skull, and they got him a chestplate of his own. From there he retrieved the air rifle and tank and the lot of them started off and away from Walkerville.
They were heading out to look for a few components one of the engineers needed and the group had volunteered. TJ was surprised to hear that the eldest of the group was the same age as him,. Sixteen, and the youngest only a year younger. But like most mislings they were looking to earn their pay and earn a name for themselves.
As they walked the ‘leader’ revealed her name was Blue. “I grew up fightin’, don’t much care for all this sittin’ around and waitin’.” She said as they walked along the roadside. “Me an’ the boys here are what’s left of one of the old fightin’ rings. Call ourselves the ‘Brigade’ cause Shorts there thought it was a great name for a group of four.”
The man named Shorts sighed and rolled his eyes at her sarcasm. “I was thinking we could bring in some more people Blue, not just stay the four of us.”
The two argued for the next twenty minutes until they saw their destination. At which point they got their serious faces on and started moving into the building. In one room Shorts had lapsed his attention and a zombie came up behind him. “Jesus man, there’s nothing here.” Shorts said shortly before starting to panic as TJ lifted his rifle and swept it up past Shorts.
The dull thump of the air rifle cut through the air as the pellet shattered part of the zombie’s skull and rendered it dead. Turning to look over his shoulder Shorts blinked before saying “Shit man, saved my life. I owe you one.”
From TJ was in the lead as they reached a door and raised his hand to signal the others to stop. Blue pulled a grenade from her belt and moved to the other side of the door as TJ checked the door. Stepping in front of it he kicked the door, breaking the wood around the handle and pushing it in, and stepped back to the side as Blue threw the grenade in.
Pushing in after it went off TJ and the rest swept the room. Everything went fine until TJ heard a gunshot from behind him and felt a bullet rip through his chest plate flying between his fourth and fifth rib on the left side. He also saw the bullet rip the head of a zombie open.
“Shit, G, Shorts pull security.” Blue shouted as she rushed over to TJ. But before she could start to pull his chestplate off he grabbed her hand.
“I’m fine Blue, we need to get what we came for though. Made enough noise to bring more of these things around.” TJ said as he let go of her hand and started searching the room for the parts.
Sure enough once they exited the building TJ and the others saw a large group of the undead shuffling towards them. Pulling something out of his bag TJ put the device over the barrel of his air rifle and took aim as the others started running. Peering down the side mounted sights as he arced the rifle TJ squeezed the trigger and started after them.
The chemical solution inside the large projectile reacted to the sudden g-forces and when the round hit the ground it exploded in a fireball of death and shrapnel. The horde that had come for them was suddenly much smaller as they made their way back home.
On the way TJ plugged the hole in his bandages with fresh ones while telling the others he was fine. It took a while for them to believe him but eventually they just went back to walking. They were surprised by a group of zombies that rushed them from the side and cut TJ and G off from the others. The sound of fast paced gunfire drifted into the distance as TJ kept pulling the trigger of his rifle and G started chopping into the zombies with his pair of shashka.
After a few minutes TJ’s rifle clicked and he turned to spot a zombie about to bite G from behind. Sliding his knife out of it’s sheath TJ threw it past G’s head, cutting some of his fur, and watched the blade sink into the zombie’s skull.
From there they managed to fight through the horde and rush after their friends. As they reached the bridge to Walkerville G retrieved one of his swords and started towards Blue. “YOU LEFT US TO DIE!” G shouted.
Blue put her hands up and gave a grin as she said “I didn’t think you guys made it through the first rush G. My bad.”
G rolled his eyes and twirled the sword in his hand. “Sure Blue. Just like the time me and Shorts had to survive three days on our own because you fucked us. Or did you not tell Shorts that you sent us on a suicide mission?”
The argument between the two lasted a half hour as TJ stood there with Shorts and Ell. It ended when Blue walked off telling the other three to follow the ‘freak in bandages’ then. G rolled his eyes and said “Sorry, Blue’s a bitch. She’ll be back to us in a couple days begging to get back into the brigade though.”
Ell, the youngest of the three left, asked “But who’s gonna be in charge while Blue’s gone?”
G shrugged and responded “Not me, and not Blue when she gets back. Needs to learn there’s consequences for being a cunt.”
The discussion was short and quiet between the three mislings while TJ sat off to the side. Once they were done Shorts walked over to TJ and asked “So, ready to head back to the guy who hired us cap’n?”
TJ blinked and asked why they’d make him their leader, they just met afterall. “You saved two of our lives and took a bullet like a bad ass. Why wouldn’t we want you as our leader. Plus you ain’t another geezer telling us to quiet down, you listened to us back there.”
And with that they made their way back into Walkerville.
Elsewhere Heinrik held the drugged out man by the throat and stared him in the eyes. A sudden twist and the man’s neck snapped before his limp body dropped to the floor. Then he eyed his target from the tree line.
Retrieving the rocket launcher Heinrik aimed down the sights of the RPG and lined up his first shot. A slow pull of the trigger released the rocket into the air. As it soared through the air Heinrik reloaded. As it hit the tower the thing began to topple to the side and rip apart.
The second shot flew through the window of the building that the tower had resided next to. The resulting explosion would most likely have shredded the equipment inside. Standing up and turning he was greeted by another drugie pointing a pistol at him.
Swinging his arm Heinrik knocked the gun from the man’s hands and proceeded to grab him by the jaw. A sudden jerk downwards ripped it off and as he tried to start screaming Heinrik stabbed the man in the head with his own jawbone. As more of them rushed towards the source of the rockets Heinrik ran into the trees and towards New Paris again. He disappeared and left only the bodies as a trace of his presence.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 23, 2019, 12:06:14 pm
Jennifer spent time over the last year hunting and making connections. One of those connections, the one camped out in one of her best safe houses in fact, was Dave "Cannonball" D'Souza. Dave was a lanky man with an air of good humor and a handsome face beneath a head of chocolate brown hair. Now, sitting on the couch inside the third floor apartment safe house, he nodded understandingly to the women across from him. Dave was a Hell's Raider. Incumbent leader of the Dynamite Divers and maintainer of some of Jennifer's higher end safe houses.
"Let's go over it again." he said thoughtfully, "You want cattle and you want to run a hit on that dealer over in the orchard." Atomos nodded, noting that Cherise had gone out the front door to take another look at the demolished staircase. It had been the easiest part of setting up the safehouse. The hardest had been the plank spanning the narrow gap between this one and the apartment across the narrow alley between two buildings. The Divers had been hard at work turning other apartments into pieces of the safehouse, making it more fortress than simple hide away. The bridges between were the most impressive bit. The bridge which had started as just a wide plank thrown across the narrow gap between two close set balconies had evolved to a system of retractable rope and ladder bridges.
"Yeah, basically. I'm willing to split the cattle between your my people and your people. As for the tower-" She began.
"Yeah yeah, we've heard the shit music too. I'm more concerned with what the orchard is dealing than I am about faggots moaning into my speakers or getting a prime rib." Dave said. He rummaged around in a drawer while talked and took out a compact. Jennifer scowled at it, but Dave just ignored her. He was a user, sure enough, but not of what Hoyt was dealing. "That guys dealing poison. Something wrong with his fix. I'd be happy to fuck with his operation for you just to get his filth off the map."
"Could you not?" Jennifer interrupted, drawing Cherise back into the room. Dave looked down at his fixings and realized what he was doing.
"Oh, oh yeah, sorry B. Sometimes I forget, right?" He explained. The compact vanished into a jacket pocket and wouldn't be seen by Atomos again that night. She thought that the stuff in the compact would be the death of Dave's clan. Too many of his people took what their leader called "tusk snuff" before their rides. The result was, inevitably, somebody getting too careless with the divers signeture weapon and detonating themselves at high speeds. She'd seen it twice already, one of several reasons she'd dealt fairly but seldomly with the Dynamite Divers. Dave reached over and turned up the stereo between them and listened quietly to the sound coming from it. A mix of heavy bass, low moaning, and a man's voice repeating the line "stuff me daddy" all arranged to some kind of techno beat.
"Ba! Ba! Ba! Bo! Bo! Bo! REACH! FOR THE LAYZUHZ!!!" The radio screamed, in so far as it could scream at the low volume set.
Dave grimaced at it then turned his attention back to the ranger. "Frankly though, if we tried to sack the candy man's place, we'd probably end up getting shot down or blowing ourselves up. Junkies they may be, but the dick heads got some hard folks over there. Also, say we did take the orchard? Then what? The shit may be poison, but junk is junk and most of my guys are just as tweaked as his." Dave went on, accompanying his statement with a telling sniff of the webbing between thumb and forefinger.
"It's all poison regardless..." Cherise interrupted, "If we take the place, it's all being burned to the ground."
"Yeah..." Dave said with a nervous calm, "but it isn't that easy. Seriously though, we could probably help with the steak. The radio, no, the steak, yes. Now listen, the candy man has to get his stock from somewhere right? He's not breeding them then and there on that orchard is he? The clans know because the clans keep an eye on things. The candy man is a tempting target, but he's a hardened target. Still worth watching though right? I'm getting off track, sorry. So... Where's he get the livestock?"
"If he isn't breeding it, he's shipping it in." Jennifer mused, "but where from? Nobody else that I know of has any cattle."
"He's stealing it himself?" Cherise guessed. Dave made a sharp clicking noise and mimed a pistol firing in her direction.
"Bingo. Guy may be a hard core dealer, but he's a raider too. His people are anyway. They hit small settlements for chemical supplies and livestock. If they've got skilled chemists or scientists, his boys kidnap or kills them. If they've got drugs, they burn them. The candy man is a shrewd businessman. The thing is, the cattle can't all be shipped with the rest of the stuff. They have to be checked over to make sure their healthy, then they're loaded into a cattle car and driven back to the orchard. You aren't going to steal so much as a fart from the orchard, but you could probably take the caravan." Dave went over all this with a distant look of whimsy. Entertaining the concept of a hit and run. Only, there was a snag.
"We'd still have to knock out their radio." Atomos observed, "Otherwise, Hoyt would know the livestock had been hit and taken and he might try hunt the truck down to retrieve it... Or send reinforcements if we can't take the truck quick enough..."
Dave leaned back and tucked a hand into the pocket where he'd placed the compact before, slowly turning the little clamshell over and over in his hand. The off white powder inside would send him right off, making him feel powerful and energetic for a bit. The situation seemed hopeless, but of course there were ways they could go about it. Maybe if they had the hardware and support... He thought about his rivals, the Screaming Eagles and the Sun Dogs. The Dynamite Divers were floundering and one of the rival clans would absorb them. The Eagles wouldn't be so bad, but the Sun dogs would be terrible for the Divers. The problem was that it was likely the Sun Dogs would be the ones to unify them. Dave didn't have the numbers or the wits to do it, but maybe... Just maybe, this situation could be used to make a power play? He took his hand out of his pocket and appraised the fox eared ranger sitting in one of the apartments huge overstuffed leather chairs. She had hiked her legs up into the chair unconsciously and crossed them. The luxurious tail lay in her lap like a bundle of blankets and she was running her fingers through it, feeling the fur like it was the first time. Then her ears perked and she shot a look to the radio. Dave didn't see the last because at that moment, he too had averted his attention to the device. It had been silent for some time and they hadn't noticed. When it made a loud "bwip!" noise though, they both realized that the station had been broadcasting nothing but white noise for at least two or three minutes.
"Huh." Dave said, "Guess the Aussie asshat finally got bored for the night."
"Maybe the candy man put him to bed." Cherise guessed ominously.
"Well, it just means we can have a quiet nights sleep." Dave suggested, "Speaking of which, you ladies better get some rest. I'll put some feelers out, maybe get the Eagles and the Sun Dogs in on it, and I'll give you an answer in the morning."
Jennifer perked up at that and gave Dave a hopeful look. "You really will? Try to get together with your rivals I mean? That's very adult of you. I hope it goes well then, I really do." Dave waved a hand at her as if to say 'aw, go on you.' For show at least. The girl had always been one to push for cooperation among the clans and especially between the clans and the refugee center. Dave knew all about her mingling with just about everybody, including her infiltration of a few God's Army scouting parties that came into the area. A lot of the clans did, and some of them even had the hopes that she would do it. Atomos was no Big Dog though. No "Great Khan" figure, and she wasn't willing to use the methods Big Dog had used to get everybody together like that again.
"Naw... Well, maybe. We'll see. Go get some rest and I'll see what's what in the morning." He instructed dismissively.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 24, 2019, 04:31:23 am
"Is this really- EEP- necessary?" Branches asked, the Yelp necessitated by Roxanne giving the laces of the corset she'd made the homunculus try on another hard pull.
"Well no, but you wanna be beautiful right? Being beautiful hurts sweetie." Roxanne grunted. She put her foot on branches back and gave another titanic pull, wondering just what this girl was made of that the kind of pressure the corset was putting on her hadn't forced her to pass out yet. Roxanne had given good advice, or at least the two of them thought so. Be polite, be confident, look at him when you are speaking. "Hector liked 'em, confident but with streak of girlish flirty shyness. Just walk with your head up and try to avoid looking like you are skulking around and you should nail it."
After the advice, Roxanne had started in with appearances. Unfortunately, it was this that had devolved to a point where Roxanne was basically just playing dress up with the homunculus. Taking clothes off, putting new ones on, then taking them off again. Branches began to feel like a life sized doll, being stripped and dressed for an imaginary ball for other dolls. Roxanne wanted to see if she could push Branches a bit, and how far she could take it. Her excuse to herself was that Hector would push those frustrating buttons himself, but the reality was that she was just toying with the girl. Eventually, Branches caught on, and that was a surprise. Mica never caught on, but Branches wasn't Mica after all.
"Okay," Branches said at the last painful pull, "if this isn't necessary then you are just messing with me..."
"No no, this is important stuff. You have to know how to-" Roxanne began. Before she could finish assuaging the girl, Branches suddenly flexed and did something Roxanne had seen more buxom women, including herself, fail at. The corset exploded and sent buttons and ribs flying around the room like bullets.
"Woops." Branches said unconvincingly. Roxanne checked herself over, knowing that the mundane assault wouldn't have harmed her at all but checking anyway, then expressed a heavy sigh. Her windows were broken again and a stray button had smashed her third favorite ceramic gnome to bits. She saw though that while she'd been toying with Branches, time had seriously got around to passing. Outside the broken remains of her window, the sun had set and the point at which the dark would soon come on had arrived. When she turned back to Branches again and saw the corset hanging off her like a shed skin, Roxanne gave an even deeper and more profound heavy sigh.
"That..." She groaned knowing that this was partially her fault, "was an antique whale bone corset..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2019, 12:53:44 am
He had written down a list of essentials, Catnip's requested parts along with a few things he hoped to find along the way. They were scrabbled down on the back of Nathaniel's old military map, as it offered a good reference for where to investigate. A few columns of notes, right underneath a few lines of crossed-out coordinates and notes from past experiences. The lab ultimately responsible for his current objective, coordinates to a now-reclaimed bunker, few notes on local streets in a now-ruined necropolis. A hasty translation of directions received from Helen and Quinn, that had been at some point crossed out harshly enough that the paper was nearly torn.
Graphene, and a rough estimate of the amount and expected dimensions. Superalloy, with some almost-arcane notation in the margins on the side, that amounted to reminding himself how to rule out the types Catnip was fairly certain wouldn't be adequate. Plain titanium steel and the odd dark alloy he'd only ever seen adorning the bio-weapons, those wouldn't work.
Besides that, the list was far more mundane. Intact solar panels, fuel filters, more supplies to make up for their minimal stockpile of bio-diesel. He'd taken to leaving the tank hooked up to what remained of their electrical system when it wasn't in use, in other to extend how far he could go without needing to run it off of diesel, but in the long run it wouldn't be enough. Gas mask filters were always useful as well, and ever since they went chasing after Mica he made note to try and find a spare chemical detector, just in case. And finally, camera lenses and other things, as he'd noticed that some of the displays, though they made it through the storm intact, were suffering in quality, and half the thermal imagers no longer worked at all.
But for the recommendations as to the primary items on his list, he had one person in mind to ask, making his way to knock on the door of one building. The fact he even thought of the machine in question as a "person" momentarily crossed his mind, given the sheer annoyance she'd caused pretty much since they made it out of that lab.
"Hey, Medeina? I wanted to check and see if you had any info that might help narrow down where to search for the materials you need, and if you have any details on the particular alloy..."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 28, 2019, 03:41:46 am
Hector waited for a response, and when none came, he pushed the door open. Or tried to, anyway. The door opened all of about a foot before becoming so stiff that he couldn't simply push it anymore. The knight put his shoulder to the door and shoved hard against it with all his strength and the little extra afforded him by his seldom used bionics. For his efforts Hector managed to force another foot or so out of the gap between door and jam. The inside of Dee's workshop was coated in a thick layer of heavy silk, and Dee had neglected to clean in front of his main door. 'Not surprising,' Hector thought as he tried to force his way through the gap, 'Nobody uses the door anyway.'
"Mr. Lowe." Medeina greeted from under a table, "Is that so? Well, I may know something." She tried to trundle her proxy out from under the table, but just couldn't. There was a loud grinding noise coming from the tiny chassis of the proxy.
"Are you alright?" Hector asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No. Miss Mica's biology has compromised four of my proxies. Her silk gets everywhere and Miss Mica has a particular disregard for personal space." Medeina said sharply. Hector had seldom heard the AI utter so much as a sharp whisper, so it was a bit concerning. He leaned down and picked up the volleyball sized robot and noted the sound of tearing silk as he did so. He also took note of how badly bent one of Medeina's legs had become. Having been wrapped in the stuff himself, the knight could only imagine how bad it would be for such a small machine as Medeina's proxy. "Ah, my thanks Mr. Lowe. You are a gentleman. This saves me the trouble of waiting for Ms. Minx, or awaiting the return of Mr. Koenig."
"Ah." Hector said simply. Medeina tested her joints for a bit, then turned her lens up to face her savior.
"I do believe I can assist you. There are certain labs marked in my registry, though I don't know why. I have mentioned this to Mr. Koenig, and he has suggested that they may be my home lab and several related labs. I have no memory of them though, so I cannot be sure. The materials we require will most certainly be found there, though judging from the nature of my directives I've no doubt that any lab related to myself will be filled with fascinating creatures. As such, I must insist on accompanying you on your task. Ms. Minx as well." She said, fidgeting a little. Her lack of human features couldn't hide the fact that something else was bothering her. Hector could be a bit dense or oblivious sometimes, but while Medeina couldn't express herself physically, her emulated emotions had no problem coming through her voice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2019, 01:54:44 pm
Hector was, even after having seen Mica's handiwork plenty of times, still taken aback at just how prolific she was. After her remarks and suggestions, despite his reservations he led the way out, unfurling the map upon finding a good place to show it to her.
The map displayed the state they were in, various points of interest and long-obsolete sectors for a failed operation. Of note were the points marked as Priority Sites, most deep within overlapping sectors of operation, indicating the emphasis placed on securing them.
"There are several sites marked here. No real way of telling what was inside them without forcing our way inside, since it was on a need-to-know basis for the people expecting to use this map. But we can use any overlap to hopefully narrow down which of the locations on your registry are the most important." he suggested. "If they're all on the map then we're back to square one, but it's worth a shot..."
"More importantly, however. You sure that the two of you can handle this? I've said before it's dangerous these days to travel along, but..." There was a momentary pause, and the grimace that crossed his face was evident even his helm wasn't on. "I'm reluctant to rope Roxanne into this, Nathaniel's about to become a father, Floyd has his daughter to look after...I was prepared to go looking on my own."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 28, 2019, 02:48:57 pm
"Oh, it should be fine, Miss Minx is oddly capable though she is by no means a fighter." Medeina claimed, verbally waving off Hectors concerns, "According to my own directives, my task was to observe and record. There may be holding cells on site, but I can't imagine anything too dangerous. Then again..." She gave the map a serious look and calculated. "The facility should have defenses of their own, and perhaps there is a copy of myself there? Maybe..."
"Medeina?" Hector asked upon hearing the unsure tone the robot spoke with.
"I don't remember anything. I know the name of my creator, the goal of my project, and even a few things about my unique programming structure but everything else is non-existent. I have discussed this at great length with Miss Minx and a conclusion has continued to remain elusive. I want to find answers, and Miss Minx wishes to assist. What is this lab here?" Medeina lamented before directing her question to an area of the map. It looked like a long stretch of deforested land reaching vertically down the map with large scale power lines running through it. The point at which she'd prodded sat at the terminus of a dirt road, seemingly ending at nothing. Hector stared at it for a moment, seeing it had been circled as important, then circled again by himself at some point. Then it came to him.
"That's where we found you." He explained, "But that wasn't your lab."
"No. My lab and the others in my registry are not marked on this map. Why do you think that is Mr. Lowe?" She asked, then adjusted her lens and prodded another space further south of C.I.D.s lab, in a heavily forested area. Then jabbed the map in four other places in what Hector recognized as a square around the point in the forest. "A series of five labs." She explained, "The partial inventory I have suggests that super alloy may be found in any of them, but only one of them contains an adequate sample of graphine, though this could be a result of the fragmented nature of my records." They went over the map a bit more before Hector noticed the shadow that had fallen over it and turned to see the woman that the robot had spent so much time with, running around in the swamp and writing about animals.
"Yo," She said, "So is this happening today or what?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on August 28, 2019, 03:56:57 pm
"I'm not entirely sure what to make of your labs not being on the map." he admitted, glancing over the location she suggested they attempt. "Could be that someone else was in charge of keeping them secured, maybe..."
As they were interrupted, he turned to her, giving a little nod. "Well, we have locations, and I've already had the tank ready to go, unless you'd prefer something less heavy on the diesel." he answered, soon securing his helm to put it on, checking equipment to be sure everything was at the ready.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on August 29, 2019, 03:14:16 pm
Bolt had returned to work and waited in line for his assignment. The foreman walked down the line handing out assignments until he stopped at Bolt. Looking over his list the foreman. “Bolt you’re scrapping the pile today.”
The pile was just a collection of random items that needed to be separated into parts for other work. It was also the usual assignment Bolt received since no one wanted to work the pile given just how long some of the stuff took to take apart. Grabbing his tool belt Bolt went to work.
The first item was a fridge. He wasn’t sure who had thrown it here or why but here it was. Taking the door off its hinges Bolt started taking it apart. That process took about fifteen minutes with his tools. From there his mind drifted as he did his work by muscle memory.
Elsewhere G had walked across the bridge with the others before splitting off to let Shorts drop off the salvage. Tossing the makeshift chestplate into a spot G hid his stuff in he quickly made his way to where a few of his ‘friends’ hung out.
Taking an offered blunt he took a puff before handing it back. One of them started to play some music as they sat there and talked for a while. Mostly about the mundane things in their lives, work and what they wanted to do. “Of course we’re just street rats so no one’s gonna give us a shot to do anything but dirt.” one of the guys said.
G had to agree with that. He’d never really had a chance at anything other than fighting and rigging tables and now the Shattered Helm had turned him away after he tried joining. And working with Blue hadn’t exactly panned out.
Grabbing another cigarette and flicking his lighter on G pondered what he and the gang were going to do. Shrugging to himself G told one of the men “One of you keep an eye out for a guy in bandages wearing a turban, if you spot him pass him a sabre.”
That was when G spotted Isaac walking towards them. He looked angry. Hopefully he wasn’t angry at them G thought as he leaned against the wall and smoked a hand rolled cigarette. As the old man neared G asked “What can us lowly street rats do for you?”
Isaac nodded to him as he said “I need people who can fight. I imagine you and your friends would be willing and I know you’re interested in some of my gear. How about a trade?”
G looked to the others who all nodded. None of them were strangers to violence so what was some fighting to them. “We’re gonna want and need guns. Lots of them. And some better armor than that scrap Blue made.”
“Deal. We’ll be leaving in a half hour, meet me by my truck and we’ll get everything ready.” Isaac said as he turned and walked away.
G had a bad feeling as he pulled out one of his sabres. The gem in the blade had turned a dull black, usually a bad sign. Sheathing it he sighed “Boys, go get ready. We’ve got some killing to do. And bring meds too.”
Elsewhere Shorts slid his papers across the desk and waited. Once they’d finished inspecting the papers the men on the other side of the glass told him to go ahead. Walking into the armoury Shorts sat down and took the first rifle. The Shattered Helm had never interested him but he liked weaponry.
So here he was cleaning and fixing fire arms for the Shattered Helm thanks to a friend of his. Of course from his recollection they knew how to take care of their own weapons but the surplus needed maintenance as well. So he sat there and worked while he hummed to himself.
Maybe he could get Ell some new clothes with the IOUs he got today. Especially after G got him the share of the IOUs for the parts they’d gotten. But that’d take till tomorrow…
Sighing Shorts wondered what he’d do for food today. The only spot he could afford a meal was that community center but he hated taking charity. Maybe he could go scrounge some food again. But then Ell would want to tag along and he’d be going somewhere dangerous, maybe more dangerous than when they’d headed out with Blue.
Meanwhile Foster had found himself sitting alone looking through his journal. He didn’t have a soul, never did as far as he could tell. But why? He’d never found another with his problem and now he’d run into someone that shouldn’t have had one in the first place.
Tapping the side of his head with a pen Foster contemplated trying another experiment. The only issue was finding someone that wouldn’t be missed by anyone if they disappeared. So that would have to wait for now.
Scribbling a note down in his journal Foster decided the first thing he’d do would be to adjust an old formula. Maybe if he simply adjusted some of the chemical compounds in it he’d actually see results…
An hour had passed before Foster looked up from his notes. Something felt..off as he looked around. It felt as though someone was watching him. But not seeing anyone eyeing him Foster shrugged and decided to go find more parts for his lab.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on August 30, 2019, 08:28:23 am
Minx grinned at Medeina and jerked a thumb at the knight conspiratorially. She'd met some strange people after the cataclysm but she wasn't sure if Hector was in the crazy camp or the eccentric. Either way, he seemed more fun than most of those she'd met. She climbed into the tank after the knight with the robot tucked under one arm.
"For the purpose of this task," Medeina announced suddenly, "Mr. Koenig has modified this proxy with a WiFi repeater and a few other-"
"We're not worried about it Medi, you'll be fine." Minx sighed, then turned to Hector who was in the middle of settling in. "She was hoping you'd ask about bringing her laptop along so she could give you the same exhaustive explaination she gave me."
Medeina pinched her on the upper thigh with one powerful manipulator and Hector was startled from his prep by the yowl of pain Minx gave at that. He stared back at them, Minx giving the proxy a death glare while the tiny robot gazed back up at her glassily but bearing a kind of mock combative posture.
"Alright girls, calm down and have a seat." He instructed. They did as told, or as best they could, and Hector turned back to his checks confident that his helm was hiding the wide grin on his face. He picked up the radio when his checks were done and said simply, "Going out to get Nips materials. Tell Roxanne I won't be in till later." Before racking the radio and setting his machine in motion. "Well morning ladies." Dave said jovially upon the pairs emergence from the back rooms of the apartment. "I've got good news and gooder news." Atomos blinked at the sun blazing in through the apartment windows, but not quite as blearily as Cherise. In the light of day, the place took on a new appearance. Less of a sparsely dumpy place to an apartment with perhaps an excess of orderliness. Atomos cleared the sun from her eyes quickly, then scoffed at Cherise.
"Where did you get a house coat?" She asked.
"It was in the closet... Maybe you should consider putting on more than nothing at all yourself?" The large woman growled. Atomos looked at herself puzzled. "What? Is it unacceptable to walk around like this, grandma?"
"It's not polite to wander around in your underpants in front of a man you aren't in a relationship with." Cherise shot back.
"Ladies?" Dave said, slipping himself into the conversation, "I sure would like to sit here all day and listen to you harp on each other about proper house wear, but we need to get a move on. And you will want to dress while I talk, we ain't got much time. No breakfast either."
Cherise sniffed derisively while Jennifer grabbed what gear she'd brought along and followed suit. Within a minute, they were dressed and professional again and ready to face what lay ahead. At least they thought so. Dave stood and slid open the glass door leading out onto the shaded balcony and the bridge beyond it, letting the cool air of morning shock the two women awake as they followed.
"Got in touch with the Sun Dogs, like I said. Didn't take em long to get back to me and we spent the whole night seeing what was up. I'm fuckin' exhausted trying to wrangle my tards." He gave a wave to someone sitting by a window across the way and when the man didn't give any indication that he'd seen it, Dave took a quarter from his pocket and belted it at him. "Hey fuck ass, extend the fucking walkway!" He shouted. The man, kid really, disappeared for a moment and reappeared on the opposite balcony with a broad board about ten or so feet long. Dave crossed casually while Jennifer tried to go over as light as possible. Cherise though went over tentatively and slow despite the previous nights reassurance that the "bridge" was in some unexplained way, reinforced. Once they were all on the other side, he went on, "The Sun Dogs say that somebody finally took issue with the candy man's radio show and put two rockets into his shit. One on the tower, one on the booth. The nearby orchard caught fire and seven junkies were killed, not including the asshole operator who was probably off taking a piss or something when the attack happened. Scared the shit out of and stampeded the candy man's herd too, the Screaming Eagles have been running the countryside rustling the loose stock and skirmishing with the junkies trying to round them up. Sun Dogs took the opportunity to take what they could from the wreckage of Hoyt's radio station during the chaos, but they want to offer it to you themselves. Heard you were interested I guess..."
When they emerged from the complex, the grounds outside it were alive with men and women going about, checking motorcycles and weapons like they were about to go to war. Some of them were Sun Dogs and others were Eagles, but not one she could see was one of Dave's men. Jennifer wondered why, and just had to ask. The response she got wasn't entirely unexpected.
"Divers got absorbed... Sent my guys out to get in contact and they joined up with these two after." He said with not a small hint of anger, then sighed, "The gooder news is that the eagles disabled a cattle truck headed for the orchard this morning. If you want it, the Eagles are holding it down. You'll need to take it from the driver." He kicked a stone, an uncharacteristically petulant seeming action in the midst of the raiders around them and Jennifer thought that there was more to his clan leaving him than she'd thought. She'd have to ask later, for now there was a vital bit of intel on her table and she was barely awake enough to register it. Cherise though had recovered quickly and gave her shoulder a painful squeeze.
"We'll take their offer."
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on September 04, 2019, 04:30:26 am
"Jeez, how much classical music you got in this collection..." quipped a voice over the crew radio, the first sign that a comparatively short scouting trip would feel quite a bit longer. At least to Hector, Medeina's proxy momentarily too busy digging spindly legs into the gunner's seat to interrupt with any remarks.
"Classical, not a lot. Most of it's based off older historical stuff." Hector answered back, glancing into the cameras as Minx lifted the hatch up a bit. "So how do I change the channel? I know you've got something from this century in here, Medeina's already told me the one about you chasing some spy around to power metal and all that." she commented.
"Correction, Miss Minx. The song you are referring to was sourced from server files at the refugee center. I have however uploaded the full collection to Mister Lowe's storage media." Medeina chimed in, the faint clap of a gauntleted facepalm just barely heard over the whine of the Siege Tower's electric engine.
"Please be careful with that, it's hooked up to the commander radio and I don't want to accidentally start broadcasting internal communication to anyone in range. Nor do I want to blare music at them." Hector said, Minx grumbling a bit before the last song's ending, and the start of something faster-paced, got her focused on the half-open commander's hatch.
She peeked out, narrowly managing to avoid bumping her head on the heavy machinegun slapped onto a mounting clearly not made for it, as a tread rolled over a rather large chunk of missing road. "The gun on this isn't going to fall off into my lap, is it?"
"No, it's Catnip's work, she's put the 197s through worse. I've put those MG mounts through worse, in fact. There's a lever next to the T&E she added, that makes it swing out of the way if you need a clear view. The large one wrapped in duct tape." he added, double-checking the map as they followed the remains of a local frontage road. This is gonna be a long day...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: RedVulnus on September 11, 2019, 02:07:38 am
G and his crew had walked over to where Isaac had told them to meet him. There they saw him sitting on the back of an old truck with the doors opened behind him. And behind that was a few dozen racks of guns and armor. G was genuinely impressed as he and his boys waited.
“This is going to be dangerous so I’m giving you a last chance to back out. We’ll be dealing with some very unsavory people so if they’re about to capture you..just shoot yourself. Oh and to be clear, a single shot to the head may not kill these bastards so double tap.” Isaac said as he sat there inspecting his rifle.
The response to this was G and his crew stepping into the vehicle as Isaac told them they were free to take what they needed. And that they did. Each misling emerged with a rifle, vest, plate carrier, bag, pistol and holster, ammunition, magazines, grenades, a few even grabbed grenade launchers and one an RPG.
On their way out the Shattered Helm pulled Isaac aside while they questioned the mislings, with G getting an especially rough questioning. For his part Isaac answered the questions asked with no small amount of annoyance that they were questioning him for dealing with these men. But after he explained that he’d hired them to help him deal with some people that had been responsible for the death of his friend and the mislings corroborated the story the Shattered Helm were finished and let the group pass.
On the other side of the bridge Sokolov greeted them and told them the destination. From there it was a few hours travel. When they arrived Howard greeted their new comrades and Isaac paused. Staring at the man in front of him his mind wandered back a year. Snapping back to reality he said “Hi, Howard I take it?”
Howard nodded as he adjusted his grip on the rifle in his hand “That’d be me.You ready?”
Everyone voiced that they were and the group got ready. Sneaking up towards the bank they readied their weapons with two of the mislings having set up a heavy machine gun. Then Isaac gave the signal.
The burst of machine gun fire tore through the first group of cultists as the other rushed forward. Sokolov sprayed his customized AK as he and Howard ran to cover and Isaac fired the belt fed rifle he carried with him as he rushed forward. For their part G and his men moved forward and into cover before starting to pick off targets as they could between having to duck back into cover from return fire.
Isaac spotted a pair of cultists prepping a machine gun and sprayed the pair down as Howard picked off a sniper on the roof of the bank. Before that man’s body could hit the ground G slid a new magazine into his shotgun before blowing a hole in one cultist’s chest and stabbing a second with the bayonet before squeezing the trigger.
Removing the bayonet wasn’t a problem after that as he turned and fired at a third cultist. At the same time another misling ran up beside him and started rapid firing his semi automatic rifle. Already between the two men themselves they’d killed seven of the cultists.
That was when one wearing a suit of kevlar stepped out of the bank. The only weapon he had on him was a metal baton as he walked towards Isaac. One of the mislings was in his path and a single swing of the baton sent the misling flying through the air missing his jaw as bullets poured into the armored man’s chest plate and helmet. And at that point Isaac realized the bullets were going through the helmet as the man swung and knocked the rifle from his hands.
Ducking the follow up swing Isaac pulled out the sword Alice had given him and swung for the man’s neck. It stuck in the man’s neck and before he could pull it out he felt the man’s hand wrap around his wrist. “Shit.” Isaac managed to say before the baton hit him in the side of the head and he felt his legs go weak.
The man was about to try and break his skull open again when Sokolov jumped onto his back and stabbed a knife through his helmet. The man stumbled back and tried to pull Sokolov from his back as Isaac collapsed to the ground. Ripping the helmet off Sokolov dropped to the ground as G dumped three rounds into his skull and evaporated his head. “Holy shit, someone check Isaac!” G nearly screamed over the gunfire as he dropped the shotgun to it’s sling and pulled his pistol. “Pull the fuck back!”
One of the Mislings grabbed Isaac and dragged him away from the bank as more of the cultists came out to fire at them. Stopping at the next bit of cover he could find G and several of the mislings returned fire with Howard as the rest moved behind them and prepared to cover them. From their G and his group bounded back and the group continued the pattern until they were clear.
Sokolov knelt down and checked Isaac once the gunfire had died and they’d made some distance. “That’s going to bruise badly, nothing broken though. No telling if any brain damage.”
Starting back the group carried Isaac on a makeshift stretcher. After a couple of hours they’d returned and crossed the bridge with their wounded comrade still unconcscious. While the others took him to the community center to see what Alice wanted them to do G moved off to the side and into an alley before throwing up. “Fuck..I need a cigarette.” He said as he started back to the area where the street rats tended to congregate.
Meanwhile as they walked through the door Alice spotted Isaac and stopped. Staring at Sokolov she asked “What happened?”
“Severe blunt force trauma to the head. I don’t think he’ll die but..well I don’t know if he’ll wake up.” Sokolov said as they took him to one of the cots in the building.
Alice watched as Howard produced some medical gear from his bag and sat down next to Isaac. “I was trained as a combat medic and chaplain, no matter what happens I’ll take care of him.” Howard said as he started working. Alice thanked him and sat down on the other side of Isaac trying to process what she’d just been told.
Elsewhere a man sat on the top branches of a tree staring at a little ball of light he’d taken to calling a fairy. “Oooh you found another one? Really?” he asked with no small amount of excitement in his voice. “Are his eyes like mine?”
The fairy shook up and down and generally swirled around in the air as he watched it. His smile turned to a frown as he said “Wait, he was always this way? As in since he was born? So he’s not quite like me but similar enough.” Adjusting his scarf he jumped to the ground and continued “I’ve never heard of a human having this condition in the first place so this is going to be so exciting. I finally get to meet someone who’s got the same problem as me!”
The fairy seemed to roll it’s eyes as it followed him as he began to walk. It informed him of something else as he walked and he frowned “Oh? Surely they wouldn’t hurt me..well maybe. I’m not sure. I always liked to create but they were always destroying things. I mean..maybe because I used to be one of them.”
He seemed deflated for a few moments as he walked but he kept going. The fact he wore mostly magically imbued clothes would help him hide from the sight of their masks but if they remembered what he looked like that could be a problem. If they’d ever known him in the first place. But only time would tell if he’d be attacked or left alone. Though he had to admit the amount of magical items he had would probably be a problem in and of itself.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on September 11, 2019, 07:36:59 am
Branches and Roxanne talked long into the night before Branches finally left satisfied and more at ease with herself. Roxanne was prankish but kind, and very professional when the subject of their talk came to her upcoming court date. She had someone in mind to defend her in court, so Branches would be called upon only if that option fell through. The fact that it was just a simple hearing for an unpaid traffic ticket didn't seem to matter much to Roxanne. It was the principle of the thing that mattered. Now Branches found herself, the next day, sitting by the lake thinking of her prospects with a clearer head. She just needed the right clothes and that was it. There wasn't enough room on her face, or so Roxanne had said, to gussy up much. Her eye swiveled around to look at the lines she'd run across the clearing with the clothes hanging on it. Plenty of choices there, she just needed to pick something that suited her. Standing covered and waiting to be moved into her hut was the standing mirror she would try different combinations in front of, miraculously unharmed by the cloud of metal that had turned her home into a bloody mess a few nights before.
"First," She said to herself decisively, "Finish your house and get those herbs. You forgot remember? Maybe I'll visit the farm later and... No, it's too soon... Roxanne said to wait a few days..." Branches huffed and kicked her feet a little. Her yard was still a mess and she felt exhausted just looking at it. She still felt light and airy, but if not for Roxanne she would probably still feel like she'd get blown away at any minute. Like Roxanne had instructed, she closed her eye and cleared her mind to meditate. The lap of water on the new shore, the rustle of leaves and pine needles, the gentle warmth of the sun, and the wind carrying with it the smell of coming autumn. It worked, to her surprise. She felt heavy again, anchored in place and ready to start the day. Minx checked the bolt like Catnip had shown her. For the job ahead, the faceless woman had gone to the mechanic and had been loaned her side arm. The cut down hunting rifle had been infuriating to the Shattered helm and especially the Shattered Helms quartermaster, Billy-Jean, at first. Then Catnip had been taken out of The Regs and placed in the Bleeding Eye, and the weapon had been an example of exactly what the scouting arm of the Shattered Helm needed it's people to use.
"Do you think I'll have to use it?" Minx asked. She'd only ever fired a gun a few times in her life. The last time had been well before the cataclysm, and it hadn't been a gun like this. Medeina scanned the gun for the third time, recording all the small pains that had been taken to make sure it was functional and reliable.
"Honestly, I don't recall. It is safe to assume that my lab is home to one or more of the creatures which I once possibly observed, but it is also possible that they have fled or died off." Medeina wondered, then had another thought, "Or the staff. Perhaps the staff is still present? Maybe... Maybe they can answer my questions."
"Hey, that's a thought. Keep your chin up robot." Minx said, then raise the rifle heroically, "We will find the answers that you seek!" She sat like that for a long awkward moment before lowering it again.
"Maybe." Medeina said simply.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on October 16, 2019, 01:42:38 pm
(( Written with ſalt, mostly by him in fact. ))
Hector gave his equipment a momentary once-over along the way. Shield, sword, M4 hanging from an equipment rack behind the seat. Didn't bring that odd magical sword, as it seemed unlikely he'd need it. As he pondered Minx's remarks about whether she'd need to use her own weapon, he had the unfortunate suspicion that either Medeina will be solidly disappointed to find nothing alive down there, or else anything that'd survive all these years will likely mean trouble...
"Can I fire the cannon?" Minx asked.
"Have we arrived yet?" Medeina asked. Hector sighed heavily, marveling at how some things never changed. The collective childishness of people never did seem to go away, even now, and it seemed even artificial intelligence could be made to emulate that level of immaturity in the right circumstances. As before, Hector responded by telling Minx that his shells were limited and they needed to save them. Then, he took out his automap and compared it to the printed one hung next to the driver's seat via a banana shaped magnet.
"Getting there Medeina." He said, sliding the automap back into the slot Catnip had installed below the Seige Towers instruments. "Another fifteen to twenty and we'll be in the area."
Minx hadn't, but both Hector and Medeina had noticed that the scenery was changing. The closer they got, the more lush everything was. The world had had time to move on and pull things down in its own time, but this...
"Stop here please." Medeina suddenly chirruped, breaking Minx from her reverie and bringing Hector back from his musings. That was when he noticed what Medeina had noticed long before he'd even been aware of the overgrown derelict taking up two parking spaces and a good section of the intersection ahead. It was a robot. A massive one looking more like a huge shop vac. Only instead of a huge holding tank there was a cage, and rather than a suction hose and outlet, it was armed with a trio of arms tipped with crescent shaped appendages that Hector realized were some kind of catch poles. The cage was filled with the bones of various creatures, and perhaps he could imagine why Medeina would be interested in it.
Hector stopped and the robot made no move, as dead as the small town around it. "Alright, just be careful. If it's still active and you get in reach of that thing..." he said softly, opening the hatch above his seat to take a cautious look around, and prep the gun mounted there. Ammunition for that was increasingly at a premium as well, these days.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on October 16, 2019, 09:42:54 pm
[written by salt and wilson over the course of several months, oof]
A man walked away from the group, giving a wave of his arms. He was finely dressed compared most of the others, a velvet paisley vest with a dark red dress shirt along with a golden puff tie and two pistols at his hip, butts pointing forward. As he walked close enough for the duo to hear, "Can't stand that fucker..." He growled, deep enough in thought to not notice them right away. Jennifer watched him go, noting his bearing and the way he stuck out among the common raiders.
"Who is that?" She asked, giving Dave a nudge. Dave watched the man warily but with a hint of distaste mixed with fear. His walk slowed to something more matching their own almost imperceptibly to all but Jennifer, and she realized the mans ears were sharp. He'd caught her question and was waiting to hear what the answer would be, and she wondered.
"Duke..." Dave said low and full of acid, "With the Sun Dogs for only a week now. Nobody knows why he's with them but they figure he'll move along eventually. Has a habit of jumping from clan to clan for a few years now. Never stays with clans like the Sun Dogs long though... Maybe he fancies himself the next Raider Khan..."
Duke rocked back and forth on his boots, pondering to himself. Only listening to the last part of Dave's explaination. 'Raider Kahn...' he thought to himself, 'It's a temptin' position, but... too many potential knives in m'back. It's too tempting, bouncing between these 'clans' or somesuch...' He glanced over at Jennifer, giving a little tip of his pork pie hat to awknowledge her as he paced around. ''m bettin' there are folks willin' to pay better t'see that Hoyt sumbitch fall right on his ass t'put it lightly... Maybe...' His thoughts trailed off as he took off his hat, to scratch at his scalp in thought. Duke took out a little composition notebook, not much larger than the palm of his hand, out of the inside of his vest. He scribbled down his thoughts and plans, grunting a bit as he squinted at the writing.
While the girls and the Raider were talking, they felt eyes peering at them. A short, thin man stood a ways behind them, simply staring at them. He donned a navy blue jumpsuit, with big black workboots and an olive green dufflebag along with an odd device on his wrist and an albino rooster mask.
And he was simply standing there, staring at them.
Cherise noticed and stared back for a bit while Jennifer talked, then shook her head. 'Weird.' she thought, 'People are weird out here...' Then said aloud, "Are we getting a move on? We should probably step lively."
Duke finished adding to his journal, before looking up and seeing the figure behind the girls. "Ah god dammit" He grumbled, walking past the girls and smacking the man upside the head. "Dammit Richie what the fuck did I tell ya 'bout starin' at folks?!" He berated, as the man went from dead still to flinching and typing on the device on his wrist. "Sorry.- It's a force of habit.-" The device said in a feminine monotonous voice.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on November 10, 2019, 04:17:27 pm
(( Written with Salt. ))
Minx had seen Medeina assert control over other robots before and thought that this would be something like that, but when they got to it, Medeina simply scuttled around it. It was dead, well and truly. Up close to it Minx and Medeina had no problem seeing the extent of the damage and very shortly Hector could see it too. Inside the cage, along the "roof" of the robot, a circular panel had been pried open and the machines guts had been carefully pulled out. Minx didn't have much attention for it though, Hector noted. Her eyes seemed to find themselves drawn away again and again, and when he followed her distracted gaze, he saw what she saw. Coyotes. Avoiding them of course, seeming to avoid the cage machine or the town center itself. There wasn't fear or nervousness in Minx's look. Just a kind of sadness.
"Mr. Lowe," Medeina asked, "When we are done with Catnip's task, would it be possible to drag this machine back to Walkerville? I would like to run an inspection diagnostic, but I cannot move from my proxy while this far from Mr. Koenigs computer."
Hector gave another little glance at the local wildlife, keeping the M2 pointed in a safe direction once the others were close to the machine, and the animals skulking about didn't seem like much of a threat for now.
"I suppose we could, I'd suggest being careful with it though. Given how a lot of the AI was back when this all started, don't want you catching something from it." he remarked, before turning his attention down the road. They were definitely close, it was just a matter of finding the facility among all the greenery.
Medeina prodded at a bone, some large slab shaped thing with holes running up the beak like ridge at it's center. Hector had no doubt that it was some kind of skull. The coyotes kept their distance, and soon vanished back into the greenery from whence they came. In the distance to the east, the call of some unknown creature rose and faded away. Hector realized there were no undead here, and he found that a bit odd.
"Shouldn't be too hard to find it." Minx commented, pointing up towards a vine covered pillar with a sign on each side. Hector shielded his visor and leered at it.
Quote
WELCOME TO NEW GAIA CENTER TENJIN - EAST BHADRA - SOUTH EAST APHRODITE - SOUTH WEST MENRVA - WEST MEDEINA - NORTH
"I suppose we start north then." Hector said, adjusting his grip on the M2. He had to reign in his surprise and his urge to raise the weapon again because at that moment a man in a lab coat strode out of a small apartment building up the street. He saw them. He saw them seeing him, and Hector thought he would bolt, but then the man waved and began to weave his way through the growth and few wrecked vehicles towards them.
Hector glanced toward the brush the man went through, gesturing to Minx and Medeina as he pulled the tank a bit closer to the side of the road and shut it out. "Who's that..." he said softly, shaking his head as he secured the mounted gun before closing the hatch, slinging the carbine propped up nearby over his shoulder and picking up his shield as he made his way out of the back hatch to join the other two. Seeing the stranger approaching, he gave a wave, for now only having shield in hand.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on November 29, 2019, 06:13:07 am
Cole McKinsey and his brother Wade were having a bad day. It had all started the day before when the contract holder had finally reached out to them with instructions for delivery. It was the realization of who they were delivering too that had brought around the first tingles of trouble at the back of Cole's head. Their company had continued in seclusion after the Cataclysm, running as though they had been prepared for the lawless world that would come. From the people at the top to the men like Cole and Wade at the bottom, it was good business. Sort of. Making deliveries to people like Hoyt wasn't exactly what they'd originally been in for, but the men up top needed guys like the candy man to operate here and there. Make money in the foreign markets and all that. God knew they had their fingers in every pie up north already.
The second thing had been the nearly sleepless night of trying to contact Hoyt while fending off the undead, then later trying to contact Hoyt and his army of junkies while fending of Hell's Raiders. They'd managed to fight from street to street with the South's brand of unusually unkempt hordes while keeping their langourous cargo within their armored trailer safe with relative ease and success to find themselves only a few miles later being harried by the men and woman on motorcycles and in startlingly nimble trucks and cars. Stops and starts all night it had been until Cole had made the fatal mistake of trying to plow his big rig between two trucks making up a barricade across the road. On the other side, the rig had met the real trap. The bump. A log, split down the center and laid flat side down onto the road. The rig hit it at only slightly reduced speed, sending Cole's ass bone up into the back of his skull, Wade's teeth scissoring into his own tongue, and the rigs suspension up into the engine compartment. It had been less destructive than the raiders had thought it would be, Cole surmised from the dimly heard conversation outside the locked and armored cab, but it had disabled the semi.
When he came to his senses, Cole saw the man straddling a motorcycle pointing some kind of small automatic at him and slammed his fist into the emergency shutter switch on the dash. A split second later, the first two bullets punched into the seat between the brothers and then the shutter was between the shooter and them catching the rest of the slugs.
"Holy shit Cole!" Wade shouted, throwing an arm over his face. It sound more like "hoewee shid koh" coming from Wade's damaged mouth. Cole slapped the door locks in the same movement, and sealed themselves in. The brothers had been robbed on the road before, you couldn't well not in this day and age as a transporter of goods and services. He tried the radio again and got nothing, then he tried the short range and got the fizzle of static that said someone was transmitting. Every now and then, the ghost of a voice or other sounds would drift through the short waves tiny spraker. The two men sat in the cab and listened to that and sounds of the people outside trying half heartedly to get in. Wade took the time to stuff his mouth with gauze while Cole tried again and again to raise somebody, anybody, on the radio but nothing happened for a long few hours. Then, someone outside was addressing them.
"Excuse me, I need you to come out. We're taking your trailer." Said the voice. It sounded like a woman, good natured enough but authoritative. Next to Cole, Wade was shaking his head back and forth wildly and Cole could understand why. The men they worked for were not to be fucked with and neither was the man they were delivering to. "Hello in there?"
"Fuck off, ya hoser." Cole shouted, then nearly slapped himself.
"Hoser? What?" The woman asked, seemingly to someone else.
"They're Canadian..." Came a mans voice, "Quebec plates."
"Oooh. Okay." The woman quietly exclaimed, then to Cole, "Now come on, if you come out now I can at least make sure these guys don't decide to blow up your truck or cut their way in and string you both up. Your truck may still be running, but I gerauntee you it's not moving. We've already unhooked your trailer and are gonna have to tow your truck out of the way anyway. Make it easier on everybody and just come on out."
Cole could see them through the small slot he and his brother had cut into the armor playing over the windows. A woman with a luxurious fox tail, a taller more well built woman, and a man in a leather jacket. Beyond them was a collection of nasty looking folk smoking cigarettes, passing around a bottle of who knew what, and spitting the shit waiting for the action to start again. The two women were talking quietly to each other now, waiting for his response. "Wade, hand me the rifle." Wade did as he was asked and passed over the hunting rifle he kept behind his seat, but with a look on his face that said "Sure, I'll hold your beer, but you better be sure about this." Which wasn't far off the mark really. Cole did feel as though he was about to do something that warranted a request to 'hold his beer.' "I said fuck off!" Cole cried as he jammed the barrel of the rifle into the driver side porthole and squeezed off one quick shot. The man in the leather jacket dropped while the woman with the fox tail went into a dive/crouch that was too fluid to be anything but trained. The taller woman though flicked her wrist and drew some kind of rod and charged. There was blue fire, shouting, and before the brothers knew what was happening, they'd both been pulled from the trucks cab.
"Y'all right Hussar?" The fox woman asked the taller woman.
"I'll be fine. Burned myself worse when I was a little girl reaching onto the stove. How about them?" 'Hussar' said back. Wade was smoking lightly from his lightly charred jeans, but Cole had come through the still cherry hot cavity carved into the trucks armor with plenty of holes burned into his clothes and blisters forming on seared skin. The bandits checked over the man Cole had shot and determined that he'd be fine, and while they were at it others came and moved the McKinsey brother's semi, thoroughly looting the clients other orders from the back cab.
"Okay, that's good then. Fine work guys, get that other semi over here and hook it up so my me and my fellow ranger can take it back to our people. Send a rep from your clans to the location we talked about earlier and we'll have a cut ready to hand over, like we discussed." She looked around while the bandits went about the work, then let a broad warm smile cross her face. "I'm so proud of you lot working together."
"Atomos, what do with do with these two now? Should we take them back with us or..." Hussar asked, punctuating the 'or' with a little fingering of the rod in her hand. 'Atomos' gave the question some real consideration before asking back; "I mean, technically we are the bad guys here? I think?" Hussar shrugged a little. "Eh, we could just leave them here. It's your call."
"Yeah... Okay, we'll leave them tied up here and as soon as we've gotten a fair distance away, the Sun Dogs can decide what to do with them. That sound alright with you guys?"
The cheers that brought up was enough to tell Cole that the day was only going to get worse.
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on January 05, 2020, 11:57:48 am
(( Written with Salt. ))
"Ah, uh, hello hello. You're certainly the smallest group I've seen here in awhile. If your after pre-cataclysm technological treasures, you won't find them here." Said the man. He was armed, Hector could see that easily when he got close enough. His hair had grown long and meticulous but altogether futile care had been taken to keep his clothes intact. Medeina watched the man carefully and her two companions as they interacted with him. She had a feeling about the man, a spark of something somehow familiar and yet totally unremembered. "My name is Charles Chelsea," he went on in his worn out and shaky sounding voice, "and I imagine if you were going to shoot at me you'd have done so already."
"What are you doing here?" Minx questioned warily, noticing the ill kept pistol sticking haphazardly from one pocket of Chelsea's labcoat.
"Well, warning people off." He explained, "or trying to anyway. Very few people listen and most of them don't come back. Some do, but even they don't find much they can use I suppose. Except the hunters. Sometimes a few hunters come through hoping to get one of the more dangerous specimens. But uh, this isn't a military installation. It's an ecological project."
Hector remained quiet for the moment, observing the man as the others talked for the moment, still carefully regarding their surroundings in case any of the likely wildlife might've wandered this far off. "We're actually here for a different reason. Do you know of the AI that formerly operated in this laboratory?" he asked, before looking back down to Medeina's proxy.
"Of course I know of them, I was the security analyst for the labs around New Gaia Center." Chelsea scratched the back of his head and glanced down to trace the line of Hectors gaze. "Oh, you've got a robot. First I've seen that wasn't trying to kill things or take my picture. Yes, I know of the AI. Mainly the AI core, but the others were using the same systems. The Tabula Rasa project was the brain child of my partner, but I could probably get you through the basics of it."
He turned then and shaded his eyes to look up at the signs on the nearby pillar, then pointed to each one at a time. "Tenjin, the fact checker that made sure the others didn't go rogue. Something happened to him, so there was no one to keep the others in check in the weeks before they were... Well, I don't know what happened to them, I was too busy watching the world fall apart. Bhadra and Menrva, who would work together with the core to acquire new specimens for observation and cataloguing, along with developing new survival strategies. Aphrodite, responsible for monitoring the breeding of more specimens in an effort to repopulate reduced populations in the case of an extinction event. Finally, there's the core, Medeina. Her job was to monitor and take down observations of everything. Every piece of data collated into her repositories for future use by the others. Each AI could work independently of one another, or collaborate thanks to Medeina and the unique AI structure designed for them."
Minx scooped up the small proxy just as Medeina broke the silence she'd held since the encounter had begun. "Are there records available from the labs concerning this Tabula Rasa project?" Chelsea turned sharply, causing Minx to jump and Hector to raise his shield a little. He'd gone white and wide eyed, staring at the proxy.
"I know that voice... Professor Harriet Glastur provided the template and we used it in... Who are you people?"
"It's a bit of a long story..." Hector admitted. "I'm assuming that most of the AI are no longer functional, Medeina in particular?" he said, only for the proxy to perk up a bit, interrupting him. "Mr. Lowe, I am quite functional at present." The knight facepalmed at that, looking away. "I mean no longer part of this facility, right?" The proxy paused a moment, looking up at Hector before responding. "We are currently at this facility, actually..."
Charles Chelsea was still staring at the small robot, and the small robot was staring at him. A long awkward silence followed the last exchange, then Chelsea cleared his throat. "Y-yes, they're gone now. A few weeks after the world ended they're data was erased by another AI from a disconnected lab via a security breach we'd been in the middle of patching. Where did you get this robot?"
Minx adjusted her grip on the eye bot and let Medeina waggle it's front limbs at the air for a moment. "Our friend Dee built it from some kind of eyebot or something like that, but she's projected out of a laptop on their farm." The eyebot in question was one of Dee's better works. A robot he'd put a lot of effort into making it harder to tell what it had been built from.
"A laptop... I don't believe a laptop has the vast processing power required to run the real Medeina AI..." Chelsea whispered.
"It does not possess the vast processing power required to run me. That is why we are here Dr. Chelsea." Medeina was quick to add. Upon hearing his name, the security analyst visibly shuddered.
"The last time I heard that voice," He said, recoiling a little, "She was contacting me through my home PC to tell me that everyone was dead and the project AI's were releasing all their specimens into the countryside." There was a long pause in which Minx stared down at Medeina, then he added, "There were coyotes everywhere for months."
Hector seemed increasingly leery of this, regarding the proxy before taking a look farther down the road. "So you know about the lab that grabbed Medeina at least. I don't know if your AI here can tell you much about what happened, somehow she was the only AI on-site that hadn't been picked apart by the one that was running the place we looked into. Was a while back." he explained.
"Dee's hoping to get materials to make a more useful proxy for Medeina, and on top of that another friend of ours is working on projects for surrounding communities that require materials of that sort. Hence Medeina's idea to come here..."
"Grabbed?" The scientist said, "I know C.I.D., the AI they were hooked into because of military branch bull was deeply jealous of them for some reason. I don't... Mr. Lowe, are you sure?"
Hector nodded promptly, "We retrieved her from another lab a few miles away from here, and I recognize the name of the AI C.I.D. from that lab. If memory serves, and Medeina won't remember this, she claims there were other AIs from other labs trapped there and C.I.D. was assimilating them." Chelsea's lips worked even as his brain worked, Hector could see the distrust worming it's way into the mans brain.
"She gave me status updates." He said finally, "Three weeks of status updates on how well the team was doing at surviving the horror she and her siblings had unleashed on them. The mating habits of coyotes, the feeding habits of creatures I can't even describe. How they needed more people and they were sending out Bhadra's cages to bring in more. She gave me that final update, then the labs just... went dark."
"Is that true?" Minx asked, shocked. Medeina tried her best to swivel her spherical frame up to look the woman in her electronic face, but failed and replied "Possibly, but I do not remember. I remember nothing from before I was activated by Mr. Koenig on the farm."
"Mister, uh..."
"Lowe, Hector Lowe."
"Mister Lowe. Frankly, I don't... I don't think that's a good idea. She... She has flaws... in her thought palace. She can pick apart the rules to adjust them in any way she needs them to be picked apart, and she's designed to enjoy whatever task she's assigned. She-"
"I am programmed to do a great deal more than just enjoy my tasks Dr. Chelsea." Medeina interjected, and Chelsea shivered at hearing her voice say his name, "I am outfitted with a complete emotional emulation prototype, though I suspect it is not mine. Please do not think me some rogue machine with no value on human life."
Chelsea cringed a little and glared at the robot more warily than before. "I don't trust you Medeina, not after what you-"
"We have a manifest." Medeina interrupted. It was a first for Hector. Not the interruption, Medeina interrupted conversations all the time, but her sudden change in tone. It was the first time he could hear a kind of agitation in the AI's voice. "A partial anyway. Do these labs have the materials we need or not?
Hector seemed to be scrutinizing Medeina, underneath that helm. He had his own thoughts on everything that'd been discussed, and even as he read the distrust evident in the doctor's voice, he still knew they'd have to see this through. Well, we'll have to see if he's right.
Chelsea almost seemed as though he hadn't listened at all, but Hector and Minx could see the doubt. Medeina could more than see it, she could feel it and the way Hector was now scrutinizing her. She was different now, somehow. The emotional emulation had a small but profound effect on how she carried out her observations, and what Charles Chelsea described didn't seem like the Medeina she knew herself to be at all. If creatures like Mica could change, then so could Medeina. Chelsea had cringed away from them, but only for a moment. Now he seemed to have something to say, but was unsure of how to say it.
Then, quietly, he asked "Mr. Lowe, can I speak to you in private for a moment?" Hector gave a nod of understanding before leading the way back over towards the road, leaving Medeina with Minx for the moment...
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: saltmummy626 on February 08, 2020, 02:27:24 am
[written by a dragon and a salty boi]
Hector crossed his arms impatiently and grunted in obvious annoyance. "If you have something to say, then say it. We aren't enemies come out of the wilderness to pillage and murder, and I'm not sure what she was like before but Medeina has been perfectly well behaved since we recovered her." At that Hector cocked his head, remembering the vault and the incident with the chicken walker, "mostly well behaved." Dr. Chelsea suddenly looked very tired, but not altogether unwilling to give up on the issue.
"I just..." He began, "I have a hard time believing she doesn't have some kind of ulterior motive. She didn't back then, but things change. She can change. Her program structure is designed to change. Its an evolving system and the only limit to it's growth is how much hard drive space it's got. Mr. Lowe, please, I just need to know... You at least aren't going to upload her back into her old systems?"
Hector shook his head at that. The way he seemed so concerned was worrisome, but from what he'd seen he was at least still willing to give Medeina the benefit of the doubt. "No. Given our current objective entails assembling a proxy she can move around in, putting her in an old network that likely isn't fully-functional anymore would be rather the opposite of that." he pointed out.
However, the tone in his voice did betray that his remarks had given him pause momentarily. "If she does try that however...I'll be the first to put a stop to it, by any means necessary."
Medeina waggled wildly at the implications and insinuations being passed around, but said nothing. Were she an organic being, she would huff and pout at all of it. She couldn't lie and say the promise of possible data wasn't a dire temptation, but if the systems were really as damaged as implied, then it would be dangerous for her to do anything about it.
Chelsea was staring at her, realized she hadn't stopped waggling her limbs, and made herself stop. "Set me down Ms. Minx, please? I'll be waiting in the siege tower Mr. Lowe." To the knight and naturalist, the robot sounded a mix of agitated and unhappy. Minx shot the doctor a withering look, and followed after.
"I'm sorry if I can't put whole faith in your words Mr. Lowe, but I suppose it will have to do. I, um, I guess with that said... You wanted something here?"
Hector gave a little nod at Medeina's remarks, gesturing to suggest that Minx go ahead and let the machine wait by the tank for now. "It was Medeina's idea that we check here for parts needed. Graphene primarily, possibly solar cells for vehicle and the settlement's use. We're from a community named Walkerville, built off an old farm a few miles from here." he explained.
"The storm just about ruined a lot of equipment our main engineer, name of Catnip, had set up there. Between that and a growing settlement in the nearby refugee center..."
Chelsea scratched the side of his face and frowned deeply, a man unsure of what to do about what he saw as a serious problem. Then, with a sigh, he turned away. "I'll get my manifest..."
When he returned, which Hector hadn't been sure that he would, he had in hand a few pages of the kind of thin cheap paper used by government bureaucrats. "The storm stirred up and displaced a lot of creatures... Especially raptor shrimp, so I'd stay in your tank until you get to the core facility. Most of what you want will be in the core facility since that's where the holding cells were. Except solar cells, you could probably find those under a cover outside the Tenjin facility, since he was undergoing expansion." The sheets of paper contained a familiar manifest.
"How did you get this if the facilities are shut down?" Hector asked while looking over each item and noting other things that might be useful to collect.
"Medeina made sure I had a print out copy." Chelsea said with an unconscious sneer, "She made sure I had a lot of information..."
"This checks out, looks to match Medeina's suggestions. Pleasant surprise then." Hector remarked, giving a polite nod. "Thank you, hopefully this doesn't disturb the wildlife too much. You be careful as well, alright?"
Title: Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
Post by: Chaosvolt on March 19, 2021, 06:21:13 pm
(( Written with Salt. ))
Dr. Chelsea watched the tank roar to life as he had watched so many other vehicles do over the last several years. The Hell's Raiders, God's Army, and numerous small savvy survivor groups had come and gone before these. Never before though had a group gone dragging Dr. Chelsea's apprehension like this before. Medeina hadn't meant to be malicious back then, but even now it was hard to see it that way. Hard to see her as anything but a soulless butcher when he'd watched or been forced to watch as she set the creatures kept within her labs onto his colleagues and co-workers for the sake of research. It was an event in his life he couldn't reconcile, and watching the man in armor and the young lady with him go with the machine who he felt had arbitrated the collapse of the Tabula Rasa Project gave him the same sense of needless loss that the previous gangs of salvagers and thugs had not.
Charles Chelsea watched until the sound of the tank faded into the background hum of New Eden's pleasant drone and sighed. Then, he turned away back to the small apartment where he sequestered himself away from the worlds new more dangerous wildlife.
"So!" Minx chimed enthusiastically scooping up the papers Hector had placed casually on one of the siege towers seats on the way to his accustomed place in the driver's seat, "Where to first?" Medeina scrabbled fitfully at one of the other seats before Minx set aside the sheaf of documents and hoisted the small robot up next to her.
"I recommend as Dr. Chelsea suggested. My lab, the central hub. It is likely that it will be the safest and most productive of the five. We will of course need to take a stop at the tenjin lab, which will be safer but not nearly as well stocked." Medeina said.
Hector had given thought to Dr. Chelsea's hesitation, internalizing it and thinking it over as they drove on, deciding to humor Medeina's suggestion that they stop by her original lab station first. "We might as well go there first then, get through the hard part first." he added.
As they went along however, he took time to give his equipment a once-over, as best as he could while driving. Sword and shield, obviously. M4 was hung by its strap nearby, he recalled it had a fresh magazine in but wasn't chambered, with two spares among his gear. And then there were his bionics, checking briefly that he was still at full power and that his EMP bionic reported normal. Still only got that one power cell...
At least it was still working, that much was a relief to him. Given the circumstance, as much as he tried to focus on the task at hand and use that equipment check as a means to keep himself busy, there was that faint worry that he might need that EMP projector again, sooner or later.
The Paved road of the small town had given way to a more roughly paved backroad, and before long even that gave way to an even rougher dirt road that Hector had to slow down on. The Siege Tower had a good suspension, but even Catnip's improved shocks couldn't keep the tank from jostling around and threatening to bite a tongue or jam ones tailbone up into ones skull. Hector glanced again back at the woman and the robot, those two hardly noticing the hard ride the road was providing, and looked back just in time to see something dart out of the swamp on the right in front of the tank.
Even ten years on, the impulse to slam on the brakes was still strong and Hector did so with the preternatural speed of a man who often had to make snap judgements while driving. Still, something disappeared beneath the treads of the tank. Hector hoped that the two in the back wouldn't notice. In fact, he knew for a fact they wouldn't notice just another bump among all the others, but immediately the reality of his "fact" was shattered.
"What was that?" Minx asked, startled. Hector sighed, of course they'd noticed.
"Rolled over some kind of animal with the tank." He explained.
"What? Stop the tank!" Minx ordered, more than a little alarmed. Hector craned his neck around and saw what Quinn had seen before leaving, the womans depth of concern for life in general. Only a few seconds had gone by, but they hadn't got much further than the point of impact.
Minx was the first one out of the tank, bounding to see exactly what Hector had smashed. "Looks like you mashed some poor fella's dog, Sarge." Minx intoned, blandly bemused. Hector crawled out behind her and saw why. Whatever he'd hit, it wasn't a dog. It looked like a slug, but covered in mud colored chitin and bearing a pair of long bladed claws on either side of a long broad beak with a series of what he guessed to be eyes going up it near the center. The tank had rolled over it's middle, neatly crushing it in half.
Hector was out of the tank almost immediately after her, looking around warily just in case the noise and their sudden halt were to attract attraction, not even having the presence of mind to make a remark about being called sarge. "Well, if that's what passes for a dog in this area, I'd hate to see what its owner looks like." he offered in response.
Movement caught their attention and Hector had stepped forward, instinctively putting Minx and Medeina between himself and the tank. The thing emerging from the brush from the side of the road was far less imposing than the motorcycle sized monstrosity laying crushed in the road. In fact, to Minx, it was a very welcome sight.
"It's a coyote!" She whispered sharply, "But it's so small!"
It was small. Almost as small as a large house cat, but at the same time, it appeared to be proportional normal giving it the appearance of a full sized example of it's kind. The thing that he'd seen run in front of the tank had now made it's appearance, he recognized it now that it had come back to see what had become of the monster pursuing it, and only Hectors unintended intervention had saved it. It warily sniffed at the monster, then darted back into the brush to escape the attention of the newcomers.
"Wow, was it a pup?" Minx asked, a little out of breath. Again, Hector was amused at the girls reverence for something so common.
"No." Medeina said. "They are not often seen, but there is a growing breed of coyote adapted to be smaller than their normal cousins." Minx flinched at the last word, but said nothing while Medeina began to delve into the specifics.
Hector for his part remained alert and wary, mainly wanting to ensure they weren't caught off guard by anything while they were stopped out in the open, giving a little gesture towards the tank. "We should get moving. There are likely scavengers that will be attracted to what we hit, and no telling what they might be like." he said.
Minx looked around remembering just where she was. "Oh, yeah, you're right. I'm sure miss robot here would be all too happy to see whatever that was, but it's probably better to skee-daddle. This ain't normal New England after all. Come on Medi, lets follow the nice knight." Medeina trundled back into the tank with no complaint while Minx gave the tiny canid a little wave. "Driver, carry on!"
With the hatch shut behind them, the treads soon rumbled to life once more, to leave the peculiar encounter behind them and continue on their way, towards the aging facilities that loomed ahead in the distance...